Mil. 5.1Sequitur illud quod ā Milōnis inimīcīs saepissimē dīcitur, caedem in quā P. Clōdius occīsus esset senātum iūdicāsse contrā rem pūblicam esse factam.Next comes the claim which Milo's enemies make most often, that the senate judged that the killing in which Publius Clodius was slain was done against the interest of the state. Mil. 5.1Illam vērō senātus nōn sententiīs suīs sōlum sed etiam studiīs comprobāvit.But the senate approved that deed not only with its votes but also with its sympathies. Mil. 5.1Quotiēns enim est illa causa ā nōbīs ācta in senātū, quibus adsēnsiōnibus ūniversī ōrdinis, quam nec tacitīs nec occultīs!For how often was that case pleaded by me in the senate, and with what assent from the whole order, and how far from silent or hidden! Mil. 5.1Quandō enim frequentissimō senātū quattuor aut summum quīnque sunt inventī quī Milōnis causam nōn probārent?For when, in the fullest senate, were four or at most five found who did not approve of Milo's cause? Mil. 5.1Dēclārant huius ambustī tribūnī plēbis illae intermortuae contiōnēs quibus cōtīdiē meam potentiam invidiōsē crīminābātur, cum dīceret senātum nōn quod sentīret sed quod ego vellem dēcernere.This is shown by those half-dead harangues of this scorched tribune of the plebs, in which he daily attacked my power with malice, saying that the senate decreed not what it thought but what I wished.
Mil. 5.1Quae quidem sī potentia est appellanda potius quam propter magna in rem pūblicam merita mediocris in bonīs causīs auctōritās aut propter hōs officiōsōs labōrēs meōs nōn nūlla apud bonōs grātia, appellētur ita sānē, dum modo eā nōs ūtāmur prō salūte bonōrum contrā āmentiam perditōrum.If indeed this is to be called power, rather than a moderate influence in good causes because of great services to the state, or some favour among good men because of these dutiful labours of mine, then let it be so called by all means, provided that we use it for the safety of the good against the madness of the abandoned. Mil. 5.13Hanc vērō quaestiōnem, etsī nōn est inīqua, numquam tamen senātus cōnstituendam putāvit;But this inquiry, although it is not unfair, the senate nevertheless never thought should be set up; Mil. 5.13erant enim lēgēs, erant quaestiōnēs vel dē caede vel dē vī, nec tantum maerōrem ac lūctum senātuī mors P. Clōdī adferēbat ut nova quaestiō cōnstituerētur.for there were laws, there were courts, whether for murder or for violence, nor did the death of Publius Clodius bring the senate such grief and mourning that a new court should be set up.
Mil. 5.13Cuius enim dē illō incestō stuprō iūdicium dēcernendī senātuī potestās esset ērepta, dē eius interitū quis potest crēdere senātum iūdicium novum cōnstituendum putāsse?For when the senate had been robbed of the power of decreeing a trial for his incestuous adultery, who can believe that it thought a new trial should be set up concerning his death? Mil. 5.13Cūr igitur incendium cūriae, oppugnātiōnem aedium M. Lepidī, caedem hanc ipsam contrā rem pūblicam senātus factam esse dēcrēvit?Why then did the senate decree that the burning of the senate house, the storming of the house of Marcus Lepidus, and this very killing were done against the state? Mil. 5.13Quia nūlla vīs umquam est in līberā cīvitāte suscepta inter cīvīs nōn contrā rem pūblicam— nōn enim est ūlla dēfēnsiō contrā vim umquam optanda, sed nōn numquam est necessāria,—nisi vērō aut ille diēs quō Ti. Gracchus est caesus, aut ille quō Gāius, aut arma Sāturnīnī nōn, etiam sī ē rē pūblicā oppressa sunt, rem pūblicam tamen volnerārunt.Because no violence has ever been undertaken among citizens in a free state that was not against the state — for no defence against violence is ever to be wished for, though it is sometimes necessary — unless indeed the day on which Tiberius Gracchus was slain, or that on which Gaius was, or the armed rising of Saturninus, even if they were put down in the interest of the state, did not nevertheless wound the state.