Mil. 7.1Domī suae nōbilissimus vir, senātūs prōpugnātor atque illīs quidem temporibus paene patrōnus, avunculus huius iūdicis nostrī fortissimī virī, M. Catōnis, tribūnus plēbis M. Drūsus occīsus est.In his own home a man of the highest nobility, the champion of the senate and in those times almost its patron, the uncle of this very brave man among our judges, Marcus Cato, the tribune of the plebs Marcus Drusus, was killed. Mil. 7.1Nihil dē eius morte populus cōnsultus est, nūlla quaestiō dēcrēta ā senātū est.The people were not consulted at all about his death; no inquiry was decreed by the senate. Mil. 7.1Quantum lūctum fuisse in hāc urbe ā nostrīs patribus accēpimus, cum P. Āfricānō domī suae quiēscentī illa nocturna vīs esset inlāta?How great was the grief in this city, as we have heard from our fathers, when that violence by night was inflicted on Publius Africanus as he rested in his own home? Mil. 7.1Quis tum nōn ingemuit, quis nōn ārsit dolōre, quem immortālem, sī fierī posset, omnēs esse cuperent, eius nē necessāriam quidem exspectātam esse mortem?Who did not groan then, who did not burn with indignation, that the man whom all wished to be immortal, had it been possible, had not even been allowed to await his natural death?
Mil. 7.1Num igitur ūlla quaestiō dē Āfricānī morte lāta est?Was any inquiry, then, proposed concerning the death of Africanus? Mil. 7.1Certē nūlla.Certainly none. Mil. 7.17Quid ita?Why so? Mil. 7.17Quia nōn aliō facinore clārī hominēs, aliō obscūrī necantur.Because famous men are not killed by one kind of crime and obscure men by another. Mil. 7.17Intersit inter vītae dignitātem summōrum atque īnfimōrum;Let there be a difference between the standing in life of the highest and of the lowest; Mil. 7.17mors quidem inlāta per scelus īsdem et poenīs teneātur et lēgibus.but death inflicted through crime should be subject to the same penalties and the same laws. Mil. 7.17Nisi forte magis erit parricīda, sī quī cōnsulārem patrem quam sī quī humilem necārit, aut eō mors atrōcior erit P. Clōdī quod is in monumentīs maiōrum suōrum sit interfectus—hoc enim ab istīs saepe dīcitur— proinde quasi Appius ille Caecus viam mūnierit, nōn quā populus ūterētur, sed ubi impūne suī posterī latrōcinārentur!Unless perhaps a man will be more of a parricide if he kills a father of consular rank than if he kills a humble one, or the death of Publius Clodius will be more atrocious because he was killed among the monuments of his ancestors — for this is often said by those people — just as if the famous Appius the Blind built his road not for the people to use, but for his descendants to commit robbery on it with impunity!
Mil. 7.18Itaque in eādem istā Appiā cum ōrnātissimum equitem Rōmānum P. Clōdius M. Papīrium occīdisset, nōn fuit illud facinus pūniendum—homō enim nōbilis in suīs monumentīs equitem Rōmānum occīderat—nunc eiusdem Appiae nōmen quantās tragoediās excitat!And so, when on that same Appian Way Publius Clodius had killed a most distinguished Roman knight, Marcus Papirius, that crime was not to be punished — for a nobleman had killed a Roman knight among his own family's monuments — yet now what tragic scenes the name of that same Appian Way stirs up! Mil. 7.18Quae cruentāta anteā caede honestī atque innocentis virī silēbātur, eadem nunc crēbrō ūsurpātur, posteā quam latrōnis et parricīdae sanguine imbūta est.The road which, when it was stained earlier with the blood of an honourable and innocent man, was passed over in silence, is now constantly on men's lips, since it has been soaked in the blood of a brigand and parricide. Mil. 7.18Sed quid ego illa commemorō?But why do I recall those things? Mil. 7.18Comprehēnsus est in templō Castoris servus P. Clōdī, quem ille ad Cn. Pompeium interficiendum conlocārat.A slave of Publius Clodius was arrested in the temple of Castor, whom Clodius had posted there to kill Gnaeus Pompey.
Mil. 7.18Extorta est eī cōnfitentī sīca dē manibus.The dagger was wrenched from his hands as he confessed. Mil. 7.18Caruit forō posteā Pompeius, caruit senātū, caruit pūblicō;After that Pompey kept away from the forum, kept away from the senate, kept away from public places; Mil. 7.18iānuā sē ac parietibus, nōn iūre lēgum iūdiciōrumque tēxit.he protected himself with his door and walls, not with the rights of the laws and the courts. Mil. 7.19Num quae rogātiō lāta, num quae nova quaestiō dēcrēta est?Was any bill proposed, was any new inquiry decreed? Mil. 7.19Atquī sī rēs, sī vir, sī tempus ūllum dignum fuit, certē haec in illā causā summa omnia fuērunt.And yet, if any matter, any man, any occasion was ever worthy of it, surely all these were at their highest in that case. Mil. 7.19Īnsidiātor erat in forō conlocātus atque in vestibulō ipsō senātūs;An assassin had been posted in the forum and in the very forecourt of the senate; Mil. 7.19eī virō autem mors parābātur cuius in vītā nītēbātur salūs cīvitātis;and death was being prepared for that man on whose life the safety of the state depended; Mil. 7.19eō porrō reī pūblicae tempore quō, sī ūnus ille occīdisset, nōn haec sōlum cīvitās sed gentēs omnēs concidissent.and moreover at such a crisis of the state that, if that one man had fallen, not only this state but all nations would have fallen.
Mil. 7.19Nisi vērō, quia perfecta rēs nōn est, nōn fuit pūnienda, proinde quasi exitūs rērum, nōn hominum cōnsilia lēgibus vindicentur.Unless indeed, because the deed was not carried out, it ought not to have been punished, just as if the laws punished the outcomes of actions and not the intentions of men. Mil. 7.19Minus dolendum fuit rē nōn perfectā, sed pūniendum certē nihilō minus.There was less cause for grief, since the deed was not carried out, but certainly no less cause for punishment. Mil. 7.20Quotiēns ego ipse, iūdicēs, ex P. Clōdī tēlīs et ex cruentīs eius manibus effūgī!How often, judges, have I myself escaped from the weapons of Publius Clodius and from his bloody hands! Mil. 7.20ex quibus sī mē nōn vel mea vel reī pūblicae fortūna servāsset, quis tandem dē interitū meō quaestiōnem tulisset?and if either my own fortune or that of the state had not saved me from them, who, pray, would have proposed an inquiry into my death?