Mil. 8.1Sed stultī sumus quī Drūsum, quī Āfricānum, Pompeium, nōsmet ipsōs cum P. Clōdiō cōnferre audeāmus.But we are fools to dare to compare Drusus, Africanus, Pompey and ourselves with Publius Clodius. Mil. 8.1Tolerābilia fuērunt illa: P. Clōdī mortem aequō animō ferre nēmō potest.Those things were bearable: no one can bear the death of Publius Clodius with composure. Mil. 8.1Lūget senātus, maeret equester ōrdō, tōta cīvitās cōnfecta seniō est, squālent mūnicipia, adflīctantur colōniae, agrī dēnique ipsī tam beneficum, tam salūtārem, tam mānsuētum cīvem dēsīderant.The senate mourns, the equestrian order grieves, the whole state is worn out with sorrow, the towns are in squalor, the colonies are stricken, the very fields, in short, long for so beneficent, so salutary, so gentle a citizen. Mil. 8.21Nōn fuit ea causa, iūdicēs, profectō, nōn fuit cūr sibi cēnsēret Pompeius quaestiōnem ferendam, sed homō sapiēns atque altā et dīvīnā quādam mente praeditus multa vīdit: fuisse illum sibi inimīcum, familiārem Milōnem;That was not the reason, judges, surely it was not, why Pompey thought he should propose an inquiry; but as a wise man, endowed with a lofty and almost divine mind, he saw many things: that Clodius had been his enemy, Milo his friend; Mil. 8.21in commūnī omnium laetitiā sī etiam ipse gaudēret, timuit nē vidērētur īnfirmior fidēs reconciliātae grātiae.if he too rejoiced in the common joy of all, he feared that the sincerity of their reconciliation might seem rather weak.
Mil. 8.21Multa etiam alia vīdit, sed illud maximē, quamvīs atrōciter ipse tulisset, vōs tamen fortiter iūdicātūrōs.He saw many other things too, but this above all: that, however harshly he himself had taken the deed, you would nevertheless judge bravely. Mil. 8.21Itaque dēlēgit ex flōrentissimīs ōrdinibus ipsa lūmina, neque vērō, quod nōn nūllī dictitant, sēcrēvit in iūdicibus legendīs amīcōs meōs.So he chose from the most distinguished orders their very luminaries, nor indeed, as some keep saying, did he exclude my friends in selecting the judges. Mil. 8.21Neque enim hoc cōgitāvit vir iūstissimus, neque in bonīs virīs legendīs id adsequī potuisset, etiam sī cupīsset.For that most just man had no such thought, nor could he have achieved it in selecting good men, even if he had wished to. Mil. 8.21Nōn enim mea grātiā familiāritātibus continētur, quae lātē patēre nōn possunt, proptereā quod cōnsuētūdinēs vīctūs nōn possunt esse cum multīs;For my influence is not confined to personal friendships, which cannot extend widely, because intimacy in daily life cannot be had with many; Mil. 8.21sed, sī quid possumus, ex eō possumus quod rēs pūblica nōs coniūnxit cum bonīs.but if I have any power, I have it from this, that public life has joined me with the good.
Mil. 8.21Ex quibus ille cum optimōs virōs legeret idque maximē ad fidem suam pertinēre arbitrārētur, nōn potuit legere nōn studiōsōs meī.When he was choosing the best men from among these, and thought that this concerned his own good faith above all, he could not choose men who were not well disposed to me. Mil. 8.22Quod vērō tē, L. Domitī, huic quaestiōnī praeesse maximē voluit, nihil quaesīvit aliud nisi iūstitiam, gravitātem, hūmānitātem, fidem.And in wishing above all that you, Lucius Domitius, should preside over this inquiry, he sought nothing else but justice, dignity, humanity and good faith. Mil. 8.22Tulit ut cōnsulārem necesse esset: crēdō, quod prīncipum mūnus esse dūcēbat resistere et levitātī multitūdinis et perditōrum temeritātī.He laid down that it must be a man of consular rank: because, I believe, he held it to be the duty of leading men to resist both the fickleness of the mob and the recklessness of the abandoned. Mil. 8.22Ex cōnsulāribus tē creāvit potissimum: dederās enim quam contemnerēs populārīs īnsāniās iam ab adulēscentiā documenta maxima.From among the consulars he chose you in particular: for you had given, from your very youth, the strongest proofs of how much you despised the frenzies of the populace.