Mil. 9.1Quam ob rem, iūdicēs, ut aliquandō ad causam crīmenque veniāmus, sī neque omnis cōnfessiō factī est inūsitāta, neque dē causā nostrā quicquam aliter ac nōs vellēmus ā senātū iūdicātum est, et lātor ipse lēgis, cum esset contrōversia nūlla factī, iūris tamen disceptātiōnem esse voluit, et eī lēctī iūdicēs, isque praepositus est quaestiōnī quī haec iūstē sapienterque disceptet, reliquum est, iūdicēs, ut nihil iam quaerere aliud dēbeātis nisi uter utrī īnsidiās fēcerit.Therefore, judges, to come at last to the case and the charge, if neither is every confession of a deed unusual, nor has anything been decided by the senate about our case otherwise than we would have wished, and if the proposer of the law himself, though there was no dispute about the deed, still wished there to be a debate on the right, and if judges have been chosen, and a man put in charge of the inquiry who will decide these questions justly and wisely, it remains, judges, that you should now inquire into nothing else but which of the two laid an ambush for the other. Mil. 9.1Quod quō facilius argūmentīs perspicere possītis, rem gestam vōbīs dum breviter expōnō, quaesō, dīligenter attendite.And so that you may perceive this more easily from the evidence, please pay careful attention while I briefly set out for you what happened.
Mil. 9.24P. Clōdius, cum statuisset omnī scelere in praetūrā vexāre rem pūblicam vidēretque ita trācta esse comitia annō superiōre ut nōn multōs mēnsīs praetūram gerere posset, quī nōn honōris gradum spectāret, ut cēterī, sed et L. Paulum conlēgam effugere vellet, singulārī virtūte cīvem, et annum integrum ad dīlacerandam rem pūblicam quaereret, subitō relīquit annum suum sēsēque in proximum trānstulit, nōn, ut fit, religiōne aliquā, sed ut habēret, quod ipse dīcēbat, ad praetūram gerendam, hoc est ad ēvertendam rem pūblicam, plēnum annum atque integrum.Publius Clodius, having resolved to harass the state with every kind of crime in his praetorship, and seeing that the elections had been so delayed the year before that he could not hold the praetorship for many months — since he did not look to the step in office, as others do, but wished both to escape having Lucius Paullus, a citizen of singular virtue, as his colleague, and was seeking a full year for tearing the state to pieces — suddenly abandoned his own year and transferred himself to the next, not, as happens, from some religious scruple, but in order to have, as he himself used to say, a full and complete year for holding the praetorship, that is, for overthrowing the state.
Mil. 9.25Occurrēbat eī mancam ac dēbilem praetūram futūram suam cōnsule Milōne;It occurred to him that his praetorship would be maimed and crippled with Milo as consul; Mil. 9.25eum porrō summō cōnsēnsū populī Rōmānī cōnsulem fierī vidēbat.and he saw, moreover, that Milo was being made consul with the overwhelming consent of the Roman people. Mil. 9.25Contulit sē ad eius competītōrēs, sed ita tōtam ut petītiōnem ipse sōlus etiam invītīs illīs gubernāret, tōta ut comitia suīs, ut dictitābat, umerīs sustinēret.He went over to Milo's rivals, but in such a way that he alone steered the whole canvass, even against their will, and carried the whole election, as he kept saying, on his own shoulders. Mil. 9.25Convocābat tribūs, sē interpōnēbat, Collīnam novam dīlēctū perditissimōrum cīvium cōnscrībēbat.He called the tribes together, thrust himself in as go-between, and enrolled a new Colline tribe by a levy of the most abandoned citizens. Mil. 9.25Quantō ille plūra miscēbat, tantō hic magis in diēs convalēscēbat.The more confusion he stirred up, the stronger Milo grew day by day. Mil. 9.25Vbi vīdit homō ad omne facinus parātissimus fortissimum virum, inimīcissimum suum, certissimum cōnsulem, idque intellēxit nōn sōlum sermōnibus, sed etiam suffrāgiīs populī Rōmānī saepe esse dēclārātum, palam agere coepit et apertē dīcere occīdendum Milōnem.When that man, so ready for every crime, saw that the bravest of men, his bitterest enemy, was most certain to be consul, and realised that this had often been declared not only in the talk but also in the votes of the Roman people, he began to act openly and to say plainly that Milo must be killed.
Mil. 9.26Servōs agrestīs et barbarōs, quibus silvās pūblicās dēpopulātus erat Etrūriamque vexārat, ex Appennīnō dēdūxerat, quōs vidēbātis.He had brought down from the Apennines rustic and barbarous slaves, with whom he had ravaged the public forests and harassed Etruria; you used to see them. Mil. 9.26Rēs erat minimē obscūra.The matter was by no means obscure. Mil. 9.26Etenim dictitābat palam cōnsulātum Milōnī ēripī nōn posse, vītam posse.Indeed he kept saying openly that the consulship could not be taken from Milo, but his life could. Mil. 9.26Significāvit hoc saepe in senātū, dīxit in contiōne;He hinted at this often in the senate, and said it in the assembly; Mil. 9.26quīn etiam M. Favōniō, fortissimō virō, quaerentī ex eō quā spē fureret Milōne vīvō, respondit trīduō illum aut summum quadrīduō esse peritūrum;indeed, when Marcus Favonius, a very brave man, asked him what hope fed his madness while Milo was alive, he replied that within three or at most four days Milo would be dead; Mil. 9.26quam vōcem eius ad hunc M. Catōnem statim Favōnius dētulit.and Favonius at once reported this remark of his to Marcus Cato here.