Pro Murena (For Murena)

In November 63 BC, while the conspiracy of Catiline was at its height, Cicero, as consul, defended the consul-elect Lucius Licinius Murena against a charge of electoral bribery. The prosecutors included Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the distinguished lawyer whom Murena had defeated, and Marcus Porcius Cato, the young Stoic. Cicero argued that the state could not afford to lose a consul at such a moment.

Cicero first explains why a consul should defend a consul, and answers Cato's and Sulpicius' complaints about his taking the case. He defends Murena's character and his service in Asia under Lucullus, dismissing the charge that he danced, and compares the candidates' birth and careers. In the most famous part of the speech he contrasts the soldier with the lawyer, teasing Sulpicius about the petty formulas and secrets of the law, and argues that the war against Mithridates was no small affair. He then turns to the bribery charges, the crowds that greeted Murena, and the importance of public games, and recalls Catiline's threats during the elections, when Cicero wore a breastplate. He gently mocks Cato's Stoic paradoxes, sets the moderation of the Academy against Stoic rigour, and defends the customs of canvassing and hospitality. Finally he warns that Catiline's allies are still within the city and appeals for Murena's safety.

Murena was acquitted; Cato is said to have remarked what a witty consul Rome had. The speech is one of Cicero's most entertaining, and an excellent picture of Roman electoral life.