Mur. 23.1Lēgem ambitūs flāgitāstī, quae tibi nōn dēerat;You demanded a law on bribery, which you did not lack; Mur. 23.1erat enim sevērissimē scrīpta Calpurnia.for there was the Calpurnian law, drafted with the utmost severity. Mur. 23.1Gestus est mōs et voluntātī et dignitātī tuae.Your wishes and your standing were humoured. Mur. 23.1Sed tōta illa lēx accūsātiōnem tuam, sī habērēs nocentem reum, fortasse armāsset;But that whole law would perhaps have armed your prosecution, if you had had a guilty defendant; Mur. 23.1petītiōnī vērō refrāgāta est.but it worked against your candidacy. Mur. 23.47Poena gravior in plēbem tuā vōce efflāgitāta est;A heavier penalty against the common people was demanded by your voice; Mur. 23.47commōtī animī tenuiōrum.the feelings of the poorer were stirred. Mur. 23.47Exsilium in nostrum ōrdinem;Exile for our order; Mur. 23.47concessit senātus postulātiōnī tuae, sed nōn libenter dūriōrem fortūnae commūnī condiciōnem tē auctōre cōnstituit.the senate gave in to your demand, but not gladly did it establish, at your instance, a harsher condition for our common lot. Mur. 23.47Morbī excūsātiōnī poena addita est;A penalty was attached to the excuse of illness; Mur. 23.47voluntās offēnsa multōrum quibus aut contrā valētūdinis commodum labōrandum est aut incommodō morbī etiam cēterī vītae frūctūs relinquendī.this offended the feelings of many, who must either labour against the interests of their health or, through the discomfort of illness, give up the other enjoyments of life as well.
Mur. 23.47Quid ergō?What then? Mur. 23.47haec quis tulit?who carried these measures? Mur. 23.47Is quī auctōritātī senātūs, voluntātī tuae pāruit, dēnique is tulit cui minimē prōderant.He who obeyed the authority of the senate and your wishes; in short, he carried them who stood least to gain from them. Mur. 23.47Illa quidem quae meā summā voluntāte senātus frequēns repudiāvit mediocriter adversāta tibi esse exīstimās?As for those proposals which a full senate rejected, very much in accordance with my wishes, do you think they did you only moderate harm? Mur. 23.47Cōnfūsiōnem suffrāgiōrum flāgitāstī, praerogātiōnum lēgis Mānīliae , aequātiōnem grātiae, dignitātis, suffrāgiōrum.You demanded the mixing of the votes, the prerogative ordering of the Manilian law, the levelling of influence, rank and votes. Mur. 23.47Graviter hominēs honestī atque in suīs vīcīnitātibus et mūnicipiīs grātiōsī tulērunt ā tālī virō esse pugnātum ut omnēs et dignitātis et grātiae gradūs tollerentur.Honourable men, influential in their own neighbourhoods and towns, took it hard that a man such as you had fought to have all grades of rank and influence abolished. Mur. 23.47Īdem ēditīciōs iūdicēs esse voluistī, ut odia occulta cīvium quae tacitīs nunc discordiīs continentur in fortūnās optimī cuiusque ērumperent.You also wanted jurors to be nominated by the prosecutor, so that the hidden hatreds of citizens, which are now held in check in silent discord, might burst out against the fortunes of all the best men.
Mur. 23.48Haec omnia tibi accūsandī viam mūniēbant, adipīscendī obsaepiēbant.All these things were paving the way for your prosecution but blocking the way to your success. Mur. 23.48Atque ex omnibus illa plaga est iniecta petītiōnī tuae nōn tacente mē maxima, dē quā ab homine ingeniōsissimō et cōpiōsissimō, Q. Hortēnsiō, multa gravissimē dicta sunt.And of them all, the greatest blow, struck at your candidacy not without my protest, was the one about which much has been said most weightily by that most talented and eloquent man, Quintus Hortensius. Mur. 23.48Quō etiam mihi dūrior locus est dīcendī datus ut, cum ante mē et ille dīxisset et vir summā dignitāte et dīligentiā et facultāte dīcendī, Crassus, ego in extrēmō nōn partem aliquam agerem causae sed dē tōtā rē dīcerem quod mihi vidērētur.For this reason, too, a harder position for speaking has been given me, in that, since both he and Crassus, a man of the highest standing, diligence and eloquence, had spoken before me, I, speaking last, was not to handle some part of the case but to say what I thought about the whole matter. Mur. 23.48Itaque in īsdem rēbus ferē versor et quoad possum, iūdicēs, occurrō vestrae satietātī.And so I am dealing with much the same points and, as far as I can, judges, I am trying to forestall your weariness.