Iug. 31.1"Multa mē dēhortantur ā vōbīs, Quirītēs, nī studium reī pūblicae omnia superet: opēs factiōnis, vostra patientia, iūs nūllum, ac māxumē quod innocentiae plūs perīculī quam honōris est.'Many things would dissuade me from you, citizens, did not zeal for the state overcome all: the resources of the faction, your own submissiveness, the absence of justice, and above all the fact that innocence brings more danger than honour. Iug. 31.2Nam illa quidem piget dīcere, hīs annīs quīndecim quam lūdibriō fuerītis superbiae paucōrum, quam foedē quamquē inultī perierint vostrī dēfēnsōrēs, ut vōbīs animus ab ignāviā atque sōcordiā corruptus sit, quī nē nunc quidem obnoxiīs inimīcīs exurgitis atque etiam nunc timētis eōs, quibus decet terrōrī esse.For indeed it pains me to tell how in these fifteen years you have been the plaything of the arrogance of a few, how shamefully and how unavenged your defenders have perished, how your spirit has been corrupted by cowardice and indolence, so that not even now, when your enemies are in your power, do you rise up, and even now you fear those to whom you ought to be a terror.
Iug. 31.4Sed quamquam haec tālia sunt, tamen obviam īre factiōnis potentiae animus subigit.But although things are so, still my spirit compels me to confront the power of the faction. Iug. 31.5Certē ego lībertātem, quae mihi ā parente meō trādita est, experiar.I at least shall make trial of the liberty that was handed down to me by my father. Iug. 31.5Vērum id frūstrā an ob rem faciam, in vostrā manū situm est, Quirītēs.But whether I do so in vain or to good purpose lies in your hands, citizens. Iug. 31.6Neque ego vōs hortor, quod saepe maiōrēs vostrī fēcēre, utī contrā iniūriās armātī eātis.Nor do I urge you, as your ancestors often did, to go out armed against injustice. Iug. 31.6Nihil vī, nihil sēcessiōne opus est;There is no need of violence, no need of secession; Iug. 31.6necesse est suōmet ipsī mōre praecipitēs eant.they must needs go headlong by their own conduct. Iug. 31.7Occīsō Ti. Gracchō, quem regnum parāre Aiēbant, in plēbem Rōmānam quaestiōnēs habitae sunt;When Tiberius Gracchus had been killed, who they said was aiming at kingship, prosecutions were held against the Roman plebs; Iug. 31.7post C. Gracchī et C. Fulvī caedem item vostrī ōrdinis multī mortālēs in carcere necātī sunt: utrīusque clādis nōn lēx, vērum lubīdō eōrum fīnem fēcit.after the slaughter of Gaius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius, likewise, many people of your order were put to death in prison: of both disasters it was not law but their own caprice that made an end.
Iug. 31.8Sed sānē fuerit regnī parātiō plēbī sua restituere;But granted that to restore to the plebs what was theirs was aiming at kingship; Iug. 31.8quicquid sine sanguine cīvium ulcīscī nequitur, iūre factum sit.let whatever cannot be avenged without the blood of citizens be deemed lawfully done. Iug. 31.9Superiōribus annīs tacitī indignābāminī aerārium expīlārī, rēgēs et populōs līberōs paucīs nōbilibus vectīgal pendere, penes eōsdem et summam glōriam et maxumās dīvitiās esse.In previous years you were silently indignant that the treasury was being plundered, that kings and free peoples were paying tribute to a few nobles, and that the highest glory and the greatest riches were in the hands of those same men. Iug. 31.9Tamen haec tālia facinora impūne suscēpisse parum habuēre, itaque postrēmō lēgēs, maistās vostra, dīvīna et hūmāna omnia hostibus trādita sunt.Yet they thought it too little to have committed such deeds with impunity, and so at last your laws, your majesty, everything divine and human has been handed over to the enemy. Iug. 31.10Neque eōs quī ea fēcēre pudet aut paenitet, sed incēdunt per ōra vostra magnificī, sacerdōtia et cōnsulātūs, pars triumphōs suōs ostentantēs;Nor are those who did these things ashamed or sorry, but they parade before your eyes in grandeur, displaying their priesthoods and consulships, and some of them their triumphs; Iug. 31.10proinde quasi ea honōrī, nōn praedae habeant.just as if they held these as an honour and not as plunder.
Iug. 31.11Servī aere parātī iniūsta imperia dominōrum nōn perferunt;Slaves bought with money will not endure unjust commands from their masters; Iug. 31.11vōs, Quirītēs, in imperiō nātī aequō animō servitūtem tolerātis?do you, citizens, born to command, bear slavery with calm minds? Iug. 31.12At quī sunt iī, quī rem pūblicam occupāvēre?But who are these men who have seized the state? Iug. 31.12Hominēs scelerātissumī, cruentīs manibus, immānī avāritiā, nocentissumī et īdem superbissumī, quibus fidēs decus pietās, postrēmō honesta atque inhonesta omnia quaestuī sunt.Men utterly criminal, with bloody hands, of monstrous greed, most guilty and at the same time most arrogant, to whom good faith, honour, piety, in short everything honourable and dishonourable alike, is a source of gain. Iug. 31.13Pars eōrum occīdisse tribūnōs plēbis, aliī quaestiōnēs iniūstās, plērīque caedem in vōs fēcisse prō mūnīmentō habent.Some of them count it as their protection to have killed tribunes of the plebs, others to have held unjust prosecutions, most of them to have carried out slaughter against you. Iug. 31.14Ita quam quisque pessumē fēcit, tam māxumē tūtus est.So the worse each man has acted, the safer he is.
Iug. 31.14Metum ab scelere suō ad ignāviam vostram trānstulēre, quōs omnīs eadem cupere, eadem ōdisse, eadem metuere in ūnum coēgit.They have shifted fear from their own crime to your cowardice, men whom the desire for the same things, hatred of the same things and fear of the same things have forced together into one. Iug. 31.15Sed haec inter bonōs amīcitia, inter malōs factiō est.But among good men this is friendship, among bad men it is faction. Iug. 31.16Quod sī tam vōs lībertātis cūram habērētis, quam illī ad dominātiōnem accēnsī sunt, profectō neque rēs pūblica sīcutī nunc vāstārētur et beneficia Vostra penes optumōs, nōn audācissumōs forent.But if you cared as much for liberty as they are fired for domination, surely the state would not be laid waste as it now is, and your favours would be in the hands of the best men, not the most audacious. Iug. 31.17Maiōrēs vostrī parandī iūris et maiestātis cōnstituendae grātiā bis per sēcessiōnem armātī Aventīnum occupāvēre;Your ancestors, to win their rights and establish their dignity, twice seceded under arms and occupied the Aventine; Iug. 31.17vōs prō lībertāte, quam ab illīs accēpistis, nōnne summā ope nītēminī?will you not strive with all your might for the liberty which you received from them?
Iug. 31.17Atque eō vehementius, quō maius dēdecus est parta āmittere quam omnīnō nōn parāvisse.And all the more vehemently, as it is a greater disgrace to lose what has been won than never to have won it at all. Iug. 31.18Dīcet aliquis "quid igitur cēnsēs?"Someone will say, "What, then, do you propose?" Iug. 31.18Vindicandum in eōs, quī hostī prōdidēre rem pūblicam, nōn manū neque vī, quod magis vōs fēcisse quam illīs accidisse indignum est, vērum quaestiōnibus et indiciō ipsīus Iugurthae.That punishment be exacted from those who have betrayed the state to the enemy, not by force or violence, which it would be more unworthy for you to have done than for them to have suffered, but by prosecutions and by the evidence of Jugurtha himself. Iug. 31.19Quī sī dēditīcius est, profectō iussīs vostrīs oboediēns erit;If he has really surrendered, he will surely obey your commands; Iug. 31.19sīn ea contemnit, scīlicet existumābitis, quālis illa pāx aut dēditiō sit, ex quā ad Iugurtham scelerum impūnitās, ad paucōs potentīs maxumae dīvitiae, ad rem pūblicam damna atque dēdecora pervēnerint;but if he scorns them, you will of course judge what kind of peace or surrender that is, from which there have come to Jugurtha impunity for his crimes, to a few powerful men the greatest riches, and to the state losses and disgraces; Iug. 31.20nisi forte nōndum etiam vōs dominātiōnis eōrum satietās tenet et illa quam haec tempora magis placent, quom regna prōvinciae lēgēs iūra iūdicia bella atque pācēs, postrēmō dīvīna et hūmāna omnia penes paucōs erant;unless perhaps you are not yet sated with their domination, and those times please you more than these, when kingdoms, provinces, laws, rights, courts, wars and peace, in short everything divine and human, were in the hands of a few; Iug. 31.20vōs autem, hoc est populus Rōmānus, invictī ab hostibus, imperātōrēs omnium gentium, satis habēbātis animam retinēre.while you, that is the Roman people, unconquered by your enemies, rulers of all nations, thought it enough to keep your lives.
Iug. 31.20Nam servitūtem quidem quis vostrum recūsāre audēbat?For as for slavery, which of you dared refuse it? Iug. 31.21Atque ego tametsī virō flāgitiōsissumum existumō impūne iniūriam accēpisse, tamen vōs hominibus scelerātissumīs ignōscere, quoniam cīvēs sunt, aequō animō paterer, nī misericordia in perniciem cāsūra esset.And for my part, although I think it most disgraceful for a man to have suffered a wrong without avenging it, still I would calmly allow you to pardon these utterly criminal men, since they are citizens, were it not that mercy would end in ruin. Iug. 31.22Nam et illīs, quantum importūnitātis habent, parum est impūne male fēcisse, nisi deinde faciundī licentia ēripitur, et vōbīs aeterna sollicitūdō remanēbit, quom intellegētis aut serviundum esse aut per manūs lībertātem retinendam.For they, such is their insolence, think it too little to have done wrong with impunity unless the licence to do it again is snatched from you, and you will be left with endless anxiety, when you realise that you must either be slaves or keep your liberty by force. Iug. 31.23Nam fideī quidem aut concordiae quae spēs est?For what hope is there of good faith or concord?
Iug. 31.23Dominārī illī volunt, vōs līberī esse;They wish to be masters, you to be free; Iug. 31.23facere illī iniūriās, vōs prohibēre;they to do wrong, you to prevent it; Iug. 31.23postrēmō sociīs nostrīs velutī hostibus, hostibus prō sociīs ūtuntur.in short, they treat our allies as enemies, our enemies as allies. Iug. 31.24Potestne in tam dīvorsīs mentibus pāx aut amīcitia esse?Can there be peace or friendship between minds so opposed? Iug. 31.25Quārē moneō hortorque vōs, nē tantum scelus inpūnītum omittātis.Therefore I warn and urge you not to let so great a crime go unpunished. Iug. 31.25Nōn pecūlātus aerārī factus est neque per vim sociīs ēreptae pecūniae, quae quamquam gravia sunt, tamen cōnsuētūdine iam prō nihilō habentur;It is not embezzlement from the treasury that has been committed, nor money taken from the allies by force, which, though they are grave, are now through habit counted as nothing; Iug. 31.25hostī ācerrumō prōdita senātūs auctōritās, prōditum imperium vostrum est;the authority of the senate has been betrayed to a most bitter enemy, your empire has been betrayed; Iug. 31.25domī mīlitiaeque rēs pūblica vēnālis fuit.at home and in the field the state has been for sale.
Iug. 31.26Quae nisi quaesīta erunt, nisi vindicātum in noxiōs, quid erit reliquom, nisi ut illīs quī ea fēcēre oboedientēs vīvāmus?Unless these things are investigated, unless punishment is exacted from the guilty, what will be left but to live in obedience to those who did them? Iug. 31.26Nam impūne quae lubet facere, id est rēgem esse.For to do whatever one pleases with impunity, that is to be a king. Iug. 31.27Neque ego vōs, Quirītēs, hortor, ut mālītis cīvīs vostrōs perperam quam rēctē fēcisse, sed nē ignōscundō malīs bonōs perditum eātis.Nor do I urge you, citizens, to prefer that your fellow citizens should have done wrong rather than right, but not to go on ruining the good by pardoning the bad. Iug. 31.28Ad hoc in rē pūblicā multō praestat beneficī quam maleficī inmemorem esse: bonus tantummodo segnior fit, ubi neglegās, at malus inprobior.Besides, in a state it is much better to forget a kindness than a wrong: the good man merely becomes more sluggish when you neglect him, but the bad man becomes more wicked. Iug. 31.29Ad hoc sī iniūriae nōn sint, haud saepe auxilī egeās."Besides, if there were no wrongs done, you would seldom need help.'