Cum populo gratias egit

For as, in the case of your very kindness itself, its magnitude is so great that I cannot do adequate justice to it in my speech; so also in your zeal such great good-will and inclination towards me was displayed, that you seem not only to have taken my misfortune off from me, but even to have increased my dignity. For it was not my youthful sons and many other relations and kinsmen who offered up their prayers for my return, as they did for that of Publius Popillius, a most noble man. It was not, as it was in the case of Quintus Metellus, that most illustrious man, a son of an age fully proved by this time; or Lucius Diadematus, a man of consular rank and of the greatest authority; or Caius Metellus, a man of censorian rank; or their children; or Quintus Metellus Nepos, who at that time was standing for the consulship; or the sons of his sisters, the Luculli, the Servilii, and the Scipios;—for at that time there were many Metelli, or sons of the Metelli, who addressed supplications to you and to your fathers for the return of Quintus Metellus. And if my own preeminent

For the case of Caius Marius, who, after those two most illustrious men of consular rank, is in the recollection of you and of your ancestors the third man of the same rank who, though a man of the most excessive renown, met with the same most unworthy fortune, was very dissimilar to mine. For he did not return because of the prayers that were offered for his return; but he recalled himself amid the discords of the citizens with an army and by force of arms. But it was the godlike and unheard-of authority and virtue of Caius Piso, my son-in-law, and of my most unhappy and admirable brother, and their daily tears and mournful appearance, which obtained my safety from you, though I was destitute of all other relations, fortified by no extensive connections, and by no fear of war or of disturbance.

I had but one brother to move your eyes by his mournful appearance, to renew your recollection of and your regret for me by his tears, and he had determined, O Romans, if you did not restore me to him to share my fortunes in exile. So great was his love towards me, that he thought it would be impious for him to be separated from me, not only in our abode in this life, but also in our tombs. In my behalf, while I was still present, the senate and twenty thousand men besides changed their apparel; for my sake, after I had departed, you saw only the mourning garb and misery of one man. He was the one individual who in the forum conducted himself towards me with the dutiful affection of a son; who, by his active kindness, might have been taken for my parent; who in love was, as he always has been, a real brother. For the mourning and grief of my unhappy wife, and the unceasing sorrow of my admirable daughter, and the regret and childish tears of my little son, were at times hidden from view by their necessary journeys, and to a great extent were confined in the obscurity of their dwelling. Wherefore your kindness towards us is so much the greater, in that you restored us not to a multitude of relations, but to ourselves.

But, as I had no relations, since I could not make them for myself, to stand forward and avert my misfortune by their entreaties, on the other hand, (and that was no more than my virtue was entitled to procure for me,) I had so many men to urge and promote my restoration, that in the number of them and in the credit derivable from their numbers I far exceeded all those who had previously had a similar fate. Never was there any mention made in the senate of Publius Popillius, a most illustrious and gallant citizen; nor of Quintus Metellus, a most noble, wise, and consistent man; nor even of Caius Marius, the guardian of your state and of your empire.

Those, my predecessors in this fortune, were recalled by motions proceeding from the tribunes, and by no authority of the senate. But Marius was not only not restored by the senate, but through the ruin of the senate; nor was it the recollection of his mighty deeds that availed to further the return of Caius Marius, but his own arms and his warlike preparations. But in my case the senate always requested that its authority might prevail; and it brought about my effectual recall the very first moment that it was practicable, by the numbers in which it assembled, and by its legitimate authority. There were no commotions of municipal cities or colonies on their return. But as for me, all Italy three times recalled me by its decrees back to my country. They were restored after their enemies had been slain, and after a great slaughter of the citizens had taken place; I was brought back when those men by whom I had been driven out had obtained provinces, having as one of my enemies a most excellent and humane man, who, as one of the consuls, himself seconded the motion for my recall; and after my chief enemy, who had lent his voice to the common enemies of the country in order to injure me, was alive only as far as breathing went, but in reality was thrust down below even the dead.