Even in this place in the former pleadings Quintus Hortensius complained that the
young Junius came clad in his praetexta The praetexta was a token of the tender age of the youth, as
it was only worn by boys under the age of seventeen, and then was exchanged by the
toga virilis. into your presence, and
stood with his uncle while he was giving his evidence; and said that I was seeking
to rouse the popular feeling, and to excite odium against him, by producing the boy.
What then was there, O Hortensius, to rouse the popular feeling? what was there to
excite odium in that boy, I suppose, forsooth, I had brought forward the son of
Gracchus, or of Saturninus, or of some man of that sort, to excite the feelings of
an ignorant multitude by the mere name and recollection of his father. He was the
son of Publius Junius, one of the common people of Rome; whom his dying father thought he ought to recommend to the
protection of guardians and relations, and of the laws, and of the equity of the
magistrates, and of your administration of justice.
He, through the wicked letting out of contracts by that man, and through his
nefarious robbery, being deprived of all his paternal property and fortune, came
before your tribunal, if for nothing else, at least to see him through whose conduct
he himself has passed many years in mourning, a little less gaily Dressed, that is, in the mourning robe in which defendants in
criminal prosecutions usually appeared in court. dressed than he was used
to be. Therefore, O Hortensius, it was not his age but his cause, not his dress but
his fortune, that seemed to you calculated to rouse the popular feeling. Nor did it
move you so much that he had come with the praetexta, as that he had come without
the bulla. “The bulla was an ornament of gold worn by children,
suspended from their necks, especially by the children of the noble and wealthy;
it was worn by children of both sexes, as a token of paternal affection and of
high birth. Instead of the bulla of gold, boys of
inferior rank, including the children of freedmen, wore only a piece of
leather.”—Smith, Dict. Ant. v. Bulla. For
no one was influenced by that dress which custom and the right of his free birth
allowed him to wear. Men were indignant, and very indignant, that the ornament of
childhood which his father had given him, the proof and sign of his good fortune,
had been taken from him by that robber.
Nor were the tears which were shed for him shed more by the people than by us, and
by yourself, O Hortensius, and by those who are to pronounce sentence in this cause.
For because it is the common cause of all men, the common danger of all men, such
wickedness like a conflagration must be put out by the common endeavours of all men.
For we have little children; it is uncertain how long the life of each individual
among us may last. We, while alive, ought to take care and provide that their
desolate condition and childhood may be secured by the strongest possible
protection. For who is there who can defend the childhood of our children against
the dishonesty of magistrates? Their mother, I suppose. No doubt, the mother of
Annia, though a most noble woman, was a great protection to her when she was left a
minor. No doubt she, by imploring the aid of gods and men, prevented him from
robbing her infant ward of her father's fortunes. Can their guardians defend them?
Very easily, no doubt, with a praetor of that sort by whom both the arguments, and
the earnestness, and the authority of Marcus Marcellus in the cause of his ward
Junius were disregarded.
Do we ask what he did in the distant province of Phrygia? what in the most remote parts of Pamphylia? What a robber of pirates he proved
himself in war, who had been found to be a nefarious plunderer of the Roman people
in the forum? Do we doubt what that man would do with respect to spoils taken from
the enemy, who appropriated to himself so much plunder from the spoils of Lucius
Metellus? This temple of Castor had been vowed by Postumius,
the dictator at the battle of Lake Regillus. It was decorated with statues and
other embellishments by Lucius Metellus surnamed Dalmaticus, out of the wealth he
acquired by, and the spoils he brought back from, the war in Illyricum. who let out a contract for
whitewashing four pillars at a greater price than Metellus paid for erecting the
whole of them? Must we wait to hear what the witnesses from Sicily say? Who has ever seen that temple who is not
a witness of your avarice, of your injustice, of your audacity? Who has ever come
from the statue of Vertumnus into the Circus Maximus, without being reminded at
every step of your avarice? for that road, the road of the sacred cars and of such
solemn processions, you have had repaired in such a way that you yourself do not
dare go by it. Can any one think that when you were separated from Italy by the sea you spared the allies? You who
chose the temple of Castor to be the witness of your thefts which the Roman people
saw every day, and even the judges at the very moment that they were giving their
decision concerning you.
And he, even during his praetorship, exercised the office of judge in public
cases. The praetors appointed the judges, but had not
themselves the right of sitting as judges in all criminal cases, only in a few
special ones. For even that must not be passed over. A fine was sought to
be recovered from Quintus Opimius before him while praetor; who was brought to
trial, as it was alleged, indeed, because while tribune of the people he had
interposed his veto in a manner contrary to the Cornelian law, This law had been passed by Sulla to take away from the tribunes the power of
interposing their veto, but Pompeius restored it to them. but, in reality,
because while tribune of the people he had said something which gave offence to some
one of the nobles. And if I were to wish to say anything of that decision, I should
have to call in question and to attack many people, which it is not necessary for me
to do. I will only say that a few arrogant men, to say the least of them, with his
assistance, ruined all the fortunes of Quintus Opimius in fun and joke.
Again; does he complain of me, because the first pleading
of his cause was brought to an end by me in nine days only; when before himself as
judge. Quintus Opimius, a senator of the Roman people, in three hours lost his
property, his position, and all his titles of honour? On account of the scandalous
nature of which decision, the question has often been mooted in the senate of taking
away the whole class of fines and sentences of that sort. But what plunder he
amassed in selling the property of Quintus Opimius, and how openly, how scandalously
he amassed it, it would take too long to relate now. This I say,—unless I make it
plain to you by the account-books of most honourable men, believe that I have
invented it all for the present occasion.