The decemviri will sell the booty, the spoils, the division
of the plunder, the very camp of Cnaeus Pompeius, while the general is forced to sit still.
[The whole of the Propontis and of the Hellespont
will therefore come under the power of the praetor; the whole coast of the Lycians and
Cilicians will be advertised for sale; Mysia and
Phrygia will be subjected to the same conditions
Rhunck has enclosed this sentence in brackets, as the gloss and
interpolation of an ignorant man; but Orellius thinks some part of it really Cicero's, though
not free from corruptions.]
. . . . That which was then openly sought, is now endeavoured to be effected secretly by
mines. For the decemvirs will say, what indeed is said by many, and has often been said,—that
after the consulship of those men, all that kingdom became the property of the Roman people, by
the bequest of the king Alexander. Will you then give Alexandria
Alexander, king of Egypt, had
died at Tyre in the consulship of Cotta and
Torquatus, two years before, and had bequeathed Alexandria and Egypt to the Roman
people, and in consequence many people advocated the course of claiming that inheritance, and
depriving Ptolemy the king of Egypt. The subject will
be mentioned again in the next oration. to those men when they ask for it in an
underhand way, whom you resisted when they openly fought against you? Which, in the name of the
immortal gods, do these things seem to you,—the designs of sober men, or the dreams of drunken
ones? the serious thoughts of wise men, or the frantic wishes of madmen?
See, now, in the second chapter of this law, how that profligate debauchee is
disturbing the republic,—how he is ruining and dissipating the possessions left us by our
ancestors; so as to be not less a spendthrift in the patrimony of the Roman people than in his
own. He is advertising for sale by his law all the revenues, for the decemvirs to sell them;
that is to say, he is advertising an auction of the property of the state. He wants lands to be
bought, in order to be distributed; he is seeking money. No doubt he will devise something, and
bring it forward; for in the preceding chapters the dignity of the Roman people was attacked;
the name of our dominion was held up as an object of common hatred to all the nations of the
earth; cities which were at peace with us, lands belonging to the allies, the ranks of kings in
alliance with us, were all made a present of to the decemvirs; and now they want actual ready
money paid down to them.
I am waiting to see what this
vigilant and clever tribune is contriving. Let the Scantian The Scantian
wood was in Campania. wood, says he, be sold.
Did you then find this wood mentioned among the possessions that were left, or in the pasture
lands of the lessors? If there is anything which you have hunted out, and discovered, brought
to light out of darkness, although it is not just, still use that, since it is convenient, and
since you yourself were the person to bring it forward. But shall you sell the Scantian wood
while we are consuls, and while this senate is in existence? Shall you touch any of the
revenues? Shall you take away from the Roman people that which is their strength in time of
war, their ornament in time of peace? But then indeed, I shall think myself a lazier consul
than those fearless men who filled this office in the times of our ancestors; because the
revenues which were acquired by the Roman people when they were consuls, will be considered not
able to be preserved when I am consul.
He is selling all the possessions in Italy, in
regular order. Forsooth, he is very busy in that occupation. For does not omit one. He goes
through the whole of Sicily in the account-books of
the censors. He does not omit one single house, or one single field. You have heard an auction
of the property of the Roman people given notice of by tribune of the people, and fixed for the
month of January and I suppose you do not doubt, that they who procured these things by their
arms and their valour, did not sell the for the sake of the treasury, on purpose that we might
have something to sell for the sake of bribery.
See, now, how much more undisguisedly than before he proceeds on his course. For it has been
already shown by how they attacked Pompeius in the earlier part of the law; and now they shall
show it also themselves. He orders the lands belonging to the men of Attalia and Olympus to
be sold. These lands the victory of Publius Servilius, that most gallant general, had made the
property of the Roman people. After that, the royal domains in Macedonia, which were acquired partly by the valour of Titus Flamininus, and part
by that of Lucius Paullus, who conquered Perses. After that, that most excellent and productive
land which belongs Corinth, which was added to the
revenues of the Roman people by the campaigns and successes of Lucius Mummius. After that, they
sell the lands in Spain near Carthagena, acquired by
the distinguished valour of the two Scipios. Then Carthagena itself, which Publius Scipio,
having stripped it of all its fortifications, consecrated to the eternal recollection of men,
whether his purpose was to keep up the memory of the disaster of the Carthaginians, or to bear
witness to our victory, or to fulfill some religious obligation.
Having sold all these ensigns and crowns, as it were, of the empire, with
which the republic was adorned, and handed down to you by your ancestors, they then order the
lands to be sold which the king Mithridates possessed in Paphlagonia, and Pontus, and Cappadocia. Do they not seem to be pursuing without much
disguise, and almost with the crier's spear, the army of Cnaeus Pompeius, when they order those
lands to be sold in which he is now engaged and carrying on war?
But what is the meaning of this, that they fix no place for this auction which they are
establishing? For power is given to the decemvirs by this law, of holding their sales in any
places which seem convenient to them. The censors are not allowed to let the contracts for
farming the revenues, except in the sight of the Roman people. Shall these men be allowed to
sell them in the most distant countries? But even the most profligate men, when they have
squandered their patrimony, prefer selling their property in the auctioneer's rooms, rather
than in the roads, or in the streets. This man, by his law, gives leave to the decemvirs to
sell the property of the Roman people in whatever darkness and whatever solitude they find it
convenient.
Do you not, moreover, see how grievous, how
formidable, and how pregnant with extortion that invasion of the decemvirs and of the multitude
that will follow in their train will be to all the provinces, and kingdoms, and free nations?
In the case of those men on whom you have conferred lieutenancies for the sake of entering on
inheritances, though they went as private men, on private business, invested with no excessive
power and no supreme authority, you have still heard how burdensome their arrival has proved to
your allies.
What alarm and what misfortune, then must you
think all nations are threatened with by this law, when decemvirs are sent all over the world
with supreme power,—men of the greatest avarice, and with an insatiable desire for every sort
of property? whose arrival will be grievous, whose forces will be formidable, whose judicial
and arbitrary power will be absolutely intolerable. For they will have the power of deciding
whatever they please to be public property, and of selling whatever they decide to be such.
Even that very thing which conscientious men will not do, namely, taking money to abstain from
selling, is to be made lawful for them to do by the express provisions of the
law. From this provision what plunderings, what bargainings, what a regular auction of all law
and of every one's fortunes must inevitably arise!
Even that
which in the former pert of the law made in the consulship of Sulla and Pompeius was strictly
defined, that they have now left at the discretion of these men, without any restriction or
limitation.
He orders these same decemvirs to impose an exceedingly heavy tax on all the public domains,
in order that they might be able both to release what lands they choose and to confiscate what
they choose. And in this proceeding it is hard to see whether their severity will be more cruel
or their kindness more gainful.
However, there are in the whole law two exceptions, not so much unjust as suspicious. In
imposing the tax it makes an exception with respect to the Recentoric district in Sicily; and in selling the land, he excepts those with respect
to which there was an express provision in the treaty. These lands are in Africa, in the occupation of Hiempsal.
Here I ask, if sufficient protection is afforded to Hiempsal by the treaty
and if the Recentoric district is private property, what was use of excepting these lands by
name in the law? If that treaty itself has some obscurity in it, and if the Recentoric is
sometimes said to be public property, who do you suppose will believe that there have been two
interests found in the world, and only two, which he spared for nothing? Does there appear to
have been any coin in the world so carefully hidden that the architects of this law have failed
to scent it out? They are draining the provinces, the free cities, our allies, our friends, and
even the kings who are confederate with us. They are laying bands on the revenue of the Roman
people.
That is not enough. Listen—listen, you who, by the most honourable vote of the people and
senate, have commanded armies and carried on wars:—“Whatever has come or shall come to anyone,
of booty, of spoils, of money given for gold crowns, which has neither been spent on a
monument, nor paid into the treasury, is all to be paid over to the decemvirs.” From this
chapter they expect a great deal. The propose by their resolution an investigation into the
affairs of all our generals and all their heirs. But they expect to go the greatest quantity of
money from Faustus. That cause which the judges upon their oath would not undertake, these
decemvirs have undertaken. They think, perhaps, that it was declined by the judges, on purpose
to be reserved to them.
After that, the law most carefully
provides for the future, that, whatever money any general receives, he is at once to pay over
to the decemvirs. But here he excepts Pompeius, very much as, as it seems to me, in that law by
which aliens are sent away from Rome an exception is
made in favour of Glaucippus. For the effect of this exception is not to confer a kindness on
one man, but merely to save one man from injustice. But the man whose spoils the law thus
spares, has his revenues invaded by the same law. For it orders all the money which is received
after our consulship from the new revenues, to be placed to the use of the decemvirs. As if we
did not see that they were thinking of selling the revenues which Cnaeus Pompeius has added to
the wealth of the Roman people.
You see now, O conscript fathers, that the money which is to belong to the decemvirs is
collected and heaped together from every possible source, and by every imaginable expedient.
The unpopularity arising from their possession of this large sum is to be diminished, for it
shall be spent in the purchase of lands. Exceedingly well. Who then is to buy those lands?
These same decemvirs. You, O Rullus— for I say nothing of the rest of them,—are to buy whatever
you like; to sell whatever you like, to buy or sell at whatever price you please. For that
admirable man takes care not to buy of any one against his will. As if we did not understand
that to buy of a man against his will is an injurious thing to do; but to buy of one who has no
objection, is profitable. How much land (to say nothing of other people) will your
father-in-law sell you? and, if I have formed a proper estimate of the fairness of his
disposition, will have no objection to sell you? The rest will do the same willingly; they will
be glad to exchange the unpopularity attaching to the possession of land for money; to receive
whatever they demand, and to part with what they can scarcely retain.
Now just see the boundless and intolerable licentiousness of all these
measures. Money has been collected for the purchase of lands. More-over, the lands are not to
be bought of people against their will. Suppose all the owners agree not to sell, what is to
happen then? Is the money to be refunded? That cannot be. Is it to be collected?
The law forbids that. However, let that pass. There is nothing which cannot be bought, if you
will only give as much as the seller asks. Let us plunder the whole world, let us sell our
revenues, let us exhaust the treasury, in order that, whether men be owners of wealth, or of
odium, or even of a pestilence, still their lands may be bought.
What is to happen then? what sort of men are to be
established as settlers in those lands? what is to be the system and plan adopted in the whole
business? Colonies, say the law, shall be led thither, and settled there. How many? Of what
class of men? Where are they to be established? For who is there who does not see that all
these things have got to be considered when we are talking of colonies? Did you think, O
Rullus, that we would give up the whole of Italy to
you and to those contrivers of everything whom you have set up, in an unarmed and defenceless
state, for you to strengthen it with garrisons afterwards? for you to occupy it with colonies?
to hold it bound and fettered by every sort of chain? For where is there any clause to prevent
your establishing a colony on the Janiculan Hill? or from oppressing and overwhelming this city
with some other city? We will not do so, says he. In the first place, I don't know that; in the
next place, I am afraid of you; lastly, I will never permit our safety to depend on your
kindness rather than on our own prudence.