ON THE PUNISHMENT OF THE CATILINE
CONSPIRATORS[1]
(63 B.C.)
Born in 95 B.C., died in 46; served against Spartacus in 72; Questor in 65; Pretor in 54; served under Pompey against Cæsar in 48; committed suicide in 46.
My feelings, conscript fathers, are extremely different when I contemplate our circumstances and dangers, and when I revolve in my mind the sentiments of some who have spoken before me. Those speakers, as it seems to me, have considered only how to punish the traitors who have raised war against their country, their parents, their altars, and their homes; but the state of affairs warns us rather to secure ourselves against them, than to take counsel as to what sentence we should pass upon them. Other crimes you may punish after they have been committed; but as to this, unless you prevent its commission, you will, when it has once taken effect, in vain appeal to justice. When the city is taken, no power is left to the vanquished.
But, in the name of the immortal gods, I call upon you, who have always valued your mansions
- ↑ Delivered in the Roman senate-house soon after Cæsar had spoken, in 63 B.C. Reported by Sallust. Translated by John S. Watson.
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