Quintus Asconius Pedianus
9 BC-76AD
trans RMBullard
Latin [Imperial Period]
ORATIONUM CICERONIS QUINQUE ENARRATIO
I. IN SENATU CONTRA L. PISONEM [Speech in the Senate against Lucius Piso]
Haec oratio dicta est Cn. Pompeio Magno II M. Crasso II coss. ante paucos dies quam Cn. Pompeius ludos faceret, quibus theatrum a se factum dedicavit.
[This speech was made during the consul year of Gnaeus Pompey the Great and Marcus Crassus, before Gnaeus Pompey held games for men whom he dedicated to make a theater to built by himself.]
Hoc intellegi ex ipsius Ciceronis verbis potest quae in hac oratione posuit.
[From this one can understand from Cicero's own words the ideas he argued in his speech.]
dixit enim sic:
[So, specifically he said:]
"Instant post hominum memoriam apparatissimi magnificentissimi ludi ...
["The most organized games of all according to human memory are the most magnificent of all...]
quidem posuit hanc inter eas orationes quas dixit Cicero L. Domitio Appio Claudio coss. ultimam.
[Cicero indeed said this very last thing in these speeches during the consul year of Lucius Domitius and Appius Claudius.]
Sed ut ego ab eo dissentiam facit primum quod Piso reversus est ex provincia Pompeio et Crasso consulibus, Gabinius Domitio et Appio:
[But, for my part, let me describe from this what he does before Piso is turned back from his province, that is during the consul years of Pompey and Crassus, and Gabinius Domitius and Appius, respectively,]
hanc autem orationem dictam ante Gabini reditum ex ipsa manifestum est.
[In any event, this is the speech spoken before Gabinius' return, as is self-explanatory.]
Deinde magis quidem naturale est
[Next it is indeed a more natural conclusion that]
ut Piso recenti reditu invectus sit in Ciceronem
[that Piso, fresh from his return, attacked Cicero,]
responderitque insectationi eius
[and replied to his investigation]
qua revocatus erat ex provincia quam post anni intervallum.
[through which he had previously been recalled from his province after the passage of a year.]
Apparet autem Ciceronem respondisse Pisoni.
[In any event, it appears that Cicero had beforehand responded to Piso.]
In summa, cum dicat in ipsa oratione Cicero instare magnificentissimos apparatissimosque ludos,
[To sum things up, since Cicero declared in this same speech that his devotion to the most magnificent and well-prepared games possible,]
non video quo modo hoc magis Domitio et Appio coss. dictum sit,
[I don't see how it could have been a spoken in the consul years of Domitius and Appius,]
quibus consulibus nulli notabiliores (p.2) ludi fuerunt,
[under whose consulship there were no particularly noteworthy games,]
quam Pompeio et Crasso,
[than during the consul year of Pompey and Crassus]
quo anno Pompeius exquisitissimis magnificentissimisque omnis generis ludis theatrum dedicavit.
[in which year Pompey celebrated the building of his theater with the most exquisite and magnificent games of its fashion.]
Argumentum orationis huius breve admodum est.
[The introduction of this speech is quite short.]
Nam cum revocati essent ex provinciis Piso et Gabinius sententia Ciceronis
[you see, since Piso and Gabinius were recalled from their provinces, by Cicero's proposal]
quam dixerat de provinciis consularibus Lentulo et Philippo consulibus,
[as he had said about the proconsular provinces, in the consul year of Lentulus and Philippus]
reversus in civitatem Piso de insectatione Ciceronis in senatu conquestus est et in eum invectus,
[and once Piso turned back to the city, he made an official investigation concerning Cicero's injunction in the Senate, and railed against him]
fiducia maxime Caesaris generi qui tum Gallias obtinebat.
[This man later obtained control of Gaul most of all because of the loyalty of his son in law Caesar.]
Pisoni Cicero respondit hac oratione.
[Cicero responded to Pison with the following speech.]
Enarratio
Circa vers. a primo ***
[Somewhere around the beginning]
Quod minimum specimen in te ingeni?
[What is the least type of intelligence for you?]
Ingeni autem?
[In any event, of intelligence?]
immo ingenui hominis ac liberi:
[Why indeed, the kind belonging to a talented and freeborn man:]
qui colore ipso patriam aspernaris, oratione genus, moribus nomen.
[a man like you who detested his country for its tint, its type of speech, the type of its customs.]
Tametsi haec oratio sic inscribitur: "In L. Pisonem";
[Even still, this speech was thusly written down as the "Prosecution of Lucius Piso"]
tamen non puto vos ignorare hunc Pisonem ex ea familia esse quae Frugi appellata sit:
[In any event, I don't think that you can ignore that Piso was from the family called the Frugi]
et ideo dicit aspernari eum moribus nomen.
[and so it says that he despised the name by customs.]
Circa vers. LXXX [around line 80]
Hoc non ad contemnendam Placentiam pertinet
[This does not pertain to the spite against Placentia <Piacenza>]
unde se is ortum gloriari solet:
[the very hometown he's always bragging about]
neque enim hoc mea natura fert,
[you see neither does my own nature bear this,]
nec municipi, praesertim de me optime meriti, dignitas patitur.
[nor can the dignity of the city, especially on that is so amazingly deserving, in my opinion, endure it.]
Magnopere me haesitare confiteor quid sit quae re Cicero (3) Placentiam muni cipium esse dicat.
[I confess to greatly being in doubt as to what might be the reason for Cicero claiming that Placentia was a city.]
Video enim in annalibus
[You see, I see in the yearly accounts]
eorum qui Punicum bellum secundum scripserunt
[of those who wrote about the Second Punic War]
tradi Placentiam coloniam deductam pridie Kal. Iun. primo anno eius belli,
[that the colony of Piacenza <Placentia> was established on the day before the Kalends of June, in the very first year of this war]
P. Cornelio Scipione, patre Africani prioris, Ti.Sempronio Longo coss.
[in the consul years of Publius Cornelius Scipio, the father of the Africanus I mentioned before, and Tiberius Sempronius Longus]
Neque illud dici potest,
[Nor can that statement have been said,]
sic eam coloniam esse deductam
[that "this colony had been established"]
quemadmodum post plures aetates Cn. Pompeius Strabo, pater Cn. Pompei Magni, Transpadanas colonias deduxerit.
[insofar as Gnaeus Pompey Strabo, the father Gnaeus Pompey the Great, had established colonies across the Po only after several more generations.]
Pompeius enim non novis colonis eas constituit
[You see, Pompey did not found these using new colonists,]
sed veteribus incolis manentibus ius dedit Latii,
[but rather he gave Latin citizenship to the former residents who remained there,]
ut possent habere ius quod ceterae Latinae coloniae,
[and what happened was that they held the same legal status of any other Latin colony,]
id est ut petendo magistratus civitatem Romanam adipiscerentur.
[so it is only the case that they began to acquire Roman citizenship by petitioning the government officials.]
Placentiam autem sex milia hominum novi coloni deducti sunt, in quibus equites ducenti.
[In any event, 6000 people were made the new colonists at Placentia, among whom numbered 200 knights.]
Deducendi fuit causa
[The reason for the foundation was]
ut opponerentur Gallis qui eam partem Italiae tenebant.
[that they were beginning to repel Gauls who once possessed this area of Italy.]
I N F I N I T A
