Marcus Tullius Cicero [Cicero or Tully]
106-43 BC *executed by 2nd Triumvirate (specifically Mark Antony)
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Republican Era/Golden Age of Latin Literature)
M. TVLLI CICERONIS DE PROVINCIIS CONSVLARIBUS ORATIO
1 I. [1] Si quis vestrum, patres conscripti, exspectat quas sim provincias decreturus,
[If one of you, my fellow senators, are eager to know which provinces I will be decreed,]
consideret ipse secum
[he should taken into consideration in his own right]
qui mihi homines ex provinciis potissimum detrahendi sint;
[who might be the men who most of all must be dragged away from the provinces, for my sake;]
non dubitabit quid sentire me conveniat,
[he will not be in doubt why it suits me to feel this way,]
cum, quid mihi sentire necesse sit, cogitarit.
[as soon as he considers why it might be necessary that I feel this way.]
Ac si princeps eam sententiam dicerem, laudaretis profecto;
[and if I, as a leading citizen, should speak this opinion of my, you would immediately speak praise;]
si solus, certe ignosceritis;
[if I was alone, you shall've surely been left in the dark;]
etiamsi paulo minus utilis vobis sententia videretur,
[even if it should seem all the less a useful thought to you all,]
veniam tamen aliquam dolori meo tribueritis.
[still you will've bestowed some degree of forgiveness for this mistake on my part.]
Nunc vero, Patres conscripti, non parva adficior voluptate,
[Now really, conscripted Senators, I'm inspired by pure desire, a great amount of it,]
vel quod hoc maxime rei publicae conducit Syriam Macedoniamque decerni,
[either because, most of all, it opens up Syria and Macedonia to be determined by the commonwealth,]
ut dolor meus nihil a communi utilitate dissentiat,
[so that my own grief not disagree in any way to with the welfare of our community,]
vel quod habeo auctorem P. Servilium,
[or because I have at my disposal Publius Servilius,]
qui ante me sententiam dixit,
[who spoke his point of view before me,]
virum clarissimum
[a most distinguished gentleman]
et cum in universam rem publicam, tum etiam erga meam salutem fide ac benevolentia singulari.
[and who has shown a singular loyalty and goodwill both to every member of our commonwealth, as well as for the sake of my own safety.]
[2] Quodsi ille, et paulo ante, et quotienscumque ei locus dicendi ac potestas fuit,
[But if the man I speak of, just a while ago, and let me add, the exact same station and power of speaking belongs to him,]
Gabinium et Pisonem, duo rei publicae portenda ac paene funera,
[and Gabinius and Piso, two men who often portend the death of our commonwealth,]
cum propter alias causas,
[not only on account of other reasons,]
tum maxime propter illud insigne scelus eorum et importunam in me crudelitatem,
[but on account of their most notorious wickedness and unseasonable cruelty against me,]
non solum sententia sua,
sed etiam verborum gravitate esse notandos putavit,
[--he not only thought that they they must be marked down in response to their ideology but to the seriousness of their declarations as well,]
quonam me animo in eos esse oportet,
[why so does it suit me to direct my attention upon these men,]
cuius illud salutem pro pignore tradiderunt ad explendas suas cupiditates?
[and the safety of whom they betrayed, despite swearing an oath, so that they could gratify their own desires?]
Sed ego in hac sententia dicenda non parebo dolori meo,
[But, for my sake, I will not be swayed by own grief on this opinion, though it is one that need be spoken,]
non iracundiae serviam.
[I will not indulge my resentment.]
Quo animo unus quisque vestrum debet esse in illos, hoc ero;
[And with this same mindset, each and every one of you all ought approaches those men I speak of, and I will do the same;]
praecipuum illum et proprium sensum doloris mei, quem tamen vos communem semper vobis mecum esse duxistis, a sententia dicenda amovebo,
[I will detach from the argument that I must make that utter and personal feeling that is my own grief, the one which you yet all have taken upon, as always, as belonging to yourselves, as well as to me, ]
ad ulciscendi tempora reservabo.
[and I will postpone the time when I must think about revenge.]
II. [3] Quattuor sunt provinciae, Patres conscripti,
[My fellow senators, there are four provinces,]
de quibus adhuc intellego sententias esse dictas,
[about which I, at this point, understand the following facts need be declared,]
Galliae duae, quas hoc tempore uno imperio videmus esse coniunctas et Syria et Macedonia,
[the two Gauls, which we, at one time, see were linked under a single administration of government, and Syria, and then Macedonia,]
quas vobis invitis et oppressis pestiferi illi consules properversae rei publicae praemiis occupaverunt.
[which the ill-bearing consuls I speak of occupied as rewards from an ever-changing commonwealth, even while all of you were unwilling and overwhelmed.]
Decernandae nobis sunt lege Sempronia duae.
[There are two that need to be examined under the Sempronian law.]
Quid est quod possimus de Syria Macedonia dubitare?
[Why is it that we manage to remain muddled onSyria and Macedonia?]
Mitto quod eas ita partas habent ii,
[I submit that these men thusly occupy these regions,]
qui nunc obtinent,
[I mean, the ones now receiving them,]
ut non ante attingerint,
[but not so that they could attain them beforehand,]
quam hunc ordinem condemnarint,
[as they have damned this here class of men,]
quam auctoritatem vestram e civitate exterminarint,
[and as they have extinguished your own right to govern, right out of your city,]
quam fidem publicam, quam perpetuam populi Romani salutem, quam me ac meos omnis foedissime crudelissimeque vexarint.
[and as they have disturbed the faith of the people, as they have the permanent safety of the Roman public, and in the foulest and most heinous ways, myself and all of my supporters.]
I N F I N I T A
