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state, by taking upon him, as was his custom,[230] the defense of the criminals. That this attack on his character was made by Cicero, I afterward heard Crassus himself assert.
XLIX. Yet, at the same time, neither by interest, nor by solicitation, nor by bribes, could Quintus Catulus, and Caius Piso, prevail upon Cicero to have Caius Caesar falsely accused, either by means of the Allobroges, or any other evidence. Both of these men were at bitter enmity with Caesar; Piso, as having been attacked by him, when he was on[231] his trial for extortion, on a charge of having illegally put to death a Transpadane Gaul; Catulus, as having hated him ever since he stood for the pontificate, because, at an advanced age, and after filling the highest offices, he had been defeated by Caesar, who was then comparatively a youth.[232] The opportunity, too, seemed favorable for such an accusation; for Caesar, by extraordinary generosity in private, and by magnificent exhibitions in public,[233] had fallen greatly into debt. But when they failed to persuade the consul to such injustice, they themselves, by going from one person to another, and spreading fictions of their own, which they pretended to have heard from Volturcius or the Allobroges, excited such violent odium against him, that certain Roman knights, who were stationed as an armed guard round the Temple of Concord, being prompted, either by the greatness of the danger, or by the impulse of a high spirit, to testify more openly their zeal for the republic, threatened Caesar with their swords as he went out of the senate-house.
L. While these occurrences were passing in the senate, and while rewards were being voted, an approbation of their evidence, to the Allobrogian deputies and to Titus Volturcius, the freedmen, and some of the other dependents of Lentulus, were urging the artisans and slaves, in various directions throughout the city,[234] to attempt his rescue; some, too, applied to the ringleaders of the mob, who were always ready to disturb the state for pay. Cethegus, at the same time, was soliciting, through his agents, his slaves[235] and freedmen, men trained to deeds of audacity, to collect themselves into an armed body, and force a way into his place of confinement.
The consul, when he heard that these things were in agitation, having distributed armed bodies of men, as the circumstances and occasion demanded, called a meeting of the senate, and desired to know "what they wished to be done concerning those who had been committed to custody." A full senate, however, had but a short time before[236] declared them traitors to their country. On this occasion, Decimus Junius Silanus, who, as consul elect, was first asked his opinion, moved[237] that capital punishment should be inflicted, not only on those who were in confinement, but also on Lucius Cassius, Publius Furius, Publius Umbrenus, and Quintus Annius, if they should be apprehended; but afterward, being influenced by the speech of Caius Caesar, he said that he would go over to the opinion of Tiberius Nero,[238] who had proposed that the guards should be increased, and that the senate should deliberate further on the matter. Caesar, when it came to his turn, being asked his opinion by the consul, spoke to the following effect:
LI. "It becomes all men,[239] Conscript Fathers, who deliberate on dubious matters, to be influenced neither by hatred, affection, anger, nor pity. The mind, when such feelings obstruct its view, can not easily see what is right; nor has any human being consulted, at the same moment, his passion and his interest. When the mind is freely exerted, its reasoning is sound; but passion, if it gain possession of it, becomes its tyrant, and reason is powerless.
I could easily mention, Conscript Fathers, numerous examples of kings and nations, who, swayed by resentment or compassion, have adopted injudicious courses of conduct; but I had rather speak of these instances in which our ancestors, in opposition, to the impulse of passion, acted with wisdom and sound policy.