Cicero
capite nisi comitiis centuriatis rogari, nulla vox est audita consulum, constitutumque est illo anno, quantum in illis duabus huius imperii pestibus fuit, iure posse per operas concitatas quemvis civem nominatim tribuni pl. concilio ex civitate exturbari?
66Quae vero promulgata illo anno fuerint, quae promissa multis, quae conscripta, quae sperata, quae cogitata, quid dicam? Qui locus orbi terrae iam non erat alicui destinatus? Cuius negotii publici cogitari, optari, fingi curatio potuit, quae non esset attributa atque discripta? quod genus imperii aut quae provincia, quae ratio aut flandae aut conflandae pecuniae non reperiebatur? quae regio orave terrarum erat latior, in qua non regnum aliquod statueretur? quis autem rex erat, qui illo anno non aut emendum sibi, quod non habebat, aut redimendum, quod habebat, arbitraretur? quis provinciam, quis pecuniam, quis legationem a senatu petebat? Damnatis de vi restitutio,
Pro Sestio
an individuala or any decision being made regarding a man’s rights as a citizen except in the comitia centuriata—why, I ask, did the consuls never utter a word, and why was a rule established during this year, so far as it was possible under those two curses of this Empire, that any citizen could be expressly named and legally driven out of the State by gangs of hirelings at a Meetingb summoned by a tribune of the commons?
But why need I speak of all the proposals that 66 were put forward during that year, of the promises made to many, of the written engagements, of the hopes and plans that were entertained? What spot in the world was not already allotted to some one? What public business could be thought of, desired or dreamed of, where the management had not been already assigned and parcelled out? what sort of command, what sphere of activity, what method of coining or scraping together moneyc was not discovered? what district or country in the world of any sized was not made the seat of some kingdom? and what king was there who in that year did not feel himself obliged to buy for himself what he had not, or to buy back what he had? Who ever asked the Senate for a province, or money,e or a staff-appointment?f There had been convictions for violenceg: restitution
- aSuch a law was called a privilegium. See Cicero, De domo sua, 43: “vetant leges sacratae, vetant XII tabulae, leges privatis hominibus inrogari; id est privilegium” (an enactment in favour of or against an individual).
- bCicero here refers to the concilium plebis tributum and claims that no citizen could legally forfeit his caput except by order of the comitia centuriata. The distinction between comitia (Assembly of the whole People) and concilium (Meeting of a section) is precisely expressed by Laelius Felix, a jurist of Hadrian’s reign, in Aulus Gellius, xv. 27. 4. See also Livy, xxxix. 15.
- cFlare is to coin money officially. Conflare is often used by Cicero of any irregular or underhand procedure directed to the detriment of others, e.g., in Pro Cluentio, 18 conflare malum = “to plot mischief.” See Reid’s note on Cicero, Pro Sulla, 13.
- dKock suggests latentior (“more out of the way”) for the mms. latior.
- eA grant towards the expenses of a governorship.
- fOr, possibly, a legatio libera, a privilege enabling senators to visit provinces as state ambassadors. Cicero in 63 b.c. limited this privilege to one year and Caesar imposed further restrictions.
- gCatilinarians exiled in 62 b.c. under the lex Plautia de vi. See Sallust, Cat. 31; Cicero, Pro Flacco, 96; and p. 32, note c.