Pro Lucio Murena
- Language:
- Latin
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~14,300 words · 68 passages
Cite this work
- APACicero. (n.d.). Pro Lucio Murena. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/cicero/pro-lucio-murena
- MLACicero. Pro Lucio Murena. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/cicero/pro-lucio-murena.
- ChicagoCicero. Pro Lucio Murena. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/cicero/pro-lucio-murena.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The defence of a consul-elect accused of buying votes. One of the prosecutors was Cato the Younger, the unbending Stoic, and Cicero mocks him openly before the court.
Context and history
63 BC, in the middle of Catiline's conspiracy: Cicero argues that convicting a consul-elect at that moment would be worse than the fraud itself. The funniest speech in the corpus — the ribbing of Cato's rigid Stoicism is memorable — and at the same time a frankly political argument for stability over law.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Summa in utroque est honestas, summa dignitas; quam ego, si mihi per Servium liceat, pari atque eadem in laude ponam. Sed non licet; agitat rem militarem, insectatur totam hanc legationem, adsiduitatis et operarum harum cotidianarum putat esse consulatum. ‘Apud exercitum mihi fueris’ inquit; ‘tot annos forum non attigeris; afueris tam diu et, cum longo intervallo veneris, cum his qui in foro habitarint de dignitate contendas?’ Primum ista nostra adsiduitas, Servi, nescis quantum interdum adferat hominibus fastidi, quantum satietatis. Mihi quidem vehementer expediit positam in oculis esse gratiam; sed tamen ego mei satietatem magno meo labore superavi et tu item fortasse; verum tamen utrique nostrum desiderium nihil obfuisset. Sed ut hoc omisso ad studiorum atque artium contentionem revertamur, qui potest dubitari quin ad consulatum adipiscendum multo plus adferat dignitatis rei militaris quam iuris civilis gloria? Vigilas tu de nocte ut tuis consultoribus respondeas, ille ut eo quo intendit mature cum exercitu perveniat; te gallorum, illum bucinarum cantus exsuscitat; tu actionem instituis, ille aciem instruit; tu caves ne tui consultores, ille ne urbes aut castra capiantur; ille tenet et scit ut hostium copiae, tu ut aquae pluviae arceantur; ille exercitatus est in propagandis finibus, tuque in regendis. Ac nimirum—dicendum est enim quod sentio—rei militaris virtus praestat ceteris omnibus. Haec nomen populo Romano, haec huic urbi aeternam gloriam peperit, haec orbem terrarum parere huic imperio coegit; omnes urbanae res, omnia haec nostra praeclara studia et haec forensis laus et industria latet in tutela ac praesidio bellicae virtutis. Simul atque increpuit suspicio tumultus, artes ilico nostrae conticiscunt.