Section 9
Original Latin
an domicilium Romae non habuit is qui tot annis [ante] civitatem datam sedem omnium rerum ac fortunarum suarum Romae conlocavit? an non est professus? immo vero eis tabulis professus quae solae ex illa professione conlegioque praetorum obtinent publicarum tabularum auctoritatem.
Chapter 5
nam, cum Appi tabulae neglegentius adservatae dicerentur, Gabini, quam diu incolumis fuit, levitas, post damnationem calamitas omnem tabularum fidem resignasset, Metellus, homo sanctissimus modestissimusque omnium, tanta diligentia fuit ut ad L. Lentulum praetorem et ad iudices venerit et unius nominis litura se commotum esse dixerit. his igitur [in] tabulis nullam lituram in nomine A. Licini videtis.
Musean translation
Complete machine-assisted Musean translation made directly from the Latin in Clark’s 1911 edition; source-language model review recorded. Perseus transcription: CC BY-SA 4.0, credited to the Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Or did he have no residence in Rome—a man who, so many years before citizenship was granted, had established here the center of all his affairs and fortunes? Did he fail to register? On the contrary, he registered in the only records from that registration and that board of praetors that retain the authority of public documents.
Chapter 5
For while Appius’s records were reportedly kept rather carelessly, and Gabinius’s irresponsibility before his conviction and disgrace afterward had destroyed all confidence in his records, Metellus, the most upright and self-controlled of men, was so scrupulous that he appeared before the praetor Lucius Lentulus and the judges to say that an erasure against a single name had disturbed him. In these records, then, you see no erasure against the name of Aulus Licinius.
Plain English translation
Complete machine-assisted Plain English translation made independently and directly from the Latin, not from the Musean edition; source-language model review recorded. Perseus transcription: CC BY-SA 4.0, credited to the Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Or did he not have a home in Rome? He had made Rome the center of all his affairs and possessions many years before citizenship was granted. Did he fail to declare himself to a praetor? Not at all. The register holding his declaration is the only one from that enrollment and that group of praetors still recognized as an official record.
Chapter 5
Appius’s records were reportedly kept rather carelessly. Gabinius’s unreliability before his conviction, and his downfall afterward, had destroyed all trust in his records. But Metellus, a man of outstanding honesty and restraint, took such care that he went to Lucius Lentulus, the praetor, and to the judges. He told them that an erasure affecting just one name had troubled him. In these records, then, you see no erasure affecting the name of Aulus Licinius.
About this section
Section 9 is part of For Archias the Poet by Marcus Tullius Cicero. This page sets the Latin original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is section 9 of 32 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
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