+Caesar at Rhodes.+ ‘Caesar, from what we know of his taste and character, could hardly have found the same delight as Cicero in his studies at Rhodes. He nevertheless became one of the greatest orators of his day, and according to some accounts, second only to Cicero. It is characteristic of Caesar, but unfortunate for us, that he never took any pains to collect and preserve his speeches.’ --Warde Fowler.
Quid ego de P. Gavio, Consano municipe, dicam, indices? Aut qua vi vocis, qua gravitate verborum, quo dolore animi dicam? Quod crimen eius modi est ut, cum primum ad me delatum est, usurum me illo non putarem; tametsi enim verissimum esse { 5} intellegebam, tamen credibile fore non arbitrabar. Quid nunc agam? Rem in medio ponam: quae tantum habet ipsa gravitatis ut neque mea, quae nulla est, neque cuiusquam ad inflammandos vestros animos eloquentia requiratur. { 10}
Caedebatur virgis in medio foro Messanae civis Romanus, iudices; cum interea nullus gemitus, nulla vox alia illius miseri inter dolorem crepitumque plagarum audiebatur, nisi haec, _Civis Romanus sum_. Hac se commemoratione civitatis omnia verbera { 15} depulsurum, cruciatum a corpore deiecturum arbitrabatur. Is non modo hoc non perfecit ut virgarum vim deprecaretur, sed cum imploraret saepius usurparetque nomen civitatis, crux, crux, inquam, infelici et aerumnoso comparabatur. { 20}
O nomen dulce libertatis! O ius eximium nostrae civitatis! O lex Porcia legesque Semproniae! O graviter desiderata et aliquando reddita plebi Romanae tribunicia potestas! Hucine tandem omnia reciderunt ut civis Romanus in provincia populi Romani, { 25} in oppido foederatorum, ab eo qui beneficio populi Romani fasces et secures haberet deligatus in foro virgis caederetur?
[Linenotes: 1. +Consano municipe+ = _a burgess of Consa_, on the borders of Lucania. 22. +Lex Porcia.+ Passed by M. Porcius Cato, 197 B.C., forbade the execution or scourging of a Roman citizen. +Leges Semproniae+, a code of laws passed by C. Sempronius Gracchus, 123 B.C. One of these declared it to be the sole right of the people to decide capital cases. 22-24. +O graviter desiderata ... potestas!+ Sulla (Dictator 82-79 B.C.) took from the tribunes _the right of proposing laws_, and left them only their original right of Intercessio or veto. In 70 B.C. Pompeius, who had formally accepted the democratic programme, gave back to the tribunes the power to initiate legislation.]