Philippics Passage 18

at etiam gladiator ausus est scribere hunc de patris et patrui parricidio cogitasse. O admirabilem impudentiam, audaciam, temeritatem! in eum adulescentem hoc scribere audere quem ego et frater meus propter eius suavissimos atque optimos mores praestantissimumque ingenium certatim amamus omnibusque horis oculis, auribus, complexu tenemus? nam me isdem edictis nescit laedat an laudet. cum idem supplicium minatur optimis civibus quod ego de sceleratissimis ac pessimis sumpserim, laudare videtur, quasi imitari velit; cum autem illam pulcherrimi facti memoriam refricat, tum a sui similibus invidiam aliquam in me commoveri putat.

The gladiator even dared to write that this young man had contemplated murdering his father and uncle. O astonishing shamelessness, audacity, and recklessness! To dare write this against a young man whom my brother and I vie with each other in loving for his most agreeable and excellent character and outstanding talent, and whom at every hour we keep within our sight, hearing, and embrace! In the same edicts, he does not know whether he harms or praises me. When he threatens the best citizens with the same punishment I inflicted upon the most criminal and wicked, he seems to praise me, as though wishing to imitate me. But when he revives the memory of that most splendid deed, he imagines he can stir up some resentment against me among men like himself.

Ce gladiateur a même osé écrire que ce jeune homme avait médité le meurtre de son père et de son oncle. Ô admirable impudence, audace et témérité! Oser écrire cela contre un jeune homme que mon frère et moi, rivalisant d’affection pour la douceur parfaite de ses mœurs et l’excellence de son esprit, gardons à toute heure sous nos yeux, à portée de notre voix et dans nos bras! Quant à moi, dans ces mêmes édits, Antoine ne sait s’il me blesse ou me loue. Lorsqu’il menace les meilleurs citoyens du même supplice que celui que j’ai infligé aux criminels les plus odieux, il paraît me louer, comme s’il voulait m’imiter. Mais lorsqu’il ravive le souvenir de cette très belle action, il pense soulever contre moi quelque haine parmi ceux qui lui ressemblent.