Brutus ou Des orateurs illustres Passage 217

is cum tribunus plebis Curionem et Octavium consules produxisset Curioque multa dixisset sedente Cn. Octavio conlega, qui devinctus erat fasciis et multis medicamentis propter dolorem artuum delibutus, numquam, inquit, Octavi, conlegae tuo gratiam referes: qui nisi se suo more iactavisset, hodie te istic muscae comedissent. Memoria autem ita fuit nulla, ut aliquotiens, tria cum proposuisset, aut quartum adderet aut tertium quaereret; qui in iudicio privato vel maximo, cum ego pro Titinia Cottae peroravissem, ille contra me pro Ser. Naevio diceret, subito totam causam oblitus est idque veneficiis et cantionibus Titiniae factum esse dicebat.

When Sicinius, as tribune of the plebs, had brought forward the consuls Curio and Octavius, Curio spoke at length while his colleague Gnaeus Octavius sat beside him, wrapped in bandages and smeared with many medicines because of pain in his joints. Sicinius said: "Octavius, will you never repay your colleague? Had he not tossed himself about in his usual fashion, the flies would have eaten you where you sit today." Curio's memory was so utterly absent that, after proposing three points, he sometimes added a fourth or went looking for the third. In a very important private trial, after I had concluded for Titinia against Cotta and he was speaking against me for Servius Naevius, he suddenly forgot the entire case and said that Titinia had caused it by poisons and incantations.

Lorsque Sicinius, tribun de la plèbe, eut fait paraître devant le peuple les consuls Curio et Octavius, Curio parla longuement tandis que son collègue Cnaeus Octavius demeurait assis, enveloppé de bandages et couvert de nombreux remèdes à cause de douleurs articulaires. «Octavius, dit Sicinius, tu ne remercieras donc jamais ton collègue? S’il ne s’était agité à son habitude, les mouches t’auraient dévoré aujourd’hui même à cette place.» Quant à sa mémoire, elle était si inexistante que, s’étant proposé trois points, il en ajoutait parfois un quatrième ou cherchait le troisième. Dans un procès privé de la plus grande importance, après que j’eus prononcé la péroraison pour Titinia, cliente de Cotta, tandis qu’il parlait contre moi pour Servius Naevius, il oublia soudain toute la cause et prétendit que cet oubli avait été provoqué par les poisons et les incantations de Titinia.