Brutus ou Des orateurs illustres Passage 273

nec vero M. Caelium praetereundum arbitror, quaecumque eius in exitu vel fortuna vel mens fuit; qui quamdiu auctoritati meae paruit, talis tribunus plebis fuit ut nemo contra civium perditorum popularem turbulentamque dementiam a senatu et a bonorum causa steterit constantius. Antiquam eius actionem multum tamen et splendida et grandis et eadem in primis faceta et perurbana commendabat oratio. Graves eius contiones aliquot fuerunt, acres accusationes tres eaeque omnes ex rei publicae contentione susceptae; defensiones, etsi illa erant in eo meliora quae dixi, non contemnendae tamen saneque tolerabiles. Hic cum summa voluntate bonorum aedilis curulis factus esset, nescio quo modo discessu meo discessit a sese ceciditque, postea quam eos imitari coepit quos ipse perverterat.

Nor do I think Marcus Caelius should be passed over, whatever his fortune or state of mind may have been at the end. As long as he obeyed my authority, he was such a tribune of the plebs that no one stood more firmly with the senate and the cause of respectable citizens against the popular, turbulent madness of ruined men. His delivery in the old manner was greatly enhanced by speech that was brilliant and grand, and at the same time exceptionally witty and urbane. Several of his public addresses were weighty; three of his prosecutions were fierce, and all were undertaken from political controversy. His defenses, though the qualities I mentioned were better in him, were nevertheless not contemptible and were quite tolerable. After he had become curule aedile with the fullest support of respectable citizens, somehow, upon my departure, he departed from himself and fell once he began to imitate the men whom he himself had overthrown.

Je ne crois pas non plus qu’il faille passer sous silence M. Caelius, quels qu’aient été à la fin son destin ou ses sentiments. Aussi longtemps qu’il obéit à mon autorité, il fut un tribun de la plèbe tel que personne ne se tint plus fermement aux côtés du Sénat et de la cause des gens de bien contre la folie populaire et séditieuse des citoyens perdus. Son action d’un style ancien était pourtant grandement soutenue par une éloquence brillante, élevée, surtout spirituelle et parfaitement urbaine. Il prononça quelques harangues graves, trois accusations mordantes, toutes entreprises à la suite de conflits politiques ; ses défenses, bien qu’inférieures aux qualités que j’ai dites, n’étaient pas à mépriser et demeuraient tout à fait supportables. Devenu édile curule avec la faveur unanime des gens de bien, il s’éloigna, je ne sais comment, de lui-même à mon départ, et tomba après avoir commencé à imiter ceux qu’il avait lui-même renversés.