Lettres à Atticus Passage 12

nunc est exspectatio comitiorum; in quae omnibus invitis trudit noster Magnus Auli filium atque in eo neque auctoritate neque gratia pugnat sed quibus Philippus omnia castella expugnari posse dicebat, in quae modo asellus onustus auro posset ascendere. consul autem ille deterioris histrionis similis suscepisse negotium dicitur et domi divisores habere; quod ego non credo. sed senatus consulta duo iam facta sunt odiosa, quod in consulem facta putantur, Catone et Domitio postulante, unum, ut apud magistratus inquiri liceret, alterum, cuius domi divisores habitarent, adversus rem publicam.

We now await the elections. Our Great Man is forcing the son of Aulus into them against everyone's will. In doing so he fights neither with authority nor influence, but with the means by which Philip said every fortress could be stormed, provided only that a donkey laden with gold could climb into it. That consul, like a second-rate actor, is said to have undertaken the business and to keep bribery agents in his house, though I do not believe it. Yet two odious decrees of the Senate have already been passed because they are thought to be aimed at the consul, at the demand of Cato and Domitius. One permits an inquiry before magistrates; the other declares that anyone in whose house bribery agents reside acts against the state.

On attend maintenant les comices. Notre Grand y pousse malgré tout le monde le fils d’Aulus; dans cette entreprise, il ne combat ni par son autorité ni par son crédit, mais par les moyens grâce auxquels Philippe disait que l’on pouvait prendre toutes les forteresses où pouvait monter un âne chargé d’or. Ce consul, pareil à un acteur de second ordre, aurait, dit-on, pris l’affaire en main et logerait chez lui les distributeurs d’argent, ce que je ne crois pas. Mais deux sénatus-consultes odieux ont déjà été rendus, car on pense qu’ils visent le consul, sur la proposition de Caton et de Domitius: l’un permet aux magistrats d’ouvrir une enquête; l’autre déclare ennemi de la République celui qui loge chez lui des distributeurs.