Philippiques Passage 17

equidem existimo nihil tam esse in actis Caesaris quam leges Caesaris. an , si cui quid ille promisit, id erit fixum quod idem facere non potuit? ut multis multa promissa non fecit: quae tamen multo plura illo mortuo reperta sunt quam a vivo beneficia per omnis annos tributa et data. sed ea non muto, non moveo: summo studio illius praeclara acta defendo. pecunia utinam ad Opis maneret! cruenta illa quidem, sed his temporibus, quoniam eis quorum est non redditur, necessaria. quamquam ea quoque sit effusa, si ita in actis fuit.

For my part, I think nothing is so truly among Caesar's acts as Caesar's laws. Or if he promised someone something, will that remain fixed even when he could not have performed it? He failed to grant many things promised to many people, yet many more such favors were discovered after his death than he had bestowed and granted throughout all the years of his life. But I neither alter nor disturb those things. I defend his splendid acts with the greatest zeal. Would that the money had remained in the Temple of Ops! Bloodstained though it was, it is necessary in these times, since it is not being returned to those to whom it belongs. Yet let that money too be regarded as spent, if that was recorded among his acts.

Pour ma part, je pense que rien n'appartient davantage aux actes de César que les lois de César. Si César a promis quelque chose à quelqu'un, cette promesse sera-t-elle immuable, alors même qu'il ne put l'accomplir? Il n'exécuta pas bien des promesses faites à beaucoup de gens. Pourtant, après sa mort, on en découvrit bien davantage que les faveurs qu'il avait accordées et distribuées de son vivant pendant toutes ces années. Mais je ne change ni ne remue rien de cela. Je défends avec le plus grand zèle ses actes remarquables. Plût aux dieux que l'argent fût resté dans le temple d'Ops! Il est vrai qu'il était taché de sang, mais, dans les circonstances présentes, puisqu'on ne le rend pas à ses propriétaires, il était nécessaire. Encore faut-il supposer que sa dissipation figurait aussi dans les actes de César.