[19,16] Νὴ Δί´, ἀλλ´ οὐ περίεστί μοι τοῖς πλησίον ἐπαρκεῖν, οὐδ´ ἐκ περιουσίας ἐπιστήμην ἔδωκέ μοι ὁ θεὸς ἔχειν οὐδὲ μαντικήν, αἷς ὠφέλουν ἂν τοὺς δεομένους, οὐδ´ ἄλλα πολλά· ἃ 〈δ´〉 ἐστὶν ἐν ἐμοί, τούτων μεταδιδοὺς καὶ πόλει καὶ φίλοις, καὶ ἀφ´ ὧν δύναμαι ποιεῖν εὖ τινας, ταῦτα {τὰ} κοινὰ τοῖς δεομένοις παρέχων, οὐκ ἂν ἡγησαίμην αἴτιον ἐμαυτόν. ταῦτα δ´ ἐστίν, ἃ σὺ κράτιστα νομίζεις εἶναι καὶ πολλῶν χρημάτων αἰτεῖς πρίασθαι. εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα διὰ τὰς εὐεργεσίας τῶν δεομένων τὸ πολλὰ κεκτῆσθαι χρήματα μεγάλης ἦν σπουδῆς καὶ φιλοτιμίας ἄξιον, καὶ μακαριωτάτους ὑπῆρχεν εἶναι τοὺς πλουσιωτάτους, ὡς τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν ὑμῖν δοκεῖ, πότερος ἦν μοι τρόπος εὐπορίας κρείττων; ἐφ´ ὧν σύ μοι νῦν μεταδίδως αἰσχρῶς ἢ ἀφ´ ὧν αὐτὸς ἐκτησάμην καλῶς πρότερον; παρέσχε γάρ μοι τὰ πολιτικὰ πράγματα χρηματισμῶν ἀφορμὰς δικαίας, πολλάκις μὲν καὶ πρότερον, μάλιστα δ´, ἐπεὶ ἐπὶ Σαυνίτας καὶ Λευκανοὺς καὶ Βρεττίους στρατιὰν ἄγων ἐστάλην τετάρτῳ πρότερον ἐνιαυτῷ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν ἔχων, καὶ πολλὴν μὲν χώραν ἐλεηλάτησα, πολλαῖς δὲ μάχαις τοὺς ἀντιταξαμένους ἐνίκησα, πολλὰς δὲ καὶ εὐδαίμονας πόλεις κατὰ κράτος ἑλὼν ἐξεπόρθησα, ἐξ ὧν τὴν στρατιὰν ἅπασαν ἐπλούτισα, καὶ τὰς εἰσφορὰς τοῖς ἰδιώταις, ἃς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον προεισήνεγκαν, ἀπέδωκα, καὶ τετρακόσια τάλαντα μετὰ τὸν θρίαμβον εἰς τὸ ταμιεῖον εἰσήνεγκα. ἔπειτ´ ἐκείνων τῶν δορικτήτων ἐξόν μοι λαβεῖν ὁπός´ 〈ἂν〉 ἐβουλόμην οὐ λαβών, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ δικαίου πλοῦτον ὑπεριδὼν ἕνεκα δόξης, ὡς Οὐαλέριος Ποπλικόλας ἐποίησε καὶ ἄλλοι πλεῖστοι πρὸς τούτῳ συχνοί, δι´ οὓς ἡ πόλις ἡμῶν τηλικαύτη γέγονε, τὰς παρὰ σοῦ δέξομαι δωρεὰς καὶ ἀντὶ τῆς κρείττονος εὐπορίας ἀλλάξομαι τὴν χείρονα; ἐκείνῃ μέν γε τῇ κτήσει καὶ τὸ μεθ´ ἡδονῆς ποιεῖσθαι τὰς ἀπολαύσεις πρὸς τῷ καλῶς καὶ δικαίως προσῆν· ταύτης δὲ καὶ τοῦτ´ ἄπεστι. δανείσματα γάρ ἐστιν, ὅσα προσλαμβάνουσιν ἄνθρωποι παρ´ ἑτέρων, βαρύνοντα τὴν ψυχὴν ἕως ἂν ἀποδοθῇ, κἂν ὀνόμασι καλοῖς αὐτὰ κοσμήσῃ τις, φιλανθρωπίας καλῶν καὶ δωρεὰς ἢ χάριτας. φέρε, ἐὰν δὴ μανεὶς δέξωμαι χρυσόν, ὃν δίδως μοι, καὶ τοῦθ´ ἅπασι Ῥωμαίοις γένηται φανερόν, ἔπειθ´ οἱ τὴν ἀνυπεύθυνον ἔχοντες ἀρχήν, οὓς ἡμεῖς τιμητὰς καλοῦμεν, οἷς ἀποδέδοται τοὺς ἁπάντων Ῥωμαίων ἐξετάζειν βίους καὶ τοὺς ἐκβαίνοντας ἐκ τῶν πατρίων ἐθῶν ζημιοῦν, καλέσαντές με λόγον ἀποδοῦναι κελεύσωσι τῆς δωροδοκίας, ἁπάντων παρόντων ταῦτα προφερόμενοι.

[19,16] (18.16) "Very true, indeed; but I have nothing left over with which to assist my neighbours, nor has God given it to me to possess an over-supply of knowledge and divination with which I might help those who need them, — to say nothing of many other things. Yet so long as I share with both the commonwealth and my friends what faculties I do possess and place at the disposal of those who need them the resources with which I can benefit a few, I should not consider myself lacking in means. And these are the very things which you believe to be the most important, and yet lack the means to purchase even large sums of money. 2 (17) But even if it were ever so true that for the sake of doing kindly services to those in need the acquisition of great wealth merits great zeal and ambition, and if the richest men were the most happy, as you kings think, which kind of affluence would be better for me? 3 An affluence of the riches of which you are now offering me a share dishonourably, or of the wealth which I myself might earlier have acquired honourably? For my public career has afforded me proper opportunities for making money, both earlier on many occasions (p375) and especially when, three years ago while I was holding the office of consul, I was sent at the head of an army against the Samnites, Lucanians and Bruttians and ravaged a vast territory, defeated in many battles those who arrayed themselves against me, and took by storm and plundered many prosperous cities, from which I enriched my entire army, gave back to the private citizens the special taxes which they had paid in advance for the prosecution of the war, and turned into the treasury four hundred talents after celebrating my triumph. 4 (18) If, then, when it was possible for me to take as many of those prizes won by the spear as I could wish, I took none, but for the sake of a good reputation scorned even the riches gained in an honest man, just as did Valerius Publicola and very many others besides, man through whom our commonwealth has become so great, shall I accept the gifts you offer and exchange the better affluence for the worse? My kind of acquisition had the advantage that it could also be enjoyed with pleasure, in addition to being gained honourably and justly; but your kind lacks even this advantage. For whatever things men receive from others in advance are loans that oppress the spirit until they are repaid, even though one dress them up with honourable names styling them gratuities, (p377) gifts or favours. 5 (19) Come now, suppose I should indeed be mad enough to accept the gold you offer me and this should become known to all the Romans, and then those magistrates who are subject to no accounting for their administration, the officials we call censors, whose duty it is to examine into the lives of all the Romans and to punish those who depart from the ancestral customs, should summon me and order me to render an account of my acceptance of bribes, bringing these charges against me in the presence of every: