Conspirata Quotes
"The evil is confined entirely within our gates. It is internal and domestic."
"The gods alone know what Caesar wants - the entire planet, probably."
"As Pompey upholds our republic abroad, so we must play our part here at home."
"I will never seek to obtain a province, any honours, any distinctions or advantage."
"I have decided to carry on my consulship in the only manner in which it can be conducted with dignity and freedom."
"Sometimes I think he should be the consul and I the secretary."
"Why should I? The moon went behind a cloud and a star crossed the sky. What else is there to be said?"
"I can't abide a man who stays sober while others drink."
"I'd neither kill a consul nor betray a friend."
"Narrow indeed are the bounds within which Nature has confined our lives, but those of our glory are infinite."
"The republic is drifting, Cicero, that is how I see it - drifting towards disaster on the winds and currents of easy compromise."
"We should never have given Pompey his special commands."
"In politics one cannot always pick and choose one's enemies, let alone one's friends."
"Enjoy such brief ecstasy as the gods permit us, for it is only in these moments that men and women are truly not alone."
"They flaunt their wealth and then they wonder why they are so hated."
"A silky island in the dining room, a rocky fortress in bed."
"In politics, three years is ancient history. Believe me, Murena is entirely forgotten here. Out of sight is out of mind, as far as Rome is concerned."
"The new campaign started the moment the old one ended. You should have been going around all year."
"Obligation: the people still remember the generous games he staged before he was elected praetor."
"Remember, these are poor citizens for the most part. They need to feel their vote has value."
"If a man is set on killing you, it's hard to stop him, especially if he's willing to die in the attempt."
"The rest of us, however hard we try, are just a crowd of nobodies."
"You can't just sit around waiting for the voters to come to you. You need to put on a show."
"How long, brave comrades, will we endure it? Is it not better to die courageously and have done with it, than to drag out lives of misery and dishonour as the playthings of other men's insolence?"
"The years sweep us on like leaves before a gale, and it cannot be helped."
"I have grown to dislike these patricians as much as I dislike the mob - and they haven't the excuse of poverty or ignorance."
"Perhaps Caesar is right - this whole republic needs to be pulled down and built again."
"The philosophy of the golden mean does not seem to fit this particular predicament."
"Whatever happens, I don't want anyone ever to be able to say I forged evidence or coerced testimony."
"I wonder what men will make of us a thousand years from now."
"I have Caesar precisely where I want him. I have that Leviathan by the tail at last."
"If I sanction the execution of the traitors, I shall be pursued by their supporters for the rest of my days."
"I tell you, I have grown to dislike these patricians as much as I dislike the mob."
"If I give an order for you to be killed, there will remain in the state the rest of the conspirators."
"Whoever, gentlemen, is pondering a difficult question, ought to clear his mind of all hatred and anger, as well as affection and compassion."
"All bad precedents have their origins in measures that at the time seem good."
"In the midst of all this tumult it was possible to believe that the affair of the Good Goddess might be forgotten."
"You came back from the war; I wish you had died there."
"It takes a great deal for a Claudian to kneel, but I am begging for your help."
"Ambition and lust are often intertwined. In some men, such as Caesar and Clodius, they are as tightly plaited as a rope."
"My dear Clodia, the whole world knows he is guilty!"
"I shall always have particular reason for remembering the fourth day of December."
"There's something happening in Rome that I don't like the smell of."
"Unity, gentlemen, is our only hope of salvation, now as it was then."
"I can't argue with you, Cicero. I never could. You've always been too nimble-witted for me."
"The truth is he's scared of the thought that you might leave him too, just as Atticus and I are doing."
"The earth seemed to tilt. I felt myself sway."
"Better destroyed than reduced to a corrupt monarchy."
"I have learned by hard experience never to underestimate our friend Gaius."
"The only thing we can expect is that it will be unexpected."
"I am not like Pompey, or Caesar or Crassus. Whatever I've done, I've done for my country; and whatever they do, they do for themselves."
"Words. Caesar and Pompey have their soldiers, Crassus his wealth, Clodius his bullies on the street. My only legions are my words."
"By language I rose, and by language I shall survive."
"The fortunes of war, gentlemen, can be cruel and capricious. But that is not the same as treason."
"It is a lot. Perhaps you should run after Balbus and tell him I've changed my mind."
"Clodia looked beautiful in mourning and shed many a widow's tear."
"He makes me feel quite twenty years younger. Or even thirty."
"I think Lucius Lucullus has forgotten that he commanded more legions than I in his time."
"He isn't worth the waste of one's mental processes."
"I have armed myself with the facts and stand ready to defend myself."
"I expect he will bring a prosecution against me."
"That shouldn't worry you. You could beat him in any court in Rome."
"He plans to lure me into opposing him, then drag me before the plebs."
"Either the poor will have their share or they will have our heads."