42.34
After
the consul had said what he wanted to say, one of those who were appealing
to the tribunes -Sp. Ligustinus -begged the consul and the tribunes to allow
him to say a few words to the Assembly. They all gave him permission, and
he is recorded to have spoken to the following effect: "Quirites, I am Spurius
Ligustinus, a Sabine by birth, a member of the Crustuminian tribe. My father
left me a jugerum of land and a small cottage in which I was born and bred,
and I am living there today. As soon as I came of age my father gave me to
wife his brother's daughter. She brought nothing with her but her personal
freedom and her modesty, and together with these a fruitfulness which
would have been enough even in a wealthy house. We have six sons and two
daughters. Four of our sons wear the toga virilis, two the praetexta, and both
the daughters are married. I became a soldier in the consulship of P.
Sulpicius and C. Aurelius. For two years I was a common soldier in the
army, fighting against Philip in Macedonia; in the third year T. Quinctius
Flamininus gave me in consideration of my courage the command of the
tenth company of the hastati. After Philip and the Macedonians were
vanquished and we were brought back to Italy and disbanded, I at once
volunteered to go with the consul M. Porcius to Spain. Men who during a
long service have had experience of him and of other generals know that of
all living commanders not one has shown himself a keener observer or more
accurate judge of military valour. It was this commander who thought me
worthy of being appointed first centurion in the hastati. Again I served, for
the third time, as a volunteer in the army which was sent against Antiochus
and the Aetolians. I was made first centurion of the principes by Manius
Acilius. After Antiochus was expelled and the Aetolians subjugated we were
brought back to Italy. After that I twice took service for a year at home.
Then I served in Spain, once under Q. Fulvius Flaccus and again under Ti.
Sempronius Gracchus. I was brought home by Flaccus amongst those whom,
as a reward for their courage, he was bringing home to grace his triumph. I
joined Tiberius Gracchus at his request. Four times, within a few years, have
I been first centurion in the triarii; four-and-thirty times have I been
rewarded for my courage by my commanders; I have received six civic
crowns. I have served for twenty-two years in the army and I am more than
fifty years old. But even if I had not served my full time and my age did not
give me exemption, still, P. Licinius, as I was able to give you four soldiers
for one, namely, myself, it would have been a right and proper thing that I
should be discharged. But I want you to take what I have said simply as a
statement of my case. So far as anyone who is raising troops judges me to be
an efficient soldier, I am not going to plead excuses. What rank the military
tribunes think that I deserve is for them to decide; I will take care that no
man shall surpass me in courage; that I always have done so, my
commanders and fellow-campaigners bear witness. And as for you, my
comrades, though you are only exercising your right of appeal, it is but just
and proper that as in your early days you never did anything against the
authority of the magistrates and the senate, so now, too, you should place
yourselves at the disposal of the senate and the consuls and count any
position in which you are to defend your country as an honourable one."