34.5
After this
the tribunes of the plebs who had announced their intention of vetoing the
repeal spoke briefly to the same effect. Then L. Valerius made the following
speech in defence of his proposal: "If it had been only private citizens who
came forward to argue in favour of, or against, the measure we have brought
in, I should have awaited your votes in silence as I should have considered
that enough had been said on either side. But now, when a man of such
weight of character as M. Porcius, our consul, is opposing our bill, not
simply by exerting his personal authority which, even had he remained silent,
would have had very great influence, but also in a long and carefully thought
out speech, it is necessary to make a brief reply. He spent, it is true, more
time in castigating the matrons than in arguing against the bill, and he even
left it doubtful whether the action of the matrons which he censured was due
to their own initiative or to our instigation. I shall defend the measure and
not ourselves, for that was thrown out as a suggestion rather than as an
actual charge. Because we are now enjoying the blessings of peace and the
commonwealth is flourishing and happy, the matrons are making a public
request to you that you will repeal a law which was passed against them
under the pressure of a time of war. He denounces this action of theirs as a
plot, a seditious movement, and he sometimes calls it a female secession. I
know how these and other strong expressions are selected to bolster up a
case, and we all know that, though naturally of a gentle disposition, Cato is a
powerful speaker and sometimes almost menacing. What innovation have the
matrons been guilty of by publicly assembling in such numbers for a cause
which touches them so closely? Have they never appeared in public before? I
will quote your own 'Origines' against you. Hear how often they have done
this and always to the benefit of the State.
"At the very beginning, during the reign of Romulus, after the
capture of the Capitol by the Sabines, when a pitched battle had begun in the
Forum, was not the conflict stopped by the matrons rushing between the
lines? And when after the expulsion of the kings the Volscian legions under
their leader Caius Marcius had fixed their camp at the fifth milestone from
the City, was it not the matrons who warded off that enemy by whom
otherwise this City would have been laid in ruins? When it had been captured
by the Gauls, how was it ransomed? By the matrons, of course, who by
general agreement brought their contributions to the treasury. And without
searching for ancient precedents, was it not the case that in the late war
when money was needed the treasury was assisted by the money of the
widows? Even when new deities were invited to help us in the hour of our
distress did not the matrons go in a body down to the shore to receive Mater
Idaea? You say that they were actuated by different motives then. It is not
my purpose to establish the identity of motives, it is sufficient to clear them
from the charge of strange unheard-of conduct. And yet, in matters which
concern men and women alike, their action occasioned surprise to no one;
why then should we be surprised at their taking the same action in a cause
which especially interests them? But what have they done? We must, believe
me, have the ears of tyrants if, whilst masters condescend to listen to the
prayers of their slaves we deem it an indignity to be asked a favour by
honourable women.
