26.31
When
they had been brought back into the senate-house, Marcellus made the
following speech: "I have not so far forgotten, senators, the majesty of Rome
or the dignity of my office as to stoop to defend myself, as consul, against
the charges of these Greeks, if they concerned me alone. The question is not
so much what I have done as what they ought to have suffered. Had they not
been enemies it is a matter of indifference whether I maltreated Syracuse
now or in Hiero's lifetime. But if they have proved false to us, opened their
gates to the enemy, threatened our envoys with drawn swords, shut their city
and walls against us and called in a Carthaginian army to protect them
against us, who is there who can feel any indignation at their having suffered
hostile violence after having practiced it? I declined the offers of their leaders
to deliver up the city, and looked upon Sosis and the Spaniard Moericus as
much more suitable persons to be trusted in a matter of such importance. As
you make their humble station in life a reproach to others, you do not
yourselves belong to the lowest class in Syracuse, and yet who amongst you
promised to open your gates and admit my armed force into your city?
Those who did this are the objects of your hatred and execration; not even in
this place do you shrink from insulting them, showing thereby how far you
yourselves were from contemplating anything of the kind. That low social
position, senators, which these men make a ground of reproach, proves most
clearly that I discouraged no man who was willing to render effectual help to
the commonwealth. Before commencing the siege of Syracuse, I made
various attempts at a peaceful settlement, first by sending envoys and then by
personal interviews with the leaders. It was only when I found that no
reverence for the persons of my envoys protected them from violence and
that I was unable to get any reply from the leaders with whom I conferred at
their gates, that I took action and finally took the city by storm, after a vast
expenditure of toil and exertion by sea and land. As to the incidents
attending its capture, these men would be more justified in laying their
complaints before Hannibal and his vanquished Carthaginians than before the
senate of the people who vanquished them. If, senators, I had intended to
conceal my spoliation of Syracuse I should never have adorned the City of
Rome with its spoils. With regard to what I, as conqueror, took away or
bestowed in individual cases, I am quite satisfied that I acted in accordance
with the laws of war, according to the deserts of each individual. Whether
you approve of my action or not is a question that concerns the State more
than it concerns me. I only did my duty, but it will be a serious matter for the
republic, if by rescinding my acts you make other generals in the future more
remiss in doing their duty. And since you have heard what both the Sicilians
and I have had to say in each other's presence, we will leave the House
together in order that the senate may be able to discuss the matter more
freely in my absence." The Sicilians were accordingly dismissed; Marcellus
proceeded to the Capitol to enrol troops.
