Pro Caelio 50

Obliviscor iam iniurias tuas, Clodia, depono memoriam doloris mei;

I am now deliberately putting out of my mind your injuries [done to me], Clodia, I am putting aside the memory of my suffering;

quae abs te crudeliter in meos me absente facta sunt, neglego;

I am ignoring the cruelties done to my family by you when I was away;

ne sint haec in te dicta, quae dixi.

lest these things which I have said not be said against you.

Sed ex te ipsa requiro, quoniam et crimen accusatores abs te

But I do ask this from you yourself, since the prosecutors say that they have the charge from you

et testem eius criminis te ipsam dicunt se habere.

and you yourself as witness for that charge.

Si quae mulier sit eius modi,

If there were a woman of such a sort,

qualem ego paulo ante descripsi, tui dissimilis, vita institutoque meretricio,

as I described a little while ago, unlike you, with the lifestyle and habits of a prostitute,

cum hac aliquid adulescentem hominem habuisse rationis num tibi perturpe aut perflagitiosum esse videatur?

surely it would not seem to you thoroughly base or thoroughly wicked for a young man to have had something to do with this woman?

Ea si tu non es, sicut ego malo, quid est, quod obiciant Caelio?

If you are not that woman, as I prefer [to believe], what is it that they are bringing up against Caelius?

Sin eam te volunt esse, quid est, cur nos crimen hoc, si tu contemnis, pertimescamus?

But if they want you to be her, why is it that we should fear this charge, if you think nothing of it?

Quare nobis da viam rationemque defensionis.

Give us a direction and a rationale for our defence.

Aut enim pudor tuus defendet nihil a M. Caelio petulantius esse factum,

For either your sense of decency will provide the defence that nothing has been done by Marcus Caelius in any way immoral,

aut impudentia et huic et ceteris magnam ad se defendendum facultatem dabit.

or your lack of decency will give both to this man and to anyone else a great opportunity for defending himself .