Cicero Lines 36-48 - Translation

Cicero, Against Verres 2.5.117-118

includuntur in carcerem condemnati;

The condemned men were enclosed in prison;

supplicium constituitur in illos, sumitur de miseris parentibus nauarchorum;

the death penalty was fixed on them, torture was exacted from the parents of the ship’s captains;

prohibentur adire ad filios, prohibentur liberis suis cibum vestitumque ferre.

they were prevented from approaching their sons and they were prevented from bringing food and clothing to their children.

patres hi quos videtis iacebant in limine, matresque miserae pernoctabant ad ostium carceris ab extremo conspectu liberum exclusae;

These fathers whom you see were lying on the threshold, and the wretched mothers were spending all night at the entrance of the prison, having been cut off from the very last sight of their children;

quae nihil aliud orabant nisi ut filiorum suorum postremum spiritum ore excipere liceret.

the mothers were begging for nothing else except to be allowed to catch in their mouths the last breath of their sons.

aderat ianitor carceris, carnifex praetoris, mors terrorque sociorum et civium Romanorum, lictor Sextius, cui ex omni gemitu doloreque certa merces comparabatur.

The doorkeeper was near the prison, the praetor’s executioner, the deathbringer and terror of both allies and Roman citizens, the lictor Sextius, for whom a fixed price was arranged out of every groan and grief.

“ut adeas, tantum dabis, ut cibum tibi intro ferre liceat, tantum.”

“You will give me so much so that you may approach the prisoner, and so much that it is permitted for you to bring food inside the prison.”

nemo recusabat.

No one was refusing.

“quid? ut uno ictu securis adferam mortem filio tuo, quid dabis?

“Well, what will you give for me to inflict death on your son with a single blow of an axe?

ne diu crucietur, ne saepius feriatur, ne cum sensu doloris aliquo spiritus auferatur?”

What will you give to avoid him being tortured for too long, being beaten too often, for his spirit to be taken away without feeling some pain?”

etiam ob hanc causam pecunia lictori dabatur.

Even for this reason was money being given to the lictor.