Today is a great day, my fellow senators. The gods have cast good fortune on this most beautiful and blessed city in the world, for we have been saved. Our happiness has been restored, and our fears, diminished. It is on this day that Rome has been released from its tyrannical chains. Finally, we are able to retreat back to the democratic ideals that made this empire so vast. Finally, the end has come for that dictator; finally, the end has come to his oppression, and finally, he will suffer in the underworld, forever, for there is no room for absolutism in this distinguished regime.
Now in order to address the issue of what to do with the dead tyrant’s body, we must take a step back and think. I have been informed of the dreadful possibility of a public burial and I respond with reason, as we all should: what does this city do with the dead body of any criminal who had committed himself to obstructing the justice and laws of this great democracy? We seek that justice be done to those who obstruct it. Do you not remember enforcing justice upon Catiline’s conspirators, by voting death upon them? Do you not remember that it was our very own tyrant leader, who supported Cataline in his quest for consulship in 64? Do you not recall the day that he marched his legions on Rome? Do you not remember that it was he, who seized the very power that was once delegated to each of you? We all bear witness to the fact that at a time when we needed our leader the most, he deserted us and headed east for his own glory. When it was his obligation to protect us, he abandoned us. His arrogance knew no limits. His hunger for power would never be quenched, even as sole dictator of our beloved empire. And yet, the thought of publicly praising him does not overcome you with disgust? Most wise men of Rome, let not the voice of reason be out of reach! How can we vote death for one criminal rand honorable praise for an even worse one? By agreeing to public funeral, we are praising the same criminal who robbed you of your power and Rome of its democratic dignity. I am most certainly against any sort of public burial, since I fear that the tyrant’s criminal blood may infect, or somehow curse the eyes of these most loyal citizens. Must we expose our friends, our children, our wives, and our brothers to such an evil carcass? Must we celebrate the decaying body of a thief who stole Rome’s liberty? My heart bursts with admiration for this democratic city, and if we display honor to that deceased criminal, our allies will view us as hypocrites. Thus, tell me, o conscript fathers, do you wish to be subject to hypocrisy? Do you wish to be mocked by our allies, our friends in war and in trade? Do you wish Rome’s honor to fall subject to the world’s ridicule? So let us prevent such hypocrisy, such mockery, such ridicule, such dishonor from falling upon this noble city. Let us treat the body of the tyrant in the same manner in which we treat all deceased criminals: toss his body into the Tiber; for the Tiber is the only place that can cleanse the evil soul of dead thieves, conspirators, and cleanse Rome of criminal injustice.
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