for, first, he is displeased at the
thought of any law whatever being repealed; and then, particularly,
of that law which was made to restrain female luxury. His former
argument, in support of the laws in general, appeared highly becoming
of a consul; and that on the latter, against luxury, was quite
conformable to the rigid strictness of his morals. There is,
therefore, a danger lest, unless I shall show what, on each subject,
was inconclusive, you may probably be led away by error. For while
I acknowledge, that of those laws which are instituted, not for any
particular time, but for eternity, on account of their perpetual
utility, not one ought to be repealed; unless either experience evince
it to be useless, or some state of the public affairs render it so; I
see, at the same time, that those laws which particular seasons have
required, are mortal, (if I may use the term,) and changeable with the
times. Those made in peace are generally repealed by war; those made
in war, by peace; as in the management of a ship, some implements are
useful in good weather, others in bad. As these two kinds are thus
distinct in their nature, of which kind does that law appear to be
which we now propose to repeal? Is it an ancient law of the kings,
coeval with the city itself? Or, what is next to that, was it written
in the twelve tables by the decemvirs, appointed to form a code of
laws? Is it one, without which our ancestors thought that the honour
of the female sex could not be preserved? and, therefore, have we also
reason to fear, that, together with it, we should repeal the modesty
and chastity of our females? Now, is there a man among you who does
not know that this is a new law, passed not more than twenty years
ago, in the consulate of Quintus Fabius and Tiberius Sempronius? And
as, without it, our matrons sustained, for such a number of years,
the most virtuous characters, what danger is there of their abandoning
themselves to luxury on its being repealed? For, if that law had been
passed for the purpose of setting a limit to the passions of the sex,
there would be reason to fear lest the repeal of it might operate as
an incitement to them. But the real reason of its being passed,
the time itself will show Hannibal was then in Italy, victorious at
Cannae: he already held possession of Tarentum, of Arpi, of Capua, and
seemed ready to bring up his army to the city of Rome. Our allies
had deserted us. We had neither soldiers to f