Crassus' wife, Sulpicia Praetextata, and his four sons were anxious to
secure revenge if the senate would grant a trial. Messala therefore
made no attempt to defend the case or the accused, but tried to
shelter his brother, and had already won over some of the senators.
Curtius Montanus now attacked him in a savage speech, and even went so
far as to charge Regulus with having given money to Piso's murderer
after Galba's death, and with having bitten Piso's head.[351] 'That,'
said he, 'Nero certainly did not compel you to do. You purchased
neither position nor safety by that savage piece of cruelty. We may
put up with the pleas of those wretches who prefer to ruin others
rather than endanger their own lives. But your father's banishment had
guaranteed your security. His property had been divided amongst his
creditors.[352] You were not of an age to stand for office. Nero had
nothing either to hope or to fear from you. Your talents were as yet
untried and you had never exerted them in any man's defence, yet your
lust for blood, your insatiable ambition, led you to stain your young
hands in the blood of Rome's nobility. At one swoop you caused the
ruin of innocent youths, of old and distinguished statesmen, of
high-born ladies; and out of the country's disaster you secured for
yourself the spoils of two ex-consuls,[353] stuffed seven million
sesterces into your purse, and shone with the reflected glory of a
priesthood.
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