DIO'S ROME
AN HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ORIGINALLY COMPOSED IN GREEK DURING THE REIGNS OF
SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, GETA AND CARACALLA, MACRINUS, ELAGABALUS AND ALEXANDER
SEVERUS:
AND
NOW PRESENTED IN ENGLISH FORM
BY
HERBERT BALDWIN FOSTER, A.B. (Harvard), Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins), Acting
Professor of Greek in Lehigh University
THIRD VOLUME _Extant Books 45-51 (B.C. 44-29)_.
1906
VOLUME CONTENTS
Book Forty-five
Book Forty-six
Book Forty-seven
Book Forty-eight
Book Forty-nine
Book Fifty
Book Fifty-one
DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY
45
VOL. 3.--1
The following is contained in the Forty-fifth of Dio's Rome:
About Gaius Octavius, who afterward was named Augustus (chapters 1-9).
About Sextus, the son of Pompey (chapter 10).
How Caesar and Antony entered upon a period of hostility (chapters 11-17).
How Cicero delivered a public harangue against Antony (chapters 18-47).
Duration of time, the remainder of the year of the 5th dictatorship of C.
Iulius Caesar with M. Aemilius Lepidus, Master of the Horse, and of his 5th
consulship with Marcus Antonius. (B.C. 44 = a. u. 710.)[1]
(_BOOK 45, BOSSEVAIN_.)
[B.C. 44 (_a. u_.710)]
[-1-] This was Antony's course of procedure.--Gaius Octavius Copia,--this
was the name of the son of Caesar's niece, Attia,--came from Velitrae in
the Volscian country, and having been left without a protector by the
death of his father Octavius he was brought up in the house of his mother
and her husband, Lucius Philippus, but on attaining maturity spent his
time with Caesar. The latter, who was childless, based great hopes upon
him and was devoted to him, intending to leave him as successor to his
name, authority, and supremacy. He was influenced largely by Attia's
explicit affirmation that the youth had been engendered by Apollo. While
sleeping once in his temple, she said, she thought she had intercourse
with a serpent, and through this circumstance at the end of the allotted
time bore a son. Before he came to the light of day she saw in a dream
her womb lifted to the heavens and spreading out over all the earth; and
the same night Octavius thought the sun rose from her vagina. Hardly
had the child been born when Nigidius Figulus, a senator, straightway
prophesied for him sole command of the realm. [2]
He could distinguish most accurately of his contemporaries the order of
the firmament and the mutations of the stars, what they accomplished
by separation and what by conjunctions, in their associations and
retirements, and for this reason had incurred the charge of practicing
some kind of forbidden pursuits. He accordingly met on that occasion
Octavius, who was somewhat tardy in reaching the senate on account of the
birth of the child,--there happened to be a meeting of the senate that
day,--and asked him why he was late. On learning the cause he cried out:
"You have begotten a master over us." [3] At that Octavius was alarmed and
wished to destroy the infant, but Nigidius restrained him, saying that
it was impossible for it to suffer any such fate. [-2-] This was the
conversation at that time. While the boy was growing up in the country an
eagle snatched from his hands a loaf of bread, and after soaring aloft
flew down and gave it back to him.[4] When he was a lad and staying in
Rome Cicero dreamed that the boy was let down by golden chains to the
summit of the Capitol and received a whip from Jupiter.[5] He did not
know who the youth was, but meeting him the next day on the Capitol
itself he recognized him, and told the vision to the bystanders. Catulus,
who had likewise never seen Octavius, beheld in a vision all the noble
children on the Capitol at the termination of a solemn procession to
Jupiter, and in the course of the ceremony the god cast what looked like
an image of Rome into that child's lap. Startled at this he went up into
the Capitol to offer prayers to the god, and finding there Octavius, who
had ascended the hill for some other reason, he compared his appearance
with the dream and was satisfied of the truth of the vision. When later
he had become a young man and was about to reach maturity, he was putting
on the dress of an adult when his tunic was rent on both sides from his
shoulders and fell to his feet. This event of itself not only had
no significance as forecasting any good fortune, but displeased the
spectators considerably because it had happened in his first putting on
the garb of a man: it occurred to Octavius to say: "I shall put the whole
senatorial dignity beneath my feet"; and the outcome proved in accordance
with his words. Caesar founded great hopes upon him as a result of
this, introduced him into the class of patricians and trained him for
rulership. In everything that is proper to come to the notice of one
destined to control so great a power well and worthily he educated him
with care. The youth was trained in oratorical speeches, not only in the
Latin but in this language [Greek], labored persistently in military
campaigns, and received minute instruction in politics and the science of
government.
[-3-] Now this Octavius chanced at the time that Caesar was murdered to
be in Apollonia near the Ionic Gulf, pursuing his education. He had been
sent thither in advance to look after his patron's intended campaign
against the Parthians. When he learned of the event he was naturally
grieved, but did not dare at once to take any radical measures. He had
not yet heard that he had been made Caesar's son or heir, and moreover the
first news he received was to the effect that the people were of one mind
in the affair. When, however, he had crossed to Brundusium and had been
informed about the will and the people's second thought, he made no
delay, particularly because he had considerable money and numerous
soldiers who had been sent on under his charge, but he immediately
assumed the name of Caesar, succeeded to his estate, and began to busy
himself with the situation. [-4-] At the time he seemed to some to have
acted recklessly and daringly in this, but later as a result of his
good fortune and the successes he achieved he acquired a reputation for
bravery. In many instances in history men who were wrong in undertaking
some project have been famed for wisdom because they proved fortunate in
it: others who used the best possible judgment have had to stand a charge
of folly because they did not attain their ends. He, too, acted in a
blundering and dangerous way; he was only just past boyhood,--eighteen
years of age,--and saw that the succession to the inheritance and the
family was sure to provoke jealousy and censure: yet he started in
pursuit of objects that had led to Caesar's murder, and no punishment
befell him, and he feared neither the assassins nor Lepidus and Antony.
Yet he was not thought to have planned poorly, because he became
successful. Heaven, however, indicated not obscurely all the upheaval
that would result from it. As he was entering Rome a great variegated
iris surrounded the whole sun.
[-5-] In this way he that was formerly called Octavius, but already at
this time Caesar, and subsequently Augustus, took charge of affairs and
settled them and brought them to a successful close more vigourously than
any mature man, more prudently than any graybeard. First he entered the
city as if for the sole purpose of succeeding to the inheritance, and as
a private citizen with only a few attendants, without any ostentation.
Still later he did not utter any threat against any one nor show that he
was displeased at what had occurred and would take vengeance for it. So
far from demanding of Antony any of the money that he had previously
plundered, he actually paid court to him although he was insulted and
wronged by him. Among the other injuries that Antony did him by both word
and deed was his action when the lex curiata was proposed, according to
which the transfer of Octavius into Caesar's family was to take place:
Antony himself, of course, was active to have it passed, but through some
tribunes he secured its postponement in order that the young man being
not yet Caesar's child according to law might not meddle with the property
and might be weaker in all other ways. [-6-] Caesar was restive under this
treatment, but as he was unable to speak his mind freely he bore it until
he had won over the crowd, by whose members he understood his father had
been raised to honor. He knew that they were angry at the latter's death
and hoped they would be enthusiastic over him as his son and perceived
that they hated Antony on account of his having been master of the horse
and also for his failure to punish the murderers. Hence he undertook to
become tribune as a starting point for popular leadership and to secure
the power that would result from it; and he accordingly became a
candidate for the place of Cinna, which was vacant. Though hindered
by Antony's clique he did not desist and after using persuasion upon
Tiberius Cannutius, a tribune, he was by him brought before the populace.
He took as an excuse the gift bequeathed by Caesar and in his speech
touched upon all the important points, promising that he would discharge
this debt at once, and gave them cause to hope for much besides. After
this came the festival appointed in honor of the completion of the temple
of Venus, which some, while Caesar was alive, had promised to celebrate,
but were now holding in, slight regard as they did the horse-race
connected with the Parilia;[6] and to win the favor of the populace he
provided for it at his private expense on the ground that it concerned
him because of his family. At this time out of fear of Antony he brought
into the theatre neither Caesar's gilded chair nor his crown set with
precious stones, though it was permitted by decree. [-7-] When, however,
a certain star through all those days appeared in the north toward
evening, some called it a comet, and said that it indicated the usual
occurrences; but the majority, instead of believing this, ascribed it
to Caesar, interpreting it to mean that he had become a god and had been
included in the number of the stars. Then Octavius took courage and set
up in the temple of Venus a bronze statue of him with a star above his
head. Through fear of the populace no one prevented this, and then, at
last, some of the earlier decrees in regard to honors to Caesar were put
into effect. They called one of the months July after him and in the
course of certain triumphal religious festivals they sacrificed during
one special day in memory of his name. For these reasons the soldiers
also, and particularly since some of them received largesses of money,
readily took the side of Caesar.
Rumors accordingly went abroad, and it seemed likely that something
unusual would take place. This idea gained most headway for the reason
that when Octavius was somewhat anxious to show himself in court in an
elevated and conspicuous place, as he had been wont to do in his father's
lifetime, Antony would not allow it, but had his lictors drag him down
and drive him out. [-8-] All were exceedingly vexed, and especially
because Caesar with a view to casting odium upon his rival and arousing
the multitude would no longer even frequent the Forum. So Antony became
terrified, and in conversation with the bystanders one day remarked
that he harbored no anger against Caesar, but on the contrary owed him
affection, and felt inclined to dispel the entire cloud of suspicion. The
statement was reported to the other, they held a conference, and some
thought they had become reconciled. As a fact they understood each
other's dispositions accurately, and, thinking it inopportune at that
time to put them to the test, they came to terms by making a few mutual
concessions. For some days they were quiet; then they began to suspect
each other afresh as a result of either some really hostile action
or some false report of hostility,--as regularly happens under such
conditions,--and were again at variance. When men become reconciled after
a great enmity they are suspicious of many acts that contain no malice
and of many chance occurrences. In brief, they regard everything, in the
light of their former hostility, as done on purpose and for an evil
end. While they are in this condition those who stand on neutral ground
aggravate the trouble, irritating them still more by bearing reports to
and fro under the pretence of devotion. There is a very large element
which is anxious to see all those who have power at variance with one
another,--an element which consequently takes delight in their enmity and
joins in plots against them. And the party which has previously suffered
from calumny is very easy to deceive with words adapted to the purpose
by a band of friends whose attachment is not under suspicion. This also
accounts for the fact that these men, who did not trust each other
previously, became now even more estranged.
[-9-] Antony seeing that Caesar was gaining ground attempted to attract
the populace by various baits, to see if he could detach the people from
his rival and number them among his own forces. Hence through Lucius
Antonius, his brother, who was tribune, he introduced a measure that
considerable land be opened for settlement, among the parcels being the
region of the Pontine marshes, which he stated had already been filled
and were capable of cultivation. The three Antonii, who were brothers,
all held office at the same time. Marcus was consul, Lucius tribune, and
Gaius praetor. Therefore they could very easily remove those who were
temporarily rulers of their allies and subjects (except the majority of
the assassins and some others whom they regarded as loyal) and choose
others in place of them: they could also grant some the right to hold
office for an unusually long term, contrary to the laws established by
Caesar. Also Macedonia, which fell to Marcus by lot, was appropriated
by his brother Gaius, but Marcus himself with the legions previously
despatched into Apollonia laid claim to Gaul on this side of the Alps, to
which Decimus Brutus had been assigned; the reason was that it seemed to
be very strong in resources of soldiers and money. After these measures
had been passed the immunity granted to Sextus Pompey by Caesar, as to all
the rest, was confirmed: he had already considerable influence. It was
further resolved that whatever moneys of silver or gold the public
treasury had taken from his ancestral estate should be restored. As
for the lands belonging to it Antony held the most of them and made no
restoration.
[-10-] This was the business in which they were engaged. But I shall now
go on to describe how Sextus had fared. When he had fled from Corduba, he
first came to Lacetania and concealed himself there. He was pursued, to
be sure, but eluded discovery through the fact that the natives were
kindly disposed to him out of regard for his father's memory. Later, when
Caesar had started for Italy and only a small army was left behind in
Baetica, he was joined both by the native inhabitants and by those who
escaped from the battle, and with them he came again into Baetica, because
he thought it more suitable for the carrying on of war. There he gained
possession of soldiers and cities, particularly after Caesar's death, some
voluntarily and some by violence; the commandant in charge of them, Gaius
Asinius Pollio, held a force that was far from strong. He next set out
against Spanish Carthage, but since in his absence Pollio made an attack
and did some damage, he returned with a large force, met his opponent,
and routed him. After that the following accident enabled him to startle
and conquer the rest, as well, who were contending fiercely. Pollio had
cast off his general's cloak, in order to suffer less chance of detection
in his flight, and another man of the same name, a brilliant horseman,
had fallen. The soldiers, hearing the name of the latter, who was lying
there, and seeing the garment which had been captured, were deceived, and
thinking that their general had perished surrendered. In this way Sextus
conquered and held possession of nearly that entire region. When he was
now a powerful factor, Lepidus arrived to govern the adjoining portion of
Spain, and persuaded him to enter into an agreement on condition that he
should recover his father's estate. Antony, influenced by his friendship
for Lepidus and by his hostility toward Caesar, caused such a decree to be
passed.
So Sextus, in this way and on these conditions, held aloof from Spain
proper. [-11-] Caesar and Antony in all their acts opposed each other, but
had not fallen out openly, and whereas in reality they were alienated
they tried to disguise the fact so far as appearances went. As a result
all other interests in the city were in a most undecided state and
condition of turmoil. People were still at peace and yet already at war.
Liberty led but a shadow existence, and the deeds done were the deeds
of royalty. To a casual observer Antony, since he held the consulship,
seemed to be getting the best of it, but the enthusiasm of the masses was
for Caesar. This was partly on his father's account, partly on account of
the hopes he held out to them, but above all because they were displeased
at the considerable power of Antony and were inclined to assist Caesar
while he was yet devoid of strength. Neither man had their affection, but
they were always eager for a change of administration, and it was their
nature to try to overthrow every superior force and to help any party
that was being oppressed. Consequently they made use of the two to suit
their own desires. After they had at this period humbled Antony through
the instrumentality of Caesar they next undertook to destroy the latter
also. Their irritation toward the men temporarily in power and their
liking for the weaker side made them attempt to overthrow the former.
Later they became estranged from the weaker also. Thus they showed
dislike for each of them in turn and the same men experienced their
affection and their hatred, their support and their active opposition.
[-12-] While they were maintaining the above attitude toward Caesar and
Antony, the war began as follows. Antony had set out for Brundusium to
meet the soldiers who had crossed over from Macedonia. Caesar sent some
persons to that city with money, who were to arrive there before Antony
and win over the men, and himself went to Campania, where he collected
a large crowd of men, chiefly from Capua because the people there had
received their land and city from his father, whom he said he was
avenging. He made them many promises and gave them on the spot five
hundred denarii apiece. These men usually constituted the corps of
evocati, whom one might term in Greek "the recalled", because having
ended their service they have been recalled to it again. Caesar took
charge of them, hastened to Rome before Antony could make his way back,
and came before the people, who had been made ready for him by Cannutius.
There he called to their minds in detail all the excellent works his
father had done, made a considerable, though moderate, defence of
himself, and brought accusations against Antony. He also praised
the soldiers who had accompanied him, saying that they were present
voluntarily to lend aid to the city, that they had elected him to preside
over the State and that through his mouth they made known these facts to
all. For this speech he received the approbation of his following and of
the throng that stood by, after which he departed for Etruria with a view
to obtaining an accession to his forces from that country.
[-13-] While he was doing this Antony had been at first kindly received
in Brundusium by the soldiers, because they expected they would secure
more from him than was offered them by Caesar. This belief was based
on the idea that he had possession of much more than his rival. When,
however, he promised to give each of them a hundred denarii, they raised
an outcry, but he reduced them to submission by ordering centurions as
well as others to be slain before the eyes of himself and his wife. For
the time being the soldiers were quiet, but on the way toward Gaul when
they arrived opposite the capital they revolted, and many of them,
despising the lieutenants that had been set over them, arrayed themselves
on Caesar's side. The so-called Martian and the fourth legion went over to
him in a body. He took charge of them and won their attachment by giving
money to all alike,--an act which added many more to his troops. He also
captured all the elephants of Antony, by confronting the train suddenly
as they were being conducted along. Antony stopped in Rome only long
enough to arrange a few affairs and to bind by oath all the rest of the
soldiers and the senators who were in their company; then he set out for
Gaul, fearing that that country too might indulge in an uprising. Caesar
without delay followed behind him.
[-14-] Decimus Brutus was at this time governor of that province, and
Antony set great hopes upon him, because he had been a slayer of Caesar.
But it turned out as follows. Decimus did not look askance particularly
at Caesar, for the latter had uttered no threats against the assassins: on
the other hand, he saw that Antony was no more formidable a foe than his
rival, or, indeed, than himself or any of the rest who were in power as
a result of natural acquisitiveness; therefore he refused to give ground
before him. Caesar, when he heard this decision, was for some time at a
loss what course to adopt. The young man hated both Decimus and Antony
but saw no way in which he could contend against them both at once. He
was by no means yet a match for either one of the two, and he was further
afraid that if he risked such a move he should throw them into each
other's arms and face the united opposition of the two. After stopping to
reflect that the struggle with Antony was already begun and was urgent,
but that it was not yet a fitting season for taking vengeance for his
father, he decided to make a friend of Decimus. He understood well that
he should find no great difficulty in fighting against the latter, if
with his aid he could first overcome his adversaries, but that Antony
would be a powerful antagonist on any subsequent occasion. So much did
they differ from each other. [-15-] Accordingly he sent a messenger to
Decimus, proposing friendship and promising alliance, if he would refuse
to receive Antony. This proposal caused the people in the city likewise
to join in expressing their gratitude to Caesar. Just at this time the
year was drawing to a close and no consul was on the ground, Dolabella
having been previously sent by Antony to Syria. Eulogies, however, were
delivered in the senate by the members themselves and by the soldiers who
had abandoned Antony,--with the concurrence also of the tribunes. When
they entered upon the new year they decided, in order that they might
discuss freely existing conditions, to employ a guard of soldiers
at their meetings. This pleased nearly all who were in Rome at the
time,--for they cordially detested Antony,--but particularly Cicero. He,
on account of his bitter and long-standing hostility toward the man, paid
court to Caesar, and so far as he could, by speech and action, strove to
assist him in every way and to injure Antony. It was for this reason
that, when he had left the city to escort his son to Athens for the
benefit of his education, he had returned on ascertaining that the two
were publicly estranged.
[-16-] Besides these events which took place that year Servilius
Isauricus died at a very advanced age. I have mentioned him both for that
fact and to show how the Romans of that period respected men who were
prominent through merit and hated those who behaved insolently, even on
the very slightest grounds. This Servilius while walking had once met on
the road a man on horseback, who so far from dismounting on his approach
spurned him violently aside. Later he recognized the fellow in a
defendant of a case in court, and when he mentioned the affair to the
judge, they paid no further attention to the man's plea, but unanimously
condemned him.
[B.C. 43 (_a u_. 711)]
[-17-] In the consulship of Aldus Hirtius (who was now appointed consul
in spite of the fact that his father's name had been posted on the
tablets of Sulla), with his colleague Gaius Vibius, a meeting of the
senate was held and votes were taken for three successive days, including
the first of the month itself. As a result of the war which was upon them
and the portents, very numerous and extremely unfavorable, which took
place, they were so excited that they failed to pass over these _dies
nefasti_ on which they ought not to deliberate on any matter touching
their interests. Ominous had been the falling of great numbers of
thunderbolts, some of which descended on the shrine sacred to Capitoline
Jupiter, that stood in the temple of Victory. Also a great wind arose
which snapped and scattered the columns erected about the temple of
Saturn and the shrine of Fides, and likewise knocked down and shattered
the statue of Minerva the Protectress, which Cicero had set up on the
Capitol before his exile. This portended, of course, the death of Cicero
himself. Another thing that frightened the rest of the population was
a great earthquake which occurred, and the fact that a bull which was
sacrificed on account of it in the temple of Vesta leaped up after the
ceremony. In addition to these clear indications of danger a flash darted
across from the place of the rising sun to the place of its setting and a
new star was seen for several days. Then the light of the sun seemed to
be diminished and even extinguished, and at times to appear in three
circles, one of which was surmounted by a fiery crown of sheaves. This,
if anything, proved as clear a sign as possible to them. For three men
were in power,--I mean Caesar and Lepidus and Antony,--and of them Caesar
subsequently secured the victory. At the same time that these things
occurred all sorts of oracles tending to the downfall of the democracy
were recited. Crows, moreover, flew into the temple of the Dioscuri and
pecked out the names of the consuls and of Antony and of Dolabella, which
were inscribed there somewhere on a tablet. And by night dogs in large
numbers gathered throughout the city and especially near the house of the
high priest, Lepidus, and set up howls. Again, the Po, which had flooded
a large portion of the surrounding territory, suddenly receded and left
behind on the dry land a vast number of snakes. Countless fish were cast
up from the sea on the shore near the mouth of the Tiber. Succeeding
these terrors a plague spread over nearly the whole of Italy in a
malignant form, and in view of this the senate voted that the Curia
Hostilia[7] should be rebuilt and the spot where the naval battle had
taken place be filled up. However, the curse did not appear disposed to
rest even at this point, especially when during Vibius's conduct of the
initial sacrifices on the first of the month one of his lictors suddenly
fell down and died. Because of these events many men in the course of
those days took one side or the other in their speeches and advice, and
among the deliverances was the following, of Cicero:--[-18-] "You have
heard recently, Conscript Fathers, when I made a statement to you about
the matter, why I made preparations for my departure as if I were going
to be absent from the city a very long time and then returned rapidly
with the idea that I could benefit you greatly. I would not endure an
existence under a sovereignty or a tyranny, since under such forms of
government I can not enjoy the rights of free[8] citizenship nor speak
my mind safely nor die in a way that is of service to you; and again, if
opportunity is afforded to obey any of duty's calls, I would not shrink
from action, though it involved danger. I deem it the task of an upright
man equally to keep watch over himself for his country's interests
(guarding himself that he may not perish uselessly), and in this course
of action not to fail to say or do whatever is requisite, even if it be
necessary to suffer some harm in preserving his native land.
[-19-] "These assumptions granted, a large degree of safety was afforded
by Caesar both to you and to me for the discussion of pressing questions.
And since you have further voted to assemble under guard, we must frame
all our words and behavior this day in such a fashion as to establish
the present state of affairs and provide for the future, that we may
not again be compelled to decide in a similar way about it. That our
condition is difficult and dangerous and requires much care and attention
you yourselves have made evident, if in no other way, at least by this
measure. For you would not have voted to keep the senate-house under
guard, if it had been possible for you to deliberate at all with your
accustomed orderliness, and in quiet, free from fear. It is necessary for
us even on account of the presence of the soldiers to accomplish some
measure of importance, that we may not incur the disgrace that would
certainly follow from asking for them as if we feared somebody, and then
neglecting affairs as if we were liable to no danger. We shall appear to
have acquired them only nominally in behalf of the city against Antony,
but to have given them in reality to him against our own selves, and it
will look as if in addition to the other legions which he gathers against
his country he needed to acquire these very men and so prevent your
passing any vote against him even to-day.
[-20-] "Yet some have attained such a height of shamelessness as to dare
to say that he is not warring against the State and have credited you
with so great folly as to think that they will persuade you to attend to
their words rather than to his acts. But who would choose to desist from
regarding his performances and the campaign which he has made against our
allies without any orders from the senate or the people, the countries
which he is overrunning, the cities which he is besieging, and the hopes
upon which he is building in his entire course,--who would distrust, I
say, the evidence of his own eyes, and to his ruin yield credence to the
words of these men and their false statements, by which they put you off
with pretexts and excuses?
I myself am far from asserting that in doing this he is carrying out any
legal act of administration. On the contrary, because he has abandoned
the province of Macedonia, which was assigned to him by lot, and because
he chose instead the province of Gaul, which in no way pertained to him,
and because he assumed control of the legions which Caesar had sent ahead
against the Parthians, keeping them about him though no danger threatens
Italy, and because he has left the city during the period of his
consulship to go about pillaging and injuring the country,--for all these
reasons I declare that he has long been an enemy of us all. [-21-] If you
did not perceive it immediately at the start or experience vexation
at each of his actions, he deserves to be hated all the more on
this account, in that he does not cease injuring you, who are so
long-suffering. He might perchance have obtained pardon for the errors
which he committed at first, but now by his perseverance in evil he has
reached such a pitch of knavery that he ought to be brought to book for
his former offences as well. And you ought to be especially careful in
regard to the situation, noticing and considering this point,--that the
man who has so often despised you in such weighty matters cannot submit
to be corrected by the same gentleness and kindliness that you have
shown, but must now against his will, even though never previously, be
chastised by force of arms.
"And because he partly persuaded and partly compelled you to vote
him some privileges, do not think that this makes him less guilty or
deserving of less punishment. Quite the reverse,--for this very procedure
in particular he merits the infliction of a penalty: he determined from
the outset to commit many outrages, and after accomplishing some of them
through you, he employed against your own selves the resources which came
from you, which by deception, he forced you to vote to him, though you
neither knew nor foresaw any such result. On what occasion did you
voluntarily abolish the commands given by Caesar or by the lot to each
man, and allow this person to distribute many appointments to his friends
and companions, sending his brother Gaius to Macedonia, and assigning
Gaul to himself with the aid of the legions which he was not by any means
keeping to use in your defence? Do you not remember how, when he found
you startled at Caesar's demise, he carried out all the plans that
he chose, communicating some to you carefully dissimulated and at
inopportune moments, and on his own responsibility executing others that
inflicted injuries, while all his acts were characterized by violence? He
used soldiers, and barbarians at that, against you. And need any one be
surprised that in those days some vote was passed which should not have
been, when even now we have not obtained a free hand to speak and do what
is requisite in any other way than by the aid of a body-guard? If we had
been formerly endued with this power, he would not have obtained what any
one may say he has obtained, nor would he have risen to the prominence
enabling him to do the deeds that were a natural sequence. Accordingly,
let no one retort that the rights which we were seen to give him under
command and compulsion and amid laments were legally and rightfully
bestowed. For, even in private business, that is not considered binding
which a man does under compulsion from another.
[-23-] "And yet all these measures which you are seen to have voted you
will find to be slight and varying but little from established custom.
What was there dreadful in the fact that one man was destined to govern
Macedonia or Gaul in place of another? Or what was the harm if a man
obtained soldiers during his consulship? But these are the facts that are
harmful and abominable,--that your land should be damaged, allied cities
besieged, that our soldiers should be armed against us and our means
expended to our detriment: this you neither voted nor intended. Do not,
merely because you have granted him some privileges, allow him to usurp
what was not granted him; and do not think that just as you have conceded
some points he ought similarly to be permitted to do what has not been
conceded. Quite the reverse: you should for this very reason both hate
and punish him, because he has dared not only in this case but in all
other cases to use the honor and kindness that you bestowed against you.
Look at the matter. Through my influence you voted that there should be
peace and harmony between individuals. This man was ordered to manage the
business, and conducted it in such a way (taking Caesar's funeral as a
pretext) that almost the whole city was burned down and great numbers
were once more slaughtered. You ratified all the grants made to various
persons and all the laws laid down by Caesar, not because they were
all excellent--far from it! ,--but because our mutual and unsuspecting
association, quite free from any disguise, was not furthered by changing
any one of those enactments. This man, appointed to examine into them,
has abolished many of his acts and has substituted many others in the
documents. He has taken away lands and citizenship and exemption from
taxes and many other honors from the possessors,--private individuals,
kings, and cities,--and has given them to men who had not received any,
altering the memoranda of Caesar; from those who were unwilling to give
up anything to his grasp he took away even what had been given them,
and sold this and everything else to such as wished to buy. Yet you,
foreseeing this very possibility, had voted that no tablet should be set
up after Caesar's death which might contain any article given by him to
any person. Notwithstanding, it happened many times after that. He also
said it was necessary for some provisions found in Caesar's papers to be
specially noted and put into effect. You then assigned to him, in company
with the foremost men, the task of making these excerpts; but he, paying
no attention to his colleagues, carried out everything alone according to
his wishes, in regard to the laws, the exiles, and other points which I
enumerated a few moments since. This is the way in which he wishes to
execute all your decrees.
[-24-] "Has he then shown himself such a character only in these affairs,
while managing the rest rightly? In what instance? On what motive? He was
ordered to search for and declare the public money left behind by Caesar,
and did he not seize it, paying some of it to his creditors and spending
some on high living so that he no longer has even any of this left? You
hated the name of dictator on account of Caesar's sovereignty and rejected
it entirely from the constitution: but is it not true that Antony, though
he has avoided adopting it (as if the name in itself could do any harm),
has exhibited the behavior belonging to it and the greed for gain, under
the title of consulship? You assigned to him the duty of promoting
harmony, and has he not on his own responsibility begun this great war,
neither necessary nor sanctioned, against Caesar and Decimus, whom you
approve? Innumerable cases might be mentioned, if one wished to go into
details, in which you entrusted business to him to manage as consul, and
he has not conducted a single bit of it as the circumstances demanded,
but has done quite the opposite, using against you the authority that you
imparted. Now will you assume to yourself also these errors that he has
committed and say that you yourselves are responsible for all that has
happened, because you assigned to him the management and investigation of
the matters in question? It is ridiculous. If some general or envoy that
had been chosen should fail in every way to do his duty, you who sent him
would not incur the blame for this. It would be a sorry state of things,
if all who are elected to perform some work should themselves receive the
advantages and the honors, but lay upon you the complaints and the blame.
[-25-] Accordingly, there is no sense in paying any heed to him when he
says: 'It was you who permitted me to govern Gaul, you ordered me to
administer the public finances, you gave me the legions from Macedonia.'
Perhaps these measures were voted--yet ought you to put it that way, and
not instead exact punishment from him for his action in compelling you to
make that decision? At any rate, you never at any time gave him the
right to restore the exiles, to add laws surreptitiously, to sell the
privileges of citizenship and exemption from taxes, to steal the public
funds, to plunder the possessions of allies, to abuse the cities, or
to undertake to play the tyrant over his native country. And you never
conceded to any one else all that was desired, though you have granted by
your votes many things to many persons; on the contrary you have always
punished such men so far as you could, as you will also punish him, if
you take my advice. For it is not in these matters alone that he has
shown himself to be such a man as you know and have seen him to be, but
briefly in all undertakings which he has ever attempted to perform for
the commonwealth.
[-26-] "His private life and his private examples of licentiousness
and avarice I shall willingly pass over, not because one would fail to
discover that he had committed many abominable outrages in the course of
them, but because, by Hercules, I am ashamed to describe minutely and
separately--especially to you who know it as well as I--how he conducted
his youth among you who were boys at the time, how he auctioned off
the vigor of his prime, his secret lapses from chastity, his open
fornications, what he let be done to him as long as it was possible, what
he did as early as he could, his revels, his periods of drunkenness, and
all the rest that follows in their train. It is impossible for a person
brought up in so great licentiousness and shamelessness to avoid defiling
his entire life: and so from his private concerns he brought his lewdness
and greed to bear upon public matters. On this I will refrain from
dilating, and likewise by Jupiter on his visit to Gabinius in Egypt
and his flight to Caesar in Gaul, that I may not be charged with going
minutely into every detail; for I feel ashamed for you, that knowing him
to be such a man you appointed him tribune and master of the horse and
subsequently consul. I will at present recite only his drunken insolence
and abuses in these very positions.
[-27-] "Well, then, when he was tribune he first of all prevented you
from settling suitably the work you then had in hand by shouting and
bawling and alone of all the people opposing the public peace of the
State, until you became vexed and because of his conduct passed the vote
that you did. Then, though by law he was not permitted to be absent from
town a single night, he escaped from the city, abandoning the duties of
his office, and, having gone as a deserter to Caesar's camp, guided the
latter back as a foe to his country, drove you out of Rome and all the
rest of Italy, and, in short, became the prime cause of all the civil
disorders that have since taken place among you. Had he not at that time
acted contrary to your wishes, Caesar would never have found an excuse for
the war and could not, in spite of all his shamelessness, have gathered a
competent force in defiance of your resolutions; but he would have
either voluntarily laid down his arms, or been brought to his senses
unwillingly. As it is, this fellow is the man who furnished him with the
excuses, who destroyed the prestige of the senate, who increased the
audacity of the soldiers. He it is who planted the seeds of evils which
sprang up afterward: he it is who has proved the common bane not only of
us, but also of practically the whole world, as, indeed, Heaven rather
plainly indicated. When, that is to say, he proposed those astonishing
laws, the whole air was filled with thunder and lightning. Yet this
accursed wretch paid no attention to them, though he claims to be a
soothsayer, but filled not only the city but the whole world with the
evils and wars which I mentioned.
[-28-] "Now after this is there any need of mentioning that he served as
master of the horse an entire year, something which had never before been
done? Or that during this period also he was drunk and abusive and in the
assemblies would frequently vomit the remains of yesterday's debauch on
the rostra itself, in the midst of his harangues? Or that he went about
Italy at the head of pimps and prostitutes and buffoons, women as well as
men, in company with the lictors bearing festoons of laurel? Or that he
alone of mankind dared to buy the property of Pompey, having no regard
for his own dignity or the great man's memory, but grasping eagerly those
possessions over which we even now as at that time shed a tear? He threw
himself upon this and many other estates with the evident intention of
making no recompense for them. Yet with all his insolence and violence
the price was nevertheless collected, for Caesar took this way of
discountenancing his act. And all that he has acquired, vast in extent
and gathered from every source, he has consumed in dicing, consumed in
harlotry, consumed in feasting, consumed in drinking, like a second
Charybdis.
[-29-] "Of this behavior I shall make no chronicle. But on the subject of
the insults which he offered to the State and the assassinations which
he caused throughout the whole city alike how can any man be silent? Is
memory lacking of how oppressive the very sight of him was to you, but
most of all his deeds? He dared, O thou earth and ye gods, first in
this place, within the wall, in the Forum, in the senate-house, on the
Capitol, at one and the same time to array himself in the purple-bordered
garb, to gird a sword on his thigh, to employ lictors, and to be escorted
by armed soldiers. Next, whereas he might have checked the turmoil of the
citizens, he not only failed to do so, but set you at variance when you
were in concord, partly by his own acts and partly through the medium
of others. Moreover he directed his attention in turn to the latter
themselves, and by now assisting them and now abandoning them[9] incurred
full responsibility for great numbers of them being slain and for the
fact that the entire region of Pontus and of the Parthians was not
subdued at that time immediately after the victory over Pharnaces. Caesar,
being called hither in haste to see what he was doing, did not finish
entirely any of those projects, as he was surely intending.