came naked, naked, Conscript Fathers, and anointed into the Forum, taking
the Lupercalia as an excuse, then proceeded in company with his lictors
to the rostra, and there harangued us from the elevation. From the day
the city was founded no one can point to any one else, even a praetor or
tribune or aedile, let alone a consul, who has done such a thing. To be
sure it was the festival of the Lupercalia, and the Lupercalia had been
put in charge of the Julian College[10]; yes, and Sextus Clodius had
trained him to conduct himself so, upon receipt of two thousand plethra
of the land of Leontini[11]. But you were consul, respected sir (for I
will address you as though you were present), and it was neither proper
nor permissible for you as such to speak in such a way in the Forum, hard
by the rostra, with all of us present, and to cause us both to behold
your remarkable body, so corpulent and detestable, and to hear your
accursed voice, choked with unguent, speaking those outrageous words; for
I will preferably confine my comment to this point about your mouth. The
Lupercalia would not have missed its proper reverence, but you disgraced
the whole city at once,--not to speak a word yet about your remarks on
that occasion. Who is unaware that the consulship is public, the property
of the whole people, that its dignity must be preserved everywhere, and
that its holder must nowhere strip naked or behave wantonly? [-31-] Did
he perchance imitate the famous Horatius of old or Cloelia of bygone
days? But the latter swam across the river with all her clothing, and
the former cast himself with his armor into the flood. It would be
fitting--would it not?--to set up also a statue of this consul, so that
people might contrast the one man armed in the Tiber and the other naked
in the Forum. It was by such conduct as has been cited that those heroes
of yore were wont to preserve us and give us liberty, while he took away
all our liberty from us, so far as was in his power, destroyed the whole
democracy, set up a despot in place of a consul, a tyrant in place of
a dictator over us. You remember the nature of his language when he
approached the rostra, and the style of his behavior when he had ascended
it. But when a man who is a Roman and a consul has dared to name any one
King of the Romans in the Roman Forum, close to the rostra of liberty, in
the presence of the entire people and the entire senate, and straightway
to set the diadem upon his head and further to affirm falsely in the
hearing of us all that we ourselves bade him say and do this, what most
outrageous deed will that man not dare, and from what action, however
revolting, will he refrain? [-32-] Did we lay this injunction upon you,
Antony, we who expelled the Tarquins, who cherished Brutus, who hurled
Capitolinus headlong, who put to death the Spurii?[12] Did we order you
to salute any one as king, when we have laid a curse upon the very name
of monarch and furthermore upon that of dictator as the most similar? Did
we command you to appoint any one tyrant, we who repulsed Pyrrhus from
Italy, who drove back Antiochus beyond the Taurus, who put an end to the
tyranny even in Macedonia? No, by the rods of Valerius and the law of
Porcius, no, by the leg of Horatius and the hand of Mucius, no, by the
spear of Decius and the sword of Brutus! But you, unspeakable villain,
begged and pleaded to be made a slave as Postumius pleaded to be
delivered to the Samnites, as Regulus to be given back to the
Carthaginians, as Curtius to be thrown into the chasm. And where did
you find this recorded? In the same place where you discovered that the
Cretans had been made free after Brutus was their governor, when we voted
after Caesar's death that he should govern them.
[-33-] "So then, seeing that you have detected his baneful disposition
in so many and so great enterprises, will you not take vengeance on him
instead of waiting to learn by experience what the man who caused so much
trouble naked will do to you when he is armed? Do you think that he is
not eager for the tyrant's power, that he does not pray to obtain it some
day, or that he will put the pursuit of it out of his thoughts, when he
has once allowed it a resting-place in his mind, and that he will ever
abandon the hope of sole rulership for which he has spoken and acted so
impudently without punishment! What human being who, while master of his
own voice, would undertake to help some one else secure an honor, would
not appropriate it himself when he became powerful? Who that has dared
to nominate another as tyrant over his country and himself at once would
himself refuse to be monarch? [-34-] Hence, even if you spared him
formerly, you must hate him now for these acts. Do not desire to learn
what he will do when his success equals his wishes, but on the basis of
his previous ventures plan beforehand to suffer no further outrages. What
defence could any one make of what took place? That Caesar acted rightly
at that time in accepting neither the name of king nor the diadem? If so,
this man did wrong to offer something which pleased not even Caesar. Or,
on the other hand, that the latter erred in enduring at all to look on at
and listen to such proceedings? If so, and Caesar justly suffered death
for this error, does not this man, admitted in a certain way that he
desired a tyranny, most richly deserve to perish? That this is so is
evident from what I have previously said, but is proved most clearly by
what he did after that. What other end than supremacy had he in mind that
he has undertaken to cause agitation and to meddle in private business,
when he might have enjoyed quiet with safety? What other end, that he has
entered upon campaigns and warfare, when it was in his power to remain at
home without danger? For what reason, when many have disliked to go out
and take charge even of the offices that belonged to them, does he not
only lay claim to Gaul, which pertains to him in not the slightest
degree, but use force upon it because of its unwillingness? For what
reason, when Decimus Brutus is ready to surrender to us himself and
his soldiers and the cities, has this man not imitated him, instead of
besieging and shutting him up? The only interpretation to be put upon it
is that he is strengthening himself in this and every other way against
us, and to no other end.
[-35-] "Seeing this, do we delay and give way to weakness and train up so
monstrous a tyrant against our own selves? Is it not disgraceful that our
forefathers, brought up in slavery, felt the desire for liberty, but we
who have lived under an independent government become slaves of our own
free will? Or again, that we were glad to rid ourselves of the dominion
of Caesar, though we had first received many favors from his hands, and
accept in his stead this man, a self-elected despot, who is far worse
than he; this allegation is proved by the fact that Caesar spared many
after his victories in war, but this follower of his before attaining any
power has slaughtered three hundred soldiers, among them some centurions,
guilty of no wrong, at home, in his own quarters, before the face and
eyes of his wife, so that she too was defiled with blood. What do you
think that the man who treated them so cruelly, when he owed them
care, will refrain from doing to all of you,--aye, down to the utmost
outrage,--if he shall conquer? And how can you believe that the man who
has lived so licentiously even to the present time will not proceed to
all extremes of wantonness, if he shall further secure the authority
given by arms?
[-36-] "Do not, then, wait until you have suffered some such treatment
and begin to rue it, but guard yourselves before you are molested. It is
out of the question to allow dangers to come upon you and then repent of
it, when you might have anticipated them. And do not choose to neglect
the seriousness of the present situation and then ask again for another
Cassius or some more Brutuses. It is ridiculous, when we have the power
of aiding ourselves in time, to seek later on men to set us free. Perhaps
we should not even find them, especially if we handle in such a way
the present situation. Who would privately choose to run risks for the
democracy, when he sees that we are publicly resigned to slavery? It must
be evident to every man that Antony will not rest contented with what
he is now doing, but that in far off and small concerns even he is
strengthening himself against us. He is warring against Decimus and
besieging Mutina for no other purpose than to provide himself, by
conquering and capturing them, with resources against us. He has not been
wronged by them that he can appear to be defending himself, nor does he
merely desire the property that they possess and with this in mind endure
toils and dangers, while ready and willing to relinquish that belonging
to us, who own their property and much beside. Shall we wait for him to
secure the prize and still more, and so become a dangerous foe? Shall we
trust his deception when he says that he is not warring against the City?
[-37-] Who is so silly as to decide whether a man is making war on us or
not by his words rather than by his deeds? I do not say that now for the
first time is he unfriendly to us, when he has abandoned the City and
made a campaign against allies and is assailing Brutus and besieging the
cities; but on the basis of his former evil and licentious behavior, not
only after Caesar's death but even in the latter's lifetime, I decide that
he has shown himself an enemy of our government and liberty and a plotter
against them. Who that loved his country or hated tyranny would have
committed a single one of the many and manifold offences laid to this
man's charge? From every point of view he is proved to have long been an
enemy of ours, and the case stands as follows. If we now take measures
against him with all speed, we shall get back all that has been lost:
but if, neglecting to do this, we wait till he himself admits that he is
plotting against us, we shall lose everything. This he will never do, not
even if he should actually march upon the City, any more than Marius or
Cinna or Sulla did. But if he gets control of affairs, he will not fail
to act precisely as they did, or still worse. Men who are anxious to
accomplish an object are wont to say one thing, and those who have
succeeded in accomplishing it are wont to do quite a different thing. To
gain their end they pretend anything, but having obtained it they deny
themselves the gratification of no desire. Furthermore, the last born
always desire to surpass what their predecessors have ventured: they
think it a small thing to behave like them and do something that has been
effected before, but determine that something original is the only thing
worthy of them, because unexpected.
[-38-] "Seeing this, then, Conscript Fathers, let us no longer delay nor
fall a prey to the indolence that the moment inspires, but let us take
thought for the safety that concerns the future. Surely it is a shame
when Caesar, who has just emerged from boyhood and was recently registered
among those having attained years of discretion, shows such great
interest in the State as to spend his money and gather soldiers for
its preservation that we should neither ourselves perform our duty
nor coöperate with him even after obtaining a tangible proof of his
good-will. Who is unaware that if he had not reached here with the
soldiers from Campania, Antony would certainly have come rushing from
Brundusium instanter, just as he was, and would have burst into our city
with all his armies like a winter torrent?[13] There is, moreover, a
striking inconsistency in our conduct. Men who have long been campaigning
voluntarily have put themselves at your service for the present crisis,
regarding neither their age nor the wounds which they received in past
years while fighting for you, and you both refuse to ratify the war in
which these very men elected to serve, and show yourselves inferior to
them, who are ready to face dangers; for while you praise the soldiers
that detected the defilement of Antony and withdrew from him, though he
was consul, and attached themselves to Caesar, (that is, to you through
him), you shrink from voting for that which you say they were right in
doing. Also we are grateful to Brutus that he did not even at the
start admit Antony to Gaul, and is trying to repel him now that Antony
confronts him with a force. Why in the world do we not ourselves do the
same? Why do we not imitate the rest whom we praise for their sound
judgment? There are only two courses open to us. [-39-] One is to say
that all these men,--Caesar, I mean, and Brutus, the old soldiers, the
legions,--have decided wrongly and ought to submit to punishment, because
without our sanction or that of the people they have dared to offer armed
resistance to their consul, some having deserted his standard, and others
having been gathered against him. The other is to say that Antony by
reason of his deeds has in our judgment long since admitted that he is
our enemy and by public consent ought to be chastised by us all. No one
can be ignorant that the latter decision is not only more just but more
expedient for us. The man neither understands how to handle business
himself (how or by what means could a person that lives in drunkenness
and dicing?) nor has he any companion who is of any account. He loves
only such as are like himself and makes them the confidants of all his
open and secret undertakings. Also he is most cowardly in extreme dangers
and most treacherous even to his intimate friends, neither of which
qualities is suited for generalship or war. [-40-] Who can be unaware
that this very man caused all our internal troubles and then shared the
dangers to the slightest possible degree? He tarried long in Brundusium
through cowardice, so that Caesar was isolated and on account of him
almost failed: likewise he held aloof from all succeeding wars,--that
against the Egyptians, against Pharnaces, the African, and the Spanish.
Who is unaware that he won the favor of Clodius, and after using the
latter's tribuneship for the most outrageous ends would have killed him
with his own hand, if I had accepted this promise from him? Again, in the
matter of Caesar, he was first associated with him as quaestor, when Caesar
was praetor in Spain, next attached himself to him during the tribuneship,
contrary to the liking of us all, and later received from him countless
money and excessive honors: in return for this he tried to inspire his
patron with a desire for supremacy, which led to talk against him and was
more than anything else responsible for Caesar's death.
[-41-] "Yet he once stated that it was I who directed the assassins to
their work. He is so senseless as to venture to invent so great praise
for me. And I for my part do not affirm that he was the actual slayer of
Caesar,--not because he was not willing, but because in this, too, he was
timid,--yet by the very course of his actions I say that Caesar perished
at his hands. For this is the man who provided a motive, so that there
seemed to be some justice in plotting against him, this is he who called
him 'king', who gave him the diadem, who previously slandered him
actually to his friends. Do I rejoice at the death of Caesar, I, who never
enjoyed anything but liberty at his hands, and is Antony grieved, who has
rapaciously seized his whole property and committed many injuries on
the pretext of his letters, and is finally hastening to succeed to his
position of ruler?
[-42-] "But I return to the point that he has none of the qualities of a
great general or such as to bring victory, and does not possess many or
formidable forces. The majority of the soldiers and the best ones have
abandoned him to his fate, and also, by Jupiter, he has been deprived
of the elephants. The remainder have perfected themselves rather in
outraging and pillaging the possessions of the allies than in waging war,
A proof of the sort of spirit that animates them lies in the fact that
they still adhere to him, and of their lack of fortitude in that they
have not taken Mutina, though they have now been besieging it for so long
a time. Such is the condition of Antony and of his followers found to be.
But Caesar and Brutus and those arrayed with them are firmly intrenched
without outside aid; Caesar, in fact, has won over many of his rival's
soldiers, and Brutus is keeping the same usurper out of Gaul: and if you
come to their assistance, first by approving what they have done of their
own motion, next by ratifying their acts, at the same time giving them
legal authority for the future, and next by sending out both the consuls
to take charge of the war, it is not possible that any of his present
associates will continue to aid him. However, even if they should cling
to him most tenaciously, they would not he able to resist all the rest
at once, but he will either lay down his arms voluntarily, as soon as
he ascertains that you have passed this vote, and place himself in your
hands, or he will be captured involuntarily as the result of one battle.
"I give you this advice, and, if it had been my lot to be consul, I
should have certainly carried it out, as I did in former days when I
defended you against Catiline and Lentulus (a relative of this very man),
who had formed a conspiracy. [-43-] Perhaps some one of you regards these
statements as well put, but thinks we ought first to despatch envoys to
him, then, after learning his decision, in case he will voluntarily give
up his arms and submit himself to you, to take no action, but if he
sticks to the same principles, then to declare war upon him: this is the
advice which I hear some persons wish to give you. This policy is very
attractive in theory, but in fact it is disgraceful and dangerous to the
city. Is it not disgraceful that you should employ heralds and embassies
to citizens? With foreign nations it is proper and necessary to treat by
heralds in advance, but upon citizens who are at all guilty you should
inflict punishment straightway, by trying them in court if you can get
them under the power of your votes, and by warring against them if you
find them in arms. All such are slaves of you and of the people and of
the laws, whether they wish it or not; and it is not fitting either to
coddle them or to put them on an equal footing with the highest class of
free persons, but to pursue and chastise them like runaway servants, with
a feeling of your own superiority. [-44-] Is it not a disgrace that he
should not delay to wrong us, but we delay to defend ourselves? Or again,
that he should for a long time, weapons in hand, have been carrying on
the entire practice of war, while we waste time in decrees and embassies,
and that we should retaliate only with letters and phrases upon the man
whom we have long since discovered by his deeds to be a wrongdoer? What
do we expect? That he will some day render us obedience and pay us
respect? How can this prove true of a man who has come into such a
condition that he would not be able, even should he wish it, to be an
ordinary citizen with you under a democratic government? If he were
willing to conduct his life on fair and equitable principles, he would
never have entered in the first place upon such a career as his: and if
he had done it under the influence of folly or recklessness, he would
certainly have given it up speedily of his own accord. As the case
stands, since he has once overstepped the limits imposed by the laws and
the government and has acquired some power and authority by this action,
it is not conceivable that he would change of his own free will or heed
any one of our resolutions, but it is absolutely requisite that such a
man should be chastised with those very weapons with which he has dared
to wrong us. [-45-] And I beg you now to remember particularly a sentence
which this man himself once uttered, that it is impossible for you to be
saved, unless you conquer. Hence those who bid you send envoys are doing
nothing else than planning how you may be dilatory and the body of your
allies become as a consequence more feeble and dispirited; while he, on
the other hand, will be doing whatever he pleases, will destroy Decimus,
storm Mutina, and capture all of Gaul: the result will be that we can no
longer find means to deal with him, but shall be under the necessity of
trembling before him, paying court to him, worshiping him. This one thing
more about the embassy and I am done:--that Antony also gave you no
account of what business he had in hand, because he intended that you
should do this.
"I, therefore, for these and all other reasons advise you not to delay
nor to lose time, but to make war upon him as quickly as possible. You
must reflect that the majority of enterprises owe their success rather to
an opportune occasion than to their strength; and you should by all means
feel perfectly sure that I would never give up peace if it were really
peace, in the midst of which I have most influence and have acquired
wealth and reputation, nor have urged you to make war, did I not think it
to your advantage.
[-46-] And I advise you, Calenus, and the rest who are of the same mind
as you, to be quiet and allow the senate to vote the requisite measures
and not for the sake of your private good-will toward Antony recklessly
betray the common interests of all of us. Indeed, I am of the opinion,
Conscript Fathers, that if you heed my counsel I may enjoy in your
company and with thorough satisfaction freedom and preservation, but that
if you vote anything different, I shall choose to die rather than to
live. I have, in general, never been afraid of death as a consequence of
my outspokenness, and now I fear it least of all. That accounts, indeed,
for my overwhelming success, the proof of which lies in the fact that
you decreed a sacrifice and festival in memory of the deeds done in my
consulship,--an honor which had never before been granted to any one,
even to one who had achieved some great end in war. Death, if it befell
me, would not be at all unseasonable, especially when you consider that
my consulship was so many years ago; yet remember that in that very
consulship I uttered the same sentiment, to make you feel that in any
and all business I despised death. To dread any one, however, that was
against you, and in your company to be a slave to any one would prove
exceedingly unseasonable to me. Wherefore I deem this last to be the ruin
and destruction not only of the body, but of the soul and reputation,
by which we become in a certain sense immortal. But to die speaking and
acting in your behalf I regard as equivalent to immortality.
[-47-] "And if Antony, also, felt the force of this, he would never have
entered upon such a career, but would have even preferred to die like his
grandfather rather than to behave like Cinna who killed him. For, putting
aside other considerations, Cinna was in turn slain not long afterward
for this and the other sins that he had committed; so that I am surprised
also at this feature in Antony's conduct, that, imitating his works as
he does, he shows no fear of some day falling a victim to a similar
disaster: the murdered man, however, left behind to this very descendant
the reputation of greatness. But the latter has no longer any claim to
be saved on account of his relatives, since he has neither emulated his
grandfather nor inherited his father's property. Who is unaware of the
fact that in restoring many who were exiled in Caesar's time and later, in
accordance forsooth with directions in his patron's papers, he did not
aid his uncle, but brought back his fellow-gambler Lenticulus, who was
exiled for his unprincipal life, and cherishes Bambalio, who is notorious
for his very name, while he has treated his nearest relatives as I have
described and as if he were half angry at them because he was born into
that family. Consequently he never inherited his father's goods, but has
been the heir of very many others, some whom he never saw or heard
of, and others who are still living. That is, he has so stripped and
despoiled them that they differ in no way from dead men."
DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY
46
The following is contained in the Forty-sixth of Dio's Rome:
How Calenus replied to Cicero in defence of Antony (chapters 1-28).
How Antony was defeated at Mutina by Caesar and the consuls (chapters
29-38).
How Caesar came to Rome and was appointed consul (chapters 39-49).
How Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus formed a solemn pact of union (chapters
50-56).
Duration of time one year, in which there were the following magistrates
here enumerated:
C. Vibius C. filius Pansa Capronianus, Aulus Hirtius Auli filius (B.C. 43
= a. u. 711).
(_BOOK 46, BOISSAVAIN_)
[B.C. 43 (_a. u_. 711) ]
[-1-] When Cicero had finished speaking in this vein, Quintus Fufius
Calenus arose and said:--"Ordinarily I should not have wished either to
say anything in defence of Antony or to assail Cicero. I really do not
think it proper in such discussions as is the present to do either of
these things, but simply to make known what one's opinion is. The
former method belongs to the courtroom, whereas this is a matter of
deliberation. Since, however, he has undertaken to speak ill of Antony on
account of the enmity that exists between them, instead of sending him a
summons, as he ought, if Antony were guilty of any wrong, and since he
has further mentioned me in a calumnious fashion, as if he could not have
exhibited his cleverness without heedlessly insulting one or two persons,
it behooves me also to set aside the imputation against Antony and to
bring counter-charges against the speaker. I would not have his innate
impudence fail of a response nor let my silence aid him by incurring the
suspicion of a guilty conscience; nor would I have you, deceived by what
he said, come to a less worthy decision by accepting his private spleen
against Antony in exchange for the common advantage. [-2-] He wishes
to effect nothing else than that we should abandon looking out for the
safest course for the commonwealth and fall into discord again. It is not
the first time that he has done this, but from the outset, ever since he
had to do with politics, he has been continually causing disturbance one
way or the other.
"Is he not the one who embroiled Caesar with Pompey and prevented Pompey
from becoming reconciled with Caesar? The one who persuaded you to pass
that vote against Antony by which he irritated Caesar, and persuaded
Pompey to leave Italy and transfer his quarters to Macedonìa? This proved
the chief cause of all the evils which befell us subsequently. Is not he
the one who killed Clodius by the hand of Milo, and slew Caesar by the
hand of Brutus? The one who made Catiline hostile to us and despatched
Lentulus without a trial? [-3-] Hence I should be very much surprised
at you, seeing that you then changed your mind about his conduct just
mentioned and made him pay the penalty for it, if you should now heed him
again, when his talk and actions are similar. Do you not see, too, that
after Caesar's death when our affairs were settled in a most tranquil way
by Antony, as not even his accuser can deny, the latter left town because
he deemed our life of harmony to be alien and dangerous to him? That when
he perceived that turmoil had again arisen, he bade a long farewell to
his son and to Athens, and returned? That he insults and abuses Antony,
whom he was wont to say he loved, and coöperates with Caesar, whose father
he killed? And if chance so favor, he will ere long attack Caesar also.
For the fellow is naturally distrustful and turbulent and has no ballast
in his soul, and he is always stirring things up and twisting about,
turning more ways than the sea-passage to which he fled and got the title
of deserter for it, asking all of you to take that man for friend or foe
whom he bids.