made in the senate I think it will not be out of place to explain.
After the death of Caesar and your ever memorable Ides of March,
Brutus, you have not forgotten what I said had been omitted by you
and your colleagues, and what a heavy cloud I declared to be
hanging over the Republic. A great pest had been removed by your
means, a great blot on the Roman people wiped out, immense
glory in truth acquired by yourselves: but an engine for exercising
kingly power had been put into the hands of Lepidus and Antony,
of whom the former was the more fickle of the two, the latter the
more corrupt, but both of whom dreaded peace and were enemies
to quiet. Against these men, inflamed with the ambition of
revolutionizing the state, we had no protecting force to oppose. For
the fact of the matter was this: the state had become roused as one
man to maintain its liberty; I at the time was even excessively
warlike; you, perhaps with more wisdom, quitted the city which
you had liberated, and when Italy offered you her services declined
them. Accordingly, when I saw the city in the possession of
parricides, and that neither you nor Cassius could remain in it with
safety, and that it was held down by Antony's armed guards, I
thought that I too ought to leave it: for a city held down by traitors,
with all opportunity of giving aid cut off, was a shocking
spectacle. But the same spirit as always had animated me, staunch
to the love of country, did not admit the thought of a departure
from its dangers. Accordingly, in the very midst of my voyage to
Achaia, when in the period of the Etesian gales a south wind--as
though remonstrating against my design--had brought me back to
Italy, I saw you at Velia and was much distressed: for you were on
the point of leaving the country, Brutus--leaving it, I say, for our
friends the Stoics deny that wise men ever "flee." As soon as I
reached Rome I at once threw myself in opposition to Antony's
treason and insane policy: and having roused his wrath against me,
I began entering upon a policy truly Brutus-like--for this is the
distinctive mark of your family--that of freeing my country. The
rest of the story is too long to tell, and must be passed over by me,
for it is about myself. I will only say this much: that this young
Caesar, thanks to whom we still exist, if we would confess the
truth, was a stream from the fountain-head of my policy. To him I
voted honours, none indeed, Brutus, that were not his due. none
that were not inevitable. For directly we began the recovery of
liberty, when the divine excellence of even Decimus Brutus had
not yet bestirred itself sufficiently to give us an indication of the
truth, and when our sole protection depended on the boy who had
shaken Antony from our shoulders, what honour was there that he
did not deserve to have decreed to him? However, all I then
proposed for him was a complimentary vote of thanks, and that too
expressed with nioderation. I also proposed a decree conferring
imperium on him, which, although it seemed too great a
compliment for one of his age, was yet necessary for one
commanding an army--for what is an army without a commander
with imperium? Philippus proposed a statue; Servius at first
proposed a license to stand for office before the regular time.
Servilius afterwards proposed that the time should be still farther
curtailed. At that time nothing was thought too good for him.
But somehow men are more easily found who are liberal at a time
of alarm, than grateful when victory has been won. For when that
most joyful day of Decimus Brutus's relief from blockade had
dawned on the Republic and happened also to be his birthday, I
proposed that the name of Brutus should be entered in the fasti
under that date. And in that I followed the example of our
ancestors, who paid this honour to the woman Laurentia, at whose
altar in the Velabrum you pontiffs are accustomed to offer service.
And when I proposed this honor to Brutus I wished that there
should be in the fasti an eternal memorial of a most welcome
victory: and yet on that very day I discovered that the ill-disposed
in the senate were somewhat in a majority over the grateful. In the
course of those same days I lavished honours--if you like that
word--upon the dead Hirtius, Pansa, and even Aquila. And who has
any fault to find with that, unless he be one who, no sooner an
alarm is over, forgets the past danger? There was added to this
grateful memorial of a benefit received some consideration of
what would be for the good of posterity also; for I wished that
there should exist some perpetual record of the popular execration
of our most ruthless enemies. I suspect that the next step does not
meet with your approbation. It was disapproved by your friends,
who are indeed most excellent citizens, but inexperienced in
public business. I mean my proposing an ovation for Caesar. For
myself, however--though I am perhaps wrong, and I am not a man
who believes his own way necessarily right--I think that in the
course of this war I never took a more prudent step. The reason for
this I must not reveal, lest I should seem to have a sense of favours
to come rather than to be grateful for those received. I have said
too much already: let us look at other points. I proposed honours to
Decimus Brutus, and also to Lucius Plancus. Those indeed are
noble spirits whose spur to action is glory: but the senate also is
wise to avail itself of any means--provided that they are
honourable--by which it thinks that a particular man can be
induced to support the Republic. But--you say--I am blamed in
regard to Lepidus: for, having placed his statue on the rostra, I also
voted for its removal. I tried by paying him a compliment to recall
him from his insane policy. The infatuation of that most unstable
of men rendered my prudence futile. Yet all the same more good
was done by demolishing the statue of Lepidus, than harm by
putting it up.
Enough about honours; now I must say a few words about
penalties. For I have gathered from frequent expressions in your
letters that in regard to those whom you have conquered in war,
you desire that your clemency should be praised. I hold, indeed,
that you do and say nothing but what becomes a philosopher. But
to omit the punishment of a crime--for that is what "pardoning"
amounts to--even if it is endurable in other cases, is mischievous in
a war like this. For there has been no civil war, of all that have
occurred in the state within my memory, in which there was not
certain to be some form of constitution remaining, whichever of
the two sides prevailed. In this war, if we are victorious, I should
not find it easy to affirm what kind of constitution we are likely to
have; if we are conquered, there will certainly never be any. 1
therefore proposed severe measures against Antony, and severe
ones also against Lepidus, and not so much out of revenge as in
order that I might for the present prevent unprincipled men by this
terror from attacking their country, and might for the future
establish a warning for all who were minded to imitate their
infatuation.
However, this proposal was not mine more than it was
everybody's. The point in it which had the appearance of cruelty
was that the penalty extended to the children who did not deserve
any. But that is a thing of long standing and characteristic of all
states. For instance, the children of Themistocles were in poverty.
And if the same penalty attaches to citizens legally condemned in
court, how could we be more indulgent to public enemies? What,
moreover, can anyone say against me when he must confess that,
had that man conquered, he would have been still more revengeful
towards me?
Here you have the principles which dictated my senatorial
proposals, at any rate in regard to this class of honours and
penalties. For, in regard to other matters, I think you have been
told what opinions I have expressed and what votes I have given.
But all this is not so very pressing. What is really pressing, Brutus,
is that you should come to Italy with your army as soon as
possible. There is the greatest anxiety for your arrival. Directly you
reach Italy all classes will flock to you. For whether we win the
victory--and we had in fact won a most glorious one, only that
Lepidus set his heart on ruining everything and perishing himself
with all his friends--there will be need of your counsel in
establishing some form of constitution. And even if there is still
some fighting left to be done, our greatest hope is both in your
personal influence and in the material strength of your army.
But make haste, in God's name! You know the importance of
seizing the right moment, and of rapidity. What pains I am taking
in the interests of your sister's children, I hope you know from the
letters of your mother and sister. In undertaking their cause I shew
more regard to your affection, which is very precious to me, than,
as some think, to my own consistency. But there is nothing in
which I more wish to be and to seem consistent than in loving you.