XXX. After some time he at last went into Spain; but, as he says, he

could not arrive there in safety. How then did Dolabella manage to

arrive there? Either, O Antonius, that cause ought never to have

been undertaken, or when you had undertaken it, it should have

been maintained to the end. Thrice did Caesar fight against his

fellow-citizens; in Thessaly, in Africa, and in Spain. Dolabella was

present at all these battles. In the battle in Spain he even received

a wound. If you ask my opinion, I wish he had not been there. But

still, if his design at first was blameable, his consistency and

firmness were praiseworthy. But what shall we say of you? In the first

place, the children of Cnaeus Pompeius sought to be restored to their

country. Well, this concerned the common interests of the whole party.

Besides that, they sought to recover their household gods, the gods of

their country, their altars, their hearths, the tutelar gods of their

family; all of which you had seized upon. And when they sought to

recover those things by force of arms which belonged to them by the

laws, who was it most natural--(although in unjust and unnatural

proceedings what can there be that is natural?)--still, who was it

most natural to expect would fight against the children of Cnaeus

Pompeius? Who? Why, you who had bought their property. Were you at

Narbo to be sick over the tables of your entertainers, while Dolabella

was fighting your battles in Spain?

And what a return was that of yours from Narbo? He even asked why

I had returned so suddenly from my expedition. I have just briefly

explained to you, O conscript fathers, the reason of my return. I was

desirous, if I could, to be of service to the republic even before the

first of January. For, as to your question, how I had returned; in the

first place, I returned by daylight, not in the dark; in the second

place, I returned in shoes, and in my Roman gown, not in any Gallic

slippers, or barbarian mantle. And even now you keep looking at me;

and, as it seems, with great anger. Surely you would be reconciled

to me if you knew how ashamed I am of your worthlessness, which you

yourself are not ashamed of. Of all the profligate conduct of all the

world, I never saw, I never heard of any more shameful than yours. You

who fancied yourself a master of the horse, when you were standing

for, or I should rather say begging for the consulship for the

ensuing year, ran in Gallic slippers and a barbarian mantle about the

municipal towns and colonies of Gaul from which we used to demand the

consulship when the consulship was stood for and not begged for.

XXXI. But mark now the trifling character of the fellow. When about

the tenth hour of the day he had arrived at Red Rocks, he skulked into

a little petty wine-shop, and, hiding there, kept on drinking till

evening. And from thence getting into a gig and being driven rapidly

to the city, he came to his own house with his head veiled. "Who are

you?" says the porter. "An express from Marcus." He is at once taken

to the woman for whose sake he had come; and he delivered the letter

to her. And when she had read it with tears, (for it was written in

a very amorous style, but the main subject of the letter was that he

would have nothing to do with that actress for the future; that he

had discarded all his love for her, and transferred it to his

correspondent,) when she, I say, wept plentifully, this soft-hearted

man could bear it no longer; he uncovered his head and threw himself

on her neck. Oh the worthless man! (for what else can I call him?

there is no more suitable expression for me to use,) was it for this

that you disturbed the city by nocturnal alarms, and Italy with

fears of many days' duration, in order that you might show yourself

unexpectedly, and that a woman might see you before she hoped to do

so? And he had at home a pretence of love; but out of doors a cause

more discreditable still, namely, lest Lucius Plancus should sell up

his sureties. But after you had been produced in the assembly by one

of the tribunes of the people, and had replied that you had come on

your own private business, you made even the people full of jokes

against you. But, however, we have said too much about trifles. Let us

come to more important subjects.

XXXII. You went a great distance to meet Caesar on his return from

Spain. You went rapidly, you returned rapidly in order that we might

see that, if you were not brave, you were at least active. You again

became intimate with him; I am sure I do not know how. Caesar had this

peculiar characteristic; whoever he knew to be utterly ruined by debt,

and needy, even if he knew him also to be an audacious and worthless

man, he willingly admitted him to his intimacy. You then, being

admirably recommended to him by these circumstances, were ordered to

be appointed consul, and that too as his own colleague. I do not make

any complaint against Dolabella, who was at that time acting under

compulsion, and was cajoled and deceived. But who is there who does

not know with what great perfidy both of you treated Dolabella in that

business? Caesar induced him to stand for the consulship. After having

promised it to him, and pledged himself to aid him, he prevented

his getting it, and transferred it to himself. And you endorsed his

treachery with your own eagerness.

The first of January arrives. We are convened in the senate. Dolabella

inveighed against him with much more fluency and premeditation than I

am doing now. And what things were they which he said in his anger, O

ye good gods! First of all, after Caesar had declared that before he

departed he would order Dolabella to be made consul, (and they deny

that he was a king who was always doing and saying something of this

sort,)--but after Caesar had said this, then this virtuous augur said

that he was invested with a pontificate of that sort that he was able,

by means of the auspices, either to hinder or to vitiate the comitia,

just as he pleased; and he declared that he would do so. And here, in

the first place, remark the incredible stupidity of the man. For what

do you mean? Could you not just as well have done what you said you

had now the power to do by the privileges with which that pontificate

had invested you, even if you were not an augur, if you were consul?

Perhaps you could even do it more easily. For we augurs have only the

power of announcing that the auspices are being observed, but the

consuls and other magistrates have the right also of observing them

whenever they choose. Be it so. You said this out of ignorance. For

one must not demand prudence from a man who is never sober. But still

remark his impudence. Many months before, he said in the senate that

he would either prevent the comitia from assembling for the election

of Dolabella by means of the auspices, or that he would do what he

actually did do. Can any one divine beforehand what defect there will

be in the auspices, except the man who has already determined to

observe the heavens? which in the first place it is forbidden by law

to do at the time of the comitia. And if any one has been observing

the heavens, he is bound to give notice of it, not after the comitia

are assembled, but before they are held. But this man's ignorance is

joined to impudence, nor does he know what an augur ought to know, nor

do what a modest man ought to do. And just recollect the whole of his

conduct during his consulship from that day up to the ides of March.

What lictor was ever so humble, so abject? He himself had no power at

all; he begged everything of others; and thrusting his head into the

hind part of his litter, he begged favours of his colleagues, to sell

them himself afterwards.

XXXIII. Behold, the day of the comitia for the election of Dolabella

arrives. The prerogative century draws its lot. He is quiet. The vote

is declared; he is still silent. The first class is called.[19]

Its vote is declared. Then, as is the usual course, the votes are

announced. Then the second class. And all this is done faster than I

have told it. When the business is over, that excellent augur (you

would say he must be Caius Laelius,) says,--"We adjourn it to another

day." Oh the monstrous impudence of such a proceeding! What had you

seen? what had you perceived? what had you heard? For you did not say

that you had been observing the heavens, and indeed you do not say

so this day. That defect then has arisen, which you on the first of

January had already foreseen would arise, and which you had predicted

so long before. Therefore, in truth, you have made a false declaration

respecting the auspices, to your own great misfortune, I hope, rather

than to that of the republic. You laid the Roman people under the

obligations of religion; you as augur interrupted an augur; you as

consul interrupted a consul by a false declaration concerning the

auspices.

I will say no more, lest I should seem to be pulling to pieces the

acts of Dolabella; which must inevitably sometime or other be

brought before our college. But take notice of the arrogance

and insolence of the fellow. As long as you please, Dolabella

is a consul irregularly elected; again, while you please,

he is a consul elected with all proper regard to the auspices. If it

means nothing when an augur gives this notice in those words in which

you gave notice, then confess that you, when you said,--"We adjourn

this to another day," were not sober. But if those words have any

meaning, then I, an augur, demand of my colleague to know what that

meaning is.

But lest by any chance, while enumerating his numerous exploits, our

speech should pass over the finest action of Marcus Antonius, let us

come to the Lupercalia.

XXXIV. He does not dissemble, O conscript fathers; it is plain that he

is agitated; he perspires; he turns pale. Let him do what he pleases,

provided he is not sick, and does not behave as he did in the Minucian

colonnade. What defence can be made for such beastly behaviour? I

wish to hear, that I may see the fruit of those high wages of that

rhetorician, of that land given in Leontini. Your colleague was

sitting in the rostra, clothed in purple robe, on a golden chair,

wearing a crown. You mount the steps; you approach his chair; (if you

were a priest of Pan, you ought to have recollected that you were

consul too;) you display a diadem. There is a groan over the whole

forum. Where did the diadem come from? For you had not picked it up

when lying on the ground, but you had brought it from home with you,

a premeditated and deliberately planned wickedness. You placed the

diadem on his head amid the groans of the people; he rejected it amid

great applause. You then alone, O wicked man, were found, both to

advise the assumption of kingly power, and to wish to have him for

your master who was your colleague; and also to try what the Roman

people might be able to bear and to endure. Moreover, you even sought

to move his pity; you threw yourself at his feet as a suppliant;

begging for what? to be a slave? You might beg it for yourself, when

you had lived in such a way from the time that you were a boy that you

could bear everything, and would find no difficulty in being a slave;

but certainly you had no commission from the Roman people to try for

such a thing for them.

Oh how splendid was that eloquence of yours, when you harangued the

people stark naked! What could be more foul than this? more shameful

than this? more deserving of every sort of punishment? Are you waiting

for me to prick you more? This that I am saying must tear you and

bring blood enough if you have any feeling at all. I am afraid that I

may be detracting from the glory of some most eminent men. Still my

indignation shall find a voice. What can be more scandalous than for

that man to live who placed a diadem on a man's head, when every one

confesses that that man was deservedly slain who rejected it? And,

moreover, he caused it to be recorded in the annals, under the head

of Lupercalia, "That Marcus Antonius, the consul, by command of the

people, had offered the kingdom to Caius Caesar, perpetual dictator;

and that Caesar had refused to accept it." I now am not much surprised

at your seeking to disturb the general tranquillity; at your hating

not only the city but the light of day; and at your living with a pack

of abandoned robbers, disregarding the day, and yet regarding nothing

beyond the day.[20] For where can you be safe in peace? What place can

there be for you where laws and courts of justice have sway, both of

which you, as far as in you lay, destroyed by the substitution of

kingly power? Was it for this that Lucius Tarquinius was driven out;

that Spurius Cassius, and Spurius Maelius, and Marcus Manlius were

slain; that many years afterwards a king might be established at Rome

by Marcus Antonius, though the bare idea was impiety? However, let us

return to the auspices.

XXXV. With respect to all the things which Caesar was intending to

do in the senate on the ides of March, I ask whether you have done

anything? I heard, indeed, that you had come down prepared, because

you thought that I intended to speak about your having made a false

statement respecting the auspices, though it was still necessary for

us to respect them. The fortune of the Roman people saved us from that

day. Did the death of Caesar also put an end to your opinion respecting

the auspices? But I have come to mention that occasion which must

be allowed to precede those matters which I had begun to discuss.

What a flight was that of yours! What alarm was yours on that

memorable day! How, from the consciousness of your wickedness,

did you despair of your life! How, while flying, were you enabled

secretly to get home by the kindness of those men who wished

to save you, thinking you would show more sense than you do! O

how vain have at all times been my too true predictions of the future!

I told those deliverers of ours in the Capitol, when they wished me to

go to you to exhort you to defend the republic, that as long as you

were in fear you would promise everything, but that as soon as you

had emancipated yourself from alarm you would be yourself again.

Therefore, while the rest of the men of consular rank were going

backwards and forwards to you, I adhered to my opinion, nor did I see

you at all that day, or the next; nor did I think it possible for an

alliance between virtuous citizens and a most unprincipled enemy to be

made, so as to last, by any treaty or engagement whatever. The third

day I came into the temple of Tellus, even then very much against my

will, as armed men were blockading all the approaches. What a day was

that for you, O Marcus Antonius! Although you showed yourself all on a

sudden an enemy to me; still I pity you for having envied yourself.

XXXVI. What a man, O ye immortal gods! and how great a man might

you have been, if you had been able to preserve the inclination you

displayed that day;--we should still have peace which was made then by

the pledge of a hostage, a boy of noble birth, the grandson of Marcus

Bambalio. Although it was fear that was then making you a good

citizen, which is never a lasting teacher of duty; your own audacity,

which never departs from you as long as you are free from fear, has

made you a worthless one. Although even at that time, when they

thought you an excellent man, though I indeed differed from that

opinion, you behaved with the greatest wickedness while presiding at

the funeral of the tyrant, if that ought to be called a funeral. All

that fine panegyric was yours, that commiseration was yours, that

exhortation was yours. It was you--you, I say--who hurled those

firebrands, both those with which your friend himself was nearly

burnt, and those by which the house of Lucius Bellienus was set

on fire and destroyed. It was you who let loose those attacks of

abandoned men, slaves for the most part, which we repelled by violence

and our own personal exertions; it was you who set them on to attack

our houses. And yet you, as if you had wiped off all the soot and

smoke in the ensuing days, carried those excellent resolutions in the

Capitol, that no document conferring any exemption, or granting any

favour, should be published after the ides of March. You recollect

yourself, what you said about the exiles; you know what you said

about the exemption; but the best thing of all was, that you for ever

abolished the name of the dictatorship in the republic. Which act

appeared to show that you had conceived such a hatred of kingly power

that you took away all fear of it for the future, on account of him

who had been the last dictator.

To other men the republic now seemed established, but it did not

appear so at all to me, as I was afraid of every sort of shipwreck,

as long as you were at the helm. Have I been deceived? or, was it

possible for that man long to continue unlike himself? While you were

all looking on, documents were fixed up over the whole Capitol, and

exemptions were being sold, not merely to individuals, but to entire

states. The freedom of the city was also being given now not to single

persons only, but to whole provinces. Therefore, if these acts are to

stand,--and stand they cannot if the republic stands too,--then, O

conscript fathers, you have lost whole provinces; and not the revenues

only, but the actual empire of the Roman people has been diminished by

a market this man held in his own house.

XXXVII. Where are the seven hundred millions of sesterces which were

entered in the account-books which are in the temple of Ops? a sum

lamentable indeed, as to the means by which it was procured, but still

one which, if it were not restored to those to whom it belonged, might

save us from taxes. And how was it, that when you owed forty millions

of sesterces on the fifteenth of March, you had ceased to owe them

by the first of April? Those things are quite countless which were

purchased of different people, not without your knowledge; but there

was one excellent decree posted up in the Capitol affecting king

Deiotarus, a most devoted friend to the Roman people. And when that

decree was posted up, there was no one who, amid all his indignation,

could restrain his laughter. For who ever was a more bitter enemy to

another than Caesar was to Deiotarus? He was as hostile to him as he

was to this order, to the equestrian order, to the people of Massilia,

and to all men whom he knew to look on the republic of the Roman

people with attachment. But this man, who neither present nor absent

could ever obtain from him any favour or justice while he was alive,

became quite an influential man with him when he was dead. When

present with him in his house he had called for him though he was his

host, he had made him give in his accounts of his revenue, he had

exacted money from him; he had established one of his Greek retainers

in his tetrarchy, and he had taken Armenia from him, which had been

given to him by the senate. While he was alive he deprived him of all

these things; now that he is dead, he gives them back again. And in

what words? At one time he says, "that it appears to him to be just,

..." at another, "that it appears not to be unjust...." What a strange

combination of words! But while alive, (I know this, for I always

supported Deiotarus, who was at a distance,) he never said that

anything which we were asking for, for him, appeared just to him. A

bond for ten millions of sesterces was entered into in the women's

apartment, (where many things have been sold, and are still

being sold,) by his ambassadors, well-meaning men, but timid and

inexperienced in business, without my advice or that of the rest of

the hereditary friends of the monarch. And I advise you to consider

carefully what you intend to do with reference to this bond. For the

king himself, of his own accord, without waiting for any of Caesar's

memoranda, the moment that he heard of his death, recovered his own

rights by his own courage and energy. He, like a wise man, knew that

this was always the law, that those men from whom the things which

tyrants had taken away had been taken, might recover them when the

tyrants were slain. No lawyer, therefore, not even he who is your

lawyer and yours alone, and by whose advice you do all these things,

will say that anything is due to you by virtue of that bond for those

things which had been recovered before that bond was executed. For he

did not purchase them of you; but, before you undertook to sell him

his own property, he had taken possession of it. He was a man--we,

indeed, deserve to be despised, who hate the author of the actions,

but uphold the actions themselves.

XXXVIII. Why need I mention the countless mass of papers, the

innumerable autographs which have been brought forward? writings of

which there are imitators who sell their forgeries as openly as if

they were gladiators' playbills. Therefore, there are now such heaps

of money piled up in that man's house, that it is weighed out instead

of being counted.[21] But how blind is avarice! Lately, too, a

document has been posted up by which the most wealthy cities of the

Cretans are released from tribute; and by which it is ordained that

after the expiration of the consulship of Marcus Brutus, Crete shall

cease to be a province. Are you in your senses? Ought you not to be

put in confinement? Was it possible for there really to be a decree

of Caesar's exempting Crete after the departure of Marcus Brutus, when

Brutus had no connexion whatever with Crete while Caesar was alive? But

by the sale of this decree (that you may not, O conscript fathers,

think it wholly ineffectual) you have lost the province of Crete.

There was nothing in the whole world which any one wanted to buy that

this fellow was not ready to sell.

Caesar too, I suppose, made the law about the exiles which you have

posted up. I do not wish to press upon any one in misfortune; I only

complain, in the first place, that the return of those men has had

discredit thrown upon it, whose cause Caesar judged to be different

from that of the rest; and in the second place, I do not know why you

do not mete out the same measure to all. For there can not be more

than three or four left. Why do not they who are in similar misfortune

enjoy a similar degree of your mercy? Why do you treat them as you

treated your uncle? about whom you refused to pass a law when you

were passing one about all the rest; and whom at the same time you

encouraged to stand for the censorship, and instigated him to a

canvass, which excited the ridicule and the complaint of every one.

But why did you not hold that comitia? Was it because a tribune of the

people announced that there had been an ill-omened flash of lightning

seen? When you have any interest of your own to serve, then auspices

are all nothing; but when it is only your friends who are concerned,

then you become scrupulous. What more? Did you not also desert him

in the matter of the septemvirate?[22] "Yes, for he interfered

with me." What were you afraid of? I suppose you were afraid that

you would be able to refuse him nothing if he were restored to the

full possession of his rights. You loaded him with every species

of insult, a man whom you ought to have considered in the place

of a father to you, if you had had any piety or natural affection

at all. You put away his daughter, your own cousin, having already

looked out and provided yourself beforehand with another. That

was not enough. You accused a most chaste woman of misconduct.

What can go beyond this? Yet you were not content with this.

In a very full senate held on the first of January, while your

uncle was present, you dared to say that this was your reason for

hatred of Dolabella, that you had ascertained that he had committed

adultery with your cousin and your wife. Who can decide whether it

was more shameless of you to make such profligate and such impious

statements against that unhappy woman in the senate, or more wicked to

make them against Dolabella, or more scandalous to make them in the

presence of her father, or more cruel to make them at all?

XXXIX. However, let us return to the subject of Caesar's written

papers. How were they verified by you? For the acts of Caesar were for

peace's sake confirmed by the senate; that is to say, the acts which

Caesar had really done, not those which Antonius said that Caesar had

done. Where do all these come from? By whom are they produced and

vouched for? If they are false, why are they ratified? If they are

true, why are they sold? But the vote which was come to enjoined you,

after the first of June, to make an examination of Caesar's acts with

the assistance of a council. What council did you consult? Whom did

you ever invite to help you? What was the first of June that you

waited for? Was it that day on which you, having travelled all

through the colonies where the veterans were settled, returned

escorted by a band of armed men?

Oh what a splendid progress of yours was that in the months of April

and May, when you attempted even to lead a colony to Capua! How you

made your escape from thence, or rather how you barely made your

escape, we all know. And now you are still threatening that city. I

wish you would try, and we should not then be forced to say "barely."

However, what a splendid progress of yours that was! Why need

I mention your preparations for banquets, why your frantic

hard-drinking? Those things are only an injury to yourself; these are

injuries to us. We thought that a great blow was inflicted on the

republic when the Campanian district was released from the payment of

taxes, in order to be given to the soldiery; but you have divided

it among your partners in drunkenness and gambling. I tell you, O

conscript fathers, that a lot of buffoons and actresses have been

settled in the district of Campania. Why should I now complain of what

has been done in the district of Leontini? Although formerly these

lands of Campania and Leontini were considered part of the patrimony

of the Roman people, and were productive of great revenue, and very

fertile. You gave your physician three thousand acres; what would you

have done if he had cured you? and two thousand to your master of

oratory; what would you have done if he had been able to make you

eloquent? However, let us return to your progress, and to Italy.

XL. You led a colony to Casilinum, a place to which Caesar had

previously led one. You did indeed consult me by letter about the

colony of Capua, (but I should have given you the same answer about

Casilinum,) whether you could legally lead a new colony to a place

where there was a colony already. I said that a new colony could not

be legally conducted to an existing colony, which had been established

with a due observance of the auspices, as long as it remained in a

flourishing state; but I wrote you word that new colonists might

be enrolled among the old ones. But you, elated and insolent,

disregarding all the respect due to the auspices, led a colony to

Casilinum, whither one had been previously led a few years before; in

order to erect your standard there, and to mark out the line of the

new colony with a plough. And by that plough you almost grazed the

gate of Capua, so as to diminish the territory of that flourishing

colony. After this violation of all religious observances, you hasten

off to the estate of Marcus Varro, a most conscientious and upright

man, at Casinum. By what right? with what face do you do this? By just

the same, you will say, as that by which you entered on the estates of

the heirs of Lucius Rubrius, or of the heirs of Lucius Turselius,

or on other innumerable possessions. If you got the right from any

auction, let the auction have all the force to which it is entitled;

let writings be of force, provided they are the writings of Caesar,

and not your own; writings by which you are bound, not those by which

you have released yourself from obligation.

But who says that the estate of Varro at Casinum was ever sold at all?

who ever saw any notice of that auction? Who ever heard the voice of

the auctioneer? You say that you sent a man to Alexandria to buy it

of Caesar. It was too long to wait for Caesar himself to come! But

whoever heard (and there was no man about whose safety more people

were anxious) that any part whatever of Varro's property had been

confiscated? What? what shall we say if Caesar even wrote you that you

were to give it up? What can be said strong enough for such enormous

impudence? Remove for a while those swords which we see around us. You

shall now see that the cause of Caesar's auctions is one thing, and

that of your confidence and rashness is another. For not only shall

the owner drive you from that estate, but any one of his friends, or

neighbours, or hereditary connexions, and any agent, will have the

right to do so.

XLI. But how many days did he spend revelling in the most scandalous

manner in that villa! From the third hour there was one scene of

drinking, gambling, and vomiting. Alas for the unhappy house itself!

how different a master from its former one has it fallen to the share

of! Although, how is he the master at all? but still by how different

a person has it been occupied! For Marcus Varro used it as a place of

retirement for his studies, not as a theatre for his lusts. What

noble discussions used to take place in that villa! what ideas were

originated there! what writings were composed there! The laws of the

Roman people, the memorials of our ancestors, the consideration of all

wisdom, and all learning, were the topics that used to be dwelt on

then;--but now, while you were the intruder there, (for I will not

call you the master,) every place was resounding with the voices of

drunken men; the pavements were floating with wine; the walls were

dripping; nobly-born boys were mixing with the basest hirelings;

prostitutes with mothers of families. Men came from Casinum, from

Aquinum, from Interamna to salute him. No one was admitted. That,

indeed, was proper. For the ordinary marks of respect were unsuited

to the most profligate of men. When going from thence to Rome he

approached Aquinum, a pretty numerous company (for it is a populous

municipality) came out to meet him. But he was carried through the

town in a covered litter, as if he had been dead. The people of

Aquinum acted foolishly, no doubt; but still they were in his road.

What did the people of Anagnia do? who, although they were out of

his line of road, came down to meet him, in order to pay him their

respects, as if he were consul. It is an incredible thing to say, but

still it was only too notorious at the time, that he returned nobody's

salutation; especially as he had two men of Anagnia with him, Mustela

and Laco; one of whom had the care of his swords, and the other of his

drinking cups.

Why should I mention the threats and insults with which he inveighed

against the people of Teanum Sidicinum, with which he harassed the men

of Puteoli, because they had adopted Caius Cassius and the Bruti as

their patrons? a choice dictated, in truth, by great wisdom, and great

zeal, benevolence, and affection for them; not by violence and force

of arms, by which men have been compelled to choose you, and Basilus,

and others like you both,--men whom no one would choose to have for

his own clients, much less to be their client himself.

XLII. In the mean time, while you yourself were absent, what a day was

that for your colleague when he overturned that tomb in the forum,

which you were accustomed to regard with veneration! And when that

action was announced to you, you--as is agreed upon by all who were

with you at the time--fainted away. What happened afterwards I know

not. I imagine that terror and arms got the mastery. At all events,

you dragged your colleague down from his heaven; and you rendered him,

not even now like yourself, but at all events very unlike his own

former self.

After that what a return was that of yours to Rome! How great was the

agitation of the whole city! We recollected Cinna being too powerful;

after him we had seen Sylla with absolute authority, and we had lately

beheld Caesar acting as king. There were perhaps swords, but they were

sheathed, and they were not very numerous. But how great and how

barbaric a procession is yours! Men follow you in battle array with

drawn swords; we see whole litters full of shields borne along. And

yet by custom, O conscript fathers, we have become inured and callous

to these things. When on the first of June we wished to come to the

senate, as it had been ordained, we were suddenly frightened and

forced to flee. But he, as having no need of a senate, did not miss

any of us, and rather rejoiced at our departure, and immediately

proceeded to those marvellous exploits of his. He who had defended the

memoranda of Caesar for the sake of his own profit, overturned the laws

of Caesar--and good laws too--for the sake of being able to agitate the

republic. He increased the number of years that magistrates were

to enjoy their provinces; moreover, though he was bound to be the

defender of the acts of Caesar, he rescinded them both with reference

to public and private transactions.

In public transactions nothing is more authoritative than law; in

private affairs the most valid of all deeds is a will. Of the laws,

some he abolished without giving the least notice; others he gave

notice of bills to abolish. Wills he annulled; though they have been

at all times held sacred even in the case of the very meanest of the

citizens. As for the statues and pictures which Caesar bequeathed to

the people, together with his gardens, those he carried away, some to

the house which belonged to Pompeius, and some to Scipio's villa.

XLIII. And are you then diligent in doing honour to Caesar's memory?

Do you love him even now that he is dead? What greater honour had he

obtained than that of having a holy cushion, an image, a temple, and

a priest? As then Jupiter, and Mars, and Quirinus have priests, so

Marcus Antonius is the priest of the god Julius. Why then do you

delay? why are not you inaugurated? Choose a day; select some one to

inaugurate you; we are colleagues; no one will refuse O you detestable

man, whether you are the priest of a tyrant, or of a dead man! I ask

you then, whether you are ignorant what day this is? Are you ignorant

that yesterday was the fourth day of the Roman games in the Circus?

and that you yourself submitted a motion to the people, that a fifth

day should be added besides, in honour of Caesar? Why are we not all

clad in the praetexta? Why are we permitting the honour which by your

law was appointed for Caesar to be deserted? Had you no objection to so

holy a day being polluted by the addition of supplications, while you

did not choose it to be so by the addition of ceremonies connected

with a sacred cushion? Either take away religion in every case, or

preserve it in every case.

You will ask whether I approve of his having a sacred cushion, a

temple and a priest? I approve of none of those things. But you,

who are defending the acts of Caesar, what reason can you give for

defending some, and disregarding others? unless, indeed, you choose

to admit that you measure everything by your own gain, and not by

his dignity. What will you now reply to these arguments?--(for I am

waiting to witness your eloquence; I knew your grandfather, who was

a most eloquent man, but I know you to be a more undisguised speaker

than he was; he never harangued the people naked; but we have seen

your breast, man, without disguise as you are.) Will you make any

reply to these statements? will you dare to open your mouth at all?

Can you find one single article in this long speech of mine, to which

you trust that you can make any answer? However, we will say no more

of what is past.

XLIV. But this single day, this very day that now is, this very moment

while I am speaking, defend your conduct during this very moment, if

you can. Why has the senate been surrounded with a belt of armed men?

Why are your satellites listening to me sword in hand? Why are not the

folding-doors of the temple of Concord open? Why do you bring men of

all nations the most barbarous, Ityreans, armed with arrows, into the

forum? He says, that he does so as a guard. Is it not then better to

perish a thousand times than to be unable to live in one's own city

without a guard of armed men? But believe me, there is no protection

in that;--a man must be defended by the affection and good-will of his

fellow citizens, not by arms. The Roman people will take them from

you, will wrest them from your hands, I wish that they may do so while

we are still safe. But however you treat us, as long as you adopt

those counsels, it is impossible for you, believe me, to last long. In

truth, that wife of yours, who is so far removed from covetousness,

and whom I mention without intending any slight to her, has been too

long owing[23] her third payment to the state. The Roman people has

men to whom it can entrust the helm of the state, and wherever they

are, there is all the defence of the republic, or rather, there is

the republic itself, which as yet has only avenged, but has not

reestablished itself. Truly and surely has the republic most high born

youths ready to defend it,--though they may for a time keep in the

background from a desire for tranquillity, still they can be recalled

by the republic at any time.

The name of peace is sweet, the thing itself is most salutary. But

between peace and slavery there is a wide difference. Peace is liberty

in tranquillity, slavery is the worst of all evils,--to be repelled,

if need be, not only by war, but even by death. But if those

deliverers of ours have taken themselves away out of our sight, still

they have left behind the example of their conduct. They have done

what no one else had done. Brutus pursued Tarquinius with war, who

was a king when it was lawful for a king to exist in Rome. Spurius

Cassius, Spurius Maelius, and Marcus Manlius were all slain because

they were suspected of aiming at regal power. These are the first men

who have ever ventured to attack, sword in hand, a man who was not

aiming at regal power, but actually reigning. And their action is not

only of itself a glorious and godlike exploit, but it is also one put

forth for our imitation, especially since by it they have acquired

such glory as appears hardly to be bounded by heaven itself. For

although in the very consciousness of a glorious action there is a

certain reward, still I do not consider immortality of glory a thing

to be despised by one who is himself mortal.

XLV. Recollect then, O Marcus Antonius, that day on which you

abolished the dictatorship. Set before you the joy of the senate and

people of Rome, compare it with this infamous market held by you

and by your friends, and then you will understand how great is the

difference between praise and profit. But in truth, just as some

people, through some disease which has blunted the senses, have

no conception of the niceness of food, so men who are lustful,

avaricious, and criminal, have no taste for true glory. But if praise

cannot allure you to act rightly, still cannot even fear turn you away

from the most shameful actions? You are not afraid of the courts of

justice. If it is because you are innocent I praise you, if because

you trust in your power of overbearing them by violence, are you

ignorant of what that man has to fear, who on such an account as that

does not fear the courts of justice?

But if you are not afraid of brave men and illustrious citizens,

because they are prevented from attacking you by your armed retinue,

still, believe me, your own fellows will not long endure you. And

what a life is it, day and night to be fearing danger from one's own

people! Unless, indeed, you have men who are bound to you by greater

kindnesses than some of those men by whom he was slain were bound to

Caesar, or unless there are points in which you can be compared with

him.

In that man were combined genius, method, memory, literature,

prudence, deliberation, and industry. He had performed exploits in war

which, though calamitous for the republic, were nevertheless mighty

deeds. Having for many years aimed at being a king, he had with great

labour, and much personal danger, accomplished what he intended. He

had conciliated the ignorant multitude by presents, by monuments, by

largesses of food, and by banquets, he had bound his own party to him

by rewards, his adversaries by the appearances of clemency. Why need I

say much on such a subject? He had already brought a free city, partly

by fear, partly by patience, into a habit of slavery.

XLVI. With him I can, indeed, compare you as to your desire to reign,

but in all other respects you are in no degree to be compared to

him. But from the many evils which by him have been burnt into the

republic, there is still this good, that the Roman people has now

learnt how much to believe every one, to whom to trust itself, and

against whom to guard. Do you never think on these things? And do you

not understand that it is enough for brave men to have learnt how

noble a thing it is as to the act, how grateful it is as to the

benefit done, how glorious as to the fame acquired, to slay a tyrant?

When men could not bear him, do you think they will bear you? Believe

me, the time will come when men will race with one another to do

this deed, and when no one will wait for the tardy arrival of an

opportunity.

Consider, I beg you, Marcus Antonius, do some time or other consider

the republic: think of the family of which you are born, not of the

men with whom you are living. Be reconciled to the republic. However,

do you decide on your conduct. As to mine, I myself will declare what

that shall be. I defended the republic as a young man, I will not

abandon it now that I am old. I scorned the sword of Catiline, I will

not quail before yours. No, I will rather cheerfully expose my own

person, if the liberty of the city can be restored by my death.

May the indignation of the Roman people at last bring forth what it

has been so long labouring with. In truth, if twenty years ago in this

very temple I asserted that death could not come prematurely upon a

man of consular rank, with how much more truth must I now say the same

of an old man? To me, indeed, O conscript fathers, death is now even

desirable, after all the honours which I have gained, and the deeds

which I have done. I only pray for these two things: one, that dying

I may leave the Roman people free. No greater boon than this can be

granted me by the immortal gods. The other, that every one may meet

with a fate suitable to his deserts and conduct towards the republic.

THE THIRD PHILIPPIC, OR THIRD SPEECH OF M. T. CICERO AGAINST MARCUS

ANTONIUS.

THE ARGUMENT.

After the composition of the last speech, Octavius, considering that

he had reason to be offended with Antonius, formed a plot for his

assassination by means of some slaves, which however was discovered.

In the mean time Antonius began to declare more and more openly

against the conspirators. He erected a statue in the forum to Caesar,

with the inscription, "To the most worthy Defender of his Country."

Octavius at the same time was trying to win over the soldiers of his

uncle Julius, and out-bidding Antonius in all his promises to them, so

that he soon collected a formidable army of veterans. But as he had no

public office to give him any colour for this conduct, he paid great

court to the republican party, in hopes to get his proceedings

authorized by the senate; and he kept continually pressing Cicero to

return to Rome and support him. Cicero, however, for some time kept

aloof, suspecting partly his abilities, on account of his exceeding

youth, and partly his sincerity in reconciling himself to his uncle's

murderers; however, at last he returned, after expressly stipulating

that Octavius should employ all his forces in defence of Brutus and

his accomplices.

Antonius left Rome about the end of September, in order to engage in

his service four legions of Caesar's, which were on their return from

Macedonia. But when they arrived at Brundusium three of them refused

to follow him, on which he murdered all their centurions, to the

number of three hundred, who were all put to death in his lodgings, in

the sight of himself and Fulvia his wife, and then returned to Rome

with the one legion which he had prevailed on; while the other three

legions declared as yet for neither party. On his arrival in Rome he

published many very violent edicts, and summoned the senate to meet

on the twenty-fourth of October; then he adjourned it to the

twenty-eighth; and a day or two before it met, he heard that two out

of the three legions had declared for Octavius, and encamped at Alba.

And this news alarmed him so much, that he abandoned his intention of

proposing to the senate a decree to declare Octavius a public enemy,

and after distributing some provinces among his friends, he put on

his military robes, and left the city to take possession of Cisalpine

Gaul, which had been assigned to him by a pretended law of the people,

against the will of the senate.

On the news of his departure Cicero returned to Rome, where he arrived

on the ninth of December. He immediately conferred with Pansa, one of

the consuls elect, (Hirtius his colleague was ill,) as to the measures

to be taken. He was again addressed with earnest solicitations by

the friends of Octavius, who, to confirm his belief in his good

intentions, allowed Casca, who had been one of the slayers of Caesar,

and had himself given him the first blow, to enter on his office as

tribune of the people on the tenth of December.

The new tribunes convoked the senate for the nineteenth, on which

occasion Cicero had intended to be absent, but receiving the day

before the edict of Decimus Brutus, by which he forbade Antonius to

enter his province (immediately after the death of Caesar he had taken

possession of Cisalpine Gaul, which had been conferred on him by

Caesar), and declared that he would defend it against him by force and

preserve it in its duty to the senate, he thought it necessary to

procure for Brutus a resolution of the senate in his favour. He went

down therefore very early, and, in a very full house, delivered the

following speech.

I. We have been assembled at length, O conscript fathers, altogether

later than the necessities of the republic required; but still we are

assembled, a measure which I, indeed, have been every day demanding,

inasmuch as I saw that a nefarious war against our altars and our

hearths, against our lives and our fortunes was, I will not say being

prepared, but being actually waged by a profligate and desperate man.

People are waiting for the first of January. But Antonius is not

waiting for that day, who is now attempting with an army to invade the

province of Decimus Brutus, a most illustrious and excellent man. And

when he has procured reinforcements and equipments there, he threatens

that he will come to this city. What is the use then of waiting, or

of even a delay for the very shortest time? For although the first of

January is at hand, still a short time is a long one for people who

are not prepared. For a day, or I should rather say an hour, often

brings great disasters, if no precautions are taken. And it is not

usual to wait for a fixed day for holding a council, as it is for

celebrating a festival. But if the first of January had fallen on

the day when Antonius first fled from the city, or if people had not

waited for it, we should by this time have no war at all. For we

should easily have crushed the audacity of that frantic man by the

authority of the senate and the unanimity of the Roman people. And

now, indeed, I feel confident that the consuls elect will do so,

as soon as they enter on their magistracy. For they are men of the

highest courage, of the most consummate wisdom, and they will act in

perfect harmony with each other. But my exhortations to rapid and

instant action are prompted by a desire not merely for victory, but

for speedy victory.

For how long are we to trust to the prudence of an individual to repel

so important, so cruel, and so nefarious a war? Why is not the public

authority thrown into the scale as quickly as possible?

II. Caius Caesar, a young man, or, I should rather say, almost a boy,

endued with an incredible and godlike degree of wisdom and valour, at

the time when the frenzy of Antonius was at its height, and when

his cruel and mischievous return from Brundusium was an object of

apprehension to all, while we neither desired him to do so, nor

thought of such a measure, nor ventured even to wish it, (because it

did not seem practicable,) collected a most trustworthy army from the

invincible body of veteran soldiers, and has spent his own patrimony

in doing so. Although I have not used the expression which I

ought,--for he has not spent it,--he has invested it in the safety of

the republic.

And although it is not possible to requite him with all the thanks to

which he is entitled, still we ought to feel all the gratitude towards

him which our minds are capable of conceiving. For who is so ignorant

of public affairs, so entirely indifferent to all thoughts of the

republic, as not to see that, if Marcus Antonius could have come with

those forces which he made sure that he should have, from Brundusium

to Rome, as he threatened, there would have been no description of

cruelty which he would not have practised? A man who in the house of

his entertainer at Brundusium ordered so many most gallant men

and virtuous citizens to be murdered, and whose wife's face was

notoriously besprinkled with the blood of men dying at his and her

feet. Who is there of us, or what good man is there at all, whom a man

stained with this barbarity would ever have spared; especially as he

was coming hither much more angry with all virtuous men than he had

been with those whom he had massacred there? And from this calamity

Caesar has delivered the republic by his own individual prudence, (and,

indeed, there were no other means by which it could have been done.)

And if he had not been born in this republic we should, owing to the

wickedness of Antonius, now have no republic at all.

For this is what I believe, this is my deliberate opinion, that if

that one young man had not checked the violence and inhuman projects

of that frantic man, the republic would have been utterly destroyed.

And to him we must, O conscript fathers, (for this is the first time,

met in such a condition, that, owing to his good service, we are at

liberty to say freely what we think and feel,) we must, I say, this

day give authority, so that he may be able to defend the republic, not

because that defence has been voluntarily undertaken by him but also

because it has been entrusted to him by us.

III. Nor (since now after a long interval we are allowed to speak

concerning the republic) is it possible for us to be silent about the

Martial legion. For what single man has ever been braver, what single

man has ever been more devoted to the republic than the whole of the

Martial legion? which, as soon as it had decided that Marcus Antonius

was an enemy of the Roman people, refused to be a companion of his

insanity; deserted him though consul; which, in truth, it would not

have done if it had considered him as consul, who, as it saw, was

aiming at nothing and preparing nothing but the slaughter of the

citizens, and the destruction of the state. And that legion has

encamped at Alba. What city could it have selected either more

suitable for enabling it to act, or more faithful, or full of more

gallant men, or of citizens more devoted to the republic?

The fourth legion, imitating the virtue of this legion, under the

leadership of Lucius Egnatuleius, the quaestor, a most virtuous and

intrepid citizen, has also acknowledged the authority and joined the

army of Caius Caesar.

We, therefore, O conscript fathers, must take care that those things

which this most illustrious young man, this most excellent of all men

has of his own accord done, and still is doing, be sanctioned by our

authority; and the admirable unanimity of the veterans, those most

brave men, and of the Martial and of the fourth legion, in their zeal

for the reestablishment of the republic, be encouraged by our praise

and commendation. And let us pledge ourselves this day that their

advantage, and honours, and rewards shall be cared for by us as soon

as the consuls elect have entered on their magistracy.

IV. And the things which I have said about Caesar and about his army,

are, indeed, already well known to you. For by the admirable valour

of Caesar, and by the firmness of the veteran soldiers, and by the

admirable discernment of those legions which have followed our

authority, and the liberty of the Roman people, and the valour of

Caesar, Antonius has been repelled from his attempts upon our lives.

But these things, as I have said, happened before; but this recent

edict of Decimus Brutus, which has just been issued, can certainly not

be passed over in silence. For he promises to preserve the province of

Gaul in obedience to the senate and people of Rome. O citizen, born

for the republic; mindful of the name he bears; imitator of his

ancestors! Nor, indeed, was the acquisition of liberty so much an

object of desire to our ancestors when Tarquinius was expelled, as,

now that Antonius is driven away, the preservation of it is to us.

Those men had learnt to obey kings ever since the foundation of

the city, but we from the time when the kings were driven out have

forgotten how to be slaves. And that Tarquinius, whom our ancestors

expelled, was not either considered or called cruel or impious,

but only The Proud. That vice which we have often borne in private

individuals, our ancestors could not endure even in a king.

Lucius Brutus could not endure a proud king. Shall Decimus Brutus

submit to the kingly power of a man who is wicked and impious? What

atrocity did Tarquinius ever commit equal to the innumerable acts of

the sort which Antonius has done and is still doing? Again, the kings

were used to consult the senate; nor, as is the case when Antonius

holds a senate, were armed barbarians ever introduced into the council

of the king. The kings paid due regard to the auspices, which this

man, though consul and augur, has neglected, not only by passing laws

in opposition to the auspices, but also by making his colleague (whom

he himself had appointed irregularly, and had falsified the auspices

in order to do so) join in passing them. Again, what king was ever

so preposterously impudent as to have all the profits, and

kindnesses, and privileges of his kingdom on sale? But what immunity

is there, what rights of citizenship, what rewards that this man has

not sold to individuals, and to cities, and to entire provinces?

We have never heard of anything base or sordid being imputed to

Tarquinius. But at the house of this man gold was constantly being

weighed out in the spinning room, and money was being paid, and in

one single house every soul who had any interest in the business was

selling the whole empire of the Roman people. We have never heard of

any executions of Roman citizens by the orders of Tarquinius, but this

man both at Suessa murdered the man whom he had thrown into prison,

and at Brundusium massacred about three hundred most gallant men and

most virtuous citizens. Lastly, Tarquinius was conducting a war in

defence of the Roman people at the very time when he was expelled.

Antonius was leading an army against the Roman people at the time

when, being abandoned by the legions, he cowered at the name of Caesar

and at his army, and neglecting the regular sacrifices, he offered up

before daylight vows which he could never mean to perform, and at

this very moment he is endeavouring to invade a province of the Roman

people. The Roman people, therefore, has already received and is still

looking for greater services at the hand of Decimus Brutus than our

ancestors received from Lucius Brutus, the founder of this race and

name which we ought to be so anxious to preserve.

V. But, while all slavery is miserable, to be slave to a man who is

profligate, unchaste, effeminate, never, not even while in fear,

sober, is surely intolerable. He, then, who keeps this man out of

Gaul, especially by his own private authority, judges, and judges most

truly, that he is not consul at all. We must take care, therefore, O

conscript fathers, to sanction the private decision of Decimus Brutus

by public authority. Nor, indeed, ought you to have thought Marcus

Antonius consul at any time since the Lupercalia. For on the day

when he, in the sight of the Roman people, harangued the mob, naked,

perfumed, and drunk, and laboured moreover to put a crown on the head

of his colleague, on that day he abdicated not only the consulship,

but also his own freedom. At all events he himself must at once have

become a slave, if Caesar had been willing to accept from him that

ensign of royalty. Can I then think him a consul, can I think him a

Roman citizen, can I think him a freeman, can I even think him a man,

who on that shameful and wicked day showed what he was willing to

endure while Caesar lived, and what he was anxious to obtain himself

after he was dead?

Nor is it possible to pass over in silence the virtue and the firmness

and the dignity of the province of Gaul. For that is the flower of

Italy, that is the bulwark of the empire of the Roman people, that is

the chief ornament of our dignity. But so perfect is the unanimity of

the municipal towns and colonies of the province of Gaul, that all

men in that district appear to have united together to defend the

authority of this order, and the majesty of the Roman people.

Wherefore, O tribunes of the people, although you have not actually

brought any other business before us beyond the question of

protection, in order that the consuls may be able to hold the senate

with safety on the first of January, still you appear to me to have

acted with great wisdom and great prudence in giving an opportunity

of debating the general circumstances of the republic. For when you

decided that the senate could not be held with safety without some

protection or other, you at the same time asserted by that decision

that the wickedness and audacity of Antonius was still continuing its

practices within our walls.

VI. Wherefore, I will embrace every consideration in my opinion which

I am now going to deliver, a course to which you, I feel sure, have no

objection, in order that authority may be conferred by us on admirable

generals, and that hope of reward may be held out by us to gallant

soldiers, and that a formal decision may be come to, not by words

only, but also by actions, that Antonius is not only not a consul, but

is even an enemy. For if he be consul, then the legions which have

deserted the consul deserve beating[24] to death. Caesar is wicked,

Brutus is impious, since they of their own heads have levied an army

against the consul. But if new honours are to be sought out for the

soldiers on account of their divine and immortal merits, and if it

is quite impossible to show gratitude enough to the generals, who is

there who must not think that man a public enemy, whose conduct

is such that those who are in arms against him are considered the

saviours of the republic?

Again, how insulting is he in his edicts! how ignorant! How like a

barbarian! In the first place, how has he heaped abuse on Caesar,

in terms drawn from his recollection of his own debauchery and

profligacy. For where can we find any one who is chaster than this

young man? who is more modest? where have we among our youth a more

illustrious example of the old-fashioned strictness? Who, on the other

hand, is more profligate than the man who abuses him? He reproaches

the son of Caius Caesar with his want of noble blood, when even his

natural[25] father, if he had been alive, would have been made consul.

His mother is a woman of Aricia. You might suppose he was saying a

woman of Tralles, or of Ephesus. Just see how we all who come from the

municipal towns--that is to say, absolutely all of us--are looked down

upon; for how few of us are there who do not come from those towns?

and what municipal town is there which he does not despise who looks

with such contempt on Aricia; a town most ancient as to its antiquity;

if we regard its rights, united with us by treaty; if we regard its

vicinity, almost close to us; if we regard the high character of its

inhabitants, most honourable? It is from Aricia that we have received

the Voconian and Atinian laws; from Aricia have come many of those

magistrates who have filled our curule chairs, both in our fathers'

recollection and in our own; from Aricia have sprung many of the best

and bravest of the Roman knights. But if you disapprove of a wife from

Aricia, why do you approve of one from Tusculum? Although the father

of this most virtuous and excellent woman, Marcus Atius Balbus, a man

of the highest character, was a man of praetorian rank; but the father

of your wife,--a good woman, at all events a rich one,--a fellow of

the name of Bambalio, was a man of no account at all. Nothing could be

lower than he was, a fellow who got his surname as a sort of insult,

derived[26] from the hesitation of his speech and the stolidity of his

understanding. Oh, but your grandfather was nobly born. Yes, he was

that Tuditanus who used to put on a cloak and buskins, and then go

and scatter money from the rostra among the people. I wish he had

bequeathed his contempt of money to his descendants! You have, indeed,

a most glorious nobility of family! But how does it happen that the

son of a woman of Aricia appears to you to be ignoble, when you

are accustomed to boast of a descent on the mother's side which is

precisely the same?[27] Besides, what insanity is it for that man to

say anything about the want of noble birth in men's wives, when his

father married Numitoria of Fregellae, the daughter of a traitor, and

when he himself has begotten children of the daughter of a freedman.

However, those illustrious men Lucius Philippus, who has a wife who

came from Aricia, and Caius Marcellus, whose wife is the daughter of

an Arician, may look to this; and I am quite sure that they have no

regrets on the score of the dignity of those admirable women.

VII. Moreover, Antonius proceeds to name Quintus Cicero, my brother's

son, in his edict; and is so mad as not to perceive that the way in

which he names him is a panegyric on him. For what could happen more

desirable for this young man, than to be known by every one to be the

partner of Caesar's counsels, and the enemy of the frenzy of Antonius?

But this gladiator has dared to put in writing that he had designed

the murder of his father and of his uncle. Oh the marvellous

impudence, and audacity, and temerity of such an assertion! to dare to

put this in writing against that young man, whom I and my brother,

on account of his amiable manners, and pure character, and splendid

abilities, vie with one another in loving, and to whom we incessantly

devote our eyes, and ears, and affections! And as to me, he does not

know whether he is injuring or praising me in those same edicts. When

he threatens the most virtuous citizens with the same punishment which

I inflicted on the most wicked and infamous of men, he seems to praise

me as if he were desirous of copying me; but when he brings up again

the memory of that most illustrious exploit, then he thinks that he is

exciting some odium against me in the breasts of men like himself.

VIII. But what is it that he has done himself? When he had published

all these edicts, he issued another, that the senate was to meet in a

full house on the twenty-fourth of November. On that day he himself

was not present. But what were the terms of his edict? These, I

believe, are the exact words of the end of it: "If any one fails to

attend, all men will be at liberty to think him the adviser of my

destruction and of most ruinous counsels". What are ruinous counsels?

those which relate to the recovery of the liberty of the Roman people?

Of those counsels I confess that I have been and still am an adviser

and prompter to Caesar. Although he did not stand in need of any one's

advice, but still I spurned on the willing horse, as it is said. For

what good man would not have advised putting you to death, when on

your death depended the safety and life of every good man, and the

liberty and dignity of the Roman people?

But when he had summoned us all by so severe an edict, why did he not

attend himself? Do you suppose that he was detained by any melancholy

or important occasion? He was detained drinking and feasting. If,

indeed, it deserves to be called a feast, and not rather gluttony.

He neglected to attend on the day mentioned in his edict, and he

adjourned the meeting to the twenty-eighth. He then summoned us to

attend in the Capitol, and at that temple he did arrive himself,

coming up through some mine left by the Gauls. Men came, having been

summoned, some of them indeed men of high distinction, but forgetful

of what was due to their dignity. For the day was such, the report of

the object of the meeting such, such too the man who had convened the

senate, that it was discreditable for a senate to feel no fear for the

result. And yet to those men who had assembled he did not dare to

say a single word about Caesar, though he had made up his mind[28]

to submit a motion respecting him to the senate. There was a man of

consular rank who had brought a resolution ready drawn up. Is it not

now admitting that he is himself an enemy, when he does not dare to

make a motion respecting a man who is leading an army against him

while he is consul? For it is perfectly plain that one of the two

must be an enemy, nor is it possible to come to a different decision

respecting adverse generals. If then Caius Caesar be an enemy, why does

the consul submit no motion to the senate? If he does not deserve to

be branded by the senate, then what can the consul say, who, by his

silence respecting him, has confessed that he himself is an enemy? In

his edicts he styles him Spartacus, while in the senate he does not

venture to call him even a bad citizen.

IX. But in the most melancholy circumstances what mirth does he not

provoke? I have committed to memory some short phrases of one edict,

which he appears to think particularly clever, but I have not as yet

found any one who has understood what he intended by them. "That is no

insult which a worthy man does." Now, in the first place, what is the

meaning of "worthy?" For there are many men worthy of punishment, as

he himself is. Does he mean what a man does who is invested with any

dignity?[29] if so, what insult can be greater? Moreover, what is the

meaning of "doing an insult?" Who ever uses such an expression? Then

comes, "Nor any fear which an enemy threatens" What then? is fear

usually threatened by a friend? Then came many similar sentences. Is

it not better to be dumb, than to say what no one can understand? Now

see why his tutor, exchanging pleas for ploughs, has had given to him

in the public domain of the Roman people two thousand acres of land in

the Leontine district, exempt from all taxes, for making a stupid man

still stupider at the public expense.

However, these perhaps are trifling matters. I ask now, why all on a

sudden he became so gentle in the senate, after having been so fierce

in his edicts? For what was the object of threatening Lucius Cassius,

a most fearless tribune of the people, and a most virtuous and loyal

citizen, with death if he came to the Senate? of expelling Decimus

Caifulenus, a man thoroughly attached to the republic, from the senate

by violence and threats of death? of interdicting Titus Canutius, by

whom he had been repeatedly and deservedly harassed by most legitimate

attacks, not only from the temple itself but from all approach to it?

What was the resolution of the senate which he was afraid that they

would stop by the interposition of their veto? That, I suppose,

respecting the supplication in honour of Marcus Lepidus, a most

illustrious man! Certainly there was a great danger of our hindering

an ordinary compliment to a man on whom we were every day thinking

of conferring some extraordinary honour. However, that he might not

appear to have had no reason at all for ordering the senate to

meet, he was on the point of bringing forward some motion about the

republic, when the news about the fourth legion came; which entirely

bewildered him, and hastening to flee away, he took a division on the

resolution for decreeing this supplication, though such a proceeding

had never been heard of before.[30]

X. But what a setting out was his after this! what a journey when he

was in his robe as a general! How did he shun all eyes, and the light

of day, and the city, and the forum! How miserable was his flight! how

shameful! how infamous! Splendid, too, were the decrees of the senate

passed on the evening of that very day; very religiously solemn

was the allotment of the provinces; and heavenly indeed was the

opportunity, when everyone got exactly what he thought most desirable.

You are acting admirably, therefore, O tribunes of the people, in

bringing forward a motion about the protection of the senate and

consuls, and most deservedly are we all bound to feel and to prove to

you the greatest gratitude for your conduct. For how can we be free

from fear and danger while menaced by such covetousness and audacity?

And as for that ruined and desperate man, what more hostile decision

can be passed upon him than has already been passed by his own

friends? His most intimate friend, a man connected with me too, Lucius

Lentulus, and also Publius Naso, a man destitute of covetousness, have

shown that they think that they have no provinces assigned them, and

that the allotments of Antonius are invalid. Lucius Philippus, a man

thoroughly worthy of his father and grandfather and ancestors, has

done the same. The same is the opinion of Marcus Turanius, a man of

the greatest integrity and purity of life. The same is the conduct

of Publius Oppius; and those very men,--who, influenced by their

friendship for Marcus Antonius, have attributed to him more power than

they would perhaps really approve of,--Marcus Piso, my own connexion,

a most admirable man and virtuous citizen, and Marcus Vehilius, a man

of equal respectability, have both declared that they would obey the

authority of the senate. Why should I speak of Lucius Cinna? whose

extraordinary integrity, proved under many trying circumstances, makes

the glory of his present admirable conduct less remarkable; he has

altogether disregarded the province assigned to him; and so has Caius

Cestius, a man of great and firm mind.

Who are there left then to be delighted with this heavensent

allotment? Lucius Antonius and Marcus Antonius! O happy pair! for

there is nothing that they wished for more. Caius Antonius has

Macedonia. Happy, too, is he! For he was constantly talking about this

province. Caius Calvisius has Africa. Nothing could be more fortunate,

for he had only just departed from Africa, and, as if he had divined

that he should return, he left two lieutenants at Utica. Then Marcus

Iccius has Sicily, and Quintus Cassius Spain. I do not know what to

suspect. I fancy the lots which assigned these two provinces, were not

quite so carefully attended to by the gods.

XI. O Caius Caesar, (I am speaking of the young man,) what safety have

you brought to the republic! How unforeseen has it been! how sudden!

for if he did these things when flying, what would he have done when

he was pursuing? In truth, he had said in a harangue that he would be

the guardian of the city; and that he would keep his army at the

gates of the city till the first of May. What a fine guardian (as the

proverb goes) is the wolf of the sheep! Would Antonius have been a

guardian of the city, or its plunderer and destroyer? And he said too

that he would come into the city and go out as he pleased. What more

need I say? Did he not say, in the hearing of all the people, while

sitting in front of the temple of Castor, that no one should remain

alive but the conqueror?

On this day, O conscript fathers, for the first time after a long

interval do we plant our foot and take possession of liberty. Liberty,

of which, as long as I could be, I was not only the defender, but even

the saviour. But when I could not be so, I rested; and I bore the

misfortunes and misery of that period without abjectness, and not

without some dignity. But as for this most foul monster, who could

endure him, or how could any one endure him? What is there in Antonius

except lust, and cruelty, and wantonness, and audacity? Of these

materials he is wholly made up. There is in him nothing ingenuous,

nothing moderate, nothing modest, nothing virtuous. Wherefore, since

the matter has come to such a crisis that the question is whether he

is to make atonement to the republic for his crimes, or we are to

become slaves, let us at last, I beseech you, by the immortal gods,

O conscript fathers, adopt our fathers' courage, and our fathers'

virtue, so as either to recover the liberty belonging to the Roman

name and race, or else to prefer death to slavery. We have borne and

endured many things which ought not to be endured in a free city, some

of us out of a hope of recovering our freedom, some from too great a

fondness for life. But if we have submitted to these things, which

necessity and a sort of force which may seem almost to have been put

on us by destiny have compelled us to endure, though, in point of

fact, we have not endured them, are we also to bear with the most

shameful and inhuman tyranny of this profligate robber?

XII. What will he do in his passion, if ever he has the power, who,

when he is not able to show his anger against any one, has been the

enemy of all good men? What will he not dare to do when victorious,

who, without having gained any victory, has committed such crimes as

these since the death of Caesar? has emptied his well filled house? has

pillaged his gardens? has transferred to his own mansion all their

ornaments? has sought to make his death a pretext for slaughter and

conflagration? who, while he has carried two or three resolutions of

the senate which have been advantageous to the republic, has made

everything else subservient to his own acquisition of gain and

plunder? who has put up exemptions and annuities to sale? who has

released cities from obligations? who has removed whole provinces

from subjection to the Roman empire? who has restored exiles? who has

passed forged laws in the name of Caesar, and has continued to have

forged decrees engraved on brass and fixed up in the Capitol, and has

set up in his own house a domestic market for all things of that sort?

who has imposed laws on the Roman people? and who, with armed troops

and guards, has excluded both the people and the magistrates from the

forum? who has filled the senate with armed men? and has introduced

armed men into the temple of Concord when he was holding a senate

there? who ran down to Brundusium to meet the legions, and then

murdered all the centurions in them who were well affected to the

republic? who endeavoured to come to Rome with his army to accomplish

our massacre and the utter destruction of the city?

And he, now that he has been prevented from succeeding in this attempt

by the wisdom and forces of Caesar, and the unanimity of the veterans,

and the valour of the legions, even now that his fortunes are

desperate, does not diminish his audacity, nor, mad that he is, does

he cease proceeding in his headlong career of fury. He is leading his

mutilated army into Gaul, with one legion, and that too wavering in

its fidelity to him, he is waiting for his brother Lucius, as he

cannot find any one more nearly like himself than him. But now what

slaughter is this man, who has thus become a captain instead of a

matador, a general instead of a gladiator, making, wherever he sets

his foot! He destroys stores, he slays the flocks and herds, and all

the cattle, wherever he finds them, his soldiers revel in their spoil,

and he himself, in order to imitate his brother, drowns himself in

wine. Fields are laid waste, villas are plundered, matrons, virgins,

well born boys are carried off and given up to the soldiery, and

Marcus Antonius has done exactly the same wherever he has led his

army.

XIII. Will you open your gates to these most infamous brothers? will

you ever admit them into the city? will you not rather, now that the

opportunity is offered to you, now that you have generals ready, and

the minds of the soldiers eager for the service, and all the Roman

people unanimous, and all Italy excited with the desire to recover its

liberty,--will you not, I say, avail yourself of the kindness of the

immortal gods? You will never have an opportunity if you neglect this

one. He will be hemmed in in the rear, in the front, and in flank, if

he once enters Gaul. Nor must he be attacked by arms alone, but by

our decrees also. Mighty is the authority, mighty is the name of

the senate when all its members are inspired by one and the same

resolution. Do you not see how the forum is crowded? how the Roman

people is on tiptoe with the hope of recovering its liberty? which

now, beholding us, after a long interval, meeting here in numbers,

hopes too that we are also met in freedom. It was in expectation of

this day that I avoided the wicked army of Marcus Antonius, at a

time when he, while inveighing against me, was not aware for what an

occasion I was reserving myself and my strength. If at that time I had

chosen to reply to him, while he was seeking to begin the massacre

with me, I should not now be able to consult the welfare of the

republic. But now that I have this opportunity, I will never, O

conscript fathers, neither by day nor by night, cease considering what

ought to be thought concerning the liberty of the Roman people, and

concerning your dignity. And whatever ought to be planned or done, I

not only will never shrink from, but I will offer myself for, and beg

to have entrusted to me. This is what I did before while it was in my

power; when it was no longer in my power to do so, I did nothing. But

now it is not only in my power, but it is absolutely necessary for me,

unless we prefer being slaves to fighting with all our strength and

courage to avoid being slaves. The immortal gods have given us these

protectors, Caesar for the city, Brutus for Gaul. For if he had been

able to oppress the city we must have become slaves at once; if he had

been able to get possession of Gaul, then it would not have been long

before every good man must have perished and all the rest have been

enslaved.

XIV. Now then that this opportunity is afforded to you, O conscript

fathers, I entreat you in the name of the immortal gods, seize upon

it; and recollect at last that you are the chief men of the most

honourable council on the whole face of the earth. Give a token to the

Roman people that your wisdom shall not fail the republic, since that

too professes that its valour shall never desert it either. There

is no need for my warning you: there is no one so foolish as not to

perceive that if we go to sleep over this opportunity we shall have to

endure a tyranny which will be not only cruel and haughty, but also

ignominious and flagitious. You know the insolence of Antonius; you

know his friends; you know his whole household. To be slaves to

lustful, wanton, debauched, profligate, drunken gamblers, is the

extremity of misery combined with the extremity of infamy. And if now

(but may the immortal gods avert the omen!) that worst of fates shall

befall the republic, then, as brave gladiators take care to perish

with honour, let us too, who are the chief men of all countries and

nations, take care to fall with dignity rather than to live as slaves

with ignominy.

There is nothing more detestable than disgrace; nothing more shameful

than slavery. We have been born to glory and to liberty; let us either

preserve them or die with dignity. Too long have we concealed what we

have felt: now at length it is revealed: every one has plainly shown

what are his feelings to both sides, and what are his inclinations.

There are impious citizens, measured by the love I bear my country,

too many; but in proportion to the multitude of well-affected ones,

very few; and the immortal gods have given the republic an incredible

opportunity and chance for destroying them. For, in addition to the

defences which we already have, there will soon be added consuls

of consummate prudence, and virtue, and concord, who have already

deliberated and pondered for many months on the freedom of the Roman

people. With these men for our advisers and leaders, with the gods

assisting us, with ourselves using all vigilance and taking great

precautions for the future, and with the Roman people acting

with unanimity, we shall indeed be free in a short time, and the

recollection of our present slavery will make liberty sweeter.

XV. Moved by these considerations, since the tribunes of the people

have brought forward a motion to ensure that the senate shall be able

to meet in safety on the first of January, and that we may be able

to deliver our sentiments on the general welfare of the state with

freedom, I give my vote that Caius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius, the

consuls elect, do take care that the senate be enabled to meet in

safety on the first of January; and, as an edict has been published

by Decimus Brutus, imperator and consul elect, I vote that the senate

thinks that Decimus Brutus, imperator and consul, deserves excellently

well of the republic, inasmuch as he is upholding the authority of the

senate, and the freedom and empire of the Roman people; and as he is

also retaining the province of Gallia Citerior, a province full of

most virtuous and brave men, and of citizens most devoted to the

republic, and his army, in obedience to the senate, I vote that the

senate judges that he, and his army, and the municipalities and

colonies of the province of Gaul, have acted and are acting properly,

and regularly, and in a manner advantageous to the republic. And

the senate thinks that it will be for the general interests of the

republic that the provinces which are at present occupied by Decimus

Brutus and by Lucius Plancus, both imperators, and consuls elect, and

also by the officers who are in command of provinces, shall continue

to be held by them in accordance with the provisions of the Julian

law, until each of these officers has a successor appointed by a

resolution of the senate; and that they shall take care to maintain

those provinces and armies in obedience to the senate and people of

Rome, and as a defence to the republic. And since, by the exertions

and valour and wisdom of Caius Caesar, and by the admirable unanimity

of the veteran soldiers, who, obeying his authority, have been and are

a protection to the republic, the Roman people has been defended, and

is at this present time being defended, from the most serious dangers.

And as the Martial legion has encamped at Alba, in a municipal town

of the greatest loyalty and courage, and has devoted itself to the

support of the authority of the senate, and of the freedom of the

Roman people; and as the fourth legion, behaving with equal wisdom

and with the same virtue, under the command of Lucius Egnatuleius the

quaestor, an illustrious citizen, has defended and is still defending

the authority of the senate and the freedom of the Roman people; I

give my vote, That it is and shall be an object of anxious care to the

senate to pay due honour and to show due gratitude to them for their

exceeding services to the republic: and that the senate hereby orders

that when Caius Pausa and Aulus Hirtius, the consuls elect, have

entered on their office, they take the earliest opportunity of

consulting this body on these matters, as shall seem to them expedient

for the republic, and worthy of their own integrity and loyalty.

THE FOURTH ORATION OF M.T. CICERO AGAINST MARCUS ANTONIUS.

CALLED ALSO THE FOURTH PHILIPPIC.

* * * * *

THE ARGUMENT.

After delivering the preceding speech in the senate, Cicero proceeded

to the forum, where he delivered the following speech to the people,

to give them information of what had been done.

I. The great numbers in which you are here met this day, O Romans, and

this assembly, greater than, it seems to me, I ever remember, inspires

me with both an exceeding eagerness to defend the republic, and with a

great hope of reestablishing it. Although my courage indeed has never

failed; what has been unfavourable is the time; and the moment that

that has appeared to show any dawn of light, I at once have been the

leader in the defence of your liberty. And if I had attempted to have

done so before, I should not be able to do so now. For this day, O

Romans, (that you may not think it is but a trifling business in which

we have been engaged,) the foundations have been laid for future

actions. For the senate has no longer been content with styling

Antonius an enemy in words, but it has shown by actions that it thinks

him one. And now I am much more elated still, because you too with

such great unanimity and with such a clamour have sanctioned our

declaration that he is an enemy.

And indeed, O Romans, it is impossible but that either the men must

be impious who have levied armies against the consul, or else that he

must be an enemy against whom they have rightly taken arms. And this

doubt the senate has this day removed--not indeed that there really

was any; but it has prevented the possibility of there being any.

Caius Caesar, who has upheld and who is still upholding the republic

and your freedom by his seal and wisdom, and at the expense of his

patrimonial estate, has been complimented with the highest praises of

the senate. I praise you,--yes, I praise you greatly, O Romans,

when you follow with the most grateful minds the name of that

most illustrious youth, or rather boy; for his actions belong to

immortality, the name of youth only to his age. I can recollect many

things; I have heard of many things; I have read of many things; but

in the whole history of the whole world I have never known anything

like this. For, when we were weighed down with slavery, when the evil

was daily increasing, when we had no defence, while we were in dread

of the pernicious and fatal return of Marcus Antonius from Brundusium,

this young man adopted the design which none of us had ventured to

hope for, which beyond all question none of us were acquainted with,

of raising an invincible army of his father's soldiers, and so

hindering the frenzy of Antonius, spurred on as it was by the most

inhuman counsels, from the power of doing mischief to the republic.

II. For who is there who does not see clearly that, if Caesar had not

prepared an army, the return of Antonius must have been accompanied by

our destruction? For, in truth, he returned in such a state of mind,

burning with hatred of you all, stained with the blood of the Roman

citizens, whom he had murdered at Suessa and at Brundusium, that he

thought of nothing but the utter destruction of the republic. And what

protection could have been found for your safety and for your liberty

if the army of Caius Caesar had not been composed of the bravest of his

father's soldiers? And with respect to his praises and honours,--and

he is entitled to divine and everlasting honours for his godlike and

undying services,--the senate has just consented to my proposals, and

has decreed that a motion be submitted to it at the very earliest

opportunity.

Now who is there who does not see that by this decree Antonius has

been adjudged to be an enemy? For what else can we call him, when the

senate decides that extraordinary honours are to be devised for those

men who are leading armies against him? What? did not the Martial

legion (which appears to me by some divine permission to have derived

its name from that god from whom we have heard that the Roman people

descended) decide by its resolutions that Antonius was an enemy before

the senate had come to any resolution? For if he be not an enemy, we

must inevitably decide that those men who have deserted the consul are

enemies. Admirably and seasonably, O Romans, have you by your cries

sanctioned the noble conduct of the men of the Martial legion, who

have come over to the authority of the senate, to your liberty, and

to the whole republic; and have abandoned that enemy and robber and

parricide of his country. Nor did they display only their spirit

and courage in doing this, but their caution and wisdom also. They

encamped at Alba, in a city convenient, fortified, near, full of brave

men and loyal and virtuous citizens. The fourth legion imitating

the virtue of this Martial legion, under the leadership of Lucius

Egnatuleius, whom the senate deservedly praised a little while ago,

has also joined the army of Caius Caesar.

III. What more adverse decisions, O Marcus Antonius, can you want?

Caesar, who has levied an army against you, is extolled to the skies.

The legions are praised in the most complimentary language, which have

abandoned you, which were sent for into Italy by you; and which,

if you had chosen to be a consul rather than an enemy, were wholly

devoted to you. And the fearless and honest decision of those legions

is confirmed by the senate, is approved of by the whole Roman

people,--unless, indeed, you to-day, O Romans, decide that Antonius is

a consul and not an enemy. I thought, O Romans, that you did think as

you show you do. What? do you suppose that the municipal towns, and

the colonies, and the prefectures have any other opinion? All men are

agreed with one mind; so that every one who wishes the state to be

saved must take up every sort of arms against that pestilence. What?

does, I should like to know, does the opinion of Decimus Brutus,

O Romans, which you can gather from his edict, which has this day

reached us, appear to any one deserving of being lightly esteemed?

Rightly and truly do you say No, O Romans. For the family and name

of Brutus has been by some especial kindness and liberality of the

immortal gods given to the republic, for the purpose of at one time

establishing, and at another of recovering, the liberty of the Roman

people. What then has been the opinion which Decimus Brutus has formed

of Marcus Antonius? He excludes him from his province. He opposes him

with his army. He rouses all Gaul to war, which is already used of its

own accord, and in consequence of the judgment which it has itself

formed. If Antonius be consul, Brutus is an enemy. Can we then doubt

which of these alternatives is the fact?

IV. And just as you now with one mind and one voice affirm that you

entertain no doubt, so did the senate just now decree that Decimus

Brutus deserved excellently well of the republic, inasmuch as he was

defending the authority of the senate and the liberty and empire of

the Roman people. Defending it against whom? Why, against an enemy.

For what other sort of defence deserves praise? In the next place the

province of Gaul is praised, and is deservedly complimented in most

honourable language by the senate for resisting Antonius. But if that

province considered him the consul, and still refused to receive him,

it would be guilty of great wickedness. For all the provinces belong

to the consul of right, and are bound to obey him. Decimus Brutus,

imperator and consul elect, a citizen born for the republic, denies

that he is consul; Gaul denies it; all Italy denies it; the senate

denies it; you deny it. Who then think that he is consul except a few

robbers? Although even they themselves do not believe what they say;

nor is it possible that they should differ from the judgment of all

men, impious and desperate men though they be. But the hope of plunder

and booty blinds their minds; men whom no gifts of money, no allotment

of land, nor even that interminable auction has satisfied; who have

proposed to themselves the city, the properties and fortunes of all

the citizens as their booty; and who, as long as there is something

for them to seize and carry off, think that nothing will be wanting to

them; among whom Marcus Antonius (O ye immortal gods, avert, I pray

you, and efface this omen,) has promised to divide this city. May

things rather happen, O Romans, as you pray that they should, and may

the chastisement of this frenzy fall on him and on his friend. And,

indeed, I feel sure that it will be so. For I think that at present

not only men but the immortal gods have all united together to

preserve this republic. For if the immortal gods foreshow us the

future, by means of portents and prodigies, then it has been openly

revealed to us that punishment is near at hand to him, and liberty to

us. Or if it was impossible for such unanimity on the part of all men

to exist without the inspiration of the gods, in either case how can

we doubt as to the inclinations of the heavenly deities? It only

remains, O Romans, for you to persevere in the sentiments which you at

present display.

V. I will act, therefore, as commanders are in the habit of doing when

their army is ready for battle, who, although they see their soldiers

ready to engage, still address an exhortation to them; and in like

manner I will exhort you who are already eager and burning to recover

your liberty. You have not--you have not, indeed, O Romans, to war

against an enemy with whom it is possible to make peace on any terms

whatever. For he does not now desire your slavery, as he did before,

but he is angry now and thirsts for your blood. No sport appears more

delightful to him than bloodshed, and slaughter, and the massacre

of citizens before his eyes. You have not, O Romans, to deal with a

wicked and profligate man, but with an unnatural and savage beast.

And, since he has fallen into a well, let him be buried in it. For if

he escapes out of it, there will be no inhumanity of torture which it

will be possible to avoid. But he is at present hemmed in, pressed,

and besieged by those troops which we already have, and will soon be

still more so by those which in a few days the new consuls will levy.

Apply yourselves then to this business, as you are doing. Never have

you shown greater unanimity in any cause; never have you been so

cordially united with the senate. And no wonder. For the question now

is not in what condition we are to live, but whether we are to live at

all, or to perish with torture and ignominy.

Although nature, indeed, has appointed death for all men: but valour

is accustomed to ward off any cruelty or disgrace in death. And that

is an inalienable possession of the Roman race and name. Preserve, I

beseech you, O Romans, this attribute which your ancestors have left

you as a sort of inheritance. Although all other things are uncertain,

fleeting, transitory; virtue alone is planted firm with very deep

roots; it cannot be undermined by any violence; it can never be moved

from its position. By it your ancestors first subdued the whole of

Italy; then destroyed Carthage, overthrew Numantia, and reduced the

most mighty kings and most warlike nations under the dominion of this

empire.

VI. And your ancestors, O Romans, had to deal with an enemy who had

also a republic, a senate-house, a treasury, harmonious and united

citizens, and with whom, if fortune had so willed it, there might have

been peace and treaties on settled principles. But this enemy of yours

is attacking your republic, but has none himself; is eager to destroy

the senate, that is to say, the council of the whole world, but has no

public council himself; he has exhausted your treasury, and has none

of his own. For how can a man be supported by the unanimity of his

citizens, who has no city at all? And what principles of peace

can there be with that man who is full of incredible cruelty, and

destitute of faith?

The whole then of the contest, O Romans, which is now before the Roman

people, the conqueror of all nations, is with an assassin, a robber, a

Spartacus.[31] For as to his habitual boast of being like Catilina, he

is equal to him in wickedness, but inferior in energy. He, though he

had no army, rapidly levied one. This man has lost that very army

which he had. As, therefore, by my diligence, and the authority of the

senate, and your own zeal and valour, you crushed Catilina, so you

will very soon hear that this infamous piratical enterprise of

Antonius has been put down by your own perfect and unexampled harmony

with the senate, and by the good fortune and valour of your armies and

generals. I, for my part, as far as I am able to labour, and to effect

anything by my care, and exertions, and vigilance, and authority,

and counsel, will omit nothing which I may think serviceable to your

liberty. Nor could I omit it without wickedness after all your most

ample and honourable kindness to me. However, on this day, encouraged

by the motion of a most gallant man, and one most firmly attached to

you, Marcus Servilius, whom you see before you, and his colleagues

also, most distinguished men, and most virtuous citizens; and partly,

too, by my advice and my example, we have, for the first time after a

long interval, fired up again with a hope of liberty.

THE FIFTH ORATION OF M.T. CICERO AGAINST MARCUS ANTONIUS.

OTHERWISE CALLED THE FIFTH PHILIPPIC.

* * * * *

THE ARGUMENT.

The new consuls Hirtius and Pansa were much attached to Cicero, had

consulted him a great deal, and professed great respect for his

opinion; but they were also under great obligations to Julius Caesar

and, consequently, connected to some extent with his party and with

Antonius, on which account they wished, if possible, to employ

moderate measures only against him.

As soon as they had entered on their office, they convoked the senate

to meet for the purpose of deliberating on the general welfare of the

republic. They both spoke themselves with great firmness, promising to

be the leaders in defending the liberties of Rome, and exhorting the

senate to act with courage. And then they called on Quintus Fufius

Calenus, who had been consul A.U.C. 707, and who was Pansa's

father-in-law, to deliver his opinion first. He was known to be a firm

friend of Antonius. Cicero wished to declare Antonius a public enemy

at once, but Calenus proposed that before they proceeded to acts of

open hostility against him, they should send an embassy to him to

admonish him to desist from his attempts upon Gaul, and to submit to

the authority of the senate. Piso and others supported this motion,

on the ground that it was cruel and unjust to condemn a man without

giving him a fair chance of submitting, and without hearing what he

had to say. It was in opposition to Calenus's motion that Cicero made

the following speech, substituting for his proposition one to declare

Antonius an enemy, and to offer pardon to those of his army who

returned to their duty by the first of February, to thank Decimus

Brutus for his conduct in Gaul, to decree a statue to Marcus

Lepidus[32] for his services to the republic and his loyalty, to

thank Caius Caesar (Octavius) and to grant him a special commission

as general, to make him a senator and propraetor and to enable him to

stand for any subsequent magistracy as if he had been quaestor, to

thank Lucius Egnatuleius, and to vote thanks and promise rewards to

the Martial and the fourth legion.

I. Nothing, O conscript fathers, has ever seemed to me longer than

these calends of January, and I think that for the last few days you

have all been feeling the same thing. For those who are waging war

against the republic have not waited for this day. But we, while it

would have been most especially proper for us to come to the aid of

the general safety with our counsel, were not summoned to the senate.

However, the speech just addressed to us by the consuls has removed

our complaints as to what is past, for they have spoken in such a

manner that the calends of January seem to have been long wished for

rather than really to have arrived late.

And while the speeches of the consuls have encouraged my mind, and

have given me a hope, not only of preserving our safety, but even of

recovering our former dignity, on the other hand, the opinion of the

man who has been asked for his opinion first would have disturbed me,

if I had not confidence in your virtue and firmness. For this day, O

conscript fathers, has dawned upon you, and this opportunity has been

afforded you of proving to the Roman people how much virtue, how much

firmness and how much dignity exists in the counsels of this order.

Recollect what a day it was thirteen days ago, how great was then your

unanimity, and virtue, and firmness, and what great praise, what great

glory, and what great gratitude you gained from the Roman people.

And on that day, O conscript fathers, you resolved that no other

alternative was in your power, except either an honourable peace, or a

necessary war.

Is Marcus Antonius desirous of peace? Let him lay down his arms, let

him implore our pardon, let him deprecate our vengeance; he will find

no one more reasonable than me, though, while seeking to recommend

himself to impious citizens, he has chosen to be an enemy instead of

a friend to me. There is, in truth, nothing which can be given to him

while waging war, there will perhaps be something which may be granted

to him if he comes before us as a suppliant.

II. But to send ambassadors to a man respecting whom you passed a most

dignified and severe decision only thirteen days ago, is not an act of

lenity, but, if I am to speak my real opinion, of downright madness.

In the first place, you praised those generals who, of their own head,

had undertaken war against him, in the next place, you praised the

veterans who, though they had been settled in those colonies by

Antonius, preferred the liberty of the Roman people to the obligations

which they were under to him. Is it not so? Why was the Martial

legion? why was the fourth legion praised? For if they have deserted

the consul, they ought to be blamed; if they have abandoned an enemy

to the republic, then they are deservedly praised.

But as at that time you had not yet got any consuls, you passed a

decree that a motion concerning the rewards for the soldiers and the

honours to be conferred on the generals should be submitted to you at

the earliest opportunity. Are you then going now to arrange rewards

for those men who have taken arms against Antonius, and to send

ambassadors to Antonius? so as to deserve to be ashamed that the

legions should have come to more honourable resolutions than the

senate if, indeed, the legions have resolved to defend the senate

against Antonius, but the senate decrees to send ambassadors to

Antonius. Is this encouraging the spirit of the soldiers, or damping

their virtue?

This is what we have gained in the last twelve days, that the man

whom no single person except Cotyla was then found to defend, has now

advocates even of consular rank. Would that they had all been asked

their opinion before me, (although I have my suspicions as to what

some of those men who will be asked after me, are intending to say) I

should find it easier to speak against them if any argument appeared

to have been advanced.

For there is an opinion in some quarters that some one intends to

propose to decree Antonius that further Gaul, which Plancus is at

present in possession of. What else is that but supplying an enemy

with all the arms necessary for civil war; first of all with the

sinews of war, money in abundance, of which he is at present

destitute, and secondly, with as much cavalry as he pleases? Cavalry

do I say? He is a likely man to hesitate, I suppose, to bring with him

the barbarian nations,--a man who does not see this is senseless, he

who does see it, and still advocates such a measure, is impious. Will

you furnish a wicked and desperate citizen with an army of Gauls and

Germans, with money, and infantry, and cavalry, and all sorts of

resources? All these excuses are no excuse at all.--"He is a friend of

mine." Let him first be a friend of his country.--"He is a relation of

mine." Can any relationship be nearer than that of one's country, in

which even one's parents are comprised? "He has given me money:"--I

should like to see the man who will dare to say that. But when I have

explained what is the real object aimed at, it will be easy for you to

decide which opinion you ought to agree with and adopt.

III. The matter at issue is, whether power is to be given to Marcus

Antonius of oppressing the republic, of massacring the virtuous

citizens, of plundering the city, of distributing the lands among his

robbers, of overwhelming the Roman people in slavery; or, whether he

is not to be allowed to do all this. Do you doubt what you are to do?

"Oh, but all this does not apply to Antonius." Even Cotyla would not

venture to say that. For what does not apply to him? A man who, while

he says that he is defending the acts of another, perverts all those

laws of his which we might most properly praise. Caesar wished to drain

the marshes: this man has given all Italy to that moderate man Lucius

Antonius to distribute.--What? has the Roman people adopted this

law?--What? could it be passed with a proper regard for the auspices?

But this conscientious augur acts in reference to the auspices

without his colleagues. Although those auspices do not require any

interpretation;--for who is there who is ignorant that it is impious

to submit any motion to the people while it is thundering? The

tribunes of the people carried laws respecting the provinces in

opposition to the acts of Caesar; Caesar had extended the provisions of

his law over two years; Antonius over six years. Has then the Roman

people adopted this law? What? was it ever regularly promulgated?

What? was it not passed before it was even drawn up? Did we not see

the deed done before we even suspected that it was going to be done?

Where is the Caecilian and Didian law? What is become of the law that

such bills should be published on three market days? What is become of

the penalty appointed by the recent Junian and Licinian law? Can these

laws be ratified without the destruction of all other laws? Has any

one had a right of entering the forum? Moreover, what thunder, and

what a storm that was! so that even if the consideration of the

auspices had no weight with Marcus Antonius, it would seem strange

that he could endure and bear such exceeding violence of tempest, and

rain, and whirlwind. When therefore he, as augur, says that he carried

a law while Jupiter was not only thundering, but almost uttering an

express prohibition of it by his clamour from heaven, will he hesitate

to confess that it was carried in violation of the auspices? What?

does the virtuous augur think that it has nothing to do with the

auspices, that he carried the law with the aid of that colleague whose

election he himself vitiated by giving notice of the auspices?

IV. But perhaps we, who are his colleagues, may be the interpreters

of the auspices? Do we also want interpreters of arms? In the first

place, all the approaches to the forum were so fenced round, that even

if no armed men were standing in the way, still it would have been

impossible to enter the forum except by tearing down the barricades.

But the guards were arranged in such a manner, that, as the access of

an enemy to a city is prevented, so you might in this instance see the

burgesses and the tribunes of the people cut off by forts and works

from all entrance to the forum. On which account I give my vote that

those laws which Marcus Antonius is said to have carried were all

carried by violence, and in violation of the auspices; and that the

people is not bound by them. If Marcus Antonius is said to have

carried any law about confirming the acts of Caesar and abolishing the

dictatorship for ever, and of leading colonies into any lands, then I

vote that those laws be passed over again, with a due regard to the

auspices, so that they may bind the people. For although they may be

good measures which he passed irregularly and by violence, still they

are not to be accounted laws, and the whole audacity of this frantic

gladiator must be repudiated by our authority. But that squandering

of the public money cannot possibly be endured by which he got rid of

seven hundred millions of sesterces by forged entries and deeds of

gifts, so that it seems an absolute miracle that so vast a sum of

money belonging to the Roman people can have disappeared in so short

a time. What? are those enormous profits to be endured which the

household of Marcus Antonius has swallowed up? He was continually

selling forged decrees; ordering the names of kingdoms and states, and

grants of exemptions to be engraved on brass, having received bribes

for such orders. And his statement always was, that he was doing these

things in obedience to the memoranda of Caesar, of which he himself was

the author. In the interior of his house there was going on a brisk

market of the whole republic. His wife, more fortunate for herself

than for her husband, was holding an auction of kingdoms and

provinces: exiles were restored without any law, as if by law: and

unless all these acts are rescinded by the authority of the senate,

now that we have again arrived at a hope of recovering the republic,

there will be no likeness of a free city left to us.