O ye immortal gods! how great an enterprise is it to uphold the

character of a leader in the republic, for it requires one to be

influenced not merely by the thoughts but also by the eyes of the

citizens. To take to one's house the ambassador of an enemy, to admit

him to one's chamber, even to confer apart with him, is the act of a

man who thinks nothing of his dignity, and too much of his danger. But

what is danger? For if one is engaged in a contest where everything is

at stake, either liberty is assured to one if victorious, or death

if defeated, the former of which alternatives is desirable, and the

latter some time or other inevitable. But a base flight from death

is worse than any imaginable death. For I will never be induced to

believe that there are men who envy the consistency or diligence of

others, and who are indignant at the unceasing desire to assist the

republic being approved by the senate and people of Rome. That is what

we were all bound to do, and that was not only in the time of our

ancestors, but even lately, the highest praise of men of consular

rank, to be vigilant, to be anxious, to be always either thinking, or

doing, or saying something to promote the interests of the republic.

I, O conscript fathers, recollect that Quintus Scaevola the augur, in

the Marsic war, when he was a man of extreme old age, and quite broken

down in constitution, every day, as soon as it was daylight, used to

give every one an opportunity of consulting him, nor, throughout all

that war, did any one ever see him in bed, and, though old and weak,

he was the first man to come into the senate house. I wish, above all

things, that those who ought to do so would imitate his industry,

and, next to that, I wish that they would not envy the exertions of

another.

XI. In truth, O conscript fathers, now we have begun to entertain

hopes of liberty again, after a period of six years, during which we

have been deprived of it, having endured slavery longer than prudent

and industrious prisoners usually do, what watchfulness, what anxiety,

what exertions ought we to shrink from, for the sake of delivering the

Roman people? In truth, O conscript fathers, though men who have had

the honours conferred on them that we have, usually wear their gowns,

while the rest of the city is in the robe of war, still I decided that

at such a momentous crisis, and when the whole republic was in so

disturbed a state, we would not differ in our dress from you and the

rest of the citizens. For we men of consular rank are not in this war

conducting ourselves in such a manner that the Roman people will be

likely to look with equanimity on the ensigns of our honour, when some

of us are so cowardly as to have cast away all recollection of the

kindnesses which they have received from the Roman people, some are so

disaffected to the republic that they openly allege that they favour

this enemy, and easily bear having our ambassadors despised and

insulted by Antonius, while they wish to support the ambassador sent

by Antonius. For they said that he ought not to be prevented

from returning to Antonius, and they proposed an amendment to my

proposition of not receiving him. Well, I will submit to them. Let

Varius return to his general, but on condition that he never returns

to Rome. And as to the others, if they abandon their errors and return

to their duty to the republic, I think they may be pardoned and left

unpunished.

Therefore, I give my vote, "That of those men who are with Marcus

Antonius, those who abandon his army, and come over either to Caius

Pansa or Aulus Hirtius the consuls; or to Decimus Brutus, imperator

and consul elect, or to Caius Caesar, propraetor, before the first of

March next, shall not be liable to prosecution for having been with

Antonius. That, if any one of those men who are now with Antonius

shall do anything which appears entitled to honour or to reward, Caius

Pansa and Aulus Hirtius the consuls, one or both of them, shall, if

they think fit, make a motion to the senate respecting that man's

honour or reward, at the earliest opportunity. That, if, after this

resolution of the senate, any one shall go to Antonius except Lucius

Varius, the senate will consider that that man has acted as an enemy

to the republic."

* * * * *

THE NINTH ORATION OF M.T. CICERO AGAINST MARCUS ANTONIUS. CALLED ALSO

THE NINTH PHILIPPIO.

THE ARGUMENT.

Servius Sulpicius, as has been already said, had died on his embassy

to Marcus Antonius, before Mutina; and the day after the delivery

of the preceding speech, Pansa again called the senate together

to deliberate on the honours to be paid to his memory. He himself

proposed a public funeral, a sepulchre, and a statue. Servilius

opposed the statue, as due only to those who had been slain by

violence while in discharge of their duties as ambassadors. Cicero

delivered the following oration in support of Pansa's proposition,

which was carried.[42]

I. I wish, O conscript fathers, that the immortal gods had granted to

us to return thanks to Servius Sulpicius while alive, rather than thus

to devise honours for him now that he is dead. Nor have I any doubt,

but that if that man had been able himself to give us his report of

the proceedings of his embassy, his return would have been acceptable

to you and salutary to the republic. Not that either Lucius Piso or

Lucius Philippus have been deficient in either zeal or care in the

performance of so important a duty and so grave a commission; but, as

Servius Sulpicius was superior in age to them, and in wisdom to every

one, he, being suddenly taken from the business, left the whole

embassy crippled and enfeebled.

But if deserved honours have been paid to any ambassador after death,

there is no one by whom they can be found to have been ever more fully

deserved than by Servius Sulpicius. The rest of those men who have

died while engaged on an embassy, have gone forth, subject indeed to

the usual uncertainties of life, but without any especial danger or

fear of death. Servius Sulpicius set out with some hope indeed of

reaching Antonius, but with none of returning. But though he was so

very ill that if any exertion were added to his bad state of health,

he would have no hope of himself, still he did not refuse to try,

even while at his last gasp, to be of some service to the republic.

Therefore neither the severity of the winter, nor the snow, nor the

length of the journey, nor the badness of the roads, nor his daily

increasing illness, delayed him. And when he had arrived where he

might meet and confer with the man to whom he had been sent, he

departed this life in the midst of his care and consideration as to

how he might best discharge the duty which he had undertaken.

As therefore, O Caius Pansa, you have done well in other respects, so

you have acted admirably in exhorting us this day to pay honour to

Servius Sulpicius, and in yourself making an eloquent oration in his

praise. And after the speech which we have heard from you, I should

have been content to say nothing beyond barely giving my vote, if I

did not think it necessary to reply to Publius Servilius, who has

declared his opinion that this honour of a statue ought to be

granted to no one who has not been actually slain with a sword while

performing the duties of his embassy. But I, O conscript fathers,

consider that this was the feeling of our ancestors, that they

considered that it was the cause of death, and not the manner of it,

which was a proper subject for inquiry. In fact, they thought fit that

a monument should be erected to any man whose death was caused by an

embassy, in order to tempt men in perilous wars to be the more bold

in undertaking the office of an ambassador. What we ought to do,

therefore, is, not to scrutinise the precedents afforded by our

ancestors, but to explain their intentions from which the precedents

themselves arose.

II. Lar Tolumnius, the king of Veii, slew four ambassadors of the

Roman people, at Fidenae, whose statues were standing in the rostra

till within my recollection. The honour was well deserved. For our

ancestors gave those men who had encountered death in the cause of the

republic an imperishable memory in exchange for this transitory life.

We see in the rostra the statue of Cnaeus Octavius, an illustrious and

great man, the first man who brought the consulship into that family,

which afterwards abounded in illustrious men. There was no one then

who envied him, because he was a new man; there was no one who did not

honour his virtue. But yet the embassy of Octavius was one in which

there was no suspicion of danger. For having been sent by the senate

to investigate the dispositions of kings and of free nations, and

especially to forbid the grandson of king Antiochus, the one who had

carried on war against our forefathers, to maintain fleets and to keep

elephants, he was slain at Laodicea, in the gymnasium, by a man of the

name of Leptines. On this a statue was given to him by our ancestors

as a recompense for his life, which might ennoble his progeny for many

years, and which is now the only memorial left of so illustrious a

family. But in his case, and in that of Tullus Cluvius,[43] and Lucius

Roseius, and Spurius Antius, and Caius Fulcinius, who were slain by

the king of Veii, it was not the blood that was shed at their death,

but the death itself which was encountered in the service of the

republic, which was the cause of their being thus honoured.

III. Therefore, O conscript fathers, if it had been chance which had

caused the death of Servius Sulpicius, I should sorrow indeed over

such a loss to the republic, but I should consider him deserving of

the honour, not of a monument, but of a public mourning. But, as it

is, who is there who doubts that it was the embassy itself which

caused his death? For he took death away with him; though, if he

had remained among us, his own care, and the attention of his most

excellent son and his most faithful wife, might have warded it off.

But he, as he saw that, if he did not obey your authority, he should

not be acting like himself; but that if he did obey, then that duty,

undertaken, for the welfare of the republic, would be the end of his

life; preferred dying at a most critical period of the republic, to

appearing to have done less service to the republic than he might have

done.

He had an opportunity of recruiting his strength and taking care of

himself in many cities through which his journey lay. He was met by

the liberal invitation of many entertainers as his dignity deserved,

and the men too who were sent with him exhorted him to take rest, and

to think of his own health. But he, refusing all delay, hastening

on eager to perform your commands, persevered in this his constant

purpose, in spite of the hindrances of his illness And as Antonius was

above all things disturbed by his arrival, because the commands which

were laid upon him by your orders had been drawn up by the authority

and wisdom of Servius Sulpicius, he showed plainly how he hated the

senate by the evident joy which he displaced at the death of the

adviser of the senate.

Leptines then did not kill Octavius, nor did the king of Veii slay

those whom I have just named, more clearly than Antonius killed

Servius Sulpicius. Surely he brought the man death, who was the cause

of his death. Wherefore, I think it of consequence, in order that

posterity may recollect it, that there should be a record of what the

judgment of the senate was concerning this war. For the statue itself

will be a witness that the war was so serious an one, that the death

of an ambassador in it gained the honour of an imperishable memorial.

IV. But if, O conscript fathers, you would only recollect the excuses

alleged by Servius Sulpicius why he should not be appointed to this

embassy, then no doubt will be left on your minds that we ought to

repair by the honour paid to the dead the injury which we did to him

while living. For it is you, O conscript fathers (it is a grave charge

to make, but it must be uttered,) it is you, I say, who have deprived

Servius Sulpicius of life. For when you saw him pleading his illness

as an excuse more by the truth of the fact than by any laboured plea

of words, you were not indeed cruel, (for what can be more impossible

for this order to be guilty of than that,) but as you hoped that

there was nothing that could not be accomplished by his authority and

wisdom, you opposed his excuse with great earnestness, and compelled

the man, who had always thought your decisions of the greatest weight,

to abandon his own opinion. But when there was added the exhortation

of Pansa, the consul, delivered with more weight than the ears of

Servius Sulpicius had learnt to resist, then at last he led me and his

own son aside, and said that he was bound to prefer your authority to

his own life. And we, admiring his virtue, did not dare to oppose

his determination. His son was moved with extraordinary piety and

affection, and my own grief did not fall far short of his agitation,

but each of us was compelled to yield to his greatness of mind, and to

the dignity of his language, when he, indeed, amid the loud praises

and congratulations of you all, promised to do whatever you wished,

and not to avoid the danger which might be inclined by the adoption of

the opinion of which he himself had been the author. And we the next

day escorted him early in the morning as he hastened forth to execute

your commands. And he, in truth, when departing, spoke with me in such

a manner that his language seemed like an omen of his fate.

V. Restore then, O conscript fathers, life to him from whom you have

taken it. For the life of the dead consists in the recollection

cherished of them by the living. Take ye care that he, whom you

without intending it sent to his death, shall from you receive

immortality. And if you by your decree erect a statue to him in the

rostia, no forgetfulness of posterity will ever obscure the memory of

his embassy. For the remainder of the life of Servius Sulpicius will

be recommended to the eternal recollection of all men by many and

splendid memorials. The praise of all mortals will for ever celebrate

his wisdom, his firmness, his loyalty, his admirable vigilance and

prudence in upholding the interests of the public. Nor will that

admirable, and incredible, and almost godlike skill of his in

interpreting the laws and explaining the principles of equity be

buried in silence. If all the men of all ages, who have ever had any

acquaintance with the law in this city, were got together into one

place, they would not deserve to be compared to Servius Sulpicius.

Nor was he more skilful in explaining the law than in laying down the

principles of justice. Those maxims which were derived from laws and

from the common law, he constantly referred to the original principles

of kindness and equity. Nor was he more fond of arranging the conduct

of law-suits than of preventing disputes altogether. Therefore he is

not in want of this memorial which a statue will provide; he has

other and better ones. For this statue will be only a witness of his

honourable death; those actions will be the memorial of his glorious

life. So that this will be rather a monument of the gratitude of the

senate, than of the glory of the man.

The affection of the son, too, will appear to have great influence in

moving us to honour the father; for although, being overwhelmed with

grief, he is not present, still you ought to be animated with the same

feelings as if he were present. But he is in such distress, that no

father ever sorrowed more over the loss of an only son than he grieves

for the death of his father. Indeed, I think that it concerns also the

fame of Servius Sulpicius the son, that he should appear to have paid

all due respect to his father. Although Servius Sulpicius could leave

no nobler monument behind him than his son, the image of his own

manners, and virtues, and wisdom, and piety, and genius; whose grief

can either be alleviated by this honour paid to his father by you, or

by no consolation at all.

VI. But when I recollect the many conversations which in the days of

our intimacy on earth I have had with Servius Sulpicius, it appears

to me, that if there be any feeling in the dead, a brazen statue, and

that too a pedestrian one, will be more acceptable to him than a gilt

equestrian one, such as was first erected to Lucius Sylla. For Servius

was wonderfully attached to the moderation of our forefathers, and was

accustomed to reprove the insolence of this age. As if, therefore, I

were able to consult himself as to what he would wish, so I give my

vote for a pedestrian statue of brass, as if I were speaking by his

authority and inclination; which by the honour of the memorial

will diminish and mitigate the great grief and regret of his

fellow-citizens. And it is certain that this my opinion, O conscript

fathers, will be approved of by the opinion of Publius Servilius, who

has given his vote that a sepulchre be publicly decreed to Servius

Sulpicius, but has voted against the statue. For if the death of

an ambassador happening without bloodshed and violence requires no

honour, why does he vote for the honour of a public funeral, which is

the greatest honour that can be paid to a dead man! If he grants that

to Servius Sulpicius which was not given to Cnaeus Octavius, why does

he think that we ought not to give to the former what was given to the

latter? Our ancestors, indeed, decreed statues to many men; public

sepulchres to few. But statues perish by weather, by violence, by

lapse of time; but the sanctity of the sepulchres is in the soil

itself, which can neither be moved nor destroyed by any violence; and

while other things are extinguished, so sepulchres become holier by

age.

Let, then, that man be distinguished by that honour also, a man to

whom no honour can be given which is not deserved. Let us be grateful

in paying respect in death to him to whom we can now show no other

gratitude. And by that same step let the audacity of Marcus Antonius,

waging a nefarious war, be branded with infamy. For when these honours

have been paid to Servius Sulpicius, the evidence of his embassy

having been insulted and rejected by Antonius will remain for

everlasting.

VII. On which account I give my vote for a decree in this form: 'As

Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the son of Quintus, of the Lemonian tribe,

at a most critical period of the republic, and being ill with a very

serious and dangerous disease, preferred the authority of the senate

and the safety of the republic to his own life, and struggled against

the violence and severity of his illness, in order to arrive at the

camp of Antonius, to which the senate had sent him; and as he when he

had almost arrived at the camp, being overwhelmed by the violence of

the disease, has lost his life in discharging a most important office

of the republic; and as his death has been in strict correspondence to

a life passed with the greatest integrity and honour, during which he,

Servius Sulpicius, has often been of great service to the republic,

both as a private individual and in the discharge of various

magistracies; and as he, being such a man, has encountered death on

behalf of the republic while employed on an embassy;--the senate

decrees that a brazen pedestrian statue of Servius Sulpicius be

erected in the rostra in compliance with the resolution of this order,

and that his children and posterity shall have a place round this

statue of five feet in every direction, from which to behold the

games and gladiatorial combats, because he died in the cause of the

republic; and that this reason be inscribed on the pedestal of the

statue; and that Carus Pansa and Aulus Hirtius the consuls, one or

both of them, if it seem good to them, shall command the quaestors

of the city to let out a contract for making that pedestal and that

statue, and erecting them in the rostra; and that whatever price they

contract for, they shall take care the amount is given and paid to the

contractor, and as in old times the senate has exerted its authority

with respect to the obsequies of, and honours paid to brave men, it

now decrees that he shall be carried to the tomb on the day of his

funeral with the greatest possible solemnity. And as Servius Sulpicius

Rufus, the son of Quintus of the Lemonian tribe, has deserved so well

of the republic as to be entitled to be complimented with all those

distinctions, the senate is of opinion, and thinks it for the

advantage of the republic, that the consule aedile should suspend the

edict which usually prevails with respect to funerals in the case of

the funeral of Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the son of Quintus of the

Lemonian tribe, and that Carus Pansa, the consul, shall assign him a

place for a tomb in the Esquiline plain, or in whatever place shall

seem good to him extending thirty feet in every direction, where

Servius Sulpicius may be buried, and that that shall be his tomb,

and that of his children and posterity, as having been a tomb most

deservedly given to them by the public authority.

THE TENTH ORATION OF M.T. CICERO AGAINST MARCUS ANTONIUS. CALLED ALSO

THE TENTH PHILIPPIC.

THE ARGUMENT

Soon after the delivery of the last speech, despatches were received

from Brutus by the consuls, giving an account of his success against

Carus Antonius in Macedonia, stating that he had secured Macedonia,

Illyricum, and Greece with the armies in those countries, that Carus

Antonius had retired to Apollonia with seven cohorts, that a legion

under Lucius Piso had surrendered to young Cicero, who was commanding

his cavalry, that Dolabella's cavalry had deserted to him, and that

Vatinius had surrendered Dyrrachium and its garrison to him. He

likewise praised Quintus Hortensius, the proconsul of Macedonia, as

having assisted him in gaining over the Grecian provinces and the

armies in those districts.

As soon as Pansa received the despatches, he summoned the senate to

have them read, and in a set speech greatly extolled Brutus, and moved

a vote of thanks to him but Calenus, who followed him, declared his

opinion, that as Brutus had acted without any public commission or

authority he should be required to give up his army to the proper

governors of the provinces, or to whoever the senate should appoint

to receive it. After he had sat down, Cicero rose, and delivered the

following speech.

I. We all, O Pansa, ought both to feel and to show the greatest

gratitude to you, who--though we did not expect that you would hold

any senate to day,--the moment that you received the letters of Marcus

Brutus, that most excellent citizen, did not interpose even the

slightest delay to our enjoying the most excessive delight and mutual

congratulation at the earliest opportunity. And not only ought this

action of yours to be grateful to us all, but also the speech which

you addressed to us after the letters had been read. For you showed

plainly, that that was true which I have always felt to be so, that

no one envied the virtue of another who was confident of his own.

Therefore I, who have been connected with Brutus by many mutual good

offices and by the greatest intimacy, need not say so much concerning

him for the part that I had marked out for myself your speech has

anticipated me in. But, O conscript fathers, the opinion delivered by

the man who was asked for his vote before me, has imposed upon me the

necessity of saying rather more than I otherwise should have said, and

I differ from him so repeatedly at present, that I am afraid (what

certainly ought not to be the case) that our continual disagreement

may appear to diminish our friendship.

What can be the meaning of this argument of yours, O Calenus? what can

be your intention? How is it that you have never once since the first

of January been of the same opinion with him who asks you your opinion

first? How is it that the senate has never yet been so full as to

enable you to find one single person to agree with your sentiments?

Why are you always defending men who in no point resemble you? why,

when both your life and your fortune invite you to tranquillity and

dignity, do you approve of those measures, and defend those measures,

and declare those sentiments, which are adverse both to the general

tranquillity and to your own individual dignity?

II. For to say nothing of former speeches of yours, at all events

I cannot pass over in silence this which excites my most especial

wonder. What war is there between you and the Bruti? Why do you alone

attack those men whom we are all bound almost to worship? Why are you

not indignant at one of them being besieged, and why do you--as far

as your vote goes--strip the other of those troops which by his own

exertions and by his own danger he has got together by himself,

without any one to assist him, for the protection of the republic, not

for himself? What is your meaning in this? What are your intentions?

Is it possible that you should not approve of the Bruti, and should

approve of Antonius? that you should hate those men whom every one

else considers most dear? and that you should love with the greatest

constancy those whom every one else hates most bitterly? You have a

most ample fortune, you are in the highest rank of honour, your son,

as I both hear and hope is born to glory,--a youth whom I favour not

only for the sake of the republic, but for your sake also. I ask,

therefore, would you rather have him like Brutus or like Antonius? and

I will let you choose whichever of the three Antonii you please. God

forbid! you will say. Why, then, do you not favour those men and

praise those men whom you wish your own son to resemble? For by so

doing you will be both consulting the interests of the republic, and

proposing him an example for his imitation.

But in this instance, I hope, O Quintus Fufius, to be allowed to

expostulate with you, as a senator who greatly differs from you,

without any prejudice to our friendship. For you spoke in this matter,

and that too from a written paper, for I should think you had made

a slip from want of some appropriate expression, if I were not

acquainted with your ability in speaking. You said "that the letters

of Brutus appeared properly and regularly expressed." What else is

this than praising Brutus's secretary, not Brutus? You both ought to

have great experience in the affairs of the republic, and you have.

When did you ever see a decree framed in this manner? or in what

resolution of the senate passed on such occasions, (and they are

innumerable,) did you ever hear of its being decreed that the letters

had been well drawn up? And that expression did not--as is often the

case with other men--fall from you by chance, but you brought it with

you written down, deliberated on, and carefully meditated on.

III. If any one could take from you this habit of disparaging good men

on almost every occasion, then what qualities would not be left to

you which every one would desire for himself? Do, then, recollect

yourself, do at last soften and quiet that disposition of yours, do

take the advice of good men, with many of whom you are intimate, do

converse with that wisest of men, your own son in-law, oftener than

with yourself, and then you will obtain the name of a man of the very

highest character. Do you think it a matter of no consequence, (it

is a matter in which I, out of the friendship which I feel you,

constantly grieve in your stead,) that this should be commonly said

out of doors, and should be a common topic of conversation among the

Roman people, that the man who delivered his opinion first did not

find a single person to agree with him? And that I think will be the

case to day.

You propose to take the legions away from Brutus--which legions? Why,

those which he has gained over from the wickedness of Caius Antonius,

and has by his own authority gained over to the republic. Do you wish

then that he should again appear to be the only person stripped of his

authority, and as it were banished by the senate? And you, O conscript

fathers, if you abandon and betray Marcus Brutus, what citizen in the

world will you ever distinguish? Whom will you ever favour? Unless,

indeed, you think that those men who put a diadem on a man's head

deserve to be preserved, and those who have abolished the very name of

kingly power deserve to be abandoned. And of this divine and immortal

glory of Marcus Brutus I will say no more, it is already embalmed in

the grateful recollection of all the citizens, but it has not yet been

sanctioned by any formal act of public authority. Such patience! O ye

good gods! such moderation! such tranquillity and submission under

injury! A man who, while he was praetor of the city, was driven from

the city, was prevented from sitting as judge in legal proceedings,

when it was he who had restored all law to the republic, and, though

he might have been hedged round by the daily concourse of all virtuous

men, who were constantly flocking round him in marvellous numbers, he

preferred to be defended in his absence by the judgment of the good,

to being present and protected by their force,--who was not even

present to celebrate the games to Apollo, which had been prepared in

a manner suitable to his own dignity and to that of the Roman people,

lest he should open any road to the audacity of most wicked men.

IV. Although, what games or what days were ever more joyful than those

on which at every verse that the actor uttered, the Roman people did

honour to the memory of Brutus, with loud shouts of applause? The

person of their liberator was absent, the recollection of their

liberty was present, in which the appearance of Brutus himself seemed

to be visible. But the man himself I beheld on those very days of the

games, in the country-house of a most illustrious young man, Lucullus,

his relation, thinking of nothing but the peace and concord of the

citizens. I saw him again afterwards at Veha, departing from Italy, in

order that there might be no pretext for civil war on his account. Oh

what a sight was that! grievous, not only to men but to the very waves

and shores. That its saviour should be departing from his country,

that its destroyers should be remaining in their country! The fleet

of Cassius followed a few days afterwards, so that I was ashamed O

conscript fathers, to return into the city from which those men were

departing. But the design with which I returned you heard at the

beginning, and since that you have known by experience. Brutus,

therefore, bided his time. For, as long as he saw you endure

everything, he himself behaved with incredible patience, after that

he saw you roused to a desire of liberty, he prepared the means to

protect you in your liberty.

But what a pest, and how great a pest was it which he resisted? For

if Caius Antonius had been able to accomplish what he intended in his

mind, (and he would have been able to do so if the virtue of Marcus

Brutus had not opposed his wickedness,) we should have lost Macedonia,

Illyricum, and Greece. Greece would have been a refuge for Antonius if

defeated, or a support to him in attacking Italy, which at present,

being not only arrayed in arms, but embellished by the military

command and authority and troops of Marcus Brutus stretches out her

right hand to Italy, and promises it her protection. And the man who

proposes to deprive him of his army, is taking away a most illustrious

honour, and a most trustworthy guard from the republic. I wish,

indeed, that Antonius may hear this news as speedily as possible,

so that he may understand that it is not Decimus Brutus whom he is

surrounding with his ramparts, but he himself who is really hemmed in.

V. He possesses three towns only on the whole face of the earth. He

has Gaul most bitterly hostile to him, he has even those men the

people beyond the Po, in whom he placed the greatest reliance,

entirely alienated from him, all Italy is his enemy. Foreign nations,

from the nearest coast of Greece to Egypt, are occupied by the

military command and armies of most virtuous and intrepid citizens.

His only hope was in Caius Antonius; who being in age the middle one

between his two brothers, rivalled both of them in vices. He hastened

away as if he were being driven away by the senate into Macedonia, not

as if he were prohibited from proceeding thither. What a storm, O

ye immortal gods! what a conflagration! what a devastation! what a

pestilence to Greece would that man have been, if incredible and

godlike virtue had not checked the enterprise and audacity of that

frantic man. What promptness was there in Brutus's conduct! what

prudence! what valour! Although the rapidity of the movement of Caius

Antonius also is not despicable; for if some vacant inheritance had

not delayed him on his march, you might have said that he had flown

rather than travelled. When we desire other men to go forth to

undertake any public business, we are scarcely able to get them out

of the city; but we have driven this man out by the mere fact of our

desiring to retain him. But what business had he with Apollonia? what

business had he with Dyrrachium? or with Illyricum? What had he to

do with the army of Publius Vatinius, our general? He, as he said

himself, was the successor of Hortensius. The boundaries of Macedonia

are well defined; the condition of the proconsul is well known; the

amount of his army, if he has any at all, is fixed. But what had

Antonius to do at all with Illyricum and with the legions of Vatinius?

But Brutus had nothing to do with them either. For that, perhaps, is

what some worthless man may say. All the legions, all the forces which

exist anywhere, belong to the Roman people. Nor shall those legions

which have quitted Marcus Antonius be called the legions of Antonius

rather than of the republic; for he loses all power over his army, and

all the privileges of military command, who uses that military command

and that army to attack the republic.

VI. But if the republic itself could give a decision, or if all rights

were established by its decrees, would it adjudge the legions of

the Roman people to Antonius or to Brutus? The one had flown with

precipitation to the plunder and destruction of the allies, in order,

wherever he went, to lay waste, and pillage, and plunder everything,

and to employ the army of the Roman people against the Roman people

itself. The other had laid down this law for himself, that wherever he

came he should appear to come as a sort of light and hope of safety.

Lastly, the one was seeking aids to overturn the republic; the other

to preserve it. Nor, indeed, did we see this more clearly than the

soldiers themselves; from whom so much discernment in judging was not

to have been expected.

He writes, that Antonius is at Apollonia with seven cohorts, and he is

either by this time taken prisoner, (may the gods grant it!) or, at

all events, like a modest man, he does not come near Macedonia, lest

he should seem to act in opposition to the resolution of the senate.

A levy of troops has been held in Macedonia, by the great zeal and

diligence of Quintus Hortensius; whose admirable courage, worthy both

of himself and of his ancestors, you may clearly perceive from the

letters of Brutus. The legion which Lucius Piso, the lieutenant of

Antonius, commanded, has surrendered itself to Cicero, my own son.

Of the cavalry, which was being led into Syria in two divisions, one

division has left the quaestor who was commanding it, in Thessaly, and

has joined Brutus; and Cnaeus Domitius, a young man of the greatest

virtue and wisdom and firmness, has carried off the other from the

Syrian lieutenant in Macedonia. But Publius Vatinius, who has before

this been deservedly praised by us, and who is justly entitled to

further praise at the present time, has opened the gates of Dyrrachium

to Brutus, and has given him up his army.

The Roman people then is now in possession of Macedonia, and

Illyricum, and Greece. The legions there are all devoted to us, the

light-armed troops are ours, the cavalry is ours, and, above all,

Brutus is ours, and always will be ours--a man born for the republic,

both by his own most excellent virtues, and also by some especial

destiny of name and family, both on his father's and on his mother's

side.

VII. Does any one then fear war from this man, who, until we commenced

the war, being compelled to do so, preferred lying unknown in peace to

flourishing in war? Although he, in truth, never did lie unknown, nor

can this expression possibly be applied to such great eminence in

virtue. For he was the object of regret to the state; he was in every

one's mouth, the subject of every one's conversation. But he was so

far removed from an inclination to war, that, though he was burning

with a desire to see Italy free, he preferred being wanting to the

zeal of the citizens, to leading them to put everything to the issue

of war. Therefore, those very men, if there be any such, who find

fault with the slowness of Brutus's movements, nevertheless at the

same time admire his moderation and his patience.

But I see now what it is they mean: nor, in truth, do they use much

disguise. They say that they are afraid how the veterans may endure

the idea of Brutus having an army. As if there were any difference

between the troops of Aulus Hirtius, of Caius Pansa, of Decimus

Brutus, of Caius Caesar, and this army of Marcus Brutus. For if these

four armies which I have mentioned are praised because they have taken

up arms for the sake of the liberty of the Roman people, what reason

is there why this army of Marcus Brutus should not be classed under

the same head? Oh, but the very name of Marcus Brutus is unpopular

among the veterans.--More than that of Decimus Brutus?--I think not;

for although the action is common to both the Bruti, and although

their share in the glory is equal, still those men who were indignant

at that deed were more angry with Decimus Brutus, because they said,

that it was more improper for it to be executed by him. What now are

all those armies labouring at, except to effect the release of Decimus

Brutus from a siege? And who are the commanders of those armies? Those

men, I suppose, who wish the acts of Caius Caesar to be overturned,

and the cause of the veterans to be betrayed.

VIII. If Caesar himself were alive, could he, do you imagine, defend

his own acts more vigorously than that most gallant man Hirtius

defends them? or, is it possible that any one should be found more

friendly to the cause than his son? But the one of these, though not

long recovered from a very long attack of a most severe disease, has

applied all the energy and influence which he had to defending the

liberty of those men by whose prayers he considered that he himself

had been recalled from death; the other, stronger in the strength

of his virtue than in that of his age, has set out with those very

veterans to deliver Decimus Brutus. Therefore, those men who are both

the most certain and at the same time the most energetic defenders of

the acts of Caesar, are waging war for the safety of Decimus Brutus;

and they are followed by the veterans. For they see that they must

fight to the uttermost for the freedom of the Roman people, not for

their own advantages. What reason, then, is there why the army of

Marcus Brutus should be an object of suspicion to those men who with

the whole of their energies desire the preservation of Decimus Brutus?

But, moreover, if there were anything which were to be feared from

Marcus Brutus, would not Pansa perceive it? Or if he did perceive it,

would not he, too, be anxious about it? Who is either more acute in

his conjectures of the future, or more diligent in warding off danger?

But you have already seen his zeal for, and inclination towards Marcus

Brutus. He has already told us in his speech what we ought to decree,

and how we ought to feel with respect to Marcus Brutus. And he was so

far from thinking the army of Marcus Brutus dangerous to the republic,

that he considered it the most important and the most trusty bulwark

of the republic. Either, then, Pansa does not perceive this (no doubt

he is a man of dull intellect), or he disregards it. For he is

clearly not anxious that the acts which Caesar executed should be

ratified,--he, who in compliance with our recommendation is going to

bring forward a bill at the comitia centuriata for sanctioning and

confirming them.

IX. Let those, then, who have no fear, cease to pretend to be alarmed,

and to be exercising their foresight in the cause of the republic.

And let those who really are afraid of everything, cease to be too

fearful, lest the pretence of the one party and the inactivity of the

other be injurious to us. What, in the name of mischief! is the object

of always opposing the name of the veterans to every good cause? For

even if I were attached to their virtue, as indeed I am, still, if

they were arrogant I should not be able to tolerate their airs. While

we are endeavouring to break the bonds of slavery, shall any one

hinder us by saying that the veterans do not approve of it? For they

are not, I suppose, beyond all counting, who are ready to take up arms

in defence of the common freedom! There is no man, except the veteran

soldiers, who is stimulated by the indignation of a freeman to repel

slavery! Can the republic then stand, relying wholly on veterans,

without a great reinforcement of the youth of the state? Whom, indeed,

you ought to be attached to, if they be assistants to you in the

assertion of your freedom, but whom you ought not to follow if they be

the advisers of slavery.

Lastly, (let me at last say one true word, one word worthy of

myself!)--if the inclinations of this order are governed by the nod of

the veterans, and if all our words and actions are to be referred to

their will, death is what we should wish for, which has always, in the

minds of Roman citizens, been preferable to slavery. All slavery is

miserable; but some may have been unavoidable. Do you think, then,

that there is never to be a beginning of our endeavours to recover

our freedom? Or, when we would not bear that fortune which was

unavoidable, and which seemed almost as if appointed by destiny, shalt

we tolerate the voluntary bondage? All Italy is burning with a desire

for freedom. The city cannot endure slavery any longer. We have given

this warlike attire and these arms to the Roman people much later than

they have been demanded of us by them.

X. We have, indeed, undertaken our present course of action with a

great and almost certain hope of liberty. But even if I allow that the

events of war are uncertain, and that the chances of Mars are common

to both sides, still it is worth while to fight for freedom at the

peril of one's life. For life does not consist wholly in breathing,

there is literally no life at all for one who is a slave. All nations

can endure slavery. Our state cannot. Nor is there any other reason

for this, except that those nations shrink from toil and pain, and

are willing to endure anything so long as they may be free from those

evils, but we have been trained and bred up by our forefathers in such

a manner, as to measure all our designs and all our actions by the

standard of dignity and virtue. The recovery of freedom is so splendid

a thing that we must not shun even death when seeking to recover it.

But if immortality were to be the result of our avoidance of present

danger, still slavery would appear still more worthy of being avoided,

in proportion as it is of longer duration. But as all sorts of deaths

surround us on all sides night and day, it does not become a man,

and least of all a Roman, to hesitate to give up to his country that

breath which he owes to nature.

Men flock together from all quarters to extinguish a general

conflagration. The veterans were the first to follow the authority of

Caesar and to repel the attempts of Antonius, afterwards the Martial

legion checked his frenzy, the fourth legion crushed it. Being thus

condemned by his own legions, he burst into Gaul, which he knew to be

adverse and hostile to him both in word and deed. The armies of Aulus

Hirtius and Caius Caesar pursued him, and afterwards the levies of

Pansa roused the city and all Italy. He is the one enemy of all men.

Although he has with him Lucius his brother, a citizen very much

beloved by the Roman people, the regret for whose absence the city is

unable to endure any longer! What can be more foul than that beast?

what more savage? who appears born for the express purpose of

preventing Marcus Antonius from being the basest of all mortals. They

have with them Trebellius, who, now that all debts are cancelled, is

become reconciled to them, and Titus Plancus, and other like them,

who are striving with all their hearts, and whose sole object is, to

appear to have been restored against the will of the republic. Saxa

and Capho, themselves rustic and clownish men, men who never have

seen and who never wish to see this republic firmly established, are

tampering with the ignorant classes; men who are not upholding the

acts of Caesar but those of Antonius, who are led away by the unlimited

occupation of the Campanian district, and who I marvel are not

somewhat ashamed when they see that they have actors and actresses for

their neighbours.

XI. Why then should we be displeased that the army of Marcus Brutus is

thrown into the scale to assist us in overwhelming these pests of

the commonwealth? It is the army, I suppose, of an intemperate and

turbulent man. I am more afraid of his being too patient, although in

all the counsels and actions of that man there never has been anything

either too much or too little. The whole inclinations of Marcus

Brutus, O conscript fathers, the whole of his thoughts, the whole of

his ideas, are directed towards the authority of the senate and the

freedom of the Roman people. These are the objects which he proposes

to himself, these are what he desires to uphold. He has tried what he

could do by patience, as he did nothing he has thought it necessary to

encounter force by force. And, O conscript fathers, you ought at this

time to grant him the same honours which on the nineteenth of December

you conferred by my advice on Decimus Brutus and Caius Caesar, whose

designs and conduct in regard to the republic, while they also

were but private individuals, was approved of and praised by your

authority. And you ought to do the same now with respect to Marcus

Brutus, by whom an unhoped for and sudden reinforcement of legions and

cavalry, and numerous and trusty bands of allies, have been provided

for the republic.

Quintus Hortensius also ought to have a share of your praise, who,

being governor of Macedonia, joined Brutus as a most faithful and

untiring assistant in collecting that army. For I think that a

separate motion ought to be made respecting Marcus Appuleius, to whom

Brutus bears witness in his letters that he has been a prime assistant

to him in his endeavours to get together and equip his army. And since

this is the case,

"As Caius Pansa the consul has addressed to us a speech concerning

the letters which have been received from Quintus Caepio Brutus,[44]

proconsul, and have been read in this assembly, I give my vote in this

matter thus.

"Since, by the exertions and wisdom and industry and valour of Quintus

Caepio Brutus, proconsul, at a most critical period of the republic,

the province of Macedonia, and Illyircum, and all Greece, and the

legions and armies and cavalry, have been preserved in obedience to

the consuls and senate and people of Rome, Quintus Caepio Brutus,

proconsul, has acted well, and in a manner advantageous to the

republic and suitable to his own dignity and to that of his ancestors,

and to the principles according to which alone the affairs of the

republic can be properly managed, and that conduct is and will be

grateful to the senate and people of Rome.

"And moreover, as Quintus Caepio Brutus, proconsul, is occupying and

defending and protecting the province of Macedonia, and Illyricum, and

all Greece, and is preserving them in safety, and as he is in command

of an army which he himself has levied and collected, he is at

liberty, if he has need of any, to exact money for the use of the

military service, which belongs to the public, and can lawfully be

exacted, and to use it, and to borrow money for the exigencies of the

war from whomsoever he thinks fit, and to exact coin, and to endeavour

to approach Italy as near as he can with his forces. And as it has

been understood from the letters of Quintus Caepio Brutus, proconsul,

that the republic has been greatly benefited by the energy and valour

of Quintus Hortensius, proconsul, and that all his counsels have been

in harmony with those of Quintus Caepio Brutus, proconsul, and that

that harmony has been of the greatest service to the republic, Quintus

Hortensius has acted well and becomingly, and in a manner advantageous

to the republic. And the senate decrees that Quintus Hortensius,

proconsul, shall occupy the province of Macedonia with his quaestors,

or proquaestors and lieutenants, until he shall have a successor

regularly appointed by resolution of the senate."

THE ELEVENTH ORATION OF M T CICERO AGAINST MARCUS ANTONIUS. CALLED

ALSO THE ELEVENTH PHILIPPIC

* * * * *

THE ARGUMENT

A short time after the delivery of the preceding speech, news came

to Rome of Dolabella (the colleague of Antonius) having been very

successful in Asia. He had left Rome before the expiration of his

consulship to take possession of Syria, which Antonius had contrived

to have allotted him, and he hoped to prevail on the inhabitants of

the province of Asia also to abandon Trebonius, (who had been one of

the slayers of Caesar, and was governor of Asia) and submit to him.

Trebonius was residing at Smyrna, and Dolabella arrived before the

walls of that town with very few troops, requesting a free passage

through Trebonius's province. Trebonius refused to admit him into

the town, but promised that he would permit him to enter Ephesus.

Dolabella, however, effected an entry into Smyrna by a nocturnal

surprise, and seized Trebonius, whom he murdered with great cruelty.

As soon as the news of this event reached Rome, the consul summoned

the senate, which at once declared Dolabella a public enemy, and

confiscated his estate. Calenus was the mover of this decree. But

besides this motion there was another question to be settled namely,

who was to be appointed to conduct the war against Dolabella. Some

proposed to send Publius Servilus; others, that the two consuls should

be sent, and should have the two provinces of Asia and Syria allotted

to them, and this last proposition Pansa himself was favourable

to, and it was supported not only by his friends, but also by the

partisans of Antonius, who thought it would draw off the consuls from

their present business of relieving Decimus Brutus. But Cicero thought

that it would be an insult to Cassius, who was already in those

countries, to supersede him as it were, by sending any one else to

command there, and so he exerted all his influence to procure a decree

entrusting the command to him, though Servilia, the mother-in-law of

Cassius, and other of Cassius's friends, begged him not to disoblige

Pansa. He persevered, however and made the following speech in support

of his opinion.

It appears that Cicero failed in his proposition through the influence

of Pansa, but before any orders came from Rome, Cassius had defeated

Dolabella near Laodicea, and he killed himself to avoid falling into

the hands of his conqueror.

I. AMID the great grief, O conscript fathers, or rather misery which

we have suffered at the cruel and melancholy death of Caius Trebonius,

a most virtuous citizen and a most moderate man, there is still a

circumstance or two in the case which I think will turn out beneficial

to the republic. For we have now thoroughly seen what great barbarity

these men are capable of who have taken up wicked arms against their

country. For these two, Dolabella and Antonius, are the very blackest

and foulest monsters that have ever lived since the birth of man; one

of whom has now done what he wished; and as to the other, it has been

plainly shown what he intended. Lucius Cinna was cruel; Caius Marius

was unrelenting in his anger; Lucius Sylla was fierce; but still the

inhumanity of none of these men ever went beyond death; and that

punishment indeed was thought too cruel to be inflicted on citizens.

Here now you have a pair equal in wickedness; unprecedented, unheard

of, savage, barbarous. Therefore those men whose vehement mutual

hatred and quarrel you recollect a short time ago, have now been

united in singular unanimity and mutual attachment by the singularity

of their wicked natures and most infamous lives. Therefore, that which

Dolabella has now done in a case in which he had the power, Antonius

threatens many with. But the former, as he was a long way from our

counsels and armies, and as he was not yet aware that the senate had

united with the Roman people, relying on the forces of Antonius, has

committed those wicked actions which he thought were already put in

practice at Rome by his accomplice in wickedness. What else then do

you think that this man is contriving or wishing, or what other object

do you think he has in the war? All of us who have either entertained

the thoughts of freemen concerning the republic, or have given

utterance to opinions worthy of ourselves, he decides to be not merely

opposed to him, but actual enemies. And he plans inflicting bitterer

punishments on us than on the enemy; he thinks death a punishment

imposed by nature, but torments and tortures the proper inflictions of

anger. What sort of enemy then must we consider that man who, if he be

victorious, requires one to think death a kindness if he spares one

the tortures with which it is in his power to accompany it?

II. Wherefore, O conscript fathers, although you do not need any one

to exhort you, (for you yourself have of your own accord warmed up

with the desire of recovering your freedom,) still defend, I warn you,

your freedom with so much the more zeal and courage, in proportion

as the punishments of slavery with which you see the conquered are

threatened are more terrible. Antonius has invaded Gaul; Dolabella,

Asia; each a province with which he had no business whatever. Brutus

has opposed himself to the one, and at the peril of his own life has

checked the onset of that frantic man wishing to harass and plunder

everything, has prevented his further progress, and has cut him off

from his return. By allowing himself to be besieged he has hemmed in

Antonius on each side.

The other has forced his way into Asia. With what object? If it was

merely to proceed into Syria, he had a road open to him which was

sure, and was not long. What was the need of sending forward some

Marsian, they call him Octavius, with a legion; a wicked and

necessitous robber; a man to lay waste the lands, to harass the

cities, not from any hope of acquiring any permanent property, which

they who know him say that he is unable to keep (for I have not the

honour of being acquainted with this senator myself,) but just as

present food to satisfy his indigence? Dolabella followed him, without

any one having any suspicion of war. For how could any one think

of such a thing? Very friendly conferences with Trebonius ensued;

embraces, false tokens of the greatest good-will, were there full of

simulated affection; the pledge of the right hand, which used to be a

witness of good faith, was violated by treachery and wickedness;

then came the nocturnal entry into Smyrna, as if into an enemy's

city--Smyrna, which is a city of our most faithful and most ancient

allies; then the surprise of Trebonius, who, if he were surprised by

one who was an open enemy, was very careless; if by one who up to that

moment maintained the appearance of a citizen, was miserable. And by

his example fortune wished us to take a lesson of what the conquered

party had to fear. He handed over a man of consular rank, governing

the province of Asia with consular authority, to an exiled

armourer;[45] he would not slay him the moment that he had taken him,

fearing, I suppose, that his victory might appear too merciful; but

after having attacked that most excellent man with insulting words

from his impious mouth, then he examined him with scourges and

tortures concerning the public money, and that for two days together.

Afterwards he cut off his head, and ordered it to be fixed on a

javelin and carried about, and the rest of his body, having been

dragged through the street and town, he threw into the sea.

We, then, have to war against this enemy by whose most foul cruelty

all the savageness of barbarous nations is surpassed. Why need I speak

of the massacre of Roman citizens? of the plunder of temples? Who is

there who can possibly deplore such circumstances as their atrocity

deserves? And now he is ranging all over Asia, he is triumphing about

as a king, he thinks that we are occupied in another quarter by

another war, as if it were not one and the same war against this

outrageous pair of impious men.

III. You see now an image of the cruelty of Marcus Antonius in

Dolabella, this conduct of his is formed on the model of the other.

It is by him that the lessons of wickedness have been taught to

Dolabella. Do you think that Antonius, if he had the power, would be

more merciful in Italy than Dolabella has proved in Asia? To me,

indeed, this latter appears to have gone as far as the insanity of a

savage man could go; nor do I believe that Antonius either would omit

any description of punishment, if he had only the power to inflict it.

Place then before your eyes, O conscript fathers, that spectacle,

miserable indeed, and tearful, but still indispensable to rouse your

minds properly: the nocturnal attack upon the most beautiful city in

Asia; the irruption of armed men into Trebonius's house, when that

unhappy man saw the swords of the robbers before he heard what was the

matter, the entrance of Dolabella, raging,--his ill omened voice,

and infamous countenance,--the chains, the scourges, the rack, the

armourer who was both torturer and executioner, all which they say

that the unhappy Trebonius endured with great fortitude. A great

praise, and in my opinion indeed the greatest of all, for it is the

part of a wise man to resolve beforehand that whatever can happen to

a brave man is to be endured with patience if it should happen. It is

indeed a proof of altogether greater wisdom to act with such foresight

as to prevent any such thing from happening, but it is a token of no

less courage to bear it bravely if it should befall one.

And Dolabella was indeed so wholly forgetful of the claims of

humanity, (although, indeed, he never had any particular recollection

of it,) as to vent his insatiable cruelty, not only on the living man,

but also on the dead carcass, and, as he could not sufficiently glut

his hatred, to feed his eyes also on the lacerations inflicted, and

the insults offered to his corpse.

IV. O Dolabella, much more wretched than he whom you intended to be

the most wretched of all men! Trebonius endured great agonies, many

men have endured greater still, from severe disease, whom, however,

we are in the habit of calling not miserable, but afflicted. His

sufferings, which lasted two days, were long, but many men have had

sufferings lasting many years, nor are the tortures inflicted by

executioners more terrible than those caused by disease are sometimes.

There are other tortures,--others, I tell you, O you most abandoned

and insane man, which are far more miserable. For in proportion as

the vigour of the mind exceeds that of the body, so also are the

sufferings which rack the mind more terrible than those which are

endured by the body. He, therefore, who commits a wicked action is

more wretched than he who is compelled to endure the wickedness of

another. Trebonius was tortured by Dolabella, and so, indeed, was

Regulus by the Carthaginians. If on that account the Carthaginians

were considered very cruel for such behaviour to an enemy, what must

we think of Dolabella, who treated a citizen in such a manner? Is

there any comparison? or can we doubt which of the two is most

miserable? he whose death the senate and Roman people wish to avenge,

or he who has been adjudged an enemy by the unanimous vote of the

senate? For in every other particular of their lives, who could

possibly, without the greatest insult to Trebonius, compare the life

of Trebonius to that of Dolabella? Who is ignorant of the wisdom, and

genius, and humanity, and innocence of the one, and of his greatness

of mind as displayed in his exertions for the freedom of his country?

The other, from his very childhood, has taken delight in cruelty; and,

moreover, such has been the shameful nature of his lusts, that he has

always delighted in the very fact of doing those things which he could

not even be reproached with by a modest enemy.

And this man, O ye immortal gods, was once my relation! For his vices

were unknown to one who did not inquire into such things nor perhaps

should I now be alienated from him if he had not been discovered to

be an enemy to you, to the walls of his country, to this city, to our

household gods, to the altars and hearths of all of us,--in short, to

human nature and to common humanity. But now, having received this

lesson from him, let us be the more diligent and vigilant in being on

our guard against Antonius.

V. Indeed, Dolabella had not with him any great number of notorious

and conspicuous robbers. But you see there are with Antonius, and in

what numbers. In the first place, there is his brother Lucius--what

a firebrand, O ye immortal gods! what an incarnation of crime and

wickedness! what a gulf, what a whirlpool of a man! What do you think

that man incapable of swallowing up in his mind, or gulping down

in his thoughts! Who do you imagine there is whose blood he is not

thirsting for? who, on whose possessions and fortunes he is not fixing

his most impudent eyes, his hopes, and his whole heart? What shall we

say of Censorinus? who, as far as words go, said indeed that he wished

to be the city praetor, but who, in fact, was unwilling to be so? What

of Bestia, who professes that he is a candidate for the consulship in

the place of Brutus? May Jupiter avert from us this most detestable

omen! But how absurd is it for a man to stand for the consulship who

cannot be elected praetor! unless, indeed, he thinks his conviction may

be taken as an equivalent to the praetorship. Let this second Caesar,

this great Vopiscus[46], a man of consummate genius, of the highest

influence, who seeks the consulship immediately after having been

aedile, be excused from obedience to the laws. Although, indeed, the

laws do not bind him, on account, I suppose, of his exceeding dignity.

But this man has been acquitted five times when I have defended him.

To win a sixth city victory is difficult, even in the case of a

gladiator. However, this is the fault of the judges, not mine. I

defended him with perfect good faith, they were bound to retain a most

illustrious and excellent citizen in the republic, who now, however,

appears to have no other object except to make us understand that

those men whose judicial decisions we annulled, decided rightly and in

a manner advantageous to the republic.

Nor is this the case with respect to this man alone; there are other

men in the same camp honestly condemned and shamefully restored; what

counsel do you imagine can be adopted by those men who are enemies to

all good men, that is not utterly cruel? There is besides a fellow

called Saxa; I don't know who he is, some man whom Caesar imported

from the extremity of Celtiberia and gave us for a tribune of the

people. Before that, he was a measurer of ground for camps; now he

hopes to measure out and value the city. May the evils which this

foreigner predicts to us fall on his own head, and may we escape in

safety! With him is the veteran Capho; nor is there any man whom the

veteran troops hate more cordially; to these men, as if in addition to

the dowry which they had received during our civil disasters, Antonius

had given the Campanian district, that they might have it as a sort

of nurse for their other estates. I only wish they would be contented

with them! We would bear it then, though it would not be what ought to

be borne, but still it would be worth our while to bear anything, as

long as we could escape this most shameful war.

VI. What more? Have you not before your eyes those ornaments of the

camp of Marcus Antonius? In the first place, these two colleagues of

the Antonii and Dolabella, Nucula and Lento the dividers of all Italy

according to that law which the senate pronounced to have been earned

by violence, one of whom has been a writer of farces, and the other an

actor of tragedies. Why should I speak of Domitius the Apulian? whose

property we have lately seen advertised, so great is the carelessness

of his agents. But this man lately was not content with giving poison

to his sister's son, he actually drenched him with it. But it is

impossible for these men to live in any other than a prodigal manner,

who hope for our property while they are squandering their own. I have

seen also an auction of the property of Publius Decius, an illustrious

man, who, following the example of his ancestors, devoted himself for

the debts of another. But at that auction no one was found to be a

purchaser. Ridiculous man to think it possible to escape from debt by

selling other people's property! For why should I speak of Trebellius?

on whom the furies of debts seem to have wrecked their vengeance, for

we have seen one table[47] avenging another. Why should I speak of

Plancus? whom that most illustrious citizen Aquila has driven from

Pollentia,--and that too with a broken leg, and I wish he had met with

that accident earlier, so as not to be liable to return hither.

I had almost passed over the light and glory of that army, Caius

Annius Cimber, the son of Lysidicus, a Lysidicus himself in the Greek

meaning of the word, since he has broken all laws, unless perhaps it

is natural for a Cimbrian to slay a German[48]? When Antonius has such

numbers with him, and those too men of that sort, what crime will he

shrink from, when Dolabella has polluted himself with such atrocious

murders without at all an equal troop of robbers to support him?

Wherefore, as I have often at other times differed against my will

from Quintus Fufius, so on this occasion I gladly agree with his

proposition. And from this you may see that my difference is not with

the man, but with the cause which he sometimes advocates.

Therefore, at present I not only agree with Quintus Fufius, but I even

return thanks to him, for he has given utterance to opinions which are

upright, and dignified, and worthy of the republic. He has pronounced

Dolabella a public enemy, he has declared his opinion that his

property ought to be confiscated by public authority. And though

nothing could be added to this, (for, indeed, what could he propose

more severe or more pitiless?) nevertheless, he said that if any of

those men who were asked their opinion after him proposed any more

severe sentence, he would vote for it. Who can avoid praising such

severity as this?

VII. Now, since Dolabella has been pronounced a public enemy, he must

be pursued by war. For he himself will not remain quiet. He has a

legion with him, he has troops of runaway slaves, he has a wicked band

of impious men, he himself is confident, intemperate, and bent on

falling by the death of a gladiator. Wherefore, since, as Dolabella

was voted an enemy by the decree which was passed yesterday, war must

be waged, we must necessarily appoint a general.

Two opinions have been advanced, neither of which do I approve. The

one, because I always think it dangerous unless it be absolutely

necessary, the other, because I think it wholly unsuited to the

emergency. For an extraordinary commission is a measure suited rather

to the fickle character of the mob, one which does not at all become

our dignity or this assembly. In the war against Antiochus, a great

and important war, when Asia had fallen by lot to Lucius Scipio as his

province, and when he was thought to have hardly spirit and hardly

vigour enough for it, and when the senate was inclined to entrust the

business to his colleague Caius Laelius, the father of this Laelius,

who was surnamed the Wise; Publius Africanus, the elder brother of

Lucius Scipio, rose up, and entreated them not to cast such a slur on

his family, and said that in his brother there was united the greatest

possible valour, with the most consummate prudence, and that he too,

notwithstanding his age, and all the exploits which he had performed,

would attend his brother as his lieutenant. And after he had said

this, nothing was changed in respect to Scipio's province, nor was any

extraordinary command sought for any more in that war than in those

two terrible Punic wars which had preceded it, which were carried

on and conducted to their termination either by the consuls or by

dictators, or than in the war with Pyrrhus, or in that with Philippus,

or afterwards in the Achaean war, or in the third Punic war, for which

last the Roman people took great care to select a suitable general,

Publius Scipio, but at the same time it appointed him to the

consulship in order to conduct it.

VIII. War was to be waged against Aristonicus in the consulship of

Publius Licunius and Lucius Valerius. The people was consulted as to

whom it wished to have the management of that war. Crassus, the consul

and Pontifex Maximus, threatened to impose a fine upon Flaccus his

colleague the priest of Mars, if he deserted the sacrifices. And

though the people remitted the fine, still they ordered the priest to

submit to the commands of the pontiff. But even then the Roman people

did not commit the management of the war to a private individual,

although there was Africanus, who the year before had celebrated a

triumph over the people of Numantia, and who was far superior to all

men in martial renown and military skill; yet he only gained the

votes of two tribunes. And accordingly the Roman people entrusted the

management of the war to Crassus the consul rather than to the private

individual Africanus. As to the commands given to Cnaeus Pompeius, that

most illustrious man, that first of men, they were carried by some

turbulent tribunes of the people. For the war against Sertorius was

only given by the senate to a private individual because the consuls

refused it, when Lucius Philippus said that he sent the general in the

place of the two consuls, not as proconsul.

What then is the object of these comitia? Or what is the meaning of

this canvassing which that most wise and dignified citizen, Lucius

Caesar, has introduced into the senate? He has proposed to vote a

military command to one who is certainly a most illustrious and

unimpeachable man, but still only a private individual. And by doing

so he has imposed a heavy burden upon us. Suppose I agree, shall I by

so doing countenance the introduction of the practice of canvassing

into the senate house? Suppose I vote against it, shall I appear as if

I were in the comitia to have refused an honour to a man who is one of

my greatest friends? But if we are to have the comitia in the senate,

let us ask for votes, let us canvass, let a voting tablet be given us,

just as one is given to the people. Why do you, O Caesar, allow it to

be so managed that either a most illustrious man, if your proposition

be not agreed too, shall appear to have received a repulse, or else

that one of us shall appear to have been passed over, if, while we are

men of equal dignity, we are not considered worthy of equal honour?

But (for this is what I hear is said,) I myself gave by my own vote an

extraordinary commission to Caius Caesar. Ay, indeed, for he had given

me extraordinary protection, when I say me, I mean he had given it

to the senate and to the Roman people. Was I to refuse giving an

extraordinary military command to that man from whom the republic had

received protection which had never even been thought of, but that

still was of so much consequence that without it she could not have

been safe? There were only the alternatives of taking his army from

him, or giving him such a command. For on what principle or by what

means can an army be retained by a man who has not been invested with

any military command? We must not, therefore, think that a thing has

been given to a man which has, in fact, not been taken away from him.

You would, O conscript fathers, have taken a command away from Caius

Caesar, if you had not given him one. The veteran soldiers, who,

following his authority and command and name, had taken up arms in the

cause of the republic, desired to be commanded by him. The Martial

legion and the fourth legion had submitted to the authority of the

senate, and had devoted themselves to uphold the dignity of the

republic, in such a way as to feel that they had a right to demand

Caius Caesar for their commander. It was the necessity of the war that

invested Caius Caesar with military command, the senate only gave him

the ensigns of it. But I beg you to tell me, O Lucius Caesar,--I am

aware that I am arguing with a man of the greatest experience,--when

did the senate ever confer a military command on a private individual

who was in a state of inactivity, and doing nothing?

IX. However, I have been speaking hitherto to avoid the appearance of

gratuitously opposing a man who is a great friend of mine, and who has

showed me great kindness. Although, can one deny a thing to a person

who not only does not ask for it, but who even refuses it? But, O

conscript fathers, that proposition is unsuited to the dignity of the

consuls, unsuited to the critical character of the times, namely, the

proposition that the consuls, for the sake of pursuing Dolabella,

shall have the provinces of Asia and Syria allotted to them. I will

explain why it is inexpedient for the republic, but first of all,

consider what ignominy it fixes on the consuls. When a consul elect

is being besieged, when the safety of the republic depends upon his

liberation, when mischievous and parricidal citizens have revolted

from the republic, and when we are carrying on a war in which we are

fighting for our dignity, for our freedom, and for our lives, and

when, if any one falls into the power of Antonius, tortures and

torments are prepared for him, and when the struggle for all these

objects has been committed and entrusted to our most admirable and

gallant consuls,--shall any mention be made of Asia and Syria so

that we may appear to have given any injurious cause for others to

entertain suspicion of us, or to bring us into unpopularity? They do

indeed propose it, "after having liberated Brutus,"--for those were

the last words of the proposal, say rather, after having deserted,

abandoned, and betrayed him.

But I say that any mention whatever of any provinces has been made at

a most unseasonable time. For although your mind, O Caius Pausa, be

ever so intent, as indeed it is, on effecting the liberation of the

most true and illustrious of all men, still the nature of things would

compel you inevitably sometimes to turn your thoughts to the idea

of pursuing Antonius, and to divert some portion of your care and

attention to Asia and Syria. But if it were possible, I could wish you

to have more minds than one, and yet to direct them all upon Mutina.

But since that is impossible, I do wish you, with that most virtuous

and all accomplished mind which you have got, to think of nothing but

Brutus. And that indeed, is what you are doing; that is what you are

especially striving at, but still no man can I will not say do two

things, especially two most important things, at one time but he

cannot even do entire justice to them both in his thoughts. It is our

duty rather to spur on and inflame that excellent eagerness of yours,

and not to transfer any portion of it to another object of care in a

different direction.

X. Add to these considerations the way men talk, the way in which they

nourish suspicion, the way in which they take dislikes. Imitate

me whom you have always praised; for I rejected a province fully

appointed and provided by the senate, for the purpose of discarding

all other thoughts, and devoting all my efforts to extinguishing the

conflagration that threatened to consume my country. There was no one

except me alone, to whom, indeed, you would, in consideration of our

intimacy, have been sure to communicate anything which concerned your

interests, who would believe that the province had been decreed to you

against your will. I entreat you, check, as is due to your eminent

wisdom, this report, and do not seem to be desirous of that which you

do not in reality care about. And you should take the more care of

this point, because your colleague, a most illustrious man, cannot

fall under the same suspicion. He knows nothing of all that is going

on here, he suspects nothing, he is conducting the war, he is standing

in battle array, he is fighting for his blood and for his life, he

will hear of the province being decreed to him before he could imagine

that there had been time for such a proceeding. I am afraid that our

armies too, which have devoted themselves to the republic, not from

any compulsory levy, but of their own voluntary zeal, will be checked

in their ardour, if they suppose that we are thinking of anything but

instant war.

But if provinces appear to the consuls as things to be desired, as

they often have been desired by many illustrious men, first restore us

Brutus, the light and glory of the state, whom we ought to preserve

like that statue which fell from heaven, and is guarded by the

protection of Vesta, which, as long as it is safe, ensures our safety

also. Then we will raise you, if it be possible, even to heaven on

our shoulders, unquestionably we will select for you the most worthy

provinces. But at present let us apply ourselves to the business

before us. And the question is, whether we will live as freemen, or

die, for death is certainly to be preferred to slavery. What more

need I say? Suppose that proposition causes delay in the pursuit of

Dolabella? For when will the consul arrive? Are we waiting till there

is not even a vestige of the towns and cities of Asia left? "But they

will send some one of their officers"--That will certainly be a step

that I shall quite approve of, I who just now objected to giving any

extraordinary military command to even so illustrious a man if he were

only a private individual. "But they will send a man worthy of such a

charge." Will they send one more worthy than Publius Servilius? But

the city has not such a man. What then he himself thinks ought to be

given to no one, not even by the senate, can I approve of that being

conferred by the decision of one man? We have need, O conscript

fathers, of a man ready and prepared, and of one who has a military

command legally conferred on him, and of one who, besides this, has

authority, and a name, and an army, and a courage which has been

already tried in his exertions for the deliverance of the republic.

XI Who then is that man? Either Marcus Brutus, or Caius Cassius,

or both of them. I would vote in plain words, as there are many

precedents for, one consul or both, if we had not already hampered

Brutus sufficiently in Greece, and if we had not preferred having his

reinforcement approach nearer to Italy rather than move further off

towards Asia, not so much in order to receive succour ourselves from

that army, as to enable that army to receive aid across the water.

Besides, O conscript fathers, even now Caius Antonius is detaining

Marcus Brutus, for he occupies Apollonia, a large and important

city, he occupies, as I believe, Byllis, he occupies Amantia, he is

threatening Epirus, he is pressing on Illyricum, he has with him

several cohorts, and he has cavalry. If Brutus be transferred from

this district to any other war, we shall at all events lose Greece. We

must also provide for the safety of Brundusium and all that coast

of Italy. Although I marvel that Antonius delays so long, for he is

accustomed usually to put on his marching dress and not to endure the

fear of a siege for any length of time. But if Brutus has finished

that business, and perceives that he can better serve the republic by

pursuing Dolabella than by remaining in Greece, he will act of his own

head, as he has hitherto done, nor amid such a general conflagration

will he wait for the orders of the senate when instant help is

required. For both Brutus and Cassius have in many instances been

a senate to themselves. For it is quite inevitable that in such a

confusion and disturbance of all things men should be guided by the

present emergency rather than by precedent. Nor will this be the first

time that either Brutus or Cassius has considered the safety and

deliverance of his country his most holy law and his most excellent

precedent. Therefore, if there were no motion submitted to us about

the pursuit of Dolabella, still I should consider it equivalent to a

decree, when there were men of such a character for virtue, authority,

and the greatest nobleness, possessing armies, one of which is already

known to us, and the other has been abundantly heard of.

XII Brutus then, you may be sure, has not waited for our decrees, as

he was sure of our desires. For he is not gone to his own province of

Crete, he has flown to Macedonia, which belonged to another, he has

accounted everything his own which you have wished to be yours, he has

enlisted new legions, he has received old ones, he has gained over to

his own standard the cavalry of Dolabella, and even before that man

was polluted with such enormous parricide, he, of his own head,

pronounced him his enemy. For if he were not one, by what right could

he himself have tempted the cavalry to abandon the consul? What more

need I say? Did not Caius Cassius, a man endowed with equal greatness

of mind and with equal wisdom, depart from Italy with the deliberate

object of preventing Dolabella from obtaining possession of Syria? By

what law? By what right? By that which Jupiter himself has sanctioned,

that everything which was advantageous to the republic should be

considered legal and just.

For law is nothing but a correct principle drawn from the inspiration

of the gods, commanding what is honest, and forbidding the contrary.

Cassius, therefore, obeyed this law when he went into Syria, a

province which belonged to another, if men were to abide by the

written laws, but which, when these were trampled under foot, was his

by the law of nature. But in order that they may be sanctioned by your

authority also, I now give my vote, that,

"As Publius Dolabella, and those who have been the ministers of and

accomplices and assistants in his cruel and infamous crime, have been

pronounced enemies of the Roman people by the senate, and as the

senate has voted that Publius Dolabella shall be pursued with war, in

order that he who has violated all laws of men and gods by a new

and unheard of and inexpiable wickedness and has committed the most

infamous treason against his country, may suffer the punishment which

is his due, and which he has well deserved at the hands of gods and

men, the senate decrees that Caius Cassius, proconsul, shall have the

government of Syria as one appointed to that province with all due

form, and that he shall receive their armies from Quintus Marcus

Crispus, proconsul, from Lucius Statius Murcus, proconsul, from Aulus

Allienus, lieutenant, and that they shall deliver them up to him, and

that he, with these troops and with any more which he may have got

from other quarters, shall pursue Dolabella with war both by sea and

land; that, for the sake of carrying on war, he shall have authority

and power to buy ships, and sailors, and money, and whatever else may

be necessary or useful for the carrying on of the war, in whatever

places it seems fitting to him to do so, throughout Syria, Asia,

Bithynia, and Pontus; and that, in whatever province he shall arrive

for the purpose of carrying on that war, in that province as soon

as Caius Cassius, proconsul, shall arrive in it, the power of Caius

Cassius, proconsul, shall be superior to that of him who may be the

regular governor of the province at the time. That king Deiotarus the

father, and also king Deiotarus the son, if they assist Caius Cassius,

proconsul, with their armies and treasures, as they have heretofore

often assisted the generals of the Roman people, will do a thing which

will be grateful to the senate and people of Rome; and that also, if

the rest of the kings and tetrarchs and governors in those districts

do the same, the senate and people of Rome will not be forgetful of

their loyalty and kindness; and that Caius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius the

consuls, one or both of them, as it seems good to them, as soon

as they have re-established the republic, shall at the earliest

opportunity submit a motion to this order about the consular and

praetorian provinces; and that, in the meantime, the provinces should

continue to be governed by those officers by whom they are governed at

present, until a successor be appointed to each by a resolution of the

senate."

XIII. By this resolution of the senate you will inflame the existing

ardour of Cassius, and you will give him additional arms; for you

cannot be ignorant of his disposition, or of the resources which he

has at present. His disposition is such as you see; his resources,

which you have heard stated to you, are those of a gallant and

resolute man, who, even while Trebonius was alive, would not permit

the piratical crew of Dolabella to penetrate into Syria. Allienus, my

intimate friend and connexion, who went thither after the death of

Trebonius, will not permit himself to be called the lieutenant of

Dolabella. The army of Quintus Caecilius Bassus, a man indeed without

any regular appointment, but a brave and eminent man, is vigorous and

victorious. The army of Deiotarus the king, both father and son, is

very numerous, and equipped in our fashion. Moreover, in the son

there is the greatest hope, the greatest vigour of genius and a good

disposition, and the most eminent valour. Why need I speak of the

father, whose good-will towards the Roman people is coeval with his

life; who has not only been the ally of our commanders in their wars,

but has also served himself as the general of his own troops. What

great things have Sylla, and Murena, and Servilius, and Lucullus said

of that man; what complimentary, what honourable and dignified mention

have they often made of him in the senate! Why should I speak of

Cnaeus Pompeius, who considered Deiotarus the only friend and real

well-wisher from his heart, the only really loyal man to the Roman

people in the whole world? We were generals, Marcus Bibulus and I, in

neighbouring provinces bordering on his kingdom; and we were assisted

by that same monarch both with cavalry and infantry. Then followed

this most miserable and disastrous civil war; in which I need not say

what Deiotarus ought to have done, or what would have been the most

proper course which he could have adopted, especially as victory

decided for the party opposed to the wishes of Deiotarus. And if in

that war he committed any error, he did so in common with the senate.

If his judgment was the right one, then even though defeated it does

not deserve to be blamed. To these resources other kings and other

levies of troops will be added. Nor will fleets be wanting to us; so

greatly do the Tyrians esteem Cassius, so mighty is his name in Syria

and Phoenicia.

XIV. The republic, O conscript fathers, has a general ready against

Dolabella, in Caius Cassius, and not ready only, but also skilful and

brave. He performed great exploits before the arrival of Bibulus, a

most illustrious man, when he defeated the most eminent generals of

the Parthians and their innumerable armies, and delivered Syria from

their most formidable invasion. I pass over his greatest and most

extraordinary glory; for as the mention of it is not yet acceptable

to every one, we had better preserve it in our recollection than by

bearing testimony to it with our voice.

I have noticed, O conscript fathers, that some people have said before

now, that even Brutus is too much extolled by me, that Cassius is too

much extolled; and that by this proposition of mine absolute power and

quite a principality is conferred upon Cassius. Whom do I extol? Those

who are themselves the glory of the republic. What? have I not at all

times extolled Decimus Brutus whenever I have delivered my opinion at

all? Do you then find fault with me? or should I rather praise the

Antonii, the disgrace and infamy not only of their own families, but of

the Roman name? or should I speak in favour of Censorenus, an enemy in

time of war, an assassin in time of peace? or should I collect all

the other ruined men of that band of robbers? But I am so far from

extolling those enemies of tranquility, of concord, of the laws, of

the courts of justice, and of liberty, that I cannot avoid hating them

as much as I love the republic. "Beware," says one, "how you offend

the veterans." For this is what I am most constantly told. But I

certainly ought to protect the rights of the veterans; of those at

least who are well disposed; but surely I ought not to fear them. And

those veterans who have taken up arms in the cause of the republic,

and have followed Caius Caesar, remembering the kindnesses which they

received from his father, and who at this day are defending the

republic to their own great personal danger,--those I ought not only

to defend, but to seek to procure additional advantages for them. But

those also who remain quiet, such as the sixth and eighth legion, I

consider worthy of great glory and praise. But as for those companions

of Antonius, who after they have devoured the benefits of Caesar,

besiege the consul elect, threaten this city with fire and sword, and

have given themselves up to Saxa and Capho, men born for crime and

plunder, who is there who thinks that those men ought to be defended?

Therefore the veterans are either good men, whom we ought to load with

distinctions, or quiet men, whom we ought to preserve, or impious

ones, against whose frenzy we have declared war and taken up

legitimate arms.

XV. Who then are the veterans whom we are to be fearful of offending?

Those who are desirous to deliver Decimus Brutus from siege? for how

can those men, to whom the safety of Brutus is dear, hate the name of

Cassius? Or those men who abstain from taking arms on either side? I

have no fear of any of those men who delight in tranquility becoming

a mischievous citizen. But as for the third class, whom I call not

veteran soldiers, but infamous enemies, I wish to inflict on them the

most bitter pain. Although, O conscript fathers, how long are we to

deliver our opinions as it may please the veterans? why are we to

yield so much to their haughtiness? why are we to make their arrogance

of such importance as to choose our generals with reference to their

pleasure? But I (for I must speak, O conscript fathers, what I feel,)

think that we ought not so much to regard the veterans, as to look at

what the young soldiers, the flower of Italy--at what the new legions,

most eager to effect the deliverance of their country--at what all

Italy will think of your wisdom. For there is nothing which flourishes

for ever. Age succeeds age. The legions of Caesar have flourished for a

long time; but now those who are flourishing are the legions of Pansa,

and the Legions of Hirtius, and the legions of the son of Caesar, and

the legions of Plancus. They surpass the veterans in number, they have

the advantage of youth, moreover, they surpass them also in authority.

For they are engaged in waging that war which is approved of by all

nations. Therefore, rewards have been promised to these latter. To

the former they have been already paid,--let them enjoy them. But let

these others have those rewards given to them which we have promised

them. For that is what I hope that the immortal gods will consider

just.

And as this is the case, I give my vote for the proposition which I

have made to you, O conscript fathers, being adopted by you.

THE TWELFTH ORATION OF M T CICERO AGAINST MARCUS ANTONIUS. CALLED ALSO

THE TWELFTH PHILIPPIC.

THE ARGUMENT.

Decimus Brutus was in such distress in Mutina, that his friends began

to be alarmed, fearing that, if he fell into the hands of Antonius,

he would be treated as Trebonius had been. And, as the friends of

Antonius gave out that he was now more inclined to come to terms with

the senate, a proposition was made and supported by Pansa to send a

second embassy to him. And even Cicero at first consented to it,

and allowed himself to be nominated with Servilius and three other

senators, all of consular rank, but on more mature reflection he was

convinced that he had been guilty of a blunder, and that the object of

Antonius and his friends was only to gain time for Ventidius to join

him with his three legions. Accordingly, at the next meeting of the

senate, he delivered the following speech, retracting his former

sanction of the proposed embassy. And he spoke so strongly against it,

that the measure was abandoned and Pansa soon afterwards marched with

his army to join Hirtius and Octavius, with the intention of forcing

Antonius to a battle.

I. Although, O conscript fathers it seems very unbecoming for that

man whose counsels you have so often adopted in the most important

affairs, to be deceived and deluded, and to commit mistakes, yet I

console myself, since I made the mistake in company with you, and in

company also with a consul of the greatest wisdom. For when two men of

consular rank had brought us hope of an honorable peace, they appeared

as being friends and extremely intimate with Marcus Antonius, to be

aware of some weak point about him with which we were unacquainted.

His wife and children are in the house of one, the other is known

every day to send letters to, to receive letters from, and openly to

favour Antonius.

These men, then, appeared likely to have some reason for exhorting us

to peace, which they had done for some time. The consul, too, added

the weight of his exhortation, and what a consul! If we look for

prudence, one who was not easily to be deceived; if for virtue and

courage, one who would never admit of peace unless Antonius submitted

and confessed himself to be vanquished, if for greatness of mind, one

who would prefer death to slavery. You, too, O conscript fathers,

appeared to be induced to think not of accepting but of imposing

conditions, not so much because you were forgetful of your most

important and dignified resolutions, as because you had hopes

suggested you of a surrender on the part of Antonius, which his

friends preferred to call peace. My own hopes, and I imagine yours

also, were increased by the circumstance of my hearing that the family

of Antonius was overwhelmed with distress, and that his wife was

incessantly lamenting. And in this assembly, too, I saw that the

partisans, on whose countenance my eyes are always dwelling, looked

more sorrowful than usual. And if that is not so, why on a sudden has

mention been made of peace by Piso and Calenus of all people in the

world, why at this particular moment, why so unexpectedly? Piso

declares that he knows nothing, that he has not heard anything.

Calenus declares that no news has been brought. And they make that

statement now, after they think that we are involved in a pacific

embassy. What need have we, then, of any new determination, if no new

circumstances have arisen to call for one?

II. We have been deceived,--we have, I say, been deceived, O conscript

fathers. It is the cause of Antonius that has been pleaded by his

friends, and not the cause of the public. And I did indeed see that,

though through a sort of mist, the safety of Decimus Brutus had

dazzled my eyesight. But if in war, substitutes were in the habit of

being given, I would gladly allow myself to be hemmed in, so long

as Decimus Brutus might be released. But we were caught by this

expression of Quintus Fufius; "Shall we not listen to Antonius, even

if he retires from Mutina? Shall we not, even if he declares that he

will submit himself to the authority of the senate?" It seemed harsh

to say that. Thus it was that we were broken, we yielded. Does he then

retire from Mutina? "I don't know." Is he obeying the senate? "I think

so" says Calenus, "but so as to preserve his own dignity at the same

time." You then, O conscript fathers, are to make great exertions for

the express purpose of losing your own dignity, which is very great,

and of preserving that of Antonius, which neither has nor can have any

existence, and of enabling him to recover that by your conduct, which

he has lost by his own. "But, however, that matter is not open for

consideration now, an embassy has been appointed." But what is there

which is not open for consideration to a wise man, as long as it

can be remodelled? Any man is liable to a mistake; but no one but a

downright fool will persist in error. For second thoughts, as people

say, are best. The mist which I spoke of just now is dispelled, light

has arisen, the case is plain--we see everything, and that not by our

own acuteness, but we are warned by our friends.

You heard just now what was the statement made by a most admirable

man. I found, said he, his house, his wife, his children, all in great

distress. Good men marvelled at me, my friends blamed me for having

been led by the hope of peace to undertake an embassy. And no wonder,

O Publius Servilius. For by your own most true and most weighty

arguments Antonius was stripped, I do not say of all dignity, but of

even every hope of safety. Who would not wonder if you were to go

as an ambassador to him? I judge by my own case, for with regard to

myself I see how the same design as you conceived is found fault with.

And are we the only people blamed? What? did that most gallant man

speak so long and so precisely a little while ago without any reason?

What was he labouring for, except to remove from himself a groundless

suspicion of treachery? And whence did that suspicion arise? From his

unexpected advocacy of peace, which he adopted all on a sudden, being

taken in by the same error that we were.

But if an error has been committed, O conscript fathers, owing to a

groundless and fallacious hope, let us return into the right road. The

best harbour for a penitent is a change of intention.

III. For what, in the name of the immortal gods! what good can our

embassy do to the republic? What good, do I say? What will you say if

it will even do us harm? _Will_ do us harm? What if it already _has_

done us harm? Do you suppose that that most energetic and fearless

desire shown by the Roman people for recovery of their liberty has

been damped and weakened by hearing of this embassy for peace? What

do you think the municipal towns feel? and the colonies? What do you

think will be the feelings of all Italy? Do you suppose that it will

continue to glow with the same zeal with which it burnt before to

extinguish this common conflagration? Do we not suppose that those

men will repent of having professed and displayed so much hatred to

Antonius, who promised us money and arms, who devoted themselves

wholly, body, heart, and soul, to the safety of the republic? How will

Capua, which at the present time feels like a second Rome, approve of

this design of yours? That city pronounced them impious citizens, cast

them out, and kept them out. Antonius was barely saved from the hands

of that city, which made a most gallant attempt to crush him. Need I

say more? Are we not by these proceedings cutting the sinews of our

own legions, for what man can engage with ardour in a war, when the

hope of peace is suggested to him? Even that godlike and divine

Martial legion will grow languid at and be cowed by the receipt of

this news, and will lose that most noble title of Martial, their

swords will fall to the ground, their weapons will drop from their

hands. For, following the senate, it will not consider itself bound to

feel more bitter hatred against Antonius than the senate.

I am ashamed for this legion, I am ashamed for the fourth legion,

which, approving of our authority with equal virtue, abandoned

Antonius, not looking upon him as their consul and general, but as an

enemy and attacker of their country. I am ashamed for that admirable

army which is made up of two armies, which has now been reviewed, and

which has started for Mutina, and which, if it hears a word of peace,

that is to say, of our fear, even if it does not return, will at all

events halt. For who, when the senate recals him and sounds a retreat,

will be eager to engage in battle?[49]

IV. For what can be more unreasonable than for us to pass resolutions

about peace without the knowledge of those men who wage the war? And

not only without their knowledge, but even against their will? Do you

think that Aulus Hirtius, that most illustrious consul, and that

Carus Caesar, a man born by the especial kindness of the gods for this

especial crisis, whose letters, announcing their hope of victory, I

hold in my hand, are desirous of peace? leader; and still we cannot

bear the countenances or support the language of those men who are

left behind in the city out of their number. What do you think will

be the result when such numbers force their way into the city at one

time? when we have laid aside our arms and they have not laid aside

theirs? Must we not be defeated for everlasting, in consequence of our

own counsels?

Place before your eyes Marcus Antonius, as a man of consular rank, add

to him Lucius, hoping to obtain the consulship, join to them all the

rest, and those too not confined to our order, who are fixing then

thoughts on honours and commands. Do not despise the Tiros, and the

Numisii, or the Mustellae, or the Seii. A peace made with those men

will not be peace, but a covenant of slavery. That was in admirable

expression of Lucius Piso, a most honourable man, and one which has

been deservedly praised by you O Pansa, not only in this order, but

also in the assembly of the people. He said, that he would depart from

Italy, and leave his household gods and his native home, if (but might

the gods avert such a disaster!) Antonius overwhelmed the republic.

VII. I ask, therefore, of you, O Lucius Piso, whether you would not

think the republic overwhelmed if so many men of such impiety, of such

audacity, and such guilt, were admitted into it? Can you think that

men whom we could hardly bear when they were not yet polluted with

such parricidal treasons; will be able to be borne by the city now

that they are immersed in every sort of wickedness? Believe me, we

must either adopt your plan, and retire, depart, embrace a life of

indigence and wandering, or else we must offer our throats to those

robbers, and perish in our country. What has become, O Carus Pansa, of

those noble exhortations of yours, by which the senate was roused, and

the Roman people stimulated, not only hearing but also learning from

you that there is nothing more disgraceful to a Roman than slavery?

Was it for this that we assumed the garb of war, and took arms and

roused up all the youth all over Italy, in order that while we had a

most flourishing and numerous army, we might send ambassadors to treat

for peace? If that peace is to be received by others, why do we not

wait to be entreated for it? If our ambassadors are to beg it, what is

it that we are afraid of? Shall I make one of this embassy, or shall I

be mixed up with this design, in which, even if I should dissent from

the rest of my colleagues, the Roman people will not know it? The

result will be that if anything be granted or conceded, it will be my

danger if Antonius commits any offences, since the power to commit

them will seem to have been put in his hands by me.

But even if it had been proper to entertain any idea of peace with the

piratical crew of Marcus Antonius, still I was the last person who

ought to have been selected to negotiate such a peace. I never voted

for sending ambassadors. Before the return of the last ambassadors I

ventured to say, that peace itself, even if they did bring it, ought

to be repudiated, since war would be concealed under the name of

peace; I was the chief adviser of the adoption of the garb of war, I

have invariably called that man a public enemy, when others have been

calling him only an adversary, I have always pronounced this to be a

war, while others have styled it only a tumult Nor have I done this

in the senate alone; I have always acted in the same way before the

people. Nor have I spoken against himself only, but also against the

accomplices in and agents of his crimes, whether present here, or

there with him. In short, I have at all times inveighed against the

whole family and party of Antonius. Therefore, as those impious

citizens began to congratulate one another the moment the hope of

peace was presented to them, as if they had gained the victory, so

also they abused me as unjust, they made complaints against me, they

distrusted Servilius also, they recollected that Antonius had been

damaged by his avowed opinions and propositions, they recollected that

Lucius Caesar, though a brave and consistent senator, is still his

uncle, that Calenus is his agent, that Piso is his intimate friend,

they think that you yourself, O Pansa, though a most vigorous and

fearless consul, are now become more mercifully inclined. Not that it

really is so, or that it possibly can be so. But the fact of a mention

of peace having been made by you, has given rise to a suspicion in the

hearts of many, that you have changed your mind a little. The friends

of Antonius are annoyed at my being included among these persons,

and we must no doubt yield to them, since we have once begun to be

liberal.