VIII. Let the ambassadors go, with all our good wishes, but let those

men go at whom Antonius may take no offence. But if you are not

anxious about what he may think, at all events. O conscript fathers,

you ought to have some regard for me. At least spare my eyes, and make

some allowance for a just indignation. For with what countenance shall

I be able to behold, (I do not say, the enemy of my country, for my

hatred of him on that score I feel in common with you all,) but how

shall I bear to look upon that man who is my own most bitter personal

enemy, as his most furious harangues against me plainly declare him?

Do you think that I am so completely made of iron as to be able

unmoved to meet him, or look at him? who lately, when in an assembly

of the people he was making presents to those men who appeared to him

the most audacious of his band of parricidal traitors, said that

he gave my property to Petissius of Urbinum, a man who, after the

shipwreck of a very splendid patrimony, was dashed against these rocks

of Antonius. Shall I be able to bear the sight of Lucius Antonius? a

man from whose cruelty I could not have escaped if I had not defended

myself behind the walls and gates and by the zeal of my own municipal

town. And this same Asiatic gladiator, this plunderer of Italy, this

colleague of Lenti and Nucula, when he was giving some pieces of

gold to Aquila the centurion, said that he was giving him some of my

property. For, if he had said he was giving him some of his own, he

thought that the eagle itself would not have believed it. My eyes

cannot--my eyes, I say, will not bear the sight of Saxa, or Capho, or

the two praetors, or the tribune of the people, or the two tribunes

elect, or Bestia, or Trebellius, or Titus Plancus. I cannot look with

equanimity on so many, and those such foul, such wicked enemies;

nor is that feeling caused by any fastidiousness of mine, but by my

affection for the republic. But I will subdue my feelings, and keep my

own inclinations under restraint. If I cannot eradicate my most just

indignation, I will conceal it. What? Do you not think, O Conscript

fathers, that I should have some regard for my own life? But that

indeed has never been an object of much concern to me, especially

since Dolabella has acted in such a way that death is a desirable

thing, provided it come without torments and tortures. But in your

eyes and in those of the Roman people my life ought not to appear of

no consequence. For I am a man,--unless indeed I am deceived in my

estimate of myself,--who by my vigilance, and anxiety, by the opinions

which I have delivered, and by the dangers too of which I have

encountered great numbers, by reason of the most bitter hatred which

all impious men bear me, have at least, (not to seem to say anything

too boastful,) conducted myself so as to be no injury to the republic.

And as this is the case, do you think that I ought to have no

consideration for my own danger?

IX. Even here, when I was in the city and at home, nevertheless many

attempts were made against me, in a place where I have not only the

fidelity of my friends but the eyes also of the entire city to guard

me. What do you think will be the case when I have gone on a journey,

and that too a long one? Do you think that I shall have no occasion

to fear plots then? There are three roads to Mutina, a place which my

mind longs to see, in order that I may behold as speedily as possible

that pledge of freedom of the Roman people Decimus Brutus, in whose

embrace I would willingly yield up my parting breath, when all my

actions for the last many months, and all my opinions and propositions

have resulted in the end which I proposed to myself. There are, as I

have said, three roads, the Flaminian road, along the Adriatic, the

Aurelian road, along the Mediterranean coast, the Midland road, which

is called the Cassian.

Now, take notice, I beg of you, whether my suspicion of danger to

myself is at variance with a reasonable conjecture. The Cassian road

goes through Etruria. Do we not know then, O Pansa, over what places

the authority of Lenti Caesennius, as a septemvir, prevails at

present? He certainly is not on our side either in mind or body. But

if he is at home, or not far from home, he is certainly in Etruria,

that is, in my road. Who, then, will undertake to me that Lenti will

be content with exacting one life alone? Tell me besides, O Pansa,

where Ventidius is,--a man to whom I have always been friendly before

he became so openly an enemy to the republic and to all good men. I

may avoid the Cassian road, and take the Flaminian. What if, as it is

said, Ventidius has arrived at Ancona? Shall I be able in that case

to reach Ariminum in safety? The Aurelian road remains and here too

I shall find a, protector, for on that road are the possessions of

Publius Clodius. His whole household will come out to meet me, and

will invite me to partake of their hospitality, on account of my

notorious intimacy with their master?

X. Shall I then trust myself to those roads--I who lately, on the day

of the feast of Terminus, did not dare even to go into the suburbs and

return by the same road on the same day? I can scarcely defend myself

within the walls of my own house without the protection of my friends;

therefore I remain in the city; and if I am allowed to do so I will

remain. This is my proper place, this is my beat, this is my post as

a sentinel, this is my station as a defender of the city. Let others

occupy camps and kingdoms, and engage in the conduct of the war; let

them show the active hatred of the enemy; we, as we say, and as we

have always hitherto done, will, in common with you, defend the

city and the affairs of the city. Nor do I shrink from this office;

although I see the Roman people shrink from it for me. No one is less

timid than I am; no one more cautious. The facts speak for themselves.

This is the twentieth year that I have been a mark for the attempts of

all wicked men; therefore, they have paid to the republic (not to

say to me) the penalty of their wickedness. As yet the republic has

preserved me in safety for itself. I am almost afraid to say what I am

going to say; for I know that any accident may happen to a man; but

still, when I was once hemmed in by the united force of many most

influential men, I yielded voluntarily, and fell in such a manner as

to be able to rise again in the most honourable manner.

Can I, then, appear as cautious and as prudent as I ought to be if I

commit myself to a journey so full of enemies and dangers to me? Those

men who are concerned in the government of the republic ought at their

death to leave behind them glory, and not reproaches for their fault,

or grounds for blaming their folly. What good man is there who does

not mourn for the death of Trebonius? Who is there who does not grieve

for the loss of such a citizen and such a man? But there are men who

say, (hastily indeed, but still they do say so,) that he deserves to

be grieved for less because he did not take precautions against a

desperately wicked man. In truth, a man who professes to be himself a

defender of many men, wise men say, ought in the first place to show

himself able to protect his own life. I say, that when one is fenced

round by the laws and by the fear of justice, a man is not bound to be

afraid of everything, or to take precautions against all imaginable

designs; for who would dare to attack a man in daylight, on a military

road, or a man who was well attended, or an illustrious man? But these

considerations have no bearing on the present time, nor in my case;

for not only would a man who offered violence to me have no fear of

punishment, but he would even hope to obtain glory and rewards from

those bands of robbers.

XI. These dangers I can guard against in the city; it is easy for me

to look around and see where I am going out from, whither I am going,

what there is on my right hand, and on my left. Shall I be able to do

the same on the roads of the Apennines? in which, even if there should

be no ambush, as there easily may be, still my mind will be kept in

such a state of anxiety as not to be able to attend to the duties of

an embassy. But suppose I have escaped all plots against me, and have

passed over the Apennines; still I have to encounter a meeting and

conference with Antonius. What place am I to select? If it is outside

the camp, the rest may look to themselves,--I think that death would

come upon me instantly. I know the frenzy of the man; I know his

unbridled violence. The ferocity of his manners and the savageness of

his nature is not usually softened even by wine. Then, inflamed by

anger and insanity, with his brother Lucius, that foulest of beasts,

at his side, he will never keep his sacrilegious and impious hands

from me. I can recollect conferences with most bitter enemies, and

with citizens in a state of the most bitter disagreement.

Cnaeus Pompeius, the son of Sextus, being consul, in my presence, when

I was serving my first campaign in his army, had a conference with

Publius Vettius Scato, the general of the Marsians, between the camps.

And I recollect that Sextus Pompeius, the brother of the consul, a

very learned and wise man, came thither from Rome to the conference.

And when Scato had saluted him, "What," said he, "am I to call

you?"--"Call me," said he, "one who is by inclination a friend, by

necessity an enemy." That conference was conducted with fairness;

there was no fear, no suspicion; even their mutual hatred was not

great; for the allies were not seeking to take our city from us, but

to be themselves admitted to share the privileges of it. Sylla and

Scipio, one attended by the flower of the nobility, the other by the

allies, had a conference between Cales and Teanum, respecting the

authority of the senate, the suffrages of the people, and the

privileges of citizenship; and agreed upon conditions and

stipulations. Good faith was not strictly observed at that conference;

but still there was no violence used, and no danger incurred.

XII. But can we be equally safe among Antonius's piratical crew? We

cannot; or, even if the rest can, I do not believe that I can. What

will be the case if we are not to confer out of the camp? What camp

is to be chosen for the conference? He will never come into our

camp:--much less will we go to his. It follows then, that all demands

must be received and sent to and fro by means of letters. We then

shall be in our respective camps. On all his demands I shall have but

one opinion; and when I have stated it here, in your hearing, you may

think that I have gone, and that I have come back again.--I shall have

finished my embassy. As far as my sentiments can prevail I shall refer

every demand which Antonius makes to the senate. For, indeed, we have

no power to do otherwise; nor have we received any commission from

this assembly, such as, when a war is terminated, is usually, in

accordance with the precedents of your ancestors, entrusted to the

ambassadors. Nor, in fact, have we received any particular commission

from the senate at all.

And, as I shall pursue this line of conduct in the council, where

some, as I imagine, will oppose it, have I not reason to fear that the

ignorant mob may think that peace is delayed by my means? Suppose now

that the new legions do not disapprove of my resolution. For I am

quite sure that the Martial legion and the fourth legion will not

approve of anything which is contrary to dignity and honour. What

then? have we no regard for the opinion of the veterans? For even

they themselves do not wish to be feared by us.--Still, how will

they receive my severity? For they have heard many false statements

concerning me; wicked men have circulated among them many calumnies

against me. Their advantage indeed, as you all are most perfect

witnesses of, I have always promoted by my opinion, by my authority,

and by my language. But they believe wicked men, they believe

seditious men, they believe their own party. They are, indeed, brave

men; but by reason of their exploits which they have performed in the

cause of the freedom of the Roman people and of the safety of the

republic they are too ferocious and too much inclined to bring all

our counsels under the sway of their own violence. Their deliberate

reflection I am not afraid of, but I confess I dread their

impetuosity.

If I escape all these great dangers too, do you think my return will

be completely safe? For when I have, according to my usual custom,

defended your authority, and have proved my good faith towards the

republic, and my firmness; then I shall have to fear, not those men

alone who hate me, but those also who envy me. Let my life then be

preserved for the republic, let it be kept for the service of my

country as long as my dignity or nature will permit; and let death

either be the necessity of fate, or, if it must be encountered

earlier, let it be encountered with glory.

This being the case, although the republic has no need (to say the

least of it) of this embassy, still if it be possible for me to go on

it in safety, I am willing to go. Altogether, O conscript fathers,

I shall regulate the whole of my conduct in this affair, not by any

consideration of my own danger, but by the advantage of the republic.

And, as I have plenty of time, I think that it behoves me to

deliberate upon that over and over again, and to adopt that line of

conduct which I shall judge to be most beneficial to the republic.

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

ALSO THE THIRTEENTH PHILIPPIC.

THE ARGUMENT.

Antonius wrote a long letter to Hirtius and to Octavius, to persuade

them that they were acting against their true interests and dignity

in combining with the slayers of Julius Caesar against him. But they,

instead of answering this letter, sent it to Cicero at Rome. At the

same time Lepidus wrote a public letter to the senate to exhort them

to measures of peace; and to a reconciliation with Antonius; and took

no notice of the public honours which had been decreed to him in

compliance with Cicero's motion. The senate was much displeased at

this. They agreed, however, to a proposal of Servilius--to thank

Lepidus for his love of peace, but to desire him to leave that to

them; as there could be no peace till Antonius had laid down his arms.

But Antonius's friends were encouraged by Lepidus's letter to renew

their suggestions of a treaty; which caused Cicero to deliver the

following speech to the senate for the purpose of counteracting the

influence of their arguments.

I. From the first beginning, O conscript fathers, of this war which we

have undertaken against those impious and wicked citizens, I have been

afraid lest the insidious proposals of peace might damp our zeal for

the recovery of our liberty. But the name of peace is sweet; and the

thing itself not only pleasant but salutary. For a man seems to have

no affection either for the private hearths of the citizens, nor for

the public laws, nor for the rights of freedom, who is delighted with

discord and the slaughter of his fellow-citizens, and with civil war;

and such a man I think ought to be erased from the catalogue of men,

and exterminated from all human society. Therefore, if Sylla, or

Marius, or both of them, or Octavius, or Cinna, or Sylla for the

second time, or the other Marius and Carbo, or if any one else has

ever wished for civil war, I think that man a citizen born for the

detestation of the republic. For why should I speak of the last man

who stirred up such a war; a man whose acts, indeed, we defend, while

we admit that the author of them was deservedly slain? Nothing, then,

is more infamous than such a citizen or such a man; if indeed he

deserves to be considered either a citizen or a man, who is desirous

of civil war.

But the first thing that we have to consider, O conscript fathers,

is whether peace can exist with all men, or whether there be any war

incapable of reconciliation, in which any agreement of peace is only

a covenant of slavery. Whether Sylla was making peace with Scipio,

or whether he was only pretending to do so, there was no reason to

despair, if an agreement had been come to, that the city might have

been in a tolerable state. If Cinna had been willing to agree with

Octavius, the safety of the citizens might still have had an existence

in the republic. In the last war, if Pompeius had relaxed somewhat

of his dignified firmness, and Caesar a good deal of his ambition, we

might have had both a lasting peace, and some considerable remainder

of the republic.

II. But what is the state of things now? Is it possible for there

to be peace with Antonius? with Censorinus, and Ventidius, and

Trebellius, and Bestia, and Nucula, and Munatius, and Lento, and Saxa?

I have just mentioned a few names as a specimen; you yourselves see

the countless numbers and savage nature of the rest of the host. Add,

besides the wrecks of Caesar's party, the Barbae Cassii, the Barbatii,

the Pollios; add the companions and fellow-gamblers of Antonius,

Eutrapelus, and Mela, and Coelius, and Pontius, and Crassicius, and

Tiro, and Mustela, and Petissius; I say nothing of the main body, I

am only naming the leaders. To these are added the legionaries of the

Alauda and the rest of the veterans, the seminary of the judges of the

third decury; who, having exhausted their own estates, and squandered

all the fruits of Caesar's kindness, have now set their hearts on our

fortunes. Oh that trustworthy right hand of Antonius, with which he

has murdered many citizens! Oh that regularly ratified and solemn

treaty which we made with the Antonii! Surely if Marcus shall attempt

to violate it, the conscientious piety of Lucius will call him back

from such wickedness. If there is any room allowed these men in this

city, there will be no room for the city itself. Place before your

eyes, O conscript fathers, the countenances of those men, and

especially the countenances of the Antonii. Mark their gait, their

look, their face, their arrogance; mark those friends of theirs who

walk by their side, who follow them, who precede them. What breath

reeking of wine, what insolence, what threatening language do you not

think there will be there? Unless, indeed, the mere fact of peace is

to soften them, and unless you expect that, especially when they come

into this assembly, they will salute every one of us kindly, and

address us courteously.

III. Do you not recollect, in the name of the immortal gods! what

resolutions you have given utterance to against those men? You have

repealed the acts of Marcus Antonius; you have taken down his laws;

you have voted that they were carried by violence, and with a

disregard of the auspices; you have called out the levies throughout

all Italy; you have pronounced that colleague and ally of all

wickedness a public enemy. What peace can there be with this man? Even

if he were a foreign enemy, still, after such actions as have taken

place, it would be scarcely possible, by any means whatever, to have

peace. Though seas and mountains, and vast regions lay between you,

still you would hate such a man without seeing him. But these men will

stick to your eyes, and when they can, to your very throats; for what

fences will be strong enough for us to restrain savage beasts?--Oh,

but the result of war is uncertain. It is at all events in the power

of brave men, such as you ought to be, to display your valour, (for

certainly brave men can do that,) and not to fear the caprice of

fortune.

But since it is not only courage but wisdom also which is expected

from this order, (although these qualities appear scarcely possible to

be separated, still let us separate them here,) courage bids us fight,

inflames our just hatred, urges us to the conflict, summons us to

danger. What says wisdom? She uses more cautious counsels, she

is provident for the future, she is in every respect more on the

defensive. What then does she think? for we must obey her, and we are

bound to consider that the best thing which is arranged in the most

prudent manner. If she enjoins me to think nothing of more consequence

than my life, not to fight at the risk of my life, but to avoid all

danger, I will then ask her whether I am also to become a slave when

I have obeyed all these injunctions? If she says, yes, I for one will

not listen to that Wisdom, however learned she may be, but if the

answer is, Preserve your life and your safety, Preserve your fortune,

"Preserve your estate, still, however, considering all these things of

less value than liberty, therefore enjoy these things if you can do

so consistently with the freedom of the republic, and do not abandon

liberty for them, but sacrifice them for liberty, as proofs of the

injury you have sustained,"--then I shall think that I really am

listening to the voice of Wisdom, and I will obey her as a god.

Therefore, if when we have received those men we can still be free,

let us subdue our hatred to them, and endure peace, but if there can

be no tranquillity while those men are in safety, then let us rejoice

that an opportunity of fighting them is put in our power. For so,

either (these men being conquered) we shall enjoy the republic

victorious, or, if we be defeated (but may Jupiter avert that

disaster), we shall live, if not with an actual breath, at all events

in the renown of our valour.

IV. But Marcus Lepidus, having been a second time styled Imperator,

Pontifex Maximus, a man who deserved excellently well of the republic

in the last civil war, exhorts us to peace. No one, O conscript

fathers, has greater weight with me than Marcus Lepidus, both on

account of his personal virtues and by reason of the dignity of his

family. There are also private reasons which influence me, such as

great services he has done me, and some kindnesses which I have done

him. But the greatest of his services I consider to be his being of

such a disposition as he is towards the republic, which has at all

times been dearer to me than my life. For when by his influence he

inclined Magnus Pompeius, a most admirable young man, the son of

one of the greatest of men, to peace, and without arms released the

republic from imminent danger of civil war, by so doing he laid me

under as great obligations as it was in the power of any man to do.

Therefore I proposed to decree to him the most ample honours that were

in my power, in which you agreed with me, nor have I ceased both to

think and speak in the highest terms of him. The republic has Marcus

Lepidus bound to it by many pledges. He is a man of the highest rank,

of the greatest honours, he has the most honourable priesthood, and

has received numberless distinctions in the city. There are monuments

of himself, and of his brother, and of his ancestors; he has a most

excellent wife, children such as any man might desire, an ample family

estate, untainted with the blood of his fellow-citizens. No citizen

has been injured by him; many have been delivered from misery by his

kindness and pity. Such a man and such a citizen may indeed err in

his opinion, but it is quite impossible for him in inclination to be

unfriendly to the republic.

Marcus Lepidus is desirous of peace. He does well especially if he can

make such a peace as he made lately, owing to which the republic will

behold the son of Cnaeus Pompeius, and will receive him in her bosom

and embrace; and will think, that not he alone, but that she also is

restored to herself with him. This was the reason why you decreed to

him a statue in the rostra with an honourable inscription, and why

you voted him a triumph in his absence. For although he had performed

great exploits in war, and such as well deserved a triumph, still for

that he might not have had that given to him which was not given to

Lucius aemilius, nor to aemilianus Scipio, nor to the former Africanus,

nor to Marius, nor to Pompeius, who had the conduct of greater wars

than he had, but because he had put an end to a civil war in perfect

silence, the first moment that it was in his power, on that account

you conferred on him the greatest honours.

V. Do you think, then, O Marcus Lepidus, that the Antonii will be to

the republic such citizens as she will find Pompeius? In the one there

is modesty, gravity, moderation, integrity; in them (and when I speak

of them, I do not mean to omit one of that band of pirates), there is

lust, and wickedness, and savage audacity capable of every crime. I

entreat of you, O conscript fathers, which of you fails to see this

which Fortune herself, who is called blind, sees? For, saving the acts

of Caesar, which we maintain for the sake of harmony, his own house

will be open to Pompeius, and he will redeem it for the same sum for

which Antonius bought it. Yes, I say the son of Cnaeus Pompeius will

buy back his house. O melancholy circumstance! But these things have

been already lamented long and bitterly enough. You have voted a sum

of money to Cnaeus Pompeius, equal to that which his conquering

enemy had appropriated to himself of his father's property in the

distribution of his booty. But I claim permission to manage this

distribution myself, as due to my connexion and intimacy with his

father. He will buy back the villas, the houses, and some of the

estates in the city which Antonius is in possession of. For as for the

silver plate, the garments, the furniture, and the wine which that

glutton has made away with, those things he will lose without

forfeiting his equanimity. The Alban and Firmian villas he will

recover from Dolabella; the Tusculan villa he will also recover from

Antonius. And these Ansers who are joining in the attack on Mutina and

in the blockade of Decimus Brutus will be driven from his Falernian

villa. There are many others, perhaps, who will be made to disgorge

their plunder, but their names escape my memory. I say, too, that

those men who are not in the number of our enemies, will be made to

restore the possessions of Pompeius to his son for the price at which

they bought them. It was the act of a sufficiently rash man, not to

say an audacious one, to touch a single particle of that property;

but who will have the face to endeavour to retain it, when its most

illustrious owner is restored to his country? Will not that man

restore his plunder, who enfolding the patrimony of his master in

his embrace, clinging to the treasure like a dragon, the slave of

Pompeius, the freedman of Caesar, has seized upon his estates in

the Lucanian district? And as for those seven hundred millions of

sesterces which you, O conscript fathers, promised to the young man,

they will be recovered in such a manner that the son of Cnaeus Pompeius

will appear to have been established by you in his patrimony. This

is what the senate must do; the Roman people will do the rest

with respect to that family which was at one time one of the most

honourable it ever saw. In the first place, it will invest him with

his father's honour as an augur, for which rank I will nominate him

and promote his election, in order that I may restore to the son what

I received from the father. Which of these men will the Roman people

most willingly sanction as the augur of the all-powerful and

all-great Jupiter, whose interpreters and messengers we have been

appointed,--Pompeius or Antonius? It seems indeed, to me, that Fortune

has managed this by the divine aid of the immortal gods, that, leaving

the acts of Caesar firmly ratified, the son of Cnaeus Pompeius might

still be able to recover the dignities and fortunes of his father.

VI. And I think, O conscript fathers, that we ought not to pass over

that fact either in silence,--that those illustrious men who are

acting as ambassadors, Lucius Paullus, Quintus Thermus, and Caius

Fannius, whose inclinations towards the republic you are thoroughly

acquainted with, and also with the constancy and firmness of that

favourable inclination, report that they turned aside to Marseilles

for the purpose of conferring with Pompeius, and that they found him

in a disposition very much inclined to go with his troops to Mutina,

if he had not been afraid of offending the minds of the veterans. But

he is a true son of that father who did quite as many things wisely

as he did bravely. Therefore you perceive that his courage was quite

ready, and that prudence was not wanting to him.

And this, too, is what Marcus Lepidus ought to take care of,--not

to appear to act in any respect with more arrogance than suits his

character. For if he alarms us with his army, he is forgetting that

that army belongs to the senate, and to the Roman people, and to the

whole republic, not to himself. "But he has the power to use it as

if it were his own." What then? Does it become virtuous men to do

everything which it is in their power to do? Suppose it be a base

thing? Suppose it be a mischievous thing? Suppose it be absolutely

unlawful to do it?

But what can be more base, or more shameful, or more utterly

unbecoming, than to lead an army against the senate, against one's

fellow-citizens, against one's country? Or what can deserve greater

blame than doing that which is unlawful? But it is not lawful for any

one to lead an army against his country? if indeed we say that that is

lawful which is permitted by the laws or by the usages and established

principles of our ancestors. For it does not follow that whatever

a man has power to do is lawful for him to do; nor, if he be not

hindered, is he on that account permitted to do so. For to you, O

Lepidus, as to your ancestors, your country has given an army to be

employed in her cause. With this army you are to repel the enemy, you

are to extend the boundaries of the empire, you are to obey the senate

and people of Rome, if by any chance they direct you to some other

object.

VII. If these are your thoughts, then are you really Marcus Lepidus

the Pontifex Maximus, the great-grandson of Marcus Lepidus, Pontifex

Maximus. If you judge that everything is lawful for men to do that

they have the power to do, then beware lest you seem to prefer acting

on precedents set by those who have no connexion with you, and these,

too, modern precedents, to being guided by the ancient examples in

your own family. But if you interpose your authority without having

recourse to arms, in that case indeed I praise you more; but beware

lest this thing itself be quite unnecessary. For although there is all

the authority in you that there ought to be in a man of the highest

rank, still the senate itself does not despise itself; nor was it ever

more wise, more firm, more courageous. We are all hurried on with the

most eager zeal to recover our freedom. Such a general ardour on the

part of the senate and people of Rome cannot be extinguished by the

authority of any one: we hate a man who would extinguish it; we are

angry with him, and resist him; our arms cannot be wrested from our

hands; we are deaf to all signals for retreat, to all recal from the

combat. We hope for the happiest success; we will prefer enduring the

bitterest disaster to being slaves. Caesar has collected an invincible

army. Two perfectly brave consuls are present with their forces. The

various and considerable reinforcements of Lucius Plancus, consul

elect, are not wanting. The contest is for the safety of Decimus

Brutus. One furious gladiator, with a band of most infamous robbers,

is waging war against his country, against our household gods, against

our altars and our hearths, against four consuls. Shall we yield to

him? Shall we listen to the conditions which he proposes? Shall we

believe it possible for peace to be made with him?

VIII. But there is danger of our being overwhelmed. I have no fear

that the man who cannot enjoy his own most abundant fortunes, unless

all the good men are saved, will betray his own safety. It is nature

which first makes good citizens, and then fortune assists them. For it

is for the advantage of all good men that the republic should be safe;

but that advantage appears more clearly in the case of those who are

fortunate. Who is more fortunate than Lentulus, as I said before, and

who is more sensible? The Roman people saw his sorrow and his tears at

the Lupercal festival. They saw how miserable, how overwhelmed he was

when Antonius placed a diadem on Caesar's head and preferred being his

slave to being his colleague. And even if he had been able to abstain

from his other crimes and wickednesses, still on account of that one

single action I should think him worthy of all punishment. For even if

he himself was calculated to be a slave, why should he impose a master

on us? And if his childhood had borne the lusts of those men who were

tyrants over him, was he on that account to prepare a master and a

tyrant to lord it over our children? Therefore since that man was

slain, he himself has behaved to all others in the same manner as he

wished him to behave to us.

For in what country of barbarians was there ever so foul and cruel a

tyrant as Antonius, escorted by the arms of barbarians, has proved in

this city? When Caesar was exercising the supreme power, we used to

come into the senate, if not with freedom, at all events with safety.

But under this arch-pirate, (for why should I say tyrant?) these

benches were occupied by Itureans. On a sudden he hastened to

Brundusium, in order to come against this city from thence with

a regular army. He deluged Suessa, a most beautiful town, now of

municipal citizens, formerly of most honourable colonists, with the

blood of the bravest soldiers. At Brundusium he massacred the chosen

centurions of the Martial legion in the lap of his wife, who was not

only most avaricious but also most cruel. After that with what fury,

with what eagerness did he hurry on to the city, that is to say, to

the slaughter of every virtuous man! But at that time the immortal

gods brought to us a protector whom we had never seen nor expected.

IX. For the incredible and godlike virtue of Caesar checked the cruel

and frantic onslaught of that robber, whom then that madman believed

that he was injuring with his edicts, ignorant that all the charges

which he was falsely alleging against that most righteous young man,

were all very appropriate to the recollections of his own childhood.

He entered the city, with what an escort, or rather with what a troop!

when on the right hand and on the left, amid the groans of the Roman

people, he was threatening the owners of property, taking notes of the

houses, and openly promising to divide the city among his followers.

He returned to his soldiers; then came that mischievous assembly at

Tibur. From thence he hurried to the city; the senate was convened at

the Capitol. A decree with the authority of the consuls was prepared

for proscribing the young man; when all on a sudden (for he was aware

that the Martial legion had encamped at Alba) news is brought him of

the proceedings of the fourth legion.

Alarmed at that, he abandoned his intention of submitting a motion to

the senate respecting Caesar. He departed not by the regular roads, but

by the by-lanes, in the robe of a general; and on that very self-same

day he trumped up a countless number of resolutions of the senate; all

of which he published even before they were drawn up. From thence it

was not a journey, but a race and flight into Gaul. He thought that

Caesar was pursuing him with the fourth legion, with the martial

legion, with the veterans, whose very name he could not endure for

fright. Then, as he was making his way into Gaul, Decimus Brutus

opposed him; who preferred being himself surrounded by the waves of

the whole war, to allowing him either to retreat or advance; and who

put Mutina on him as a sort of bridle to his exultation. And when he

had blockaded that city with his works and fortifications, and when

the dignity of a most flourishing colony, and the majesty of a consul

elect, were both insufficient to deter him from his parricidal

treason, then, (I call you, and the Roman people, and all the gods who

preside over this city, to witness,) against my will, and in spite of

my resistance and remonstrance, three ambassadors of consular rank

were sent to that robber, to that leader of gladiators, Marcus

Antonius.

Who ever was such a barbarian? Who was ever so savage? so brutal? He

would not listen to them; he gave them no answer; and he not only

despised and showed that he considered of no importance those men who

were with him, but still more us, by whom these men had been sent. And

afterwards what wickedness, or what crime was there which that traitor

abstained from? He blockaded your colonists, and the army of the Roman

people, and your general, and your consul elect. He lays waste the

lands of a nation of most excellent citizens. Like a most inhuman

enemy he threatens all virtuous men with crosses and tortures.

X. Now what peace, O Marcus Lepidus, can exist with this man? when it

does not seem that there is even any punishment which the Roman people

can think adequate to his crimes?

But if any one has hitherto been able to doubt the fact, that there

can be nothing whatever in common between this order and the Roman

people and that most detestable beast, let him at least cease to

entertain such a doubt, when he becomes acquainted with this letter

which I have just received, it having been sent to me by Hirtius the

consul. While I read it, and while I briefly discuss each paragraph, I

beg, O conscript fathers, that you will listen to me most attentively,

as you have hitherto done.

"Antonius to Hirtius and Caesar."

He does not call himself imperator, nor Hirtius consul, nor Caesar

pro-praetor. This is cunningly done enough. He preferred laying aside

a title to which he had no right himself, to giving them their proper

style.

"When I heard of the death of Caius Trebonius, I was not more rejoiced

than grieved."

Take notice why he says he rejoiced, why he says that he was grieved;

and then you will be more easily able to decide the question of peace.

"It was a matter of proper rejoicing that a wicked man had paid the

penalty due to the bones and ashes of a most illustrious man, and that

the divine power of the gods had shown itself before the end of the

current year, by showing the chastisement of that parricide already

inflicted in some cases, and impending in others."

O you Spartacus! for what name is more fit for you? you whose

abominable wickedness is such as to make even Catiline seem tolerable.

Have you dared to write that it is a matter of rejoicing that

Trebonius has suffered punishment? that Trebonius was wicked? What was

his crime, except that on the ides of March he withdrew you from the

destruction which you had deserved? Come; you rejoice at this; let us

see what it is that excites your indignation.

"That Dolabella should at this time have been pronounced a public

enemy because he has slain an assassin; and that the son of a buffoon

should appear dearer to the Roman people than Caius Caesar, the father

of his country, are circumstances to be lamented."

Why should you be sad because Dolabella has been pronounced a public

enemy? Why? Are you not aware that you yourself--by the fact of an

enlistment having taken place all over Italy, and of the consuls being

sent forth to war, and of Caesar having received great honours, and

of the garb of war having been assumed--have also been pronounced an

enemy? And what reason is there, O you wicked man, for lamenting that

Dolabella has been declared an enemy by the senate? a body which you

indeed think of no consequence at all; but you make it your main

object in waging war utterly to destroy the senate, and to make all

the rest of those who are either virtuous or wealthy follow the fate

of the highest order of all. But he calls him the son of a buffoon. As

if that noble Roman knight the father of Trebonius were unknown to us.

And does he venture to look down on any one because of the meanness of

his birth, when he has himself children by Fadia?

XL "But it is the bitterest thing of all that you, O Aulus Hirtius,

who have been distinguished by Caesar's kindness, and who have been

left by him in a condition which you yourself marvel at. [lacuna]"

I cannot indeed deny that Aulus Hirtius was distinguished by Caesar,

but such distinctions are only of value when conferred on virtue and

industry. But you, who cannot deny that you also were distinguished

by Caesar, what would you have been if he had not showered so many

kindnesses on you? Where would your own good qualities have borne you?

Where would your birth have conducted you? You would have spent the

whole period of your manhood in brothels, and cookshops, and in

gambling and drinking, as you used to do when you were always burying

your brains and your beard in the laps of actresses.

"And you too, O boy--"

He calls him a boy whom he has not only experienced and shall again

experience to be a man, but one of the bravest of men. It is indeed

the name appropriate to his age; but he is the last man in the world

who ought to use it, when it is his own madness that has opened to

this boy the path to glory.

"You who owe everything to his name--"

He does indeed owe everything, and nobly is he paying it. For if he

was the father of his country, as you call him, (I will see hereafter

what my opinion of that matter is,) why is not this youth still more

truly our father, to whom it certainly is owing that we are now

enjoying life, saved out of your most guilty hands!

"Are taking pains to have Dolabella legally condemned."

A base action, truly! by which the authority of this most honourable

order is defended against the insanity of a most inhuman gladiator.

"And to effect the release of this poisoner from blockade."

Do you dare to call that man a poisoner who has found a remedy against

your own poisoning tricks? and whom you are besieging in such a

manner, O you new Hannibal, (or if there was ever any abler general

than he,) as to blockade yourself, and to be unable to extricate

yourself from your present position, should you be ever so desirous to

do so? Suppose you retreat; they will all pursue you from all sides.

Suppose you stay where you are; you will be caught. You are very

right, certainly, to call him a poisoner, by whom you see that your

present disastrous condition has been brought about.

"In order that Cassius and Brutus may become as powerful as possible."

Would you suppose that he is speaking of Censorinus, or of Ventidius,

or of the Antonii themselves. But why should they be unwilling that

those men should become powerful, who are not only most excellent and

nobly born men, but who are also united with them in the defence of

the republic?

"In fact, you look upon the existing circumstances as you did on the

former ones."

What can he mean?

"You used to call the camp of Pompeius the senate."

XII. Should we rather call your camp the senate? In which you are the

only man of consular rank, you whose whole consulship is effaced from

every monument and register; and two praetors, who are afraid that

they will lose something by us,--a groundless fear. For we are

maintaining all the grants made by Caesar; and men of praetorian rank,

Philadelphus Annius, and that innocent Gallius; and men of aedilitian

rank, he on whom I have spent so much of my lungs and voice,

Bestia, and that patron of good faith and cheater of his creditors,

Trebellius, and that bankrupt and ruined man Quintus Caelius, and that

support of the friends of Antonius Cotyla Varius, whom Antonius for

his amusement caused at a banquet to be flogged with thongs by the

public slaves. Men of septemviral rank, Lento and Nucula, and then

that delight and darling of the Roman people, Lucius Antonius. And for

tribunes, first of all two tribunes elect, Tullus Hostilius, who was

so full of his privileges as to write up his name on the gate of Rome;

and who, when he found himself unable to betray his general, deserted

him. The other tribune elect is a man of the name of Viseius; I know

nothing about him; but I hear that he is (as they say) a bold robber;

who, however, they say was once a bathing man at Pisaurum, and a

very good hand at mixing the water. Then there are others too, of

tribunitian rank: in the first place, Titus Plancus; a man who, if

he had had any affection for the senate, would never have burnt the

senate-house. Having been condemned for which wickedness, he returned

to that city by force of arms from which he was driven by the power of

the law. But, however, this is a case common to him and to many others

who are very unlike him. But this is quite true which men are in the

habit of saying of this Plancus in a proverbial way, that it is quite

impossible for him to die unless his legs are broken.[50] They are

broken, and still he lives. But this, like many others, is a service

that has been done us by Aquila.

XIII. There is also in that camp Decius, descended, as I believe, from

the great Decius Mus; accordingly he gained[51] the gifts of Caesar.

And so after a long interval the recollection of the Decii is renewed

by this illustrious man. And how can I pass over Saxa Decidius, a

fellow imported from the most distant nations, in order that we might

see that man tribune of the people whom we had never beheld as a

citizen? There is also one of the Sasernae; but all of them have such

a resemblance to one another, that I may make a mistake as to their

first names. Nor must I omit Exitius, the brother of Philadelphus the

quaestor; lest, if I were to be silent about that most illustrious

young man, I should seem to be envying Antonius. There is also a

gentleman of the name of Asinius, a voluntary senator, having been

elected by himself. He saw the senate-house open after the death of

Caesar, he changed his shoes, and in a moment became a conscript

father. Sextus Albedius I do not know, but still I have not fallen in

with any one so fond of evil-speaking, as to deny that he is worthy of

a place in the senate of Antonius.

I dare say that I have passed over some names; but still I could not

refrain from mentioning those who did occur to me. Relying then on

this senate, he looks down on the senate which supported Pompeius, in

which ten of us were men of consular rank; and if they were all alive

now this war would never have arisen at all. Audacity would have

succumbed to authority. But what great protection there would have

been in the rest may be understood from this, that I, when left alone

of all that band, with your assistance crushed and broke the audacity

of that triumphant robber.

XIV. But if Fortune had not taken from us not only Servius Sulpicius,

and before him, his colleague Marcus Marcellus,--what citizens! What

men! If the republic had been able to retain the two consuls, men most

devoted to their country, who were driven together out of Italy; and

Lucius Afranius, that consummate general; and Publius Lentulus, a

citizen who displayed his extraordinary virtue on other occasions, and

especially in the securing my safe return; and Bibulus, whose constant

and firm attachment to the republic has at all times been deservedly

praised; and Lucius Domitius, that most excellent citizen; and Appius

Claudius, a man equally distinguished for nobleness of birth and for

attachment to the state; and Publius Scipio, a most illustrious man,

closely resembling his ancestors. Certainly with these men of consular

rank,[52] the senate which supported Pompeius was not to be despised.

Which, then, was more just, which was more advantageous for the

republic, that Cnaeus Pompeius, or that Antonius the brother who

bought all Pompeius's property, should live? And then what men of

praetorian rank were there with us! the chief of whom was Marcus Cato,

being indeed the chief man of any nation in the world for virtue. Why

need I speak of the other most illustrious men? you know them all. I

am more afraid lest you should think me tedious for enumerating so

many, than ungrateful for passing over any one. And what men of

aedilitian rank! and of tribunitian rank! and of quaestorian rank!

Why need I make a long story of it, so great was the dignity of the

senators of our party, so great too were their numbers, that those men

have need of some very valid excuse who did not join that camp. Now

listen to the rest of the letter.

XV. "You have the defeated Cicero for your general."

I am the more glad to hear that word "general," because he certainly

uses it against his will, for as for his saying "defeated," I do not

mind that, for it is my fate that I can neither be victorious nor

defeated without the republic being so at the same time.

"You are fortifying Macedonia with armies".

Yes, indeed, and we have wrested one from your brother, who does not

in the least degenerate from you.

"You have entrusted Africa to Varus, who has been twice taken

prisoner".

Here he thinks that he is making out a case against his own brother

Lucius.

"You have sent Capius into Syria".

Do you not see then, O Antonius, that the whole world is open to our

party, but that you have no spot out of your own fortifications, where

you can set your foot?

"You have allowed Casca to discharge the office of tribune".

What then? Were we to remove a man, as if he had been Marullus,[53]

or Caesetius, to whom we own it, that this and many other things like

this can never happen for the future?

"You have taken away from the Luperci the revenues which Julius Caesar

assigned to them."

Does he dare to make mention of the Luperci? Does he not shudder at

the recollection of that day on which, smelling of wine, reeking with

perfumes, and naked, he dared to exhort the indignant Roman people to

embrace slavery?

"You, by a resolution of the senate, have removed the colonies of the

veterans which had been legally settled".

Have we removed them, or have we rather ratified a law which was

passed in the comitia centunata? See, rather, whether it is not you

who have ruined these veterans (those at least who are ruined,) and

settled them in a place from which they themselves now feel that they

shall never be able to make their escape.

"You are promising to restore to the people of Marseilles what has

been taken from them by the laws of war."

I am not going to discuss the laws of war. It is a discussion far more

easy to begin than necessary. But take notice of this, O conscript

fathers, what a born enemy to the republic Antonius is, who is so

violent in his hatred of that city which he knows to have been at all

times most firmly attached to this republic.

XVI. "[Do you not know] that no one of the party of Pompeius, who is

still alive, can, by the Hirtian law, possess any rank?"

What, I should like to know, is the object of now making mention of

the Hirtian law?--a law of which I believe the framer himself repents

no less than those against whom it was passed. According to my

opinion, it is utterly wrong to call it a law at all; and, even if it

be a law, we ought not to think it a law of Hirtius.

"You have furnished Brutus with money belonging to Apuleius."

Well? Suppose the republic had furnished that excellent man with all

its treasures and resources, what good man would have disapproved of

it? For without money he could not have supported an army, nor without

an army could he have taken your brother prisoner.

"You have praised the execution of Paetus and Menedemus, men who had

been presented with the freedom of the city, and who were united by

ties of hospitality to Caesar."

We do not praise what we have never even heard of; we were very

likely, in such a state of confusion, and such a critical period of

the republic, to busy our minds about two worthless Greeklings!

"You took no notice of Theopompus having been stripped, and driven out

by Trebonius, and compelled to flee to Alexandria."

The senate has indeed been very guilty! We have taken no notice of

that great man Theopompus! Why, who on earth knows or cares where he

is, or what he is doing; or, indeed, whether he is alive or dead? "You

endure the sight of Sergius Galba in your camp, armed with the same

dagger with which he slew Caesar."

I shall make you no reply at all about Galba; a most gallant and

courageous citizen. He will meet you face to face; and he being

present, and that dagger which you reproach him with, shall give you

your answer.

"You have enlisted my soldiers, and many veterans, under the pretence

of intending the destruction of those men who slew Caesar; and then,

when they expected no such step, you have led them on to attack their

quaestor, their general, and their former comrades!"

No doubt we deceived them; we humbugged them completely! no doubt the

Martial legion, the fourth legion, and the veterans had no idea what

was going on! They were not following the authority of the senate,

or the liberty of the Roman people.--They were anxious to avenge the

death of Caesar, which they all regarded as an act of destiny! No

doubt you were the person whom they were anxious to see safe, and

happy, and flourishing!

XVII. Oh miserable man, not only in fact, but also in the circumstance

of not perceiving yourself how miserable you are! But listen to the

most serious charge of all.

"In fact, what have you not sanctioned,--what have you not done? what

would be done if he were to come to life again, by?--"

By whom? For I suppose he means to bring forward some instance of a

very wicked man.

"Cnaeus Pompeius himself?"

Oh how base must we be, if indeed we have been imitating Cnaeus

Pompeius!

"Or his son, if he could be at home?"

He soon will be at home, believe me; for in a very few days he will

enter on his home, and on his father's villas.

"Lastly, you declare that peace cannot be made unless I either allow

Brutus to quit Mutina, or supply him with corn."

It is others who say that: I say, that even if you were to do so,

there never could be peace between this city and you.

"What? is this the opinion of those veteran soldiers, to whom as yet

either course is open?"

I do not see that there is any course so open to them, as now to begin

and attack that general whom they previously were so zealous and

unanimous in defending.[54]

"Since you yourselves have sold yourselves for flatteries and poisoned

gifts".

Are those men depraved and corrupted, who have been persuaded to

pursue a most detestable enemy with most righteous war?

"But you say, you are bringing assistance to troops who are hemmed in.

I have no objection to their being saved, and departing wherever you

wish, if they only allow that man to be put to death who has deserved

it."

How very kind of him! The soldiers availing themselves of the

liberality of Antonius have deserted their general, and have fled in

alarm to his enemy, and if it had not been for them, Dolabella, in

offering the sacrifice which he did to the shade of his general, would

not have been beforehand with Antonius in propitiating the spirit of

his colleague by a similar offering.

"You write me word that there has been mention of peace made in

the senate, and that five ambassadors of consular rank have been

appointed. It is hard to believe that those men, who drove me in haste

from the city, when I offered the fairest conditions, and when I was

even thinking of relaxing somewhat of them, should now think of acting

with moderation or humanity. And it is hardly probable, that those

men who have pronounced Dolabella a public enemy for a most righteous

action, should bring themselves to spare us who are influenced by the

same sentiments as he".

Does it appear a trifling matter, that he confesses himself a partner

with Dolabella in all his atrocities? Do you not see that all these

crimes flow from one source? He himself confesses, shrewdly and

correctly enough, that those who have pronounced Dolabella a public

enemy for a most righteous action (for so it appears to Antonius),

cannot possibly spare him who agrees with Dolabella in opinion.

XVIII. What can you do with a man who puts on paper and records the

fact, that his agreement with Dolabella is so complete, that he would

kill Trebonius, and, if he could, Brutus and Cassius too, with every

circumstance of torture; and inflict the same punishment on us also?

Certainly, a man who makes so pious and fair a treaty is a citizen to

be taken care of! He, also, complains that the conditions which he

offered, those reasonable and modest conditions, were rejected;

namely, that he was to have the further Gaul,--the province the

most suitable of all for renewing and carrying on the war; that the

legionaries of the Alauda should be judges in the third decury; that

is to say, that there shall be an asylum for all crimes, to the

indelible disgrace of the republic; that his own acts should be

ratified, his,--when not one trace of his consulship has been allowed

to remain! He showed his regard also for the interests of Lucius

Antonius, who had been a most equitable surveyor of private and public

domains, with Nucula and Lento for his colleagues.

"Consider then, both of you, whether it is more becoming and more

advantageous for your party, for you to seek to avenge the death of

Trebonius, or that of Caesar; and whether it is more reasonable

for you and me to meet in battle, in order that the cause of the

Pompeians, which has so frequently had its throat cut, may the more

easily revive; or to agree together, so as not to be a laughing-stock

to our enemies."

If its throat had been cut, it never could revive. "Which," says he,

"is more becoming." In this war he talks of what is becoming! "And

more advantageous for your party."--"Parties," you senseless man, is

a suitable expression for the forum, or the senate house. You have

declared a wicked war against your country; you are attacking Mutina;

you are besieging the consul elect; two consuls are carrying on war

against you; and with them, Caesar, the propraetor; all Italy is armed

against you; and then do you call yours "a party," instead of a revolt

from the republic? "To seek to avenge the death of Trebonius, or that

of Caesar." We have avenged Trebonius sufficiently by pronouncing

Dolabella a public enemy. The death of Caesar is best defended by

oblivion and silence. But take notice what his object is.--When

he thinks that the death of Caesar ought to be revenged, he is

threatening with death, not those only who perpetrated that action,

but those also who were not indignant at it.

XIX. "Men who will count the destruction of either you or me gain

to them. A spectacle which as yet Fortune herself has taken care to

avoid, unwilling to see two armies which belong to one body fighting,

with Cicero acting as master of the show; a fellow who is so far happy

that he has cajoled you both with the same compliments as those with

which he boasted that he had deceived Caesar."

He proceeds in his abuse of me, as if he had been very fortunate in

all his former reproaches of me; but I will brand him with the

most thoroughly deserved marks of infamy, and pillory him for the

everlasting recollection of posterity. I a "master of the show of

gladiators!" indeed he is not wholly wrong, for I do wish to see the

worst party slain, and the best victorious. He writes that "whichever

of them are destroyed we shall count as so much gain." Admirable gain,

when, if you, O Antonius, are victorious, (may the gods avert such a

disaster!) the death of those men who depart from life untortured will

be accounted happy! He says that Hirtius and Caesar "have been cajoled

by me by the same compliments." I should like to know what compliment

has been as yet paid to Hirtius by me; for still more and greater

ones than have been paid him already are due to Caesar. But do you,

O Antonius, dare to say that Caesar, the father, was deceived by me?

You, it was you, I say, who really slew him at the Lupercal games.

Why, O most ungrateful of men, have you abandoned your office of

priest to him? But remark now the admirable wisdom and consistency of

this great and illustrious man.

"I am quite resolved to brook no insult either to myself or to my

friends; nor to desert that party which Pompeius hated, nor to allow

the veterans to be removed from their abodes; nor to allow individuals

to be dragged out to torture, nor to violate the faith which I pledged

to Dolabella."

I say nothing of the rest of this sentence, "the faith pledged to

Dolabella," to that most holy man, this pious gentleman will by no

means violate. What faith? Was it a pledge to murder every virtuous

citizen, to partition the city and Italy, to distribute the provinces

among, and to hand them over to be plundered by, their followers?

For what else was there which could have been ratified by treaty

and mutual pledges between Antonius and Dolabella, those foul and

parricidal traitors?

"Nor to violate my treaty of alliance with Lepidus, the most

conscientious of men."

You have any alliance with Lepidus or with any (I will not say

virtuous citizen, as he is, but with any) man in his senses! Your

object is to make Lepidus appear either an impious man, or a madman.

But you are doing no good, (although it is a hard matter to speak

positively of another,) especially with a man like Lepidus, whom I

will never fear, but I shall hope good things of him unless I am

prevented from doing so. Lepidus wished to recal you from your frenzy,

not to be the assistant of your insanity. But you seek your friends

not only among conscientious men, but among _most_ conscientious men.

And you actually, so godlike is your piety, invent a new word to

express it which has no existence in the Latin language.

"Nor to betray Plancus, the partner of my counsels."

Plancus, the partner of your counsels? He, whose ever memorable and

divine virtue brings a light to the republic: (unless, mayhap, you

think that it is as a reinforcement to you that he has come with those

most gallant legions, and with a numerous Gallic force of both cavalry

and infantry); and who, if before his arrival you have not by your

punishment made atonement to the republic for your wickedness, will be

chief leader in this war. For although the first succours that arrive

are more useful to the republic, yet the last are the more acceptable.

XX. However, at last he recollects himself and begins to philosophize.

"If the immortal gods assist me, as I trust that they will, going on

my way with proper feelings, I shall live happily; but if another fate

awaits me, I have already a foretaste of joy in the certainty of your

punishment. For if the Pompeians when defeated are so insolent, you

will be sure to experience what they will be when victorious."

You are very welcome to your foretaste of joy. For you are at war not

only with the Pompeians, but with the entire republic. Every one, gods

and men, the highest rank, the middle class, the lowest dregs of the

people, citizens and foreigners, men and women, free men and slaves,

all hate you. We saw this the other day on some false news that came;

but we shall soon see it from the way in which true news is received.

And if you ponder these things with yourself a little, you will die

with more equanimity, and greater comfort.

"Lastly, this is the sum of my opinion and determination; I will bear

with the insults offered me by my friends, if they themselves are

willing to forget that they have offered them; or if they are prepared

to unite with me in avenging Caesar's death."

Now that they know this resolution of Antonius, do you think that

Aulus Hirtius and Caius Pansa, the consuls, can hesitate to pass over

to Antonius? to besiege Brutus? to be eager to attack Mutina? Why do I

say Hirtius and Pansa? Will Caesar, that young man of singular piety,

be able to restrain himself from seeking to avenge the injuries of his

father in the blood of Decimus Brutus? Therefore, as soon as they had

read this letter, the course which they adopted was to approach nearer

to the fortifications. And on this account we ought to consider Caesar

a still more admirable young man; and that a still greater kindness of

the immortal gods which gave him to the republic, as he has never been

misled by the specious use of his father's name; nor by any false

idea of piety and affection. He sees clearly that the greatest piety

consists in the salvation of one's country. But if it were a contest

between parties, the name of which is utterly extinct, then would

Antonius and Ventidius be the proper persons to uphold the party of

Caesar, rather than in the first place, Caesar, a young man full of

the greatest piety and the most affectionate recollection of his

parent? and next to him Pansa and Hirtius, who held, (if I may use

such an expression,) the two horns of Caesar, at the time when that

deserved to be called a party. But what parties are these, when the

one proposes to itself to uphold the authority of the senate, the

liberty of the Roman people, and the safety of the republic, while

the other fixes its eyes on the slaughter of all good men, and on the

partition of the city and of Italy.

XXI. Let us come at last to the end.

"I do not believe that ambassadors are coming--".

He knows me well.

"To a place where war exists."

Especially with the example of Dolabella before our eyes. Ambassadors,

I should think, will have privileges more respected than two consuls

against whom he is bearing arms; or than Caesar, whose father's priest

he is; or than the consul elect, whom he is attacking; or than Mutina,

which he is besieging; or than his country, which he is threatening

with fire and sword.

"When they do come I shall see what they demand."

Plagues and tortures seize you! Will any one come to you, unless he

be a man like Ventidius? We sent men of the very highest character to

extinguish the rising conflagration; you rejected them. Shall we now

send men when the fire has become so large and has risen to such a

height, and when you have left yourself no possible room, not only for

peace, but not even for a surrender?

I have read you this letter, O conscript fathers, not because I

thought it worth reading, but in order to let you see all his

parricidal treasons revealed by his own confessions. Would Marcus

Lepidus, that man so richly endowed with all the gifts of virtue and

fortune, if he saw this letter, either wish for peace with this man,

or even think it possible that peace should be made? "Sooner shall

fire and water mingle" as some poet or other says; sooner shall

anything in the world happen than either the republic become

reconciled to the Antonii, or the Antonii to the republic. Those men

are monsters, prodigies, portentous pests of the republic. It would

be better for this city to be uplifted from its foundations and

transported, if such a thing were possible, into other regions, where

it should never hear of the actions or the name of the Antonii, than

for it to see those men, driven out by the valour of Caesar, and

hemmed in by the courage of Brutus, inside these walls. The most

desirable thing is victory; the next best thing is to think no

disaster too great to bear in defence of the dignity and freedom of

one's country. The remaining alternative, I will not call it the

third, but the lowest of all, is to undergo the greatest disgrace from

a desire of life.

Since, then, this is the case, as to the letters and messages of

Marcus Lepidus, that most illustrious man, I agree with Servilius. And

I further give my vote, that Magnus Pompeius, the Son of Cnaeus, has

acted as might have been expected from the affection and zeal of his

father and forefathers towards the republic, and from his own previous

virtue and industry and loyal principles in promising to the senate

and people of Rome his own assistance, and that of those men whom he

had with him; and that that conduct of his is grateful and acceptable

to the senate and people of Rome, and that it shall tend to his own

honour and dignity. This may either be added to the resolution of the

senate which is before us, or it may be separated from it and drawn up

by itself, so as to let Pompeius be seen to be extolled in a distinct

resolution of the senate.

* * * * *

THE FOURTEENTH (AND LAST) ORATION OF M.T. CICERO AGAINST MARCUS

ANTONIUS. CALLED ALSO THE FOURTEENTH PHILIPPIC.

* * * * *

THE ARGUMENT.

After the last speech was delivered, Brutus gained great advantages in

Macedonia over Caius Antonius, and took him prisoner. He treated him

with great lenity, so much so as to displease Cicero, who remonstrated

with him strongly on his design of setting him at liberty. He was also

under some apprehension as to the steadiness of Plancus's loyalty to

the senate; but on his writing to that body to assure them of his

obedience, Cicero procured a vote of some extraordinary honours to

him.

Cassius also about the same time was very successful in Syria, of

which he wrote Cicero a full account. Meantime reports were being

spread in the city by the partizans of Antonius, of his success before

Mutina; and even of his having gained over the consuls. Cicero too was

personally much annoyed at a report which they spread of his having

formed the design of making himself master of the city and assuming

the title of Dictator; but when Apuleius, one of his friends, and a

tribune of the people, proceeded to make a speech to the people in

Cicero's justification, the people all cried out that he had never

done anything which was not for the advantage of the republic. About

the same time news arrived of a victory gained over Antonius at

Mutina.

Pansa was now on the point of joining Hirtius with four new legions,

and Antonius endeavoured to surprise him on the road before he could

effect that junction. A severe battle ensued, in which Hirtius came to

Pansa's aid, and Antonius was defeated with great loss. On the receipt

of the news the populace assembled about Cicero's house, and carried

him in triumph to the Capitol. The next day Marcus Cornutus, the

praetor, summoned the senate to deliberate on the letters received

from the consuls and Octavius, giving an account of the victory.

Servilius declared his opinion that the citizens should relinquish the

_sagum_, or robe of war; and that a supplication should be decreed in

honour of the consuls and Octavius. Cicero rose next and delivered the

following speech, objecting to the relinquishment of the robe of war,

and blaming Servilius for not calling Antonius an enemy.

The measures which he himself proposed were carried.

I. IF, O conscript fathers, while I learnt from the letters which have

been read that the army of our most wicked enemies had been defeated

and routed, I had also learnt what we all wish for above all things,

and which we do suppose has resulted from that victory which has

been achieved,--namely, that Decimus Brutus had already quitted

Mutina,--then I should without any hesitation give my vote for our

returning to our usual dress out of joy at the safety of that citizen

on account of whose danger it was that we adopted the robe of war.

But before any news of that event which the city looks for with the

greatest eagerness arrives, we have sufficient reason indeed for joy

at this most important and most illustrious battle; but reserve, I beg

you, your return to your usual dress for the time of complete victory.

But the completion of this war is the safety of Decimus Brutus.

But what is the meaning of this proposal that our dress shall be

changed just for to-day, and that to-morrow we should again come forth

in the garb of war? Rather when we have once returned to that dress

which we wish and desire to assume, let us strive to retain it for

ever; for this is not only discreditable, but it is displeasing also

to the immortal gods, to leave their altars, which we have approached

in the attire of peace, for the purpose of assuming the garb of war.

And I notice, O conscript fathers, that there are some who favour this

proposal: whose intention and design is, as they see that that will be

a most glorious day for Decimus Brutus on which we return to our usual

dress out of joy for his safety, to deprive him of this great reward,

so that it may not be handed down to the recollection of posterity

that the Roman people had recourse to the garb of war on account of

the danger of one single citizen, and then returned to then gowns of

peace on account of his safety. Take away this reason, and you will

find no other for so absurd a proposal. But do you, O conscript

fathers, preserve your authority, adhere to your own opinions,

preserve in your recollection, what you have often declared, that the

whole result of this entire war depends on the life of one most brave

and excellent man.

II. For the purpose of effecting the liberation of Decimus Brutus, the

chief men of the state were sent as ambassadors, to give notice to

that enemy and parricidal traitor to retire from Mutina; for the sake

of preserving that same Decimus Brutus, Aulus Hirtius, the consul,

went by lot to conduct the war, a man the weakness of whose bodily

health was made up for by the strength of his courage, and encouraged

by the hope of victory. Caesar, too, after he, with an army levied by

his own resources and on his own authority, had delivered the republic

from the first dangers that assailed it, in order to prevent any

subsequent wicked attempts from being originated, departed to assist

in the deliverance of the same Brutus, and subdued some family

vexation which he may have felt by his attachment to his country. What

other object had Caius Pansa in holding the levies which he did, and

in collecting money, and in carrying the most severe resolutions of

the senate against Antonius, and in exhorting us, and in inviting the

Roman people to embrace the cause of liberty, except to ensure the

deliverance of Decimus Brutus? For the Roman people in crowds demanded

at his hands the safety of Decimus Brutus with such unanimous

outcries, that he was compelled to prefer it not only to any

consideration of his own personal advantage, but even to his own

necessities. And that end we now, O conscript fathers, are entitled to

hope is either at the point of being achieved, or is actually gained,

but it is right for the reward of our hopes to be reserved for the

issue and event of the business, lest we should appear either to have

anticipated the kindness of the gods by our over precipitation, or to

have despised the bounty of fortune through our own folly.

But since the manner of your behaviour shows plainly enough what you

think of this matter, I will come to the letters which have arrived

from the consuls and the propraetor, after I have said a few words

relating to the letters themselves.

III. The swords, O conscript fathers, of our legions and armies have

been stained with, or rather, I should say, dipped deep in blood in

two battles which have taken place under the consuls, and a third,

which has been fought under the command of Caesar. If it was the

blood of enemies, then great is the piety of the soldiers; but it is

nefarious wickedness if it was the blood of citizens. How long, then,

is that man, who has surpassed all enemies in wickedness, to be spared

the name of enemy? unless you wish to see the very swords of our

soldiers trembling in their hands while they doubt whether they are

piercing a citizen or an enemy. You vote a supplication; you do not

call Antonius an enemy. Very pleasing indeed to the immortal gods will

our thanksgivings be, very pleasing too the victims, after a multitude

of our citizens has been slain! "For the victory," says the proposer

of the supplication, "over wicked and audacious men." For that is what

this most illustrious man calls them; expressions of blame suited to

lawsuits carried on in the city, not denunciations of searing infamy

such as deserved by internecine war. I suppose they are forging wills,

or trespassing on their neighbours, or cheating some young men; for it

is men implicated in these and similar practices that we are in the

habit of terming wicked and audacious. One man, the foulest of all

banditti, is waging an irreconcileable war against four consuls. He

is at the same time carrying on war against the senate and people of

Rome. He is (although he is himself hastening to destruction, through

the disasters which he has met with) threatening all of us with

destruction, and devastation, and torments, and tortures. He declares

that that inhuman and savage act of Dolabella's, which no nation of

barbarians would have owned, was done by his advice; and what he

himself would do in this city, if this very Jupiter, who now looks

down upon us assembled in his temple, had not repelled him from this

temple and from these walls, he showed, in the miseries of those

inhabitants of Parma, whom, virtuous and honourable men as they were,

and most intimately connected with the authority of this order, and

with the dignity of the Roman people, that villain and monster, Lucius

Antonius, that object of the extraordinary detestation of all men,

and (if the gods hate those whom they ought) of all the gods also,

murdered with every circumstance of cruelty. My mind shudders at the

recollection, O conscript fathers, and shrinks from relating the

cruelties which Lucius Antonius perpetrated on the children and

wives of the citizens of Parma. For whatever infamy the Antonii have

willingly undergone in their own persons to their own infamy, they

triumph in the fact of having inflicted on others by violence. But it

is a miserable violence which they offered to them; most unholy lust,

such as the whole life of the Antonii is polluted with.

IV. Is there then any one who is afraid to call those men enemies,

whose wickedness he admits to have surpassed even the inhumanity of

the Carthaginians? For in what city, when taken by storm, did Hannibal

even behave with such ferocity as Antonius did in Parma, which he

filched by surprise? Unless, mayhap, Antonius is not to be considered

the enemy of this colony, and of the others towards which he is

animated with the same feelings. But if he is beyond all question the

enemy of the colonies and municipal towns, then what do you consider

him with respect to this city which he is so eager for, to satiate the

indigence of his band of robbers? which that skilful and experienced

surveyor of his, Saxa, has already marked out with his rule.

Recollect, I entreat you, in the name of the immortal gods, O

conscript fathers, what we have been fearing for the last two days,

in consequence of infamous rumours carefully disseminated by enemies

within the walls. Who has been able to look upon his children or upon

his wife without weeping? who has been able to bear the sight of his

home, of his house, and his household gods? Already all of us were

expecting a most ignominious death, or meditating a miserable flight.

And shall we hesitate to call the men at whose hands we feared

all these things enemies? If any one should propose a more severe

designation I will willingly agree to it; I am hardly content with

this ordinary one, and will certainly not employ a more moderate one.

Therefore, as we are bound to vote, and as Servilius has already

proposed a most just supplication for those letters which have been

read to you; I will propose altogether to increase the number of the

days which it is to last, especially as it is to be decreed in honour

of three generals conjointly. But first of all I will insist on

styling those men imperator by whose valour, and wisdom, and good

fortune we have been released from the most imminent danger of slavery

and death. Indeed, who is there within the last twenty years who

has had a supplication decreed to him without being himself styled

imperator, though he may have performed the most insignificant

exploits, or even almost none at all. Wherefore, the senator who spoke

before me ought either not to have moved for a supplication at all, or

he ought to have paid the usual and established compliment to those

men to whom even new and extraordinary honours are justly due.

V. Shall the senate, according to this custom which has now obtained,

style a man imperator if he has slain a thousand or two of Spaniards,

or Gauls, or Thracians; and now that so many legions have been routed,

now that such a multitude of enemies has been slain,--aye, enemies,

I say, although our enemies within the city do not fancy this

expression,--shall we pay to our most illustrious generals the honour

of a supplication, and refuse them the name of imperator? For with

what great honour, and joy, and exultation ought the deliverers of

this city themselves to enter into this temple, when yesterday, on

account of the exploits which they have performed, the Roman people

carried me in an ovation, almost in a triumph from my house to the

Capitol, and back again from the Capitol to my own house? That is

indeed in my opinion a just and genuine triumph, when men who have

deserved well of the republic receive public testimony to their merits

from the unanimous consent of the senate. For if, at a time of general

rejoicing on the part of the Roman people, they addressed their

congratulations to one individual, that is a great proof of their

opinion of him; if they gave him thanks, that is a greater still; if

they did both, then nothing more honourable to him can be possibly

imagined.

Are you saying all this of yourself? some one will ask. It is indeed

against my will that I do so; but my indignation at injustice makes me

boastful, contrary to my usual habit. Is it not sufficient that thanks

should not be given to men who have well earned them, by men who are

ignorant of the very nature of virtue? And shall accusations and odium

be attempted to be excited against those men who devote all their

thoughts to ensuring the safety of the republic? For you well know

that there has been a common report for the last few days, that the

day before the wine feast,[55] that is to say, on this very day, I was

intending to come forth with the fasces as dictator. One would think

that this story was invented against some gladiator, or robber, or

Catiline, and not against a man who had prevented any such step from

ever being taken in the republic. Was I, who defeated and overthrew

and crushed Catiline, when he was attempting such wickedness, a likely

man myself all on a sudden to turn out Catiline? Under what auspices

could I, an augur, take those fasces? How long should I have been

likely to keep them? to whom was I to deliver them as my successor?

The idea of any one having been so wicked as to invent such a tale!

or so mad as to believe it! In what could such a suspicion, or rather

such gossip, have originated?

VI. When, as you know, during the last three or four days a report of

bad news from Mutina has been creeping abroad, the disloyal part of

the citizens, inflated with exultation and insolence, began to collect

in one place, at that senate-house which has been more fatal to their

party than to the republic. There, while they were forming a plan to

massacre us, and were distributing the different duties among one

another, and settling who was to seize on the Capitol, who on the

rostra, who on the gates of the city, they thought that all

the citizens would flock to me. And in order to bring me into

unpopularity, and even into danger of my life, they spread abroad this

report about the fasces. They themselves had some idea of bringing the

fasces to my house; and then, on pretence of that having been done by

my wish, they had prepared a band of hired ruffians to make an attack

on me as on a tyrant, and a massacre of all of you was intended to

follow. The fact is already notorious, O conscript fathers, but the

origin of all this wickedness will be revealed in its fitting time.

Therefore Publius Apuleius, a tribune of the people, who ever since my

consulship has been the witness and partaker of, and my assistant

in all my designs and all my dangers could not endure the grief of

witnessing my indignation. He convened a numerous assembly, as the

whole Roman people were animated with one feeling on the subject. And

when in the harangue which he then made, he, as was natural from our

great intimacy and friendship, was going to exculpate me from all

suspicion in the matter of the fasces, the whole assembly cried out

with one voice, that I had never had any intentions with regard to

the republic which were not excellent. After this assembly was over,

within two or three hours, these most welcome messengers and letters

arrived; so that the same day not only delivered me from a most unjust

odium, but increased my credit by that most extraordinary act with

which the Roman people distinguished me.

I have made this digression, O conscript fathers, not so much for the

sake of speaking of myself, (for I should be in a sorry plight if I

were not sufficiently acquitted in your eyes without the necessity of

making a formal defence,) as with the view of warning some men of too

grovelling and narrow minds, to adopt the line of conduct which I

myself have always pursued, and to think the virtue of excellent

citizens worthy of imitation, not of envy. There is a great field in

the republic, as Crassus used very wisely to say; the road to glory is

open to many.

VII. Would that those great men were still alive, who, after my

consulship, when I myself was willing to yield to them, were

themselves desirous to see me in the post of leader. But at the

present moment, when there is such a dearth of wise and fearless men

of consular rank, how great do you not suppose must be my grief

and indignation, when I see some men absolutely disaffected to the

republic, others wholly indifferent to everything, others incapable of

persevering with any firmness in the cause which they have espoused;

and regulating their opinions not always by the advantage of the

republic, but sometimes by hope, and sometimes by fear. But if any

one is anxious and inclined to struggle for the leadership--though

struggle there ought to be none--he acts very foolishly, if he

proposes to combat virtue with vices. For as speed is only outstripped

by speed, so among brave men virtue is only surpassed by virtue.

Will you, if I am full of excellent sentiments with respect to the

republic, adopt the worst possible sentiments yourself for the purpose

of excelling me? Or if you see a race taking place for the acquisition

of honours, will you summon all the wicked men you can find to your

banner? I should be sorry for you to do so; first of all, for the sake

of the republic, and secondly, for that of your own dignity. But if

the leadership of the state were at stake, which I have never coveted,

what could be more desirable for me than such conduct on your part?

For it is impossible that I should be defeated by wicked sentiments

and measures,--by good ones perhaps I might be, and I willingly would

be.

Some people are vexed that the Roman people should see, and take

notice of, and form their opinion on these matters. Was it possible

for men not to form their opinion of each individual as he deserved?

For as the Roman people forms a most correct judgment of the entire

senate, thinking that at no period in the history of the republic was

this order ever more firm or more courageous; so also they all inquire

diligently concerning every individual among us; and especially in the

case of those among us who deliver our sentiments at length in this

place, they are anxious to know what those sentiments are; and in that

way they judge of each one of us, as they think that he deserves. They

recollect that on the nineteenth of December I was the main cause of

recovering our freedom; that from the first of January to this hour I

have never ceased watching over the republic; that day and night my

house and my ears have been open to the instruction and admonition of

every one; that it has been by my letters, and my messengers, and

my exhortations, that all men in every part of the empire have been

roused to the protection of our country; that it is owing to the open

declaration of my opinion ever since the first of January, that no

ambassadors have been ever sent to Antonius; that I have always called

him a public enemy, and this a war; so that I, who on every occasion

have been the adviser of genuine peace have been a determined enemy to

this pretence of fatal peace.

Have not I also at all times pronounced Ventidius an enemy, when

others wished to call him a tribune of the people? If the consuls had

chosen to divide the senate on my opinion, their arms would long since

have been wrested from the hands of all those robbers by the positive

authority of the senate.

VIII. But what could not be done then, O conscript fathers, at present

not only can be, but even must be done. I mean, those men who are in

reality enemies must be branded in plain language, must be declared

enemies by our formal resolution. Formerly, when I used the words War

or Enemy, men more than once objected to record my proposition among

the other propositions. But that cannot be done on the present

occasion. For in consequence of the letters of Caius Pansa and Aulus

Hirtius, the consuls, and of Caius Caesar, propraetor, we have all

voted that honours be paid to the immortal gods. The very man who

lately proposed and carried a vote for a supplication, without

intending it pronounced those men enemies; for a supplication has

never been decreed for success in civil war. Decreed, do I say? It has

never even been asked for in the letters of the conqueror. Sylla as

consul carried on a civil war; he led his legions into the city and

expelled whomsoever he chose; he slew those whom he had in his power:

there was no mention made of any supplication. The violent war with

Octavius followed. Cinna the conqueror had no supplication voted

to him. Sylla as imperator revenged the victory of Cinna, still no

supplication was decreed by the senate. I ask you yourself, O Publius

Servilius, did your colleague send you any letters concerning that

most lamentable battle of Pharsalia? Did he wish you to make any

motion about a supplication? Certainly not. But he did afterwards when

he took Alexandria; when he defeated Pharnaces; but for the battle of

Pharsalia he did not even celebrate a triumph. For that battle had

destroyed those citizens whose, I will not say lives, but even

whose victory might have been quite compatible with the safety and

prosperity of the state. And the same thing had happened in the

previous civil wars. For though a supplication was decreed in my

honour when I was consul, though no arms had been had recourse to at

all, still that was voted by a new and wholly unprecedented kind of

decree, not for the slaughter of enemies, but for the preservation of

the citizens. Wherefore, a supplication on account of the affairs of

the republic having been successfully conducted must, O conscript

fathers, be refused by you even though your generals demand it; a

stigma which has never been affixed on any one except Gabinius; or

else, by the mere fact of decreeing a supplication, it is quite

inevitable that you must pronounce those men, for whose defeat you do

decree it, enemies of the state.

IX. What then Servilius did in effect, I do in express terms, when I

style those men imperators. By using this name, I pronounce those who

have been already defeated, and those who still remain, enemies

in calling their conquerors imperators. For what title can I more

suitably bestow on Pansa? Though he has, indeed, the title of the

highest honour in the republic. What, too, shall I call Hirtius? He,

indeed, is consul; but this latter title is indicative of the kindness

of the Roman people; the other of valour and victory. What? Shall I

hesitate to call Caesar imperator, a man born for the republic by the

express kindness of the gods? He who was the first man who turned

aside the savage and disgraceful cruelty of Antonius, not only from

our throats, but from our limbs and bowels? What numerous and what

important virtues, O ye immortal gods, were displayed on that single

day. For Pansa was the leader of all in engaging in battle and in

combating with Antonius; O general worthy of the martial legion,

legion worthy of its general! Indeed, if he had been able to restrain

its irresistible impetuosity, the whole war would have been terminated

by that one battle. But as the legion, eager for liberty, had rushed

with too much precipitation against the enemy's line of battle, and

as Pansa himself was fighting in the front ranks, he received two

dangerous wounds, and was borne out of the battle, to preserve his

life for the republic. But I pronounce him not only imperator, but

a most illustrious imperator; who, as he had pledged himself to

discharge his duty to the republic either by death or by victory, has

fulfilled one half of his promise; may the immortal gods prevent the

fulfilment of the other half!

X. Why need I speak of Hirtius? who, the moment he heard of what was

going on, with incredible promptness and courage led forth two legions

out of the camp; that noble fourth legion, which, having deserted

Antonius, formerly united itself to the martial legion; and the

seventh, which, consisting wholly of veterans, gave proof in that

battle that the name of the senate and people of Rome was dear to

those soldiers who preserved the recollection of the kindness of

Caesar. With these twenty cohorts, with no cavalry, while Hirtius

himself was bearing the eagle of the fourth legion,--and we never

heard of a more noble office being assumed by any general,--he

fought with the three legions of Antonius and with his cavalry, and

overthrew, and routed, and put to the sword those impious men who

were the real enemies to this temple of the all-good and all-powerful

Jupiter, and to the rest of the temples of the immortal gods, and the

houses of the city, and the freedom of the Roman people, and our lives

and actual existence; so that that chief and leader of robbers fled

away with a very few followers, concealed by the darkness of night,

and frightened out of all his senses.

Oh what a most blessed day was that, which, while the carcases of

those parricidal traitors were strewed about everywhere, beheld

Antonius flying with a few followers, before he reached his place of

concealment.

But will any one hesitate to call Caesar imperator? Most certainly his

age will not deter any one from agreeing to this proposition, since he

has gone beyond his age in virtue. And to me, indeed, the services of

Caius Caesar have always appeared the more thankworthy, in proportion

as they were less to have been expected from a man of his age. For

when we conferred military command on him, we were in fact encouraging

the hope with which his name inspired us; and now that he has

fulfilled those hopes, he has sanctioned the authority of our decree

by his exploits. This young man of great mind, as Hirtius most truly

calls him in his letters, with a few cohorts defended the camp of

many legions, and fought a successful battle. And in this manner the

republic has on one day been preserved in many places by the valour,

and wisdom, and good fortune of three imperators of the Roman people.

XI. I therefore propose supplications of fifty days in the joint

names of the three. The reasons I will embrace in the words of the

resolution, using the most honourable language that I can devise.

But it becomes our good faith and our piety to show plainly to our

most gallant soldiers how mindful of their services and how grateful

for them we are; and accordingly I give my vote that our promises, and

those pledges too which we promised to bestow on the legions when the

war was finished, be repeated in the resolution which we are going to

pass this day. For it is quite fair that the honour of the soldiers,

especially of such soldiers as those, should be united with that of

their commanders. And I wish, O conscript fathers, that it was lawful

for us to dispense rewards to all the citizens; although we will give

those which we have promised with the most careful usury. But that

remains, as I well hope, to the conquerors, to whom the faith of the

senate is pledged; and, as they have adhered to it at a most critical

period of the republic, we are bound to take care that they never have

cause to repent of their conduct. But it is easy for us to deal fairly

by those men whose very services, though mute, appear to demand our

liberality. This is a much more praiseworthy and more important duty,

to pay a proper tribute of grateful recollection to the valour of

those men who have shed their blood in the cause of their country. And

I wish more suggestions could occur to me in the way of doing honour

to those men. The two ideas which principally do occur to me, I will

at all events not pass over; the one of which has reference to the

everlasting glory of those bravest of men; the other may tend to

mitigate the sorrow and mourning of their relations.

XII. I therefore give my vote, O conscript fathers, that the most

honourable monument possible be erected to the soldiers of the martial

legion, and to those soldiers also who died fighting by their side.

Great and incredible are the services done by this legion to the

republic. This was the first legion to tear itself from the piratical

band of Antonius; this was the legion which encamped at Alba; this was

the legion that went over to Caesar; and it was in imitation of the

conduct of this legion that the fourth legion has earned almost equal

glory for its virtue. The fourth is victorious without having lost a

man; some of the martial legion fell in the very moment of victory. Oh

happy death, which, due to nature, has been paid in the cause of one's

country! But I consider you men born for your country; you whose very

name is derived from Mars, so that the same god who begot this city

for the advantage of the nations, appears to have begotten you for

the advantage of this city. Death in flight is infamous; in victory

glorious. In truth, Mars himself seems to select all the bravest men

from the battle array. Those impious men whom you slew, shall even in

the shades below pay the penalty of their parricidal treason. But you,

who have poured forth your latest breath in victory, have earned an

abode and place among the pious. A brief life has been allotted to us

by nature; but the memory of a well-spent life is imperishable. And if

that memory were no longer than this life, who would be so senseless

as to strive to attain even the highest praise and glory by the most

enormous labours and dangers?

You then have fared most admirably, being the bravest of soldiers

while you lived, and now the most holy of warriors, because it will

be impossible for your virtue to be buried, either through the

forgetfulness of the men of the present age, or the silence of

posterity, since the senate and Roman people will have raised to you

an imperishable monument, I may almost say with their own hands. Many

armies at various times have been great and illustrious in the Punic,

and Gallic, and Italian wars; but to none of them have honours been

paid of the description which are now conferred on you. And I wish

that we could pay you even greater honours, since we have received

from you the greatest possible services. You it was who turned aside

the furious Antonius from this city; you it was who repelled him when

endeavouring to return. There shall therefore be a vast monument

erected with the most sumptuous work, and an inscription engraved upon

it, as the everlasting witness of your god-like virtue. And never

shall the most grateful language of all who either see or hear of your

monument cease to be heard. And in this manner you, in exchange for

your mortal condition of life, have attained immortality.

XIII. But since, O conscript fathers, the gift of glory is conferred

on these most excellent and gallant citizens by the honour of a

monument, let us comfort their relations, to whom this indeed is

the best consolation. The greatest comfort for their parents is the

reflection that they have produced sons who have been such bulwarks of

the republic; for their children, that they will have such examples of

virtue in their family; for their wives, that the husbands whom they

have lost are men whom it is a credit to praise, and to have a right

to mourn for; and for their brothers, that they may trust that, as

they resemble them in their persons, so they do also in their virtues.

Would that we were able by the expression of our sentiments and by our

votes to wipe away the tears of all these persons; or that any such

oration as this could be publicly addressed to them, to cause them to

lay aside their grief and mourning, and to rejoice rather, that, while

many various kinds of death impend over men, the most honourable kind

of all has fallen to the lot of their friends; and that they are not

unburied, nor deserted; though even that fate, when incurred for one's

country, is not accounted miserable; nor burnt with equable obsequies

in scattered graves, but entombed in honourable sepulchres, and

honoured with public offerings; and with a building which will be an

altar of their valour to ensure the recollection of eternal ages.

Wherefore it will be the greatest possible comfort to their relations,

that by the same monument are clearly displayed the valour of their

kinsmen, and also their piety, and the good faith of the senate, and

the memory of this most inhuman war, in which, if the valour of the

soldiers had been less conspicuous, the very name of the Roman people

would have perished by the parricidal treason of Marcus Antonius.

And I think also, O conscript fathers, that those rewards which we

promised to bestow on the soldiers when we had recovered the republic,

we should give with abundant usury to those who are alive and

victorious when the time comes; and that in the case of the men to

whom those rewards were promised, but who have died in the defence of

their country, I think those same rewards should be given to their

parents or children, or wives or brothers.

XIV. But that I may reduce my sentiments into a formal motion, I give

my vote that:

"As Caius Pansa, consul, imperator, set the example of fighting with

the enemy in a battle in which the martial legion defended the freedom

of the Roman people with admirable and incredible valour, and the

legions of the recruits behaved equally well; and as Caius Pansa,

consul, imperator, while engaged in the middle of the ranks of the

enemy received wounds; and as Aulus Hirtius, consul, imperator, the

moment that he heard of the battle, and knew what was going on, with a

most gallant and loyal soul, led his army out of his camp and attacked

Marcus Antonius and his army, and put his troops to the sword, with so

little injury to his own army that he did not lose one single man; and

as Caius Caesar, propraetor, imperator, with great prudence and energy

defended the camp successfully, and routed and put to the sword the

forces of the enemy which had come near the camp:

"On these accounts the senate thinks and declares that the Roman

people has been released from the most disgraceful and cruel slavery

by the valour, and military skill, and prudence, and firmness, and

perseverance, and greatness of mind and good fortune of these their

generals. And decrees that, as they have preserved the republic, the

city, the temples of the immortal gods, the property and fortunes and

families of all the citizens, by their own exertions in battle, and at

the risk of their own lives; on account of these virtuous and gallant

and successful achievements, Caius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius, the

consuls, imperators, one or both of them, or, in their absence, Marcus

Cornutus, the city praetor, shall appoint a supplication at all the

altars for fifty days. And as the valour of the legions has shown

itself worthy of their most illustrious generals, the senate will with

great eagerness, now that the republic is recovered, bestow on our

legions and armies all the rewards which it formerly promised them.

And as the martial legion was the first to engage with the enemy, and

fought in such a manner against superior numbers as to slay many and

take some prisoners; and as they shed their blood for their country

without any shrinking; and as the soldiers of the other legions

encountered death with similar valour in defence of the safety and

freedom of the Roman people;--the senate does decree that Caius Pansa

and Aulus Hirtius, the consuls, imperators, one or both of them if it

seems good to them, shall see to the issuing of a contract for, and to

the erecting, the most honourable possible monument to those men who

shed their blood for the lives and liberties and fortunes of the Roman

people, and for the city and temples of the immortal gods; that for

that purpose they shall order the city quaestors to furnish and

pay money, in order that it may be a witness for the everlasting

recollection of posterity of the wickedness of our most cruel enemies,

and the god-like valour of our soldiers. And that the rewards which

the senate previously appointed for the soldiers, be paid to the

parents or children, or wives or brothers of those men who in this

war have fallen in defence of their country; and that all honours

be bestowed on them which should have been bestowed on the soldiers

themselves if those men had lived who gained the victory by their

death."

THE TWO BOOKS WHICH REMAIN OF THE TREATISE BY M.T. CICERO ON

RHETORICAL INVENTION.

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