further? We cannot now prevent its having happened. Let us fix our
attention upon the future. That is, indeed, the reason why I have been
mentioning former events, not for the purpose of giving a list of
national calamities which ought never to have occurred, but that by
exhibiting them I might persuade you to preserve at least what is left.
This is the only benefit one can derive from evils,--to guard against
ever again enduring anything similar. This is most within your power at
the present moment, while the danger is just beginning, while not many
have yet united, and those who are unruly have gained no advantage over
one another nor suffered any setback, so that by hope of superiority or
anger at inferiority they are led to enter danger heedlessly and
contrary to their own interests. Still, in this great work you will be
successful without undergoing any toil or danger, without spending money
or ordering murders, but simply by voting just this, that no malice
shall be borne on the part of any. [-32-] Even if any errors have been
committed by certain persons, this is not a time to enquire carefully
into them, nor to convict, nor to punish. You are not at the moment
sitting in judgment over any one, that you should need to search out
what is just with absolute accuracy, but you are deliberating about the
situation that has arisen and how the excitement may in the safest way
be allayed. This is something we could not bring about, unless we should
overlook some few things, as we are wont to do in the case of children.
When dealing with them we do not take all matters carefully into
account, and many things we of necessity overlook. For venial sins it is
not right to chastise them remorselessly, but rather to admonish them
gently. And now, since we are not only named fathers of all the people
in common, but are in reality such, let us not enter into a discussion
of all the fine points, lest we all incur ruin; for anybody could find
much fault with Caesar himself so that he would seem to have been justly
slain, or again might bring heavy charges against those that killed him,
so that they would be thought to deserve punishment. But such action is
for men who are anxious to arouse seditions again. It is the task of
those who deliberate rightly not to cause their own hurt by meting out
exact justice, but to win preservation by a use at the same time of
clemency. Accordingly, think of this that has happened as if it had been
a kind of hail storm or deluge that had taken place and give it to
forgetfulness. Now, if never before, gain a knowledge of one another,
since you are countrymen and citizens and relatives, and secure harmony.
[-33-] "Now, that none of you may suspect that I wish to grant any
indulgence to Caesar's assassins to prevent their paying the penalty,
just because I was once a member of Pompey's party, I will state one
fact to you. I think that all of you are firmly of the opinion that I
have never adopted an attitude of friendship or hostility toward any one
for purely personal reasons, but it was always for your sake and for the
public freedom and harmony that I hated the one class and loved the
other. For this reason I will pass over the rest that might be said, and
make merely a brief statement to you. I am so far from doing this that I
mentioned and not looking out for the public safety, that I affirm the
others, too, should be granted immunity for their high-handed acts,
contrary to established law, in Caesar's lifetime, and they ought to keep
the honors, offices, and gifts which they received from him, though I am
not pleased with some of them. I should not advise you to do or to grant
anything further of the kind: but since it has been done, I think you
ought not to be troubled overmuch about any of these matters. For what
loss so far-reaching could you sustain if A or B holds something that he
has obtained outside of just channels and contrary to his deserts as the
benefit you could attain by not causing fear or disturbance to men who
were formerly of influence?
"This is what I have to say for the present, in the face of pressing
need. When feeling has subsided, let us then consider any remaining
subjects of discussion."
[-34-] Cicero by the foregoing speech persuaded the senate to vote that
no one should bear malice against any one else. While this was being
done the assassins also promised the soldiers that they would not undo
any of Caesar's acts. They perceived that the military was mightily ill
at ease for fear it should be deprived of what he had given it, and so
they made haste, before the senate reached any decision whatever, to
anticipate the others' wishes. Next they invited those who were present
there down below to come within hearing distance, and conversed with
them on matters of importance; as a result of the conference they sent
down a letter to the Forum announcing that they would take nothing away
from anybody nor do harm in other ways, and that the validity of all
acts of Caesar was confirmed. They also urged a state of harmony, binding
themselves by the strongest oaths that they would be honest in
everything. When, therefore, the decisions of the senate also were made
known, the soldiers no longer held to Lepidus nor did the others have
any fear of him, but hastened to become reconciled,--chiefly at the
instance of Antony,--quite contrary to his intention. Lepidus, making a
pretence of vengeance upon Caesar, was anxious to institute a revolution
and as he had legions at his command he expected that he would succeed
to his position as ruler and gain the mastery; these were his motives in
endeavoring to further a conflict. Antony, as he perceived his rival's
favorable situation and had not himself any force at his back, did not
dare to adopt any revolutionary measures for the time being, and
furthermore he persuaded Lepidus (to prevent his becoming greater) to
bow to the will of the majority. So they came to terms on the conditions
that had been voted, but those on the Capitol would not come down till
they had secured the son of Lepidus and the son of Antony to treat as
hostages; then Brutus descended to Lepidus, to whom he was related, and
Cassius to Antony, being assured of safety. While dining together they
naturally, at such a juncture, discussed a variety of topics and Antony
asked Cassius: "Have you perhaps got some kind of dagger under your arm
even now?" To which he answered: "Yes, and a big one, if you too should
desire to play the tyrant."
[-35-]This was the way things went at that time. No damage was inflicted
or expected, and the majority were glad to be rid of Caesar's rule, some
of them even conceiving the idea of casting his body out unburied. The
conspirators well pleased did not undertake any further superfluous
tasks and were called "liberators" and "tyrranicides." Later his will
was read and the people learned that he had made Octavius his son and
heir and had left Antony, Decimus, and some of the other assassins to be
the young man's guardians and inheritors of the property in case it
should not come to him, and furthermore that he had directed various
bequests to be given to different persons, and to the city the gardens
along the Tiber, as well as thirty denarii (according to the record of
Octavius himself) or seventy-five according to some others, to each of
the citizens. This news caused an upheaval and Antony fanned the flames
of their resentment by bringing the body most inconsiderately[112] into
the Forum and exposing it covered with blood as it was and with gaping
wounds. There he delivered over it a speech, in every way beautiful and
brilliant but not suited to the state of the public mind at that time.
His words were about as follows:--
[-36-] "If this man had died as a private citizen, Quirites, and I had
happened to be a private citizen, I should not have needed many words
nor have rehearsed all his achievements, but after making a few remarks
about his family, his education, and his character, and possibly
mentioning some of his services to the state, I should have been
satisfied and should have refrained from becoming wearisome to those not
related to him. But since this man has perished while holding the
highest position among you and I have received and hold the second, it
is requisite that I should deliver a twofold address, one as the man set
down as his heir and the other in my capacity as magistrate. I must not
omit anything that ought to be said but speak what the whole people
would have chanted with one tongue if they could have obtained one
voice. I am well aware that it is difficult to hit your precise
sentiments. Especially is it no easy task to treat matters of such
magnitude,--what speech could equal the greatness of the deeds?--and
you, whose minds are insatiable because of the facts that you know
already, will not prove lenient judges of my efforts. If the speech were
being made among men ignorant of the subject, it would be very easy to
content them, for they would be startled by such great deeds: but as the
matter stands, through your familiarity with the events, it is
inevitable that everything that shall be said will be thought less than
the reality. Outsiders, even if through jealousy they should distrust
it, yet for that very reason must deem each statement they hear strong
enough: but your gathering, influenced by good-will, must inevitably
prove impossible to satisfy. You yourselves have profited most by
Caesar's virtues and you demand his praises not half-heartedly, as if he
were no relation, but out of deep affection as one of your very own. I
shall strive therefore to meet your wishes to the fullest extent, and I
feel sure that you will not criticise too closely my command of words or
conception of the subject, but will, out of your kindness of heart, make
up whatever is lacking in that respect.
[-37-] "I shall speak first about his lineage, though not because it is
very brilliant. Yet this too has considerable bearing on the nature of
excellence, that a man should have become good not through force of
circumstances but by inherent power. Those not born of noble parents may
disguise themselves as honest men but may also some day be convicted of
their base origin by innate qualities. Those, however, who possess the
seed of honesty, descending through a long line of ancestors, cannot
possibly help having an excellence which is of spontaneous growth and
permanent. Still, I do not now praise Caesar chiefly because he was
sprung from many noble men of recent times and kings and gods of ancient
days, but because in the first place he was a kinsman of our whole
city,--we were founded by the men that were his ancestors,--and secondly
because he not only confirmed the renown of his forefathers who were
believed by virtue to have attained divinity, but actually increased it;
if any person disputed formerly the possibility of Aeneas ever having
been born of Venus, he may now believe it. The gods in past times have
been reported as possessing some unworthy children, but no one could
deem this man unworthy to have had gods for his ancestors. Aeneas himself
became king, as likewise some of his descendants. This man proved
himself so much superior to them that whereas they were monarchs of
Lavinium and Alba, he refused to become king of Rome; and whereas they
laid the foundation of our city, he raised it to such heights that among
other services he established colonies greater than the cities over
which they ruled.
[-38-] "Such, then, is the state of his family. That he passed through a
childhood and education corresponding to the dignity of his noble birth
how could one feel better assured than by the certain proofs that his
deeds afford? When a man possesses conspicuously a body that is most
enduring and a soul that is most steadfast in the face of all
contingencies alike of peace and war, is it not inevitable that he must
have been reared in the best possible way? And I tell you it is
difficult for any man surpassingly beautiful to show himself most
enduring, and difficult for one who is strong in body to attain greatest
prudence, but most difficult of all for the same man to shine both in
words and in deeds. Now this man--I speak among men who know the facts,
so that I shall not falsify in the least degree, for I should be caught
in the very act, nor heap up exaggerated praises, for then I should
obtain the opposite results of what I wish. If I do anything of the
kind, I shall be suspected with the utmost justice of braggadocio, and
it will be thought that I am making his excellence less than the
reputation which already exists in your own minds. Every utterance
delivered under such conditions, in case it admits even the smallest
amount of falsehood, not only bestows no praise on its subject but
defeats its own ends. The knowledge of the hearers, not agreeing with
the fictitious declaration, takes refuge in truth, where it quickly
finds satisfaction and learns as well what the statement ought to have
been; and then, comparing the two, detects the difference. Stating only
the truth, therefore, I affirm that this Caesar was at the same time most
able in body and most amiable in spirit. He enjoyed a wonderful natural
talent and had been scrupulously trained in every kind of education,
which always enabled him (not unnaturally) to comprehend everything that
was needed with the greatest keenness, to interpret the need most
plausibly, and to arrange and administer matters most prudently. No
shifting of a favorable situation could come upon him so suddenly as to
catch him off his guard, nor did a secret delay, no matter how long the
postponement, escape his notice. He decided always with regard to every
crisis before he came in contact with it, and was prepared beforehand
for every contingency that could happen to him. He understood well how
to discern sharply what was concealed, to dissimulate what was evident
in such a way as to inspire confidence, to pretend to know what was
obscure, to conceal what he knew, to adapt occasions to one another and
to give an account of them, and furthermore to accomplish and cover
successfully in detail the ground of every enterprise. [-39-] A proof of
this is that in his private affairs he showed himself at once an
excellent manager and very liberal, being careful to keep permanently
what he inherited, but lavish in spending with an unsparing hand what he
gained, and for all his relatives, except the most impious, he possessed
a strong affection. He did not neglect any of them in misfortune, nor
did he envy them in good fortune, but he helped the latter to increase
their previous property and made up the deficiencies for the former,
giving some money, some lands, some offices, some priesthoods. Again, he
was wonderfully attached to his friends and other associates. He never
scorned or insulted any one of them, but while courteous to all alike he
rewarded many times over those who assisted him in any project and won
the devotion of the rest by benefits, not bowing to any one of brilliant
position, nor humiliating any one who was bettering himself, but as if
he himself were being exalted through all their successes and acquiring
strength and adornment he took delight in making the largest number
equal with himself. While he behaved thus toward his friends and
acquaintances, he did not show himself cruel or inexorable even to his
enemies, but many of those who had come into collision with him
personally he let off scotfree, and many who had actually made war
against him he released, giving some of them honors and offices. To this
degree was he in every way inclined to right conduct, and not only had
no baseness in his own making, but would not believe that it was found
in anybody else.
[-40-] "Since I have reached these statements, I will begin to speak
about his public services. If he had lived a quiet existence, perhaps
his excellence would never have come to light; but as it was, by being
raised to the highest position and becoming the greatest not only of his
contemporaries but of all the rest who had ever wielded any influence,
he displayed it more conspicuously. For nearly all his predecessors this
supreme authority had served only to reveal their defects, but him it
made more luminous: through the greatness of his excellence he undertook
correspondingly great deeds, and was found to be a match for them; he
alone of men after obtaining for himself so great good fortune as a
result of true worth neither disgraced it nor treated it wantonly. The
brilliant successes which he regularly achieved on his campaigns and the
highmindedness he showed in everyday duties I shall pass over, although
they are so great that for any other man they would constitute
sufficient praise: but in view of the distinction of his subsequent
deeds, I shall seem to be dealing with small matters, if I rehearse them
all with exactness. I shall only mention his achievements while ruling
over you. Even all of these, however, I shall not relate with minute
scrupulousness. I could not possibly give them adequate treatment, and I
should cause you excessive weariness, particularly since you already
know them.
[-41-] "First of all, this man was praetor in Spain, and finding it
secretly hostile did not allow the inhabitants under the protection of
the name of peace to develop into foes, nor chose to spend the period of
his governorship in quiet rather than to effect what was for the
advantage of the nation; hence, since they would not agree to alter
their sentiments, he brought them to their senses without their consent,
and in doing so so far surpassed the men who had previously won glory
against them as keeping a thing is more difficult than acquiring it, and
reducing men to a condition where they can never again become rebellious
is more profitable than rendering them subject in the first place, while
their power is still undiminished. That is the reason that you voted him
a triumph for this and gave him at once the office of consul. As a
result of your decree it became most plainly evident that he had waged
that war not for his own desires or glory, but was preparing for the
future. The celebration of the triumph he waived on account of pressing
business, and after thanking you for the honor he was satisfied with
merely that to secure his glory, and entered upon the consulship. [-42-]
Now all his administrative acts in this city during the discharge of
that office would be verily countless to name. And as soon as he had
left it and been sent to conduct war against the Gauls, notice how many
and how great were his achievements there. So far from causing
grievances to the allies he even went to their assistance, because he
was not suspicious at all of them and further saw that they were
wronged. But his foes, both those dwelling near the friendly tribes, and
all the rest that inhabited Gaul he subjugated, acquiring at one time
vast stretches of territory and at another unnumbered cities of which we
knew not even the names before. All this, moreover, he accomplished so
quickly, though he had received neither a competent force nor sufficient
money from you, that before any of you knew that he was at war he had
conquered; and he settled affairs on such a firm basis and [113] ...,
that as a result Celtica and Britain felt his footstep. And now is that
Gaul enslaved which sent against us the Ambrones and the Cimbri, and is
entirely cultivated like Italy itself. Ships traverse not only the Rhone
or the Arar, but the Mosa, the Liger, the very Rhine, and the very
ocean. Places of which we had not even heard the titles to lead us to
think that they existed were likewise subdued for us: the formerly
unknown he made accessible, the formerly unexplored navigable by his
greatness of purpose and greatness of accomplishment. [-43-] And had not
certain persons out of envy formed a faction against him, or rather us,
and forced him to return here before the proper time, he would certainly
have subdued Britain entire together with the remaining islands
surrounding it and all of Celtica to the Arctic Ocean, so that we should
have had as borders not land or people for the future, but air and the
outer sea. For these reasons you also, seeing the greatness of his mind
and his deeds and good fortune, assigned him the right to hold office a
very long time,--a privilege which, from the hour that we became a
democracy has belonged to no other man,--I mean holding the leadership
during eight whole years in succession. This shows that you thought him
to be really winning all those conquests for you and never entertained
the suspicion that he would strengthen himself to your hurt.
"No, you desired that he should spend in those regions as long a time as
possible. He was prevented, however, by those who regarded the
government as no longer a public but their own private possession, from
subjugating the remaining countries, and you were kept from becoming
lords of them all; these men, making an ill use of the opportunity given
them by his being occupied, ventured upon many impious projects, so that
you came to require his aid. [-44-] Therefore abandoning the victories
within his grasp he quickly brought you assistance, freed all Italy from
the dangers in which it had become involved, and furthermore won back
Spain which had been estranged. Then he saw Pompey, who had abandoned
his fatherland and was setting up a kingdom of his own in Macedonia,
transferring thither all your possessions, equipping your subjects
against you, and using against you money of your own. So at first he
wished to persuade Pompey somehow to stop and change his course and
receive the greatest pledges that he should again attain a fair and
equal position with him; and he sent to him both privately and publicly.
When, however, he found himself unable in any way to effect this, but
Pompey burst all restraints, even the relationship that had existed
between himself and Caesar, and chose to fight against you, then at last
he was compelled to begin a civil war. And what need is there of telling
how daringly he sailed against him in spite of the winter, or how boldly
he assailed him, though Pompey held all the strong positions there, or
how bravely he vanquished him though much inferior in number of
soldiers? If a man wished to examine each feature in detail, he might
show the renowned Pompey to have been a child, so completely was he
outgeneraled at every point.
[-45-] "But this I will omit, for Caesar himself likewise never took any
pride in it, but he accepted it as a dispensation of destiny, repugnant
to him personally. When Heaven had most justly decided the issue of the
battle, what man of those then captured for the first time did he put to
death? Whom, rather, did he not honor, not alone senators or knights or
citizens in general, but also allies and subjects? No one of them either
died a violent death, or was made defendant in court, no individual, no
king, no tribe, no city. On the contrary, some arrayed themselves on his
side, and others at least obtained immunity with honor, so that then all
lamented the men that had been lost. Such exceeding humanity did he
show, that he praised those who had coöperated with Pompey and allowed
them to keep everything the latter had given them, but hated Pharnaces
and Orodes, because though friends of the vanquished they had not
assisted him. It was chiefly for this reason that he not long after
waged war on Pharnaces, and was preparing to conduct a campaign against
Orodes. He certainly [would have spared] even [Pompey himself if] he had
captured him alive.[114] A proof of this is that he did not pursue him
at once, but allowed him to flee at his leisure. Also he was grieved to
hear of Pompey's death and did not praise his murderers, but put them to
death for it soon after, and even destroyed besides Ptolemy himself,
though a child, because he had allowed his benefactor to perish.
[-46-] "How after this he brought Egypt to terms and how much money he
conveyed to you from there it would be superfluous to relate. And when
he made his campaign against Pharnaces, who already held considerable of
Pontus and Armenia, he was on the same day reported to the rebel as
approaching him, was seen confronting him, engaged in conflict with him,
and conquered him.
"This better than anything else established the truth of the assertion
that he had not become weaker in Alexandria and had not delayed there
out of voluptuousness. For how could he have won that victory so easily
without employing a great store of insight and great force? When now
Pharnaces had fled he was preparing to conduct a campaign at once
against the Parthian, but as certain quarrels were taking place there he
withdrew rather unwillingly, but settled this dispute, too, so that no
one would believe there had been a disturbance. Not a soul was killed or
exiled or even dishonored in any way as a result of that trouble, not
because many might not justly have been punished, but because he thought
it right while destroying enemies unsparingly to preserve citizens, even
if they were poor stuff. Therefore by his bravery he overcame foreigners
in war, but out of his humanity kept unharmed the seditious citizens,
although many of them by their acts had often shown themselves unworthy
of this favor. This same policy he followed again both in Africa and in
Spain, releasing all who had not before been captured and been made
recipients of his mercy. To grant their lives invariably to such as
frequently plotted against him he deemed folly, not humanity. On the
other hand, he thought it quite the duty of a manly man to pardon
opponents on the occasion of their first errors and not to keep an
inexorable anger, yes, and to assign honors to them, but if they clung
to their original course, to get rid of them. Yet why did I say this?
Many of them also he preserved by allowing all his associates and those
who had helped him conquer to save, one each, the life of a captive.