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previous: Book XLIV This webpage reproduces a Book of Roman History by Cassius Dio published in Vol. IV of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1916 The text is in the public domain. This text has not yet been proofread. If you find a mistake though, please let me know! next: Book XLVI

Cassius Dio
Roman History

Book XLV

 p407  The following is contained in the Forty-fifth of Dio's Rome:—
1. About Gaius Octavius, who afterward was named Augustus (chaps. 1‑9).
2. About Sextus, the son of Pompey (chap. 10).
3. How Caesar and Antony began to quarrel (chaps. 11‑17).
4. How Cicero delivered a public speech against Antony (chaps. 18‑47).

1 So much for Antony's conduct. Now Gaius Octavius Caepias, as the son of Caesar's niece, Attia, was named, came from Velitrae in the Volscian country; after being bereft of his father Octavius he was brought up in the house of his mother and her husband, Lucius Philippus, but on attaining maturity lived with Caesar. 2 For Caesar, being childless and basing great hopes upon him, loved and cherished him, intending to leave him as successor to his name, authority, and sovereignty. He was  p409 influenced largely by Attia's emphatic declaration that the youth had been engendered by Apollo; for while sleeping once in his temple, she said, she thought she had intercourse with a serpent, and it was this that caused her at the end of the allotted time to bear a son. 3 Before he came to the light of day she saw in a dream her entrails lifted to the heavens and spreading out over all the earth; and the same night Octavius thought that the sun rose from her womb. Hardly had the child been born when Nigidius Figulus, a senator, straightway prophesied for him absolute power. 4 This man could distinguish most accurately of his contemporaries the order of the firmament and the differences between the stars, what they accomplish when by themselves and when together, by their conjunctions and by their intervals, and for this reason had incurred the charge of practising some forbidden art. 5 He, then, on this occasion met Octavius, who on account of the birth of the child, was somewhat late in reaching the senate-house (for there happened to be a meeting of the senate that day), and upon asking him why he was late and learning the cause, he cried out, "You have begotten a master over us." At this Octavius was alarmed and wished to destroy the infant, but Nigidius restrained him, saying that it was impossible for it to suffer any such fate. 2 These things were reported at that time; and while the child was being brought up in the country, an eagle snatched from his hands a loaf of bread and after soaring aloft flew down and gave it back to him. When he was now a lad and was staying in Rome, 2 Cicero dreamed that the boy had been let  p411 down from the sky by golden chains to the Capitol and had received a whip from Jupiter. He did not know who the boy was, but meeting him the next day on the Capitol itself, he recognized him and told the vision to the bystanders. 3 Catulus, who had likewise never seen Octavius, thought in his sleep that all the noble boys had marched in a solemn procession to Jupiter on the Capitol, and in the course of the ceremony the god had cast what looked like an image of Rome into that boy's lap. 4 Startled at this, he went up to the Capitol to offer prayers to the god, and finding there Octavius, who had gone up for some reason or other, he compared his appearance with the dream and convinced himself of the truth of the vision. 5 When, later, Octavius had grown up and reached maturity and was putting on man's dress, his tunic was rent on both sides from his shoulders and fell to his feet. Now this event in itself not only foreboded no good as an omen, 6 but it also distressed those who were present because it had happened on the occasion of his first putting on man's garb; it occurred, however, to Octavius to say, "I shall have the whole senatorial dignity beneath my feet," and the outcome proved in accordance with his words. 7 Caesar, accordingly, founded great hopes upon him as a result of all this, enrolled him among the patricians, and trained him for the rule, carefully educating him in all the arts that should be possessed by one who was  p413 destined to direct well and worthily so great a power. 8 Thus he was practised in oratory, not only in the Latin language but in the Greek as well, was vigorously trained in military service, and thoroughly instructed in politics and the art of government.

3 Now this Octavius chanced at the time that Caesar was murdered to be in Apollonia on the Ionic Gulf, pursuing his education; for he had been sent ahead thither in view of Caesar's intended campaign against the Parthians. When he learned what had happened, he was of course grieved, but did not dare to begin a revolution at once; for he had not yet heard that he had been made Caesar's son or even his heir, and moreover the first news he received was to the effect that the people were of one mind in the affair. 2 When, however, he had crossed to Brundisium and had been informed about Caesar's will and the people's second thought, he made no delay, particularly as he had large sums of money and numerous soldiers who had been sent ahead under his charge, but immediately assumed the name of Caesar, succeeded to his estate, and began to busy himself with public affairs. 4 At the time he seemed to some to have acted recklessly and daringly in this, but later, thanks to his good fortune and the successes he achieved, he acquired a reputation for bravery for this act. 2 For it has often happened that men who were wrong in undertaking some project have gained a reputation for good judgment, because they had the luck to gain their ends; while others, who made the best possible choice, have been  p415 charged with folly because they were not fortunate enough to attain their objects. 3 He, too, acted in a precarious and hazardous fashion; for he was only just past boyhood, being eighteen years of age, and saw that his succession to the inheritance and the family was sure to provoke jealousy and censure; yet he set out in pursuit of objects such as had led to Caesar's murder, which had not been avenged, and he feared neither the assassins nor Lepidus and Antony. 4 Nevertheless, he was not thought to have planned badly, because he proved to be success­ful. Heaven, however, indicated in no obscure manner all the confusion that would result to the Romans from it; for as he was entering Rome a great halo with the colours of the rainbow surrounded the whole sun.

5 In this way he who was formerly called Octavius, but already by this time Caesar, and subsequently Augustus, took a hand in public affairs; and he managed and dealt with them more vigorously than any man in his prime, more prudently than any graybeard. 2 In the first place, he entered the city as if for the sole purpose of succeeding to the inheritance, coming as a private citizen with only a few attendants, without any display. Again, he did not utter threats against any one nor show that he was displeased at what had occurred and would take vengeance for it. 3 Indeed, so far from demanding of Antony any of the money that he had previously plundered, he actually paid court to him, although he was insulted and wronged by him. For Antony did him many injuries both in word and deed,  p417 particularly when the lex curiata was proposed by which the transfer of Octavius into Caesar's family was to take place; 4 Antony himself pretended to be doing his best to have it passed, but through some tribunes he kept securing its postponement, in order that the young man, not being as yet Caesar's son according to law, might not meddle with the property and might be weaker in all other ways. 6 Caesar was vexed at this, but as he was unable to speak his mind freely, he bore it until he had won over the multitude, by whom he understood his father had been raised to honour. 2 For he knew that they were angry at Caesar's death and hoped they would be devoted to him as his son, and he perceived that they hated Antony on account of his conduct as master of the horse and also for his failure to punish the assassins. 3 Hence he undertook to become tribune as a starting point for popular leader­ship and to secure the power that would result from it; and he accordingly became a candidate for the place of Cinna, which was vacant. Though hindered by Antony's followers, he did not desist, and after using persuasion upon Tiberius Cannutius, a tribune, he was by him brought before the populace; and taking as his pretext the gift bequeathed the people by Caesar, he addressed them in appropriate words, promising that he would discharge the debt at once and giving them cause to hope for much besides. 4 After this came the festival appointed in honour of the completion of the temple of Venus, which some, while Caesar was still alive, had promised  p419 to celebrate, but were now holding in slight regard, even as they did the games in the Circus in honour of the Parilia;​1 so, to win the favour of the populace, he provided for it at his private expense, on the ground that it concerned him because of his family. 5 At this time out of fear of Antony he did not bring into the theatre either Caesar's gilded chair or his crown set with precious stones, as had been permitted by decree. 7 When, however, a certain star during all those days appeared in the north toward evening, which some called a comet, claiming that it foretold the usual occurrences, while the majority, instead of believing it, ascribed it to Caesar, interpreting it to mean that he had become immortal and had been received into the number of the stars, Octavius then took courage and set up in the temple of Venus a bronze statue of him with a star above his head. 2 And when this act also was allowed, no one trying to prevent it through fear of the populace, then at last some of the other decrees already passed in honour of Caesar were put into effect. Thus they called one of the months July after him, and in the course of certain festivals of thanksgiving for victory they sacrificed during one special day in memory of his name. For these reasons the soldiers also, particularly since some of them received largesses of money, readily took the side of Caesar.

3 A rumour accordingly got abroad and it seemed likely that something unusual would take place. This belief was due particularly to the circumstance that once, when Octavius wished to speak with Antony in court about something, from an elevated and conspicuous place, as he had been wont to do in his father's lifetime, Antony would not permit it,  p421 but caused his lictors to drag him down and drive him out. 8 All were exceedingly vexed, especially as Caesar, with a view to casting odium upon his rival and attracting the multitude, would no longer even frequent the Forum. So Antony became alarmed, and in conversation with the bystanders one day remarked that he harboured no anger against Caesar, but on the contrary owed him good-will, and was ready to end all suspicion. 2 The statement was reported to the other, they held a conference, and some thought they had become reconciled. For they understood each other's feeling accurately, and, thinking it inopportune at that time to put them to the test, they tried to come to terms by making a few mutual concessions. And for some days they kept quiet; then they began to suspect each other afresh, as a result either of some actual treachery or some false calumny, as regularly happens under such conditions, and fell out again. 3 For when men become reconciled after some great enmity they are suspicious of many acts that have no significance and of many chance occurrences; in brief, they regard everything, in the light of their former hostility, as done on purpose and for an evil end. And in the meantime those who are neutral aggravate the trouble between them by bearing reports back and forth under the pretence of good-will and thus exasperating them still further. 4 For there is a very large element which is anxious to see all those who have power at variance with one another, an element which consequently takes delight in their enmity and joins in plots against them. And the one who has previously suffered from calumny is very easy to deceive with  p423 words adapted to the purpose by friends whose attachment is free from suspicion. Thus it was that these men, who even before this had not trusted each other, became now more estranged than ever.

9 So Antony, seeing that Caesar was gaining ground, attempted to attract the populace by various baits, to see if he could detach them from his rival and win them to himself. Hence he introduced a measure for the opening up to settlement of a great amount of land, including the region of the Pontine marshes, since these had already been filled in and were capable of cultivation. He did this through his brother Lucius Antonius, who was tribune; 2 for the three Antonii, who were brothers, all held offices at the same time, Marcus being consul, Lucius tribune, and Gaius praetor. This in particular enabled them to remove those who were then governing the allies and subjects (except the majority of the assassins and some others whom they regarded as loyal) and to choose others in their place, 3 and also to grant to some the privilege of holding office for an unusually long term, contrary to the laws established by Caesar. And thus Macedonia, which had fallen to Marcus by lot, was appropriated by his brother Gaius, while Marcus himself with the legions previously sent to Apollonia took in its place Cisalpine Gaul, to which Decimus Brutus had been assigned, because it was very power­ful in soldiers and money. 4 After these arrangements had been voted, the pardon granted to Sextus Pompey, who already had considerable influence, was confirmed, in spite of the fact that it had  p425 originally been granted by Caesar to him as to all the rest. It was further resolved that whatever money in silver or gold the public treasury had received from his ancestral estate should be restored; but as for the lands belonging to it, Antony held the most of them and made no restoration.

10 1 This was the business in which these men were now engaged. I shall now relate how Sextus had fared. When he had fled from Corduba on the former occasion,​2 he first came to Lacetania and concealed himself there. He was pursued, to be sure, but eluded discovery because the natives were kindly disposed to him out of regard for his father's memory. 2 Later, when Caesar had set out for Italy and only a small army was left behind in Baetica, Sextus was joined both by the natives and by those who had escaped from the battle; and with them he came again into Baetica, because he thought it a more suitable region in which to carry on war. 3 There he gained possession of soldiers and cities, particularly after Caesar's death, some voluntarily and some forcibly; for the commander in charge of them, Gaius Asinius Pollio, had no strong force. He next set out against Spanish Carthage, 4 but since in his absence Pollio made an attack and did some damage, he returned with a large force, met his opponent, and routed him, after which the following accident enabled him to terrify and conquer the rest also, who were contending fiercely. 5 Pollio had cast off his general's cloak, in order to suffer less chance of detection  p427 in his flight, and another man of the same name, a distinguished knight, had fallen. The soldiers, hearing the name of the latter, who was lying there, and seeing the garment, which had been captured, were deceived, thinking that their general had perished, and so surrendered. 6 In this way Sextus conquered and gained possession of nearly the whole region. When he had thus become power­ful, Lepidus arrived to govern the adjoining portion of Spain, and persuaded him to enter into an agreement on the condition of recovering his father's estate. And Antony, influenced by his friendship for Lepidus and by his hostility toward Caesar, caused such a decree to be passed.

So Sextus, in this way and on these conditions, departed from Spain. 11 1 As for Caesar and Antony, in all their acts they were opposing each other, but had not yet fallen out openly, and while in reality they had become enemies, they tried to disguise the fact so far as appearances went. As a result all other interests in the city were in great confusion and turmoil. 2 The citizens were still at peace and yet already at war; the appearance of liberty was kept up, but the deeds done were those of a monarchy. To a casual observer Antony, since he held the consul­ship, seemed to be getting the best of it, but the zeal of the masses was for Caesar. This was partly on his father's account, partly on account of their hopes for what he kept promising them, but above all because they were displeased at the great power of Antony and were inclined to assist Caesar while he was as yet devoid of strength. 3 Neither man, to be sure, had their affection; but they were always eager for a change of government, and it  p429 was their nature to overthrow every party that had the upper hand and to help the one that was being oppressed. Consequently they made use of the two to suit their own desires. Thus, after humbling Antony at this time through Caesar, they next undertook to destroy the latter also. 4 For in their irritation against the men successively in power they regularly took up with the weaker side and attempted with its help to overthrow the others; afterwards they would become estranged from this side also. Thus exposing both of them to envy in turn, they alternately loved and hated, elevated and humbled, the same persons.

12 1 While they were thus disposed toward Caesar and Antony, the war began in the following way. When Antony had set out for Brundisium to meet the soldiers who had crossed over from Macedonia, Caesar sent some men to that city with money, 2 who were to arrive there before Antony and win over the men, while he himself went to Campania and collected a large number of men, chiefly from Capua, because the people there had received their land and city from his father, whom he said he was avenging. He made them many promises and gave them on the spot two thousand sesterces apiece. 3 From these men was constituted the corps of evocati, which one might translate the "recalled," because after having ended their military service they were recalled to it again. Caesar took charge of them, hastened to Rome before Antony returned, 4 and came  p431 before the people, who had been made ready for him by Cannutius. There he reminded them in detail of the many excellent deeds his father had performed, delivered a lengthy, though moderate, defence of himself, 5 and brought charges against Antony. He also praised the soldiers who had accompanied him, saying that they had come voluntarily to lend aid to the city, that they had elected him to preside over the state, and that through him they made known these facts to all. 6 For this speech he received the approbation of his following and of the throng that stood by, after which he departed for Etruria with a view to obtaining an accession to his forces from that region. 13 1 While he was doing this Antony had at first been kindly received in Brundisium by the soldiers, because they expected to secure more from him than was offered them by Caesar; for they believed that he possessed much more than his rival. 2 When, however, he promised to give them merely four hundred sesterces apiece, they raised an outcry, but he reduced them to submission by ordering centurions as well as others to be slain before the eyes of himself and of his wife. 3 So for the time being the soldiers were quiet, but when they arrived near the capital on the way to Gaul they mutinied, and many of them, despising the lieutenants who had been set over them, changed to Caesar's side; in fact, the Martian legion, as it was called, and the fourth went over to him in a body. 4 Caesar took charge of them and won their attachment by giving money to them likewise, — an act which added  p433 many more to his cause. He also captured all the elephants of Antony, by falling in with them suddenly as they were being driven along. 5 Antony stopped in Rome only long enough to arrange a few affairs and to administer the oath to all the rest of the soldiers who were in their company; then he set out for Gaul, fearing that it, too, might begin an uprising. Caesar, on his side, did not delay, but followed after him.

14 1 The governor of Gaul at this time was Decimus Brutus, and Antony placed great hope in him, because he had helped to slay Caesar. But matters turned out as follows. Decimus had no suspicion of Caesar, for the latter had uttered no threats against the assassins; and, on the other hand, he saw that Antony was as much a foe of himself as of Caesar or of any of the rest who had any power, as a result of his natural cupidity; therefore he refused to give way to him. Caesar, when he heard of this, was for some time at a loss what course to adopt. 2 For he hated both Decimus and Antony, but saw no way in which he could contend against them both at once; for he was by no means yet a match for either one of the two, and he was furthermore afraid that if he risked such a move he might throw them into each other's arms and have to face their united opposition. 3 After stopping to reflect, therefore, that the struggle with Antony had already begun and was urgent, but that it was not yet a fitting season for avenging his father, he made a friend of Decimus. For he well understood that he should find no great difficulty in fighting against  p435 Decimus later, if with his aid he could first overcome his adversaries, but that in Antony he should again have a power­ful antagonist; so serious were the differences between them. 15 1 Accordingly he sent to Decimus, proposing friendship and also promising alliance, if he would refuse to receive Antony. This proposal caused the people in the city likewise to espouse Caesar's cause. 2 Just at this time the year was drawing to a close and no consul was on the ground, Dolabella having been previously sent by Antony to Syria; nevertheless, eulogies both of Caesar and of Brutus themselves and of the soldiers who had abandoned Antony were delivered in the senate with the concurrence of the tribunes. 3 And in order that they might deliberate about the situation in security when the new year should begin, they voted to employ a guard of soldiers at their meetings. This pleased nearly all who were in Rome at the time, since they cordially detested Antony, and it was particularly gratifying to Cicero. 4 For he, on account of his very bitter hostility toward Antony, was paying court to Caesar, and so far as he could, both by speech and by action, strove to assist him in every way and to injure Antony. It was for this reason that, although he had left the city to accompany his son to Athens in the interest of the young man's education, he returned on ascertaining that the two men had become enemies.

16 1 Besides these events which took place that year, Servilius Isauricus died at a very advanced age. I have mentioned him both for this reason and to  p437 show how the Romans of that period respected men who were prominent through merit and hated those who behaved insolently, even in the smallest matters. 2 This Servilius, it seems, had once while walking met on the road a man on horseback, who, so far from dismounting at his approach, galloped right on. Later he recognized the fellow in a defendant in court, and when he mentioned the incident to the jurors, they gave the man no further hearing, but unanimously condemned him.

17 1 In the consul­ship of Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius (for Vibius was now appointed consul in spite of the fact that his father's name had been posted on the tablets of Sulla) a meeting of the senate was held and opinions expressed for three successive days, including the very first day of the year. 2 For because of the war which was upon them and the portents, very numerous and unfavourable, which took place, they were so excited that they failed to observe even the •dies nefasti and to refrain on those days from deliberating about any of their interests. Vast numbers of thunderbolts had fallen, some of them descending on the shrine of Capitoline Jupiter which stood in the temple of Victory; 3 also a mighty windstorm occurred which snapped off and scattered the tablets​3 erected about the temple of Saturn and the shrine of Fides and also overturned and shattered the statue of Minerva the Protectress, which Cicero had set up on the Capitol before his  p439 exile. 4 This, now, portended death to Cicero himself. Another thing that frightened the rest of the population was a great earthquake which occurred, and the fact that a bull which was being sacrificed on account of it in the temple of Vesta leaped up after the ceremony. In addition to these omens, clear as they were, a flash darted across from the east to the west and a new star was seen for several days. 5 Then the light of the sun seemed to be diminished and even extinguished, and at times to appear in three circles, one of which was surmounted by a fiery crown of sheaves. This came true for them as clearly as ever any prophecy did. For the three men were in power, — I mean Caesar, Lepidus, and Antony, — and of these Caesar subsequently secured the victory. 6 At the same time that these things occurred all sorts of oracles foreshadowing the downfall of the republic were recited. Crows, moreover, flew into the temple of Castor and Pollux and pecked out the names of the consuls, Antony and Dolabella, which were inscribed there somewhere on a tablet. 7 And by night dogs would gather together in large numbers throughout the city and especially near the house of the high priest, Lepidus, and howl. Again, the Po, which had flooded a large portion of the surrounding territory, suddenly receded and left behind on the dry land a vast number of snakes; and countless fish were cast up from the sea on the shore near the  p441 mouths of the Tiber. 8 Succeeding these terrors a terrible plague spread over nearly all Italy, because of which the senate voted that the Curia Hostilia​4 should be rebuilt and that the spot where the naval battle had taken place​5 should be filled up. However, the curse did not appear disposed to rest even then, 9 especially since, when Vibius was conducting the opening sacrifices on the first day of the year, one of his lictors suddenly fell down and died. Because of these events they took counsel during those days, and among the various men who spoke on one side or the other Cicero addressed them as follows:

18 1 "You have heard recently, Conscript Fathers, when I made a statement to you about the matter, why I made preparations for my departure, thinking that I should be absent from the city for a long time, and then hastily returned, with the idea that I should benefit you greatly. 2 For I could not, on the one hand, endure to live under a monarchy or a tyranny, since under such a government I cannot live rightly as a free citizen nor speak my mind safely nor die in a way that would be of service to you; and yet, on the other hand, if opportunity should be afforded to perform any necessary service, I would not shrink from doing it, though it involved danger. 3 For I deem it the business of an upright man equally to keep himself safe in his country's interest, and at the same time not to fail in any duty either of speech or of action, even if it be necessary to suffer some harm while saving his country.

 p443  19 1 "This being the case, although a large measure of safety was afforded even by Caesar both to you and to me for the discussion of pressing questions, yet since you have further voted to assemble under guard, we must frame all our words and acts this day in such a fashion as to settle the present difficulties and to provide for the future, that we may not again be compelled to decide in a similar way about them. 2 Now that our situation is difficult and dangerous and requires much care and thought, you yourselves have made evident, if and no other way, at least by this measure; for you would not have voted to keep the senate-house under guard, if it had been possible for you to deliberate without fear in accordance with your accustomed further order and in quiet. 3 We must also accomplish something of importance by very reason of the soldiers who are here, so that we may not incur the disgrace that would certainly follow from asking for them as if we feared somebody, and then neglecting affairs as if we were liable to no danger. We should then appear to have acquired them only nominally on behalf of the city against Antony, 4 but in reality to have given them to him to be used against ourselves, and it would look as if in addition to the other legions which he is gathering against his country he needed to acquire these very men also, in order that you might not pass any vote against him even to‑day.

20 1 "Yet some have reached such a point of shamelessness as to dare to say that he is not warring against the state, and have credited you with a simplicity  p445 so great as to think that they will persuade you to pay heed to their words rather than to his acts. 2 But who would choose to shut his eyes to his acts and the campaign he has made against our allies without any orders from the senate or the people, the countries he is overrunning, the cities he is besieging, the threats he is hurling against us all, and the hopes with which he is doing all this, and would choose instead to believe, to his own ruin, the words of these men and their false statements, by the way they put you off with pretexts and excuses? 3 I, for my part, do not admit that in doing this he is acting legally or constitutionally. Far from it: he abandoned the province of Macedonia, which had been assigned to him by lot, chose instead the province of Gaul, which did not belong to him at all, 4 assumed control of the legions which Caesar had sent ahead against the Parthians and keeps them about him, though no danger threatens Italy, and after leaving the city during the period of his consul­ship now goes about pillaging and ruining the country; for these reasons I declare that he has long been an enemy of us all. 21 1 And if you did not perceive it immediately at the outset or feel indignation at each of his actions, he deserves to be hated all the more on that very account, in that he does not stop injuring you who are so long-suffering. He might perchance have obtained pardon for the errors which he committed at first, but now by his persistence in them he has reached such a pitch of knavery that he ought to be brought  p447 to book for his former offences as well. 2 And you ought to be excessively careful in regard to the situation, when you see this and ponder it — that the man who has so often despised you in matters so weighty cannot, as he would like, be corrected by the same gentleness and kindliness as you have shown before, but must now, even though never before, be chastised, quite against his will, by force of arms.

22 1 "And do not, because he partly persuaded and partly compelled you to vote him certain privileges, imagine that this makes him less guilty or deserving of less punishment. 2 Quite the reverse: for this very procedure he particularly deserves to be punished, because, after determining beforehand to commit many outrages, he not only accomplished some of them through you, but also employed against you yourselves the resources which came from you, which by deception he forced you to vote to him when you neither realised nor foresaw anything of the sort. 3 For after you had abrogated of your own free will the positions of command assigned by Caesar or by the lot to each man, would you ever have allowed this fellow to distribute numerous appointments to his friends and companions, sending his brother Gaius to Macedonia, and assigning to himself Gaul together with the legions, which he had no occasion to use in your defence? 4 Do you not recall how, when he found you in consternation over Caesar's death, he carried out all the schemes that he chose, communicating some to you carefully dissimulated and at inopportune moments, and executing others on his own responsibility, thus adding villainy to  p449 his deception, while all his acts were accomplished by violence? At least he employed soldiers, and barbarians, too, against you. 5 And need any one be surprised that in those days an occasional vote was passed which should not have been passed, when even now we have not obtained freedom to say and do anything that is needful in any other way than by the aid of a body-guard? If we had then been encompassed by this guard, he would not have obtained what some one may say he has obtained, nor would he have risen thereby to power and have done the deeds that followed. 6 Accordingly, let no one retort that the rights which at his command and under compulsion and amid laments we had the appearance of giving him were legally and right fully bestowed. For even in private business that is not observed as binding which a man does under compulsion from another.

23 1 "And yet all these measures which you may seem to have voted you will find to be unimportant and differing but little from established custom. What was there so serious in the fact that one man was destined to govern Macedonia or Gaul instead of another? Or what was the harm if a man obtained soldiers during his consul­ship? 2 But these are the things that are harmful and abominable, — that our land should be ravaged, the allied cities besieged, our soldiers armed against us, and our wealth expended to our detriment; this you neither voted nor would ever have voted. 3 Do not, then, merely because you have granted him certain privileges, allow him to usurp what was not granted him; and do not imagine that, because you have conceded certain points, he ought therefore to be permitted to do  p451 what has not been conceded. Quite the reverse: you should for this very reason both hate and punish him, because he has dared not only in this case but in all other cases to use against you the honour and kindness you have bestowed. 4 Consider a moment. Through my influence you voted that there should be peace and harmony amongst you. This man, when he was ordered to manage the business, performed it in such a way, taking Caesar's funeral as a pretext, that almost the whole city was burned down and once more great numbers were slaughtered. 5 You ratified all the grants made to various persons and all the laws laid down by Caesar, not because they were all excellent — far from it! — but because it was inadvisable to make any change in them, if we were to live together free from suspicion and without malice. This man, appointed to examine into Caesar's acts, has abolished many of them and has substituted many others in the documents. 6 He has taken away lands and citizen­ship and exemption from taxes and many other honours from their possessors, whether private persons, kings, or cities, and has given them to men who did not receive them, by altering the memoranda of Caesar; from those who were unwilling to give up anything to his grasp he took away even what had been given them, and sold this and everything else to such as wished to buy. 7 Yet you, foreseeing this very possibility, had voted that no tablet should be set up after Caesar's death  p453 purporting to contain any privilege by him to any one. Nevertheless, when it happened many times after that, and he claimed that it was necessary for some provisions found in Caesar's papers to be specially singled out and put into effect, 8 you assigned to him, in company with the foremost men, the task of making such excerpts; but he, paying no attention to the others, carried out everything alone according to his wishes, in regard to the laws, the exiles, and the other matters which I enumerated a few moments ago. This, indeed, is the way he chooses to execute all your decrees.

24 1 "Has he, then, shown himself to be this sort of man only in these affairs, while managing the rest rightly? When or how? Though ordered to search out and produce the public moneys left behind by Caesar, has he not seized them, paying a part to his creditors and spending a part on high living, so that he no longer has any left even of this? 2 Though you hated the name of dictator on account of Caesar's sovereignty and rejected it entirely from the state, has not Antony, even though he has avoided adopting it, — as if the name in itself could do any harm, — nevertheless exhibited a dictator's behaviour and his greed for gain under the title of the consul­ship? 3 Though you assigned to him the duty of promoting harmony, has he not on his own responsibility begun this great war, neither necessary nor sanctioned, against Caesar and Decimus, whom you approve? 4 Indeed, innumerable cases might be mentioned, if one wished to go into  p455 details, in which you have entrusted business to him to transact as consul, not a bit of which he has performed as the circumstances demanded, but has done quite the opposite, using against you the authority that you granted. 5 Will you, then, take upon yourselves also these base acts that he has committed and say that you yourselves are responsible for all that has happened, because you assigned to him the management and investigation of the matters in question? How absurd! 6 Why, if any one who had been chosen general or envoy should fail in every way to his duty, you who sent him would not incur blame for this. Indeed it would be a sorry state of affairs, if all who are elected to perform some task should themselves receive the advantages and the honours, but lay upon you the complaints and the blame. 25 1 Accordingly, it is not fitting to pay any heed to him when he says, 'But it was you who permitted me to govern Gaul, you who ordered me to administer the public finances, you who gave me the legions from Macedonia.' 2 It is true these measures were voted, — if, indeed, you ought to put it that way, and not, instead, exact punishment from him in his action in compelling you to pass the decree; yet surely you never at any time gave him the right to restore the exiles, to add laws surreptitiously, to sell the privileges of citizen­ship and of exemption from taxes, to steal the public funds, to plunder the possessions of the allies, to injure the cities, or to undertake to play the tyrant over his native country. 3 In fact, you never  p457 conceded to any others all that they desired, though you have voted many privileges to many persons; on the contrary, you have always punished such men so far as you could, as indeed, you will also punish him, if you take my advice now. 4 For it is not in these matters alone that he has shown himself to be such a man as you know and have seen him to be, but absolutely in all the undertakings which he has ever performed since entering public life.

26 1 "His private life and his personal acts of licentiousness and avarice I shall willingly pass over, not because one would fail to discover that he had committed many dreadful deeds of this sort too, but because, by Hercules, I am ashamed to describe minutely and in detail, 2 especially to you who know it as well as I, how he spent his youth among who were boys at the time, how he sold to the highest bidder the vigour of his prime, his secret lapses from chastity, his open fornications, what he let be done to him as long as it was possible, what he did as early as he could, his revels, his drunken debauches, and all the rest that follows in their train. 3 It is impossible for a person brought up in so great licentiousness and shamelessness to avoid defiling his entire life; and so from his private life he brought his lewdness and greed into his public relations. 4 I shall let this pass, then, and likewise, by Jupiter, his visit to Gabinius in Egypt and his flight to Caesar in Gaul, that I may not be charged with going minutely into every detail; for I feel ashamed for you, that knowing him to be such a man, you  p459 appointed him tribune and master of the horse and subsequently consul. But I shall at present mention only his acts of drunken insolence and of villainy in these very offices.

27 1 "Well, then, when he was tribune, he first of all prevented you from accomplishing satisfactorily the business you then had in hand, by shouting and bawling and alone of all the people opposing the public peace of the state, 2 until you became vexed and because of his conduct passed the vote that you did. Then, though, as tribune, he was not permitted by law to absent himself for a single night, he ran away from the city, abandoning the duties of his office, and going as a deserter to Caesar's camp, brought Caesar back against his country, drove you out of Rome and from all the rest of Italy, and, in short, became the prime cause of all the civil disorders that have since taken place among you. 3 Had he not at that time acted contrary to your wishes, Caesar would never have found an excuse for the wars and could not, in spite of all his shamelessness, have gathered a sufficient force in defiance of your resolutions; but he would either have voluntarily laid down his arms or have been brought to his sense unwillingly. 4 As it is, this fellow is the man who furnished Caesar with his excuses, who destroyed the prestige of the senate, who increased the audacity of the soldiers. He it is who planted the seeds of the evils which sprang up afterwards; he it is who has proved the common bane, not only of us, but also of practically  p461 the whole world, as, indeed, Heaven clearly indicated. 5 For when he proposed those astonishing laws, the whole city was filled with thunder and lightning. Yet this accursed fellow paid no attention to all this, though he claims to be an augur, but filled not only the city but also the whole world with evils and with wars, as I have said.

"Now after this is there any need of mentioning that he served as master of the horse a whole year, something which had never before occurred? 28 1 Or that during this period also he was drunk and maudlin and in the assemblies would frequently vomit the remains of yesterday's debauch on the very rostra in the midst of his harangues? 2 Or that he went about Italy at the head of pimps and prostitutes and buffoons, women as well as men, in the company of his lictors bearing their festoons of laurel? 3 Or that he alone of all men dared to buy the estate of Pompey, having no regard for his own dignity or that great man's memory, but grasping with delight these possessions over which we all even at that time lamented? Indeed, he fairly threw himself upon this and many other estates with the expectation of making no recompense for them. 4 Yet the price was nevertheless exacted from him with every indignity and show of violence; so thoroughly did even Caesar condemn his course. And all that he has acquired, vast in extent and levied from every source, he has swallowed up in di­cing, in harlotry, in feasting and in drinking, like a second Charybdis.

29 1 "All this, now, I will omit; but regarding the insults which he offered to the state and the bloodshed  p463 which he caused throughout the whole city alike how could any man remain silent? Do you not recall how oppressive the very sight of him was to you, but most of all his deeds? 2 Why, merci­ful heavens, he first dared, within the city walls, in the Forum, in the senate-house, on the Capitol, at one and the same time to array himself in the purple-bordered robe and to gird on a sword, to employ lictors and to have a body-guard of soldiers.​6 3 Then, when he might have checked the turmoil of the others, he not only failed to do so, but even set you at variance when you were harmonious, partly by his own acts and partly with the aid of others. Nay more, he took up those very factions in turn, and by now assisting them and now opposing them was chiefly responsible for great numbers of them being slain 4 and for the fact that the whole region of Pontus and Parthia was not subdued at that time immediately after the victory over Pharnaces. For Caesar, hastening hither with all speed to see what he was doing, did not entirely complete any of those projects, as he certainly might have done.

30 1 "And even this result did not sober him, but when he was consul he came naked — naked, Conscript Fathers — and anointed into the Forum, taking the Lupercalia as an excuse, then proceeded in company with his lictors toward the rostra, and there harangued us while standing below. 2 Why, from the day the city was founded no one can point to any one else, even a praetor, or tribune, or aedile, much less a  p465 consul, who ever did such a thing. But it was the Lupercalia, you will say, and he had been put in charge of the Julian College.​7 Of course, though it was Sextus Clodius who had trained him to conduct himself so, in return for the two thousand plethra of the land of Leontini.​8 3 But you were consul, my fine fellow, — for I will address you as though you were present, — and it was neither proper nor permissible for you as such to speak thus in the Forum, hard by the rostra, with all of us present, and to cause us not only to behold your wonder­ful body, so plump and detestable, but also to hear your accursed voice, dripping with unguents, uttering those outrageous words, — 4 for I wish to speak of this matter of your mouth rather than anything else. The Lupercalia would not have failed of its proper reverence without this; but you disgraced the whole city at once, — to say nothing as yet about your remarks on that occasion. 5 For who does not know that the consul­ship is public, the property of the whole people, that its dignity must be preserved everywhere, and that its holder must nowhere strip naked or behave wantonly? 31 1 Perhaps he was imitating the famous Horatius of old or Cloelia of bygone days; yet the latter swam across the river with all her clothing on, and the former cast himself with his armour into the flood. It would be fitting, would it not, to set up a statue of Antony also, so that as the one man is seen armed even in the Tiber so the other might be seen naked even in the Forum. 2 It was by such conduct as has been cited that those heroes of yore were wont to preserve us and give us liberty, while he took away all our liberty from us, so far as was in his power,  p467 destroyed the whole republic, and set up a despot in place of a consul, a tyrant in place of a dictator over us. For you recall the nature of his language when he approached the rostra, and the manner of his behaviour when he had mounted it. 3 And yet, when a man who is a Roman and a consul has dared to name any one king of the Romans in the Roman Forum, beside the rostra of liberty, in the presence of the whole people and the whole senate, and straightway to set the diadem upon his head 4 and further to affirm falsely in the hearing of us all that we ourselves bade him say and do this, what outrageous deed will that man not dare, and from what terrible act will he refrain? 32 1 Did we lay this injunction upon you, Antony, we who expelled the Tarquins, who cherished Brutus, who hurled Capitolinus headlong, who put Spurius to death? Did we order you to salute any one as king, we who laid a curse upon the very name of king and because of it upon that of dictator as well? 2 Did we command you to appoint any one tyrant, we who repulsed Pyrrhus from Italy, who drove Antiochus back beyond the Taurus, who put an end to tyranny even in Macedonia? 3 No, by the rods of Valerius​9 and the law of Porcius, no, by the leg of Horatius and the hand of Mucius, no, by the spear of Decius and the sword of Brutus! 4 But you, unspeakable  p469 villain, begged and pled to be made a slave, as Postumius pled to be delivered to the Samnites, as Regulus to be given back to the Carthaginians, as Curtius that he might hurl himself into the chasm. And where did you find this recorded? In the same place, I suppose, where you discovered that the Cretans were to be made free after Brutus' governor­ship, although it was after Caesar's death that we voted he should govern them.

33 1 "So then, seeing that you have discovered his baneful disposition in so many and so great matters, will you not take vengeance on him instead of waiting to learn by experience, too, what the man who caused so much trouble stripped would do to you when he is armed? 2 Do you think that he is not eager for the tyrant's power, that he does not pray to obtain it some time, but will some day cast the desire of it out of his thoughts after having once allowed it a resting-place in his mind, and will some day abandon the hope of sole ruler­ship for which he has spoken and acted as he has with impunity? 3 What human being who, while possessing nothing but his own voice, would undertake to help some one else to secure certain advantages, would not win them for himself when he gained the power? Who that has dared to name another as tyrant over his country and himself as well would not wish to be monarch himself? 34 1 Hence, even though you spared him then, hate him now for those acts too. Do not wish to learn what he will do when his success equals his desires, but taught by his previous audacity, plan  p471 beforehand to suffer no further harm. 2 What, indeed, is one to say? That Caesar acted rightly at that time in accepting neither the name of king nor the diadem? Then this man did wrong to offer something which pleased not even Caesar. 3 Or, on the other hand, that Caesar erred in enduring at all to look on and listen to anything of the sort? If, then, Caesar justly suffered death for this error, does not this man, also, who admitted in a way that he desired to be tyrant, mostly richly deserve to perish? 4 That this is so is evident even from what I have previously said, but is proved most clearly by what he did after that. For with what other object than supremacy has he undertaken to stir up trouble and to meddle in affairs, when he might have enjoyed quiet with safety? 5 With what other object has he chosen to make campaigns and to carry on war, when it was in his power to remain at home without danger? For what reason, when many have been unwilling to go out and take charge even of the provinces that fell to them, does he not only lay claim to Gaul, which does not belong to him in the least, but uses force upon it because of its unwillingness? 6 For what reason, when Decimus Brutus is ready to surrender to us himself and his soldiers and his cities, has this man not imitated him, instead of shutting him up and besieging him? Surely it can only be for this purpose and against us that he is strengthening himself in this and in every other way.

35 1 "Seeing all this, then, do we delay and give way to weakness and train up so monstrous a tyrant against ourselves? Would it not be disgraceful if, after our forefathers, who had been brought up in slavery,  p473 felt the desire for liberty, 2 we, who have lived under a free government, should become slaves of our own accord? Or, again, if after gladly ridding ourselves of the dominion of Caesar, though we had already received many benefits at his hands, we should deliberately choose as our master in his stead this man, who is far worse than he? 3 For Caesar spared many after his victories in war, whereas this man before attaining any power slaughtered three hundred soldiers, among them some centurions, guilty of no wrongdoing, in his own country, and in the presence and sight of his wife, so that she was actually stained with their blood. 4 And yet what do you think the man who treated them so cruelly, when he owed them care, will not do to all of you, — aye, down to the utmost outrage, — if he shall conquer? And how can you believe that the man who has lived so licentiously up to the present time will not proceed to every extreme of insolence, if he shall also secure the authority given by arms?

36 1 "Do not, then, wait until you have suffered some such treatment and then rue it, but be on our guard before you suffer; for it is rash to allow dangers to come upon you and then to repent of it, when you might have anticipated them. And do not choose to neglect the present opportunity and then ask again for another Cassius or other Brutuses; for it is ridiculous, when we have the power of aiding ourselves in time, to seek men later on to set us free. 2 Perhaps we shall not find them, either, especially if we handle the present situation in such a manner. For who would choose to encounter danger personally for the republic, when he sees that  p475 we are publicly resigned to slavery? And yet it is evident to everybody that Antony will not stop short with what he is now doing, but that even in remote and smaller matters he is strengthening himself against us. 3 Surely he is warring against Decimus and besieging Mutina for no other purpose than that he may, after conquering them, take them and employ them against us. For he has not been wronged by them, that he can appear to be defending himself; nor, again, will he, while desiring the goods that they possess and with this in view enduring toils and dangers, be willing to regain from the possessions belonging to us, who own their property and much besides. 4 Shall we, then, wait for him to secure this prize and still others, and thus become a dangerous foe? Shall we trust his deception when he says that he is not warring against the city? 37 1 Who is so simple as to decide whether a man is making war on us or not by his words rather than by his deeds? I claim that this is not the first time he has been unfriendly to us, now that he has abandoned the city and made a campaign against our allies and is assailing Brutus besieging the cities; 2 but, in view of his former evil and licentious behaviour, not only after Caesar's death but even in the latter's lifetime, I decide that he has shown himself an enemy of our government and of our liberty and a plotter against them. 3 For who that loved his country or hated tyranny would have committed a single one of the many and manifold offences which he has perpetrated? Surely he is proved to have been for a long time and in every way an enemy of ours, and the case stands  p477 thus. If we now take measures against him most speedily, we shall also recover all that has been lost; 4 but if we neglect to do this and wait till he himself admits that he is plotting against us, we shall lose everything. For this he will never do, not even if he should actually march upon the city, any more than did Marius or Cinna or Sulla; 5 yet if he gets control of affairs, he will not fail to act precisely as they did, or still worse. For men who are eager to accomplish some object are wont to say one thing, and those who have succeeded in accomplishing it are wont to do quite a different thing; to gain their end they pretend anything, but after obtaining it there is no desire they deny themselves. 6 Furthermore, the latest comers always desire to surpass what their predecessors have ventured, thinking it a small achievement to behave like them because that has been done before, but preferring to do something original as the only thing worthy of themselves, because unexpected.

38 1 "Seeing all this, then, Conscript Fathers, let us no longer delay nor fall a prey to the indifference of the moment, but let us provide for the safety of the future. 2 Is it not shameful, when Caesar, who has just emerged from boyhood and was but recently registered among the youths of military age, shows so great thought for the state as to spend his money and gather soldiers for its preservation, that we should neither choose to perform our duty ourselves  p479 nor to coöperate with him, even after obtaining a tangible proof of his good-will? 3 For who does not realize that, if he had not arrived here with the soldiers from Campania, Antony would certainly have rushed at once from Brundisium, just as he was, and would have burst into our city with all his armies like a torrent? 4 This also is disgraceful, that when the veterans have voluntarily placed themselves at your service for the present crisis, taking thought neither for their age nor for the wounds which they received in past years while fighting for you, you should both refuse to approve the war already declared by these very men, and show yourselves altogether inferior to them who are fa­cing the dangers. 5 For while you praise the soldiers who discovered the wickedness of Antony and withdrew from him, though he was consul, and attached themselves to Caesar, — that is, to you through him, — you shrink from voting for that which you say they were right in doing. 6 And yet we are grateful to Brutus because he not only did not admit Antony to Gaul in the first place, but is trying to repel him now that the other had made a campaign against him. Why in the world, then, do we not do the same ourselves? Why do we not imitate the rest whom we praise for their proper attitude? 39 1 Yet there are only two courses open to us: either we must say that all these men, Caesar, I mean, and Brutus, the veterans,  p481 and the legions, — have planned unwisely and ought to suffer punishment, because without our sanction or that of the people they have dared to offer armed resistance to their consul, some having deserted his standard, and others having been gathered against him; 2 or else we must say that Antony has in our judgment long since admitted and still admits by his deeds themselves that he is our enemy and ought to be punished by common consent of us all. Now no one can fail to be aware that the latter course is not only more just but more expedient for us. 3 For the man neither understands how to handle business himself — how or by what means could one who lives in drunkenness or di­cing? — nor has he any companion who is of any account; for he loves only such as are like himself and makes them the confidants of all his open and secret undertakings. 4 Moreover he is most cowardly in the gravest dangers and most treacherous even to his intimate friends; and neither of these qualities is suited for general­ship and war. 40 1 Who does not know that after causing all our domestic troubles himself he then shared the dangers as little as possible, tarrying long in Brundisium through cowardice, so that Caesar was isolated and almost failed on his account, and holding aloof from all the wars that followed against the Egyptians, against Pharnaces, Africa, and Spain? 2 Who does not know that he won the favour of Clodius, and after using  p483 the other's tribune­ship for all the most outrageous ends, would have killed him with his own hand, if I had accepted this offer of his? 3 And again, as regards his relations to Caesar, that after being first associated with him as quaestor, when Caesar was praetor in Spain, then attaching himself to him during the tribune­ship, contrary to the liking of us all, and later receiving from him countless sums and excessive honours, he tried to inspire him with a desire for sole ruler­ship and in consequence to expose him to calumny, which two things more than anything else were responsible for Caesar's death?

41 1 "Yet he once declared that it was I who instigated the assassins against Caesar; so senseless is he as to venture to invent such high praise for me. Now I, for my part, do not say that he was the actual slayer of Caesar, — not because he was not willing, but because here, too, he was timid, — yet I do say that by the very nature of his conduct Caesar perished at his hands. 2 For the one who provided the motive, so that there seemed to be some justice in plotting against Caesar, is this fellow who called him king, who gave him the diadem, who previously slandered him even to his friends. Do I then, rejoice at the death of Caesar, I, who never enjoyed anything but liberty at his hands, 3 and is Antony grieved, who has seized upon all his property and has done much mischief on the pretext of his papers, and who, finally, is eagerly striving to succeed to his sovereignty?

42 1 "But I return to my point that he has none of the qualities of a great general or such as to win victories and does not possess many or  p485 formidable legions. For the majority of the soldiers and the best ones have deserted him, yes, and what is more, he has been deprived of his elephants; as for the rest of his troops, they have practised outraging and pillaging the allies more than waging war. 2 Proof of the sort of spirit that animates them is seen in the fact that they still adhere to him, and proof of their lack of bravery in their failure to take Mutina, though they have now been besieging it for so long a time. Such is the condition of Antony and of his followers found to be. 3 But Caesar and Brutus and those arrayed with them are formidable opponents quite by themselves, — Caesar, at any rate, has won over many of his rival's soldiers, and Brutus is keeping him out of Gaul, — 4 and if you also come to their assistance, first by approving what they have done on their own initiative, next by ratifying their acts, at the same time giving them legal authority for the future, and then by sending out both the consuls to take charge of the war, it is certain that none of his present associates will continue to aid him. 5 However, even if they cling to him most tenaciously, he will not be able to resist all the others at once, but will either lay down his arms voluntarily, as soon as he ascertains that you have passed this vote, and place himself in your hands, or will be captured against his will as the result of a single battle.

6 "This is my advice to you, and, if it had been  p487 my lot to be consul, I should certainly have carried it out, as I did in former days when I defended you against Catiline and Lentulus (a relative of this very man), who had conspired against you. 43 1 Perhaps, however, some of you, while regarding these suggestions as well made, think we ought first to send envoys to him, and then, after learning his decision, in case he voluntarily gives up his arms and submits to you, to take no action, 2 but if he persists in the same course of action, to declare upon him; for this is the advice which I hear some persons wish to give you. Now this plan is very attractive in theory, but in point of fact it is disgraceful and dangerous to the city. For is it not disgraceful that you should employ heralds and embassies to your fellow-citizens? 3 With foreign nations it is proper and necessary to treat first through heralds and envoys, but upon citizens who are guilty of some wrong-doing you should inflict punishment straightway, by trying them in court if you can get them within reach of your votes, and by warring against them if within reach of your arms. 4 For all such are your servants and servants of the people and of the laws, whether they wish it or not; and it is not fitting either to coddle them or to put them on an equal footing with the freest of the citizens, but to pursue and chastise them like runaway servants, in the consciousness of your own superiority. 44 1 Is it not shameful that while he does not hesitate to wrong us, we hesitate to defend ourselves? Or,  p489 again, that while he for a long time, weapons in hand, has been carrying out all the deeds of war, we are wasting our time in decrees and embassies, and that we retaliate only with words and phrases upon the man whom we have long since discovered by his deeds to be a wrong-doer? 2 What are we hoping for? That he will some day render us obedience and pay us respect? Yet how would this be possible in the case of a man who has come to such a point that he would not be able, even should he wish it, to live as an ordinary citizen with us under a democratic government? Indeed, if he were willing to live on a basis of common equality, he would never have entered in the first place upon such a career as his; and even if he had done so under the influence of folly or recklessness, he would certainly have given it up speedily of his own accord. 3 But as the case stands, since he has once overstepped the limits imposed by the laws and the constitution, and has acquired some power and authority by this action, it is not conceivable that he would change of his own free will or heed any one of your resolutions, but it is absolutely necessary that such a man should be punished with those very weapons with which he has dared to wrong us. 45 1 And I beg you now to remember particularly the remark which this man himself once uttered, to the effect that it is impossible for you to be saved unless you conquer. Hence those who bid you send envoys are doing nothing else than causing you to delay and causing your allies to become in consequence more remiss and dispirited; 2 while he, on the other hand, will meanwhile do whatever he pleases, will destroy  p491 Decimus, will take Mutina by storm, and will capture all Gaul, with the result that we shall no longer be able to find means of dealing with him, but shall be under the necessity of trembling before him, paying court to him, and worshipping him. 3 Just this one point further about the embassy and I am done: Antony did not on his part give you any account of what he intended to do, that you should do so yourselves.

4 "I, therefore, for these and all the other reasons advise you not to delay or to lose time, but to make war upon him as quickly as possible, reflecting that the majority of enterprises owe their success rather to opportune occasions than to their strength; 5 and you should by all means feel perfectly sure for this very reason that I would never have given up peace, in the midst of which I have most influence and have acquired wealth and reputation, if it really were peace, nor would have urged you to make war, did I not think it to your advantage. 46 1 And I advise you, Calenus, and the rest who are of the same mind as you, to be quiet and allow the senate to vote the requisite measures, and not for the sake of your private good-will toward Antony to betray the common interests of us all. 2 For this is my feeling, Conscript Fathers, that if you heed my counsel, I shall very gladly enjoy freedom and safety with you, but that if you vote anything different, I shall choose to die rather than to live. 3 For I have never at any time been afraid of death  p493 as a consequence of my outspokenness (this accounts, indeed, for my overwhelming success, the proof of which lies in the fact that you decreed a sacrifice and festival in memory of the deeds done in my consul­ship, an honour which had never before been granted to anybody except one who had achieved some great success in war) and now I fear it least of all. 4 For death, if it befell me, would not be at all unseasonable, especially when you consider that my consul­ship was so many years ago (yet remember that in that very consul­ship I expressed the same sentiment, in order that you might pay heed to me in everything, knowing that I despised death), but to dread any one for what he may do against you, and to be a slave to any one in common with you would prove most unseasonable to me. 5 Therefore I deem this last to be the ruin and destruction not only of the body but also of the soul and reputation, by which, and by which alone, we become in a certain sense immortal; but to die speaking and acting in your behalf I regard as equivalent to immortality.

47 1 "Now if Antony, also, realised this, he would never have entered upon such a career, but would have even preferred to die as his grandfather died rather than to behave like Cinna, who killed him. 2 For, to mention nothing else, Cinna was in turn slain not long afterward for this and the other crimes he had committed; so that I am surprised also at this feature in Antony's conduct, that, imitating his deeds as he does, he shows no fear of some day falling a victim to a similar fate. The murdered man, on the other hand, left behind to this very descendant  p495 the reputation of greatness. 3 But Antony has no longer any claim to be saved on account of his relatives, since he has neither emulated his grandfather nor inherited his father's property. Who, indeed, is unaware of the fact that in restoring many who were exiled in Caesar's time and later, in accordance, forsooth, with the directions of Caesar's papers, 4 he did not aid his uncle, but brought back his fellow-gambler Lenticulus, who had been exiled for his unprincipled life, and cherishes Bambalio,​10 who is notorious for his very cognomen, while he has treated his nearest relatives as I have described, as if he were half angry at them because he was born to so noble a name? 5 Consequently he never inherited his father's goods, but has been the heir of very many others, some of whom he never saw or heard of, and others who are still living; for he has so stripped and despoiled them that they differ in no way from dead men."

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The Editor's Notes:

1 Cf. XLIII.42.

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2 Cf. XLIII.39.1.

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3 i.e., the bronze tablets containing laws, etc.

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4 Cf. XL.50.

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5 Cf. XLIII.23.4.

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6 Cf. XLII.27.2; XLVI.16.5.

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7 Cf. XLIV.6.

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8 Cf. Cic. Philip. II.4, 17, 34, 39; III.9.

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9 P. Valerius Publicola, consul in B.C. 509, lowered his fasces upon entering the assembly in token of the superior power of the people. See Frag. 3.2, and Livy II.7.

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10 M. Fulvius Bambalio, Antony's father-in‑law. The name Bambalio signifies "stutterer."

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