1. I. THUS was Gaius Caesar, who had been foremost in extending the Roman sway, slain by his enemies and buried by the people. All of his murderers were brought to punishment. How the most distinguished of them were punished this book and the next one will show, and the other civil wars waged by the Romans will likewise be included in them.
1. οὕτω μὲν δὴ Γάιος Καῖσαρ πλείστου Ῥωμαίοις ἄξιος ἐς τὴν ἡγεμονίαν γενόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἀνῄρητο καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου τέθαπτο· ἁπάντων δὲ αὐτοῦ τῶν σφαγέων δίκην δόντων, ὅπως οἱ περιφανέστατοι μάλιστα ἔδοσαν, ἥδε ἡ βίβλος καὶ ἡ μετὰ τήνδε ἐπιδείξουσιν, ἐπιλαμβάνουσαι καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα Ῥωμαίοις ἐμφύλια ἐς ἀλλήλους ἐγίγνετο ὁμοῦ.
2. The Senate blamed Antony for his funeral oration over Caesar, by which, chiefly, the people were incited to disregard the decree of amnesty lately passed, and to scour the city in order to fire the houses of the murderers. But he changed it from bad to good feeling toward himself by one capital stroke of policy. There was a certain pseudo-Marius in Rome named Amatius. He pretended to be a grandson of Marius, and for this reason was popular with the masses. Being, according to this pretence, a relative of Caesar, he was pained beyond measure by the latter’s death, and erected an altar on the site of his funeral pyre. He collected a band of reckless men and made himself a perpetual terror to the murderers. Some of these had fled from the city, and those who had accepted the command of provinces from Caesar himself had gone away to take charge of the same, Decimus Brutus to Cisalpine Gaul, Trebonius to Asia adjoining Ionia, and Tillius Cimber to Bithynia. Cassius and Marcus Brutus, who were the special favorites of the Senate, had been chosen by Caesar as governors for the following year, the former of Syria, and the latter of Macedonia. Being still city praetors, they remained there necessarily, and in their official capacity they conciliated the colonists by various decrees, and among others by one enabling them to sell their allotments, the law hitherto forbidding the alienation of the land till the end of twenty years.
2. Ἀντώνιον μὲν ἡ βουλὴ διʼ αἰτίας εἶχεν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐπιταφίοις τοῦ Καίσαρος, ὑφʼ ὧν δὴ μάλιστα ὁ δῆμος ἐρεθισθεὶς ὑπερεῖδε τῆς ἄρτι ἐπεψηφισμένης ἀμνηστίας καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς οἰκίας τῶν σφαγέων σὺν πυρὶ ἔδραμον· ὁ δὲ αὐτὴν χαλεπαίνουσαν ἑνὶ τοιῷδε πολιτεύματι ἐς εὔνοιαν ἑαυτοῦ μετέβαλεν. Ἀμάτιος ἦν ὁ Ψευδομάριος· Μαρίου γὰρ ὑπεκρίνετο υἱωνὸς εἶναι καὶ διὰ Μάριον ὑπερήρεσκε τῷ δήμῳ. γιγνόμενος οὖν κατὰ τήνδε τὴν ὑπόκρισιν συγγενὴς τῷ Καίσαρι, ὑπερήλγει μάλιστα αὐτοῦ τεθνεῶτος καὶ βωμὸν ἐπῳκοδόμει τῇ πυρᾷ καὶ χεῖρα θρασυτέρων ἀνδρῶν εἶχε καὶ φοβερὸς ἦν ἀεὶ τοῖς σφαγεῦσιν· ὧν οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι διεπεφεύγεσαν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ ὅσοι παρʼ αὐτοῦ Καίσαρος εἰλήφεσαν ἡγεμονίας ἐθνῶν, ἀπεληλύθεσαν ἐπὶ τὰς ἡγεμονίας, Βροῦτος μὲν ὁ Δέκμος ἐς τὴν ὅμορον τῆς Ἰταλίας Κελτικήν, Τρεβώνιος δὲ ἐς τὴν Ἀσίαν τὴν περὶ Ἰωνίαν, Τίλλιος δὲ Κίμβερ ἐς Βιβυνίαν· Κάσσιος δὲ καὶ Βροῦτος ὁ Μᾶρκος, ὧν δὴ καὶ μάλιστα τῇ βουλῇ διέφερεν, ᾕρηντο μὲν καὶ οἵδε ὑπὸ τοῦ Καίσαρος ἐς τὸ μέλλον ἔτος ἡγεμονεύειν, Συρίας μὲν ὁ Κάσσιος καὶ Μακεδονίας ὁ Βροῦτος, ἔτι δὲ ὄντες ἀστικοὶ στρατηγοὶ … ὑπʼ ἀνάγκης καὶ διατάγμασιν οἷα στρατηγοὶ τοὺς κληρούχους ἐθεράπευον, ὅσοις τε ἄλλοις ἐπενόουν, καὶ τὰ κληρουχήματα συγχωροῦντες αὐτοῖς πιπράσκειν, τοῦ νόμου κωλύοντος ἐντὸς εἴκοσιν ἐτῶν ἀποδίδοσθαι.
3. It was said that Amatius was only waiting an opportunity to entrap Brutus and Cassius. On the rumor of this plot, Antony, using his consular authority, arrested Amatius and boldly put him to death without a trial. The senators were astonished at this deed as an act of violence and contrary to law, but they enjoyed it exceedingly because they thought that the situation of Brutus and Cassius would never be safe without such boldness. The followers of Amatius, and the plebeians generally, missing Amatius and feeling indignation at the deed, and especially because it had been done by Antony, whom the people had honored, determined that they would not be scorned in that way. With shouts they took possession of the forum, exclaiming against Antony and called on the magistrates, in place of Amatius, to dedicate the altar and to offer the first sacrifices on it to Caesar. Having been driven out of the forum by soldiers sent by Antony, they became still more indignant, and vociferated more loudly, and some of them showed places where Caesar’s statues had been torn from their pedestals. One man told them that he could show a shop where the statues had been broken up. The others followed, and having witnessed the fact, they set fire to the place. Finally, Antony sent more soldiers and some of those who resisted were killed, others were captured, and of these the slaves were crucified and the freemen thrown over the Tarpeian rock.
3. τούτοις δὲ αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἀμάτιος, ὅτε συντύχοι, καὶ ἐνεδρεύσειν ἐλέγετο. τῷδε οὖν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἐνέδρας ὁ Ἀντώνιος ἐπιβαίνων οἷα ὕπατος συλλαμβάνει καὶ κτείνει τὸν Ἀμάτιον χωρὶς δίκης, μάλα θρασέως· καὶ ἡ βουλὴ τὸ μὲν ἔργον ἐθαύμαζεν ὡς μέγα καὶ παράνομον, τὴν δὲ χρείαν αὐτοῦ προσεποιοῦντο ἥδιστα· οὐ γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἐδόκει ποτὲ χωρὶς τοιᾶσδε τόλμης ἀσφαλῆ τὰ κατὰ Βροῦτον καὶ Κάσσιον ἔσεσθαι. οἱ δὲ τοῦ Ἀματίου στασιῶται καὶ ὁ ἄλλος δῆμος ἐπʼ ἐκείνοις πόθῳ τε τοῦ Ἀματίου καὶ ἀγανακτήσει τοῦ γεγονότος, ὅτι μάλιστα αὐτὸ ὁ Ἀντώνιος ἐπεπράχει ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου τιμώμενος, οὐκ ἠξίουν σφῶν καταφρονεῖν· τὴν ἀγορὰν οὖν καταλαβόντες ἐβόων καὶ τὸν Ἀντώνιον ἐβλασφήμουν καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐκέλευον ἀντὶ Ἀματίου τὸν βωμὸν ἐκθεοῦν καὶ θύειν ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ Καίσαρι πρώτους. ἐξελαυνόμενοι δʼ ἐκ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ὑπὸ στρατιωτῶν ἐπιπεμφθέντων ὑπὸ Ἀντωνίου μᾶλλόν τε ἠγανάκτουν καὶ ἐκεκράγεσαν καὶ ἕδρας ἔνιοι τῶν Καίσαρος ἀνδριάντων ἐπεδείκνυον ἀνῃρημένων. ὡς δέ τις αὐτοῖς ἔφη καὶ τὸ ἐργαστήριον, ἔνθα οἱ ἀνδριάντες ἀνεσκευάζοντο, δείξειν, εὐθὺς εἵποντο καὶ ἰδόντες ἐνεπίμπρασαν, ἕως ἑτέρων ἐπιπεμφθέντων ἐξ Ἀντωνίου ἀμυνόμενοί τε ἀνῃρέθησαν ἔνιοι καὶ συλληφθέντες ἕτεροι ἐκρεμάσθησαν, ὅσοι θεράποντες ἦσαν, οἱ δὲ ἐλεύθεροι κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ κατερρίφησαν.
4. So this tumult was quieted. The extreme fondness of the plebeians for Antony was turned into extreme hatred. The Senate was delighted, because it believed that Brutus and his associates could not rest secure otherwise. Antony also moved that Sextus Pompeius (the son of Pompey the Great, who was still much beloved by all) should be recalled from Spain, where he was still at war with Caesar’s lieutenants, and that he should be paid 50,000,000 of Attic drachmas out of the public treasury for his father’s confiscated property and be appointed commander of the sea, as his father had been, with charge of all the Roman ships, wherever situated, which were needed for immediate service. The astonished Senate accepted each of these decrees with alacrity and applauded Antony the whole day; for nobody, in their estimation, was more devoted to the republic than the elder Pompey, and hence nobody was more regretted. Cassius and Brutus, who were of Pompey’s faction, and the ones most honored by all at that time, thought that they would be entirely safe. They thought that what they had done would be confirmed, and the republic be at last restored, and their party successful. Wherefore Cicero praised Antony continually, and the Senate, perceiving that the plebeians were making plots against him on its account, allowed him a guard for his personal safety, chosen by himself from the veterans who were sojourning in the city.
4. καὶ ὁ μὲν τάραχος ἐπέπαυτο, μῖσος δὲ ἄρρητον ἐξ ἀρρήτου εὐνοίας τοῦ δήμου πρὸς τὸν Ἀντώνιον ἐγήγερτο. ἡ βουλὴ δʼ ἔχαιρον ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἑτέρως ἐν ἀδεεῖ περὶ τῶν ἀμφὶ τὸν Βροῦτον γενόμενοι. ὡς δὲ καὶ Σέξστον Πομπήιον ὁ Ἀντώνιος, τὸν Πομπηίου Μάγνου περιποθήτου πᾶσιν ἔτι ὄντος, εἰσηγήσατο καλεῖν ἐξ Ἰβηρίας, πολεμούμενον ἔτι πρὸς τῶν Καίσαρος στρατηγῶν, ἀντί τε τῆς πατρῴας οὐσίας δεδημευμένης ἐκ τῶν κοινῶν αὐτῷ δοθῆναι μυριάδας Ἀττικῶν δραχμῶν πεντακισχιλίας, εἶναι δὲ καὶ στρατηγὸν ἤδη τῆς θαλάσσης, καθὼς ἦν καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ταῖς Ῥωμαίων ναυσὶν αὐτίκα ταῖς πανταχοῦ χρῆσθαι εἰς τὰ ἐπείγοντα, θαυμάζουσα ἕκαστα ἡ βουλὴ μετὰ προθυμίας ἐξεδέχετο καὶ τὸν Ἀντώνιον ἐπὶ ὅλην εὐφήμουν ἡμέραν· οὐ γάρ τις αὐτοῖς ἐδόκει Μάγνου γενέσθαι δημοκρατικώτερος, ὅθεν οὐδὲ περιποθητότερος ἦν. ὅ τε Κάσσιος καὶ ὁ Βροῦτος, ἐκ τῆς στάσεως ὄντε τῆς Μάγνου καὶ πᾶσι τότε τιμιωτάτω, τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐδόκουν ἕξειν ἀσφαλῆ καὶ τὴν γνώμην ὧν ἐπεπράχεσαν ἐγκρατῆ, καὶ τὴν δημοκρατίαν ἐς τέλος ἐπάξεσθαι, τῆς μοίρας σφῶν ἀνισχούσης. ἃ καὶ Κικέρων συνεχῶς ἐπῄνει τὸν Ἀντώνιον· καὶ ἡ βουλὴ συγγινώσκουσα αὐτῷ διὰ σφᾶς ἐπιβουλεύοντα τὸν δῆμον ἔδωκε φρουρὰν περιστήσασθαι περὶ τὸ σῶμα, ἐκ τῶν ἐστρατευμένων καὶ ἐπιδημούντων ἑαυτῷ καταλέγοντα.
5. Antony, either because he had done everything for this very purpose, or seizing the happy chance as very useful to him, enlisted his guard and kept adding to it till it amounted to 6000 men. They were not common soldiers. He thought that he should easily get the latter for his service otherwise. These were composed wholly of centurions, as being fit for command, and of long experience in war, and his own acquaintances through service under Caesar. He appointed tribunes over them, chosen from their own number and adorned with military decoration, and these he held in honor and made sharers of his public councils. The Senate began to be suspicious of the number of his guards, and of his care in choosing them, and advised him to reduce them to a moderate number so as to avoid invidious remarks. He promised to do so as soon as the disorder among the plebeians should be quieted. It had been decreed that all the things done by Caesar, and all that he intended to do, should be ratified. The memoranda of Caesar’s intentions were in Antony’s possession, and Caesar’s secretary, Faberius, was obedient to him in every way since Caesar himself, on the point of his departure, had placed all petitions of this kind in Antony’s discretion. Antony made many additions in order to secure the favor of many persons. He made gifts to cities, to princes, and to his own guards, and although all were advised that these were Caesar’s memoranda, yet the recipients knew that the favor was due to Antony. In the same way he enrolled many new names in the list of senators and did many other things to please the Senate, in order that it might not bear him ill-will in reference to his guards.
5. ὁ δέ, εἴτε εἰς τοῦτο αὐτὸ πάντα πεπραχὼς εἴτε τὴν συντυχίαν ὡς εὔχρηστον ἀσπασάμενος τὴν φρουρὰν κατέλεγεν, αἰεὶ προστιθεὶς μέχρι ἐς ἑξακισχιλίους, οὐκ ἐκ τῶν γινομένων ὁπλιτῶν, οὓς εὐμαρῶς ἂν ἐν ταῖς χρείαις ᾤετο ἕξειν καὶ ἑτέρωθεν, ἀλλὰ πάντας λοχαγοὺς ὡς ἡγεμονικούς τε καὶ ἐμπειροπολέμους καί οἱ γνωρίμους ἐκ τῆς στρατείας τῆς ὑπὸ Καίσαρι· ταξιάρχους δʼ αὐτοῖς ἐς τὸν πρέποντα κόσμον ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐκείνων ἐπιστήσας ἦγεν ἐν τιμῇ καὶ κοινωνοὺς ἐποιεῖτο τῶν φανερῶν βουλευμάτων. ἡ δὲ βουλὴ τό τε πλῆθος αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ἐπίλεξιν ἐν ὑπονοίᾳ τιθέμενοι συνεβούλευον τὴν φρουρὰν ὡς ἐπίφθονον ἐς τὸ ἀρκοῦν ἐπαναγαγεῖν. ὁ δὲ ὑπισχνεῖτο ποιήσειν, ὅταν σβέσῃ τοῦ δήμου τὸ ταραχῶδες. ἐψηφισμένον δʼ εἶναι κύρια, ὅσα Καίσαρι πέπρακτό τε καὶ γενέσθαι βεβούλευτο, τὰ ὑπομνήματα τῶν βεβουλευμένων ὁ Ἀντώνιος ἔχων καὶ τὸν γραμματέα τοῦ Καίσαρος Φαβέριον ἐς πάντα οἱ πειθόμενον, διότι καὶ ὁ Καῖσαρ τὰ τοιάδε αἰτήματα ἐς τὸν Ἀντώνιον ἐξιὼν ἀνετίθετο, πολλὰ ἐς πολλῶν χάριν προσετίθει καὶ ἐδωρεῖτο πόλεσι καὶ δυνάσταις καὶ τοῖσδε τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ φρουροῖς· καὶ ἐπεγράφετο μὲν πᾶσι τὰ Καίσαρος ὑπομνήματα, τὴν δὲ χάριν οἱ λαβόντες ᾔδεσαν Ἀντωνίῳ. τῷ δὲ αὐτῷ τρόπῳ καὶ ἐς τὸ βουλευτήριον πολλοὺς κατέλεγε καὶ ἄλλα τῇ βουλῇ διʼ ἀρεσκείας ἔπρασσεν, ἵνα μὴ φθονοῖεν ἔτι τῆς φρουρᾶς.
6. While Antony was busy with these matters, Brutus and Cassius, seeing nobody among either the plebeians or the veterans inclined to be at peace with them, and considering that any other person might lay plots against them like that of Amatius, became distrustful of the fickleness of Antony, who now had an army under his command. Seeing that the republic was not confirmed by deeds, they suspected Antony for that reason also. They reposed most confidence in Decimus Brutus, who had three legions near by. They sent secretly to Trebonius in Asia and to Tillius in Bithynia, asking them to collect money quietly and to prepare an army. They were anxious to enter upon the government of the provinces assigned to them by Caesar, but as the time for doing so had not yet come, they thought that it would be indecorous for them to leave their service as city praetors unfinished, and that they should incur the suspicion of an undue longing for power over the provinces. They preferred, nevertheless, to spend the remainder of their year as private citizens somewhere, as a matter of necessity, rather than serve as praetors in the city where they were not safe, and were not held in honor corresponding to the benefits they had conferred upon their country. Being in this state of mind, and the Senate holding the same opinion as themselves, the latter gave them charge of the supply of corn for the city from all parts of the world until the time should arrive for them to take command of their provinces. This was done in order that Brutus and Cassius might not at any time seem to have fled. So great was the anxiety and regard for them that the Senate cared for the other murderers chiefly on their account.
6. καὶ Ἀντώνιος μὲν ἀμφὶ ταῦτα ἦν, ὁ δὲ Βροῦτος καὶ ὁ Κάσσιος, οὔτε τινὸς παρὰ τοῦ δήμου σφίσιν ἢ παρὰ τῶν ἐξεστρατευμένων εἰρηναίου φανέντος, οὔτε τὴν ἐνέδραν Ἀματίου καὶ παρʼ ἑτέρου ἂν αὑτοῖς ἀδύνατον ἡγούμενοι γενέσθαι, οὔτε τὸ ποικίλον Ἀντωνίου φέροντες ἀφόβως, ἤδη καὶ στρατιὰν ἔχοντος, οὔτε τὴν δημοκρατίαν βεβαιουμένην ἔργοις ὁρῶντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐς τοῦτο ὑφορώμενοι τὸν Ἀντώνιον, Δέκμῳ μάλιστα ἐπεποίθεσαν, ἔχοντι ἐν πλευραῖς τρία τέλη στρατοῦ, καὶ πρὸς Τρεβώνιον ἐς τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ πρὸς Τίλλιον ἐς Βιθυνίαν κρύφα ἔπεμπον χρήματα ἀγείρειν ἀφανῶς καὶ στρατὸν περιβλέπεσθαι. αὐτοί τε ἠπείγοντο τῶν δεδομένων σφίσιν ὑπὸ τοῦ Καίσαρος ἐθνῶν λαβέσθαι. τοῦ χρόνου δὲ οὔπω συγχωροῦντος αὐτοῖς, ἀπρεπὲς ἡγούμενοι, τὴν ἐν ἄστει στρατηγίαν προλιπόντες ἀτελῆ, δόξαν ὕποπτον φιλαρχίας ἐθνῶν ἐνέγκασθαι, ᾑροῦντο ὅμως ὑπὸ ἀνάγκης τὸ ἐν μέσῳ διάστημα διατρῖψαί ποι μᾶλλον ἰδιωτεύοντες ἢ ἐν ἄστει στρατηγεῖν, οὔτε ἀφόβως ἔχοντες οὔτε τὰ εἰκότα ἐφʼ οἷς ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἐπεπράχεσαν τιμώμενοι. οὕτω δʼ αὐτοῖς ἔχουσιν ἡ βουλὴ συνειδυῖα τὴν γνώμην ἔδωκε σίτου τῇ πόλει φροντίσαι, ἐξ ὅσης δύναιντο γῆς, μέχρις αὐτοὺς ὁ χρόνος τῶν ἐθνῶν τῆς στρατηγίας καταλάβοι.
7. After Brutus and Cassius had left the city, Antony, being in possession of something like monarchical power, cast about for the government of a province and an army for himself. He desired that of Syria most of all, but he was not ignorant of the fact that he was under suspicion and that he would be more so if he should ask for it; for the Senate had secretly encouraged Dolabella, the other consul, to oppose Antony, as the former had always been at variance with the latter. Antony, knowing that this young Dolabella was himself ambitious, persuaded him to solicit the province of Syria and the army enlisted against the Parthians, in place of Cassius, and to ask it, not from the Senate, which had not the power to grant it, but from the people by a law. Dolabella was delighted, and immediately brought forward the law. The Senate accused him of nullifying the decrees of Caesar. He replied that Caesar had not assigned the war against the Parthians to anybody, and that Cassius, who had been assigned to the command of Syria, had himself been the first to alter the decrees of Caesar by authorizing colonists to sell their allotments before the expiration of the legal period of twenty years. He said also that it would be an indignity to himself if he, being Dolabella, were not chosen for Syria instead of Cassius. The Senate then persuaded one of the tribunes, named Asprenas, to falsify the signs in the sky during the comitia, expecting that Antony, who was both consul and augur, and was supposed to be still at variance with Dolabella, would coöperate with him. But when the voting came on, and Asprenas said that the signs in the sky were unfavorable, as it was not his business to attend to this, Antony, angry at his lying, ordered that the tribes should go on with the voting on the subject of Dolabella.
7. καὶ ἡ μὲν οὕτως ἔπραξεν, ἵνα μή ποτε Βροῦτος ἢ Κάσσιος φεύγειν δοκοῖεν· τοσήδε αὐτῶν φροντὶς ἦν ἅμα καὶ αἰδώς, ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις σφαγεῦσι διὰ τούσδε μάλιστα συνελάμβανον· ἐξελθόντων δὲ τῆς πόλεως τῶν ἀμφὶ τὸν Βροῦτον, ἐπὶ δυναστείας ὢν ὁ Ἀντώνιος ἤδη μοναρχικῆς ἀρχὴν ἔθνους καὶ στρατιᾶς αὑτῷ περιέβλεπε· καὶ Συρίας μὲν ἐπεθύμει μάλιστα, οὐκ ἠγνόει δὲ ὢν διʼ ὑπονοίας καὶ μᾶλλον ἐσόμενος, εἴ τι αἰτοίη· καὶ γὰρ αὐτῷ κρύφα Δολοβέλλαν τὸν ἕτερον ὕπατον ἐπήλειφεν εἰς ἐναντίωσιν ἡ βουλή, διάφορον αἰεὶ τῷ Ἀντωνίῳ γενόμενον. αὐτὸν οὖν τὸν Δολοβέλλαν ὁ Ἀντώνιος, νέον τε καὶ φιλότιμον εἰδώς, ἔπεισεν αἰτεῖν Συρίαν ἀντὶ Κασσίου καὶ τὸν ἐς Παρθυαίους κατειλεγμένον στρατὸν ἐπὶ τοὺς Παρθυαίους, αἰτεῖν δὲ οὐ παρὰ τῆς βουλῆς ʽοὐ γὰρ ἐξῆν̓, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τοῦ δήμου νόμῳ. καὶ ὁ μὲν ἡσθεὶς αὐτίκα προυτίθει τὸν νόμον, καὶ τῆς βουλῆς αἰτιωμένης αὐτὸν παραλύειν τὰ δόξαντα τῷ Καίσαρι τὸν μὲν ἐπὶ Παρθυαίους πόλεμον οὐδενὶ ἔφη ὑπὸ Καίσαρος ἐπιτετράφθαι, Κάσσιον δὲ τὸν Συρίας ἀξιωθέντα αὐτόν τι τῶν Καίσαρος πρότερον ἀλλάξαι, δόντα πωλεῖν τὰ κληρουχήματα τοῖς λαβοῦσι πρὸ τῶν νενομισμένων εἴκοσιν ἐτῶν· καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ αἰδεῖσθαι Συρίας οὐκ ἀξιούμενος, Δολοβέλλας ὤν, πρὸ Κασσίου. οἱ μὲν δὴ τῶν δημάρχων τινὰ Ἀσπρήναν ἔπεισαν ἐν τῇ χειροτονίᾳ ψεύσασθαι περὶ διοσημείας, ἐλπίσαντές τι καὶ Ἀντώνιον συμπράξειν, ὕπατόν τε ὄντα καὶ τῶν σημείων ἱερέα καὶ διάφορον ἔτι νομιζόμενον εἶναι τῷ Δολοβέλλᾳ· ὁ δʼ Ἀντώνιος, ἐπεὶ τῆς χειροτονίας οὔσης ὁ Ἀσπρήνας ἔφη διοσημείαν ἀπαίσιον γεγονέναι, ἔθους ὄντος ἑτέρους ἐπὶ τοῦτο πέμπεσθαι, πάνυ χαλεψάμενος τῷ Ἀσπρήνᾳ τοῦ ψεύσματος τᾲς φυλὰς ἐκέλευε χειροτονεῖν περὶ τοῦ Δολοβέλλα.
8. Thus Dolabella became governor of Syria and general of the war against the Parthians and of the forces enlisted for that purpose by Caesar, together with those that had gone in advance to Macedonia. Then it became known for the first time that Antony was coöperating with Dolabella. After this business had been transacted by the people, Antony solicited the province of Macedonia from the Senate, well knowing that after Syria had been given to Dolabella, they would be ashamed to deny Macedonia to himself, especially as it was a province without an army. They gave it to him unwillingly, at the same time wondering why Antony should let Dolabella have the army, but glad nevertheless that the latter had it rather than the former. They themselves took the opportunity to ask of Antony other provinces for Brutus and Cassius. They assigned to them Cyrenaica and Crete; or, as some say, both of these to Cassius and Bithynia to Brutus. Such was the state of affairs at Rome.
8. καὶ γίνεται μὲν οὕτω Συρίας ἡγεμὼν Δολοβέλλας καὶ στρατηγὸς τοῦ πολέμου τοῦ πρὸς Παρθυαίους καὶ στρατιᾶς τῆς ἐς αὐτὸν ὑπὸ Καίσαρος κατειλεγμένης, ὅση τε περὶ Μακεδονίαν προεληλύθει, καὶ ὁ Ἀντώνιος τότε πρῶτον ἔγνωστο συμπράσσων τῷ Δολοβέλλᾳ. γεγενημένων δὲ τῶνδε ἐν τῷ δήμῳ τὴν βουλὴν ὁ Ἀντώνιος ᾔτει Μακεδονίαν, εὖ εἰδώς, ὅτι αἰδέσονται, μετὰ Συρίαν δοθεῖσαν Δολοβέλλᾳ, ἀντειπεῖν περὶ Μακεδονίας Ἀντωνίῳ, καὶ ταῦτα γυμνῆς στρατοῦ γενομένης. καὶ ἔδοσαν μὲν ἄκοντες καὶ ἐν θαύματι ἔχοντες, ὅπως τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ στρατὸν προμεθῆκεν ὁ Ἀντώνιος τῷ Δολοβέλλᾳ, ἠγάπων δὲ ὅμως Δολοβέλλαν ἔχειν τὸν στρατὸν Ἀντωνίου μᾶλλον. ἐν καιρῷ δὲ αὐτοὶ τὸν Ἀντώνιον τοῖς ἀμφὶ τὸν Κάσσιον ἀντῄτουν ἕτερα ἔθνη, καὶ ἐδόθη Κυρήνη τε καὶ Κρήτη, ὡς δʼ ἑτέροις δοκεῖ, τάδε μὲν ἀμφότερα Κασσίῳ, Βιθυνία δὲ Βρούτῳ.
9. Octavius, the son of the daughter of Caesar’s sister, had been appointed master of Caesar’s horse for one year, for Caesar at times made this a yearly office, passing it around among his friends. Being still a young man, he had been sent by Caesar to Apollonia on the Adriatic to be educated and trained in the art of war, so that he might accompany Caesar on his expeditions. Troops of horse from Macedonia were sent to him by turns for the purpose of drill, and certain army officers visited him frequently as a relative of Caesar. As he received all with kindness, an acquaintance and good feeling grew up by means of them between himself and the army. At the end of a six months’ sojourn in Apollonia, it was announced to him one evening that Caesar had been killed in the senate-house by those who were dearest to him, and were then the most powerful ones under him. As the rest of the story was untold he was overcome by fear, not knowing whether the deed had been committed by the Senate as a whole or was confined to the immediate actors; nor whether they had already been punished by the people, or would be, or whether the people were pleased with what had been done.
9. τὰ μὲν δὴ γινόμενα ἐν Ῥώμῃ τοιάδε ἦν· Ὀκτάουιος δὲ ὁ τῆς ἀδελφῆς τοῦ Καίσαρος θυγατριδοῦς ἵππαρχος μὲν αὐτοῦ Καίσαρος γεγένητο πρὸς ἓν ἔτος, ἐξ οὗ τήνδε τὴν τιμὴν ὁ Καῖσαρ ἐς τοὺς φίλους περιφέρων ἐτήσιον ἔσθʼ ὅτε ἐποιεῖτο εἶναι, μειράκιον δὲ ἔτι ὢν ἐς Ἀπολλωνίαν τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰονίου παιδεύεσθαί τε καὶ ἀσκεῖσθαι τὰ πολέμια ἐπέμπετο ὑπὸ τοῦ Καίσαρος ὡς ἐς τοὺς πολεμίους ἑψόμενος αὐτῷ. καὶ αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ Ἀπολλωνίᾳ ἱππέων ἶλαι παραλλὰξ ἐκ Μακεδονίας ἐπιοῦσαι συνεγύμναζον καὶ τῶν ἡγεμόνων τοῦ στρατοῦ τινες ὡς συγγενεῖ Καίσαρος θαμινὰ ἐπεφοίτων. γνῶσίς τε ἐκ τούτων αὐτῷ καὶ εὔνοια παρὰ τοῦ στρατοῦ τις ἐνεγίγνετο, σὺν χάριτι δεξιουμένῳ πάντας. ἕκτον δʼ ἔχοντι μῆνα ἐν τῇ Ἀπολλωνίᾳ ἀγγέλλεται περὶ ἑσπέραν ὁ Καῖσαρ ἀνῃρημένος ἐν τῷ βουλευτηρίῳ πρὸς τῶν φιλτάτων καὶ παρʼ αὐτῷ δυνατωτάτων τότε μάλιστα. τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν οὐδενὸς ἀπαγγελθέντος πω δέος αὐτὸν ἐπεῖχε καὶ ἄγνοια, εἴτε κοινὸν εἴη τῆς βουλῆς τὸ ἔργον εἴτε καὶ τῶν ἐργασαμένων ἴδιον, καὶ εἰ δίκην ἤδη τοῖς πλείοσι δεδώκοιεν ἢ καὶ τοῦδε εἶεν, ἢ καὶ τὸ πλῆθος αὐτοῖς συνήδοιτο.
10. Thereupon his Roman friends advised him to take refuge with the army in Macedonia to insure his personal safety, and that when he should learn that the murder was only a private transaction he should take courage and avenge Caesar of his enemies; and there were high officers who promised to protect him if he would come. But his mother and his stepfather, Philippus, wrote to him from Rome not to be too confident and not to attempt anything rash, but to bear in mind what Caesar, after conquering every enemy, had suffered at the hands of his closest friends; that it would be safer under present circumstances to choose a private life and hasten to them at Rome, but with caution. Octavius yielded to them because he did not know what had happened after Caesar’s death. He took leave of the army officers and crossed the Adriatic, not to Brundusium (for as he had made no test of the army at that place he avoided all risk), but to another town not far from it and out of the direct route, named Lupiae. There he took lodgings and remained for a while.
10. ἐφʼ οἷς οἱ φίλοι ἐκ Ῥώμης ὑπετίθεντο ταῦτα, ὥστε οἱ μὲν ἐς φυλακὴν τοῦ σώματος αὐτὸν ἠξίουν ἐπὶ τὸν ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ στρατὸν καταφυγεῖν καί, ὅτε μάθοι μὴ κοινὸν εἶναι τὸ ἔργον, ἐπιθαρρήσαντα τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἀμύνειν τῷ Καίσαρι· καὶ ἦσαν οἳ καὶ τῶν ἡγεμόνων αὐτὸν ἐλθόντα φυλάξειν ὑπεδέχοντο· ἡ δὲ μήτηρ καὶ Φίλιππος, ὃς εἶχεν αὐτήν, ἀπὸ Ῥώμης ἔγραφον μήτε ἐπαίρεσθαι μήτε θαρρεῖν πω μεμνημένον, οἷα Καῖσαρ ὁ παντὸς ἐχθροῦ κρατήσας ὑπὸ τῶν φιλτάτων μάλιστα πάθοι, τὰ δὲ ἰδιωτικώτερα ὡς ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν ἀκινδυνότερα αἱρεῖσθαι μᾶλλον καὶ πρὸς σφᾶς ἐς Ῥώμην ἐπείγεσθαι φυλασσόμενον. οἷς Ὀκτάουιος ἐνδοὺς διὰ τὴν ἔτι ἄγνοιαν τῶν ἐπὶ τῷ θανάτῳ γενομένων, τοὺς ἡγεμόνας τοῦ στρατοῦ δεξιωσάμενος διέπλει τὸν Ἰόνιον, οὐκ ἐς τὸ Βρεντέσιον ʽοὔπω γάρ τινα τοῦ ἐκεῖθι στρατοῦ πεῖραν εἰληφὼς πάντα ἐφυλάσσετὀ, ἀλλʼ ἐς ἑτέραν οὐ μακρὰν ἀπὸ τοῦ Βρεντεσίου πόλιν, ἐκτὸς οὖσαν ὁδοῦ, ᾗ ὄνομα Λουπίαι. ἐνταῦθα οὖν ἐνηυλίσατο διατρίβων.
11. When more accurate information about the murder and the public grief had reached him, together with copies of Caesar’s will and the decrees of the Senate, his relatives still cautioned him to beware of the enemies of Caesar, as he was the latter’s adopted son and heir. They even advised him to renounce the adoption, together with the inheritance. But he thought that to do so, and not to avenge Caesar, would be disgraceful. So he went to Brundusium, first sending in advance to see that none of the murderers had laid any trap for him. When the army there advanced to meet him, and received him as Caesar’s son, he took courage, offered sacrifice, and immediately assumed the name of Caesar; for it is customary among the Romans for the adopted son to take the name of the adoptive father. He not only assumed it, but he changed his own name and his patronymic completely, calling himself Caesar the son of Caesar, instead of Octavius the son of Octavius, and he continued to do so ever after. Directly multitudes of men from all sides flocked to him as Caesar’s son, some from friendship to Caesar, others his freedmen and slaves, and with them other soldiers, who were either engaged in conveying supplies and money to the army in Macedonia, or bringing other money and tribute from other countries to Brundusium.
11. ὡς δέ οἱ τά τε ἀκριβέστερα περὶ τοῦ φόνου καὶ τοῦ δημοσίου πάθους τῶν τε διαθηκῶν καὶ τῶν ἐψηφισμένων ἦλθε τὰ ἀντίγραφα, οἱ μὲν ἔτι μᾶλλον αὐτὸν ἠξίουν τοὺς ἐχθροὺς Καίσαρος δεδιέναι, υἱόν τε αὐτοῦ καὶ κληρονόμον ὄντα, καὶ παρῄνουν ἅμα τῷ κλήρῳ τὴν θέσιν ἀπείπασθαι· ὁ δὲ καὶ ταῦτά οἱ καὶ τὸ μὴ τιμωρεῖν αὐτὸν Καίσαρι αἰσχρὸν ἡγούμενος ἐς τὸ Βρεντέσιον ᾔει, προπέμψας καὶ διερευνησάμενος, μή τις ἐκ τῶν φονέων ἐγκαθέζοιτο ἐνέδρα. ὡς δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ ὁ ἐνθάδε στρατὸς οἷα Καίσαρος υἱὸν δεξιούμενος ἀπήντα, θαρρήσας ἔθυε καὶ εὐθὺς ὠνομάζετο Καῖσαρ. ἔθος γάρ τι Ῥωμαίοις τοὺς θετοὺς τὰ τῶν θεμένων ὀνόματα ἐπιλαμβάνειν. ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἐπέλαβεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ αὑτοῦ καὶ τὸ πατρῷον ὅλως ἐνήλλαξεν, ἀντὶ Ὀκταουίου παιδὸς Ὀκταουίου Καῖσαρ εἶναι καὶ Καίσαρος υἱός, καὶ διετέλεσεν οὕτω χρώμενος. εὐθύς τε ἐς αὐτὸν ἄθρουν καὶ πανταχόθεν ὡς ἐς Καίσαρος υἱὸν πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων συνέθεον, οἱ μὲν ἐκ φιλίας Καίσαρος, οἱ δὲ ἐξελεύθεροι καὶ θεράποντες αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἕτεροι στρατιῶται σὺν αὐτοῖς, οἱ μὲν ἀποσκευὰς ἢ χρήματα φέροντες ἐς τὴν Μακεδονίαν, οἱ δὲ ἕτερα χρήματα καὶ φόρους ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἄλλων ἐς τὸ Βρεντέσιον.
12. Encouraged by the numbers who were joining him, and by the glory of Caesar, and by the good-will of all toward himself, he journeyed to Rome with a notable crowd which, like a torrent, grew larger and larger each day. Although he was safe from any open attacks by reason of the multitude surrounding him, he was all the more on his guard against secret ones, because almost all of those accompanying him were new acquaintances. Some of the towns were not altogether favorable to him, but Caesar’s veterans, who had been distributed in colonies, flocked from their settlements to greet the young man. They bewailed Caesar, and cursed Antony for not proceeding against the monstrous crime, and said that they would avenge it if anybody would lead them. Octavius praised them, but postponed the matter for the present and sent them away. When he had arrived at Tarracina, about 400 stades from Rome, he received news that Cassius and Brutus had been deprived of Syria and Macedonia by the consuls, and had received the smaller provinces of Cyrenaica and Crete by way of compensation; that certain exiles had returned; that Sextus Pompey had been recalled; that some new members had been added to the Senate in accordance with Caesar’s memoranda, and that many other things were happening.
12. ὁ δὲ καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν ἀφικνουμένων καὶ τῇ Καίσαρος αὐτοῦ δόξῃ τε καὶ τῇ πάντων εἰς ἐκεῖνον εὐνοία θαρρῶν ὥδευεν ἐς Ῥώμην σὺν ἀξιολόγῳ πλήθει, αὐξομένῳ μᾶλλον ἑκάστης ἡμέρας οἷα χειμάρρῳ, φανερᾶς μὲν ἐπιβουλῆς ὢν ἀμείνων διὰ τὸ πλῆθος, ἐνέδρας δὲ διʼ αὐτὸ καὶ μάλιστα ὑφορώμενος, ἀρτιγνώστων οἱ τῶν συνόντων σχεδὸν ὄντων ἁπάντων. τὰ δὲ τῶν πόλεων τῶν μὲν ἄλλων οὐ πάντῃ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἦν ὁμαλά· οἱ δὲ τῷ Καίσαρι στρατευσάμενοί τε καὶ ἐς κληρουχίας διῃρημένοι συνέτρεχον ἐκ τῶν ἀποικιῶν ἐπὶ χάριτι τοῦ μειρακίου καὶ τὸν Καίσαρα ὠλοφύροντο καὶ τὸν Ἀντώνιον ἐβλασφήμουν οὐκ ἐπεξιόντα τηλικούτῳ μύσει καὶ σφᾶς ἔλεγον, εἴ τις ἡγοῖτο, ἀμυνεῖν. οὓς ὁ Καῖσαρ ἐπαινῶν καὶ ἀνατιθέμενος ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἀπέπεμπεν. ὄντι δʼ αὐτῷ περὶ Ταρρακίνας, ἀπὸ τετρακοσίων που Ῥώμης σταδίων, ἀγγέλλεται Κάσσιός τε καὶ Βροῦτος ἀφῃρημένοι πρὸς τῶν ὑπάτων Συρίαν καὶ Μακεδονίαν καὶ ἐς παρηγορίαν βραχύτερα ἔτερα Κυρήνην καὶ Κρήτην ἀντειληφότες, φυγάδων τέ τινων κάθοδοι καὶ Πομπηίου μετάκλησις καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν Καίσαρος ὑπομνημάτων ἔς τε τὴν βουλὴν ἐγγραφαί τινων καὶ ἕτερα πολλὰ γιγνόμενα.
13. When he arrived at the city his mother and Philippus and the others who were interested in him were anxious about the estrangement of the Senate from Caesar, and the decree that his murderers should not be punished, and the contempt shown him by Antony, who was then all-powerful, and had neither gone to meet Caesar’s son when he was coming nor sent anybody to him. Octavius quieted their fears, saying that he would call on Antony, as the younger man on the older and the private citizen on the consul, and that he would show proper respect for the Senate. As for the decree, he said that it had been passed because nobody had prosecuted the murderers; whenever anybody should have courage to prosecute, the people and the Senate would lend their aid to him as one enforcing the law, the gods would do so for the justice of his cause, and perhaps Antony himself would help. If he (Octavius) should reject the inheritance and the adoption, he would be false to Caesar and would wrong the people who had a share in the will. As he was finishing his remarks he burst out that he ought not only to incur danger, but even to die, after he had been preferred before all others in this way by Caesar, if he would show himself worthy of one who had himself braved every danger. Then turning to his mother, he repeated the words of Achilles to Thetis, which were then fresh in his mind: — ““Then quickly let me die since fate denied That I should aid my friend against the foes That slew him.”” Iliad, xviii. 98, Bryant’s translation. After saying this he added that these words of Achilles, and especially the deed that followed, had of all things given him immortal renown; and he invoked Caesar not as a friend, but a father; not as a fellow-soldier, but a commander-in-chief; not as one who had fallen by the law of war, but as the victim of sacrilegious murder in the senate-house.
13. ὡς δʼ ἐς τὴν πόλιν ἀφίκετο, ἡ μὲν μήτηρ αὖθις καὶ Φίλιππος ὅσοι τε ἄλλοι κηδεμόνες ἦσαν αὐτοῦ, ἐδεδοίκεσαν τήν τε τῆς βουλῆς ἐς τὸν Καίσαρα ἀλλοτρίωσιν καὶ τὸ δόγμα, μὴ εἶναι δίκας ἐπὶ Καίσαρι φόνου, καὶ τὴν Ἀντωνίου τότε δυναστεύοντος ἐς αὐτὸν ὑπεροψίαν, οὔτε ἀφικομένου πρὸς τὸν Καίσαρος υἱὸν ἐλθόντα οὔτε προσπέμψαντος αὐτῷ· ὁ δὲ καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐπράυνεν, αὐτὸς ἀπαντήσειν ἐς τὸν Ἀντώνιον εἰπὼν οἷα νεώτερος ἐς πρεσβύτερον καὶ ἰδιώτης ἐς ὕπατον καὶ τὴν βουλὴν θεραπεύσειν τὰ εἰκότα. καὶ τὸ δόγμα ἔφη γενέσθαι μηδενός πω τοὺς ἀνδροφόνους διώκοντος· ἀλλʼ ὁπότε θαρρήσας τις διώκοι, καὶ τὸν δῆμον ἐπικουρήσειν καὶ τὴν βουλὴν ὡς ἐννόμῳ καὶ τοὺς θεοὺς ὡς δικαίῳ καὶ τὸν Ἀντώνιον ἴσως. εἰ δὲ καὶ τοῦ κλήρου καὶ τῆς θέσεως ὑπερίδοι, ἔς τε τὸν Καίσαρα ἁμαρτήσεσθαι καὶ τὸν δῆμον ἀδικήσειν εἰς τὴν διανομήν. Ἀπερρήγνυ τε λήγων τοῦ λόγου, ὅτι μὴ κινδυνεύειν οἱ καλὸν εἴη μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ θνῄσκειν, εἰ προκριθεὶς ἐκ πάντων ἐς τοσαῦτα ὑπὸ τοῦ Καίσαρος ἀντάξιος αὐτοῦ φαίνοιτο φιλοκινδυνοτάτου γεγονότος. τά τε τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως, ὑπόγυά οἱ τότε ὄντα μάλιστα, ἐς τὴν μητέρα ὥσπερ ἐς τὴν Θέτιν ἐπιστρεφόμενος ἔλεγεν· αὐτίκα τεθναίην, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἄρʼ ἔμελλον ἑταίρῳ κτεινομένῳ ἐπαμύνειν. καὶ τόδε εἰπὼν Ἀχιλλεῖ μὲν ἔφη κόσμον ἀθάνατον ἐκ πάντων εἶναι τοῦτο τὸ ἔπος, καὶ τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ μάλιστα· αὐτὸς δʼ ἀνεκάλει τὸν Καίσαρα οὐχ ἑταῖρον, ἀλλὰ πατέρα, οὐδὲ συστρατιώτην, ἀλλʼ αὐτοκράτορα, οὐδὲ πολέμου νόμῳ πεσόντα, ἀλλʼ ἀθεμίστως ἐν βουλευτηρίῳ κατωκοπέντα.
14. Thereupon his mother’s anxiety was changed to joy, and she embraced him as the only one worthy of Caesar. She checked his speaking and urged him to prosecute his designs with the favor of fortune. She advised him, however, to use art and patience rather than open boldness. Octavius approved of this policy and promised to adopt it in action, and forthwith sent around to his friends the same evening, asking them to come to the forum early in the morning and bring a crowd with them. There presenting himself to Gaius Antonius, the brother of Antony, who was the city praetor, he said that he accepted the adoption of Caesar; for it is a Roman custom that adoptions are confirmed by witnesses before the praetors. When the public scribes had taken down his declaration, Octavius went from the forum straightway to Antony. The latter was in the gardens that Caesar had given to him, that had formerly been Pompey’s. As Octavius was kept waiting at the vestibule for some time, he interpreted the fact as a sign of Antony’s displeasure. When he was admitted there were greetings and mutual questionings proper to the occasion. When the time came to speak of the business in hand, Octavius said: — “Father Antony (for the benefits that Caesar conferred upon you and your gratitude toward him warrant me in giving you that title), for some of the things that you have done since his death I praise you and owe you thanks; for others I blame you.
14. ἐφʼ οἷς αὐτὸν ἡ μήτηρ, ἐς ἡδονὴν ἐκ τοῦ δέους ὑπαχθεῖσα, ἠσπάζετο ὡς μόνον ἄξιον Καίσαρος καὶ λέγειν ἔτι ἐπισχοῦσα ἐπέσπερχεν ἐς τὰ ἐγνωσμένα σὺν τῇ τύχῃ. παρῄνει γε μὴν ἔτι τέχνῃ καὶ ἀνεξικακίᾳ μᾶλλον ἢ φανερᾷ θρασύτητί πω χρῆσθαι. καὶ ὁ Καῖσαρ ἐπαινέσας καὶ πράξειν ὑποσχόμενος οὕτως, αὐτίκα τῆς ἑσπέρας ἐς τοὺς φίλους περιέπεμπεν, ἐς ἕω συγκαλῶν ἕκαστον ἐς τὴν ἀγορὰν μετὰ πλήθους. ἔνθα Γάιον Ἀντώνιον τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἀντωνίου, στρατηγοῦντα τῆς πόλεως, ὑπαντιάσας ἔφη δέχεσθαι τὴν θέσιν τοῦ Καίσαρος· ἔθος γάρ τι Ῥωμαίοις τοὺς θετοὺς ἐπὶ μάρτυσι γίγνεσθαι τοῖς στρατηγοῖς. ἀπογραψαμένων δὲ τῶν δημοσίων τὸ ῥῆμα, εὐθὺς ἐκ τῆν ἀγορᾶς ἐς τὸν Ἀντώνιον ἐχώρει. ὁ δὲ ἦν ἐς κήποις, οὓς ὁ Καῖσαρ αὐτῷ δεδώρητο Πομπηίου γενομένους. διατριβῆς δὲ ἀμφὶ τὰς θύρας πλείονος γενομένης ὁ μὲν Καῖσαρ καὶ τάδε ἐς ὑποψίαν Ἀντωνίου τῆς ἀλλοτριώσεως ἐτίθετο, εἰσκληθέντος δέ ποτε ἦσαν προσαγορεύσεις τε καὶ περὶ ἀλλήλων πύσματα εἰκότα.
15. I shall speak freely of what my sorrow prompts me to speak. When Caesar was killed you were not present, as the murderers detained you at the door; otherwise you would have saved him or incurred the danger of sharing the same fate with him. If the latter would have befallen you, then it is well that you were not present. When certain senators proposed rewards to the murderers as tyrannicides you strongly opposed them. For this I give you hearty thanks, although you knew that they intended to kill you also; not, as I think, because you were likely to avenge Caesar, but, as they themselves say, lest you should be his successor in the tyranny. At the same time they made it clear that they were not tyrant-killers, but murderers, by taking refuge in the Capitol, either as guilty suppliants in a temple or as enemies in a fortress. How then could they have obtained amnesty and impunity for their crime unless some portion of the Senate and people had been corrupted by them? Yet you, as consul, ought to have seen what would be for the interest of the majority, and if you had wished to avenge such a monstrous crime, or to reclaim the erring, your office would have enabled you to do either. But you sent hostages from your own family to the murderers at the Capitol for their security. Let us suppose that those who had been corrupted forced you to do this also, yet when Caesar’s will had been read, and you had delivered your righteous funeral oration, and the people, in lively remembrance of Caesar, had carried firebrands to the houses of the murderers, but spared them for the sake of their neighbors, agreeing to come back armed the next day, why did you not coöperate with them and lead them with fire or arms? Or why did you not bring them to trial, if trial was necessary for men seen in the act of murder — you, Caesar’s friend; you, the consul; you, Antony?”
15. ὡς δὲ ἤδη λέγειν ἔδει περὶ ὧν ἦσαν ἐν χρείᾳ, ὁ Καῖσαρ εἶπεν· ἐγὼ δέ, πάτερ Ἀντώνιε (πατέρα γὰρ εἶναι σέ μοι δικαιοῦσιν αἵ τε Καίσαρος ἐς σὲ εὐεργεσίαι καὶ ἡ σὴ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον χάρις), τῶν σοι πεπραγμένων ἐπʼ ἐκείνῳ τὰ μὲν ἐπαινῶ καὶ χάριν αὐτῶν ὀφλήσω, τὰ δʼ ἐπιμέμφομαι, καὶ λελέξεται μετὰ παρρησίας, ἐς ἣν ἡ λύπη με προάγει. κτεινομένῳ μὲν οὐ παρῆς, τῶν φονέων σε περισπασάντων περὶ θύρας, ἐπεὶ περιέσῳζες ἂν αὐτὸν ἢ συνεκινδύνευες ὅμοια παθεῖν· ὧν εἰ θάτερον ἔμελλεν ἔσεσθαι, καλῶς, ὅτι μὴ παρῆς. ψηφιζομένων δέ τινων αὐτοῖς ὡς ἐπὶ τυράννῳ γέρα ἀντεῖπας ἐγκρατῶς· καὶ τοῦδέ σοι χάριν οἶδα λαμπράν, εἰ καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας ἔγνως συνανελεῖν σε βεβουλευμένους, οὐχ, ὡς ἡμεῖς ἡγούμεθα, τιμωρὸν ἐσόμενον Καίσαρι, ἀλλʼ, ὡς αὐτοὶ λέγουσι, τῆς τυραννίδος διάδοχον. ἅμα δʼ οὐκ ἦσαν ἐκεῖνοι τυραννοκτόνοι, εἰ μὴ καὶ φονεῖς ἦσαν· διὸ καὶ ἐς τὸ Καπιτώλιον συνέφυγον ὡς ἐς ἱερὸν ἁμαρτόντες ἱκέται ἢ ὡς ἐς ἀκρόπολιν ἐχθροί. πόθεν οὖν αὐτοῖς ἀμνηστία καὶ τὸ ἀνεύθυνον τοῦ φόνου, ἢ τῆς βουλῆς καὶ τοῦ δήμου ει τινες ἐφθάρατο ὑπʼ ἐκείνων; καὶ σὲ τὸ τῶν πλεόνων ὁρᾶν ἐχρῆν, ὕπατον ὄντα. ἀλλὰ καὶ θάτερα βουλομένῳ σοι ἡ ἀρχὴ συνελάμβανε, τιμωρουμένῳ τηλικοῦτον ἄγος καὶ τοὺς πλανωμένους μεταδιδάσκοντι. σὺ δὲ καὶ ὅμηρα τῆς ἀδείας, οἰκεῖα αὐτοῦ σοῦ, τοῖς ἀνδροφόνοις ἔπεμψας ἐς τὸ Καπιτώλιον. ἀλλʼ ἔστω καὶ ταῦτα τοὺς διεφθαρμένους σε βιάσασθαι. ὅτε μέντοι τῶν διαθηκῶν ἀναγνωσθεισῶν καὶ αὐτοῦ σοῦ δίκαιον ἐπιτάφιον εἰπόντος ὁ δῆμος ἐν ἀκριβεῖ Καίσαρος μνήμῃ γενόμενοι πῦρ ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἔφερον, καὶ φεισάμενοι χάριν τῶν γειτόνων ἐς τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἥξειν ἐπὶ ὅπλα συνέθεντο, πῶς οὐχὶ τῷ δήμῳ συνέπραξας καὶ ἐστρατήγησας τοῦ πυρὸς ἢ τῶν ὅπλων ἢ δίκην γε τοῖς ἀνδροφόνοις ἐπέγραψας, εἰ δίκης ἔδει κατὰ αὐτοφώρων, καὶ φίλος ὢν Καίσαρι καὶ ὕπατος καὶ Ἀντώνιος;
16. “The pseudo-Marius was put to death by your order in the plenitude of your authority, but you connived at the escape of the murderers, some of whom have passed on to the provinces which they nefariously hold as gifts at the hands of him whom they slew. These things were no sooner done than you and Dolabella, the consuls, proceeded, very properly, to strip them and possess yourselves of Syria and Macedonia. I should have owed you thanks for this also, had you not immediately voted them Cyrenaica ana Crete; had you not preferred these fugitives for governorships, where they can always defend themselves against me, and had you not tolerated Decimus Brutus in the command of Hither Gaul, although he, like the rest, was one of my father’s slayers. It may be said that these were decrees of the Senate. But you put the vote and you presided over the Senate — you who ought most of all to have opposed them on your own account. To grant amnesty to the murderers was merely to insure their personal safety as a matter of favor, but to vote them provinces and rewards forthwith was to insult Caesar and annul your own opinion. Grief has compelled me to speak these words, against the rules of decorum perhaps, considering my youth and the respect I owe you. They have been spoken, however, to the firmest friend of Caesar, to one who was invested by him with the greatest honor and power, and who would have been adopted by him no doubt if he had known that you would accept kinship with the family of Aeneas in exchange for that of Hercules; for this created doubt in his mind when he was thinking strongly of designating you as his successor.”
16. ἀλλὰ Μάριος μὲν ἐξ ἐπιτάγματος ἀνῃρέθη κατὰ τὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς μέγεθος, ἀνδροφόνους δὲ ἐκφυγεῖν ὑπερεῖδες καὶ ἐς ἡγεμονίας ἐνίους διαδραμεῖν, ἃς ἀθεμίστως ἔχουσι τὸν δόντα ἀνελόντες. Συρίαν μὲν δὴ καὶ Μακεδονίαν εὖ ποιοῦντες οἱ ὕπατοι, σὺ καὶ Δολοβέλλας, καθισταμένων ἄρτι τῶν πραγμάτων περιεσπάσατε ἐς ἑαυτούς. καὶ τοῦδέ σοι χάριν ᾔδειν ἄν, εἰ μὴ αὐτίκα Κυρήνην καὶ Κρήτην αὐτοῖς ἐψηφίσασθε καὶ φυγάδας ἠξιώσατε ἡγεμονίαις αἰεὶ κατʼ ἐμοῦ δορυφορεῖσθαι· Δέκμον τε τὴν ἐγγὺς Κελτικὴν ὑπερορᾶτε ἔχοντα, καὶ τόνδε τοῖς ἄλλοις ὁμοίως αὐθέντην τοὐμοῦ πατρὸς γενόμενον. ἀλλὰ καὶ τάδε τὴν βουλὴν ἐρεῖ τις ἐγνωκέναι. σὺ δʼ ἐπεψήφιζες καὶ προυκάθησο τῆς βουλῆς, ᾧ μάλιστα πάντων ἥρμοζε διὰ σαυτὸν ἀντειπεῖν· τὸ γὰρ ἀμνηστίαν δοῦναι τὴν σωτηρίαν ἦν ἐκείνοις χαριζομένων μόνον, τὸ δὲ ἡγεμονίας αὖθις ψηφίζεσθαι καὶ γέρα ὑβριζόντων Καίσαρα καὶ τὴν σὴν γνώμην ἀκυρούντων. ἐπὶ τάδε με δὴ τὸ πάθος ἐξήνεγκε παρὰ τὸ ἁρμόζον ἴσως ἐμοὶ τῆς τε ἡλικίας καὶ τῆς πρὸς σὲ αἰδοῦς. εἴρηται δʼ ὅμως ὡς ἐς ἀκριβέστερον φίλον Καίσαρι καὶ πλείστης ὑπʼ ἐκείνου τιμῆς καὶ δυνάμεως ἠξιωμένον καὶ τάχα ἂν αὐτῷ καὶ θετὸν γενόμενον, εἰ ᾔδει σε δεξόμενον Αἰνεάδην ἀντὶ Ἡρακλείδου γενέσθαι· τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτὸν … ἐνδοιάσαι, πολὺν τῆς διαδοχῆς λόγον ποιούμενον.
17. “For the future, Antony, I conjure you by the gods who preside over friendship, and by Caesar himself, to change somewhat the measures that have been adopted, for you can change them if you wish to; if not, that you will hereafter aid and cooperate with me in punishing the murderers, with the help of the people and of those who are still my father’s faithful friends. If you still have regard for the conspirators and the Senate, do not be hard on us. So much for that. You know about my private affairs and the expense I must incur for the legacy which my father directed to be given to the people, and the haste involved in it lest I may seem churlish by reason of delay, and lest those who have been assigned to colonies be compelled to remain in the city and waste their time on my account. Of Caesar’s movables, that were brought immediately after the murder from his house to yours as a safer place, I beg you to take keepsakes and anything else by way of ornament and whatever you like to retain from us. But in order that I may pay the legacy to the people, please give me the gold coin that Caesar had collected for his intended wars. That will suffice for the distribution to 300,000 men now. For the rest of my expenses I may perhaps borrow from you, if I may be so bold, or from the public treasury on your security, if you will give it, and I will offer my own property for sale at once.”
17. ἐς δὲ τὸ μέλλον, ὦ Ἀντώνιε, πρὸς θεῶν τε φιλίων καὶ πρὸς αὐτοῦ σοι Καίσαρος, εἰ μέν τι καὶ τῶν γεγονότων μεταθέσθαι θέλεις (δύνασαι γάρ, εἰ θέλεις)· εἰ δὲ μή, τά γε λοιπὰ τοὺς φονέας ἀμυνομένῳ μοι μετὰ τοῦ δήμου καὶ τῶνδε τῶν ἔτι μοι πατρικῶν φίλων συνίστασθαι καὶ συνεργεῖν· εἰ δέ σε τῶν ἀνδρῶν τις ἢ τῆς βουλῆς αἰδὼς ἔχει, μὴ ἐπιβαρεῖν. καὶ τάδε μὲν ἀμφὶ τούτων· οἶσθα δʼ, ὅπως ἔχει μοι καὶ τὰ οἴκοι, δαπάνης τε ἐς τὴν διανομήν, ἣν ὁ πατὴρ ἐκέλευσε τῷ δήμῳ δοθῆναι, καὶ ἐπείξεως ἐς αὐτήν, ἵνα μὴ βραδύνων ἀχάριστος εἶναι δοκοίην μηδʼ ὅσοι καταλεχθέντες εἰς τὰς ἀποικίας ἐπιμένουσι τῇ πόλει, διʼ ἐμὲ τρίβοιντο. ὅσα δὴ τῶν Καίσαρος εὐθέως ἐπὶ τῷ φόνῳ πρὸς σὲ μετενήνεκται ὡς ἐπʼ ἀσφαλὲς ἐξ ἐπικινδύνου τότε οἰκίας, τὰ μὲν κειμήλια αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν ἄλλον ἅπαντα κόσμον ἔχειν ἀξιῶ σε καὶ ὅσα ἂν ἐθέλῃς ἄλλα παρʼ ἡμῶν ἐπιλαβεῖν, ἐς δὲ τὴν διανομὴν ἀποδοῦναί μοι τὸ χρυσίον τὸ ἐπίσημον, ὃ συνηθροίκει μὲν ἐς τοὺς πολέμους ἐκεῖνος, οὓς ἐπενόει, ἀρκέσει δʼ ἐμοὶ νῦν ἐς τριάκοντα μυριάδας ἀνδρῶν μεριζόμενον. τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ τῆς δαπάνης, εἰ μὲν θαρρήσαιμί σοι, παρὰ σοῦ ἂν ἴσως ἢ διὰ σοῦ δανεισαίμην ἐκ τῶν δημοσίων χρημάτων, ἂν διδῷς· διαπεπράσεται δὲ αὐτίκα καὶ ἡ οὐσία.
18. While Octavius was speaking in this fashion Antony was astonished at his freedom of speech and his boldness, which seemed much beyond the bounds of propriety and of his years. He was offended by the words because they were wanting in the respect due to him, and still more by the demand for money, and, accordingly, he replied in the severe terms following: “Young man, if Caesar left you the government, together with the inheritance and his name, it is proper for you to ask and for me to give the reasons for my public acts. But if the Roman people never surrendered the government to anybody to dispose of in succession, not even when they had kings, whom they expelled and swore never to have any more (this was the very charge that the murderers brought against your father, saying that they killed him because he was no longer leading but reigning), then there is no need of my answering you as to my public acts. For the same reason I release you from any indebtedness to me in the way of gratitude for those acts. They were performed not as a favor to you, but to the people, except in one particular, which was of the greatest importance to Caesar and to yourself. For if, to secure my own safety and to shield myself from enmity, I had allowed honors to be voted to the murderers as tyrannicides, Caesar would have been declared a tyrant, to whom neither glory, nor any kind of honor, nor confirmation of his acts would have been possible; who could make no valid will, have no son, nor any burial of his body, even as a private citizen. The laws provide that the bodies of tyrants shall be cast out unburied, their memory stigmatized, and their property confiscated.”
18. τοιαῦτα τοῦ Καίσαρος εἰπόντος ο Ἀντώνιος κατεπλάγη, τῆς τε παρρησίας καὶ τῆς εὐτολμίας παρὰ δόξαν οἱ πολλῆς καὶ παρʼ ἡλικίαν φανείσης· χαλεψάμενος δὲ τοῖς τε λόγοις οὐχ ὅσον ἔδει τὸ πρέπον ἐς αὐτὸν ἐσχηκόσι καὶ μάλιστα τῶν χρημάτων τῇ ἀπαιτήσει, αὐστηρότερον αὐτὸν ὧδε ἠμείψατο· εἰ μὲν ὁ Καῖσάρ σοι μετὰ κλήρου καὶ τῆς ἐπωνυμίας, ὦ παῖ, καὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν κατέλιπεν, εἰκὸς σὲ τῶν κοινῶν τοὺς λογισμοὺς αἰτεῖν κἀμὲ ὑπέχειν. εἰ δὲ οὐδενί πω Ῥωμαῖοι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἔδοσαν ἐκ διαδοχῆς, οὐδὲ τῶν βασιλέων, οὓς ἐκβαλόντες ἐπώμοσαν μηδʼ ἄλλων ἔτι ἀνέξεσθαι, ʽὃ καὶ τῷ πατρί σου μάλιστα οἱ φονεῖς ἐπιλέγοντες φασὶν ἀνελεῖν αὐτὸν βασιλιζόμενον, οὐχ ἡγούμενον ἔτἰ, ἐμοὶ μὲν οὐδʼ ἀποκρίσεως δεῖ πρὸς σὲ περὶ τῶν κοινῶν, τῷ δʼ αὐτῷ λόγῳ καὶ σὲ κουφίζω, μὴ χάριν ὀφείλειν ἡμῖν ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς. ἐπράσσετο γὰρ οὐ σοῦ χάριν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ δήμου, πλὴν ἑνὸς τοῦ μεγίστου δὴ μάλιστα πάντων ἔς τε Καίσαρα καὶ σὲ ἔργου. εἰ γὰρ τοῦ κατʼ ἐμαυτὸν ἕνεκα ἀδεοῦς καὶ ἀνεπιφθόνου περιεῖδον ἐγὼ τιμὰς ψηφιζομένας τοῖς φονεῦσιν ὡς τυραννοκτόνοις, τύραννος ὁ Καῖσαρ ἐγίγνετο, ᾧ μήτε δόξης μήτε τιμῆς τινος ἢ τῶν ἐγνωσμένων βεβαιώσεως ἔτι μετῆν. οὐ διαθήκας εἶχεν ἄν, οὐ παῖδα, οὐκ οὐσίαν, οὐκ αὐτὸ τὸ σῶμα ταφῆς ἀξιούμενον, οὐδὲ ἰδιώτου· ἄταφα γὰρ οἱ νόμοι τὰ σώματα τῶν τυράννων ὑπερορίζουσι καὶ τὴν μνήμην ἀτιμοῦσι καὶ δημεύουσι τὴν περιουσίαν.
19. “Apprehending all of these consequences, I entered the lists for Caesar, for his immortal honor, and his public funeral, not without danger, not without incurring hatred to myself, contending against hot-headed, blood-thirsty men, who, as you know, had already conspired to kill me; and against the Senate, which was displeased with your father on account of his usurped authority. But I willingly chose to incur these dangers and to suffer anything rather than allow Caesar to remain unburied and dishonored — the most valiant man of his time, the most fortunate in every respect, and the one to whom the highest honors were due from me. It is by reason of the dangers I incurred that you enjoy your present distinction as the successor of Caesar, his family, his name, his dignity, his wealth. It was more becoming in you to testify your gratitude to me for these things than to reproach me for concessions made to soothe the Senate, or in compensation for what I demanded of it, or in pursuance of other needs or reasons — you a younger man addressing an older one. But enough of that. You hint that I am ambitious of the leadership. I am not ambitious of it, although I do not consider myself unworthy of it. You think that I am distressed because I was not mentioned in Caesar’s will, though you agree with me that the family of the Heraclidae is enough to content one.”
19. ὧν ἐγὼ δεδιὼς ἕκαστον ὑπερηγωνιζόμην Καίσαρος, ἀθανάτου τε δόξης καὶ δημοσίας ταφῆς, οὐκ ἀκινδύνως οὐδʼ ἀνεπιφθόνως ἐμαυτῷ, τυχεῖν, πρός τε ἄνδρας ταχυεργεῖς καὶ φόνου πλήρεις καί, ὡς ἔμαθες, ἤδη καὶ ἐπʼ ἐμὲ συνομωμοσμένους πρός τε τὴν βουλὴν ἀχθομένην σου τῷ πατρὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς. ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῦτα κινδυνεύειν καὶ παθεῖν ὁτιοῦν ᾑρούμην ἑκὼν μᾶλλον ἢ ἄταφον καὶ ἄτιμον γιγνόμενον περιιδεῖν Καίσαρα, ἄριστον ἀνδρῶν τῶν ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ εὐτυχέστατον ἐς τὰ πλεῖστα καὶ ἀξιοτιμότατον ἐκ πάντων ἐμοὶ γενόμενον. τοῖς δʼ αὐτοῖς μου τοῖσδε κινδύνοις καὶ σὺ τὰ νῦν σοι παρόντα πάντα λαμπρὰ τῶν Καίσαρος ἔχεις, γένος, ὄνομα, ἀξίωμα, περιουσίαν. ὧν σε δικαιότερον ἦν ἐμοὶ χάριν εἰδέναι μᾶλλον ἢ τὰ ἐκλειφθέντα εἰς τὴν τῆς βουλῆς παρηγορίαν ἢ ἐς ἀντίδοσιν τῶνδε, ὧν ἔχρῃζον, ἢ κατʼ ἄλλας χρείας ἢ λογισμοὺς ἐπιμέμφεσθαι πρεσβυτέρῳ νεώτερον ὄντα. καὶ τάδε μὲν ἀρκέσει σοι περὶ τῶνδε εἰρῆσθαι· ἐνσημαίνῃ δὲ καὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας με ἐπιθυμεῖν, οὐκ ἐπιθυμοῦντα μέν, οὐκ ἀπάξιον δὲ ἡγούμενον εἶναι, καὶ ἄχθεσθαι μὴ τυχόντα τῶν διαθηκῶν τῶν Καίσαρος, ὁμολογῶν μοι καὶ τὸ τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν γένος ἀρκεῖν.
20. “As to your pecuniary needs and your wishing to borrow from the public funds, I should think you must be joking, unless we might believe that you are still ignorant of the fact that the public treasury was left empty by your father. After he assumed the government the public revenues were brought to him instead of to the treasury, and they will presently be found among Caesar’s assets when we vote an investigation into these matters. This will not be unjust to Caesar now that he is dead, nor would he say that it was unjust if he were living and were asked for the accounts. And as there will be many private persons to dispute with you concerning single pieces of property, you may assume that this portion will not be uncontested. The money transferred to my house was not so large a sum as you conjecture, nor is any part of it in my custody now. The men in power and authority, except Dolabella and my brothers, divided up the whole of it straightway as the property of a tyrant, but were brought around by me to support the decrees in favor of Caesar, and you, if you are wise, when you get possession of the remainder, will distribute it among those who are disaffected toward you rather than among the people. The former, if they are in harmony with you, will send the people, who are to be colonized, away to their settlements. The people, however, as you ought to have learned from the Greek studies you have been lately pursuing, are as unstable as the waves of the sea, now advancing, now retreating. In like manner, among us also, the people are forever exalting their favorites, and casting them down again.”
20. περὶ δὲ τῶν σῶν χρειῶν, ἐθέλοντα μέν σε ἐκ τῶν δημοσίων δανείσασθαι ἡγούμην ἂν εἰρωνείαν λέγειν, εἰ μὴ πιθανὸν ἦν ἔτι ἀγνοεῖν σε κενὰ πρὸς τοῦ πατρὸς ἀπολελεῖφθαι τὰ κοινὰ ταμιεῖα, τῶν προσόδων, ἐξ οὗ παρῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχήν, ἐς αὐτὸν ἀντὶ τοῦ ταμιείου συμφερομένων καὶ εὑρεθησομένων αὐτίκα ἐν τῇ Καίσαρος περιουσίᾳ, ὅταν αὐτὰ ζητεῖν ψηφισώμεθα. ἄδικον γὰρ οὐδὲν τοῦτο ἐς τὸν Καίσαρα ἔσται, τεθνεῶτά τε ἤδη καὶ οὐκ ἂν εἰπόντα ἄδικον εἶναι, εἰ καὶ ζῶν ᾐτεῖτο τοὺς λογισμούς, ἐπεὶ καὶ τῶν ἰδιωτῶν πολλοῖς ἀμφισβητοῦσί σοι καθʼ ἕνα τῆς οὐσίας οὐκ ἀδήριτον αὐτὴν ἔχων γνώσῃ. τῶν δὲ μετενεχθέντων πρός με χρημάτων οὔτε τὸ πλῆθός ἐστιν, ὅσον εἰκάζεις, οὔτε τι νῦν ἔστι παρʼ ἐμοί, πάντα τῶν ἐν ἀρχαῖς καὶ δυνάμει, πλὴν Δολοβέλλα καὶ τῶν ἐμῶν ἀδελφῶν νειμαμένων μὲν εὐθὺς ὡς τυράννου, διʼ ἐμὲ δὲ μετατεθέντων ἐς χάριν τῶν ὑπὲρ Καίσαρος ἐψηφισμένων, ἐπεὶ καὶ σὺ τὰ λοιπὰ φέρων οἴσεις ἀντὶ τοῦ δήμου τοῖς δυσχεραίνουσιν, ἂν σωφρονῇς. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐκπέμψουσιν, ἂν συμφρονῶσι, τὸν δῆμον ἐπὶ τὰς ἀποικίας· ὁ δὲ δῆμός ἐστιν, ὥσπερ καὶ σὺ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἀρτιδίδακτος ὢν ἔμαθες, ἀστάθμητον ὥσπερ ἐν θαλάσσῃ κῦμα κινούμενον· ὁ μὲν ἦλθεν, ὁ δʼ ἀπῆλθεν. ᾧ λόγῳ καὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων αἰεὶ τοὺς δημοκόπους ὁ δῆμος ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐξάρας ἐς γόνυ ἔρριψε.
21. Feeling outraged by the many insulting things said by Antony, Octavius went away, invoking his father repeatedly by name, and offered for sale all the property which had come to him by the inheritance, at the same time exhorting the people to stand by him. While this hasty action made manifest Antony’s enmity toward him, and the Senate voted an immediate investigation of the public accounts, most of them grew apprehensive of the young Caesar’ on account of the favor in which his father was held by the soldiers and the plebeians, and on account of his own present popularity based on the expected distribution of the money, and by reason of the wealth which had fallen to him in such vast measure that in the opinion of many he would not restrict himself to the rank of a private citizen. But they were most apprehensive of Antony, lest he should bring the young Caesar, distinguished and rich as he was, under his own control, and grasp the sovereignty held by the elder Caesar. Others were delighted with the present state of affairs, believing that the two men would come in conflict with each other; and that the investigation concerning the public money would presently put an end to the wealth of Octavius, and that the treasury would be filled thereby because much of the public property would be found in Caesar’s estate.
21. τούτων τοῖς πολλοῖς δυσχεράνας ὁ Καῖσαρ ἐς ὕβριν εἰρημένοις ἀπεχώρει, τὸν πατέρα ἀνακαλῶν θαμινὰ ἐξ ὀνόματος, καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν ἐς πρᾶσιν αὐτίκα προυτίθει πᾶσαν, ὅση κατὰ τὸν κλῆρον ἐγίγνετο αὐτοῦ, προτρέπων ἐπικουρεῖν οἱ τὸν δῆμον ἐκ τῆσδε τῆς σπουδῆς· φανερᾶς δὲ τῆς Ἀντωνίου πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔχθρας γενομένης καὶ τῆς βουλῆς ζήτησιν εὐθὺς εἶναι τῶν δημοσίων χρημάτων ψηφισαμένης, οἱ πολλοὶ ἔδεισαν ἐπὶ τῷ νέῳ Καίσαρι τῆς πατρῴας ἐς τοὺς στρατιώτας καὶ τὸν δῆμον εὐνοίας οὕνεκα καὶ τῆς νῦν ἐπὶ τῇ χορηγίᾳ δημοκοπίας καὶ περιουσίας, ἣ δὴ πάνυ αὐτῷ πολλὴ προσελθοῦσα οὐκ ἐδόκει τοῖς πλείοσιν αὐτὸν ἐν ἰδιώτου μέτρῳ καθέξειν, ἐπὶ δὲ Ἀντωνίῳ μάλιστα, μὴ τὸν Καίσαρα, νέον ἄνδρα καὶ ἔνδοξον καὶ πλούσιον, ἑταιρισάμενος ὑφʼ ἑαυτὸν εἶναι πρότερος ἅψαιτο τῆς Καίσαρος δυναστείας. οἱ δὲ καὶ τοῖς τότε γιγνομένοις ἐφήδοντο, ὡς καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀλλήλοις ἐμποδὼν ἐσομένων καὶ τοῦ Καίσαρος πλούτου τῇ ζητήσει τῶν χρημάτων αὐτίκα διαλυθησομένου καὶ σφίσι τοῦ ταμιείου περιουσίας πλήρους ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐσομένου· τὰ γὰρ πολλὰ τῶν κοινῶν εὑρήσειν παρὰ Καίσαρι.