---
title: "Philippics · Philippicae"
author: "Cicero"
translator: "Charles Duke Yonge"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 13 of 21
url: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-philippics/13/
cite: "Cicero, tr. Charles Duke Yonge, Philippics · Philippicae, section 13. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-philippics/13/"
---

# Philippics · Philippicae

*Cicero, tr. Charles Duke Yonge*

Fourteen speeches against Mark Antony, which cost Cicero his life.

> Latin: ed. Albert Curtis Clark, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0474.phi035, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Charles Duke Yonge, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0474.phi035.perseus-eng1). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 13. Speech 8

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-philippics/13/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-philippics/13/#p-N

[¶0] 2. And yet Caesar himself in some degree recommended you, o conscript fathers, not to agree with him, when he said that he should have expressed quite different sentiments, worthy both of himself and of the republic, if he had not been hampered by his relationship to Antonius. He, then, is his uncle; are you his uncles too, you who voted with him? But on what did the dispute turn? Some men, in delivering their opinion, did not choose to insert the word “war.” They preferred calling it “tumult,” being ignorant not only of the state of affairs, but also of the meaning of words.

> Latin: 2. ipse tamen Caesar praecepit vobis quodam modo, patres conscripti, ne sibi adsentiremini, cum ita dixit, aliam sententiam se dicturum fuisse eamque se ac re publica dignam, nisi propinquitate impediretur. ille avunculus: num etiam vos avunculi qui illi estis adsensi? in quo fuit controversia? Belli nomen ponendum quidam in sententia non putabant: tumultum appellare malebant, ignari non modo rerum sed etiam verborum: potest enim esse bellum ut tumultus non sit, tumultus autem esse sine bello non potest.

[¶1] 3. For there can be a “war” without a “tumult,” but there can not be a “tumult” without a “war.” For what is a “tumult,” but such a violent disturbance that an unusual alarm is engendered by it? from which indeed the name “tumult” is derived. Therefore, our ancestors spoke of the Italian “tumult,” which was a domestic one; of the Gallic “tumult,” which was on the frontier of Italy; but they never spoke of any other. And that a “tumult” is a more serious thing than a war may be seen from this, that during a war exemptions from military service are valid; but in a tumult they are not. So that it is the fact, as I have said, that war can exist without a tumult, but a tumult can not exist without a war.

> Latin: 3. est enim aliud tumultus nisi perturbatio tanta ut maior timor oriatur? unde etiam nomen ductum est tumultus. maiores nostri tumultum Italicum quod erat domesticus, tumultum Gallicum quod erat Italiae finitimus, praeterea nullum nominabant. autem tumultum esse quam bellum hinc intellegi potest quod bello vacationes valent, tumultu non valent. fit, quem ad modum dixi, ut bellum sine tumultu possit, tumultus sine bello esse non possit.

[¶2] 4. In truth, as there is no medium between war and peace, it is quite plain that a tumult, if it be not a sort of war, must be a sort of peace; and what more absurd can be said or imagined? However, we have said too much about a word, let us rather look to the facts, O conscript fathers, the appreciation of which, I know, is at times injured by too much attention being paid to words. We are unwilling that this should appear to be a war. What is the object, then, of our giving authority to the municipal towns and colonies to exclude Antonius? of our authorizing soldiers to be enlisted without any force, without the terror of any fine, of their own inclination and eagerness? of permitting them to promise money for the assistance of the republic? For if the name of war be taken away, the zeal of the municipal towns will be taken away too. And the unanimous feeling of the Roman people which at present pours itself into our cause, if we cool upon it, must inevitably be damped.

> Latin: 4. cum inter bellum et pacem medium nihil sit, necesse est tumultum, si belli non sit, pacis esse: quo quid absurdius dici aut existimari potest? nimis multa de verbo: rem potius videamus, patres conscripti, quam quidem intellego verbo fieri interdum deteriorem solere. hoc bellum videri. igitur municipiis et coloniis ad excludendum Antonium auctoritatem damus? quam ut milites fiant sine vi, sine multa, studio, voluntate? quam ut pecunias in rem publicam polliceantur? enim belli nomen tolletur, municipiorum studia tollentur; consensus populi Romani, qui iam descendit in causam, si nos languescimus, debilitetur necesse est.

[¶3] 5. But why need I say more? Decimus Brutus is attacked. Is not that war? Mutina is besieged. Is not even that war? Gaul is laid waste. What peace can be more assured than this? Who can think of calling that war? We have sent forth a consul, a most gallant man, with an army, who, though he was in a weak state from a long and serious illness, still thought he ought not to make any excuse when he was summoned to the protection of the republic. Caius Caesar, indeed, did not wait for our decrees; especially as that conduct of his was not unsuited to his age. He undertook war against Antonius of his own accord; for there was not yet time to pass a decree; and he saw that, if he let slip the opportunity of waging war, when the republic was crushed it would be impossible to pass any decrees at all.

> Latin: 5. quid plura? D. Brutus oppugnatur: non est bellum? Mutina obsidetur: ne hoc quidem bellum est? Gallia vastatur: quae pax potest esse certior? vero quis potest bellum esse dicere?, fortissimum virum, cum exercitu misimus, qui, cum esset infirmus ex gravi diuturnoque morbo, nullam sibi putavit excusationem esse oportere, cum ad rei publicae praesidium vocaretur. C. quidem Caesar non exspectavit vestra decreta, praesertim cum illud esset aetatis: bellum contra Antonium sua sponte suscepit. enim tempus nondum erat: bellum autem gerendi tempus si praetermisisset, videbat re publica oppressa nihil posse decerni.

[¶4] 6. They and their arms, then, are now at peace. He is not an enemy whose garrison Hirtius has driven from Claterna; he is not an enemy who is in arms resisting a consul, and attacking a consul elect; and those are not the words of an enemy, nor is that warlike language, which Pansa read just now out of his colleague's letters: “I drove out the garrison.” “I got possession of Claterna.” “The cavalry were routed.” “A battle was fought.” “A good many men were slain.” What peace can be greater that this? Levies of troops are ordered throughout all Italy; all exemptions from service are suspended; the robe of war is to be assumed tomorrow; the consul has said that he shall come down to the senate-house with an armed guard. Is not this war? Yes, it is such a war as has never been.

> Latin: 6. illi nunc et eorum exercitus in pace versantur. est hostis is cuius praesidium Claterna deiecit Hirtius; non est hostis qui consuli armatus obsistit, designatum consulem oppugnat, nec illa hostilia verba nec bellica quae paulo ante ex conlegae litteris Pansa recitavit: “praesidium; Claterna potitus sum; fugati equites; proelium commissum; occisi aliquot.” pax potest esse maior? tota Italia decreti sublatis vacationibus; saga cras sumentur; consul se cum praesidio descensurum esse dixit.

[¶5] 7. For in all other wars, and most especially in civil wars, it was a difference as to the political state of the republic which gave rise to the contest. Sulla contended against Sulpicius about the force of laws which Sulla said had been passed by violence. Cinna warred against Octavius because of the votes of the new citizens. Again, Sulla was at variance with Cinna and Marius, in order to prevent unworthy men from attaining power, and to avenge the cruel death of most illustrious men. The causes of all these wars arose from the zeal of different parties, for what they considered the interest of the republic. Of the last civil war I can not bear to speak: I do not understand the cause of it; I detest the result.

> Latin: 7. Vtrum hoc bellum non est, an est tantum bellum quantum numquam fuit? enim bellis maximeque civilibus contentionem rei publicae causa faciebat. Sulla cum Sulpicio de iure legum quas per vim Sulla latas esse dicebat; Cinna cum Octavio de novorum civium suffragiis; rursus cum Mario et Carbone Sulla ne dominarentur indigni et ut clarissimorum hominum crudelissimam puniretur necem. Horum omnium bellorum causae ex rei publicae contentione natae sunt. proximo bello civili non libet dicere: ignoro causam, detestor exitum.

[¶6] 8. This is the fifth civil war (and all of them have fallen upon our times); the first which has not only not brought dissensions and discord among the citizens, but which has been signalized by extraordinary unanimity and incredible concord. All of them have the same wish, all defend the same objects, all are inspired with the same sentiments. When I say all, I except those whom no one thinks worthy of being citizens at all. What, then, is the cause of war, and what is the object aimed at? We are defending the temples of the immortal gods, we are defending the walls of the city, we are defending the homes and habitations of the Roman people, the household gods, the altars, the hearths and the sepulchers of our forefathers; we are defending our laws, our courts of justice, our freedom, our wives, our children, and our country. On the other hand, Marcus Antonius labors and fights in order to throw into confusion and overturn all these things; and hopes to have reason to think the plunder of the republic sufficient cause for the war, while he squanders part of our fortunes, and distributes the rest among his parricidal followers.

> Latin: 8. bellum quintum civile geritur—atque omnia in nostram aetatem inciderunt—primum non modo non in dissensione et discordia civium sed in maxima consensione incredibilique concordia. idem volunt, idem defendunt, idem sentiunt. omnis dico, eos excipio quos nemo civitate dignos putat. est igitur in medio belli causa posita? deorum immortalium templa, nos muros, nos domicilia sedesque populi Romani, aras, focos, sepulcra maiorum; nos leges, iudicia, libertatem, coniuges, liberos, patriam defendimus: contra M. Antonius id molitur, id pugnat ut haec omnia perturbet, evertat, praedam rei publicae causam belli putet, fortunas nostras partim dissipet partim dispertiat parricidis.

[¶7] 9. While, then, the motives for war are so different, a most miserable circumstance is what that fellow promises to his band of robbers. In the first place our houses; for he declares that he will divide the city among them; and after that he will lead them out at whatever gate and settle them on whatever lands they please. All the Caphons, all the Saxas, and the other plagues which attend Antonius, are marking out for themselves in their own minds most beautiful houses, and gardens, and villas, at Tusculum and Alba; and those clownish men—if indeed they are men, and not rather brute beasts—are borne on in their empty hopes as far as the waters and Puteoli. So Antonius has something to promise to his followers. What can we do? Have we any thing of the sort? May the gods grant us a better fate! for our express object is to prevent any one at all from hereafter making similar promises. I say this against my will, still I must say it;—the auction sanctioned by Caesar, O conscript fathers, gives many wicked men both hope and audacity. For they saw some men become suddenly rich from having been beggars. Therefore, those men who are hanging over our property, and to whom Antonius promises everything, are always longing to see an auction.

> Latin: 9. hac tam dispari ratione belli miserrimum illud est quod ille latronibus suis pollicetur primum domos; urbem enim divisurum se confirmat; deinde omnibus portis quo velint deducturum. Cafones, omnes Saxae ceteraeque pestes quae sequuntur Antonium aedis sibi optimas, hortos, Tusculana, Albana definiunt. etiam homines agrestes, si homines illi ac non pecudes potius, inani spe ad aquas usque et Puteolos pervehuntur. habet Antonius quod suis polliceatur. nos? num quid tale habemus? meliora! id enim ipsum agimus ne quis posthac quicquam eius modi possit polliceri. dico, sed dicendum est: hasta Caesaris, patres conscripti, multis improbis et spem adfert et audaciam. enim ex mendicis fieri repente divites: itaque semper hastam videre cupiunt ei qui nostris bonis imminent, quibus omnia pollicetur Antonius.

[¶8] 10. What can we do? What do we promise our soldiers? Things much better and more honorable. For promises to be earned by wicked actions are pernicious both to those who expect them, and to those who promise them. We promise to our soldiers freedom, rights, laws, justice, the empire of the world, dignity, peace, tranquillity. The promises then of Antonius are bloody, polluted, wicked, odious for gods and men, neither lasting nor salutary; ours, on the other hand, are honorable, upright, glorious, full of happiness, and full of piety.

> Latin: 10. ? nostris exercitibus quid pollicemur? meliora atque maiora. enim promissio et eis qui exspectant perniciosa est et eis qui promittunt: nos libertatem nostris militibus, leges, iura, iudicia, imperium orbis terrae, dignitatem, pacem, otium pollicemur. Antoni igitur promissa cruenta, taetra, scelerata, dis hominibusque invisa, nec diuturna neque salutaria: nostra contra honesta, integra, gloriosa, plena laetitiae, plena pietatis.

[¶9] 11. Here also Quintus Fufius, a brave and energetic man, and a friend of mine, reminds me of the advantages of peace. As if, if it were necessary to praise peace, I could not do it myself quite as well as he. For is it once only that I have defended peace? Have I not at all times labored for tranquillity? which is desirable for all good men, but especially for me. For what course could my industry pursue without forensic causes, without laws, without courts of justice? and these things can have no existence when civil peace is taken away.

> Latin: 11. mihi etiam Q. Fufius, vir fortis ac strenuus, amicus meus, pacis commoda commemorat. vero, si laudanda pax esset, ego id aeque commode facere non possem. enim pacem defendi, non semper otio studui? quod cum omnibus bonis utile est, tum praecipue mihi. enim cursum industria mea tenere potuisset sine forensibus causis, sine legibus, sine iudiciis? quae esse non possunt civili pace sublata.

[¶10] 12. But I want to know what you mean, O Calenus? Do you call slavery peace? Our ancestors used to take up arms not merely to secure their freedom, but also to acquire empire; you think that we ought to throw away our arms, in order to become slaves. What juster cause is there for waging war than the wish to repel slavery? in which, even if one's master be not tyrannical, yet it is a most miserable thing that he should be able to be so if he chooses. In truth, other causes are just, this is a necessary one. Unless, perhaps, you think that this does not apply to you, because you expect that you will be a partner in the dominion of Antonius. And there you make a twofold mistake: first of all, in preferring your own to the general interest; and in the next place, in thinking that there is any thing either stable or pleasant in kingly power. Even if it has before now been advantageous to you, it will not always be so.

> Latin: 12. quaeso, Calene, quid tu? pacem vocas? quidem nostri non modo ut liberi essent sed etiam ut imperarent, arma capiebant: tu arma abicienda censes ut serviamus? causa iustior est belli gerendi quam servitutis depulsio? in qua etiam si non sit molestus dominus, tamen est miserrimum posse, si velit. aliae causae iustae, haec necessaria est. Nisi forte ad te hoc non putas pertinere, quod te socium fore speras dominationis Antoni. quo bis laberis: primum quod tuas rationes communibus interponis; deinde quod quicquam stabile aut iucundum in regno putas., si tibi antea profuit, semper proderit.

[¶11] 13. Moreover, you used to complain of that former master, who was a man; what do you think you will do when your master is a beast? And you say that you are a man who have always been desirous of peace, and have always wished for the preservation of all the citizens. Very honest language; that is, if you mean all citizens who are virtuous, and useful, and serviceable to the republic; but if you wish those who are by nature citizens, but by inclination enemies, to be saved, what difference is there between you and them? Your father, indeed, with whom I as a youth was acquainted, when he was an old man,—a man of rigid virtue and wisdom,—used to give the greatest praise of all citizens who had ever lived to Publius Nasica, who slew Tiberius Gracchus. By his valor, and wisdom, and magnanimity he thought that the republic had been saved.

> Latin: 13. etiam de illo homine queri solebas: quid te facturum de belua putas? ais eum te esse qui semper pacem optaris, semper omnis civis volueris salvos. oratio, sed ita si bonos et utilis et e re publica civis: sin eos qui natura cives sunt, voluntate hostes, salvos velis, quid tandem intersit inter te et illos? tuus quidem, quo utebar sene auctore adulescens, homo severus et prudens, primas omnium civium P. Nasicae qui Ti. Gracchum interfecit dare solebat: eius virtute, consilio, magnitudine animi liberatam rem publicam arbitrabatur.

[¶12] 14. What am I to say? Have we received any other doctrine from our fathers? Therefore, that citizen—if you had lived in those times—would not have been approved of by you, because he did not wish all the citizens to be safe. “Because Lucius Opimius the consul has made a speech concerning the republic, the senators have thus decided on that matter, that Opimius the consul shall defend the republic.” The senate adopted these measures in words, Opimius followed them up by his arms Should you then if you had lived in those times have thought him a hasty or a cruel citizen? or should you have thought Quintus Metellus one whose four sons were all men of consular rank? or Publius Lentulus the chief of the senate and many other admirable men who with Lucius Opimius the consul, took arms, and pursued Gracchus to the Aventine? and in the battle which ensued, Lentulus received a severe wound, Gracchus was slain, and so was Marcus Fulvius, a man of consular rank, and his two youthful sons. Those men, therefore, are to be blamed; for they did not wish all the citizens to be safe.

> Latin: 14. ? nos a patribus num aliter accepimus? is tibi civis, si temporibus illis fuisses, non probaretur, quia non omnis salvos esse voluisset. “L. Opimius consul verba fecit de re publica, de ea re ita censuerunt uti L. Opimius consul rem publicam defenderet.” haec verbis, Opimius armis. igitur eum, si tum esses, temerarium civem aut crudelem putares, aut Q. Metellum, cuius quattuor filii consulares, P. Lentulum, principem senatus, compluris alios summos viros qui cum Opimio consule armati Gracchum in Aventinum persecuti sunt? quo in proelio Lentulus grave volnus accepit, interfectus est Gracchus et M. Fulvius consularis, eiusque duo adulescentuli filii. igitur viri vituperandi: non enim omnis civis salvos esse voluerunt.

[¶13] 15. Let us come to instances nearer our own time. The senate entrusted the defense of the republic to Caius Marius and Lucius Valerius the consuls. Lucius Saturninus, a tribune of the people, and Caius Glaucia the praetor, were slain. On that day, all the Scauri, and Metelli, and Claudii, and Catuli, and Scaevolae, and Crassi took arms. Do you think either those consuls or those other most illustrious men deserving of blame? I myself wished Catiline to perish. Did you who wish every one to be safe, wish Catiline to be safe? There is this difference, O Calenus, between my opinion and yours. I wish no citizen to commit such crimes as deserve to be punished with death. You think that, even if he has committed them, still he ought to be saved. If there is any thing in our own body which is injurious to the rest of the body, we allow that to be burned and cut out, in order that a limb may be lost in preference to the whole body. And so in the body of the republic, whatever is rotten must be cut off in order that the whole may be saved.

> Latin: 15. propiora veniamus. C. Mario L. Valerio consulibus senatus rem publicam defendendam dedit: L. Saturninus tribunus plebis, C. Glaucia praetor est interfectus. illo die Scauri, Metelli, Claudii, Catuli, Scaevolae, Crassi arma sumpserunt. aut consules illos aut clarissimos viros vituperandos putas? Catilinam perire volui. tu qui omnis salvos vis Catilinam salvum esse voluisti? interest, Calene, inter meam sententiam et tuam. nolo quemquam civem committere ut morte multandus sit; tu, etiam si commiserit, conservandum putas. corpore si quid eius modi est quod reliquo corpori noceat, id uri secarique patimur ut membrum aliquod potius quam totum corpus intereat. in rei publicae corpore, ut totum salvum sit, quicquid est pestiferum amputetur.

[¶14] 16. Harsh language! This is much more harsh, “Let the worthless, and wicked, and impious be saved; let the innocent, the honorable, the virtuous, the whole republic be destroyed.” In the case of one individual, O Quintus Fufius, I confess that you saw more than I did. I thought Publius Clodius a mischievous, wicked, lustful, impious, audacious, criminal citizen. You, on the other hand, called him religious, temperate, innocent, modest; a citizen to be preserved and desired. In this one particular I admit that you had great discernment, and that I made a great mistake. For as for your saying that I am in the habit of arguing against you with ill temper, that is not the case. I confess that I argue with vehemence, but not with ill temper. I am not in the habit of getting angry with my friends every now and then, not even if they deserve it.

> Latin: 16. vox! multo illa durior: “Salvi sint improbi, scelerati, impii; deleantur innocentes, honesti, boni, tota res publica!” Vno in homine, Q. Fufi, fateor te vidisse plus quam me. P. Clodium arbitrabar perniciosum civem, sceleratum, libidinosum, impium, audacem, facinerosum, tu contra sanctum, temperantem, innocentem, modestum, retinendum civem et optandum. hoc uno te plurimum vidisse, me multum errasse concedo. quod me tecum iracunde agere dixisti solere, non est ita. me agere fateor, iracunde nego. irasci amicis non temere soleo, ne si merentur quidem.

[¶15] 17. Therefore, I can differ from you without using any insulting language, though not without feeling the greatest grief of mind. For is the dissension between you and me a trifling one, or on a trifling subject? Is it merely a case of my favoring this man, and you that man? Yes; I indeed favor Decimus Brutus, you favor Marcus Antonius; I wish a colony of the Roman people to be preserved, you are anxious that it should be stormed and destroyed. Can you deny this, when you interpose every sort of delay calculated to weaken Brutus, and to improve the position of Antonius? For how long will you keep on saying that you are desirous of peace? Matters are progressing rapidly; the works have been carried on; severe battles are taking place. We sent three chief men of the city to interpose. Antonius has despised, rejected, and repudiated them. And still you continue a persevering defender of Antonius.

> Latin: 17. sine verborum contumelia a te dissentire possum, sine animi summo dolore non possum. est enim mihi tecum aut parva de re dissensio? ego huic faveo, tu illi? vero ego D. Bruto faveo, tu M. Antonio: ego conservari coloniam populi Romani cupio, tu expugnari studes. hoc negare potes, qui omnis moras interponas quibus infirmetur Brutus, melior fiat Antonius? usque enim dices pacem velle te? geritur; conductae vineae sunt; pugnatur acerrime. intercurrerent, misimus tris principes civitatis. contempsit, reiecit, repudiavit Antonius: tu tamen permanes constantissimus defensor Antoni.

[¶16] 18. And Calenus, indeed, in order that he may appear a more conscientious senator, says that he ought not to be a friend to him; since, though Antonius was under great obligations to him, he still had acted against him. See how great is his affection for his country. When you are so bitter, O Quintus Fufius, against the people of Marseilles, I can not listen to you with calmness. For how long are you going to attack Marseilles? Does not even a triumph put an end to the war? in which was carried an image of that city, without whose assistance our forefathers never triumphed over the Transalpine nations. Then, indeed, did the Roman people groan. Although they had their own private griefs because of their own affairs, still there was no citizen who thought the miseries of this most loyal city unconnected with himself.

> Latin: 18. quidem, quo melior senator videatur, negat se illi amicum esse debere: cum suo magno esset beneficio, venisse eum contra se. quanta caritas sit patriae: cum homini sit iratus, tamen rei publicae causa defendit Antonium. te, cum in Massiliensis tam es acerbus, Q. Fufi, non animo aequo audio. usque enim Massiliam oppugnabis? ne triumphus quidem finem facit belli, per quem lata est urbs ea sine qua numquam ex Transalpinis gentibus maiores nostri triumpharunt. quidem tempore populus Romanus ingemuit: quamquam proprios dolores suarum rerum omnes habebant, tamen huius civitatis fidelissimae miserias nemo erat civis qui a se alienas arbitraretur.

[¶17] 19. Caesar himself, who had been the most angry of all men with them, still, on account of the unusually high character and loyalty of that city, was every day relaxing something of his displeasure And is there no extent of calamity by which so faithful a city can satiate you? Again, perhaps, you will say that I am losing my temper. But I am speaking without passion, as I always do, though not without great indignation. I think that no man can be an enemy to that city, who is a friend to this one. What your object is, O Calenus, I can not imagine. Formerly we were unable to deter you from devoting yourself to the gratification of the people; now we are unable to prevail on you to show any regard for their interests. I have argued long enough with Fufius, saying everything without hatred, but nothing without indignation. I suppose that a man who can bear the complaint of his son-in-law with indifference, will bear that of his friend with great equanimity.

> Latin: 19. Caesar ipse qui illis fuerat iratissimus tamen propter singularem eius civitatis gravitatem et fidem cotidie aliquid iracundiae remittebat: te nulla sua calamitate civitas satiare tam fidelis potest? iam me irasci fortasse dices. autem sine iracundia dico omnia nec tamen sine dolore animi: neminem illi civitati inimicum esse arbitror qui amicus huic sit civitati. quae tua ratio sit, Calene, non possum. deterrere te ne popularis esses non poteramus: exorare nunc ut sis popularis non possumus. multa cum Fufio ac sine odio omnia, nihil sine dolore. autem, qui generi querelam moderate ferat, aequo animo laturum amici.

[¶18] 20. I come now to the rest of the men of consular rank, of whom there is no one (I say this on my own responsibility), who is not connected with me in some way or other by kindnesses conferred or received; some in a great, some in a moderate degree, but every one to some extent or other. What a disgraceful day was yesterday to us! to us consulars, I mean. Are we to send ambassadors again? What? would he make a truce? Before the very face and eyes of the ambassadors he battered Mutina with his engines. He displayed his works and his defenses to the ambassadors. The siege was not allowed one moment's breathing time, not even while the ambassadors should be present. Send ambassadors to this man! What for? in order to have great fears for their return?

> Latin: 20. ad reliquos consularis, quorum nemo est—iure hoc meo dico—quin mecum habeat aliquam coniunctionem gratiae, alii maximam, alii mediocrem, nemo nullam. hesternus dies nobis, consularibus dico, turpis inluxit! legatos? ille faceret indutias? os oculosque legatorum tormentis Mutinam verberavit; opus ostendebat munitionemque legatis; ne punctum quidem temporis, cum legati adessent, oppugnatio respiravit. hunc legatos? cur? an ut eorum reditu vehementius pertimescatis?

[¶19] 21. In truth, though on the previous occasion I had voted against the ambassadors being decreed, still I consoled myself with this reflection, that, when they had returned from Antonius despised and rejected, and had reported to the senate, not merely that he had not withdrawn from Gaul, as we had voted that he should, but that he had not even retired from before Mutina, and that they had not been allowed to proceed on to Decimus Brutus, all men would be inflamed with hatred and stimulated by indignation, so that we should reinforce Decimus Brutus with arms, and horses, and men. But we have become even more languid since we have become acquainted with, not only the audacity and wickedness of Antonius, but also with his insolence and pride.

> Latin: 21. cum ante legatos decerni non censuissem, hoc me tamen consolabar, cum illi ab Antonio contempti et reiecti revertissent renuntiavissentque senatui non modo illum de Gallia non discessisse, uti censuissemus, sed ne a Mutina quidem recessisse, potestatem sibi D. Bruti conveniendi non fuisse, fore ut omnes inflammati odio, excitati dolore, armis, equis, viris D. Bruto subveniremus. etiam languidiores postea facti sumus quam M. Antoni non solum audaciam et scelus sed etiam insolentiam superbiamque perspeximus.

[¶20] 22. Would that Lucius Caesar were in health; that Servius. Sulpicius were alive. This cause would be pleaded much better by three men, than it is now by me single-handed. What I am going to say I say with grief, rather than by way of insult. We have been deserted—we have, I say, been deserted, O conscript fathers, by our chiefs. But, as I have often said before, all those who in a time of such danger have proper and courageous sentiments shall be men of consular rank. The ambassadors ought to have brought us back courage, they have brought us back fear. Not, indeed, that they have caused me any fear: let them have as high an opinion as they please of the man to whom they were sent; from whom they have even brought back commands to us.

> Latin: 22. Vtinam L. Caesar valeret, Ser. Sulpicius viveret: multo melius haec causa ageretur a tribus quam nunc agitur ab uno. Dolenter hoc dicam potius quam contumeliose., deserti, inquam, sumus, patres conscripti, a principibus. —saepe iam dixi— omnes in tanto periculo qui recte et fortiter sentient erunt consulares. nobis adferre legati debuerunt: timorem attulerunt—quamquam mihi quidem nullum — quamvis de illo ad quem missi sunt bene existiment: a quo etiam mandata acceperunt.

[¶21] 23. O ye immortal gods! where are the habits and virtues of our forefathers? Caius Popillius, in the time of our ancestors, when he had been sent as ambassador to Antiochus the king, and had given him notice, in the words of the senate, to depart from Alexandria, which he was besieging, on the king's seeking to delay giving his answer, drew a line round him where he was standing with his rod, and stated that he should report him to the senate if he did not answer him as to what he intended to do before he moved out of that line which surrounded him. He did well. For he had brought with him the countenance of the senate, and the authority of the Roman people; and if a man does not obey that, we are not to receive commands from him in return, but he is to be utterly rejected.

> Latin: 23. di immortales! ubi est ille mos virtusque maiorum? C. Popilius apud maiores nostros cum ad Antiochum regem legatus missus esset et verbis senatus denuntiasset ut ab Alexandrea discederet quam obsidebat, cum tempus ille differret, virgula stantem circumscripsit dixitque se renuntiaturum senatui, nisi prius sibi respondisset quid facturus esset quam ex illa circumscriptione exisset.: senatus enim faciem secum attulerat auctoritatemque rei publicae. qui non paret, non ab eo mandata accipienda sunt, sed ipse est potius repudiandus.

[¶22] 24. Am I to receive commands from a man who despises the commands of the senate? Or am I to think that he has any thing in common with the senate, who besieges a general of the Roman people in spite of the prohibition of the senate? But what commands they are! With what arrogance, with what stupidity, with what insolence are they conceived! But what made him charge our ambassadors with them when he was sending Cotyla to us, the ornament and bulwark of his friends, a man of aedilitian rank? if, indeed, he really was an aedile at the time when the public slaves flogged him with thongs at a banquet by command of Antonius.

> Latin: 24. ego ab eo mandata acciperem qui senatus mandata contemneret? aut ei cum senatu quicquam commune iudicarem qui imperatorem populi Romani senatu prohibente obsideret? quae mandata! qua adrogantia, quo stupore, quo spiritu! autem ea legatis nostris dabat, cum ad nos Cotylam mitteret, ornamentum atque arcem amicorum suorum, hominem aedilicium? si vero tum fuit aedilis cum eum iussu Antoni in convivio servi publici loris ceciderunt.

[¶23] 25. But what modest commands they are! We must be iron-hearted men, O conscript fathers, to deny any thing to this man! “I give up both provinces,” says he; “I disband my army; I am willing to become a private individual.” For these are his very words. He seems to be coming to himself. “I am willing to forget everything; to be reconciled to every body.” But what does he add? “If you give booty and land to my six legions, to my cavalry, and to my praetorian cohort.” He even demands rewards for those men for whom, if he were to demand pardon, he would be thought the most impudent of men. He adds farther, “Those men to whom the lands have been given which he himself and Dolabella distributed, are to retain them.”

> Latin: 25. quam modesta mandata! sumus, patres conscripti, qui quicquam huic negemus. “Vtramque provinciam” inquit “remitto: exercitum depono: privatus esse non recuso.” sunt enim verba. ad se videtur. “obliviscor, in gratiam redeo.” quid adiungit? “si legionibus meis sex, si equitibus, si cohorti praetoriae praedia agrumque dederitis.” Eis etiam praemia postulat quibus ut ignoscatur si postulet, impudentissimus iudicetur. praeterea ut, quos ipse cum Dolabella dederit agros, teneant ei quibus dati sint.

[¶24] 26. This is the Campanian and Leontine district, both which our ancestors considered a certain resource in times of scarcity. He is protecting the interests of his buffoons and gamesters and pimps. He is protecting Capho's and Saxa's interests too, pugnacious and muscular centurions, whom he placed among his troops of male and female buffoons. Besides all this, he demands “that the decrees of himself and his colleague concerning Caesar's writings and memoranda are to stand.” Why is he so anxious that every one should have what he has bought, if he who sold it all has the price which he received for it? “And that his accounts of the money in the temple of Ops are not to be meddled with.” That is to say, that those seven hundred millions of sesterces are not to be recovered from him. “That the septemviri are to be exempt from blame or from prosecution for what they have done.” It was Nucula, I imagine, who put him in mind of that; he was afraid, perhaps, of losing so many clients. He also wishes to make stipulations in favor of “those men who are with him who may have done any thing against the laws.

> Latin: 26. est Campanus ager et Leontinus, quae duo maiores nostri annonae perfugia ducebant. mimis, aleatoribus, lenonibus: Cafoni etiam et Saxae cavet, quos centuriones pugnacis et lacertosos inter mimorum et mimarum greges conlocavit. praeterea ut chirographorum summa et commentariorum conlegaeque sui decreta maneant. laborat ut habeat quod quisque mercatus est, si quod accepit habet qui vendidit? et ne tangantur rationes ad Opis: id est, ne septiens miliens recuperetur; ne fraudi sit vii viris quod egissent. Nucula hoc, credo, admonuit: verebatur fortasse ne amitteret tantas clientelas. Caveri etiam volt eis qui secum sint quicquid contra leges commiserint. et Tironi prospicit: de se nihil laborat.

[¶25] 27. “He is here taking care of Mustela and Tiro; he is not anxious about himself. For what has he done? has he ever touched the public money, or murdered a man, or had armed men about him? But what reason has he for taking so much trouble about them? For he demands, “that his own judiciary law be not abrogated.” And if he obtains that, what is there that he can fear? can he be afraid that any one of his friends may be convicted by Cydas, or Lysiades, or Curius? However, he does not press us with many more demands. “I give up,” says he, “Gallia Togata; I demand Gallia Comata.” —he evidently wishes to be quite at his ease,—“with six legions, and those made up to their full complement out of the army of Decimus Brutus;”—not only out of the troops whom he has enlisted himself; “and he is to keep possession of it as long as Marcus Brutus and Caius Cassius, as consuls, or as proconsuls, keep possession of their provinces.” In the comitia held by him, his brother Caius (for it is his year) has already been repulsed.

> Latin: 27. enim commisit umquam? num aut pecuniam publicam attigit aut hominem occidit aut secum habuit armatos? quid est quod de eis laboret? enim ne sua iudiciaria lex abrogetur. impetrato quid est quod metuat? an ne suorum aliquis a Cyda, Lysiade, Curio condemnetur? tamen nos urget mandatis pluribus; remittit aliquantum et relaxat. “Galliam” inquit “togatam remitto, comatam postulo”— otiosus videlicet esse mavolt —“cum sex legionibus” inquit “eisque suppletis ex D. Bruti exercitu,” non modo ex dilectu suo, tam diuque ut obtineat dum M. Brutus C. Cassius consules prove coss. provincias obtinebunt. comitiis C. frater—eius est enim annus —iam repulsam tulit. “autem ut quinquennium” inquit “obtineam.”

[¶26] 28. “And I myself,” says he, “am to retain possession of my province five years.” But that is expressly forbidden by the law of Caesar, and you defend the acts of Caesar. Were you, O Lucius Piso, and you, O Lucius Philippus, you chiefs of the city, able, I will not say to endure in your minds, but even to listen with your ears to these commands of his? But, I suspect there was some alarm at work; nor, while in his power, could you feel as ambassadors, or as men of consular rank, nor could you maintain your own dignity, or that of the republic. And nevertheless somehow or other owing to some philosophy, I suppose, you did what I could not have done,—you returned without any very angry feelings, Marcus Antonius paid you no respect, though you were most illustrious men, ambassadors of the Roman people. As for us, what concessions did not we make to Cotyla the ambassador of Marcus Antonius? though it was against the law for even the gates of the city to be opened to him, yet even this temple was opened to him. He was allowed to enter the senate; here yesterday he was taking down our opinions and every word we said in his note-books; and men who had been preferred to the highest honors sold themselves to him in utter disregard of their own dignity.

> Latin: 28. istud vetat lex Caesaris, et tu acta Caesaris defendis. tu mandata, L. Piso, et tu, L. Philippe, principes civitatis, non dico animo ferre verum auribus accipere potuistis?, ut suspicor, terror erat quidam: nec vos ut legati apud illum fuistis nec ut consulares, nec vos vestram nec rei publicae dignitatem tenere potuistis. tamen nescio quo pacto sapientia quadam, credo, quod ego non possem, non nimis irati revertistis. M. Antonius nihil tribuit, clarissimis viris, legatis populi Romani: nos quid non legato M. Antoni Cotylae concessimus? portas huius urbis patere ius non erat, huic hoc templum patuit, huic aditus in senatum fuit, hic hesterno die sententias vestras in codicillos et omnia verba referebat, huic se etiam summis honoribus usi contra suam dignitatem venditabant.

[¶27] 29. O ye immortal gods! how great an enterprise is it to uphold the character of a leader in the republic; for it requires one to be influenced not merely by the thoughts but also by the eyes of the citizens. To take to one's house the ambassador of an enemy, to admit him to one's chamber, even to confer apart with him, is the act of a man who thinks nothing of his dignity, and too much of his danger. But what is danger? For if one is engaged in a contest where every thing is at stake, either liberty is assured to one if victorious, or death if defeated; the former of which alternatives is desirable, and the latter some time or other inevitable. But a base flight from death is worse than any imaginable death.

> Latin: 29. O di immortales! quam magnum est personam in re publica tueri principis! quae non animis solum debet sed etiam oculis servire civium. recipere legatum hostium, in cubiculum admittere, etiam seducere hominis est nihil de dignitate, nimium de periculo cogitantis. autem est periculum? si maximum in discrimen venitur, aut libertas parata victori est aut mors proposita victo: quorum alterum optabile est, alterum effugere nemo potest. autem fuga mortis omni est morte peior. illud quidem non adducor ut credam, esse quosdam qui invideant alicuius constantiae, qui labori, qui perpetuam in re publica adiuvanda voluntatem et senatui et populo Romano probari moleste ferant.

[¶28] 30. For I will never be induced to believe that there are men who envy the consistency or diligence of others, and who are indignant at the unceasing desire to assist the republic being approved by the senate and people of Rome. That is what we were all bound to do; and that was not only in the time of our ancestors, but even lately, the highest praise of men of consular rank, to be vigilant, to be anxious, to be always either thinking, or doing, or saying something to promote the interests of the republic.

> Latin: 30. id quidem facere debebamus, eaque erat non modo apud maiores nostros sed etiam nuper summa laus consularium, vigilare, adesse animo, semper aliquid pro re publica aut cogitare aut facere aut dicere.

[¶29] 31. I, O conscript fathers, recollect that Quintus Scaevola the augur, in the Marsic war, when he was a man of extreme old age, and quite broken down in constitution, every day, as soon as it was daylight, used to give every one an opportunity of consulting him; nor, throughout all that war, did any one ever see him in bed; and, though old and weak, he was the first man to come into the senate-house. I wish, above all things, that those who ought to do so would imitate his industry; and, next to that, I wish that they would not envy the exertions of another.

> Latin: 31. , patres conscripti, Q. Scaevolam augurem memoria teneo bello Marsico, cum esset summa senectute et perdita valetudine, cotidie simul atque luceret facere omnibus conveniendi potestatem sui: nec eum quisquam illo bello vidit in lecto, senexque et debilis primus veniebat in curiam. industriam maxime equidem vellem ut imitarentur ei quos oportebat; secundo autem loco ne alterius labori inviderent.

[¶30] 32. In truth, O conscript fathers, now we have begun to entertain hopes of liberty again, after a period of six years, during which we have been deprived of it, having endured slavery longer than prudent and industrious prisoners usually do, what watchfulness, what anxiety, what exertions ought we to shrink from, for the sake of delivering the Roman people? In truth, O conscript fathers, though men who have had the honors conferred on them that we have, usually wear their gowns, while the rest of the city is in the robe of war, still I decided that at such a momentous crisis, and when the whole republic was in so disturbed a state, we would not differ in our dress from you and the rest of the citizens. For we men of consular rank are not in this war conducting ourselves in such a manner that the Roman people will be likely to look with equanimity on the ensigns of our honor, when some of us are so cowardly as to have cast away all recollection of the kindnesses which they have received from the Roman people; some are so disaffected to the republic that they openly allege that they favor this enemy, and easily bear having our ambassadors despised and insulted by Antonius, while they wish to support the ambassador sent by Antonius. For they said that he ought not to be prevented from returning to Antonius, and they proposed an amendment to my proposition of not receiving him. Well, I will submit to them. Let Varius return to his general, but on condition that he never returns to Rome. And as to the others, if they abandon their errors, and return to their duty to the republic, I think they may he pardoned and left unpunished.

> Latin: 32. , patres conscripti, cum in spem libertatis sexennio post sumus ingressi diutiusque servitutem perpessi quam captivi frugi et diligentes solent, quas vigilias, quas sollicitudines, quos labores liberandi populi Romani causa recusare debemus?, patres conscripti, quamquam hoc honore usi togati solent esse, cum est in sagis civitas, statui tamen a vobis ceterisque civibus in tanta atrocitate temporis tantaque perturbatione rei publicae non differre vestitu. enim ita gerimus nos hoc bello consulares ut aequo animo populus Romanus visurus sit nostri honoris insignia, cum partim e nobis ita timidi sint ut omnem populi Romani beneficiorum memoriam abiecerint, partim ita a re publica aversi ut se hosti favere prae se ferant, legatos nostros ab Antonio despectos et inrisos facile patiantur, legatum Antoni sublevatum velint. enim reditu ad Antonium prohiberi negabant oportere et in eodem excipiendo sententiam meam corrigebant. geram morem. ad imperatorem suum Varius, sed ea lege ne umquam Romam revertatur. autem, si errorem suum deposuerint et cum re publica in gratiam redierint, veniam et impunitatem dandam puto.

[¶31] 33. Therefore, I give my vote, “That of those men who are with Marcus Antonius, those who abandon his army, and come over either to Caius Pansa or Aulus. Hirtius the consuls; or to Decimus Brutus, imperator and consul elect; or to Caius Caesar, propraetor, before the first of March next, shall not be liable to prosecution for having been with Antonius. That, if any one of those men who are now with Antonius shall do any thing which appears entitled to honor or to reward, Caius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius the consuls, one or both of them, shall, if they think fit make a motion to the senate respecting that man's honor or reward, at the earliest opportunity. That, if, after this resolution of the senate, any one shall go to Antonius except Lucius Varius, the senate will consider that that man has acted as an enemy to the republic.” Servius Sulpicius, as has been already said, had died on his embassy to Marcus Antonius, before Mutina; and the day after the delivery of the preceding speech, Pansa again called the senate together to deliberate on the honors to be paid to his memory. He himself proposed a public funeral, a sepulcher, and a statue. Servilius opposed the statue, as due only to those who had been slain by violence while in discharge of their duties as ambassadors. Cicero delivered the following oration in support of Pansa's proposition, which was carried.

> Latin: 33. ob res ita censeo: Eorum qui cum M. Antonio sunt, qui ab armis discesserint et aut ad C. Pansam aut ad A. Hirtium consules aut ad Decimum Brutum imperatorem, consulem designatum, aut ad C. Caesarem pro praetore ante Idus Martias primas adierint, eis fraudi ne sit quod cum M. Antonio fuerint. quis eorum qui cum M. Antonio sunt fecerit quod honore praemiove dignum esse videatur, uti C. Pansa A. Hirtius consules, alter ambove, si eis videbitur, de eius honore praemiove primo quoque die ad senatum referant. quis post hoc senatus consultum ad Antonium profectus esset praeter L. Varium, senatum existimaturum eum contra rem publicam fecisse.