---
title: "Philippics · Philippicae"
author: "Cicero"
translator: "Charles Duke Yonge"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 3 of 21
url: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-philippics/3/
cite: "Cicero, tr. Charles Duke Yonge, Philippics · Philippicae, section 3. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-philippics/3/"
---

# 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.

## 3. Speech 2 · sections 31–59

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-philippics/3/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-philippics/3/#p-N

[¶0] 31. For just consider a little; and for a moment think of the business like a sober man. I who, as I myself confess, am an intimate friend of those men, and, as you accuse me, an accomplice of theirs, deny that there is any medium between these alternatives. I confess that they, if they be not deliverers of the Roman people and saviours of the republic, are worse than assassins, worse than homicides, worse even than parricides: since it is a more atrocious thing to murder the father of one's country, than one's own father. You wise and considerate man, what do you say to this? If they are parricides, why are they always named by you, both in this assembly and before the Roman people, with a view to do them honour? Why has Marcus Brutus been, on your motion, excused from obedience to the laws, and allowed to be absent from the city more than ten days? Why were the games of Apollo celebrated with incredible honour to Marcus Brutus? why were provinces given to Brutus and Cassius? why were quaestors assigned to them? why was the number of their lieutenants augmented? And all these measures were owing to you. They are not homicides then. It follows that in your opinion they are deliverers of their country, since there can be no other alternative.

> Latin: 31. enim paulisper cogitationemque sobrii hominis punctum temporis suscipe. qui sum illorum, ut ipse fateor, familiaris, ut a te arguor, socius, nego quicquam esse medium: confiteor eos, nisi liberatores populi Romani conservatoresque rei publicae sint, plus quam sicarios, plus quam homicidas, plus etiam quam parricidas esse, si quidem est atrocius patriae parentem quam suum occidere. homo sapiens et considerate, quid dicis? si parricidas, cur honoris causa a te sunt et in hoc ordine et apud populum Romanum semper appellati? cur M. Brutus referente te legibus est solutus, si ab urbe plus quam decem dies afuisset? cur ludi Apollinares incredibili M. Bruti honore celebrati? cur provinciae Bruto, Cassio datae, cur quaestores additi, cur legatorum numerus auctus? haec acta per te. igitur homicidas. ut liberatores tuo iudicio, quando quidem tertium nihil potest esse.

[¶1] 32. What is the matter? Am I embarrassing you? For perhaps you do not quite understand propositions which are stated disjunctively. Still this is the sum total of my conclusion; that since they are acquitted by you of wickedness, they are at the same time pronounced most worthy of the very most honourable rewards. Therefore, I will now proceed again with my oration. I will write to them, if any one by chance should ask whether what you have imputed to me be true, not to deny it to any one. In truth, I am afraid that it must be considered either a not very creditable thing to them, that they should have concealed the fact of my being an accomplice; or else a most discreditable one to me that I was invited to be one, and that I shirked it. For what greater exploit (I call you to witness, O august Jupiter!) was ever achieved not only in this city, but in all the earth? What more glorious action was ever done? What deed was ever more deservedly recommended to the everlasting recollection of men? Do you, then, shut me up with the other leaders in the partnership in this design, as in the Trojan horse? I have no objection; I even thank you for doing so, with whatever intent you do it.

> Latin: 32. est? num conturbo te? enim fortasse satis quae diiunctius dicuntur intellegis. tamen haec summa est conclusionis meae: quoniam scelere a te liberati sunt, ab eodem amplissimis praemiis dignissimos iudicatos. iam retexo orationem meam. ad illos ut, si qui forte, quod a te mihi obiectum est, quaerent sitne verum, ne cui negent. vereor ne aut celatum me illis ipsis non honestum aut invitatum refugisse mihi sit turpissimum. enim res umquam, pro sancte Iuppiter! non modo in hac urbe sed in omnibus terris est gesta maior; quae gloriosior, quae commendatior hominum memoriae sempiternae? huius me tu consili societatem tamquam in equum Troianum cum principibus includis?

[¶2] 33. For the deed is so great a one, that I can not compare the unpopularity which you wish to excite against me on account of it, with its real glory. For who can be happier than those men whom you boast of having now expelled and driven from the city? What place is there either so deserted or so uncivilized, as not to seem to greet and to covet the presence of those men wherever they have arrived? What men are so clownish as not, when they have once beheld them, to think that they have reaped the greatest enjoyment that life can give? And what posterity will be ever so forgetful, what literature will ever be found so ungrateful, as not to cherish their glory with undying recollection? Enroll me then, I beg, in the number of those men.

> Latin: 33. recuso; ago etiam gratias, quoquo animo facis. enim res est ut invidiam istam quam tu in me vis concitare cum laude non comparem. enim beatius illis quos tu expulsos a te praedicas et relegatos? qui locus est aut tam desertus aut tam inhumanus qui illos, cum accesserint, non adfari atque appetere videatur? qui homines tam agrestes qui se, cum eos aspexerint, non maximum cepisse vitae fructum putent? quae vero tam immemor posteritas, quae tam ingratae litterae reperientur quae eorum gloriam non immortalitatis memoria prosequantur? vero ascribe me talem in numerum.

[¶3] 34. But one thing I am afraid you may not approve of. For if I had really been one of their number, I should have not only got rid of the king, but of the kingly power also out of the republic; and if I had been the author of the piece, as it is said, believe me, I should not have been contented with one act, but should have finished the whole play. Although, if it be a crime to have wished that Caesar might be put to death, beware, I pray you, O Antonius, of what must be your own case, as it is notorious that you, when at Narbo, formed a plan of the same sort with Caius Trebonius; and it was on account of your participation in that design that, when Caesar was being killed, we saw you called aside by Trebonius But I (see how far I am from any horrible inclination toward,) praise you for having once in your life had a righteous intention; I return you thanks for not having revealed the matter; and I excuse you for not having accomplished your purpose.

> Latin: 34. unam rem vereor ne non probes: si enim fuissem, non solum regem sed etiam regnum de re publica sustulissem; et, si meus stilus ille fuisset, ut dicitur, mihi crede, non solum unum actum sed totam fabulam confecissem. si interfici Caesarem voluisse crimen est, vide, quaeso, Antoni, quid tibi futurum sit, quem et Narbone hoc consilium cum C. Trebonio cepisse notissimum est et ob eius consili societatem, cum interficeretur Caesar, tum te a Trebonio vidimus sevocari. autem—vide quam tecum agam non inimice—quod bene cogitasti aliquando, laudo; quod non indicasti, gratias ago; quod non fecisti, ignosco.

[¶4] 35. That exploit required a man. And if any one should institute a prosecution against you, and employ that test of old Cassius, “who reaped any advantage from it?” take care, I advise you, lest you suit that description. Although, in truth, that action was, as you used to say, an advantage to every one who was not willing to be a slave, still it was so to you above all men, who are not merely not a slave, but are actually a king; who delivered yourself from an enormous burden of debt at the temple of Ops; who, by your dealings with the account-books, there squandered a countless sum of money; who have had such vast treasures brought to you from Caesar's house; at whose own house there is set up a most lucrative manufactory of false memoranda and autographs, and a most iniquitous market of lands, and towns, and exemptions, and revenues.

> Latin: 35. res illa quaerebat. si te in iudicium quis adducat usurpetque illud Cassianum, “cui bono fuerit,” vide, quaeso, ne haereas. illud quidem fuit, ut tu dicebas, omnibus bono qui servire nolebant, tibi tamen praecipue qui non modo non servis sed etiam regnas; qui maximo te aere alieno ad aedem Opis liberavisti; qui per easdem tabulas innumerabilem pecuniam dissipavisti; ad quem e domo Caesaris tam multa delata sunt; cuius domi quaestuosissima est falsorum commentariorum et chirographorum officina, agrorum, oppidorum, immunitatium, vectigalium flagitiosissimae nundinae.

[¶5] 36. In truth, what measure except the death of Caesar could possibly have been any relief to your indigent and insolvent condition? You appear to be somewhat agitated. Have you any secret fear that you yourself may appear to have had some connection with that crime? I will release you from all apprehension; no one will ever believe it; it is not like you to deserve well of the republic; the most illustrious men in the republic are the authors of that exploit; I only say that you are glad it was done; I do not accuse you of having done it. I have replied to your heaviest accusations, I must now also reply to the rest of them.

> Latin: 36. quae res egestati et aeri alieno tuo praeter mortem Caesaris subvenire potuisset? quid conturbatus esse videris: num quid subtimes ne ad te hoc crimen pertinere videatur? te metu: nemo credet umquam; non est tuum de re publica bene mereri; habet istius pulcherrimi facti clarissimos viros res publica auctores; ego te tantum gaudere dico, fecisse non arguo. maximis criminibus: nunc etiam reliquis respondendum est.

[¶6] 37. You have thrown in my teeth the camp of Pompeius and all my conduct at that time. At which time, indeed, if, as I have said before, my counsels and my authority had prevailed, you would this day be in indigence, we should be free and the republic would not have lost so many generals and so many armies. For I confess that, when I saw that these things certainly would happen, which now have happened, I was as greatly grieved as all the other virtuous citizens would have been if they had foreseen the same things. I did grieve, I did grieve, O conscript fathers, that the republic which had once been saved by your counsels and mine, was fated to perish in a short time. Nor was I so inexperienced in and ignorant of this nature of things, as to be disheartened on account of a fondness for life, which while it endured would wear me out with anguish, and when brought to an end would release me from all trouble. But I was desirous that those most illustrious men, the lights of the republic, should live: so many men of consular rank, so many men of praetorian rank, so many most honorable senators; and besides them all the flower of our nobility and of our youth; and the armies of excellent citizens. And if they were still alive, under ever such hard conditions of peace (for any sort of peace with our fellow-citizens appeared to me more desirable than civil war), we should be still this day enjoying the republic.

> Latin: 37. mihi Pompei atque illud omne tempus obiecisti. quidem tempore si, ut dixi, meum consilium auctoritasque valuisset, tu hodie egeres, nos liberi essemus; res publica non tot duces et exercitus amisisset. enim me, cum ea quae acciderunt providerem futura, tanta in maestitia fuisse quanta ceteri optimi cives, si idem providissent, fuissent., dolebam, patres conscripti, rem publicam vestris quondam meisque consiliis conservatam brevi tempore esse perituram. vero eram tam indoctus ignarusque rerum ut frangerer animo propter vitae cupiditatem, quae me manens conficeret angoribus, dimissa molestiis omnibus liberaret. ego praestantissimos viros, lumina rei publicae, vivere volebam, tot consularis, tot praetorios, tot honestissimos senatores, omnem praeterea florem nobilitatis ac iuventutis, tum optimorum civium exercitus; qui si viverent, quamvis iniqua condicione pacis—mihi enim omnis pax cum civibus bello civili utilior videbatur—rem publicam hodie teneremus.

[¶7] 38. And if my opinion had prevailed, and if those men, the preservation of whose lives was my main object, elated with the hope of victory, had not been my chief opposers, to say nothing of other results, at all events you would never have continued in this order, or rather in this city. But say you, my speech alienated from me the regard of Pompeius? Was there any one to whom he was more attached? any one with whom he conversed or shared his counsels more frequently? It was, indeed, a great thing that we, differing as we did respecting the general interests of the republic, should continue in uninterrupted friendship. But I saw clearly what his opinions and views were, and he saw mine equally. I was for providing for the safety of the citizens in the first place, in order that we might be able to consult their dignity afterward. He thought more of consulting their existing dignity. But because each of us had a definite object to pursue, our disagreement was the more endurable.

> Latin: 38. sententia si valuisset ac non ei maxime mihi quorum ego vitae consulebam spe victoriae elati obstitissent, ut alia omittam, tu certe numquam in hoc ordine vel potius numquam in hac urbe mansisses. vero Cn. Pompei voluntatem a me alienabat oratio mea. ille quemquam plus dilexit, cum ullo aut sermones aut consilia contulit saepius? quidem erat magnum, de summa re publica dissentientis in eadem consuetudine amicitiae permanere. quid ille et contra ille quid ego sentirem et spectarem videbat. incolumitati civium primum, ut postea dignitati possemus, ille praesenti dignitati potius consulebat. autem habebat uterque quid sequeretur, idcirco tolerabilior erat nostra dissensio.

[¶8] 39. But what that extra ordinary and almost godlike man thought of me is known to those men who pursued him to Paphos from the battle of Pharsalia. No mention of me was ever made by him that was not the most honorable that could be, that was not full of the most friendly regret for me; while he confessed that I had had the most foresight, but that he had had more sanguine hopes. And do you dare taunt me with the name of that man whose friend you admit that I was, and whose assassin you confess yourself? However, let us say no more of war in which you were too fortunate. I will not reply even with those jests to which you have said that I gave utterance in the camp. That camp was in truth full of anxiety, but although men are in great difficulties, still, provided they are men, they sometimes relax their minds.

> Latin: 39. vero ille singularis vir ac paene divinus de me senserit sciunt qui eum de Pharsalia fuga Paphum persecuti sunt. ab eo mentio de me nisi honorifica, nisi plena amicissimi desideri, cum me vidisse plus fateretur, se speravisse meliora. eius viri nomine me insectari audes cuius me amicum, te sectorem esse fateare? omittatur bellum illud in quo tu nimium felix fuisti. ⟨de⟩ iocis quidem respondebo quibus me in castris usum esse dixisti: erant quidem illa castra plena curae; verum tamen homines, quamvis in turbidis rebus sint, tamen, si modo homines sunt, interdum animis relaxantur.

[¶9] 40. But the fact that the same man finds fault with my melancholy, and also with my jokes, is a great proof that I was very moderate in each particular. You have said that no inheritances come to me. Would that this accusation of yours were a true one; I should have more of my friends and connections alive. But how could such a charge ever come into your head? For I have received more than twenty millions of sesterces in inheritances. Although in this particular I admit that you have been more fortunate than I. No one has ever made me his heir except he was a friend of mine, in order that my grief of mind for his loss might be accompanied also with some gain, if it was to be considered as such. But a man whom you never even saw, Lucius Rubrius, of Casinum, made you his heir.

> Latin: 40. autem idem maestitiam meam reprehendit, idem iocum, magno argumento est me in utroque fuisse moderatum. mihi negasti venire. Vtinam hoc tuum verum crimen esset! plures amici mei et necessarii viverent. qui istuc tibi venit in mentem? enim amplius sestertium ducentiens acceptum hereditatibus rettuli. in hoc genere fateor feliciorem esse te. nemo nisi amicus fecit heredem, ut cum illo commodo, si quod erat, animi quidam dolor iungeretur; te is quem tu vidisti numquam, L. Rubrius Casinas fecit heredem.

[¶10] 41. And see now how much he loved you, who, though he did not know whether you were white or black, passed over the son of his brother, Quintus Fufius, a most honorable Roman knight, and most attached to him, whom he had on all occasions openly declared his heir (he never even names him in his will), and he makes you his heir whom he had never seen, or at all events had never spoken to. I wish you would tell me, if it is not too much trouble, what sort of countenance Lucius Turselius was of; what sort of height; from what municipal town he came; and of what tribe he was a member. “I know nothing,” you will say, “about him, except what farms he had.” Therefore, he, disinheriting his brother, made you his heir. And besides these instances, this man has seized on much other property belonging to men wholly unconnected with him, to the exclusion of the legitimate heirs, as if he himself were the heir.

> Latin: 41. quidem vide quam te amarit is qui albus aterne fuerit ignoras. filium praeterit, Q. Fufi, honestissimi equitis Romani suique amicissimi, quem palam heredem semper factitarat, ne nominat quidem: te, quem numquam viderat aut certe numquam salutaverat, fecit heredem. mihi dicas, nisi molestum est, L. Turselius qua facie fuerit, qua statura, quo municipio, qua tribu. “scio” inquies “nisi quae praedia habuerit.” fratrem exheredans te faciebat heredem. multas praeterea pecunias alienissimorum hominum vi eiectis veris heredibus, tamquam heres esset, invasit.

[¶11] 42. Although the thing that struck me with most astonishment of all was, that you should venture to make mention of inheritances, when you yourself had not received the inheritance of your own father. And was it in order to collect all these arguments, O you most senseless of men, that you spent so many days in practicing declamation in another man's villa? Although, indeed (as your most intimate friends usually say), you are in the habit of declaiming, not for the purpose of whetting your genius, but of working off the effects of wine. And, indeed, you employ a master to teach you jokes, a man appointed by your own vote and that of your boon companions; a rhetorician, whom you have allowed to say whatever he pleased against you, a thoroughly facetious gentleman; but there are plenty of materials for speaking against you and against your friends. But just see now what a difference there is between you and your grandfather. He used with great deliberation to bring forth arguments advantageous for the cause he was advocating; you pour forth in a hurry the sentiments which you have been taught by another.

> Latin: 42. hoc maxime admiratus sum, mentionem te hereditatum ausum esse facere, cum ipse hereditatem patris non adisses. ut conligeres, homo amentissime, tot dies in aliena villa declamasti? quamquam tu quidem, ut tui familiarissimi dictitant, vini exhalandi, non ingeni acuendi causa declamitas. vero adhibes ioci causa magistrum suffragio tuo et compotorum tuorum rhetorem, cui concessisti ut in te quae vellet diceret, salsum omnino hominem, sed materia facilis in te et in tuos dicta dicere. autem quid intersit inter te et avum tuum. sensim dicebat quod causae prodesset; tu cursim dicis aliena.

[¶12] 43. And what wages have you paid this rhetorician? Listen, listen, O conscript fathers, and learn the blows which are inflicted on the republic. You have assigned, O Antonius, two thousand acres of land, in the Leontine district, to Sextus Clodius, the rhetorician, and those, too, exempt from every kind of tax, for the sake of putting the Roman people to such a vast expense that you might learn to be a fool. Was this gift, too, O you most audacious of men, found among Caesar's papers? But I will take another opportunity to speak about the Leontine and the Campanian district; where he has stolen lands from the republic to pollute them with most infamous owners. For now, since I have sufficiently replied to all his charges, I must say a little about our corrector and censor himself. And yet I will not say all I could, in order that if I have often to battle with him I may always come to the contest with fresh arms; and the multitude of his vices and atrocities will easily enable me to do so.

> Latin: 43. quanta merces rhetori data est!, audite, patres conscripti, et cognoscite rei publicae volnera. milia iugerum campi Leontini Sex. Clodio rhetori adsignasti et quidem immunia, ut populi Romani tanta mercede nihil sapere disceres. etiam hoc, homo audacissime, ex Caesaris commentariis? dicam alio loco et de Leontino agro et de Campano, quos iste agros ereptos rei publicae turpissimis possessoribus inquinavit. enim, quoniam criminibus eius satis respondi, de ipso emendatore et correctore nostro quaedam dicenda sunt. enim omnia effundam, ut, si saepius decertandum sit, ut erit, semper novus veniam: quam facultatem mihi multitudo istius vitiorum peccatorumque largitur.

[¶13] 44. Shall we then examine your conduct from the time when you were a boy? I think so. Let us begin at the beginning. Do you recollect that, while you were still clad in the praetexta, you became a bankrupt? That was the fault of your father, you will say. I admit that. In truth such a defense is full of filial affection. But it is peculiarly suited to your own audacity, that you sat among the fourteen rows of the knights, though by the Roscian law there was a place appointed for bankrupts, even if any one had become such by the fault of fortune and not by his own. You assumed the manly gown, which your soon made a womanly one: at first a public prostitute, with a regular price for your wickedness, and that not a low one. But very soon Curio stepped in, who carried you off from your public trade, and, as if he had bestowed a matron's robe upon you, settled you in a steady and durable wedlock.

> Latin: 44. igitur te inspiciamus a puero? opinor; a principio ordiamur. memoria praetextatum te decoxisse? “Patris” inquies “ista culpa est.”. est pietatis plena defensio. tamen audaciae tuae quod sedisti in quattuordecim ordinibus, cum esset lege Roscia decoctoribus certus locus constitutus, quamvis quis fortunae vitio, non suo decoxisset. virilem, quam statim muliebrem togam reddidisti. volgare scortum; certa flagiti merces nec ea parva; sed cito Curio intervenit qui te a meretricio quaestu abduxit et, tamquam stolam dedisset, in matrimonio stabili et certo conlocavit.

[¶14] 45. No boy bought for the gratification of passion was ever so wholly in the power of his master as you were in Curio's. How often has his father turned you out of his house? How often has he placed guards to prevent you from entering? while you, with night for your accomplice, lust for your encourager, and wages for your compeller, were let down through the roof. That house could no longer endure your wickedness. Do you not know that I am speaking of matters with which I am thoroughly acquainted? Remember that time when Curio, the father, lay weeping in his bed; his son throwing himself at my feet with tears recommended to me you; he entreated me to defend you against his own father, if he demanded six millions of sesterces of you; for that he had been bail for you to that amount. And he himself, burning with love, declared positively that because he was unable to bear the misery of being separated from you, he should go into banishment.

> Latin: 45. umquam puer emptus libidinis causa tam fuit in domini potestate quam tu in Curionis. te pater eius domu sua eiecit, quotiens custodes posuit ne limen intrares? cum tu tamen nocte socia, hortante libidine, cogente mercede, per tegulas demitterere. flagitia domus illa diutius ferre non potuit. me de rebus mihi notissimis dicere? tempus illud cum pater Curio maerens iacebat in lecto; filius se ad pedes meos prosternens, lacrimans, te mihi commendabat; orabat ut se contra suum patrem, si sestertium sexagiens peteret, defenderem; tantum enim se pro te intercessisse dicebat. autem amore ardens confirmabat, quod desiderium tui discidi ferre non posset, se in exsilium iturum.

[¶15] 46. And at that time what misery of that most flourishing family did I allay, or rather did I remove! I persuaded the father to pay the son's debts; to release the young man, endowed as he was with great promise of courage and ability, by the sacrifice of part of his family estate; and to use his privileges and authority as a father to prohibit him not only from all intimacy with, but from every opportunity of meeting you. When you recollected that all this was done by me, would you have dared to provoke me by abuse if you had not been trusting to those swords which we behold?

> Latin: 46. tempore ego quanta mala florentissimae familiae sedavi vel potius sustuli! persuasi ut aes alienum fili dissolveret; redimeret adulescentem, summa spe et animi et ingeni praeditum, rei familiaris facultatibus eumque non modo tua familiaritate sed etiam congressione patrio iure et potestate prohiberet. tu cum per me acta meminisses, nisi illis quos videmus gladiis confideres, maledictis me provocare ausus esses.

[¶16] 47. But let us say no more of your profligacy and debauchery. There are things which it is not possible for me to mention with honor; but you are all the more free for that, inasmuch as you have not scrupled to be an actor in scenes which a modest enemy can not bring himself to mention. Mark now, O conscript fathers, the rest of his life, which I will touch upon rapidly. For my inclination hastens to arrive at those things which he did in the time of the civil war, amid the greatest miseries of the republic and at those things which he does every day. And I beg of you, though they are far better known to you than they are to me, still to listen attentively, as you are doing to my relation of them. For in such cases as this, it is not the mere knowledge of such actions that ought to excite the mind, but the recollection of them also. Although we must at once go into the middle of them, lest otherwise we should be too long in coming to the end.

> Latin: 47. iam stupra et flagitia omittamus: sunt quaedam quae honeste non possum dicere; tu autem eo liberior quod ea in te admisisti quae a verecundo inimico audire non posses. reliquum vitae cursum videte, quem quidem celeriter perstringam. haec enim quae in civili bello, in maximis rei publicae miseriis fecit, et ad ea quae cotidie facit, festinat animus. peto ut, quamquam multo notiora vobis quam mihi sunt, tamen, ut facitis, attente audiatis. enim talibus in rebus excitare animos non cognitio solum rerum sed etiam recordatio; etsi incidamus, opinor, media ne nimis sero ad extrema veniamus.

[¶17] 48. He was very intimate with Clodius at the time of his tribuneship; he, who now enumerates the kindnesses which he did me. He was the firebrand to handle all conflagrations; and even in his house he attempted something. He himself well knows what I allude to. From thence he made a journey to Alexandria, in defiance of the authority of the senator and against the interests of the republic, and in spite of religious obstacles; but he had Gabinius for his lender, with whom whatever he did was sure to be right. What were the circumstances of his return from thence? what sort of return was it? He went from Egypt to the farthest extremity of Gaul before he returned home. And what was his home! For at that time every man had possession of his own house; and you had no house any where, O Antonius. House, do you say? what place was there in the whole world where you could set your foot on any thing that belonged to you, except Mienum, which you farmed with your partners, as if it had been Sisapo?

> Latin: 48. erat in tribunatu Clodio qui sua erga me beneficia commemorat; eius omnium incendiorum fax, cuius etiam domi iam tum quiddam molitus est. dicam ipse optime intellegit. Inde iter Alexandream contra senatus auctoritatem, contra rem publicam et religiones; sed habebat ducem Gabinium, quicum quidvis rectissime facere posset. tum inde reditus aut qualis? in ultimam Galliam ex Aegypto quam domum. autem domus? Suam enim quisque domum tum obtinebat nec erat usquam tua. dico? erat in terris ubi in tuo pedem poneres praeter unum Misenum quod cum sociis tamquam Sisaponem tenebas.

[¶18] 49. You came from Gaul to stand for the quaestorship. Dare to say that you went to your own father before you came to me. I had already received Caesar's letters, begging me to allow myself to accept of your excuses; and therefore, I did not allow you even to mention thanks. After that, I was treated with respect by you, and you received attentions from me in your canvass for the quaestorship. And it was at that time, indeed, that you endeavored to slay Publius Clodius in the forum, with the approbation of the Roman people; and though you made the attempt of your own accord, and not at my instigation, still you clearly alleged that you did not think, unless you slew him, that you could possibly make amends to me for all the injuries which you had done me. And this makes me wonder why you should say that Milo did that deed at my instigation; when I never once exhorted you to do it, who of your own accord attempted to do me the same service. Although, if you had persisted in it, I should have preferred allowing the action to be set down entirely to your own love of glory rather than to my influence.

> Latin: 49. e Gallia ad quaesturam petendam. dicere te prius ad parentem tuam venisse quam ad me. iam ante Caesaris litteras ut mihi satis fieri paterer a te: itaque ne loqui quidem sum te passus de gratia. sum cultus a te, tu a me observatus in petitione quaesturae; quo quidem tempore P. Clodium approbante populo Romano in foro es conatus occidere, cumque eam rem tua sponte conarere, non impulsu meo, tamen ita praedicabas, te non existimare, nisi illum interfecisses, umquam mihi pro tuis in me iniuriis satis esse facturum. quo demiror cur Milonem impulsu meo rem illam egisse dicas, cum te ultro mihi idem illud deferentem numquam sim adhortatus., si in eo perseverares, ad tuam gloriam rem illam referri malebam quam ad meam gratiam.

[¶19] 50. You were elected quaestor. On this, immediately, without any resolution of the senate authorizing such a step, without drawing lots, without procuring any law to be passed, you hastened to Caesar. For you thought the camp the only refuge on earth for indigence, and debt, and profligacy,—for all men, in short, who were in a state of utter ruin. Then, when you had recruited your resources again by his largesses and your own robberies (if, indeed, a person can be said to recruit, who only acquires something which he may immediately squander), you hastened, being again a beggar, to the tribuneship, in order that in that magistracy you might, if possible, behave like your friend. Listen now, I beseech you, O conscript fathers, not to those things which he did indecently and profligately to his own injury and to his own disgrace as a private individual; but to the actions which he did impiously and wickedly against us and our fortunes,—that is to say, against the whole republic. For it is from his wickedness that you will find that the beginning of all these evils has arisen.

> Latin: 50. es factus: deinde continuo sine senatus consulto, sine sorte, sine lege ad Caesarem cucurristi. enim unum in terris egestatis, aeris alieni, nequitiae perditis vitae rationibus perfugium esse ducebas. te cum et illius largitionibus et tuis rapinis explevisses, si hoc est explere, ⟨expilare⟩ quod statim effundas, advolasti egens ad tribunatum, ut in eo magistratu, si posses, viri tui similis esses. nunc, quaeso, non ea quae ipse in se atque in domesticum decus impure et intemperanter, sed quae in nos fortunasque nostras, id est in universam rem publicam, impie ac nefarie fecerit. huius enim scelere omnium malorum principium natum reperietis.

[¶20] 51. For when, in the consulship of Lucius Lentulus and Marcus Marcellus, you, on the first of January, were anxious to prop up the republic, which was tottering and almost falling, and were willing to consult the interests of Caius Caesar himself, if he would have acted like a man in his senses, then this fellow opposed to your counsels his tribuneship, which he had sold and handed over to the purchaser, and exposed his own neck to that ax under which many have suffered for smaller crimes. It was against you, O Marcus Antonius, that the senate, while still in the possession of its rights, before so many of its luminaries were extinguished, passed that decree which, in accordance with the usage of our ancestors, is at times passed against an enemy who is a citizen. And have you dared, before these conscript fathers, to say any thing against me, when I have been pronounced by this order to be the savior of my country, and when you have been declared by it to be an enemy of the republic? The mention of that wickedness of yours has been interrupted, but the recollection of it has not been effaced. As long as the race of men, as long as the name of the Roman people shall exist (and that, unless it is prevented from being so by your means, will be everlasting), so long will that most mischievous interposition of your veto be spoken of.

> Latin: 51. cum L. Lentulo C. Marcello consulibus Kalendis Ianuariis labentem et prope cadentem rem publicam fulcire cuperetis ipsique C. Caesari, si sana mente esset, consulere velletis, tum iste venditum atque emancipatum tribunatum consiliis vestris opposuit cervicesque suas ei subiecit securi qua multi minoribus in peccatis occiderunt. te, M. Antoni, id decrevit senatus et quidem incolumis, nondum tot luminibus exstinctis quod in hostem togatum decerni est solitum more maiorum. tu apud patres conscriptos contra me dicere ausus es, cum ab hoc ordine ego conservator essem, tu hostis rei publicae iudicatus? illius tui sceleris intermissa est, non memoria deleta. genus hominum, dum populi Romani nomen exstabit—quod quidem erit, si per te licebit, sempiternum—tua illa pestifera intercessio nominabitur.

[¶21] 52. What was there that was being done by the, senate either ambitiously or rashly, when you, one single young man, forbade the whole order to pass decrees concerning the safety of the republic? and when you did so, not once only, but repeatedly? nor would you allow any one to plead with you in behalf of the authority of the senate; and yet, what did any one entreat of you, except that you would not desire the republic to be entirely overthrown and destroyed; when neither the chief men of the state by their entreaties, nor the elders by their warnings, nor the senate in a full house by pleading with you, could move you from the determination which you had already sold and as it were delivered to the purchaser? Then it was, after having tried many other expedients previously, that a blow was of necessity struck at you which had been struck at only few men before you, and which none of them had ever survived.

> Latin: 52. cupide a senatu, quid temere fiebat, cum tu unus adulescens universum ordinem decernere de salute rei publicae prohibuisti, neque semel, sed saepius, neque tu tecum de senatus auctoritate agi passus es? quid autem agebatur nisi ne deleri et everti rem publicam funditus velles, cum te neque principes civitatis rogando neque maiores natu monendo neque frequens senatus agendo de vendita atque addicta sententia movere potuit? illud multis rebus ante temptatis necessario tibi volnus inflictum est quod paucis ante te, quorum incolumis fuit nemo:

[¶22] 53. Then it was that this order armed the consuls, and the rest of the magistrates who were invested with either military or civil command, against you, and you never would have escaped them, if you had not taken refuge in the camp of Caesar. It was you, you, I say, O Marcus Antonius, who gave Caius Caesar, desirous as he already was to throw every thing into confusion, the principal pretext for waging war against his country. For what other pretense did he allege? what cause did he give for his own most frantic resolution and action, except that the power of interposition by the veto had been disregarded, the privileges of the tribunes taken away, and Antonius's rights abridged by the senate? I say nothing of how false, how trivial these pretenses were; especially when there could not possibly be any reasonable cause whatever to justify any one in taking up arms against his country. But I have nothing to do with Caesar. You must unquestionably allow that the cause of that ruinous war existed in your person.

> Latin: 53. tum contra te dedit arma hic ordo consulibus reliquisque imperiis et potestatibus: quae non effugisses, nisi te ad arma Caesaris contulisses., tu, inquam, M. Antoni, princeps C. Caesari omnia perturbare cupienti causam belli contra patriam ferendi dedisti. enim aliud ille dicebat, quam causam sui dementissimi consili et facti adferebat, nisi quod intercessio neglecta, ius tribunicium sublatum, circumscriptus a senatu esset Antonius? quam haec falsa, quam levia, praesertim cum omnino nulla causa iusta cuiquam esse possit contra patriam arma capiendi. nihil de Caesare: tibi certe confitendum est causam perniciosissimi belli in persona tua constitisse.

[¶23] 54. O miserable man if you are aware, more miserable still if you are not aware, that this is recorded in writings, is handed down to men's recollection, that our very latest posterity in the most distant ages will never forget this fact, that the consuls were expelled from Italy, and with them Cnaeus Pompeius, who was the glory and light of the empire of the Roman people; that all the men of consular rank, whose health would allow them to share in that disaster and that flight, and the praetors, and men of praetorian rank, and the tribunes of the people, and a great part of the senate, and all the flower of the youth of the city, and, in a word, the republic itself was driven out and expelled from its abode.

> Latin: 54. O miserum te, si haec intellegis, miseriorem, si non intellegis hoc litteris mandari, hoc memoriae prodi, huius rei ne posteritatem quidem omnium saeculorum umquam immemorem fore, consules ex Italia expulsos, cumque eis Cn. Pompeium quod imperi populi Romani decus ac lumen fuit, omnis consularis qui per valetudinem exsequi cladem illam fugamque potuissent, praetores, praetorios, tribunos plebis, magnam partem senatus, omnem subolem iuventutis, unoque verbo rem publicam expulsam atque exterminatam suis sedibus!

[¶24] 55. As, then, there is in seeds the cause which produces trees and plants, so of this most lamentable war you were the seed. Do you, O conscript fathers, grieve that these armies of the Roman people have been slain? It is Antonius who slew them. Do you regret your most illustrious citizens? It is Antonius, again, who has deprived you of them. The authority of this order is overthrown; it is Antonius who has overthrown it. Everything, in short, which we have seen since that time (and what misfortune is there that we have not seen?) we shall, if we argue rightly, attribute wholly to Antonius. As Helen was to the Trojans, so has that man been to this republic,—the cause of war the cause of mischief the cause of ruin The rest of his tribuneship was like the beginning. He did every thing which the senate had labored to prevent, as being impossible to be done consistently with the safety of the republic. And see, now, how gratuitously wicked he was even in accomplishing his wickedness.

> Latin: 55. Vt igitur in seminibus est causa arborum et stirpium, sic huius luctuosissimi belli semen tu fuisti. tris exercitus populi Romani interfectos: interfecit Antonius. clarissimos civis: eos quoque vobis eripuit Antonius. huius ordinis adflicta est: adflixit Antonius. denique, quae postea vidimus—quid autem mali non vidimus?—si recte ratiocinabimur, uni accepta referemus Antonio. Vt Helena Troianis, sic iste huic rei publicae belli causa, causa pestis atque exiti fuit. partes tribunatus principi similes. perfecit quae senatus salva re publica ne fieri possent profecerat. tamen scelus in scelere cognoscite.

[¶25] 56. He restored many men who had fallen under misfortune. Among them no mention was made of his uncle. If he was severe, why was he not so to every one? If he was merciful, why was he not merciful to his own relations? But I say nothing of the rest. He restored Licinius. Lenticula, a man who had been condemned for gambling, and who was a fellow-gamester of his own. As if he could not play with a condemned man; but in reality, in order to pay by a straining of the law in his favor, what he had lost by the dice. What reason did you allege to the Roman people why it was desirable that he should be restored? I suppose you said that he was absent when the prosecution was instituted against him; that the cause was decided without his having been heard in his defense; that there was not by a law any judicial proceeding established with reference to gambling; that he had been put down by violence or by arms; or lastly, as was said in the case of your uncle, that the tribunal had been bribed with money. Nothing of this sort was said. Then he was a good man, and one worthy of the republic. That, indeed, would have been nothing to the purpose, but still, since being condemned does not go for much, I would forgive you if that were the truth. Does not he restore to the full possession of his former privileges the most worthless man possible,—one who would not hesitate to play at dice even in the forum, and who had been convicted under the law which exists respecting gambling,—does not he declare in the most open manner his own propensities?

> Latin: 56. multos calamitosos: in eis patrui nulla mentio. severus, cur non in omnis? si misericors, cur non in suos? omitto ceteros: Licinium de alea condemnatum, conlusorem suum, restituit, quasi vero ludere cum condemnato non liceret, sed ut quod in alea perdiderat beneficio legis dissolveret. attulisti rationem populo Romano cur eum restitui oporteret?, credo, in reos relatum; rem indicta causa iudicatam; nullum fuisse de alea lege iudicium; vi oppressum et armis; postremo, quod de patruo tuo dicebatur, pecunia iudicium esse corruptum? horum. vir bonus et re publica dignus. id quidem ad rem; ego tamen, quoniam condemnatum esse pro nihilo est, si ita esset, ignoscerem. omnium nequissimum qui non dubitaret vel in foro alea ludere, lege quae est de alea condemnatum qui in integrum restituit, is non apertissime studium suum ipse profitetur?

[¶26] 57. Then in this same tribuneship, when Caesar while on hi way into Spain had given him Italy to trample on, what journeys did he make in every direction! how did he visit the municipal towns! I know that I am only speaking of matters which have been discussed in every one's conversation, and that the things which I am saying and am going to say are better known to every one who was in Italy at that time, than to me, who was not. Still I mention the particulars of his conduct, although my speech can not possibly come up to your own personal knowledge. When was such wickedness ever heard of as existing upon earth? or shamelessness? or such open infamy?

> Latin: 57. eodem vero tribunatu, cum Caesar in Hispaniam proficiscens huic conculcandam Italiam tradidisset, quae fuit eius peragratio itinerum, lustratio municipiorum! me in rebus celebratissimis omnium sermone versari, eaque quae dico dicturusque sum notiora esse omnibus qui in Italia tum fuerunt quam mihi qui non fui: notabo tamen singulas res, etsi nullo modo poterit oratio mea satis facere vestrae scientiae. quod umquam in terris tantum flagitium exstitisse auditum est, tantam turpitudinem, tantum dedecus.

[¶27] 58. The tribune of the people was borne along in a chariot, lictors crowned with laurel preceded him; among whom, on an open litter, was carried an actress; whom honorable men, citizens of the different municipalities, coming out from their towns under compulsion to meet him, saluted not by the name by which she was well known on the stage, but by that of Volumnia. A car followed full of pimps; then a lot of debauched companions; and then his mother, utterly neglected, followed the mistress of her profligate son, as if she had been her daughter-in-law. O the disastrous fecundity of that miserable woman! With the marks of such wickedness as this did that fellow stamp every municipality, and prefecture, and colony, and, in short, the whole of Italy.

> Latin: 58. in essedo tribunus plebis; lictores laureati antecedebant, inter quos aperta lectica mima portabatur, quam ex oppidis municipales homines honesti, obviam necessario prodeuntes, non noto illo et mimico nomine, sed Volumniam consalutabant. raeda cum lenonibus, comites nequissimi; reiecta mater amicam impuri fili tamquam nurum sequebatur. O miserae mulieris fecunditatem calamitosam! Horum flagitiorum iste vestigiis omnia municipia, praefecturas, colonias, totam denique Italiam impressit.

[¶28] 59. To find fault with the rest of his actions, O conscript fathers, is difficult, and somewhat unsafe. He was occupied in war; he glutted himself with the slaughter of citizens who bore no resemblance to himself He was fortunate—if at least there can be any good fortune in wickedness. But since we wish to show a regard for the veterans, although the cause of the soldiers is very different from yours; they followed their chief; you went to seek for a leader; still (that I may not give you any pretense for stirring up odium against me among them), I will say nothing of the nature of the war. When victorious, you returned with the legions from Thessaly to Brundusium. There you did not put me to death. It was a great kindness! For I confess that you could have done it. Although there was no one of those men who were with you at that time, who did not think that I ought to be spared.

> Latin: 59. factorum eius, patres conscripti, difficilis est sane reprehensio et lubrica. in bello est; saturavit se sanguine dissimillimorum sui civium: felix fuit, si potest ulla in scelere esse felicitas. quoniam veteranis cautum esse volumus, quamquam dissimilis est militum causa et tua—illi secuti sunt, tu quaesisti ducem—tamen, ne apud illos me in invidiam voces, nihil de genere belli dicam. Victor e Thessalia Brundisium cum legionibus revertisti. me non occidisti. Magnum beneficium! potuisse enim fateor. nemo erat eorum qui tum tecum fuerunt qui mihi non censeret parci oportere.