Book 10

arg. The following are contained in the forty-fifth book of Dio's Roman History: 1. Concerning Gaius Octavius, afterward surnamed Augustus. 2. Concerning Sextus Pompey, the son of Pompey. 3. How Caesar and Antonius began to be at strife. 4. How Cicero delivered an address against Antonius. Span of time: the remainder of the fifth dictatorship of Gaius Julius Caesar, with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus as master of the horse, and of his fifth consulship, with Marcus Antonius.

1.1. Antonius, then, was doing these things; but Gaius Octavius Caepias (for so was named the son of Attia, Caesar's niece) was from Velitrae of the Volscians, and, being left an orphan by his father Octavius, was reared both by his mother and by her husband Lucius Philippus, and, growing up, lived with

1.2. Caesar; for that man, being childless and having great hopes in him, both loved and cherished him, intending to leave him heir of his name and his power and his monarchy—especially because Attia strongly maintained that she had conceived him from Apollo, since once, having fallen asleep in his temple, she thought she had intercourse with a certain serpent, and on this account, at the due

1.3. time, bore him. And before he came forth to the light, she dreamed that her own entrails were being carried up to heaven and stretched out over all the earth; and on the same night Octavius too thought that the sun rose from her privy parts. And the boy had just been born when Nigidius Figulus, a senator, straightway prophesied to him the

1.4. sole power; for he had best of all the men of his time discerned the ordering of the heavens and the differences of the stars, both what they bring to pass by themselves and what when they mingle with one another in their conjunctions and their separations, and on this account he incurred the charge, as it were, of carrying on certain secret

1.5. occupations. This man, then, when Octavius came rather late to the senate on account of the boy's birth (for it chanced to be in session), and asked why he was late, and learned the cause, cried out, "You have begotten a master over us," and, when he was alarmed at this and wished to destroy the child, restrained him, saying that it was impossible for it to suffer any such thing. At that

2.1. time, then, these things were said; and, while he was being reared in the country, an eagle, snatching bread out of his hands, soared aloft, and after this, swooping down, gave it back to him. And when he was a small boy and was

2.2. spending his time in Rome, Cicero once dreamed that he was being let down by golden chains from heaven to the Capitol and was receiving a scourge from Jupiter; and, not knowing who he was, he met him on the next day on the Capitol itself, and, recognizing him,

2.3. related the vision to those present. And Catulus too, who likewise had not yet seen Octavius, thought in his sleep that all the noble boys had made an approach to Jupiter on the Capitol, and that in it the god had cast a certain image of

2.4. Rome into that one's bosom; and, struck by this, he went up to the Capitol to pray to the god, and there, finding Octavius, who had gone up for another reason, both fitted his appearance to the dream and confirmed the truth of the

2.5. vision. And when after this he had grown to a youth and was entering the ranks of the ephebes, putting on the man's dress, his tunic was torn on both sides from the shoulders and slipped down to his feet. This in itself, by itself, not only bore some sign as foretelling something good,

2.6. but even distressed those present, because it had happened at the first putting on of the man's tunic; but, it occurring to Octavius to say, "I shall have the whole senatorial dignity beneath my feet," it took an outcome answering to what was

2.7. said. From these things, then, Caesar, having great hopes in him, both brought him into the patricians and trained him for office, and accurately educated him in all that ought to belong to one who was to administer well and worthily so great a

2.8. power; for he was trained in rhetorical speech, not only in the tongue of the Latins but also in this one of ours, and was strenuously exercised in the campaigns, and was strongly taught civic and governing matters.

3.1. This Octavius, then, chanced at that time, when Caesar was slain, to be in Apollonia by the Ionian gulf for the sake of education (for he had been sent ahead thither in connexion with the expedition against the Parthians); and, learning what had befallen, he grieved, as was natural, yet did not dare to make any revolution at once; for he had not yet heard that he had been left either son or heir, and moreover the people was reported at first to be in concord over what had

3.2. happened. But, having crossed over to Brundisium, and learning both the will and the second mind of the people, he no longer made delays—especially because he had both much money and many soldiers escorting him—but straightway took up the name of Caesar and succeeded to his

4.1. inheritance, and laid hold of affairs. And then he was thought by some to have done this rashly and boldly, but afterward, from his good fortune and from the things he successfully accomplished, he gained the name even of

4.2. manliness. For many men, having undertaken many things not rightly, because they succeeded in them have got the reputation of good counsel; and others, having chosen some things most excellently, because they did not succeed in them, have incurred

4.3. the charge of folly. And that man acted slipperily and dangerously, in that, being of an age just out of boyhood (for he was eighteen years old) and seeing the succession both of the inheritance and of the family to be both envied and accused, he then set out upon such things, in connexion with which Caesar had been murdered and no vengeance was being taken for him, and feared neither the slayers nor Lepidus nor

4.4. Antonius; yet he was not thought to have counselled ill, because he succeeded. The divine power, however, signified beforehand, not unclearly, all the disorder that was about to be for them from that very source; for, as he was entering Rome, a great and varied rainbow encompassed the whole sun.

5.1. Thus the man formerly Octavius, then already Caesar, and after this surnamed Augustus, laid hold of affairs, and both accomplished and brought them to pass more vigorously than any man and more prudently than any old man.

5.2. For first, as though for the inheritance alone, both in a private manner and with few attendants, without any pomp, he entered the city; then he neither threatened anyone with anything, nor showed that he was vexed at what had happened and would take vengeance for it.

5.3. And toward Antonius he so far from demanding any of the money which he had plundered beforehand that he even courted him, although both insulted and wronged by him; for that man, among other things, abused him both in word and in deed, and the curiate law that was being introduced, by which the adoption of him into Caesar's family had to be made,

5.4. he himself, ostensibly, was eager to bring in, but through certain tribunes kept postponing, in order that, as one not yet a son of his by the laws, he might neither meddle at all with the estate and might be the weaker toward other things

6.1. as well. At these things, then, Caesar chafed, yet, being unable to speak out anything safely, he endured it, until he had won over the multitude, by which he knew his father had been exalted.

6.2. For, knowing that they held anger over that man's death, and hoping that they would be zealous for him as his son, and perceiving that they hated Antonius both on account of his mastership of the horse and on account of the non-punishment of the slayers, he attempted to become tribune, both toward a starting-point for popular leadership and toward the reception

6.3. of the dominion arising from it, and on this account, the place of Cinna being vacant, laid claim to it; but, being hindered by those about Antonius, he did not keep quiet, but, having won over Tiberius Cannutius, a tribune, was brought by him before the populace, making as his pretext the gift left by Caesar, and, having made such an address as suited, both promised to pay this to them at once and held out to them many other

6.4. hopes besides. And after this the festival instituted in connexion with the completion of the temple of Aphrodite, which certain men, having undertaken while Caesar was still alive to celebrate, were holding negligently—just as also the horse-race of the Parilia—he himself, toward the courting of the multitude, on the ground that it belonged to him through his family, arranged at his own

6.5. expense. And then he did not bring into the theatre either Caesar's gilded chair or the crown set with gems, as had been voted,

7.1. fearing Antonius; but when a certain star appeared throughout all those days in the north toward evening, and, while some called it a comet and said it foretold such things as are wont, the many did not believe this, but attributed it to Caesar, as one made immortal and enrolled in the number of the stars, he took courage and set him up in bronze in the temple of Aphrodite, with a star above

7.2. his head. And since no one prevented even this through fear of the crowd, then indeed certain other things too that had been previously decreed toward the honour of Caesar came to pass; for they called the month July likewise, and on certain triumphal sacred holidays they sacrificed oxen on a special day in his name. And on this account the soldiers too readily—especially as some had been courted with money—combined for Caesar.

7.3. There was, then, a stir, and something new seemed about to happen, and especially because Antonius, in the law-court, from a height and some conspicuous place, just as he had been wont to do in the father's case, did not admit him when he wished to speak with him about something, but even dragged him down and drove him out through the lictors.

8.1. For all were terribly indignant, and not least because Caesar no longer even went to the Forum, both because of that man's envy and because of his being a draw for the multitude. Antonius, taking fright, then once said to those present that he held no anger against Caesar, but even owed him goodwill, and that he was ready to dispel all suspicion.

8.2. When this was reported to him, they came together to a parley, and were thought by some to have been reconciled (for, knowing accurately each other's intentions, and thinking that to test them then was unseasonable, they yielded certain things to one another, coming to terms), and for some days they kept quiet, but then, suspecting one another again, whether from a true plot or from a false slander, as is wont to happen on such occasions, they were at variance once more.

8.3. For whenever men come together out of great enmity, they suspect many things that have nothing dreadful and many that happen by chance; for everything, in a word, they take, as being done on purpose and for some evil, toward their pre-existing hatred. And in this those who are midway between them join in the attack upon them; for, reporting certain things under the pretence of goodwill, they provoke them further.

8.4. For very great is the number of those who wish all who have any power to be at variance with one another, and on this account both rejoice over their enmity and join in plotting against them; and it is most easy for the man already slandered to be deceived by words contrived out of unsuspicious friendship. From this, then, those men too, not even before trusting one another, were the more estranged.

9.1. Seeing, then, that Caesar was growing, Antonius attempted to bait the multitude, in case he might somehow draw them away from him and attach them to himself, and proposed, through his brother Lucius Antonius the tribune, that much other land, and that in the Pomptine marshes, as being already filled in and able to be farmed, be allotted.

9.2. For these three Antonii brothers held offices all at the same time, Marcus being consul, Lucius tribune, and Gaius praetor; whence not least they were able to depose the men then governing the allies and the subjects, except the greater part of the slayers, and certain others whom they thought faithful to them,

9.3. and to choose others in their place, and to permit some to rule for a longer time, contrary to what had been enacted by Caesar; and for the Macedonia given to Marcus by lot to be appropriated by his brother Gaius, while the Gaul within the Alps, to which Brutus Decimus had been assigned, that very man should take over himself with the armies sent ahead to Apollonia, on the ground that it was strongest both in soldiers and in money.

9.4. These things, then, were voted, and to Sextus Pompey, who now had a great force, the immunity—although given by Caesar as to the others too—was confirmed, and it was resolved that the money, all that the treasury had taken in silver and gold from his father's estate, be given back; for, of his lands, Antonius, holding the greater part, made no restitution.

10.1. These men, then, were doing these things; but I will relate also what happened in the case of Sextus. For when at that time he fled from Corduba, first he came to Lacetania and there hid; for he was pursued, but escaped notice through the natives, who were kindly disposed to him

10.2. through the memory of his father; then, when Caesar had departed for Italy and not much army was left in Baetica, both these men and those who had survived the battle banded together with him, and so with them he came again into Baetica, as being more suited for waging war,

10.3. and there, taking on both soldiers and cities—especially since Caesar had died—some willing and some by force (for their governor Gaius Asinius Pollio had no strong force), he set out against the Spanish

10.4. Carthage; but, Pollio meanwhile attacking him in his absence and harassing some, he returned with a great force, and, joining battle, both routed him, and the rest, who fought vigorously, he then by a coincidence of the following kind dismayed and

10.5. conquered. For since that man cast off the general's cloak so as more easily to escape notice in flight, and a certain other man, of the same name as he and a distinguished knight, fell, and the one lay dead and the other had been captured, the soldiers, hearing the one thing and seeing the other, were deceived, as though their general had perished,

10.6. and gave way. And thus Sextus, having conquered, held almost all the region there. And, he being now powerful, Lepidus came to govern the neighbouring Spain, and persuaded him to come to an agreement on the condition that he recover his father's property. And so Antonius too, both through his friendship with Lepidus and through his enmity toward Caesar, caused it to be voted. And he thus, on these terms, departed from

11.1. Spain; but Caesar and Antonius did everything against one another, yet had not yet openly come to a rupture, but, although in deed at war, in appearance at least concealed it. And from this all the other things in the city too were

11.2. in much disorder and confusion. They were still at peace and were already at war; the form of freedom was displayed and the deeds of dominion were being done. And in the open Antonius, as being consul, had the advantage, but the zeal of men inclined toward Caesar, partly on account of his father, partly on account of the hopes he held out, but most of all because they were vexed at Antonius, who had much power, and aided Caesar, who was not yet

11.3. strong. For they loved neither, but, ever desiring new affairs, and being by nature inclined always to pull down all that was stronger and to aid the one being oppressed, they used them for their own desires. Having, then, humbled Antonius at that time through Caesar, they next attempted to destroy

11.4. him too. For, burdened by those who at any time had power, they took on the weaker and through them pulled them down; then they were estranged from those too. And from this, setting them up in turn into the position of being envied, they both loved and hated the same men, and both exalted and humbled them.

12.1. While they, then, were so disposed both toward Caesar and toward Antonius, the war took this beginning. When Antonius set out for Brundisium to the soldiers who had crossed over from Macedonia, Caesar there

12.2. sent ahead certain others with money, that they might win them over, and himself, going as far as Campania, gathered a multitude of men, especially from Capua—since it had received both its land and its city from his father, whom he said he was avenging—and promised them much, and gave at once then five hundred drachmas apiece.

12.3. From these men indeed was formed the body of the evocati, whom one might in Greek call "the recalled," because, having ceased from service, they were recalled to it again. And, taking them, Caesar hastened to Rome

12.4. before Antonius should return, and, entering among the populace assembled for him by Cannutius, he reminded them much of his father, going over all the good he had done, and discoursed much also

12.5. on his own behalf, and moderately, and accused Antonius, and praised the soldiers who had followed him as being present voluntarily for the succour of the city and having chosen himself for it and through himself

12.6. making all these things plain to all. And, having gained praise over these things, both from the rest of his preparation and from the multitude with him, he set out for Etruria,

13.1. in order that thence too he might take on some force. And he was doing these things; but Antonius the soldiers at Brundisium at first received kindly, expecting to get from him more than was offered them by Caesar, since they thought he possessed much more

13.2. than that man; when, however, he promised to give a hundred drachmas to each, and they made an uproar over this, he ordered some others and centurions to be slaughtered both in his own sight and in his

13.3. wife's eyes, then for a while they kept quiet, but, marching to Gaul and coming near the city, they made a revolution, and, despising the lieutenants set over them, a number went over to Caesar; and indeed the legion named the Martian and the fourth

13.4. came over to him whole. Taking them, then, and giving money to them likewise, he won over from this many others besides, and took all of Antonius's elephants, falling suddenly upon them as they were being conveyed along,

13.5. and since that man, having administered certain other matters in Rome and having put under oath the rest of the soldiers and the senators with them, set out for Gaul, fearing lest it too should make some revolution, Caesar did not delay either, but followed him.

14.1. Now Brutus Decimus then governed that country, and Antonius had great hope of him, as having killed Caesar; but it came about thus. Decimus, neither suspecting anything of Caesar (for he was not threatening the slayers at all), and seeing that Antonius was no more an enemy of his than of himself and of the others who had any power, through his inborn greed, did not yield to him. Learning this, then, Caesar was for a long while at a loss

14.2. what to do. For he hated both of them, yet had no way to fight with each at once; for he was not yet a match for either of them, and besides he feared lest, daring this, he should bring them together against one another and make war as one against

14.3. both. Reckoning, then, that the contest with Antonius was already at hand and pressing, but that the time for the vengeance of his father was not yet, he took Decimus as his comrade. For he well knew that, if he should master his adversaries through this man, he would after this have no great task in making war on him, but would have that man again as a strong enemy; so much did they

15.1. differ from one another. Sending, then, to Decimus, he proclaimed friendship to him, and promised besides an alliance, if he would not receive Antonius. And on this account those in the city too aided the cause of

15.2. Caesar. At that time, then (for the year was now ending and no consul was present, since Dolabella had been sent ahead by Antonius into Syria), praises were given in the senate, the tribunes putting the vote, both to those men themselves and to the soldiers who had abandoned

15.3. Antonius. And, in order that, the new year having begun, they might deliberate in safety about present matters, it was resolved that they use a guard of soldiers in the senate. For these things pleased also the greater part of the others then in Rome (for they terribly

15.4. hated Antonius), and most of all Cicero; for, through his most vehement enmity toward him, he both courted Caesar, and, all he could both in word and in deed, both aided this one and abused that one. And on this account, although he had withdrawn from the city as though to escort his son to Athens for education, he returned when he perceived that they had come to open war.

16.1. In that year, then, these things were done, and Servilius Isauricus died of extreme old age. For this reason, then, I have mentioned him, and because the Romans of that time so respected those eminent in dignity and so hated those who used any shamelessness even in the

16.2. smallest matters, that, when that man recognized one who had once met him on the road as he walked, riding, and had neither dismounted nor besides had driven hard against him, being afterward tried in a court, and told the judges what had happened, they gave him no further hearing and all condemned him.

17.1. When Aulus Hirtius, with Gaius Vibius, had become consul (for this man, although his father had been inscribed on Sulla's lists, was then appointed consul), a meeting of the senate was held and motions were brought forward for three days in succession, beginning from the very

17.2. first of the month; for, troubled both by the war that was at hand and by portents, which had occurred very many and most monstrous, they did not abstain even from the inauspicious days from deliberating in them about some of their interests. For thunderbolts fell in vast numbers, and some of them even struck the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter

17.3. in the temple of Victory; and a great wind, coming on, broke off and scattered the tablets fixed about the temple of Saturn and about the temple of Faith, and threw down and shattered the image of Athena the Guardian, which Cicero before his flight had set up on the

17.4. Capitol. And this foreshowed to Cicero himself his destruction; but the rest both those things disturbed, and a great earthquake that occurred, and a bull which, having been sacrificed for this in the temple of Vesta, leaped up after the rite. And besides these things, such as they were, a torch ran from the rising sun toward the west, and a certain new star was seen for many

17.5. days. The light of the sun seemed both to be diminished and to be extinguished, and at times to appear in three circles, and one of them a fiery crown of corn-ears encompassed, so that, if anything else, this too came to pass for them most plainly; for there were three men who held power—I mean Caesar and Lepidus and Antonius—and of them Caesar afterward took the victory.

17.6. Then, then, these things happened, and oracles of every kind tending toward the dissolution of the democracy were chanted. And ravens, flying into the temple of the Dioscuri, pecked out the names of the consuls, Antonius and Dolabella, which were inscribed there somewhere on a tablet.

17.7. And many dogs by night, gathering together both throughout the rest of the city and especially at the house of Lepidus the high priest, howled. And the Eridanus, having flooded much of the surrounding land, suddenly withdrew, and left behind vast numbers of snakes on the dry ground. And countless fish from the sea were cast out onto the mainland at the mouths of the Tiber.

17.8. There came on, too, after these things a violent plague over almost all Italy, and on this account it was voted that the Hostilian senate-house be rebuilt and the place where the sea-battle had been held be filled in; yet not even thus did the trouble seem about to

17.9. stop, especially since, while Vibius was offering the inaugural sacrifices on the first of the month, a certain lictor of his suddenly fell and died. For these reasons, then, even in those days they deliberated, and many others spoke on both sides, and Cicero thus:

18.1. "For what reasons I undertook the journey abroad, as one who would be away for the longest time, and made my return in haste, as one who would benefit you much, you heard the other day, Fathers, when

18.2. I made my defence before you about these very things. For neither could I endure to live under a dominion and tyranny, in which I can neither be a citizen rightly nor speak freely safely nor die usefully for you, nor again, when it is possible to do any of the needful things, would I shrink from doing this even with danger.

18.3. For I hold it to be alike the work of a good man both to keep himself for the interests of his country, guarding against perishing in vain, and in this to fall short in nothing of what is fitting, neither in word nor in deed, even if it be necessary, in saving it, to suffer something.

19.1. These things, then, being so, there was somehow much safety from Caesar both for me and for you toward deliberating what was needful; but since you have voted to assemble even with a guard, we must all so both speak and act today as both to settle present matters and to foresee for the future, lest we be again

19.2. compelled likewise to decide about them. That our affairs are hard and dreadful and need much care and forethought, you yourselves have made plain, if from nothing else, at least from this; for you would not have voted to have a guard of the senate-house, if it had been possible for you, in the accustomed order and in quiet, to deliberate anything without fear.

19.3. And we must, on account also of the soldiers present, do something worth recounting, lest we incur shame, having asked for them as though fearing certain men, but neglected affairs as though established in no danger, and in word having taken them on for the city against Antonius,

19.4. but in deed having given them to him against ourselves, as though he ought, in addition to the other armies which he is mustering against his country, to take these very men too, in order that you may vote nothing against him even today.

20.1. And yet certain men have come to such a pitch of shamelessness as to dare to say that he is not making war on the city, and have judged you to have such great simplicity as even to think that they will persuade you to attend to their own words

20.2. rather than to his deeds. And who, leaving aside the consideration of his actions, and the expedition which he has made against our allies without the senate or the people ordering it, and the lands he overruns, and the cities he besieges, and the threats he threatens against us all, and the hopes for which he does all these things, would, persuaded by their words and the falsehoods with which they put you off, speaking pretexts and excuses, wish to perish?

20.3. For I am so far from saying that, doing these things, he does anything lawful and civic, that even because he has abandoned the government of Macedonia, assigned to him by lot, and because he has taken instead the government of the Gaul that

20.4. in no way belongs to him, and because, having gathered about himself armies which Caesar sent ahead against the Parthians, he holds them, though there is no danger in Italy, and because, abandoning the city in the time of his consulship, he goes about ravaging and harming the country, I say that he has long

21.1. been an enemy of us all. And if you did not at that moment perceive it nor were indignant at each of these things, then for this very reason it is right to hate him still more, because he does not cease wronging you who are such men, and, having perhaps been able to obtain pardon for the wrongs he first committed, he has advanced by the continuity of his wickedness to such a point that he ought to pay the penalty for those too;

21.2. but you must take care of affairs to excess, seeing and reckoning this, that the man who has so often despised you in so many matters cannot willingly be brought to his senses by your same fairness and your same humanity, but must of necessity, even unwilling now, if not before, be punished by arms.

22.1. For do not, because he persuaded you to vote some things to himself and forced others, on this account think that he is wronging you any the less and is worthy on this account of less

22.2. punishment. For wholly the contrary, even for this very thing he most of all ought to pay the penalty, because, having resolved to do many dreadful things, he did some of them through you, and the resources from you, which, deceiving you who neither knew nor foresaw any such thing, he compelled you to vote to himself, he abused against you yourselves.

22.3. For when would you willingly have dissolved the commands given to each by Caesar or by lot, but permitted him both to distribute much else to his friends and comrades, and to send his brother Gaius into Macedonia, and to assign Gaul to himself with the armies which he could in no way use on your

22.4. behalf? Or do you not remember how, taking you while you were in disorder over Caesar's death, he accomplished all he wished, partly communicating with you treacherously and unseasonably, partly doing further mischief on his own, but forcing everything? Soldiers, at least, and these barbarians, he used against

22.5. you. And one might marvel if in those times anything was voted such as ought not, when not even now have we had freedom otherwise to say and do any of the needful things except with a guard; which, if we had then been provided with it, neither would he have obtained what someone will say he obtained, nor would he have done the things he afterward did, having been augmented from them.

22.6. Let no one, then, put forward as having come about lawfully and justly the things we seemed to have given him while bidden and compelled and lamenting; for not even in private affairs are the things one man does forced by another kept valid.

23.1. And yet these things, those which at least you seem to have voted, you will find both small and not very far outside the established order. For what is dreadful if one man instead of another was to govern Macedonia or Gaul? Or what is grievous if someone, being

23.2. consul, took soldiers? But those things are grievous and abominable—that our country be harmed, that our allied cities be besieged, that our soldiers be armed against us, that our resources be spent against us—which you neither

23.3. voted nor intended. Do not, then, because you gave him some things, on this account permit him to do also the things not given; nor, because you granted him some things, think on this account that it is permitted to do also the things not granted to him. For wholly the contrary, even for this very thing you ought both to hate and to punish him, because both the honour and the humanity from you, not in these things alone but in all the others, he has dared to use against

23.4. you. Consider: you voted peace and concord toward one another, persuaded by me. This he, ordered to administer, so conducted, making Caesar's funeral his pretext, that the whole city was nearly burned down, and very many were

23.5. again slain. You confirmed all the things given to certain men and enacted by Caesar, not as though they were all well (far from it), but because it was expedient that none of them be moved, in order that we might be together without suspicion, free of any treachery. This man, having become examiner of these things, has dissolved many of the things done by him, and inscribed many others in their place;

23.6. for he has taken away lands and citizenships and exemptions and certain other honours from those who had them—both private persons and kings and cities—and has given them to those who had not received them, falsifying Caesar's records, and from those unwilling to surrender anything to him he has taken away even the things given them, while to those who paid for them he has sold both

23.7. those things and everything else. And yet you, foreseeing these very things, voted that no tablet, as though having anything given by him to anyone, be set up after Caesar's death. And indeed, even after this, when this was being much done, and he said it was necessary that some of the things found in Caesar's documents

23.8. be selected and carried out, you ordered him to sort these out with the foremost men, but he, taking no thought of any of them, accomplished alone all he wished, both about the laws and about the exiles and about the other things I mentioned a little before. So, it seems, he wishes to do everything that seems good to you.

24.1. Was he, then, such only in these matters, and did he administer the rest rightly? Where? Whence? Has he not plundered the common money left by Caesar, which he was ordered to seek out and produce, and given some to the creditors and spent some on luxury, so that not even of these is anything left

24.2. to him? When you hated the name of dictator on account of that man's dominion and cast it utterly out of the commonwealth, has he not, as though this very thing by itself could do no wrong, refrained from assuming it, but displayed its deeds and its greed under the title of the

24.3. consulship? Did you not appoint him steward of concord, but he himself, on his own, has taken up so great a war, neither fitting nor decreed, against Caesar and Decimus, whom you praise?

24.4. It would be ten thousand things to tell, if anyone should wish to go through each of the things which you permitted him to administer as consul, but he did nothing whatever toward what was needful, but rather did everything to the contrary against you, using the authority given by

24.5. you. Will you, then, take upon yourselves also these things ill done by him, and say that you yourselves have been the cause of all of them, because you assigned the administration and the examination of them to

24.6. him? But that is absurd. For not even if a praetor or an ambassador, having been chosen, does nothing of what is needful, will you who sent them bear the blame for this. For it would indeed be dreadful if all who are appointed to do something should themselves take the gains and the honours, but refer the charges and the blame to you.

25.1. Nor, then, is it fitting to attend to him when he says, 'You permitted me to govern Gaul, you ordered me to administer the common money, you gave me the armies from

25.2. Macedonia.' For these things were so voted, if indeed one ought to say this and not also take the penalty from him for this, that he compelled you to decide these things; yet not the restoring of the exiles, nor the inserting of laws, nor the selling of citizenships and exemptions, nor the stealing of public funds, nor the plundering of the allies' property, nor the harming of the cities, nor the attempting to play the tyrant over your country, did you ever give

25.3. to him. For neither to any other, although you voted many things to many, did you grant all they wished, but you always took the penalty from such men, all whom at least you could, just as indeed you will take it from this man too, if you are now

25.4. persuaded by me. For he has been such, not in these things alone, as you know and have seen him, but simply in everything that he has ever done in coming to public affairs.

26.1. For his private life and his private wantonness and greed I will willingly pass over, not that one would not find that he has done many dreadful things in those too, but because I am ashamed, by Heracles, to tell accurately each detail, especially

26.2. to you who know it no less, how he disposed of the bloom of his boyhood among you, how he put his youthful prime up for sale, his secret prostitutions, his open harlotries, all he suffered as long as it was permitted, all he did from the time he was able, the revels, the drunkenness, all the other things

26.3. that follow these. For it is impossible that a man reared in such wantonness and shamelessness should not have defiled his whole life; whence from his private affairs to the public he carried his lewdness and his greed.

26.4. These things, then, I will let be, and, by Zeus, also his journey to Egypt to Gabinius, and his flight to Gaul to Caesar, lest someone say that I am precise in everything, being ashamed on your behalf that, knowing him to be such, you appointed him both tribune and master of the horse and after this consul too; but the things in which, in these very offices, he behaved drunkenly and did mischief, these alone I will now tell.

27.1. This man, then, having become tribune, first of all hindered you from settling well the affairs that then beset you, shouting and bawling and alone of all men

27.2. opposing the common peace of the city; then, when, being indignant, you voted on his account what you voted, he both fled from the city, abandoning his office, to whom by the laws it was not permitted to be absent even a single night, and, deserting to Caesar's arms, both led that man against his country and drove you out both from Rome and from all the rest of Italy, and, in one word, became most of all the cause of all the civil evils that afterward befell you.

27.3. For if he had not then acted against your wishes, Caesar would never either have found any pretext for the wars, or, even if he had been most shameless, gathered any considerable force contrary to your decrees, but either would willingly have laid down his arms or

27.4. even unwillingly been brought to his senses. But as it is, this is the man who both furnished that one his pretexts and dissolved the dignity of the senate, and increased the boldness of the soldiers; this is the man who cast in the seed of the evils that afterward sprang up, this the man who became the common curse not only of us but of nearly the whole inhabited world, as indeed

27.5. the divine power plainly signified. When, at any rate, he was introducing those wonderful laws, all was filled with thunders and lightnings. Of which this foul man, although claiming to be an augur, taking no thought, filled, as I said, not only the city but the inhabited world with evils and wars. After this, then, why need I tell how for a whole year he was master of the horse, which had never before

28.1. happened? Why, that even then, being drunk, he behaved insolently and in the assemblies vomited up his debauch upon the very rostra while addressing the people in the midst of it?

28.2. Why, that, leading about catamites and harlots, and buffoons not only men but also women, with lictors bearing laurel, he went about Italy?

28.3. Why, that he alone of men dared to buy Pompey's estate, respecting neither his own dignity nor that man's memory, but, the things over which we all even then still mourned, these he snatched with pleasure? For upon those things and upon many others he leapt as though he would pay no

28.4. price for any of them. But even this was exacted of him with all insolence and force; so did even Caesar condemn him; and all that he acquired, vast as it was and exacted by every means, he has gambled away and whored away and devoured and swallowed down like Charybdis.

29.1. These things, then, I will let be; but the outrages with which he outraged the commonwealth, and the slaughters which he wrought throughout the whole city alike, how could one keep silent? Or do you not remember how grievous he was to you even by his very appearance, and most grievous

29.2. in his deeds? Who—O earth and gods—first dared here, within the walls, in the Forum, in the senate-house and on the Capitol, both to put on the purple-bordered robe and to gird on a sword and to use lictors

29.3. and to be guarded by soldiers; then, being able to put down the disorders of the others too, not only did not do this, but even set you, who were in concord, into sedition, partly himself, partly through others. And indeed, taking on those very men in turn, and now joining with them, now opposing them, he became most of all the cause of vast numbers of you being slaughtered,

29.4. and most of all the cause that not all the things of Pontus and of the Parthians were straightway then subdued upon the victory over Pharnaces; for against the things being done by him Caesar, hastening hither quickly, accomplished none of those things wholly, as indeed he might have.

30.1. And not even these things brought him to his senses, but, being consul, naked, Fathers, naked and anointed he entered the Forum, making the Lycaea his pretext, and there approached the rostra with his lictors, and there from below

30.2. addressed the people; which, from the time the city has existed, no one knows that any other—not only consul but neither praetor nor tribune nor aedile—has done. For it was the Lycaea, and it had been assigned to the Julian brotherhood; for Sextus Clodius had trained him in these things for the two thousand iugera given him in the

30.3. land of Leontini. But you were even consul, good sir (for I will speak as though to you who are present), and it neither befitted you nor was permitted you, being such a man, in the Forum beside the rostra, with all of us present, to say such things, in order that we might at the same time both behold your marvellous body, both fleshy and loathsome, and hear your foul anointed voice

30.4. saying those dreadful things; for this I wish to say about your mouth rather than anything else. For the Lycaea otherwise would not have failed of its fitting worship, but you disgraced the whole city at once, that I may say nothing as yet

30.5. about the things then said; for who does not know that the consulship is the public possession of the whole people, and that its dignity must be preserved everywhere and nowhere either stripped or

31.1. outraged? Perhaps this man was imitating either that old Horatius or that ancient Cloelia, of whom the one swam across the river clothed in all her dress, while the other even cast himself into the stream with his arms. Worthy is it (is it not?) to set up an image of this man too, that the one might be seen armed in the Tiber, and the other naked in the

31.2. Forum. For on this account those men both saved and freed us, but this man took away all our freedom, so far as in him lay, and dissolved all the democracy, and set up over us a master instead of a consul, a tyrant instead of a dictator. For remember what manner of things he said in approaching the rostra, and what he did when he had gone

31.3. up onto it. And yet one who dared, being a Roman and consul, to proclaim a certain man king of the Romans both in the Roman Forum and beside the rostra of freedom, with all the people and all the senate present, and straightway to set the diadem upon his head,

31.4. and besides to lie, with all of us hearing, that we ourselves had enjoined him both to say and to do these things—what of the most dreadful deeds would he not dare, from what of the most grievous would he

32.1. abstain? We, Antonius, we enjoined you these things—we who drove out the Tarquins, who cherished Brutus, who cast down the Capitoline, who killed Spurius?

32.2. We ordered you to greet a king—we who made even his very appellation, and besides that of dictator on account of it, accursed? We bade you appoint a tyrant—we who cast Pyrrhus out of Italy, who drove Antiochus beyond the Taurus, who put an end even to the tyranny of

32.3. Macedonia? No, by the fasces of Valerius and the law of Porcius, no, by the leg of Horatius and the hand of Mucius, no,

32.4. by the spear of Decius and the sword of Brutus. But you, most wicked of men, both begged and supplicated to be a slave, as Postumius that he be handed over to the Samnites, as Regulus that he be given back to the Carthaginians, as Curtius that he fall into the chasm. And where did you find this written? Where also it was written that the Cretans be free after Brutus's command, whom we voted to rule them after Caesar's death.

33.1. Then, in such great affairs, having detected his accursed intention, will you not punish him, but wait to learn even in deed what he would do to you armed, who when naked wrought such

33.2. things? Or do you think that he does not desire the tyranny, that he does not ever pray to obtain it, but will some day cast out of his mind this aim, which he once put into his thoughts, and will some day throw down the hope of the monarchy, for which, having both said and done such things, he went

33.3. unpunished? And which of men, the things he attempted to accomplish with another, being master only of his own voice, could he not himself accomplish for himself, were he able? And who, having dared to appoint another tyrant both over his country and over himself at once, would not himself wish to be

34.1. sole ruler? So that, even if you spared him then, yet now at least, even for those things, hate him; nor wish to learn what, if he succeed, he will do of all he desires, but, from the things already dared by him,

34.2. take forethought to suffer nothing dreadful further. For indeed what could one say? That Caesar then did rightly in accepting neither the name of king nor the diadem? Then this man wickedly offered him these things which not even that one was

34.3. pleased with. But did Caesar err in that, even at the first, hearing and seeing such a thing, he endured it? Then if indeed that man fittingly died for these things, how is not this man too, confessing in a manner that he desires to play the tyrant,

34.4. most justly deserving to perish? For that these things are so is plain from what I have already said, but is most clearly proved from the very things he afterward did. For for what other reason, when he might keep quiet in safety, has he attempted to throw affairs into disorder and to meddle?

34.5. For what reason, when he might remain at home without danger, has he chosen to take the field and make war? Why, when many were unwilling to go out even to the commands that fell to them, does this man not only lay claim to the Gaul that in no way belongs to him, but even

34.6. forces it against its will? Why, when Brutus Decimus delivers up to us both himself and his soldiers and his cities, has this man not only not imitated him, but even besieges him, having shut him in? There is no way but that for some other end and against us he is preparing both those things and all the rest.

35.1. Seeing these things, then, do we delay and grow soft, and train up against ourselves so great a tyrant? And how is it not shameful that our ancestors, reared in slavery, desired freedom,

35.2. but we, who have lived as citizens in autonomy, willingly play the slave, and from Caesar's monarchy, although having received from him beforehand many good things too, we gladly freed ourselves, but choose this man in his stead as a self-imposed master, who is so much worse than that one in proportion as that one, having conquered in the wars,

35.3. spared many, but this man, before he was even able to do anything, killed three hundred soldiers, and among them certain centurions too, who had done no wrong, at home in his own house, with his wife present and looking on, so as even to fill her with their blood.

35.4. And yet the man who treated those men so cruelly, when he ought even to have courted them, what of the most dreadful things do you not think he will do to you all, if he should conquer? And the man who up to now has lived so wantonly, how do you not think he will proceed to every extreme of insolence, if he take on besides the authority of arms?

36.1. Do not, then, wait to repent after suffering some such thing, but before suffering guard against it; for it is grievous, when it is possible to forestall dreadful things, then, having let them happen, to change one's mind. Nor wish, having let go the present, again to need some other Cassius and some other Bruti; for it is laughable, when it is possible to aid ourselves opportunely, to seek afterward those who will set us

36.2. free. Whom perhaps we shall not even find, especially if we use the present opportunities thus. For who would willingly, in private, risk himself for the democracy, seeing us publicly ready for slavery? And indeed that he will never stop doing these things, but is growing greater against us in distant and smaller matters,

36.3. is plain to all. For it is for no other reason that he makes war on Decimus and besieges Mutina than that, having conquered them and taken them, he may combine against us; for neither has he been wronged in anything by them so as to seem to be defending himself, nor again does he desire the goods that are theirs, and on this account endure toils and dangers, but will willingly abstain from ours, who possess both those and many others

36.4. besides. Shall we, then, wait for this, that, having taken on both these and certain other things, he become hard to fight? And shall we believe him when he deceives

37.1. us and says that he is not making war on the city? And who is so simple-minded as to consider by words rather than by deeds whether one is making war on us or not? For I, not now first, when he has fled from the city and made an expedition against the allies and assaults Brutus and besieges the cities,

37.2. say that he is ill-disposed to us, but, even from the things which formerly, not only when Caesar was dead but when he was still alive, he did both wickedly and wantonly, I determine that he has become an enemy and a plotter both against our commonwealth and against our

37.3. freedom. For who, loving his country, or who, hating tyranny, would have done even one of these things, of which this man has done many and of every kind? He is, then, proved to be long since and from every side an enemy to us, and it stands thus. If we straightway and most quickly defend ourselves against him, we shall recover all the things that have been let go;

37.4. but if, neglecting to do this, we wait until that man himself confess that he is plotting against us, we shall fail of everything. For this he will not do even if he march against the very city, just as neither did Marius nor Cinna nor

37.5. Sulla; but if he come into the mastery of affairs, there is nothing that he will not do of the same things as they, or even more grievous. For men eager to accomplish something are wont to say one set of things, and those who have succeeded to do another; for toward prevailing they feign everything, but, having obtained

37.6. it, they abstain from none of the things they desire. And besides, those who come after always wish to outdo the deeds dared by some, reckoning the like, from its having been done before, to be even small, but choosing the strange, from its unexpectedness, as alone worthy of themselves.

38.1. Seeing these things, then, Fathers, let us no longer delay, nor be enticed by present ease, but let us take forethought for security toward the

38.2. future. For how is it not shameful that Caesar, just emerged from boyhood and not long enrolled among the ephebes, takes such forethought for the commonwealth as even to spend his money for its safety and to gather soldiers, but we neither do any of the needful things ourselves nor choose to aid him, although we have taken trial in deed of his

38.3. goodwill? For who does not know that, had he not come hither with the soldiers from Campania, Antonius would assuredly straightway from Brundisium, just as he was, have fallen upon our city with all his armies like some

38.4. torrent? And indeed this too is dreadful, that men who long ago served in war have voluntarily given themselves to you for the present affairs, reckoning neither their age nor the wounds which they once received fighting on your behalf, but you will not even be willing to ratify the war which was previously decreed by those very men,

38.5. but become so much worse even than those who are in danger that you praise the soldiers who perceived the foulness of Antonius and revolted from him even while consul, and attached themselves to Caesar—that is, to you through him—but the things which you say they did rightly, these you shrink from voting.

38.6. And indeed we are grateful also to Brutus, that he neither at the first admitted Antonius into Gaul and now repels him as he advances against it. Why then do we not ourselves too do the same things? Why do we not imitate the others whom we praise as rightly

39.1. minded? And yet one of two things is necessary for us: either to say that all these men—I mean Caesar, Brutus, the old soldiers, the legions—have deliberated ill and ought to undergo punishment because, without us or the people voting, they dared, the one abandoning their consul, the others gathered against him,

39.2. to make war on him; or to acknowledge that Antonius has both long since and now been judged by us, by the very deeds, to be an enemy, and that he ought by the common resolve of us all to be punished. And indeed that this is not only more just but also more profitable for us,

39.3. no one is ignorant. For he himself neither knows how to handle affairs (for how or whence a man living in drunkenness and dice?), nor has he any of those with him worth mention; for he both loves only those like himself and makes them partners

39.4. of all things, both speakable and unspeakable. And moreover he is most cowardly in the greatest dangers and most faithless even toward his very friends; neither of which befits generalship and war.

40.1. For who does not know that he himself, having prepared for us all the civil evils, then shared least in the dangers, remaining a long time at Brundisium through cowardice, so that Caesar, isolated on his account, was nearly destroyed, and standing aside from all the wars that came after—that against the Egyptians, that against Pharnaces, that in

40.2. Africa, that in Spain? And who does not know that, having won over Clodius and abused his tribunate toward all the most dreadful things, he would even have killed him with his own hand, if I had accepted this promise of

40.3. his; and that, to Caesar—on the one hand having served with him as quaestor when he was praetor in Spain, on the other hand having attached himself during his tribunate against the judgement of us all, and after this having received from him untold money and excessive honours—he attempted to throw him into the desire of monarchy and thereby also into slander, by which most of all he died?

41.1. And yet he once said that I prepared the slayers against him; for he is so foolish as to dare to lie against me with such great praise. But I do not say that he was the very hand that slew Caesar—not that he did not wish it, but because he feared even this; yet by the very deeds I say that that man perished through him.

41.2. For he who furnished him the cause of seeming to be justly plotted against is this man who called him king, who gave him the diadem, who first slandered him to those who loved him. Or do I rejoice at Caesar's death, I who reaped from him nothing beyond freedom,

41.3. but Antonius grieves, he who plundered all that man's estate, and did very many mischiefs under the pretext of his documents, and is at last hastening toward the succession of his dominion?

42.1. But I return to this point, that he himself has nothing worthy of generalship or of victory, nor possesses armies many or worthy to fight. For the greater part and the best of the soldiers have abandoned him, and, by Zeus, he has been deprived of his elephants too; and the rest have practised insolence and plundering of the allies' property rather than war.

42.2. And the proof of the manner of their choice is that even now they still serve with him, and of their unmanliness, that, besieging Mutina now for so long a time, they have not taken it. And the affairs of Antonius and of those with him are found to be

42.3. such; but the affairs of Caesar and of Brutus and of those examined with them are hard to fight even by themselves (indeed Caesar has appropriated a number even of his soldiers, and Brutus shuts him out of Gaul),

42.4. but if you too aid them—first praising them for the things they did on their own judgement, then confirming the things done by them, and giving them lawful authority toward the future, and then sending out both consuls to the war—there is no way that any of those now with him will aid

42.5. him. Nor indeed, even if they most of all stand fast, will he be able to hold out against all the others at once, but either willingly, as soon as he learns that you have voted these things, will lay down his arms and put himself in your hands, or even unwillingly will be taken in a single battle.

42.6. I, then, give you this counsel, and if I chanced to be consul, I would assuredly even do it, just as before, when I defended you against Catiline and Lentulus, who, being a kinsman of this very man,

43.1. plotted against you. But if any of you thinks that these things are rightly said, but is of opinion that we ought first to send envoys to him, and then, having learned his intention, if he willingly departs from his arms and entrusts himself to you, to keep

43.2. quiet, but if he persists in the same things, then to vote war against him (for I learn that some wish to advise you this), he does a thing most specious in word, but in deed both shameful and dangerous to the city. For how is it not shameful that you use heralds and embassies toward

43.3. your fellow-citizens? For toward foreigners one must first send heralds and embassies, and it is necessary; but upon citizens who are doing some wrong one must straightway bring the punishment—if you take them under your votes, judging; if under arms, making war.

43.4. For all such men are slaves both of you and of the people and of the laws, whether they wish it or not; and it is fitting neither to pamper them nor to treat them on a level with the freest, but, as runaway household slaves, both to

44.1. pursue and to punish them from a position of superiority. And how is it not dreadful that he did not delay to wrong us, but we delay to defend ourselves? And that he, long since having arms in hand, does everything pertaining to war, but we wear away the time in decrees and embassies, and that the man whom from his deeds we have long since detected as a wrongdoer, this man we handle with syllables and

44.2. words alone? Expecting what? That he will some day obey us and some day respect us? And how, when he has already advanced to this point, that not even if he wishes can he live as a citizen with us in democratic fashion? For if he had wished to live equally and in common, he would not even from the beginning have undertaken such things, and if through folly or rashness he did this, he would assuredly straightway have willingly

44.3. departed from them; but as it is, having once stepped outside both the laws and the commonwealth, and having taken on from this some power and authority, there is no way that he would willingly change and prefer any of your decrees, but such a man must be punished by the very arms with which he dared to wrong us.

45.1. And now most of all remember to me the saying once uttered by that very man, that it is not possible for you, unless you prevail, to be saved. Those, then, who bid you send envoys do nothing else than make you delay, and from this also make the affairs of your allies more sluggish and more dispirited,

45.2. while that man in the meantime at leisure does all he wishes, and takes Decimus and reduces Mutina by siege and gains all Gaul, so that we can no longer find how to deal with him, but are compelled both to dread and to court and to do obeisance

45.3. to him. And, saying this one thing more about the embassy, I will stop, that not even Antonius gave you any account about what he was going to do, in order that you too should do this.

45.4. I, then, both for these reasons and for all the rest, counsel you not to delay nor to waste time, but as quickly as possible to make war on him, reckoning that the greater part of affairs is set right by opportunities rather than by forces,

45.5. and assuredly to understand from this too that I would never, having let go peace, in which I have both the greatest strength and have acquired wealth and reputation—if indeed there were peace even in deed—have counselled you to make war, unless I thought it also

46.1. expedient. And to you too, Calenus, and to the others who think as you do, I counsel quietly to permit the senate to vote what is fitting, and not, for the sake of your own private favour toward Antonius, to betray the things that are commonly expedient for us

46.2. all. For I am so minded, Fathers, that, if you are persuaded by me, I would very gladly enjoy both freedom and safety with you, but if you vote anything else, I choose to be dead rather than to live.

46.3. For neither otherwise have I ever feared the death that comes from frank speech (and on this account I have succeeded most; and the proof is that you voted me both to sacrifice and to keep festival for the things I did while consul, which never happened to any other who had not accomplished something at least in war), but now least of all.

46.4. For death would not be untimely for me, especially having been consul so many years ago (and yet remember that I said this to you in the very consulship, in order that you might attend to me in all things as one despising it); but to fear anyone against you, and to be a slave to anyone along with you, would be most untimely for me.

46.5. Whence I reckon this both a calamity and a destruction, not of the body only but also of the soul and of reputation, by which alone we become in a manner immortal; but to die speaking and acting on your behalf I count equal to immortality.

47.1. And if Antonius too understood these things, he would never have advanced to such deeds, but would have chosen rather to die, as his grandfather, than to do anything like what Cinna, who killed that man,

47.2. did. For besides the other things, Cinna was slaughtered in turn not long after, both for this and for the other evils he did (wherefore I have marvelled at this too in Antonius, that, imitating his deeds, he does not fear lest he some day fall into a like end), while that man left, by this very thing, the seeming to someone to be

47.3. of worth. But he is no longer worthy to be saved even on account of his kinsmen, since he neither emulated his grandfather nor inherited his father's estate. For who does not know this, that, having restored many exiles both in Caesar's time and afterward, ostensibly from his documents,

47.4. he did not aid his uncle, but brought back his fellow-gambler Lenticulus, who had fled for the prodigality of his life, and cherishes Bambalio, who is notorious even from his very surname, but has treated his nearest kinsmen as I said, as though having some anger against them

47.5. because he was born such a man. Accordingly he inherited not that man's property, but that of others, and very many of them—some whom he had never seen or heard of, and some even still living; for he has so stripped and plundered them that they differ in nothing from the dead."