The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero Part 13

What, I should like to know, is the object of now making mention of the Hirtian law?--a law of which I believe the framer himself repents no less than those against whom it was pa.s.sed. According to my opinion, it is utterly wrong to call it a law at all; and, even if it be a law, we ought not to think it a law of Hirtius.

"You have furnished Brutus with money belonging to Apuleius."

Well? Suppose the republic had furnished that excellent man with all its treasures and resources, what good man would have disapproved of it? For without money he could not have supported an army, nor without an army could he have taken your brother prisoner.

"You have praised the execution of Paetus and Menedemus, men who had been presented with the freedom of the city, and who were united by ties of hospitality to Caesar."

We do not praise what we have never even heard of; we were very likely, in such a state of confusion, and such a critical period of the republic, to busy our minds about two worthless Greeklings!

"You took no notice of Theopompus having been stripped, and driven out by Trebonius, and compelled to flee to Alexandria."

The senate has indeed been very guilty! We have taken no notice of that great man Theopompus! Why, who on earth knows or cares where he is, or what he is doing; or, indeed, whether he is alive or dead? "You endure the sight of Sergius Galba in your camp, armed with the same dagger with which he slew Caesar."

I shall make you no reply at all about Galba; a most gallant and courageous citizen. He will meet you face to face; and he being present, and that dagger which you reproach him with, shall give you your answer.

"You have enlisted my soldiers, and many veterans, under the pretence of intending the destruction of those men who slew Caesar; and then, when they expected no such step, you have led them on to attack their quaestor, their general, and their former comrades!"

No doubt we deceived them; we humbugged them completely! no doubt the Martial legion, the fourth legion, and the veterans had no idea what was going on! They were not following the authority of the senate, or the liberty of the Roman people.--They were anxious to avenge the death of Caesar, which they all regarded as an act of destiny! No doubt you were the person whom they were anxious to see safe, and happy, and flourishing!

XVII. Oh miserable man, not only in fact, but also in the circ.u.mstance of not perceiving yourself how miserable you are! But listen to the most serious charge of all.

"In fact, what have you not sanctioned,--what have you not done? what would be done if he were to come to life again, by?--"

By whom? For I suppose he means to bring forward some instance of a very wicked man.

"Cnaeus Pompeius himself?"

Oh how base must we be, if indeed we have been imitating Cnaeus Pompeius!

"Or his son, if he could be at home?"

He soon will be at home, believe me; for in a very few days he will enter on his home, and on his father's villas.

"Lastly, you declare that peace cannot be made unless I either allow Brutus to quit Mutina, or supply him with corn."

It is others who say that: I say, that even if you were to do so, there never could be peace between this city and you.

"What? is this the opinion of those veteran soldiers, to whom as yet either course is open?"

I do not see that there is any course so open to them, as now to begin and attack that general whom they previously were so zealous and unanimous in defending.[54]

"Since you yourselves have sold yourselves for flatteries and poisoned gifts".

Are those men depraved and corrupted, who have been persuaded to pursue a most detestable enemy with most righteous war?

"But you say, you are bringing a.s.sistance to troops who are hemmed in.

I have no objection to their being saved, and departing wherever you wish, if they only allow that man to be put to death who has deserved it."

How very kind of him! The soldiers availing themselves of the liberality of Antonius have deserted their general, and have fled in alarm to his enemy, and if it had not been for them, Dolabella, in offering the sacrifice which he did to the shade of his general, would not have been beforehand with Antonius in propitiating the spirit of his colleague by a similar offering.

"You write me word that there has been mention of peace made in the senate, and that five amba.s.sadors of consular rank have been appointed. It is hard to believe that those men, who drove me in haste from the city, when I offered the fairest conditions, and when I was even thinking of relaxing somewhat of them, should now think of acting with moderation or humanity. And it is hardly probable, that those men who have p.r.o.nounced Dolabella a public enemy for a most righteous action, should bring themselves to spare us who are influenced by the same sentiments as he".

Does it appear a trifling matter, that he confesses himself a partner with Dolabella in all his atrocities? Do you not see that all these crimes flow from one source? He himself confesses, shrewdly and correctly enough, that those who have p.r.o.nounced Dolabella a public enemy for a most righteous action (for so it appears to Antonius), cannot possibly spare him who agrees with Dolabella in opinion.

XVIII. What can you do with a man who puts on paper and records the fact, that his agreement with Dolabella is so complete, that he would kill Trebonius, and, if he could, Brutus and Ca.s.sius too, with every circ.u.mstance of torture; and inflict the same punishment on us also?

Certainly, a man who makes so pious and fair a treaty is a citizen to be taken care of! He, also, complains that the conditions which he offered, those reasonable and modest conditions, were rejected; namely, that he was to have the further Gaul,--the province the most suitable of all for renewing and carrying on the war; that the legionaries of the Alauda should be judges in the third decury; that is to say, that there shall be an asylum for all crimes, to the indelible disgrace of the republic; that his own acts should be ratified, his,--when not one trace of his consulship has been allowed to remain! He showed his regard also for the interests of Lucius Antonius, who had been a most equitable surveyor of private and public domains, with Nucula and Lento for his colleagues.

"Consider then, both of you, whether it is more becoming and more advantageous for your party, for you to seek to avenge the death of Trebonius, or that of Caesar; and whether it is more reasonable for you and me to meet in battle, in order that the cause of the Pompeians, which has so frequently had its throat cut, may the more easily revive; or to agree together, so as not to be a laughing-stock to our enemies."

If its throat had been cut, it never could revive. "Which," says he, "is more becoming." In this war he talks of what is becoming! "And more advantageous for your party."--"Parties," you senseless man, is a suitable expression for the forum, or the senate house. You have declared a wicked war against your country; you are attacking Mutina; you are besieging the consul elect; two consuls are carrying on war against you; and with them, Caesar, the propraetor; all Italy is armed against you; and then do you call yours "a party," instead of a revolt from the republic? "To seek to avenge the death of Trebonius, or that of Caesar." We have avenged Trebonius sufficiently by p.r.o.nouncing Dolabella a public enemy. The death of Caesar is best defended by oblivion and silence. But take notice what his object is.--When he thinks that the death of Caesar ought to be revenged, he is threatening with death, not those only who perpetrated that action, but those also who were not indignant at it.

XIX. "Men who will count the destruction of either you or me gain to them. A spectacle which as yet Fortune herself has taken care to avoid, unwilling to see two armies which belong to one body fighting, with Cicero acting as master of the show; a fellow who is so far happy that he has cajoled you both with the same compliments as those with which he boasted that he had deceived Caesar."

He proceeds in his abuse of me, as if he had been very fortunate in all his former reproaches of me; but I will brand him with the most thoroughly deserved marks of infamy, and pillory him for the everlasting recollection of posterity. I a "master of the show of gladiators!" indeed he is not wholly wrong, for I do wish to see the worst party slain, and the best victorious. He writes that "whichever of them are destroyed we shall count as so much gain." Admirable gain, when, if you, O Antonius, are victorious, (may the G.o.ds avert such a disaster!) the death of those men who depart from life untortured will be accounted happy! He says that Hirtius and Caesar "have been cajoled by me by the same compliments." I should like to know what compliment has been as yet paid to Hirtius by me; for still more and greater ones than have been paid him already are due to Caesar. But do you, O Antonius, dare to say that Caesar, the father, was deceived by me?

You, it was you, I say, who really slew him at the Lupercal games.

Why, O most ungrateful of men, have you abandoned your office of priest to him? But remark now the admirable wisdom and consistency of this great and ill.u.s.trious man.

"I am quite resolved to brook no insult either to myself or to my friends; nor to desert that party which Pompeius hated, nor to allow the veterans to be removed from their abodes; nor to allow individuals to be dragged out to torture, nor to violate the faith which I pledged to Dolabella."

I say nothing of the rest of this sentence, "the faith pledged to Dolabella," to that most holy man, this pious gentleman will by no means violate. What faith? Was it a pledge to murder every virtuous citizen, to part.i.tion the city and Italy, to distribute the provinces among, and to hand them over to be plundered by, their followers?

For what else was there which could have been ratified by treaty and mutual pledges between Antonius and Dolabella, those foul and parricidal traitors?

"Nor to violate my treaty of alliance with Lepidus, the most conscientious of men."

You have any alliance with Lepidus or with any (I will not say virtuous citizen, as he is, but with any) man in his senses! Your object is to make Lepidus appear either an impious man, or a madman.

But you are doing no good, (although it is a hard matter to speak positively of another,) especially with a man like Lepidus, whom I will never fear, but I shall hope good things of him unless I am prevented from doing so. Lepidus wished to recal you from your frenzy, not to be the a.s.sistant of your insanity. But you seek your friends not only among conscientious men, but among _most_ conscientious men.

And you actually, so G.o.dlike is your piety, invent a new word to express it which has no existence in the Latin language.

"Nor to betray Plancus, the partner of my counsels."

Plancus, the partner of your counsels? He, whose ever memorable and divine virtue brings a light to the republic: (unless, mayhap, you think that it is as a reinforcement to you that he has come with those most gallant legions, and with a numerous Gallic force of both cavalry and infantry); and who, if before his arrival you have not by your punishment made atonement to the republic for your wickedness, will be chief leader in this war. For although the first succours that arrive are more useful to the republic, yet the last are the more acceptable.

XX. However, at last he recollects himself and begins to philosophize.

"If the immortal G.o.ds a.s.sist me, as I trust that they will, going on my way with proper feelings, I shall live happily; but if another fate awaits me, I have already a foretaste of joy in the certainty of your punishment. For if the Pompeians when defeated are so insolent, you will be sure to experience what they will be when victorious."

You are very welcome to your foretaste of joy. For you are at war not only with the Pompeians, but with the entire republic. Every one, G.o.ds and men, the highest rank, the middle cla.s.s, the lowest dregs of the people, citizens and foreigners, men and women, free men and slaves, all hate you. We saw this the other day on some false news that came; but we shall soon see it from the way in which true news is received.

And if you ponder these things with yourself a little, you will die with more equanimity, and greater comfort.

"Lastly, this is the sum of my opinion and determination; I will bear with the insults offered me by my friends, if they themselves are willing to forget that they have offered them; or if they are prepared to unite with me in avenging Caesar's death."

Now that they know this resolution of Antonius, do you think that Aulus Hirtius and Caius Pansa, the consuls, can hesitate to pa.s.s over to Antonius? to besiege Brutus? to be eager to attack Mutina? Why do I say Hirtius and Pansa? Will Caesar, that young man of singular piety, be able to restrain himself from seeking to avenge the injuries of his father in the blood of Decimus Brutus? Therefore, as soon as they had read this letter, the course which they adopted was to approach nearer to the fortifications. And on this account we ought to consider Caesar a still more admirable young man; and that a still greater kindness of the immortal G.o.ds which gave him to the republic, as he has never been misled by the specious use of his father's name; nor by any false idea of piety and affection. He sees clearly that the greatest piety consists in the salvation of one's country. But if it were a contest between parties, the name of which is utterly extinct, then would Antonius and Ventidius be the proper persons to uphold the party of Caesar, rather than in the first place, Caesar, a young man full of the greatest piety and the most affectionate recollection of his parent? and next to him Pansa and Hirtius, who held, (if I may use such an expression,) the two horns of Caesar, at the time when that deserved to be called a party. But what parties are these, when the one proposes to itself to uphold the authority of the senate, the liberty of the Roman people, and the safety of the republic, while the other fixes its eyes on the slaughter of all good men, and on the part.i.tion of the city and of Italy.

XXI. Let us come at last to the end.

"I do not believe that amba.s.sadors are coming--".

He knows me well.