Orations |
Translator: C. D. Yonge
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| 433 |
Quod si est erratum , patres conscripti , spe falsa atque fallaci , redeamus in viam . Optimus est portus paenitenti mutatio consili .
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But if an error has been committed, O conscript fathers, owing to a groundless and fallacious hope, let us return into the right road. The best harbor for a penitent is a change of intention. |
| 434 |
Quid enim potest , per deos immortalis ! rei publicae prodesse nostra legatio ? Prodesse dico ? quid si etiam obfutura est ? Obfutura ? quid si iam nocuit atque obfuit ? An vos acerrimam illam et fortissimam populi Romani libertatis recuperandae cupiditatem non imminutam ac debilitatam putatis legatione pacis audita ? quid municipia censetis ? quid colonias ? quid cunctam Italiam ? futuram eodem studio quo contra commune incendium exarserat ? An non putamus fore ut eos paeniteat professos esse et prae se tulisse odium in Antonium qui pecunias polliciti sunt , qui arma , qui se totos et animis et corporibus in salutem rei publicae contulerunt ? Quem ad modum nostrum hoc consilium Capua probabit , quae temporibus his Roma altera est ? Illa impios civis iudicavit , eiecit , exclusit . Illi , inquam , urbi fortissime conanti e manibus est ereptus Antonius . Quid ? legionum nostrarum nervos nonne his consiliis incidimus ? Quis est enim qui ad bellum inflammato animo futurus sit spe pacis oblata ? Ipsa illa Martia caelestis et divina legio hoc nuntio languescet et mollietur atque illud pulcherrimum nomen amittet : excident gladii , fluent arma de manibus . Senatum enim secuta non arbitrabitur se graviore odio debere esse in Antonium quam senatum . Pudet huius legionis , pudet quartae quae pari virtute nostram auctoritatem probans non ut consulem et imperatorem suum , sed ut hostem et oppugnatorem patriae reliquit Antonium ; pudet optimi exercitus qui coniunctus est ex duobus , qui iam lustratus , qui profectus ad Mutinam est ; qui si pacis , id est timoris nostri , nomen audierit , ut non referat pedem , insistet certe .
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For what, in the name of the immortal gods! what good can our embassy do to the republic? What good, do I say? What will you say if it will even do us harm? Will do us harm? What if it already has done us harm? Do you suppose that that most energetic and fearless desire shown by the Roman people for recovery of their liberty has been dampened and weakened by hearing of this embassy for peace? What do you think the municipal towns feel? and the colonies! What do you think will be the feelings of all Italy! Do you suppose that it will continue to glow with the same zeal with which it burned before to extinguish this common conflagration? Do we not suppose that those men will repent of having professed and displayed so much hatred to Antonius, who promised us money and arms; who devoted themselves wholly, body, heart, and soul, to the safety of the republic! How will Capua, which at the present time feels like a second Rome, approve of this design of yours? That city pronounced them impious citizens, cast them out, and kept them out. Antonius was barely saved from the hands of that city, which made a most gallant attempt to crush him. Need I say more? Are we not by these proceedings cutting the sinews of our own legions; for what man can engage with ardor in a war, when the hope of peace is suggested to him? Even that godlike and divine Martial legion will grow languid at and be cowed by the receipt of this news, and will lose that most noble title of Martial; their swords will fall to the ground; their weapons will drop from their hands. For, following the senate, it will not consider itself bound to feel more bitter hatred against Antonius than the senate. I am ashamed for this legion, I am ashamed for the fourth legion, which, approving of our authority with equal virtue, abandoned Antonius, not looking upon him as their consul and general, but as an enemy and attacker of their country. I am ashamed for that admirable army which is made up of two armies; which has now been reviewed, and which has started for Mutina, and which, if it hears a word of peace, that is to say, of our fear, even if it does not return, will at all events halt. For who, when the senate recalls him and sounds a retreat, will be eager to engage in battle? |
| 435 |
Quid enim revocante et receptui canente senatu properet dimicare ? Quid autem hoc iniustius quam nos inscientibus eis qui bellum gerunt de pace decernere ? nec solum inscientibus sed etiam invitis ? An vos A . Hirtium , praeclarissimum consulem , C . Caesarem , deorum beneficio natum ad haec tempora , quorum epistulas spem victoriae declarantis in manu teneo , pacem velle censetis ? Vincere illi expetunt pacisque dulcissimum et pulcherrimum nomen non pactione , sed victoria concupiverunt . Quid ? Galliam quo tandem animo hanc rem audituram putatis ? Illa enim huius belli propulsandi , administrandi , sustinendi principatum tenet . Gallia D . Bruti nutum ipsum , ne dicam imperium , secuta armis , viris , pecunia belli principia firmavit ; eadem crudelitati M . Antoni suum totum corpus obiecit ; exhauritur , vastatur , uritur : omnis aequo animo belli patitur iniurias , dum modo repellat periculum servitutis .
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For what can be more unreasonable than for us to pass resolutions about peace without the knowledge of those men who wage the war! And not only without their knowledge, but even against their will? Do you think that Aulus Hirtius, that most illustrious consul, and that Caius Caesar, a man born by the especial kindness of the gods for this especial crisis, whose letters, announcing their hope of victory, I hold in my hand, are desirous of peace? They are anxious to conquer; and they wish to obtain that most delightful and beautiful condition of peace, as the consequence of victory, not of some agreement. What more? With what feelings do you think that Gaul will hear of this proceeding? For that province performs the chief part in repelling, and managing, and supporting this war. Gaul, following the mere nod, for I need not say the command of Decimus Brutus, has strengthened the beginning of the war with her arms, her men, and her treasures: she has exposed the whole of her body to the cruelty of Marcus Antonius: she is drained, laid waste, attacked with fire and sword. She is enduring all the injuries of war with equanimity, contented as long as she can ward off the danger of slavery. |
| 436 |
Et ut omittam reliquas partis Galliae —nam sunt omnes pares — Patavini alios excluserunt , alios eiecerunt missos ab Antonio , pecunia , militibus , et , quod maxime deerat , armis nostros duces adiuverunt . Fecerunt idem reliqui qui quondam in eadem causa erant et propter multorum annorum iniurias alienati a senatu putabantur : quos minime mirum est communicata cum eis re publica fidelis esse , qui etiam expertes eius fidem suam semper praestiterunt .
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And, to say nothing of the other parts of Gaul (for they are all alike), the people of Patavium have excluded some men who were sent to them by Antonius, and have driven out others, and have assisted our generals with money and soldiers, and with what was above all things wanting, arms. The rest have done the same; even those who formerly were of the party of Antonius, and who were believed to have been alienated from the senate by the injuries of many years. Men, who indeed there is no great reason to wonder at being faithful now, after the freedom of the republic has been shared with them, when, even before they had been admitted to those privileges, they always behaved with loyalty and good faith. |
| 437 |
His igitur omnibus victoriam sperantibus pacis nomen adferemus , id est desperationem victoriae ? Quid si ne potest quidem ulla esse pax ? Quae enim est condicio pacis in qua ei cum quo pacem facias nihil concedi potest ? Multis rebus a nobis est invitatus ad pacem Antonius : bellum tamen maluit . Missi legati repugnante me , sed tamen missi ; delata mandata : non paruit . Denuntiatum est ne Brutum obsideret , a Mutina discederet : oppugnavit etiam vehementius . Et ad eum legatos de pace mittemus qui pacis nuntios repudiavit ? Verecundioremne coram putamus in postulando fore quam fuerit tum cum misit mandata ad senatum ? Atqui tum ea petebat quae videbantur improba omnino sed tamen aliquo modo posse concedi ; nondum erat vestris tam gravibus tamque multis iudiciis ignominiisque concisus : nunc ea petit quae dare nullo modo possumus , nisi prius volumus bello nos victos confiteri .
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All these men, then, who are now sanguine of victory, we are to meet with the name of peace; that is to say, with a complete despair of victory. What more? What if it is even absolutely impossible for there to be any real peace at all? For what sort of peace is that in which nothing can be granted to the man with whom one is making peace? Antonius has been invited to peace by us by many circumstances; but he has preferred war. Ambassadors were sent. I opposed it, indeed, but still they were sent. Commands were taken to him: he did not obey them. He was ordered not to besiege Brutus, and to retire from before Mutina. He attacked that town even more vigorously. And shall we send an embassy to treat of peace to a man who has rejected ambassadors of peace? Do we suppose that when we talk to him face to face he will be more moderate in his demands than he was when he sent commands to the senate! But at that time he demanded things which appeared indeed unreasonable, but still such as it might have been possible to concede; he had not at that time been branded by such heavy and such numerous decisions and condemnations of yours. At present he is demanding things which we can not by any possibility grant, unless we are willing first to confess ourselves defeated in war. |
| 438 |
Senatus consulta falsa delata ab eo iudicavimus : num ea vera possumus iudicare ? Leges statuimus per vim et contra auspicia latas eisque nec populum nec plebem teneri : num eas restitui posse censetis ? Sestertium septiens miliens avertisse Antonium pecuniae publicae iudicavistis : num fraude poterit carere peculatus ? Immunitates ab eo civitatibus , sacerdotia , regna venierunt : num figentur rursus eae tabulae quas vos decretis vestris refixistis ?
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We have pronounced that resolutions of the senate which have been produced by him are forged. Can we now pronounce them genuine? We have declared that laws have been carried by him by means of violence, and in a manner contrary to the auspices, and that neither the burgesses nor the common people are bound by them. Do you consider it possible that those laws should be reestablished? You have judicially decided that Antonius has embezzled seven hundred millions of sesterces of the public money. Can he now be released from the charge of peculation? Exemptions, grants of the freedom of the city, priesthoods, kingdoms have been sold by him. Can those tablets again be put up which you took down by your decrees? |
| 439 |
Quod si ea quae decrevimus obruere volumus , num etiam memoriam rerum delere possumus ? Quando enim obliviscetur ulla posteritas cuius scelere in hac vestitus foeditate fuerimus ? Vt centurionum legionis Martiae Brundisi profusus sanguis eluatur , num elui praedicatio crudelitatis potest ? Vt media praeteream , quae vetustas tollet operum circum Mutinam taetra monumenta , sceleris indicia latrocinique vestigia ? Huic igitur importuno atque impuro parricidae quid habemus , per deos immortalis ! quod remittamus ? An Galliam ultimam et exercitum ? Quid est aliud non pacem facere , sed differre bellum , nec solum propagare bellum sed concedere etiam victoriam ? An ille non vicerit , si quacumque condicione in hanc urbem cum suis venerit ? Armis nunc omnia tenemus ; auctoritate valemus plurimum ; absunt tot perditi cives , nefarium secuti ducem ; tamen eorum ora sermonesque qui in urbe ex eo numero relicti sunt ferre non possumus . Quid censetis , cum tot uno tempore inruperint , nos arma posuerimus , illi non deposuerint , nonne nos nostris consiliis victos in perpetuum fore ?
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But if we can rescind those decrees which we have passed, can we also efface the memory of the facts? For where will any posterity forget to whose wickedness it was owing that we have been arrayed in these unseemly garments? Although the blood of the centurions of the Martial legion shed at Brundusium be washed out, can the notoriety of that inhuman act be washed out too? To pass over things which happened in the interval, what lapse of time will ever efface the foul memorials of his military works around Mutina, the tokens of his wickedness, the traces of his piratical conduct? What then, in the name of the immortal gods! have we which we can grant in the way of concession to this polluted and impious parricide? Are we to yield up to him the farther Gaul, and an army? This is not making peace, but only deferring war. Indeed, it is not only prolonging the war, but even conceding the victory. Is it not a victory for him to enter this city with his troops, on any conditions whatever? At present we are masters of every thing by our arms; we are of great influence from the authority of this order; numbers of desperate citizens are absent, following their infamous leader; and still we can not bear the countenances or support the language of those men who are left behind in the city out of their number. What do you think will be the result when such numbers force their way into the city at one time? when we have laid aside our arms, and they have not laid aside theirs? Must we not be defeated for everlasting, in consequence of our own counsels? |
| 440 |
Ponite ante oculos M . Antonium consularem ; sperantem consulatum Lucium adiungite ; supplete ceteros neque nostri ordinis solum honores et imperia meditantis : nolite ne Tirones quidem Numisios etMustelas Seios contemnere . Cum eis facta pax non erit pax , sed pactio servitutis . L . Pisonis , amplissimi viri , praeclara vox a te non solum in hoc ordine , Pansa , sed etiam in contione iure laudata est . Excessurum se ex Italia dixit , deos penatis et sedes patrias relicturum , si —quod di omen averterint !—rem publicam oppressisset Antonius .
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Place before your eyes Marcus Antonius, as a man of consular rank; add to him Lucius, hoping to obtain the consulship; join to them all the rest, and those too not confined to our order, who are fixing their thoughts on honors and commands. Do not despise the Tiros, and the Numisii, or the Mustellae, or the Seii. A peace made with those men will not be peace, but a covenant of slavery. That was an admirable expression of Lucius Piso, a most honorable man, and one which has been deservedly praised by you, O Pansa, not only in this order, but also in the assembly of the people. He said, that he would depart from Italy, and leave his household gods and his native home, if (but might the gods avert such a disaster!) Antonius overwhelmed the republic. |
| 441 |
Quaero igitur a te , L . Piso , nonne oppressam rem publicam putes , si tot tam impii , tam audaces , tam facinerosi recepti sint ? Quos nondum tantis parricidiis contaminatos vix ferebamus , hos nunc omni scelere coopertos tolerabilis censes civitati fore ? Aut isto tuo , mihi crede , consilio erit utendum , ut cedamus , abeamus , vitam inopem et vagam persequamur , aut cervices latronibus dandae atque in patria cadendum est . Vbi sunt , C . Pansa , illae cohortationes pulcherrimae tuae quibus a te excitatus senatus , inflammatus populus Romanus non solum audivit sed etiam didicit nihil esse homini Romano foedius servitute ?
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I ask, therefore, of you, O Lucius Piso, whether you would not think the republic overwhelmed if so many men of such impiety, of such audacity, and such guilt, were admitted into it? Can you think that men whom we could hardly bear when they were not yet polluted with such parricidal treasons, will be able to be borne by the city now that they are immersed in every sort of wickedness? Believe me, we must either adopt your plan, and retire, depart, embrace a life of indigence and wandering, or else we must offer our throats to those robbers, and perish in our country. What has become, O Caius Pansa, of those noble exhortations of yours, by which the senate was roused, and the Roman people stimulated, not only hearing but also learning from you that there is nothing more disgraceful to a Roman than slavery? |
| 442 |
Idcircone saga sumpsimus , arma cepimus , iuventutem omnem ex tota Italia excussimus , ut exercitu florentissimo et maximo legati ad pacem mitterentur ? si accipiendam , cur non rogamur ? si postulandam , quid timemus ? In hac ego legatione sim aut ad id consilium admiscear in quo ne si dissensero quidem a ceteris sciturus populus Romanus sit ? Ita fiet ut si quid remissum aut concessum sit , meo semper periculo peccet Antonius , cum ei peccandi potestas a me concessa videatur .
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Was it for this that we assumed the garb of war, and took arms, and roused up all the youth all over Italy, in order that, while we had a most flourishing and numerous army, we might send ambassadors to treat for peace? If that peace is to be received by others, why do we not wait to be entreated for it? If our ambassadors are to beg it, what is it that we are afraid of? Shall I make one of this embassy, or shall I be mixed up with this design, in which, even if I should dissent from the rest of my colleagues, the Roman people will not know it? The result will be, that if any thing be granted or conceded, it will be my danger if Antonius commits any offenses, since the power to commit them will seem to have been put in his hands by me. |
| 443 |
Quod si habenda cum M . Antoni latrocinio pacis ratio fuit , mea tamen persona ad istam pacem conciliandam minime fuit deligenda . Ego numquam legatos mittendos censui ; ego ante reditum legatorum ausus sum dicere , pacem ipsam si adferrent , quoniam sub nomine pacis bellum lateret , repudiandam ; ego princeps sagorum ; ego semper illum appellavi hostem , cum alii adversarium ; semper hoc bellum , cum alii tumultum . Nec haec in senatu solum : eadem ad populum semper egi ; neque solum in ipsum sed in eius socios facinorum et ministros , et praesentis et eos qui una sunt , in totam denique M .
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But even if it had been proper to entertain any idea of peace with the piratical crew of Marcus Antonius, still I was the last person who ought to have been selected to negotiate such a peace. I never voted for sending ambassadors. Before the return of the last ambassadors I ventured to say, that peace itself, even if they did bring it, ought to be repudiated, since war would be concealed under the name of peace; I was the chief adviser of the adoption of the garb of war; I have invariably called that man a public enemy, when others have been calling him only an adversary; I have always pronounced this to be a war, while others have styled it only a tumult. Nor have I done this in the senate alone; I have always acted in the same way before the people. Nor have I spoken against himself only, but also against the accomplices in and agents of his crimes, whether present here, or there with him. |
| 444 |
Antoni domum sum semper invectus . Itaque ut alacres et laeti spe pacis oblata inter se impii cives , quasi vicissent , gratulabantur , sic me iniquum eierabant , de me querebantur ; diffidebant etiam Servilio : meminerant eius sententiis confixum Antonium ; L . Caesarem fortem quidem illum et constantem senatorem , avunculum tamen ; Calenum procuratorem ; Pisonem familiarem ; te ipsum , Pansa , vehementissimum et fortissimum consulem factum iam putant leniorem : non quo ita sit aut esse possit , sed mentio a te facta pacis suspicionem multis attulit immutatae voluntatis . Inter has personas me interiectum amici Antoni moleste ferunt : quibus gerendus mos est , quoniam semel liberales esse coepimus .
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In short, I have at all times inveighed against the whole family and party of Antonius. Therefore, as those impious citizens began to congratulate one another the moment the hope of peace was presented to them, as if they had gained the victory, so also they abused me as unjust: they made complaints against me; they distrusted Servilius also; they recollected that Antonius had been damaged by his avowed opinions and propositions; they recollected that Lucius Caesar, though a brave and consistent senator, is still his uncle; that Calenus is his agent; that Piso is his intimate friend; they think that you yourself, O Pansa, though a most vigorous and fearless consul, are now become more mercifully inclined. Not that it really is so, or that it possibly can be so. But the fact of a mention of peace having been made by you, has given rise to a suspicion in the hearts of many, that you have changed your mind a little. The friends of Antonius are annoyed at my being included among these persons; and we must no doubt yield to them, since we have once begun to be liberal. |
| 445 |
Proficiscantur legati optimis ominibus , sed ei proficiscantur in quibus non offendatur Antonius . Quod si de Antonio non laboratis , mihi certe , patres conscripti , consulere debetis . Parcite oculis saltem meis et aliquam veniam iusto dolori date . Quo enim aspectu videre potero —omitto hostem patriae , ex quo mihi odium in illum commune vobiscum est —sed quo modo aspiciam mihi uni crudelissimum hostem , ut declarant eius de me acerbissimae contiones ? Adeone me ferreum putatis ut cum eo congredi aut illum aspicere possim qui nuper , cum in contione donaret eos qui ei de parricidis audacissimi videbantur , mea bona donare se dixit Petusio Vrbinati , qui ex naufragio luculenti patrimoni ad haec Antoniana saxa proiectus est .
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Let the ambassadors go, with all our good wishes; but let those men go at whom Antonius may take no offense. But if you are not anxious about what he may think, at all events, O conscript fathers, you ought to have some regard for me. At least spare my eyes, and make some allowance for a just indignation. For with what countenance shall I be able to behold (I do not say, the enemy of my country, for my hatred of him on that score I feel in common with you all), but how shall I bear to look upon that man who is my own most bitter personal enemy, as his most furious harangues against me plainly declare him? Do you think that I am so completely made of iron as to be able unmoved to meet him, or look at him? who lately, when in an assembly of the people he was making presents to those men who appeared to him the most audacious of his band of parricidal traitors, said that he gave my property to Petissius of Urbinum, a man who, after the shipwreck of a very splendid patrimony, was dashed against these rocks of Antonius. |
| 446 |
An L . Antonium aspicere potero , cuius ego crudelitatem effugere non potuissem , nisi me moenibus et portis et studio municipi mei defendissem . Atque idem hic myrmillo Asiaticus , latro Italiae , conlega Lentonis et Nuculae , cum Aquilae primi pili nummos aureos daret , de meis bonis se dare dixit : si enim de suis dixisset , ne aquilam quidem ipsam credituram putavit . Non ferent , inquam , oculi Saxam , Cafonem , non duo praetores , non duo designatos tribunos , non Bestiam , non Trebellium , non T . Plancum . Non possum animo aequo videre tot tam importunos , tam sceleratos hostis ; nec id fit fastidio meo , sed caritate rei publicae .
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Shall I be able to bear the sight of Lucius Antonius? a man from whose cruelty I could not have escaped if I had not defended myself behind the walls and gates and by the zeal of my own municipal town. And this same Asiatic gladiator, this plunderer of Italy, this colleague of Lenti and Nucula, when be was giving some pieces of gold to Aquila the centurion, said that he was giving him some of my property. For, if he had said he was giving him some of his own, he thought that the eagle itself would not have believed it. My eyes can not—my eyes, I say, will not bear the sight of Saxa, or Capho, or the two praetors, or the tribune of the people, or the two tribunes elect, or Bestia, or Trebellius, or Titus Plancus. I can not look with equanimity on so many, and those such foul, such wicked enemies; nor is that feeling caused by any fastidiousness of mine, but by my affection for the republic. But I will subdue my feelings, and keep my own inclinations under restraint. |
| 447 |
Sed vincam animum mihique imperabo : dolorem iustissimum , si non potuero frangere , occultabo . Quid ? vitae censetisne , patres conscripti , habendam mihi aliquam esse rationem ? quae mihi quidem minime cara est , praesertim cum Dolabella fecerit ut optanda mors esset , modo sine cruciatu atque tormentis ; vobis tamen et populo Romano vilis meus spiritus esse non debet . Is enim sum , nisi me forte fallo , qui vigiliis , curis , sententiis , periculis etiam quae plurima adii propter acerbissimum omnium in me odium impiorum perfecerim ut non obstarem rei publicae , ne quid adrogantius videar dicere .
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If I can not eradicate my most just indignation, I will conceal it. What? Do you not think, O conscript fathers, that I should have some regard for my own life? But that indeed has never been an object of much concern to me, especially since Dolabella has acted in such a way that death is a desirable thing, provided it come without torments and tortures. But in your eyes and in those of the Roman people my life ought not to appear of no consequence. For I am a man,—unless indeed I am deceived in my estimate of myself,—who by my vigilance, and anxiety, by the opinions which I have delivered, and by the dangers too of which I have encountered great numbers, by reason of the most bitter hatred which all impious men bear me, have at least (not to seem to say any thing too boastful) conducted myself so as to be no injury to the republic. |
| 448 |
Quod cum ita sit , nihilne mihi de periculo meo cogitandum putatis ?
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And as this is the case, do you think that I ought to have no consideration for my own danger? |
| 449 |
Hic cum essem in urbe ac domi , tamen multa saepe temptata sunt , ubi me non solum amicorum fidelitas sed etiam universae civitatis oculi custodiunt : quid censetis , cum iter ingressus ero , longum praesertim , nullasne insidias extimescendas ? Tres viae sunt ad Mutinam —quo festinat animus ut quam primum illud pignus libertatis populi Romani , D . Brutum , aspicere possim ; cuius in complexu libenter extremum vitae spiritum ediderim , cum omnes actiones horum mensum , omnes sententiae meae pervenerint ad eum qui mihi fuit propositus exitum . Tres ergo , ut dixi , viae : a supero mari Flaminia , ab infero Aurelia , media Cassia . Nunc , quaeso , attendite num aberret a coniectura suspicio periculi mei . Etruriam discriminat Cassia . Scimusne igitur , Pansa , quibus in locis nunc sit Lentonis Caesenni vii viralis auctoritas ? Nobiscum nec animo certe est nec corpore . Si autem aut domi est aut non longe a domo , certe in Etruria est , id est in via . Quis igitur mihi praestat Lentonem uno capite esse contentum ? Dic mihi praeterea , Pansa , Ventidius ubi sit , cui fui semper amicus ante quam ille rei publicae bonisque omnibus tam aperte est factus inimicus . Possum Cassiam vitare , tenere Flaminiam : quid , si Anconam , ut dicitur , Ventidius venerit , poterone Ariminum tuto accedere ? Restat Aurelia . Hic quidem etiam praesidia habeo ; possessiones enim sunt P . Clodi . Tota familia occurret ; hospitio invitabit propter familiaritatem notissimam .
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Even here when I was in the city and at home, nevertheless many attempts were made against me, in a place where I have not only the fidelity of my friends but the eyes also of the entire city to guard me. What do you think will be the case when I have gone on a journey, and that too a long one? Do you think that I shall have no occasion to fear plots then? There are three roads to Mutina; a place which my mind longs to see, in order that I may behold as speedily as possible that pledge of freedom of the Roman people Decimus Brutus; in whose embrace I would willingly yield up my parting breath, when all my actions for the last many months, and all my opinions and propositions have resulted in the end which I proposed to myself. There are, as I have said, three roads; the Flaminian road, along the Adriatic; the Aurelian road, along the Mediterranean coast; the Midland road, which is called the Cassian. Now, take notice, I beg of you, whether my suspicion of danger to myself is at variance with a reasonable conjecture. The Cassian road goes through Etruria. Do we not know then, O Pansa, over what places the authority of Lenti Caesennius, as a septemvir, prevails at present? He certainly is not on our side either in mind or body. But if he is at home or not far from home, he is certainly in Etruria, that is, in my road. Who then will undertake to me that Lenti will be content with exacting one life alone? Tell me besides, O Pansa, where Ventidius is,—a man to whom I have always been friendly before he became so openly an enemy to the republic and to all good men. I may avoid the Cassian road and take the Flaminian. What if, as it is said, Ventidius has arrived at Ancona? Shall I be able in that case to reach Ariminum in safety? The Aurelian road remains; and here too I shall find a protector; for on that road are the possessions of Publius Clodius. His whole household will come out to meet me; and will invite me to partake of their hospitality, on account of my notorious intimacy with their master? |
| 450 |
Hisce ego viis me committam qui Terminalibus nuper in suburbium , ut eodem die reverterer , ire non sum ausus ? Domesticis me parietibus vix tueor sine amicorum custodiis . Itaque in urbe maneo , si licebit , manebo . Haec mea sedes est , haec vigilia , haec custodia , hoc praesidium stativum . Teneant alii castra , gerant res bellicas ; occiderint hostem ; nam hoc caput est ; nos , ut dicimus semperque fecimus , urbem et res urbanas vobiscum pariter tuebimur . Neque vero recuso munus hoc : quamquam populum Romanum video pro me recusare . Nemo me minus timidus , nemo tamen cautior . Res declarat . Vicesimus annus est cum omnes scelerati me unum petunt . Itaque ipsi , ne dicam mihi , rei publicae poenas dederunt : me salvum adhuc res publica conservavit sibi . Timide hoc dicam ; scio enim quidvis homini accidere posse —verum tamen semel circumsessus lectis valentissimorum hominum viribus cecidi sciens ut honestissime possem exsurgere .
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Shall I then trust myself to those roads—I who lately, on the day of the feast of Terminus, did not dare even to go into the suburbs and return by the same road on the same day? I can scarcely defend myself within the walls of my own house without the protection of my friends; therefore I remain in the city; and if I am allowed to do so I will remain. This is my proper place, this is my beat, this is my post as a sentinel, this is my station as a defender of the city. Let others occupy camps and kingdoms, and engage in the conduct of the war; let them show the active hatred of the enemy; we, as we say, and as we have always hitherto done, will, in common with you, defend the city and the affairs of the city. Nor do I shrink from this office; although I see the Roman people shrink from it for me. No one is less timid than I am; no one more cautious. The facts speak for themselves. This is the twentieth year that I have been a mark for the attempts of all wicked men; therefore, they have paid to the republic (not to say to me) the penalty of their wickedness. As yet the republic has preserved me in safety for itself. I am almost afraid to say what I am going to say; for I know that any accident may happen to a man; but still, when I was once hemmed in by the united force of many most influential men, I yielded voluntarily, and fell in such a manner as to be able to rise again in the most honorable manner. |