THE EIGHTH
PHILIPPIC.
THE
ARGUMENT.
About the beginning of
February the two remaining ambassadors (for Servius Sulpicius had died just as
they arrived at Antonius's camp) returned, bringing word that Antonius would
comply with none of the commands of the senate, nor allow them to proceed to
Decimus Brutus; and bringing also (contrary to their duty) demands from him, of
which the principal were, that his troops were to be rewarded, all the acts of
himself and Dolabella to be ratified, as also all that he had done respecting
Caesar's papers; that no account was to be required of him of the money in the
temple of Ops; and that he should have the further Gaul with an army of six
legions.
Pansa summoned the senate
to receive the report of the ambassadors when Cicero made a severe speech,
proposing very vigorous measures against Antonius; which, however, Calenus and
his party were still numerous enough to mitigate very greatly; and even Pansa
voted against him and in favor of the milder measures; though they could not
prevail against Cicero to have a second embassy sent to Antonius, and though
Cicero carried his point of ordering the citizens to assume the sagum, or robe of war, which he also (waiving his
privilege as a man of consular rank) wore himself The next day the senate met
again, to draw up in form the decrees on which they had resolved the day
before; when Cicero addressed the following speech to them, expostulating with
them for their wavering the day before.
[1] Matters were carried on yesterday, O Caius Pansa,
in a more irregular manner than the beginning of your consulship required. You
did not appear to me to make sufficient resistance to those men, to whom you
are not in the habit of yielding. For while the virtue of the senate was such
as it usually is, and while all men saw that there was war in reality, and some
thought that the name ought to be kept back; on the division, your inclination
inclined to lenity. The course which we proposed therefore was defeated, at
your instigation, on account of the harshness of the word “war”. That urged by
Lucius Caesar, a most honorable man, prevailed, which, taking away that one
harsh expression, was gentler in its language than in its real intention.
Although he, indeed, before he delivered his opinion at all, pleaded his
relationship {The mother of Antonius was his sister.} to Antonius
in excuse for it. He had done the same in my consulship, in respect of his
sister's husband,
{P.Cornelius Lentulus (the second husband of Julia, the mother of
Antonius), who was put to death for his share in the Catilinarian conspiracy. Cf.Phil.II.7.} as he
did now in respect of his sister's son; so that he was moved by the grief of
his sister, and at the same time he wished to provide for the safety of the
republic.
[2] And yet
Caesar himself in some degree recommended you, o conscript fathers, not to
agree with him, when he said that he should have expressed quite different
sentiments, worthy both of himself and of the republic, if he had not been
hampered by his relationship to Antonius. He, then, is his uncle; are you his
uncles too, you who voted with him?
But on what did the dispute turn? Some men, in
delivering their opinion, did not choose to insert the word war. They preferred
calling it tumult, being ignorant not only of the state of affairs, but also of
the meaning of words.
[3] For there can be a war without a tumult, but there
can not be a tumult without a war. For what is a tumult, but such a violent
disturbance that an unusual alarm is engendered by it? from which indeed the
name tumult is derived {This derivation from “timio” (“timor” oriatur) is
erroneous. The word comes from “tumeo” (swell).}. Therefore, our ancestors
spoke of the Italian tumult, which was a domestic one; of the Gallic tumult,
which was on the frontier of Italy
[4] In truth, as there is no medium between war and
peace, it is quite plain that a tumult, if it be not a sort of war, must be a
sort of peace; and what more absurd can be said or imagined? However, we have
said too much about a word, let us rather look to the facts, O conscript
fathers, the appreciation of which, I know, is at times injured by too much
attention being paid to words.
Ch.
We are unwilling that this should appear to be a war.
What is the object, then, of our giving authority to the municipal towns and
colonies to exclude Antonius? of our authorizing soldiers to be enlisted
without any force, without the terror of any fine, of their own inclination and
eagerness? of permitting them to promise money for the assistance of the
republic? For if the name of war be taken away, the zeal of the municipal towns
will be taken away too. And the unanimous feeling of the Roman people which at
present pours itself into our cause, if we cool upon it, must inevitably be
damped.
[5] But why need I say more? Decimus Brutus is
attacked. Is not that war? Mutina is besieged. Is not even that war? Gaul is laid waste. What peace can be more assured than
this? Who can think of calling that war? We have sent forth a consul, a most
gallant man, with an army, who, though he was in a weak state from a long and
serious illness, still thought he ought not to make any excuse when he was
summoned to the protection of the republic. Caius Caesar, indeed, did not wait
for our decrees; especially as that conduct of his was not unsuited to his age.
He undertook war against Antonius of his own accord; for there was not yet time
to pass a decree; and he saw that, if he let slip the opportunity of waging
war, when the republic was crushed it would be impossible to pass any decrees
at all.
[6] They and their arms, then, are now at peace. He is not an enemy whose garrison Hirtius has driven from Claterna; he is not an enemy who is in arms resisting a consul, and attacking a consul elect; and those are not the words of an enemy, nor is that warlike language, which Pansa read just now out of his colleague's letters: “I drove out the garrison. I got possession of Claterna. The cavalry were routed. A battle was fought. A good many men were slain.” What peace can be greater that this? Levies of troops are ordered throughout all
Is not this war? Yes, it is such a war as has never
been.
[7] For in all other wars, and most especially in
civil wars, it was a difference as to the political state of the republic which
gave rise to the contest. Sulla contended against Sulpicius about the force of
laws which Sulla said had been passed by violence. Cinna warred against
Octavius because of the votes of the new citizens. Again, Sulla was at variance
with Cinna and Marius, in order to prevent unworthy men from attaining power,
and to avenge the cruel death of most illustrious men.
{These are incidents in the first civil war between
Marius, Cinna, and Carbo, the popular leaders, and Sulla. The law alluded to
was one proposed in 88 BC., by Sulpicius the tribunus plebis for the inclusion
(in the interests of the popular party) of the new Italian votes in the old
city tribes. The “unworthy” were the leaders of the popular party; the “eminent
men” were senators massacred by Marius, and Cinna, and afterwards avenged by
Sulla.}The causes of all these wars arose from the zeal of different parties,
for what they considered the interest of the republic. Of the last civil war {Between
Julius Caesar and Pompeius.} I can not bear to speak: I do not understand the
cause of it; I detest the result. [8] This is the fifth civil war (and all of them have fallen upon our times); the first which has not only not brought dissensions and discord among the citizens, but which has been signalized by extraordinary unanimity and incredible concord. All of them have the same wish, all defend the same objects, all are inspired with the same sentiments. When I say all, I except those whom no one thinks worthy of being citizens at all. What, then, is the cause of war, and what is the object aimed at? We are defending the temples of the immortal gods, we are defending the walls of the city, we are defending the homes and habitations of the Roman people, the household gods, the altars, the hearths and the sepulchers of our forefathers; we are defending our laws, our courts of justice, our freedom, our wives, our children, and our country. On the other hand, Marcus Antonius labors and fights in order to throw into confusion and overturn all these things; and hopes to have reason to think the plunder of the republic sufficient cause for the war, while he squanders part of our fortunes, and distributes the rest among his parricidal followers.
[9] While, then, the motives for war are so different,
a most miserable circumstance is what that fellow promises to his band of
robbers. In the first place our houses; for he declares that he will divide the
city among them; and after that he will lead them out at whatever gate and
settle them on whatever lands they please. All the Caphons, all the Saxas, and
the other plagues which attend Antonius, are marking out for themselves in
their own minds most beautiful houses, and gardens, and villas, at Tusculum and
Alba; and those clownish menif indeed they are men, and not rather brute
beastsare borne on in their empty hopes as far as the waters and Puteoli. So
Antonius has something to promise to his followers. What can we do? Have we any
thing of the sort? May the gods grant us a better fate! for our express object
is to prevent any one at all from hereafter making similar promises. I say this
against my will, still I must say it;the auction sanctioned by Caesar, O
conscript fathers, gives many wicked men both hope and audacity. For they saw
some men become suddenly rich from having been beggars. Therefore, those men
who are hanging over our property, and to whom Antonius promises everything,
are always longing to see an auction.
[10] What can we do? What do we promise our soldiers?
Things much better and more honorable. For promises to be earned by wicked
actions are pernicious both to those who expect them, and to those who promise
them. We promise to our soldiers freedom, rights, laws, justice, the empire of
the world, dignity, peace, tranquillity. The promises then of Antonius are
bloody, polluted, wicked, odious for gods and men, neither lasting nor
salutary; ours, on the other hand, are honorable, upright, glorious, full of
happiness, and full of piety.
Ch.
[11] Here also Quintus Fufius, a brave and energetic
man, and a friend of mine, reminds me of the advantages of peace. As if, if it
were necessary to praise peace, I could not do it myself quite as well as he.
For is it once only that I have defended peace? Have I not at all times labored
for tranquillity? which is desirable for all good men, but especially for me.
For what course could my industry pursue without forensic causes, without laws,
without courts of justice? and these things can have no existence when civil
peace is taken away.
[12] But I want to know what you mean, O Calenus? Do
you call slavery peace? Our ancestors used to take up arms not merely to secure
their freedom, but also to acquire empire; you think that we ought to throw
away our arms, in order to become slaves. What juster cause is there for waging
war than the wish to repel slavery? in which, even if one's master be not
tyrannical, yet it is a most miserable thing that he should be able to be so if
he chooses. In truth, other causes are just, this is a necessary one. Unless,
perhaps, you think that this does not apply to you, because you expect that you
will be a partner in the dominion of Antonius. And there you make a twofold
mistake: first of all, in preferring your own to the general interest; and in
the next place, in thinking that there is any thing either stable or pleasant
in kingly power. Even if it has before now been advantageous to you {Caesar
made Q.Fufius Calenus consul in 47 BC.}, it will not always be so.
[13] Moreover, you used to complain of that former
master (illo), who was a man; what do you think you will do when your master is
a beast? And you say that you are a man who have always been desirous of peace,
and have always wished for the preservation of all the citizens. Very honest
language; that is, if you mean all citizens who are virtuous, and useful, and
serviceable to the republic; but if you wish those who are by nature citizens,
but by inclination enemies, to be saved, what difference is there between you
and them? Your father, indeed, with whom I as a youth was acquainted, when he
was an old man, a man of rigid virtue and wisdom, used to give the greatest
praise of all citizens who had ever lived to Publius Nasica, who slew Tiberius
Gracchus. By his valor, and wisdom, and magnanimity he thought that the
republic had been saved.
[14] What am I to say? Have we received any other
doctrine from our fathers? Therefore, that citizenif you had lived in those
timeswould not have been approved of by you, because he did not wish all the
citizens to be safe. Because Lucius Opimius the consul has made a speech
concerning the republic, the senators have thus decided on that matter, that
Opimius the consul shall defend the republic.
{” Quod L.Opimius consul verba fecit de re publica de
ea re ita censuerunt, uti L.Opimius consul rem publicam defenderet.² these are the terms of the senatorial decree investing
L.Opimius the consul of 121 BC., with dictatorial powers to suppress the
disturbances caused by the partisans of C.Gracchus, brother of T.Gracchus. The
other persons referred to were
supporters of the senate} The senate adopted these measures in words, Opimius followed them up by his arms Should you then if you had lived in those times have thought him a hasty or a cruel citizen? or should you have thought Quintus Metellus one whose four sons were all men of consular rank? or Publius Lentulus the chief of the senate and many other admirable men who with Lucius Opimius the consul, took arms, and pursued Gracchus to the Aventine? and in the battle which ensued, Lentulus received a severe wound, Gracchus was slain, and so was Marcus Fulvius, a man of consular rank, and his two youthful sons. Those men, therefore, are to be blamed; for they did not wish all the citizens to be safe.
[15] Let us come to instances nearer our own time. The senate entrusted the defense of the republic to Caius Marius and Lucius Valerius the consuls. Lucius Saturninus, a tribune of the people, and Caius Glaucia the praetor, were slain. On that day, all the Scauri, and Metelli, and Claudii, and Catuli, and Scaevolae, and Crassi took arms. Do you think either those consuls or those other most illustrious men deserving of blame? I myself wished Catiline to perish. Did you who wish every one to be safe, wish Catiline to be safe? There is this difference, O Calenus, between my opinion and yours. I wish no citizen to commit such crimes as deserve to be punished with death. You think that, even if he has committed them, still he ought to be saved. If there is any thing in our own body which is injurious to the rest of the body, we allow that to be burned and cut out, in order that a limb may be lost in preference to the whole body. And so in the body of the republic, whatever is rotten must be cut off in order that the whole may be saved.
[16] Harsh language! This is much more harsh, Let the
worthless, and wicked, and impious be saved; let the innocent, the honorable,
the virtuous, the whole republic be destroyed. In the case of one individual, O
Quintus Fufius, I confess that you saw more than I did. I thought Publius
Clodius a mischievous, wicked, lustful, impious, audacious, criminal citizen.
You, on the other hand, called him religious, temperate, innocent, modest; a
citizen to be preserved and desired. In this one particular I admit that you
had great discernment, and that I made a great mistake. For as for your saying
that I am in the habit of arguing against you with ill temper, that is not the
case. I confess that I argue with vehemence, but not with ill temper. I am not
in the habit of getting angry with my friends every now and then, not even if
they deserve it.
[17] Therefore, I can differ from you without using
any insulting language, though not without feeling the greatest grief of mind.
For is the dissension between you and me a trifling one, or on a trifling
subject? Is it merely a case of my favoring this man, and you that man? Yes; I
indeed favor Decimus Brutus, you favor Marcus Antonius; I wish a colony of the
Roman people to be preserved, you are anxious that it should be stormed and
destroyed.
Ch.
Can you deny this, when you interpose every sort of
delay calculated to weaken Brutus, and to improve the position of Antonius? For
how long will you keep on saying that you are desirous of peace? Matters are
progressing rapidly; the works have been carried on; severe battles are taking
place. We sent three chief men of the city to interpose. Antonius has despised,
rejected, and repudiated them. And still you continue a persevering defender of
Antonius.
[18] And Calenus, indeed, in order that he may appear
a more conscientious senator, says that he ought not to be a friend to him;
since, though Antonius was under great obligations to him, he still had acted
against him. See how great is his affection for his country.
When you are so bitter, O Quintus Fufius, against the
people of Marseilles Marseilles
[19] Caesar himself, who had been the most angry of
all men with them, still, on account of the unusually high character and
loyalty of that city, was every day relaxing something of his displeasure And
is there no extent of calamity by which so faithful a city can satiate you?
Again, perhaps, you will say that I am losing my temper. But I am speaking
without passion, as I always do, though not without great indignation. I think
that no man can be an enemy to that city, who is a friend to this one. What your
object is, O Calenus, I can not imagine. Formerly we were unable to deter you
from devoting yourself to the gratification of the people; now we are unable to
prevail on you to show any regard for their interests. I have argued long
enough with Fufius, saying everything without hatred, but nothing without
indignation. I suppose that a man who can bear the complaint of his son-in-law
with indifference, will bear that of his friend with great equanimity.
Ch.
[20] I come now to the rest of the men of consular
rank, of whom there is no one (I say this on my own responsibility), who is not
connected with me in some way or other by kindnesses conferred or received;
some in a great, some in a moderate degree, but every one to some extent or
other. What a disgraceful day was yesterday to us! to us consulars, I mean. Are
we to send ambassadors again? What? would he make a truce? Before the very face
and eyes of the ambassadors he battered Mutina with his engines. He displayed
his works and his defenses to the ambassadors. The siege was not allowed one
moment's breathing time, not even while the ambassadors should be present. Send
ambassadors to this man! What for? in order to have great fears for their
return?
[21] In truth, though on the previous occasion I had
voted against the ambassadors being decreed, still I consoled myself with this
reflection, that, when they had returned from Antonius despised and rejected,
and had reported to the senate, not merely that he had not withdrawn from Gaul,
as we had voted that he should, but that he had not even retired from before
Mutina, and that they had not been allowed to proceed on to Decimus Brutus, all
men would be inflamed with hatred and stimulated by indignation, so that we
should reinforce Decimus Brutus with arms, and horses, and men. But we have
become even more languid since we have become acquainted with, not only the
audacity and wickedness of Antonius, but also with his insolence and pride.
[22] Would that Lucius Caesar were in health; that
Servius. Sulpicius were alive. This cause would be pleaded much better by three
men, than it is now by me single-handed. What I am going to say I say with
grief, rather than by way of insult. We have been desertedwe have, I say, been
deserted, O conscript fathers, by our chiefs. But, as I have often said before,
all those who in a time of such danger have proper and courageous sentiments
shall be men of consular rank. The ambassadors ought to have brought us back
courage, they have brought us back fear. Not, indeed, that they have caused me
any fear: let them have as high an opinion as they please of the man to whom
they were sent; from whom they have even brought back commands to us.
Ch.
[23] O ye immortal gods! where are the habits and
virtues of our forefathers? Caius Popillius, in the time of our ancestors, when
he had been sent as ambassador to Antiochus {Antiochus Epiphanes, king of
[24] Am I to
receive commands from a man who despises the commands of the senate? Or am I to
think that he has any thing in common with the senate, who besieges a general
of the Roman people in spite of the prohibition of the senate? But what
commands they are! With what arrogance, with what stupidity, with what
insolence are they conceived! But what made him charge our ambassadors with
them when he was sending Cotyla to us, the ornament and bulwark of his friends,
a man of aedilitian rank? if, indeed, he really was an aedile at the time when
the public slaves flogged him with thongs at a banquet by command of Antonius.
[25] But what modest commands they are! We must be
iron-hearted men, O conscript fathers, to deny any thing to this man! “I
give up both provinces” {Cisalpine Gaul and Macedonia
[26] This is the Campanian and Leontine district, both
which our ancestors considered a certain resource in times of scarcity.
Ch.
He is protecting the interests of his buffoons and
gamesters and pimps. He is protecting Capho's and Saxa's interests too,
pugnacious and muscular centurions, whom he placed among his troops of male and
female buffoons. Besides all this, he demands “ that the decrees of himself
and his colleague concerning Caesar's writings and memoranda are to stand.”
Why is he so anxious that every one should have what he has bought, if he who
sold it all has the price which he received for it? “And that his accounts
of the money in the
[27] He is here taking care of Mustela and Tiro {Phil.II.4;V.6};
he is not anxious about himself. For what has he done? has he ever touched the
public money, or murdered a man, or had armed men about him? But what reason
has he for taking so much trouble about them? For he demands, that his own
judiciary law be not abrogated. And if he obtains that, what is there that he
can fear? can he be afraid that any one of his friends may be convicted by
Cydas, or Lysiades, or Curius? {Phil.V.5} However, he does not press us with
many more demands. “I give up”, says he, “Gallia Togata; I demand Gallia Comata.”
{“Galliam togatam remitto, comatam postulo.” Further
Gaul ({i.e.Antonius, by speaking of Brutus and Cassius as consuls, admits that his brother would be defeated in his candidature for the consulship.}
[28] “And I myself”, says he, “am to retain
possession of my province five years.” But that is expressly forbidden by
the law of Caesar, and you defend the acts of Caesar.
Ch.
Were you, O Lucius Piso, and you, O Lucius Philippus {The
surviving envoys.}, you chiefs of the city, able, I will not say to endure in
your minds, but even to listen with your ears to these commands of his? But, I
suspect there was some alarm at work; nor, while in his power, could you feel
as ambassadors, or as men of consular rank, nor could you maintain your own
dignity, or that of the republic. And nevertheless somehow or other owing to
some philosophy, I suppose, you did what I could not have done,you returned
without any very angry feelings, Marcus Antonius paid you no respect, though
you were most illustrious men, ambassadors of the Roman people. As for us, what
concessions did not we make to Cotyla {L.Varius Cotyla} the ambassador of
Marcus Antonius? though it was against the law for even the gates of the city
to be opened to him, yet even this temple was opened to him. He was allowed to
enter the senate; here yesterday he was taking down our opinions and every word
we said in his note-books; and men who had been preferred to the highest honors
sold themselves to him in utter disregard of their own dignity.
[29] O ye immortal gods! how great an enterprise is it
to uphold the character of a leader in the republic; for it requires
one to be influenced not merely by the thoughts but also by the eyes of the
citizens. To take to one's house the ambassador of an enemy, to admit him to
one's chamber, even to confer apart with him, is the act of a man who thinks nothing
of his dignity, and too much of his danger. But what is danger? For if one is
engaged in a contest where every thing is at stake, either liberty is assured
to one if victorious, or death if defeated; the former of which alternatives is
desirable, and the latter some time or other inevitable. But a base flight from
death is worse than any imaginable death.
[30] For I will never be induced to believe that there
are men who envy the consistency or diligence of others, and who are indignant
at the unceasing desire to assist the republic being approved by the senate and
people of Rome. That is what we were all bound to do; and that was not only in
the time of our ancestors, but even lately, the highest praise of men of
consular rank, to be vigilant, to be anxious, to be always either thinking, or
doing, or saying something to promote the interests of the republic.
[31] I, O conscript fathers, recollect that Quintus
Scaevola the augur, in the Marsic war, when he was a man of extreme old age,
and quite broken down in constitution, every day, as soon as it was daylight,
used to give every one an opportunity of consulting him; nor, throughout all
that war, did any one ever see him in bed; and, though old and weak, he was the
first man to come into the senate-house. I wish, above all things, that those
who ought to do so would imitate his industry; and, next to that, I wish that
they would not envy the exertions of another.
Ch.
[32] In truth, O conscript fathers, now we have begun
to entertain hopes of liberty again, after a period of six years, during which
we have been deprived of it, having endured slavery longer than prudent and
industrious prisoners usually do, what watchfulness, what anxiety, what
exertions ought we to shrink from, for the sake of delivering the Roman people?
In truth, O conscript fathers, though men who have had the honors conferred on
them that we have, usually wear their gowns, while the rest of the city is in
the robe of war, still I decided that at such a momentous crisis, and when the
whole republic was in so disturbed a state, we would not differ in our dress
from you and the rest of the citizens. For we men of consular rank are not in
this war conducting ourselves in such a manner that the Roman people will be
likely to look with equanimity on the ensigns of our honor, when some of us are
so cowardly as to have cast away all recollection of the kindnesses which they
have received from the Roman people; some are so disaffected to the republic
that they openly allege that they favor this enemy, and easily bear having our
ambassadors despised and insulted by Antonius, while they wish to support the
ambassador sent by Antonius. For they said that he ought not to be prevented
from returning to Antonius, and they proposed an amendment to my proposition of
not receiving him. Well, I will submit to them. Let Varius return to his
general, but on condition that he never returns to
[33] Therefore, I give my vote, That of those men who
are with Marcus Antonius, those who abandon his army, and come over either to
Caius Pansa or Aulus. Hirtius the consuls; or to Decimus Brutus, imperator and
consul elect; or to Caius Caesar, propraetor, before the first of March next,
shall not be liable to prosecution for having been with Antonius. That, if any
one of those men who are now with Antonius shall do any thing which appears
entitled to honor or to reward, Caius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius the consuls, one
or both of them, shall, if they think fit make a motion to the senate
respecting that man's honor or reward, at the earliest opportunity. That, if,
after this resolution of the senate, any one shall go to Antonius except Lucius
Varius, the senate will consider that that man has acted as an enemy to the
republic.
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