THE
FOURTH PHILIPPIC.
THE
ARGUMENT.
[2] And now I am much more elated still,
because you too with such great unanimity and with such a clamor have
sanctioned our declaration that he is an enemy.
And indeed, O Romans, it is impossible but
that either the men must be impious who have levied armies against the consul,
or else that he must be an enemy against whom they have rightly taken arms. And
this doubt the senate has this day removednot indeed that there really was any;
but it has prevented the possibility of there being any. Caius Caesar, who has
upheld and who is still upholding the republic and your freedom by his zeal and
wisdom, and at the expense of his patrimonial estate, has been complimented
with the highest praises of the senate.
{Here evidently followed
applause. On resuming his speech,
[3] I praise you,yes, I praise you
greatly, O Romans, when you follow with the most grateful minds the name of
that most illustrious youth, or rather boy; for his actions belong to
immortality, the name of youth only to his age. I can recollect many things; I
have heard of many things; I have read of many things; but in the whole history
of the whole world I have never known any thing like this. For, when we were
weighed down with slavery, when the evil was daily increasing, when we had no
defense, while we were in dread of the pernicious and fatal return of Marcus
Antonius from Brundusium, this young man adopted the design which none of us
had ventured to hope for, which beyond all question none of us were acquainted
with, of raising an invincible army of his father's soldiers, and so hindering
the frenzy of Antonius, spurred on as it was by the most inhuman counsels, from
the power of doing mischief to the republic.
Ch.
[4] For who is there who does not see
clearly that, if Caesar had not prepared an army, the return of Antonius must
have been accompanied by our destruction? For, in truth, he returned in such a
state of mind, burning with hatred of you all, stained with the blood of the
Roman citizens, whom he had murdered at Suessa and at Brundusium, that he
thought of nothing but the utter destruction of the republic. And what
protection could have been found for your safety and for your liberty if the
army of Caius Caesar had not been composed of the bravest of his father's
soldiers? And with respect to his praises and honors,and he is entitled to
divine and everlasting honors for his godlike and undying services,the senate
has just consented to my proposals, and has decreed that a motion be submitted
to it at the very earliest opportunity.
[5] Now who is there who does not see that
by this decree Antonius has been adjudged to be an enemy? For what else can we
call him, when the senate decides that extraordinary honors are to be devised
for those men who are leading armies against him? What? did not the Martial
legion (which appears to me by some divine permission to have derived its name
from that god from whom we have heard that the Roman people descended) decide
by its resolutions that Antonius was an enemy before the senate had come to any
resolution? For if he be not an enemy, we must inevitably decide that those men
who have deserted the consul are enemies. Admirably and seasonably, O Romans,
have you by your cries sanctioned the noble conduct of the men of the Martial
legion, who have come over to the authority of the senate, to your liberty, and
to the whole republic; and have abandoned that enemy and robber and parricide
of his country.
[6] Nor did they display only their spirit
and courage in doing this, but their caution and wisdom also. They encamped at
Alba, in a city convenient, fortified, near, full of brave men and loyal and
virtuous citizens. The fourth legion imitating the virtue of this Martial
legion, under the leadership of Lucius. Egnatuleius, whom the senate deservedly
praised a little while ago, has also joined the army of Caius Caesar.
Ch.
What more adverse decisions, O Marcus
Antonius, can you want? Caesar, who has levied an army against you, is extolled
to the skies. The legions are praised in the most complimentary language, which
have abandoned you, which were sent for into
[7] I thought, O Romans, that you did
think as you show you do. What? do you suppose that the municipal towns, and
the colonies, and the prefectures have any other opinion? All men are agreed
with one mind; so that every one who wishes the state to be saved must take up
every sort of arms against that pestilence. What? does, I should like to know,
does the opinion of Decimus Brutus, O Romans, which you can gather from his
edict, which has this day reached us, appear to any one deserving of being
lightly esteemed? Rightly and truly do you say No, O Romans. For the family and
name of Brutus has been by some especial kindness and liberality of the
immortal gods given to the republic, for the purpose of at one time
establishing, and at another of recovering, the liberty of the Roman people.
[8] What then has been the opinion which
Decimus Brutus has formed of Marcus Antonius? He excludes him from his
province. He opposes him with his army. He rouses all Gaul
to war, which is already roused of its own accord, and in consequence of the
judgment which it has itself formed. If Antonius be consul, Brutus is an enemy.
Can we then doubt which of these alternatives is the fact?
Ch.
And just as you now with one mind and one
voice affirm that you entertain no doubt, so did the senate just now decree
that Decimus Brutus deserved excellently well of the republic, inasmuch as he
was defending the authority of the senate and the liberty and empire of the
Roman people. Defending it against whom? Why, against an enemy. For what other
sort of defense deserves praise?
[9] In the next place the province of Gaul Italy
[10] among whom Marcus Antonius (O ye
immortal gods, avert, I pray you, and efface this omen), has promised to divide
this city. May things rather happen O Romans as you pray that they should, and
may the chastisement of this frenzy fall on him and on his friend. And, indeed,
I feel sure that it will be so. For I think that at present not only men but
the immortal gods have all united together to preserve this republic. For if
the immortal gods foreshow us the future, by means of portents and prodigies
then it has been openly revealed to us that punishment is near at hand to him,
and liberty to us. Or if it was impossible for such unanimity on the part of
all men to exist without the inspiration of the gods, in either case how can we
doubt as to the indications of the heavenly deities?
It only remains, O Romans, for you to
persevere in the sentiments which you at present display. [11] I will act, therefore, as commanders are in the habit of doing when their army is ready for battle, who, although they see their soldiers ready to engage, still address an exhortation to them; and in like manner I will exhort you who are already eager and burning to recover your liberty. You have not, you have not, indeed, O Romans, to war against an enemy with whom it is possible to make peace on any terms whatever. For he does not now desire your slavery, as he did before, but he is angry now and thirsts for your blood. No sport appears more delightful to him than bloodshed, and slaughter, and the massacre of citizens before his eyes.
[12] You have not, O Romans, to deal with
a wicked and profligate man, but with an unnatural and savage beast. And, since
he has fallen into a well, let him be buried in it. For if he escapes out of
it, there will be no inhumanity of torture which it will be possible to avoid.
But he is at present hemmed in, pressed, and besieged by those troops which we
already have, and will soon be still more so by those which in a few days the
new consuls will levy. Apply yourselves then to this business, as you are
doing. Never have you shown greater unanimity in any cause; never have you been
so cordially united with the senate. And no wonder. For the question now is not
in what condition we are to live, but whether we are to live at all, or to
perish with torture and ignominy.
[13] Although nature, indeed, has
appointed death for all men: but valor is accustomed to ward off any cruelty or
disgrace in death. And that is an inalienable possession of the Roman race and
name. Preserve, I beseech you, O Romans, this attribute which your ancestors
have left you as a sort of inheritance. Although all other things are
uncertain, fleeting, transitory; virtue alone is planted firm with very deep
roots; it can not be undermined by any violence; it can never be moved from its
position. By it your ancestors first subdued the whole of Italy ; then destroyed Carthage
Ch.
[14] And your ancestors, O Romans, had to
deal with an enemy who had also a republic, a senate-house, a treasury,
harmonious and united citizens, and with whom, if fortune had so willed it,
there might have been peace and treaties on settled principles. But this enemy
of yours is attacking your republic, but has none himself; is eager to destroy
the senate, that is to say, the council of the whole world, but has no public
council himself; he has exhausted your treasury, and has none of his own. For
how can a man be supported by the unanimity of his citizens, who has no city {City,
or, Citizenship, i.e. as being hostis (foreigner, and, enemy)} at all? And what
principles of peace can there be with that man who is full of incredible
cruelty, and destitute of faith?
[15] The whole then of the contest, O
Romans, which is now before the Roman people, the conqueror of all nations, is
with an assassin, a robber, a Spartacus. For as to his habitual boast of being
like Catilina, he is equal to him in wickedness, but inferior in energy. He,
though he had no army, rapidly levied one. This man has lost that very army
which he had. As, therefore, by my diligence, and the authority of the senate,
and your own zeal and valor, you crushed Catilina, so you will very soon hear
that this infamous piratical enterprise of Antonius has been put down by your own
perfect and unexampled harmony with the senate, and by the good fortune and
valor of your armies and generals.
[16] I, for my part, as far as I am able
to labor, and to effect any thing by my care, and exertions, and vigilance, and
authority, and counsel, will omit nothing which I may think serviceable to your
liberty. Nor could I omit it without wickedness after all your most ample and
honorable kindness to me. However, on this day, encouraged by the motion of a
most gallant man, and one most firmly attached to you, Marcus Servilius, whom
you see before you, and his colleagues also, most distinguished men, and most
virtuous citizens; and partly, too, by my advice and my example, we have, for
the first time after a long interval, fired up again with a hope of liberty.
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