I, foreseeing all this a long time ago, was fleeing from Italy, at the very time when the news of j'our edict* caused me to return. But you, Brutus, roused me again at Velia; for although I grieved that I was going to a city from which yon, who had delivered it, wore t^ing flight, (which indeed had formerly happened to me oIbo, under a similar danger and aadder fortune') still I proceeded, and came to Rome, and without any support made Antony quake; and, in opposi- tion to his impious arms, I by my authority and counsels Eecured for us the protection of Cffisar, which was volun- tarily offered; and if he remains in the same disposition and continuea to be guided by me, we seem likely to have quite sufEcient defence. But if the counsels of bad men have more weight than mine, or if the tenderness of his age prove unable to support the heavy biuxlen of afBiirs, all our hope ia in you. Fly to us, therefore, I beseech you; and, in the result, complete the deliverance of that republic whioh you have already delivered, niore through your own virtue and magnanimity than through any train of circumstances. A general concourse of all classes will gather round you. Exhort Caasius to the same course by letter. There ia no hope of liberty anywhere except in the head-quaj'teis of your united armies. In the west, we find both generals and armies entirely true to us. And, for my part, I feel confident that the support of the young Octavius may be relied on; but so many persons are trying to shake his fidelity, that I times am afraid that he may be influenced by them.
You now know the general aspect of the af&its of the ooi Eaonwealth, as they stood at the " when I wrote this let ittedH rata-* I trust that, in process of time, they may grow better; but If' ' He alludes to tlie cuee of hia exilo, when be was not orAy driven it of tlie city by his enemiea, Eu Brutus now wa«, but wob bBnisIied by a partiaiUar law, which had not yet happened to Brutus, thoogh it OIOEHO TO EKTITOS.
the contrary should be the case, (which presage may the goda avert!) I shall grieve for the fate of the republic which de- served to bo immortEd; but for myself how short a space of life is left!
LETTER XX [. Cicero to Bndue, greeting. ' YouH letter was short. Short, do I say ) It was no letter at all. Docs Brutus, at such a crisis as this, write me those lines only. You had better have written nothing at all; and yet you espect letters from inc. Which of your friends has ever eome to you without a letter from mel And which of my letters had not something of eoiisequenoe in it! If, indeed, they have foiled to reach you, I suppose that not even your own family letters have arrived either.
You write me word, however, that you will send me a longer letter by my son Cicero. You will indeed do weD; but still this cue ought to have been lunger. But I, as soon as you wrote to me about Cicero's departure from yoii,^ im- mediately packed off a courier with letters for him, bidding him, even if he bad reached Italy, to return to you; for nothing could be more agreeable to me, or more honourable to him, although I had several times written to him that the comitia for the election of priests had, by my cstreme eser- tiona, been postjwned to another year; a delay which I exerted myself to procure, not only for the sake of Cicero himself, but ibr that of Domitius, Cato, Lentulua, and the Bibnli, as I also wrote to you.
However, when you sent off to mc that dwarfish letter of yours, this was not yet known to you.
I do therefore, my dear Brutus, beg of you with all eamest- ness, not to let my son depart from you, but to bring him with you whea you come; and this, if you have any just regard for the republic, for the benefit of which you were bom, you. ought to do instantly. For the war has revived, and that through the no small wickedness of Lepidus. And ' Thia alludes, aa Middlatou observes, to Letter XIIL, in whioli it waa Htid that young Cicero was U) come to Roiae, to be a cuidida(« for one of tlie Taoant priesthooila.
y, which was most escellent, ia not only of no use 'cn compels na to demand the prcBenoe of yours. If that once reaches Italy, then there will be no dtiaen, at least no one who deseiTes to be oalled a citizen, who will not Iwtake himself to your camp, although vfe have Decimus Brutus admirably united with Plancus. But you am not ignoraut how little to be trusted the dispoaitions of men are when infected with party spirit, and bow uncertain, too, are the ovents of battles.
Moreover, if we conquer, &a I hope we Bhall, still affiiirs will require the powerful direction of your wisdom and influence to guide them. Come therefore to our assistance, I implore you, and come as soon as posible; and be assured that jou did not do a greater service to your country on the ides "of March, on which you repelled slavery from your fellow-citizem than you will do now if yoa come speedily. _ July the 13tht' LETTER SXir. Cicero to Bratiu, greeting. Tod have Messala with you: how then shall I be able, ly any letter which I may write with ever ho much care, to es- plais to you more clearly than he can what is going on in the republic, and what is the state of aflaira in it, since he is thoroughly acquainted with everything, and ia able a!so to set it before you, and represent it to you ia the neatest pos- Bible manner! For do not fancy, my dear Brutus (although it is not necessary for me to write to you what is already well known to you, yet I cannot pass over in silence such excel- lence in all quaUties which deserves praise); do not fency, I Bay, that there is any man like him forbonesty, consistency, anxiety, and zeal for the commonwealth; so that eloquence, in which he wonderfully eicels, seems scarcely to find in his character any room as a subjeot of praise, although in this very particulnr his wisdom is the more conspicuous; with such dignified judgment and exceeding skill has he practised himself in the soundest kind of oratory. So great, too, is his modesty, so incessant his application to study, that it is not to his genius (eminent ae it is) that his greatest obl^tione appear to be duo.
1 OICERO TO BBUTDB.
lis letter ^M merit is ^ But I am letting myaelf be carried away too &x regard for him; for it was not my aole object in tlii to extol McssaJa, eBpecially to BrutuB, to whom liis merit is Bot leas known than to myself, and to whom are etill better known those etudiee of his which I am now praising. And though I was grieved at taking leave of him, I was comforted by thia one ooosideration, that as he was going to you, whom 1 look upon Bfi another sel^ he was both perfofming hia duty and pursuing a path to the greatest glory.
But enough of this. I come now, after a long interral certainly, to a certain letter of yours, in which, while praising me on many aocounta, you fonnd fault with me in one point as being too liberal, and as it were prodigal, in giving my ■voice for awarding honours.' It is for this that you blame me; others, perhaps, charge me with being too severe as to pnnishment and penalties; uulees, perhaps, you briug both aocusalions ngainst me. If such he the case, I desire that my opinion on both these subjects should be thoroughly nnder- stood by you; not merely that I may cite the saying of Solon, who iraa both the wisest of the seven wiee men, and also the only legislator of the seven, and who said tbat com- jDonwealtha were held together by two thinga, rewRrda and punishments; for I would add, that there certainly is mode- ration to be observed in both these points as in all other things, and a ceri^ain medium to be kept as to each of them. But it is not my purpose to diaouss so important a topic ia this place.
However, I do not tMuk it improper to explain to you what I have aimed at during this war in the several votes which I have given in the senate.
After the death of Gesar and your memorable idee of Maroh, my dear Brutus, you have not forgotten what I aud had been omitted'' by you, and how great a tempest I declared to be hanging over the republic. A great plague had been repelled by you, a great atain on the Roman people had been e&ced, and an immortal glory had been gained by yourselves. But th* whole equipage of kingly power -was only transferred to Lepidus and Antony, one of (rfioni was a vacillating man, the other polluted with vico; both of them were a&oid of peace, and enemies to ti'anquiUity.
' EepeoMlj to OctoTius. ' I.e. tio putting Antonj to doath.
I CIOERO TO BB0TU8.
"While these men were burning with a desire of tbrowing the republic into confusion, we had no force that could be opposed to them; but the whole city had roused itself with entire unanimity to preserve ita freedom. We were at that time too energetic; you perhaps acted more wisely in quitting the city which you bad delivered, and declined the aid of Italy, which offered ita services in your cause. When, therefore, I saw the whole city occupied by traitors, that neither you nor Casaius could be safe in it, and that it was overawed by the forces of Antony, I thought that I also ought to depart. For a city overwhelmed by wicked men, and deprived of all power of helping itself waa a wretched spectacle.
But the same dtspositiou which is always in me, through devotion to my country, could not bear to be absent from its dangers; and accordingly, in the middle of my voyage to Aohaia, when, at the times of the Etesian winds, the west wind, as if dissuading me from my resolution, had brought me back to Italy, I met you at Velia, and espressed the greatest concern on the occasion. For you were retreating, ray dear lirutuai you were retreating, I say; since our friends the Stoics deny that it is for a wise man to flee. When I came to Rome, I immediately put myself forward to check the wickedness and insanity of Antony; and when I had exasperated him gainst myself, I began to adopt resolntions quite in the character of Brutus himself (for such resolutions are the peculiar inheritance of your family) to deliver the republic.
The long recital of what followed I shall omit, for it relates to myself; I will only say that the cbaraoter of this young man Caasar, by whose means, if we would but confess the truth, we still esist, has sprung wholly from the source of my counsels. No honours have been paid him &om me, my dear Brutus, that were not justly his due; none that were not absolutely necessary, For when we first began to recover our liberties, when not even the divine virtue of Decimus Brutus had exerted itself ici such a manner that we could appreciate its value, and when our whole hope of defence lay in that hoy who had turned Antony away from our throats, what honour was too great to be voted to himl Although tit that moment I paid htm honour only in words, and that flzpressod in moderate terms, 1 also proposed to invest him with ■ CICEHO TO BRUTUS. 125 military command; and though this may have appeared a compliment to one of bis age, yet it was indispensable, as he had an army; and what is an army without such command? Philippus proposed to vote him a statue; Servius, first of all, voted bim the privilege of Btandiug for offices before the usual time; ServUius made that time still earlier; nothing at that moment appeared too great for bim.
But, I know not how, men are more commonly found to liberal under the influence of feai' than grateful in the hour of ■victory. For I myself when Decimua Brutaa had been de- livered; when that day, moat joyful to the oity, had shed its light upon it, and that very day, as it happened, was the birth- day of Brutufl, proposed a vote tiat the name of Brutus should be attached to that day in the calendar. And in this proposi- tion I followed the precedent of our ancestors, who paid this compliment to Larentia,^ a woman at whose altar in the Vela- brum. you pontiffs are in the habit of offering sacrifice. When I proposed this honour to Brutus, my object was that there should be in the calendar a memorial of his most welcome victory; but on that day I found that there were rather more malevolent than grateful people in the senate. At that very time too I lavished, if you will have itso, honoiura on the dead, Hirtiua and Pansa, as well as Aquila; and who would blame me for so doing but those who, now that they are delivered from their fear, have forgotten also their past danger] To the grateful recollection of these services there vna added another reason for my conduct, which I hoped might have a beneficial effect upon posterity; for I wished that there should exist imdying records of the public hatred to our most cmel enemies. I suspect, too, that this other matter is the less approved by you, because it is not approved by your friends, who aro very excellent men indeed, but of no expe- rience in public aflairs; namely, the vote which I proposed, that CsBsar might be permitted to enter the city with an ovation. But I am. of opinion (though I may perhaps bo ' It M rather uncertoin who Lareclia -was: tha tradition is that aha was RomiiJuB'a nurae, and that Romulna instituteil a yearly aaorifloB and festival in her honour. The Velabrum was a street or square, as Ifiddleton reinaclu, where the Fortua Beuium and Temple of Jbuub I CICBKO TO BBDTUS.
mistaken, uor ia my temper such that my own opinions delight me in preference to those of others), that duriug the whole of tills war I have not done a wiser thing. Why it ia ao I must not explain, lest 1 should seem to have been prudent mther than grateful; and oven to say this ia to soy too much; let ua therefore turn to something eleo.
I proposed that honours should be voted to Deoimus Brutus, and also to Lucius PlaucuB. ThoBo, indeed, ara noble dispoaitions which are attracted by glory; but the senate also ia wise, which employs every method, provided it ba honourable, by which it thinka that any one can bo induced to support tbe republic But in. the case of Lepidus I am blamed; inoamuch as after I Imd proposed to erect a statue to him iu the rostra, I at a aubaequeut time proposed to remove it. The truth, was, that I aought by means of thitt honour to recall him from desperate measures; but the insane folly of that moat vacillating of men defeated my prudence; nor was ao mach. hai'm done in raising a statue to Lepidua, as good ia OTOfJ throwmg it. fl I have aaid enough on the subject of honours; I must aoiM add a few words on the subject of punishment; for I have re» ■ peatedly understood from your letters, that you were deairous of having your clemency extolled towards those whom you had defeated in war. I believe that nothing is done by you otherwise than wisely; but to omit inflicting pnnishment on guilt, (for that is what is called pardoning,) even though under other circumstances it may be endurable, I think niiuoua iu this war. For of all the civil wars which within my recollection have taken place in our republic, there has not been one of such a character that, whichever side proved vic- torious, there would not still bavo been some form of a oom- monwealth left: but in this war, what sort of republio we ehali have, if victorious, I would not willingly say; if defeated, we shall certainly have none at all. I therefore pronounced very severe opinions against Antony; I pronounced severe onea against Lepidus; not ao much for the sake of inflicting vengeance upon them, as with a view at present to deter un- principled citizena by fear from making war on their country, and, for the future, to raise a record to prevent any one from imitating such rashness, although this opinion was not moM-.
ciCEEO TO BKuma.i ciCEEO TO BKuma.i n particular than that of all the citizens. And in it there is indeed this appearance of cruelty^ that the penalty reaches to their children who have deserved no punishment. But it is an ancient cuatom, and one which prevails in all states; since even the ciuldrea of Themist^les were reduced to want. And if the same puniahment falls on citizens jadicially condemned, how could we be more merciful to enemies!
And what ground of complaint has any one against ma, who must confess that if he had been victorious, he would himself have been more severe towards rael Ton hare now the ground of the opinions wliioh I de- livered, at least on this subject of honoura and penalties. What opinions I entertained, and what votes I gave, on other mattera, I think you have heard; but to mention these is not of 60 much necessity; what is absolutely necessary is, that yon, my dear Brutus, should como into Italy with your army with all speed; there is the strongest desire for your arrival; if you but set foot in Italy, all will flock to you. For whether wo are victorious {and wo should indeed already have been most glotionsly victorious, if Lepidus bad not chosen to overturn everything, and ruin himself as well as his fiienda), we shall require your authority to establish some constitution in the state; or wbether there be still struggles to come, our greatest hope is still in your authority and in the power of your army. But hasten to us, I conjure you by the gods; for yon know bow much depends on opportn- nities, how much depends on promptness.
I will take all possible care of the interests of your sister's sons, as I hope that you will learn from the letters of your mother and your sister; in which cause I have a greater regard for your wishes, which are most dear to me, than, as some think, for my own consistency. But in nothing have I a stronger wish both to be and to seem consistent, than in my afibction for you.
1 BnUTUa TO CIOEBO.
LETTER XXIII.
SrtUvs to Cicero, greding. B read a amall part of your letter, which, you aent to OctaviuH, and which was forwarded to me by Atticus. Your zeal aud anxiety for my safety have given me no new deUght; for it is not only a common thing, but one of even daily occurreuce, for me to hear Bomething about you which you have said or done, iaithfiilly and honourably, for the maiato- nanee of my dignity. Yet that Bame part of the letter which you wrote to Octavius ahout me has caused me as much concern as I am capable of feeling; for you thank him on behalf of the repuhlic in Buch language, in sucb & Huppliaut and humble tone, (what shall I say? I am ashamed of our condition and fortune, but still I must write it; you recom- mend my safety to him; and what kind of death would not be preferable to safety so aecuredS) that you show plainly that the overhearing power haa not been removed, but only the master changed. Recollect the words that you have used, and then deny, if you can, that they are the language of prayer addressed by a Klave to his king. You say that there is one thing only which is demanded aud expected from him; namely, that he should allow those citizens, of whom virtuous men and the Eoman people have a favourable opinion, to live in security. But what if he will not allow it! Are we to have no existence? But it would be better '" Joave none than to esist only through his permisaiou. assuredly, do not believe that all the gods are so unfavourabl to the safety of the Roman people that Octavius must b entreated for the safety of any citizen; I will not say for that of the deliverers of the whole world. For I am glad to take a high tone; and it is fit that I should do so towards those who know not what is to be feared for cacli individual,, or what ought to be asked of any one.
Do you then confess, Cicero, that Octavius has this pc aud are you nevertheless a friend to himi or, if you ■" any regard for me, do you wish me to appear at Rome, I must first he recommended to that boy that I may have liberty of being therel And for what have you to thank h if you think he must be entreated to consent and allow ue i BBUTUS TO CICERO.
live in safety? Ib this to Ije regarded as n, favour, that ho prefers to be the person himacjf fi-om whom such things are to be petitioned, mther than Antony) Does any one addrefis entreaties to a person who is the chastiser of the domineering power of another, and not rather bis successor in it, that men who have done great services to the repnbhc may be per- mitted to hve io it in safetjl But that imbecility and deaptur (the fault of which is not to he imputed to you in a greater degree than to every one else) both impelled Julius Ctesar to covet kingly power, and after his death persuaded Antony to endeavour to occupy the place of him who had been slain; and now, too, it has elevated thiit boy to such a degree, that you have thought tliat the safety of such men OS we are must be obtained of him by entreaties; and have considered that we shall only be safe through the mercy of one who is hardly yet a man, and by no other means. But if we had recollected that we were Romans, these vilest of men would not he more bold in their desires to grasp dominion, than we should he in our determination to stop their course; nor would Antony have been more encouraged by the height of power attained by Ccesar, than deterred by bts fate.
How can you, a man of consular rank, and the avenger of such atrocious crimes (though, while they are checked, I still fear that our ruin has only been postponed by you for a short time), how can you, I say, contemplate what you yourself have done, and at the same time approve those other things, or at least bear them with so lowly and acquiescent a spirit aa to wear the appearance of one who does approve of them) What private ill-feeling had you towards Antony? None, for any other reason but that he assumed such authority, requiring that men's safety should be begged of him; that we, from whom he himself had received liberty, should enjoy only a precarious safety; and that his will as to the common- wealth should bo absolute. You then thought it time to seek for arms, by which he might be prevented from lording it over us: but was it your object that, while be was pre- vented from BO doing, we might address our prayers to some one else, who would permit himself to lie put in his stead; or that the repnbhc might have its full rights and be mistress of itself J unless, indeed, our objection was not to slavery BlfUTDS TO CICBBO.
BlfUTDS TO CICBBO.
itself, iiut to Bome partioular kind of skvery. But w not only have endured our fortune, with Antony for an e master, but with advantages also and honours, as Bharers ia ' them with him, to whatever estent we pleased; for what would he have denied to those whose patience he found to be the main support of his authority! Bnt none of these con- siderations were of such importance that we should sell our good &ith and liberty for it. What would not this very boy, whom the nune of Gcesar appears to excite against the de- stroyers of Ctesor, what would not ho think it worth, (if there were an opportnnity for such a bargain,) to have, with our support, as much power aa he certainly is litoly to have, since we are su eager to hve, and to retain our fortunes, and to be called men of consular rank? But then that other CEesar will have been slain to no purpose; and why did ws rejoice at hie death, i^ after it, we were to be slaves no less than before?
Let no anxiety be felt, then, by othera. But, as for me, may all the gods and goddesses deprive me of everything, sooner than of the determination not to allow to the heir of' the man whom I have slain what I did not allow to the man himself, and what I would not allow even to my owu fether, if he were to come to life again; namely, that he should have more power than the laws and the senate with my permission. Can you possibly believe that the rest of the citizens will be fi^e under him, without whose permission there is no room for us in the city J How, moreover, ia it possible for you to obtain what you ask! for you aak him to permit uh to be safe. Do we appear to you, then, certain of receiving safety from him when we have received life? And how can we receive it, if we first throw away our dignity and our freedom! Do you think that to live at Eome is to be safe I It ia cir^ cumstances, and not place, which must procure me safety. I was not safe while CEesar was alive, unless indeed it was after I had resolved upon that deed. Nor can I bo an eaila anywhere as long as I hate to be it slave, and to endure in-' suits worse than all other evils. Is not this to fall back into the same ilarkneas, when we request of him who has taken to himself the name of a tyrant, (while in Grecian states even the children of tyrants, after the parents are put down, ara subjected to the same tiite,) that the mortal enemies e J BETJTOB TO CICEEO. 131 Buppresaore of absolute power may be allowed to live in safety! Can I wish to eee this state in bbcIi a condition, oe even think it a state at all, if it is not able to receive freedom ■when put into its hands, and even forced upon it; and when, it is more afraid of the name of the king who has been re- moved, in the person of a boy, than confident in itself, even after it has seen that very man who had the greateit power of all cut off by the public spirit of a few individuals 1 Here- after, do not recommend me to your Caesar; no, nor even yourself, if you will listen to me. Ton value the mmiber of years, which your time of life renders it probable that you may enjoy, at a very high rate, if, for the sake of them, you will supplicate that boy.
In the next place, with regard to the admirable hne of conduct which you have adopted, and still pursue, towards Antony, take care lest, instead of being praised as the part of great magnanimity, it should be imputed to fear. For if you Eke Octaviua, aa one from whom we must beg our safety, you will appear not to have objected to a master, but only to have been desirous of a more friendly one. That you praise him for what he has hitherto done, 1 commend you; for his conduct deserves to be praised; provided only that he under- took that course of action in opposition to the power of an- other, and not for the sake of establishing his own. But when jon judge that it is not only lawful for him to have such power, hut also that it should be given him by you, so that he must be entreated not to prohibit us from living in safety, you then grant too high a reward to his merits; for you are bestowing on him that very thing which the republic appeared to possess in consequence of his conduct.
Nor does it occur to you, that if Octavius deserves any honours for waging war against Antony, the Eoman people could then never bestow on those who eradicated that evil, and of whom these are the relies, anything with which their merit could he compensated, even if it were to heap upon them all honours and rewards at once. But see how much more lively men's fears are than their recollections, because Antony is alive and in arms; but with respect to Csasar, all that was possible, or ought to have been done, has been done j nor can it now be recalled and undone. But is Octavius a peiBon of such importance, that the Eomon people ought to I I I I BRUTUS TO CICERa wait to eeB what decision he will form respecting uaT And are we of BO little consequence, that it seems proper to entreat a eiagle individual for our Bafetyi