Marcus Junius Brutus was by the mother's side nephew
of M. Cato (Uticensis). When Cicero governed the province
of Cilicia, to which Cyprus seems to have been annexed, Brutus wrote
to him, and was supported by Atticus in his request, entreating him
to give Scaptius a commission as an officer of the Roman government,
and to allow him to employ a military force to exact from the Salaminians
the usurious interest which he illegally demanded. Cicero was too upright
a magistrate to comply with such requests, but they were so agreeable
to the practice of the times that he continued to live on intimate terms
with the man who could prefer them; and the literary tastes of Brutus
were a recommendation which he could not resist; so that he appears
soon to have forgotten the affair of Scaptius, and to have spoken and
thought of Brutus with great regard. They both, indeed, were of the
same party in politics, and Brutus actively exerted himself in the service
of Pompey, although his own father had been put to death by the orders
of that commander. In B.C. 44, on March 15, he murdered Caesar with
Cassius, his republican friend.
After the assassination of Caesar, the conspirators
endeavoured to stir up the feelings of the people in favour of liberty;
but Antony, by reading the will of the dictator, excited against them
so violent a storm of odium that they were compelled to flee from the
city. Brutus retired to Athens, and used every exertion to raise a party
there among the Roman nobility. Obtaining possession, at the same time,
of a large sum of the public money, he was enabled to bring to his standard
many of the old soldiers of Pompey who were scattered about Thessaly.
His forces daily increasing, he soon saw himself surrounded by a considerable
army, and Hortensius, the governor of Macedonia, aiding him, Brutus
became master in this way of all Greece and Macedonia.
He went now to Asia and joined Cassius, whose efforts had been equally
successful. In Rome, on the other hand, the triumvirs were all-powerful;
the conspirators had been condemned, and the people had taken up arms
against them. Brutus and Cassius returned to Europe to oppose the triumvirs,
and Octavius and Antony met them on the plains of Philippi in B.C. 42.
In this memorable conflict Brutus commanded the
right wing of the republican army, and defeated the division of the
enemy opposed to him, and would in all probability have gained the day
if, instead of pursuing the fugitives, he had brought reinforcements
to his left wing, commanded by Cassius, which was hard pressed and eventually
beaten by Antony. Cassius, upon this, believing everything lost, slew
himself in despair. Brutus bitterly deplored his fate, styling him,
with tears of the sincerest sorrow, “the last of the Romans.”
On the following day, induced by the ardour of the soldiers, Brutus
again drew up his forces in line of battle, but no action took place,
and he then took possession of an advantageous post, where it was difficult
for an attack to be made upon him. His true policy was to have remained
in this state, without hazarding an engagement, for his opponents were
distressed for provisions, and the fleet that was bringing them supplies
had been totally defeated by the vessels of Brutus. The condition of
things, however, was unknown to the latter, and, after an interval of
twenty days, he hazarded a second battle. Where he himself fought in
person, he was still successful; but the rest of his force was soon
overcome, and the conflict ended in a total defeat of the republican
army. Escaping with only a few friends, he passed the night in a cave,
and, as he saw his cause irretrievably ruined, ordered Strato, one of
his attendants, to kill him. Strato refused for a long time to perform
the painful office; but, seeing Brutus resolved, he turned away his
face, and held his sword while Brutus fell upon it. He died in the forty-third
year of his age, B.C. 42.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
ROME (MARCH-APRIL)
AT the
time of my writing this it is thought that the decisive hour has arrived.
For melancholy despatches and messages are arriving about our friend
Decimus Brutus. For my part I am not excessively alarmed by them, for
I cannot possibly distrust such armies and leaders as we now have. Nor
do I agree with the majority of people: for I do not think ill of the
loyalty of the consuls, which has been the subject of great suspicion.
In certain particulars I do find them wanting in prudence and promptitude.
If they had displayed those qualities we should long ago have recovered
the constitution. For you are not ignorant of the importance of times
and seasons in public affairs, and what a difference it makes whether
the same thing is settled, undertaken, carried out before or after a
particular period. If all the decrees expressed in severe language during
this civil disturbance had been passed on the day on which I spoke in
their favour, and had not been postponed from day to day, or not been
delayed and put off from the moment that their execution was undertaken,
we should not now be at war. I have made good, Brutus, every duty to
the state, to which a man was bound, who occupied the station in which
I have been placed by the judgment of the senate and people. And I am
not speaking now of those duties which alone, of course, can be positively
demanded of every human being--good faith, vigilance, patriotism. Such
duties there is no one who is not bound to make good. But I think that
a man who speaks among the leading members of the senate is bound to
display wisdom also. And since I have involved myself in the heavy responsibility
of taking the helm of state, I should think myself no less deserving
of reproach, if it was against its true interests that I advised the
senate, than if I did so with insincerity. All things actually transacted,
or which are in the Course of being transacted, I know are carefully
written out for your benefit. But there is one thing I should like you
to learn from me--that my heart is at the seat of war, and seeks no
means of retreat, unless it chance that the interest of the state compels
me to do so. The feelings of the majority, however, look to you and
Cassius. wherefore, my dear Brutus, prepare yourself to believe that,
if at this time a success is achieved, you will have to reform the constitution;
if a reverse is sustained, your task will be its restoration.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
ROME (11
APRIL)
YOU have
had the opportunity of learning Plancus's splendid loyalty to the Republic,
his legions, auxiliaries, and forces from his own letter, a copy of
which I think has been sent to you. The fickleness and inconstancy of
your relative Lepidus, who, next to his own brother, holds his relations
by marriage as his deadliest foes, and his feelings perpetually hostile
to the constitution, I think you have clearly perceived from the letters
of your family. As for me, I am restlessly waiting for news. The decisive
hour is upon us: for our whole hope depends on relieving Decimus Brutus,
for whom I am greatly alarmed. Here in Rome I have my tribune Titius.
Cicero wishes to make Plancus look upon it as unimportant. It probably,
however, contributed to confirm his intention of joining Antony, as
he eventually did. hands full with that madman Servilius. I have endured
him longer than is consistent with my position, but I have done so for
the sake of the Republic, for fear of giving unprincipled citizens some
one--who, lunatic as he is, is yet a man of rank-round whom to rally.
They are doing so none the less, and I do not think that he is a man
who ought to be wholly alienated from the Republic. But I have come
to the end of my tolerance of him. For he has begun giving himself such
airs, that he regards no one as free. In the case of Plancus, however,
he flamed up with extraordinary anger, and for two days maintained so
fierce a controversy with me, and was so crushed by me, that I hope
I have permanently brought him to a more reasonable frame of mind. In
the midst of this controversy too, on the 9th of April, a letter was
handed to me in the senate from our friend Lentulus, telling me about
Cassius, about his legions, and about Syria. I immediately read it aloud,
whereupon Servilius and several besides looked somewhat small. For there
are a good many distinguished men who cherish the most disloyal sentiments:
but what annoyed Servilius most bitterly was that the senate agreed
to my motion about Plancus. It is a portentous thing in the Republic,
but to what end...
MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME)
DYRRACHIUM
(1 APRIL)
I am anxiously
expecting the letter which you wrote after you received the news of
my movements and of the death of Trebonius. For I feel certain that
you will expound your plan of action. By a shocking crime we have at
once lost a most loyal citizen and have been driven from the possession
of a province, the recovery of which is easy. But its subsequent recovery
will not relieve the scandal and crime. Antonius is still in my camp;
but, on my honour, I am much affected by the man's entreaties, and I
fear a violent outbreak in some quarter may carry him off. I am really
distracted with indecision. But if I knew your opinion, I should cease
to be anxious: for I should be persuaded that it was the best thing
to be done. Wherefore at the earliest possible moment let me know what
your opinion is. Our friend Cassius holds Syria and the legions stationed
in it, having indeed been actually invited to come by Murcus, Marcius,
and the army itself. I have written to my sister Tertia and my mother,
not to publish this most admirable and fortunate achievement of Cassius
before they knew what your advice was and you thought it right. I have
read two of your speeches, one delivered on the 1st of January, the
other against Calenus. You are, of course, waiting for my praise of
them at this time of day! I cannot decide whether it is your courage
or your genius that is the more admirably displayed in these pamphlets.
I quite agree in their having even the title of Philippics by which
you jestingly described them in one of your letters.
The two
things which I want are money and more men. The latter--the sending
some part of the soldiers now in Italy to me--you can accomplish either
by a secret arrangement with Pansa or by bringing the matter before
the senate. The former can be got from the senate direct. This is still
more necessary, and not more so for my army than for that of the other
commanders. This makes me the more regret that we have lost Asia: which
I am told is being so harassed by Dolabella that his murder of Trebonius
no longer appears the most cruel thing he has done. Antistius Vetus,
however, has come to my aid with money. Your son Cicero is giving me
such ion by his industry, endurance, hard work, and high courage, in
short, by every kind of service, that he seems to me never to forget
for a moment whose son he is. Therefore, as I cannot by any possibility
think more highly than I already do of one who is the dearest object
of your affection, pay my sagacity the compliment of believing that
he will not have to trade upon your reputation for the attainment of
the same offices as his father held before him.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (AT DYRRACHIUM)
ROME (12
APRIL)
AFTER I
had given Scaptius a letter for you on the morning of the 11th of April,
I received one from you in the evening of the same day, dated from Dyracchium
on the 1st of April. Accordingly, on the morning of the 12th, having
been informed by Scaptius that the men to whom I had [p. 210] given
the letter the day before had not started and were going at once, I
have dashed off this brief note in the midst of the turmoil of my morning
levée. I am delighted with the news about Cassius, and I congratulate
the Republic, and also myself, for having proposed in the senate, in
spite of Pansa's opposition and anger, that Cassius should make war
upon Dolabella. And indeed I boldly maintained that he was already engaged
in that war without any decree of ours. About you also I said on that
occasion what I thought ought to be said. This speech shall be transmitted
to you, since I perceive that you like my "Philippics." You
ask my advice as to Gaius Antonius: my opinion is that he should be
kept under arrest till we know the fate of Decimus Brutus. From the
letter you addressed to me it appears that Dolabella is harassing Asia
and behaving in a most abominable manner there. You have mentioned also
to several people that Dolabella has been prevented from landing by
the Rhodians. But if he has approached Rhodes, I think he must have
abandoned Asia. If that is so, I think you should stay where you are.
But if he once gets a hold of that province, believe me it will not
be right for you to do so, but I think you will have to go to Asia to
attack him. As to your saying that you are in want of two necessary
things-money and more men--it is difficult to see what to suggest. For
I can't think of any resources upon which you can draw, except those
which the senate has assigned to you by its decree--that you should
raise loans from the cities. As to more men also, I do not see what
can possibly be done. For so far from Pansa sparing you any of his own
army or levy, he is even annoyed that so many are going to you as volunteers:
because, as I believe, he thinks that he cannot have too great a force;
but, as many suspect, because he doesn't wish you to be too strong either.
But this is a suspicion which I do not share. You say in your letter
that you have written to Tertia and your mother not to disclose the
achievements of Cassius until I think it right. I understand your motive
to be a fear lest the feelings of Caesar's party--as that party is still
called-should be violently affected. But before your letter was received,
the facts had been heard and were quite public property. Your letter-carriers
also had brought letters to many of your intimate friends. Therefore
there is no need to suppress the truth, especially as it is impossible
to do so. Besides, even if it had been possible, I should have thought
that it should be spread broadcast rather than be kept concealed. As
to my son, if he has all the good in him which you describe, I am of
course as delighted as I am bound to be, and if you exaggerate it from
affection for him, the mere fact of your being attached to him rejoices
me more than I can say.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (AT DYRRACHIUM)
ROME (16 APRIL)
I BELIEVE
that your friends--to not one of whom do I yield in affection to you--have
written to tell you what despatches were read in the senate on the 13th
of April from you, and at the same time from Antony. But though there
was no need for us all to repeat the same story, yet it is necessary
that I should write and tell you my feeling, deliberate opinion, and
sentiments as to the nature of this war generally. My object, Brutus,
in imperial politics has always been the same as your own: my policy
in certain points-not in all-has perhaps been somewhat more drastic.
You know that it was always my opinion that the Republic should be delivered
not only from a tyrant but from a tyranny also. You took a more indulgent
view-to your own undying honour, no doubt. But which was the better
course we have felt to our bitter sorrow, and are still feeling to our
grave peril. More recently you have directed all your efforts to secure
peace--which could not be brought about by mere words--I to secure liberty,
which is impossible without peace. But my view was that peace itself
could be brought about by war and arms. There was no want of enthusiasts
who were eager to fight, but we checked their enthusiasm and damped
their ardour. And so it had come to such a pass that, had not some god
inspired Caesar Octavianus with that resolution, we must necessarily
have fallen under the power of Marcus Antonius, the most abandoned and
depraved of men, with whom you see at this very moment in what a desperate
contest we are engaged. Now that, of course, would never have occurred
if Antony had not been spared at that time. But I pass over these reflexions:
for the deed which you performed-ever memorable and all but divine-disarms
all criticism, for it is one which can never be even praised in terms
adequate to its merit.
You lately
came to the front again with a look of stern resolve. In a brief time
you collected by your unaided exertions an army, forces, sufficient
legions. Great heavens! What a message, what a despatch! What exultation
was there in the senate, what an outburst of cheerfulness in the city!
I never saw anything praised with such complete unanimity. There was
some anxiety about the remnants of Antony's forces, whom you had deprived
for the most part of his cavalry and legions. But that was happily relieved.
For your next despatch, which was read in the senate, clearly sets forth
the excellence both of com mander and soldiers, and the good service
done by your staff-among others, by my son. And if your friends here
had thought it right that a motion should be brought before the senate
in consequence of its despatch, and had it not come at a time of great
confusion, just after the departure of the consul Pansa, a regular vote
of thanks and one due to the immortal gods would have been passed.
Lo and
behold, on the 13th of April, early in the morning comes Pilius Celer
in hot haste--what a man, good heavens! How trustworthy and consistent!
What an honest politician! He brings two letters, one in your name,
a second in that of Antony. He hands them to the tribune Sevilius. Sevilius
passed them on to Cornutus. They are read in the senate. "ANTONIUS
PROCONSUL ! "-There was as much surprise expressed as though the
words read had been "DOLABELLA IMPERATOR"; from whom indeed
letter-carriers have arrived, but no one of the position of Pilius to
venture to produce a despatch and to hand it to the magistrates. Your
despatch is read. It was short indeed, but very indulgent in its reference
to Antonius. The senate was greatly astonished. And I could not see
my way clearly as to what I ought to do. Was I to declare it a forgery?
What if you had acknowledged it? Was I to assert its genuineness? That
will be a reflexion on your official position. So I let that day pass
without saying anything. But next day, when there had begun to be much
talk about it, and Pilius had made himself offensively conspicuous,
the first step was after all taken by me. I said a great deal about
"the proconsul" Antonius. Sestius backed me up. Afterwards,
in private conversation with me, he dwelt on the danger he inferred
for his own son and mine if they bore arms against "a proconsul."
You know the sort of man he is. However, he did not shrink from supporting
the contention. Others also spoke. Our friend Labeo, for instance, remarked
that there was neither any seal of yours on the despatch, nor any date
affixed, and that you had not written to your friends, as was your custom.
By this he meant to argue that the despatch was a forgery, and, if you
would know the truth, he was thought to be convincing.
Now, Brutus,
you must take into consideration the whole question of the war. I notice
that you take pleasure in lenient measures, and think that the most
advantageous line to take. It is an admirable sentiment: but it is for
other circumstances and other times that a place for clemency generally
is and ought to be reserved. As things are now, Brutus, what is actually
being done? The hope of the needy and the ruined is the plunder of the
temples of the immortal gods; and what depends upon the issue of this
war is neither more nor less than our bare existence. Who is it that
we are sparing, or what is our object? Are we then consulting for the
interests of those, whose victory means that not a trace of us will
be left? For what difference is there between Dolabella and any one
of the three Antonies? If we spare any of the latter, we have been harsh
in the case of Dolabella. That the senate and Roman people take this
view is partly the result of the mere facts of the case, but for the
most part has been brought about by my advice and influence. If you
disapprove this policy, I will speak up for your opinion, but I shall
not abandon my own. From you men expect neither weakness nor cruelty.
An obvious mean between these is that you should be stern to the leaders,
placable to the soldiers. I should like my son, my dear Brutus, to be
as much as possible by your side He will find no better school of virtue
than the contemplation and imitation of you.
16 April.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
ROME (LATE
IN MAY)
L. Clodius,
tribune-designate, is much attached to me, or, to speak with more empressement,
loves me dearly. And when I am assured of that I feel certain--for you
know me--that you will conclude that I love him: for nothing seems to
me less human than not to give an answering affection to those by whom
one's love is challenged. He seemed to me to suspect, much to his chagrin,
that some unfavourable report had reached you from his friends, or rather
through his enemies, by which your feelings were alienated from him.
It is not my habit, my dear Brutus, as I think you know, to make rash
statements about another man. It is a risky thing to do, owing to the
secret feelings and complicated natures of mankind But I have seen to
the bottom of Clodius's heart: I know it, and have formed my judgment
of it. There are many proofs of it, but such as I need not write down,
for I want you to regard this as a solemn deposition rather than a letter.
He has been promoted by Antony--though a large share even of that very
favour has its origin in you--and accordingly he would wish his safety
so long as it is compatible with ours. But he fully understands--for
he is no fool, as you are aware--that matters have come to such a point
that both cannot be preserved; accordingly he prefers us. As to yourself,
indeed, he both speaks and feels in the most affectionate manner. Wherefore,
if anyone has written to you or spoken to you by word of mouth disparagingly
of him, I beg you again and again to believe me rather than them. I
have greater opportunity of judging than any such casual observer, and
I am more devoted to you. Make up your mind that Clodius is most warmly
attached to you, and is such a citizen as a man of the greatest sense
and most ample fortune is bound to be.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
ROME (LATE
IN MAY)
When I
had already written and sealed a despatch to you, a letter from you
was delivered to me full of startling intelligence. But the most surprising
of all was that Dolabella had sent five cohorts into the Chersonese.
Is he so flush of troops that a man who was said to be in flight from
Asia is now attempting to get a foothold in Europe? With five cohorts,
moreover, what did he think that he could do when you had five legions,
a splendid body of cavalry, and very large auxiliary forces? These same
cohorts, I hope, by this time are in your hands, since that outlaw has
been so insensate. I strongly commend your policy in not having moved
your army from Apollonia and Dyrrachium, until you heard of the flight
of Antony, of Decimus Brutus having broken out of Mutina, and of the
victory of the Roman people. Accordingly, in saying that you had afterwards
resolved to lead your army into the Chersonese, and not to suffer the
government of the Roman people to be a laughingstock to an enemy stained
with the worst of crimes, you are acting in the interests of your own
position and of theRepublic. You speak of an outbreak in the fourteenth
legion on account of Gaius Antonius; you will excuse my saying that
I am in sympathy with the severity of the soldiers rather than with
yours.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (AT DYRRACHIUM)
ROME (17
APRIL)
I rejoice
that you have found the army and cavalry well affected to you. About
Dolabella, as you remark, you will inform me' if you hear any news.
In regard to this, I am pleased to think that I foresaw how independent
your judgment would be as to making war on Dolabella. That, as I saw
clearly at the time, was of great importance to the state, and, as I
now am of opinion, of great importance to your own position.
You say
in your letter that I have not hurried myself at all in making attacks
on the Antonies; and you go on to commend me for it. I have no doubt
that you think so; but I can in no sense admit the justice of the distinction
you draw, when you say that more vigour should be used in preventing
civil wars, than in wreaking vengeance upon the vanquished. I strongly
differ from you, Brutus, and I do not admit your clemency doctrine.
A salutary sternness is superior to the empty show of clemency. But
if we choose the rôle of clemency we shall never have any lack
of civil wars. However, that is more your concern than mine. For myself
I can say, like the father in the Trinummus of Plautus, My time is all
but past: 'tis you this most concerns.
You will
be crushed, believe me, Brutus, unless you take proper precautions.
For you won't always have the same people, nor the same senate, nor
the same leader of the senate. Regard these words as uttered by the
oracle of the Pythian Apollo. Nothing can be truer.
17 April.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (AT DYRRACHIUM)
ROME (21
APRIL)
OUR cause
seems in a better position: for I feel sure that you have had letters
telling you what has happened. The consuls have shewn themselves to
be the sort of men I have often described them in my letters. In the
youthful Caesar indeed there is a surprising natural strain of virtue.
Pray heaven we may govern him in the flush of honours and popularity
as easily as we have held him up to this time I That is certainly a
more difficult thing, but nevertheless I have no mistrust. For the young
man has been convinced, and chiefly by my arguments, that our safety
is his work, and that at least, if he had not diverted Antony from the
city, all would have been lost. Three or four days indeed before this
glorious news, the city, struck by a sudden panic, was for pouring out
with wives and children to seek you. The same city on the 20th of April,
with its fears all dispelled, would rather that you came here than go
to you. On that day in very truth I reaped the most abundant harvest
of my great labours and my many sleepless nights--that is, at least,
if there is a harvest in genuine and well-grounded glory. For I was
surrounded by a concourse of people as great as our city can contain,
by whom I was escorted to the Capitol and placed upon the rostra amidst
the loudest cheers and applause. I have no vanity in me--and indeed
I ought to have none: yet after all a unanimous feeling of all orders,
thanks, and congratulations do move my heart, because it is a thing
to be proud of that in the hour of the people's preservation I should
be the people's hero. But these things I would rather you heard from
others. Pray inform me of your own doings and plans with the greatest
exactness; and do be careful that your generosity does not bear the
appearance of weakness. This is the sentiment of the senate, and of
the people, that no enemies ever more richly deserved condign punishment
than those citizens who have taken up arms against their country in
this war. Indeed in every speech I make in the senate I call for vengeance
upon them and attack them amidst the applause of all loyal citizens.
What your view of this is I must leave you to judge for yourself: my
opinion is that all three brothers stand on one and the same ground.
MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME)
DYRRACHIUM
(7 MAY)
MY joy
at hearing of the success of our friend Decimus Brutus and the Consuls
it is easier for you to imagine than for me to write. I have nothing
but praise and pleasure for everything that has occurred, but especially
for the fact that the sortie of Brutus not only proved his own salvation,
but also a very great assistance to the victory.
You remark
that all the three Antonies stand on one and the same ground, and that
it rests with me to decide what view I take. Well, my only conclusion
is that the decision in regard to those citizens who have fought and
not been killed rests with the senate or the Roman people. "Ah,
but," you will say, "you are wrong to begin with in calling
men citizens whose feelings to the state are those of enemies."
On the contrary, I am acting with the strictest justice. For that which
the senate has not yet voted, nor the Roman people ordained--that I
do not take upon myself to prejudge, nor do I claim to decide it on
my own authority. From this position I do not budge-from the man, whom
circumstances did not compel me to put to death, I have not wrested
anything in a spirit of cruelty, nor have I given him any indulgence
from mere weakness; but I have retained him in my power until the end
of the war. I consider it much the more honourable course, and one which
the Republic can with more safety concede, not to press heavily on the
unfortunate, rather than to indulge men of influence in what is calculated
to inflame their ambition and arrogance. In this matter, Cicero, you--who
have done the most splendid and gallant services, and are most deeply
beloved by all on private and public grounds alike-seem to me too ready
to believe what you hope; and the moment anyone has done anything well,
to be ready to give and concede everything to him. As though it were
not quite possible that a mind should be corrupted by bribery and perverted
to evil. You are so good-natured that you won't be angry at receiving
this hint, especially as it concerns the common safety. You will act,
however, as it may seem best to you. Even I, when you have admonished
me...
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (AT DYRRACHIUM)
ROME (5
MAY)
ON the
27th of April, when the speeches were being delivered in the senate
as to the proceedings to be taken against the men who had been adjudged
public enemies, Servilius referred among others to the case of Ventidius,
and also advised that Cassius should conduct the war against Dolabella.
I spoke in support of this, and added to the motion that you, if you
thought it expedient and to the public advantage, should direct your
attack upon Dolabella: and that if you could not do so with advantage
to the public service, or if you thought that it was to the interests
of the state, you should keep your army in the district in which it
now is. The senate could not have paid you a greater compliment than
leaving you to decide what you thought to be for the benefit of the
state. For my own part my feeling is that, if Dolabella has a body of
troops, if he has a camp, if he has any footing anywhere, it concerns
your honour and position that you should go against him. As to the forces
in the hands of our friend Cassius we know nothing, for we have had
no despatch from him personally, nor has any news reached us upon which
we can rely. But how important it is that Dolabella should be crushed
you certainly fully appreciate, both that he may be punished for his
crime, and that there may be no place of refuge for the ringleaders
of the outlaws after their rout at Mutina. And indeed that this has
all along been my opinion you may recollect from my previous letter--though
at that time our only harbour of refuge was in your camp, and we were
looking to your army to save us from destruction. Much more, now that
we have been freed as I hope from absolute danger, ought we to devote
ourselves to crushing Dolabella. But think the matter over carefully,
decide it wisely, and--if you deem it right-let me know what you have
resolved and what you are actually doing. I wish my son Cicero to be
co-opted into your college. I think in the circumstances that in the
election of sacerdotes candidates might be voted for in their absence
: for it has been done even before this. For instance, Gaius Marius,
though he was in Cappadocia, was created an augur under the lex Domitia;
nor has any law since made that illegal. There is even a clause in the
lex Julia--the most recent legislation on the subject of the priesthoods--in
these words: "the candidate and anyone for whom votes shall be
taken." This clearly indicates that votes can be taken for one
who does not act as a candidate. I have written to my son on this subject
telling him to follow your advice, as in all other things. It is for
you again to decide about Domitius and our friend Cato. But however
legal it may be for votes to be taken for a man in his absence, yet
it is easier in every way for those who are on the spot. While if you
have resolved that you must go to Asia, we shall have no means of summoning
our friends to the comitia. Certainly I think that everything would
have been more expeditiously done if Pansa were alive: for he would
have at once held the election of his colleague, and then the comitia
of the sacerdotes would have been held before those of the praetors.
As it is, I foresee a long delay on account of the auspicia; for as
long as there is a single patrician magistrate left the auspicia cannot
revert to the senate. It is certainly a serious complication. Pray write
and tell me your views on the whole question.
5 May.
MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME)
IMA CANDAVIA
19 MAY
Don't expect me to thank you. From the closeness of our intimacy, which
has now reached the highest possible point of friendship, that ought
long ago to have become superfluous. Your son is not in my quarters;
we shall meet in Macedonia. His orders were to lead the cavalry from
Ambracia by way of Thessaly, and I have written to him to meet me at
Heraclea. When I see him; as you consent, I will settle with him about
his return for his candidature, or rather his recom mendation to the
office. I commend to your protection with the utmost warmth Pansa's
physician Glyco, who is married to the sister of my freedman Achilles.
I am told that he is suspected by Torquatus in regard to Pansa's death,
and is in custody as a murderer. Nothing could be more incredible: for
who lost more than he did by Pansa's death? Besides he is a well-conducted
moral man, whom even personal advantage would seem unlikely to tempt
to crime. I beg you, and that with great earnestness--for my Achilles
is as anxious about it as he is bound to be--to rescue him from prison
and be his preserver. This I regard as affecting my duty as a private
man as nearly as anything else could do.
While I
was actually writing this letter to you a despatch was delivered to
me from Satrius, a legate of Gaius Trebonius, saying that Dolabella
had been defeated and put to flight by Tillius and Deiotarus. I am sending
you a Greek letter of a certain Cicereius to Satrius. Our friend Flavius
in a dispute that he has with the people of Dyrrachium about an inheritance
has named you as arbitrator: I beg you, Cicero, as does Flavius also,
to settle this business. There is no doubt that the town owed money
to the man who made Flavius his heir, nor do the Dyrrachini deny it,
but they allege that they received from Caesar a remission of their
debt. Don't allow your friends to do a wrong to a friend of mine.
19 May,
in camp at Ima Candavia.
MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME)
MACEDONIA
(LATTER PART OF MAY)
No one
can better judge than you how dear Lucius Bibulus ought to be to me,
considering his great struggles and anxieties on behalf of the Republic.
Accordingly, his own excellence as well as our intimacy ought to make
him your friend. I think myself therefore obliged to write at the less
length: for a wish of mine ought to influence you, provided that it
is equitable and is conceived in fulfilment of a necessary duty. He
has resolved to stand for the place of Pansa. I beg you therefore to
nominate him. You cannot do a favour to any man more closely attached
than we are to you, nor can you nominate a more deserving man than Bibulus.
What need to write about Domitius and Appuleius, seeing that they are
most warmly recommended to you by their own merits? To Appuleius certainly
you are bound to lend the protection of your influence--but Appuleius's
praises shall be sung in the special letter he brings with him. Do not
fail to take Bibulus to your bosom--a man, believe me, who may develop
into the sort of character to deserve your most select praises.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
ROME (MAY-JUNE)
I SHALL
recommend many to you, and it is inevitable that I should do so--for
it is always the best men and best citizens that are most inclined to
follow your judgment; and it is for your approval that all brave men
desire to work and study with activity; and finally everyone thinks
that my influence and favour have very great weight with you. But I
recommend to you Gaius Nasidienus--a burgher of Suessa--with an earnestness
beyond which I cannot go about anyone. In the war in Crete under Metellus
he led the eighth "first line": afterwards he was employed
in the management of his property. At this period, influenced by the
party divisions in the state, and by your pre-eminent position, he wishes
to gain some distinction by your means. I am recommending to you, Brutus,
a man of courage, a man of good character, and-- if that is at all to
the point--of wealth also. I shall be very much obliged if you treat
him so as to enable him to thank me for favours received from you.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
ROME (8
JUNE)
I would
have performed the function, which you performed in my own time of mourning,
and have written you a letter of consolation, had I not known that you
did not stand in need of those remedies in your sorrow with which you
relieved mine. And I should hope that you will now more easily heal
your own wound than you then could mine. It is, moreover, quite unlike
a man as great as you are not to be able to do himself what be has enjoined
on another. For myself, the arguments which you had collected, as well
as your personal influence, deterred me from excessive indulgence in
grief: for when I seemed to you to be bearing my sorrow with less firmness
than was becoming to a man, and especially one accustomed to console
others, you wrote upbraiding me in sharper terms than were usual with
you. Accordingly, putting a high value on your opinion, and having a
wholesome awe of it, I pulled myself together and regarded what I had
learnt, read, and been taught as being the weightier by the addition
of your authority. And at that time, Brutus, I owed nothing except to
duty and nature: you now have to regard the people and the stage--to
use a common expression. For since the eyes not only of your army, but
of all the citizens, and I ought almost to say of all the world, are
fixed on you, it is not at all seemly that the man who makes us all
braver should himself seem weakened in mind. To sum up: you have met
with a sorrow--for you have lost a thing unparalleled in the world--and
you must needs suffer from so severe a wound, lest the fact of having
no sense of sorrow should be a greater misfortune than sorrow itself:
but that you should do so in moderation is advantageous to others, necessary
for yourself. I would have written at greater length, had not even this
been already too much. We are expecting you and your army, without which-even
if everything else succeeds to our wishes--we seem likely to be scarcely
as free as we could desire. On the whole political situation I will
write at greater length, and perhaps with more certainty, in the letter
which I think of handing to our friend Vetus.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
ROME (JUNE)
I have
no letter as yet from you--not so much as a rumour--to shew that you
are aware of the resolution of the senate and are bringing your army
into Italy. That you should do so, and with all speed, the Republic
urgently requires: for the internal mischief daily grows more serious,
and we are in difficulties from enemies at home no less than from those
abroad. The former have, it is true, always existed from the beginning
of the war, but they were then more easily crushed. The senate was then
in a more resolute frame of mind, roused to action not only by the motions
which I brought forward, but also by my earnest exhortations. Pansa
was then in the senate very strenuous and bold in his attacks upon all
men of that sort, and especially his father-in-law. As consul his courage
never failed him from the beginning, nor his loyalty at the end. The
conduct of the war at Mutina left nothing to complain of in Caesar,
though some few points in Hirtius. The fortune of this war is For happy
though but ill, for ill not worst. The Republic was victorious: Antony's
forces were cut to pieces, and he himself driven out of the country.
Then came so many mistakes on the part of Decimus Brutus, that in a
certain sense the victory slipped through our fingers. Our generals
did not pursue the demoralized, unarmed, wounded enemy, and time was
granted to Lepidus to give us a taste of that fickleness, which we had
had many occasions to know before, in a more disastrous field. The armies
of Brutus and Plancus are good but raw; their auxiliary forces of Gauls
are very numerous and very loyal. But certain persons by most unprincipled
letters and misleading agents and messages induced Caesar--up to that
time wholly governed by my advice, and personally possessed of brilliant
ability and admirable firmness of character--to entertain a very confident
hope of the consulship. As soon as I discovered that, I never ceased
offering him advice by letter in his absence, and remonstrating with
his connexions who were in town, and who seemed to be supporting his
ambition; nor in the senate did I hesitate to lay bare the sources of
a most criminal plot. Nor indeed do I remember a better disposition
on the part of senate or magistrates. For in the case of voting an extra-constitutional
office to a man of power, or rather of super-eminent power--since power
now depends on force and arms--it never yet happened that no tribune,
no one in any other office, no private senator was found to support
it. But in spite of this firmness and manly spirit, the city was after
all in a state of anxiety. For we are flouted, Brutus, both by the airs
assumed by the soldiers and the arrogance of their commander. Each man
claims to be powerful in the Republic in proportion to his physical
force. Reason, moderation, law, custom, duty--all go for nothing: as
do the judgment and opinion of their fellow citizens, and their respect
for the verdict of posterity. It was because I foresaw all this long
ago that I was on the point of flying from Italy at the time when the
report of the edicts issued by you and Cassius recalled me. You also
roused my spirits, Brutus, at Velia. For though it vexed me to be going
to a city from which you who freed it were an exile--which had also
happened to me formerly in a similar danger, though with more melancholy
result-yet I continued my journey and reached Rome, and without any
guard to protect me I shook the power of Antony, and encouraged by my
influence and advice the protecting force offered by Caesar against
his treasonable arms. And if Caesar keeps his word and follows my counsel,
I think we shall have protection enough. But if the counsels of the
disloyal have greater weight than mine, or if the weakness of his time
of life proves unequal to the strain of the business, our whole hope
is in you. Wherefore fly hither, I beseech you, and put the last touch
to the freedom of a state, which you liberated by courage and high spirit
rather than by any fortunate coincidence. Men of all sorts will crowd
round you. Write and urge Cassius to do the same. Hope of liberty is
nowhere to be found except in the headquarters of your two camps. We
have, it is true, generals and armies in the west on which we Can rely.
The protecting force of the young Caesar, for instance, I regard at
present as trustworthy: but so many are trying to shake his loyalty
that at times I am mortally afraid of his giving way.
That is
a complete view of the political situation, as it exists at the moment
at which I write. I could wish that it might improve as we go on: but
if otherwise--which God forbid! I shall grieve for the sake of the Republic,
which ought to have been immortal: but for myself--what a brief span
of life is left!
MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME)
DYRRACHIUM
(MAY)
ANTISTIUS
VETUS is so devoted to the Republic that I feel no doubt of his shewing
himself in the case both of Caesar and Antony a most determined champion
of the common liberty, if he ever gets the opportunity. For the man
who, meeting P. Dolabella in Achaia in possession of infantry and cavalry,
preferred incurring any danger from the treachery of an utterly unscrupulous
outlaw to being thought either to have been compelled to give money,
or to have given it voluntarily to a most abandoned and unprincipled
man-he, I say, has not only promised but has paid us 2,000 Sestertia
out of his own pocket, and, what is much more valuable, has presented
himself in person and has joined us. I have been desirous to persuade
him to remain in my camp in military command and to support the Republic.
But he has made up his mind that he is bound to go home after having
dismissed his army. He assured us, however, that he would return promptly
in the position of legatus, unless the consuls intended holding the
praetorian elections; for with a man of his political views, I was urgent
that he should not postpone the time of his canvass. What this man has
done ought to be approved by everybody, at any rate by those who believe
that this army is of great moment to the state, by you all the more
so in proportion as you defend our liberty with greater spirit and fame,
and are sure to enjoy a higher position if the result of our plans is
what we desire it to be. I also ask you, my dear Cicero, as a personal
favour, and with the confidence of a friend, to love Vetus and to desire
the highest promotion for him. For though nothing can turn him from
his purpose, he will yet be capable of being incited by your praises
and kindness still more to embrace and hold fast your principles. I
shall be very grateful if it is so.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
ROME (BEGINNING
OF JULY)
Though
I am immediately about to give a letter to Messalla Corvinus, yet I
could not let our friend Vetus reach you without a letter from me. The
Republic, Brutus, is in the most imminent peril, and though victorious
we are forced to begin the struggle once more. This is the result of
the crime and infatuation of M. Lepidus. At such a time, while many
things afflict me owing to the anxiety I feel for the Republic, yet
nothing has given me greater vexation than to be unable to grant the
petitions of your mother and sister: for as to yourself--which is of
the greatest importance in my eyes--I think that I shall have no difficulty
in satisfying you. The fact is that the position of Lepidus cannot on
any consideration be separated from that of Antony, and in the judgment
of all is even a worse one, both because he had been complimented by
the senate with the most splendid honours, and had even sent an excellent
despatch to the senate a few days before. Suddenly he not only receives
the remnants of the enemy, but begins a war by land and sea with the
greatest ferocity, the result of which is still in the balance. Therefore,
while we are asked to shew consideration to his children, no guarantee
is offered that we shall not undergo the most extreme penalties, if
their father-- which God forbid--is victorious. Not indeed that I fail
to consider how cruel it is that the crimes of parents should be expiated
by the punishment of sons. But it is an excellent doctrine in law that
affection for children should make parents more loyal to the Republic:
therefore it is Lepidus that is Cruel to his children, not he who declares
Lepidus a public enemy. Nay, even if he laid down his arms and was condemned
for vis--a prosecution in which he would have no defence to offer-his
sons would have met with the same disaster by the confiscation of his
property. However, what your mother and sister deprecate in the case
of his children, that very thing and measures more cruel still are what
Lepidus, Antony, and the rest denounce against us. Therefore our chief
hope at this time is in you and your army. It is of very great importance
both to the highest interests of the Republic and to your own glory
and political position that--as I wrote to say before-you should come
to Italy at the earliest possible Opportunity: for the Republic stands
sorely in need both of your material forces and of your counsel. I have
gladly, in pursuance of what you said in your letter, opened my arms
to Vetus as his affection and his extreme loyalty to you deserved, and
I have found him most zealous and devoted both to yourself and the Republic.
My son I hope shortly to see: for I feel confident that he will promptly
come to Italy in your train.
MARCUS
IUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME)
MACEDONIA
(1 JULY)
The fear
which others entertain makes me nervous about M. Lepidus. If he has
wrenched himself from us--which I hope it will turn out that people
have suspected about him hurriedly and without good grounds--I beg and
beseech you, Cicero, appealing to our close friendship and your kindness
to me, to forget that my sister's children are the sons of Lepidus,
and to consider that I have succeeded to the place of their father.
If I can induce you to do that, there is certainly nothing that you
will hesitate to undertake for them. Some people live on one sort of
terms with their relations, others on another, but I cannot do enough
for my sister's children to satisfy my affection or duty. What consideration
is there, moreover, which either the loyalists can shew me--if I am
but worthy of some consideration from them--or what can I promise my
mother and sister and these children, if Brutus being their uncle has
no weight with you and the senate against the fact of Lepidus being
their father? I am neither able for anxiety and vexation to write at
great length to you, nor ought I to do so. For in a matter of so much
importance and so vitally affecting me, if I need words in order to
move your interest and confirm your resolution, there is no hope that
you will do what I wish or what you are in duty bound to do. Therefore
don't expect a lengthy petition from me. Only fix your eyes on me, who
have a good right to obtain this service from you, either on private
grounds from Cicero the man--and the closest of my friends--or from
the consular, all private ties put aside. What you mean to do please
write and tell me as soon as possible.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
ROME (11
JULY)
YOURS was
a very short letter. "Short" do I say? Rather it was not a
letter at all. Brutus write to me in three lines at such a crisis as
this? I would rather have written nothing at all. And you talk of not
hearing from me! Which of your men ever came to you without a letter
from me? And what epistle of mine had not something of weight in it?
And if they have not reached you, I think that your family letters cannot
have done So either. You say that you will give a longer letter to my
son. So far, so good: but even this one ought to have had more matter
in it. Now upon your writing to me about my son's quitting you, I immediately
bustled my letter-carriers off with a letter to my son telling him that,
even if he came to Italy, he should return to you: for nothing could
be more gratifying to me and nothing more honourable to him. However,
I had several times written to tell him that the election to the sacred
colleges had by great exertions on my part been put off to another year.
This I had taken pains to do for the sake of my son, and also for that
of Domitius, Cato, Lentulus, and the Bibuli--as I wrote to tell you.
But of course when you sent me that stingy little note this was not
yet known to you. Wherefore I urge you, my dear Brutus, with all my
might not to send my son from your side, and to bring him home with
you in person, which if you have any regard for the Republic, for which
you were born, you ought to do at once. For the war has revived--and
a very serious one--owing to the crime of Lepidus: while Caesar's army,
which was in an excellent state, is not only of no service, but even
makes it necessary for your army to be summoned. If that once reaches
Italy there will not be a single citizen, deserving to be called such,
who will not find his way to your camp. It is true that Decimus Brutus
has effected a splendid junction with Plancus, yet you are not ignorant
how uncertain are men's feelings when infected with party spirit, how
uncertain the results of battles. Nay, even if we conquer, as I hope,
nevertheless the public service will require a great deal of guidance
from your wisdom and your influence. Come to our help, therefore, in
God's name, and that as soon as possible: and assure yourself that you
did not do better service to your country by the Ides of March, on which
you shook the yoke of slavery from your fellow citizens, than you will
do if you now arrive in good time.
TO MARCUS
IUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
ROME (MIDDLE
OF JULY)
You have
Messalla with you. What letter, therefore, can I write with such minute
care as to enable me to explain to you what is being done and what is
occurring in public affairs, more thoroughly than he will describe them
to you, who has at once the most intimate knowledge of everything, and
the talent for unfolding and conveying it to you in the best possible
manner? For beware of thinking, Brutus--for though it is unnecessary
for me to write to you what you know already, yet I cannot pass over
in silence such eminence in every kind of greatness-beware of thinking,
I say, that he has any parallel in honesty and firmness, care and zeal
for the Republic. So much so that in him eloquence--in which he is extraordinarily
eminent-scarcely seems to offer any opportunity for praise. Yet in this
accomplishment itself his wisdom is made more evident; with such excellent
judgement and with so much acuteness has he practised himself in the
most genuine style of rhetoric. Such also is his industry, and so great
the amount of midnight labour that he bestows on this study, that the
chief thanks would not seem to be due to natural genius, great as it
is in his case. But my affection carries me away: for it is not the
purpose of this letter to praise Messalla, especially to Brutus; to
whom his excellence is not less known than it is to me, and these particular
accomplishments of his which I am praising even better. Grieved as I
was to let him go from my side, my one consolation was that in going
to you who are to me a second self; he was performing a duty and following
the path of the truest glory. But enough of this I now come, after a
long interval of time, to a certain letter of yours, in which, while
paying me many compliments, you find one fault with me--that I was excessive
and, as it were, extravagant in proposing votes of honour. That is your
criticism: another's, perhaps, might be that I was too stern in inflicting
punishment and exacting penalties, unless by chance you blame me for
both. If that is so, I desire that my principle in both these things
should be very clearly known to you. And I do not rely solely on the
dictum of Solon, who was at once the wisest of the Seven and the only
lawgiver among them. He said that a state was kept together by two things-reward
and punishment. Of course there is a certain moderation to be observed
in both, as in everything else, and what we may call a golden mean in
both these things. But I have no intention to dilate on such an important
subject in this place.
But what
has been my aim during this war in the motions I have made in the senate
I think it will not be out of place to explain. After the death of Caesar
and your ever memorable Ides of March, Brutus, you have not forgotten
what I said had been omitted by you and your colleagues, and what a
heavy cloud I declared to be hanging over the Republic. A great pest
had been removed by your means, a great blot on the Roman people wiped
out, immense glory in truth acquired by yourselves: but an engine for
exercising king. y power had been put into the hands of Lepidus and
Antony, of whom the former was the more fickle of the two, the latter
the more corrupt, but both of whom dreaded peace and were enemies to
quiet. Against these men, inflamed with the ambition of revolutionizing
the state, we had no protecting force to oppose. For the fact of the
matter was this: the state had become roused as one man to maintain
its liberty; I at the time was even excessively warlike; you, perhaps
with more wisdom, quitted the city which you had liberated, and when
Italy offered you her services declined them. Accordingly, when I saw
the city in the possession of parricides, and that neither you nor Cassius
could remain in it with safety, and that it was held down by Antony's
armed guards, I thought that I too ought to leave it: for a city held
down by traitors, with all opportunity of giving aid cut off, was a
shocking spectacle. But the same spirit as always had animated me, staunch
to the love of country, did not admit the thought of a departure from
its dangers. Accordingly, in the very midst of my voyage to Achaia,
when in the period of the Etesian gales a south wind--as though remonstrating
against my design--had brought me back to Italy, I saw you at Velia
and was much distressed: for you were on the point of leaving the country,
Brutus--leaving it, I say, for our friends the Stoics deny that wise
men ever "flee." As soon as I reached Rome I at once threw
myself in opposition to Antony's treason and insane policy: and having
roused his wrath against me, I began entering upon a policy truly Brutus-like--for
this is the distinctive mark of your family--that of freeing my country.
The rest of the story is too long to tell, and must be passed over by
me, for it is about myself. I will only say this much: that this young
Caesar, thanks to whom we still exist, if we would confess the truth,
was a stream from the fountain-head of my policy. To him I voted honours,
none indeed, Brutus, that were not his due, none that were not inevitable.
For directly we began the recovery of liberty, when the divine excellence
of even Decimus Brutus had not yet bestirred itself sufficiently to
give us an indication of the truth, and when our sole protection depended
on the boy who had shaken Antony from our shoulders, what honour was
there that he did not deserve to have decreed to him? However, all I
then proposed for him was a complimentary vote. of thanks, and that
too expressed with moderation. I also proposed a decree conferring imperium
on him, which, although it seemed too great a compliment for one of
his age, was yet necessary for one commanding an army--for what is an
army without a commander with imperium ? Philippus proposed a statue;
Servius at first proposed a licence to stand for office before the regular
time. Servilius afterwards proposed that the time should be still farther
curtailed. At that time nothing was thought too good for him.
But somehow
men are more easily found who are liberal at a time of alarm, than grateful
when victory has been won. For when that most joyful day of Decimus
Brutus's relief from blockade had dawned on the Republic and happened
also to be his birthday, I proposed that the name of Brutus should be
entered in the fasti under that date. And in that I followed the example
of our ancestors, who paid this honour to the woman Laurentia, at whose
altar in the Velabrum you pontiffs are accustomed to offer sacrifice.
And when I proposed this honour to Brutus I wished that there should
be in the fasti an eternal memorial of a most welcome victory: and yet
on that very day I discovered that the ill-disposed in the senate were
somewhat in a majority over the grateful. In the course of those same
days I lavished honours--if you like that word-upon the dead Hirtius,
Pansa, and even Aquila. And who has any fault to find with that, unless
he be one who, no sooner an alarm is over, forgets the past danger?
There was added to this grateful memorial of a benefit received some
consideration of what would be for the good of posterity also; for I
wished that there should exist some perpetual record of the popular
execration of our most ruthless enemies. I suspect that the next step
does not meet with your approbation. It was disapproved by your friends,
who are indeed most excellent citizens, but inexperienced in public
business. I mean my proposing an ovation for Caesar. For myself; however--though
I am perhaps wrong, and I am not a man who believes his own way necessarily
right--I think that in the course of this war I never took a more prudent
step. The reason for this I must not reveal, lest I should seem to have
a sense of favours to come rather than to be grateful for those received.
I have said too much already: let us look at other points. I proposed
honours to Decimus Brutus, and also to Lucius Plancus. Those indeed
are noble spirits whose spur to action is glory but the senate also
is wise to avail itself of any means-provided that they are honourable--by
which it thinks that a particular man can be induced to support the
Republic. But--you say--I am blamed in regard to Lepidus: for, having
placed his statue on the rostra, I also voted for its removal. I tried
by paying him a compliment to recall him from his insane policy. The
infatuation of that most unstable of men rendered my prudence futile.
Yet all the same more good was done by demolishing the statue of Lepidus,
than harm by putting it up.
Enough
about honours; now I must say a few words about penalties. For I have
gathered from frequent expressions in your letters that in regard to
those whom you have conquered in war, you desire that your clemency
should be praised. I hold, indeed, that you do and say nothing but what
becomes a philosopher. But to omit the punishment of a crime--for that
is what "pardoning" amounts to-even if it is endurable in
other cases, is mischievous in a war like this. For there has been no
civil war, of all that have occurred in the state within my memory,
in which there was not certain to be some form of constitution remaining,
whichever of the two sides prevailed. In this war, if we are victorious,
I should not find it easy to affirm what kind of constitution we are
likely to have; if we are conquered, there will certainly never be any.
I therefore proposed severe measures against Antony, and severe ones
also against Lepidus, and not so much out of revenge as in order that
I might for the present prevent unprincipled men by this terror from
attacking their country, and might for the future establish a warning
for all who were minded to imitate their infatuation. However, this
proposal was not mine more than it was everybody's. The point in it
which had the appearance of cruelty was that the penalty extended to
the children who did not deserve any. But that is a thing of long standing
and characteristic of all states. For instance, the children of Themistocles
were in poverty. And if the same penalty attaches to citizens legally
condemned in court, how could we be more indulgent to public enemies?
What, moreover, can anyone say against me when he must confess that,
had that man conquered, he would have been still more revengeful towards
me?
Here you
have the principles which dictated my senatorial proposals, at any rate
in regard to this class of honours and penalties. For, in regard to
other matters, I think you have been told what opinions I have expressed
and what votes I have given. But all this is not so very pressing What
is really pressing, Brutus, is that you should come to Italy with your
army as soon as possible. There is the greatest anxiety for your arrival.
Directly you reach Italy all classes will flock to you. For whether
we win the victory--and we had in fact won a most glorious one, only
that Lepidus set his heart on ruining everything and perishing himself
with all his friends-there will be need of your counsel in establishing
some form of constitution. And even if there is still some fighting
left to be done, our greatest hope is both in your personal influence
and in the material strength of your army. But make haste, in ,God's
name! You know the importance of seizing the right moment, and of rapidity
What pains I am taking in the interests of your sister's children, I
hope you know from the letters of your mother and sister. In undertaking
their Cause I shew more regard to your affection, which is very precious
to me, than, as some think, to my own consistency. But there is nothing
in which I more wish to be and to seem consistent than in loving you.
MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME)
MACEDONIA
(MAY)
I have
read an extract from your letter to Octavius which was sent me by Atticus.
Your zeal and care for my safety gave me no novel pleasure; for it is
not merely a matter of habit, but of daily habit, to be told of you
that you have said or done something in defence of my position which
displayed your fidelity and complimentary opinion of me. But that same
extract of your letter to Octavius about us caused me a distress as
great as my heart is capable of feeling. For you thank him in the name
of the Republic in such terms! With such abject and whispering humbleness-why
must I write the word? I blush to think of my position and high estate,
yet I must write it-you commend our safety to him! Could any death be
worse disaster? You, in fact,. avow that the slavery is not abolished,
only the master changed! Recall your words and dare to say that those
prayers are not the prayers of an enslaved subject to a tyrant. The
one and only thing-you say--that is demanded and expected of him is
that he consent to the safety of those citizens, of whom the loyalists
and the people have a good opinion. What? If he doesn't consent, shall
we not be safe? And yet it is better not to be than to be by his favour.
Upon my honour I do not think that all the gods are so hostile to the
safety of the Roman people, that we need entreat Octavius for the safety
of any citizen, not to say for "the liberators of the world"--for
there is a certain advantage in using strong language, and at any rate
there is a propriety in doing so to people who do not know what every
man ought to fear or to aim at.
Do you
confess, Cicero, that Octavius has this power, and are you his friend?
Or, if you regard me with affection, do you wish me to appear at Rome,
when in order to do so safely I have had to be recommended to that boy?
Why do you thank him, if you think he has to be asked to allow and suffer
us to keep our lives? Is it to be regarded as a favour that he has preferred
to be himself rather than a second Antony, to whom we had to make petitions
like that? Does anyone address to the destroyer of another's tyranny,
and not rather to its successor, a prayer that those who have done the
most splendid services to their country may be allowed their lives?
This is mere weakness and a counsel of despair. And the fault is not
yours more than everyone else's. It was this that egged on Caesar to
desire royalty, and induced Antony after his death to aim at occupying
the place of the dead man, and has at the present moment put that boy
of yours on such a pedestal, as to make you think that he must be absolutely
entreated to grant life to such men as us, and that we shall even now
be able to enjoy a bare safety from the pity of one man, and by nothing
else whatever. But if we had remembered that we were Romans, these dregs
of mankind would not have conceived the ambition of playing the tyrant
with more boldness than we should have forbidden it: nor would Antony
have had his ambition more roused by Caesar's royalty, than his fears
excited by Caesar's death. For yourself; a consular and the avenger
of such abominable crimes--and I fear that by their suppression the
mischief was only postponed by you for a short time--how can you contemplate
your own achievements, and at the same time countenance, or at any rate
endure these things with such abject humbleness as to have the air of
countenancing them? Again, what was your private and personal quarrel
with Antony? Why, it was just because he made this very claim--that
our safety should be asked as a favour from him; that we should hold
our civil rights on sufferance--we from whom he had himself received
his freedom; that he should be absolute in the Republic--it was for
these reasons that you thought we must take up arms to prevent his playing
the tyrant. Was the object of doing so that, when he had been prevented,
we should have to petition another man to allow himself to be put in
his place? Or was it that the Republic should be its own master and
at its own disposal? Surely: unless we are to suppose that our objection
was not to slavery but to the terms of our slavery! And yet, not only
had we the opportunity of supporting our high estate with Antony as
a liberal master, but even of enjoying rewards and honours as his partners
to the top of our ambition: for what would he have refused to men, whose
submissiveness he saw would be the greatest bulwark of his tyranny?
But nothing seemed sufficient to make us barter our honour and freedom.
This very
boy, whom the name of Caesar appears to instigate against the slayers
of Caesar, what would he give, if there were a chance of such traffic,
to be as powerful with our support, as he certainly will be when we
choose life for its own sake, and the possession of money, and the title
of consulars! But Caesar will have perished in vain: for why did we
rejoice at his death, if we were to become none the less slaves when
he is dead? No one else cares about these things, but may the gods and
goddesses take from me every. thing sooner than the resolution of never
conceding what I would not endure in Caesar--I won't say to the heir
of the man I killed, but even to my father himself if he were to come
to life again-namely, that he should, without a protest from me, be
more powerful than the laws and the senate. Are you so deluded as to
think that the rest of the world will be' free from one without whose
consent there is no footing for us in Rome? Moreover, how can you possibly
get what you ask? For you ask that he would consent to our safety: do
we therefore appear likely to accept safety, since we have accepted
life? But how can we accept it, if we previously give up position and
liberty? Do you count the fact of living at Rome as complete citizenship?
It is circumstance, not the particular place of residence, that must
secure me that. I was neither properly a full citizen while Caesar was
alive, except when I had resolved upon doing that deed; nor can I ever
be anywhere an exile so long as I abhor servitude and submission to
insult worse than every other evil. To ask a man who has adopted a tyrant's
name as his own for the safety of the avengers and destroyers of the
tyranny--is not this to fall back into the very dungeon from which you
have just escaped? Why, in Greek states when tyrants are put down their
sons are included under the same punishment. Am I to desire to see a
state, or to regard it as a state at all, which is incapable of recovering
even a freedom handed down by its ancestors and rooted in its very being,
and which is more afraid of the name of a slain tyrant in the person
of a mere boy, than confident in itself; though seeing the very man
who possessed the most over-weening power removed by the valour of a
few? For myself--do not henceforth recommend me to your Caesar, nor
yourself either, if you will listen to me. You must have a great value
for the few years that your time of life allows you, if for their sake
you are going to be a suppliant to that boy of yours. Again, take care
that those very splendid attacks which you have made and are still making
upon Antony, instead of getting you credit for courage, are not misinterpreted
into a belief that you are afraid. For if you think Octavius the sort
of person from whom to make petitions for our safety, you will be thought
not to have fled from a master, but to have looked out for a more agreeable
master. Of your praising him for his conduct up to this time I quite
approve, for it deserves to be praised, provided that he adopted these
measures against the tyrannical power of another and not in support
of his own. But when you shew your opinion that he is not only to be
allowed so much power, but is even to have so much tendered to him by
yourself; as to be petitioned not to refuse us our lives, you are making
a very bad bargain with him, for you are giving away to him the very
thing of which the Republic seemed to be in possession through him.
And it does not occur to you that, if Octavius deserves those honours
for waging war on Antony, to those who have cut up that mischief by
the roots--of which the present position is but the last trace--the
Roman people will never give what is an adequate reward of their service,
though it should heap everything it had to give upon them at once. See
too how much more awake people are to actual fear than to the memory
of past terrors. Because Antony is still alive and in arms, while in
regard to Caesar what could and was bound to be done is all over and
cannot be undone, Octavius is the man whose decision as to us is awaited
by the Roman people; we are in such a position that one man has to be
petitioned to enable us to live. I however--to return to your policy--so
far from being the sort of man to supplicate, am one forcibly to coerce
those who demand that supplications should be addressed to them. If
I can't do that, I will withdraw far from the servile herd and will
for myself regard as Rome wherever I am able to be free. I shall feel
only pity for men like yourself; if neither age nor honours nor the
example of other men's courage has been able to lessen your clinging
to life. For my part I shall only think myself happy if I abide with
firmness and persistency in the idea that my patriotism has had its
reward: for what is there better than the memory of good actions, and
for a man-wanting nothing except liberty--to disregard the vicissitudes
of human life? But at any rate I will not yield to the yielders, nor
be conquered by those who are willing to be conquered themselves. I
will try every expedient, every plan: and I will never desist from the
attempt to rescue our country from slavery. If the luck follows which
ought to follow, I shall rejoice: if not, I shall rejoice all the same,
for on what better deeds or thoughts can my life be spent than on those
which are directed to the liberation of my fellow citizens? For you,
Cicero, I beg and entreat you not to give in to fatigue or despair.
In warding off actually existing evils ever seek to discover those that
will occur if they are not prevented, and so prevent their creeping
in upon us. Consider that the brave and independent spirit, with which
as consul and now as a consular you have vindicated the freedom of the
state, ceases to exist if a consistent and even tenor of conduct is
not preserved. For I confess that tried virtue is in a harder position
than virtue that is unknown. We exact good deeds as a debt: we assail
the reverse with anger in our hearts, as though we were cheated by such
men. So, for instance, though it is a most laudable thing that Cicero
should resist Antony, yet because the consul of that time is thought
naturally to guarantee the consular of today, no one admires him. And
if this same Cicero when dealing with others has distorted his judgment,
which he kept unshaken with such steadiness and high spirit in routing
Antony, he will not only snatch the glory of future action from his
own grasp, but will even force his past career to fade from sight (for
there is nothing which is truly great in itself; unless it is deliberate
and systematic), because no one is under a greater obligation to love
the Republic and to be the champion of liberty, whether we regard his
ability or his great past or the eager demands upon him from all the
world. Wherefore Octavius ought not to be petitioned to consent to our
safety. Rather do you rouse yourself to the fixed belief that the state
in which you have performed the most splendid services will be free
and honoured, if only the people have leaders in their resistance to
the plots of traitors.
TO MARCUS
JUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
ROME (27
JULY)
AFTER I
had often urged you by letter to come as soon as possible to the aid
of the state, and to bring your army into Italy, and when I thought
that your relatives had no doubt on that subject, I was asked by that
most prudent and careful lady your mother--whose every thought and care
are directed and devoted to you--to call on her on the 24th of July,
which, as in duty bound, I at once did. On my arrival, I found Casca,
Labeo, and Scaptius there. Well, she opened the subject and asked me
my opinion, whether we should ask you to come to Italy, and whether
we thought that to your advantage, or whether it were better that you
should put it off and stay where you were. I answered--as was my real
opinion--that it was of the highest advantage to your position and reputation
to bring help at the first possible moment to the tottering and almost
prostrate Republic. For what disaster do you think is wanting in a war,
in which the victorious armies refuse to pursue a flying enemy, and
in which an officer with imperium in full possession of his rights,
enjoying the most splendid honours and the most ample fortune, with
wife and children, with you and Cassius related to him by marriage,
has yet proclaimed war on the Republic? How can I use the words "in
such unanimity of senate and people," when such fatal mischief
abides within our very walls? But the bitterest sorrow which is affecting
me as I write this is that, whereas the Republic accepted me as a surety
for that youth, or, I might almost say, that boy, I seem scarcely able
to make my promise good. Truly, a guarantee for another's feeling and
sentiment, especially in affairs of the greatest importance, is more
onerous and difficult than one for money. For money can be paid, and
a loss of property is bearable. But how are you to make good what you
have guaranteed to the state, unless he for whom you undertook the obligation
is willing that it should be fulfilled? However, I shall retain even
him, I hope, in spite of many adverse influences. For he seems to have
a character of his own, though he is at the pliable time of life, and
there are many prepared to corrupt him, who hope that, by holding out
before him the glamour of false honour, the sight of a naturally good
intelligence may be blinded. Accordingly, to my other labours has been
added the task of applying every engine to the keeping of a hold upon
the young man, that I may not incur a reputation for rashness. However,
where is the rashness? I bound the man, for whom I gave the guarantee,
more tightly than I did myself; nor can the state regret my having given
a guarantee for one who in the actual campaign was rendered more resolute
by my promise, as well as from his own disposition. But, unless I am
mistaken, the greatest difficulty in the Republic is the want of money.
For the loyalists grow daily more callous to the call for property tax.
All that was collected by the one per cent. income tax, owing to the
shameless returns made by the wealthy, is exhausted by the bounties
given to two legions: whereas endless expenses are hanging over us,
both for the armies now protecting us, and for yours--for our friend
Cassius seems able to come home very well provided. But of this and
many other things I desire to talk to you when we meet, and that as
soon as possible. About your sister's sons, Brutus, I did not wait for
you to write. As a matter of fact, the state of the times itself--for
the war will be protracted-guarantees that the case will be left for
you to decide. But from the very first, though I could not divine the
long continuance of the war, I pleaded the cause of the boys in the
senate, as I think you Can have learnt from your mother's letter. Nor
will there ever arise any circumstance in which I shall not, even at
the risk of my life, say and do whatever I think is your wish and to
your interest.