Cicero’s Letters to and from Junius Brutus
Translated by Evelyn Shuckburgh
DCCCXXXIII (BRUT. II, I)
TO MARCUS IUNIUS 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 import-
ance of times and seasons in public affairs, and what a
difference it makes whether the same thing is settled, under-
taken, 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 in-
volved myself in the heavy responsibility of taking the
helm of state, I should think myself no less deserving of re-
proach, 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 re-
treat, 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 sus-
tained, your task will be its restoration.
DCCCXXXIV (BRUT. II, 3)
M. IUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME)
Dyrrachium, i April
I am anxiously expecting the letter which you wrote after
you received the news of my movements and of the death
of Trebonius. 1 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. Where-
fore 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
1 The murder of Trebonius by Polabella. See pp. 189, 210.
2 Gaius Antonius, to whom his brother had caused the senate to
transfer the province of Macedonia from himself, having previously
transferred it from M. Brutus, who had been nominated by Caesar.
Brutus had seized him and was keeping him prisoner.
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 i st 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. 1
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 arrange-
ment 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 Tre-
bonius 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 satisfaction by his in-
dustry, 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.
I April, Dyrrachium.
1 The letter containing this jest of Cicero's is lost. The title
Philippics was the cm rent one by the time of Iuvenal at any rate
(x. 125), and Plutarch (Cic. 24) says that Cicero himself placed that
title on the copies. Against this the authority of Aulus Gellius (vii.
II ; xiii. 1, 2l), who calls them Orationes Antoniancs, is not worth
much.
2 Vetus apparently brought the money sent by Appuleius the qusestor
from Asia. See pp. 190, 224.
DCCCXXXVI (BRUT. 11, 2)
TO MARCUS IUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
Rome, ii 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, 2 holds his relations
by marriage 3 as his deadliest foes, and his feelings per-
petually 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 unim-
portant. It probably, however, contributed to confirm his intention of
joining Antony, as he eventually did.
1 Brother of L. Plancus, the recipient of these letters.
2 L. ^Emilius Paullus, who was afterwards put on the proscription
lists by the triumvir;; with at any rate the consent of his brother.
3 Lepidus was married to Iunia, half-sister to Brutus ; Cassius to
Tertia, her sister.
hands full with that madman Servilius. 1 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 un-
principled 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, 2
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 . . . 3
1 See p. 207.
2 Qurestor of Trebonius in Asia. See pp. 272-280.
3 The rest of the letter has been lost.
IV. p
DCCCXXXVII (BRUT. II, 4)
TO M. IUNIUS BRUTUS (AT DYRRACHIUM)
Rome, 12 April
After I had given Scaptius a letter for you on the morning
of the nth 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
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 levee. 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. 1 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 2 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. 1 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 con-
cealed. 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.
1 Trebonius, who had gone as governor of Asia soon after the murder
of Caesar, was avowedly collecting troops and money and fortifying
towns with a view of supporting the tyrannicides. When Dolabella
arrived at Smyrna on his way to Syria he was still consul, but Trebonius
declined to admit him there or at Pergamus. Dolabella went on his
way to Ephesus, followed by a body of men whom Trebonius sent to
watch him. He, however, laid a trap for them, captured or killed them,
and, hurrying back to Smyrna, surprised and captured Trebonius,
who according to one story was at once put to death, and according
to another was tortured for two days first. On news of this reaching
Rome, Dolabella was on the motion of Cicero declared a hostis, and
Cassius was authorized to wage war against him (11 Phil. § 29, sq. ;
Appian, B. C. iii. 26).
2 The eleventh Philippic.
DCCCXXXIX (brut. 11, 5)
TO M. IUNIUS 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. 1 You took a more indulgent view — to
1 That is, that Antony should have shared the fate of Csesar. See
pp. 174, 214, etc.
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 im-
possible 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. 2 But I pass over these
reflexions : for the deed which you performed — ever memor-
able 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 un-
aided exertions an army, forces, sufficient legions. Great
heavens ! What a message, what a despatch ! 3 What ex-
ultation was there in the senate, what an outburst of cheer-
fulness 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-
1 Cicero puts the converse in 2 Phil. § 113, when he says that
" peace is liberty without war," pax est tranquilla libertas.
2 That is, when Cresar was murdered. Cicero still labours under the
delusion that the revolution all depended on one man. If Antony had
been murdered on the Ides of March, were there no others ready to
play his part, and still more ably ? Augustus is the best answer. It is
well to observe how little mere assassination has ever been able to
effect in political movements.
3 The despatch in which Brutus announced that he had taken posses-
sion of Macedonia, and was beleaguering Gaius Antonius in Apollonia
(see 10 Phil. § 26). A second despatch announced his capture.
mander and soldiers, and the good service done by your
staff — among others, by my son. 1 And if your friends here
had thought it right that a motion should be brought before
the senate in consequence of this 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 morn-
ing 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. 2 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 magis-
trates. 3 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.
1 Young Cicero is said to have defeated Gaius Antonius in an engage-
ment at Byllis, near Apollonia (Plutarch, Brut. 26).
2 Who was priztor urbanus (p. 207), and therefore presided in the
senate in the absence of the consuls.
3 The province of Macedonia had been assigned during Caesar's life
to Brutus, probably by a lex. After his death Antony induced the
senate to nominate himself (App. B. C. iii. 24). Later on in B.C. 44,
by a lex proposed by a tribune, Cisalpine Gaul was transferred to
Antony (App. iii. 30). Macedonia was therefore vacant, and a sortitio
held in the senate on the 28th of November gave it to Gaius Antonius
(3 Phil. § 26). As a matter of fact, however, the outgoing proconsul
Q. Hortensius had handed over his province and army to Brutus (Plut.
Brut. 25), and the senate, now under Cicero's influence, would only
acknowledge Brutus as proconsul. For Dolabella, see p. 210.
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 con-
tention. 1 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. 2 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 differ-
ence 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 contempla-
tion and imitation of you.
1 6 April.
1 That is, the contention {causa) that M. Brutus was the legal pro-
consul in Macedonia.
2 That is, that the bearer of the public despatch brought no private
letters at the same lime, as we have seen was the almost invariable
custom. For as there was no postal services, such messengers were
always used for this purpose. It was a good argument against the
genuineness of the letter.
DCCCXL (BRUT. I, 2, §§ 3-6)
TO M. IUNIUS 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 1 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 role 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, 2
" 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.
1 Me maximo otto egisse. I doubt the soundness of the text, and the
meaning of it as it stands. Whatever compliments Cicero may deserve,
mildness in regard to the Antonies can scarcely be one of them.
2 Plaut. Trin, ii. 2, 42.
DCCCXLI (BRUT. I, 3, §§ 1-3)
TO M. IUNIUS 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. 1 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 !
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. 2 Three or four days indeed
before this glorious news, the city, struck by a sudden panic, 3
was for pouring out with wives and children to seek you.
The same city on the 20th of April, with its fears all dis-
pelled, 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 1 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. 2 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.
1 The victory of Forum Gallorum See p. 211 sq.
2 Cicero argues that Octavian's consciousness of having done the
loyalists a good service will attach him the more to them. He will be
unwilling to forfeit the good opinion he has earned. He little knew
Octavian and his secret purposes.
3 This appears to have been caused by the action of the praetor
Ventidius Bassus, who enrolled two legions of veterans, and was sup-
posed to be coming to Rome to' seize Cicero and the leading opponents
of Antony. He, however, marched to Ariminum, and succeeded in
joining Antony after the battle by a splendid march across country to
Vado (Appian, B. C. iii. 66).
DCCCXLIII (BRUT. I, 3, § 4)
TO M. IUNIUS BRUTUS (AT DYRRACHIUM)
Rome, 27 April
We have lost two consuls — good men enough ; yes, at any
rate good men. As for Hirtius, he fell in the moment of
victory, 1 having also won a great battle only a few days
before. For Pansa had retreated, after receiving wounds
which put him out of action. 2 Decimus Brutus and Caesar
are in pursuit of the remnants of the enemy. 3 All, more-
over, have been declared " enemies," who followed the party
of Antony : and that decree of the senate most people
interpret as applying also to those whom you have captured
or who have surrendered to you. For my part I refrained
from urging any severity, though I proposed a decree
referring to Gaius Antonius by name : for I had made up
my mind that the senate ought to be informed by you of
the merits of his case.
27 April.
DCCCXLVI (BRUT. I, 11)
M. IUNIUS 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 ses-
tertia out of his own pocket, and, what is much more
valuable, has presented himself in person and has joined
us. 1 I have been desirous to persuade him to remain in
my camp in military command and to support the Re-
public. 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.
1 Vetus had evidently brought to Brutus what was properly public
money. It may be the C. Antistius Vetus who in the previous year
was in Syria engaged in attacking Crecilius Bassus. See p. 15.
2 I do not think this can mean a libera legatio. Vetus was going
home apparently to stand for the prretorship. If he could not get that,
owing to the elections being suspended in the absence of the consuls, he
would accept the office of legatus under Brutus.
DCCCXLVIII (BRUT. I, 5)
TO M. IUNIUS BRUTUS (AT DYRRACHIUM)
Rome (5 May)
On the 27 th of April, when the speeches were being de-
livered 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, 1 and also
advised that Cassius should conduct the war against Dola-
bella. I spoke in support of this, and added to the motion
that you, if you thought it expedient and to the public ad-
vantage, 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 com-
pliment 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 im-
portant 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 de-
1 Ventidius Bassus, the praetor, who had marched from Ariminum
and joined Antony at Vada Sabata. See pp. 218, 221, 230.
vote ourselves to crushing Dolabella. 1 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 ac-
tually doing. I wish my son Cicero to be co-opted into your
college. 2 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 ; 3 nor has any law since made that
illegal. There is even a clause in the lex Inlia — 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. 4 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 re-
solved 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 sacer-
dotes 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 com-
plication. 1 Pray write and tell me your views on the whole
question.
5 May.
1 Cicero means that he had thought Brutus ought to pursue Dola-
bella, though before the success at Mutina it was important for the
Optimates at Rome to have Brutus near at hand in case of danger.
Now that the battle of Mutina had relieved them of that fear, there can
be no reason why Brutus should not go to Asia, or anywhere else that
was necessary.
2 The college of the pontifices. Two vacancies had occurred by the
death of Iulius Cresar and P. Servilius Isauricus. They were filled up
later in the year by Ventidius Bassus and Cornelius Balbus.
3 Marius went to Cappadocia in B.C. 99-98 on a votiva legatio to the
mother of the gods, really with a view to see the state of things in
regard to the encroachments of Mithradates, against whom he wished to
be appointed to command. The lex Domitia, B.C. 104, left the right
of co-optatio in a modified form to the sacred colleges. Two of the
existing members nominated a man, who was next elected by seventeen
of the tribes in the sacerdotum comilia, and was then — as though by
a conge delire — co-opted by the whole college. This had since that
time been again modified by Sulla, the intermediate process of election
by the seventeen tribes being omitted or in some way reduced to a mere
form ; but after Sulla the old practice was resumed.
4 That is, whether you wish them to be candidates. L. Domitius
Ahenobarbus (who fell at Pharsalia) married Porcia, a sister of Cato
Uticensis, and Brutus was married to Porcia, a daughter of the same
Cato. Therefore the son of Domitius — Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus —
and young Cato, the son of Cato Uticensis, were connexions of Brutus,
and he might wish to back them.
DCCCLIII (BRUT. I, 4, §§ 1-3)
M. IUNIUS 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. 1 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. 2
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 pre-
judge, 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 Re-
public 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. 1
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 . . . 2
1 Brutus could not have known of the death of the consuls, which
indeed was not known at first even at Rome. Galba's letter (pp. 21 1-213)
says nothing even of Pansa's wound, and as Brutus refers below to the
last words of Letter DCCCXLI (p. 219), he could not have as yet received
DCCCXLIII.
2 According to Dio (46, 40), Decimus Brutus and his besieged
garrison made no sortie during the battle, nor took any part in it. But
there is nothing surprising in M. Brutus having heard that he did. The
inaccuracy of the reports during the war has again and again been
apparent.
DCCCLX (BRUT. I, 16)
M. IUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME) 1
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 es-
tate, yet I must write it — you commend our safety to him /
Could any death be a 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
1 The textual history of this and the following letter (to Atticus) is
strong enough, and the references in Plutarch's Brutus (ch. xxii.) are
sufficient to prove that they, or documents exceedingly like them,
existed in his time and were believed to be genuine. To my mind the
letter to Atticus has much the stronger internal signs of genuineness of
the two. For in spite of every attestation one is loath to think that the
present letter was really written by a man who enjoyed as high a
reputation among his contemporaries as Brutus did. It is so querulous,
poor, ill-expressed, and tautological — so entirely unworthy of the sub-
ject and the writer and the recipient — that we should be glad to know
of a dull pupil in a rhetorical school being discovered to be its author.
To read arguments in favour of its being Brutus's usual style reminds
one of a criticism of Charles Lamb, who, being told that somebody's
sonnets were like those of Petrarch, replied, "Yes, they are like
Petrarch's, if we could suppose Petrarch to have been born a fool."
I have left these letters in the place assigned them in Messrs. Tyrrell
and Purser's edition ; but one of the gravest objections to them is the
difficulty of deciding to what particular juncture they can refer : and for
some reasons it seems to me to be most natural to put at any rate the
first of them before the battle of Mutina.
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. 1 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 coun-
sel of despair. And the fault is not yours more than every-
one 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 what-
ever. But if we had remembered that we were Romans,
these dregs of mankind would not have conceived the ambi-
tion of playing the tyrant with more boldness than we should
have forbidden it : nor would Antony have had his ambition
1 This of course recalls Shakespeare, and may have suggested,
' ' I had as lief not be as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself."
Jul. Caes. i. 2, 95.
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 sup-
pression 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 free-
dom ; that he should be absolute in the Republic — it was for
these reasons that you thought we must take up arms to pre-
vent 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 objec-
tion 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 en-
joying 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 pro-
test 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 foot-
ing 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 pre-
viously give up position and liberty ? Do you count the fact
of living at Rome as complete citizenship ? It is circum-
stance, 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. 2 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 con-
fident in itself, though seeing the very man who pos-
sessed 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
1 Octavius by adoption in Qesar's will was now C. Iulius Caesar
Octavianus. Brutus never calls him Octavianus, as that would acknow-
ledge the adoption, and only Ctssar ironically.
2 A verse of Stasimus is quoted by Polybius (23, 10) on the policy
of killing sons as well as fathers : i^ttioq oq irarkpa Kreivac; vloiig
KctraXsnrti, '* Oh fool ! to slay the sire and leave the sons !"
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 Cassar 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 per-
sistency 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 ex-
pedient, 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 libera-
tion 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 in-
dependent 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 be-
cause the consul of that time is thought naturally to guarantee
the consular of to-day, no one admires him. And if this
same Cicero when dealing with others has distorted his judg-
ment, 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 re-
sistance to the plots of traitors.
DCCCLXI (brut, i, 17)
M. IUNIUS BRUTUS TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)
Macedonia (May)
You say in your letter that Cicero wonders at my never
making any remark about his political actions. Since you
ask me, under compulsion from you I will set down my
sentiments. I know that Cicero does everything with the
best intentions — for what could be clearer to me than his
devotion to the Republic ? But he, the acutest of men,
appears to me in certain things to have acted with a want of
— shall I call it tact or disinterestedness ? — in spite of the
fact that he has not scrupled to incur the enmity of Antony
at the height of his power on behalf of the Republic. I
don't know what to set down on paper for you except the one
thing : that the boy's ambition and unscrupulousness have
been rather provoked than repressed by Cicero : and that
he carries this indulgence to such a pitch that he does not
abstain from abusive remarks — remarks which recoil upon
himself with double force, because he put more than a single
person to death, and ought rather to confess himself a mur-
derer than to taunt Casca as he does, and because he imitates
in Casca's case the conduct of Bestia. 1 Pray, because we are
not always bragging of the Ides of March, as he always has
his Nones of December on his lips, is Cicero in any better
position for vilifying a most glorious deed than Bestia and
Clodius were for their habitual attacks upon his consulship ?
Our friend Cicero boasts to me that he has, though a
1 That is, he is as bitter to Casca as Bestia was formerly to himself.
L. Calpurnius Bestia had been a partisan of Catiline {pro Sest. § n).
Yet Cicero defended him on a charge of ambittis in B.C. 56 (see vol. i.,
p. 216). There were two brothers Casca — C. Servilius Casca and
P. Servilius Casca — engaged in the assassination. Publius was tribune
in B.C. 44-43. From ad Att. xvi. 159, p. 159, it would seem that
Octavian had protested against his tribuneship (cp. 13 Phil. § 31, p. 189).
It seems almost too great an inconsistency to be believed that Cicero
should ever have reproached any man with the death of Caesar.
civilian, successfully faced the war of Antony. What good
is that to me, if as a price for crushing Antony succession
into Antony's position is demanded, and if the avenger of
that evil comes forward as the supporter of another destined
to have a deeper foundation and to strike deeper roots, un-
less we prevent it ? Granted that his present policy proceeds
from fear — shall we say of tyranny, or of a tyrant, or of
Antony ? Well, but I feel no gratitude to one who, to avoid
being the slave of a bad-tempered master, does not deprecate
slavery itself — nay, rather proposes to give him a triumph
and pay for his men, and by all manner of decrees instigates
him not to shrink from coveting the high position of the
man whose name he has adopted. Is this worthy of a con-
sular or of a Cicero ? Since I have not been allowed to be
silent, you will have to read what must necessarily give you
annoyance, for I am conscious myself of the pain with which
I have written this to you ; nor am I ignorant what your
sentiments as to the situation are, and how desperate also
you think the possibility of its cure. 1 Nor, by heaven, do I
blame you, Atticus. For your age, your habits, and your
children 2 make you unenterprising — a fact which I gathered
also from our friend Flavius. But I return to Cicero. What
is the difference between Salvidienus 3 and him ? What
1 It seems necessary in the context that this sentence should mean
that Atticus despaired of remedial measures. Various emendations
have been proposed. I have simply changed desperatam to desperatum,
and regarded posse sanari as a substantive, " the possibility of a cure,"
which is a rather characteristic usage in these letters.
2 Atticus — we should observe — had only one child, a daughter. But
perhaps we may pass liberi as z.fa$on de parler.
3 Salvidienus Rufus, an early friend of Octavian's, who had been with
him at Apollonia. He was a man of obscure origin (ex infima fortuna,
Suet. Aug. 66), but was employed on confidential matters for some
time by Augustus. He has now apparently been sent to Rome with
Octavian's demand for the consulship. In B.C. 42 and 41 he was
employed against Sextus Pompeius in Sicily, and from thence was
despatched to secure Gaul and Spain : and returned to take part in the
siege of Perusia. After the fall of Perusia (B.C. 40), he went with
Augustus to Gaul, where he was left in command, and designated
consul for B.C. 39. But in the, autumn of B.C. 40, when Antony came
to Brundisium, he seems to have told Augustus that Salvidienus had
been tampering with the loyalty of the Gauls, and he was convicted of
maiestas and declared a hostis by the senate ; and thereupon put to
death (App. B. C. v. 52-56; Dio, 48, 13-33).
greater honour could he have proposed in the senate?
" Cicero is afraid," you will say, "even now of the remnant
of the civil war." Does anyone then, while fearing a war
nearly concluded, think that neither the tyrannical power of
the victorious army's commander nor the rashness of the
boy is at all alarming ? Or is his motive for this very action
the idea that now, owing to the greatness of his power, every
kind of honour must be spontaneously offered to him ? How
strange is the blindness of fear ! While taking precautions
against what you dread, actually to invite danger and to
bring it upon you, though you might perhaps have avoided
it altogether ! We are over-fearful of death, exile, and
poverty : I think that these things are the worst of evils in
Cicero's eyes, and that while he has people from whom to
get what he wants, and by whom to be made much of and
flattered, he has no aversion to servitude, if it be but tempered
by a show of respect — -if there can be any respect in what is
the last and most wretched degradation. Therefore, though
Octavius call Cicero " father," consult him in everything,
praise and thank him, nevertheless the truth will come out
that words do not agree with deeds. For what can be more
contrary to common sense than to regard a man as a father,
who is not even reckoned as free ? For my part, I set no
store by those accomplishments with which I know Cicero
to be better furnished than anyone else : for what good to
him are the speeches on behalf of his country's liberty,
the essays on dignity, death, exile, poverty, which he has
composed with the utmost wealth of language ? What a
much truer view Philippus seems to have of those things,
when he refused all compliments to his own stepson, 1 than
Cicero has, who pays them to one who has no connexion
with him ! Let him cease then from absolutely insulting our
misfortunes by his boastful language ; for what does it profit
us that Antony has been conquered, if the only result of his
defeat is to leave his place open to another ? However, even
now there is a note of uncertainty in your letter. Long live
Cicero — as he may well do — to cringe and serve ! if he is not
ashamed to think of his age nor his honour, nor his great
1 For Philippus would not address him as Caesar, at any rate when he
first came to Italy. See p. 21.
past. For myself, at any rate, there is no condition of servi-
tude, however favourable, which will deter me from waging
war on the principle : that is, on royalty, unconstitutional
magistracies, absolutism, and power that aims at being above
the laws. Though Antony may be a good man, as you say
in your letter — which, however, has never been my opinion
— yet the law of our ancestors was that no one, not even a
father, should be an absolute master. Unless I had been as
deeply attached to you as Cicero believes that Octavius is
devoted to him, I should not have written this to you. I am
grieved to think that as you read this you are getting angry
— for you are most affectionate to all your friends, and
especially to Cicero : but assure yourself of this, that my
personal goodwill to Cicero is in no way modified, though
my opinion is largely so, for you cannot ask a man to judge
except from what seems to him to be truth in each case.
I could have wished that you had mentioned in your letter
what arrangements were being made for the betrothal of our
dear Attica : I might have said something to you of what I
felt about the matter. I am not surprised that you are
anxious about Porcia's health. 1 Lastly, I will gladly do
what you ask, for my sisters 2 ask me the same, and I know
the man and his views.
1 Porcia, if we are to accept the consolatio (Letter DCCCXCVII) as
genuine, seems to have died soon after this.
2 Half-sisters : Iunia married to Lepidus, Tertia to Cassius. We
have no means of knowing to whom Brutus is referring— perhaps to
Lepidus, to whom Cicero may have asked him to write.
DCCCLXII (BRUT. I, 4, §§ 3-6)
M. IUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME)
Camp in Epirus, 15 May
. . . 3 Now, Cicero, now is the time for action, lest we turn
out to have rejoiced in vain at the defeat of Antony, and lest
3 This letter— forming in the MSS. the latter part of DCCCLIII— is
imperfect. The first part of it appears to have been lost.
it is always to be a case of cutting out one mischief for
another to grow worse than the former. No reverse can
now find us unprepared or otiose, in which everyone will
not be to blame, and especially yourself, whose influence
the senate and Roman people not only allow to be so great,
but even desire to be the very greatest that one man's
can be in a free state. And this influence you ought to
maintain not only by good intentions but also by prudent
conduct. Now the prudence, with which you are richly en-
dowed, does not fail you in any respect except as to modera-
tion in bestowing honours. 1 All other endowments you
possess in such profusion, that your excellences will stand
comparison with any of the heroes of old. The only out-
come of your grateful and generous heart that people feel to
be wanting is a more cautious and better regulated liberality.
For the senate ought to grant nothing to anybody which may
serve as a precedent or justification to the ill-disposed. For
instance, I am afraid in regard to the consulship that your
friend Caesar will think that he has mounted to a higher
position by means of your decrees than he will be willing to
descend from, if he is once made consul. 2 But if Antony
regarded the working machinery of kingly power left by
another as an opportunity for seizing kingly power for him-
self, what do you suppose a man's feelings will be who shall
conceive himself justified in aspiring to any kind of office,
not on the authority of a slain tyrant, but on that of the
senate itself? Wherefore I shall reserve my compliments
to your good nature and foresight till I begin to have proof
that Caesar will be content with the extra-constitutional
honours that he has already received. 1 " Do you mean,
then," you will say, " to make me liable for another man's
misconduct ? " Yes, certainly for another's, if its occurrence
might have been prevented by foresight. And oh that
you may clearly see the depth of my alarm in regard to
him !
P.S.— After writing the above I have been informed that
you have been elected consul. 2 I shall indeed begin to
imagine that I have before my eyes a complete and self-
sustained Republic, when I see that. Your son is well, and
has been sent in advance into Macedonia with the cavalry.
15 May, in camp.
1 The honours proposed to Octavian after the battles at Mutina.
2 We have already heard of the constitutional difficulty as to the
election of consuls in the places of Pansa and Hirtius (p. 228). Octavian
sent to Rome soon after the battles of Mutina, demanding to be
allowed to stand for the consulship, and Cicero had already on the 1st
of January proposed that, whenever he was a candidate for it, he should
be assumed to have held the quaestorship (5 Phil. § 47). According to
Appian (B. C. iii. § 82 ; cp. Dio, 46, 42 ; Plutarch, Cic. 46),
Octavian proposed to Cicero to be his colleague, promising to leave the
administration to him, and Cicero agreed to the proposal, and tried to
induce the senate therefore to admit his candidature — as it had to do
afterwards under compulsion of his army. This story is rejected by
Cicero's admirers as a Caesarian invention, I don't quite know why.
It seems not highly improbable in itself; and this letter of Brutus —
especially the last sentence— seems to shew that there were at any rate
rumours afloat at the time to that effect.
DCCCLXIII (BRUT. I, 6)
M. IUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME)
Ima Candavia, 3 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-
1 He had by two separate senatus consulta been invested first with
the rank of proprceter and the consularia omamenta (the honorary rank
of consul), and with imperium. This last was on the 5th of January.
2 See note p. 233. This rumour of course was false ; but it may have
been connected with the belief that Cicero had listened to Octavian's
suggestion.
3 Candavia is a mountain across which the Egnatian Way went,
about eighty miles from Dyrrachium. Ima Candavia seems to mean
the district at the foot of the mountain. Brutus is therefore marching
down the Egnatia into Macedonia proper.
mendation to the office. 1 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 in-
credible : for who lost more than he did by Pansa's death ?
Besides he is a well-conducted moral man, whom even per-
sonal 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. 2
While I was actually writing this letter to you a despatch
was delivered to me from Satrius, a legate of Gaius Tre-
bonius, saying that Dolabella had been defeated and put to
flight by Tillius 3 and Deiotarus. I am sending you a Greek
letter of a certain Cicereius to Satrius. Our friend Flavius 4
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 5 to do a wrong to a
friend of mine.
19 May, in camp at Ima Candavia.
1 In the college of pontifices, for which Cicero asked his son to
stand (see p. 227). I think by aut commendationem, Brutus means
politely to hint that he is sure of getting it, though of course there will
be the form of election.
2 Glyco was said to have poisoned Pansa's wounds, and Octavian's
enemies asserted that he did so at his instigation — a scandal that took
a long time dying out (see Suet. Aug. 11 ; Tacitus, A. i. 10). Tor-
quatus was Pansa's quaestor.
3 L. Tillius Cimber, who struck the first blow in the assassination of
Csesar (Suet. Iul. 82). He went afterwards — in virtue of Caesar's
nomination — to the governorship of Bithynia. In the course of the next
year (b.c. 42) he came to Macedonia with a fleet to aid Brutus and
Cassius. He fell at Philippi, or immediately afterwards.
4 Prafectus fabru?n of Brutus. See p. 250.
5 The people of Dyrrachium had for some years had some special con-
nexion with Cicero. He may have acted for them in some way.
See vol. i. , p. 175.
DCCCLXIV (BRUT. I, 7)
M. IUNIUS 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 neces-
sary duty. He has resolved to stand for the place of Pansa. 1
I beg you therefore to nominate him. 2 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.
1 Two of the sons of Bibulus perished in a mutiny at Alexandria, and
in B.C. 50 we find him trying in vain to get a third surviving son elected
augur. This L. Calpurnius Bibulus may be a son of Porcia, and there-
fore stepson to Brutus, of whom he lived to write a memoir (vol. ii.,
p. 184).
2 To the augurship.
DCCCLXIX (brut. 1, 1)
TO M. IUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
Rome (late in May)
L. Clodius, 1 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 de-
position 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 under-
stands — 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. Where-
fore, 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.
1 Vol. ii., p. 19; vol. iii., p. 224.
DCCCLXX (BRUT. I, 2, §§ 1-3)
TO M. IUNIUS 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 intel-
ligence. But the most surprising of all was that Dolabella
had sent five cohorts ' into the Chersonese. 2 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, 3 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 in-
sensate. 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 re-
solved to lead your army into the Chersonese, and not to
suffer the government of the Roman people to be a laughing-
stock to an enemy stained with the worst of crimes, you are
acting in the interests of your own position and of the Re-
public. 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. 1
1 That is, half a legion. 2 The Thracian Chersonese.
3 Brutus seems to have had five legions originally. He added one
when he took Gaius Antonius, and enlisted two more in the province
(App. B. C. iii. 79).
DCCCLXXXIII (BRUT. I, 8)
TO M. IUNIUS 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 3 he led the eighth "first line": 4 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 dis-
tinction 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. 1 I shall be
very much obliged if you treat him so as to enable him to
thank me for favours received from you.
1 26th April. 2 This letter is lost, but see p. 258.
3 Q. Metellus Creticus conquered the Cretans in B.C. 68-66.
4 That is, he was the centurion of the first ordo in the eighth cohort of
a legion : there were ten cohorts in a legion, and each cohort had six
ordines with a centurion to each.
DCCCXCII (BRUT. I, 10)
TO M. IUNIUS 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. 1 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 Csesar, though
some few points in Hirtius. The fortune of this war is
" For happy though but ill, for ill not worst." 2
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. 3 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
1 Fufius Calenus, who desired terms made with Antony (8 Phil. § 1 1 ).
2 Twice quoted before. See vol. i., p. 189.
3 Very different from the language which Cicero employs to Decimus
himself. The fact is that Decimus could not possibly pursue Antony
effectively. His garrison had suffered greatly from want of food in
Mutina, and from natural excess after the siege was raised. He had no
transport. Octavius refused absolutely to assist him, or to have any-
thing to do with him. And the fourth and Martian legions stuck to
Octavius, as did most of the veterans with Hirtius and Pansa. Antony
had two days' start st least, and was not — as Cicero fondly imagined —
leading away a demoralized army. His cavalry was intact, and the
splendid march by Acqui to Vado, and then by the Riviera to Frejus,
shews that the rest of his forces was in no desperate case.
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 nowdepends 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 firm-
ness 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 com-
mander. 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 melan-
choly 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 — whata brief span of life is left !
DCCCXCVII (BRUT. I, 9)
TO M. IUNIUS 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. 1
It is, moreover, quite unlike a man as great as you are not
to be able to do himself what he has enjoined on another.
For myself, the arguments which you had collected, as well
as your personal influence, deterred me from excessive in-
dulgence 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 com-
mon 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
1 See vol. iii., pp. 197, 201. Cicero there says that Brutus's letter
gave him no consolation. This letter is to condole with Brutus on the
death of his wife Porcia. The ordinary story— told by Plutarch and
others — is that she committed suicide by swallowing burning charcoal
after the death of Brutus. But there was another account that she died
a natural death. Her illness is alluded to p. 252. If this letter is
genuine the latter account must be the true one.
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 sor-
row 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. 1
1 See pp.205,313
DCCCCIII (brut. 1, 13)
M. IUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME)
Macedonia, i 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 kind-
ness 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 con-
sideration 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.
1 July, in camp.
DCCCCIV (BRUT. I, 12)
TO M. IUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
Rome (beginning of July)
Though I am immediately about to give a letter to Messalla
Corvinus, 1 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 satisfy-
ing 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 considera-
tion to his children, no guarantee is offered that we shall
not undergo the most extreme penalties, if their father —
1 The celebrated M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus, the protector of
Tibullus. See p. 76. For Vetus see p. 308.
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. There-
fore 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.
DCCCCVIII (BRUT. 1, 14)
TO M. IUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA)
Rome, ii 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.
11 July.
DCCCCIX (brut, i, 15)
TO M. 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 think-
ing, 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 accom-
plishment itself his wisdom is made more evident ; with
such excellent judgment 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. 1 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
1 According to Eusebius, Messalla was born in B.C. 59. He would in
that case be now only between fifteen and sixteen, and could not possibly
have done anything to justify this panegyric or to account for it.
Accordingly, it has been argued that he was born in B.C. 70, one of the
many expedients that have had to be resorted to to prove the genuineness
of these letters. He survived to make the motion in the senate (B.C. 2)
conferring on Augustus the title of pater patrice (Suet. Aug. 58). As,
however, he was contemporary with young Marcus at Athens, he was
probably born about B.C. 65. See vol. iii., p. 225.
lawgiver among them. He said that a state was kept to-
gether 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 memor-
able 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 kingly 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 in-
deed, Brutus, that were not his due, none that were not inevit-
able. For directly we began the recovery of liberty, when the
divine excellence of even Decimus Brutus had not yet be-
stirred 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 ? How-
ever, 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 ? l 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
1 This is founded on 5 Phil. § 45.
even Aquila. And who has any fault to find with that, un-
less 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 in-
experienced 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 pro-
posed 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 — pro-
vided that they are honourable — by which it thinks that a par-
ticular 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. 1
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 expres-
sions in your letters that in regard to those whom you have
conquered in war, you desire that your clemency should be
praised. 2 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
1 When Lepidus was declared a public enemy. See p. 300.
a See p. 216.
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 ap-
pearance 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 establish-
ing 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. 1 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.
DCCCCX (BRUT. 1, 18)
TO M. IUNIUS 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 care-
ful 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 2 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 pos-
sible moment to the tottering and almost prostrate Re-
public. 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 i?nperiu?n in full posses-
sion 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
1 Servilia and his half-sister Iunia, wife of Lepidus.
2 Q. Antistius Labeo — one of the assassins — caused a slave to kill
him in his tent after the battle at Philippi (App. B. C. iv. 135). For
Casca see p. 249. M. Scaptius had carried on a banking business in
Cilicia, and was the agent of Brutus there. See vol. ii., pp. 128, 135 sq.
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 Re-
public 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 dis-
position. 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 ex-
penses are hanging over us, both for the armies now pro-
tecting 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, 2 Brutus, I did not
wait for you to write. As a matter of fact, the state of the
1 That is, in the case of a guarantee of conduct, which necessarily de-
pends on the persons for whom the guarantee is given being willing to
conform to a certain standard of behaviour. The allusion is to Octavian.
2 The sons of Lepidus and Iunia.
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. 1 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 vour interest.