Letter 19: Brutus writes to Cicero from Macedonia to Rome in May 43 BC.

BRUTUS TO CICERO, GREETINGS. I have read a small portion of that little letter of yours which you sent to Octavius, forwarded to me by Atticus. Your zeal and concern for my safety affected me with no new pleasure; for it is not only customary but indeed a daily occurrence to hear something about you, to the effect that you have said or done something, faithfully and honorably, on behalf of our dignity. But that same part of the letter, written to Octavius about us, affected me with as much pain as I am capable of taking into my mind. For you thank him on behalf of the res publica [the Republic] in such terms, so suppliantly and so abjectly—what shall I write? I am ashamed of our condition and our fortune, but nevertheless it must be written: you commend our safety to him—and is any death not more ruinous than that? So that you plainly declare that the despotism has not been removed, but only the master changed. Reconsider your own words, and dare to deny that those are the entreaties of a slave directed toward a king. You say that there is one thing which is asked and expected of him: that he be willing those citizens to be safe of whom good men and the Roman people think well. What if he should be unwilling? Shall we then not exist? And yet it is better not to exist than to exist through him. [2] By the faith of heaven, I do not think that all the gods are so averse from the safety of the Roman people that Octavius must be entreated for the safety of any citizen—I will not say for the liberators of the whole world; for it gives me pleasure to speak grandly, and it is certainly fitting to do so toward those who do not know what ought to be feared in each case, or what ought to be sought from each man. Do you, Cicero, confess that Octavius has this power, and are you his friend? Or, if you hold me dear, do you wish to see me at Rome, when, in order that I might be able to be there, I have had to be commended to that boy? To whom what thanks are you giving, if you think he must be asked that he be willing for us to be safe, and that he permit it? Or is this to be reckoned as a benefit, that he has preferred to be himself rather than an Antony, from whom such things would have had to be sought? But does anyone supplicate the avenger of another's despotism—not its successor—that those who have deserved best of the res publica be allowed to be safe? [3] But that weakness and despair of yours, the fault of which resides no more in you than in all the others, both drove Caesar into the lust for kingship, and persuaded Antony after his death to attempt to seize the slain man's place, and now has exalted that boy to such a height that you should judge that safety must be obtained by entreaties for such men, and that by the pity of one man—a man scarcely even now—we shall be made safe, and by no other thing whatever. But if we had remembered that we are Romans, the basest of men would not desire to play the despot more boldly than we would forbid it, nor would Antony have been more provoked by Caesar's kingship than he was deterred by that same man's death. [4] As for you, a consular and the avenger of such great crimes—and I fear that, with these suppressed, the ruin has only been postponed by you for a brief time—how can you look upon what you have accomplished, and at the same time either approve those measures, or endure them so abjectly and so readily that you have the appearance of one who approves? But what private hatred had you against Antony? Surely it was because he demanded these very things: that safety be sought from him; that we should hold our security as a thing granted on sufferance, from one from whom he himself had received his freedom; that the decision over the res publica be his own. For these reasons you thought arms must be sought by which he might be prevented from playing the despot—was it so that, with him prevented, we should beg another man who would allow himself to be set in his place? Or so that the res publica might be its own master and its own property? Unless perhaps it was not slavery, but the terms of slavery, that we refused. And yet not only could we have endured our fortune with Antony as a good master, but we could even have enjoyed, as partners, as many benefits and honors as we wished. For what would he have refused to those whose submissiveness he saw to be the greatest bulwark of his despotism? But nothing was worth so much that for it we should sell our honor and our liberty. [5] This very boy, whom the name of Caesar seems to incite against the slayers of Caesar—how greatly would he value it, if there were room for bargaining, to be able, with us as his sponsors, to be as powerful as he assuredly will be, since we wish to live, and to have money, and to be called consulars! But that the man whose death we rejoiced at should not have perished in vain—if, with him dead, we were going to be slaves nonetheless—is no care taken for this? But may all the gods and goddesses snatch everything from me sooner than that resolve by which I would not concede, not only to the heir of the man I killed what I did not tolerate in him, but not even to my own father, were he to come back to life, that with my acquiescence he should have more power than the laws and the senate. Or are you persuaded of this, that the rest will be free thanks to a man without whose consent there is no place for us in that state? Furthermore, how can it possibly be that you obtain what you ask? For you ask that he be willing for us to be safe. Do we then seem to you likely to receive safety once we have received life? And how can we receive that life, unless we first give up our dignity and our liberty? [6] Or do you think that to dwell at Rome is to be secure? It is circumstance, not place, that ought to guarantee that to me. I was not secure while Caesar was alive, except after I had resolved upon that deed; nor can I be an exile anywhere, so long as I hate to be a slave and to endure insults worse than all other evils. Is this not to fall back into the same darkness, if we beg one who has assumed the name of tyrant for himself—when in the Greek states the children of tyrants, once the tyrants are crushed, are subjected to the same punishment—to ask that the avengers and destroyers of despotism may be safe? Should I wish to see this state, or to think any state worthy of the name, which cannot recover even a liberty handed down to it and pressed upon it, and which fears more the name of a slain king in a boy than it trusts in itself, when it sees that very man who had the greatest power removed by the valor of a few? As for me, do not henceforth commend me to your Caesar—nor even yourself, if you will listen to me. You set a very high value on the many years that your time of life still allows, if for that reason you are going to supplicate that boy. [7] Then take care that what you have done and are still doing most splendidly against Antony does not turn from praise for your great spirit into a reputation for fear. For if Octavius pleases you, the man from whom our safety must be sought, you will be seen not to have fled a master, but to have sought a more friendly master. That you praise him for the things he has done so far, I fully approve; for they are praiseworthy, provided that he undertook those actions against another's power, not on behalf of his own. But when you judge that so much is not only permitted to him, but is even to be granted to him by you yourself, that he must be asked not to be unwilling for us to be safe, you set too great a price—for you are bestowing upon him the very thing which the res publica seemed to possess through him—nor does this come into your mind: that if Octavius is worthy of any honors because he wages war on Antony, the Roman people, to those who cut out that evil of which these are the remnants, will never assign anything by which their merit could be filled up, even if it heaped everything together at once. [8] And see how much more carefully men fear than they remember: because Antony is alive and in arms, while as for Caesar what could and ought to have been done has been carried through and can no longer be restored to its former state. Octavius is the man whose judgment about us the Roman people awaits; we are those about whose safety one man, it seems, must be entreated? But I, to return to that point, am one who would not only not supplicate, but would even restrain those who demand to be supplicated. Either I will keep far away from the enslaved, and will judge Rome to be for me wherever it shall be permitted to be free, and I will pity you men, in whom neither age nor honors nor another's valor has been able to lessen the sweetness of living. [9] To me indeed it will seem that I am happy, if only this resolve pleases me steadily and perpetually, so that I count gratitude as having been repaid to my devotion. For what is better than to be content with the memory of right deeds and with liberty, and to disregard human affairs? But I shall certainly not give way to those who give way, nor be conquered by those who wish to be conquered, and I shall try and attempt everything, nor shall I cease to drag our state away from slavery. If the fortune that ought to follow does follow, we shall all rejoice; if not, I shall rejoice nonetheless. For by what deeds or thoughts could this life better be spent than by those which have pertained to the freeing of my fellow citizens? [10] You, Cicero, I ask and exhort: do not grow weary, nor lose confidence; always, in warding off present evils, explore future ones as well, lest they insinuate themselves unless they are met beforehand. Consider that the brave and free spirit, with which both as consul and now as a consular you have vindicated the res publica, is nothing without constancy and evenness. For I confess that the condition of proven virtue is harder than that of virtue not yet known. We demand good deeds as things owed; and when they turn out otherwise, we reproach with hostile feeling those by whom we have been deceived. And so, that Cicero should resist Antony, although it is worthy of the greatest praise, nevertheless, because that consul is rightly thought to guarantee this consular, no one wonders at it; [11] but if this same Cicero should bend, in dealing with others, the judgment which he directed with such firmness and greatness in driving out Antony, he will not only snatch from himself the glory of time to come, but will even compel his past achievements to vanish. For nothing is great in itself unless in it the reasoning of deliberate judgment stands out. Indeed, no one more befits the loving of the res publica and the being defender of liberty, whether by talent, or by deeds accomplished, or by the zeal and the urgent demand of all. Therefore Octavius is not to be entreated to be willing for us to be safe; rather, rouse yourself, so that you may think that the state in which you have accomplished the greatest things will be free and honorable, provided only that the people have leaders to resist the schemes of the wicked.

§ Brut.1.16 DCCCLX (Brut. I, 16) M. IUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME) MACEDONIA (MAY) I have read an extract from your letter to Octavius which was sent me by Atticus. Your zeal and care for my safety gave me no novel pleasure; for it is not merely a matter of habit, but of daily habit, to be told of you that you have said or done something in defence of my position which displayed your fidelity and complimentary opinion of me. But that same extract of your letter to Octavius about us caused me a distress as great as my heart is capable of feeling. For you thank him in the name of the Republic in such terms! With such abject and whispering humbleness-why must I write the word? I blush to think of my position and high estate, yet I must write it-you commend our safety to him! Could any death be worse disaster? You, in fact,. avow that the slavery is not abolished, only the master changed! Recall your words and dare to say that those prayers are not the prayers of an enslaved subject to a tyrant. The one and only thing-you say — that is demanded and expected of him is that he consent to the safety of those citizens, of whom the loyalists and the people have a good opinion. What? If he doesn't consent, shall we not be safe? And yet it is better not to be than to be by his favour. Upon my honour I do not think that all the gods are so hostile to the safety of the Roman people, that we need entreat Octavius for the safety of any citizen, not to say for “the liberators of the world” — for there is a certain advantage in using strong language, and at any rate there is a propriety in doing so to people who do not know what every man ought to fear or to aim at. Do you confess, Cicero, that Octavius has this power, and are you his friend? Or, if you regard me with affection, do you wish me to appear at Rome, when in order to do so safely I have had to be recommended to that boy? Why do you thank him, if you think he has to be asked to allow and suffer us to keep our lives? Is it to be regarded as a favour that he has preferred to be himself rather than a second Antony, to whom we had to make petitions like that? Does anyone address to the destroyer of another's tyranny, and not rather to its successor, a prayer that those who have done the most splendid services to their country may be allowed their lives? This is mere weakness and a counsel of despair. And the fault is not yours more than everyone else's. It was this that egged on Caesar to desire royalty, and induced Antony after his death to aim at occupying the place of the dead man, and has at the present moment put that boy of yours on such a pedestal, as to make you think that he must be absolutely entreated to grant life to such men as us, and that we shall even now be able to enjoy a bare safety from the pity of one man, and by nothing else whatever. But if we had remembered that we were Romans, these dregs of mankind would not have conceived the ambition of playing the tyrant with more boldness than we should have forbidden it: nor would Antony have had his ambition more roused by Caesar 's royalty, than his fears excited by Caesar 's death. For yourself; a consular and the avenger of such abominable crimes — and I fear that by their suppression the mischief was only postponed by you for a short time — how can you contemplate your own achievements, and at the same time countenance, or at any rate endure these things with such abject humbleness as to have the air of countenancing them? Again, what was your private and personal quarrel with Antony? Why, it was just because he made this very claim — that our safety should be asked as a favour from him; that we should hold our civil rights on sufferance — we from whom he had himself received his freedom; that he should be absolute in the Republic — it was for these reasons that you thought we must take up arms to prevent his playing the tyrant. Was the object of doing so that, when he had been prevented, we should have to petition another man to allow himself to be put in his place? Or was it that the Republic should be its own master and at its own disposal? Surely: unless we are to suppose that our objection was not to slavery but to the terms of our slavery! And yet, not only had we the opportunity of supporting our high estate with Antony as a liberal master, but even of enjoying rewards and honours as his partners to the top of our ambition: for what would he have refused to men, whose submissiveness he saw would be the greatest bulwark of his tyranny? But nothing seemed sufficient to make us barter our honour and freedom. This very boy, whom the name of Caesar appears to instigate against the slayers of Caesar, what would he give, if there were a chance of such traffic, to be as powerful with our support, as he certainly will be when we choose life for its own sake, and the possession of money, and the title of consulars! But Caesar will have perished in vain: for why did we rejoice at his death, if we were to become none the less slaves when he is dead? No one else cares about these things, but may the gods and goddesses take from me every. thing sooner than the resolution of never conceding what I would not endure in Caesar — I won't say to the heir of the man I killed, but even to my father himself if he were to come to life again-namely, that he should, without a protest from me, be more powerful than the laws and the senate. Are you so deluded as to think that the rest of the world will be' free from one without whose consent there is no footing for us in Rome? Moreover, how can you possibly get what you ask? For you ask that he would consent to our safety: do we therefore appear likely to accept safety, since we have accepted life? But how can we accept it, if we previously give up position and liberty? Do you count the fact of living at Rome as complete citizenship? It is circumstance, not the particular place of residence, that must secure me that. I was neither properly a full citizen while Caesar was alive, except when I had resolved upon doing that deed; nor can I ever be anywhere an exile so long as I abhor servitude and submission to insult worse than every other evil. To ask a man who has adopted a tyrant's name as his own for the safety of the avengers and destroyers of the tyranny — is not this to fall back into the very dungeon from which you have just escaped? Why, in Greek states when tyrants are put down their sons are included under the same punishment. Am I to desire to see a state, or to regard it as a state at all, which is incapable of recovering even a freedom handed down by its ancestors and rooted in its very being, and which is more afraid of the name of a slain tyrant in the person of a mere boy, than confident in itself; though seeing the very man who possessed the most over-weening power removed by the valour of a few? For myself — do not henceforth recommend me to your Caesar, nor yourself either, if you will listen to me. You must have a great value for the few years that your time of life allows you, if for their sake you are going to be a suppliant to that boy of yours. Again, take care that those very splendid attacks which you have made and are still making upon Antony, instead of getting you credit for courage, are not misinterpreted into a belief that you are afraid. For if you think Octavius the sort of person from whom to make petitions for our safety, you will be thought not to have fled from a master, but to have looked out for a more agreeable master. Of your praising him for his conduct up to this time I quite approve, for it deserves to be praised, provided that he adopted these measures against the tyrannical power of another and not in support of his own. But when you show your opinion that he is not only to be allowed so much power, but is even to have so much tendered to him by yourself; as to be petitioned not to refuse us our lives, you are making a very bad bargain with him, for you are giving away to him the very thing of which the Republic seemed to be in possession through him. And it does not occur to you that, if Octavius deserves those honours for waging war on Antony, to those who have cut up that mischief by the roots — of which the present position is but the last trace — the Roman people will never give what is an adequate reward of their service, though it should heap everything it had to give upon them at once. See too how much more awake people are to actual fear than to the memory of past terrors. Because Antony is still alive and in arms, while in regard to Caesar what could and was bound to be done is all over and cannot be undone, Octavius is the man whose decision as to us is awaited by the Roman people; we are in such a position that one man has to be petitioned to enable us to live. I however — to return to your policy — so far from being the sort of man to supplicate, am one forcibly to coerce those who demand that supplications should be addressed to them. If I can't do that, I will withdraw far from the servile herd and will for myself regard as Rome wherever I am able to be free. I shall feel only pity for men like yourself; if neither age nor honours nor the example of other men's courage has been able to lessen your clinging to life. For my part I shall only think myself happy if I abide with firmness and persistency in the idea that my patriotism has had its reward: for what is there better than the memory of good actions, and for a man — wanting nothing except liberty — to disregard the vicissitudes of human life? But at any rate I will not yield to the yielders, nor be conquered by those who are willing to be conquered themselves. I will try every expedient, every plan: and I will never desist from the attempt to rescue our country from slavery. If the luck follows which ought to follow, I shall rejoice: if not, I shall rejoice all the same, for on what better deeds or thoughts can my life be spent than on those which are directed to the liberation of my fellow citizens? For you, Cicero, I beg and entreat you not to give in to fatigue or despair. In warding off actually existing evils ever seek to discover those that will occur if they are not prevented, and so prevent their creeping in upon us. Consider that the brave and independent spirit, with which as consul and now as a consular you have vindicated the freedom of the state, ceases to exist if a consistent and even tenor of conduct is not preserved. For I confess that tried virtue is in a harder position than virtue that is unknown. We exact good deeds as a debt: we assail the reverse with anger in our hearts, as though we were cheated by such men. So, for instance, though it is a most laudable thing that Cicero should resist Antony, yet because the consul of that time is thought naturally to guarantee the consular of today, no one admires him. And if this same Cicero when dealing with others has distorted his judgment, which he kept unshaken with such steadiness and high spirit in routing Antony, he will not only snatch the glory of future action from his own grasp, but will even force his past career to fade from sight (for there is nothing which is truly great in itself; unless it is deliberate and systematic), because no one is under a greater obligation to love the Republic and to be the champion of liberty, whether we regard his ability or his great past or the eager demands upon him from all the world. Wherefore Octavius ought not to be petitioned to consent to our safety. Rather do you rouse yourself to the fixed belief that the state in which you have performed the most splendid services will be free and honoured, if only the people have leaders in their resistance to the plots of traitors.

[XVI] Scr. Athenis in. Maio a. 711 (a). BRVTVS CICERONI SAL. particulam litterularum tuarum, quas misisti Octavio, legi missam ab Attico mihi. studium tuum curaque de salute mea nulla me nova voluptate adfecit. non solum enim usitatum sed etiam cotidianum est aliquid audire de te, quod pro nostra dignitate fideliter atque honorifice dixeris aut feceris. at dolore quantum maximum capere animo possum eadem illa pars epistulae scripta ad Octavium de nobis adfecit. sic enim illi gratias agis de re publica, tam suppliciter ac demisse—quid scribam? pudet condicionis ac fortunae sed tamen scribendum est: commendas nostram salutem illi, quae morte qua non perniciosior? ut prorsus prae te feras non sublatam dominationem sed dominum commutatum esse. verba tua recognosce et aude negare servientis adversus regem istas esse preces. Vnum ais esse quod ab eo postuletur et exspectetur, ut eos civis de quibus viri boni populusque Romanus bene existimet salvos velit. quid si nolit? non erimus? atqui non esse quam esse per illum praestat. [2] ego medius fidius non existimo tam omnis deos aversos esse a salute populi Romani ut Octavius orandus sit pro salute cuiusquam civis, non dicam pro liberatoribus orbis terrarum; iuvat enim magnifice loqui et certe decet adversus ignorantis quid pro quoque timendum aut a quoque petendum sit. hoc tu, Cicero, posse fateris Octavium et illi amicus es? aut, si me carum habes, vis Romae videre, cum ut ibi esse possem commendandus puero illi fuerim? cui quid agis gratias, si ut nos salvos esse velit et patiatur rogandum putas? an hoc pro beneficio habendum est, quod se quam Antonium esse maluerit a quo ista petenda essent? Vindici quidem alienae dominationis, non vicario, ecquis supplicat ut optime meritis de re publica liceat esse salvis? [3] ista vero imbecillitas et desperatio, cuius culpa non magis in te residet quam in omnibus aliis, et Caesarem in cupiditatem regni impulit et Antonio post interitum illius persuasit ut interfecti locum occupare conaretur et nunc puerum istum extulit, ut tu iudicares precibus esse impetrandam salutem talibus viris misericordiaque unius vix etiam nunc viri tutos fore nos, haud ulla alia re. quod si Romanos nos esse meminissemus, non audacius dominari cuperent postremi homines quam id nos prohiberemus, neque magis inritatus esset Antonius regno Caesaris quam ob eiusdem mortem deterritus. [4] tu quidem consularis et tantorum scelerum vindex, quibus oppressis vereor ne in breve tempus dilata sit abs te pernicies, qui potes intueri quae gesseris, simul et ista vel probare vel ita demisse ac facile pati ut probantis speciem habeas? quod autem tibi cum Antonio privatim odium? nempe quia postulabat haec, salutem ab se peti, precariam nos incolumitatem habere a quibus ipse libertatem accepisset, esse arbitrium suum de re publica, quaerenda esse arma putasti quibus dominari prohiberetur, scilicet ut illo prohibito rogaremus alterum qui se in eius locum reponi pateretur, an ut esset sui iuris ac mancipi res publica? nisi forte non de servitute sed de condicione serviendi recusatum est a nobis. atqui non solum bono domino potuimus Antonio tolerare nostram fortunam sed etiam beneficiis atque honoribus ut participes frui quantis vellemus. quid enim negaret iis quorum patientiam videret maximum dominationis suae praesidium esse? sed nihil tanti fuit quo venderemus fidem nostram et libertatem. [5] hic ipse puer quem Caesaris nomen incitare videtur in Caesaris interfectores, quanti aestimet, si sit commercio locus, posse nobis auctoribus tantum quantum profecto potent, quoniam vivere et pecunias habere et dici consulares volumus! ceterum <ne> nequiquam perierit ille cuius interitu quid gavisi sumus, si mortuo nihilo minus servituri eramus, nulla cura adhibetur? sed mihi prius omnia di deaeque eripuerint quam illud iudicium, quo non modo heredi eius quem occidi non concesserim quod in illo non tuli, sed ne patri quidem meo, si revivescat, ut patiente me plus legibus ac senatu possit. an hoc tibi persuasum est, fore ceteros ab eo liberos quo invito nobis in ista civitate locus non sit? qui porro id quod petis fleri potest ut impetres? rogas enim velit nos salvos esse. videmur ergo tibi salutem accepturi cum vitam acceperimus? quam, nisi prius dimittimus dignitatem et libertatem, qui possumus accipere? [6] an tu Romae habitare, id putas incolumem esse? res non locus oportet praestet istuc mihi. neque incolumis Caesare vivo fui, nisi postea quam illud conscivi facinus, neque usquam exsul esse possum, dum servire et pati contumelias peius odero malis omnibus aliis. nonne hoc est in easdem tenebras recidisse, <si> ab eo qui tyranni nomen adscivit sibi, cum in Graecis civitatibus liberi tyrannorum oppressis illis eodem supplicio adficiantur, petitur ut vindices atque oppressores dominationis salvi sint? hanc ego civitatem videre velim aut putem ullam, quae ne traditam quidem atque inculcatam libertatem recipere possit plusque timeat in puero nomen sublati regis quam confidat sibi, cum illum ipsum qui maximas opes habuerit paucorum virtute sublatum videat? me vero posthac ne commendaveris Caesari tuo, ne te quidem ipsum, si me audies. valde care aestimas tot annos quot ista aetas recipit, si propter eam causam puero isti supplicaturus es. [7] deinde quod pulcherrime fecisti ac facis in Antonio vide ne convertatur a laude maximi animi ad opinionem formidinis. nam si Octavius tibi placet, a quo de nostra salute petendum sit, non dominum fugisse sed amiciorem dominum quaesisse videberis. quem quod laudas ob ea quae adhuc fecit plane probo; sunt enim laudanda, si modo contra alienam potentiam non pro sua suscepit eas actiones. Cum vero iudicas tantum illi non modo licere sed etiam a te ipso tribuendum esse ut rogandus sit ne nolit esse nos salvos, nimium magnam mercedem statuis (id enim ipsum illi largiris quod per illum habere videbatur res publica), neque hoc tibi in mentem venit, si Octavius ullis dignus sit honoribus quia cum Antonio bellum gerat, iis qui illud malum exciderint cuius istae reliquiae sunt nihil quo expleri possit eorum meritum tributurum umquam populum Romanum, si omnia simul congesserit. [8] ac vide quanto diligentius homines metuant quam meminerint, quia Antonius vivat atque in armis sit, de Caesare vero quod fieri potuit ac debuit transactum est neque iam revocari in integrum potest. Octavius is est qui quid de nobis iudicaturus sit exspectet populus Romanus; nos ii sumus de quorum salute unus homo rogandus videatur? ego vero, ut istoc revertar, is sum qui non modo non supplicem sed etiam coerceam postulantis ut sibi supplicetur. aut longe a servientibus abero mihique esse iudicabo Romam ubicumque liberum esse licebit, ac vestri miserebor quibus nec aetas neque honores nec virtus aliena dulcedinem vivendi minuere potuerit. [9] mihi quidem ita beatus esse videbor, si modo constanter ac perpetuo placebit hoc consilium ut relatam putem gratiam pietati meae. quid enim est melius quam memoria recte factorum et libertate contentum neglegere humana? sed certe non succumbam succumbentibus nec vincar ab iis qui se vinci volunt experiarque et temptabo omnia neque desistam abstrahere a servitio civitatem nostram. si secuta fuerit quae debet fortuna, gaudebimus omnes; si minus, ego tamen gaudebo. quibus enim potius haec vita factis aut cogitationibus traducatur quam iis quae pertinuerint ad liberandos civis meos? [10] te, Cicero, rogo atque hortor ne defetigere neu diffidas, semper in praesentibus malis prohibendis futura quoque explores ne se, nisi ante sit occursum, insinuent. fortem et liberum animum, quo et consul et nunc consularis rem publicam vindicasti, sine constantia et aequabilitate nullum esse putaris. fateor enim duriorem esse condicionem spectatae virtutis quam incognitae. bene facta pro debitis exigimus, quae aliter eveniunt ut decepti ab iis infesto animo reprehendimus. itaque resistere Antonio Ciceronem, etsi maxima laude dignum est, tamen, quia ille consul hunc consularem merito praestare videtur, nemo admiratur; [11] idem Cicero, si flexerit adversus alios iudicium suum quod tanta firmitate ac magnitudine direxit in exturbando Antonio, non modo reliqui temporis gloriam eripuerit sibi sed etiam praeterita evanescere coget. nihil enim per se amplum est nisi in quo iudici ratio exstat. quin neminem magis decet rem publicam amare libertatisque defensorem esse vel ingenio vel rebus gestis vel studio atque efflagitatione omnium. qua re non Octavius est rogandus ut velit nos salvos esse, magis tute te exsuscita, ut eam civitatem in qua maxima gessisti liberam atque honestam fore putes, si modo sint populo duces ad resistendum improborum consiliis.