Letter 10.24

I cannot help thanking you, point by point, for what you have done and for the services you have rendered me. Yet, by Hercules, I do it with embarrassment. A bond as close as the one you wanted to exist between us hardly seems to call for formal thanks, and I do not gladly discharge my debt for your greatest kindnesses with so cheap a payment as words. I would rather prove my gratitude to you in person, by attentiveness, by compliance with your wishes, and by constant service. If life is granted me, I shall surpass every grateful friendship and even every dutiful family tie in my devotion to you. It is not easy for me to say whether your affection and your judgment of me will bring me more lasting dignity or more daily pleasure. You have taken thought for the soldiers' rewards. I wanted them honored by the Senate, not for the sake of my own power, since you know I think of nothing except what is healthy for the common good, but first because I judged that they had deserved it; second, because I wanted them more closely attached to the republic in every possible event; and finally so that, turned away from every attempt by anyone to tamper with them, I could keep them for you as loyal as they have been until now. So far we have kept everything here intact. I hope this plan of ours is approved by you, though I know how naturally eager people are for such a victory. If anything goes wrong with these armies, the republic has no large reserves ready with which to resist a sudden attack and raid by the traitors. I think you know our forces: in my camp there are three veteran legions and one legion of recruits, perhaps the finest of all; in Brutus' camp there is one veteran legion, another in its second year, and eight of recruits. Taken all together, the army is very large in numbers but slight in steadiness. We have too often learned how much can safely be entrusted to recruits in battle. If either the African army, which is veteran, or Caesar's army had joined this strength of ours, we could bring the whole cause of the republic to a decisive battle with calm minds. Since we saw that Caesar was considerably nearer, I have not stopped urging him by letter, and he has not stopped declaring that he was coming without delay. Meanwhile I see that he has turned away from this plan and moved on to other designs. Still, I have sent our friend Furnius to him with instructions and letters, in case he can accomplish anything. You know, my dear Cicero, that as far as affection for Caesar [Octavian] is concerned, I share your position. When the elder Caesar was alive and I was among his close friends, I necessarily protected and cared for this young man; and he himself, so far as I could know him, showed a very moderate and humane disposition. After such a remarkable friendship between Caesar and me, it seems shameful for me not to regard as a son the man who, by Caesar's judgment and yours, was put in the place of a son. But whatever I write to you, by Hercules, I write more in sorrow than in hostility: that Antony is alive today, that Lepidus is with him, that they have armies not to be despised, that they have hope, that they dare to act, all this they can credit to Caesar. I will not go back over earlier matters. But from the time he himself declared to me that he was coming, if he had wanted to come, the war would already have been crushed, or driven, with the greatest loss to them, into Spain, which is utterly hostile to them. What frame of mind, or whose advice, has drawn him away from so much glory, glory that was also necessary and salutary for him, and turned him instead toward the thought of a two-month consulship, to the great alarm of everyone and with a tastelessly aggressive demand, I cannot calculate. In this matter his close connections seem to me able to do much, both for the republic's sake and for his own. I think you too can do very much, since he owes you services as great as anyone owes, except me; for I shall never forget that I owe you very many and very great things. I instructed Furnius to press these matters with him. If I have with Caesar the influence I ought to have, I shall have helped Caesar himself most of all. Meanwhile we are sustaining the war on harder terms, because we do not think a battle is the safest immediate course, and yet by withdrawing we will not allow the republic to suffer a greater loss. But if Caesar either comes back to himself, or the African legions arrive quickly, we shall make you free from anxiety on this side. I ask you to continue loving me as you have begun, and to be persuaded that I am especially yours. July 28, from camp.

L. MUNATIUS PLANCUS TO CICERO (AT ROME) Camp near Cularo, 28 July I cannot refrain from thanking you in view of the course of events and of your services. But, by heaven ! I blush to do it. For an intimacy as close as that which you have wished me to have with you seems not to require any formal thanks, nor do I willingly pay the poor recompense of words in return for your supreme kindness, and I would rather, when we meet, prove my gratitude by my respect, my obedience to your wishes, and my constant attentions. But if to live on is my fate, in this same respect, obedience to your wishes, and constant attentions, I will surpass all your beloved friends and even your devoted relatives. For whether your affection for me and your opinion of me are likely to bring me greater reputation in perpetuity or greater daily pleasure, I should find it hard to decide. You have concerned yourself as to the bounties to the soldiers ; whom I wished to be rewarded by the senate, not to enhance my own power — for I am conscious of enter- taining no thoughts except for the common benefit — but first of all, because in my opinion they deserved it ; next, because I wished them to be still more closely attached to 1 This and the assertion in the previous letter seem directly contra- dictory to Letter DCCCCIV, p. 314. F x, 24 L. MUNATIUS PLANCUS TO CICERO 327 the Republic in view of all eventualities ; and lastly, in order that I might guarantee their continuing as completely proof against all attempts to tamper with their loyalty, as they have been up to this time. As yet we have kept everything here in statu quo. And this policy of ours, though I know how eager men are and with reason for a decisive victory, is yet, I hope, approved of by you. For if any disaster happens to these armies, the Republic has no great forces in reserve to resist any sudden attack or raid of the parricides. The amount of our forces I presume is known to you. In my camp there are three legions of veterans, one of recruits perhaps the finest of all : in the camp of Decimus Brutus there is one veteran legion, a second of two-years'-service men, eight of recruits. There- fore the whole force taken together is very strong in numbers, in stamina inferior. For how much it is safe to trust to raw levies in the field we have had too frequent experience. To the strength of these armies of ours, if there was added either the African army which consists of veterans, or that of Caesar, we should hazard the safety of the Republic on a battle without any uneasiness. Now, as to Caesar, we see that he is considerably the nearer of the two. I have therefore never ceased importuning him by letter, and he has uniformly replied that he is coming with- out delay : while all the time I perceive that he has given up that idea and has taken up some other scheme. Never- theless, I have sent our friend Furnius ' to him with a mes- sage and a letter, in case he may be able to do some good. You know, my dear Cicero, that in regard to love for Caesar you and I are partners, either because, being one of Iulius Caesar's intimates, I was obliged — while he was alive — to look after the boy and shew him affection ; or because he was himself, as far as I could make out, of a very orderly and kindly disposition ; or because, after such a re- markable friendship as existed between me and Iulius Caesar, it seems discreditable that I should not regard as a son one who was adopted into that position by his decision and by that of your house alike.2 Yet after all — and whatever I write 1 Gaius Furnius. See p. 311. 2 For the adoption of Octavian, see p. 21. By vestro Plancus seems 328 CICERO'S LETTERS b.c. 43, xx. 63 to you I write rather in sorrow than in anger — the fact that Antony is alive to-day, that Lepidus is with him, that they have far from contemptible armies, that they are hopeful and bold — for all these they may thank Caesar. I will not go back to old matters, but from the moment that he gave out that he was coming to me, if he had chosen to come, the war would at once have either been put an end to, or, to their very great loss, have been thrust back into Spain, which is most hostile in sentiment to them. , What idea or whose advice has withdrawn him from such great glory, which was at the same time required by his interests and needful for his safety, and has turned his attention to the thought of a two-months' consulship, entailing a great and general panic, and demanded in a peremptory and offensive manner — I cannot conjecture. It seems to me that in this matter his relations could exercise considerable influence both for his sake and for that of the Republic : most of all, as I think, could you also do so, since he is more obliged to you than anyone else is except myself — for I shall never forget that the obligations I owe you are exceedingly great and numerous. I commissioned Furnius to urge these considerations upon him. But if I prove to have as great an influence with him as* I ought to have, I shall have done him a great service himself. Meanwhile we are maintaining the war at a disadvantage, because we do not think an engagement the safest solution of the difficulty, and yet will not allow the Republic to suffer greater loss by our retirement. But if either Caesar has bethought himself, or the African legions have come promptly,1 we will relieve you of anxiety on this side. I beg you to continue to honour me with your regard, and to believe that I am peculiarly at your service. 28 July, in camp. to refer to the senate, which, though the curiate law for the formal adoption had not yet been passed, yet practically acknowledged the adoption of Octavian in his great-uncle's will by the wording of its decrees. 1 The African legions came from Cornificius, but they almost directly joined Octavian, which was the last blow to the hopes of Cicero and the senate (App. B. C. iii. 91, 92). APPENDIX CICERO TO OCTAVIAN1 If your legions, which are most bitterly hostile to my name and to that of the Roman people, had left it possible for me to come into the senate and hold debate in the presence of the Republic, I would have done so, and not so much with pleasure as from necessity. For no remedies applied to wounds are so painful as those that are healing. But since, being hemmed round with armed cohorts, the senate cannot decree anything expressing its real sentiments except that it is in terror, since in the Capitol there are military standards, since in the city soldiers roam at will, since in the Campus Martius a camp is pitched, since the whole of Italy is distracted by legions enrolled to secure our freedom, but brought here to enslave us, and by the cavalry of foreign tribes — I will for the present yield you possession of the forum, the senate-house, and the most sacred temples of the immortal gods, in which, as liberty first revives and then is trampled out, the senate is consulted about nothing, has countless fears, and only passes decrees to flatter. Presently, when the state of things seems to demand it, I shall quit the city, which, once pre- served as it was by me that it might be free, I shall never endure to see enslaved. I shall quit a life which, although filled with anxiety, yet, if destined to profit the Republic, consoles me with a good hope of future fame. If that hope is taken from me, I shall fall without a moment's hesitation, and shall depart, though taking care to make it clear that in my judgment fortune and not courage has deserted me. But there is one thing I will not omit as a proof of my recent wrong, as a record of past outrage, and a declaration of the feeling of those that are away : since 1 am prevented from remonstrating with you face to face, I will do so in your absence in the defence of the Republic and in my own. 1 This rhetorical exercise was evidently composed by some one who knew the general facts of the last year of Cicero's life well. But it is not a suc- cessful imitation of his style, nor is there any conceivable juncture of affairs at which Cicero would have ventured to write thus to Octavian. 330 CICERO'S LETTERS b.c. 43, jet. 63 And I say " in my own defence," since my safety is either useful to the Republic or at least closely bound up with the public safety. For in the name of the immortal gods — unless by chance it is vain for me to appeal to those, whose ears and hearts are turned from us — and in the name of the fortune of the Roman people, which though hostile to us was once propitious, and, as I hope, will be so again — who is there so lost to all feelings of manhood, who is there so bitterly hostile to the name and dwelling-places of this city, as to be able to ignore what is happening, or not to grieve at it, or, if he can by no means remedy the public disasters, not to avoid his own danger by death ? For, to begin at the beginning and to trace events to the end, and to compare the last with the first, what morrow has dawned on the Roman people that was not more disastrous than the day before, and what hour that was not more calamitous than that which it succeeded ? Marcus Antonius, a man of great courage — I only wish he had been wiser ! — when Gaius Caesar had by an act of the greatest resolution, though with no happy results, been removed from his despotic rule over the Republic, had conceived the ambition for a more regal primacy than a free state could tolerate. He was throwing away the public money, exhausting the treasury, reducing the revenues, pre- senting cities and whole tribes with immunity in virtue of Caesar's memoranda. He was playing the part of dictator, imposing his laws upon us : and while forbidding a dictator to be named, he himself assumed the authority of a king while he was still consul, and had set his heart on controlling all the provinces by himself. What had we to expect or look for from a man who thought the province of Macedonia, which Caesar when victorious had taken as his own,1 as too mean for him ? You stood forward then as the champion of our liberty, the best that was possible at the time — and oh ! that neither our opinion of you nor your own good faith had been forfeited ! — and having hired veterans to form a body of soldiers, and having induced two legions a to abandon the destruction of their country for its preservation, when the Republic was now in all but a desperate and utterly prostrate position, you suddenly raised it by your own resources What honours, before you demanded them, on a greater scale than you desired, more numerous than you hoped, did not the senate bestow upon you ? It gave you the. fasces that it might have a defender with full authority, not that he might by this i?nperium take arms against itself. It gave you the title of imperator, when the army of the enemy had been repulsed, by 1 After the battle of Pharsalia Caesar seems to have ruled Macedonia and Greece by legates, first as a mere military occupation under Fufius, and then in a more regular way under Servius Sulplcius Rufus (vol. iii., p. 136). 2 The fourth and the Martian. PSEUDO-CICERO APPENDIX 331 way of paying you a compliment, not that that fugitive army, shattered by the slaughter which it had itself incurred,1 might hail you imfterator. It decreed you a statue in the forum, a place in the senate, the highest office before the legal age. If there is anything else that can be given, it will add it. What is there greater than this that you desire to take ? But if on the other hand you have had every kind of honour bestowed on you before the legal age, beyond the ordinary usage, beyond even the reach of human nature, why do you curtail the authority of the senate as though it were ungrateful, or forgetful of your good services ? Is it wanton cruelty or deliberate crime on your part ? Whither have we sent you ? From whom are you re- turning ? Against whom have we armed you ? On whom are you meditating war ? From whom are you withdrawing an army ? Against whom are you drawing out your line of battle ? Why is the public enemy left untouched, and the citizen attacked as an enemy? Why in the very midst of your march is your camp pushed farther from the adversary and nearer the city ? Their hope is perforce our terror. Oh, how unwise I have always been, and what an ill-grounded reputation has mine turned out to be ! How greatly, oh people of Rome, have you been deceived in me ! What an old age of disaster and ruin ! Oh, what a disgrace to my grey hairs, when life is all but gone and dotage has set in ! / — / have led the senate to its bloody doom ! / have deceived the Republic ! / have forced the senate to lay violent hands upon itself, when I said that Iuno smiled on your birth, and that your mother had brought forth a golden age ! 2 In reality the fates were fore- telling you to be the Paris of your country, destined to devastate the city with fire, Italy with war ; to pitch your camp in the temples of the immortal gods ; and to hold the senate in a camp. What a miserable upsetting of the constitution — how sudden and rapid and complicated ! Who is likely to arise with a genius capable of narrating these events so as to make them seem fact and not fiction ? Who will there ever be of such quick intelligence as not to think that events which have been recorded with the most absolute truthfulness only resemble the incidents of a drama ? For think of Antony de- clared a public enemy ; of a consul-designate, and he too a father of the state, besieged by him ; of you setting out to re- lieve the consul and crush the enemy ; of the enemy being put to flight by you and the consul released from the siege ; and 1 Stiacade. Perhaps it should be tua, " by the slaughter you inflicted on it." 2 For Cicero's dream of a child let down from heaven by a gold chain, see Suet. Aug. 94 ; Dio, 45, 12 ; Plut. Cic. 44. This seems a confused re- ference to it. 332 CICERO'S LETTERS B.C. 43, AT. 63 then shortly afterwards of this same routed enemy invited back as your coheir to receive, after the death of the Republic, the property of the Roman people ; and of the consul-designate again surrounded where he had no walls to defend himself, but only streams and mountains. Who will attempt to give a picture of these events? Who will be bold enough to believe them ? Let me be once pardoned for having made a mistake ; let con- fession atone for an error. For I will speak frankly. Would to heaven, Antony, we had not driven you away as our despot, rather than have received this one ! Not that any servitude is a thing to be wished, but because the condition of a slave is rendered less degrading by the rank of his master ; while of two evils the greater is to be shunned, the less is to be chosen. He after all used to ask for what he desired to carry off, you wrench it from our hands. He sought to obtain a province when he was consul, you set your heart on one when a private citizen. He established courts and carried laws to protect the bad, you to destroy the best. He protected the Capitol from bloodshed and the incendiary fire of slaves, you wish to wipe out everything in blood and flame. If the man who granted provinces to Cassius and the Bruti, and those other guardians of the Roman name, acted as despot, what will he do who de- prives them of life ? If the man who ejected them from the

XXIV. Scr. in castris V. Kal. Sextiles a.u.c. 711. PLANCUS IMP. COS. DESIG. S. D. CICERONI. Facere non possum, quin in singulas res meritaque tua tibi gratias agam, sed mehercules facio cum pudore; neque enim tanta necessitudo, quantam tu mihi tecum esse voluisti, desiderare videtur gratiarum actionem, neque ego libenter pro maximis tuis beneficiis tam vili munere defungor orationis, et malo praesens observantia, indulgentia, assiduitate memorem me tibi probare. Quod si mihi vita contigerit, omnes gratas amicitias atque eitiam pias propinquitates [in tua observantia, indulgentia, assiduitate] vincam; amor enim tuus ac iudicium de me utrum mihi plus dignitatis in perpetuum an voluptatis quotidie sit allaturus, non facile dixerim. De militum commodis fuit tibi curae; quos ego non potentiae meae causa—nihil enim me non salutariter cogitare scis—ornari volui a senatu, se dprimum, quod ita meritos iudicabam, deinde, quod ad omnes casus coniunctiores rei publicae esse volebam, novissime, ut ab omni omnium sollicitatione aversos eos tales vobis praestare possem, quales adhuc fuerunt. Nos adhuc hic omnia integra sustinuimus: quod consilium nostrum, etsi, quanta sit aviditas hominum non sine causa talis victoriae, scio, tamen vobis probari spero; non enim, si quid in his exercitibus sit offensum, magna subsidia res publica habet expedita, quibus subito impetu ac latrocinio parricidarum resistat. Copias vero nostras notas tibi esse arbitror: in castris meis legiones sunt veteranae tres, tironum, vel luculentissima ex omnibus, una; in castris Bruti una veterana legio, altera bima, octo tironum. Ita universus exercitus numero amplissimus est, firmitate exiguus; quantum autem in acie tironi sit committendum, nimium saepe expertum habemus. Ad hoc robur nostrorum exercituum sive Africanus exercitus, qui est veteranus, sive Caesaris accessisset, aequo animo summam rem publicam in discrimen deduceremus; aliquanto autem propius esse quod Caesarem videbamus, nihil destiti eum litteris hortari, neque ille intermisit affirmare se sine mora venire, cum interim aversum illum ab hac cogitatione ad alia consilia video se contulisse. Ego tamen ad eum Furnium nostrum cum mandatis litterisque misi, si quid forte proficere posset. Scis tu, mi Cicero, quod ad Caesaris amorem attinet, societatem mihi esse tecum, vel quod in familiaritate Caesaris vivo illo iam tueri eum et diligere fuit mihi necesse, vel quod ipse, quoad ego nosse potui, moderatissimi atque humanissimi fuit sensus, vel quod ex tam insigni amicitia mea atque Caesaris hunc filii loco et illius et vestro iudicio substitutum non proinde habere turpe mihi videtur. Sed—quidquid tibi scribo, dolenter mehercule magis quam inimice facio—quod vivit Antonius hodie, quod Lepidus una est, quod exercitus habent non contemnendos, quod sperant, quod audent, omne Caesari acceptum referre possunt. Neque ego superiora repetam; sed, ex eo tempore, quo ipse mihi professus est se venire, si venire voluisset, aut oppressum iam bellum esset aut in adversissimam illis Hispaniam cum detrimento eorum maximo extrusum. Quae mens eum, aut quorum consilia, a tanta gloria, sibi vero etiam necessaria ac salutari, avocarit et ad cogitationem consulatus bimestris summo cum terrore hominum et insulsa cum efflagitatione transtulerit, exputare non possum. Multum in hac re mihi videntur necessarii eius et rei publicae et ipsius causa proficere posse, plurimum, ut puto, tu quoque, cuius ille tanta merita habet, quanta nemo praeter me; numquam enim obliviscar maxima ac plurima me tibi debere. De his rebus ut exigeret cum eo, Furnio mandavi: quod si, quantam debeo, habuero apud eum auctoritatem, plurimum ipsum iuvero. Nos interea duriore condicione bellum sustinemus, quod neque expeditissimam dimicationem putamus neque tamen refugiendo commissuri sumus, ut maius detrimentum res publica accipere possit. Quod si aut Caesar se respexerit aut Africanae legiones celeriter venerint, securos vos ab hac parte reddemus. Tu, ut instituisti, me diligas rogo propieque tuum esse tibi persuadeas. V. Kal. Sext. ex castris.