Letter 12.3

Your friend grows madder every day. First, he had these words inscribed on the statue he set up on the Rostra: "To the father who deserved best of us." The result is that you are now judged not only murderers, but parricides. Why do I say "you"? Rather, we are judged so, since that madman says I was the chief author of your most glorious deed. If only I had been. He would not be troubling us now. But this was your deed, and since that moment has passed, I wish I had some advice to give you. I cannot even discover what I myself should do. What can be done against force without force? Their whole policy is to punish Caesar's death. So, when Antony was brought before a public meeting by Cannutius on October 2, he went away in disgrace, but still said things about the preservers of the fatherland that should be said only about traitors. About me he spoke without hesitation: everything you had done, and everything Cannutius was doing, he said was done on my advice. Judge the rest from this: they have taken traveling money away from your legate. How do you suppose they explain that act? By saying, of course, that it was being carried to an enemy. What a wretched state of things. We could not endure a master, and now we are slaves to a fellow slave. Even so, with more goodwill than hope, I still place some hope in your courage. But where are the troops? As for what remains, I would rather you speak with yourself than hear words from me. Farewell.

DCCLXXXVIII (Fam. XII, 3) TO C. CASSIUS LONGINUS (NEAR PUTEOLI) ROME (BETWEEN 2 AND 9 OCTOBER) YOUR friend daily becomes madder. To begin with, he has caused “To the father for his eminent services” to be inscribed on the statue which he has placed on the Rostra , so that you are now condemned not only as murderers, but as parricides. But why do I say “you”? Rather I should say “we” are condemned: for that madman asserts that I was the head and front of that most glorious deed of yours. Would that I had been! He would not have been troubling us now. But it is you and your fellows who are responsible for this: and since it is past and done with, I only wish I had some advice to give you. But the fact is, I cannot feel satisfied even of what I myself ought to do. For what is possible against force without having any force oneself? Now the gist of this policy of theirs is to punish the death of Caesar . Accordingly, on the 2nd of October, being introduced to an assembly by Cannutius , Antony got indeed a very sorry reception: still, he did deliver himself of remarks about the saviours of the country which ought only to have been made about traitors. As to me, indeed, he declared outright both that you had acted and that Cannutius was acting in everything on my advice. You may judge of the rest from the fact that they have deprived your legatus of his travelling money. What explanation of that do you suppose that they give? They say, forsooth, that it is being conveyed to a public enemy! What a grievous thing, that we could not endure a master, and yet are slaves to a fellow slave! Yet after all, though my will is better than my hopes, there does remain even now some hope in your valour. But where to get forces? As to the future I would rather you consulted your own feelings, than listened to words of mine.

III. Scr. Romae ineunte mense Octobri a.u.c. 710. CICERO CASSIO SAL. Auget tuus amicus furorem in dies: primum in statua, quam possit in rostris, inscripsit PARENTI OPTIME MERITO, ut non modo sicarii, sed iam etiam parricidae iudicemini, quid dico, iudicemini? iudicemur potius; vestri enim pulcherrimi facti ille furiosus me principem dicit fuisse. Utinam quidem fuissem! molestus nobis non esset. Sed hoc vestrum est; quod quoniam praeteriit, utinam haberem, quid vobis darem consilii! sed ne mihi quidem ipsi reperio quid faciundum sit; quid enim est, quod contra vim sine vi fieri possit? Consilium omne autem hoc est illorum, ut mortem Caesaris persequantur; itaque ante diem VI. Non. Oct. productus in concionem a Cannutio turpissime ille quidem discessit, sed tamen ea dixit de conservatoribus patriae, quae dici deberent de proditoribus; de me quidem non dubitanter, quin omnia de meo consilio et vos fecissetis et Cannutius faceret. Cetera cuiusmodi sint, ex hoc iudica, quod legato tuo viaticum eripuerunt: quid eos interpretari putas, quum hoc faciunt? ad hostem scilicet portari. O rem miseram! dominum ferre non potuimus, conservo servimus. Et tamen, me quidem favente magis quam sperante, etiam nunc residet spes in virtute tua. Sed ubi sunt copiae? de reliquo malo te ipsum tecum loqui quam nostra dicta cognoscere. Vale.