Book: The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4

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Therefore, as we are bound to vote, and as Servilius has already
proposed a most just supplication for those letters which have been
read to you; I will propose altogether to increase the number of the
days which it is to last, especially as it is to be decreed in honour
of three generals conjointly. But first of all I will insist on
styling those men imperator by whose valour, and wisdom, and good
fortune we have been released from the most imminent danger of slavery
and death. Indeed, who is there within the last twenty years who
has had a supplication decreed to him without being himself styled
imperator, though he may have performed the most insignificant
exploits, or even almost none at all. Wherefore, the senator who spoke
before me ought either not to have moved for a supplication at all, or
he ought to have paid the usual and established compliment to those
men to whom even new and extraordinary honours are justly due.

V. Shall the senate, according to this custom which has now obtained,
style a man imperator if he has slain a thousand or two of Spaniards,
or Gauls, or Thracians; and now that so many legions have been routed,
now that such a multitude of enemies has been slain,--aye, enemies,
I say, although our enemies within the city do not fancy this
expression,--shall we pay to our most illustrious generals the honour
of a supplication, and refuse them the name of imperator? For with
what great honour, and joy, and exultation ought the deliverers of
this city themselves to enter into this temple, when yesterday, on
account of the exploits which they have performed, the Roman people
carried me in an ovation, almost in a triumph from my house to the
Capitol, and back again from the Capitol to my own house? That is
indeed in my opinion a just and genuine triumph, when men who have
deserved well of the republic receive public testimony to their merits
from the unanimous consent of the senate. For if, at a time of general
rejoicing on the part of the Roman people, they addressed their
congratulations to one individual, that is a great proof of their
opinion of him; if they gave him thanks, that is a greater still; if
they did both, then nothing more honourable to him can be possibly
imagined.

Are you saying all this of yourself? some one will ask. It is indeed
against my will that I do so; but my indignation at injustice makes me
boastful, contrary to my usual habit. Is it not sufficient that thanks
should not be given to men who have well earned them, by men who are
ignorant of the very nature of virtue? And shall accusations and odium
be attempted to be excited against those men who devote all their
thoughts to ensuring the safety of the republic? For you well know
that there has been a common report for the last few days, that the
day before the wine feast,[55] that is to say, on this very day, I was
intending to come forth with the fasces as dictator. One would think
that this story was invented against some gladiator, or robber, or
Catiline, and not against a man who had prevented any such step from
ever being taken in the republic. Was I, who defeated and overthrew
and crushed Catiline, when he was attempting such wickedness, a likely
man myself all on a sudden to turn out Catiline? Under what auspices
could I, an augur, take those fasces? How long should I have been
likely to keep them? to whom was I to deliver them as my successor?
The idea of any one having been so wicked as to invent such a tale!
or so mad as to believe it! In what could such a suspicion, or rather
such gossip, have originated?

VI. When, as you know, during the last three or four days a report of
bad news from Mutina has been creeping abroad, the disloyal part of
the citizens, inflated with exultation and insolence, began to collect
in one place, at that senate-house which has been more fatal to their
party than to the republic. There, while they were forming a plan to
massacre us, and were distributing the different duties among one
another, and settling who was to seize on the Capitol, who on the
rostra, who on the gates of the city, they thought that all
the citizens would flock to me. And in order to bring me into
unpopularity, and even into danger of my life, they spread abroad this
report about the fasces. They themselves had some idea of bringing the
fasces to my house; and then, on pretence of that having been done by
my wish, they had prepared a band of hired ruffians to make an attack
on me as on a tyrant, and a massacre of all of you was intended to
follow. The fact is already notorious, O conscript fathers, but the
origin of all this wickedness will be revealed in its fitting time.

Therefore Publius Apuleius, a tribune of the people, who ever since my
consulship has been the witness and partaker of, and my assistant
in all my designs and all my dangers could not endure the grief of
witnessing my indignation. He convened a numerous assembly, as the
whole Roman people were animated with one feeling on the subject. And
when in the harangue which he then made, he, as was natural from our
great intimacy and friendship, was going to exculpate me from all
suspicion in the matter of the fasces, the whole assembly cried out
with one voice, that I had never had any intentions with regard to
the republic which were not excellent. After this assembly was over,
within two or three hours, these most welcome messengers and letters
arrived; so that the same day not only delivered me from a most unjust
odium, but increased my credit by that most extraordinary act with
which the Roman people distinguished me.

I have made this digression, O conscript fathers, not so much for the
sake of speaking of myself, (for I should be in a sorry plight if I
were not sufficiently acquitted in your eyes without the necessity of
making a formal defence,) as with the view of warning some men of too
grovelling and narrow minds, to adopt the line of conduct which I
myself have always pursued, and to think the virtue of excellent
citizens worthy of imitation, not of envy. There is a great field in
the republic, as Crassus used very wisely to say; the road to glory is
open to many.

VII. Would that those great men were still alive, who, after my
consulship, when I myself was willing to yield to them, were
themselves desirous to see me in the post of leader. But at the
present moment, when there is such a dearth of wise and fearless men
of consular rank, how great do you not suppose must be my grief
and indignation, when I see some men absolutely disaffected to the
republic, others wholly indifferent to everything, others incapable of
persevering with any firmness in the cause which they have espoused;
and regulating their opinions not always by the advantage of the
republic, but sometimes by hope, and sometimes by fear. But if any
one is anxious and inclined to struggle for the leadership--though
struggle there ought to be none--he acts very foolishly, if he
proposes to combat virtue with vices. For as speed is only outstripped
by speed, so among brave men virtue is only surpassed by virtue.
Will you, if I am full of excellent sentiments with respect to the
republic, adopt the worst possible sentiments yourself for the purpose
of excelling me? Or if you see a race taking place for the acquisition
of honours, will you summon all the wicked men you can find to your
banner? I should be sorry for you to do so; first of all, for the sake
of the republic, and secondly, for that of your own dignity. But if
the leadership of the state were at stake, which I have never coveted,
what could be more desirable for me than such conduct on your part?
For it is impossible that I should be defeated by wicked sentiments
and measures,--by good ones perhaps I might be, and I willingly would
be.

Some people are vexed that the Roman people should see, and take
notice of, and form their opinion on these matters. Was it possible
for men not to form their opinion of each individual as he deserved?
For as the Roman people forms a most correct judgment of the entire
senate, thinking that at no period in the history of the republic was
this order ever more firm or more courageous; so also they all inquire
diligently concerning every individual among us; and especially in the
case of those among us who deliver our sentiments at length in this
place, they are anxious to know what those sentiments are; and in that
way they judge of each one of us, as they think that he deserves. They
recollect that on the nineteenth of December I was the main cause of
recovering our freedom; that from the first of January to this hour I
have never ceased watching over the republic; that day and night my
house and my ears have been open to the instruction and admonition of
every one; that it has been by my letters, and my messengers, and
my exhortations, that all men in every part of the empire have been
roused to the protection of our country; that it is owing to the open
declaration of my opinion ever since the first of January, that no
ambassadors have been ever sent to Antonius; that I have always called
him a public enemy, and this a war; so that I, who on every occasion
have been the adviser of genuine peace have been a determined enemy to
this pretence of fatal peace.

Have not I also at all times pronounced Ventidius an enemy, when
others wished to call him a tribune of the people? If the consuls had
chosen to divide the senate on my opinion, their arms would long since
have been wrested from the hands of all those robbers by the positive
authority of the senate.

VIII. But what could not be done then, O conscript fathers, at present
not only can be, but even must be done. I mean, those men who are in
reality enemies must be branded in plain language, must be declared
enemies by our formal resolution. Formerly, when I used the words War
or Enemy, men more than once objected to record my proposition among
the other propositions. But that cannot be done on the present
occasion. For in consequence of the letters of Caius Pansa and Aulus
Hirtius, the consuls, and of Caius Caesar, propraetor, we have all
voted that honours be paid to the immortal gods. The very man who
lately proposed and carried a vote for a supplication, without
intending it pronounced those men enemies; for a supplication has
never been decreed for success in civil war. Decreed, do I say? It has
never even been asked for in the letters of the conqueror. Sylla as
consul carried on a civil war; he led his legions into the city and
expelled whomsoever he chose; he slew those whom he had in his power:
there was no mention made of any supplication. The violent war with
Octavius followed. Cinna the conqueror had no supplication voted
to him. Sylla as imperator revenged the victory of Cinna, still no
supplication was decreed by the senate. I ask you yourself, O Publius
Servilius, did your colleague send you any letters concerning that
most lamentable battle of Pharsalia? Did he wish you to make any
motion about a supplication? Certainly not. But he did afterwards when
he took Alexandria; when he defeated Pharnaces; but for the battle of
Pharsalia he did not even celebrate a triumph. For that battle had
destroyed those citizens whose, I will not say lives, but even
whose victory might have been quite compatible with the safety and
prosperity of the state. And the same thing had happened in the
previous civil wars. For though a supplication was decreed in my
honour when I was consul, though no arms had been had recourse to at
all, still that was voted by a new and wholly unprecedented kind of
decree, not for the slaughter of enemies, but for the preservation of
the citizens. Wherefore, a supplication on account of the affairs of
the republic having been successfully conducted must, O conscript
fathers, be refused by you even though your generals demand it; a
stigma which has never been affixed on any one except Gabinius; or
else, by the mere fact of decreeing a supplication, it is quite
inevitable that you must pronounce those men, for whose defeat you do
decree it, enemies of the state.

IX. What then Servilius did in effect, I do in express terms, when I
style those men imperators. By using this name, I pronounce those who
have been already defeated, and those who still remain, enemies
in calling their conquerors imperators. For what title can I more
suitably bestow on Pansa? Though he has, indeed, the title of the
highest honour in the republic. What, too, shall I call Hirtius? He,
indeed, is consul; but this latter title is indicative of the kindness
of the Roman people; the other of valour and victory. What? Shall I
hesitate to call Caesar imperator, a man born for the republic by the
express kindness of the gods? He who was the first man who turned
aside the savage and disgraceful cruelty of Antonius, not only from
our throats, but from our limbs and bowels? What numerous and what
important virtues, O ye immortal gods, were displayed on that single
day. For Pansa was the leader of all in engaging in battle and in
combating with Antonius; O general worthy of the martial legion,
legion worthy of its general! Indeed, if he had been able to restrain
its irresistible impetuosity, the whole war would have been terminated
by that one battle. But as the legion, eager for liberty, had rushed
with too much precipitation against the enemy's line of battle, and
as Pansa himself was fighting in the front ranks, he received two
dangerous wounds, and was borne out of the battle, to preserve his
life for the republic. But I pronounce him not only imperator, but
a most illustrious imperator; who, as he had pledged himself to
discharge his duty to the republic either by death or by victory, has
fulfilled one half of his promise; may the immortal gods prevent the
fulfilment of the other half!

X. Why need I speak of Hirtius? who, the moment he heard of what was
going on, with incredible promptness and courage led forth two legions
out of the camp; that noble fourth legion, which, having deserted
Antonius, formerly united itself to the martial legion; and the
seventh, which, consisting wholly of veterans, gave proof in that
battle that the name of the senate and people of Rome was dear to
those soldiers who preserved the recollection of the kindness of
Caesar. With these twenty cohorts, with no cavalry, while Hirtius
himself was bearing the eagle of the fourth legion,--and we never
heard of a more noble office being assumed by any general,--he
fought with the three legions of Antonius and with his cavalry, and
overthrew, and routed, and put to the sword those impious men who
were the real enemies to this temple of the all-good and all-powerful
Jupiter, and to the rest of the temples of the immortal gods, and the
houses of the city, and the freedom of the Roman people, and our lives
and actual existence; so that that chief and leader of robbers fled
away with a very few followers, concealed by the darkness of night,
and frightened out of all his senses.

Oh what a most blessed day was that, which, while the carcases of
those parricidal traitors were strewed about everywhere, beheld
Antonius flying with a few followers, before he reached his place of
concealment.

But will any one hesitate to call Caesar imperator? Most certainly his
age will not deter any one from agreeing to this proposition, since he
has gone beyond his age in virtue. And to me, indeed, the services of
Caius Caesar have always appeared the more thankworthy, in proportion
as they were less to have been expected from a man of his age. For
when we conferred military command on him, we were in fact encouraging
the hope with which his name inspired us; and now that he has
fulfilled those hopes, he has sanctioned the authority of our decree
by his exploits. This young man of great mind, as Hirtius most truly
calls him in his letters, with a few cohorts defended the camp of
many legions, and fought a successful battle. And in this manner the
republic has on one day been preserved in many places by the valour,
and wisdom, and good fortune of three imperators of the Roman people.

XI. I therefore propose supplications of fifty days in the joint
names of the three. The reasons I will embrace in the words of the
resolution, using the most honourable language that I can devise.

But it becomes our good faith and our piety to show plainly to our
most gallant soldiers how mindful of their services and how grateful
for them we are; and accordingly I give my vote that our promises, and
those pledges too which we promised to bestow on the legions when the
war was finished, be repeated in the resolution which we are going to
pass this day. For it is quite fair that the honour of the soldiers,
especially of such soldiers as those, should be united with that of
their commanders. And I wish, O conscript fathers, that it was lawful
for us to dispense rewards to all the citizens; although we will give
those which we have promised with the most careful usury. But that
remains, as I well hope, to the conquerors, to whom the faith of the
senate is pledged; and, as they have adhered to it at a most critical
period of the republic, we are bound to take care that they never have
cause to repent of their conduct. But it is easy for us to deal fairly
by those men whose very services, though mute, appear to demand our
liberality. This is a much more praiseworthy and more important duty,
to pay a proper tribute of grateful recollection to the valour of
those men who have shed their blood in the cause of their country. And
I wish more suggestions could occur to me in the way of doing honour
to those men. The two ideas which principally do occur to me, I will
at all events not pass over; the one of which has reference to the
everlasting glory of those bravest of men; the other may tend to
mitigate the sorrow and mourning of their relations.

XII. I therefore give my vote, O conscript fathers, that the most
honourable monument possible be erected to the soldiers of the martial
legion, and to those soldiers also who died fighting by their side.
Great and incredible are the services done by this legion to the
republic. This was the first legion to tear itself from the piratical
band of Antonius; this was the legion which encamped at Alba; this was
the legion that went over to Caesar; and it was in imitation of the
conduct of this legion that the fourth legion has earned almost equal
glory for its virtue. The fourth is victorious without having lost a
man; some of the martial legion fell in the very moment of victory. Oh
happy death, which, due to nature, has been paid in the cause of one's
country! But I consider you men born for your country; you whose very
name is derived from Mars, so that the same god who begot this city
for the advantage of the nations, appears to have begotten you for
the advantage of this city. Death in flight is infamous; in victory
glorious. In truth, Mars himself seems to select all the bravest men
from the battle array. Those impious men whom you slew, shall even in
the shades below pay the penalty of their parricidal treason. But you,
who have poured forth your latest breath in victory, have earned an
abode and place among the pious. A brief life has been allotted to us
by nature; but the memory of a well-spent life is imperishable. And if
that memory were no longer than this life, who would be so senseless
as to strive to attain even the highest praise and glory by the most
enormous labours and dangers?

You then have fared most admirably, being the bravest of soldiers
while you lived, and now the most holy of warriors, because it will
be impossible for your virtue to be buried, either through the
forgetfulness of the men of the present age, or the silence of
posterity, since the senate and Roman people will have raised to you
an imperishable monument, I may almost say with their own hands. Many
armies at various times have been great and illustrious in the Punic,
and Gallic, and Italian wars; but to none of them have honours been
paid of the description which are now conferred on you. And I wish
that we could pay you even greater honours, since we have received
from you the greatest possible services. You it was who turned aside
the furious Antonius from this city; you it was who repelled him when
endeavouring to return. There shall therefore be a vast monument
erected with the most sumptuous work, and an inscription engraved upon
it, as the everlasting witness of your god-like virtue. And never
shall the most grateful language of all who either see or hear of your
monument cease to be heard. And in this manner you, in exchange for
your mortal condition of life, have attained immortality.

XIII. But since, O conscript fathers, the gift of glory is conferred
on these most excellent and gallant citizens by the honour of a
monument, let us comfort their relations, to whom this indeed is
the best consolation. The greatest comfort for their parents is the
reflection that they have produced sons who have been such bulwarks of
the republic; for their children, that they will have such examples of
virtue in their family; for their wives, that the husbands whom they
have lost are men whom it is a credit to praise, and to have a right
to mourn for; and for their brothers, that they may trust that, as
they resemble them in their persons, so they do also in their virtues.

Would that we were able by the expression of our sentiments and by our
votes to wipe away the tears of all these persons; or that any such
oration as this could be publicly addressed to them, to cause them to
lay aside their grief and mourning, and to rejoice rather, that, while
many various kinds of death impend over men, the most honourable kind
of all has fallen to the lot of their friends; and that they are not
unburied, nor deserted; though even that fate, when incurred for one's
country, is not accounted miserable; nor burnt with equable obsequies
in scattered graves, but entombed in honourable sepulchres, and
honoured with public offerings; and with a building which will be an
altar of their valour to ensure the recollection of eternal ages.

Wherefore it will be the greatest possible comfort to their relations,
that by the same monument are clearly displayed the valour of their
kinsmen, and also their piety, and the good faith of the senate, and
the memory of this most inhuman war, in which, if the valour of the
soldiers had been less conspicuous, the very name of the Roman people
would have perished by the parricidal treason of Marcus Antonius.
And I think also, O conscript fathers, that those rewards which we
promised to bestow on the soldiers when we had recovered the republic,
we should give with abundant usury to those who are alive and
victorious when the time comes; and that in the case of the men to
whom those rewards were promised, but who have died in the defence of
their country, I think those same rewards should be given to their
parents or children, or wives or brothers.

XIV. But that I may reduce my sentiments into a formal motion, I give
my vote that:

"As Caius Pansa, consul, imperator, set the example of fighting with
the enemy in a battle in which the martial legion defended the freedom
of the Roman people with admirable and incredible valour, and the
legions of the recruits behaved equally well; and as Caius Pansa,
consul, imperator, while engaged in the middle of the ranks of the
enemy received wounds; and as Aulus Hirtius, consul, imperator, the
moment that he heard of the battle, and knew what was going on, with a
most gallant and loyal soul, led his army out of his camp and attacked
Marcus Antonius and his army, and put his troops to the sword, with so
little injury to his own army that he did not lose one single man; and
as Caius Caesar, propraetor, imperator, with great prudence and energy
defended the camp successfully, and routed and put to the sword the
forces of the enemy which had come near the camp:

"On these accounts the senate thinks and declares that the Roman
people has been released from the most disgraceful and cruel slavery
by the valour, and military skill, and prudence, and firmness, and
perseverance, and greatness of mind and good fortune of these their
generals. And decrees that, as they have preserved the republic, the
city, the temples of the immortal gods, the property and fortunes and
families of all the citizens, by their own exertions in battle, and at
the risk of their own lives; on account of these virtuous and gallant
and successful achievements, Caius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius, the
consuls, imperators, one or both of them, or, in their absence, Marcus
Cornutus, the city praetor, shall appoint a supplication at all the
altars for fifty days. And as the valour of the legions has shown
itself worthy of their most illustrious generals, the senate will with
great eagerness, now that the republic is recovered, bestow on our
legions and armies all the rewards which it formerly promised them.
And as the martial legion was the first to engage with the enemy, and
fought in such a manner against superior numbers as to slay many and
take some prisoners; and as they shed their blood for their country
without any shrinking; and as the soldiers of the other legions
encountered death with similar valour in defence of the safety and
freedom of the Roman people;--the senate does decree that Caius Pansa
and Aulus Hirtius, the consuls, imperators, one or both of them if it
seems good to them, shall see to the issuing of a contract for, and to
the erecting, the most honourable possible monument to those men who
shed their blood for the lives and liberties and fortunes of the Roman
people, and for the city and temples of the immortal gods; that for
that purpose they shall order the city quaestors to furnish and
pay money, in order that it may be a witness for the everlasting
recollection of posterity of the wickedness of our most cruel enemies,
and the god-like valour of our soldiers. And that the rewards which
the senate previously appointed for the soldiers, be paid to the
parents or children, or wives or brothers of those men who in this
war have fallen in defence of their country; and that all honours
be bestowed on them which should have been bestowed on the soldiers
themselves if those men had lived who gained the victory by their
death."

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