CHAPTER VIII
Antony orders Decimus Brutus to withdraw from Cisalpine Gaul -- Decimus
retires to Mutina and Antony besieges him there -- Cicero urges that
Antony be declared a Public Enemy -- The Tribune Salvius interposes in
Favor of Antony -- Debate in the Senate -- Cicero's Speech -- Piso
speaks in Defence of Antony -- The Senate orders Antony to desist from
the Siege of Mutina -- Antony's Reply -- The Senate votes him a Public
Enemy -- Macedonia voted to Brutus and Syria to Cassius
[
49]
In Cisalpine Gaul Antony ordered Decimus Brutus to withdraw to Macedonia in
obedience to the decree of the Roman people, and for his own good. Decimus,
in reply, sent him the letters that had been furnished him by the Senate, as
much as to say that he cared no more for the command of the people than
Antony did for that of the Senate. Antony then fixed a day for his
compliance, after which he should treat him as an enemy. Decimus advised him
to fix a later day lest he (Antony) should too soon make himself an enemy to
the Senate. Although Antony could have easily overcome him, as he was still
in the open country, he decided to proceed first against the cities. These
opened their gates to him. Decimus, fearing lest none of them should be
opened to him, fabricated letters from the Senate calling him to Rome with
his army and retired towards Italy, welcomed by all as he passed along,
until he arrived at the wealthy city of Mutina.
1 Here he closed the
gates and possessed himself of the property of the inhabitants for the
support of his army. He slaughtered and salted all the cattle he could find
there in anticipation of a long siege, and he awaited Antony. His army
consisted of a large number of gladiators and three legions of infantry, one
of which was composed of new recruits as yet inexperienced. The other two
had served under him before and were entirely trustworthy. Antony advanced
against him with fury, drew a line of circumvallation around Mutina, and
laid siege to Decimus.
[
50]
In Rome, at the beginning of the new year, the consuls, Hirtius and Pansa,
convened the Senate on the subject of Antony immediately after the
sacrifices had been
performed and in the very temple.
Cicero and his friends urged that Antony be now declared a public enemy,
since he had seized Cisalpine Gaul with an armed force against the will of
the Senate and made of it a point of attack on the republic, and had brought
into Italy an army given to him to operate against the Thracians. They spoke
also of his seeking the supreme power as Cæsar's successor,
because he publicly surrounded himself in the city with such a large body of
armed centurions, and converted his house into a fortress with arms and
countersigns, and had borne himself more haughtily in other respects than
was befitting a yearly magistrate. Lucius Piso, who had charge of Antony's
interests in his absence, a man among the most illustrious in Rome, and
others who sided with him on his own account, or on Antony's, or because of
their own opinion, contended that Antony ought to have a trial, that it was
not the custom of their ancestors to condemn a man unheard, that it was not
decent to declare a man an enemy to-day who was a consul yesterday, and
especially one whom Cicero himself as well as the rest had so often lavishly
praised. The Senate, which was about equally divided in opinion, remained in
session till night. Early the next morning it reassembled to consider the
same question and then the party of Cicero was in the majority and Antony
would have been voted a public enemy had not the tribune Salvius adjourned
the sitting to the following day; for among the magistrates the one who has
the veto power always prevails.
[
51]
The Ciceronians heaped gross reproaches and insults
2 on Salvius for
this, and sallied out among the plebeians to excite them against him and
summoned him to answer before them. He set forth to obey the summons
undismayed until he was restrained by the Senate, which feared lest he
should change the people around by recalling Antony to their memory; for the
senators well knew that they were condemning an illustrious man without a
trial, and that the people had given him this very Gallic province. But
since they feared for the safety of the murderers they were angry with
Antony because he had made the first movement against them after the
amnesty, for which reason the Senate had previously needed the help of
Octavius against him. Although Octavius knew this he desired nevertheless to
take the lead in humbling Antony. Such were the reasons why the Senate was
angry with Antony. Although the vote on him was adjourned by the command of
the tribune, they passed a decree praising Decimus for not abandoning
Cisalpine Gaul to Antony, and directing Octavius to assist the consuls,
Hirtius and Pansa, with the army he now had. They awarded him a gilded
statue and the right to declare his opinion among the consulars in the
Senate even now, and the right to stand for the consulship itself ten years
before the legal period, and voted from the public treasury to the legions
that deserted from Antony to him the same amount that he had promised to
give them if they should be victorious. After passing these decrees they
adjourned, thinking that Antony would in fact know from the votes taken that
he was declared a public enemy and believing, also, that on the following
day the tribune would no longer interpose his veto. The mother, the wife,
and the son of Antony (who was still a young man), and his other relatives
and friends went around the whole night visiting the houses of influential
men and beseeching them. In the morning they put themselves in the way of
those going to the senate-house, fell at their feet with wailing and
lamentation and in mourning garments, crying out alongside the doors. Some
of the senators were moved by these cries, this spectacle, this so sudden
change of fortune. Cicero, fearing the result, addressed the Senate as
follows: --
[
52]
"What decision ought to be reached concerning Antony we determined yesterday.
When we bestowed honors on his enemies we thereby voted him an enemy.
Salvius, who alone interrupted the proceedings, must either have been wiser
than all the rest, or moved to do so by private friendship, or by ignorance
of present circumstances. It would be most disgraceful to us, on the one
hand, if all should seem to know less than one, and to Salvius, on the other
hand, if he should prefer private friendship to the public weal. If he is
not well acquainted with the present circumstances he ought to repose
confidence in the consuls, rather than in himself, in the prætors,
in his fellow-tribunes, and the other senators, so imposing in dignity and
in numbers, so much his superiors in age and experience, who have condemned
Antony. In our elections and in our jury trials justice is ever on the side
of the majority. If it be needful still to acquaint him with the reasons for
our action I will briefly recount the principal ones by way of reminder. At
Cæsar's death Antony possessed himself of our money. Having been
invested with the government of Macedonia by us he seized upon that of
Cisalpine Gaul without our authority. Having received an army to operate
against the Thracians he brought it into Italy against us instead. Each of
these powers with his own secret motives he asked from us, and when they
were refused he acted on his own authority. At Brundusium he organized a
royal cohort for his own use and openly made men-at-arms his private guards
and night watchmen, serving under a countersign. The whole remainder of the
army he led from Brundusium to the city, aiming by a shorter path at the
same designs that Cæsar contemplated. Being anticipated by the
younger Cæsar and his army he became alarmed and turned his course
to the Gallic province as a convenient point of attack on us, just as
Cæsar found it when he made himself our master.
[
53]
"In order to intimidate the soldiers to do every unlawful act he should
order, he decimated them although they had not revolted and had not
abandoned their watch or their ranks in time of war, for which offences
alone military law allows such cruel punishment, which only a few generals
have visited upon their soldiers and with reluctance, in cases of extreme
peril, as a matter of necessity. These citizens Antony put to death for a
word or a laugh when they had not been regularly condemned but chosen by
lot. For this reason those who could do so revolted from him, and you
yesterday voted them a donative as well-doers. Those who could not desert
joined him in wrong-doing under the influence of fear, marched against our
province as enemies, and besieged our army and our general, to whom you sent
letters directing him to hold the province. Antony now orders him to
evacuate it. Are we voting Antony an enemy, or is he already making war
against us? And these things our tribune is still ignorant of, and will
remain so until Decimus is overthrown and this great province on our border,
together with the army of Decimus, is added to the resources with which
Antony hopes to attack us. I suppose that the tribune will vote Antony an
enemy as soon as the latter becomes more powerful than we are."
3
[
54]
Scarcely had Cicero finished speaking when his friends broke forth in such
tumultuous applause that for a long time nobody could be heard on the other
side, until finally Piso came forward, when the senators, out of respect for
him, became silent and even the Ciceronians restrained themselves. Then Piso
said: " Our law, Conscript Fathers, requires that the accused shall himself
hear the charge preferred against him and shall be judged after he has made
his own defence; and for the truth of this I appeal to Cicero, our greatest
orator. Since he hesitates to accuse Antony when present, but brings against
him in his absence certain charges which he considers of the greatest
gravity, and not open to doubt, I have come forward to show, in the fewest
words, that these charges are false. He says that Antony converted the
public money to his own use after Cæsar's death. The law declares
such a person to be a thief, not a public enemy, and limits his punishment
accordingly. After Brutus had killed Cæsar he accused the latter
before the people of plundering the public money and leaving the treasury
empty. Soon afterward Antony proposed a decree to investigate these matters
and you adopted and confirmed his motion and promised a reward of one-tenth
to informers, which reward we will double if anybody will prove that Antony
had any part in the fraud. So much for the charge in reference to money.
[
55]
"We did not vote the governorship of Cisalpine Gaul to Antony. The people
gave it to him by a law, Cicero being present; just as other provinces had
often been given, and as this same governorship had previously been given to
Cæsar. It was a part of this law that, when Antony should arrive
at the province given to him, if Decimus would not yield it Antony should
declare war and lead the army into the Gallic province against him, instead
of using it against the Thracians, who were still quiet. But Cicero does not
consider Decimus, who is bearing arms against the law, an enemy, although he
considers Antony an enemy who is fighting in accordance with law. He who
accuses the law itself accuses the authors of the law, whom he ought to
change by persuasion, not to insult after having himself agreed with
them.
4 He ought not to intrust the province to
Decimus, whom the people drove out of the city on account of the murder,
while refusing to intrust to Antony what the people gave to him. It is not
the part of good counsellors to be at variance with the people, especially
in times of danger, or to forget that this very power of deciding who are
friends and who are enemies formerly belonged to the people. According to
the ancient laws the people are the sole arbiters of peace and war. Heaven
grant that they may not be reminded of this, and consequently be angry with
us when they have found a leader.
[
56]
"But it is said that Antony put certain soldiers to death. Being
commander-in-chief he was empowered to do so by you. No commander has ever
rendered an account of such matters. The laws do not consider it expedient
that the general should be answerable to his soldiers. There is nothing
worse in an army than disobedience, on account of which some soldiers have
been put to death even after a victory, and no one called to account those
who killed them. None of their relatives complain now, but Cicero complains
and while accusing Antony of murder stigmatizes him as a public enemy,
instead of calling for the punishment prescribed for murderers. The
desertion of two of his legions shows how insubordinate and arrogant
Antony's army was--which legions you had voted that he should command, and
who deserted, in violation of military law, not to you, but to Octavius.
Nevertheless Cicero praised them and yesterday proposed that they be paid
out of the public treasury. Heaven grant that this example may not plague
you hereafter. Hatred has betrayed Cicero into inconsistency, for he accused
Antony of aiming at supreme power and yet punishing his soldiers, whereas
such conspirators are always lenient, not severe, toward the men serving
under them. As Cicero does not hesitate to arraign as tyrannical all the
rest of Antony's administration since Cæsar's death, come, let me
examine his acts one by one.
[
57]
"Whom has Antony put to death in a tyrannical manner without trial--he who is
now in danger of being condemned unheard? Whom has he banished from the
city? Whom has he slandered in our presence? Or, if innocent toward us
individually, has he conspired against all of us collectively? When, O
Cicero? Was it when he carried through the Senate the act of amnesty for the
past? Was it when he abstained from prosecuting anybody for the murder? Was
it when he moved an investigation of the public moneys? Was it when he
proposed the recall of Sextus Pompey, the son of your Pompey, and payment
for his father's confiscated property out of the public treasury? Was it
when he seized that conspirator, the false Marius, and put him to death, and
you all applauded? And because you did so it was the only act of Antony that
Cicero did not calumniate. Was it when he brought in a decree that nobody
should ever propose a dictatorship, or vote for it, and that anybody
disobeying the decree might be killed with impunity by any one who wished?
These are the public acts that Antony performed for us during two months the
only months that he remained in the city after Cæsar's death, the
very time when the people were pursuing the murderers and you were
apprehensive of the future. If he were a villain what better opportunity
could he have had? But it is said that he was not in a condition to do
otherwise.
5 How? Did he not exercise the sole authority after
Dolabella departed for Syria? Did he not have an armed force in readiness in
the city, one that you gave him ? Did he not patrol the city by night ? Was
he not guarded at night against any conspiracy of his enemies? Did he not
have an excuse for this in the murder of Cæsar, his friend and
benefactor, the man most beloved by the common people ? Did he not have
another of a personal kind in the fact that the murderers conspired against
his life also? None of them did he kill or banish, but pardoned them what he
could in decency, and did not begrudge them the governorships that were
offered to them. Ye behold then, O Romans, these very grave and indisputable
charges of Cicero against Antony.
[
58]
" Since, in addition to charges, surmises are introduced to the effect that
Antony was about to lead an army to the city, but became alarmed because
Octavius had anticipated him with another army, how does it happen that when
the mere intention to do this makes a man an enemy the one who actually
comes and encamps alongside of us without authority is not considered an
enemy? What would have prevented Antony from coming if he had wanted to?
With 30,000 troops in line was he afraid of Octavius' 3000, half-armed,
unorganized, who had come together merely to gain his friendship, and who
left him as soon as they knew that he had chosen them for war? If Antony was
afraid to come with 30,000 how did he dare to come with only 1000? With
these what a crowd of us accompanied him to Tibur! What a crowd of us
voluntarily joined the soldiers in taking the oath of fidelity to him! What
praises did Cicero lavish on his acts and virtues! If Antony himself
contemplated any such thing [as invasion] why did he leave as pledges in our
hands his mother, his wife, and his grown up son, who are even now at the
door of the Senate weeping and fearful, not on account of what Antony has
done, but on account of the overwhelming power of his enemies.
[
59]
"These facts furnish you an example of Antony's defence and of Cicero's
fickleness. I will add an exhortation to right-minded men, not to do
injustice to the people or to Antony, not to expose the public interests to
new enmities and dangers while the commonwealth is sick and in want of
timely defenders, but to establish a sufficient force in the city to ward
off danger before breeding disorder outside, to provide against attacks from
every quarter, and to come to such decisions as you please when you are able
to carry them into effect. How shall these ends be accomplished? By allowing
Antony, as a matter of policy, or for the sake of the people, to have
Cisalpine Gaul. Call Decimus thence with his three legions, and when he
comes send him to Macedonia, retaining his legions here. If the two legions
that deserted from Antony deserted to us, as Cicero says, let us summon them
also from Octavius to the city. Thus with five legions sustaining us we
might pass such decrees as we think best with entire confidence, depending
on the favor of no man.
[
60]
" I have addressed these words to men who listen to me without malice or the
spirit of contention. Those who would excite you heedlessly and
inconsiderately on account of private enmity and private strife I exhort not
to come to hasty and rash decisions against the most important personages,
who command strong armies, and not to force them into war against their
will. Remember Marcius Coriolanus. Recall the recent doings of
Cæsar, whom we rashly voted an enemy while he was in like manner
leading an army and offering us the fairest terms of peace, whereby we
forced him to be an enemy in fact. Have regard for the people who were
lately pursuing Cæsar's murderers, lest we seem to insult them by
giving those murderers the governorship of provinces, by praising Decimus
for nullifying the people's law, and by voting Antony an enemy because he
accepted the Gallic province from the people. For which reasons the
well-wishers of the country ought to take thought for the erring, and the
consuls and tribunes ought to be more than ever careful in view of the
public dangers."
6
[
61]
Thus did Piso defend Antony, reproaching his enemies and alarming them. He
was evidently the cause of their not voting Antony an enemy. Nevertheless,
he did not succeed in securing for him the governorship of the Gallic
province. The friends and relatives of the murderers prevented it, fearing
lest, at the end of the war, Antony should join Octavius in avenging the
murder, for which reason they meant to keep Octavius and Antony always at
variance with each other. They voted to offer Antony Macedonia instead of
the Gallic province, and they ordered, either heedlessly or designedly, that
the other commands of the Senate be reduced to writing by Cicero and
delivered to the ambassadors. Cicero altered the decree and wrote as
follows: "Antony must raise the siege of Mutina forthwith, relinquish
Cisalpine Gaul to Decimus, withdraw to the hither side of the river Rubicon
(which forms the boundary between Italy and the province) before a specified
day, and submit himself in all things to the Senate." Thus provokingly and
falsely did Cicero write the orders of the Senate, not by reason of an
underlying hostility, as it seems, but at the instigation of some evil
spirit that was goading the republic to revolution and meditating
destruction to Cicero himself.
7
The remains of Trebonius having been lately brought home and the indignities
visited upon them more carefully inquired into, the Senate with little
opposition declared Dolabella a public enemy.
[
62]
The ambassadors who had been sent to Antony, ashamed of the extraordinary
character of the orders, said nothing, but simply delivered them to him.
Antony in his wrath indulged in many invectives against the Senate and
Cicero. "He was astonished," he said, "that they should consider
Cæsar (the man who had contributed most to the Roman sway) a
tyrant and a king, and did not so consider Cicero, whom Cæsar had
captured in war and whose life he had spared, while Cicero in return now
prefers Cæsar's assassins to his friends. He hated Decimus as long
as the latter was the friend of Cæsar, but loves him now that he
has become his murderer. He favors a man who took the province of Gaul after
Cæsar's death without authority,
8 and makes war on one who received it at
the hands of the people. He gives rewards to those who deserted from the
legions voted to me, and none to those who remain faithful, thus impairing
military discipline not more to my disadvantage than to that of the state.
He has given amnesty to the murderers, to which I have assented on account
of two respectable men. He holds Antony and Dolabella as enemies because we
keep what was given to us. That is the real reason. And if I but withdraw
from Gaul, then I am neither enemy nor monarch! I declare that I will bring
to naught the amnesty with which they are not satisfied."
[
63]
After saying much more to the same purpose Antony wrote his reply to the
decree, saying that he would obey the Senate in all respects as the voice of
his country, but to Cicero, who wrote the orders, he would make the
following answer: "The people gave me the province of Gaul by a law, and I
shall prosecute Decimus for not obeying the law, and I shall visit
punishment for the murder upon him alone, as representative of them all, in
order that the Senate, which now participates in the wickedness by reason of
Cicero's support of Decimus, may at last be purged of the shocking crime."
These words Antony spoke and wrote in reply.
9 The Senate immediately voted him an enemy and also the
army under him if it should not abandon him. The government of Macedonia and
Illyria, with the troops still remaining in both, was assigned to Marcus
Brutus until the republic should be reëstablished. The latter
already had an army of his own and had received some troops from
Apuleius.
10 He also had war-ships and ships of
burden and about 16,000 talents in money and quantities of arms which he
found in Demetrias, where they had been placed by Gaius Cæsar long
before, all of which the Senate now voted that he should use for the
advantage of the republic. They voted that Cassius should be governor of
Syria and that he should make war against Dolabella, and that all other
commanders of Roman provinces and soldiers between the Adriatic sea and the
Orient should obey the orders of Cassius and Brutus in all things.
