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[20]
But when he had summoned us all by so severe
an edict, why did he not attend himself? Do you suppose that he was detained by
any melancholy or important occasion? He was detained drinking and feasting. If,
indeed, it deserves to be called a feast, and not rather gluttony. He neglected
to attend on the day mentioned in his edict; and he adjourned the meeting to the
twenty-eighth. He then summoned us to attend in the Capitol; and at that temple
he did arrive himself, coming up through some mine left by the Gauls. Men came,
having been summoned, some of them indeed men of high distinction, but forgetful
of what was due to their dignity. For the day was such, the report of the object
of the meeting such, such too the man who had convened the senate, that it was
discreditable for a senate to feel no fear for the result. And yet to those men
who had assembled he did not dare to say a single word about Caesar, though he
had made up his mind1
to submit a motion respecting him to the senate. There was a man of consular
rank who had brought a resolution ready drawn up.
1 He had intended to propose to the senate to declare Octavius a public enemy. We must recollect that in these orations Cicero, even when he speaks of Caius Caesar, means Octavius.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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