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6.
Will it then be possible for you to rely on the certainty of any peace, when you
see Antonius, or rather the Antonii, in the city? Unless, indeed, you despise
Lucius: I do not despise even Caius. But, as I think, Lucius will be the
dominant spirit,—for he is the patron of the five-and-thirty tribes,
whose votes he took away by his law, by which he divided the magistracies in
conjunction with Caius Caesar. He is the patron of the centuries of the Roman
knights, which also he thought fit to deprive of the suffrages: he is the patron
of the men who have been military tribunes; he is the patron of the middle of
Janus.
[17]
O ye gods! who will he able to support
this man's power? especially when he has brought all his dependents into the
lands. Who ever was the patron of all the tribes? and of the Roman knights? and
of the military tribunes? Do you think that the power of even the Gracchi was
greater than that of this gladiator will be? whom I have called gladiator, not
in the sense in which sometimes Marcus. Antonius too is called gladiator, but as
men call him who are speaking plain Latin. He has fought in Asia as a mirmillo. After having equipped his
own companion and intimate friend in the armor of a Thracian, he slew the
miserable man as he was flying; but he himself received a palpable wound, as the
scar proves.
[18]
What will the man who murdered his friend in
this way, when he has an opportunity, do to an enemy? and if he did such a thing
as this for the fun of the thing, what do you think he will do when tempted by
the hope of plunder? Will he not again meet wicked men in the decuries? will he
not again tamper with those men who have received lands? will he not again seek
those who have been banished? will he not, in short, be Marcus Antonius; to
whom, on the occasion of every commotion, there will be a rush of all profligate
citizens? Even if there be no one else except those who are with him now, and
these who in this body now openly speak in his favor, will they be too small in
number? especially when all the protection which we might have had from good men
is lost, and when those men are prepared to obey his nod? But I am afraid, if at
this time we fail to adopt wise counsels, that that party will in a short time
appear too numerous for us.
[19]
Nor have I any
dislike to peace; only I do dread war disguised under the name of peace.
Wherefore, if we wish to enjoy peace we must first wage war. If we shrink from
war, peace we shall never have.
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