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9.
[19]
For the incredible and godlike virtue of Caesar checked the cruel and frantic
onslaught of that robber, whom then that madman believed that he was injuring
with his edicts, ignorant that all the charges which he was falsely alleging
against that most righteous young man, were all very appropriate to the
recollections of his own childhood. He entered the city, with what an escort, or
rather with what a troop! when on the right hand and on the left, amid the
groans of the Roman people, he was threatening the owners of property, taking
notes of the houses, and openly promising to divide the city among his
followers. He returned to his soldiers; then came that mischievous assembly at
Tibur. From thence he hurried to
the city; the senate was convened at the Capitol. A decree with the authority of
the consuls was prepared for proscribing the young man; when all on a sudden
(for he was aware that the Martial legion had encamped at Alba) news is brought
him of the proceedings of the fourth legion.
Alarmed at that, he abandoned his intention of submitting a motion to the senate
respecting Caesar. He departed not by the regular roads, but by the by-lanes, in
the robe of a general; and on that very self-same day he trumped up a countless
number of resolutions of the senate; all of which he published even before they
were drawn up.
[20]
From thence it was not a
journey, but a race and flight into Gaul. He thought that Caesar was pursuing him with the fourth
legion, with the Martial legion, with the veterans, whose very name he could not
endure for fright. Then, as he was making his way into Gaul, Decimus Brutus opposed him; who
preferred being himself surrounded by the waves of the whole war, to allowing
him either to retreat or advance; and who put Mutina on him as a sort of bridle to his exultation. And when
he had blockaded that city with his works and fortifications, and when the
dignity of a most flourishing colony, and the majesty of a consul elect, were
both insufficient to deter him from his parricidal treason, then (I call you,
and the Roman people, and all the gods who preside over this city, to witness),
against my will, and in spite of my resistance and remonstrance, three
ambassadors of consular rank were sent to that robber, to that leader of
gladiators, Marcus Antonius.
[21]
Who ever was such a barbarian? Who was ever so savage? so brutal? He would not
listen to them; he gave them no answer; and he not only despised and showed that
he considered of no importance those men who were with him, but still more us,
by whom these men had been sent. And afterward what wickedness, or what crime
was there which that traitor abstained from? He blockaded your colonists, and
the army of the Roman people, and your general, and your consul elect. He lays
waste the lands of a nation of most excellent citizens. Like a most inhuman
enemy he threatens all virtuous men with crosses and tortures.
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