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THE SIXTH ORATION OF M. T. CICERO AGAINST MARCUS ANTONIUS. CALLED ALSO THE SIXTH PHILIPPIC. ADDRESSED TO THE PEOPLE.
15.
[37]
Moved by these considerations, since the tribunes of the people have brought
forward a motion to insure that the senate shall be able to meet in safety on
the first of January, and that we may be able to deliver our sentiments on the
general welfare of the state with freedom, I give my vote that Caius Pansa and
Aulus Hirtius, the consuls elect, do take care that the senate be enabled to
meet in safety on the first of January; and, as an edict has been published by
Decimus Brutus, imperator and consul elect, I vote
that the senate thinks that Decimus Brutus, imperator and consul, deserves excellently well of the republic,
inasmuch as he is upholding the authority of the senate, and the freedom and
empire of the Roman people;
[38]
and as he is also
retaining the province of Gallia Citerior, a province full of most virtuous and
brave men, and of citizens most devoted to the republic, and his army, in
obedience to the senate, I vote that the senate judges that he, and his army,
and the municipalities and colonies of the province of Gaul, have acted and are acting properly, and
regularly, and in a manner advantageous to the republic. And the senate thinks
that it will be for the general interests of the republic that the provinces
which are at present occupied by Decimus Brutus and by Lucius Plancus, both
imperators, and consuls elect, and also by the officers who are in command of
provinces, shall continue to be held by them in accordance with the provisions
of the Julian law, until each of these officers has a successor appointed by a
resolution of the senate; and that they shall take care to maintain those
provinces and armies in obedience to the senate and people of Rome, and as a defense to the republic. And
since, by the exertions and valor and wisdom of Caius Caesar, and by the
admirable unanimity of the veteran soldiers, who, obeying his authority, have
been and are a protection to the republic, the Roman people has been defended,
and is at this present time being defended, from the most serious dangers.
[39]
And as the Martial legion has encamped at
Alba, in a municipal town of the greatest loyalty and courage, and has devoted
itself to the support of the authority of the senate, and of the freedom of the
Roman people; and as the fourth legion, behaving with equal wisdom and with the
same virtue, under the command of Lucius Egnatuleius the quaestor, an
illustrious citizen, has defended and is still defending the authority of the
senate and the freedom of the Roman people; I give my vote, That it is and shall
be an object of anxious care to the senate to pay due honor and to show due
gratitude to them for their exceeding services to the republic: and that the
senate hereby orders that when Caius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius, the consuls elect,
have entered on their office, they take the earliest opportunity of consulting
this body on these matters, as shall seem to them expedient for the republic,
and worthy of their own integrity, and loyalty.
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