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I. CROSSING VARIOUS RUBICONS
II. AFTER THE IDES OF MARCH
III. MISUNDERSTANDING OCTAVIAN
I. CROSSING VARIOUS RUBICONS
Caelius to Cicero (Ad Fam. 8.14) August, 50 B.C.
The proposition is this, concerning which those who have power over affairs are going to come to blows: Gnaeus Pompey has decided that Caesar not be allowed otherwise to become consul, unless he has given over his army and his provinces; Caesar however is persuaded that he cannot be safe, if from his army he withdraws. He brings forward, however, this compromise, that both should give up their armies {Pompey at this time is Proconsul of Spain, in absentia(?)}. Thus their famous friendship and hateful joining together is not falling back into a hidden mutual disparagement but is breaking out into war; nor concerning my own affairs can I discover which plan I should adopt....This, I judge, does not escape you: men who are in a domestic dissension ought, as long as the struggle is statesmanlike and without arms, to follow the more honorable party, but when it comes to war and the camps, the stronger one; and they ought to judge that one better by as much as it is safer. In this discord, I see that Pompey will hold with himself the Senate and those who judge things; to Caesar will go all those who live in fear or evil hope; his army is incomparable entirely. Only let there be sufficient space [of time] for considering the resources of each, and for choosing a party!...
If one or the other of them does not go off on a Parthian war, I see great discords hanging over us, which steel and force will settle. Each in spirit and in resource is prepared. If without danger to you it could happen, it is a great and pleasing spectacle with Fortuna has prepared for you!
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 7.1) Oct. 16, 50 B.C. (Athens)
...For I seem to see such a great flashing of weapons—unless that same god who (beyond what we dared to hope) from a Parthian war freed us looks down again upon the Res Publica—such a great struggle as there has never been. But come—this is an evil thing for me along with everyone else. I don't at all demand of you that you think about that; only, I beg you, take up this little personal problem of mine. Don't you see that with you the originator of it I am attached to both of them? And I wish that from the outset I had listened to your most warning.
"But not ever my spirit in my breast did you persuade" {Odysseus, Od. 9.33}.
But at last, nevertheless, you persuaded me to become attached to the one, because concerning myself he best deserved it, and to the other, because he was so strong. I did it, therefore, and I have so effected it, with all compliance, that to neither of them has anyone been dearer than I. For this is the way we thought: being joined with Pompey it would not be necessary for me to at fault concerning the Res Publica, and by being sympathetic with Caesar I would not have to fight with Pompey. Now there impends, as you show and I myself see, a supreme contention between them. Myself, moreover, each of them numbers as his own friend (unless perhaps the one is simulating it—for Pompey has no doubt, since he judges—truly—that what he now feels about the Res Publica I strongly approve). From both, however, I have gotten letters (at the same time as yours) of such a sort that neither one seems to make of anyone at all than of me. Truly, what am I to do? I am not asking about the long run (for if it comes to army camps, I see that it would be better to be conquered along with the one than to conquer along with the other), but about these things, which will be debated when I come: should the claim of an absent candidate be considered? Should he disband his army?
"SPEAK, MARCUS TULLIUS!"
What am I to say? "Wait, please, until I meet Atticus?" There is no room for back-turning. Against Caesar?
"Where are those pressed together right hands?" {as an unknown Latin poet presumably put it}
For, that these things be permitted to him, I helped him when he asked me to himself....
Should my sympathies go the other way? "I fear" not Pompey only, but also
"the Trojans, and Trojan women" {as Hector says, about the possibility of running away from battle, Il. 6.442, and repeats just before he is killed by Achilles, Il. 22.100}.
Nevertheless, they will give it their attention, that they elicit my opinion. You will laugh at this point, perhaps, but how I wish I were even now delaying in my province. Plainly I should have, if this was impending. And yet, nothing would be more wretched....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 7.3) Dec. 9, 50 B.C. (Trebula [en route to Rome])
....Concerning their own power they will make their flashing of arms, these men, at this time and to the danger of the state. For, if the Res Publica is being defended, why in the consulship of that very same man {Caesar} was it not defended?....Why was supreme command for that man—and why in that way—prolonged?.... By these things that man has become so strong that now in one man {Pompey{ the hope of resistance is; a man who I wish had not given to him {Caesar} such great power, rather than that now with such strength he resist him....With respect to the very thing which you said, "What will happen, when it will be said, 'SPEAK, MARCUS TULLIUS'?"—in a word, "with Gnaeus Pompey I agree." Nevertheless, Pompey himself privately I will urge toward reconciliation....
Truly however these things I see: with a man most audacious and most prepared this business is, with a man joined by all of the condemned and all of those in disgrace (and all of those worthy of condemnation and disgrace make [their stand] on that side), by almost all of the youth, by all that urban and damned plebs, the strong tribunes (with the addition of C. Cassius), by all those by debts pressed down (who are more, I understand, than I thought). A cause only that "cause" of his does not have: in other things it abounds.
On this side we all do all things that it not be by arms decided; of arms the outcome is always uncertain, and now truly that it go in favor of the other faction is greatly to be feared....
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Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 7.4) Dec. 10/11? 50 B.C. Near Rome?
....Pompey I saw, on the 10th of December. We were together two hours perhaps. With a great delight, it seemed to me, he was affected by my arrival....Concerning the Res Publica, however, he so spoke to me that no doubt we shall have war. Nothing about hope of reconciliation....What more? Nothing else consoles me, unless it is that when his {Caesar's} enemies have given him another consulship and fortuna has given him the highest power, I do not judge that he will be so demented that he will bring these [advantages] into the risk of a decisive conflict. But if he does begin his rush to ruin, then truly there are many things which I fear, things which I do not dare to write....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 7.5) Dec. 17?, 50 B.C. Formiae
....Concerning the Res Publica, daily I am more afraid. For the Good Men {Pompey's faction} are not—as is thought—in agreement. How many Roman Equestrians, how many Senators I myself have seen, who most bitterly about everything else and especially about this journey of Pompey's complain! Peace is what we need. From victory many evils and especially—certainly—a tyrant will come into being....
All that is left is to make jokes—if this man {Caesar} allows it. For I myself am one who thinks that it is more beneficial to concede to him what he demands than to bring ourselves into war. For it is late for us to resist him, when for ten years we have nourished him against us.....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 7.6) Dec. 17/18?, 50 B.C. Formiae
....Concerning the Res Publica I am greatly afraid, and as yet I have scarcely found anyone who would not think that what he demands ought to be conceded to Caesar rather than that he ought to be fought. That is, indeed, an impudent demand, but stronger than was our opinion. Why however now for the first time should we resist him?
"For not indeed is this a greater evil" {Od. 12.209}
than when for five years we extended his command....Unless perhaps these things at that time were weapons which we gave him, so that now when he is well prepared we might fight him.
You will say: "What will you therefore feel?" Not the same thing as I shall speak. For I feel that all things ought to be done in order that by arms it not be decided; but I shall say the same thing as Pompey does. Nor will I do this because of a humble spirit; but again, this is the very greatest evil to the Res Publica, that in a certain way for me beyond the rest it would not be right in such great things to dissent from Pompey.
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 7.8.) Dec. 25/26, 50
{after another meeting with Pompey on the 25th} Formiae
....If [Caesar] should run mad, [Pompey] is utterly contemptuous of the man and in his own and the Res Publica's resources has confidence....I was relieved of worry, hearing a man—brave and experienced and most strong in authority—discoursing like a statesman upon the dangers of a simulated peace. We had moreover in our hands [Mark] Antony's speech made on Dec. 21, in which there was an attack on Pompey even from his boyhood, a complaint about some condemned men and a frightening [threat] of arms. Concerning this, [Pompey] said, "What do you judge that he himself will do, if into his possession the Res Publica comes, when this quaestor of his—sickly and helpless—dares to speak [in this way]?" What more? Not only does he not seem to look out for peace, but he even seems to fear it....To me however this is the most annoying thing: that there is money which I must pay to Caesar....For it is bad form to be one's political opponent's debtor....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 7.9) Dec. 26/27, 50 B.C. Formiae
....Do we admit Caesar's candidacy while he has his army, either through the Senate or through the tribunes of the plebs obtaining that concession? Or are we to persuade Caesar to give up his province and his armies, and thus become consul? Or if that is not persuasive to him, do we hold the election without his candidacy—he enduring it, and so retaining his province? Or, if by means of the tribunes of the plebs he does not endure it and nevertheless remains peaceful, is the matter to be brought to a state of affairs where there are no consuls? Or, if for that reason (because his candidacy is not upheld) he brings up his army, then by arms are we to contend with him? He moreover, might make a beginning of arms, either immediately, while are less prepared, or later....Moreover, once war is undertaken either the city must be held or, if it is abandoned, that man from food and the rest of his resources must be shut off—
Which of these evils—of which some one certainly must be undergone—do you think the least?...Indeed, day and night I am tortured.
{Caesar crosses the Rubicon, and civil war begins, Jan. 10, 49 B.C.}
Cicero to Tiro (Ad Fam. 14.11) Jan. 12, 49 B.C.
Never in greater danger was our state, never have the wicked citizens had a more prepared leader. Wholly on our side also we are most diligently preparing; this is happening by the authority and zeal of our Pompey, who—too late—begins to fear Caesar....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 7.10) Jan. 17/18, 49 B.C. Near Rome
Suddenly I conceived a plan, that before it got light I would go out [of Rome], lest I come into anyone's sight or conversation....Concerning the rest, neither by god what to do now nor what to do later do I know; so thoroughly upset I am by the rashness of our demented plan!...
....Our Gnaeus [Pompey]—what kind of plan he has taken or will take, I do not know: so far in the towns he is cooped up, and is stupefied....So far, certainly (unless I myself am insane) [his plan] has been silly in every way, and rash....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 7.11) Jan. 17? or 21?, 49 B.C. Formiae?
I ask you, what is this? Or, what is happening? For myself, indeed, I am in the dark....By the gods! What kind of thing does this plan of Pompey's seem to you? I mean, that he has abandoned Rome. For I myself am helpless. Then, nothing is more absurd! Would you abandon the city? The same thing, therefore, if the Gauls were coming?....
"Themistocles did it." Yes, because one city was unable to bear the flood of all the barbarians. But Pericles did not do the same thing nearly fifty years after, although beyond the walls he held nothing! Once, our own people—although the rest of the city was captured—nevertheless retained the citadel {during the invasion of Gauls in 390 B.C.}....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 7.12) Jan. 21/22, 49 B.C. Formiae
....What Pompey is going to do, I don't think even he himself knows; certainly no one of us does....Whether he wants to make a stand anywhere or to go across the sea, is unknown. If he remains, I fear he will be unable to hold a firm army; but if he departs {from Italy}, then how, or to where, or what we are to do, I do not know....
Cicero to Tiro (Ad Fam. 14.12) Jan. 27, 49 B.C.
....A marvelous madness has invaded not only the wicked, but even those who are held to be Good, so that they want to fight—while I am shouting that nothing is more wretched than civil war....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 11.6) Nov. 27 48 B.C. Brundisium
....My {daughter} Tullia's sickness and weakness of body takes my breath away [with fear]....Concerning Pompey's end, to me there was never any doubt: such a great despair of his affairs had occupied the minds of all the kings and peoples that—wherever he might come—I thought that this would happen. I am not able to not grieve over his fall: for as a man of integrity and as a pure and serious man I knew him....
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II. AFTER THE IDES OF MARCH
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 14.1) Apr. 7, 44 B.C. Near Rome (visiting Matius)
....About [Brutus], the man I am visiting reports that Caesar used to say, "Of great importance it is, what this man wants; but whatever it is, he badly wants it."....[And the same man said that] when I had gone to him [Caesar] and was sitting waiting until I was called, [Caesar] said, "Can I doubt but that I am at the summit of hatred, when M. Cicero sits and cannot at his convenience visit me? But ye, if anyone is easy [to get along with], he is. Nevertheless, I don't doubt but that he hates me evilly!"—this, and more of the same kind....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 14.4) Apr. 10, 44 B.C. Lanuvium
....Indeed, I grieve at what never in any other state happened, that the Res Publica was not at the same time as liberty recovered. It is horrifying, what is being said, what is being threatened. And I fear a Gallic war, too, and where Sextus [Pompey] himself will go.
But let all things run against us, the Ides of March are consoling! Our "heroes" accomplished what through themselves they could accomplish, most gloriously and most magnificently: the remaining matters need money and resources, neither of which we have....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 14.10) Apr. 19, 44 B.C.
Is it thus, truly? Is this what my—and your—Brutus has accomplished...that all the acts, writings, words, promises, thoughts of Caesar are more strong than if he himself were alive? Do you remember me shouting aloud on that very first day on the Capitol that the Senate ought to be called...? Immortal gods!—what works we could have accomplished when there was rejoicing among all the Good Men (and even in the sufficiently good), when the robbers were broken!....Do you remember yourself shouting that the cause was dead, if for his funeral ceremony he were carried out? But he was even in the Forum burned, he was praised in a way to cause pity, and the slaves and the poor against our roofs, with torches, were sent. What then?—that they dare to say, "are you against Caesar's approving nod?" These and other things I cannot bear. And so I think of "exchanging one land for another" {Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 682}....
Cicero to Cassius (Ad Fam. 12.4) Feb. 2, 43 B.C.
I wish that on the Ides of March you had invited me to dinner: of left-overs there would have been none {a reference to Brutus' refusal to turn the assassination into a purge, and the consequent survival of Mark Antony}. Now your left-overs are what worry me, and indeed me beyond the others....Nothing is more foul than that concerning Philippus and Piso, the ambassadors, nothing more disgraceful. When they were sent to announce to Antony, by the Senate's vote, certain definite things; when that man obeyed none of those things, they besides brought from him to us his intolerable demands....
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III. MISUNDERSTANDING OCTAVIAN
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 14.5) Apr. 11, 44 B.C. Astura
....But I would like to know, how was the arrival of Octavius, whether there was any crowd rushing to him, whether there was any suspicion of a revolution. I think not, indeed; but nevertheless, whatever it was like, I want to know....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 14.10) Apr. 19, 44 B.C. Cumae
....Octavius came to Naples on April 18...[and it is reported that] he will accept his inheritance. But, as you write, that will be a great quarrel with Antony!...
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 14.11) Apr. 21, 44 B.C. Puteoli?
....Just now came Octavius, even to the closest house [to mine]; to me he is wholly given over....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 14.12) Apr. 22, 44 B.C. Puteoli
....With us here, full of respect and full of friendship, is Octavius, whom his own people greet as Caesar; but [his host] does not, and so we do not either. That I deny to be possible for a Good citizen. So many stand around us, who even threaten our friends with death....What do you judge [will happen], when the boy comes to Rome, where our liberators are not able to be safe? They, indeed, always will be famous, and in the consciousness of their deed even happy. But we, unless I am deceived, shall fall flat....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 15.2) Jun. 9/10, 44 B.C. Astura?
....In Octavian, as I have seen clearly, there is enough innate [ability], enough spirit; and he seems, towards our "heroes" to be as favorable as we would wish. But how much we must trust his age, his name, his heritage, his bringing up—this is a great subject for planning. His father-in-law thinks [that Octavian is to be trusted] not at all....But nevertheless, he must be nourished, and, if nothing else, from Antony disengaged....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 16.8) Nov. 2, 44 B.C. Puteoli
....On the 1st, in the evening, a letter for me, from Octavian. Great things are undertaken!....Clearly he looks for this, that with himself as leader war be waged against Antony. And so I see that in a few days we shall be in arms. Whom, however, are we to follow? See his age, see his name! And he demands of me, first, that he secretly confer with me....This indeed is childish, if he thinks it can be done secretly....
Cicero to Atticus (Ad Att. 16.11) Nov. 5, 44 B.C. Puteoli
....From Octavian every day there is a letter—that I undertake his business, that I come to Capua, that a second time I save the Res Publica, that anyway I come to Rome....He has however acted very vigorously, and he is still. To Rome he will come with a great army, but he is so clearly a boy!....
Cicero to Brutus (Ad Brut. 7) Apr. 21, 43 B.C.
....Of Caesar, truly a boy, marvelous is the innate quality of his manliness! If only so easily now that he is flourishing due to his office and his patronage I could direct and hold him, as easily as so far I have held him! This is wholly a more difficult thing, but nevertheless I have not lost faith; for the young man is persuaded—and mostly by me—that by his work we have been saved. And certainly, unless he had turned Antony off the city, all would have been lost....
Brutus to Cicero (Ad Brut. 11) May 15, 43 B.C.
....Beyond your prudence—which you have in abundance—nothing from you is asked for except moderation in the giving out of high offices. All other things you have so much that with those of anyone you like of the ancients your good qualities could be compared: this one thing, from a grateful and generous spirit begun, is asked for: a more cautious and a more moderate generosity. For in no way ought the Senate to give to anyone what for those thinking in an evil way might provide an example or an advantage. And so I fear, concerning the consulship, lest that Caesar of yours think that he has climbed up so high, by your decrees, that from there—if he is made consul—he might not climb down.
Why, if Antony in the equipment of kinship left by another man holds the opportunity of becoming a king, how do you think it would be for a man's spirit, if he thought himself able—not at the instigation of a slain tyrant but at that of the Senate itself—to passionately desire any sort of supreme power he liked?
Therefore I will praise your affability and foresight when I begin to hold myself that convinced that Caesar will be content with such extraordinary honors as he might get....Would that you were able to see my fear about that man!....
Brutus to Atticus (Ad Brut. 17) early June, 43 B.C.
You write to me that Cicero marvels, because I do not ever indicate approval of his deeds: since you demand it of me, under your compulsion I shall write what I feel.
That in every case Cicero has acted with the best spirit, I know; for what to me could be more convincing than his spirit regarding the Res Publica?....I don't know what to write to you except this one thing: the boy's greediness and lawlessness have rather been excited than repressed by Cicero, and he has handed over to him such a great amount of indulgence, that he cannot restrain himself from malicious remarks....
He boasts to me that he has sustained war against Antony while he himself was in civilian clothing, our Cicero does: but what good is this to me, if the reward demanded for Antony's suppression is someone's succession to Antony's place, and if the avenger of that evil stands forth the instigator of another having a foundation and roots which are deeper? Are we so to suffer it, because these things which he now does are in fear of domination or [because they are in fear] of a dominator or [because they are in fear] of Antony?
I myself however have no gratitude for a man who, while not serve an angered [dominator], does not deprecate the matter [of domination] itself....Let Octavius therefore call Cicero "father," refer all things to him, thank him; nevertheless this will become apparent: his words are contrary to what he is really doing....For what is it to our cause that Antony is conquered, if he has been conquered so that which he held lies open for another?....I myself certainly...will wage war against the thing itself, that is against kingship and extraordinary supreme commands and domination and power which would wish itself to be above the laws....
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