12. L. Domitium: L. Domitius Enobarbus was a man eminent 148 for his glorious actions, and, before the commencement of the civil wars, was ordered by the senate to succeed Cæsar in Gaul. 21. Testamento: It has been said, that Cæsar was not so much pleased with Antony, when the civil wars were ended, as he had been during their continuance. Some proof of this was Cæsar's de manding immediate payment of the money, which Antony had bound himself to pay by the purchase of Pompey's estate. But it is supposed Cæsar never had a design of ruining Antony, and that he desired only to check his extravagance, and thus make him more useful to his own designs. 23. Respondisti... ferociter: Trusting to his interest with Cæsar, Antony never designed to pay for Pompey's estate; and, when Cæsar demanded payment, was so much provoked, that he is said to have conceived a design against Cæsar's life, of which Cæsar himself complained openly in the senate. 35. Illa tabula: The inventory of Pompey's estate. Antony had destroyed, disposed of, and abused so large a portion of Pompey's estate and effects, that the inventory of them, exhibited at the sale, became an object of ridicule. 43. Hæredes L. Rubrii: By permission of Cæsar, the heirs of Rubrius, whose goods Antony had taken, stopped the sale that he was making of the effects of Pompey, which he was obliged to sell in order to procure money to pay Cæsar. 1. Ipsis temporibus: At the time of this sale, Antony sent an as- 149 sassin to Cæsar's house to slay him, but the murderer did not succeed. 4. Proficiscitur in Hispaniam: When Cæsar had ended the African war, he went to Spain to attack one of Pompey's sons, who had collected an army to revenge the death of his father. 6. Rudem: This was a kind of rod or wand given to gladiators in token of their discharge, when they had ended their combats. 13. Ter depugnavit Cæsar cum civibus: Once in Thessaly at Pharsalia with Pompey; once at Thapsus in Africa with Scipio and Juba; once with the sons of Pompey at Munda in Spain. 24. Narbone: This city was the capital of Gallia Narbonensis. 31. Gallicis....lacernd Pattens and a short cloak belonged to a military dress, in which it was very improper to enter the city and appear as a candidate for any magistracy. 42. Saxa Rubra: This was the name of a village between Rome and the city of Veii. 1. A Marco: i. e. Marcus Antonius. 2. Ad eam: Fulvia, his wife. 11. Terrore nocturno: Antony departed from Rome to compliment. Cæsar on his victory at Munda in Spain over the sons of Pompey, but, having met some despatches, he returned to Rome with so much haste, that there was a great public alarm, the people supposing that some important event had happened, that Cæsar was dead, or that, having destroyed the military force of the Pompeian party, he now approached Rome to inflict bloody, revenge upon his unprotected antagonists. 13. L. Plancus: Plancus was an intimate friend of Cicero. 21. Habebat hoc.... Cæsar: One can scarcely believe, that this Cæsar is the man, whom Cicero, when delivering the oration for Marcellus and Ligarius, addressed with so much adulation, Yet he is the same; and Cicero, at this time uninfluenced by fear 150 150 of punishment or hope of favor, dares portray his character in its true colors. Cæsar was an ambitious man; his ambition pursued those means to effect its objects, which the same passion in other men has always chosen. To enslave his country, he deluded or overpowered the virtuous, and, by encouragement and reward, made the vicious the ministers by whose services he executed his designs. 25. Nihil queror de Dolabella: Cæsar promised the consulship to Dolabella; Antony had already been appointed consul, and being jealous of Dolabella's rivalling him in Cæsar's favor, persuaded Casar to retain the consulship himself. Dolabella's honor was injured by this proceeding, and in the senate, where he dared not speak against Cæsar, he pronounced a severe invective against Antony. A quarrel ensued; Cæsar was induced to assure Dolabella, that, before he went to the Parthian war, he would resign the consulship to him; but Antony declared that, by his authority as augur, he would disturb that election, whenever it should be attempted. 151 30. Calenda Januaria: The time when the consuls elect entered their office. 32. Hic: Antony. 34. Proficisceretur: To the Parthian war. 38. Vel impedire vel vitiare: It was in the power of the augurs to hinder or dissolve any public meeting by observing an inauspicious omen, as when it thundered, or birds were in certain positions, etc. This power was often abused. 41. Istuc, etc. A literal translation of this passage is as follows: "If you had not been augur, and had been consul, would you have been less able to do that which you said you could do by your sacerdotal authority? See that it is not more easy; for we [the augurs] have only the right of declaring; the consuls and other magistrates, that of inspection." 6. De cœlo servare: To observe the auspices by viewing the heavens. 7. Per leges: The Ælian and Tuscan laws forbade the taking of the auspices while the people were engaged in business, because they should have been taken before. 11. Idus Martias: On the Ides of March Cæsar was slain. 15. Sortitio prærogativa: The consuls were chosen by the Comitia centuriata. See Note, page 43, line 20. By this institution of Servius Tullius, the common people had little power. After the expulsion of kings, the Romans altered this aristocratical regulation, and decreed, that the centuries should vote according to lot, that that century should vote first upon which the lot fell, and should be called centuria prærogativa, and that the other centuries, which had the appellation of jure vocatæ, should vote according to their proper places. 16. Quiescit: Antony.-Renuntiatur: Dolabella. 19. Bonus augur: This is an ironical compliment to Antony, whom, he says, you would call a Lælius. Lælius was an augur of much celebrity and influence. 19. ALIO DIE: When Antony saw that Dolabella was elected, he pretended to see an inauspicious omen, and exclaimed, (Alio die) Adjourn." 26. Augur auguri, consul consuli: Antony was augur and consul; Cæsar was augur and consul. 35. Auguri. e. I, who am augur. 37. Lupercalia: This festival was on the fifteenth of February. 41. Rhetoris: Sextus Clodius, of whom mention has been made 151 before in this oration. 43. Collega tuus: Cæsar. 1. Lupercus: One engaged in celebrating the festival of the Lu- 152 percalia. 5. Ille: Cæsar. 13. Cùm es nudus concionatus: The ceremonies of the Lupercalian festival were; first, two goats and a dog were killed; then the foreheads of two young men of distinction were touched with the bloody knife. Afterwards the skins of the victims were cut into thongs and whips for the young men; who, armed in this manner, and covered only with a pair of drawers, ran about the city and fields, striking all they met. Antony this year was one of the young men, and, while Cæsar was sitting in a golden chair seeing them run, Antony advanced to him, and offered him a diadem and kingly power, which Cæsar refused. 21. Fastis: Books, annual registers. 22. POPULI JUSSU: This is false; there was no order of the people. 26. De die....in diem: Vivere de die signifies to live sumptuously and feast every day; in diem vivere is to regard the present only, to be careless of futurity. 29. L. Tarquinius: He was the last king of the Romans, and was expelled by Lucius Junius Brutus.-Sp. Cassius, Melius, M. Manlius: These men at different times were supposed to be desirous of making themselves kings of Rome, and were put to death. 40. Fuga: When Antony heard of Cæsar's death, he fled, fearing he also should be killed. 42. Beneficio eorum: Brutus and Cassius. Antony would have been slain, had not Brutus advised his friends to spare him. 2. Liberatoribus nostris: Brutus and Cassius. 9. Post diem tertium: After the death of Cæsar. 10. Obsiderent: After the death of Cæsar, Lepidus armed the Forum in the night with soldiers. 15. Puerum nobilem: Antony sent his son to Brutus into the Capitol as an hostage. Bambalio was Antony's father-in-law. 21. Pulchra laudatio, etc.: Cicero speaks ironically. Antony pronounced a funeral oration over the body of Cæsar.-Tua miseratio: In the course of his eulogy he held up to the sight of the populace the robe of Cæsar, rent by the daggers of his assassins, and stained with blood, intending, by exciting their pity, to inflame their pas sions against the conspirators.-Tua cohortatio: Antony exhorted the people to revenge the death of Cæsar. 22. Illas faces incendisti: The people, moved by the speech of Antony, took brands of fire from the funeral pile of Cæsar, burnt some houses of the senators, and were with difficulty dispersed by Dolabella, the other consul. 29. Immunitatis tabula: Cæsar, before his death, granted several immunities and furloughs to his soldiers, which Antony countermanded. 29. Figeretur: Laws, decrees, etc. were engraven on brass tables, and fixed in the Capitol and other public places, for the information of the people. 31. Dictaturæ nomen: Antony obtained a decree, that whoever endeavored to create a dictator, or should accept a dictatorship offer ed to him, should be put to death. 153 154 1. Septies millies sestertium: About £5,000,000. See Note, page 140, line 6. 2. Ad Opis: The word adem is here understood. 8. Rege Deiotaro: See Introduction to the oration for king Deiotarus. Cæsar deprived Deiotarus of a part of his kingdom for his adherence to Pompey. At the death of Cæsar, Antony bargained with the old king for the sum of £80,000, to restore to him what Cæsar had taken. But when Deiotarus heard Cæsar was dead, he seized his dominions himself. 12. Massiliensibus: The inhabitants of Marseilles were allies of the Romans, and espoused the party of Pompey and the senate, which made Cæsar inimical to them. 23. Syngrapha H. S. centies: A note in writing for about £78,000. 33. Iste: Sextus Clodius, the rhetorician. 36. Ille: Deiotarus. 37. Auctorem: Cæsar. 40. Imitatores: Counterfeiters.-Gladiatorum libellos: Bills containing the names of the gladiators and the feats to be performed. 155 2. Post M. Brutum proconsulem: Antony had lately published a decree, which, he pretended, he had found among Cæsar's papers, that declared, that after the proconsulate of M. Brutus, Crete should be freed from taxes. That this decree was not among Cæsar's papers is very evident, because, while Cæsar was living, neither he nor any one else could foresee that Brutus would be proconsul in Crete, as that event was caused by Cæsar's death alone; and if Cæsar had not been assassinated, Brutus would not have gone to Crete, in quality of proconsul. 8. Hic venditor: Antony. 15. Patrui: This was C. Antonius, the colleague of Cicero in the consulship. He was condemned to exile for maladministration in Macedonia. Mark Antony, his nephew, recalled many from exile, but neglected him. However, when he was afterwards restored, his nephew endeavored to have him elected censor. The inconsistency of the conduc of Mark Antony on this occasion excited both the ridicule and indignation of the Romans. 20. Sinistrum fulmen: Thunder from the left was a happy omen on every occasion except the holding of the Comitia; it then was deemed an inauspicious one. 22. Septemviratu: The Septemviri, to whom this passage refers, were either the seven commissioners appointed to regulate the feasts in honor of the gods, or the commissioners appointed after Cæsar's death to divide the Leontine and Campanian lands. Antony deserted his uncle on this occasion, and thereby became more inconsistent. 31. Stuprum oblatum esse comperisses: This was a tale invented by Antony to afford a pretext for a divorce from his cousin Antonia, and to justify in some degree his marriage with Fulvia, the widow of Clodius. 36. Ad chirographa: Cicero alludes to the forgeries of Antony, papers which the latter pretended were left by Cæsar. 156 5. Illud" Pene": In endeavoring to establish a colony at Capua, Antony was almost killed; and Cicero here says, that he wishes that that almost had been away; that is, he wished that Antony had been killed. 8. Agrum Campanum: The Campanian lands belonged to the commonwealth; Antony nevertheless divided them among his sol· } diers, that he might thereby attach them more strongly to him- 156 self. 13. Agro Leontino: The Leontine lands were in Sicily; Antony bestowed them on the Sextus Clodius before mentioned. lands were very fertile. 19. Casilinum: A town in Campania. These 20. Capud When Antony attempted to settle his soldiers at Capua, the old inhabitants made so vigorous a resistance, that it was with difficulty he escaped with his life. 27. Vexillum tolleres, et aratrum circumduceres: This was the usual way of establishing colonies. 30. M. Varronis: Varro was esteemed the most learned man in Rome, and was an intimate friend of Cicero. He was Pompey's lieutenant in Spain, but after the defeat of Afranius and Petreius, he left the army, and retired to his studies. 42. Ut redderes: Cæsar wrote to Antony to restore to Varro his Cassinian estate, which Antony had unjustly obtained. 5. Ab horâ tertiâ: This hour, according to the Roman mode of 157 computation, it will be recollected, was early in the forenoon. 15. Cassino, etc.: Cassinum was a town in Campania; Aquīnum, a town near Samnium; Interamna, a town near Aquinum. 23. Anagnini: Anagnia was a town in Campania. 29. Sidicinos....Puteolanos: Sidicīnum, or Teanum, was a colony and city in Campania, towards Cassinum. Puteoli was a maritime town in Campania. 32. Basilum: A man of infamous character. 34. Collega tui: Dolabella, who overthrew the monument of Cæ sar. 38. De cœlo detraxisti: The meaning of the phrase de cœlo detrahere is to debase; and, in the next lines, Cicero accordingly says, that Antony had not indeed made Dolabella, his colleague, quite so bad as himself, but had certainly made him unlike what Dolabella formerly was. 42. Činnam....Sullam: See Note, page 28, line 3. 1. Agmine quadrato : Soldiers followed Antony in battle array. 4. Calendis Juniis: At this time Antony returned to the city, as it was the usual period at which the senate met; but, so great was his power, and so tyrannical were his proceedings, that no senator dared to take his place. 11. Prorogavit: Cæsar passed a law, that prætors should govern their provinces only one year, the consuls their provinces two years. Antony enabled them to hold the government of the provinces several years. 18. Hortos Pompeii....villam Scipionis: Antony possessed these estates. 23. Divo Julio: The Romans and other ancient nations often deified their great men. 25. Collega sumus: Cicero and Antony were colleagues, as both of them were augurs. 30. Cur non sumus prætextati: The magistrates of the city during the year of their magistracy wore the prætexta, a robe bordered with purple. On festival days, all other senators, who had been magistrates, wore this robe. 4. Concordia: The temple of Concord. 5. Ithyreos: Infamous foreigners, devoted to Antony. See Note, page 134, line 21. 158 159 |