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. Cesar 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 Caesar'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 Č. 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, hisTM nephew endeavored to have him elected censor. The inconsistency of the conduct 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 hord 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; Aquinum, 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. Puteŏli 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 cælo 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. College 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. 158 159 159 14. Conjux Fulvia, Antony's wife, had been inarried twice before Clodius, her first husband, was killed by Milo; Curio, her next husband, was slain by Juba, king of Mauritania; and Cicero says, she had long owed the Roman people her third debt, insinuating that before that time, Antony, her third husband, should have been killed. 27. Nostri liberatores: Brutus and Cassius. 160 32. Hi: Brutus and Cassius. 10. Fuit in illo ingenium, etc.: Cicero here acknowledges the abilities of Cæsar, which unquestionably were very great, but at the same time were employed to the ruin of his country. 15. Suos præmiis: Cæsar had the generosity of an artful politician; he was liberal, when liberality would promote the execution of his ambitious designs. 44. Cicero published fourteen orations against Antony; but of all of them the Second Philippic, "conspicua divina Philippica famæ," as Juvenal styles it (Sat. X. 125), was the most severe. This oration was perhaps the immediate cause of the assassination of Cicero. The sarcastical wit and pungent satire it contains, so highly exasperated Antony, that he determined to embrace the first opportunity of silencing forever that tongue, whose invectives he so much feared. His desire of revenge did not long remain ungratified. The Roman orator, whom a large portion of mankind have so much admired, in a short time after the publication of this Philippic, became one of the first victims of that bloody vengeance, which characterized the coalition of Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus. THE END. |