nsulship; who not only exhorted his neighbours to become soldiers,
but also assisted them from his own resources; will it be possible
ever to reconcile Antonius to such a man as this, a man whom we ought
to praise by a formal resolution of the senate? What? will it be
possible to reconcile him to Caius Caesar, who prevented him from
entering the city, or to Decimus Brutus, who has refused him entrance
into Gaul? Moreover, will he reconcile himself to, or look mercifully
on the province of Gaul, by which he has been excluded and rejected?
You will see everything, O conscript fathers, if you do not take care,
full of hatred and full of discord, from which civil wars arise. Do
not then desire that which is impossible: and beware, I entreat you by
the immortal gods, O conscript fathers, that out of hope of present
peace you do not lose perpetual peace.

What now is the object of this oration? For we do not yet know what
the ambassadors have done. But still we ought to be awake, erect,
prepared, armed in our minds, so as not to be deceived by any civil
or supplicatory language, or by any pretence of justice. He must have
complied with all the prohibitions and all the commands which we have
sent him, before he can demand anything. He must have desisted from
attacking Brutus and his army, and from plundering the cities and
lands of the province of Gaul; he must have permitted the ambassadors
to go to Brutus, and led his army back on this side of the Rubicon,
and yet not come within two hundred miles of this city. He must have
submitted himself to the power of the senate and of the Roman people.
If he does this, then we shall have an opportunity of deliberating
without any decision being forced upon us either way. If he does not
obey the senate, then it will not be the senate that declares war
against him, but he who will have declared it against the senate.

But I warn you, O conscript fathers, the liberty of the Roman people,
which is entrusted to you, is at stake. The life and fortune of
every virtuous man is at stake, against which Antonius has long been
directing his insatiable covetousness, united to his savage cruelty.
Your authority is at stake, which you will wholly lose if you do not
maintain it now. Beware how you let that foul and deadly beast escape
now that you have got him confined and chained. You too, Pansa, I
warn, (although you do not need counsel, for you have plenty of wisdom
yourself: but still, even the