f Antonius. Therefore, as those impious
citizens began to congratulate one another the moment the hope of
peace was presented to them, as if they had gained the victory, so
also they abused me as unjust, they made complaints against me, they
distrusted Servilius also, they recollected that Antonius had been
damaged by his avowed opinions and propositions, they recollected that
Lucius Caesar, though a brave and consistent senator, is still his
uncle, that Calenus is his agent, that Piso is his intimate friend,
they think that you yourself, O Pansa, though a most vigorous and
fearless consul, are now become more mercifully inclined. Not that it
really is so, or that it possibly can be so. But the fact of a mention
of peace having been made by you, has given rise to a suspicion in the
hearts of many, that you have changed your mind a little. The friends
of Antonius are annoyed at my being included among these persons,
and we must no doubt yield to them, since we have once begun to be
liberal.

VIII. Let the ambassadors go, with all our good wishes, but let those
men go at whom Antonius may take no offence. But if you are not
anxious about what he may think, at all events. O conscript fathers,
you ought to have some regard for me. At least spare my eyes, and make
some allowance for a just indignation. For with what countenance shall
I be able to behold, (I do not say, the enemy of my country, for my
hatred of him on that score I feel in common with you all,) but how
shall I bear to look upon that man who is my own most bitter personal
enemy, as his most furious harangues against me plainly declare him?
Do you think that I am so completely made of iron as to be able
unmoved to meet him, or look at him? who lately, when in an assembly
of the people he was making presents to those men who appeared to him
the most audacious of his band of parricidal traitors, said that
he gave my property to Petissius of Urbinum, a man who, after the
shipwreck of a very splendid patrimony, was dashed against these rocks
of Antonius. Shall I be able to bear the sight of Lucius Antonius? a
man from whose cruelty I could not have escaped if I had not defended
myself behind the walls and gates and by the zeal of my own municipal
town. And this same Asiatic gladiator, this plunderer of Italy, this
colleague of Lenti and Nucula, when he was giving some pieces of
gold to Aquila the centurion, said that he was giving him some of my
property. For, if h