hest rank, the middle class, the lowest dregs of the
people, citizens and foreigners, men and women, free men and slaves,
all hate you. We saw this the other day on some false news that came;
but we shall soon see it from the way in which true news is received.
And if you ponder these things with yourself a little, you will die
with more equanimity, and greater comfort.

"Lastly, this is the sum of my opinion and determination; I will bear
with the insults offered me by my friends, if they themselves are
willing to forget that they have offered them; or if they are prepared
to unite with me in avenging Caesar's death."

Now that they know this resolution of Antonius, do you think that
Aulus Hirtius and Caius Pansa, the consuls, can hesitate to pass over
to Antonius? to besiege Brutus? to be eager to attack Mutina? Why do I
say Hirtius and Pansa? Will Caesar, that young man of singular piety,
be able to restrain himself from seeking to avenge the injuries of his
father in the blood of Decimus Brutus? Therefore, as soon as they had
read this letter, the course which they adopted was to approach nearer
to the fortifications. And on this account we ought to consider Caesar
a still more admirable young man; and that a still greater kindness of
the immortal gods which gave him to the republic, as he has never been
misled by the specious use of his father's name; nor by any false
idea of piety and affection. He sees clearly that the greatest piety
consists in the salvation of one's country. But if it were a contest
between parties, the name of which is utterly extinct, then would
Antonius and Ventidius be the proper persons to uphold the party of
Caesar, rather than in the first place, Caesar, a young man full of
the greatest piety and the most affectionate recollection of his
parent? and next to him Pansa and Hirtius, who held, (if I may use
such an expression,) the two horns of Caesar, at the time when that
deserved to be called a party. But what parties are these, when the
one proposes to itself to uphold the authority of the senate, the
liberty of the Roman people, and the safety of the republic, while
the other fixes its eyes on the slaughter of all good men, and on the
partition of the city and of Italy.

XXI. Let us come at last to the end.

"I do not believe that ambassadors are coming--".

He knows me well.

"To a place where war exists."

Especially with the example of Dolabella before our eyes. Ambassadors,