em and do something that has been
effected before, but determine that something original is the only thing
worthy of them, because unexpected.

[-38-] "Seeing this, then, Conscript Fathers, let us no longer delay nor
fall a prey to the indolence that the moment inspires, but let us take
thought for the safety that concerns the future. Surely it is a shame
when Caesar, who has just emerged from boyhood and was recently registered
among those having attained years of discretion, shows such great
interest in the State as to spend his money and gather soldiers for
its preservation that we should neither ourselves perform our duty
nor cooeperate with him even after obtaining a tangible proof of his
good-will. Who is unaware that if he had not reached here with the
soldiers from Campania, Antony would certainly have come rushing from
Brundusium instanter, just as he was, and would have burst into our city
with all his armies like a winter torrent?[13] There is, moreover, a
striking inconsistency in our conduct. Men who have long been campaigning
voluntarily have put themselves at your service for the present crisis,
regarding neither their age nor the wounds which they received in past
years while fighting for you, and you both refuse to ratify the war in
which these very men elected to serve, and show yourselves inferior to
them, who are ready to face dangers; for while you praise the soldiers
that detected the defilement of Antony and withdrew from him, though he
was consul, and attached themselves to Caesar, (that is, to you through
him), you shrink from voting for that which you say they were right in
doing. Also we are grateful to Brutus that he did not even at the
start admit Antony to Gaul, and is trying to repel him now that Antony
confronts him with a force. Why in the world do we not ourselves do the
same? Why do we not imitate the rest whom we praise for their sound
judgment? There are only two courses open to us. [-39-] One is to say
that all these men,--Caesar, I mean, and Brutus, the old soldiers, the
legions,--have decided wrongly and ought to submit to punishment, because
without our sanction or that of the people they have dared to offer armed
resistance to their consul, some having deserted his standard, and others
having been gathered against him. The other is to say that Antony by
reason of his deeds has in our judgment long since admitted that he is
our enemy and by public consent ought to be chastised by