ed, without
asking for any decree, and finally effected peace and friendship with him
for all those that were found in Italy. And the rest, too, would have had
a share in it, if they had not taken your advice and fled. [-12-] Now in
view of those circumstances do you dare to say he led Caesar against his
country and stirred up the civil war and became more than any one else
responsible for the subsequent evils that befell us? Not so, but you,
who gave Pompey legions that belonged to others and the command, and
undertook to deprive Caesar even of those that had been given him: it was
you, who agreed with Pompey and the consuls not to accept the offers made
by Caesar, but to abandon the city and the whole of Italy: you, who did
not see Caesar even when he entered Rome, but had run off to Pompey
and into Macedonia. Not even to him, however, did you prove of any
assistance, but you neglected what was going on, and then, when he met
with misfortune, you abandoned him. Therefore you did not aid him at the
outset on the ground that he had the juster cause, but after setting
in motion the dispute and embroiling affairs you lay in wait at a safe
distance for a favorable turn; you at once deserted the man who failed,
as if that somehow proved him guilty, and went over to the victor, as if
you deemed him more just. And in addition to your other defects you are
so ungrateful that not only are you not satisfied to have been preserved
by him, but you are actually displeased that you were not made master of
the horse.

[-13-] "Then with this on your conscience do you dare to say that Antony
ought not to have held the office of master of the horse for a year, and
that Caesar ought not to have remained dictator for a year? But whether it
was wise or necessary for these measures to be framed, at any rate they
were both passed, and they suited us and the people. Censure these men,
Cicero, if they have transgressed in any particular, but not, by Jupiter,
those whom they have chosen to honor for showing themselves worthy of
so great a reward. For if we were forced by the circumstances that then
surrounded us to act in this way and contrary to good policy, why do you
now lay this upon Antony's shoulders, and why did you not oppose it then
if you were able? Because, by Jupiter, you were afraid. Then shall you,
who were at that time silent, obtain pardon for your cowardice, and shall
he, because he was preferred before you, submit to penalties