rried on with any reference to the law. When
we are told that Antony stole Caesar's treasures and paid his debts with
them, we are inclined to ask why he had paid his debts at all. But
Cicero did hope. In his whole life there is nothing more remarkable than
the final vitality with which he endeavored to withstand the coming
deluge of military despotism. Nor in all history is there anything more
wonderful than the capacity of power to re-establish itself, as is shown
by the orderly Empire of Augustus growing out of the disorder left by
Caesar. One is reminded by it of the impotency of a reckless heir to
bring to absolute ruin the princely property of a great nobleman brought
together by the skill of many careful progenitors. A thing will grow to
be so big as to be all but indestructible. It is like that tower of
Caecilia Metella against which the storms of twenty centuries have beaten
in vain. Looking at the state of the Roman Empire when Cicero died, who
would not declare its doom? But it did "retrick its beams," not so much
by the hand of one man, Augustus, as by the force of the concrete power
collected within it--"Quod non imber edax non aquilo impotens Possit
diruere."[208] Cicero with patriotic gallantry thought that even yet
there might be a chance for the old Republic--thought that by his
eloquence, by his vehemence of words, he could turn men from fraud to
truth, and from the lust of plundering a province to a desire to
preserve their country. Of Antony now he despaired, but he still hoped
that his words might act upon this young Caesar's heart. The youth was as
callous as though he had already ruled a province for three years. No
Roman was ever more cautious, more wise, more heartless, more able to
pick his way through blood to a throne, than the young Augustus. Cicero
fears Octavian--as we must now call him--and knows that he can only be
restrained by the keeping of power out of his hands. Writing to Atticus
from Arpinum, he says, "I agree altogether with you. If Octavian gets
power into his hands he will insist upon the tyrant's decrees much more
thoroughly than he did when the Senate sat in the temple of Tellus.
Everything then will be done in opposition to Brutus. But if he be
conquered, then see how intolerable would be the dominion of
Antony."[209] In the same letter he speaks of the De Officiis, which he
has just written. In his next and last epistle to his old friend he
congratulates himself on having bee