Appian of Alexandria, Civil Wars, Horace White (Translator), 3.8.60

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[60] I have addressed these words to men who listen to me without malice or the spirit of contention. Those who would excite you heedlessly and inconsiderately on account of private enmity and private strife I exhort not to come to hasty and rash decisions against the most important personages, who command strong armies, and not to force them into war against their will. Remember Marcius Coriolanus. Recall the recent doings of Caesar, whom we rashly voted an enemy while he was in like manner leading an army and offering us the fairest terms of peace, whereby we forced him to be an enemy in fact. Have regard for the people who were lately pursuing Caesar’s murderers, lest we seem to insult them by giving those murderers the governorship of provinces, by praising Decimus for nullifying the people’s law, and by voting Antony an enemy because he accepted the Gallic province from the people. For which reasons the well-wishers of the country ought to take thought for the erring, and the consuls and tribunes ought to be more than ever careful in view of the public dangers.¹

Civil Wars. Appian of Alexandria. Horace White (Translator). New York. 1899.

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Current edition Perseus

The Roman History: The Civil Wars (English) (Appianus. The Roman History of Appian of Alexandria, Volume 2: The Civil Wars. White, Horace, translator. New York: The Macmillan Company. London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd. 1899.)

Editions (1)

Ἐμφυλίων Πρώτη Perseus (Appianus. Appiani Historia Romana, Volume 2. Mendelssohn, Ludwig, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1881.) — 3.8.60 focus

[60] καὶ τάδε μὲν εἴρηται τοῖς ἄνευ φθόνου καὶ φιλονικίας ἀκροωμένοις· τοῖς δὲ ἀπερισκέπτως καὶ ἀπαρασκεύως διʼ οἰκείαν ἔχθραν ἢ φιλονικίαν ἐκθορυβοῦσιν ὑμᾶς κριτὰς παραινῶ μὴ ταχεῖς εἶναι μηδὲ προπετεῖς ἐς ἄνδρας μεγίστους τε καὶ στρατιᾶς ἄρχοντας ἱκανῆς μηδὲ ἄκοντας ἐκπολεμοῦν, ἀναμιμνησκομένους Μαρκίου τε τοῦ Κοριολανοῦ καὶ τὰ ἔναγχος δὴ ταῦτα Καίσαρος, ὃν στρατιᾶς ὁμοίως ἡγούμενον καὶ σπονδὰς ἀρίστας ἂν ἡμῖν γενομένας προτείνοντα προπετῶς πολέμιον ψηφισάμενοι τῷ ὄντι πολέμιον ἠναγκάσαμεν γενέσθαι, φείδεσθαι δὲ καὶ τοῦ δήμου πρὸ βραχέος τοῖς φονεῦσι τοῖς Καίσαρος ἐπιδραμόντος, μὴ ἐς ὕβριν αὐτοῦ δοκῶμεν τοῖς μὲν ἡγεμονίας ἐθνῶν διδόναι, Δέκμον δὲ ἐπαινεῖν, ὅτι τοῦ δήμου νόμον ἀκυροῖ, καὶ Ἀντώνιον πολέμιον κρίνειν, ὅτι τὴν Κελτικὴν ἔλαβε παρὰ τοῦ δήμου. ὧν τοὺς μὲν εὖ βουλευομένους ἐνθυμεῖσθαι χρὴ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἔτι πλανωμένων, τοὺς δʼ ὑπάτους καὶ δημάρχους πλείονας κινδυνεύουσι τοῖς κοινοῖς γενέσθαι.

Notes on the current edition

Civil Wars

1. Piso was the father of Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia. It is very doubtful whether this speech, or any other in defence of Antony, was made by him. Cicero tells us in the first Philippic (4, 6, and 7) that Piso made a strong speech on the first of August on the republican side. In a letter to Cassius ( Ad Fam. xii. 2) he says that Piso is one of three senators whose blood Antony is seeking, the other two being P. Servilius and Cicero himself. It must be said, however, that Piso was capable of changing at any moment, for a blacker character never was painted than that which Cicero gives him in his Orations De Provinciis Consularibus and In Pisonem. Dion Cassius (xlvi. 1-28) says that Quintus Fufius Calenus took the lead in defending Antony in this debate. In the eighth Philippic (4-6) Cicero addresses himself to Fufius and answers arguments which the latter had made in favor of Antony in some debate. At an earlier period Fufius had been tribune and had fixed the jury which acquitted Clodius when he was tried for profaning the mysteries of the Bona Dea.

Appian of Alexandria Civil Wars 3.8.60

Horace White (Translator)

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