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[62]
But it was agreed between you, said Cocceius,
that you might treat with whomsoever you chose. Yet Antony has not made a treaty with any of the murderers, and he holds your father in no less honor than you do. Ahenobarbus was not one of the murderers. The vote was cast against him on account of personal animosity, for he had no share whatever in the plots of those days.
1
If we consider him unpardonable because he was a friend of Brutus, are we not in a fair way to be bitter against almost everybody? Antony made an agreement with Pompeius, not to make an aggressive war with him, but either to secure his help in case of an attack by you, or to bring him into good relations with you, since he has done nothing which should make him irreconcilable. You are the one to blame for these things, for if there had been no war in Italy those men would not have ventured to send ambassadors to Antony. Octavius repeated his accusations, saying,
Manius and Fulvia and Lucius brought war against Italy, and against me as well as Italy; and Pompeius, who did not attack before, now makes descents upon the coast, encouraged by Antony. Cocceius replied,
Not encouraged by Antony, but directed by him; for I will not conceal from you the fact that the rest of Italy, which is destitute of naval defences, will be attacked by a powerful fleet unless you agree to peace. Octavius, who gave due weight to this artful suggestion, reflected a moment, and then said,
But Pompeius will have the worst of it. He has just been repulsed from Thurii as he deserves. Then Cocceius, having gone over the whole controversy, led the conversation up to the death of Fulvia and the manner of it, saying that she fell sick because she could not bear the anger of Antony and wasted away with grief because he would not see her when she was ill, and that he was in a manner the cause of his wife’s death.
Now that she is dead, he continued,
it only remains for you to tell each other frankly what your suspicions are.
Civil Wars. Appian of Alexandria. Horace White (Translator). New York. 1899.
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