M. Tullius Cicero, Philippicae, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 15

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[15] 6 cum, ut scitis, hoc triduo vel quadriduo tristis a Mutina fama manaret, inflati laetitia atque insolentia impii cives unum se in locum, ad illam curiam furiis¹ potius suis quam rei publicae infelicem congregabant. ibi cum consilia inirent de caede nostra partirenturque inter se qui Capitolium, qui rostra², qui urbis portas occuparent, ad me concursum futurum civitatis putabant. quod ut cum invidia mea fieret et cum vitae etiam periculo, famam istam fascium dissipaverunt; fascis ipsi ad me delaturi fuerunt. quod cum esset quasi mea voluntate factum, tum in me impetus³ conductorum hominum quasi in tyrannum parabatur; ex quo caedes esset vestrum omnium consecuta. quae⁴ res patefecit, patres conscripti, sed suo tempore totius⁵ huius sceleris fons aperietur.

Philippicae. M. Tullius Cicero. ed. Albert Curtis Clark. Oxford. 1918.

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Funding provided by National Endowment For The Humanities (NEH).

Current edition Perseus

Philippicae (Latin) (Cicero. M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes, Vol. 6. Clark, Albert Curtis, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1918.)

Translations (1)

Philippics Perseus (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Vol. 4. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1856.) — 15 focus

“You have the defeated Cicero for your general.”

I am the more glad to hear that word “general,” because he certainly uses it against his will; for as for his saying “defeated,” I do not mind that; for it is my fate that I can neither be victorious nor defeated without the republic being so at the same time.

“You are fortifying Macedonia with armies.”

Yes, indeed, and we have wrested one from your brother, who does not in the least degenerate from you.

“You have entrusted Africa to Varus, who has been twice taken prisoner.”

Here he thinks that he is making out a case against his own brother Lucius. 31

“You have sent Capius into Syria .”

Do you not see then, O Antonius, that the whole would is open to our party, but that you have no spot, out of your own fortifications, where you can set your foot?

“You have allowed Casca to discharge the office of tribune.” What then? Were we to remove a man, as if he had been Marallus¹ or Caesetius, to whom we own it, that this and many other things like this can never happen for the future? “You have taken away from the Luperci the revenues which Julius Caesar assigned to them.”

Does he dare to make mention of the Luperci? Does her not shudder at the recollection of that day on which, smelling of wine, reeking with perfumes, and naked, he dared to exhort the indignant Roman people to embrace slavery?

“You, by a resolution of the senate, have removed the colonies of the veterans which had been legally settled.”

Have we removed them, or have we rather ratified a law which was passed in the comitia centuriata? See, rather, whether it is not you who have ruined these veterans (those at least who are ruined), and settled them in a place from which they themselves now feel that they shall never he able to make their escape. 32

“You are promising to restore to the people of Marseilles what has been taken from them by the laws of war.”

I am not going to discuss the laws of war. It is a discussion far more easy to begin than necessary. But take notice of this, O conscript fathers, what a born enemy to the republic Antonius is, who is so violent in his hatred of that city which he knows to have been at all times most firmly attached to this republic.

“You have the defeated Cicero for your general.”

“You are fortifying Macedonia with armies.”

Yes, indeed, and we have wrested one from your brother, who does not in the least degenerate from you.

“You have entrusted Africa to Varus, who has been twice taken prisoner.”

Here he thinks that he is making out a case against his own brother Lucius. 31

“You have sent Capius into Syria .”

Do you not see then, O Antonius, that the whole would is open to our party, but that you have no spot, out of your own fortifications, where you can set your foot?

“You have allowed Casca to discharge the office of tribune.” What then? Were we to remove a man, as if he had been Marallus² or Caesetius, to whom we own it, that this and many other things like this can never happen for the future? “You have taken away from the Luperci the revenues which Julius Caesar assigned to them.”

“You, by a resolution of the senate, have removed the colonies of the veterans which had been legally settled.”

“You are promising to restore to the people of Marseilles what has been taken from them by the laws of war.”

“You have the defeated Cicero for your general.”

“You are fortifying Macedonia with armies.”

Yes, indeed, and we have wrested one from your brother, who does not in the least degenerate from you.

“You have entrusted Africa to Varus, who has been twice taken prisoner.”

Here he thinks that he is making out a case against his own brother Lucius. 31

“You have sent Capius into Syria .”

Do you not see then, O Antonius, that the whole would is open to our party, but that you have no spot, out of your own fortifications, where you can set your foot?

“You have allowed Casca to discharge the office of tribune.” What then? Were we to remove a man, as if he had been Marallus³ or Caesetius, to whom we own it, that this and many other things like this can never happen for the future? “You have taken away from the Luperci the revenues which Julius Caesar assigned to them.”

“You, by a resolution of the senate, have removed the colonies of the veterans which had been legally settled.”

“You are promising to restore to the people of Marseilles what has been taken from them by the laws of war.”

“You have the defeated Cicero for your general.”

“You are fortifying Macedonia with armies.”

Yes, indeed, and we have wrested one from your brother, who does not in the least degenerate from you.

“You have entrusted Africa to Varus, who has been twice taken prisoner.”

Here he thinks that he is making out a case against his own brother Lucius. 31

“You have sent Capius into Syria .”

Do you not see then, O Antonius, that the whole would is open to our party, but that you have no spot, out of your own fortifications, where you can set your foot?

“You have allowed Casca to discharge the office of tribune.” What then? Were we to remove a man, as if he had been Marallus⁴ or Caesetius, to whom we own it, that this and many other things like this can never happen for the future? “You have taken away from the Luperci the revenues which Julius Caesar assigned to them.”

“You, by a resolution of the senate, have removed the colonies of the veterans which had been legally settled.”

“You are promising to restore to the people of Marseilles what has been taken from them by the laws of war.”

“You have the defeated Cicero for your general.”

“You are fortifying Macedonia with armies.”

Yes, indeed, and we have wrested one from your brother, who does not in the least degenerate from you.

“You have entrusted Africa to Varus, who has been twice taken prisoner.”

Here he thinks that he is making out a case against his own brother Lucius. 31

“You have sent Capius into Syria .”

Do you not see then, O Antonius, that the whole would is open to our party, but that you have no spot, out of your own fortifications, where you can set your foot?

“You have allowed Casca to discharge the office of tribune.” What then? Were we to remove a man, as if he had been Marallus⁵ or Caesetius, to whom we own it, that this and many other things like this can never happen for the future? “You have taken away from the Luperci the revenues which Julius Caesar assigned to them.”

“You, by a resolution of the senate, have removed the colonies of the veterans which had been legally settled.”

“You are promising to restore to the people of Marseilles what has been taken from them by the laws of war.”

“You have the defeated Cicero for your general.”

“You are fortifying Macedonia with armies.”

Yes, indeed, and we have wrested one from your brother, who does not in the least degenerate from you.

“You have entrusted Africa to Varus, who has been twice taken prisoner.”

Here he thinks that he is making out a case against his own brother Lucius. 31

“You have sent Capius into Syria .”

Do you not see then, O Antonius, that the whole would is open to our party, but that you have no spot, out of your own fortifications, where you can set your foot?

“You have allowed Casca to discharge the office of tribune.” What then? Were we to remove a man, as if he had been Marallus⁶ or Caesetius, to whom we own it, that this and many other things like this can never happen for the future? “You have taken away from the Luperci the revenues which Julius Caesar assigned to them.”

“You, by a resolution of the senate, have removed the colonies of the veterans which had been legally settled.”

“You are promising to restore to the people of Marseilles what has been taken from them by the laws of war.”

Notes on the current edition

Philippicae

1. curiam furiis Madvig: furiam viribus b1: curiam iuris ( vel viris) t: curiam viribus cett.

2. rostra Faernus: ostia s: hostia cett.

3. impetus in mg. archetypi erat, nisi fallor, in peius, cf. § 13 et ii §§ 104, 106

4. quae fort. quod (quod pro sed hab. os ante suo)

5. totius bs: totiusque hotv

Commentary

Commentary on The Fourteenth Philippic (Select Orations of Cicero (Allen and Greenough's Edition). Greenough, James Bradstreet; Kittredge, George Lyman, editors. Boston, London: Ginn & Company, 1897.) focus

significatio vestra , the indication you have giver' (i.e. by signs of approval). 243.29

propraetore : Octavianus, upon whom the Senate had specially conferred this rank early in January. He was left in sole command after the death of Hirtius and Pansa. -51... ante, as soon as. 243.30

pertineant : § 592 , 3 (341, d); B. 323; G. 508, 3; H. 649, (528, I); H.-B. 535, I, a. 243.31

exercituumque : this term is added because the legions contained only Romans, while the consular armies had also auxiliaries. 243.32

duobus , Sc. proeliis. The battle was begun by Pansa, who was routed and mortally wounded, although the fatal character of his wound was not yet known at Rome; then the fortune of the day was retrieved by reinforcements led by Hirtius. Octavianus took no part in this engagement, but repulsed an attack upon the camp. 244.1

hostium , civium: Cicero's great point in the Philippics is to make out that Antony — like Catiline — is no citizen, but a public enemy. In the argument that follows he shows that the proposition of a supplicatio (see note, Cat. 3, sect. 15 , p. 133, l. 19 ), which had never been decreed except for a victory over foreign enemies, endorses this view by treating Antony as a hostis.

hostium ,

summa pietas ;

nefarium scelus ,

civium : observe the chiastic order.

M. Tullius Cicero Philippicae 15

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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