M. Tullius Cicero, Philippicae, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 18

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[18] quod si quis de contentione principatus laborat, quae nulla esse debet, stultissime facit, si vitiis cum virtute contendit; ut enim cursu cursus, sic in viris fortibus virtus virtute superatur. tu, si ego de re publica optime sentiam, ut me vincas, ipse pessime senties? aut¹, si ad me bonorum concursum fieri videbis, ad te improbos invitabis? nollem, primum rei publicae causa, deinde etiam dignitatis tuae. sed si principatus ageretur, quem numquam expetivi, quid tandem mihi esset² optatius? ego enim malis sententiis vinci non possum, bonis forsitan possim et libenter.

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

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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.) — 18 focus

What can you do with a man who puts on paper and records the fact, that his agreement with Dolabella is so complete, that he would kill Trebonius, and, if he could, Brutus and Cassius too with every circumstance of torture; and inflict the same punishment on us also? Certainly, a man who makes so pious and fair a treaty is a citizen to be taken care of! He also complains that the conditions which he offered, those reasonable and modest conditions, were rejected; namely, that he was to have the farther Gaul ,—the province the most suitable of all for renewing and carrying on the war; that the legionaries of the Alauda should be judges in the third decury; that is to say, that there shall be an asylum for all crimes, to the indelible disgrace of the republic; that his own acts should be ratified, his,—when not one trace of his consulship has been allowed to remain! He showed his regard also for the interests of Lucius Antonius, who had been a most equitable surveyor of private and public domains, with Nucula and Lento for his colleagues. 38 “Consider then, both of you, whether it is more becoming and more advantageous for your party, for you to seek to avenge the death of Trebonius, or that of Caesar; and whether it is more reasonable for you and me to meet in battle, in order that the cause of the Pompeians, which has so frequently had its throat cut, may the more easily revive; or to agree together, so as not to be a laughing-stock to our enemies.”

If its throat had been cut, it never could revive. “Which,” says he, “is more becoming.” In this war he talks of what is becoming! 39 “And more advantageous for your party.”—“Parties,” you senseless man, is a suitable expression for the forum, or the senate house. You have declared a wicked war against your country; you are attacking Mutina ; you are besieging the consul elect; two consuls are carrying on war against you; and with them, Caesar, the propraetor; all Italy is armed against you; and then do you call yours “a party,” instead of a revolt from the republic? “To seek to avenge the death of Trebonius, or that of Caesar.” We have avenged Trebonius sufficiently by pronouncing Dolabella a public enemy. The death of Caesar is best defended by oblivion and silence. But take notice what his object is.—When he thinks that the death of Caesar ought to be revenged, he is threatening with death, not those only who perpetrated that action, but those also who were not indignant at it.

Notes on the current edition

Philippicae

1. aut nam t: fort. num bonorum ad me t

2. esset om. t

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

cursus , speed. 248.22

tu , though emphatic, does not here refer to a particular person: it merely addresses the whole opposing party as if it were a single individual.

optime sentiam : cf.

male sentire (1.15). 248.23

ad me . . . fieri , etc.: best rendered by changing the construction, all good citizens gathering about me. This refers to such occasions as that of the gratulatio above ( p. 246, l. 16 ). 248.24

nollem , I should regret that (i.e. I should be sorry if that were so): Cf. § 442 , b (267, c) ; B. 280, 2, a; G. 26[, R.; H.-B. 519, 1, C. 248.27

optatius , i.e. than such a course of conduct on the part of the other side.

M. Tullius Cicero Philippicae 18

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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