M. Tullius Cicero, Philippicae, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 40

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[40] 19 quibus, utri nostrum ceciderint, lucro futurum est, quod spectaculum adhuc ipsa Fortuna vitavit, ne videret unius corporis duas acies lanista Cicerone dimicantis: qui usque eo felix est ut isdem ornamentis deceperit vos quibus deceptum Caesarem gloriatus est. pergit in me¹ maledicta dicere², quasi vero ei pulcherrime priora processerint: quem ego inustum verissimis maledictorum notis tradam hominum memoriae sempiternae. ego lanista? et quidem non insipiens: deteriores enim iugulari cupio, meliores vincere. Vtri ceciderint, scribit lucro nobis futurum.

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.) — 40 focus

102

You led a colony to Casilinum , a place to which Caesar had previously led one. You did indeed consult me by letter about the colony of Capua (but I should have given you the same answer about Casilinum ), whether you could legally lead a new colony to a place where there was a colony already. I said that a new colony could not be legally conducted to an existing colony, which had been established with a due observance of the auspices, as long as it remained in a flourishing state; but I wrote you word that new colonists might be enrolled among the old ones. But you, elated and insolent, disregarding all the respect due to the auspices, led a colony to Casilinum , whither one had been previously led a few years before; in order to erect your standard there, and to mark out the line of the new colony with a plow. And by that plow you almost grazed the gate of Capua , so as to diminish the territory of that flourishing colony. 103 After this violation of all religious observances, you hasten off to the estate of Marcus Varro, a most conscientious and upright man, at Casinum . By what right? with what face do you do this? By just the same, you will say, as that by which you entered on the estates of the heirs of Lucius Rubrius, or of the heirs of Lucius Turselius, or of other innumerable possessions. If you got the right from any auction, let the auction have all the force to which it is entitled; let writings be of force, provided they are the writings of Caesar, and not your own; writings by which you are bound, not those by which you have released yourself from obligation. 104

But who says that the estate of Varro at Casinum was ever sold at all? who ever saw any notice of that auction? who ever heard the voice of the auctioneer? You say that you sent a man to Alexandria to buy it of Caesar. It was too long to wait for Caesar himself to come! But who ever heard (and there was no man about whose safety more people were anxious) that any part whatever of Varro's property had been confiscated? What? what shall we say if Caesar even wrote you that you were to give it up? What can be said strong enough for such enormous impudence? Remove for a while those swords which we see around us. You shall now see that the cause of Caesar's auctions is one thing and that of your confidence and rashness is another. For not only shall the owner drive you from that estate, but any one of his friends, or neighbors, or hereditary connections, and any agent, will have the right to do so.

Notes on the current edition

Philippicae

1. in me t: in mea cett.

2. dicere supplevi: iacere suppl. Halm

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

haec , i.e. —that I am the true champion of the people, and not those demagogues who are jealous of me. In this section Cicero makes an easy transition hack to the subject which he was discussing when he began to digress (at sect. 13 ), — the necessity of declaring Antony a public enemy and of honoring the generals for defeating him. 249.1

maxime , Sc. de nobis. 249.5

XIII Kalendas Januarias (December 20), the day when the third and fourth Philippics were spoken, — one in the Senate and one in the Forum, -declaring Antony a public enemy. 249.6

ex Kalendis Januarus , when, in the fifth Philippic, he urged that no negotiations should be had with Antony. The campaign against Antony may be said to have begun December 20 (see preceding note); but no active measures were taken until the new consuls entered upon their office on the first of January.

M. Tullius Cicero Philippicae 40

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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