M. Tullius Cicero, Philippicae, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 8

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[8] bellum inexpiabile infert quattuor consulibus unus omnium latronum taeterrimus; gerit idem bellum cum senatu populoque Romano; omnibus—quamquam ruit ipse suis cladibus—pestem, vastitatem, cruciatum, tormenta denuntiat: Dolabellae ferum et immane facinus quod nulla barbaria posset agnoscere, id suo consilio factum esse testatur; quaeque esset facturus in hac urbe, nisi eum hic¹ ipse Iuppiter ab hoc templo atque moenibus reppulisset, declaravit in Parmensium calamitate, quos optimos viros honestissimosque homines, maxime cum auctoritate huius ordinis populique Romani dignitate coniunctos, crudelissimis exemplis interemit propudium² illud et portentum, L. Antonius, insigne odium omnium hominum vel, si etiam di oderunt³ quos oportet, deorum⁴.

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

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

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.) — 8 focus

But what could not be done then, O conscript fathers, at present not only can be, but even must be done. I mean, those men who are in reality enemies must be branded in plain language, must be declared enemies by our formal resolution. 22 Formerly, when I used the words War or Enemy, men more than once objected to record my proposition among the other propositions. But that can not be done on the present occasion. For in consequence of the letters of Caius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius, the consuls, and of Caius Caesar, propraetor, we have all voted that honors be paid to the immortal gods. The very man who lately proposed and carried a vote for a supplication, without intending it pronounced those men enemies; for a supplication has never been decreed for success in civil war. Decreed, do I say? It has never even been asked for in the letters of the conqueror. 23 Sulla as consul carried on a civil war; he led his legions into the city and expelled whomsoever he chose; he slew those whom he had in his power: there was no mention made of any supplication. The violent war with Octavius followed. Cinna the conqueror had no supplication voted to him. Sulla as imperator revenged the victory of Cinna, still no supplication was decreed by the senate. I ask you yourself, O Publius Servilius, did your colleague send you any letters concerning that most lamentable battle of Pharsalia? Did he wish you to make any motion about a supplication? Certainly not. But he did afterward when he took Alexandria ; when he defeated Pharnaces; but for the battle of Pharsalia he did not even celebrate a triumph. For that battle had destroyed those citizens whose, I will not say lives, but even whose victory might have been quite compatible with the safety and prosperity of the state. 24 And the same thing had happened in the previous civil wars. For though a supplication was decreed in my honor when I was consul, though no arms had been had recourse to at all, still that was voted by a new and wholly unprecedented kind of decree, not for the slaughter of enemies, but for the preservation of the citizens. Wherefore, a supplication on account of the affairs of the republic having been successfully conducted must, O conscript fathers, be refused by you even though your generals demand it; a stigma which has never been affixed on any one except Gabinius; or else, by the mere fact of decreeing a supplication, it is quite inevitable that you must pronounce those men, for whose defeat you do decree it, enemies of the state.

Notes on the current edition

Philippicae

1. hic bt: hinc hosv

2. propudium b, Ferrarius: proludium cett.

3. oderunt ost: oderint bhv

4. deorum om. hos

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

bellum , etc.: this is Cicero's statement of the real facts as opposed to his ironical suggestion in the preceding sentence.

infert , used of offensive war.

quattuor consulibus , i.e. besides the consuls, the two consuls elect, Plancus and D. Brutus.

unus , i.e. Antony. 244.16

gent , is actually carrying on. 244.18

suis cladibus , the evils he himself threatens. 244.19

Dolabellae facinus : Dolabella, Antony's colleague in the consulship, when on his way to the province of Syria, in February, 43, assaulted Smyrna by treachery, captured the propraetor of Asia, C. Trebonius (one of the conspirators against Caesar), and put him to death with indignities and torture. 244.22

hoc templo , i.e. that of Jupiter Capitolinus, where the Senate was now met (cf. Cat. 1, sect. 1 and note). 244.23

Parmensium : Parma had been captured by L. Antonius, and treated in the manner here described. 245.1

L. Antonius , the youngest brother of Mark Antony (cos. B.C. 41 ).

M. Tullius Cicero Philippicae 8

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Commentary

Stable identifiers