§1.16.5hic ipse puer quem Caesaris nomen incitare videtur in Caesaris interfectores, quanti aestimet, si sit commercio locus, posse nobis auctoribus tantum quantum profecto potent, quoniam vivere et pecunias habere et dici consulares volumus! ceterum ne nequiquam perierit ille cuius interitu quid gavisi sumus, si mortuo nihilo minus servituri eramus, nulla cura adhibetur? sed mihi prius omnia di deaeque eripuerint quam illud iudicium, quo non modo heredi eius quem occidi non concesserim quod in illo non tuli, sed ne patri quidem meo, si revivescat, ut patiente me plus legibus ac senatu possit.
This boy himself, whom the name of Caesar seems to incite against Caesar's assassins, how highly would he value it, if there were room for a transaction, that he can have as much power with us as sponsors as they will indeed have, since we wish to live, to have money, and to be called consulars! But is no care being taken lest he, at whose death we rejoiced in some way, should have perished in vain, if after his death we were nonetheless to be slaves? But may the gods and goddesses snatch everything from me sooner than that judgment, by which I would not only not grant to the heir of the man I killed what I did not endure in him, but not even to my own father, if he should come to life again, that he should have more power than the laws and the senate with my sufferance.
an hoc tibi persuasum est, fore ceteros ab eo liberos quo invito nobis in ista civitate locus non sit? qui porro id quod petis fleri potest ut impetres? rogas enim velit nos salvos esse.
Or are you persuaded of this, that the others will be free from him, when against his will there is no place for us in that state of yours? Moreover, how can that which you seek be brought about so that you obtain it? For you ask that he wish us to be safe.
videmur ergo tibi salutem accepturi cum vitam acceperimus? quam, nisi prius dimittimus dignitatem et libertatem, qui possumus accipere?
Do we then seem to you to be about to receive safety when we have received life? Which, unless we first dismiss dignity and freedom, how can we receive?
§1.16.6an tu Romae habitare, id putas incolumem esse? res non locus oportet praestet istuc mihi.
Or do you think that to dwell in Rome, that is to be unharmed? The reality, not the place, ought to guarantee that to me.
neque incolumis Caesare vivo fui, nisi postea quam illud conscivi facinus, neque usquam exsul esse possum, dum servire et pati contumelias peius odero malis omnibus aliis.
And I was not unharmed while Caesar was alive, except after I resolved upon that deed, nor can I be an exile anywhere, as long as I shall hate serving and enduring insults worse than all other evils.
nonne hoc est in easdem tenebras recidisse, si ab eo qui tyranni nomen adscivit sibi, cum in Graecis civitatibus liberi tyrannorum oppressis illis eodem supplicio adficiantur, petitur ut vindices atque oppressores dominationis salvi sint? hanc ego civitatem videre velim aut putem ullam, quae ne traditam quidem atque inculcatam libertatem recipere possit plusque timeat in puero nomen sublati regis quam confidat sibi, cum illum ipsum qui maximas opes habuerit paucorum virtute sublatum videat? me vero posthac ne commendaveris Caesari tuo, ne te quidem ipsum, si me audies.
Is this not to have fallen back into the same darkness, if from him who has assumed for himself the name of a tyrant, when in the Greek states the children of tyrants are subjected to the same punishment once the tyrants are overthrown, it is petitioned that the avengers and suppressors of domination be safe? Would I wish to see such a state, or think any state exists, which cannot receive even a handed-down and inculcated freedom, and fears more in a boy the name of a removed king than it trusts in itself, though it sees that very man who had the greatest power removed by the virtue of a few? Indeed, do not recommend me hereafter to your Caesar, nor even yourself, if you will listen to me.
valde care aestimas tot annos quot ista aetas recipit, si propter eam causam puero isti supplicaturus es.
You value too highly as many years as that age of yours can receive, if for that reason you are going to supplicate that boy.
§1.16.7deinde quod pulcherrime fecisti ac facis in Antonio vide ne convertatur a laude maximi animi ad opinionem formidinis.
Next, see to it lest what you have done and are doing so beautifully in the case of Antonius be turned from the praise of a great mind to the reputation of fear.
nam si Octavius tibi placet, a quo de nostra salute petendum sit, non dominum fugisse sed amiciorem dominum quaesisse videberis.
For if Octavius pleases you, from whom petition must be made for our safety, you will seem not to have fled a master, but to have sought a friendlier master.
quem quod laudas ob ea quae adhuc fecit plane probo; sunt enim laudanda, si modo contra alienam potentiam non pro sua suscepit eas actiones.
That you praise him for what he has done so far, I fully approve; for they are to be praised, provided he undertook those actions against another's power, not for his own.
Cum vero iudicas tantum illi non modo licere sed etiam a te ipso tribuendum esse ut rogandus sit ne nolit esse nos salvos, nimium magnam mercedem statuis (id enim ipsum illi largiris quod per illum habere videbatur res publica), neque hoc tibi in mentem venit, si Octavius ullis dignus sit honoribus quia cum Antonio bellum gerat, iis qui illud malum exciderint cuius istae reliquiae sunt nihil quo expleri possit eorum meritum tributurum umquam populum Romanum, si omnia simul congesserit.
But when you judge that not only is so much permitted to him, but also must be bestowed by yourself, that he must be begged not to refuse our safety, you establish too great a reward (for you bestow on him that very thing which the republic seemed to have through him); nor does this come into your mind, that if Octavius is worthy of any honors because he wages war with Antonius, the Roman people will never, even if they heap up everything at once, bestow anything by which the merit of those who rooted out that evil—of which those things are the remnants—can be filled.