[-38-] "Seeing this, then, Conscript Fathers, let us no longer delay nor fall a prey to the indolence that the moment inspires, but let us take thought for the safety that concerns the future. Surely it is a shame when Caesar, who has just emerged from boyhood and was recently registered among those having attained years of discretion, shows such great interest in the State as to spend his money and gather soldiers for its preservation that we should neither ourselves perform our duty nor coöperate with him even after obtaining a tangible proof of his good-will. Who is unaware that if he had not reached here with the soldiers from Campania, Antony would certainly have come rushing from Brundusium instanter, just as he was, and would have burst into our city with all his armies like a winter torrent?[13] There is, moreover, a striking inconsistency in our conduct. Men who have long been campaigning voluntarily have put themselves at your service for the present crisis, regarding neither their age nor the wounds which they received in past years while fighting for you, and you both refuse to ratify the war in which these very men elected to serve, and show yourselves inferior to them, who are ready to face dangers; for while you praise the soldiers that detected the defilement of Antony and withdrew from him, though he was consul, and attached themselves to Caesar, (that is, to you through him), you shrink from voting for that which you say they were right in doing. Also we are grateful to Brutus that he did not even at the start admit Antony to Gaul, and is trying to repel him now that Antony confronts him with a force. Why in the world do we not ourselves do the same? Why do we not imitate the rest whom we praise for their sound judgment? There are only two courses open to us. [-39-] One is to say that all these men,--Caesar, I mean, and Brutus, the old soldiers, the legions,--have decided wrongly and ought to submit to punishment, because without our sanction or that of the people they have dared to offer armed resistance to their consul, some having deserted his standard, and others having been gathered against him. The other is to say that Antony by reason of his deeds has in our judgment long since admitted that he is our enemy and by public consent ought to be chastised by us all. No one can be ignorant that the latter decision is not only more just but more expedient for us. The man neither understands how to handle business himself (how or by what means could a person that lives in drunkenness and dicing?) nor has he any companion who is of any account. He loves only such as are like himself and makes them the confidants of all his open and secret undertakings. Also he is most cowardly in extreme dangers and most treacherous even to his intimate friends, neither of which qualities is suited for generalship or war. [-40-] Who can be unaware that this very man caused all our internal troubles and then shared the