Chapter 36

90 Antony, what a day you had then! Though you suddenly made yourself my enemy, I still pity you for having begrudged yourself your own good fortune. Immortal gods, what a man you would have been, how great a man, if you could have kept the spirit of that day! We would have peace, secured by the surrender of a noble boy as hostage, the grandson of Marcus Bambalio. But it was fear that made you good—no lasting teacher of duty; what made you wicked was the recklessness that never leaves you when fear is absent. Yet even then, when people thought you excellent—I, for one, disagreed—you presided with utter criminality over the tyrant’s funeral, if funeral it was.

91 That splendid eulogy was yours, that appeal to pity yours, that incitement yours. You, you, I say, lit those torches—both the ones that half-burned his body and those that kindled the blaze which consumed Lucius Bellienus’s house. You unleashed those assaults on our houses by desperate men, most of them slaves, whom we beat back by force of arms. Yet in the days that followed, as though you had wiped away the soot, you procured excellent decrees of the Senate on the Capitol: after the Ides of March, no tablet granting exemption or any other favor was to be posted. You remember what you yourself said about the exiles; you know what you said about exemptions. Best of all, you abolished the very name of dictatorship from public life forever. By that act, indeed, you seemed to have conceived so deep a hatred of kingship that, because of the most recent dictator, you were removing every fear of it. To others the republic seemed settled;

92 to me, not at all: with you at the helm, I feared every kind of shipwreck. Was I mistaken, then? Could he have gone on any longer being unlike himself? Before your eyes, tablets were being posted all over the Capitol. Exemptions were being sold not merely to individuals but to entire peoples; citizenship was being granted no longer person by person but to whole provinces. And so, if these measures stand—which cannot stand while the republic survives—you have lost whole provinces, senators. Not only the revenues but the sovereignty of the Roman people has been diminished by this man’s auctions in his own home.

90 What a day that was for you, Antony! You suddenly turned against me. Still, I pity you for cheating yourself. Immortal gods, what a man you could have been! How great, if you’d kept that day’s outlook! We’d have peace now. A noble boy secured that peace as a hostage—Marcus Bambalio’s grandson. Fear made you behave well. But fear doesn’t teach duty for long. Your recklessness made you turn bad. It never leaves you when fear is gone. Even then, people thought you were doing wonderfully. I disagreed. You ran the tyrant’s funeral like a criminal—if you can call that a funeral.

91 That fine funeral speech was yours. You stirred their pity. You urged them on. You, yes, you lit those torches! Some half-burned his body. Others set Lucius Bellienus’s house ablaze and burned it down. You sent those gangs against our homes. They were desperate men, mostly slaves. We fought them off by force. Yet afterward, you seemed to wipe off the soot. In the following days, you secured excellent Senate decrees on the Capitol. No notice granting tax exemptions or other favors could be posted after March 15. You remember what you said about exiles. You know what you said about tax exemptions. Your best move abolished the very title of dictator forever. You seemed to hate kingship so much that you removed every fear of it. The latest dictator had caused that fear. Other people thought the republic was secure.

92 I didn’t think so at all. With you steering, I feared shipwreck of every kind. So was I wrong? Could he keep acting unlike himself much longer? You all watched notices go up across the Capitol. Tax exemptions went on sale, not just for individuals, but for whole peoples. Citizenship wasn’t handed out to individuals anymore. Entire provinces got it. Senators, these measures can’t survive if the republic survives. If they stand, you’ve lost whole provinces. This man’s private market has cut down more than our revenues. It’s cut down the Roman people’s power too.