Letter 2: Cicero writes to Brutus from Rome to Macedonia in late May 43 BC.

Cicero to Brutus, greetings. My letter had already been written and sealed when a despatch was delivered to me from you, full of fresh news, and most astonishing of all was that Dolabella had sent five cohorts into the Chersonese. Is he so awash in troops that a man who was reported to be fleeing from Asia is trying to lay hold of Europe? And with five cohorts, what on earth did he suppose he would accomplish, when you had there five legions, first-rate cavalry, and very large auxiliary forces? Those cohorts, I hope, are by now yours, since that bandit was so out of his mind. [2] I warmly commend your judgment in not moving your army out of Apollonia and Dyrrachium before you had heard of Antony's flight, of Brutus's breakout [Decimus Brutus's sortie from the siege of Mutina], and of the victory of the Roman people. And so, when you write that after these events you resolved to lead your army into the Chersonese and not to allow the imperium of the Roman people to be made a mockery by a most criminal enemy, you act in keeping with your own dignity and with the res publica [the commonwealth]. [3] As to what you write about the mutiny that broke out in the Fourteenth Legion through the treachery of Gaius Antonius (you will take this in good part): I approve the severity of the soldiers more than yours. ** *

§ Brut.1.2 DCCCLXX (Brut. I, 2) TO M. IUNIUS BRUTUS (IN MACEDONIA) ROME (LATE IN MAY) WHEN I had already written and sealed a despatch to you, a letter from you was delivered to me full of startling intelligence. But the most surprising of all was that Dolabella had sent five cohorts into the Chersonese. Is he so flush of troops that a man who was said to be in flight from Asia is now attempting to get a foothold in Europe? With five cohorts, moreover, what did he think that he could do when you had five legions, a splendid body of cavalry, and very large auxiliary forces? These same cohorts, I hope, by this time are in your hands, since that outlaw has been so insensate. I strongly commend your policy in not having moved your army from Apollonia and Dyrrachium, until you heard of the flight of Antony, of Decimus Brutus having broken out of Mutina, and of the victory of the Roman people. Accordingly, in saying that you had afterwards resolved to lead your army into the Chersonese, and not to suffer the government of the Roman people to be a laughingstock to an enemy stained with the worst of crimes, you are acting in the interests of your own position and of the Republic. You speak of an outbreak in the fourteenth legion on account of Gaius Antonius; you will excuse my saying that I am in sympathy with the severity of the soldiers rather than with yours.

[II] Scr. Romae ex. m. Mai. a. 711 (43). CICERO BRVTO SAL. scripta et obsignata iam epistula litterae mihi redditae sunt a te plenae rerum novarum, maximeque mirabile Dolabellam quinque cohortis misisse in Chersonesum. adeone copiis abundat ut is qui ex Asia fugere dicebatur Europam appetere conetur? quinque autem cohortibus quidnam se facturum arbitratus est, cum tu +eo+ quinque legiones, optimum equitatum, maxima auxilia haberes? quas quidem cohortis spero iam tuas esse, quoniam latro ille tam fuit demens. [2] tuum consilium vehementer laudo quod non prius exercitum Apollonia Dyrrhachioque movisti quam de Antoni fuga audisti, Bruti eruptione, populi Romani victoria. itaque quod scribis post ea statuisse te ducere exercitum in Chersonesum nec pati sceleratissimo hosti ludibrio esse imperium populi Romani, facis ex tua dignitate et ex re publica. [3] quod scribis de seditione quae facta est in legione quarta decima fraude C. Antoni (in bonam partem accipies), magis mihi probatur militum severitas quam tua. ** *