Letter 20: Brutus writes to Atticus from Macedonia to Rome in May or July 43 BC.

Written, it seems, in the month of May, in the year 711 [from the founding of the city, i.e. 43 BC]. BRUTUS GREETS ATTICUS. You write to me that Cicero is surprised that I never give any indication of my opinion about his measures. Since you press me, at your insistence I will write what I think. I know that Cicero has done everything with the best of intentions; for what could be more certain to me than his devotion to the Republic? But in certain matters he seems to me to have acted-how shall I put it?-either with no skill, though he is the most prudent of all men, or out of self-interest, in that he did not hesitate to take on Antony, the most powerful of men, as an enemy on behalf of the Republic. I do not know what to write to you except this one thing: that the boy's greed and license have been provoked rather than checked by Cicero, and that he indulges this favor so far that he does not refrain from abusive words-words indeed which recoil upon him doubly, since he both killed more than one man and ought to confess himself an assassin before he flings at Casca the charge he flings, and since in Casca's case he imitates Bestia. Or, because we do not at every hour brag of the Ides of March, just as he constantly has his own Nones of December on his lips, is Cicero in any better position to disparage that most glorious deed than Bestia and Clodius were accustomed to find fault with his consulship? [2] Our Cicero boasts to me that, though only a civilian, he has held off the war with Antony! What good does this do me, if the reward for Antony's overthrow is demanded as succession into Antony's place, and if the avenger of that evil has come forth as the founder of another evil that will have deeper foundations and roots, should we allow it? So that now those measures which he takes may belong to a man who fears domination, or a master, [or Antony]. But I feel no gratitude toward anyone who, provided he does not serve an angry master, does not beg off the thing itself. On the contrary-a triumph, and pay for the troops, and exhortation in all the decrees that he should not be ashamed to covet the fortune of the man whose name he has taken up: is this worthy of a man of consular rank, or of Cicero? [3] Since I have not been permitted to keep silent, you will read what must necessarily be distressing to you. For I myself feel with what great pain I have written these things to you, and I am not unaware what you feel about the state of the Republic, and how desperate you think it is even of being cured. Nor, by Hercules, do I blame you, Atticus. For your age, your habits, your children make you sluggish-something I perceived also from our friend Flavius. [4] But I return to Cicero. What difference is there between Salvidienus and him? What more, after all, could that man have decreed? 'He is afraid,' you say, 'even now of the remnants of the civil war.' Does anyone, then, so fear a thing already crushed that he thinks neither the power of the man who has a victorious army nor the rashness of the boy is to be dreaded? Or does he do this very thing for the reason that, on account of the boy's eminence, he thinks everything should now be handed over to him spontaneously? O the great folly of fear-to guard against the very thing you dread in such a way that, when you might perhaps have avoided it, you of your own accord summon it and draw it to you! We fear death and exile and poverty too much. These, no doubt, seem to Cicero to be the ultimate evils, and, so long as he has people from whom he can obtain what he wants, and by whom he is courted and praised, he does not spurn servitude-provided it is honorable-if anything in the most extreme and wretched humiliation can be honorable. [5] So let Octavius call Cicero father, let him refer everything to him, praise him, give him thanks; nevertheless it will be apparent that his words are contrary to his deeds. For what is so foreign to human feeling as to hold in the place of a father a man who is not even counted in the number of a free man? And yet that is where the excellent man is heading, that is what he is doing, that is the outcome he hastens toward-that Octavius may be favorable to him. For my part, I now set no value on those arts in which I know Cicero to be most thoroughly equipped. For what good to him are the things he wrote so copiously on behalf of his country's liberty, on dignity, on death, exile, and poverty? How much more skilled in those matters does Philippus seem to be, who gave less to his stepson than Cicero, who gives so much to a stranger! Let him therefore cease, even by his boasting, to torment our griefs. For what does it matter to us that Antony has been conquered, if he has been conquered only so that what he held should be left vacant for another? [6] And yet your letter even now indicates uncertainty. Long live Cicero, by Hercules, who is able to do so-a suppliant and subservient-if he is ashamed neither of his age nor of his honors nor of his deeds. As for me, certainly, there is no condition of servitude so favorable that it will deter me from waging war on the thing itself-that is, on kingship and extraordinary commands and domination and a power that wishes to be above the laws-however good a man +Antony+ may be, as you write; which I have never thought. But our ancestors did not wish even a parent to be a master. If I did not love you as much as Cicero is persuaded he is loved by Octavius, I would not have written these things to you. It pains me that you are now vexed, you who are most devoted both to all your friends and to Cicero; but be assured that nothing of my personal goodwill has been relaxed, though of my judgment a great deal. For it is not possible to compel a man to hold any opinion of a thing other than according to how it appears to him. [7] I could wish you had written to me what the terms were concerning our dear Attica; I might have written something to you of my own feeling. I am not surprised that the health of my Porcia is a care to you. Finally, what you ask I will do gladly; for my sisters too ask me. And I know the man and what he intended.

§ Brut.1.17 DCCCLXI (Brut. I, 17) M. IUNIUS BRUTUS TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) MACEDONIA (MAY) YOU say in your letter that Cicero wonders at my never making any remark about his political actions. Since you ask me, under compulsion from you I will set down my sentiments. I know that Cicero does everything with the best intentions — for what could be clearer to me than his devotion to the Republic? But he, the acutest of men, appears to me in certain things to have acted with a want of — shall I call it tact or disinterestedness?-in spite of the fact that he has not scrupled to incur the enmity of Antony at the height of his power on behalf of the Republic. I don't know what to set down on paper for you except the one thing: that the boy's ambition and unscrupulousness have been rather provoked than repressed by Cicero: and that he carries this indulgence to such a pitch that he does not abstain from abusive remarks-remarks which recoil upon himself with double force, because he put more than a single person to death, and ought rather to confess himself a murderer than to taunt Casca as he does, and because he imitates in Casca 's case the conduct of Bestia. Pray, because we are not always bragging of the Ides of March, as he always has his Nones of December on his lips, is Cicero in any better position for vilifying a most glorious deed than Bestia and Clodius were for their habitual attacks upon his consulship? Our friend Cicero boasts to me that he has, though a civilian, successfully faced the war of Antony. What good is that to me, if as a price for crushing Antony succession into Antony 's position is demanded, and if the avenger of that evil comes forward as the supporter of another destined to have a deeper foundation and to strike deeper roots, unless we prevent it? Granted that his present policy proceeds from fear-shall we say of tyranny, or of a tyrant, or of Antony? Well, but I feel no gratitude to one who, to avoid being the slave of a bad-tempered master, does not deprecate slavery itself-nay, rather proposes to give him a triumph and pay for his men, and by all manner of decrees instigates him not to shrink from coveting the high position of the man whose name he has adopted. Is this worthy of a consular or of a Cicero? Since I have not been allowed to be silent, you will have to read what must necessarily give you annoyance, for I am conscious myself of the pain with which I have written this to you; nor am I ignorant what your sentiments as to the situation are, and how desperate also you think the possibility of its cure. Nor, by heaven, do I blame you, Atticus. For your age, your habits, and your children make you unenterprising — a fact which I gathered also from our friend Flavius. But I return to Cicero. What is the difference between Salvidienus and him? What greater honour could he have proposed in the senate? Cicero is afraid," you will say, “even now of the remnant of the civil war.” Does anyone then, while fearing a war nearly concluded, think that neither the tyrannical power of 'the victorious army's commander nor the rashness of the boy is at all alarming? Or is his motive for this very action the idea that now, owing to the greatness of his power, every kind of honour must be spontaneously offered to him? How strange is the blindness of fear! While taking precautions against what you dread, actually to invite danger and to bring it upon you, though you might perhaps have avoided it altogether! We are over-fearful of death, exile, and poverty: I think that these things are the worst of evils in Cicero 's eyes, and that while he has people from whom to get what he wants, and by whom to be made much of and flattered, he has no aversion to servitude, if it be but tempered by a show of respect — if there can be any respect in what is the last and most wretched degradation. Therefore, though Octavius call Cicero “father,” consult him in everything, praise and thank him, nevertheless the truth will come out that words do not agree with deeds. For what can be more contrary to common sense than to regard a man as a father, who is not even reckoned as free? For my part, I set no store by those accomplishments with which I know Cicero to be better furnished than anyone else: for what good to him are the speeches on behalf of his country's liberty, the essays on dignity, death, exile, poverty, which he has composed with the utmost wealth of language? What a much truer view Philippus seems to have of those things, when he refused all compliments to his own stepson, than Cicero has, who pays them to one who has no connexion with him! Let him cease then from absolutely insulting our misfortunes by his boastful language; for what does it profit us that Antony has been conquered, if the only result of his defeat is to leave his place open to another? However, even now there is a note of uncertainty in your letter. Long live Cicero — as he may well do — to cringe and serve! if he is not ashamed to think of his age nor his honour, nor his great past. For myself, at any rate, there is no condition of servitude, however favourable, which will deter me from waging war on the principle: that is, on royalty, unconstitutional magistracies, absolutism, and power that aims at being above the laws. Though Antony may be a good man, as you say in your letter-which, however, has never been my opinion — yet the law of our ancestors was that no one, not even a father, should be an absolute master. Unless I had been as deeply attached to you as Cicero believes that Octavius is devoted to him, I should not have written this to you. I am grieved to think that as you read this you are getting angry — for you are most affectionate to all your friends, and especially to Cicero: but assure yourself of this, that my personal goodwill to Cicero is in no way modified, though my opinion is largely so, for you cannot ask a man to judge except from what seems to him to be truth in each case. I could have wished that you had mentioned in your letter what arrangements were being made for the betrothal of our dear Attica: I might have said something to you of what I felt about the matter. I am not surprised that you are anxious about Porcia 's health. Lastly, I will gladly do what you ask, for my sisters ask me the same, and I know the man and his views.

[XVII] Scr. m. Maio, ut videtur, a. 711 (43). BRVTVS ATTICO SAL. scribis mihi mirari Ciceronem quod nihil significem umquam de suis actis. quoniam me flagitas, coactu tuo scribam quae sentio. omnia fecisse Ciceronem optimo animo scio; quid enim mihi exploratius esse potest quam illius animus in rem publicam? sed quaedam mihi videtur— quid dicam? imperite vir omnium prudentissimus an ambitiose fecisse qui valentissimum Antonium suscipere pro re publica non dubitarit inimicum. nescio quid scribam tibi nisi unum, pueri et cupiditatem et licentiam potius esse inritatam quam repressam a Cicerone, tantumque eum tribuere huic indulgentiae ut se maledictis non abstineat iis quidem quae in ipsum dupliciter recidunt, quod et pluris occidit uno seque prius oportet fateatur sicarium quam obiciat Cascae quod obicit et imitatur in Casca Bestiam. an quia non omnibus horis iactamus Idus Martias similiter atque ille Nonas Decembris suas in ore habet, eo meliore condicione Cicero pulcherrimum factum vituperabit quam Bestia et Clodius reprehendere illius consulatum soliti sunt? [2] sustinuisse mihi gloriatur bellum Antoni togatus Cicero noster! quid hoc mihi prodest, si merces Antoni oppressi poscitur in Antoni locum successio et si vindex illius mali auctor exstitit alterius fundamentum et radices habituri altiores, si patiamur? ut iam ista quae facit dominationem an dominum [an Antonium] timentis sint. ego autem gratiam non habeo si quis, dum ne irato serviat, rem ipsam non deprecatur. immo triumphus et stipendium et omnibus decretis hortatio ne eius pudeat concupiscere fortunam cuius nomen susceperit, consularis aut Ciceronis est? [3] quoniam mihi tacere non licuit, leges quae tibi necesse est molesta esse. etenim ipse sentio quanto cum dolore haec ad te scripserim, nec ignoro quid sentias in re publica et quam desperatam quoque sanari putes posse. nec me hercule te, Attice, reprehendo. aetas enim, mores, liberi segnem efficiunt; quod quidem etiam ex Flayio nostro perspexi. [4] sed redeo ad Ciceronem. quid inter Salvidienum et eum interest? quid autem amplius ille decerneret? 'timet,' inquis, 'etiam nunc reliquias belli civilis.' quisquam ergo ita timet profligatum ut neque potentiam eius qui exercitum victorem habeat neque temeritatem pueri putet extimescendam esse? an hoc ipsum ea re facit, quod illi propter amplitudinem omnia iam ultroque deferenda putat? O magnam stultitiam timoris, id ipsum quod verearis ita cavere ut, cum vitare fortasse potueris, ultro arcessas et attrahas. nimium timemus mortem et exsilium et paupertatem. haec nimirum videntur Ciceroni ultima esse in malis et, dum habeat a quibus impetret quae velit et a quibus colatur ac laudetur, servitutem, honorificam modo, non aspernatur, si quicquam in extrema ac miserrima contumelia potest honorificum esse. [5] licet ergo patrem appellet Octavius Ciceronem, referat omnia, laudet, gratias agat, tamen illud apparebit verba rebus esse contraria. quid enim tam alienum ab humanis sensibus est quam eum patris habere loco qui ne liberi quidem hominis numero sit? atqui co tendit, id agit, ad eum exitum properat vir optimus ut sit illi Octavius propitius. ego vero iam iis artibus nihil tribuo quibus Ciceronem scio instructissimum esse. quid enim illi prosunt quae pro libertate patriae, de dignitate, quae de morte, exsilio, paupertate scripsit copiosissime? quanto autem magis illa callere videtur Philippus qui privigno minus tribuerit quam Cicero qui alieno tribuat! desinat igitur gloriando etiam insectari dolores nostros. quid enim nostra victum esse Antonium, si victus est ut alii vacaret quod ille obtinuit? [6] tametsi tuae litterae dubia etiam nunc significant. vivat hercule Cicero, qui potest, supplex et obnoxius, si neque aetatis neque honorum neque rerum gestarum pudet; ego certe quin cum ipsa re bellum geram, hoc est cum regno et imperiis extraordinariis et dominatione et potentia quae supra leges se esse velit, nulla erit tam bona condicio serviendi qua deterrear, quamvis sit vir bonus, ut scribis, +Antonius+; quod ego numquam existimavi. sed dominum ne parentem quidem maiores nostri voluerunt esse. te nisi tantum amarem quantum Ciceroni persuasum est diligi ab Octavio, haec ad te non scripsissem. dolet mihi quod tu nunc stomacharis amantissimus cum tuorum omnium tum Ciceronis; sed persuade tibi de voluntate propria mea nihil esse remissum, de iudicio largiter. neque enim impetrari potest quin quale quidque videatur ei talem quisque de illo opinionem habeat. [7] vellem mihi scripsisses quae condiciones essent Atticae nostrae; potuissem aliquid tibi de meo sensu perscribere. valetudinem Porciae meae tibi curae esse non miror. denique quod petis faciam libenter; nam etiam sorores me rogant. et hominem noro et quid sibi voluerit.