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THE SIXTH ORATION OF M. T. CICERO AGAINST MARCUS ANTONIUS. CALLED ALSO THE SIXTH PHILIPPIC. ADDRESSED TO THE PEOPLE.
40.
[102]
You led a colony to Casilinum, a place
to which Caesar had previously led one. You did indeed consult me by letter
about the colony of Capua (but I
should have given you the same answer about Casilinum), whether you could legally lead a new colony to a
place where there was a colony already. I said that a new colony could not be
legally conducted to an existing colony, which had been established with a due
observance of the auspices, as long as it remained in a flourishing state; but I
wrote you word that new colonists might be enrolled among the old ones. But you,
elated and insolent, disregarding all the respect due to the auspices, led a
colony to Casilinum, whither one had
been previously led a few years before; in order to erect your standard there,
and to mark out the line of the new colony with a plow. And by that plow you
almost grazed the gate of Capua, so
as to diminish the territory of that flourishing colony.
[103]
After this violation of all religious observances, you
hasten off to the estate of Marcus Varro, a most conscientious and upright man,
at Casinum. By what right? with
what face do you do this? By just the same, you will say, as that by which you
entered on the estates of the heirs of Lucius Rubrius, or of the heirs of Lucius
Turselius, or of other innumerable possessions. If you got the right from any
auction, let the auction have all the force to which it is entitled; let
writings be of force, provided they are the writings of Caesar, and not your
own; writings by which you are bound, not those by which you have released
yourself from obligation.
[104]
But who says that the estate of Varro at Casinum was ever sold at all? who ever saw any notice of that
auction? who ever heard the voice of the auctioneer? You say that you sent a man
to Alexandria to buy it of
Caesar. It was too long to wait for Caesar himself to come! But who ever heard
(and there was no man about whose safety more people were anxious) that any part
whatever of Varro's property had been confiscated? What? what shall we say if
Caesar even wrote you that you were to give it up? What can be said strong
enough for such enormous impudence? Remove for a while those swords which we see
around us. You shall now see that the cause of Caesar's auctions is one thing
and that of your confidence and rashness is another. For not only shall the
owner drive you from that estate, but any one of his friends, or neighbors, or
hereditary connections, and any agent, will have the right to do so.
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