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DCCCXLIII (BRUT. 1, 3, § 4)

TO M. IUNIUS BRUTUS (AT DYRRACHIUM)
ROME, 27 APRIL
WE have lost two consuls-good men enough; yes, at any rate good men. As for Hirtius, he fell in the moment of victory, 1 having also won a great battle only a few days before. For Pansa had retreated, after receiving wounds which put him out of action. 2 Decimus Brutus and Caesar are in pursuit of the remnants of the enemy. 3 All, moreover, have been declared "enemies," who followed the party of Antony: and that decree of the senate most people interpret as applying also to those whom you have captured or who have surrendered to you. For my part I refrained from urging any severity, though I proposed a decree referring to Gaius Antonius by name: for I had made up my mind that the senate ought to be informed by you of the merits of his case.

27 April.


1 In storming Antony's camp a week after the battle of Forum Gallorum (21st April).

2 Pansa appears to have retired wounded to Bononia after the battle. It is rather remarkable that Galba says nothing of his being wounded in Letter DCCCXXXVIII.

3 It turned out that Caesar had refused to join Decimus Brutus in the pursuit of Antony.

Cicero. The Letters of Cicero; the whole extant correspondence in chronological order, in four volumes. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh. London. George Bell and Sons. 1908-1909.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

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