DCCCLXVII (F XI, 18)
TO DECIMUS BRUTUS (NEAR
VERCELLAE)
ROME, 19 MAY
THOUGH from the message which you gave to
Galba and Volumnius for the senate I have a good
guess as to what you thought was the danger ahead,
yet the message seemed to me to be less confident
than suited the victory gained by yourself and the
Roman people. The senate, however, my dear Brutus,
is resolute and has resolute leaders. It was
therefore somewhat hurt that it should be
considered timid and spiritless by you, whom it
considered the bravest of men. For considering
that even when you were invested everybody
retained the most confident hope in your valour,
though Antony was in full vigour, who could be
afraid of anything after he had been defeated and
you released? Nor, indeed, are we afraid of
Lepidus. For who in the world could expect him to
be such a madman as, after saying in the midst of
a most formidable war that he desired peace, to
proclaim war against the Republic after the
ardently desired peace had been obtained? And I do
not doubt your seeing farther ahead than we can.
But nevertheless a renewal of alarm so soon after
the thanksgiving which we offered at all the
temples in your name does cause bitter
disappointment. Therefore, for my part, my wish
is—as it is my hope—that
Antony has been entirely ruined and crushed: but
if he has by chance collected some forces, he
shall feel that the senate is not without wisdom,
nor the Roman people without valour, nor the
Republic—as long as you are
alive—without a general. 19 May.
ROME, 19 MAY