Letter 7: Brutus writes to Cicero from Camp in Epirus to Rome in 15 May 43 BC.

* * * Now, Cicero, now is the time to act, lest we should have rejoiced in vain at Antony's overthrow, and lest the cutting out of each first evil should always become the occasion for another, worse than it, to spring up in its place. [2] No misfortune can now befall us, whether we are caught off guard or whether we endure it, in which the blame will not fall on everyone, but on you above all. The senate and the Roman people not only permit your authority to be so great, but actually wish it to be the very greatest that any single man's can be in a free commonwealth; and this authority you ought to safeguard not only by sound judgment but also by prudent action. Now the prudence in which you are so rich is found wanting in no respect on your part, except in moderation in the bestowing of honors. Everything else is so abundantly present in you that your virtues could be set beside those of any of the ancients; this one thing, springing from a grateful and generous spirit, calls for a more cautious and more restrained generosity. For the senate ought to give no one anything that may serve as a precedent or a protection to those who plot evil. And so I am afraid, in the matter of the consulship, that your Caesar may think he has climbed higher by your decrees than, if he is made consul, he will be willing to come down from. [3] But if Antony seized the apparatus of monarchy left behind by another as his opportunity to make himself king, with what sort of mind do you suppose a man will be, if he thinks he can crave any commands he likes, on the authority not of a slain tyrant but of the senate itself? For this reason I shall praise both your obligingness and your foresight only when I have begun to be assured that Caesar will be content with the extraordinary honors he has received. "So," you will say, "will you make me answerable for another man's fault?" Yes, plainly for another's fault, if it could have been provided against, so that it never arose! How I wish you could look into my fear concerning that man! [4] After this letter was written, we heard that you had been made consul. Then indeed I shall begin to set before myself a commonwealth that is just and at last resting on its own strength, if I see that come to pass. Your son is well, and has been sent ahead into Macedonia with the cavalry. On the Ides of May, from camp.

§ Brut.1.4 DCCCLXII (Brut. I, 4) M. IUNIUS BRUTUS TO CICERO (AT ROME) CAMP IN EPIRUS, 15 MAY:... Now, Cicero, now is the time for action, lest we turn out to have rejoiced in vain at the defeat of Antony, and lest it is always to be a case of cutting out one mischief for another to grow worse than the former. No reverse can now find us unprepared or otiose, in which everyone will not be to blame, and especially yourself, whose influence the senate and Roman people not only allow to be so great, but even desire to be the very greatest that one man's can be in a free state. And this influence you ought to maintain not only by good intentions but also by prudent conduct. Now the prudence, with which you are richly endowed, does not fail you in any respect except as to moderation in bestowing honours. All other endowments you possess in such profusion, that your excellences will stand comparison with any of the heroes of old. The only outcome of your grateful and generous heart that people feel to be wanting is a more cautious and better regulated liberality. For the senate ought to grant nothing to anybody which may serve as a precedent or justification to the ill-disposed. For instance, I am afraid in regard to the consulship that your friend Caesar will think that he has mounted to a higher position by means of your decrees than he will be willing to descend from, if he is once made consul. But if Antony regarded the working machinery of kingly power left by another as an opportunity for seizing kingly power for himself, what do you suppose a man's feelings will be who shall conceive himself justified in aspiring to any kind of office, not on the authority of a slain tyrant, but on that of the senate itself? Wherefore I shall reserve my compliments to your good nature and foresight till I begin to have proof that Caesar will be content with the extra-constitutional honours that he has already received. “Do you mean, then,” you will say, “to make me liable for another man's misconduct?” Yes, certainly for another's, if its occurrence might have been prevented by foresight. And oh that you may clearly see the depth of my alarm in regard to him! P.S.-After writing the above I have been informed that you have been elected consul. I shall indeed begin to imagine that I have before my eyes a complete and self-sustained Republic, when I see that. Your son is well, and has been sent in advance into Macedonia with the cavalry. 15 May, in camp.

[IVa] Scr. ex castris Id. Mai. a. 711 (43). BRVTVS CICERONI SAL. * * * nunc, Cicero, nunc agendum est ne frustra oppressum esse Antonium gavisi simus neu semper primi cuiusque mali excidendi causa sit ut aliud renascatur illo peius. [2] nihil iam neque opinantibus aut patientibus nobis adversi evenire potest in quo non cum omnium culpa tum praecipue tua futura sit, cuius tantam auctoritatem senatus ac populus Romanus non solum esse patitur sed etiam cupit quanta maxima in libera civitate unius esse potest; quam tu non solum bene sentiendo sed etiam prudenter tueri debes. prudentia porro, quae tibi superest, nulla abs te desideratur nisi modus in tribuendis honoribus. Alia omnia sic adsunt ut eum quolibet antiquorum comparari possint tuae virtutes; unum hoc a grato animo liberalique profectum cautiorem ac moderatiorem liberalitatem desiderat. nihil enim senatus cuiquam dare debet quod male cogitantibus exemplo aut praesidio sit. itaque timeo de consulatu ne Caesar tuus altius se ascendisse putet decretis tuis quam inde, si consul factus sit, sit descensurus. [3] quod si Antonius ab alio relictum regni instrumentum occasionem regnandi habuit, quonam animo fore putas si quis auctore non tyranno interfecto sed ipso senatu putet se imperia quaelibet concupiscere posse? qua re tum et facilitatem et providentiam laudabo tuam cum exploratum habere coepero Caesarem honoribus quos acceperit extraordinariis fore contentum. 'alienae igitur' inquies 'culpae me reum subicies?' prorsus alienae, si provideri potuit ne exsisteret! quod utinam inspectare possis timorem de illo meum! [4] his litteris scriptis consulem te factum audivimus. tum vero incipiam proponere mihi rem publicam iustam et iam suis nitentem viribus si istuc videro. filius valet et in Macedoniam cum equitatu praemissus est. Idibus Maiis ex castris.