496 
ftate to be free, if the fupporters of the 
fiate be obliged to fkulk inholes and cor- 
ners when his countenance lowers; or to 
come abroad at times, lke reptiles, and’ 
fport in the funfhine of his favour? Not 
even Octavius, i tell you, my friend, caz 
grant the prayer of your petition, You 
intercede for onr fafety: that is, you afk 
quarter for our lives,—Infurance fer the 
lives of flaves! Who will infure the lives 
of thofe who have loft their jiberty and 
flained their honour? But then you fay, 
we may reide in Rome. Liberty, my 
friend, has nothing local in it: it is not 
confined to the bricks and mortar, the 
ftone and marble of your capital. It Ibe 
free, I fhall carry Rome along with me ; 
and they areexiles.z# Rome, who can bear 
the contumelies, or the courtefies, of a ty- 
rant. In Greece, that title was fatal even 
to the furviving family; but when this 
Jad has infulted us, by adopting the very 
name of the late uwfurper, Cicero runs to 
recognize the name—gives the all-hail— 
falls on bis knees for the fafety of thofe 
who have feived the ftate, and makes that 
ftate once more, not merely a nominal, but 
areal fubfiantial flave—an abandoned, ir- 
redeemable flave, that kicks away the cap 
of liberty, and dances to the clank of his 
chains. If Ceéfar himtelf, in the plenitude 
of his power, felt what could be done by 
one or two refolute men, fhall we now 
crouch to the fovereignty of his naked 
name? Rome appears to me like a huge 
heavy ox, goaded on by aboy. The name 
of Czxfar ferves O&tavius by way of goad, 
and the great unwieldy animal moves 
along, unconicious of its firength, and pa- 
tient ‘of injury. 
Never, therefore, from this hour com- 
mend my fatety to this Czefar of your's: 
never, if you leve me, commend your 
ewn. You pay toohigh a price for a few 
years of frail and feverith Isfe, if you 
purchafe them with a fingle proftration at 
the feet of anequal. I fhould not wifh 
that your enemies had it tm their power to 
put fach a vile conftruétion on your pro- 
fecution of Antony, as to refer it to 
motives of perfonal fear, rather than to a 
regard for the common-weal; and I 
fhoujd be forry to tee them urge this pe- 
lition ct your’s to Ottavius as a proof 
that Cicero could contrive to bear tyranny, 
provided he had a tyrant to dis tajie. I 
co applaud the boy for the good you fa 
he has done. Hi the wil/l-be fhould re- 
femble the 4as-been—if it appears that 
his aim is to level upftart ambition, 
not to put his own in its place, I thall ap- 
plaud him more ; but iJ, on this account, 
Letter from Brutus to Cicerts 
[ Jan. ts 
you drefs him up in the attributes of fo- 
vereignty, with the preregatives to pardon 
er to punifh, you compliment him rather 
highly. I have no notion, Cicero, of 
handing over the common-weal to any 
perfon, by way of compliment. Cicero, 
the man who writes to you, not only will 
not pray for his life, but, as far as he can, 
will hold down thofe that offer to do. fo 
fos him. I am determiied to banith your 
fervile city, fatisfied, as I am, that where- 
ever liberty is, there is Rome—there is my , 
country; yet fometimes I fhall figh to 
think of thofe left behind, whom a fullnefs 
of years only renders more avaricious of 
life—a life drawn to the very Jees—ac- 
counted more precious than honour, 
friendihip, and fair fame. Happy in the 
home of my own heart, I fhail think my-= 
felf fufficiently rich in the debt of grati- 
tude which the world owes, but has not 
paid, me: and I fhall glory in being the 
difinterefted creditor of mankind, I know 
nothing fweeter than the memory of vir- 
tuous actions ; nothing greater than the 
ftern felf-fufficiency of freedom. As to 
what has been done, it has been well done; 
as {o what there is to do, I know what i 
fhalldo. Sunk as your city is, I will not 
fink or fuccumb. JI fhall never be over- 
‘ruled by thofe who with that others fhould 
over-rule them. [ will try all things, ha- 
zard all things, What will I not do, 
what not fuffer, to raife up my fallen 
country a fecond time, and crown her with 
freedom! As to what willbe,if Fortunedoes _ 
as fhe ought todo, you fhall all be happy, 
Let her do as fhe choofes, F thall be hap- 
py. O, my friend, how can this little life 
of ours be fo happily filled up, as when 
our every thought and aétion, our every 
word and work, are dedicated to the fale 
vation of ourcountry? = — ede 
Cicero, dear Cicero, again and again 
do I befeech, do Limplore you to hold 
up your head, and wretile with difficulties 
like aman. Do not defpond; do not de- 
{pair. As you cannot be what you choole, 
be what you ought. Keep watch, and be 
filent. (Set your face’ and lift your - 
voice againft thofe meafures, nor {fuf- 
fer a fingle poifonous precedent to infinu- 
ate itfelf, pregnant with future evil. The 
-boldeft and brighteft a€tions of your life 
will fade in the memories of men, if the 
tenor of this life be not to the lait uni- 
form and confiftent. The virtue that has 
done much lays on itfelf an obligation te 
do more; and the benefits we confer on 
our country are debts for which the great- 
eft.aad beft are moft accountable. That 
the Confular Cicero fhould counteract 
4 Antony 
