[-23-] “And yet all these measures which you are seen to have voted you will find to be slight and varying but little from established custom.  What was there dreadful in the fact that one man was destined to govern Macedonia or Gaul in place of another?  Or what was the harm if a man obtained soldiers during his consulship?  But these are the facts that are harmful and abominable,—­that your land should be damaged, allied cities besieged, that our soldiers should be armed against us and our means expended to our detriment:  this you neither voted nor intended.  Do not, merely because you have granted him some privileges, allow him to usurp what was not granted him; and do not think that just as you have conceded some points he ought similarly to be permitted to do what has not been conceded.  Quite the reverse:  you should for this very reason both hate and punish him, because he has dared not only in this case but in all other cases to use the honor and kindness that you bestowed against you.  Look at the matter.  Through my influence you voted that there should be peace and harmony between individuals.  This man was ordered to manage the business, and conducted it in such a way (taking Caesar’s funeral as a pretext) that almost the whole city was burned down and great numbers were once more slaughtered.  You ratified all the grants made to various persons and all the laws laid down by Caesar, not because they were all excellent—­far from it! ,—­but because our mutual and unsuspecting association, quite free from any disguise, was not furthered by changing any one of those enactments.  This man, appointed to examine into them, has abolished many of his acts and has substituted many others in the documents.  He has taken away lands and citizenship and exemption from taxes and many other honors from the possessors,—­private individuals, kings, and cities,—­and has given them to men who had not received any, altering the memoranda of Caesar; from those who were unwilling to give up anything to his grasp he took away even what had been given them, and sold this and everything else to such as wished to buy.  Yet you, foreseeing this very possibility, had voted that no tablet should be set up after Caesar’s death which might contain any article given by him to any person.  Notwithstanding, it happened many times after that.  He also said it was necessary for some provisions found in Caesar’s papers to be specially noted and put into effect.  You then assigned to him, in company with the foremost men, the task of making these excerpts; but he, paying no attention to his colleagues, carried out everything alone according to his wishes, in regard to the laws, the exiles, and other points which I enumerated a few moments since.  This is the way in which he wishes to execute all your decrees.