You propose to take the legions away from Brutus—­which legions?  Why, those which he has gained over from the wickedness of Caius Antonius, and has by his own authority gained over to the republic.  Do you wish then that he should again appear to be the only person stripped of his authority, and as it were banished by the senate?  And you, O conscript fathers, if you abandon and betray Marcus Brutus, what citizen in the world will you ever distinguish?  Whom will you ever favour?  Unless, indeed, you think that those men who put a diadem on a man’s head deserve to be preserved, and those who have abolished the very name of kingly power deserve to be abandoned.  And of this divine and immortal glory of Marcus Brutus I will say no more, it is already embalmed in the grateful recollection of all the citizens, but it has not yet been sanctioned by any formal act of public authority.  Such patience!  O ye good gods! such moderation! such tranquillity and submission under injury!  A man who, while he was praetor of the city, was driven from the city, was prevented from sitting as judge in legal proceedings, when it was he who had restored all law to the republic, and, though he might have been hedged round by the daily concourse of all virtuous men, who were constantly flocking round him in marvellous numbers, he preferred to be defended in his absence by the judgment of the good, to being present and protected by their force,—­who was not even present to celebrate the games to Apollo, which had been prepared in a manner suitable to his own dignity and to that of the Roman people, lest he should open any road to the audacity of most wicked men.

IV.  Although, what games or what days were ever more joyful than those on which at every verse that the actor uttered, the Roman people did honour to the memory of Brutus, with loud shouts of applause?  The person of their liberator was absent, the recollection of their liberty was present, in which the appearance of Brutus himself seemed to be visible.  But the man himself I beheld on those very days of the games, in the country-house of a most illustrious young man, Lucullus, his relation, thinking of nothing but the peace and concord of the citizens.  I saw him again afterwards at Veha, departing from Italy, in order that there might be no pretext for civil war on his account.  Oh what a sight was that! grievous, not only to men but to the very waves and shores.  That its saviour should be departing from his country, that its destroyers should be remaining in their country!  The fleet of Cassius followed a few days afterwards, so that I was ashamed O conscript fathers, to return into the city from which those men were departing.  But the design with which I returned you heard at the beginning, and since that you have known by experience.  Brutus, therefore, bided his time.  For, as long as he saw you endure everything, he himself behaved with incredible patience, after that he saw you roused to a desire of liberty, he prepared the means to protect you in your liberty.