darling of the Roman people, Lucius Antonius.  And for tribunes, first of all two tribunes elect, Tullus Hostilius, who was so full of his privileges as to write up his name on the gate of Rome; and who, when he found himself unable to betray his general, deserted him.  The other tribune elect is a man of the name of Viseius; I know nothing about him; but I hear that he is (as they say) a bold robber; who, however, they say was once a bathing man at Pisaurum, and a very good hand at mixing the water.  Then there are others too, of tribunitian rank:  in the first place, Titus Plancus; a man who, if he had had any affection for the senate, would never have burnt the senate-house.  Having been condemned for which wickedness, he returned to that city by force of arms from which he was driven by the power of the law.  But, however, this is a case common to him and to many others who are very unlike him.  But this is quite true which men are in the habit of saying of this Plancus in a proverbial way, that it is quite impossible for him to die unless his legs are broken.[50] They are broken, and still he lives.  But this, like many others, is a service that has been done us by Aquila.

XIII.  There is also in that camp Decius, descended, as I believe, from the great Decius Mus; accordingly he gained[51] the gifts of Caesar.  And so after a long interval the recollection of the Decii is renewed by this illustrious man.  And how can I pass over Saxa Decidius, a fellow imported from the most distant nations, in order that we might see that man tribune of the people whom we had never beheld as a citizen?  There is also one of the Sasernae; but all of them have such a resemblance to one another, that I may make a mistake as to their first names.  Nor must I omit Exitius, the brother of Philadelphus the quaestor; lest, if I were to be silent about that most illustrious young man, I should seem to be envying Antonius.  There is also a gentleman of the name of Asinius, a voluntary senator, having been elected by himself.  He saw the senate-house open after the death of Caesar, he changed his shoes, and in a moment became a conscript father.  Sextus Albedius I do not know, but still I have not fallen in with any one so fond of evil-speaking, as to deny that he is worthy of a place in the senate of Antonius.

I dare say that I have passed over some names; but still I could not refrain from mentioning those who did occur to me.  Relying then on this senate, he looks down on the senate which supported Pompeius, in which ten of us were men of consular rank; and if they were all alive now this war would never have arisen at all.  Audacity would have succumbed to authority.  But what great protection there would have been in the rest may be understood from this, that I, when left alone of all that band, with your assistance crushed and broke the audacity of that triumphant robber.