The new tribunes convoked the senate for the nineteenth, on which occasion Cicero had intended to be absent, but receiving the day before the edict of Decimus Brutus, by which he forbade Antonius to enter his province (immediately after the death of Caesar he had taken possession of Cisalpine Gaul, which had been conferred on him by Caesar), and declared that he would defend it against him by force and preserve it in its duty to the senate, he thought it necessary to procure for Brutus a resolution of the senate in his favour.  He went down therefore very early, and, in a very full house, delivered the following speech.

I. We have been assembled at length, O conscript fathers, altogether later than the necessities of the republic required; but still we are assembled, a measure which I, indeed, have been every day demanding, inasmuch as I saw that a nefarious war against our altars and our hearths, against our lives and our fortunes was, I will not say being prepared, but being actually waged by a profligate and desperate man.  People are waiting for the first of January.  But Antonius is not waiting for that day, who is now attempting with an army to invade the province of Decimus Brutus, a most illustrious and excellent man.  And when he has procured reinforcements and equipments there, he threatens that he will come to this city.  What is the use then of waiting, or of even a delay for the very shortest time?  For although the first of January is at hand, still a short time is a long one for people who are not prepared.  For a day, or I should rather say an hour, often brings great disasters, if no precautions are taken.  And it is not usual to wait for a fixed day for holding a council, as it is for celebrating a festival.  But if the first of January had fallen on the day when Antonius first fled from the city, or if people had not waited for it, we should by this time have no war at all.  For we should easily have crushed the audacity of that frantic man by the authority of the senate and the unanimity of the Roman people.  And now, indeed, I feel confident that the consuls elect will do so, as soon as they enter on their magistracy.  For they are men of the highest courage, of the most consummate wisdom, and they will act in perfect harmony with each other.  But my exhortations to rapid and instant action are prompted by a desire not merely for victory, but for speedy victory.

For how long are we to trust to the prudence of an individual to repel so important, so cruel, and so nefarious a war?  Why is not the public authority thrown into the scale as quickly as possible?

II.  Caius Caesar, a young man, or, I should rather say, almost a boy, endued with an incredible and godlike degree of wisdom and valour, at the time when the frenzy of Antonius was at its height, and when his cruel and mischievous return from Brundusium was an object of apprehension to all, while we neither desired him to do so, nor thought of such a measure, nor ventured even to wish it, (because it did not seem practicable,) collected a most trustworthy army from the invincible body of veteran soldiers, and has spent his own patrimony in doing so.  Although I have not used the expression which I ought,—­for he has not spent it,—­he has invested it in the safety of the republic.