I have said enough of the shamefulness of such a proceeding; I will now speak next, as I proposed, of the danger of it; which, although it is not so important to avoid as shame, still offends the minds of the greater part of mankind even more.

Vi.  Will it then be possible for you to rely on the certainty of any peace, when you see Antonius, or rather the Antonii, in the city?  Unless, indeed, you despise Lucius:  I do not despise even Caius.  But, as I think, Lucius will be the dominant spirit,—­for he is the patron of the five-and-thirty tribes, whose votes he took away by his law, by which he divided the magistracies in conjunction with Caius Caesar.  He is the patron of the centuries of the Roman knights, which also he thought fit to deprive of the suffrages:  he is the patron of the men who have been military tribunes; he is the patron of the middle of Janus.  O ye gods! who will be able to support this man’s power? especially when he has brought all his dependants into the lands.  Who ever was the patron of all the tribes? and of the Roman knights? and of the military tribunes?  Do you think that the power of even the Gracchi was greater than that of this gladiator will be? whom I have called gladiator, not in the sense in which sometimes Marcus Antonius too is called gladiator, but as men call him who are speaking plain Latin.  He has fought in Asia as a mirmillo.  After having equipped his own companion and intimate friend in the armour of a Thracian, he slew the miserable man as he was flying; but he himself received a palpable wound, as the scar proves.

What will the man who murdered his friend in this way, when he has an opportunity, do to an enemy? and if he did such a thing as this for the fun of the thing, what do you think he will do when tempted by the hope of plunder?  Will he not again meet wicked men in the decuries? will he not again tamper with those men who have received lands? will he not again seek those who have been banished? will he not, in short, be Marcus Antonius; to whom, on the occasion of every commotion, there will be a rush of all profligate citizens?  Even if there be no one else except those who are with him now, and these who in this body now openly speak in his favour, will they be too small in number? especially when all the protection which we might have had from good men is lost, and when those men are prepared to obey his nod?  But I am afraid, if at this time we fail to adopt wise counsels, that that party will in a short time appear too numerous for us.  Nor have I any dislike to peace; only I do dread war disguised under the name of peace.  Wherefore, if we wish to enjoy peace we must first wage war.  If we shrink from war, peace we shall never have.