to enter danger heedlessly and contrary to their own interests.  Still, in this great work you will be successful without undergoing any toil or danger, without spending money or ordering murders, but simply by voting just this, that no malice shall be borne on the part of any. [-32-] Even if any errors have been committed by certain persons, this is not a time to enquire carefully into them, nor to convict, nor to punish.  You are not at the moment sitting in judgment over any one, that you should need to search out what is just with absolute accuracy, but you are deliberating about the situation that has arisen and how the excitement may in the safest way be allayed.  This is something we could not bring about, unless we should overlook some few things, as we are wont to do in the case of children.  When dealing with them we do not take all matters carefully into account, and many things we of necessity overlook.  For venial sins it is not right to chastise them remorselessly, but rather to admonish them gently.  And now, since we are not only named fathers of all the people in common, but are in reality such, let us not enter into a discussion of all the fine points, lest we all incur ruin; for anybody could find much fault with Caesar himself so that he would seem to have been justly slain, or again might bring heavy charges against those that killed him, so that they would be thought to deserve punishment.  But such action is for men who are anxious to arouse seditions again.  It is the task of those who deliberate rightly not to cause their own hurt by meting out exact justice, but to win preservation by a use at the same time of clemency.  Accordingly, think of this that has happened as if it had been a kind of hail storm or deluge that had taken place and give it to forgetfulness.  Now, if never before, gain a knowledge of one another, since you are countrymen and citizens and relatives, and secure harmony.

[-33-] “Now, that none of you may suspect that I wish to grant any indulgence to Caesar’s assassins to prevent their paying the penalty, just because I was once a member of Pompey’s party, I will state one fact to you.  I think that all of you are firmly of the opinion that I have never adopted an attitude of friendship or hostility toward any one for purely personal reasons, but it was always for your sake and for the public freedom and harmony that I hated the one class and loved the other.  For this reason I will pass over the rest that might be said, and make merely a brief statement to you.  I am so far from doing this that I mentioned and not looking out for the public safety, that I affirm the others, too, should be granted immunity for their high-handed acts, contrary to established law, in Caesar’s lifetime, and they ought to keep the honors, offices, and gifts which they received from him, though I am not pleased with some of them.  I should not advise you to do or to grant anything further of the kind:  but since it has been done, I think you ought not to be troubled overmuch about any of these matters.  For what loss so far-reaching could you sustain if A or B holds something that he has obtained outside of just channels and contrary to his deserts as the benefit you could attain by not causing fear or disturbance to men who were formerly of influence?