The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [319]
20. Saying Cicero should manage affairs as he pleased with full power, for the young Octavius was only desirous of the name and glory of consul.
21. Moreover Octavius Caesar himself confessed that, fearing ruin and in danger of being deserted, he had made use of Cicero’s ambition.
22. And now, more than at any other time, Cicero let himself be deceived, though an old man, by the persuasion of a boy.
23. He joined Octavius Caesar in soliciting votes, and procured the goodwill of the senate,
24. Not without blame at the time on the part of his friends, who guessed what was coming;
25. And he, too, soon enough, saw that he had ruined himself, and betrayed the liberty of his country.
26. For Octavius Caesar, once established as consul, bade Cicero farewell;
27. And reconciling himself to Antony and Lepidus, joined his power with theirs, and divided the government, like a piece of property, with them.
28. Thus united, they made a list of more than two hundred people who were to be put to death.
29. But the greatest contention in their debates was centred upon Cicero.
30. Antony would accept no conditions, unless Cicero was the first to be killed.
31. Lepidus agreed with Antony, and Octavius Caesar opposed them both.
32. They met secretly for three days near the town of Bononia. The place was not far from the army camp, with a river surrounding it.
33. Octavius Caesar, it is said, earnestly defended Cicero for two days; but on the third day gave him up.
34. The terms of their mutual concessions were these: that Caesar should desert Cicero; Lepidus, his brother Paulus; and Antony, Lucius Caesar, his uncle by his mother’s side.
35. Thus they let their anger take away their sense of humanity, and demonstrated that no beast is more savage than man when possessed with power equal to his rage.
36. While these things were happening, Cicero was with his brother at his house near Tusculum.
37. Hearing of the proscriptions, they decided to go to Astura, a villa of Cicero’s near the sea, and to take ship from there to Macedonia, where Brutus had his strength.
38. They travelled together in separate litters, overwhelmed with sorrow;
39. And often stopping on the way till their litters came together, condoled with one another.
40. But Quintus was the more disheartened because he had no money for the journey, having brought nothing with him from home, and Cicero himself had only a slender provision.
41. They therefore decided that Cicero should continue to escape, while Quintus returned home to provide necessaries;
42. So they mutually embraced, and parted with many tears.
43. Quintus, a few days after, was betrayed by his servants, and was slain, together with his young son.
Chapter 86
1. Cicero reached Astura, where he found a vessel and sailed as far as Circaeum with a prosperous wind;
2. But when the pilots resolved to sail on immediately, Cicero went ashore, either fearing the sea, or hoping that Octavius Caesar might still save him;
3. And travelled a hundred furlongs by land, as if going back to Rome.
4. But again changing his mind, he returned to the sea, and there spent the night in fearful and perplexed thoughts.
5. At last he decided to go by sea to Capitie, where he had a house, an agreeable place to retire to in the heat of summer, when the Etesian winds are so pleasant.
6. He again went ashore, and on entering his house, lay down to rest. His servants, anxious for his safety, and guessing that assassins were in search of him,
7. Partly by entreaty and partly by force took him up, and carried him in his litter towards the seaside.
8. But in the meantime, accompanied by a band of soldiers, the assassins were closing in;
9. They were Herennius, a centurion, and Popillius, a tribune, whom Cicero had formerly defended when prosecuted for the murder of his father.
10. Finding the doors shut, they broke them open. Those within said they did not know where Cicero was,
11. But a youth called