Cicero must have congratulated himself on his refusal to be lured into a premature championing of the Republic. He resolved to wait until January 1st before appearing in the Senate. But Octavianus and D. Brutus were insistent--the former based on Etruria. As they were both acting on private initiative for the salvation of the State, they clamoured to have their position legalized. The offensive was therefore launched earlier than had been expected. Summoning all his oratory or the struggle against Antonius, eager for war and iimplacable, he would hear no word of peace or compromise:he confronted Antonius with the choice between capitulation and destruction. Cicero was spurred to desperate action by the memory
Ciceroは自分が共和国の時期尚早な擁護に魅せられることを拒否したことを喜んだに違いない。彼は元老院に現れる前の1月1日まで待つことにした。だが OctavianusとD. Brutus─前者はEtruriaを拠点にしていた─は屈しなかった。両者共国家の救済に個人的なイニシアティブで動いており、自分の立場が合法化されるよう強く要求した。その結果、彼らが思っていたよりも早く攻撃が行なわれた。彼の全ての演説、または戦争好きで若いし難いAntoniusとの軋轢を集めると、彼は和平の言葉や妥協を聞き入れなかった。彼は降伏と破壊の間の選択肢の間でAntoniusと対立していた。Ciceroは逃亡の記憶、（続く）
--exile, a fatal miscalculation in politics and the compulsory speeches in defence of the tools of despotism, Balbusand Gabinius, by the Dictatorship of Caesar and the guilty knowledge of his own inadequacy. He knew how little he had achieved for the Republic despite his talent and his professions, how shamefully he had deserted his post after March 17th when concord and ordered government might still have been achieved. His hostility towards Antonius was declared. But Cicero's political feuds, however spirited at the outset, had not always been sustained with constancy. Cicero might rail at the consulars: but the advocates of concord and a settlement based upon compromise were neither fools nor traitors.
政治の決定的な誤算、Caesarの独裁による専制政治の道具Balbusand Gabiniusを擁護する演説、自らの力不足に対する後ろめたい認識によって絶望的な行動に駆り立てられていた。彼は自分の才能と職業にもかかわらず共和国ではほとんど何も達成していないこと、協約と命じられた統治がまだ行なわれていた3月17日以後、恥ずかしくも自分の地位を放棄したことを知っていた。彼の Antoniusに対する敵意は宣言された。だが最初は活発だったCiceroの政治抗争は常に支持されなかった。Ciceroは執政官らに抗議したかもしれないが、和解に基づく協約と合意の擁護者は馬鹿でも裏切り者でもなかった。
