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6]
Antonius is not that sort of man. For if he had been,
he would never have allowed matters to come to such a pass, as for the senate to
give him notice, as it did to Hannibal at the beginning of the Punic war not to
attack
Saguntum. But what ignominy it
is to be called away from
Mutina,
and at the same time to be forbidden to approach the city as if he were some
fatal conflagration! what an opinion is this for the senate to have of a man!
What? As to the commission which is given to the ambassadors to visit Decimus
Brutus and his soldiers, and to inform them that their excellent zeal in behalf
of, and services done to the republic, are acceptable to the senate and people
of
Rome, and that that conduct shall
tend to their great glory and to their great honor; do you think that Antonius
will permit the ambassadors to enter
Mutina? and to depart from thence in safety? He never will
allow it, believe me. I know the violence of the man, I know his impudence, I
know his audacity.