own blood, and may well plead Prince Henry's great exception:
"If not, the end of life cancels all bonds."
The part which Cicero called upon the Senate to play at this crisis of events may best be stated in his own words:[1] "Antony must be assailed not by arms alone, but likewise by the decrees of this House. Great is the power and awful the majesty of a Senate unanimous in heart and voice. You see how the Forum is thronged, how the Roman People is all astir with the hope of recovering its liberties; now, after so long a space, it sees us once again assembled in our hundreds, and it hopes that it sees us free at last to speak and to act. This is the day for which I have been keeping myself all the time that I screened myself from the accursed weapons of Antony, whilst he thundered against me in my absence, little knowing for what occasion I was reserving myself and husbanding my strength. If I had consented to come and answer him then, when he would fain have inaugurated his massacres with my blood, I should not now have been in case to serve the commonwealth . . . In Heaven's name then I charge you, Senators, grasp this opportunity which is put within your reach, and call to mind at length that you are the peers of the venerable council that keeps watch over the world. Proclaim it to the Roman People that your counsel shall be forthcoming at this hour in which it declares that its manhood shall not be wanting . . . And if,
- ↑ Phil., iii., 13, 32.
