I myself am far from asserting that in doing this he is carrying out any
legal act of administration. On the contrary, because he has abandoned
the province of Macedonia, which was assigned to him by lot, and because
he chose instead the province of Gaul, which in no way pertained to him,
and because he assumed control of the legions which Caesar had sent ahead
against the Parthians, keeping them about him though no danger threatens
Italy, and because he has left the city during the period of his
consulship to go about pillaging and injuring the country,--for all these
reasons I declare that he has long been an enemy of us all. [-21-] If you
did not perceive it immediately at the start or experience vexation
at each of his actions, he deserves to be hated all the more on
this account, in that he does not cease injuring you, who are so
long-suffering. He might perchance have obtained pardon for the errors
which he committed at first, but now by his perseverance in evil he has
reached such a pitch of knavery that he ought to be brought to book for
his former offences as well. And you ought to be especially careful in
regard to the situation, noticing and considering this point,--that the
man who has so often despised you in such weighty matters cannot submit
to be corrected by the same gentleness and kindliness that you have
shown, but must now against his will, even though never previously, be
chastised by force of arms.

"And because he partly persuaded and partly compelled you to vote
him some privileges, do not think that this makes him less guilty or
deserving of less punishment. Quite the reverse,--for this very procedure
in particular he merits the infliction of a penalty: he determined from
the outset to commit many outrages, and after accomplishing some of them
through you, he employed against your own selves the resources which came
from you, which by deception, he forced you to vote to him, though you