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42“But I return to my point that he has none of the qualities of a great general or such as to win victories and does not possess many or formidable legions. For the majority of the soldiers and the best ones have deserted him, yes, and what is more, he has been deprived of his elephants; as for the rest of his troops, they have practised outraging and pillaging the allies more than waging war. 2Proof of the sort of spirit that animates them is seen in the fact that they still adhere to him, and proof of their lack of bravery in their failure to take Mutina, though they have now been besieging it for so long a time. Such is the condition of Antony and of his followers found to be. 3But Caesar and Brutus and those arrayed with them are formidable opponents quite by themselves,—Caesar, at any rate, has won over many of his rival’s soldiers, and Brutus is keeping him out of Gaul,— 4and if you also come to their assistance, first by approving what they have done on their own initiative, next by ratifying their acts, at the same time giving them legal authority for the future, and then by sending out both the consuls to take charge of the war, it is certain that none of his present associates will continue to aid him. 5However, even if they cling to him most tenaciously, he will not be able to resist all the others at once, but will either lay down his arms voluntarily, as soon as he ascertains that you have passed this vote, and place himself in your hands, or will be captured against his will as the result of a single battle.
6“This is my advice to you, and, if it had been my lot to be consul, I should certainly have carried it out, as I did in former days when I defended you against Catiline and Lentulus (a relative of this very man), who had conspired against you.
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