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392 the year might bring him to the post of duty at a moment when his exertions would be of use. He crossed to Sicily and had actually set sail from Syracuse, when an adverse wind, to which he declares his profound gratitude, compelled him to touch again on the Italian coast. This happy accident enabled him to receive a letter from Atticus which convinced him that the crisis would come sooner than he expected and that to retire now would be to forsake his post. Brutus, whom he met a few days later, confirmed him in his resolve, and he set his face steadily towards Rome.

On the 2d of September Cicero appeared in the Senate and delivered the speech preserved to us under the title of the First Philippic. The tone of this oration is firm but conciliatory. He inveighs against the policy of Antony, but still urges peace, and holds out offers of compromise. The speech was, however, sufficient to rouse the deadly hostility of the consul; he threatened riot or assassination, and Cicero found it necessary to retire for a while from the city.

During the next weeks events followed thick and fast. Antony had forced through a decree for an exchange of provinces, by which he was himself to have command in Cisalpine Gaul, and Decimus Brutus was to be removed to Macedonia. Meanwhile he had ordered that four veteran legions which Cæsar had stationed in Macedonia should cross over into Italy. On the 6th of October he declared his policy in a speech in which he asserted that while he lived there should be no place for Cæsar's assassins in the