Possibly, Cicero wanted to revive his success of the attacks on the conspiracy of Catiline; at any rate, he compares Mark Antony with his own worst political opponents Catiline and Clodius in a clever rhetorical manner. In the 3rd and 4th speeches, of 20 December 44, he tried to establish a military alliance with Octavian; the primary objective was the annihilation of Mark Antony and the restoration of the res publica libera – the free republic; to reach this goal, he favoured military means unambiguously. As the Senate decided to send a peace delegation, in the 5, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th speeches, he argued against the idea of an embassy and tried to mobilise the Senate and the Roman People to war.