diff options
Diffstat (limited to '21200.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 21200.txt | 18081 |
1 files changed, 18081 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/21200.txt b/21200.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a4eec4 --- /dev/null +++ b/21200.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18081 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Letters of Cicero, Volume 1, by Marcus Tullius Cicero + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Letters of Cicero, Volume 1 + The Whole Extant Correspodence in Chronological Order + +Author: Marcus Tullius Cicero + +Translator: Evelyn S. Shuckburgh + +Release Date: April 22, 2007 [EBook #21200] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LETTERS OF CICERO, VOLUME 1 *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +THE LETTERS OF + +CICERO + +THE WHOLE EXTANT CORRESPONDENCE +IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER + + +TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH + +BY + +EVELYN S. SHUCKBURGH, M.A. + +LATE FELLOW OF EMMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE +AUTHOR OF A TRANSLATION OF POLYBIUS, A HISTORY OF ROME, ETC + + +IN FOUR VOLUMES + +VOL. I. B.C. 68-52 + + +LONDON +GEORGE BELL AND SONS +1899 + + +CHISWICK PRESS:--CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. +TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. + + + + +PREFACE + + +The object of this book is to give the English-speaking public, in a +convenient form, as faithful and readable a copy as the translator was +capable of making of a document unique in the literature of antiquity. +Whether we regard the correspondence of Cicero from the point of view of +the biographer and observer of character, the historian, or the lover of +_belles lettres_, it is equally worthy of study. It seems needless to +dwell on the immense historical importance of letters written by +prominent actors in one of the decisive periods of the world's history, +when the great Republic, that had spread its victorious arms, and its +law and discipline, over the greater part of the known world, was in the +throes of its change from the old order to the new. If we would +understand--as who would not?--the motives and aims of the men who acted +in that great drama, there is nowhere that we can go with better hope of +doing so than to these letters. To the student of character also the +personality of Cicero must always have a great fascination. Statesman, +orator, man of letters, father, husband, brother, and friend--in all +these capacities he comes before us with singular vividness. In every +one of them he will doubtless rouse different feelings in different +minds. But though he will still, as he did in his lifetime, excite +vehement disapproval as well as strong admiration, he will never, I +think, appear to anyone dull or uninteresting. In the greater part of +his letters he is not posing or assuming a character; he lets us only +too frankly into his weaknesses and his vanities, as well as his +generous admirations and warm affections. Whether he is weeping, or +angry, or exulting, or eager for compliments, or vain of his abilities +and achievements, he is not a phantasm or a farceur, but a human being +with fiercely-beating pulse and hot blood. + +The difficulty of the task which I have been bold enough to undertake +is well known to scholars, and may explain, though perhaps not excuse, +the defects of my work. One who undertakes to express the thoughts of +antiquity in modern idiom goes to his task with his eyes open, and has +no right at every stumbling-block or pitfall to bemoan his unhappy fate. +So also with the particular difficulties presented by the great founder +of Latin style--his constant use of superlatives, his doubling and +trebling of nearly synonymous terms, the endless shades of meaning in +such common words as _officium_, _fides_, _studium_, _humanitas_, +_dignitas_, and the like--all these the translator has to take in the +day's work. Finally, there are the hard nuts to crack--often very +hard--presented by corruption of the text. Such problems, though, +relatively with other ancient works, not perhaps excessively numerous, +are yet sufficiently numerous and sufficiently difficult. But besides +these, which are the natural incidents of such work, there is the +special difficulty that the letters are frequently answers to others +which we do not possess, and which alone can fully explain the meaning +of sentences which must remain enigmatical to us; or they refer to +matters by a word or phrase of almost telegraphic abruptness, with which +the recipient was well acquainted, but as to which we are reduced to +guessing. When, however, all such insoluble difficulties are allowed +for, which after all in absolute bulk are very small, there should (if +the present version is at all worthy) be enough that is perfectly plain +to everyone, and generally of the highest interest. + +I had no intention of writing a commentary on the language of Cicero or +his correspondents, and my translation must, as a rule, be taken for the +only expression of my judgment formed after reading and weighing the +arguments of commentators. I meant only to add notes on persons and +things enabling the reader to use the letters for biographical, social, +and historical study. I should have liked to dedicate it by the words +_Boswellianus Boswellianis_. But I found that the difficulties of the +text compelled me to add a word here and there as to the solution of +them which I preferred, or had myself to suggest. Such notes are very +rare, and rather meant as danger signals than critical discussions. I +have followed in the main the chronological arrangement of the letters +adopted by Messrs. Tyrrell and Purser, to whose great work my +obligations are extremely numerous. If, as is the case, I have not +always been able to accept their conclusions, it is none the less true +that their brilliant labours have infinitely lightened my task, and +perhaps made it even possible. + +I ought to mention that I have adopted the English mode of dating, +writing, for instance, July and August, though Cicero repudiated the +former and, of course, never heard of the latter. I have also refrained +generally from attempting to represent his Greek by French, partly +because I fear I should have done it ill, and partly because it is not +in him as in an English writer who lards his sentences with French. It +is almost confined to the letters to Atticus, to whom Greek was a second +mother-tongue, and often, I think, is a quotation from him. It does not +really represent Cicero's ordinary style. + +One excuse for my boldness in venturing upon the work is the fact that +no complete translation exists in English. Mr. Jeans has published a +brilliant translation of a selection of some of the best of the letters. +But still it is not the whole. The last century versions of Melmoth and +Herbenden have many excellences; but they are not complete either (the +letters to Brutus, for instance, having been discovered since), and +need, at any rate, a somewhat searching revision. Besides, with many +graces of style, they may perhaps prove less attractive now than they +did a century ago. At any rate it is done, and I must bear with what +equanimity nature has given me the strictures of critics, who doubtless +will find, if so minded, many blemishes to set off against, and perhaps +outweigh, any merit my translation may have. I must bear that as well as +I may. But no critic can take from me the days and nights spent in close +communion with Rome's greatest intellect, or the endless pleasure of +solving the perpetually recurring problem of how best to transfer a +great writer's thoughts and feelings from one language to another: + + "Caesar in hoc potuit iuris habere nihil." + + + + +LETTERS IN VOLUME I + + + Number + in this + Translation + +Fam. I. 1 94 + " 2 95 + " 3 96 + " 4 97 + " 5 98 + " 5b 102 + " 6 103 + " 7 113 + " 8 118 + " 9 152 + " 10 161 +Fam. II. 1 165 + " 2 167 + " 3 168 + " 4 174 + " 5 175 + " 6 176 +Fam. III. 1 180 +Fam. V. 1 13 + " 2 14 + " 3 112 + " 4 88 + " 5 17 + " 6 15 + " 7 12 + " 8 130 + " 12 108 + " 17 178 + " 18 179 +Fam. VII. 1 126 + " 2 181 + " 5 133 + " 6 135 + " 7 136 + " 8 139 + " 9 144 + " 10 160 + " 11 166 + " 12 169 + " 13 170 + " 14 171 + " 15 173 + " 16 156 + " 17 145 + " 18 172 + " 23 125 + " 26 93 +Fam. XIII. 6a 114 + " 6b 115 + " 40 128 + " 41 54 + " 42 53 + " 49 162 + " 60 163 + " 73 164 + " 74 127 + " 75 177 +Fam. XIV. 1 81 + " 2 78 + " 3 83 + " 4 61 +Fam. XVI. 10 p. 386 + " 13 p. 384 + " 14 p. 385 + " 16 p. 387 +Q. Fr. I. 1 29 + " 2 52 + " 3 65 + " 4 71 +Q. Fr. II. 1 92 + " 2 99 + " 3 101 + " 4 104 + " 5 105 + " 6 116 + " 7 119 + " 8 122 + " 9 131 + " 10 132 + " 11 134 + " 12 138 + " 13 140 + " 14 141 + " 15 146 +Q. Fr III. 1 147 + " 2 149 + " 3 150 + " 4 151 + " 5} 154 + " 6} + " 7 155 + " 8 158 + " 9 159 +Petit. Cons. p. 367 +Att. I. 1 10 + " 2 11 + " 3 8 + " 4 9 + " 5 1 + " 6 2 + " 7 3 + " 8 5 + " 9 4 + " 10 6 + " 11 7 + " 12 16 + " 13 18 + " 14 19 + " 15 20 + " 16 21 + " 17 22 + " 18 23 + " 19 24 + " 20 25 +Att. II. 1 26 + " 2 27 + " 3 28 + " 4 30 + " 5 31 + " 6 32 + " 7 33 + " 8 34 + " 9 35 + " 10 37 + " 11 38 + " 12 36 + " 13 39 + " 14 40 + " 15 41 + " 16 42 + " 17 43 + " 18 44 + " 19 45 + " 20 46 + " 21 47 + " 22 48 + " 23 49 + " 24 50 + " 25 51 +Att. III. 1 58 + " 2 56 + " 3 55 + " 4 57 + " 5 59 + " 6 60 + " 7 62 + " 8 63 + " 9 64 + " 10 66 + " 11 67 + " 12 68 + " 13 70 + " 14 69 + " 15 72 + " 16 73 + " 17 74 + " 18 75 + " 19 76 + " 20 77 + " 21 79 + " 22 80 + " 23 82 + " 24 84 + " 25 85 + " 26 86 + " 27 87 +Att. IV. 1 89 + " 2 90 + " 3 91 + " 4a 100 + " 4b 106 + " 5 107 + " 6 109 + " 7 110 + " 8a 111 + " 8b 117 + " 9 121 + " 10 120 + " 11 123 + " 12 124 + " 13 129 + " 14 137 + " 15 143 + " 16} 142, 148, 157 + " 17} + " 18 153 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +[Sidenote: Ground covered by the Correspondence.] + +The correspondence of Cicero, as preserved for us by his freedman Tiro, +does not open till the thirty-ninth year of the orator's life, and is so +strictly contemporary, dealing so exclusively with the affairs of the +moment, that little light is thrown by it on his previous life. It does +not become continuous till the year after his consulship (B.C. 62). +There are no letters in the year of the consulship itself or the year of +his canvass for the consulship (B.C. 64 and 63). It begins in B.C. 68, +and between that date and B.C. 65 there are only eleven letters. We +have, therefore, nothing exactly contemporaneous to help us to form a +judgment on the great event which coloured so much of his after life, +the suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy and the execution of the +conspirators, in the last month of his consulship. But setting aside the +first eleven letters, we have from that time forward a correspondence +illustrating, as no other document in antiquity does, the hopes and +fears, the doubts and difficulties, of a keen politician living through +the most momentous period of Roman history, the period of the fall of +the Republic, beginning with Pompey's return from the East in B.C. 62, +and ending with the appearance of the young Octavian on the scene and +the formation of the Triumvirate in B.C. 43, of whose victims Cicero was +one of the first and most illustrious. It is by his conduct and speeches +during this period that Cicero's claim to be a statesman and a patriot +must be judged, and by his writings in the same period that his place in +literature must chiefly be assigned. Before B.C. 63 his biography, if we +had it, would be that of the advocate and the official, no doubt with +certain general views on political questions as they occurred, but not +yet committed definitely to a party, or inclined to regard politics as +the absorbing interest of his life. In his early youth his hero had +been his fellow townsman Marius, in whose honour he composed a poem +about the time of taking the _toga virilis_. But it was as the +successful general, and before the days of the civil war. And though he +served in the army of Sulla in the Marsic war (B.C. 90-88), he always +regarded his cruelties with horror, however much he may have afterwards +approved of certain points of his legislation. It was not till the +consulship that he became definitely a party man[1] and an Optimate, and +even then his feelings were much distracted by a strong +belief--strangely ill-founded--that Pompey would be as successful as a +statesman as he had been fortunate as a general. For him he had also a +warm personal attachment, which never seems to have wholly died out, in +spite of much petulance of language. This partly accounts for the +surrender of B.C. 56, and his acquiescence in the policy of the +triumvirs, an acquiescence never hearty indeed, as far as Caesar and +Crassus were concerned, but in which he consoled himself with the belief +that nothing very unconstitutional could be done while Pompey was +practically directing affairs at Rome. + +[Sidenote: The various nature of the Correspondence.] + +It is through this period of political change and excitement that the +correspondence will take us, with some important gaps indeed, but on the +whole fullest when it is most wanted to shew the feelings and motives +guiding the active politicians of the day, or at any rate the effect +which events had upon one eager and acute intellect and sensitive heart. +One charm of the correspondence is variety. There is almost every sort +of letter. Those to Atticus are unstudied, spontaneous, and reflect the +varying moods of the writer. At times of special excitement they follow +each other day by day, and sometimes more than once in the same day; and +the writer seems to conceal nothing, however much it might expose him to +ridicule, and to the charge of fickleness, weakness, or even cowardice. +Those addressed to other friends are sometimes familiar and playful, +sometimes angry and indignant. Some of them are careful and elaborate +state papers, others mere formal introductions and recommendations. +Business, literature, and philosophy all have their share in them; and, +what is so rare in ancient literature, the family relations of the +writer, his dealings with wife, son, and daughter, brother and nephew, +and sons-in-law, are all depicted for us, often with the utmost +frankness. After reading them we seem to know Cicero the man, as well as +Cicero the statesman and orator. The eleven letters which precede the +consulship are happily, from this point of view, addressed to Atticus. +For it was to Atticus that he wrote with the least concealment, and with +the confidence that any detail, however small, which concerned himself +would be interesting to his correspondent. It is well, therefore, that, +though we thus come into his life when it was more than half over, we +should at once hear his genuine sentiments on whatever subjects he may +be speaking. Besides his own, we have about ninety letters to Cicero +from some of the chief men of the day--Pompey, Caesar, Cato, Brutus, +Antony, and many others. They are of very various excellence. The best +of them are by much less known men. Neither Pompey nor Caesar were good +letter-writers, or, if the latter was so, he was too busy to use his +powers. + +[Sidenote: Cicero's position previous to the beginning of the +Correspondence in B.C. 68.] + +[Sidenote: Quaestor, B.C. 75.] + +The letters begin, then, in B.C. 68, when Cicero was in his +thirty-seventh year. He was already a man of established reputation both +as a pleader and a writer. Rhetorical treatises (B.C. 86), translations +from Xenophon and Plato (B.C. 84), and from the poems of Aratus (B.C. +81), had given evidence of a varied literary interest and a promise of +future eminence, while his success as an advocate had led to the first +step in the official _cursus honorum_ by his becoming a quaestor in B.C. +75. The lot assigned Lilybaeum as his sphere of work, and though the +duties of a quaestor in Sicily were not such as to bring a man's name +much before the Roman public, Cicero plumes himself, as was not unusual +with him, on the integrity and energy which he displayed in his +administration. He has indeed the honesty to tell against himself the +story of the acquaintance who, meeting him at Puteoli on his return +journey, asked him what day he had left Rome and what was the news +there. When he answered rather crossly that he had just come from +Sicily, another acquaintance put in with "Why, of course. Didn't you +know he has just been quaestor _at Syracuse_!" At any rate he had done +sufficiently well in Lilybaeum to give him his next step, the aedileship +to which he was elected B.C. 70, and to induce the Sicilians to apply to +him, when in that year they desired the prosecution of the extortionate +Verres. His energy and success in this business raised him, without +question, to the first rank of advocates, and pledged him to a righteous +policy in regard to the government of the provinces. + +[Sidenote: Cicero's Boyhood and Education.] + +Still Cicero was a _novus homo_, and the jealous exclusiveness of the +great families at Rome might yet prevent his attainment of the highest +office of all. When the correspondence opens he is a candidate for the +praetorship, which he obtained without difficulty, at the head of the +poll. But his birth might still be a bar to the consulship. His father, +M. Tullius, lived at Arpinum, an ancient city of the Volscians and +afterwards of the Samnites, which had long enjoyed a partial, and from +B.C. 188 a complete, Roman franchise, and was included in the Cornelian +tribe. Cicero's mother's name was Helvia, of whom we know nothing but +the one anecdote told by Quintus (_Fam._ xvi. 26), who says that she +used to seal the wine jars when they were emptied, so that none might be +drained without her knowing it--a testimony to her economy and careful +housewifery. His father had weak health and resided almost entirely in +his villa at Arpinum, which he had considerably enlarged, much devoted +to study and literature (_de Leg._ ii. 1). But though he apparently +possessed considerable property, giving him equestrian rank, and though +Cicero says that his family was very ancient, yet neither he nor any of +his ancestors had held Roman magistracies. Marcus and his brother +Quintus were the first of their family to do so, and both had to depend +on character and ability to secure their elections. But though the +father did nothing for his sons by holding curule office himself, he did +the best for their education that was possible. Cicero calls him +_optimus et prudentissimus_, and speaks with gratitude of what he had +done for his sons in this respect. They were sent early to Rome to the +house of C. Aculeo, a learned jurisconsult, married to a sister of +Helvia; and attended--with their cousins, the sons of Aculeo--the best +schools in the city.[2] The young Marcus shewed extraordinary ability +from the first, and that avidity for reading and study which never +forsook him. As a young man he diligently attended the chambers of +renowned jurisconsults, especially those of the elder and younger +Scaevola, Crassus, and Antonius, and soon found that his calling in life +was oratory. It was not till he was twenty-eight years old, +however--when he had already written much and pleaded many cases--that +he went on a visit of between two and three years to Greece, Asia, and +Rhodes, to study in the various schools of rhetoric and philosophy, and +to view their famous cities (B.C. 79-77). It was after his return from +this tour that his age (he was now thirty-one) made the seeking of +office at Rome possible. From that time his election to the several +offices--quaestorship, aedileship, praetorship, consulship--followed +without any repulse, each in the first year of his age at which he was +legally capable of being elected. + +He had doubtless made the acquaintance of Titus Pomponius, afterwards +called Atticus, early in life. But it seems that it was their intimacy +at Athens (B.C. 79), where Atticus, who was three years his senior, had +been residing for several years, that began the very close and warm +friendship which lasted with nothing but the slightest and most passing +of clouds till his death. His brother Quintus was married to Pomponia, a +sister of Atticus; but the marriage turned out unfortunately, and was a +strain upon the friendship of Cicero and Atticus rather than an +additional bond. This source of uneasiness meets us in the very first +letter of the correspondence, and crops up again and again till the +final rupture of the ill-assorted union by divorce in B.C. 44. Nothing, +however, had apparently interrupted the correspondence of the two +friends, which had been going on for a long time before the first letter +which has been preserved. + +[Sidenote: Cicero the successful Advocate.] + +[Sidenote: Death of Cicero's Father.] + +The eleven letters, then, which date before the consulship, shew us +Cicero in full career of success as an advocate and rising official, +not as yet apparently much interested in party politics, but with his +mind, in the intervals of forensic business, engaged on the adornment of +the new villa at Tusculum, the first of the numerous country residences +which his growing wealth or his heightened ideas of the dignity of his +position prompted him to purchase. Atticus is commissioned to search in +Athens and elsewhere for objects of art suitable for the residence of a +wealthy Roman, who at the same time was a scholar and man of letters. He +is beginning to feel the charm of at any rate a temporary retreat from +the constant bustle and occupations of the city. Though Cicero loved +Rome, and could hardly conceive of life unconnected with its business +and excitements,[3] and eagerly looked for news of the city in his +absence, yet there was another side to his character. His interest in +literature and philosophy was quite as genuine as his interest in the +forum and senate-house. When the season came for temporarily withdrawing +from the latter, he returned to the former with eager passion. But +Tusculum was too near Rome to secure him the quiet and solitude +necessary for study and composition. Thus, though he says (vol. i., p. +4), "I am so delighted with my Tusculan villa that I never feel really +happy till I get there," he often found it necessary, when engaged in +any serious literary work, to seek the more complete retirement of +Formiae, Cumae, or Pompeii, near all of which he acquired properties, +besides an inheritance at Arpinum.[4] But the important achievements in +literature were still in the future. The few letters of B.C. 68-67 are +full of directions to Atticus for the collection of books or works of +art suitable to his house, and of matters of private interest. They are +also short and sometimes abrupt. The famous allusion to his father's +death in the second letter of this collection, contained in a single +line--_pater nobis decessit a.d. 111 Kal. Decembris_--followed by +directions to Atticus as to articles of _vertu_ for his villa, has much +exercised the minds of admirers, who do not like to think Cicero capable +of such a cold-hearted sentence. It is certainly very unlike his usual +manner.[5] He is more apt to exaggerate than understate his emotions; +and in the first letter extant he speaks with real feeling of the death +of a cousin. Elsewhere--as we have seen--he refers to his father with +respect and gratitude. How then are we to account for such a cold +announcement? Several expedients have been hit upon. First, to change +_decessit_ to _discessit_, and to refer the sentence to the father's +quitting Rome, and not life; in which case it is not easy to see why the +information is given at all. Second, to suppose it to be a mere answer +to a request for the information on the part of Atticus; in which case +the date must refer to some previous year, or the letter must be placed +considerably later, to allow of time for Atticus to hear of the death +and to write his question. In favour of the first is the fact that +Asconius (Sec. 82) says that Cicero lost his father when he was a candidate +for the consulship (B.C. 64). Some doubt has been thrown upon the +genuineness of the passage in Asconius; and, if that is not trustworthy, +we have nothing else to help us. On the whole I think we must leave the +announcement as it stands in all its baldness. Cicero's father had long +been an invalid, and Atticus may have been well aware that the end was +expected. He would also be acquainted with the son's feelings towards +his father, and Cicero may have held it unnecessary to enlarge upon +them. It is possible, too, that he had already written to tell Atticus +of the death and of his own feelings, but had omitted the date, which he +here supplies. Whatever may be the true explanation--impossible now to +recover--everything we know of Cicero forbids us to reckon insensibility +among his faults, or reserve in expressing his feelings among his +characteristics. + +[Sidenote: The Praetorship, B.C. 66.] + +In the next year (B.C. 67) we find Cicero elected to the praetorship, +after at least two interruptions to the _comitia_, which, though not +aimed at himself, gave him a foretaste of the political troubles to come +a few years later. He is, however, at present simply annoyed at the +inconvenience, not yet apprehensive of any harm to the constitution. The +double postponement, indeed, had the effect of gratifying his vanity: +for his own name was returned three times first of the list of eight. +His praetorship (B.C. 66) passed without any startling event. The two +somewhat meagre letters which remain belonging to this year tell us +hardly anything. Still he began more or less to define his political +position by advocating the _lex Manilia_, for putting the Mithridatic +war into the hands of Pompey; and one of his most elaborate forensic +speeches--that for Cluentius--was delivered in the course of the year: +in which also his brother Quintus was elected to the aedileship. + +[Sidenote: B.C. 65-64. Preparations for the Consulship.] + +So far Cicero had risen steadily and without serious difficulty up the +official ladder. But the stress was now to come. The old families seem +not to have been so ready to oppose the rise of the _novus homo_ to the +praetorship. It was the consulship on which they tried to keep a tight +hand. Accordingly, immediately after the year of his praetorship, we find +him anxiously looking out for support and inquiring who are likely to be +his competitors. The interesting point in regard to this is his +connexion with Catiline. In his speech in the senate delivered in the +following year (_in toga candida_, B.C. 64) he denounced Catiline in the +most violent language, accusing him of every conceivable crime; yet in +B.C. 65 he not only contemplated being elected with him without any +expression of disgust, but even considered whether he should not +undertake his defence on some charge that was being brought against +him--perhaps for his conduct during the Sullan proscriptions. To +whitewash Catiline is a hopeless task; and it throws a lurid light upon +the political and moral sentiments of the time to find Cicero even +contemplating such a conjunction. + +After this, for two years, there is a break in the correspondence. +Atticus had probably returned to Rome, and if there were letters to +others (as no doubt there were) they have been lost. A certain light is +thrown on the proceedings of the year of candidature (B.C. 64) by the +essay "On the duties of a candidate," ascribed to his brother Quintus, +who was himself to be a candidate for the praetorship in the next year +(B.C. 63). We may see from this essay that Pompey was still regarded as +the greatest and most influential man at Rome; that Catiline's character +was so atrocious in the eyes of most, that his opposition was not to be +feared; that Cicero's "newness" was a really formidable bar to his +election, and that his chief support was to be looked for from the +individuals and companies for whom he had acted as counsel, and who +hoped to secure his services in the future. The support of the nobles +was not a certainty. There had been a taint of _popularity_ in some of +Cicero's utterances, and the writer urges him to convince the consulars +that he was at one with the Optimates, while at the same time aiming at +the conciliation of the equestrian order. This was, in fact, to be +Cicero's political position in the future. The party of the +Optimates--in spite of his disgust at the indifference and frivolity of +many of them--was to be his party: his favourite constitutional object +was to be to keep the equites and the senate on good terms: and his +greatest embarrassment was how to reconcile this position with his +personal loyalty to Pompey, and his views as to the reforms necessary in +the government of the provinces. + +[Sidenote: The Consulship, B.C. 63.] + +For the momentous year of the consulship we have no letters. His brother +Quintus was in Rome as candidate and then praetor-designate; Atticus was +also in Rome; and the business, as well as the dignity of a consul, were +against anything like ordinary correspondence. Of the earlier part of +the consulship we have little record. The speeches against Rullus were +delivered at the beginning of the year, and commit Cicero pretty +definitely to a policy as to the _ager publicus_--which was, to his +disgust, entirely reversed by the triumvirs in B.C. 59--but they do not +shew any sense of coming trouble. Cicero, however, throughout his +consulship took a very definite line against the _populares_. Not only +did he defend Rabirius Postumus, when accused by Caesar of the +assassination of Saturninus, and address the people against offering +violence to L. Roscius on account of the unpopular _lex theatralis_,[6] +but he even resisted the restoration to their civil rights of the sons +of the men proscribed by Sulla, avowedly on the ground of the necessity +of maintaining the established order, though he knew and confessed the +justice of the proposal.[6] + +[Sidenote: The Conspiracy of Catiline.] + +Any movement, therefore, on the side of the popular party had now his +opposition with which to reckon. He professes to have known very early +in his year of office that some more than usually dangerous movement was +in contemplation. We cannot well decide from the violent denunciation of +Catiline contained--to judge from extant fragments--in the speech _in +toga candida_, how far Cicero was really acquainted with any definite +designs of his. Roman orators indulged in a violence of language so +alien from modern ideas and habits, that it is difficult to draw +definite conclusions. But it appears from Sallust that Catiline had in a +secret meeting before the elections of B.C. 64, professed an intention +of going all lengths in a revolutionary programme and, if that was the +case, Cicero would be sure to have had some secret information on the +subject. But his hands were partly tied by the fact that the _comitia_ +had given him a colleague--C. Antonius--deeply implicated in Catiline's +policy, whatever it was. Pompey, whom he regarded as the champion of law +and order, was in the East: and Catiline's candidature--and it was +supposed his policy also--had had the almost open support of the richest +man in Rome, M. Licinius Crassus, and of the most influential man of the +_populares_, C. Iulius Caesar. In the house of one or the other of them, +indeed, the meeting at which Catiline first unfolded his purposes was +believed to have been held. Still Catiline had not been guilty of any +overt act which enabled Cicero to attack him. He had, indeed, been +informed, on very questionable authority, that Catiline had made a plot +to assassinate him while holding the elections, and he made a +considerable parade of taking precautions for his safety--letting it be +seen that he wore a cuirass under his toga, and causing his house to be +guarded by the younger members of his party. The elections, according +to Plutarch, had at least been once postponed from the ordinary time in +July, though this has been denied.[7] At any rate it was not till they +had taken place and Catiline had been once more rejected, that any +definite step is alleged to have been taken by him, such as Cicero could +lay hold of to attack him. On the 20th of October, in the senate, Cicero +made a speech warning the Fathers of the impending danger, and on the +21st called upon Catiline for an explanation in their presence. But, +after all, even the famous meeting of the 5th of November, in the house +of M. Porcius Laeca, betrayed to Cicero by Fulvia, the mistress of Q. +Curius, would not have sufficed as grounds for the denunciation of the +first extant speech against Catiline (7th of November), if it had not +been for something else. For some months past there had been rumours of +risings in various parts of Italy; but by the beginning of November it +was known that C. Manlius (or Mallius) had collected a band of +desperadoes near Faesulae, and, having established there a camp on the +27th of October, meant to advance on Rome. Manlius had been a centurion +in Sulla's army, and had received an allotment of confiscated land in +Etruria; but, like others, had failed to prosper. The movement was one +born of discontent with embarrassments which were mostly brought about +by extravagance or incompetence. But the rapidity with which Manlius was +able to gather a formidable force round him seems to shew that there +were genuine grievances also affecting the agricultural classes in +Etruria generally. At any rate there was now no doubt that a formidable +disturbance was brewing; the senate voted that there was a _tumultus_, +authorized the raising of troops, and named commanders in the several +districts affected. It was complicity in this rising that Cicero now +sought to establish against Catiline and his partisans in Rome. The +report of the meeting in the house of Laeca gave him the pretext for his +first step--a fiery denunciation of Catiline in the senate on the 7th of +November. Catiline left Rome, joined the camp of Manlius, and assumed +the ensigns of _imperium_. That he was allowed thus to leave the city +is a proof that Cicero had as yet no information enabling him to act at +once. It was the right of every citizen to avoid standing a trial by +going into exile. Catiline was now under notice of prosecution for +_vis_, and when leaving Rome he professed to be going to Marseilles, +which had the _ius exilii_. But when it was known that he had stopped +short at Faesulae, the senate at once declared both him and Manlius +_hostes_, and authorized the consuls to proceed against them. The +expedition was intrusted to Antonius, in spite of his known sympathy +with Catiline, while Cicero was retained with special powers to protect +the city. The result is too well known to be more than glanced at here. +Catiline's partisans were detected by letters confided to certain envoys +of the Allobroges, which were held to convict them of the guilt of +treason, as instigating Catiline to march on Rome, and the senate of the +Allobroges to assist the invasion by sending cavalry to Faesulae. + +[Sidenote: Execution of the conspirators, December, B.C. 63. Its legal +grounds and consequences.] + +The decree of the senate, _videant consules, etc._, had come to be +considered as reviving the full _imperium_ of the consul, and investing +him with the power of life and death over all citizens. Cicero acted on +this (questionable) constitutional doctrine. He endeavoured, indeed, to +shelter himself under the authority of a senatorial vote. But the senate +never had the power to try or condemn a citizen. It could only record +its advice to the consul. The whole legal responsibility for the +condemnation and death of the conspirators, arrested in consequence of +these letters, rested on the consul. To our moral judgment as to +Cicero's conduct it is of primary importance to determine whether or not +these men were guilty: to his legal and constitutional position it +matters not at all. Nor was that point ever raised against him. The +whole question turns on whether the doctrine was true that the _senatus +consultum ultimum_ gave the consul the right of inflicting death upon +citizens without trial, _i.e._, without appeal to the people, on the +analogy of the dictator _seditionis sedandae causa_, thus practically +defeating that most ancient and cherished safeguard of Roman liberty, +the _ius provocationis_. The precedents were few, and scarcely such as +would appeal to popular approval. The murder of Tiberius Gracchus had +been _ex post facto_ approved by the senate in B.C. 133-2. In the case +of Gaius Gracchus, in B.C. 121, the senate had voted _uti consul Opimius +rempublicam defenderet_, and in virtue of that the consul had authorized +the killing of Gaius and his friends: thus for the first time exercising +_imperium sine provocatione_. Opimius had been impeached after his year +of office, but acquitted, which the senate might claim as a confirmation +of the right, in spite of the _lex_ of Gaius Gracchus, which confirmed +the right of _provocatio_ in all cases. In B.C. 100 the tribune +Saturninus and the praetor Glaucia were arrested in consequence of a +similar decree, which this time joined the other magistrates to the +consuls as authorized to protect the Republic: their death, however, was +an act of violence on the part of a mob. Its legality had been impugned +by Caesar's condemnation of Rabirius, as _duovir capitalis_, but to a +certain extent confirmed by the failure to secure his conviction on the +trial of his appeal to the people. In B.C. 88 and 83 this decree of the +senate was again passed, in the first case in favour of Sulla against +the tribune Sulpicius, who was in consequence put to death; and in the +second case in favour of the consuls (partisans of Marius) against the +followers of Sulla. Again in B.C. 77 the decree was passed in +consequence of the insurrection of the proconsul Lepidus, who, however, +escaped to Sardinia and died there. + +In every case but one this decree had been passed against the popular +party. The only legal sanction given to the exercise of the _imperium +sine provocatione_ was the acquittal of the consul Opimius in B.C. 120. +But the jury which tried that case probably consisted entirely of +senators, who would not stultify their own proceedings by condemning +him. To rely upon such precedents required either great boldness (never +a characteristic of Cicero), or the most profound conviction of the +essential righteousness of the measure, and the clearest assurance that +the safety of the state--the supreme law--justified the breach of every +constitutional principle. Cicero was not left long in doubt as to +whether there would be any to question his proceeding. On the last day +of the year, when about to address the people, as was customary, on +laying down his consulship, the tribune Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos +forbade him to speak, on the express ground that he "had put citizens to +death uncondemned"--_quod cives indemnatos necavisset_. Cicero consoled +himself with taking the required oath as to having observed the laws, +with an additional declaration that he had "saved the state." +Nevertheless, he must have felt deeply annoyed and alarmed at the action +of Metellus, for he had been a _legatus_ of Pompey, and was supposed to +represent his views, and it was upon the approbation and support of +Pompey, now on the eve of his return from the East, that Cicero +particularly reckoned. + +[Sidenote: Letters after B.C. 63.] + +The letters in our collection now recommence. The first of the year +(B.C. 62) is one addressed to Pompey, expressing some discontent at the +qualified manner in which he had written on recent events, and affirming +his own conviction that he had acted in the best interests of the state +and with universal approval. But indeed the whole correspondence to the +end of Cicero's exile is permeated with this subject directly or +indirectly. His quarrel with Metellus Nepos brought upon him a +remonstrance from the latter's brother (or cousin), Metellus Celer +(Letters XIII, XIV), and when the correspondence for B.C. 61 opens, we +find him already on the eve of the quarrel with Publius Clodius which +was to bring upon him the exile of B.C. 58. + +[Sidenote: Publius Clodius Pulcher.] + +P. CLODIUS PULCHER was an extreme instance of a character not uncommon +among the nobility in the last age of the Republic. Of high birth, and +possessed of no small amount of ability and energy, he belonged by +origin and connexion to the Optimates; but he regarded politics as a +game to be played for his personal aggrandizement, and public office as +a means of replenishing a purse drained by boundless extravagance and +self-indulgence. His record had been bad. He had accompanied his +brother-in-law Lucullus, or had joined his staff, in the war with +Mithridates, and had helped to excite a mutiny in his army in revenge +for some fancied slight. He had then gone to Cilicia, where another +brother-in-law, Q. Marcus Rex, was propraetor, and while commanding a +fleet under him had fallen into the hands of pirates, and when freed +from them had gone--apparently in a private capacity--to Antioch, where +he again excited a mutiny of Syrian troops engaged in a war against the +Arabians (B.C. 70-65). On his return to Rome he attempted to make +himself conspicuous by prosecuting Catiline, but accepted a bribe to +withdraw. In B.C. 64, on the staff of the governor of Gallia +Narbonensis, he is accused of having enriched himself with plunder. For +a time after that he was still acting as a member of the party of the +Optimates; seems to have supported Cicero during the Catiline +conspiracy; and in B.C. 62 stood for the quaestorship and was elected. +His violation of the mysteries was alleged to have been committed in +December of that year, and before he could go to the province allotted +to him as quaestor in Sicily he had to stand a trial for sacrilege. Such +an offence--penetrating in disguise into the house of the Pontifex +Maximus, when his wife was engaged in the secret rites of the Bona +Dea--would place him under a curse, and not only prevent his entering +upon his quaestorship, but would disfranchise and politically ruin him. +Clodius would seem not to have been a person of sufficient character or +importance to make this trial a political event. But not only had he +powerful backers, but his opponents also, by proposing an innovation in +the manner of selecting the jurors for trying him, had managed to give a +spurious political importance to the case. One of the most brilliant of +the early letters (XV, p. 37) gives us a graphic picture of the trial. +Clodius was acquitted and went to his province, but returned in B.C. 60, +apparently prepared for a change of parties. Cicero and he had +quarrelled over the trial. He had said sarcastic things about the sacred +consulship, and Cicero had retaliated by bitter speeches in the senate, +and by giving evidence at the trial of having seen Clodius in Rome three +hours before he professed to have been at Interamna, on the day of the +alleged sacrilege. It is perhaps possible that his alibi may have been +true in substance, for he may have been well out of Rome on his way to +Interamna after seeing Cicero. But, however that may be, he nourished a +grudge against Cicero, which he presently had an opportunity of +satisfying. The year of his return to Rome from Sicily (B.C. 60) was the +same as that of Caesar's return from Spain. Pompey--who had returned the +year before--was at enmity with the senate on account of the +difficulties raised to the confirmation of his _acta_ and the allotments +for his veterans. Caesar had a grievance because of the difficulties put +in the way of his triumph. The two coalesced, taking in the millionaire +Crassus, to form a triumvirate or coalition of three, with a view to +getting measures they desired passed, and offices for themselves or +their partisans. This was a great blow to Cicero, who clung feverously +to Pompey as a political leader, but could not follow him in a coalition +with Caesar: for he knew that the object of it was a series of measures +of which he heartily disapproved. His hope of seeing Pompey coming to +act as acknowledged leader of the Optimates was dashed to the ground. He +could not make up his mind wholly to abandon him, or, on the other hand, +to cut himself adrift from the party of Optimates, to whose policy he +had so deeply committed himself. Clodius was troubled by no such +scruples. Perhaps Caesar had given him substantial reasons for his change +of policy. At any rate, from this time forward he acts as an extreme +_popularis_--much too extreme, as it turned out, for Pompey's taste. As +a patrician his next step in the official ladder would naturally have +been the aedileship. But that peaceful office did not suit his present +purpose. The tribuneship would give him the right to bring forward +measures in the _comitia tributa_, such as he desired to pass, and would +in particular give him the opportunity of attacking Cicero. The +difficulty was that to become tribune he must cease to be a patrician. +He could only do that by being adopted into a plebeian gens. He had a +plebeian ready to do it in B.C. 59. But for a man who was _sui iuris_ to +be adopted required a formal meeting of the old _comitia curiata_, and +such a meeting required the presence of an augur, as well as some kind +of sanction of the pontifices. Caesar was Pontifex Maximus, and Pompey +was a member of the college of augurs. Their influence would be +sufficient to secure or prevent this being done. Their consent was, it +appears, for a time withheld. But Caesar was going to Gaul at the end of +his consulship, and desired to have as few powerful enemies at Rome +during his absence as possible. Still he had a personal feeling for +Cicero, and when it was known that one of Clodius's objects in seeking +to become a plebeian and a tribune was to attack him, Caesar offered him +two chances of honourable retreat--first as one of the commissioners to +administer his land law, and again as one of his _legati_ in Gaul. But +Cicero would not accept the first, because he was vehemently opposed to +the law itself: nor the second, because he had no taste for provincial +business, even supposing the proconsul to be to his liking; and because +he could not believe that P. Clodius would venture to attack him, or +would succeed if he did. Caesar's consulship of B.C. 59 roused his worst +fears for the Republic; and, though he thought little of the +statesmanship or good sense of Caesar's hostile colleague Bibulus, he was +thoroughly disgusted with the policy of the triumvirs, with the +contemptuous treatment of the senate, with the high-handed disregard of +the auspices--by means of which Bibulus tried to invalidate the laws and +other _acta_ of Caesar--and with the armed forces which Pompey brought +into the _campus_, nominally to keep order, but really to overawe the +_comitia_, and secure the passing of Caesar's laws. Nor was it in his +nature to conceal his feelings. Speaking early in the year in defence of +his former colleague, C. Antonius, accused of _maiestas_ for his conduct +in Macedonia, he expressed in no doubtful terms his view of the +political situation. Within a few hours the words were reported to the +triumvirs, and all formalities were promptly gone through for the +adoption of Clodius. Caesar himself presided at the _comitia curiata_, +Pompey attended as augur, and the thing was done in a few minutes. Even +then Cicero does not appear to have been alarmed, or to have been fully +aware of what the object of Publius was. While on his usual spring visit +to his seaside villas in April (B.C. 59), he expressed surprise at +hearing from the young Curio that Clodius was a candidate for the +tribuneship (vol. i., p. 99). His surprise no doubt was more or less +assumed: he must have understood that Clodius's object in the adoption +was the tribunate, and must have had many uneasy reflexions as to the +use which he would make of the office when he got it. Indeed there was +not very much doubt about it, for Publius openly avowed his intentions. +We have accordingly numerous references, in the letters to Atticus, to +Cicero's doubts about the course he ought to adopt. Should he accept +Caesar's offer of a legation in Gaul, or a free and votive legation? +Should he stay in Rome and fight it out? The latter course was the one +on which he was still resolved in July, when Clodius had been, or was on +the point of being, elected tribune (p. 110). He afterwards wavered (p. +113), but was encouraged by the belief that all the "orders" were +favourable to him, and were becoming alienated from the triumvirs (pp. +117, 119), especially after the affair of Vettius (pp. 122-124), and by +the friendly disposition of many of the colleagues of Clodius in the +tribuneship. With such feelings of confidence and courage the letters of +B.C. 59 come to an end. + +[Sidenote: The Exile, April, B.C. 58--August, B.C. 57.] + +The correspondence only opens again in April of B.C. 58, when the worst +has happened. Clodius entered upon his tribuneship on the 10th of +December, B.C. 59, and lost little time in proposing a law to the +_comitia_ for the trial of any magistrate guilty of putting citizens to +death without trial (_qui cives indemnatos necavisset_). The wording of +the law thus left it open to plead that it applied only to such act as +occurred after its enactment, for the pluperfect _necavisset_ in the +dependent clause answers to the future perfect in a direct one. And this +was the interpretation that Caesar, while approving the law itself, +desired to put upon it.[8] He again offered Cicero a legation in Gaul, +but would do nothing for him if he stayed in Rome; while Pompey, who had +been profuse in promises of protection, either avoided seeing Cicero, or +treated his abject entreaties with cold disdain.[9] Every citizen, by a +humane custom at Rome, had the right of avoiding a prosecution by +quitting the city and residing in some town which had the _ius exilii_. +It is this course that we find Cicero already entered upon when the +correspondence of the year begins. In the letters of this year of exile +he continually reproaches himself with not having stayed and even +supported the law, in full confidence that it could not be applied to +himself. He attributes his having taken the less courageous course to +the advice of his friends, who were actuated by jealousy and a desire +to get rid of him. Even Atticus he thinks was timid, at the best, in +advising his retirement. It is the only occasion in all the +correspondence in which the least cloud seems to have rested on the +perfect friendship of the two men. Atticus does not appear to have shewn +any annoyance at the querulous remarks of his friend. He steadily +continued to write, giving information and advice, and made no +difficulty in supplying his friend with money. During Cicero's absence +Atticus became still more wealthy than before by inheriting the estates +of his cross-grained uncle Caecilius. But he was always careful as to the +investment of his money and he would not, perhaps, have been so ready to +trust Cicero, had he not felt confidence in the ultimate recovery of his +civil status. Still his confidence was peculiarly welcome at a time +which would have been otherwise one of great pressure. For Clodius had +followed up Cicero's retirement with the usual _lex_ in regard to +persons leaving Rome to avoid a trial--a prohibition "of fire and water" +within a fixed distance from Italy, which involved the confiscation of +all his property in Italy. His villas were dismantled, his town house +pulled down, and a vote of the people obtained by Clodius for the +consecration of its site as a _templum_ dedicated to Liberty, and a +scheme was formed and the work actually commenced for occupying part of +it by an extension of an existing porticus or colonnade (the _porticus +Catuli_) to contain a statue of Liberty. That this consecration was +regular is shewn by the pleas by which it was afterwards sought to +reverse it.[10] When Cicero was recalled the question came before the +pontifices, who decided that the consecration was not valid unless it +had been done by the "order of the people." It could not be denied on +the face of it that there had been such an order. Cicero was obliged to +resort to the plea that Clodius's adoption had been irregular and +invalid, that therefore he was not legally a tribune, and could not take +an order of the people. Finally, the senate seems to have decided that +its restoration to Cicero was part of the general _restitutio in +integrum_ voted by the _comitia centuriata_; and a sum of money was +assigned to him for the rebuilding of the house. Clodius refused to +recognize the validity of this decree of the senate, and attempted by +violence to interrupt the workmen engaged on the house. We have a lively +picture of this in Letter XCI (vol. i., pp. 194-196). + +[Sidenote: Letters of the Exile (Letters LV-LXXXVIII).] + +The letters from Cicero as an exile are painful reading for those who +entertain a regard for his character. It was not unnatural, indeed, that +he should feel it grievously. He had so completely convinced himself of +the extraordinary value of his services to the state, of the importance +of his position in Roman politics, and of the view that the Optimates +would take of the necessity of retaining him, that to see himself +treated like a fraudulent or unsuccessful provincial governor, of no +importance to anyone but himself, was a bitter blow to his self-esteem. +The actual loss was immense. His only means were now the amount of money +he had been able to take with him, or was able to borrow. All was gone +except such property as his wife retained in her own right. He was a +dependent upon her, instead of being her support and the master of his +own household. The services of freedmen--readily rendered when he was +prosperous--would now be a matter of favour and personal attachment, +which was not always sufficient to retain them. The "life and light" of +the city, in which no man ever took a more eager interest and delight, +were closed to him. He was cut off from his family, and from familiar +intercourse with friends, on both of which he was much dependent for +personal happiness. Lastly, wherever he lived, he lived, as it were, on +sufferance, no longer an object of respect as a statesman, or the source +of help to others by his eloquence. But, disagreeable as all this was to +a man of Cicero's sensitive vanity, there was something still worse. +Even in towns which were the legal distance from Italy he could not +safely stay, if they were within the jurisdiction of one of his personal +enemies, or contained other exiles, who owed him an ill turn. He was +protected by no law, and more than one instance of such a man's falling +a victim to an enemy's dagger is recorded. Cicero's first idea was to go +to Malta: but Malta was for some purposes in the jurisdiction of the +governor of Sicily, and the governor of Sicily (C. Vergilius[11]) +objected to his passing through Sicily or staying at Malta. We have no +reason for supposing Vergilius personally hostile to Cicero, but he may +have thought that Cicero's services to the Sicilians in the case of +Verres would have called out some expression of feeling on their part in +his favour, which would have been awkward for a Roman governor. Cicero +therefore crossed to Epirus, and travelled down the Egnatian road to +Thessalonica. This was the official capital of the province of +Macedonia, and the quaestor in Macedonia, Gnaeus Plancius, met Cicero at +Dyrrachium, invited him to fix his residence there with him, and +accompanied him on his journey. Here he stayed till November in a state +of anxiety and distress, faithfully reflected in his letters, waiting to +hear how far the elections for B.C. 57 would result in putting his +friends in office, and watching for any political changes that would +favour his recall: but prepared to go still farther to Cyzicus, if the +incoming governor, L. Calpurnius Piso, who, as consul in B.C. 58 with +Gabinius, had shewn decided animus against him, should still retain that +feeling in Macedonia. Events, however, in Rome during the summer and +autumn of B.C. 58 gave him better hopes. Clodius, by his violent +proceedings, as well as by his legislation, had alienated Pompey, and +caused him to favour Cicero's recall. Of the new consuls Lentulus was +his friend, and Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos (who as tribune in B.C. 63-62 +had prevented his speech when laying down his consulship) consented to +waive all opposition. A majority of the new tribunes were also +favourable to him, especially P. Sestius and T. Annius Milo; and in +spite of constant ups and downs in his feelings of confidence, he had on +the whole concluded that his recall was certain to take place. Towards +the end of November he therefore travelled back to Dyrrachium, a _libera +civitas_ in which he had many friends, and where he thought he might be +safe, and from which he could cross to Italy as soon as he heard of the +law for his recall having been passed. Here, however, he was kept +waiting through many months of anxiety. Clodius had managed to make his +recall as difficult as possible. He had, while tribune, obtained an +order from the people forbidding the consuls to bring the subject before +the senate, and Piso and Gabinius had during their year of office +pleaded that law as a bar to introducing the question. + +[Sidenote: The Recall, August, B.C. 57.] + +The new consuls were not, or did not consider themselves, so bound, and +Lentulus having brought the subject forward, the senate early passed a +resolution that Cicero's recall was to take precedence of all other +business. In accordance with the resolution of the senate, a law was +proposed by the consul Lentulus in the _comitia centuriata_, and +probably one by Milo to the _tributa_. But Clodius, though no longer +armed with the tribuneship, was not yet beaten. He obtained the aid of +some gladiators belonging to his brother Appius, and more than once +interrupted and dispersed an assembly of the _comitia_. In the riots +thus occasioned blood was shed on both sides, and Cicero's brother +Quintus on one occasion nearly lost his life. This was the beginning of +the series of violent contests between Clodius and Milo, only ended by +the murder of the former on the Appian road in B.C. 52. But Clodius was +a candidate for the aedileship in this year (B.C. 57), and could be +barred from that office legally by a prosecution for _vis_, of which +Milo gave notice against him. It was, perhaps, a desire to avoid this, +as much as fear of Milo's counter exhibition of violence, that at length +caused him to relax in his opposition, or at any rate to abstain from +violently interrupting the _comitia_. Accordingly, on the 4th of August, +the law proposed by both consuls, and supported by Pompey, was passed +unanimously by the centuries. Cicero, we must presume, had received +trustworthy information that this was to be the case (shewing that some +understanding had been come to with Clodius, or there would have been no +certainty of his not violently dispersing the _comitia_ again), for on +that same day he set sail from Dyrrachium and landed at Brundisium on +the 5th. His triumphant return to Rome is described in the eighty-ninth +letter of this collection. For Pompey's share in securing it he +expressed, and seems really to have felt, an exaggerated gratitude, +which still influenced him in the unhappy months of B.C. 49, when he was +hesitating as to joining him beyond seas in the civil war. + +But though Clodius had somehow been prevented from hindering his recall, +he by no means relaxed his hostility. He not only tried to excite the +populace against him by arguing that the scarcity and consequent high +price of corn, from which the people were at that time suffering, was in +some way attributable to Cicero's policy, but he also opposed the +restoration of his house; and when a decree of the senate was passed in +Cicero's favour on that point, brought his armed ruffians to prevent the +workmen from going on with the rebuilding, as well as to molest Cicero +himself (vol. i., p. 195). This was followed by a determined opposition +by Milo to the holding of the elections for B.C. 56, until his +prosecution of Clodius _de vi_ should have been tried. Clodius, however, +was acquitted,[12] and, being elected aedile, immediately commenced a +counter accusation against Milo for _vis_. He impeached him before the +_comitia_ in February (B.C. 56), on which occasion Pompey spoke in +Milo's defence in the midst of a storm of interruptions got up by the +friends of Clodius (vol. i., pp. 214, 217). Milo was also acquitted, and +the rest of Clodius's aedileship seems to have passed without farther +acts of open violence. + +[Sidenote: Cicero and the Triumvirs.] + +But Cicero had now other causes of anxiety. He had spoken in favour of +the commission offered to Pompey in B.C. 57 for superintending the +corn-supply of Rome (_cura annonae_). Pompey was to have fifteen legates, +a good supply of ships and men, and considerable powers in all +corn-growing countries in the Mediterranean. Cicero supported this, +partly from gratitude to Pompey, but partly also from a wish to promote +his power and influence against the ever-increasing influence and fame +of Caesar. He secretly hoped that a jealousy might grow up between them; +that Pompey would be drawn closer to the Optimates; and that the union +of the triumvirate might be gradually weakened and finally disappear. +Pompey was thoroughly offended and alarmed by the insults offered him by +the Clodian mob, and by Clodius's own denunciations of him; and if he +could be convinced that these were suggested or approved by Caesar or +Crassus, it would go far to withdraw him from friendship with either of +them. With Crassus, indeed, he had never been on cordial terms: it was +only Caesar's influence that had caused him to form any union with him. +Caesar, on the other hand, was likely to be uneasy at the great powers +which the _cura annonae_ put into Pompey's hands; and at the possible +suggestion of offering him the dictatorship, if the Clodian riots became +quite intolerable. On the whole, Cicero thought that he saw the element +of a very pretty quarrel, from which he hoped that the result might be +"liberty"--the orderly working of the constitution, that is, without the +irregular supremacy of anyone, at any rate of anyone of the popular +party. He had, however, a delicate part to play. He did not wish or dare +to break openly with Caesar, or to speak too openly to Pompey; and he was +conscious that the intemperance, folly, or indifference of many of the +Optimates made it difficult to reckon on their support, and made that +support a very questionable benefit if accorded. But though his letters +of this period are full of expressions indicating doubt of Pompey and +irritation with him, yet he seems still to have spoken of him with +warmth on public occasions, while he avoided mentioning Caesar, or spoke +of him only in cold terms. + +[Sidenote: Renewal of the Triumvirate at Luca, April, B.C. 56, and +Cicero's change of policy.] + +[Sidenote: Quintus Cicero in Gaul.] + +The hope, however, of detaching Pompey from Caesar was dashed by the +meeting at Luca in April, B.C. 56, at which a fresh arrangement was made +for the mutual advantage of the triumvirs. Caesar got the promise of the +introduction of a law giving him an additional five years of command in +Gaul, with special privileges as to his candidature for the consulship +of B.C. 48; while Pompey and Crassus bargained for a second consulship +in B.C. 55, and the reversion of the Spains (to be held as a single +province) and Syria respectively, each for five years. The care taken +that none of the three should have _imperium_ overlapping that of the +others was indeed a sign of mutual distrust and jealousy. But the +bargain was made with sufficient approval of the members of the party +crowding Luca to secure its being carried out by the _comitia_. The +union seemed stronger than ever; and Cicero at length resolved on a +great change of attitude. Opposition to the triumvirs had been +abandoned, he saw, by the very party for whom he had been incurring the +enmity of Pompey and Caesar. Why should he hold out any longer? "Since +those who have no power," he writes to Atticus in April, "refuse me +their affection, let me take care to secure the affection of those who +have power. You will say, 'I could have wished that you had done so +before.' I know you did wish it, and that I have made a real ass of +myself."[13] This is the first indication in the letters of the change. +But it was soon to be publicly avowed. The opposition to the consulship +of Pompey and Crassus was so violent that no election took place during +B.C. 56, and they were only elected under the presidency of _interreges_ +at the beginning of February, B.C. 55. But by the _lex Sempronia_ the +senate was bound to name the consular provinces--_i.e._, the provinces +to be governed by the incoming consuls after their year of +office--before the elections, and in his speech on the subject (_de +Provinciis Consularibus_), delivered apparently in July, B.C. 56, +Cicero, while urging that Piso and Gabinius should have successors +appointed to them in Macedonia and Syria, took occasion to announce and +defend his own reconciliation with Caesar, and to support his continuance +in the governorship of Gaul. Shortly afterwards, when defending the +citizenship of L. Cornelius Balbus, he delivered a glowing panegyric on +Pompey's character and services to the state. This was followed by a +complete abstention from any farther opposition to the carrying out of +Caesar's law for the allotment of the Campanian land--a subject which he +had himself brought before the senate only a short time before, and on +which he really continued to feel strongly.[14] Cicero's most elaborate +defence of his change of front is contained in a long letter to P. +Lentulus Spinther, written two years afterwards.[15] The gist of it is +much the same as the remark to Atticus already quoted. "Pompey and +Caesar were all-powerful, and could not be resisted without civil +violence, if not downright civil war. The Optimates were feeble and +shifty, had shewn ingratitude to Cicero himself, and had openly favoured +his enemy Clodius. Public peace and safety must be the statesman's chief +object, and almost any concession was to be preferred to endangering +these." Nevertheless, we cannot think that Cicero was ever heartily +reconciled to the policy, or the unconstitutional preponderance of the +triumvirs. He patched up some sort of reconciliation with Crassus, and +his personal affection for Pompey made it comparatively easy for him to +give him a kind of support. Caesar was away, and a correspondence filled +on both sides with courteous expressions could be maintained without +seriously compromising his convictions. But Cicero was never easy under +the yoke. From B.C. 55 to B.C. 52 he sought several opportunities for a +prolonged stay in the country, devoting himself--in default of +politics--to literature. The fruits of this were the _de Oratore_ and +the _de Republica_, besides poems on his own times and on his +consulship. Still he was obliged from time to time to appear in the +forum and senate-house, and in various ways to gratify Pompey and Caesar. +It must have been a great strain upon his loyalty to this new political +friendship when, in B.C. 54, Pompey called upon him to undertake the +defence of P. Vatinius, whom he had not long before attacked so fiercely +while defending Sestius. Vatinius had been a tribune in B.C. 59, acting +entirely in Caesar's interests, and Cicero believed him to have been his +enemy both in the matter of his exile and in the opposition to his +recall. He had denounced him in terms that would have made it almost +impossible, one would think, to have spoken in his defence in any cause +whatever. At best he represented all that Cicero most disliked in +politics; and on this very election, to the praetorship, for which he was +charged with bribery (_de sodalitiis_), Cicero had already spoken in +strongly hostile terms in the senate. For now undertaking his defence he +has, in fact, no explanation to give to Lentulus (vol. i., p. 319), and +he was long sore at having been forced to do it. Through B.C. 54 and 53 +he was busied with his _de Republica_, and was kept more in touch with +Caesar by the fact that his brother Quintus was serving as _legatus_ to +the latter in Britain and Gaul, and that his friend Trebatius +(introduced by himself) was seeking for promotion and profit in Caesar's +camp. But even his brother's service with Caesar did not eventually +contribute to the formation of cordial feeling on his part towards +Caesar, whom he could not help admiring, but never really liked. For +Quintus, though he distinguished himself by his defence of his camp in +the autumn of B.C. 54, lost credit and subjected himself to grave rebuke +by the disaster incurred in B.C. 53, near Aduatuca (_Tongres_), brought +about by disregarding an express order of Caesar's. There is no allusion +to this in the extant correspondence, but a fragment of letter from +Caesar to Cicero (_neque pro cauto ac diligente se castris +continuit_[16]), seems to shew that Caesar had written sharply to Cicero +on his brother's _faux pas_, and after this time, though Cicero met +Caesar at Ravenna in B.C. 52, and consented to support the bill allowing +him to stand for the consulship in his absence,[17] there is apparent in +his references to him a return to the cold or critical tone of former +times. But of course there were other reasons. + +[Sidenote: Pompey's third Consulship and the trial of Milo, B.C. 52.] + +Pompey's six months' sole consulship of B.C. 52 ("that divine third +consulship"), the rumour of his dictatorship, and the growing +determination of the Optimates to play off Pompey against Caesar (Crassus +having disappeared) and to insist on Caesar resigning his province and +army before the end of his ten years' tenure, and before standing for a +second consulship, caused Cicero's hope of a final dissolution of the +unconstitutional compact to revive again; and made him draw more and +more closely to Pompey as the chief hope of the _boni_. In the beginning +of the year he had found himself in opposition, or quasi-opposition, to +Pompey in regard to the prosecution of Milo for the murder of Clodius. +But though in the previous year he had declared that the election of +Milo to the consulship was of the utmost importance to his own position +and the safety of the state,[18] now that it was rendered impossible by +Milo's condemnation, he seems to have placed all his hopes on Pompey. +Unfortunately, there is here a break in the correspondence. There is no +letter of the last six months of B.C. 53, and only four (perhaps only +three) of B.C. 52.[19] So that the riots which prevented Milo's +election, the death of Clodius and the riots following it, and the +consequent sole consulship of Pompey, with the latter's new legislation +and the trial of Milo--all have to be sought for elsewhere. The last +letter of this volume and of this year, addressed to M. Marius in +December, B.C. 52, alludes to the condemnation of Milo, and to the +numerous prosecutions following it. "Here, in Rome, I am so distracted +by the number of trials, the crowded courts, and the new legislation, +that I daily offer prayers that there may be no intercalation."[20] + +[Sidenote: Cicero appointed Proconsul of Cilicia, B.C. 51-50.] + +When the correspondence opens again in the spring of B.C. 51 an event +has happened, of no particular importance in itself, but of supreme +interest to Cicero, and very fortunate for the readers of the +correspondence. One of Pompey's new laws ordained that no one was to +take a province till the fifth year after laying down his consulship or +praetorship. Pompey broke his own law by keeping his province, the +Spains--his position in regard to them was altogether exceptional--but, +in order to carry out the law in other cases, the senate arranged that +ex-consuls and ex-praetors who had not been to provinces should in turn +draw lots for vacant governorships. Cicero and Bibulus appear to have +been the senior _consulares_ in that position, and with much reluctance +Cicero allowed his name to be cast into the urn. He drew Cilicia and +Bibulus Syria. He says that his motive was a desire to obey the wishes +of the senate. Another motive may have been a desire to be away from +Rome while the controversy as to Caesar's retirement from his province +was settled, and to retrieve a position of some political importance, +which he had certainly not increased during the last few years. When it +came to the actual start, however, he felt all the _gene_ of the +business--the formation and control of his staff, the separation from +friends, and the residence far from the "light and life" of Rome, among +officials who were certainly commonplace and probably corrupt, and +amidst a population, perhaps acute and accomplished, but certainly +servile and ill content, and in some parts predatory and barbarous. At +the best, they would be emphatically provincial, in a dreary sense of +the word. He felt unequal to the worry and bore of the whole business, +and reproached himself with the folly of the undertaking. Of course, +this regret is mingled with his usual self-congratulation on the purity +with which he means to manage his province. But even that feeling is not +strong enough to prevent his longing earnestly to have the period of +banishment as short as possible, or to prevent the alarm with which he +hears of a probable invasion by the Parthians. One effect of his almost +two years' absence from Rome was, I think, to deprive him of the power +of judging clearly of the course of events. He had constant intelligence +and excellent correspondents--especially Caelius--still he could not +really grasp what was going on under the surface: and when he returned +to find the civil war on the point of breaking out, he was, after all, +taken by surprise, and had no plan of action ready. This, as well as his +government of the province, will be fully illustrated in the next volume +of the correspondence. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Cicero's Correspondents.] + +The persons to whom the chief letters are addressed in this volume, +besides Atticus, are Cicero's brother Quintus and P. Lentulus Spinther. +There are two excellent letters to M. Marius, and one very interesting, +though rather surprising, epistle to L. Lucceius. Others of more than +average interest are to Terentia, M. Fadius Gallus, C. Scribonius Curio, +and Tiro. + +[Sidenote: Titus Pomponius Atticus.] + +ATTICUS (B.C. 109-32) is a man of whom we should be glad to know more +than we do. He was the friend of all the leading men of the day--Pompey, +Caesar, Cicero, Antony, Brutus--father-in-law of Agrippa, and survived to +be a constant correspondent of Augustus, between B.C. 43 and his death +in B.C. 32. He was spared and respected by both sides in the civil +wars, from Sulla to the Second Triumvirate. The secret of his success +seems to have been that he was no man's rival. He resolutely declined +all official employment, even on the staff of his brother-in-law Quintus +Cicero. He committed himself to no side in politics, and, not being in +the senate, had no occasion by vote or speech to wound the feelings of +anyone. So, too, though he cared for literature, it was rather as a +friendly critic of others than as an author. He did, it is true, compile +some books on Roman history, on historical portraits, and certain family +biographies; but they were not such as made him a rival of any of his +contemporaries. They were rather the productions of a rich amateur, who +had leisure to indulge a quasi-literary taste, without any thought of +joining the ranks of professed writers. Thirdly, he had great wealth, +partly inherited, partly acquired by prudent speculation in the purchase +of town properties, or in loans to states or public bodies on fair +terms: and this wealth was at the service of his friends, but not in the +lavish or reckless manner, which often earns only ingratitude without +being of any permanent service to the recipients. He lent money, but +expected to be repaid even by his brother-in-law. And this prudence +helped to retain the confidence, while his sympathetic temperament +secured the liking, of most. Again, he had the valuable knack of +constantly replenishing the number of his friends among men junior to +himself. His character attracted the liking of Sulla, who was +twenty-seven years his senior, and he remained the close friend of his +contemporaries Hortensius and Cicero (the former five years his senior, +the latter three years his junior) till the day of their death. But we +also find him on intimate terms with Brutus, twenty-four, and Octavian, +forty-six years junior to himself. Lastly, he was not too much at Rome. +More than twenty years of his earlier manhood (B.C. 87-65) were spent in +Greece, principally at Athens, partly in study and partly in business. +And Athens at this time, long deprived of political importance, had +still the charm not only of its illustrious past, but also of its +surviving character as the home of culture and refinement. When he at +length returned to Rome in B.C. 65, he had already purchased a property +in Epirus, near Buthrotum (see p. 3), where he built a villa, in which +he continued to spend a considerable part of his remaining years. This +was sufficiently remote, not only from Rome, but from the summer +residences of the Roman nobles, to secure his isolation from the +intrigues and enmities of Roman society. He did not indeed--as who +does?--always escape giving offence. At the very beginning of the +correspondence we hear of his vain attempts to mollify the anger of L. +Lucceius--how incurred we do not know; and Quintus Cicero, of whose +sharp temper we hear so much, was on more than one occasion on the point +of a rupture with him. But his family life was generally as pleasing as +his connexion with his friends. With his mother, who lived to a great +age, he boasted that he had never been reconciled, because he had never +quarrelled. He was the only one who could get on with the crusty uncle +Caecilius. In the delicate matter of his sister Pomponia's differences +with her husband Quintus Cicero, he seems to have acted with kindness as +well as prudence; and though he married late in life (B.C. 56, when he +was in his fifty-third year), he appears to have made an excellent +husband to Pilia and a very affectionate father to his daughter. His +unwearied sympathy with the varied moods of Cicero--whether of +exultation, irritation, or despair--and the entire confidence which +Cicero feels that he will have that sympathy in every case, are +creditable to both. It is only between sincere souls that one can speak +to the other as to a second self, as Cicero often alleges that he does +to Atticus. + +[Sidenote: Quintus Tullius Cicero.] + +Of QUINTUS CICERO, the next most important correspondent in this volume, +we get a fairly clear picture. Four years younger than his famous +brother (b. B.C. 102), he followed him at the due distance up the ladder +of official promotion to the praetorship, to which he was elected in the +year of his elder's consulship. There, however, Quintus stopped. He +never seems to have stood for the consulship. He had no oratorical +genius to give him reputation in the forum, nor were his literary +productions of any value, either for style or originality. His abilities +for administration, as shewn in his three years' government of Asia, +appear to have been respectable, but were marred by faults of temper, +which too often betrayed him into extreme violence of language. In +military command he shewed courage and energy in defending his camp in +the rising of the Gauls in the winter of B.C. 54-53; but he spoilt the +reputation thus gained by the mistake committed in the autumn of B.C. +53, which cost the loss of a considerable number of troops, and all but +allowed the roving Germans to storm his camp. He remained another year +in Gaul, but did nothing to retrieve this mistake. In military affairs +fortune rarely forgives. In politics he seems to have contented himself +generally with saying ditto to his brother. And this continued to be the +case up to Pharsalia. After that, finding himself on the losing side, he +turned somewhat fiercely upon the brother, whom he regarded as having +misled him; and for a time there was a miserable breach between them, +which, however, did not last very long. When the end came it found the +brothers united in heart as in misfortune. His private happiness was +marred by an uncongenial marriage. Pomponia--sister of Atticus--seems to +have been as high-tempered as her husband, and less placable. The +constant quarrels between them exercised the patience both of Cicero and +Atticus, and crops up all through the correspondence. One effect of them +was the loss of all control over their son, who, being called upon to +smooth over the differences between father and mother, naturally took up +at an early age a line of his own, and shewed a disposition to act +independently of his elders. + +[Sidenote: Terentia.] + +The letters to TERENTIA do not fill much space in the correspondence, +and are rarely interesting. Married about B.C. 80, Cicero seems to have +lived in harmony with her at least till the time of his return from +exile, during which unhappy period he acknowledges the activity of her +exertions in support of his recall, and the drain which his ruin was +making upon her resources. Terentia had a large private fortune, and +apparently used it liberally in his service. Nevertheless, immediately +on his return from exile, there seems to have been some cause of +coldness between the husband and wife. He darkly alludes to certain +domestic troubles in the first letter to Atticus written from Rome (vol +i., p. 189), and repeats the hint in the next (p. 193). When he landed +at Brundisium it was Tullia, not Terentia, who came to meet him (p. +187), and for some time after she appears to be presiding in his house +rather than Terentia (see pp. 224, 257). Whatever the cause of this +coldness was, however, it appears to have been removed for a time. He +kept up a correspondence with her while he was in Cilicia (B.C. 51-50), +and though he does not seem pleased at her having arranged the marriage +of Tullia with Dolabella, he addresses her warmly when about to return, +and was met by her on landing. During the five or six months that +followed, before Cicero left Italy to join Pompey, there is no +indication of any alienation: but the short notes from Pompey's camp, +and in the first half of B.C. 47, are cold and conventional, and on his +return to Brundisium after Pharsalia, and during his lengthened stay +there, he appears to have declined to allow her to come and see him. +Soon after his return to Rome, in September, B.C. 47, matters came to a +climax. Perhaps some of the mischief was caused by the mismanagement or +dishonesty of Terentia's steward, Philotimus, of whom we hear a good +deal in the letters from Cilicia: but whatever was the origin of the +quarrel, Cicero asserts that on his return he found his affairs in a +state of utter disorder. It may well have been that, like other +adherents to the losing cause, he had to suffer from loss of any +property that could be easily laid hands on in Rome, and that Terentia +had had no power to save it. But Cicero, rightly or wrongly, attributed +the embarrassment which he found awaiting him to his wife. He says in a +letter to Gnaeus Plancius:[21] "I should not have taken any new step at a +time of such general disaster had I not on my return found my private +affairs in as sorry a position as the public. The fact is, that when I +saw that, owing to the criminal conduct of those to whom my life and +fortunes ought, in return for my never-to-be-forgotten services, to have +been their dearest object, there was nothing safe within the walls of my +house, nothing that was not the subject of some intrigue, I made up my +mind that I must arm myself by the faithful support of new marriage +connexions against the perfidy of the old." This is a lame excuse for a +man of sixty separating from the companion of his whole manhood, and in +the eyes of Roman Society it was rendered still more questionable by a +prompt marriage with a young girl, rich, and his own ward: from whom, +however, he soon again divorced himself, angered, it is said, by her +want of feeling at the death of Tullia. Terentia long survived her +husband, living, we are told, to be over a hundred years old. Divorce +was, of course, not regarded in these days of the Republic as it had +once been, or as it is now among ourselves; still we should have been +glad, both for his fame and his happiness, if the few years remaining to +him had not had this additional cloud. A man of sixty embarking on such +matrimonial enterprise is not a dignified spectacle, or one pleasing to +gods and men. + +The other correspondents may be dismissed in few words. + +[Sidenote: P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther.] + +P. CORNELIUS LENTULUS SPINTHER, to whom some of the longest letters are +addressed, represents the high aristocracy, to which Cicero wished to +commend himself, though seeing keenly the weakness which underlay their +magnificence. The part played by Lentulus in politics had been showy, +but never founded on steadfast principle. He owed his earlier promotions +to Caesar's influence, but in his consulship of B.C. 57 had taken the +side of the aristocracy in promoting the recall of Cicero, though he had +gone against their sentiment by supporting Pompey's appointment to the +_cura annonae_. But as he was going to Cilicia in B.C. 56, Lentulus +wished to have the lucrative task of restoring Ptolemy Auletes to the +throne of Egypt, from which he had been righteously driven by his +subjects. Therefore it was all to the good that Pompey should have +business at home preventing him from taking this in hand. How Lentulus +was baulked in this desire will appear in the letters. He no doubt had +his full share of the _Lentulitas_ distinguishing his family. But all +was forgiven by Cicero to a man who had promoted his recall, and he +takes great pains to justify to Lentulus his own change of policy in +regard to the triumvirs after B.C. 56. When the civil war began Lentulus +joined Domitius at Corfinium, and with him fell into Caesar's hands, and +was dismissed unharmed. He afterwards joined Pompey in Epirus, intent on +succeeding Caesar as Pontifex Maximus, as soon as the latter had been +satisfactorily disposed of. After Pharsalia he sought refuge at Rhodes, +but was refused sanctuary by the islanders, and was eventually put to +death, though we do not know by whom (_Att._ xi. 13; _Fam._ ix. 18). + +[Sidenote: M. Fadius Gallus, M. Marius, L. Lucceius, C. Scribonius +Curio, C. Trebatius Testa.] + +M. FADIUS GALLUS, the Epicurean, and M. MARIUS, the valetudinarian and +wit, were among friends valued for their personal and agreeable +qualities rather than for any public or political importance attaching +to them. The same may be said of L. LUCCEIUS, of whose Roman history +Cicero thought so well, that he wrote a remarkable letter begging for an +honourable place in it for his consulship, as Pliny did to Tacitus.[22] +C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO, son of a great friend of Cicero, after a _jeunesse +orageuse_, returned to Rome from his quaestorship in Asia, in B.C. 53, to +take up the inheritance of his father, which he quickly dissipated. +Cicero seems to have had a high idea of his abilities, and to have +believed him capable of taking the lead of the Optimates. But in his +tribuneship of B.C. 51-50 he disappointed all such hopes by openly +joining Caesar's party, and resisting all attempts to recall him. He +joined Caesar at Ravenna as soon as his tribuneship was out, and urged +him to march on Rome. In B.C. 49 he was sent to secure Sicily and +Africa. The first he did, but in the second he perished in battle +against the senatorial governor and king Iuba. Cicero's relation to C. +TREBATIUS TESTA, a learned jurisconsult, was apparently that of a patron +or tutor, who, thinking that he has found a young man of ability, +endeavours to push him. He sent him with a letter of introduction to +Caesar, who was good-natured, though rather sarcastic as to the scope for +legal abilities to be found in Gaul. He gave him, however, a military +tribuneship, without exacting military duties, and apparently kept on +good terms with him, for he employed him in B.C. 49 to communicate his +wish to Cicero as to his remaining at Rome. Cicero's letters to him, +though numerous, are not among the most interesting. They are full of +banter of a rather forced and dull kind; and Cicero was evidently +annoyed to find that his scheme for advancing Trebatius in Caesar's +province had not been very successful. The friendship, however, survived +the civil war, and we find Cicero in B.C. 44 dedicating his _Topica_ to +Trebatius. + +[Footnote 1: That Cicero up to the time of his consulship had been +connected rather with the _populares_ is illustrated by Quintus (_de +Petit._ i.) urging him to make it clear that he had never been a +demagogue, but that if he had ever spoken "in the spirit of the popular +party, he had done so with the view of attracting Pompey."] + +[Footnote 2: _De Orat._ ii. Sec.Sec. 1, 2.] + +[Footnote 3: "The city, the city, my dear Rufus--stick to that, and live +in its full light. Residence elsewhere--as I made up my mind early in +life--is mere eclipse and obscurity to those whose energy is capable of +shining at Rome."--_Fam._ ii. 12 (vol. ii., p. 166).] + +[Footnote 4: Even at these he found troublesome people to interrupt him. +See vol. i., pp. 102, 104.] + +[Footnote 5: Yet the announcement of the birth of his son (p. 16) and of +the dangerous confinement of Tullia (vol. ii., p. 403) are almost +equally brief.] + +[Footnote 6: See _Att._ ii. 1, vol. 1., p. 62; Plut. _Cic._ 13; Cic. _in +Pis._ Sec. 4.] + +[Footnote 7: _Die Entstchungsgeschichte der catilinarischen +Verschwoerung_, by Dr. Constantin John, 1876. I am still of opinion that +Plutarch's statement can be strongly supported.] + +[Footnote 8: Caesar said, [Greek: ou men kai prosekein epi tois +parelelythosi toiouton tina nomon sungraphesthai] (Dio, xxxviii. 17).] + +[Footnote 9: "The man who did not so much as raise me up, when I threw +myself at his feet."--_Att._ x. 4 (vol. ii., p. 362). Similar allusions +to Pompey's conduct to him on the occasion often occur.] + +[Footnote 10: See vol. i., p. 190.] + +[Footnote 11: See vol. i., pp. 129, 138; cp. _pro Planc._ Sec.Sec. 95-96.] + +[Footnote 12: _Fam._ i. 9, 15 (vol. i., p. 316).] + +[Footnote 13: Letter CVII, vol. i., pp. 219, 220.] + +[Footnote 14: Ever since its capture in the second Punic War, Capua had +ceased to have any corporate existence, and its territory had been _ager +publicus_, let out to tenants (_aratores_). Caesar had restored its +corporate existence by making it a _colonia_, and much of the land had +been allotted to veterans of his own and Pompey's armies. The state thus +lost the rent of the land, one of the few sources of revenue from Italy +now drawn by the exchequer of Rome.] + +[Footnote 15: Letter CLII, vol. i., pp. 310-324.] + +[Footnote 16: Quoted by Flavius Charisius, _Ars Gramm._ i., p. 126 (ed. +Kiel).] + +[Footnote 17: Vol. ii., p. 204.] + +[Footnote 18: Vol. i., p. 357.] + +[Footnote 19: CLXXVIII-CLXXXI. The date of the letter to P. Sittius +(CLXXVIII) is not certain.] + +[Footnote 20: Vol. i., p. 366.] + +[Footnote 21: Letter DXXXIII (_Fam._ iv. 14), about October, B.C. 46.] + +[Footnote 22: Vol. i., p. 226; Pliny, _Ep._, vii. 33.] + + + + + "TULLIUS, of all the sons of royal Rome + That are, or have been, or are yet to come, + Most skilled to plead, most learned in debate,-- + Catullus hails thee, small as thou art great. + Take thou from him his thanks, his fond regards, + The first of patrons from the least of bards." + +CATULLUS, xlix. (J. E. S.) + + + + +CICERO'S LETTERS + +ERRATA IN VOL. I. + + +Page 107, note 3, last line, _dele_ note of interrogation after "expenses." + " 193, note 4, last line, _for_ B.C. 45 _lege_ B.C. 46. + " 253, Letter CXXII, _for_ A IV, 1, _lege_ A IV, 2. + + + + +CICERO'S LETTERS + + + + +I (A I, 5) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 68. Coss., L. Caecilius Metellus, Q. Marcius Rex.] + + This opening of the correspondence finds Cicero, now in his + thirty-ninth year, in the midst of his official career. He had + already been quaestor (B.C. 75) and aedile (B.C. 69), and was looking + forward to his election to the praetorship in the next year (B.C. + 67). He had already risen almost to the highest place in his + profession as advocate, and had partly delivered, partly published + his great indictment of Verres only a year ago. He is married to + Terentia (B.C. 80), and has one daughter, Tullia or Tulliola, born + on August 5, probably the next year (B.C. 79). His intimacy with T. + Pomponius Atticus (three years his senior), perhaps begun at + school, had lasted at least eleven years, from the time when he met + him at Athens (B.C. 79), and with him had been initiated in the + Eleusinian mysteries (_de Leg._ 2, Sec. 36). There too they had both + seen much of the writer's cousin Lucius, whose death he deplores in + this letter (_de Fin._ 5, Sec. 1). Atticus had lived abroad in Athens + and Epirus, with occasional visits home from B.C. 88 to B.C. 65, in + which latter year he seems to have returned for a more lengthened + stay (Nep. _Att._ 4). The two friends have already corresponded + frequently, but this is the first letter preserved. + + +TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS) + +ROME + +[Sidenote: B.C. 68, AET. 38] + +We are such intimate friends that more than almost anyone else you can +appreciate the grief as well as the actual public and private loss that +the death of my cousin Lucius is to me. There is absolutely no +gratification which any human being can receive from the kindly +character of another that I have not been accustomed to receive from +him. I am sure, therefore, that you will share my grief. For, in the +first place, whatever affects me affects you; and in the second place, +you have yourself lost in him a friend and connexion of the highest +character and most obliging disposition, who was attached to you from +personal inclination, as well as from my conversation. + +As to what you say in your letter about your sister,[23] she will +herself bear me witness what pains I have taken that my brother Quintus +should show her proper affection. Thinking him somewhat inclined to be +angry with her, I wrote to him in such a way as I thought would not hurt +his feelings as a brother, while giving him some good advice as my +junior, and remonstrating with him as being in the wrong. The result is +that, from frequent letters since received from him, I feel confident +that everything is as it ought and as we should wish it to be. + +As to the frequency of my letters you have no ground for your complaint. +The fact is our good sister Pomponia never informed me of there being a +courier ready to take a letter. Farthermore, I never chanced to know of +anyone going to Epirus,[24] and I was not till recently informed of your +being at Athens. + +Again, as to the business of Acutilius which you had left in my hands. I +had settled it on my first visit to Rome after your departure. But it +turned out that, in the first place, there was no urgency in the matter, +and, in the second place, as I felt confidence in your judgment, I +preferred that Peducaeus[25] rather than myself should advise you by +letter on the subject. For having submitted my ears to Acutilius for +several days (and I think you know his style), I should scarcely have +regarded it as a hardship to write you a letter describing his +grumblings after patiently enduring the bore (and it _was_ rather a +bore, I can tell you) of hearing them. Moreover, though you find fault +with me, allow me to observe that I have had only one letter from you, +though you had greater leisure for writing, and more opportunity of +sending letters. + +As to what you say in your letter, "Even if anyone is inclined to be +offended with you, I ought to bring him to a better mind"--I understand +to what you allude, and I have not neglected the matter. But the truth +is that the extent of his displeasure is something surprising. However, +I have not omitted to say anything there was to say in your behalf: but +on what points I am to hold out your wishes, I consider, ought to be my +guide. If you will write me word distinctly what they are, you will find +that I have had no desire to be more exacting, and in the future shall +be no more yielding, than you wish.[26] + +As to the business of Tadius. He tells me that you have written him word +that there was no need of farther trouble, since the property is secured +by prescription. I am surprised that you do not know that in the case of +a statutory wardship of an unmarried girl prescription cannot be +pleaded.[27] + +I am glad you like your purchase in Epirus. What I commissioned you to +get for me, and anything you see suitable to my Tusculan villa, I should +be glad if you will, as you say in your letter, procure for me, only +don't put yourself to any inconvenience. The truth is, there is no other +place that gives me complete rest after all my worries and hard work. + +I am expecting my brother Quintus every day. Terentia has a severe +attack of rheumatism. She is devoted to you, to your sister, and your +mother, and adds her kindest regards in a postscript. So does my pet +Tulliola. Love me, and be assured that I love you as a brother. + +[Footnote 23: Pomponia, married to Cicero's younger brother Quintus. We +shall frequently hear of this unfortunate marriage. Quintus was four +years younger than his brother, who had apparently arranged the match, +and felt therefore perhaps somewhat responsible for the result (Nep. +_Att._ 5).] + +[Footnote 24: Atticus had estates and a villa near Buthrotum in +Epirus,--_Butrinto_ in Albania, opposite Corfu.] + +[Footnote 25: This is probably Sext. Peducaeus the younger, an intimate +friend of Atticus (Nep. _Att._ 21); his father had been praetor in Sicily +when Cicero was quaestor (B.C. 76-75), the son was afterwards a partisan +of Caesar in the Civil War, governor of Sardinia, B.C. 48, and propraetor +in Spain, B.C. 39.] + +[Footnote 26: The person alluded to is L. Lucceius, of whom we shall +hear again. See Letters V, VII, VIII, CVIII. What his quarrel with +Atticus was about, we do not know.] + +[Footnote 27: Prescriptive right to property was acquired by possession +(_usus_) of two years. But no such right could be acquired to the +property of a girl under guardianship (_pro Flacco_, Sec. 84).] + + + + +II (A I, 6) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS) + +ROME, DECEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 68, AET. 38] + +I won't give you any excuse hereafter for accusing me of neglecting to +write. It is you that must take care that with all your leisure you keep +up with me. + +Rabirius's house at Naples,[28]for the improvement of which you have +designs drawn out and completed in imagination, has been bought by M. +Fonteius[29] for 130,000 sesterces (about L1,040). I wished you to know +this in case you were still hankering after it. + +We may be quite satisfied, I think, with my brother's feelings towards +Pomponia. He is with her at present in his villa at Arpinum, and has +Decimus Turanius with him, who is great in _belles lettres_. + +The date of my father's death was the 28th of November. + +That is about all my news. If you light on any articles of _vertu_ +suitable for a gymnasium, which would look well in the place you wot +of,[30] please don't let them slip. I am so delighted with my Tusculan +villa that I never feel really happy till I get there. Let me know +exactly what you are doing and intending to do about everything. + +[Footnote 28: C. Rabirius, whom Cicero defended in B.C. 63, when +prosecuted by Caesar for his share in the murder of Saturninus (B.C. +100). He lived, we know, in Campania, for his neighbours came to give +evidence in his favour at the trial.] + +[Footnote 29: M. Fonteius made a fortune in the province of Gaul beyond +the Alps, of which he was propraetor, B.C. 77-74. In B.C. 69 he had been +accused of malversation, and defended by Cicero. After his acquittal he +seems to be buying a seaside residence in Campania, as so many of the +men of fashion did.] + +[Footnote 30: Cicero's "gymnasium" was some arrangement of buildings and +plantations more or less on the model of the Greek gymnasia, at his +Tusculan villa.] + + + + +III (A I, 7) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS) + +ROME, DECEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 68, AET. 38] + +All's well at your mother's,[31] and I keep an eye on her. I have +undertaken to pay L. Cincius 20,400 sesterces[32] to your credit on the +Ides of February. Pray see that I receive at the earliest possible +opportunity what you say in your letters that you have bought and +secured for me. I should also be very much obliged if you would, as you +promised, think over the means of securing the library for me. My hope +of getting the one enjoyment which I care for, when I come to retire, +depends entirely on your kindness. + +[Footnote 31: The mother of Atticus lived to be ninety, dying in B.C. +33, not long before Atticus himself, who at her funeral declared that +"he had never been reconciled to her, for he had never had a word of +dispute with her" (Nep. _Att._ 17).] + +[Footnote 32: This sum (about L163) is for the works of art purchased +for the writer by Atticus.] + + + + +IV (A I, 9) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 67. Coss., C. Calpurnius Piso, M. Acilius Glabrio.] + + The year of Cicero's election to the praetorship. It is the year + also of Pompey's great commission by the _lex Gabinia_ against the + Pirates. But Cicero does not seem as yet much concerned with + "foreign politics." + + +TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS) + +ROME + +[Sidenote: B.C. 67, AET. 39] + +I get letters from you far too seldom considering that you can much more +easily find people starting for Rome than I to Athens: considering, too, +that you are more certain of my being at Rome than I of your being at +Athens. For instance, it is owing to this uncertainty on my part that +this very letter is somewhat short, because not being sure as to where +you are, I don't choose my confidential talk to fall into strange hands. +The Megaric statues and the Hermae, which you mentioned in your letters, +I am waiting for impatiently. Anything you have of the same kind which +may strike you as worthy of my "Academia," do not hesitate to send, and +have complete confidence in my money-chest. My present delight is to +pick up anything particularly suitable to a "gymnasium." Lentulus +promises the use of his ships. I beg you to be zealous in these matters. +Thyillus begs you (and I also at his request) to get him some writings +of the Eumolpidae.[33] + + + + +V (A I, 8) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 67, AET. 39] + +All well at your house. Your mother and sister are regarded with +affection by me and my brother Quintus. I have spoken to Acutilius. He +says that he has not heard from his agent, and professes surprise that +you should make any difficulty of his having refused to guarantee you +against farther demands. As to the business of Tadius, the announcement +in your letter that you have settled the matter out of court I saw +gratified and pleased him very much. That friend of mine[34]--a most +excellent man, upon my honour, and most warmly attached to me--is very +angry with you. If I could but know how much you care about it, I should +be able to decide how much trouble I am to take in the matter. I have +paid L. Cincius the 20,400 sesterces for the Megaric statues in +accordance with your letter to me. As to your Hermae of Pentelic marble +with bronze heads, about which you wrote to me--I have fallen in love +with them on the spot. So pray send both them and the statues, and +anything else that may appear to you to suit the place you wot of, my +passion, and your taste--as large a supply and as early as possible. +Above all, anything you think appropriate to a gymnasium and terrace. I +have such a passion for things of this sort that while I expect +assistance from you, I must expect something like rebuke from others. If +Lentulus has no vessel there, put them on board anyone you please. My +pet Tulliola claims your present and duns me as your security. I am +resolved, however, to disown the obligation rather than pay up for you. + +[Footnote 33: Thyillus (sometimes written Chilius), a Greek poet living +at Rome. See Letters XVI and XXI. The Eumolpidae were a family of priests +at Athens who had charge of the temple of Demeter at Eleusis. The +[Greek: patria Eumolpidon] (the phrase used by Cicero here) may be +either books of ritual or records such as priests usually kept: [Greek: +patria] is an appropriate word for such rituals or records handed down +by priests of one race or family.] + +[Footnote 34: Lucceius, as in the first letter and the next.] + + + + +VI (A I, 10) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS) + +TUSCULUM + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 67, AET. 39] + +"Being in my Tusculan villa" (that's for your "being in the +Ceramicus")--however, I being there, a courier sent by your sister +arrived from Rome and delivered me a letter from you, announcing at the +same time that the courier who was going to you started that very +afternoon. The result is that, though I do send _an_ answer, I am forced +by the shortness of the time to write only these few words. First, as to +softening my friend's feeling towards you, or even reconciling him +outright, I pledge you my word to do so. Though I have been attempting +it already on my own account, I will now urge the point more earnestly +and press him closer, as I think I gather from your letter that you are +so set upon it. This much I should like you to realize, that he is very +deeply offended; but since I cannot see any serious ground for it, I +feel confident that he will do as I wish and yield to my influence. As +for my statues and Hermeracles, pray put them on board, as you say in +your letter, at your very earliest convenience, and anything else you +light upon that may seem to you appropriate to the place you wot of, +especially anything you think suitable to a palaestra and gymnasium. I +say this because I am sitting there as I write, so that the very place +itself reminds me. Besides these, I commission you to get me some +medallions to let into the walls of my little entrance-court, and two +engraved stone-curbs. Mind you don't engage your library to anyone, +however keen a lover you may find; for I am hoarding up my little +savings expressly to secure that resource for my old age. As to my +brother, I trust that all is as I have ever wished and tried to make it. +There are many signs of that result--not least that your sister is +_enceinte_. As for my election, I don't forget that I left the question +entirely to you, and I have all along been telling our common friends +that I have not only not asked you to come, but have positively +forbidden you to do so, because I understood that it was much more +important to you to carry through the business you have now in hand, +than it is to me to have you at my election. I wish you therefore to +feel as though you had been sent to where you are in my interests. Nay, +you will find me feeling towards you, and hear of it from others, +exactly as though my success were obtained not only in your presence, +but by your direct agency. + +Tulliola gives notice of action against you. She is dunning me as your +surety. + + + + +VII (A I, 11) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 67, AET. 39] + +I was doing so before spontaneously, and have been since greatly stirred +by your two letters, with their earnest expressions to the same effect. +Besides, Sallustius has been always at my side to prompt me to spare no +pains to induce Lucceius to be reconciled to you. But after doing +everything that could be done, not only did I fail to renew his old +feelings towards you, but I could not even succeed in eliciting the +reason of his alienation. On his part, however, he keeps harping on that +arbitration case of his, and the other matters which I knew very well +before you left Rome were causing him offence. Still, he has certainly +got something else fixed deeper in his mind; and this no letters _from_ +you, and no commissioning of me will obliterate as easily as you will do +in a personal interview, I don't mean merely by your words, but by the +old familiar expression of your face--if only you think it worth while, +as you will if you will listen to me, and be willing to act with your +habitual kindness. Finally, you need not wonder why it is that, whereas +I intimated in my letters that I felt hopeful of his yielding to my +influence, I now appear to have no such confidence; for you can scarcely +believe how much more stubborn his sentiment appears to me than I +expected, and how much more obstinate he is in this anger. However, all +this will either be cured when you come, or will only be painful to the +party in fault. + +As to the sentence in your letter, "you suppose by this time I am +praetor-elect," let me tell you that there is no class of people at Rome +so harassed by every kind of unreasonable difficulty as candidates for +office; and that no one knows when the elections will be.[35] However, +you will hear all this from Philadelphus. Pray despatch at the earliest +opportunity what you have bought for my "Academia." I am surprisingly +delighted with the mere thought of that place, to say nothing of its +actual occupation. Mind also not to let anyone else have your books. +Reserve them, as you say in your letter, for me. I am possessed with the +utmost longing for them, as I am with a loathing for affairs of every +other kind, which you will find in an incredibly worse position than +when you left them.[36] + +[Footnote 35: The _comitia_ were twice postponed this year. Apparently +the voting for Cicero had in each case been completed, so that he is +able to say that he was "thrice returned at the head of the poll by an +unanimous vote" (_de Imp. Pomp._ Sec. 2). The postponement of the elections +was probably connected with the struggles of the senate to hinder the +legislation (as to bribery) of the Tribune, Gaius Cornelius (Dio, 36, +38-39).] + +[Footnote 36: The first allusion in these letters to the disturbed +position of public affairs. See the passage of Dio quoted in the +previous note. There were so many riots in the interval between the +proclamation and the holding of the elections, not without bloodshed, +that the senate voted the consuls a guard.] + + + + +VIII (A I, 3) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 66. Coss., M. AEmilius Lepidus, L. Volcatius Tullus.] + + In this year Cicero was praetor, and delivered his first extant + public speech (_apud populum_) in support of the _lex Manilia_, + which gave Pompey the command in the Mithridatic War with the + provinces of Asia and Bithynia. The strict Optimates opposed it. + Cicero supported it on the grounds of the importance of the war and + the proofs Pompey had already given of military ability, courage, + personal prestige, and good fortune. He takes occasion to point out + the mischief done to the Roman name by oppressive or fraudulent + governors and imperators. In this same year he delivered one of his + ablest speeches in court in defending A. Cluentius Habitus on a + charge of poisoning. At the consular elections this year the two + first elected were disabled for bribery. + + +TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS) + +ROME, JANUARY + +[Sidenote: B.C. 66, AET. 40] + +I have to inform you of the death of your grandmother from pining at +your long absence, and at the same time because she was afraid that the +Latin towns would revolt and fail to bring the victims up the Alban +Mount. I presume that L. Saufeius will send you a letter of condolence +on the subject.[37] I am expecting you here in the course of January--is +it a mere rumour or does it come from letters of yours to others? For to +me you have not mentioned the subject. The statues which you got for me +have been landed at Caieta. I haven't seen them, for I have been unable +to leave Rome. I have sent a man to clear the freightage. I am +exceedingly obliged to you for having taken so much trouble to get them, +and so reasonably. As to your frequent remarks in your letters about +pacifying my friend, I have done everything I could and tried every +expedient; but he is inveterate against you to a surprising degree, on +what suspicions, though I think you have been told, you shall yet learn +from me when you come. I failed to restore Sallustius[38] to his old +place in his affections, and yet he was on the spot. I tell you this +because the latter used to find fault with me in regard to you. Well, he +has found by personal experience that _he_ is not so easy to pacify, and +that on my part no zeal has been lacking either on his or your behalf. I +have betrothed Tulliola to C. Piso Frugi, son of Lucius.[39] + +[Footnote 37: The point of this frigid joke is not clear. Was the +grandmother really dead? What was she to do with the Latin _feriae_? Mr. +Strachan Davidson's explanation is perhaps the best, that Cicero means +that the old lady was thinking of the Social War in B.C. 89, when the +loyalty of the Latin towns must have been a subject of anxiety. She is +in her dotage and only remembers old scares. This is understanding +_civitates_ with _Latinae_. Others understand _feriae_ or _mulieres_. +Saufeius, a Roman eques, was an Epicurean, who would hold death to be no +evil. He was a close friend of Atticus, who afterwards saved his +property from confiscation by the Triumvirs (Nep. _Att._ 12).] + +[Footnote 38: Cneius Sallustius, a learned friend of Cicero's, of whom +we shall often hear again.] + +[Footnote 39: C. Calpurnius Piso, quaestor B.C. 58, died in B.C. 57. The +marriage took place in B.C. 63.] + + + + +IX (A I, 4) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 65, AET. 41] + +You keep on making me expect you again and again. Only the other day, +when I thought you on the point of arriving, I was suddenly put off by +you till Quintilis (July). Now, however, I _do_ think that you should +come at the time you mention if you possibly can. You will thereby be in +time for my brother Quintus's election, will pay me a long-deferred +visit, and will settle the dispute with Acutilius. This latter Peducaeus +also suggested my mentioning to you, for I think it is full time that +you settled that affair. My good offices are at your service and always +have been so. Here at Rome I have conducted the case of Gaius Macer with +a popular approval surpassing belief and unparalleled. Though I had been +inclined to take a lenient view of his case, yet I gained much more +substantial advantage from the popular approval on his condemnation +than I should have got from his gratitude if he had been acquitted.[40] +I am very glad to hear what you say about the Hermathena. It is an +ornament appropriate to my "Academia" for two reasons: Hermes is a sign +common to all gymnasia, Minerva specially of this particular one. So I +would have you, as you say, adorn the place with the other objects also, +and the more the better. The statues which you sent me before I have not +yet seen. They are in my villa at Formiae, whither I am at this moment +thinking of going. I shall get them all transferred to my Tusculan +villa. If I find myself with more than I want there I shall begin +adorning Caieta. Please reserve your books, and don't despair of my +being able to make them mine. If I succeed in that, I am superior to +Crassus in wealth and look down on everybody's manors and pastures.[41] + +[Footnote 40: The annalist C. Licinius Macer was impeached _de +repetundis_ (he was praetor about B.C. 70 or 69, and afterwards had a +province), and finding that he was going to be condemned, committed +suicide. He was never therefore condemned regularly (Val. Max. ix. 127; +Plut. _Cic._ 9). Cicero presided at the court as praetor.] + +[Footnote 41: The books must have been a very valuable collection, or +Cicero would hardly have made so much of being able to buy them, +considering his lavish orders for statues or antiques.] + + + + +X (A I, 1) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 65. Coss., L. Aurelius Cotta, L. Manlius Torquatus.] + + The election to the consulship is not till the next year (B.C. 64), + but Cicero is already making preparation for it, and looking out + for support. In July his only son was born. He does not refer to + the so-called "first Catilinarian conspiracy," but mentions + Catiline as a possible competitor, and even contemplates defending + him on some charge brought against him to prevent his standing for + the consulship. + + +TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS) + +ROME, JULY + +[Sidenote: B.C. 65, AET. 41] + +The state of things in regard to my candidature, in which I know that +you are supremely interested, is this, as far as can be as yet +conjectured. The only person actually canvassing is P. Sulpicius +Galba.[42] He meets with a good old-fashioned refusal without reserve or +disguise. In the general opinion this premature canvass of his is not +unfavourable to my interests; for the voters generally give as a reason +for their refusal that they are under obligations to me. So I hope my +prospects are to a certain degree improved by the report getting about +that my friends are found to be numerous. My intention was to begin my +own canvass just at the very time that Cincius[43] tells me that your +servant starts with this letter, namely, in the _campus_ at the time of +the tribunician elections on the 17th of July. My fellow candidates, to +mention only those who seem certain, are Galba and Antonius and Q. +Cornificius.[44] At this I imagine you smiling or sighing. Well, to make +you positively smite your forehead, there _are_ people who actually +think that Caesonius[45] will stand. I don't think Aquilius will, for he +openly disclaims it and has alleged as an excuse his health and his +leading position at the bar. Catiline will certainly be a candidate, if +you can imagine a jury finding that the sun does not shine at noon. As +for Aufidius and Palicanus,[46] I don't think you will expect to hear +from me about them. Of the candidates for this year's election Caesar is +considered certain. Thermus is looked upon as the rival of Silanus.[47] +These latter are so weak both in friends and reputation that it seems +_pas impossible_ to bring in Curius over their heads. But no one else +thinks so. What seems most to my interests is that Thermus should get +in with Caesar. For there is none of those at present canvassing who, if +left over to my year, seems likely to be a stronger candidate, from the +fact that he is commissioner of the _via Flaminia_, and when that has +been finished, I shall be greatly relieved to have seen him elected +consul this election.[48] Such in outline is the position of affairs in +regard to candidates up to date. For myself I shall take the greatest +pains to carry out all the duties of a candidate, and perhaps, as Gaul +seems to have a considerable voting power, as soon as business at Rome +has come to a standstill I shall obtain a _libera legatio_ and make an +excursion in the course of September to visit Piso,[49] but so as not to +be back later than January. When I have ascertained the feelings of the +nobility I will write you word. Everything else I hope will go smoothly, +at any rate while my competitors are such as are now in town. You must +undertake to secure for me the _entourage_ of our friend Pompey, since +you are nearer than I. Tell him I shall not be annoyed if he doesn't +come to my election.[50] So much for that business. But there is a +matter for which I am very anxious that you should forgive me. Your +uncle Caecilius having been defrauded of a large sum of money by P. +Varius, began an action against his cousin A. Caninius Satyrus for the +property which (as he alleged) the latter had received from Varius by a +collusive sale. He was joined in this action by the other creditors, +among whom were Lucullus and P. Scipio, and the man whom they thought +would be official receiver if the property was put up for sale, Lucius +Pontius; though it is ridiculous to be talking about a receiver at this +stage in the proceedings. Caecilius asked me to appear for him against +Satyrus. Now, scarcely a day passes that Satyrus does not call at my +house. The chief object of his attentions is L. Domitius,[51] but I am +next in his regard. He has been of great service both to myself and to +my brother Quintus in our elections. I was very much embarrassed by my +intimacy with Satyrus as well as that with Domitius, on whom the success +of my election depends more than on anyone else. I pointed out these +facts to Caecilius; at the same time I assured him that if the case had +been one exclusively between himself and Satyrus, I would have done what +he wished. As the matter actually stood, all the creditors being +concerned--and that too men of the highest rank, who, without the aid of +anyone specially retained by Caecilius, would have no difficulty in +maintaining their common cause--it was only fair that he should have +consideration both for my private friendship and my present situation. +He seemed to take this somewhat less courteously than I could have +wished, or than is usual among gentlemen; and from that time forth he +has entirely withdrawn from the intimacy with me, which was only of a +few day's standing.[52] Pray forgive me, and believe that I was +prevented by nothing but natural kindness from assailing the reputation +of a friend in so vital a point at a time of such very great distress, +considering that he had shewn me every sort of kindness and attention. +But if you incline to the harsher view of my conduct, take it that the +interests of my canvass prevented me. Yet, even granting that to be so, +I think you should pardon me, "since not for sacred beast or oxhide +shield."[53] You see in fact the position I am in, and how necessary I +regard it, not only to retain but even to acquire all possible sources +of popularity. I hope I have justified myself in your eyes, I am at any +rate anxious to have done so. The Hermathena you sent I am delighted +with: it has been placed with such charming effect that the whole +gymnasium seems arranged specially for it.[54] I am exceedingly obliged +to you. + +[Footnote 42: One of the judices rejected by Verres on his trial, a +pontifex and augur.] + +[Footnote 43: Agent of Atticus.] + +[Footnote 44: C. Antonius (uncle of M. Antonius) was elected with +Cicero. Q. Cornificius had been tr. pl. in B.C. 69. See Letter XVIII.] + +[Footnote 45: M. Caesonius, Cicero's colleague in the aedileship. He had +lost credit as one of the _Iunianum concilium_ in the trial of +Oppianicus.] + +[Footnote 46: Aufidius Lurco, tr. pl. B.C. 61. M. Lollius Palicanus, tr. +pl. some years previously.] + +[Footnote 47: L. Iulius Caesar, actually consul in B.C. 64, +brother-in-law of Lentulus the Catilinarian conspirator, was afterwards +_legatus_ to his distant kinsman, Iulius Caesar, in Gaul. A. Minucius +Thermus, defended by Cicero in B.C. 59, but the identification is not +certain. D. Iunius Silanus got the consulship in the year after Cicero +(B.C. 62), and as consul-designate spoke in favour of executing the +Catilinarian conspirators.] + +[Footnote 48: The text is corrupt in all MSS. I have assumed a reading, +something of this sort, _quae cum erit absoluta, sane facile ac libenter +eum nunc fieri consulem viderim_. This at any rate gives nearly the +required sense, which is that Cicero regards the influence which Thermus +will gain by managing the repair of the _Flaminia_ as likely to make him +a formidable candidate, and therefore he would be glad to see him +elected in the present year 65 (_nunc_) rather than wait for the next, +his own year.] + +[Footnote 49: C. Calpurnis Piso, consul in B.C. 67, then proconsul of +Gallia Transalpina (Narbonensis). He was charged with embezzlement in +his province and defended by Cicero in B.C. 63. There were no votes in +Transalpine Gaul, but Cicero means in going and coming to canvass the +Cispadane cities.] + +[Footnote 50: Pompey was this year on his way to take over the +Mithridatic War. But Cicero may have thought it likely that he or some +of his staff would pass through Athens and meet Atticus.] + +[Footnote 51: L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, praetor in B.C. 58, and consul +B.C. 54, fell at Pharsalia, fighting against Caesar.] + +[Footnote 52: Q. Caecilius, a rich uncle of Atticus, so cross-grained +that no one but Atticus could get on with him, to whom he accordingly +left his large fortune (Nep. _Att._ 5).] + +[Footnote 53: Hom. _Il._ xxii. 159, Achilles pursuing Hector: + + "Since not for sacred beast or oxhide shield + They strove,--man's guerdon for the fleet of foot: + Their stake was Hector's soul, the swift steed's lord." +] + +[Footnote 54: Reading _eius_ [Greek: anathema], and taking the latter +word in the common sense of "ornament": the Hermathena is so placed that +the whole gymnasium is as it were an ornament to it, designed to set it +off, instead of its being a mere ornament to the gymnasium. Professor +Tyrrell, however, will not admit that the words can have this or any +meaning, and reads, [Greek: heliou anamma], "sun light"--"the whole +gymnasium seems as bright as the sun"--a curious effect, after all, for +one statue to have.] + + + + +XI (A I, 2) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS) + +ROME, JULY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 65, AET. 41] + +I have to inform you that on the day of the election of L. Iulius Caesar +and C. Marcius Figulus to the consulship, I had an addition to my family +in the shape of a baby boy. Terentia doing well. + +Why such a time without a letter from you? I have already written to you +fully about my circumstances. At this present time I am considering +whether to undertake the defence of my fellow candidate, Catiline.[55] +We have a jury to our minds with full consent of the prosecutor. I hope +that if he is acquitted he will be more closely united with me in the +conduct of our canvass; but if the result be otherwise I shall bear it +with resignation. Your early return is of great importance to me, for +there is a very strong idea prevailing that some intimate friends of +yours, persons of high rank, will be opposed to my election. To win me +their favour I see that I shall want you very much. Wherefore be sure to +be in Rome in January, as you have agreed to be. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: B.C. 62. Coss., D. Iunius Silanus, L. Licinius Murena.] + + We have no letters to or from Cicero in the years B.C. 64 and + 63,[56] partly, no doubt, because Atticus was in Rome a great deal + during these years. We take up the correspondence, therefore, after + an interval of two years, which in many respects were the most + important in Cicero's life. In B.C. 64 he attained his chief + ambition by being elected to the consulship, but we have little + trace of his public actions that year, only the fragments of one + speech remaining, in defence of Q. Gallius on a charge of + _ambitus_. The animus of the popular party, however, is shewn by + the prosecution of some surviving partisans of Sulla on charges of + homicide, among them Catiline, who by some means escaped conviction + (Dio, xxxvii. 10). In the year of the consulship (B.C. 63) some of + Cicero's most important speeches were delivered. The three on the + agrarian proposals of Rullus present him to us for the first time + as discussing an important question of home politics, the disposal + of the _ager publicus_, a question which had become again prominent + owing to the great additions made to it by the confiscations of + Sulla. He also defended C. Rabirius, prosecuted by Iulius Caesar for + the murder of Saturninus as long ago as B.C. 100, and later in the + year defended Murena on a charge of _ambitus_. Finally, the three + Catilinarian speeches illustrate the event which coloured the whole + of Cicero's life. In B.C. 62 his brother Quintus was praetor and + Cicero defended in his court P. Sulla, accused of complicity with + Catiline. On the 29th of December (B.C. 63) the tribune Q. Caecilius + Metellus Nepos prevented Cicero from making a speech when laying + down his consulship, and went on to propose summoning Pompey to + Rome, "to protect the lives of the citizens." This led to scenes of + violence, and Metellus fled to Pompey, who reached Italy late in + the year B.C. 62 from the East. + +[Footnote 55: Asconius assigns this to the accusation of embezzlement in +Africa. But that seems to have been tried in the previous year, or +earlier in this year. The new impeachment threatened seems to have been +connected with his crimes in the proscriptions of Sulla (Dio, xxxvii, +10). Cicero may have thought of defending him on a charge relating to so +distant a period, just as he did Rabirius on the charge of murdering +Saturninus (B.C. 100), though he had regarded his guilt in the case of +extortion in Africa as glaring.] + +[Footnote 56: The essay on the duties of a candidate attributed to +Quintus is hardly a letter, and there is some doubt as to its +authenticity. I have therefore relegated it to an appendix.] + + + + +XII (F V, 7) + +TO CN. POMPEIUS MAGNUS + +ROME + +_M. Tullius Cicero, son of Marcus, greets Cn. Pompeius, son of Cneius, +Imperator._ + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 62. AET. 44] + +If you and the army are well I shall be glad. From your official +despatch I have, in common with everyone else, received the liveliest +satisfaction; for you have given us that strong hope of peace, of which, +in sole reliance on you, I was assuring everyone. But I must inform you +that your old enemies--now posing as your friends--have received a +stunning blow by this despatch, and, being disappointed in the high +hopes they were entertaining, are thoroughly depressed. Though your +private letter to me contained a somewhat slight expression of your +affection, yet I can assure you it gave me pleasure: for there is +nothing in which I habitually find greater satisfaction than in the +consciousness of serving my friends; and if on any occasion I do not +meet with an adequate return, I am not at all sorry to have the balance +of kindness in my favour. Of this I feel no doubt--even if my +extraordinary zeal in your behalf has failed to unite you to me--that +the interests of the state will certainly effect a mutual attachment and +coalition between us. To let you know, however, what I missed in your +letter I will write with the candour which my own disposition and our +common friendship demand. I did expect _some_ congratulation in your +letter on my achievements, for the sake at once of the ties between us +and of the Republic. This I presume to have been omitted by you from a +fear of hurting anyone's feelings. But let me tell you that what I did +for the salvation of the country is approved by the judgment and +testimony of the whole world. You are a much greater man than Africanus, +but I am not much inferior to Laelius either; and when you come home you +will recognize that I have acted with such prudence and spirit, that +you will not be ashamed of being coupled with me in politics as well as +in private friendship. + + + + +XIII (F V, I) + +Q. METELLUS CELER TO CICERO + +CISALPINE GAUL + +_Q. Metellus Celer, son of Quintus, proconsul, greets M. Tullius +Cicero._[57] + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 62. AET. 44] + +If you are well I am glad. I had thought, considering our mutual regard +and the reconciliation effected between us, that I was not likely to be +held up to ridicule in my absence, nor my brother attacked by you in his +civil existence and property for the sake of a mere word. If his own +high character was not a sufficient protection to him, yet either the +position of our family, or my own loyal conduct to you and the Republic, +ought to have been sufficient to support him. As it is, I see that he +has been ruined and I abandoned by the last people in the world who +ought to have done so. I am accordingly in sorrow and wearing mourning +dress, while actually in command of a province and army and conducting a +war. And seeing that your conduct in this affair has neither been +reasonable nor in accordance with the milder methods of old times, you +must not be surprised if you live to repent it. I did not expect to find +you so fickle towards me and mine. For myself, meanwhile, neither family +sorrow nor ill-treatment by any individual shall withdraw me from the +service of the state. + +[Footnote 57: Q. Metellus Celer had been praetor in B.C. 63 and was now +(B.C. 62), as proconsul in Gallia Cisalpina, engaged against the remains +of the Catilinarian conspiracy. Meanwhile his brother (or cousin) Q. +Caecilius Metellus Nepos, a tribune, after trying in vain to bring Cicero +to trial for the execution of the conspirators, at last proposed to +summon Pompey to Rome to prevent danger to the lives of citizens. This +attempt led to riots and contests with Cato, and Nepos finally fled from +Rome to Pompey. By leaving Rome he broke the law as to the tribunes, and +the senate declared his office vacant, and this letter would even seem +to shew that the senate declared him a public enemy. This letter of +remonstrance is peremptory, if not insolent, in tone, and the reader +will observe that the formal sentences, dropped in more familiar +letters, are carefully used.] + + + + +XIV (F V, 2) + +TO Q. METELLUS (IN CISALPINE GAUL) + +ROME + +_M. Tullius, son of Marcus, to Q. Metellus Celer, son of Quintus, +proconsul, wishes health._ + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 62, AET. 44] + +If you and the army are well I shall be glad. You say in your letter +that you "thought, considering our mutual regard and the reconciliation +effected between us, that you were not likely to be held up to ridicule +by me." To what you refer I do not clearly understand, but I suspect +that you have been informed that, while arguing in the senate that there +were many who were annoyed at my having saved the state, I said that +your relations, whose wishes you had been unable to withstand, had +induced you to pass over in silence what you had made up your mind you +ought to say in the senate in my praise. But while saying so I also +added this--that the duty of supporting the Republic had been so divided +between us that I was defending the city from internal treachery and the +crime of its own citizens, you Italy from armed enemies and covert +conspiracy;[58] yet that this association in a task so noble and so +glorious had been imperilled by your relations, who, while you had been +complimented by me in the fullest and most laudatory terms, had been +afraid of any display of mutual regard on your part being put to my +credit. As this sentence betrayed how much I had looked forward to your +speech, and how mistaken I had been in that expectation, my speech +caused some amusement, and was received with a moderate amount of +laughter; but the laugh was not against you, it was rather at my +mistake, and at the open and _naive_ confession of my eagerness to be +commended by you. Surely it cannot but be a compliment to you that in +the hour of my greatest triumph and glory I yet wished for some +testimony of approval from your lips. As to your expression, +"considering our mutual regard"--I don't know your idea of what is +"mutual" in friendship; mine is an equal interchange of good feeling. +Now if I were to mention that I passed over a province for your sake, +you might think me somewhat insincere; for, in point of fact, it suited +my convenience, and I feel more and more every day of my life the +advantage and pleasure which I have received from that decision. But +this I do say--the moment I had announced in public meeting my refusal +of a province, I began at once thinking how I might hand it on to you. I +say nothing as to the circumstances of your allotment: I only wish you +to suspect that nothing was done in that matter by my colleague without +my cognizance. Recall the other circumstances: how promptly I summoned +the senate on that day after the lots had been drawn, at what a length I +spoke about you. You yourself said at the time that my speech was not +merely complimentary to you, but absolutely a reflexion on your +colleagues. Farther, the decree of the senate passed on that day has +such a preamble that, so long as it is extant, there can never be any +doubt of my services to you. Subsequently, when you had gone out of +town, I would have you recall my motions in the senate, my speeches in +public meetings, my letters to yourself. And having reviewed all these +together, I would like you to judge yourself whether you think that your +approach to Rome the last time you came quite shewed an adequate return +for all these services.[59] Again, as to your expression, "the +reconciliation effected between us"--I do not understand why you speak +of "reconciliation" in the case of a friendship that had never been +broken. As to what you say, that your brother Metellus ought not "to +have been attacked by me for a mere word," in the first place I would +like to assure you that your feeling and fraternal partiality--so full +of human kindness and natural affection--meet with my warmest +approbation; in the next place I must claim your indulgence if I have in +any matter opposed your brother in the interests of the Republic, for my +devotion to the Republic is paramount. If, however, it is my personal +safety that I have defended against a most ruthless assault of his, I +think you should be content that I make no complaint even to you of your +brother's injurious conduct. Now, when I had become aware that he was +deliberately making every preparation to use his tribunician office to +my ruin, I appealed to your wife Claudia[60] and your sister Mucia[61] +(of whose kindness to me for the sake of my friendship with Pompey I had +satisfied myself by many instances) to deter him from that injurious +conduct. And yet, as I am sure you have heard, on the last day of +December he inflicted upon me--a consul and the preserver of my +country--an indignity such as was never inflicted upon the most disloyal +citizen in the humblest office: that is to say, he deprived me when +laying down my office of the privilege of addressing the people--an +indignity, however, which after all redounded to my honour. For, upon +his forbidding me to do anything but take the oath, I pronounced an oath +at once the most absolutely true and the most glorious in a loud +voice--an oath which the people swore also in a loud voice to be +absolutely true. Though I had actually suffered this signal indignity, I +yet on that same day sent common friends to Metellus to persuade him to +alter his resolution; to whom he answered that he was no longer free to +do so. And, in fact, a short time previously he _had_ said in a public +meeting that a man who had punished others without trial ought not +himself to be allowed the privilege of speech. What a model of +consistency! What an admirable citizen! So he deemed the man who had +saved the senate from massacre, the city from the incendiary, Italy from +war, deserving of the same penalty as that inflicted by the senate, with +the unanimous approval of all loyal citizens, upon those who had +intended to set fire to the city, butcher magistrates and senate, and +stir up a formidable war! Accordingly, I did withstand your brother +Metellus to his face: for on the 1st of January, in the senate, I +maintained a debate with him on the state of the Republic, such as +taught him that he had to contend with a man of courage and firmness. On +the 3rd of January,[62] on again opening the debate, he kept harping on +me and threatening me at every third word of his speech; nor could any +intention be more deliberate than his was to overthrow me by any means +in his power, not by calm and judicial argument, but by violence and +mere browbeating. If I had not shewn some boldness and spirit in +opposing his intemperate attack, would not everyone have concluded that +the courage I had displayed in my consulship was the result of accident +rather than design? If you did not know that Metellus was contemplating +these measures in regard to me, you must consider that you have been +kept in the dark by your brother on matters of the utmost importance: +if, on the other hand, he did intrust any part of his designs to you, +then surely I ought to be regarded by you as a man of placable and +reasonable temper for not addressing a word of reproach to you even on +such occurrences as these. Understanding then that it was by no "mere +word" (as you express it) of Metellus that I was roused, but by his +deliberate policy and extraordinary animosity towards me, next observe +my forbearance--if "forbearance" is the name to be given to irresolution +and laxity under a most galling indignity. I never once delivered a vote +in a speech against your brother: every time a motion was before the +house I assented without rising to those whose proposal appeared to me +to be the mildest. I will also add that, though in the circumstances +there was no obligation upon me to do so, yet so far from raising +objections I actually did my best to secure that my enemy, because he +was your brother, should be relieved from penalties by a decree of the +senate.[63] Wherefore I have not "attacked" your brother, but only +defended myself from your brother's attack; nor have I been "fickle" (to +quote your word), but, on the contrary, so constant, that I remained +faithful to my friendship to you, though left without any sign of +kindness from you. For instance, at this moment, though your letter +amounts almost to a threat, I am writing back an answer such as you see. +I not only pardon your vexation, I even applaud it in the highest +degree; for my own heart tells me how strong is the influence of +fraternal affection. I ask you in your turn to put a liberal +construction upon my vexation, and to conclude that when attacked by +your relatives with bitterness, with brutality, and without cause, I not +only ought not to retract anything, but, in a case of that kind, should +even be able to rely upon the aid of yourself and your army. I have +always wished to have you as a friend: I have taken pains to make you +understand that I am a warm friend to you. I abide by that sentiment, +and shall abide by it as long as _you_ will let me; and I shall more +readily cease to be angry with your brother for love of you, than I +shall from anger with him abate in the smallest degree my kindness for +you. + +[Footnote 58: Metellus had been employed with Antonius against the camp +at Faesulae, but was now engaged against some Alpine tribes.] + +[Footnote 59: When Metellus was commanding against Catiline, it is +suggested that he marched towards Rome to support his brother, but this +is conjecture.] + +[Footnote 60: Sister of P. Clodius. Of this famous woman we shall hear +often again. She is believed to be the Lesbia of Catullus, and she is +the "Palatine Medea" of the speech _pro Caelio_. Yet, in spite of +Cicero's denunciations of her, he seems at one time to have been so fond +of her society as to rouse Terentia's jealousy.] + +[Footnote 61: Wife of Pompey--divorced by him on his return from the +East.] + +[Footnote 62: On the next meeting of the senate. The second was a _dies +comitialis_ on which the senate usually did not meet (Caes. _B. Civ._ i. +I).] + +[Footnote 63: For the riots caused by his contests with Cato (on which +the senate seems to have passed the _senatus consultum ultimum_), and +for his having left Rome while tribune.] + + + + +XV (F V, 6) + +TO P. SESTIUS[64] (IN MACEDONIA) + +ROME, DECEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 62, AET. 44] + +Decius the copyist has been to see me, and begged me to try and secure +that no successor should be appointed to you this turn. Though I +regarded him as a man of good character and attached to you, yet, +remembering the tenor of your previous letter to me, I could not feel +certain that the wishes of a cautious man of the world like yourself had +undergone so complete a change. But after your wife Cornelia had called +on Terentia, and I had had a conversation with Q. Cornelius, I took care +to be present at every meeting of the senate, and found that the +greatest trouble was to make Fufius the tribune, and the others to whom +you had written, believe me rather than your own letters. The whole +business has, after all, been postponed till January, but there is no +difficulty about it. Roused by your congratulations--for in a letter +sometime ago you wished me good luck on the completion of my purchase of +a house from Crassus--I have bought that very house for 3,500 sestertia +(about L28,000), a good while subsequent to your congratulation. +Accordingly, you may now look upon me as being so deeply in debt as to +be eager to join a conspiracy if anyone would admit me! But, partly from +personal dislike they shut their doors in my face and openly denounce me +as the punisher of conspiracy, partly are incredulous and afraid that I +am setting a trap for them! Nor do they suppose that a man can be short +of money who has relieved the money-lenders from a state of siege. In +point of fact, money is plentiful at six per cent., and the success of +my measures has caused me to be regarded as a good security. Your own +house, and all the details of its construction, I have examined and +strongly approve. As for Antonius,[65] though everyone notices his want +of attention to my interests, I have nevertheless defended him in the +senate with the utmost earnestness and persistence, and have made a +strong impression on the senate by my language as well as by my personal +prestige. Pray write to me more frequently. + +[Footnote 64: P. Sestius was serving as proquaestor in Macedonia under +Gaius Antonius. As tribune in B.C. 57 he worked for Cicero's recall, but +was afterwards prosecuted _de vi_, and defended by Cicero.] + +[Footnote 65: Gaius Antonius, Cicero's colleague in the consulship. He +had the province of Macedonia after the consulship, Cicero having +voluntarily withdrawn in his favour to secure his support against +Catiline. Scandal said that he had bargained to pay Cicero large sums +from the profits of the province. He governed so corruptly and +unsuccessfully that he was on his return condemned of _maiestas_.] + + + + +XVI (A I, 12) + +[Sidenote: B.C. 61. Coss., M. Papius Piso, M. Valerius Messalla.] + + The letters of this year are much concerned with the sacrilege of + P. Clodius, who, it was alleged, had been detected in disguise in + the house of the Pontifex Maximus Iulius Caesar, when his wife was + celebrating the mysteries of the Bona Dea, from which males were + excluded. His trial was made the occasion of bitter party + struggles, and by giving evidence in contradiction of Clodius's + alibi Cicero incurred his enmity, and eventually, therefore, his + own exile. Quintus is propraetor in Asia, Caesar in Spain. Pompey + reached Rome early this year. The _ordo equester_ is much irritated + with the senate on the question of the contracts for the collection + of the Asiatic taxes. + + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME, 1 JANUARY + +[Sidenote: B.C. 61, AET. 45] + +The Teucris[66] business hangs fire, and Cornelius has not called on +Terentia since. I suppose I must have recourse to Considius, Axius, and +Selicius:[67] for his nearest relations can't get a penny out of +Caecilius[68] under twelve per cent. But to return to my first remark: I +never saw anything more shameless, artful, and dilatory. "I am on the +point of sending my freedman," "I have commissioned Titus"--excuses and +delays at every turn! But perhaps it is a case of _l'homme propose_,[69] +for Pompey's advance couriers tell me that he means to move in the +senate that a successor to Antonius ought to be named, and the praetor +intends to bring the proposal before the people at the same time. The +facts are such that I cannot defend him in view of the opinion either +of the aristocrats or the people, and, what is more than anything else, +that I have no wish to do so. For a thing has happened into the truth of +which I charge you to look thoroughly. I have a freedman, who is a +worthless fellow enough; I mean Hilarus, an accountant and a client of +your own. The interpreter Valerius gives me this information about him, +and Thyillus writes me word that he has been told the same story: that +the fellow is with Antonius, and that Antonius, in exacting money +payments, frequently remarks that a part is being collected for me, and +that I have sent a freedman to look after our common interests. I felt +exceedingly disturbed, and yet could not believe it; but at any rate +there has been some gossip of the sort. Pray look into the whole matter, +learn the truth, find out the author, and get the empty-headed idiot out +of the country, if you possibly can. Valerius mentions Cn. Plancius as +the origin of this gossip. I trust you thoroughly to investigate and +find out what is at the bottom of it. I have good reason to believe that +Pompey is most kindly disposed to me. His divorce of Mucia is strongly +approved.[70] I suppose you have heard that P. Clodius, son of Appius, +was caught in woman's clothes at Gaius Caesar's house, while the state +function was going on, and that he was saved and got out by means of a +maid-servant; and that the affair is causing immense scandal. I feel +sure you will be sorry for it.[71] I have nothing else to tell you. And, +indeed, at the moment of writing, I am in considerable distress: for a +delightful youth, my reader Sosthenes, has just died, and his death has +affected me more than that of a slave should, I think, do. Pray write +often. If you have no news, write just what comes uppermost. + +1 January, in the consulship of M. Messalla and M. Piso. + +[Footnote 66: From expressions in the following letters it seems certain +that this refers to money expected from Gaius Antonius; but we have no +means of deciding whether or no Teucris is a pseudonym for some agent. +Cicero had undertaken to be the advocate and supporter of Antonius, and +though as an actual _patronus_ in court he could not take money, he may +have felt justified in receiving supplies from him. Still, he knew the +character of Antonius, and how such wealth was likely to be got, and it +is not a pleasant affair.] + +[Footnote 67: Money-lenders.] + +[Footnote 68: The rich and cross-grained uncle of Atticus. See Letter +X.] + +[Footnote 69: Cicero quotes half a Greek verse of Menander's, [Greek: +tautomaton hemon], leaving Atticus to fill up the other two words, +[Greek: kallio bouleuetai], "Chance designs better than we ourselves."] + +[Footnote 70: Mucia was suspected of intriguing with Iulius Caesar.] + +[Footnote 71: The chief festival of the Bona Dea (Tellus) was in May. +The celebration referred to here took place on the night between the 3rd +and 4th of December. It was a state function (_pro populo_), and was +celebrated in the presence of the Vestals and the wife of the consul or +praetor urbanus, _in ea domo quae est in imperio_. As Caesar was Pontifex +Maximus, as well as praetor urbanus, it took place in the _Regia_, the +Pontiff's official house (Plutarch, _Cic._ 19; Dio, xxxvii. 35).] + + + + +XVII (F V, 5) + +TO C. ANTONIUS (IN MACEDONIA) + +ROME, JANUARY + +_M. Cicero wishes health to Gaius Antonius, son of Marcus, Imperator._ + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 61, AET. 45] + +Though I had resolved to write you nothing but formal letters of +introduction (not because I felt that they had much weight with you, but +to avoid giving those who asked me for them an idea that there had been +any diminution in our friendship), yet since Titus Pomponius is starting +for your province, who knows better than anyone else all that I feel and +have done for you, who desires your friendship and is most devotedly +attached to me, I thought I must write something, especially as I had no +other way of satisfying Pomponius himself. Were I to ask from you +services of the greatest moment, it ought not to seem surprising to +anyone: for you have not wanted from me any that concerned your +interests, honour, or position. That no return has been made by you for +these you are the best witness: that something even of a contrary nature +has proceeded from you I have been told by many. I say "told," for I do +not venture to say "discovered,"[72] lest I should chance to use the +word which people tell me is often falsely attributed to me by you. But +the story which has reached my ears I would prefer your learning from +Pomponius (who was equally hurt by it) rather than from my letter. How +singularly loyal my feelings have been to you the senate and Roman +people are both witnesses. How far you have been grateful to me you may +yourself estimate: how much you owe me the rest of the world estimates. +I was induced to do what I did for you at first by affection, and +afterwards by consistency. Your future, believe me, stands in need of +much greater zeal on my part, greater firmness and greater labour.[73] +These labours, unless it shall appear that I am throwing away and +wasting my pains, I shall support with all the strength I have; but if I +see that they are not appreciated, I shall not allow you--the very +person benefited[74]--to think me a fool for my pains. What the meaning +of all this is you will be able to learn from Pomponius. In commending +Pomponius to you, although I am sure you will do anything in your power +for his own sake, yet I do beg that if you have any affection for me +left, you will display it all in Pomponius's business. You can do me no +greater favour than that. + +[Footnote 72: The word (_comperisse_) used by Cicero in regard to the +Catilinarian conspiracy; it had apparently become a subject of rather +malignant chaff.] + +[Footnote 73: Cicero is hinting at the danger of prosecution hanging +over the head of Antonius.] + +[Footnote 74: Reading _tibi ipsi_ (not _ipse_), with Tyrrell.] + + + + +XVIII (A 1, 13) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME, 27 JANUARY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 61, AET. 45] + +I have now received three letters from you--one by the hands of M. +Cornelius, which you gave him, I think, at Three Taverns; a second which +your host at Canusium delivered to me; a third dated, according to you, +from on board your pinnace, when the cable was already slipped.[75] They +were all three, to use a phrase from the schools of rhetoric flavoured +with the salt of learning, and illumined with the marks of affection. In +these letters, indeed, I am urgently pressed by you to send answers, but +what renders me rather dilatory in this respect is the difficulty of +finding a trustworthy carrier. How few of these gentry are able to +convey a letter rather weightier than usual without lightening it by +skimming its contents! Besides, I do not always care to send[76] +whenever anyone is starting for Epirus: for I suppose that, having +offered victims before your Amaltheia,[77] you at once started for the +siege of Sicyon. And yet I am not even certain when you start to visit +Antonius or how much time you are devoting to Epirus. Accordingly, I +don't venture to trust either Achaeans or Epirotes with a letter somewhat +more outspoken than usual. Now some events _have_ occurred since you +left me worth my writing to you, but they must not be trusted to the +risk of a letter being lost, opened, or intercepted. + +Well, then, to begin with: I was not called upon to speak first, and the +pacifier of the Allobroges[78] was preferred to me, and though this met +with some murmurs of disapprobation from the senate, I was not sorry it +was done. For I am thereby freed from any obligation to shew respect to +an ill-conditioned man, and am at liberty to support my position in the +Republic in spite of him. Besides, the second place has a dignity almost +equal to that of _princeps senatus_, and does not put one under too much +of an obligation to the consul. The third called on was Catulus; the +fourth, if you want to go still farther, Hortensius. The consul +himself[79] is a man of a small and ill-regulated mind, a mere buffoon +of that splenetic kind which raises a laugh even in the absence of wit: +it is his face rather than his facetiousness[80] that causes merriment: +he takes practically no part in public business, and is quite alienated +from the Optimates. You need expect no service to the state from him, +for he has not the will to do any, nor fear any damage, for he hasn't +the courage to inflict it. His colleague, however, treats me with great +distinction, and is also a zealous supporter of the loyalist party. For +the present their disagreement has not come to much; but I fear that +this taint may spread farther. For I suppose you have heard that when +the state function was being performed in Caesar's house a man in woman's +dress got in,[81] and that the Vestals having performed the rite again, +mention was made of the matter in the senate by Q. Cornificius--he was +the first, so don't think that it was one of us consulars--and that on +the matter being referred by a decree of the senate to the [Virgins and] +pontifices, they decided that a sacrilege had been committed: that then, +on a farther decree of the senate, the consuls published a bill: and +that Caesar divorced his wife. On this question Piso, from friendship for +P. Clodius, is doing his best to get the bill promulgated by himself +(though in accordance with a decree of the senate and on a point of +religion) rejected. Messalla as yet is strongly for severe measures. The +loyalists hold aloof owing to the entreaties of Clodius: bands of +ruffians are being got together: I myself, at first a stern Lycurgus, am +becoming daily less and less keen about it: Cato is hot and eager. In +short, I fear that between the indifference of the loyalists and the +support of the disloyal it may be the cause of great evils to the +Republic. However, your great friend[82]--do you know whom I mean?--of +whom you said in your letter that, "not venturing to blame me, he was +beginning to be complimentary," is now to all appearance exceedingly +fond of me, embraces me, loves and praises me in public, while in secret +(though unable to disguise it) he is jealous of me. No good-breeding, no +straightforwardness, no political morality, no distinction, no courage, +no liberality! But on these points I will write to you more minutely at +another time; for in the first place I am not yet quite sure about them, +and in the next place I dare not intrust a letter on such weighty +matters to such a casual nobody's son as this messenger. + +The praetors have not yet drawn their lots for the provinces. The matter +remains just where you left it. The description of the scenery of +Misenum and Puteoli which you ask for I will include in my speech.[83] I +had already noticed the mistake in the date, 3rd of December. The points +in my speeches which you praise, believe me, I liked very much myself, +but did not venture to say so before. Now, however, as they have +received your approval, I think them much more "Attic" than ever. To the +speech in answer to Metellus[84] I have made some additions. The book +shall be sent you, since affection for me gives you a taste for +rhetoric. What news have I for you? Let me see. Oh, yes! The consul +Messalla has bought Antonius's house for 3,400 sestertia (about +L27,200). What is that to me? you will say. Why, thus much. The price +has convinced people that I made no bad bargain, and they begin to +understand that in making a purchase a man may properly use his friends' +means to get what suits his position. The Teucris affair drags on, yet I +have hopes. Pray settle the business you have in hand. You shall have a +more outspoken letter soon. + +27 January, in the consulship of M. Messalla and M. Piso. + +[Footnote 75: _Ora soluta._ Or, if _ancora sublata_ be read, "when the +anchor was already weighed." In either case it means "just as you were +starting." Atticus wrote on board, and gave the letter to a carrier to +take on shore.] + +[Footnote 76: A word lost in the text.] + +[Footnote 77: See end of Letter XXI. Cicero playfully supposes that +Atticus only stayed in his villa in Epirus to offer sacrifices to the +nymph in his gymnasium, and then hurried off to Sicyon, where people +owed him money which he wanted to get. He goes to Antonius first to get +his authority for putting pressure on Sicyon, and perhaps even some +military force.] + +[Footnote 78: C. Calpurnius Piso (consul B.C. 67), brother of the consul +of the year, had been governor of Gallia Narbonensis (B.C. 66-65), and +had suppressed a rising of the Allobroges, the most troublesome tribe in +the province, who were, in fact, again in rebellion.] + +[Footnote 79: M. Pupius Piso.] + +[Footnote 80: "By the expression of his face rather than the force of +his expressions" (Tyrrell).] + +[Footnote 81: See p. 27, note 2.] + +[Footnote 82: Pompey.] + +[Footnote 83: Or, "inclose with my speech"; in both cases the dative +_orationi meae_ is peculiar. No speech exists containing such a +description, but we have only two of the previous year extant (_pro +Flacco_ and _pro Archia Poeta_). Cicero was probably sending it, +whichever it was, to Atticus to be copied by his _librarii_, and +published. Atticus had apparently some other works of Cicero's in hand, +for which he had sent him some "queries."] + +[Footnote 84: Apparently the speech in the senate referred to in Letter +XIV, p. 23, spoken on 1st January, B.C. 62. Metellus had prevented his +_contio_ the day before.] + + + + +XIX (A I, 14) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME, 13 FEBRUARY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 61, AET. 45] + +I fear it may seem affectation to tell you how occupied I have been; but +I am so distracted with business that I have only just found time for +this short letter, and that has been stolen from the most urgent +engagements. I have already described to you Pompey's first public +speech--it did not please the poor, nor satisfy the disloyal, nor find +favour with the wealthy, nor appear sound to the loyalists; accordingly, +he is down in the world.[85] Presently, on the instigation of the consul +Piso, that most insignificant of tribunes, Fufius, brought Pompey on to +the platform. The meeting was in the _circus Flaminius_, and there was +in the same place that day a crowd of market people--a kind of _tiers +etat_.[86] He asked him to say whether he approved of the jurymen being +selected by the praetor, to form a panel for the praetor himself to +employ. That was the regulation made by the senate in the matter of +Clodius's sacrilege. Thereupon Pompey made a highly "aristocratic" +speech, and replied (and at great length) that in all matters the +authority of the senate was of the greatest weight in his eyes and had +always been so. Later on the consul Messalla in the senate asked Pompey +his opinion as to the sacrilege and the bill that had been published. +His speech in the senate amounted to a general commendation of all +decrees of the house, and when he sat down he said to me, "I think my +answer covers your case also."[87] When Crassus observed that Pompey had +got a cheer from the idea in men's minds that he approved my consulship, +he rose also to his feet and delivered a speech in the most +complimentary terms on my consulship, going so far as to say that he +owed it to me that he was still a senator, a citizen, nay, a free man; +and that he never beheld wife, home, or country without beholding the +fruits of my conduct. In short: that whole topic, which I am wont to +paint in various colours in my speeches (of which you are the +Aristarchus), the fire, the sword--you know my paint-pots--he elaborated +to the highest pitch. I was sitting next to Pompey. I noticed that he +was agitated, either at Crassus earning the gratitude which he had +himself neglected, or to think that my achievements were, after all, of +such magnitude that the senate was so glad to hear them praised, +especially by a man who was the less under an obligation to praise me, +because in everything I ever wrote[88] my praise of Pompey was +practically a reflexion on him. This day has brought me very close to +Crassus, and yet in spite of all I accepted with pleasure any +compliment--open or covert--from Pompey. But as for my own speech, good +heavens! how I did "put it on" for the benefit of my new auditor Pompey! +If I ever did bring every art into play, I did then--period, transition, +enthymeme, deduction--everything. In short, I was cheered to the echo. +For the subject of my speech was the dignity of the senate, its harmony +with the equites, the unanimity of Italy, the dying embers of the +conspiracy, the fall in prices, the establishment of peace. You know my +thunder when these are my themes. It was so loud, in fact, that I may +cut short my description, as I think you must have heard it even in +Epirus. The state of things at Rome is this: the senate is a perfect +Areopagus. You cannot conceive anything firmer, more grave, or more +high-spirited. For when the day came for proposing the bill in +accordance with the vote of the senate, a crowd of our dandies with +their chin-tufts assembled, all the Catiline set, with Curio's girlish +son at their head, and implored the people to reject it. Moreover, Piso +the consul, who formally introduced the bill, spoke against it. +Clodius's hired ruffians had filled up the entrances to the voting +boxes. The voting tickets were so manipulated that no "ayes" were +distributed. Hereupon imagine Cato hurrying to the rostra, delivering an +admirable invective against the consul, if we can call that an +"invective" which was really a speech of the utmost weight and +authority, and in fact containing the most salutary advice. He is +followed to the same effect by your friend Hortensius, and many +loyalists besides, among whom, however, the contribution of Favonius was +conspicuous. By this rally of the Optimates the _comitia_ is dissolved, +the senate summoned. On the question being put in a full house--in spite +of the opposition of Piso, and in spite of Clodius throwing himself at +the feet of the senators one after the other--that the consuls should +exhort the people to pass the bill, about fifteen voted with Curio, who +was against any decree being passed; on the other side there were fully +four hundred. So the vote passed. The tribune Fufius then gave in.[89] +Clodius delivered some wretched speeches to the people, in which he +bestowed some injurious epithets on Lucullus, Hortensius, C. Piso, and +the consul Messalla; me he only charged with having "discovered" +everything.[90] In regard to the assignation of provinces to the +praetors, the hearing legations, and other business, the senate voted +that nothing should be brought before it till the bill had been brought +before the people. There's the state of things at Rome for you. Yet pray +listen to this one thing more which has surpassed my hopes. Messalla is +a superlatively good consul, courageous, firm, painstaking; he praises, +shows attachment to, and imitates me. That other one (Piso) is the less +mischievous because of one vice--he is lazy, sleepy, unbusiness-like, an +utter _faineant_, but in intention he is so disaffected that he has +begun to loathe Pompey since he made the speech in which some praise was +bestowed on the senate. Accordingly, he has alienated all the loyalists +to a remarkable degree. And his action is not dictated by love for +Clodius more than by a taste for a profligate policy and a profligate +party. But he has nobody among the magistrates like himself, with the +single exception of the tribune Fufius. The tribunes are excellent, and +in Cornutus we have a quasi-Cato. Can I say more? + +Now to return to private matters. "Teucris" has fulfilled her +promise.[91] Pray execute the commission you undertook. My brother +Quintus, who purchased the remaining three-fourths of the house in the +Argiletum for 725 sestertia (about L5,800), is now trying to sell his +Tusculan property, in order to purchase, if he can, the town house of +Pacilius. Make it up with Lucceius! I see that he is all agog to stand +for the consulship. I will do my best. Be careful to let me know exactly +how you are, where you are, and how your business goes on. + +13 February. + +[Footnote 85: The letter giving this description is lost. I think +_frigebat_ is epistolary imperfect--"_he_ is in the cold shade," not, +"_it_ fell flat."] + +[Footnote 86: [Greek: panegyris]. Cicero uses the word (an honourable +one in Greek) contemptuously of the rabble brought together at a +market.] + +[Footnote 87: Pompey's general commendation of the decrees of the senate +would include those regarding the Catiline conspirators, and he +therefore claimed to have satisfied Cicero.] + +[Footnote 88: _Meis omnibus litteris_, the MS. reading. Prof. Tyrrell's +emendation, _orationibus meis, omnibus litteris_, "in my speeches, every +letter of them," seems to me even harsher than the MS., a gross +exaggeration, and doubtful Latin. _Meis litteris_ is well supported by +_literae forenses et senatoriae_ of _de Off._ 2, Sec. 3, and though it is an +unusual mode of referring to speeches, we must remember that they were +now published and were "literature." The particular reference is to the +speech _pro Imperio Pompeii_, in which, among other things, the whole +credit of the reduction of Spartacus's gladiators is given to Pompey, +whereas the brunt of the war had been borne by Crassus.] + +[Footnote 89: Fufius, though Cicero does not say so, must have vetoed +the decree, but in the face of such a majority withdrew his veto. The +practice seems to have been, in case of tribunician veto, to take the +vote, which remained as an _auctoritas senatus_, but was not a _senatus +consultum_ unless the tribune was induced to withdraw.] + +[Footnote 90: _Comperisse_. See Letter XVII, note 1, p. 28.] + +[Footnote 91: See Letters XVI and XVIII, pp. 26, 32.] + + + + +XX (A I, 15) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME, 15 MARCH + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 61, AET. 45] + +You have heard that my dearest brother Quintus has got Asia; for I do +not doubt that rumour has conveyed the news to you quicker than a letter +from any of us. Now then, considering how desirous of a good reputation +he and I have ever been, and how unusually Philhellenic we are and have +the reputation of being, and considering how many there are whose enmity +we have incurred for the sake of the Republic, "call to mind all your +valour,"[92] to secure us the praise and affection of all concerned. I +will write at greater length to you on these points in the letter which +I shall give to Quintus himself.[93] Please let me know what you have +done about the business I confided to you, and also in your own affair; +for I have had no letter from you since you left Brundisium. I am very +anxious to hear how you are. + +15 March. + +[Footnote 92: [Greek: pantoies aretes mimneskeo] (Hom. _Il._ xxii. 8)] + +[Footnote 93: The allotment of provinces had been put off (see last +letter) till the affair of Clodius's trial was settled; consequently +Quintus would not have much time for preparation, and would soon set +out. He would cross to Dyrrachium, and proceed along the _via Egnatia_ +to Thessalonica. He might meet Atticus at Dyrrachium, or go out of his +way to call on him at Buthrotum.] + + + + +XXI (A I, 16) + +TO ATTICUS + +ROME (MAY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 61, AET. 45] + +You ask me what has happened about the trial, the result of which was so +contrary to the general expectation, and at the same time you want to +know how I came to make a worse fight of it than usual. I will answer +the last first, after the manner of Homer.[94] The fact is that, so long +as I had to defend the authority of the senate,[95] I battled with such +gallantry and vigour that there were shouts of applause and crowds round +me in the house ringing with my praise. Nay, if you ever thought that I +shewed courage in political business, you certainly would have admired +my conduct in that cause. For when the culprit had betaken himself to +public meetings, and had made an invidious use of my name, immortal +gods! What battles! What havoc! What sallies I made upon Piso, Curio, on +the whole of that set! How I fell upon the old men for their +instability, on the young for their profligacy! Again and again, so help +me heaven! I regretted your absence not only as the supporter of my +policy, but as the spectator also of my admirable fighting. However, +when Hortensius hit on the idea of a law as to the sacrilege being +proposed by the tribune Fufius, in which there was no difference from +the bill of the consul except as to the kind of jurymen--on that point, +however, the whole question turned--and got it carried by sheer +fighting, because he had persuaded himself and others that _he_ could +not get an acquittal no matter who were the jurymen, I drew in my sails, +seeing the neediness of the jurors, and gave no evidence beyond what was +so notorious and well attested that I could not omit it.[96] Therefore, +if you ask the reason of the acquittal--to return at length to the +former of the two questions--it was entirely the poverty and low +character of the jury. But that this was possible was entirely the +result of Hortensius's policy. In his alarm lest Fufius should veto the +law which was to be proposed in virtue of a senatorial decree, he failed +to see that it was better that the culprit should be left under a cloud +of disgrace and dishonour than that he should be trusted to the +discretion of a weak jury. But in his passionate resentment he hastened +to bring the case into court, saying that a leaden sword was good enough +to cut _his_ throat. But if you want to know the history of the trial, +with its incredible verdict, it was such that Hortensius's policy is now +blamed by other people after the event, though I disapproved of it from +the first. When the rejection of jurors had taken place, amidst loud +cheers and counter-cheers--the accuser like a strict censor rejecting +the most worthless, the defendant like a kind-hearted trainer of +gladiators all the best--as soon as the jury had taken their seats, the +loyalists at once began to feel distrust. There never was a seedier lot +round a table in a gambling hell. Senators under a cloud, equites out at +elbows, tribunes who were not so much made of money as "collectors" of +it, according to their official title.[97] However, there were a few +honest men in the panel, whom he had been unable to drive off it by +rejection, and they took their seats among their uncongenial comrades +with gloomy looks and signs of emotion, and were keenly disgusted at +having to rub elbows with such rascals. Hereupon, as question after +question was referred to the panel in the preliminary proceedings, the +severity of the decisions passes belief: there was no disagreement in +voting, the defendant carried none of his points, while the accuser got +even more than he asked. He was triumphant. Need I say more? Hortensius +would have it that he was the only one of us who had seen the truth. +There was not a man who did not think it impossible for him to stand his +trial without being condemned a thousand times over. Farther, when I was +produced as a witness, I suppose you have been told how the shouts of +Clodius's supporters were answered by the jury rising to their feet to +gather round me, and openly to offer their throats to P. Clodius in my +defence. This seemed to me a greater compliment than the well-known +occasion when your fellow citizens[98] stopped Xenocrates from taking an +oath in the witness-box, or when, upon the accounts of Metellus +Numidicus[99] being as usual handed round, a Roman jury refused to look +at them. The compliment paid me, I repeat, was much greater. +Accordingly, as the jurymen were protecting me as the mainstay of the +country, it was by their voices that the defendant was overwhelmed, and +with him all his advocates suffered a crushing blow. Next day my house +was visited by as great a throng as that which escorted me home when I +laid down the consulship. Our eminent Areopagites then exclaimed that +they would not come into court unless a guard was assigned them. The +question was put to the whole panel: there was only one vote against the +need of a guard. The question is brought before the senate: the decree +is passed in the most solemn and laudatory terms: the jurymen are +complimented: the magistrates are commissioned to carry it out: no one +thought that the fellow would venture on a defence. "Tell me, ye Muses, +now how first the fire befell!"[100] You know Bald-head, the Nanneian +millionaire,[101] that panegyrist of mine, whose complimentary oration +I have already mentioned to you in a letter. In two days' time, by the +agency of a single slave, and one, too, from a school of gladiators, he +settled the whole business--he summoned them to an interview, made a +promise, offered security, paid money down. Still farther, good heavens, +what a scandal! even favours from certain ladies, and introductions to +young men of rank, were thrown in as a kind of _pourboire_ to some of +the jurors. Accordingly, with the loyalists holding completely aloof, +with the forum full of slaves, twenty-five jurors were yet found so +courageous that, though at the risk of their lives, they preferred even +death to producing universal ruin. There were thirty-one who were more +influenced by famine than fame. On seeing one of these latter Catulus +said to him, "Why did you ask us for a guard? Did you fear being robbed +of the money?" There you have, as briefly as I could put it, the nature +of the trial and the cause of the acquittal. + +Next you want to know the present state of public affairs and of my own. +That settlement of the Republic--firmly established by my wisdom, as you +thought, as I thought by God's--which seemed fixed on a sure foundation +by the unanimity of all loyalists and the influence of my +consulship--that I assure you, unless some God take compassion on us, +has by this one verdict escaped from our grasp: if "verdict" it is to be +called, when thirty of the most worthless and dissolute fellows in Rome +for a paltry sum of money obliterate every principle of law and justice, +and when that which every man--I had almost said every animal--knows to +have taken place, a Thalna, a Plautus, and a Spongia, and other scum of +that sort decide not to have taken place. However, to console you as to +the state of the Republic, rascaldom is not as cheerful and exultant in +its victory as the disloyal hoped after the infliction of such a wound +upon the Republic. For they fully expected that when religion, morality, +the honour of juries, and the prestige of the senate had sustained such +a crushing fall, victorious profligacy and lawless lust would openly +exact vengeance from all the best men for the mortification which the +strictness of my consulship had branded in upon all the worst. And it is +once more I--for I do not feel as if I were boasting vaingloriously when +speaking of myself to you, especially in a letter not intended to be +read by others--it was I once more, I say, who revived the fainting +spirits of the loyalists, cheering and encouraging each personally. +Moreover, by my denunciations and invectives against those corrupt +jurors I left none of the favourers and supporters of that victory a +word to say for themselves. I gave the consul Piso no rest anywhere, I +got him deprived of Syria, which had been already plighted to him, I +revived the fainting spirit of the senate and recalled it to its former +severity. I overwhelmed Clodius in the senate to his face, both in a set +speech, very weighty and serious, and also in an interchange of +repartees, of which I append a specimen for your delectation. The rest +lose all point and grace without the excitement of the contest, or, as +you Greeks call it, the [Greek: agon]. Well, at the meeting of the +senate on the 15th of May, being called on for my opinion, I spoke at +considerable length on the high interests of the Republic, and brought +in the following passage by a happy inspiration: "Do not, Fathers, +regard yourselves as fallen utterly, do not faint, because you have +received one blow. The wound is one which I cannot disguise, but which I +yet feel sure should not be regarded with extreme fear: to fear would +shew us to be the greatest of cowards, to ignore it the greatest of +fools. Lentulus was twice acquitted, so was Catiline, a third such +criminal has now been let loose by jurors upon the Republic. You are +mistaken, Clodius: it is not for the city but for the prison that the +jurors have reserved you, and their intention was not to retain you in +the state, but to deprive you of the privilege of exile. Wherefore, +Fathers, rouse up all your courage, hold fast to your high calling. +There still remains in the Republic the old unanimity of the loyalists: +their feelings have been outraged, their resolution has not been +weakened: no fresh mischief has been done, only what was actually +existing has been discovered. In the trial of one profligate many like +him have been detected."--But what am I about? I have copied almost a +speech into a letter. I return to the duel of words. Up gets our +dandified young gentleman, and throws in my teeth my having been at +Baiae. It wasn't true, but what did that matter to him? "It is as though +you were to say," replied I, "that I had been in disguise!" "What +business," quoth he, "has an Arpinate with hot baths?" "Say that to your +patron," said I, "who coveted the watering-place of an Arpinate."[102] +For you know about the marine villa. "How long," said he, "are we to put +up with this king?" "Do you mention a king," quoth I, "when Rex[103] +made no mention of you?" He, you know, had swallowed the inheritance of +Rex in anticipation. "You have bought a house," says he. "You would +think that he said," quoth I, "you have bought a jury." "They didn't +trust you on your oath," said he. "Yes," said I, "twenty-five jurors did +trust me, thirty-one didn't trust you, for they took care to get their +money beforehand." Here he was overpowered by a burst of applause and +broke down without a word to say. + +My own position is this: with the loyalists I hold the same place as +when you left town, with the tagrag and bobtail of the city I hold a +much better one than at your departure. For it does me no harm that my +evidence appears not to have availed. Envy has been let blood without +causing pain, and even more so from the fact that all the supporters of +that flagitious proceeding confess that a perfectly notorious fact has +been hushed up by bribing the jury. Besides, the wretched starveling +mob, the blood-sucker of the treasury, imagines me to be high in the +favour of Magnus--and indeed we have been mutually united by frequent +pleasant intercourse to such an extent, that our friends the boon +companions of the conspiracy, the young chin-tufts, speak of him in +ordinary conversation as Gnaeus Cicero. Accordingly, both in the circus +and at the gladiatorial games, I received a remarkable ovation without a +single cat-call. There is at present a lively anticipation of the +elections, in which, contrary to everybody's wishes, our friend Magnus +is pushing the claims of Aulus's son;[104] and in that matter his +weapons are neither his prestige nor his popularity, but those by which +Philip said that any fortress could be taken--if only an ass laden with +gold could make its way up into it. Farthermore, that precious consul, +playing as it were second fiddle to Pompey,[105] is said to have +undertaken the business and to have bribery agents at his house, which I +don't believe. But two decrees have already passed the house of an +unpopular character, because they are thought to be directed against the +consul on the demand of Cato and Domitius[106]--one that search should +be allowed in magistrates' houses, and a second, that all who had +bribery agents in their houses were guilty of treason. The tribune Lurco +also, having entered on his office irregularly in view of the AElian law, +has been relieved from the provisions both of the AElian and Fufian laws, +in order to enable him to propose his law on bribery, which he +promulgated with correct auspices though a cripple.[107] Accordingly, +the _comitia_ have been postponed to the 27th of July. There is this +novelty in his bill, that a man who has promised money among the tribes, +but not paid it, is not liable, but, if he has paid, he is liable for +life to pay 3,000 sesterces to each tribe. I remarked that P. Clodius +had obeyed this law by anticipation, for he was accustomed to promise, +and not pay. But observe! Don't you see that the consulship of which we +thought so much, which Curio used of old to call an apotheosis, if this +Afranius is elected, will become a mere farce and mockery? Therefore I +think one should play the philosopher, as you in fact do, and not care a +straw for your consulships! + +You say in your letter that you have decided not to go to Asia. For my +part I should have preferred your going, and I fear that there may be +some offence[108] given in that matter. Nevertheless, I am not the man +to blame you, especially considering that I have not gone to a province +myself. I shall be quite content with the inscriptions you have placed +in your Amaltheium,[109] especially as Thyillus has deserted me and +Archias written nothing about me. The latter, I am afraid, having +composed a Greek poem on the Luculli, is now turning his attention to +the Caecilian drama.[110] I have thanked Antonius on your account, and I +have intrusted the letter to Mallius. I have heretofore written to you +more rarely because I had no one to whom I could trust a letter, and was +not sure of your address. I have puffed you well. If Cincius should +refer any business of yours to me, I will undertake it. But at present +he is more intent on his own business, in which I am rendering him some +assistance. If you mean to stay any length of time in one place you may +expect frequent letters from me: but pray send even more yourself. I +wish you would describe your Amaltheium to me, its decoration and its +plan; and send me any poems or stories you may have about +Amaltheia.[111] I should like to make a copy of it at Arpinum. I will +forward you something of what I have written. At present there is +nothing finished. + +[Footnote 94: [Greek: hysteron proteron Homerikos].] + +[Footnote 95: That is, the resolution of the senate, that the consuls +should endeavour to get the bill passed.] + +[Footnote 96: Cicero deposed to having seen Clodius in Rome three hours +after he swore that he was at Interamna (ninety miles off), thus +spoiling his alibi.] + +[Footnote 97: The difficulty of this sentence is well known. The juries +were now made up of three _decuriae_--senators, equites, and _tribuni +aerarii_. But the exact meaning of _tribuni aerarii_ is not known, beyond +the fact that they formed an _ordo_, coming immediately below the +equites. Possibly they were old tribal officers who had the duty of +distributing pay or collecting taxes (to which the translation supposes +a punning reference), and as such were required to be of a _census_ +immediately below that of the equites. I do not profess to be satisfied, +but I cannot think that Professor Tyrrell's proposal makes matters much +easier--_tribuni non tam aerarii, ut appellantur, quam aerati_; for his +translation of _aerati_ as "bribed" is not better supported, and is a +less natural deduction than "moneyed."] + +[Footnote 98: _I.e._, the Athenians. Xenocrates of Calchedon (B.C. +396-314), residing at Athens, is said to have been so trusted that his +word was taken as a witness without an oath (Diog. Laert. IV. ii. 4).] + +[Footnote 99: Q. Caecilius Numidicus, consul B.C. 109, commanded against +Iugurtha. The event referred to in the text is said to have occurred on +his trial _de repetundis_, after his return from a province which he had +held as propraetor (Val. Max. II. x. 1).] + +[Footnote 100: Hom. _Il._ xvi. 112: + + [Greek: hespete nyn moi, Mousai, Olympia domat' echousai + hoppos de proton pyr empese neusin Achaion.] +] + +[Footnote 101: The reference is to Crassus. But the rest is very dark. +The old commentators say that he is here called _ex Nanneianis_ because +he made a large sum of money by the property of one Nanneius, who was +among those proscribed by Sulla. His calling Crassus his "panegyrist" is +explained by Letter XIX, pp. 33-34.] + +[Footnote 102: C. Curio, the elder, defended Clodius. He had bought the +villa of Marius (a native of Arpinum) at Baiae.] + +[Footnote 103: Q. Marcius Rex married a sister of Clodius, and dying, +left him no legacy.] + +[Footnote 104: L. Afranius.] + +[Footnote 105: Reading _deterioris histrionis similis_, "like an +inferior actor."] + +[Footnote 106: Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, married to Cato's sister. +Consul B.C. 54. A strong aristocrat and vehement opponent of Caesar.] + +[Footnote 107: Aufidius Lurco had apparently proposed his law on bribery +between the time of the notice of the elections (_indictio_) and the +elections themselves, which was against a provision of the _leges AElia +et Fufia_. What his breach of the law was in entering on his office +originally we do not know: perhaps some neglect of auspices, or his +personal deformity.] + +[Footnote 108: _I.e._ to Quintus Cicero, now propraetor in Asia, who +apparently wished his brother-in-law to come to Asia in some official +capacity.] + +[Footnote 109: Some epigrams or inscriptions under a portrait bust of +Cicero in the gymnasium of Atticus's villa at Buthrotum. Atticus had a +taste for such compositions. See Nepos, _Att._ 18; Pliny, _N. H._ 35, Sec. +11.] + +[Footnote 110: Cicero had defended Archias, and Thyillus seems also to +have been intimate with him: but he says Archias, after complimenting +the Luculli by a poem, is now doing the same to the Caecilii Metelli. The +"Caecilian drama" is a reference to the old dramatist, Caecilius Statius +(_ob._ B.C. 168).] + +[Footnote 111: Of Amaltheia, nurse of Zeus in Crete, there were plenty +of legends. Atticus is making in his house something like what Cicero +had made in his, and called his academia or gymnasium. That of Atticus +was probably also a summer house or study, with garden, fountains, etc., +and a shrine or statue of Amaltheia.] + + + + +XXII (A I, 17) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME, 5 DECEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 61, AET. 45] + +Your letter, in which you inclose copies of his letters, has made me +realize that my brother Quintus's feelings have undergone many +alternations, and that his opinions and judgments have varied widely +from time to time.[112] This has not only caused me all the pain which +my extreme affection for both of you was bound to bring, but it has also +made me wonder what can have happened to cause my brother Quintus such +deep offence, or such an extraordinary change of feeling. And yet I was +already aware, as I saw that you also, when you took leave of me, were +beginning to suspect, that there was some lurking dissatisfaction, that +his feelings were wounded, and that certain unfriendly suspicions had +sunk deep into his heart. On trying on several previous occasions, but +more eagerly than ever after the allotment of his province, to assuage +these feelings, I failed to discover on the one hand that the extent of +his offence was so great as your letter indicates; but on the other I +did not make as much progress in allaying it as I wished. However, I +consoled myself with thinking that there would be no doubt of his seeing +you at Dyrrachium, or somewhere in your part of the country: and, if +that happened, I felt sure and fully persuaded that everything would be +made smooth between you, not only by conversation and mutual +explanation, but by the very sight of each other in such an interview. +For I need not say in writing to you, who know it quite well, how kind +and sweet-tempered my brother is, as ready to forgive as he is sensitive +in taking offence. But it most unfortunately happened that you did not +see him anywhere. For the impression he had received from the artifices +of others had more weight with him than duty or relationship, or the +old affection so long existing between you, which ought to have been the +strongest influence of all. And yet, as to where the blame for this +misunderstanding resides, I can more easily conceive than write: since I +am afraid that, while defending my own relations, I should not spare +yours. For I perceive that, though no actual wound was inflicted by +members of the family, they yet could at least have cured it. But the +root of the mischief in this case, which perhaps extends farther than +appears, I shall more conveniently explain to you when we meet. As to +the letter he sent to you from Thessalonica,[113] and about the language +which you suppose him to have used both at Rome among your friends and +on his journey, I don't know how far the matter went, but my whole hope +of removing this unpleasantness rests on your kindness. For if you will +only make up your mind to believe that the best men are often those +whose feelings are most easily irritated and appeased, and that this +quickness, so to speak, and sensitiveness of disposition are generally +signs of a good heart; and lastly--and this is the main thing--that we +must mutually put up with each other's gaucheries (shall I call them?), +or faults, or injurious acts, then these misunderstandings will, I hope, +be easily smoothed away. I beg you to take this view, for it is the +dearest wish of my heart (which is yours as no one else's can be) that +there should not be one of my family or friends who does not love you +and is not loved by you. + +That part of your letter was entirely superfluous, in which you mention +what opportunities of doing good business in the provinces or the city +you let pass at other times as well as in the year of my consulship: for +I am thoroughly persuaded of your unselfishness and magnanimity, nor did +I ever think that there was any difference between you and me except in +our choice of a career. Ambition led me to seek official advancement, +while another and perfectly laudable resolution led you to seek an +honourable privacy. In the true glory, which is founded on honesty, +industry, and piety, I place neither myself nor anyone else above you. +In affection towards myself, next to my brother and immediate family, I +put you first. For indeed, indeed I have seen and thoroughly appreciated +how your anxiety and joy have corresponded with the variations of my +fortunes. Often has your congratulation added a charm to praise, and +your consolation a welcome antidote to alarm. Nay, at this moment of +your absence, it is not only your advice--in which you excel--but the +interchange of speech--in which no one gives me so much delight as you +do--that I miss most, shall I say in politics, in which circumspection +is always incumbent on me, or in my forensic labour, which I formerly +sustained with a view to official promotion, and nowadays to maintain my +position by securing popularity, or in the mere business of my family? +In all these I missed you and our conversations before my brother left +Rome, and still more do I miss them since. Finally, neither my work nor +rest, neither my business nor leisure, neither my affairs in the forum +or at home, public or private, can any longer do without your most +consolatory and affectionate counsel and conversation. The modest +reserve which characterizes both of us has often prevented my mentioning +these facts; but on this occasion it was rendered necessary by that part +of your letter in which you expressed a wish to have yourself and your +character "put straight" and "cleared" in my eyes. Yet, in the midst of +all this unfortunate alienation and anger, there is one fortunate +circumstance--that your determination of not going to a province was +known to me and your other friends, and had been at various times before +distinctly expressed by yourself; so that your not being his guest may +be attributed to your personal tastes and judgments, not to the quarrel +and rupture between you. And so those ties which have been broken will +be restored, and ours which have been so religiously preserved will +retain all their old inviolability. + +At Rome I find politics in a shaky condition; everything is +unsatisfactory and foreboding change. For I have no doubt you have been +told that our friends, the equites, are all but alienated from the +senate. Their first grievance was the promulgation of a bill on the +authority of the senate for the trial of such as had taken bribes for +giving a verdict. I happened not to be in the house when that decree was +passed, but when I found that the equestrian order was indignant at it, +and yet refrained from openly saying so, I remonstrated with the +senate, as I thought, in very impressive language, and was very weighty +and eloquent considering the unsatisfactory nature of my cause. But here +is another piece of almost intolerable coolness on the part of the +equites, which I have not only submitted to, but have even put in as +good a light as possible! The companies which had contracted with the +censors for Asia complained that in the heat of the competition they had +taken the contract at an excessive price; they demanded that the +contract should be annulled. I led in their support, or rather, I was +second, for it was Crassus who induced them to venture on this demand. +The case is scandalous, the demand a disgraceful one, and a confession +of rash speculation. Yet there was a very great risk that, if they got +no concession, they would be completely alienated from the senate. Here +again I came to the rescue more than anyone else, and secured them a +full and very friendly house, in which I, on the 1st and 2nd of +December, delivered long speeches on the dignity and harmony of the two +orders. The business is not yet settled, but the favourable feeling of +the senate has been made manifest: for no one had spoken against it +except the consul-designate, Metellus; while our hero Cato had still to +speak, the shortness of the day having prevented his turn being reached. +Thus I, in the maintenance of my steady policy, preserve to the best of +my ability that harmony of the orders which was originally my joiner's +work; but since it all now seems in such a crazy condition, I am +constructing what I may call a road towards the maintenance of our +power, a safe one I hope, which I cannot fully describe to you in a +letter, but of which I will nevertheless give you a hint. _I cultivate +close intimacy with Pompey_. I foresee what you will say. I will use all +necessary precautions, and I will write another time at greater length +about my schemes for managing the Republic. You must know that Lucceius +has it in his mind to stand for the consulship at once; for there are +said to be only two candidates in prospect. Caesar is thinking of coming +to terms with him by the agency of Arrius, and Bibulus also thinks he +may effect a coalition with him by means of C. Piso.[114] You smile? +This is no laughing matter, believe me. What else shall I write to you? +What? I have plenty to say, but must put it off to another time. If you +mean to wait till you hear, let me know. For the moment I am satisfied +with a modest request, though it is what I desire above everything--that +you should come to Rome as soon as possible. + +5 December. + +[Footnote 112: Cicero is evidently very anxious as to the +misunderstanding between Quintus and his brother-in-law Atticus, caused, +as he hints, or at any rate not allayed, by Pomponia. The letter is very +carefully written, without the familiar tone and mixture of jest and +earnest common to most of the letters to Atticus.] + +[Footnote 113: At the end of the _via Egnatia_, which started from +Dyrrachium.] + +[Footnote 114: The election in question is that to be held in B.C. 60 +for the consulship of B.C. 59. Caesar and Bibulus were elected, and +apparently were the only two candidates declared as yet. They were, of +course, extremists, and Lucceius seems to reckon on getting in by +forming a coalition with either one or the other, and so getting the +support of one of the extreme parties, with the moderates, for himself. +The bargain eventually made was between Lucceius and Caesar, the former +finding the money. But the Optimates found more, and carried Bibulus. +Arrius is Q. Arrius the orator (see Index). C. Piso is the consul of +B.C. 67.] + + + + +XXIII (A I, 18) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 60. Coss., Q. Caecilius Metellus Celer, L. Afranius.] + + This was the year in which Caesar, returning from his propraetorship + in Spain, found Pompey in difficulties with the senate (1) as to + the confirmation _en bloc_ of his _acta_ in the East, (2) as to the + assignation of lands to his veterans; and being met with opposition + himself as to the triumph that he claimed, and his candidatureship + for the consulship, he formed with Pompey and Crassus the agreement + known as the first triumvirate. Cicero saw his favourite political + object, the _concordia ordinum_, threatened by any opposition to + the triumvirate, which he yet distrusted as dangerous to the + constitution. We shall find him, therefore, vacillating between + giving his support to its policy or standing by the extreme + Optimates. P. Clodius is taking measures to be adopted into a + plebeian gens, in order to stand for the tribuneship. Quintus is + still in Asia. Pompey's triumph had taken place in the previous + September. + + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME, 20 JANUARY + +[Sidenote: B.C. 60, AET. 46] + +Believe me there is nothing at this moment of which I stand so much in +need as a man with whom to share all that causes me anxiety: a man to +love me; a man of sense to whom I can speak without affectation, +reserve, or concealment. For my brother is away--that most open-hearted +and affectionate of men. Metellus is not a human being, but + + "Mere sound and air, a howling wilderness." + +While you, who have so often lightened my anxiety and my anguish of soul +by your conversation and advice, who are ever my ally in public affairs, +my confidant in all private business, the sharer in all my conversations +and projects--where are you? So entirely am I abandoned by all, that the +only moments of repose left me are those which are spent with my wife, +pet daughter, and sweet little Cicero. For as to those friendships with +the great, and their artificial attractions, they have indeed a certain +glitter in the outside world, but they bring no private satisfaction. +And so, after a crowded morning _levee_, as I go down to the forum +surrounded by troops of friends, I can find no one out of all that crowd +with whom to jest freely, or into whose ear I can breathe a familiar +sigh. Therefore I wait for you, I long for you, I even urge on you to +come; for I have many anxieties, many pressing cares, of which I think, +if I once had your ears to listen to me, I could unburden myself in the +conversation of a single walk. And of my private anxieties, indeed, I +shall conceal all the stings and vexations, and not trust them to this +letter and an unknown letter-carrier. These, however--for I don't want +you to be made too anxious--are not very painful: yet they are +persistent and worrying, and are not put to rest by the advice or +conversation of any friend. But in regard to the Republic I have still +the same courage and purpose, though it has again and again of its own +act eluded treatment.[115] For should I put briefly what has occurred +since you left, you would certainly exclaim that the Roman empire cannot +be maintained much longer. Well, after your departure our first scene, +I think, was the appearance of the Clodian scandal, in which having, as +I thought, got an opportunity of pruning licentiousness and keeping our +young men within bounds, I exerted myself to the utmost, and lavished +all the resources of my intellect and genius, not from dislike to an +individual, but from the hope of not merely correcting, but of +completely curing the state. The Republic received a crushing blow when +this jury was won over by money and the opportunity of debauchery. See +what has followed! We have had a consul inflicted upon us, whom none +except us philosophers can look at without a sigh. What a blow that is! +Though a decree of the senate has been passed about bribery and the +corruption of juries, no law has been carried; the senate has been +harassed to death, the Roman knights alienated. So that one year has +undermined two buttresses of the Republic, which owed their existence to +me, and me alone; for it has at once destroyed the prestige of the +senate and broken up the harmony of the orders. And now enter this +precious year! It was inaugurated by the suspension of the annual rites +of Iuventas;[116] for Memmius initiated M. Lucullus's wife in some rites +of his own! Our Menelaus, being annoyed at that, divorced his wife. Yet +the old Idaean shepherd had only injured Menelaus; our Roman Paris +thought Agamemnon as proper an object of injury as Menelaus.[117] Next +there is a certain tribune named C. Herennius, whom you, perhaps, do not +even know--and yet you may know him, for he is of your tribe, and his +father Sextus used to distribute money to your tribesmen--this person is +trying to transfer P. Clodius to the plebs, and is actually proposing a +law to authorize the whole people to vote in Clodius's affair in the +_campus_.[118] I have given him a characteristic reception in the +senate, but he is the thickest-skinned fellow in the world. Metellus is +an excellent consul, and much attached to me, but he has lowered his +influence by promulgating (though only for form's sake) an identical +bill about Clodius. But the son of Aulus,[119] God in heaven! What a +cowardly and spiritless fellow for a soldier! How well he deserves to be +exposed, as he is, day after day to the abuse of Palicanus![120] +Farther, an agrarian law has been promulgated by Flavius, a poor +production enough, almost identical with that of Plotius. But meanwhile +a genuine statesman is not to be found, even "in a dream." The man who +could be one, my friend Pompey--for such he is, as I would have you +know--defends his twopenny embroidered toga[121] by saying nothing. +Crassus never risks his popularity by a word. The others you know +without my telling you. They are such fools that they seem to expect +that, though the Republic is lost, their fish-ponds will be safe. There +is one man who does take some trouble, but rather, as it seems to me, +with consistency and honesty, than with either prudence or +ability--Cato. He has been for the last three months worrying those +unhappy _publicani_, who were formerly devoted to him, and refuses to +allow of an answer being given them by the senate. And so we are forced +to suspend all decrees on other subjects until the _publicani_ have got +their answer. For the same reason I suppose even the business of the +foreign embassies will be postponed. You now understand in what stormy +water we are: and as from what I have written to you in such strong +terms you have a view also of what I have not written, come back to me, +for it is time you did. And though the state of affairs to which I +invite you is one to be avoided, yet let your value for me so far +prevail, as to induce you to come there even in these vexatious +circumstances. For the rest I will take care that due warning is given, +and a notice put up in all places, to prevent you being entered on the +census as absent; and to get put on the census just before the +lustration is the mark of your true man of business.[122] So let me see +you at the earliest possible moment. Farewell. + +20 January in the Consulship of Q. Metellus and L. Afranius. + +[Footnote 115: Reading (mainly with Schutz) _animus praesens et voluntas, +tamen etiam atque etiam ipsa medicinam refugit_. The verb _refugit_ is +very doubtful, but it gives nearly the sense required. Cicero is ready +to be as brave and active as before, but the state will not do its part. +It has, for instance, blundered in the matter of the law against +judicial corruption. The senate offended the equites by proposing it, +and yet did not carry the law. I think _animus_ and _voluntas_ must +refer to Cicero, not the state, to which in his present humour he would +not attribute them.] + +[Footnote 116: The temple of Iuventas was vowed by M. Livius after the +battle of the Metaurus (B.C. 207), and dedicated in B.C. 191 by C. +Licinius Lucullus, games being established on the anniversary of its +dedication (Livy, xxi. 62; xxxvi. 36). It is suggested, therefore, that +some of the Luculli usually presided at these games, but on this +occasion refused, because of the injury done by C. Memmius, who was +curule aedile.] + +[Footnote 117: By Agamemnon and Menelaus Cicero means Lucius and Marcus +Lucullus; the former Memmius had, as tribune in B.C. 66-65, opposed in +his demand for a triumph, the latter he has now injured in the person of +his wife.] + +[Footnote 118: A man who was _sui iuris_ was properly adopted before the +_commitia curiata_, now represented by thirty lictors. What Herennius +proposed was that it should take place by a regular _lex_, passed by the +_comitia tributa_. The object apparently was to avoid the necessity of +the presence of a pontifex and augur, which was required at the _comitia +curiata_. The concurrent law by the consul would come before the +_comitia centuriata_. The adopter was P. Fonteius, a very young man.] + +[Footnote 119: L. Afranius, the other consul.] + +[Footnote 120: M. Lollius Palicanus, "a mere mob orator" (_Brutus_, +Sec.223).] + +[Footnote 121: The _toga picta_ of a triumphator, which Pompey, by +special law, was authorized to wear at the games. Cicero uses the +contemptuous diminutive, _togula_.] + +[Footnote 122: To be absent from the census without excuse rendered a +man liable to penalties. Cicero will therefore put up notices in +Atticus's various places of business or residence of his intention to +appear in due course. To appear just at the end of the period was, it +seems, in the case of a man of business, advisable, that he might be +rated at the actual amount of his property, no more or less.] + + + + +XXIV (A I, 19) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME, 15 MARCH + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 60, AET. 46] + +It is not only if I had as much leisure as you, but also if I chose to +send letters as short as yours usually are, should I easily beat you and +be much the more regular in writing. But, in fact, it is only one more +item in an immense and inconceivable amount of business, that I allow no +letter to reach you from me without its containing some definite sketch +of events and the reflexions arising from it. And in writing to you, as +a lover of your country, my first subject will naturally be the state of +the Republic; next, as I am the nearest object of your affection, I will +also write about myself, and tell you what I think you will not be +indisposed to know. Well then, in public affairs for the moment the +chief subject of interest is the disturbance in Gaul. For the AEdui--"our +brethren"[123]--have recently fought a losing battle, and the Helvetii +are undoubtedly in arms and making raids upon our province.[124] The +senate has decreed that the two consuls should draw lots for the Gauls, +that a levy should be held, all exemptions from service be suspended, +and legates with full powers be sent to visit the states in Gaul, and +see that they do not join the Helvetii. The legates are Quintus Metellus +Creticus,[125] L. Flaccus,[126] and lastly--a case of "rich unguent on +lentils"--Lentulus, son of Clodianus.[127] And while on this subject I +cannot omit mentioning that when among the consulars my name was the +first to come up in the ballot, a full meeting of the senate declared +with one voice that I must be kept in the city. The same occurred to +Pompey after me; so that we two appeared to be kept at home as pledges +of the safety of the Republic. Why should I look for the "bravos" of +others when I get these compliments at home? Well, the state of affairs +in the city is as follows. The agrarian law is being vehemently pushed +by the tribune Flavius, with the support of Pompey, but it has nothing +popular about it except its supporter. From this law I, with the full +assent of a public meeting, proposed to omit all clauses which adversely +affected private rights. I proposed to except from its operation such +public land as had been so in the consulship of P. Mucius and L. +Calpurnius.[128] I proposed to confirm the titles of holders of those to +whom Sulla had actually assigned lands. I proposed to retain the men of +Volaterrae and Arretium--whose lands Sulla had declared forfeited but +had not allotted--in their holdings. There was only one section in the +bill that I did not propose to omit, namely, that land should be +purchased with this money from abroad, the proceeds of the new revenues +for the next five years.[129] But to this whole agrarian scheme the +senate was opposed, suspecting that some novel power for Pompey was +aimed at. Pompey, indeed, had set his heart on getting the law passed. +I, however, with the full approval of the applicants for land, +maintained the holdings of all private owners--for, as you know, the +landed gentry form the bulk of our party's forces--while I nevertheless +satisfied the people and Pompey (for I wanted to do that also) by the +purchase clause; for, if that was put on a sound footing, I thought that +two advantages would accrue--the dregs might be drawn from the city, and +the deserted portions of Italy be repeopled. But this whole business was +interrupted by the war, and has cooled off. Metellus is an exceedingly +good consul, and much attached to me. That other one is such a ninny +that he clearly doesn't know what to do with his purchase.[130] This is +all my public news, unless you regard as touching on public affairs the +fact that a certain Herennius, a tribune, and a fellow tribesman of +yours--a fellow as unprincipled as he is needy--has now begun making +frequent proposals for transferring P. Clodius to the plebs; he is +vetoed by many of his colleagues. That is really, I think, all the +public news. + +For my part, ever since I won what I may call the splendid and immortal +glory of the famous fifth of December[131] (though it was accompanied by +the jealousy and hostility of many), I have never ceased to play my part +in the Republic in the same lofty spirit, and to maintain the position I +then inaugurated and took upon myself. But when, first, by the acquittal +of Clodius I clearly perceived the insecurity and rotten state of the +law courts; and, secondly, when I saw that it took so little to alienate +my friends the _publicani_ from the senate--though with me personally +they had no quarrel; and, thirdly, that the rich (I mean your friends +the fish-breeders) did not disguise their jealousy of me, I thought I +must look out for some greater security and stronger support. So, to +begin with, I have brought the man who had been too long silent on my +achievements, Pompey himself, to such a frame of mind as not once only +in the senate, but many times and in many words, to ascribe to me the +preservation of this empire and of the world. And this was not so +important to me--for those transactions are neither so obscure as to +need testimony, nor so dubious as to need commendation--as to the +Republic; for there were certain persons base enough to think that some +misunderstanding would arise between me and Pompey from a difference of +opinion on these measures. With him I have united myself in such close +intimacy that both of us can by this union be better fortified in his +own views, and more secure in his political position. However, the +dislike of the licentious dandies, which had been roused against me, has +been so far softened by a conciliatory manner on my part, that they all +combine to show me marked attention. In fine, while avoiding +churlishness to anyone, I do not curry favour with the populace or relax +any principle; but my whole course of conduct is so carefully regulated, +that, while exhibiting an example of firmness to the Republic, in my own +private concerns--in view of the instability of the loyalists, the +hostility of the disaffected, and the hatred of the disloyal towards +me--I employ a certain caution and circumspection, and do not allow +myself, after all, to be involved in these new friendships so far but +that the famous refrain of the cunning Sicilian frequently sounds in my +ears:[132] + + "Keep sober and distrust: these wisdom's sinews!" + +Of my course and way of life, therefore, you see, I think, what may be +called a sketch or outline. Of your own business, however, you +frequently write to me, but I cannot at the moment supply the remedy you +require. For that decree of the senate was passed with the greatest +unanimity on the part of the rank and file,[133] though without the +support of any of us consulars. For as to your seeing my name at the +foot of the decree, you can ascertain from the decree itself that the +subject put to the vote at the time was a different one, and that this +clause about "free peoples" was added without good reason. It was done +by P. Servilius the younger,[134] who delivered his vote among the last, +but it cannot be altered after such an interval of time. Accordingly, +the meetings, which at first were crowded, have long ceased to be held. +If you have been able, notwithstanding, by your insinuating address to +get a trifle of money out of the Sicyonians, I wish you would let me +know.[135] I have sent you an account of my consulship written in Greek. +If there is anything in it which to a genuine Attic like yourself seems +to be un-Greek or unscholarly, I shall not say as Lucullus said to you +(at Panhormus, was it not?) about his own history, that he had +interspersed certain barbarisms and solecisms for the express purpose of +proving that it was the work of a Roman. No, if there is anything of +that sort in my book, it will be without my knowledge and against my +will. When I have finished the Latin version I will send it to you; and +thirdly, you may expect a poem on the subject, for I would not have any +method of celebrating my praise omitted by myself. In this regard pray +do not quote "Who will praise his sire?"[136] For if there is anything +in the world to be preferred to this, let it receive its due meed of +praise, and I mine of blame for not selecting another theme for my +praise. However, what I write is not panegyric but history. My brother +Quintus clears himself to me in a letter, and asserts that he has never +said a disparaging word of you to anyone. But this we must discuss face +to face with the greatest care and earnestness: only _do_ come to see me +again at last! This Cossinius, to whom I intrust my letter, seems to me +a very good fellow, steady, devoted to you, and exactly the sort of man +which your letter to me had described. + +15 March. + +[Footnote 123: A special title given to the AEdui on their application +for alliance. Caesar, _B. G._ i. 33.] + +[Footnote 124: The migration of the Helvetii did not actually begin till +B.C. 58. Caesar tells us in the first book of his _Commentaries_ how he +stopped it.] + +[Footnote 125: Consul B.C. 69, superseded in Crete by Pompey B.C. 65. +Triumphed B.C. 62.] + +[Footnote 126: Praetor B.C. 63, defended by Cicero in an extant oration.] + +[Footnote 127: Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus, consul in B.C. 72. +Cicero puns on the name Lentulus from _lens_ (pulse, [Greek: phake]), +and quotes a Greek proverb for things incongruous. See Athenaeus, 160 +(from the _Necuia_ of Sopater): + + [Greek: Ithakos Odysseus, to eki te phake myron + paresti; tharsei, thyme]. +] + +[Footnote 128: B.C. 133, the year before the agrarian law of Tiberius +Gracchus. The law of Gracchus had not touched the public land in +Campania (the old territory of Capua). The object of this clause (which +appears repeatedly in those of B.C. 120 and 111, see Bruns, _Fontes +Iuris_, p. 72) is to confine the allotment of _ager publicus_ to such +land as had become so subsequently, _i.e._, to land made "public" +principally by the confiscations of Sulla.] + +[Footnote 129: That is, he proposed to hypothecate the _vectigalia_ from +the new provinces formed by Pompey in the East for five years.] + +[Footnote 130: The consulship. The bribery at Afranius's election is +asserted in Letter XXI.] + +[Footnote 131: The day of the execution of the Catilinarian +conspirators.] + +[Footnote 132: Epicharmus, twice quoted by Polybius, xviii. 40; xxxi. +21. [Greek: naphe kai memnas' apistein, arthra tauta ton phrenon.]] + +[Footnote 133: _Pedarii_ were probably those senators who had not held +curule office. They were not different from the other senators in point +of legal rights, but as ex-magistrates were asked for their _sententia_ +first, they seldom had time to do anything but signify by word their +assent to one or other motion, or to cross over to the person whom they +intended to support.] + +[Footnote 134: P. Servilius Vatia Isauricus, son of the conqueror of the +Isaurians. As he had not yet been a praetor, he would be called on after +the _consulares_ and _praetorii_. He then moved a new clause to the +decree, and carried it.] + +[Footnote 135: The decree apparently prevented the recovery of debts +from a _libera civitas_ in the Roman courts. Atticus would therefore +have to trust to the regard of the Sicyonians for their credit.] + +[Footnote 136: A son must be hard up for something to say for himself if +he is always harping on his father's reputation; and so must I, if I +have nothing but my consulship. That seems the only point in the +quotation. I do not feel that there is any reference to praise of his +father in Cicero's own poem. There are two versions of the proverb: + + [Greek: tis pater' ainesei ei me kakodaimones huioi] + +and + + [Greek: tis pater' ainesei ei me eudaimones huioi.] +] + + + + +XXV (A I, 20) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME, 13 MAY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 60, AET. 46] + +On my return to Rome from my villa at Pompeii on the 12th of May, our +friend Cincius handed me your letter dated 13th February. It is this +letter of yours which I will now proceed to answer. And first let me say +how glad I am that you have fully understood my appreciation of +you;[137] and next how excessively rejoiced I am that you have been so +extremely reasonable in regard to those particulars in which you +thought[138] that I and mine had behaved unkindly, or with insufficient +consideration for your feelings: and this I regard as a proof of no +common affection, and of the most excellent judgment and wisdom. +Wherefore, since you have written to me in a tone so delightful, +considerate, friendly and kind, that I not only have no call to press +you any farther, but can never even hope to meet from you or any other +man with so much gentleness and good nature, I think the very best +course I can pursue is not to say another word on the subject in my +letters. When we meet, if the occasion should arise, we will discuss it +together. + +As to what you say about politics, your suggestions indeed are both +affectionate and wise, and the course you suggest does not differ +substantially from my own policy--for I must neither budge an inch from +the position imposed upon me by my rank, nor must I without forces of my +own enter the lines of another, while that other, whom you mention in +your letter, has nothing large-minded about him, nothing lofty, nothing +which is not abject and time-serving. However, the course I took was, +after all, perhaps not ill-calculated for securing the tranquillity of +my own life; but, by heaven, I did greater service to the Republic than, +by suppressing the attacks of the disloyal, I did to myself, when I +brought conviction home to the wavering mind of a man of the most +splendid fortune, influence and popularity, and induced him to +disappoint the disloyal and praise my acts. Now if I had been forced to +sacrifice consistency in this transaction, I should not have thought +anything worth that price; but the fact is that I have so worked the +whole business, that I did not seem to be less consistent from my +complacency to him, but that he appeared to gain in character by his +approbation of me. In everything else I am so acting, and shall continue +so to act, as to prevent my seeming to have done what I did do by mere +chance. My friends the loyalists, the men at whom you hint, and that +"Sparta" which you say has fallen to my lot,[139] I will not only never +desert, but even if I am deserted by her, I shall still stand by my +ancient creed. However, please consider this, that since the death of +Catulus I am holding this road for the loyalists without any garrison or +company. For as Rhinton, I think, says: + + "Some are stark naught, and some care not at all."[140] + +However, how our friends the fish-breeders[141] envy me I will write you +word another time, or will reserve it till we meet. But from the +senate-house nothing shall ever tear me: either because that course is +the right one, or because it is most to my interests, or because I am +far from being dissatisfied with the estimation in which I am held by +the senate. + +As to the Sicyonians, as I wrote to you before,[142] there is not much +to be hoped for in the senate. For there is no one now to lay a +complaint before it. Therefore, if you are waiting for that, you will +find it a tedious business. Fight some other way if you can. At the time +the decree was passed no one noticed who would be affected by it, and +besides the rank and file of the senators voted in a great hurry for +that clause. For cancelling the senatorial decree the time is not yet +ripe, because there are none to complain of it, and because also many +are glad to have it so, some from spite, some from a notion of its +equity. Your friend Metellus is an admirable consul: I have only one +fault to find with him--he doesn't receive the news from Gaul of the +restoration of peace with much pleasure. He wants a triumph, I suppose. +I could have wished a little less of that sort of thing: in other +respects he is splendid. But the son of Aulus behaves in such a way, +that his consulship is not a consulship but a stigma on our friend +Magnus. Of my writings I send you my consulship in Greek completed. I +have handed that book to L. Cossinius. My Latin works I think you like, +but as a Greek you envy this Greek book. If others write treatises on +the subject I will send them to you, but I assure you that, as soon as +they have read mine, some how or other they become slack. To return to +my own affairs, L. Papirius Paetus, an excellent man and an admirer of +mine, has presented me with the books left him by Servius Claudius. As +your friend Cincius told me that I could take them without breaking the +_lex Cincia_[143], I told him that I should have great pleasure in +accepting them, if he brought them to Italy. Wherefore, as you love me, +as you know that I love you, do try by means of friends, clients, +guests, or even your freedmen or slaves, to prevent the loss of a single +leaf. For I am in urgent need of the Greek books which I suspect, and of +the Latin books which I know, that he left: and more and more every day +I find repose in such studies every moment left to me from my labours in +the forum. You will, I say, do me a very great favour, if you will be as +zealous in this matter as you ever are in matters in which you suppose +me to feel strongly; and Paetus's own affairs I recommend to your +kindness for which he thanks you extremely. A prompt visit from yourself +is a thing which I do not merely ask for, I advise it. + +[Footnote 137: Contained in Letter XXII, pp. 46-47.] + +[Footnote 138: Reading _tibi_ for _mihi_, as Prof. Tyrrell suggests.] + +[Footnote 139: [Greek: Sparten elaches keinen kosmei.] "Sparta is your +lot, do it credit," a line of Euripides which had become proverbial.] + +[Footnote 140: [Greek: hoi men par' ouden eisi, tois d' ouden melei.] +Rhinton, a dramatist, _circa_ B.C. 320-280 (of Tarentum or Syracuse).] + +[Footnote 141: See pp. 52, 56, 65.] + +[Footnote 142: See p. 57.] + +[Footnote 143: The _lex Cincia_ (B.C. 204) forbade the taking of +presents for acting as advocate in law courts.] + + + + +XXVI (A II, 1) + +TO ATTICUS (IN GREECE) + +ROME, JUNE + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 60, AET. 46] + +On the 1st of June, as I was on my way to Antium, and eagerly getting +out of the way of M. Metellus's gladiators, your boy met me, and +delivered to me a letter from you and a history of my consulship written +in Greek.[144] This made me glad that I had some time before delivered +to L. Cossinius a book, also written in Greek, on the same subject, to +take to you. For if I had read yours first you might have said that I +had pilfered from you. Although your essay (which I have read with +pleasure) seemed to me just a trifle rough and bald, yet its very +neglect of ornament is an ornament in itself, as women were once thought +to have the best perfume who used none. My book, on the other hand, has +exhausted the whole of Isocrates's unguent case, and all the paint-boxes +of his pupils, and even Aristotle's colours. This, as you tell me in +another letter, you glanced over at Corcyra, and afterwards I suppose +received it from Cossinius.[145] I should not have ventured to send it +to you until I had slowly and fastidiously revised it. However, +Posidonius, in his letter of acknowledgment from Rhodes, says that as he +read my memoir, which I had sent him with a view to his writing on the +same subject with more elaboration, he was not only not incited to +write, but absolutely made afraid to do so. In a word, I have routed the +Greeks. Accordingly, as a general rule, those who were pressing me for +material to work up, have now ceased to bother me. Pray, if you like the +book, see to there being copies at Athens and other Greek towns;[146] +for it may possibly throw some lustre on my actions. As for my poor +speeches, I will send you both those you ask for and some more also, +since what I write to satisfy the studious youth finds favour, it seems, +with you also. [For it suited my purpose[147]--both because it was in +his Philippics that your fellow citizen Demosthenes gained his +reputation, and because it was by withdrawing from the mere +controversial and forensic style of oratory that he acquired the +character of a serious politician--to see that I too should have +speeches that may properly be called _consular_. Of these are, first, +one delivered on the 1st of January in the senate, a second to the +people on the agrarian law, a third on Otho, a fourth for Rabirius, a +fifth on the Sons of the Proscribed, a sixth when I declined a province +in public meeting, a seventh when I allowed Catiline to escape, which I +delivered the day after Catiline fled, a ninth in public meeting on the +day that the Allobroges made their revelation, a tenth in the senate on +the 5th of December. There are also two short ones, which may be called +fragments, on the agrarian law. This whole cycle I will see that you +have. And since you like my writings as well as my actions, from these +same rolls you will learn both what I have done and what I have said--or +you should not have asked for them, for I did not make you an offer of +them.] + +You ask me why I urge you to come home, and at the same time you +intimate that you are hampered by business affairs, and yet say that you +will nevertheless hasten back, not only if it is needful, but even if I +desire it. Well, there is certainly no absolute necessity, yet I do +think you might plan the periods of your tour somewhat more +conveniently. Your absence is too prolonged, especially as you are in a +neighbouring country, while yet I cannot enjoy your society, nor you +mine. For the present there is peace, but if my young friend +Pulcher's[148] madness found means to advance a little farther, I should +certainly summon you from your present sojourn. But Metellus is offering +him a splendid opposition and will continue to do so. Need I say more? +He is a truly patriotic consul and, as I have ever thought, naturally an +honest man. That person, however, makes no disguise, but avowedly +desires to be elected tribune. But when the matter was mooted in the +senate, I cut the fellow to pieces, and taunted him with his +changeableness in seeking the tribuneship at Rome after having given out +at Hera, in Sicily,[149] that he was a candidate for the aedileship; and +went on to say that we needn't much trouble ourselves, for that he would +not be permitted to ruin the Republic any more as a plebeian, than +patricians like him had been allowed to do so in my consulship. +Presently, on his saying that he had completed the journey from the +straits in seven days, and that it was impossible for anyone to have +gone out to meet him, and that he had entered the city by night,[150] +and making a great parade of this in a public meeting, I remarked that +that was nothing new for him: seven days from Sicily to Rome, three +hours from Rome to Interamna![151] Entered by night, did he? so he did +before! No one went to meet him? neither did anyone on the other +occasion, exactly when it should have been done! In short, I bring our +young upstart to his bearings, not only by a set and serious speech, but +also by repartees of this sort. Accordingly, I have come now to rally +him and jest with him in quite a familiar manner. For instance, when we +were escorting a candidate, he asked me "whether I had been accustomed +to secure Sicilians places at the gladiatorial shows?" "No," said I. +"Well, I intend to start the practice," said he, "as their new patron; +but my sister,[152] who has the control of such a large part of the +consul's space, wont give me more than a single foot." "Don't grumble," +said I, "about one of your sister's feet; you may lift the other also." +A jest, you will say, unbecoming to a consular. I confess it, but I +detest that woman--so unworthy of a consul. For + + "A shrew she is and with her husband jars," + +and not only with Metellus, but also with Fabius,[153] because she is +annoyed at their interference in this business.[154] You ask about the +agrarian law: it has completely lost all interest, I think. You rather +chide me, though gently, about my intimacy with Pompey. I would not have +you think that I have made friends with him for my own protection; but +things had come to such a pass that, if by any chance we had quarrelled, +there would inevitably have been violent dissensions in the state. And +in taking precautions and making provision against that, I by no means +swerved from my well-known loyalist policy, but my object was to make +him more of a loyalist and induce him to drop somewhat of his +time-serving vacillation: and he, let me assure you, now speaks in much +higher terms of my achievements (against which many had tried to incite +him) than of his own. He testifies that while he served the state well, +I preserved it. What if I even make a better citizen of Caesar,[155] who +has now the wind full in his sails--am I doing so poor a service to the +Republic? Farthermore, if there was no one to envy me, if all, as they +ought to be, were my supporters, nevertheless a preference should still +be given to a treatment that would cure the diseased parts of the state, +rather than to the use of the knife. As it is, however, since the +knighthood, which I once stationed on the slope of the Capitoline,[156] +with you as their standard-bearer and leader, has deserted the senate, +and since our leading men think themselves in a seventh heaven, if there +are bearded mullets in their fish-ponds that will come to hand for food, +and neglect everything else, do not you think that I am doing no mean +service if I secure that those who have the power, should not have the +will, to do any harm? As for our friend Cato, you do not love him more +than I do: but after all, with the very best intentions and the most +absolute honesty, he sometimes does harm to the Republic. He speaks and +votes as though he were in the Republic of Plato, not in the scum of +Romulus. What could be fairer than that a man should be brought to trial +who has taken a bribe for his verdict? Cato voted for this: the senate +agreed with him. The equites declared war on the senate, not on me, for +I voted against it. What could be a greater piece of impudence than the +equites renouncing the obligations of their contract? Yet for the sake +of keeping the friendship of the order it was necessary to submit to the +loss. Cato resisted and carried his point. Accordingly, though we have +now had the spectacle of a consul thrown into prison,[157] of riots +again and again stirred up, not one of those moved a finger to help, +with whose support I and the consuls that immediately followed me were +accustomed to defend the Republic. "Well, but," say you, "are we to pay +them for their support?" What are we to do if we can't get it on any +other terms? Are we to be slaves to freedmen or even slaves? But, as you +say, _assez de serieux!_ Favonius[158] carried my tribe with better +credit than his own; he lost that of Lucceius. His accusation of +Nasica[159] was not creditable, but was conducted with moderation: he +spoke so badly that he appeared when in Rhodes to have ground at the +mills more than at the lessons of Molon.[160] He was somewhat angry +with me because I appeared for the defence: however, he is now making up +to me again on public grounds. I will write you word how Lucceius is +getting on when I have seen Caesar, who will be here in a couple of days. +The injury done you by the Sicyonians you attribute to Cato and his +imitator Servilius.[161] Why? did not that blow reach many excellent +citizens? But since the senate has so determined, let us commend it, and +not be in a minority of one.[162] My "Amaltheia"[163] is waiting and +longing for you. My Tusculan and Pompeian properties please me +immensely, except that they have overwhelmed me--me, the scourge of +debt!--not exactly in Corinthian bronze, but in the bronze which is +current in the market.[164] In Gaul I hope peace is restored. My +"Prognostics,"[165] along with my poor speeches, expect shortly. Yet +write and tell me what your ideas are as to returning. For Pomponia sent +a message to me that you would be at Rome some time in July. That does +not agree with your letter which you wrote to me about your name being +put on the census roll. Paetus, as I have already told you, has presented +me with all books left by his brother. This gift of his depends upon +your seeing to it with care. Pray, if you love me, take measures for +their preservation and transmission to me. You could do me no greater +favour, and I want the Latin books preserved with as much care as the +Greek. I shall look upon them as virtually a present from yourself. I +have written to Octavius:[166] I had not said anything to him about you +by word of mouth; for I did not suppose that you carried on your +business in that province, or look upon you in the light of general +money-lender: but I have written, as in duty bound, with all +seriousness. + +[Footnote 144: Nep. _Att._ c. 18.] + +[Footnote 145: Atticus seems to have seen a copy belonging to some one +else at Corfu. Cicero explains that he had kept back Atticus's copy for +revision.] + +[Footnote 146: Cicero evidently intends Atticus to act as a publisher. +His _librarii_ will make copies. See p. 32, note 1.] + +[Footnote 147: The passage in brackets is believed by some, not on very +good grounds, to be spurious. Otho is L. Roscius Otho, the author of the +law as to the seats in the theatre of the equites. The "proscribed" are +those proscribed by Sulla, their sons being forbidden to hold office, a +disability which Cicero maintained for fear of civil disturbances. See +_in Pis._ Sec.Sec. 4-5.] + +[Footnote 148: Pulchellus, _i.e._, P. Clodius Pulcher, the diminutive of +contempt.] + +[Footnote 149: Where he had been as quaestor. Hera is said to be another +name for Hybla. Some read _heri_, "only yesterday."] + +[Footnote 150: Clodius is shewing off his modesty. It was usual for +persons returning from a province to send messengers in front, and to +travel deliberately, that their friends might pay them the compliment of +going out to meet them. Entering the city after nightfall was another +method of avoiding a public reception. See Suet. _Aug._ 53.] + +[Footnote 151: See p. 37, note 3.] + +[Footnote 152: Clodia, wife of the consul Metellus. See p. 22, note.] + +[Footnote 153: We don't know who this is; probably a _cavaliere +servente_ of Clodia's.] + +[Footnote 154: _I.e._, in the business of her brother Clodius's attempt +to get the tribuneship.] + +[Footnote 155: Though Caesar has been mentioned before in regard to his +candidature for the consulship, and in connexion with the Clodius case, +this is the first reference to him as a statesman. He is on the eve of +his return from Spain, and already is giving indication of his coalition +with Pompey. His military success in Spain first clearly demonstrated +his importance.] + +[Footnote 156: During the meeting of the senate at the time of the +Catilinarian conspiracy (2 _Phil._ Sec. 16).] + +[Footnote 157: The consul Caecilius Metellus was imprisoned by the +tribune Flavius for resisting his land law (Dio, xxxvii. 50).] + +[Footnote 158: M. Favonius, an extreme Optimate. _Ille Catonis aemulus_ +(Suet. _Aug._ 13). He had a bitter tongue, but a faithful heart (Plut. +_Pomp._ 60, 73; Vell. ii 73). He did not get the praetorship (which he +was now seeking) till B.C. 49. He was executed after Philippi (Dio. 47, +49).] + +[Footnote 159: P. Scipio Nasica Metellus Pius, the future father-in-law +of Pompey, who got the praetorship, was indicted for _ambitus_ by +Favonius.] + +[Footnote 160: [Greek: Apollonios Molon] of Alabanda taught rhetoric at +Rhodes. Cicero had himself attended his lectures. He puns on the name +Molon and _molae_, "mill at which slaves worked."] + +[Footnote 161: See pp. 57, 60.] + +[Footnote 162: Reading _discessionibus_, "divisions in the senate," with +Manutius and Tyrrell, not _dissentionibus_; and _deinde ne_, but not +_st_ for _si_.] + +[Footnote 163: His study, which he playfully calls by this name, in +imitation of that of Atticus. See p. 30.] + +[Footnote 164: See Letter XV, p. 25.] + +[Footnote 165: His translation of the _Prognostics_ of Aratus.] + +[Footnote 166: Gaius Octavius, father of Augustus, governor of +Macedonia.] + + + + +XXVII (A II, 2) + +TO ATTICUS (ON HIS WAY TO ROME) + +TUSCULUM (DECEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 60, AET. 46] + +Take care of my dear nephew Cicero, I beg of you. I seem to share his +illness. I am engaged on the "Constitution of Pellene," and, by heaven, +have piled up a huge heap of Dicaearchus at my feet.[167] What a great +man! You may learn much more from him than from Procilius. His +"Constitution of Corinth" and "Constitution of Athens" I have, I think, +at Rome. Upon my word, you will say, if you read these, "What a +remarkable man!" Herodes, if he had any sense, would have read him +rather than write a single letter himself.[168] He has attacked me by +letter; with you I see he has come to close quarters. I would have +joined a conspiracy rather than resisted one, if I had thought that I +should have to listen to him as my reward. As to Lollius, you must be +mad. As to the wine, I think you are right.[169] But look here! Don't +you see that the Kalends are approaching, and no Antonius?[170] That the +jury is being empanelled? For so they send me word. That Nigidius[171] +threatens in public meeting that he will personally cite any juror who +does not appear? However, I should be glad if you would write me word +whether you have heard anything about the return of Antonius; and since +you don't mean to come here, dine with me in any case on the 29th. Mind +you do this, and take care of your health. + +[Footnote 167: The roll being unwound as he read and piled on the +ground. Dicaearchus of Messene, a contemporary of Aristotle, wrote on +"Constitutions" among other things. Procilius seems also to have written +on polities.] + +[Footnote 168: Herodes, a teacher at Athens, afterwards tutor to young +Cicero. He seems to have written on Cicero's consulship.] + +[Footnote 169: These remarks refer to something in Atticus's letter.] + +[Footnote 170: Gaius Antonius, about to be prosecuted for _maiestas_ on +his return from Macedonia.] + +[Footnote 171: P. Nigidius Figulus, a tribune (which dates the letter +after the 10th of December). The tribunes had no right of summons +(_vocatio_), they must personally enforce their commands.] + + + + +XXVIII (A II, 3) + +TO ATTICUS (ON HIS WAY TO ROME) + +ROME (DECEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 60, AET. 46] + +First, I have good news for you, as I think. Valerius has been +acquitted. Hortensius was his counsel. The verdict is thought to have +been a favour to Aulus's son; and "Epicrates,"[172] I suspect, has been +up to some mischief. I didn't like his boots and his white +leggings.[173] What it is I shall know when you arrive. When you find +fault with the narrow windows, let me tell you that you are criticising +the Cyropaedeia.[174] For when I made the same remark, Cyrus used to +answer that the views of the gardens through broad lights were not so +pleasant. For let [Greek: a] be the eye, [Greek: bg] the object seen, +[Greek: d] and [Greek: e] the rays ... you see the rest.[175] For if +sight resulted from the impact of images,[176] the images would be in +great difficulties with a narrow entrance: but, as it is, that +"effusion" of rays gets on quite nicely. If you have any other fault to +find you won't get off without an answer, unless it is something that +can be put right without expense. + +I now come to January and my "political attitude," in which, after the +manner of the Socratics, I shall put the two sides; at the end, however, +as they were wont to do, the one which I approve. It is, indeed, a +matter for profound reflexion. For I must either firmly oppose the +agrarian law--which will involve a certain struggle, but a struggle full +of glory--or I must remain altogether passive, which is about equivalent +to retiring to Solonium[177] or Antium; or, lastly, I must actually +assist the bill, which I am told Caesar fully expects from me without any +doubt. For Cornelius has been with me (I mean Cornelius Balbus,[178] +Caesar's intimate), and solemnly assured me that he meant to avail +himself of my advice and Pompey's in everything, and intended to +endeavour to reconcile Crassus with Pompey.[179] In this last course +there are the following advantages: a very close union with Pompey, and, +if I choose, with Caesar also; a reconciliation with my political +enemies, peace with the common herd, ease for my old age. But the +conclusion of the third book of my own poem has a strong hold on me: + + "Meanwhile the tenor of thy youth's first spring, + Which still as consul thou with all thy soul + And all thy manhood heldest, see thou keep, + And swell the chorus of all good men's praise."[180] + +These verses Calliope herself dictated to me in that book, which +contains much written in an "aristocratic" spirit, and I cannot, +therefore, doubt that I shall always hold that + + "The best of omens is our country's cause."[181] + +But let us reserve all this for our walks during the Compitalia[182]. +Remember the day before the Compitalia. I will order the bath to be +heated, and Terentia is going to invite Pomponia. We will add your +mother to the party. Please bring me Theophrastus _de Ambitione_ from my +brother's library. + +[Footnote 172: "The Conqueror," _i.e._, Pompey. Aulus's son is L. +Afranius.] + +[Footnote 173: _I.e._, his military get-up.] + +[Footnote 174: Cyrus was Cicero's architect; his argument or theory he +calls Cyropaedeia, after Xenophon's book.] + +[Footnote 175: He supposes himself to be making a mathematical figure in +optics: + +[Illustration]] + +[Footnote 176: The theory of sight held by Democritus, denounced as +unphilosophical by Plutarch (_Timoleon_, Introd.).] + +[Footnote 177: Apparently a villa in the _Solonius ager_, near +Lanuvium.] + +[Footnote 178: The Cornelius Balbus of Gades, whose citizenship Cicero +defended B.C. 56 (consul B.C. 40). He was Caesar's close friend and +agent.] + +[Footnote 179: Cicero was apparently not behind the scenes. The +coalition with Pompey certainly, and with Crassus probably, had been +already made and the terms agreed upon soon after the elections. If +Cicero afterwards discovered this it must have shewn him how little he +could trust Pompey's show of friendship and Caesar's candour. Caesar +desired Cicero's private friendship and public acquiescence, but was +prepared to do without them.] + +[Footnote 180: From Cicero's Latin poem on his consulship.] + +[Footnote 181: [Greek: eis oionos aristos amynesthai peri patres] (Hom. +_Il._ xii. 243).] + + + + +XXIX (Q FR I, 1) + + + Quintus Cicero was praetor in B.C. 62. In B.C. 61 (March) he went + out to "Asia" as propraetor; his first year of office would be up in + March, B.C. 60, but his governorship was, as was very common, + extended till March, B.C. 59. Towards the end of B.C. 60 the senate + seems to have arranged not to appoint his successor, that is, he + would be left in office till about March, B.C. 58. It is in view of + this third year of office that Cicero writes this essay-letter to + him on the duties of a provincial governor. Apparently Quintus had + faults of temper which had caused some scandals to reach Rome. We + have seen how he was one of the few who managed to quarrel with + Atticus; and in B.C. 48 we shall find how fiercely he resented the + exercise of his brother's influence which had led him to take the + losing side, which from his attachment to Caesar he may have been + half inclined to think the wrong side. His constant squabbles with + his wife (though the fault was evidently in great part hers) also + go towards forming our conclusion about him that, with some ability + and honesty, he was _un peu difficile_. + + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN ASIA) + +ROME (DECEMBER) + +[Sidenote: B.C. 60, AET. 46] + +I. Though I have no doubt that many messengers, and even common rumour, +with its usual speed, will anticipate this letter, and that you will +already have heard from others that a third year has been added to my +loss and your labour, yet I thought you ought to receive from me also +the news of this tiresome circumstance. For not in one, but in several +of my previous letters, in spite of others having given up the idea in +despair, I gave you hope of being able at an early date to quit your +province, not only that I might as long as possible cheer you with a +pleasurable belief, but also because I and the praetors took such pains +in the matter, that I felt no misgiving as to the possibility of its +being arranged. As it is, since matters have so turned out that neither +the praetors by the weight of their influence, nor I by my earnest +efforts, have been able to prevail, it is certainly difficult not to be +annoyed, yet our minds, practised as they are in conducting and +supporting business of the utmost gravity, ought not to be crushed or +weakened by vexation. And since men ought to feel most vexed at what has +been brought upon them by their own fault, it is I who ought in this +matter to be more vexed than you. For it is the result of a fault on my +part, against which you had protested both in conversation at the moment +of your departure, and in letters since, that your successor was not +named last year. In this, while consulting for the interests of our +allies, and resisting the shameless conduct of some merchants, and while +seeking the increase of our reputation by your virtues, I acted +unwisely, especially as I made it possible for that second year to +entail a third. And as I confess the mistake to have been mine, it lies +with your wisdom and kindness to remedy it, and to see that my +imprudence is turned to advantage by your careful performance of your +duties. And truly, if you exert yourself in every direction to earn +men's good word, not with a view to rival others, but henceforth to +surpass yourself, if you rouse your whole mind and your every thought +and care to the ambition of gaining a superior reputation in all +respects, believe me, one year added to your labour will bring us, nay, +our posterity also, a joy of many years' duration. Wherefore I begin by +entreating you not to let your soul shrink and be cast down, nor to +allow yourself to be overpowered by the magnitude of the business as +though by a wave; but, on the contrary, to stand upright and keep your +footing, or even advance to meet the flood of affairs. For you are not +administering a department of the state, in which fortune reigns +supreme, but one in which a well-considered policy and an attention to +business are the most important things. But if I had seen you receiving +the prolongation of a command in a great and dangerous war, I should +have trembled in spirit, because I should have known that the dominion +of fortune over us had been at the same time prolonged. As it is, +however, a department of the state has been intrusted to you in which +fortune occupies no part, or, at any rate, an insignificant one, and +which appears to me to depend entirely on your virtue and self-control. +We have no reason to fear, as far as I know, any designs of our enemies, +any actual fighting in the field, any revolts of allies, any default in +the tribute or in the supply of corn, any mutiny in the army: things +which have very often befallen the wisest of men in such a way, that +they have been no more able to get the better of the assault of fortune, +than the best of pilots a violent tempest. You have been granted +profound peace, a dead calm: yet if the pilot falls asleep, it may even +so overwhelm him, though if he keeps awake it may give him positive +pleasure. For your province consists, in the first place, of allies of a +race which, of all the world, is the most civilized; and, in the second +place, of citizens, who, either as being _publicani_, are very closely +connected with me, or, as being traders who have made money, think that +they owe the security of their property to my consulship. + +II. But it may be said that among even such men as these there occur +serious disputes, many wrongful acts are committed, and hotly contested +litigation is the result. As though I ever thought that you had no +trouble to contend with! I know that the trouble is exceedingly great, +and such as demands the very greatest prudence; but remember that it is +prudence much more than fortune on which, in my opinion, the result of +your trouble depends. For what trouble is it to govern those over whom +you are set, if you do but govern yourself? That may be a great and +difficult task to others, and indeed it is most difficult: to you it has +always been the easiest thing in the world, and indeed ought to be so, +for your natural disposition is such that, even without discipline, it +appears capable of self-control; whereas a discipline has, in fact, been +applied that might educate the most faulty of characters. But while you +resist, as you do, money, pleasure, and every kind of desire yourself, +there will, I am to be told, be a risk of your not being able to +suppress some fraudulent banker or some rather over-extortionate +tax-collector! For as to the Greeks, they will think, as they behold the +innocence of your life, that one of the heroes of their history, or a +demigod from heaven, has come down into the province. And this I say, +not to induce you to act thus, but to make you glad that you are acting +or have acted so. It is a splendid thing to have been three years in +supreme power in Asia without allowing statue, picture, plate, napery, +slave, anyone's good looks, or any offer of money--all of which are +plentiful in your province--to cause you to swerve from the most +absolute honesty and purity of life. What can be imagined so striking or +so desirable as that a virtue, a command over the passions, a +self-control such as yours, are not remaining in darkness and obscurity, +but have been set in the broad daylight of Asia, before the eyes of a +famous province, and in the hearing of all nations and peoples? That the +inhabitants are not being ruined by your progresses, drained by your +charges, agitated by your approach? That there is the liveliest joy, +public and private, wheresoever you come, the city regarding you as a +protector and not a tyrant, the private house as a guest and not a +plunderer? + +III. But in these matters I am sure that mere experience has by this +time taught you that it is by no means sufficient to have these virtues +yourself, but that you must keep your eyes open and vigilant, in order +that in the guardianship of your province you may be considered to vouch +to the allies, the citizens, and the state, not for yourself alone, but +for all the subordinates of your government. However, you have in the +persons of your _legati_ men likely to have a regard for their own +reputation. Of these in rank, position, and age Tubero is first; who, I +think, particularly as he is a writer of history, could select from his +own Annals many whom he would like and would be able to imitate. +Allienus, again, is ours, as well in heart and affection, as in his +conformity to our principles. I need not speak of Gratidius: I am sure +that, while taking pains to preserve his own reputation, his fraternal +affection for us makes him take pains for ours also.[183] Your quaestor +is not of your own selection, but the one assigned you by lot. He is +bound both to act with propriety of his own accord, and to conform to +the policy and principles which you lay down. But should any one of +these adopt a lower standard of conduct, you should tolerate such +behaviour, if it goes no farther than a breach, in his private capacity, +of the rules by which he was bound, but not if it goes to the extent of +employing for gain the authority which you granted him as a promotion. +For I am far from thinking, especially since the moral sentiments of the +day are so much inclined to excessive laxity and self-seeking, that you +should investigate every case of petty misconduct, and thoroughly +examine every one of these persons; but that you should regulate your +confidence by the trustworthiness of its recipient. And among such +persons you will have to vouch for those whom the Republic has itself +given you as companions and assistants in public affairs, at least +within the limits which I have before laid down. + +IV. In the case, however, of those of your personal staff or official +attendants whom you have yourself selected to be about you--who are +usually spoken of as a kind of praetor's cohort--we must vouch, not only +for their acts, but even for their words. But those you have with you +are the sort of men of whom you may easily be fond when they are acting +rightly, and whom you may very easily check when they shew insufficient +regard for your reputation. By these, when you were raw to the work, +your frank disposition might possibly have been deceived--for the better +a man is the less easily does he suspect others of being bad--now, +however, let this third year witness an integrity as perfect as the two +former, but still more wary and vigilant. Listen to that only which you +are supposed to listen to; don't let your ears be open to whispered +falsehoods and interested suggestions. Don't let your signet ring be a +mere implement, but, as it were, your second self: not the minister of +another's will, but a witness of your own. Let your marshal hold the +rank which our ancestors wished him to hold, who, looking upon this +place as not one of profit, but of labour and duty, scarcely ever +conferred it upon any but their freedmen, whom they indeed controlled +almost as absolutely as their slaves. Let the lictor be the dispenser of +your clemency, not his own; and let the fasces and axes which they carry +before you constitute ensigns rather of rank than of power. Let it, in +fact, be known to the whole province that the life, children, fame, and +fortunes of all over whom you preside are exceedingly dear to you. +Finally, let it be believed that you will, if you detect it, be hostile +not only to those who have accepted a bribe, but to those also who have +given it. And, indeed, no one will give anything, if it is made quite +clear that nothing is usually obtained from you through those who +pretend to be very influential with you. Not, however, that the object +of this discourse is to make you over-harsh or suspicious towards your +staff. For if any of them in the course of the last two years has never +fallen under suspicion of rapacity, as I am told about Caesius and +Chaerippus and Labeo--and think it true, because I know them--there is no +authority, I think, which may not be intrusted to them, and no +confidence which may not be placed in them with the utmost propriety, +and in anyone else like them. But if there is anyone of whom you have +already had reason to doubt, or concerning whom you have made some +discovery, in such a man place no confidence, intrust him with no +particle of your reputation. + +V. If, however, you have found in the province itself anyone, hitherto +unknown to us, who has made his way into intimacy with you, take care +how much confidence you repose in him; not that there may not be many +good provincials, but, though we may hope so, it is risky to be +positive. For everyone's real character is covered by many wrappings of +pretence and is concealed by a kind of veil: face, eyes, expression very +often lie, speech most often of all. Wherefore, how can you expect to +find in that class[184] any who, while foregoing for the sake of money +all from which we can scarcely tear ourselves away,[185] will yet love +you sincerely and not merely pretend to do so from interested motives? I +think, indeed, it is a hard task to find such men, especially if we +notice that the same persons care nothing for almost any man out of +office, yet always with one consent shew affection for the praetors. But +of this class, if by chance you have discovered any one to be fonder of +you--for it may so happen--than of your office, such a man indeed gladly +admit upon your list of friends: but if you fail to perceive that, +there is no class of people you must be more on your guard against +admitting to intimacy, just because they are acquainted with all the +ways of making money, do everything for the sake of it, and have no +consideration for the reputation of a man with whom they are not +destined to pass their lives. And even among the Greeks themselves you +must be on your guard against admitting close intimacies, except in the +case of the very few, if such are to be found, who are worthy of ancient +Greece. As things now stand, indeed, too many of them are untrustworthy, +false, and schooled by long servitude in the arts of extravagant +adulation. My advice is that these men should all be entertained with +courtesy, but that close ties of hospitality or friendship should only +be formed with the best of them: excessive intimacies with them are not +very trustworthy--for they do not venture to oppose our wishes--and they +are not only jealous of our countrymen, but of their own as well. + +VI. And now, considering the caution and care that I would shew in +matters of this kind--in which I fear I may be somewhat +over-severe--what do you suppose my sentiments are in regard to slaves? +Upon these we ought to keep a hold in all places, but especially in the +provinces. On this head many rules may be laid down, but this is at once +the shortest and most easily maintained--that they should behave during +your progresses in Asia as though you were travelling on the Appian way, +and not suppose that it makes any difference whether they have arrived +at Tralles or Formiae. But if, again, any one of your slaves is +conspicuously trustworthy, employ him in your domestic and private +affairs; but in affairs pertaining to your office as governor, or in any +department of the state, do not let him lay a finger. For many things +which may, with perfect propriety, be intrusted to slaves, must yet not +be so intrusted, for the sake of avoiding talk and hostile remark. But +my discourse, I know not how, has slipped into the didactic vein, though +that is not what I proposed to myself originally. For what right have I +to be laying down rules for one who, I am fully aware, in this subject +especially, is not my inferior in wisdom, while in experience he is even +my superior? Yet, after all, if your actions had the additional weight +of my approval, I thought that they would seem more satisfactory to +yourself. Wherefore, let these be the foundations on which your public +character rests: first and foremost your own honesty and self-control, +then the scrupulous conduct of all your staff, the exceedingly cautious +and careful selection in regard to intimacies with provincials and +Greeks, the strict and unbending government of your slaves. These are +creditable even in the conduct of our private and everyday business: in +such an important government, where morals are so debased and the +province has such a corrupting influence, they must needs seem divine. +Such principles and conduct on your part are sufficient to justify the +strictness which you have displayed in some acts of administration, +owing to which I have encountered certain personal disputes with great +satisfaction, unless, indeed, you suppose me to be annoyed by the +complaints of a fellow like Paconius--who is not even a Greek, but in +reality a Mysian or Phrygian--or by the words of Tuscenius, a madman and +a knave, from whose abominable jaws you snatched the fruits of a most +infamous piece of extortion with the most complete justice. + +VII. These and similar instances of your strict administration in your +province we shall find difficulty in justifying, unless they are +accompanied by the most perfect integrity: wherefore let there be the +greatest strictness in your administration of justice, provided only +that it is never varied from favour, but is kept up with impartiality. +But it is of little avail that justice is administered by yourself with +impartiality and care, unless the same is done by those to whom you have +intrusted any portion of this duty. And, indeed, in my view there is no +very great variety of business in the government of Asia: the entire +province mainly depends on the administration of justice. In it we have +the whole theory of government, especially of provincial government, +clearly displayed: all that a governor has to do is to shew consistency +and firmness enough, not only to resist favouritism, but even the +suspicion of it. To this also must be added courtesy in listening to +pleaders, consideration in pronouncing a decision, and painstaking +efforts to convince suitors of its justice, and to answer their +arguments. It is by such habits that C. Octavius has recently made +himself very popular;[186] in whose court, for the first time,[187] the +lictor did not interfere, and the marshal kept silence, while every +suitor spoke as often and as long as he chose. In which conduct he would +perhaps have been thought over-lax, had it not been that this laxity +enabled him to maintain the following instance of severity. The +partisans of Sulla were forced to restore what they had taken by +violence and terrorism. Those who had made inequitable decrees, while in +office, were now as private citizens forced to submit to the principles +they had established. This strictness on his part would have been +thought harsh, had it not been rendered palatable by many sweetening +influences of courtesy. But if this gentleness was sufficient to make +him popular at Rome, where there is such haughtiness of spirit, such +unrestrained liberty, such unlimited licence of individuals, and, in +fine, so many magistrates, so many means of obtaining protection, such +vast power in the hands of the popular assembly, and such influence +exercised by the senate, how welcome must a praetor's courtesy be in +Asia, in which there is such a numerous body of citizens and allies, so +many cities, so many communities, all hanging on one man's nod, and in +which there are no means of protection, no one to whom to make a +complaint, no senate, no popular assembly! Wherefore it requires an +exalted character, a man who is not only equitable from natural impulse, +but who has also been trained by study and the refinements of a liberal +education, so to conduct himself while in the possession of such immense +power, that those over whom he rules should not feel the want of any +other power. + +VIII. Take the case of the famous Cyrus, portrayed by Xenophon, not as +an historical character, but as a model of righteous government, the +serious dignity of whose character is represented by that philosopher as +combined with a peculiar courtesy. And, indeed, it is not without reason +that our hero Africanus used perpetually to have those books in his +hands, for there is no duty pertaining to a careful and equitable +governor which is not to be found in them. Well, if _he_ cultivated +those qualities, though never destined to be in a private station, how +carefully ought those to maintain them to whom power is given with the +understanding that it must be surrendered, and given by laws under whose +authority they must once more come? In my opinion all who govern others +are bound to regard as the object of all their actions the greatest +happiness of the governed. That this is your highest object, and has +been so since you first landed in Asia, has been published abroad by +consistent rumour and the conversation of all. It is, let me add, not +only the duty of one who governs allies and citizens, but even of one +who governs slaves and dumb animals, to serve the interests and +advantage of those under him. In this point I notice that everyone +agrees that you take the greatest pains: no new debt is being contracted +by the states, while many have been relieved by you from a heavy and +long-standing one. Several cities that had become dilapidated and almost +deserted--of which one was the most famous state in Ionia, the other in +Caria, Samus and Halicarnassus--have been given a new life by you: there +is no party fighting, no civil strife in the towns: you take care that +the government of the states is administered by the best class of +citizens: brigandage is abolished in Mysia; murder suppressed in many +districts; peace is established throughout the province; and not only +the robberies usual on highways and in country places, but those more +numerous and more serious ones in towns and temples, have been +completely stopped: the fame, fortunes, and repose of the rich have been +relieved of that most oppressive instrument of praetorial +rapacity--vexatious prosecution; the expenses and tribute of the states +are made to fall with equal weight on all who live in the territories of +those states: access to you is as easy as possible: your ears are open +to the complaints of all: no man's want of means or want of friends +excludes him, I don't say from access to you in public and on the +tribunal, but even from your house and chamber: in a word, throughout +your government there is no harshness or cruelty--everywhere clemency, +mildness, and kindness reign supreme. + +IX. What an immense benefit, again, have you done in having liberated +Asia from the tribute exacted by the aediles a measure which cost me some +violent controversies! For if one of our nobles complains openly that +by your edict, "No moneys shall be voted for the games," you have robbed +him of 200 sestertia, what a vast sum of money would have been paid, had +a grant been made to the credit of every magistrate who held games, as +had become the regular custom! However, I stopped these complaints by +taking up this position--what they think of it in Asia I don't know, in +Rome it meets with no little approval and praise--I refused to accept a +sum of money which the states had decreed for a temple and monument in +our honour, though they had done so with the greatest enthusiasm in view +both of my services and of your most valuable benefactions; and though +the law contained a special and distinct exception in these words, "that +it was lawful to receive for temple or monument"; and though again the +money was not going to be thrown away, but would be employed on +decorating a temple, and would thus appear to have been given to the +Roman people and the immortal Gods rather than to myself--yet, in spite +of its having desert, law, and the wishes of those who offered the gift +in its favour, I determined that I must not accept it, for this reason +among others, namely, to prevent those, to whom such an honour was +neither due nor legal, from being jealous. Wherefore adhere with all +your heart and soul to the policy which you have hitherto adopted--that +of being devoted to those whom the senate and people of Rome have +committed and intrusted to your honour and authority, of doing your best +to protect them, and of desiring their greatest happiness. Even if the +lot had made you governor of Africans, or Spaniards, or +Gauls--uncivilized and barbarous nations--it would still have been your +duty as a man of feeling to consult for their interests and advantage, +and to have contributed to their safety. But when we rule over a race of +men in which civilization not only exists, but from which it is believed +to have spread to others, we are bound to repay them, above all things, +what we received from them. For I shall not be ashamed to go so +far--especially as my life and achievements have been such as to exclude +any suspicion of sloth or frivolity--as to confess that, whatever I have +accomplished, I have accomplished by means of those studies and +principles which have been transmitted to us in Greek literature and +schools of thought. Wherefore, over and above the general good faith +which is due to all men, I think we are in a special sense under an +obligation to that nation, to put in practice what it has taught us +among the very men by whose maxims we have been brought out of +barbarism. + +X. And indeed Plato, the fountain-head of genius and learning, thought +that states would only be happy when scholars and philosophers began +being their rulers, or when those who were their rulers had devoted all +their attention to learning and philosophy. It was plainly this union of +power and philosophy that in his opinion might prove the salvation of +states. And this perhaps has at length fallen to the fortune of the +whole empire: certainly it has in the present instance to your province, +to have a man in supreme power in it, who has from boyhood spent the +chief part of his zeal and time in imbibing the principles of +philosophy, virtue, and humanity. Wherefore be careful that this third +year, which has been added to your labour, may be thought a prolongation +of prosperity to Asia. And since Asia was more fortunate in retaining +you than I was in my endeavour to bring you back, see that my regret is +softened by the exultation of the province. For if you have displayed +the very greatest activity in earning honours such as, I think, have +never been paid to anyone else, much greater ought your activity to be +in preserving these honours. What I for my part think of honours of that +kind I have told you in previous letters. I have always regarded them, +if given indiscriminately, as of little value, if paid from interested +motives, as worthless: if, however, as in this case, they are tributes +to solid services on your part, I hold you bound to take much pains in +preserving them. Since, then, you are exercising supreme power and +official authority in cities, in which you have before your eyes the +consecration and apotheosis of your virtues, in all decisions, decrees, +and official acts consider what you owe to those warm opinions +entertained of you, to those verdicts on your character, to those +honours which have been rendered you. And what you owe will be to +consult for the interests of all, to remedy men's misfortunes, to +provide for their safety, to resolve that you will be both called and +believed to be the "father of Asia." + +XI. However, to such a resolution and deliberate policy on your part the +great obstacle are the _publicani_: for, if we oppose them, we shall +alienate from ourselves and from the Republic an order which has done us +most excellent service, and which has been brought into sympathy with +the Republic by our means; if, on the other hand, we comply with them in +every case, we shall allow the complete ruin of those whose interests, +to say nothing of their preservation, we are bound to consult. This is +the one difficulty, if we look the thing fairly in the face, in your +whole government. For disinterested conduct on one's own part, the +suppression of all inordinate desires, the keeping a check upon one's +staff, courtesy in hearing causes, in listening to and admitting +suitors--all this is rather a question of credit than of difficulty: for +it does not depend on any special exertion, but rather on a mental +resolve and inclination. But how much bitterness of feeling is caused to +allies by that question of the _publicani_ we have had reason to know in +the case of citizens who, when recently urging the removal of the +port-dues in Italy, did not complain so much of the dues themselves, as +of certain extortionate conduct on the part of the collectors. +Wherefore, after hearing the grievances of citizens in Italy, I can +comprehend what happens to allies in distant lands. To conduct oneself +in this matter in such a way as to satisfy the _publicani_, especially +when contracts have been undertaken at a loss, and yet to preserve the +allies from ruin, seems to demand a virtue with something divine in it, +I mean a virtue like yours. To begin with, that they are subject to tax +at all, which is their greatest grievance, ought not to be thought so by +the Greeks, because they were so subject by their own laws without the +Roman government. Again, they cannot despise the word _publicanus_, for +they have been unable to pay the assessment according to Sulla's +poll-tax without the aid of the publican. But that Greek _publicani_ are +not more considerate in exacting the payment of taxes than our own may +be gathered from the fact that the Caunii, and all the islands assigned +to the Rhodians by Sulla, recently appealed to the protection of the +senate, and petitioned to be allowed to pay their tax to us rather than +to the Rhodians. Wherefore neither ought those to revolt at the name of +a _publicanus_ who have always been subject to tax, nor those to despise +it who have been unable to make up the tribute by themselves, nor those +to refuse his services who have asked for them. At the same time let +Asia reflect on this, that if she were not under our government, there +is no calamity of foreign war or internal strife from which she would be +free. And since that government cannot possibly be maintained without +taxes, she should be content to purchase perpetual peace and +tranquillity at the price of a certain proportion of her products. + +XII. But if they will fairly reconcile themselves to the existence and +name of publican, all the rest may be made to appear to them in a less +offensive light by your skill and prudence. They may, in making their +bargains with the _publicani_, not have regard so much to the exact +conditions laid down by the censors as to the convenience of settling +the business and freeing themselves from farther trouble. You also may +do, what you have done splendidly and are still doing, namely, dwell on +the high position of the _publicani_, and on your obligations to that +order, in such a way as--putting out of the question all considerations +of your _imperium_ and the power of your official authority and +dignity--to reconcile the Greeks with the _publicani_, and to beg of +those, whom you have served eminently well, and who owe you everything, +to suffer you by their compliance to maintain and preserve the bonds +which unite us with the _publicani_. But why do I address these +exhortations to you, who are not only capable of carrying them out of +your own accord without anyone's instruction, but have already to a +great extent thoroughly done so? For the most respectable and important +companies do not cease offering me thanks daily, and this is all the +more gratifying to me because the Greeks do the same. Now it is an +achievement of great difficulty to unite in feeling things which are +opposite in interests, aims, and, I had almost said, in their very +nature. But I have not written all this to instruct you--for your wisdom +requires no man's instruction--but it has been a pleasure to me while +writing to set down your virtues, though I have run to greater length in +this letter than I could have wished, or than I thought I should. + +XIII. There is one thing on which I shall not cease from giving you +advice, nor will I, as far as in me lies, allow your praise to be spoken +of with a reservation. For all who come from your province do make one +reservation in the extremely high praise which they bestow on your +virtue, integrity, and kindness--it is that of sharpness of temper. That +is a fault which, even in our private and everyday life, seems to +indicate want of solidity and strength of mind; but nothing, surely, can +be more improper than to combine harshness of temper with the exercise +of supreme power. Wherefore I will not undertake to lay before you now +what the greatest philosophers say about anger, for I should not wish to +be tedious, and you can easily ascertain it yourself from the writings +of many of them: but I don't think I ought to pass over what is the +essence of a letter, namely, that the recipient should be informed of +what he does not know. Well, what nearly everybody reports to me is +this: they usually say that, as long as you are not out of temper, +nothing can be pleasanter than you are, but that when some instance of +dishonesty or wrong-headedness has stirred you, your temper rises to +such a height that no one can discover any trace of your usual kindness. +Wherefore, since no mere desire for glory, but circumstances and fortune +have brought us upon a path of life which makes it inevitable that men +will always talk about us, let us be on our guard, to the utmost of our +means and ability, that no glaring fault may be alleged to have existed +in us. And I am not now urging, what is perhaps difficult in human +nature generally, and at our time of life especially, that you should +change your disposition and suddenly pluck out a deeply-rooted habit, +but I give you this hint: if you cannot completely avoid this failing, +because your mind is surprised by anger before cool calculation has been +able to prevent it, deliberately prepare yourself beforehand, and daily +reflect on the duty of resisting anger, and that, when it moves your +heart most violently, it is just the time for being most careful to +restrain your tongue. And that sometimes seems to me to be a greater +virtue than not being angry at all. For the latter is not always a mark +of superiority to weakness, it is sometimes the result of dullness; but +to govern temper and speech, however angry you may be, or even to hold +your tongue and keep your indignant feelings and resentment under +control, although it may not be a proof of perfect wisdom, yet requires +no ordinary force of character. And, indeed, in this respect they tell +me that you are now much more gentle and less irritable. No violent +outbursts of indignation on your part, no abusive words, no insulting +language are reported to me: which, while quite alien to culture and +refinement, are specially unsuited to high power and place. For if your +anger is implacable, it amounts to extreme harshness; if easily +appeased, to extreme weakness. The latter, however, as a choice of +evils, is, after all, preferable to harshness. + +XIV. But since your first year gave rise to most talk in regard to this +particular complaint--I believe because the wrong-doing, the +covetousness, and the arrogance of men came upon you as a surprise, and +seemed to you unbearable --while your second year was much milder, +because habit and reflexion, and, as I think, my letters also, rendered +you more tolerant and gentle, the third ought to be so completely +reformed, as not to give even the smallest ground for anyone to find +fault. And here I go on to urge upon you, not by way of exhortation or +admonition, but by brotherly entreaties, that you would set your whole +heart, care, and thought on the gaining of praise from everybody and +from every quarter. If, indeed, our achievements were only the subject +of a moderate amount of talk and commendation, nothing eminent, nothing +beyond the practice of others, would have been demanded of you. As it +is, however, owing to the brilliancy and magnitude of the affairs in +which we have been engaged, if we do not obtain the very highest +reputation from your province, it seems scarcely possible for us to +avoid the most violent abuse. Our position is such that all loyalists +support us, but demand also and expect from us every kind of activity +and virtue, while all the disloyal, seeing that we have entered upon a +lasting war with them, appear contented with the very smallest excuse +for attacking us. Wherefore, since fortune has allotted to you such a +theatre as Asia, completely packed with an audience, of immense size, of +the most refined judgment, and, moreover, naturally so capable of +conveying sound, that its expressions of opinion and its remarks reach +Rome, put out all your power, I beseech you, exert all your energies to +appear not only to have been worthy of the part we played here, but to +have surpassed everything done there by your high qualities. + +XV. And since chance has assigned to me among the magistracies the +conduct of public business in the city, to you that in a province, if my +share is inferior to no one's, take care that yours surpasses others. At +the same time think of this: we are not now working for a future and +prospective glory, but are fighting in defence of what has been already +gained; which indeed it was not so much an object to gain as it is now +our duty to defend. And if anything in me could be apart from you, I +should desire nothing more than the position which I have already +gained. The actual fact, however, is that unless all your acts and deeds +in your province correspond to my achievements, I shall think that I +have gained nothing by those great labours and dangers, in all of which +you have shared. But if it was you who, above all others, assisted me to +gain a most splendid reputation, you will certainly also labour more +than others to enable me to retain it. You must not be guided by the +opinions and judgments of the present generation only, but of those to +come also: and yet the latter will be a more candid judgment, for it +will not be influenced by detraction and malice. Finally, you should +think of this--that you are not seeking glory for yourself alone (and +even if that were the case, you still ought not to be careless of it, +especially as you had determined to consecrate the memory of your name +by the most splendid monuments), but you have to share it with me, and +to hand it down to our children. In regard to which you must be on your +guard lest by any excess of carelessness you should seem not only to +have neglected your own interests, but to have begrudged those of your +family also. + +XVI. And these observations are not made with the idea of any speech of +mine appearing to have roused you from your sleep, but to have rather +"added speed to the runner." For you will continue to compel all in the +future, as you have compelled them in the past, to praise your equity, +self-control, strictness, and honesty. But from my extreme affection I +am possessed with a certain insatiable greed for glory for you. However, +I am convinced that, as Asia should now be as well-known to you as each +man's own house is to himself, and since to your supreme good sense such +great experience has now been added, there is nothing that affects +reputation which you do not know as well as possible yourself, and +which does not daily occur to your mind without anybody's exhortation. +But I, who when I read your writing seem to hear your voice, and when I +write to you seem to be talking to you, am therefore always best pleased +with your longest letter, and in writing am often somewhat prolix +myself. My last prayer and advice to you is that, as good poets and +painstaking actors always do, so you should be most attentive in the +last scenes and conclusion of your function and business, so that this +third year of your government, like a third act in a play, may appear to +have been the most elaborated and most highly finished. You will do that +with more ease if you will think that I, whom you always wished to +please more than all the world besides, am always at your side, and am +taking part in everything you say and do. It remains only to beg you to +take the greatest care of your health, if you wish me and all your +friends to be well also. + +Farewell. + +[Footnote 182: A country festival and general holiday. It was a _feriae +conceptivae_, and therefore the exact day varied. But it was about the +end of the year or beginning of the new year (_in Pis._ Sec. 4; Aul. Gell. +x. 24; Macrob. _Sat._ i. 4; _ad Att._ vii. 5; vii. 7, Sec. 2).] + +[Footnote 183: Of the persons mentioned, L. AElius Tubero is elsewhere +praised as a man of learning (_pro Lig._ Sec. 10); A. Allienus (praetor B.C. +49) was a friend and correspondent; M. Gratidius is mentioned in _pro +Flacco_, Sec. 49, as acting in a judicial capacity, and was perhaps a +cousin of Cicero's.] + +[Footnote 184: The class of Romans who have practically become +provincials.] + +[Footnote 185: Rome and its society and interests.] + +[Footnote 186: Father of Augustus, governor of Macedonia, B.C. 60-59. +But he seems to refer to his praetorship (B.C. 61) at Rome; at any rate, +as well as to his conduct in Macedonia.] + +[Footnote 187: Reading _primum_; others _primus_, "his head lictor."] + + + + +XXX (A II, 4) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59. Coss., C. Iulius Caesar, M. Calpurnius Bibulus.] + + This year was a crucial one in the history of the Republic, and + also of Cicero particularly. It witnessed the working of the + agreement entered into in the previous year between Pompey, Caesar, + and Crassus, to secure their several objects, commonly called the + First Triumvirate. The determined enmity of the consuls to each + other, the high-handed conduct of Caesar in regard to the senate, + his ultimate appointment to the unusual period of five years' + government of the Gauls and Illyricum, were so many blows at the + old constitution; and scarcely less offensive to the Catonian + Optimates were the agrarian laws passed in favour of Pompey's + veterans, the forcing of his _acta_ through the senate, and the + arrangement whereby he too was eventually to have the consulship + again, and an extended period of provincial government. Cicero was + distracted by hesitation. He had pinned his faith on Pompey's + ultimate opposition to Caesar, and yet did not wholly trust him, and + was fully aware of the unpracticable nature of Cato and the + weakness of the Optimates. The triumvirs had an instrument for + rendering him helpless in Clodius, but Cicero could not believe + that they would use it, or that his services to the state could be + so far forgotten as to make danger possible. We shall find him, + then, wholly absorbed in the question as to how far he is to give + into or oppose the triumvirs. It is not till the end of the year + that he begins to see the real danger ahead. We have one extant + oration of this year--_pro Flacco_--which was not much to his + credit, for Flaccus had evidently been guilty of extortion in Asia. + He also defended the equally guilty C. Antonius in a speech which + brought upon him the vengeance of the triumvirs, but it is happily + lost. + + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +TUSCULUM (APRIL) + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +I am exceedingly obliged to you for sending me Serapio's book, of which +indeed, between you and me, I scarcely understood a thousandth part. I +have ordered the money for it to be paid you at once, that you may not +put it down to the cost of presentation copies. But as I have mentioned +the subject of money, I will beg you to try to come to a settlement with +Titinius in any way you can. If he doesn't stand by his own proposal, +what I should like best is that what he bought at too dear a rate should +be returned, if that can be done with Pomponia's consent: if that too is +impossible, let the money be paid rather than have any difficulty. I +should be very glad if you would settle this before you leave Rome, with +your usual kindness and exactness. + +So Clodius, you say, is for Tigranes? I only wish he would go--on the +same terms as the Skepsian![188] But I don't grudge him the job; for a +more convenient time for my taking a "free legation" is when my brother +Quintus shall have settled down again, as I hope, into private life, and +I shall have made certain how that "priest of the Bona Dea"[189] intends +to behave. Meanwhile I shall find my pleasure in the Muses with a mind +undisturbed, or rather glad and cheerful; for it will never occur to me +to envy Crassus or to regret that I have not been false to myself. As to +geography, I will try to satisfy you, but I promise nothing for +certain.[190] It is a difficult business, but nevertheless, as you bid +me, I will take care that this country excursion produces something for +you. Mind you let me know any news you have ferreted out, and especially +who you think will be the next consuls. However, I am not very curious; +for I have determined not to think about politics. I have examined +Terentia's woodlands. What need I say? If there was only a Dodonean oak +in them, I should imagine myself to be in possession of Epirus. About +the 1st of the month I shall be either at Formiae or Pompeii.[191] If I +am not at Formiae, pray, an you love me, come to Pompeii. It will be a +great pleasure to me and not much out of the way for you. About the +wall, I have given Philotimus orders not to put any difficulty in the +way of your doing whatever you please. I think, however, you had better +call in Vettius.[192] In these bad times, when the life of all the best +men hangs on a thread, I value one summer's enjoyment of my Palatine +_palaestra_ rather highly; but, of course, the last thing I should wish +would be that Pomponia and her boy should live in fear of a falling +wall. + +[Footnote 188: That is, if it ends in his death, for Meliodorus of +Skepsis was sent by Mithridates to Tigranes to urge him to go to war +with Rome, but privately advised him not to do so, and, in consequence, +was put to death by Mithridates (Plut. _Luc._ 22). The word _Scepsii_ +([Greek: Skepsiou]) was introduced by Gronovius for the unintelligible +word _Syrpie_ found in the MSS., which so often blunder in Greek names.] + +[Footnote 189: Clodius, alluding to his intrusion into the mysteries.] + +[Footnote 190: Atticus has asked Cicero for a Latin treatise on +geography--probably as a publisher, Cicero being the prince of +book-makers--and to that end has sent him the Greek geography of +Serapio.] + +[Footnote 191: In his Formianum or Pompeianum, his villas at Formiae and +Pompeii.] + +[Footnote 192: An architect, a freedman of Cyrus, of whom we have heard +before.] + + + + +XXXI (A II, 5) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +ANTIUM (APRIL) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +I wish very much, and have long wished, to visit Alexandria, and at the +same time to get away from here, where people are tired of me, and +return when they have begun to feel my loss--but at such a time and at +the bidding of such statesmen![193] + + "I fear to face the men of Troy + And Trojan matrons with their trailing robes."[194] + +For what would my friends the Optimates say--if there are such persons +left? That I had accepted a bribe to change my views? + + "Polydamas the first would lay the charge." + +I mean my friend Cato, who is as good as a hundred thousand in my eyes. +What, too, will history say of me six hundred years hence? I am much +more afraid of that than of the petty gossip of the men of to-day. But, +I think, I had better lie low and wait. For if it is really offered to +me, I shall be to a certain extent in a position of advantage, and then +will be the time to weigh the matter. There is, upon my word, a certain +credit even in refusing. Wherefore, if Theophanes[195] by chance has +consulted you on the matter, do not absolutely decline. What I am +expecting to hear from you is, what Arrius says, and how he endures +being left in the lurch,[196] and who are intended to be consuls--is it +Pompey and Crassus, or, as I am told in a letter, Servius Sulpicius with +Gabinius?--and whether there are any new laws or anything new at all; +and, since Nepos[197] is leaving Rome, who is to have the augurship--the +one bait by which those personages could catch me! You see what a high +price I put on myself! Why do I talk about such things, which I am eager +to throw aside, and to devote myself heart and soul to philosophy. That, +I tell you, is my intention. I could wish I had done so from the first. +Now, however, that I have found by experience the hollowness of what I +thought so splendid, I am thinking of doing business exclusively with +the Muses. In spite of that, please give me in your next some more +definite information about Curtius and who is intended to fill his +place, and what is doing about P. Clodius, and, in fact, take your time +and tell me everything as you promise; and pray write me word what day +you think of leaving Rome, in order that I may tell you where I am +likely to be: and send me a letter at once on the subjects of which I +have written to you. I look forward much to hearing from you. + +[Footnote 193: The triumvirs. The mission to Egypt was in the affairs of +Ptolemy Auletes (father of Cleopatra), who was this year declared a +"friend and ally." He soon got expelled by his subjects.] + +[Footnote 194: _Il._ vi. 442; xxii. 100. Cicero's frequent expression +for popular opinion, or the opinion of those he respects--his Mrs. +Grundy.] + +[Footnote 195: Theophanes, a philosopher of Mitylene, a close friend of +Pompey's, in whose house he frequently resided. He took charge of +Pompey's wife and children in B.C. 48-47.] + +[Footnote 196: Q. Arrius, an orator and friend of Caesar's, by whose help +he had hoped for the consulship. See p. 49.] + +[Footnote 197: Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos (consul B.C. 57). His brother, +the consul of B.C. 60, had just died and made a vacancy in the college +of augurs.] + + + + +XXXII (A II, 6) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +ANTIUM (APRIL) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +As to my promise to you in a former letter that there should be some +product of this country excursion, I cannot confirm it to any great +extent: for I have become so attached to idleness that I cannot be torn +from its arms. Accordingly, I either enjoy myself with books, of which I +have a delightful stock at Antium, or I just count the waves--for the +rough weather prevents my shrimping! From writing my mind positively +recoils. For the geographical treatise, upon which I had settled, is a +serious undertaking: so severely is Eratosthenes, whom I had proposed as +my model, criticised by Serapio and Hipparchus: what think you will be +the case if Tyrannio[198] is added to the critics? And, by Hercules, the +subject is difficult of explanation and monotonous, and does not seem to +admit of as much embellishment as I thought, and, in short--which is the +chief point--any excuse for being idle seems to me a good one: for I am +even hesitating as to settling at Antium and spending the rest of my +life there, where, indeed, I would rather have been a duovir[199] than +at Rome. You, indeed, have done more wisely in having made yourself a +home at Buthrotum. But, believe me, next to that free town of yours +comes the borough of the Antiates. Could you have believed that there +could be a town so near Rome, where there are many who have never seen +Vatinius? Where there is no one besides myself who cares whether one of +the twenty commissioners[200] is alive and well? Where no one intrudes +upon me, and yet all are fond of me? This, this is the place to play the +statesman in! For yonder, not only am I not allowed to do so, but I am +sick of it besides. Accordingly, I will compose a book of secret memoirs +for your ear alone in the style of Theopompus, or a more acrid one +still.[201] Nor have I now any politics except to hate the disloyal, and +even that without any bitterness, but rather with a certain enjoyment in +writing. But to return to business: I have written to the city quaestors +about my brother's affair. See what they say to it, whether there is any +hope of the cash in _denarii_, or whether we are to be palmed off with +Pompeian _cistophori_.[202] Farthermore, settle what is to be done about +the wall. Is there anything else? Yes! Let me know when you are thinking +of starting. + +[Footnote 198: A captive brought by Lucullus, who became a friend of +Cicero and tutor to his son and nephew.] + +[Footnote 199: One of the two yearly officers of a colony--they answer +to the consuls at Rome. Therefore Cicero means, "I wish I had been a +consul in a small colony rather than a consul at Rome."] + +[Footnote 200: For distribution of land under Caesar's law. P. Vatinius +was a tribune this year, and worked in Caesar's interests.] + +[Footnote 201: Theopompus of Chios, the historian (_Att._ vi. 1, Sec. 12). +Born about B.C. 378. His bitterness censured by Polybius, viii. 11-13.] + +[Footnote 202: The money due from the treasury to Q. Cicero in Asia. He +wants it to be paid in Roman currency (_denarii_), not in Asiatic coins +(_cistophori_), a vast amount of which Pompey had brought home and +deposited in the treasury. So an Indian official might like sovereigns +instead of rupees if he could get them.] + + + + +XXXIII (A II, 7) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +ANTIUM (APRIL) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +About the geography I will think again and again. But you ask for two of +my speeches, one of which I did not care to write out because I had +ended it abruptly, the other because I did not want to praise the man I +did not like. But that, too, I will see about. At all events, something +shall be forthcoming to prevent your thinking that I have been +absolutely idle. I am quite delighted to hear what you tell me about +Publius; pray ferret out the whole story, and bring it to me when you +come, and meanwhile write anything you may make out or suspect, and +especially as to what he is going to do about the legation. For my part, +before reading your letter, I was anxious that the fellow should go, +not, by heaven, in order to avoid his impeachment--for I am wonderfully +keen to try issues with him--but it seemed to me that, if he had secured +any popularity by becoming a plebeian, he would thereby lose it. "Well, +why did you transfer yourself to the Plebs? Was it to make a call on +Tigranes? Tell me: do the kings of Armenia refuse to receive +patricians?" In a word, I had polished up my weapons to tear this +embassy of his to pieces. But if he rejects it, and thus moves the anger +of those proposers and augurs of the _lex curiata_,[203] it will be a +fine sight! By Hercules, to speak the truth, our friend Publius is being +treated a little contemptuously! In the first place, though he was once +the only man at Caesar's house, he is not now allowed to be one in +twenty:[204] in the next place, one legation had been promised him and +another has been given. The former fine fat one[205] for the levying of +money is reserved, I presume, for Drusus of Pisaurum or for the gourmand +Vatinius: this latter miserable business, which might be very well done +by a courier, is given to him, and his tribuneship deferred till it +suits them. Irritate the fellow, I beg you, as much as you can. The one +hope of safety is their mutual disagreement, the beginning of which I +have got scent of from Curio. Moreover, Arrius is fuming at being +cheated out of the consulship. Megabocchus and our blood-thirsty young +men are most violently hostile. May there be added to this, I pray, may +there be added, this quarrel about the augurate! I hope I shall often +have some fine letters to send you on these subjects. But I want to know +the meaning of your dark hint that some even of the _quinqueviri_[206] +are speaking out. What can it be? If there is anything in it, there is +more hope than I had thought. And I would not have you believe that I +ask you these questions "with any view to action,"[207] because my heart +is yearning to take part in practical politics. I was long ago getting +tired of being at the helm, even when it was in my power. And now that I +am forced to quit the ship, and have not cast aside the tiller, but have +had it wrenched out of my hands, my only wish is to watch their +shipwreck from the shore: I desire, in the words of your favourite +Sophocles, + + "And safe beneath the roof + To hear with drowsy ear the plash of rain." + +As to the wall, see to what is necessary. I will correct the mistake of +Castricius, and yet Quintus had made it in his letter to me 15,000, +while now to your sister he makes it 30,000.[208] Terentia sends you her +regards: my boy Cicero commissions you to give Aristodemus the same +answer for him as you gave for his cousin, your sister's son.[209] I +will not neglect your reminder about your Amaltheia.[210] Take care of +your health. + +[Footnote 203: As he was a man _sui iuris_, Clodius's adoption into a +new gens (_adrogatio_) would have to take place before the _comitia +curiata_ (now represented by thirty lictors), which still retained this +formal business. The ceremony required the presence of an augur and a +pontifex to hold it. Cicero supposes Pompey and Caesar as intending to +act in that capacity. Pompey, it seems, did eventually attend.] + +[Footnote 204: One of the twenty commissioners under Caesar's agrarian +law. Cicero was offered and declined a place among them. The "only man," +of course, refers to the intrusion on the mysteries.] + +[Footnote 205: To Egypt.] + +[Footnote 206: This seems also to refer to the twenty agrarian +commissioners, who, according to Mommsen, were divided into committees +of five, and were, therefore, spoken of indifferently as _quinqueviri_ +and _vigintiviri_. But it is somewhat uncertain.] + +[Footnote 207: [Greek: kata to praktikon].] + +[Footnote 208: Castricius seems to have been a _negotiator_ or banker in +Asia. We don't know what mistake is referred to; probably as to some +money transmitted to Pomponia.] + +[Footnote 209: It is suggested that Aristodemus is some teacher of the +two young Ciceros, to whom the young Marcus wishes to apologize for his +absence or to promise some study.] + +[Footnote 210: Perhaps some inscription or other ornament for Atticus's +gymnasium in his villa at Buthrotum.] + + + + +XXXIV (A II, 8) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +ANTIUM, APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +When I had been eagerly expecting a letter from you as usual till +evening, lo and behold a message that slaves have come from Rome. I +summon them: I ask if they have any letters. "No," say they. "What do +you say," said I, "nothing from Pomponius?" Frightened to death by my +voice and look, they confessed that they had received one, and that it +had been lost on the journey. Need I say more? I was intensely annoyed. +For no letter has come from you for the last few days without something +in it important and entertaining. In these circumstances, if there was +anything in the letter, dated 15th April, worth telling, pray write at +once, that I may not be left in ignorance; but if there was nothing but +banter, repeat even that for my benefit. And let me inform you that +young Curio has been to call on me. What he said about Publius agreed +exactly with your letter. He himself, moreover, wonderfully "holds our +proud kings in hate."[211] He told me that the young men generally were +equally incensed, and could not put up with the present state of things. +If there is hope in them, we are in a good way. My opinion is that we +should leave things to take their course. I am devoting myself to my +memoir. However, though you may think me a Saufeius,[212] I am really +the laziest fellow in the world. But get into your head my several +journeys, that you may settle where you intend to come and see me. I +intend to arrive at my Formian house on the Parilia (21st April). Next, +since you think that at this time I ought to leave out luxurious +Crater,[213] on the 1st of May I leave Formiae, intending to reach Antium +on the 3rd of May. For there are games at Antium from the 4th to the 6th +of May, and Tullia wants to see them. Thence I think of going to +Tusculum, thence to Arpinum, and be at Rome on the 1st of June. Be sure +that we see you at Formiae or Antium, or at Tusculum. Rewrite your +previous letter for me, and add something new. + +[Footnote 211: A verse from Lucilius. "Young Curio" is the future +tribune of B.C. 50, who was bribed by Caesar, joined him at Ravenna at +the end of that year, was sent by him in B.C. 49 to Sicily and Africa, +and fell in battle with the Pompeians and King Iuba.] + +[Footnote 212: L. Saufeius, the Epicurean friend of Atticus (see Letter +II). He seems to mean, "as indefatigable as Saufeius." But Prof. Tyrrell +points out that it might mean, "at the risk of your thinking me as +Epicurean and self-indulgent as Saufeius, I say," etc.] + +[Footnote 213: The bay of Misenum, near which was Cicero's Pompeianum.] + + + + +XXXV (A II, 9) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +ANTIUM, MAY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +Caecilius[214] the quaestor having suddenly informed me that he was +sending a slave to Rome, I write these hurried lines in order to get out +of you the wonderful conversations with Publius, both those of which you +write, and that one which you keep dark, and assert that it would be too +long to write your answer to him; and, still farther, the one that has +not yet been held, which that Iuno of a woman[215] is to report to you +when she gets back from Solonium. I wish you to believe that there can +be nothing I should like more. If, however, the compact made about me is +not kept, I am in a seventh heaven to think that our friend the +Jerusalemitish plebeian-maker[216] will learn what a fine return he has +made to my brilliant speeches, of which you may expect a splendid +recantation. For, as well as I can guess, if that profligate is in +favour with our tyrants, he will be able to crow not only over the +"cynic consular,"[217] but over your Tritons of the fish-ponds +also.[218] For I shall not possibly be an object of anybody's jealousy +when robbed of power and of my influence in the senate. If, on the other +hand, he should quarrel with them, it will not suit his purpose to +attack me. However, let him attack. Charmingly, believe me, and with +less noise than I had thought, has the wheel of the Republic revolved: +more rapidly, anyhow, than it should have done owing to Cato's error, +but still more owing to the unconstitutional conduct of those who have +neglected the auspices, the AElian law, the Iunian, the Licinian, the +Caecilian and Didian,[219] who have squandered all the safeguards of the +constitution, who have handed over kingdoms as though they were private +estates to tetrachs,[220] and immense sums of money to a small coterie. +I see plainly now the direction popular jealousy is taking, and where it +will finally settle. Believe that I have learnt nothing from experience, +nothing from Theophrastus,[221] if you don't shortly see the time of our +government an object of regret. For if the power of the senate was +disliked, what do you think will be the case when it has passed, not to +the people, but to three unscrupulous men? So let them then make whom +they choose consuls, tribunes, and even finally clothe Vatinius's wen +with the double-dyed purple[222] of the priesthood, you will see before +long that the great men will be not only those who have made no false +step,[223] but even he who did make a mistake, Cato. For, as to myself, +if your comrade Publius will let me, I think of playing the sophist: if +he forces me, I shall at least defend myself, and, as is the trick of my +trade, I publicly promise to + + "Strike back at him who first is wroth with me."[224] + +May the country only be on my side: it has had from me, if not more than +its due, at least more than it ever demanded. I would rather have a bad +passage with another pilot than be a successful pilot to such ungrateful +passengers. But this will do better when we meet. For the present take +an answer to your questions. I think of returning to Antium from Formiae +on the 3rd of May. From Antium I intend to start for Tusculum on the 7th +of May. But as soon as I have returned from Formiae (I intend to be there +till the 29th of April) I will at once inform you. Terentia sends +compliments, and "Cicero the little greets Titus the Athenian."[225] + +[Footnote 214: Q. Caecilius Bassus, probably quaestor at Ostia. Antium +would be in his district.] + +[Footnote 215: [Greek: boopis], _sc._ Clodia. She is to talk to her +brother about Cicero. She is "Iuno" perhaps as an enemy--as Bacon called +the Duchess of Burgundy Henry VII.'s Iuno--or perhaps for a less decent +reason, as _coniux sororque_ of Publius.] + +[Footnote 216: Pompey, who was proud of having taken Jerusalem. +_Traductor ad plebem_, said of the magistrate presiding at the _comitia_ +for adoption.] + +[Footnote 217: Cicero himself. Clodius may have called him this from his +biting repartees. Prof. Tyrrell, "Tear 'em."] + +[Footnote 218: The nobility, whom Cicero has before attacked as idle and +caring for nothing but their fish-ponds (_piscinarii_, cp. p. 59).] + +[Footnote 219: The _lex AElia_ (about B.C. 150) was a law regulating the +powers of magistrates to dissolve _comitia_ on religious grounds, such +as bad omens, _servata de coelo, etc._ Cicero (who could have had very +little belief in the augural science) regards them as safeguards of the +state, because as the Optimates generally secured the places in the +augural college, it gave them a hold on elections and legislation. +Bibulus tried in vain to use these powers to thwart Caesar this year. The +_lex Caecilia Didia_ (.B.C. 98) enforced the _trinundinatio_, or three +weeks' notice of elections and laws, and forbade the proposal of a _lex +satura_, _i.e._, a law containing a number of miscellaneous enactments. +Perhaps its violation refers to the _acta_ of Pompey in the East, which +he wanted to have confirmed _en bloc_. The senate had made difficulties: +but one of the fruits of the triumvirate was a measure for doing it. The +_lex Iunia et Licinia_ (B.C. 62) confirmed the _Caecilia Didia_, and +secured that the people knew what the proposed laws were.] + +[Footnote 220: As Pompey did in Asia, _e.g._, to Deiotarus of Galatia, +and about ten others. It is curious that Cicero speaks of the _pauci_ +just as his opponent Caesar and Augustus after him. Each side looks on +the other as a coterie (Caesar, _B. C._ i. 22; Monum. Ancyr. i. Sec. 1)] + +[Footnote 221: Theophrastus, successor of Aristotle at the Lyceum, +Athens (p. 70).] + +[Footnote 222: The purple-bordered toga of the augur. Vatinius did not +get the augurship. He had some disfiguring swelling or wen.] + +[Footnote 223: Himself.] + +[Footnote 224: [Greek: andr' apamynesthai, hote tis proteros chalepene] +(Hom. _Il._ xxiv. 369).] + +[Footnote 225: Written in Greek, perhaps by the boy himself.] + + + + +XXXVI (A II, 12) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +TRES TABERNAE, 12 APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +Are they going to deny that Publius has been made a plebeian? This is +indeed playing the king, and is utterly intolerable. Let Publius send +some men to witness and seal my affidavit: I will take an oath that my +friend Gnaeus, the colleague of Balbus, told me at Antium that he had +been present as augur to take the auspices. Two delightful letters from +you delivered at the same time! For which I do not know what I am to pay +you by way of reward for good news. That I owe you for them I candidly +confess. But observe the coincidence. I had just made my way from Antium +on to the _via Appia_ at Three Taverns,[226] on the very day of the +Cerealia (18th April), when my friend Curio meets me on his way from +Rome. At the same place and the same moment comes a slave from you with +letters. The former asked me whether I hadn't heard the news? I said, +"No." "Publius," says he, "is a candidate for the tribuneship." "You +don't mean it?" "Yes, I do," says he, "and at daggers drawn with Caesar. +His object is to rescind his acts." "What says Caesar?" said I. "He +denies having proposed any _lex_ for his adoption." Then he poured forth +about his own hatred, and that of Memmius and Metellus Nepos. I embraced +the youth and said good-bye to him, hastening to your letters. A fig for +those who talk about a "living voice"! What a much clearer view I got of +what was going on from your letters than from his talk! About the +current rumours of the day, about the designs of Publius, about "Iuno's" +trumpet calls, about Athenio who leads his roughs, about his letter to +Gnaeus, about the conversation of Theophanes and Memmius. Besides, how +eager you have made me to hear about the "fast" dinner party which you +mention! I am greedy in curiosity, yet I do not feel at all hurt at your +not writing me a description of the symposium: I would rather hear it by +word of mouth. As to your urging me to write something, my material +indeed is growing, as you say, but the whole is still in a state of +fermentation--"new wine in the autumn." When the liquor has settled down +and become clarified, I shall know better what to write. And even if you +cannot get it from me at once, you shall be the first to have it: only +for some time you must keep it to yourself. You are quite right to like +Dicaearchus; he is an excellent writer, and a much better citizen than +these rulers of ours who reverse his name.[227] I write this letter at +four o'clock in the afternoon of the Cerealia (12th April), immediately +after reading yours, but I shall despatch it, I think, to-morrow, by +anyone I may chance to meet on the road. Terentia is delighted with your +letter, _et Ciceron le philosophe salue Titus l'homme d'etat_. + +[Footnote 226: Where the road from Antium joins the Appia. Cicero seems +to be on his way to Formiae, where he had intended to arrive on the 21st. +He must be going very leisurely.] + +[Footnote 227: [Greek: Dikaiarchos] and [Greek: adikaiarchoi], a pun on +a name not reproducible in English: "just-rulers" and "unjust-rulers."] + + + + +XXXVII (A II, 10) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +APPII FORUM,[228] APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +Please admire my consistency. I am determined not to be at the games at +Antium: for it is somewhat of a solecism to wish to avoid all suspicion +of frivolity, and yet suddenly to be shewn up as travelling for mere +amusement, and that of a foolish kind. Wherefore I shall wait for you +till the 7th of May at Formiae. So now let me know what day we shall see +you. From Appii Forum, ten o'clock. I sent another a short time ago from +Three Taverns. + +[Footnote 228: On the _via Appia_. Cicero halts at Appii Forum and at +once despatches a short note, probably by some one he finds there going +to Rome, to announce a change of plan. He had meant to get back to +Antium on 6th May, because Tullia wanted to see the games. See Letter +XXXIV, p. 96.] + + + + +XXXVIII (A II, 11) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +FORMIAE, APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +I tell you what it is: I feel myself a downright exile since arriving at +Formiae. For at Antium there was never a day that I didn't know what was +going on at Rome better than those who were there. For your letters +used to shew me not only what was doing at Rome, but the actual +political situation also--and not only that, but also what was likely to +happen. Now, unless I snatch a bit of news from some passing traveller, +I can learn nothing at all. Wherefore, though I am expecting you in +person, yet pray give this boy, whom I have ordered to hurry back to me +at once, a bulky letter, crammed not only with all occurrences, but with +what you think about them; and be careful to let me know the day you are +going to leave Rome. I intend staying at Formiae till the 6th of May. If +you don't come there by that day, I shall perhaps see you at Rome. For +why should I invite you to Arpinum? + + "A rugged soil, yet nurse of hardy sons: + No dearer land can e'er my eyes behold."[229] + +So much for this. Take care of your health. + +[Footnote 229: Homer, _Odyss._ ix. 27.] + + + + +XXXIX (A II, 13) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +FORMIAE, APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +What an abominable thing! No one gave you my letter written on the spot +at Three Taverns in answer to your delightful letters! But the fact is +that the packet into which I had put it arrived at my town house on the +same day as I wrote it, and has been brought back to me to Formiae. +Accordingly, I have directed the letter meant for you to be taken back +again, to shew you how pleased I was with yours. So you say that the +talk has died out at Rome! I thought so: but, by Hercules, it hasn't +died out in the country, and it has come to this, that the very country +can't stand the despotism you have got at Rome. When you come to +"Laestrygonia of the distant gates"[230]--I mean Formiae--what loud +murmurs! what angry souls! what unpopularity for our friend Magnus! His +surname is getting as much out of fashion as the "Dives" of Crassus. +Believe me, I have met no one here to take the present state of things +as quietly as I do. Wherefore, credit me, let us stick to philosophy. I +am ready to take my oath that there is nothing to beat it. If you have a +despatch to send to the Sicyonians,[231] make haste to Formiae, whence I +think of going on the 6th of May. + +[Footnote 230: [Greek: telepylon Laistrygonien], whose king Lamus +(_Odyss._ x. 81) was supposed to have founded Formiae (Horace, _Od._ iii. +17).] + +[Footnote 231: A despatch from senate or consuls. See Letter XXIV, p. +60.] + + + + +XL (A II, 14) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +FORMIAE, APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47.] + +How you rouse my curiosity as to what Bibulus says, as to your +conversation with "Iuno," and even as to your "fast" dinner party! +Therefore make haste to come, for my ears are thirsty for news. However, +there is nothing which I think is now more to be dreaded by me than that +our dear Sampsiceramus, finding himself belaboured by the tongues of +all, and seeing these proceedings easy to upset, should begin striking +out. For myself, I have so completely lost all nerve, that I prefer a +despotism, with the existing peace, to a state of war with the best +hopes in the world. As to literary composition, to which you frequently +urge me, it is impossible! My house is a basilica rather than a villa, +owing to the crowds of visitors from Formiae. But (you'll say) do I +really compare the AEmilian tribe to the crowd in a basilica?[232] Well, +I say nothing about the common ruck--the rest of them don't bother me +after ten o'clock: but C. Arrius is my next door neighbour, or rather, +he almost lives in my house, and even declares that the reason for his +not going to Rome is that he may spend whole days with me here +philosophizing! And then, lo and behold, on my other side is Sebosus, +that friend of Catulus! Which way am I to turn? By heaven, I would start +at once for Arpinum, only that I see that the most convenient place to +await your visit is Formiae: but only up to the 6th of May! For you see +with what bores my ears are pestered. What a splendid opportunity, with +such fellows in the house, if anyone wanted to buy my Formian +property![233] And in spite of all this am I to make good my words, "Let +us attempt something great, and requiring much thought and leisure"? +However, I _will_ do something for you, and not spare my labour. + +[Footnote 232: _At comparem_ for _at quam partem_. _At_ has its usual +force of introducing a supposed objection. I can't, say you, compare the +AEmilian tribe, the Formiani, to a crowd in a court-house! They are not +so bad as that, not so wasteful of time! I take _basilica_ to mean the +saunterers in a basilica, as we might say "the park" for the company in +it, "the exchange" for the brokers in it. I feel certain that Prof. +Tyrrell is wrong in ascribing the words _sed--sunt_ to a quotation from +Atticus's letter. What is wanted is to remove the full stop after +_sunt_. The contrast Cicero is drawing is between the interruption to +literary work of a crowd of visitors and of one or two individuals +always turning up. The second is the worse--and here I think all workers +will agree with him: the crowd of visitors (_vulgus_) go at the regular +hour, but individuals come in at all hours.] + +[Footnote 233: Because he would be inclined to sell it cheap in his +disgust.] + + + + +XLI (A II, 15) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +FORMIAE, APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +As you say, things are as shifting (I see) in public affairs as in your +letter; still, that very variety of talk and opinion has a charm for me. +For I seem to be at Rome when I am reading your letter, and, as is the +regular thing in questions of such importance, to hear something first +on one side and then on the other. But what I can't make out is +this--what he can possibly hit upon to settle the land question without +encountering opposition. Again, as to Bibulus's firmness in putting off +the _comitia_, it only conveys the expression of his own views, without +really offering any remedy for the state of the Republic. Upon my word, +my only hope is in Publius! Let him become, let him become a tribune by +all means, if for no other reason, yet that you may be brought back from +Epirus! For I don't see how you can possibly afford to miss him, +especially if he shall elect to have a wrangle with me! But, seriously, +if anything of the sort occurs, you would, I am certain, hurry back. But +even supposing this not to be the case, yet whether he runs amuck or +helps to raise the state, I promise myself a fine spectacle, if only I +may enjoy it with you sitting by my side.[234] Just as I was writing +these words, enter Sebosus! I had scarcely got out a sigh when "Good +day," says Arrius. This is what you call going out of town! I shall +really be off to + + "My native mountains and my childhood's haunts."[235] + +In fine, if I can't be alone I would rather be with downright +countryfolk than with such ultra-cockneys. However, I shall, since you +don't say anything for certain, wait for you up to the 5th of May. +Terentia is much pleased with the attention and care you have bestowed +on her controversy with Mulvius. She is not aware that you are +supporting the common cause of all holders of public land. Yet, after +all, _you_ do pay something to the _publicani_; she declines to pay even +that,[236] and, accordingly, she and Cicero--most conservative of +boys--send their kind regards. + +[Footnote 234: The spectacle Cicero hopes for is Clodius's contests with +the triumvirs.] + +[Footnote 235: To Arpinum (see last letter). The verse is not known, and +may be a quotation from his own poem on Marius. He often quotes +himself.] + +[Footnote 236: This is not mentioned elsewhere. The explanation seems to +be that for the _ager publicus_ allotted under the Sempronian laws a +small rent had been exacted, which was abolished by a law of B.C. 111 +(the name of the law being uncertain). But some _ager publicus_ still +paid rent, and the _publicanus_ Mulvius seems to have claimed it from +some land held by Terentia, perhaps on the ground that it was land (such +as the _ager Campanus_) not affected by the law of Gracchus, and +therefore not by the subsequent law abolishing rent.] + + + + + +XLII (A II, 16) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +FORMIAE, 29 APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +On the day before the Kalends of May, when I had dined and was just +going to sleep, the letter was delivered to me containing your news +about the Campanian land. You needn't ask: at first it gave me such a +shock that there was no more sleep for me, though that was the result of +thought rather than pain. On reflexion, however, the following ideas +occurred to me. In the first place, from what you had said in your +previous letter--"that you had heard from a friend of his[237] that a +proposal was going to be made which would satisfy everybody"--I had +feared some very sweeping measure, but I don't think this is anything of +the sort. In the next place, by way of consolation, I persuaded myself +that the hope of a distribution of land is now all centred on the +Campanian territory.[238] That land cannot support more than 5,000, so +as to give ten _iugera_ apiece:[239] the rest of the crowd of expectants +must necessarily be alienated from them. Besides, if there is anything +that more than another could inflame the feeling of the aristocrats, who +are, I notice, already irritated, it is this; and all the more that with +port-dues in Italy abolished,[240] and the Campanian land divided, what +home revenue is there except the five per cent. on manumissions? And +even that, I think, it will only take a single trumpery harangue, +cheered by our lackeys, to throw away also. What our friend Gnaeus can +be thinking of I can't imagine-- + + "For still he blows, and with no slender pipe, + But furious blasts by no mouth-band restrained"-- + +to be induced to countenance such a measure as that. For hitherto he has +fenced with these questions: "he approved Caesar's laws, but Caesar must +be responsible for his proceedings in carrying them"; "he himself was +satisfied with the agrarian law"; "whether it could be vetoed by a +tribune or no was nothing to do with him"; "he thought the time had come +for the business of the Alexandrine king to be settled"; "it was no +business of his to inquire whether Bibulus had been watching the sky on +that occasion or no"; "as to the _publicani_, he had been willing to +oblige that order"; "what was going to happen if Bibulus came down to +the forum at that time he could not have guessed."[241] But now, my +Sampsiceramus, what will you say to this? That you have secured us a +revenue from the Antilibanus and removed that from the Campanian land? +Well, how do you mean to vindicate that? "I shall coerce you," says he, +"by means of Caesar's army." You won't coerce me, by Hercules, by your +army so much as by the ingratitude of the so-called _boni_, who have +never made me any return, even in words, to say nothing of substantial +rewards. But if I had put out my strength against that coterie, I should +certainly have found some way of holding my own against them. As things +are, in view of the controversy between your friend Dicaearchus and my +friend Theophrastus--the former recommending the life of action, the +latter the life of contemplation--I think I have already obeyed both. +For as to Dicaearchus, I think I have satisfied his requirements; at +present my eyes are fixed on the school which not only allows of my +abstaining from business, but blames me for not having always done so. +Wherefore let me throw myself, my dear Titus, into those noble studies, +and let me at length return to what I ought never to have left. + +As to what you say about Quintus's letter, when he wrote to me he was +also "in front a lion and behind a ----."[242] I don't know what to say +about it; for in the first lines of his letter he makes such a +lamentation over his continuance in his province, that no one could help +being affected: presently he calms down sufficiently to ask me to +correct and edit his Annals. However, I would wish you to have an eye to +what you mention, I mean the duty on goods transferred from port to +port. He says that by the advice of his council he has referred the +question to the senate. He evidently had not read my letter, in which +after having considered and investigated the matter, I had sent him a +written opinion that they were not payable.[243] If any Greeks have +already arrived at Rome from Asia on that business, please look into it +and, if you think it right, explain to them my opinion on the subject. +If, to save the good cause in the senate, I can retract, I will gratify +the _publicani_: but if not, to be plain with you, I prefer in this +matter the interests of all Asia and the merchants; for it affects the +latter also very seriously. I think it is a matter of great importance +to us. But you will settle it. Are the quaestors, pray, still hesitating +on the _cistophorus_ question?[244] If nothing better is to be had, +after trying everything in our power, I should be for not refusing even +the lowest offer. I shall see you at Arpinum and offer you country +entertainment, since you have despised this at the seaside. + +[Footnote 237: Caesar.] + +[Footnote 238: The old territory of Capua and the Stellatian Plain had +been specially reserved from distribution under the laws of the Gracchi, +and this reservation had not been repealed in subsequent laws: _ad +subsidia reipublicae vectigalem relictum_ (Suet. _Caes._ 20; cp. Cic. 2 +_Phil._ Sec. 101).] + +[Footnote 239: According to Suetonius 20,000 citizens had allotments on +the _ager publicus_ in Campania. But Dio says (xxxviii. 1) that the +Campanian land was exempted by the _lex Iulia_ also. Its settlement was +probably later, by colonies of Caesar's veterans. A _iugerum_ is +five-eighths of an acre.] + +[Footnote 240: See Letter XXIX, p. 82. They were abolished B.C. 60.] + +[Footnote 241: This and the mention of Caesar's "army" (a bodyguard) is +explained by Suet. _Caes._ 20: "Having promulgated his agrarian law, +Caesar expelled his colleague, Bibulus, by force of arms from the Forum +when trying to stop proceedings by announcing bad omens ... and finally +reduced him to such despair that for the rest of his year of office he +confined himself to his house and only announced his bad omens by means +of edicts." Bibulus appears to have been hustled by the mob also.] + +[Footnote 242: [Greek: prosthe leon opithen de ----]. Cicero leaves +Atticus, as he often does, to fill up the rest of the line, [Greek: +drakon, messe de chimaira] (Hom. _Il._ vi. 181). He means, of course, +that Quintus is inconsistent.] + +[Footnote 243: The question seems to be as to goods brought to a port +and paying duty, and then, not finding a sale, being transferred to +another port in the same province. The _publicani_ at the second port +demanded the payment of a duty again, which Cicero decides against +them.] + +[Footnote 244: Schutz takes this to mean, "Are the quaestors now doubting +as to paying _even cistophori_?" _i.e._, are they, so far from paying in +Roman _denarii_, even hesitating to pay in Asiatic? But if so, what is +the _extremum_ which Cicero advises Quintus to accept? Prof. Tyrrell, +besides, points out that the quaestors could hardly refuse to pay +anything for provincial expenses. It is a question between _cistophori_ +and _denarii_. See p. 92.] + + + + +XLIII (A II, 17) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +FORMIAE, MAY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +I quite agree with your letter. Sampsiceramus is getting up a +disturbance. We have everything to fear. He is preparing a despotism and +no mistake about it. For what else is the meaning of that sudden +marriage union,[245] the Campanian land affair, the lavish expenditure +of money? If these measures were final, even then the mischief had been +very great; but the nature of the case makes finality impossible. For +how could these measures possibly give them any pleasure in themselves? +They would never have gone so far as this unless they had been paving +the way for other fatal steps. Immortal Gods!--But, as you say, at +Arpinum about the 10th of May we will not weep over these questions, +lest the hard work and midnight oil I have spent over my studies shall +turn out to have been wasted, but discuss them together calmly. For I am +not so much consoled by a sanguine disposition as by philosophic +"indifference,"[246] which I call to my aid in nothing so much as in our +civil and political business. Nay, more, whatever vanity or sneaking +love of reputation there is lurking in me--for it is well to know one's +faults--is tickled by a certain pleasurable feeling. For it used to +sting me to the heart to think that centuries hence the services of +Sampsiceramus to the state would loom larger than my own. That anxiety, +at least, is now put to rest. For he is so utterly fallen that, in +comparison with him, Curius might seem to be standing erect after his +fall.[247] But all this when we meet. Yet, as far as I can see, you will +be at Rome when I come. I shall not be at all sorry for that, if you +can conveniently manage it. But if you come to see me, as you say in +your letter, I wish you would fish out of Theophanes how +"Arabarches"[248] is disposed to me. You will, of course, inquire with +your usual zeal, and bring me the result to serve as a kind of +suggestion for the line of conduct I am to adopt. From his conversation +we shall be able to get an inkling of the whole situation. + +[Footnote 245: The marriage of Pompey with Caesar's daughter Iulia.] + +[Footnote 246: [Greek: adiaphoria], a word taken from the Stoies, _huic_ +[_Zenoni_] _summum bonum est in his rebus neutram in partem moveri, quae +[Greek: adiaphoria] ab ipso dicitur_ (_Acad._ ii. Sec. 130).] + +[Footnote 247: C. Curius, one of the Catiline set, who had been +ignominiously expelled from the senate.] + +[Footnote 248: Another nickname of Pompey, from the title of the head of +the Thebais in Egypt. Like Sampsiceramus and the others, it is meant as +a scornful allusion to Pompey's achievements in the East, and perhaps +his known wish to have the direction of affairs in Egypt.] + + + + +XLIV (A II, 18) + +TO ATTICUS (ON HIS WAY TO EPIRUS) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +I have received several letters from you, which shewed me with what +eagerness and anxiety you desired to know the news. We are bound hard +and fast on every side, and are no longer making any difficulty as to +being slaves, but fearing death and exile as though greater evils, +though they are in fact much smaller ones. Well, this is the +position--one unanimously groaned over, but not relieved by a word from +anyone. The object, I surmise, of the men in power is to leave nothing +for anyone to lavish. The only man who opens his mouth and openly +disapproves is the young Curio. He is loudly cheered, and greeted in the +forum in the most complimentary manner, and many other tokens of +goodwill are bestowed on him by the loyalists; while Fufius[249] is +pursued with shouts, jeers, and hisses. From such circumstances it is +not hope but indignation that is increased, for you see the citizens +allowed to express their sentiments, but debarred from carrying them out +with any vigour. And to omit details, the upshot is that there is now no +hope, I don't say of private persons, but even of the magistrates being +ever free again. Nevertheless, in spite of this policy of repression, +conversation, at least in society and at dinner tables, is freer than it +was. Indignation is beginning to get the better of fear, though that +does not prevent a universal feeling of despair. For this Campanian +law[250] contains a clause imposing an oath to be taken by candidates in +public meeting, that they will not suggest any tenure of public land +other than that provided in the Julian laws. All the others take the +oath without hesitation: Laterensis[251] is considered to have shewn +extraordinary virtue in retiring from his canvass for the tribuneship to +avoid the oath. But I don't care to write any more about politics. I am +dissatisfied with myself, and cannot write without the greatest pain. I +hold my own position with some dignity, considering the general +repression, but considering my achievements in the past, with less +courage than I should like. I am invited by Caesar in a very gentlemanly +manner to accept a legation, to act as _legatus_ to himself, and even an +"open votive legation" is offered me. But the latter does not give +sufficient security, since it depends too much on the scrupulousness of +Pulchellus[252] and removes me just when my brother is returning;[253] +the former offers better security and does not prevent my returning when +I please. I am retaining the latter, but do not think I shall use it. +However, nobody knows about it. I don't like running away; I am itching +to fight. There is great warmth of feeling for me. But I don't say +anything positive: you will please not to mention it. I am, in fact, +very anxious about the manumission of Statius[254] and some other +things, but I have become hardened by this time. I could wish, or rather +ardently desire, that you were here: then I should not want advice or +consolation. But anyhow, be ready to fly hither directly I call for you. + +[Footnote 249: See Letter XIX, p. 35.] + +[Footnote 250: _I.e._, Caesar's _agrarian law_, by which some of the +Campanian _ager publicus_ was to be divided.] + +[Footnote 251: M. Iuventius Laterensis. See Letter L, p. 123.] + +[Footnote 252: Pulchellus, _i.e._, P. Clodius Pulcher. The diminutive is +used to express contempt. Cicero, since his return to Rome, is beginning +to realize his danger.] + +[Footnote 253: A _libera legatio_ was really a colourable method of a +senator travelling with the right of exacting certain payments for his +expenses from the Italian or provincial towns. Sometimes it was simply a +_legatio libera_, a sinecure without any pretence of purpose, sometimes +it was _voti causa_, enabling a man to fulfil some vow he was supposed +to have made. It was naturally open to much abuse, and Cicero as consul +had passed a law for limiting it in time. Clodius would become tribune +on 10 December, and this _libera legatio_ would protect Cicero as long +as it lasted, but it would not, he thinks, last long enough to outstay +the tribuneship: if he went as _legatus_ to Caesar in Gaul, he would be +safe, and might choose his own time for resigning and returning to +Rome.] + +[Footnote 254: Statius, a slave of Quintus, was unpopular in the +province. See p. 125.] + + + + +XLV (A II, 19) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME (JULY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +I have many causes for anxiety, both from the disturbed state of +politics and from the personal dangers with which I am threatened. They +are very numerous; but nothing gives me more annoyance than the +manumission of Statius: "To think that he should have no reverence for +my authority! But of authority I say nothing--that he should have no +fear of a quarrel with me, to put it mildly!"[255] But what I am to do I +don't know, nor indeed is there so much in the affair as you would think +from the talk about it. For myself, I am positively incapable of being +angry with those I love deeply. I only feel vexed, and that to a +surprising degree. Other vexations are on really important matters. The +threats of Clodius and the conflicts before me touch me only slightly. +For I think I can either confront them with perfect dignity or decline +them without any embarrassment. You will say, perhaps, "Enough of +dignity, like the proverb, 'Enough of the oak':[256] an you love me, +take thought for safety!" Ah, dear me, dear me, why are you not here? +Nothing, certainly, could have escaped you. I, perhaps, am somewhat +blinded, and too much affected by my high ideal. I assure you there +never was anything so scandalous, so shameful, so offensive to all +sorts, conditions and ages of men alike, as the present state of +affairs. It is more so, by Hercules, than I could have wished, but not +more than I had expected. Your _populares_ have now taught even usually +quiet men to hiss. Bibulus is praised to the skies: I don't know why, +but he has the same sort of applause as his + + "Who by delays restored alone our State."[257] + +Pompey--the man I loved--has, to my infinite sorrow, ruined his own +reputation. They hold no one by affection, and I fear they will be +forced to use terror. I, however, refrain from hostility to their cause +owing to my friendship for him, and yet I cannot approve, lest I should +stultify my own past. The feeling of the people was shewn as clearly as +possible in the theatre and at the shows. For at the gladiators both +master and supporters were overwhelmed with hisses. At the games of +Apollo the actor Diphilus made a pert allusion to Pompey, in the words: + + "By our misfortunes thou art--Great." + +He was encored countless times. When he delivered the line, + + "The time will come when thou wilt deeply mourn + That self-same valour," + +the whole theatre broke out into applause, and so on with the rest. For +the verses do seem exactly as though they were written by some enemy of +Pompey's to hit the time. "If neither laws nor customs can control," +etc., caused great sensation and loud shouts. Caesar having entered as +the applause died away, he was followed by the younger Curio. The latter +received an ovation such as used to be given to Pompey when the +constitution was still intact. Caesar was much annoyed. A despatch is +said to have been sent flying off to Pompey at Capua.[258] _They_ are +offended with the equites, who rose to their feet and cheered Curio, and +are at war with everybody. They are threatening the Roscian law,[259] +and even the corn law.[260] There has been a great hubbub altogether. +For my part, I should have preferred their doings being silently +ignored; but that, I fear, won't be allowed. Men are indignant at what +nevertheless must, it seems, be put up with. The whole people have +indeed now one voice, but its strength depends rather on exasperation +than anything to back it up. Farthermore, our Publius is threatening me: +he is hostile, and a storm is hanging over my head which should bring +you post haste to town. I believe that I am still firmly supported by +the same phalanx of all loyal or even tolerably loyal men which +supported me when consul. Pompey displays no common affection for me. He +also asserts that Clodius is not going to say a word about me. In which +he is not deceiving me, but is himself deceived. Cosconius having died, +I am invited to fill his place.[261] That would indeed be a case of +"invited to a dead man's place." I should have been beneath contempt in +the eyes of the world, and nothing could be conceived less likely to +secure that very "personal safety" of which you speak. For those +commissioners are disliked by the loyalists, and so I should have +retained my own unpopularity with the disloyal, with the addition of +that attaching to others. Caesar wishes me to accept a legateship under +him. This is a more honourable method of avoiding the danger. But I +don't wish to avoid it. What do I want, then? Why, I prefer fighting. +However, I have not made up my mind. Again I say, Oh that you were here! +However, if it is absolutely necessary I will summon you. What else is +there to say? What else? This, I think: I am certain that all is lost. +For why mince matters any longer? But I write this in haste, and, by +Hercules, in rather a nervous state. On some future occasion I will +either write to you at full length, if I find a very trustworthy person +to whom to give a letter, or if I write darkly you will understand all +the same. In these letters I will be Laelius, you Furius; the rest shall +be in riddles. Here I cultivate Caecilius,[262] and pay him assiduous +attention. I hear Bibulus's edicts have been sent to you. Our friend +Pompey is hot with indignation and wrath at them.[263] + +[Footnote 255: Terence, _Phorm._ 232.] + +[Footnote 256: [Greek: halis dryos], _i.e._, feeding on acorns is a +thing of the past, it is out of date, like the golden age when they fed +on wild fruit _et quae deciderant patula Iovis arbore glandes_ (Ovid, +_Met._ i. 106); and so is dignity, it is a question of _safety_ now.] + +[Footnote 257: Ennius on Q. Fabius Maximus Cunctator.] + +[Footnote 258: Pompey was in Campania acting as one of the twenty land +commissioners.] + +[Footnote 259: The _lex Roscia theatralis_ (B.C. 67), which gave +fourteen rows of seats to the equites.] + +[Footnote 260: That is, the law for distribution of corn among poorer +citizens. There were many such. Perhaps the most recent was the _lex +Cassia Terentia_ (B.C. 73). Caesar, who, when in later years he became +supreme, restricted this privilege, may have threatened to do so now.] + +[Footnote 261: _I.e._, as one of the twenty land commissioners. The next +clause seems to refer to some proverbial expression, "to be invited to a +place at Pluto's table," or some such sentence. Cicero means that his +acceptance would be equivalent to political extinction, either from the +obscurity of Cosconius or the inconsistency of the proceeding.] + +[Footnote 262: The uncle of Atticus. See p. 15.] + +[Footnote 263: After the scene of violence in which Bibulus, on +attempting to prevent the agrarian law being passed, was driven from the +rostra, with his lictors' fasces broken, he shut himself up in his house +and published edicts declaring Caesar's acts invalid, and denouncing the +conduct of Pompey (Suet. _Caes._ 20; Dio, xxxviii. 6).] + + + + +XLVI (A II, 20) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME (JULY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +I have done everything I could for Anicatus, as I understood was your +wish. Numestius, in accordance with your earnestly expressed letter, I +have adopted as a friend. Caecilius I look after diligently in all ways +possible. Varro[264] does all I could expect for me. Pompey loves me and +regards me as a dear friend. "Do you believe that?" you will say. I do: +he quite convinces me. But seeing that men of the world in all +histories, precepts, and even verses, are for ever bidding one be on +one's guard and forbidding belief, I carry out the former--"to be on my +guard"--the latter--"to disbelieve"[265]--I cannot carry out. Clodius is +still threatening me with danger. Pompey asserts that there is no +danger. He swears it. He even adds that he will himself be murdered by +him sooner than I injured. The negotiation is going on. As soon as +anything is settled I will write you word. If I have to fight, I will +summon you to share in the work. If I am let alone, I won't rout you out +of your "Amaltheia." About politics I will write briefly: for I am now +afraid lest the very paper should betray me. Accordingly, in future, if +I have anything more to write to you, I shall clothe it in covert +language. For the present the state is dying of a novel disorder; for +although everybody disapproves of what has been done, complains, and is +indignant about it, and though there is absolutely no difference of +opinion on the subject, and people now speak openly and groan aloud, yet +no remedy is applied: for we do not think resistance possible without a +general slaughter, nor see what the end of concession is to be except +ruin. Bibulus is exalted to the skies as far as admiration and affection +go. His edicts and speeches are copied out and read. He has reached the +summit of glory in a novel way. There is now nothing so popular as the +dislike of the popular party. I have my fears as to how this will end. +But if I ever see my way clearly in anything, I will write to you more +explicitly. For yourself, if you love me as much as I am sure you do, +take care to be ready to come in all haste as soon as I call for you. +But I do my best, and shall do so, to make it unnecessary. I said I +would call you Furius in my letters, but it is not necessary to change +your name. I'll call myself Laelius and you Atticus, but I will use +neither my own handwriting nor seal, if the letter happens to be such as +I should not wish to fall into the hands of a stranger. Diodotus is +dead; he has left me perhaps 1,000 sestertia. Bibulus has postponed the +elections to the 18th of October, in an edict expressed in the vein of +Archilochus.[266] I have received the books from Vibius: he is a +miserable poet,[267] but yet he is not without some knowledge nor wholly +useless. I am going to copy the book out and send it back. + +[Footnote 264: M. Terentius Varro, "the most learned of the Romans," and +author of very large numbers of books. He was afterwards one of Pompey's +_legati_ in Spain. He survived most of the men of the revolutionary +era.] + +[Footnote 265: See Letter XXIV, p. 56.] + +[Footnote 266: _I.e._, in biting language. _Archilochum proprio rabies +armavit iambo_ (Hor. _A. P._ 79).] + +[Footnote 267: The _Cosmographia_ of Alexander of Ephesus. See Letter +XLVIII, p. 120.] + + + + +XLVII (A II, 21) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME (JULY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +Why should I write to you on the Republic in detail? It is utterly +ruined; and is, so far, in a worse state than when you left it, that +then a despotism seemed to be oppressing it which was popular with the +multitude, and though offensive to the loyalists, yet short of actual +mischief; but now all on a sudden they have become so universally hated, +that I tremble to think what will be the end of it. For we have had +experience of those men's resentment and violence, who have ruined +everything in their anger against Cato; yet they were employing such +slow poisons, that it seemed as though our end might be painless. Now, +however, I fear they have been exasperated by the hisses of the crowd, +the talk of the respectable classes, and the murmurs of Italy. For my +part, I was in hopes, as I often used actually to say to you, that the +wheel of the state chariot had made its revolution with scarcely any +noise and leaving scarcely any visible rut; and it would have been so, +if people could only have waited till the storm had blown over. But +after sighing in secret for a long time they all began, first to groan, +and at last to talk and shout. Accordingly, that friend of ours, +unaccustomed to being unpopular, always used to an atmosphere of praise, +and revelling in glory, now disfigured in body and broken in spirit, +does not know which way to turn; sees that to go on is dangerous, to +return a betrayal of vacillation; has the loyalists his enemies, the +disloyal themselves not his friends. Yet see how soft-hearted I am. I +could not refrain from tears when, on the 25th of July, I saw him making +a speech on the edicts of Bibulus. The man who in old times had been +used to bear himself in that place with the utmost confidence and +dignity, surrounded by the warmest affection of the people, amidst +universal favour--how humble, how cast down he was then! How ill-content +with himself, to say nothing of how unpleasing to his audience! Oh, +what a spectacle! No one could have liked it but Crassus--no one else in +the world! Not I, for considering his headlong descent from the stars, +he seemed to me to have lost his footing rather than to have been +deliberately following a path; and, as Apelles, if he had seen his +Venus, or Protogenes his Ialysus daubed with mud, would, I presume, have +felt great sorrow, so neither could I behold without great sorrow a man, +portrayed and embellished with all the colours of my art, suddenly +disfigured. Although no one thought, in view of the Clodius business, +that I was bound to be his friend, yet so great was my affection for +him, that no amount of injury was capable of making it run dry. The +result is that those Archilochian edicts of Bibulus against him are so +popular, that one can't get past the place where they are put up for the +crowd of readers, and so deeply annoying to himself that he is pining +with vexation. To me, by Hercules, they are distressing, both because +they give excessive pain to a man whom I have always loved, and because +I fear lest one so impulsive and so quick to strike, and so unaccustomed +to personal abuse, may, in his passionate resentment, obey the dictates +of indignation and anger. I don't know what is to be the end of Bibulus. +As things stand at present he is enjoying a wonderful reputation. For on +his having postponed the _comitia_ to October, as that is a measure +which is always against the popular feeling, Caesar had imagined that the +assembly could be induced by a speech of his to go to Bibulus's house; +but after a long harangue full of seditious suggestions, he failed to +extract a word from anyone. In short, they feel that they do not possess +the cordial goodwill of any section: all the more must we fear some act +of violence. Clodius is hostile to us. Pompey persists in asserting that +he will do nothing against me. It is risky for me to believe that, and I +am preparing myself to meet his attack. I hope to have the warmest +feelings of all orders on my side. I have personally a longing for you, +and circumstances also demand your presence at that time. I shall feel +it a very great addition to my policy, to my courage, and, in a word, to +my safety, if I see you in time. Varro does all I can expect. Pompey +talks like an angel. I have hopes that I shall come off with flying +colours, or at any rate without being molested. Be sure and tell me how +you are, how you are amusing yourself, and what settlement you have come +to with the Sicyonians. + + + + +XLVIII (A II, 22) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME (JULY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +How I wished you had stayed at Rome! I am sure you would have stayed if +you had foreseen what was going to happen. For then we should have had +no difficulty in keeping "Pulchellus" in order, or at least should have +known what he was going to do. As things are, he darts about, talks like +a madman, never sticks to anything: threatens now this one and now that: +seems likely, in reality, to do whatever turns up. When he sees how +unpopular the present state of things is, he seems to intend an attack +upon the authors of it; but when he again recalls their power and +armies, he transfers his hostility to the loyalists. Me personally he +threatens at one time with violence, at another with impeachment. With +him Pompey has remonstrated, and, as he tells me himself--for I have no +other evidence--has urgently remonstrated, pointing out that he would +himself lie under the extreme imputation of perfidy and unprincipled +conduct, if any danger to me were created by the man whom he had himself +armed by acquiescing in his becoming a plebeian: that both he and +Appius[268] had pledged themselves in regard to me: if Clodius did not +respect that, he should shew such annoyance that everyone would +understand that he valued my friendship above everything. Having said +this and much else to the same effect, he told me that the fellow at +first argued against it at great length and for a long time, but +eventually gave way and declared that he would do nothing against his +wishes. Nevertheless, he has not ceased since then speaking of me with +the greatest bitterness. But even if he had not done so, I should have +felt no confidence in him, but should have been making every +preparation, as in fact I am doing. As it is, I am so conducting myself +that every day the affections of people towards me and the strength of +my position are enhanced. I don't touch politics in any shape or way; I +employ myself with the greatest assiduity in pleading causes and in my +regular forensic business.[269] And this I feel is extremely gratifying, +not only to those who enjoy my services, but also to the people +generally. My house is crowded; I am met by processions; the memory of +my consulship is renewed; men's feelings are clearly shewn: my hopes are +so raised, that the struggle hanging over me seems at times one from +which I need not shrink. Now is the time that I need your advice, your +love and fidelity. Wherefore come post haste! Everything will be easy +for me if I have you. I can carry on many negotiations through our +friend Varro, which will be on firmer ground with you to back them up; a +great deal can be elicited from Publius himself, and be brought to my +knowledge, which cannot possibly be kept concealed from you; a great +deal also--but it is absurd to enumerate particulars, when I want you +for everything. I would like you to be convinced of this above all, that +everything will be simplified for me if I see you: but it all turns on +this coming to pass _before_ he enters on his office. I think that if +you are here while Crassus is egging on Pompey--as you can get out of +Clodius himself, by the agency of "Iuno,"[270] how far they are acting +in good faith--we shall escape molestation, or at any rate not be left +under a delusion. You don't stand in need of entreaties or urgency from +me. You understand what my wish is, and what the hour and the importance +of the business demand. As to politics, I can tell you nothing except +that everybody entertains the greatest detestation for those who are +masters of everything. There is, however, no hope of a change. But, as +you easily understand, Pompey himself is discontented and extremely +dissatisfied with himself. I don't see clearly what issue to expect: but +certainly such a state of affairs seems likely to lead to an outbreak of +some sort. Alexander's books[271]--a careless writer and a poor poet, +and yet not without some useful information--I have sent back to you. I +have had pleasure in admitting Numerius Numestius to my friendship, and +I find him a man of character and good sense, worthy of your +recommendation. + +[Footnote 268: Appius Claudius Pulcher, elder brother of P. Clodius.] + +[Footnote 269: The speeches known to us of this year are those for his +colleague, C. Antonius, A. Thermus, and L. Flaccus. The two former are +lost, but we know from his own account that he had not avoided touching +on politics in the speech for Antonius, but had so offended Pompey and +Caesar that they at once carried out the adoption of Clodius (_de Domo_, +Sec. 41).] + +[Footnote 270: [Greek: Boopis], _i.e._, Clodia. See Letters XXXV, XL. +_Crasso urgente_ is difficult. Cicero must mean that while Crassus (whom +he always regards as hostile to himself) is influencing Pompey, he +cannot trust what Pompey says, and must look for real information +elsewhere.] + +[Footnote 271: Alexander of Ephesus. See Letter XLVI, p. 115.] + + + + +XLIX (A II, 23) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME (JULY OR AUGUST) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +I don't think you have ever before read a letter of mine not written by +my own hand. You will be able to gather from that how I am distracted +with business. For as I had not a moment to spare and was obliged to +take a walk in order to refresh my poor voice, I have dictated this +while walking. The first thing, then, which I wish you to know is that +our friend "Sampsiceramus" is exceedingly dissatisfied with his +position, and desires to be restored to the place from which he has +fallen; that he confides his annoyance to me, and is without disguise +seeking for a remedy--which I don't think can be found. The second thing +is that all on that side, whether promoters or mere hangers-on, are +falling out of fashion, though no one opposes them: there never was a +greater unanimity of feeling or talk everywhere. For myself (for I am +sure you wish to know it) I take part in no political deliberations, and +have devoted myself entirely to my forensic business and work. Thereby, +as may easily be understood, I have frequent occasion to refer to my +past achievements and to express my regret. But the brother of our +"Iuno" is giving utterance to all kinds of alarming threats, and, while +disclaiming them to "Sampsiceramus," makes an open avowal and parade of +them to others. Wherefore, loving me as much as I know you do, if you +are asleep, wake up; if you are standing, start walking; if you are +walking, set off running; if you are running, take wings and fly. You +can scarcely believe how much I confide in your advice and wisdom, and +above all in your affection and fidelity. The importance of the +interests involved perhaps demands a long disquisition, but the close +union of our hearts is contented with brevity. It is of very great +importance to me that, if you can't be at Rome at the elections, you +should at least be here after his election is declared.[272] Take care +of your health. + +[Footnote 272: _I.e._, between the time of his election and of his +entering on his office. The tribunes entered on their office on the 10th +of December; the elections usually took place in July, but were +postponed till October this year by Bibulus. See Letter XLVI, p. 115.] + + + + +L (A II, 24) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME (JULY OR AUGUST) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +In the letter which I delivered to Numestius I begged you to come back, +in the most urgent and vehement terms it was possible to use. To the +speed which I then enjoined even add something if you possibly can. And +yet do not be agitated, for I know you well, and am not ignorant of "how +love is all compact of thought and fear." But the matter, I hope, is +going to be less formidable in the end than it was at its beginning. +That fellow Vettius, our old informer, promised Caesar, as far as I can +make out, that he would secure young Curio being brought under some +suspicion of guilt. Accordingly, he wormed his way into intimacy with +the young man, and having, as is proved, often met him, at last went the +length of telling him that he had resolved by the help of his slaves to +make an attack upon Pompey and assassinate him. Curio reported this to +his father, the latter to Pompey. The matter was reported to the senate. +Vettius, on being brought in, at first denied that he had ever had any +appointment with Curio. However, he did not long stick to that, but +immediately claimed the protection of the state as giving information. +There was a shout of "no" to this;[273] but he went on to state that +there had been a confederacy of young men under the leadership of Curio, +to which Paullus had at first belonged, and Q. Caepio (I mean +Brutus[274]) and Lentulus, son of the flamen, with the privity of his +father: that afterwards C. Septimius, secretary to Bibulus, had brought +him a dagger from Bibulus. That made the whole thing ridiculous, as +though Vettius would have been at a loss for a dagger unless the consul +had given him one; and it was all the more scouted because on the 5th of +May Bibulus had told Pompey to be on his guard against plots; on which +occasion Pompey had thanked him. Young Curio, being brought into the +senate, spoke in answer to the allegations of Vettius; and on this +particular occasion the strongest thing against Vettius was his having +said that the plan of the young men was to attack Pompey in the forum, +with the help of Gabinius's gladiators,[275] and that in this the +ring-leader was Paullus, who was ascertained to have been in Macedonia +at that time. A decree of the senate is passed that "Vettius, having +confessed to having 'worn a dagger,'[276] should be cast into prison; +that anyone releasing him would be guilty of treason to the state." The +opinion generally held is that the whole affair had been arranged. +Vettius was to be caught in the forum with a dagger, and his slaves also +with weapons, and he was then to offer to lay an information; and this +would have been carried out, had not the Curios given Pompey previous +information. Presently the decree of the senate was read in public +assembly. Next day, however, Caesar--the man who formerly as praetor had +bidden Q. Catulus[277] speak on the ground below--now brought Vettius on +to the rostra, and placed him on an elevation to which Bibulus, though +consul, was prevented from aspiring. Here that fellow said exactly what +he chose about public affairs, and, having come there primed and +instructed, first struck Caepio's name out of his speech, though he had +named him most emphatically in the senate, so that it was easy to see +that a night and a nocturnal intercession[278] had intervened: next he +named certain men on whom he had not cast even the slightest suspicion +in the senate: L. Lucullus, by whom he said that C. Fannius was usually +sent to him--the man who on a former occasion had backed a prosecution +of Clodius; L. Domitius, whose house had been agreed on as the +headquarters of the conspirators. Me he did not _name_, but he said that +"an eloquent consular, who lived near the consul, had said to him that +there was need of some Servilius Ahala or Brutus being found."[279] He +added at the very end, on being recalled by Vatinius after the assembly +had been dismissed, that he had been told by Curio that my son-in-law +Piso was privy to these proceedings, as M. Laterensis also. At present +Vettius is on trial for "violence" before Crassus Dives,[280] and when +condemned he intends to claim the impunity of an informer; and if he +obtains that, there seem likely to be some prosecutions. I don't despise +the danger, for I never despise any danger, but neither do I much fear +it. People indeed shew very great affection for me, but I am quite tired +of life: such a scene of misery is it all. It was only the other day +that we were fearing a massacre, which the speech of that gallant old +man Q. Considius prevented:[281] now this one, which we might have +feared any day, has suddenly turned up. In short, nothing can be more +unfortunate than I, or more fortunate than Catulus, both in the +splendour of his life and in the time of his death. However, in the +midst of these miseries I keep my spirit erect and undismayed, and +maintain my position in a most dignified manner and with great caution. +Pompey bids me have no anxiety about Clodius, and shews the most cordial +goodwill to me in everything he says. I desire to have you to suggest my +policy, to be the partner in my anxieties, and to share my every +thought. Therefore I have commissioned Numestius to urge you, and I now +entreat you with the same or, if possible, greater earnestness, to +literally fly to us. I shall breathe again when I once see you. + +[Footnote 273: _Reclamatum est._ The MSS. have _haud reclamatum est_, +"it was not refused."] + +[Footnote 274: Marcus Iunius Brutus, the future assassin of Caesar, +adopted by his uncle, Q. Servilius Caepio. The father of Lentulus was +_flamen Martialis_ (L. Lentulus), _in Vat._ Sec. 25. Paullus is L. AEmilius +Paullus, consul B.C. 50.] + +[Footnote 275: _Cum gladiatoribus._ Others omit _cum_, in which case the +meaning will be "at the gladiatorial shows of Gabinius." As some _date_ +is wanted, this is probably right.] + +[Footnote 276: Under the _lex de sicariis_ of Sulla carrying a weapon +with felonious intent was a capital crime, for which a man was tried +_inter sicarios_. See 2 _Phil._ Sec.Sec. 8, 74.] + +[Footnote 277: Q. Lutatius Catulus, who died in the previous year, B.C. +60, had been a keen opponent of Caesar, who tried to deprive him of the +honour of dedicating the restored Capitoline temple, and beat him in the +election of Pontifex Maximus.] + +[Footnote 278: Servilia, mother of Brutus, was reported to be Caesar's +mistress. As Cicero is insinuating that the whole affair was got up by +Caesar to irritate Pompey with the _boni_, this allusion will be +understood.] + +[Footnote 279: If Vettius did say this, he at any rate successfully +imitated Cicero's manner. These names are always in his mouth. See 2 +_Phil._ Sec.Sec. 26, 87; _pro Mil._. Sec.Sec. 8, 82, etc. For a farther discussion +of Vettius, see Appendix B.] + +[Footnote 280: Probably a praetor, not the triumvir.] + +[Footnote 281: Q. Considius Gallus, who, according to Plutarch (_Caes._ +13), said in the senate that the attendance of senators was small +because they feared a massacre. "What made you come, then?" said Caesar. +"My age," he replied; "I have little left to lose."] + + + + +LI (A II, 25) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME (JULY OR AUGUST) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +When I have praised any one of your friends to you I should like you +tell him that I have done so. For instance, you know I lately wrote to +you about Varro's kindness to me, and that you wrote me back word that +the circumstance gave you the greatest delight. But I should have +preferred your writing to him and saying that he was doing all I could +expect--not because he was, but in order that he might do so. For he is +a man of astonishing whims, as you know, "tortuous and no +wise----."[282] But I stick to the rule "Follies of those in power," +etc.[283] But, by Hercules, that other friend of yours, Hortalus--with +what a liberal hand, with what candour, and in what ornate language has +he praised me to the skies, when speaking of the praetorship of Flaccus +and that incident of the Allobroges.[284] I assure you nothing could +have been more affectionate, complimentary, or more lavishly expressed. +I very much wish that you would write and tell him that I sent you word +of it. Yet why write? I think you are on your way and are all but here. +For I have urged you so strongly to come in my previous letters. I am +expecting you with great impatience, longing for you very much; nor do I +call for you more than circumstances themselves and the state of the +times. Nothing can be more desperate than the position of politics, +nothing more unpopular than the authors of it, I--as I think, hope, and +imagine--am safe behind a rampart of goodwill of the strongest kind. +Wherefore fly to me: you will either relieve me from all annoyance or +will share it. My letter is all the shorter because, as I hope, I shall +be able in a very short time to talk over what I want to say face to +face. Take care of your health. + +[Footnote 282: + + [Greek: helikta kouden hygies alla pan perix phronountes.] + +Eur. _Androm._ 448. + + "With tortuous thoughts, naught honest, winding all." +] + +[Footnote 283: + + [Greek: tas ton kratounton amathias pherein chreon.] + +Eur. _Phoen._ 393. + + "Follies of those in power we needs must bear." +] + +[Footnote 284: L. Valerius Flaccus, as praetor in B.C. 63, had assisted +Cicero in the Catiline conspiracy. He was now being tried for +embezzlement in Asia, and was defended by the famous Q. Hortensius +(Hortalus) and Cicero--the only extant speech of this year.] + + + + +LII (Q FR I, 2) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN ASIA) + +ROME, 26 OCTOBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +Statius arrived at my house on the 25th October. His arrival gave me +uneasiness, because you said in your letter that you would be plundered +by your household in his absence. However, I thought it a very happy +circumstance that he anticipated the expectation of his arrival, and the +company that would have assembled to meet him, if he had left the +province with you, and had not appeared before. For people have +exhausted their remarks, and many observations have been made and done +with of the "Nay, but I looked for a mighty man"[285] kind, which I am +glad to have all over before you come. But as for the motive for your +sending him--that he might clear himself with me--that was not at all +necessary. For, to begin with, I had never suspected him, nor in what I +wrote to you about him was I expressing my own judgment; but since the +interest and safety of all of us who take part in public business +depends, not on truth alone, but on report also, I wrote you word of +what people were saying, not what I thought myself. How prevalent and +how formidable that talk was Statius ascertained himself on his arrival. +For he was present when certain persons at my house gave vent to some +complaints on that very subject, and had the opportunity of perceiving +that the observations of the malevolent were being directed at himself +especially. But it used to annoy me most when I was told that he had +greater influence with you, than your sober time of life and the wisdom +of a governor required. How many people, do you suppose, have solicited +me to give them a letter of introduction to Statius? How often, do you +suppose, has he himself, while talking without reserve to me, made such +observations as, "I never approved of that," "I told him so," "I tried +to persuade him," "I warned him not to"? And even if these things shew +the highest fidelity, as I believe they do, since that is your judgment, +yet the mere appearance of a freedman or slave enjoying such influence +cannot but lower your dignity: and the long and short of it is--for I am +in duty bound not to say anything without good grounds, nor to keep back +anything from motives of policy--that Statius has supplied all the +material for the gossip of those who wished to decry you; that formerly +all that could be made out was that certain persons were angry at your +strictness; but that after his manumission the angry had something to +talk about. + +Now I will answer the letters delivered to me by L. Caesius, whom, as I +see you wish it, I will serve in every way I can. One of them is about +Zeuxis of Blaundus, whom you say was warmly recommended to you by me +though a most notorious matricide. In this matter, and on this subject +generally, please listen to a short statement, lest you should by chance +be surprised at my having become so conciliatory towards Greeks. Seeing, +as I did, that the complaints of Greeks, because they have a genius for +deceit, were allowed an excessive weight, whenever I was told of any of +them making complaint of you, I appeased them by every means in my +power. First, I pacified the Dionysopolitans, who were very bitter: +whose chief man, Hermippus, I secured not only by my conversation, but +by treating him as a friend. I did the same to Hephaestus of Apameia; the +same to that most untrustworthy fellow, Megaristus of Antandrus; the +same to Nicias of Smyrna; I also embraced with all the courtesy I +possessed the most trumpery of men, even Nymphon of Colophon. And all +this I did from no liking for these particular people, or the nation as +a whole: I was heartily sick of their fickleness and obsequiousness, of +feelings that are not affected by our kindness, but by our position. + +But to return to Zeuxis. When he was telling me the same story as you +mention in your letter about what M. Cascellius had said to him in +conversation, I stopped him from farther talk, and admitted him to my +society. I cannot, however, understand your virulence when you say that, +having sewn up in the parricide's-sack two Mysians at Smyrna, you +desired to display a similar example of your severity in the upper part +of your province, and that, therefore, you had wished to inveigle Zeuxis +into your hands by every possible means. For if he had been brought into +court, he ought perhaps not to have been allowed to escape: but there +was no necessity for his being hunted out and inveigled by soft words to +stand a trial, as you say in your letter--especially as he is one whom I +learn daily, both from his fellow citizens and from many others, to be a +man of higher character than you would expect from such an obscure town +as his.[286] But, you will say, it is only Greeks to whom I am +indulgent. What! did not I do everything to appease L. Caecilius? What a +man! how irritable! how violent! In fact, who is there except +Tuscenius,[287] whose case admitted of no cure, have I not softened? See +again, I have now on my hands a shifty, mean fellow, though of +equestrian rank, called Catienus: even he is going to be smoothed down. +I don't blame you for having been somewhat harsh to his father, for I am +quite sure you have acted with good reason: but what need was there of a +letter of the sort which you sent to the man himself? "That the man was +rearing the cross for himself from which you had already pulled him off +once; that you would take care to have him smoked to death, and would be +applauded by the whole province for it." Again, to a man named C. +Fabius--for that letter also T. Catienus is handing round--"that you +were told that the kidnapper Licinius, with his young kite of a son, was +collecting taxes." And then you go on to ask Fabius to burn both father +and son alive if he can; if not, to send them to you, that they may be +burnt to death by legal sentence. That letter sent by you in jest to C. +Fabius, if it really is from you, exhibits to ordinary readers a +violence of language very injurious to you. Now, if you will refer to +the exhortations in all my letters, you will perceive that I have never +found fault with you for anything except harshness and sharpness of +temper, and occasionally, though rarely, for want of caution in the +letters you write. In which particulars, indeed, if my influence had had +greater weight with you than a somewhat excessive quickness of +disposition, or a certain enjoyment in indulging temper, or a faculty +for epigram and a sense of humour, we should certainly have had no cause +for dissatisfaction. And don't you suppose that I feel no common +vexation when I am told how Vergilius is esteemed, and your neighbour +C. Octavius?[288] For if you only excel your neighbours farther up +country, in Cilicia and Syria, that is a pretty thing to boast of! And +that is just the sting of the matter, that though the men I have named +are not more blameless than yourself, they yet outdo you in the art of +winning favour, though they know nothing of Xenophon's Cyrus or +Agesilaus; from which kings, in the exercise of their great office, no +one ever heard an irritable word. But in giving you this advice, as I +have from the first, I am well aware how much good I have done.[289] + +Now, however, as you are about to quit your province, pray do leave +behind you--as I think you are now doing--as pleasant a memory as +possible. You have a successor of very mild manners; in other respects, +on his arrival, you will be much missed. In sending letters of +requisition, as I have often told you, you have allowed yourself to be +too easily persuaded. Destroy, if you can, all such as are inequitable, +or contrary to usage, or contradictory to others. Statius told me that +they were usually put before you ready written, read by himself, and +that, if they were inequitable, he informed you of the fact: but that +before he entered your service there had been no sifting of letters; +that the result was that there were volumes containing a selection of +letters, which were usually adversely criticised.[290] On this subject I +am not going to give you any advice at this time of day, for it is too +late; and you cannot but be aware that I have often warned you in +various ways and with precision. But I have, on a hint from Theopompus, +intrusted him with this message to you: do see by means of persons +attached to you, which you will find no difficulty in doing, that the +following classes of letters are destroyed--first, those that are +inequitable; next, those that are contradictory; then those expressed in +an eccentric or unusual manner; and lastly, those that contain +reflexions on anyone. I don't believe all I hear about these matters, +and if, in the multiplicity of your engagements, you have let certain +things escape you, now is the time to look into them and weed them out. +I have read a letter said to have been written by your nomenclator Sulla +himself, which I cannot approve: I have read some written in an angry +spirit. But the subject of letters comes in pat: for while this sheet of +paper was actually in my hands, L. Flavius, praetor-designate and a very +intimate friend, came to see me. He told me that you had sent a letter +to his agents, which seemed to me most inequitable, prohibiting them +from taking anything from the estate of the late L. Octavius Naso, whose +heir L. Flavius is, until they had paid a sum of money to C. Fundanius; +and that you had sent a similar letter to the Apollonidenses, not to +allow any payment on account of the estate of the late Octavius till the +debt to Fundanius had been discharged. It seems to me hardly likely that +you have done this; for it is quite unlike your usual good sense. The +heir not to take anything? What if he disowns the debt? What if he +doesn't owe it at all? Moreover, is the praetor wont to decide whether a +debt is due?[291] Don't I, again, wish well to Fundanius? Am I not his +friend? Am I not touched with compassion? No one more so: but in certain +matters the course of law is so clear as to leave no place for personal +feeling. And Flavius told me that expressions were used in the letter, +which he said was yours, to the effect that you would "either thank them +as friends, or make yourself disagreeable to them as enemies." In short, +he was much annoyed, complained of it to me in strong terms, and begged +me to write to you as seriously as I could. This I am doing, and I do +strongly urge you again and again to withdraw your injunction to +Flavius's agents about taking money from the estate, and not to lay any +farther injunction on the Apollonidenses contrary to the rights of +Flavius. Pray do everything you can for the sake of Flavius and, indeed, +of Pompey also. I would not, upon my honour, have you think me liberal +to him at the expense of any inequitable decision on your part: but I do +entreat you to leave behind you some authority, and some memorandum of a +decree or of a letter under your hand, so framed as to support the +interests and cause of Flavius. For the man, who is at once very +attentive to me, and tenacious of his own rights and dignity, is feeling +extremely hurt that he has not prevailed with you either on the grounds +of personal friendship or of legal right; and, to the best of my belief, +both Pompey and Caesar have, at one time or another, commended the +interests of Flavius to you, and Flavius has written to you personally, +and certainly I have. Wherefore, if there is anything which you think +you ought to do at my request, let it be this. If you love me, take +every care, take every trouble, and insure Flavius's cordial thanks both +to yourself and myself. I cannot use greater earnestness in making any +request than I use in this. + +As to what you say about Hermias, it has been in truth a cause of much +vexation to me. I wrote you a letter in a rather unbrotherly spirit, +which I dashed off in a fit of anger and now wish to recall, having been +irritated by what Lucullus's freedman told me, immediately after hearing +of the bargain. For this letter, which was not expressed in a brotherly +way, you ought to have brotherly feeling enough to make allowance. As to +Censorinus, Antonius, the Cassii, Scaevola--I am delighted to hear from +you that you possess their friendship. The other contents of that same +letter of yours were expressed more strongly than I could have wished, +such as your "with my ship at least well trimmed"[292] and your "die +once for all."[293] You will find those expressions to be unnecessarily +strong. My scoldings have always been very full of affection. They +mention certain things for complaint,[294] but these are not important, +or rather, are quite insignificant. For my part, I should never have +thought you deserving of the least blame in any respect, considering the +extreme purity of your conduct, had it not been that our enemies are +numerous. Whatever I have written to you in a tone of remonstrance or +reproach I have written from a vigilant caution, which I maintain, and +shall maintain; and I shall not cease imploring you to do the same. +Attalus of Hypaepa has begged me to intercede with you that you should +not prevent his getting the money paid which has been decreed for a +statue of Q. Publicius. In which matter I both ask as a favour and urge +as a duty, that you should not consent to allow the honour of a man of +his character, and so close a friend of mine, to be lowered or hindered +by your means. Farthermore, Licinius, who is known to you, a slave of my +friend AEsopus, has run away. He has been at Athens, living in the house +of Patron the Epicurean as a free man. Thence he has made his way to +Asia. Afterwards a certain Plato of Sardis, who is often at Athens, and +happened to be at Athens at the time that Licinius arrived there, having +subsequently learnt by a letter from AEsopus that he was an escaped +slave, arrested the fellow, and put him into confinement at Ephesus; but +whether into the public prison, or into a slave mill, we could not +clearly make out from his letter. But since he is at Ephesus, I should +be obliged if you would trace him in any manner open to you, and with +all care either [send him] or bring him home with you. Don't take into +consideration the fellow's value: such a good-for-nothing is worth very +little; but AEsopus is so much vexed at his slave's bad conduct and +audacity, that you can do him no greater favour than by being the means +of his recovering him. + +Now for the news that you chiefly desire. We have so completely lost the +constitution that Cato,[295] a young man of no sense, but yet a Roman +citizen and a Cato, scarcely got off with his life because, having +determined to prosecute Gabinius for bribery, when the praetors could not +be approached for several days, and refused to admit anyone to their +presence, he mounted the rostra in public meeting and called Pompey an +"unofficial dictator." No one ever had a narrower escape of being +killed. From this you may see the state of the whole Republic. People, +however, shew no inclination to desert my cause. They make wonderful +professions, offers of service, and promises: and, indeed, I have the +highest hopes and even greater spirit--so that I hope to get the better +in the struggle, and feel confident in my mind that, in the present +state of the Republic, I need not fear even an accident. However, the +matter stands thus: if Clodius gives notice of an action against me, the +whole of Italy will rush to my support, so that I shall come off with +many times greater glory than before; but if he attempts the use of +violence, I hope, by the zeal not only of friends but also of opponents, +to be able to meet force with force. All promise me the aid of +themselves, their friends, clients, freedmen, slaves, and, finally, of +their money. Our old regiment of loyalists is warm in its zeal and +attachment to me. If there were any who had formerly been comparatively +hostile or lukewarm, they are now uniting themselves with the loyalists +from hatred to these despots. Pompey makes every sort of promise, and so +does Caesar: but my confidence in them is not enough to induce me to drop +any of my preparations. The tribunes-designate are friendly to us. The +consuls-designate make excellent professions. Some of the new praetors +are very friendly and very brave citizens--Domitius, Nigidius, Memmius, +Lentulus[296]--the others are loyalists also, but these are eminently +so. Wherefore keep a good heart and high hopes. However, I will keep you +constantly informed on particular events as they occur from day to day. + +[Footnote 285: [Greek: all' aiei tina phota megan kai kalon edegmen], +"but I ever expected some big and handsome man" (Hom. _Odyss._ ix. 513). +Statius had been manumitted by Quintus Cicero, and there had been much +talk about it, as we have already heard. See XLIV, p. 109, and XLV, p. +111.] + +[Footnote 286: Reading _quam pro civitate sua_ for _prope quam civitatem +suam_. I think _prope_ and _pro_ (_pr_) might easily have been mistaken +for each other, and if the order of _quam_ and _pro_ (mistaken for +_prope_) were once changed, the case of _civitate_ would follow. Prof. +Tyrrell, who writes the town _Blandus_, would read _molliorem_ for +_nobiliorem_, and imagines a pun on the meaning of _Blandus_. But the +name of the town seems certainly _Blaundus_, [Greek: Blaundos], or +[Greek: Mlaundos] (Stephanus, [Greek: Blaudos]); see Head, _Hist. Num._ +p. 559: and Cicero, though generally punning on names, would hardly do +so here, where he is making a grave excuse.] + +[Footnote 287: Whom he called (Letter XXIX) "a madman and a knave."] + +[Footnote 288: C. Vergilius Balbus, propraetor in Sicily (_pro Planc._ Sec. +95; Letter XXIX). C. Octavius (father of Augustus), in Macedonia (see p. +78). L. Marcius Philippus was propraetor of Syria B.C. 61-59. The +governor of Cilicia in the same period is not known; probably some one +left in charge by Pompey.] + +[Footnote 289: I have endeavoured to leave the English as ambiguous as +the Latin. Cicero may mean that he has done some good, for at the end of +Letter XXIX he says that Quintus has improved in these points, and had +been better in his second than in his first year. On the other hand, the +context here seems rather to point to the meaning "how _little_ good I +have done!"--impatiently dismissing the subject of temper.] + +[Footnote 290: These "requisitionary letters" were granted by a +provincial governor to certain persons requiring supplies, payment of +debts, or legal decisions in their favour in the provinces, or other +privileges, and, if carelessly granted, were open to much abuse. Cicero, +in his own government of Cilicia, boasted that he had signed none such +in six months. The ill-wishers of Quintus had apparently got hold of a +number of these letters signed by him (having been first written out by +the suitors themselves and scarcely glanced at by him), and a selection +of them published to prove his injustice or carelessness.] + +[Footnote 291: The governor of a province would stand in such a matter +in the place of the praetor in Rome, _i.e._, he would decide on questions +of law, not of fact, as, whether a debt was due or not. However, Quintus +perhaps only erred in the form of his injunction. He might forbid the +deceased's estate being touched till the question of Fundanius's debt +was decided; but in his letter he assumed (as he had no right to do) +that the claim was good. Substantially it seems to me that Quintus was +right, and certainly in his appeal to him Cicero does not follow his own +injunction to disregard personal feelings.] + +[Footnote 292: [Greek: orthan tan naun]. Quintus had written, it seems, +defiantly about the slanders afloat against him, and had quoted two +Greek proverbial sayings. The first is found in Stobaeus, 108 (extract +from Teles): "It was a fine saying of the pilot, 'At least, Poseidon, a +ship well trimmed,'" _i.e._, if you sink my ship, she shall at least go +down with honour. Quintus means, "Whatever my enemies may do afterwards, +I will keep my province in a sound state as long as I am here."] + +[Footnote 293: [Greek: hapax thanein], perhaps "Better to die once for +all than give in to every unjust demand." The editors quote AEschylus, +_Pr. V._ 769: + + [Greek: kreisson gar eisapax thanein + e thas hapasas hemeras paschein kakos.] + +But I don't feel sure that this is the passage alluded to.] + +[Footnote 294: Reading _queruntur_ for _quae sunt_.] + +[Footnote 295: Gaius Cato, tribune B.C. 56.] + +[Footnote 296: L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, who as praetor threatened Caesar +with impeachment, and as consul (B.C. 54) tried to get him recalled. He +was, in 50-49, appointed Caesar's successor in Gaul, defended Marseilles +against him, and eventually fell in the battle of Pharsalia. P. Nigidius +Figulus supported Cicero during the Catiline conspiracy. Gaius Memmius, +aedile B.C. 60 (see p. 51). Lucretius dedicated his poem to him. L. +Cornelius Lentulus Crus, consul B.C. 49, accused Clodius in B.C. 61, +murdered in Africa after Pompey, B.C. 48.] + + + + +LIII (F XIII, 42) + +TO L. CULLEOLUS (IN ILLYRICUM) + +ROME[297] + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +My friend L. Lucceius,[298] the most delightful fellow in the world, has +expressed in my presence amazingly warm thanks to you, saying that you +have given most complete and liberal promises to his agents. Since your +words have roused such gratitude in him, you may imagine how grateful he +will be for the thing itself, when, as I hope, you will have performed +your promise. In any case the people of Bullis have shewn that they +intend to do Lucceius right according to the award of Pompey. But we +have very great need of the additional support of your wishes, +influence, and praetorian authority. That you should give us these I beg +you again and again. And this will be particularly gratifying to me, +because Lucceius's agents know, and Lucceius himself gathered from your +letter to him, that no one's influence has greater weight with you than +mine. I ask you once more, and reiterate my request, that he may find +that to be the case by practical experience. + +[Footnote 297: There is no direct means of dating these letters, as we +have no other information as to the proconsulship of Culleolus. +Illyricum was not always a separate government, but was sometimes under +the governor of Macedonia, sometimes under the governor of Gaul. The +indications of date are (1) Pompey is at home and often seen by Cicero, +therefore it is not between the spring of B.C. 67 and the end of 62; (2) +it is not later than March, B.C. 58, because from that time for ten +years Caesar was governor of Illyricum, and before he ceased to be so +Pompey had left Italy, never to return. Even if Culleolus was not +governor of Illyricum, but of Macedonia, the same argument holds good, +for C. Antonius was in Macedonia B.C. 63-60, and Octavius from B.C. 60 +to March, B.C. 59. That is, Culleolus could not have been in Macedonia +while Pompey was in Italy till after March, B.C. 59.] + +[Footnote 298: L. Lucceius, whom we have heard of before as a candidate +for the consulship with Caesar, and whom we shall hear of again as the +author of a history of the social and civil wars (Sulla and Marius), and +as being asked to write on Cicero's consulship. He was a close friend of +Pompey, and took his side in B.C. 49 (Caes. _B. C._ iii. 18). The people +of Bullis owed Lucceius money, and Cicero asks for "mandatory letters" +from Culleolus to get it.] + + + + +LIV (F XIII, 41) + +TO L. CULLEOLUS (IN ILLYRICUM) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 59, AET. 47] + +In what you have done for the sake of L. Lucceius, I wish you to be +fully aware that you have obliged a man who will be exceedingly +grateful; and that, while this is very much the case with Lucceius +himself, so also Pompey as often as he sees me--and he sees me very +often--thanks you in no common terms. I add also, what I know will be +exceedingly gratifying to you, that I am myself immensely delighted with +your kindness to Lucceius. For the rest, though I have no doubt that as +you acted before for my sake, so now, for the sake of your own +consistency, you will abide by your liberal intentions, yet I reiterate +my request to you with all earnestness, that what you first gave us +reason to hope, and then actually carried out, you would be so good as +to see extended and brought to a final completion by your means. I +assure you, and I pledge my credit to it, that such a course will be +exceedingly gratifying to both Lucceius and Pompey, and that you will be +making a most excellent investment with them. About politics, and about +the business going on here, and what we are all thinking about, I wrote +to you in full detail a few days ago, and delivered the letter to your +servants. Farewell. + + + + +LETTERS IN EXILE + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58. Coss., L. Piso, A. Gabinius.] + + We have no record in Cicero's correspondence of the final measures + taken by Clodius against him. We find him when the correspondence + for this year opens on his way to exile: all his boasts of staying + and fighting have been thrown to the winds. Clodius, indeed, had + not simply done what Cicero expected at the worst--impeached him. + He had gone more systematically to work. Among other measures + calculated to win popularity, he proposed a modification of the + _lex AElia Fufia_, declaring it illegal for a magistrate to stop + legislative _comitia_ by "watching the sky." Thus freed from one + hindrance, he next proposed and carried a law for the prosecution + of any magistrate who had put a citizen to death without trial + (_qui indemnatos cives necavisset_). Cicero at once recognized his + danger: if the people voted this law, a jury could scarcely fail to + condemn. The triumvirs would do nothing. Pompey, after all his + promises, avoided seeing Cicero as much as possible: Caesar offered + him a _legatio_ again; and though he spoke against giving the law a + retrospective effect, he could not consistently object to the law + itself, and shewed no sign of desiring to shelter Cicero, except on + his consenting to leave Rome. Cicero then adopted the course which + was open to all citizens threatened with a prosecution--that of + going away from Rome--and started apparently with the view of going + to Malta. Whether it was wise or not, Cicero afterwards lamented + having taken this course, and thought that he had better have + braved the danger and stood his trial. It at any rate facilitated + the next move of Clodius, who proposed and carried a bill + forbidding Cicero "fire and water" within 500 (afterwards reduced + to 400) miles of Italy, and confiscating his property. Accordingly, + Cicero had to go much farther than he had intended. He crossed from + Brundisium to Dyrrachium, and proceeded along the _via Egnatia_ to + its terminus at Thessalonica, where he spent the autumn, B.C. 58. + In November, B.C. 58, he returned to Dyrrachium, ready for the + recall which he heard was imminent. Meanwhile his town house was + destroyed, its site made a _templum_, and a statue of Liberty set + up in it, and his villas at Tusculum and Antium dismantled. The + dangers of his position are not exaggerated in his letters, and may + account for much of their melancholy tone. He had lost the + protection of the laws, and any one of his many enemies meeting him + might have killed him with practical impunity. He seems to have + left Rome in April. + + + + +LV (A III, 3) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +VIBO, APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +I hope I may see the day when I shall thank you for having compelled me +to remain alive! At present I thoroughly repent it. But I beg you to +come and see me at Vibo at once, to which town I have for several +reasons directed my journey.[299] But if you will only come there, I +shall be able to consult you about my entire journey and exile. If you +don't do so, I shall be surprised, but I feel sure you will. + +[Footnote 299: Mod. _Monte Leone_, on the road to Rhegium, from which at +this time Cicero meant to cross to Sicily, and thence to Malta.] + + + + +LVI (A III, 2) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +NARES LUCANAE,[300] APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +The reason for having come this journey is that there was no place where +I could be independent except on Sica's estate,[301] especially till the +bill is emended,[302] and at the same time because I find that from this +spot I can reach Brundisium, if you were only with me, but without you I +cannot stay in those parts owing to Autronius.[303] At present, as I +said in my previous letter, if you will come to me, we shall be able to +form a plan for the whole business. I know the journey is troublesome, +but the whole calamity is full of troubles. I cannot write more, I am so +heart-broken and dejected. Take care of your health. + +From Nares Lucanae, 8 April. + +[Footnote 300: Nares Lucanae (_Monte Nero_), near the River Silarus, and +on the _via Popilia_ (south-western branch of the _Appia_). Cicero has +therefore come north again from Vibo, having given up the idea of +Rhegium and Sicily, and making for Beneventum, and so by the _via Appia_ +for Brundisium.] + +[Footnote 301: A friend of Cicero's, of whose death at Brundisium we +afterwards hear (_Fam._ xiv. 4, Sec. 6).] + +[Footnote 302: The bill originally named 500 miles as the distance from +Italy. Before passing it had to be put up in public three weeks +(_trinundinae_), and meanwhile might be amended, and was amended to 400.] + +[Footnote 303: P. Autronius Paetus, one of Catiline's confederates, who +would injure Cicero if he could. Cicero would not be able to reach +Epirus without coming within his reach; for he had been condemned for +_ambitus_, and was in exile there or in Achaia. _Illas partes_=Epirus.] + + + + +LVII (A III, 4) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +NEAR VIBO, APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +I hope you will attribute my sudden departure from Vibo, whither I had +asked you come, to my unhappiness rather than to fickleness. A copy of +the bill for my ruin was brought to me, in which the correction of which +I had been told was to the effect that I might legally remain anywhere +beyond 400 miles. Since I was not allowed to go yonder,[304] I set out +towards Brundisium before the day for carrying the bill had come, both +to prevent Sica, in whose house I was staying, from being ruined,[305] +and because I was prevented from residing at Malta. So now make haste to +catch me up, if only I shall find any welcome there.[306] At present I +receive kind invitations. But about the rest of my journey I am nervous. +Truly, my dear Pomponius, I am very sorry I consented to live: in which +matter you exercised the chief influence with me. But of these things +when we meet. Only be sure and come. + +[Footnote 304: To Malta. The propraetor of Sicily, C. Vergilius, opposed +his going to Malta, which was in the province of Sicily, though it had a +_primus_ of its own (_Planc._ 40; Plut. _Cic._ 32).] + +[Footnote 305: Because of entertaining the condemned man, a special +proviso in this law (Dio, xxxviii. 17).] + +[Footnote 306: In Epirus, believing that Atticus will understand that +his going to Brundisium means that he will go to Epirus: and as Atticus +lives there, he naturally asks him to come to meet him. Epirus was, for +certain purposes at least, in the province of Macedonia, and it depended +on the governor, L. Appuleius Saturninus, what reception he would meet. +His friend Plancius was quaestor.] + + + + +LVIII (A III, 1) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +FROM THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THURIUM, ON THE WAY TO BRUNDISIUM, APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +I always thought that it was of great importance to me that you should +be with me: but when I read the bill, then, indeed, I understood that +there could be nothing more desirable for me than that you should +overtake me as soon as possible, in order that, if after quitting Italy +I should have to travel through Epirus, I might avail myself of your +protection and that of your friends; or, if I had to adopt any other +plan, I might come to some definite resolution in accordance with your +opinion. Wherefore I beg you to do your best to overtake me promptly, +which will be easier for you to do since the law about the province of +Macedonia has now been passed.[307] I would urge you at greater length +were it not that with you facts speak for me. + +[Footnote 307: One of Clodius's concessions to the consuls, to keep them +quiet, was to get Macedonia assigned by a _lex_ to L. Calpurnius Piso. +As Atticus lived in what was practically part of the province, and had +much business there, it was important to him to be on the spot, and try +to influence the choice of a governor. That being over, he would not +have so much to detain him in Rome.] + + + + +LIX (A III, 5) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THURIUM, 10 APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +Terentia thanks you frequently and very warmly. That is a great comfort +to me. I am the most miserable man alive, and am being worn out with the +most poignant sorrow. I don't know what to write to you. For if you are +at Rome, it is now too late for you to reach me; but if you are on the +road, we shall discuss together all that needs to be discussed when you +have overtaken me. All I ask you is to retain the same affection for me, +since it was always myself you loved. For I am the same man: my enemies +have taken what was mine, they have not taken myself. Take care of your +health. + +From Thurium, 10 April. + + + + +LX (A III, 6) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +ON THE WAY TO TARENTUM, 18 APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +I had felt certain of seeing you at Tarentum or Brundisium, and that was +of importance to me in many respects: among others, as to my being able +to stay in Epirus and consult you about the future. My disappointment in +this is only another item in the long list of my misfortunes.[308] I +mean to go to Asia, to Cyzicus for choice. I commend my family to you. I +am very wretched and can scarcely support my life. + +From near Tarentum, 17 April. + +[Footnote 308: We suppose that Cicero has heard from Atticus that he is +not going to be at Tarentum or Brundisium, for he writes before arriving +at either.] + + + + +LXI (F XIV, 4) + +TO TERENTIA, TULLIOLA, AND YOUNG CICERO (AT ROME) + +BRUNDISIUM, 29 APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +Yes, I do write to you less often than I might, because, though I am +always wretched, yet when I write to you or read a letter from you, I am +in such floods of tears that I cannot endure it. Oh, that I had clung +less to life! I should at least never have known real sorrow, or not +much of it, in my life. Yet if fortune has reserved for me _any_ hope of +recovering at any time any position again, I was not utterly wrong to do +so: if these miseries are to be permanent, I only wish, my dear, to see +you as soon as possible and to die in your arms, since neither gods, +whom you have worshipped with such pure devotion, nor men, whom I have +ever served, have made us any return. I have been thirteen days at +Brundisium in the house of M. Laenius Flaccus, a very excellent man, who +has despised the risk to his fortunes and civil existence in comparison +to keeping me safe, nor has been induced by the penalty of a most +iniquitous law to refuse me the rights and good offices of hospitality +and friendship. May I some time have the opportunity of repaying him! +Feel gratitude I always shall. I set out from Brundisium on the 29th of +April,[309] and intend going through Macedonia to Cyzicus. What a fall! +What a disaster! What can I say? Should I ask you to come--a woman of +weak health and broken spirit? Should I refrain from asking you? Am I to +be without you, then? I think the best course is this: if there is any +hope of my restoration, stay to promote it and push the thing on: but +if, as I fear, it proves hopeless, pray come to me by any means in your +power. Be sure of this, that if I have you I shall not think myself +wholly lost. But what is to become of my darling Tullia? You must see to +that now: I can think of nothing. But certainly, however things turn +out, we must do everything to promote that poor little girl's married +happiness and reputation. Again, what is my boy Cicero to do? Let him, +at any rate, be ever in my bosom and in my arms.[310] I can't write +more. A fit of weeping hinders me. I don't know how you have got on; +whether you are left in possession of anything, or have been, as I fear, +entirely plundered. Piso, as you say, I hope will always be our friend. +As to the manumission of the slaves you need not be uneasy. To begin +with, the promise made to yours was that you would treat them according +as each severally deserved. So far Orpheus has behaved well, besides him +no one very markedly so. With the rest of the slaves the arrangement is +that, if my property is forfeited, they should become my freedmen, +supposing them to be able to maintain at law that status.[311] But if my +property remained in my ownership, they were to continue slaves, with +the exception of a very few. But these are trifles. To return to your +advice, that I should keep up my courage and not give up hope of +recovering my position, I only wish that there were any good grounds for +entertaining such a hope. As it is, when, alas! shall I get a letter +from you? Who will bring it me? I would have waited for it at +Brundisium, but the sailors would not allow it, being unwilling to lose +a favourable wind. For the rest, put as dignified a face on the matter +as you can, my dear Terentia. Our life is over: we have had our day: it +is not any fault of ours that has ruined us, but our virtue. I have made +no false step, except in not losing my life when I lost my honours. But +since our children preferred my living, let us bear everything else, +however intolerable. And yet I, who encourage you, cannot encourage +myself. I have sent that faithful fellow Clodius Philhetaerus home, +because he was hampered with weakness of the eyes. Sallustius seems +likely to outdo everybody in his attentions. Pescennius is exceedingly +kind to me; and I have hopes that he will always be attentive to you. +Sica had said that he would accompany me; but he has left Brundisium. +Take the greatest possible care of your health, and believe me that I am +more affected by your distress than my own. My dear Terentia, most +faithful and best of wives, and my darling little daughter, and that +last hope of my race, Cicero, good-bye! + +29 April, from Brundisium. + +[Footnote 309: Reading _prid. Kal._ instead of _a. d. II. Kal._, which +Tyrrell calls _audacius_ in Schutz. But absolute nonsense is not to be +kept even for a MS. + +(1) Cicero says that he has been thirteen days at Brundisium. In the +next letter he tells Atticus he arrived on the 17th. That, in the Roman +way of counting, brings it to _prid._ (29th). + +(2) Either the date at the end of the letter is wrong, or _prid._ must +be used here + +(3) There is no such date properly as _a. d. II. Kal._ The day before +_prid._ is _a. d. III_. + +In regard to dates we must remember that Cicero is using the prae-Julian +calendar, in which all months, except February, March, May, July, and +October, had twenty-nine days. These last four had thirty-one and +February twenty-eight.] + +[Footnote 310: Cicero does not mean that young Marcus is to come to him +at once, but that, when Tullia's marriage portion is settled, Terentia +is to bring him with her if she comes. Really he didn't mean any of them +to come, at any rate for a long while. Piso is Tullia's husband.] + +[Footnote 311: If Cicero's property was confiscated, it might be held +that the slaves went with it, and would be sold with it, and that his +manumission of them was an evasion, which could not hold good at law. If +his property was not confiscated, they were to remain in their status as +slaves. See Letter CXCII.] + + + + +LXII (A III, 7) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +BRUNDISIUM, 29 APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +I arrived at Brundisium on the 17th of April. On that day your slaves +delivered me your letter, and some other slaves, on the next day but +one, brought me another. As to your invitation and advice to stay at +your house in Epirus, your kindness is most gratifying, and far from +being a novelty. It is a plan that would have exactly suited my wishes, +if I might have spent all my time there: for I loathe a crowd of +visitors, I can scarcely bear the light, and that solitude, especially +in a spot so familiar, would have been the reverse of disagreeable. But +to put up there as a mere stage in my journey! In the first place it is +far out of my way, and in the next it is only four days from Autronius +and the rest, and in the third place you are not there. Had I been going +to reside permanently, a fortified castle would have been an advantage, +but to one only passing through it is unnecessary. Why, if I had not +been afraid, I should have made for Athens[312]--there were +circumstances that made me much wish to go--but as it is, I have enemies +in the neighbourhood, you are not there, and I fear they[313] might hold +even that town not to be the legal distance from Italy, nor do you +mention by what day I am to expect you. As to your urging me to remain +alive, you carry one point--that I should not lay violent hands upon +myself: the other you cannot bring to pass--that I should not regret my +policy and my continuance in life. For what is there to attach me to it, +especially if the hope which accompanied me on my departure is +non-existent? I will not attempt to enumerate all the miseries into +which I have fallen through the extreme injustice and unprincipled +conduct, not so much of my enemies, as of those who were jealous of me, +because I do not wish to stir up a fresh burst of grief in myself, or +invite you to share the same sorrow. I say this deliberately--that no +one was ever afflicted with so heavy a calamity, that no one had ever +greater cause to wish for death; while I have let slip the time when I +might have sought it most creditably. Henceforth death can never heal, +it can only end my sorrow.[314] In politics I perceive that you collect +all circumstances that you think may inspire me with a hope of a change: +and though they are insignificant, yet, since you will have it so, let +us have patience. In spite of what you say, you will catch us up if you +make haste. For I will either come into Epirus to be near you, or I will +travel slowly through Candavia.[315] My hesitation about Epirus is not +caused by vacillation on my part, but by the fact that I do not know +where I am likely to see my brother. As to him, I neither know how I am +to see him, nor how I shall let him go. That is the greatest and most +distressing of all my distresses. I would indeed have written to you +oftener, and at greater length, had it not been that sorrow, while it +has affected all parts of my intellect, has above all entirely destroyed +my faculty for this kind of writing. I long to see you. Take care of +your health. + +Brundisium, 29 April. + +[Footnote 312: He means that had it not been for enemies in Greece and +Epirus, he should not only have gone as far south as Epirus, but +farther--to Athens. There is a good deal to be said for Schutz's +reading, _Achaiam_ for _Athenas_, but as the MS. reading can be +explained, it is safer to keep it.] + +[Footnote 313: The Clodian party at Rome. "That town" is Athens.] + +[Footnote 314: "I have lost my chance of dying with honour; henceforth +death may end my grief, but cannot heal my damaged reputation." _Reliqua +tempora_, _i.e._, other opportunities of suicide.] + +[Footnote 315: A mountain range in Illyria, over which the _via Egnatia_ +passes (mod. _Elbassan_).] + + + + +LXIII (A III, 8) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 29 MAY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +I wrote to you at Brundisium, when on the point of starting, the reasons +for my not going to Epirus: namely, the proximity of Achaia, which was +full of enemies of the most unscrupulous character, and secondly, the +difficulty of leaving it when I wished to resume my journey. Added to +this, while I was at Dyrrachium two messages reached me: the first, that +my brother was coming from Ephesus to Athens by ship; the second, that +he was coming through Macedonia by land. Accordingly, I sent a message +to meet him at Athens, telling him to come thence to Thessalonica. I +myself continued my journey, and arrived at Thessalonica on the 23rd of +May, but have no certain intelligence about his journey except that he +had left Ephesus some time ago. At present I am feeling very nervous as +to what steps are being taken at Rome. Although you say in one of your +letters, dated the 15th of May, that you hear that he will be vigorously +prosecuted, in another you say that things are calming down. But then +the latter is dated a day before the former; which makes me all the more +anxious. So while my own personal sorrow is every day tearing my heart +and wearing out my strength, this additional anxiety indeed scarcely +leaves me any life at all. However, the voyage itself was very +difficult, and he perhaps, being uncertain where I was, has taken some +other course. For my freedman Phaetho saw nothing of him. Phaetho was +driven by the wind from Ilium[316] to Macedonia, and met me at Pella. +How formidable other circumstances are I am fully aware, and I don't +know what to say to you. I fear everything, nor is there any misery +which would not seem possible in my present unfortunate position. +Miserable as I still am in the midst of my heavy trials and sorrows, now +that this anxiety is added to them, I remain at Thessalonica in a state +of suspense without venturing upon any step whatever. + +Now to answer you. I have not seen Caecilius Trypho. I comprehend from +your letter what you and Pompey have been saying. That any movement in +politics is impending I cannot see as clearly as you either see, or +perhaps only suggest for my consolation. For, as the case of Tigranes +was passed over, all hope of a rupture is at an end.[317] You bid me +thank Varro: I will do so; also Hypsaeus.[318] As to your advice not to +go farther off till the _acta_[319] of the month of May reach me, I +think I shall do as you suggest. But where to stay? I have not yet come +to any decision. And indeed my mind is so uneasy about Quintus, that I +can determine on nothing. However, I will let you know immediately. From +the incoherent nature of my letters I think you will understand the +agitation of my mind, caused not so much by my misery, though I have +been overwhelmed by an incredible and unparalleled calamity, as by the +recollection of my blunder. For by whose unprincipled advice I was egged +on and betrayed you certainly now perceive,[320] and oh that you had +perceived it before, and had not given your whole mind to lamentation +along with me! Wherefore, when you are told that I am prostrate and +unmanned with grief, consider that I am more distressed at my own folly +than at the result of it, in having believed a man whom I did not think +to be treacherous. My writing is impeded both by the recollection of my +own disasters, and by my alarm about my brother. Yes, pray look after +and direct all the affairs you mention. Terentia expresses the warmest +gratitude to you. I have sent you a copy of the letter which I have +written to Pompey. + +Thessalonica, 29 May. + +[Footnote 316: Reading _ab Ilio_ with Madvig for _ab illo_.] + +[Footnote 317: Tigranes, a son of the king of Armenia, was brought to +Rome by Pompey to adorn his triumph, and put under the care of Lucius +Flavius. This prince was, for a bribe, released by Clodius by a trick, +and the attempt to get him away led to a scuffle in which lives were +lost. Pompey regarded this as a slight upon himself, and his partisan, +the consul Gabinius, attempted to prevent it. But both were hustled in +the forum and treated with insults. The hope of a breach in the +triumvirate arose from the supposition that Clodius had the support of +Caesar in his high-handed proceeding (Dio, xxxviii. 30; Plut. _Pomp._ 48; +Ascon. 47).] + +[Footnote 318: P. Plautius Hypsaeus, who had been Pompey's quaestor and on +intimate terms with him. He had been, it seems, interesting himself on +Cicero's behalf.] + +[Footnote 319: The gazette of public transactions and measures passed in +the senate, which was sent round to the provinces. We shall hear of it +again.] + +[Footnote 320: The next letter shews that he means Hortensius. The +blunder which he complains of having committed, by the advice of +Hortensius, is that of having left Rome, rather than stay and brave the +impeachment.] + + + + +LXIV (A III, 9) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 13 JUNE + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +My brother Quintus having quitted Asia before the 1st of May, and +arrived at Athens on the 15th, he would have to make great haste to +prevent proceedings being commenced against him in his absence, +supposing there to be some one who was not content with the misfortunes +we have already sustained. Accordingly, I preferred that he should hurry +on to Rome rather than come to me; and at the same time--for I will tell +you the truth, and it will give you a notion of the extent of my +wretchedness--I could not make up my mind to see him, devotedly attached +to me as he is, and a man of most tender feelings, or to obtrude upon +him my miseries and ruin in all their wretchedness, or to endure their +being seen by him. And I was besides afraid of what certainly would have +happened--that he would not have had the resolution to leave me. I had +ever before my eyes the time when he would either have to dismiss his +lictors,[321] or be violently torn from my arms. The prospect of this +bitter pain I have avoided by the other bitter pain of not seeing my +brother. It is all you, who advised me to continue living, that have +forced me into this distressful position. Accordingly, I am paying the +penalty of my error. However, I am sustained by your letter, from which +I easily perceive how high your own hopes are. This did give me some +consolation, but only, after all, till you passed from the mention of +Pompey to the passage beginning "Now try and win over Hortensius and +men of that sort." In heaven's name, my dear Pomponius, don't you yet +perceive by whose means, by whose treachery, by whose dishonest advice, +I have been ruined? But all this I will discuss with you when we meet. I +will only say this much, which I think you know: it is not my enemies, +but my jealous rivals, that have ruined me. Now, however, if things are +really as you hope, I will keep up my spirits, and will rely upon the +hope on which you bid me rely. But if, as I myself think, this proves +illusory, what I was not allowed to do at the best time shall be done at +a worse.[322] Terentia often expresses her gratitude to you. For myself +one of my miseries also consists in fear--the business of my unhappy +brother. If I could only know how it stands, I should know what I ought +to do. Personally, the hope of the advantages and of the letters you +mention keeps me still, as you advise, at Thessalonica. If I get any +news, I shall know what I ought to do about the rest. Yes, if, as you +say in your letter, you left Rome on the 1st of June, you will soon see +us. I have sent you a letter which I wrote to Pompey. + +Thessalonica, 15 June. + +[Footnote 321: Because, though a provincial governor retained his +lictors till he reached Rome, he was bound to go straight home or +dismiss them.] + +[Footnote 322: _I.e._, suicide.] + + + + +LXV (Q FR I, 3) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (ON HIS WAY TO ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 15 JUNE + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +Brother! Brother! Brother! did you really fear that I had been induced +by some angry feeling to send slaves to you without a letter? Or even +that I did not wish to see you? I to be angry with you! Is it possible +for me to be angry with you? Why, one would think that it was you that +brought me low! Your enemies, your unpopularity, that miserably ruined +me, and not I that unhappily ruined you! The fact is, the much-praised +consulate of mine has deprived me of you, of children, country, fortune; +from you I should hope it will have taken nothing but myself. Certainly +on your side I have experienced nothing but what was honourable and +gratifying: on mine you have grief for my fall and fear for your own, +regret, mourning, desertion. _I_ not wish to see you? The truth is +rather that I was unwilling to be seen by you. For you would not have +seen your brother--not the brother you had left, not the brother you +knew, not him to whom you had with mutual tears bidden farewell as he +followed you on your departure for your province: not a trace even or +faint image of him, but rather what I may call the likeness of a living +corpse. And oh that you had sooner seen me or heard of me as a corpse! +Oh that I could have left you to survive, not my life merely, but my +undiminished rank! But I call all the gods to witness that the one +argument which recalled me from death was, that all declared that to +some extent your life depended upon mine. In which matter I made an +error and acted culpably. For if I had died, that death itself would +have given clear evidence of my fidelity and love to you. As it is, I +have allowed you to be deprived of my aid, though I am alive, and with +me still living to need the help of others; and my voice, of all others, +to fail when dangers threatened my family, which had so often been +successfully used in the defence of the merest strangers. For as to the +slaves coming to you without a letter, the real reason (for you see that +it was not anger) was a deadness of my faculties, and a seemingly +endless deluge of tears and sorrows. How many tears do you suppose these +very words have cost me? As many as I know they will cost you to read +them! Can I ever refrain from thinking of you or ever think of you +without tears? For when I miss you, is it only a brother that I miss? +Rather it is a brother of almost my own age in the charm of his +companionship, a son in his consideration for my wishes, a father in the +wisdom of his advice! What pleasure did I ever have without you, or you +without me? And what must my case be when at the same time I miss a +daughter: How affectionate! how modest! how clever! The express image of +my face, of my speech, of my very soul! Or again a son, the prettiest +boy, the very joy of my heart? Cruel inhuman monster that I am, I +dismissed him from my arms better schooled in the world than I could +have wished: for the poor child began to understand what was going on. +So, too, your own son, your own image, whom my little Cicero loved as a +brother, and was now beginning to respect as an elder brother! Need I +mention also how I refused to allow my unhappy wife--the truest of +helpmates--to accompany me, that there might be some one to protect the +wrecks of the calamity which had fallen on us both, and guard our common +children? Nevertheless, to the best of my ability, I did write a letter +to you, and gave it to your freedman Philogonus, which, I believe, was +delivered to you later on; and in this I repeated the advice and +entreaty, which had been already transmitted to you as a message from me +by my slaves, that you should go on with your journey and hasten to +Rome. For, in the first place, I desired your protection, in case there +were any of my enemies whose cruelty was not yet satisfied by my fall. +In the next place, I dreaded the renewed lamentation which our meeting +would cause: while I could not have borne your departure, and was afraid +of the very thing you mention in your letter--that you would be unable +to tear yourself away. For these reasons the supreme pain of not seeing +you--and nothing more painful or more wretched could, I think, have +happened to the most affectionate and united of brothers--was a less +misery than would have been such a meeting followed by such a parting. +Now, if you can, though I, whom you always regarded as a brave man, +cannot do so, rouse yourself and collect your energies in view of any +contest you may have to confront. I hope, if my hope has anything to go +upon, that your own spotless character and the love of your fellow +citizens, and even remorse for my treatment, may prove a certain +protection to you. But if it turns out that you are free from personal +danger, you will doubtless do whatever you think can be done for me. In +that matter, indeed, many write to me at great length and declare that +they have hopes; but I personally cannot see what hope there is, since +my enemies have the greatest influence, while my friends have in some +cases deserted, in others even betrayed me, fearing perhaps in my +restoration a censure on their own treacherous conduct. But how matters +stand with you I would have you ascertain and report to me. In any case +I shall continue to live as long as you shall need me, in view of any +danger you may have to undergo: longer than that I cannot go on in this +kind of life. For there is neither wisdom nor philosophy with sufficient +strength to sustain such a weight of grief. I know that there has been a +time for dying, more honourable and more advantageous; and this is not +the only one of my many omissions, which, if I should choose to bewail, +I should merely be increasing your sorrow and emphasizing my own +stupidity. But one thing I am not bound to do, and it is in fact +impossible--remain in a life so wretched and so dishonoured any longer +than your necessities, or some well-grounded hope, shall demand. For I, +who was lately supremely blessed in brother, children, wife, wealth, and +in the very nature of that wealth, while in position, influence, +reputation, and popularity, I was inferior to none, however +distinguished--I cannot, I repeat, go on longer lamenting over myself +and those dear to me in a life of such humiliation as this, and in a +state of such utter ruin. Wherefore, what do you mean by writing to me +about negotiating a bill of exchange? As though I were not now wholly +dependent on your means! And that is just the very thing in which I see +and feel, to my misery, of what a culpable act I have been guilty in +squandering to no purpose the money which I received from the treasury +in your name,[323] while you have to satisfy your creditors out of the +very vitals of yourself and your son. However, the sum mentioned in your +letter has been paid to M. Antonius, and the same amount to Caepio. For +me the sum at present in my hands is sufficient for what I contemplate +doing. For in either case--whether I am restored or given up in +despair--I shall not want any more money. For yourself, if you are +molested, I think you should apply to Crassus and Calidius. I don't know +how far Hortensius is to be trusted. Myself, with the most elaborate +pretence of affection and the closest daily intimacy, he treated with +the most utter want of principle and the most consummate treachery, and +Q. Arrius helped him in it: acting under whose advice, promises, and +injunctions, I was left helpless to fall into this disaster. But this +you will keep dark for fear they might injure you. Take care also--and +it is on this account that I think you should cultivate Hortensius +himself by means of Pomponius--that the epigram on the _lex +Aurelia_[324] attributed to you when candidate for the aedileship is not +proved by false testimony to be yours. For there is nothing that I am so +afraid of as that, when people understand how much pity for me your +prayers and your acquittal will rouse, they may attack you with all the +greater violence. Messalla I reckon as really attached to you: Pompey I +regard as still pretending only. But may you never have to put these +things to the test! And that prayer I would have offered to the gods had +they not ceased to listen to prayers of mine. However, I do pray that +they may be content with these endless miseries of ours; among which, +after all, there is no discredit for any wrong thing done--sorrow is the +beginning and end, sorrow that punishment is most severe when our +conduct has been most unexceptionable. As to my daughter and yours and +my young Cicero, why should I recommend them to you, my dear brother? +Rather I grieve that their orphan state will cause you no less sorrow +than it does me. Yet as long as you are uncondemned they will not be +fatherless. The rest, by my hopes of restoration and the privilege of +dying in my fatherland, my tears will not allow me to write! Terentia +also I would ask you to protect, and to write me word on every subject. +Be as brave as the nature of the case admits. + +Thessalonica, 13 June. + +[Footnote 323: See pp. 92, 107.] + +[Footnote 324: Quintus was a candidate in B.C. 66 for the aedileship of +the following year. The _lex Aurelia_, which divided the juries between +the senators, equites, and _tribuni aerarii_, was passed in Pompey's +first consulship, B.C. 70. As this was the compromise in the matter of +the _iudicia_ favoured by Pompey, Hortensius, and the like, an attack on +it would be likely to give offence.] + + + + +LXVI (A III, 10) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 17 JUNE + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +The public transactions up to the 25th of May I have learnt from your +letter. I am waiting for the rest, as you advised, at Thessalonica; and +when they arrive I shall be better able to decide where to be. For if +there is any reason, if any action is being taken, if I shall see any +hopes, I shall either wait in the same place or go to your house; but +if, as you say, these hopes have vanished into air, I shall look out for +something else. At present you do not give me any indication except the +disagreement of those friends of yours, which, however, arises between +them on every kind of subject rather than myself. Therefore I don't see +what good it is to me. However, as long as you all will have me hope, I +shall obey you. For as to your scoldings so frequent and so severe, and +your saying that I am faint-hearted, I would ask you what misery is +there so heavy as not to be included in my disfranchisement? Did anyone +ever fall from such a high position, in so good a cause, with such +endowments of genius, wisdom and popularity, with such powerful supports +from all loyalists? Can I forget what I was, and not feel what I am? Of +what honour, of what glory, of what children, of what means, of what a +brother I am deprived? This last, indeed, to draw your attention to a +new kind of disaster--though I valued him, and always had done so, more +than myself--I have avoided seeing, lest I should behold his grief and +mourning, or lest I--whom he had left in the highest prosperity--should +obtrude myself upon him in a state of ruin and humiliation. I pass over +the other particulars that are past bearing: for I am prevented by my +tears. And here, let me ask, am I to be blamed for my grief, or for the +unfortunate mistake of not retaining these advantages (and I could +easily have done so, had not a plot for my destruction been hatched +within my own walls), or at least of not losing them without losing my +life at the same time? My purpose in writing these words is that you +should rather console me, as you do, than think me deserving of +correction or chiding; and the reason of the comparative brevity of my +letters is, in the first place, that I am hindered by outbursts of +sorrow, and, in the second place, that I have news to expect from Rome +rather than any to communicate myself. But when that news arrives I will +let you know my plans. Pray, as you have done hitherto, write to me on +as many subjects as possible, that I may not be ignorant of any possible +thing there is to know. + +Thessalonica, 17 June. + + + + +LXVII (A III, 11) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 27 JUNE + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +I have been kept at Thessalonica up to this time as well by your letter +and some good news (which, however, did not rest on the best authority), +and the expectation of hearing from you all at Rome, as by the fact that +you advised my doing so. When I receive the letters which I expect, if +there turns out to be the hope which rumour brings me, I shall go to +your house;[325] if otherwise, I will inform you of what I have done. +Pray go on, as you are doing, and help me by your exertions, advice, and +influence. Cease now consoling me, but yet don't chide me; for when you +do that, I fail to recognize your affection and regret! Yet I believe +you to be so distressed yourself at my wretchedness, that it is not +within anyone's power to console you. Give your support to Quintus, my +best and kindest of brothers. Pray write to me fully on everything. + +27 June. + +[Footnote 325: _I.e._, to the house of Atticus at Buthrotum.] + + + + +LXVIII (A III, 12) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 17 JULY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +Well, you argue earnestly as to what hope is to be entertained, and +especially through the action of the senate, and yet you mention that +the clause of the bill is being posted up, in virtue of which the +subject is forbidden to be mentioned in the senate. Accordingly, not a +word is said about it. In these circumstances you find fault with me for +distressing myself, when the fact is I am already more distressed than +anybody ever was, as you know very well. You hold out hope as a +consequence of the elections. What hope can there be with the same man +tribune, and a consul-designate who is my enemy?[326] But you have dealt +me a blow in what you say about my speech having got abroad.[327] Pray +do your best to heal that wound, as you express it. I did indeed write +one some time ago, in a fit of anger at what he had first composed +against me; but I had taken such pains to suppress it, that I thought it +would never get into circulation. How it has leaked out I cannot think. +But since the occasion never arose for my having a word of dispute with +him, and since it appears to me to be more carelessly written than my +other speeches, I think it might be maintained not to be by me. Pray +look after this if you think I can do anything to remedy the mischief; +but if my ruin is inevitable, I don't so much care about it. I am still +lying idle in the same place, without conversation, without being able +to think. Though, as you say, I have "intimated" to you my desire that +you should come to me, yet it is now clear to me[328] that you are doing +me useful service where you are, but could not give me even a word of +relief here. I cannot write any more, nor have I anything to say: I am +rather waiting to hear from you all. + +Thessalonica, 17 July. + +[Footnote 326: Clodius was not re-elected, and Q. Caecilius Metellus +Nepos, who had as tribune (B.C. 63-62) been hostile to Cicero, now as +consul supported Pompey in befriending Cicero.] + +[Footnote 327: The speech in the senate _in Curionem et Clodium_, +_i.e._, against the elder C. Curio, who had been Clodius's advocate in +B.C. 61 on the charge _de incesto_. Fragments only of it are preserved. +They are sufficiently violent. Cicero suggests repudiating the +authorship, because the speech had never been delivered, and therefore +was not necessarily intended for publication. There is no special reason +for abusing Cicero's character on this account. If some enemy had got +hold of the MS. and published it without his consent, it was not really +the expression of his deliberate sentiments.] + +[Footnote 328: Reading _nunc tamen intellego_ for _si donatam ut +intellego_, which is meaningless. There may be latent in _si donatam_ +some proper name, as _Dodonam_ or _Macedoniam_, but it is not possible +to extract it now. _Istic_, as usual, means "where you are," _i.e._, at +Rome.] + + + + +LXIX (A III, 14) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 21 JULY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +From your letter I am full of anxiety to hear what Pompey's view is of +my case, or what he professes to be his view. The elections, I presume, +are over; and when they were over you say that he was of opinion that my +case should be mooted. If I seem foolish to you for entertaining hopes, +it is at your bidding that I do so: yet I know that you have in your +letters been usually inclined rather to check me and my hopes. Now pray +write distinctly what your view is. I know that I have fallen into this +distress from numerous errors of my own. If certain accidents have in +any degree corrected those errors, I shall be less sorry that I +preserved my life then and am still living. Owing to the constant +traffic along the road[329] and the daily expectation of political +change, I have as yet not removed from Thessalonica. But now I am being +forced away, not by Plancius--for he, indeed, wishes to keep me +here--but by the nature of the place, which is not at all calculated for +the residence of a disfranchised man in such a state of sorrow. I have +not gone to Epirus, as I had said I would, because all of a sudden the +messages and letters that arrived have all indicated it to be +unnecessary for me to be in the immediate neighbourhood of Italy. From +this place, as soon as I have heard something about the elections, I +shall set my face towards Asia, but to what particular part I am not yet +certain: however, you shall know. + +Thessalonica, 21 July. + +[Footnote 329: The _via Egnatia_, the road across Macedonia, which was +one of the great channels of communication between Rome and the East, +and which terminated at Thessalonica.] + + + + +LXX (A III, 13) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 5 AUGUST + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +As to my having written you word that I meant to go to Epirus, I changed +my plan when I saw that my hope was vanishing and fading away, and did +not remove from Thessalonica. I resolved to remain there until I heard +from you on the subject mentioned in your last letter, namely, that +there was going to be some motion made in the senate on my case +immediately after the elections, and that Pompey had told you so. +Wherefore, as the elections are over and I have no letter from you, I +shall consider it as though you had written to say that nothing has come +of it, and I shall not feel annoyed at having been buoyed up by a hope +which did not keep me long in suspense. But the movement, which you said +in your letter that you foresaw as likely to be to my advantage, people +arriving here tell me will not occur.[330] My sole remaining hope is in +the tribunes-designate: and if I wait to see how that turns out, you +will have no reason to think of me as having been wanting to my own +cause or the wishes of my friends. As to your constantly finding fault +with me for being so overwhelmed by my misfortune, you ought to pardon +me when you see that I have sustained a more crushing blow than anyone +you have ever seen or heard of. As to your saying that you are told that +my intellect in even affected by grief, that is not so; my intellect is +quite sound. Oh that it had been as much so in the hour of danger! when +I found those, to whom I thought my safety was the dearest object of +their life, most bitterly and unfeelingly hostile: who, when they saw +that I had somewhat lost my balance from fear, left nothing undone which +malice and treachery could suggest in giving me the final push, to my +utter ruin. Now, as I must go to Cyzicus, where I shall get letters +more rarely, I beg you to write me word all the more carefully of +everything you may think I ought to know. Be sure you are affectionate +to my brother Quintus: if in all my misery I still leave him with rights +undiminished, I shall not consider myself utterly ruined. + +5 August. + +[Footnote 330: The probable split among the triumvirs, alluded to in +Letter LXIII.] + + + + +LXXI (Q FR I, 4) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, AUGUST + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +I beg you, my dear brother, if you and all my family have been ruined by +my single misfortune, not to attribute it to dishonesty and bad conduct +on my part, rather than to short-sightedness and the wretched state I +was in. I have committed no fault except in trusting those whom I +believed to be bound by the most sacred obligation not to deceive me, or +whom I thought to be even interested in not doing so. All my most +intimate, nearest and dearest friends were either alarmed for themselves +or jealous of me: the result was that all I lacked was good faith on the +part of my friends and caution on my own.[331] But if your own blameless +character and the compassion of the world prove sufficient to preserve +you at this juncture from molestation, you can, of course, observe +whether any hope of restoration is left for me. For Pomponius, Sestius, +and my son-in-law Piso have caused me as yet to stay at Thessalonica, +forbidding me, on account of certain impending movements, to increase my +distance. But in truth I am awaiting the result more on account of their +letters than from any firm hope of my own. For what can I hope with an +enemy possessed of the most formidable power, with my detractors masters +of the state, with friends unfaithful, with numbers of people jealous? +However, of the new tribunes there is one, it is true, most warmly +attached to me--Sestius--and I hope Curius, Milo, Fadius, Fabricius; +but still there is Clodius in violent opposition, who even when out of +office will be able to stir up the passions of the mob by the help of +that same gang, and then there will be found some one also to veto the +bill. + +Such a state of things was not put before me when I was leaving Rome, +but I often used to be told that I was certain to return in three days +with the greatest _eclat_. "What made you go, then?" you will say. What, +indeed! Many circumstances concurred to throw me off my balance--the +defection of Pompey, the hostility of the consuls, and of the praetors +also, the timidity of the _publicani_, the armed bands. The tears of my +friends prevented me seeking refuge in death, which would certainly have +been the best thing for my honour, the best escape from unbearable +sorrows. But I have written to you on this subject in the letter I gave +to Phaetho. Now that you have been plunged into griefs and troubles, +such as no one ever was before, if the compassion of the world can +lighten our common misfortune, you will, it seems, score a success +beyond belief! But if we are both utterly ruined--ah me!--I shall have +been the absolute destruction of my whole family, to whom I used to be +at least no discredit! But pray, as I said in a previous letter to you, +look into the business, test it thoroughly, and write to me with the +candour which our situation demands, and not as your affection for me +would dictate. I shall retain my life as long as I shall think that it +is in your interest for me to do so, or that it ought to be preserved +with a view to future hope. You will find Sestius most friendly to us, +and I believe that Lentulus, the coming consul, will also be so for your +sake. However, deeds are not so easy as words. You will see what is +wanted and what the truth is. On the whole, supposing that no one takes +advantage of your unprotected position and our common calamity, it is by +your means, or not at all, that something may be effected. But even if +your enemies have begun to annoy you, don't flinch: for _you_ will be +attacked by legal process, not by swords. However, I hope that this may +not occur. I beg you to write me back word on all subjects, and to +believe that though I have less spirit and resource than in old times, I +have quite as much affection and loyalty. + +[Footnote 331: Reading _defuit_ for _fuit_.] + + + + +LXXII (A III, 15) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 17 AUGUST + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +On the 13th of August I received four letters from you: one in which you +urge me in a tone of reproof to be less weak; a second, in which you say +that Crassus's freedman has told you about my anxiety and leanness; a +third, in which you describe the proceedings in the senate; a fourth on +the subject of Varro's assurances to you as to the friendly feelings of +Pompey. + +To the first my answer is this: though I do grieve, yet I keep all my +mental faculties, and it is precisely that which vexes me--I have no +opportunity and no one with whom to employ so sound an intellect. For if +you cannot find yourself separated from one individual like myself +without sorrow, what do you think must be my case, who am deprived both +of you and of everyone else? And if you, while still in possession of +all your rights, miss me, to what an extent do you think those rights +are missed by me? I will not enumerate the things of which I have been +despoiled, not only because you are not ignorant of them, but also lest +I should reopen my own sorrow. I only assert this, that never did anyone +in an unofficial position possess such great advantages, or fall into +such great miseries. Moreover, lapse of time not only does not soften +this grief, it even enhances it. For other sorrows are softened by age, +this one cannot but be daily increased both by my sense of present +misery and the recollection of my past life. For it is not only property +or friends that I miss, but myself. For what am I? But I will not allow +myself either to wring your soul with my complaints, or to place my +hands too often on my wounds. For as to your defence of those whom I +said had been jealous of me, and among them Cato, I indeed think that he +was so far removed from that crime, that I am above all things sorry +that the pretended zeal of others had more influence with me than his +honesty. As for your excuses for the others, they ought to be excused +in my eyes if they are so in yours. But all this is an old story now. +Crassus's freedman, I think, spoke without any real sincerity. In the +senate you say that the debate was satisfactory. But what about Curio? +Hasn't he read that speech? I can't make out how it got into +circulation! But Axius, in describing the proceedings of the same day, +does not speak so highly of Curio.[332] But he may be omitting +something; I know you have certainly not written anything except what +actually occurred. Varro's talk gives me some hope of Caesar, and would +that Varro himself would throw himself into the cause! Which he +certainly will do, both of his own accord and under pressure from you. +For myself, if fortune ever grants me the enjoyment of you all and of my +country, I will at least take care that you shall, above all the rest of +my friends, have cause to be glad: and I will so discharge all the +duties of affection and friendship, which (to confess the truth) have +not heretofore been conspicuous, that you shall regard me as restored to +yourself as much as to my brother and my children. If I have in any way +sinned in my conduct to you, or rather since I have done so, pardon me. +For I have sinned more grievously against myself. And I do not write +this to you because I know you not to feel deeply for my misfortune: but +certainly if it had been a matter of _obligation_ with you, and had +always been so, to love me as much as you do and have done, you would +never have allowed me to lack that judgment with which you are so well +supplied,[333] nor would you have allowed me to be persuaded that the +passing of the bill for the "colleges" was to our advantage.[334] But +you did nothing but weep over my sorrow, as though you were my second +self. This was indeed a sign of your affection: but what might have been +done, if I had earned it at your hands--the spending by you of days and +nights in thinking out the course I ought to have pursued--that was +omitted, owing to my own culpable imprudence, not yours. Now if, I don't +say you only, but if there had been anyone to urge me, when alarmed at +Pompey's ungenerous answer,[335] not to adopt that most degrading +course--and you are the person that, above all others, could have done +it--I should either have died honourably, or we should have been living +to-day triumphant. In this you must forgive me. For I find much greater +fault with myself, and only call you in question afterwards, as at once +my second self and the sharer in my error; and, besides, if I am ever +restored, our mistake will seem still less in my eyes, and to you at +least I shall be endeared by your own kindness, since there is none on +my side.[336] There is something in the suggestion you mentioned as +having been made in your conversation with Culleo as to a +_privilegium_,[337] but by far the better course is to have the law +repealed. For if no one vetoes it, what course can be safer? But if +anyone is found to prohibit its passing, he will be equally able to veto +a decree of the senate. Nor is there need for the repeal of anything +else. For the previous law did not touch me: and if, on its publication, +I had chosen to speak in its favour, or to ignore it, as it ought to +have been ignored, it could not have done me any harm at all.[338] It +was at this point first that my judgment failed to assist me, nay, even +did me harm. Blind, blind, I say, was I in laying aside my senator's +toga, and in entreating the people; it was a fatal step to take before +some attack had been begun upon me by name.[339] But I am harping on the +past: it is, however, for the purpose of advising you, if any action is +to be taken, not to touch that law, in which there are many provisions +in the interests of the people. But it is foolish for me to be laying +down rules as to what you are to do and how. I only wish that something +may be done! And it is on that point that your letter displays much +reserve: I presume, to prevent my being too much agitated by despair. +For what action do you see possible to be taken, or in what way? Through +the senate? But you yourself told me that Clodius had fixed upon the +doorpost of the senate-house a certain clause in the law, "that it might +neither be put to the house nor mentioned."[340] How could +Domitius,[341] therefore, say that he would bring it before the house? +How came it about also that Clodius held his tongue, when those you +mention in your letter both spoke on the subject and demanded that a +motion should be brought in? But if you go to the people--can it be +carried except with the unanimous approval of the tribunes? What about +my property? What about my house? Will it be possible to have it +restored? Or, if that cannot, how can I be? Unless you see these +difficulties on the way to be solved, what is the hope to which you +invite me? But if, again, there is no hope, what sort of life is there +for me? So I await at Thessalonica the gazette of the proceedings of the +1st of August, in accordance with which I shall decide whether to take +refuge on your estate, in order at once to avoid seeing people I don't +want to see, to see you, according to your letter, and to be nearer at +hand in case of any motion being made (and this I understand is in +accordance with your view and that of my brother Quintus), or to depart +for Cyzicus. Now, my dear Pomponius, since you imparted to me none of +your wisdom in time to save me, either because you had made up your mind +that I had judgment enough of my own, or that you owed me nothing beyond +being by my side; and since, betrayed, beguiled, and hurried into a +snare as I was, I neglected all my defences, abandoned and left Italy, +which was everywhere on the _qui vive_ to defend me, and surrendered +myself and mine into the hands of enemies while you looked on and said +nothing, though, even if you were not my superior in mental power, you +were at least in less of a fright: now, if you can, raise the fallen, +and in that way assist me! But if every avenue is barred, take care that +I know that also, and cease at length either to scold me or to offer +your kindly-meant consolations. If I had meant to impeach your good +faith, I should not have chosen your roof, of all others, to which to +trust myself: it is my own folly that I blame for having thought that +your love for me was exactly what I could have wished it to be:[342] for +if that had been so, you would have displayed the same good faith, but +greater circumspection; at least, you would have held me back when +plunging headlong into ruin, and would not have had to encounter the +labours which you are now enduring in saving the wrecks of my fortunes. +Wherefore do be careful to look into, examine thoroughly, and write +fully everything that occurs, and resolve (as I am sure you do) that I +shall be _some one_, since I cannot now be the man I was and the man I +might have been; and lastly, believe that in this letter it is not you, +but myself that I have accused. If there are any people to whom you +think that letters ought to be delivered in my name, pray compose them +and see them delivered. + +17 August. + +[Footnote 332: Or, as Prof. Tyrrell suggests, "does not quote Curio to +that effect." I think, however, that Cicero does not use _laudo_ in this +sense except in connexion with _auctorem_, _auctores_, and even then +generally with a subsense, at least, of commendation. The speech was +composed to be delivered against the elder Curio and Clodius (see p. +155), but was never delivered. Its personal tone made it dangerous now.] + +[Footnote 333: Cicero means that Atticus acted with the emotion +spontaneously arising from his affection, but not with the caution which +he would have shewn in doing a thing which he was under some obligation +to do.] + +[Footnote 334: The ancient "colleges" or "clubs" had been gradually +increasing, and a decree of the senate in B.C. 64 had declared certain +of them unlawful. But Clodius had overridden this decree by a _lex_ +early in B.C. 58, and many new ones were formed, which he used for his +political purposes (_pro Sest._ Sec. 55; Dio, xxxviii. 13).] + +[Footnote 335: That he could do nothing against the wishes of Caesar +(_Att._ x. 4, Sec. 3; cp. _in Pis._ Sec. 77). According to Plutarch, Pompey +avoided a personal interview (_Cic._ 31).] + +[Footnote 336: The kindness has been all on the side of Atticus, who +will therefore be attached to the object of it--for the benefactor loves +more than the benefited.] + +[Footnote 337: A _privilegium_ was a law referring to a particular +person, which was forbidden by the twelve tables, and if it was shewn to +be unconstitutional a decree of the senate could declare it void. But +Cicero seems to think that such a proceeding of the senate would give a +possibility of raising the question afresh.] + +[Footnote 338: The first bill named no one, but enacted that "anyone who +had put a citizen to death uncondemned should be forbidden fire and +water." The second, "that M. Tullius be forbidden fire and water." +Cicero says that the former did not touch him, I suppose, because it +could not be retrospective. This is in accordance with the view of +Caesar, who approved of the law, but said that old sores ought not to be +ripped up--[Greek: ou men kai prosekein epi parelelythosi toiouton tina +nomon sungraphesthei] (Dio, xxxviii. 17).] + +[Footnote 339: Because it shewed that he considered himself as coming +under the new law.] + +[Footnote 340: Letter LXVIII, p. 154.] + +[Footnote 341: L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, who was a praetor this year.] + +[Footnote 342: Though Cicero uses _tantum ... quantum_ here, he does not +mean that Atticus failed to love him enough--that would have been too +unreasonable. In a certain way he means that he loved him too much. He +allowed his spontaneous feelings full vent, without acting with the cool +wisdom which he would have shewn in fulfilling a duty or moral +obligation. It is more fully expressed above. Still, it was a difficult +thing to say, and he doesn't succeed in making it very clear.] + + + + +LXXIII (A III, 16) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 19 AUGUST + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +My whole journey is in suspense till I receive letters from you all of +the 1st of August. For if there turns out to be any hope, I am for +Epirus: if not, I shall make for Cyzicus or some other place. Your +letter is cheerful[343] indeed, but at the same time, the oftener I read +it, the more it weakens the suggested ground for hope, so that it is +easy to see that you are trying to minister at once to consolation and +to truth. Accordingly, I beg you to write to me exactly what you know +and exactly what you think. + +19 August. + +[Footnote 343: Reading _laetae_ for _lectae_.] + + + + +LXXIV (A III, 17) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 4 SEPTEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +News of my brother Quintus of an invariably gloomy nature reached me +from the 3rd of June up to the 29th of August. On that day, however, +Livineius, a freedman of Lucius Regulus, came to me by the direction of +Regulus himself.[344] He announced that absolutely no notice whatever +had been given of a prosecution, but that there had, nevertheless, been +some talk about the son of C. Clodius.[345] He also brought me a letter +from my brother Quintus. But next day came the slaves of Sestius, who +brought me a letter from you not so positive in regard to this alarm as +the conversation of Livineius had been. I am rendered very anxious in +the midst of my own endless distress, and the more so as Appius[346] has +the trial of the case. As to other circumstances mentioned in the same +letter by you in connexion with my hopes, I understand that things are +going less well than other people represent them. I, however, since we +are now not far from the time at which the matter will be decided, will +either go to your house or will still remain somewhere in this +neighbourhood. My brother writes me word that his interests are being +supported by you more than by anyone else. Why should I urge you to do +what you are already doing? or offer you thanks which you do not expect? +I only pray that fortune may give us the opportunity of enjoying our +mutual affection in security. I am always very anxious to get your +letters, in which I beg you not to be afraid of your minuteness boring +me, or your plain speaking giving me pain. + +4 September. + +[Footnote 344: L. Livineius Regulus, whom Cicero (_F._ xiii. 60) calls a +very intimate friend, and says that his freedman Trypho stood his friend +in the hour of need. He seems to have been condemned (in B.C. 56?) for +something, but he afterwards served under Iulius Caesar (_B. Afr._ Sec. 9). +The freedman's full name was L. Livineius Trypho.] + +[Footnote 345: About Appius acting as prosecutor of Quintus. He was a +nephew of P. Clodius. See Letter CCXXII.] + +[Footnote 346: Appius Claudius Pulcher, brother of P. Clodius, was +praetor-designate for B.C. 57, and had allotted to him the _quaestio de +rebus repetundis_ (_pro Sest._ Sec. 78). He was consul B.C. 54.] + + + + +LXXV (A III, 18) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA (SEPTEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +You raised no little flutter in my mind when you said in your letter +that Varro had assured you as a friend that Pompey would certainly take +up my case, and that as soon as he had received a letter from Caesar, +which he was expecting, he would even name some one to formally carry +out the business. Was that all mere talk, or was the letter from Caesar +hostile? Is there some ground for hope? You mentioned, too, that Pompey +had also used the expression "after the elections." Pray, as you can +conceive the severity of the troubles by which I am prostrated, and as +you must think it natural to your kindness to do so, inform me fully as +to the whole state of my case. For my brother Quintus, dear good fellow, +who is so much attached to me, fills his letters with hopeful +expressions, fearing, I suppose, my entirely losing heart. Whereas your +letters vary in tone; for you won't have me either despair or cherish +rash hopes. I beseech you to let me know everything as far as you can +detect the truth. + + + + +LXXVI (A III, 19) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 15 SEPTEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +As long as my letters from you all continued to be of such a nature as +to keep expectation alive, I was bound to Thessalonica by hope and eager +longing: afterwards, when all political measures for this year appeared +to me to be over, I yet determined not to go to Asia, both because a +crowd of people is disagreeable to me, and because, in case any movement +was set on foot by the new magistrates, I was unwilling to be far off. +Accordingly, I resolved to go to your house in Epirus, not because the +natural features of the country mattered to me, shunning as I do the +light of day altogether, but because it will be most grateful to my +feelings to set out from a harbour of yours to my restoration; and, if +that restoration is denied me, there is no place where I shall with +greater ease either support this most wretched existence or (which is +much better) rid myself of it. I shall be in a small society: I shall +shake off the crowd. Your letters have never raised me to such a pitch +of hope as those of others; and yet my hopes have always been less warm +than your letters. Nevertheless, since a beginning has been made in the +case, of whatever sort and from whatever motive, I will not disappoint +the sad and touching entreaties of my best and only brother, nor the +promises of Sestius and others, nor the hopes of my most afflicted wife, +nor the entreaties of my most unhappy Tulliola, as well as your own +loyal letter. Epirus will furnish me with a road to restoration or to +that other alternative mentioned above. I beg and entreat of you, Titus +Pomponius, as you see that I have been despoiled by the treachery of men +of all that most adds splendour to life, of all that can most gratify +and delight the soul, as you see that I have been betrayed and cast away +by my own advisers, as you understand that I have been forced to ruin +myself and my family--help me by your compassion, and support my brother +Quintus, who is still capable of being saved; protect Terentia and my +children. For myself, if you think it possible that you may see me at +Rome, wait for me; if not, come to see me if you can, and make over to +me just so much of your land as may be covered by my corpse. Finally, +send slaves to me with letters as soon and as often as possible. + +15 September. + + + + +LXXVII (A III, 20) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 4 OCTOBER + +_Cicero greets Q. Caecilius Pomponianus Atticus, son of Quintus._[347] + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +That this is now the case, and that your uncle has done what he ought to +have done, I approve in the strongest manner possible: I will say I am +"glad," when circumstances shall admit of my using such a word. Ah me! +how well everything would have been going if my own spirit, my own +judgment, and the good faith of those on whom I relied had not failed +me! But I won't review these circumstances lest I increase my sorrow. +Yet I feel sure that it occurs to your mind what a life ours was, how +delightful, how dignified. To recover this, in the name of fortune, +bestow all your energies, as I know you do, and take care that I keep +the birthday of my return in your delightful house with you and my +family. For this hope and expectation, though now put before me as being +very strong, I yet wished to wait in your home in Epirus; but my letters +are such as to make me think it better not to be in the same +neighbourhood. What you say in your letter about my town house and about +Curio's speech is exactly true. Under the general act of restoration, if +only that is accorded me, everything will be included, of which I care +for nothing more than for my house. But I don't give you any precise +injunction, I trust myself wholly to your affection and honour. I am +very glad to hear that you have extricated yourself from every +embarrassment in view of so large an inheritance. As to your promise to +employ your means in securing my restoration, though I am in all points +assisted by you above all others, yet I quite see what a support that +is, and I fully understand that you are undertaking and can carry on +many departments of my cause, and do not need to be asked to do so. You +tell me not to suspect that your feelings have been at all affected by +acts of commission or omission on my part towards you--well, I will obey +you and will get rid of that anxiety; yet I shall owe you all the more +from the fact that your kind consideration for me has been on a higher +level than mine for you. Please tell me in your letters whatever you +see, whatever you make out, whatever is being done in my case, and +exhort all your friends to help in promoting my recall. The bill of +Sestius[348] does not shew sufficient regard for my dignity or +sufficient caution. For the proposed law ought to mention me by name, +and to contain a carefully expressed clause about my property. Pray see +to it. + +Thessalonica, 4 October. + +[Footnote 347: Cicero gives Atticus his full name, rather playfully, as +it was a new acquisition. His uncle, Q. Caecilius, dying this year, left +him heir to a large fortune, and adopted him in his will (Nep. _Att._ +5). He therefore, according to custom, took his uncle's _praenomen_ and +_nomen_, Q. Caecilius, retaining his own _nomen_ in an adjectival form +(Pomponianus) as a _cognomen_, just as C. Octavius became, by his +uncle's will, _C. Iulius Caesar Octavianus_. His additional name of +Atticus remained as before, and in ordinary life was his usual +designation. See p. 15.] + +[Footnote 348: Sestius, tribune-elect for B.C. 57, would come into +office 10th December, B.C. 58. He means to bring a bill before the +people for Cicero's recall, and a draft of it has been sent to Cicero, +who criticises it as not entering sufficiently into details, though he +had before said that a general _restitutio in integrum_ covered +everything; but perhaps this bill only repealed the Clodian law as a +_privilegium_, without mentioning anything else.] + + + + +LXXVIII (F XIV, 2) + +TO TERENTIA (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 5 OCTOBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +Greetings to Terentia, and Tulliola, and Cicero. Don't suppose that I +write longer letters to anyone else, unless some one has written at +unusual length to me, whom I think myself bound to answer. For I have +nothing to write about, and there is nothing at such a time as this that +I find it more difficult to do. Moreover, to you and my dear Tulliola I +cannot write without many tears. For I see you reduced to the greatest +misery--the very people whom I desired to be ever enjoying the most +complete happiness, a happiness which it was my bounden duty to secure, +and which I should have secured if I had not been such a coward. Our +dear Piso I love exceedingly for his noble conduct. I have to the best +of my ability encouraged him by letter to proceed, and thanked him, as I +was bound to do. I gather that you entertain hopes in the new tribunes. +We shall have reason to depend on that, if we may depend on Pompey's +goodwill, but yet I am nervous about Crassus. I gather that you have +behaved in every respect with the greatest courage and most loyal +affection, nor am I surprised at it; but I grieve that the position +should be such that my miseries are relieved by such heavy ones on your +part. For a kind friend of ours, Publius Valerius, has told me in a +letter which I could not read without violent weeping, how you had been +dragged from the temple of Vesta to the Valerian bank.[349] To think of +it, my dear, my love! You from whom everybody used to look for +help![350] That you, my Terentia, should now be thus harassed, thus +prostrate in tears and humiliating distress! And that this should be +brought about by my fault, who have preserved the rest of the citizens +only to perish myself! As to what you say about our town house, or +rather its site, I shall not consider myself fully restored, until it +has also been restored for me. However, these things are not yet within +our grasp. I am only sorry that you, impoverished and plundered as you +are, should be called upon to bear any part of the present expenses. Of +course, if the business is successfully accomplished we shall get +everything back: but if the same evil fortune keeps us down, will you be +so foolish as to throw away even the poor remains of your fortune?[351] +I beseech you, my life, as far as expense goes, allow others to bear it, +who are well able if they are only willing to do so; and do not, as you +love me, try your delicate constitution. For I have you day and night +before my eyes: I see you eagerly undertaking labours of every kind: I +fear you cannot endure them. Yet I see that everything depends on you! +Wherefore, to enable us to attain what you hope and are striving for, +attend carefully to your health. _I_ don't know to whom to write except +to those who write to me, or to those about whom you say something in +your letters. I will not go farther off, since that is your wish, but +pray send me a letter as often as possible, especially if there is +anything on which we may safely build our hope. Good-bye, my loves, +good-bye! + +Thessalonica, 5 October. + +[Footnote 349: Terentia, whose half-sister was a Vestal, seems to have +taken sanctuary with the Vestals, as did the mother and sister of +Augustus in B.C. 43. The special indignity of which Cicero complains is +that she had been forced to leave the sanctuary and appear at the bank +of Valerius, but for what purpose we cannot now tell. It is suggested +that it was to make some solemn declaration as to her husband's +property, some of which she may be supposed to have tried to conceal. +The term _ducta esses_ is that applied to prisoners led through the +streets, but we may regard it as used _ad invidiam_.] + +[Footnote 350: In securing her husband's advocacy.] + +[Footnote 351: Mention is made of Terentia's separate estate in Letters +XXX and LXXXI.] + + + + +LXXIX (A III, 21) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA, 28 OCTOBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +It is exactly thirty days to the writing of this letter since I have +heard from you. Well, my present intention is, as I have told you, to go +into Epirus and there by preference to await whatever may turn up. I beg +you to write to me with the utmost openness whatever you perceive to be +the state of the case, and whether it is for good or evil, and also to +send a letter, as you say, in my name to whomsoever you think it +necessary. + +28 October. + + + + +LXXX (A III, 22) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +THESSALONICA AND DYRRACHIUM, 27 NOVEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +Though my brother Quintus and Piso have given me a careful account of +what has been done, yet I could have wished that your engagements had +not hindered you from writing fully to me, as has been your custom, what +was on foot and what you understood to be the facts. Up to the present, +Plancius[352] keeps me here by his generous treatment, though I have +several times already made an effort to go to Epirus. He has conceived a +hope, which I do not share, that we may possibly quit the province +together: he hopes that that may redound greatly to his credit. But as +soon as news shall come that soldiers are on their way hither,[353] I +shall have to insist on quitting him. And as soon as I do that I will +at once send you word, that you may know where I am. Lentulus,[354] in +his own peculiar zeal for my cause, which he manifests by action and +promises and writings, gives me some hope of Pompey's friendly feelings. +For you have often told me in your letters that the latter was wholly +devoted to him. As to Metellus,[355] my brother has written me word that +by your agency as much has been accomplished as he had hoped. My dear +Pomponius, fight hard that I may be allowed to live with you and my own +family, and write me everything that occurs. I am heavy with sorrow and +regret for all my dear ones, who have always been dearer to me than +myself. Take care of your health. + + * * * * * + +Dyrrachium, 27 November. As, if I went through Thessaly into Epirus, I +should have been likely to be a very long time without any intelligence, +and as I have warm friends in the people of Dyrrachium, I have come to +them, after writing the former part of this letter at Thessalonica. When +I turn my face from this town towards your house I will let you know, +and for your part I would have you write me everything with the utmost +particularity, whatever its nature. I am now expecting some definite +step or the abandonment of all hope. + +[Footnote 352: Cn. Plancius, quaestor in Macedonia, whose kindness Cicero +lauds highly when defending him in B.C. 54.] + +[Footnote 353: The forces of the new governor, L. Calpurnius Piso, who +was to have Macedonia after his consulship, and would be sending his +troops on before him.] + +[Footnote 354: P. Cornelius Lentulus, consul-designate for B.C. 57.] + +[Footnote 355: Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos, consul-designate for B.C. 57. +See pp. 22-23.] + + + + +LXXXI (F XIV, 1) + +TO TERENTIA + +PARTLY WRITTEN AT THESSALONICA, PARTLY AT DYRRACHIUM, 28 NOVEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +Greetings to his Terentia, Tulliola, and Cicero. I learn, both from the +letters of many and the conversation of all whom I meet, that you are +shewing a virtue and courage surpassing belief; and that you give no +sign of fatigue in mind or body from your labours. Ah me! To think that +a woman of your virtue, fidelity, uprightness, and kindness should have +fallen into such troubles on my account! And that my little Tullia +should reap such a harvest of sorrow from the father, from whom she used +to receive such abundant joys! For why mention my boy Cicero, who from +the first moment of conscious feeling has been made aware of the +bitterest sorrows and miseries? And if, as you say, I had thought these +things the work of destiny, I could have borne them somewhat more +easily, but they were really all brought about by my own fault, in +thinking myself beloved by those who were really jealous of me, and in +not joining those who really wanted me.[356] But if I had followed my +own judgment, and had not allowed the observations of friends, who were +either foolish or treacherous, to have such great influence with me, we +should have been living at the height of bliss. As it is, since friends +bid us hope, I will do my best to prevent my weakness of health from +failing to second your efforts. I fully understand the magnitude of the +difficulty, and how much easier it will turn out to have been to stay at +home than to get back. However, if we have all the tribunes on our side, +if we find Lentulus as zealous as he appears to be, if, finally, we have +Pompey and Caesar, there is no reason to despair. About our slaves,[357] +we will do what you say is the opinion of our friends. As to this place, +by this time the epidemic has taken its departure; but while it lasted, +it did not touch me. Plancius, the kindest of men, desires me to stay +with him and still keeps me from departing. I wanted to be in a less +frequented district in Epirus, to which neither Hispo[358] nor soldiers +would come, but as yet Plancius keeps me from going; he hopes that he +may possibly quit his province for Italy in my company. And if ever I +see that day, and come once more into your arms, and if I ever recover +you all and myself, I shall consider that I have reaped a sufficient +harvest both of your piety and my own. Piso's[359] kindness, virtue, and +affection toward us all are so great that nothing can surpass them. I +hope his conduct may be a source of pleasure to him, a source of glory I +see clearly that it will be. I did not mean to find fault with you about +my brother Quintus, but I wished that you all, especially considering +how few there are of you, should be as closely united as possible. Those +whom you wished me to thank I have thanked, and told them that my +information came from you. As to what you say in your letter, my dear +Terentia, about your intention of selling the village, alas! in heaven's +name, what will become of you? And if the same ill-fortune continues to +pursue us, what will become of our poor boy? I cannot write the rest--so +violent is my outburst of weeping, and I will not reduce you to the same +tearful condition. I only add this: if my friends remain loyal to me, +there will be no lack of money; if not, you will not be able to effect +our object out of your own purse. In the name of our unhappy fortunes, +beware how we put the finishing stroke to the boy's ruin. If he has +something to keep him from absolute want, he will need only moderate +character and moderate luck to attain the rest. See to your health, and +mind you send me letter-carriers, that I may know what is going on and +what you are all doing. I have in any case only a short time to wait. +Give my love to Tulliola and Cicero. Good-bye. + +Dyrrachium,[360] 27 November. + + * * * * * + +P.S.--I have come to Dyrrachium both because it is a free state, very +kindly disposed to me, and the nearest point to Italy.[361] But if the +crowded condition of the place offends me, I shall take myself elsewhere +and I will write you word. + +[Footnote 356: The party of the triumvirs.] + +[Footnote 357: See Letter LXI, p. 142.] + +[Footnote 358: A centurion or other officer in the army of Piso crossing +to Macedonia. But the name is otherwise unknown, and some have thought +that it is an intentional disguise for the name of _Piso_ himself.] + +[Footnote 359: Cicero's son-in-law.] + +[Footnote 360: The greater part of this letter was evidently written at +Thessalonica. Cicero appears to have put the date and place of departure +to it after arriving at Dyrrachium, and then added a postscript to +explain why he had come there.] + +[Footnote 361: As a _libera civitas_ Dyrrachium had the _ius exilii_, +and would not be filled with Roman officials. The crowded state of the +town--by which Cicero means crowded with Romans--would arise from its +being the usual place of disembarkation from Rome across the north of +the Greek peninsula to the East. There was doubtless always a large +traffic between it and Brundisium, but at this time of year, when +sailing would be, if possible, avoided, he might hope to find it +somewhat less crowded.] + + + + +LXXXII (A III, 23) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +DYRRACHIUM, 29 NOVEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +On the 26th of November I received three letters from you, one dated +25th of October, in which you exhort me to await the month of January +with a good heart, and write at length on such topics as you think tend +to encourage my hopes--as to the zeal of Lentulus, the goodwill of +Metellus, and the general policy of Pompey. In the second letter, +contrary to your usual custom, you append no date, but give sufficient +indication of the time of its writing. For the law having been published +by the eight tribunes, you mention that you wrote this letter on the +very same day, that is, the 29th of October,[362] and you say what good +you think that publication has done. In regard to which, if my +restoration is to be despaired of along with this law, I would have you +think in your affection for me that my fruitless exertions are pitiable +rather than foolish: but if there is any ground for hope, try and secure +that my cause may be hereafter supported with greater attention to +details by the new magistrates. For this bill of the old tribunes[363] +had three clauses, of which the one relating to my return was carelessly +drafted. For nothing is restored to me except my citizenship and +senatorial rank: which, in the circumstances of my position, suffices +me, but it does not escape your observation what special provisions will +have to be made, and in what manner. The second clause is the usual +one--"If anything be done in virtue of this law against other +laws."[364] But observe, my dear Pomponius, what the object of the third +clause is, and by whom it has been put in. For you know that Clodius +provided that it should be scarcely possible, or rather altogether +impossible, for his law to be deprived of validity either by senate or +people. But you must see that the penal provisions of such laws as are +repealed have never been observed. For in that case hardly any law could +be repealed at all--for there is no law which does not hedge itself in +by trying to make repeal difficult--but when a law is repealed, so is +the clause meant to prevent its repeal. Now, though this is in truth the +case, since it has been the universal doctrine and practice, our eight +tribunes introduced the following clause: _If any provision is contained +in this bill which, in view of existing laws or plebiscites_ (_i.e._, +Clodius's law), _it is not lawful without incurring penalty, now or +heretofore, whether to publish, repeal, amend, or supersede, or whereby +he who has so published or amended would be liable to penalty or +fine--such provision is not enacted by this law_. And observe that this +contingency did not touch the case of those eight tribunes, for they +were not bound by a law emanating from their own body.[365] Which makes +one the more suspicious of some evil intention, since they have added a +clause which did not affect themselves, but was against my interests: so +that the new tribunes, if they happened to be somewhat timid, would +think it still more necessary to employ the clause.[366] And Clodius did +not fail to notice this. For he said in the public meeting of November +the third, that by this clause a limit to their legal powers was laid +down for the tribunes-designate; and yet it cannot escape your notice +that in no law is there a clause of the sort: whereas, if it had been +necessary, everybody would have employed it in repealing a law. How this +point came to escape Ninnius[367] and the rest, pray find out, and who +introduced the clause, and how it was that the eight tribunes did not +hesitate to bring my case before the senate--which implies that they did +not think that clause of the law binding--and were yet so cautious in +their proposal for its repeal, as to be afraid (though not personally +liable) of what need not be taken into consideration, even by those who +are bound by the law. This clause I would not have the new tribunes +propose; however, let them only carry something, no matter what: I shall +be content with the single clause recalling me, so long only as the +business is done. I have for some time been feeling ashamed of writing +at such length; for I fear by the time you read this it will be all up +with any hopes, so that this minute criticism of mine may seem pitiable +to you and ridiculous to others. But if there is any ground for hope, +pray look at the law which Visellius[368] drafted for T. Fadius. I like +it very much: for that of our friend Sestius, which you say has your +approbation, I don't like. + +The third letter is dated 12th of November, in which you explain with +wisdom and care what the circumstances are which seem to cause a +postponement of my affair, and about Crassus, Pompey, and the rest. +Accordingly, I beg you, if there is any hope that the matter can be +settled by the zeal of the loyalists, by the exertion of influence, and +by getting numbers on our side, to endeavour to break through all +difficulties at a rush, to throw your whole weight into the attempt, and +incite others to do the same. But if, as I perceive from your +conjectures as well as my own, there is no hope left, I beg and implore +you to cherish my brother Quintus, whom I to our mutual misery have +ruined, and not allow him to do anything to himself which would be to +the detriment of your sister's son. My little Cicero, to whom, poor boy! +I leave nothing but prejudice and the blot upon my name, pray protect to +the best of your power. Terentia, that most afflicted of women, sustain +by your kindness. I shall start for Epirus as soon as I have received +news of the first days of the new tribunate.[369] Pray describe fully to +me in your next letter what sort of a beginning is made. + +29 November. + +[Footnote 362: This bill for Cicero's recall would, of course, be vetoed +by Clodius, and could not therefore be passed, but it would probably +influence the action of the new tribunes for B.C. 57.] + +[Footnote 363: _I.e._, the tribunes of B.C. 58.] + +[Footnote 364: _I.e._, securing indemnity to the proposers if there is a +technical breach of existing laws, something like the common +clause--"all statutes to the contrary notwithstanding."] + +[Footnote 365: The Clodian law.] + +[Footnote 366: Because they would not be protected as the previous +tribunes were by the fact of the Clodian law (which alone was +contravened) having emanated from their own _collegium_.] + +[Footnote 367: L. Quadratus Ninnius, tribune-elect. On the 1st of June +next he brought forward the question of Cicero's restoration in the +senate.] + +[Footnote 368: Cicero's cousin, C. Visellius Varro, a learned +jurisconsult (_Brut._ Sec. 264; 1 _Verr._ Sec. 71).] + +[Footnote 369: The tribunes came into office on the 10th of December, +nearly three weeks before the consuls, praetors, etc., who entered office +on the 1st of January.] + + + + +LXXXIII (F XIV, 3) + +TO TERENTIA (AT ROME) + +DYRRACHIUM, 29 NOVEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +Greetings to his Terentia, Tulliola, and Cicero. I have received three +letters from the hands of Aristocritus, which I almost obliterated with +tears. For I am thoroughly weakened with sorrow, my dear Terentia, and +it is not my own miseries that torture me more than yours--and yours, my +children! Moreover, I am more miserable than you in this, that whereas +the disaster is shared by us both, yet the fault is all my own. It was +my duty to have avoided the danger by accepting a legation,[370] or to +resist it by careful management and the resources at my command, or to +fall like a brave man. Nothing was more pitiful, more base, or more +unworthy of myself than the line I actually took. Accordingly, it is +with shame as well as grief that I am overpowered. For I am ashamed of +not having exhibited courage and care to a most excellent wife and most +darling children. I have, day and night, before my eyes the mourning +dresses, the tears of you all, and the weakness of your own health, +while the hope of recall presented to me is slender indeed. Many are +hostile, nearly all jealous. To expel me had been difficult, to keep me +out is easy. However, as long as you entertain any hope, I will not give +way, lest all should seem lost by my fault. As to your anxiety for my +personal safety, that is now the easiest thing in the world for me, for +even my enemies desire me to go on living in this utter wretchedness. I +will, however, do as you bid me. I have thanked the friends you desired +me to thank, and I have delivered the letters to Dexippus, and have +mentioned that you had informed me of their kindness. That our Piso has +shewn surprising zeal and kindness to us I can see for myself, but +everybody also tells me of it. God grant that I may be allowed, along +with you and our children, to enjoy the actual society of such a +son-in-law! For the present our one remaining hope is in the new +tribunes, and that, too, in the first days of their office; if the +matter is allowed to get stale, it is all over with us. It is for that +reason that I have sent Aristocritus back to you at once, in order that +you may be able to write to me on the spot as to the first official +steps taken, and the progress of the whole business; although I have +also given Dexippus orders to hurry back here at once, and I have sent a +message to my brother to despatch letter-carriers frequently. For the +professed object of my being at Dyrrachium at the present juncture is +that I may hear as speedily as possible what is being done; and I am in +no personal danger, for this town has always been defended by me. When I +am told that enemies are on their way here I shall retire into Epirus. +As to your coming to me, as you say you will if I wish it--for my part, +knowing that a large part of this burden is supported by you, I should +like you to remain where you are. If you succeed in your attempt I must +come to you: but if, on the other hand--but I needn't write the rest. +From your first, or at most, your second letter, I shall be able to +decide what I must do. Only be sure you tell me everything with the +greatest minuteness, although I ought now to be looking out for some +practical step rather than a letter. Take care of your health, and +assure yourself that nothing is or has ever been dearer to me than you +are. Good-bye, my dear Terentia, whom I seem to see before my eyes, and +so am dissolved in tears. Good-bye! + +29 November. + +[Footnote 370: Either the _libera legatio_ or the acting _legatio_ in +Gaul, both of which Caesar offered him.] + + + + +LXXXIV (A III, 24) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +DYRRACHIUM, 10 DECEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET. 48] + +When, some time ago, I received letters from you all stating that with +your consent the vote for the expenses of the consular provinces had +been taken, though I was nervous as to the result of the measure, I yet +hoped that you saw some good reason for it beyond what I could see: but +when I was informed by word of mouth and by letters that this policy of +yours was strongly censured, I was much disturbed, because the hope +which I had cherished, faint as it was, seemed completely destroyed. For +if the tribunes are angry with us, what hope can there be? And, indeed, +they seem to have reason to be angry, since they, who had undertaken my +cause, have not been consulted on the measure; while by your assenting +to it they have been deprived of all the legitimate influence of their +office: and that though they profess that it was for my sake that they +wished to have the vote for the outfit of the consuls under their +control, not in order to curtail their freedom of action, but in order +to attach them to my cause:[371] that as things stand now, supposing +the consuls to choose to take part against me, they can do so without +let or hindrance, but if they wish to do anything in my favour they are +powerless if the tribunes object. For as to what you say in your letter, +that, if your party had not consented, they would have obtained their +object by a popular vote--that would have been impossible against the +will of the tribunes.[372] So I fear, on the one hand, that I have lost +the favour of the tribunes; and on the other, even supposing that favour +to remain, that the tie has been lost by which the consuls were to be +attached. Added to this is another disadvantage, the abandonment of the +weighty resolution--as, indeed, it was reported to me--that the senate +should pass no decree until my case had been decided, and that, too, in +the case of a measure which was not only not urgent, but even contrary +to custom and unprecedented. For I think there is no precedent for +voting the provincial outfit of magistrates when still only designate: +so that, since in a matter like this the firm line[373] on which my +cause had been taken up has been infringed, there is now no reason why +any decree should not be passed. It is not surprising that those friends +to whom the question was referred assented, for it was difficult to find +anyone to express an opinion openly against proposals so advantageous to +two consuls. It would in any case have been difficult not to be +complaisant to such a warm friend as Lentulus, or to Metellus after the +exceedingly kind way in which he put aside his quarrel with me. But I +fear that, while failing to keep a hold on them, we have lost the +tribunes. How this matter has occurred, and in what position the whole +business stands, I would have you write to me, and in the same spirit as +before: for your outspoken candour, even if not altogether pleasant, is +yet what I prefer. + +10 December. + +[Footnote 371: The phrase _ornare provincias, ornare consules_, etc., +means the vote in the senate deciding the number of troops, amount of +money, and other outfit that the magistrates going to their provinces +were to have. The provinces to be taken by outgoing consuls were decided +before the elections--in this case they were Cilicia and Spain. But the +_ornatio_ usually took place after the consuls had entered on their +office, _i.e._, after the 1st of January. For this year, however--we +don't know why--it had taken place before the 1st of December, B.C. 58. +The result of this would be that the new tribunes for B.C. 57--entering +on their office 10th December, B.C. 58--would have no voice in the +matter, and would thus lose a great hold on the consuls. Most of these +tribunes were supporters of Cicero, while he was doubtful as to one of +the consuls--Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos. He thinks, therefore, that his +cause has lost by this measure, for the tribunes will have less power of +putting force on the consuls to do anything for him, and yet the same +power of stopping them should they wish to do anything of their own +accord. Besides, the new tribunes may be alienated by what they may +think a measure derogatory to their position. These fears came to +nothing; the tribunes were loyal to Cicero, and the consul Piso +forwarded his recall.] + +[Footnote 372: Because the tribunes could have vetoed any measure +brought before the people, and so could have forced the consuls to come +to terms.] + +[Footnote 373: _I.e._, that the senate would pass no decree prior to one +recalling Cicero.] + + + + +LXXXV (A III, 25) + +TO ATTICUS (? IN EPIRUS[374]) + +DYRRACHIUM (DECEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 58, AET 48] + +After you left me I received a letter from Rome, from which I see +clearly that I must rot away in this state of disfranchisement: for I +can't believe (don't be offended at my saying so) that you would have +left town at this juncture, if there had been the least hope left of my +restoration. But I pass over this, that I may not seem to be ungrateful +and to wish everything to share my own ruin. All I ask of you is what +you have faithfully promised, that you will appear before the 1st of +January wherever I may be. + +[Footnote 374: There is no indication in the letter as to where Atticus +is. He left Rome late in B.C. 58, and apparently did not return till +after Cicero's recall. The most natural explanation is that he was in +Epirus, or somewhere in Greece, and that he had visited Cicero at +Dyrrachium on his way. I do not quite see how this should be thought +impossible in view of the last sentence of LXXXV or the next letter. +Cicero asks Atticus to join him, but he might do so whether Atticus were +at Buthrotum, or Rome, or anywhere else.] + + + + +LXXXVI (A III, 26) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 57. Coss., P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, Q. Caecilius +Metellus Nepos. + + The new year found Cicero still at Dyrrachium, waiting for the law + to pass for his recall, which (owing chiefly to the riotous + opposition of Clodius) did not pass till the 5th of August. We have + no letters in the interval between January and August, but a few + lively ones recounting the nature of his return (4th of September), + and four speeches dealing with his position and that of his + property. He seems at once to have attached himself to Pompey, and + to have promoted his appointment as _praefectus annonae_. + + +TO ATTICUS (? IN EPIRUS[374]) + +DYRRACHIUM, JANUARY + +[Sidenote: B.C. 57, AET. 49] + +I have received a letter from my brother Quintus inclosing the decree of +the senate passed concerning me. My intention is to await the time for +legislation, and, if the law is defeated, I shall avail myself of the +resolution of the senate,[375] and prefer to be deprived of my life +rather than of my country. Make haste, I beg, to come to me. + +[Footnote 375: On 1st January, B.C. 57, P. Lentulus brought the case of +Cicero before the senate. The prevailing opinion was that his +_interdictio_ having been illegal, the senate could quash it. But +Pompey, for the sake of security, recommended a _lex_. One of the +tribunes, without actually vetoing the _senatus consultum_, demanded a +night for consideration. The question was again debated in succeeding +meetings of the senate, but on the 25th was not decided. Technically an +_auctoritas_ was a decree that had been vetoed by a tribune, and Cicero +(_pro Sest._ Sec. 74) implies that such a veto had been put in, and at any +rate the _noctis postulatio_ was equivalent to a veto.] + + + + +LXXXVII (A III, 27) + +TO ATTICUS (? AT ROME) + +DYRRACHIUM (AFTER 25 JANUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 57, AET. 49] + +From your letter and from the bare facts I see that I am utterly +ruined.[376] I implore you, in view of my deplorable position, to stand +by my family in whatever respect they shall need your help. I shall, as +you say, see you soon. + +[Footnote 376: Perhaps he has just heard that the sitting of the senate +on the 25th of January had been interrupted by Clodius's roughs. But +other similar events happened, and there is no certain means of dating +this note. The difficulty, as it stands, is that it implies Atticus's +temporary return to Rome.] + + + + +LXXXVIII (F V, 4) + +TO Q. METELLUS THE CONSUL (AT ROME) + +DYRRACHIUM (JANUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 57, AET. 49] + +A letter from my brother Quintus, and one from my friend Titus +Pomponius, had given me so much hope, that I depended on your assistance +no less than on that of your colleague. Accordingly, I at once sent you +a letter in which, as my present position required, I offered you thanks +and asked for the continuance of your assistance. Later on, not so much +the letters of my friends, as the conversation of travellers by this +route, indicated that your feelings had undergone a change; and that +circumstance prevented my venturing to trouble you with letters. Now, +however, my brother Quintus has sent me a copy which he had made of your +exceedingly kind speech delivered in the senate. Induced by this I have +attempted to write to you, and I do ask and beg of you, as far as I may +without giving you offence, to preserve your own friends along with me, +rather than attack me to satisfy the unreasonable vindictiveness of your +connexions. You have, indeed, conquered yourself so far as to lay aside +your own enmity for the sake of the Republic: will you be induced to +support that of others _against_ the interests of the Republic? But if +you will in your clemency now give me assistance, I promise you that I +will be at your service henceforth: but if neither magistrates, nor +senate, nor people are permitted to aid me, owing to the violence which +has proved too strong for me, and for the state as well, take care +lest--though you may wish the opportunity back again for retaining all +and sundry in their rights--you find yourself unable to do so, because +there will be nobody to be retained.[377] + +[Footnote 377: This intentionally enigmatical sentence is meant to +contain a menace against Clodius, who is hinted at in the word _omnium_, +just as he is earlier in the letter in the word _tuorum_. Clodius was a +connexion by marriage of Metellus (through his late brother, the husband +of Clodia), and Cicero assumes that Metellus is restrained from helping +him by regard for Clodius. He knows, however, by this time, that one of +the new tribunes, Milo, is prepared to repel force by force, and he +hints to Metellus that if he countenances Clodius's violence he may some +day find that there is no Clodius to save--if that's his object. In +Letter LXXXIX he shews how early he had contemplated Clodius being +killed by Milo (_occisum iri ab ipso Milone video_).] + + + + +LXXXIX (A IV, 1) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME (SEPTEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 57, AET. 49] + +Directly I arrived at Rome, and there was anyone to whom I could safely +intrust a letter for you, I thought the very first thing I ought to do +was to congratulate you in your absence on my return. For I knew, to +speak candidly, that though in giving me advice you had not been more +courageous or far-seeing than myself, nor--considering my devotion to +you in the past--too careful in protecting me from disaster, yet that +you--though sharing in the first instance in my mistake, or rather +madness, and in my groundless terror--had nevertheless been deeply +grieved at our separation, and had bestowed immense pains, zeal, care, +and labour in securing my return. Accordingly, I can truly assure you of +this, that in the midst of supreme joy and the most gratifying +congratulations, the one thing wanting to fill my cup of happiness to +the brim is the sight of you, or rather your embrace; and if I ever +forfeit that again, when I have once got possession of it, and if, too, +I do not exact the full delights of your charming society that have +fallen into arrear in the past, I shall certainly consider myself +unworthy of this renewal of my good fortune. + +In regard to my political position, I have resumed what I thought there +would be the utmost difficulty in recovering--my brilliant standing at +the bar, my influence in the senate, and a popularity with the loyalists +even greater than I desired. In regard, however, to my private +property--as to which you are well aware to what an extent it has been +crippled, scattered, and plundered--I am in great difficulties, and +stand in need, not so much of your means (which I look upon as my own), +as of your advice for collecting and restoring to a sound state the +fragments that remain. For the present, though I believe everything +finds its way to you in the letters of your friends, or even by +messengers and rumour, yet I will write briefly what I think you would +like to learn from my letters above all others. On the 4th of August I +started from Dyrrachium, the very day on which the law about me was +carried. I arrived at Brundisium on the 5th of August. There my dear +Tulliola met me on what was her own birthday, which happened also to be +the name-day of the colony of Brundisium and of the temple of Safety, +near your house. This coincidence was noticed and celebrated with warm +congratulations by the citizens of Brundisium. On the 8th of August, +while still at Brundisium, I learnt by a letter from Quintus that the +law had been passed at the _comitia centuriata_ with a surprising +enthusiasm on the part of all ages and ranks, and with an incredible +influx of voters from Italy. I then commenced my journey, amidst the +compliments of the men of highest consideration at Brundisium, and was +met at every point by legates bearing congratulations. My arrival in the +neighbourhood of the city was the signal for every soul of every order +known to my nomenclator coming out to meet me, except those enemies who +could not either dissemble or deny the fact of their being such. On my +arrival at the Porta Capena, the steps of the temples were already +thronged from top to bottom[378] by the populace; and while their +congratulations were displayed by the loudest possible applause, a +similar throng and similar applause accompanied me right up to the +Capitol, and in the forum and on the Capitol itself there was again a +wonderful crowd. Next day, in the senate, that is, the 5th of September, +I spoke my thanks to the senators. Two days after that--there having +been a very heavy rise in the price of corn, and great crowds having +flocked first to the theatre and then to the senate-house, shouting out, +at the instigation of Clodius, that the scarcity of corn was my +doing--meetings of the senate being held on those days to discuss the +corn question, and Pompey being called upon to undertake the management +of its supply in the common talk not only of the plebs, but of the +aristocrats also, and being himself desirous of the commission, when the +people at large called upon me by name to support a decree to that +effect, I did so, and gave my vote in a carefully-worded speech. The +other consulars, except Messalla and Afranius, having absented +themselves on the ground that they could not vote with safety to +themselves, a decree of the senate was passed in the sense of my motion, +namely, that Pompey should be appealed to to undertake the business, and +that a law should be proposed to that effect. This decree of the senate +having been publicly read, and the people having, after the senseless +and new-fangled custom that now prevails, applauded the mention of my +name,[379] I delivered a speech. All the magistrates present, except one +praetor and two tribunes, called on me to speak.[380] Next day a full +senate, including all the consulars, granted everything that Pompey +asked for. Having demanded fifteen legates, he named me first in the +list, and said that he should regard me in all things as a second self. +The consuls drew up a law by which complete control over the corn-supply +for five years throughout the whole world was given to Pompey. A second +law is drawn up by Messius,[381] granting him power over all money, and +adding a fleet and army, and an _imperium_ in the provinces superior to +that of their governors. After that our consular law seems moderate +indeed: that of Messius is quite intolerable. Pompey professes to prefer +the former; his friends the latter. The consulars led by Favonius +murmur: I hold my tongue, the more so that the pontifices have as yet +given no answer in regard to my house.[382] If they annul the +consecration I shall have a splendid site. The consuls, in accordance +with a decree of the senate, will value the cost of the building that +stood upon it; but if the pontifices decide otherwise, they will pull +down the Clodian building, give out a contract in their own name (for a +temple), and value to me the cost of a site and house. So our affairs +are + + "For happy though but ill, for ill not worst."[383] + +In regard to money matters I am, as you know, much embarrassed. Besides, +there are certain domestic troubles, which I do not intrust to writing. +My brother Quintus I love as he deserves for his eminent qualities of +loyalty, virtue, and good faith. I am longing to see you, and beg you to +hasten your return, resolved not to allow me to be without the benefit +of your advice. I am on the threshold, as it were, of a second life. +Already certain persons who defended me in my absence begin to nurse a +secret grudge at me now that I am here, and to make no secret of their +jealousy. I want you very much. + +[Footnote 378: Reading _ab infimo_.] + +[Footnote 379: As backing the decree. The phrase was _aderat scribendo +M. Tullius Cicero_, etc.] + +[Footnote 380: _Dederunt_, _i.e._, _contionem_; lit. gave me a meeting, +_i.e._, the right of addressing the meeting, which only magistrates or +those introduced by magistrates could do.] + +[Footnote 381: C. Messius, a tribune of the year.] + +[Footnote 382: Clodius had consecrated the site of Cicero's house for a +temple of Liberty. The pontifices had to decide whether that +consecration held good, or whether the site might be restored to Cicero. +Hence his speech _de Domo sua ad Pontifices_.] + +[Footnote 383: The origin of the Latin line is not known. The English is +Milton's, _P. L._ ii. 224.] + + + + +XC (A IV, 2) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME (OCTOBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 57, AET. 49] + +If by any chance you get letters less frequently from me than from +others, I beg you not to put it down to my negligence, or even to my +engagements; for though they are very heavy, there can be none +sufficient to stop the course of our mutual affection and of the +attention I owe to you. The fact is that, since my return to Rome, this +is only the second time that I have been told of anyone to whom I could +deliver a letter, and accordingly this is my second letter to you. In my +former I described the reception I had on my return, what my political +position was, and how my affairs were. + + "For happy though but ill, for ill not worst." + +The despatch of that letter was followed by a great controversy about my +house. I delivered a speech before the pontifices on the 29th of +September. I pleaded my cause with care, and if I ever was worth +anything as a speaker, or even if I never was on any other occasion, on +this one at any rate my indignation at the business, and the importance +of it, did add a certain vigour to my style.[384] Accordingly, the +rising generation must not be left without the benefit of this speech, +which I shall send you all the same, even if you don't want it.[385] The +decree of the pontifices was as follows: "If neither by order of the +people nor vote of the plebs the party alleging that he had dedicated +had been appointed by name to that function, nor by order of the people +or vote of the plebs had been commanded to do so, we are of opinion that +the part of the site in question may be restored to M. Tullius without +violence to religion." Upon this I was at once congratulated--for no one +doubted that my house was thereby adjudged to me--when all on a sudden +that fellow mounts the platform to address a meeting, invited to speak +by Appius,[386] and announces at once to the people that the pontifices +had decided in his favour,[387] but that I was endeavouring to take +forcible possession; he exhorts them to follow himself and Appius to +defend their own shrine of Liberty.[388] Hereupon, when even those +credulous hearers partly wondered and partly laughed at the fellow's mad +folly, I resolved not to go near the place until such time as the +consuls by decree of the senate had given out the contract for restoring +the colonnade of Catulus.[389] On the 1st of October there was a full +meeting of the senate. All the pontifices who were senators were invited +to attend, and Marcellinus,[390] who is a great admirer of mine, being +called on to speak first, asked them what was the purport of their +decree. Then M. Lucullus, speaking for all his colleagues, answered that +the pontifices were judges of a question of religion, the senate of the +validity of a law: that he and his colleagues had given a decision on a +point of religion; in the senate they would with the other senators +decide on the law. Accordingly, each of them, when asked in their proper +order for their opinion, delivered long arguments in my favour. When it +came to Clodius's turn, he wished to talk out the day, and he went on +endlessly; however, after he had spoken for nearly three hours, he was +forced by the loud expression of the senate's disgust to finish his +speech at last. On the decree in accordance with the proposal of +Marcellinus passing the senate against a minority of one, Serranus +interposed his veto.[391] At once both consuls referred the question of +Serranus's veto to the senate. After some very resolute speeches had +been delivered--"that it was the decision of the senate that the house +should be restored to me": "that a contract should be given out for the +colonnade of Catulus": "that the resolution of the house should be +supported by all the magistrates": "that if any violence occurred, the +senate would consider it to be the fault of the magistrate who vetoed +the decree of the senate"--Serranus became thoroughly frightened, and +Cornicinus repeated his old farce: throwing off his toga, he flung +himself at his son-in-law's feet.[392] The former demanded a night for +consideration. They would not grant it: for they remembered the 1st of +January. It was, however, at last granted with difficulty on my +interposition. Next day the decree of the senate was passed which I send +you. Thereupon the consuls gave out a contract for the restoration of +the colonnade of Catulus: the contractors immediately cleared that +portico of his away to the satisfaction of all.[393] The buildings of my +house the consuls, by the advice of their assessors, valued at 2,000,000 +sesterces (about L16,000).[394] The rest was valued very stingily. My +Tusculan villa at 500,000 sesterces (about L4,000): my villa at Formiae +at 250,000 sesterces (about L2,000)--an estimate loudly exclaimed +against not only by all the best men, but even by the common people. You +will say, "What was the reason?" They for their part say it was my +modesty--because I would neither say no, nor make any violent +expostulation. But that is not the real cause: for that indeed in itself +would have been in my favour.[395] But, my dear Pomponius, those very +same men, I tell you, of whom you are no more ignorant than myself, +having clipped my wings, are unwilling that they should grow again to +their old size. But, as I hope, they are already growing again. Only +come to me! But this, I fear, may be retarded by the visit of your and +my friend Varro. Having now heard the actual course of public business, +let me inform you of what I have in my thoughts besides. I have allowed +myself to be made _legatus_ to Pompey, but only on condition that +nothing should stand in the way of my being entirely free either to +stand, if I choose, for the censorship--if the next consuls hold a +censorial election--or to assume a "votive commission" in connexion +with nearly any fanes or sacred groves.[396] For this is what falls in +best with our general policy and my particular occasions. But I wished +the power to remain in my hands of _either_ standing for election, _or_ +at the beginning of the summer of going out of town: and meanwhile I +thought it not disadvantageous to keep myself before the eyes of the +citizens who had treated me generously. Well, such are my plans in +regard to public affairs; my domestic affairs are very intricate and +difficult. My town house is being built: you know how much expense and +annoyance the repair of my Formian villa occasions me, which I can +neither bear to relinquish nor to look at. I have advertised my Tusculan +property for sale; I don't much care for a suburban residence.[397] The +liberality of friends has been exhausted in a business which brought me +nothing but dishonour: and this you perceived though absent, as did +others on the spot, by whose zeal and wealth I could easily have +obtained all I wanted, had only my supporters allowed it.[398] In this +respect I am now in serious difficulty. Other causes of anxiety are +somewhat more of the _tacenda_ kind.[399] My brother and daughter treat +me with affection. I am looking forward to seeing you. + +[Footnote 384: The speech _de Domo sua ad Pontifices_. The genuineness +of the existing speech has been doubted. But it may very well be said +that no one but Cicero could have written it. It is not certainly one of +his happiest efforts, in spite of what he says here; but he is not +unaccustomed to estimate his speeches somewhat highly, and to mistake +violence for vigour.] + +[Footnote 385: He will send it to Atticus to get copied by his +_librarii_, and published.] + +[Footnote 386: Appius Claudius Pulcher, brother of P. Clodius, was a +praetor this year.] + +[Footnote 387: It is not clear that Clodius was wrong; the pontifices +decided that for a valid consecration an order of the people was +requisite, and, of course, Clodius could allege such an order. Cicero +devoted the greater part of his speech, therefore, to shewing (1) that +Clodius's adoption was invalid, and that he was therefore no tribune, +and incapable of taking an order of the people; (2) that the law was a +_privilegium_, and therefore invalid. The pontifices did not consider +either of these points, which were not properly before them, or within +their competence; they merely decided the religious question--that +unless there had been a _iussus populi_ or _plebis scitus_ there was no +valid consecration.] + +[Footnote 388: Or perhaps only "statue of Liberty," as the temple was +not yet completed.] + +[Footnote 389: A portico or colonnade, built by Q. Catulus, the +conqueror of the Cimbri, on the site of the house of M. Flaccus, who was +killed with Saturninus in B.C. 100. It was close to Cicero's house, and +what Clodius appears to have done was to pull down the portico, and +build another, extending over part of Cicero's site, on which was to be +a temple for his statue of Liberty.] + +[Footnote 390: Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus was called on first as +consul designate for B.C. 56.] + +[Footnote 391: Sext. Attilius Serranus, a tribune. He had been a quaestor +in Cicero's consulship, but had opposed his recall.] + +[Footnote 392: Cn. Oppius Cornicinus, the father-in-law of Serranus, is +said in _p. red. at Quir._ Sec. 13 to have done the same in the senate on +the 1st of January, when Serranus also went through the same form of +"demanding a night" for consideration.] + +[Footnote 393: Prof. Tyrrell brackets _porticum_. But I do not +understand his difficulty, especially as he saw none in the last letter. +Cicero (_de Domo_, Sec. 102) certainly implies that Clodius had, at any +rate, partly pulled down the _porticus Catuli_, in order to build +something on a larger scale, which was to take in some of Cicero's site. +This was now to come down, and so leave Cicero his _area_, and, I +presume, the old _porticus Catuli_ was to be restored.] + +[Footnote 394: Cicero had given Crassus 3,500,000 for it (about +L28,000). See Letter XVI.] + +[Footnote 395: _I.e._, my modest reserve. There does not seem any reason +for Tyrrell's emendation of _num_ for _nam_.] + +[Footnote 396: I have translated Klotz's text. That given by Prof. +Tyrrell is, to me at any rate, quite unintelligible. Cicero's _legatio_ +under Pompey appears to have been, in fact, honorary, or _libera_, for +he doesn't seem to have done anything. He wishes to reserve the right of +resigning it to stand for the censorship (censors were elected in the +following year), or of turning it into a _votiva legatio_, to visit +certain sacred places on the plea of performing a vow, thus getting the +opportunity, if he desired it, of retiring temporarily from Rome in a +dignified manner. The force of _prope_ seems to be "almost any, I care +not what." It was not likely that a man with his stormy past would do +for the delicate duties of the censorship, and he would save appearances +by going on a _votiva legatio_. See Letter XLIV.] + +[Footnote 397: _Facile careo_, others read _non facile_, "I don't like +being without a suburban residence."] + +[Footnote 398: The thing which brought him "nothing but dishonour" was +his quitting Rome, and the consequent expenses connected with winning +over friends, or paying for Milo's bravoes to face those of Clodius. In +the last part of the sentence he seems to mean that, had his supporters +backed him properly, he would have got everything necessary to make good +his losses from the liberality of the senate. Others explain that +_defensores_ really means Pompey only.] + +[Footnote 399: This and the omission of his wife in the next clause, as +the similar hint at the end of the last letter, seem to point to some +misunderstanding with Terentia, with whom, however, a final rupture was +postponed for nearly twelve years (B.C. 46.)] + + + + +XCI (A IV, 3) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME, 24 NOVEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 57, AET. 49] + +I am very well aware that you long to know what is going on here, and +also to know it from me, not because things done before the eyes of the +whole world are better realized when narrated by my hand than when +reported to you by the pens or lips of others, but because it is from my +letters that you get what you want--a knowledge of _my_ feelings in +regard to the occurrences, and what at such a juncture is the state of +my mind, or, in a word, the conditions in which I am living. On the 3rd +of November the workmen were driven from the site of my house by armed +ruffians: the _porticus Catuli_,[400] which was being rebuilt on a +contract given out by the consuls, in accordance with a decree of the +senate, and had nearly reached the roof, was battered down: the house of +my brother Quintus[401] was first smashed with volleys of stones thrown +from my site, and then set on fire by order of Clodius, firebrands +having been thrown into it in the sight of the whole town, amidst loud +exclamations of indignation and sorrow, I will not say of the +loyalists--for I rather think there _are_ none--but of simply every +human being. That madman runs riot: thinks after this mad prank of +nothing short of murdering his opponents: canvasses the city street by +street: makes open offers of freedom to slaves. For the fact is that up +to this time, while trying to avoid prosecution,[402] he had a case, +difficult indeed to support, and obviously bad, but still a case: he +might have denied the facts, he might have shifted the blame on others, +he might even have pleaded that some part of his proceedings had been +legal. But after such wrecking of buildings, incendiaries, and wholesale +robberies as these, being abandoned by his supporters, he hardly retains +on his side Decimus the marshal,[403] or Gellius; takes slaves into his +confidence; sees that, even if he openly assassinates everyone he wishes +to, he will not have a worse case before a court of law than he has at +present. Accordingly, on the 11th of November, as I was going down the +Sacred Way, he followed me with his gang. There were shouts, +stone-throwing, brandishing of clubs and swords, and all this without a +moment's warning. I and my party stepped aside into Tettius Damio's +vestibule: those accompanying me easily prevented his roughs from +getting in. He might have been killed himself.[404] But I am now on a +system of cure by regimen: I am tired of surgery. The fellow, seeing +that what everybody called for was not his prosecution but his instant +execution, has since made all your Catilines seem models of +respectability.[405] For on the 12th of November he tried to storm and +set fire to Milo's house, I mean the one on Germalus:[406] and so openly +was this done, that at eleven o'clock in the morning he brought men +there armed with shields and with their swords drawn, and others with +lighted torches. He had himself occupied the house of P. Sulla[407] as +his headquarters from which to conduct the assault upon Milo's. +Thereupon Q. Flaccus led out some gallant fellows from Milo's other +house (the _Anniana_): killed the most notorious bravoes of all +Clodius's gang: wanted to kill Clodius himself; but my gentleman took +refuge in the inner part of Sulla's house. The next thing was a meeting +of the senate on the 14th. Clodius stayed at home: Marcellinus[408] was +splendid: all were keen. Metellus[409] talked the business out by an +obstructive speech, aided by Appius, and also, by Hercules! by your +friend on whose firmness you wrote me such a wonderfully true letter! +Sestius[410] was fuming. Afterwards the fellow vows vengeance on the +city if his election is stopped. Marcellinus's resolution having been +exposed for public perusal (he had read it from a written copy, and it +embraced our entire case--the prosecution was to include his violent +proceedings on the site of my house, his arson, his assault on me +personally, and was to take place before the elections), he put up a +notice that he intended to watch the sky during all comitial days.[411] +Public speeches of Metellus disorderly, of Appius hot-headed, of +Publius stark mad. The upshot, however, was that, had not Milo served +his notice of bad omens in the _campus_, the elections would have been +held. On the 19th of November Milo arrived on the _campus_ before +midnight with a large company. Clodius, though he had picked gangs of +runaway slaves, did not venture into the _campus_. Milo stopped there +till midday,[412] to everybody's great delight and his own infinite +credit: the movement of the three brethren[413] ended in their own +disgrace; their violence was crushed, their madness made ridiculous. +However, Metellus demands that the obstructive notice should be served +on him next day in the forum: "there was no need to come to the _campus_ +before daybreak: he would be in the _comitium_ at the first hour of the +day."[414] Accordingly, on the 20th Milo came to the forum before +sunrise. Metellus at the first sign of dawn was stealthily hurrying to +the _campus_, I had almost said by by-lanes: Milo catches our friend up +"between the groves"[415] and serves his notice. The latter returned +greeted with loud and insulting remarks by Q. Flaccus. The 21st was a +market day.[416] For two days no public meeting. I am writing this +letter on the 23rd at three o'clock in the morning. Milo is already in +possession of the _campus_. The candidate Marcellus[417] is snoring so +loud that I can hear him next door. I am told that Clodius's vestibule +is completely deserted: there are a few ragged fellows there and a +canvas lantern.[418] His party complains that I am the adviser of the +whole business: they little know the courage and wisdom of that hero! +His gallantry is astonishing. Some recent instances of his superhuman +excellence I pass over; but the upshot is this: I don't think the +election will take place. I think Publius will be brought to trial by +Milo--unless he is killed first. If he once puts himself in his way in a +riot, I can see that he will be killed by Milo himself. The latter has +no scruple about doing it; he avows his intention; he isn't at all +afraid of what happened to me, for _he_ will never listen to the advice +of a jealous and faithless friend, nor trust a feeble aristocrat. In +spirit, at any rate, I am as vigorous as in my zenith, or even more so; +in regard to money I am crippled. However, the liberality of my brother +I have, in spite of his protests, repaid (as the state of my finances +compelled) by the aid of my friends, that I might not be drained quite +dry myself. What line of policy to adopt in regard to my position as a +whole, I cannot decide in your absence: wherefore make haste to town. + +[Footnote 400: See last letter. The _porticus Catuli_ had been, at any +rate, partly demolished by Clodius to make way for his larger scheme of +building, which was to take in part of Cicero's "site." See _pro Cael._ +Sec.79.] + +[Footnote 401: Next door to Cicero's own house.] + +[Footnote 402: He would avoid prosecution _de vi_ by getting elected to +the aedileship for B.C. 56, for actual magistrates were rarely +prosecuted; but he, in this case, actually avoided it by getting a +consul and tribune to forbid it by edict (_pro Sest._ Sec. 89).] + +[Footnote 403: _Designatorem._ This may mean (1) an official who shewed +people to their places in the theatre; (2) an undertaker's man, who +marshalled funerals. To the latter office a certain _infamia_ was +attached. We know nothing more of Decimus (see _pro Domo_, Sec. 50). +Gellius was an eques and a stepson of L. Marcius Philippus. He +afterwards gave evidence against Sestius for _vis_ (see _pro Sest._ Sec. +110). Cicero calls him the mover of all seditions (_in Vatin._ Sec. 4), and +one of Clodius's gang (_de Har. Resp._ Sec. 59). See next letter.] + +[Footnote 404: Perhaps by M. Antonius. See 2 _Phil._ Sec. 21; _pro Mil._ Sec. +40.] + +[Footnote 405: Lit. "made all Catilines _Acidini_." Acidinus was the +cognomen of several distinguished men. In _Leg. Agr._ ii. Sec. 64, Cicero +classes the _Acidini_ among men "respectable not only for the public +offices they had held, and for their services to the state, but also for +the noble way in which they had endured poverty." There does not, +however, seem any very good reason known for their becoming proverbial +as the antithesis to revolutionaries.] + +[Footnote 406: A slope of the Palatine. Milo's other house (p. 196).] + +[Footnote 407: P. Cornelius Sulla, nephew of the dictator. Cicero +defended him in B.C. 62, but he had taken the part of Clodius in the +time of Cicero's exile.] + +[Footnote 408: Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, the consul-designate +for the next year. In that capacity he would be called on for his +_sententia_ first.] + +[Footnote 409: Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos, the consul. Though he had not +opposed Cicero's recall, he stood by his cousin, P. Clodius, in regard +to the threatened prosecution. Appius is Appius Claudius, brother of P. +Clodius.] + +[Footnote 410: P. Sestius, the tribune favourable to Cicero, afterwards +defended by him.] + +[Footnote 411: Mr. Purser's reading of _nisi anteferret_ before +_proscripsit_ seems to me to darken the passage. What happened was this. +Marcellinus's _sententia_ was never put to the vote, because Metellus, +Appius, and Hortensius (Cicero seems to mean him) talked out the +sitting. Accordingly, Marcellinus published it, _i.e._, put it up +outside the Curia to be read: and under it he (or some other magistrate +whose name has dropped out of the text) put a notice that he was going +to "watch the sky" all the _dies comitiales_, so as to prevent the +election being held. But this had been rendered inoperative by Clodius's +amendment of the _lex AElia Fufia_ (see 2 _Phil._ Sec. 81)--or at any rate +of doubtful validity--and, accordingly, the only thing left was the +_obnuntiatio_ by a magistrate, which Milo proceeded to make. The rule, +however was that such _obnuntiatio_ must be made before the _comitia_ +were begun (2 _Phil. ib._), which again could not begin till sunrise. +Hence Milo's early visit to the _campus_. For the meaning of _proposita_ +see Letter XLVII.] + +[Footnote 412: After which the _comitia_ could not be begun.] + +[Footnote 413: P. Clodius, his brother Appius, and his _cousin_ Metellus +Nepos.] + +[Footnote 414: Metellus means that he shall take the necessary auspices +for the _comitia_ in the _comitium_, before going to the _campus_ to +take the votes.] + +[Footnote 415: Generally called _inter duos lucos_, the road down the +Capitolium towards the Campus Martius, originally so called as being +between the two heads of the mountain. It was the spot traditionally +assigned to the "asylum" of Romulus.] + +[Footnote 416: On the _nundinae_ and the next day no _comitia_ and no +meeting of the senate could be held.] + +[Footnote 417: Candidate for the aedileship, of whom we know nothing.] + +[Footnote 418: Apparently a poor lantern, whose sides were made of +canvas instead of horn.] + + + + +XCII (Q FR II, 1) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN SARDINIA[419]) + +ROME (10 DECEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 57, AET. 49] + +The letter which you have already read I had sent off in the morning. +But Licinius was polite enough to call on me in the evening after the +senate had risen, that, in case of any business having been done there, +I might, if I thought good, write an account of it to you. The senate +was fuller than I had thought possible in the month of December just +before the holidays. Of us consulars there were P. Servilius, M. +Lucullus, Lepidus, Volcatius, Glabrio: the two consuls-designate; the +praetors. We were a really full house: two hundred in all.[420] Lupus had +excited some interest.[421] He raised the question of the Campanian land +in considerable detail. He was listened to in profound silence. You are +not unaware what material that subject affords. He omitted none of the +points which I had made in this business.[422] There were some sharp +thrusts at Caesar, some denunciations of Gellius, some appeals to the +absent Pompey. After concluding his speech at a late hour, he said that +he would not ask for our votes lest he might burden us with a personal +controversy; he quite understood the sentiments of the senate from the +denunciations of past times and the silence on the present occasion. +Milo spoke. Lupus begins the formula of dismissal,[423] when Marcellinus +says: "Don't infer from our silence, Lupus, what we approve or +disapprove of at this particular time. As far as I am concerned, and I +think it is the same with the rest, I am only silent because I do not +think it suitable that the case of the Campanian land should be debated +in Pompey's absence." Then Lupus said that he would not detain the +senate.[423] Racilius rose and began bringing before the house the case +of the proposed prosecutions. He calls upon Marcellinus, of course, +first;[424] who, after complaining in serious tones of the Clodian +incendiaries, massacres, and stonings, proposed a resolution that +"Clodius himself should, under the superintendence of the praetor +urbanus, have his jury allotted to him; that the elections should be +held only when the allotment of jurors[425] had been completed; that +whoever stopped the trials would be acting against the interests of the +state."[426] The proposal having been received with warm approval, Gaius +Cato[427]--as did also Cassius--spoke against it, with very emphatic +murmurs of disapprobation on the part of the senate, when he proposed to +hold the elections before the trials. Philippus supported Lentulus.[428] +After that Racilius called on me first of the unofficial senators for my +opinion.[429] I made a long speech upon the whole story of P. Clodius's +mad proceedings and murderous violence: I impeached him as though he +were on his trial, amidst frequent murmurs of approbation from the whole +senate. My speech was praised at considerable length, and, by Hercules! +with no little oratorical skill by Antistius Vetus, who also supported +the priority of the legal proceedings, and declared that he should +consider it of the first importance. The senators were crossing the +floor in support of this view,[430] when Clodius, being called on, began +trying to talk out the sitting. He spoke in furious terms of having been +attacked by Racilius in an unreasonable and discourteous manner. Then +his roughs on the Graecostasis[431] and the steps of the house suddenly +raised a pretty loud shout, in wrath, I suppose, against Q. Sextilius +and the other friends of Milo. At this sudden alarm we broke up with +loud expressions of indignation on all sides. Here are the transactions +of one day for you: the rest, I think, will be put off to January. Of +all the tribunes I think Racilius is by far the best: Antistius also +seems likely to be friendly to me: Plancius, of course, is wholly ours. +Pray, if you love me, be careful and cautious about sailing in December. + +[Footnote 419: Quintus Cicero was in Sardinia as Pompey's _legatus_ as +superintendent of the corn-supply, to which office he had been appointed +in August. The letter is written not earlier than the 10th of December, +for the new tribunes for B.C. 56 have come into office, and not later +than the 16th, because on the 17th the Saturnalia began. Perhaps as the +senate is summoned and presided over by Lupus, it is on the 10th, the +day of his entrance upon office.] + +[Footnote 420: "Full," that is, for the time of year. A "full house" is +elsewhere mentioned as between three and four hundred.] + +[Footnote 421: P. Rutilius Lupus, one of the new tribunes.] + +[Footnote 422: This refers to Cicero's attempts to exempt the _ager +publicus_ in Campania from being divided (see Letter XXIV, p. 55); and +not only to his speeches against Rullus. It was because Caesar +disregarded the ancient exception of this land from such distribution +that Cicero opposed his bill, and refused to serve on the commission.] + +[Footnote 423: _Nihil vos moramur_ were the words used by the presiding +magistrate, indicating that he had no more business to bring before the +senate. If no one said anything, the senate was dismissed; but any +magistrate, or magistrate-designate, could speak, and so continue the +sitting up to nightfall, when the house stood adjourned.] + +[Footnote 424: Because consul-designate. L. Racilius, one of the new +tribunes.] + +[Footnote 425: The _sortitio iudicum_ was performed by the praetor +drawing out the required number of names from the urn, which contained +the names of all liable to serve. The accused could, however, challenge +a certain number, and the praetor had then to draw others.] + +[Footnote 426: The formula whereby the senate declared its opinion that +so and so was guilty of treason. It had no legal force, but the +magistrates might, and sometimes did, act on it.] + +[Footnote 427: C. Porcius Cato, distant relation of Cato Uticensis, one +of the new tribunes.] + +[Footnote 428: _I.e._, Marcellinus (Cn. Cornelius Lentulus).] + +[Footnote 429: The senators not in office only spoke when called on +(_rogati_). The consuls-designate (if there were any) were always called +first, and then the consulars in order. To be called _first_ was a +subject of ambition, and an opportunity for the presiding magistrate to +pay a compliment or the reverse.] + +[Footnote 430: They went and sat or stood near the speaker they wished +to support. It was not, however, a formal division till the speeches +ended, and the presiding magistrate counted. Still, it made the division +easier.] + +[Footnote 431: A platform outside the senate-house, where +representatives originally of Greek and then of other states were +placed. It was apparently possible to hear, or partly hear, the debates +from it. It was a _locus substructus_ (Varro, _L. L._ v. 155). There is +no evidence that it was a building to lodge ambassadors in, as Prof. +Tyrrell says.] + + + + +XCIII (F VII, 26) + +TO M. FADIUS GALLUS (AT ROME) + +TUSCULUM[432] (? DECEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 57, AET. 49] + +Having been suffering for nine days past from a severe disorder of the +bowels, and being unable to convince those who desired my services that +I was ill because I had no fever, I fled to my Tusculan villa, after +having, in fact, observed for two days so strict a fast as not even to +drink a drop of water. Accordingly, being thoroughly reduced by weakness +and hunger, I was more in want of your services than I thought mine +could be required by you. For myself, while shrinking from all +illnesses, I especially shrink from that in regard to which the Stoics +attack your friend Epicurus for saying that "he suffered from strangury +and pains in the bowels"--the latter of which complaints they attribute +to gluttony, the former to a still graver indulgence. I had been really +much afraid of dysentery. But either the change of residence, or the +mere relaxation of anxiety, or perhaps the natural abatement of the +complaint from lapse of time, seems to me to have done me good. However, +to prevent your wondering how this came about, or in what manner I let +myself in for it, I must tell you that the sumptuary law, supposed to +have introduced plain living, was the origin of my misfortune. For +whilst your epicures wish to bring into fashion the products of the +earth, which are not forbidden by the law, they flavour mushrooms, +_petits choux_, and every kind of pot-herb so as to make them the most +tempting dishes possible.[433] Having fallen a victim to these in the +augural banquet at the house of Lentulus, I was seized with a violent +diarrhoea, which, I think, has been checked to-day for the first time. +And so I, who abstain from oysters and lampreys without any difficulty, +have been beguiled by beet and mallows. Henceforth, therefore, I shall +be more cautious. Yet, having heard of it from Anicius[434]--for he saw +me turning sick--you had every reason not only for sending to inquire, +but even for coming to see me. I am thinking of remaining here till I am +thoroughly restored, for I have lost both strength and flesh. However, +if I can once get completely rid of my complaint, I shall, I hope, +easily recover these. + +[Footnote 432: The year of this letter has been inferred from the +mention of Lentulus's augural banquet. For P. Cornelius Lentulus +Spinther, son of the consul of B.C. 57, was in this year elected into +the college of augurs. Yet as we know that Cicero's Tusculan villa was +dismantled by Clodius, and was advertised for sale (though not sold), it +seems rather extraordinary that Cicero should have gone there for his +health. The _Fadii Galli_ were a family of Cicero's native place, +Arpinum.] + +[Footnote 433: There were several sumptuary laws. Those which may +possibly be referred to here are (1) the _lex Licinia_ (? B.C. 103), +which defined certain foods as illegal at banquets, but excepted _quod +ex terra vite arbore ve sit natum_ (Macrobius, _Sat._ iii. 17, 9; Gell. +ii. 24, 7); (2) the _lex AEmilia_ (B.C. 68), which also defined both the +quantity and quality of food allowable at banquets (Gell. ii. 24, 12).] + +[Footnote 434: C. Anicius, a senator and intimate friend of Cicero's.] + + + + +XCIV (F I, I) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56. Coss., Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, L. +Marcius Philippus.] + + In the year B.C. 56 the growing differences between the triumvirs + were temporarily composed at the meeting at Luca, and Cicero made + up his mind that the only course for him to pursue was to attach + himself to them, as the party of the _boni_ had not, as he hoped, + taken advantage of those differences to attach Pompey to themselves + as a leader against Caesar. His recantation is indicated in the + speeches _de Provinciis Consularibus_ and _pro Balbo_, in which he + practically supports part, at least, of the arrangements of Luca. + + +TO P. LENTULUS SPINTHER[435] (IN CILICIA) + +ROME, 13 JANUARY + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +Whatever attention or affection I may shew you, though it may seem +sufficient in the eyes of others, can never seem sufficient in my own. +For such has been the magnitude of your services to me that, inasmuch as +you never rested till my affair was brought to a conclusion, while I +cannot effect the same in your cause,[436] I regard my life as a burden. +The difficulties are these. The king's agent, Hammonius, is openly +attacking us by bribery. The business is being carried out by means of +the same money-lenders as it was when you were in town. Such people as +wish it done for the king's sake--and they are few--are all for +intrusting the business to Pompey. The senate supports the trumped-up +religious scruple, not from any respect to religion, but from +ill-feeling towards him, and disgust at the king's outrageous bribery. I +never cease advising and instigating Pompey--even frankly finding fault +with and admonishing him--to avoid what would be a most discreditable +imputation.[437] But he really leaves no room for either entreaties or +admonitions from me. For, whether in everyday conversation or in the +senate, no one could support your cause with greater eloquence, +seriousness, zeal, and energy than he has done, testifying in the +highest terms to your services to himself and his affection for you. +Marcellinus, you know, is incensed with his flute-playing majesty.[438] +In everything, saving and excepting this case of the king, he professes +the intention of being your champion. We take what he gives: nothing can +move him from his motion as to the religious difficulty, which he made +up his mind to bring, and has, in fact, brought several times before the +senate. The debate up to the Ides (for I am writing early in the morning +of the Ides[439]) has been as follows: Hortensius and I and Lucullus +voted for yielding to the religious scruple as far as concerned the +army,[440] for otherwise there was no possibility of getting the matter +through, but, in accordance with the decree already passed on your own +motion, were for directing you to restore the king, "so far as you may +do so without detriment to the state": so that while the religious +difficulty prohibits the employment of an army, the senate might still +retain you as the person authorized. Crassus votes for sending three +legates, not excluding Pompey: for he would allow them to be selected +even from such as are at present in possession of _imperium_.[441] +Bibulus is for three legates selected from men without _imperium_. The +other consulars agree with the latter, except Servilius, who says that +he ought not to be restored at all: and Volcatius, who on the motion of +Lupus votes for giving the business to Pompey: and Afranius, who agrees +with Volcatius. This last fact increases the suspicion as to Pompey's +wishes: for it was noticed that Pompey's intimates agreed with +Volcatius. We are in a very great difficulty: the day seems going +against us. The notorious colloguing and eagerness of Libo and Hypsaeus, +and the earnestness displayed by Pompey's intimates, have produced an +impression that Pompey desires it; and those who don't want him to have +it are at the same time annoyed with your having put power into his +hands.[442] I have the less influence in the case because I am under an +obligation to you. Moreover, whatever influence I might have had is +extinguished by the idea people entertain as to Pompey's wishes, for +they think they are gratifying him. We are in much the same position as +we were long before your departure: now, as then, the sore has been +fomented secretly by the king himself and by the friends and intimates +of Pompey, and then openly irritated by the consulars, till the popular +prejudice has been excited to the highest pitch. All the world shall +recognize my loyalty, and your friends on the spot shall see my +affection for you though you are absent. If there were any good faith in +those most bound to shew it, we should be in no difficulty at all. + +[Footnote 435: Consul of B.C. 57, who had gone at the end of his +consulship to be governor of Cilicia.] + +[Footnote 436: When Ptolemy Auletes first appealed to the senate (B.C. +57) to restore him to the throne of Egypt, it appears that a resolution +was passed authorizing the proconsul of Cilicia to do so; but as Pompey +wished to have the business, the senate found itself in a difficulty, +not wishing to put him in military command, or daring to offend him by +an open refusal (Dio, xxxix. 12). The tribune C. Cato found up a +Sibylline oracle forbidding the employment of an army for the purpose, +which served the senate as a decent excuse. The commission to Lentulus +was eventually withdrawn by an _auctoritas senatus_, and Lentulus did +not venture to do it. Ptolemy, finding that he could not succeed in +getting Pompey commissioned, retired to Ephesus, and afterwards +succeeded by an enormous bribe in inducing Gabinius, the proconsul of +Syria, to do it (B.C. 55).] + +[Footnote 437: Of having been induced by greed or ambition to undertake +the restoration of Ptolemy.] + +[Footnote 438: Reading _tibicini_ for the unmeaning _tibi_. It is not +certain, but it makes good sense. Ptolemy was called _Auletes_ +(flute-player), of which the Latin _tibicen_ is a translation, meant, no +doubt, somewhat jocosely.] + +[Footnote 439: _I.e._, before going to the senate on the Ides of January +(13th). See next letter.] + +[Footnote 440: The Sibylline oracle forbade restoring the king "with a +multitude."] + +[Footnote 441: Pompey had at this time _imperium_ as _curator annonae_.] + +[Footnote 442: Because it was on Lentulus's motion that Pompey had been +made _curator annonae_, and so in possession of _imperium_ with naval and +military forces.] + + + + +XCV (F I, 2) + +TO P. LENTULUS SPINTHER (IN CILICIA) + +ROME, 15 JANUARY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +Nothing was done on the 13th of January in the senate, because the day +was to a great extent spent in an altercation between the consul +Lentulus and the tribune Caninius. On that day I also spoke at +considerable length, and thought that I made a very great impression on +the senate by dwelling on your affection for the house. Accordingly, +next day we resolved that we would deliver our opinions briefly: for it +appeared to us that the feelings of the senate had been softened towards +us--the result not only of my speech, but of my personal appeal and +application to individual senators. Accordingly, the first proposition, +that of Bibulus, having been delivered, that three legates should +restore the king: the second, that of Hortensius, that you should +restore him without an army: the third, that of Volcatius, that Pompey +should do it, a demand was made that the proposal of Bibulus should be +taken in two parts.[443] As far as he dealt with the religious +difficulty--a point which was now past being opposed--his motion was +carried; his proposition as to three legates was defeated by a large +majority. The next was the proposition of Hortensius. Thereupon the +tribune Lupus, on the ground that he had himself made a proposal about +Pompey, starts the contention that he ought to divide the house before +the consuls. His speech was received on all sides by loud cries of "No": +for it was both unfair and unprecedented. The consuls would not give in, +and yet did not oppose with any vigour. Their object was to waste the +day, and in that they succeeded:[444] for they saw very well that many +times the number would vote for the proposal of Hortensius, although +they openly professed their agreement with Volcatius. Large numbers were +called upon for their opinion, and that, too, with the assent of the +consuls: for they wanted the proposal of Bibulus carried. This dispute +was protracted till nightfall, and the senate was dismissed. I happened +to be dining with Pompey on that day, and I seized the opportunity--the +best I have ever had, for since your departure I have never occupied a +more honourable position in the senate than I had on that day--of +talking to him in such a way, that I think I induced him to give up +every other idea and resolve to support your claims. And, indeed, when I +actually hear him talk, I acquit him entirely of all suspicion of +personal ambition: but when I regard his intimates of every rank, I +perceive, what is no secret to anybody, that this whole business has +been long ago corruptly manipulated by a certain coterie, not without +the king's own consent and that of his advisers. + +I write this on the 15th of January, before daybreak. To-day there is to +be a meeting of the senate. We shall maintain, as I hope, our position +in the senate as far as it is possible to do so in such an age of +perfidy and unfair dealing. As to an appeal to the people on the +subject, we have, I think, secured that no proposition can be brought +before them without neglect of the auspices or breach of the laws, or, +in fine, without downright violence.[445] The day before my writing +these words a resolution of the senate on these matters of the most +serious character was passed, and though Cato and Caninius vetoed it, it +was nevertheless written out.[446] I suppose it has been sent to you. On +all other matters I will write and tell you what has been done, whatever +it is, and I will see that everything is carried out with the most +scrupulous fairness as far as my caution, labour, attention to details, +and influence can secure it. + +[Footnote 443: The proposal of Bibulus to send "three legates" implied a +concession to the Sibylline verse, in not sending "an army." It was +therefore to be voted on as two questions--(1) Shall the Sibylline verse +be obeyed, and an army not sent? (2) Shall three legates be sent?] + +[Footnote 444: That is, the debate went off on the side issue as to who +had the prior right of dividing the house. Lupus said _he_ had, because +the proposal of Volcatius was really made before the others, _i.e._, in +the previous day's debate (see last letter). The consuls were only too +glad thus to avoid having the main question brought to a vote, and let +this technical point be spun out in a languid debate.] + +[Footnote 445: Because they had magistrates ready to stop the _comitia_ +by declaring bad omens, and tribunes ready to veto any proposal.] + +[Footnote 446: A _senatus consultum_ vetoed by a tribune was written +out, with the names of its proposers and backers, and a statement at the +end as to the tribunes vetoing it. It was thus on record as an +_auctoritas senatus_, "resolution of the senate," not a _senatus +consultum_. A perfect specimen is given in Letter CCXXIII. This +_auctoritas_ was to the effect that no one was to undertake the +restoration. See Letter CXIII.] + + + + +XCVI (F I, 3) + +TO P. LENTULUS SPINTHER (IN CILICIA) + +ROME (? JANUARY) + +_M. Cicero presents his compliments to P. Lentulus, proconsul._ + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +Aulus Trebonius, who has important business in your province, both of +wide extent and sound, is an intimate friend of mine of many years' +standing. As before this he has always, both from his brilliant position +and the recommendations of myself and his other friends, enjoyed the +highest popularity in the province, so at the present time, trusting to +your affection for me and our close ties, he feels sure that this letter +of mine will give him a high place in your esteem. That he may not be +disappointed in that hope I earnestly beg of you, and I commend to you +all his business concerns, his freedmen, agents, and servants; and +specially that you will confirm the decrees made by T. Ampius in his +regard, and treat him in all respects so as to convince him that my +recommendation is no mere ordinary one.[447] + +[Footnote 447: This is a specimen of the short letter of introduction to +a provincial governor which were given almost as a matter of course by +men of position at Rome. We shall have many of them in the course of the +correspondence: and Cicero elsewhere warns the recipient of such letters +not to pay attention to them unless he expressly indicates his wish by +some less formal sentence (see Letter CXIV). T. Ampius was the +predecessor of Lentulus in Cilicia.] + + + + +XCVII (F I, 4) + +TO P. LENTULUS SPINTHER (IN CILICIA) + +ROME, JANUARY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +Though in the senate of the 15th of January we made a most glorious +stand, seeing that on the previous day we had defeated the proposal of +Bibulus about the three legates, and the only contest left was with the +proposal of Volcatius, yet the business was spun out by our opponents by +various obstructive tactics. For we were carrying our view in a full +senate, in spite of the multifarious devices and inveterate jealousy of +those who were for transferring the cause of the king from you to some +one else. That day we found Curio very bitterly opposed, Bibulus much +more fair, almost friendly even. Caninius and Cato declared that they +would not propose any law before the elections. By the _lex Pupia_, as +you know, no senate could be held before the 1st of February, nor in +fact during the whole of February,[448] unless the business of the +legations were finished or adjourned. However, the Roman people are +generally of opinion that the pretext of a trumped-up religious scruple +has been introduced by your jealous detractors, not so much to hinder +you, as to prevent anyone from wishing to go to Alexandria with a view +of getting the command of an army. However, everyone thinks that the +senate has had a regard for your position. For there is no one that is +ignorant of the fact that it was all the doing of your opponents that no +division took place: and if they, under the pretext of a regard for the +people, but really from the most unprincipled villainy, attempt to carry +anything, I have taken very good care that they shall not be able to do +so without violating the auspices or the laws, or, in fact, without +absolute violence. I don't think I need write a word either about my own +zeal or the injurious proceedings of certain persons. For why should I +make any display myself--since, if I were even to shed my blood in +defence of your position, I should think that I had not covered a tithe +of your services to me? Or why complain of the injurious conduct of +others, which I cannot do without the deepest pain? I cannot at all +pledge myself to you as to the effect of open violence, especially with +such feeble magistrates; but, open violence out of the question, I can +assure you that you will retain your high position, if the warmest +affections both of the senate and the Roman people can secure it to you. + +[Footnote 448: _I.e._, no meeting of the senate for ordinary business. +During the month of February the senate usually devoted all its time to +hearing and answering deputations from the provinces or foreign states. +The _lex Pupia_ forbade the meeting of the senate on _dies comitiales_, +and after the 14th the days in January were all _comitiales_: but +another law (_lex Vatinia_) ordered it to meet every day in February for +the business of the legations. If this business was concluded or +deferred it remained a moot point whether a magistrate was not still +bound or, at least, allowed to summon it for other business (_ad Q. Fr._ +ii. 13).] + + + + +XCVII (F I, 5) + +TO P. LENTULUS SPINTHER (IN CILICIA) + +ROME, FEBRUARY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +Though the first wish of my heart is that my warmest gratitude to you +should be recognized first of all by yourself and then by everybody +else, yet I am deeply grieved that such a state of things has followed +your departure as to give you occasion, in your absence, to test the +loyalty and good disposition towards you both of myself and others. That +you see and feel that men are shewing the same loyalty in maintaining +your position as I experienced in the matter of my restoration, I have +understood from your letter. Just when I was depending most securely on +my policy, zeal, activity and influence in the matter of the king, there +was suddenly sprung on us the abominable bill of Cato's,[449] to hamper +all our zeal and withdraw our thoughts from a lesser anxiety to a most +serious alarm. However, in a political upset of that kind, though there +is nothing that is not a source of terror yet the thing to be chiefly +feared is treachery: and Cato, at any rate, whatever happens, we have no +hesitation in opposing. As to the business of Alexandria and the cause +of the king, I can only promise you thus much, that I will to the utmost +of my power satisfy both you, who are absent, and your friends who are +here. But I fear the king's cause may either be snatched from our hands +or abandoned altogether, and I cannot easily make up my mind which of +the two alternatives I would least wish. But if the worst comes to the +worst, there is a third alternative, which is not wholly displeasing +either to Selicius[450] or myself--namely, that we should not let the +matter drop, and yet should not allow the appointment, in spite of our +protests, to be transferred to the man to whom it is now regarded as +practically transferred.[451] We will take the utmost care not to omit +struggling for any point that it seems possible to maintain, and not to +present the appearance of defeat if we have in any case failed to +maintain it. You must shew your wisdom and greatness of mind by +regarding your fame and high position as resting on your virtue, your +public services, and the dignity of your character, and by believing +that, if the perfidy of certain individuals has deprived you of any of +those honours which fortune has lavished on you, it will be more +injurious to them than to you. I never let any opportunity slip either +of acting or thinking for your interests. I avail myself of the aid of +Q. Selicius in everything: nor do I think that there is any one of all +your friends either shrewder, or more faithful, or more attached to you. + +[Footnote 449: That of the tribune C. Cato for the recall of Lentulus.] + +[Footnote 450: A money-lender, and friend of Lentulus Spinther.] + +[Footnote 451: Pompey.] + + + + +XCIX (Q FR II, 2) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN SARDINIA) + +ROME, 18 JANUARY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +It was not from the multiplicity of business, though I am very much +engaged, but from a slight inflammation of the eyes that I was induced +to dictate this letter, and not, as is my usual habit, write it with my +own hand. And, to begin with, I wish to excuse myself to you on the very +point on which I accuse you. For no one up to now has asked me "whether +I have any commands for Sardinia"--I think you often have people who +say, "Have you any commands for Rome?" As to what you have said in your +letters to me about the debt of Lentulus and Sestius, I have spoken with +Cincius.[452] However the matter stands, it is not the easiest in the +world. But surely Sardinia must have some special property for recalling +one's memory of the past. For just as the famous Gracchus--as +augur--after arriving in that province remembered something that had +happened to him, when holding the elections in the Campus Martius, in +violation of the auspices, so you appear to me to have recalled at your +ease in Sardinia the design of Numisius and the debts due to Pomponius. +As yet I have made no purchase. Culleo's auction has taken place: there +was no purchaser for his Tusculan property. If very favourable terms +were to be offered, I should perhaps not let it slip. About your +building I do not fail to press Cyrus.[453] I hope he will do his duty. +But everything goes on somewhat slowly, owing to the prospect of that +madman's aedileship.[454] For it seems that the legislative assembly will +take place without delay: it has been fixed for the 20th of January. +However, I would not have you uneasy. Every precaution shall be taken by +me. In regard to the Alexandrine king, a decree of the senate was passed +declaring it dangerous to the Republic that he should be restored "with +a host." The point remaining to be decided in the senate being whether +Lentulus or Pompey should restore him, Lentulus seemed on the point of +carrying the day. In that matter I did justice to my obligations to +Lentulus marvellously well, while at the same time splendidly gratifying +Pompey's wishes: but the detractors of Lentulus contrived to talk the +matter out by obstructive speeches. Then followed the comitial days, on +which a meeting of the senate was impossible. What the villainy of the +tribunes is going to accomplish I cannot guess; I suspect, however, that +Caninius will carry his bill by violence.[455] In this business I cannot +make out what Pompey really wishes. What his _entourage_ desire +everybody sees. Those who are financing the king are openly advancing +sums of money against Lentulus. There seems no doubt that the commission +has been taken out of Lentulus's hands, to my very great regret, +although he has done many things for which I might, if it were not for +superior considerations, be justly angry with him. I hope, if it is +consistent with your interests, that you will embark as soon as +possible, when the weather is fair and settled, and come to me. For +there are countless things, in regard to which I miss you daily in every +possible way. Your family and my own are well. + +18 January. + +[Footnote 452: Agent or steward of Atticus.] + +[Footnote 453: The architect. See Letter XXVIII, p. 68.] + +[Footnote 454: Clodius, who was aedile this year.] + +[Footnote 455: For commissioning Pompey with two lictors to restore +Ptolemy.] + + + + +C (A IV, 4 a) + +TO ATTICUS (RETURNING FROM EPIRUS) + +ROME, 28 JANUARY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +I was charmed to see Cincius when he called on me on the 28th of January +before daybreak. For he told me that you were in Italy and that he was +sending slaves to you. I did not like them to go without a letter from +me; not that I had anything to say to you, especially as you are all but +here, but that I might express merely this one thing--that your arrival +is most delightful and most ardently wished for by me. Wherefore fly to +us with the full assurance that your affection for me is fully +reciprocated. The rest shall be reserved for our meeting. I write in +great haste. The day you arrive, mind, you and your party are to dine +with me. + + + + +CI (Q FR II, 3) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN SARDINIA) + +ROME, 12 FEBRUARY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +I have already told you the earlier proceedings; now let me describe +what was done afterwards. The legations were postponed from the 1st of +February to the 13th. On the former day our business was not brought to +a settlement. On the 2nd of February Milo appeared for trial. Pompey +came to support him. Marcellus spoke on being called upon by me.[456] We +came off with flying colours. The case was adjourned to the 7th. +Meanwhile (in the senate), the legations having been postponed to the +13th, the business of allotting the quaestors and furnishing the outfit +of the praetors was brought before the house. But nothing was done, +because many speeches were interposed denouncing the state of the +Republic. Gaius Cato published his bill for the recall of Lentulus, +whose son thereupon put on mourning. On the 7th Milo appeared. Pompey +spoke, or rather wished to speak. For as soon as he got up Clodius's +ruffians raised a shout, and throughout his whole speech he was +interrupted, not only by hostile cries, but by personal abuse and +insulting remarks. However, when he had finished his speech--for he +shewed great courage in these circumstances, he was not cowed, he said +all he had to say, and at times had by his commanding presence even +secured silence for his words--well, when he had finished, up got +Clodius. Our party received him with such a shout--for they had +determined to pay him out--that he lost all presence of mind, power of +speech, or control over his countenance. This went on up to two +o'clock--Pompey having finished his speech at noon--and every kind of +abuse, and finally epigrams of the most outspoken indecency were uttered +against Clodius and Clodia. Mad and livid with rage Clodius, in the very +midst of the shouting, kept putting the questions to his claque: "Who +was it who was starving the commons to death?" His ruffians answered, +"Pompey." "Who wanted to be sent to Alexandria?" They answered, +"Pompey." "Who did they wish to go?" They answered, "Crassus." The +latter was present at the time with no friendly feelings to Milo. About +three o'clock, as though at a given signal, the Clodians began spitting +at our men. There was an outburst of rage. They began a movement for +forcing us from our ground. Our men charged: his ruffians turned tail. +Clodius was pushed off the rostra: and then we too made our escape for +fear of mischief in the riot. The senate was summoned into the Curia: +Pompey went home. However, I did not myself enter the senate-house, lest +I should be obliged either to refrain from speaking on matters of such +gravity, or in defending Pompey (for he was being attacked by Bibulus, +Curio, Favonius, and Servilius the younger) should give offence to the +loyalists. The business was adjourned to the next day. Clodius fixed the +Quirinalia (17 of February) for his prosecution. On the 8th the senate +met in the temple of Apollo, that Pompey might attend. Pompey made an +impressive speech. That day nothing was concluded. On the 9th in the +temple of Apollo a decree passed the senate "that what had taken place +on the 7th of February was treasonable." On this day Cato warmly +inveighed against Pompey, and throughout his speech arraigned him as +though he were at the bar. He said a great deal about me, to my disgust, +though it was in very laudatory terms. When he attacked Pompey's perfidy +to me, he was listened to in profound silence on the part of my enemies. +Pompey answered him boldly with a palpable allusion to Crassus, and said +outright that "he would take better precautions to protect his life +than Africanus had done, whom C. Carbo had assassinated."[457] +Accordingly, important events appear to me to be in the wind. For Pompey +understands what is going on, and imparts to me that plots are being +formed against his life, that Gaius Cato is being supported by Crassus, +that money is being supplied to Clodius, that both are backed by Crassus +and Curio, as well as by Bibulus and his other detractors: that he must +take extraordinary precautions to prevent being overpowered by that +demagogue--with a people all but wholly alienated, a nobility hostile, a +senate ill-affected, and the younger men corrupt. So he is making his +preparations and summoning men from the country. On his part, Clodius is +rallying his gangs: a body of men is being got together for the +Quirinalia. For that occasion we are considerably in a majority, owing +to the forces brought up by Pompey himself: and a large contingent is +expected from Picenum and Gallia, to enable us to throw out Cato's bills +also about Milo and Lentulus. + +On the 10th of February an indictment was lodged against Sestius for +bribery by the informer Cn. Nerius, of the Pupinian tribe, and on the +same day by a certain M. Tullius for riot.[458] He was ill. I went at +once, as I was bound to do, to his house, and put myself wholly at his +service: and that was more than people expected, who thought that I had +good cause for being angry with him. The result is that my extreme +kindness and grateful disposition are made manifest both to Sestius +himself and to all the world, and I shall be as good as my word. But +this same informer Nerius also named Cn. Lentulus Vatia and C. Cornelius +to the commissioners.[459] On the same day a decree passed the senate +"that political clubs and associations should be broken up, and that a +law in regard to them should be brought in, enacting that those who did +not break off from them should be liable to the same penalty as those +convicted of riot." + +On the 11th of February I spoke in defence of Bestia[460] on a charge of +bribery before the praetor Cn. Domitius,[461] in the middle of the forum +and in a very crowded court; and in the course of my speech I came to +the incident of Sestius, after receiving many wounds in the temple of +Castor, having been preserved by the aid of Bestia. Here I took occasion +to pave the way beforehand for a refutation of the charges which are +being got up against Sestius, and I passed a well-deserved encomium upon +him with the cordial approval of everybody. He was himself very much +delighted with it. I tell you this because you have often advised me in +your letters to retain the friendship of Sestius. I am writing this on +the 12th of February before daybreak: the day on which I am to dine with +Pomponius on the occasion of his wedding. + +Our position in other respects is such as you used to cheer my +despondency by telling me it would be--one of great dignity and +popularity: this is a return to old times for you and me effected, my +brother, by your patience, high character, loyalty, and, I may also add, +your conciliatory manners. The house of Licinius, near the grove of +Piso,[462] has been taken for you. But, as I hope, in a few months' +time, after the 1st of July, you will move into your own. Some excellent +tenants, the Lamiae, have taken your house in Carinae.[463] I have +received no letter from you since the one dated Olbia. I am anxious to +hear how you are and what you find to amuse you, but above all to see +you yourself as soon as possible. Take care of your health, my dear +brother, and though it is winter time, yet reflect that after all it is +Sardinia that you are in.[464] + +15 February. + +[Footnote 456: Milo impeached by Clodius before the _comitia tributa_ +for his employment of gladiators. Dio (xxxix. 18) says that Clodius thus +impeached Milo, not with any hope of securing his conviction against the +powerful support of Cicero and Pompey, but to get the chance of +insulting these latter. Marcellus was one of the candidates for the +aedileship with Clodius. See Letter XCI.] + +[Footnote 457: In B.C. 129, after making a speech in favour of the +claims of the Italians for exemption from the agrarian law of Gracchus, +Scipio AEmilianus, the younger Africanus, was found dead in his bed. The +common report was that he had been assassinated by Carbo, or with his +privity, but it was never proved (see _de Orat._ ii. Sec. 170). Cicero does +not here assume the truth of the story, he merely repeats Pompey's +words.] + +[Footnote 458: M. Tullius Albinovanus. It was on this charge _de vi_ +that Cicero defended Sestius in the extant speech. The charge of bribery +does not appear to have been proceeded with.] + +[Footnote 459: _Adlegatos_, probably commissioners named to receive and +report on a deposition of an informer before the senate acted.] + +[Footnote 460: L. Calpurnius Piso Bestia, a candidate in the last +election of aediles.] + +[Footnote 461: Cn. Domitius Calvinus, consul B.C. 53. In the Civil War +he sided with Pompey, and perished at sea after Thapsus (B.C. 46).] + +[Footnote 462: _Ad lucum Pisonis_. The place is not known, but there is +not sufficient reason for the change to _ad lacum Pisonis_, a place +equally unknown.] + +[Footnote 463: A part of Rome on the slope of the Mons Oppius.] + +[Footnote 464: _I.e._, get out of it as soon as you can.] + + + + +CII (F I, 5 b) + +TO P. LENTULUS SPINTHER (IN CILICIA) + +ROME (FEBRUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +What is being done and has been done here I imagine you know from +letters of numerous correspondents and from messengers: but what are +still matters for conjecture, and seem likely to take place, I think I +ought to write and tell you. After Pompey had been roughly treated with +shouts and insulting remarks, while speaking before the people on the +7th of February in defence of Milo, and had been accused in the senate +by Cato in exceedingly harsh and bitter terms amidst profound silence, +he appeared to me to be very much upset in his mind. Accordingly, he +seems to me to have quite given up any idea of the Alexandrine +business--which, as far as we are concerned, remains exactly where it +was, for the senate has taken nothing from you except what, owing to the +same religious difficulty, cannot be granted to anyone else. My hope and +my earnest endeavour now is that the king, when he understands that he +cannot obtain what he had in his mind--restoration by Pompey--and that, +unless restored by you, he will be abandoned, and neglected, should pay +you a visit.[465] This he will do without any hesitation, if Pompey +gives the least hint of his approval. But you know that man's deliberate +ways and obstinate reserve. However, I will omit nothing that may +contribute to that result. The other injurious proceedings instituted by +Cato I shall, I hope, have no difficulty in resisting. I perceive that +none of the consulars are friendly to you except Hortensius and +Lucullus; the rest are either hostile, without openly shewing it, or +undisguisedly incensed. Keep a brave and high spirit, and feel confident +that the result will be to utterly repulse the attack of a most +contemptible fellow, and to retain your high position and fame. + +[Footnote 465: Ptolemy was at Ephesus.] + + + + +CIII (F I, 6) + +TO P. LENTULUS SPINTHER (IN CILICIA) + +ROME (FEBRUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +What is going on you will learn from Pollio,[466] who not only was +engaged in all the transactions, but was the leader in them. In my own +deep distress, occasioned by the course your business has taken,[467] I +am chiefly consoled by the hope which makes me strongly suspect that the +dishonest practices of men will be defeated both by the measures of your +friends and by mere lapse of time, which must have a tendency to weaken +the plans of your enemies and of traitors. In the second place, I derive +a ready consolation from the memory of my own dangers, of which I see a +reflexion in your fortunes. For though your position is attacked in a +less important particular than that which brought mine to the ground, +yet the analogy is so strong, that I trust you will pardon me if I am +not frightened at what you did not yourself consider ought to cause +alarm. But shew yourself the man I have known you to be, to use a Greek +expression, "since your nails were soft."[468] The injurious conduct of +men will, believe me, only make your greatness more conspicuous. Expect +from me the greatest zeal and devotion in everything: I will not falsify +your expectation. + +[Footnote 466: The famous C. Asinius Pollio.] + +[Footnote 467: The postponement of the Egyptian commission.] + +[Footnote 468: [Greek: ex apalon onychon], _i.e._, "from your earliest +youth." Others explain it to mean "from the bottom of your heart," or +"thoroughly," from the idea that the nerves ended in the nails. [Greek: +ex auton ton onychon], "thoroughly," occurs in late Greek, and similar +usages in the Anthology.] + + + + +CIV (Q FR II, 4 AND PART OF 6) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN SARDINIA) + +ROME, MARCH + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +Our friend Sestius was acquitted on the 11th of March, and, what was of +great importance to the Republic--that there should be no appearance of +difference of opinion in a case of that sort--was acquitted unanimously. +As to what I had often gathered from your letters, that you were anxious +about--that I should not leave any loophole for abuse to an unfriendly +critic on the score of my being ungrateful, if I did not treat with the +utmost indulgence his occasional wrong-headedness--let me tell you that +in this trial I established my character for being the most grateful of +men. For in conducting the defence I satisfied in the fullest manner +possible a man of difficult temper, and, what he above all things +desired, I cut up Vatinius (by whom he was being openly attacked) just +as I pleased, with the applause of gods and men. And, farther, when our +friend Paullus[469] was brought forward as a witness against Sestius, he +affirmed that he would lay an information against Vatinius[470] if +Licinius Macer hesitated to do so, and Macer, rising from Sestius's +benches, declared that he would not fail. Need I say more? That impudent +swaggering fellow Vatinius was overwhelmed with confusion and thoroughly +discredited. + +That most excellent boy, your son Quintus, is getting on splendidly with +his education. I notice this the more because Tyrannio[471] gives his +lessons in my house. The building of both your house and mine is being +pushed on energetically. I have caused half the money to be paid to +your contractor. I hope before winter we may be under the same roof. As +to our Tullia, who, by Hercules, is very warmly attached to you, I hope +I have settled her engagement with Crassipes.[472] There are two days +after the Latin festival which are barred by religion.[473] Otherwise +the festival of Iuppiter Latiaris has come to an end. + +The affluence which you often mention I feel the want of to a certain +extent; but while I welcome it if it comes to me, I am not exactly +beating the covert for it.[474] I am building in three places, and am +patching up my other houses. I live somewhat more lavishly than I used +to do. I am obliged to do so. If I had you with me I should give the +builders full swing for a while.[475] But this too (as I hope) we shall +shortly talk over together. + +The state of affairs at Rome is this: Lentulus Marcellinus is splendid +as consul, and his colleague does not put any difficulty in his way: he +is so good, I repeat, that I have never seen a better. He deprived them +of all the comitial days; for even the Latin festival is being +repeated,[476] nor were thanksgiving days wanting.[477] In this way the +passing of most mischievous laws is prevented, especially that of +Cato,[478] on whom, however, our friend Milo played a very pretty trick. +For that defender of the employment of gladiators and beast-fighters had +bought some beast-fighters from Cosconius and Pomponius, and had never +appeared in public without them in their full armour. He could not +afford to maintain them, and accordingly had great difficulty in +keeping them together. Milo found this out. He commissioned an +individual, with whom he was not intimate, to buy this troop from Cato +without exciting his suspicion. As soon as it had been removed, +Racilius--at this time quite the only real tribune--revealed the truth, +acknowledged that the men had been purchased for himself--for this is +what they had agreed--and put up a notice that he intended to sell +"Cato's troop." This notice caused much laughter. Accordingly, Lentulus +has prevented Cato from going on with his laws, and also those who +published bills of a monstrous description about Caesar, with no tribune +to veto them. Caninius's proposal, indeed, about Pompey has died a +natural death. For it is not approved of in itself, and our friend +Pompey is also spoken of with great severity for the breach of his +friendship with Publius Lentulus. He is not the man he was. The fact is +that to the lowest dregs of the populace his support of Milo gives some +offence, while the aristocrats are dissatisfied with much that he omits +to do, and find fault with much that he does. This is the only point, +however, in which I am not pleased with Marcellinus--that he handles him +too roughly. Yet in this he is not going counter to the wishes of the +senate: consequently I am the more glad to withdraw from the +senate-house and from politics altogether. In the courts I have the same +position as I ever had: never was my house more crowded. One untoward +circumstance has occurred owing to Milo's rashness--the acquittal of +Sext. Clodius[479]--whose prosecution at this particular time, and by a +weak set of accusers, was against my advice. In a most corrupt panel his +conviction failed by only three votes. Consequently the people clamour +for a fresh trial, and he must surely be brought back into court. For +people will not put up with it, and seeing that, though pleading before +a panel of his own kidney, he was all but condemned, they look upon him +as practically condemned. Even in this matter the unpopularity of Pompey +was an obstacle in our path. For the votes of the senators were largely +in his favour, those of the knights were equally divided, while the +_tribuni aerarii_ voted for his condemnation. But for this _contretemps_ +I am consoled by the daily condemnations of my enemies, among whom, to +my great delight, Servius[480] got upon the rocks: the rest are utterly +done for. Gaius Cato declared in public meeting that he would not allow +the elections to be held, if he were deprived of the days for doing +business with the people. Appius has not yet returned from his visit to +Caesar. I am looking forward with extraordinary eagerness to a letter +from you. Although I know the sea is still closed, yet they tell me that +certain persons have, nevertheless, arrived from Olbia full of your +praises, and declaring you to be very highly thought of in the province. +They said also that these persons reported that you intended to cross as +soon as navigation became possible. That is what I desire: but although +it is yourself, of course, that I most look forward to, yet meanwhile I +long for a letter. Farewell, my dear brother. + +[Footnote 469: L. AEmilius Paullus, praetor B.C. 53, consul B.C. 50, a +strong Optimate and friend of Cicero's.] + +[Footnote 470: P. Vatinius, the tribune of B.C. 59, who had supported +Caesar and proposed the law for his five years' command in Gaul. Cicero +spoke against him for perjury; but afterwards we shall find them +ostensibly reconciled.] + +[Footnote 471: A Greek grammarian and geographer, of whom we have heard +before, and shall hear of again in connexion with Cicero's library.] + +[Footnote 472: P. Furius Crassipes. Tullia's first husband, C. +Calpurnius Piso Frugi, died, it seems, before Cicero returned from exile +in B.C. 57. This second marriage (or, perhaps, only betrothal) was +shortly ended by a divorce.] + +[Footnote 473: _I.e._, on which the _sponsalia_ could not take place.] + +[Footnote 474: Not going the right way to work to get it.] + +[Footnote 475: At the end of the next letter he says that, pending +Quintus's arrival, he has stopped some of his building.] + +[Footnote 476: On some alleged informality the _feriae Latinae_ were held +a second time (_instauratae_), really, Cicero implies, in order to bar +some additional days for public business, and prevent legislation, as +later on the election of Pompey and Crassus was prevented (Dio, xxxix. +30).] + +[Footnote 477: At the end of B.C. 57, or the beginning of 56, fifteen +days of _supplicatio_ were decreed in consequence of Caesar's success in +Gaul (Caes. _B. G._ ii. 35).] + +[Footnote 478: Gaius Cato the tribune, who proposed to recall Lentulus.] + +[Footnote 479: A _scriba_ or public clerk, and a client of the patrician +Clodii.] + +[Footnote 480: Unknown. Cicero's words seem to imply that he nearly got +convicted, but not quite.] + + + + +CV (Q FR II, 5 AND PARTS OF 6 AND 7) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN SARDINIA) + +ROME, 8 APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +I have already sent you a letter containing the information of my +daughter Tullia having been betrothed to Crassipes on the 4th of April, +and other intelligence public and private. The following are the events +since then. On the 5th of April, by a decree of the senate, a sum of +money amounting to 40,000 sestertia (about L320,000) was voted to Pompey +for the business of the corn-supply. But on the same day there was a +vehement debate on the Campanian land, the senators making almost as +much noise as a public meeting. The shortness of money and the high +price of corn increased the exasperation. Nor will I omit the following: +the members of the colleges of the Capitolini and the Mercuriales[481] +expelled from their society a Roman knight named M. Furius Flaccus, a +man of bad character: the expulsion took place when he was at the +meeting, and though he threw himself at the feet of each member. + +On the 6th of April, the eve of my departure from town, I gave a +betrothal party to Crassipes. That excellent boy, your and my Quintus, +was not at the banquet owing to a very slight indisposition. On the 7th +of April I visited Quintus and found him quite restored. He talked a +good deal and with great feeling about the quarrels between our wives. +What need I say more? Nothing could have been pleasanter. Pomponia, +however, had some complaints to make of you also: but of this when we +meet. After leaving your boy I went to the site of your house: the +building was going on with a large number of workmen. I urged the +contractor Longilius to push on. He assured me that he had every wish to +satisfy us. The house will be splendid, for it can be better seen now +than we could judge from the plan: my own house is also being built with +despatch. On this day I dined with Crassipes. After dinner I went in my +sedan to visit Pompey at his suburban villa. I had not been able to call +on him in the daytime as he was away from home. However, I wished to see +him, because I am leaving Rome to-morrow, and he is on the point of +starting for Sardinia. I found him at home and begged him to restore you +to us as soon as possible. "Immediately," he said. He is going to start, +according to what he said, on the 11th of April, with the intention of +embarking at Livorno or Pisa.[482] Mind, my dear brother, that, as soon +as he arrives, you seize the first opportunity of setting sail, provided +only that the weather is favourable. I write this on the 8th of April +before daybreak, and am on the point of starting on my journey, with the +intention of stopping to-day with Titus Titius at Anagnia. To-morrow I +think of being at Laterium,[483] thence, after five days in Arpinum, +going to my Pompeian house, just looking in upon my villa at Cumae on my +return journey, with the view--since Milo's trial has been fixed for the +7th of May--of being at Rome on the 6th, and of seeing you on that day, +I hope, dearest and pleasantest of brothers. I thought it best that the +building at Arcanum[484] should be suspended till your return. Take good +care, my dear brother, of your health, and come as soon as possible. + +[Footnote 481: In B.C. 357 a "college" was established for celebrating +the _ludi Capitolini_, in celebration of the failure of the Gauls to +take it. It consisted of men living on the Capitoline (Livy, v. 50). The +_Mercuriales_ were a "college" or company of merchants who celebrated +the _fete_ of the consecration of the temple of Mercury (B.C., 495) on +the Ides of May (Livy, ii. 27; Ov. _F._ v. 669; C. _I. L._ i. p. 206).] + +[Footnote 482: It was on this journey that Pompey visited Luca tomeet +Caesar and Crassus.] + +[Footnote 483: The name of a property of Quintus at Arpinum.] + +[Footnote 484: Another property of Quintus near Mintumae.] + + + + +CVI (A IV, 4 b) + +TO ATTICUS (RETURNING FROM EPIRUS) + +ANTIUM (APRIL) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +It will be delightful if you come to see us here. You will find that +Tyrannio has made a wonderfully good arrangement of my books, the +remains of which are better than I had expected. Still, I wish you would +send me a couple of your library slaves for Tyrannio to employ as +gluers, and in other subordinate work, and tell them to get some fine +parchment to make title-pieces, which you Greeks, I think, call +"sillybi." But all this is only if not inconvenient to you. In any case, +be sure you come yourself, if you can halt for a while in such a place, +and can persuade Pilia[485] to accompany you. For that is only fair, and +Tullia is anxious that she should come. My word! You have purchased a +fine troop! Your gladiators, I am told, fight superbly. If you had +chosen to let them out you would have cleared your expenses by the last +two spectacles. But we will talk about this later on. Be sure to come, +and, as you love me, see about the library slaves. + +[Footnote 485: The recently married wife of Atticus. See p. 216.] + + + + +CVII (A IV, 5) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +ANTIUM (APRIL) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +Do you really mean it? Do you think that there is anyone by whom I +prefer to have what I write read and approved of before yourself? "Why, +then, did I send it to anyone before you?" I was pressed by the man to +whom I sent it, and had no copy. And--well! I am nibbling at what I +must, after all, swallow--my "recantation"[486] did seem to me a trifle +discreditable! But good-bye to straightforward, honest, and high-minded +policy! One could scarcely believe the amount of treachery there is in +those leaders of the state, as they wish to be, and might be, if they +had any principle of honour in them. I had felt it, known it--taken in, +abandoned, and cast aside by them, as I had been! and yet my purpose +still was to stick by them in politics. They were the same men as they +ever had been. At last, on your advice, my eyes have been opened. You +will say that your advice only extended to action, not to writing also. +The truth is that I wanted to bind myself to this new combination, that +I might have no excuse for slipping back to those who, even at a time +when I could claim their compassion, never cease being jealous of me. +However, I kept within due limits in my subject, when I did put pen to +paper. I shall launch out more copiously if _he_ shews that he is glad +to receive it, and those make wry faces who are angry at my possessing +the villa which once belonged to Catulus, without reflecting that I +bought it from Vettius: who say that I ought not to have built a town +house, and declare that I ought to have sold. But what is all this to +the fact that, when I have delivered senatorial speeches in agreement +with their own views, their chief pleasure has yet been that I spoke +contrary to Pompey's wishes? Let us have an end of it. Since those who +have no power refuse me their affection, let us take care to secure the +affection of those who have power. You will say, "I could have wished +that you had done so before." I know you did wish it, and that I have +made a real ass of myself. But now the time has come to shew a little +affection for myself, since I can get none from them on any terms. + +I am much obliged to you for frequently going to see my house. +Crassipes[487] swallows up my money for travelling. Tullia will go +straight to your suburban villa.[488] That seems the more convenient +plan. Consequently she will be at your town house the next day: for what +can it matter to you? But we shall see. Your men have beautified my +library by making up the books and appending title-slips. Please thank +them. + +[Footnote 486: [Greek: palinphdia]--something he had apparently written +and sent to Pompey or Caesar, giving in his adhesion to the policy of the +triumvirs. It can hardly have been the speech _de Provinciis +Consularibus_ or the _oratio pro Balbo_, which had probably not yet been +delivered, for the arrangement recommended in the former speech was not +that of the conference of Luca, while in the latter, though he speaks +respectfully of Caesar, there is nothing in the shape of a palinode in +general politics.] + + + + +CVIII (F V, 12) + +TO L. LUCCEIUS[489] + +ARPINUM (APRIL) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +I have often tried to say to you personally what I am about to write, +but was prevented by a kind of almost clownish bashfulness. Now that I am +not in your presence I shall speak out more boldly: a letter does not +blush. I am inflamed with an inconceivably ardent desire, and one, as I +think, of which I have no reason to be ashamed, that in a history +written by _you_ my name should be conspicuous and frequently mentioned +with praise. And though you have often shewn me that you meant to do so, +yet I hope you will pardon my impatience. For the style of your +composition, though I had always entertained the highest expectations of +it, has yet surpassed my hopes, and has taken such a hold upon me, or +rather has so fired my imagination, that I was eager to have my +achievements as quickly as possible put on record in your history. For +it is not only the thought of being spoken of by future ages that makes +me snatch at what seems a hope of immortality, but it is also the desire +of fully enjoying in my lifetime an authoritative expression of your +judgment, or a token of your kindness for me, or the charm of your +genius. Not, however, that while thus writing I am unaware under what +heavy burdens you are labouring in the portion of history you have +undertaken, and by this time have begun to write. But because I saw that +your history of the Italian and Civil Wars was now all but finished, and +because also you told me that you were already embarking upon the +remaining portions of your work, I determined not to lose my chance for +the want of suggesting to you to consider whether you preferred to weave +your account of me into the main context of your history, or whether, as +many Greek writers have done--Callisthenes, the Phocian War; Timaeus, the +war of Pyrrhus; Polybius, that of Numantia; all of whom separated the +wars I have named from their main narratives--you would, like them, +separate the civil conspiracy from public and external wars. For my +part, I do not see that it matters much to my reputation, but it does +somewhat concern my impatience, that you should not wait till you come +to the proper place, but should at once anticipate the discussion of +that question as a whole and the history of that epoch. And at the same +time, if your whole thoughts are engaged on one incident and one person, +I can see in imagination how much fuller your material will be, and how +much more elaborately worked out. I am quite aware, however, what little +modesty I display, first, in imposing on you so heavy a burden (for your +engagements may well prevent your compliance with my request), and in +the second place, in asking you to shew me off to advantage. What if +those transactions are not in your judgment so very deserving of +commendation? Yet, after all, a man who has once passed the border-line +of modesty had better put a bold face on it and be frankly impudent. And +so I again and again ask you outright, both to praise those actions of +mine in warmer terms than you perhaps feel, and in that respect to +neglect the laws of history. I ask you, too, in regard to the personal +predilection, on which you wrote in a certain introductory chapter in +the most gratifying and explicit terms--and by which you shew that you +were as incapable of being diverted as Xenophon's Hercules by +Pleasure--not to go against it, but to yield to your affection for me a +little more than truth shall justify. But if I can induce you to +undertake this, you will have, I am persuaded, matter worthy of your +genius and your wealth of language. For from the beginning of the +conspiracy to my return from exile it appears to me that a +moderate-sized monograph might be composed, in which you will, on the +one hand, be able to utilize your special knowledge of civil +disturbances, either in unravelling the causes of the revolution or in +proposing remedies for evils, blaming meanwhile what you think deserves +denunciation, and establishing the righteousness of what you approve by +explaining the principles on which they rest: and on the other hand, if +you think it right to be more outspoken (as you generally do), you will +bring out the perfidy, intrigues, and treachery of many people towards +me. For my vicissitudes will supply you in your composition with much +variety, which has in itself a kind of charm, capable of taking a strong +hold on the imagination of readers, when you are the writer. For nothing +is better fitted to interest a reader than variety of circumstance and +vicissitudes of fortune, which, though the reverse of welcome to us in +actual experience, will make very pleasant reading: for the untroubled +recollection of a past sorrow has a charm of its own. To the rest of the +world, indeed, who have had no trouble themselves, and who look upon the +misfortunes of others without any suffering of their own, the feeling of +pity is itself a source of pleasure. For what man of us is not +delighted, though feeling a certain compassion too, with the death-scene +of Epaminondas at Mantinea? He, you know, did not allow the dart to be +drawn from his body until he had been told, in answer to his question, +that his shield was safe, so that in spite of the agony of his wound he +died calmly and with glory. Whose interest is not roused and sustained +by the banishment and return of Themistocles?[490] Truly the mere +chronological record of the annals has very little charm for us--little +more than the entries in the _fasti_: but the doubtful and varied +fortunes of a man, frequently of eminent character, involve feelings of +wonder, suspense, joy, sorrow, hope, fear: if these fortunes are crowned +with a glorious death, the imagination is satisfied with the most +fascinating delight which reading can give. Therefore it will be more in +accordance with my wishes if you come to the resolution to separate from +the main body of your narrative, in which you embrace a continuous +history of events, what I may call the drama of my actions and fortunes: +for it includes varied acts, and shifting scenes both of policy and +circumstance. Nor am I afraid of appearing to lay snares for your favour +by flattering suggestions, when I declare that I desire to be +complimented and mentioned with praise by you above all other writers. +For you are not the man to be ignorant of your own powers, or not to be +sure that those who withhold their admiration of you are more to be +accounted jealous, than those who praise you flatterers. Nor, again, am +I so senseless as to wish to be consecrated to an eternity of fame by +one who, in so consecrating me, does not also gain for himself the glory +which rightfully belongs to genius. For the famous Alexander himself did +not wish to be painted by Apelles, and to have his statue made by +Lysippus above all others, merely from personal favour to them, but +because he thought that their art would be a glory at once to them and +to himself. And, indeed, those artists used to make images of the person +known to strangers: but if such had never existed, illustrious men would +yet be no less illustrious. The Spartan Agesilaus, who would not allow a +portrait of himself to be painted or a statue made, deserves to be +quoted as an example quite as much as those who have taken trouble +about such representations: for a single pamphlet of Xenophon's in +praise of that king has proved much more effective than all the +portraits and statues of them all. And, moreover, it will more redound +to my present exultation and the honour of my memory to have found my +way into your history, than if I had done so into that of others, in +this, that I shall profit not only by the genius of the writer--as +Timoleon did by that of Timaeus, Themistocles by that of Herodotus--but +also by the authority of a man of a most illustrious and +well-established character, and one well known and of the first repute +for his conduct in the most important and weighty matters of state; so +that I shall seem to have gained not only the fame which Alexander on +his visit to Sigeum said had been bestowed on Achilles by Homer, but +also the weighty testimony of a great and illustrious man. For I like +that saying of Hector in Naevius, who not only rejoices that he is +"praised," but adds, "and by one who has himself been praised." But if I +fail to obtain my request from you, which is equivalent to saying, if +you are by some means prevented--for I hold it to be out of the question +that you would _refuse_ a request of mine--I shall perhaps be forced to +do what certain persons have often found fault with, write my own +panegyric, a thing, after all, which has a precedent of many illustrious +men. But it will not escape your notice that there are the following +drawbacks in a composition of that sort: men are bound, when writing of +themselves, both to speak with greater reserve of what is praiseworthy, +and to omit what calls for blame. Added to which such writing carries +less conviction, less weight; many people, in fine, carp at it, and say +that the heralds at the public games are more modest, for after having +placed garlands on the other recipients and proclaimed their names in a +loud voice, when their own turn comes to be presented with a garland +before the games break up, they call in the services of another herald, +that they may not declare themselves victors with their own voice. I +wish to avoid all this, and, if you undertake my cause, I shall avoid +it: and, accordingly, I ask you this favour. But why, you may well ask, +when you have already often assured me that you intended to record in +your book with the utmost minuteness the policy and events of my +consulship, do I now make this request to you with such earnestness and +in so many words? The reason is to be found in that burning desire, of +which I spoke at the beginning of my letter, for something _prompt_: +because I am in a flutter of impatience, both that men should learn what +I am from your books, while I am still alive, and that I may myself in +my lifetime have the full enjoyment of my little bit of glory. What you +intend doing on this subject I should like you to write me word, if not +troublesome to you. For if you do undertake the subject, I will put +together some notes of all occurrences: but if you put me off to some +future time, I will talk the matter over with you. Meanwhile, do not +relax your efforts, and thoroughly polish what you have already on the +stocks, and--continue to love me. + +[Footnote 487: That is, the dowry and expenses of Tullia's betrothal to +Crassipes.] + +[Footnote 488: _Tullia de via recta in hortos_, for _tu_, etc., and _ad +te postridie_. This may not be right, but no other suggestions as to the +meaning of these abrupt clauses have been made which are in the least +convincing. We must suppose that Atticus has asked Tullia to stay with +him and his wife Pilia, and Cicero is describing her journey from +Antium.] + +[Footnote 489: L. Lucceius, of whom we have heard before, as having some +quarrel with Atticus. His work has not survived. No letter of the +correspondence has brought more adimadversion on Cicero, and yet +log-rolling and the appealing to friends on the press to review one's +book are not wholly unknown even in our time.] + +[Footnote 490: Cicero appears by a slip to have written Themistocles +instead of Aristeides. The dramatic return of the latter just before the +battle of Salamis is narrated in Herodotus: whereas the former never +returned, though his dead body was said to have been brought to Athens.] + + + + +CIX (A IV, 6) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +FROM THE COUNTRY (APRIL-MAY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +Of course I am as sorry about Lentulus as I am bound to be: we have lost +a good patriot and a great man, one who to great strength of character +united a culture equally profound. My consolation is a miserable one, +but still it is a consolation--that I do not grieve on his account: I +don't mean in the sense of Saufeius and your Epicurean friends, but, by +Hercules, because he loved his country so deeply, that he seems to me to +have been snatched away by a special favour of providence from its +conflagration. For what could be more humiliating than the life we are +living, especially mine? For as to yourself, though by nature a +politician, you have yet avoided having any servitude peculiar to +yourself: you merely come under an appellation common to us all.[491] +But _I_, who, if I say what I ought about the Republic, am looked on as +mad, if what expediency dictates, as a slave, and if I say nothing, as +utterly crushed and helpless--what must I be suffering? Suffer, indeed, +I do, and all the more keenly that I cannot even shew my pain without +appearing ungrateful. Again: what if I should choose a life of +inactivity and take refuge in the harbour of retired leisure? +Impossible! Rather war and the camp! Am I to serve in the ranks after +refusing to be a general? I suppose I must. For I perceive you, too, +think so, you whom I wish that I had always obeyed. All that is left to +me now is, "You have drawn Sparta: make the best of it!" But, by +heavens, I can't: and I feel for Philoxenus,[492] who preferred a return +to gaol. However, in my present retirement I am thinking over how to +express my rejection of the old policy, and when we meet you will +strengthen me in it. + +I notice that you have written to me at frequent intervals, but I +received all the letters at once. This circumstance increased my grief. +For I had read three to begin with, in which the report of Lentulus was +that he was a little better. Then came the thunderbolt of the fourth. +But it is not he, as I said, who is to be pitied, but we who are so +callous as to live on.[493] You remind me to write that essay on +Hortensius: I have digressed into other subjects, but have not forgotten +your charge. But, by heaven, at the first line I shrank from the task, +lest I, who seem to have acted foolishly in resenting his intemperate +conduct as a friend, should once more be foolishly rendering his +injurious treatment of me conspicuous, if I wrote anything; and at the +same time lest my high _morale_, manifested in my actions, should be +somewhat obscured in my writing, and this mode of taking satisfaction +should seem to imply a certain instability. But we shall see. Only be +sure to write me something as often as possible. I sent a letter to +Lucceius asking him to write the history of my consulship: be sure you +get it from him, for it is a very pretty bit of writing, and urge him to +use despatch, and thank him for having written me an answer saying that +he would do so. Go and see my house as often as you can. Say something +to Vestorius:[494] for he is acting very liberally in regard to me. + +[Footnote 491: Reading _communi fueris nomine_. After all, the meaning +is very doubtful.] + +[Footnote 492: Philoxenus, who, having been sent to the quarries by +Dionysius of Syracuse, for criticising the tyrant's poetry, was given +another chance. After reading a few lines he turned away silently. +"Where are you going?" said Dionysius. "Back to the quarries," said +Philoxenus. For [Greek: Spartan elaches, tauten kosmei], see p. 59.] + +[Footnote 493: _Ferrei_. The true meaning of the word here seems to me +to be shewn by _de Am._ Sec. 87, _quis tam esset ferreus, qui eam vitam +ferre posset, cuique non auferret fructum voluptatum omnium solitudo_? +There is an intentional play on the words _ferreus_ and _ferre_. Others +have altered it to _servi_, and others have explained it as an allusion +to the iron age, in both cases spoiling the antithesis--he died, we +remain--and in the latter using the word in a sense not elsewhere found. +Lentulus is L. Cornelius Lentulus. See Letter L.] + +[Footnote 494: A money-lender.] + + + + +CX (A IV, 7) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +ARPINUM (APRIL-MAY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +Nothing could be better timed than your letter, which much relieved the +anxiety I was feeling about that excellent boy, our Quintus. Two hours +earlier Chaerippus had arrived: his news was simply awful. As to what you +say about Apollonius, why, heaven confound him! a Greek and turn +bankrupt! Thinks he may do what Roman knights do! For, of course, +Terentius is within his rights! As to Metellus--_de mortuis_, +etc.[495]--yet there has been no citizen die these many years past who +----. Well, I am willing to warrant your getting the money: for what +have you to fear, whomsoever he made his heir, unless it were Publius? +But he has, in fact, made a respectable man his heir, though he was +himself ----! Wherefore in this business you will not have to open your +money-chest: another time you will be more cautious. Please see to my +instructions about my house: hire some guards: give Milo a hint.[496] +The Arpinates grumble amazingly about Laterium.[497] Well, what can I +say? I was much annoyed myself, but "to words of mine he gave no +heed."[498] For the rest, take care of young Cicero and love him as +always. + +[Footnote 495: [Greek: ouch hosie phthimenoisin], leaving Atticus, as +often, to fill in the words [Greek: ep' andrasin euchetaasthai] (Hom. +_Od._ xxii. 412, where the word is [Greek: ktamenoisin]). Terentius is +some eques who has stopped payment.] + +[Footnote 496: Because Clodius was attempting to pull down Cicero's +new-built house on the ground that the site was still consecrated. He +was prevented by Milo (Dio, xxxix. 20).] + +[Footnote 497: Something that Quintus had done, perhaps about water, on +his estate which annoyed his fellow townsmen.] + +[Footnote 498: [Greek: ho d' ouk empazeto mython] (Hom. _Od._ i. 271).] + + + + +CXI (A IV, 8 a) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +ANTIUM (APRIL-MAY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +There were many things in your letter which pleased me, but nothing more +than your "dish of cheese and salt fish"![499] For as to what you say +about the sale, + + "Boast not yourself before you see the end."[500] + +I can find nothing in the way of a building for you in the +neighbourhood. In the town there is something of the sort, though it is +doubtful whether it is for sale, and, in fact, close to my own house. +Let me tell you that Antium is the Buthrotum of Rome, just what your +Buthrotum is to Corcyra. Nothing can be quieter, cooler, or +prettier--"be this mine own dear home."[501] Moreover, since Tyrannio +has arranged my books for me, my house seems to have had a soul added to +it; in which matter your Dionysius and Menophilus were of wonderful +service. Nothing can be more charming than those bookcases of yours, +since the title-slips have shewn off the books. Good-bye. I should like +you to write me word about the gladiators, but only if they fight well, +I don't want to know about them if they were failures. + +[Footnote 499: We must suppose Atticus to have mentioned some money loss +(see last letter), and to have added that, though a ruinous one, his +tastes were simple, and he could live on simple fare. Cicero laughs at +the affectation of the rich Atticus. _Raudusculum_, "a piece of bronze," +was the ancient term for the piece of bronze money used in sales, _per +aes et libram_ (Varro, _L. L._ v. 163).] + +[Footnote 500: [Greek: mepo meg' eipes prin teleutesant' ides], "Do not +boast till you see a man dead"--a well-known line from a lost play of +Sophocles, containing a sentiment elsewhere often repeated, especially +in Herodotus's account of the interview of Solon and Croesus.] + +[Footnote 501: [Greek: eie moi outos philos oikos], according to a +probable restoration of the Greek words (instead of [Greek: eie misetos +philos oikos], "I might even hate my town house in comparison"); cp. +Hor. _Od._ ii. 6, 7.] + + + + +CXII (F V, 3) + +FROM Q. METELLUS NEPOS (IN SPAIN) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +The insults of a most outrageous person, with which he loads me in +frequent public speeches, are alleviated by your kind services to me; +and as they are of little weight as coming from a man of that character, +they are regarded by me with contempt, and I am quite pleased by an +interchange of persons to regard you in the light of a cousin.[502] Him +I don't wish even to remember, though I have twice saved his life in his +own despite. Not to be too troublesome to you about my affairs, I have +written to Lollius as to what I want done about my provincial accounts, +with a view to his informing and reminding you. If you can, I hope you +will preserve your old goodwill to me. + +[Footnote 502: _Fratris_. The mother of Clodius, Caecilia, was a daughter +of Q. Caecilius Metellus Balearicus (consul B.C. 123), father of the +writer of this letter.] + + + + +CXIII (F I, 7) + +TO P. LENTULUS SPINTHER (IN CILICIA) + +ROME (OCTOBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +I have read your letter in which you say that you are obliged for the +frequent information I give you about all current events, and for the +clear proof you have of my kindness to yourself. The latter--the +regarding you with warm affection--it is my duty to do, if I wish to +maintain the character which you desired for me; the former it is a +pleasure to do, namely, separated as we are by length of space and time, +to converse with you as frequently as possible by means of letters. But +if this shall occur less frequently than you expect, the reason will be +that my letters are of such a kind that I dare not trust them to +everybody promiscuously. As often as I get hold of trustworthy persons +to whom I may safely deliver them, I will not omit to do so. As to your +question about each particular person's loyalty and friendly feelings +towards you, it is difficult to speak in regard to individuals. I can +venture on this one assertion, which I often hinted to you before, and +now write from close observation and knowledge--that certain persons, +and those, above all others, who were most bound and most able to help +you, have been exceedingly jealous of your claims: and that, though the +point in question is different, your present position is exceedingly +like what mine was some time ago in this, that those whom you had +attacked on public grounds now openly assail you, while those whose +authority, rank, and policy you had defended, are not so much mindful of +your kindness as enemies to your reputation. In these circumstances, as +I wrote you word before, I perceive that Hortensius is very warmly your +friend, Lucullus anxious to serve you: while of the magistrates L. +Racilius shews special loyalty and affection. For my taking up the +cudgels for you, and advocating your claims, would seem in the eyes of +most people to be the measure of my obligation to you rather than of my +deliberate opinion. Besides these I am, in fact, not able to bear +witness to any one of the consulars shewing zeal or kindness or friendly +feeling towards you. For you are aware that Pompey, who is very +frequently accustomed, not on my instigation but of his own accord, to +confide in me about you, did not often attend the senate during these +discussions. It is true your last letter, as I could easily conceive, +was very gratifying to him. To me, indeed, your reasonableness, or +rather your extreme wisdom, seemed not only charming, but simply +admirable. For by that letter you retained your hold on a man of lofty +character, who was bound to you by the signal generosity of your conduct +towards him, but who was entertaining some suspicions that, owing to +the impression prevailing among certain persons as to his own ambitious +desires, you were alienated from him. I always thought that he wished to +support your reputation, even in that very dubious episode of Caninius's +proposal;[503] but when he had read your letter, I could plainly see +that he was thinking with his whole soul of you, your honours, and your +interests. Wherefore look upon what I am going to write as written after +frequent discussions with him, in accordance with his opinion, and with +the weight of his authority. It is this: "That, since no senatorial +decree exists taking the restoration of the Alexandrine king out of your +hands, and since the resolution written out upon that restoration +(which, as you are aware, was vetoed) to the effect that no one was to +restore the king at all,[504] has rather the weight of a measure adopted +by men in anger than of a deliberate decision of the senate--you can +yourself see, since you are in possession of Cilicia and Cyprus,[505] +what it is within your power to effect and secure; and that, if +circumstances seem to make it possible for you to occupy Alexandria and +Egypt, it is for your own dignity and that of the empire that, after +having first placed the king at Ptolemais or some neighbouring place, +you should proceed with fleet and army to Alexandria, in order that, +when you have secured it by restoring peace and placing a garrison in +it, Ptolemy may go back to his kingdom: thus it will be brought about +that he is restored at once by your agency, as the senate originally +voted, and without a 'host,' as those who are scrupulous about religion +said was the order of the Sibyl." + +But though both he and I agreed in this decision, we yet thought that +men would judge of your policy by its result: if it turns out as we wish +and desire, everybody will say that you acted wisely and courageously; +if any hitch occurs, those same men will say that you acted ambitiously +and rashly. Wherefore what you really can do it is not so easy for us to +judge as for you, who have Egypt almost within sight. For us, our view +is this: if you are certain that you can get possession of that +kingdom, you should not delay: if it is doubtful, you should not make +the attempt. I can guarantee you this, that, if you succeed, you will be +applauded by many while abroad, by all when you return. I see great +danger in any failure, on account of the senatorial resolution and the +religious scruple that have been introduced into the question. But for +me, as I exhort you to snatch at what is certain to bring you credit, so +I warn you against running any risks, and I return to what I said at the +beginning of my letter--that men will judge all you do, not so much from +the policy which prompted it as from its result. But if this method of +procedure appears to you to be dangerous, our opinion is that, if the +king fulfils his obligations to those of your friends, who throughout +your province and sphere of government have lent him money, you should +assist him both with troops and supplies: such is the nature and +convenient situation of your province, that you either secure his +restoration by giving him aid, or hinder it by neglecting to do so. In +carrying out this policy you will perceive better and more easily than +anyone else what the actual state of affairs, the nature of the case, +and the circumstances of the hour admit: what our opinion was I thought +that I was the person, above all others, to tell you. + +As to your congratulations to myself on my present position, on my +intimacy with Milo, on the frivolity and impotency of Clodius--I am not +at all surprised that, like a first-rate artist, you take pleasure in +the brilliant works of your own hands. However, people's +wrong-headedness--I don't like to use a harsher word--surpasses belief; +they might have secured me by their sympathy in a cause in which they +were all equally interested, yet they have alienated me by their +jealousy: for by their carping and most malicious criticisms I must tell +you that I have been all but driven from that old political standpoint +of mine, so long maintained, not, it is true, so far as to forget my +position, but far enough to admit at length some consideration for my +personal safety also. Both might have been amply secured if there had +been any good faith, any solidity in our consulars: but such is the +frivolity of most of them, that they do not so much take pleasure in my +political consistency, as offence at my brilliant position. I am the +more outspoken in writing this to you, because you lent your support, +not only to my present position, which I obtained through you, but also +long ago to my reputation and political eminence, when they were, so to +speak, but just coming into existence; and at the same time because I +see that it was not, as I used formerly to think, my want of curule +pedigree that excited prejudice: for I have noticed in your case, one of +the noblest of the land, a similar exhibition of base jealousy, and +though they did not object to class you among the _noblesse_, they were +unwilling that you should take any higher flight. I rejoice that your +fortune has been unlike mine: for there is a great difference between +having one's reputation lowered and one's personal safety abandoned to +the enemy. In my case it was your noble conduct that prevented me from +being too much disgusted with my own; for you secured that men should +consider more to have been added to my future glory than had been taken +from my present fortune. As for you--instigated both by your kindness to +myself and my affection for you, I urge you to use all your care and +industry to obtain the full glory, for which you have burned with such +generous ardour from boyhood, and never, under anyone's injurious +conduct, to bend that high spirit of yours, which I have always admired +and always loved. Men have a high opinion of you; they loudly praise +your liberality; they vividly remember your consulship. You must surely +perceive how much more marked, and how much more prominent these +sentiments will be, if backed up by some considerable repute from your +province and your government. However, in every administrative act which +you have to perform by means of your army and in virtue of your +_imperium_, I would have you reflect on these objects long before you +act, prepare yourself with a view to them, turn them over in your mind, +train yourself to obtain them, and convince yourself that you can with +the greatest ease maintain the highest and most exalted position in the +state. This you have always looked for, and I am sure you understand +that you have attained it. And that you may not think this exhortation +of mine meaningless or adopted without reason, I should explain that the +consideration which has moved me to make it was the conviction that you +required to be warned by the incidents, which our careers have had in +common, to be careful for the rest of your life as to whom to trust and +against whom to be on your guard. + +As to your question about the state of public affairs--there is the most +profound difference of opinion, but the energy is all on one side. For +those who are strong in wealth, arms, and material power, appear to me +to have scored so great a success from the stupidity and fickleness of +their opponents, that they are now the stronger in moral weight as well. +Accordingly, with very few to oppose them, they have got everything +through the senate, which they never expected to get even by the popular +vote without a riot: for a grant for military pay and ten legates have +been given to Caesar by decree,[506] and no difficulty has been made of +deferring the nomination of his successor, as required by the Sempronian +law.[507] I say the less to you on this point, because this position of +public affairs is no pleasure to me: I mention it, however, in order to +urge you to learn, while you can do so without suffering for it, the +lesson which I myself, though devoted from boyhood to every kind of +reading, yet learnt rather from bitter experience than from study, that +we must neither consider our personal safety to the exclusion of our +dignity, nor our dignity to the exclusion of our safety. + +In your congratulations as to my daughter and Crassipes I am obliged to +you for your kindness, and do indeed expect and hope that this connexion +may be a source of pleasure to us. Our dear Lentulus, a young man who +gives such splendid promise of the highest qualities, be sure you +instruct both in those accomplishments which you have yourself ever been +forward in pursuing, and also, above all, in the imitation of yourself: +he can study in no better school than that. He holds a very high place +in my regard and affection, as well because he is yours, as because he +is worthy of such a father, and because he is devoted to me, and has +always been so. + +[Footnote 503: See Letter XCV.] + +[Footnote 504: See Letter CII.] + +[Footnote 505: Joined to the province of Cilicia by Cato in B.C. 58-57. +What Cicero is recommending is a clear evasion. Lentulus is not to +_take_ Ptolemy back, but to go to Egypt and make it ready for him.] + +[Footnote 506: Cicero says elsewhere that he supported this (_pro +Balbo_, Sec.61; _de Prov. Cons._ Sec.28; cp. Dio, xxxix. 25).] + +[Footnote 507: The law of Gaius Gracchus (B.C. 123) enacting that the +senate should name before the elections the provinces to be held by the +next consuls.] + + + + +CXIV (F XIII, 6 a) + +Q. VALERIUS ORCA (PROCONSUL IN AFRICA) + +ROME (MAY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +If you are well I shall be glad. I am quite well. I presume that you +will remember that, when escorting you on the commencement of your +official journey,[508] I mentioned to you in the presence of Publius +Cuspius, and also afterwards urged you privately at some length, that +whomsoever I might recommend to you as connexions of his, you should +regard as among connexions of my own. You, as was to be expected from +your extreme regard and uninterrupted attentions to me, undertook to do +this for me with the utmost liberality and kindness. Cuspius, who is +most careful in his duties towards all connected with him, takes a +surprising interest in the well-being of certain persons of your +province, because he has been twice in Africa when presiding over the +very large concerns of his revenue-company. Accordingly, this patronage +of his, which he exercises on their behalf, I am accustomed as far as I +can to back up by such means and influence as I possess. Wherefore I +thought it necessary to explain to you in this letter why I give letters +of introduction to all the friends of Cuspius. In future letters I will +merely append the mark[509] agreed upon between you and me, and at the +same time indicate that he is one of Cuspius's friends. But the +recommendation which I have resolved to subscribe to in this present +letter, let me tell you, is more serious than any of them. For P. +Cuspius has pressed me with particular earnestness to recommend Lucius +Iulius to you as warmly as possible. I appear to be barely able to +satisfy his eagerness by using the words which I generally use when most +in earnest. He asks for something out of the common way from me, and +thinks I have a special knack in that style of writing. I have promised +him to produce a masterpiece of commendation--a specimen of my choicest +work. Since I cannot reach that standard, however, I would beg you to +make him think that some astonishing effect has been produced by the +style of my letter. You will secure that, if you treat him with all the +liberality which your kindness can suggest and your official power make +feasible--I don't mean merely in the way of material assistance, but +also in words and even in looks: and what influence such things have in +a province I could have wished that you had already learnt by +experience, though I have an idea that you soon will do so. This man +himself, whom I am recommending to you, I believe to be thoroughly +worthy of your friendship, not only because Cuspius says so (though that +should be enough), but because I know the keenness of his judgment of +men and in the selection of his friends. I shall soon be able to judge +what has been the effect of this letter, and shall, I feel certain, have +reason to thank you. For myself, I shall with zeal and care see to all +that I think to be your wish or to concern your interests. Take care of +your health. + +[Footnote 508: _Paludatum_, lit. dressed in the _paludamentum_, the +military dress in which provincial governors left Rome with _imperium_.] + +[Footnote 509: _Notam_, some cipher, which he had agreed upon with +Valerius to indicate that the _commendatio_ was not to be looked upon as +a mere matter of course.] + + + + +CXV (F XIII, 6 b) + +TO Q. VALERIUS ORCA (PROCONSUL IN AFRICA) + +ROME (MAY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +P. Cornelius, who delivers you this letter, has been recommended to me +by P. Cuspius, for whose sake you are thoroughly informed from me how +much I desire and am bound to do. I earnestly beg you that Cuspius may +have as great, early, and frequent occasion as possible to thank me for +this introduction. + + + + +CXVI (Q FR II, 6) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (RETURNING FROM SARDINIA) + +ROME, MAY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50] + +How delighted I was to get your letter! It had been expected by me at +first, it is true, only with longing, but recently with alarm also. And, +in fact, let me tell you that this is the only letter which has reached +me since the one brought me by your sailor and dated Olbia. But let +everything else, as you say, be reserved till we can talk it over +together. One thing, however, I cannot put off: on the 15th of May the +senate covered itself with glory by refusing Gabinius a _supplicatio_. +Procilius[510] vows that such a slight was never inflicted on anyone. +Out of doors there is much applause. To me, gratifying as it is on its +own account, it is even more so because it was done when I was not in +the house. For it was an unbiassed[511] judgment of the senate, without +any attack or exercise of influence on my part. The debate previously +arranged for the 15th and 16th, namely, the question of the Campanian +land, did not come on. In this matter I don't quite see way.[512] But I +have said more than I meant to say: for it is best reserved till we +meet. Goodbye, best and most longed-for of brothers! Fly to me. Our boys +both share my prayer: of course, you will dine with me the day of your +arrival. + +[Footnote 510: One of the tribunes. He was convicted of _vis_ in B.C., +54. Gabinius was governor of Syria B.C. 57-54. He had been engaged in +some warlike affairs in Iudaea, for which, or for some successes over the +Arabs, he claimed the _supplicatio_.] + +[Footnote 511: [Greek: eilikrines], "pure," "clear."] + +[Footnote 512: _Mihi aqua haeret_, "there's a stoppage in my water +course."] + + + + +CXVII (A IV, 8 b) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55. Coss., Cu. Pompeius Magnus, M. Licinius Crassus.] + + In this year Cicero devoted much of his time and energy to the + composition of the _de Oratore_. He was glad to be away from Rome, + for though he had resolved to give up his opposition to the + triumvirs, he was never really happy in supporting or even + witnessing their policy, and the first letter betrays his + sentiments as to the way in which the consuls had secured their + election. His fear of an autocracy, however, seems now to be + directed rather to Pompey than Caesar; nor was he at all charmed by + the splendour of the games given at the opening of Pompey's new + theatre. The only extant speech is that against L. Calpurnius Piso + (consul B.C. 58) who had been recalled from Macedonia. + + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +TUSCULUM[513] (JANUARY) + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, AET. 51] + +Apenas had scarcely left me, when your letter came. Really? Do you +suppose he won't propose his law?[514] Pray speak a little louder: I +seem scarcely to have caught what you said. But let me know it at once, +if it is all the same to you, that is! Well, since an additional day has +been assigned to the games, I am all the more content to spend that day +with Dionysius. About Trebonius I cordially agree with you. About +Domitius,[515] + + "I swear by Ceres that no single fig + Was e'er so like another," + +as his case to mine, either in the sameness of persons, the +unexpectedness of it, or the futility of the loyalists. There is one +difference--he has brought it upon himself. For as to the misfortune +itself, I rather think mine is the less grievous. For what could be more +mortifying than that a man, who has been consul-designate, so to speak, +ever since he was born, should fail in securing his election? Especially +when he is the only (plebeian) candidate, or at most had but one +opponent. If it is also the fact, which I rather think it is, that +_he_[516] has in the register of his pocket-book some equally long pages +of future, no less than of past consuls, what more humiliating position +than our friend's, except that of the Republic? My first information +about Natta[517] was from your letter: I couldn't bear the man. As to +your question about my poem: what if it is all agog to escape from my +hands? Well? Would you permit it? About Fabius Luscus--I was just going +to speak of him: the man was always very cordial to me, and I never had +any cause to dislike him; for he is intelligent, very well-behaved, and +serviceable enough. As I was seeing nothing of him, I supposed him to be +out of town: but was told by this fellow Gavius of Firmum, that he was +at Rome, and had never been away. It made a disagreeable impression on +me. "Such a trifle as that?" you will say. Well, he had told me a good +deal of which there could be no doubt as to these brothers of Firmum. +What it is that has made him hold aloof from me, if he has done so, I +have no idea. + +As to your advice to me to act "diplomatically" and keep to the "outside +course"--I will obey you. But I want still more worldly wisdom, for +which, as usual, I shall come to you. Pry small things out from +Fabius,[518] if you can get at him, and pick the brains of your guest, +and write me word on these points and all others every day. When there +is nothing for you to write, write and say so. Take care of your health. + +[Footnote 513: The letter appears to be from Tusculum, because Cicero +asks for a letter every day, which he could hardly expect if he were +farther off. This year Cicero was much away from Rome, and yet his +correspondence is meagre compared with other years. So far as this is +not due to accident in the preservation of his letters, it may be +accounted for by the fact that he was working at his _de Oratore_--so +hard, that even his brother Quintus had scruples in breaking in upon +him.] + +[Footnote 514: This may refer to the laws of Trebonius, giving Pompey +and Crassus Spain and Syria respectively, and Caesar an additional five +years in Gaul, or to some of Pompey's own legislation.] + +[Footnote 515: L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, a candidate for the consulship +of B.C. 55, but whose election had never come off. By various +contrivances the _comitia_ were prevented, so that the new year opened +with an _interregnum_; and Pompey and Crassus were elected under the +presidency of an _interrex_ (Dio, xxxix. 31).] + +[Footnote 516: Pompey.] + +[Footnote 517: L. Natta, a brother-in-law of Clodius, a pontifex who had +presided at the _consecratio_ of Cicero's house. He seems to have just +died.] + +[Footnote 518: A friend of Pompey's. I think "your guest" must be Pompey +himself, whom Atticus is about to entertain at dinner.] + + + + +CXVIII (F I, 8) + +TO P. LENTULUS SPINTHER (IN CILICIA) + +ROME (JANUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, AET. 51] + +What debates have taken place in the senate, what determination has been +come to in your business, and what Pompey has undertaken to do, all this +you will best learn from Marcus Plaetorius, who has not only been engaged +in these matters, but has even taken the lead in them, and left nothing +undone which the greatest affection for you, the greatest good sense, +and the greatest care could do. From the same man you will ascertain the +general position of public affairs, which are of such a nature as is not +easy to put in writing. They are, it is true, all in the power of our +friends, and to such an extent that it does not seem probable that the +present generation will witness a change. For my part, as in duty bound, +as you advised, and as personal affection and expediency compel, I am +attaching myself to the fortunes of the man whose alliance you thought +you must court when my fortunes were in question. But you must feel how +difficult it is to put away a political conviction, especially when it +happens to be right and proved up to the hilt. However, I conform myself +to the wishes of him from whom I cannot dissent with any dignity: and +this I do not do, as perhaps some may think, from insincerity; for +deliberate purpose and, by heaven! affection for Pompey are so powerful +with me, that whatever is to his interest, and whatever he wishes, +appears to me at once to be altogether right and reasonable. Nor, as I +think, would even his opponents be wrong if, seeing that they cannot +possibly be his equals, they were to cease to struggle against him. For +myself I have another consolation--my character is such that all the +world thinks me justified beyond all others, whether I support Pompey's +views, or hold my tongue, or even, what is above everything else to my +taste, return to my literary pursuits. And this last I certainly shall +do, if my friendship for this same man permits it. For those objects +which I had at one time in view, after having held the highest offices +and endured the greatest fatigues--the power of intervening with dignity +in the debates of the senate, and a free hand in dealing with public +affairs--these have been entirely abolished, and not more for me than +for all. For we all have either to assent to a small clique, to the +utter loss of our dignity, or to dissent to no purpose. My chief object +in writing to you thus is that you may consider carefully what line you +will also take yourself. The whole position of senate, law courts, and +indeed of the entire constitution has undergone a complete change. The +most we can hope for is tranquillity: and this the men now in supreme +power seem likely to give us, if certain persons[519] shew somewhat more +tolerance of their despotism. The old consular prestige, indeed, of a +courageous and consistent senator we must no longer think of: that has +been lost by the fault of those who have alienated from the senate both +an order once very closely allied to it, and an individual of the most +illustrious character. But to return to what more immediately affects +your interests--I have ascertained that Pompey is warmly your friend, +and with him as consul, to the best of my knowledge and belief, you will +get whatever you wish. In this he will have me always at his elbow, and +nothing which affects you shall be passed over by me. Nor, in fact, +shall I be afraid of boring him, for he will be very glad for his own +sake to find me grateful to him. I would have you fully persuaded that +there is nothing, however small, affecting your welfare that is not +dearer to me than every interest of my own. And entertaining these +sentiments, I can satisfy myself indeed, as far as assiduity is +concerned, but in actual achievement I cannot do so, just because I +cannot reach any proportion of your services to me, I do not say by +actual return in kind, but by any return even of feeling. There a report +that you have won a great victory.[520] Your despatch is anxiously +awaited, and I have already talked to Pompey about it. When it arrives, +I will shew my zeal by calling on the magistrates and members of the +senate: and in everything else which may concern you, though I shall +strive for more than I can achieve, I shall yet do less than I ought. + +[Footnote 519: The extreme Optimates, such as Cato.] + +[Footnote 520: Against the predatory and piratic inhabitants of +Cilicia.] + + + + +CXIX (Q FR II, 7) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN THE COUNTRY) + +ROME (FEBRUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, AET. 51] + +I thought you would like my book:[521] that you like it as much as you +say I am greatly delighted. As to your hint about my Urania and your +advice to remember the speech of Iupiter,[522] which comes at the end of +that book, I do indeed remember it, and that whole passage was aimed at +myself rather than at the rest of the world. Nevertheless, the day after +you started I went long before daybreak with Vibullius to call on +Pompey; and upon addressing him on the subject of the works and +inscriptions in your honour,[523] he answered me very kindly, gave me +great hopes, said he would like to talk to Crassus about it, and advised +me to do so too. I joined in escorting Crassus to his house on his +assuming the consulate: he undertook the affair, and said that Clodius +would at this juncture have something that he wanted to get by means of +himself and Pompey: he thought that, if I did not baulk Clodius's views, +I might get what I wanted without any opposition. I left the matter +entirely in his hands and told him that I would do exactly as he wished. +Publius Crassus the younger was present at this conversation, who, as +you know, is very warmly attached to me. What Clodius wants is an +honorary mission (if not by decree of the senate, then by popular vote) +to Byzantium or to Brogitarus, or to both.[524] There is a good deal of +money in it. It is a thing I don't trouble myself about much, even if I +don't get what I am trying to get. Pompey, however, has spoken to +Crassus. They seem to have taken the business in hand. If they carry it +through, well and good: if not, let us return to my "Iupiter." + +On the 11th of February a decree passed the senate as to bribery on the +motion of Afranius, against which I had spoken when you were in the +house. To the loudly expressed disapprobation of the senate the consuls +did not go on with the proposals of those who, while agreeing with +Afranius's motion, added a rider that after their election the praetors +were to remain private citizens for sixty days.[525] On that day they +unmistakably threw over Cato. In short, they manage everything their own +way, and wish all the world to understand it to be so. + +[Footnote 521: His poem "On his own Times."] + +[Footnote 522: In his poem _de Consulatu suo_, the second book of which +(Urania) ends with a speech of Iupiter, who recommends his leaving +politics for literature.] + +[Footnote 523: A statue in the temple of Tellus.] + +[Footnote 524: Brogitarus was a Galatian and connexion of Deiotarus. +Clodius, as tribune, had done some services to Byzantium, and had also +got Brogitarus the office of high priest of Cybele. He wants now to go +and get his money for these favours.] + +[Footnote 525: The praetorian elections, like the consular, had been put +off till February. Those elected would therefore enter on their office +at once, and so escape prosecution, to which they would have been liable +if, as in ordinary years, they had been "praetors-designate" from July to +January. Afranius's motion seems to have been for suspending the bribery +laws _pro hac vice_. Cato had been beaten: if there had been an +opportunity of impeaching his rivals he might have got in.] + + + + +CXX (A IV, 10) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +CUMAE, 20 APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, AET. 51] + +At Puteoli there is a great report that Ptolemy has been restored. If +you have any more certain news, I should like to know it. I am here +devouring the library of Faustus.[526] Perhaps you thought I was +feasting on the beauties of Puteoli and the Lucrine lake. Well, I have +them too. But I declare to heaven that the more I am debarred from the +enjoyment of ordinary pleasures, owing to the political situation, the +more do I find support and refreshment in literature; and I would rather +be sitting in that charming seat of yours, under your bust of Aristotle, +than in _their_[527] curule chair, and be taking a stroll with you +rather than with the great man[528] with whom I see I shall have to +walk. But as to that walk, let fortune look to it, or god, if there is +any god who cares for such things. I wish, when possible, you would come +and see my walk and Spartan bath, and the buildings planned by Cyrus, +and would urge Philotimus to make haste, that I may have something to +match with yours in that department.[529] Pompey came to his Cuman +property on the Parilia (19th April). He at once sent a man to me with +his compliments. I am going to call on him on the morning of the 20th, +as soon as I have written this letter. + +[Footnote 526: Son of the dictator Sulla, who is known to have brought +back from Athens a famous Aristotelian library.] + +[Footnote 527: Pompey and Crassus, the consuls.] + +[Footnote 528: Pompey, as the context shews. In the next clause +_ambulatio_ has a double meaning of physical walking and of a political +course of conduct.] + +[Footnote 529: Philotimus, a freedman of Terentia's, seems to have been +engaged at Rome in the reconstruction of Cicero's house. The Spartan +bath (_Laconicum_) was a hot-air bath, like a Turkish bath.] + + + + +CXXI (A IV, 9) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +CUMAE, 28 APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, AET. 51] + +I should much like to know whether the tribunes are hindering the census +by stopping business with their bad omens[530] (for there is a rumour to +that effect), and what they are doing and contriving as to the +censorship altogether. I have had an interview with Pompey here. He +talked a good deal to me about politics. He is not at all satisfied with +himself, to judge from what he says--one is obliged to put in that +proviso in his case. He thinks very little of Syria as a province; talks +a good deal about Spain--here, too, I must add, "to judge from what he +says," and, I think, his whole conversation requires that reservation, +and to be ticketed as Phocylides did his verses--[Greek: kai tode +Phokylidou].[531] He expressed gratitude to you for undertaking to +arrange the statues:[532] towards myself he was, by Hercules, most +effusively cordial. He even came to my Cuman house to call on me. +However, the last thing he seemed to wish was that Messalla should stand +for the consulship: that is the very point on which I should like to +hear what you know. I am much obliged by your saying that you will +recommend my fame to Lucceius, and for your frequent inspection of my +house. My brother Quintus has written to tell me that, as you have that +dear boy, his son Quintus, staying with you, he intends coming to your +house on the 7th of May. I left my Cuman villa on the 26th of April. +That night I spent at Naples with Paetus. I write this very early on the +27th, on my road to my Pompeian house. + +[Footnote 530: The tribunes had no _veto_ against the censors, they +could only hinder them by the indirect method of _obnuntiatio_, +declaring that the omens were bad, and so preventing business.] + +[Footnote 531: This also is Phocylides's.] + +[Footnote 532: In Pompey's new theatre.] + + + + +CXXII (Q FR II, 8) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (AT ROME) + +CUMAE (APRIL) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, AET. 51] + +Afraid that you will interrupt me--you? In the first place, if I were as +busy as you think, do you know what interruption means? Have you taken a +lesson from Ateius?[533] So help me heaven, in my eyes you give _me_ a +lesson in a kind of learning which I never enjoy unless you are with me. +Why, that you should talk to me, interrupt me, argue against me, or +converse with me, is just what I should like. Nothing could be more +delightful! Never, by Hercules, did any crazy poet read with greater +zest his last composition than I listen to you, no matter what business +is in hand, public or private, rural or urban. But it was all owing to +my foolish scrupulousness that I did not carry you off with me when I +was leaving town. You confronted me the first time with an unanswerable +excuse--the health of my son: I was silenced. The second time it was +both boys, yours and mine: I acquiesced.[534] Now comes a delightful +letter, but with this drop of gall in it--that you seem to have been +afraid, and still to be afraid, that you might bore me. I would go to +law with you if it were decent to do so; but, by heaven! if ever I have +a suspicion of such a feeling on your part, I can only say that I shall +begin to be afraid of boring _you_ at times, when in your company. [I +perceive that you have sighed at this. 'Tis the way of the world: "But +if you lived on earth" ...I will never finish the quotation and say, +"Away with all care!"[535] Marius,[536] again, I should certainly have +forced into my sedan--I don't mean that famous one of Ptolemy that +Anicius got hold of:[537] for I remember when I was conveying him from +Naples to Baiae in Anicius's eight-bearer sedan, with a hundred armed +guards in our train, I had a real good laugh when Marius, knowing +nothing of his escort, suddenly drew back the curtains of the sedan--he +was almost dead with fright and I with laughing; well, this same friend, +I say, I should at least have carried off, to secure, at any rate, the +delicate charm of that old-fashioned courtesy, and of a conversation +which is the essence of culture. But I did not like to invite a man of +weak health to a villa practically without a roof, and which even now it +would be a compliment to describe as unfinished. It would indeed be a +special treat to me to have the enjoyment of him here also. For I assure +you that the neighbourhood of Marius makes the sunshine of that other +country residence of mine.[538] I will see about getting him put up in +the house of Anicius. For I myself, though a student, can live with +workpeople in the house. I get this philosophy, not from Hymettus, but +from Arpinum.[539] Marius is feebler in health and constitution. As to +interrupting my book[540]--I shall take from you just so much time for +writing as you may leave me. I only hope you'll leave me none at all, +that my want of progress may be set down to your encroachment rather +than to my idleness! In regards to politics, I am sorry that you worry +yourself too much, and are a better citizen than Philoctetes, who, on +being wronged himself, was anxious for the very spectacle[541] that I +perceive gives you pain. Pray hasten hither: I will console you and wipe +all sorrow from your eyes: and, as you love me, bring Maruis. But haste, +haste, both of you! There is a garden at my house.[542] + +[Footnote 533: Some bore, unknown to us.] + +[Footnote 534: The two boys seem to be receiving their education +together at this time in the house of Quintus.] + +[Footnote 535: It is all but impossible to explain these words. Some +editors transfer them to the sentence after _de Republica_. But they are +scarcely more in place there. The Greek quotation is not known.] + +[Footnote 536: M. Marius, to whom Letter CXXVI is addressed.] + +[Footnote 537: C. Anicius, a senator, seems to have obtained from +Ptolemy Auletes, by gift or purchase, his state sedan and its +attendants.] + +[Footnote 538: The Pompeianum.] + +[Footnote 539: An unintellible word, meant apparently for Greek (perhaps +_arce_ [Greek: Psuria], see _Att._ xvi. 13), is in the text. The most +probable conjecture refers it in some way to Arpinum, Cicero's hardy +mountain birthplace.] + +[Footnote 540: The _de Oratore_.] + +[Footnote 541: The ruin of his country.] + +[Footnote 542: For us to walk and converse in. It hardly refers to a +supply of vegetables, as some suggest.] + + + + +CXXIII (A IV, 11) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +CUMAE (APRIL) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, AET. 51] + +I was delighted with your two letters which I received together on the +26th. Go on with the story. I long to know all the facts of what you +write about. Also I should like you to find out what this means: you can +do so from Demetrius. Pompey told me that he was expecting Crassus in +his Alban villa on the 27th: that as soon as he arrived, they were going +at once to Rome to settle accounts with the _publicani_. I asked, +"During the gladiatorial exhibitions?" He answered, "Before they were +begun." What that means I wish you would send me word either at once, if +you know, or when he has reached Rome. I am engaged here in devouring +books with the aid of that wonderful fellow Dionysius,[543] for, by +Hercules, that is what he seems to me to be. He sends compliments to you +and all your party. + + "No bliss so great as knowing all that is." + +Wherefore indulge my thirst for knowledge by telling what happened on +the first and on the second day of the shows: what about the +censors,[544] what about Appius,[545] what about that she-Appuleius of +the people?[546] Finally, pray write me word what you are doing +yourself. For, to tell the truth, revolutions don't give me so much +pleasure as a letter from you. I took no one out of town with me except +Dionysius: yet I am in no fear of wanting conversation--so delightful do +I find that youth. Pray give my book to Lucceius.[547] I send you the +book of Demetrius of Magnesia,[548] that there may be a messenger on the +spot to bring me back a letter from you. + +[Footnote 543: A learned freedman of Atticus's.] + +[Footnote 544: See p. 250. Censors were elected this year, but the +powers of the censorship had been much curtailed by a law of Clodius in +B.C. 58.] + +[Footnote 545: Apius Claudius (brother of Clodius) was a candidate for +the consulship of B.C. 54.] + +[Footnote 546: Clodius, a revolutionary, like Appuleius Saturninus. The +feminine gender is an insult.] + +[Footnote 547: Either his poem "On his own Times," or the notes of +events which he had promised in Letter CVIII, p. 231.] + +[Footnote 548: A treatise on union ([Greek: peri homonoias]). The +rhetorician Dionysius of Magnesia had been with Cicero during his tour +in Asia.] + + + + +CXXIV (A IV, 12) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +CUMAE, APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, AET. 51] + +Egnatius[549] is at Rome. But I spoke strongly to him at Antium about +Halimetus's business. He assured me that he would speak seriously to +Aquilius.[550] You will see the man therefore, if you please. I think I +can scarcely be ready for Macro:[551] for I see that the auction at +Larinum is on the Ides and the two days following. Pray forgive me for +that, since you think so much of Macro. But, as you love me, dine with +me on the 2nd, and bring Pilia. You must absolutely do so. On the 1st I +think of dining at Crassipes' suburban villa as a kind of inn. I thus +elude the decree of the senate. Thence to my town house after dinner, so +as to be ready to be at Milo's in the morning.[552] There, then, I shall +see you, and shall march you on with me. My whole household sends you +greeting. + +[Footnote 549: L. Egnatius, who owed Q. Cicero money.] + +[Footnote 550: C. Aquilius Gallus, Cicero's colleague in the praetorship, +and a busy advocate. See p. 13.] + +[Footnote 551: Apparently a money-lender.] + +[Footnote 552: Perhaps at his _sponsalia_, as he was married towards the +end of the year.] + + + + +CXXV (F VII, 23) + +TO M. FADIUS GALLUS + +ROME (MAY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, AET. 51] + +I had only just arrived from Arpinum when your letter was delivered to +me; and from the same bearer I received a letter from Arrianus,[553] in +which there was this most liberal offer, that when he came to Rome he +would enter my debt to him on whatever day I chose. Pray put yourself in +my place: is it consistent with your modesty or mine, first to prefer a +request as to the day, and then to ask more than a year's credit? But, +my dear Gallus, everything would have been easy, if you had bought the +things I wanted, and only up to the price that I wished. However, the +purchases which, according to your letter, you have made shall not only +be ratified by me, but with gratitude besides: for I fully understand +that you have displayed zeal and affection in purchasing (because you +thought them worthy of me) things which pleased yourself--a man, as I +have ever thought, of the most fastidious judgment in all matters of +taste. Still, I should like Damasippus[554] to abide by his decision: +for there is absolutely none of those purchases that I care to have. +But you, being unacquainted with my habits, have bought four or five of +your selection at a price at which I do not value any statues in the +world. You compare your Bacchae with Metellus's Muses. Where is the +likeness? To begin with, I should never have considered the Muses worth +all that money, and I think all the Muses would have approved my +judgment: still, it would have been appropriate to a library, and in +harmony with my pursuits. But Bacchae! What place is there in my house +for them? But, you will say, they are pretty. I know them very well and +have often seen them. I would have commissioned you definitely in the +case of statues known to me, if I had decided on them. The sort of +statues that I am accustomed to buy are such as may adorn a place in a +_palaestra_ after the fashion of gymnasia.[555] What, again, have I, the +promoter of peace, to do with a statue of Mars? I am glad there was not +a statue of Saturn also: for I should have thought these two statues had +brought me debt! I should have preferred some representation of Mercury: +I might then, I suppose, have made a more favourable bargain with +Arrianus. You say you meant the table-stand[556] for yourself; well, if +you like it, keep it. But if you have changed your mind I will, of +course, have it. For the money you have laid out, indeed, I would rather +have purchased a place of call at Tarracina,[557] to prevent my being +always a burden on my host. Altogether I perceive that the fault is with +my freedman, whom I had distinctly commissioned to purchase certain +definite things, and also with Iunius, whom I think you know, an +intimate friend of Arrianus. I have constructed some new sitting-rooms +in a miniature colonnade on my Tusculan property. I want to ornament +them with pictures: for if I take pleasure in anything of that sort it +is in painting. However, if I am to have what you have bought, I should +like you to inform me where they are, when hey are to be fetched, and by +what kind of conveyance. For if Damasippus doesn't abide by his +decision, I shall look for some would-be Damasippus,[558] even at a +loss. + +As to what you say about the house, as I was going out of town I +intrusted the matter to my daughter Tullia:[559] for it was at the very +hour of my departure that I got your letter. I also discussed the matter +with your friend Nicias, because he is, as you know, intimate with +Cassius. On my return, however, before I got your last letter, I asked +Tullia what she had done. She said that she had approached Licinia[560] +(though I think Cassius is not very intimate with his sister), and that +she at once said that she could not venture, in the absence of her +husband (Dexius is gone to Spain), to change houses without his being +there and knowing about it. I am much gratified that you should value +association with me and my domestic life so highly, as, in the first +place, to take a house which would enable you to live not only near me, +but absolutely with me, and, in the second place, to be in such a hurry +to make this change of residence. But, upon my life, I do not yield to +you in eagerness for that arrangement. So I will try every means in my +power. For I see the advantage to myself, and, indeed, the advantages to +us both. If I succeed in doing anything, I will let you know. Mind you +also write me word back on everything, and let me know, if you please, +when I am to expect you. + +[Footnote 553: C. Arrianus Evander, a dealer in statues, it seems, from +whom Fadius had bought some for Cicero. He offers to let the debt for +them (and so the interest) run from any day Cicero pleases.] + +[Footnote 554: A well-known connoisseur, mentioned by Horace, _Sat._ ii. +3, 64, _seq._. He seems to have offered to take the bargain off Cicero's +hands.] + +[Footnote 555: That is, for his _palaestra_ or gymnasium, as he calls it, +in his Tusculanum. See Letters I, II, VII.] + +[Footnote 556: An ornamental leg or stand for table or sideboard +(_abacus_). See picture in Rich's _Dictionary of Antiquities_.] + +[Footnote 557: On the _via Appia_, where the canal across the marshes +began. Cicero stops there a night between Formiae and Pomptina Summa +(_Att._ vii. 5).] + +[Footnote 558: One who professes to be an amateur of art like +Damasippus.] + +[Footnote 559: As in Letter CVI, Tullia, not Terentia, seems to be in +Cicero's confidence and presiding in his house. Terentia must already +have been on bad terms with him, and perhaps was residing on her own +property.] + +[Footnote 560: Half-sister of Gaius Cassius.] + + + + +CXXVI (F VII, I) + +TO M. MARIUS (AT CUMAE) + +ROME (OCTOBER?) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, AET. 51] + +If some bodily pain or weakness of health has prevented your coming to +the games, I put it down to fortune rather than your own wisdom: but if +you have made up your mind that these things which the rest of the world +admires are only worthy of contempt, and, though your health would have +allowed of it, you yet were unwilling to come, then I rejoice at both +facts--that you were free from bodily pain, and that you had the sound +sense to disdain what others causelessly admire. Only I hope that some +fruit of your leisure may be forthcoming, a leisure, indeed, which you +had a splendid opportunity of enjoying to the full, seeing that you were +left almost alone in your lovely country. For I doubt not that in that +study of yours, from which you have opened a window into the Stabian +waters of the bay, and obtained a view of Misenum, you have spent the +morning hours of those days in light reading, while those who left you +there were watching the ordinary farces[561] half asleep. The remaining +parts of the day, too, you spent in the pleasures which you had yourself +arranged to suit your own taste, while we had to endure whatever had met +with the approval of Spurius Maecius.[562] On the whole, if you care to +know, the games were most splendid, but not to your taste. I judge from +my own. For, to begin with, as a special honour to the occasion, those +actors had come back to the stage who, I thought, had left it for their +own. Indeed, your favourite, my friend AEsop, was in such a state that no +one could say a word against his retiring from the profession. On the +beginning to recite the oath his voice failed him at the words "If I +knowingly deceive." Why should I go on with the story? You know all +about the rest of the games, which hadn't even that amount of charm +which games on a moderate scale generally have: for the spectacle was so +elaborate as to leave no room for cheerful enjoyment, and I think you +need feel no regret at having missed it. For what is the pleasure of a +train of six hundred mules in the "Clytemnestra," or three thousand +bowls in the "Trojan Horse," or gay-coloured armour of infantry and +cavalry in some battle? These things roused the admiration of the +vulgar; to you they would have brought no delight. But if during those +days you listened to your reader Protogenes, so long at least as he read +anything rather than my speeches, surely you had far greater pleasure +than any one of us. For I don't suppose you wanted to see Greek or Oscan +plays, especially as you can see Oscan farces in your senate-house over +there, while you are so far from liking Greeks, that you generally won't +even go along the Greek road to your villa. Why, again, should I suppose +you to care about missing the athletes, since you disdained the +gladiators? in which even Pompey himself confesses that he lost his +trouble and his pains. There remain the two wild-beast hunts, lasting +five days, magnificent--nobody denies it--and yet, what pleasure can it +be to a man of refinement, when either a weak man is torn by an +extremely powerful animal, or a splendid animal is transfixed by a +hunting spear? Things which, after all, if worth seeing, you have often +seen before; nor did I, who was present at the games, see anything the +least new. The last day was that of the elephants, on which there was a +great deal of astonishment on the part of the vulgar crowd, but no +pleasure whatever. Nay, there was even a certain feeling of compassion +aroused by it, and a kind of belief created that that animal has +something in common with mankind.[563] However, for my part, during this +day, while the theatrical exhibitions were on, lest by chance you should +think me too blessed, I almost split my lungs in defending your friend +Caninius Gallus.[564] But if the people were as indulgent to me as they +were to AEsop, I would, by heaven, have been glad to abandon my +profession and live with you and others like us. The fact is I was tired +of it before, even when both age and ambition stirred me on, and when I +could also decline any defence that I didn't like; but now, with things +in the state that they are, there is no life worth having. For, on the +one hand, I expect no profit of my labour; and, on the other, I am +sometimes forced to defend men who have been no friends to me, at the +request of those to whom I am under obligations. Accordingly, I am on +the look-out for every excuse for at last managing my life according to +my own taste, and I loudly applaud and vehemently approve both you and +your retired plan of life: and as to your infrequent appearances among +us, I am the more resigned to that because, were you in Rome, I should +be prevented from enjoying the charm of your society, and so would you +of mine, if I have any, by the overpowering nature of my engagements; +from which, if I get any relief--for entire release I don't expect--I +will give even you, who have been studying nothing else for many years, +some hints as to what it is to live a life of cultivated enjoyment. Only +be careful to nurse your weak health and to continue your present care +of it, so that you may be able to visit my country houses and make +excursions with me in my litter. I have written you a longer letter than +usual, from superabundance, not of leisure, but of affection, because, +if you remember, you asked me in one of your letters to write you +something to prevent you feeling sorry at having missed the games. And +if I have succeeded in that, I am glad: if not, I yet console myself +with this reflexion, that in future you will both come to the games and +come to see me, and will not leave your hope of enjoyment dependent on +my letters.[565] + +[Footnote 561: _Communis_, which is not satisfactory. But neither is the +emendation proposed, _cominus_. For _communis_, "common," "vulgar," see +_de Off._ ii. Sec. 45.] + +[Footnote 562: Whom Pompey employed to select the plays to be exhibited +in his new theatre.] + +[Footnote 563: Pliny (_N. H._ viii. Sec. 21) says that the people were so +moved that they loudly cursed Pompey.] + +[Footnote 564: L. Caninius Gallus (see p. 210). What he was accused of +does not appear.] + +[Footnote 565: I do not like to think this letter a mere rhetorical +exercise, as has been suggested, rather than a true account of Cicero's +feelings as to the theatre and amphitheatre. He often expresses his want +of interest in the latter. The vulgar display in the theatre, unlike the +severe simplicity of Greek art, was an old evil (see Polyb. xxx. 14).] + + + + +CXXVII (F XIII, 74) + +TO Q. PHILIPPUS (PROCONSUL IN ASIA) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, AET. 51] + +Though, considering your attention to me and our close ties, I have no +doubt of your remembering my recommendation, yet I again and again +recommend to you the same L. Oppius, my intimate friend who is now in +Rome, and the business of L. Egnatius, my very intimate friend who is +now abroad. With the latter my connexion and intimacy are so strong, +that I could not be more anxious if the business were my own. Wherefore +I shall be highly gratified if you take the trouble too make him feel +that I have as high a place in your affections as I think I have. You +cannot oblige me more than by doing so: and I beg you warmly to do it. + + + + +CXXVIII (F XIII, 40) + +TO Q. ANCHARIUS (PROCONSUL IN MACEDONIA) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, AET. 51] + +Lucius and Gaius, sons of Lucius Aurelius, with whom, as with their +excellent father, I am most intimately acquainted, I recommend to you +with more than usual earnestness, as young men endowed with the best +qualities, as being very closely allied to myself, and as being in the +highest degree worthy of your friendship. If any recommendations of mine +have ever had influence with you, as I know that many have had much, I +beg you to let this one have it. If you treat them with honour and +kindness, you will not only have attached to yourself two very grateful +and excellent young men, but you will also have done me the very +greatest favour. + + + + +CXXIX (A IV, 13) + +TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) + +TUSCULUM, 15 NOVEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 55, AET. 51] + +I see that you know of my arrival at Tusculum on the 14th of November. I +found Dionysius there. I wish to be at Rome on the 17th. Why do I say +"wish"? Rather I am forced to be so. Milo's wedding. There is some idea +of an election. Even supposing that to be confirmed,[566] I am glad to +have been absent from the wrangling debates which I am told have taken +place in the senate. For I should either have defended him, which would +have been against my opinion, or have deserted him whom I was bound to +defend. But, by Hercules, describe to me to the utmost of your power +those events, and the present state of politics, and how the consuls +stand this bother. I am very ravenous for news, and, to tell you the +truth, I feel no confidence in anything. Our friend Crassus indeed, +people say, started in his official robes with less dignity than in the +old times did L. Paullus,[567] at the same time of life as he is, and, +like him, in his second consulship. What a sorry fellow! About my +oratorical books, I have been working hard. They have been long in hand +and much revised: you can get them copied.[568] I again beg of you an +outline sketch of the present situation, that I may not arrive in Rome +quite a stranger. + +[Footnote 566: _Ego, ut sit rata_, Schutz's reading, which seems the +best for the unintelligible _ergo et si irata_ of the MSS. It would +mean, "though I regret not having been back for Domitius's election (if +it has taken place), I am glad to have been away from the previous +wrangling in the senate."] + +[Footnote 567: Crassus starts for Syria; he compares him to L. AEmilius +Paullus starting for the war with Perses (B.C. 168). Paullus was, like +Crassus, sixty years old, and in his second consulship. Paullus set out +with good omens, Crassus with a curse, denounced by the tribune C. +Ateius Capito (_de Div._ i. Sec. 29; Plutarch, _Crass._ 16).] + +[Footnote 568: By his _librarii_. Atticus was again acting as his +publisher.] + + + + +CXXX (F V, 8) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54. Coss., L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, Ap. Claudius +Pulcher.] + + During this year politics were comparatively uneventful. Crassus + was gone to Syria. Pompey should have gone to Spain, but at the + request of the senate he stayed near Rome, and in the autumn his + wife Iulia died, thus breaking one strong tie between him and + Caesar. Quintus Cicero went as _legatus_ to Caesar and accompanied + him to Britain. Cicero himself kept up a correspondence with Caesar, + and seems to nurse his friendship with him with an almost feverish + eagerness, which, however, lacks spontaneity. He was engaged this + year in composing his treatise on the Republic. + + +TO M. LICINIUS CRASSUS (ON HIS WAY TO SYRIA) + +ROME (JANUARY) + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +I have no doubt all your friends have written to tell you what zeal I +displayed on the ----[569] in the defence, or you might call it the +promotion, of your official position. For it was neither half-hearted +nor inconspicuous, nor of a sort that could be passed over in silence. +In fact, I maintained a controversy against both the consuls and many +consulars with a vehemence such as I have never shewn in any cause +before, and I took upon myself the standing defence of all your honours, +and paid the duty I owed to our friendship--long in arrear, but +interrupted by the great complexity of events--to the very utmost. Not, +believe me, that the will to shew you attention and honour was ever +wanting to me; but certain pestilent persons--vexed at another's +fame--did at times alienate you from me, and sometimes changed my +feelings towards you. But I have got the opportunity, for which I had +rather wished than hoped, of shewing you in the very height of your +prosperity that I remember our mutual kindness and am faithful to our +friendship. For I have secured not only that your whole family, but that +the entire city should know that you have no warmer friend than myself. +Accordingly, that most noble of women, your wife, as well as your two +most affectionate, virtuous, and popular sons, place full confidence in +my counsel, advice, zeal, and public actions; and the senate and Roman +people understand that in your absence there is nothing upon which you +can so absolutely count and depend as upon my exertions, care, +attention, and influence in all matters which affect your interests. +What has been done and is being done in the senate I imagine that you +are informed in the letters from members of your family. For myself, I +am very anxious that you should think and believe that I did not stumble +upon the task of supporting your dignity from some sudden whim or by +chance, but that from the first moment of my entering on public life I +have always looked out to see how I might be most closely united to you. +And, indeed, from that hour I never remember either my respect for you, +or your very great kindness and liberality to me, to have failed. If +certain interruptions of friendship have occurred, based rather on +suspicion than fact, let them, as groundless and imaginary, be uprooted +from our entire memory and life. For such is your character, and such I +desire mine to be, that, fate having brought us face to face with the +same condition of public affairs, I would fain hope that our union and +friendship will turn out to be for the credit of us both. Wherefore how +much consideration should in your judgment be shewn to me, you will +yourself decide, and that decision, I hope, will be in accordance with +my position in the state. I, for my part, promise and guarantee a +special and unequalled zeal in every service which may tend to your +honour and reputation. And even if in this I shall have many rivals, I +shall yet easily surpass them all in the judgment of the rest of the +world as well as that of your sons, for both of whom I have a particular +affection; but while equally well-disposed to Marcus, I am more entirely +devoted to Publius for this reason, that, though he always did so from +boyhood, he is at this particular time treating me with the respect and +affection of a second father. + +I would have you believe that this letter will have the force of a +treaty, not of a mere epistle; and that I will most sacredly observe and +most carefully perform what I hereby promise and undertake. The defence +of your political position which I have taken up in your absence I will +abide by, not only for the sake of our friendship, but also for the sake +of my own character for consistency. Therefore I thought it sufficient +at this time to tell you this--that if there was anything which I +understood to be your wish or for your advantage or for your honour, I +should do it without waiting to be asked; but that if I received a hint +from yourself or your family on any point, I should take care to +convince you that no letter of your own or any request from any of your +family has been in vain. Wherefore I would wish you to write to me on +all matters, great, small, or indifferent, as to a most cordial friend; +and to bid your family so to make use of my activity, advice, authority, +and influence in all business matters--public or private, forensic or +domestic, whether your own or those of your friends, guests, or +clients--that, as far as such a thing is possible, the loss of your +presence may be lessened by my labour. + +[Footnote 569: The date has been lost.] + + + + +CXXXI (Q FR II, 9) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN THE COUNTRY) + +ROME (FEBRUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +Your note by its strong language has drawn out this letter. For as to +what actually occurred on the day of your start, it supplied me with +absolutely no subject for writing. But as when we are together we are +never at a loss for something to say, so ought our letters at times to +digress into loose chat. Well then, to begin, the liberty of the +Tenedians has received short shrift,[570] no one speaking for them +except myself, Bibulus, Calidius, and Favonius. A complimentary +reference to you was made by the legates from Magnesia and Sipylum, they +saying that you were the man who alone had resisted the demand of L. +Sestius Pansa.[571] On the remaining days of this business in the +senate, if anything occurs which you ought to know, or even if there is +nothing, I will write you something every day. On the 12th I will not +fail you or Pomponius. The poems of Lucretius are as you say--with many +flashes of genius, yet very technical.[572] But when you return, ... if +you succeed in reading the _Empedoclea_ of Sallustius, I shall regard +you as a hero, yet scarcely human. + +[Footnote 570: Lit. "has been beheaded with the axe of Tenes," mythical +founder and legislator of Tenedos, whose laws were of Draconian +severity. A _legatio_ from Tenedos, heard as usual in February, had +asked that Tenedos might be made a _libera civitas_.] + +[Footnote 571: Some _publicanus_ who had made a charge on the Magnesians +which they considered excessive.] + +[Footnote 572: Lucretius seems to have been now dead, according to +Donatus 15 October (B.C. 55), though the date is uncertain. I have +translated the reading _multae tamen artis_, which has been changed by +some to _multae etiam artis_. But the contrast in the criticism seems to +be between the fine poetical passages in the _de Rerum Natura_ and the +mass of technical exposition of philosophy which must have repelled the +"general reader" at all times. It suggests at once to Cicero to mention +another poem on a similar subject, the _Empedoclea_ of Sallustius, of +which and its writer we know nothing. It was not the historian.] + + + + +CXXXII (Q FR II, 10) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN THE COUNTRY) + +ROME (FEBRUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +I am glad you like my letter: however, I should not even now have had +anything to write about, if I had not received yours. For on the 12th, +when Appius had got together a thinly-attended meeting of the senate, +the cold was so great that he was compelled by the general clamour[573] +to dismiss us. As to the Commagenian, because I have blown that +proposition to the winds, Appius makes wonderful advances to me both +personally and through Pomponius; for he sees that if I adopt a similar +style of discussion in the other business, February will not bring him +anything in. And certainly I did chaff him pretty well, and not only +wrenched from his grasp that petty township of his--situated in the +territory of Zeugma on the Euphrates[574]--but also raised a loud laugh +by my satire on the man's purple-edged toga, which he had been granted +when Caesar was consul.[575] "His wish," said I, "for a renewal of the +same honour, to save the yearly re-dying of his purple-edged toga, I do +not think calls for any decree of the house; but you, my lords, who +could not endure that the Bostrian[576] should wear the _toga praetexta_, +will you allow the Commagenian to do so?" You see the style of chaff, +and the line I took. I spoke at length against the petty princeling, +with the result that he was utterly laughed out of court. Alarmed by +this exhibition, as I said, Appius is making up to me. For nothing could +be easier than to explode the rest of his proposals. But I will not go +so far as to trip him up, lest he appeal to the god of hospitality, and +summon all his Greeks--it is they who make us friends again. I will do +what Theopompus wants. I had forgotten to write to you about Caesar: for +I perceive what sort of letter you have been expecting. But the fact is, +he has written word to Balbus that the little packet of letters, in +which mine and Balbus's were packed, had been so drenched with rain that +he was not even aware that there was a letter from me. He had, however, +made out a few words of Balbus's letter, to which he answered as +follows: "I perceive that you have written something about Cicero, which +I have not fully made out: but, as far I could guess, it was of a kind +that I thought was more to be wished than hoped for." Accordingly, I +afterwards sent Caesar a duplicate copy of the letter. Don't be put off +by that passage about his want of means. In answer to it I wrote back +saying that he must not stop payment from any reliance on my money +chest, and descanted playfully on that subject, in familiar terms and +yet without derogating from my dignity. His good feeling towards us, +however, according to all accounts, is marked. The letter, indeed, on +the point of which you expect to hear, will almost coincide with your +return:[577] the other business of each day I will write on condition of +your furnishing me with letter-carriers. However, such cold weather is +threatening,[578] that there is very great danger that Appius may find +his house frost-bitten and deserted![579] + +[Footnote 573: Retaining _populi convicio_, and explaining _populus_ to +have the general meaning of the crowd, including senators and +spectators. Cicero uses _populus_ in this vague way elsewhere.] + +[Footnote 574: Zeugma I take to mean the "territory of Zeugma," a town +on the Euphrates, part of the Roman province of Syria, and close to the +frontier of Commagene. Antiochus had asked that some stronghold should +be reckoned as his rather than as belonging to the province.] + +[Footnote 575: Appius, he insinuates, hoped to make money by granting +the request of Antiochus, left king of Commagene by Pompey, for some +special privileges, among which was the right of wearing the _toga +praetexta_, which symbolized some position with a shadow of Roman +_imperium_, while at the same time conveying a compliment to the Roman +suzernainty. See Polyb. lib. xxvi.; xxx. 26; Suet. _Aug._ 60.] + +[Footnote 576: Some petty prince of Bostra (_Bozra_), in Arabia, of whom +we know nothing.] + +[Footnote 577: Quintus was expecting, what he got, the offer of serving +under Caesar as _legatus_. Caesar was preparing for his second invasion of +Britain.] + +[Footnote 578: Which will prevent meetings of the senate, and so give me +no news to send you.] + +[Footnote 579: There is a _double entendre_. Cold weather will prevent +the meetings of the senate actually, but metaphorically politics will be +also cold and dull, and that dullness will probably be nowhere so +evident as in the deserted state of the consul Appius's house, which in +all probability will miss its usual bevy of callers. This +explanation--put forward by Prof. Tyrrell--is not wholly satisfactory, +yet it is the best that has been given.] + + + + +CXXXIII (F VII, 5) + +TO CAESAR (IN GAUL) + +ROME (FEBRUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +Cicero greets Caesar, _imperator_. Observe how far I have convinced +myself that you are my second self, not only in matters which concern me +personally, but even in those which concern my friends. It had been my +intention to take Gaius Trebatius with me for whatever destination I +should be leaving town, in order to bring him home again honoured as +much as my zeal and favour could make him. But when Pompey remained at +home longer than I expected, and a certain hesitation on my part (with +which you are not unacquainted) appeared to hinder, or at any rate to +retard, my departure,[580] I presumed upon what I will now explain to +you. I begin to wish that Trebatius should look to you for what he had +hoped from me, and, in fact, I have been no more sparing of my promises +of goodwill on your part than I had been wont to be of my own. Moreover, +an extraordinary coincidence has occurred which seems to support my +opinion and to guarantee your kindness. For just as I was speaking to +our friend Balbus[581] about this very Trebatius at my house, with more +than usual earnestness, a letter from you was handed to me, at the end +of which you say: "Miscinius Rufus,[582] whom you recommend to me, I +will make king of Gaul, or, if you choose, put him under the care of +Lepta. Send me some one else to promote." I and Balbus both lifted our +hands in surprise: it came so exactly in the nick of time, that it +appeared to be less the result of mere chance than something +providential. I therefore send you Trebatius, and on two grounds, first +that it was my spontaneous idea to send him, and secondly because you +have invited me to do so. I would beg you, dear Caesar, to receive him +with such a display of kindness as to concentrate on his single person +all that you can be possibly induced to bestow for my sake upon my +friends. As for him I guarantee--not in the sense of that hackneyed +expression of mine, at which, when I used it in writing to you about +Milo, you very properly jested, but in good Roman language such as sober +men use--that no honester, better, or more modest man exists. Added to +this, he is at the top of his profession as a jurisconsult, possesses an +unequalled memory, and the most profound learning. For such a man I ask +neither a tribuneship, prefecture, nor any definite office, I ask only +your goodwill and liberality: and yet I do not wish to prevent your +complimenting him, if it so please you, with even these marks of +distinction. In fact, I transfer him entirely from my hand, so to speak, +to yours, which is as sure a pledge of good faith as of victory. Excuse +my being somewhat importunate, though with a man like you there can +hardly be any pretext for it--however, I feel that it will be allowed to +pass. Be careful of your health and continue to love me as ever. + +[Footnote 580: Pompey had two functions at this time: he was governor of +Spain and _praefectus annonae_. The latter office, as being extraordinary, +might be, perhaps, held with the other without an actual breach of law, +but it was certainly against the spirit of the constitution. Cicero +knows that Pompey's staying in Italy and governing his province by +_legati_ will not be acceptable to Caesar, and he alludes to it in +carefully guarded terms. He had been named his _legatus_ when Pompey +first undertook the care of the corn-supply, but it does not seem as if +he ever seriously contemplated going on actual service.] + +[Footnote 581: L. Cornelius Balbus, whom Cicero defended, and who acted +as Caesar's agent.] + +[Footnote 582: The name of the person jocosely referred to by Caesar is +uncertain, from corruption of the text. Q. Lepta is Caesar's _praefectus +fabrum_.] + + + + +CXXXIV (Q FR II, 11 [13]) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN THE COUNTRY) + +ROME (15 FEBRUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +Your "black snow"[583] made me laugh, and I am very glad that you are in +a cheerful frame of mind and ready for a joke. As to Pompey, I agree +with you, or rather you agree with me. For, as you know, I have long +been singing the praises of your Caesar. Believe me, he is very close to +my heart, and I am not going to let him slip from his place. Now for the +history of the Ides (13th). It was Caelius's tenth day.[584] Domitius had +not obtained a full panel. I am afraid that foul ruffian, Servius Pola, +will appear for the prosecution. For our friend Caelius has a dead set +made at him by the Clodian gens. There is nothing certain as yet, but I +am afraid. On the same day there was a full house for the case of the +Tyrians: the _publicani_ of Syria appeared in large numbers against +them. Gabinius was abused roundly:[585] the _publicani_ were also +denounced by (the consul) Domitius for having escorted him on his start +on horseback. Our friend Lucius Lamia was somewhat insolent: for on +Domitius saying, "It is your fault, equites of Rome, that such things +have happened: for you give verdicts laxly," he said, "Yes, we give +verdicts, but you senators give evidence of character."[586] Nothing was +done that day: the house stood adjourned at nightfall. On the comitial +days which follow the Quirinalia (17th February), Appius holds the view +that he is not prevented by the _lex Pupia_ from holding a meeting of +the senate, and that by the _lex Gabinia_ he is even compelled to have a +meeting for the legations from the 1st of February to the 1st of +March.[587] And so the elections are supposed to be put off till March. +Nevertheless, on these comitial days the tribunes say that they will +bring forward the case of Gabinius.[588] I collect every item of +intelligence, that I may have some news to tell you: but, as you see, I +am short of material. Accordingly, I return to Callisthenes and +Philistus, in whom I see that you have been wallowing. Callisthenes is a +commonplace and hackneyed piece of business, like a good many Greeks. +The Sicilian is a first-rate writer, terse, sagacious, concise, almost a +minor Thucydides;[589] but which of his two books you have--for these +are two works--I don't know. That about Dionysius is my favourite. For +Dionysius himself is a magnificent intriguer, and was familiarly known +to Philistus. But as to your postscript--are you really going in for +writing history? You have my blessing on your project: and since you +furnish me with letter-carriers, you shall hear to-day's transactions on +the Lupercalia (15th February). Enjoy yourself with our dear boy to your +heart's content. + +[Footnote 583: We cannot tell the allusion, not having the letter of +Quintus. But he seems to have used the expression for something +incongruous either in politics, or in regard to his contemplated +services with Caesar.] + +[Footnote 584: _I.e._, the day he had to appear for trial, usually fixed +by the praetor on the tenth day from the notice of prosecution. Caelius +had been acqiuitted in B.C. 56, when Cicero defended him; this second +trial appears to have in some way fallen through. The praetor Domitius is +said to be Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, son of Lucius, but he was much too +young to have been praetor this year. The former trial of Caelius (B.C. +56) had been before Cn. Comitius Calvinus, hence a difficulty about this +passage. For the praetor Domitius of this year is not known. Domitius +Calvinus was praetor B.C. 56.] + +[Footnote 585: The _publicani_ of Syria were enraged with Gabinius for +neglecting his province while going to Egypt, thus allowing the pirates +so to plunder that they could not collect enough dues to recoup them for +their bargain to the state (Dio, xxxix. 59).] + +[Footnote 586: L. AElius Lamia, an eques, appears to have been one of the +deputation of _publicani_ who attended the senate to accuse Gabinius.] + +[Footnote 587: The praetorian elections were again postponed from the +previous year to the early months of B.C. 54. Appius Claudius found +means to put them off till March by holding meetings of the senate each +day--the electoral _comita_ not being able to meet on the same day as +the senate.] + +[Footnote 588: The tribune C. Memmius was prosecuting Gabinius (Letter +CXLVII). The judicial _comita_ could meet, though not the electoral.] + +[Footnote 589: Callisthenes of Olynthus wrote (1) a history of the +Trojan war; (2) an account of Alexander the Great. Philistus of Syracuse +(1) a history of Sicily; (2) a life of Dionysius the elder; (3) a life +of Dionysius the younger. He imitated Thucydides (_de Orat._ Sec. 17).] + + + + +CXXXV (F VII, 6) + +TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) + +CUMAE (APRIL) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +In all my letters to Caesar or Balbus there is a sort of statutory +appendix containing a recommendation of you, and not one of the ordinary +kind, but accompanied by some signal mark of my warm feeling towards +you. See only that you get rid of that feeble regret of yours for the +city and city ways, and carry out with persistence and courage what you +had in your mind when you set out. We, your friends, shall pardon your +going away for that purpose as much as + + "The wealthy noble dames who held the Corinthian peak" + +pardoned Medea, whom, with hands whitened to the utmost with chalk, she +persuaded not to think ill of her for being absent from her fatherland: +for + + "Many have served themselves abroad and served the state as well; + Many have spent their lives at home to be but counted fools." + +In which latter category you would have certainly been, had I not forced +you abroad. But I will write more another time. You who learnt to look +out for others, look out, while in Britain, that you are not yourself +taken in by the charioteers; and, since I have begun quoting the +_Medea_, remember this line: + + "The sage who cannot serve himself is vainly wise I ween." + +Take care of your health.[590] + +[Footnote 590: Trebatius is going to join Caesar, who is about to sail to +Britain; hence the jest about the _essedarii_, drivers of Gallic and +British war-chariots. Letter CXXXIII recommended him to Caesar. The lines +quoted are from the _Medea_ of Ennius, adapted or translated from +Euripides. I date these two letters from Cumae, because he speaks of +writing to Balbus, who was at Rome (p. 267).] + + + + +CXXXVI (F VII, 7) + +TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (ON HIS WAY TO GAUL) + +CUMAE (APRIL OR MAY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +For my part, I never cease recommending you, but I am eager to know from +you how far my recommendation is of service. My chief hope is in Balbus, +to whom I write about you with the greatest earnestness and frequency. +It often excites my wonder that I don't hear from you as often as +from my brother Quintus. In Britain I am told there is no gold or +silver. If that turns out to be the case, I advise you to capture a +war-chariot and hasten back to us at the earliest opportunity. But +if--letting Britain alone--we can still obtain what we want, take care +to get on intimate terms with Caesar. In that respect my brother will be +of much use to you, so will Balbus, but most of all, believe me, your +own modesty and industry. You have an _imperator_ of the most liberal +character, your age is exactly the best one for employment, and your +recommendation at any rate is quite unique, so that all you have to fear +is not doing yourself full justice. + + + + +CXXXVII (A IV, 14) + +TO ATTICUS (ON A JOURNEY) + +CUMAE (MAY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +Our friend Vestorius[591] has informed me by letter that you are +believed to have left Rome on the 10th of May--later than you said that +you intended--because you had not been very well. If you are now better +I rejoice indeed. I wish you would write to your town house, ordering +your books to be at my service just as if you were at home, especially +those of Varro. For I have occasion to use some passages of those books +in reference to those which I have in hand, and which, I hope, will meet +with your strong approval.[592] Pray, if by chance you have any news, +principally from my brother Quintus, next from Caesar, and, finally, +anything about the elections or about politics--for you have an +excellent nose for such things--write and tell me about them: if you +have no news, nevertheless write something. For a letter from you never +yet seemed to me either ill-timed or too long-winded. But above all I +beg that, when your business and your whole tour has been concluded to +your mind, you will come back to us as soon as possible. Give my +compliments to Dionysius. Take care of your health. + +[Footnote 591: A banker at Puteoli.] + +[Footnote 592: The six books on the Republic.] + + + + +CXXXVIII (Q FR II, 12 [14]) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL) + +CUMAE (MAY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +I have up to now received two letters from you, one just as I was +leaving town, the other dated Ariminum: others which you say in your +letter that you have sent I have not received. I am having a fairly +pleasant time (except that you are not here) at Cumae and Pompeii, and +intend staying in these parts till the 1st of June. I am writing the +treatise of which I spoke to you, "On the Republic," a very bulky and +laborious work. But if it turns out as I wish, it will be labour well +bestowed, and if not I shall toss it into the very sea which I have +before my eyes as I write, and set to work on something else; since to +do nothing is beyond my power. I will carefully observe your instruction +both as to attaching certain persons to myself and not alienating +certain others. But my chief care will be to see your son, or rather +our son, if possible, every day at any rate, and to watch the progress +of his education as often as possible; and, unless he declines my help, +I will even offer to be his instructor, a practice to which I have +become habituated in the leisure of these days while bringing my own +boy, the younger Cicero, on. Yes, do as you say in your letter, what, +even if you had not said so, I know you do with the greatest +care--digest, follow up, and carry out my instructions. For my part, +when I get to Rome, I will let no letter-carrier of Caesar go without a +letter for you. During these days you must excuse me: there has been no +one to whom I could deliver a letter until the present bearer M. Orfius, +a Roman knight, a man that is my friend as well from personal +consideration as because he comes from the _municipium_ of Atella,[593] +which you know is under my patronage. Accordingly, I recommend him to +you with more than common warmth, as a man in a brilliant position in +his own town and looked up to even beyond it. Pray attach him to +yourself by your liberal treatment of him: he is a military tribune in +your army. You will find him grateful and attentive. I earnestly beg you +to be very friendly to Trebatius. + +[Footnote 593: A _municipium_ of Campania nine miles from Naples.] + + + + +CXXXIX (F VII, 8) + +TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) + +ROME (JUNE) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +Caesar has written me a very courteous letter saying that he has not yet +seen as much of you as he could wish, owing to his press of business, +but that he certainly will do so. I have answered his letter and told +him how much obliged I shall be if he bestows on you as much attention, +kindness, and liberality as he can. But I gathered from your letters +that you are in somewhat too great a hurry: and at the same time I +wondered why you despised the profits of a military tribuneship, +especially as you are exempted from the labour of military duty. I shall +express my discontent to Vacerra and Manilius: for I dare not say a word +to Cornelius,[594] who is responsible for your unwise conduct, since you +profess to have learnt legal wisdom from him. Rather press on your +opportunity and the means put into your hands, than which none better +will ever be found. As to what you say of the jurist Precianus, I never +cease recommending you to him; for he writes me word that you owe him +thanks. Be sure to let me know to what that refers. I am waiting for a +letter from you dated "Britain."[595] + +[Footnote 594: Vacerra, Manilius, Cornelius, well-known lawyers or +jurists of the day.] + +[Footnote 595: We shall afterwards see that Trebatius did not go to +Britain.] + + + + +CXL (Q FR II, 13) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL) + +ROME (3 JUNE) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +On the 2nd of June, the day of my return to Rome, I received your letter +dated Placentia: then next day another dated Blandeno, along with a +letter from Caesar filled full of courteous, earnest, and pleasant +expressions. These expressions are indeed valuable, or rather _most_ +valuable, as tending very powerfully to secure our reputation and +exalted position in that state. But believe me--for you know my +heart--that what I value most in all this I already possess, that is, +first of all, your active contribution to our common position; and, +secondly, all that warm affection of Caesar for me, which I prefer to all +the honours which he desires me to expect at his hands. His letter too, +despatched at the same time as your own--which begins by saying what +pleasure your arrival and the renewed memory of our old affection had +given him, and goes on to say that he will take care that, in the midst +of my sorrow and regret at losing you, I shall have reason to be glad +that you are with him of all people--gave me extraordinary delight. +Wherefore you, of course, are acting in a truly brotherly spirit when +you exhort me, though, by heaven, I am now indeed forward enough to do +so, to concentrate all my attentions upon him alone. Yes, I will do so, +indeed, with a burning zeal: and perhaps I shall manage to accomplish +what is frequently the fortune of travellers when they make great haste, +who, if they have got up later than they intended, have, by increasing +their speed, arrived at their destination sooner than if they had waked +up before daylight. Thus I, since I have long overslept myself in +cultivating that great man, though you, by heaven, often tried to wake +me up, will make up for my slowness with horses and (as you say he likes +my poem) a poet's chariots. Only let me have Britain to paint in colours +supplied by yourself, but with my own brush. But what am I saying? What +prospect of leisure have I, especially as I remain at Rome in accordance +with his request? But I will see. For perhaps, as usual, my love for you +will overcome all difficulties. For my having sent Trebatius to him he +even thanks me in very witty and polite terms, remarking that there was +no one in the whole number of his staff who knew how to draw up a +recognizance. I have asked him for a tribuneship for M. Curtius--since +Domitius (the consul) would have thought that he was being laughed at, +if my petition had been addressed to him, for his daily assertion is +that he hasn't the appointment of so much as a military tribune: he even +jested in the senate at his colleague Appius as having gone to visit +Caesar,[596] that he might get from him at least one tribuneship. But my +request was for next year, for that was what Curtius wished. Whatever +line you think I ought to take in politics and in treating my opponents, +be sure I shall take, and shall be "gentler than any ear-lap." Affairs +at Rome stand thus; there is some hope of the elections taking place, +but it is an uncertain one. There is some latent idea of a +dictatorship,[597] but neither is that confirmed. There is profound calm +in the forum, but it is rather the calm of decrepitude than content. +The opinions I express in the senate are of a kind to win the assent of +others rather than my own: + + "Such the effects of miserable war."[598] + +[Footnote 596: At Luca in the year B.C. 56.] + +[Footnote 597: _Comitia habendi causa_. No such had been appointed since +B.C. 202, and the irregular dictatorship of Sulla in B.C. 82 made the +idea distasteful. Pompey was understood to wish for the appointment, now +and later on. See pp. 326, 335.] + +[Footnote 598: [Greek: toiauth' ho tlemon polemos exergazetai] (Eur. +_Supp._ 119).] + + + + +CXLI (Q FR II, 14 [15 b]) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL) + +ROME (JULY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +Well! this time I'll use a good pen, well-mixed ink, and superfine +paper. For you say you could hardly read my previous letter, for which, +my dear brother, the reason was none of those which you suppose. For I +was not busy, nor agitated, nor out of temper with some one: but it is +always my way to take the first pen that turns up and use it as if it +were a good one. But now attend, best and dearest of brothers, to my +answer to what you wrote in this same short letter in such a very +business-like way. On this subject you beg that I should write back to +you with brotherly candour, without concealment, or reserve, or +consideration for your feelings--I mean whether you are to hasten home, +as we had talked of, or to stay where you are, if there is any excuse +for doing so, in order to extricate yourself from your embarrassments. +If, my dear Quintus, it were some small matter on which you were asking +my opinion, though I should have left it to you to do what you chose, I +should yet have shewn you what mine was. But on this subject your +question amounts to this--what sort of year I expect the next to be? +Either quite undisturbed as far as we are concerned, or at any rate one +that will find us in the highest state of preparation for defence. This +is shewn by the daily throng at my house, my reception in the forum, the +cheers which greet me in the theatre. My friends feel no anxiety, +because they know the strength of my position in my hold upon the +favour both of Caesar and Pompey. These things give me entire +confidence. But if some furious outbreak of that madman occurs, +everything is ready for crushing him. This is my feeling, my deliberate +opinion: I write to you with entire confidence. I bid you have no +doubts, and I do so with no intention of pleasing you, but with +brotherly frankness. Therefore, while I should wish you to come at the +time you arranged, for the sake of the pleasure we should have in each +other's society, yet I prefer the course you yourself think the better +one. I, too, think these objects of great importance--ample means for +yourself and extrication from your load of debt. Make up your mind to +this, that, free from embarrassments, we should be the happiest people +alive if we keep well. For men of our habits the deficiency is small, +and such as can be supplied with the greatest ease, granted only that we +keep our health. + +There is an enormous recrudescence of bribery. Never was there anything +equal to it. On the 15th of July the rate of interest rose from four to +eight per cent., owing to the compact made by Memmius with the consul +Domitius:[599] I wish Scaurus could get the better of it. Messalla is +very shaky. I am not exaggerating--they arrange to offer as much as +10,000 sestertia (about L80,000) for the vote of the first century. The +matter is a burning scandal. The candidates for the tribuneship have +made a mutual compact--having deposited 500 sesteria (about L4,000) +apiece with Cato, they agree to conduct their canvass according to his +direction, with the understanding that anyone offending against it is to +be condemned by him. If this election then turns out to be pure, Cato +will have been of more avail than all laws and jurors put together. + +[Footnote 599: For the nature of this compact, see p. 300.] + + + + +CXLII (A IV, 16 AND PART OF 17) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS OR ON HIS JOURNEY TO ASIA) + +ROME (? 24 JUNE) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +The bare fact of my letter being by the hand of an amanuensis will be a +sign of the amount of my engagements. I have no fault to find with you +as to the number of your letters, but most of them told me nothing +except where you were, or at most shewed by the fact that they came from +you that no harm had happened to you. Of this class of letters there +were two which gave me very great pleasure, dated by you from Buthrotum +almost at the same time: for I was anxious to know that you had had a +favourable crossing. But this constant supply of your letters did not +give me so much pleasure by the richness of their contents as by their +frequency. The one which your guest, M. Paccius, delivered to me was +important and full of matter. I will therefore answer it. And this is +the first thing I have to say: I have shewn Paccius, both by word and +deed, what weight a recommendation from you has: accordingly, he is +among my intimate friends, though unknown to me before. Now for the +rest. Varro, of whom you write, shall be got in somewhere, if I can but +find a place for him.[600] But you know the style of my Dialogues: just +as in those "On the Orator," which you praise to the skies, a mention of +anyone by the interlocutors was impossible, unless he had been known to +or heard of by them, so in the "Dialogue on the Republic," which I have +begun, I have put the discussion in the mouths of Africanus, Philus, +Laelius, and Manilius. I have added two young men, Q. Tubero and P. +Rutilius, and the two sons-in-law of Laelius, Scaevola and Fannius. So I +am thinking how (since I employ introductions to each book, as +Aristotle does in what he calls his "Exoterics") to contrive some +pretext for naming your friend in a natural way, as I understand is your +wish. May I only be enabled to carry out my attempt! For, as you cannot +but observe, I have undertaken a subject wide, difficult, and requiring +the utmost leisure--the very thing that, above all others, I lack. In +those books which you commend you complain of the absence of Scaevola +among the speakers. Well, I did not withdraw him without a set purpose, +but I did exactly what that god of our idolatry, Plato, did in his +Republic. When Socrates had come to the Piraeus on a visit to Cephalus, a +wealthy and cheerful old man, during all the introductory conversation +the old man takes part in the discussion; then, after having himself +made a speech very much to the point, he says that he wants to go away +to attend on the religious rites, and does not return again. I believe +Plato hardly thought that it would be quite natural, if he kept a man of +that age any longer in a conversation so protracted. I thought that I +was bound to be still more careful in the case of Scaevola, who was at +the age and with the broken health as you remember he then was, and who +had enjoyed such high offices, that it was scarcely in accordance with +etiquette for him to be staying several days in the Tusculan villa of +Crassus. Besides, the conversation in the first book was not unconnected +with Scaevola's special pursuits: the other books, as you know, contain a +technical discussion. In such I was unwilling that that facetious +veteran, as you know he was, should take part. + +As to Pilia's business, which you mention, I will see to it. For the +matter is quite clear, as you say, from the information supplied by +Aurelianus, and in managing it I shall have also an opportunity of +glorifying myself in my Tullia's eyes. I am supporting Vestorius: for I +know that it gratifies you, and I am careful that he would understand +that to be the case. But do you know the sort of man he is? Though he +has two such good-natured people to deal with, nothing can exceed his +impracticability. Now as to what you ask about Gaius Cato. You know that +he was acquitted under the _lex Iunia Licinia_:[601] I have to tell you +that he will be acquitted under the _lex Fufia_,[602] and not so much to +the satisfaction of his defenders as of his accusers. However, he has +become reconciled to myself and Milo. Drusus has had notice of +prosecution by Lucretius. The 3rd of July is the day fixed for +challenging his jurors. About Procilius[603] there are sinister +rumours--but you know what the courts are. Hirrus is on good terms with +Domitius.[604] The senatorial decree which the present consuls have +carried about the provinces--"whoever henceforth, etc."--does not seem +to me likely to have any effect. + +As to your question about Messalla, I don't know what to say: I have +never seen candidates so closely matched. Messalla's means of support +you know. Scaurus has had notice of prosecution from Triarius. If you +ask me, no great feeling of sympathy for him has been roused. Still, his +aedileship is remembered with some gratitude, and he has a certain hold +on the country voters from the memory of his father. The two remaining +plebeian candidates have compensating advantages which make them about +equal: Domitius Calvinus is strong in friends, and is farther supported +by his very popular exhibition of gladiators; Memmius finds favour with +Caesar's veterans and relies on Pompey's client towns in Gaul. If this +does not avail him, people think that some tribune will be found to push +off the elections till Caesar comes back, especially since Cato has been +acquitted. + +I have answered your letter brought by Paccius: now for the rest. From +my brother's letter I gather surprising indications of Caesar's affection +for me, and they have been confirmed by a very cordial letter from Caesar +himself. The result of the British war is a source of anxiety. For it is +ascertained that the approaches to the island are protected by +astonishing masses of cliff. Moreover, it is now known that there isn't +a pennyweight of silver in that island, nor any hope of booty except +from slaves, among whom I don't suppose you can expect any instructed +in literature or music. + +Paullus has almost brought his basilica in the forum to the roof, using +the same columns as were in the ancient building: the part for which he +gave out a contract he is building on the most magnificent scale.[605] +Need I say more? Nothing could be more gratifying or more to his glory +than such a monument. Accordingly, the friends of Caesar--I mean myself +and Oppius, though you burst with anger--have thought nothing of 60,000 +sestertia (about L480,000) for that monument, which you used to speak of +in such high terms, in order to enlarge the forum and extend it right up +to the Hall of Liberty. The claims of private owners could not be +satisfied for less. We will make it a most glorious affair. For in the +Campus Martius we are about to erect voting places for the _comitia +tributa_, of marble and covered, and to surround them with a lofty +colonnade a mile in circumference: at the same time the _Villa Publica_ +will also be connected with these erections.[606] You will say: "What +good will this monument do me?" But why should I trouble myself about +that? I have told you all the news at Rome: for I don't suppose you want +to know about the lustrum, of which there is now no hope,[607] or about +the trials which are being held under the (Cincian) law.[608] + +Now allow yourself to be scolded, if you deserve it. For you say in the +letter from Buthrotum, delivered to me by C. Decimus, that you think you +will have to go to Asia. There did not, by Hercules, seem to me to be +anything that made it matter in the least whether you did the business +by agents or in person; or anything to make you go so often and so far +from your friends. But I could have wished that I had urged this on you +before you had taken any step. For I certainly should have had some +influence on you. As things are, I will suppress the rest of my +scolding. May it only have some effect in hastening your return! The +reason of my not writing oftener to you is the uncertainty I am in as to +where you are or are going to be. However, I thought I ought to give +this letter to a chance messenger, because he seemed to be likely to see +you. Since you think you really will go to Asia, pray tell me by what +time we may expect you back, and what you have done about Eutychides. + +[Footnote 600: That is, as an interlocutor in the dialogue "On the +Republic," which Cicero was engaged in writing.] + +[Footnote 601: A law re-enacting the _lex Didia_, and enacting under +penalties that no law was to be brought forward without due publication +beforehand.] + +[Footnote 602: A law which enabled the magistrates and tribunes to stop +legislation by _obnuntiatio_.] + +[Footnote 603: Procilius had been condemned _de vi_ (p. 280). The +rumours, I suppose, were as to the jury having been corrupted.] + +[Footnote 604: The consul L. Domitius Ahenobarbus and C. Lucceius +Hirrus, the latter a warm partisan of Pompey, who was supposed to be +agitating for a dictatorship.] + +[Footnote 605: L. AEmilius Paullus (consul B.C. 50) restored the basilica +built by his ancestor M. AEmilius Lepidus in B.C. 179, and appears to +have added largely to it, or even built a new one.] + +[Footnote 606: These works seem to have been contemplated by the censors +and senate, and Cicero speaks of himself and Oppius as doing them +because they supported the measure. They were partly carried out by +Caesar but not completed till the time of Augustus.] + +[Footnote 607: Because the tribunes stopped it--the formal act at the +end of the Censor's office--by _obnuntiationes_.] + +[Footnote 608: The name of the law mentioned here is uncertain. The _lex +Cincia de munuibus_ forbade advocates taking fees for pleading.] + + + + +CXLIII (A IV, 15) + +TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) + +ROME, 27 JULY + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +I am glad about Eutychides, who, using your old _praenomen_ and your new +_nomen_, will be called Titus Caecilius, just as Dionysius, from a +combination of your names and mine, is Marcus Pomponius. I am, by +Hercules, exceedingly gratified that Eutychides has had cause to know +your kindness to me, and that the sympathy he shewed me in the time of +my sorrow was neither unnoticed at the time nor afterwards forgotten by +me. I suppose you were obliged to undertake your journey to Asia. For +you never would have been willing, without the most urgent cause, to be +so far from so many persons and things which you love so much, and which +give you so much delight. But the speed of your return will shew your +kindness and love for your friends. Yet I fear lest the rhetorician +Clodius, by his charms, and Pituanius, that excellent scholar, as he is +said to be, and now, indeed, so wholly devoted to Greek letters, may +detain you. But if you would shew the feelings of a man, come back to us +at the time you promised. You will, after all, be able to enjoy their +society at Rome, when they get there safe. You say you desire something +in the way of a letter from me: I have written, and, indeed, on many +subjects--everything detailed like a journal--but, as I conjecture from +your not having, as it seems, remained long in Epirus, I suppose it has +not reached you. Moreover, my letters to _you_ are generally of such a +kind, that I don't like to put them in anyone's hands, unless I can feel +certain that he will deliver them to you. + +Now for affairs at Rome. On the 4th of July Sufenas and Cato were +acquitted, Procilius condemned. From which we have learnt that our +treble-distilled Areopagites care not a rush for bribery, elections, +_interregnum, lese majeste_, or, in fact, for the state generally; but +that they would rather that a father of a family were not murdered on +his own hearth-stone--and even that preference not very decided. There +were twenty-two votes for acquittal, twenty-nine for condemnation![609] +Publius, no doubt by an eloquent peroration in his speech for the +prosecution, had quickened the feelings of the jurors! Herbalus[610] was +in the case, and behaved as usual. I said never a word. For my little +girl, who is unwell, was afraid of offending Publius's feelings. After +this was over the people of Reate conducted me to their Temple, to plead +their cause against the people of Interamna before the consul and ten +commissioners, because the Veline Lake, which had been drained by Manius +Curius by cutting away the mountain, flowed into the Nar, by which means +the famous Rosia has been reclaimed from the swamp, though still fairly +moist.[611] I lived with Axius, who took me also to visit Seven Waters. +I returned to Rome on the 9th of July for the sake of Fonteius. I +entered the theatre. At first I was greeted with loud and general +applause--but don't take any notice of that, I was a fool to mention +it--then I turned my attention to Antiphon. He had been manumitted +before being brought on to the stage. Not to keep you in suspense, he +bore away the palm. But there never was anything so dwarfish, so +destitute of voice, so---- But keep this to yourself. However, in the +_Andromache_ he was just taller than Astyanax: among the rest he had not +one of his own height. You next ask about Arbuscula: she had a great +success. The games were splendid and much liked. The wild-beast hunt was +put off to a future occasion. Next follow me into the _campus_. Bribery +is raging: "and I a sign to you will tell."[612] The rate of interest +from being four percent, on the 15th of July has gone up to eight +percent. You will say, "Well, _I_ don't mind that."[613] What a man! +What a citizen! Memmius is supported by all Caesar's influence. The +consuls have formed a coalition between him and Domitius (Calvinus) on +terms which I dare not commit to paper. Pompey rages, remonstrates, +backs Scaurus, but whether only ostensibly or from the heart people +don't feel sure. No one takes the lead: money reduces all to the same +level. Messalla's chance is at a low ebb: not because he is wanting in +spirit or friends, but because this coalition of the consuls, as well as +Pompey's opposition, stands in his way. I think the result will be a +postponement of the elections. The tribunician candidates have taken an +oath to conduct their canvass according to the direction of Cato. They +have deposited with him 500 sestertia apiece, on condition that whoever +Cato condemns should forfeit it, and that it should be paid over to his +competitors. I write this the day before the elections are to take +place. But on the 28th of July, if they have taken place, and if the +letter-carrier has not started, I will write you an account of the whole +_comitia_: and, if they are conducted without corruption, Cato by +himself will have been more efficacious than all laws and jurors put +together. I have undertaken to defend Messius, who has been recalled +from his legation: for Appius had named him _legatus_ to Caesar. +Servilius ordered his attendance in an edict. His jurors are to be from +the tribes Pomptina, Velina, and Maecia. It is a sharp fight: however, it +is going fairly well. After that I have to prepare myself for Drusus, +then for Scaurus. Very high-sounding title-slips are being prepared for +my speeches! Perhaps even the consuls-designate will be added to the +list of my clients: and if Scaurus is not one of them, he will find +himself in serious difficulties in this trial. Judging from my brother +Quintus's letter, I suspect that by this time he is in Britain. I await +news of him with anxiety. We have certainly gained one advantage--many +unmistakable indications enable us to feel sure that we are in the +highest degree liked and valued by Caesar. Please give my compliments to +Dionysius, and beg and exhort him to come as soon as possible, that he +may continue the instruction of my son and of myself as well. + +[Footnote 609: M. Nonius Sufenas and C. Cato were charged with bribery +and other illegal proceedings during their tribuneship: Procilius for +riot (_de vi_) when some citizen was killed.] + +[Footnote 610: Q. Hortensius, the great orator.] + +[Footnote 611: This refers to the famous waterfall of Terni. An +artificial cutting drained the River Velinus (which otherwise covered +the high valley as a lake) into the Nar, which is in the valley below. +What was good for the people of Reate was, of course, dangerous for the +people of Interamna living below. M. Curius Dentatus was consul B.C. +290.] + +[Footnote 612: [Greek: sema de toi ereo] (Hom. _Il._ xxiii. 326).] + +[Footnote 613: Because Atticus lent money.] + + + + +CXLIV (F VII, 9) + +TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) + +ROME (SEPTEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +It is a long time since I heard how you were getting on: for you don't +write, nor have I written to you for the last two months. As you were +not with my brother Quintus I did not know where to send a letter, or to +whom to give it. I am anxious to know how you are and where you mean to +winter. For my part, my opinion is that you should do so with Caesar; but +I have not ventured to write to him owing to his mourning.[614] I would +rather you put off your return to us, so long as you come with fuller +pockets. There is nothing to make you hurry home, especially since +"Battara"[615] is dead. But you are quite capable of thinking for +yourself. I desire to know what you have settled. There is a certain Cn. +Octavius or Cn. Cornelius, a friend of yours, + + "Of highest race begot, a son of Earth." + +He has frequently asked me to dinner, because he knows that you are an +intimate friend of mine. At present he has not succeeded in getting me: +however, I am much obliged to him. + +[Footnote 614: For the death (in September) of his daughter Iulia, wife +of Pompey.] + +[Footnote 615: A nickname, it is said, of Vacerra (perhaps because he +stuttered), who had been a teacher of Trebatius.] + + + + +CXLV (F VII, 17) + +TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) + +ROME (SEPTEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +From what I gather from your letter I have thanked my brother Quintus, +and can besides at last heartily commend you, because you at length seem +to have come to some fixed resolution. For I was much put out by your +letters in the first months of your absence, because at times you seemed +to me--pardon the expression--to be light-minded in your longing for the +city and city life, at others timid in undertaking military work, and +often even a little inclined to presumption--a thing as unlike your +usual self as can be. For, as though you had brought a bill of exchange, +and not a letter of recommendation to your commander-in-chief, you were +all in a hurry to get your money and return home; and it never occurred +to you that those who went to Alexandria[616] with real bills of +exchange have as yet not been able to get a farthing. If I looked only +to my own interests, I should wish, above all things, to have you with +me: for I used to find not only pleasure of no ordinary kind in your +society, but also much advantage from your advice and active assistance. +But since from your earliest manhood you had devoted yourself to my +friendship and protection, I thought it my duty not only to see that you +came to no harm, but to advance your fortunes and secure your promotion. +Accordingly, as long as I thought I should be going abroad to a +province, I am sure you remember the voluntary offers I made you. After +that plan had been changed, perceiving that I was being treated by Caesar +with the highest consideration, and was regarded by him with unusual +affection, and knowing as I did his incredible liberality and +unsurpassed loyalty to his word, I recommended you to him in the +weightiest and most earnest words at my command. And he accepted this +recommendation in a gratifying manner, and repeatedly indicated to me in +writing, and shewed you by word and deed, that he had been powerfully +affected by my recommendation. Having got such a man as your patron, if +you believe me to have any insight, or to be your well-wisher, do not +let him go; and if by chance something at times has annoyed you, when +from being busy or in difficulties he has seemed to you somewhat slow to +serve you, hold on and wait for the end, which I guarantee will be +gratifying and honourable to you. I need not exhort you at any greater +length: I only give you this warning, that you will never find a better +opportunity, if you let this slip, either of securing the friendship of +a most illustrious and liberal man, or of enjoying a wealthier province +or a more suitable time of life. "Quintus Cornelius concurred," as you +say in your law books. I am glad you didn't go to Britain, because you +have been saved some hard work, and I the necessity of listening to your +stories about that expedition. Pray write to me at full length as to +where you are going to winter, and what your hopes and present position +are. + +[Footnote 616: To Ptolemy Auletes, who had agreed to pay large sums to +certain persons for supporting his interests in the senate.] + + + + +CXLVI (Q FR II, 15) + + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN BRITAIN) + +ROME (SEPTEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +When you receive a letter from me by the hand of an amanuensis, you may +be sure that I have not even a little leisure; when by my own--a little. +For let me tell you that in regard to causes and trials in court, I have +never been closer tied, and that, too, at the most unhealthy season of +the year, and in the most oppressively hot weather. But these things, +since you so direct me, I must put up with, and must not seem to have +come short of the ideas and expectations which you and Caesar entertain +of me, especially since, even if it were somewhat difficult not to do +that, I am yet likely from this labour to reap great popularity and +prestige. Accordingly, as you wish me to do, I take great pains not to +hurt anyone's feelings, and to secure being liked even by those very men +who are vexed at my close friendship with Caesar, while by those who are +impartial, or even inclined to this side, I may be warmly courted and +loved. When some very violent debates took place in the senate on the +subject of bribery for several days, because the candidates for the +consulship had gone to such lengths as to be past all bearing, I was not +in the house. I have made up my mind not to attempt any cure of the +political situation without powerful protection. The day I write this +Drusus has been acquitted on a charge of collusion by the _tribuni +aerarii_, in the grand total by four votes, for the majority of senators +and equites were for condemnation. On the same day I am to defend +Vatinius. That is an easy matter. The _comitia_ have been put off to +September. Scaurus's trial will take place immediately, and I shall not +fail to appear for him. I don't like your "Sophoclean Banqueters" at +all, though I see that you played your part with a good grace.[617] I +come now to a subject which, perhaps, ought to have been my first. How +glad I was to get your letter from Britain! I was afraid of the ocean, +afraid of the coast of the island. The other parts of the enterprise I +do not underrate; but yet they inspire more hope than fear, and it is +the suspense rather than any positive alarm that renders me uneasy. You, +however, I can see, have a splendid subject for description, topography, +natural features of things and places, manners, races, battles, your +commander himself--what themes for your pen! I will gladly, as you +request, assist you in the points you mention, and will send you the +verses you ask for, that is, "An owl to Athens."[618] But, look you! I +think you are keeping me in the dark. Tell me, my dear brother, what +Caesar thinks of my verses. For he wrote before to tell me he had read my +first book. Of the first part, he said that he had never read anything +better even in Greek: the rest, up to a particular passage, somewhat +"careless"[619]--that is his word. Tell me the truth--is it the +subject-matter or the "style" that he does not like? You needn't be +afraid: I shall not admire myself one whit the less. On this subject +speak like a lover of truth, and with your usual brotherly frankness. + +[Footnote 617: In the "Banqueters" ([Greek: syndeipnoi]) of Sophocles, +Achilles is excluded from a banquet in Tenedos. Some social mishap seems +to have occurred to Quintus in camp.] + +[Footnote 618: Sending coals to Newcastle.] + +[Footnote 619: [Greek: rhathymotera].] + + + + +CXLVII (Q FR III, 1) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN BRITAIN) + +ARPINUM AND ROME, 28 SEPTEMBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +After extraordinarily hot weather--I never remember greater heat--I have +refreshed myself at Arpinum, and enjoyed the extreme loveliness of the +river during the days of the games, having left my tribesmen under the +charge of Philotimus.[620] I was at Arcanum on the 10th of September. +There I found Mescidius and Philoxenus, and saw the water, for which +they were making a course not far from your villa, running quite nicely, +especially considering the extreme drought, and they said that they were +going to collect it in much greater abundance. Everything is right with +Herus. In your Manilian property I came across Diphilus outdoing himself +in dilatoriness. Still, he had nothing left to construct, except baths, +and a promenade, and an aviary. I liked that villa very much, because +its paved colonnade[621] gives it an air of very great dignity. I never +appreciated this till now that the colonnade itself has been all laid +open, and the columns have been polished. It all depends--and this I +will look to--upon the stuccoing being prettily done. The pavements +seemed to be being well laid. Certain of the ceilings I did not like, +and ordered them to be changed. As to the place in which they say that +you write word that a small entrance hall is to be built--namely, in the +colonnade--I liked it better as it is. For I did not think there was +space sufficient for an entrance hall; nor is it usual to have one, +except in those buildings which have a larger court; nor could it have +bedrooms and apartments of that kind attached to it. As it is, from the +very beauty of its arched roof, it will serve as an admirable summer +room. However, if you think differently, write back word as soon as +possible. In the bath I have moved the hot chamber to the other corner +of the dressing-room, because it was so placed that its steampipe was +immediately under the bedrooms. A fair-sized bedroom and a lofty winter +one I admired very much, for they were both spacious and +well-situated--on the side of the promenade nearest to the bath. +Diphilus had placed the columns out of the perpendicular, and not +opposite each other. These, of course, he shall take down; he will learn +some day to use the plumb-line and measure. On the whole, I hope +Diphilus's work will be completed in a few months: for Caesius, who was +with me at the time, keeps a very sharp look-out upon him. + +Thence I started straight along the _via Vitularia_ to your Fufidianum, +the estate which we bought for you a few weeks ago at Arpinum for +100,000 sesterces (about L800). I never saw a shadier spot in +summer--water springs in many parts of it, and abundant into the +bargain. In short, Caesius thought that you would easily irrigate fifty +_iugera_ of the meadow land. For my part, I can assure you of this, +which is more in my line, that you will have a villa marvellously +pleasant, with the addition of a fish-pond, spouting fountains, a +_palaestra_, and a shrubbery. I am told that you wish to keep this +Bovillae estate. You will determine as you think good. Calvus said that, +even if the control of the water were taken from you, and the right of +drawing it off were established by the vendor, and thus an easement were +imposed on that property, we could yet maintain the price in case we +wished to sell. He said that he had agreed with you to do the work at +three sesterces a foot, and that he had stepped it, and made it three +miles. It seemed to me more. But I will guarantee that the money could +nowhere be better laid out. I had sent for Cillo from Venafrum, but on +that very day four of his fellow servants and apprentices had been +crushed by the falling in of a tunnel at Venafrum. On the 13th of +September I was at Laterium. I examined the road, which appeared to me +to be so good as to seem almost like a high road, except a hundred and +fifty paces--for I measured it myself from the little bridge at the +temple of Furina, in the direction of Satricum. There they had put down +dust, not gravel (this shall be changed), and that part of the road is a +very steep incline. But I understood that it could not be taken in any +other direction, particularly as you did not wish it to go through the +property of Locusta or Varro. The latter alone had made the road very +well where it skirted his own property. Locusta hadn't touched it; but I +will call on him at Rome, and think I shall be able to stir him up, and +at the same time I shall ask M. Taurus, who is now at Rome, and whom I +am told promised to allow you to do so, about making a watercourse +through his property. I much approved of your steward Nicephorius, and I +asked him what orders you had given about that small building at +Laterium, about which you spoke to me. He told me in answer that he had +himself contracted to do the work for sixteen sestertia (about L128), +but that you had afterwards made many additions to the work, but nothing +to the price, and that he had therefore given it up. I quite approve, by +Hercules, of your making the additions you had determined upon; although +the villa as it stands seems to have the air of a philosopher, meant to +rebuke the extravagance of other villas. Yet, after all, that addition +will be pleasing. I praised your landscape gardener: he has so covered +everything with ivy, both the foundation-wall of the villa and the +spaces between the columns of the walk, that, upon my word, those Greek +statues seemed to be engaged in fancy gardening, and to be shewing off +the ivy. Finally, nothing can be cooler or more mossy than the +dressing-room of the bath. That is about all I have to say about country +matters. The gardener, indeed, as well as Philotimus and Cincius are +pressing on the ornamentation of your town house; but I also often look +in upon it myself, as I can do without difficulty. Wherefore don't be at +all anxious about that. + +As to your always asking me about your son, of course I "excuse you"; +but I must ask you to "excuse" me also, for I don't allow that you love +him more than I do. And oh that he had been with me these last few days +at Arpinum, as he had himself set his heart on being, and as I had no +less done! As to Pomponia, please write and say that, when I go out of +town anywhere, she is to come with me and bring the boy. I'll do wonders +with him, if I get him to myself when I am at leisure: for at Rome there +is no time to breathe. You know I formerly promised to do so for +nothing. What do you expect with such a reward as you promise me? I now +come to your letters which I received in several packets when I was at +Arpinum. For I received three from you in one day, and, indeed, as it +seemed, despatched by you at the same time--one of considerable length, +in which your first point was that my letter to you was dated earlier +than that to Caesar. Oppius at times cannot help this: the reason is +that, having settled to send letter-carriers, and having received a +letter from me, he is hindered by something turning up, and obliged to +despatch them later than he had intended; and I don't take the trouble +to have the day altered on a letter which I have once handed to him. You +write about Caesar's extreme affection for us. This affection you must on +your part keep warm, and I for mine will endeavour to increase it by +every means in my power. About Pompey, I am carefully acting, and shall +continue to act, as you advise. That my permission to you to stay longer +is a welcome one, though I grieve at your absence and miss you +exceedingly, I am yet partly glad. What you can be thinking of in +sending for such people as Hippodamus and some others, I do not +understand. There is not one of those fellows that won't expect a +present from you equal to a suburban estate. However, there is no reason +for your classing my friend Trebatius with them. I sent him to Caesar, +and Caesar has done all I expected. If he has not done quite what _he_ +expected himself, I am not bound to make it up to him, and I in like +manner free and absolve you from all claims on his part. Your remark, +that you are a greater favourite with Caesar every day, is a source of +undying satisfaction to me. As to Balbus, who, as you say, promotes that +state of things, he is the apple of my eye. I am indeed glad that you +and my friend Trebonius like each other. As to what you say about the +military tribuneship, I, indeed, asked for it definitely for Curtius, +and Caesar wrote back definitely to say that there was one at Curtius's +service, and chided me for my modesty in making the request. If I have +asked one for anyone else--as I told Oppius to write and tell Caesar--I +shall not be at all annoyed by a refusal, since those who pester me for +letters _are_ annoyed at a refusal from me. I like Curtius, as I have +told him, not only because you asked me to do so, but from the +character you gave of him; for from your letter I have gathered the zeal +he shewed for my restoration. As for the British expedition, I conclude +from your letter that we have no occasion either for fear or exultation. +As to public affairs, about which you wish Tiro to write to you, I have +written to you hitherto somewhat more carelessly than usual, because I +knew that all events, small or great, were reported to Caesar. I have now +answered your longest letter. + +Now hear what I have to say to your small one. The first point is about +Clodius's letter to Caesar. In that matter I approve of Caesar's policy, +in not having given way to your request so far as to write a single word +to that Fury. The next thing is about the speech of Calventius +"Marius."[622] I am surprised at your saying that you think I ought to +answer it, particularly as, while no one is likely to read that speech, +unless I write an answer to it, every schoolboy learns mine against him +as an exercise. My books, all of which you are expecting, I have begun, +but I cannot finish them for some days yet. The speeches for Scaurus and +Plancius which you clamour for I have finished. The poem to Caesar, which +I had begun, I have cut short. I will write what you ask me for, since +your poetic springs are running dry, as soon as I have time. + +Now for the third letter. It is very pleasant and welcome news to hear +from you that Balbus is soon coming to Rome, and so well +accompanied![623] and will stay with me continuously till the 15th of +May. As to your exhorting me in the same letter, as in many previous +ones, to ambition and labour, I shall, of course, do as you say: but +when am I to enjoy any real life? + +Your fourth letter reached me on the 13th of September, dated on the +10th of August from Britain. In it there was nothing new except about +your _Erigona_, and if I get that from Oppius I will write and tell you +what I think of it. I have no doubt I shall like it.[624] Oh yes! I had +almost forgotten to remark as to the man who, you say in your letter, +had written to Caesar about the applause given to Milo--I am not +unwilling that Caesar should think that it was as warm as possible. And +in point of fact it was so, and yet that applause, which is given to +him, seems in a certain sense to be given to me.[625] + +I have also received a very old letter, but which was late in coming +into my hands, in which you remind me about the temple of Tellus and the +colonnade of Catulus. Both of these matters are being actively carried +out. At the temple of Tellus I have even got your statue placed. So, +again, as to your reminder about a suburban villa and gardens, I was +never very keen for one, and now my town house has all the charm of such +a pleasure-ground. On my arrival in Rome on the 18th of September I +found the roof on your house finished: the part over the sitting-rooms, +which you did not wish to have many gables, now slopes gracefully +towards the roof of the lower colonnade. Our boy, in my absence, did not +cease working with his rhetoric master. You have no reason for being +anxious about his education, for you know his ability, and I see his +application. Everything else I take it upon myself to guarantee, with +full consciousness that I am bound to make it good. + +As yet there are three parties prosecuting Gabinius: first, L. Lentulus, +son of the _flamen_, who has entered a prosecution for _lese +majeste_;[626] secondly, Tib. Nero, with good names at the back of his +indictment; thirdly, C. Memmius the tribune in conjunction with L. +Capito. He came to the walls of the city on the 19th of September, +undignified and neglected to the last degree. But in the present state +of the law courts I do not venture to be confident of anything. As Cato +is unwell, he has not yet been formally indicted for extortion. Pompey +is trying hard to persuade me to be reconciled to him, but as yet he has +not succeeded at all, nor, if I retain a shred of liberty, will he +succeed. I am very anxious for a letter from you. You say that you have +been told that I was a party to the coalition of the consular +candidates--it is a lie. The compacts made in that coalition, afterwards +made public by Memmius, were of such a nature that no loyal man ought to +have been a party to them;[627] nor at the same time was it possible for +me to be a party to a coalition from which Messalla was excluded, who is +thoroughly satisfied with my conduct in every particular, as also, I +think, is Memmius. To Domitius himself I have rendered many services, +which he desired and asked of me. I have put Scaurus under a heavy +obligation by my defence of him. It is as yet very uncertain both when +the elections will be and who will be consuls. + +Just as I was folding up this epistle letter-carriers arrived from you +and Caesar (20th September) after a journey of twenty days. How anxious I +was! How painfully I was affected by Caesar's most kind letter![628] But +the kinder it was, the more sorrow did his loss occasion me. But to turn +to your letter. To begin with, I reiterate my approval of your staying +on, especially as, according to your account, you have consulted Caesar +on the subject. I wonder that Oppius has anything to do with Publius, +for I advised against it. Farther on in your letter you say that I am +going to be made _legatus_ to Pompey on the 13th of September: I have +heard nothing about it, and I wrote to Caesar to tell him that neither +Vibullius nor Oppius had delivered his message to Pompey about my +remaining at home. Why, I know not. However, it was I who restrained +Oppius from doing so, because it was Vibullius who should take the +leading part in that matter: for with him Caesar had communicated +personally, with Oppius only by letter. I indeed can have no "second +thoughts"[629] in matters connected with Caesar. He comes next after you +and our children in my regard, and not much after. I think I act in this +with deliberate judgment, for I have by this time good cause for it, +yet warm personal feeling no doubt does influence me also. + +Just as I had written these last words--which are by my own hand--your +boy came in to dine with me, as Pomponia was dining out. He gave me your +letter to read, which he had received shortly before--a truly +Aristophanic mixture of jest and earnest, with which I was greatly +charmed.[630] He gave me also your second letter, in which you bid him +cling to my side as a mentor. How delighted he was with those letters! +And so was I. Nothing could be more attractive than that boy, nothing +more affectionate to me!--This, to explain its being in another +handwriting, I dictated to Tiro while at dinner. + +Your letter gratified Annalis very much, as shewing that you took an +active interest in his concerns, and yet assisted him with exceedingly +candid advice. Publius Servilius the elder, from a letter which he said +he had received from Caesar, declares himself highly obliged to you for +having spoken with the greatest kindness and earnestness of his devotion +to Caesar. After my return to Rome from Arpinum I was told that +Hippodamus had started to join you. I cannot say that I was surprised at +his having acted so discourteously as to start to join you without a +letter from me: I only say this, that I was annoyed. For I had long +resolved, from an expression in your letter, that if I had anything I +wished conveyed to you with more than usual care, I should give it to +him: for, in truth, into a letter like this, which I send you in an +ordinary way, I usually put nothing that, if it fell into certain hands, +might be a source of annoyance. I reserve myself for Minucius and +Salvius and Labeo. Labeo will either be starting late or will stay here +altogether. Hippodamus did not even ask me whether he could do anything +for me. T. Penarius sends me a kind letter about you: says that he is +exceedingly charmed with your literary pursuits, conversation, and above +all by your dinners. He was always a favourite of mine, and I see a good +deal of his brother. Wherefore continue, as you have begun, to admit the +young man to your intimacy. + +From the fact of this letter having been in hand during many days, owing +to the delay of the letter-carriers, I have jotted down in it many +various things at odd times, as, for instance, the following. Titus +Anicius has mentioned to me more than once that he would not hesitate to +buy a suburban property for you, if he found one. In these remarks of +his I find two things surprising: first, that when you write to him +about buying a suburban property, you not only don't write to me to that +effect, but write even in a contrary sense; and, secondly, that in +writing to him you totally forget his letters which you shewed me at +Tusculum, and as totally the rule of Epicharmus, "Notice how he has +treated another":[631] in fact, that you have quite forgotten, as I +think, the lesson conveyed by the expression of his face, his +conversation, and his spirit. But this is your concern. As to a suburban +property, be sure to let me know your wishes, and at the same time take +care that that fellow doesn't get you into trouble. What else have I to +say? Anything? Yes, there is this: Gabinius entered the city by night on +the 27th of September, and to-day, at two o'clock, when he ought to have +appeared on his trial for _lese majeste_, in accordance with the edict +of C. Alfius, he was all but crushed to the earth by a great and +unanimous demonstration of the popular hatred. Nothing could exceed his +humiliating position. However, Piso comes next to him. So I think of +introducing a marvellous episode into my second book[632]--Apollo +declaring in the council of the gods what sort of return that of the two +commanders was to be, one of whom had lost, and the other sold his army. +From Britain I have a letter of Caesar's dated the 1st of September, +which reached me on the 27th, satisfactory enough as far as the British +expedition is concerned, in which, to prevent my wondering at not +getting one from you, he tells me that you were not with him when he +reached the coast. To that letter I made no reply, not even a formal +congratulation, on account of his mourning. Many, many wishes, dear +brother, for your health. + +[Footnote 620: That is, to get them seats at the games. See Letter XXVI, +p. 63.] + +[Footnote 621: The _porticus_ is a kind of cloister round the +_peristylium_ or _atrium_.] + +[Footnote 622: Calventius is said to stand for L. Calpurnius Piso +Caesoninus, the consul of B.C. 58, against whom Cicero's speech was +spoken in B.C. 55 in the senate. He calls him Calventius from his +maternal grandfather, and Marius because--as he had said, in the speech, +Sec. 20--he had himself gone into exile rather than come to open fight with +him; just as Q. Metellus had done in B.C. 100, when, declining to take +the oath to the agrarian law of Saturninus, rather than fight Marius, +who had taken the oath, he went into exile. This seems rather a +roundabout explanation; but no better has been proposed, and, of course, +Quintus, who had lately read the speech, would be able better to +understand the allusion.] + +[Footnote 623: _I.e._, with money.] + +[Footnote 624: This tragedy of Quintus's never reached Cicero. It was +lost in transit. Perhaps no great loss.] + +[Footnote 625: Milo was aedile and had just given some splendid games.] + +[Footnote 626: _Maiestas._ He would be liable to this charge, under a +law of Sulla's, for having left his province to interfere in Egypt.] + +[Footnote 627: See p. 300.] + +[Footnote 628: Apparently referring to the death of his daughter Iulia.] + +[Footnote 629: [Greek: deuteras phrontidas] from Eurip. _Hipp._ 436, +[Greek: hai deuterai pos phrontides sophoterai].] + +[Footnote 630: Or, "as kindly and critical at once as Aristophanes (of +Byzantium)," as though Quintus had written a Caxtonian criticism of his +son's style.] + +[Footnote 631: [Greek: gyothi pos allo kechretai].] + +[Footnote 632: Of his poem "On his own Times." Piso in Macedonia, where +he had been unsuccessful with border tribes: Gabinius in going to Egypt +to support Ptolemy. He left many of his soldiers there.] + + + + +CXLVIII (A IV, 17 AND PARTS OF 16) + +TO ATTICUS (ABROAD) + +ROME, 1 OCTOBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +You think I imagine that I write more rarely to you than I used to do +from having forgotten my regular habit and purpose, but the fact is +that, perceiving your locality and journeys to be equally uncertain, I +have never intrusted a letter to anyone--either for Epirus, or Athens, +or Asia, or anywhere else--unless he was going expressly to you. For my +letters are not of the sort to make their non-delivery a matter of +indifference; they contain so many confidential secrets that I do not as +a rule trust them even to an amanuensis, for fear of some jest leaking +out in some direction or another. + +The consuls are in a blaze of infamy because Gaius Memmius, one of the +candidates, read out in the senate a compact which he and his fellow +candidate, Domitius Calvinus, had made with the consuls--that both were +to forfeit to the consuls 40 sestertia apiece (in case they were +themselves elected consuls), if they did not produce three augurs to +depose that they had been present at the passing of a _lex curiata_, +which, in fact, had not been passed; and two consulars to depose to +having helped to draft a decree for furnishing the consular provinces, +though there had not even been a meeting of the senate at all.[633] As +this compact was alleged not to have been a mere verbal one, but to +have been drawn up with the sums to be paid duly entered, formal orders +for payment, and written attestations of many persons, it was, on the +suggestion of Pompey, produced by Memmius, but with the names +obliterated. It has made no difference to Appius--he had no character to +lose! To the other consul it was a real knock-down blow, and he is, I +assure you, a ruined man. Memmius, however, having thus dissolved the +coalition, has lost all chance of election, and is by this time in a +worse position than ever, because we are now informed that his +revelation is strongly disapproved of by Caesar. Our friend Messalla and +his fellow candidate, Domitius Calvinus, have been very liberal to the +people. Nothing can exceed their popularity. They are certain to be +consuls. But the senate has passed a decree that a "trial with closed +doors" should be held before the elections in respect to each of the +candidates severally by the panels already allotted to them all. The +candidates are in a great fright. But certain jurors--among them +Opimius, Veiento, and Rantius--appealed to the tribunes to prevent their +being called upon to act as jurors without an order of the people[634]. +The business goes on. The _comitia_ are postponed by a decree of the +senate till such time as the law for the "trial with closed doors" is +carried. The day for passing the law arrived. Terentius vetoed it. The +consuls, having all along conducted this business in a half-hearted kind +of way, referred the matter back to the senate. Hereupon--Bedlam! my +voice being heard with the rest. "Aren't you wise enough to keep quiet, +after all?" you will say. Forgive me: I can hardly restrain myself. But, +nevertheless, was there ever such a farce? The senate had voted that the +elections should not be held till the law was passed: that, in case of a +tribunician veto, the whole question should be referred to them afresh. +The law is introduced in a perfunctory manner: is vetoed, to the great +relief of the proposers: the matter is referred to the senate. Upon that +the senate voted that it was for the interest of the state that the +elections should be held at the earliest possible time! + +Scaurus, who had been acquitted a few days before,[635] after a most +elaborate speech from me on his behalf--when all the days up to the 29th +of September (on which I write this) had one after the other been +rendered impossible for the _comitia_ by notices of ill omens put in by +Scaevola--paid the people what they expected at his own house, tribe by +tribe. But all the same, though his liberality was more generous, it was +not so acceptable as that of the two mentioned above, who had got the +start of him. I could have wished to see your face when you read +this;[636] for I am certain you entertain some hope that these +transactions will occupy a great many weeks! But there is to be a +meeting of the senate to-day, that is, the 1st of October--for day is +already breaking. There no one will speak his mind except Antius and +Favonius,[637] for Cato is ill. Don't be afraid about me: nevertheless, +I make no promises. Is there anything else you want to know? Anything? +Yes, the trials, I think. Drusus and Scaurus[638] are believed not to +have been guilty. Three candidates are thought likely to be prosecuted: +Domitius Calvinus by Memmius, Messalla by Q. Pompeius Rufus, +Scaurus[639] by Triarius or by L. Caesar. "What will you be able to say +for them?" quoth you. May I die if I know! In those books[640] +certainly, of which you speak so highly, I find no suggestion. + +[Footnote 633: The object of the existing consuls in making such a +bargain was to get to their provinces without difficulty, with +_imperium_, which had to be bestowed by a formal meeting of the old +_comitia curiata_. But that formality could be stopped by tribunes or +other magistrates "watching the sky," or declaring evil omens: and just +as these means were being resorted to to put off the elections, so they +were also likely to be used in this matter. If it was thus put off into +the next year, Domitius and Appius, not being any longer consuls, would +have still greater difficulty. Corrupt as the arrangement was, it seems +not to have come under any existing law, and both escaped punishment. +Appius went as proconsul to Cilicia, in spite of the _lex curiata_ not +being passed, but Domitius Ahenobarbus seems not to have had a province. +The object of Domitius Calvinus and Memmius in making the compact was to +secure their own election, which the existing consuls had many means of +assisting, but it is not clear what Memmius's object in disclosing it +was. Perhaps anger on finding his hopes gone, and an idea that anything +that humiliated Ahenobarbus would be pleasing to Caesar. He also seems to +have quarrelled with Calvinus. Gaius Memmius Gemellus is not to be +confounded with Gaius Memmius the tribune mentioned in the next letter.] + +[Footnote 634: There is considerable uncertainty as to the exact nature +of _iudicium tacitum_, here rendered "a trial with closed doors," on the +analogy of the _senatus consultum tacitum_ described by Capitolinus, _in +Gordian_. ch. xii. It is not, I think, mentioned elsewhere (_iudiciis +tacitis_ of 2 _Off._ Sec. 24, is a general expression for "anonymous +expressions of opinion"), and the passage in Plutarch (_Cato min._ 44) +introduces a new difficulty, for it indicates a court in which +candidates _after_ election are to purge themselves. Again, _quae erant +omnibus sortita_ is very difficult. Cicero nowhere else, I believe, uses +the passive _sortitus_. But, passing that, what are the _consilia_ +meant? The tense and mood shew, I think, that the words are explanatory +by the writer, not part of the decree. I venture, contrary to all +editors, to take _omnibus_ as dative, and to suppose that the _consilia_ +meant are those of the _album iudicum_ who had been selected to try +cases of _ambitus_, of which many were expected. There is no proof that +the _iudices_ in a _iudicium tacitum_ had to be senators, and the names +in the next sentence point the other way. The senate proposed that the +law should allow this selection from the _album_ to form the _iudicium +tacitum_, which would give no public verdict, but on whose report they +could afterwards act.] + +[Footnote 635: M. AEmilius Scaurus was acquitted on the 2nd of September +on a charge of extortion in Sardinia. The trial had been hurried on lest +he should use the Sardinian money in bribing for the consulship. Hence +he could not begin distributing his gifts to the electors till after +September 2nd, and his rivals Domitius and Messalla got the start of +him. See Asconius, 131 _seq._] + +[Footnote 636: He means that Atticus--as a lender of money--would be +glad of anything that kept the rate of interest up (see p. 286). He is, +of course, joking.] + +[Footnote 637: Antius is not known. Favonius was a close imitator of +Cato's Stoicism. He was now opposing both Pompey and Caesar strenuously, +but on the Civil War breaking out, attached himself strongly to Pompey. +He was put to death by Augustus after the battle of Philippi (Suet. +_Aug._ 13). He had a very biting tongue. See Plut. _Pomp._ 60.] + +[Footnote 638: Drusus was probably Livius Drusus, the father of Livia, +wife of Augustus; he was accused by Lucretius of _praevaricatio_, +"collusion."] + +[Footnote 639: This time for _ambitus_.] + +[Footnote 640: The _de Oratore_.] + + + + +CXLIX (Q FR III, 2) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL) + +ROME, OCTOBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +In the evening of the 10th of October Salvius started on board ship for +Ostia with the things you wished sent to you from home. On that same day +Memmius[641] gave Gabinius such a splendid warning in public meeting +that Calidius couldn't say a word for him. To-morrow (which is strictly +the day after to-morrow, for I am writing before daybreak) there is a +trial before Cato for the selection of his prosecutor between Memmius, +Tiberius Nero, and Gaius and Lucius, sons of M. Antonius. I think the +result will be in favour of Memmius, though a strong case is being made +out for Nero. In short, he is in a fairly tight fix, unless our friend +Pompey, to the disgust of gods and men, upsets the whole concern. Let me +give you a specimen of the fellow's impudence, and extract _something_ +amusing from the public disasters. Gabinius having given out wherever he +came that he was demanding a triumph, and having suddenly, the +excellent general! invaded the city of his enemies by night,[642] did +not venture to enter the senate. Meanwhile, exactly on the tenth day, on +which he was bound to report the number of the enemy and of his own +soldiers who had been killed, he slunk into the house, which was very +thinly attended. When he made as if to go out, he was stopped by the +consuls. The _publicani_ were introduced. The fellow was assailed on +every side, and my words stinging him more than all, he lost patience, +and in a voice quivering with anger called me "Exile." +Thereupon--Heavens! I never had such a compliment paid me in all my +life!--the senate rose up to a man with a loud shout and made a menacing +movement in his direction: the _publicani_ made an equal noise and a +similar movement. In fine, they all behaved exactly as you would have +done. It is the leading topic of conversation out of the house. However, +I refrain from prosecuting, with difficulty, by Hercules! yet refrain I +do: either because I don't want to quarrel with Pompey--the impending +question of Milo is enough in that direction--or because we have no +jurors worthy of the name. I fear a fiasco: besides, there is the +ill-will of certain persons to me, and I am afraid my conducting the +prosecution might give him some advantage: besides, I do not despair of +the thing being done both without me and yet partly through my +assistance. All the candidates for the consulships have had prosecutions +for bribery lodged against them: Domitius Calvinus by Memmius (the +tribune), Memmius (the candidate) by Q. Acutius, an excellent young man +and a good lawyer, Messalla by Q. Pompeius, Scaurus by Triarius. The +affair causes great commotion, because it is a plain alternative between +shipwreck for the men concerned or for the laws. Pressure is being +applied to prevent the trials taking place. It looks like an +_interregnum_ again. The consuls desire to hold the _comitia_: the +accused don't wish it, and especially Memmius, because he hopes that +Caesar's approach[643] may secure him the consulship. But he is at a +very low ebb. Domitius, with Messalla as his colleague, I think is a +certainty. Scaurus has lost his chance. Appius declares that he will +relieve Lentulus even without a curiate law,[644] and, indeed, he +distinguished himself amazingly that day (I almost forgot to mention it) +in an attack upon Gabinius. He accused him of _lese majeste_, and gave +the names of his witnesses without Gabinius answering a word. That is +all the public news. At home all is well: your house itself is being +proceeded with by the contractors with fair expedition. + +[Footnote 641: C. Memmius, a tribune of this year, not the same as the +C. Memmius Gemellus of the last letter.] + +[Footnote 642: Referring to the fact that Gabinius, on his arrival +outside Rome, without the usual procession of friends which met a +returning proconsul, skulked about till nightfall, not venturing to +enter Rome (the city of his enemies!) in daylight. By entering Rome he +gave up his _imperium_ and could no longer ask a triumph.] + +[Footnote 643: Caesar was accustomed to come to North Italy (Gallia +Cisalpina) for the winter to Ravenna or Luca, and there he could be +communicated with and exercise great influence.] + +[Footnote 644: That is, he would go to his province of Cilicia on the +strength of his nomination or allotment by the senate. There was some +doubt as to the question whether such allotment did not give _imperium_ +even without a _lex curiata_. Besides, the consul had already +_imperium_, and he might consider it to be uninterrupted if he left Rome +immediately. However, as there was always an interval between the end of +the consulship and the quitting Rome _paludatus_, the _lex curiata_ had +generally been considered necessary (Caes. _B. C._ i. 6). After B.C. 52 +the _lex Pompeia_ enacted a five years' interval, when, of course, a law +would be necessary.] + + + + +CL (Q FR III, 3) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL) + +ROME (OCTOBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +The writing of an amanuensis must shew you the amount of my engagements. +I assure you that no day passes without my appearing for the defence of +some one. Accordingly, all composition or reflexion I reserve for the +hour of my walk. So stands my business: matters at home, however, are +everything I could wish. Our boys are well, diligent in their studies, +and affectionate to me and each other. The decoration of both of our +houses is still in hand: but your rural works at Arcanum and Laterium +are now completed. For the rest, as to the water and the road, I went +into the case thoroughly, in a certain letter of mine, without omitting +anything. But, in truth, the anxiety which is now giving me great +uneasiness and pain is that for a period of fifty days I have heard +nothing from you or from Caesar--nothing has found its way from those +parts, either in the shape of a letter, or even of a rumour. Moreover, +both the sea and land out there make me uneasy, and I never cease +imagining, as one does when one's affections are deeply involved, all +that I least desire. Wherefore I do not, indeed, for the present ask you +to write me an account of yourself and your doings, for that you never +omit doing when possible, but I wish you to know this--that I have +scarcely ever been so anxious for anything as at the moment of writing I +am for a letter from you. Now for what is going on in politics. One day +after another for the _comitia_ is struck out by notices of bad omens, +to the great satisfaction of all the loyalists: so great is the scandal +in which the consuls are involved, owing to the suspicion of their +having bargained for a bribe from the candidates. The four candidates +for the consulship are all arraigned: their cases are difficult of +defence, but I shall do my best to secure the safety of our friend +Messalla--and that is inseparable from the acquittal of the others. +Publius Sulla has accused Gabinius of bribery--his stepson Memmius, his +cousin Caecilius, and his son Sulla backing the indictment. L. Torquatus +put in his claim to the conduct of the prosecution, and, to everybody's +satisfaction, failed to establish it. You ask, "What will become of +Gabinius?" We shall know in three days' time about the charge of _lese +majeste_. In that case he is at a disadvantage from the hatred +entertained by all classes for him; witnesses against him as damaging as +can be: accusers in the highest degree inefficient: the panel of jurors +of varied character: the president a man of weight and decision--Alfius: +Pompey active in soliciting the jurors on his behalf. What the result +will be I don't know; I don't see, however, how he can maintain a +position in the state. I shew no rancour in promoting his destruction, +and await the result with the utmost good temper. That is nearly all the +news. I will add this one item: your boy (who is mine also) is +exceedingly devoted to his rhetoric master Paeonius, a man, I think, of +great experience in his profession, and of very good character. But you +are aware that my method of instruction aims at a somewhat more +scholarly and philosophical style.[645] Accordingly I, for my part, am +unwilling that his course of training should be interrupted, and the boy +himself seems to be more drawn to that declamatory style, and to like it +better; and as that was the style in which I was myself initiated, let +us allow him to follow in my path, for I feel sure it will eventually +bring him to the same point; nevertheless, if I take him with me +somewhere in the country, I shall guide him to the adoption of my system +and practice. For you have held out before me a great reward, which it +certainly shall not be my fault if I fail to fully obtain. I hope you +will write and tell me most carefully in what district you are going to +pass the winter, and what your prospects are. + +[Footnote 645: [Greek: thetikoteron]. From [Greek: thesis], a +philosophical proposition or thesis. In _Paradox. praef._ he uses [Greek: +thetika] of subjects suited to such theses.] + + + + +CLI (Q FR III, 4) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL) + +ROME, 24 OCTOBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +Gabinius has been acquitted. Nothing could be more absolutely futile +than his accuser, Lentulus, and the backers of the indictment, or more +corrupt than the jury. Yet, after all, had it not been for incredible +exertions and entreaties on Pompey's part, and even an alarming rumour +of a dictatorship, he would not have been able to answer even Lentulus; +for even as it was, with such an accuser and such a jury, he had +thirty-two votes out of seventy recorded against him. This trial is +altogether so scandalous, that he seems certain to be convicted in the +other suits, especially in that for extortion. But you must see that the +Republic, the senate, the law courts are mere cyphers, and that not one +of us has any constitutional position at all. What else should I tell +you about the jurors? Two men of praetorian rank were on the +panel--Domitius Calvinus, who voted for acquittal so openly that +everybody could see; and Cato, who, as soon as the voting tablets had +been counted, withdrew from the ring of people, and was the first to +tell Pompey the news. Some people--for instance, Sallust--say that I +ought to have been the prosecuting counsel. Was I to have exposed myself +to such a jury as this? What would have been my position, if he had +escaped when I conducted the case? But there were other considerations +which influenced me. Pompey would have looked upon it as a contest with +me, not for that man's safety, but for his own position: he would have +entered the city;[646] it would have become a downright quarrel; I +should have seemed like a Pacideianus matched with the Samnite +AEserninus[647]--he would, perhaps, have bitten off my ear,[648] and at +least he would have become reconciled to Clodius. For my part, +especially if you do not disapprove of it, I strongly approve my own +policy. That great man, though his advancement had been promoted by +unparalleled exertions on my part, and though I owed him nothing, while +he owed me all, yet could not endure that I should differ from him in +politics--to put it mildly--and, when in a less powerful position, +shewed me what he could do against me when in my zenith. At this time of +day, when I don't even care to be influential, and the Republic +certainly has no power to do anything, while he is supreme in +everything, was I to enter upon a contest with him? For that is what I +should have had to have done. I do not think that you hold me bound to +have undertaken it. "Then, as an alternative," says the grave Sallust, +"you should have defended him, and have made that concession to Pompey's +earnest wish, for he begged you very hard to do so." An ingenious friend +is Sallust, to give me the alternative of a dangerous quarrel or undying +infamy! I, however, am quite pleased with the middle course which I have +steered; and another gratifying circumstance is that, when I had given +my evidence with the utmost solemnity, in accordance with my honour and +oath, the defendant said that, if he retained his right to remain in the +city, he would repay me, and did not attempt to cross-question me. + +As to the verses which you wish me to compose, it is true that I am +deficient in industry in regard to them, which requires not only time, +but also a mind free from all anxiety, but I am also wanting in +inspiration. For I am not altogether without anxiety as to the coming +year, though without fear. At the same time, and, upon my word, I speak +without irony, I consider you a greater master of that style of writing +than myself. As to filling up your Greek library, effecting interchanges +of books, and purchasing Latin books, I should be very glad that your +wishes should be carried out, especially as they would be very useful to +me. But I have no one to employ for myself in such a business: for such +books as are really worth getting are not for sale, and purchases cannot +be effected except by an agent who is both well-informed and active. +However, I will give orders to Chrysippus and speak to Tyrannio. I will +inquire what Scipio has done about the treasury. I will see that what +seems to be the right thing is done. As to Ascanio, do what you like: I +shall not interfere. As to a suburban property, I commend your not being +in a hurry, but I advise your having one. I write this on the 24th of +October, the day of the opening of the games, on the point of starting +for my Tusculan villa, and taking my dear young Cicero with me as though +to school (a school not for sport, but for learning), since I did not +wish to be at any greater distance from town, because I purposed +supporting Pomptinus's[649] claim of a triumph on the 3rd of November. +For there will be, in fact, some little difficulty; as the praetors, Cato +and Servilius,[650] threaten to forbid it, though I don't know what they +can do. For he will have on his side Appius the consul, some praetors and +tribunes. Still, they do threaten--and among the foremost Q. Scaevola, +"breathing war."[651] Most delightful and dearest of brothers, take good +care of your health. + +[Footnote 646: Pompey was outside the _pomoerium_ (_ad Romam_) as +having _imperium_.] + +[Footnote 647: Two gladiators, one incomparably superior to the other.] + +[Footnote 648: A proverbial expression, cp. "snapped my nose off."] + +[Footnote 649: C. Pomptinus, praetor in B.C. 63 (when he had supported +Cicero), was afterwards employed against the Allobroges as propraetor of +Narbonensis (B.C. 61). He had been, ever since leaving his province (? +B.C. 58), urging his claim to a triumph. He obtained it now by the +contrivance of the praetor Serv. Sulpicius Galba, who got a vote passed +by the _comitia_ before daybreak, which was unconstitutional (Dio, 39, +65).] + +[Footnote 650: P. Servilius Vatia Isauricus (consul B.C. 48) was an +admirer of Cato. See p. 112.] + +[Footnote 651: [Greek: Are pneon].] + + + + +CLII (F I, 9) + +TO P. LENTULUS SPINTHER (IN CILICIA) + +ROME (OCTOBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +M. Cicero desires his warmest regards to P. Lentulus, _imperator_.[652] +Your letter was very gratifying to me, from which I gathered that you +fully appreciated my devotion to you: for why use the word kindness, +when even the word "devotion" itself, with all its solemn and holy +associations, seems too weak to express my obligations to you? As for +your saying that my services to you are gratefully accepted, it is you +who in your overflowing affection make things, which cannot be omitted +without criminal negligence, appear deserving of even gratitude. +However, my feelings towards you would have been much more fully known +and conspicuous, if, during all this time that we have been separated, +we had been together, and together at Rome. For precisely in what you +declare your intention of doing--what no one is more capable of doing, +and what I confidently look forward to from you--that is to say, in +speaking in the senate, and in every department of public life and +political activity, we should together have been in a very strong +position (what my feelings and position are in regard to politics I will +explain shortly, and will answer the questions you ask), and at any rate +I should have found in you a supporter, at once most warmly attached and +endowed with supreme wisdom, while in me you would have found an +adviser, perhaps not the most unskilful in the world, and at least both +faithful and devoted to your interests. However, for your own sake, of +course, I rejoice, as I am bound to do, that you have been greeted with +the title of _imperator_, and are holding your province and victorious +army after a successful campaign. But certainly, if you had been here, +you would have enjoyed to a fuller extent and more directly the benefit +of the services which I am bound to render you. Moreover, in taking +vengeance on those whom you know in some cases to be your enemies, +because you championed the cause of my recall, in others to be jealous +of the splendid position and renown which that measure brought you, I +should have done you yeoman's service as your associate. However, that +perpetual enemy of his own friends, who, in spite of having been +honoured with the highest compliments on your part, has selected you of +all people for the object of his impotent and enfeebled violence, has +saved me the trouble by punishing himself. For he has made attempts, the +disclosure of which has left him without a shred, not only of political +position, but even of freedom of action.[653] And though I should have +preferred that you should have gained your experience in my case alone, +rather than in your own also, yet in the midst of my regret I am glad +that you have learnt what the fidelity of mankind is worth, at no great +cost to yourself, which I learnt at the price of excessive pain. And I +think that I have now an opportunity presented me, while answering the +questions you have addressed to me, of also explaining my entire +position and view. You say in your letter that you have been informed +that I have become reconciled to Caesar and Appius, and you add that you +have no fault to find with that. But you express a wish to know what +induced me to defend and compliment Vatinius. In order to make my +explanation plainer I must go a little farther back in the statement of +my policy and its grounds. + +Well, Lentulus! At first--after the success of your efforts for my +recall--I looked upon myself as having been restored not alone to my +friends, but to the Republic also; and seeing that I owed you an +affection almost surpassing belief, and every kind of service, however +great and rare, that could be bestowed on your person, I thought that to +the Republic, which had much assisted you in restoring me, I at least +was bound to entertain the feeling which I had in old times shewed +merely from the duty incumbent on all citizens alike, and not as an +obligation incurred by some special kindness to myself. That these were +my sentiments I declared to the senate when you were consul, and you had +yourself a full view of them in our conversations and discussions. Yet +from the very first my feelings were hurt by many circumstances, when, +on your mooting the question of the full restoration of my position, I +detected the covert hatred of some and the equivocal attachment of +others. For you received no support from them either in regard to my +monuments, or the illegal violence by which, in common with my brother, +I had been driven from my house; nor, by heaven, did they shew the +goodwill which I had expected in regard to those matters which, though +necessary to me owing to the shipwreck of my fortune, were yet regarded +by me as least valuable--I mean as to indemnifying me for my losses by +decree of the senate. And though I saw all this--for it was not +difficult to see--yet their present conduct did not affect me with so +much bitterness as what they had done for me did with gratitude. And +therefore, though according to your own assertion and testimony I was +under very great obligation to Pompey, and though I loved him not only +for his kindness, but also from my own feelings, and, so to speak, from +my unbroken admiration of him, nevertheless, without taking any account +of his wishes, I abode by all my old opinions in politics.[654] With +Pompey sitting in court,[655] upon his having entered the city to give +evidence in favour of Sestius, and when the witness Vatinius had +asserted that, moved by the good fortune and success of Caesar, I had +begun to be his friend, I said that I preferred the fortune of Bibulus, +which he thought a humiliation, to the triumphs and victories of +everybody else; and I said during the examination of the same witness, +in another part of my speech, that the same men had prevented Bibulus +from leaving his house as had forced me from mine: my whole +cross-examination, indeed, was nothing but a denunciation of his +tribuneship;[656] and in it I spoke throughout with the greatest +freedom and spirit about violence, neglect of omens, grants of royal +titles. Nor, indeed, in the support of this view is it only of late that +I have spoken: I have done so consistently on several occasions in the +senate. Nay, even in the consulship of Marcellinus and Philippus,[657] +on the 5th of April the senate voted on my motion that the question of +the Campanian land should be referred to a full meeting of the senate on +the 15th of May. Could I more decidedly invade the stronghold of his +policy, or shew more clearly that I forgot my own present interests, and +remembered my former political career? On my delivery of this proposal a +great impression was made on the minds not only of those who were bound +to have been impressed, but also of those of whom I had never expected +it. For, after this decree had passed in accordance with my motion, +Pompey, without shewing the least sign of being offended with me, +started for Sardinia and Africa, and in the course of that journey +visited Caesar at Luca. There Caesar complained a great deal about my +motion, for he had already seen Crassus at Ravenna also, and had been +irritated by him against me. It was well known that Pompey was much +vexed at this, as I was told by others, but learnt most definitely from +my brother. For when Pompey met him in Sardinia, a few days after +leaving Luca, he said: "You are the very man I want to see; nothing +could have happened more conveniently. Unless you speak very strongly to +your brother Marcus, you will have to pay up what you guaranteed on his +behalf."[658] I need not go on. He grumbled a great deal: mentioned his +own services to me: recalled what he had again and again said to my +brother himself about the "acts" of Caesar, and what my brother had +undertaken in regard to me; and called my brother himself to witness +that what he had done in regard to my recall he had done with the +consent of Caesar: and asked him to commend to me the latter's policy and +claims, that I should not attack, even if I would not or could not +support them. My brother having conveyed these remarks to me, and +Pompey having, nevertheless, sent Vibullius to me with a message, +begging me not to commit myself on the question of the Campanian land +till his return, I reconsidered my position and begged the state itself, +as it were, to allow me, who had suffered and done so much for it, to +fulfil the duty which gratitude to my benefactors and the pledge which +my brother had given demanded, and to suffer one whom it had ever +regarded as an honest citizen to shew himself an honest man. Moreover, +in regard to all those motions and speeches of mine which appeared to be +giving offence to Pompey, the remarks of a particular set of men, whose +names you must surely guess, kept on being reported to me; who, while in +public affairs they were really in sympathy with my policy, and had +always been so, yet said that they were glad that Pompey was +dissatisfied with me, and that Caesar would be very greatly exasperated +against me. This in itself was vexatious to me: but much more so was the +fact that they used, before my very eyes, so to embrace, fondle, make +much of, and kiss my enemy--mine do I say? rather the enemy of the laws, +of the law courts, of peace, of his country, of all loyal men!--that +they did not indeed rouse my bile, for I have utterly lost all that, but +imagined they did. In these circumstances, having, as far as is possible +for human prudence, thoroughly examined my whole position, and having +balanced the items of the account, I arrived at a final result of all my +reflexions, which, as well as I can, I will now briefly put before you. + +If I had seen the Republic in the hands of bad or profligate citizens, +as we know happened during the supremacy of Cinna, and on some other +occasions, I should not under the pressure, I don't say of rewards, +which are the last things to influence me, but even of danger, by which, +after all, the bravest men are moved, have attached myself to their +party, not even if their services to me had been of the very highest +kind. As it is, seeing that the leading statesman in the Republic was +Pompey, a man who had gained this power and renown by the most eminent +services to the state and the most glorious achievements, and one of +whose position I had been a supporter from my youth up, and in my +praetorship and consulship an active promoter also, and seeing that this +same statesman had assisted me, in his own person by the weight of his +influence and the expression of his opinion, and, in conjunction with +you, by his counsels and zeal, and that he regarded my enemy as his own +supreme enemy in the state--I did not think that I need fear the +reproach of inconsistency, if in some of my senatorial votes I somewhat +changed my standpoint, and contributed my zeal to the promotion of the +dignity of a most distinguished man, and one to whom I am under the +highest obligations. In this sentiment I had necessarily to include +Caesar, as you see, for their policy and position were inseparably +united. Here I was greatly influenced by two things--the old friendship +which you know that I and my brother Quintus have had with Caesar, and +his own kindness and liberality, of which we have recently had clear and +unmistakable evidence both by his letters and his personal attentions. I +was also strongly affected by the Republic itself, which appeared to me +to demand, especially considering Caesar's brilliant successes, that +there should be no quarrel maintained with these men, and indeed to +forbid it in the strongest manner possible. Moreover, while entertaining +these feelings, I was above all shaken by the pledge which Pompey had +given for me to Caesar, and my brother to Pompey. Besides, I was forced +to take into consideration the state maxim so divinely expressed by our +master Plato--"Such as are the chief men in a republic, such are ever +wont to be the other citizens." I called to mind that in my consulship, +from the very 1st of January, such a foundation was laid of +encouragement for the senate, that no one ought to have been surprised +that on the 5th of December there was so much spirit and such commanding +influence in that house. I also remember that when I became a private +citizen up to the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus, when the opinions +expressed by me had great weight in the senate, the feeling among all +the loyalists was invariable. Afterwards, while you were holding the +province of hither Spain with _imperium_ and the Republic had no genuine +consuls, but mere hucksters of provinces, mere slaves and agents of +sedition, an accident threw my head as an apple of discord into the +midst of contending factions and civil broils. And in that hour of +danger, though a unanimity was displayed on the part of the senate that +was surprising, on the part of all Italy surpassing belief, and of all +the loyalists unparalleled, in standing forth in my defence, I will not +say what happened--for the blame attaches to many, and is of various +shades of turpitude--I will only say briefly that it was not the rank +and file, but the leaders, that played me false. And in this matter, +though some blame does attach to those who failed to defend me, no less +attaches to those who abandoned me: and if those who were frightened +deserve reproach, if there are such, still more are those to be blamed +who pretended to be frightened. At any rate, my policy is justly to be +praised for refusing to allow my fellow citizens (preserved by me and +ardently desiring to preserve me) to be exposed while bereft of leaders +to armed slaves, and for preferring that it should be made manifest how +much force there might be in the unanimity of the loyalists, if they had +been permitted to champion my cause before I had fallen, when after that +fall they had proved strong enough to raise me up again. And the real +feelings of these men you not only had the penetration to see, when +bringing forward my case, but the power to encourage and keep alive. In +promoting which measure--I will not merely not deny, but shall always +remember also and gladly proclaim it--you found certain men of the +highest rank more courageous in securing my restoration than they had +been in preserving me from my fall: and, if they had chosen to maintain +that frame of mind, they would have recovered their own commanding +position along with my salvation. For when the spirit of the loyalists +had been renewed by your consulship, and they had been roused from their +dismay by the extreme firmness and rectitude of your official conduct; +when, above all, Pompey's support had been secured; and when Caesar, too, +with all the prestige of his brilliant achievements, after being +honoured with unique and unprecedented marks of distinction and +compliments by the senate, was now supporting the dignity of the house, +there could have been no opportunity for a disloyal citizen of outraging +the Republic. + +But now notice, I beg, what actually ensued. First of all, that intruder +upon the women's rites, who had shewn no more respect for the Bona Dea +than for his three sisters, secured immunity by the votes of those men +who, when a tribune wished by a legal action to exact penalties from a +seditious citizen by the agency of the loyalists, deprived the Republic +of what would have been hereafter a most splendid precedent for the +punishment of sedition. And these same persons, in the case of the +monument, which was not mine, indeed--for it was not erected from the +proceeds of spoils won by me, and I had nothing to do with it beyond +giving out the contract for its construction--well, they allowed this +monument of the senate's to have branded upon it the name of a public +enemy, and an inscription written in blood. That those men wished my +safety rouses my liveliest gratitude, but I could have wished that they +had not chosen to take my bare safety into consideration, like doctors, +but, like trainers, my strength and complexion also! As it is, just as +Apelles perfected the head and bust of his Venus with the most elaborate +art, but left the rest of her body in the rough, so certain persons only +took pains with my head, and left the rest of my body unfinished and +unworked. Yet in this matter I have falsified the expectation, not only +of the jealous, but also of the downright hostile, who formerly +conceived a wrong opinion from the case of Quintus Metellus, son of +Lucius--the most energetic and gallant man in the world, and in my +opinion of surpassing courage and firmness--who, people say, was much +cast down and dispirited after his return from exile.[659] Now, in the +first place, we are asked to believe that a man who accepted exile with +entire willingness and remarkable cheerfulness, and never took any pains +at all to get recalled, was crushed in spirit about an affair in which +he had shewn more firmness and constancy than anyone else, even than the +pre-eminent M. Scaurus himself![660] But, again, the account they had +received, or rather the conjectures they were indulging in about him, +they now transferred to me, imagining that I should be more than usually +broken in spirit: whereas, in fact, the Republic was inspiring me with +even greater courage than I had ever had before, by making it plain +that I was the one citizen it could not do without; and by the fact that +while a bill proposed by only one tribune had recalled Metellus, the +whole state had joined as one man in recalling me--the senate leading +the way, the whole of Italy following after, eight of the tribunes +publishing the bill, a consul putting the question at the centuriate +assembly, all orders and individuals pressing it on, in fact, with all +the forces at its command. Nor is it the case that I afterwards made any +pretension, or am making any at this day, which can justly offend +anyone, even the most malevolent: my only effort is that I may not fail +either my friends or those more remotely connected with me in either +active service, or counsel, or personal exertion. This course of life +perhaps offends those who fix their eyes on the glitter and show of my +professional position, but are unable to appreciate its anxieties and +laboriousness. + +Again, they make no concealment of their dissatisfaction on the ground +that in the speeches which I make in the senate in praise of Caesar I am +departing from my old policy. But while giving explanations on the +points which I put before you a short time ago, I will not keep till the +last the following, which I have already touched upon. You will not +find, my dear Lentulus, the sentiments of the loyalists the same as you +left them--strengthened by my consulship, suffering relapse at intervals +afterwards, crushed down before your consulship, revived by you: they +have now been abandoned by those whose duty it was to have maintained +them: and this fact they, who in the old state of things as it existed +in our day used to be called _Optimates_, not only declare by look and +expression of countenance, by which a false pretence is easiest +supported, but have proved again and again by their actual sympathies +and votes. Accordingly, the entire view and aim of wise citizens, such +as I wish both to be and to be reckoned, must needs have undergone a +change. For that is the maxim of that same great Plato, whom I +emphatically regard as my master: "Maintain a political controversy only +so far as you can convince your fellow citizens of its justice: never +offer violence to parent or fatherland."[661] He, it is true, alleges +this as his motive for having abstained from politics, because, having +found the Athenian people all but in its dotage, and seeing that it +could not be ruled by persuasion, or by anything short of compulsion, +while he doubted the possibility of persuasion, he looked upon +compulsion as criminal. My position was different in this: as the people +was not in its dotage, nor the question of engaging in politics still an +open one for me, I was bound hand and foot. Yet I rejoiced that I was +permitted in one and the same cause to support a policy at once +advantageous to myself and acceptable to every loyalist. An additional +motive was Caesar's memorable and almost superhuman kindness to myself +and my brother, who thus would have deserved my support whatever he +undertook; while as it is, considering his great success and his +brilliant victories, he would seem, even if he had not behaved to me as +he has, to claim a panegyric from me. For I would have you believe that, +putting you aside, who were the authors of my recall, there is no one by +whose good offices I would not only confess, but would even rejoice, to +have been so much bound. + +Having explained this matter to you, the questions you ask about +Vatinius and Crassus are easy to answer. For, since you remark about +Appius, as about Caesar, "that you have no fault to find," I can only say +that I am glad you approve my policy. But as to Vatinius, in the first +place there had been in the interval a reconciliation effected through +Pompey, immediately after his election to the praetorship, though I had, +it is true, impugned his canditature in some very strong speeches in the +senate, and yet not so much for the sake of attacking him as of +defending and complimenting Cato. Again, later on, there followed a very +pressing request from Caesar that I should undertake his defence. But my +reason for testifying to his character I beg you will not ask, either in +the case of this defendant or of others, lest I retaliate by asking you +the same question when you come home: though I can do so even before you +return: for remember for whom you sent a certificate of character from +the ends of the earth. However, don't be afraid, for those same persons +are praised by myself, and will continue to be so. Yet, after all, there +was also the motive spurring me on to undertake his defence, of which, +during the trial, when I appeared for him, I remarked that I was doing +just what the parasite in the _Eunuchus_ advised the captain to do: + + "As oft as she names Phaedria, you retort + With Pamphila. If ever she suggest, + 'Do let us have in Phaedria to our revel:' + Quoth you, 'And let us call on Pamphila + To sing a song.' If she shall praise _his_ looks, + Do you praise _hers_ to match them: and, in fine, + Give tit for tat, that you may sting her soul." + +So I asked the jurors, since certain men of high rank, who had also done +me very great favours, were much enamoured of my enemy, and often under +my very eyes in the senate now took him aside in grave consultation, now +embraced him familiarly and cheerfully--since these men had their +Publius, to grant me another Publius, in whose person I might repay a +slight attack by a moderate retort.[662] And, indeed, I am often as good +as my word, with the applause of gods and men. So much for Vatinius. Now +about Crassus. I thought I had done much to secure his gratitude in +having, for the sake of the general harmony, wiped out by a kind of +voluntary act of oblivion all his very serious injuries, when he +suddenly undertook the defence of Gabinius, whom only a few days before +he had attacked with the greatest bitterness. Nevertheless, I should +have borne that, if he had done so without casting any offensive +reflexions on me. But on his attacking me, though I was only arguing and +not inveighing against him, I fired up not only, I think, with the +passion of the moment--for that perhaps would not have been so hot--but +the smothered wrath at his many wrongs to me, of which I thought I had +wholly got rid, having, unconsciously to myself, lingered in my soul, it +suddenly shewed itself in full force. And it was at this precise time +that certain persons (the same whom I frequently indicate by a sign or +hint), while declaring that they had much enjoyed my outspoken style, +and had never before fully realized that I was restored to the Republic +in all my old character, and when my conduct of that controversy had +gained me much credit outside the house also, began saying that they +were glad both that he was now my enemy, and that those who were +involved with him would never be my friends. So when their ill-natured +remarks were reported to me by men of most respectable character, and +when Pompey pressed me as he had never done before to be reconciled to +Crassus, and Caesar wrote to say that he was exceedingly grieved at that +quarrel, I took into consideration not only my circumstances, but my +natural inclination: and Crassus, that our reconciliation might, as it +were, be attested to the Roman people, started for his province, it +might almost be said, from my hearth. For he himself named a day and +dined with me in the suburban villa of my son-in-law Crassipes. On this +account, as you say that you have been told, I supported his cause in +the senate, which I had undertaken on Pompey's strong recommendation, as +I was bound in honour to do. + +I have now told you with what motives I have supported each measure and +cause, and what my position is in politics as far as I take any part in +them: and I would wish you to make sure of this--that I should have +entertained the same sentiments, if I had been still perfectly +uncommitted and free to choose. For I should not have thought it right +to fight against such overwhelming power, nor to destroy the supremacy +of the most distinguished citizens, even if it had been possible; nor, +again, should I have thought myself bound to abide by the same view, +when circumstances were changed and the feelings of the loyalists +altered, but rather to bow to circumstances. For the persistence in the +same view has never been regarded as a merit in men eminent for their +guidance of the helm of state; but as in steering a ship one secret of +the art is to run before the storm, even if you cannot make the harbour; +yet, when you can do so by tacking about, it is folly to keep to the +course you have begun rather than by changing it to arrive all the same +at the destination you desire: so while we all ought in the +administration of the state to keep always in view the object I have +very frequently mentioned, peace combined with dignity, we are not bound +always to use the same language, but to fix our eyes on the same object. +Wherefore, as I laid down a little while ago, if I had had as free a +hand as possible in everything, I should yet have been no other than I +now am in politics. When, moreover, I am at once induced to adopt these +sentiments by the kindness of certain persons, and driven to do so by +the injuries of others, I am quite content to think and speak about +public affairs as I conceive best conduces to the interests both of +myself and of the Republic. Moreover, I make this declaration the more +openly and frequently, both because my brother Quintus is Caesar's +legate, and because no word of mine, however trivial, to say nothing of +any act, in support of Caesar has ever transpired, which he has not +received with such marked gratitude, as to make me look upon myself as +closely bound to him. Accordingly, I have the advantage of his +popularity, which you know to be very great, and his material resources, +which you know to be immense, as though they were my own. Nor do I think +that I could in any other way have frustrated the plots of unprincipled +persons against me, unless I had now combined with those protections, +which I have always possessed, the goodwill also of the men in power. I +should, to the best of my belief, have followed this same line of policy +even if I had had you here. For I well know the reasonableness and +soberness of your judgment: I know your mind, while warmly attached to +me, to be without a tinge of malevolence to others, but on the contrary +as open and candid as it is great and lofty. I have seen certain persons +conduct themselves towards you as you might have seen the same persons +conduct themselves towards me. The same things that have annoyed me +would certainly have annoyed you. But whenever I shall have the +enjoyment of your presence, you will be the wise critic of all my plans: +you who took thought for my safety will also do so for my dignity. Me, +indeed, you will have as the partner and associate in all your actions, +sentiments, wishes--in fact, in everything; nor shall I ever in all my +life have any purpose so steadfastly before me, as that you should +rejoice more and more warmly every day that you did me such eminent +service. + +As to your request that I would send you any books I have written since +your departure, there are some speeches, which I will give Menocritus, +not so very many, so don't be afraid! I have also written--for I am now +rather withdrawing from oratory and returning to the gentler Muses, +which now give me greater delight than any others, as they have done +since my earliest youth--well, then, I have written in the Aristotelian +style, at least that was my aim, three books in the form of a discussion +in dialogue "On the Orator," which, I think, will be of some service to +your Lentulus. For they differ a good deal from the current maxims, and +embrace a discussion on the whole oratorical theory of the ancients, +both that of Aristotle and Isocrates. I have also written in verse three +books "On my own Times," which I should have sent you some time ago, if +I had thought they ought to be published--for they are witnesses, and +will be eternal witnesses, of your services to me and of my +affection--but I refrained because I was afraid, not of those who might +think themselves attacked, for I have been very sparing and gentle in +that respect, but of my benefactors, of whom it were an endless task to +mention the whole list. Nevertheless, the books, such as they are, if I +find anyone to whom I can safely commit them, I will take care to have +conveyed to you: and as far as that part of my life and conduct is +concerned, I submit it entirely to your judgment. All that I shall +succeed in accomplishing in literature or in learning--my old favourite +relaxations--I shall with the utmost cheerfulness place before the bar +of your criticism, for you have always had a fondness for such things. +As to what you say in your letter about your domestic affairs, and all +you charge me to do, I am so attentive to them that I don't like being +reminded, can scarcely bear, indeed, to be asked without a very painful +feeling. As to your saying, in regard to Quintus's business, that you +could not do anything last summer, because you were prevented by illness +from crossing to Cilicia, but that you will now do everything in your +power to settle it, I may tell you that the fact of the matter is that, +if he can annex this property, my brother thinks that he will owe to you +the consolidation of this ancestral estate. I should like you to write +about all your affairs, and about the studies and training of your son +Lentulus (whom I regard as mine also) as confidentially and as +frequently as possible, and to believe that there never has been anyone +either dearer or more congenial to another than you are to me, and that +I will not only make you feel that to be the case, but will make all the +world and posterity itself to the latest generation aware of it. + +Appius used some time back to repeat in conversation, and afterwards +said openly, even in the senate, that if he were allowed to carry a law +in the _comitia curiata_, he would draw lots with his colleague for +their provinces; but if no curiatian law were passed, he would make an +arrangement with his colleague and succeed you: that a curiatian law was +a proper thing for a consul, but was not a necessity: that since he was +in possession of a province by a decree of the senate, he should have +_imperium_ in virtue of the Cornelian law until such time as he entered +the city. I don't know what your several connexions write to you on the +subject: I understand that opinion varies. There are some who think that +you can legally refuse to quit your province, because your successor is +named without a curiatian law: some also hold that, even if you do quit +it, you may leave some one behind you to conduct its government. For +myself, I do not feel so certain about the point of law--although there +is not much doubt even about that--as I do of this, that it is for your +greatest honour, dignity, and independence, which I know you always +value above everything, to hand over your province to a successor +without any delay, especially as you cannot thwart his greediness +without rousing suspicion of your own. I regard my duty as twofold--to +let you know what I think, and to defend what you have done. + +P.S.--I had written the above when I received your letter about the +_publicani_, to whom I could not but admire the justice of your conduct. +I could have wished that you had been able by some lucky chance to avoid +running counter to the interests and wishes of that order, whose honour +you have always promoted. For my part, I shall not cease to defend your +decrees: but you know the ways of that class of men; you are aware how +bitterly hostile they were to the famous Q. Scaevola himself. However, I +advise you to reconcile that order to yourself, or at least soften its +feelings, if you can by any means do so. Though difficult, I think it +is, nevertheless, not beyond the reach of your sagacity. + +[Footnote 652: Cicero gives him this title, by which he had been greeted +by his soldiers after some victory over the predatory tribes in Cilicia. +This letter is Cicero's most elaborate apology for his change of policy +in favour of the triumvirs.] + +[Footnote 653: Cicero has been variously supposed to refer to C. Cato +(who proposed the recall of Lentulus), to Appius the consul, and finally +to Pompey. The last seems on the whole most likely, though the +explanation is not without difficulties. In that case the "disclosure" +will refer to Pompey's intrigues as to the restoration of Ptolemy +Auletes, of which he wished to have the management.] + +[Footnote 654: _I.e._, to keep in with the Optimates, who were at this +time suspicious of, and hostile to Pompey.] + +[Footnote 655: At the trial of Sestius.] + +[Footnote 656: B.C. 59, when Vatinius proposed the law for Caesar's five +years' rule in Gaul.] + +[Footnote 657: B.C. 56.] + +[Footnote 658: Pompey is only speaking metaphorically. Quintus had +guaranteed Cicero's support. Pompey half-jestingly speaks as though he +had gone bail for him for a sum of money.] + +[Footnote 659: Q. Caecilius Metellus Numidius, expelled from the senate +and banished B.C. 100 for refusing the oath to the agrarian law of +Saturninus, but recalled in the following year. Cicero is fond of +comparing himself with him. See Letter CXLVII.] + +[Footnote 660: M. AEmilius Scaurus, consul B.C. 115 and 108, censor 109, +and long _princeps senatus_. Cicero comments elsewhere on his +_severitas_ (_de Off._ Sec. 108).] + +[Footnote 661: Plato, _Crit._ xii.] + +[Footnote 662: Like the character in the play (Terence, _Eun._ 440), if +the nobles annoyed Cicero by their attentions to P. Clodius, he would +annoy them by his compliments to Publius Vatinius.] + + + + +CLIII (A IV, 18) + +TO ATTICUS (IN ASIA) + +ROME, OCTOBER + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +... As it is,[663] to tell you my opinion of affairs, we must put up +with it. You ask me how I have behaved. With firmness and dignity. "What +about Pompey," you will say, "how did he take it?" With great +consideration, and with the conviction that he must have some regard for +my position, until a satisfactory atonement had been made to me. "How, +then," you will say, "was the acquittal secured?" It was a case of mere +dummies,[664] and incredible incompetence on the part of the +accusers--that is to say, of L. Lentulus, son of Lucius, who, according +to the universal murmur, acted collusively. In the next place, Pompey +was extraordinarily urgent; and the jurors were a mean set of fellows. +Yet, in spite of everything, there were thirty-two votes for conviction, +thirty-eight for acquittal. There are the other prosecutions hanging +over his head: he is by no means entirely free yet. You will say, "Well, +then, how do _you_ bear it?" With the best air possible, by heaven! and +I really do plume myself on my behaviour. We have lost, my dear +Pomponius, not only all the healthy sap and blood of our old +constitution, but even its colour and outward show. There is no Republic +to give a moment's pleasure or a feeling of security. "And is that, +then," you will say, "a satisfaction to you?" Precisely that. For I +recall what a fair course the state had for a short time, while I was at +the helm, and what a return has been made me! It does not give me a pang +that one man absorbs all power. The men to burst with envy are those who +were indignant at my having had some power. There are many things which +console me, without my departing an inch from my regular position; and I +am returning to the life best suited to my natural disposition--to +letters and the studies that I love. My labour in pleading I console by +my delight in oratory. I find delight in my town house and my country +residences. I do not recall the height from which I have fallen, but the +humble position from which I have risen. As long as I have my brother +and you with me, let those fellows be hanged, drawn, and quartered for +all I care: I can play the philosopher with you. That part of my soul, +in which in old times irritability had its home, has grown completely +callous. I find no pleasure in anything that is not private and +domestic. You will find me in a state of magnificent repose, to which +nothing contributes more than the prospect of your return. For there is +no one in the wide world whose feelings are so much in sympathy with my +own. But now let me tell you the rest. Matters are drifting on to an +_interregnum_; and there is a dictatorship in the air, in fact a good +deal of talk about it, which did Gabinius also some service with timid +jurors. All the candidates for the consulship are charged with bribery. +You may add to them Gabinius, on whom L. Sulla had served notice, +feeling certain that he was in a hopeless position--Torquatus having, +without success, demanded to have the prosecution. But they will all be +acquitted, and henceforth no one will be condemned for anything except +homicide. This last charge is warmly pressed, and accordingly informers +are busy. M. Fulvius Nobilior has been convicted. Many others have had +the wit to abstain from even putting in an appearance. Is there any more +news? Yes! After Gabinius's acquittal another panel of jurors, in a fit +of irritation, an hour later condemned Antiochus Gabinius, some fellow +from the studio of Sopolis, a freedman and orderly officer of Gabinius, +under the _lex Papia_. Consequently he at once remarked, "So the +Republic will not acquit me under the law of treason as it did +you!"[665] + +Pomptinus wants to celebrate a triumph on the 2nd of November. He is +openly opposed by the praetors Cato and Servilius and the tribune Q. +Mucius. For they say that no law for his _imperium_ was ever +carried:[666] and this one too was carried, by heaven, in a stupid way. +But Pomptinus will have the consul Appius on his side.[667] Cato, +however, declares that he shall never triumph so long as he is alive. I +think this affair, like many of the same sort, will come to nothing. +Appius thinks of going to Cilicia without a law, and at his own +expense.[668] I received a letter on the 24th of October from my brother +and from Caesar, dated from the nearest coasts of Britain on the 26th of +September. Britain done with ... hostages taken ... no booty ... a +tribute, however, imposed; they were on the point of bringing back the +army. Q. Pilius has just set out to join Caesar. If you have any love for +me or your family, or any truth in you, or even if you have any taste +left, and any idea of enjoying all your blessings, it is really time for +you to be on your way home, and, in fact, almost here. I vow I cannot +get on without you. And what wonder that I can't get on without _you_, +when I miss Dionysius so much? The latter, in fact, as soon as the day +comes, both I and my young Cicero will demand of you. The last letter I +had from you was dated Ephesus, 9th of August. + +[Footnote 663: The beginning of the letter is lost, referring to the +acquittal of Gabinius on a charge of _maiestas_.] + +[Footnote 664: [Greek: gorgeia gymna], "mere bugbears."] + +[Footnote 665: Antiochus Gabinius was tried, not for treason +(_maiestas_), but under the _lex Papia_, for having, though a +_peregrinus_, acted as a citizen; but he says "will not acquit me of +_treason_," because he means to infer that his condemnation was really +in place of Gabinius, whose acquittal had irritated his jury; therefore +he was practically convicted of _maiestas_ instead of his patron +Gabinius. I have, accordingly, ventured to elicit the end of a hexameter +from the Greek letters of the MS., of which no satisfactory account has +been given, and to read _Itaque dixit statim "respublica lege +maiestatis_ [Greek: ou soi ken ar' isa m' apheie] (or [Greek: aphie])." +The quotation is not known. Antiochus Gabinius was doubtless of Greek +origin and naturally quoted Greek poetry. Sopolis was a Greek painter +living at Rome (Pliny, _N. H._ xxxv. Sec.Sec. 40, 43).] + +[Footnote 666: Pomptinus had been waiting outside Rome for some years to +get his triumph (see p. 309). The _negant latum de imperio_ must refer +to a _lex curiata_ originally conferring his _imperium_, which his +opponents alleged had not been passed. The _insulse latum_ refers to the +law now passed granting him the triumph in spite of this. This latter +was passed by the old trick of the praetor appearing in the _campus_ +before daybreak to prevent _obnuntiatio_. The result was that the +tribunes interrupted the procession, which led to fighting and bloodshed +(Dio, 39, 65).] + +[Footnote 667: Because he wanted to go to his province himself in spite +of having failed to get a _lex curiata_ (p. 324).] + +[Footnote 668: _I.e._, without waiting for the senate to vote the usual +outfit (_ornare provinciam_).] + + + + +CLIV (Q FR III, 5-6) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL) + +TUSCULUM (OCTOBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +You ask me what I have done about the books which I begun to write when +in my Cuman villa: I have not been idle and am not being idle now; but I +have frequently changed the whole plan and arrangement of the work. I +had already completed two books, in which I represented a conversation +taking place on the Novendialia held in the consulship of Tuditanus and +Aquilius,[669] between Africanus, shortly before his death, and Laelius, +Philus, Manilius, P. Rutilius, Q. Tubero, and Laelius's sons-in-law, +Fannius and Scaevola; a conversation which was extended to nine days and +the same number of books "On the best Constitution of the State" and "On +the best Citizen." The work was excellently composed, and the rank of +the speakers added considerable weight to the style. But when these +books were read to me in the presence of Sallustius at Tusculum, it was +suggested to me by him that a discourse on such subjects would come with +much greater force if I were myself the speaker on the Republic, +especially as I was a no mere Heraclides Ponticus,[670] but an +ex-consul, and one who had been engaged in the most important affairs in +the state: that when I put them in the mouth of men of such ancient date +they would have an air of unreality: that I had shewn good taste in my +books about the science of rhetoric in keeping the dialogue of the +orators apart from myself, and yet had attributed it to men whom I had +personally seen: and, finally, that Aristotle delivers in the first +person his essays "On the Republic" and "On the Eminent Man." I was +influenced the more by this from the fact that I was unable to touch on +the most important commotions in our state, because they were subsequent +to the age of the speakers. Moreover, my express object then was not to +offend anyone by launching into the events of my own time: as it is, I +shall avoid that and at the same time be the speaker with you. +Nevertheless, when I come to Rome I will send you the dialogues as they +originally stood. For I fancy that those books will convince you that +they have not been abandoned by me without some chagrin. + +I am extremely gratified by Caesar's affection of which you write to me. +The offers which he holds out I do not much reckon on, nor have I any +thirst for honours or longing for glory; and I look forward more to the +continuation of his kindness than to the fulfilment of his promises. +Still, I live a life so prominent and laborious that I might seem to be +expecting the very thing that I deprecate. As to your request that I +should compose some verses, you could hardly believe, my dear brother, +how short of time I am: nor do I feel much moved in spirit to write +poetry on the subject you mention. Do you really come to me for +disquisitions on things that I can scarcely conceive even in +imagination--you who have distanced everybody in that style of vivid and +descriptive writing? Yet I would have done it if I could, but, as you +will assuredly not fail to notice, for writing poetry there is need of a +certain freshness of mind of which my occupations entirely deprive me. I +withdraw myself, it is true, from all political anxiety and devote +myself to literature; still, I will hint to you what, by heaven, I +specially wished to have concealed from you. It cuts me to the heart, my +dearest brother, to the heart, to think that there is no Republic, no +law courts, and that my present time of life, which ought to have been +in the full bloom of senatorial dignity, is distracted with the labours +of the forum or eked out by private studies, and that the object on +which from boyhood I had set my heart, + + "Far to excel, and tower above the crowd,"[671] + +is entirely gone: that my opponents have in some cases been left +unattacked by me, in others even defended: that not only my sympathies, +but my very dislikes, are not free: and that Caesar is the one man in the +world who has been found to love me to my heart's content, or even, as +others think, the only one who was inclined to do so. However, there is +none of all these vexations of such a kind as to be beyond the reach of +many daily consolations; but the greatest of consolations will be our +being together. As it is, to those other sources of vexation there is +added my very deep regret for your absence. If I had defended Gabinius, +which Pansa thought I ought to have done, I should have been quite +ruined: those who hate him--and that is entire orders--would have begun +to hate me for the sake of their hatred for him. I confined myself, as I +think with great dignity, to doing only that which all the world saw me +do. And to sum up the whole case, I am, as you advise, devoting all my +efforts to tranquillity and peace. As to the books: Tyrannio is a +slow-coach: I will speak to Chrysippus, but it is a laborious business +and requires a man of the utmost industry. I find it in my own case, +for, though I am as diligent as possible, I get nothing done. As to the +Latin books, I don't know which way to turn--they are copied and exposed +for sale with such a quantity of errors! However, whatever can possibly +be done I will not neglect to do. Gaius Rebilus, as I wrote to you +before, is at Rome. He solemnly affirms his great obligations to you, +and reports well of your health.[672] I think the question of the +treasury was settled in my absence. When you speak of having finished +four tragedies in sixteen days, I presume you are borrowing from some +one else? And do _you_ deign to be indebted to others after writing the +_Electra_, and the _Troades_? Don't be idle; and don't think the +proverbial [Greek: gnothi seauton] was only meant to discourage vanity: +it means also that we should be aware of our own qualities. But pray +send me these tragedies as well as the _Erigona_. I have now answered +your last two letters. + +[Footnote 669: B.C. 129. The _Novendialia_ was a nine days' festival on +the occasion of some special evil omens or prodigies; for an instance +(in B.C. 202), see Livy, 30, 38. The book referred to is that "On the +Republic."] + +[Footnote 670: _I.e._, a mere theorist like Heraclides Ponticus, a pupil +of Plato's, whose work "On Constitutions" still exists.] + +[Footnote 671: Hom. _Il._ vi. 208.] + +[Footnote 672: Reading _qui omnia adiurat debere tibi et te valere +renuntiat_. The text, however, is corrupt.] + + + + +CLV (Q FR III, 7) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL) + +TUSCULUM (NOVEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +At Rome, and especially on the Appian road as far as the temple of Mars, +there is a remarkable flood. The promenade of Crassipes has been washed +away, pleasure grounds, a great number of shops. There is a great sheet +of water right up to the public fish-pond. That doctrine of Homer's is +in full play: + + "The days in autumn when in violent flood + Zeus pours his waters, wroth at sinful men"-- + +for it falls in with the acquittal of Gabinius-- + + "Who wrench the law to suit their crooked ends + And drive out justice, recking naught of Gods."[673] + +But I have made up my mind not to care about such things. When I get +back to Rome I will write and tell you my observations, and especially +about the dictatorship, and I will also send a letter to Labienus and +one to Ligurius. I write this before daybreak by the carved wood +lamp-stand, in which I take great delight, because they tell me that you +had it made when you were at Samos. Good-bye, dearest and best of +brothers. + +[Footnote 673: Hom. _Il._ xvi. 385.] + + + + +CLVI (F VII, 16) + +TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) + +ROME (NOVEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +In the "Trojan Horse," just at the end, you remember the words, "Too +late they learn wisdom."[674] You, however, old man, were wise in time. +Those first snappy letters of yours were foolish enough, and then----! I +don't at all blame you for not being over-curious in regard to Britain. +For the present, however, you seem to be in winter quarters somewhat +short of warm clothing, and therefore not caring to stir out: + + "Not here and there, but everywhere, + Be wise and ware: + No sharper steel can warrior bear." + +If I had been by way of dining out, I would not have failed your friend +Cn. Octavius; to whom, however, I did remark upon his repeated +invitations, "Pray, who are you?" But, by Hercules, joking apart, he is +a pretty fellow: I could have wished you had taken him with you! Let me +know for certain what you are doing and whether you intend coming to +Italy at all this winter. Balbus has assured me that you will be rich. +Whether he speaks after the simple Roman fashion, meaning that you will +be well supplied with money, or according to the Stoic dictum, that "all +are rich who can enjoy the sky and the earth," I shall know hereafter. +Those who come from your part accuse you of pride, because they say you +won't answer men who put questions to you. However, there is one thing +that will please you: they all agree in saying that there is no better +lawyer than you at Samarobriva![675] + +[Footnote 674: By Livius Andronicus or Naevius. Tyrrell would write the +proverb _in extremo sero sapiunt_, "'tis too late to be wise at the +last." There was a proverb, _sero parsimonia in fundo_, something like +this, Sen. _Ep._ i. 5, from the Greek (Hes. _Op._ 369), [Greek: deile d' +en pythmeni pheido].] + +[Footnote 675: In Gallia Belgica, mod. _Amiens._] + + + + +CLVII (A IV, 17) + +TO ATTICUS (ON HIS WAY TO ROME) + +ROME (NOVEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +At last the long-expected letter from you! Back to Italy, how +delightful! What wonderful fidelity to your promise! What a charming +voyage! About this last, by Hercules, I was very nervous, remembering +the fur wrappers of your former crossing. But, unless I am mistaken, I +shall see you sooner than you say in your letter. For I believe you +thought that your ladies were in Apulia, and when you find that not to +be the case, what can there be to detain you there? Are you bound to +give Vestorius some days, and must you go through the stale banquet of +his Latin Atticism again after an interval? Nay, fly hither and visit +(the remains) of that genuine Republic of ours!...[676] Observe my +strength of mind and my supreme indifference to the Felician[677] +one-twelfth legacy, and also, by heaven, my very gratifying connexion +with Caesar--for this delights me as the one spar left me from the +present shipwreck--Caesar, I say, who treats your and my Quintus, +heavens! with what honour, respect, and favours! It is exactly as if I +were the _imperator_. The choice was just lately offered him of +selecting any of the winter quarters, as he writes me word. Wouldn't you +be fond of such a man as that? Of which of your friends would you, if +not of him? But look you! did I write you word that I was _legatus_ to +Pompey, and should be outside the city from the 13th of January onwards? +This appeared to me to square with many things. But why say more? I +will, I think, reserve the rest till we meet, that you may, after all, +have something to look forward to. My very best regards to Dionysius, +for whom, indeed, I have not merely kept a place, but have even built +one. In fine, to the supreme joy of your return, a finishing stroke will +be added by his arrival. The day you arrive, you and your party will, I +entreat you, stay with me. + +[Footnote 676: There are some words here too corrupt to be translated +with any confidence. They appear to convey a summary of news already +written in several letters as to the bribery at the elections, the +acquittal of Gabinius, and the rumour of a dictatorship.] + +[Footnote 677: A legacy of a twelfth left by a certain Felix to Cicero +and Quintus had been rendered null by a mistake as to the will. See the +letter to Quintus, p. 338.] + + + + +CLVIII (Q FR III, 8) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL) + +ROME (NOVEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +The earlier of your two letters is full of irritability and +complainings, and you say you gave another of the same sort the day +before to Labienus, who has not yet arrived--but I have nothing to say +in answer to it, for your more recent letter has obliterated all trace +of vexation from my mind. I will only give you this hint and make this +request, that in the midst of your vexations and labours you should +recall what our notion was as to your going to Caesar. For our object was +not the acquisition of certain small and unimportant gains. For what was +there of that kind which we should have thought worth the price of our +separation? What we sought was the strongest possible security for the +maintenance of our entire political position by the countenance of a man +of the highest character and most commanding influence. Our interest is +not so much in the acquisition of sums of money, as in the realization +of this hope: all else that you get is to be regarded only as a security +against actual loss.[678] Wherefore, if you will frequently turn your +thoughts back upon what we originally proposed to ourselves and hoped to +do, you will bear with less impatience the labours of military service +of which you speak and the other things which annoy you, and, +nevertheless, will resign them whenever you choose. But the right moment +for that step is not yet come, though it is now not far off. +Farthermore, I give you this hint--don't commit anything at all to +writing, the publication of which would be annoying to us. There are +many things that I would rather not know than learn at some risk. I +shall write at greater length to you with a mind less preoccupied, when +my boy Cicero is, as I hope he will be, in a good state of health. Pray +be careful to let me know to whom I should give the letter which I shall +then send you--to Caesar's letter-carriers, for him to forward them +direct to you, or to those of Labienus? For where your Nervii dwell, and +how far off, I have no idea.[679] I derived great pleasure from your +letter describing the courage and dignity displayed (as you say) by +Caesar in his extreme sorrow. You bid me finish the poem in his honour +which I had begun; and although I have been diverted from it by +business, and still more by my feelings, yet, since Caesar knows that I +did begin something, I will return to my design, and will complete in +these leisure days of the "supplications,"[680] during which I greatly +rejoice that our friend Messalla and the rest are at last relieved from +worry. In reckoning on him as certain to be consul with Domitius, you +are quite in agreement with my own opinion. I will guarantee Messalla to +Caesar: but Memmius cherishes a hope, founded on Caesar's return to Italy, +in which I think he is under a mistake. He is, indeed, quite out of it +here. Scaurus, again, has been long ago thrown over by Pompey. The +business has been put off: the _comitia_ postponed and postponed, till +we may expect an _interregnum_. The rumour of a dictator is not pleasing +to the aristocrats; for myself, I like still less what they say. But the +proposal, as a whole, is looked upon with alarm, and grows unpopular. +Pompey says outright that he doesn't wish it: to me previously he used +not personally to deny the wish. Hirrus seems likely to be the proposer. +Ye gods! what folly! How in love with himself and without--a rival! He +has commissioned me to choke off Caelius Vinicianus, a man much attached +to me. Whether Pompey wishes it or not, it is difficult to be sure. +However, if it is Hirrus who makes the proposal, he will not convince +people that he does not wish it. There is nothing else being talked +about in politics just now; at any rate, nothing else is being done. The +funeral of the son of Serranus Domesticus took place in very melancholy +circumstances on the 23rd of November. His father delivered the funeral +oration which I composed for him. Now about Milo. Pompey gives him no +support, and is all for Gutta, saying also that he will secure Caesar on +his side. Milo is alarmed at this, and no wonder, and almost gives up +hope if Pompey is created dictator. If he assists anyone who vetoes the +dictatorship by his troop and bodyguard,[681] he fears he may excite +Pompey's enmity: if he doesn't do so, he fears the proposal may be +carried by force. He is preparing games on a most magnificent scale, at +a cost, I assure you, that no one has ever exceeded. It is foolish, on +two or even three accounts, to give games that were not demanded--he has +already given a magnificent show of gladiators: he cannot afford it: he +is only an executor, and might have reflected that he is now an +executor, not an aedile. That is about all I had to write. Take care of +yourself, dearest brother. + +[Footnote 678: Cicero means, "the substantial gain to be got from your +serving under Caesar in Gaul is the securing of his protection in the +future: all other gains, such as money etc., are merely to be regarded +as securing you from immediate loss in thus going to Gaul: they don't +add anything fresh to our position and prospects."] + +[Footnote 679: Quintus had his winter quarters among the Nervii, in a +town near the modern Charleroi. In this winter he was in great danger +from a sudden rising of the Nervii and other tribes (Caes. _B. G._ v. +24-49).] + +[Footnote 680: Twenty days of _supplicatio_ had been decreed in honour +of Caesar's campaigns of B.C. 55 (Caes. _B. G._ iv. 38).] + +[Footnote 681: His gladiators, which he kept in training for the games +he was going to give in honour of a deceased friend.] + + + + +CLIX (Q FR III, 9) + +TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL) + +ROME (NOVEMBER OR DECEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +In regard to Gabinius, I had not to carry out any of the measures which +you suggested with such affectionate solicitude. "May the earth swallow +me rather, etc.!"[682] I acted with very great dignity and also with the +greatest consideration. I neither bore hardly on him nor helped him. I +gave strong evidence, in other respects I did not stir. The disgraceful +and mischievous result of the trial I bore with the utmost serenity. And +this is the advantage which, after all that has happened, has accrued to +me--that I am not even affected in the least by those evils in the state +and the licentious conduct of the shameless, which used formerly to make +me burst with indignation: for anything more abandoned than the men and +the times in which we are living there cannot be. Accordingly, as no +pleasure can possibly be got from politics, I don't know why I should +lose my temper. Literature and my favourite studies, along with the +retirement of my country houses, and above all our two boys, furnish my +enjoyments. The one man who vexes me is Milo. But I hope an end will be +put to my anxieties by his getting the consulship: and to obtain this +for him I shall struggle as hard as I did for my own, and you, I am +sure, will continue to give assistance from over there. In his case +other things are all secure, unless it is snatched from his grasp by +downright violence: it is about his means that I am frightened: + + "For he is now beyond all bearing mad,"[683] + +to spend 1,000,000 sesterces (about L8,000) on his games. His want of +prudence in this one particular I shall put up with as well as I can, +and you should be strong-minded enough to do the same. In mentioning the +changes to be expected next year, I didn't mean you to understand me to +refer to domestic alarms: the reference was wholly to the state of the +Republic, in which, though not charged with any actual duty, I can +scarcely discharge myself from all anxiety. Yet how cautious I would +have you be in writing you may guess from the fact that I do not mention +in my letters to you even open acts of disorder in the state, lest my +letter should be intercepted and give offence to the feelings of anyone. +Wherefore, as far as domestic affairs are concerned, I would have you be +quite easy: in politics I know how anxious you always are. I can see +that our friend Messalla will be consul, if by means of an _interrex_, +without any prosecution, if by that of a dictator, without danger of +conviction. He is not disliked by anyone. Hortensius's warm support will +stand him in good stead. Gabinius's acquittal is looked upon as a +general act of indemnity. _En passant_: nothing has, after all, been +done as yet about a dictatorship. Pompey is out of town; Appius is +intriguing darkly; Hirrus is paving the way: there are many tribunes +calculated on to veto it: the people are indifferent: the leading men +disinclined to it: I don't stir a finger. I am exceedingly obliged for +your promises as to slaves, and I am indeed, as you say, short-handed +both at Rome and on my estates. But pray do nothing for my convenience +unless it entirely suits your own, and your means. About the letter of +Vatinius I laughed heartily. But though I know I am being watched by +him, I can swallow his hatred and digest it too. You urge me to +"finish": well, I have finished what, in my own opinion at least, is a +very pretty "epic" on Caesar, but I am in search of a trustworthy +letter-carrier, lest it should share the fate of your +_Erigona_[684]--the only personage who has missed a safe journey from +Gaul during Caesar's governorship. + +What? because I had no good stone was I to pull down the whole +building?--a building which I like better every day of my life: the +lower court especially and the chambers attached to it are admirable. As +to Arcanum, it is a building worthy of Caesar, or, by heaven, of some one +even more tasteful still. For your statues, _palaestra_, fish-pond, and +conduit are worthy of many Philotimuses, and quite above your +Diphiluses. But I will visit them personally, as well as sending men to +look after them and giving orders about them. As to the will of Felix, +you will complain more when you know all. For the document which he +believed himself to have sealed, in which your name was most certainly +entered as heir to a twelfth, this, by a mistake of his own and of his +slave Sicura, he did not seal: while the one which he did not intend to +seal he did seal. But let it go hang, so long as we keep well! I am as +devoted to your son Cicero as you can wish, and as he deserves, and as I +am bound to be. However, I am letting him leave me, both to avoid +keeping him from his teachers, and because his mother is leaving, +without whom I am very much alarmed as to the boy's large appetite. Yet, +after all, we see a great deal of each other. I have now answered all +your letters. Dearest and best of brothers, good-bye. + +[Footnote 682: _I.e._, rather than defend him. [Greek: tote moi chanoi +(eureia chthon)], Hom. _Il._ iv. 182.] + +[Footnote 683: [Greek: ho de mainetai ouk et' anektos] (Hom. _Il._ viii. +355). The numerals seem doubtful. According to some MSS. the amount +would be 10,000,000, _i.e._, L80,000.] + +[Footnote 684: The tragedy written by Quintus and lost in transit.] + + + + +CLX (F VII, 10) + +TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) + +ROME (NOVEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +I have read your letter which informs me that our Caesar considers you a +great lawyer. You must be glad to have found a country where you have +the credit of knowing something. But if you had gone to Britain also, I +feel sure that there would not have been in all that great island anyone +more learned in the law than you. However--you won't mind my laughing, +for you invited me to do so--I am becoming positively a little jealous +of you! That you should have been actually sent for by a man whom other +people--not because of his pride, but of his many engagements--cannot +venture to approach! + +But in that letter you told me nothing about your success, which, by +heaven, is of no less concern to me than my own. I am very much afraid +you may be frozen in your winter quarters: and therefore I think you +ought to use a good stove. Mucius and Manilius "concur" in this opinion, +especially on the ground of your being short of military cloaks. +However, I am told that you are having a sufficiently warm time of it +where you are--news which made me much alarmed for you.[685] However, in +military matters you are much more cautious than at the bar, seeing that +you wouldn't take a swim in the ocean, fond of swimming as you are, and +wouldn't take a look at the British charioteers, though in old time I +could never cheat you even out of a blind-folded gladiator.[686] But +enough of joking. You know how earnestly I have written to Caesar about +you; I know how often. Yet, in truth, I have lately ceased doing so, +lest I should appear to distrust the kindness of a man who has been most +liberal and affectionate to me. However, in the very last letter I wrote +I thought he ought to be reminded. I did so. Please tell me what effect +it had, and at the same time tell me about your position in general and +all your plans. For I am anxious to know what you are doing, what you +are expecting, how long your separation from us you think is to last. I +would wish you to believe that the one consolation, enabling me to bear +your absence, is the knowledge that it is for your advantage. But if +that is not so, nothing can be more foolish than both the one and the +other of us: me for not inducing you to come back to Rome--you for not +flying thither. By heavens, our conversation, whether serious or +jesting, will be worth more not only than the enemy, but even than our +"brothers" the Haedui.[687] Wherefore let me know about everything as +soon as possible: + + "I'll be some use by comfort, rede, or pelf."[688] + +[Footnote 685: He seems to refer to the rising of the Nervii against the +Roman winter quarters (Caes. _B. G._ v. 39 _seq_).] + +[Footnote 686: _Andabatam_, a gladiator with a closed helmet covering +the face, who thus fought without seeing his adversary.] + +[Footnote 687: A title granted to the Haedui by the senate (Caes. _B. G._ +i. 33; Tac. _Ann._ xi. 25).] + +[Footnote 688: Terence, _Heautont_. 86.] + + + + +CLXI (F I, 10) + +TO L. VALERIUS (IN CILICIA) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +M. Cicero wishes heath to L. Valerius, learned in the law. For why I +should not pay you this compliment I don't know, especially considering +that in these times one may employ impudence to supply the place of +learning. I have written to our friend Lentulus, thanking him earnestly +in your name. But I could wish that you would now cease using my letter +of introduction and at last come back to us, and prefer a city where you +are of some account, to a place where you appear to be the only man of +legal learning. However, those who come from where you are either say +you are proud because you give no "opinions," or insulting because you +give bad ones.[689] But I am now longing to crack a joke with you face +to face. So come as soon as ever you can, and don't go and visit your +native Apulia, that we may have the joy of welcoming your safe return. +For if you go there, like another Ulysses, you will not recognize any of +your friends.[690] + +[Footnote 689: Cicero perhaps means that Valerius's "opinions" are too +right to suit such a set as are to be found in the province. Valerius +will not mind people there thinking him a bad lawyer. "At Rome you are +considered a good lawyer, in Cilicia they don't think so!"] + +[Footnote 690: _Cognosces tuorum neminem._. Others read _cognoscere +tuorum nemini_, "you will not be recognized by any of your friends," +which agrees better with Homer's account of the return of Ulysses. But +perhaps the exact comparison is not to be pressed.] + + + + +CLXII (F XIII, 49) + +TO M. CURIUS (A PROCONSUL) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +Q. Pompeius, son of Sextus, has become my intimate friend from many +causes of long standing. As he has often in the past been accustomed to +defend his material interests, as well as his reputation and influence, +by my recommendations, so on the present occasion assuredly, with you as +governor of the province, he ought to be able to feel that he has never +had a warmer recommendation to anyone. Wherefore I beg you with more +than ordinary earnestness that, as you ought in view of our close +friendship to regard all my friends as your own, you would give the +bearer so high a place in your regard, that he may feel that nothing +could have been more to his interest and honour than my recommendation. +Farewell. + + + + +CLXIII (F XIII, 60) + +TO C. MUNATIUS (IN A PROVINCE) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +L. Livineius Trypho is to begin with a freedman of my most intimate +friend L. Regulus (whose disaster makes me more than ever anxious to do +him some service--for as far as feeling goes I could not be warmer): but +I also am attached to his freedman on his own account, for he shewed me +very great kindness at that time in my career, when I was best able to +see men's real goodwill and fidelity. I recommend him to you with all +the warmth that one who is grateful and not oblivious should use in +recommending those who have done him good service. You will have greatly +gratified me if he is made to feel that in confronting many dangers for +my security, and often undertaking voyages in the depths of winter, he +has also put you under an obligation in view of your kind feeling +towards me. + + + + +CLXIV (F XIII, 73) + +TO Q. PHILIPPUS (PROCONSUL OF ASIA) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52] + +I congratulate you on your safe return to your family from your +province, without loss to your reputation or to the state. But if I had +seen you at Rome I should also have thanked you for having looked after +L. Egnatius, my most intimate friend, who is still absent, and L. +Oppius, who is here. With Antipater of Derbe I have become not merely on +visiting terms, but really very intimate. I have been told that you are +exceedingly angry with him, and I was very sorry to hear it. I have no +means of judging the merits of the case, only I am persuaded that a man +of your character has done nothing without good reason. However, I do +beg of you again and again that, in consideration of our old friendship, +you will, for my sake if for anyone's, grant his sons, who are in your +power, their liberty, unless you consider that in doing so your +reputation may be injured. If I had thought that, I would never have +made the request, for your fame is of more importance in my eyes than +any friendship with him. But I persuade myself--though I may possibly be +mistaken--that this measure will bring you honour rather than abuse. +What can be done in the matter, and what you _can_ do for my sake (for +as to your willingness I feel no doubt), I should be obliged by your +informing me, if it is not too much trouble to you. + + + + +CLXV (F II, 1) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, Coss., M. Domitius Calvinus, M. Valerius Messalla.] + + This was the year in which Crassus was defeated and killed in + Parthia, making thus the first break in the triumvirate, when + already the ties between Pompey and Caesar were weakened by the + death of Iulia in the previous year. Caesar, however, had been in + great difficulties in Gaul. At the end of the previous year a fresh + rising of the Nervii destroyed a Roman legion and put Q. Cicero in + great danger. In the present year Quintus met with his disaster at + the hands of the Sigambri. The chief event to Cicero personally was + his election into the college of augurs, in place of the younger + Crassus. Atticus appears to be in Rome, for there are no letters to + him. There was a series of _interregna_ this year owing to partisan + conflicts, lasting till July, and when the consuls were at length + appointed, they failed to hold the elections for B.C. 52. + + +TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO[691] (IN ASIA) + +ROME (JANUARY OR FEBRUARY) + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53] + +Though I am sorry that you have suspected me of neglect, yet it was not +so annoying to me to have my lack of attention found fault with, as +delightful to have it missed by you; especially as in the particular +point on which you accuse me I happen to be innocent, while in shewing +that you miss a letter from me, you avow an affection for me, of which, +indeed, I was fully aware, but which, nevertheless, is very soothing and +gratifying to my feelings. The fact is that I have never let anyone go, +so long, that is, as I thought him likely to reach you, without giving +him a letter. Why, was there ever such an untiring correspondent as I? +From you, however, I have received two, or at the most three +letters--and those extremely brief. Wherefore, if you are a harsh judge +of me, I shall find you guilty on precisely the same charge. But if you +don't want me to do that, you will have to be considerate to me. +However, enough about writing; for I am not afraid of failing to satiate +you with my correspondence, especially if you shew a just appreciation +of my zeal in that department. I have been grieved on the one hand at +your long absence from us, because I have lost the advantage of a most +delightful intimacy; and yet on the other hand I rejoice at it, because +while on this foreign service you have gained all your objects with +infinite credit to yourself, and because in all you have undertaken +fortune has answered to my wishes. There is one injunction, a very short +one, which my unspeakable affection for you compels me to give you. Such +lofty expectations are entertained of your spirit, shall I say? or of +your ability, that I cannot refrain from imploring and beseeching you to +return to us with a character so finished, as to be able to support and +maintain the expectations which you have excited. And since no loss of +memory will ever obliterate my recollection of your services to me, I +beg you not to forget that, whatever increase of fortune or position may +befall you, you would not have been able to attain it, had you not as a +boy obeyed my most faithful and affectionate counsels.[692] Wherefore it +will be your duty to shew me such affection, that my age--now on the +decline--may find repose in your devotion and youth. + +[Footnote 691: The younger Curio was now quaestor to C. Clodius, brother +of Publius and Appius, in Asia. He was tribune in B.C. 50, when he +suddenly changed sides and joined Caesar, who purchased his adhesion by +paying his immense debts.] + +[Footnote 692: Curio had supported Cicero against Clodius, and had +worked for his recall. He seems to have attended at Cicero's house for +the study of rhetoric or legal practice, as was the fashion for young +men to do. He presently married Fulvia, the widow of Clodius, who after +his death in Africa (B.C. 48) married Antony.] + + + + +CLXVI (F VII, 11) + +TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) + +ROME (JANUARY OR FEBRUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53] + +If you had not left Rome before, you certainly would have left it now. +For who wants a lawyer when there are so many _interregna_? I shall +advise all defendants in civil suits to ask each _interrex_ for two +adjournments for obtaining legal assistance.[693] Do you think that I +have taken a pretty good hint from you as to civil procedure? But come! +How are you? What is happening? For I notice in your letter a tendency +to be even jocose. These are better signs than the _signa_ in my +Tusculan villa.[694] But I want to know what it means. You say, indeed, +that you are consulted by Caesar, but I should have preferred his +consulting _for_ you. If that is taking place, or you think it likely to +take place, by all means persevere in your military service and stay on: +I shall console myself for my loss of you by the hope that it will be +your gain: but if, on the other hand, things are not paying with you, +come back to us. For either something will turn up sooner or later here, +or, if not, one conversation between you and me, by heaven, will be +worth more than all the Samobrivae[695] in the world. Finally, if you +return speedily, there will be no talk about it; but if you stay away +much longer without getting anything, I am in terror not only of +Laberius, but of our comrade Valerius also. For it would make a capital +character for a farce--a British lawyer![696] I am not laughing though +you may laugh, but, as usual, when writing to you, I jest on the most +serious subject. Joking apart, I advise you in the most friendly spirit, +that if you hold a position for yourself worthy of my introduction, you +should put up with the loss of my society and farther your own career +and wealth: but if things are stagnant with you there, come back to us. +In spite of everything you will get all you want, by your own good +qualities certainly, but also by my extreme affection for you. + +[Footnote 693: The _interregna_ lasting this year till July. No legal +business could be done, as the law courts were closed during an +_interregnum_. But Cicero jestingly says that he advises clients to +apply to each _interrex_ (who only held office for five days) for two +adjournments, whereby he would get his case postponed indefinitely: for +if each adjournment was to the third day, the two would cover each +_interregnum_. Of course he is only jesting, for in any case the cause +would not come on.] + +[Footnote 694: There is a play on the double meaning of _signa_, "signs" +and "statues." Cicero did not like the statues in his Tusculanum. See +Letter CXXV.] + +[Footnote 695: Samobriva (Amiens), where Trebatius was, or had been, in +Caesar's camp. Caesar spells it Samarobriva.] + +[Footnote 696: Laberius is a rival jurisconsult, Valerius a writer of +mimes. Though Cicero jests at the supposed comic character, "a lawyer in +Britain" (as we might say, "a lawyer among the Zulus"), it does not +appear that Trebatius went to Britain with Caesar.] + + + + +CLXVII (F II, 2) + +TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (IN ASIA) + +ROME (? FEBRUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53] + +I have been deprived of a strong witness to my extreme affection for you +in the person of your most illustrious father: who would have been +fortunate above the common lot, both in his own memorable achievements +and in the possession of such a son as yourself, had it been granted him +to see you before his departure from life. But I hope our friendship +stands in no need of witnesses. Heaven bless your inheritance to you! +You will at least have in me one to whom you are as dear and as precious +as you have been to your father. + + + + +CLXVIII (F II, 3) + +TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (IN ASIA) + +ROME (? FEBRUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53] + +Rupa[697] was not backward in his wish to promise an exhibition of +gladiators in your name, but neither I nor any of your friends approved +of anything being done in your absence which would tie your hands when +you returned. For my part, I will either write you my opinion at greater +length later on, or, to give you no opportunity of preparing an answer +to it, I will take you unprepared and state my view by word of mouth +against yours. I shall thus either bring you over to my opinion, or at +least leave in your mind a record of my view, so that, if at any time +(which heaven forbid!) you may see cause to repent of your decision, you +may be able to recall mine. Briefly, be assured that your return will +find the state of things to be such, that you may gain the highest +possible honours in the state more easily by the advantages with which +you are endowed by nature, study, and fortune, than by gladiatorial +exhibitions. The power of giving such things stirs no feeling of +admiration in anyone; for it is wholly a question of means, and not of +character; and there is nobody who is not by this time sick and tired of +them. But I am not acting as I said I would do, for I am embarking on a +statement of the reasons for my opinion. So I will put off this entire +discussion to your arrival. Believe me, you are expected with the +greatest interest, and hopes are entertained of you such as can only be +entertained of the highest virtue and ability. If you are as prepared +for this as you ought to be--and I feel certain you are--you will be +bestowing on us, your friends, on the whole body of your fellow +citizens, and on the entire state, the most numerous and most excellent +of exhibitions. You will certainly become aware that no one can be +dearer or more precious than you are to me. + +[Footnote 697: A freedman and agent of Curio's. The question is of +funeral games and an exhibition of gladiators in honour of Curio's +father. Curio gave them, and involved himself in huge debt in +consequence.] + + + + +CLXIX (F VII, 12) + +TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) + +ROME (? FEBRUARY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53] + +I was wondering what had made you cease writing to me. My friend +Pansa[698] has informed me that you have become an Epicurean! What a +wonderful camp yours must be! What would you have done if I had sent you +to Tarentum[699] instead of Samobriva? I was already a little doubtful +about you, when I found you supporting the same doctrine as my friend +Selius![700] But on what ground will you support the principles of civil +law, if you act always in your own interest and not in that of your +fellow citizens? What, too, is to become of the legal formula in cases +of trust, "as should be done among honest men"? For who can be called +honest who does nothing except on his own behalf? What principle will +you lay down "in dividing a common property," when nothing can be +"common" among men who measure all things by their own pleasure?[701] +How, again, can you ever think it right to swear by _Iupiter lapis_, +when you know that Iupiter cannot be angry with anyone?[702] What is to +become of the people of Ulubrae,[703] if you have decided that it is not +right to take part in civic business? Wherefore, if you are really and +truly a pervert from our faith, I am much annoyed; but if you merely +find it convenient to humour Pansa, I forgive you. Only _do_ write and +tell us how you are, and what you want me to do or to look after for +you. + +[Footnote 698: C. Vibius Pansa had been in Gaul, and was now home to +stand for the tribuneship, which he obtained for B.C. 52-51.] + +[Footnote 699: Where he would have been in luxury.] + +[Footnote 700: A follower of the new academy, with which Cicero was more +in sympathy than with the Epicurean ethics, but apparently only partly +so. The leading doctrine was the denial of the possibility of knowledge, +and, applied to ethics, this might destroy all virtue.] + +[Footnote 701: All these jesting objections to a lawyer being an +Epicurean are founded on the Epicurean doctrine that individual feeling +is the standard of morals, and the _summum bonum_ is the good of the +individual. The logical deduction that a man should therefore hold aloof +from politics and social life, as involving social obligations and +standards, was, of course, evaded in practice.] + +[Footnote 702: For the Epicureans believed the gods to exist, but not to +trouble themselves with the affairs of men. In taking an oath by +_Iupiter lapis_ the swearer took a stone in his hand and said, "If I +abide by this oath may he bless me: but if I do otherwise in thought or +deed, may all others be kept safe, each in his own country, under his +own laws, in enjoyment of his own goods, household gods, and tombs--may +I alone be cast out, even as this stone is now." Then he throws down the +stone. This passage from Polybius (iii. 25) refers to treaties, but the +same form seems to have been used in suits about land.] + +[Footnote 703: Ulubrae--like other _municipia_--had a _patronus_ at Rome +to look after its interests. If Trebatius (who was its _patronus_) would +take no part in politics, he would be of no use to the Ulubrani. [Greek: +politeuesthai], "to act as a citizen," "to act as a member of a +political body."] + + + + +CLXX (F VII, 13) + +TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) + +ROME, 4 MARCH + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53] + +Did you suppose me to be so unjust as to be angry with you from the idea +that you were not sufficiently persevering and were too eager to return, +and do you think that that is the reason of my long silence? I was +certainly annoyed by the uneasiness of your spirits, which your first +letters conveyed to me; but there was absolutely no other reason for the +interruption of my own, except my complete ignorance of your address. +Are you still, at this time of day, finding fault with me, and do you +refuse to accept my apology? Just listen to me, my dear Testa! Is it +money that is making you prouder, or the fact that your +commander-in-chief consults you? May I die if I don't believe that such +is your vanity that you would rather be consulted by Caesar than +gilded[704] by him! But if both reasons are true, who will be able to +put up with you except myself, who can put up with anything? But to +return to our subject--I am exceedingly glad that you are content to be +where you are, and as your former state of mind was vexatious, so your +present is gratifying, to me. I am only afraid that your special +profession may be of little advantage to you: for, as I am told, in your +present abode + + "They lay no claim by joining lawful hands, + But challenge right with steel."[705] + +But you are not wont[706] to be called in to assist at a "forcible +entry." Nor have you any reason to be afraid of the usual proviso in the +injunction, "into which you have not previously made entry by force and +armed men," for I am well assured that you are not a man of violence. +But to give you some hint as to what you lawyers call "securities," I +opine that you should avoid the Treviri; I hear they are real _tresviri +capitales_--deadly customers: I should have preferred their being +_tresviri_ of the mint![707] But a truce to jesting for the present. +Pray write to me in the fullest detail of all that concerns you. + +4 March. + +[Footnote 704: + + "I will make fast the doors and _gild_ myself + With some more ducats."--SHAKESPEARE.. +] + +[Footnote 705: Ennius, _Ann._ 275. The phrase _manum consertum_ in legal +language meant to make a joint claim by the symbolical act of each +claimant laying a hand on the property (or some representation of it) in +court. But it also meant "to join hands in war." Hence its equivocal use +in this passage. _Consertum_ is a supine, and some such word as _eunt_ +must be understood before it.] + +[Footnote 706: Reading _at tu non soles_. I cannot explain Prof. +Tyrrell's reading _et tu soles_ in connexion with what follows.] + +[Footnote 707: This elaborate joke is founded on a pun upon the name of +the Gallic _Treviri_ and the commissioners in Rome: (1) the _III viri +capitales_, who had charge of prisons, executions, etc.; (2) the _III +viri auro argento aeri flando feriundo_, "the commissioners for coining +gold, silver, and bronze." Also there is a reference to the meaning of +_capitalis_, "deadly," "affecting the life or citizenship."] + + + + +CLXXI (F VII, 14) + +TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) + +ROME (? MARCH) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53] + +Chrysippus Vettius, a freedman of the architect Cyrus, made me think +that you had not quite forgotten me; for he has brought me a greeting in +your words. You have grown a mighty fine gentleman, that you can't take +the trouble of writing a letter to me--a man, I might almost say, of +your own family! But if you have forgotten how to write, all the fewer +clients will lose their causes by having you as their advocate! If you +have forgotten me, I will take the trouble of paying you a visit where +you are, before I have quite faded out of your mind. If it is a terror +of the summer camp that is disheartening you, think of some excuse to +get off, as you did in the case of Britain. I was glad to hear one thing +from that same Chrysippus, that you were on friendly terms with Caesar. +But, by Hercules, I should have preferred, as I might fairly have +expected, to be informed of your fortunes as frequently as possible from +your own letters. And this would certainly have been the case, if you +had been more forward to learn the laws of friendship than of suits in +court. But this is all jest in your own vein, and to some degree in mine +also. I love you very dearly, and I both wish to be loved by you and +feel certain that I am. + + + + +CLXXII (F VII, 18) + +TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) + +A VILLA IN THE AGER POMPTINUS, 8 APRIL + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53] + +I have received several letters from you at the same time, written at +various times, in which everything else gave me great pleasure; for they +shewed that you were now sustaining your military service with a brave +spirit, and were a gallant and resolute man. These are qualities which +for a short time I felt to be lacking in you, though I attributed your +uneasiness not so much to any weakness of your own spirit, as to your +feeling your absence from us. Therefore go on as you have begun: endure +your service with a stout heart: believe me, the advantages you will +gain are many; for I will reiterate my recommendation of you, though I +shall wait for the right moment of doing so. Be assured that you are not +more anxious that your separation from me should be as profitable as +possible to yourself than I am. Accordingly, as your "securities" are +somewhat weak, I have sent you one in my poor Greek, written by my own +hand.[708] For your part, I should wish you to keep me informed of the +course of the war in Gaul: for the less warlike my informant, the more +inclined I am to believe him. + +But to return to your letters. Everything else (as I said) is prettily +written, but I do wonder at this: who in the world sends several +identical letters, when he writes them with his own hand? For your +writing on paper that has been used before, I commend your economy: but +I can't help wondering what it was that you preferred to rub out of this +bit of paper rather than not write such poor stuff as this--unless it +were, perhaps, some of your legal formulas. For I don't suppose you rub +out my letters to replace them with your own. Can it mean that there is +no business going on, that you are out of work, that you haven't even a +supply of paper? Well, that is entirely your own fault, for taking your +modesty abroad with you instead of leaving it behind here with us. I +will commend you to Balbus, when he starts to join you, in the good old +Roman style. Don't be astonished if there is a somewhat longer interval +than usual between my letters: for I intend being out of town in April. +I write this letter in the Pomptine district, having put up at the villa +of M. AEmilius Philemo, from which I could hear the noise of my clients, +I mean those you confided to me! For at Ulubrae it is certain that an +enormous mass of frogs have bestirred themselves to do me honour. Take +care of your health.[709] + +8 April, from the Ager Pomptinus. + +P.S.--Your letter which I received from L. Arruntius I have torn up, +though it didn't deserve it; for it had nothing in it which might not +have been safely read in a public meeting. But not only did Arruntius +say that such were your orders, but you had appended a similar +injunction to your letter. Well, be it so! I am surprised at your not +having written anything to me since, especially as you are in the midst +of such stirring events.[710] + +[Footnote 708: _Graeculam tibi misi cautionem chirographi mei._ Various +interpretations have been given to this: (1) "a truly Greek security," +_i.e._, "not to be depended on"; (2) referring to a poem in Greek, +perhaps the one in praise of Caesar's achievements, mentioned before (p. +338), in which some compliment to Trebatius was introduced; (3) Prof. +Tyrrell would make it refer to this letter itself, which he supposes to +have been written in Greek, and afterwards translated by Tiro. But this +letter does not read like a translation, and, after all, is not of a +nature to shew as a "commendation." It is conceived in too jocular a +vein. I have taken it to refer to some inclosure written in Greek which +he might use in this way, and the mention of his "own handwriting" to +refer to the fact that he would naturally have employed a Greek +secretary to write Greek. The diminutive _Graeculam_ I take to be +apologetic for the Greek. But it is not at all certain.] + +[Footnote 709: On his journey along the _via Appia_ to one of his +seaside villas Cicero has put up at a friend's house (a freedman of +Lepidus), near the Pomptine marshes, as was his wont (_Att._ vii. 5). It +was near Ulubrae, of which he was deputy _patronus_ in the absence of +Trebatius, and he jestingly pretends that the frogs which he hears +croaking in the marshes are frogs of Ulubrae turning out to do him +honour, as though they were the citizens of the town. Ulubrae was a very +dull and decaying town.] + +[Footnote 710: The great rising in Gaul in B.C. S4-53, and the second +expedition across the Rhine.] + + + + +CLXXIII (F VII, 15) + +TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53] + +How wayward people are who love may be gathered from this: I was +formerly annoyed that you were discontented at being where you are: now, +on the contrary, it stings me to the heart that you write that you are +quite happy there. For I did not like your not being pleased at my +recommendation, and now I am vexed that you can find anything pleasant +without me. But, after all, I prefer enduring your absence to your not +getting what I hope for you. However, I cannot say how pleased I am that +you have become intimate with that most delightful man and excellent +scholar, C. Matius.[711] Do your best to make him as fond of you as +possible. Believe me, you can bring nothing home from your province that +will give you greater pleasure. Take care of your health. + + + + +CLXXIV (F II, 4) + +TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (IN ASIA) + +ROME (? MAY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53] + +You are aware that letters are of many kinds; but there is one kind +which is undeniable, for the sake of which, indeed, the thing was +invented, namely, to inform the absent of anything that is to the +interest of the writer or recipient that they should know. You, however, +certainly don't expect a letter of that kind from me. For of your +domestic concerns you have members of your family both to write and to +act as messengers. Besides, in my personal affairs there is really +nothing new. There are two other kinds of letters which give me great +pleasure: the familiar and sportive, and the grave and serious. Which of +these two I ought least to employ I do not understand. Am I to jest with +you by letter? Upon my word, I don't think the man a good citizen who +could laugh in times like these. Shall I write in a more serious style? +What could be written of seriously by Cicero to Curio except public +affairs? And yet, under this head, my position is such that I neither +dare write what I think, nor choose to write what I don't think. +Wherefore, since I have no subject left to write about, I will employ my +customary phrase, and exhort you to the pursuit of the noblest glory. +For you have a dangerous rival already in the field, and fully prepared, +in the extraordinary expectation formed of you; and this rival you will +vanquish with the greatest ease, only on one condition--that you make up +your mind to put out your full strength in the cultivation of those +qualities, by which the noble actions are accomplished, upon the glory +of which you have set your heart. In support of this sentiment I would +have written at greater length had not I felt certain that you were +sufficiently alive to it of your own accord; and I have touched upon it +even thus far, not in order to fire your ambition, but to testify my +affection. + +[Footnote 711: The friendship between Trebatius and Matius remained as +long as we know anything about them. Cicero afterwards acknowledges +(_F._ ii. 27) the great services Matius had done him with Caesar, to whom +Matius remained attached to the end.] + + + + +CLXXV (F II, 5) + +TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (ON HIS WAY FROM ASIA) + +ROME (? JUNE) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53] + +The state of business here I dare not tell even in a letter. And though, +wherever you are, as I have told you before, you are in the same boat, +yet I congratulate you on your absence, as well because you don't see +what we see, as because your reputation is placed on a lofty and +conspicuous pinnacle in the sight of multitudes both of citizens and +allies; and it is conveyed to us by neither obscure nor uncertain talk, +but by the loud and unanimous voice of all. There is one thing of which +I cannot feel certain--whether to congratulate you, or to be alarmed for +you on account of the surprising expectation entertained of your return; +not because I am at all afraid of your not satisfying the world's +opinion, but, by heaven, lest, when you do come, there may be nothing +for you to preserve: so universal is the decline and almost extinction +of all our institutions. But even thus much I am afraid I have been rash +to trust to a letter: wherefore you shall learn the rest from +others.[712] However, whether you have still some hope of the Republic, +or have given it up in despair, see that you have ready, rehearsed and +thought out in your mind, all that the citizen and the man should have +at his command who is destined to restore to its ancient dignity and +freedom a state crushed and overwhelmed by evil times and profligate +morals. + +[Footnote 712: In these vague though ominous sentences Cicero is +referring to the constant and violent hindrances to the election of +magistrates, that is, to the orderly working of the constitution, which +were occurring. No consuls were elected till September.] + + + + +CLXXVI (F II, 6) + + +TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (ARRIVED IN ITALY) + +ROME (? JULY) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53] + +News had not yet reached me of your arrival in Italy when I sent Sext. +Villius, an intimate of my friend Milo, with this letter to you. But +nevertheless, since your arrival was thought to be approaching, and it +was ascertained that you had already started from Asia Rome-wards, the +importance of my subject made me dismiss any fear of being premature in +sending you this letter, for I was exceedingly anxious that it should +reach you as soon as possible. If the obligations, Curio, had only been +on your side, and as great as they are usually proclaimed by you rather +than as valued by me, I should have been more shy of coming to you for +any request of importance which I might have to make. For it is very +disagreeable to a modest man to ask a great favour from one whom he +thinks under an obligation to himself, lest he should seem rather to +demand than to ask what he is seeking, and to regard it more in the +light of a debt than of a favour. But since your kindnesses to me were +known to the whole world, or rather I should say were made especially +prominent and valuable by the very novelty of my circumstances; and +since it is the mark of a generous heart to be willing, when much is +owed, to reckon the debt at its highest; I did not hesitate to prefer +to you by letter a petition for what was of the highest importance and +most vital consequence to me of anything in the world. For I was not +afraid of being unable to support your kindnesses to me, even though +they were beyond calculation: especially as I felt confident that there +was no amount of favour for which my heart was incapable of finding room +when receiving it, or for which in repayment it could not make a full +and brilliant return. I have concentrated and embarked all my zeal, all +my efforts, all the care and industry of which I am capable, my every +thought, in fact, my whole heart and soul, on securing Milo's +consulship; and I have made up my mind that in this matter I ought to +look not merely for the profit arising from an act of kindness, but also +for the credit of disinterested affection. Nor do I think that anyone +was ever so anxious about his own personal safety and his own fortunes +as I am for his election, on which I have made up my mind that all my +interests depend. To him I see clearly that, if you choose, you can +render such substantial help that we need ask for nothing else. We have +on our side all these advantages: the favour of the loyalists won since +his tribunate on account of his supporting me (as I hope you +understand); that of the common multitude on account of the splendour of +his gladiatorial exhibitions and the liberality of his disposition; the +favour of the young men and of those influential in securing votes, won +by his own eminent powers of captivation, shall I call it? or his +diligence in that department; lastly, my own electoral support, which, +if it is not very powerful, is at any rate regarded as only right, due +and proper, and on that account is perhaps influential also. What we +want is a leader, and what I may call a controller, or, so to speak, a +pilot of those winds which I have described: and if we had to select one +such out of the whole world, we should have no one to compare with you. +Wherefore, if (as I am sure you can) you can regard me as a grateful, as +an honest man, from the mere fact that I am thus eagerly exerting myself +for Milo, if, in fine, you think me worthy of your kindness, I do ask +you this favour--that you come to the rescue of this anxiety of mine and +this crisis in my reputation, or, to put it with greater truth, that you +will devote your zeal to what is all but a question of life and death to +me. As to Titus Annius[713] himself, I promise you this much--that if +you resolve to embrace his cause, you will never have anyone of greater +spirit, solidity, firmness, or affection to yourself. While to me you +will have given so much additional honour and prestige, that I shall +have no difficulty in acknowledging you to have been as effective in +supporting my reputation as you were in securing my safety. + +Did I not know that you must be fully aware, while writing this letter +to you, under what a weight of obligation I am labouring, how strongly I +am bound to work in this election for Milo, not only with every kind of +exertion, but even with downright fighting, I should have written at +greater length. As it is, I hand over and commit the business, the +cause, and myself wholly and entirely into your hands. Of one thing be +sure: if I obtain this help from you, I shall owe you almost more than I +owe Milo himself; for my personal safety, in which I have been +conspicuously aided by him, has not been as dear to me as the sacred +duty of returning the favour will be delightful. That object I feel +confident that your aid, and yours alone, will enable me to secure. + +[Footnote 713: Milo. His full name is T. Annius Milo Papianus; +originally of the _gens Papia_, he had been adopted by his maternal +grandfather, T. Annius.] + + + + +CLXXVII (F XIII, 75) + + +TO TITUS TITIUS, A LEGATUS[714] + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53] + +Though I have no doubt that my first introduction retains its full value +in your eyes, I yet yield to the request of a man with whom I am very +intimate, C. Avianius Flaccus, for whose sake I not only desire, but am +in duty bound to secure every possible favour. In regard to him I both +spoke earnestly to you in a personal interview--on which occasion you +answered me with the greatest kindness--and have written with full +particulars to you on a previous occasion; but he thinks it to his +interest that I should write to you as often as possible. Wherefore I +would have you pardon me if, in compliance with his wishes, I shall +appear to be at all forgetful of the stability of your character. What I +beg of you is this--that you would accommodate Avianius as to the place +and time for landing his corn: for which he obtained by my influence a +three years' licence whilst Pompey was at the head of that business. The +chief thing is--and you can therein lay me under the greatest +obligation--that you should have convinced Avianius that I enjoy your +affection, since he thinks himself secure of mine. You will greatly +oblige me by doing this. + +[Footnote 714: Pompey was _praefectus annonae_ B.C. 57-52. As such he had +a number of _legati_, of whom this Titus Titius was one; but there is +nothing to shew in which of the corn-supplying countries he was +employed. Avianius is a corn merchant, and wants concessions as to the +importation of his cargoes.] + + + + +CLXXVIII (F V, 17) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 52. Coss., from V. Kal, Mart., Cn. Pompeius Magnus +(alone); from 1st August, with Q. Metellus Scipio.] + + This year again, owing to the riots in the previous year excited by + Clodius to prevent the election of Milo, began with a series of + _interregna_ lasting nearly three months, January, February, and + the intercalary month. On the 17th of January Clodius was killed + near Bovillae by Milo's servants, and by his order. Riots followed + in Rome, the body was burnt in the Curia, which caught fire and was + destroyed. Cicero undertook Milo's defence under a new law _de vi_ + brought in by Pompey, but broke down, and Milo was condemned + (April). Later in the year he successfully prosecuted T. Munatius + Plancus Bursa, who as tribune had promoted the riots after the + death of Clodius, and who had also supported the plan of making + Pompey dictator. + + +TO P. SITTIUS[715] (IN EXILE) + +ROME + +[Sidenote: B.C. 52, AET. 54] + +It was not because I had forgotten our friendship, or had any intention +of breaking off my correspondence, that I have not written to you of +late years. The reason is that the earlier part of them was a period of +depression owing to the disaster which had befallen the Republic and +myself, while the later period, with your own most distressing and +undeserved misfortune, has made me reluctant to write. Since, however, a +sufficiently long period has now elapsed, and I have recalled with +greater distinctness your high character and lofty courage, I thought it +not inconsistent with my purposes to write this to you. For my part, my +dear P. Sittius, I defended you originally, when an attempt was made in +your absence to bring you into odium and under a criminal charge; and +when a charge against you was involved in the accusation and trial of +your most intimate friend,[716] I took the very greatest care to +safeguard your position and justify you. And, again also, on this last +occasion, soon after my return to Rome, though I found that your case +had been put on a footing far different from what I should have advised, +if I had been there, still I omitted nothing that could contribute to +your security. And though on that occasion the ill-feeling arising from +the price of corn, the hostility of certain persons, not only to +yourself, but to all your friends as well, the unfairness of the whole +trial, and many other abuses in the state, had greater influence than +the merits of your case or than truth itself, I yet did not fail to +serve your son Publius with active assistance, advice, personal +influence, and direct testimony. Wherefore, as I have carefully and +religiously fulfilled all the other offices of friendship, I thought I +ought not to omit that of urging upon you and beseeching you to remember +that you are a human being and a gallant man--that is, that you should +bear philosophically accidents which are common to all and incalculable, +which none of us mortals can shun or forestall by any means whatever: +should confront with courage such grief as fortune brings: and should +reflect that not in our state alone, but in all others that have +acquired an empire, such disasters have in many instances befallen the +bravest and best from unjust verdicts. Oh that I were writing untruly +when I say, that you are exiled from a state in which no man of +foresight can find anything to give him pleasure! As for your son, +again, I fear that, if I write nothing to you, I may seem not to have +borne testimony to his high qualities as they deserve; while on the +other hand, if I write fully all I feel, I fear that my letter may +irritate the smart of your regret. But, after all, your wisest course +will be to regard his loyalty, virtue, and steady conduct as being in +your possession, and as accompanying you wherever you may be: for, in +truth, what we embrace in imagination is no less ours than what we see +before our eyes. Wherefore not only ought his brilliant qualities and +extreme affection for you afford you great consolation, but so also +ought I and others of your friends who value you, and always will do so, +not for your position, but your worth; and so, above all else, ought +your own conscience, when you reflect that you have not deserved +anything that has befallen you, and when you consider besides that the +wise are distressed by guilt, not by mischance--by their own ill-doing, +not by the misconduct of others. For my part, I shall omit no +opportunity either of consoling or alleviating your present position; +for the recollection of our old friendship, and the high character and +respectful attentions of your son, will keep me in mind of that duty. If +you, on your part, will mention by letter anything you want, I will take +care that you shall not think that you have written in vain. + +[Footnote 715: The letter in some MSS. is inscribed to Sextius or +Sestius. Of P. Sittius of Nuceria we hear in the speech _pro Sulla_, Sec.Sec. +56, 58. Sulla (who was accused of assisting Catiline) had sent P. +Sittius on a mission to Spain, as it was alleged, to raise a rebellion +there in support of Catiline. It does not, however, appear that his +condemnation took place then. It seems to have been just previous to +Cicero's return from exile (August, B.C. 57), and it is suggested that +it was after his aedileship of the previous year, when a scarcity of corn +had contributed to his unpopularity. The date of the letter is +uncertain.] + +[Footnote 716: P. Sulla. Sittius was not, it seems, brought to trial +with Sulla, but his journey to Spain formed part of the allegations +against Sulla.] + + + + +CLXXIX (F V, 18) + +TO T. FADIUS[717] (IN EXILE) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 52, AET. 54] + +Although I too, who am desirous of consoling you, stand in need of +consolation myself--for nothing for a long time past has so deeply +afflicted me as your disaster--nevertheless I do strongly not only +exhort, but even beg and implore you, with all the earnestness that my +affection dictates, to summon all your energies, to shew a manly +courage, and to reflect under what conditions all mortals, and in what +times we particularly, have been born. Your virtue has given you more +than fortune has taken away: for you have obtained what not many "new +men" have obtained; you have lost what many men of the highest rank have +lost. Finally, a state of legislation, law courts, and politics +generally appears to be imminent, such that the man would seem to be the +most fortunate who has quitted such a republic as ours with the lightest +possible penalty. As for you, however--since you retain your fortune and +children, with myself and others still very closely united to you, +whether by relationship or affection--and since you are likely to have +much opportunity of living with me and all your friends--and since, +again, your condemnation is the only one out of so many that is +impugned, because, having been passed by one vote (and that a doubtful +one), it is regarded as a concession to a particular person's +overwhelming[718] power--for all these reasons, I say, you ought to be +as little distressed as possible at the inconvenience that has befallen +you. My feeling towards yourself and your children will always be such +as you wish, and such as it is in duty bound to be. + +[Footnote 717: Titus Fadius Gallus had been a quaestor in Cicero's +consulship (B.C. 63), and a tribune in B.C. 58, when Cicero reckoned him +among those on whom he depended to resist Clodius. He also, among +others, had a motion prepared for Cicero's recall, of which Cicero +speaks with approbation (p. 178). We do not know on what charge he had +been condemned, but a number of prosecutions followed the death of +Clodius and Pompey's legislation as to violence and corruption of +juries.] + +[Footnote 718: Pompey. He uses the word _potentia_, as he generally +does, in an invidious sense of "tyrannical, or, unconstitutional power," +as opposed to _auctoritas_, "legitimate influence."] + + + + +CLXXX (F III, 1) + +TO APPIUS CLAUDIUS PULCHER[719] (IN CILICIA) + +ROME + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 52, AET. 54] + +Cicero to Appius, _imperator_. Could the Republic itself speak and tell +you of its state, you would not learn it more easily from its own lips +than from your freedman Phania: he is a man of such clear insight, as +well as (in a good sense) of such keen curiosity! Wherefore he shall +explain everything to you: for that will suit me best by enabling me to +curtail my letter, and will be more prudent for me in view of other +circumstances. But in regard to my good feeling towards you, though you +can learn it from this same Phania, yet I think that I also have +personally something I ought to say on the subject. For assure yourself +of this--that you are exceedingly dear to me, from the many attractions +of your character, your kindness, and the goodness of your heart, but +also because from your letter, as well as from the remarks of many, I +understand that all my conduct towards you has been most warmly +appreciated by you. And since that is so, I will take means to make up +for the great loss of time, which we have sustained from this +interruption of our intercourse, by the liberality, the frequency, and +the importance of my services; and that I think I shall do, since you +would have it be so, by no means against the grain, or as the phrase is, +"against the will of Minerva"--a goddess by the way whom, if I shall +chance to get possession of a statue of her from your stock, I shall not +simply designate "Pallas," but "Appias."[720] Your freedman Cilix was +not well known to me before, but when he delivered me your kind and +affectionate letter, he confirmed the courteous expressions of that +letter by his own words. I was much gratified by his speech, when he +described to me your feelings and the remarks which you were daily +making about me. In short, within two days he became my intimate friend, +without, however, my ceasing to regret Phania deeply. When you send the +latter back to Rome, which I imagine you intend speedily to do, pray +give him instructions as to all matters which you wish to be transacted +or looked after by me. + +I commend L. Valerius the lawyer to you very strongly; not, however, in +his capacity of lawyer: for I wish to take better precautions for him +than he does for others. I am really fond of the man: he is one of my +closest and most intimate friends. In a general way he expresses nothing +but gratitude to you; but he also says that a letter from me will have +very great influence with you. I beg you again and again that he may not +find himself mistaken. + +[Footnote 719: Brother of Cicero's enemy, P. Clodius. He had been consul +in B.C. 54, and was now proconsul in Cilicia, in which government Cicero +was to succeed him. His relations with Cicero had been varied, and +though Cicero speaks warmly to him, he does not do so often of him, and +his compliments are evidently not really sincere.] + +[Footnote 720: "I shall, in compliment to your accomplishments, call the +goddess of learning and wisdom 'Appias,'" _i.e._, the "Appian Goddess." +But the meaning of the elaborate and dull joke or compliment is far from +clear, especially the phrase _si forte de tuis sumpsero_. Was Cicero +expecting a present of a bust of Minerva, or intending to purchase one +from Appius's collection? Or does he allude, as has been suggested, to +the Minerva he had himself dedicated before his exile, and which had +probably fallen into the hands of the Appian family?] + + + + +CLXXXI (F VII, 2) + +TO M. MARIUS (IN CAMPANIA) + +ROME (DECEMBER) + + +[Sidenote: B.C. 52, AET. 54] + +I will look after your commission carefully. But, sharp man that you +are, you have given your commission to the very person above all others +whose interest it is that the article should fetch the highest possible +price! However, you have been far-sighted in fixing beforehand how far I +am to go. But if you had left it to me, I am so much attached to you +that I would have made a bargain with the heirs: as it is, since I know +your price, I will put up some one to bid rather than let it go for +less. But a truce to jesting! I will do your business with all care, as +in duty bound. I feel sure you are glad about Bursa[721], but your +congratulations are too half-hearted. For you suppose, as you say in +your letter, that, owing to the fellow's meanness, I don't look upon it +as a matter of much rejoicing. I would have you believe that I am more +pleased with this verdict than with the death of my enemy. For, in the +first place, I would rather win by legal process than by the sword; in +the second place, by what brings credit to a friend than by what +involves his condemnation.[722] And, above all, I was delighted that the +support of the loyalists was given to me so decisively against the +influence exerted to an incredible degree by a most illustrious and +powerful personage. Finally--though, perhaps, you won't think it +likely--I hated this man much more than the notorious Clodius himself. +For the latter I had attacked, the former I had defended. The latter, +too, though the very existence of the Republic was to be risked in my +person, had yet a certain great object in view; nor was it wholly on his +own initiative, but with the support of those who could not be safe as +long as I was so. But this ape of a fellow, in sheer wantonness, had +selected me as an object for his invectives, and had persuaded certain +persons[723] who were jealous of me that he would always be a ready +instrument for an attack upon me. Wherefore I bid you rejoice with all +your heart: a great stroke has been struck. Never were any citizens more +courageous than those who ventured to vote for his condemnation, in the +teeth of the immense power of the man by whom the jurors had themselves +been selected. And this they never would have done had not my grievance +been theirs also. Here, in Rome, I am so distracted by the number of +trials, the crowded courts, and the new legislation,[724] that I daily +offer prayers that there may be no intercalation,[725] so that I may see +you as soon as possible. + +[Footnote 721: The condemnation of T. Munatius Plancus Bursa, who, being +tribune in B.C. 52, had promoted the riots following the death of +Clodius, especially in regard to burning his body in the Curia, and had, +after his office terminated (10th December), been prosecuted _de vi_ by +Cicero successfully. Bursa, with others, had supported Pompey's wish for +the dictatorship, as well as his legislation, and accordingly, in +attacking him, Cicero had against him the weight of Pompey's influence. +He therefore looks upon it as a great triumph.] + +[Footnote 722: The condemnation of Bursa was a point in favour of Milo, +whereas Milo's murder of Clodius only brought his ultimate condemnation +and exile. Milo's trial had taken place in April.] + +[Footnote 723: Pompey and his friends.] + +[Footnote 724: The new laws introduced by Pompey _de vi_, _de +magistratibus_, _de pecunia ob iudicium_.] + +[Footnote 725: The intercalary month was inserted between the 23rd and +24th of February. Whether it was to be inserted or not depended on the +pontifices, who kept their secret jealously. If it is inserted, Cicero +will be kept all the longer in town with senatorial and legal business, +and so be prevented from seeing Marius, who lived near his Pompeian +villa.] + + + + +APPENDIX A + +DE PETITIONE CONSULATUS + + +[This is rather an essay than a letter, and is not generally included in +any of the books of the correspondence. To my mind there are indications +of its being a later composition, the exercise of some one who wished to +shew the nature of canvassing at the time. Still, there are many +arguments in favour of regarding it as the composition of Quintus, and +at any rate it is a contribution to the picture of the times.] + + +Q. CICERO TO HIS BROTHER MARCUS (AT ROME) + +I. Although you have all the accomplishments within the reach of human +genius, experience, or acuteness, yet I thought it only consistent with +my affection to set down in writing what occurred to my mind while +thinking, as I do, day and night on your canvass, not with the +expectation that you would learn anything new from it, but that the +considerations on a subject, which appeared to be disconnected and +without system, might be brought under one view by a logical +arrangement. + +Consider what the state is: what it is you seek: who you are that seek +it. Almost every day as you go down to the forum you should say to +yourself, "I am a _novus homo_," "I am a candidate for the consulship," +"This is Rome." For the "newness" of your name you will best compensate +by the brilliancy of your oratory. That has ever carried with it very +great political distinction. A man who is held worthy of defending +consulars cannot be thought unworthy of the consulship. Wherefore, since +your reputation in this is your starting-point, since whatever you are, +you are from this, approach each individual case with the persuasion +that on it depends as a whole your entire reputation. See that those +aids to natural ability, which I know are your special gifts, are ready +for use and always available; and remember what Demetrius wrote about +the hard work and practice of Demosthenes; and, finally, take care that +both the number and rank of your friends are unmistakable. For you have +such as few _novi homines_ have had--all the _publicani_, nearly the +whole equestrian order, many municipal towns specially devoted to you, +many persons who have been defended by you, men of every order, many +_collegia_, and, besides these, a large number of the rising generation +who have become attached to you in their enthusiasm for rhetoric, and, +finally, your friends who visit you daily in large numbers and with such +constant regularity. See that you retain these advantages by reminding +these persons, by appealing to them, and by using every means to make +them understand that this, and this only, is the time for those who are +in your debt to show their gratitude, and for those who wish for your +services in the future to place you under an obligation. It also seems +possible that a "new man" may be much assisted by the fact that he has +the good wishes of men of high rank, and especially of consulars. It is +a point in your favour that you should be thought worthy of this +position and rank by the very men to whose position and rank you are +wishing to attain. All these men must be canvassed with care, agents +must be sent to them, and they must be convinced that we have always +been at one with the Optimates in our political sentiments, that we have +never been demagogues in the very least: that if we seem ever to have +said anything in the spirit of that party, we did so with the view of +attracting Cn. Pompeius, that we might have the man of the greatest +influence either actively on our side in our canvass, or at least not +opposed to us.[726] Farthermore, take pains to get on your side the +young men of high rank, or retain the affection of those you already +have. They will contribute much to your political position. You have +very many; make them feel how much you think depends on them: if you +induce those to be positively eager who are merely not disinclined, they +will be of very great advantage to you. + +II. It is also a great set-off to your "newness," that the nobles who +are your competitors are of a such a kind that no one can venture to say +that their nobility ought to stand them in greater stead than your high +character. For instance, who could think of P. Galba and L. Cassius, +though by birth of the highest rank, as candidates for the consulship? +You see, therefore, that there are men of the noblest families, who from +defect of ability are not your equals. But, you will say, Catiline and +Antonius are formidable. Rather I should say that a man of energy, +industry, unimpeachable character, great eloquence, and high popularity +with those who are the ultimate judges, should wish for such +rivals--both from their boyhood stained with blood and lust, both of +ruined fortunes. Of one of them we have seen the property put up for +sale, and actually heard him declare on oath that at Rome he could not +contend with a Greek or obtain an impartial tribunal.[727] We know that +he was ejected from the senate by the judgment of genuine censors: in +our praetorship we had him as a competitor, with such men as Sabidius and +Panthera to back him, because he had no one else to appear for him at +the scrutiny. Yet in this office he bought a mistress from the slave +market whom he kept openly at his house. Moreover, in his canvass for +the consulship, he has preferred to be robbing all the innkeepers, under +the disgraceful pretext of a _libera legatio_, rather than to be in town +and supplicate the Roman people. But the other! Good heavens! what is +his distinction? Is he of equally noble birth? No. Is he richer? No. In +manliness, then? How do you make that out? Why, because while the former +fears his own shadow, this man does not even fear the laws!--A man born +in the house of a bankrupt father, nurtured in the society of an +abandoned sister, grown to manhood amidst the massacre of fellow +citizens, whose first entrance to public life was made by the slaughter +of Roman knights! For Sulla had specially selected Catiline to command +that band of Gauls which we remember, who shore off the heads of the +Titinii and Nannii and Tanusii: and while with them he killed with his +own hands the best man of the day, his own sister's husband, Quintus +Caecilius, who was a Roman eques, a man belonging to no party, always +quiet by inclination, and then so from age also. + +III. Why should I speak of him as a candidate for the consulship, who +caused M. Marius, a man most beloved by the Roman people, to be beaten +with vine-rods in the sight of that Roman people from one end of the +city to the other--forced him up to the tomb--rent his frame with every +kind of torture, and while he was still alive and breathing, cut off his +head with his sword in his right hand, while he held the hairs on the +crown of his head with his left, and carried off his head in his own +hand with streams of blood flowing through his fingers?[728] A man who +afterwards lived with actors and gladiators on such terms that the +former ministered to his lust, the latter to his crimes--who never +approached a place so sacred or holy as not to leave there, even if no +actual crime were committed, some suspicion of dishonour founded on his +abandoned character--a man whose closest friends in the senate were the +Curii and the Annii, in the auction rooms the Sapalae and Carrilii, in +the equestrian order the Pompilii and Vettii--a man of such consummate +impudence, such abandoned profligacy, in fine, such cunning and success +in lasciviousness, that he corrupted young boys when almost in the +bosoms of their parents? Why should I after this mention Africa to you, +or the depositions of the witnesses? They are well known--read them +again and again yourself. Nevertheless, I think that I should not omit +to mention that he left that court in the first place as needy as some +of the jurors were before the trial, and in the second place the object +of such hatred, that another prosecution against him is called for every +day. His position is such that he is more likely to be nervous even if +you do nothing, than contemptuous if you start any proceedings. + +What much better fortune in your canvass is yours than that which not +long ago fell to the lot of another "new man," Gaius Caelius![729] He had +two men of the highest rank as competitors, but they were of such a +character that their rank was the least of their recommendations--genius +of the highest order, supreme modesty, very numerous public services, +most excellent methods of conducting a canvass, and diligence in +carrying them out. And yet Caelius, though much inferior in birth, and +superior in hardly anything, beat one of them. Wherefore, if you do what +your natural ability and studies, which you have always pursued, enable +you to do, what the exigencies of your present position require, what +you are capable of doing and are bound to do, you will not have a +difficult struggle with competitors who are by no means so conspicuous +for their birth as notorious for their vices. For what citizen can there +be found so ill-affected as to wish by one vote to draw two daggers +against the Republic? + +IV. Having thus set forth what advantages you have and might have to set +against your "newness," I think I ought now to say a word on the +importance of what you are trying for. You are seeking the consulship, +an office of which no one thinks you unworthy, but of which there are +many who will be jealous. For, while by birth of equestrian rank,[730] +you are seeking the highest rank in the state, and yet one which, though +the highest, reflects much greater splendour on a man of courage, +eloquence, and pure life than on others. Don't suppose that those who +have already held that office are blind to the political position you +will occupy, when once you have obtained the same. I suspect, however, +that those who, though born of consular families, have not attained the +position of their ancestors, will, unless they happen to be strongly +attached to you, feel some jealousy. Even "new men" who have been +praetors I think, unless under great obligations to you, will not like to +be surpassed by you in official rank. Lastly, in the populace itself, I +am sure it will occur to you how many are envious, how many, from the +precedents of recent years, are averse to "new men." It must also needs +be that some are angry with you in consequence of the causes which you +have pleaded. Nay, carefully consider this also, whether, seeing that +you have devoted yourself with such fervour to the promotion of Pompey's +glory, you can suppose certain men to be your friends on that +account.[731] Wherefore, seeing that you are seeking the highest place +in the state, and at the same time that there do exist sentiments +opposed to you, you must positively employ every method, and all your +vigilance, labour, and attention to business. + +V. Again, the canvass for office resolves itself into an activity of two +kinds, of which one is concerned with the loyalty of friends, the other +with the feelings of the people. The loyalty of friends must be secured +by acts of kindness and attention, by length of time, and by an easy and +agreeable temper. But this word "friends" has a wider application during +a canvass than in other times of our life. For whosoever gives any sign +of an inclination to you, or habitually visits at your house, must be +put down in the category of friends. But yet the most advantageous thing +is to be beloved and pleasant in the eyes of those who are friends on +the more regular grounds of relationship by blood or marriage, of +membership of the same club, or of some close tie or other. Farther, you +must take great pains that, in proportion as a man is most intimate and +most closely connected with your household, he should love you and +desire your highest honour--as, for instance, your tribesmen, +neighbours, clients, and finally your freedmen and even your slaves; for +nearly all the talk which forms one's public reputation emanates from +domestic sources. In a word, you must secure friends of every class: for +show--men conspicuous for their office or name, who, even if they do not +give any actual assistance in canvassing, yet add some dignity to the +candidate; to maintain your just rights--magistrates, consuls first and +then tribunes; to secure the votes of the centuries--men of eminent +popularity. Those who either have gained or hope to gain the vote of a +tribe or century, or any other advantage, through your influence, take +all pains to collect and secure. For during recent years men of ambition +have exerted themselves with all their might and main to become sure of +getting from their tribesmen what they sought. Do you also do your very +best, by every means in your power, to make such men attached to you +from the bottom of their hearts and with the most complete devotion. If, +indeed, men were as grateful as they ought to be, all this should be +ready to your hand, as I trust in fact that it is. For within the last +two years you have put under an obligation to you four clubs of men who +have the very greatest influence in promoting an election, those of C. +Fundanius, Q. Gallius, C. Cornelius, C. Orchivius.[732] When they +committed the defence of these men to you, I am acquainted with what +their clubsmen undertook and promised you to do, for I was present at +the interview. Wherefore you must insist at the present juncture on +exacting from them your due by reminding them, appealing to them, +solemnly assuring them, and taking care that they thoroughly understand +that they will never have any other opportunity of shewing their +gratitude. I cannot doubt that these men, from hope of your services in +the future as well as from the benefits recently received, will be +roused to active exertions. And speaking generally, since your +candidature is most strongly supported by that class of friendships +which you have gained as a counsel for the defence, take care that to +all those, whom you have placed under this obligation to you, their duty +should in every case be clearly defined and set forth. And as you have +never been in any matter importunate with them, so be careful that they +understand that you have reserved for this occasion all that you +consider them to owe you. + +VI. But since men are principally induced to shew goodwill and zeal at +the hustings by three considerations--kindness received, hope of more, +personal affection and good feeling--we must take notice how best to +take advantage of each of these. By very small favours men are induced +to think that they have sufficient reason for giving support at the +poll, and surely those you have saved (and their number is very large) +cannot fail to understand that, if at this supreme crisis they fail to +do what you wish, they will never have anyone's confidence. And though +this is so, nevertheless they must be appealed to, and must even be led +to think it possible that they, who have hitherto been under an +obligation to us, may now put us under an obligation to them. Those, +again, who are influenced by hope (a class of people much more apt to be +scrupulously attentive) you must take care to convince that your +assistance is at their service at any moment, and to make them +understand that you are carefully watching the manner in which they +perform the duties they owe you, and to allow no mistake to exist as to +your clearly perceiving and taking note of the amount of support coming +from each one of them. The third class which I mentioned is that of +spontaneous and sincere friends, and this class you will have to make +more secure by expressions of your gratitude; by making your words tally +with the motives which it shall appear to you influenced them in taking +up your cause; by shewing that the affection is mutual; and by +suggesting that your friendship with them may ripen into intimacy and +familiar intercourse. In all these classes alike consider and weigh +carefully the amount of influence each possesses, in order to know both +the kind of attention to pay to each, and what you are to expect and +demand from each. For certain men are popular in their own +neighbourhoods and towns; there are others possessed of energy and +wealth, who, even if they have not heretofore sought such popularity, +can yet easily obtain it at the moment for the sake of one to whom they +owe or wish to do a favour. Your attention to such classes of men must +be such as to shew them that you clearly understand what is to be +expected from each, that you appreciate what you are receiving, and +remember what you have received. There are, again, others who either +have no influence or are positively disliked by their tribesmen, and +have neither the spirit nor the ability to exert themselves on the spur +of the moment: be sure you distinguish between such men, that you may +not be disappointed in your expectation of support by placing over-much +hope on some particular person. + +VII. But although you ought to rely on, and be fortified by, friendships +already gained and firmly secured, yet in the course of the canvass +itself very numerous and useful friendships are acquired. For among its +annoyances a candidature has this advantage: you can without loss of +dignity, as you cannot in other affairs of life, admit whomsoever you +choose to your friendship, to whom if you were at any other time to +offer your society, you would be thought guilty of an eccentricity; +whereas during a canvass, if you don't do so with many, and take pains +about it besides, you would be thought to be no use as a candidate at +all. Moreover, I can assure you of this, that there is no one, unless he +happens to be bound by some special tie to some one of your rivals, +whom you could not induce, if you took pains, to earn your affection by +his good services, and to seize the opportunity of putting you under an +obligation--let him but fully understand that you value him highly, that +you really mean what you say, that he is making a good investment, and +that there will accrue from it not only a brief and electioneering +friendship, but a firm and lasting one. There will be no one, believe +me, if he has anything in him at all, who will let slip this opportunity +offered of establishing a friendship with you, especially when by good +luck you have competitors whose friendship is one to be neglected or +avoided, and who not only are unable to secure what I am urging you to +secure, but cannot even make the first step towards it. For how should +Antonius make the first step towards attaching people to himself, when +he cannot even call them, unaided, by their proper names? I, for one, +think that there can be no greater folly than to imagine a man +solicitous to serve you whom you don't know by sight. Extraordinary +indeed must be the fame, the political position and extent of the public +services of that man whom entire strangers, without supporters to back +him, would elect to office. That a man without principle or energy, +without doing any good service, and without ability, lying under a cloud +of discredit, and without friends, should beat a man fortified with the +devotion of a numerous circle and by the good opinion of all, cannot +possibly occur except from gross negligence. + +VIII. Wherefore see that you have the votes of all the centuries secured +to you by the number and variety of your friends. The first and most +obvious thing is that you should embrace the Roman senators and knights, +and the active and popular men of all the other orders. There are many +city men of good business habits, there are many freedmen engaged in the +forum who are popular and energetic: these men try with all your might +both personally and by common friends, as far as you can, to make eager +in your behalf; seek them out, send agents to them, shew them that they +are putting you under the greatest obligation. After that review the +entire city, all colleges, districts, neighbourhoods. If you attach to +yourself the leading men of these, you will by their means easily keep a +hold upon the multitude. When you have done that, take care to have in +your mind a chart of all Italy laid out according to the tribe of each +town, and learn it by heart, so that you may not allow any _municipium_, +colony, prefecture, or, in a word, any spot in Italy to exist, in which +you have not a sufficient foothold. Inquire also for and trace out +individuals in every region, inform yourself about them, seek them out, +strengthen their resolution, secure that in their own neighbourhoods +they shall canvass for you, and be as it were candidates in your +interest. They will wish for you as a friend, if they once see that +their friendship is an object with you. Make sure that they _do_ +understand this by directing your speech specially to this point. Men of +country towns, or from the country, think themselves in the position of +friends if we of the city know them by name: if, however, they think +that they are besides securing some protection for themselves, they do +not let slip the opportunity of being obliging. Of such people others in +town, and above all your rivals, don't so much as know the existence: +you know about them and will easily recognize them, without which +friendship is impossible. Nor is such recognition enough (though it is a +great thing) unless some hope of material advantage and active +friendship follows, for your object is not to be looked upon as a mere +"nomenclator," but as a sincere friend also. So when you have both got +the favour of these same men in the centuries, who from the means they +have taken to secure their personal objects enjoy most popularity among +their fellow tribesmen; and have made those all desirous of your success +who have influence in any section of their tribe, owing to +considerations attaching to their municipality or neighbourhood or +college, then you may allow yourself to entertain the highest hopes. + +Again, the centuries of the knights appear to me capable of being won +over, if you are careful, with considerably more ease. Let your first +care be to acquaint yourself with the knights; for they are +comparatively few: then make advances to them, for it is much easier to +gain the friendship of young men at their time of life. Then again, you +have on your side the best of the rising generation, and the most +devoted to learning. Moreover, as the equestrian order is yours, they +will follow the example of that order, if only you take the trouble to +confirm the support of those centuries, not only by the general good +affection of the order, but also by the friendships of individuals. +Finally, the hearty zeal of the young in canvassing for votes, appearing +at various places, bringing intelligence, and being in attendance on you +in public are surprisingly important as well as creditable. + +IX. And since I have mentioned "attendance," I may add that you should +be careful to see large companies every day of every class and order; +for from the mere number of these a guess may well be made as to the +amount of support you are likely to have in the _campus_ itself. Such +visitors are of three kinds: one consists of morning callers who come to +your house, a second of those who escort you to the forum, a third of +those who attend you on your canvass. In the case of the morning +callers, who are less select and, according to the prevailing fashion, +come in greater numbers, you must contrive to make them think that you +value even this slight attention very highly. Let those who shall come +to your house see that you notice it; shew your gratification to such +of their friends as will repeat it to them; frequently mention it to the +persons themselves. It often happens that people, when they visit a +number of candidates, and observe that there is one who above the rest +notices these attentions, devote themselves to him; leave off visiting +the others; little by little become devoted to one instead of being +neutral, and from sham turn out real supporters. Farthermore, carefully +remember this, if you have been told or have discovered that a man who +has given you his promise is "dressing for the occasion," as the phrase +goes, make as though you had neither heard it nor knew it; if any offers +to clear himself to you, because he thinks himself suspected, assert +roundly that you have never doubted his sincerity and have no right to +doubt it. For the man who thinks that he is not giving satisfaction can +never be a friend. You ought, however, to know each man's real feeling, +in order to settle how much confidence to place in him. + +Secondly, of those who escort you to the forum: since this is a greater +attention than a morning call, indicate and make clear that it is still +more gratifying to you, and as far as it shall lie in your power go down +to the forum at fixed times. The daily escort by its numbers produces a +great impression and confers great personal distinction. The third class +is that of numbers perpetually attending you on your canvass. See that +those who do so spontaneously understand that you regard yourself as for +ever obliged by their extreme kindness: from those, on the other hand, +who owe you this attention, frankly demand that, as far as their age and +business allow, they should constantly be in personal attendance, and +that those who are unable to accompany you in person should find +relations to take their place in performing this duty. I am very +anxious, and think it extremely important, that you should always be +surrounded by large numbers. Besides, it confers a great reputation and +great distinction to be accompanied by those who by your exertions have +been defended, preserved, and acquitted in the law courts. Put this +demand fairly before them, that, since by your means and without any +payment some have retained their property, others their honour, others +their civil existence and entire fortunes, and since there will never be +any other time at which they can show their gratitude, they should +remunerate you by this service. + +X. And since the point now in discussion is entirely a question of the +loyalty of friends, I must not, I think, pass over one caution. +Deception, intrigue, and treachery are everywhere. This is not the time +for a formal disquisition on the indications by which a true friend may +be distinguished from a false: all that is in place now is to give you a +hint. Your exalted character has compelled many to pretend to be your +friends while really jealous of you. Wherefore remember the saying of +Epicharmus, "the muscle and bone of wisdom is to believe nothing +rashly." Again, when you have got the feelings of your friends in a +sound state, you must then acquaint yourself with the attitude and +varieties of your detractors and opponents. There are three: first, +those whom you have attacked; second, those who dislike you without +definite reason; third, those who are warm friends of your competitors. +As to those attacked by you while pleading a friend's cause against +them, frankly excuse yourself; remind them of the ties constraining you; +give them reason to hope that you will act with equal zeal and loyalty +in their cases, if they become your friends. As for those who dislike +you without reason, do your best to remove that prejudice either by some +actual service, or by holding out hopes of it, or by indicating your +kindly feeling towards them. As for those whose wishes are against you +owing to friendship for your competitors, gratify them also by the same +means as the former, and, if you can get them to believe it, shew that +you are kindly disposed to the very men who are standing against you. + +XI. Having said enough about securing friendships, I must now speak on +another department of a candidate's task, which is concerned with the +conciliation of the people. This demands a knack of remembering names, +insinuating manners, constant attendance, liberality, the power of +setting a report afloat and creating a hopeful feeling in the state. +First of all, make the faculty you possess of recognizing people +conspicuous, and go on increasing and improving it every day. I don't +think there is anything so popular or so conciliatory. Next, if nature +has denied you some quality, resolve to assume it, so as to appear to be +acting naturally. Although nature has great force, yet in a business +lasting only a few months it seems probable that the artificial may be +the more effective. For though you are not lacking in the courtesy which +good and polite men should have, yet there is great need of a flattering +manner which, however faulty and discreditable in other transactions of +life, is yet necessary during a candidateship. For when it makes a man +worse by truckling, it is wrong; but when only more friendly, it does +not deserve so harsh a term; while it is absolutely necessary to a +candidate, whose face and expression and style of conversation have to +be varied and accommodated to the feelings and tastes of everyone he +meets. As for "constant attendance," there is no need of laying down any +rule, the phrase speaks for itself. It is, of course, of very great +consequence not to go away anywhere; but the real advantage of such +constant attendance is not only the being at Rome and in the forum, but +the pushing one's canvass assiduously, the addressing oneself again and +again to the same persons, the making it impossible (as far as your +power goes) for anyone to say that he has not been asked by you, and +earnestly and carefully asked. Liberality is, again, of wide +application; it is shewn in regard to the management of your private +property, which, even if it does not actually reach the multitude, yet, +if spoken of with praise by friends, earns the favour of the multitude. +It may also be displayed in banquets, which you must take care to attend +yourself and to cause your friends to attend, whether open ones or those +confined to particular tribes. It may, again, be displayed in giving +practical assistance, which I would have you render available far and +wide: and be careful therein to be accessible to all by day and night, +and not only by the doors of your house, but by your face and +countenance, which is the door of the mind; for, if that shews your +feelings to be those of reserve and concealment, it is of little good to +have your house doors open. For men desire not only to have promises +made them, especially in their applications to a candidate, but to have +them made in a liberal and complimentary manner. Accordingly, it is an +easy rule to make, that you should indicate that whatever you are going +to do you will do with heartiness and pleasure; it is somewhat more +difficult, and rather a concession to the necessities of the moment than +to your inclination, that when you cannot do a thing you should [either +promise] or put your refusal pleasantly: the latter is the conduct of a +good man, the former of a good candidate. For when a request is made +which we cannot grant with honour or without loss to ourselves, for +instance, if a man were to ask us to appear in a suit against a friend, +a refusal must be given in a gentlemanly way: you must point out to him +that your hands are tied, must shew that you are exceedingly sorry, must +convince him that you will make up for it in other ways. + +XII. I have heard a man say about certain orators, to whom he had +offered his case, "that he had been better pleased with the words of the +one who declined, than of the one who accepted." So true it is that men +are more taken by look and words than by actual services. [This latter +course, however, you will readily approve: the former it is somewhat +difficult to recommend to a Platonist like you, but yet I will have +regard for your present circumstances.] For even those to whom you are +forced by any other tie to refuse your advocacy may yet quit you +mollified and with friendly feelings. But those to whom you only excuse +a refusal by saying that you are hindered by the affairs of closer +friends, or by cases more important or previously undertaken, quit you +with hostile feelings, and are one and all disposed to prefer an +insincere promise to a direct negative from you. C. Cotta, a master in +the art of electioneering, used to say that, "so long as the request was +not directly contrary to moral duty, he used to promise his assistance +to all, to bestow it on those with whom he thought it would be most +advantageously invested: he did not refuse anyone, because something +often turned up to prevent the person whom he promised from availing +himself of it, and it often also occurred that he himself was less +engaged than he had thought at the time; nor could anyone's house be +full of suitors who only undertook what he saw his way to perform: by +some accident or other the unexpected often happens, while business, +which you have believed to be actually in hand, from some cause or other +does not come off: moreover, the worst that can happen is that the man +to whom you have made a false promise is angry." This last risk, +supposing you to make the promise, is uncertain, is prospective, and +only affects a few; but, if you refuse, the offence given is certain, +immediate, and more widely diffused. For many more ask to be allowed to +avail themselves of the help of another than actually do so. Wherefore +it is better that some of them should at times be angry with you in the +forum, than all of them perpetually at your own house: especially as +they are more inclined to be angry with those who refuse, than with a +man whom they perceive to be prevented by so grave a cause as to be +compatible with the desire to fulfil his promise if he possibly could. +But that I may not appear to have abandoned my own classification, since +the department of a candidate's work on which I am now dilating is that +which refers to the populace, I insist on this, that all these +observations have reference not so much to the feelings of friends as to +popular rumour. Though there is something in what I say which comes +under the former head--such as answering with kindness, and giving +zealous assistance in the business and the dangers of friends--yet in +this part of my argument I am speaking of the things which enable you to +win over the populace: for instance, the having your house full of +visitors before daybreak, the securing the affection of many by giving +them hope of your support, the contriving that men should leave you with +more friendly feelings than they came, the filling the ears of as many +as possible with the most telling words. + +XIII. For my next theme must be popular report, to which very great +attention must be paid. But what I have said throughout the foregoing +discourse applies also to the diffusion of a favourable report: the +reputation for eloquence; the favour of the _publicani_ and equestrian +order; the goodwill of men of rank; the crowd of young men; the constant +attendance of those whom you have defended; the number of those from +municipal towns who have notoriously come to Rome on your account; the +observations which men make in your favour--that you recognize them, +address them politely, are assiduous and earnest in canvassing; that +they speak and think of you as kind and liberal; the having your house +full of callers long before daybreak; the presence of large numbers of +every class; that your look and speech give satisfaction to all, your +acts and deeds to many; that everything is done which can be done by +hard work, skill, and attention, not to cause the fame arising from all +these displays of feeling to reach the people, but to bring the people +itself to share them. You have already won the city populace and the +affections of those who control the public meetings by your panegyric of +Pompey, by undertaking the cause of Manilius, by your defence of +Cornelius.[733] We must not let those advantages be forgotten, which +hitherto no one has had without possessing at the same time the favour +of the great. We must also take care that everyone knows that Cn. +Pompeius is strongly in your favour, and that it emphatically suits his +purpose that you should win your election. Lastly, take care that your +whole candidature is full of _eclat_, brilliant, splendid, suited to the +popular taste, presenting a spectacle of the utmost dignity and +magnificence. See also, if possible, that some new scandal is started +against your competitors for crime or looseness of life or corruption, +such as is in harmony with their characters. + +Above all in this election you must see that the Republic entertains a +good hope and an honourable opinion of you. And yet you must not enter +upon political measures in senate-house and public meeting while a +candidate: you must hold such things in abeyance, in order that from +your lifelong conduct the senate may judge you likely to be the +supporter of their authority; the Roman knights, along with the +loyalists and wealthy, judge you from your past to be eager for peace +and quiet times; and the people think of you as not likely to be hostile +to their interests from the fact that in your style of speaking in +public meetings, and in your declared convictions, you have been on the +popular side. + +XIV. This is what occurred to me to say on the subject of these two +morning reflexions, which I said you ought to turn over in your mind +every day as you went down to the forum: "I am a _novus homo_," "I am a +candidate for the consulship." There remains the third, "This is Rome," +a city made up of a combination of nations, in which many snares, much +deception, many vices enter into every department of life: in which you +have to put up with the arrogant pretensions, the wrong-headedness, the +ill-will, the hauteur, the disagreeable temper and offensive manners of +many. I well understand that it requires great prudence and skill for a +man, living among social vices of every sort, so many and so serious, to +avoid giving offence, causing scandal, or falling into traps, and in his +single person to adapt himself to such a vast variety of character, +speech, and feeling. Wherefore, I say again and again, go on +persistently in the path you have begun: put yourself above rivalry in +eloquence; it is by this that people at Rome are charmed and attracted, +as well as deterred from obstructing a man's career or inflicting an +injury upon him. And since the chief plague spot of our state is that it +allows the prospect of a bribe to blind it to virtue and worth, be sure +that you are fully aware of your own strength, that is, understand that +you are the man capable of producing in the minds of your rivals the +strongest fear of legal proceeding and legal peril. Let them know that +they are watched and scrutinized by you: they will be in terror of your +energy, as well as of your influence and power of speech, and above all +of the affection of the equestrian order towards you. But though I wish +you to hold out this before them, I do not wish you to make it appear +that you are already meditating an action, but to use this terror so as +to facilitate the gaining of your object: and, in a word, in this +contest strain every nerve and use every faculty in such a way as to +secure what we seek. I notice that there are no elections so deeply +tainted with corruption, but that some centuries return men closely +connected with them without receiving money. Therefore, if we are as +vigilant as the greatness of our object demands, and rouse our +well-wishers to put forth all their energies; and if we allot to men of +influence and zeal in our service their several tasks; if we put before +our rivals the threat of legal proceedings; if we inspire their agents +with fear, and by some means check the distributors, it is possible to +secure either that there shall be no bribery or that it shall be +ineffectual. + +These are the points that I thought, not that I knew better than you, +but that I could more easily than you--in the pressing state of your +present engagements--collect together and send you written out. And +although they are written in such terms as not to apply to all +candidates for office, but to your special case and to your particular +election, yet I should be glad if you would tell me of anything that +should be corrected or entirely struck out, or that has been omitted. +For I wish this little essay "on the duties of a candidate" to be +regarded as complete in every respect. + +[Footnote 726: It is to be observed that at this time Pompey is reckoned +as inclined to the _populares_. His legislation in B.C. 70 had been +somewhat in their favour; but he had not, as a fact, ever declared +himself either way.] + +[Footnote 727: C. Antonius, impeached by Caesar for plundering Macedonia, +_appellavit tribunos iuravitque se forum eiurare, quod aequo iure uti non +posset_ (Ascon. Sec. 84). His offences in Macedonia, where he had been left +by Sulla, were in B.C. 83-80; his impeachment, B.C. 76; his expulsion +from the senate, B.C. 70.] + +[Footnote 728: M. Marius Gratidianus (Ascon. Sec. 84). These denunciations +of Antonius and Catiline seem to be taken from the oration _in toga +candida_.] + +[Footnote 729: Caelius, consul B.C. 94 with Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus.] + +[Footnote 730: Cicero, of course, was now a senator, but he was the +first of his family who had been so. The others who came forward for the +consulship were two patricians, P. Sulpicius Galba, L. Sergius Catilina; +four plebeians, C. Antonius, L. Cassius Longinus, whom Asconius calls +_nobiles_, _i.e._, members of families who had held curule office; and +Q. Cornificius and C. Licinius Sacerdos, whose families had only +recently risen to this position, _tantum non primi ex familiis suis +magistratum adepti erant_ (Asc.)] + +[Footnote 731: He hints, I think, at Caesar, who supported Antonius and +Catiline, and also the Luculli, who were opponents of Pompey.] + +[Footnote 732: C. Fundanius, defended by Cicero B.C. 66, fr. p. 216. Q. +Gallius, defended by Cicero on _ambitus_ B.C. 64, fr. p. 217 (_Brut._ Sec. +277). C. Cornelius, quaestor of Pompey, tr. pl. B.C. 67, defended by +Cicero B.C. 65 (Ascon. Sec. 56 _seq._) C. Orchivius, Cicero's colleague in +praetorship B.C. 66 (_Or._ Sec. 160). We don't know on what charge Cicero +defended him. The passage in _pro Cluent._ Sec. 147, does not mean that he +was accused of _peculatus_, but that he presided over trials of +_peculatus_ as praetor.] + +[Footnote 733: Manilius, tr. pl. B.C. 66, proposed the law for +appointing Pompey to supersede Lucullus in the East. After his year of +office he was accused of _maiestas_, and later on of _repetundae_, but +apparently neither case came on. C. Cornelius, tr. pl. B.C. 57, was +accused of _maiestas_ in B.C. 55, and defended by Cicero. He had become +alienated from the senate by its opposition to his legislation against +usury in the provinces, and the case made a great sensation.] + + + + +APPENDIX B + +L. VETTIUS (LETTER L, A II, 24) + + +L. Vettius, a kind of Titus Oates, was like the witness in "Great +Expectations," prepared to swear "mostly anything." The interest +attaching to such a sordid person is confined to the question whether he +was really acting with the connivance of, or under an agreement with, +any of the leading politicians of the day. If the principle of _cui +bono_ is applied, it is evident that the gainers were the party of the +trumvirs, whose popularity would be increased by a belief being created +that their opponents the Optimates were prepared to adopt extreme +measures to get rid of them. It would give them just the advantage which +the Rye House plot gave Charles II. This is Cicero's view, it seems, of +the matter, as insinuated in this letter and in his speech against +Vatinius (Sec.Sec. 24-26; cp. _pro Sest._ Sec. 132). In the letter, however, his +insinuations seem directed against Caesar: in the speech Vatinius is the +scape-goat. But Vettius was not only a liar, but a bad liar. He made +blunders; and when he brought in the name of Bibulus, he was not aware +that Bibulus had got scent of something going on, and had secured +himself by giving Pompey warning. He also did not tell consistent +stories, mentioning names (such as that of Brutus) at one time, and +withdrawing them at another. He was accordingly wholly discredited, and +could therefore expect no protection from Caesar, who had been careful +not to commit himself; and he had nothing for it but suicide, like +Pigott at the time of the Parnell Commission. + +Cicero, then, would have us believe that Vettius had been instigated by +Vatinius (acting for Caesar) to name Bibulus, L. Lucullus, Curio (father +and son), L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, L. Lentulus, L. Paullus, Cicero +himself, his son-in-law Piso, and M. Laterensis, as having been all more +or less privy to the plot to murder Pompey and Caesar. That there was +absolutely no such plot, and that Vettius broke down hopelessly when +questioned. That the object was, (1) to irritate Pompey with the +Optimates and so confirm him in his alliance with Caesar, (2) to +discredit the Optimates generally. + +It may be well to state briefly the views put forward by our other +authorities for this period. + +(1.) Suetonius (_Caes. 20_) appears to attribute the instigation of +Vettius to Caesar, as also the murder of Vettius in prison, after he +broke down so flagrantly. The text of this passage, however, is somewhat +doubtful. + +(2.) Appian (_B. C._ ii. 12) describes the scene as happening at the +time that Caesar's agrarian law was being passed, and Bibulus was hustled +in the forum. Vettius, with a drawn dagger, rushed into the crowd crying +out that he had been sent by Bibulus, Cicero, and Cato to assassinate +Caesar and Pompey, and that an attendant of Bibulus had given him the +dagger. Vettius was arrested, put into prison to be questioned the next +day, and was murdered during the night. Caesar meanwhile addressed the +people and excited their anger; but after the death of Vettius the +matter was hushed up. + +(3.) Plutarch (_Lucull._ 42) says that the "Pompeians," annoyed at +finding the union with Caesar opposed by the leading Optimates, induced +Vettius to accuse Lucullus and others of a plot to assassinate Pompey; +and that the corpse of Vettius shewed evident signs of violence. + +(4.) Dio Cassius (38-39) says bluntly that Vettius was employed by +Lucullus and Cicero to assassinate Pompey, and was got rid of in prison. +He adds that Vettius was discredited by bringing in the name of Bibulus, +who (as Cicero also says) had secured himself by giving Pompey warning. + +The conclusions seem to be (though in such a tangled skein of lies it is +impossible to be sure), (1) that there was no plot, properly so called, +though many of the Optimates, and Cicero among them, had used incautious +language; (2) that Vettius was suborned by some person or party of +persons to make the people believe that there was one; (3) that +Caesar--though there is not sufficient evidence to shew that he had been +the instigator--was willing to take advantage of the prejudice created +by the suspicions thus aroused; (4) that though Vettius had served +Cicero in his capacity of spy in the days of the Catilinarian +conspiracy, and was able to report words of his sufficiently +characteristic, yet this letter to Atticus exonerates Cicero from +suspicion, even if there were a plot, and even if we could believe that +he could have brought himself to plot the death of Pompey. + + + + +APPENDIX C + + + The following letters to Tiro, with one from Quintus in regard to + his manumission, are given here because of the difficulty of dating + them. The indications of time are as follows. I. Those addressed to + Tiro are earlier than that of Quintus, because they refer to a + promised emancipation, while that of Quintus speaks of it as + accomplished. II. The letter of Quintus is after the emancipation + of his own freedman Statius, which apparently took place B.C. 59. + III. Quintus is at a distance from Italy, and is looking forward to + rejoin his brother and family. IV. Cicero is engaged on some more + than ordinary literary work. V. Pompey is visiting Cicero in his + Cuman villa. Now after his return from Asia (B.C. 58), Quintus was + only twice thus distant, in B.C. 57-56 in Sardinia, and in B.C. + 54-53 in Britain and Gaul. In both of these periods Cicero was + engaged on literary work; in the former on the _de Oratore_, in the + latter on the _de Republica_. There is really no means of deciding + between these two. It is even possible that they might be placed + some time during the proprietorship of Quintus in Asia (B.C. + 62-59), during which Cicero was engaged, among other things, on a + poem on his own times and a history of his consulship. Tiro--or M. + Tullius Tiro, as he was called after his emancipation--was not a + young man, and may well have been emancipated even in B.C. 59. + According to Hieronymus, he died in B.C. 5 in his hundredth year. + He was therefore little more than a year younger than Cicero + himself. The illness of Tiro must have been an earlier one than + that of which we shall hear much in B.C. 50-49. + + + + +I (F XVI, 13) + +TO TIRO + +(CUMAE) 10 APRIL + + +I shall consider that I have everything possible from you, if I see you +in good health. I am awaiting the arrival of Andricus, whom I sent to +you, with the utmost anxiety. Do take pains to recover, if you love me: +and as soon as you have thoroughly re-established your health, come to +me. Good-bye. + +10 April. + + + + +II (F XVI, 14) + +TO TIRO + +(CUMAE) 11 APRIL + + +Andricus arrived a day later than I expected him, and accordingly I had +a night of terror and unhappiness. Your letter does not make me at all +more certain of your state, and yet it did revive me. I can take +pleasure in nothing; can employ myself in no literary work, which I +cannot touch till I have seen you. Give orders to promise the doctor any +fee he chooses to ask. I wrote to that effect to Ummidius. I am told +that your mind is ill at ease, and that the doctor says this is what +makes you ill. If you care for me, rouse from their sleep your studies +and your culture, which make you the dearest object of my affection. It +is your mind that requires strengthening now, in order that your body +may also recover. Pray do it both for your own and my sake. Keep Acastus +with you to help to nurse you. Preserve yourself for me. The day for the +fulfilment of my promise is at hand, and I will be true to it, if you +only come. Good-bye, good-bye! + +11 April, noon. + + + + +III (F XVI, 15) + +TO TIRO + +(CUMAE) 12 APRIL + + +AEgypta arrived on the 12th of April. Though he brought the news that you +were entirely without fever and were pretty well, yet he caused me +anxiety by saying that you had not been able to write to me: and all the +more so because Hermia, who ought to have arrived on the same day, has +not done so. I am incredibly anxious about your health. If you will +relieve me from that, I will _liberate_ you from every burden. I would +have written at greater length, if I had thought that you were now +capable of taking any pleasure in reading a letter. Concentrate your +whole intelligence, which I value above everything, upon preserving +yourself for your own and my benefit. Use your utmost diligence, I +repeat, in nursing your health. Good-bye. + +P.S.--When I had finished the above Hermia arrived. I have your letter +written in a shaky hand, and no wonder after so serious an illness. I am +sending AEgypta back to stay with you, because he is by no means without +feeling, and seems to me to be attached to you, and with him a cook for +your especial use. Good-bye! + + + + +IV (F XVI, 10) + +TO TIRO + +CUMAE, 19 MAY + + +I of course wish you to come to me, but I dread the journey for you. You +have been most seriously ill: you have been much reduced by a low diet +and purgatives, and the ravages of the disease itself. After dangerous +illnesses, if some mistake is made, drawbacks are usually dangerous. +Moreover, to the two days on the road which it will have taken you to +reach Cumae, there will have to be added at once five more for your +return journey to Rome. I mean to be at Formiae on the 30th: be sure, my +dear Tiro, that I find you there strong and well. My poor studies, or +rather _ours_, have been in a very bad way owing to your absence. +However, they have looked up a little owing to this letter from you +brought by Acastus. Pompey is staying with me at the moment of writing +this, and seems to be cheerful and enjoying himself. He asks me to read +him something of ours, but I told him that without you the oracle was +dumb. Pray prepare to renew your services to our Muses. My promise shall +be _performed_ on the day named: for I have taught you the etymology of +_fides_.[734] Take care to make a complete recovery. I shall be with you +directly. Good-bye. + +19 May. + +[Footnote 734: From _fio_, according to Cicero, _credamusque quia "fiat" +quod dictum est, appellatam fidem_ (_de Off._ i. Sec. 23). He is referring +to his promise to emancipate Tiro on a particular day.] + + + + +V (F XVI, 16) + +Q. CICERO TO HIS BROTHER + +(GAUL?) + + +As I hope to see you again, my dear Marcus, and my own son Cicero, and +your Tulliola and your son, I am delighted about Tiro. He was much too +good for his position, and I am truly glad that you preferred that he +should be our freedman and friend rather than our slave. Believe me, +when I read your letter and his I jumped for joy, and I both thank and +congratulate you: for if the fidelity and good character of my own +Statius is a delight to me, how much more valuable must those same +qualities be in your man, since there is added to them knowledge of +literature, conversational powers, and culture, which have advantages +even over those useful virtues! I have all sorts of most conclusive +reasons for loving you: and here is another one, either for what you +have done, or, if you choose, for your perfect manner of announcing it +to me. Your letter shewed me your whole heart. I have promised Sabinus's +servants all they asked, and I will perform my promise. + + +END OF VOL. I. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Letters of Cicero, Volume 1, by +Marcus Tullius Cicero + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LETTERS OF CICERO, VOLUME 1 *** + +***** This file should be named 21200.txt or 21200.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/0/21200/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |