The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY
EDITED BY
T. E. PAGE, M.A., AND W. H. D. ROUSE, Litt. D.
LETTERS TO ATTICUS
II
CICERO
LETTERS TO ATTICUS
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
E. O. WINSTEDT, M.A.
OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE. OXFORD
IN THREE VOLUMES
II
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
MCMXXI
INTRODUCTION
This second volume of Cicero's Letters to Atticus embraces one of the most important epochs in Roman history, the fall of the Republic in the struggle between Pompey and Caesar. The storm which had long been brewing broke just as Cicero returned from Cilicia over the question of Caesar's resignation of office. By the agreement made in 56 B.C. Caesar's governorship of Gaul was renewed for five years and he was then to be re-elected to the consulship in 48 B.C. As the renewal dated from March 1, 54 B.C., his term of office would naturally expire on March 1, 49 B.C.: but according to the rule in vogue at the time of the reappointment he would not be superseded until Jan. 1, 48 B.C., the date on which he would enter on the consulship. He would therefore hold office continually, and his enemies, the Senatorial party, would have no chance of bringing a prosecution against him, which might be fatal to his career. But in 52 B.C. they had induced Pompey to bring forward a new law by which ex-magistrates did not proceed to a province as soon as their office ended but after an interval of five years. Consequently for the next five years special appointments had to be made by the Senate—for example Cicero's appointment to Cilicia—and, as they could be made at any time, it would be perfectly easy to supersede Caesar on March 1, 49, and secure his prosecution, condemnation and downfall before he could enter on the consulship.
Another new law of Pompey's insisted on the [Pg vi]personal attendance of candidates for office, from which Caesar had previously obtained special exemption. On the remonstrance of Caesar's friends Pompey had inserted a clause allowing such special exemptions to stand: but this clause was never properly passed. This again was designed to ensure Caesar's presence in Rome, with a view to his prosecution.
During the next two years the question of his resignation was continually coming up in the House, but no definite conclusion was reached, owing largely to Curio's spirited attacks on all the Senatorial party's proposals. That party however was ready to catch at any trifle to pick a quarrel with Caesar: and they found an opportunity when in Sept. 50 B.C. Caesar decided to send the 13th legion into Cisalpine Gaul to replace the 15th, which he had had to surrender, nominally for the war in Syria, though actually the legion was kept in Italy. A report was circulated that he was sending four legions to Placentia with hostile intentions. The report was disproved by Curio: but, though the majority of the Senate supported the opposition, and refused to declare Caesar a public enemy, Marcellus, the consul, took upon himself to appoint Pompey to the command over two legions with authority to raise more against Caesar. On his return to Cisalpine Gaul in November, Caesar ignored this illegal commission and privately offered to give up Transalpine Gaul on March 1, if allowed to keep Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum with two legions or even Illyricum with one. It was at this juncture that Cicero returned to Italy, and he seems to have spoken in favour of accepting this proposal, though shocked at Caesar's "impudence" in making it. But neither Pompey nor the Senatorial party took it [Pg vii]seriously, and Caesar was forced to send an ultimatum stating that he would resign only if Pompey did the same. The Senate replied that, if he did not resign, he would be declared a public enemy: and, when their motion to that effect was vetoed by Antony and Cassius, the latter met with the same treatment and had to flee to Caesar in company with Curio.
On hearing their report Caesar took the first step in the war by crossing the Rubicon. His march southward was so quickly executed that Pompey and the consuls evacuated Rome. Negotiations for peace failed. Domitius with eighteen cohorts at Corfinium was taken prisoner, and Pompey retreated to Brundisium on his way to Greece. Hurrying after him Caesar blockaded the town: but Pompey succeeded in effecting his escape. Meantime Cicero was exhibiting the weakest side of his character. At the first outbreak he offered to go with Pompey: but he was given the command of Capua and the Campanian coast. This command he resigned in a few days: later he set out to join Pompey at Brundisium, but retreated for fear of capture: and thereafter for months he remained at Formiae shilly-shallying and writing querulous letters to Atticus for advice. However, when he met Caesar on his return from Brundisium to Rome, he had sufficient courage to refuse to take a seat in the House and support his demands.
Caesar's stay in Rome was short and marked only by his seizure of the public treasury and the appointment of his friends Lepidus and Antony as prefect of the city and military commander respectively. Then he hastened to Spain, where, after nearly meeting with a disaster, he defeated the five legions under Afranius and Petreius at Ilerda, and gained [Pg viii]the whole peninsula. While the issue was still uncertain in Spain, and indeed things looked unfavourable to Caesar, Cicero screwed up his courage and joined Pompey in Epirus. Meantime Sardinia was occupied by Caesar's adjutant P. Valerius and Sicily gave way to Curio. The latter passed on to Africa, where after some success he met with defeat and death at the hands of Juba. It was not till January 48 B.C. that Caesar effected a landing in Epirus, where he proceeded to surround Pompey's camp near Dyrrachium: but his lines were broken through and he sustained a slight defeat. He retired towards Thessaly and there in August won a decisive victory over Pompey at Pharsalus. Pompey fled to Cyprus and thence to Egypt, there to meet his death. The rest of the party split up, some going to Africa to carry on the war, others to Greece and Asia to make terms for themselves with Caesar. Cicero after a violent quarrel with his brother at Patrae returned to Brundisium, and there spent many miserable months wondering what his fate would be when Caesar returned. His misfortunes were increased by a rupture with his wife Terentia, and the unfaithfulness and general misconduct of his son-in-law Dolabella, which forced him to procure a divorce for Tullia. And there this volume leaves him, moaning.
The following abbreviations are used in the apparatus criticus:—
M = the Codex Mediceus 49, 18, written in the year 1389 A.D., and now preserved in the Laurentian Library at Florence. M1 denotes the reading of the first hand, and M2 that of a reviser.
Δ = the reading of M when supported by that of the [Pg ix]Codex Urbinas 322, a MS. of the 15th century, preserved in the Vatican Library.
N = the Codex ex abbatia Florentina, n. 14 in the Laurentian Library, written in the 14th or 15th century.
O = Codex 1.5.34 in the University Library at Turin, written in the 15th century.
P = No. 8536 of the Latin MSS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, a MS. of the 15th century.
Ant. = Codex Antonianus, used by Malaspina.
C = the marginal readings in Cratander's edition of 1528, drawn from a MS. which is lost.
F = Codex Faerni, used by Malaspina.
Z = the readings of the lost Codex Tornaesianus, Zb denoting the reading as preserved by Bosius, and Zl that testified to by Lambinus.
I = the editio Jensoniana princeps (Venice, 1470).
L = readings in the text of Lambinus' edition, or conjectures of Lambinus.
Vict. = the editio Petri Victori (Venice, 1534-37).
CONTENTS
| Letters to Atticus Book VII | Page [2] |
| Letters to Atticus Book VIII | [98] |
| Letters to Atticus Book IX | [176] |
| Letters to Atticus Book X | [272] |
| Letters to Atticus Book XI | [352] |
CICERO'S LETTERS
TO ATTICUS
BOOK VII
R VOL. II
M. TULLI CICERONIS
EPISTULARUM AD ATTICUM
LIBER SEPTIMUS
I
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. Athenis XVII K. Nov. a. 704
Dederam equidem L. Saufeio litteras et dederam ad te unum, quod, cum non esset temporis mihi ad scribendum satis, tamen hominem tibi tam familiarem sine meis litteris ad te venire nolebam; sed, ut philosophi ambulant, has tibi redditum iri putabam prius. Sin iam illas accepisti, scis me Athenas venisse pr. Idus Octobres, e navi egressum in Piraeum tuas ab Acasto nostro litteras accepisse, conturbatum, quod cum febre Romam venisses, bono tamen animo esse coepisse, quod Acastus ea, quae vellem, de allevato corpore tuo nuntiaret, cohorruisse autem me eo[1] quod tuae litterae de legionibus Caesaris adferrent, et egisse tecum, ut videres, ne quid φιλοτιμία eius, quem nosti, nobis noceret, et, de quo iam pridem ad te scripseram, Turranius autem secus tibi Brundisi dixerat (quod ex iis litteris cognovi, quas a Xenone, optimo viro, accepi), cur fratrem provinciae non praefecissem, exposui breviter. Haec fere sunt in illa epistula. Nunc audi reliqua.
[1] me eo Tyrrell; me MSS.; eo Koch, Müller.
Per fortunas! omnem tuum amorem, quo me es amplexus, omnemque tuam prudentiam, quam mehercule
CICERO'S LETTERS
TO ATTICUS
BOOK VII
I
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Athens, Oct. 16, B.C. 50
I did give L. Saufeius a letter, one for you alone, because, though I had no time to write, I was reluctant that so intimate an acquaintance of yours should come to you without a note from me. But, considering the pace of philosophers, I imagine the present letter will reach you first. If, however, you have got that earlier letter now, you will know that I arrived at Athens on Oct. 14; that on disembarking at the port I received your letter from our friend Acastus; that, perturbed though I was at your arrival in Rome with a fever, nevertheless I began to take heart at Acastus' welcome announcement of your convalescence; but shivered myself at your news of Caesar's legions, and pleaded with you to beware lest friend Philotimus' time-serving injure us.[2] As for the point I touched on long ago (misrepresented to you by Turranius at Brundisium, as I gathered from a letter received from that good fellow Xeno), I set forth briefly the reason why I had not put my brother in charge of the province. Those practically were the topics of that letter. Now hear what remains.
[2] Cf. vi, 4, 6, 9.
In heaven's name, I want all the affection which you have lavished on me, and all your worldly
in omni genere iudico singularem, confer ad eam curam, ut de omni statu meo cogites. Videre enim mihi videor tantam dimicationem, nisi idem deus, qui nos melius, quam optare auderemus, Parthico bello liberavit, respexerit rem publicam,—sed tantam, quanta numquam fuit. Age, hoc malum mihi commune est cum omnibus. Nihil tibi mando ut de eo cogites, illud meum proprium πρόβλεμα, quaeso, suscipe. Videsne, ut te auctore sim utrumque complexus? Ac vellem a principio te audisse amicissime monentem.
Ἀλλ' ἐμὸν οὔποτε θυμὸν ἐνὶ στήθεσσιν ἔπειθες.
Sed aliquando tamen persuasisti, ut alterum complecterer, quia de me erat optume meritus, alterum, quia tantum valebat. Feci igitur itaque effeci omni obsequio, ut neutri illorum quisquam esset me carior. Haec enim cogitabamus, nec mihi coniuncto cum Pompeio fore necesse peccare in re publica aliquando nec cum Caesare sentienti pugnandum esse cum Pompeio. Tanta erat illorum coniunctio. Nunc impendet, ut et tu ostendis, et ego video, summa inter eos contentio. Me autem uterque numerat suum, nisi forte simulat alter. Nam Pompeius non dubitat; vere enim iudicat ea, quae de re publica nunc sentiat, mihi valde probari. Utriusque autem accepi eius modi litteras eodem tempore quo tuas, ut neuter quemquam omnium pluris facere quam me videretur. Verum quid agam? Non quaero illa ultima (si enim
wisdom, which I swear to my mind is unrivalled in every subject, to be devoted to a careful estimate of my whole position. For myself, I seem to foresee a terrific struggle, unless indeed the same god, who wrought above my boldest hopes in freeing us from a Parthian war, take pity on the state—anyhow, such a terrific struggle as there never has been before. True, the calamity would fall not only on me, but on every one. I don't ask you to consider the wider problem: solve my own little case, I entreat. Don't you see that it is you who are responsible for my friendship with both Pompey and Caesar? Ah, would that I had listened to your friendly admonitions from the outset.
Odyssey ix, 33
"Thou couldst not sway the spirit in my breast."
But at last, however, you persuaded me to be friendly with the one, because he had done so much for me; with the other, because he was so powerful. Well, I did so, and I have studiously contrived to be particularly dear to both of them. For my idea was this. Allied with Pompey, I should never have to be guilty of political impropriety; and, siding with Caesar, I should not have to fight with Pompey. So close was the alliance of those two. But now, on your showing and in my view, there threatens a dire struggle between them. Each of them counts me his friend—unless, perhaps, Caesar is dissembling; for Pompey has no doubt, rightly supposing that his present political views have my strongest approval. But both have sent me letters (which came with yours) in terms that would appear to make more of me than of anyone at all. But what am I to do? I don't mean in the long run. If the matter is to be fought in the
castris res geretur, video cum altero vinci satius esse quam cum altero vincere), sed illa, quae tum agentur, cum venero, ne ratio absentis habeatur, ut exercitum dimittat. "Dic, M. Tvlli." Quid dicam? "Exspecta, amabo te, dum Atticum conveniam"? Non est locus ad tergiversandum. Contra Caesarem? "Ubi illae sunt densae dexterae?" Nam, ut illi hoc liceret, adiuvi rogatus ab ipso Ravennae de Caelio tribuno pl. Ab ipso autem? Etiam a Gnaeo nostro in illo divino tertio consulatu.
Aliter sensero? Αἰδέομαι non Pompeium modo, sed Τρῶας καὶ Τρωάδας.
Πουλυδάμας μοι πρῶτος ἐλεγχείην καταθήσει.
Quis? Tu ipse scilicet, laudator et factorum et scriptorum meorum. Hanc ergo plagam effugi per duos superiores Marcellorum consulatus, cum est actum de provincia Caesaris, nunc incido in discrimen ipsum? Itaque ut stultus[3] primus suam sententiam dicat, mihi valde placet de triumpho nos moliri aliquid, extra urbem esse cum iustissuma causa. Tamen dabunt operam, ut eliciant sententiam meam. Ridebis hoc loco fortasse. Quam vellem etiam nunc in provincia morari! Plane opus fuit, si hoc impendebat. Etsi nil miserius. Nam, ὁδῦυ πάρεργον, volo te hoc scire.
[3] The reading here is debatable. Sulpicius, Hillus, and alius have been suggested in place of stultus.
field, I see it would be better to be beaten with Pompey than to win with Caesar. But what about the points in debate on my arrival—refusing the claims of a candidate who is away from Rome and ordering the disbanding of his army. "Your opinion, Marcus Tullius," will be the question. What am I to say? "Please wait till I meet Atticus?" There is no chance of evasion. I speak against Caesar? "Where then the pledge of plighted hands?"[4] For I assisted in getting Caesar privilege on these two points, when I was asked by him personally at Ravenna to approach Caelius the tribune to propose a bill. Asked by him personally, do I say? Yes, and by our friend Pompey in that immortal third consulship.
[4] Probably a quotation from some early poet.
Shall I choose the other course? "I fear" not only Pompey, but "the men and long-robed dames of Troy": "Polydamas will be the first to rail."[5] Who's he? Why, you, who praise my work and writings. Have I then avoided this trap during the last two consulships of the Marcelli, when the matter of Caesar's province was under debate, only to fall now into the thick of the trouble? That some fool may have the first vote on the motion, I feel strongly inclined to devote my energies to my triumph, a most reasonable excuse for staying outside the city. Nevertheless they will try to extract my opinion. Perhaps this will excite your mirth: I wish to goodness I were still staying in my province. I certainly ought to have stayed, if this was coming: though it would have been most wretched. For by the way
[5] Iliad vi, 442, and xxii, 100.
Omnia illa prima, quae etiam tu tuis litteris in caelum ferebas, ἐπίτηκτα fuerunt. Quam non est facilis virtus! Quam vero difficilis eius diuturna simulatio! Cum enim hoc rectum et gloriosum putarem, ex annuo sumptu, qui mihi decretus esset, me C. Caelio quaestori relinquere annuum, referre in aerarium ad HS CIↃ, ingemuit nostra cohors omne illud putans distribui sibi oportere, ut ego amicior invenirer Phrygum et Cilicum aerariis quam nostro. Sed me non moverunt; nam et mea laus apud me plurimum valuit, nec tamen quicquam honorifice in quemquam fieri potuit, quod praetermiserim. Sed haec fuerit, ut ait Thucydides, ἐκβολὴ λόγου non inutilis.
Tu autem de nostro statu cogitabis, primum quo artificio tueamur benevolentiam Caesaris, deinde de ipso triumpho; quem video, nisi rei publicae tempora impedient, εὐπόριστον. Iudico autem cum ex litteris amicorum tum ex supplicatione. Quam qui non decrevit, plus decrevit, quam si omnes decresset triumphos. Ei porro adsensus est unus familiaris meus, Favonius, alter iratus, Hirrus. Cato autem et scribendo adfuit et ad me de sententia sua iucundissimas litteras misit. Sed tamen gratulans mihi Caesar de supplicatione triumphat de sententia Catonis nec scribit, quid ille sententiae dixerit, sed tantum, supplicationem eum mihi non decrevisse.
there is one thing I want to tell you. All that show of virtue at first, which even you praised sky high in your letters, was only superficial. Truly righteousness is hard: hard even to pretend to it for long. For, when I thought it a fine show of rectitude to leave my quaestor C. Caelius a year's cash out of what was decreed me for my budget and to pay back into the treasury £8,800,[6] my staff, thinking all the money should have been distributed among them, lamented that I should turn out to be more friendly to the treasuries of Phrygia and Cilicia than to our own. I was unmoved: for I set my good name before everything. Yet there is no possible honour that I have omitted to bestow on any of these knaves. This, in Thucydides' phrase, is a digression—but not pointless.
[6] 1,000,000 sesterces.
Thuc. i, 97
But as to my position. You will consider first by what trick I can retain Caesar's good will: and then the matter of my triumph, which, barring political obstacles, seems to me easy to get: I infer as much from letters from friends and from that business of the public thanksgiving in my honour. For the man who voted against it,[7] voted for more than if he had voted for all the triumphs in the world; moreover his adherents were one a friend of mine, Favonius, and another an enemy, Hirrus. Cato both took part in drafting the decree, and sent me a most agreeable letter about his vote. But Caesar, in writing to congratulate me over the thanksgiving, exults over Cato's vote, says nothing about the latter's speech on the occasion, and merely remarks that he opposed the proclamation of a thanksgiving.
[7] Cato.
Redeo ad Hirrum. Coeperas eum mihi placare; perfice. Habes Scrofam, habes Silium. Ad eos ego et iam antea scripsi ad ipsum Hirrum. Locutus enim erat cum iis commode se potuisse impedire, sed noluisse; adsensum tamen esse Catoni, amicissimo meo, cum is honorificentissimam in me sententiam dixisset; nec me ad se ullas litteras misisse, cum ad omnes mitterem. Verum dicebat. Ad eum enim solum et ad Crassipedem non scripseram. Atque haec de rebus forensibus; redeamus domum.
Diiungere me ab illo volo. Merus est φυρατής, germanus Lartidius.
Ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν προτετύχθαι ἐάσομεν ἀχνύμενοί περ.
Reliqua expediamus, hoc primum, quod accessit cura dolori meo. Sed tamen hoc, quicquid est, Precianum cum iis rationibus, quas ille meas tractat, admisceri nolo. Scripsi ad Terentiam, scripsi etiam ad ipsum, me, quicquid possem nummorum, ad apparatum sperati triumphi ad te redacturum. Ita puto ἄμεμπτα fore; verum ut lubebit. Hanc quoque suscipe curam, quem ad modum experiamur. Id tu et ostendisti quibusdam litteris ex Epiro an Athenis datis, et in eo ego te adiuvabo.
I come back to Hirrus. You have begun to reconcile him to me; accomplish it. Scrofa and Silius are on your side. I have already written to them and to Hirrus himself. For Hirrus had told them in a friendly way that he could easily have prevented the decree, but was reluctant; that, however, he had sided with Cato, my very good friend, when the latter recorded a vote complimenting me in the highest terms. Hirrus added that I had omitted to write to him, though I had sent letters to every one else. He was right. It was only to him and to Crassipes that I did not write. So much for public life. Let us come home.
I wish to dissociate myself from that fellow Philotimus. He is a veritable muddler, a regular Lartidius[8].
[8] Taken by the older commentators to be a Latin form of Λαερτιάδης (i.e. Ulysses); but the sense does not seem to warrant the comparison, which could only mean "as wily as Ulysses."
"A truce to what is past for all our pain."[9]
[9] Iliad xviii, 112; xix, 65, "Let bygones be bygones."
Let us settle what remains; and first this point, which adds anxiety to my sorrow. This sum, I mean, whatever it is, which comes from Precius, I do not want mixed up with the accounts of mine of which that fellow has the handling. I have written to Terentia and to Philotimus himself that I shall deposit with you any moneys I may collect, for the equipment of the triumph I anticipate. So I fancy there will be no amour propre wounded: but as they like. Here is another matter for your consideration—the steps I am to take to arrange this business. You outlined them in a letter dated from Epirus or Athens, and I will support your plan.
II
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. Brundisi V K. Dec., ut videtur, a. 704
Brundisium venimus VII Kalend. Decembr. usi tua felicitate navigandi; ita belle nobis
"Flavit ab Epiro lenissimus Onchesmites."
Hunc σπονδειάζοντα, si cui voles τῶν νεωτέρων, pro tuo vendito. Valetudo tua me valde conturbat; significant enim tuae litterae te prorsus laborare. Ego autem, cum sciam, quam sis fortis, vehementius esse quiddam suspicor, quod te cogat cedere et prope modum infringat. Etsi alteram quartanam Pamphilus tuus mihi dixit decessisse et alteram leviorem accedere. Terentia vero, quae quidem eodem tempore ad portam Brundisinam venit quo ego in portum mihique obvia in foro fuit, L. Pontium sibi in Trebulano dixisse narrabat etiam eam decessisse. Quod si ita est, est, quod maxume mehercule opto, idque spero tua prudentia et temperantia te consecutum.
Venio ad epistulas tuas; quas ego sescentas uno tempore accepi, aliam alia iucundiorem, quae quidem erant tua manu. Nam Alexidis manum amabam, quod tam prope accedebat ad similitudinem tuae litterae; non amabam, quod indicabat te non valere. Cuius quoniam mentio facta est, Tironem Patris aegrum reliqui, adulescentem, ut nosti, et adde, si quid vis,
II
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Brundisium, Nov. 26, B.C. 50
I arrived at Brundisium on the 24th of November after enjoying your proverbial luck at sea: so fair for me "blew from Epirus the softest of breezes, Onchesmites." There, that verse with its spondaic ending you can pass off for your own on any of our new school of poets[10] you like. Your health causes me great anxiety; for I see from your letter that you really suffer. But, knowing your spirit, I strongly suspect there is something serious which compels you to give in and nearly causes a breakdown, although your Pamphilus tells me that one fit of quartan has passed, and that a second and lighter attack is coming on. But Terentia (who reached Brundisium's gates as I reached the harbour, and met me in the forum) told me that L. Pontius had informed her at Trebula that the second attack also had abated. If that is so, my utmost hopes are realized, and I expect that consummation has been attained by your caution and moderate habits.
[10] Catullus, Cinna, and the other imitators of Alexandrine poetry.
I come to your letters, which have reached me in shoals, each more delightful than the last—I mean those in your own handwriting. I like Alexis' hand; it so closely resembles your own script; but there is one thing I do not like about it—it shows that you are ill. Talking of Alexis, I left Tiro sick at Patrae; he is, as you know, a young man, and you may add, if you like, an honest fellow. Nothing
probum. Nihil vidi melius. Itaque careo aegre et, quamquam videbatur se non graviter habere, tamen sum sollicitus, maximamque spem habeo in M'. Curi diligentia, de qua ad me scripsit Tiro et multi nuntiarunt. Curius autem ipse sensit, quam tu velles se a me diligi, et eo sum admodum delectatus. Et mehercule est, quam facile diligas, ἀυτόχθων in homine urbanitas. Eius testamentum deporto trium[11] Ciceronum signis obsignatum cohortisque praetoriae. Fecit palam te ex libella, me ex terruncio. In Actio Corcyrae Alexio me opipare muneratus est. Q. Ciceroni obsisti non potuit, quo minus Thyamim videret. Filiola tua te delectari laetor et probari tibi φυσικὴι esse τὴν πρὸς τὰ τέκνα. Etenim, si haec non est, nulla potest homini esse ad hominem naturae adiunctio; qua sublata vitae societas tollitur, "Bene eveniat!" inquit Carneades spurce, sed tamen prudentius quam Lucius noster et Patron, qui, cum omnia ad se referant, numquam quicquam alterius causa fieri putent et, cum ea re bonum virum oportere esse dicant, ne malum habeat, non quo id natura rectum sit, non intellegant se de callido homine loqui, non de bono viro. Sed haec, opinor, sunt in iis libris, quos tu laudando animos mihi addidisti.
[11] detortorio M; detortorium CZ; corr. by Junius.
Redeo ad rem. Quo modo exspectabam epistulam,
could be better than Tiro. So I miss him terribly, and, though he did not seem very bad, still I am anxious, and build great hopes on the care of M'. Curius, about which Tiro has written and many people have told me. Curius himself was aware of your desire that he should win my esteem: and I am greatly charmed with him. Indeed he is one of nature's gentlemen, whom it is easy to like. I carry home his will sealed with the seals of three of my family and of the praetor's staff. In the presence of witnesses he made you heir to a tenth of his estate and me to a fortieth.[12] At Actium in Corcyra Alexio made me a splendid present. Q. Cicero could not be stopped from seeing the river Thyamis. I am glad you take delight in your baby daughter, and have satisfied yourself that a desire for children is natural.[13] For, if it is not, there can be no natural tie between man and man; remove that tie, and social life is destroyed. "Heaven bless the consequence," says Carneades naughtily, but with more wisdom than our philosophers Lucius and Patron, who in sticking to selfish hedonism and denying altruism, and saying that man must be virtuous for fear of the consequences of vice and not because virtue is an end in itself, fail to see that they are describing a type not of goodness but of craftiness. But these points, I think, are handled in the volumes[14] you have encouraged me by praising.
[12] Monetary fractions are generally expressed by parts of the as; but here the denarius is used as the standard. The libella was one-tenth and the teruncius one-fortieth of a denarius.
[13] With φυσικήν the substantive ὁρμήν must be understood.
[14] De Republica.
I return to business. How I looked for the letter
quam Philoxeno dedisses! Scripseras enim in ea esse de sermone Pompei Neapolitano. Eam mihi Patron Brundisi reddidit. Corcyrae, ut opinor, acceperat. Nihil potuit esse iucundius. Erat enim de re publica, de opinione, quam is vir haberet integritatis meae, de benevolentia, quam ostendit eo sermone, quem habuit de triumpho. Sed tamen hoc iucundissimum, quod intellexi te ad eum venisse, ut eius animum erga me perspiceres. Hoc mihi, inquam, accidit iucundissimum. De triumpho autem nulla me cupiditas umquam tenuit ante Bibuli impudentissimas litteras, quas amplissume supplicatio consecuta est. A quo si ea gesta essent, quae scripsit, gauderem et honori faverem; nunc illum, qui pedem porta, quoad hostis cis Euphratem fuit, non extulerit, honore augeri, me, in cuius exercitu spem illius exercitus habuit, idem non adsequi, dedecus est nostrum, nostrum inquam te coniungens. Itaque omnia experiar, et ut spero, adsequar. Quodsi tu valeres, iam mihi quaedam explorata essent. Sed, ut spero, valebis.
De raudusculo Numeriano multum te amo. Hortensius quid egerit, aveo scire, Cato quid agat; qui quidem in me turpiter fuit malevolus. Dedit integritatis, iustitiae, clementiae, fidei mihi testimonium, quod non quaerebam; quod postulabam, negavit id. Itaque Caesar eis litteris, quibus mihi gratulatur et omnia pollicetur, quo modo exsultat Catonis in me ingratissmi iniuria! At hic idem Bibulo dierum XX.
you said was entrusted to Philoxenus! For it was to contain news of Pompey's talk at Naples. Patron handed it to me at Brundisium. It was at Corcyra, I fancy, he had taken charge of it. Nothing could be more delightful. It touched on politics, the great man's opinion of my honour, the kindliness he displayed in his remarks about my triumph. But the most delightful item of all was the intelligence that you had called on him to find out his feeling towards me. This, I repeat, was what I found most delightful. As for a triumph, I had no desire for one up to the time Bibulus sent his shameless despatches and got a thanksgiving voted in the most complimentary way. Now, if he had done what he professed to have done, I should have been glad and supported the honour; but, as it is, it is a disgrace to us—to both of us: for I include you in the business—that I, on whose army his army relied, should not get the same rewards as a man who never set foot outside the city gates so long as there was an enemy this side of Euphrates. Therefore I shall make every effort, and, as I hope, shall succeed. If you were well, some points would have been settled already; but I hope you will soon be well.
For that twopenny debt to Numerius I am much bounden to you. I long to know what Hortensius has done about my triumph and what Cato is doing. Cato's behaviour to me was shamefully spiteful. He gave me a character for rectitude, equity, clemency, and good faith, for which I did not ask; what I did want, that he denied me. Accordingly in his letter of congratulation and lavish assurances, how Caesar exults over the wrong Cato did me by his deep ingratitude! Yet Cato voted Bibulus a twenty days'
Ignosce mihi; non possum haec ferre nec feram.
Cupio ad omnes tuas epistulas, sed nihil necesse est; iam enim te videbo. Illud tamen de Chrysippo—nam de altero illo minus sum admiratus, operario homine; sed tamen ne illo quidem quicquam improbius. Chrysippum vero, quem ego propter litterularum nescio quid libenter vidi, in honore habui, discedere a puero insciente me! Mitto alia, quae audio multa, mitto furta; fugam non fero, qua mihi nihil visum est sceleratius. Itaque usurpavi vetus illud Drusi, ut ferunt, praetoris, in eo, qui eadem liber non iuraret, me istos liberos non addixisse, praesertim cum adesset nemo, a quo recte vindicarentur. Id tu, ut videbitur, ita accipies; ego tibi adsentiar.
Uni tuae disertissimae epistulae non rescripsi, in qua est de periculis rei publicae. Quid rescriberem? valde eram perturbatus. Sed ut nihil magno opere metuam, Parthi faciunt, qui repente Bibulum semivivum reliquerunt.
III
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. in Trebulano V Id. Dec. a. 704
A. d. VIII Idus Decembr. Aeculanum veni et ibi tuas litteras legi, quas Philotimus mihi reddidit. E quibus hanc primo aspectu voluptatem cepi, quod
festival. Forgive me, I cannot and I will not bear it.
I long to answer all your letters; but there is no need, for soon I shall see you. Still I must tell you about Chrysippus—the conduct of that other fellow, a mere mechanic, excites my surprise less, though it could not have been more scandalous. But Chrysippus, whom I was always glad to see and held in honour, because he had a smattering of culture, fancy him deserting my son without my knowledge! I can put up with other things, though I hear of plenty, I can even put up with embezzlement; but I cannot put up with his flight. It is the most scandalous thing I ever heard of. So I have taken a leaf from Drusus' book, when, in his praetorship, as the story goes, a man, who had been manumitted, refused to take the oaths he had promised: and I have denied that those fellows ever were freed by me, especially as there were no legal witnesses to the transaction. Take it any way you will: I will abide by your decision.
The only one of your letters, which I have not answered, is the most eloquent of them all, dealing with the country's peril. I have no answer to make: I am very much upset. But the Parthians, whose sudden retreat left Bibulus half dead with fright, have taught me not to be much alarmed at anything.
III
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Trebula, Dec. 9, B.C. 50
On the 6th of December I came to Aeculanum, and there I read your letter, which Philotimus handed to me. I was pleased at the first glance to see it was
erant a te ipso scriptae, deinde earum accuratissuma diligentia sum mirum in modum delectatus. Ac primum illud, in quo te Dicaearcho adsentiri negas, etsi cupidissume expetitum a me est et te approbante, ne diutius anno in provincia essem, tamen non est nostra contentione perfectum. Sic enim scito, verbum in senatu factum esse numquam de ullo nostrum, qui provincias obtinuimus, quo in iis diutius quam ex senatus consulto maneremus, ut iam ne istius quidem rei culpam sustineam, quod minus diu fuerim in provincia, quam fortasse fuerit utile. Sed "quid si hoc melius?" opportune dici videtur ut in hoc ipso. Sive enim ad concordiam res adduci potest sive ad bonorum victoriam, utriusvis rei me aut adiutorem velim esse aut certe non expertem; sin vincuntur boni, ubicumque essem, una cum iis victus essem. Quare celeritas nostri reditus ἀμεταμέλητος debet esse. Quodsi ista nobis cogitatio de triumpho iniecta non esset, quam tu quoque adprobas, ne tu haud multum requireres illum virum, qui in sexto libro informatus est. Quid enim tibi faciam, qui illos libros devorasti? Quin nunc ipsum non dubitabo rem tantam abicere, si id erit rectius. Utrumque vero simul agi non potest, et de triumpho ambitiose et de re publica libere. Sed ne dubitaris, quin, quod honestius, id mihi futurum sit antiquius. Nam, quod putas utilius esse, vel mihi quod tutius sit, vel etiam ut rei publicae prodesse possim, me esse cum imperio, id coram considerabimus quale sit. Habet enim res deliberationem; etsi ex parte magna
in your handwriting; and I was highly delighted at the care and attention it showed. First you say that you disagree with Dicaearchus.[15] Now, though I was exceedingly anxious, and that with your approval, not to stay in my province more than a year, it was not my own efforts that gained the point. For you should know that no word was ever said in the House about any of us provincial governors outstaying the term of our appointment; so that now I am not to be blamed even for making a shorter stay in my province than was perhaps to my advantage. But "all for the best" is an apt saying, as it is in this case. For, if peace can be patched up, or the loyalists can be made to win the victory, I should be sorry not to assist or at any rate have a hand in the matter. But, if the loyalists are conquered, I should share their defeat wherever I were. So my speedy return ought not to cost me any regret. If this idea of a triumph that you approve had not come into my head, you would find me not far short of the ideal statesman I sketched in the sixth volume.[16] What would you have me do, you devourer of those books of mine? Even now I will not hesitate to throw away my great ambition, if that course is better. One cannot of course play both parts at once, the selfish candidate for triumph and the independent politician. But doubt not that I shall take honesty to be my best policy. As for your point that it were better for me, whether for my private safety, or for the public welfare, that I should retain my command, we will talk it over together. It is a matter for deliberation,
[15] Cf. II, 16, where Dicaearchus is mentioned as an advocate of an active life. He was a pupil of Aristotle, and wrote philosophical and geographical works.
[16] Of the De Republica.
tibi adsentior. De animo autem meo erga rem publicam bene facis quod non dubitas, et illud probe indicas, nequaquam satis pro meis officiis, pro ipsius in alios effusione illum in me liberalem fuisse, eiusque rei causam vere explicas, et eis, quae de Fabio Caninioque acta scribis, valde consentiunt. Quae si secus essent, totumque se ille in me profudisset, tamen illa, quam scribis, custos urbis me praeclarae inscriptionis memorem esse cogeret, nec mihi concederet, ut imitarer Volcacium aut Servium, quibus tu es contentus, sed aliquid nos vellet nobis dignum et sentire et defendere. Quod quidem agerem, si liceret, alio modo, ac nunc agendum est.
De sua potentia dimicant homines hoc tempore periculo civitatis. Nam, si res publica defenditur, cur ea consule isto ipso defensa non est? cur ego, in cuius causa rei publicae salus consistebat, defensus postero anno non sum? cur imperium illi aut cur illo modo prorogatum est? cur tanto opere pugnatum est, ut de eius absentis ratione habenda decem tribuni pl. ferrent? His ille rebus ita convaluit, ut nunc in uno civi spes ad resistendum sit; qui mallem tantas ei vires non dedisset quam nunc tam valenti resisteret,
though I agree with you in the main. You do well not to doubt my attitude towards politics: and you judge rightly that Caesar has not been liberal to me considering my services, and considering his lavishness towards others. You explain his reasons rightly: I am in the same boat with Fabius and Caninius,[17] as your letter shows. But if things were otherwise and he had been profuse in his generosity towards me, nevertheless the goddess you mention, the guardian of the city, would have compelled me to remember her fine inscription, and would not allow me to imitate Volcacius or Servius,[18] with whom you are content, but would wish me to express and maintain a policy worthy of my name. And I should have done it, if I could, in a different way from the way I must adopt now.
[17] Legati of Caesar: but nothing is known of any slight on them.
[18] Before his exile Cicero dedicated a statue of Minerva in the Capitol with the inscription Custos Urbis. Possibly, however, there was a longer inscription. Volcacius and Servius maintained neutrality in the civil war.
It is for their own power men are fighting now to the danger of the country. For if the constitution is being defended, why was it not defended when Caesar himself was consul? Why was I, on whose case the safety of the constitution depended, not defended in the following year? Why was Caesar's command prolonged, or why was it prolonged in such a fashion? Why was there such a struggle to get the ten tribunes to bring in a bill allowing him to stand in his absence? All this has made him so strong that now hope of resistance depends on one citizen. I wish that citizen had not given him so much power rather than that he now resisted him in the hour of
Sed, quoniam res eo deducta est, non quaeram, ut scribis:
Ποῦ σκάφος τὸ τῶν Ἀτρειδῶν;
coegi a Pompeio gubernabitur. Illud ipsum quod ais: "Quid fiet, cum erit dictum: Dic, M. Tvlli?"—σύντομα: "Cn. Pompeio adsentior." Ipsum tamen Pompeium separatim ad concordiam hortabor. Sic enim sentio, maxumo in periculo rem esse. Vos scilicet plura, qui in urbe estis. Verum tamen haec video, cum homine audacissimo paratissimoque negotium esse, omnes damnatos omnes ignominia adfectos, omnes damnatione ignominiaque dignos illac facere, omnem fere iuventutem omnem illam urbanam ac perditam plebem, tribunos valentes addito C. Cassio, omnes, qui aere alieno premantur, quos pluris esse intellego, quam putaram (causam solum ilia causa non habet, ceteris rebus abundat), hic omnia facere omnes, ne armis decernatur; quorum exitus semper incerti, nunc vero etiam in alteram partem magis timendi.
Bibulus de provincia decessit, Veientonem praefecit; in decedendo erit, ut audio, tardior. Quem cum ornavit Cato, declaravit iis se solis non invidere, quibus nihil aut non multum ad dignitatem posset accedere.
Nunc venio ad privata; fere enim respondi tuis litteris de re publica, et iis, quas in suburbano, et iis, quas postea scripsisti. Ad privata venio. Unum etiam de Caelio. Tantum abest, ut meam ille sententiam
his strength. But since things have come to such a pass, I shall not ask, to borrow your quotation,
"Where is the bark of Atreus' sons?"[19]
[19] Euripides Troades 455 ποῦ σκάφος τὸ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ
My only bark will be that which has Pompey for a pilot. For your query "What will happen when the question is put 'Your vote, Marcus Tullius'"—briefly "I vote with Pompey." Still I shall exhort Pompey privately to pacific measures. I feel that there is the greatest danger. You, who are in town, will know more. Yet I see that we have to do with a man of the greatest daring and readiness, who has on his side all the criminal and social outcasts, and all who deserve to be counted criminals and outcasts; nearly all the younger generation; all the lowest city rabble; the powerful tribunes including C. Cassius; all the insolvent, who are more in number than I imagined. All his cause wants is a good cause: it has everything else in plenty. On our side we all do everything to avoid battle. You can never be sure of the issue of war, and it is to be feared it would go against us now.
Bibulus has quitted the province and left Veiento in charge: he will be pretty slow, I hear, on his journey. This is the man in whose praise Cato spoke, when he declared that the only people he did not envy were those who could not be raised higher or not much higher.
To come to private matters: for I have fairly answered your letter on the political situation, both the one you wrote in your town villa and the one you wrote later. Now for private matters. But one word about Caelius. So far is he from affecting my
moveat, ut valde ego ipsi, quod de sua sententia decesserit; paenitendum putem. Sed quid est, quod et vici Luccei sint addicti? Hoc te praetermisisse miror. De Philotimo faciam equidem, ut mones. Sed ego mihi ab illo non rationes exspectabam, quas tibi edidit, verum id reliquum, quod ipse in Tusculano me referre in commentarium mea manu voluit, quodque idem in Asia mihi sua manu scriptum dedit. Id si praestaret, quantum mihi aeris alieni esse tibi edidit, tantum et plus etiam mihi ipse deberet. Sed in hoc genere, si modo per rem publicam licebit, non accusabimur posthac, neque hercule antea neglegentes fuimus, sed amicorum multitudine occupati. Ergo utemur, ut polliceris, et opera et consilio tuo nec tibi erimus, ut spero, in eo molesti. De serperastris cohortis meae nihil est quod doleas. Ipsi enim se collegerunt admiratione integritatis meae. Sed me moverat nemo magis quam is, quem tu neminem putas. Idem et initio fuerat et nunc est egregius. Sed in ipsa decessione significavit sperasse se aliquid et id, quod animum induxerat paulisper, non tenuit, sed cito ad se rediit, meisque honorificentissimis erga se officiis victus pluris ea duxit quam omnem pecuniam.
Ego a Curio tabulas accepi, quas mecum porto. Hortensi legata cognovi. Nunc aveo scire, quid hominis sit et quarum rerum auctionem instituat.
view, that I think he must be sorry he changed his own. But what is this story of Lucceius' property being knocked down to him? I wonder you passed that over. As for Philotimus I shall take your advice. But I was not expecting from him the accounts, which he gave you: I was expecting the balance, which he wished me to enter in my note-book with my own hand at Tusculum, and for which he gave me in Asia a certificate in his own hand. If he should pay up all the money he told you was owing to me, he would still owe me as much again and even more. But, if only politics will allow, I shall not incur blame hereafter in matters of this kind. Indeed I have not been careless hitherto; but my time has been taken up by a crowd of friends. I shall therefore have your industry and advice, as you promise, and I hope I shall not be troublesome in the matter. You have no reason to lament the treatment that I meted to my crooked staff.[20] They pulled themselves together in amaze at my honesty. But nobody surprised me more than the man whom you think a nobody. From first to last he was and is splendid. But just at my departure he showed me that he had hoped for some reward; and yet he did not long cling to the idea which had entered his mind, but quickly came to himself again, and overwhelmed by the honours I had done him, regarded them as of more worth than any money.
[20] Lit. "about the knee-splints (I gave) my staff." He refers to restraining their rapacity.
I have received his will from Curius and bring it with me. I know the legacies Hortensius has to pay. Now I want to know the metal of the man, and what properties he is putting up for sale. When
Nescio enim, cur, cum portam Flumentanam Caelius occuparit, ego Puteolos non meos faciam.
Venio ad "Piraeea" in quo magis reprehendendus sum, quod homo Romanus "Piraeea" scripserim, non "Piraeum" (sic enim omnes nostri locuti sunt), quam quod addiderim "in." Non enim hoc ut oppido praeposui, sed ut loco. Et tamen Dionysius noster et, qui est nobiscum, Nicias Cous non rebatur oppidum esse Piraeea. Sed de re ego[21] videro. Nostrum quidem si est peccatum, in eo est, quod non ut de oppido locutus sum, sed ut de loco, secutusque sum non dico Caecilium:
"Máne ut ex portu ín Piraeum"
(malus enim auctor Latinitatis est), sed Terentium, cuius fabellae propter elegantiam sermonis putabantur a C. Laelio scribi:
"Heri áliquot adulescéntuli coíimus in Piraeum,"
et idem:
"Mercátor hoc addébat, captam e Súnio."
[21] re ego Reid; re L (marg.), M (above the line); reo NOPM1: eo M2.
Quodsi δήμους oppida volumus esse, tam est oppidum Sunium quam Piraeus. Sed, quoniam grammaticus es, si hoc mihi ξήτημα persolveris, magna me molestia liberaris.
Ille mihi litteras blandas mittit: facit idem pro eo Balbus. Mihi certum est ab honestissuma sententia digitum nusquam. Sed scis, illi reliquum quantum sit. Putasne igitur verendum esse, ne aut obiciat id nobis aliquis, si languidius, aut repetat, si fortius? Quid ad haec reperis? "Solvamus," inquis. Age, a
Caelius has taken the Porta Flumentana,[22] I don't see why I should not make Puteoli mine.
[22] Caelius had bought Lucceius' property near the Porta Flumentana at the entrance of the Campus Martius.
Coming to the form Piraeea, I am more to be blamed for writing it thus and not Piraeum in Latin, as all our people do, than I am for adding the preposition "in." I used "in" as before a word signifying a place and not a town. After all Dionysius and Nicias of Cos, who is with me, do not consider that the Piraeus is a town. I will look into the question. If I have made a mistake, it is in speaking of it not as a town but as a place, and I have authority. I do not depend on a quotation from Caecilius: "Máne ut ex portu in Piraeum,"[23] as he is a poor authority in Latinity; but I will quote Terence, whose fine style caused his plays to be ascribed to C. Laelius "Heri áliquot adulescéntuli coíimus in Piraeum," and again: "Mercátor hoc addébat, captam e Súnio."[24] If we want to call parishes towns, Sunium is as much a town as the Piraeus. But, since you are a purist, you will save me a lot of trouble, if you can solve the problem for me.
[23] In the morning as I disembarked in the Piraeus.
[24] Terence, Eun. 539 (yesterday while some of us youths met in the Piraeus), and 115 (The merchant added one thing more, a female slave from Sunium). In the first the MSS. of Terence read Piraeo.
Caesar sends me a friendly letter. Balbus does the same on his account. Certainly I shall not swerve a finger's breadth from the strictest honour; but you know how much I still owe him. Don't you think there is fear that this may be cast in my teeth, if I am slack; and repayment demanded from me, if I am energetic? What solution is there?
Caelio mutuabimur. Hoc tu tamen consideres velim; puto enim, in senatu si quando praeclare pro re publica dixero, Tartessium istum tuum mihi exeunti: "Iube sodes nummos curare."
Quid superest? Etiam. Gener est suavis mihi, Tulliae, Terentiae. Quantumvis vel ingenii vel humanitatis: satis est[25]; reliqua, quae nosti, ferenda. Scis enim, quos aperuerimus. Qui omnes praeter eum, de quo per te egimus, reum me[26] facerent.[27] Ipsis enim expensum nemo feret. Sed haec coram; nam multi sermonis sunt. Tironis reficiendi spes est in M'. Curio; cui ego scripsi tibi eum gratissimum facturum.
[25] satis est Mommsen: satis MSS.: comitatis satis or satis dignitatis Lehmann.
[26] rem Bosius; rem a me Purser.
[27] facere rentur Δ Bosius; facerentur O2.
Data v Idus Decembr. a Pontio ex Trebulano.
IV
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. in Pompeiano IV aut III Id. Dec. a 704
Dionysium flagrantem desiderio tui misi ad te nec mehercule aequo animo, sed fuit concedendum. Quem quidem cognovi cum doctum, quod mihi iam ante erat notum, tum sane plenum officii, studiosum etiam meae laudis, frugi hominem, ac, ne libertinum laudare videar, plane virum bonum. Pompeium vidi IIII Idus Decembres. Fuimus una horas duas fortasse. Magna laetitia mihi visus est adfici meo adventu, de
"Pay up," say you. Well, I will borrow from the bank.[28] But there is a point you might consider. If I ever make a notable speech in the House on behalf of the constitution, your friend from Tarshish[29] will be pretty sure to say to me as I go out: "Kindly send me a draft."
[28] Caelius the banker is again referred to in XII, 5.
[29] L. Cornelius Balbus of Tartessus.
Anything else? Yes. My son-in-law is agreeable to me, to Tullia, and to Terentia. He has any amount of native charm or shall I say culture: and that is enough. We must put up with the faults you know of. For you know what we have found the others to be on inspection. All of them except the one with whom you negotiated for us would get me into the law courts. No one will lend them money on their own security. But this when we meet: it is a long story. My hope of Tiro's recovery lies in M'. Curius. I have written to him that he will be doing you the greatest favour.
Dec. 9, at Pontius' villa at Trebula.
IV
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Pompeii, Dec. 10 or 11, B.C. 50
Dionysius burned to be with you, so I sent him, with some misgivings I must admit; but it had to be. I knew him before to be a scholar: I find him very obliging, careful of my good name, an honest fellow, and, not to give him a mere freedman's character, evidently a man of honour. Pompey I interviewed on the 10th of December. We were together a matter of two hours: he seemed greatly delighted with
triumpho hortari, suscipere partes suas, monere, ne ante in senatum accederem, quam rem confecissem, ne dicendis sententiis aliquem tribunum alienarem. Quid quaeris? in hoc officio sermonis nihil potuit esse prolixius. De re publica autem ita mecum locutus est, quasi non dubium bellum haberemus. Nihil ad spem concordiae. Plane illum a se alienatum cum ante intellegeret, tum vero proxume iudicasse. Venisse Hirtium a Caesare, qui esset illi familiarissimus, ad se non accessisse, et, cum ille a. d. VIII Idus Decembr. vesperi venisset, Balbus de tota re constituisset a. d. VII ad Scipionem ante lucem venire, multa de nocte eum profectum esse ad Caesarem. Hoc illi τεκμηριῶδες videbatur esse alienationis. Quid multa? nihil me aliud consolatur, nisi quod illum, cui etiam inimici alterum consulatum, fortuna summam potentiam dederit, non arbitror fore tam amentem, ut haec in discrimen adducat. Quodsi ruere coeperit, ne ego multa timeo; quae non audeo scribere. Sed, ut nunc est, a. d. III Nonas Ian. ad urbem cogito.
V
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. in Formiano XV K. Ian., ut videtur, a. 704
Multas uno tempore accepi epistulas tuas; quae mihi, quamquam recentiora audiebam ex iis, qui ad me veniebant, tamen erant iucundae; studium enim et benevolentiam declarabant. Valetudine tua moveor et Piliam in idem genus morbi delapsam curam tibi
my arrival, encouraged me about my triumph, promised to do his part, warned me not to enter the House till my business was finished, for fear I should make an enemy of some tribune by the opinions I expressed. In short, promises could go no further. As to the political situation, he hinted certain war, without hope of agreement. It appeared that, though he had long understood there was a split between himself and Caesar, he had had very recent proof of it. Hirtius, a very intimate friend of Caesar's, had come and had not called on Pompey. Besides Hirtius had arrived on the evening of the 6th of December and Balbus had arranged a meeting with Pompey's father-in-law before daybreak on the 7th to discuss affairs, when, lo, late on the night before, Hirtius set out to go to Caesar. This seemed to Pompey proof positive of a split. In a word I have no consolation except the thought, that, when even his enemies have renewed his term of office and fortune has bestowed on him supreme power, Caesar will not be so mad as to jeopardize these advantages. If he begins to run amuck, my fears are more than I can commit to paper. As things are, I meditate a visit to town on the 3rd of January.
V
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Formiae Dec. 16, B.C. 50
A number of your letters have reached me at the same time: and, although visitors bring me later news, they are delightful, as they show your affection and good will. I am concerned about your illness, and I suppose Pilia's attack of the same complaint will increase
adferre maiorem sentio. Date igitur operam, ut valeatis. De Tirone video tibi curae esse. Quem quidem ego, etsi mirabilis utilitates mihi praebet, cum valet, in onmi genere vel negotiorum vel studiorum meorum, tamen propter humanitatem et modestiam malo salvum quam propter usum meum. Philogenes mecum nihil umquam de Luscenio locatus est; de ceteris rebus habes Dionysium. Sororem tuam non venisse in Arcanum miror. De Chrysippo meum consilium probari tibi non moleste fero. Ego in Tusculanum nihil sane hoc tempore; devium est τοῖς ἀπαντῶσιν et habet alia δύσχρεστα. Sed de Formiano Tarracinam pridie Kal. Ian. Inde Pomptinam summam, inde in Albanum Pompei. Ita ad urbem III Nonas natali meo.
De re publica cotidie magis timeo. Non enim boni, ut putant, consentiunt. Quos ego equites Romanos, quos senatores vidi, qui acerrime cum cetera tum hoc iter Pompei vituperarent! Pace opus est. Ex victoria cum multa mala tum certe tyrannus exsistet. Sed haec prope diem coram. Iam plane mihi deest, quod ad te scribam; nec enim de re publica, quod uterque nostrum scit eadem, et domestica nota sunt ambobus.
Reliquum est iocari, si hic sinat. Nam ego is sum, qui illi concedi putem utilius esse, quod postulat, quam signa conferri. Sero enim resistimus ei, quem per annos decem aluimus contra nos. "Quid sentis igitur?" inquis. Nihil scilicet nisi de sententia tua nec prius quidem, quam nostrum negotium aut confecerimus
your trouble. Both of you do your best to get well. As for Tiro I see you are attending to him. Though when in health, he is marvellously useful to me in every department of business and literature, it is not a selfish motive, but his own charming character and modest bearing that prompts my hope for his recovery. Philogenes has never said anything to me about Luscenius. As for other matters Dionysius is with you. I am astonished your sister has not come to Arcanum. I am glad you approve my plan about Chrysippus. I shall not go to Tusculum at such a time as this, not I. It is out of the way for chance rencontres and has other drawbacks. But from Formiae I go to Tarracina on the last of December. Thence to the upper end of the Pomptine marsh: thence to Pompey's Alban villa: and so to Rome on the 3rd, my birthday.
The political crisis is causing me greater fear every day. The loyalists are not, as is imagined, in agreement. I have met numbers of Roman knights, and numbers of Members, ready to inveigh bitterly against everything and especially this journey of Pompey's. Peace is our want. Victory will bring many evils, and without doubt a tyrant. But this we shall soon discuss together. I have no news at all now: each of us knows as much as the other about political affairs, and domestic details are for us common knowledge.
All one can do is to jest—if he will allow it. For I am one who thinks it better to agree to his demands than to enter upon war. It is late to resist him, when for ten years we have nurtured this viper in our bosom. Then you ask my view. It is the same as yours; and I shall express none till my own affairs
aut deposuerimus. Cura igitur, ut valeas. Aliquando ἀπότριψαι quartanam istam diligentia, quae in te summa est.
VI
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. in Formiano XIV K. Ian., ut videtur, a. 704
Plane deest, quod ad te scribam; nota omnia tibi sunt; nee ipse habeo, a te quod exspectem. Tantum igitur nostrum illud sollemne servemus, ut ne quem istuc euntem sine litteris dimittamus. De re publica valde timeo, nec adhuc fere inveni, qui non concedendum putaret Caesari, quod postularet, potius quam depugnandum. Est illa quidem impudens postulatio, opinione valentior. Cur autem nunc primum ei resistamus?
Οὐ γὰρ δὴ τόδε μεῖζον ἔπι κακόν
quam cum quinquennium prorogabamus, aut cum, ut absentis ratio haberetur, ferebamus, nisi forte haec illi tum arma dedimus, ut nunc cum bene parato pugnaremus. Dices: "Quid tu igitur sensurus es?" Non idem quod dicturus; sentiam enim omnia facienda, ne armis decertetur, dicam idem quod Pompeius neque id faciam humili animo. Sed rursus hoc permagnum rei publicae malum est, et quodam modo mihi praeter ceteros non rectum me in tantis rebus a Pompeio dissidere.
are concluded or abandoned. So be sure to get well. Apply some of your wonderful capacity for taking pains to shaking off the fever.
VI
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Formiae, Dec. 17, B.C. 50
I have positively no news: all mine is known to you; and there is none that I can look for from you. Only let me preserve my old ceremony of letting no visitor go to you without a letter. My fears as to the political situation are great. And so far I have found hardly a man who would not yield to Caesar's demand sooner than fight. That demand, it is true, is shameless, but stronger than we thought. But why should we choose this occasion to begin resisting?
Odyssey xii, 209
"No greater evil threatens now"
than when we prolonged his office for another five years; or when we agreed to let him stand as a candidate in his absence. But perhaps we were then giving him these weapons to turn against us now. You will say; "What then will your view be?" My view will not be what I shall say; for my view will be that every step should be taken to avoid a conflict; but I shall say the same as Pompey, nor shall I be actuated by subserviency. But again it is a very great calamity to the state, and in a way improper to me beyond others to differ from Pompey in matters of such importance.
VII
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. in Formiano inter XIII et X K. Ian. a. 704
"Dionysius, vir optumus, ut mihi quoque est perspectus, et doctissumus tuique amantissumus, Romam venit XV Kalend. Ian. et litteras a te mihi reddidit." Tot enim verba sunt de Dionysio in epistula tua, illud putato non adscribis, "et tibi gratias egit." Atqui certe ille agere debuit, et, si esset factum, quae tua est humanitas, adscripsisses. Mihi autem nulla de eo παλινωδία datur propter superioris epistulae testimonium. Sit igitur sane bonus vir. Hoc enim ipsum bene fecit, quod mihi sui cognoscendi penitus etiam istam facultatem dedit. Philogenes recte ad te scripsit; curavit enim, quod debuit. Eum ego uti ea pecunia volui, quoad liceret; itaque usus est menses XIIII. Pomptinum cupio valere, et, quod scribis in urbem introisse, vereor, quid sit; nam id nisi gravi de causa non fecisset. Ego, quoniam IIII Non. Ian. compitalicius dies est, nolo eo die in Albanum venire, ne molestus familiae veniam. III Non. Ian. igitur; inde ad urbem pridie Nonas. Tua λῆψις quem in diem incurrat, nescio, sed prorsus te commoveri incommodo valetudinis tuae nolo.
De honore nostro nisi quid occulte Caesar per suos tribunos molitus erit, cetera videntur esse tranquilla; tranquillissimus autem animus meus, qui totum istuc aequi boni facit, et eo magis, quod iam a multis audio constitutum esse Pompeio et eius concilio in Siciliam
VII
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Formiae, Dec. 18-21, B.C. 50
"Dionysius, an excellent fellow—as I too have found him—a good scholar and your very stanch friend, arrived in Rome on the 16th of December, and gave me a letter from you." That's all you say about Dionysius in your letter. You do not add "and he expressed his gratitude to you." Yet certainly he ought to have done so, and, if he had, you would have added it with your usual good nature. I cannot make a volte face about him, owing to the character I gave him in the former letter. Let us call him then an honest fellow. He has done me one kindness at any rate in giving me this further chance to know him thoroughly. Philogenes is correct in what he wrote: he duly settled his debt. I wanted him to use the money as long as he could; so he has used it for 14 months. I hope Pomptinus is getting well. You mention his entrance into town. I am somewhat anxious as to what it means: he would not have entered the city except for some good reason. As the 2nd of January is a holiday, I don't wish to reach Pompey's Alban villa on that date for fear I should be a nuisance to his household. I shall go there on the 3rd, and then visit the city on the 4th. I forget on what day the fever will attack you again; but I would not have you stir to the damage of your health.
As for my triumph, unless Caesar has been secretly intriguing through his tribune partisans, all else seems smooth and easy. My mind is absolutely at ease, and I regard the whole business with indifference, especially as many people tell me that Pompey and his advisers
me mittere, quod imperium habeam. Id est Ἀβδηριτικόν. Nec enim senatus decrevit, nec populus iussit me imperium in Sicilia habere. Sin hoc res publica ad Pompeium refert, qui me magis quam privatum aliquem mittat? Itaque, si hoc imperium mihi molestum erit, utar ea porta, quam primam videro. Nam, quod scribis mirificam exspectationem esse mei neque tamen quemquam bonorum aut satis bonorum dubitare, quid facturus sim, ego, quos tu bonos esse dicas, non intellego. Ipse nullos novi, sed ita, si ordines bonorum quaerimus; nam singulares sunt boni viri. Verum in dissensionibus ordines bonorum et genera quaerenda sunt. Senatum bonum putas, per quem sine imperio provinciae sunt (numquam enim Curio sustinuisset, si cum eo agi coeptum esset; quam sententiam senatus sequi noluit; ex quo factum est, ut Caesari non succederetur), an publicanos, qui numquam firmi, sed nunc Caesari sunt amicissimi, an faeneratores an agricolas, quibus optatissimum est otium? nisi eos timere putas, ne sub regno sint, qui id numquam, dum modo otiosi essent, recusarunt. Quid ergo? exercitum retinentis, cum legis dies transierit, rationem haberi placet? Mihi vero ne absentis quidem; sed, cum id datum est, illud una datum est. Annorum enim decem imperium et ita latum placet? Placet igitur etiam me expulsum et agrum Campanum
have determined to send me to Sicily, because I still have military powers. That is a muddle-headed plan.[30] For neither has the House decreed, nor the people authorized me to have military power in Sicily. If the state delegates the appointment to Pompey, why should he send me rather than any unofficial person? So, if this military power is going to be a nuisance, I shall get rid of it by entering the first city gate I see. As for your news that there is a wonderful interest in my arrival and that none of the "right or right enough party" doubt as to my future action, I don't understand your phrase "the right party." I don't know of such a party, that is if we look for a class; of course there are individuals. But in political splits it is classes and parties we want. Do you think the Senate is "right," when it has left our provinces without military rule? For Curio could never have held out, if there had been negotiations with him—a proposal rejected by the House, which left Caesar without a successor. Is it the tax-collectors, who have never been loyal and are now very friendly with Caesar? Or is it the financiers or the farmers, whose chief desire is peace? Do you suppose they will fear a king, when they never declined one so long as they were left in peace? Well then, do I approve of the candidature of a man who keeps his army beyond the legal term? No, not even of his candidature in absence. But when the one privilege was granted, the other went with it. Do I then approve of the extension of his military power for ten years, and that carried as it was carried? Then I should have to approve of my own banishment, the throwing away of the Campanian land on the people, the adoption
[30] Abdera was the classical Gotham.
perisse et adoptatum patricium a plebeio, Gaditanum a Mytilenaeo, et Labieni divitiae et Mamurrae placent et Balbi horti et Tusculanum. Sed horum omnium fons unus est. Imbecillo resistendum fuit, et id erat facile; nunc legiones XI, equitatus tantus, quantum volet, Transpadani, plebes urbana, tot tribuni pl., tam perdita iuventus, tanta auctoritate dux, tanta audacia. Cum hoc aut depugnandum est aut habenda e lege ratio. "Depugna," inquis, "potius quam servias." Ut quid? si victus eris, proscribare, si viceris, tamen servias? "Quid ergo," inquis, "facturus es?" Idem quod pecudes, quae dispulsae sui generis sequuntur greges. Ut bos armenta sic ego bonos viros aut eos, quicumque dicentur boni, sequar, etiamsi ruent. Quid sit optimum male contractis rebus, plane video. Nemini est enim exploratum, cum ad arma ventum sit, quid futurum sit, at illud omnibus, si boni victi sint, nec in caede principum clementiorem hunc fore quam Cinna fuerit, nec moderatiorem quam Sulla in pecuniis locupletum. Συμπολιτεύομαί σοι iam dudum et facerem diutius, nisi me lucerna desereret. Ad summam "Dic, M. Tvlli." Adsentior Cn. Pompeio, id est T. Pomponio.
Alexim, humanissimum puerum, nisi forte dum ego absum, adulescens factus est (id enim agere videbatur), salvere iubeas velim.
of a patrician by a plebeian, of that gentleman of Gades by the man of Mytilene.[31] And I should have to approve of the wealth of Labienus and Mamurra and the gardens and Tusculan estate of Balbus. But the source of all these evils is one. We ought to have resisted him when he was weak: that would have been easy. Now there are eleven legions, cavalry as much as he wants, the northern tribes across the Po, the city riff-raff, all the tribunes of the people, the young profligates, a leader of such influence and daring. We must either fight him or allow his candidature according to the law. "Fight," say you, "rather than be slaves." The result will be proscription if beaten and slavery even if one wins. "What shall I do then?" What the cattle do, who when scattered follow flocks of their own kind. As an ox follows the herd, so shall I follow the "right party," or whoever are said to be the "right party," even if they rush to destruction. The best course in our straits is clear to me. No one can tell the issue of war: but every one can tell that, if the right party are beaten, Caesar will not be more merciful than Cinna in slaying the nobility, nor more moderate than Sulla in robbing the rich. I have discussed la haute politique long enough, and I would do so longer, had not my lamp gone out. The end is "Your vote, Marcus Tullius." I vote with Pompey, that is with Titus Pomponius.
[31] Balbus of Gades was adopted by Theophanes of Mytilene, who had himself received the citizenship from Pompey.
Please remember me to Alexis, a very clever boy, unless perhaps in my absence he has become a man, as he threatened to do.
VIII
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. in Formiano VI aut V K. Ian. a. 704
Quid opus est de Dionysio tam valde adfirmare? An mihi nutus tuus non faceret fidem? Suspicionem autem eo mihi maiorem tua taciturnitas attulerat, quod et tu soles conglutinare amicitias testimoniis tuis, et illum aliter cum aliis de nobis locutum audiebam. Sed prorsus ita esse, ut scribis, mihi persuades. Itaque ego is in illum sum, quem tu me esse vis.
Diem tuum ego quoque ex epistula quadam tua, quam incipiente febricula scripseras, mihi notaveram et animadverteram posse pro re nata te non incommode ad me in Albanum venire III Nonas Ianuar. Sed, amabo te, nihil incommodo valetudinis feceris. Quid enim est tantum in uno aut altero die?
Dolabellam video Liviae testamento cum duobus coheredibus esse in triente, sed iuberi mutare nomen. Est πολιτικὸν σκέμμα, rectumne sit nobili adulescenti mutare nomen mulieris testamento. Sed id φιλοσοφώτερον διευκρινήσομεν, cum sciemus, quantum quasi sit in trientis triente.
Quod putasti fore ut, antequam istuc venirem, Pompeium viderem, factum est ita; nam VI Kal. ad Lavernium me consecutus est. Una Formias venimus et ab hora octava ad vesperum secreto collocuti sumus. Quod quaeris, ecquae spes pacificationis sit, quantum ex Pompei multo et accurato sermone perspexi, ne voluntas quidem est. Sic enim existimat, si ille vel dimisso exercitu consul factus sit, σύγχυσιν
VIII
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Formiae, Dec. 25 or 26, B.C. 50
There was no need for you to give such strong assurances about Dionysius. A hint from you would have satisfied me. But your silence gave me all the more reason for suspicion, because you are used to cement friendships with good-natured assurances, and because I heard that he used different language about us to others. However, your letter convinces me. So I behave to him exactly as you wish.
Your bad day too I had noted from a letter you wrote at the beginning of your feverishness, and I had calculated that under the circumstances you could conveniently meet me at the Alban villa on the 3rd of January. But please do nothing to affect your health. A day or two will make no difference.
Dolabella, I see, by Livia's will shares a third of her estate with two others, but is asked to change his name. It is a social problem whether it is proper for a young noble to change his name under a lady's will. But we can determine that on more scientific grounds, when we know to how much a third of a third amounts.
Iliad xviii, 309
Your guess that I should meet Pompey before coming to Rome has come true. On the 25th he overtook me near the Lavernium. We reached Formiae together, and were closeted together from two o'clock till evening. For your query as to the chance of a peaceful settlement, so far as I could tell from Pompey's full and detailed discourse, he does not even want peace. Pompey thinks that the constitution will be subverted even if Caesar is elected consul without