Cicero’s Letters to Atticus, Book 5

Translated by Evelyn Shuckburgh

CLXXXIII (A V, I)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

MINTURNAE MAY

Yes, I saw well enough what your feelings were as I parted from you; what mine were I am my own witness. This makes it all the more incumbent on you to prevent an additional decree being passed, so that this mutual regret of ours may not last more than a year. As to Annius Saturninus, your measures are excellent. As to the guarantee, pray, during your stay at Rome, give it yourself. You will find several guarantees on purchase, such as those of the estates of Memmius, or rather of Attilius. As to Oppius, that is exactly what I wished, and especially your having engaged to pay him the 800 sestertia (about £ 6,400), which I am determined shall be paid in any case, even if I have to borrow to do so, rather than wait for the last day of getting in my own debts. ¹ [p. 3]

I now come to that last line of your letter written crossways, in which you give me a word of caution about your sister. ² The facts of the matter are these. On arriving at my place at Arpinum, my brother came to see me, and our first subject of conversation was yourself, and we discussed it at great length. After this I brought the conversation round to what you and I had discussed at Tusculum, on the subject of your sister. I never saw anything so gentle and placable as my brother was on that occasion in regard to your sister: so much so, indeed, that if there had been any cause of quarrel on the score of expense, it was not apparent. So much for that day. Next day we started from Arpinum. A country festival caused Quintus to stop at Arcanum; I stopped at Aquinum; but we lunched at Arcanum. ³ You know his property there. When we got there Quintus said, in the kindest manner, "Pomponia, do you ask the ladies in; I will invite the men." ⁴ Nothing, as I thought, could be more courteous, and that, too, not only in the actual words, but also in his intention and the expression of face. But she, in the hearing of us all, exclaimed, "I am only a stranger here!" The origin of that was, as I think, the fact that [p. 4] Statius had preceded us to look after the luncheon. Thereupon Quintus said to me, "There, that's what I have to put up with every day !" You will say, "Well, what does that amount to?" A great deal ; and, indeed, she had irritated even me : her answer had been given with such unnecessary acrimony, both of word and look. I concealed my annoyance. We all took our places at table except her. However, Quintus sent her dishes from the table, which she declined. In short, I thought I never saw anything better-tempered than my brother, or crosser than your sister : and there were many particulars which I omit that raised my bile more than they did that of Quintus himself. I then went on to Aquinum ; Quintus stopped at Arcanum, and joined me early the next day at Aquinum. He told me that she had refused to sleep with him, and when on the point of leaving, she behaved just as I had seen her. ⁵ Need I say more? You may tell her herself that in my judgment she shewed a marked want of kindness on that day. I have told you this story at greater length, perhaps, than was necessary, to convince you that you, too, have something to do in the way of giving her instruction and advice.

There only remains for me to beg you to complete all my commissions before leaving town ; to give Pomptinus ⁶ a push, and make him start ; to let me know as soon as you have left town, and to believe that, by heaven, there is nothing I love and find more pleasure in than yourself. I said a most affectionate good-bye to that best of men, A. Torquatus, at Minturnae, to whom I wish you would remark, in the course of conversation, that I have mentioned him in my letter. [p. 5]

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¹ These brief sentences are in answer to statements in the letter of Atticus which Cicero in answering. In the absence of that letter and of any knowledge of the business referred to, we cannot fully explain them. The satisdatio may refer either to a purchase or a sale on Cicero's part: if the former case, it means a security for payment of the purchase money, either in the shape of a deposit or otherwise; in the latter, a guarantee of title. Annius Saturninus is presumed to be a freedman of Annius Milo's, with whom Cicero may have had dealings for his patron. The "satisdationes of the Memmian or Attilian estates" are quoted as models; they may refer to the sales of the property of C. Memmius, condemned for ambitus in B.C. 54 (Q. Fr. 3.2; 3.8), or of Sex. Attilius Serranus (tr. pl. B.C. 57), of whose sale we know nothing. Oppius is probably C. Oppius, a friend and agent of Caesar, and the debt Cicero is determined to pay is a loan from Caesar. The word aperuisti is peculiar; it is said to mean in regard to money, "to promise to pay" or "to put at a man's order." In Letter CLXXXVI he expresses the same meaning by exposuisti.

² Pomponia, wife of Quintus Cicero.

³ Cicero had gone round by Arpinum, either to visit his own villa or to pick up Quintus (who was going with him as legatus to Cilicia). They then went on to the via Latina by a cross road. Cicero stayed a night at Aquinum before going by another cross road to Minturnae, on the via Appia. Quintus however, stopped at his own villa of Arcanum, between Arpinum and Minturnae, where they both stopped for the prandium, the midday meal.

⁴ Reading (with Tyrrell) viros for pueros.

⁵ Pomponia was not going to Cilicia with Quintus She had come with him as far as Arcanum, and went back to Arpinum.

⁶ C. Pomptinus, praetor during Cicero's consulship, was now one of his four legati. He had military experience in a campaign against the Allobroges, and Cicero was anxious that he should join him promptly.

CLXXXIV (A V, 2)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

POMPEII, 10 MAY

On the 10th of May, the date of this letter, I am about to start from my Pompeian villa, intending to stay to-night with Pontius ¹ in his villa near Trebula. After that I mean to make regular days' journeys without any farther delay. ² While in my Cuman villa I was much gratified by a visit from our friend Hortensius. ³ When he asked me whether he could do anything for me, I answered in general terms about everything else ; but I begged him in particular to prevent, as far as in him lay, any extension of my provincial government. In this please confirm him, and tell him that I was much gratified by his visit, and by his promise to do this for me, and anything else I wanted besides. I have strongly urged the same on our friend Furnius, who, I see, will be a tribune for next year. ⁴ I had a kind of miniature Rome in my Cuman villa : there was such a crowd of people in the neighbourhood. ⁵ In the midst of all this our friend "Rufio," seeing that he was being watched by Vestorius, tricked that gentleman by a ruse de guerre. For he never came near me. "What!" you will say, "when Hortensius [p. 6] came, in spite of being in weak health and living at such a distance and being the great Hortensius, and such a crowd of people besides--do you mean to say that he didn't come? So you didn't see the fellow at all?" How could I help seeing him, when my road lay through the mart of Puteoli? There as he was, I presume, doing some business, I said "How d'ye do?" to him ; and on a later occasion I bade him good-bye when he came out of his own villa and asked me whether he could do anything for me. A man like that is one to reckon ungrateful? Doesn't he rather deserve Commendation for not exerting himself to get a hearing ? ⁶

But to return to my subject. Do not imagine that anything can console me for this gigantic bore, except the hope that it will not last longer than a year. Many will not believe me in this, because they judge from the habit of others. You, who know the truth, pray use every exertion ; I mean, when the time comes for the question to be mooted. As soon as you return from Epirus, I beg you to write about public affairs and tell me anything you may detect. For satisfactory intelligence has not reached as far as this as to how Caesar took the senatorial resolution being written out ; ⁷ and there was also a rumour about the Transpadani, that they had been bidden to elect quattuorviri. ⁸ If that is the case I fear some great disturbances. But I shall learn something from Pompey. [p. 7]

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¹ L. Pontius Aquila, who afterwards lost his life in the campaign at Mutina (B.C. 43). We shall find Cicero staying there again, as well as Terentia.

² Cicero was going to Brundisium by the Appia, but both his visit to his Pompeian villa and this other to Pontius in the Trebulanus ager were considerable deviations from it, one to the south, the other to the north.

³ The last time Cicero ever saw his great rival in the law courts, with, as well as against, whom he had so often pleaded. Hortensius died just as Cicero was returning from Cilicia

⁴ That is, he would enter on his office 10th December of the present year, and so would have a voice in the senate as to the arrangements of the provinces.

⁵ April and May were the fashionable months, the season, for the Campanian coast.

⁶ Of this sort of episode, or jesting anecdote, it is difficult to see the point without fuller knowledge of the circumstances. We learn from Letter CCXXIII that C. Sempronius Rufus (whose name Cicero jestingly alters to the servile one of Rufio) had some controversy with Vestorius as to money which he owed him, or property which he held, as Vestorius alleged illegally. He therefore avoided any meeting, and Cicero hints laughingly that it was a kindness to him (Cicero), as it saved him from the necessity of hearing the case as arbitrator.

⁷ If a decree was passed in the senate but vetoed by a tribune, it was called not a senatus consultum, but an auctoritas ; if the senate determined to put their resolution on record, it was written out (perscripta), otherwise it dropped altogether. In Letter CCXXII there is a specimen of such an auctoritas This referred, like those we shall hear of later, to a resolution of the senate that Caesar should resign his province before standing for the consulship, moved by the consul Marcellus.

⁸ That is, that the towns north of the Padus should become municipia i.e., have the full Roman civitas, whereas they at present had only the ius Latii. This was the first measure carried by Caesar on his election to the consulship at the end of B.C. 49. Quattuorviri were the regular annual magistrates of a municipium, duoviri of a colonia.

CLXXXV (A V, 3)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

THE TREBULANUM OF PONTIUS, 11 MAY

On the 10th of May I arrived at his Trebulanum to stay with Pontius There two letters from you were delivered to me, dated two days before. On that same day, as I was leaving my Pompeian villa, I had delivered a letter for you to Philotimus ; nor have I at present anything to write about. Write me word what reports there are about politics, I beseech you. For in the towns I observe that there is much alarm, yet for the most part it is mere idle gossip. What you think about all this, and when the crisis will come, please let me know. What letter it is you want answered I don't know : for I have as yet received none except the two delivered to me at Trebulanum, of which the one contained the edict of P. Licinius, ¹ dated 7th May, the other an answer to mine from Minturnae How uneasy I feel, lest there should have been something more important than usual in the one which I haven't received, and to which you want an answer! With Lentulus I will bring you into favour. I like Dionysius much. Your Nicanor serve me excellently. Well, I have nothing more to say, and day is breaking. I think of going to Beneventum today. By disinterested conduct and attention to business I shall take care to satisfy all concerned.

At the house of Pontius, Trebulanum, 11 May. [p. 8]

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¹ P. Licinius Crassus Dives, a jurisconsult who had governed Asia, and whose "edict" Cicero perhaps wanted as a model.

CLXXXVI (A V, 4)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

BENEVENTUM, 12 MAY

I ARRIVED at Beneventum on the 11th of May. There I received the letter which in your previous letter (answered by me the same day from Pontius's Trebulanum) you had mentioned having sent. And, indeed, I have received two letters from you at Beneventum, one delivered to me by Funisulanus early in the morning, and a second handed to me by my secretary Tullius. I am much obliged by the pains you have taken about my first and most important commission : but your leaving town rather damps my hopes.

As to the man you mention, I am coming round in that direction, not that -, but we are forced to be content with him for want of a better. About the other one, of whom you say that he appeared to you to be not unsuitable--I am afraid my daughter could not be persuaded, and you admit that there is not a pin to choose between them. For my part, I am not unreasonable ; but you will be away, and will not, therefore, have a hand in the business in my absence. For if either of. us were on the spot, some fairly satisfactory arrangement might be made with Servius, with Servilia to back him. As at present situated, even though it should be a thing I like, I don't see how I can do anything. ¹

Now I come to the letter delivered to me by Tullius. [p. 9] You have been very energetic about Marcellus. Accordingly, if the decree has passed the senate, please write me word : but if not, do your best to get the business through ; for a grant must be made to me, as also to Bibulus. ² I have no doubt of the decree of the senate being passed without difficulty, especially considering that it is a gain to the people. As to Torquatus, excellent! As to Mason and Ligur, that will do when they have come. As to the request of Chaerippus : since in this case also you have given me no "tip," ³ . . . "Bother your province! Must I look after him too?" Yes ; but only so far as to prevent there being any obstructive "debate!" or "count!" in the senate. ⁴ For as to the rest--, however, thank you for speaking to Scrofa. ⁵ As to what you say about Pomptinus, I quite agree. For the upshot is that, if he is going to be at Brundisium before the 1st of June, M. Annius and L. Tullius ⁶ need not have been so much hurried. As to what you have heard from Sicinius, ⁷ [p. 10] I quite assent, provided only that this restriction does not apply to anyone who has done me a service. But I will turn the matter over, for I quite approve of it in principle. I will let you know what I have settled as to the plan of my journey, and also what Pompey means to do about the five prefects, when I have learnt it from himself. As to Oppius, you have acted quite rightly in having assured him of the 800 sestertia ; and since you have Philotimus ⁸ with you, pray see the business through ; examine the account, and, as you love me, settle it before leaving town. ⁹ You will have relieved me of a great anxiety.

Now I have answered all your letter : but stay! I almost omitted your being short of paper. The loss is mine, if for lack of it your letter to me is curtailed. Why, you cost me a couple of hundred sesterces : ¹⁰ though how stingy I am in this particular the cramped nature of this page shews you : while in return I expect from you a gazette of events, rumours, or even anything you know for certain about Caesar. ¹¹ Be sure you give a letter to Pomptinus, as well as to others, on every imaginable topic. [p. 11]

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¹ This paragraph refers to the selection of a husband for Tullia. She had been left a widow in B.C. 57 by the death of C. Calpurnius Piso, and her betrothal to Furius Crassipes (B.C. 56) had either not ended in a marriage, or the marriage had been quickly dissolved. The two suitors now under consideration are P. Cornelius Dolabella and Servius Sulpicius Rufus. I have translated Schuetz's text, nec me absente habebis rei rationem and Servio fieri probable. Professor Tyrrell's emendations seem to me to be very difficult. I take the meaning to be that Cicero thinks that Sulpicius might "do," with Servilia's support ; perhaps because something good might be got for him from Caesar (her reputed lover), though he is himself inclining to Dolabella, and is uneasy at the negotiations going on when neither himself nor Atticus is in Rome. Atticus was a great friend of Servilia.

² Bibulus, like Cicero, had not taken a province after his consulship, and was now, in consequence of Pompey a law and the decree of the senate, forced to draw lots for one. Syria had fallen to him, where there were rumours of a Parthian invasion. There is no need, I think, to read alteram before conficies (with Tyrrell): the additional troops and the money grant might be included in one decree. The former had been discussed before Cicero left Rome, and practically assented to ; but the consul Sulpicius had made difficulties, and Cicero is afraid that outside influence may have been brought to bear upon senators against it.

³ prosneusin, "a nod," to shew your wish. Chaerippus had been with Quintus and was afterwards in Africa with Cornificius. He was probably a Greek secretary.

⁴ If the magistrate chose he could put a question to the senate to be voted on without debate. Such business would be usually non-contentious or routine. If the senators, however, thought otherwise, they cried Consule, i.e., ask the opinions (sententiae) of the members. If he gave way, speeches might follow, and the matter would be prolonged perhaps beyond several sittings (which always ended at sunset). The cry of "count" was like that in the House of Commons, demanding that those present should be counted, to see whether there was a quorum. We do not know what that quorum was, except in certain special cases, but that a fixed number is mentioned in them e.g., the decree de Bacchanalibus) seems to shew that business was often done with less.

⁵ Cn. Tremellius Scrofa, who had been a judex in the Verres case, seems to have been with Cicero for a time in Cilicia.

⁶ Three of Cicero's four legati, the fourth being his brother Quintus

⁷ Some provision in the edict which Cicero meant to publish in his province.

⁸ A freedman of Terentia's, who seems to have managed her business affairs for her.

⁹ The debt to Caesar. See Letter CLXXXIII.

¹⁰ Two hundred sestertii. Others read sexcentas, i.e., chartas. I have ventured to read aufers, instead of the common aufer, from which I think no satisfactory sense can be elicited. Cicero, in answer to Atticus's remark that he hadn't a good stock of paper by him, says jestingly that he is sorry he is so hard up, hut he is the same, for his letters to Atticus put him to great expense in paper. He (according to my interpretation) alludes to the jest again at the end of Letter CXCIX, where see note, p. 32. Auferre, "swallow up," "absorb"; cp. 1 Verr. 31, hi ludi dies xvi auferunt'.

¹¹ Therefore, he implies, how much greater must your expenditure on paper be.

CLXXXVII (A V, 5)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

VENUSIA, 15 MAY

I have absolutely nothing to say. I have neither any commission for you, for everything has been arranged, nor anything to relate, for nothing has happened, nor is there any room for jesting, considering my numerous anxieties. Let me only tell you that I despatch this letter on the 15th of May as I am starting from Venusia. Now on this day I feel sure something has been done in the senate. ¹ Therefore let a letter from you follow us, to inform us not only of all actual facts, but of common reports also. I shall get it at Brundisium For it is there that my plan is to await Pomptinus up to the day you mentioned in your letter. ² I will write out for your perusal the conversations I have with Pompey at Tarentum on the state of the Republic ; although I wish to know precisely up to what time I can write to you safely, that is, how long you are going to be in Rome, so that I may know either where to direct my letters henceforth, or how to avoid sending them to no purpose. But before you leave town, in any case let the payment of the 20 sestertia and the 800 sestertia be put straight. ³ I beg you to look upon this as of all concerns the most important and most urgent, viz., that I should complete with your assistance what I began on your advice. [p. 12]

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¹ The Ides of each month were one of the regular meeting days of the senate.

² I.e., the 1st of June (p. 9).

³ The debt to Caesar, but this is the first time we hear of the smaller sum (20 sestertia). It is suggested that it is the interest due. The three words he uses in connexion with it--aperuisti, exposuisti, explicatum sit--are certainly odd. I do not feel satisfied by the expedient of inserting a de after them. They have the look of technical business expressions. See pp. 3 and 10

CLXXXVIII (A V, 6)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

TARENTUM, 18 MAY

I arrived at Tarentum on the 18th of May. As I had determined to wait for Pomptinus, I thought the most convenient thing was to spend those days in Pompey's society, and all the more because I saw that it gave him pleasure, for he has actually begged me to give him my company, and be at his house every day; and this I have gladly agreed to do. For I shall get many notable talks with him on the Republic, and I shall also be furnished with useful hints for this business of mine. ¹ But I begin now to be briefer in writing to you, because I am doubtful as to whether you have yet started from Rome. However, during my uncertainty as to that, I shall write something rather than allow of no letter from me reaching you as long as it is possible for it to do so. And yet I have no commission to give you, or anything to tell you. I have given you all my commissions, and I pray you carry them fully out in accordance with your promise : I will tell you any news I hear. There is one thing I shall not cease to urge as long as I think you are in town, namely, as to the debt to Caesar, that you will leave it settled and done with. I am eagerly looking for a letter from you, and especially that I may know when you go out of town. [p. 13]

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¹ The government of Cilicia, with which Pompey had much to do during his war with the pirates.

CLXXXIX (A V, 7)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

TARENTUM, 21 MAY

DAY after day, or rather more and more as the days go on, I send you shorter letters. For day after day I become more suspicious of your having started for Epirus. However, to prove to you that I have not neglected what you wrote to me about, I am informed by Pompey that he intends to appoint five new prefects ¹ for each of the Spains, in order to exempt them from serving on juries. For myself, after having spent three days with Pompey, and in his house, I am starting for Brundisium on the 21st of May. In him I am quitting a noble citizen, and one most thoroughly well-prepared to ward off the dangers which are at present causing us such alarm. I shall look forward to a letter from you to tell me both what you are doing and where you are.

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¹ See Letter CLXXXVI. The praefecti fabrum, socium, etc., were nominated by the commander-in-chief, i.e., the consul, in the Roman army. Later on it became the practice for a proconsul to a province to nominate a certain number of praefecti with such duties, judicial or other, as he chose to give them. Sometimes, as in this instance perhaps, the office was honorary. Under the empire the name was extended to a large number of officials. Atticus seems to have had somebody whom he wished to recommend to Pompey

CXCII (A V, 8)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

BRUNDISIUM, 1 JUNE

INDIFFERENT health, from which I have now recovered (for though ill, I had no fever), as well as waiting for Pomptinus, of whom as yet no rumour even has reached me, have kept me for these twelve days at Brundisium; but I am looking out for an opportunity to set sail. Now if you are still at Rome--for I scarcely think you can be--but if you are, I am Very anxious [p. 18] that you should give your attention to the following. In a letter received from Rome I am informed that my friend Milo writes to complain of my having ill-treated him in allowing Philotimus to have a share in the purchase of his property. I decided on that measure in accordance with the opinion of C. Duronius, ¹ whom I had had reason to believe exceedingly friendly to Milo, and whom I knew to be the sort of man you judge him to be. Now his object and mine too was this : first, that the property should remain under our control--lest some outsider, making the purchase at a high price, should deprive him of the slaves, a great number of which he had with him; secondly, that the settlement he had made upon Fausta should be respected. ² There was the farther motive, that we should ourselves have less difficulty than anyone else in saving anything that could be saved. Now I would have you look thoroughly into the whole affair : for I am frequently having letters on it written in exaggerated terms. If he complains, if he writes about it to his friends, and if Fausta takes the same line, as I told Philotimus by word of mouth, and as he undertook to do, I would not have him take part in the purchase against the will of Milo. It would not be in the least worth our while. But if there is nothing in all this, you will decide the matter. Speak with Duronius. I have written also to Camillus and Lamia, ³ and the more so because I did not feel confident of your being in Rome. The long and short of the whole thing [p. 19] is this : decide as shall seem to you to be in accordance with my honour, good name, and interests.

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¹ A friend of Milo, otherwise unknown.

² After condemnation involving a forfeiture of a man's property, the whole was usually purchased for a fixed sum by one or more persons (sectors), who then disposed of it by auction and made what profit they Could. A man who had rich friends might save a wreck of it, (I) if they chose to purchase, returning him the balance made by the sale; (2) or sold enough of it to pay the price which they had bargained to pay the treasury, not exacting the surrender of personalty, slaves, etc., or at any rate taking only a moderate profit. This is what Cicero seems to mean that Philotimus (a freedman of Terentia's) was, with others, going to do in this case. Again, it was customary for a man receiving a dowry with his wife to give security for its repayment in case of divorce or death; such a security was usually respected in case of confiscation, the property being sold with that burden on it, though this payment was at times evaded., as in the case of the Confiscations of the triumvirs in B.C. 42 (Dio Cass. xlii. See Letter LXI.

³ C. Furius Camillus was a lawyer specially skilled in property law (ad Fam. 5.20); Aelius Lamia is probably a lawyer also, but of him we know nothing.

CXCIV (A V, 9)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

ON THE ROAD TO ATHENS, 15 JUNE

I arrived at Actium on the 14th of June, after having feasted like priests of Mars both at Corcyra and the Sybota Islands, owing to your presents, which Areus as well as my friend Eutychides had prepared for us with lavish profusion and the utmost kindness. ¹ From Actium I preferred to journey by land, considering the unpleasant voyage we had had, and I did not like the idea of rounding Leucatas. ² To arrive, again, at Patrae in small boats, without all this paraphernalia, seemed to me somewhat undignified. Yes, your frequent exhortations have fallen on willing ears ! I daily turn them over in my own mind and impress them on my staff : in fine, I will make certain of passing through this extraordinary function without the least illegality or extortion. I only hope the Parthian will keep quiet and [p. 21] fortune favour us ! I will do my part. Pray take care to let me know what you are doing, where you mean to be from time to time, in what state you left things at Rome, and, above all, about the 820 sestertia. Put all that into one letter, carefully directed so as to be sure of reaching me in any case. But that my year of office should remain unchanged and without any addition being decreed, for this remember to take proper measures yourself and through all my friends, especially through Hortensius : for, though absent at present, when the question is not before the house, you will, as you said in one of your answers, be in town at the proper time. While pressing this upon you, I feel half-inclined to beg you also to fight against there being an inter-calation. ³ But I don't venture to put all the burdens on your back. As for the year, stick to that at any rate. My son Cicero, the best-behaved and dearest of boys, sends you his regards. I always liked Dionysius, for my part, as you know; but I get to value him more every day, and, by Hercules, principally because he loves you, and never lets an opportunity slip of talking about you.

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¹ Freedmen of Atticus, who entertained Cicero by his orders. The Salii, like the Pontifices, gave banquets (Lord Mayors' feasts) proverbial for their splendour (Horace, Odes, 1.38, 11).

² The famous promontory on the south of Leucadia, the scene of Sappho's leap.

³ That is, an intercalary month, after 23rd February, to correct the year. It was put in at the discretion of the Pontifices, whom Cicero thought Atticus could influence.

CXCVII (A V, 10)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

ATHENS, 27 JUNE

I ARRIVED at Athens on the 24th of June, and have now waited there three days for Pomptinus and have heard nothing as yet of his arrival. I am, believe me, wholly with you: and though I should have done so without them, yet I am thinking of you all the more vividly from being reminded by the traces of you in this place. In short, I assure you we talk of nothing else but you. But you, perhaps, would prefer to be told something about myself. Here you are then: up to now neither I nor any of my staff have been any expense to any town or individual. We receive nothing under the Julian law, ¹ nothing from any public host: my whole staff are impressed with the belief that they must have a regard for reputation. So far, well. This has been noticed with praise on the part of the Greeks and is being much talked of. For the rest, I am taking great pains, as I have perceived that you wished. But on this subject let us reserve our applause till the last act has been reached. Other circumstances are such that I frequently blame my folly for not having found some means of getting out of this business. How entirely unsuited to my character and habits! How true the proverb is, "Let the shoemaker stick to his last !" ² You will say, "What, already? Why, you are not actually in the business !" I know that very well, and I expect greater trouble remains: even as far as it has gone, though I bear it with cheerful brow, I think, and expression, in my inmost heart [p. 26] I am enduring agonies: so many instances are occurring every day of ill-temper or insolence, of foolish and senseless behaviour of every kind, both by speech and by refusal to speak. I don't give you details of these things, not because I wish to conceal them from you, but because they are difficult to explain. So you shall admire my self-restraint when I return safe and sound: I am bestowing such pains on the practice of this virtue. Well, enough of this. Though I had nothing in my mind that I intended to write about, because I haven't even the smallest idea as to what you are doing, and in what part of the world you are: nor, by Hercules, have I ever been so completely in the dark about my own affairs, as to what has been done about the debt to Caesar or Milo's liabilities; and no one has come, I don't say from my house, but even from Rome, to enlighten me as to what is going on in politics. Wherefore, if there is anything that you know on the subjects which you may suppose that I should wish to know, I shall be very much obliged if you take the trouble to have it transmitted to me. What else is there to say? Why, nothing except this: Athens has pleased me immensely, at any rate as far as the city itself and all that adorns it are concerned, and the affection of the inhabitants towards you, and what I may call a prepossession in favour of myself: but as to its philosophy--that is very topsy-turvey, if Aristus is supposed to represent it, in whose house I am staying. For your and my friend Xeno I preferred giving up to Quintus, and yet, owing to his proximity, we spend whole days together. ³ Pray, as soon as you possibly can, write me word of your plans, and let me know what you are doing, where you are from time to time, especially when you intend being in Rome. [p. 27]

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¹ The law passed by Iulius Caesar in his consulship, B.C. 59, limiting (among other things) the amount which provincial governors could demand in passing to and from their provinces. Cicero's boast is that he has not taken even what that law allowed.

² Cicero, as often, merely gives a word or two of the Greek proverb (erdoi tis), which he knows Atticus can fill up, erdoi tis hên hekastos eideiê techênên (Aristoph. Vesp. 1431), "Let each practise the art that he knows."

³ Aristus, an Academician; Xeno, an Epicurean

CXCIX (A V, 11)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

ATHENS, 6 JULY

HALLO write so often to Rome, and not send a single line to you? Well then, hereafter, rather than consent not to send you a letter, if that can be done safely, I will send one that may never reach you. Whatever step can be taken to provide against the prolongation of my government, in the name of fortune, take, so long as you are in town. I can't describe to you the warmth of my longing for the city, or the difficulty I feel in putting up with the boredom of this business.

Marcellus's action in the case of the man of Comum was disgraceful. Even if he were not a magistrate, he was yet an inhabitant of Gallia Transpadana. ¹ So he seems to me to have given no less cause of anger to our friend Pompey than to Caesar. But this is his own look-out. I think, from what you tell me that Varro says, that Pompey certainly means to go to Spain. I entirely disapprove of it, and indeed I easily convinced Theophanes that the best course was for him not to quit Rome to go anywhere. ² So the Greek will put [p. 31] pressure on him ; and his influence is very powerful with him.

I send this letter on the 6th of July, when on the point of quitting Athens, where I have been exactly ten days. ³ Pomptinus has arrived along with Cn. Volusius ; my quaestor is here ; the only one missing is your friend Tullius. I have some open vessels of Rhodes, some biremes of Mitylene, and a certain amount of despatch boats. ⁴ I don't hear a word about the Parthians. For the rest, heaven preserve us! As yet our journey through Greece has roused great admiration, nor, by heaven, have I as yet a fault to find with any of my staff. They appear to me to understand my point of view and the conditions on which they accompany me. They entirely devote themselves to my reputation. For the future, if the proverb "like mistress like dog " ⁵ holds good, they will certainly stick to this line of conduct. For they will not see me doing anything to give them an excuse for malpractices. But if that does not prove sufficient, I shall have to take some stronger measure. For at present I am all smiles and indulgence, and, as I hope, am making considerable progress. But I have only studied the part of "tolerator"--as our friends the Sicilians call it ⁶ --for a single year. Therefore fight your best, lest if any addition is made to my time, I should turn out a scoundrel.

Now to return to your commands: praefecti are excused jury service: offer the position to whom you choose. I will not be so high and mighty ⁷ as I was in the case of Appuleius. I am as fond of Xeno as you are, of which I feel sure that he is fully aware. With Patron and the rest of the (Epicurean) dunces ⁸ I have established your reputation [p. 32] well, and, by Hercules, it is no more than you deserve. For that person told me three times over that you had written to him to say that I had taken measures about his affair in accordance with a letter from Memmius, and this pleased him very much. But Patron having urged me to request your Areopagus to cancel their minute, made in the archonship of Polycharmus, ⁹ it seemed best to Xeno, and afterwards to Patron himself, that I should write to Memmius, who had started for Mitylene the day before my arrival at Athens, to induce him to write to his agents that it might be done with his free consent. For Xeno felt sure that it would be impossible to get this concession from the Areopagites if Memmius were unwilling. Now Memmius had laid aside his design of building, but he was angry with Patron. So I wrote him a carefully expressed letter, of which I enclose you a copy.

Please comfort Pilia with a message from me. For I will tell you, though don't tell her. I received a packet which contained Pilia's letter. I abstracted, opened, and read it. It was in very sympathetic terms. The letters you got from Brundisium without one from me you must regard as having been sent when I was unwell ; ¹⁰ for don't take seriously the excuse I mentioned of expense. ¹¹ Take care to let me know everything, but, above all, take care of your health. [p. 33]

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¹ A colony had been established at Comum after the social wars by Pompeius Strabo (Pompey's father), whose law also gave the Latin franchise to all Transpadani. The colonists had suffered from attacks of neighbouring tribes, and Caesar, in virtue of a lex Vatinia (B.C. 59), had determined to settle there five thousand new colonists. This had been done in the course of his proconsulship, and he took great interest in the place. But the Optimates were anxious to shew their disregard of all Caesar's consular acts, as done in spite of the obnuntiatio of Regulus, and without the sanction of the senate. The Transpadani had the Latin franchise only, but in a colony members of the local senate and magistrates had the full civitas. Marcellus. by way of shewing that Comum was not a colonia, ordered one of its magistrates to be flogged on some pretext, which was equivalent to declaring him not to be a civis. Cicero says that even if this were strictly legal, it was outrageous --an abuse of the law. The authorities are Appian, B.C. 2.26; Suet. Caes. 28 ; Plut. Caes. 29.

² Pompey, when proconsul of Spain. It was quite an unprecedented thing for a proconsul to stay at Rome and govern by legati, as he was doing. Varro was one of these legati, and Theophanes was a Greek of Mitylene who was Pompey's close friend and secretary.

³ That is, without counting the days of his arrival and departure. He arrived June 24th.

⁴ Aliquid epikôpôn, sc. neôn. This word does not occur elsewhere as a substantive. Aulus Gell. (10.25, 5) says that the Greek name for "despatch boats" (actuari) was histiokôpoi, boats with sails and oars.

⁵ hoiaper hê despoina toia chê kuôn, "as is the mistress, so is her dog."

⁶ anexian, which is not a classical word, but I suppose was used in Sicily, where the Greek was not Attic.

⁷ meteôros "uplifted."

⁸ See p. 29.

⁹ Eponymus archon of B.C. 54-53.

¹⁰ See Letter CXCII.

¹¹ I venture to propose to read nummariam (or nummariae rei) excusationem, explaining it by Cicero's jocose reference to his economy in paper, in Letter CLXXXVI (p. 10). The MSS. have some Greek letters, nomanaria me. Cicero says, "My real excuse for not writing was illness; for don't suppose I was really stingy about buying paper and its cost I" Both the excuse and its withdrawal are, of course, jests (and not very good ones). The mistake may possibly have arisen from Cicero writing the Latin word in Greek letters.

CCI (A V, 12)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

AT SEA (ABOUT Ist JULY)

A sea voyage is a serious business, and in the month of July too. We got to Delos on the sixth day from Athens. On the 6th of July we got from the Piraeus to Zoster, with a troublesome wind, which kept us there on the 7th. On the 8th we got to Ceos with a pleasant voyage. Thence to Gyaros with a violent wind, though it wasn't against us. Hence to Syros, and from that to Delos ; we in both cases accomplished the passage quicker than we could have wished. You have had experience of Rhodian open vessels: they are the worst things in the world for rough water. Accordingly, my intention is not to be at all in a hurry, nor to stir from Delos unless I see "Gyrae¹s headlands" all clear. ¹

I wrote to Messalla at once from Gyaros, directly I heard, and also (which was my own idea) to Hortensius, for whom, indeed, I felt much sympathy. ² But I am very anxious to [p. 35] get your letter about what is said as to that verdict, and, indeed, about the political situation generally--a letter written somewhat more from the politician's point of view, for you are now, with the aid of Thallumetus, studying my books ³ --a letter from which I may learn not what is actually happening (for that very "superior person," your client Helonius, can do that for me), but what is going to happen. By the time you read this our consuls will have been elected. You will be able to make out all about Caesar, Pompey, and the trials themselves. My own affairs, since you are staying on in Rome, pray put straight. As to the point I forgot to mention in my answer to you--as to the brickwork, and as to the water, if anything can be done, pray shew your accustomed kindness. I think the latter of very great importance from my own ideas as well as from what you say about it. So please have it done. Again, if Philippus makes any application, do exactly what you would have done in your own case. ⁴ I will write at greater length to you when I have come to land ; at present I am well out at sea.

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¹ Reading akra Gureôn, which I think Tyrrell and Purser have established. Gyrae, the southern promontory of Tenos, due north of Delos, would he a weather guide. If clear, fair weather might he expected ; if cloudy, had.

² For the acquittal of Messalla and the hissing that his uncle and advocate got for it, see Letter CXCV. I have translated Madvig's reading, ad Messallam, omitting a te (which by Cicero's usage should be de te). The point is rather that Cicero had written before he heard from Atticus, on getting the news from Caelius.

³ His treatise de Republica. Thallumetus is Atticus's slave, or perhaps freedman, and reader.

⁴ See next letter. Philippus seems to he the contractor for the work.

CCII (A V, 13)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

EPHESUS (AFTER 22 JULY)

WE arrived at Ephesus on the 22nd of July, on the 620th day after the battle of Bovillae. ¹ I accomplished the voyage without alarm and without sea-sickness, but somewhat slowly, owing to the crankiness of the Rhodian open ships. About the throng of legations and private suitors, and about the extraordinary crowd of people that met me even at Samos, but to a surprising extent at Ephesus, I presume that you [p. 36] have heard, or--" well, what is all that to me? " ² The fact is, however, that the tithe-collectors, as though I had come with imperium, the Greeks, as though I were governor in Ephesus, ³ presented themselves to me with eagerness. This will, I am sure, convince you that the professions I have been making these many years past are now being put to the test. But I shall, I hope, stick to the principles which I learnt from you, and give full satisfaction to everyone, and with the less difficulty that the contracts in my province have been settled. ⁴

I did not neglect your little affairs at Ephesus, and although Thermus ⁵ before my arrival had been most courteous in his promises to all your agents, yet I introduced Philogenes and Seius to him, and recommended Xeno of Apollonis. In a word, he undertook to do everything. I besides submitted to Philogenes an account of the note of exchange, which I had negotiated with you. So enough of that. I return to affairs in the city. In the name of fortune, since you are remaining at Rome, I beg of you, use every means of supporting and fortifying the position that I am not to be left in office more than a year, without even an intercalation. Next fulfil all my commissions, and especially in regard to that domestic matter get rid of the difficulty with which you are acquainted. ⁶ Next to that do so in the matter of Caesar: it was on your advice that I set my heart on him, and I do not repent. And, as you well understand how it is my nature to know and care for what is going on in public affairs--going on, do I say? nay, [p. 37] rather what is going to happen--write me everything at full length, and that with the utmost precision, and especially whether there is any breakdown in the trials that have either taken place or are about to do so. As to the water, if you are looking after it, and if Philippus is taking any steps, please attend to what is done.

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¹ The murder of Clodius, 18 January, B.C. 52.

² These words Boot and others suppose to be put into Atticus's mouth: "Or I suppose you will say, 'What have I to do with that?"' It is unlike Cicero to suppose Atticus to he indifferent to anything that affects himself. It would he easier with Schutz to alter me to te. After the aut he was going to put another infinitive clause, but breaks off and dismisses the subject, only referring afterwards to one class of people who came to him, i.e., the publicani.

³ I.e., propraetor of Asia, of which Ephesus was the chief town.

⁴ The contracts for collecting the decumae B.C. 51. Those for the next year he had to superintend.

⁵ Q. Minucius Thermus, propraetor of Asia. He was an Optimate and took the side of Pompey in the civil war of B.C. 49.48, which he survived.

⁶ The marriage of his daughter, and perhaps his growing dissatisfaction with Terentia.

CCIII (A V, 14)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

TRALLES, 28 JULY

Until I have settled down somewhere you must not expect a long letter from me, nor always written by my own hand. As soon, however, as I have a moment to spare, you shall have both. I am now journeying along a road which is both hot and dusty. I wrote yesterday from Ephesus: this I am despatching from Tralles. ¹ I expect to be in my province ² on the 1st of August. From that date, if you love me, agitate for my era to begin. ³ Meanwhile, however, the following items of news of a welcome nature have reached me: first, that the Parthians are quiet ; secondly, that the contracts of the publicani have been concluded ; lastly, that a mutiny among the soldiers has been suppressed by Appius, and their pay discharged up to the 13th of July. Asia has given me an extraordinarily good reception. My visit there cost no one a farthing. I trust that my staff are respecting my reputation. I am very nervous about it, however, yet hope for the best. All my staff have now joined except your [p. 38] friend Tullius. My idea is to go straight to the army, to devote the rest of the summer months to military affairs, the winter ones to judicial business. Pray, as you know that I have no less curiosity in politics than yourself, write me word of everything occurring or about to occur. You can do me no greater favour, except, ,indeed, that it will be the greatest favour of all if you fulfil my commissions, especially that "at my own hearth," ⁴ than which you must know I have nothing more at heart. This letter reeks of hurry and dust. Future ones shall go into greater details.

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¹ About forty miles south-east of Ephesus, in Caria, on the road which follows the general direction of the Maeander.

² The province of Cilicia at this time comprised, besides Cilicia itself (with Tarsus as capital), Iconium, part of Isauricum, Pamphylia, Cibyra, Apamea, Synnada, Cyprus.

³ Move that my year's government is to count from that day. The Greek words, eniausion parapêgma, refer to the custom of driving in a nail as a means of counting the years. Cicero did, as a matter of fact, leave his province at the end of the following July.

⁴ endomuchon. See p. 36.

CCVI (A V, 15)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

LAODICEA, 3 AUGUST

I arrived at Laodicea on the 31st of July. From this day, therefore, count the beginning of my year. Nothing could be more warmly, more affectionately welcomed, than my arrival. But you can scarcely believe how bored I am with the business. Has not that intellectual range, which you know so well, wide enough field? and is my splendid [p. 44] industry likely to rust unemployed? Why, just look at this! That I should be sitting in court at Laodicea, while A. Plotius is doing so at Rome! And that, while our friend has that great army, I should have nominal command of two wretched legions! But the fact is, that it is not such things as these that I miss: it is the broad daylight of life, the forum, the city, my town house, you that I miss. But I will endure it as best I may, provided that it does not last more than a year. If there is any extension, I am lost! But this may easily be resisted, if only you are in Rome.

You ask me what I am doing. Why, upon my life, I am living at a vast expense. I am wonderfully pleased with this course. My disinterested conduct, founded on your injunctions, is so admirable, that I am afraid that the money I took up from you will have to be paid by a fresh loan. I avoid reopening any wounds inflicted by Appius, but they are patent and cannot be concealed. I am starting today, the 3rd of August, on which I despatch this letter, from Laodicea to the camp in Lycaonia: thence I think of going to the Taurus, that by means of a pitched battle with Moeragenes ¹ I may, if possible, settle the question of your slave. The saddle's on the ox: no load for us: But I shall put up with it, only, as you love me, let me be only kept a year. Mind you are in town at the right moment, to keep every senator up to the mark. I am feeling wonderfully anxious, because I have had no news of what is going on among you for a long time. Wherefore, as I have said before in my letters, see that I am kept acquainted with politics as well as everything else. I know this letter will be somewhat long in reaching you, but I am entrusting it to a familiar and intimate friend, C. Andronicus of Puteoli. You, however, will have frequent opportunities of giving letters to the letter-carriers of the publicani by the favour of the head contractors for the pasture-tax and harbour dues of our districts. ² [p. 45]

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¹ A robber chief, with whom a runaway slave of Atticus had taken refuge.

² Sciptura is the money paid for the pasturing of cattle on the public lands in a province. magistri are the magistri societatum, the managers of the companies of publicani. Diaecesis (which Cicero sometimes writes in Greek letters, dioikêsis) is a "jurisdiction" or conventus, a district of a province. Thus in Fam. 13.67, Cicero says that the province of Cilicia had three Asiatic "dioceses," viz., Laodicea, Synnada, Apamea. The districts here must include those south of the Taurus and bordering on the sea.

CCVII (A V, 16)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

CILICIA, AUGUST

Though the letter-carriers of the publicani are starting while I am actually travelling and on the road, and though I am still engaged on my progress, yet I thought I must snatch a moment to prevent your thinking me forgetful of your charge. So I have sat down actually on the road to write you in brief what follows, which really calls for a somewhat lengthy essay. Let me tell you, then, that with the highest possible reputation I entered, on the 31st of July, into a province in a state of desolation and lasting ruin ; that I stayed three days at Laodicea, three at Apamea, the same at Synnada. ¹ It was the same tale everywhere: they could not pay the poll-tax: everybody's securities were sold: groans, lamentations, from the towns: acts of savagery worthy of some wild beast, rather than of a man. In short, they are absolutely weary of their life. ² However, the wretched towns are somewhat relieved by my costing them nothing, nor my legates, nor quaestor, nor anyone. Let me tell you that I not only refuse to accept hay, which is customarily furnished under the Julian law, but that no one of us accepts even firewood, or anything else, except four beds and a roof to cover us ; in many districts we do not accept [p. 46] even a roof, but remain, as a rule, under canvas. Accordingly, we are greeted by extraordinary throngs from farms, villages, houses, every sort of place. By Hercules, on my mere arrival, the justice, purity, and merciful heart of your Cicero seems to give them new life: so far has he surpassed everyone's hopes. Appius, as soon as he heard of my arrival, hurried to the most distant part of the province, right up to Tarsus: there he is holding sessions. About the Parthian not a word: but, nevertheless, some who come from those parts announce that some cavalry of ours have been cut to pieces. Bibulus even now is not so much as thinking of approaching his province. People say that he is acting thus because he wishes to leave it somewhat later. ³ We are making all haste to the camp, which is two days' journey away.

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¹ The three Asiatic diaceses, joined to the province of Cilicia.

² In this brief summing--up of the state of things following the ad. ministration of Appius, Cicero perhaps may plead that he is only retailing what he has heard in an ex parte statement, but he seems to confirm it in subsequent letters, and it makes one sorry for the fulsome tone of his letters to Appius himself.

³ Bibulus did not return till B.C. 49., some months after Cicero. See Letter CCXCIII.

CCVIII (A V, 17)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

LYCAONIA, AUGUST

I have received a packet of letters from Rome without one from you, for which, granting you to be well and in Rome, I imagine the fault to be Philotimus's, not yours. I dictate this letter sitting in my carriage, on my way to the camp, from which I am two days' journey distant. In a few days' time I am going to have men on whom I can rely to take letters. Accordingly, I reserve myself for that. However, I will just say, though I should prefer your hearing this from others--I am so conducting myself in the province that no farthing is spent on anyone. This is owing also to the careful conduct of legates, tribunes, and prefects. For one and all entertain a surprising desire to vie with each other in maintaining my reputation. My friend Lepta is wonderful in that respect. But at present I am in a hurry: I will write everything' in [p. 47] full to you in a few days. The younger Deiotarus ¹ who has received the title of king from the senate, has taken my son and nephew with him to his own dominions. So long as I am in the summer camp, I thought that the safest place for the boys. Sestius has written me an account of his conversation with you about my domestic anxiety, which is a very serious one, and of what your opinion is. Pray throw yourself into that matter, and write me word what can be done and what you think. He also told me that Hortensius had said something or other about the extension of my provincial government. He promised me at Cumae that he would most energetically plead for my being kept here only a year. If you have any affection for me, strengthen this position. I cannot tell you how against the grain my absence from you is. At the same time, too, I hope that my present reputation for justice and purity will be all the more conspicuous if I quit the province early. This is what happened to Scaevola, ² who governed Asia only nine months. Our friend Appius, as soon as he saw that I was on the point of arriving, left Laodicea and went as far as Tarsus. There he is holding an assize, though I am actually in the province. However, I do not make any fuss about this slight upon myself ; for I have enough to do in healing the wounds which have been inflicted upon the province. This I am taking care to do with as little reflection upon him as possible: but I should like you to tell our friend Brutus ³ that it was not very polite of him to remove to the farthest possible distance on my arrival. [p. 48]

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¹ Son and successor of the Deiotarus, tetrarch of Galatia, whom Cicero defended. The younger man's title was probably granted him for money, through one of the proconsuls of Cilicia or Asia ; some territory was attached to it, as he had a military force, with which he helped Cassius against the Parthians (11 Phil. 31).

² Quintus Mucius Scaevola, "the most eloquent of lawyers and the best lawyer of orators," was consul B.C. 95, and afterwards proconsul in Asia, and Pontifex Maximus a few years afterwards. He fell in the Marian massacre of B.C. 82.

³ M. Brutus, who had married a daughter of Appius,

CCXVII (A V, 18)

TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS)

CYBISTRA, SEPTEMBER

How I wish you were in Rome, if by chance you are not there! For I have nothing to go upon except having received a letter from you dated 19th July, in which you said that, you intend going to Epirus about the 1st of August. But whether you are in Rome or Epirus, the Parthians have crossed the Euphrates under Pacorus, son of the Parthian king Orodes, with nearly all his forces. I have not yet heard of the arrival of Bibulus in Syria. Cassius is in the town of Antioch with the whole army: ¹ I am in Cappadocia, close to [p. 59] the Taurus, with my army near Cybistra: the enemy is in Cyrrhestica, which is the part of Syria next to my province. On these subjects I have sent a despatch to the senate. This despatch please look at, if you are in Rome, and consider whether you think it ought to be delivered ; and so with many other things, or rather with all, chief of which is that there be no "slip betwixt the cup and the lip" ² --as the saying is--to add additional burden upon me, or an extension of my time. For, considering the weakness of my army, and the short supply of allies, especially faithful ones, my most trustworthy support is winter. If that has once come, and they have not first crossed into my province, the only thing I fear is that the senate will not allow Pompey to leave Rome, owing to the alarming state of affairs in the city. But if it sends some one else next spring, I do not trouble myself, always providing that my term of office is not prolonged. ³ So much for you if you are at Rome. But if you are out of town, or even if you are not, the state of affairs here is this: we are in good spirits ; and since, as it seems, our plans are well laid, we cherish the hope that we are strong enough also to carry them out. We have pitched our camp in a safe spot, well supplied in the matter of corn, almost commanding a view of Cilicia, convenient for shifting quarters, and with an army which, although small, is yet, I hope, entirely loyal to me ; and we are about to double its numbers by the arrival of Deiotarus in full force. I have found the allies much more loyal than anyone has ever done: and they can scarcely believe their eyes when they see the mildness of my administration [p. 60] and the purity of my conduct. A levy of Roman citizens is being held ; corn is being carted from the country to places of safety. If, then, occasion arises, we shall defend ourselves by force ; if not, by the strength of our position. Wherefore do not be alarmed. For I have you before my eyes, and I perceive, as though you were present, your affectionate solicitude for me.

Now I beg you, if it is in any way possible, supposing my affair to remain undecided up to the 1st of January, to be in Rome in January. I am quite certain of receiving no unfair treatment if you are on the spot. The consuls are my friends, the tribune Furnius is wholly devoted to me. Still there is need of your persistence, good sense, and popularity. It is a momentous crisis. But it is not decent for me to press you at greater length.

Our two Ciceros are staying with Deiotarus, but, if it shall be necessary, they will be transferred to Rhodes. ⁴ Do you, if in Rome, with your accustomed punctuality, and anyhow, even if you are in Epirus, send one of your servants with letters, that both you may know what I am doing, and I what you are doing or about to do. I am doing your friend Brutus's business for him better than he would have done it himself. But I now produce my ward, and do not attempt to defend him. For they are a dilatory lot, and there is nothing to be got out of them. However, I will satisfy you, which is more difficult than satisfying Brutus himself. But in truth, I will satisfy you both. ⁵ [p. 61]

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¹ C. Cassius Longinus (the future assassin of Caesar) had been quaestor under Crassus, and since his death in B.C. 53 had been holding the province of Syria as proquaestor. He decisively defeated the Parthians before Bibulus arrived. He was born in B.C. 85, and was married to a half-sister of Brutus.

² The Latin proverb is inter caesa et porrecta, between the killing of the victim and the examining of its entrails and placing them on the altar, thus completing the sacrifice. Something ill-omened might happen in the interval preventing the completion ; so Cicero fears something may crop up to prevent the naming of his successor.

³ Cicero appears to think the Parthian danger so grave, that the idea might be entertained of sending Pompey in command of an army. This would supersede himself in his military capacity, but he is prepared to welcome him, though no one else, till the following spring, when he shall have ceased to care for anything but the certainty of an early departure from his province. As a matter of fact, the sending of Pompey or Caesar was talked of at Rome, but it does not seem to have been seriously contemplated.

⁴ His son and nephew, the young Marcus and Quintus. See Letter CCVIII.

⁵ This refers to money owed to Brutus by Ariobarzanes, king of Cappadocia. Cicero calls him "my ward" because, as shown in the next letter, he had been specially charged to protect him. Exhibeo is a legal term for "producing in court," "handing over to justice."

CCXIX (A v, 19)

TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS)

CILICIA, 20 SEPTEMBER

I had already sealed the letter which I presume you to have just read, one in my own handwriting and containing an account of all occurrences, when suddenly, on the 20th of September, a letter-carrier of Appius, arriving express on the forty-seventh day from Rome--oh dear! to think of the distance I am away !--delivered me your letter. From it I feel no doubt that you waited for Pompey's return from Ariminum, ¹ and have by this time started for Epirus ; and I am still more afraid that in Epirus you may be having no less cause for anxiety than I am having here. As to the debt to Attilius I have written to Philotimus not to apply to Messalla for it. ² I am rejoiced that the fame of my progress has reached you, and I shall rejoice still more if you learn the sequel. I am very glad you find so much pleasure in your little daughter, ³ and though I have never seen her, I yet love [p. 65] her dearly, and feel sure that she is charming. Good-bye! Good-bye!

I am glad you approved of what I did about the ruins in Melita ⁴ in connexion with Patron and your fellow Epicureans. In saying that you were glad that the man lost his election who "opposed the uncle of your sister's son," ⁵ it is a great mark of affection on your part! In the same spirit you admonished me to rejoice too. It hadn't occurred to me! "I don't believe it," quoth you. As you please: well, then, I am glad ; since righteous indignation is not the same as spite. ⁶

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¹ See Letter CCV.

² Owing to Messalla's recent condemnation de sodalitiis (Letter CCV), Cicero desired that he should not be troubled for some money for which he had been security to Attilius. Philotimus is Terentia's steward.

³ Omitting, with Schütz, the words iam Roma, which seem unintelligible. Many suggestions have been made, the best of which seems to be quadrimam, "four years old," but none are certain.

⁴ The ruins of the house of Epicurus in Melita, an Attic deme (see Letters CXCVIII, CXCIX). The reading Melita for militia is due to Gassendi. For the house of Epicurus, en Melitêi, see Diog. Laert. 10.10.

⁵ Himself, who had been opposed by Hirrus in standing for the augurship. See Letter CCX.

⁶ to nemesan, "righteous wrath"; to phthonein, "envy," "malice."

CCXXVII (A V, 20)

TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS) IN CAMP AT PINDENISSUS, 19 DECEMBER

ON the morning of the Saturnalia (17th December) the Pindenissetae surrendered to me, on the fifty-seventh day from the beginning of our investment of them. "Who the mischief are your Pindenissetae? who are they?" you will say: "I never heard their name." Well, what am I to do? Could I turn Cilicia into an Aetolia or a Macedonia? Let me tell you this, that with an army such as mine, and in a place like this, such a big business was impossible. You shall have it all en abrégé; as you agreed in your last letter to take it. You know about my arrival at Ephesus, for you have congratulated me on my enthusiastic reception on that day, which gave me as much pleasure as anything ever did in my life. Thence, after a surprising reception in such towns as lay on my road, I arrived at Laodicea on the 31st of July. I remained there two days in the midst of great enthusiasm, and by my conciliatory language removed the rankling injuries of the last four years. I did the same afterwards during my five days stay at Apamea and three days at Synnada, five at Philomelium, ten at Iconium. Nothing could be more impartial, mild, or dignified, than my administration of justice there. Thence I came to the camp on the 24th of August; on the 28th I inspected the army at Iconium. From this camp, on receipt of serious news as to the Parthians, I started for Cilicia by way of that part of Cappadocia which borders on Cilicia, with the design of impressing upon the Armenian Artavasdes and the Parthians themselves that they were precluded from entering Cappadocia. After having been encamped for five days at Cybistra in Cappadocia, I got intelligence that the Parthians were at a long distance from that entrance into Cappadocia, and were rather threatening Cilicia. I therefore marched rapidly into Cilicia by the "Gates" of Taurus. I arrived at Tarsus on the 5th of October. Thence I pressed on to Mount Amanus, which divides Syria from Cilicia by the line of its watershed—a mountain full of immemorial enemies. Here, on the 13th of October, we cut a large number of the enemy to pieces. We took some very strongly fortified posts by a night attack of Pomptinus's, and by one led by myself in the morning, and burnt them. I was greeted as imperator by the soldiers. For a few days we were encamped on the very spot which Alexander had occupied against Darius at Issus, a commander not a little superior to either you or me! Having stayed there five days, and having ravaged and devastated Amanus, we evacuated that place. For you know that there are things called "panics," called also "war's idle rumours." ¹ From the report of our arrival encouragement was at once given to Cassius, then confined to Antioch, and alarm inspired in the Parthians. Accordingly, as they were retiring from that town, Cassius pursued them and gained a hand-some victory. In the course of this retreat the Parthian leader, Osaces, a man in high authority, received a wound of which a few days afterwards he died. My name became very popular in Syria. Meanwhile Bibulus arrived. I suppose he wanted to be on an equality with me in the matter of this vain acclamation of imperator. In this same Mount Amanus he begins "looking for a bay-leaf in a wedding cake." ² But he lost the whole of his first cohort and the centurion of the first line, a man of high rank in his own class, Asinius Dento, and the other centurions of the same cohort, as well as a military tribune, Sext. Lucilius, son of T. Gavius Caepio, a man of wealth, and high position. It was really a very galling blow both in itself and in the time of its reception. I was at Pindenissus, the most strongly fortified town of Eleutherocilicia, ³ never peaceful within living memory. The people were fierce and brave, and furnished with everything necessary for standing a siege. We surrounded it with stockade and ditch, with a huge earthwork, pent-houses, an exceedingly lofty tower, a great supply of artillery, a large body of archers. After great labour and preparation I finished the business without loss to my army, though with a large number of wounded. I am spending a merry Saturnalia, and so are my soldiers, to whom I have given up all spoil except captives: the captives were sold on the third day of the Saturnalia (I 9th December), the day on which I write this. The sum realized at the tribunal is 12,000 sestertia (about £ 96,000). I intend to hand over the army to my brother Quintus to lead hence into winter quarters in the disturbed districts. I am myself going back to Laodicea.

So much for this. But to return to points omitted. As to what you urge upon me most warmly, and which in fact is more important than anything else, namely, your anxiety that I should satisfy my carping Ligurian critic, ⁴ may I die if anything could be more fastidious than my conduct. And I do not now speak of it as "self-restraint," which is a virtue considered capable of resisting pleasure: while the fact is that I never in all my life felt such pleasure as I do at my own integrity. And it is not so much the reputation I get by it—though that is of the highest—as the thing itself that delights me. In short, it was worth the trouble: I never appreciated myself or knew fully of what I was capable in this direction. I have good reason for being puffed up. Nothing could be more splendid. Meanwhile, here is a score for me! Ariobarzanes is alive and a king all owing to me. By my prudence and prestige, and by refusing to receive even the visits, to say nothing of the bribes, of the conspirators against his life, I have, merely en Passant, saved a king and a kingdom. In the meantime from Cappadocia not the value of a hair! I have recovered Brutus from his dejection, whom I love no less than you do, I had almost said, than I do you. And I almost hope that throughout my year of office not a farthing's expense will be caused to my province. There is the whole story for you.

I am now composing an official despatch to send to Rome. It will be somewhat fuller of matter than if I had sent it from Amanus. But to think that you won't be at Rome! And yet everything depends on the 1st of March. For I am afraid, if; on the question of the province coming up, Caesar shall refuse compliance, I may be kept here. If you were there when this was going on, I should not have been at all afraid. I return to the city news, which, after a long interval of ignorance, I have at length learnt from your most delightful letter received on the 16th of December. This was conveyed by your freedman Philogenes after a very long and far from safe journey. For the letter you say that you delivered to the slaves of Laenius I have not received. I am delighted about Caesar, and the decrees of the senate, and at what you expect to happen. If he gives way to these we are safe. That Seius got scorched in Plaetorius's fire does not grieve me much. ⁵ I long to know why Lucceius has been so hot about Q. Cassius, and what has been done about it. For myself, as soon as I arrive at Laodicea I am bidden to invest Quintus, your sister's son, with the toga virilis, and I will keep a more than usually careful eye upon him. Deiotarus, who has been of great assistance to me, is, according to a letter received from him, about to come to Laodicea with our two boys. ⁶ I am expecting another letter from you from Epirus, that I may get a notion not only of your business life, but of your holiday also. Nicanor serves me well and receives liberal treatment at my hands. I think I shall send him to Rome with my official despatch, to secure its being conveyed with more than common promptitude, and that he may also bring me trustworthy intelligence about you and from you. That your Alexis so often puts in a greeting to me is gratifying. But why does he not treat me to a letter of his own, as my Alexis does you. ⁷ I am looking out for a horn for Phaemius. But enough of this. Take care of your health, and let me know when you think of going to Rome. Good-bye! good-bye!

I have recommended your interests and your agents in very warm terms to Thermus, both in a personal interview at Ephesus and now by letter, and I gathered that he was himself very anxious to serve you. Pray, as I have often mentioned before, see about the house of Pammenes, ⁸ and take care that the boy is not deprived, by any means, of what he now possesses through our joint support. I not only think that this concerns the honour of us both, but it will also gratify me personally very much.

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¹ ta pa????, t? ?e?? t?? p???µ??. See Polyb. xxix. 6, p???? ?e?? t?? p???µ??.

² An easy feat. Wedding cakes were baked on bay-leaves.

³ The Eleutherocilices were the mountain tribes that had not been completely subjected to the Roman province.

⁴ Supposed to refer to P. Aelius Ligur, tribune in B.C. 57, , and a bitter opponent.

⁵ M. Plaetorius Cestianus, condemned for extortion; M. Seius (aedile B.C. 75, ) had in some way been involved.

⁶ His son Marcus and nephew Quintus, who had been on a visit to the younger Deiotarus See Letters CCVIII, CCXVII.

⁷ "My Alexis" means Cicero's secretary Tiro. Tiro writes letters to Atticus: Alexis only adds a complimentary postscript in those of Atticus to Cicero.

⁸ Pammenes, an Athenian rhetorician, of about the same age as Cicero, mentioned in Orator105, as a great admirer of Demosthenes. It does not seem certain that this is the same man. At any rate, whoever he was, he seems to have died, and his son to have had some difficulty in maintaining his right to his house, in which Cicero and Atticus had helped him.

CCXLIX (A V, 21)

TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS)

LAODICEA, 13 FEBRUARY

I am very glad to hear of your safe arrival in Epirus, and that, as you say, you had a pleasant voyage. I am a little annoyed at your not being in Rome at a crisis of great importance to me, but I console myself with the one reflexion, that you are having a pleasant winter there and are enjoying your rest. ¹ Gaius Cassius, brother of your friend Quintus Cassius, had sent a despatch--of which you ask me the meaning--written in a more modest strain than the later one in which he says that he had made an end of the Parthian war. It is true that the Parthians had retired from Antioch before the arrival of Bibulus, but it was from no success of our arms. At this present moment they are, as a matter of fact, wintering in Cyrrhestica, ² and a most serious war is impending. For the son of the Parthian king Orodes is within the Roman province, and Deiotarus, to whose son the daughter of Ariovasdes is betrothed--so he ought to know--has no doubt of the king himself intending to cross the Euphrates in full force at the beginning of summer. Besides, on the day on which Cassius's victorious despatch was read in the senate (dated the 7th of October) one was read from me also, announcing an alarm of war. My friend Axius says that my despatch made a great impression, that his was not credited. That of Bibulus had not yet been received, which I am quite sure will be thoroughly alarmist. The result of this, I fear, will be that, as Pompey is not allowed to be sent anywhere for fear of a revolution, and no attention is paid by the senate [p. 126] to Caesar's demands, while this knot remains to be untied, the senate will not think that I ought to quit my province till a successor has arrived, and that in such troublous times legates should not be left in charge of two such important provinces. In view of this I tremble lest my tenure should be prolonged, without even a tribune being able to stop it, and all the more so that you are not in town to interpose, as you might have done in many cases by your advice, your personal influence and activity. But you will say I am piling up anxiety for myself with my own hands. I can't help it: I wish that it may be so. But everything causes me alarm. Though your letter that you wrote at Buthrotum in your sickness had a charming finale. "As I see and hope, there will be nothing to delay your departure from your province." I should have preferred that you had confined yourself to "as I see": there was no need to add "and hope."

Again, I have received a letter written just after the triumph of Lentulus, which came with great celerity by the hands of the postmen of the publicani. In this you reiterate the same "bitter-sweet," first saying that there will be no delay of my return, and then adding, "If anything goes wrong you will come to me." Your doubts torture me: at the same time you may see which of your letters I have received. For the one which you say yourself that you delivered to the centurion Hermon's servant I have not received. You have often mentioned having given a letter to Laenius's servants. That one Laenius did deliver to me at last, on my arrival at Laodicea, the 11th of February, dated the 21st of September. I will, at once by what I say to him, and by deeds hereafter, give Laenius reason to be satisfied with your recommendation. That letter had much news that was stale, one thing that was new--about the panthers from Cibyra. I am much obliged to you for telling M. Octavius that you didn't think I would do it. But pray henceforth, in any case of doubt, give a direct negative. The fact is that, supported by a spontaneous resolution of my own, and also, by Hercules, from the inspiration of your influence, I have surpassed everybody (and you will find this to be the case) in preserving clean hands, no less than in justice, courtesy, and mildness. Don't. imagine that anything has ever surprised [p. 127] people more than the fact that not a farthing of expense has been caused to the province during my governorship, either for my public establishment or for any individual on my staff, except L Tullius. He,' who in other respects is clean-handed enough, did take something on the road in virtue of the Julian law not as others do at every hamlet, but once only and for the day's journey. ³ He is the only one who has done so: and he forces me to make an exception when I say that not a farthing of expense has been caused. No one except him has taken anything. This blot I owe to our friend Q. Titinius. ⁴

At the end of the summer campaign I put my brother Quintus in charge of the winter quarters and of Cilicia. I have sent your friend Tiberius's son-in-law Quintus Volusius --not only a safe man, but also wonderfully disinterested--to Cyprus, with orders to stay some few days there, to prevent the few Roman citizens who are in business there from saying that they have no means of legal redress: for it is illegal for Cyprians to be cited in courts out of the island. ⁵ I myself started for Asia from Tarsus on the 5th of January, accompanied by an admiration, which, by heaven, it is difficult to describe, from the cities in Cilicia, and specially from the people of Tarsus. As soon, however, as I had crossed the Taurus I found our dioceses in Asia on the tiptoe of expectation: for in the six months of my administration Asia had not received a single letter of injunction from me, nor had had a single official to entertain. Now before my time that particular period had been each year a source of gain, by. the richer states paying large sums of money to be exempted from furnishing the soldiers with winter quarters. The Cyprians used to pay 200 Attic talents, from which island--I am not speaking in hyperbole, but the simple truth--not a single farthing is exacted under my administration. For these benefits, which they regard with speechless astonishment, I allow no honours, except verbal ones, to be decreed to me: statues, temples, marble chariots I forbid; nor am I a [p. 128] nuisance to the states in any other respect--though I may be to you by thus blowing my own trumpet. But, an you love me, put up with it! It was you who wished me to act thus. My progress through Asia was of such a nature that even the famine, which prevailed in my part of Asia at the time--the most distressing thing there is--has been in a manner a welcome event. Wherever I went, without using force, legal compulsion, or strong language, I induced both the Greeks and Roman citizens, who had cornered the wheat, to promise large quantities to the communities. On the 13th of February--the day I am despatching this letter--I have arranged to hold a court at Laodicea for the district of Cibyra and Apamea: from the 15th of March at the same place for the districts of Synnada, Pamphylia (when I will look out for a horn for Phemius), Lycaonia, Isauria. After the 15th of May I start for Cilicia, with the view of spending June there--I hope without trouble from the Parthians. July, if all goes as I wish, will be needed for my return journey through the province. I entered the province at Laodicea in the consulship of Sulpicius and Marcellus on the 31st of July. I am due to leave it on the 30th of July. I shall first of all press my brother Quintus to allow himself to be left in charge, which will be very much against the wishes of us both. But that is the only respectable arrangement possible, especially as I cannot even now keep the excellent Pomptinus: for Postumius hurries him back to Rome, and perhaps Postumia ⁶ also.

Now you know my plans. Next, let me enlighten you about Brutus. Your friend Brutus has among his intimates certain creditors of the people of Salamis in Cyprus, M. Scaptius and P. Matinius, whom he has recommended to me with more than common earnestness. I have not made the acquaintance of Matinius: Scaptius came to the camp to see me. I promised for the sake of Brutus to see that the Salaminians paid him the money. He thanked me, and asked for a [p. 129] prefecture. I said that I never granted one to a man engaged in business, a rule of which I have already informed you. When Cn. Pompeius asked me he accepted the propriety of this rule--I need not mention Torquatus when he asked for your friend M. Laenius, and many others. But (I said) if he wanted to be a praefectus on account of the bond, I would see to his recovering the money. He thanked me and went away. Our friend Appius had granted certain squadrons of cavalry to this Scaptius to coerce the Salaminians, and had also given him rank as praefectus. He was harrying the Salaminians. I ordered the cavalry squadrons to quit Cyprus. Scaptius felt aggrieved. In short, to keep faith with him I commanded the Salaminians, when they came to see me at Tarsus and Scaptius with them, to pay the money. They had a great deal to say about the bond, a great deal about the wrongs inflicted upon them by Scaptius. I declined to hear it. I urged them, I even asked them as a favour, in consideration of my good services to their state, to settle the business: finally I said that I would use compulsion. The men not only did not refuse, but even said that they would be paying out of my pocket: for that, since I had declined the money they had been accustomed to pay the praetor, they would in a sense be paying out of my pocket, and indeed the debt to Scaptius amounted to considerably less than the praetorian contribution. I warmly commended them: "All right," said Scaptius, "but let us reckon the total." Then there arose this question: One of the clauses in my customary edict was a declaration that I would not recognize more than twelve per cent. interest, besides the yearly addition to the capital of interest accrued, ⁷ whereas he demanded in virtue of the deed forty-eight per cent. "What do you mean?" said I. "Can I go against my own edict?" He then produced a decree of the senate made in the consulship of Lentulus and Philippus. "The governor of Cilicia shall recognize that bond in giving judgment." ⁸ I was at [p. 130] first horrified, for it meant the ruin of the town. I find there are two decrees of the senate in the same year about this bond. When the Salaminians wished to raise money at Rome to pay off a debt, they were prevented from doing so by the Gabinian law. ⁹ Then it was that Brutus's friends, relying on his influence, offered to advance the money if they were secured by a senatorial decree. A decree is passed by Brutus's influence "That the Salaminians and those who lent the money should be indemnified." They paid the money. Afterwards it occurred to the lenders that this senatorial decree would not secure them, because the Gabinian law forbade a legal decision being based on the bond. So the other senatorial decree ("that this bond be recognized in giving judgment") is passed: not giving that particular bond more legal validity than others, but the same. ¹⁰ When I had expounded this view, Scaptius took me aside and said that he had nothing to say against it, but that those men were under the impression that their debt was 200 talents, and he was willing to accept that sum, whereas it really amounted to somewhat less; he begs me to induce them to agree on the 200. "Very well," said I. I summon them without the presence of Scaptius. "What do you say," said I, "how much is your debt?" They answered, "One hundred and six." I refer back to Scaptius. He exclaimed loudly. "What is the use of this?" said I. "Check each other's additions." They sit down, they make their calculations: they agree to a penny. They declare themselves willing to pay: and beg him to accept the money. Scaptius again takes me aside: asks me to leave the matter as it is, undecided. I gave in to the fellow's shameless request. When the Greeks grumbled, and demanded that they might deposit [p. 131] the money in a temple, ¹¹ I did not assent. Everybody in court, exclaimed that Scaptius was the greatest knave in the world for mot being content with twelve per cent. plus the compound interest: others said that he was the greatest fool. In my opinion he was more knave than fool. For either he was content with twelve per cent. on a good security, or he hoped for forty-eight per cent. with a bad one. ¹² That is my case; and if Brutus is not satisfied with it, I cannot see why I should regard him as a friend: I am sure that his uncle at any rate will accept it, especially as a senatorial decree has just been passed--I think since you left town--in the matter of money-lenders, that twelve per cent. simple interest was to be the rate. What a wide difference this implies you will certainly be able to reckon, if I know your fingers. And in this regard, by the way, L. Lucceius, son of Marcus, writes me a ,grumbling letter asserting that--thanks to the senate--there is the utmost danger of these decrees leading to a general repudiation. He recalls what mischief C. Iulius ¹³ once did by slightly enlarging the time for payment: "public credit never received such a blow."--But to return to the matter in hand: turn over my case in your mind as against Brutus, if it may be called a case, against which nothing can be decently urged: especially as I have left it and its merits undecided.

Now for family matters. As to our "home secret," I am of your opinion--Postumia's son : ¹⁴ since Pontidia is playing fast and loose. But I could have wished you had been there. Don't expect anything from my brother Quintus for some months; for Taurus is impassable before June, owing to the snow. I am backing up Thermus, as you ask me to do, by a great number of letters. As for P. Valerius, Deiotarus says that he has nothing, and is being supported by himself. [p. 132] As soon as you know whether there is to be an intercalation at Rome or not, please write me word definitely on what day the mysteries are to take place. ¹⁵ I am a little less eager for your letters than if you were at Rome; but yet, after all, I am eager for them.

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¹ Reading hoc me tamen consolor uno: spero, etc., for non spero. If the latter is retained, it would mean, "I don't expect you are having a pleasant winter," i.e., and so will come back to Rome, where I want you. Uno is Madvig's emendation, which deserves to be right, if it is not.

² That is, within the province of Syria, immediately north of Antioch.

³ The lex Julia, while limiting the rapacity of governors, did allow certain supplies, such as hay, etc. (see p. 25), to be demanded from towns in the provinces.

⁴ Apparently for recommending Tullius.

⁵ See vol. i., p. 57

⁶ Wife of Ser. Sulpicius. We have no knowledge as to why Postumius (see Letter CCCX) was able to hurry the return of Pomptiuus. Cicero seems to hint that Postumia was his mistress, yet we hear of her afterwards as living with her husband and son. She is, however, credited by Suetonius with having intrigued with Caesar (Suet. Caes. 50).

⁷ Cum anatocismo anniversario. The interest being due at the end of each month, if it was not paid, the creditor might at the end of the year add it to the capital, and thenceforth charge interest on the increased capital. It was compound interest, but reckoned, not every month, but every year.

⁸ B.C. 56. This was probably when the senate was confirming the acta of Cato, who had been sent out in 58 B.C. to take over and organize Cyprus. The real creditor--at any rate in part-was doubtless Brutus, who had been left in charge of Cyprus for some time by his uncle Cato (Plut. Cat. min. 36).

⁹ The lex Gabinia, B.C. 68, forbade loans to provincial towns.

¹⁰ The first decree merely relieved borrowers and lenders from penalties of the law, the second allowed a debt to be recoverable under the bond, i.e., it placed the bond in the same position as other bonds; but, says Cicero, by my edict (taken from my predecessors) only twelve per cent. can be recovered on a bond: and nothing the senate has done gives any special force to this particular bond.

¹¹ For money so deposited, pending a legal decision, interest was not payable. See p. 94

¹² In the one case he was impudens for refusing the proper sum of money offered in payment, in the other he was impudens for embarking in such a usurious transaction.

¹³ There is no record of Caesar having done this, either as praetor or in his first consulship, and Boot is probably right in referring it to a C. Iulius who was killed in the time of Marius.

¹⁴ Servius Sulpicius as husband for Tullia. We don't know who Pontidia was, or whom she recommended: perhaps Dolabella.

¹⁵ The mysteries of the Bona Dea were held on the 1st of May (Ovid, F. 5.147); if there was an intercalary month, the 1st of May would be twenty-three days later. Why did Cicero care to know this? Perhaps that he might not risk doing anything important-especially of a military nature--on a day that was nefastus. Thus Scipio delayed crossing the Hellespont for many days in the war with Antiochus, because it was the time of the festival of Mars, when the sacred shields were carried in procession (Polyb. 21.13; Livy, 37.33). Now that Cicero was an augur, he might feel douNy bound to respect such scruples.