Cicero’s Letters to Atticus, Book 7

CCLXXXIII (A VII, I)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

ATHENS (16 OCTOBER)

I did, in fact, give L. Saufeius a letter, and to you alone, because, though I had not sufficient time for writing, I was yet unwilling that a man so intimate with you should reach you without a letter from me. But considering the deliberate pace adopted by philosophers, I think the present letter will reach you first. If, however, you have already received the former, you are aware that I arrived at Athens on the 14th of October: that on disembarking at the Piraeus, I received your letter from the hands of Acastus: that I was much disturbed at your having arrived at Rome with a fever on you, but was reassured by Acastus bringing the news I wished for as to your convalescence; that I was, however, horrified at what your letter told me of Caesar's legions; and urged you to take care that the "philotimia" ¹ of him you wot of does us no injury. Lastly, on a subject on which I had long ago written to you, but Turranius had misinformed you at Brundisium--as I learnt from a letter received from that [p. 203] excellent man Xeno--I explained briefly why I had not placed my brother at the head of my province. Such was nearly the substance of that letter. Now for the rest. In the name of fortune, do devote all the affection with which you have blessed me, and all the wisdom you possess--which in my judgment is unrivalled on every subject--to considering my entire position. For I think I foresee such a violent struggle--unless the same god, who relieved me from fear of a Parthian war by a stroke of luck beyond what I had ventured to hope, shall now shew regard for the Republic--such a struggle, I say, as there has never been before. Well! this is a misery which I share with all the world. I don't bid you reflect on that. It is my own, particular "problem" that I would beg you to take up. Don't you see that it was on your advice that I sought the friend-ship of both? Yes, and I could wish that I had listened to your most friendly hints from the beginning: But in my breast my heart thou couldst not sway. ² Yet at length, after all, you did persuade me to embrace the one, because he had done me eminent service, and the other, because he was so powerful. I did so, therefore: and by shewing them every kind of attention contrived that neither of them should regard anyone with more affection than myself. My idea, in fact, was this-- if I were allied with Pompey, I should not hereafter be compelled to take any improper step in politics, nor, if I agreed with Caesar, have to fight with Pompey: for their union was so close. Now there is impending, as you shew, and as I see, a mortal combat between them. Each of them, again, regards me as his own, unless by any chance one of them is playing a part. Pompey, of course, has no doubt: for he rightly judges that his present view of politics has my approbation. From each, however, I received a letter, at the same time as yours, of a kind calculated to shew that neither values anyone in the world above myself. But what am I to do? I don't mean in the last resort of all-for, if it shall come to downright war, I see clearly that it is better to be beaten with the one, than to conquer [p. 204] with the other--but as to what will be in actual debate when I arrive: that he be not a candidate without returning to Rome--that he dismiss his army. "Speak, Marcus Tullius I" ³ What am I to say? "Wait, please, till I have an interview with Atticus?" It is no time for shuffling. Against Caesar? What is to become of all our mutual pledges? For the fact is that I helped him to secure this privilege, having been asked by Caesar himself at Ravenna ⁴ to induce Caelius, the tribune, to bring in the bill. By Caesar himself, do I say? Nay, by our friend Gnaeus also, in that immortal third consulship of his. Shall I change my opinions? "I fear to face" not only Pompey, but also

Trojan men and women. Polydamas will be the first to blame.

⁵ Who is he? Why, you yourself, the applauder of my acts and writings. So it seems, then, that during the last two consulships of the Marcelli ⁶ I have avoided this trap, when the subject of Caesar's province was before the senate, only to fall now into the very jaws of the danger. Therefore let some one else be called upon flrst for his vote--I am well pleased to be busying myself on something to secure my triumph, and to have an unimpeachable excuse for remaining outside the city. Nevertheless, they will do their best to elicit my opinion. You will perhaps laugh at what I am now going to say. How I wish I were still lingering in my province! I clearly had better have done so, if this was impending. Though nothing could be less pleasant. For I wish you, by the way, ⁷ to know this--all those virtues displayed at the beginning of my government, which you, too, in your letters, used to praise to the skies, were only skin deep. ⁸ How far from an easy thing is virtue! Nay, [p. 205] how difficult a lasting affectation of it! For whereas I thought it equitable and a thing of which to be proud, that out of the sum decreed to me for the year's expenses, I left my quaestor C. Caelius enough to last a year, and paid back into the treasury 1,000,000 sesterces (£8,000), my staff grumbled, thinking that the whole of this money ought to have been divided among them--that I might be found a better friend of the treasuries of the Phrygians and Cilicians than of our own. But they did not move me: for my reputation had supreme weight with me. Nevertheless, there is no mark of honour in my power to bestow on any of them that I have omitted. However, all this, to use the phrase of Thucydides, is a digression, ⁹ though not without its point. For your part, pray think over my position: in the first place, by what contrivance I may preserve Caesar's good will; in the second, as to my triumph, which, unless the state of the Republic hinders it, I see is feasible. I judge both from my friends' letters and from the supplicatio; for the man who voted against it really voted for more, than if he had voted all the triumphs in the world. ¹⁰ Moreover, only one man voted with him who is my intimate friend-- Favonius; and another who is annoyed with me--Hirrus. Moreover, Cato was both on the committee for drawing out the decree, and also sent me a very gratifying letter as to his vote. Nevertheless, Caesar, in sending me his congratulations on the supplicatio, exults over Cato's vote, and yet does not mention what he really said in delivering it, but merely remarks that he voted against my supplicatio. To return to Hirrus. You have begun softening his feelings towards me. Complete the process. You have Scrofa and Silius with you; I have already written to them, and to Hirrus himself. ¹¹ For he had mentioned to them in obliging terms that he could have hindered the decree, but was unwilling to do so: nevertheless, he agreed with Cato--my very warm friend--when he delivered his vote in terms highly complimentary to me, but remarked that I had not written to him while [p. 206] writing to everyone else. It was quite true: for he and Crassipes were the only people to whom I had not written. So much for public affairs. To return to domestic business, I wish to dissociate myself from that man, ¹² He is a complete juggler--a regular son of Laertes: But what is past I leave, though grieved at heart. ¹³ Let us get what remains on a sound footing. This money, coming from Precius to begin with--which adds anxiety to my regret--whatever it amounts to, I do not wish to be mixed up with the accounts of mine of which that fellow has the handling. I have written to Terentia, and to Philotimus himself; to say that whatever money I should collect for the adornment of my expected triumph I should deposit with you. Thus I think there will be no feeling of resentment; but as they choose! Here is another task for you--to consider how I am to set about this business. You gave some indication on this subject in a letter dated from Epirus or Athens, and I will back you up in the course you proposed.

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¹ A pun again on the name of the officious or self-seeking Philotimus, as in Letter CCLXXXI, p. 200.

² Hom. Od. 9.33.

³ The formula in the senate used by the presiding magistrate in calling on a senator for his vote.

⁴ This is the onlyindication I know of that Cicero had an interview with Caesar in B.C. 52. Caelius is M. Caelius Rufus, Cicero's correspondent, tribune in B.C. 52.

⁵ Hom. Il. 22.100; see vol. i., p. 90.

⁶ B.C. 51-50, M. Claudius Marcellus and C. Claudius Marcellus. A cousin of the latter, of the same name, was consul-designate for B.C. 49.

⁷ hodou prergon.

⁸ epitêkta.

⁹ ekbolê logou (Thuc. 1.97).

¹⁰ Cato. See pp. 174, 193.

¹¹ Cn. Tremellius Scrofa, P. Silius Nerva, C. Lucceius Hirrus, all friends of Atticus and men of position. See the index for references and letters to them.

¹² Philotimus.

¹³ Hom. Il. 18.112.

CCXCII (A VII, 2)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

BRUNDISIUM, 25 NOVEMBER

I arrived at Brundisium on the 24th of November, after a sea passage of your fortunate kind: so delightfully Blew from Epirus the softest of breezes-Onchesmites. ¹ [p. 214] There 's a spondaic hexameter for you! You may pass it off as your own before any of our young poets you choose. The state of your health gives me much uneasiness. For your letter indicates that you are really suffering. I, however, knowing your courage, strongly suspect that there is something which absolutely compels you to give in and almost exhausts your strength, although your Pamphilus informed me that one fit of quartan ague had departed, and that another less serious one was approaching. Terentia, indeed, who entered the gate at the same time as I entered the port of Brundisium, told me that L. Pontius had informed her at Trebulanum ² that that too had left you. If this is the case, it answers, by heaven, to my highest wishes, and I expect that you have obtained it by your prudence and temperate habits.

I now come to your Ietters, great budgets of which have reached me at the same time, one more delightful than the other, at any rate those that were in your own handwriting. For while I like the handwriting of Alexis, for its excellent imitation of your own, yet I don't like it for its indication that you are not well. And talking of him, ³ I have left Tiro in at Patrae, a young man, as you know, and add, if you please, of excellent character. I have never seen a better. Accordingly, I miss him very much. Though he did not think himself seriously il, I am yet anxious, and rest my greatest hopes in the assiduous attention of Manius Curius, of which Tiro has spoken in his letters and many have told me by word of mouth. Moreover, Curius himself felt how much you wished tbat I should like him. And, in fact, I took great delight in his society: there is a natural vein of humour in the man that is very attractive. I am carrying home his will sealed up with the signets of two Ciceros ⁴ and of the praetorian staff. In their presence [p. 215] he declared you heir to one-tenth, and me to one-fortieth. At Actium in Corcyra Alexis made me a splendid present. Nothing could prevent Quintus Cicero from going to see the river Thyamis. I am glad you find such delight in your little daughter, and are convinced of the doctrine as to "the natural instinct for procreation." For in the absence of this instinct there can be no natural tie uniting man and man, and, without that, social life is impossible. "Heaven prosper what we do," quoth Carneades, somewhat indecently, ⁵ and yet with more modesty than our countryman Lucius and Patro--who in referring everything to a selfish motive, and denying that anything is ever done for another's sake, and teaching that a man's only motive for being virtuous is to avoid evil consequences to himself, not because right is right, do not perceive that they are describing a crafty man, not a good one. But all this, I think, is discussed in those books which you encourage me by praising. ⁶

To return to business. How anxious I was for the letter, which you said that you gave to Philoxenus! For you had told me that it contained an account of Pompey's conversation at Naples. Patro delivered it to me at Brundisium, having received it, I presume, at Corcyra. Notbing could bave been more delightful. For it contained information about politics, about the great man's opinion as to my uprightness, about the kind feeling towards me which he manifested in [p. 216] what he said about the triumph. But what pleased me more than anything else was to learn that you had visited him to ascertain what his disposition was towards me. This, I say, gave me the greatest pleasure of all. As to the triumph, I never felt any great desire for it till Bibulus's utterly bare faced despatch, which was followed by a supplicatio voted in the most complimentary terms. If he had really done what he stated in his despatch, I should have rejoiced and been in favour of bestowing honour upon him. But as it is--that he, who never set foot outside the city gate as long as the enemy was west of the Euphrates, ⁷ should be specially honoured, and that I, on whose army he depended entirely, should not be able to obtain a similar honour, is an insult to us: I say "us," because I include you. Accordingly, I will leave no stone unturned, and, as I hope, shall succeed. But if you had been in good health, I should already have got rid of certain difficulties. But, I hope, you will soon recover. About the debt to Numerius I am much obliged to you. I am longing to know what Hortensius has done, and what Cato is doing: the latter, it is true, has been disgracefully spiteful to me. He gave his testimony to my integrity, equity, clemency, good faith, which I did not ask for: what I did ask for he withheld. Accordingly, in his letter of congratulation, containing also every kind of promise, how Caesar exults over the slight put upon me by Cato's signal ingratitude! Cato, too, who votes twenty days' supplicatio to Bibulus! Pardon me, I cannot and will not put up with this. I am itching to answer all your letters, but it is unnecessary: for I shall see you directly. However, I must just telI you about Chrysippus--for about the other fellow (a mere mechanic) I am less surprised. Yet there could not be a more rascally trick than his either. But Chrysippus--that he, whom I liked seeing and held in honour for his tincture of letters, should abandon my boy without my knowledge! I say nothing about many other things of which I am told; I say nothing of his embezzlements; but I cannot put up with his absconding. It seemed to me the most unprincipled thing in the world. Accordingly, I have availed myself of that ancient expedient of [p. 217] Drusus ⁸ when praetor, as it is said, in the case of a man who on being manumitted declined to take the same oaths. I denied having manumitted those men, especially as there was no one present at the time by whom their manumission could legally be maintained. Tell me what you think of that: I will abide by your opinion. ⁹ The most eloquent by far of all your letters I have not answered, that in which you speak of the dangers of the Republic. What was I to write back? I was much upset. But the Parthians prevent my being much afraid, who suddenly retreated, leaving Bibulus half dead with fright.

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¹ From Onchesmus in Epirus, and south-east as regards Brundisium. It is therefore, it seems, a local name used by sailors between the two coasts, of which there are many other instances, both ancient and modern.

² The villa near Trebula in the Sabine district. See p. 5.

³ Letter CCXXVII, p. 89.

⁴ Quintus Cicero and his son. The object of the seals affixed was to shew that the document was the one which the testator acknowledged in the presence of witnesses to be his will. The execution of the will was the testator's acknowledgment, not the sealing.

⁵ tuchêi agathêi, sc. paidopoioumen, as Casaubon explains. The connexion of the whole of this passage with the context is obscure. It seems to be this. Atticus, who married late in life, had been wont to argue against the duty or pleasure of parentage. Cicero says, "Now you find so much delight in your little daughter you will recant your denial of the doctrine (of the Peripatetics and Academies), which makes the instinct of procreation the first law of nature and the origin of social morality" (see Polybius, 6.6, who there points out that society begins thus: pantôn pros tas sunousias hormôntôn kata phusin, ek de toutôn poidopoiias apoteloumenês, k.t.l.). Cicero then goes on to say that Carneades's remark as to procreation may be indecent, but is not so bad as the Epicurean doctrine which would attribute this act, like all others, to mere self-gratification, not to the natural duty ot producing children. With phusikên in the text understand hormên. Patro is an Epicurean philosopher, of whom we have heard before (p. 32). Lucius is L. Manlius Torquatus, the Epicurean speaker in the first book of the de Finibus.

⁶ The de Republica.

⁷ See pp. 184-185.

⁸ M. Livius Drusus, consul B.C. 113.

⁹ It was customary for a slave before manumission, in some cases, to promise that on manumission he would take an oath to perform certain duties to his patronus. It was at present an unsettled question whether, if he afterwards declined to do so, he could be brought back to slavery. In any case, his position, if manumitted privately (inter amicos), was less secure than if he had been brought before the praetor and touched by his rod (vindicta). This difference was later on recognized by law. See Tac. Ann. 13.27.

CCXCIII (A VII, 3)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

TREBULANUM (VILLA OF PONTIUS), 9 DECEMBER

ON the 6th of December I reached Aeculanum, and there read the letter from you which Philotimus delivered to me. The first glance at it gave me pleasure from seeing that it was in your own handwriting, and presently I was extraordinarily delighted at its extreme minuteness and attention to detail. To begin with, you say you disagree with Dicaearchus: ¹ but although I sought with the greatest eagerness, and with your approbation, not to remain more than a year in my province, this was not brought about by any exertions on my part. For let me tell you that no proposal was ever made in the senate about any of us governors of provinces, to the effect [p. 218] that we should remain in them beyond the term mentioned in the decree: so that I cannot now be blamed even for having been a shorter time in the province than was perhaps for the good of the public service. But the common expression "Perhaps it was all for the best" seems to come in pat, as though it were made for the case. For whether a peace can possibly be patched up, or the victory of the loyalists secured, I should wish in either case to lend a helping hand, or at any rate not to be wholly out of it. But if; on the contrary, the loyalists are beaten, I should have been beaten with them, wherever I was. Wherefore the rapidity of my return should be no cause for regret. If, again, the idea of a triumph had not been suggested to me-- an idea which you also approve-you certainly would not have found me fall much short of the ideal statesman sketched in the sixth book of my Republic. Well, what would you have me do, you who have devoured those books? Indeed, even now, I shall not scruple to throw this hope aside, great as it is, if it turns out to be the better course. The two things indeed cannot be done at the same time-to canvass for a triumph, and to speak with independence on politics. But do not doubt for a moment that the more righteous course will have the preference in my eyes. For as to your opinion, that it is more advantageous, whether for my personal safety, or as enabling me to serve the state, to retain my imperium--that we will discuss when we meet. For it is a matter requiring serious consideration, though to a great extent I agree with you. About my loyalty to the Republic I thank you for feeling no doubt: and I also quite endorse your judgment that, considering my services to him, and considering what he has done for others, Caesar ² has been by no means overliberal in his conduct to me. Your explanation of that fact also is the true one, and agrees strikingly [p. 219] with what you say has been done in the case of Fabius and Caninius. Even if things had been different, and he had been profuse in his liberality to me, yet that "Guardian goddess of the city," whom you mention in your letter, would have compelled me to remember the inscription upon her statue, ³ and would not have allowed me to imitate Volcatius and Servius, ⁴ who satisfy you, but would have compelled me to entertain sentiments and maintain some course worthy of myself: which, indeed, I would have done, if I could, in a different way from that in which I must now act. It is for their own supremacy that these men are now contending, but it is at the risk of the constitution. For if it is the constitution that is being now defended by Caesar, why was it not defended in his own consulship? Why was I, in whose cause the safety of the constitution was involved, not defended in the next year? Why was his imperium extended, or why in that particular way? Why was such a fight made that the ten tribunes should propose a law allowing him to be a candidate in his absence? ⁵ Owing to these measures he has become so strong, that there is only one citizen with sufficient force to resist him; and I wish that he had refused to grant him all this power, rather than resist him now when he is so strong.

But since it has come to this pass, I will not ask, as you say: Where is the hull that once the Atreidae owed? ⁶ The one hull for me will be that which has Pompey for steersman. Yes, that is just as you say. "What is to happen when the consul says: "Your vote, Marcus Tullius?" I shall answer in a word: "I vote with Gnaeus Pompeius." Nevertheless, in private, I shall exhort Pompey to keep the [p. 220] peace. For my opinion is that there is the most imminent danger. Of course you are better informed as being in the city. But my view of the situation is this: we have to do with a man of the most consummate boldness, and in the highest state of preparation: all who have been condemned, or branded with infamy, or who deserve condemnation and infamy, are on his side; nearly all the young men; all the lowest city rabble; some influential tribunes, including Gaius Cassius; all who are overwhelmed with debt, who I find are more numerous than I thought. The only thing this cause lacks is merit: it has everything else in abundance. On our side everyone is doing everything he can to avert an appeal to arms, of which the result is in all cases uncertain, while on this particular occasion there is reason to fear its going the other way. Bibulus has quitted his province, and has left Veiento in charge of it. I hear he will be somewhat slow on his return journey. In complimenting him Cato remarked that the only people he did not envy were those whose political position admitted of no improvement, or at any rate little. Now for private affairs: for I have pretty well answered your letters on politics, both the one you wrote in your suburban villa, and that which you wrote subsequently. So now I am coming to private affairs. Still, there is one thing more-about Caelius. So far from his affecting my opinion, I am strongly of opinion that he must himself be sorry for having changed his views. ⁷ But how came it that those properties of Lucceius were conveyed to him? I wonder you passed that over. As to Philotimus, I will do as you advise. But I was not expecting to have the accounts from him, which he submitted to you, but the balance which he himself, at Tusculum, wished me to enter in my day-book with my own hand, and for which he also gave me a bill in Asia in his own handwriting. If he paid the sum which be declared to you to be the amount of my debt, he would still owe me as much again, and more. But in business of this kind, if only the state of public affairs permit, I shall not henceforth expose myself to blame; nor, by heaven, was I really careless about it in former times, but my time was [p. 221] swallowed up by a crowd of friends. Accordingly, I shall have the benefit, as you promise, of your assistance and advice, and yet shall not, I hope, be troublesome to you. You need not alarm yourself about the splints I made my staff wear. They have pulled themselves together of their own accord from admiration of my upright conduct. But no one had given me a greater surprise than the man of whom you think so meanly. He had been at the beginning, and at this day still is, excellent. But just at the moment of leaving the province he indicated to me that he had hoped for something. He did not, however, cling to the idea, upon which he had allowed his mind to dwell for a time, but quickly returned to his better self, and being much affected by the extremely high honours bestowed on him by me, he looked upon them as more valuable than any money. I have received his will from Curius, and am bringing it with me. I am informed of the legacies Hortensius has to pay. I am now eager to know the man's position, and what properties he is putting up to auction. For I don't know why, since Caelius has monopolized the Porta Flumentana, ⁸ I should not make myself owner of Puteoli.

Now for the word Piraeea: in using it I exposed myself to severer criticism for writing Peiraeea instead of Piraeum--which is the form adopted by all our countrymen-than for adding an in. For I did not prefix the preposition to the word as the name of a town, but of a locality: and, after all, our friend Dionysius, and Nicias of Cos, who is with me, did not consider the Piraeus to be a town. But I will see to it. The fact is that, if I have made a mistake, it is in not speaking of it as a town, but as a place; and for having followed, I don't say Caecilius (mane ut ex portu in Piraeum), for he is a poor authority for Latinity, but Terence, whose plays, owing to the elegance of their language, were thought to be written by Laelius. He says, "Heri aliquot adulescentuli coimus in Piraeum"; and also, "Mercator hoc addebati...captam e Sunio." ⁹ Now if we choose to consider demes to be towns, Sunium is as much a town as Piraeus. But since you are by way of being a grammarian, [p. 222] you will relieve me of much vexation if you solve me this knotty point. He ¹⁰ sends me courteous letters. Balbus does the same for him. I am resolved not to swerve a finger's breadth from the most absolute loyalty in any direction. But you know the balance he has against me. Do you think, then, that some one will twit me with it, if I am lukewarm in opposition, or that he will demand repayment if I am overvigorous? What solution can you find to this? "Pay him," you say. Well, then, I will borrow from Caelius. However, pray turn this matter over in your mind. For I imagine, if I have at any time made a fine speech in defence of the constitution, that your Tartessian ¹¹ friend will say to me as I am leaving the house, "Be so good as to direct the money to be paid." What else is there to say? Why, this. My son-in-law makes himself very agreeable to me, to Tullia, and to Terentia. He has any amount whether of ability or culture. We must be content. Other points in his character, with which you are acquainted, must be tolerated. For you know the men whom we bave [rejected ¹² ], who all, except the one about whom we negotiated through you, ¹³ think that I am making money. For no one will advance them any on their own credit. But of this when we meet; for it is a subject for a long talk. My hope of Tiro's recovery is centred on Manius Curius, to whom I said in a letter that you will be very gratefui to him.

Pontius's Villa at Trebula, 9 December. [p. 223]

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¹ Who recommended a life of action, and therefore would have approved of Cicero remaining at his post in Cilicia.

² This differs in tone from what Cicero has been saying for some time of his relations with Caesar, to whom he owed money. Can it be a covert allusion to his treatment of Quintus after his indiscretion at Aduatuca (Caes. B. G. 6.36), after which Quintus seems to have had no important command? There is a total absence of allusion in the letter to the gallantry of Quintus in defending the camp (near mod. Charleroi) earlier in the year, or to his faux pas later. But Caesar wrote severely to Cicero about this, who may have thought that Caesar had not treated Quintus with generosity.

³ The statuette of Minerva, which Cicero dedicated in the Capitol before his exile. C. Fabius Maximus and C. Caninius Rebilus were Caesar's legati. If he treated them badly in any way, they yet do not seem to have resented it, for they stuck by him in the Civii War, unlike others.

⁴ L. Volcatius Tullus (consul B.C. 66) tried to steer a middie course, and refused to accompany Pompey to Epirus. Servius Sulpicius Rufus (consul B.C. 51) took much the same line as Volcatius. They both had sons serving with Caesar in his invasion of Italy B.C. 49.

⁵ In B.C. 52. See pp. 204, 228.

⁶ pou skaphous to tôn Atreidôn, altered from Eurip. Troad. 455.

⁷ Caelius, bribed like Curio, had become Caesarian.

⁸ Near which Caelius had bought the property of Lucceius.

⁹ Eun. 539, 115.

¹⁰ Caesar.

¹¹ Balbus, a native of Gades (Tartessus).

¹² The reading is very doubtful. There is no authority for the meaning assigned by Tyrrell for aperuerimus. Other suggestions are averterimus, repudiarimus.

¹³ Perhaps Ti. Claudius Nero, whom Cicero preferred as a son-in-law. See pp. 97, 190.

CCXCIV (A VII, 4)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

(FORMIAE II DECEMBER)

DIONYSIUS was burning with desire to be with you, and I have accordingly sent him, but, by Hercules, with great reluctance. However, I was obliged to give way. I have found him, indeed, both a good scholar (which I knew before> and a man of high character, very obliging, careful too of my reputation, honest, and--not to give him only the praise that suits a freedman--a thoroughly good man.

I saw Pompey on the 10th of December: we were together perhaps two hours. He seemed to me to be much delighted at my return: urged me to a claim a triumph: undertook to do his part: warned me not to enter the senate until I had gained my object, for fear of alienating some tribune by the speeches I delivered. Need I say more? In cordiality of mere language nothing could have been more explicit. On the political situation, however, the tone of his remarks assumed the existence of downright war. He held out no hope of maintaining peace: "he had felt before that Caesar was alienated from him, he had recently become quite sure of it. Hirtius, Caesar's most intimate friend, had been in the neighbourhood, but had not called on him. Moreover, Hirtius having arrived in the evening of the 6th of December, and Balbus having arranged to visit Scipio ¹ on the 7th, before daybreak, Hirtius started to rejoin Caesar late in the previous night." This seemed to him to be a clear "symptom" ² of alienation. In short, nothing else consoles me but the opinion that the man, to whom even his enemies have assigned a second consulship, and fortune has given supreme power, will not be so mad as to put these advantages in danger. But if he once begins to run amuck, I verily have many fears which I do not venture to put into writing. However, as the matter stands at present, I think of approaching the city on the 3rd of January. [p. 224]

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¹ Pompey's father-in-law.

² tekmêriôdes.

CCXCV (A VII, 5)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

(FORMIAE, DECEMBER)

I have received several letters from you at the same time, and though I am in receipt of later news from visitors, they yet gave me much pleasure. For they shewed your zeal and kindness. I am disturbed by your illness, and Pilia's having fallen ill of the same complaint must, I think, cause you all the more anxiety. So take care, both of you, to get well. I see that you are interested about Tiro. Though he is serviceable to me in a thousand ways, when he is well, in every department of my business and my studies, yet my anxiety for his recovery is founded on his own kindness and high character, rather than on my convenience. Philogenes never said a word to me about Luscenius. As to other matters, you have Dionysius with you. I wonder that your sister has not come to Arcanum. ¹ I am glad you approve my decision as to Chrysippus. ² I have no intention of going to Tusculum at such a time as this. It is out of the way for people coming to meet me, and has other disadvantages. But from Formiae I mean to go to Tarracina on the 29th of December. Thence to Pomptina Summa, ³ thence to Pompey's Alban villa, and so to the city on the 3rd, my birthday. The political situation gives me greater terror every day. For the loyalists are not, as people think, united. How many Roman knights, how many senators, have I seen prepared to inveigh against the whole policy, and especially the progress through Italy now being made by Pompey. ⁴ What we want is peace. From a victory, [p. 225] among many evil results, one, at any rate, will be the rise of a tyrant. But we will talk of this together before long. At present I have absolutely nothing to write to you about--either in politics (for neither of us knows more than the other) or in domestic affairs, which are equally known to us both. The only thing left is to jest, if this personage will allow us. For I am one who thinks it more expedient to yield to his demands than to fight. For it is too late in the day to be resisting a man, whom we have been nursing up against ourselves these ten years past. "What will be your view, then?" say you. None, of course, except in accordance with yours: nor shall I express any till I have accomplished or laid aside my own affair of the triumph. So take care of your health. Do at length shake off your quartan fever by exercising the prudence in which no one surpasses you.

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¹ A villa belonging to Quintus.

² See p. 216.

³ Perhaps the head of the canal (Treponti) which ended near Tarracina. In Fam. 7.18, Cicero writes from "Pomptinum," a villa of M. Aemilius Philemo, and it is perhaps here that he means to stay.

⁴ Pompey was already commissioned by the consul Marcellus to visit the municipia and levy troops. Curio had in vain tried to induce the senate to send an order round that he was not to be obeyed (Appian, B.C. 2.31).

CCXCVI (A VII, 6)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

(FORMIAE, DECEMBER)

I have absolutely nothing to say to you. You know everything, nor can I expect any fresh news from you. Let me, then, merely maintain my old habit of never letting anyone going to you depart without a letter. At the political situation I am thoroughly alarmed, and up to now I have found hardly anyone not convinced that it would be better to yield to Caesar's demand than to fight. That demand, it is true, shameless as it is, is more serious than we thought. But why begin resisting him now? For naught more dreadful is upon us now. ¹ than when we voted his additional five years, or when we [p. 226] allowed his being a candidate in his absence: for we did not, I presume, give him arms then, that we might have a well-furnished enemy to fight with now! You will say, "What, then, will be your view?" Not the one I shall express. For my real view will be "anything rather than fight": I shall say exactly what Pompey does. And that I shall do from no abject cowardice: but once more it is a very serious evil to the constitution, and less allowable perhaps in my case than in that of others, that in matters of such importance I should differ from Pompey.

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¹ Homer, Od. 12.209. Cicero means that they have no more reason to resist Caesar than before, for his claim to keep his province is not more unconstitutional than his former claims. "We can't suppose that our object in yielding the old demands was to arm him against ourselves!" Nisi forte is here practically a negative; it introduces an impossible supposition.

CCXCVII (A VII, 7)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

(FORMIAE, DECEMBER)

"Dionysius, a most excellent fellow -- as I, too, have reason to know--and also a very good scholar and warmly devoted to you, arrived in Rome on the 16th of January and delivered me a letter from you." Those are your exact words about Dionysius in your letter. You don't add, "and he expressed his gratitude to you." And yet he certainly ought to have done so, and, if he had, you are always so good-natured that you would have added it to your sentence. However, any palinode in regard to him is made impossible for me, owing to the character I gave him in my last letter. Let him, then, pass for an excellent man. I am obliged to him for one thing at least--he has given me this opportunity also of knowing him thoroughly. Philogenes was quite correct in what he wrote to you: for he has paid the money due. I wished him to have the use of the money as long as he legally could; accordingly, he has kept it [p. 227] fourteen months. I hope Pomptinus is recovering and as to having entered the city, as you say in your letter, I feel somewhat anxious as to what he means by it. For he would not have done so except for some weighty reason. As the 2nd of January is the Compitalia, ¹ I don't want to arrive at Pompey's Alban villa on that day, for fear of inconveniencing his servants. I shall do so, therefore, on the 3rd, and go thence to the city on the 4th. I don't know on what day your quartan fit is due; but I am very unwilling that you should be disturbed to the detriment of your health. As to my triumph, unless Caesar has been secretly intriguing by means of the tribunes who are in his interest, everything else appears to be going smoothly. My mind however is supremely calm, and regards the whole thing with utter indifference: the more so that I am told by many that Pompey and his council have determined to send me to Sicily on the ground of my having imperium. That is worthy of Abdera! ² For neither has the senate decreed nor the people ordered me to have imperium in Sicily. But if the state delegates this to Pompey why should he send me rather than some unofficial person? So, if the possession of this imperium is going to be a nuisance to me, I shall avail myself of the first city gate I came to. ³ For as to what you say, that my coming is awaited with astonishing interest, and that none of the loyalists, or even the semi loyalists, have any doubt about what I am likely to do--I don't understand whom you mean by the "loyalists"--I know of none--that is to say no class of such men: for of course, there are individuals who are loyalists; but when it is a case of politic divisions what we have to look for is classes and sets of loyalists. Do you regard the senate as loyalist when it is owing to it that the provinces have no governors' with imperium? For Curio would never have held out if negotiations with him had been set on foot--a measure which the senate refused to adopt with the result that no successor was named to Caesar. Or the publicani who, having never been staunch, are now [p. 228] warmly in favour of Caesar? Or the financiers or the farmers, whose chief interest is peace? Unless you can suppose such men to dread being under royal rule, who have never declined it, so long only as they were left in peace and quiet. Well then! Do I approve of votes being taken for a man who is retaining an army beyond the legal day? For my part, I say no; nor in his absence either. But when the former was granted him, so was the latter. ⁴ "Why, do you approve of the ten years' grant, and of the way in which the law was carried?" If I do, then I approve of my own banishment, and the loss of the Campanian land, and of the adoption of a patrician by a plebeian, of a Gaditanian by a Mytilenean; ⁵ I approve of the wealth of Labienus and Mamurra, of the pleasure-grounds and Tusculan villa of Balbus. But the fountain-head of all these things is the same. We should have resisted him when he was weak, and that would have been easy. Now we are confronted by eleven legions, cavalry at his desire, the Transpadani, ⁶ the city rabble, all these tribunes, a rising generation corrupted as we see, a leader of such influence and audacity. With such a man we must either fight a pitched battle, or admit his candidature in virtue of the law. "Fight," say you, "rather than be a slave." To what end? To be proscribed, if beaten: to be a slave after all, if victorious? "What do you mean to do, then ?" say you. Just what animals do, who when scattered follow the flocks of their own kind. As an ox follows a herd, so shall I follow the loyalists or whoever are said to be loyalists, even if they take a disastrous course. What the best course is in this unfortunate dilemma I see clearly. For no one can be certain of the result when once we come to fighting: but everyone is certain that, if the loyalists are beaten, this man will not be more merciful than Cinna in the massacre of the nobility, nor less rapacious than Sulla in confiscating the property of the rich. I have [p. 229] been talking politics with you all this time, and I would have gone on doing so, had not my lamp failed me. The upshot is this : " Your vote, M. Tullius!" "I vote with Gnaeus Pompeius: that is, with Titus Pomponius." Pray give my regards to Alexis, that very accomplished boy, unless perchance he has become a man during my absence, for he seemed on the point of doing so.

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¹ The Compitahlia were always about this time, though the exact day varied. At them slaves took part in the family festival. It was therefore like arriving on Christmas Day to come to a house then.

² Renowned for the stupidity of its inhabitants.

³ I.e., get rid of my imperium by entering the city.

⁴ When he was given his five extra years, i. e., up to March, B.C. 48, the right of standing for the consulship was practically given him also.

⁵ Of Balbus by Theophanes of Mitylene. The latter was a friend of Pompey, who had given him civitas He adopted Balbus (Caesar's friend) when Pompey and Caesar were on good terms.

⁶ Because Caesar promised them full citizenship instead of their existing Latinitas, , a promise which he promptly fulfilled in B.C. 48.

CCXCVIII (A VII, 8)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

(FORMIAE, 26 DECEMBER)

WHAT need was there to speak so strongly about Dionysius? Wouldn't the slightest hint from you have been enough for me? The fact is, your silence had roused all the more suspicion in me, first because your usual custom is to cement friendship by testifying to mutual goodwill, and secondly because I was told that he had spoken to others in a different tone. ¹ However, I am quite convinced that the truth is as you say. Accordingly, my feelings towards him are what you wish them to be. The day on which your fit was due I had noted for myself, from a letter which you wrote in the early stages of your feverish attack, and I had calculated that, as things are, you could come to the Alban villa to meet me on the 3rd of January without inconvenience. But pray do nothing to injure your health. For what does one day or another matter? I see that by Livia's will Dolabella, takes a third between himself and two others, ² but is ordered to change his name. Here is a problem in politics for you ³ --can a young man of rank properly change his name in accordance with a woman's will? We shall be able to solve [p. 230] that question in a more scientific spirit, ⁴ when we know to about how much a third of a third amounts.

What you thought would be the case--that I should see Pompey before arriving at Rome--has happened. For he caught me up near the Lavernium on the 25th. We came together to Formiae and from two o'clock till evening had a private conversation. As to your question whether there is any hope of making peace, as far as I could gather from a long and exhaustive discourse of Pompey's, he hasn't even the wish for it. His view is this: if he becomes consul, even after dismissing his army, there will be a bouleversement of the constitution. ⁵ Besides, he thinks that when Caesar is told that preparations against him are being pushed on energetically, he will throw aside the consulship for this year and prefer retaining his army and province. But if Caesar were to act such a mad part, he entertained a low opinion of his power, and felt confident in his own and the state's resources. The long and the short of it was that, although intestine war " ⁶ was often in my thoughts, yet I felt my anxiety removed while I listened to a man of courage, military skill, and supreme influence, discoursing like a statesman on the dangers of a mock peace. Moreover, we had in our hands the speech of Antony, delivered on the 21st of December, which contained an invective against Pompey, beginning from his boyhood, a complaint as to those who had been condemned, and a threat of armed intervention. On reading this Pompey remarked, "What do you think Caesar himself will do, if he obtains supreme power in the state, when his quaestor---a man of no influence or wealth-dares to talk like that ?" ⁷ In short, he appeared to me not [p. 231] merely not to desire the peace you talk of, but even to fear it. However, he is, I think, somewhat shaken in his idea of abandoning the city by the scandal it would cause. ⁸ My chief vexation is that I must pay the money to Caesar, and devote what I had provided for the expenses of my triumph to that. For it is "an ugly business to owe money to a political opponent." But this and much besides when we meet.

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¹ See p. 226.

² That is, he took a third of a third, i. e., one-ninth of the whole estate. We don't know who Livia was, and there is no evidence of Dolabella having changed his name. He therefore probably renounced the legacy.

³ politikon skemma.

⁴ philosophôteron dieukrinêsomen.

⁵ sunchusin tês politeias, perhaps coup d' état might represent it, but it does not really represent Pompey's view.

⁶ Hom. Il. 18.309.

⁷ M. Antonius had just become tribune (l0th December, B.C. 50), but he had been quaestor in Gaul in B.C. 52, and seems to have been in high favour with Caesar, who had been exerting himself to get him elected augur. The "condemned" are the victims of Pompey's law on bribery of B.C. 52 (see vol. i., p. 366). The Caesarians always maintained that these men had been in many cases unfairly condemned, and one of the first measures after Caesar's success was their recall.

⁸ The text is very uncertain here. I read invidia (MS. í) relinquenda urbis.

CCXCIX (A VII, 9)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

(FORMIAE, 27 DECEMBER)

AM I to receive," quoth you, "a letter from you every single day?" Yes! if I find anyone to give it to, every day. "But you are all but here in person." Well, when I have arrived, I will stop writing. I see that one of your letters has not reached me. While my friend L. Quintius was conveying it, he was wounded and robbed near the tomb of Basilus. ¹ Please consider, therefore, whether there was anything in it which I ought to know, and at the same time "solve this strictly political problem." Seeing that it is necessary, EITHER that Caesar should be allowed to stand for the consulship while he still holds his army (whether by the favour of senate or tribunes); OR that Caesar should be persuaded to hand over his province and army, and so become consul; OR, if he cannot be persuaded to do so, that the election should be held without admitting his name as candidate; OR, if he employs tribunes to prevent that, and yet makes no warlike move, that there must be an interregnum; OR, if on the ground of his legal candidateship having been ignored he moves up his army, that we must fight him with arms, while he must begin hostilities either at [p. 232] once before we are prepared, or as soon as his friends have their demand for having him recognized as a candidate at the election refused: but that he will either have the one excuse for an appeal to arms (that his candidature is ignored), or will have an additional one, if it chances that some tribune, when vetoing the senate or stirring up the people, is censured, or hampered by a senatorial decree, or forcibly removed, or driven out of the city, or flies to him, alleging that he has been so driven out: SEEING finally, that, if war is once begun, we must either defend the city, or abandon it and try to cut him off from supplies and other resources: consider, I say, which of these evils, some one of which we must confront, you think the least.

You will no doubt say "to persuade him to hand over his army, and so become consul." Well, certainly against this proposal, supposing him to submit so far, nothing can be said: and, since he doesn't succeed in getting his candidature acknowledged while he still retains his army, I wonder he does not do so. For us, however, as certain persons think, nothing is more to be dreaded than his becoming consul. "But I would prefer his being consul on these terms to his being so with an army," you will say. Certainly. But even on "these terms," I tell you, there is one who thinks it a grave evil. Nor is there any remedy against it: we must submit if he insists upon it. Imagine him consul a second time after our experience of his former consulship! "Why, comparatively weak as he was then," you say, "he was more powerful than the whole state." What, then, do you think will be the case now? Moreover, if he is consul, Pompey is resolved to be in Spain. What a sad state of things, when the very worst alternative is just the one which cannot be rejected, and the one which, if he adopts it, would at once secure him the highest favour with all the loyalists!

Let us, then, put this out of the question. They say that he cannot be induced to accept it. Which is the worst of the other alternatives? Why, to concede to him what, according to the same authority, is his most impudent demand. For could anything be more impudent? "You have held a province for ten years, a time not granted you by the senate, but assumed by yourself with the help of violence and sedition: this period--not assigned by the law, but by [p. 233] your own caprice--has passed. Let us, however, grant that it was by the law: a decree is made for naming your successor: you cry halt and say, "Take my candidature into consideration." Rather, do you take us into consideration. ² Are you to have an army longer than the vote of the people gave it you? "You must fight unless you grant it." Certainly--to quote Pompey again--and with a fair prospect either of conquering or of dying free men. Moreover, if fight we must, the time depends on chance, the plan on circumstances. Therefore I do not worry you on that point. In regard to what I have said, pray make any suggestion that occurs to you: for my part, I am on the rack day and night.

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¹ On the via Appia. Though close to the city, it was a place notorious for highway robberies, according to Asconius, § 50.

² Habere rationem is here used in a double sense: (1) to allow votes being taken for (technical); (2) to have consideration for, "to take into account" (common).

CCCII (A VII, 10)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

OUTSIDE THE WALLS OF ROME, 17 JANUARY

I have suddenly resolved to leave town before daybreak, to avoid all gazing and gossip, especially with my bay-decked [p. 241] lictors. ¹ For the rest, I don't know, by heaven, what to do now or in the future: such is the agitation into which I am thrown by the infatuation of our party's most insane decision. But what counsel should I offer you, you whose advice I am myself anxious to receive? What plan our Gnaeus has adopted, or is adopting, I don't know: as yet he is cooped up in the towns and in a state of lethargy. If he makes a stand in Italy, we shall all be together: if he abandons it, I shall have to reconsider the matter. Up to now, unless I am out of my senses, his proceedings are all fatuous and rash. Yes, pray write to me frequently just anything that comes into your head.

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¹ Pompey left Rome, it appears, on the 7th or 8th. The consuls and other magistrates of his party remained in town, but on hearing of Caesar's advance (about the 17th) they hurriedly quitted Rome (Caes. B.C. 1.14). Caesar says that this took place on a false alarm on the day after Pompey's leaving Rome: but it is apparent ftom this letter that Pompey had started some time before.

CCCIII (A VII, 11)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

(IN CAMPANIA) 19 JANUARY

WHAT in the world does it mean? What is going on? I am quite in the dark. "We are in occupation of Cingulum," says some one; "we have lost Ancona." "Labienus has abandoned Caesar." Are we talking of an imperator of the Roman people, or of a Hannibal? Madman! Miserable wretch, that has never seen even a shadow of virtue! And he says that he is doing all this "to support his honour"! How can there be any "honour" where there is no moral right? Can it be morally right to have an army without commission from the state? To seize cities inhabited by one's fellow citizens, as a means of attacking one's own country? To be contriving abolition of debts, restoration of exiles, hundreds of other crimes [p. 242] For royalty, the first of things divine? ¹ Let him keep his fortune, and welcome! By heaven, I would rather have one hour of basking in your free ² sun than all the royalties of that kind in the world, or rather I would die a thousand times Sooner than once take an idea of that sort into my mind: "What if you should take the fancy?" say you. Well, everyone's wishes are free: but I regard the mere wish as a greater misfortune than the cross. There is one greater misfortune still--to attain such a wish. But enough of this. It is a kind of relief to philosophize thus much in the midst of such troubles. To return to our friend. In the name of fortune, what do you think of Pompey's plan? I mean in abandoning the city? For I am at a loss to explain it. Nothing, again, could be more irrational. Do you mean to abandon the city? Then you would have done the same if the Gauls were upon us. "The Republic," says he, "does not depend on brick and mortar." No, but it does depend on altars and hearths. "Themistocles did the same." Yes, for one city was incapable of resisting the flood of the whole East. But Pericles did not so act, about fifty years afterwards, for he abandoned everything except the walls. Our own country men in the old times held the citadel, though the rest of the city was taken:

Such deeds of fame--so poets told-- Our fathers wrought in days of old.

³ On the other hand, I gather from the indignation aroused in the municipia, and the conversation of those whom I meet, that this plan is likely to prove successful in a way. There is an extraordinary outcry--I don't know what people are saying with you, but pray let me know--at the city being without magistrates or senate. In fact, there is a wonderfully strong feeling at Pompey's being in flight. Indeed, the point of view is quite changed: people are now for [p. 243] making no concessions to Caesar. Expound to me what all this means. My department is a very quiet one. For Pompey wishes me to be a kind of "president" of the whole of this Campanian seacoast, to superintend the levy, and hold the chief command. Accordingly, I meditate being continually on the move. I think you must see by this time what Caesar's aim, what the disposition of the people, and the general position of affairs are. Pray write and tell me about them, and that, too, as often as possible, since they are continually shifting. For I find relief both in writing to you and in reading your letters.

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¹ Eurip. Phoen. 509.

² Lucrativo, a very doubtful word here; it has been emended in various ways, Lucretino ("near Lucretilis"), Lucretiano, etc.

³ Hom. Il. 9.524.

CCCIV (A VII, 12)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

FORMIAE, 22 JANUARY

As yet I have received only one letter from you dated the 19th, and in it you indicated that you had written another, which I have not received. But I beg you to write as often as possible, not only whatever you know or have been told, but also what you suspect, and above all what you think I ought to do or not to do. You ask me to be sure to let you know what Pompey is doing: I don't think he knows himself, certainly none of us do. I saw the consul Lentulus at Formiae on the 21st; I have seen Libo. Nothing but terror and uncertainty everywhere! Pompey is on the road to Larinum; for there are some cohorts there, as also at Luceria and Teanum, and in the rest of Apulia. After that nobody knows whether he means to make a stand anywhere, or to cross the sea. If he stays in Italy, I am afraid he cannot have a dependable army: but if he goes away, where I am to go or stay, or what I am to do, I don't know. For the man, whose "Phalarism" ¹ you dread, will, I think, spare no form of brutality: nor will the suspension [p. 244] of business, nor the departure of senate and magistrates, nor the Closing of the treasury Cause him to pause. But all this, as you say, we shall know before long. Meanwhile, forgive my writing to you at such length and so often. For I find some relief in it, and at the same time want to draw a letter from you, and above all some advice as to what I am to do and how to conduct myself. Shall I commit myself wholly to this side? I am not deterred by the danger, but I am bursting with vexation. Such a want of all plan! so utterly opposed in every respect to my advice! Am I to procrastinate and trim, and then join the winning side, the party in power? "I dread to face the Trojans," ² and I am held back from that course by the duty not only of a citizen, but also of a friend, though my resolution is often weakened by pity for my children. Do, therefore, though equally anxious yourself; write something to a man in this state of utter uncertainty, and especially what you think I ought to do in case of Pompey's quitting Italy. Manius Lepidus, for his part--for we have been together-draws the line at that, and so does L. Torquatus I am hampered, among many other things, by my lictors: I have never seen such a hopeless entanglement. Accordingly, I don't expect anything positive from you, but merely your present impression. In fact, I want to know what the precise difficulty in your mind is. It is all but certain that Labienus ³ has abandoned him. If it could only have been possible that on coming to Rome Labienus had found magistrates and a senate there, he would have been of eminent service to our cause.. For it would have been Clear that loyalty to the Republic had caused him to hold one who was his friend guilty of treason. This is clear even now, but of less practical advantage: for there is no one to be of advantage to, and I expect him to feel some dissatisfaction--unless perchance [p. 245] it is not true, after all, that he has abandoned Caesar. For myself; I am convinced that it is true. Pray, though you say you confine yourself to the limits of your own house, do give me a sketch of the City. Is Pompey missed? Is there any appearance of a feeling against Caesar? What, too, is your opinion as to Terentia and Tullia? Should they stay at Rome, or join me, or seek some place of safety? On this, and indeed on any other point, pray write to me, or rather keep on writing.

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¹ Cruelty like that of the tyrant Phalaris.

² For this quotation--Cicero's constant way of indicating public opinion--see vol. i., p 90.

³ T. Atius Labienus had been Caesar's legatus in Gaul, and was so trusted by him as to be left in charge of Gallia Togata in Caesar's absence (B.C. 50). Caesar was warned that he was being tampered with, but refused to believe it (Caes. B. G. 8.52). It was, however, true, and he became one of the most violent of the Pompeians. He eventually fell at Munda.

CCCVI (A VII, 13 a)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

MINTURNAE, 23 JANUARY

As to the business of Vennonius, I agree with you. Labienus I regard as a "demigod." There has been no political stroke this long time past more brilliant. If he has done no other good, he has at least given him pain. But as a matter of fact, I do think that some good has been done to the cause. I am charmed also with Piso, whose judgment on his son-in-law I think will have weight. But you perceive the nature of the war. It is only a civil war in the sense that it has originated from the unscrupulous boldness of one unprincipled citizen, not as arising from a division of sentiment between the citizens generally. But that man is strong in the possession of an army, he commands the allegiance of many by the prospects he holds out and the promises he makes: nothing that anyone possesses is beyond the scope of his desires. To such a man as this the city has been abandoned, without any garrison to protect it, crammed with every kind of wealth. What would you not have to fear from the man who regards those temples and roofs, not as constituting his fatherland? but as objects for plunder? ¹ What his proceedings are going to be, and how they are to be put into any shape, without senate and without magistrates, I cannot tell. He will not be able to keep up even a [p. 247] pretence of constitutional action. For us, however-where shall we be able to raise our heads or when? How utterly incapable our general is you yourself observe, in having had no intelligence of the state of affairs even in Picenum: and how devoid of any plan of campaign, the facts are witness. For, to say nothing of other mistakes committed during the last ten years, could any terms be worse than such a flight? Nor, indeed, have I any idea what he is contemplating at this moment, though I never cease asking again and again by letter. Everyone agrees that he is in a state of abject alarm and agitation. Accordingly, as far as I can see, there is no garrison--to organize which he was kept at the city walls-nor any place where a garrison could be posted. His whole hope rests on the two legions somewhat treacherously retained, and almost to be regarded as belonging to another. ² For as yet, indeed, those whom he is enlisting are men reluctant to serve and averse from fighting. While the time for making terms has been let slip. I do not see what is going to happen. At any rate we, or our leader, have allowed things to come to this pass, that, having left harbour without a rudder, we must let ourselves drift before the storm. So I hesitate as to what to do with my son and nephew: sometimes I think I had better despatch them to Greece. For Tullia and Terentia, again--when I see a vision of barbarians arriving in the city--I am filled with all kinds of alarm; but when I think of Dolabella, I breathe again somewhat. But pray consider what you think ought to be done: in the first place, with an eye to their safety--for I must regard their security as requiring to be considered in a different light from my own-secondly, with a view to popular opinion, that I may not be blamed for deciding that they should remain at Rome, when the loyalists generally are flying from it. Nay, even you and Peducaeus--for he has written to me--must take care what you' do. You are men of such shining characters, that the same line of conduct is expected from you as from the noblest citizens. But I can safely leave this to you, since it is to you that I look for advice for myself and my family. All I have to add is to ask you to find out, as far' as you can, what is going on, [p. 248] and to write me word of it, and--what I expect from you even more-- tell me what you are yourself able to conjecture. "The best prophet," ³ you know. Pardon my running on like this: it is a relief to me when writing to you, and draws a letter from you.

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¹ Cp. Blücher's reported remark on seeing London--was für plunder!

² See p. 253, note.

³ mantis d' aristos, which, as usual, he leave Atticus to fill up. It is a line from a lost tragedy of Euripides: mantis d' aristos hostis eikazei kalôs, the best prophet is the good guesser.

CCCIX (A VII, 14)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

CALES, 25 JANUARY

I WRITE this letter, though suffering from slight inflammation of the eyes, when on the point of quitting Cales for Capua. L. Caesar brought Caesar's message to Pompey on the 23rd, while the latter was at Teanum with the consuls. His proposal was accepted, but on condition of his withdrawing his garrisons from the towns which he had occupied outside his province. If he did this, they said in their answer that we would return to Rome and conclude the negotiation in the [p. 251] senate. ¹ I hope for the present we have peace: for he is not quite easy about his mad enterprise, nor our general as to the amount of his forces. Pompey has directed me to come to Capua and assist the levy, to which the Campanian settlers ² do not make a very eager response. Caesar's gladiators at Capua, about whom I gave you some incorrect information on the authority of a letter from A. Torquatus, Pompey has very adroitly distributed among the heads of families, two to each. ³ There were 5,000 shields in the school: they were said to be contemplating breaking out. Pompey's measure was a very wise precaution for the safety of the state. As to our ladies, in whom I include your sister, pray consider whether they can stay at Rome with propriety, when other ladies of the same rank have left town. I have said this to them and to yourself in a previous letter. I would like you to urge upon them to leave the city, especially as I have properties on the sea-coast--now under my presidency--on which they might reside in tolerable comfort, considering all things. For if I get into any difficulty ⁴ about my son-in-law, though I am not bound to be responsible for him, yet it is made worse by my women folk having remained in Rome longer than others. Please let me know what you and Sextus are thinking of doing as to leaving town, and what your opinion is on the whole situation. For my part, I never cease urging peace, which, however unfair, is better than the justest war in the world. But this is in the hands of fortune. [p. 252]

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¹ Caesar (B.C. 1.14) calls this proposal unfair, for Pompey, who consented to promise to go to his province, mentioned no time at which he would go to Spain, and proposed to retain his province and legions, while Caesar's army was to be disbanded.

² Many of Pompey's own veterans had been settled with grants of land in the ager Campanus, the old territory of Capua, by Caesar's agrarian law of B.C. 59.

³ Caesar gives an account of this (Caes. B.C. 1.14). He says that Lentulus, the consul, at first called these men out with a promise of freedom. But this seemed shocking to Roman ideas, and, being remonstrated with, he billeted them out as described. Cicero would seem to put the matter, as though this billeting them out in pairs was, from the first, a precautionary measure. It may be that Cicero is right, and that Caesar got a false idea of the transaction from some hostile source.

⁴ I. e., with Pompey and his party, because Dolabella was with Caesar.

CCCX (A VII, 15)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

CAPUA, 26 JANUARY

EVER since I left Rome I have not let a single day pass without sending you something by way of letter; not because I had anything particularly to write about, but in order that I might chat with you in my absence, than which--since I cannot do so face to face-nothing gives me greater pleasure. On arriving at Capua on the 25th--the day before I write this--I met the consuls and many members of the senate. All were anxious that Caesar should stand by his offer, with the addition of withdrawing his garrisons. Favonius alone disapproved of any conditions being imposed on us by him; but he was not listened to in the discussion. For even Cato himself now prefers slavery to fighting. However, he says that he wishes to be in the senate when the terms are debated, if Caesar can be induced to withdraw his garrisons. So he is not eager about going to Sicily--the very thing most wanted: but he does wish to be in the senate, where I fear he will only do mischief. Postumius, moreover, who was definitely named in the senatorial decree to go to Sicily at once and succeed Furfanius, says that he will not go without Cato, and thinks very highly of his own personal service and influence in the senate. Accordingly, this duty has fallen to Fannius. He is being sent in advance to Sicily with imperium. In our discussions a great variety of opinion is expressed. Most declare that Caesar will not abide by his offer, and say that these demands were only thrown in by him to prevent our making the necessary preparations for war. I, however, am of opinion that he will carry out the withdrawal of the garrisons. For he will have gained his point if he is elected consul, and gained it with less crime than that of his first step. But we must put up with the blow: for we are scandalously unprepared both in regard to soldiers and money. All the latter, indeed-not only private money in [p. 253] the city, but the public money in the treasury also--we have left for him. Pompey has started to join the Appian legions. ¹ He has Labienus with him. I am anxious to hear what you think of these events. I am thinking of returning to Formiae at once.

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¹ Apparently the two legions sent from Gaul a year before by Caesar for the Parthian war, which, according to Plutarch (Pomp. 57), were led into Italy by one Appius. There is, however, a doubt as to the reading between Appianas and Attianas. The legions were in winter quarters in various towns in Apulia. See pp. 243, 247.

CCCXII (A VII, 16)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

CALES, 28 JANUARY

I think all your letters have reached me, but the first batch was out of their proper order, the rest in the order in which they were sent by Terentia. About Caesar's message and the arrival of Labienus, and about the consuls' and Pompey's answer, I told you in the letter of the 26th of January from Capua, and I put a good deal more information into the same packet. At present we are in suspense on two points: first, what Caesar will do when he has received the answer intrusted to L. Caesar to take to him; and, secondly, what Pompey is doing now. The latter, indeed, writes me word that in a few days he will have a strong army, and leads me to hope that, if he makes his way into Picenum, we shall return to Rome. He has got Labienus with him, who has no doubt about the weakness of Caesar's forces; and Pompey is in much better spirits since his arrival. I have been [p. 256] ordered to Capua by the consuls on the 5th of February. I left Capua for Formiae on the 28th of January. On that day having received your letter at Cales about three o'clock in the afternoon, I am writing this on the spot. About Terentia and Tullia I agree with you, and I have written to tell them to apply to you. If they have not yet started, there is no occasion for their disturbing themselves until we see how affairs stand.

CCCXIV (A VII, 17)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

FORMIAE, 2 FEBRUARY

YOUR letter is both welcome and delightful. I thought of sending the boys to Greece when there seemed an idea of Pompey's flying from Italy: for I should have made for Spain, which would not have been equally suitable for them. For yourself and Sextus, ¹ it seems to me that even now you may remain with propriety at Rome. For you are not at all bound to be my Pompey's friends. For no one ever did more to detract from the value of city property ! ² Do you see that I am absolutely joking? You ought now to know what answer L. Caesar is taking back from Pompey, and what sort of a letter he is conveying from him to Caesar: for they were drawn up and despatched with the express purpose of being exposed for public perusal. 'On this point I blamed Pompey in my own heart for having trusted our friend Sestius with the writing of a despatch so important and certain to come into everybody's hands, though he has a very good style of his own. Accordingly, I never read anything more "Sestian." ³ Nevertheless, it is made quite clear from Pompey's despatch that nothing is denied to Caesar, and that all his demands are conceded to the full: he will be a sheer madman if he declines the very proposals which it required the most consummate impudence ever to have made! Pray, who are you to say, "If he goes to Spain," "if he dismisses the garrisons"? Nevertheless, the [p. 258] concession is being made: with less dignity, indeed, at this time of day-- for it is after the Republic has actually been violated by him and its territory invaded-than if he had some time back obtained his demand to be reckoned a candidate; and yet I doubt his being content even with these concessions. For, after giving that message to L. Caesar, he ought, until he received the answer, to have somewhat relaxed his warlike movements, whereas he is said to be at this moment more active than ever. Trebatius, indeed, writes to say that on the 22nd of January he was asked by him to write to me, urging me to remain at the city walls: that I could not oblige him more. This was put at great length. I calculated by reckoning the days that, as soon as Caesar heard of my departure, he began to be anxious lest we should all leave town. Therefore I have no doubt he has written to Piso, and also to Servius. One thing I am surprised at, that he has not written to me himself; nor opened his communication with me through Dolabella or Caelius: not that I disdain a letter from Trebatius, whom I know to be singularly attached to me. I wrote back to Trebatius--for I wouldn't write to Caesar himself; as he had not written to me--pointing out how difficult that course was for me at such a time as this; that I was, however, at my own country seat and had not undertaken any levy or any active part in the affair. ⁴ By this I shall abide, as long as there is any hope of peace. But if war really begins, I shall not be wanting to my duty or position, after despatching my boys to Greece. For I perceive that all Italy will be blazing with war. Such the mischief that is caused partly by disloyal, partly by jealous citizens! But how far this will go I shall learn within the next few days by his answer to mine. Then I will write to you at greater length, if there is going to be war: but if there is to be peace, or even a truce, I shall, I hope, see you in person. On the 2nd of February, on which I write this, I am expecting the ladies at my Formian house, whither I have returned from Capua. I [p. 259] had written to them on your advice to remain at Rome; but I hear that there is some increase of panic in the city. I mean to be at Capua on the 5th of February, in accordance with orders from the consuls. Whatever news reaches me here from Pompey I will let you know at once, and shall expect a letter from you as to what is going on at Rome.

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¹ Sext. Peducaeus.

² Atticus invested much money in city property (Nepos, Att. 14). Cicero means that Pompey's abandonment of Rome has depreciated the value of such properties.

³ Sêstiôdesteron. In the many allusions to P. Sestius (whom he defended) Cicero does not seem ever to have depreciated him, except that once (vol. i., p. 219) he calls him morosus, "whimsical," "difficile," and talks of his "wrong-headedness in certain particulars" (perversitatem quibusdam in rebus).

⁴ Cicero had been urged to come to Capua to assist in the levy. Those who wish to maintain his veracity assert that he had done nothing in the matter. But at any rate he had accepted the command of the sea-coast of Campania, though he afterwards resigned even that. It must be admitted, however, that he is sailing near the wind.

CCCXV (A VII, 18)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

FORMIAE, 3 FEBRUARY

On the 2nd of February our ladies came to Formiae and reported to me your services to them replete with the most affectionate kindness. I wished them, till we knew whether we were to have a dishonourable peace or an unhappy war, to remain in my Formian villa, and our two boys with them. I myself, with my brother, am starting for Capua on the 3rd of February, on which I despatch this letter, to join the consuls, having been ordered to be there on the 5th. Pompey's answer is said to be popular and to have received the approbation of a public meeting. I thought that would be the ease. If Caesar refuses to accept that he will be entirely discredited: if he accepts it ! "Which, then, do you prefer?" you will say. I would have answered the question if I knew what our state of preparation was. It is reported here that Cassius ¹ has been driven from Ancona, and that city occupied by our men. If there is to be war, that will be an advantage. As for Caesar himself; say that, though he sent L. Caesar with a message as to making peace, he continues holding levies with the greatest activity, occupying posts, securing them with garrisons. What an unprincipled bandit! What a disgrace to [p. 260] the Republic, hardly to be outweighed by any relief from war! But let us cease anger, bow to circumstances, and accompany Pompey to Spain. It is the best of a bad job, since we failed to avert that man's second consulship from the state, even when we had the opportunity. ² But enough of this.

I forgot to write to you about Dionysius before; but I have come to the conclusion to wait till Caesar's answer is known, so that, if I return to the city, he should await me there, but, if there is any delay, I should summon him to join me. Of course I know what his duty will be in case I have to fly, and what will be the conduct becoming a man of learning and a friend: but I don't expect too much in this way from Greeks. However, if; as I hope will not be the case, I have to send for him, pray see that I am not troubling an unwilling man. Quintus is anxious to pay you his debt by drawing on Egnatius, and Egnatius is neither unwilling nor short of cash; but when the state of things is such that Quintus Titinius ³ --of whom we are seeing a good deal-declares that he has no money for personal expenses, and has yet announced to his debtors that they may go on with the same interest, and when L Ligur is said to have done the same, and when Quintus at this crisis has no cash in hand, and is neither able to get any from Egnatius nor to raise a new loan, ⁴ he is surprised that you do not take into consideration this general tightness of the money market. For my part, though I obey the [p. 261] pseudo-Hesiodic maxim, "Judge not," etc., ⁵ especially in the case of yourself; whom I have never seen to act unreasonably, yet I am affected by his tale of woe. Whatever this amounts to, I thought you ought to know it.

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¹ Q. Cassius Longinus, the tnbune who, with Antony, had vetoed the decree about Caesar in January, and had fled to Ariminum. The rumour referred to had no foundation.

² When we might have prevented the law being passed allowing Caesar to be a candidate in his absence. Others take it, "though we refused him his second consulship even when it was not an opportune moment for doing it", (because he had a strong army). I do not think the Latin will bear this. In support of the translation in the text we may remember that Cicero often traces the whole difficulty to the initial mistake of the law allowing Caesar to be a candidate without coming to Rome.

³ Q. Titinius, a Roman eques, who lent money. He was the father of the Titinius on Casar's staff, immortalized by Shakespeare ("Give me some drink, Titinius '). L. Octavius Ligur was also a lender of money. L. Egnatius is mentioned several times as owing Q. Cicero money.

⁴ Versuram facere, lit. "to effect a transfer," was the technical term for raising a new loan in order to pay off the principal and interest of an old one.

⁵ mêde dikên (dikasêis prin an amphoin muthon akousêis), "don't judge till you have heard both sides." Cicero, as usual, indicates the proverb by a word or two, knowing that Atticus can fill it up, just as we do with well-known proverbs. The line does not occur in the extant Hesiodic poems, and was attributed to Phocyllides.

CCCXVI (A VII, 19)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

FORMIAE 3 FEBRUARY

I have nothing to tell you Why, I didn't even send you a letter which I composed last night. For it was full of hopeful expressions, because I had just been told of the spirit shewn at the public meeting, and was still in the belief that he would abide by the terms, especially as they were of his own proposing. But here, this 3rd of February, I have received in the morning a letter from you, one from Philotimus, another from Furnius, with one from Curio to Furnius, in which Curio ridicules the mission of L. Caesar. I think we are completely trapped, nor do I know what plan to adopt. But it isn't about myself that I am anxious: what to do about the boys is what puzzles me. However, as I write this I am on the point of starting for Capua, that I may have a better opportunity of ascertaining Pompey's position. [p. 262]

CCCXVII (A VII, 20)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

CAPUA, 5 FEBRUARY

I have no choice but to be brief. I have given up all hope of peace, and as to war, our men are not stirring a finger. Don't, pray, suppose that our consuls care for anything less than that: though it was in hopes of hearing something and learning what preparations we were making that I came to meet them in a pelting rain on the 4th, according to orders. They, however, had not arrived, and were expected on the 5th-empty-handed and unprepared. Pompey, again, is said to be at Luceria, and on his way to join some cohorts of the Appian legions, ¹ which are far from being in a very satisfactory state. But he, they say, is hurrying along and is expected at Rome every hour, not to fight a battle--for who is there to fight with ?-but to prevent the flight from town. For myself; if it is to be in Italy--"if die I must," etc.! ² I don't ask your advice about that: but if it is to be outside Italy--what can I do? On the side of remaining there are the winter-season, my lictors, the improvidence and carelessness of our leaders: on the side of flight, my friendship for Pompey, the claims of the loyalist cause, the disgrace of having anything to do with a tyrant; as to whom it is uncertain whether he will copy Phalaris or Pisistratus. Pray unravel these perplexities for me, and help me with your advice, though I expect by this time you are in a warm corner yourself at Rome. However, do the best you can. If I learn anything fresh today, I will let you know. For the consuls will be here directly on the 5th, the date they [p. 263] fixed themselves. I shall look for a letter from you every day. But do answer this as soon as you can. I left the ladies and the two boys at Formiae.

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¹ The two legions which had been withdrawn from Gaul in B.C. 51. See p. 274.

² kan apothanein (deêi me, thanoim' hekousiôs), "if die I must, right willingly I'll die." A verse of Diphilus, indicated, as usual, by one or two words.

CCCXVIII (A VII, 21)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

CALES, 8 FEBRUARY

ABOUT our misfortunes you hear sooner than I: for they flow from Rome. As for anything good, there is none to be expected from this quarter. I arrived at Capua for the 5th of February, in accordance with the order of the consuls. Late on that day Lentulus arrived; the other consul had absolutely not come on the 7th. For I left Capua on that day and stayed at Cales. From that town I am sending this letter, before daybreak, on the 8th. What I ascertained while at Capua was that the consuls are no good: that no levy is being held anywhere. For the recruiting officers do not venture to shew their faces, with Caesar close at hand, and our leader, on the contrary, nowhere and doing nothing; nor do recruits give in their names. It is not goodwill to the cause, but hope that is wanting. As to our leader Gnaeus--what an inconceivably miserable spectacle! What a complete breakdown! No courage, no plan, no forces, no energy! I will pass over his most discreditable flight from the city, his abject speeches in the towns, his ignorance not only of his opponent's, but even of his own resources--but what do you think of this? On the 7th of February the tribune C. Cassius came with an order from him to the consuls that they should go to Rome, remove the money from the reserve treasury, ¹ and [p. 264] immediately quit the town. After leaving the City they are to return! Under what guard? They are to Come out of the City! Who is to give them leave to do so? The Consul (Lentulus) wrote back to say that Pompey must himself first make his way into Picenum. But the fact is, that district has already been entirely lost. No one knows that except myself, who have learnt it from a letter of Dolabella's. I have no manner of doubt but that Caesar is all but actually in Apulia, and our friend Gnaeus already on board ship. What I am to do is a great "problem," though it would have been no problem to me, had not everything been most disgracefully mismanaged, and without consulting me in any way; problem, however, it is, as to what it is my duty to do. Caesar himself urges me to promote peace. But his letter is dated before he began his violent proceedings. Dolabella and Caelius both say that he is well satisfied with my conduct. I am on the rack of perplexity. Assist me by your advice if you can, but all the same look after your own interests to the utmost of your power. In such a total upset I have nothing to say to you. I am looking for a letter from you.

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¹ Sanctius aerarium. A reserve fund, said originally to have been made in case of a Gallic invasion, was replenished by the tax of five per cent. on the selling value of manumitted slaves. This was first levied in B.C. 357 (Livy, vii. i6), and remained in force till a late period of the empire. The reserve fund was drawn upon in B.C. 212, during the second Punic war (Livy, 27.11). According to Caesar (B.C. 1.4), the consuls were just about to open it before they left Rome, but, teirrified by a false report of Caesar's immediate approach, fled without doing so. Pompey now wishes them to go back for it.

CCCXIX (A VII, 22)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

FORMIAE, 9 FEBRUARY

I CAN see that there is not a foot of ground in Italy which is not in his power. About Pompey I know nothing, and I think he will be caught, unless he has already embarked. What incredible rapidity! Whereas our general's--but I cannot find fault with him without sorrow, for whom I am [p. 265] in an agony of anxiety. You have good reason for fearing a massacre: not that anything could be less in Caesar's interest, with a view to the permanency of his victory and supremacy, but I can see at whose bidding he is likely to act. To be safe, my opinion is that we must go. As to those Oppii ¹ of yours, I don't know what to advise. Do what seems to you to be best. You should speak to Philotimus, and besides, you will have Terentia on the 13th. But what am I to do? On what land or sea am I to follow a man, when I don't even know where he is? After all, how can I do so by land? And by sea-- whither? Shall I surrender myself to Caesar then? Suppose I could do so with safety--and many advise it--could I with honour also? Assuredly not. Am I, again, to ask advice of you, as my custom is? There is no way out of the tangle. Still, if anything occurs to your mind, please write, and tell me also what you mean to do yourself.

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¹ See Letter CCCVII.

CCCXX (A VII, 23)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

FORMIAE, 10 FEBRUARY

On the 9th of February, in the evening, I received a letter from Philotimus saying that "Domitius has a strong force; cohorts from Picenum, under Lentulus and Thermus, have effected a junction with Domitius's army; Caesar's advance can be stopped: he is himself afraid of that; the courage of the loyalists at Rome is raised; the disloyal are in dismay." For my part, I fear that these are dreams. However, Manius Lepidus, L. Torquatus, Gaius Cassius, who are staying with me at Formiae, are quite restored to life by Philotimus's letter. I, however, am afraid that the truer account is this: that we are all now practically captives; that Pompey is on the point of abandoning Italy, of whom, indeed (what a bitter pill to swallow'.), Caesar is said to be actually in pursuit. Caesar pursue Pompey? What, to kill [p. 266] him? Merciful heavens! and don't we rush as one man to throw our bodies in the way? You, too, must sigh at that! But what are we to do? We are utterly beaten, trapped and taken.

However, after reading Philotimus's letter, I changed my plan as to the ladies, whom, as I wrote you word, I intended sending back to Rome. It has occurred to my mind that it would give rise to much talk to the effect that I already shewed my opinion about the fortunes of the party, and that, regarding it as desperate, I had in this return of my ladies made a kind of first step towards my own return. As for myself, however, I agree with you that I should not commit myself to an indefinite and dangerous flight, by which I should do no good to the Republic or to Pompey, for whom I can die with as much cheerfulness as loyalty. I will remain, therefore. But to go on living----!

You ask what is going on here. The whole business of Capua, and the levy in this neighbourhood, are at a standstill. There is complete despair. Everybody is preparing to fly, unless some such incident occurs as Pompey effecting a junction of his forces with those of Domitius. But I think we shall know all about it in two or three days. I send you a copy of Caesar's letter to me; for you asked for it. Many have written to tell me that he is much pleased with me. I don't mind that, so long as I abstain--as I have as yet-from doing anything discreditable.

CCCXXII (A VII, 24)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

FORMIAE, II FEBRUARY

PHILOTIMUS's letter did not give me over much pleasure, but it did very much so to the people about here. Behold, the next day a letter to Cassius from Capua, sent by his friend Lucretius, announcing that Nigidius had arrived at Capua from Domitius, bringing the intelligence that Vibullius, with a small body of soldiers, was hastening from Picenum to join Pompey, that Caesar was marching rapidly at his heels, that Domitius had not three thousand men. I feel no doubt of Pompey being in full retreat--I only hope he may escape. I have given up the idea of flying, in accordance with your opinion.

CCCXXIII (A VII, 25)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

FORMIAE, 11 FEBRUARY

AFTER I had sent you a gloomy and, I fear, true letter about Lucretius's letter to Cassius, forwarded here from [p. 268] Capua, Cephalio arrived from you with one more cheerful in tone, but yet not very confident, as is usual with you. I can believe anything more easily than that Pompey--as you assert-has an army. ¹ Nobody brings such a report here, but rather everything opposite to my wishes. What a wretched anomaly! When he was in the wrong, he always got his way; now that he is eminently in the right, he fails entirely. How can I explain it, except by saying that he knew how to do the former--for it was not difficult--but not the latter. For to rule a free state in the right way was a difficult art! But I hourly expect full information, and then I will at once write you word.

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¹ Cicero seems throughout to exaggerate Pompey's failure to obtain troops. When Caesar arrived at Brundisium he found Pompey there with two legions, although the consuls had already crossed with the main army (cum magna parte exercitus, Caesar, B.C. 1.25). Ahenobarbus's obstinacy in staying at Corfinium, however, had deprived Pompey of considerable reinforcements.

CCCXXV (A VII, 26)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)

FORMIAE, 13 FEBRUARY

No, my experience does not tally with yours, as you express it in the sentence beginning "As often as I begin to feel elated." The fact is that I am at this moment somewhat elated, and especially by letters from Rome respecting Domitius and the Picentine cohorts. Everything has become more cheerful in the course of the last two days. Accordingly, the flight for which I was preparing has been stopped. Caesar's threats, If with tomorrow's light I find you here, ¹ are flouted. The report about Domitius is good, about Atranius splendid. Thank you for your most friendly advice to keep myself uncommitted as long as possible. You add that I should not give the impression of being too much inclined to the evil side: certainly I may possibly seem to be [p. 270] doing so. I refused to take a leading part in a Civil war, as long as negotiations for peace were going on, not because it was not a just one, but because former conduct of mine, which was much more fully justified, had done me harm. I was, of course, quite unwilling to have as my enemy a man to whom our own leader had offered a second consulship and a triumph --and in what high-flown terms! "In consideration of the extraordinary brilliancy of your achievements." I am well aware both of whom to be afraid and on what grounds. But if there is to be war, as I see there will be, I shall not fail to play my part.

As to the twenty sestertia, Terentia has answered you. I did not wish to trouble Dionysius as long as I thought that I should be on the move. However, I made no answer to your frequent remarks about his duty to me, because I expected day after day to be able to settle what was to be done. At present, as far as I can see, the boys are certain to pass the winter in my Formian villa. And I? I can't tell. For if there is war, I am resolved to be with Pompey. Whatever I learn for certain I will take care you know. I think there will be a most horrible war, unless, as you suggest, some Parthian incident ² comes to the front.

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¹ A line from a Latin translation of Euripides' Medea, 352.

² A sudden withdrawal of Caesar, like that of the Parthians fr0m Syria. See p. 203.