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THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY EDITED BY T. E. PAGE, M.A, AND W. H. D. ROUSE, Litt.D.
LETTERS TO ATTICUS ]
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CICERO. BUST IN THE CAPITOLINE MUSEUM, ROME.
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LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO , MCMXII
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SICERO HE CALITOLING 6
| CICERO Ine T- LETTERS TO ATTICUS
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY E. O. WINSTEDT, M.A.
OF MAGWALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD
IN THREE VOLUMES
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. MCMXII
INTRODUCTION.
Tue letters contained in this volume cover a large and important period in Cicero’s life and in the history of Rome. They begin when he was 88 years - of age; and at first they are not very numerous. There are only two of that year (68 B.c.), six of the following year, one of the year 66, when he held the praetor- ship, and two of 65. Then there is a gap in his corre- spondence. No letters at all survive from the period of his consulship and the Catilinarian conspiracy; and the letters to Atticus do not begin again until two years after that event. Thereafter they are sufficiently frequent to justify Cornelius Nepos’ criti- cism, that reading them, one has little need of an ‘elaborate history of the period. There are full— almost too full—details, considering the frequent complaints and repetitions, during the year of his banishment (58-57 s.c.), and the correspondence continues unbroken to the year 54. Then after a lapse of two years or more, which Atticus presum- ably spent in Rome, it begins again in’ 51, when Cicero was sent to Cilicia as pro-consul, much against -his will; and the volume ends with a hint of the trouble that was brewing between Caesar and Pompey, as Cicero was returning to Rome towards the end of the next year.
The letters have been translated in the traditionary ‘order in which they are usually printed. That order, however, is not strictly chronological; and, for the convenience of those who would read them in their historical order, a table arranging them so far as possible in order of date has been drawn up at the end of the volume.
For the basis of the text the Teubner edition has
Vv
279456
INTRODUCTION
been used ; but it has been revised by comparison with more recent works and papers on the subject. Textual notes have only been given in a few cases where the reading is especially corrupt or uncertain; and other notes too have been confined to cases where they seem- ed absolutely indispensable. For such notes and in the translation itself, [must acknowledge my indebtedness to predecessors, especially to Tyrrell’s indispensable edition and Shuckburgh’s excellent translation. There remain two small points to which I may perhaps call attention here in case they should puz- zle the general reader. The first is that, when he finds the dates in this volume disagreeing with the rules and tables generally given in Latin grammars and taught in schools, he must please to remember that those rules apply only to the Julian Calendar, which was introduced in 45 sB.c., and that these letters were written before that date. Before the alterations intrdduced by Caesar, March, May, July -and October had 31 days each, February 28, and the other months 29. Compared with the Julian Calendar this shows a difference of two daysin all dates which fall between the Ides and the end of the months Janu- ary, August and December, and of one day in similar ‘dates in April, June, September and November. The second point, which requires explanation, is ‘the presence of some numerals in the margin of the text:of letters 16 to 19 of Book IV. As Mommsen pointed out, the archetype from which the existent MSS. were copied must have had some of the leaves containing these letters transposed. These were -copied in our.MSS. in the wrong order, and were so printed in earlier editions. In the text Mommsen’s order, with some recent modifications introduced by vi
INTRODUCTION
Holzapfel, has been adopted; and the figures in the margin denote the place of the transposed passages in the older editions, the Roman figures denoting the let- ter from which each particular passage has been shifted and the Arabic numerals the section of that letter.
The following signs have been used in the appa- ratus criticus :—
M=the Coder Mediceus 49, 18, written in the year 1389 a.p., and now preserved in the Laurentian Library at Florence. ‘M' denotes the reading of the first hand, and M” that of a reviser.
A=the reading of M when supported by that of the Codex Urbinas 322, a MS. of the 15th century, preserved in the Vatican Library.
E= Codex Ambrostanus £, 14, a MS. probably of the 14th century, in the Ambrosian Library at Milan.
N=the Coder ex abbatia Florentina n. 49 in the Laurentian Library, written in the 14th or 15th century.
P=No. 8536 of the Latin MSS. in the Bibliothéque Nationale at Paris, a MS. of the 15th century. R=No. 8538 of the same collection, written in the year 1419. These four MSS. E, N, P, R, with
some others form a separate class; and
=the reading of all the MSS. of this class, or of a preponderant number of them.
C=the marginal readings in Cratander’s edition of 1528, drawn from a MS. which is now lost.
Z=the readings of the lost Codex Tornaesianus, Z° denoting the reading as preserved by Bosius, and — Z' that testified to by Lambinus.
I=the reading of the editio Jensoniana published at Venice in 1470.
Rom. =the edition published at Rome in 1470.
Vii
CONTENTS
Letters to Atticus Book I Letters to Atticus Book II Letters to Atticus Book III Letters to Atticus Book IV Letters to Atticus Book V Letters to Atticus Book VI
ix
a
CICERO’S LETTERS TO ATTICUS BOOK I
M. TULLI CICERONIS EPISTULARUM AD ATTICUM LIBER PRIMUS
CICERO’S LETTERS ’ TO ATTICUS BOOK I
I CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
With regard to my candidature, in which I know Rome, July, you take the greatest interest, things stand as fol- B.c. 63 lows, so far as one can guess at present. P. Galba is the only canvasser who is hard at work; and he meets with a plain and simple, old-fashioned, No.
As people think, this unseemly haste of his in can- vassing is by no means a bad thing for my interests: for most refusals imply a pledge of support to me. So I have hope that I may derive some advan- tage from it, when the news gets abroad that my supporters are in the majority. I had thought of beginning to canvass in the Campus Martius at the election of tribunes on the 17th of July, the very time that, Cincius tells me, your man will be starting with this letter. It seems certain that Galba, An- tonius, and Q. Cornificius will be standing with me. I can imagine your smile or sigh at the news. To make you tear your hair, there are some who think | Caesonius will be a candidate too. I don’t suppose ; Aquilius will. He has said not, pleading his illness ' and his supremacy in the law courts in excuse.
Ra ee _— -—— - =
_ = ee, —
Catiline will be sure to be standing, if the verdict is,
; Nosunat midday. Of course you will know all about
Aufidius and Palicanus, without waiting for letters
from me. Of those who are standing, Caesar is
‘thought to be a certainty: the real fight is expected B2 3
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
dere existimatur; qui sic inopes et ab amicis et ex- istimatione sunt, ut mihi videatur non esse adivarov Curium obducere. Sed hoc praeter me nemini videtur. Nostris rationibus maxime conducere videtur Ther- mum fieri cum’ Caesare. Nemo est enim ex iis, qui nunc petunt, qui, si in nostrum annum reciderit, firmior candidatus fore videatur, propterea quod curator est viae Flaminiae, quae tum erit absoluta, sane facile. Eum libenter nunc Caesari consuli ac- cuderim.! Petitorum haec est adhuc informata cogi- tatio. Nos in omni munere candidatorio fungendo summam adhibebimus diligentiam, et fortasse, quo- niam videtur in suffragiis multum posse Gallia, cum Romae a iudiciis forum refrixerit, excurremus mense Septembri legati ad Pisonem, ut Ianuario revertamur. Cum perspexero voluntates nobilium, scribam ad te. Cetera spero prolixa esse his dumtaxat urbanis com- petitoribus. IJllam manum tu mihi cura ut praestes, quoniam propius abes, Pompei, nostri amici. Nega me ei iratum fore, si ad mea comitia non venerit. Atque haec huius modi sunt.
_ Sed est, quod abs te mihi ignosci pervelim. Cae- cilius, avunculus tuus, a P. Vario cum magna pecunia fraudaretur, agere coepit cum eius fratre A. Caninio Satyro de iis rebus, quas eum dolo malo mancipio accepisse de Vario diceret. Una agebant ceteri credi- tores, in quibus erat L. Lucullus et P. Scipio et, is quem putabant magistrum fore, si bona venirent, L.
1que cum (tum Z) erit—libenter nunc ceteri (nuntitere M marg.: nunciteri Z) consuli (concili Z), acciderim (acci- derunt Z) MZ): the reading tn the text is that of Boot.
4:
in
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 1
to lie between Thermus and Silanus. But they are so unpopulag and so unknown, that it seems to me to be on the cards to smuggle in Curius. Nobody else thinks so, however. It would probably suit our book best for Thermus to get in with Caesar: for, of the present batch of candidates, he would be the most formidable rival if he were put off to my year, as he is commissioner for the repairing of the Fla- ie road. That will easily be finished by then:
I should like to lump him together with Cesar now. Such is the present rough guess of the chances of the candidates.” I shall take the greatest care to fulfil all a candidate’s duties: and, as Gaul’s, vote counts high, I shall probably get a free pass and take a run up to visit Piso, as soon as things have quieted down in the law courts here, returning in January. When I have discovered the views of the upper ten, I will let you know. The rest I hope will be plain sailing, with my civilian rivals at any rate. For our friend Pompey’s followers you must be re- sponsible, as you are quite close to them. Tell him I shall not take it unkindly if he does not come to my election. So much for that.
But there is a thing for which I have to crave your pardon. Your uncle, Caecilius, was cheated out of a large sum of money by P. Varius, and has taken an action against his brother, A. Caninius Satyrus, about some property which he says was fraudulently made over to him by Varius. The other creditors have made common cause with him: and among them are L. Lucullus and P. Scipio and the man who was expected to act for them at the sale, if the goods were put up for auction, L. Pontius.
5
* .
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
Pontius. Verum hoc ridiculum est de magistro. Nune cognosce rem. Rogavit me Caecilius, ut adessem contra Satyrum. Dies fere nullus est, quin hic Saty- rus domum meam ventitet; observat L. Domitium maxime, me habet proximum; fuit et mihi et Quinto fratri magno usui in nostri petitionibus. Sane sum perturbatus cum ipsius Satyri familiaritate tum Do- miti, in quo uno maxime ambitio nostra nititur. De- monstravi haec Caecilio simul et illud ostendi, si ipse unus cum illo uno contenderet, me ei satis facturum. - fuisse; nunc in causa universorum creditorum, homi- num praesertim amplissimorum, qui. sine eo, quem Caecilius suo nomine perhiberet, facile causam com- munem sustinerent, aequum esse eum et officio meo consulere et tempori. Durius accipere hoc mihi ‘' visus est, quam vellem, et quam homines belli solent, . et postea prorsus ab instituta nostra paucorum die- rum consuetudine longe refugit.
Abs te peto, ut mihi hoc ignoscas et me existimes humanitate esse prohibitum, ne contra amici summam existimationem miserrimo eius tempore venirem, cum is omnia sua studia et officia in me contulisset. Quodsi voles in me esse durior, ambitionem putabis mihi obstitisse. Ego autem arbitror, etiamsi id sit, mihi ignoscendum esse,
. | éret ovX tepjeov ovde Boeinv. Vides enim, in quo cursu simus et quam omnes gra- tias non modo retinendas, verum etiam acquirendas
6
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 1
But it is absurd to talk of acting for them at present. Now for the point. Caecilius asked me to take a brief against Satyrus. Now there is hardly a day but Satyrus pays me a visit. He is most attentive to L. Domitius and after him to me, and he was of great assistance to me and to my brother Quintus when we were canvassing. I am really embarrassed on account of the friendliness of Satyrus himself and of Domitius, who is the mainstay of my hopes. I
- pointed this out to Caecilius, assuring him at the,
same time that, if he stood alone against Satyrus, I would have done my best for him;/but, as things were, when the creditors had combined and were such influential persons that they would easily win their case without any special advocate whom Caecilius might retain on his own account, it was only fair for him to consider my obligations and my cir- cumstances. He seemed to take it more ungraci- ously than I could have wished or than a gentleman should: and afterwards he withdrew entirely from the intimacy which had grown up between us in the last few days.
Please try to forgive me and to believe that delicacy prevented me from appearing against a friend whose very good name was at stake, in the hour of his mis- fortune, when the friendly attentions he had paid to me had been unfailing. If you cannot take so kind a view, pray consider that my candidature stood in the way. I think even so I may be forgiven: for there is not “a trifle, some eightpenny matter,’’! at stake. You know the game I am playing, and how important it is for me to keep in with every one and
Iliad xxii, 159
1 Lit. ‘Since it was not for a victim for sacrifice nor tor an oxhide shield (they strove).” 7
~
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
putemus. Spero tibi me causam probasse, cupio qui- dem certe.
Hermathena tua valde me delectat et posita ita belle est, ut totum gymnasium eius dvdé@npa' esse videatur. Multuin te amamus. |
II CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. Romae — L. lulio Caesare, C. Marcio Figulo consulibus filiolo paulo post me auctum scito salva Terentia. Abs te tam diu nihil ep. 1 a. 689 litterarum! Ego de meis ad te rationibus scripsi antea diligenter. r7 Hoc tempore Catilinam, competi- torem nostrum, defendere cogitamus. Iudices ha- bemus, quos volumus, summa accusatoris voluntate. Spero, si absolutus erit, coniunctiorem illum nobis fore in ratione petitionis; sin aliter acciderit, hu-
maniter feremus., Tuo adventu nobis opus est maturo; nam prorsus . summa hominum est opinio tuos familiares nobiles homines adversarios honori nostro fore. Ad eorum voluntatem mihi conciliandam maximo te mihi usui fore video. Quare Januario mense, ut constituisti,
cura ut Romae sis.
III . CICERO ATTICO SAL. Scr. Romae Aviam tuam scito desiderio tui mortuam esse, ex. a.687 et simul quod verita sit, ne Latinae in officio non manerent et in montem Albanum hostias non ad- Jeius dvdOnua Schits: eiut avadua AZ: eliu onaohma C. 8
anata
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 1-3
even to make new friends. I hope I have justified myself to you. I am really anxious to do so.
I am highly delighted with your Hermathena, and have found such a good position for it, that the whole class-room seems but an offering at its feet.? Many thanks for it.
IT
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
‘I beg to inform you that on the very day that Rome, L. Julius Caesar and C. Marcius Figulus were elected shortly after to the consulship I was blessed with a baby boy; /etter 1, B.c. and Terentia is doing well. It is ages since I had a 65
letter from you! I have written before and told you all my affairs. At the present minute I am think- ing about defending my fellow candidate Catiline. We can have any jury we like with the greatest good will of the prosecutor. I hope, if Catiline is acquitted, it will make us better friends in our can- vassing: but, if it does not, I shall take it quietly. .
I badly want you back soon: for there is a wide- spread opinion that some friends of yours among the upper ten are opposed to my election, and I can see that you will be of the greatest assistance to me in winning their good will. So be sure you come back to town in January, as you proposed.
IT
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
I beg to inform you that your grandmother has Rome, died of grief at your absence and of fear that the towards the Latin tribes would revolt and not bring the beasts end of 's.c.
1 dvdOnua is generally used of an offering at a shrine, and 67
Cicero seems to speak here of the Hermathena as the goddess to whom the whole room was dedicated. But the reading is uncertain.
9
ee ST Th
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO ducerent. Eius rei consolationem ad te L. Saufeium missurum esse arbitror. Nos hic te ad mensem Ianuarium exspectamus ex quodam rumore an ex litteris tuis ad alios missis; nam ad me de eo nihil
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 3-4
to the Alban hill for sacrifice.' No doubt Saufeius will send you a letter of condolence. I am expecting you back by January—from mere hearsay, or was it perhaps from letters you have sent to others? You have not said anything about it to me. The statues you have obtained for me have been landed at Caieta. I’ve not seen them yet, as I’ve not had a chance of getting away from town: but I’ve sent a man to pay for the carriage. Many thanks for the trouble you’ve taken in getting them—so cheaply too.
You keep writing to me to make your peace with our friend. I have tried every means I know: but it is surprising how estranged he is from you. I expect you have heard what he thinks about you: anyhow I’ll let you know when you come. I have not been able to restore the old terms of intimacy between him and Sallustius, though the latter was on the spot. I mention it because Sallustius used to grumble at me about you. Now he has found out that our friend is not so easy to appease, and that I have done my best for both of you. Our little Tullia is engaged to C. Piso Frugi, son of Lucius.
: IV CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
You keep on raising our hopes of seeing you: and Rome, at the just the other day, when we thought you were nearly beginning here, we find ‘ourselves suddenly put off till July. of n.c. 66
Now I really do think you ought to keep your pro-
1The point is not very clear. My translation follows Mr Strachan Davidson's interpretation that the old lady was thinking of the Social War which took place twenty years earlier. Others understand feviae with Zatinae. and take it to refer merely to possible delays of the festival.
11
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
ad id tempus, quod scribis; obieris Quinti fratris comitia, nos longo intervallo viseris, Acutilianam controversiam transegeris. Hoc me etiam Peducaeus ut ad te scriberem admonuit. Putamus enim utile esse te aliquando eam rem transigere. Mea inter- cessio parata et est et fuit. Nos hic incredibili ac singulari populi voluntate de C. Macro transegimus. Cui cum aequi fuissemus, tamen multo maiorem fru- ctum ex populi existimatione illo damnato cepimus quam ex ipsius, si absolutus esset, gratia cepissemus.
Quod ad me de Hermathenascribis, per mihi gratum est. Est ornamentum Academiae proprium meae, quod et Hermes commune omnium et Minerva singulare est insigne eius gymnasii. Quare velim, ut scribis, ceteris quoque rebus quam plurimis eum locum ornes. Quae mihi antea signa misisti, ea nondum vidi; in Formiano sunt, quo ego nunc proficisci cogitabam. Illa omnia in Tusculanum deportabo. Caietam, si quando abundare coepero, ornabo. Libros tuos conserva et noli desperare eos me meos facere posse. Quod si adsequor, supero Crassum divitiis atque omnium vicos et prata contemno.
V | CICERO ATTICO SAL. , Scr. Romae Quantum dolorem acceperim et quanto fructu sim paulo ante privatus et forensi et domestico Luci fratris nostri IV K. Dec. morte, in primis pro nostra consuetudine tu existimare
686 potes. Nam mihi omnia, quae iucunda ex humanitate 12
_ - _ .
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 4-5
mise and come if you possibly can manage it. You will be in time for my brother Quintus’ election: you will see me after all this long while; and you will settle the bother with Acutilius. The latter point Peducaeus too suggested that I should mention to you: we think it would be much better for you to get the thing settled at last. J am and have long been ready to use my influence for you. You would) never believe how pleased every one is with my con- duct of Macer’s case. I might certainly have shown more partiality tohim: but th¢popularit” have gained from his condemnation is far-more important to me than his gratitude at an acquittal would have been, I am delighted at your news about the Herma- thena. It is a most suitable ornament for my Aca- demy, since no class-room is complete without a Hermes, and Minerva has a special appropriateness in mine. So please do as you suggest and send as many ornaments as possible for the place. The statues you sent before I have not seen yet. They are in my house at Formiae, where I am just think- ing of going. I'll have them all brought to my place at Tusculum, and, if that ever gets too full, I’ll begin decorating Caieta. Keep your books and don’t despair of my making them mine some day. If I ever do, I shall be the richest of: millionaires and shan’t envy any man his manors and meadows.
Vv . CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
You, who know me so well, can guess better than Rome, anyone the grief I have felt at the death of my shortly be- cousin Lucius and the loss it means to me both in fore Nov.27, my public and in my private life. He has always z.c. 68
13
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
alterius et moribus homini accidere possunt, ex illo accidebant. Quare non dubito, quin tibi quoque id molestum sit, cum et meo dolore moveare et ipse omni virtute officioque ornatissimum tuique et sua sponte et meo sermone amantem adfinem amicumque _, amiseris.
Quod ad me scribis de sorore tua, testis erit tibL ipsa, quantae mihi curae fuerit, ut Quinti fratris animus in eam esset is, qui esse deberet. Quem cum esse offensiorem arbitrarer, eas litteras ad eum misi, quibus et placarem ut fratrem et monerem ut minorem et obiurgarem ut errantem. Itaque ex iis, quae postea saepe ab eo ad me scripta sunt, confido ita esse omnia, ut et oporteat et velimus.
vA De litterarum missione sine causa abs te accusor. Numquam enim a Pomponia nostra certior sum factus esse, cui dare litteras possem, porro autem neque mihi accidit, ut haberem, qui in Epirum proficiscere- tur, nequedum te Athenis esse audiebamus. De Acutiliano autem negotio quod mihi mandaras, ut primum a tuo digressu Romam veni, confeceram ; sed accidit, ut et contentione nihil opus esset, et ut ego, qui in te satis consilii statuerim esse, mallem Pedu- caeum tibi consilium per litteras quam me dare. Etenim, cum multos dies aures meas Acutilio de- dissem, cuius sermonis genus tibi notum esse arbitror, non mihi grave duxi scribere ad te de illius queri- moniis, cum eas audire, quod erat subodiosum, leve putassem. Sed abs te ipso, qui me accusas, unas mihi scito litteras redditas esse, cum et otii ad scribendum plus et facultatem dandi maiorem habueris.
Quod scribis, etiamsi cuius animus in te esset
14
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 5
been kindness itself to me, and has rendered me every service a friend could. I am sure you too will feel it, partly out of sympathy with me, and partly because you will miss a dear and valued friend and relative, who was attached to you of his own accord and at my prompting.
You mention your sister. She herself will tell you the pains I have taken to make my brother Quintus behave as he should to her. When I thought he was a little annoyed, I wrote to him trying to smooth matters down with him as a brother, to give him good advice as my junior and to remonstrate with him as in error. Judging by all the letters I have had from him since, I trust things are as they should be and as we wish them to be. .
You have no reason to complain of lack of letters from me, as Pomponia has never let me know when there was a messenger to give them to. Besides it has so happened that I have not had anyone starting for Epirus and have not yet heard of your arrival at Athens. Acutilius’ business I settled according to your directions, as soon as éver I got to Rome after your departure: but, as it happened, there was no hurry, and, knowing I could trust your good judgement, I preferred Peducaeus to advise you by letter rather than myself. It'was not the bother of writing you an account of his grievances that I shirked. I spent several days listening to him, and you know his way of talking; and I did not mind, though it was a bit of a bore. Though you grumble at me, I’ve only had one letter from you, let me tell you, and you have had more time to write and a better chance of sending letters than I’ve had.
You say, “if so and so is a little annoyed with
15
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
offensior, a me recolligi oportere, teneo, quid dicas, neque id neglexi, sed est miro quodam modo ad- fectus. Ego autem, quae dicenda fuerunt de te, non praeterii; quid autem contendendum esset, ex tua putabam voluntate me statuere oportere. Quam si ad me perscripseris, intelleges me neque diligentiorem esse voluisse, quam tu esses, neque neglegentiorem fore, quam tu velis.
De Tadiana re mecum Tadius locutus. est te ita scripsisse, nihil esse iam, quod laboraretur, quoniam hereditas usu capta esset. Id mirabamur te ignorare, de tutela legitima, in qua dicitur esse puella, nihil usu capi. posse. LEpiroticam emptionem gaudeo tibi placere. Quae tibi mandavi, et quae tu intelleges convenire nostro Tusculano, velim, ut scribis, cures, quod sine molestia tua facere poteris. Nam nos ex omnibus molestiis et laboribus uno illo in loco con- quiescimus. Quintum fratrem cotidie exspectamus. Terentia magnos articulorum dolores habet. Et te et
- sororem tuam et matrem maxime diligit salutemque tibi plurimam ascribit et Tulliola, deliciae nostrae. Cura, ut valeas et nos ames et tibi persuadeas te a me fraterne amari.
VI CICERO ATTICO SAL. Scr. Romae- Non committam posthac, ut me accusare de epi- paulo post stularum neglegentia possis; tu modo videto, in tanto IV K. Dec. otio ut par in hoc mihi sis. Domum Rabirianam a. 686 Neapoli, quam tu iam dimensam et exaedificatam 16
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 5-6
you,” I ought to patch things up. I know what you mean, and I’ve done my best: but he is in a very odd mood. I’ve said all I could for you. I think I ought to follow your wishes as to what special argu- ments I should use. If you will write and tell me your wishes, you will find that I did not wish to be more energetic than you were, nor will I be less energetic than you wish.
In that matter about Tadius’ property, he tells me you have written him that there is no ne- cessity for him to trouble any more about it: the property is his by right of possession. I wonder you forgot, that in the case of legal wards—and that is
what the girl is said to be—right of possession does
not count. I am glad you like your new purchase :
in Epirus. Please carry out my commissions, and, as you suggest, buy anything else you think suitable for my Tusculan villa, if it is no trouble to you. It is the only place I find restful after a hard day’s work.
I am expecting my brother Quintus every day. |
Terentia has a bad attack of rheumatism. She sends her love and best wishes to you and your sister and mother: and so does my little darling Tullia. Take care of yourself, and don’t forget me. Your devoted friend.
VI
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
I’ll take care that you shall not have any reason Rome, to complain of my slackness in writing to you in the shortly after future. See to it yourself that you keep up with Nov. 27, me. You have plenty of spare time. M. Fontius s.c. 68
has bought Rabirius’ house at Naples, which you had in your mind’s eyes ready mapped out and finished,
re 17
ral
wd
~~
-MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
‘animo habebas, M. Fontius emit HS CCCID90D XXX. fr Id te scire volui, si quid forte ea res ad cogitationes \y tuas pertineret. Quintus frater, ut mihi videtur, ‘quo volumus animo, est in Pomponiam, et cum ea {ji nunc in Arpinatibus praediis erat, et secum habebat yi hominem ypnoroya6n, D. Turranium. Pater nobis { - decessit a. d. IV Kal. Dec. . Haec habebam fere, quae te scire vellem. Tu ve- lim, si qua ornamenta yvpvac.iwdy reperire poteris, quae loci sint eius, quem tu non ignoras, ne praeter- x mittas. Nos Tusculano ita delectamur, ut nobismet T ipsis tum denique, cum illo venimus, placeamus. | -Quid agas omnibus de rebus, et quid acturus sis, fac nos quam diligentissime certiores.
VII CICERO ATTICO SAL. Scr. Romae Apud matrem recte est, eaque nobis curae est. ante Id. L. Cincio HS xxcp constitui me curaturum Idibus Febr. 687 — Fepy, Tu velim ea, quae nobis emisse et parasse scribis, des operam ut quam primum habcamus, et velim cogites, id quod mihi pollicitus es, quem ad modum bibliothecam nobis conficere possis. Omnem spem delectationis nostrae, quam, cum in otium ve- nerimus, habere volumus, in tua humanitate positam
habemus. 18 x
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 6-7
for about £1150.! I mention it in case you still i hanker after it. My brother is getting on as well as we can wish, I think, with Pomponia. He is living | with her at his estate at Arpinum now, and has ‘with him a hittérateur, D. Turranius. My poor father died on November the 27th.
That is about all my budget of news. If you can come across any articles of vertu fit for my Gymna- . sium, please don’t let them slip. You know the place, and what suits it. I’m so pleased with my house at Tusculum that I am never really happy except when Iam there. Send me a full account of your doings | and of what you are thinking of doing. |
el
VII CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING. Things are all right at your mother’s: and I have Rome,
got my eye on her. I’ve arranged to deposit £1802 4efore Feb. with L. Cincius on February the 13th. Please hurry 13, B.c. 67 up with the things you say you have bought and got
ready for me. I want them as soon as possible.
And keep your promise to consider how you can
secure the library-for me. All my hopes of enjoying
myself, when I retire, rest on your kindness.
‘130,000 sesterces. 2 20,400 sesterces. c2 19
ee
“
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
VIII CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. Romae Apud te est, ut volumus. Mater tua et soror a post Id. me Quintoque fratre diligitur. Cum Acutilio sum lo- Febr. a. 687 cutus. Is sibi negat a suo procuratore quicquam scriptum esse et miratur istam controversiam fuisse, quod ille recusarit satis dare amplius abs te non peti. Quod te de Tadiano negotio decidisse scribis, id ego Tadio et gratum esse intellexi et magno opere iucundum. [lle noster amicus, vir mehercule optimus et mihi amicissimus, sane tibi iratus est. Hoc si quanti tu aestimes sciam, tum, quid mihi elaboran-
dum sit, scire possim. | L. Cincio HS ccio9 ccino9 cccc pro signis Megari- cis, ut tu ad me scripseras, curavi. Hermae tui Pen- telici cum capitibus aeneis, de quibus ad me scripsisti, iam nunc me admodum delectant. Quare velim et eos et signa et cetera, quae tibi eius loci et nostri studii et tuae elegantiae esse videbuntur, quam plurima quam primumque mittas, et maxime quae tibi gymnasii xystique videbuntur esse. Nam in eo genere sic studio efferimur, ut abs te adiuvandi, ab aliis prope reprehendendi simus. Si Lentuli navis non erit, quo tibi placebit, imponito. Tulliola deli- ciolae nostrae, tuum munusculum flagitat et me ut sponsorem appellat; mi autem abiurare certius est
quam dependere.
20
OO
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 8
VIll CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING. All’s well—as well as could be desired—at home. Rome, Quintus and I are looking after your mother and gfter Feb. sister. I’ve spoken to Acutilius. He says his bro- 73) 3.c. 67
to
=
ker has not advised him, and is much surprised there should have been sych a fuss because he refused to guarantee that there should be no further claims on you. The settlement that you have arranged about Tadius’ affairs is, I am sure, very good news for him, and he is pleased about it. That friend of mine, who is really quite a good soul and very amiable to me, is exceedingly annoyed with you. When I know how deeply you take it to heart, I may be able to lay my plans accordingly.
I have raised the £180! for L. Cincius for the statues of Megaric marble, as you advised me. Those figures of Hermes in Pentelic marble with bronze heads, about which you wrote, I have already fallen in love with: so please send them and anything else that you think suits the place, and my enthu%iasm for such things, and your own taste—the more the merrier, and the sooner the better—especially those you intend for the Gymnasium and the colonnade. For my appreciation for art treasures is so great that I am afraid most people will laugh at me, though I expect encouragement from you. If none of Lentulus’ boats are coming, put them on any ship you like. My little darling, Tullia, keeps asking for your promised present and duns me as though I were answerable for you. But I am going to deny my obligation rather than pay up.
' 20,400 sesterces. 21
ee
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. °
? IX CICERO ATTICO SAL. Scr. Romae Nimium raro nobis abs te litterae adferuntur, post ep. 8 a. cum et multo tu facilius reperias, qui Romam pro- 687 ficiscantur, quam ego, qui Athenas, et certius tibi sit me esse Romae quam mihi te Athenis. Itaque propter hance dubitationem meam brevior haec ipsa epistula est, quod, cum incertus essem, ubi esses, nolebam illum nostrum familiarem sermonem in alienas manus devenire.
Signa Megarica et Hermas, de quibus ad me scripsisti, vehementer exspecto. Quicquid eiusdem generis habebis, dignum Academia tibi quod vide- bitur, ne dubitaris mittere et arcae nostrae confidito. Genus hoc est voluptatis meae; quae yvupvaciwdy - maxime sunt, ea quaero. Lentulus naves suas polli- cetur. Peto abs te, ut haec diligenter cures. Thyillus te rogat et ego eius rogatu EvpoAridev rarpia.
X CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. in Tu- Cum essem in Tusculano (erit hoc tibi pro illo sculano ante tuo: ““Cum essem in Ceramico’’) verum tamen cum Quintil. a. ibi essem, Roma puer a sorore tua missus epistulam 687 mihi abs te adlatam dedit nuntiavitque eo ipso die
post meridiem iturum eum, qui ad te proficisceretur.
Eo factum est, ut epistulae tuae rescriberem aliquid,.
brevitate temporis: tam pauca cogerer scribere.
22 .
ee
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 9-10
Ix CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Your letters are much too few and far between, Rome, considering that it is much easier for you to find s.c. 67 some one coming to Rome than for me to find any- one going to Athens. Besides you can be surer that I am at Rome than I can be that you are in Athens. The shortness of this letter is due to. my doubts as to your whereabouts. Not knowing for certain where you are, I don’t want private corre- spondence to fall into a stranger’s hands.
I am awaiting impatiently the statues of Megaric marble and those of Hermes, which you mentioned in your letter. Don’t hesitate to send anything else of the same kind that you have, if it is fit for my Academy. My purse is long enough. This is my little weakness; and what I want especially are those that are fit for a Gymnasium. Lentulus promises his ships. Please bestir yourself about it. Thyillus asks you, or rather has got me to ask you, for some books on the ritual of the Eumolpidae.
Xx CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
When I was in my house at Tusculum—that’s tit Tusculum, for tat against your When I was in Ceramicus”—but before July, when I really was there, your sister sent a man from g.c. 67 Rome with a letter from you, and told me that some one was going to start for Greece that very afternoon. So for lack of time I must make a very short answer to your letter. = | 238
a
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO.
Primum tibi de nostro amico placando aut etiam plane restituendo polliceor. Quod ego etsi mea sponte ante faciebam, eo nunc tamen et agam studiosius et contendam ab illo vehementius, quod tantum ex epi- stula voluntatem eius rei tuam perspicere videor. Hoc te intellegere volo, pergraviter illum esse offensum ; sed, quia nullam video gravem subesse causam, magno
_opere confido illum fore in officio et in nostra pote- state.
Signa nostra et Hermeraclas, ut scribis, cum com- modissime poteris, velim imponas, et si quod aliud oixetov eius loci, quem non ignoras,~reperies, et | maxime quae tibi palaestrae gymnasiique videbuntur esse. Etenim ibi sedens haec ad te scribebam, ut me locus ipse admoneret. Praeterea typos tibi mando, quos in tectorio atrioli possim includere, et putealia sigillata duo. Bibliothecam tuam cave cuiquam des- pondeas, quamvis acrem amatorem inveneris; nam ego omnes meas vindemiolas eo reservo, ut illud subsidium senectuti parem. |
De fratre confido ita esse, ut semper volui et ela- boravi. Multa signa sunt eius rei, non minimum, quod soror praegnans est. De comitiis meis et tibi me permisisse memini, et ego iam pridem hoc com- munibus amicis, qui te exspectant, praedico, te non modo non arcessi a me, sed prohiberi, quod intellegam multo magis interesse tua te agere, quod agendum
est hoc tempore, quam mea te adesse comitiis.
Proinde eo animo ‘te velim esse, quasi mei negotii 24
| LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 10
First I promise to patch up the quarrel between you and our friend, even if I cannot quite make peace. I should have done it before of my own accord : but now that I see from your note that you have set your heart on it, I'll give my mind to it and try harder than ever to win him over. I would have you to know that he is very seriously annoyed with you: but, as I cannot see any serious ground for his annoyance, I hope I shall find him pliable and amenable to my influence.
Please do as you say about the statues and the Hermeraclae: and have them shipped as soon as you can conveniently, and any other things you come across that are suitable for the place—you know what it is like—especially for the Palaestra and Gymnasium. That’s where I am sitting and writing now, so my thoughts naturally run on it. I give you - a@ commission too for bas-reliefs for insertion in the stucco walls of the hall, and for two well-covers in carved relief. Be sure you don’t promise your library to anyone, however ardent a suitor you may find for it. I am saving up all my little glean- ings to buy it asa prop for my old age. ~
My brother’s affairs are, I trust, as I have always wished them to be and striven to make them. Every- thing points that way, and not the least that your sister is enceinte. As for my election, I’ve not forgotten that I gave you leave to stop away: and I’ve already warned our common friends, who expect you to come, that I’ve not only forborne to ask you to do so, but even . forbidden it, knowing that present business is of much more importance to you than your presence at my election would be to me. I should like you to feel exactly as though it were my business which
25
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
causa in ista loca missus esses; me autem eum et offendes.erga te et audies, quasi mihi, si quae parta erunt, non modo te praesente, sed per te parta sint. Tulliola tibi diem dat, sponsorem me appellat.
XI CICERO ATTICO SAL. Scr. Romae Et mea sponte faciebam antea et post duabus epi- Quint. aut stulis tuis perdiligenter in eandem rationem scriptis Seat. a. 687 magno opere sum commotus. Eo accedebat hortator adsiduus Sallustius, ut agerem quam diligentissime cum Lucceio de vestra vetere gratia reconcilianda. Sed, cum omnia fecissem, non modo eam voluntatem eius, quae fuerat erga te, recuperare non potui, verum ne causam quidem elicere immutatae voluntatis. Tametsi iactat ille quidem illud suum arbitrium, et ea, quae iam tum, cum aderas, offendere eius animum intellegebam, tamen habet quiddam profecto, quod magis in animo eius insederit, quod neque epistulae tuae neque nostra adlegatio tam potest facile delere, quam tu praesens non modo oratione, sed tuo vultu illo familiari tolles, si modo tanti putaris, id quod, si me audies et si humanitati tuae constare voles, certe putabis. Ac, ne illud mirere, cur, cum ego antea significarim tibi per litteras me sperare illum in nostra potestate fore, nunc idem videar diffidere, incredibile est, quanto mihi videatur illius voluntas
26
0
LETTERS TO ATTICUS 1. 10-11
had taken you away. And you will find and hear
from others that my feelings towards you are just
as they would be if my success, supposing I have any,
were gained not only with you here, but by your aid. “ My little Tullia is for having the law of you, and
is dunning me as your representative.
XI CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
‘I had been working for you of my own free will, Rome, July and my energies were redoubled by the receipt of or Aug., two letters from you insisting on the same point. B.c. 67 Besides Sallustius was continually pressing me to do my best to replace you on your old friendly footing with Lucceius. But when I had done the utter- most, I failed not only to win back his old affec- tion for you, but even to extract from him the reason for his change of feelings towards you. Though he is continually harping on that arbitration case of his, and the other things which I noticed provoked him when you were here, there is some- thing else, I am sure, which is rankling in his mind. And this your presence, a talk with him, and still more the sight of your familiar face, would do more to remove than either your letters or my services as intermediary, if you think it worth while to come. And, if you will listen to me and are disposed to act with your usual courtesy, you will certainly think it worth while. You would never believe how self-willed and stiff-necked he seems to be on the point: so don’t be astonished that I now appear to doubt my ability to manage him, though in former letters I hinted that I thought he would
27
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
obstinatior et in hac iracundia offirmatior. Sed haec aut sanabuntur, cum veneris, aut ei molesta erunt, in utro culpa erit.
/ Quod in epistula tua scriptum erat me iam arbi- trari designatum esse, scito nihil tam exercitum esse nunc Romae quam candidatos omnibus iniquitati- bus, nec, quando futura sint comitia, sciri. Verum haec audies de Philadelpho.
Tu velim, quae Academiae nostrae parasti, quam primum mittas. Mire quam illius loci non modo usus, sed etiam cogitatio delectat. Libros vero tuos cave cuiquam tradas; nobis eos, quem ad modum scribis, conserva. Summum me eorum studium tenet sicut odium iam ceterarum rerum; quas tu incredibile est quam brevi tempore quanto deteriores offensurus sis, quam reliquisti.
XII
CICERO ATTICO SAL. Scr. Romae —_Teucris illa lentum sane negotium, neque Cornelius * ; an. a ‘ad Terentiam postea rediit. Opinor, ad Considium, | Axium, Selicium confugiendum est; nam a Caecilio ' propinqui minore centesimis nummum movere non possunt. Sed ut ad prima illa redeam, nihil ego illa impudentius, astutius, lentius vidi. “Libertum mitto, Tito mandavi.” Zxynyeus atque dvaBoAat; sed nescio an Tavropatrov »yov. Nam mihi Pompeiani prodromi nuntiant aperte Porapeium acturum Antonia succedi
28
—_ —_
LETTERS TO ‘ATTICUS IL. 11-12
be under my thumb. But that will be all put right when you come, or he will smart for it who de- serves it.
You say in your note that my election is thought certain; but let me tell you that candidates are plagued to death nowadays with all sorts of unfair- ness, and even the date of the election is not fixed. But you will hear about that from Philadelphus.
Please send what you have purchased for my Academy as soon as possible. It is astonishing how the mere thought of the place raises my spirits even when I am not in it. Be sure you don’t get rid of your books. Keep them for me as you promise. My enthusiasm for them increases with my disgust at everything else. You would never believe how changed for the worse you will find everything has been in the short time you have been away.
XII CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Teucris* is an unconscionably slow coach and Cor- Rome,
nelius has never come back to Terentia: so I suppose Jan. 1 I shall have to turn to Considius, Axius or Selicius. B.c. 61 Even his relatives can’t screw a penny out of. Caecilius at less than 12 per cent. But to return to the point; Teucris’ behaviour is the most shameless mixture of cunning and laziness I have ever seen. “I’m sending a freedman,”’ says she, or “I’ve given Titus a commission.”’ All excuses and delays! But perhaps “dieu dispose’’ ;? for Pompey’s advance party bring news that he is going to move for Antony’s
1 Probably a pseudonym for some agent of Gaius Antonius,
though some suggest that it stands for Antonius himself. 2 Menander, ravréuaroy judy xadr\lw Bovdeverat. 29
1
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
oportere, eodemque tempore aget praetor ad populum. Kes eius modi est, ut ego nec per bonorum nec per popularem existimationem honeste possim hominem defendere, nec mihi libeat, quod vel maximum est. Etenim accidit hoc, quod totum cuius modi sit, mando tibi, ut perspicias. Libertum ego habeo sane nequam hominem, Hilarum dico, ratiocinatorem et clientem tuum. De eo mihi Valerius interpres nuntiat, Thyillusque se audisse scribit haec, esse hominem cum Antonio; Antonium porro in cogendis pecuniis dictitare partem mihi quaeri et a me custodem com- munis quaestus libertum esse missum. Non sum me- diocriter commotus neque tamen credidi, sed certe aliquid sermonis fuit. Totum investiga, cognosce, perspice et nebulonem illum, si quo pacto potes, ex istis locis amove. Huius sermonis Valerius auctorem Cn. Plancium nominabat. Mando tibi plane totum, ut videas cuius modi sit.
Pompeium nobis amicissimum constat esse. Divor- tium Muciae vehementer probatur. P. Clodium, Appi f, credo te audisse cum veste muliebri deprehensum domi C. Caesaris, cum pro populo fieret, eumque per manus servulae servatum et eductum; rem esse in- signi infamia. Quod te moleste ferre certo scio.
Quod praeterea ad te scribam, non habeo, et me- hercule eram in scribendo conturbatior. Nam puer festivus anagnostes noster Sositheus decesserat, me- que plus quam servi mors debere videbatur, commo-
30
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LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 12
retirement, and a praetor will bring the motion for- ward. Under my circumstances I couldn’t honour- ably champion him. I should lose the respect of both parties if I did: and what’s more, I wouldn't, if I could, in view of certain things that have hap- pened, to which I should like to call your attention. There’s a freedman of mine, an utter scoundrel— Hilarus I mean—an accountant and a client of yours. Valerius the interpreter sends mé news of him, and Thyillus says he has heard too that the fellow is with Antony, and that Antony, when he is making requisitions, always asserts that part is levied on my authority, and that I have sent a freedman to look after my share. I am considerably annoyed, though I hardly believe the story: but there has been a good deal of talk. Look into the matter thoroughly and try to get to the bottom of it, and, if you possibly can, get that rascal shifted. Valerius mentioned Cn. Plancius as his authority for the statement. I leave the whole matter entirely in your hands to investigate.
I am assured that.Pompey is on the best of terms with me. Mucia’s divorce meets with every one’s approval. I expect you have heard that P. Clodius, son of Appius, was discovered in woman’s clothes in C. Caesar’s house, where the sacrifice was going on: but a servant girl managed to smuggle him out. It has created a public scandal: and I am sure you will be sorry to hear of it.
I don’t think I have any other news for you: and I’m sorry to say I’ve been rather upset while writing.
- My reader Sositheus, a charming fellow, has died;
and I am more upset about it than anyone would suppose I should be about a slave’s death. Please 31
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
verat. Tu velim saepe ad nos scrivbas. Si rem nullam habebis, quod in buccam venerit, scribito. Kal. Ianuariis M. Messalla, M. Pisone coss.
XIII CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Accepi tuas tres iam epistulas, unam a M. Corne- lio, quam Tribus Tabernis, ut opinor, ei dedisti, alteram, quam mihi Canusinus tuus hospes reddidit, tertiam, quam, ut scribis, ancora soluta” de phaselo dedisti; quae fuerunt omnes,? ut rhetorum pueri loquun- tur, cum humanitatis sparsae sale tum insignes amoris notis. Quibus epistulis sum equidem abs te lacessitus ad rescribendum; sed idcirco sum tardior, quod non invenio fidelem tabellarium. Quotus enim quisque est, qui epistulam paulo graviorem ferre possit, nisi eam pellectione relevarit? Accedit eo, quod mihi non est notum ut quisque in Epirum proficiscitur. Ego enim te arbitror caesis apud Amaltheam tuam victi- mis, statim esse ad Sicyonem oppugnandum profe- ctum, neque tamen id ipsum certum habeo, quando ad Antonium proficiscare, aut quid in Epiro temporis ponas. Ita neque Achaicis hominibus neque Epiro- ticis paulo liberiores litteras committere audeo.
Sunt autem post discessum a me tuum res dignae litteris nostris, sed non committendae eius modi peri- culo, ut aut interire aut aperiri aut intercipi possint. Primum igitur scito primum me non esse rogatum sententiam praepositumque esse nobis pacificatorem
‘ancora sublata Lambinus: ora soluta Peerlkamp. But Schmale (Antibarbarus, ii. 588, 7th ed.) points out the reading of the MSS. is defensible as a contamination of
ancora sublata and nave soluta. 2 ut rhetorum pueri Madvig: rethorum pure MSS.
8Z
J LETTERS TO ATTICUS IL. 12-18
write frequently. If you’ve no news, ‘write the first |
thing that comes into your head. - Jan. 1, in the consulship of M. Messalla and
M. Piso. _
XIII CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
I have had your three letters: one from M. Cor- Rome, Jan. nelius, to whom you gave it, I think at the Three 79, B.c. 61 Taverns; another brought by your host at Canusium ; and athird which you say you posted from the boat just as you got under weigh. All three of them were, as a pupil in the rhetorical schools would say, at once sprinkled with the salt of refinement and stamped with the brand of affection. They certainly provoke an answer: but I have been rather slow about sending one, for lack of a safe messenger. There are very few who can carry a letter of weight without light- ening it by a perusal. Besides, I don’t hear of every _ traveller to Epirus. For I suppose, when you have offered sacrifice at your villa Amalthea, you will start at once to lay siege to Sicyon, I’m not certain ~ either how or when you are going to join Antony or - how long you will stay in Epirus. So I dare not trust at all outspoken letters to people going either to Achaia or to Epirus.
Plenty of things have happened worth writing about since your departure, but I dared not commit them to the risk of the letters being either lost or opened or intercepted. First then let me tell you I was not asked my opinion first i in the House, but had to play second fiddle to the “peace-maker”’ of the
D . 33
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
Allobrogum, idque admurmurante senatu neque me invito esse factum. Sum enim et ab observando homine perverso liber et ad dignitatem in re publica retinendam contra illius voluntatem solutus, et ille secundus in dicendo locus habet auctoritatem paene principis et voluntatem non nimis devinctam beneficio -consulis. Tertius est Catulus, quartus, si etiam hoc quaeris, Hortensius. Consul autem ipse parvo animo et pravo tamen cavillator genere illo moroso, quod etiam sine dicacitate ridetur, facie magis quam facetiis ridiculus, nihil agens cum re publica, seiun-
ctus ab optimatibus, a quo nihil speres boni rei pu-
blicae, quia non vult, nihil speres mali, quia non audet. Eius autem collega et in me perhonorificus et partium studiosus ac defensor bonarum.:* Qui nune leviter inter se dissident. Sed vereor, ne hoc, quod infectum est, serpat longius. Credo, enim te audisse, cum apud Caesarem pro populo fieret, venisse eo muliebri vestitu virum, idque sacrificium cum virgines instaurassent, mentionem a Q. Cornificio in senatu factam (is fuit princeps, ne tu forte aliquem nostrum putes); postea rem ex senatus consulto ad virgines atque ad pontifices relatam idque ab iis nefas esse decretum; deinde ex senatus consulto consules roga- tionem promulgasse ; uxori Caesarem nuntium re- misisse. In hac causa Piso &micitia P. Clodi ductus 34 |
=
.
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. _ es Ee |
LETTERS TO ATTICUS 1. 18
Allobroges.! Nor did I mind much, though the senate murmured disapproval. It has freed me from the ne- cessity of bowing to a crotchety individual, and sets me at liberty to preserve my political dignity in spite of him. The second place carries nearly as much weight with it as the first, and one’s actions are not so much bound by obligation to the consul. The third place fell to Catulus: the fourth, if you want to go as far, to Hortensius. The consul is petty-minded and perverse, a quibbler who used that bitter kind of sarcasm, which raises a laugh even when there is no wit in the words, on the strength of his expression rather than his ex- pressions. He is no politician at all, he stands aloof from the conservatives: and one cannot expect him to render any good services to the state, because he does not wish to do so, nor any bad, because he does not dare. But his colleague is most polite to me, a keen politician and a bulwark of the conservative party.“"-[here is a slight difference of opinion be- tween them at present: but I am afraid that the contagion may spread. No doubt you have heard that, when the sacrifice was taking place in Caesar’s house, a man in woman’s clothes got in; and that after the Vestal Virgins had performed the sacrifice afresh, the matter was mentioned in the House by Cornificius. Note that he was the prime mover and none of us. Then a resolution was passed, the matter was referred to the Virgins and the priests, and they pronounced it a sacrilege. So the consuls were directed by the House to bring in a bill about it. Caesar has divorced his wife. Piso’s friendship
1C. Calpurnius Piso, consul in 67 B.C. and governor of
Gallia Narbonensis in 66-65 B.c. He had temporarily paci- fied the Allobroges, but they were already in revolt again.
D2 . 35
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
uperatn dat, ut ea rogatio, quam ipse fert et fert ex senatas consulto et de religione, antiquetur. Messalla vehementer adhuc agit severe. Boni viri precibus Clodi removentur a causa, operae comparantur, nos- met ipsi, qui Lycurgei a principio faissemus, cotidie demitigamur, instat et urget Cato. Quid multa? Vereor, ne haec neglecta a bonis, defensa ab improbis magnorum rei publicae malorum causa sit. Tuus autem ile amicus (scin, quem dicam?), de quo tu ad tne scripsisti, posteaquam non auderet reprehendere, lnudare coepisse, nos, ut ostendit, admodum diligit, amplectitur, amat, aperte laudat, occulte, sed ita, ut perspicuum sit, invidet. Nihil come, nihil simplex, nihil év rots roAcrixotg illustre, nihil honestum, nihil forte, nihil liberum. Sed haec ad te scribam alias subtilius; nam neque adhuc mihi satis nota sunt, et huic terrae filio nescio cui committere epistulam tantis de rebus non audeo.
* Provincias praetores nondum sortiti sunt. Res eodem est loci, quo reliquisti. Toroferiav, quam postulas, Miseni et Puteolorum, includam orationi meae, “A. d. mt Non. Decembr.” mendose fuisse animadverteram. Quae laudas ex orationibus, mihi crede, valde mihi placebant, sed non audebam antea
dicere; nunc vero, quod a te probata sunt, multo mi
drrixwrepa videntur. In illam orationem Metellinam 36
| LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 13
for Clodius is making him do his best to have the bill shelved, though he is the person who has to bring it forward under the House’s orders—and a bill for sacrilege too! Messalla at present takes a strict view of the case. The conservatives are dropping. out of it under persuasion from Clodius. Gangs of rowdies are being formed. I, who at first was a perfect Lycurgus, am daily cooling down. Cato, however, is pressing the case with energy. But enough. I am afraid that what with the lack of interest shown in the case by the conservatives, and its championship by the socialists, it may cause a lot of mischief to the stateCYour friend'—you know whom I mean, the man who, you say, began to
' praise me as soon as he feared to blame me—is now parading his affection for me openly and ostentati- ously; but in his heart of hearts he is envious, and he does not disguise it very well. He is totally lacking in courtesy, candour, in brilliancy in his poli- tics, as well as in sense of honour, resolution and generosity. But I'll write more fully about that another time. I’ve not got hold of the facts pro- perly yet, and I dare not trust an important letter to a man in the street like this messenger.
The praetors have not drawn their provinces yet: and things are just as they were when you left. I will insert a description of Misenum and Puteoli in my speech as you suggest. I had already spotted the mistake in the date, Dec. 3. The passages in my speeches which took your fancy were, do you
. know, just those that I was proud of, but didn’t like to say so before:-and after Atticus’ approval they look much more Attic in my eyes. I have added a
' Pompey. ; 87
a
Scr.. Romae Id. Febr. a. 693
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
addidi quaedam. Liber tibi mittetur, quoniam te amor nostri diAopyropa reddidit.
Novi tibi quidnam scribam? quid? etiam. Messalla consul Autronianam domum emit HS CXXXIilll. “Quid id ad me?” inquies. Tantum, quod ea em- ptione et nos bene emisse iudicati sumus, et homines intellegere coeperunt licere amicorum facultatibus in emendo ad dignitatem aliquam pervenire. Teucris
illa lentum negotium est, sed tamen est in spe. Tu
ista confice. A nobis liberiorem epistulam exspecta. ©
vi Kal. Febr. M. Messalla, M. Pisone coss.
XIV CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Vereor, ne putidum sit scribere ad te, quam sim occupatus, sed tamen ita distinebar, ut huic vix tan- tulae epistulae tempus habuerim atque id ereptum e summis occupationibus. Prima contio Pompei qualis fuisset, scripsi ad te antea, non iucunda miseris, inanis improbis, beatis non grata, bonis non gravis ; itaque frigebat. Tum Pisonis consulis impulsu levis- simus tribunus pl. Fufius in contionem producit
38
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Teo a Se
_
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LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 13-14
little to my reply to Metellus. Ill send the book to you since your affection for me has given you a taste for rhetoric.
Is there any news to tell you? Let me see—yes. The consul Messalla has bought Autronius’ house for £1200.! What business is that of mine, you will ask. Only that it proves that my house was a good invest- ment, and is beginning to open people’s eyes to the fact that it is quite legitimate to make use of a friend's pocket to buy a place that gives one a social position. That Teucris is a slow coach; but it is not hopeless yet. Mind you get your part finished. I’ll write less guardedly soon.
Jan. 25, in the consulship of M. Messalla and M. Piso.
XIV CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
I’m afraid you'll be heartily sick of my pleas of Rome, Feb. business, but I’m so driven from pillar to post that I 13, B.c. 61
can hardly find time for these few lines, and even that I have to snatch from important business. I have already written and told you what Pompey’s first public speech was like. The poor did not relish it,
’ the socialists thought it pointless, the rich were not
pleased with it, and the conservatives were dissatis- fied: so it fell flat. Then at the instance of the consul Piso, an untrustworthy tribune, Fufius, must
' There seems to be some mistake about the numeral, as
$1,200 (134,000 sesterces) is too little for a house which could be compared with Cicero's, which cost £30,000. If it
is supposed to stand for |CxxxIV| (i.e. 13,400,000 sesterces)
it would be too large. Tyrrell suggests reading |xxxiIv| (i.e. 3,400,000 sesterces), about £30,000. 89
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
Pompeium. Res agebatur in circo Flaminio, et erat in eo ipso loco illo die nundinarum ravyyvpis. Quae- sivit ex eo, placeretne ei iudices a praetore legi, quo consilio idem praetor uteretur. Id autem erat de Clodiana religione ab senatu constitutum. Tum Pompeius pad’ d.purroxparixas locutus est senatusque auctoritatem sibi omnibus in rebus maximam videri semperque visam esse respondit et id multis verbis.
. Postea. Messalla consul in senatu de Pompeio quae- |
sivit, quid de religione et de promulgata rogatione sentiret. Locutus ita est in senatu, ut omnia illius ordinis consulta yevixws laudaret, mihique, ut adsedit, dixit se putare satis ab se etiam “de istis rebus” esse responsum.” Crassus posteaquam vidit illum ex- cepisse laudem ex eo, quod suspicarentur homines ei consulatum meum placere, surrexit ornatissimeque
e ° , 6 ‘ de meo consulatu locutus est, cum ita diceret; se,
quod esset senator, quod civis, quod liber, quod viveret, mihi acceptum referre; quotiens coniugem, quotiens domum, quotiens patriam viderét, totiens se beneficium meum videre.” Quid multa? totum hunec locum, quem ego varie‘ meis orationibus, quarum tu Aristarclius es, soleo pingere, de flamma, de ferro (nosti illas An«UOous), valde graviter pertexuit. Pro- ximus Pompeio sedebam. Intellexi hominem mo- veri, utrum Crassum inire eam gratiam, quam ipse 40
L
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 14
needs trot out Pompey to deliver an harangue. This happened in the Circus Flaminius, where there was the usual market-day gathering of riff-raff. Fufius asked him whether he agreed with the proposal that the praetor should have the selection of the jury- men and then use them as his panel. That of course was the plan proposed by the Senate in Clodius’ trial for sacrilege. To this Pompey replied en grand seigneur that he felt and always had felt the greatest respect for the Senate’s authority; and very long- winded he was about it.° Afterwards the consul Messalla asked Pompey in the Senate for his opinion on the sacrilege and the proposed bill. He delivered a speech eulogizing the Senate’s measures en bloc, and said to me as he sat down at my side, that he thought he had given a sufficiently clear answer to
“those questions.’\? Crassus no sooner saw that he had won public appreciation, because people fancied that he approved of my consulship, than up he got ‘and spoke of it in the most complimentary way. He said that he owed his seat in the House, his privileges as a citizen, his freedom and his very life, to me. He never saw his wife’s face, or his home, or his native land, without recognizing the debt he owed to me. But enough. He worked up with great effect all that purple patch which I so often use here and there to adorn my speeches, to - which you play Aristarchus'—the passage about fire and sword—you know the paints I have on my palette. I was sitting next to Pompey, and noticed that he was much affected, possibly at seeing Crassus
‘Au Alexandrine grammarian noted especially for his
criticism of the Homeric poems, in which he detected many Spurious lines.
41
ee
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO praetermisisset, an esse tantas res nostras, quae tam libenti senatu laudarentur, ab eo -praesertim, qui mihi laudem illam eo minus deberet, quod meis om- nibus litteris in Pompeiana laude perstrictus esset.
“. Hic dies me valde Crasso adiunxit, et tamen ab illo aperte tecte quicquid est datum, libenter accepi. Ego autem ipse, di boni! quo modo évereprepevodynv | novo auditori Pompeio! Si umquam mihi repiodo:, si kaprai, si évOvunpara, si xkaraoxeval suppeditave- | runt; illo tempore. Quid multa? clamores. Etenim haec erat trdGects, de gravitate ordinis, de equestri | concordia, de consensione Italiae, de intermortuis f reliquiis coniurationis, de vilitate, de otio. Nosti iam | in hac materia sonitus nostros. Tanti fuerunt, ut ego eo brevior sim, quod eos usque istinc exauditos putem. 5. Romanae autem se res sic habent. Senatus “Apecos awayos; nihil constantius, nihil severius, nihil fortius. —{ Nam, cum dies venisset rogationi ex senatus consulto ferendae, concursabant barbatuli iuvenes, totus ille — i grex Catilinae, duce filiola Curionis et populum, ut antiquaret, rogabant. Piso autem consul lator roga- tionis idem erat dissuasor. Operae Clodianae pontes occuparant, tabellae ministrabantur ita, ut nulla dare- tur “vr rocas.” Hic tibi in rostra Cato advolat, 42
i :
$$
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 14
snap up the chance of winning popularity, which he had thrown away, and perhaps at realizing-the im- portance of my achievements, when he saw that praise of them met with the Senate’s entire approval, especially coming from one who had all the less neces- sity to praise me, because in every one of my works he has been censured for Pompey’s benefit. “To-day has done a great deal to cement my friendship with Crassus: but still I gladly received any crumbs Pompey let fall openly or covertly.! As for me, ye gods, how I showed off before my new listener - Pompey! Then, if ever, my flow of rounded periods,— my easy transitions, my antitheses, my constructive arguments stood me in good stead. In a word, loud” applause! For the gist of it was the importance of the Senatorial order, its unison with the knights, the concord of all Italy, the paralysed remains of the -
‘conspiracy, peace and plenty. You know how I can thunder on a subject like that. This time my thun- ders were so loud that I forbear to say any more about them. I expect you heard them right over there.
. Well, there you have the news of the town. ‘The Senate is a perfect Areopagus, all seriousness, stead- fastness and firmness. For when the time came for passing the Senate’s measure, all those callow youths, Catiline’s cubs, met under the leadership of Curio’s © feminine son, and asked the people to reject it. The consul Piso had to propose the law, but spoke against it. Clodius’ rowdies held the gangways; and the voting papers were so managed ‘that no placet forms were given out. Then you have Cato flying to the
1Or ‘let fall with obvious covertness”’; or ‘‘I openly re- ceived what he covertly gave.”
43
5, |
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO |
commulcium Pisoni consuli mirificum facit, si id est commulcium,! vox plena gravitatis, plena auctoritatis, plena denique salutis. Accedit eodem etiam noster. Hortensius, multi pratterea boni; insignis vero opera Favoni fuit. Hoc concursu optimatium comitia dimittuntur, senatus vocatur. Cum decerneretur - frequenti senatu contra pugnante Pisone, ad pedes
omnium singillatim accidente Clodio, ut consules
populum cohortarentur ad rogationem accipiendam, homines ad quindecim Curioni nullum senatus con- sultum facienti adsenserunt, ex altera parte facile cccc fuerunt. Acta res est. Fufius tribunus tum concessit. Clodius contiones miseras habebat, in | quibus Lucullum, Hortensium, C. Pisonem, Messallam consulem contumeliose laedebat; me tantum “ com- perisse ’’ omnia criminabatur. Senatus et de pro- vinciis praetorum et de legationibus et de ceteris rebus decernebat, ut, antequam rogatio lata esset, ne quid ageretur. : Habes res Romanas. ‘Sed tamen etiam illud, quod non speraram, audi. Messalla consul est egregius,
fortis, constans, diligens, nostri laudator, amator, imitator. Ile alter uno vitio minus vitiosus, quod iners, quod somni plenus, quod imperitus, quod dr paxrératos, sed voluntate ita KaxexTyns, ut Pom-
'Commulticium 47: convicium MM in the margin. But as Schmidt points out, commulcium, which ts the reading of Z in the first case, and of 2M in the second case, ts probably a genuine vulgar Latin word.
44
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 14
rostrum and giving Piso a slap in the face, if one can say slap in the face”’ of an utterance full of dignity, full of authority, and full of saving counsel. Our friend Hortensius joined him too, and many other loyalists, Favonius particularly distinguishing himself for his energy. This rally of the conservatives broke up the meeting, and the Senate was called together. | In a full house a resolution was passed that persuasion should be used to induce the people to accept the measure, though Piso opposed it and Clodius went down on his knees to us one by one.- Some fifteen supported Curio’s rejection of the bill, while the opposite party numbered easily 400. Phat settled the matter. Fufius the tribune collapsed. Clodius delivered some pitiful harangues, in which he hurled reproaches at Lucullus, Hortensius, C. Piso, and the consul Messalla: me he only twitted with my sensa- tional discoveries! The Senate deeided that no action was to be taken as to the distribution of pro- vinces among the praetors, hearing of legations or anything else, till this measure was passed.
There you have the political situation. ‘‘But there is one piece of news I must tell you, as it is better than I expected. Messalla is an excellent consul, resolute, reliable and energetic: for me he expresses admiration and respect, and shows it by imitating me. That other fellow has only one redeeming vice, laziness, sleepiness, ignorance, and fainéance: but at heart he is such a mauvais suet that he began to
me ee -
Cicero had contented himself at the time he unmasked Catiline with declaring that he had ‘‘ discovered” (compe- risse) full details without making them public. Hence the phrase was frequently cast in his teeth. Cf. Fam. v. 5, 2.
45
Scr. Romae Id. Mart. a. 693
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
peium post illam contionem, in qua ab eo senatus laudatus est, odisse coeperit. Itaque mirum in mo- dum omnes a se bonos alienavit. Neque id magis amicitia Clodi adductus fecit quam studio perditarum rerum atque partium. Sed habet sui similem in magistratibus praeter Fufium neminem. Bonis uti- mur tribunis pl., Cornuto vero Pseudocatone. Quid quaeris ? .
”. Nunc ut ad privata redeam, Tevxpis promissa pa- travit. Tu mandata effice, quae recepisti. Quintus frater, qui Argiletani aedificii reliquum dodrantem emit HS DCcCxxvVv, Tusculanum venditat, ut, si possit, emat Pacilianam domum. Cum Lucceio in gratiam redii. Video hominem valde petiturire. Navabo ope- ram, Tu quid agas, ubi sis, cuius modi istae res sint, fac me quam diligentissime certiorem. Idibus Febr.
XV CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Asiam Quinto, suavissimo fratri, obtigisse audisti. Non enim dubito, quin celerius tibi hoc rumor quam ullius nostrum litterae nuntiarint. Nunc, quoniam et laudis avidissimi semper fuimus et praeter ceteros ptrAeAAnves et sumus et habemur et multorum odia atque inimicitias rei publicae causa suscepimus, mavrolns aperns piuvnoKeo curaque, effice, ut ab omnibus et laudemur et amemur.- His de rebus plura ad te in ea epistula scribam, quam ipsi Quinto
46
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[ TROD «4 (Re TN
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 14-15
detest Pompey after that speech of his in praise of the Senate. So he is at daggers drawn with all the patriotic party. It was not so much friendship for Clodius that induced him to act like this as a taste for knaves and knavery. But there are none of his kidney in office except Fufius. Our tribunes of the , people are all sound men, and Cornutus is Cato’s double. Can I say more? Now for private affairs. Teucris has kept her pro- mise. Do you carry out the commissions you received. My brother Quintus has bought the remaining three- quarters of his house on the Argiletum for £6000,! and is selling his place at Tusculum to buy Pacilius’ house, if he can. I’ve made it up with Lucceius. I see he’s got the office-seeking complaint badly. I'll do my best for him. Please keep me posted up in your doings, your address and the progress of our affairs. 13 Febr.
XV | CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING. | You have heard that that good brother of mine, Rome, Quintus, has Asia assigned him as his province. I’ve March 16, no doubt a rumour of it has reached you before any B.c. 61 of our letters. We have always had a keen regard for our reputation, and both are and are considered unusually Philhellenic, and our public services have won us a host of ill-wishers. So now is the time for you to screw your courage to the sticking-place,”’ Iliad xxii, 8 and help us to secure universal applause and approval. . I will write further about it, ina lever. ara I shall
. ooh AES ‘2 fagico s gesterces: +
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So ; po o
a
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
dabo. Tu me velim certiorem facias, quid de meis mandatis egeris atque etiam quid de tuo negotio; nam, ut Brundisio profectus es, nullae mihi abs te sunt redditae litterae. Valde aveo scire, quid agas. Idibus Martiis.
XVI CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Quaeris ex me, quid acciderit de iudicio, quod tam praeter opinionem omnium factum sit, et simul vis — scire, quo modo ego minus, quam soleam, proeliatus , sim. Respondebo tibi torepov mpdorepov “Opnpixas. ° Ego enim, quam diu senatus auctoritas mihi defen- denda fuit, sic acriter et vehementer proeliatus sum, ut clamor concursusque maxima cum mea laude fierent. Quodsi tibi umquam sum visus in re publica fortis, certe me in illa causa admiratus esses. Cum enim ille ad contiones confugisset in iisque meo — nomine ad invidiam uteretur, di immortales! quas ego pugnas et quantas strages edidi! quos impetus in Pisonem, in Curionem, in totam illam manum feci! quo modo sum insectatus levitatem senum, libidinem iuventutis! Saepe, ita me di iuvent! te non solum auctorem consiliorum meorum, verum etiam spectato- rem pugnarum mirificarum desideravi.%. Postea vero quam Hortensius excogitavit, ut legem de religione - Fufius tribunus pl. ferret, in qua nihil aliud a consulari rogatione differebat nisi iudicum genus & eo autem
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 15-16
give to Quintus himself. Please let me know which of my orders you have carried out, and how your own affairs are getting on. I haven’t @ad a single letter from you since you left Brundisium: and I badly want to know how you are. March 15.
XVI
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING. You ask what can have happened about the trial Rome, June,
to give it such an unexpected ending, and you want B.c. 61 to know, too, why I showed less fight than usual. Well! In my answer I'll put the cart before the horse like Homer. So long as I had to defend the Senate’s decree, I fought so fiercely and doughtily, that cheering crowds rallied round me enthusiastic - in my applause. You would certainly have marvelled at my courage on this occasion, if ever you credited me with any courage ip my country’s defence. When Clodius fell back on speechifying and took my name in vain, didn’t I just show fight, didn’t I deal havoc! How I charged Piso, Curio, and all that crowd! Didn’t I rate the old men for their frivolity, the young for their wanton passions! Heaven is my witness, I often wanted you not only to prompt my plans, but also to be a spectator of my doughty deeds.-?. But when Hortensius had conceived the idea of letting Fufius bring in his bill about the sacrilege, which only differed from the consular h measure in the method of choosing the jury—though that was the point on which everything turned—and fought for his own way, under the impression, which he had also conveyed to others, that no conceivable !
y 49
[tial
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO SN posse, contraxi vela perspiciens inopiam iudicum, neque dixi qguicquam pro testimonio, nisi quod erat ita notum atque testatum, ut non possem praeterire. Itaque, si causam quaeris absolutionis, ut iam mpds rd mpotepov revertar, egestas iudicum fuit et turpitudo. Id autem ut accideret, commissum est Hortensi con- silio, qui dum veritus est, ne Fufius ei legi inter- cederet, quae ex senatus consulto ferebatur, non vidit illud, satius esse illum in infamia relinqui ac sordibus quam infirmo iudicio committi, sed ductus odio properavit rem deducere in iudicium, cum illum plumbeo gladio iugulatum iri tamen diceret. >. Sed iudicium si quaeris quale fuerit, incredibili exitu, sic uti nunc ex eventu ab aliis, a me tamen ex ipso initio consilium Hortensi reprehendatur. Nam, ut reiectio facta est clamoribus maximis, cum accu- sator tamquam censor bonus homines nequissimos reiceret, reus tamquam clemens lanista frugalissimum quemque secerneret, ut primum iudices consederunt, valde diffidere boni coeperunt. Non enim umquam turpior in ludo talario consessus fuit, maculosi sena- tores, nudi equites, tribuni non tam aerati quam, ut appellantur, aerarii. Pauci tamen boni inerant, quos reiectione fugare ille non potuerat, qui maesti inter ‘sui dissimiles et maerentes sedebant et contagione
50
n
q
’
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 16
jury could acquit Clodius, I drew in a reef or two, not being blind to tife impecuniosity of the jurymen. I confined my testimony to points so th@oughly well- known and attested that I could not omit them. So, to come at last to the “horse,” if you want to know the reason for his acquittal, it lay ig the jury’s lack of
- pence and of conscience. But it was Hortensius’
t
plan that made such a result possible. In his fright that Fufius might veto the Senate’s measure, he overlooked the fact that it would be better for Clo- dius to be kept in disgrace with a trial hanging over his head, than for the case to come before an unsound court. Spurred on by hatred, he rushed the matter into court, saying that a leaden sword was sharp enough to cut Clodius’ throat. ”
3.If you want to know about the trial, the result of it was so incredible that now after the event every- body agrees with my forebodings and blames Hor- tensius. The challenging of the jury took place amidst an uproar, since the prosecutor like a good censor rejectéd all the knaves, and the defendant like a kind-hearted trainer of gladiators set aside all the respectable people. And as soon as the jury took their seats, the patriotic party began to have grave misgivings: for never did a more disreputable set of people get together even in a gambling hell. Senators with a past, knights without a penny, tribunes whose only right to a title implying pay lay in their readiness to take it.! The few honest folk among them, that he had not managed to remove in his selection, sat as woe-begone as fish out of water,
'Or keeping the ordinary sense of ‘‘aerarii”: ‘‘ cashiered rather than rich in cash.” But the sense both of “‘ aerati”’ and of ‘‘ aerarii’”’ here is very doubtful.
E2 . 51
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
turpitudinis vehementer permovebantur.” Hic, ut quaeque res consilium primis postulationibus re- ferebatur, incredibilis erat severitas nulla varietate sententiarum. Nihil impetrabat reus, plus accusatori., dabatur, quam postulabat; triumphabat (quid quae-
_?
ris?) Hortensius se vidisse tantum; nemo erat, qui
illum reum ac non miliens condemnatum arbitraretur. |
Me vero teste producto credo te ex acclamatione Clodi advocatorum audisse quae consurrectio iudicum facta sit, ut me circumsteterint, ut aperte iugula sua pro meo capite P. Clodio ostentarint. Quae mihi res multo honorificentior visa est quam aut illa, cum iurare tui cives Xenocratem testimonium dicentem prohibuerunt, aut cum tabulas Metelli Numidici, cum eae, ut mos est, circumferrentur, nostri iudices aspicere noluerunt. Multo haec, inquam, nostra res maior. -}. Itaque iudicum vocibus, cum ego sic ab iis ut salus patriae defenderer, fractus reus et una pa- troni omnes conciderunt; ad me autem eadem fre- quentia postridie convenit, quacum abiens consulatu sum domum reductus. Clamare praeclari Areopagitae se non esse venturos nisi praesidio constituto. Refertur ad consilium. Una sola sententia praesidium non desideravit. Defertur res ad senatum. Gravissime ornatissimeque decernitur; laudantur iudices; datur negotium magistratibus. Responsurum hominem nemo arbitrabatur. |
- "Eorere vuv pot, Movoa: — a \ aA a _ Orirws &) mpwrov wup eurece. 52
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 16
sadly upset and bemoaning their contact with infamy. . “At the preliminary proceedings, as point after point: was put before the jury, thtir strict and unanimous — - uprightness was extraordinary. The defendant never won a point, and the prosecution wére granted more than they asked for. It goes without saying that Hortensius was triumphant at his penetration; and no ‘one regarde odius so much asa man on his tyial as one that had been condemned a thousand timés over. You have no doubt heard how the jury rose in a body to protect me, when I stepped into the witness-box and Clodius’ supporters began to hoot: and how they offered their throats to Clodius’ sword in defence of ~ me. Thereby, to my mind they paid me a far higher compliment than your fellow-citizens paid Xeno- crates, when they refused to let him take the oath before giving his testimony, or our Roman jury paid Metellus Numidicus, when they would not look at the accounts which he passed round as is usual in such cases. I repeat, the honour shown me was far greater.“ The shouts of-the jury,’proclaiming me as the saviour of the country crushed and annihilated the defendant and all his sipporters. And on the next day a crowd as great as thatwhich conducted me home at the end of my cagnsulship gathered round me. Our noble Areopagites declared they- would not come without a guard. The votes of the court were taken, and there was only one person who voted a guard unnecessary. The point was laid before the Senate, who passed a decree in the strongest and most complimentary terms, thanking the jury and referring the matter to the magistrates. No one thought Clodius would defend his case. “Tell me niaa xvi, 112 now, ye Muses, how first the fire fell.” 53
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
Nosti Calvum ex Nanneianis illum, illum laudato- rem meum, de cuius oratione erga me honorifica ad te scripseram. Biduo per unum servum et eum ex ludo gladiatorio confecit totum negotium; arcessivit ad se, promisit, intercessit, dedit. Iam vero (o di boni, rem perditam!) etiam noctes certarum mulierum atque adulescentulorum nobilium introductiones non nullis iudicibus pro mercedis cumulo fuerunt. Ita summo discessu bonorum, pleno foro servorum xxv iudices ita fortes tamen fuerunt, ut summo proposito periculo vel perire maluerint quam perdere omnia. xxxI fuerunt, quos fames magis quam fama commo- verit. Quorum Catulus cum vidisset quendam, “Quid vos,” inquit, “praesidium a nobis postulaba- tis? an, ne nummi vobis eriperentur, timebatis?” Habes, ut brevissime potui, genus iudicii et causam absolutionis. |
Quaeris deinceps, qui nunc sit status rerum et qui meus. Rei publicae statum illum, quem tu meo con- silio, ego divino confirmatum putabam, qui bonorum omnium coniunctione et auctoritate consulatus mei fixus et fundatus videbatur, nisi quis nos deus re- spexerit, elapsum scito esse de manibus uno hoc iudicio,; si iudicium est triginta homines populi Ro-
54
i
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 16 You know Baldpate of Nanneian fame,' my late
‘panegyrist, whose complimentary speech in my
honour I have already mentioned in my letters; well, he managed the whole job in a couple of days with the help of one slave and that an ex-prizefighter. He sent for everybody, made promises, gave security, paid money down. Good heavens, what a scandal there was! Even the favours of certain ladies and introductions to young men of good family were given to some of the jury to swell the bribe. All honest |
men withdrew entirely from the case and the forum
was full of slaves. Yet five and twenty of the jury were brave enough to risk their necks, preferring death to treachery: but there were thirty-one who were more influenced by famine than fame. Catulus meeting one of these latter remarked to him: “Why did you ask for a guard? For fear of having your pocket picked?’’ There you have as short a sum- mary as possible of the trial and the reason for
the acquittal.
You want to know next what is the present
‘state of public affairs, and how I am getting on. We
thought that the condition of the Republic had been set on a firm footing, you by my prudence, I by divine interposition: and that its preservation was secured and established by the combination of all patriots and by the influence of my consulship. But, let me tell you, unless some god remembers us, it has been dashed from our grasp by this one trial, if ome can call it a trial, when thirty of the
' Crassus; but why ex Nanneiants is uncertain. Manutius says he bought up the property of Nanneius, who was among those proscribed by Sulla, and gave in his pame as Lieinius Calvus; but this is probably only a gues
55
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
mani levissimos ac nequissimos nummulis acceptis ius ac fas omne delere et, quod’ omnes non modo homines, verum etiam pecudes factum esse sciant, id Talnam et Plautum et Spongiam et ceteras huius modi quisquilias statuere numquam esse factum.* Sed tamen, ut te de re publica consoler, non ita, ut spe- ‘rarunt mali, tanto imposito rei publicae vulnere, alacris exsultat improbitas in victoria. Nam plane ita putaverunt, cum religio, cum pudicitia, cum iudicio- rum fides, cum senatus auctoritas concidisset, fore ut aperte victrix nequitia ac libido poenas ab optimo quoque peteret sui doloris, quem improbissimo cuique inusserat severitas consulatus mei.% Idem ego ille (non
enim mihi videor insolenter gloriari, cum de me apud
te loquor, in ea praesertim epistula, quam nolo aliis legi) idem, inquam, ego recreavi adflictos animos bonorum unum quemque confirmans, excitans; inse- ctandis vero exagitandisque nummariis iudicibus om- nem omnibus studiosis ac fautoribus -illius victoriae mappnoiay eripui, Pisonem consulem nulla in re con- sistere umquam sum passus, desponsam homini iam Syriam ademi, senatum ad pristinam suam severita- tem revocavi atque abiectum excitavi, Clodium prae- sentem fregi in senatu cum oratione perpetua plenis- sima gravitatis tum altercatione huius modi; ex qua licet :pauca degustes; nam cetera non possunt habere eandem neque vim neque venustatem remoto illo studio contentionis, quem dyéva vos appellatis.f’N am, ut Idibus Maiis in senatum convenimus, rogatus ego sententiam. multa dixi de summa re publica, atque
56
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 16
most worthless scoundrels in Rome have blotted out right and justice for filthy lucre, and When Hodge ~ and John a Nokes and Tom a Styles and all the riff- raff of that descriptton have declared a thing not to have happened which every man—man did I say ?— nay, every beast of the field, knows for a fact. 7-Still —to give you some consolation about politics—the country has not received so serious a blow as traitors wished, nor is iniquity vaunting itself so rampantly on its victory. For they clearly thought that, when religious and moral scruples, judicial honour and the Senate’s authority had been destroyed, iniquity and lust would triumph openly, and would wreak their vengeance on all honest folk for the bragd ‘ been stamped on vice by my consulship.’¥ I was the man—lI don’t think I am_ boasting unduly in saying so to you privately, especially in a letter which I would rather you didn’t read to anyone—lI was the man who revived the fainting courage of the patriots, encouraging and/cheering them one . by one. { attacked and routed that venal jury;-and I did not leave the victorious party and its supporters a word _ to say for themselves. The consul Piso I did not leave an inch to stand on. Syria, which had been promised him as his province, I wrested from him. The Senate I aroused_from its despondency; recalling it to its
former uprightness. Clodiug J bearded and crushed. in the Senate with a set speech full of dignity, and:
then with a cross-examination, of which I will give
you a taste. The rest would lose both its verve and
its wit, when the fire of battle is out, and the tug-
of-war, as you Greeks call it, past. ' » When I entered
the House on the 15th of May, and was asked for
my opinion, I discussed politics at length, and by a . 5
-—
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO ille locus inductus a me est divinitus, ne una plaga accepta patres conscripti conciderent, ne deficerent ; vulnus esse eius modi, quod mihi nec dissimulandum nec pertimescendum videretur, ne aut ignorando stultissimi aut metuendo ignavissimi iudicaremur ; bis absolutum esse Lentulum, bis Catilinam, hunc tertium iam esse a iudicibus in rem publicam immis- sum. “ Erras, Clodi; non te iudices urbi, sed carceri reservarunt, neque te retinere in civitate, sed exsilio privare voluerunt. Quam ob rem, patres conscripti, erigite animos, retinete vestram dignitatem. Manet illa in re publica bonorum consensio; dolor accessit bonis viris, virtus non est imminuta; nihil est damni factum novi, sed, quod erat, inventum est. In unius hominis perditi iudicio plures similes reperti sunt.” Sed quid ago? paene orationem in epistulam inclus} Redeo ad altercationem. MSurgit pulchellus puer, obicit mihi me ad Baias fuisse. Falsum, sed tamen quid hoc? “Simile est,” inquam, “quasi in operto dicas fuisse.” “Quid,” inquit, “homini Arpinati cum aquis calidis?” “Narra,” inquam, “patrono tuo, qui Arpinatis aquas concupivit ” ; nosti enim Marinas.! “Quousque,” inquit, “hune regem feremus?” “Re- gem appellas,” inquam, “cum Rex tui mentionem nullam fecerit? ”s ille autem Regis hereditatem spe 'Marianas Rom. and many editors.
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LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 16
-happy inspiration introduced this passage: “The Senate must not be crushed by a single blow, they must not be faint-hearted. The wound is such that it cannot be disguised, yet it must not be feared, lest by our fear we prove ourselves abject cowards, or by ignoring it, very fools. Lentulus twice obtained an acquittal, and Catiline as often, and this is the third criminal let loose on the country by a jury. But you are mistaken, Clodius. The jury saved you for the gallows, not for public life: their object was not to keep you in the country, but to keep you from leav- ing it. Keep up your hearts;then, senators, and pre- serve your dignity. “The feelings of all patriots are unchanged; they have suffered grief, but their courage is undiminished. It is no-new disaster that has befallen us, we have merely discovered one that existed unnoticed. The trial of one villain has revealed many as guilty as himself.’’ But there, I’ve nearly copied the whole speech. Now for our pas- sage of arms.“ p gets this pretty boy and reproaches me with spending my time at Baiae. It was a lie: and anyhow what did it matter? “One would think,” said I, ° "you were accusing me of spending my time
in hiding.” “What need has a man of Arpinum to
take the waters?” asks Clodius: and I answered :
“You should talk like that to your patron! who wanted to take the waters of a man of Arpinum,”— you know about the sea-water baths. “How long
are we going to let this man king it over us?”’ says
he. “I wonder you mention the word king,” I replied, “since King? did not mention you.” He had
1C. Scribonius Curio the elder, who bought the villa of
Marius at Baiae in the Sullan proscription. 2 Q. Marcius Rex, brother-in-law to Clodius,
59
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
€€ ° ° €€ ° ° cé devorarat. -Domum,” inquit, emisti.” — Putes,”
inquam, ‘dicere: Iudices emisti.” “Iuranti,” inquit, “tibi non crediderunt.” “Mihi vero,” inquam, “xxv. iudices crediderunt, xxxI, quoniam nummos ante acceperunt, tibi nihil crediderunt.’’ Magnis clamoribus adflictus conticuit et concidit.
(1 Noster autem status est hic. ‘Apud bonos iidem sumus, quos reliquisti, apud_sordem urbis et faecem © multo melius nunc, quam reliquisti. Nam et illud nobis non obest, videri nostrum testimonium non valuisse; missus est sanguis invidiae sine dolore atque etiam hoc magis, quod omnes illi fautores illius flagitii rem manifestam illam redemptam esse a iudi- cibus confitentur. ‘Accedit illud, quod illa contionalis hirudo aerarii, misera ac ieiuna plebecula, me ab hoc Magno unice diligi putat, et hercule multa et iucunda consuetudine coniuncti inter nos sumus usque eo, ut nostri isti comissatores coniurationis barbatuli iuvenes illum in sermonibus “Cn. Ciceronem” appellent. Ita- - que et ludis et gladiatoribus mirandas érunpacias sine ulla pastoricia fistula auferebamus.
‘. Nunc est exspectatio comitiorum ; in quae omnibus invitis trudit noster Magnus Auli filium atque in eo neque auctoritate neque gratia pugnat, sed quibus Philippus omnia castella expugnari posse dicebat, in quae modo asellus onustus auro posset ascendere. Consul autem ille deterioris histrionis similis susce-
60 ; .
LETTERS TO ATTICUS 1. 16
been dying to inherit King’ s money. “You have bought a house,” he says. “ You seem to think it is the same as buying a jury,” I answer. “They did not credit you on your oath,” he remarks. To which I answer: Twenty-five jurymen credited me: the other thirty-one gave you no credit, but took care to get their money first.’’ There was loud applause, and he collapsed without a word, utterly crushed. .
}4 My own position is this. I have retained the in-
° fluence I had, when you left, over the conservative
2
sordid dregs of the populace than I had then.
my testimony was not accepted does me no
My unpopularity has been tapped like a dropsy and painlessly reduced, and another thing has done me even more good: the supporters of that crime copfess-that that open scandal was due to bribery. esides that blood-sucker of the treasury, the wret¢hed and starveling mob, thinks I am a prime favourite with the “great man’”’ Pompey, and upon my soul we are upon terms of very pleasant intimacy —so much so indeed that these bottle-conspirators, these youths with budding beards in common table- talk call him Gnaeus Cicero. So both at the games and at the gladiatorial shows, I have been the object of extraordinary demonstrations without hisses or catcalls.
!2 Now every one is looking forward to the elections. Our “ great” Pompey is pushing Aulus’ son amidst general disapproval: and the means he is using are neither authority nor influence, but those which Philip said would storm any fort to which an ass laden with money could climb. Piso is said to be playing second fiddle to Pompey and to havertmibery-
7 1
party, and have gained much more influence hat at arm
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
pisse negotium dicitur et domi divisores habere ; quod ego non credo. Sed senatus consulta duo iam facta ‘sunt odiosa, quod in consulem facta putantur, Catone et Domitio postulante, unum, ut apud magistratus inquiri liceret, alterum, cuius domi divisores habita- rent, adversus rem publicam. *Lurco autem tribunus
pl., qui magistratum insimul cum! lege alia iniit,
solutus est et Aelia et Fufia, ut legem de ambitu_
ferret, quam ille bono auspicio claudus homo promul- gavit. Ita comitia in a. d. vi Kal. Sext. dilata sunt. Novi est in lege hoc, ut, qui nummos in tribu pro- nuntiarit, si non dederit, impune sit, sin dederit, ut, quoad vivat, singulis tribulibus HS cid Cid cro debeat. Dixi hance legem P. Clodium iam ante servasse; pro- nuntiare enim solitum esse et non dare. Sed heus tu! videsne consulatum illum nostrum, quem Curio antea dmroféwow vocabat, si hic factus erit, fabam? mimum futurum? Quare, ut opinor, gurorodnréor, id
' Munro's suggestion insimulatum “‘ impugned by” is per-
haps the best of the many suggested emendations.
2Fabam or Famam mimum Orelii: fabae hilum Hof- mann. fabae midam Brooks. .
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LETTERS TO ATTICUS Ff. 16
agents in his house: but I don’t believe it. But two decrees have been passed on the proposal of Cato and Domiitius, which are unpopular because they are thought to be directed against the consul; one, making it lawful to search the house of any magis- trate, and the other making it a treasonable offence to have bribery agents in one’s house. ’*The tribune Lureco, who entered on his office under another law,’ has been freed from the obligations of the- Aelian and Fufian laws, so that he may propose his law about bribery. He had luck in publishing it in spite of his deformity. Accordingly the elections have been postponed till the 27th of July. The new point about this law is that a mere promise to bribe the tribesmen counts for nothing, if it is not fulfilled; but, if it is fulfilled, the man who made it is liable for life to.a fine of £277 per tribe. I re- marked Clodius had kept this law before it was passed ; for he is always promising and not paying. But, I say, if he® gets in, that consulship of mine which Curio used to call a deification will become an abso- lute farce.* So, I suppose I must take to philosophy
1 Lurco’s proposal was irregular because it was made be- tween the notice of the elections and the elections them- selves, which was forbidden by the leges Aelia et Fufia (1 53 B.C.). .
3,000 sesterces.
3 Afranius.
* Supposed to allude to the election of a king by boys at the Saturnalia, using beans to vote with; but it is rather dubious Latin. In Seneca’s Afpocolocyntosis 9 the same proverbs seem to be referred to in the phrase ‘‘olim” enqguit ‘magna res erat deum fierit: tam famam mimum
Jectsti”: whence it-has been suggested that Fada or Fama was the name of some well-known farce. Cf. Laserpiciarius mimus (Petronius 33).
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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
quod tu facis, et istos consulatus non flocci facteon.
“+ Quod ad me scribis te in Asiam statuisse non ire,
equidem mallem, ut ires, ac vereor, ne quid in ista re minus commode fiat; sed tamen non possum re- prehendere consilium tuum, praesertim cum egomet in provinciam non sim profectus.
/‘sEpigrammatis tuis, quae in Amaltheo posuisti, contenti erimus, praesertim cum et Thyillus nos reli-' querit, et Archias nihil de me scripserit. Ac vereor, ne, Lucullis quoniam Graecum poema condidit, nunc ad Caecilianam fabulam spectet. Antonio tuo nomine gratias egi eamque epistulam Mallio.dedi. Ad te ideo antea rarius scripsi, quod non habebam idoneum, cui darem, nec satis sciebam, quo darem. Valde te venditavi.”Cincius si quid ad me tui negotii detulerit, suscipiam; sed nunc magis in suo est occupatus; in quo ego ei non desum. Tu, si uno in loco es futurus, ©
crebras a nobis litteras exspecta; ast plures etiam
ipse mittito. “Velim ad me scribas, cuius modi sit "ApadOetov tuum, quo ornatu, qua torofecig, et, quae poemata quasque historias de ’ApadGelg habes, ad me mittas. Lubet mihi facere in Arpinati. Ego tibi aliquid de meis scriptis mittam. Nihil erat absoluti.
XVII CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Magna mihi varietas voluntatis. et dissimilitudo opinionis ac iudicii Quinti fratris mei demonstrata est ex litteris tuis, in quibus ad me epistularum illius exempla misisti. Qua ex re et molestia sum tanta
64 .
4 4
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 16-17
like yourself, and not give a button for consulships. » You write that you have made up your mind not to goto Asia. I would rather you did go, and I am afraid it may cause unpleasantness if you do not.: But I cannot blame your determination, especially as . I have refused to go to a province.
‘*I shall be contented with the inscriptions you have put in your Amaltheum, especially as Thyillus has deserted me and Archias has not written anything about me. I am afraid, now he has written his. Greek poem on the Luculli, he is turning to the Caecilian drama.’“,I have thanked Antonius on your behalf, and given that letter to Mallius. My letters- to you up to now have been fewer than they should have been, as I had no trusty messenger nor any’ certain address to send them to. I have sung your praises loudly.’°If Cincius delegates any of your busi- ness to me, I will undertake it. But just at present he is more concerned with his own, in which I am ready to assist him. Expect frequent letters from me, if you are settled: and send me even more. ‘Please write me a description of your Amaltheum, its adornment and situation; and send me any poems and tales you have about Amalthea.- I should like to make one too in my place at Arpinum. I will send you some of my writings: but there is nothing finished.
XVII CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING. Your letter and the enclosed copy of one of my Rome, Dec. brother Quintus’ letters show me that he has con- 4, B.c. 61 * tinyally changed his mind and wavered in _ his opipion and judgement. I am exceedingly disturbed F 65
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
adfectus, quantam mihi meus amor summus erga utrumque vestrum adferre debuit, et admiratione, quidnam accidisset, quod adferret Quinto fratri meo
aut offensionem tam gravem aut commutationem -
- tantam voluntatis. Atque illud a me iam ante intel- legebatur, quod te quoque ipsum discedentem a nobis suspicari videbam, subesse nescio quid opinionis incommodae sauciumque esse eius animum et inse- disse quasdam odiosas suspiciones. Quibus ego mederi cum cuperem antea saepe et vehementius etiam post sortitionem provinciae, nec tantum intel- legebam ei esse offensionis, quantum litterae tuae declararant, nec tantum proficiebam, quantum vole- bam. Sed tamen hoc me ipse consolabar, quod non dubitabam, quin te ille aut Dyrrachi aut in istis locis uspiam visurus esset; quod cum accidisset, confide- bam ac mihi persuaseram fore ut omnia placarentur inter vos non modo sermone ac disputatione, sed - conspectu ipso congressuque vestro. Nam quanta sit in Quinto fratre meo comitas, quanta iucunditas, quam mollis animus et ad accipiendam et ad depo- nendam offensionem, nihil attinet me ad te, qui ea
nosti, scribere. Sed accidit perincommode, quod |
eum nusquam vidisti. Valuit enim plus, quod erat illi non nullorum aartificiis inculeatum, quam aut officium aut necessitudo aut amor vester ille pristinus, qui plurimum valere debuit. Atque huius incommodi culpa ubi resideat, facilius possum existimare quam scribere; vereor enim, ne, dum defendam meos, non parcam tuis. Nam sic intellego, ut nihil a domesticis
66
@
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 17
about it, as indeed I could not help being, consider- ing my affection for both of you, and I wonder what can have happened to cause my brother Quintus such. grave offence and to make him change his mind so extraordinarily. I grasped some time ago, what I think you were beginning to suspect, when you left, that at the bottom of it must be some idea of an insult, and that his feelings were wounded and some unpleasant suspicions had taken deep root. Though I often before sought to heal the wound, and re- doubled my efforts after the allotment of his pro- vince, I could neither find that he was as much annoyed as your letter makes out, nor yet make as much headway with him as I wished. However, I used to console myself with the thought that he would be sure to see you either at Dyrrachium or somewhere thereabout. And I had quite made up my mind that when that occurred, all the difficulties between you would be smoothed over as much by the mere sight of one another and the pleasure ot meeting as by conversation and discussion. For I need not tell you, who.know it yourself, how amiable and kindly my brother Quintus is, and how sensitive he is and ready both to take offence and to forget it. But it has happened most unfortunately that you have not seen him anywhere. For the impres- sion he has received from some designing persons has had more weight with him than either his duty or your old intimacy and affection which ought to have had the greatest weight of all. Where the blame for this unpleasantness rests, it is easier for me to imagine than to write. For I am afraid that in defending my relatives I may not spare yours. For my view is that, even if no wound was inflicted F2 07
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
vulneris factum sit, illud quidem, quod erat, eos certe sanare potuisse. Sed huiusce rei totius vitium, quod aliquanto etiam latius patet, quam videtur, praesenti tibi.commodius exponam. De iis litteris, quas ad te © Thessalonica misit, et de sermonibus, quos ab illo et Romae apud amicos tuos et in itinere habitos putas, ecquid tantum causae sit, ignoro, sed omnis in tua posita est humanitate mihi spes huius levandae mo- lestiae. Nam, si ita statueris, et irritabiles animos esse optimorum saepe hominum et eosdem placabiles et esse hanc agilitatem, ut ita dicam, mollitiamque naturae plerumque bonitatis et, id quod caput est, nobis inter nos nostra sive incommoda sive vitia sive iniurias esse tolerandas, facile haec, quem ad modum spero, mitigabuntur; quod ego ut facias te oro. Nam ad me, qui te unice diligo,:maxime pertinet neminem esse meorum, qui aut te non amet aut abs te non ametur.
Illa pars epistulae tuae minime fuit necessaria, in qua exponis, quas facultates aut provincialium aut urbanorum commodorum et aliis temporibus et me ipso consule praetermiseris. Mihi enim perspecta est et ingenuitas et magnitudo animi tui; neque ego inter me atque te quicquam interesse umquam duxi -_praeter voluntatem institutae vitae, quod me ambitio quaedam ad honorum studium, te autem alia minime reprehendenda ratio ad honestum otium duxit. Vera quidem laude probitatis, diligentiae, religionis neque me tibi neque quemquam antepono, amoris vero erga
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LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 17
by members of the family, they could certainly have ' “healed the one which existed. But the real fault of the whole matter, which is of rather wider extent than it appears, I can explain to you more conveni- ently when we meet. As to the letter which he sent to you from Thessalonica and the language which you think he used about you both to your friends at Rome and on his journey, I cannot see any sufficient cause for them; but all my hope of removing this unpleasantness lies in your kindness. For if you can persuade yourself that the best of men are often those whose feelings are easy to arouse and easy to appease, and that this nimbleness, if I may use the word, and sensitiveness of disposition are generally signs of a good heart, and—what is the main point —that we must put up with one another's un-
pleasantnesses and faults and insults, then, as I hope, -
all this can be smoothed over easily. This I beg of you to do. For, as I hold you in such peculiar esteem, it is my dearest wish that there may not be any of my people who either does not love you or is not loved by you.
That part of your letter in which you mention the chances of preferment in the provinces or in town,
which you neglected in my consulship and at other
times, was most unnecessary, for I am thoroughly persuaded of your disinterestedness and magnanimity, and I have never thought that there was any differ- ence between you and me, except our choice of a career. A touch of ambition led me to seek for dis- tinction, while another perfectly laudable motive led you to honourable ease. But in the real glory which consists in uprightness, industry and piety, there is no one I place above you, not even myself, and as
69
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
me, cum a fraterno amore domesticoque discessi, tibi primas defero. Vidi enim, vidi penitusque perspexi in meis variis temporibus et sollicitudines et laetitias tuas. Fuit mihi saepe et laudis nostrae gratulatio tua iucunda et timoris consolatio grata. Quin mihi nunc te absente non solum consilium, quo tu excellis, sed etiam sermonis communicatio, quae mihi suavis- sima tecum solet esse, maxime deest —- quid dicam? in publicane re, quo in genere mihi neglegenti esse non licet, an in forensi labore, quem antea propter ambitionem sustinebam, nunc, ut dignitatem tueri gratia possim, an im ipsis domesticis negotiis, in qui- bus ego cum antea tum vero post discessum fratris te sermonesque nostros desidero? Postremo non labor meus, non requies, non negotium, non otium, non . forenses res, non domesticae, non publicae, non pri- vatae carere diutius tuo suavissimo atque amantissimo consilio ac sermone possunt.
Atque harum rerum commemorationem verecundia saepe impedivit utriusque nostrum; nunc autem ea fuit necessaria propter eam partem epistulae tuae, per quam te ac mores tuos mihi purgatos ac probatos esse voluisti. Atque in ista incommoditate alienati illius animi et -offensi illud inest tamen commodi, quod et mihi et ceteris amicis tuis nota fuit et abs te ‘aliquanto ante testificata tua voluntas omittendae provinciae, ut, quod una non estis, non dissensione ac discidio vestro, sed voluntate ac iudicio tuo factum esse videatur. Quare et illa, quae violata, expiabuntur,
10
a
s 4
(AETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 17
regards affection to myself, after my brother and my immediate connections, I give you the palm. For I have seen time after time, and have had thorough ex- perience of your sorrow and your joy in my changing fortunes. I have often had the pleasure of your con- gratulations in times of triumph and the comfort of your consolation in hours of despondency. Nay at this very moment your absence makes me feel the lack not only of your advice, which you excel in giving, but of the interchange of speech, which I enjoy most with you. I hardly know if I miss it most in politics, where I dare not make a slip; or in my legal work, which I used to undertake for ad- vancement’s sake and now keep up to preserve my position, through popularity; or in my private con- cerns. In all of them I have felt your loss all along and especially since my brother’s departure. Finally, neither my work nor my recreation, neither my business nor my leisure, neither my legal affairs nor my domestic, my public life or my private, can do without your most agreeable and affectionate advice and conversation any longer. :
The modesty of both of us has often prevented me from mentioning these facts: but now it was forced upon me by that part of your letter in which you say you want yourself and your character cleared and vindicated in my eyes. There is one good thing as regards the unpleasantness caused by his aliena- tion and anger, that your determination not to go to the province was known to me and other friends of yours, as you told us some time before; so the fact that you are not with him cannot be attributed to your quarrel and rupture, but to your choice and plans already fixed. So amends will be made for
71
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et haec nostra, quae sunt sanctissime conservata, suam religionem obtinebunt.
Nos hic in re publica infirma, misera commutabili- que versamur. Credo enim te audisse nostros equites paene a senatu esse diiunctos; qui primum illud valde graviter tulerunt, promulgatum ex senatus con- sulto fuisse, ut de eis, qui ob iudicandum accepissent, quaereretur. Qua in re decernenda cum ego casu non adfuissem, sensissemque id equestrem ordinem ferre moleste neque aperte dicere, obiurgavi senatum, ut mihi visus‘sum, summa cum auctoritate, et in causa non verecunda admodum gravis et copiosus fui. Ecce aliae deliciae equitum vix ferendae! quas ego non solum tuli, sed etiam ornavi. Asiam qui de censoribus conduxerunt, questi sunt in senatu se cupiditate pro- lapsos nimium magno conduxisse, ut induceretur lo- catio, postulaverunt. Ego princeps in adiutoribus atque adeo secundus; nam, ut illi auderent hos postulare, Crassus eos impulit. Invidiosa res, turpis postulatio et confessio temeritatis. Summum erat periculum, ne, si nihil impetrassent, plane alienaren- tur a senatu. Huic quoque rei subventum est maxime a nobis perfectumque, ut frequentissimo senatu et libentissimo uterentur multaque a me de ordinum dignitate et concordia dicta sunt -Kal. Decembr. et postridie. Neque adhuc res confecta est, sed volun- tas senatus perspecta; unus enim contra dixerat
72
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 17
the breach of friendship; and the ties between us, which have been so religiously preserved, will retain , their inviolability.
The political position here is wretched, rotten and unstable. I expect you have heard that our friends the knights have almost had a rupture with the Senate. The first point that seriously annoyed them was the publication of a senatorial decree for an investigation into any cases of bribery of jurymen. As I did not happen to be present when the decree was passed, and noticed that the knights were annoyed though they did not openly say so, I remonstrated with the Senate very impressively, I think, and spoke with great weight and fluency, considering how shameless the case was. ’ Here is another intolerable piece of petulance on the part of the knights! Yet I have not only put up with it, but forwarded their cause. The people who farmed the province of Asia from the censors, complained in the Senate that their avari- ciousness had led them to pay too high a price for it, and requested to have the lease annulled. I was their chief supporter, or rather the second, for it was Crassus who encouraged them to venture on the demand. It is a scandalous affair, a disgraceful re- quest and a confession of foolhardiness. There was considerable danger, that, if they met with a refusal, they might have severed their connection with the Senate entirely. In this case too I was the main per- son who came to the rescue, and obtained for them a hearing in a very full and friendly House, and dis- coursed freely on the dignity and harmony of the two orders both on the first-of December and the following day. The matter is not yet settled: but the Senate’s inclination is clear. For one person
13
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
Metellus consul designatus. -Atqui erat! dicturus, ad quem propter diei brevitatem perventum non est, heros ille noster Cato. Sic ego conservans rationem institutionemque nostram tueor, ut possum, illam a me conglutinatam concordiam. Sed tamen, quoniam ista sunt tam infirma, munitur quaedam nobis ad re- tinendas opes nostras tuta, ut spero, via; quam tibi litteris satis explicare non possum, significatione parva ostendam tamen. Utor Pompeio familiarissime. Video, quid dicas. Cavebo, quae sunt cavenda, ac scribam alias —
ad te de meis consiliis capessendae rei publicae plura. Lucceium scito consulatum habere in animo statim petere. Duo enim soli dicuntur petituri, Caesar (cum eo coire per Arrium cogitat) et Bibulus (cum hoc se putat per C. Pisonem posse coniungi). Rides? Non sunt haec ridicula, mihi crede. Quid aliud scri- bam ad te, quid? Multa sunt, sed in aliud tempus. Tt exspectare ? velis, cures ut sciam. Iantillud modeste rogo, quod maxime cupio, ut quam primum venias.
Nonis Decembribus. XVIII CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. XI Kal. Nihil mihi nunc scito tam deesse quam hominem Febr. a. 694 eum, quocum omnia, quae me cura aliqua a@ficiunt, uno communicey, qui me amet, qui sapiat, quicum ego cu loquarsshihil fingam, nihil dissimulem, nihil fit MSS. Bosius’ correction quin erat may well be right But I have ventured to suggest atqui, supposing
that the last two letters of designatus uere written in an abbreviated form, and the two at’s came together.
2 Tyrrell reads Si exspectare velis, following Klots, with the meaning “If you mean fo remain absent from Rome till you hear from me again.” Others suggest Tu fac ut quando nos te exspectare ov Quo nos te tempore exspectare. But none of these ts very convincing.
74
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 17-18
only has opposed it, Metellus the consul elect. Our hero Cato was to have spoken, but the day was too short for it to come to his turn. ‘So I am keeping to our policy and plan, and am preserving to the best of my ability that harmony which I have welded: but still, as that is now in such a shaky condjtion, I am, I hope, keeping a road open to preserve my posi- tion. I cannot explain fully in a letter; but F will give you a gentle hint. I am on the best of terms with Pompey. You know what I mean. I will take all reasonable precautions, and will write again at fuller length as to my plans for managing the republic. ’ ;
Lucceius is thinking of standing for the consulship at once: for only two candidates are spoken of as likely to come forward. With Caesar he thinks he may come to terms through Arrius, and Bibulus’ co- operation he hopes to win through C. Piso. You smile? There is nothing to laugh at, I assure you. Is there anything else I want to tell you? Anything else? Yes, lots of things, but another time... you wish | to wait (?), let me know. At present I have one modest request tomake, though it is my chief desire: that you come as soon as possible.
5 December.
XVIII CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Believe me, there is nothing I want so much at Jan. 20, B.c. the present time, as a person with whom I can share 60 _ anything that causes me the least anxiety, a man of
affection and common sense, to whom I can speak without affectation, reserve, or concealment. My
a 75
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
obtegam. Abest enim frater adeAéoraros et aman- tissimus. Metellus non homo, sed
6Cy. A litus atque aer et solitudo mera.”’
Tu autem, qui saepissime curam et angorem animi mei sermone et consilio levasti tuo, qui mihi et in, publica re socius et in privatis omnibus conscius et omnium meorum sermonum et consiliorum particeps esse soles, ubinam es?) Ita sum ab omnibus destitu- ‘tus, “Ot tantum requietis habeam, quantum cum uxore et filiola et mellito Cicerone consumitur. Nam illae ambitiosae nostrae fucosaeque amicitiae sunt in quo- dam splendore forensi, fructum domesticum non ha- bent. Itaque, cum bene completa domus est tempore matutino, cum ad forum stipati gregibus amicorum descendimus, reperire ex magna turba neminem possumus, quocum aut iocari libere aut suspirare familiariter possimus, Quare te exspectamus, te de- sideramus, te iam etiam arcessimus. Multa sunt enim, quae me sollicitant anguntque; quae mihi videor aures nactus tuas unius ambulationis sermone _exhaurire posse. -
Ac domesticarum quidem sollicitudinum aculeos omnes et scrupulos occultabo, neque ego huic epi- stulae atque ignoto tabellario committam. Atque hi (nolo enim te permoveri) non sunt permolesti, sed tamen insident et urgent et nullius amantis consilio aut sermone requiescunt; in re publica vero, quam- quam animus est praesens, tamen vulnus! etiam atque etiam ipsa medicina efficit. Nam, ut ea brevi- ter, quae post tuum discessum acta sunt, colligam, iam exclames necesse est res Romanas diutius stare non posse. Etenim post profectionem tuam primus,
1vulnus Sternkop/, Leo: voluntas MSS. 76.
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 18
brother, who is the most unaffected of persons and most affectignate, is away. Metellus is not a human being,” Bat" sea-shore and airy void and desert waste.’ And you whose conversation and advice have so often lightened my load of care and anxiety, who have aided me in my political life, been my confident in my family affairs and shared my « conversations and projects—where are you? So utterly am I deserted, that the only moments of repose I have are those which are spent with my wife, my little daughter and darling boy. For my grand and showy friendships bring some public éclat, but private satisfaction they have none. And so, when my house has been crowded withthemorninglevée and [have gone downtothe forum amidathrong of friends, I cannot find in the whole com- panyasingle man with whom I can jest freely or whisper familiarly. So I look forward with longing to your com- ing and in fact urge you to hurry : for I have many cares _and anxieties, which I fancy would be banished by a single walk and talk in your sympathetic hearing. _ —*However, I will conceal the stings and pricks of my private troubles, and will not entrust them to this letter and an unknown messenger. They are not very grievous—so don’t alarm yourself—but still they are persistent and worrying, and I have no friend’s advice and discussion to lull them to rest. For the State, though there is still life in it, the very cures that have been tried on it, have again and again opened fresh wounds. If I were to give you a brief summary of what has happened since you left, you would certainly exclaim that Rome cannot possibly stand any longer. For it was after your de- parture, I believe, that the opening scene of the
"Probably from Accius. T7
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
ut opinor, introitus fuit in causam fabulae Clodianae, in qua ego nactus, ut mihi videbar, locum resecandae libidinis et coercendae iuventutis; vehemens fui et omnes profudi vires animi atque ingenii mei non odio adductus alicuius, sed spe corrigendae et sanandae civitatis. Adflicta res publica est empto constupra- toque iudicio. Vide, quae sint postea consecuta. Consul est impositus is nobis, quem nemo praeter nas philosophos aspicere sine suspiritu posset. Quantum hoc vulnus! facto senatus consulto de ambitu;, de iudiciis nulla lex perlata, exagitatus senatus, alienati equites Romani. Sic ille annus duo firmamenta rei publicae per me unum constituta evertit; nam et senatus auctoritatem abiecit et ordinum ‘concordiam diiunxit. Instat hic nunc ille annus egregius. Eius initium eius modi fuit, ut anniversaria sacra Iuventa- tis non committerentur; nam M. Luculli uxorem Memmius suis sacris initiavit; Menelaus aegre id passus divortium fecit. Quamquam ille: pastor Idaeus Menelaum solum contempserat, hic noster Paris tam Menelaum quam Agamemnonem liberum non pu- tavit. Est autem C. Herennius quidam tribunus pl., quem tu fortasse ne nosti quidem; tametsi potes nosse, tribulis enim tuus est, et Sextus, pater eius, nummos vobis dividere solebat. Is ad plebem P. Clodium traducit, idemque fert, ut universus populus in campo Martio suffragium de re Clodi ferat. Hunc
78
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 18
Clodian drama became the topic of discussion. There I thought I had a chance of using the surgeon’s knife on licentiousness and curbing youthful excess- es: and I exerted myself, putting forth all the re- sources of my intellect and mind, not out of private spite, but in the hope of effecting a radical cure of the State. The corruption of the jury by bribery and debauchery dealt a crushing blow to the republic. See what has followed. We have had a consul forced on us, at whom no one except us philosophers can look without a sigh. That is a fatal stroke. Though a senatorial decree has been passed about the bribery of juries, no law has been ‘carried; the Senate has been frightened out of it, and the knights have been estranged. So this one year has overturned two bulwarks of the State which had been erected by me alone: for it has destroyed the prestige of the Senate and broken up the harmony of the orders. Now comes this precious year. It was inaugurated by the suspension of the annual rites of the goddess of youth: for Memmius initiated M. Lucullus’ wife into some rites of his own. Menelaus took it hard and divorced his wife. Unlike the shepherd of Ida, who only slighted Menelaus, our modern Paris thought Agamemnon’ as fitting an. object for his contempt. There is one C. Herennius, a tribune—you may not even know him, though perhaps you do, as he is a member of the same tribe as yourself, and his father Sextus used to distribute money to your tribesmen— he is trying to transfer P. Clodius to the plebs, and even proposes that the whole people shall vote on the matter in the Campus Martius. I gave him my 1 EL. Lucullus, whose claim to a triumph Memmius opposed as tribune in 66-65 B.C. 79
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO ego accepi in senatu, ut soleo, sed nihil est illo homine lentius. Metellus est consul egregius et nos " amat, sed imminuit auctoritatem suam, quod habet dicis causa promulgatum illud idem de Clodio. Auli autem filius, o di immortales! quam ignavus ac sine animo miles! quam dignus, qui Palicano, sicut facit, os ad male audiendum cotidie praebeat! Agraria autem promulgata est a Flavio sane levis eadem fere, quae fuit Plotia. Sed interea roAitiKds avjp ov8’ dvap quisquam inveniri potest; qui poterat, familiaris noster (sic est enim; volo te hoc scire) Pompeius togulam illam pictam silentio tuetur suam. Crassus verbum nullum contra gratiam. Ceteros iam nosti; qui ita sunt stulti, ut amissa re publica piscinas suas fore salvas sperare videantur. Unus est, qui curet constantia magis et integritate quam, ut mihi videtur,
consilio aut ingenio, Cato; qui miseros publicanos,
quos habuit amantissimos sui, tertium iam mensem
vexat neque iis a senatu responsum dari patitur. Ita nos cogimur reliquis de rebus nihil decernere, ante- quam publicanis responsum sit. Quare etiam lega- tiones reiectum iri puto. |
Nunc vides quibus fluctibus iactemur, et, si ex iis, quae scripsimus tanta, etiam a me non scripta per-
spicis, revise nos aliquando et; quamquam sunt haec . | 80
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 18
usual reception in the Senate; but he is the most! phlegmatic of mortals. Metellus is an excellent: consul and an admirer of mine; but he has lessened : his influence by making, only for form’s sake, the: very same proposal about Clodius. But Aulus’ son— | heavens above! what a cowardly and spiritless \ wretch for a soldier! Just fit to be exposed, as he is, to the daily abuse of Palicanus. An agrarian law has been proposed by Flavius,—a very paltry pro- duction, almost identical with the Plotian law. And in the meantime not the ghost of a real statesman is to be found. The man who could be one, my inti- mate friend—for so he is, I would have you to know
—-Pompey, wraps that precious triumphal cloak of his around him in silence. Crassus never utters a word to risk his papularity. The others you know well enough—fools who seem to hope that their fish-ponds may be saved, though the country.go to rack and ruin. There is one who can be said to take some pains, but, according to my view, with more constancy and honesty than judgement and ability—Cato. It is now three months that he has been worrying those wretched tax-collectors, who used to be great friends of his, and won’t let the Senate give them an answer. So we are forced to suspend all decrees on other subjects until the tax-collectors have had an answer. And I suppose even the embassies! will have to be postponed for the same reason.
_ Now you see the storm we have to weather; and, as you can grasp from what I have written with such emphasis, something of what I have left unwritten, come and see me again, for it is high time. Though
1 Foreign embassies were received in February. G 8]
Scr. Romae
Id. Mart. a.
694
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
fugienda, quo te voco, tamen fac ut amorem nostrum tanti aestimes, ut eo vel cum his molestiis perfrui velis. Nam, ne absenfs censeare, curabo edicendum et proponendum locis omnibus; sub lustrum autem censeri germani negotiatoris est. Quare cura, ut te quam primum videamus. Vale.
x1 Kal. Febr. Q. Metello, L. Afranio coss.
° XIX CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Non modo si mihi tantum esset otii, quantum est tibi, verum etiam si tam breves epistulas vellem mit- tere, quam tu soles, facile te superarem et in scri- bendo multo essem crebrior quam tu. Sed ad sum- mas atque incredibiles occupationes meas accedit, quod nullam a me volo! epistulam ad te sine argu- mento ac sententia pervenire. Et primum tibi, ut aequum est civi amanti patriam, quae sint in re publica, exponam; deinde, quoniam tibi amore nos proximi sumus, scribemus etiam de nobis ea, quae scire te non nolle arbitramur.
Atque in re publica nunc quidem maxime Gallici belli versatur metus.. Nam Haedui fratres nostri pugnam nuper malam?’ pugnarunt, et Helvetii sine dubio sunt in armis excursionesque in provinciam faciunt. Senatus decrevit, ut consules duas Gallias sortirentur, delectus haberetur, vacationes ne valerent, legati cum auctoritate mitterentur, qui adirent Gal- liae civitates darentque operam, ne eae se cum Hel- vetiis coniungerent. Legati sunt Q. Metellus Cre- ticus et L. Flaccus et, 73 éri +77 haxy pipov, Lentulus
1volo Batter: solo MSS. 2pugnant pueri (ov puer) malam (or in alam or male) MSS. : the reading of the text is that of Boot.
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LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 18-19
what I invite you to you might well avoid, let your affection for me conquer even your objection under such unpleasant circumstances. I will see to it that notice is given and posted up everywhere, that you may not be entered on the census list as absent. But to get put on the roll just before the census is too thoroughly tradesman-like. So let me see you as soon as possible. Farewell.
Jan. 20 in the consulship of C. Metellus and L. Afranius.
XIX CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
If I had as much time as you have, or if I could Rome, bring myself to write such short letters as you gene- March 15, rally write, I could beat you hollow and write far s.c. 60 more frequently than yqu write. But on the top of my inconceivable stress of work, you have to add my habit of never sending you a letter without a theme and amoral. First, as one ought to a loyal citizen, I will give you a sketch of political events, and then, as I am the nearest in your affection, I will. tell you any of my own affairs that I think you would not be disinclined to know.
In politics then at the present minute fears of war in Gaul are the main topic:"for “our brothers” the Aedui have had a disastrous battle recently, and the Helvetii are undoubtedly in arms and making raids on our province. The Senate has decreed that the consuls should cast lots for the two Gauls; that levies should be made, furloughs cancelled, and ambassadors with full powers sent to visit the Gallic states and prevent them from joining the ~Aedui. The ambassadors are Quintus Metellus Cre- ticus, and Lucius Flaccus, and—‘ the caper sauce on
G2 83
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
Clodiani filius. Atque hoc loco illud non queo praeter- ire, quod, cum de consularibus mea prima sors exisset, una voce senatus frequens retinendum me in urbe censuit. Hoc idem post me Pompeio accidit, ut nos duo quasi pignora rei publicae retineri videre- mur. *Quid enim ego aliorum in me éridwvjpara exspectem, cum haec domi nascantur?
Urbanae autem res sic se habent. * Agraria lex a Flavio tribuno pl. vehementer agitabatur auctore Pompeio; quae nihil populare habebat praeter. au- ctorem. Ex hac ego lege secunda contionis voluntate omnia illa tollebam, quae ad privatorum incommodum pertinebant, liberabam agrum eum, qui P. Mucio, L. Calpurnio consulibus publicus fuisset, Sullanorum hominum possessiones confirmabam, Volaterranos et Arretinos, quorum agrum Sulla publicarat neque diviserat, in sua possessione retinebam; unam rationem non reiciebam, ut ager hac adventicia pecunia emeretur, quae ex novis vectigalibus per quinquennium reciperetur. Huic toti rationi agrariae senatus adversabatur suspicans Pompeio novam quan- dam potentiam quaeri; Pompeius vero ad voluntatem perferendae legis incubuerat. Ego autem magna cum
agrariorum gratia confirmabam omnium privatorum
84.
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 19
lenten fare’!—Lentulus, son of Clodianus. And I cannot forbear adding here that when my lot came up first in the ballot among the ex-consuls, the Senate were unanimous in declaring that I should be kept in Rome. The same happened to Pompey after me, so that we two appear to be kept as pledges a of the State.*-Why should I look for the
bravos”’ of strangers when these triumphs bloom for me at home?
Well, this is the state of affairs in the city. “The agrarian law was zealously pushed by the tribune Flavius with the support of Pompey, though its only claim to popularity was its supporter. My proposal to remove from the law any points which encroached on private right’ was favourably received by a public meeting. I proposed to exempt from its action such land as was public in the consulship of P. Mucius and L. Calpurnius,? te confirm Sulla’s veterans in their possessions, to allow the people of Volaterra and Arretium to retain in their holding their land which Sulla had made public land, but had not distributed : the only clause I did not reject was that land should be purchased by this wind-fall which will come in from the new foreign revenues in the next five years. The Senate was opposed to the whole agrarian scheme, suspecting that Pompey was aiming at getting some new powers. Pompey had set his heart on carrying the law through. I on the other hand, with the full approval of the applicants for land, was for securing the holdings of all private
? Lit. ‘‘myrrh oil on lentils”; referring to a line in the Phoenissae of Strattis.
2 133.B.C., the year before the agrarian law of Tiberius -“Gracchus. - —
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possessiones; is enim est noster exercitus, hominum, ut tute scis, locupletium; populo autem et Pompeio (nam id quoque volebam) satis faciebam emptione, qua constituta diligenter et sentinam urbis exhauriri et Italiae solitudinem frequentari posse arbitrabar. Sed haec tota res interpellata bello refrixerat. Metel- lus est consul sane bonus et nos admodum diligit; ille alter nihil ita est, ut plane, quid emerit, nesciat. 4°. Haec sunt in re publica, nisi etiam illud ad rem pub- licam putas pertinere, Herennium quendam, tribunum pl., tribulem tuum sane hominem nequam atque egentem, saepe iam de P. Clodio ad plebem tradu- cendo agere coepisse. Huic frequenter interceditur. Haec sunt, ut opinor, in re publica. | . Ego autem, ut semel Nonarum illarum Decembri- um iunctam invidia ac multorum inimicitiis eximiam quandam atque immortalem gloriam consecutus sum, non destiti eadem animi magnitudine in re publica versari et illam institutam ac susceptam dignitatem tueri, sed, posteaquam primum Clodi absolutione levi- tatem infirmitatemque iudiciorum perspexi, deinde vidi nostros publicanos facile a senatu diiungi, quam- quam a me ipso non divellerentur, tum autem beatos homines, hos piscinarios dico amicos tuos, non obscure nobis invidere, putavi mihi maiores quasdam opes et firmiora praesidia esse quaerenda.‘ Itaque primum, eum qui nimium diu de rebus nostris tacuerat, Pom-
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persons—for, as you know, the strength of our party consists in the rich landed gentry—while at the same time I fulfilled my desire to satisfy Pompey and the populace by supporting the purchase of land, think- ing that, if that were thoroughly carried out, the city might be emptied of the dregs of the populace, and the deserted parts of Italy peopled. But the matter has cooled off now this war has interrupted it. Me- tellus is an excellent consul and a great admirer of mine. The other one is an utter nonentity and clearly bought a pig in a poke when he got the con- sulship. That is all my political news, unless you think this has a bearing on politics” One Herennius, a tribune and fellow tribesman of yours, and a man of no character or positioh, has begun frequently proposing the transference of P. Clodius from a patrician to a plebeian; and his proposals are vetoed by many of his colleagues. This, I think, is al! the public news.
¢ For myself, ever since that December day when I won such splendid. and immortal glory, though it carried with it much envy and enmity, I have not ceased to employ the same high-minded policy and to. keep the position I have won and taken up. But, as soon as the acquittal of Clodius showed me the un- certainty and instability of the law courts, and I saw too how easily our friends the tax-gatherers could be estranged from the Senate, though they might not sever their connection with me, while the well-to-do —your friends with the fish-ponds, I mean—took no pains to disguise their envy of me, I bethought me that I had better look out for some stronger support and more secure protection.’ So firstly I brought Pom- pey, the man who had held his peace too long about
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peium adduxi in eam voluntatem, ut in senatu non semel, sed saepe multisque verbis huius mihi salutem imperii atque orbis terrarum adiudicarit; quod non tam interfuit mea (neque enim illae res aut ita sunt obscurae, ut testimonium, aut ita dubiae, ut lauda- tionem desiderent) quam rei publicae, quod erant quidam improbi, qui contentionem fore aliquam mihi cum Pompeio ex rerum illarum dissensione arbitra- rentur. Cum hoc ego me tanta familiaritate coni- unxi, ut uterque nostrum in sua ratione munitior et in re publica firmior hac coniunctione esse _possit. -“Qdia autem illa libidinesae et delicatae iuventutis, ‘quae erant in me incitata, sic mitigata sunt comitate quadam mea, me unum ut omnes illi colant; nihil iam denique a me asperum in quemquam fit nec tamen quicquam populare ac dissolutum, sed ita tem- perata tota ratio est, ut rei publicae constantiam praestem, privatis meis rebus propter infirmitatem bonorum, iniquitatem malevolorum, odium in me improborum adhibeam quandam cautionem et dili- gentiam atque ita, tametsi his novis amicitiis impli- cati sumus, ut crebro mihi vafer ille Siculus insusurret Epicharmus cantilenam illam suam:
A XN , A “~ Nade kal pépvac’ amurtrely: apOpa tavta tav dpevov.
Ac nostrae quidem rationis ac vitae quasi quandam
formam, ut opinor, vides.
’ De tuo autem negotio saepe ad me. _seribis... “Cui
mederi nunc nen possumus; est enim illad. senatus 88
LETTERS TO ATTICUS I. 19
my achievements, into a frame of mind for attributing to me the salvation of the empire and the world not once only, but time after time and with emphasis in the House. That was not so much for my own benefit —for my achievements were neither so obscure that they required evidence, nor so dubious that they required puffing up—but for the State’s sake, for there were some ill-natured persons who thought that there was a certain amount of disagreement ° between Pompey and myself, owing to a difference of opinion about those matters. With him I have formed such an intimate connection that both of us are strengthened in our policy and surer in our political position through our coalition. The dislike which had been aroused against me among our dissi-- *pated and dandified youths has been smoothed away by my affability, and now they pay me more atten- tion than anyone. In short I avoid hurting anyone’s feelings, though I do not court popularity by relaxing my principles; indeed my whole conduct is regulated so, that, while I preserve my firmness in public life, in my private affairs the weakness of the loyal party, - the prejudice of the disaffected and the hostility of the disloyal makes me move with some care and caution, and, involved though_I_am in my new friendships, I frequently have the refrain of Epichar- mus, that subtle Sicilian, ringing in my ears:
Be sober of head, and mistrustful of friends ; Hinges are these on which wisdom depends.
There you have, I think, an outline sketch of my
rule of life. a, ;
~* You keep writing about that business of yours;
but at-present I- have no remedy for it. .;The decree 89
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO consultum summa pedariorum voluntate nullius no- strum auctoritate factum. Nam, quod me esse ad scribendum vides, ex ipso senatus consulto intellegere potes aliam rem tum relatam, hoc autem de populis liberis sine causa additum. Et ita factum est a P. Servilio filio, qui in postremis sententiam dixit, sed immutari hoc tempore non potest. Itaque conventus, qui initio celebrabantur, iam diu fieri desierunt. Tu si tuis blanditiis tamen a Sicyoniis nummulorum aliquid expresseris, velim me facias certiorem.
-, Commentarium consulatus mei Graece compositum misi ad te. In quo si quid erit, quod homini Attico minus Graecum eruditumque videatur, non dicam, quod tibi, ut opinor, Panhormi Lucullus de suis hi- storiis dixerat, se, quo facilius illas probaret Romani hominis esse, idcirco barbara quaedam et odAorxa di- spersisse ; apud me si quid erit eius modi, me impru- dente erit et invito. Latinum si perfecero, ad te mittam. Tertium poema exspectato, ne quod genus a me ipso laudis meae praetermittatur. Hic tu cave dicas: Tis zatép aivyoes; Si est enim apud homines quicquam quod potius sit, laudetur, nos vituperemur, qui non potius alia laudemus; quamquam non éyxwpuacrixa sunt haec, sed ioropixd, quae scribimus. // Quintus frater purgat se mihi per litteras et adfir- mat nihil a se cuiquam de te secus esse dictum.
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was passed by the enthusiasm of the silent members’ without any support from our party. For as to my signature which you find attached to it, you can see from the decree itself that it was quite a different matter which was brought forward, and this clause about the free peoples was added without rhyme or reason. It was the work of P. Servilius the younger, who was one of the last to speak: but it cannot be altered at the present time. So the meetings which at first were held about it have ceased long ago. If, however, you should manage to squeeze a few pence out of the Sicyonians, please let me know.
“.: T have sent you a copy of my account of my consul- ship in Greek. If there is anything in it, which to your Attic taste seems bad Greek or unscholarly, I will not say what Lucullus said to you—at Panhor- mus, I think—about his history, that he had inter- spersed a few barbarisms and solecisms as a clear - proof that it was the work of a Roman. If there is anything of the kind in my work, itis there without my knowledge and against my will. When I have finished the Latin version, I willsend it to you. In the third place you may expect a poem, not to let slip any method of singing my own praises. Please don’t quote Who will praise his sire?’’? For if there is any more fitting subject for eulogy, then I am willing to be blamed for not choosing some other subject. However my compositions are not panegyrics at all but histories. ls My brother Quintus has written exculpating him- self and declaring that he never said a woftd against
‘Members who did not speak, but only took part in the
division (Jedibus tre in sententiam).
? The whole proverb is found in Plutarch’s Life of Aratus. tls warép’ alvjoe el ph xaxodaluoves viol. 91
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
-Verum haec nobis coram summa cura et diligentia
sunt agenda; tu modo nos revise aliquando. Cossi- nius hic, cui dedi litteras, valde mihi bonus homo et non levis et amans tui visus est et talis, qualem esse eum tuae mihi litterae nuntiarant. Idibus Martiis.
XX CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Cum e Pompeiano me Romam recepissem a. d. Iv Idus Maias, Cincius noster eam mihi abs te epistulam reddidit, quam tu Idibus Febr. dederas. Ei nunc epistulae litteris his respondebo. Ac primum tibi perspectum esse iudicium de te meum laetor, deinde te in iis rebus, quae mihi asperius a nobis atque nostris et iniucundius actae videbantur, moderatissimum fuisse vehementissime gaudeo idque neque amoris mediocris et ingenii summi ac sapientiae iudico. Qua de re cum ad me ita suaviter, diligenter, officiose, humaniter scripseris, ut non modo te hortari amplius non debeam, sed ne exspectare quidem abs te aut ab ullo homine.tantum facilitatis ac mansuetudinis po- tuerim, nihil duco esse commodius quam de his rebus nihil iam amplius scribere. Cum erimus congressi, tum, si quid res feret, coram inter nos conferemus.
- Quod ad me de re publica scribis, disputas tu quidem et amanter et prudenter, et a meis consiliis ratio tua non abhorret; nam neque de statu nobis nostrae dignitatis est recedendum neque sine nostris copiis intra alterius praesidia veniendum, et is, de quo scribis, nihil habet amplum, nihil excelsum, nihil non
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| you to anyone. But that is a point we have to dis-
cuss very carefully when we meet, if only you will come and see me some time. This Cossinius, to whom I have given the letter, seems to me a very good steady sort of fellow, and devoted to you, exactly as you described him in your letter. March 15.
| XX CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING. |
On my return from my villa at Pompeii on the Rome, May, 12th of May, our friend Cincius passed on to me B.c. 60 your letter which was dated the 13th of February. That is the letter which I shall now answer. And first I must say how delighted I am that you fully understood my opinion of you: next how very glad I am that you showed such forbearance with regard to the slights and unkindness which in my opinion you had received from me and mine: and I count it a sign of affection more than ordinary and the highest sense and wisdom. Indeed your answer is so charmingly worded and with such con- sideration and kindliness that not only have I no further right to press you, but I can never expect to experience such courtesy and forbearance from you or any other man. So I think it would be best for me to say no more about the matter in my letters. If any point arises, we will discuss it together when we meet.
Your remarks about politics are couched in friendly and prudent terms, and your view does not differ from my own—for I must not withdraw from my dig- nified position, nor must I enter another’s lines with- out any forces of my own, and the man you mention has no broad-mindedness and no high-mindedness,
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summissum atque populare. Verum tamen fuit ratio mihi fortasse ad tranquillitatem meorum temporum non inutilis, sed mehercule rei publicae multo etiam utilior quam mihi civium improborum impetus in me reprimi, cum hominis amplissima fortuna, auctoritate, gratia fluctuantem sententiam confirmassem et a spe malorum ad mearum rerum laudem convertissem. Quod si cum aliqua levitate mihi faciendum fuisset, nullam rem tanti aestimassem; sed tamen a me ita sunt acta omnia, non ut ego illi adsentiens levior, sed ut ille me probans gravior videretur. Reliqua sic a me aguntur et agentur, ut non committamus, ut ea, quae gessimus, fortuito gessisse videamur. Meos bonos viros, illos quos significas, et, eam quam mihi dicis obtigisse, Srdprav non modo numquam deseram, sed etiam, si ego ab illa deserar, tamen in mea pristina sententia permanebo. I[llud tamen velim existimes, me hanc viam optimatem post Catuli mortem nec praesidio ullo nec comitatu tenere. Nam, ut ait Rhinton, ut opinor,
Oi pév rap ovdev eior, Tots 8 ovdev perce. Mihi vero ut invideant piscinarii nostri, aut scribam
ad te alias aut in congressum nostrum reservabo. A curia autem nulla me res divellet, vel quod ita rectum
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nothing in him that is not low and time-serving. Well, perhaps the course I took was not opposed to my own advantage and peace of life, but I swear it was far more to the advantage of the State than to mine that I should be the means of suppressing the attacks of the disloyal, and of strengthening the wavering policy of a man of the highest position, influence and popularity, and converting him from pandering to the disloyal to approval of my achieve- ments. If I had had to make any sacrifice of principle in so doing, I should never have thought it justifiable : but I managed it so that he seemed to gain in prin- ciple by his approval of me, more than I lost in bow- ing to him. I will take care that my actions now and in the future do not convey the impression that what I did in the past was done at haphazard. My honest comrades, at whom you hint, and the lot! which has fallen to me, as you say, I will never desert. Nay, even if I am deserted by it I will abide by my ancient principles. But I would have you please remember that, since the death of Catulus, I am holding the way for the conservative party without a garrison and without a comrade. For, as Rhinton, I think it is, says:
Some are stark naught, and naught do others reck.
How our friends of the fish-ponds envy me, I will either tell you in another letter, or keep it till we meet. But from the Senate house nothing shall tear me: either because that is the right course, or
'Zadprav €daxes Tavray Kkéopec is quoted in full from Euripides’ Telephus in Att. Iv, 6, 2.
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est, vel quod rebus meis maxime consentaneum, vel quod, a senatu quanti fiam, minime me paenitet.
De Sicyoniis, ut ad te scripsi antea, non multum spei est in senatu; nemo est enim, idem qui queratur. Quare, si id exspectas, longum est; alia via, si qua potes, pugna. Cum est actum, neque animadversum est, ad quos pertineret, et raptim in eam sententiam pedarii cucurrerunt. Inducendi senatus consulti ma- turitas nondum est, quod neque sunt, qui querantur, et multi partim malevolentia, partim opinione aequi- tatis delectantur. a .
Metellus tuus est egregius consul; unum reprehen- do, quod otium nuntiari e Gallia non magno opere gaudet. Cupit, credo, triumphare. Hoc vellem me- diocrius; cetera egregia. Auli filius vero ita ‘se gerit, ut eius consulatus non consulatus sit, sed Magni nostri trwrcov. | .
De meis scriptis misi ad te Graece perfectum con- sulatum meum. Eum librum L. Cossinio dedi. Puto te Latinis meis delectari, huic autem Graeco Graecum invidere. Alii si scripserint, mittemus ad te; sed, mihi crede, simul atque hoc nostrum legerunt, nescio quo pacto retardantur.
Nunc, ut ad rem meam redeam, L. Papirius Paetus, vir bonus amatorque- noster, mihi libros eos, quos Ser. Claudius reliquit, donavit. Cum mihi per legem Cinciam licere capere Cincius, amicus tuus, diceret;-
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| because it is most consistent with my position, or because I am by no means dissatisfied with the Senate’s estimation of me. _
As regards the Sicyonians, there is very little hope to be placed in the Senate, as I wrote you before: for there is no one now to raise a complaint. It would be tedious to wait for them to move. Fight the point in some other way, if you can. When the law was passed, nobody noticed to whom it applied,
and the dummy members plumped eagerly in its _ favour. The time has not yet come for rescinding | the decree, because there is no one who complains | about it, and some favour it, partly from spite and partly from an idea of its justness.
Your friend Metellus is an excellent consul: I have only one fault to find with him, he is not at all pleased with the news of peace from Gaul. I take | it he wants a triumph. I wish he would moderate | that desire: in every other way he is excellent. The behaviour of Aulus’s son makes his consulship not a |
consulship, but a blot on the scutcheon! of our friend Pompey.
I have sent you one of my works, a history of my consulship in Greek. I have given it to L. Cossi- nius. I fancy you like my ‘Latin work, but, being a Greek, envy this Greek one. If others write about it, I will send you copies; but I assure you, as soon as they read mine, they somehow or other don’t hurry themselves about it.
Now to return to business. L. Papirius Paetus, my good friend and admirer, has offered me the books left to him by Ser. Claudius: and, as your friend Cincius said I could take them without breaking the
' Lit. ‘‘a black eye.” H 97
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libenter dixi me accepturum, si attulisset. Nunc, si me amas, si te a me amari scis, enitere per amicos,
clientes, hospites, libertos denique ac servos tuos, ut .
scida ne qua depereat; nam et Graecis iis libris, quos suspicor, et Latinis, quos scio illum reliquisse, mihi vehementer opus est. Ego autem cotidie magis, quod mihi de forensi labore temporis datur, in iis studiis conquiesco. Per mihi, per, inquam, gratum feceris, si in hoc tam diligens fueris, quam soles in iis rebus, quas me valde velle arbitraris, ipsinsque Paeti tibi negotia commendo, de quibus tibi ille agit maxi- mas gratias, et, ut iam invisas nos, non solum rogo, sed etiam suadeo.
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Cincian law', I said I would very willingly accept, if he brought them here. Now, as you love me, as you know I love you, stir up all your friends, clients, guests, freedmen, nay even your slaves, to see that not a leaf is lost. For I have urgent necessity for the Greek works, which I suspect, and the Latin books, which I am sure, he left. Every day I seek my recreation, in such time as is left me from my legal labours, more and more in such studies. You will do me the greatest of favours, if you will show the same zeal in this as you generally do in matters about which you think I am really keen. Paetus’ own affairs I recommend to your notice too, and he expresses his deepest gratitude. And I do more than ask you, I urge you, to pay me a visit soon.
1 The lex Cincta de donis et muneribus (204 B.C.), which
’ forbade taking presents for pleading causes.
H2 99
Scr. Romae m. Tun. a.
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M. TULLI CICERONIS EPISTULARUM AD ATTICUM LIBER SECUNDUS
I CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Kal. Iuniis eunti mihi Antium, et gladiatores M. Metelli cupide relinquenti, venit obviam tuus puer. Is mihi litteras abs te et commentarium consulatus mei Graece scriptum reddidit. In quo laetatus sum me aliquanto ante de isdem rebus Graece item scri- ptum librum L. Cossinio ad te perferundum dedisse; nam, si ego tuum ante legissem, furatum me abs te esse diceres. Quamquam tua illa (legi enim libenter) horridula mihi atque incompta visa sunt, sed tamen erant ornata hoc ipso, quod ornamenta neglexerant, et ut mulieres ideo bene olere, quia nihil olebant, videbantur. Meus autem liber totum Isocratis myro- thecium atque omnes eius discipulorum arculas ac non nihil etiam Aristotelia pigmenta consumpsit. Quem tu Corcyrae, ut mihi aliis litteris significas, strictim attigisti, post autem, ut arbitror, a Cossinio accepisti. Quem tibi ego non essem ausus mittere, nisi eum lente ac fastidiose probavissem. Quamquam ad me scripsit iam Rhodo. Posidonius se, nostrum illud trépurynpa cum legeret, quod ego ad eum, ut ornatius de isdem rebus scriberet, miseram, non modo non excitatum esse ad scribendum, sed etiam plane deterritum. Quid quae- ris? conturbavi Graecam nationem. Ita, vulgo qui instabant, ut darem sibi, quod ornarent, iam exhibere mihi molestiam destiterunt. Tu, si tibi placuerit
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CICERO’S LETTERS > TO ATTICUS BOOK II
I CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
On the Ist of June I met your boy as I was on my Rome, June, way to Antium and glad to get away from M. Me- B.c. 60 tellus’s gladiatorial exhibition. He delivered your letter, and a memorial of my consulship written in Greek. I felt very glad that I gave L. Cossinius the book I had written in Greek on the same subject to take to you some time ago. For, if I had read yours first you would say that I had plagiarized from you. Though yours (which I read with pleasure) seemed to me a trifle rough and unadorned, yet its very lack’ of ornament is an ornament in itself, just as women were thought to have the best scent who used no scent. My book, on the other hand, has exhausted all the scent box of Isocrates, and all the rouge-pots of his pupils, and some of Aristotle’s colours too. You scanned it through, as you tell me in another letter, at Corcyra, before you had received it from: Cossinius, I suppose. I should never have dared to send it to you, if I had not revised it with leisure and care. I sent the memoir to Posidonius too, asking’ : him to write something more elaborate on the same subject; but he tells me that, far from being inspired | to write by the perusal of it, he was decidedly put off. In fact, I have flabbergasted the whole Greek | nation: so I have ceased to be plagued by the people _who were always hanging about asking me to give them something of mine to polish up. If you-like the
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liber, curabis, ut et Athenis sit et in ceteris oppidis Graeciae; videtur enim posse aliquid nostris rebus lucis adferre. Oratiunculas autem, et quas postulas, et plures etiam mittam, quoniam quidem ea, quae nos scribimus adulescentulorum studiis excitati, te etiam delectant. Fuit enim mihi commodum, quod in eis orationibus, quae Philippicae nominantur, enituerat civis ille tuus Demosthenes, et quod se ab hoc refra- ctariolo iudiciali dicendi genere abiunxerat, ut ceuvo- TEPOS TLS Kal ToALTLKWTEpos Videretur, curare, et meae quoque essent orationes, quae consulares nominaren- tur. Quarum una est in senatu Kal. Ianuariis, altera ad populum de lege agraria, tertia de Othone, quarta pro Rabirio, quinta de proscriptorum filiis, sexta, cum provinciam in contione deposui, septima, cum Catili- nam emisi, octava, quam habui ad populum, postridie quam Catilina profugit, nona in contione, quo die Allobroges indicarunt, decima in senatu Nonis Decem- bribus. Sunt praeterea duae breves, quasi dzoo7a- opari. legis agrariae. Hoc totum capa curabo ut habeas; et, quoniam te cum scripta tum res meae delectant, isdem ex libris perspicies, et quae gesserim et quae dixerim; aut ne poposcisses; ego enim tibi me non offerebam.
Quod quaeris, quid sit, quo te arcessam, ac simul impeditum te negotiis esse significas neque recusas, quin, non modo si opus sit, sed etiam si velim, accur- ras, nihil sane est necesse, verum tamen videbare mihi tempora peregrinationis commodius posse discri- bere. Nimis abes diu, praesertim cum sis in propin-
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book, you will see to it that Athens and other Greek *
towns have it in stock; for I think it may add some lustre to my achievements. I will send you the bits of speeches~you ask. for and some more too, as you: find some interest in things which I write to satisfy young admirers. Your fellow-citizen, Demosthenes,
gained a reputation by the speeches called the Phil-— ippics, in which he departed from the quibbling style.
of pleading we use in the law-courts, and appeared in
the role of a serious politician.. So I took a fancy to.
leave behind me also some speeches which may be called consular. One was delivered in the House on the Ist of January, another to the people on the agrarian law, the third on Otho, the fourth for Rabi- rius, the fifth for the sons of the proscribed, the sixth when I declined a province in a public assembly, the seventh when I let Catiline go, the eighth before the people the day after Catiline fled, the ninth in an assembly on the day when the Allobroges gave their
information, the tenth in the House on the 5th of.’ December. There are two more short ones, mere. scraps of the agrarian law. I will see that you have . the whole corpus; and, since both my writing and my : achievements interest you, you will see from them.
what I have done, and what I have written. Or else you should not have asked for them: I was not the one to obtrude them.
You inquire why I ask you to come back, and hint that you are hindered by business. Still you don’t refuse to come, if there is any need, or even
if I wish it. There is no real necessity; but it-
does seem to me that you could arrange your times
for going away more conveniently. You are away
too long, especially when you are quite near, and 103
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO quis locis, neque nos te fruimur, et tu nobis cares. Ac nunc quidem otium est, sed, si paulo plus furor Pulchelli progredi posset, valde ego te istim excitarem. Verum praeclare Metellus impedit et impediet. . Quid quaeris? est consul ¢eAdrarpis et, ut semper iudicavi, natura bonus. Ile autem non simulat, sed plane tribunus pl. fieri cupit. Qua de re cum in senatu ageretur, fregi hominem et inconstantiam eius repre- hendi, qui Romae tribunatum pl. peteret, cum in Sicilia hereditatem se petere dictitasset, neque magno opere dixi esse nobis laborandum, quod nihilo magis ei liciturum esset plebeio rem publicam perdere, quam similibus eius me consule patriciis esset licitum. Iam, cum se ille septimo die venisse a freto, neque sibi obviam quemquam prodire potuisse, et noctu sé introisse dixisset, in eoque se in contione iactasset, nihil ei novi dixi accidisse. “Ex Sicilia septimo die Romam:; ante tribus horis Roma Interamnam. Noctu introisse; idem ante. Non est itum obviam; ne tum quidem, cum iri maxime debuit.” Quid quaeris? hominem petulantem modestum reddo non solum perpetua gravitate orationis, sed etiam hoc genere dictorum. Itaque iam familiariter cum ipso cavillor ac iocor; quin etiam, cum candidatum deduceremus, quaerit ex me, num consuessem Siculis locum gladia-
toribus dare. Negavi. “At ego,” inquit, “novus 104
LETTERS TO ATTICUS II. 1
so I have no chance of enjoying your society and you lack mine. Just at : present things are peaceful: ’ but if that little beauty’ should be strong enough to- indulge in any wilder freaks I should certainly be routing you out of your retreat. However, Metellus is holding him in nobly and will continue to do so. Most assuredly he is a thoroughly patriotic consul, and, as I always thought, an excellent fellow. Clodiu does not beat about the bush, he is quite plainly aim ing at the tribunate. When the point was discusse in the Senate, I sat on him, accusing him of incon sistency, for seeking the tribunate now in Rome, when in Sicily he did nothing but repeat that what - he wanted was an inheritance. However, I added, - - we need not put ourselves about on that point, as he would not be allowed to ruin the country if he becomes a plebeian any more than patricians of his- kidney were allowed to in my consulship. Then, when he said he had come from the straits in a week, so that no one could go to meet him, and had entered the city at night, and boasted of the fact in a public speech, I said there was nothing new in that.
“Seven days from Sicily to Rome: the other time three hours from Rome to Interamna. He came in at night: so he did before. No one met him now: nor did anyone meet him last time, when they certainly ought to have done so.”’ In fact, I am taking th cheek out of him, not only by serious set speeches but by quips of this kind too. So nowadays I band jests and banter with him quite familiarly. For in- stance, when we were escorting a candidate, he asked me whether I used to give the Sicilians seats at the gladiatorial shows. I said, “No.” “Well,” said he,
1 P, Clodius Pulcher. 105
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
patronus instituam; sed soror, quae tantum habeat consularis loci, unum mihi solum pedem dat.” “Noli,” inquam “de uno pede sororis queri; licet etiam alterum tollas.’’ Non consulare, inquies, di- ctum. Fateor; sed ego illam odi male consularem. “Ea est enim seditiosa, ea cum viro bellum gerit”’ neque solum cum Metello, sed etiam cum Fabio, quod eos ! in hoc esse moleste fert.
Quod de agraria lege quaeris, sane iam videtur refrixisse. Quod me quodam modo molli brachio de Pompei familiaritate obiurgas, nolim ita existimes, me mei praesidii causa cum illo coniunctum esse, sed ita res erat instituta, ut, si inter nos esset aliqua forte dissensio, maximas in re publica discordias versari esset necesse. Quod a me ita praecautum atque pro- visum est, non ut ego de optima illa mea ratione decederem, sed ut ille esset melior et aliquid de populari levitate deponeret. Quem de meis rebus, in quas eum multi incitarant, multo scito gloriosius quam de suis praedicare; sibi enim bene gestae, mihi conservatae rei publicae dat testimonium. Hoc facere illum mihi quam prosit, nescio; rei publicae certe prodest. Quid? si etiam Caesarem, cuius nunc venti valde sunt secundi, reddo meliorem, num tan- tum obsum rei publicae? Quin etiam, si mihi nemo invideret, si omnes, ut erat aequam, faverent, tamen non minus esset probanda medicina, quae sanaret vitiosas partes rei publicae, quam quae exsecaret.
1 eos esse in hoc esse A/SS. 106
LETTERS TO ATTICUS II. 1
“now I am their new patron, I intend to begin the practice : though my sister, who, as the consul’s wife, has such a lot of room, will not give me more than standing room.”’ “Oh, don’t grumble about standing room with your sister,” I answered. “You can always lie with her.’”’ You will say it was not the remark for a consular to make. I confess it was not; but I hate the woman, so unworthy of a consul. “For she’s a shrew and wrangles with her mate,” and not only with Metellus, but with Fabius too, because she is annoyed at their interference in this affair.
You ask about the agrarian law. Interest in it seems to have cooled down. You give me a gentle fillip for my familiarity with Pompey. Please don’t imagine I have allied myself to him solely to save my skin: the position of affairs is such that, if we had had any disagreement, there would of necessity have been great discord in the State. Against that I have taken precautions and made provision without wavering from my own excellent policy, while making him more loyal and less the people’s weathercock. He speaks, I may tell you, far more glowingly about my achieve- ments than about his own, though many have tried to set him against me, saying that he did his duty to the country, but I saved it. What good his statements will do me, I fail to see: but they will certainly do the country good. Well! If I can make Caesar, who is now sailing gaily before the breeze, a better patriot too, shall I be doing so poor a service to the country? And, even if none were to envy me and all supported me, as they ought, still a remedy which cures the diseased parts of the State
.should be preferable to one which amputates them.
107
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
Nunc vero, cum equitatus ille, quem ego in ¢livo Capitolino te signifero ac principe collocaram, sena- tum deseruerit, nostri autem principes digito se caelum putent attingere, si mulli barbati in piscinis sint, qui ad manum accedant, alia autem neglegant,
nonne tibi satis prodesse videor, si perficio, ut nolint | obesse, qui possunt? Nam Catonem nostrum non tu amas plus quam ego; sed tamen ille optimo animo utens et summa fide nocet interdum rei publicae ; dicit enim tamquam in Platonis roAcrefg, non tam- quam in Romuli faece sententiam. Quid verius quam in iudicium venire, qui ob rem iudicandam pecuniam acceperit? Censuit hoc Cato, adsensit senatus; equites curiae bellum, non mihi; nam ego dissensi. Quid impudentius publicanis renuntiantibus? fuit tamen retinendi ordinis causa faciunda iactura. Re- stitit et pervicit Cato. Itaque nunc consule in car- cere incluso, saepe item seditione commota aspiravit nemo eorum, quorum ego concursu itemque ii con- sules, qui post me fuerunt, rem publicam defendere solebant. “Quid ergo? istos,” inquies, “mercede conductos habebimus?’’ Quid faciemus, si aliter non possumus? An libertinis atque etiam servis servi- amus? Sed, ut tu ais, dAcs orovdys. -
108 .
LETTERS TO ATTICUS II. 1
But as it is, when the knights, whom I once stationed on the Capitoline hill with you as their standard-bearer and leader, have deserted the Senate, and our great men think themselves in the seventh heaven, if they have bearded mullet in their fish-ponds that will feed from their hand, and don’t care about anything else, surely you must allow that I have done my best, if I manage to take the will to do harm from those who have the power to do it. For our friend Cato is not more to you than to me: but still with the best of intentions and unimpeachable honesty at times he does harm to the country: for the opinions he de- livers would be more in place in Plato’s Republic than among the dregs of humanity collected by Romulus.! That a man who accepts a bribe for the verdict he returns at a trial should be put on trial himself is as fair a principle as one could wish. Cato voted for it and won the House’s assent. Result, a war of the knights with the Senate, but not with me. I was against it. That the tax-collectors should re- pudiate their bargain was a most shameless proceeding. But we ought to have put up with the loss in order to keep their good-will. Cato resisted and carried the day. Result, though we've had a consul in prison, and frequent riots, not a breath of encouragement from -one of those, who in my own consulship and that of my successors used to rally round us todefend the country. “Must we then bribe them for their support?” you will ask. What help is there, if we cannot get it other- wise? Are we to be slaves of freedmen and slaves? But, as you say, enough of the grand sérieuz.
' Possibly ‘‘among the dregs of [the city] of Romulus”;
but Plutarch, who translates it év ‘Pwuddou vrorrdOuy ( Phoc. 3), is against that rendering.
109
- MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
Favonius meam tribum tulit honestius quam suam, Luccei perdidit. Accusavit Nasicam inhoneste ac modeste tamen. Dixit ita, ut Rhodi videretur molis potius quam Moloni operam dedisse. Mihi, quod de- fendissem, leviter suscensuit. Nunc tamen petit iterum rei publicae causa. Lucceius quid agat, scri- bam ad te, cum Caesarem videro, qui aderit biduo. Quod Sicyonii te laedunt, Catoni et eius aemulatori attribuis Servilio. Quid? ea plaga nonne ad multos bonos viros pertinet? Sed, si ita placuit, laudemus, deinde in discessionibus soli relinquamur.
Amalthea mea te exspectat et indiget tui. Tuscu- lanum et Pompeianum valde me delectant, nisi quod me, illum ipsum vindicem aeris alieni, aere non Corinthio, sed hoc circumforaneo obruerunt. In Gallia speramus esse otium. Prognostica mea cum oratiun- culis prope diem exspecta et tamen, quid cogites de adventu tuo, scribe ad nos. Nam mihi Pomponia nuntiari iussit te mense Quintili Romae fore. Id a tuis litteris, quas ad me de censu tuo miseras, dis- crepabat.
Paetus, ut antea ad te scripsi, omnes libros, quos frater suus reliquisset, mihi donavit. Hoc illius munus in tua diligentia positum est. Si me amas, cura, ut conserventur et ad me perferantur; hoc mihi nihil potest esse gratius. Et cum Graecos tum vero
110
LETTERS TO ATTICUS II. 1
Favonius carried my tribe with even more credit than his own, but lost that of Lucceius. His accu- sation of Nasica was nothing to be proud of; how- ever he conducted it very moderately. He spoke so badly that one would think he devoted more time at Rhodes to grinding in the mills than at Molo’s lec- tures. I got into his bad books for undertaking the defence; however he is standing again now on public grounds. How Lucceius is getting on I will write and tell you, when I have seen Caesar, who will be here in a couple of days’ time. The wrong the Sicy- onians have done you you attribute to Cato and his imitator Servilius. But does not the blow affect many good citizens? However, if it so pleases them, let us acquiesce, and be utterly deserted at the next question put to the vote.
My Amalthea is waiting and longing for you. I am delighted with my places at Tusculum and Pom- peii, except that, champion of creditors as I am, they have overwhelmed me not so much with Corinthian bronze as with debts in the common copper coin of the realm. We hope things have settled down in Gaul. Expect my Prognostics! and my bits of speeches very shortly: but for all that write and tell me your plans about coming. Pomponia has sent a message that you will be in Rome in July: but that disagrees with the letter you sent to me about placing your name on the census list. | .
Paetus, as I have already mentioned, has given me the books left him by his brother: but this gift de- pends on your kind services. As you love me, see that they are preserved and brought to me. You could do me no greater favour: and I should like the
1A translation of Aratus’ Avoonueta.
111
Scr. ad villam m. Dec., ut
videtur, a.
694
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
diligenter Latinos ut conserves velim. Tuum esse hoe munusculum putabo. Ad Octavium dedi litteras ; cum ipso nihil eram locutus; neque enim ista tua negotia provincialia esse putabam neque te in tocul- lionibus habebam. Sed scripsi, ut debui, diligenter.
II CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Cura, amabo te, Ciceronem nostrum. Ei nos ovr vooety videmur. I[TeAAnvaiwv in manibus tenebam et hercule magnum acervum Dicaearchi mihi ante pedes exstruxeram. O magnum hominem, et unde multo plura didiceris quam de Procilio! KoprvOiwv et "AOnvaiwy puto me Romae habere. Mihi crede, si leges haec, dices!: mirabilis vir est. ‘Hpw5ns, si homo esset, eum potius legeret quam unam litteram scri- beret. Qui me epistula petivit, ad te, ut video, com- minus accessit. Coniurasse mallem quam restitisse coniurationi, si illum mihi audiendum putassem. De lolio* sanus non es; de vino laudo.
Sed heus tu, ecquid vides Kalendas venire, Anto- nium non venire? iudices cogi? Nam ita ad me mit- tunt, Nigidium minari in contione se iudicem, qui non adfuerit, compellaturum. Velim tamen, si quid est, de
1crede, si leges haec, dices Boot: credes leges haec doceo Z: hredes lege hec doceo M.
2 The MSS. read Lollio; but lolio, the reading of the ed. Jensoniana (Venice, 1470) ts supported by Reid with a refe- rence to Pliny H.N. xxu, 160, where lolium ts recommended for gout.
112
LETTERS TO ATTICUS II. 1-2
Latin books kept as well as the Greek. I shall count them a present from yourself. I have written to Octavius, but. not spoken to him about it: for I did not know that your business extended to the pro- vinces, nor did I count you among the Shylocks. But I have written as punctiliously as duty bade.
II
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Look well after my little namesake. I am ill with 4¢ Aes him by sympathy. I have in hand my treatise on country the constitution of Pellene, and you should see the 4ouse, huge heap of Dicaearchus that I have piled at my Dee. (?) feet. What a great man! You could learn a lot 5c. 60
more from him than from Procilius. I believe I have got his works on the constitutions of Corinth and Athens at Rome: and you may take my word for it that, if you read them, you will exclaim “The man is a wonder.”’ If Herodes had any sense in him, he would spend his time reading him and never write a single letter of the alphabet. He has attacked me by post, and you, as I see, in person. I would far rather have joined in the conspiracy than opposed it, if I had thought I should have to pay for it by listening to him. As regards the darnel, you must be losing your senses: but about the wine I quite agree with you.
But, I say, have you noticed the Kalends are coming, and there is no Antonius? Though the jury is being empanelled,—at least they tell me so, and that Nigidius is threatening in a public meeting to serve a summons on any juror who does not attend. If you
I 113
Scr. ad villam m.
Dec. a. 694
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO Antoni adventu quod audieris, scribas ad me et, quon- iam huc non venis, cenes apud nos utique pridie Kal.
Cave aliter facias. Cura, ut valeas.
III CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Primum, ut opinor, evayyéAca. | Valerius absolutus est Hortensio defendente. Id iudicium Auli filio con- donatum putabatur ; et Iphicratem! suspicor, ut scribis, lascivum fuisse. Etenim mihi caligae eius et fasciae cretatae non placebant. Quid sit, sciemus, cum veneris.
Fenestrarum angustias quod reprehendis, scito te Kvpov wacdefav reprehendere. Nam, cum ego idem istuc dicerem, Cyrus aiebat viridariorum Scaddcecs latis luminibus non tam esse suaves; etenim éorw Opus pev 7 a, Td S€ Opwpevov B, y, axrives Se 8 nal & Vides enim cetera. Nam, si xar cidwrAwv eurraces videremus, valde laborarent «iéwAa in angustiis. Nunc fit lepide illa €«xvovs radiorum. Cetera si re- prehenderis, non feres tacitum, nisi si quid erit eius modi, quod sine sumptu corrigi possit.
1Epicrates MSS..: Iphicrates Zyrrell. 114
LETTERS TO ATTICUS II. 2-3
should happen to get any news of Antonius’ coming, please let me know: and, as you won’t come here, dine with me anyhow on the 29th at my town house. Be sure you do; and take care of yourself.
Ill CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
First a trifle please for good news. Valerius has 41 his been acquitted, with Hortensius as his advocate. country The verdict is generally thought to be a concession to house, Aulus’ son; and I expect Iphicrates' has been up to Dec. (2), some tricks, as you suggest. I didn’t like the look p.c, 60 of his military boots and puttees. We shall know what it was, when you arrive.
In finding fault with the narrowness of my win- dows, let me tell you, you are finding fault with the Education of Cyrus’: for, when I made the same remark to Cyrus, he said that the view of gardens was not so pleasant, if the windows were broad. For, let a be the point of vision, and 6, c the object, and d, e the rays,—you see what follows. If our sight resulted from the impact of images,® the images would be horribly squeezed in the narrow space: but, as it is, the emission of rays goes on merrily. If you have any other faults to find, you will find me ready with an answer, unless they are such as can be put to rights without expense.
1 Obviously a nickname for Pompey, and, in view of the next sentence, the name of Iphicrates, who invented a mili- tary boot, seems more likely than Epicrates, which would mean ‘our influential friend.”
2 A play on the title of Xenophon’s book the Cyropacdeia and the name of Cicero's architect.
3 Democritus and the Epicureans held that sight resulted from the incidence of images cast by external things upon the eyes. The view supported by Cicero, that it resulted from rays sent out from the eyes, was that held by Plato.
12 115
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
Venio nunc ad mensem Ianuarium et ad trdcraciv nostram ac roAiteiav, in qua Dwxpatixus eis Exadrepor, sed tamen ad extremum, ut illisolebant, rv a pecKovoav. Est res sane magni consilii; nam aut fortiter resi- stendum est legi agrariae, in quo est quaedam dimi- catio, sed plena laudis, aut quiescendum, quod est non dissimile atque ire in Solonium aut Antium, aut etiam adiuvandum, quod a me aiunt Caesarem sic exspectare, ut non dubitet. Nam fuit apud me Cor- nelius, hunc dico Balbum, Caesaris familiarem. Is adfirmabat illum omnibus in rebus meo et Pompei consilio usurum daturumque operam, ut cum Pompeio Crassum coniungeret. Hic sunt haec, coniunctio mihi summa cum Pompeio, si ‘placet, etiam cum Caesare, reditus in gratiam cum inimicis, pax cum multitudine, senectutis otium. .Sed me xaraxAels mea illa commovet, quae est in libro tertio:
ce ° e
Interea cursus, quos prima a parte iuventae Quosque adeo consul virtute animoque petisti, Hos retine atque auge famam laudesque bonorum.”’
Haec mihi cum in eo libro, in quo multa sunt scripta dé potokpatiKkus, Calliope ipsa praescripserit, non opinor esse dubitandum, quin semper nobis videatur
t > ” > , \ 4 eis olwvds apioros dpiverOac mrepl marpns.
Sed haec ambulationibus Compitaliciis reservemus. Tu pridie Compitalia memento. Balineum calfieri iubebo. Et Pomponiam Terentia rogat; matrem
116
LETTERS TO ATTICUS II. 3
Now I come to January and my political attitude; and I shall follow the fashion of the Socratic schools in giving both sides of the question, ending, however, as they do, with the one which I prefer. It really is a point that requires much consideration. For either I have got to resist the agrarian measure strongly, which would mean something of a fight, though 1 should gain prestige by it; or I must hold my peace, which is equiv- alent to retiring to Solonium or Antium; or else I must assist the measure, and that is what they say Caesar expects me to do beyond a doubt. For Cornelius paid me a visit—I mean Balbus, Caesar’s great friend. He assured me that Caesar will take my own and Pompey’s opinion on everything, and that he will make an effort to reconcile Pompey and Crassus. On this side of the sheet may be placed an intimate connection with Pom- pey and, if I like, with Caesar too, reconciliation with my enemies, peace with the populace, and ease in my old age. But my blood is still stirred by the finale I laid down for myself in the 3rd book of my poem:!
“Meantime the course you chose in youth’s first
spring
And held to, heart and soul, ’mid civic strife
Keep still, with growing fame and good report.”’ Since Calliope herself dictated those verses to me in a book full of passages in lordly vein, I ought not to
have the least hesitation in holding “no omen , better tiad xii, 243
than to right one’s country’s wrongs.”
But this point must be reserved for our strolls at the Compitalia. Do you remember the day before the festival. I will order the bath to be heated, and Terentia is going to invite Pomponia. We will make
'On his consulship.
117
Scr. Antium. April a. 6965
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
adiungemus. Ocodpacrov rept drrXoripias adfer mihi de libris Quinti fratris.
IV CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Fecisti mihi pergratum, quod Serapionis librum ad me misisti; ex quo quidem ego, quod inter nos liceat dicere, millesimam partem vix intellego. Pro eo tibi praesentem pecuniam solvi imperavi, ne tu expensum muneribus ferres. Sed, quaoniam nummorum mentio facta est, amabo te, cura, ut cum Titinio, quoquo modo poteris, transigas. Si in eo, quod ostenderat, non stat, mihi maxime placet ea, quae male empta sunt, reddi, si voluntate Pomponiae fieri poterit; si ne id quidem, nummi potius reddantur, quam ullus sit scrupulus. Valde hoc velim, antequam profici- scare, amanter, ut soles, diligenterque conficias.
Clodius ergo, ut ais, ad Tigranem! Velim Scepsii condicione; sed facile patior. Accommodatius enim nobis est ad liberam legationem tempus illud, cum et Quintus noster iam, ut speramus, in otio consederit,
et, iste sacerdos Bonae deae cuius modi futurus sit,
scierimus. Interea quidem cum Musis nos delecta- 118
LETTERS TO ATTICUS II. 3-4
your mother one of the party. Bring me from my brother Quintus’ ‘library Theophrastus’ “Hints for office-seekers.”’
IV CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
I am much obliged to you for sending me Serapio’s Antium, book, though between you and me I hardly under- April, stand a thousandth part of it. I have. given orders s.c. 59 for you to be paid ready money for it, to prevent your entering it among presentation copies. Since I am mentioning money matters, please settle up with Titinius as best you can. If he won’t stand by his agreement, the best plan, so far as I can see, will be to return the goods for which he made a bad bargain, if Pomponia will consent to that course : if even that won't work, then give him his money back rather than have a fuss. I should be very glad if you would finish the business before you leave, with your usual kindness and carefulness.
So Clodius is going to Tigranes you say! I wish } it were on the same terms as that Scepsian.! But I don’t envy him. It will be a much more convenient time for me to get a free travelling pass, when my brother Quintus has settled down in peace, as I hope he will, and when I know the intentions of that priest of Bona Dea.” Meantime I shall settle down to the enjoyment of the Muses with resignation, in-
' Metrodorus of Scepsus was sent by Mithridates to urge Tigranes to wage war with Rome, but privately spoke against it. He was therefore put to death by Mithridates.
Clodius, on account of his intrusion into the mysteries of Bona Dea. . 119
Scr. Anti m. Apr. a. 696
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
bimus animo aequo, immo vero etiam gaudenti ac libenti, neque mihi umquam veniet in mentem Crasso invidere neque paenitere, quod a me ipse non desciverim.
De geographia dabo operam ut tibi satis faciam ; sed nihil certi polliceor. Magnum opus est, sed tamen, ut iubes, curabo, ut huius peregrinationis ali- quod tibi opus exstet. Tu quicquid indagaris de re publica, et maxime quos consules futuros putes, fa- cito ut sciam. Tametsi minus sum curiosus; statui enim nihil iam de re publica cogitare.
Terentiae saltum perspeximus. Quid quaeris? praeter quercum Dodonaeam nihil desideramus, quo minus Epirum ipsam possidere videamur. Nos cir- citer Kal. aut in Formiano erimus aut in Pompeiano. Tu, si in Formiano non erimus, si nos amas, in Pom- peianum venito. Id et nobis erit periucundum et tibi non sane devium. De muro imperavi Philotimo ne impediret, quo minus id fieret, quod tibi videretur. Tu censeo tamen adhibeas Vettium. His temporibus tam dubia vita optimi cuiusque magni aestimo unius aestatis fructum palaestrae Palatinae, sed ita tamen, ut nihil minus velim quam Pomponiam et puerum versari in timore ruinae.
V CICERO ATTICO SAL. Cupio equidem et iam pridem cupio Alexandream reliquamque Aegyptum visere et simul ab hac
hominum satietate nostri discedere et cum aliquo 120
LETTERS TO ATTICUS II. 4-5
deed with hearty good-will and delight, for it will never enter my head to envy Crassus, or to repent -of not having turned traitor to myself.
For the geography I will endeavour to satisfy you, but I won’t make any definite promise. It is a big piece of work: still I will do as I am told, and see to it that this little tour is not entirely unproductive for you. Let me have any political news you may worm out, especially who you think are likely to be consuls. However, I am not very anxious. I have made up my mind to forget politics for the time.
I have had a good look at Terentia’s woodlands, and can only say, that, if there was a Dodonaean oak there, I should feel as though I possessed the whole of Epirus. About the first of the month I shall be either in my place at Formiae, or at Pompeii. If I am not at Formiae, as you love me, come to Pom- peii. I shall be delighted to see you, and it won't be far out of your way. With regard to the wall, I have given orders to Philotimus to let you do any- thing you like: but I think you ought to call in Vettius. In these days, when every honest man’s life hangs in the balance, I set high store by the enjoyment of my Palatine palaestra for a summer, but not to the extent of wishing Pomponia and her boy to live in terror of a tottering ruin.
V CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
I am eager, and have long been eager to pay a Antium, visit to Alexandria and the rest of Egypt, and also April, to get away from here, where people are sick of see- B.c. 59 ing me, and return when they miss me a little: but
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desiderio reverti; sed hoc tempore et his mittentibus aidéopar Tpwas kat Tpyddas éAxervréerAovs. _
Quid enim nostri optimates, si qui reliqui sunt, lo- quentur? an me aliquo praemio de sententia esse deductum?
TlovAvédpas por wpwros éAcyxeinv avabynoe, -
Cato ille noster, qui mihi unus est pro centum mili- bus. Quid vero historiae de nobis ad annos DC praedicarint? Quas quidem ego multo magis vereor quam eorum hominum, qui hodie vivunt, rumusculos. Sed, opinor, excipiamus et exspectemus. Si enim deferetur, erit quaedam nostra potestas, et tum de- liberabimus. Etiam hercule est in non accipiendo non nulla gloria. Quare, si quid Qeodavns tecum forte contulerit, ne omnino repudiaris.
De istis rebus exspecto tuas litteras, quid Arrius narret, quo animo se destitutum ferat, et qui con- sules parentur, utrum, ut populi sermo, Pompeius et Crassus an, ut mihi scribitur, cum Gabinio Servius Sulpicius, et num quae novae leges et num quid novi omnino, et, quoniam Nepos proficiscitur, cuinam au- guratus deferatur; quo quidem uno ego ab istis capi possum. Videte vilitatem! meam. Sed quid ego haec, quae cupio deponere et toto animo atque omni cura dtrAorodetv? Sic, inquam, in animo est; vellem ab initio, nunc vero, quoniam, quae putavi esse praeclara,
_'vilitatem Meun/s: civitatem WZ: vitam Z.
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considering the circumstances, and the people who are sending me
“TI fear the men and long-gowned dames of Troy.”’ iad vi, 442 What will our conservative friends say, if there are any of them left? That I have been bribed out of my opinions? “The first to chide will be Polydamas,” Iliad xxii, 100
that friend of ours, Cato, who alone outweighs a hundred thousand in my eyes. What would history be saying of me six hundred years hence? And that is a thing I fear much more than the petty gossip of those who are alive to-day. But I suppose I can only lie low and see what turns up. If an offer is made to me, the decision will to some extent rest in my own hands, and then I[ will consider the question. Upon my word there is some little glory even in
-refusing: so, if Theophanes should happen to consult you, don’t decline point blank.
This is what I am hoping to hear from you in your letter :—what Arrius has to say for himself, and how he takes Caesar’s desertion of him, whether popular - report is right in speaking of Pompey and Crassus as the favourites for the consulship, or a correspondent of mine who mentions Gabinius and Servius Sulpicius, whether there are any new laws or any news at all, and to whom the augurship will be offered, now that Nepos is going away. That is the only bait with which they could catch me. You see how cheap I am going. But this is a forbidden subject. I mean to forget it, and devote myself heart and soul to philosophy. That, I assure you, is my intention; and I only wish I had always practised it. Now that I have sampled the vanity of what I once thought
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expertus sum quam essent inania, cum omnibus Musis rationem habere cogito. Tu tamen de Curtio ad me rescribe certius, et nunc quis in eius locum paretur, et quid de P. Clodio fiat, et omnia, quem ad modum polliceris, éri cxoAjs scribe, et, quo die Roma te exiturum putes, velim ad me scribas, ut certiorem te faciam, quibus in locis futurus sim, epistulamque statim des de iis rebus, de quibus ad te scripsi. Valde enim exspecto tuas litteras.
VI CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Quod tibi superioribus litteris promiseram, fore ut opus exstaret huius peregrinationis, nihil iam magno opere confirmo; sic enim sum complexus otium, ut ab eo divelli non queam. Itaque aut libris me de-
_lecto, quorum habeo Anti festivam copiam, aut fluctus
numero (nam ad lacertas captandas tempestates non sunt idoneae); a scribendo prorsus abhorret animus. Etenim yewypadixd, quae constitueram, magnum opus est. Ita valde Eratosthenes, quem mihi proposueram, a Serapione et ab Hipparcho reprehenditur. Quid censes, si Tyrannio accesserit? Et hercule sunt res difficiles ad explicandum et oyoedeis nec tam possunt avOnpoypadeio Oat, quam videbantur, et, quod caput est, mihi quaevis satis iusta causa cessandi est, qui etiam dubitem, an hic Anti considam et hoc tempus omne consumam, ubi quidem ego mallem duumvirum 124
LETTERS TO ATTICUS II. 5-6 —
glory, I am thinking of confining my attention ex- clusively to the Muses. For all that you must post me up in news of Curtius and who will succeed to his position, and what is happening about P. Clodius. Take your time, and write fully about things in general, as you promise. Please let me know on what day you are leaving Rome, so that I can tell you where I shall be: and let me have a letter at once on the points I have mentioned, for I look for- ward to your letters very eagerly.
VI
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
I am not so certain now about fulfilling the Antium, promises I made in former letters to produce some April, work in this tour: for I have fallen so in love B.c. 59 with idleness, that I can’t tear myself from it. So I either enjoy myself with my books, of which I have a jolly good lot at Antium, or else count the waves: the rough weather won’t allow me to catch shads. At writing my soul rebels utterly. The geographical work I had planned is a big under- taking. Eratosthenes, whom I had taken as my authority, is severely criticized by Serapion and Hipparchus; and, if I take Tyrannio’s views too, there is no telling what the result would be. Besides the subject is confoundedly hard to explain and monotonous, nor does it give one as many oppor- tunities for flowers of fancy as I imagined: besides— and this is the chief point—I find any excuse for idleness good enough. I am even debating settling down at Antium, and spending the rest of my life here: and I really wish I had been a magistrate here
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quam Romae fuisse. Tu vero sapientior Buthroti domum parasti. Sed, mihi crede, proxima est illi municipio haec Antiatium civitas. Esse locum tam prope Romam, ubi multi sint, qui Vatinium numquam viderint, ubi nemo sit praeter me, qui quemquam ex viginti viris vivum et salvum velit, ubi me interpellet nemo, diligant omnes! Hic, hic nimirum roA:crevréov ; nam istic non solum non licet, sed etiam taedet. Itaque dvéxdora, quae tibi uni legamus, Theopompio genere aut etiam asperiore multo pangentur. Neque aliud iam quicquam zroX:tevouar nisi odisse improbos et id ipsum nullo cum stomacho, sed potius cum ali- qua scribendi voluptate.
Sed ut ad rem, scripsi ad quaestores urbanos de Quinti fratris negotio. Vide, quid narrent, ecquae spes sit denarii, an cistophoro Pompeiano iaceamus. Praeterea de muro statue quid faciendum sit. Aliud quid? Etiam. Quando te proficisci istine putes, fac
ut sciam.
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rather than in Rome. You have been wiser in your generation and made a home for yourself at Buth- rotum: but you may take my word for it that this township of Antium runs your borough very close. To think of there being a place so near Rome, where there are lots of people who have never seen Vati- nius, where there is not a single soul save myself who cares whether any of our new commissioners are alive or dead, where no one intrudes upon me, though every one is fond of me. This, this is the very place for me to play the politician: for there in Rome, besides being shut out of politics, I am sick of them. So I will compose a private memoir, which I will read only to you, in the style of Theopompus, or even a still bitterer vein. My only policy now is hatred of the radicals: and that without rancour, indeed with some pleasure in expressing it.
But to return to business, I have written to the city quaestors about my brother Quintus’ affairs. See what they have to say, and whether there is any hope of our getting current coin, or whether we must put up with Pompey’s pice.’ Also decide what is to be done with the wall. Is there anything else I meant to say? Yes. Let me know when you think of going away.
! The cistophorus was an Asiatic coin, of which Pompey had deposited a large quantity in the treasury. Apparently
there was some idea of using them for paying Quintus during his proconsulship.
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VII
Apr. a. 695 Orationes autem a me duas postulas; quarum alte-
ram non libebat mihi scribere, quia abscideram,! alteram, ne laudarem eum, quem non amabam. Sed id quoque videbimus. Denique aliquid exstabit, ne tibi plane cessasse videamur.
De Publio quae ad me scribis sane mihi iucunda sunt, eaque etiam velim omnibus vestigiis indagata ad me adferas, cum venies, et interea scribas, si quid intelleges aut suspicabere, et maxime de legatione quid sit acturus. Equidem, antequam tuas legi lit- teras, hominem? ire cupiebam, non mehercule ut differrem cum eo vadimonium (nam mira sum alacri- tate ad litigandum), sed videbatur mihi, si quid esset in eo populare, quod plebeius factus esset, id amissu- rus. “Quid enim? ad plebem transisti, ut Tigranem ires salutatum? Narra mihi, reges Armenii patricios resalutare non solent?’’ Quid quaeris? atueram me ad exagitandam hanc eius legationem. Quam si ille contemnit, et si, ut scribis, bilem id commovet et latoribus et auspicibus legis curiatae, spectaculum egregium. Hercule, verum ut loquamur, subcon- tumeliose tractatur noster Publius, primum qui, cum
' quia abscideram most editors: qui absciram M. 2 hominem Lamdbinus, in hominem M,R,/.
CICERO ATTICO SAL. Scr. Antim. De geographia etiam atque etiam deliberabimus.
LETTERS TO ATTICUS II. 7
VII CICERO ‘TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
I will give the geography further consideration. Antium, As to the two speeches you ask for, one I did not April, want to write down, because I had broken off in the s.c. 59 middle, the other, because I had no desire to praise a man whom I did not like. But that too I will see about. Something shall appear anyhow, to convince you that I have not idled all my time away. .
I am highly delighted with the news about Pub- \ ; lius, please investigate all the details thoroughly, and bring a full account with you when you come. Meantime, if you pick up any hints, or draw any inferences, write to me, especially as to what he is going to do about the embassy. For my part, before I read your letter, I wished the man would go, not,
I assure you, through any desire to postpone his impeachment—for I am extraordinarily anxious to conduct the case—but because I thought that he would lose any popularity he had gained by turning plebeian. ‘Why did you transfer yourself to the plebs.? Was it to pay a visit to Tigranes? Pray tell me: don’t the kings of Armenia return the visit of a patrician?’’ As you see, I had sharpened my wits up to rally him on the subject of his embassy. But if he rejects it with scorn, and, as you say, thereby rouses the indignation of the proposers and augurs of the bill of adoption, it will be a grand sight. To - speak the honest truth, you know, our friend Publius is being treated with very scant courtesy. In the first place, though he was once the only man in K 129
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domi Caesaris quandam unus vir fuerit, nunc ne in viginti quidem esse potuerit; deinde alia legatio dicta erat, alia data est. Illa opima ad exigendas pecunias Druso, ut opinor, Pisaurensi an epuloni Vatinio re- servatur; haec ieiuna tabellarii legatio datur ei, cuius tribunatus ad istorum tempora reservatur. Incende hominem, amabo te, quod potes. Una spes est salu- tis istorum inter ipsos dissensio; cuius ego quaedam initia sensi ex Curione. Iam vero Arrius consulatum sibi ereptum fremit; Megabocchus et haec sangui- naria iuventus inimicissima est. Accedat vero, acce- dat etiam ista rixa auguratus. Spero me praeclaras de istis rebus epistulas ad te saepe missurum.
Sed illud quid sit, scire cupio, quod iacis obscure iam etiam ex ipsis quinque viris loqui quosdam. Quidnam id est? Si est enim aliquid, plus est boni, quam putaram. Atque haec sic velim existimes non me abs te xara rd xpaxtixdy quaerere, quod gestiat animus aliquid agere in re publica. Iam pridem gubernare me taedebat, etiam cum licebat; nunc vero cum cogar exire de navi non abiectis, sed ere- ptis gubernaculis, cupio istorum naufragia ex terra intueri, cupio, ut ait tuus amicus Sophocles,
dy tmd oréyp tuxvis dxovew Yaxddos cidoton devi. De muro quid opus sit, videbis. Castricianum 130
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Caesar’s house, now he has not a footing even among twenty; and in the second place, one embassy is talked of, and another is given to him. That fat post for levying money is reserved for Drusus of Pisaurum, I suppose, or for the gourmand Vatinius, while this barren messenger’s job is given to him, and his tribunate too has to wait their convenience. _ Fire the fellow’s resentment please, as much as you can. My one hope of safety lies in their mutual disagreement: and from Curio I gather that there is a hint of such a thing. Arrius is beginning to rage at being robbed of his consulship: Megabocchus and the rest of that bloodthirsty band of youths are at daggers drawn with them. And God grant there may come a dispute about this augurship on the top. I hope I shall have occasion to send you some of my very best letters and plenty of them on these topics. But I am anxious to know the meaning of that dark hint of yours, that even some of the board of five commissioners are speaking their minds. What on earth can it be? If there really is anything in it, things are in a better way than I thought. Please don’t imagine that I ask the question with a view to action, because my soul is yearning to take part in politics. I have long been sick of holding the helm, even when I was allowed to do so: and now, when