 |
[Footnote 652: Cicero gives him this title, by which he had been greeted by his soldiers after some victory over the predatory tribes in Cilicia. This letter is Cicero's most elaborate apology for his change of policy in favour of the triumvirs.]
[Footnote 653: Cicero has been variously supposed to refer to C. Cato (who proposed the recall of Lentulus), to Appius the consul, and finally to Pompey. The last seems on the whole most likely, though the explanation is not without difficulties. In that case the "disclosure" will refer to Pompey's intrigues as to the restoration of Ptolemy Auletes, of which he wished to have the management.]
[Footnote 654: I.e., to keep in with the Optimates, who were at this time suspicious of, and hostile to Pompey.]
[Footnote 655: At the trial of Sestius.]
[Footnote 656: B.C. 59, when Vatinius proposed the law for Caesar's five years' rule in Gaul.]
[Footnote 657: B.C. 56.]
[Footnote 658: Pompey is only speaking metaphorically. Quintus had guaranteed Cicero's support. Pompey half-jestingly speaks as though he had gone bail for him for a sum of money.]
[Footnote 659: Q. Caecilius Metellus Numidius, expelled from the senate and banished B.C. 100 for refusing the oath to the agrarian law of Saturninus, but recalled in the following year. Cicero is fond of comparing himself with him. See Letter CXLVII.]
[Footnote 660: M. AEmilius Scaurus, consul B.C. 115 and 108, censor 109, and long princeps senatus. Cicero comments elsewhere on his severitas (de Off. Sec. 108).]
[Footnote 661: Plato, Crit. xii.]
[Footnote 662: Like the character in the play (Terence, Eun. 440), if the nobles annoyed Cicero by their attentions to P. Clodius, he would annoy them by his compliments to Publius Vatinius.]
CLIII (A IV, 18)
TO ATTICUS (IN ASIA)
ROME, OCTOBER
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52]
... As it is,[663] to tell you my opinion of affairs, we must put up with it. You ask me how I have behaved. With firmness and dignity. "What about Pompey," you will say, "how did he take it?" With great consideration, and with the conviction that he must have some regard for my position, until a satisfactory atonement had been made to me. "How, then," you will say, "was the acquittal secured?" It was a case of mere dummies,[664] and incredible incompetence on the part of the accusers—that is to say, of L. Lentulus, son of Lucius, who, according to the universal murmur, acted collusively. In the next place, Pompey was extraordinarily urgent; and the jurors were a mean set of fellows. Yet, in spite of everything, there were thirty-two votes for conviction, thirty-eight for acquittal. There are the other prosecutions hanging over his head: he is by no means entirely free yet. You will say, "Well, then, how do you bear it?" With the best air possible, by heaven! and I really do plume myself on my behaviour. We have lost, my dear Pomponius, not only all the healthy sap and blood of our old constitution, but even its colour and outward show. There is no Republic to give a moment's pleasure or a feeling of security. "And is that, then," you will say, "a satisfaction to you?" Precisely that. For I recall what a fair course the state had for a short time, while I was at the helm, and what a return has been made me! It does not give me a pang that one man absorbs all power. The men to burst with envy are those who were indignant at my having had some power. There are many things which console me, without my departing an inch from my regular position; and I am returning to the life best suited to my natural disposition—to letters and the studies that I love. My labour in pleading I console by my delight in oratory. I find delight in my town house and my country residences. I do not recall the height from which I have fallen, but the humble position from which I have risen. As long as I have my brother and you with me, let those fellows be hanged, drawn, and quartered for all I care: I can play the philosopher with you. That part of my soul, in which in old times irritability had its home, has grown completely callous. I find no pleasure in anything that is not private and domestic. You will find me in a state of magnificent repose, to which nothing contributes more than the prospect of your return. For there is no one in the wide world whose feelings are so much in sympathy with my own. But now let me tell you the rest. Matters are drifting on to an interregnum; and there is a dictatorship in the air, in fact a good deal of talk about it, which did Gabinius also some service with timid jurors. All the candidates for the consulship are charged with bribery. You may add to them Gabinius, on whom L. Sulla had served notice, feeling certain that he was in a hopeless position—Torquatus having, without success, demanded to have the prosecution. But they will all be acquitted, and henceforth no one will be condemned for anything except homicide. This last charge is warmly pressed, and accordingly informers are busy. M. Fulvius Nobilior has been convicted. Many others have had the wit to abstain from even putting in an appearance. Is there any more news? Yes! After Gabinius's acquittal another panel of jurors, in a fit of irritation, an hour later condemned Antiochus Gabinius, some fellow from the studio of Sopolis, a freedman and orderly officer of Gabinius, under the lex Papia. Consequently he at once remarked, "So the Republic will not acquit me under the law of treason as it did you!"[665]
Pomptinus wants to celebrate a triumph on the 2nd of November. He is openly opposed by the praetors Cato and Servilius and the tribune Q. Mucius. For they say that no law for his imperium was ever carried:[666] and this one too was carried, by heaven, in a stupid way. But Pomptinus will have the consul Appius on his side.[667] Cato, however, declares that he shall never triumph so long as he is alive. I think this affair, like many of the same sort, will come to nothing. Appius thinks of going to Cilicia without a law, and at his own expense.[668] I received a letter on the 24th of October from my brother and from Caesar, dated from the nearest coasts of Britain on the 26th of September. Britain done with ... hostages taken ... no booty ... a tribute, however, imposed; they were on the point of bringing back the army. Q. Pilius has just set out to join Caesar. If you have any love for me or your family, or any truth in you, or even if you have any taste left, and any idea of enjoying all your blessings, it is really time for you to be on your way home, and, in fact, almost here. I vow I cannot get on without you. And what wonder that I can't get on without you, when I miss Dionysius so much? The latter, in fact, as soon as the day comes, both I and my young Cicero will demand of you. The last letter I had from you was dated Ephesus, 9th of August.
[Footnote 663: The beginning of the letter is lost, referring to the acquittal of Gabinius on a charge of maiestas.]
[Footnote 664: [Greek: gorgeia gymna], "mere bugbears."]
[Footnote 665: Antiochus Gabinius was tried, not for treason (maiestas), but under the lex Papia, for having, though a peregrinus, acted as a citizen; but he says "will not acquit me of treason," because he means to infer that his condemnation was really in place of Gabinius, whose acquittal had irritated his jury; therefore he was practically convicted of maiestas instead of his patron Gabinius. I have, accordingly, ventured to elicit the end of a hexameter from the Greek letters of the MS., of which no satisfactory account has been given, and to read Itaque dixit statim "respublica lege maiestatis [Greek: ou soi ken ar' isa m' apheie] (or [Greek: aphie])." The quotation is not known. Antiochus Gabinius was doubtless of Greek origin and naturally quoted Greek poetry. Sopolis was a Greek painter living at Rome (Pliny, N. H. xxxv. Sec.Sec. 40, 43).]
[Footnote 666: Pomptinus had been waiting outside Rome for some years to get his triumph (see p. 309). The negant latum de imperio must refer to a lex curiata originally conferring his imperium, which his opponents alleged had not been passed. The insulse latum refers to the law now passed granting him the triumph in spite of this. This latter was passed by the old trick of the praetor appearing in the campus before daybreak to prevent obnuntiatio. The result was that the tribunes interrupted the procession, which led to fighting and bloodshed (Dio, 39, 65).]
[Footnote 667: Because he wanted to go to his province himself in spite of having failed to get a lex curiata (p. 324).]
[Footnote 668: I.e., without waiting for the senate to vote the usual outfit (ornare provinciam).]
CLIV (Q FR III, 5-6)
TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL)
TUSCULUM (OCTOBER)
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52]
You ask me what I have done about the books which I begun to write when in my Cuman villa: I have not been idle and am not being idle now; but I have frequently changed the whole plan and arrangement of the work. I had already completed two books, in which I represented a conversation taking place on the Novendialia held in the consulship of Tuditanus and Aquilius,[669] between Africanus, shortly before his death, and Laelius, Philus, Manilius, P. Rutilius, Q. Tubero, and Laelius's sons-in-law, Fannius and Scaevola; a conversation which was extended to nine days and the same number of books "On the best Constitution of the State" and "On the best Citizen." The work was excellently composed, and the rank of the speakers added considerable weight to the style. But when these books were read to me in the presence of Sallustius at Tusculum, it was suggested to me by him that a discourse on such subjects would come with much greater force if I were myself the speaker on the Republic, especially as I was a no mere Heraclides Ponticus,[670] but an ex-consul, and one who had been engaged in the most important affairs in the state: that when I put them in the mouth of men of such ancient date they would have an air of unreality: that I had shewn good taste in my books about the science of rhetoric in keeping the dialogue of the orators apart from myself, and yet had attributed it to men whom I had personally seen: and, finally, that Aristotle delivers in the first person his essays "On the Republic" and "On the Eminent Man." I was influenced the more by this from the fact that I was unable to touch on the most important commotions in our state, because they were subsequent to the age of the speakers. Moreover, my express object then was not to offend anyone by launching into the events of my own time: as it is, I shall avoid that and at the same time be the speaker with you. Nevertheless, when I come to Rome I will send you the dialogues as they originally stood. For I fancy that those books will convince you that they have not been abandoned by me without some chagrin.
I am extremely gratified by Caesar's affection of which you write to me. The offers which he holds out I do not much reckon on, nor have I any thirst for honours or longing for glory; and I look forward more to the continuation of his kindness than to the fulfilment of his promises. Still, I live a life so prominent and laborious that I might seem to be expecting the very thing that I deprecate. As to your request that I should compose some verses, you could hardly believe, my dear brother, how short of time I am: nor do I feel much moved in spirit to write poetry on the subject you mention. Do you really come to me for disquisitions on things that I can scarcely conceive even in imagination—you who have distanced everybody in that style of vivid and descriptive writing? Yet I would have done it if I could, but, as you will assuredly not fail to notice, for writing poetry there is need of a certain freshness of mind of which my occupations entirely deprive me. I withdraw myself, it is true, from all political anxiety and devote myself to literature; still, I will hint to you what, by heaven, I specially wished to have concealed from you. It cuts me to the heart, my dearest brother, to the heart, to think that there is no Republic, no law courts, and that my present time of life, which ought to have been in the full bloom of senatorial dignity, is distracted with the labours of the forum or eked out by private studies, and that the object on which from boyhood I had set my heart,
"Far to excel, and tower above the crowd,"[671]
is entirely gone: that my opponents have in some cases been left unattacked by me, in others even defended: that not only my sympathies, but my very dislikes, are not free: and that Caesar is the one man in the world who has been found to love me to my heart's content, or even, as others think, the only one who was inclined to do so. However, there is none of all these vexations of such a kind as to be beyond the reach of many daily consolations; but the greatest of consolations will be our being together. As it is, to those other sources of vexation there is added my very deep regret for your absence. If I had defended Gabinius, which Pansa thought I ought to have done, I should have been quite ruined: those who hate him—and that is entire orders—would have begun to hate me for the sake of their hatred for him. I confined myself, as I think with great dignity, to doing only that which all the world saw me do. And to sum up the whole case, I am, as you advise, devoting all my efforts to tranquillity and peace. As to the books: Tyrannio is a slow-coach: I will speak to Chrysippus, but it is a laborious business and requires a man of the utmost industry. I find it in my own case, for, though I am as diligent as possible, I get nothing done. As to the Latin books, I don't know which way to turn—they are copied and exposed for sale with such a quantity of errors! However, whatever can possibly be done I will not neglect to do. Gaius Rebilus, as I wrote to you before, is at Rome. He solemnly affirms his great obligations to you, and reports well of your health.[672] I think the question of the treasury was settled in my absence. When you speak of having finished four tragedies in sixteen days, I presume you are borrowing from some one else? And do you deign to be indebted to others after writing the Electra, and the Troades? Don't be idle; and don't think the proverbial [Greek: gnothi seauton] was only meant to discourage vanity: it means also that we should be aware of our own qualities. But pray send me these tragedies as well as the Erigona. I have now answered your last two letters.
[Footnote 669: B.C. 129. The Novendialia was a nine days' festival on the occasion of some special evil omens or prodigies; for an instance (in B.C. 202), see Livy, 30, 38. The book referred to is that "On the Republic."]
[Footnote 670: I.e., a mere theorist like Heraclides Ponticus, a pupil of Plato's, whose work "On Constitutions" still exists.]
[Footnote 671: Hom. Il. vi. 208.]
[Footnote 672: Reading qui omnia adiurat debere tibi et te valere renuntiat. The text, however, is corrupt.]
CLV (Q FR III, 7)
TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL)
TUSCULUM (NOVEMBER)
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52]
At Rome, and especially on the Appian road as far as the temple of Mars, there is a remarkable flood. The promenade of Crassipes has been washed away, pleasure grounds, a great number of shops. There is a great sheet of water right up to the public fish-pond. That doctrine of Homer's is in full play:
"The days in autumn when in violent flood Zeus pours his waters, wroth at sinful men"—
for it falls in with the acquittal of Gabinius—
"Who wrench the law to suit their crooked ends And drive out justice, recking naught of Gods."[673]
But I have made up my mind not to care about such things. When I get back to Rome I will write and tell you my observations, and especially about the dictatorship, and I will also send a letter to Labienus and one to Ligurius. I write this before daybreak by the carved wood lamp-stand, in which I take great delight, because they tell me that you had it made when you were at Samos. Good-bye, dearest and best of brothers.
[Footnote 673: Hom. Il. xvi. 385.]
CLVI (F VII, 16)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
ROME (NOVEMBER)
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52]
In the "Trojan Horse," just at the end, you remember the words, "Too late they learn wisdom."[674] You, however, old man, were wise in time. Those first snappy letters of yours were foolish enough, and then——! I don't at all blame you for not being over-curious in regard to Britain. For the present, however, you seem to be in winter quarters somewhat short of warm clothing, and therefore not caring to stir out:
"Not here and there, but everywhere, Be wise and ware: No sharper steel can warrior bear."
If I had been by way of dining out, I would not have failed your friend Cn. Octavius; to whom, however, I did remark upon his repeated invitations, "Pray, who are you?" But, by Hercules, joking apart, he is a pretty fellow: I could have wished you had taken him with you! Let me know for certain what you are doing and whether you intend coming to Italy at all this winter. Balbus has assured me that you will be rich. Whether he speaks after the simple Roman fashion, meaning that you will be well supplied with money, or according to the Stoic dictum, that "all are rich who can enjoy the sky and the earth," I shall know hereafter. Those who come from your part accuse you of pride, because they say you won't answer men who put questions to you. However, there is one thing that will please you: they all agree in saying that there is no better lawyer than you at Samarobriva![675]
[Footnote 674: By Livius Andronicus or Naevius. Tyrrell would write the proverb in extremo sero sapiunt, "'tis too late to be wise at the last." There was a proverb, sero parsimonia in fundo, something like this, Sen. Ep. i. 5, from the Greek (Hes. Op. 369), [Greek: deile d' en pythmeni pheido].]
[Footnote 675: In Gallia Belgica, mod. Amiens.]
CLVII (A IV, 17)
TO ATTICUS (ON HIS WAY TO ROME)
ROME (NOVEMBER)
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52]
At last the long-expected letter from you! Back to Italy, how delightful! What wonderful fidelity to your promise! What a charming voyage! About this last, by Hercules, I was very nervous, remembering the fur wrappers of your former crossing. But, unless I am mistaken, I shall see you sooner than you say in your letter. For I believe you thought that your ladies were in Apulia, and when you find that not to be the case, what can there be to detain you there? Are you bound to give Vestorius some days, and must you go through the stale banquet of his Latin Atticism again after an interval? Nay, fly hither and visit (the remains) of that genuine Republic of ours!...[676] Observe my strength of mind and my supreme indifference to the Felician[677] one-twelfth legacy, and also, by heaven, my very gratifying connexion with Caesar—for this delights me as the one spar left me from the present shipwreck—Caesar, I say, who treats your and my Quintus, heavens! with what honour, respect, and favours! It is exactly as if I were the imperator. The choice was just lately offered him of selecting any of the winter quarters, as he writes me word. Wouldn't you be fond of such a man as that? Of which of your friends would you, if not of him? But look you! did I write you word that I was legatus to Pompey, and should be outside the city from the 13th of January onwards? This appeared to me to square with many things. But why say more? I will, I think, reserve the rest till we meet, that you may, after all, have something to look forward to. My very best regards to Dionysius, for whom, indeed, I have not merely kept a place, but have even built one. In fine, to the supreme joy of your return, a finishing stroke will be added by his arrival. The day you arrive, you and your party will, I entreat you, stay with me.
[Footnote 676: There are some words here too corrupt to be translated with any confidence. They appear to convey a summary of news already written in several letters as to the bribery at the elections, the acquittal of Gabinius, and the rumour of a dictatorship.]
[Footnote 677: A legacy of a twelfth left by a certain Felix to Cicero and Quintus had been rendered null by a mistake as to the will. See the letter to Quintus, p. 338.]
CLVIII (Q FR III, 8)
TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL)
ROME (NOVEMBER)
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52]
The earlier of your two letters is full of irritability and complainings, and you say you gave another of the same sort the day before to Labienus, who has not yet arrived—but I have nothing to say in answer to it, for your more recent letter has obliterated all trace of vexation from my mind. I will only give you this hint and make this request, that in the midst of your vexations and labours you should recall what our notion was as to your going to Caesar. For our object was not the acquisition of certain small and unimportant gains. For what was there of that kind which we should have thought worth the price of our separation? What we sought was the strongest possible security for the maintenance of our entire political position by the countenance of a man of the highest character and most commanding influence. Our interest is not so much in the acquisition of sums of money, as in the realization of this hope: all else that you get is to be regarded only as a security against actual loss.[678] Wherefore, if you will frequently turn your thoughts back upon what we originally proposed to ourselves and hoped to do, you will bear with less impatience the labours of military service of which you speak and the other things which annoy you, and, nevertheless, will resign them whenever you choose. But the right moment for that step is not yet come, though it is now not far off. Farthermore, I give you this hint—don't commit anything at all to writing, the publication of which would be annoying to us. There are many things that I would rather not know than learn at some risk. I shall write at greater length to you with a mind less preoccupied, when my boy Cicero is, as I hope he will be, in a good state of health. Pray be careful to let me know to whom I should give the letter which I shall then send you—to Caesar's letter-carriers, for him to forward them direct to you, or to those of Labienus? For where your Nervii dwell, and how far off, I have no idea.[679] I derived great pleasure from your letter describing the courage and dignity displayed (as you say) by Caesar in his extreme sorrow. You bid me finish the poem in his honour which I had begun; and although I have been diverted from it by business, and still more by my feelings, yet, since Caesar knows that I did begin something, I will return to my design, and will complete in these leisure days of the "supplications,"[680] during which I greatly rejoice that our friend Messalla and the rest are at last relieved from worry. In reckoning on him as certain to be consul with Domitius, you are quite in agreement with my own opinion. I will guarantee Messalla to Caesar: but Memmius cherishes a hope, founded on Caesar's return to Italy, in which I think he is under a mistake. He is, indeed, quite out of it here. Scaurus, again, has been long ago thrown over by Pompey. The business has been put off: the comitia postponed and postponed, till we may expect an interregnum. The rumour of a dictator is not pleasing to the aristocrats; for myself, I like still less what they say. But the proposal, as a whole, is looked upon with alarm, and grows unpopular. Pompey says outright that he doesn't wish it: to me previously he used not personally to deny the wish. Hirrus seems likely to be the proposer. Ye gods! what folly! How in love with himself and without—a rival! He has commissioned me to choke off Caelius Vinicianus, a man much attached to me. Whether Pompey wishes it or not, it is difficult to be sure. However, if it is Hirrus who makes the proposal, he will not convince people that he does not wish it. There is nothing else being talked about in politics just now; at any rate, nothing else is being done. The funeral of the son of Serranus Domesticus took place in very melancholy circumstances on the 23rd of November. His father delivered the funeral oration which I composed for him. Now about Milo. Pompey gives him no support, and is all for Gutta, saying also that he will secure Caesar on his side. Milo is alarmed at this, and no wonder, and almost gives up hope if Pompey is created dictator. If he assists anyone who vetoes the dictatorship by his troop and bodyguard,[681] he fears he may excite Pompey's enmity: if he doesn't do so, he fears the proposal may be carried by force. He is preparing games on a most magnificent scale, at a cost, I assure you, that no one has ever exceeded. It is foolish, on two or even three accounts, to give games that were not demanded—he has already given a magnificent show of gladiators: he cannot afford it: he is only an executor, and might have reflected that he is now an executor, not an aedile. That is about all I had to write. Take care of yourself, dearest brother.
[Footnote 678: Cicero means, "the substantial gain to be got from your serving under Caesar in Gaul is the securing of his protection in the future: all other gains, such as money etc., are merely to be regarded as securing you from immediate loss in thus going to Gaul: they don't add anything fresh to our position and prospects."]
[Footnote 679: Quintus had his winter quarters among the Nervii, in a town near the modern Charleroi. In this winter he was in great danger from a sudden rising of the Nervii and other tribes (Caes. B. G. v. 24-49).]
[Footnote 680: Twenty days of supplicatio had been decreed in honour of Caesar's campaigns of B.C. 55 (Caes. B. G. iv. 38).]
[Footnote 681: His gladiators, which he kept in training for the games he was going to give in honour of a deceased friend.]
CLIX (Q FR III, 9)
TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL)
ROME (NOVEMBER OR DECEMBER)
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52]
In regard to Gabinius, I had not to carry out any of the measures which you suggested with such affectionate solicitude. "May the earth swallow me rather, etc.!"[682] I acted with very great dignity and also with the greatest consideration. I neither bore hardly on him nor helped him. I gave strong evidence, in other respects I did not stir. The disgraceful and mischievous result of the trial I bore with the utmost serenity. And this is the advantage which, after all that has happened, has accrued to me—that I am not even affected in the least by those evils in the state and the licentious conduct of the shameless, which used formerly to make me burst with indignation: for anything more abandoned than the men and the times in which we are living there cannot be. Accordingly, as no pleasure can possibly be got from politics, I don't know why I should lose my temper. Literature and my favourite studies, along with the retirement of my country houses, and above all our two boys, furnish my enjoyments. The one man who vexes me is Milo. But I hope an end will be put to my anxieties by his getting the consulship: and to obtain this for him I shall struggle as hard as I did for my own, and you, I am sure, will continue to give assistance from over there. In his case other things are all secure, unless it is snatched from his grasp by downright violence: it is about his means that I am frightened:
"For he is now beyond all bearing mad,"[683]
to spend 1,000,000 sesterces (about L8,000) on his games. His want of prudence in this one particular I shall put up with as well as I can, and you should be strong-minded enough to do the same. In mentioning the changes to be expected next year, I didn't mean you to understand me to refer to domestic alarms: the reference was wholly to the state of the Republic, in which, though not charged with any actual duty, I can scarcely discharge myself from all anxiety. Yet how cautious I would have you be in writing you may guess from the fact that I do not mention in my letters to you even open acts of disorder in the state, lest my letter should be intercepted and give offence to the feelings of anyone. Wherefore, as far as domestic affairs are concerned, I would have you be quite easy: in politics I know how anxious you always are. I can see that our friend Messalla will be consul, if by means of an interrex, without any prosecution, if by that of a dictator, without danger of conviction. He is not disliked by anyone. Hortensius's warm support will stand him in good stead. Gabinius's acquittal is looked upon as a general act of indemnity. En passant: nothing has, after all, been done as yet about a dictatorship. Pompey is out of town; Appius is intriguing darkly; Hirrus is paving the way: there are many tribunes calculated on to veto it: the people are indifferent: the leading men disinclined to it: I don't stir a finger. I am exceedingly obliged for your promises as to slaves, and I am indeed, as you say, short-handed both at Rome and on my estates. But pray do nothing for my convenience unless it entirely suits your own, and your means. About the letter of Vatinius I laughed heartily. But though I know I am being watched by him, I can swallow his hatred and digest it too. You urge me to "finish": well, I have finished what, in my own opinion at least, is a very pretty "epic" on Caesar, but I am in search of a trustworthy letter-carrier, lest it should share the fate of your Erigona[684]—the only personage who has missed a safe journey from Gaul during Caesar's governorship.
What? because I had no good stone was I to pull down the whole building?—a building which I like better every day of my life: the lower court especially and the chambers attached to it are admirable. As to Arcanum, it is a building worthy of Caesar, or, by heaven, of some one even more tasteful still. For your statues, palaestra, fish-pond, and conduit are worthy of many Philotimuses, and quite above your Diphiluses. But I will visit them personally, as well as sending men to look after them and giving orders about them. As to the will of Felix, you will complain more when you know all. For the document which he believed himself to have sealed, in which your name was most certainly entered as heir to a twelfth, this, by a mistake of his own and of his slave Sicura, he did not seal: while the one which he did not intend to seal he did seal. But let it go hang, so long as we keep well! I am as devoted to your son Cicero as you can wish, and as he deserves, and as I am bound to be. However, I am letting him leave me, both to avoid keeping him from his teachers, and because his mother is leaving, without whom I am very much alarmed as to the boy's large appetite. Yet, after all, we see a great deal of each other. I have now answered all your letters. Dearest and best of brothers, good-bye.
[Footnote 682: I.e., rather than defend him. [Greek: tote moi chanoi (eureia chthon)], Hom. Il. iv. 182.]
[Footnote 683: [Greek: ho de mainetai ouk et' anektos] (Hom. Il. viii. 355). The numerals seem doubtful. According to some MSS. the amount would be 10,000,000, i.e., L80,000.]
[Footnote 684: The tragedy written by Quintus and lost in transit.]
CLX (F VII, 10)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
ROME (NOVEMBER)
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52]
I have read your letter which informs me that our Caesar considers you a great lawyer. You must be glad to have found a country where you have the credit of knowing something. But if you had gone to Britain also, I feel sure that there would not have been in all that great island anyone more learned in the law than you. However—you won't mind my laughing, for you invited me to do so—I am becoming positively a little jealous of you! That you should have been actually sent for by a man whom other people—not because of his pride, but of his many engagements—cannot venture to approach!
But in that letter you told me nothing about your success, which, by heaven, is of no less concern to me than my own. I am very much afraid you may be frozen in your winter quarters: and therefore I think you ought to use a good stove. Mucius and Manilius "concur" in this opinion, especially on the ground of your being short of military cloaks. However, I am told that you are having a sufficiently warm time of it where you are—news which made me much alarmed for you.[685] However, in military matters you are much more cautious than at the bar, seeing that you wouldn't take a swim in the ocean, fond of swimming as you are, and wouldn't take a look at the British charioteers, though in old time I could never cheat you even out of a blind-folded gladiator.[686] But enough of joking. You know how earnestly I have written to Caesar about you; I know how often. Yet, in truth, I have lately ceased doing so, lest I should appear to distrust the kindness of a man who has been most liberal and affectionate to me. However, in the very last letter I wrote I thought he ought to be reminded. I did so. Please tell me what effect it had, and at the same time tell me about your position in general and all your plans. For I am anxious to know what you are doing, what you are expecting, how long your separation from us you think is to last. I would wish you to believe that the one consolation, enabling me to bear your absence, is the knowledge that it is for your advantage. But if that is not so, nothing can be more foolish than both the one and the other of us: me for not inducing you to come back to Rome—you for not flying thither. By heavens, our conversation, whether serious or jesting, will be worth more not only than the enemy, but even than our "brothers" the Haedui.[687] Wherefore let me know about everything as soon as possible:
"I'll be some use by comfort, rede, or pelf."[688]
[Footnote 685: He seems to refer to the rising of the Nervii against the Roman winter quarters (Caes. B. G. v. 39 seq).]
[Footnote 686: Andabatam, a gladiator with a closed helmet covering the face, who thus fought without seeing his adversary.]
[Footnote 687: A title granted to the Haedui by the senate (Caes. B. G. i. 33; Tac. Ann. xi. 25).]
[Footnote 688: Terence, Heautont. 86.]
CLXI (F I, 10)
TO L. VALERIUS (IN CILICIA)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52]
M. Cicero wishes heath to L. Valerius, learned in the law. For why I should not pay you this compliment I don't know, especially considering that in these times one may employ impudence to supply the place of learning. I have written to our friend Lentulus, thanking him earnestly in your name. But I could wish that you would now cease using my letter of introduction and at last come back to us, and prefer a city where you are of some account, to a place where you appear to be the only man of legal learning. However, those who come from where you are either say you are proud because you give no "opinions," or insulting because you give bad ones.[689] But I am now longing to crack a joke with you face to face. So come as soon as ever you can, and don't go and visit your native Apulia, that we may have the joy of welcoming your safe return. For if you go there, like another Ulysses, you will not recognize any of your friends.[690]
[Footnote 689: Cicero perhaps means that Valerius's "opinions" are too right to suit such a set as are to be found in the province. Valerius will not mind people there thinking him a bad lawyer. "At Rome you are considered a good lawyer, in Cilicia they don't think so!"]
[Footnote 690: Cognosces tuorum neminem.. Others read cognoscere tuorum nemini, "you will not be recognized by any of your friends," which agrees better with Homer's account of the return of Ulysses. But perhaps the exact comparison is not to be pressed.]
CLXII (F XIII, 49)
TO M. CURIUS (A PROCONSUL)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52]
Q. Pompeius, son of Sextus, has become my intimate friend from many causes of long standing. As he has often in the past been accustomed to defend his material interests, as well as his reputation and influence, by my recommendations, so on the present occasion assuredly, with you as governor of the province, he ought to be able to feel that he has never had a warmer recommendation to anyone. Wherefore I beg you with more than ordinary earnestness that, as you ought in view of our close friendship to regard all my friends as your own, you would give the bearer so high a place in your regard, that he may feel that nothing could have been more to his interest and honour than my recommendation. Farewell.
CLXIII (F XIII, 60)
TO C. MUNATIUS (IN A PROVINCE)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52]
L. Livineius Trypho is to begin with a freedman of my most intimate friend L. Regulus (whose disaster makes me more than ever anxious to do him some service—for as far as feeling goes I could not be warmer): but I also am attached to his freedman on his own account, for he shewed me very great kindness at that time in my career, when I was best able to see men's real goodwill and fidelity. I recommend him to you with all the warmth that one who is grateful and not oblivious should use in recommending those who have done him good service. You will have greatly gratified me if he is made to feel that in confronting many dangers for my security, and often undertaking voyages in the depths of winter, he has also put you under an obligation in view of your kind feeling towards me.
CLXIV (F XIII, 73)
TO Q. PHILIPPUS (PROCONSUL OF ASIA)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, AET. 52]
I congratulate you on your safe return to your family from your province, without loss to your reputation or to the state. But if I had seen you at Rome I should also have thanked you for having looked after L. Egnatius, my most intimate friend, who is still absent, and L. Oppius, who is here. With Antipater of Derbe I have become not merely on visiting terms, but really very intimate. I have been told that you are exceedingly angry with him, and I was very sorry to hear it. I have no means of judging the merits of the case, only I am persuaded that a man of your character has done nothing without good reason. However, I do beg of you again and again that, in consideration of our old friendship, you will, for my sake if for anyone's, grant his sons, who are in your power, their liberty, unless you consider that in doing so your reputation may be injured. If I had thought that, I would never have made the request, for your fame is of more importance in my eyes than any friendship with him. But I persuade myself—though I may possibly be mistaken—that this measure will bring you honour rather than abuse. What can be done in the matter, and what you can do for my sake (for as to your willingness I feel no doubt), I should be obliged by your informing me, if it is not too much trouble to you.
CLXV (F II, 1)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, Coss., M. Domitius Calvinus, M. Valerius Messalla.]
This was the year in which Crassus was defeated and killed in Parthia, making thus the first break in the triumvirate, when already the ties between Pompey and Caesar were weakened by the death of Iulia in the previous year. Caesar, however, had been in great difficulties in Gaul. At the end of the previous year a fresh rising of the Nervii destroyed a Roman legion and put Q. Cicero in great danger. In the present year Quintus met with his disaster at the hands of the Sigambri. The chief event to Cicero personally was his election into the college of augurs, in place of the younger Crassus. Atticus appears to be in Rome, for there are no letters to him. There was a series of interregna this year owing to partisan conflicts, lasting till July, and when the consuls were at length appointed, they failed to hold the elections for B.C. 52.
TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO[691] (IN ASIA)
ROME (JANUARY OR FEBRUARY)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53]
Though I am sorry that you have suspected me of neglect, yet it was not so annoying to me to have my lack of attention found fault with, as delightful to have it missed by you; especially as in the particular point on which you accuse me I happen to be innocent, while in shewing that you miss a letter from me, you avow an affection for me, of which, indeed, I was fully aware, but which, nevertheless, is very soothing and gratifying to my feelings. The fact is that I have never let anyone go, so long, that is, as I thought him likely to reach you, without giving him a letter. Why, was there ever such an untiring correspondent as I? From you, however, I have received two, or at the most three letters—and those extremely brief. Wherefore, if you are a harsh judge of me, I shall find you guilty on precisely the same charge. But if you don't want me to do that, you will have to be considerate to me. However, enough about writing; for I am not afraid of failing to satiate you with my correspondence, especially if you shew a just appreciation of my zeal in that department. I have been grieved on the one hand at your long absence from us, because I have lost the advantage of a most delightful intimacy; and yet on the other hand I rejoice at it, because while on this foreign service you have gained all your objects with infinite credit to yourself, and because in all you have undertaken fortune has answered to my wishes. There is one injunction, a very short one, which my unspeakable affection for you compels me to give you. Such lofty expectations are entertained of your spirit, shall I say? or of your ability, that I cannot refrain from imploring and beseeching you to return to us with a character so finished, as to be able to support and maintain the expectations which you have excited. And since no loss of memory will ever obliterate my recollection of your services to me, I beg you not to forget that, whatever increase of fortune or position may befall you, you would not have been able to attain it, had you not as a boy obeyed my most faithful and affectionate counsels.[692] Wherefore it will be your duty to shew me such affection, that my age—now on the decline—may find repose in your devotion and youth.
[Footnote 691: The younger Curio was now quaestor to C. Clodius, brother of Publius and Appius, in Asia. He was tribune in B.C. 50, when he suddenly changed sides and joined Caesar, who purchased his adhesion by paying his immense debts.]
[Footnote 692: Curio had supported Cicero against Clodius, and had worked for his recall. He seems to have attended at Cicero's house for the study of rhetoric or legal practice, as was the fashion for young men to do. He presently married Fulvia, the widow of Clodius, who after his death in Africa (B.C. 48) married Antony.]
CLXVI (F VII, 11)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
ROME (JANUARY OR FEBRUARY)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53]
If you had not left Rome before, you certainly would have left it now. For who wants a lawyer when there are so many interregna? I shall advise all defendants in civil suits to ask each interrex for two adjournments for obtaining legal assistance.[693] Do you think that I have taken a pretty good hint from you as to civil procedure? But come! How are you? What is happening? For I notice in your letter a tendency to be even jocose. These are better signs than the signa in my Tusculan villa.[694] But I want to know what it means. You say, indeed, that you are consulted by Caesar, but I should have preferred his consulting for you. If that is taking place, or you think it likely to take place, by all means persevere in your military service and stay on: I shall console myself for my loss of you by the hope that it will be your gain: but if, on the other hand, things are not paying with you, come back to us. For either something will turn up sooner or later here, or, if not, one conversation between you and me, by heaven, will be worth more than all the Samobrivae[695] in the world. Finally, if you return speedily, there will be no talk about it; but if you stay away much longer without getting anything, I am in terror not only of Laberius, but of our comrade Valerius also. For it would make a capital character for a farce—a British lawyer![696] I am not laughing though you may laugh, but, as usual, when writing to you, I jest on the most serious subject. Joking apart, I advise you in the most friendly spirit, that if you hold a position for yourself worthy of my introduction, you should put up with the loss of my society and farther your own career and wealth: but if things are stagnant with you there, come back to us. In spite of everything you will get all you want, by your own good qualities certainly, but also by my extreme affection for you.
[Footnote 693: The interregna lasting this year till July. No legal business could be done, as the law courts were closed during an interregnum. But Cicero jestingly says that he advises clients to apply to each interrex (who only held office for five days) for two adjournments, whereby he would get his case postponed indefinitely: for if each adjournment was to the third day, the two would cover each interregnum. Of course he is only jesting, for in any case the cause would not come on.]
[Footnote 694: There is a play on the double meaning of signa, "signs" and "statues." Cicero did not like the statues in his Tusculanum. See Letter CXXV.]
[Footnote 695: Samobriva (Amiens), where Trebatius was, or had been, in Caesar's camp. Caesar spells it Samarobriva.]
[Footnote 696: Laberius is a rival jurisconsult, Valerius a writer of mimes. Though Cicero jests at the supposed comic character, "a lawyer in Britain" (as we might say, "a lawyer among the Zulus"), it does not appear that Trebatius went to Britain with Caesar.]
CLXVII (F II, 2)
TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (IN ASIA)
ROME (? FEBRUARY)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53]
I have been deprived of a strong witness to my extreme affection for you in the person of your most illustrious father: who would have been fortunate above the common lot, both in his own memorable achievements and in the possession of such a son as yourself, had it been granted him to see you before his departure from life. But I hope our friendship stands in no need of witnesses. Heaven bless your inheritance to you! You will at least have in me one to whom you are as dear and as precious as you have been to your father.
CLXVIII (F II, 3)
TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (IN ASIA)
ROME (? FEBRUARY)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53]
Rupa[697] was not backward in his wish to promise an exhibition of gladiators in your name, but neither I nor any of your friends approved of anything being done in your absence which would tie your hands when you returned. For my part, I will either write you my opinion at greater length later on, or, to give you no opportunity of preparing an answer to it, I will take you unprepared and state my view by word of mouth against yours. I shall thus either bring you over to my opinion, or at least leave in your mind a record of my view, so that, if at any time (which heaven forbid!) you may see cause to repent of your decision, you may be able to recall mine. Briefly, be assured that your return will find the state of things to be such, that you may gain the highest possible honours in the state more easily by the advantages with which you are endowed by nature, study, and fortune, than by gladiatorial exhibitions. The power of giving such things stirs no feeling of admiration in anyone; for it is wholly a question of means, and not of character; and there is nobody who is not by this time sick and tired of them. But I am not acting as I said I would do, for I am embarking on a statement of the reasons for my opinion. So I will put off this entire discussion to your arrival. Believe me, you are expected with the greatest interest, and hopes are entertained of you such as can only be entertained of the highest virtue and ability. If you are as prepared for this as you ought to be—and I feel certain you are—you will be bestowing on us, your friends, on the whole body of your fellow citizens, and on the entire state, the most numerous and most excellent of exhibitions. You will certainly become aware that no one can be dearer or more precious than you are to me.
[Footnote 697: A freedman and agent of Curio's. The question is of funeral games and an exhibition of gladiators in honour of Curio's father. Curio gave them, and involved himself in huge debt in consequence.]
CLXIX (F VII, 12)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
ROME (? FEBRUARY)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53]
I was wondering what had made you cease writing to me. My friend Pansa[698] has informed me that you have become an Epicurean! What a wonderful camp yours must be! What would you have done if I had sent you to Tarentum[699] instead of Samobriva? I was already a little doubtful about you, when I found you supporting the same doctrine as my friend Selius![700] But on what ground will you support the principles of civil law, if you act always in your own interest and not in that of your fellow citizens? What, too, is to become of the legal formula in cases of trust, "as should be done among honest men"? For who can be called honest who does nothing except on his own behalf? What principle will you lay down "in dividing a common property," when nothing can be "common" among men who measure all things by their own pleasure?[701] How, again, can you ever think it right to swear by Iupiter lapis, when you know that Iupiter cannot be angry with anyone?[702] What is to become of the people of Ulubrae,[703] if you have decided that it is not right to take part in civic business? Wherefore, if you are really and truly a pervert from our faith, I am much annoyed; but if you merely find it convenient to humour Pansa, I forgive you. Only do write and tell us how you are, and what you want me to do or to look after for you.
[Footnote 698: C. Vibius Pansa had been in Gaul, and was now home to stand for the tribuneship, which he obtained for B.C. 52-51.]
[Footnote 699: Where he would have been in luxury.]
[Footnote 700: A follower of the new academy, with which Cicero was more in sympathy than with the Epicurean ethics, but apparently only partly so. The leading doctrine was the denial of the possibility of knowledge, and, applied to ethics, this might destroy all virtue.]
[Footnote 701: All these jesting objections to a lawyer being an Epicurean are founded on the Epicurean doctrine that individual feeling is the standard of morals, and the summum bonum is the good of the individual. The logical deduction that a man should therefore hold aloof from politics and social life, as involving social obligations and standards, was, of course, evaded in practice.]
[Footnote 702: For the Epicureans believed the gods to exist, but not to trouble themselves with the affairs of men. In taking an oath by Iupiter lapis the swearer took a stone in his hand and said, "If I abide by this oath may he bless me: but if I do otherwise in thought or deed, may all others be kept safe, each in his own country, under his own laws, in enjoyment of his own goods, household gods, and tombs—may I alone be cast out, even as this stone is now." Then he throws down the stone. This passage from Polybius (iii. 25) refers to treaties, but the same form seems to have been used in suits about land.]
[Footnote 703: Ulubrae—like other municipia—had a patronus at Rome to look after its interests. If Trebatius (who was its patronus) would take no part in politics, he would be of no use to the Ulubrani. [Greek: politeuesthai], "to act as a citizen," "to act as a member of a political body."]
CLXX (F VII, 13)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
ROME, 4 MARCH
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53]
Did you suppose me to be so unjust as to be angry with you from the idea that you were not sufficiently persevering and were too eager to return, and do you think that that is the reason of my long silence? I was certainly annoyed by the uneasiness of your spirits, which your first letters conveyed to me; but there was absolutely no other reason for the interruption of my own, except my complete ignorance of your address. Are you still, at this time of day, finding fault with me, and do you refuse to accept my apology? Just listen to me, my dear Testa! Is it money that is making you prouder, or the fact that your commander-in-chief consults you? May I die if I don't believe that such is your vanity that you would rather be consulted by Caesar than gilded[704] by him! But if both reasons are true, who will be able to put up with you except myself, who can put up with anything? But to return to our subject—I am exceedingly glad that you are content to be where you are, and as your former state of mind was vexatious, so your present is gratifying, to me. I am only afraid that your special profession may be of little advantage to you: for, as I am told, in your present abode
"They lay no claim by joining lawful hands, But challenge right with steel."[705]
But you are not wont[706] to be called in to assist at a "forcible entry." Nor have you any reason to be afraid of the usual proviso in the injunction, "into which you have not previously made entry by force and armed men," for I am well assured that you are not a man of violence. But to give you some hint as to what you lawyers call "securities," I opine that you should avoid the Treviri; I hear they are real tresviri capitales—deadly customers: I should have preferred their being tresviri of the mint![707] But a truce to jesting for the present. Pray write to me in the fullest detail of all that concerns you.
4 March.
[Footnote 704:
"I will make fast the doors and gild myself With some more ducats."—SHAKESPEARE.. ]
[Footnote 705: Ennius, Ann. 275. The phrase manum consertum in legal language meant to make a joint claim by the symbolical act of each claimant laying a hand on the property (or some representation of it) in court. But it also meant "to join hands in war." Hence its equivocal use in this passage. Consertum is a supine, and some such word as eunt must be understood before it.]
[Footnote 706: Reading at tu non soles. I cannot explain Prof. Tyrrell's reading et tu soles in connexion with what follows.]
[Footnote 707: This elaborate joke is founded on a pun upon the name of the Gallic Treviri and the commissioners in Rome: (1) the III viri capitales, who had charge of prisons, executions, etc.; (2) the III viri auro argento aeri flando feriundo, "the commissioners for coining gold, silver, and bronze." Also there is a reference to the meaning of capitalis, "deadly," "affecting the life or citizenship."]
CLXXI (F VII, 14)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
ROME (? MARCH)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53]
Chrysippus Vettius, a freedman of the architect Cyrus, made me think that you had not quite forgotten me; for he has brought me a greeting in your words. You have grown a mighty fine gentleman, that you can't take the trouble of writing a letter to me—a man, I might almost say, of your own family! But if you have forgotten how to write, all the fewer clients will lose their causes by having you as their advocate! If you have forgotten me, I will take the trouble of paying you a visit where you are, before I have quite faded out of your mind. If it is a terror of the summer camp that is disheartening you, think of some excuse to get off, as you did in the case of Britain. I was glad to hear one thing from that same Chrysippus, that you were on friendly terms with Caesar. But, by Hercules, I should have preferred, as I might fairly have expected, to be informed of your fortunes as frequently as possible from your own letters. And this would certainly have been the case, if you had been more forward to learn the laws of friendship than of suits in court. But this is all jest in your own vein, and to some degree in mine also. I love you very dearly, and I both wish to be loved by you and feel certain that I am.
CLXXII (F VII, 18)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
A VILLA IN THE AGER POMPTINUS, 8 APRIL
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53]
I have received several letters from you at the same time, written at various times, in which everything else gave me great pleasure; for they shewed that you were now sustaining your military service with a brave spirit, and were a gallant and resolute man. These are qualities which for a short time I felt to be lacking in you, though I attributed your uneasiness not so much to any weakness of your own spirit, as to your feeling your absence from us. Therefore go on as you have begun: endure your service with a stout heart: believe me, the advantages you will gain are many; for I will reiterate my recommendation of you, though I shall wait for the right moment of doing so. Be assured that you are not more anxious that your separation from me should be as profitable as possible to yourself than I am. Accordingly, as your "securities" are somewhat weak, I have sent you one in my poor Greek, written by my own hand.[708] For your part, I should wish you to keep me informed of the course of the war in Gaul: for the less warlike my informant, the more inclined I am to believe him.
But to return to your letters. Everything else (as I said) is prettily written, but I do wonder at this: who in the world sends several identical letters, when he writes them with his own hand? For your writing on paper that has been used before, I commend your economy: but I can't help wondering what it was that you preferred to rub out of this bit of paper rather than not write such poor stuff as this—unless it were, perhaps, some of your legal formulas. For I don't suppose you rub out my letters to replace them with your own. Can it mean that there is no business going on, that you are out of work, that you haven't even a supply of paper? Well, that is entirely your own fault, for taking your modesty abroad with you instead of leaving it behind here with us. I will commend you to Balbus, when he starts to join you, in the good old Roman style. Don't be astonished if there is a somewhat longer interval than usual between my letters: for I intend being out of town in April. I write this letter in the Pomptine district, having put up at the villa of M. AEmilius Philemo, from which I could hear the noise of my clients, I mean those you confided to me! For at Ulubrae it is certain that an enormous mass of frogs have bestirred themselves to do me honour. Take care of your health.[709]
8 April, from the Ager Pomptinus.
P.S.—Your letter which I received from L. Arruntius I have torn up, though it didn't deserve it; for it had nothing in it which might not have been safely read in a public meeting. But not only did Arruntius say that such were your orders, but you had appended a similar injunction to your letter. Well, be it so! I am surprised at your not having written anything to me since, especially as you are in the midst of such stirring events.[710]
[Footnote 708: Graeculam tibi misi cautionem chirographi mei. Various interpretations have been given to this: (1) "a truly Greek security," i.e., "not to be depended on"; (2) referring to a poem in Greek, perhaps the one in praise of Caesar's achievements, mentioned before (p. 338), in which some compliment to Trebatius was introduced; (3) Prof. Tyrrell would make it refer to this letter itself, which he supposes to have been written in Greek, and afterwards translated by Tiro. But this letter does not read like a translation, and, after all, is not of a nature to shew as a "commendation." It is conceived in too jocular a vein. I have taken it to refer to some inclosure written in Greek which he might use in this way, and the mention of his "own handwriting" to refer to the fact that he would naturally have employed a Greek secretary to write Greek. The diminutive Graeculam I take to be apologetic for the Greek. But it is not at all certain.]
[Footnote 709: On his journey along the via Appia to one of his seaside villas Cicero has put up at a friend's house (a freedman of Lepidus), near the Pomptine marshes, as was his wont (Att. vii. 5). It was near Ulubrae, of which he was deputy patronus in the absence of Trebatius, and he jestingly pretends that the frogs which he hears croaking in the marshes are frogs of Ulubrae turning out to do him honour, as though they were the citizens of the town. Ulubrae was a very dull and decaying town.]
[Footnote 710: The great rising in Gaul in B.C. S4-53, and the second expedition across the Rhine.]
CLXXIII (F VII, 15)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53]
How wayward people are who love may be gathered from this: I was formerly annoyed that you were discontented at being where you are: now, on the contrary, it stings me to the heart that you write that you are quite happy there. For I did not like your not being pleased at my recommendation, and now I am vexed that you can find anything pleasant without me. But, after all, I prefer enduring your absence to your not getting what I hope for you. However, I cannot say how pleased I am that you have become intimate with that most delightful man and excellent scholar, C. Matius.[711] Do your best to make him as fond of you as possible. Believe me, you can bring nothing home from your province that will give you greater pleasure. Take care of your health.
CLXXIV (F II, 4)
TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (IN ASIA)
ROME (? MAY)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53]
You are aware that letters are of many kinds; but there is one kind which is undeniable, for the sake of which, indeed, the thing was invented, namely, to inform the absent of anything that is to the interest of the writer or recipient that they should know. You, however, certainly don't expect a letter of that kind from me. For of your domestic concerns you have members of your family both to write and to act as messengers. Besides, in my personal affairs there is really nothing new. There are two other kinds of letters which give me great pleasure: the familiar and sportive, and the grave and serious. Which of these two I ought least to employ I do not understand. Am I to jest with you by letter? Upon my word, I don't think the man a good citizen who could laugh in times like these. Shall I write in a more serious style? What could be written of seriously by Cicero to Curio except public affairs? And yet, under this head, my position is such that I neither dare write what I think, nor choose to write what I don't think. Wherefore, since I have no subject left to write about, I will employ my customary phrase, and exhort you to the pursuit of the noblest glory. For you have a dangerous rival already in the field, and fully prepared, in the extraordinary expectation formed of you; and this rival you will vanquish with the greatest ease, only on one condition—that you make up your mind to put out your full strength in the cultivation of those qualities, by which the noble actions are accomplished, upon the glory of which you have set your heart. In support of this sentiment I would have written at greater length had not I felt certain that you were sufficiently alive to it of your own accord; and I have touched upon it even thus far, not in order to fire your ambition, but to testify my affection.
[Footnote 711: The friendship between Trebatius and Matius remained as long as we know anything about them. Cicero afterwards acknowledges (F. ii. 27) the great services Matius had done him with Caesar, to whom Matius remained attached to the end.]
CLXXV (F II, 5)
TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (ON HIS WAY FROM ASIA)
ROME (? JUNE)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53]
The state of business here I dare not tell even in a letter. And though, wherever you are, as I have told you before, you are in the same boat, yet I congratulate you on your absence, as well because you don't see what we see, as because your reputation is placed on a lofty and conspicuous pinnacle in the sight of multitudes both of citizens and allies; and it is conveyed to us by neither obscure nor uncertain talk, but by the loud and unanimous voice of all. There is one thing of which I cannot feel certain—whether to congratulate you, or to be alarmed for you on account of the surprising expectation entertained of your return; not because I am at all afraid of your not satisfying the world's opinion, but, by heaven, lest, when you do come, there may be nothing for you to preserve: so universal is the decline and almost extinction of all our institutions. But even thus much I am afraid I have been rash to trust to a letter: wherefore you shall learn the rest from others.[712] However, whether you have still some hope of the Republic, or have given it up in despair, see that you have ready, rehearsed and thought out in your mind, all that the citizen and the man should have at his command who is destined to restore to its ancient dignity and freedom a state crushed and overwhelmed by evil times and profligate morals.
[Footnote 712: In these vague though ominous sentences Cicero is referring to the constant and violent hindrances to the election of magistrates, that is, to the orderly working of the constitution, which were occurring. No consuls were elected till September.]
CLXXVI (F II, 6)
TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (ARRIVED IN ITALY)
ROME (? JULY)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53]
News had not yet reached me of your arrival in Italy when I sent Sext. Villius, an intimate of my friend Milo, with this letter to you. But nevertheless, since your arrival was thought to be approaching, and it was ascertained that you had already started from Asia Rome-wards, the importance of my subject made me dismiss any fear of being premature in sending you this letter, for I was exceedingly anxious that it should reach you as soon as possible. If the obligations, Curio, had only been on your side, and as great as they are usually proclaimed by you rather than as valued by me, I should have been more shy of coming to you for any request of importance which I might have to make. For it is very disagreeable to a modest man to ask a great favour from one whom he thinks under an obligation to himself, lest he should seem rather to demand than to ask what he is seeking, and to regard it more in the light of a debt than of a favour. But since your kindnesses to me were known to the whole world, or rather I should say were made especially prominent and valuable by the very novelty of my circumstances; and since it is the mark of a generous heart to be willing, when much is owed, to reckon the debt at its highest; I did not hesitate to prefer to you by letter a petition for what was of the highest importance and most vital consequence to me of anything in the world. For I was not afraid of being unable to support your kindnesses to me, even though they were beyond calculation: especially as I felt confident that there was no amount of favour for which my heart was incapable of finding room when receiving it, or for which in repayment it could not make a full and brilliant return. I have concentrated and embarked all my zeal, all my efforts, all the care and industry of which I am capable, my every thought, in fact, my whole heart and soul, on securing Milo's consulship; and I have made up my mind that in this matter I ought to look not merely for the profit arising from an act of kindness, but also for the credit of disinterested affection. Nor do I think that anyone was ever so anxious about his own personal safety and his own fortunes as I am for his election, on which I have made up my mind that all my interests depend. To him I see clearly that, if you choose, you can render such substantial help that we need ask for nothing else. We have on our side all these advantages: the favour of the loyalists won since his tribunate on account of his supporting me (as I hope you understand); that of the common multitude on account of the splendour of his gladiatorial exhibitions and the liberality of his disposition; the favour of the young men and of those influential in securing votes, won by his own eminent powers of captivation, shall I call it? or his diligence in that department; lastly, my own electoral support, which, if it is not very powerful, is at any rate regarded as only right, due and proper, and on that account is perhaps influential also. What we want is a leader, and what I may call a controller, or, so to speak, a pilot of those winds which I have described: and if we had to select one such out of the whole world, we should have no one to compare with you. Wherefore, if (as I am sure you can) you can regard me as a grateful, as an honest man, from the mere fact that I am thus eagerly exerting myself for Milo, if, in fine, you think me worthy of your kindness, I do ask you this favour—that you come to the rescue of this anxiety of mine and this crisis in my reputation, or, to put it with greater truth, that you will devote your zeal to what is all but a question of life and death to me. As to Titus Annius[713] himself, I promise you this much—that if you resolve to embrace his cause, you will never have anyone of greater spirit, solidity, firmness, or affection to yourself. While to me you will have given so much additional honour and prestige, that I shall have no difficulty in acknowledging you to have been as effective in supporting my reputation as you were in securing my safety.
Did I not know that you must be fully aware, while writing this letter to you, under what a weight of obligation I am labouring, how strongly I am bound to work in this election for Milo, not only with every kind of exertion, but even with downright fighting, I should have written at greater length. As it is, I hand over and commit the business, the cause, and myself wholly and entirely into your hands. Of one thing be sure: if I obtain this help from you, I shall owe you almost more than I owe Milo himself; for my personal safety, in which I have been conspicuously aided by him, has not been as dear to me as the sacred duty of returning the favour will be delightful. That object I feel confident that your aid, and yours alone, will enable me to secure.
[Footnote 713: Milo. His full name is T. Annius Milo Papianus; originally of the gens Papia, he had been adopted by his maternal grandfather, T. Annius.]
CLXXVII (F XIII, 75)
TO TITUS TITIUS, A LEGATUS[714]
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, AET. 53]
Though I have no doubt that my first introduction retains its full value in your eyes, I yet yield to the request of a man with whom I am very intimate, C. Avianius Flaccus, for whose sake I not only desire, but am in duty bound to secure every possible favour. In regard to him I both spoke earnestly to you in a personal interview—on which occasion you answered me with the greatest kindness—and have written with full particulars to you on a previous occasion; but he thinks it to his interest that I should write to you as often as possible. Wherefore I would have you pardon me if, in compliance with his wishes, I shall appear to be at all forgetful of the stability of your character. What I beg of you is this—that you would accommodate Avianius as to the place and time for landing his corn: for which he obtained by my influence a three years' licence whilst Pompey was at the head of that business. The chief thing is—and you can therein lay me under the greatest obligation—that you should have convinced Avianius that I enjoy your affection, since he thinks himself secure of mine. You will greatly oblige me by doing this.
[Footnote 714: Pompey was praefectus annonae B.C. 57-52. As such he had a number of legati, of whom this Titus Titius was one; but there is nothing to shew in which of the corn-supplying countries he was employed. Avianius is a corn merchant, and wants concessions as to the importation of his cargoes.]
CLXXVIII (F V, 17)
[Sidenote: B.C. 52. Coss., from V. Kal, Mart., Cn. Pompeius Magnus (alone); from 1st August, with Q. Metellus Scipio.]
This year again, owing to the riots in the previous year excited by Clodius to prevent the election of Milo, began with a series of interregna lasting nearly three months, January, February, and the intercalary month. On the 17th of January Clodius was killed near Bovillae by Milo's servants, and by his order. Riots followed in Rome, the body was burnt in the Curia, which caught fire and was destroyed. Cicero undertook Milo's defence under a new law de vi brought in by Pompey, but broke down, and Milo was condemned (April). Later in the year he successfully prosecuted T. Munatius Plancus Bursa, who as tribune had promoted the riots after the death of Clodius, and who had also supported the plan of making Pompey dictator.
TO P. SITTIUS[715] (IN EXILE)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 52, AET. 54]
It was not because I had forgotten our friendship, or had any intention of breaking off my correspondence, that I have not written to you of late years. The reason is that the earlier part of them was a period of depression owing to the disaster which had befallen the Republic and myself, while the later period, with your own most distressing and undeserved misfortune, has made me reluctant to write. Since, however, a sufficiently long period has now elapsed, and I have recalled with greater distinctness your high character and lofty courage, I thought it not inconsistent with my purposes to write this to you. For my part, my dear P. Sittius, I defended you originally, when an attempt was made in your absence to bring you into odium and under a criminal charge; and when a charge against you was involved in the accusation and trial of your most intimate friend,[716] I took the very greatest care to safeguard your position and justify you. And, again also, on this last occasion, soon after my return to Rome, though I found that your case had been put on a footing far different from what I should have advised, if I had been there, still I omitted nothing that could contribute to your security. And though on that occasion the ill-feeling arising from the price of corn, the hostility of certain persons, not only to yourself, but to all your friends as well, the unfairness of the whole trial, and many other abuses in the state, had greater influence than the merits of your case or than truth itself, I yet did not fail to serve your son Publius with active assistance, advice, personal influence, and direct testimony. Wherefore, as I have carefully and religiously fulfilled all the other offices of friendship, I thought I ought not to omit that of urging upon you and beseeching you to remember that you are a human being and a gallant man—that is, that you should bear philosophically accidents which are common to all and incalculable, which none of us mortals can shun or forestall by any means whatever: should confront with courage such grief as fortune brings: and should reflect that not in our state alone, but in all others that have acquired an empire, such disasters have in many instances befallen the bravest and best from unjust verdicts. Oh that I were writing untruly when I say, that you are exiled from a state in which no man of foresight can find anything to give him pleasure! As for your son, again, I fear that, if I write nothing to you, I may seem not to have borne testimony to his high qualities as they deserve; while on the other hand, if I write fully all I feel, I fear that my letter may irritate the smart of your regret. But, after all, your wisest course will be to regard his loyalty, virtue, and steady conduct as being in your possession, and as accompanying you wherever you may be: for, in truth, what we embrace in imagination is no less ours than what we see before our eyes. Wherefore not only ought his brilliant qualities and extreme affection for you to afford you great consolation, but so also ought I and others of your friends who value you, and always will do so, not for your position, but your worth; and so, above all else, ought your own conscience, when you reflect that you have not deserved anything that has befallen you, and when you consider besides that the wise are distressed by guilt, not by mischance—by their own ill-doing, not by the misconduct of others. For my part, I shall omit no opportunity either of consoling or alleviating your present position; for the recollection of our old friendship, and the high character and respectful attentions of your son, will keep me in mind of that duty. If you, on your part, will mention by letter anything you want, I will take care that you shall not think that you have written in vain.
[Footnote 715: The letter in some MSS. is inscribed to Sextius or Sestius. Of P. Sittius of Nuceria we hear in the speech pro Sulla, Sec.Sec. 56, 58. Sulla (who was accused of assisting Catiline) had sent P. Sittius on a mission to Spain, as it was alleged, to raise a rebellion there in support of Catiline. It does not, however, appear that his condemnation took place then. It seems to have been just previous to Cicero's return from exile (August, B.C. 57), and it is suggested that it was after his aedileship of the previous year, when a scarcity of corn had contributed to his unpopularity. The date of the letter is uncertain.]
[Footnote 716: P. Sulla. Sittius was not, it seems, brought to trial with Sulla, but his journey to Spain formed part of the allegations against Sulla.]
CLXXIX (F V, 18)
TO T. FADIUS[717] (IN EXILE)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 52, AET. 54]
Although I too, who am desirous of consoling you, stand in need of consolation myself—for nothing for a long time past has so deeply afflicted me as your disaster—nevertheless I do strongly not only exhort, but even beg and implore you, with all the earnestness that my affection dictates, to summon all your energies, to shew a manly courage, and to reflect under what conditions all mortals, and in what times we particularly, have been born. Your virtue has given you more than fortune has taken away: for you have obtained what not many "new men" have obtained; you have lost what many men of the highest rank have lost. Finally, a state of legislation, law courts, and politics generally appears to be imminent, such that the man would seem to be the most fortunate who has quitted such a republic as ours with the lightest possible penalty. As for you, however—since you retain your fortune and children, with myself and others still very closely united to you, whether by relationship or affection—and since you are likely to have much opportunity of living with me and all your friends—and since, again, your condemnation is the only one out of so many that is impugned, because, having been passed by one vote (and that a doubtful one), it is regarded as a concession to a particular person's overwhelming[718] power—for all these reasons, I say, you ought to be as little distressed as possible at the inconvenience that has befallen you. My feeling towards yourself and your children will always be such as you wish, and such as it is in duty bound to be.
[Footnote 717: Titus Fadius Gallus had been a quaestor in Cicero's consulship (B.C. 63), and a tribune in B.C. 58, when Cicero reckoned him among those on whom he depended to resist Clodius. He also, among others, had a motion prepared for Cicero's recall, of which Cicero speaks with approbation (p. 178). We do not know on what charge he had been condemned, but a number of prosecutions followed the death of Clodius and Pompey's legislation as to violence and corruption of juries.]
[Footnote 718: Pompey. He uses the word potentia, as he generally does, in an invidious sense of "tyrannical, or, unconstitutional power," as opposed to auctoritas, "legitimate influence."]
CLXXX (F III, 1)
TO APPIUS CLAUDIUS PULCHER[719] (IN CILICIA)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 52, AET. 54]
Cicero to Appius, imperator. Could the Republic itself speak and tell you of its state, you would not learn it more easily from its own lips than from your freedman Phania: he is a man of such clear insight, as well as (in a good sense) of such keen curiosity! Wherefore he shall explain everything to you: for that will suit me best by enabling me to curtail my letter, and will be more prudent for me in view of other circumstances. But in regard to my good feeling towards you, though you can learn it from this same Phania, yet I think that I also have personally something I ought to say on the subject. For assure yourself of this—that you are exceedingly dear to me, from the many attractions of your character, your kindness, and the goodness of your heart, but also because from your letter, as well as from the remarks of many, I understand that all my conduct towards you has been most warmly appreciated by you. And since that is so, I will take means to make up for the great loss of time, which we have sustained from this interruption of our intercourse, by the liberality, the frequency, and the importance of my services; and that I think I shall do, since you would have it be so, by no means against the grain, or as the phrase is, "against the will of Minerva"—a goddess by the way whom, if I shall chance to get possession of a statue of her from your stock, I shall not simply designate "Pallas," but "Appias."[720] Your freedman Cilix was not well known to me before, but when he delivered me your kind and affectionate letter, he confirmed the courteous expressions of that letter by his own words. I was much gratified by his speech, when he described to me your feelings and the remarks which you were daily making about me. In short, within two days he became my intimate friend, without, however, my ceasing to regret Phania deeply. When you send the latter back to Rome, which I imagine you intend speedily to do, pray give him instructions as to all matters which you wish to be transacted or looked after by me.
I commend L. Valerius the lawyer to you very strongly; not, however, in his capacity of lawyer: for I wish to take better precautions for him than he does for others. I am really fond of the man: he is one of my closest and most intimate friends. In a general way he expresses nothing but gratitude to you; but he also says that a letter from me will have very great influence with you. I beg you again and again that he may not find himself mistaken.
[Footnote 719: Brother of Cicero's enemy, P. Clodius. He had been consul in B.C. 54, and was now proconsul in Cilicia, in which government Cicero was to succeed him. His relations with Cicero had been varied, and though Cicero speaks warmly to him, he does not do so often of him, and his compliments are evidently not really sincere.]
[Footnote 720: "I shall, in compliment to your accomplishments, call the goddess of learning and wisdom 'Appias,'" i.e., the "Appian Goddess." But the meaning of the elaborate and dull joke or compliment is far from clear, especially the phrase si forte de tuis sumpsero. Was Cicero expecting a present of a bust of Minerva, or intending to purchase one from Appius's collection? Or does he allude, as has been suggested, to the Minerva he had himself dedicated before his exile, and which had probably fallen into the hands of the Appian family?]
CLXXXI (F VII, 2)
TO M. MARIUS (IN CAMPANIA)
ROME (DECEMBER)
[Sidenote: B.C. 52, AET. 54]
I will look after your commission carefully. But, sharp man that you are, you have given your commission to the very person above all others whose interest it is that the article should fetch the highest possible price! However, you have been far-sighted in fixing beforehand how far I am to go. But if you had left it to me, I am so much attached to you that I would have made a bargain with the heirs: as it is, since I know your price, I will put up some one to bid rather than let it go for less. But a truce to jesting! I will do your business with all care, as in duty bound. I feel sure you are glad about Bursa[721], but your congratulations are too half-hearted. For you suppose, as you say in your letter, that, owing to the fellow's meanness, I don't look upon it as a matter of much rejoicing. I would have you believe that I am more pleased with this verdict than with the death of my enemy. For, in the first place, I would rather win by legal process than by the sword; in the second place, by what brings credit to a friend than by what involves his condemnation.[722] And, above all, I was delighted that the support of the loyalists was given to me so decisively against the influence exerted to an incredible degree by a most illustrious and powerful personage. Finally—though, perhaps, you won't think it likely—I hated this man much more than the notorious Clodius himself. For the latter I had attacked, the former I had defended. The latter, too, though the very existence of the Republic was to be risked in my person, had yet a certain great object in view; nor was it wholly on his own initiative, but with the support of those who could not be safe as long as I was so. But this ape of a fellow, in sheer wantonness, had selected me as an object for his invectives, and had persuaded certain persons[723] who were jealous of me that he would always be a ready instrument for an attack upon me. Wherefore I bid you rejoice with all your heart: a great stroke has been struck. Never were any citizens more courageous than those who ventured to vote for his condemnation, in the teeth of the immense power of the man by whom the jurors had themselves been selected. And this they never would have done had not my grievance been theirs also. Here, in Rome, I am so distracted by the number of trials, the crowded courts, and the new legislation,[724] that I daily offer prayers that there may be no intercalation,[725] so that I may see you as soon as possible.
[Footnote 721: The condemnation of T. Munatius Plancus Bursa, who, being tribune in B.C. 52, had promoted the riots following the death of Clodius, especially in regard to burning his body in the Curia, and had, after his office terminated (10th December), been prosecuted de vi by Cicero successfully. Bursa, with others, had supported Pompey's wish for the dictatorship, as well as his legislation, and accordingly, in attacking him, Cicero had against him the weight of Pompey's influence. He therefore looks upon it as a great triumph.]
[Footnote 722: The condemnation of Bursa was a point in favour of Milo, whereas Milo's murder of Clodius only brought his ultimate condemnation and exile. Milo's trial had taken place in April.]
[Footnote 723: Pompey and his friends.]
[Footnote 724: The new laws introduced by Pompey de vi, de magistratibus, de pecunia ob iudicium.]
[Footnote 725: The intercalary month was inserted between the 23rd and 24th of February. Whether it was to be inserted or not depended on the pontifices, who kept their secret jealously. If it is inserted, Cicero will be kept all the longer in town with senatorial and legal business, and so be prevented from seeing Marius, who lived near his Pompeian villa.]
APPENDIX A
DE PETITIONE CONSULATUS
[This is rather an essay than a letter, and is not generally included in any of the books of the correspondence. To my mind there are indications of its being a later composition, the exercise of some one who wished to shew the nature of canvassing at the time. Still, there are many arguments in favour of regarding it as the composition of Quintus, and at any rate it is a contribution to the picture of the times.]
Q. CICERO TO HIS BROTHER MARCUS (AT ROME)
I. Although you have all the accomplishments within the reach of human genius, experience, or acuteness, yet I thought it only consistent with my affection to set down in writing what occurred to my mind while thinking, as I do, day and night on your canvass, not with the expectation that you would learn anything new from it, but that the considerations on a subject, which appeared to be disconnected and without system, might be brought under one view by a logical arrangement.
Consider what the state is: what it is you seek: who you are that seek it. Almost every day as you go down to the forum you should say to yourself, "I am a novus homo," "I am a candidate for the consulship," "This is Rome." For the "newness" of your name you will best compensate by the brilliancy of your oratory. That has ever carried with it very great political distinction. A man who is held worthy of defending consulars cannot be thought unworthy of the consulship. Wherefore, since your reputation in this is your starting-point, since whatever you are, you are from this, approach each individual case with the persuasion that on it depends as a whole your entire reputation. See that those aids to natural ability, which I know are your special gifts, are ready for use and always available; and remember what Demetrius wrote about the hard work and practice of Demosthenes; and, finally, take care that both the number and rank of your friends are unmistakable. For you have such as few novi homines have had—all the publicani, nearly the whole equestrian order, many municipal towns specially devoted to you, many persons who have been defended by you, men of every order, many collegia, and, besides these, a large number of the rising generation who have become attached to you in their enthusiasm for rhetoric, and, finally, your friends who visit you daily in large numbers and with such constant regularity. See that you retain these advantages by reminding these persons, by appealing to them, and by using every means to make them understand that this, and this only, is the time for those who are in your debt to show their gratitude, and for those who wish for your services in the future to place you under an obligation. It also seems possible that a "new man" may be much assisted by the fact that he has the good wishes of men of high rank, and especially of consulars. It is a point in your favour that you should be thought worthy of this position and rank by the very men to whose position and rank you are wishing to attain. All these men must be canvassed with care, agents must be sent to them, and they must be convinced that we have always been at one with the Optimates in our political sentiments, that we have never been demagogues in the very least: that if we seem ever to have said anything in the spirit of that party, we did so with the view of attracting Cn. Pompeius, that we might have the man of the greatest influence either actively on our side in our canvass, or at least not opposed to us.[726] Farthermore, take pains to get on your side the young men of high rank, or retain the affection of those you already have. They will contribute much to your political position. You have very many; make them feel how much you think depends on them: if you induce those to be positively eager who are merely not disinclined, they will be of very great advantage to you. |
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