Hortensius as his advocate. The verdict is generally thought to be a concession to Aulus’ son; and I expect Iphicrates[54] has been up to some tricks, as you suggest. I didn’t like the look of his military boots and puttees. We shall know what it was, when you arrive.
In finding fault with the narrowness of my windows, let me tell you, you are finding fault with the Education of Cyrus[55]: 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 _b, c_ the object, and _d, e_ the rays,—you see what follows. If our sight resulted from the impact of images,[56] 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.
Footnote 54: Obviously a nickname for Pompey, and, in view of the next sentence, the name of Iphicrates, who invented a military boot, seems more likely than Epicrates, which would mean “our influential friend.”
Footnote 55: A play on the title of Xenophon’s book the _Cyropaedeia_ and the name of Cicero’s architect.
Footnote 56: 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.
Venio nunc ad mensem Ianuarium et ad ὑπόστασιν nostram ac πολιτείαν, in qua Σωκρατικῶς εἰς ἑκάτερον, sed tamen ad extremum, ut illi solebant, τὴν ἀρέσκουσαν. Est res sane magni consilii; nam aut fortiter resistendum est legi agrariae, in quo est quaedam dimicatio, 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 Cornelius, 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 κατακλεὶς mea illa commovet, quae est in libro tertio: “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 ἀριστοκρατικῶς, Calliope ipsa praescripserit, non opinor esse dubitandum, quin semper nobis videatur εἷς οἰωνὸς ἄριστος ἀμύνεσθαι περὶ πάτρης.
Sed haec ambulationibus Compitaliciis reservemus. Tu pridie Compitalia memento. Balineum calfieri iubebo. Et Pomponiam Terentia rogat; matrem 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 I should gain prestige by it; or I must hold my peace, which is equivalent 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 Pompey 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:[57] “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 [Sidenote: Iliad 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 Footnote 57: On his consulship.
adiungemus. Θεοφράστου περὶ φιλοτιμίας adfer mihi de libris Quinti fratris.
IV CICERO ATTICO SAL.
[Sidenote: _Scr. Antium. Aprili a. 695_] 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, quoniam 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 proficiscare, 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 delectabimus your mother one of the party. Bring me from my brother Quintus’ library IV CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
I am much obliged to you for sending me Serapio’s book, though between you and me I hardly understand a thousandth part of it. I have given orders 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.[58] 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.[59] Meantime I shall settle down to the enjoyment of the Muses with resignation, indeed Footnote 58: 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.
Footnote 59: Clodius, on account of his intrusion into the mysteries of Bona Dea.
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 aliquod tibi opus exstet. Tu quicquid indagaris de re publica, et maxime quos consules futuros putes, facito 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 circiter Kal. aut in Formiano erimus aut in Pompeiano. Tu, si in Formiano non erimus, si nos amas, in Pompeianum 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 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 Pompeii. 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 anything 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 visit to Alexandria and the rest of Egypt, and also to get away from here, where people are sick of seeing me, and return when they miss me a little: but desiderio reverti; sed hoc tempore et his mittentibus αἰδέομαι Τρῶας καὶ Τρῳάδας ἑλκεσιπέπλους.
Quid enim nostri optimates, si qui reliqui sunt, loquentur? an me aliquo praemio de sententia esse deductum?
Πουλυδάμας μοι πρῶτος ἐλεγχείην ἀναθήσει, Cato ille noster, qui mihi unus est pro centum milibus. Quid vero historiae de nobis ad annos D C 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 deliberabimus. Etiam hercule est in non accipiendo non nulla gloria. Quare, si quid Θεοφάνης tecum forte contulerit, ne omnino repudiaris.
De istis rebus exspecto tuas litteras, quid Arrius narret, quo animo se destitutum ferat, et qui consules 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 auguratus deferatur; quo quidem uno ego ab istis capi possum. Videte vilitatem[60] meam. Sed quid ego haec, quae cupio deponere et toto animo atque omni cura φιλοσοφεῖν? Sic, inquam, in animo est; vellem ab initio, nunc vero, quoniam, quae putavi esse praeclara, Footnote 60: vilitatem _Meuntz_: civitatem _M_: vitam _Z_.
considering the circumstances, and the people who are sending me.
[Sidenote: Iliad vi, 442] “I fear the men and long-gowned dames of Troy.”
What will our conservative friends say, if there are any of them left?
That I have been bribed out of my opinions?
[Sidenote: Iliad xxii, 100] “The first to chide will be Polydamas,” 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 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, ἐπὶ σχολῆς 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 delecto, quorum habeo Anti festivam copiam, aut fluctus numero (nam ad lacertas captandas tempestates non sunt idoneae); a scribendo prorsus abhorret animus. Etenim γεωγραφικά, 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 ὁμοειδεῖς nec tam possunt ἀνθηρογραφεῖσθαι, 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 glory, I am thinking of confining my attention exclusively 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 forward to your letters very eagerly.
VI CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
I am not so certain now about fulfilling the promises I made in former letters to produce some work in this tour: for I have fallen so in love 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 undertaking. 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 opportunities 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 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 πολιτευτέον; nam istic non solum non licet, sed etiam taedet. Itaque ἀνέκδοτα, quae tibi uni legamus, Theopompio genere aut etiam asperiore multo pangentur.
Neque aliud iam quicquam πολιτεύομαι nisi odisse improbos et id ipsum nullo cum stomacho, sed potius cum aliqua 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 istinc putes, fac ut sciam.
rather than in Rome. You have been wiser in your generation and made a home for yourself at Buthrotum: 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 Vatinius, 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.[61] 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.
Footnote 61: 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.
VII CICERO ATTICO SAL.
De geographia etiam atque etiam deliberabimus. Orationes autem a me duas postulas; quarum alteram non libebat mihi scribere, quia abscideram,[62] 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 litteras, hominem[63] ire cupiebam, non mehercule ut differrem cum eo vadimonium (nam mira sum alacritate ad litigandum), sed videbatur mihi, si quid esset in eo populare, quod plebeius factus esset, id amissurus. “Quid enim? ad plebem transisti, ut Tigranem ires salutatum? Narra mihi, reges Armenii patricios resalutare non solent?” Quid quaeris? acueram 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, subcontumeliose tractatur noster Publius, primum qui, cum Footnote 62: quia abscideram _most editors_: qui absciram _M_.
Footnote 63: VII CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
I will give the geography further consideration. As to the two speeches you ask for, one I did not want to write down, because I had broken off in the 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 Publius, 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 1 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 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 reservatur; haec ieiuna tabellarii legatio datur ei, cuius tribunatus ad istorum tempora reservatur. Incende hominem, amabo te, quod potes. Una spes est salutis istorum inter ipsos dissensio; cuius ego quaedam initia sensi ex Curione. Iam vero Arrius consulatum sibi ereptum fremit; Megabocchus et haec sanguinaria iuventus inimicissima est. Accedat vero, accedat 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 κατὰ τὸ πρακτικὸν 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 ereptis gubernaculis, cupio istorum naufragia ex terra intueri, cupio, ut ait tuus amicus Sophocles, κἂν ὑπὸ στέγῃ πυκνῆς ἀκούειν ψακάδος εὑδούσῃ φρενί.
De muro quid opus sit, videbis. Castricianum 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 I have been marooned and the helm torn from my grasp without waiting for me to surrender it, my only desire is to watch their shipwreck from the dry land. I could wish, as your friend Sophocles says, “In peaceful slumber sunk To hear the pattering raindrops on the roof.”
About the wall you will see what is necessary. I mendum nos corrigemus, et tamen ad me Quintus HS CCIↃↃ IↃↃ scripserat, nunc[64] ad sororem tuam HS ¯XXX¯. Terentia tibi salutem dicit. Cicero tibi mandat, ut Aristodemo idem de se respondeas, quod de fratre suo, sororis tuae filio, respondisti. De Ἀμαλθείᾳ quod me admones, non neglegemus. Cura, ut valeas.
VIII CICERO ATTICO SAL.
[Sidenote: _Scr. Anti medio m. Apr. a. 695_] Epistulam cum a te avide exspectarem ad vesperum, ut soleo, ecce tibi nuntius pueros venisse Roma! Voco, quaero, ecquid litterarum. Negant.
“Quid ais?” inquam, “nihilne a Pomponio?” Perterriti voce et vultu confessi sunt se accepisse, sed excidisse in via. Quid quaeris?
permoleste tuli; nulla enim abs te per hos dies epistula inanis aliqua re utili et suavi venerat. Nunc, si quid in ea epistula, quam ante diem XVI Kal. Maias dedisti, fuit historia dignum, scribe quam primum, ne ignoremus; sin nihil praeter iocationem, redde id ipsum.
Et scito Curionem adulescentem venisse ad me salutatum. Valde eius sermo de Publio cum tuis litteris congruebat; ipse vero mirandum in modum “reges odisse superbos.” Peraeque narrabat incensam Footnote 64: non _M_.
will set the mistake about Castricius right; and yet Quintus wrote about £130[65] to me, though now to your sister he makes it nearly £260.[66] Terentia sends her love; and my little boy commissions you to give Aristodemus the same answer for him as you gave for his cousin, your sister’s son. I won’t forget your reminder about your Amalthea. Take care of yourself.
VIII CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
When I was looking forward eagerly to a letter of yours towards evening, as usual, lo and behold a message that some slaves had come from Rome. I called them, and inquired if they had any letters. “No,” they said.
“What’s that,” said I, “nothing from Pomponius?” Frightened to death by my voice and look they confessed they had been given one, but it had been lost on the way. As you may suppose, I was wild with annoyance. For every letter you have sent me these last few days has contained something of importance or entertainment. So, if there was anything worth saying in the letter of the 15th of April, write at once and let me know it: if there was nothing but nonsense, you owe me a repetition of it.
Let me tell you that young Curio has come and paid his respects to me: and what he said about Publius agreed very closely with your letter. It is astonishing too how he “holds proud kings in hate,” and he tells me that the younger generation in Footnote 65: 15,000 sesterces.
Footnote 66: 30,000 sesterces.
esse iuventutem neque ferre haec posse. Bene habemus. Nos, si in his spes est, opinor, aliud agamus. Ego me do historiae. Quamquam licet me Saufeium putes esse, nihil me est inertius.
Sed cognosce itinera nostra, ut statuas, ubi nos visurus sis. In Formianum volumus venire Parilibus; inde, quoniam putas praetermittendum nobis esse hoc tempore Cratera illum delicatum, Kal. Maiis de Formiano proficiscemur, ut Anti simus a. d. V Nonas Maias. Ludi enim Anti futuri sunt a IIII ad pr. Nonas Maias. Eos Tullia spectare vult. Inde cogito in Tusculanum, deinde Arpinum, Romam ad Kal. Iunias. Te aut in Formiano aut Anti aut in Tusculano cura ut videamus. Epistulam superiorem restitue nobis et adpinge aliquid novi.
IX CCICERO ATTICO SAL.
[Sidenote: _Scr. Anti medio m. Apr. a. 695_] Subito cum mihi dixisset Caecilius quaestor puerum se Romam mittere, haec scripsi raptim, ut tuos elicerem mirificos cum Publio dialogos cum eos, de quibus scribis, tum illum, quem abdis et ais longum esse, quae ad ea responderis, perscribere; illum vero, qui nondum habitus est, quem illa βοῶπις, cum e Solonio redierit, ad te est relatura. Sic velim putes, nihil hoc posse mihi esse iucundius. Si vero, quae general holds equally strong views, and cannot put up with the present state of affairs. We are all right. If we can put our trust in them, we need not trouble ourselves, so far as I can see. I am devoting myself to history. But, though you think me as energetic as Saufeius, I am the laziest mortal alive.
But get clear about my journeys, so that you may settle where you will see me. I am intending to get to my place at Formiae on the feast of Pales; and then, since you think I ought not to stop at the delightful Crater[67] on this occasion, I shall leave Formiae on the 1st of May, so as to reach Antium on the 3rd. There are games at Antium from the 4th to the 6th of May, and Tullia wants to see them. Then I am thinking of going to Tusculum, and from there to Arpinum, reaching Rome on the 1st of June. Be sure you pay me a visit either at Formiae or at Antium, or at my place at Tusculum. Reproduce your former letter for me, and add something new to it.
IX CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Caecilius the quaestor having suddenly told me that he was sending a man to Rome, I write this note in haste to extract from you all your wonderful dialogues with Publius, those you mention in your note, and the one you keep dark, saying that your answers were too long to write; and besides the one which has not yet been held, but which that Juno[68] is going to report to you, when she returns from Solonium. Pray believe me when I say there is nothing that would please me more. If the compact about Footnote 67: The bay of Naples, where Cicero’s Pompeian villa was.
Footnote 68: Clodia.
de me pacta sunt, ea non servantur, in caelo sum, ut sciat hic nosier Hierosolymarius traductor ad plebem, quam bonam meis putissimis orationibus gratiam rettulerit. Quarum exspecta divinam παλινῳδίαν.
Etenim, quantum coniectura auguramur, si erit nebulo iste cum his dynastis in gratia, non modo de cynico consulari, sed ne de istis quidem piscinarum Tritonibus poterit se iactare. Non enim poterimus ulla esse invidia spoliati opibus et illa senatoria potentia. Sin autem ab iis dissentiet, erit absurdum in nos invehi. Verum tamen invehatur.
Festive, mihi crede, et minore sonitu, quam putaram. orbis hic in re publica est conversus; citius omnino, quam potuit, idque[69] culpa Catonis, sed rursus improbitate istorum, qui auspicia, qui Aeliam legem.
qui Iuniam et Liciniam, qui Caeciliam et Didiam neglexerunt, qui omnia remedia rei publicae effuderunt, qui regna quasi praedia tetrarchis, qui immanes pecunias paucis dederunt. Video iam, quo invidia transeat et ubi sit habitatura. Nihil me existimaris neque usu neque a Theophrasto didicisse, nisi brevi tempore desiderari nostra illa tempora videris.
Etenim, si fuit invidiosa senatus potentia, cum ed non ad populum, sed ad tres homines immoderatos redacta sit, quid iam censes fore? Proinde isti licet faciant, quos Footnote 69: idque _Wesenberg_: id _M_.
me is not kept, I am in the seventh heaven with delight at thinking how that Jerusalemite plebeian-monger will learn what a pretty return he has made for all my choicest panegyrics: and you may expect recantation of eclipsing brilliancy; for, so far as I can see, if that good-for-nothing is in favour with our sovereigns, he will have to give up crowing over the “ex-consul with a cynic’s tongue” and those “Tritons of the fish-ponds” together: for there will be nothing to envy me for, when I have been robbed of my power and my influence in the Senate. If on the other hand he quarrels with them, then any attack on me would be absurd.
However let him attack, if he likes.
Upon my word the wheel of State has turned round gaily and with less noise than I had expected: more quickly to be sure than it might have done. That is Cato’s fault, but it is still more through the villainy of those who have disregarded auspices and the Aelian law, the Iunian and Licinian law and the Caecilian and Didian law, who have thrown out of the window all the physic for the State, who have given kingdoms to tetrarchs as though they were farms and immense sums of money to one or two people. I can see already which way jealousy is tending and where it will come home to roost. Count me too big a dunce to have learned anything by experience or from Theophrastus, if you do not see very shortly men mourning for the days of my government. For if the power of the Senate was unpopular, you can imagine what things will be like now, when the power has been transferred not to the people, but to three unbridled men. So let them make anyone they like consuls and tribunes, volent, consules, tribunos pl., denique etiam Vatini strumam sacerdotii διβάφῳ vestiant, videbis brevi tempore magnos non modo eos, qui nihil titubarunt, sed etiam illum ipsum, qui peccavit, Catonem. Nam nos quidem, si per istum tuum sodalem Publium licebit, σοφιστεύειν cogitamus, si ille cogit, tum[70] dumtaxat nos defendere, et, quod est proprium artis huius, ἐπαγγέλλομαι ἄνδρ’ ἀπαμύνεσθαι, ὅτε τις πρότερος χαλεπήνῃ.
Patria propitia sit. Habet a nobis, etiamsi non plus, quam debitum est; plus certe, quam postulatum est. Male vehi malo alio gubernante quam tam ingratis vectoribus bene gubernare. Sed haec coram commodius.
Nunc audi, quod quaeris. Antium me ex Formiano recipere cogito a. d. V Nonas Maias; Antio volo Nonis Maiis proficisci in Tusculanum. Sed, cum e Formiano rediero (ibi esse usque ad pr. K. Maias volo), faciam statim te certiorem. Terentia tibi salutem, καὶ Κικέρων ὁ μικρὸς ἀσπάζεται Τίτον Ἀθηναῖον.
X CICERO ATTICO SAL.
[Sidenote: _Scr. in Appi Foro XII K. Apr. a. 695_] Volo ames meam constantiam. Ludos Anti spectare non placet; est enim ὑποσόλοικον, cum velim vitare omnium deliciarum suspicionem, repente ἀναφαίνεσθαι non solum delicate, sed etiam inepte peregrinantem.
Footnote 70: cogit, tum _Orelli_: cogitat tantum _M_.
let them cloak Vatinius’ wen with the double-dyed purple gown of the augur, you will see very soon not only those who have made no slip, but even Cato himself for all his mistakes exalted, to the skies. As for me, I am thinking of playing the sophist, if your comrade Publius will allow me: I shall defend myself only if he compels me. Using the ordinary trick of the trade, I shall put up a notice that I am ready to [Sidenote: Iliad xxiv, 369] Give blow for blow, if any rouse me first.
If only the country will be on my side. Certainly it has had from me more than it ever asked for, if not more than I owe to it. I would rather have a bad passage with another at the helm than steer safely