"brothers" the Hædui.[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 [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 Hædui by the senate (Cæs. _B. G._ CLXI (F I, 10) TO L. VALERIUS (IN CILICIA) ROME 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 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 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 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 Cæsar were weakened by the death of Iulia in the previous year. Cæsar, 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) 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 quæstor to C. Clodius, brother of Publius and Appius, in Asia. He was tribune in B.C. 50, when he suddenly changed sides and joined Cæsar, 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) 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 Cæsar, 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 Samobrivæ[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 Cæsar's camp. Cæsar 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 Cæsar.]
CLXVII (F II, 2) TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (IN ASIA) ROME (? FEBRUARY) 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) 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) 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 Ulubræ,[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.]
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.
πολιτεύεσθαι, "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 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 Cæsar 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 æri 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) 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 Cæsar.
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 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. Æmilius Philemo, from which I could hear the noise of my clients, I mean those you confided to me! For at Ulubræ 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: _Græculam 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 Cæsar'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 _Græculam_ 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 Ulubræ, 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 Ulubræ turning out to do him honour, as though they were the citizens of the town. Ulubræ 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 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) 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 Cæsar, to whom Matius remained attached to the end.]
CLXXV (F II, 5) TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (ON HIS WAY FROM ASIA) ROME (? JUNE) 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) 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