designs drawn out and completed in imagination, has been bought by M.
Fonteius[29] for 130,000 sesterces (about £1,040). I wished you to know
this in case you were still hankering after it.
We may be quite satisfied, I think, with my brother's feelings towards
Pomponia. He is with her at present in his villa at Arpinum, and has
Decimus Turanius with him, who is great in _belles lettres_.
The date of my father's death was the 28th of November.
That is about all my news. If you light on any articles of _vertu_
suitable for a gymnasium, which would look well in the place you wot
of,[30] please don't let them slip. I am so delighted with my Tusculan
villa that I never feel really happy till I get there. Let me know
exactly what you are doing and intending to do about everything.
[Footnote 28: C. Rabirius, whom Cicero defended in B.C. 63, when
prosecuted by Cæsar for his share in the murder of Saturninus (B.C.
100). He lived, we know, in Campania, for his neighbours came to give
evidence in his favour at the trial.]
[Footnote 29: M. Fonteius made a fortune in the province of Gaul beyond
the Alps, of which he was proprætor, B.C. 77-74. In B.C. 69 he had been
accused of malversation, and defended by Cicero. After his acquittal he
seems to be buying a seaside residence in Campania, as so many of the
men of fashion did.]
[Footnote 30: Cicero's "gymnasium" was some arrangement of buildings and
plantations more or less on the model of the Greek gymnasia, at his
Tusculan villa.]
III (A I, 7)
TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS)
ROME, DECEMBER
[Sidenote: B.C. 68, ÆT. 38]
All's well at your mother's,[31] and I keep an eye on her. I have
undertaken to pay L. Cincius 20,400 sesterces[32] to your credit on the
Ides of February. Pray see that I receive at the earliest possible
opportunity what you say in your letters that you have bought and
secured for me. I should also be very much obliged if you would, as you
promised, think over the means of securing the library for me. My hope
of getting the one enjoyment which I care for, when I come to retire,
depends entirely on your kindness.
[Footnote 31: The mother of Atticus lived to be ninety, dying in B.C.
33, not long before Atticus himself, who at her funeral declared that
"he had never been reconciled to her, for he had never had a word of
dispute with her" (Nep. _Att._ 17).]
[Footnote 32: This sum (about £163) is for the works of art purchased
for the writer by Atticus.]
IV (A I, 9)
[Sidenote: B.C. 67. Coss., C. Calpurnius Piso, M. Acilius Glabrio.]
The year of Cicero's election to the prætorship. It is the year
also of Pompey's great commission by the _lex Gabinia_ against the
Pirates. But Cicero does not seem as yet much concerned with
"foreign politics."
TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 67, ÆT. 39]
I get letters from you far too seldom considering that you can much more
easily find people starting for Rome than I to Athens: considering, too,
that you are more certain of my being at Rome than I of your being at
Athens. For instance, it is owing to this uncertainty on my part that
this very letter is somewhat short, because not being sure as to where
you are, I don't choose my confidential talk to fall into strange hands.
The Megaric statues and the Hermæ, which you mentioned in your letters,
I am waiting for impatiently. Anything you have of the same kind which
may strike you as worthy of my "Academia," do not hesitate to send, and
have complete confidence in my money-chest. My present delight is to
pick up anything particularly suitable to a "gymnasium." Lentulus
promises the use of his ships. I beg you to be zealous in these matters.
Thyillus begs you (and I also at his request) to get him some writings
of the Eumolpidæ.[33]
V (A I, 8)
TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 67, ÆT. 39]
All well at your house. Your mother and sister are regarded with
affection by me and my brother Quintus. I have spoken to Acutilius. He
says that he has not heard from his agent, and professes surprise that
you should make any difficulty of his having refused to guarantee you
against farther demands. As to the business of Tadius, the announcement
in your letter that you have settled the matter out of court I saw
gratified and pleased him very much. That friend of mine[34]--a most
excellent man, upon my honour, and most warmly attached to me--is very
angry with you. If I could but know how much you care about it, I should
be able to decide how much trouble I am to take in the matter. I have
paid L. Cincius the 20,400 sesterces for the Megaric statues in
accordance with your letter to me. As to your Hermæ of Pentelic marble
with bronze heads, about which you wrote to me--I have fallen in love
with them on the spot. So pray send both them and the statues, and
anything else that may appear to you to suit the place you wot of, my
passion, and your taste--as large a supply and as early as possible.
Above all, anything you think appropriate to a gymnasium and terrace. I
have such a passion for things of this sort that while I expect
assistance from you, I must expect something like rebuke from others. If
Lentulus has no vessel there, put them on board anyone you please. My
pet Tulliola claims your present and duns me as your security. I am
resolved, however, to disown the obligation rather than pay up for you.
[Footnote 33: Thyillus (sometimes written Chilius), a Greek poet living
at Rome. See Letters XVI and XXI. The Eumolpidæ were a family of priests
at Athens who had charge of the temple of Demeter at Eleusis. The πάτρια
Εὐμολπιδῶν (the phrase used by Cicero here) may be either books of
ritual or records such as priests usually kept: πάτρια is an appropriate
word for such rituals or records handed down by priests of one race or
family.]
[Footnote 34: Lucceius, as in the first letter and the next.]
VI (A I, 10)
TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS)
TUSCULUM
[Sidenote: B.C. 67, ÆT. 39]
"Being in my Tusculan villa" (that's for your "being in the
Ceramicus")--however, I being there, a courier sent by your sister
arrived from Rome and delivered me a letter from you, announcing at the
same time that the courier who was going to you started that very
afternoon. The result is that, though I do send _an_ answer, I am forced
by the shortness of the time to write only these few words. First, as to
softening my friend's feeling towards you, or even reconciling him
outright, I pledge you my word to do so. Though I have been attempting
it already on my own account, I will now urge the point more earnestly
and press him closer, as I think I gather from your letter that you are
so set upon it. This much I should like you to realize, that he is very
deeply offended; but since I cannot see any serious ground for it, I
feel confident that he will do as I wish and yield to my influence. As
for my statues and Hermeracles, pray put them on board, as you say in
your letter, at your very earliest convenience, and anything else you
light upon that may seem to you appropriate to the place you wot of,
especially anything you think suitable to a palæstra and gymnasium. I
say this because I am sitting there as I write, so that the very place
itself reminds me. Besides these, I commission you to get me some
medallions to let into the walls of my little entrance-court, and two
engraved stone-curbs. Mind you don't engage your library to anyone,
however keen a lover you may find; for I am hoarding up my little
savings expressly to secure that resource for my old age. As to my
brother, I trust that all is as I have ever wished and tried to make it.
There are many signs of that result--not least that your sister is
_enceinte_. As for my election, I don't forget that I left the question
entirely to you, and I have all along been telling our common friends
that I have not only not asked you to come, but have positively
forbidden you to do so, because I understood that it was much more
important to you to carry through the business you have now in hand,
than it is to me to have you at my election. I wish you therefore to
feel as though you had been sent to where you are in my interests. Nay,
you will find me feeling towards you, and hear of it from others,
exactly as though my success were obtained not only in your presence,
but by your direct agency.
Tulliola gives notice of action against you. She is dunning me as your
surety.
VII (A I, 11)
TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 67, ÆT. 39]
I was doing so before spontaneously, and have been since greatly stirred
by your two letters, with their earnest expressions to the same effect.
Besides, Sallustius has been always at my side to prompt me to spare no
pains to induce Lucceius to be reconciled to you. But after doing
everything that could be done, not only did I fail to renew his old
feelings towards you, but I could not even succeed in eliciting the
reason of his alienation. On his part, however, he keeps harping on that
arbitration case of his, and the other matters which I knew very well
before you left Rome were causing him offence. Still, he has certainly
got something else fixed deeper in his mind; and this no letters _from_
you, and no commissioning of me will obliterate as easily as you will do
in a personal interview, I don't mean merely by your words, but by the
old familiar expression of your face--if only you think it worth while,
as you will if you will listen to me, and be willing to act with your
habitual kindness. Finally, you need not wonder why it is that, whereas
I intimated in my letters that I felt hopeful of his yielding to my
influence, I now appear to have no such confidence; for you can scarcely
believe how much more stubborn his sentiment appears to me than I
expected, and how much more obstinate he is in this anger. However, all
this will either be cured when you come, or will only be painful to the
party in fault.
As to the sentence in your letter, "you suppose by this time I am
prætor-elect," let me tell you that there is no class of people at Rome
so harassed by every kind of unreasonable difficulty as candidates for
office; and that no one knows when the elections will be.[35] However,
you will hear all this from Philadelphus. Pray despatch at the earliest
opportunity what you have bought for my "Academia." I am surprisingly
delighted with the mere thought of that place, to say nothing of its
actual occupation. Mind also not to let anyone else have your books.
Reserve them, as you say in your letter, for me. I am possessed with the
utmost longing for them, as I am with a loathing for affairs of every
other kind, which you will find in an incredibly worse position than
when you left them.[36]
[Footnote 35: The _comitia_ were twice postponed this year. Apparently
the voting for Cicero had in each case been completed, so that he is
able to say that he was "thrice returned at the head of the poll by an
unanimous vote" (_de Imp. Pomp._ § 2). The postponement of the elections
was probably connected with the struggles of the senate to hinder the
legislation (as to bribery) of the Tribune, Gaius Cornelius (Dio, 36,
38-39).]
[Footnote 36: The first allusion in these letters to the disturbed
position of public affairs. See the passage of Dio quoted in the
previous note. There were so many riots in the interval between the
proclamation and the holding of the elections, not without bloodshed,
that the senate voted the consuls a guard.]
VIII (A I, 3)
[Sidenote: B.C. 66. Coss., M. Æmilius Lepidus, L. Volcatius Tullus.]
In this year Cicero was prætor, and delivered his first extant
public speech (_apud populum_) in support of the _lex Manilia_,
which gave Pompey the command in the Mithridatic War with the
provinces of Asia and Bithynia. The strict Optimates opposed it.
Cicero supported it on the grounds of the importance of the war and
the proofs Pompey had already given of military ability, courage,
personal prestige, and good fortune. He takes occasion to point out
the mischief done to the Roman name by oppressive or fraudulent
governors and imperators. In this same year he delivered one of his
ablest speeches in court in defending A. Cluentius Habitus on a
charge of poisoning. At the consular elections this year the two
first elected were disabled for bribery.
TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS)
ROME, JANUARY
[Sidenote: B.C. 66, ÆT. 40]
I have to inform you of the death of your grandmother from pining at
your long absence, and at the same time because she was afraid that the
Latin towns would revolt and fail to bring the victims up the Alban
Mount. I presume that L. Saufeius will send you a letter of condolence
on the subject.[37] I am expecting you here in the course of January--is
it a mere rumour or does it come from letters of yours to others? For to
me you have not mentioned the subject. The statues which you got for me
have been landed at Caieta. I haven't seen them, for I have been unable
to leave Rome. I have sent a man to clear the freightage. I am
exceedingly obliged to you for having taken so much trouble to get them,
and so reasonably. As to your frequent remarks in your letters about
pacifying my friend, I have done everything I could and tried every
expedient; but he is inveterate against you to a surprising degree, on
what suspicions, though I think you have been told, you shall yet learn
from me when you come. I failed to restore Sallustius[38] to his old
place in his affections, and yet he was on the spot. I tell you this
because the latter used to find fault with me in regard to you. Well, he
has found by personal experience that _he_ is not so easy to pacify, and
that on my part no zeal has been lacking either on his or your behalf. I
have betrothed Tulliola to C. Piso Frugi, son of Lucius.[39]
[Footnote 37: The point of this frigid joke is not clear. Was the
grandmother really dead? What was she to do with the Latin _feriæ_? Mr.
Strachan Davidson's explanation is perhaps the best, that Cicero means
that the old lady was thinking of the Social War in B.C. 89, when the
loyalty of the Latin towns must have been a subject of anxiety. She is
in her dotage and only remembers old scares. This is understanding
_civitates_ with _Latinæ_. Others understand _feriæ_ or _mulieres_.
Saufeius, a Roman eques, was an Epicurean, who would hold death to be no
evil. He was a close friend of Atticus, who afterwards saved his
property from confiscation by the Triumvirs (Nep. _Att._ 12).]
[Footnote 38: Cneius Sallustius, a learned friend of Cicero's, of whom
we shall often hear again.]
[Footnote 39: C. Calpurnius Piso, quæstor B.C. 58, died in B.C. 57. The
marriage took place in B.C. 63.]
IX (A I, 4)
TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 65, ÆT. 41]
You keep on making me expect you again and again. Only the other day,
when I thought you on the point of arriving, I was suddenly put off by
you till Quintilis (July). Now, however, I _do_ think that you should
come at the time you mention if you possibly can. You will thereby be in
time for my brother Quintus's election, will pay me a long-deferred
visit, and will settle the dispute with Acutilius. This latter Peducæus
also suggested my mentioning to you, for I think it is full time that
you settled that affair. My good offices are at your service and always
have been so. Here at Rome I have conducted the case of Gaius Macer with
a popular approval surpassing belief and unparalleled. Though I had been
inclined to take a lenient view of his case, yet I gained much more
substantial advantage from the popular approval on his condemnation
than I should have got from his gratitude if he had been acquitted.[40]
I am very glad to hear what you say about the Hermathena. It is an
ornament appropriate to my "Academia" for two reasons: Hermes is a sign
common to all gymnasia, Minerva specially of this particular one. So I
would have you, as you say, adorn the place with the other objects also,
and the more the better. The statues which you sent me before I have not
yet seen. They are in my villa at Formiæ, whither I am at this moment
thinking of going. I shall get them all transferred to my Tusculan
villa. If I find myself with more than I want there I shall begin
adorning Caieta. Please reserve your books, and don't despair of my
being able to make them mine. If I succeed in that, I am superior to
Crassus in wealth and look down on everybody's manors and pastures.[41]
[Footnote 40: The annalist C. Licinius Macer was impeached _de
repetundis_ (he was prætor about B.C. 70 or 69, and afterwards had a
province), and finding that he was going to be condemned, committed
suicide. He was never therefore condemned regularly (Val. Max. ix. 127;
Plut. _Cic._ 9). Cicero presided at the court as prætor.]
[Footnote 41: The books must have been a very valuable collection, or
Cicero would hardly have made so much of being able to buy them,
considering his lavish orders for statues or antiques.]
X (A I, 1)
[Sidenote: B.C. 65. Coss., L. Aurelius Cotta, L. Manlius Torquatus.]
The election to the consulship is not till the next year (B.C. 64),
but Cicero is already making preparation for it, and looking out
for support. In July his only son was born. He does not refer to
the so-called "first Catilinarian conspiracy," but mentions
Catiline as a possible competitor, and even contemplates defending
him on some charge brought against him to prevent his standing for
the consulship.
TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS)
ROME, JULY
[Sidenote: B.C. 65, ÆT. 41]
The state of things in regard to my candidature, in which I know that
you are supremely interested, is this, as far as can be as yet
conjectured. The only person actually canvassing is P. Sulpicius
Galba.[42] He meets with a good old-fashioned refusal without reserve or
disguise. In the general opinion this premature canvass of his is not
unfavourable to my interests; for the voters generally give as a reason
for their refusal that they are under obligations to me. So I hope my
prospects are to a certain degree improved by the report getting about
that my friends are found to be numerous. My intention was to begin my
own canvass just at the very time that Cincius[43] tells me that your
servant starts with this letter, namely, in the _campus_ at the time of
the tribunician elections on the 17th of July. My fellow candidates, to
mention only those who seem certain, are Galba and Antonius and Q.
Cornificius.[44] At this I imagine you smiling or sighing. Well, to make
you positively smite your forehead, there _are_ people who actually
think that Cæsonius[45] will stand. I don't think Aquilius will, for he
openly disclaims it and has alleged as an excuse his health and his
leading position at the bar. Catiline will certainly be a candidate, if
you can imagine a jury finding that the sun does not shine at noon. As
for Aufidius and Palicanus,[46] I don't think you will expect to hear
from me about them. Of the candidates for this year's election Cæsar is
considered certain. Thermus is looked upon as the rival of Silanus.[47]
These latter are so weak both in friends and reputation that it seems
_pas impossible_ to bring in Curius over their heads. But no one else
thinks so. What seems most to my interests is that Thermus should get
in with Cæsar. For there is none of those at present canvassing who, if
left over to my year, seems likely to be a stronger candidate, from the
fact that he is commissioner of the _via Flaminia_, and when that has
been finished, I shall be greatly relieved to have seen him elected
consul this election.[48] Such in outline is the position of affairs in
regard to candidates up to date. For myself I shall take the greatest
pains to carry out all the duties of a candidate, and perhaps, as Gaul
seems to have a considerable voting power, as soon as business at Rome
has come to a standstill I shall obtain a _libera legatio_ and make an
excursion in the course of September to visit Piso,[49] but so as not to
be back later than January. When I have ascertained the feelings of the
nobility I will write you word. Everything else I hope will go smoothly,
at any rate while my competitors are such as are now in town. You must
undertake to secure for me the _entourage_ of our friend Pompey, since
you are nearer than I. Tell him I shall not be annoyed if he doesn't
come to my election.[50] So much for that business. But there is a
matter for which I am very anxious that you should forgive me. Your
uncle Cæcilius having been defrauded of a large sum of money by P.
Varius, began an action against his cousin A. Caninius Satyrus for the
property which (as he alleged) the latter had received from Varius by a
collusive sale. He was joined in this action by the other creditors,
among whom were Lucullus and P. Scipio, and the man whom they thought
would be official receiver if the property was put up for sale, Lucius
Pontius; though it is ridiculous to be talking about a receiver at this
stage in the proceedings. Cæcilius asked me to appear for him against
Satyrus. Now, scarcely a day passes that Satyrus does not call at my
house. The chief object of his attentions is L. Domitius,[51] but I am
next in his regard. He has been of great service both to myself and to
my brother Quintus in our elections. I was very much embarrassed by my
intimacy with Satyrus as well as that with Domitius, on whom the success
of my election depends more than on anyone else. I pointed out these
facts to Cæcilius; at the same time I assured him that if the case had
been one exclusively between himself and Satyrus, I would have done what
he wished. As the matter actually stood, all the creditors being
concerned--and that too men of the highest rank, who, without the aid of
anyone specially retained by Cæcilius, would have no difficulty in
maintaining their common cause--it was only fair that he should have
consideration both for my private friendship and my present situation.
He seemed to take this somewhat less courteously than I could have
wished, or than is usual among gentlemen; and from that time forth he
has entirely withdrawn from the intimacy with me, which was only of a
few day's standing.[52] Pray forgive me, and believe that I was
prevented by nothing but natural kindness from assailing the reputation
of a friend in so vital a point at a time of such very great distress,
considering that he had shewn me every sort of kindness and attention.
But if you incline to the harsher view of my conduct, take it that the
interests of my canvass prevented me. Yet, even granting that to be so,
I think you should pardon me, "since not for sacred beast or oxhide
shield."[53] You see in fact the position I am in, and how necessary I
regard it, not only to retain but even to acquire all possible sources
of popularity. I hope I have justified myself in your eyes, I am at any
rate anxious to have done so. The Hermathena you sent I am delighted
with: it has been placed with such charming effect that the whole
gymnasium seems arranged specially for it.[54] I am exceedingly obliged
to you.
[Footnote 42: One of the judices rejected by Verres on his trial, a
pontifex and augur.]
[Footnote 43: Agent of Atticus.]
[Footnote 44: C. Antonius (uncle of M. Antonius) was elected with
Cicero. Q. Cornificius had been tr. pl. in B.C. 69. See Letter XVIII.]
[Footnote 45: M. Cæsonius, Cicero's colleague in the ædileship. He had
lost credit as one of the _Iunianum concilium_ in the trial of
Oppianicus.]
[Footnote 46: Aufidius Lurco, tr. pl. B.C. 61. M. Lollius Palicanus, tr.
pl. some years previously.]
[Footnote 47: L. Iulius Cæsar, actually consul in B.C. 64,
brother-in-law of Lentulus the Catilinarian conspirator, was afterwards
_legatus_ to his distant kinsman, Iulius Cæsar, in Gaul. A. Minucius
Thermus, defended by Cicero in B.C. 59, but the identification is not
certain. D. Iunius Silanus got the consulship in the year after Cicero
(B.C. 62), and as consul-designate spoke in favour of executing the
Catilinarian conspirators.]