at Three Taverns in answer to your delightful letters! But the fact is
that the packet into which I had put it arrived at my town house on the
same day as I wrote it, and has been brought back to me to Formiæ.
Accordingly, I have directed the letter meant for you to be taken back
again, to shew you how pleased I was with yours. So you say that the
talk has died out at Rome! I thought so: but, by Hercules, it hasn't
died out in the country, and it has come to this, that the very country
can't stand the despotism you have got at Rome. When you come to
"Læstrygonia of the distant gates"[230]--I mean Formiæ--what loud
murmurs! what angry souls! what unpopularity for our friend Magnus! His
surname is getting as much out of fashion as the "Dives" of Crassus.
Believe me, I have met no one here to take the present state of things
as quietly as I do. Wherefore, credit me, let us stick to philosophy. I
am ready to take my oath that there is nothing to beat it. If you have a
despatch to send to the Sicyonians,[231] make haste to Formiæ, whence I
think of going on the 6th of May.
[Footnote 230: τηλέπυλον Λαιστρυγονίην, whose king Lamus (_Odyss._ x.
81) was supposed to have founded Formiæ (Horace, _Od._ iii. 17).]
[Footnote 231: A despatch from senate or consuls. See Letter XXIV, p.
60.]
XL (A II, 14)
TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)
FORMIÆ, APRIL
[Sidenote: B.C. 59, ÆT. 47.]
How you rouse my curiosity as to what Bibulus says, as to your
conversation with "Iuno," and even as to your "fast" dinner party!
Therefore make haste to come, for my ears are thirsty for news. However,
there is nothing which I think is now more to be dreaded by me than that
our dear Sampsiceramus, finding himself belaboured by the tongues of
all, and seeing these proceedings easy to upset, should begin striking
out. For myself, I have so completely lost all nerve, that I prefer a
despotism, with the existing peace, to a state of war with the best
hopes in the world. As to literary composition, to which you frequently
urge me, it is impossible! My house is a basilica rather than a villa,
owing to the crowds of visitors from Formiæ. But (you'll say) do I
really compare the Æmilian tribe to the crowd in a basilica?[232] Well,
I say nothing about the common ruck--the rest of them don't bother me
after ten o'clock: but C. Arrius is my next door neighbour, or rather,
he almost lives in my house, and even declares that the reason for his
not going to Rome is that he may spend whole days with me here
philosophizing! And then, lo and behold, on my other side is Sebosus,
that friend of Catulus! Which way am I to turn? By heaven, I would start
at once for Arpinum, only that I see that the most convenient place to
await your visit is Formiæ: but only up to the 6th of May! For you see
with what bores my ears are pestered. What a splendid opportunity, with
such fellows in the house, if anyone wanted to buy my Formian
property![233] And in spite of all this am I to make good my words, "Let
us attempt something great, and requiring much thought and leisure"?
However, I _will_ do something for you, and not spare my labour.
[Footnote 232: _At comparem_ for _at quam partem_. _At_ has its usual
force of introducing a supposed objection. I can't, say you, compare the
Æmilian tribe, the Formiani, to a crowd in a court-house! They are not
so bad as that, not so wasteful of time! I take _basilica_ to mean the
saunterers in a basilica, as we might say "the park" for the company in
it, "the exchange" for the brokers in it. I feel certain that Prof.
Tyrrell is wrong in ascribing the words _sed--sunt_ to a quotation from
Atticus's letter. What is wanted is to remove the full stop after
_sunt_. The contrast Cicero is drawing is between the interruption to
literary work of a crowd of visitors and of one or two individuals
always turning up. The second is the worse--and here I think all workers
will agree with him: the crowd of visitors (_vulgus_) go at the regular
hour, but individuals come in at all hours.]
[Footnote 233: Because he would be inclined to sell it cheap in his
disgust.]
XLI (A II, 15)
TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)
FORMIÆ, APRIL
[Sidenote: B.C. 59, ÆT. 47]
As you say, things are as shifting (I see) in public affairs as in your
letter; still, that very variety of talk and opinion has a charm for me.
For I seem to be at Rome when I am reading your letter, and, as is the
regular thing in questions of such importance, to hear something first
on one side and then on the other. But what I can't make out is
this--what he can possibly hit upon to settle the land question without
encountering opposition. Again, as to Bibulus's firmness in putting off
the _comitia_, it only conveys the expression of his own views, without
really offering any remedy for the state of the Republic. Upon my word,
my only hope is in Publius! Let him become, let him become a tribune by
all means, if for no other reason, yet that you may be brought back from
Epirus! For I don't see how you can possibly afford to miss him,
especially if he shall elect to have a wrangle with me! But, seriously,
if anything of the sort occurs, you would, I am certain, hurry back. But
even supposing this not to be the case, yet whether he runs amuck or
helps to raise the state, I promise myself a fine spectacle, if only I
may enjoy it with you sitting by my side.[234] Just as I was writing
these words, enter Sebosus! I had scarcely got out a sigh when "Good
day," says Arrius. This is what you call going out of town! I shall
really be off to
"My native mountains and my childhood's haunts."[235]
In fine, if I can't be alone I would rather be with downright
countryfolk than with such ultra-cockneys. However, I shall, since you
don't say anything for certain, wait for you up to the 5th of May.
Terentia is much pleased with the attention and care you have bestowed
on her controversy with Mulvius. She is not aware that you are
supporting the common cause of all holders of public land. Yet, after
all, _you_ do pay something to the _publicani_; she declines to pay even
that,[236] and, accordingly, she and Cicero--most conservative of
boys--send their kind regards.
[Footnote 234: The spectacle Cicero hopes for is Clodius's contests with
the triumvirs.]
[Footnote 235: To Arpinum (see last letter). The verse is not known, and
may be a quotation from his own poem on Marius. He often quotes
himself.]
[Footnote 236: This is not mentioned elsewhere. The explanation seems to
be that for the _ager publicus_ allotted under the Sempronian laws a
small rent had been exacted, which was abolished by a law of B.C. 111
(the name of the law being uncertain). But some _ager publicus_ still
paid rent, and the _publicanus_ Mulvius seems to have claimed it from
some land held by Terentia, perhaps on the ground that it was land (such
as the _ager Campanus_) not affected by the law of Gracchus, and
therefore not by the subsequent law abolishing rent.]
XLII (A II, 16)
TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)
FORMIÆ, 29 APRIL
[Sidenote: B.C. 59, ÆT. 47]
On the day before the Kalends of May, when I had dined and was just
going to sleep, the letter was delivered to me containing your news
about the Campanian land. You needn't ask: at first it gave me such a
shock that there was no more sleep for me, though that was the result of
thought rather than pain. On reflexion, however, the following ideas
occurred to me. In the first place, from what you had said in your
previous letter--"that you had heard from a friend of his[237] that a
proposal was going to be made which would satisfy everybody"--I had
feared some very sweeping measure, but I don't think this is anything of
the sort. In the next place, by way of consolation, I persuaded myself
that the hope of a distribution of land is now all centred on the
Campanian territory.[238] That land cannot support more than 5,000, so
as to give ten _iugera_ apiece:[239] the rest of the crowd of expectants
must necessarily be alienated from them. Besides, if there is anything
that more than another could inflame the feeling of the aristocrats, who
are, I notice, already irritated, it is this; and all the more that with
port-dues in Italy abolished,[240] and the Campanian land divided, what
home revenue is there except the five per cent. on manumissions? And
even that, I think, it will only take a single trumpery harangue,
cheered by our lackeys, to throw away also. What our friend Gnæus can
be thinking of I can't imagine--
"For still he blows, and with no slender pipe,
But furious blasts by no mouth-band restrained"--
to be induced to countenance such a measure as that. For hitherto he has
fenced with these questions: "he approved Cæsar's laws, but Cæsar must
be responsible for his proceedings in carrying them"; "he himself was
satisfied with the agrarian law"; "whether it could be vetoed by a
tribune or no was nothing to do with him"; "he thought the time had come
for the business of the Alexandrine king to be settled"; "it was no
business of his to inquire whether Bibulus had been watching the sky on
that occasion or no"; "as to the _publicani_, he had been willing to
oblige that order"; "what was going to happen if Bibulus came down to
the forum at that time he could not have guessed."[241] But now, my
Sampsiceramus, what will you say to this? That you have secured us a
revenue from the Antilibanus and removed that from the Campanian land?
Well, how do you mean to vindicate that? "I shall coerce you," says he,
"by means of Cæsar's army." You won't coerce me, by Hercules, by your
army so much as by the ingratitude of the so-called _boni_, who have
never made me any return, even in words, to say nothing of substantial
rewards. But if I had put out my strength against that coterie, I should
certainly have found some way of holding my own against them. As things
are, in view of the controversy between your friend Dicæarchus and my
friend Theophrastus--the former recommending the life of action, the
latter the life of contemplation--I think I have already obeyed both.
For as to Dicæarchus, I think I have satisfied his requirements; at
present my eyes are fixed on the school which not only allows of my
abstaining from business, but blames me for not having always done so.
Wherefore let me throw myself, my dear Titus, into those noble studies,
and let me at length return to what I ought never to have left.
As to what you say about Quintus's letter, when he wrote to me he was
also "in front a lion and behind a ----."[242] I don't know what to say
about it; for in the first lines of his letter he makes such a
lamentation over his continuance in his province, that no one could help
being affected: presently he calms down sufficiently to ask me to
correct and edit his Annals. However, I would wish you to have an eye to
what you mention, I mean the duty on goods transferred from port to
port. He says that by the advice of his council he has referred the
question to the senate. He evidently had not read my letter, in which
after having considered and investigated the matter, I had sent him a
written opinion that they were not payable.[243] If any Greeks have
already arrived at Rome from Asia on that business, please look into it
and, if you think it right, explain to them my opinion on the subject.
If, to save the good cause in the senate, I can retract, I will gratify
the _publicani_: but if not, to be plain with you, I prefer in this
matter the interests of all Asia and the merchants; for it affects the
latter also very seriously. I think it is a matter of great importance
to us. But you will settle it. Are the quæstors, pray, still hesitating
on the _cistophorus_ question?[244] If nothing better is to be had,
after trying everything in our power, I should be for not refusing even
the lowest offer. I shall see you at Arpinum and offer you country
entertainment, since you have despised this at the seaside.
[Footnote 237: Cæsar.]
[Footnote 238: The old territory of Capua and the Stellatian Plain had
been specially reserved from distribution under the laws of the Gracchi,
and this reservation had not been repealed in subsequent laws: _ad
subsidia reipublicæ vectigalem relictum_ (Suet. _Cæs._ 20; cp. Cic. 2
_Phil._ § 101).]
[Footnote 239: According to Suetonius 20,000 citizens had allotments on
the _ager publicus_ in Campania. But Dio says (xxxviii. 1) that the
Campanian land was exempted by the _lex Iulia_ also. Its settlement was
probably later, by colonies of Cæsar's veterans. A _iugerum_ is
five-eighths of an acre.]
[Footnote 240: See Letter XXIX, p. 82. They were abolished B.C. 60.]
[Footnote 241: This and the mention of Cæsar's "army" (a bodyguard) is
explained by Suet. _Cæs._ 20: "Having promulgated his agrarian law,
Cæsar expelled his colleague, Bibulus, by force of arms from the Forum
when trying to stop proceedings by announcing bad omens ... and finally
reduced him to such despair that for the rest of his year of office he
confined himself to his house and only announced his bad omens by means
of edicts." Bibulus appears to have been hustled by the mob also.]
[Footnote 242: πρόσθε λέων ὄπιθεν δὲ ----. Cicero leaves Atticus, as he
often does, to fill up the rest of the line, δράκων, μέσση δὲ χίμαιρα
(Hom. _Il._ vi. 181). He means, of course, that Quintus is
inconsistent.]
[Footnote 243: The question seems to be as to goods brought to a port
and paying duty, and then, not finding a sale, being transferred to
another port in the same province. The _publicani_ at the second port
demanded the payment of a duty again, which Cicero decides against
them.]
[Footnote 244: Schutz takes this to mean, "Are the quæstors now doubting
as to paying _even cistophori_?" _i.e._, are they, so far from paying in
Roman _denarii_, even hesitating to pay in Asiatic? But if so, what is
the _extremum_ which Cicero advises Quintus to accept? Prof. Tyrrell,
besides, points out that the quæstors could hardly refuse to pay
anything for provincial expenses. It is a question between _cistophori_
and _denarii_. See p. 92.]
XLIII (A II, 17)
TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)
FORMIÆ, MAY
[Sidenote: B.C. 59, ÆT. 47]
I quite agree with your letter. Sampsiceramus is getting up a
disturbance. We have everything to fear. He is preparing a despotism and
no mistake about it. For what else is the meaning of that sudden
marriage union,[245] the Campanian land affair, the lavish expenditure
of money? If these measures were final, even then the mischief had been
very great; but the nature of the case makes finality impossible. For
how could these measures possibly give them any pleasure in themselves?
They would never have gone so far as this unless they had been paving
the way for other fatal steps. Immortal Gods!--But, as you say, at
Arpinum about the 10th of May we will not weep over these questions,
lest the hard work and midnight oil I have spent over my studies shall
turn out to have been wasted, but discuss them together calmly. For I am
not so much consoled by a sanguine disposition as by philosophic
"indifference,"[246] which I call to my aid in nothing so much as in our
civil and political business. Nay, more, whatever vanity or sneaking
love of reputation there is lurking in me--for it is well to know one's
faults--is tickled by a certain pleasurable feeling. For it used to
sting me to the heart to think that centuries hence the services of
Sampsiceramus to the state would loom larger than my own. That anxiety,
at least, is now put to rest. For he is so utterly fallen that, in
comparison with him, Curius might seem to be standing erect after his
fall.[247] But all this when we meet. Yet, as far as I can see, you will
be at Rome when I come. I shall not be at all sorry for that, if you
can conveniently manage it. But if you come to see me, as you say in
your letter, I wish you would fish out of Theophanes how
"Arabarches"[248] is disposed to me. You will, of course, inquire with
your usual zeal, and bring me the result to serve as a kind of
suggestion for the line of conduct I am to adopt. From his conversation
we shall be able to get an inkling of the whole situation.
[Footnote 245: The marriage of Pompey with Cæsar's daughter Iulia.]
[Footnote 246: ἀδιαφορία, a word taken from the Stoies, _huic_
[_Zenoni_] _summum bonum est in his rebus neutram in partem moveri, quæ
ἀδιαφορία ab ipso dicitur_ (_Acad._ ii. § 130).]
[Footnote 247: C. Curius, one of the Catiline set, who had been
ignominiously expelled from the senate.]
[Footnote 248: Another nickname of Pompey, from the title of the head of
the Thebais in Egypt. Like Sampsiceramus and the others, it is meant as
a scornful allusion to Pompey's achievements in the East, and perhaps
his known wish to have the direction of affairs in Egypt.]
XLIV (A II, 18)
TO ATTICUS (ON HIS WAY TO EPIRUS)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 59, ÆT. 47]
I have received several letters from you, which shewed me with what
eagerness and anxiety you desired to know the news. We are bound hard
and fast on every side, and are no longer making any difficulty as to
being slaves, but fearing death and exile as though greater evils,
though they are in fact much smaller ones. Well, this is the
position--one unanimously groaned over, but not relieved by a word from
anyone. The object, I surmise, of the men in power is to leave nothing
for anyone to lavish. The only man who opens his mouth and openly
disapproves is the young Curio. He is loudly cheered, and greeted in the
forum in the most complimentary manner, and many other tokens of
goodwill are bestowed on him by the loyalists; while Fufius[249] is
pursued with shouts, jeers, and hisses. From such circumstances it is
not hope but indignation that is increased, for you see the citizens
allowed to express their sentiments, but debarred from carrying them out
with any vigour. And to omit details, the upshot is that there is now no
hope, I don't say of private persons, but even of the magistrates being
ever free again. Nevertheless, in spite of this policy of repression,
conversation, at least in society and at dinner tables, is freer than it
was. Indignation is beginning to get the better of fear, though that
does not prevent a universal feeling of despair. For this Campanian
law[250] contains a clause imposing an oath to be taken by candidates in
public meeting, that they will not suggest any tenure of public land
other than that provided in the Julian laws. All the others take the
oath without hesitation: Laterensis[251] is considered to have shewn
extraordinary virtue in retiring from his canvass for the tribuneship to
avoid the oath. But I don't care to write any more about politics. I am
dissatisfied with myself, and cannot write without the greatest pain. I
hold my own position with some dignity, considering the general
repression, but considering my achievements in the past, with less
courage than I should like. I am invited by Cæsar in a very gentlemanly
manner to accept a legation, to act as _legatus_ to himself, and even an
"open votive legation" is offered me. But the latter does not give
sufficient security, since it depends too much on the scrupulousness of
Pulchellus[252] and removes me just when my brother is returning;[253]
the former offers better security and does not prevent my returning when
I please. I am retaining the latter, but do not think I shall use it.
However, nobody knows about it. I don't like running away; I am itching
to fight. There is great warmth of feeling for me. But I don't say
anything positive: you will please not to mention it. I am, in fact,
very anxious about the manumission of Statius[254] and some other
things, but I have become hardened by this time. I could wish, or rather
ardently desire, that you were here: then I should not want advice or
consolation. But anyhow, be ready to fly hither directly I call for you.
[Footnote 249: See Letter XIX, p. 35.]
[Footnote 250: _I.e._, Cæsar's _agrarian law_, by which some of the
Campanian _ager publicus_ was to be divided.]
[Footnote 251: M. Iuventius Laterensis. See Letter L, p. 123.]
[Footnote 252: Pulchellus, _i.e._, P. Clodius Pulcher. The diminutive is
used to express contempt. Cicero, since his return to Rome, is beginning
to realize his danger.]
[Footnote 253: A _libera legatio_ was really a colourable method of a
senator travelling with the right of exacting certain payments for his
expenses from the Italian or provincial towns. Sometimes it was simply a
_legatio libera_, a sinecure without any pretence of purpose, sometimes
it was _voti causa_, enabling a man to fulfil some vow he was supposed
to have made. It was naturally open to much abuse, and Cicero as consul
had passed a law for limiting it in time. Clodius would become tribune
on 10 December, and this _libera legatio_ would protect Cicero as long
as it lasted, but it would not, he thinks, last long enough to outstay
the tribuneship: if he went as _legatus_ to Cæsar in Gaul, he would be
safe, and might choose his own time for resigning and returning to
Rome.]
[Footnote 254: Statius, a slave of Quintus, was unpopular in the
province. See p. 125.]
XLV (A II, 19)
TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS)
ROME (JULY)
[Sidenote: B.C. 59, ÆT. 47]
I have many causes for anxiety, both from the disturbed state of
politics and from the personal dangers with which I am threatened. They
are very numerous; but nothing gives me more annoyance than the
manumission of Statius: "To think that he should have no reverence for
my authority! But of authority I say nothing--that he should have no
fear of a quarrel with me, to put it mildly!"[255] But what I am to do I
don't know, nor indeed is there so much in the affair as you would think
from the talk about it. For myself, I am positively incapable of being
angry with those I love deeply. I only feel vexed, and that to a
surprising degree. Other vexations are on really important matters. The
threats of Clodius and the conflicts before me touch me only slightly.
For I think I can either confront them with perfect dignity or decline
them without any embarrassment. You will say, perhaps, "Enough of
dignity, like the proverb, 'Enough of the oak':[256] an you love me,
take thought for safety!" Ah, dear me, dear me, why are you not here?
Nothing, certainly, could have escaped you. I, perhaps, am somewhat
blinded, and too much affected by my high ideal. I assure you there
never was anything so scandalous, so shameful, so offensive to all
sorts, conditions and ages of men alike, as the present state of
affairs. It is more so, by Hercules, than I could have wished, but not
more than I had expected. Your _populares_ have now taught even usually
quiet men to hiss. Bibulus is praised to the skies: I don't know why,
but he has the same sort of applause as his
"Who by delays restored alone our State."[257]
Pompey--the man I loved--has, to my infinite sorrow, ruined his own
reputation. They hold no one by affection, and I fear they will be
forced to use terror. I, however, refrain from hostility to their cause
owing to my friendship for him, and yet I cannot approve, lest I should
stultify my own past. The feeling of the people was shewn as clearly as
possible in the theatre and at the shows. For at the gladiators both
master and supporters were overwhelmed with hisses. At the games of
Apollo the actor Diphilus made a pert allusion to Pompey, in the words:
"By our misfortunes thou art--Great."
He was encored countless times. When he delivered the line,
"The time will come when thou wilt deeply mourn
That self-same valour,"