come to in your business, and what Pompey has undertaken to do, all this
you will best learn from Marcus Plætorius, who has not only been engaged
in these matters, but has even taken the lead in them, and left nothing
undone which the greatest affection for you, the greatest good sense,
and the greatest care could do. From the same man you will ascertain the
general position of public affairs, which are of such a nature as is not
easy to put in writing. They are, it is true, all in the power of our
friends, and to such an extent that it does not seem probable that the
present generation will witness a change. For my part, as in duty bound,
as you advised, and as personal affection and expediency compel, I am
attaching myself to the fortunes of the man whose alliance you thought
you must court when my fortunes were in question. But you must feel how
difficult it is to put away a political conviction, especially when it
happens to be right and proved up to the hilt. However, I conform myself
to the wishes of him from whom I cannot dissent with any dignity: and
this I do not do, as perhaps some may think, from insincerity; for
deliberate purpose and, by heaven! affection for Pompey are so powerful
with me, that whatever is to his interest, and whatever he wishes,
appears to me at once to be altogether right and reasonable. Nor, as I
think, would even his opponents be wrong if, seeing that they cannot
possibly be his equals, they were to cease to struggle against him. For
myself I have another consolation--my character is such that all the
world thinks me justified beyond all others, whether I support Pompey's
views, or hold my tongue, or even, what is above everything else to my
taste, return to my literary pursuits. And this last I certainly shall
do, if my friendship for this same man permits it. For those objects
which I had at one time in view, after having held the highest offices
and endured the greatest fatigues--the power of intervening with dignity
in the debates of the senate, and a free hand in dealing with public
affairs--these have been entirely abolished, and not more for me than
for all. For we all have either to assent to a small clique, to the
utter loss of our dignity, or to dissent to no purpose. My chief object
in writing to you thus is that you may consider carefully what line you
will also take yourself. The whole position of senate, law courts, and
indeed of the entire constitution has undergone a complete change. The
most we can hope for is tranquillity: and this the men now in supreme
power seem likely to give us, if certain persons[519] shew somewhat more
tolerance of their despotism. The old consular prestige, indeed, of a
courageous and consistent senator we must no longer think of: that has
been lost by the fault of those who have alienated from the senate both
an order once very closely allied to it, and an individual of the most
illustrious character. But to return to what more immediately affects
your interests--I have ascertained that Pompey is warmly your friend,
and with him as consul, to the best of my knowledge and belief, you will
get whatever you wish. In this he will have me always at his elbow, and
nothing which affects you shall be passed over by me. Nor, in fact,
shall I be afraid of boring him, for he will be very glad for his own
sake to find me grateful to him. I would have you fully persuaded that
there is nothing, however small, affecting your welfare that is not
dearer to me than every interest of my own. And entertaining these
sentiments, I can satisfy myself indeed, as far as assiduity is
concerned, but in actual achievement I cannot do so, just because I
cannot reach any proportion of your services to me, I do not say by
actual return in kind, but by any return even of feeling. There a report
that you have won a great victory.[520] Your despatch is anxiously
awaited, and I have already talked to Pompey about it. When it arrives,
I will shew my zeal by calling on the magistrates and members of the
senate: and in everything else which may concern you, though I shall
strive for more than I can achieve, I shall yet do less than I ought.
[Footnote 519: The extreme Optimates, such as Cato.]
[Footnote 520: Against the predatory and piratic inhabitants of
Cilicia.]
CXIX (Q FR II, 7)
TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN THE COUNTRY)
ROME (FEBRUARY)
[Sidenote: B.C. 55, ÆT. 51]
I thought you would like my book:[521] that you like it as much as you
say I am greatly delighted. As to your hint about my Urania and your
advice to remember the speech of Iupiter,[522] which comes at the end of
that book, I do indeed remember it, and that whole passage was aimed at
myself rather than at the rest of the world. Nevertheless, the day after
you started I went long before daybreak with Vibullius to call on
Pompey; and upon addressing him on the subject of the works and
inscriptions in your honour,[523] he answered me very kindly, gave me
great hopes, said he would like to talk to Crassus about it, and advised
me to do so too. I joined in escorting Crassus to his house on his
assuming the consulate: he undertook the affair, and said that Clodius
would at this juncture have something that he wanted to get by means of
himself and Pompey: he thought that, if I did not baulk Clodius's views,
I might get what I wanted without any opposition. I left the matter
entirely in his hands and told him that I would do exactly as he wished.
Publius Crassus the younger was present at this conversation, who, as
you know, is very warmly attached to me. What Clodius wants is an
honorary mission (if not by decree of the senate, then by popular vote)
to Byzantium or to Brogitarus, or to both.[524] There is a good deal of
money in it. It is a thing I don't trouble myself about much, even if I
don't get what I am trying to get. Pompey, however, has spoken to
Crassus. They seem to have taken the business in hand. If they carry it
through, well and good: if not, let us return to my "Iupiter."
On the 11th of February a decree passed the senate as to bribery on the
motion of Afranius, against which I had spoken when you were in the
house. To the loudly expressed disapprobation of the senate the consuls
did not go on with the proposals of those who, while agreeing with
Afranius's motion, added a rider that after their election the prætors
were to remain private citizens for sixty days.[525] On that day they
unmistakably threw over Cato. In short, they manage everything their own
way, and wish all the world to understand it to be so.
[Footnote 521: His poem "On his own Times."]
[Footnote 522: In his poem _de Consulatu suo_, the second book of which
(Urania) ends with a speech of Iupiter, who recommends his leaving
politics for literature.]
[Footnote 523: A statue in the temple of Tellus.]
[Footnote 524: Brogitarus was a Galatian and connexion of Deiotarus.
Clodius, as tribune, had done some services to Byzantium, and had also
got Brogitarus the office of high priest of Cybele. He wants now to go
and get his money for these favours.]
[Footnote 525: The prætorian elections, like the consular, had been put
off till February. Those elected would therefore enter on their office
at once, and so escape prosecution, to which they would have been liable
if, as in ordinary years, they had been "prætors-designate" from July to
January. Afranius's motion seems to have been for suspending the bribery
laws _pro hac vice_. Cato had been beaten: if there had been an
opportunity of impeaching his rivals he might have got in.]
CXX (A IV, 10)
TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)
CUMÆ, 20 APRIL
[Sidenote: B.C. 55, ÆT. 51]
At Puteoli there is a great report that Ptolemy has been restored. If
you have any more certain news, I should like to know it. I am here
devouring the library of Faustus.[526] Perhaps you thought I was
feasting on the beauties of Puteoli and the Lucrine lake. Well, I have
them too. But I declare to heaven that the more I am debarred from the
enjoyment of ordinary pleasures, owing to the political situation, the
more do I find support and refreshment in literature; and I would rather
be sitting in that charming seat of yours, under your bust of Aristotle,
than in _their_[527] curule chair, and be taking a stroll with you
rather than with the great man[528] with whom I see I shall have to
walk. But as to that walk, let fortune look to it, or god, if there is
any god who cares for such things. I wish, when possible, you would come
and see my walk and Spartan bath, and the buildings planned by Cyrus,
and would urge Philotimus to make haste, that I may have something to
match with yours in that department.[529] Pompey came to his Cuman
property on the Parilia (19th April). He at once sent a man to me with
his compliments. I am going to call on him on the morning of the 20th,
as soon as I have written this letter.
[Footnote 526: Son of the dictator Sulla, who is known to have brought
back from Athens a famous Aristotelian library.]
[Footnote 527: Pompey and Crassus, the consuls.]
[Footnote 528: Pompey, as the context shews. In the next clause
_ambulatio_ has a double meaning of physical walking and of a political
course of conduct.]
[Footnote 529: Philotimus, a freedman of Terentia's, seems to have been
engaged at Rome in the reconstruction of Cicero's house. The Spartan
bath (_Laconicum_) was a hot-air bath, like a Turkish bath.]
CXXI (A IV, 9)
TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)
CUMÆ, 28 APRIL
[Sidenote: B.C. 55, ÆT. 51]
I should much like to know whether the tribunes are hindering the census
by stopping business with their bad omens[530] (for there is a rumour to
that effect), and what they are doing and contriving as to the
censorship altogether. I have had an interview with Pompey here. He
talked a good deal to me about politics. He is not at all satisfied with
himself, to judge from what he says--one is obliged to put in that
proviso in his case. He thinks very little of Syria as a province; talks
a good deal about Spain--here, too, I must add, "to judge from what he
says," and, I think, his whole conversation requires that reservation,
and to be ticketed as Phocylides did his verses--καὶ τόδε
Φωκυλίδου.[531] He expressed gratitude to you for undertaking to
arrange the statues:[532] towards myself he was, by Hercules, most
effusively cordial. He even came to my Cuman house to call on me.
However, the last thing he seemed to wish was that Messalla should stand
for the consulship: that is the very point on which I should like to
hear what you know. I am much obliged by your saying that you will
recommend my fame to Lucceius, and for your frequent inspection of my
house. My brother Quintus has written to tell me that, as you have that
dear boy, his son Quintus, staying with you, he intends coming to your
house on the 7th of May. I left my Cuman villa on the 26th of April.
That night I spent at Naples with Pætus. I write this very early on the
27th, on my road to my Pompeian house.
[Footnote 530: The tribunes had no _veto_ against the censors, they
could only hinder them by the indirect method of _obnuntiatio_,
declaring that the omens were bad, and so preventing business.]
[Footnote 531: This also is Phocylides's.]
[Footnote 532: In Pompey's new theatre.]
CXXII (Q FR II, 8)
TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (AT ROME)
CUMÆ (APRIL)
[Sidenote: B.C. 55, ÆT. 51]
Afraid that you will interrupt me--you? In the first place, if I were as
busy as you think, do you know what interruption means? Have you taken a
lesson from Ateius?[533] So help me heaven, in my eyes you give _me_ a
lesson in a kind of learning which I never enjoy unless you are with me.
Why, that you should talk to me, interrupt me, argue against me, or
converse with me, is just what I should like. Nothing could be more
delightful! Never, by Hercules, did any crazy poet read with greater
zest his last composition than I listen to you, no matter what business
is in hand, public or private, rural or urban. But it was all owing to
my foolish scrupulousness that I did not carry you off with me when I
was leaving town. You confronted me the first time with an unanswerable
excuse--the health of my son: I was silenced. The second time it was
both boys, yours and mine: I acquiesced.[534] Now comes a delightful
letter, but with this drop of gall in it--that you seem to have been
afraid, and still to be afraid, that you might bore me. I would go to
law with you if it were decent to do so; but, by heaven! if ever I have
a suspicion of such a feeling on your part, I can only say that I shall
begin to be afraid of boring _you_ at times, when in your company. [I
perceive that you have sighed at this. 'Tis the way of the world: "But
if you lived on earth" ...I will never finish the quotation and say,
"Away with all care!"[535] Marius,[536] again, I should certainly have
forced into my sedan--I don't mean that famous one of Ptolemy that
Anicius got hold of:[537] for I remember when I was conveying him from
Naples to Baiæ in Anicius's eight-bearer sedan, with a hundred armed
guards in our train, I had a real good laugh when Marius, knowing
nothing of his escort, suddenly drew back the curtains of the sedan--he
was almost dead with fright and I with laughing; well, this same friend,
I say, I should at least have carried off, to secure, at any rate, the
delicate charm of that old-fashioned courtesy, and of a conversation
which is the essence of culture. But I did not like to invite a man of
weak health to a villa practically without a roof, and which even now it
would be a compliment to describe as unfinished. It would indeed be a
special treat to me to have the enjoyment of him here also. For I assure
you that the neighbourhood of Marius makes the sunshine of that other
country residence of mine.[538] I will see about getting him put up in
the house of Anicius. For I myself, though a student, can live with
workpeople in the house. I get this philosophy, not from Hymettus, but
from Arpinum.[539] Marius is feebler in health and constitution. As to
interrupting my book[540]--I shall take from you just so much time for
writing as you may leave me. I only hope you'll leave me none at all,
that my want of progress may be set down to your encroachment rather
than to my idleness! In regards to politics, I am sorry that you worry
yourself too much, and are a better citizen than Philoctetes, who, on
being wronged himself, was anxious for the very spectacle[541] that I
perceive gives you pain. Pray hasten hither: I will console you and wipe
all sorrow from your eyes: and, as you love me, bring Maruis. But haste,
haste, both of you! There is a garden at my house.[542]
[Footnote 533: Some bore, unknown to us.]
[Footnote 534: The two boys seem to be receiving their education
together at this time in the house of Quintus.]
[Footnote 535: It is all but impossible to explain these words. Some
editors transfer them to the sentence after _de Republica_. But they are
scarcely more in place there. The Greek quotation is not known.]
[Footnote 536: M. Marius, to whom Letter CXXVI is addressed.]
[Footnote 537: C. Anicius, a senator, seems to have obtained from
Ptolemy Auletes, by gift or purchase, his state sedan and its
attendants.]
[Footnote 538: The Pompeianum.]
[Footnote 539: An unintellible word, meant apparently for Greek (perhaps
_arce_ Ψυρίᾳ, see _Att._ xvi. 13), is in the text. The most probable
conjecture refers it in some way to Arpinum, Cicero's hardy mountain
birthplace.]
[Footnote 540: The _de Oratore_.]
[Footnote 541: The ruin of his country.]
[Footnote 542: For us to walk and converse in. It hardly refers to a
supply of vegetables, as some suggest.]
CXXIII (A IV, 11)
TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)
CUMÆ (APRIL)
[Sidenote: B.C. 55, ÆT. 51]
I was delighted with your two letters which I received together on the
26th. Go on with the story. I long to know all the facts of what you
write about. Also I should like you to find out what this means: you can
do so from Demetrius. Pompey told me that he was expecting Crassus in
his Alban villa on the 27th: that as soon as he arrived, they were going
at once to Rome to settle accounts with the _publicani_. I asked,
"During the gladiatorial exhibitions?" He answered, "Before they were
begun." What that means I wish you would send me word either at once, if
you know, or when he has reached Rome. I am engaged here in devouring
books with the aid of that wonderful fellow Dionysius,[543] for, by
Hercules, that is what he seems to me to be. He sends compliments to you
and all your party.
"No bliss so great as knowing all that is."
Wherefore indulge my thirst for knowledge by telling what happened on
the first and on the second day of the shows: what about the
censors,[544] what about Appius,[545] what about that she-Appuleius of
the people?[546] Finally, pray write me word what you are doing
yourself. For, to tell the truth, revolutions don't give me so much
pleasure as a letter from you. I took no one out of town with me except
Dionysius: yet I am in no fear of wanting conversation--so delightful do
I find that youth. Pray give my book to Lucceius.[547] I send you the
book of Demetrius of Magnesia,[548] that there may be a messenger on the
spot to bring me back a letter from you.
[Footnote 543: A learned freedman of Atticus's.]
[Footnote 544: See p. 250. Censors were elected this year, but the
powers of the censorship had been much curtailed by a law of Clodius in
B.C. 58.]
[Footnote 545: Apius Claudius (brother of Clodius) was a candidate for
the consulship of B.C. 54.]
[Footnote 546: Clodius, a revolutionary, like Appuleius Saturninus. The
feminine gender is an insult.]
[Footnote 547: Either his poem "On his own Times," or the notes of
events which he had promised in Letter CVIII, p. 231.]
[Footnote 548: A treatise on union (περὶ ὁμονοίας). The rhetorician
Dionysius of Magnesia had been with Cicero during his tour in Asia.]
CXXIV (A IV, 12)
TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)
CUMÆ, APRIL
[Sidenote: B.C. 55, ÆT. 51]
Egnatius[549] is at Rome. But I spoke strongly to him at Antium about
Halimetus's business. He assured me that he would speak seriously to
Aquilius.[550] You will see the man therefore, if you please. I think I
can scarcely be ready for Macro:[551] for I see that the auction at
Larinum is on the Ides and the two days following. Pray forgive me for
that, since you think so much of Macro. But, as you love me, dine with
me on the 2nd, and bring Pilia. You must absolutely do so. On the 1st I
think of dining at Crassipes' suburban villa as a kind of inn. I thus
elude the decree of the senate. Thence to my town house after dinner, so
as to be ready to be at Milo's in the morning.[552] There, then, I shall
see you, and shall march you on with me. My whole household sends you
greeting.
[Footnote 549: L. Egnatius, who owed Q. Cicero money.]
[Footnote 550: C. Aquilius Gallus, Cicero's colleague in the prætorship,
and a busy advocate. See p. 13.]
[Footnote 551: Apparently a money-lender.]
[Footnote 552: Perhaps at his _sponsalia_, as he was married towards the
end of the year.]
CXXV (F VII, 23)
TO M. FADIUS GALLUS
ROME (MAY)
[Sidenote: B.C. 55, ÆT. 51]
I had only just arrived from Arpinum when your letter was delivered to
me; and from the same bearer I received a letter from Arrianus,[553] in
which there was this most liberal offer, that when he came to Rome he
would enter my debt to him on whatever day I chose. Pray put yourself in
my place: is it consistent with your modesty or mine, first to prefer a
request as to the day, and then to ask more than a year's credit? But,
my dear Gallus, everything would have been easy, if you had bought the
things I wanted, and only up to the price that I wished. However, the
purchases which, according to your letter, you have made shall not only
be ratified by me, but with gratitude besides: for I fully understand
that you have displayed zeal and affection in purchasing (because you
thought them worthy of me) things which pleased yourself--a man, as I
have ever thought, of the most fastidious judgment in all matters of
taste. Still, I should like Damasippus[554] to abide by his decision:
for there is absolutely none of those purchases that I care to have.
But you, being unacquainted with my habits, have bought four or five of
your selection at a price at which I do not value any statues in the
world. You compare your Bacchæ with Metellus's Muses. Where is the
likeness? To begin with, I should never have considered the Muses worth
all that money, and I think all the Muses would have approved my
judgment: still, it would have been appropriate to a library, and in
harmony with my pursuits. But Bacchæ! What place is there in my house
for them? But, you will say, they are pretty. I know them very well and
have often seen them. I would have commissioned you definitely in the
case of statues known to me, if I had decided on them. The sort of
statues that I am accustomed to buy are such as may adorn a place in a
_palæstra_ after the fashion of gymnasia.[555] What, again, have I, the
promoter of peace, to do with a statue of Mars? I am glad there was not
a statue of Saturn also: for I should have thought these two statues had
brought me debt! I should have preferred some representation of Mercury:
I might then, I suppose, have made a more favourable bargain with
Arrianus. You say you meant the table-stand[556] for yourself; well, if
you like it, keep it. But if you have changed your mind I will, of
course, have it. For the money you have laid out, indeed, I would rather
have purchased a place of call at Tarracina,[557] to prevent my being
always a burden on my host. Altogether I perceive that the fault is with
my freedman, whom I had distinctly commissioned to purchase certain
definite things, and also with Iunius, whom I think you know, an
intimate friend of Arrianus. I have constructed some new sitting-rooms
in a miniature colonnade on my Tusculan property. I want to ornament
them with pictures: for if I take pleasure in anything of that sort it
is in painting. However, if I am to have what you have bought, I should
like you to inform me where they are, when they are to be fetched, and by
what kind of conveyance. For if Damasippus doesn't abide by his
decision, I shall look for some would-be Damasippus,[558] even at a
loss.
As to what you say about the house, as I was going out of town I
intrusted the matter to my daughter Tullia:[559] for it was at the very
hour of my departure that I got your letter. I also discussed the matter
with your friend Nicias, because he is, as you know, intimate with
Cassius. On my return, however, before I got your last letter, I asked
Tullia what she had done. She said that she had approached Licinia[560]
(though I think Cassius is not very intimate with his sister), and that
she at once said that she could not venture, in the absence of her
husband (Dexius is gone to Spain), to change houses without his being
there and knowing about it. I am much gratified that you should value
association with me and my domestic life so highly, as, in the first
place, to take a house which would enable you to live not only near me,
but absolutely with me, and, in the second place, to be in such a hurry
to make this change of residence. But, upon my life, I do not yield to
you in eagerness for that arrangement. So I will try every means in my
power. For I see the advantage to myself, and, indeed, the advantages to
us both. If I succeed in doing anything, I will let you know. Mind you
also write me word back on everything, and let me know, if you please,
when I am to expect you.
[Footnote 553: C. Arrianus Evander, a dealer in statues, it seems, from
whom Fadius had bought some for Cicero. He offers to let the debt for
them (and so the interest) run from any day Cicero pleases.]
[Footnote 554: A well-known connoisseur, mentioned by Horace, _Sat._ ii.
3, 64, _seq._. He seems to have offered to take the bargain off Cicero's
hands.]
[Footnote 555: That is, for his _palæstra_ or gymnasium, as he calls it,
in his Tusculanum. See Letters I, II, VII.]
[Footnote 556: An ornamental leg or stand for table or sideboard
(_abacus_). See picture in Rich's _Dictionary of Antiquities_.]
[Footnote 557: On the _via Appia_, where the canal across the marshes
began. Cicero stops there a night between Formiæ and Pomptina Summa
(_Att._ vii. 5).]
[Footnote 558: One who professes to be an amateur of art like
Damasippus.]
[Footnote 559: As in Letter CVI, Tullia, not Terentia, seems to be in
Cicero's confidence and presiding in his house. Terentia must already
have been on bad terms with him, and perhaps was residing on her own
property.]
[Footnote 560: Half-sister of Gaius Cassius.]
CXXVI (F VII, I)
TO M. MARIUS (AT CUMÆ)
ROME (OCTOBER?)
[Sidenote: B.C. 55, ÆT. 51]