town near the modern Charleroi. In this winter he was in great danger
from a sudden rising of the Nervii and other tribes (Cæs. _B. G._ v.
24-49).]
[Footnote 680: Twenty days of _supplicatio_ had been decreed in honour
of Cæsar's campaigns of B.C. 55 (Cæs. _B. G._ iv. 38).]
[Footnote 681: His gladiators, which he kept in training for the games
he was going to give in honour of a deceased friend.]
CLIX (Q FR III, 9)
TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS (IN GAUL)
ROME (NOVEMBER OR DECEMBER)
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, ÆT. 52]
In regard to Gabinius, I had not to carry out any of the measures which
you suggested with such affectionate solicitude. "May the earth swallow
me rather, etc.!"[682] I acted with very great dignity and also with the
greatest consideration. I neither bore hardly on him nor helped him. I
gave strong evidence, in other respects I did not stir. The disgraceful
and mischievous result of the trial I bore with the utmost serenity. And
this is the advantage which, after all that has happened, has accrued to
me--that I am not even affected in the least by those evils in the state
and the licentious conduct of the shameless, which used formerly to make
me burst with indignation: for anything more abandoned than the men and
the times in which we are living there cannot be. Accordingly, as no
pleasure can possibly be got from politics, I don't know why I should
lose my temper. Literature and my favourite studies, along with the
retirement of my country houses, and above all our two boys, furnish my
enjoyments. The one man who vexes me is Milo. But I hope an end will be
put to my anxieties by his getting the consulship: and to obtain this
for him I shall struggle as hard as I did for my own, and you, I am
sure, will continue to give assistance from over there. In his case
other things are all secure, unless it is snatched from his grasp by
downright violence: it is about his means that I am frightened:
"For he is now beyond all bearing mad,"[683]
to spend 1,000,000 sesterces (about £8,000) on his games. His want of
prudence in this one particular I shall put up with as well as I can,
and you should be strong-minded enough to do the same. In mentioning the
changes to be expected next year, I didn't mean you to understand me to
refer to domestic alarms: the reference was wholly to the state of the
Republic, in which, though not charged with any actual duty, I can
scarcely discharge myself from all anxiety. Yet how cautious I would
have you be in writing you may guess from the fact that I do not mention
in my letters to you even open acts of disorder in the state, lest my
letter should be intercepted and give offence to the feelings of anyone.
Wherefore, as far as domestic affairs are concerned, I would have you be
quite easy: in politics I know how anxious you always are. I can see
that our friend Messalla will be consul, if by means of an _interrex_,
without any prosecution, if by that of a dictator, without danger of
conviction. He is not disliked by anyone. Hortensius's warm support will
stand him in good stead. Gabinius's acquittal is looked upon as a
general act of indemnity. _En passant_: nothing has, after all, been
done as yet about a dictatorship. Pompey is out of town; Appius is
intriguing darkly; Hirrus is paving the way: there are many tribunes
calculated on to veto it: the people are indifferent: the leading men
disinclined to it: I don't stir a finger. I am exceedingly obliged for
your promises as to slaves, and I am indeed, as you say, short-handed
both at Rome and on my estates. But pray do nothing for my convenience
unless it entirely suits your own, and your means. About the letter of
Vatinius I laughed heartily. But though I know I am being watched by
him, I can swallow his hatred and digest it too. You urge me to
"finish": well, I have finished what, in my own opinion at least, is a
very pretty "epic" on Cæsar, but I am in search of a trustworthy
letter-carrier, lest it should share the fate of your
_Erigona_[684]--the only personage who has missed a safe journey from
Gaul during Cæsar's governorship.
What? because I had no good stone was I to pull down the whole
building?--a building which I like better every day of my life: the
lower court especially and the chambers attached to it are admirable. As
to Arcanum, it is a building worthy of Cæsar, or, by heaven, of some one
even more tasteful still. For your statues, _palæstra_, fish-pond, and
conduit are worthy of many Philotimuses, and quite above your
Diphiluses. But I will visit them personally, as well as sending men to
look after them and giving orders about them. As to the will of Felix,
you will complain more when you know all. For the document which he
believed himself to have sealed, in which your name was most certainly
entered as heir to a twelfth, this, by a mistake of his own and of his
slave Sicura, he did not seal: while the one which he did not intend to
seal he did seal. But let it go hang, so long as we keep well! I am as
devoted to your son Cicero as you can wish, and as he deserves, and as I
am bound to be. However, I am letting him leave me, both to avoid
keeping him from his teachers, and because his mother is leaving,
without whom I am very much alarmed as to the boy's large appetite. Yet,
after all, we see a great deal of each other. I have now answered all
your letters. Dearest and best of brothers, good-bye.
[Footnote 682: _I.e._, rather than defend him. τότε μοι χάνοι (εὐρεῖα
χθών), Hom. _Il._ iv. 182.]
[Footnote 683: ὁ δὲ μαίνεται οὐκ ἔτ' ἀνεκτῶς (Hom. _Il._ viii. 355). The
numerals seem doubtful. According to some MSS. the amount would be
10,000,000, _i.e._, £80,000.]
[Footnote 684: The tragedy written by Quintus and lost in transit.]
CLX (F VII, 10)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
ROME (NOVEMBER)
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, ÆT. 52]
I have read your letter which informs me that our Cæsar considers you a
great lawyer. You must be glad to have found a country where you have
the credit of knowing something. But if you had gone to Britain also, I
feel sure that there would not have been in all that great island anyone
more learned in the law than you. However--you won't mind my laughing,
for you invited me to do so--I am becoming positively a little jealous
of you! That you should have been actually sent for by a man whom other
people--not because of his pride, but of his many engagements--cannot
venture to approach!
But in that letter you told me nothing about your success, which, by
heaven, is of no less concern to me than my own. I am very much afraid
you may be frozen in your winter quarters: and therefore I think you
ought to use a good stove. Mucius and Manilius "concur" in this opinion,
especially on the ground of your being short of military cloaks.
However, I am told that you are having a sufficiently warm time of it
where you are--news which made me much alarmed for you.[685] However, in
military matters you are much more cautious than at the bar, seeing that
you wouldn't take a swim in the ocean, fond of swimming as you are, and
wouldn't take a look at the British charioteers, though in old time I
could never cheat you even out of a blind-folded gladiator.[686] But
enough of joking. You know how earnestly I have written to Cæsar about
you; I know how often. Yet, in truth, I have lately ceased doing so,
lest I should appear to distrust the kindness of a man who has been most
liberal and affectionate to me. However, in the very last letter I wrote
I thought he ought to be reminded. I did so. Please tell me what effect
it had, and at the same time tell me about your position in general and
all your plans. For I am anxious to know what you are doing, what you
are expecting, how long your separation from us you think is to last. I
would wish you to believe that the one consolation, enabling me to bear
your absence, is the knowledge that it is for your advantage. But if
that is not so, nothing can be more foolish than both the one and the
other of us: me for not inducing you to come back to Rome--you for not
flying thither. By heavens, our conversation, whether serious or
jesting, will be worth more not only than the enemy, but even than our
"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
Roman winter quarters (Cæs. _B. G._ v. 39 _seq_).]
[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._
i. 33; Tac. _Ann._ xi. 25).]
[Footnote 688: Terence, _Heautont_. 86.]
CLXI (F I, 10)
TO L. VALERIUS (IN CILICIA)
ROME
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, ÆT. 52]
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
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, ÆT. 52]
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
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, ÆT. 52]
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
[Sidenote: B.C. 54, ÆT. 52]
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)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, ÆT. 53]
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)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, ÆT. 53]
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)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, ÆT. 53]
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)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, ÆT. 53]
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)
[Sidenote: B.C. 53, ÆT. 53]
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.]