CICERO’S LETTERS TO ATTICUS BOOK I (continued 2)

That part of your letter in which you mention the chances of preferment in the provinces or in town, which you neglected in my consulship and at other times, was most unnecessary, for I am thoroughly persuaded of your disinterestedness and magnanimity, and I have never thought that there was any difference between you and me, except our choice of a career. A touch of ambition led me to seek for distinction, while another perfectly laudable motive led you to honourable ease. But in the real glory which consists in uprightness, industry and piety, there is no one I place above you, not even myself, and as

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me, cum a fraterno amore domesticoque discessi, tibi primas defero. Vidi enim, vidi penitusque perspexi in meis variis temporibus et sollicitudines et laetitias tuas. Fuit mihi saepe et laudis nostrae gratulatio tua iucunda et timoris consolatio grata. Quin mihi nunc te absente non solum consilium, quo tu excellis, sed etiam sermonis communicatio, quae mihi suavissima tecum solet esse, maxime deest—quid dicam? in publicane re, quo in genere mihi neglegenti esse non licet, an in forensi labore, quem antea propter ambitionem sustinebam, nunc, ut dignitatem tueri gratia possim, an in ipsis domesticis negotiis, in quibus ego cum antea tum vero post discessum fratris te sermonesque nostros desidero? Postremo non labor meus, non requies, non negotium, non otium, non forenses res, non domesticae, non publicae, non privatae carere diutius tuo suavissimo atque amantissimo consilio ac sermone possunt.

Atque harum rerum commemorationem verecundia saepe impedivit utriusque nostrum; nunc autem ea fuit necessaria propter eam partem epistulae tuae, per quam te ac mores tuos mihi purgatos ac probatos esse voluisti. Atque in ista incommoditate alienati illius animi et offensi illud inest tamen commodi, quod et mihi et ceteris amicis tuis nota fuit et abs te aliquanto ante testificata tua voluntas omittendae provinciae, ut, quod una non estis, non dissensione ac discidio vestro, sed voluntate ac iudicio tuo factum esse videatur. Quare et illa, quae violata, expiabuntur,

71regards affection to myself, after my brother and my immediate connections, I give you the palm. For I have seen time after time, and have had thorough experience of your sorrow and your joy in my changing fortunes. I have often had the pleasure of your congratulations in times of triumph and the comfort of your consolation in hours of despondency. Nay at this very moment your absence makes me feel the lack not only of your advice, which you excel in giving, but of the interchange of speech, which I enjoy most with you. I hardly know if I miss it most in politics, where I dare not make a slip; or in my legal work, which I used to undertake for advancement’s sake and now keep up to preserve my position through popularity; or in my private concerns. In all of them I have felt your loss all along and especially since my brother’s departure. Finally, neither my work nor my recreation, neither my business nor my leisure, neither my legal affairs nor my domestic, my public life or my private, can do without your most agreeable and affectionate advice and conversation any longer.

The modesty of both of us has often prevented me from mentioning these facts: but now it was forced upon me by that part of your letter in which you say you want yourself and your character cleared and vindicated in my eyes. There is one good thing as regards the unpleasantness caused by his alienation and anger, that your determination not to go to the province was known to me and other friends of yours, as you told us some time before; so the fact that you are not with him cannot be attributed to your quarrel and rupture, but to your choice and plans already fixed. So amends will be made for

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et haec nostra, quae sunt sanctissime conservata, suam religionem obtinebunt.

Nos hic in re publica infirma, misera commutabilique versamur. Credo enim te audisse nostros equites paene a senatu esse diiunctos; qui primum illud valde graviter tulerunt, promulgatum ex senatus consulto fuisse, ut de eis, qui ob iudicandum accepissent, quaereretur. Qua in re decernenda cum ego casu non adfuissem, sensissemque id equestrem ordinem ferre moleste neque aperte dicere, obiurgavi senatum, ut mihi visus sum, summa cum auctoritate, et in causa non verecunda admodum gravis et copiosus fui. Ecce aliae deliciae equitum vix ferendae! quas ego non solum tuli, sed etiam ornavi. Asiam qui de censoribus conduxerunt, questi sunt in senatu se cupiditate prolapses nimium magno conduxisse, ut induceretur locatio, postulaverunt. Ego princeps in adiutoribus atque adeo secundus; nam, ut illi auderent hos postulare, Crassus eos impulit. Invidiosa res, turpis postulatio et confessio temeritatis. Summum erat periculum, ne, si nihil impetrassent, plane alienarentur a senatu. Huic quoque rei subventum est maxime a nobis perfectunique, ut frequentissimo senatu et libentissimo uterentur multaque a me de ordinum dignitate et concordia dicta sunt Kal. Decembr. et postridie. Neque adhuc res confecta est, sed voluntas senatus perspecta; unus enim contra dixerat

73the breach of friendship; and the ties between us, which have been so religiously preserved, will retain their inviolability.

The political position here is wretched, rotten and unstable. I expect you have heard that our friends the knights have almost had a rupture with the Senate. The first point that seriously annoyed them was the publication of a senatorial decree for an investigation into any cases of bribery of jurymen. As I did not happen to be present when the decree was passed, and noticed that the knights were annoyed though they did not openly say so, I remonstrated with the Senate very impressively, I think, and spoke with great weight and fluency, considering how shameless the case was. Here is another intolerable piece of petulance on the part of the knights! Yet I have not only put up with it, but forwarded their cause. The people who farmed the province of Asia from the censors, complained in the Senate that their avariciousness had led them to pay too high a price for it, and requested to have the lease annulled. I was their chief supporter, or rather the second, for it was Crassus who encouraged them to venture on the demand. It is a scandalous affair, a disgraceful request and a confession of foolhardiness. There was considerable danger, that, if they met with a refusal, they might have severed their connection with the Senate entirely. In this case too I was the main person who came to the rescue, and obtained for them a hearing in a very full and friendly House, and discoursed freely on the dignity and harmony of the two orders both on the first of December and the following day. The matter is not yet settled: but the Senate’s inclination is clear. For one person

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Metellus consul designatus. Atqui erat^[32] dicturus, ad quem propter diei brevitatem perventum non est, heros ille noster Cato. Sic ego conservans rationem institutionemque nostram tueor, ut possum, illam a me conglutinatam concordiam. Sed tamen, quoniam ista sunt tam infirma, munitur quaedam nobis ad retinendas opes nostras tuta, ut spero, via; quam tibi litteris satis explicare non possum, significatione parva ostendam tamen. Utor Pompeio familiarissime. Video, quid dicas. Cavebo, quae sunt cavenda, ac scribam alias ad te de meis consiliis capessendae rei publicae plura.

Lucceium scito consulatum habere in animo statim petere. Duo enim soli dicuntur petituri, Caesar (cum eo coire per Arrium cogitat) et Bibulus (cum hoc se putat per C. Pisonem posse coniungi). Rides? Non sunt haec ridicula, mihi crede. Quid aliud scribam ad te, quid? Multa sunt, sed in aliud tempus. † exspectare^[33] velis, cures ut sciam. Iam illud modeste rogo, quod maxima cupio, ut quam primum venias. Nonis Decembribus.

XVIII CICERO ATTICO SAL.

Scr. XI Kal. Febr. a. 694

Nihil mihi nunc scito tam deesse quam hominem eum, quocum omnia, quae me cura aliqua adficiunt, uno communicem, qui me amet, qui sapiat, quicum ego cum loquar, nihil fingam, nihil dissimulem, nihil

75only has opposed it, Metellus the consul elect. Our hero Cato was to have spoken, but the day was too short for it to come to his turn. So I am keeping to our policy and plan, and am preserving to the best of my ability that harmony which I have welded: but still, as that is now in such a shaky condition, I am, I hope, keeping a road open to preserve my position. I cannot explain fully in a letter; but I will give you a gentle hint. I am on the best of terms with Pompey. You know what I mean. I will take all reasonable precautions, and will write again at fuller length as to my plans for managing the republic.

Lucceius is thinking of standing for the consulship at once: for only two candidates are spoken of as likely to come forward. With Caesar he thinks he may come to terms through Arrius, and Bibulus’ cooperation he hopes to win through C. Piso. You smile? There is nothing to laugh at, I assure you. Is there anything else I want to tell you? Anything else? Yes, lots of things, but another time ... you wish to wait (?), let me know. At present I have one modest request to make, though it is my chief desire: that you come as soon as possible.

5 December.

XVIII CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.

Jan. 20, B.C. 60

Believe me, there is nothing I want so much at the present time, as a person with whom I can share anything that causes me the least anxiety, a man of affection and common sense, to whom I can speak without affectation, reserve, or concealment. My

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obtegam. Abest enim frater ἀφελέστατος et amantissimus. Metellus non homo, sed

“litus atque aer et solitudo mera.”

Tu autem, qui saepissime curam et angorem animi mei sermone et consilio levasti tuo, qui mihi et in publica re socius et in privatis omnibus conscius et omnium meorum sermonum et consiliorum particeps esse soles, ubinam es? Ita sum ab omnibus destitutus, ut tantum requietis habeam, quantum cum uxore et filiola et mellito Cicerone consumitur. Nam illae ambitiosae nostrae fucosaeque amicitiae sunt in quodam splendore forensi, fructum domesticum non habent. Itaque, cum bene completa domus est tempore matutino, cum ad forum stipati gregibus amicorum descendimus, reperire ex magna turba neminem possumus, quocum aut iocari libere aut suspirare familiariter possimus. Quare te exspectamus, te desideramus, te iam etiam arcessimus. Multa sunt enim, quae me sollicitant anguntque; quae mihi videor aures nactus tuas unius ambulationis sermone exhaurire posse.

Ac domesticarum quidem sollicitudinum aculeos omnes et scrupulos occultabo, neque ego huic epistulae atque ignoto tabellario committam. Atque hi (nolo enim te permoveri) non sunt permolesti, sed tamen insident et urgent et nullius amantis consilio aut sermone requiescunt; in re publica vero, quamquam animus est praesens, tamen vulnus^[34] etiam atque etiam ipsa medicina efficit. Nam, ut ea breviter, quae post tuum discessum acta sunt, colligam, iam exclames necesse est res Romanas diutius stare non posse. Etenim post profectionem tuam primus,

77brother, who is the most unaffected of persons and most affectionate, is away. Metellus is not a human being, but “sea-shore and airy void and desert waste.”^[35] And you whose conversation and advice have so often lightened my load of care and anxiety, who have aided me in my political life, been my confident in my family affairs and shared my conversations and projects—where are you? So utterly am I deserted, that the only moments of repose I have are those which are spent with my wife, my little daughter and darling boy. For my grand and showy friendships bring some public éclat, but private satisfaction they have none. And so, when my house has been crowded with the morning levée and I have gone down to the forum amid a throng of friends, I cannot find in the whole company a single man with whom I can jest freely or whisper familiarly. So I look forward with longing to your coming and in fact urge you to hurry: for I have many cares and anxieties, which I fancy would be banished by a single walk and talk in your sympathetic hearing.

However, I will conceal the stings and pricks of my private troubles, and will not entrust them to this letter and an unknown messenger. They are not very grievous—so don’t alarm yourself—but still they are persistent and worrying, and I have no friend’s advice and discussion to lull them to rest. For the State, though there is still life in it, the very cures that have been tried on it, have again and again opened fresh wounds. If I were to give you a brief summary of what has happened since you left, you would certainly exclaim that Rome cannot possibly stand any longer. For it was after your departure, I believe, that the opening scene of the

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ut opinor, introitus fuit in causam fabulae Clodianae, in qua ego nactus, ut mihi videbar, locum resecandae libidinis et coercendae iuventutis; vehemens fui et omnes profudi vires animi atque ingenii mei non odio adductus alicuius, sed spe corrigendae et sanandae civitatis. Adflicta res publica est empto constupratoque iudicio. Vide, quae sint postea consecuta. Consul est impositus is nobis, quem nemo praeter nos philosophos aspicere sine suspiritu posset. Quantum hoc vulnus! facto senatus consulto de ambitu, de iudiciis nulla lex perlata, exagitatus senatus, alienati equites Romani. Sic ille annus duo firmamenta rei publicae per me unum constituta evertit; nam et senatus auctoritatem abiecit et ordinum concordiam diiunxit. Instat hic nunc ille annus egregius. Eius initium eius modi fuit, ut anniversaria sacra Iuventatis non committerentur; nam M. Luculli uxorem Memmius suis sacris initiavit; Menelaus aegre id passus divortium fecit. Quamquam ille pastor Idaeus Menelaum solum contempserat, hic noster Paris tam Menelaum quam Agamemnonem liberum non putavit. Est autem C. Herennius quidam tribunus pl., quem tu fortasse ne nosti quidem; tametsi potes nosse, tribulis enim tuus est, et Sextus, pater eius, nummos vobis dividere solebat. Is ad plebem P. Clodium traducit, idemque fert, ut universus populus in campo Martio suffragium de re Clodi ferat. Hunc

79Clodian drama became the topic of discussion. There I thought I had a chance of using the surgeon’s knife on licentiousness and curbing youthful excesses: and I exerted myself, putting forth all the resources of my intellect and mind, not out of private spite, but in the hope of effecting a radical cure of the State. The corruption of the jury by bribery and debauchery dealt a crushing blow to the republic. See what has followed. We have had a consul forced on us, at whom no one except us philosophers can look without a sigh. That is a fatal stroke. Though a senatorial decree has been passed about the bribery of juries, no law has been carried; the Senate has been frightened out of it, and the knights have been estranged. So this one year has overturned two bulwarks of the State which had been erected by me alone: for it has destroyed the prestige of the Senate and broken up the harmony of the orders. Now comes this precious year. It was inaugurated by the suspension of the annual rites of the goddess of youth: for Memmius initiated M. Lucullus’ wife into some rites of his own. Menelaus took it hard and divorced his wife. Unlike the shepherd of Ida, who only slighted Menelaus, our modern Paris thought Agamemnon^[36] as fitting an object for his contempt. There is one C. Herennius, a tribune—you may not even know him, though perhaps you do, as he is a member of the same tribe as yourself, and his father Sextus used to distribute money to your tribesmen—he is trying to transfer P. Clodius to the plebs, and even proposes that the whole people shall vote on the matter in the Campus Martius. I gave him my

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ego accepi in senatu, ut soleo, sed nihil est illo homine lentius. Metellus est consul egregius et nos amat, sed imminuit auctoritatem suam, quod habet dicis causa promulgatum illud idem de Clodio. Auli autem filius, o di immortales! quam ignavus ac sine animo miles! quam dignus, qui Palicano, sicut facit, os ad male audiendum cotidie praebeat! Agraria autem promulgata est a Flavio sane levis eadem fere, quae fuit Plotia. Sed interea πολιτικὸς ἀνὴρ οὐδ’ ὄναρ quisquam inveniri potest; qui poterat, familiaris noster (sic est enim; volo te hoc scire) Pompeius togulam illam pictam silentio tuetur suam. Crassus verbum nullum contra gratiam. Ceteros iam nosti; qui ita sunt stulti, ut amissa re publica piscinas suas fore salvas sperare videantur. Unus est, qui curet constantia magis et integritate quam, ut mihi videtur, consilio aut ingenio, Cato; qui miseros publicanos, quos habuit amantissimos sui, tertium iam mensem vexat neque iis a senatu responsum dari patitur. Ita nos cogimur reliquis de rebus nihil decernere, antequam publicanis responsum sit. Quare etiam legationes reiectum iri puto.

Nunc vides quibus fluctibus iactemur, et, si ex iis, quae scripsimus tanta, etiam a me non scripta perspicis, revise nos aliquando et, quamquam sunt haec

81usual reception in the Senate; but he is the most phlegmatic of mortals. Metellus is an excellent consul and an admirer of mine; but he has lessened his influence by making, only for form’s sake, the very same proposal about Clodius. But Aulus’ son—heavens above! what a cowardly and spiritless wretch for a soldier! Just fit to be exposed, as he is, to the daily abuse of Palicanus. An agrarian law has been proposed by Flavius,—a very paltry production, almost identical with the Plotian law. And in the meantime not the ghost of a real statesman is to be found. The man who could be one, my intimate friend—for so he is, I would have you to know—Pompey, wraps that precious triumphal cloak of his around him in silence. Crassus never utters a word to risk his popularity. The others you know well enough—fools who seem to hope that their fish-ponds may be saved, though the country go to rack and ruin. There is one who can be said to take some pains, but, according to my view, with more constancy and honesty than judgement and ability—Cato. It is now three months that he has been worrying those wretched tax-collectors, who used to be great friends of his, and won’t let the Senate give them an answer. So we are forced to suspend all decrees on other subjects until the tax-collectors have had an answer. And I suppose even the embassies^[37] will have to be postponed for the same reason.

Now you see the storm we have to weather; and, as you can grasp from what I have written with such emphasis, something of what I have left unwritten, come and see me again, for it is high time. Though

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fugienda, quo te voco, tamen fac ut amorem nostrum tanti aestimes, ut eo vel cum his molestiis perfrui velis. Nam, ne absens censeare, curabo edicendum et proponendum locis omnibus; sub lustrum autem censeri germani negotiatoris est. Quare cura, ut te quam primum videamus. Vale.

XI Kal. Febr. Q. Metello, L. Afranio coss.

XIX CICERO ATTICO SAL.

Scr. Romae Id. Mart. a. 694

Non modo si mihi tantum esset otii, quantum est tibi, verum etiam si tam breves epistulas vellem mittere, quam tu soles, facile te superarem et in scribendo multo essem crebrior quam tu. Sed ad summas atque incredibiles occupationes meas accedit, quod nullam a me volo^[38] epistulam ad te sine argumento ac sententia pervenire. Et primum tibi, ut aequum est civi amanti patriam, quae sint in re publica, exponam; deinde, quoniam tibi amore nos proximi sumus, scribemus etiam de nobis ea, quae scire te non nolle arbitramur.

Atque in re publica nunc quidem maxime Gallici belli versatur metus. Nam Haedui fratres nostri pugnam nuper malam^[39] pugnarunt, et Helvetii sine dubio sunt in armis excursionesque in provinciam faciunt. Senatus decrevit, ut consules duas Gallias sortirentur, delectus haberetur, vacationes ne valerent, legati cum auctoritate mitterentur, qui adirent Galliae civitates darentque operam, ne eae se cum Helvetiis coniungerent. Legati sunt Q. Metellus Creticus et L. Flaccus et, τὸ ἐπὶ τῇ φακῇ μύρον, Lentulus

83what I invite you to you might well avoid, let your affection for me conquer even your objection under such unpleasant circumstances. I will see to it that notice is given and posted up everywhere, that you may not be entered on the census list as absent. But to get put on the roll just before the census is too thoroughly tradesman-like. So let me see you as soon as possible. Farewell.

Jan. 20 in the consulship of C. Metellus and L. Afranius.

XIX CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.

Rome March 15, B.C. 60

If I had as much time as you have, or if I could bring myself to write such short letters as you generally write, I could beat you hollow and write far more frequently than you write. But on the top of my inconceivable stress of work, you have to add my habit of never sending you a letter without a theme and a moral. First, as one ought to a loyal citizen, I will give you a sketch of political events, and then, as I am the nearest in your affection, I will tell you any of my own affairs that I think you would not be disinclined to know.

In politics then at the present minute fears of war in Gaul are the main topic: for “our brothers” the Aedui have had a disastrous battle recently, and the Helvetii are undoubtedly in arms and making raids on our province. The Senate has decreed that the consuls should cast lots for the two Gauls, that levies should be made, furloughs cancelled, and ambassadors with full powers sent to visit the Gallic states and prevent them from joining the Aedui. The ambassadors are Quintus Metellus Creticus, and Lucius Flaccus, and—“the caper sauce on

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Clodiani filius. Atque hoc loco illud non queo praeterire, quod, cum de consularibus mea prima sors exisset, una voce senatus frequens retinendum me in urbe censuit. Hoc idem post me Pompeio accidit, ut nos duo quasi pignora rei publicae retineri videremur. Quid enim ego aliorum in me ἐπιφωνήματα exspectem, cum haec domi nascantur?

Urbanae autem res sic se habent. Agraria lex a Flavio tribuno pl. vehementer agitabatur auctore Pompeio; quae nihil populare habebat praeter auctorem. Ex hac ego lege secunda contionis voluntate omnia illa tollebam, quae ad privatorum incommodum pertinebant, liberabam agrum eum, qui P. Mucio, L. Calpurnio consulibus publicus fuisset, Sullanorum hominum possessiones confirmabam, Volaterranos et Arretinos, quorum agrum Sulla publicarat neque diviserat, in sua possessione retinebam; unam rationem non reiciebam, ut ager hac adventicia pecunia emeretur, quae ex novis vectigalibus per quinquennium reciperetur. Huic toti rationi agrariae senatus adversabatur suspicans Pompeio novam quandam potentiam quaeri; Pompeius vero ad voluntatem perferendae legis incubuerat. Ego autem magna cum agrariorum gratia confirmabam omnium privatorum

85lenten fare”^[40]—Lentulus, son of Clodianus. And I cannot forbear adding here that when my lot came up first in the ballot among the ex-consuls, the Senate were unanimous in declaring that I should be kept in Rome. The same happened to Pompey after me, so that we two appear to be kept as pledges of the State. Why should I look for the “bravos” of strangers when these triumphs bloom for me at home?

Well, this is the state of affairs in the city. The agrarian law was zealously pushed by the tribune Flavius with the support of Pompey, though its only claim to popularity was its supporter. My proposal to remove from the law any points which encroached on private rights was favourably received by a public meeting. I proposed to exempt from its action such land as was public in the consulship of P. Mucius and L. Calpurnius,^[41] to confirm Sulla’s veterans in their possessions, to allow the people of Volaterra and Arretium to retain in their holding their land which Sulla had made public land, but had not distributed: the only clause I did not reject was that land should be purchased by this wind-fall which will come in from the new foreign revenues in the next five years. The Senate was opposed to the whole agrarian scheme, suspecting that Pompey was aiming at getting some new powers. Pompey had set his heart on carrying the law through. I on the other hand, with the full approval of the applicants for land, was for securing the holdings of all private

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possessiones; is enim est noster exercitus, hominum, ut tute scis, locupletium; populo autem et Pompeio (nam id quoque volebam) satis faciebam emptione, qua constituta diligenter et sentinam urbis exhauriri et Italiae solitudinem frequentari posse arbitrabar. Sed haec tota res interpellata bello refrixerat. Metellus est consul sane bonus et nos admodum diligit; ille alter nihil ita est, ut plane, quid emerit, nesciat. Haec sunt in re publica, nisi etiam illud ad rem publicam putas pertinere, Herennium quendam, tribunum pl., tribulem tuum sane hominem nequam atque egentem, saepe iam de P. Clodio ad plebem traducendo agere coepisse. Huic frequenter interceditur. Haec sunt, ut opinor, in re publica.

Ego autem, ut semel Nonarum illarum Decembrium iunctam invidia ac multorum inimicitiis eximiam quandam atque immortalem gloriam consecutus sum, non destiti eadem animi magnitudine in re publica versari et illam institutam ac susceptam dignitatem tueri, sed, posteaquam primum Clodi absolutione levitatem infirmitatemque iudiciorum perspexi, deinde vidi nostros publicanos facile a senatu diiungi, quamquam a me ipso non divellerentur, tum autem beatos homines, hos piscinarios dico amicos tuos, non obscure nobis invidere, putavi mihi maiores quasdam opes et firmiora praesidia esse quaerenda. Itaque primum, eum qui nimium diu de rebus nostris tacuerat. Pompeium

87persons—for, as you know, the strength of our party consists in the rich landed gentry—while at the same time I fulfilled my desire to satisfy Pompey and the populace by supporting the purchase of land, thinking that, if that were thoroughly carried out, the city might be emptied of the dregs of the populace, and the deserted parts of Italy peopled. But the matter has cooled off now this war has interrupted it. Metellus is an excellent consul and a great admirer of mine. The other one is an utter nonentity and clearly bought a pig in a poke when he got the consulship. That is all my political news, unless you think this has a bearing on politics. One Herennius, a tribune and fellow tribesman of yours, and a man of no character or position, has begun frequently proposing the transference of P. Clodius from a patrician to a plebeian; and his proposals are vetoed by many of his colleagues. This, I think, is all the public news.

For myself, ever since that December day when I won such splendid and immortal glory, though it carried with it much envy and enmity, I have not ceased to employ the same high-minded policy and to keep the position I have won and taken up. But, as soon as the acquittal of Clodius showed me the uncertainty and instability of the law courts, and I saw too how easily our friends the tax-gatherers could be estranged from the Senate, though they might not sever their connection with me, while the well-to-do—your friends with the fish-ponds, I mean—took no pains to disguise their envy of me, I bethought me that I had better look out for some stronger support and more secure protection. So firstly I brought Pompey, the man who had held his peace too long about

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adduxi in eam voluntatem, ut in senatu non semel, sed saepe multisque verbis huius mihi salutem imperii atque orbis terrarum adiudicarit; quod non tam interfuit mea (neque enim illae res aut ita sunt obscurae, ut testimonium, aut ita dubiae, ut laudationem desiderent) quam rei publicae, quod erant quidam improbi, qui contentionem fore aliquam mihi cum Pompeio ex rerum illarum dissensione arbitrarentur. Cum hoc ego me tanta familiaritate coniunxi, ut uterque nostrum in sua ratione munitior et in re publica firmior hac coniunctione esse possit. Odia autem illa libidinosae et delicatae iuventutis, quae erant in me incitata, sic mitigata sunt comitate quadam mea, me unum ut omnes illi colant; nihil iam denique a me asperum in quemquam fit nec tamen quicquam populare ac dissolutum, sed ita temperata tota ratio est, ut rei publicae constantiam praestem, privatis meis rebus propter infirmitatem bonorum, iniquitatem malevolorum, odium in me improborum adhibeam quandam cautionem et diligentiam atque ita, tametsi his novis amicitiis implicati sumus, ut crebro mihi vafer ille Siculus insusurret Epicharmus cantilenam illam suam:

Νᾶφε καὶ μέμνασ’ ἀπιστεῖν· ἄρθρα ταῦτα τᾶν φρενῶν.

Ac nostrae quidem rationis ac vitae quasi quandam formam, ut opinor, vides.

De tuo autem negotio saepe ad me scribis. Cui mederi nunc non possumus; est enim illud senatus

89my achievements, into a frame of mind for attributing to me the salvation of the empire and the world not once only, but time after time and with emphasis in the House. That was not so much for my own benefit—for my achievements were neither so obscure that they required evidence, nor so dubious that they required puffing up—but for the State’s sake, for there were some ill-natured persons who thought that there was a certain amount of disagreement between Pompey and myself, owing to a difference of opinion about those matters. With him I have formed such an intimate connection that both of us are strengthened in our policy and surer in our political position through our coalition. The dislike which had been aroused against me among our dissipated and dandified youths has been smoothed away by my affability, and now they pay me more attention than anyone. In short I avoid hurting anyone’s feelings, though I do not court popularity by relaxing my principles; indeed my whole conduct is regulated so, that, while I preserve my firmness in public life, in my private affairs the weakness of the loyal party, the prejudice of the disaffected and the hostility of the disloyal makes me move with some care and caution, and, involved though I am in my new friendships, I frequently have the refrain of Epicharmus, that subtle Sicilian, ringing in my ears:

Be sober of head, and mistrustful of friends;

Hinges are these on which wisdom depends.

There you have, I think, an outline sketch of my rule of life.

You keep writing about that business of yours; but at present I have no remedy for it. The decree

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consultum summa pedariorum voluntate nullius nostrum auctoritate factum. Nam, quod me esse ad scribendum vides, ex ipso senatus consulto intellegere potes aliam rem tum relatam, hoc autem de populis liberis sine causa additum. Et ita factum est a P. Servilio filio, qui in postremis sententiam dixit, sed immutari hoc tempore non potest. Itaque conventus, qui initio celebrabantur, iam diu fieri desierunt. Tu si tuis blanditiis tamen a Sicyoniis nummulorum aliquid expresseris, velim me facias certiorem.

Commentarium consulatus mei Graece compositum misi ad te. In quo si quid erit, quod homini Attico minus Graecum eruditumque videatur, non dicam, quod tibi, ut opinor, Panhormi Lucullus de suis historiis dixerat, se, quo facilius illas probaret Romani hominis esse, idcirco barbara quaedam et σόλοικα dispersisse; apud me si quid erit eius modi, me imprudente erit et invito. Latinum si perfecero, ad te mittam. Tertium poema exspectato, ne quod genus a me ipso laudis meae praetermittatur. Hic tu cave dicas: Τίς πατέρ’ αἰνήσει; Si est enim apud homines quicquam quod potius sit, laudetur, nos vituperemur, qui non potius alia laudemus; quamquam non ἐγκωμιαστικὰ sunt haec, sed ἱστορικά, quae scribimus.

Quintus frater purgat se mihi per litteras et adfirmat nihil a se cuiquam de te secus esse dictum.

91was passed by the enthusiasm of the silent members^[42] without any support from our party. For as to my signature which you find attached to it, you can see from the decree itself that it was quite a different matter which was brought forward, and this clause about the free peoples was added without rhyme or reason. It was the work of P. Servilius the younger, who was one of the last to speak: but it cannot be altered at the present time. So the meetings which at first were held about it have ceased long ago. If, however, you should manage to squeeze a few pence out of the Sicyonians, please let me know.

I have sent you a copy of my account of my consulship in Greek. If there is anything in it, which to your Attic taste seems bad Greek or unscholarly, I will not say what Lucullus said to you—at Panhormus, I think—about his history, that he had interspersed a few barbarisms and solecisms as a clear proof that it was the work of a Roman. If there is anything of the kind in my work, it is there without my knowledge and against my will. When I have finished the Latin version, I will send it to you. In the third place you may expect a poem, not to let slip any method of singing my own praises. Please don’t quote “Who will praise his sire?”^[43] For if there is any more fitting subject for eulogy, then I am willing to be blamed for not choosing some other subject. However my compositions are not panegyrics at all but histories.

My brother Quintus has written exculpating himself and declaring that he never said a word against

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Verum haec nobis coram summa cura et diligentia sunt agenda; tu modo nos revise aliquando. Cossinius hic, cui dedi litteras, valde mihi bonus homo et non levis et amans tui visus est et talis, qualem esse eum tuae mihi litterae nuntiarant. Idibus Martiis.

XX CICERO ATTICO SAL.

Scr. Romae m. Maio a. 694

Cum e Pompeiano me Romam recepissem a. d. IV Idus Maias, Cincius noster eam mihi abs te epistulam reddidit, quam tu Idibus Febr. dederas. Ei nunc epistulae litteris his respondebo. Ac primum tibi perspectum esse iudicium de te meum laetor, deinde te in iis rebus, quae mihi asperius a nobis atque nostris et iniucundius actae videbantur, moderatissimum fuisse vehementissime gaudeo idque neque amoris mediocris et ingenii summi ac sapientiae iudico. Qua de re cum ad me ita suaviter, diligenter, officiose, humaniter scripseris, ut non modo te hortari amplius non debeam, sed ne exspectare quidem abs te aut ab ullo homine tantum facilitatis ac mansuetudinis potuerim, nihil duco esse commodius quam de his rebus nihil iam amplius scribere. Cum erimus congressi, tum, si quid res feret, coram inter nos conferemus.

Quod ad me de re publica scribis, disputas tu quidem et amanter et prudenter, et a meis consiliis ratio tua non abhorret; nam neque de statu nobis nostrae dignitatis est recedendum neque sine nostris copiis intra alterius praesidia veniendum, et is, de quo scribis, nihil habet amplum, nihil excelsum, nihil non

93you to anyone. But that is a point we have to discuss very carefully when we meet, if only you will come and see me some time. This Cossinius, to whom I have given the letter, seems to me a very good steady sort of fellow, and devoted to you, exactly as you described him in your letter. March 15.

XX CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.

Rome, May, B.C. 60

On my return from my villa at Pompeii on the 12th of May, our friend Cincius passed on to me your letter which was dated the 13th of February. That is the letter which I shall now answer. And first I must say how delighted I am that you fully understood my opinion of you: next how very glad I am that you showed such forbearance with regard to the slights and unkindness which in my opinion you had received from me and mine: and I count it a sign of affection more than ordinary and the highest sense and wisdom. Indeed your answer is so charmingly worded and with such consideration and kindliness that not only have I no further right to press you, but I can never expect to experience such courtesy and forbearance from you or any other man. So I think it would be best for me to say no more about the matter in my letters. If any point arises, we will discuss it together when we meet.

Your remarks about politics are couched in friendly and prudent terms, and your view does not differ from my own—for I must not withdraw from my dignified position, nor must I enter another’s lines without any forces of my own, and the man you mention has no broad-mindedness and no high-mindedness,

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summissum atque populare. Verum tamen fuit ratio mihi fortasse ad tranquillitatem meorum temporum non inutilis, sed mehercule rei publicae multo etiam utilior quam mihi civium improborum impetus in me reprimi, cum hominis amplissima fortuna, auctoritate, gratia fluctuantem sententiam confirmassem et a spe malorum ad mearum rerum laudem convertissem. Quod si cum aliqua levitate mihi faciendum fuisset, nullam rem tanti aestimassem; sed tamen a me ita sunt acta omnia, non ut ego illi adsentiens levior, sed ut ille me probans gravior videretur. Reliqua sic a me aguntur et agentur, ut non committamus, ut ea, quae gessimus, fortuito gessisse videamur. Meos bonos viros, illos quos significas, et, eam quam mihi dicis obtigisse, Σπάρταν non modo numquam deseram, sed etiam, si ego ab illa deserar, tamen in mea pristina sententia permanebo. Illud tamen velim existimes, me hanc viam optimatem post Catuli mortem nec praesidio ullo nec comitatu tenere. Nam, ut ait Rhinton, ut opinor,

Οἱ μὲν παρ’ οὐδέν εἰσι, τοῖς δ’ οὐδὲν μέλει.

Mihi vero ut invideant piscinarii nostri, aut scribam ad te alias aut in congressum nostrum reservabo. A curia autem nulla me res divellet, vel quod ita rectum

95nothing in him that is not low and time-serving. Well, perhaps the course I took was not opposed to my own advantage and peace of life, but I swear it was far more to the advantage of the State than to mine that I should be the means of suppressing the attacks of the disloyal, and of strengthening the wavering policy of a man of the highest position, influence and popularity, and converting him from pandering to the disloyal to approval of my achievements. If I had had to make any sacrifice of principle in so doing, I should never have thought it justifiable: but I managed it so that he seemed to gain in principle by his approval of me, more than I lost in bowing to him. I will take care that my actions now and in the future do not convey the impression that what I did in the past was done at haphazard. My honest comrades, at whom you hint, and the lot^[44] which has fallen to me, as you say, I will never desert. Nay, even if I am deserted by it I will abide by my ancient principles. But I would have you please remember that, since the death of Catulus, I am holding the way for the conservative party without a garrison and without a comrade. For, as Rhinton, I think it is, says:

Some are stark naught, and naught do others reck.

How our friends of the fish-ponds envy me, I will either tell you in another letter, or keep it till we meet. But from the Senate house nothing shall tear me: either because that is the right course, or

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est, vel quod rebus meis maxime consentaneum, vel quod, a senatu quanti fiam, minime me paenitet.

De Sicyoniis, ut ad te scripsi antea, non multum spei est in senatu; nemo est enim, idem qui queratur. Quare, si id exspectas, longum est; alia via, si qua potes, pugna. Cum est actum, neque animadversum est, ad quos pertineret, et raptim in eam sententiam pedarii cucurrerunt. Inducendi senatus consulti maturitas nondum est, quod neque sunt, qui querantur, et multi partim malevolentia, partim opinione aequitatis delectantur.

Metellus tuus est egregius consul; unum reprehendo, quod otium nuntiari e Gallia non magno opere gaudet. Cupit, credo, triumphare. Hoc vellem mediocrius; cetera egregia. Auli filius vero ita se gerit, ut eius consulatus non consulatus sit, sed Magni nostri ὑπώπιον.

De meis scriptis misi ad te Graece perfectum consulatum meum. Eum librum L. Cossinio dedi. Puto te Latinis meis delectari, huic autem Graeco Graecum invidere. Alii si scripserint, mittemus ad te; sed, mihi crede, simul atque hoc nostrum legerunt, nescio quo pacto retardantur.

Nunc, ut ad rem meam redeam, L. Papirius Paetus, vir bonus amatorque noster, mihi libros eos, quos Ser. Claudius reliquit, donavit. Cum mihi per legem Cinciam licere capere Cincius, amicus tuus, diceret,

97because it is most consistent with my position, or because I am by no means dissatisfied with the Senate’s estimation of me.

As regards the Sicyonians, there is very little hope to be placed in the Senate, as I wrote you before: for there is no one now to raise a complaint. It would be tedious to wait for them to move. Fight the point in some other way, if you can. When the law was passed, nobody noticed to whom it applied, and the dummy members plumped eagerly in its favour. The time has not yet come for rescinding the decree, because there is no one who complains about it, and some favour it, partly from spite and partly from an idea of its justness.

Your friend Metellus is an excellent consul: I have only one fault to find with him, he is not at all pleased with the news of peace from Gaul. I take it he wants a triumph. I wish he would moderate that desire: in every other way he is excellent. The behaviour of Aulus’s son makes his consulship not a consulship, but a blot on the scutcheon^[45] of our friend Pompey.

I have sent you one of my works, a history of my consulship in Greek. I have given it to L. Cossinius. I fancy you like my Latin work, but, being a Greek, envy this Greek one. If others write about it, I will send you copies; but I assure you, as soon as they read mine, they somehow or other don’t hurry themselves about it.

Now to return to business. L. Papirius Paetus, my good friend and admirer, has offered me the books left to him by Ser. Claudius: and, as your friend Cincius said I could take them without breaking the

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libenter dixi me accepturum, si attulisset. Nunc, si me amas, si te a me amari scis, enitere per amicos, clientes, hospites, libertos denique ac servos tuos, ut scida ne qua depereat; nam et Graecis iis libris, quos suspicor, et Latinis, quos scio illum reliquisse, mihi vehementer opus est. Ego autem cotidie magis, quod mihi de forensi labore temporis datur, in iis studiis conquiesco. Per mihi, per, inquam, gratum feceris, si in hoc tam diligens fueris, quam soles in iis rebus, quas me valde velle arbitraris. ipsiusque Paeti tibi negotia commendo, de quibus tibi ille agit maximas gratias, et, ut iam invisas nos, non solum rogo, sed etiam suadeo.

99Cincian law^[46], I said I would very willingly accept, if he brought them here. Now, as you love me, as you know I love you, stir up all your friends, clients, guests, freedmen, nay even your slaves, to see that not a leaf is lost. For I have urgent necessity for the Greek works, which I suspect, and the Latin books, which I am sure, he left. Every day I seek my recreation, in such time as is left me from my legal labours, more and more in such studies. You will do me the greatest of favours, if you will show the same zeal in this as you generally do in matters about which you think I am really keen. Paetus’ own affairs I recommend to your notice too, and he expresses his deepest gratitude. And I do more than ask you, I urge you, to pay me a visit soon.

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