CICERO'S LETTERS TO ATTICUS BOOK XIV (continued 2)
Eric Otto Winstedt translation
284nostri vulticulus ab ista oratione deterret? Quintus filius, ut scribis, Antoni est dextella. Per eum igitur, quod volemus, facile auferemus. Exspecto, si, ut putas, L. Antonius produxit Octavium, qualis contio fuerit.
Haec scripsi raptim. Statim enim Cassi tabellarius. Eram continuo Piliam salutaturus, deinde ad epulas Vestori navicula. Atticae plurimam salutem.
XXI CICERO ATTICO.
Scr. in Puteolano V Id. Mai. a. 710
Cum paulo ante dedissem ad te Cassi tabellario litteras, V Idus venit noster tabellarius, et quidem, portenti simile, sine tuis litteris. Sed cito conieci Lanuvi te fuisse. Eros autem festinavit, ut ad me litterae Dolabellae perferrentur non de re mea (nondum enim meas acceperat), sed rescripsit ad eas, quarum exemplum tibi miseram, sane luculente. Ad me autem, cum Cassi tabellarium dimisissem, statim Balbus. O dei boni, quam facile perspiceres timere otium! Et nosti virum, quam tectus. Sed tamen Antoni consilia narrabat; illum circumire veteranos, ut acta Caesaris sancirent idque se facturos esse iurarent, ut castra[224] omnes haberent, eaque duumviri omnibus mensibus inspicerent. Questus est etiam de sua invidia, eaque omnis eius oratio fuit, ut amare videretur Antonium. Quid quaeris? nihil sinceri.
285frightened out of such talk by our friend Brutus' frown? Young Quintus, you tell me, is Antony's right hand man. So we shall easily get what we want through him. I am wondering what sort of speech Octavius made, if, as you thought, L. Antonius introduced him to a public meeting.
I am writing in haste: for Cassius' letter carrier is starting at once. I am going directly to call on Pilia, and then on to dinner with Vestorius by boat. My best love to Attica.
XXI CICERO TO ATTICUS.
Puteoli, May 11, B.C. 44
Just after I had given Cassius' messenger a letter for you on the 11th, came my messenger, and, to my extraordinary surprise, without a letter from you. But I quickly conjectured you had been at Lanuvium. Eros however had hastened to let me have a letter from Dolabella, not about my debt (for he had not got my letter yet), but an answer, and a very good answer too, to the one of which I sent you a copy. No sooner had I got rid of Cassius' messenger than Balbus came to see me. Good God, how easy it is to see that he is afraid of peace! And you know how secretive the man is. Yet he told me Antony's plans. He is canvassing all the veterans, asking them to support Caesar's acts and to take an oath to that effect, to keep in camps, which are to be inspected every month by two officials. He grumbled too about the prejudice against himself, and everything he said seemed to show affection for Antony. In fact there is no reliability in him. To me
286Mihi autem non est dubium, quin res spectet ad castra. Acta enim illa res est animo virili, consilio puerili. Quis enim hoc non vidit, regni heredem relictum? Quid autem absurdius?
"Hoc métuere, alterum ín metu non pónere!"
Quin etiam hoc ipso tempore multa ὑποσόλοικα. Ponti Neapolitanum a matre tyrannoctoni possideri! Legendus mihi saepius est "Cato maior" ad te missus. Amariorem enim me senectus facit. Stomachor omnia. Sed mihi quidem βεβίωται; viderint iuvenes. Tu mea curabis, ut curas.
Haec scripsi seu dictavi apposita secunda mensa apud Vestorium. Postridie apud Hirtium cogitabam et quidem πεντέλοιπον. Sic hominem traducere ad optumates paro. Λῆρος πολύς. Nemo est istorum, qui otium non timeat. Quare talaria videamus. Quidvis enim potius quam castra.
Atticae salutem plurimam velim dicas. Exspecto Octavi contionem et si quid aliud, maxime autem, ecquid Dolabella tinniat an in meo nomine tabulas novas fecerit.
287there seems no doubt that things are tending towards war. For the deed was done with the courage of men, but with the blind policy of a child. For who did not see that the tyrant left an heir? And what could be more absurd than "to fear the one, and reck not of his friend"? Nay even now there are many absurdities. Think of the mother of the tyrannicide[225] occupying Pontius' house at Naples! I must keep on reading my Cato Major which is dedicated to you: for old age is beginning to make me ill-tempered. Everything puts me in a rage. However, my life is over: the young people must look out for themselves. Take care of my affairs for me, as you are doing.
This I have written or rather dictated when at dessert with Vestorius. To-morrow I am thinking of paying a visit to Hirtius, the only survivor of the band of five.[226] That is my way of trying to make him join the conservative party. It is all nonsense: there is none of Caesar's party who does not fear peace. So let us look for our sevenleague boots. Anything is better than a camp.
Please pay my best respects to Attica. I am looking for Octavius' speech and any other news there may be, but especially whether we shall hear the ring of Dolabella's money or whether he repudiated his debts in my case.[227]
288
XXII CICERO ATTICO.
Scr. in Puteolano prid. Id. Mai. a. 710
Certior a Pilia factus mitti ad te Idibus tabellarios statim hoc nescio quid exaravi. Primum igitur scire te volui me hinc Arpinum XVI Kalend. Iun. Eo igitur mittes, si quid erit posthac; quamquam ipse iam iamque adero. Cupio enim, antequam Romam venio, odorari diligentius, quid futurum sit. Quamquam vereor, ne nihil coniectura aberrem. Minime enim obscurum est, quid isti moliantur; meus vero discipulus, qui hodie apud me cenat, valde amat illum, quem Brutus noster sauciavit. Et, si quaeris (perspexi enim plane), timent otium; ὑπόθεσιν autem hanc habent eamque prae se ferunt, clarissimum virum interfectum, totam rem publicam illius interitu perturbatam, inrita fore, quae ille egisset, simul ac desisteremus timere; clementiam illi malo fuisse; qua si usus non esset, nihil ei tale accidere potuisse. Mihi autem venit in mentem, si Pompeius cum exercitu firmo veniat, quod est εὔλογον, certe fore bellum. Haec me species cogitatioque perturbat. Neque enim iam, quod tibi tum licuit, nobis nunc licebit. Nam aperte laetati sumus. Deinde habent in ore nos ingratos. Nullo modo licebit, quod tum et tibi licuit et multis. Φαινοπροσωπητέον ergo et ἰτέον in castra?
289
XXII CICERO TO ATTICUS.
Puteoli, May 14, B.C. 44
As soon as I learned from Pilia that she was sending a messenger to you on the 15th, I scrawled this bit of a note. First then I want you to know that I am leaving here for Arpinum on May 17th. So, if you have anything to send after that, you must send it there: though I shall be in Rome almost directly. For I want to scent out as clearly as possible what is going to happen before I come to town. However, I fear my suspicions are not far from the truth. For it is clear enough what they are doing. My pupil,[228] who dined with me to-day, is a warm admirer of the man who was wounded by our Brutus: and, if you want to know, I see quite clearly that they are afraid of peace. This is the theme on which they are always dwelling: that a most distinguished person has been killed, that by his death the whole state has been thrown into disorder; that his acts will be null and void as soon as we have ceased to fear; that his clemency was his destruction, and that, if he had not practised clemency, such a thing could not have happened to him. I cannot help thinking, then, that if Pompey comes with a strong force, which is quite possible, there will certainly be war. When I picture this and think of it, I am disturbed: for now we shall not have the choice you had before. For we have shown our joy openly. Again they speak of us as ingrates. What you and many others did then certainly will not be possible now. Must I put in an appearance,
290Miliens mori melius, huic praesertim aetati. Itaque me Idus Martiae non tam consolantur quam antea. Magnum enim mendum continent. Etsi illi iuvenes
ἄλλοις ἐν ἐσθλοῖς τόνδ' ἀπωθοῦνται ψόγον.
Sed, si tu melius quidpiam speras, quod et plura audis et interes consiliis, scribas ad me velim simulque cogites, quid agendum nobis sit super legatione votiva. Equidem in his locis moneor a multis, ne in senatu Kalendis. Dicuntur enim occulte milites ad eam diem comparari et quidem in istos, qui mihi videntur ubivis tutius quam in senatu fore.
291then, and join the army? A thousand times better to die, especially at my time of life. So now I am not so much consoled as I was with the thought of the Ides of March, for there was a grave mistake committed then. However, those youths "in other noble deeds wipe out their shame."[229] But, if you have any better hope, as you hear more news and are in the midst of affairs, please write, and at the same time consider what I ought to do about the votive legation. Here many people warn me against attending the Senate on the 1st. They say troops are being collected secretly for that occasion, and that too against your friends, who to my idea will be safer anywhere than in the Senate.
292