Note 250 — LIFE OF CICERO.

The events of this chapter, which belong to B.C. 49, are told at length in the Lives of Pompeius and Cæsar. Cicero’s irresolution is well marked in his own letters; in one of which (Ad Attic. viii. 7, referred to by Kaltwasser) he says:—“Ego quem fugiam habeo, quem sequar non habeo.”

There are no letters extant of Trebatius to the purport which Plutarch states, but Cæsar wrote to Cicero and begged him to stay at Rome. Cicero (Ad Attic. ix. 16) has given a copy of Cæsar’s letter; and a copy of another letter from Cæsar (Ad Attic. x. 8), in which he urges Cicero to keep quiet. There seems to be no doubt that Trebatius had been employed by Cæsar to write to Cicero and speak to him about remaining neutral at least. Cicero had an interview with Cæsar at Formiæ, after Cæsar’s return from Brundusium (Ad Atticum, ix. 18, 19; Ad Diversos, iv. 1). The letter last referred to is addressed to Servius Sulpicius.