Letter 123

I arrived at Brundisium on the 24th of November after enjoying your proverbial luck at sea: so fair for me "blew from Epirus the softest of breezes, Onchesmites." There, that verse with its spondaic ending you can pass off for your own on any of our new school of poets you like. Your health causes me great anxiety; for I see from your letter that you really suffer. But, knowing your spirit, I strongly suspect there is something serious which compels you to give in and nearly causes a breakdown, although your Pamphilus tells me that one fit of quartan has passed, and that a second and lighter attack is coming on. But Terentia (who reached Brundisium's gates as I reached the harbour, and met me in the forum) told me that L. Pontius had informed her at Trebula that the second attack also had abated. If that is so, my utmost hopes are realized, and I expect that consummation has been attained by your caution and moderate habits. Catullus, Cinna, and the other imitators of Alexandrine poetry. I come to your letters, which have reached me in shoals, each more delightful than the last--I mean those in your own handwriting. I like Alexis' hand; it so closely resembles your own script; but there is one thing I do not like about it--it shows that you are ill. Talking of Alexis, I left Tiro sick at Patrae; he is, as you know, a young man, and you may add, if you like, an honest fellow. Nothing probum. Nihil vidi melius. Itaque careo aegre et, quamquam videbatur se non graviter habere, tamen sum sollicitus, maximamque spem habeo in M'. Curi diligentia, de qua ad me scripsit Tiro et multi nuntiarunt. Curius autem ipse sensit, quam tu velles se a me diligi, et eo sum admodum delectatus. Et mehercule est, quam facile diligas, ἀυτόχθων in homine urbanitas. Eius testamentum deporto trium Ciceronum signis obsignatum cohortisque praetoriae. Fecit palam te ex libella, me ex terruncio. In Actio Corcyrae Alexio me opipare muneratus est. Q. Ciceroni obsisti non potuit, quo minus Thyamim videret. Filiola tua te delectari laetor et probari tibi φυσικὴι esse τὴν πρὸς τὰ τέκνα. Etenim, si haec non est, nulla potest homini esse ad hominem naturae adiunctio; qua sublata vitae societas tollitur, "Bene eveniat!" inquit Carneades spurce, sed tamen prudentius quam Lucius noster et Patron, qui, cum omnia ad se referant, numquam quicquam alterius causa fieri putent et, cum ea re bonum virum oportere esse dicant, ne malum habeat, non quo id natura rectum sit, non intellegant se de callido homine loqui, non de bono viro. Sed haec, opinor, sunt in iis libris, quos tu laudando animos mihi addidisti. detortorio _M_; detortorium _CZ_; _corr. by Junius_. Redeo ad rem. Quo modo exspectabam epistulam, could be better than Tiro. So I miss him terribly, and, though he did not seem very bad, still I am anxious, and build great hopes on the care of M'. Curius, about which Tiro has written and many people have told me. Curius himself was aware of your desire that he should win my esteem: and I am greatly charmed with him. Indeed he is one of nature's gentlemen, whom it is easy to like. I carry home his will sealed with the seals of three of my family and of the praetor's staff. In the presence of witnesses he made you heir to a tenth of his estate and me to a fortieth. At Actium in Corcyra Alexio made me a splendid present. Q. Cicero could not be stopped from seeing the river Thyamis. I am glad you take delight in your baby daughter, and have satisfied yourself that a desire for children is natural. For, if it is not, there can be no natural tie between man and man; remove that tie, and social life is destroyed. "Heaven bless the consequence," says Carneades naughtily, but with more wisdom than our philosophers Lucius and Patron, who in sticking to selfish hedonism and denying altruism, and saying that man must be virtuous for fear of the consequences of vice and not because virtue is an end in itself, fail to see that they are describing a type not of goodness but of craftiness. But these points, I think, are handled in the volumes you have encouraged me by praising. Monetary fractions are generally expressed by parts of the _as_; but here the _denarius_ is used as the standard. The _libella_ was one-tenth and the _teruncius_ one-fortieth of a _denarius_. With φυσικήν the substantive ὁρμήν must be understood. _De Republica._ I return to business. How I looked for the letter quam Philoxeno dedisses! Scripseras enim in ea esse de sermone Pompei Neapolitano. Eam mihi Patron Brundisi reddidit. Corcyrae, ut opinor, acceperat. Nihil potuit esse iucundius. Erat enim de re publica, de opinione, quam is vir haberet integritatis meae, de benevolentia, quam ostendit eo sermone, quem habuit de triumpho. Sed tamen hoc iucundissimum, quod intellexi te ad eum venisse, ut eius animum erga me perspiceres. Hoc mihi, inquam, accidit iucundissimum. De triumpho autem nulla me cupiditas umquam tenuit ante Bibuli impudentissimas litteras, quas amplissume supplicatio consecuta est. A quo si ea gesta essent, quae scripsit, gauderem et honori faverem; nunc illum, qui pedem porta, quoad hostis cis Euphratem fuit, non extulerit, honore augeri, me, in cuius exercitu spem illius exercitus habuit, idem non adsequi, dedecus est nostrum, nostrum inquam te coniungens. Itaque omnia experiar, et ut spero, adsequar. Quodsi tu valeres, iam mihi quaedam explorata essent. Sed, ut spero, valebis. De raudusculo Numeriano multum te amo. Hortensius quid egerit, aveo scire, Cato quid agat; qui quidem in me turpiter fuit malevolus. Dedit integritatis, iustitiae, clementiae, fidei mihi testimonium, quod non quaerebam; quod postulabam, negavit id. Itaque Caesar eis litteris, quibus mihi gratulatur et omnia pollicetur, quo modo exsultat Catonis in me ingratissmi iniuria! At hic idem Bibulo dierum XX. you said was entrusted to Philoxenus! For it was to contain news of Pompey's talk at Naples. Patron handed it to me at Brundisium. It was at Corcyra, I fancy, he had taken charge of it. Nothing could be more delightful. It touched on politics, the great man's opinion of my honour, the kindliness he displayed in his remarks about my triumph. But the most delightful item of all was the intelligence that you had called on him to find out his feeling towards me. This, I repeat, was what I found most delightful. As for a triumph, I had no desire for one up to the time Bibulus sent his shameless despatches and got a thanksgiving voted in the most complimentary way. Now, if he had done what he professed to have done, I should have been glad and supported the honour; but, as it is, it is a disgrace to us--to both of us: for I include you in the business--that I, on whose army his army relied, should not get the same rewards as a man who never set foot outside the city gates so long as there was an enemy this side of Euphrates. Therefore I shall make every effort, and, as I hope, shall succeed. If you were well, some points would have been settled already; but I hope you will soon be well. For that twopenny debt to Numerius I am much bounden to you. I long to know what Hortensius has done about my triumph and what Cato is doing. Cato's behaviour to me was shamefully spiteful. He gave me a character for rectitude, equity, clemency, and good faith, for which I did not ask; what I did want, that he denied me. Accordingly in his letter of congratulation and lavish assurances, how Caesar exults over the wrong Cato did me by his deep ingratitude! Yet Cato voted Bibulus a twenty days' Ignosce mihi; non possum haec ferre nec feram. Cupio ad omnes tuas epistulas, sed nihil necesse est; iam enim te videbo. Illud tamen de Chrysippo--nam de altero illo minus sum admiratus, operario homine; sed tamen ne illo quidem quicquam improbius. Chrysippum vero, quem ego propter litterularum nescio quid libenter vidi, in honore habui, discedere a puero insciente me! Mitto alia, quae audio multa, mitto furta; fugam non fero, qua mihi nihil visum est sceleratius. Itaque usurpavi vetus illud Drusi, ut ferunt, praetoris, in eo, qui eadem liber non iuraret, me istos liberos non addixisse, praesertim cum adesset nemo, a quo recte vindicarentur. Id tu, ut videbitur, ita accipies; ego tibi adsentiar. Uni tuae disertissimae epistulae non rescripsi, in qua est de periculis rei publicae. Quid rescriberem? valde eram perturbatus. Sed ut nihil magno opere metuam, Parthi faciunt, qui repente Bibulum semivivum reliquerunt.

Brundisium venimus vii Kalend. Decembr. usi tua felicitate navigandi; ita belle nobis flavit ab Epiro lenissimus Onchesmites. hunc spondeiazonta si cui voles ton neoteron pro tuo vendito. [2] valetudo tua me valde conturbat; significant enim tuae litterae te prorsus laborare. ego autem, cum sciam quam sis fortis, vehementius esse quiddam suspicor quod te cogat cedere et prope modum infringat. etsi alteram quartanam Pamphilus tuus mihi dixit decessisse et alteram leviorem accedere. Terentia vero, quae quidem eodem tempore ad portam Brundisinam venit quo ego in portum mihique obvia in foro fuit, L. Pontium sibi in Trebulano dixisse narrabat etiam eam decessisse. quod si ita est, (est) quod maxime me hercule opto idque spero tua prudentia et temperantia te consecutum. [3] venio ad epistulas tuas; quas ego sescentas uno tempore accepi, aliam alia iucundiorem, quae quidem erant tua manu. nam Alexidis manum amabam quod tam prope accedebat ad similitudinem tuae, litteras non amabam quod indicabant te non valere. cuius quoniam mentio facta est, Tironem Patris aegrum reliqui, adulescentem, ut nosti (et adde, si quid vis), probum. nihil vidi melius. itaque careo aegre et, quamquam videbatur se non graviter habere, tamen sum sollicitus maximamque spem habeo in M'. Curi diligentia de qua ad me scripsit Tiro et multi nuntiarunt. Curius autem ipse sensit quam tu velles se a me diligi et eo sum admodum delectatus. et me hercule est quam facile diligas autochthon in homine urbanitas. eius testamentum deporto trium Ciceronum signis obsignatum cohortisque praetoriae. fecit palam te ex libella, me ex terruncio. in Actio Corcyrae Alexio me opipare muneratus est. Q. Ciceroni obsisti non potuit quo minus Thyamim videret. [4] filiola tua te delectari laetor et probari tibi phusiken esse ten pros ta tekna. etenim si haec non est, nulla potest homini esse ad hominem naturae adiunctio; qua sublata vitae societas tollitur. 'bene eveniat!' inquit Carneades spurce sed tamen prudentius quam Lucius noster et Patron qui, cum omnia ad se referant, (numquam) quicquam alterius causa fieri putent et, cum ea re bonum virum oportere esse dicant ne malum habeat non quo id natura rectum sit, non intellegant se de callido homine loqui non de bono viro. sed haec, opinor, sunt in iis libris quos tu laudando animos mihi addidisti. [5] redeo ad rem. quo modo exspectabam epistulam quam Philoxeno dedisses! scripseras enim in ea esse de sermone Pompei Neapolitano. eam mihi Patron Brundisi reddidit; Corcyrae, ut opinor, acceperat. nihil potuit esse iucundius. erat enim de re publica, de opinione quam is vir haberet integritatis meae, de benevolentia quam ostendit eo sermone quem habuit de triumpho. sed tamen hoc iucundissimum quod intellexi te ad eum venisse ut eius animum erga me perspiceres. hoc mihi, inquam, accidit iucundissimum. [6] de triumpho autem nulla me cupiditas umquam tenuit ante Bibuli impudentissimas litteras quas amplissime supplicatio consecuta est. A quo si ea gesta essent quae scripsit, gauderem et honori faverem; nunc illum qui pedem porta quoad hostis cis Euphratem fuit non extulerit honore augeri, me in cuius exercitu spem illius exercitus habuit idem non adsequi dedecus est nostrum, nostrum, inquam, te coniungens. itaque omnia experiar et, ut spero, adsequar. quod si tu valeres, iam mihi quaedam explorata essent; sed, ut spero, valebis. [7] de raudusculo Numeriano multum te amo. Hortensius quid egerit aveo scire, Cato quid agat; qui quidem in me turpiter fuit malevolus. dedit integritatis, iustitiae, clementiae, fidei mihi testimonium quod non quaerebam; quod postulabam id negavit. itaque Caesar iis litteris quibus mihi gratulatur et omnia pollicetur quo modo exsultat Catonis in me ingratissimi iniuria! at hic idem Bibulo dierum xx. ignosce mihi; non possum haec ferre nec feram. [8] cupio ad omnis tuas epistulas, sed nihil necesse est; iam enim te videbo. illud tamen de Chrysippo— nam de altero illo minus sum admiratus, operario homine; sed tamen ne illo quidem quicquam improbius. Chrysippum vero quem ego propter litterularum nescio quid libenter vidi, in honore habui discedere a puero insciente me! Mitto alia quae audio multa, mitto furta; fugam non fero qua mihi nihil visum est sceleratius. itaque usurpavi vetus illud Drusi, ut ferunt, praetoris in eo qui eadem liber non iuraret, me istos liberos non addixisse, praesertim cum adesset nemo a quo recte vindicarentur. id tu, ut videbitur, ita accipies; ego tibi adsentiar. uni tuae disertissimae epistulae non rescripsi in qua est de periculis rei publicae. quid rescriberem? valde eram perturbatus. sed ut nihil magno opere metuam Parthi faciunt qui repente Bibulum semivivum reliquerunt.