Letter 172

I got three letters from you on the 16th. They were dated the 12th, 13th and 14th. So I will take the earliest first. I agree with you that it is best for me to stay at Formiae. I also agree about the Adriatic. But as I wrote you before, I will strive to discover how I may be able with Caesar's goodwill to keep quite clear of politics. You praise me for saying that I forget Pompey's former misdeeds and ill-doings, but it is a fact. Nay, those very actions you call to mind, in which he did harm to me myself, have no place in my memory. I am so determined to feel gratitude for his kindness rather than resentment for injuries. Let me act then as you decree, and pull myself together. For I philosophize as I walk about my estate, and in my perambulations I do not cease to ponder my themes. But some of them are very difficult to decide. As for the loyalists, let it be as you wish. You know the old saying "Dionysius in Corinth." Dionysius, when expelled from the throne of Syracuse, fled to Corinth and according to some authorities set up a school there. But whether the saying here mentioned refers merely to his exile and means "There are ups and downs in life," or to his schoolmastering, as Jeans suggests, referring to a passage in _Tusc._ III, 27, where Cicero says Dionysius took to schoolmastering because he wished to tyrannize over somebody, is uncertain. If the latter, it would mean that the _optimates_ would ill-use Cicero again as soon as they got the power. Titinius' son is with Caesar. You seem to fear that your advice irks me; but nothing indeed pleases me except your counsel and your letters. So do as you promise. Do not omit to write to me anything that comes into your mind; for nothing can delight me more. I turn now to your next letter. You are right not Clodia. Falsum etiam de corruptis navibus. Quod consules laudas, ego quoque animum laudo, sed consilium reprehendo; dispersu enim illorum actio de pace sublata est, quam quidem ego meditabar. Itaque postea Demetri librum de concordia tibi remisi et Philotimo dedi. Nec vero dubito, quin exitiosum bellum impendeat; cuius initium ducetur a fame. Et me tamen doleo non interesse huic bello! In quo tanta vis sceleris futura est, ut, cum parentes non alere nefarium sit, nostri principes antiquissimam et sanctissimam parentem, patriam, fame necandam putent. Atque hoc non opinione timeo, sed interfui sermonibus. Omnis haec classis Alexandria, Colchis, Tyro, Sidone, Arado, Cypro, Pamphylia, Lycia, Rhodo, Chio, Byzantio, Lesbo, Zmyrna, Mileto, Coo ad intercludendos commeatus Italiae et ad occupandas frumentarias provincias comparatur. At quam veniet iratus! et iis quidem maxime, qui eum maxime salvum volebant, quasi relictus ab iis, quos reliquit. Itaque mihi dubitanti, quid me facere par sit, permagnum pondus adfert benevolentia erga illum; qua dempta perire melius esset in patria quam patriam servando evertere. De septemtrione plane ita est. Metuo, to believe the reports about the number of Pompey's soldiers. Clodia's letter made them just double. It was untrue also about the destruction of the vessels. You praise the consuls; so do I praise their courage, but I blame their policy. Their departure has destroyed the negotiations for peace, the very thing which I was contemplating. So after that I returned you Demetrius' book on Concord and gave it to Philotimus. And I have no doubt a disastrous war is imminent, which will be ushered in by famine. And here I am lamenting that I have no hand in the war, a war which will be so criminal, that though it is wicked not to support one's parents, yet our chiefs will not hesitate to destroy by starvation their country, that most reverend and holiest of parents! And my fears are not based on mere surmise. I have heard their talk. All this fleet from Alexandria, Colchis, Tyre, Sidon, Aradus, Cyprus, Pamphylia, Lycia, Rhodes, Chius, Byzantium, Lesbos, Smyrna, Miletus, Cos, is being got ready to cut off the supplies of Italy and to blockade the grain-producing provinces. And how angry Pompey will be when he comes, particularly with those who particularly desire his safety, as if he were abandoned by those whom he has abandoned! So in my doubt what I ought to do, I am greatly swayed by my good feeling towards Pompey. Without that it were better to perish in my country, than to destroy my country by saving it. As to the north wind, it is clearly as you write. I fear Epirus ne vexetur Epirus; sed quem tu locum Graeciae non direptum iri putas? Praedicat enim palam et militibus ostendit se largitione ipsa superiorem quam hunc fore. Illud me praeclare admones, cum illum videro, ne nimis indulgenter, et ut cum gravitate potius loquar. Plane sic faciendum. Arpinum, cum eum convenero, cogito, ne forte aut absim, cum veniet, aut cursem huc illuc via deterrima. Bibulum, ut scribis, audio venisse et redisse pridie Idus. Philotimum, ut ais in epistula tertia, exspectabas. At ille Idibus a me profectus est. Eo serius ad tuam illam epistulam, cui ego statim rescripseram, redditae sunt meae litterae. De Domitio, ut scibis, ita opinor esse, ut et in Cosano sit, et consilium eius ignoretur. Iste omnium turpissimus et sordidissimus, qui consularia comitia a praetore ait haberi posse, est idem, qui semper in re publica fuit. Itaque nimirum hoc illud est, quod Caesar scribit in ea epistula, cuius exemplum ad te misi, se velle uti "consilio" meo (age, esto; hoc commune est), "gratia" (ineptum id quidem, sed, puto, hoc simulat ad quasdam senatorum sententias), "dignitate" (fortasse sententiae consularis). Illud extremum est: "ope omnium rerum." Id ego suspicari coepi tum ex tuis litteris aut hoc ipsum esse aut non multo secus. Nam permagni eius interest rem ad interregnum non venire. Id adsequitur, si per praetorem consules creantur. Nos autem in libris may be harassed, but do you suppose there is any part of Greece that will not be robbed? Pompey openly declares and shows his men that he will be more liberal even than Caesar in largesse. You do well to advise me, when I see Caesar, not to be too complacent, and to speak rather with dignity. Clearly I must do so. I am thinking of going to Arpinum after I have met him; for I do not want to be absent on his arrival, or to have to travel to and fro in the wretched condition of the roads. I hear, as you write, that Bibulus came and went back on the 14th. You say in your third letter that you were awaiting Philotimus. He set out from me on the 15th. That was why my reply to your letter, which I wrote immediately, was late in reaching you. I think you are right about Domitius, that he is in his place at Cosa; but what his plan is, is not known. That disgraceful mean blackguard M. Lepidus, who says that the consular elections may be held by a praetor, is playing his old part in politics. So that was the meaning of the passage in Caesar's letter of which I sent you a copy, that he wanted to enjoy my "advice" (well, that is a general expression), my "influence" (that is flattery, but I suppose he affects to want it with a view to the votes of certain senators), my "position" (perhaps he means my vote as an ex-consul). His last phrase is "help in every way." I have begun to suspect from your letter that that is the point, or something very like it. For it is highly important to him that there should not be an interregnum. That point is attained, if consuls are created by a praetor. But in our state books it is set down that it is illegal not only for habemus non modo consules a praetore, sed ne praetores quidem creari ius esse, idque factum esse numquam; consules eo non esse ius, quod maius imperium a minore rogari non sit ius, praetores autem, quod ita rogentur, ut collegae consulibus sint, quorum est maius imperium. Aberit non longe, quin hoc a me decerni velit neque sit contentus Galba, Scaevola, Cassio, Antonio: Τότε μοι χάνοι εὐρεῖα χθών! Sed, quanta tempestas impendeat, vides. Qui transierint senatores, scribam ad te, cum certum habebo. De re frumentaria recte intellegis, quae nullo modo administrari sine vectigalibus potest; nec sine causa et eos, qui circum illum sunt, omnia postulantes et bellum nefarium times. Trebatium nostrum, etsi, ut scribis, nihil bene sperat, tamen videre sane velim. Quem fac horteris, ut properet; opportune enim ad me ante adventum Caesaris venerit. De Lanuvino, statim ut audivi Phameam mortuum, optavi, si modo esset futura res publica, ut id aliquis emeret meorum, neque tamen de te, qui maxime meus es, cogitavi. Sciebam enim te "quoto anno" et "quantum in solo" solere quaerere neque solum Romae, sed etiam Deli tuum διάγραμμα videram. Verum tamen ego illud, quamquam est bellum, minoris aestimo, quam aestimabatur Marcellino consule, cum ego istos hortulos propter domum Anti, quam tum habebam, iucundiores mihi fore putabam et minore impensa, quam si Tusculanum refecissem. Volui HS. Q. Egi per praedem, ille daret tanti, cum haberet venale. διάγραμμα _Malespina_; digamma _MSS._ consuls to be created by the praetors, but for the very praetors themselves, and that it has never been done; that it is illegal for consuls, because it is illegal for persons with greater powers to be proposed for election by those with less; for praetors, because they are proposed as colleagues of the consuls who have the greater powers. The next thing will be, he will want me to vote for it, and he will not be content with Galba, Scaevola, Cassius and Antonius, "then let the wide earth swallow me." But you see what a storm is coming. Which senators have crossed over to Pompey I will tell you as soon as I know. You are right about the corn supply: it cannot be done without taxation: and you have cause to fear the exorbitant demands of Pompey's associates and a wicked war. I should much like to see my friend Trebatius, although you tell me he is in despair. Do bid him hurry, for it will be convenient, if he comes before Caesar's arrival. As for that estate at Lanuvium, as soon as I heard of the death of Phamea, I longed, if the constitution was going to last, that one of my friends should buy it, and yet I did not think of you, my best friend of all. For I know that it is your custom to inquire in how many years you may recoup yourself of a purchase, and the value of fixtures, and I had seen your inventory not only at Rome but at Delos. But, though it is a pretty property, I rate it at a lower value than it was rated in Marcellinus' consulship, when I thought that, owing to the house I then had at Antium, those little gardens would please me better and cost less than the repair of my villa at Tusculum. I wanted the property for £4,500. I made an offer to that amount through a third party, when he was putting Q. = quingentis millibus, i.e. 500,000 sesterces. Noluit. Sed nunc omnia ista iacere puto propter nummorum caritatem. Mihi quidem erit aptissimum vel nobis potius, si tu emeris; sed eius dementias cave contemnas. Valde est venustum. Quamquam mihi ista omnia iam addicta vastitati videntur. Respondi epistulis tribus, sed exspecto alias; nam me adhuc tuae litterae sustentarunt. D. Liberalibus.

[1] scripseram ad te epistulam quam darem iiii Idus. sed eo die is cui dare volueram non est profectus. venit autem eo ipso die ille 'celeripes' quem Salvius dixerat. attulit uberrimas tuas litteras; quae mihi quiddam quasi animulae instillarunt; recreatum enim me non queo dicere. sed plane to sunechon effecisti. ego enim non iam id ago, mihi crede, ut prosperos exitus consequar. sic enim video, nec duobus his vivis nec hoc uno nos umquam rem publicam habituros. ita neque de otio nostro spero iam nec ullam acerbitatem recuso. Vnum illud extimescebam, ne quid turpiter facerem vel dicam iam ne fecissem. [2] sic ergo habeto, salutaris te mihi litteras misisse neque solum has longiores quibus nihil potest esse explicatius, nihil perfectius, sed etiam illas breviores in quibus hoc mihi iucundissimum fuit, consilium factumque nostrum a Sexto probari, pergratumque mihi tu . . . fecisti; a quo et diligi me et quid rectum sit intellegi scio. longior vero tua epistula non me solum sed meos omnis aegritudine levavit. itaque utar tuo consilio et ero in Formiano, ne aut ad urbem apantesis mea animadvertatur aut, si nec hic nec illic eum videro, devitatum se a me putet. [3] quod autem suades ut ab eo petam ut mihi concedat ut idem tribuam Pompeio quod ipsi tribuerim, id me iam pridem agere intelleges ex litteris Balbi et Oppi quarum exempla tibi misi. misi etiam Caesaris ad eos sana mente scriptas quo modo in tanta insania. sin mihi Caesar hoc non concedat, video tibi placere illud, me politeuma de pace suscipere; in quo non extimesco periculum (cum enim tot impendeant, cur non honestissimo depecisci velim?) sed vereor ne Pompeio quid oneris imponam, me moi gorgeien kephalen deinoio pelorou intorqueat. mirandum enim in modum Gnaeus noster Sullani regni similitudinem concupivit. eidos soi lego. nihil ille umquam minus obscure tulit. 'Cum hocne igitur' inquies 'esse vis?' beneficium sequor, mihi crede, non causam, ut in Milone, ut in . . . sed hactenus. 'causa igitur non bona est?' [4] immo optima, sed agetur, memento, foedissime. primum consilium est suffocare urbem et Italiam fame, deinde agros vastare, urere, pecuniis locupletum non abstinere. sed cum eadem metuam ab hac parte, si illim beneficium non sit, rectius putem quidvis domi perpeti. sed ita meruisse illum de me puto ut acharistias crimen subire non audeam, quamquam a te eius quoque rei iusta defensio est explicata. [5] de triumpho tibi adsentior quem quidem totum facile et libenter abiecero. Egregie probo fore ut, dum vagamur, ploos horaios obrepat. 'si modo' inquis 'satis ille erit firmus.' est firmior etiam quam putabamus. de isto licet bene speres. promitto tibi, si valebit, tegulam illum in Italia nullam relicturum. 'Tene igitur socio?' contra me hercule meum iudicium et contra omnium antiquorum auctoritatem, nec tam ut illa adiuvem quam ut haec ne videam cupio discedere. noli enim putare tolerabilis horum insanias nec unius modi fore. etsi quid te horum fugit, legibus, iudiciis, senatu sublato libidines, audacias, sumptus, egestates tot egentissimorum hominum nec privatas posse res nec rem publicam sustinere? abeamus igitur inde qualibet navigatione; etsi id quidem ut tibi videbitur, sed certe abeamus. sciemus enim, id quod exspectas, quid Brundisi actum sit. [6] bonis viris quod ais probari quae adhuc fecerimus scirique ab iis (nos) non profectos valde gaudeo, si est nunc ullus gaudendi locus. de Lentulo investigabo diligentius. id mandavi Philotimo, homini forti ac nimium optimati. [7] extremum est ut tibi argumentum ad scribendum fortasse iam desit. nec enim alia de re nunc ulla scribi potest, et de hac quid iam amplius inveniri potest? sed quoniam et ingenium suppeditat (dico me hercule ut sentio) et amor quo et meum ingenium incitatur, perge, ut facis, et scribe quantum potes. in Epirum quod me non invitas, comitem non molestum, subirascor. sed vale. nam ut tibi ambulandum, ungendum, sic mihi dormiendum. etenim litterae tuae mihi somnum attulerunt