Letter 89

I suppose you think that I have now forgotten my habit and custom of writing to you less frequently than I used to; but since I can see that your movements and travel plans are quite uncertain, I have not given letters to anyone bound for Epirus, Athens, or Asia unless they were going directly to you. For our letters are not the kind that, if they fail to be delivered, the matter would cause us no concern; they contain so many secrets that I scarcely even entrust them to my copyists, let alone to anyone whose discretion might fail. [2] The consuls are ablaze with scandal because the candidate Gaius Memmius read out in the Senate a pact which he and his fellow candidate Domitius had made with the consuls: that both would pay the consuls 40,000 sesterces each if they themselves were elected consul, unless they produced three augurs who would testify that they had been present when the lex curiata was passed (which had not been passed) and two former consuls who would say they had been present at the drafting of the senatorial decree assigning consular provinces, when in fact no meeting of the Senate had even taken place. This pact, said to have been made not in words but with names and written guarantees in the account books of many men, was brought forward by Memmius with the names struck out, on the authority of Pompey. Here Appius was the same as ever. No great loss — the other candidate had already collapsed and was, I say frankly, flat on his back. [3] Meanwhile Memmius, after the coalition was broken up against Calvinus's will, had completely cooled off, and lies all the more prostrate now because we already understood that Memmius's disclosure had deeply displeased Caesar. Our friend Messalla and his rival Domitius were very generous in their gifts to the people. Nothing could have been more popular. The consuls seemed certain. But the Senate decreed that a secret ballot trial should be held before the elections, with panels drawn by lot from the full jury lists for each candidate. Great fear among the candidates. But certain jurors, among them Opimius, Veiiento, and Rantius, appealed to the tribunes of the plebs, arguing that they should not judge without a mandate from the people. The matter subsided; the elections were postponed by Senate decree while a law on the secret ballot was introduced. The day for the law arrived. Terentius vetoed it. The consuls, who had pursued the matter only half-heartedly, referred it back to the Senate. Here Abdera! — and I was not silent. You will say "Still, you cannot keep quiet?" Forgive me — I can hardly help it. But what could be more absurd? The Senate had decreed that elections should not be held until the law was passed; if anyone vetoed it, the whole matter should be referred back. The law began to be introduced casually, it was vetoed without opposition, and the matter went to the Senate. Their resolution: that elections should be held at the earliest opportunity. [4] Scaurus, who had been acquitted just a few days earlier (when I had defended his father most handsomely), had satisfied the people tribe by tribe at his home by means of religious objections interposed daily through Scaevola right up to the day before the Kalends of October, on which day I write this. But still, although his generosity was more abundant, the gratitude seemed greater toward those who had been first. I would love to see your face as you read this; for you surely have no hope that this business will take many market-days. But the Senate was supposed to meet today, that is on the Kalends of October — for dawn is already breaking. There no one will speak freely except Antius and Favonius; for Cato is ill. As for me, you need not worry, but still I promise nothing. [5] What else do you want? Trials, I suppose. Drusus and Scaurus seem not to have committed the offenses. Three candidates were expected to face prosecution: Domitius by Memmius, Messalla by Quintus Pompeius Rufus, and Scaurus by Triarius or by Lucius Caesar. "What will you be able to say in their defense?" you ask. So help me, I have no idea; certainly I find nothing in those three books of mine that you praise so highly. [6] Now hear the rest. From my brother's letters I have learned of Caesar's incredible affection for me, and this is confirmed by Caesar's own most generous letters. The outcome of the British campaign is awaited; for it is established that the approaches to the island are fortified with remarkable ramparts. It is now also known that there is not a scruple of silver on the island and no hope of plunder except slaves — and I don't suppose you expect any of them to be educated in literature or music. [7] Paulus has nearly finished roofing the basilica in the middle of the Forum with the same ancient columns, and the one he has contracted out he is building most magnificently. What of it? Nothing more pleasing than that monument, nothing more glorious. And so Caesar's friends — I mean myself and Oppius, burst with envy if you like — scorning that monument which you used to praise to the skies, in order to extend the Forum all the way to the Hall of Liberty, have thought nothing of spending sixty million sesterces; it was impossible to settle with the private owners for less. We shall produce a most glorious result; for in the Campus Martius we are going to make the voting enclosures for the tribal assemblies of marble, roofed over, and surround them with a lofty colonnade so that it extends a full mile. At the same time the Villa Publica will be joined to this work. You will ask "What good will this monument do me?" Why should we trouble about Roman politics? For I don't suppose you are asking about the census, which is already despaired of, or about the trials being conducted under the Coctian law.