ment would be arrived at, and Brutus and Cassius return to Rome.1 This optimistic view can only have arisen from the opposition which for the moment the promulgation of the law de permutatione caused, and from the firm position which Piso took up, and the support he seemed likely to receive. It cannot have lasted beyond August 1. But the citizens of Regium had probably left Rome a day or two before the end of July, and related their forecast of events from the point of view of the time of their departure, not from that of the time at which they were speaking to Cicero. It was felt even then, in the crisis that had arisen owing to the promulgation of the law de permutatione, that Cicero should not be absent2: and, after the proceedings of the first week of August, it must have been still more felt that no one except Cicero could adequately defend the republican cause. Atticus, in opposition to his general approval of Cicero's journey to Greece (cp. note to 783. 3), now changed his tone very emphatically (vehementer, 783. 2), and, apparently before August 1,3 wrote a harsh letter to Cicero blaming him for deserting his country in this crisis. Cicero wrote back with wonderful command of temper. I wish' (said Atticus, with a note of contempt) you would elaborate a dissertation (oxólov) defending your conduct.' 'Yes, my dear Atticus' (he replies), I will compose an Apologia; but I shall address it to those against whose wish and advice I started on my journey.' Atticus reminded him, too (§ 6), of his financial difficulties in the monetary crisis that had arisen. Cicero replied that he saw at once clearly that he must meet his creditors. So he set his face homeward, and on August 17 had reached Velia, where he had a meeting with Brutus, who seems to have been unusually effusive in his praise of Cicero for returning.

1783. 1; Phil. i. 8.

2 Dio xlv. 15. 4, says that Cicero returned because he had heard that Antony and Octavian had become violently hostile to one another (éкжеяoλeμwμévovs). This is different from Cicero's own statement that he returned because he understood that an agreement between Antony and the constitutionalists was likely to be attained (rem conventuram). He does not seem to have regarded Octavian at this time as an important factor in the political situation.

3 Cicero replies to this letter on August 19, writing from ship-board as he was approaching Pompeii, 783 fin. The letter of Atticus reached him, as would appear, while he was still at the Straits of Messina (in freto medio): cp. 783. 6, where see note.

Brutus had not urged this course previously, because (so at least Atticus seemed to imply, 783. 5) he did not wish to appear to give advice to a man who was so much his senior. Brutus told him of the events of the early part of August, and may have given him copies of Antony's manifesto of the 1st or 2nd and his own in reply (782). We may, perhaps, conjecture also that he did not emphasize the danger and difficulty of the position which he had created, and which he was urging Cicero to face. Cicero had no illusions that he would be able to take a successful part in politics, but he felt it his duty to return and show, as he had always done, his devotion to his country. He was fully conscious of the justice of the cause which he was now espousing.* He was at Pompeii on the 19th (783 fin.), and at Tusculum certainly on the 28th, possibly earlier. It was probably from Tusculum that he wrote his letter to Matius (784), expostulating with him for having supported the law de permutatione provinciarum. Matius made a manly and honourable reply (785), which permits us to see the views of the political situation which were held by many able, educated, and moderate Caesareans." On the 31st

1 Cp. also for this interview, Phil. i. 9, atque ego celeriter Veliam devectus Brutum vidi quanto meo dolore non dico. Turpe mihi ipsi videbatur in eam urbem me audere reverti ex qua Brutus cederet, et ibi velle tuto esse ubi ille non posset. Neque vero illum similiter atque ipse eram commotum esse vidi: erectus enim maximi et pulcherrimi facti sui conscientia nihil de suo casu, multa de vestro (i.e. the Roman people, dominated as they were by Antony) querebatur. It is really amazing to see the veneration with which such a poor creature as Brutus was regarded by Cicero—and that too at a time when Brutus was flying from all danger, and Cicero returning to Rome to find all things there in a blaze (in flammam ipsam venirem, 783. 2). Cicero certainly fulfilled his intention of never faltering in his devotion to Brutus (720. 3).

2 Cp. 783. 7, nec ego nunc, ut Brutus censebat, istuc ad rempublicam capessendam venio. Quid enim fieri potest? Num quis Pisoni est adsensus? Num rediit ipse postridie? Sed abesse hanc aetatem longe a sepulchro negant oportere: Phil. i. 10. Hunc (Pisonem) igitur ut sequerer properavi quem praesentes non sunt secuti, non ut proficerem aliquid— nec enim sperabam id nec praestare poteram-sed ut, si quid mihi humanitus accidisset— multa autem impendere videntur praeter naturam etiam praeterque fatum (apparently the ordinary accidents of human life)—huius tamen diei vocem testem reipublicae relinquerem meae perpetuae erga se voluntatis.

3 Dr. Arnold (op. cit. ii. p. 132) well describes, partly after Cicero (729. 1), the point of view of such moderate Caesareans. 'Assassination is a crime which, when once practised or defended by a political party, must render it impossible for their opponents to trust them again; and while Caesar's friends regarded the late dictator as the victim of his own unsuspecting confidence, they naturally imagined that the conspirators and their friends assumed the language of moderation only whilst they were overawed by

Cicero entered Rome, welcomed by a large crowd.' The ship of the Republic was not, perhaps, so very shattered as Cicero had declared two and a half months before (744. 3), but it was, nevertheless, in a very unsound state. It is no little tribute to Cicero's ability and character that in this critical condition of affairs it was to him that men turned their eyes. He was no longer left relegated to the hold, but was once more called upon to grasp the helm." For the next year he navigated that crazy old vessel, not always, perhaps, with consummate wisdom, but, on the whole, with conspicuous courage and spirit; and when the inevitable moment came, and the ship went down, he shared her fate.

the populace and the veterans, and that as soon as Decimus Brutus should have organized an army in Cisalpine Gaul, and Sex. Pompeius with his rapidly increasing force should have arrived from Spain to join him, the aristocratical party would retract the concessions made in the temple of Earth on the seventeenth of March, and would annul all the acts of Caesar's sovereignty, as they had formerly intended to do to those of his first consulship.'

1 Plutarch Cic. 43, 'Such a multitude of men in their joy and longing for him poured out to meet him, and well-nigh the whole day was spent in welcomings and greetings to him at the gates.' When Cicero returned from Cilicia in a much greater crisis, he received, as he tells us, a very complimentary welcome: cp. Fam. xvi. 11. 2 (301), obviam mihi sic est proditum ut nihil posset fieri ornatius. This going out to meet important people seems to have been a point of etiquette which was considered almost imperative (Plutarch, Ant. 11, says that all the chief men went out many days' journey to meet Caesar when he was returning from Spain: cp. 667. 3, 4). Appian (iii. 13) implies that it was considered a slight to omit it: if one could not go oneself, a deputy should be sent.

Cp. Fam. ix. 15. 3 (481) written in the autumn of 46, Sedebamus enim in puppi et clarum tenebamus: nunc autem vix est in sentina locus.

III. CICERO'S CORRESPONDENTS.

1. PUBLIUS VATINIUS.

In the year 168 B.C. a certain farmer named Vatinius informed the magistrates that, as he was returning one night from Reate to Rome, he was met by Castor and Pollux, who told him that Perseus had been taken captive on that day. The magistrates very properly put him under restraint; but a few days later, when news of the capture of Perseus arrived, they released him, and gave him a farm as a reward.1

2

His grandson was the celebrated, or notorious, tribune, P. Vatinius, with whom there is no record that the gods ever held any intercourse, and who was, according to Cicero and Catullus, the best detested man at Rome. He was a vulgar, low-born creature, who had vulgar ambitions for mere rank and title, and attained the vulgar success he coveted. In the rough-and-tumble of Roman politics during the last generation of the Republic, success of that kind, in the case of a man sprung from such origins as Vatinius, was pretty sure to be obtained by audacity, wit, want of principle, and readiness to perform capably any and every kind of work which the heads of the opposing factions considered needful. This was the character of Vatinius, and the part he played. His exterior corresponded to his mind. He was

Cic. N. D. ii. 6.

2 Cic. Vat. 1, odio tui ab omnibus paene vincor: cp. 9 and 39, si te vicini, si adfines, si tribules ita oderunt ut repulsam tuam triumphum suum duxerint. . si es odrum publicum populi, senatus, universorum hominum rusticanoram; Catull. 14, 3, odissem te odio Vatiniano. On this latter passage we agree with the late Prof. Ellis in his view that Vatiniano is objective; though, of course, the other view, that Catullus is thinking of the hatred felt by Vatinius for Calvus and all his enemies, is just possible. Good stories gathered round Vatinius; one which illustrated his unpopularity is told by Macrobius (ii. 6, 1). When Vatinius gave a show of gladiators, stones were flung at him: the aediles then declared that he should be pelted only with fruit (poma). A spectator asked the eminent counsel Cascellius whether a pine-cone (nux pinea) was fruit, and he ruled that it was if it was to be thrown at Vatinius.

3 Vell. ii. 69, cum Vatinius nulli homini non esset postferendus, in quo deformitas

deformed, and disfigured by scrofulous swellings (strumae). At these many jibes were directed, which, in the lack of refinement of the age, were considered not merely allowable, but even witty.1

His first appearance in public life was his election last on the list of quaestors in 63. Cicero, the consul, sent him to Puteoli to prevent the exportation of gold and silver: the precious metals appear to have been needed to pay for the imports into Italy. Vatinius availed himself of this opportunity to exercise his natural gift of peculating, and to institute severe inquisitions into the property of individuals, with the result that the good people of Puteoli laid violent hands on him. Next year he was lieutenant of Q. Cosconius in Further Spain. But his true field of action was so-called politics; and the chief feature of his life was his tribunate in 59, during the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus. He put his services unreservedly at the disposal of Caesar, and acted as his most energetic and, in a certain sense, able helper during that excited and noisy year.

It was no great distinction for Vatinius that he set the auspices at defiance, though perhaps he did so with more effrontery than most politicians: everyone at that time set the auspices at defiance when it suited his purpose. Nor that he filled the forum with soldiers; nor that he so intimidated his colleagues that they did not dare to exercise their right of intercession.3

corporis cum turpitudine certabat ingeni, adeo ut animus eius dignissimo domicilio inclusus rideretur. Just to think,' says Cic. Att. ii. 6, 2 (33), writing from Antium, that there is a place so near Rome where there are many people who have never seen Vatinius.'

1 Cp. Senec. de Const. Sap. 17. 3, Vatinium, hominem natum et ad risum et ad odium, scurram fuisse et venustum et dicacem memoriae proditum est. In pedes suos ipse plurima dicebat et in fauces concisas. Sic inimicorum, quos plures habebat quam morbos, et in primis Ciceronis urbanitatem effugerat. For gibes at the struma of Vatinius, cp. Sest. 135, Vat. 39; Att. ii. 9, 2 (36); Plut. Cic. 9. 26. For a joke on his diseased feet, see Quintil. vi. 3, 77: Vatinius, wishing to seem quite able to walk, and not merely to crawl, says, 'I've walked two miles to-day.' 'Yes,' replied Cicero, 'the days are getting longer now.'

During this year Vatinius aspired to obtain the place in the College of Augurs left vacant by the death of Metellus Celer; bnt that body was spared the disgrace for the time: cp. Att. ii. 9. 2 (36); Vat. 19, 20. He was elected augur in the room

of Appius Claudius, who died in 48 cp. 696. 2.

3 Vat. 17, 18.