Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

relatis non oportuit, nisi quid me fallit: sunt enim alii peritiores. Sed illud cave dubites quin ego omnia faciam, quae interesse tua aut etiam velle te existimem, si ullo modo facere possim. 7. Quod scribis de beneficiis, scito a me et tribunos militares et praefectos et contubernales dumtaxat meos delatos esse. In quo quidem me ratio fefellit liberum enim mihi tempus ad eos deferendos existimabam dari: postea certior sum factus triginta diebus deferri necesse esse, quibus rationes rettulissem. Sane moleste tuli non illa beneficia tuae potius ambitioni reservata esse quam meae, qui ambitione nihil uterer. De centurionibus tamen et de tribunorum militarium contubernalibus res est in integro: genus enim horum beneficiorum definitum lege non erat. 8. Reliquum est de HS centum milibus, de quibus memini mihi a te Myrina litteras esse adlatas, non mei errati, sed tui: in quo peccatum videbatur esse,

Sed illud] We have ventured to add sed before illud: it may have been lost after the s of peritiores. A particle of transition is certainly required.

7. beneficiis] On the return of the governor to Rome he presented to the Treasury a list (headed Beneficia ') of persons on his staff or in his suite (cohors praetoria, 2 Verr. i. 36) whom he thought deserving of special reward: cp. Reid on Arch. § 11. We may compare the peers which are created on the resignation of a ministry. The quaestor seems to have sent in a similar list, it being a kind of pendant to the accounts: cp. Mommsen St. R. ii. 288.

contubernales] The same as the comites: cp. Q. Fr. ii. i. 11 (30).

dumtaxat meos] Accordingly not those of the quaestor.

In quo quidem]

In which matter indeed I made a miscalculation; for I thought there was no fixed limit of time within which I should return the names. I was afterwards informed that they must be returned within thirty days after I had sent in my accounts.'

Sane] The men mentioned as deserving of beneficia would of course be likely in after times to help the governor or quaestor who recommended them. I am sorry, says Cicero, that I returned this list as my own: you want influence as your career is just commencing: I have reached the highest positions and I am not ambitious. But you can return a list of centurions and companions of the mili

tary tribunes; for there is no specification in the law of the time within which the list of these beneficiarii must be returned. lege] Apparently the Lex Julia de Repetundis.

8. Reliquum est] From some bookkeeping error on the part of Rufus (or his cousin, or Cicero's clerk, Tullius) the accounts showed Rufus indebted to the Treasury for about a hundred thousand sesterces. Rufus, in a letter from Myrina, had acknowledged that the mistake was his, not Cicero's: but the language of Cicero shows that he himself was at least partially responsible. But the accounts had been returned, Cicero had left his province, and so no correction could be made. Accordingly, Cicero pays Rufus in words; but is careful to let Rufus know that he must not consider these words as anything more than those of ordinary politeness. Rufus is to consider the loss of the money as so much deduction from his allowances and from the presents given him by the governor. It must not, however, for an instant be supposed that Cicero misappropriated the money; vulgar avarice was certainly no failing of his no, the money all went into the Treasury and was appropriated by the great Pompey. But still Rufus was hardly dealt with; and perhaps he and the rest of the cohors may have had some reasons for regarding with less complacency than Cicero did the extreme elegantia of the latter's administration.

Myrina] A seaport town in Aeolia.

si modo erat, fratris tui et Tullii. Sed cum id corrigi non posset, quod iam depositis rationibus ex provincia decesseramus, credo me quidem tibi pro animi mei voluntate proque ea spe facultatum, quam tum habebamus, quam humanissime potuerim rescripsisse. Sed neque tum me humanitate litterarum mearum obligatum puto neque me tuam hodie epistolam de HS centum sic accepisse, ut ii accipiunt, quibus epistolae per haec tempora molestae sunt. 9. Simul illud cogitare debes, me omnem pecuniam, quae ad me salvis legibus pervenisset, Ephesi apud publicanos deposuisse : id fuisse HS XXII: eam omnem pecuniam Pompeium abstulisse. Quod ego sive aequo animo sive iniquo fero, tu de HS centum aequo animo ferre debes et existimare eo minus ad te vel de tuis cibariis vel de mea liberalitate pervenisse. Quod si mihi expensa ista HS centum tulisses, tamen, quae tua est suavitas quique in me amor, nolles a me hoc tempore aestimationem accipere: nam numeratum si cuperem, non erat. Sed haec iocatum me putato,

decesseramus] The indicative should undoubtedly follow quod. Crat. and most edd. read decessissemus (Mss decessimus). They would explain the subjunctive probably as a virtual oblique because (as I said) I had left the province.'

epistolae] sc. creditorum pecuniam creditam exigentium.

haec tempora] i. e. the uncertain condition of affairs, owing to the Civil War, when a man would be very loth to part with whatever he had. Besides, Cicero had hopes of a triumph, and he would want all his resources for that.

9. Pompeium] cp. Att. xi. 1 (406), and following letters.

cibariis] allowance for your maintenance.' For other meanings of cibaria, viz. (1) soldier's pay, (2) money paid by provincials in commutation of the cornsupply imposed on them, see Mommsen, St. R. ii, 287. Doubtless it was this latter method of obtaining money, added to the economy with which Cicero spent his vasarium, which enabled him to save such a large sum as HS 2,200,000.

liberalitate] The officers of the provincial governor were certainly entitled to be maintained at the public expense. This maintenance was converted into an ample money allowance called cibaria. The officers were not in absolute strictness entitled to any salary; but they virtually obtained a salary from the

governor in the form of presents, though such salary or presents were very small in Cicero's year of administration. From Att. vii. 1, 6 (284), we may infer that it was customary to divide among the officers and suite the balance of the State grant for the administration which remained after the expenses of the year had been defrayed. The State grant (which was levied ultimately on the provincials) must have been very considerable; for Cicero not only left a large balance to his quaestor, Caldus, but besides paid into the Treasury HS 1,000,000.

aestimationem accipere] This was a formula which came into prominence later, when Caesar promulgated his laws about bankruptcy: cp. Caes. B. C. iii. 1; and note on Fam. ix. 16, 7 (472). Creditors had to take, in liquidation of their claims, the debtor's estate at the value which it would have fetched before the 'bad times' began, and the great depreciation of property set in. It was probably a solution of the debt question which had already been begun to be talked about; just as all sorts of solutions of the land question are talked of by us. It is referred to with a certain playfulness: I know you wouldn't exact an estatevaluation price from me.'

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

ut ego te existimo. Ego tamen, cum Tullius rure redierit, mittam eum ad te, si quid ad rem putabis pertinere. Hanc epistolam cur non scindi velim causa nulla est.

CCCIII. CICERO TO ATTICUS (ATT. VII. 10).

BEFORE ROME; JANUARY 18; A. U. C. 705; B. C. 49; AET. CIC. 57.

De exitu suo subito ex urbe et de inopia consilii quid agendum sit.

CICERO ATTICO SAL.

Subito consilium cepi, ut, ante quam luceret, exirem, ne qui conspectus fieret aut sermo, lictoribus praesertim laureatis. De reliquo neque hercule quid agam nec quid acturus sim scio: ita sum perturbatus temeritate nostri amentissimi consilii. Tibi vero quid suadeam, cuius ipse consilium exspecto? Gnaeus noster quid consilii ceperit capiatve, nescio, adhuc in oppidis coartatus et stupens. Omnes, si in Italia consistet, erimus una sin cedet, consilii res est. Adhuc certe, nisi ego insanio, stulte omnia et incaute. Tu, quaeso, crebro ad me scribe vel quod in buccam venerit.

gerundive and indicative after a subjunctive protasis cp. Mil. 58, Ovid Fast. v. 408, quoted by Roby, § 1570.

consilium ut exirem] 'to leave Rome.' He had not entered the city, for he had not laid down his imperium. After words like mos, consilium, the construction with the subjunctive is as common in Cicero as the genitive of the gerund. In Att. vii. 11, 3 (304), quod takes the place of ut, and is followed by a past tense, consilium

quod reliquerit his policy in leaving the city. Consilium, which usually means advice,' here means 'decision, resolution.' So in Att. viii. 3, 2 (333), and other places.

laureatis] Cicero still cherished the hope of securing the honour of a triumph. In Att. viii. 1, 3 (328) he calls them hos

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

CCCIV. CICERO TO ATTICUS (ATT. VII. 11).

PLACE UNCERTAIN; JANUARY 19; A. U. C. 705; B. C. 49; AET. CIC. 57.

De discessu Labieni a Caesare, de Caesaris consilio nefario rem publ. armis obtinendi, de Pompeii malo consilio urbem relinquendi, de procuratione sibi destinata, de commercio litterarum.

CICERO ATTICO SAL.

1. Quaeso, quid hoc est ? aut quid agitur? Mihi enim tenebrae sunt. Cingulum' inquit 'nos tenemus: Anconem amisimus. Labienus discessit a Caesare.' Utrum de imperatore populi Romani an de Hannibale loquimur? O hominem amentem, et miserum qui ne umbram quidem umquam тou kaλoũ viderit! Atque haec ait omnia facere se dignitatis causa. Ubi est autem dignitas nisi ubi honestas? Num honestum igitur habere exercitum nullo publico consilio? occupare urbes civium, quo facilior sit aditus ad patriam ? χρεῶν ἀποκοπάς, φυγάδων καθόδους, sese centa alia scelera moliri,

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

1. inquit] 'people say'; the plural is far more usual, except when a speaker is stating objections to his own arguments, when the singular inquit is common.

Anconem] Juvenal iv. 40 uses Ancon for the nominative, and Catullus xxxvi. 11, Ancona for the accusative. Strabo calls the town 'Ауkúν, and Pomponius Mela derives the name from άyxwv 'elbow.' The Mss give Anconam at Fam. xvi. 12, 2, and most probably the Latin form of the name was Ancona (-ae).

amentem, et miserum] The latter adjective only qualifies qui . . . viderit, 'how demented he is! and how much to be pitied for never having had so much as a glimpse of the Right!"

χρεῶν . . καθόδους] There is not in Latin any word so technically suitable to 'the restoration of exiles' as the Greek

[blocks in formation]

in illo lucrativo tuo sole malim quam omnia istius modi regna, vel potius mori miliens quam semel istius modi quidquam cogitare. 2. Quid si tu velis?' inquis. Age quis est cui velle non liceat? Sed ego hoc ipsum velle miserius esse duco quam in crucem tolli. Una res est ea miserior, adipisci quod ita volueris. Sed haec hactenus. Libenter enim in his molestiis ἐνσχολάζω τόσον. 3. Redeamus ad nostrum. Per fortunas! quale tibi consilium Pompeii videtur? Hoc quaero, quod urbem reliquerit. Ego enim ȧrop. Tum nihil absurdius. Urbem tu relinquas? Ergo idem, si Galli venirent. Non est' inquit in parietibus res

[ocr errors]

publica.' At in aris et focis. Fecit idem Themistocles.' Fluc

(as we would say) shakes the dust off his feet.' Commanding political influence in such a party had no attractions for him compared with a life of political insignificance and literary leisure with Atticus, nay, death would be better than the thought of such a volte-face. In the next section he puts the unlikely case that his wishes should be being for such a position with Caesar, and adds a man may have what wishes he may (wishes do no harm if they do not lead to action); but I should consider such a wish to be more to be deplored than an ignominious death; to entertain such a wish would be the worst thing that could happen to a man, except one thing to see it gratified.' Mr. Watson well compares Juv. x. 95 ff. for the senti

ment.

lucrativo] In judicial language res lucrativa is a gift or bequest which is pure gain, being saddled by no conditions of any kind. But this can hardly be the meaning here. Cicero speaks of Atticus's opportunities of a bask' as lucro appositus (to borrow a Horatian phrase modified), that is a thing on which to bless one's self, even though it is snatched from the hours of business. In 2 Verr. i. 33 Cicero writes lucretur indicia, let him take, a present of the informations'; hence lucrativus might mean stolen from business and given to me as a favour': see Quintil. x. 7, 27; Fronto ad Antonin. 2, 2: cp. subsicivus. See Adn. Crit.

2. ipsum velle] cp. ipsum vinci. Fam. xv. 15, 2.

evoxoxά(w] For I am ready to theorise at such length in the present muddle': for oxoxace to give lectures, cp. Plut. Dem. 5, Ισοκράτους τότε σχολάζοντος.

The late Greek sense of a word is invariably the right sense to ascribe to Cicero. Enim explains haec hactenus. The meaning is I must pull myself up (haec hactenus) for my tendency is to go on theorising for ever in the present impasse."

3. Per fortunas] See Att. iii. 20, 1 (68).

Hoc quaero, quod reliquerit] 'what I ask you is the meaning of his leaving.'

Tum] The implied criticism in the foregoing sentence Ego enim anоp is that the step which Pompey took in leaving the city is inexplicable, meaningless. Tum introduces a second criticism; ' moreover, such a step is quite absurd (just the step which the circumstances do not call for); if Caesar is an invading enemy, why should you evacuate the city before him any more than you would do so before invading Gauls.' Tum is correlative to rursus in § 4, which introduces the arguments on the other side. It is hard to see how else tum can be explained. It is, however, quite possible that the text is corrupt. Perhaps for tum we should read tamen, or cum mihi, or perhaps Cicero wrote ego enim άropa totum. Nihil absurdius.

Fecit idem Themistocles] The inverted commas should come after Themistocles. The advocate of Pompey first urges that a man's country does not consist of the mere material buildings of his town; to which the answer is no, but a man's country is the place hallowed by religious and domestic ties.' 'Yet,' says Pompey's advocate, Themistocles left Athens.' Aye,' replies the opponent, because an overpowering force constrained him, yet

« AnteriorContinuar »