LETTERS OF THE TWENTY-FIRST YEAR OF CICERO'S

CORRESPONDENCE.

EPP. CCCCVI.-CCCCXXII.

A. U. C. 706; B. C. 48; AET. CIC. 58.

COSS C. JULIUS CAESAR II. AND P. SERVILIUS VATIA ISAURICUS.

CICERO left Italy for the camp of Pompey on June 7th, 705 (49), and we have no letters from him during the next nine months. At the beginning of the year he received letters from Caelius and Dolabella, and wrote a few to Terentia and Atticus. They are mostly on domestic matters, and when he does touch on the condition of his party he is despondent. Then follows another long break in the correspondence, there being no letters until Cicero, after Pharsalia, returned about October to Brundisium. He stayed in that town for the rest of the year. His correspondents were still Atticus and Terentia. He was depressed, both from uncertainty as to the nature of Caesar's feelings towards him, and by reason of the treacherous conduct of Quintus and his son, who were endeavouring to injure him with Caesar. During the whole of this miserable sojourn at Brundisium Cicero never had the spirit to engage in any literary work.

CCCCVI.

CICERO TO ATTICUS (ATT. XI. 1).

EPIRUS; JANUARY; A. U. C. 705; B. C. 48; AET. CIC. 58.

M. Cicero Attico res suas domesticas suscipiendas et tuendas commendat.

CICERO ATTICO SAL.

1. Accepi a te signatum libellum, quem Anteros attulerat, ex quo nihil scire potui de nostris domesticis rebus: de quibus acerbissime adflictor, quod qui eas dispensavit neque adest istic neque ubi terrarum sit scio. Omnem autem spem habeo existimationis privatarumque rerum in tua erga me mihi perspectissima benevolentia, quam si his temporibus miseris et extremis praestiteris, haec pericula, quae mihi communia sunt cum ceteris, fortius feram idque ut facias, te obtestor atque obsecro. 2. Ego in cistophoro in Asia habeo ad HS bis et viciens. Huius pecuniae permutatione fidem nostram facile tuebere, quam quidem ego nisi expeditam relinquere me putassem, credens ei, cui tu scis iam pridem minime me credere, commoratus essem paullisper nec domesticas res impeditas reliquissem: ob eamque causam serius ad te scribo, quod sero intellexi quid timendum esset. Te etiam atque etiam oro, ut me totum tuendum suscipias, ut, si ii salvi erunt, quibuscum sum, una cum iis possim incolumis esse salutemque meam benevolentiae tuae acceptam referre.

CCCCVII. CICERO TO ATTICUS (ATT. XI. 2).

EPIRUS; FEBRUARY 5; A. U. C. 705; B. C. 48; AET. CIC. 58.

De hereditate, quae ipsi obvenerit, de dote filiae, de pecunia sua Asiatica et aliis rebus domesticis.

CICERO ATTICO SAL.

1. Litteras tuas accepi pridie Non. Febr. eoque ipso die ex testamento crevi hereditatem. Ex multis meis et miserrimis curis est una levata, si, ut scribis, ista hereditas fidem et famam meam tueri potest, quam quidem te intellego etiam sine hereditate tuis opibus defensurum fuisse. 2. De dote quod scribis, per omnes deos te obtestor, ut totam rem suscipias et illam miseram mea culpa et neglegentia tueare meis opibus, si quae sunt, tuis, quibus tibi molestum non erit [facultatibus]; cui quidem deesse omnia, quod scribis, obsecro te, noli pati. In quos enim sumptus abeunt fructus praediorum? Iam illa HS LX., quae scribis, nemo mihi umquam dixit ex dote esse detracta: numquam enim essem passus. Sed haec minima est ex iis iniuriis, quas accepi: de quibus ad te dolore et lacrimis scribere prohibeor. 3. Ex ea pecunia, quae fuit in Asia, partem dimidiam fere exegi. Tutius videbatur fore ibi, ubi est, quam apud publicanos. Quod me hortaris, ut firmo sim animo, vellem posses aliquid adferre quam ob rem id facere possem. Sed si ad ceteras miserias accessit etiam id, quod mihi

1. crevi] Cernere hereditatem is to accept an inheritance formally,' whether in person or by letter; it is used metaphorically in Att. vi. 1, 10 (252), of feelings of affection, which the legatee ought to have inherited along with a property bequeathed to him.

fidem et famam] 'my credit and reputation.'

2. De dote] the second instalment of Tullia's marriage portion due to Dolabella on July 1.

facultatibus] This word is certainly spurious. The meaning is 'you must help the poor girl out of my money, if I have any, [if not], out of your own so far as you can do it without inconvenience.'

VOL. IV.

The construction is obtestor ut illam miseram tueare meis opibus si quae sunt, tuis (opibus) quibus tibi molestum non erit (tueri illam).

' on what are the

In quos sumptus] rents of my farms spent?' HS LX. about 500 guineas, which Terentia had managed to hold back out of the first instalment.

3. ibi ubi est] sc. apud Egnatium, as we learn from Att. xi. 3, 3 (411). This Egnatius was not the same person as the Egnatius mentioned in Att. x. 15, 4 (401), as being in Cicero's debt.

id facere] sc. firmo esse animo; for this use of facere in taking the place of a foregoing verb see L. S. ii. E.

P

Chrysippus dixit parari―tu nihil significasti—de domo, quis me miserior uno iam fuit? Oro, obsecro, ignosce: non possum plura scribere. Quanto maerore urguear profecto vides. Quod si mihi commune cum ceteris esset, qui videntur in eadem causa esse, minor mea culpa videretur et eo tolerabilior esset: nunc nihil est quod consoletur, nisi quid tu efficis, si modo etiam nunc effici potest, ut ne qua singulari adficiar calamitate et iniuria. 4. Tardius ad te remisi tabellarium, quod potestas mittendi non fuit. A tuis et nummorum accepi HS LXX. et vestimentorum quod opus fuit. Quibus tibi videbitur velim des litteras meo nomine. Nosti meos familiares. Si signum requirent aut manum, dicas velim me propter custodias ea vitasse.

CCCCVIII. CAELIUS TO CICERO (FAM. VIII. 17).

ROME; MARCH; A. U. C. 706; B. C. 48; AET. CIC. 58.

Queritur M. Caelius se Curionis amore et odio App. Claudii in eas partes vocatum esse, unde nunc multa incommoda sibi nascantur. A Caesare enim cum Romae praetor relictus esset, ait se rebus urbanis Trebonio mandatis multa sibi mala invidia et aemulatione contraxisse et consilii sui se iam paene paenitere.

CAELIUS CICERONI S.

1. Ergo me potius in Hispania fuisse tum quam Formiis, cum tu profectus es ad Pompeium! Quod utinam aut Appius Claudius in hac parte fuisset aut in ista parte C. Curio, quoius amicitia me paullatim in hanc perditam causam imposuit; nam mihi sentio bonam mentem iracundia et amore ablatam. Tu porro, cum ad te proficiscens Arpino noctu venissem, dum mihi pacis man

de domo] Chrysippus had told Cicero that it was contemplated to confiscate his house on the Palatine.

quis me miserior uno iam fuit] who was more wretched than I am of all men in the world.'

4. potestas] an opportunity.' HS LXX.] nearly £600. The clothing was, no doubt, for his household.

On this letter see vol. iii. Introd., pp. lvi. ff.

1. Ergo] To think that'; cp. Hor. Sat. ii. 5, 101, Ergo nunc Dama sodalis Nusquam est: Carm. i. 24, 5.

Quod utinam] cp. Fam. xiv. 4, 1 (62) ; quod is connexive, as in quod si, but if.'

aut Appius Claudius in hac parte fuisset aut in ista parte C. Curio] The words in italics in the text are not found in the MSS. The addition in this exact form is due to Klotz: the old editors read aut non in ista parte Appius Claudius aut non in hac C. Curio fuisset; but this will not account so well for the corruption.

iracundia et amore] sc. anger with Appius Claudius, affection for Curio.

Arpino] The MSS read Arimini: but there can be no allusion to Ariminum here. Cicero was not in North Italy at

data das ad Caesarem et mirificum civem agis, amici officium neglexisti neque mihi consuluisti. Neque haec dico, quod diffidam huic causae, sed, crede mihi, perire satius est quam hos videre. 2. Quod si timor vestrae crudelitatis non esset, eiecti iam pridem hinc essemus. Nam hic nunc praeter feneratores paucos nec homo nec ordo quisquam est nisi Pompeianus. Equidem iam effeci, ut maxime plebs et, qui antea noster fuit, populus vester esset. Cur hoc, inquis? Immo reliqua exspectate: vos invitos vincere coëgero. Arruntanum me Catonem. Vos dormitis,

nec haec adhuc mihi videmini intellegere, qua nos pateamus et qua simus imbecilli. Atque hoc nullius praemii spe faciam, sed quod apud me plurimum solet valere, doloris atque indignitatis causa. Quid istic facitis? Proelium exspectatis, quod firmissimumt haec? Vestras copias non novi: nostri valde depugnare et facile algere et esurire consuerunt.

all at the time to which Caelius must be alluding, viz. early in 705 (49), just after, or possibly just before, the outbreak of the civil war. Grotefrend suggests Arpino, which we have adopted.

mirificum civem agis] playing the admirable citizen.' This use of agere is a feature of Caelius' style; cp. Fam. viii. 2, 2 (196); cp. 9, 1 (211); and he is the earliest writer we know who adopts it. It is also found in Liv. xlv. 25, 2, lenem mitemque senatorem egit, and occasionally also in post-classical writers, e.g. Suet. Claud. 29: cp. Schmalz, Antibarb, i. 119 ff.

hos] the Caesarians at Rome, and perhaps especially Trebonius.

2. vestrae crudelitatis] The violent threatenings of the Pompeian party tended in no small degree to keep the Italians from opposing Caesar: cp. Att. viii. 11, 4 (342): 16, 2 (352).

feneratores] Caesar won the favour of the capitalists by not abolishing debts. That he refrained from doing so was a sore point with the deeply - involved Caelius.

plebs, populus] the lower orders,'

'the mass of the citizens.'

+Arruntanum me Catonem] Orelli and Btr. suggest Geram alterum me Catoem, I mean to pose as a Cato,' which is rather far from the MSS. The corrupt word looks as if it were a deponent ending in -amini, e.g. aversamini. Were it not that Caelius hardly ever uses Greek

words, we might conjecture the clause to be a question beginning with åpa, e.g. âpa μανθάνεις.

...

quam;

qua nos pateamus et qua simus imbecilli] our exposed and our weak points." Cratander followed by Baiter reads quam but there is no necessity to alter the MSS. Some editors alter haec to hoc; but there are two points of which Caelius says the Pompeians are ignorant, the exposed positions and the weak spots of the Caesarians.

quod] Madv. 315 b notices that the neuter relative referring to the entire contents of a proposition is usually inserted before the predicate to which it refers.

indignitatis] sense of wrong'; cp. Att, x. 8, 3 (392), Tanta esse poterit indignitas nostra?: Liv. v. 45, 6, indignitas atque ex ea ira animos cepit.

The usual

quod firmissimum+ haec] reading adopted for the corrupt haec is Orelli's conjecture habet, on which Caesar rests quite assured.' Watson quotes Att. ii. 19, 4 (46), Videor mihi nostrum illum consularem exercitum . habere firmissimum, 'to place full reliance on that force.' Possibly we should read huic, on which he (Caesar) can rely for certain'; or hae, on this side.' The opposition between on your side' and 'on our side' runs all through this letter.

nostri] Caelius has alluded before to the powers of endurance possessed by Caesar's forces, Fam. viii. 15, 1 (344). Schütz says that the concluding sentence