senators to follow him to Lower Italy. On the same evening he left Rome, and proceeded, in the first instance, towards Teanum Sidicinum.

When the senatus consultum ultimum was passed, on the 9th, a division of the districts of Italy was made among the principal magistrates. Cicero was outside the walls, still holding the imperium, and in the division Capua was assigned to him.* It is not by any means certain what was the extent of the regio which was assigned to Cicero. We know that No. 1 of the 11 regiones into which Augustus divided Italy was called Campania, and stretched along the coast, from the Tiber to the Silarus.† It is just possible that this district was, even before the time of Augustus, in some sense an administrative division, and had Capua as its principal town; and if so, we may perhaps reasonably suppose that this was the district assigned to Cicero. But it is more probable that Cicero was trusted with Capua and Campania Proper in the first instance, as important recruiting was to be set on foot at Capua, and Cicero was himself at this time holding a military position. But from the very first Cicero appears to have undertaken this duty unwillingly, and a few days' reflection showed him that he would be unfit for a duty requiring special military qualities, and for defending an important fortress, which was insufficiently garrisoned. He would probably fall into Caesar's hands; and, in any case, having once taken a prominent part in the war, he could not afterwards

*Fam. xvi. 11, 3 (301).

† Cp. Marquardt, St. V. i. p. 222.

Schmidt (Briefwechsel, p. 117) shows that Att. vii. 11, 5 (304)-Ego negotio praesum non turbulento. Vult enim me Pompeius esse quem tota haec Campana et maritima ora habeat loкоov, ad quem dilectus et summa negotii deferatur—was written on January 18th from somewhere near Rome, and certainly not in Campania Proper; and consequently, that some explanation must be given of this passage. He holds that Campania was, in ordinary language, applied in Cicero's time to the Campagna of Rome, and, accordingly, that Cicero speaks of hace Campania (or Campana); but Schmidt acknowledges that no other example of this application is forthcoming in Republican times, and he does not make any reference to the regio of Augustus, but to Porphyrion, the Scholiast on Horace, who says (on A. P. 65) that the Pomptine marshes are in Campania.' But we need not press haec to mean more than ‘Campania, with which I am now entrusted, and with which my thoughts are now constantly occupied.'

§ Att. viii. 3, 4 (333), Invite cepi Capuam.

negotiate effectually for peace; and it was for this purpose that he rightly felt himself to be eminently fitted. Accordingly, he put his resignation of the chief command at Capua into the hands of the Senate just before they left the city. The Senate appear to have accepted the resignation, but Pompey asked Cicero to exercise a general supervision over the whole district of Campania and the coast. We think that Pompey made this request in consequence of his complete trust in the honesty of Cicero, who, he knew, would give him information in case there was any mismanagement of affairs in that region.

Before Pompey left Rome Cicero had a conversation with him, and requested to be allowed to be his companion; but, as we have seen, Pompey wished him to stay on the west coast, and supervise generally the levies there. On the 18th Cicero left Rome, to fulfil this task, and proceeded southwards, perhaps to Antium. He informed Atticus that he was not likely to have any fixed address.§ About the 20th he arrived at his villa at Formiae. On the 21st he had an interview with the consul Lentulus and with Libo, and on the 22nd wrote Att. vii. 12 (305) to Atticus. In that letter he says:

You want to know what Pompey is going to do. I do not think he knows himself; certainly none of us know. There is universal terror and bewilderment. Pompey (ille) is proceeding to the cohorts stationed at Larinum; but after that, whether he intends to leave Italy or not I do not know. Do advise me what course to adopt. Shall I throw myself completely into the cause (I do not mind the danger, but am most indignant at the utter want of judgment and neglect of my advice shown in the whole business); or shall I hesitate, and trim, and join the winning side? Noblesse oblige; if my duty as a citizen did not deter me from this latter course, my duty as a friend would; but then

Att. viii. 11 D, 5 (313); viii. 12, 2 (345), Nam certe neque tum peccavi, cum imparatam Capuam, non solum ignaviae delictum sed etiam perfidiae suspicionem fugiens accipere nolui, neque cum post condiciones pacis per L. Caesarem et Fabatum adlatas cavi ne animum eius offenderem cui Pompeius iam armatus armato consulatum triumphumque deferret. The latter passage proves that we are in error in our note on Att. viii. 11 B, 3 (327). Cicero's resignation of Capua was prior to the negotiations conducted by L. Caesar during the latter half of January, and therefore prior to February 15, on which day he wrote Att. viii. 11 B (327).

† Att. vii. 11, 5 (304).

Cp. Att. viii. 11 в, 3 (327), non dubito quin ad te statim veniam quo mihi nihil optatius est, idque tecum quo die ab urbe discessimus locutus sum.

§ Att. vii. 11, 5 (304), Itaque vagus esse cogitabam.

pity for my children breaks down my resolution. Do write something. If Pompey leaves Italy, what am I to do? Lepidus and Torquatus draw the line there.'

*

On the same day Cicero wrote Fam. xiv. 18 (306) to his family, urging them to leave Rome while they could, and join him in the district over which he had supervision.

Late on the 22nd Cicero arrived at Minturnae, and early on the 23rd wrote Att. vii. 13 a (307) from that place.

We find with regret that Cicero enjoys the reflection that the defection of Labienus, if it has no other effect, will give Caesar pain.' Cicero entertains the most gloomy views of the state of anarchy and chaos which will ensue from the recklessness of a single desperado, and is alarmed at the inadequate forces on the Pompeian side; the untrustworthiness of the only two legions at Pompey's disposal, which Caesar had given for the Parthian war and which had been treacherously retained in Italy and almost alienated, as well as the reluctance of the inhabitants to enlist, prove, he says, that our captain has cleared the harbour with a storm brewing, but has forgotten to supply our vessel with a rudder.' On the same day he wrote Fam. xiv. 14 (309) to his family, again urging them to leave Rome while they could, and to come to him; or, at all events, to see what course the other Roman ladies were taking, and to talk the matter over with friends. Late on the 23rd he wrote Att. vii. 13 b (308), from Minturnae. On the 24th he reached Cales, and wrote Att. vii. 14 (310), which he despatched early on the morning of the 25th.

* This passage is interesting, as showing that there was a general opinion from the very first, that it was quite as probable as not that Pompey would leave Italy: cp. Att. vii. 17, 1 (315); ix. 10, 6 (365). He, doubtless, intended to do so himself, in case there was not a satisfactory response to his call to arms in South Italy; and certainly, in the absence of adequate forces to meet Caesar, there is no doubt that the East, where Pompey's was a name to conjure by, and where the peoples and the client kings were all devoted to him, was the quarter wherein to organize a force capable of meeting the tried veterans of the Gallic wars.

Schmidt (p. 120) supposes that 13 a ends with numero Platonis obscurius, and that 13b begins with Iam intellexi tamen. This is quite possible, as there was such a short interval between the composition of the two letters, and we thus avoid the necessity of introducing primo before plane, or ante after it. If we had known this view we should have made the division of the letters where Schmidt suggests. But we cannot agree with his adoption of the Bosian succones.

On that evening he reached Capua. This was the point to which his journey was directed: here it was expected that he would, in concert with M. Considius, the propraetor, supervise the levy. When he arrived he found the vigorous Ampius Balbus pressing on the levy with all that characteristic energy which gained him the appellation of the clarion of the Civil War,'* and Libo no less diligent in formally taking over the recruits from him, and duly organizing them. But there was a very lukewarm response to the levy. On the 25th Pompey left Teanum, and proceeded to Larinum; but there was the greatest uncertainty as to what was the object of his various movements.†

Cicero says, on January 26th, that from the time he left the city he had not let a day pass without writing to Atticus. The letters despatched on the 20th, 21st, and 24th appear to have been lost.§ A letter of the 24th certainly made some reference to a false statement of Torquatus about the gladiators of Caesar at Capua. There were 600 gladiators of Caesar's in a school there, and serious apprehension was entertained that they might cause trouble. Lentulus, the consul, tried, by promises of liberty, to induce them to be enrolled in his cavalry. This was just the sort of un-Roman thing that the inconsiderate Lentulus would do; but the project was so universally censured, that it was ultimately abandoned. The school was broken up, and two gladiators were given in custody to each of 300 householders.||

Meanwhile negotiations had been proceeding between Pompey and Caesar. After the news of the capture of Ariminum had reached Rome, Pompey had sent L. Caesar and Roscius Fabatus. to Caesar. They reached his camp (which was perhaps at Fanum where the Flaminian road first touched the sea) about the 19th. They appear to have first officially informed Caesar of the decree which the Senate had passed ordaining a tumultus, and then, as

* Tuba belli civilis, Fam. vi. 12, 3 (490).

Att. vii. 12, 2 (305), Ille iter Larinum: ibi enim cohortes et Luceriae et Teani reliquaque in Apulia. Inde utrum consistere uspiam velit an mare transire nescitur. Att. vii. 15, 1 (311).

§ Schmidt (p. 121) supposes that Att. vii. 12 (305) was written on the 21st, 13 a (307) on the 22nd, 13 b (308) on the 23rd, 14 (310) on the 25th; so that only the letters of the 20th and 24th are wanting. This is quite possible.

Caes. B. C. i. 14, 4; Att. vii. 14, 2 (310).

Caesar says, to have passed to commissions of a private nature from Pompey.* In effect, Pompey urged that all his measures against Caesar were prompted by regard to the State, and not by personal motives, and that Caesar should not visit on the State the wrongs done by his enemies. Caesar impliest that this was simply a statement that Pompey considered him to be in the wrong; still, as he thought that L. Caesar and Roscius were suitable men to carry on negotiations, he asked them to bring back his terms to Pompey. These terms were-that Pompey should go to Spain, the armies on both sides be dismissed, and the Italian levies discontinued under those circumstances Caesar would give up the two Gauls to Domitius and Nonianus, and himself come to Rome and stand for the consulship according to regular constitutional procedure ratification of these terms was to be effected, and all details arranged, at a personal conference. This request for a conference was, as Schmidt justly says (p. 124), the point in which Caesar felt most interest. From of old, Caesar knew how to influence Pompey when they came face to face, and we shall see how that, to the very last, as long as Pompey was in Italy, Caesar was anxious for a personal interview.§ L. Caesar left Fanum early on the 20th, and on the 23rd was in Minturnae, where Cicero saw him, and heard of Caesar's terms. He characterizes these terms as 'most absurd,' and Caesar's choice of such a feather-brained nincompoop (non hominem sed scopas solutas) to carry on negotiations at such a crisis was a mere mockery; || indeed, Cicero was not clear that L. Caesar had not caught up some statements made in the course of conversation, and interpreted them as formal terms of compact. Caesar's conditions

* Caes. B. C. i. 8, 2, habere se a Pompeio ad eum privati officii mandata demonstrat. † i. 9, 1, Quae res etsi nihil ad levandas iniurias pertinere videbantur.

Caes. B. C. i. 9, 5, 6, Haec quo facilius certisque condicionibus fiant et iure iurando sanciantur, aut ipse propius accedat aut se patiatur accedere: fore uti per colloquia omnes controversiae componantur; cp. Cic. Fam. xvi. 12, 3 (312).

§ Cp. p. xxxix. about the mission of Caninius Rebilus.

|| Att. vii. 13 b, 1 (308).

Caesar's conditions do not appear to have been written; postulata deferre, postulata renuntiare, are the words used by Caesar, i. 9, 1; 10, 1; and the fitness of L. Caesar and Roscius as negotiators would not have been dwelt on (Caes. i. 9, 1), if they were to be the mere carriers of a written document. Pompey sends back scripta mandata (Caes. i. 10, 2), which were written by Sestius, as Cicero says, in more choice Sestianese than usual (nihil unquam legi scriptum oŋotiwdéotepov), Att. vii. 17, 2 (315).