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scribo ad vos aut vestras lego, conficior lacrimis sic, ut ferre non
possim. Quod utinam minus vitae cupidi fuissemus! certe nihil
aut non multum in vita mali vidissemus. Quod si nos ad aliquam
alicuius commodi aliquando reciperandi spem fortuna reservavit,
minus est erratum a nobis: si haec mala fixa sunt, ego vero te
quam primum, mea vita, cupio videre et in tuo complexu emori,
quando neque di, quos tu castissime coluisti, neque homines,
quibus ego semper servivi, nobis gratiam rettulerunt. 2. Nos
Brundusii apud M. Laenium Flaccum dies XIII fuimus, virum
optimum, qui periculum fortunarum et capitis sui prae mea salute
neglexit neque legis improbissimae poena deductus est quo minus
hospitii et amicitiae ius officiumque praestaret. Huic utinam
aliquando gratiam referre possimus habebimus quidem semper.
3. Brundusio profecti sumus a. d. II. Kalendas Maias: per Mace-
doniam Cyzicum petebamus. O me perditum! o adflictum !
Quid enim? Rogem te ut venias? Mulierem aegram et corpore
et animo confectam? Non rogem? Sine te igitur sim? Opinor,
sic agam si est spes nostri reditus, eam confirmes et rem adiuves:

1,4; quod de domo scribis

ego vero,

Fam. xiv. 2, 3: so ibid., ego ad quos
scribam nescio, is an answer to a sugges-
tion of Terentia, that he should approach
his friends by letter.
Quod utinam] Would that I had not
clung so to life. I should then have
seen no sorrow, or at least but little in my
life.' Cicero often regrets that he had
not destroyed himself, e. g. in Att. iii. 3.
This use of quod is the connective use,
as in quod si.

si] if my present bitter fate is un-
alterably fixed. Some edd. would read
sin, but the opposition is not strong
enough to require such a change.

neque di.. neque homines] Cicero
often betrays how lightly he wears his
religious beliefs; here, for instance, he
shows much of the spirit of the modern
Parisian: his business was with men;
his wife's department was religion. See
I, Introd., p. 40.

2. M. Laenium Flaccum] In Att. v.
21, 10, vi. 1, 6, &c., we meet a M.
Laenius Flaccus, to whom Cicero, when
governor of Cilicia, refused an appoint-
ment as praefectus, on the ground that
he carried on a banking business in the
province. But this can hardly be the

same man (though identified by Klotz in
his Index, and Orelli in his Onomasticon
Tullianum), for he is invariably men-
tioned as Laenius tuus, as the friend of
Atticus, not of Cicero. Now, we must
arraign Cicero of great forgetfulness of
past favours, if we suppose the Laenius of
whom he speaks so coldly afterwards to
have been the man of whose kindness he
here says he will ever have a grateful
recollection. Cicero speaks again most
warmly of this Laenius in Planc. 97, and
Sest. 131.

periculum fortunarum et capitis] cf.
Att. iii. 4, ne et Sica periret.

prae] in comparison with.'

=

3. profecti sumus] = proficiscor, 'I am
setting out,' and petebamus petiturus
sum. Both are epistolary tenses, and look
forward to the time when Terentia will
read this letter; so in Att. viii. 3, 7,
reverti Formias, though he had not yet
left Cales, but would have returned to
Formiae before Atticus received the letter.
So misi, in Att. iv. 2, 5, means 'I send
herewith;' in Att. v. 15, 3, faciebam:
facturus sum; in v. 17, 1, habebam =
habiturus sum, and in vii. 23, 2, remitte-
bam remissurus sum.

confirmes] 'promote.'

=

:

sin, ut ego metuo, transactum est, quoquo modo potes, ad me fac venias. Unum hoc scito: si te habebo, non mihi videbor plane perisse. Sed quid Tulliola mea fiet? Iam id vos videte: mihi deest consilium. Sed certe, quoquo modo se res habebit, illius misellae et matrimonio et famae serviendum est. Quid, Cicero meus quid aget? Iste vero sit in sinu semper et complexu meo. Non queo plura iam scribere: impedit maeror. Tu quid egeris nescio utrum aliquid teneas an, quod metuo, plane sis spoliata. 4. Pisonem, ut scribis, spero fore semper nostrum. De familia liberata nihil est quod te moveat. Primum tuis ita promissum est, te facturam esse, ut quisque esset meritus. Est autem in officio adhuc Orpheus: praeterea magno opere nemo. Ceterorum servorum ea causa est, ut, si res a nobis abisset, liberti nostri essent, si obtinere potuissent: sin ad nos pertineret, servirent, praeterquam oppido pauci. Sed haec minora sunt. 5. Tu quod me hortaris, ut animo sim magno et spem habeam reciperandae salutis, id velim sit eius modi, ut recte sperare possimus. Nunc, miser quando tuas iam litteras accipiam ? quis ad me perferet? quas ego exspectassem

sin] the opposition here is considerably more pointed than above.

quid Tulliola mea fiet] 'what will become of my dear Tullia: cf. Att. vi. 1, 14; quid illo fiet, what will become of him,' Fam. xiv. 1, 5, quid puero fiet.

illius misellae] we must devote ourselves to the maintenance of the poor girl's conjugal happiness and of her good name.' For serviendum, cf. Att. v. 11, 5. Tullia was married to Calpurnius Piso, of whom Cicero always speaks in the highest terms, especially in Brut. 272. Piso refused to go to Pontus and Bithynia as quaestor, so that he might attend to the affairs of his exiled father-in-law in Rome, and incurred on Cicero's behalf the enmity of his kinsman, the consul (Post Red. in Sen. 38). He died probably about the time of Cicero's restoration. Cicero says (Sest. 68), Piso ille gener meus cui fructum pietatis suae neque ex me neque a pop. Romano ferre licuit. Tullia's dowry seems not to have been yet paid, and from this Cicero apprehends danger 'to her married happiness and good name.'

complexu meo] See Adn. Crit.: cp. in sinu est neque ego discingor, Q. Fr. ii. 11 (13), 1.

teneas] whether you hold in your hands (still retain) any of my property:" cf. Off. ii. 81, multa dotibus tenebantur.

To

4. De familia liberata] Terentia had heard that all their slaves had been given their freedom by Cicero. He assures her that she need not be uneasy. your slaves,' he says, no promise was made at all, but that you would treat every one as he deserved. Now, Orpheus is so far very well behaved; besides him no one has shown himself particularly deserving. In the case of the others (my own), the arrangement made is this-that if the property is sold by public auction, and goes out of my hands (a nobis abisset), they should have the position of freedmen of mine, if they could make good their title to that position (against those who might urge that the penalties of confiscation were being thus evaded); but if the property is left in my hands, i. e. if I am allowed to buy it in (si ad nos perti neret), they should be still my slaves, ex cept a very few (whom I have promised to manumit).'

ea causa est] is followed by past tenses, essent, servirent, &c., because in sense it re fers to past time, in referring to the result of an agreement already made.

Brundusii, si esset licitum per nautas, qui tempestatem praetermittere noluerunt. Quod reliquum est, sustenta te, mea Terentia, ut potes, honestissime. Viximus: floruimus: non vitium nostrum, sed virtus nostra nos adflixit. Peccatum est nullum, nisi quod non una animam cum ornamentis amisimus. Sed si hoc fuit liberis nostris gratius, nos vivere, cetera, quamquam ferenda non sunt, feramus. Atqui ego, qui te confirmo, ipse me non possum. 6. Clodium Philhetaerum, quod valetudine oculorum impediebatur, hominem fidelem, remisi. Sallustius officio vincet omnes. Pescennius est perbenevolus nobis: quem semper spero tui fore observantem. Sica dixerat se mecum fore, sed Brundusio discessit. Cura, quod potes, ut valeas, et sic existimes, me vehementius tua miseria quam mea commoveri. Mea Terentia, fidissima atque optima uxor, et mea carissima filiola et spes reliqua nostra, Cicero, valete. Pridie Kalendas Maias Brundisio.

LXIII. TO ATTICUS, IN ROME (ATT. III. 7).

BRUNDUSIUM, A. U. C. 696; B. C. 58; AET. CIC. 48.

M. Cicero scribit se Brundusium venisse de causis quam ob rem in Epirum nolit accedere, de miseriis suis, de exigua spe libertatis publicae, de incerto itineris sui

cursu.

CICERO ATTICO SAL.

1. Brundusium veni a. d. xiv Kal. Maias. Eo die pueri tui mihi a te litteras reddiderunt, et alii pueri post diem tertium eius diei alias litteras attulerunt. Quod me rogas et hortaris, ut apud te in Epiro sim, voluntas tua mihi valde grata est et minime nova. Esset consilium mihi quidem optatum si liceret ibi omne tempus consumere-odi enim celebritatem, fugio homines, lucem aspicere vix possum, esset mihi ista solitudo, praesertim tam familiari in

5. tempestatem] 'a favourable wind,' usually tranquillitas.

ornamentis] 'my dignities.'

6. Clodium] He, as well as Pescennius and Sallustius, was probably a freedman of Cicero.

mecum fore] sc. in Graecia.

quod potes] Some edd. would here read quoad potes; but quod potes is used in quite the same sense. In proof of this, Hofm.

quotes quod poteris, Att. x. 2, 21; quod
eius facere potueris, Fam. iii. 2, 2; quod
eius facere poteris, Att. xi. 12, 4.
Att. ii. 7, 3; Fam. v. 8, fin.; Ep. xii. 36.

Add

1. in Epiro] i.e. in Atticus's property at Buthrotum.

Esset consilium] See Adn. Crit.

si liceret] if the prescribed distance of 400 miles did not forbid.

loco, non amara-sed itineris causa, ut devorterer, primum est devium, deinde ab Autronio et ceteris quadridui, deinde sine te. Nam castellum munitum habitanti mihi prodesset, transeunti non est necessarium. Quod si auderem, Athenas peterem: sane ita cadebat ut vellem. Nunc et nostri hostes ibi sunt et te non habemus et veremur ne interpretentur illud quoque oppidum ab Italia non satis abesse, nec scribis quam ad diem te exspectemus. 2. Quod me ad vitam vocas, unum efficis, ut a me manus absti neam, alterum non potes, ut me non nostri consilii vitaeque paeniteat. Quid enim est quod me retineat, praesertim si spes ea non est, quae nos proficiscentes prosequebatur? Non faciam ut enumerem miserias omnes,

in

quas

sed itineris causa] but to go to Epirus, merely to suit my journey by making it a halting-place, would, firstly, be out of my way; secondly, it would place me only four days' journey from Autronius and my other enemies; lastly, I should miss you. A fortified place, like your property there, would be useful if I were living there, but is not necessary for one who is merely passing through.' On the careless construction of this and the next clause, see Introd. ii. § 2, note.

Quod si auderem] If I dared I would go to Athens: ah, that is the plan which I should really have liked; but my open enemies (such as Autronius) are there, and I have not you to help me, and I fear they might construe even that town (as well as Buthrotum) as not being at the required distance from Italy.' A difficulty has been raised because Cicero is said not elsewhere to speak of Athens as an oppidum, and because Cicero here expresses a doubt as to whether Athens was within the required distance, though he had been staying at Thessalonica, which was nearer to Italy. To the latter objection Hofm. replies that it was through the connivance of his friend Plancius, the quaestor to the governor of Macedonia, that he was allowed to remain at Thessalonica (Planc. 99). Cicero did not at this time intend to remain at Thessalonica, but to go on to Cyzicus. To the former his answer is, that Cornelius Nepos calls Athens, and even Rome, an oppidum. But the strongest defence of the text is not mentioned by Hofm. It is this: Cicero elsewhere uses urbs and oppidum as absolutely synonymous: see De Div. i. 53, where he describes Pherae as urbs in Thessalia tum

incidi

per summam iniuriam et

admodum nobilis, and then, after a short parenthesis, resumes his narration with the words in eo igitur oppido. So in the passage above (Att. ii. 1, 2), curabis ut Athenis sit et in ceteris oppidis Graeciae, we may perhaps hold that Cicero means to include Athens among oppida, though of course this passage is susceptible of another explanation, as an instance of a well-known classicism, of which we have an example in the Greek use of λλos =

besides : e. g. χόρτος οὐδὲ ἄλλο δένδρον ovdév, Xen. Anab. i. 5, 5. Hence Schütz is wrong in reading here Achaiam for Athenas (see next letter, § 1), and in understanding illud oppidum to refer to Buthrotum.

sane ita cadebat] This can only be translated, indeed, the matter was turning out as I should wish.' (Now I cannot go to Athens.) In vellem we have, as often, the apodosis of a conditional sentence, the protasis of which is not expressed as I should wish if I had the choice. For cadere to fall out,' 'happen,' cp. Att. iii. 24, 1 (Ep. lxxxv.); Att. iv. 1, 1 (Ep. lix.). Observe that the ut is 'as,' and does not govern vellem.

ab Italia] See note on Ep. lvii. hostes] For hostes = 'overt enemies,' see note on Att. ii. 19, 3.

2. ad vitam vocas] It is plain, from this and other passages, that Cicero really had thought of destroying himself, and was deterred by the advice of Atticus, which he afterwards regretted that he had followed.

spes ea] The nature of this hope is mentioned in Q. Fr. i. 4, 4, saepe triduo summa cum gloria dicebar esse rediturus.

scelus non tam inimicorum meorum quam invidorum, ne et meum maerorem exagitem et te in eumdem luctum vocem. Hoc adfirmo, neminem umquam tanta calamitate esse adfectum, nemini mortem magis optandam fuisse; cuius oppetendae tempus honestissimum praetermissum est. Reliqua tempora sunt non tam ad medicinam quam ad finem doloris. 3. De re publica video te colligere omnia quae putes aliquam spem mihi posse adferre mutandarum rerum, quae quamquam exigua sunt, tamen, quoniam placet, exspectemus. Tu nihilo minus, si properaris, nos consequere. Nam aut accedemus in Epirum aut tarde per Candaviam ibimus. Dubitationem autem de Epiro non inconstantia nostra adferebat, sed quod de fratre, ubi eum visuri essemus, nesciebamus. Quem quidem ego nec ubi visurus nec quo modo dimissurus sim scio. Id est maximum et misserimum mearum omnium miseriarum. Ego et saepius ad te et plura scriberem, nisi mihi dolor meus cum omnes partes mentis tum maxime huius generis facultatem ademisset. Videre te cupio. Cura ut valeas. Data prid. Kal. Mai. Brundusii.

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exagitem] rouse afresh,' metaphor from stirring up grounds or dregs: cf. Col. xii. 19, 4, ut quidquid faecis subsederit exagitet et in summum reducat.

All

A

sunt ad] are calculated to produce: cf. Att. vi. 1, 14, erit ad sustentandum,' will serve to keep the enemy at bay.' The meaning here is, 'I ought to have met an honourable death in resisting Clodius: that would have healed my heart-ache (wounded honour). the subsequent opportunities (i. e. if I killed myself after my exile began) serve only to end my pain, not to heal it.' noble death before he humiliated himself would have set him right in the eyes of the world, and so healed his pain; death now can only end it. Boot explains differently, quod superest non potest dolori remedium afferre, solum poterit hebetare dolorem.' But how can this be found in the words? Surely (afferre) finem dolori is anything rather than hebetare dolorem. Perhaps he means, the rest of my life will serve not to heal my wound, but only to let it linger on till it is ended by death.' But I believe my explanation is the right one. I find that Boot now (Obss. critt. p. 46) explains the passage as I do.

3. nihilo minus] that is, though you

are still at Rome.'

Candaviam] A wild district of Illyria, lying in the road from Dyrrhachium to Thessalonica, and mentioned by Lucan, vii. 331, qua vastos aperit Candavia saltus.

nec ubi visurus] The best commentary on this passage is Att. iii. 9, 1, read with Q. Fr. i. 3, 4. In both passages Cicero expresses his fear that if he and his brother meet they will find it very hard to part. Therefore the reading usually adopted by editors, namely, nec quo modo visurus nec ubi dimissurus sim, can hardly be right. The question is not where, but how, he will be able to part with his brother. I have transposed quo modo and ubi. The sentence then runs, not only do I not know where I shall meet him (as is mentioned in the preceding sentence), but I do not know how I can part from him' (if I do meet him). Quo modo perhaps should stand both before risurus and before dimissurus, but my theory accounts better for the corruption. See Adn. Crit. I do not deny that the ordinary reading can be explained, for Cic. often speaks of an unwillingness even to look upon those who had known him in brighter days: see Q. Fr. i. 3, 1; Att. iii. 10, 2. But I hold that my reading is certainly more suitable to the context here, and virtually as near to the ms tradition.

ego] See last letter, § 1.

huius generis facultatem] 'my apti

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