B.C. 53. Coss. M. Domitius Calvinus, M. Valerius Messalia.
B.C. 53. Coss. M. Domitius Calvinus, M. Valerius Messalia. |
CLXV (F II, I)
TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (IN ASIA)
ROME (JANUARY OR FEBRUARY)
Though1 I am
sorry that you have suspected me of neglect, yet
it was not so annoying to me to have my lack of
attention found fault with, as
delightful to have it missed by you; especially as
in the particular point on which you accuse me I
happen to be innocent, while in shewing that you
miss a letter from me, you avow an affection for
me, of which, indeed, I was fully aware, but
which, nevertheless, is very soothing and
gratifying to my feelings. The fact is that I have
never let anyone go, so long, that is, as I
thought him likely to reach you, without giving
him a letter. Why, was there ever such an untiring
correspondent as I? From you, however, I have
received two, or at the most three
letters—and those extremely brief.
Wherefore, if you are a harsh judge of me, I shall
find you guilty on precisely the same charge. But
if you don't want me to do that, you will have to
be considerate to me. However, enough about
writing; for I am not afraid of failing to satiate
you with my correspondence, especially if you shew
a just appreciation of my zeal in that department.
I have been grieved on the one hand at your long
absence from us, because I have lost the advantage
of a most delightful intimacy; and yet on the
other hand I rejoice at it, because while on this
foreign service you have gained all your objects
with infinite credit to yourself, and because in
all you have undertaken fortune has answered to my
wishes. There is one injunction, a very short one,
which my unspeakable affection for you compels me
to give you. Such lofty expectations are
entertained of your spirit, shall I say? or of
your ability, that I cannot refrain from imploring
and beseeching you to return to us with a
character so finished, as to be able to support
and maintain the expectations which you have
excited. And since no loss of memory will ever
obliterate my recollection of your services to me,
I beg you not to forget that, whatever increase of
fortune or position may befall you, you would not
have been able to attain it, had you not as a boy
obeyed my most faithful and affectionate counsels.
2 Wherefore it
will be your duty to shew me such affection, that
my age—now on the decline—may
find repose in your devotion and youth.
ROME (JANUARY OR FEBRUARY)
CLXVI (F VII, II)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
ROME (JANUARY OR FEBRUARY)
If you had not left Rome before, you certainly
would have left it now. For who wants a lawyer
when there are so many interregna? I shall advise all
defendants in civil suits to ask each interrex for two adjournments
for obtaining legal assistance. 3 Do you think that I have taken a
pretty good hint from you as to civil procedure?
But come! How are you? What is happening? For I
notice in your letter a tendency to be even
jocose. These are better signs than the signa in my Tusculan villa.
4
But I want to know what it means. You say, indeed,
that you are consulted by Caesar, but I should
have preferred his consulting by you. If that is
taking place, or you think it likely to take
place, by all means persevere in your military
service and stay on: I shall console myself for my
loss of you by the hope that it will be your gain:
but if, on the other hand, things are not paying
with you, come back to us. For either something
will turn up sooner or later here, or, if not, one
conversation between you and me, by heaven, will
be worth more than all the Samobrivae 5 in the world.
Finally, if you return speedily, there will be no
talk about it; but if you stay away much longer
without getting anything, I am in terror not only
of Laberius, but of our comrade Valerius also. For
it would make a capital character
for a farce—a British lawyer! 6 I
am not laughing though you may laugh, but, as
usual, when writing to you, I jest on the most
serious subject. Joking apart, I advise you in the
most friendly spirit, that if you hold a position
for yourself worthy of my introduction, you should
put up with the loss of my society and farther
your own career and wealth: but if things are
stagnant with you there, come back to us. In spite
of everything you will get all you want, by your
own good qualities certainly, but also by my
extreme affection for you.
ROME (JANUARY OR FEBRUARY)
CLXVII (F II, 2)
TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (IN ASIA)
ROME (?FEBRUARY)
I have been deprived of a strong witness to my
extreme affection for you in the person of your
most illustrious father: who would have been
fortunate above the common lot, both in his own
memorable achievements and in the possession of
such a son as yourself, had it been granted him to
see you before his departure from life. But I hope
our friendship stands in no need of witnesses.
Heaven bless your inheritance to you! You will at
least have in me one to whom you are as dear and
as precious as you have been to your father.
ROME (?FEBRUARY)
CLXVIII (F II, 3)
TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (IN ASIA)
ROME (?FEBRUARY)
Rupa 7 was
not backward in his wish to promise an exhibition
of gladiators in your name, but neither I nor any
of your friends approved of anything being done in
your absence which would tie your hands when you
returned. For my part, I will either write you my
opinion at greater length later on, or, to give
you no opportunity of preparing an answer to it, I
will take you unprepared and state my view by word
of mouth against yours. I shall thus either bring
you over to my opinion, or at least leave in your
mind a record of my view, so that, if at any time
(which heaven forbid!) you may see cause to repent
of your decision, you may be able to recall mine.
Briefly, be assured that your return will find the
state of things to be such, that you may gain the
highest possible honours in the state more easily
by the advantages with which you are endowed by
nature, study, and fortune, than by gladiatorial
exhibitions. The power of giving such things stirs
no feeling of admiration in anyone; for it is
wholly a question of means, and not of
character—and there is nobody who is not
by this time sick and tired of them. But I am not
acting as I said I would do, for I am embarking on
a statement of the reasons for my opinion. So I
will put off this entire discussion to your
arrival. Believe me, you are expected with the
greatest interest, and hopes are entertained of
you such as can only be entertained of the highest
virtue and ability. If you are as prepared for
this as you ought to be—and I feel
certain you are—you will be bestowing on
us, your friends, on the whole body of your fellow
citizens, and on the entire state, the most
numerous and most excellent of
exhibitions. You will certainly become aware that
no one can be dearer or more precious than you are
to me.
ROME (?FEBRUARY)
CLXIX (F VII, 12)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
ROME (?FEBRUARY)
I was wondering what had made you cease
writing to me. My friend Pansa 8 has
informed me that you have become an Epicurean!
What a wonderful camp yours must be! What would
you have done if I had sent you to Tarentum 9 instead of Samobriva? I was
already a little doubtful about you, when I found
you supporting the same doctrine as my friend
Selius ! 10 But on what ground will you
support the principles of civil law, if you act
always in your own interest and not in that of
your fellow citizens? What, too, is to become of
the legal formula in cases of trust, "as should be
done among honest men"? For who can be called
honest who does nothing except on his own behalf?
What principle will you lay down "in dividing a
common property," when nothing can be "common"
among men who measure all things by their own
pleasure ? 11 How, again, can you ever
think it right to swear by Jupiter lapis, when you know that
Jupiter cannot be angry with anyone?
12 What
is to become of the people of Ulubrae, 13 if you have decided that it is not
right to take part in civic business? Wherefore,
if you are really and truly a pervert from our
faith, I am much annoyed; but if you merely find
it convenient to humour Pansa, I forgive you. Only
do write and tell us how you are, and
what you want me to do or to look after for you.
ROME (?FEBRUARY)
CLXX (F VII, 13)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
ROME; 4 MARCH
Did you suppose me to be so unjust as to be
angry with you from the idea that you were not
sufficiently persevering and were too eager to
return, and do you think that that is the reason
of my long silence? I was certainly annoyed by the
uneasiness of your spirits, which your first
letters conveyed to me; but there was absolutely
no other reason for the interruption of my own,
except my complete ignorance of your address. Are
you still, at this time of day, finding fault with
me, and do you refuse to accept my apology? Just
listen to me, my dear Testa! Is it money that is
making you prouder, or the fact that your
commander-in-chief consults you? May I die if I
don't believe that such is your vanity that you would rather be consulted by Caesar
than gilded 14 by him!
But if both reasons are true, who will be able to
put up with you except myself, who can put up with
anything? But to return to our subject—I
am exceedingly glad that you are content to be
where you are, and as your former state of mind
was vexatious, so your present is gratifying, to
me. I am only afraid that your special profession
may be of little advantage to you: for, as I am
told, in your present abode “
They lay no claim by joining lawful hands,ROME; 4 MARCH
But Challenge right with steel.
” 15 But you are not wont 16 to be called in to assist at a "forcible entry." Nor have you any reason to be afraid of the usual proviso in the injunction, "into which you have not previously made entry by force and armed men," for I am well assured that you are not a man of violence. But to give you some hint as to what you lawyers call "securities," I opine that you should avoid the Treviri; I hear they are real tresviri capitales—deadly customers: I should; have preferred their being tresviri of the mint! 17 But a truce to jesting for the present. Pray write to me in the fullest detail of all that concerns you. 4 March.
CLXXI (F VII, 14)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
ROME (?MARCH)
Chrysippus Vettius, a freedman of the
architect Cyrus, made me think that you had not
quite forgotten me; for he has brought me a
greeting in your words. You have grown a mighty
fine gentleman, that you can't take the trouble of
writing a letter to me—a man, I might
almost say, of your own family! But if you have
forgotten how to write, all the fewer clients will
lose their causes by having you as their advocate!
If you have forgotten me, I will take the trouble
of paying you a visit where you are, before I have
quite faded out of your mind. If it is a terror of
the summer camp that is disheartening you, think
of some excuse to get off, as you did in the Case
of Britain. I was glad to hear one thing from that
same Chrysippus, that you were on friendly terms
with Caesar. But, by Hercules, I should have
preferred, as I might fairly have expected, to be
informed of your fortunes as frequently as
possible from your own letters. And this would
certainly have been the case, if you had been more
forward to learn the laws of friendship than of
suits in court. But this is all jest in your own
vein, and to some degree in mine also. I love you
very dearly, and I both wish to be loved by you
and feel certain that I am.
ROME (?MARCH)
CLXXII (F VII, i8)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
A VILLA IN THE AGER POMPTINUS, 8 APRIL
I have received several letters from you at
the same time, written at various times, in which
everything else gave me great pleasure; for they
shewed that you were now sustaining
your military service with a brave spirit, and
were a gallant and resolute man. These are
qualities which for a short time I felt to be
lacking in you, though I attributed your
uneasiness not so much to any weakness of your own
spirit, as to your feeling your absence from us.
Therefore go on as you have begun: endure your
service with a stout heart: believe me, the
advantages you will gain are many; for I will
reiterate my recommendation of you, though I shall
wait for the right moment of doing so. Be assured
that you are not more anxious that your separation
from me should be as profitable as possible to
yourself than I am. Accordingly, as your
"securities" are somewhat weak, I have sent you
one in my poor Greek, written by my own hand.
18 For your part, I should wish you
to keep me informed of the course of the war in
Gaul: for the less warlike my informant, the more
inclined I am to believe him. But to return to your letters.
Everything else (as I said) is prettily written,
but I do wonder at this : who in the world sends
several identical letters, when he writes them
with his own hand? For your writing on paper that
has been used before, I commend your economy: but
I can't help wondering what it was that you
preferred to rub out of this bit of paper rather
than not write such poor stuff as
this—unless it were, perhaps, some of
your legal formulas. For I don't suppose you rub
out my letters to replace them with your own. Can
it mean that there is no business going on, that
you are out of work, that you haven't even a
supply of paper? Well, that is entirely your own
fault, for taking your modesty abroad with you
instead of leaving it behind here with us. I will commend you to Balbus, when he
starts to join you, in the good old Roman style.
Don't be astonished if there is a somewhat longer
interval than usual between my letters: for I
intend being out of town in April. I write this
letter in the Pomptine district, having put up at
the villa of M. Aemilius Philemo, from which I
could hear the noise of my clients, I mean those
you confided to me For at Ulubrae it is Certain
that an enormous mass of frogs have bestirred
themselves to do me honour. Take care of your
health. 19
8 April, from the Ager
Pomptinus. P.S.—Your letter which I received from
L. Arruntius I have torn up, though it didn't
deserve it for it had nothing in it which might
not have been safely read in a public meeting. But
not only did Arruntius say that such were your
orders, but you had appended a similar injunction
to your letter. Well, be it so! I am surprised at
your not having written anything to me since,
especially as you are in the midst of such
stirring events. 20
A VILLA IN THE AGER POMPTINUS, 8 APRIL
CLXXIII (F VII, 15)
TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL)
ROME
How wayward people are who love may be
gathered from this: I was formerly annoyed that
you were discontented at being where you are: now,
on the contrary, it stings me to the heart that
you write that you are quite happy there. For I
did not like your not being pleased at my
recommendation, and now I am vexed
that you can find anything pleasant without me.
But, after all, I prefer enduring your absence to
your not getting what I hope for you. However, I
cannot say how pleased I am that you have become
intimate with that most delightful man and
excellent scholar, C. Matius. 21 Do
your best to make him as fond of you as possible.
Believe me, you can bring nothing home from your
province that will give you greater pleasure. Take
care of your health.
ROME
CLXXIV (F II, 4)
TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (IN ASIA)
ROME (?MAY)
You are aware that letters are of many kinds;
but there is one kind which is undeniable, for the
sake of which, indeed, the thing was invented,
namely, to inform the absent of anything that is
to the interest of the writer or recipient that
they should know. You, however, certainly don't
expect a letter of that kind from me. For of your
domestic concerns you have members of your family
both to write and to act as messengers. Besides,
in my personal affairs there is really nothing
new. There are two other kinds of letters which
give me great pleasure: the familiar and sportive,
and the grave and serious. Which of these two I
ought least to employ I do not understand. Am I to
jest with you by letter? Upon my word, I don't
think the man a good citizen who could laugh in
times like these. Shall I write in a more serious
style? What could be written of seriously by
Cicero to Curio except public affairs? And yet,
under this head, my position is such that I
neither dare write what I think, nor choose to
write what I don't think. Wherefore, since I have
no subject left to write about, I will employ my
customary phrase, and exhort you to
the pursuit of the noblest glory. For you have a
dangerous rival already in the field, and fully
prepared, in the extraordinary expectation formed
of you and this rival you will vanquish with the
greatest ease, only on one
condition—that you make up your mind to
put out your full strength in the cultivation of
those qualities, by which the noble actions are
accomplished, upon the glory of which you have set
your heart. In support of this sentiment I would
have written at greater length had not I felt
certain that you were sufficiently alive to it of
your own accord; and I have touched upon it even
thus far, not in order to fire your ambition, but
to testify my affection.
ROME (?MAY)
CLXXV (F II, 5)
TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (ON HIS WAY FROM
ASIA)
ROME (?JUNE)
The state of business here I dare not tell
even in a letter. And though, wherever you are, as
I have told you before, you are in the same boat,
yet I congratulate you on your absence, as well
because you don't see what we see, as because your
reputation is placed on a lofty and conspicuous
pinnacle in the sight of multitudes both of
citizens and allies; and it is conveyed to us by
neither obscure nor uncertain talk, but by the
loud and unanimous voice of all. There is one
thing of which I cannot feel
certain—whether to congratulate you, or
to be alarmed for you on account of the surprising
expectation entertained of your return; not
because I am at all afraid of your not satisfying
the world's opinion, but, by heaven, lest, when
you do come, there may be nothing for you to
preserve: so universal is the decline and almost
extinction of all our institutions. But even thus
much I am afraid I have been rash to trust to a
letter wherefore you shall learn the rest from
others. 22
However, whether you have still some
hope of the Republic, or have given it up in
despair, see that you have ready, rehearsed and
thought out in your mind, all that the citizen and
the man should have at his command who is destined
to restore to its ancient dignity and freedom a
state crushed and overwhelmed by evil times and
profligate morals.
ROME (?JUNE)
CLXXVI (F II, 6)
TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (ARRIVED IN
ITALY)
ROME (?JULY)
News had not yet reached me of your arrival in
Italy when I sent Sext. Villius, an intimate of my
friend Milo, with this letter to you. But
nevertheless, since your arrival was thought to be
approaching, and it was ascertained that you had
already started from Asia Rome-wards, the
importance of my subject made me dismiss any fear
of being premature in sending you this letter, for
I was exceedingly anxious that it should reach you
as soon as possible. If the obligations, Curio,
had only been on your side, and as great as they
are usually proclaimed by you rather than as
valued by me, I should have been more shy of
coming to you for any request of importance which
I might have to make. For it is very disagreeable
to a modest man to ask a great favour from one
whom he thinks under an obligation to himself,
lest he should seem rather to demand than to ask
what he is seeking, and to regard it more in the
light of a debt than of a favour. But since your
kindnesses to me were known to the whole world, or
rather I should say were made especially prominent
and valuable by the very novelty of my
circumstances; and since it is the mark of a
generous heart to be willing, when much is owed,
to reckon the debt at its highest; I
did not hesitate to prefer to you by letter a
petition for what was of the highest importance
and most vital consequence to me of anything in
the world. For I was not afraid of being unable to
support your kindnesses to me, even though they
were beyond calculation: especially as I felt
confident that there was no amount of favour for
which my heart was incapable of finding room when
receiving it, or for which in repayment it could
not make a full and brilliant return. I have
concentrated and embarked all my zeal, all my
efforts, all the care and industry of which I am
capable, my every thought, in fact, my whole heart
and soul, on securing Milo's consulship; and I
have made up my mind that in this matter I ought
to look not merely for the profit arising from an
act of kindness, but also for the credit of
disinterested affection. Nor do I think that
anyone was ever so anxious about his own personal
safety and his own fortunes as I am for his
election, on which I have made up my mind that all
my interests depend. To him I see clearly that, if
you choose, you can render such substantial help
that we need ask for nothing else. We have on our
side all these advantages: the favour of the
loyalists won since his tribunate on account of
his supporting me (as I hope you understand); that
of the common multitude on account of the
splendour of his gladiatorial exhibitions and the
liberality of his disposition; the favour of the
young men and of those influential in securing
votes, won by his own eminent powers of
captivation, shall I call it? or his diligence in
that department; lastly, my own electoral support,
which, if it is not very powerful, is at any rate
regarded as only right, due and proper, and on
that account is perhaps influential also. What we
want is a leader, and what I may call a
controller, or, so to speak, a pilot of those
winds which I have described: and if we had to
select one such out of the whole world, we should
have no one to compare with you. Wherefore, if (as
I am sure you can) you can regard me as a
grateful, as an honest man, from the mere fact
that I am thus eagerly exerting myself for Milo,
if, in fine, you think me worthy of your kindness,
I do ask you this favour—that you come
to the rescue of this anxiety of mine and this
crisis in my reputation, or, to put it with
greater truth, that you will devote your zeal to
what is all but a question of life and death to
me. As to Titus Annius 23 himself,
I promise you this much—that if you
resolve to embrace his cause, you will never have
anyone of greater spirit, solidity, firmness, or
affection to yourself. While to me you will have
given so much additional honour and prestige, that
I shall have no difficulty in acknowledging you to
have been as effective in supporting my reputation
as you were in securing my safety. Did I not know that you must be fully
aware, while writing this letter to you, under
what a weight of obligation I am labouring, how
strongly I am bound to work in this election for
Milo, not only with every kind of exertion, but
even with downright fighting, I should have
written at greater length. As it is, I hand over
and commit the business, the cause, and myself
wholly and entirely into your hands. Of one thing
be sure: if I obtain this help from you, I shall
owe you almost more than I owe Milo himself; for
my personal safety, in which I have been
conspicuously aided by him, has not been as dear
to me as the sacred duty of returning the favour
will be delightful. That object I feel confident
that your aid, and yours alone, will enable me to
secure.
ROME (?JULY)
CLXXVII (F XIII, 75)
TO TITUS TITIUS, A LEGATUS
ROME
Though I have no doubt that my first
introduction retains its full value in your
eyes,24 I yet yield to the request of a
man with whom I am very intimate, C. Avianius
Flaccus, for whose sake I not only desire, but am
in duty bound to secure every
possible favour. In regard to him I both spoke
earnestly to you in a personal
interview—on which occasion you answered
me with the greatest kindness—and have
written with full particulars to you on a previous
occasion; but he thinks it to his interest that I
should write to you as often as possible.
Wherefore I would have you pardon me if in
compliance with his wishes, I shall appear to be
at all forgetful of the stability of your
character. What I beg of you is
this—that you would accommodate Avianius
as to the place and time for landing his corn: for
which he obtained by my influence a three years'
licence whilst Pompey was at the head of that
business. The chief thing is—and you can
therein lay me under the greatest
obligation—that you should have
convinced Avianius that I enjoy your affection,
since he thinks himself secure of mine. You will
greatly oblige me by doing this.
ROME
