Terentia and Publilia.
52. A fair knowledge of the relations existing between Cicero and his wife Terentia may be gained from the letters of Bk. 14, ad Fam. all of which are addressed to her. In the early letters of this correspondence written in 58 B.C., after twenty years of married life, Cicero expresses himself in most affectionate terms. After this date, with the exception of one letter in 50 B.C., which is mainly upon business matters, there are no letters to Terentia up to 49 B.C., although this interval includes the period of his proconsulship, when he wrote so many letters to his personal and political friends. Even the letters of the year 49, when Cicero was in so much anxiety, are very infrequent. The rest of the letters of Bk. 14, belonging to the next two years, are brief and formal. It appears that an estrangement gradually grew up between them which culminated in their divorce in the early part of 46 B.C. In December of the same year he married his rich ward Publilia1; but Publilia could not conceal her chagrin at finding herself second to Tullia in his affection, and when she evinced joy a few months later at Tullia's death, Cicero sent her to her mother and could not be induced to receive her back into his favor.2
