Cicero Letters to Atticus, Vol. 2 of 3 26

Cicero Letters to Atticus, Vol. 2 of 3 26

a multis, qui e Samnio Apuliaque veniebant, admoniti sumus, ut

caveremus, ne exciperemur a Caesare, quod is in eadem loca, quae

nos petebamus, profectus celerius etiam, quam nos possemus, eo, quo

intenderet, venturus esset. Quod cum ita esset, nec mihi nec fratri meo

nec cuiquam amicorum placuit committere, ut temeritas nostra non solum

nobis, sed etiam rei publicae noceret, cum praesertim non dubitaremus,

quin, si etiam tutum nobis iter fuisset, te tamen iam consequi non

possemus.

 

Interim accepimus tuas litteras Canusio a. d. X K. Martias datas,

quibus nos hortaris, ut celerius Brundisium veniamus. Quas cum

accepissemus a. d. III K. Martias, non dubitabamus, quin tu iam

Brundisium pervenisses, nobisque iter illud omnino interclusum

videbamus neque minus nos esse captos, quam qui Corfini fuissent. Neque

enim eos solos arbitrabamur capi, qui in armatorum manus incidissent,

sed ecs nihilo minus, qui regionibus exclusi intra praesidia atque

intra arma aliena venissent.

 

Quod cum ita sit, maxime vellem primum semper tecum fuissem; quod

quidem tibi ostenderam, cum a me Capuam reiciebam. Quod feci non

vitandi oneris causa, sed quod videbam teneri illam urbem sine exercitu

non posse, accidere autem mihi nolebam, quod doleo viris fortissimis

accidisse. Quoniam autem, tecum ut essem, non contigit, utinam tui

consilii certior factus essem! Nam suspicione adsequi non potui, quod

omnia prius arbitratus sum fore, quam ut haec rei publicae causa in

Italia non posset duce te consistere. Neque vero nunc consilium tuum

reprehendo, sed fortunam rei publicae lugeo nec, si

 

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Brundisium, when many travellers from Samnium and Apulia warned us to

beware of capture, because Caesar had set out for the same destination,

and was likely to reach there quicker than ourselves. Under those

circumstances, I, my brother and our friends were reluctant to allow

any rashness of ours to damage the state as well as ourselves.

Moreover, we were sure that, even if our path were clear, we could not

overtake you.

 

Meanwhile I got a letter from you dated at Canusium, of the 20th of

February, in which you urged me to hasten to Brundisium. Receiving this

on the 27th, I felt confident you must have arrived at Brundisium,

and I saw that our road was quite cut off and we were as completely

captured as the people at Corfinium, for I do not only consider

captured those who fall into the hands of armed bands, but equally

those who, being shut off from a district, find themselves hedged

between a garrison and an enemy in the field.

 

This being so, my first and chiefest wish is that I had stayed with you

all the time. I showed you as much when I gave up command at Capua. I

did so, not to shirk my duty, but because I saw that the city could not

be held without troops, and I was reluctant to suffer the fate which I

am sorry to hear has befallen some very brave men. Since, however, I

have not had the fortune to be with you, would that I were acquainted

with your plans, for I cannot imagine them, having hitherto thought

that the last thing to happen would be that the national cause would

not hold its own in Italy under your leadership. I do not criticize

your plan, but I bewail the misfortunes of the state. If I cannot guess

your

 

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ego, quid tu sis secutus, non perspicio, idcirco minus existimo te

nihil nisi summa ratione fecisse.

 

Mea quae semper fuerit sententia primum de pace vel iniqua condicione

retinenda, deinde de urbe (nam de Italia quidem nihil mihi umquam

ostenderas), meminisse te arbitror. Sed mihi non sumo, ut meum

consilium valere debuerit; secutus sum tuum neque id rei publicae

causa, de qua desperavi, quae et nunc adflicta est nec excitari sine

civili perniciosissimo bello potest, sed te quaerebam, tecum esse

cupiebam neque eius rei facultatem, si quae erit, praetermittam.

 

Ego me in hac omni causa facile intellegebam pugnandi cupidis hominibus

non satis facere. Primum enim prae me tuli me nihil malle quam pacem,

non quin eadem timerem quae illi, sed ea bello civili leviora ducebam.

Deinde suscepto bello, cum pacis condiciones ad te adferri a teque

ad eas honorifice et large responderi viderem, duxi meam rationem;

quam tibi facile me probaturum pro tuo in me beneficio arbitrabar.

Memineram me esse unum, qui pro meis maximis in rem publicam meritis

supplicia miserrima et crudelissima pertulissem, me esse unum, qui, si

offendissem eius animum, cui tum, cum iam in armis essemus, consulatus

tamen alter et triumphus amplissimus deferebatur, subicerer eisdem

proeliis, ut mea persona semper ad improborum civium impetus aliquid

videretur habere populare. Atque haec non ego prius sum suspicatus,

quam mihi palam denuntiata sunt, neque ea tam pertimui, si subeunda

essent, quam declinanda putavi, si honeste vitare possem. Quam brevem

illius temporis, dum in spe pax fuit,

 

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policy, I still suppose that you have done nothing without cogent

reasons.

 

I think you remember that my vote has always been for peace, even on

poor terms, and secondly for holding the city. As to Italy you gave

me no inkling. I do not claim that my policy should have prevailed.

I followed yours, not indeed for the sake of the state, of which I

despaired and which even now lies in ruin and cannot be restored

without a most calamitous civil war, but I wanted you, I longed to be

with you, nor will I omit any opportunity that may occur of attaining

my wish.

 

In the whole of this crisis I was well aware that my policy of peace

did not please the advocates of war. In the first place I professed to

prefer peace above all things, not because I had not the same fears

as they had, but because I counted those fears of less moment than

intestine war. Then indeed, after war had begun, when I saw terms of

peace offered to you, and met by you in an honourable and generous way,

I began to consider what my own interests were. That line of conduct I

suppose your kindness will easily excuse. I remembered that I was the

one man of all others who had suffered most cruel misery and punishment

for the greatest services to the state; that I was the one man who, if

I had offended Caesar (Caesar to whom was offered even on the eve of

battle a second consulship and a princely triumph), would be subjected

to the same struggle as before; for a personal attack on me seems to be

always popular with the disloyal. This idea only came to me after open

threats. It was not persecution I feared, if it were inevitable, but I

thought I should seek any escape that honour could allow. There is an

outline

 

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rationem nostram vides, reliqui facultatem res ademit. Iis autem,

quibus non satis facio, facile respondeo. Neque enim ego amicior C.

Caesari umquam fui quam illi neque illi amiciores rei publicae quam

ego. Hoc inter me et illos interest, quod, cum et illi cives optimi

sint, et ego ab ista laude non absim, ego condicionibus, quod idem te

intellexeram velle, illi armis disceptari maluerunt. Quae quoniam ratio

vicit, perficiam profecto, ut neque res publica civis a me animum neque

tu amici desideres.

 

 

 

 

XII

 

CICERO ATTICO SAL.

 

 

[Sidenote: _Scr. Formiis prid. K. Mart. a. 705_]

 

Mihi molestior lippitudo erat etiam, quam ante fuerat. Dictare tamen

hanc epistulam malui quam Gallo Fadio amantissimo utriusque nostrum

nihil ad te litterarum dare. Nam pridie quidem, quoquo modo potueram,

scripseram ipse eas litteras, quarum vaticinationem falsam esse cupio.

Huius autem epistulae non solum ea causa est, ut ne quis a me dies

intermittatur, quin dem ad te litteras, sed etiam haec iustior, ut a te

impetrarem, ut sumeres aliquid temporis, quo quia tibi perexiguo opus

est, explicari mihi tuum consilium plane volo, ut penitus intellegam.

 

Omnia sunt integra nobis; nihil praetermissum est, quod non habeat

sapientem excusationem, non modo probabilem. Nam certe neque tum

peccavi, cum

 

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of my policy while there was hope of peace; its fulfilment was cut

short by circumstances. I have an easy reply to my critics. I have

never been more friendly to Caesar than they, and they are not more

friendly to the state than I. The difference between them and me is

this: they are loyal citizens, and I too deserve the title, but I

wanted settlement on terms which I understood you also desired, and

they wanted settlement by arms. Since their policy has won, I will do

my best that the state may not find me fail in the duties of a citizen, nor you in the duties of a friend.