Cicero Letters to Atticus, Vol. 2 of 3 35

Cicero Letters to Atticus, Vol. 2 of 3 35

CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.

 

 

[Sidenote: _Formiae, March 11_, B.C. _49_]

 

No news yet from Brundisium. From Rome Balbus has written that he

thinks the consul Lentulus has now gone over, and that the younger

Balbus has not met him, because the latter has just heard the news at

Canusium and from that town has written to him. He adds that the six

cohorts which were at Alba have gone to Curius by the Minucian road,

that Caesar has written to tell him so and will shortly be in Rome. So

I shall follow your advice. I shall not go and bury myself in Arpinum

at the present time, though, since I had wished to celebrate my son's

coming of age there, I thought of leaving that as an excuse to Caesar.

But perhaps that itself will give offence and he might ask why I should

not do it at Rome. Still, if I must meet him, I would much rather meet

him here. Then I shall see the other things, where I am to go, by what

route and when.

 

Domitius, I hear, is at Cosa, and ready it is said to sail. If it is to

Spain, I do not approve, but, if to Pompey, he has my praise. Better

to go anywhere than to have to see Curtius, of whom, though I have

defended him, I cannot bear the sight, not to speak of others. But I

suppose I had better keep quiet, for fear of convicting myself of folly

in managing to be cut off wholly and made captive through my love of my

country and an idea that the matter could be patched up.

 

Just as I had finished writing, there came a letter from Capua, of

which this is a copy: "Pompey has crossed the sea with all the soldiery

he has. There

 

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hominum milia triginta et consules duo et tribuni pl. et senatores, qui

fuerunt cum eo, omnes cum uxoribus et liberis. Conscendisse dicitur

a. d. IIII Nonas Martias. Ex ea die fuere septemtriones venti. Naves,

quibus usus non est, omnes aut praecidisse aut incendisse dicunt."

 

De hac re litterae L. Metello tribuno pl. Capuam allatae sunt a Clodia

socru, quae ipsa transiit. Ante sollicitus eram et angebar, sicut res

scilicet ipsa cogebat, cum consilio explicare nihil possem; nunc autem,

postquam Pompeius et consules ex Italia exierunt, non angor, sed ardeo

dolore,

 

οὐδέ μοι ἦτορ

ἔμπεδον, ἀλλ' ἀλαλύκτημαι.

 

Non sum, inquam, mihi crede, mentis compos; tantum mihi dedecoris

admisisse videor. Mene non primum cum Pompeio qualicumque consilio uso,

deinde cum bonis esse quamvis causa temere instituta? praesertim cum ii

ipsi, quoram ego causa timidius me fortunae committebam, uxor, filia,

Cicerones pueri, me illud sequi mallent, hoc turpe et me indignum

putarent. Nam Quintus quidem frater, quicquid mihi placeret, id rectum

se putare aiebat, id animo aequissimo sequebatur.

 

Tuas nunc epistulas a primo lego. Hae me paulum recreant. Primae monent

et rogant, ne me proiciam, proximae gaudere te ostendunt me remansisse.

Eas cum lego, minus mihi turpis videor, sed tam diu, dum lego. Deinde

emergit rursum dolor et ἀισχροῦ φαντασία. Quam ob rem obsecro te, mi

Tite, eripe

 

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are 30,000 men, two consuls, tribunes and the senators who were with

him, all accompanied by wives and children. He is said to have embarked

on the 4th of March. From that day there have been northerly winds.

They say he disabled or burned all the ships he did not use."

 

[Sidennote Iliad x, 91]

 

On this matter a letter has been received at Capua by Lucius Metellus,

the tribune of the plebs, from Clodia, his mother-in-law, who herself

crossed the sea. I was anxious and distracted before, naturally enough

under the circumstances, when I could find no solution of affairs.

But, now that Pompey and the consuls have left Italy, I am not only

distracted, but I blaze with indignation. "Steady my heart no more,

but wild with grief." Believe me, I say I am no longer responsible,

so great the shame I seem to have incurred. To think that in the

first place I should not be with Pompey, whatever his plan, nor again

with the loyalists, however rashly they have mismanaged their cause!

Particularly when those very people, whose interests kept me cautious,

my wife, my daughter and the boys, preferred that I should follow

Pompey's fortunes, and thought Caesar's cause disgraceful and unworthy

of me. As for my brother Quintus, whatever I thought right, he agreed

to, and he followed my course with perfect contentment.

 

Your letters I am reading now from the beginning of the business. They

afford me some little relief. The first warn and entreat me not to

commit myself. The later ones show you are glad I stayed. While I read

them, my conduct seems to me less discreditable; but only so long as

I read: afterwards up rises sorrow again and a vision of shame. So I

beseech you, Titus,

 

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mihi hunc dolorem, aut minue saltem aut consolatione aut consilio, aut

quacumque re potes. Quid tu autem possis? aut quid homo quisquam? Vix

iam deus.

 

Equidem illud molior, quod tu mones sperasque fieri posse, ut mihi

Caesar concedat, ut absim, cum aliquid in senatu contra Gnaeum agatur.

Sed timeo, ne non impetrem. Venit ab eo Furnius. Ut quidem scias, quos

sequamur, Q. Titini filium cum Caesare esse nuntiat, sed illum maiores

mihi gratias agere, quam vellem. Quid autem me roget paucis ille quidem

verbis, sed ἐν δυνάμει, cognosce ex ipsius epistula. Me miserum, quod

tu non valuisti! una fuissemus; consilium certe non defuisset; σύν τε

δύ' ἐρχομένω----.

 

Sed acta ne agamus, reliqua paremus. Me adhuc haec duo fefellerunt,

initio spes compositionis, qua facta volebam uti populari vita,

sollicitudine senectutem nostram liberari; deinde bellum crudele et

exitiosum suscipi a Pompeio intellegebam. Melioris medius fidius

civis et viri putabam quovis supplicio adfici, quam illi crudelitati

non solum praeesse, verum etiam interesse. Videtur vel mori satius

fuisse quam esse cum his. Ad haec igitur cogita, mi Attice, vel potius

excogita. Quemvis eventum fortius feram quam hunc dolorem.

 

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take this grief away from me, or at any rate lessen it by your sympathy

or advice or by any other possible means. Yet what can you or any man

do? God Himself could hardly help now.

 

But my own aim now is to achieve what you advise and hope, that Caesar

excuse my absence, when any measure is brought forward against Pompey

in the house. But I fear I may fail. Furnius has come from Caesar. To

show you the sort of men I am following, he tells me that the son of Q.

Titinius is with Caesar, but Caesar expresses greater thanks to me than

I could wish. His request put in a few words, but _ex cathedra_, you

may see from his letter. How grieved I am at your ill-health! We should

have been together; assuredly advice would not have been wanting: "Two

heads are better than one."

 

[Sidenote: Iliad X, 224]

 

But let us not fight battles over again, let us attend to the future.

Till now two things have led me astray, at first the hope of a

settlement, and, if that were secured, I was ready for private life and

an old age quit of public cares; and then I discovered that Pompey was

beginning a bloody and destructive war. On my honour I thought that

it was the part of a better man and a better citizen to suffer any

punishment rather than, I will not say to take a leading part, but even

to take any part in such atrocities. It seems as though it would have

been preferable to die than to be one of such men. So, my dear Atticus,

think on these problems, or rather think them out. I shall bear any

result more bravely than this affliction.

 

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VIa

 

CAESAR IMP. S. D. CICERONI IMP.

 

 

[Sidenote: _Scr. in itinere in. m. Mart. a. 705_]

 

Cum Furnium nostrum tantum vidissem neque loqui neque audire meo

commodo potuissem, properarem atque essem in itinere praemissis iam

legionibus, praeterire tamen non potui, quin et scriberem ad te et

illum mitterem gratiasque agerem, etsi hoc et feci saepe et saepius

mihi facturus videor. Ita de me mereris. In primis a te peto, quoniam

confido me celeriter ad urbem venturum, ut te ibi videam, ut tuo

consilio, gratia, dignitate, ope omnium rerum uti possim. Ad propositum

revertar; festinationi meae brevitatique litterarum ignosces. Reliqua

ex Furnio cognosces.