Cicero Letters to Atticus, Vol. 2 of 3 62

Cicero Letters to Atticus, Vol. 2 of 3 62

CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.

 

 

[Sidenote: _Epirus, March_, B.C. _48_]

 

I received your letter on the 4th of February, and on the same day I

accepted the inheritance formally according to the will. Of my many and

miserable anxieties one is taken away, if, as you say, this inheritance

is sufficient to maintain my credit and reputation, though I know you

would have defended it even without the inheritance with all your

resources. As for what you write about the dowry[167] I adjure you for

heaven's sake to manage the whole business and protect the poor girl,

a victim of my culpable carelessness, with my funds, if there are any,

and out of your own, so far as you can without inconvenience. Pray do

not let her remain in the utter want you depict. On what are the rents

of my farms being wasted? That 500 guineas[168] of which you write, no

one ever told me that it had been kept back out of the dowry, for I

would never have allowed it. But that is the least of the blows I have

suffered. I cannot write to you about them for sorrow and tears. Of the

money I had in Asia I have called in nearly half. It would appear to be

safer where it is than with the tax-collectors.

 

[167] The second instalment of Tullia's dowry due to Dolabella before

July; cf. xi, 3. Dowries were paid in three instalments.

 

[168] 60,000 sesterces.

 

As for your exhortations to be of good courage, I wish you could find

some reason why I should be so. If, on the top of my other sorrows,

there comes that which Chrysippus said is under consideration (you gave

me no hint), I mean the confiscation of my town

 

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domo, quis me miserior uno iam fuit? Oro, obsecro, ignosce. Non possum

plura scribere. Quanto maerore urgear, profecto vides. Quod si mihi

commune cum ceteris esset, qui videntur in eadem causa esse, minor

mea culpa videretur et eo tolerabilior esset. Nunc nihil est, quod

consoletur, nisi quid tu efficis, si modo etiam nunc effici potest, ut

ne qua singulari adficiar calamitate et iniuria.

 

Tardius ad te remisi tabellarium, quod potestas mittendi non fuit. A

tuis et nummorum accepi HS L̅X̅X̅ et, vestimentorum quod opus fuit.

Quibus tibi videbitur, velim des litteras meo nomine. Nosti meos

familiares. Si signum requirent aut manum, dices me propter custodias

ea vitasse.

 

 

 

 

III

 

CICERO ATTICO SAL.

 

 

[Sidenote: _Scr. in castris Pompei Id. Iun. a. 706_]

 

Quid hic agatur, scire poteris ex eo, qui litteras attulit. Quem

diutius tenui, quia cotidie aliquid novi exspectabamus; neque nunc

mittendi tamen ulla causa fuit praeter eam, de qua tibi rescribi

voluisti, quod ad Kal. Quinct. pertinet, quid vellem. Utrumque grave

est, et tam gravi tempore periculum tantae pecuniae, et dubio rerum

exitu ista, quam scribis, abruptio. Quare ut alia sic hoc vel maxime

 

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house, I am the most wretched man alive. I pray and beseech you pardon

me. I can write no more. You see, I am sure, with what a weight of

misery I am oppressed. If I shared it with others, who seem to be

in the same predicament, I should feel less blameworthy and bear it

better. Now I have no consolation unless you can arrange, if it is now

possible, that I may not be visited with any special disaster and harm.

 

I have been rather slow in sending back your letter-carrier, because

there was no opportunity of sending him. From your agents I have

received some £600[169] and the necessary clothing. Please send letters

to any people you think right in my name. You know my intimate friends.

If they notice the absence of my seal or handwriting, please say I have

avoided using them owing to the sentries.

 

[169] 70,000 sesterces.

 

 

 

 

III

 

CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.

 

 

[Sidenote: _Camp of Pompey, June 3_, B.C. _48_]

 

What is happening here you may gather from the bearer of your letter.

I have kept him longer than I should, because every day I am expecting

something fresh to happen, and there was no reason for sending him even

now, except the subject on which you ask for an answer, namely what

I wish as to the first of July. Both courses are dangerous, both the

risk of such a sum of money at such a dangerous time, and the breaking

with Dolabella, which you mention, while the political issue is still

uncertain. Accordingly I will leave this matter in particular like

others

 

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tuae curae benevolentiaeque permitto et illius consilio et voluntati;

cui miserae consuluissem melius, si tecum olim coram potius quam per

litteras de salute nostra fortunisque deliberavissem.

 

Quod negas praecipuum mihi ullum in communibus incommodis impendere,

etsi ista res non nihil habet consolationis, tamen etiam praecipua

multa sunt, quae tu profecto vides et gravissima esse et me facillime

vitare potuisse. Ea tamen erunt minora, si, ut adhuc factum est,

administratione et diligentia tua levabuntur.

 

Pecunia apud Egnatium est. Sit a me, ut est. Neque enim hoc, quod

agitur, videtur diuturnum esse posse, ut scire iam possim, quid maxime

opus sit. Etsi egeo rebus omnibus, quod is quoque in angustiis est,

quicum sumus; cui magnam dedimus pecuniam mutuam, opinantes nobis

constitutis rebus eam rem etiam honori fore. Tu, ut antea fecisti,

velim, si qui erunt, ad quos aliquid scribendum a me existimes, ipse

conficias. Tuis salutem die. Cura, ut valeas. In primis id, quod

scribis, omnibus rebus cura et provide, ne quid ei desit, de qua scis

me miserrimum esse. Idibus Iuniis ex castris.

 

 

 

 

IV

 

CICERO ATTICO SAL.

 

 

[Sidenote: _Scr. in castris Pompei Id. Quint. a. 706_]

 

Accepi ab Isidoro litteras et postea datas binas. Ex proximis cognovi

praedia non venisse. Videbis

 

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to your kind care, and to the consideration and desire of poor Tullia,

whose interests would have been better consulted, if originally I had

discussed our safety and fortunes with you in person rather than by

letter.

 

You say there is no trouble threatening me especially in this public

misfortune. There is a little consolation in that, but there are many

circumstances special to me, which you must see are very serious and

might easily have been avoided. However they will be less serious, if,

as hitherto, they are lightened by your care and management.

 

The money is with Egnatius. Let it remain there, so far as I am

concerned: for things cannot last long as they are, so that I shall

soon know what is most necessary. However, I am in want of everything,

because the man I am with[170] too is in great straits and I have lent

him a large sum of money, thinking that, when things settle down, that

will bring me honour as well as profit. Please, as before, if there

are any persons to whom you think I ought to write, do it for me. Pay

my greetings to your family. Take care of your health. Above all, as

you say, make every careful provision that nothing maybe wanting to my

daughter, on whose account you know I am very unhappy.

 

[170] Pompey.

 

June 13, at the camp.

 

 

 

 

IV

 

CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.

 

 

[Sidenote: _In Pompey's camp, July 15_, B.C. _48_]

 

I have received your letter by Isidorus and two written later. From the

last I understand that the ergo, ut sustentetur per te. De Frusinati, si modo fruituri sumus, erit

mihi res opportuna. Meas litteras quod requiris, impedior inopia rerum,

quas nullas habeo litteris dignas, quippe cui, nec quae accidunt, nec

quae aguntur, ullo modo probentur. Utinam coram tecum olim potius quam

per epistulas! Hic tua, ut possum, tueor apud hos. Cetera Celer. Ipse

fugi adhuc omne munus eo magis, quod ita nihil poterat agi, ut mihi et meis rebus aptum esset.