Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 66 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
I am afraid it may seem tiresome to write to you about how busy I am, but nevertheless I was so taken up that I have scarcely had time even for this tiny little letter, and that snatched from the midst of my engagements. What Pompey's first public address was like I wrote to you before: not pleasing to the wretched, empty to the unprincipled, not welcome to the rich, not weighty to the good; and so it fell flat. Then, at the instigation of the consul Piso, that most frivolous tribune of the plebs, Fufius, brought Pompey forward into a public meeting. The business was being transacted in the Circus Flaminius, and there was on that very spot that day a full market-day gathering. He asked him whether he approved of jurors being selected by the praetor, those same jurors whom the praetor would then use as his panel. This had been laid down by the senate concerning the Clodian sacrilege. Then Pompey spoke in a thoroughly aristocratic manner, and replied that the authority of the senate seemed to him, and had always seemed, supreme in all matters, and this he said at great length. Afterwards the consul Messalla asked Pompey in the senate what he thought about the religious question and about the bill that had been published. He spoke in the senate in such a way that he praised all the decrees of that order in general terms, and to me, as he sat down beside me, he said that he thought he had answered sufficiently even "about those matters." Crassus, after he saw that Pompey had won praise on this account, because men suspected that he approved of my consulship, rose and spoke most handsomely about my consulship, saying this: "that he owed it to me that he was a senator, that he was a citizen, that he was free, that he was alive; that as often as he saw his wife, as often as his house, as often as his fatherland, so often did he see a benefit of mine." In short, this whole theme, which I am accustomed to color in various ways in my speeches, of which you are the Aristarchus [critic and editor], about fire, about sword (you know those rouge-pots [purple passages] of mine), he wove through very impressively. I was sitting next to Pompey. I perceived that the man was disturbed, whether because Crassus was gaining that goodwill which he himself had let slip, or because my achievements were so great as to be praised by so willing a senate, and that especially by one who owed me that praise all the less because in all my writings he had been touched on as second to Pompey in praise. This day strongly attached me to Crassus, and yet whatever was given by the other man, openly or covertly, I gladly accepted. But as for myself, good gods! how I showed off before my new listener Pompey! If ever periods, if turns of phrase, if enthymemes [rhetorical syllogisms], if argumentative structures came readily to me, it was at that moment. In short: shouts of applause. For this was the theme: about the dignity of the order, about concord with the equestrian class, about the unity of Italy, about the moribund remnants of the conspiracy, about cheapness of prices, about peace. You know by now my thunderings on this material. They were so loud that I am the briefer about it because I think they were heard by you all the way over there. The Roman situation, however, stands thus. The senate is an Areopagus: nothing more steadfast, nothing more stern, nothing more brave. For, when the day had come for the bill to be brought forward in accordance with the senate's decree, there came running together the little-bearded young men, that whole flock of Catiline, led by Curio's daughter [i.e. the effeminate young Curio], and they were urging the people to reject it. Piso, moreover, the consul, the proposer of the bill, was himself its opponent. The Clodian gangs had seized the gangways [voting bridges], and the ballots were distributed in such a way that none was given marked "AS YOU PROPOSE." At this point, behold, Cato flies up onto the rostra and delivers a marvelous tongue-lashing to the consul Piso, if a tongue-lashing it can be called, a voice full of gravity, full of authority, full, in short, of salvation. To the same side comes also our friend Hortensius, and many good men besides; but conspicuous indeed was the effort of Favonius. By this rallying of the aristocrats the assembly is dismissed, and the senate is summoned. When, in a crowded senate, with Piso fighting against it, and Clodius falling at the feet of each man one by one, it was being decreed that the consuls should urge the people to accept the bill, about fifteen men assented to Curio, who was for making no decree at all, while on the other side there were easily four hundred. The matter was carried. The tribune Fufius then gave way. Clodius held wretched public meetings, in which he abusively attacked Lucullus, Hortensius, Gaius Piso, and the consul Messalla; against me he only kept charging that I had "found out" everything. The senate was decreeing, concerning both the praetors' provinces and the embassies and the other business, that nothing should be done until the bill had been brought forward. There you have the affairs of Rome. But yet hear this too, which I had not hoped for. Messalla is an outstanding consul: brave, steadfast, diligent, a praiser of us, a lover, an imitator. The other one is less vicious by a single fault, namely that he is sluggish, that he is full of sleep, that he is inexperienced, that he is utterly ineffectual; but in his disposition so ill-natured that, after that meeting in which the senate was praised by Pompey, he has begun to hate Pompey. And so in a remarkable way he has alienated all good men from himself. Nor did he do this so much from friendship with Clodius as from a zeal for ruined causes and factions. But among the magistrates he has no one like himself except Fufius. We have good tribunes of the plebs, but in Cornutus a pseudo-Cato [a sham Cato]. What more do you want? Now, to return to private matters, Teucris has fulfilled her promises. You, see to it that you carry out the commissions you have undertaken. My brother Quintus, who has bought the remaining three-quarters of the building on the Argiletum for 725,000 sesterces, is trying to sell his Tusculan property, so that, if he can, he may buy the Pacilian house. I have come back into favor with Lucceius. I see that the man is very eager to stand for office. I shall lend my efforts. As for you, what you are doing, where you are, what sort of affairs those of yours are, see that you inform me as carefully as possible. On the Ides of February.
I’m afraid you’ll be heartily sick of my pleas of business, but I’m so driven from pillar to post that I can hardly find time for these few lines, and even that I have to snatch from important business. I have already written and told you what Pompey’s first public speech was like. The poor did not relish it, the socialists thought it pointless, the rich were not pleased with it, and the conservatives were dissatisfied: so it fell flat. Then at the instance of the consul Piso, an untrustworthy tribune, Fufius, must
needs trot out Pompey to deliver an harangue. This happened in the Circus Flaminius, where there was the usual market-day gathering of riff-raff. Fufius asked him whether he agreed with the proposal that the praetor should have the selection of the jurymen and then use them as his panel. That of course was the plan proposed by the Senate in Clodius’ trial for sacrilege. To this Pompey replied en grand seigneur that he felt and always had felt the greatest respect for the Senate’s authority; and very long-winded he was about it. Afterwards the consul Messalla asked Pompey in the Senate for his opinion on the sacrilege and the proposed bill. He delivered a speech eulogizing the Senate’s measures en bloc, and said to me as he sat down at my side, that he thought he had given a sufficiently clear answer to “those questions.” Crassus no sooner saw that he had won public appreciation, because people fancied that he approved of my consulship, than up he got and spoke of it in the most complimentary way. He said that he owed his seat in the House, his privileges as a citizen, his freedom and his very life, to me. He never saw his wife’s face, or his home, or his native land, without recognizing the debt he owed to me. But enough. He worked up with great effect all that purple patch which I so often use here and there to adorn my speeches, to which you play Aristarchus—the passage about fire and sword—you know the paints I have on my palette. I was sitting next to Pompey, and noticed that he was much affected, possibly at seeing Crassus
snap up the chance of winning popularity, which he had thrown away, and perhaps at realizing the importance of my achievements, when he saw that praise of them met with the Senate’s entire approval, especially coming from one who had all the less necessity to praise me, because in every one of my works he has been censured for Pompey’s benefit. To-day has done a great deal to cement my friendship with Crassus: but still I gladly received any crumbs Pompey let fall openly or covertly. As for me, ye gods, how I showed off before my new listener Pompey! Then, if ever, my flow of rounded periods, my easy transitions, my antitheses, my constructive arguments stood me in good stead. In a word, loud applause! For the gist of it was the importance of the Senatorial order, its unison with the knights, the concord of all Italy, the paralysed remains of the conspiracy, peace and plenty. You know how I can thunder on a subject like that. This time my thunders were so loud that I forbear to say any more about them. I expect you heard them right over there.
Well, there you have the news of the town. The Senate is a perfect Areopagus, all seriousness, steadfastness and firmness. For when the time came for passing the Senate’s measure, all those callow youths, Catiline’s cubs, met under the leadership of Curio’s feminine son, and asked the people to reject it. The consul Piso had to propose the law, but spoke against it. Clodius’ rowdies held the gangways; and the voting papers were so managed that no placet forms were given out. Then you have Cato flying to the
rostrum and giving Piso a slap in the face, if one can say “slap in the face” of an utterance full of dignity, full of authority, and full of saving counsel. Our friend Hortensius joined him too, and many other loyalists, Favonius particularly distinguishing himself for his energy. This rally of the conservatives broke up the meeting, and the Senate was called together. In a full house a resolution was passed that persuasion should be used to induce the people to accept the measure, though Piso opposed it and Clodius went down on his knees to us one by one. Some fifteen supported Curio’s rejection of the bill, while the opposite party numbered easily 400. That settled the matter. Funfius the tribune collapsed. Clodius delivered some pitiful harangues, in which he hurled reproaches at Lucullus, Hortensius, C. Piso, and the consul Messalla: me he only twitted with my sensational discoveries. The Senate decided that no action was to be taken as to the distribution of provinces among the praetors, hearing of legations or anything else, till this measure was passed.
There you have the political situation. But there is one piece of news I must tell you, as it is better than I expected. Messalla is an excellent consul, resolute, reliable and energetic: for me he expresses admiration and respect, and shows it by imitating me. That other fellow has only one redeeming vice, laziness, sleepiness, ignorance, and fainéance: but at heart he is such a mauvais sujet that he began to
detest Pompey after that speech of his in praise of the Senate. So he is at daggers drawn with all the patriotic party. It was not so much friendship for Clodius that induced him to act like this as a taste for knaves and knavery. But there are none of his kidney in office except Fufius. Our tribunes of the people are all sound men, and Cornutus is Cato’s double. Can I say more?
Now for private affairs. Teucris has kept her promise. Do you carry out the commissions you received. My brother Quintus has bought the remaining three-quarters of his house on the Argiletum for £6000, and is selling his place at Tusculum to buy Pacilius’ house, if he can. I’ve made it up with Lucceius. I see he’s got the office-seeking complaint badly. I’ll do my best for him. Please keep me posted up in your doings, your address and the progress of our affairs. 13 Febr.
Vereor, ne putidum sit scribere ad te, quam sim occupatus, sed tamen ita distinebar, ut huic vix tantulae epistulae tempus habuerim atque id ereptum e summis occupationibus. Prima contio Pompei qualis fuisset, scripsi ad te antea, non iucunda miseris, inanis improbis, beatis non grata, bonis non gravis; itaque frigebat. Tum Pisonis consulis impulsu levissimus tribunus pl. Fufius in contionem producit Pompeium. Res agebatur in circo Flaminio, et erat in eo ipso loco illo die nundinarum panegyris . Quaesivit ex eo, placeretne ei iudices a praetore legi, quo consilio idem praetor uteretur. Id autem erat de Clodiana religione ab senatu constitutum. Tum Pompeius mal aristokratikos locutus est senatusque auctoritatem sibi omnibus in rebus maximam videri semperque visam esse respondit et id multis verbis. Postea Messalla consul in senatu de Pompeio quaesivit, quid de religione et de promulgata rogatione sentiret. Locutus ita est in senatu, ut omnia illius ordinis consulta genikos laudaret, mihique, ut adsedit, dixit se putare satis ab se etiam "de istis rebus" esse responsum. Crassus posteaquam vidit illum excepisse laudem ex eo, quod suspicarentur homines ei consulatum meum placere, surrexit ornatissimeque de meo consulatu locutus est, cum ita diceret, "se, quod esset senator, quod civis, quod liber, quod viveret, mihi acceptum referre; quotiens coniugem, quotiens domum, quotiens patriam videret, totiens se beneficium meum videre." Quid multa? totum hunc locum, quem ego varie meis orationibus, quarum tu Aristarchus es, soleo pingere, de flamma, de ferro (nosti illas lekythous ) valde graviter pertexuit. Proximus Pompeio sedebam. Intellexi hominem moveri, utrum Crassum inire eam gratiam, quam ipse praetermisisset, an esse tantas res nostras, quae tam libenti senatu laudarentur, ab eo praesertim, qui mihi laudem illam eo minus deberet, quod meis omnibus litteris in Pompeiana laude perstrictus esset. Hic dies me valde Crasso adiunxit, et tamen ab illo aperte tecte quicquid est datum, libenter accepi. Ego autem ipse, di boni! quo modo eneperpereusamen novo auditori Pompeio! Si umquam mihi periodoi , si kampai , si enthymemata , si kataskeuai suppeditaverunt, illo tempore. Quid multa? clamores. Etenim haec erat hypothesis , de gravitate ordinis, de equestri concordia, de consensione Italiae, de intermortuis reliquiis coniurationis, de vilitate, de otio. Nosti iam in hac materia sonitus nostros. Tanti fuerunt, ut ego eo brevior sim, quod eos usque istinc exauditos putem. Romanae autem se res sic habent. Senatus Areios pagos , nihil constantius, nihil severius, nihil fortius. Nam, cum dies venisset rogationi ex senatus consulto ferendae, concursabant barbatuli iuvenes, totus ille grex Catilinae, duce filiola Curionis et populum, ut antiquaret, rogabant. Piso autem consul lator rogationis idem erat dissuasor. Operae Clodianae pontes occuparant, tabellae ministrabantur ita, ut nulla daretur "VTI ROGAS." Hic tibi in rostra Cato advolat, commulcium Pisoni consuli mirificum facit, si id est commulcium, vox plena gravitatis, plena auctoritatis, plena denique salutis. Accedit eodem etiam noster Hortensius, multi praeterea boni; insignis vero opera Favoni fuit. Hoc concursu optimatium comitia dimittuntur, senatus vocatur. Cum decerneretur frequenti senatu contra pugnante Pisone, ad pedes omnium singillatim accidente Clodio, ut consules populum cohortarentur ad rogationem accipiendam, homines ad quindecim Curioni nullum senatus consultum facienti adsenserunt, ex altera parte facile CCCC fuerunt. Acta res est. Fufius tribunus tum concessit. Clodius contiones miseras habebat, in quibus Lucullum, Hortensium, C. Pisonem, Messallam consulem contumeliose laedebat; me tantum "comperisse" omnia criminabatur. Senatus et de provinciis praetorum et de legationibus et de ceteris rebus decernebat, ut, antequam rogatio lata esset, ne quid ageretur. Habes res Romanas. Sed tamen etiam illud, quod non speraram, audi. Messalla consul est egregius, fortis, constans, diligens, nostri laudator, amator, imitator. Ille alter uno vitio minus vitiosus, quod iners, quod somni plenus, quod imperitus, quod apraktotatos sed voluntate ita kachektes , ut Pompeium post illam contionem, in qua ab eo senatus laudatus est, odisse coeperit. Itaque mirum in modum omnes a se bonos alienavit. Neque id magis amicitia Clodi adductus fecit quam studio perditarum rerum atque partium. Sed habet sui similem in magistratibus praeter Fufium neminem. Bonis utimur tribunis pl., Cornuto vero Pseudocatone. Quid quaeris? Nunc ut ad privata redeam, Teukris promissa patravit. Tu mandata effice, quae recepisti. Quintus frater, qui Argiletani aedificii reliquum dodrantem emit HS [725,000], Tusculanum venditat, ut, si possit, emat Pacilianam domum. Cum Lucceio in gratiam redii. Video hominem valde petiturire. Navabo operam. Tu quid agas, ubi sis, cuius modi istae res sint, fac me quam diligentissime certiorem. Idibus Febr.
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I am afraid it may seem tiresome to write to you about how busy I am, but nevertheless I was so taken up that I have scarcely had time even for this tiny little letter, and that snatched from the midst of my engagements. What Pompey's first public address was like I wrote to you before: not pleasing to the wretched, empty to the unprincipled, not welcome to the rich, not weighty to the good; and so it fell flat. Then, at the instigation of the consul Piso, that most frivolous tribune of the plebs, Fufius, brought Pompey forward into a public meeting. The business was being transacted in the Circus Flaminius, and there was on that very spot that day a full market-day gathering. He asked him whether he approved of jurors being selected by the praetor, those same jurors whom the praetor would then use as his panel. This had been laid down by the senate concerning the Clodian sacrilege. Then Pompey spoke in a thoroughly aristocratic manner, and replied that the authority of the senate seemed to him, and had always seemed, supreme in all matters, and this he said at great length. Afterwards the consul Messalla asked Pompey in the senate what he thought about the religious question and about the bill that had been published. He spoke in the senate in such a way that he praised all the decrees of that order in general terms, and to me, as he sat down beside me, he said that he thought he had answered sufficiently even "about those matters." Crassus, after he saw that Pompey had won praise on this account, because men suspected that he approved of my consulship, rose and spoke most handsomely about my consulship, saying this: "that he owed it to me that he was a senator, that he was a citizen, that he was free, that he was alive; that as often as he saw his wife, as often as his house, as often as his fatherland, so often did he see a benefit of mine." In short, this whole theme, which I am accustomed to color in various ways in my speeches, of which you are the Aristarchus [critic and editor], about fire, about sword (you know those rouge-pots [purple passages] of mine), he wove through very impressively. I was sitting next to Pompey. I perceived that the man was disturbed, whether because Crassus was gaining that goodwill which he himself had let slip, or because my achievements were so great as to be praised by so willing a senate, and that especially by one who owed me that praise all the less because in all my writings he had been touched on as second to Pompey in praise. This day strongly attached me to Crassus, and yet whatever was given by the other man, openly or covertly, I gladly accepted. But as for myself, good gods! how I showed off before my new listener Pompey! If ever periods, if turns of phrase, if enthymemes [rhetorical syllogisms], if argumentative structures came readily to me, it was at that moment. In short: shouts of applause. For this was the theme: about the dignity of the order, about concord with the equestrian class, about the unity of Italy, about the moribund remnants of the conspiracy, about cheapness of prices, about peace. You know by now my thunderings on this material. They were so loud that I am the briefer about it because I think they were heard by you all the way over there. The Roman situation, however, stands thus. The senate is an Areopagus: nothing more steadfast, nothing more stern, nothing more brave. For, when the day had come for the bill to be brought forward in accordance with the senate's decree, there came running together the little-bearded young men, that whole flock of Catiline, led by Curio's daughter [i.e. the effeminate young Curio], and they were urging the people to reject it. Piso, moreover, the consul, the proposer of the bill, was himself its opponent. The Clodian gangs had seized the gangways [voting bridges], and the ballots were distributed in such a way that none was given marked "AS YOU PROPOSE." At this point, behold, Cato flies up onto the rostra and delivers a marvelous tongue-lashing to the consul Piso, if a tongue-lashing it can be called, a voice full of gravity, full of authority, full, in short, of salvation. To the same side comes also our friend Hortensius, and many good men besides; but conspicuous indeed was the effort of Favonius. By this rallying of the aristocrats the assembly is dismissed, and the senate is summoned. When, in a crowded senate, with Piso fighting against it, and Clodius falling at the feet of each man one by one, it was being decreed that the consuls should urge the people to accept the bill, about fifteen men assented to Curio, who was for making no decree at all, while on the other side there were easily four hundred. The matter was carried. The tribune Fufius then gave way. Clodius held wretched public meetings, in which he abusively attacked Lucullus, Hortensius, Gaius Piso, and the consul Messalla; against me he only kept charging that I had "found out" everything. The senate was decreeing, concerning both the praetors' provinces and the embassies and the other business, that nothing should be done until the bill had been brought forward. There you have the affairs of Rome. But yet hear this too, which I had not hoped for. Messalla is an outstanding consul: brave, steadfast, diligent, a praiser of us, a lover, an imitator. The other one is less vicious by a single fault, namely that he is sluggish, that he is full of sleep, that he is inexperienced, that he is utterly ineffectual; but in his disposition so ill-natured that, after that meeting in which the senate was praised by Pompey, he has begun to hate Pompey. And so in a remarkable way he has alienated all good men from himself. Nor did he do this so much from friendship with Clodius as from a zeal for ruined causes and factions. But among the magistrates he has no one like himself except Fufius. We have good tribunes of the plebs, but in Cornutus a pseudo-Cato [a sham Cato]. What more do you want? Now, to return to private matters, Teucris has fulfilled her promises. You, see to it that you carry out the commissions you have undertaken. My brother Quintus, who has bought the remaining three-quarters of the building on the Argiletum for 725,000 sesterces, is trying to sell his Tusculan property, so that, if he can, he may buy the Pacilian house. I have come back into favor with Lucceius. I see that the man is very eager to stand for office. I shall lend my efforts. As for you, what you are doing, where you are, what sort of affairs those of yours are, see that you inform me as carefully as possible. On the Ides of February.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Vereor, ne putidum sit scribere ad te, quam sim occupatus, sed tamen ita distinebar, ut huic vix tantulae epistulae tempus habuerim atque id ereptum e summis occupationibus. Prima contio Pompei qualis fuisset, scripsi ad te antea, non iucunda miseris, inanis improbis, beatis non grata, bonis non gravis; itaque frigebat. Tum Pisonis consulis impulsu levissimus tribunus pl. Fufius in contionem producit Pompeium. Res agebatur in circo Flaminio, et erat in eo ipso loco illo die nundinarum panegyris . Quaesivit ex eo, placeretne ei iudices a praetore legi, quo consilio idem praetor uteretur. Id autem erat de Clodiana religione ab senatu constitutum. Tum Pompeius mal aristokratikos locutus est senatusque auctoritatem sibi omnibus in rebus maximam videri semperque visam esse respondit et id multis verbis. Postea Messalla consul in senatu de Pompeio quaesivit, quid de religione et de promulgata rogatione sentiret. Locutus ita est in senatu, ut omnia illius ordinis consulta genikos laudaret, mihique, ut adsedit, dixit se putare satis ab se etiam "de istis rebus" esse responsum. Crassus posteaquam vidit illum excepisse laudem ex eo, quod suspicarentur homines ei consulatum meum placere, surrexit ornatissimeque de meo consulatu locutus est, cum ita diceret, "se, quod esset senator, quod civis, quod liber, quod viveret, mihi acceptum referre; quotiens coniugem, quotiens domum, quotiens patriam videret, totiens se beneficium meum videre." Quid multa? totum hunc locum, quem ego varie meis orationibus, quarum tu Aristarchus es, soleo pingere, de flamma, de ferro (nosti illas lekythous ) valde graviter pertexuit. Proximus Pompeio sedebam. Intellexi hominem moveri, utrum Crassum inire eam gratiam, quam ipse praetermisisset, an esse tantas res nostras, quae tam libenti senatu laudarentur, ab eo praesertim, qui mihi laudem illam eo minus deberet, quod meis omnibus litteris in Pompeiana laude perstrictus esset. Hic dies me valde Crasso adiunxit, et tamen ab illo aperte tecte quicquid est datum, libenter accepi. Ego autem ipse, di boni! quo modo eneperpereusamen novo auditori Pompeio! Si umquam mihi periodoi , si kampai , si enthymemata , si kataskeuai suppeditaverunt, illo tempore. Quid multa? clamores. Etenim haec erat hypothesis , de gravitate ordinis, de equestri concordia, de consensione Italiae, de intermortuis reliquiis coniurationis, de vilitate, de otio. Nosti iam in hac materia sonitus nostros. Tanti fuerunt, ut ego eo brevior sim, quod eos usque istinc exauditos putem. Romanae autem se res sic habent. Senatus Areios pagos , nihil constantius, nihil severius, nihil fortius. Nam, cum dies venisset rogationi ex senatus consulto ferendae, concursabant barbatuli iuvenes, totus ille grex Catilinae, duce filiola Curionis et populum, ut antiquaret, rogabant. Piso autem consul lator rogationis idem erat dissuasor. Operae Clodianae pontes occuparant, tabellae ministrabantur ita, ut nulla daretur "VTI ROGAS." Hic tibi in rostra Cato advolat, commulcium Pisoni consuli mirificum facit, si id est commulcium, vox plena gravitatis, plena auctoritatis, plena denique salutis. Accedit eodem etiam noster Hortensius, multi praeterea boni; insignis vero opera Favoni fuit. Hoc concursu optimatium comitia dimittuntur, senatus vocatur. Cum decerneretur frequenti senatu contra pugnante Pisone, ad pedes omnium singillatim accidente Clodio, ut consules populum cohortarentur ad rogationem accipiendam, homines ad quindecim Curioni nullum senatus consultum facienti adsenserunt, ex altera parte facile CCCC fuerunt. Acta res est. Fufius tribunus tum concessit. Clodius contiones miseras habebat, in quibus Lucullum, Hortensium, C. Pisonem, Messallam consulem contumeliose laedebat; me tantum "comperisse" omnia criminabatur. Senatus et de provinciis praetorum et de legationibus et de ceteris rebus decernebat, ut, antequam rogatio lata esset, ne quid ageretur. Habes res Romanas. Sed tamen etiam illud, quod non speraram, audi. Messalla consul est egregius, fortis, constans, diligens, nostri laudator, amator, imitator. Ille alter uno vitio minus vitiosus, quod iners, quod somni plenus, quod imperitus, quod apraktotatos sed voluntate ita kachektes , ut Pompeium post illam contionem, in qua ab eo senatus laudatus est, odisse coeperit. Itaque mirum in modum omnes a se bonos alienavit. Neque id magis amicitia Clodi adductus fecit quam studio perditarum rerum atque partium. Sed habet sui similem in magistratibus praeter Fufium neminem. Bonis utimur tribunis pl., Cornuto vero Pseudocatone. Quid quaeris? Nunc ut ad privata redeam, Teukris promissa patravit. Tu mandata effice, quae recepisti. Quintus frater, qui Argiletani aedificii reliquum dodrantem emit HS [725,000], Tusculanum venditat, ut, si possit, emat Pacilianam domum. Cum Lucceio in gratiam redii. Video hominem valde petiturire. Navabo operam. Tu quid agas, ubi sis, cuius modi istae res sint, fac me quam diligentissime certiorem. Idibus Febr.