Letter 11.5

When our friend Lupus came from you and stayed several days in Rome, I was in the places where I thought I could be safest. That is why Lupus returned to you without a letter from me, although he had taken care that your letter reached me. I came to Rome on December 9, and nothing was more urgent to me than to meet Pansa at once. From him I learned about you exactly what I had most hoped to hear. So you certainly do not need encouragement. You did not need anyone to encourage you even in the deed you have already done, the greatest within human memory. Still, I think this should be said briefly: the Roman people expects everything from you, and at last places in you all hope of recovering liberty. If you remember day and night, as I know for certain you do, how great a thing you have done, you will surely not forget how great the things are that still remain for you to do. If that man obtains the province, a man whose friend I always was until I understood that he was waging war on the republic not only openly but gladly, I see no hope of safety left. Therefore I beg you with the same prayers as the Senate and the Roman people: free the republic forever from royal domination, so that the end may be worthy of the beginning. This is your task, your part. The city, or rather all nations, not only expect this from you but demand it. Yet since, as I wrote above, you do not need encouragement, I will not spend more words on it. I will do what is mine to do: I promise you every service, every zeal, every care, every thought of mine that will concern your praise and glory. So I want you to be persuaded of this: both for the sake of the republic, which is dearer to me than my life, and because I favor you personally and want your standing enlarged, I will never be absent from your excellent plans, your greatness, or your glory.

DCCCVI (Fam. XI, 5) TO DECIMUS BRUTUS (IN CISALPINE GAUL) ROME (DECEMBER) MARCUS CICERO to Decimus Brutus , imperator, consul-designate. At the time that our common friend Lupus reached Rome , and during his few days' residence there, I was in the part of the country in which I thought I should be safest. That was the reason of Lupus returning to you without a letter from me, though he had nevertheless seen to yours being conveyed to me. I arrived at Rome , however, on the 9th of December, and my first object was an immediate visit to Pansa . His report of you was everything I could desire. Wherefore you require no encouragement, since in the execution of that great deed — surely the greatest known to history — you required none. Yet I think I ought briefly to point out that the Roman people looks entirely to you, and places on you its whole hope of eventually recovering its liberty. If you — as I am sure is the case-remember day and night how great a deed you have done, you certainly will not forget what great ones remain for you to do. For if the man now gets hold of your province — a man with whom I was always on friendly terms till I found that he was not only openly at war with the Republic, but glad to be so — I can see no hope of safety left. Wherefore I join my prayers to those of the people and senate of Rome , beseeching you to free the Republic from a tyrannical despotism, in order that you may end as you began. This is your task, this the part you have to play. It is from you that the state or rather all nations of the world-not only expect this, but even demand it. Since, however, as I said above, you do not need encouragement, I will not waste many words upon it. I will do no more than promise you — as in duty bound — all my services, zeal, care, and thought, which will henceforth be devoted to enhancing your fame and glory. Therefore pray convince yourself of this: not only for the sake of the Republic, which is dearer to me than life itself, but also because I am devoted to you personally and desire the farther improvement of your political position, I will nowhere fail to support your loyal policy, your greatness, or your glory.

V. Scr. Romae medio mense Decembri a.u.c. 710. M. CICERO S. D. D. BRUTO IMP. COS. DESIG. Lupus familiaris noster cum a te venisset cumque Romae quosdam dies commoraretur, ego eram in iis locis, in quibus maxime tuto me esse arbitrabar: eo factum est, ut ad te Lupus sine meis litteris rediret, cum tamen curasset tuas ad me perferendas. Romam autem veni a. d. V. Idus. Dec., nec habui quidquam antiquius, quam ut Pansam statim convenirem, ex quo ea de te cognovi, quae maxime optaram. Quare hortatione tu quidem non eges, si ne in illa quidem re, quae a te gesta est post hominum memoriam maxima, hortatorem desiderasti; illud tamen breviter significandum videtur, populum Romanum omnia a te exspectare atque in te aliquando recuperandae libertatis omnem spem ponere. Tu, si dies noctesque memineris, quod te facere certo scio, quantam rem gesseris, non obliviscere profecto, quantae tibi etiam nunc gerendae sint; si enim iste provinciam nactus erit, cui quidem ego semper amicus fui, antequam illum intellexi non modo aperte, sed etiam libenter cum re publica bellum gerere, spem reliquam nullam video salutis. Quamobrem te obsecro iisdem precibus, quibus senatus populusque Romanus, ut in perpetuum rem publicam dominatu regio liberes, ut principiis consentiant exitus. Tuum est hoc munus, tuae partes; a te hoc civitas vel omnes potius gentes non exspectant solum, sed etiam postulant: quamquam, cum hortatione non egeas, ut supra scripsi, non utar ea pluribus verbis, faciam illud, quod meum est, ut tibi omnia mea officia, studia, curas, cogitationes pollicear, quae ad tuam laudem et gloriam pertinebunt. Quamobrem velim tibi ita persuadeas, me cum rei publicae causa, quae mihi vita mea est carior, tum quod tibi ipsi faveam tuamque dignitatem amplificari velim, [me] tuis optimis consiliis, amplitudini, gloriae nullo loco defuturum.