Letter 6.12

I congratulate you, my dear Balbus, and truly congratulate you, nor am I so foolish as to wish you to enjoy the use of a false joy, only to be suddenly broken and so cast down that nothing could afterward raise you to equanimity of mind. I pleaded your cause more openly than my circumstances allowed; for the very fortune of my weakened influence was being overcome by affection for you and by my perpetual love for you, which you have most carefully cultivated. All the promises that pertain to your return and safety are confirmed, certain, and ratified; I have seen it, I have learned it, I have been present. For he has all of Caesar's friends suitably entangled in his habitual dealings and goodwill, so that when they leave Caesar, they have me as their next closest. Pansa, Hirtius, Balbus, Oppius, Matius, and Postumus clearly do this -- they are uniquely fond of me. And if I had had to accomplish this by my own efforts, I would not be ashamed to have worked things out in this way in accordance with the times; but nothing was done by me as a concession to circumstances. I have old ties of friendship with all those men, with whom I have not ceased to negotiate about you. But we had Pansa as our champion, most devoted to you and eager for me, who carried no less weight with Caesar through his authority than through his influence. Cimber Tillius too gave me full satisfaction; for with Caesar, requests that are based on real obligation carry more weight than those based on mere ambition. Since Cimber had such a basis, he carried more weight than he could have for anyone else. The passport was not given immediately, because there is remarkable malice in certain people, who would have borne it more bitterly that pardon be given to you, the man they call the trumpet of civil war, and they say many such things as if they were not glad the war had broken out. Therefore it seemed best to proceed more quietly and by no means to publish abroad that your case has already been settled. But this will be accomplished very shortly, and I have no doubt that by the time you read this letter the matter will already be finished. Pansa, indeed, a man of weight and reliability, not only confirmed this to me but even guaranteed that he would obtain the passport very quickly. I thought it best to write all this to you in full, for the talk of your wife Eppuleia and the tears of Ampia suggested that you were less firm than your letters indicate, and they thought, since they were away from you, that you would be in much greater anxiety. Therefore I thought it very important, for the sake of relieving your anguish and grief, to write to you as certainties what are indeed certain. You know that I used to write to you before in such a way as to console a brave and wise man rather than to show any assured hope of safety, except what I thought ought to be hoped for from the republic itself once this fire was extinguished. Recall your letters, in which you always showed me a great spirit and one steady and prepared for all chances -- which I did not find surprising, since I remembered that you had been engaged in public life from the earliest period of your life, and that your magistracies had coincided with the very crises of common safety and fortunes, and that you had entered this very war not only so as to be happy if victorious, but also so as to be wise if, as might happen, defeated. Then, since you spend your efforts in handing down to memory the deeds of brave men, you ought to consider that you must do nothing that would keep you from showing yourself most like those whom you praise. But this kind of speech would be more fitting for those times which you have already escaped. Now simply prepare yourself to bear these present troubles with us, for which, if I could find any remedy, I would pass it on to you as well. But there is one refuge: learning and literature, which we have always used and which in prosperous times seemed to offer only delight, but now truly offer salvation as well. But to return to where I began: do not doubt that everything concerning your safety and return has been accomplished.

CDLXXXVIII (Fam. VI, 12) TO T. AMPIUS BALBUS (RECALLED FROM EXILE) ROME (SEPTEMBER) I congratulate you, my dear Balbus , and with sincerity. Yet I am not so foolish as to wish you to indulge in a passing and groundless exultation, and then to be suddenly depressed and rendered so prostrate, that nothing could afterwards raise your spirits or restore your equanimity. I have pleaded your cause with greater openness than was quite consistent with my present position. For the unfortunate fact itself of my influence having been weakened was overcome by my affection for you and my unbroken love towards you, which has always been most carefully cultivated by yourself. Everything that was promised in regard to your return and restoration has been fulfilled, and is now secure and fully ratified. I have seen it with my own eyes, have had full information, have been personally a witness to it. For very opportunely I have all Caesar 's intimate friends so closely knit to me by association and kindly feeling, that next to him they look upon me as first. Pansa , Hirtius , Balbus , Oppius , Matius , all make it clear in this matter that they have a unique regard for me. But if I had had to do it by my own exertions, I should not have regretted having made the attempt in whatever way the exigencies of the situation demanded. But I have not, in fact, made any special concessions to the situation: my old intimacy with all these men comes in here, with whom I have never ceased urging your claims. But Pansa , who is exceedingly zealous on your behalf and anxious to oblige me, I have regarded as my mainstay in this business, as being influential with Caesar no less from his character than from personal predilection. Tillius Cimber , again, has quite satisfied me. Yet, after all, the petitions which have weight with Caesar are not those which proceed from personal considerations, but those which are dictated by duty: and, as that was the case with Cimber , he had more influence than he could have had in anyone else's behalf. The passport has not been issued at once, owing to the amazing rascality of certain persons, who would have been bitterly annoyed at a pardon being granted to you, whom that party call the “bugle of the civil war” — and a good many observations to the same effect are made by them, as though they were not positively glad of that war having occurred. Wherefore it seemed best to carry on the business with Some secrecy, and by no means to let it get abroad that your affair was settled. But it will be so very shortly, and I have no doubt that by the time you read this letter the matter will have been completed. The fact is that Pansa , a man whose character and word can be trusted, not only assured me of it, but also undertook that he would very quickly get the passport. Nevertheless, I resolved that this account should be sent you, because from Eppuleia's report and Ampia's tears I gathered that you were less confident than your letter would suggest Moreover, they thought that in their absence from your side you would be in much more serious anxiety. Wherefore I thought it of very great importance, for the sake of alleviating your pain and sorrow, that you should have stated for certain what was in fact certain. You know that hitherto it has been my habit to write to you rather in the tone of one consoling a man of courage and wisdom, than as holding out any sure hope of restoration beyond that which, in my opinion, was to be expected from the Republic itself as soon as the present excitement died down. Remember your writings, in which you always showed me a spirit at once great and firmly prepared to endure whatever might happen. Nor was I surprised at that, since I remembered that you had been engaged in public affairs from your earliest youth, and that your terms of office had coincided with the most dangerous crises in the safety and fortunes of the community, and that you entered on this very war not solely with the idea of being in prosperity if victorious, but also, if it so happened, of bearing it philosophically if beaten. In the next place, since you devote your time to recording the deeds of brave men, you ought to think yourself bound to abstain from doing anything to prevent your showing yourself exactly like those whom you commend. But this is a style of talk better suited to the position from which you have now escaped: for the present merely prepare yourself to endure with us the state of things here. If I could find any remedy for that, I would impart the same to you.. But our one refuge is philosophy and literature, to which we have always been devoted. In the time of our prosperity these seemed only to be an enjoyment, now they are our salvation also. But, to return to what I said at first, I have no doubt of everything having been accomplished in the matter of your restoration and return.

XII. Scr. Romae a.u.c. 708. CICERO AMPIO SAL. PLUR Gratulor tibi, mi Balbe, vereque gratulor nec sum tam stultus, ut te usura falsi gaudii frui velim, deinde frangi repente atque ita cadere, ut nulla res te ad aequitatem animi possit postea extollere. Egi tuam causam apertius, quam mea tempora ferebant; vincebatur enim fortuna ipsa debilitatae gratiae nostrae tui caritate et meo perpetuo erga te amore culto a te diligentissime. Omnia promissa confirmata certa et rata sunt, quae ad reditum et ad salutem tuam pertinent: vidi, cognovi, interfui; etenim omnes Caesaris familiares satis opportune habet implicatos consuetudine et benevolentia sic, ut, cum ab illo discesserint, me habeant proximum. Hoc Pansa, Hirtius, Balbus, Oppius, Matius, Postumus plane ita faciunt, ut me unice diligant: quod si mihi per me efficiundum fuisset, non me poeniteret pro ratione temporum ita esse molitum; sed nihil est a me inservitum temporis causa, veteres mihi necessitudines cum iis omnibus intercedunt, quibuscum ego agere de te non destiti. Principem tamen habuimus Pansam, tui studiosissimum, mei cupidum, qui valeret apud illum non minus auctoritate quam gratia. Cimber autem Tillius mihi plane satisfecit; valent enim apud Caesarem non tam ambitiosae rogationes quam necessariae, quam quia Cimber habebat, plus valuit, quam pro ullo alio valere potuisset. Diploma statim non est datum, quod mirifica est improbitas in quibusdam, qui tulissent acerbius veniam tibi dari, quam illi appellant tubam belli civilis multaque ita dicunt, quasi non gaudeant id bellum incidisse. Quare visum est occultius agendum neque ullo modo divulgandum de te iam esse perfectum; sed id erit perbrevi, nec dubito, quin legente te has litteras confecta iam res futura sit: Pansa quidem mihi, gravis homo et certus, non solum confirmavit, verum etiam recepit perceleriter se ablaturum diploma. Mihi tamen placuit haec ad te perscribi; minus enim te firmum sermo Eppuleiae tuae lacrimaeque Ampiae declarabant, quam significant tuae litterae, atque illae arbitrabantur, quoniam a te abessent ipsae, multo in graviore te cura futurum; quare magno opere putavi angoris et doloris tui levandi causa pro certis ad te ea, quae essent certa, perscribi. Scis me antea sic solitum esse scribere ad te, magis ut consolarer fortem virum atque sapientem, quam ut exploratam spem salutis ostenderem, nisi eam, quam ab ipsa re publica, cum hic ardor restinctus esset, sperari oportere censerem. Recordare tuas litteras, quibus et magnum animum mihi semper ostendisti et ad omnes casus ferendos constantem ac paratum; quod ego non mirabar, cum recordarer te et a primis temporibus aetatis in re publica esse versatum et tuos magistratus in ipsa discrimina incidisse salutis fortunarumque communium et in hoc ipsum bellum esse ingressum, non solum ut victor beatus, sed etiam ut, si ita accidisset, victus sapiens esses. Deinde, cum studium tuum consumas in virorum fortium factis memoriae prodendis, considerare debes nihil tibi esse committendum, quamobrem eorum, quos laudas, te non simillimum praebeas. Sed haec oratio magis esset apta ad illa tempora, quae iam effugisti: nunc vero tantum te para ad haec nobiscum ferenda, quibus ego si quam medicinam invenirem, tibi quoque eandem traderem; sed est unum perfugium doctrina ac litterae, quibus semper usi sumus, quae secundis rebus delectationem modo habere videbantur, nunc vero etiam salutem. Sed, ut ad initium revertar, cave dubites, quin omnia de salute ac reditu tuo perfecta sint.