Letter 6.14

Know that I am spending all my labor, all my effort, care, and zeal on your safety. For I have always been most fond of you, and the singular devotion and brotherly love of your brothers, whom I have embraced with goodwill equal to that I bear you, allow me to overlook no duty or occasion of service toward you. But I would rather you learn from their letters than from mine what I have done and am doing for you. What I hope, however, and what I am confident of and consider certain regarding your safety, I wish to have declared to you by me. For if anyone is timid in great and dangerous affairs, and always fearing adverse outcomes more than hoping for favorable ones, I am that man; and if this is a fault, I confess I am not free of it. Yet I, the same man, when on the twenty-seventh of the first intercalary month I had come to Caesar in the morning at the request of your brothers, and had endured all the indignity and annoyance of approaching and meeting with him, when your brothers and relatives lay at his feet and I had spoken as the case and the occasion demanded -- not only from Caesar's speech, which was certainly mild and generous, but also from his eyes and expression, and from many other signs which I was better able to perceive than to describe -- I departed with this conviction: that your safety was not in doubt. Therefore be of a great and brave spirit, and if you bore the stormiest times wisely, bear the calmer ones with joy. I shall attend to your affairs as though they were the most difficult, and I shall most gladly continue to plead with Caesar alone, and with all his friends whom I know to be most friendly to me, on your behalf, as I have done up to now. Farewell.

CDXCVI (Fam. VI, 14) TO Q. LIGARIUS (IN EXILE) ROME, 26 NOVEMBER: I assure you that I am employing every effort and all my care and zeal in securing your recall. For, to say nothing of the fact that I have always been deeply attached to you, the signal loyalty and love of your brothers, who have the same place as yourself in the warmest feelings of my heart, suffer me to neglect no task or opportunity of displaying my fidelity and zeal towards you. But what I am doing and have done for you, I prefer your learning from their letters rather than from mine. But what my hopes are, or what I feel confident of, and consider as certain in regard to your recall, that I wish you to be informed of by myself. For if there is anyone who is nervous in matters of moment and danger, and who is always more inclined to fear a reverse than to hope for success, I am that man, and if it is a fault, I confess that I am not without it. However, on the fifth day before the Kalends of the first intercalary month, I went at the request of your brothers to wait on Caesar at his morning reception, and endured all the humiliation and bore of securing an entree and an inter-view with him. When your brothers had thrown themselves at his feet, and I had said what the merits of the case and your position demanded, I went away with a conviction — gathered not only from the tone of Caesar 's reply, which was gentle and courteous, but also from his eyes and expression, and many other signs besides, which it was easier to observe than it is to write — that I need have no doubt about your recall. Wherefore be sure you keep up your spirit and courage, and as you bore the stormiest times with philosophy, meet calmer weather with cheerfulness. However, I will attend to your business as though it were one of the most difficult possible: and on your behalf, as I have already done, I will with all the pleasure in life present my supplications not only to Caesar , but also to all his friends, whom I have learnt to be warmly attached to myself. Good-bye.

XIV. Scr. Romae a. d. v. Kal. intercal. priores a.u.c. 708. CICERO LIGARIO Me scito omnem meum laborem, omnem operam, curam, studium, in tua salute consumere; nam cum te semper maxime dilexi, tum fratrum tuorum, quos aeque atque te summa benevolentia sum complexus, singularis pietas amorque fraternus nullum me patitur officii erga te studiique munus aut tempus praetermittere. Sed, quae faciam fecerimque pro te, ex illorum te litteris quam ex meis malo cognoscere; quid autem sperem aut confidam et exploratum habeam de salute tua, id tibi a me declarari volo: nam, si quisquam est timidus in magnis periculosisque rebus sermperque magis adversos rerum exitus metuens quam sperans secundos, is ego sum et, si hoc vitium est, eo me non carere confiteor; ego idem tamen, cum a. d. V. Kal. intercalares priores rogatu fratrum tuorum venissem mane ad Caesarem atque omnem adeundi et conveniendi illius indignitatem et molestiam pertulissem, cum fratres et propinqui tui iacerent ad pedes et ego essem locutus, quae causa, quae tuum tempus postulabat, non solum ex oratione Caesaris, quae sane mollis et liberalis fuit, sed etiam ex oculis et vultu, ex multis praeterea signis, quae facilius perspicere potui quam scribere, hac opinione discessi, ut mihi tua salus dubia non esset. Quamobrem fac animo magno fortique sis et, si turbidissima sapienter ferebas, tranquilliora laete feras. Ego tamen tuis rebus sic adero, ut difficillimis, neque Caesari solum, sed etiam amicis eius omnibus, quos mihi amicissimos esse cognavi, pro te, sicut adhuc feci, libentissime supplicabo. Vale.