Letter 7.13

Did you really think me so unfair that I was angry with you because you seemed too inconsistent and too eager to leave, and that this was why I had not sent you a letter for so long? The distress of your mind, which I saw clearly in your first letters, did trouble me. But the only reason my letters stopped was that I simply did not know where you were. And now you accuse me and refuse to accept my explanation? Listen, my dear Testa: is money making you prouder, or the fact that your commander consults you? May I die if I do not think, given your vanity, that you would rather be consulted by Caesar than be gilded with gold. If both are true, who will put up with you except me, who can put up with anything? But to return to the matter: I am very glad you are not unwilling to be where you are. As the earlier mood was troubling, this one is pleasant. I only fear that your professional art may not help you much. As I hear, where you are they do not join hands according to law to assert a claim; they recover property more by the sword. You are usually called in for applying force, and you need not fear that clause in the interdict: "provided you did not come first with force and armed men." I know you are not aggressive in starting a fight. But let me also warn you about what you lawyers call securities: I advise you to avoid the Treveri. I hear they are capital fellows - capital in the deadly sense. I would rather they were capital in gold, silver, and bronze. We will joke another time. Please write to me about all these matters as carefully as possible. March 4.

CLXX (Fam. VII, 13) TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) ROME; 4 MARCH: Did you suppose me to be so unjust as to be angry with you from the idea that you were not sufficiently persevering and were too eager to return, and do you think that that is the reason of my long silence? I was certainly annoyed by the uneasiness of your spirits, which your first letters conveyed to me; but there was absolutely no other reason for the interruption of my own, except my complete ignorance of your address. Are you still, at this time of day, finding fault with me, and do you refuse to accept my apology? Just listen to me, my dear Testa! Is it money that is making you prouder, or the fact that your commander-in-chief consults you? May I die if I don't believe that such is your vanity that you would rather be consulted by Caesar than gilded by him! But if both reasons are true, who will be able to put up with you except myself, who can put up with anything? But to return to our subject — I am exceedingly glad that you are content to be where you are, and as your former state of mind was vexatious, so your present is gratifying, to me. I am only afraid that your special profession may be of little advantage to you: for, as I am told, in your present abode “They lay no claim by joining lawful hands, But Challenge right with steel.” But you are not wont to be called in to assist at a “forcible entry.” Nor have you any reason to be afraid of the usual proviso in the injunction, “into which you have not previously made entry by force and armed men,” for I am well assured that you are not a man of violence. But to give you some hint as to what you lawyers call “securities,” I opine that you should avoid the Treviri ; I hear they are real tresviri capitales — deadly customers: I should; have preferred their being tresviri of the mint! But a truce to jesting for the present. Pray write to me in the fullest detail of all that concerns you. 4 March.

XIII. Scr. Romae IV. Non. Mart. a.u.c. 701. [M.] CICERO S. D. TREBATIO. Adeone me iniustum esse existimasti, ut tibi irascerer, quod parum mihi constans et nimium cupidus decedendi viderere, ob eamque causam me arbitrarere litteras ad te iamdiu non misisse? mihi perturbatio animi tui, quam primis litteris perspiciebam, molestiam attulit; neque alia ulla fuit causa intermissionis epistularum, nisi quod, ubi esses, plane nesciebam. Hic tu me etiam insimulas nec satisfactionem meam accipis? Audi, Testa mi: utrum superbiorem te pecunia facit an quod te imperator consulit? moriar, ni, quae tua gloria est, puto te malle a Caesare consuli quam inaurari. Si vero utrumque est, quis te feret praeter me, qui omnia ferre possum? Sed, ut ad rem redeam, te istic invitum non esse vehementer gaudeo et, ut illud erat molestum, sic hoc est iucundum: tantum metuo, ne artificium tuum tibi parum prosit; nam, ut audio, istic non ex iure manum consertum, sed magis ferro rem repetunt, et tu soles ad vim faciundam adhiberi, neque est, quod illam exceptionem in interdicto pertimescas: QUO TV PRIOR VI HOMINIBUS ARMATIS NON VENERIS; scio enim te non esse procacem in lacessendo. Sed, ut ego quoque te aliquid admoneam de vestris cautionibus, Treviros vites censeo: audio capitales esse; mallem auro, argento, aeri essent. Sed alias iocabimur: tu ad me de istis rebus omnibus scribas velim quam diligentissime. D. IIII. Non. Mart.