Letter 8.16

Your letter frightened the life out of me. You showed that you were thinking of nothing but sorrowful things, yet you did not write plainly what they were; still, you did reveal what sort of action you were contemplating. I wrote this letter to you at once. By your fortunes, Cicero, by your children, I ask and beg you: do not take any more serious decision about your safety and well-being. I call gods and men and our friendship to witness that I warned you beforehand, and not rashly. After I met Caesar and learned what his attitude would be if victory were won, I informed you. If you think Caesar will follow the same policy in releasing opponents and offering terms, you are wrong. He thinks and even speaks of nothing but harshness and severity. He left the senate angry, and these vetoes have driven him on completely. By Hercules, there will be no room for pleading. So if you care for yourself, for your only son, for your household, for your remaining hopes; if I or your excellent son-in-law have any weight with you - men whose fortunes you ought not to want thrown into confusion, so that we are forced either to hate and abandon the cause whose victory is our safety, or to hold an unnatural desire against your safety - then think carefully. Consider this above all: whatever offense your hesitation caused, you have already taken it on. Now to act against victorious Caesar, whom you did not want to harm while matters were uncertain, and to join the men in flight whom you refused to follow while they were resisting, would be the height of folly. See to it that, while you are ashamed of not being enough of an optimate, you do not fail to choose carefully what is best. If I cannot persuade you of the whole point, at least wait until we know what happens in Spain. I tell you those provinces will be ours as soon as Caesar arrives. What hope those men will have once Spain is lost, I do not know. What plan of yours it could be to join desperate men, by my good faith, I cannot discover. What you hinted to me without saying outright, Caesar had already heard. As soon as he said hello to me, he immediately told me what he had heard about you. I said I knew nothing, but I nevertheless asked him to send you a letter that might most move you to stay. He is taking me with him to Spain. If he were not, before I came to the city I would have run to you wherever you were, pressed this on you face to face, and held you back with all my force. Again and again, Cicero, think: do not overturn yourself and all your people from the foundations. Do not knowingly and deliberately lower yourself into a place from which you can see no exit. But if the voices of the optimates move you, or if you cannot bear the insolence and boasting of certain people, I advise you to choose some town untouched by the war while these matters are being decided; they will soon be settled. If you do this, I will judge that you acted wisely, and you will not offend Caesar.

CCCLXXXII (Fam. VIII, 16) M. CAELIUS RUFUS TO CICERO (AT FORMIAE) ON THE ROAD TO SPAIN, (16) APRIL Being mortally alarmed by your letter, in which you showed that your mind was filled with gloomy ideas, without saying outright what they were, and yet betraying the kind of action which you were contemplating, I write this letter to you on the spot. In the name of your fortunes and your children, my dear Cicero , I beg and beseech you not rashly to imperil your safety and security. I protest in the name of gods and men, and of our friendship, that I told you beforehand, and that my warning was not given inconsiderately, but that after meeting Caesar , and ascertaining what his view would be, if he gained the victory, I informed you of it. If you think that Caesar will maintain the same policy in letting his adversaries go and offering terms, you are mistaken. His thoughts, and even his words, forebode nothing but severity and cruelty. He left town incensed with the senate: he was thoroughly roused by the recent tribunician intercessions: there will be no place, by heaven, for mediation. Wherefore, if you love yourself, if you love your only son, if your family and your remaining hopes are dear to you: if I, or that excellent man your son-in-law, have any influence with you — and you surely ought not to wish to ruin us, in order to force us to choose between loathing and abandoning the cause, on the triumph of which our safety depends, or harbouring an unnatural wish against your safety. Finally consider this: whatever offence your hesitation has caused Pompey you have already incurred; it would be a piece of most consummate folly to act against Caesar now that he is victorious, when you refused to attack him while his fortunes were doubtful — to join the men after they have been driven into flight, whom you refused to follow when they were holding their ground. Take care lest, while feeling ashamed of not being a good enough Optimate, you fail to select the best course for yourself. But if I can't persuade you to take my advice in toto, at least wait till it is known how we get on in the Spanish provinces, which I have to tell you will be ours as soon as Caesar arrives. What hope your people have when the Spains are lost I don't know. Of what, then, you can be thinking to join men in so desperate a position, on my honour, I cannot imagine. What you told me, though not in so many words, Caesar had already heard, and he had scarcely said “good morning!” to me when he mentioned what he had heard about you. I said I did not know anything about it, but yet begged him to write you a letter as the best method of inducing you to stay in the country. He is taking me into Spain with him. For if he were not doing so, before going to Rome , I should have hastened to visit you, wherever you were, and should have pressed this upon you personally, and tried with might and main to keep you from going. Pray, my dear Cicero , reflect again and again, and do not utterly ruin yourself and all your family, nor knowingly, and with your eyes open, put yourself into a situation from which you can see no possible retreat. But if, on the one hand, you are shaken by the remarks of the Optimates, or, on the other, are unable to endure the intemperance and offensive behaviour of certain persons, I think you should select some town not affected by the war, while this controversy is being fought out, which will be settled almost directly. If you do this, you will, in my opinion have acted wisely, and will not offend Caesar .

XVI. Scr. mense Aprili (circiter Id.) a.u.c. 705. CAELIUS CICERONI SAL. Exanimatus tuis litteris, quibus te nihil nisi triste cogitare ostendisti neque, id quid esset, perscripsisti neque non tamen, quale esset, quod cogitares, aperuisti, has ad te illico litteras scripsi. Per fortunas tuas, Cicero, per liberos te oro et obsecro, ne quid gravius de salute et incolumitate tua consulas; nam deos hominesque amicitiamque nostram testificor me tibi praedixisse neque temere monuisse, sed, postquam Caesarem convenerim sententiamque eius, qualis futura esset parta victoria, cognoverim, te certiorem fecisse. Si existimas eandem rationem fore Caesaris in dimittendis adversariis et condicionibus ferendis, erras: nihil nisi atrox et saevum cogitat atque etiam loquitur: iratus senatui exiit, his intercessionibus plane incitatus est; non mehercules erit deprecationi locus. Quare, si tibi tu, si filius unicus, si domus, si spes tuae reliquae tibi carae sunt, si aliquid apud te nos, si vir optimus, gener tuus, valemus, quorum fortunam non debes velle conturbare, ut eam causam, in cuius victoria salus nostra est, odisse aut relinquere cogamur aut impiam cupiditatem contra salutem tuam habeamus—; denique illud cogita: quod offensae fuerit in ista cunctatione, te subisse; nunc te contra victorem Caesarem facere, quem dubiis rebus laedere noluisti, et ad eod fugatos accedere, quos resistentes sequi nolueris, summae stultitiae est. Vide, ne, dum pudet te parum optimatem esse, parum diligenter, quid optimum sit, eligas. Quod si totum tibi persuadere non possum, saltem, dum, quid de Hispaniis agamus, scitur, exspecta; quas tibi nuntio adventu Caesaris fore nostras. Quam isti spem habeant amissis Hispaniis, nescio; quod porro tuum consilium sit ad desperatos accedere, non medius fidius reperio. Hoc, quod tu non dicendo mihi significasti, Caesar audierat ac, simulatque "Ave" mihi dixit, statim, quid de te audisset, exposuit: negavi me scire, sed tamen ab eo petii ut ad te litteras mitteret, quibus maxime ad remanendum commoveri posses. Me secum in Hispaniam ducit; nam, nisi ita faceret, ego prius, quam ad urbem accederem, ubicumque esses, ad te percucurrissem et hoc a te praesens contendissem atque omni vi te retinuissem. Etiam atque etiam, Cicero, cogita, ne te tuosque omnes funditus evertas, ne te sciens prudensque eo demittas, unde exitum vides nullum esse. Quod si te aut voces optimatium commovent aut nonnullorum hominum insolentiam et iactationem ferre non potes, eligas censeo aliquod oppidum vacuum a bello, dum ahec decernuntur, quae iam erunt confecta. Id si feceris, et ego te sapienter fecisse iudicabo et Caesarem non offendes.