Letter 20: Cicero writes to Quintus in Britain from Rome or Arpinum in 28 September 54 BC.

MARCUS TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS, GREETINGS. I. 1. After the great heat -- we do not remember a worse spell -- I refreshed myself during the days of the games at Arpinum, with the supreme charm of the place and also the wholesomeness of the river, having commended my fellow tribesmen to the care of Philotimus. I was at Arcanum on the fourth day before the Ides of September [10 September]. There I saw Mescidius with Philoxenus, and the water which they were channeling not far from the villa, flowing quite prettily -- especially considering the very great drought -- and they said they would collect a considerably more abundant supply. At Herus' place all was in order. At the Manilian property I came upon Diphilus slower than Diphilus himself; but still he had nothing left to do except the baths, the promenade, and the aviary. The villa pleased me greatly, because the paved colonnade had a most dignified air -- something that has only now at last become apparent to me, after both the colonnade itself lies entirely open and the columns have been polished. The whole matter rests on this -- which I shall make my concern -- that the stucco be neatly finished. The pavements seemed to be being laid properly; certain vaultings I did not approve, and I ordered them changed. 2. As to the spot in the colonnade where they say you write that a little entrance hall should be made: I preferred it, as it is, more in its present form; for there did not seem to be enough room for a little hall, nor is one customarily made except in those buildings which have a larger atrium, nor could it have had adjoining bedrooms and rooms of that sort. As it is, this spot will serve as a summer room, either by the elegance of its vaulting or by being thoroughly good. If, however, you feel otherwise, write back as soon as possible. In the baths I moved the sweating-chamber into the other corner of the dressing-room, because they had been so placed that their furnace lay beneath the bedrooms. The somewhat large bedroom, and the lofty winter room, I approved very much, because they were both spacious and well placed, on one side of the promenade -- the side nearest the baths. Diphilus had set the columns neither straight nor in line: of course he will pull them down; one day he will learn to use a plumb-line and a measure. On the whole I hope that Diphilus' work will be finished in a few months; for Caesius, who was with me at the time, looks after it most diligently. II. 3. From that place we set out straight along the Vitularian road to the Fufidian estate, which we bought for you from Fufidius at the last market days at Arpinum for 100,000 sesterces. I have never seen a place shadier in summer; in very many spots there is running water, and that abundant. In short, Caesius thought you could easily irrigate fifty iugera of meadow; for my part I affirm this, which I understand better, that you will have a villa of marvelous charm, once a fishpond and fountains are added, with a wrestling-court and a planted wood. I hear you wish to keep this Bovillan estate: you yourself will decide what seems best about it. Calvus said that even if the water were taken away, and once the right to that water had been established and an easement imposed on that estate, we could still preserve the price, if we should wish to sell. I had Mescidius with me: he said he had settled with you at three sesterces a foot, and that he had measured it at three thousand paces. It seemed to me more; but I will guarantee that the expense could nowhere be better laid out. I had summoned Cillo from Venafrum; but on that very day a tunnel-collapse at Venafrum had crushed four of his fellow-slaves and apprentices. 4. On the Ides of September [13 September] I was at Laterium. I inspected the road, which pleased me so well that it seemed to be a public work, except for one hundred and fifty paces -- for I measured it myself, from that little bridge which is at the temple of Furina, in the direction of Satricum -- in that stretch dust, not gravel, has been laid down (this will be changed), and that part of the road is very steep; but I understood that it could not have been routed otherwise, especially since you wished it to go neither through Locusta's land nor through Varro's. Velvinus had properly built up the road in front of his own estate; Locusta had not touched it, and I will tackle him at Rome, and, I think, stir him up, and at the same time I will ask Marcus Taurus -- who, I hear, made you a promise, and who is now at Rome -- about leading the watercourse through his land. 5. Your steward Nicephorus I quite approved of, and I inquired of him whether you had given him any instructions about that little building project at Laterium of which you spoke to me. He then answered me that he himself had been the contractor for that work at 16,000 sesterces, but that you had afterward added much to the work and nothing to the price; and so he had given it up. By Hercules, it greatly pleases me that you are making those additions, as you had decided; although that villa, as it now stands, seems to be like a philosopher, rebuking the madness of the other villas; yet that addition will be delightful. I praised the landscape-gardener: he has so clothed everything with ivy -- both the base of the villa and the spaces between the columns of the promenade -- that, in the end, those cloaked Greek figures [the garden statues] seem to be practicing landscape-gardening and selling ivy. As for the cooling-room [originally a Greek word, apodyterion], nothing is cooler, nothing more mossy. 6. There you have nearly everything about country matters: the finishing of the town house is being pushed forward by that man, and by Philotimus and Cincius, but I too often look in on it myself, since that is easy to do; for which reason I want you freed from that worry. III. 7. As to your always asking me about [your son] Cicero, I do indeed forgive you, but I should like you too to forgive me; for I do not grant you that you love him more than I myself love him; and would that in these days he had been with me at Arpinum, as he himself had wished, and I no less! As to Pomponia, if it seems good to you, I should like you to write that, whenever we go out of town, she is to go with us and bring the boy along: I will produce wonders, if I have him with me at leisure, for at Rome there is no room to breathe. You know I promised you this before for nothing: what do you think now, with such a reward held out to me by you? 8. I come now to your letters, which I received in several packets while I was at Arpinum; for on a single day three were delivered to me, and indeed, as they appeared, sent by you at the same time -- one of greater length, in which the first point was that an earlier date had been written on your letter than on the one to Caesar. Oppius sometimes does this of necessity, so that, when he has arranged to send letter-carriers and has received letters from us, he is hindered by some new circumstance and necessarily sends them later than he had arranged, while we, the letters being once handed over, do not trouble to have the date changed. 9. You write of Caesar's supreme affection toward us: this you will foster, and we will increase by whatever means we can. About Pompey, I both do, and will do, carefully what you advise. That my permission for your staying on is welcome to you -- this, with my supreme grief and longing, I nevertheless rejoice at in part. What you intend in summoning Hippodamus and certain others, I do not understand: there is none of those men who does not expect from you a gift the equal of a suburban estate. As for your involving my friend Trebatius in that crowd, there is no reason for it: I sent him to Caesar, and he has already satisfied me; if he has satisfied himself less, I am bound to guarantee nothing, and I likewise vindicate and free you from any claim on his part. As to your writing that you are esteemed more by Caesar every day, I rejoice immortally; Balbus, indeed, who is, as you write, the promoter of that affair, I carry before my eyes. That my friend Trebonius is loved by you, and you by him, gives me great joy. 10. As to what you write about the tribuneship, I did indeed ask for it by name for Curtius, and Caesar himself wrote back to me that it was ready for Curtius by name, and chided my bashfulness in asking. If I should ask one for anyone besides -- as I have also told Oppius to write to him -- I shall easily endure being refused, since those who are troublesome to me do not easily endure being refused by me. I esteem Curtius, as I have told him, not only on the strength of your request, but also on your testimony, since from your letter I readily perceived his zeal for our restoration. About British affairs I have learned from your letter that there is nothing either for us to fear or to rejoice at. About public business, which you wish Tiro to write to you about, I have written to you rather carelessly before now, because I knew that everything, least and greatest, was being sent to Caesar. IV. 11. I have answered the longest letter; now hear my reply to the smaller one, in which the first matter is about Clodius' letter to Caesar. In this I approve of Caesar's judgment, in that he did not grant you, even though you asked most affectionately, the favor of writing a single word back to that Fury. The second matter is what you write about the speech of "Calventius Marius" [a derisive nickname for L. Calpurnius Piso]: I am surprised that it pleases you that I should write a reply to it, especially since no one is going to read it, if I write nothing in answer, whereas all the schoolboys learn my speech against him by heart, as though it were dictated lessons. My books, all of which you are awaiting, I have begun, but I cannot finish them in these days; the speeches you clamored for, for Scaurus and for Plancius, I have completed. The poem to Caesar, which I had composed, I have cut short; as for what you ask, since the very springs are now thirsty, I will write something if I have any spare time. 12. I come to the third letter. That you say Balbus will come to Rome promptly and well attended, and will be with me continuously up to the Ides of May, is most gratifying and most pleasant to me. As for your urging me, in the same letter as so often before, to ambition and to toil, I will do so indeed -- but when shall we live? 13. The fourth letter was delivered to me on the Ides of September [13 September], which you had sent on the fourth day before the Ides of Sextilis [10 August] from Britain. In it there was nothing really new except about Erigona [a play by Quintus] -- which, if I receive it from Oppius, I will write to you what I think, and I do not doubt that it will please me -- and, what I almost passed over, about the man whom you wrote had written to Caesar about Milo's reception with applause: I for my part readily allow Caesar to suppose that the applause given to him was as great as possible; and indeed it was so, and yet that applause which is given to him seems in a way to be given to us. 14. There was also delivered to me a very old letter, but brought late, in which you remind me about the temple of Tellus and about the colonnade of Catulus: both are being attended to diligently; at the temple of Tellus I have even had your statue set up. Likewise, as for your reminder about gardens, I was never very desirous of them, and now my house supplies me with the charm of gardens. When I had come to Rome on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of October [19 September], I found the roof on your house finished -- the roof which you had not wished to have many gables above the chambers: it now slopes gracefully into the roof of the lower colonnade. Our young Cicero, while I was away, did not slacken with his rhetoric teacher; as for your taking pains over his learning, there is no need, since you know his natural ability, and I see his diligence; the rest of his progress I take upon myself, so that I think I am bound to guarantee it. V. 15. Three factions are so far prosecuting Gabinius: Lucius Lentulus, son of the flamen, who has already brought a charge of treason [maiestas]; Tiberius Nero, with good supporting subscribers; and Gaius Memmius, tribune of the plebs, with Lucius Capito. He approached the city on the twelfth day before the Kalends of October [20 September]: nothing more disgraceful, nothing more forsaken; but in these trials I dare have confidence in nothing. Because Cato was unwell, he had not yet been prosecuted for extortion [the recovery of moneys]. Pompey presses me hard about a reconciliation, but so far he has accomplished nothing, nor, if I keep any part of my liberty, will he accomplish it. 16. I eagerly await your letters. As to your writing that you have heard I took part in the coalition of the consular candidates, that is false; for such bargains were made in that coalition -- which Memmius afterward made public -- that no good man ought to have taken part, and at the same time it was not for me to take part in those coalitions by which Messalla would be shut out. To him indeed I am giving thorough satisfaction in all matters, as I believe, and so too to Memmius; for Domitius himself I have already done many things which he wished and asked of me; Scaurus I have strongly bound to me by the favor of defending him. So far it was very uncertain both when the elections would be and who the consuls would be. 17. Just as I was now folding up this letter, letter-carriers came from you all on the eleventh day before the Kalends of September [the date is corrupt], on the twentieth day. Oh, how anxious I am! How greatly I grieved over Caesar's most charming letter! Indeed, the more charming his letters were, the greater the grief that that misfortune of his [the death of Caesar's daughter Julia] brought. But I come to your letter. First, I approve again and again of your remaining, especially since, as you write, you have consulted Caesar. I am surprised that Oppius has anything to do with Publius; for it had not pleased me. 18. As to what you write in the inner part of your letter, that I am to be made Pompey's legate on the Ides of September, I had not heard of it, and I wrote to Caesar that neither Vibullius nor Oppius had carried Caesar's instructions about my staying on to Pompey. With what design? -- although I restrained Oppius, because the leading part belonged to Vibullius; for with him Caesar had dealt face to face, while to Oppius he had written. I for my part can have no second thoughts [originally in Greek] in Caesar's affairs: he stands to me, after you and our children, in such a place that he is almost their equal. I seem to do this by judgment -- for I now owe it to him -- but nevertheless I am kindled with affection. VI. 19. After I had written these last lines, which are in my own hand, your son Cicero came to us for dinner, since Pomponia was dining out. He gave me a letter of yours to read, which he had received a little before -- in the manner of Aristophanes, by Hercules, both charming and weighty; with which I was thoroughly delighted. He also gave me that other one, in which you bid him be attached to me as to a master. How those letters delighted him, how they delighted me! Nothing is more charming than that boy, nothing more affectionate toward us. This I dictated to Tiro during dinner, so that you may not wonder that it is in another hand. 20. Your letter was most welcome to Annalis, because you both took diligent care of his interests and yet helped him with most truthful advice. Publius Servilius the elder, from a letter which he said had been sent to him by Caesar, indicates that you did him a great kindness, in that you spoke most courteously and most carefully about his goodwill toward Caesar. 21. When I had returned to Rome from Arpinum, I was told that Hippodamus had set out to join you. I cannot write that I was surprised that he acted so discourteously as to set out to you without a letter from me; this I do write, that it annoyed me; for I had long been considering, from what you had written to me, that, if there were anything I wished conveyed to you more carefully, I would give it to him -- since, by Hercules, in these letters which I commonly send you I write hardly anything which, if it should fall into someone's hands, would be a cause of annoyance. I was reserving myself for Minucius and Salvius and Labeo: Labeo will either set out late or remain here. 22. Hippodamus did not even ask me whether I wanted anything. Titus Pinarius sends me kindly letters about you: he says he takes the greatest delight in your letters, your conversation, and, in short, your dinners. That man has always delighted me, and his brother is much in my company; therefore, as you have begun, embrace the young man. VII. 23. Since I had this letter in hand for many days on account of the delay of the letter-carriers, many things have for that reason been jotted in at one time and another, as for instance this: Titus Anicius has often already told me that, if he found any suburban property for you, he would not hesitate to buy it. In his conversation I am accustomed to marvel at both things: that you, when you write to him about buying a suburban property, not only do not write to me, but even write to the contrary effect; and that, when you write to him, you remember nothing of those letters which you showed me at Tusculum, nothing of the precepts of Epicharmus -- 'Observe how another has dealt with him' [originally in Greek] -- in short, nothing of his whole expression, his conversation, his disposition, which, as I conjecture, you seem as it were to have unlearned. 24. But you will see to this; about the suburban property, see to it that I know what you wish, and at the same time take care that that fellow stirs up no trouble. What else is there? What? Yes, this too: Gabinius had entered the city by night on the fourth day before the Kalends of October [27 September]; and today, at the eighth hour, when by the edict of Gaius Alfius he ought to have appeared on the charge of treason, he was nearly crushed by a great gathering and by the hatred of the whole people. Nothing is more disgraceful than that man; yet Piso comes next to him: and so I am thinking of inserting a wonderful interlude into the second of my books, with Apollo declaring in the council of the gods what sort of homecoming there would be for two commanders, one of whom had lost his army and the other had sold it. 25. From Britain Caesar sent me a letter on the Kalends of September, which I received on the fourth day before the Kalends of October [28 September], quite agreeable about British affairs; in it, so that I should not be surprised at having received none from you, he writes that he had been without you when he went down to the sea. To that letter I wrote nothing back, not even by way of congratulation, on account of his mourning. I beg you again and again, my brother, take care of your health.

After extraordinarily hot weather—I never remember greater heat—I have refreshed myself at Arpinum, and enjoyed the extreme loveliness of the river during the days of the games, having left my tribesmen under the charge of Philotimus. I was at Arcanum on the 10th of September. There I found Mescidius and Philoxenus, and saw the water, for which they were making a course not far from your villa, running quite nicely, especially considering the extreme drought, and they said that they were going to collect it in much greater abundance. Everything is right with Herus. In your Manilian property I came across Diphilus outdoing himself in dilatoriness. Still, he had nothing left to construct, except baths, and a promenade, and an aviary. I liked that villa very much, because its paved colonnade gives it an air of very great dignity. I never appreciated this till now that the colonnade itself has been all laid open, and the columns have been polished. It all depends—and this I will look to—upon the stuccoing being prettily done. The pavements seemed to be being well laid. Certain of the ceilings I did not like, and ordered them to be changed. As to the place in which they say that you write word that a small entrance hall is to be built—namely, in the colonnade—I liked it better as it is. For I did not think there was space sufficient for an entrance hall; nor is it usual to have one, except in those buildings which have a larger court; nor could it have bedrooms and apartments of that kind attached to it. As it is, from the very beauty of its arched roof, it will serve as an admirable summer room. However, if you think differently, write back word as soon as possible. In the bath I have moved the hot chamber to the other corner of the dressing-room, because it was so placed that its steam-pipe was immediately under the bedrooms. A fair-sized bedroom and a lofty winter one I admired very much, for they were both spacious and well-situated--on the side of the promenade nearest to the bath. Diphilus had placed the columns out of the perpendicular, and not opposite each other. These, of course, he shall take down; he will learn some day to use the plumb-line and measure. On the whole, I hope Diphilus's work will be completed in a few months: for Caesius, who was with me at the time, keeps a very sharp lookout upon him. Thence I started straight along the via Vitularia to your Fufidianum, the estate which we bought for you a few weeks ago at Arpinum for 100,000 sesterces. I never saw a shadier spot in summer-water springs in many parts of it, and abundant into the bargain. In short, Caesius thought that you would easily irrigate fifty jugera of the meadow land. For my part, I can assure you of this, which is more in my line, that you will have a villa marvellously pleasant, with the addition of a fish-pond, spouting fountains, a palaestra, and a shrubbery. I am told that you wish to keep this Bovillae estate. You will determine as you think good. Calvus said that, even if the control of the water were taken from you, and the right of drawing it off were established by the vendor, and thus an easement were imposed on that property, we could yet maintain the price in case we wished to sell. He said that he had agreed with you to do the work at three sesterces a foot, and that he had stepped it, and made it three miles. It seemed to me more. But I will guarantee that the money could nowhere be better laid out. I had sent for Cillo from Venafrum, but on that very day four of his fellow servants and apprentices had been crushed by the falling in of a tunnel at Venafrum. On the 13th of September I was at Laterium. I examined the road, which appeared to me to be so good as to seem almost like a high road, except a hundred and fifty paces--for I measured it myself from the little bridge at the temple of Furina, in the direction of Satricum. There they had put [p. 293] down dust, not gravel (this shall be changed), and that part of the road is a very steep incline. But I understood that it could not be taken in any other direction, particularly as you did not wish it to go through the property of Locusta or Varro. The latter alone had made the road very well where it skirted his own property. Locusta hadn't touched it but I will call on him at Rome, and think I shall be able to stir him up, and at the same time I shall ask M. Taurus, who is now at Rome, and whom I am told promised to allow you to do so, about making a watercourse through his property. I much approved of your steward Nicephorius, and I asked him what orders you had given about that small building at Laterium, about which you spoke to me. He told me in answer that he had himself contracted to do the work for sixteen sestertia, but that you had afterwards made many additions to the work, but nothing to the price, and that he had therefore given it up. I quite approve, by Hercules, of your making the additions you had determined upon; although the villa as it stands seems to have the air of a philosopher, meant to rebuke the extravagance of other villas. Yet, after all, that addition will be pleasing. I praised your landscape gardener: he has so covered everything with ivy, both the foundation-wall of the villa and the spaces between the columns of the walk, that, upon my word, those Greek statues seemed to be engaged in fancy gardening, and to be showing off the ivy. Finally, nothing can be cooler or more mossy than the dressing-room of the bath. That is about all I have to say about country matters. The gardener, indeed, as well as Philotimus and Cincius are pressing on the ornamentation of your town house; but I also often look in upon it myself, as I can do without difficulty. Wherefore don't be at all anxious about that. As to your always asking me about your son, of course I "excuse you"; but I must ask you to "excuse" me also, for I don't allow that you love him more than I do. And oh that he had been with me these last few days at Arpinum, as he had himself set his heart on being, and as I had no less done! As to Pomponia, please write and say that, when I go out of town anywhere, she is to come with me and bring the boy. I'll do wonders with him, if I get him to myself when I am at leisure: for at Rome there is no time to breathe. You know I formerly promised to do so for nothing. What do you expect with such a reward as you promise me? I now come to your letters which I received in several packets when I was at Arpinum. For I received three from you in one day, and, indeed, as it seemed, despatched by you at the same time—one of considerable length, in which your first point was that my letter to you was dated earlier than that to Caesar. Oppius at times cannot help this: the reason is that, having settled to send letter-carriers, and having received a letter from me, he is hindered by something turning up, and obliged to despatch them later than he had intended; and I don't take the trouble to have the day altered on a letter which I have once handed to him. You write about Caesar's extreme affection for us. This affection you must on your part keep warm, and I for mine will endeavour to increase it by every means in my power. About Pompey, I am carefully acting, and shall continue to act, as you advise. That my permission to you to stay longer is a welcome one, though I grieve at your absence and miss you exceedingly, I am yet partly glad. What you can be thinking of in sending for such people as Hippodamus and some others, I do not understand. There is not one of those suburban estate. However, there is no reason for your fellows that won't expect a present from you equal to a classing my friend Trebatius with them. I sent him to Caesar, and Caesar has done all I expected. If he has not done quite what he expected himself, I am not bound to make it up to him, and I in like manner free and absolve you from all claims on his part. Your remark, that you are a greater favourite with Caesar every day, is a source of undying satisfaction to me. As to Balbus, who, as you say, promotes that state of things, he is the apple of my eye. I am indeed glad that you and my friend Trebonius like each other. As to what you say about the military tribuneship, I, indeed, asked for it definitely for Curtius, and Caesar wrote back definitely to say that there was one at Curtius's service, and chided me for my modesty in making the request. If I have asked one for anyone else—as I told Oppius to write and tell Caesar—I shall not be at all annoyed by a refusal, since those who pester me for letters are annoyed at a refusal from me. I like Curtius, as I have told him, not only because you asked me to do so, but from the character you gave of him; for from your letter I have gathered the zeal he shewed for my restoration. As for the British expedition, I conclude from your letter that we have no occasion either for fear or exultation. As to public affairs, about which you wish Tiro to write to you, I have written to you hitherto somewhat more carelessly than usual, because I knew that all events, small or great, were reported to Caesar. I have now answered your longest letter. Now hear what I have to say to your small one. The first point is about Clodius's letter to Caesar. In that matter I approve of Caesar's policy, in not having given way to your request so far as to write a single word to that Fury. The next thing is about the speech of Calventius "Marius". I am surprised at your saying that you think I ought to answer it, particularly as, while no one is likely to read that speech, unless I write an answer to it, every schoolboy learns mine against him as an exercise. My books, all of which you are expecting, I have begun, but I cannot finish them for some days yet. The speeches for Scaurus and Plancius which you clamour for I have finished. The poem to Caesar, which I had begun, I have cut short. I will write what you ask me for, since your poetic springs are running dry, as soon as I have time. Now for the third letter. It is very pleasant and welcome news to hear from you that Balbus is soon coming to Rome, and so well accompanied! and will stay with me continuously till the 15th of May. As to your exhorting me in the same letter, as in many previous ones, to ambition and labour, I shall, of course, do as you say: but when am I to enjoy any real life? Your fourth letter reached me on the 13th of September, dated on the 10th of August from Britain. In it there was nothing new except about your Erigona, and if I get that from Oppius I will write and tell you what I think of it. I have no doubt I shall like it. Oh yes I had almost forgotten to remark as to the man who, you say in your letter, had written to Caesar about the applause given to Milo—I am not unwilling that Caesar should think that it was as warm as possible. And in point of fact it was so, and yet that applause, which is given to him, seems in a certain sense to be given to me. I have also received a very old letter, but which was late in coming into my hands, in which you remind me about the temple of Tellus and the colonnade of Catulus. Both of these matters are being actively carried out. At the temple of Tellus I have even got your statue placed. So, again, as to your reminder about a suburban villa and gardens, I was never very keen for one, and now my town house has all the charm of such a pleasure-ground. On my arrival in Rome on the 18th of September I found the roof on your house finished: the part over the sitting-rooms, which you did not wish to have many gables, now slopes gracefully towards the roof of the lower colonnade. Our boy, in my absence, did not cease working with his rhetoric master. You have no reason for being anxious about his education, for you know his ability, and I see his application. Everything else I take it upon myself to guarantee, with full consciousness that I am bound to make it good. As yet there are three parties prosecuting Gabinius: first, L. Lentulus, son of the flamen, who has entered a prosecution for lèse majesté; secondly, Tib. Nero, with good names at the back of his indictment; thirdly, C. Memmius the tribune in conjunction with L. Capito. He came to the walls of the city on the 19th of September, undignified and neglected to the last degree. But in the present state of the law courts I do not venture to be confident of anything. As [[w:Cato the Younger|Cato] is unwell, he has not yet been formally indicted for extortion. Pompey is trying hard to persuade me to be reconciled to him, but as yet he has not succeeded at all, nor, if I retain a shred of liberty, will he succeed. I am very anxious for a letter from you. You say that you have been told that I was a party to the Coalition of the consular candidates—it is a lie. The compacts made in that coalition, afterwards made public by Memmius, were of such a nature that no loyal man ought to have been a party to them; nor at the same time was it possible for me to be a party to a coalition from which Messalla was excluded, who is thoroughly satisfied with my conduct in every particular, as also, I think, is Memmius. To Domitius himself I have rendered many services, which he desired and asked of me. I have put Scaurus under a heavy obligation by my defence of him. It is as yet very uncertain both when the elections will be and who will be consuls. Just as I was folding up this epistle letter-carriers arrived from you and Caesar (20th September) after a journey of twenty days. How anxious I was! How painfully I was affected by Caesar's most kind letter! But the kinder it was, the more sorrow did his loss occasion me. But to turn to your letter. To begin with, I reiterate my approval of your staying on, especially as, according to your account, you have consulted Caesar on the subject. I wonder that Oppius has anything to do with Publius, for I advised against it. Farther on in your letter you say that I am going to be made legatus to Pompey on the 13th of September: I have heard nothing about it, and I wrote to Caesar to tell him that neither Vibullius nor Oppius had delivered his message to Pompey about my remaining at home. Why, I know not. However, it was I who restrained Oppius from doing so, because it was Vibullius who should take the leading part in that matter: for with him Caesar had communicated personally, with Oppius only by letter. I indeed can have no "second thoughts" in matters connected with Caesar. He comes next after you and our children in my regard, and not much after. I think I act in this with deliberate judgment, for I have by this time good cause for it, yet warm personal feeling no doubt does influence me also. Just as I had written these last words—which are by my own hand—your boy came in to dine with me, as Pomponia was dining out. He gave me your letter to read, which he had received shortly before—a truly Aristophanic mixture of jest and earnest, with which I was greatly charmed. He gave me also your second letter, in which you bid him cling to my side as a mentor. How delighted he was with those letters! And so was I. Nothing could be more attractive than that boy, nothing more affectionate to me!—This, to explain its being in another handwriting, I dictated to Tiro while at dinner. Your letter gratified Annalis very much, as showing that you took an active interest in his concerns, and yet assisted him with exceedingly candid advice. Publius Servilius the elder, from a letter which he said he had received from Caesar, declares himself highly obliged to you for having spoken with the greatest kindness and earnestness of his devotion to Caesar. After my return to Rome from Arpinum I was told that Hippodamus had started to join you. I cannot say that I was surprised at his having acted so discourteously as to start to join you without a letter from me: I only say this, that I was annoyed. For I had long resolved, from an expression in your letter, that if I had anything I wished conveyed to you with more than usual care, I should give it to him: for, in truth, into a letter like this, which I send you in an ordinary way, I usually put nothing that, if it fell into certain hands, might be a source of annoyance. I reserve myself for Minucius and Salvius and Labeo. Labeo will either be starting late or will stay here altogether. Hippodamus did not even ask me whether he could do anything for me. T. Penarius sends me a kind letter about you: says that he is exceedingly charmed with your literary pursuits, conversation, and above all by your dinners. He was always a favourite of mine, and I see a good deal of his brother. Wherefore continue, as you have begun, to admit the young man to your intimacy. From the fact of this letter having been in hand during many days, owing to the delay of the letter-carriers, I have jotted down in it many various things at odd times, as, for instance, the following. Titus Anicius has mentioned to me more than once that he would not hesitate to buy a suburban property for you, if he found one. In these remarks of his I find two things surprising: first, that when you write to him about buying a suburban property, you not only don't write to me to that effect, but write even in a contrary sense; and, secondly, that in writing to him you totally forget his letters which you showed me at Tusculum, and as totally the rule of Epicharmus, "Notice how he has treated another": in fact, that you have quite forgotten, as I think, the lesson conveyed by the expression of his face, his conversation, and his spirit. But this is your concern. As to a suburban property, be sure to let me know your wishes, and at the same time take care that that fellow doesn't get you into trouble. What else have I to say? Anything? Yes, there is this: Gabinius entered the city by night on the 27th of September, and today, at two o'clock, when he ought to have appeared on his trial for lèse majesté, in accordance with the edict of C. Alfius, he was all but crushed to the earth by a great and unanimous demonstration of the popular hatred. Nothing could exceed his humiliating position. However, Piso comes next to him. So I think of introducing a marvellous episode into my second book—Apollo declaring in the council of the gods what sort of return that of the two commanders was to be, one of whom had lost, and the other sold his army. From Britain I have a letter of Caesar's dated the 1st of September, which reached me on the 27th, satisfactory enough as far as the British expedition is concerned, in which, to prevent my wondering at not getting one from you, he tells me that you were not with him when he reached the coast. To that letter I made no reply, not even a formal congratulation, on account of his mourning. Many, many wishes, dear brother, for your health.

I. Scr. mense Septembri (dat. a. d. III. Kal. Oct.) a.u.c. 700. MARCUS QUINTO FRATRI SALUTEM. I. 1. Ego ex magnis caloribus—non enim meminimus maiores—in Arpinati summa cum amoenitate, tum salubritate fluminis me refeci ludorum diebus, Philotimo tribulibus commendatis. In Arcano a. d. IIII. Idus Septembres fui: ibi Mescidium cum Philoxeno aquamque, quam ii ducebant non longe a villa, belle sane fluentem vidi, praesertim maxima siccitate, uberioremque aliquanto sese collecturos esse dicebant; apud Herum recte erat. In Maniliano offendi Diphilum Diphilo tardiorem; sed tamen nihil ei restabat praeter balnearia et ambulationem et aviarium. Villa mihi valde placuit, propterea quod summam dignitatem pavimentata porticus habebat, quod mihi nunc denique apparuit, posteaquam et ipsa tota patet et columnae politae sunt. Totum in eo est—quod mihi erit curae—, tectorium ut concinnum sit. Pavimenta recte fieri videbantur; cameras quasdam non probavi mutarique iussi. 2. Quo loco in porticu te scribere aiunt ut atriolum fiat, mihi, ut est, magis placebat; neque enim satis loci videbatur esse atriolo, neque fere solet nisi in iis aedificiis fieri, in quibus est atrium maius, nec habere poterat adiuncta cubicula et eiusmodi membra: nunc hoc vel honestate testudinis vel valde boni aestivum locum obtinebit; tu tamen si aliter sentis, rescribe quam primum. In balneariis assa in alterum apodyterii angulum promovi, propterea quod ita erant posita, ut eorum vaporarium esset subiectum cubiculis. Subgrande cubiculum autem et hibernum altum valde probavi, quod et ampla erant et loco posita, ambulationis uno latere, eo, quod est proximum balneariis. Columnas neque rectas neque e regione Diphilus collocarat: eas scilicet demolietur; aliquando perpendiculo et linea discet uti. Omnino spero paucis mensibus opus Diphili perfectum fore; curat enim diligentissime Caesius, qui tum mecum fuit. II. 3. Ex eo loco recta Vitularia via profecti sumus in Fufidianum fundum, quem tibi proximis nundinis Arpini de Fufido HS. CCCICCC.CIC. emeramus. Ego locum aestate umbrosiorem vidi numquam; permultis locis aquam profluentem, et eam uberem: quid quaeris? iugera L. prati Caesius irrigaturum facile te arbitrabatur; equidem hoc, quod melius intelligo, affirmo, mirifica suavitate villam habiturum, piscina et salientibus additis, palaestra et silva virdicata. Fundum audio te hunc Bovillanum velle retinere: de eo quid videatur, ipse constitues. Calibus aiebat aqua dempta et eius aquae iure constituto et servitute fundo illi imposita tamen nos pretium servare posse, si vendere vellemus. Mescidium mecum habui: is se ternis nummis in pedem tecum transegisse dicebat, sese autem mensum pedibus aiebat passuum IIICIC. Mihi plus visum est; sed praestabo sumptum nusquam melius posse poni. Cillonem arcessieram Venafro; sed eo ipso die quattuor eius conservos et discipulos Venafri cuniculus oppresserat. 4. Idibus Septembr. in Laterio fui: viam perspexi, quae mihi ita placuit, ut opus publicum videretur esse, praeter CL. passus—sum enim ipse mensus ab eo ponticulo, qui est ad Furinae, Satricum versus—: eo loco pulvis, non glarea iniecta est—id mutabitur—, et ea viae pars valde acclivis est, sed intellexi aliter duci non potuisse, praesertim cum tu neque per Locustae neque per Varronis velles ducere. Velvinum ante suum fundum probe munierat; Locusta non attigerat, quem ego Romae aggrediar et, ut arbitror, commovebo, et simul M. Taurum, quem tibi audio promisisse, qui nunc Romae erat, de aqua per fundum eius ducenda rogabo. 5. Nicephorum, villicum tuum, sane probavi quaesivique ex eo, ecquid ei de illa aedificatiuncula Laterii, de qua mecum locutus es, mandavisses: tum is mihi respondit se ipsum eius operis HS. XVI. conductorem fuisse, sed te postea multa addidisse ad opus, nihil ad pretium; itaque id se omisisse. Mihi mehercule valde placet te illa, ut constitueras, addere; quamquam ea villa, quae nunc est, tamquam philosopha videtur esse, quae obiurget ceterarum villarum insaniam; verumtamen illud additum delectabit. Topiarium laudavi: ita omnia convestivit hedera, qua basim villae, qua intercolumnia ambulationis, ut denique illi palliati topiariam facere videantur et hederam vendere. Iam apoduthriv nihil alsius, nihil muscosius. 6. Habes fere de rebus rusticis: urbanam expolitionem urget ille quidem et Philotimus et Cincius, sed etiam ipse crebro interviso, quod est facile factu; quamobrem ea te cura liberatum volo. III. 7. De Cicerone quod me semper rogas, ignosco equidem tibi, sed tu quoque mihi velim ignoscas; non enim concedo tibi, plus ut illum ames, quam ipse amo; atque utinam his diebus in Arpinati, quod et ipse cupierat et ego non minus, mecum fuisset! quod ad Pomponiam, si tibi videtur, scribas velim, cum aliquo exibimus, eat nobiscum puerumque educat: clamores efficiam, si eum mecum habuero otiosus, nam Romae respirandi non est locus. Id me scis antea gratis tibi esse pollicitum: quid nunc putas, tanta mihi abs te mercede proposita? Venio nunc ad tuas litteras, quas pluribus epistulis accepi, dum sum in Arpinati; nam mihi uno die tres sunt redditae, et quidem, ut videbantur, eodem abs te datae tempore, una pluribus verbis, in qua primum erat, quod antiquior dies in tuis fuisset ascripta litteris quam in Caesaris: id facit Oppius nonnumquam necessario, ut, cum tabellarios constituerit mitter litterasque a nobis acceperit, aliqua re nova impediatur et necessario serius, quam constituerat, mittat neque nos datis iam epistulis diem commutari curemus. 9. Scribis de Caesaris summo in nos amore: hunc et tu fovebis et nos, quibuscumque poterimus rebus, augebimus. De Pompeio et facio diligenter et faciam, quod mones. Quod tibi mea permissio mansionis tuae grata est, id ego summo meo dolore et desiderio tamen ex parte gaudeo. In Hippodamo et nonnullis aliis arcessendis quid cogites, non intelligo: nemo istorum est, qui non abs te munus fundi suburbani instar exspectet. Trebatium vero meum quod isto admisceas nihil est: ego illum ad Caesarem misi, qui mihi iam satisfecit; si ipsi minus, praestare nihil debeo teque item ab eo vindico et libero. Quod scribis te a Caesare quotidie plus diligi, immortaliter gaudeo; Balbum vero, qui est istius rei, quemadmodum scribis, adiutor, in oculis fero. Trebonium meum a te amari teque ab illo pergaudeo. 10. De tribunatu quod scribis, ego vero nominatim petivi Curtio, et mihi ipse Caesar nominatim Curtio paratum esse rescripsit meamque in rogando verecundiam obiurgavit. Si cui praeterea petiero—id quod etiam Oppio dixi ut ad illum scriberet—, facile patiar mihi negari, quoniam illi, qui mihi molesti sunt, sibi negari a me non facile patiuntur. Ego Curtium, id quod ipsi dixi, non modo rogatione, sed etiam testimonio tuo diligo, quod litteris tuis studium illius in salutem nostram facile perspexi. De Britannicis rebus cognovi ex tuis litteris nihil esse nec quod metuamus nec quod gaudeamus. De publicis negotiis, quae vis ad te Tironem scribere, negligentius ad te ante scribebam, quod omnia minima maxima ad Caesarem mitti sciebam. IV. 11. Rescripsi epistulae maximae; audi nunc ad minusculam, in qua primum est de Clodii ad Caesarem litteris; in quo Caesaris consilium probo, quod tibi amantissime petenti veniam non dedit, uti ullum ad illam furiam verbum rescriberet. Alterum est, de Calventii Marii oratione quod scribis: miror tibi placere me ad eam rescribere, praesertim cum illam nemo lecturus sit, si ego nihil rescripsero, meam in illum pueri omnes tamquam dictata perdiscant. Libros meos, [omnes] quos exspectas, inchoavi, sed conficere non possum his diebus; orationes efflagitatas pro Scauro et pro Plancio absolvi. Poema ad Caesarem, quod composueram, incidi; tibi, quod rogas, quoniam ipsi fontes iam sitiunt, si quid habebo spatii, scribam. 12. Venio ad tertiam. Valbum quod ais mature Romam bene comitatum esse venturum mecumque assidue usque ad Idus Maias futurum, id mihi pergratum perque iucundum. Quod me in eadem epistula, sicut saepe antea, cohortaris ad ambitionem et ad laborem, faciam equidem, sed quando vivemus? 13. Quarta epistula mihi reddita est Idibus Sept., quam a. d. IIII. Idus Sext. ex Britannia dederas. In ea nihil sane erat novi praeter Erigonam—quam si ab Oppio accepero, scribam ad te, quid sentiam, nec dubito, quin mihi placitura sit—, et, quod paene praeterii, de eo, quem scripsisti de Milonis plausu scripsisse ad Caesarem: ego vero facile patior ita Caesarem existimare, illum quam maximum fuisse plausum; et prorsus ita fuit et tamen ille plausus, qui illi datur, quodam modo nobis videtur dari. 14. Reddita etiam mihi est pervetus epistula, sed sero allata, in qua de aede Telluris et de porticu Catuli me admones: fit utrumque diligenter; ad Telluris quidem etiam tuam statuam locavi. Item de hortis me quod admones, nec fui umquam valde cupidus et nunc domus suppeditat mihi hortorum amoenitatem. Romam cum venissem a. d. XIII. Kal. Octobres, absolutum offendi in aedibus tuis tectum, quod supra conclavia non placuerat tibi esse multorum fastigiorum: id nunc honeste vergit in tectum inferioris porticus. Cicero noster, dum ego absum, non cessavit apud rhetorem: de eius eruditione quod labores, nihil est, quoniam ingenium eius nosti, studium ego video; cetera eius sic suscipio, ut me putem praestare debere. V. 15. Gabinium tres adhuc factiones postulant: L. Lentulus, flaminis filius, qui iam de maiestate postulavit; Ti. Nero cum bonis subscriptoribus; C. Memmius tribunus pl. cum L. Capitone. Ad urbem accessit a. d. XII. Kal. Octobr.: nihil turpius nec desertius; sed his iudiciis nihil audeo confidere. Quod Cato non valebat, adhuc de pecuniis repetundis non erat postulatus. Pompeius a me valde contendit de reditu in gratiam, sed adhuc nihil profecit nec, si ullam partem libertatis tenebo, proficiet. 16. Tuas litteras vehementer exspecto. Quod scribis te audisse, in candidatorum consularium coitione me interfuisse, id falsum est; eiusmodi enim pactiones in ea coitione factae sunt, quas postea Memmius patefecit, ut nemo bonus interesse debuerit, et simul mihi committendum non fuit, ut iis coitionibus interessem, quibus Messala excluderetur. Cui quidem vehementer satisfacio rebus omnibus, ut arbitror, etiam Memmio; Domitio ipsi multa iam feci, quae voluit quaeque a me petivit; Scaurum beneficio defensionis valde obligavi. Adhuc erat valde incertum, et quando comitia et qui consules futuri essent. 17. Cum hanc iam epistulam complicarem, tabellarii a vobis venerunt a. d. XI. Kal. Septembr. vicesimo die. O me sollicitum! quantum ego dolui in Caesaris suavissimis litteris! Scilicet, quo erant suaviores, eo maiorem dolorem illius ille casus afferebat. Sed ad tuas venio litteras. Primum tuam remansionem etiam atque etiam probo, praesertim cum, ut scribis, cum Caesare communicaris. Oppium miror quidquam cum Publio; mihi enim non placuerat. 18. Quod interiore epistula scribis, me Idibus Septembribus Pompeio legatum iri, id ego non audivi scripsique ad Caesarem neque Vibullium Caesaris mandata de mea mansione ad Pompeium pertulisse nec Oppium. Quo consilio? quamquam Oppium ego tenui, quod priores partes Vibullii erant; cum eo enim coram Caesar egerat, ad Oppium scripserat. Ego vero nullas deut°raw front¤daw habere possum in Caesaris rebus: ille mihi secundum te et liberos nostros ita est, ut sit paene par. Videor id iudicio facere—iam enim debeo—; sed tamen amore sum incensus. VI. 19. Cum scripsissem haec infima, quae sunt mea manu, venit ad nos Cicero tuus ad coenam, cum Pomponia foris coenaret. Dedit mihi epistulam legendam tuam, quam paullo ante acceperat, Aristophaneo modo valde mehercule et suavem et gravem; qua sum admodum delectatus. Dedit etiam alteram illam mihi, qua iubes eum mihi esse affixum tamquam magistro. Quam illum epistulae illae delectarunt, quam me! nihil puero illo suavius, nihil nostri amantius. Haec inter coenam Tironi dictavi, ne mirere alia manu esse. 20. Annali pergratae litterae tuae fuerunt, quod et curares de se diligenter et tamen consilio se verissimo iuvares. P. Servilius pater ex litteris, quas sibi a Caesare missas esse dicebat, significat valde te sibi gratum fecisse, quod de sua voluntate erga Caesarem humanissime diligentissimeque locutus esses. 21. Cum Romam ex Arpinati revertissem, dictum mihi est Hippodamum ad te profectum esse. Non possum scribere me miratum esse illum tam inhumaniter fecisse, ut sine meis litteris ad te proficisceretur: illud scribo, mihi molestum fuisse; iam enim diu cogitaveram ex eo, quod tu ad me scripseras, ut, si quid esset, quod ad te diligentius perferri vellem, illi darem, quod mehercule hisce litteris, quas vulgo ad te mitto, nihil fere scribo, quod si in alicuius manus inciderit, moleste ferendum sit. Minucio me et Salvio et Labeoni reservabam: Labeo aut tarde proficiscetur aut hic manebit. 22. Hippodamus ne numquid vellem quidem rogavit. T. Pinarius amabiles ad me de te litteras mittit: se maxime litteris, sermonibus, coenis denique tuis delectari. Is homo semper me delectavit fraterque eius mecum est multum: quare, uti instituisti, complectere adolescentem. VII. 23. Quod multos dies epistulam in manibus habui propter commorationem tabellariorum, ideo multa coniecta sunt aliud alio tempore, velut hoc: T. Anicius mihi saepe iam dixit sese tibi, suburbanum si quod invenisset, non dubitaturum esse emere. In eius sermone ego utrumque soleo admirari, et te de suburbano emendo, cum ad illum scribas, non modo ad me non scribere, sed etiam aliam in sententiam scribere, et, cum ad illum scribas, nihil te recordari de epistulis illis, quas in Tusculano eius tu mihi ostendisti, nihil de praeceptis Epicharmi, gn«yi, p«w llŸ k°xrhtai, totum denique vultum, sermonem, animum eius, quemadmodum coniicio, quasi [dedidicisse.] [Footnote adds this to text. Loeb explains it was added by Wesenberg.] 24. Sed haec tu videris: de suburbano cura ut sciam, quid velis, et simul, ne quid ille turbet, vide. Quid praeterea? quid? Etiam. Gabinius a. d. IIII. Kal. Octobr. noctu in urbem introierat: [et] hodie hora VIII., cum edicto C. Alfii de maiestate eum adesse oporteret, concursu magno et odio universi populi paene afflictus est. Nihil illo turpius; proximus tamen est Piso: itaque mirificum embolium cogito in secundum librorum meorum includere, dicentem Apollinem in concilio deorum, qualis reditus duorum imperatorum futurus esset, quorum alter exercitum perdidisset, alter vendidisset. 25. Ex Britannia Caesar ad me Kal. Septembr. dedit litteras, quas ego accepi, a. d. IIII. Kal. Octobr., satis commodas de Britannicis rebus, quibus, ne admirer, quod a te nullas acceperim, scribit se sine te fuisse, cum ad mare accesserit. Ad eas ego ei litteras nihil rescripsi, ne gratulandi quidem causa, propter eius luctum. Te oro etiam atque etiam, mi frater, ut valeas.