19 ἐν τοῖς πολιτικοῖς honestum, nihil illustre, nihil forte, nihil liberum. Sed hæc ad te scribam alias subtilius. Nam neque adhuc mihi satis nota sunt: et huic terræ filio 20, nescio cui, committere epistolam tantis de rebus non audeo. Provincias 21 prætores nondum sortiti sunt 2. Res, eodem est loco, quo reliquisti. Tonoberiav 23, quam postulas, Miseni, et Puteolorum, includam orationi meæ. A. d. 24 III non. Decembr. mendose fuisse animadverteram. Quæ laudas ex ora tionibus, mihi crede, valde mihi placebant: sed non audebam antea dicere. Nunc vero, quod a te probata sunt, multa mihi άTтıxάтερa 25 videntur. In illam orationem Metellinam 26 addidi quædam. Liber tibi mittetur; quoniam te amor nostri pλopýτopa 27 reddidit. Novi tibi quidnam scribam? quid? etiam. Messala consul Autronianam 28 domum emit LLS XXXVII 29. Quid ad me, inquies? tantum, quod eâ emptione et nos bene emisse 30 judicati sumus: et homines intelligere cœperunt, licere amicorum facultatibus in emendo ad dignitatem aliquam pervenire. of Teucris 31 illa lentum negotium est, sed tamen est in 19 In political matters. mean rank was called against Metellus Nepos, which has not come down to us. 27 Attached to rhetoric or oratory. 28 A house which had belonged to Autronius Pætus, who had been banished for conspiracy. 29 With XXXVII supply centena millia; so that the sum would be 3,700,000 sesterces, which calculate in English money. See Ep. I. Note. 30 He refers to his own bargain, made some time before, for the house of Crassus, for which his friends said he had given too much. He borrowed the money for the purchase, but of whom is uncertain. 31 Literally," the Trojan woman." Some say it means spe. Tu insta, confice. A nobis liberiorem 32 epistolam expecta. VI Kalend. Feb.; M. Messalâ et M. Pisone coss. Antony, who did not repay Cicero some money he had lent him. 32 A letter more fully and VI. openly disclosing circumstances, than that which he now ventured to send, from his distrust of the carrier. (ATT. II. 4.) Scr. in Tusculano, A.U.C. 694. Cicero thanks Atticus for sending Serapion's book:-requests him to treat with Titinius:—expresses his pleasure that Clodius quits Rome:-can promise nothing about the completion of his geographical work :—asks for news from Rome :—his delight at Terentia's grove :-invites Atticus to his Formian or Pompeian Villa:-states, that he had given orders for the repair of his house-wall. CICERO ATTICO, S. FECISTI mihi pergratum, quod Serapionis librum' ad me misisti ex quo quidem ego (quod inter nos liceat dicere) millesimam partem vix intelligo. Pro eo tibi præsentem pecuniam solvi imperavi, ne tu expensum muneribus ferres. 5 At quoniam nummorum mentio facta est, amabo te", cura, ut cum Titinio, quoquo modo poteris, transigas. Si in eo, quod ostenderat, non stat1, mihi maxime placet, ea, quæ male empta sunt, reddi, si voluntate Pomponiæ fieri poterit; si ne id quidem, nummi potius reddantur, quam ullus sit scrupulus. Valde hoc velim ante, quam proficiscare, amanter, ut soles, diligenterque conficias. 9 Clodius ergo, ut ais, ad Tigranem ? Velim, Scepsii' conditione: sed facile patior. Accommodatius enim nobis erit ad liberam legationem tempus illud, quum et Quintus noster jam, ut speramus, in otio consederit, et, iste sacerdos Bonæ Deæ cujus modi futurus sit, sciemus. Interea quidem cum Musis nos delectabimus animo æquo, immo vero etiam gaudenti, ac libenti. Neque mihi unquam veniet in mentem Crasso 10 invidere, neque pœnitere, quod a me ipse non desciverim. De geographia", dabo operam, ut tibi satisfaciam : sed nihil certi polliceor. Magnum opus est; sed tamen, ut jubes, curabo, ut hujus peregrinationis aliquod tibi opus exstet. Tu quidquid indagaris de republicâ, et maxime quos consules futuros putes, facito, ut sciam: tametsi minus sum curiosus. Statui enim, nihil jam de re publicâ cogitare. Terentiæ saltum12 perspeximus. Quid quæris? præter quercum Dodonæam nihil desideramus, quo minus Epirum ipsum possidere videamur. 13 14 Nos circiter Kalendas aut in Formiano erimus; aut in Pompeiano. Tu, si in Formiano non erimus, si nos amas, in Pompeianum venito. Id et nobis erit perjucun dum, et tibi non sane devium 15. 6 Supply ire vult. Tigranes was king of Armenia; and Clodius is stated to be desirous to go as ambassador to his court. 7 Metrodorus Scepsius lost his life, when sent as ambassador by Mithridates to Tigranes. Cicero wishes Clodius a similar fate. 8 The libera legatio was a privilege allowed to citizens of rank, of passing their time abroad, accompanied with lictors and other insignia of honour. The time was limited to five years. 9 Clodius, who had intruded himself, in woman's clothes, into the company of the Vestals, while sacrificing to Bona Dea. Alluded to in the preceding letter. 10 Crassus was one of the lately-formed Triumvirate. 11 Cicero had promised a treatise on Geography, during his travels. 12 Terentia had been planting a grove at Cicero's country house; which consisted chiefly of oaks. 13 See Lempriere, under Dodona. 14 The Formianum (near Formiæ) was one of Cicero's numerous villas, laid waste subsequently by Clodius. 15 "And, in fact, it will not be out of your way." Mark the signification of sane. De muro, imperavi Philotimo, ne impediret, quo minus id fieret, quod tibi videretur. Censeo tamen, adhibeas Vettium. His temporibus, tam dubiâ vitâ optimi cujusque, magni æstimo unius æstatis fructum palæstræ Palatinæ ", sed ita tamen, ut nihil minus velim, quam Pomponiam et puerum 18 versari in timore ruinæ. 17 Cicero assigns indolence as a reason why he has not completed a treatise on Geography he had promised; and mentions his intention of publishing àvíndora, or "Sketches" :-asks whether his brother Quintus has a prospect of being paid in Roman money, instead of Asiatic: and again alludes to the wall of his town house, on the Palatine Hill. CICERO ATTICO, S. QUOD tibi superioribus literis promiseram, fore, ut opus extaret hujus peregrinationis; nihil jam magnopere confirmo. Sic enim sum complexus otium, ut ab eo divelli non queam. Itaque aut libris me delecto, quorum habeo Antii festivam copiam: aut fluctus numero. Nam ad lacertos 1 captandos tempestates non sunt idoneæ. 1 There are, according to Pliny, three kinds of the fish called lacertus; the largest, the colias; the middle-sized, the graculus; and the smallest, A scomber, which last is here alluded to. The Italians call it macarello; the English, mackarel; from the Latin ma-' cula, 'a spot.' scribendo prorsus abhorret animus. Etenim yewypapıxix, quæ constitueram, magnum opus est; ita valde Eratosthenes', quem mihi proposueram; a Serapione, et ab Hipparcho, reprehenditur. Quid censes, si Tyrannio accesserit? et hercule sunt res difficiles ad explicandum, et ὁμοειδεῖς 4: nec tam possunt ἀνθηρογραφεῖσθαι, quam videbatur: et, quod caput est, mihi quævis satis justa causa cessandi est. Quin etiam dubitem, hîc, an Antii considam, et hoc tempus omne consumam; ubi quidem ego mallem Duumvirum, quam Romæ, me fuisse. Tu vero sapientior Buthroti domum parasti. Sed, mihi crede, proxima est illi municipio hæc Antiatium civitas. Esse locum tam prope Romam, ubi multi sunt, qui Vatinium' nunquam viderint! ubi nemo sit, præter me, qui quemquam ex vigintiviris vivum et salvum velit? ubi me interpellet nemo, diligant omnes? hîc nimirum TOλITEUTÉOV9. Nam istic non solum non licet, sed etiam tædet. Itaque ¿véxdota 1o, quæ tibi uni legamus, Theompompino" genere, aut etiam asperiore multo, pangentur. Neque aliud jam quicquam πo^tεúομa, nisi odisse impro 2 All three writers on Geography. See Lempriere. 3 Tyrannio was a celebrated scholar and schoolmaster: his first name was Theophrastus; but he received the name of Tyrannio from his severity. He was the instructor of Strabo, in his native place; and, after removing to Rome, taught a great number of noble boys; among whom were the children of Pompey, Lucullus. and the Ciceros. He is said to have collected above 30,000 books. 4 "Of a sameness of character." from iμou and dos. 5 "Embellished-treated in a flowery style," from äveos aud γράφω. "The title of Duumviri was given to the petty magistrates |