bos, et id ipsum nullo cum stomacho, sed potius cum aliquâ scribendi voluptate.

13

Sed ut ad rem, scripsi ad quæstores 12 urbanos de Quinti fratris negotio. Vide, quid narrent, ecqua spes sit denarii, an cistophoro 3 Pompeiano jaceamus. Præterea de muro, statue, quid faciendum sit. Aliud quid? etiam. Quando te profisisci

12 See Adams on the office of quæstor.

13 The cistophorus was an eastern coin, about a fifth less in value than the Roman denarius; and was so called, from having on it the figure of a casket-bearer. Cicero's

putes, fac, ut sciam.

brother was somewhat unwilling to be paid, except in Roman money. Pompey had collected a large quantity of this eastern coin in Asia, for the purpose of paying his soldiers in the campaigns against Mithridates.

VIII.

(ATT. II. 8.)

Scr. in villá prope Antium, A.U.C. 694.

Cicero complains that the messenger had lost the letter Atticus had last written to him, and requests a copy :-states how cheering an account of affairs at Rome had been given by their young friend, Curio. Details the future progress of his journeys.

CICERO ATTICO, S.

EPISTOLAM quum a te avide expectarem ad vesperam, ut soleo, ecce tibi1 nuntius, pueros2 venisse Româ. Voco, quæro, ecquid literarum? negant. Quid ais, inquam, nihilne a Pomponio 3? perterriti voce et vultu confessi

The tibi here is a pleonasm, serving, at the same time, to arrest the attention of the person addressed. So in English, the expression, "There's for you."

2 Slaves were called pueri : particularly those born in the master's house.

3 Cicero asks the slaves if

they had no letter from Pomponius Atticus. It may be surmised, that slaves speaking to or of their master, and noblemen speaking to slaves of their master, used the nomen of the person, as marking respect; while the citizens addressed one another by their cognomina or prænomina.

6

sunt se accepisse, sed excidisse in viâ. Quid quæris? permoleste tuli. Nulla enim abs te per hos dies epistola inanis aliquâ re utili et suavi venerat. Nunc, si quid in eâ epistolâ, quam ante diem xvi Kal.1 Mai. dedisti, fuit historiâ dignum, scribe quamprimum, ne ignoremus: sin nihil præter jocationem, redde id ipsum? Et scito Curionem adolescentem venisse ad me salutatum. Valde ejus sermo de Publio cum tuis literis congruebat. Ipse vero mirandum in modum reges odisse superbosR. Peræque narrabat incensam esse juventu tem, neque ferre hæc posse. Bene habet: nos, si in his spes est, opinor, aliud agamus. Ego me do historiæ. Quanquam, licet me Saufeium 10 putes esse, nihil me est inertius.

7

Sed cognosce itinera nostra ; ut statuas, ubi nos visurus sis. In Formianum volumus venire Parilibus 11: inde, (quoniam putas prætermittendum nobis esse hoc tempore Cratera12 illum delicatum 13) Kal. Mai. de Formiano

4 The 16th of April.-A simple rule for finding the correspondent day of our months, when you have ante Kalendas of the Roman month given, is: Subtract the Roman numeral from 33, if the preceding month has 31 days; from 32, if it have 30; and from 30, if the preceding month is February, and the remainder is the day of the English month. Thus, in the instance before us, 'ante diem XVI Kal. Maias': since April has 30 days, 16 must be subtracted from 32, and XVI ante Kal. Maias will be the 16th of April.

5 "Give me even that."

6 A noble youth, who began by being attached to the party of Pompey, but ended with being a partisan of Cæsar, in whose cause he lost his life, in

Africa.

'Publius Clodius, who had declined going to Tigranes.

8 Part of a line from Lucilius. Supply the word cœpit.

9 ""Tis well." "Bravo!" An expression also used to applaud a successful hit in the Amphitheatre.

10 An individual mentioned by C. Nepos, in his Life of Atticus. He was an Epicurean, and, as appears from this passage, an indolent bon vivant.

A festival held on the 11th or 12th a. Kal. Maii, that is, the 20th or 21st of April. See Adams.

12 Alluding, from its shape, to the bay between Misenum and the Minervæ Promontorium, in which Baia was situated.

13 Properly, "full of delight.” Delicatus is plenus deliciarum.

profisiscemur, ut Antii simus a. d. v. non. Mai.1 : ludi enim Antii futuri sunt a Iv. ad prid. non. Mai.: eos Tullia spectare vult. Inde cogito in Tusculanum, deinde Arpinum, Romam ad Kal. Jun. Te aut in Formiano, aut Antii, aut in Tusculano, cura, ut videamus. Epistolam superiorem restitue nobis, et appinge aliquid novi.

14 Refer to the Roman Kalendar for the days of the English month corresponding

to this and the following Roman dates.

IX.

(ATT. II. 14.)

Scr. in Formiano, A.U.C. 694.

Cicero's anxiety for further information on certain subjects about which Atticus had written. He complains that he has no time for writing, owing to the interruption caused by the frequent visits of his neighbours at Formia.

CICERO ATTICO, S.

QUANTAM tu mihi moves expectationem de sermone Bibuli'! quantam de colloquio Bonidos! quantam etiam de illo delicato convivio! proinde ita fac; venies ad sitientes aures. Quanquam nihil est jam, quod magis timendum nobis putem, quam ne ille noster Sampsiceramus3, quum se omnium sermonibus sentiet vapulare, et quum has actiones evavaτρéπτous videbit, ruere incipiat.

4

Ego autem usque eò sum enervatus, ut hoc otio, quo

nunc tabescimus, malim évτupavveioba, quam cum optimâ spe dimicare.

8

De pangendo quod me crebro adhortaris, fieri nihil potest. Basilicam habeo, non villam, frequentiâ Formianorum. At quam parem basilicæ tribum Æmiliam?! Omitto vulgus; post horam Iv molesti ceteri non sunt. C. Arrius proximus est vicinus; immo ille quidem jam contubernalis; qui etiam se idcirco Romam ire negat, ut hîc mecum totos dies philosophetur. Ecce ex alterâ parte Sebosus, ille Catuli familiaris. Quo me vertam? statim mehercule Arpinum irem, ni te in Formianum commodissime exspectari viderem, duntaxat ad prid. non. Mai. Vides enim quibus hominibus aures sint deditæ meæ. Occasionem mirificam, si qui nunc, dum hi apud me sunt, emere de me fundum Formianum velit. Et tamen illud probem? "magnum quid aggrediamur, et multæ cogitationis, atque otii." " Sed tamen satisfiet a nobis 10 , neque parcetur labori.

5 To live under a tyranny": from iv, and Tugavvia.

Basilica, meaning, in Greek, 'royal abodes,' were, in Rome, large covered porticoes with galleries, capable of holding a large number of people, who assembled in them for business or pleasure. The Forum Romanum was almost surrounded by them. Some of them were afterwards converted into churches, still, in Italy, preserving the name basilica.

7 Cicero says, "How adapted in number, even to a basilica, is the whole Emilian

.tribe!" The Formians were of the Æmilian tribe; and resorted to him in such crowds as to make it appear that the whole tribe was in the neighbourhood. See Adams on the Tribes at Rome.

8 The fourth hour after sunrise; which must therefore vary. The Romans divided the time from the rising to the setting of the sun into twelve hours the night into four watches.

9 Doubtless, a quotation from an epistle from Atticus. 10 You shall be satisfied,

as far as I am concerned."

ט

X.

(ATT. II. 20.)

Scr. Roma, A.U.C. 694.

Cicero informs Atticus, that he has paid much attention to three persons whom Atticus had recommended. Describes the conduct of Varro, Pompey, and Clodius: and details the dangers that threatened the commonwealth. Recommends caution in the interchange of letters. Acquaints Atticus with the death of a friend, and his bequest :—the postponement of the Comitia:-and gives his opinion of Vibius a poet.

CICERO ATTICO, S.

ANICATO', ut te velle intellexeram, nullo loco defui. Numestium ex literis tuis, studiose scriptis, libenter in amicitiam recepi. Cæcilium, quibus rebus possum,

tueor diligenter.

2

Varro satisfacit nobis. Pompeius amat nos, carosque habet. "Credis?" inquies; credo: prorsus mihi persuadet. Non quia, ut video, pragmatici3 homines omnibus historiis, præceptis, versibus denique, cavere jubent, et vetant credere: alterum facio, ut caveam; alterum, ut non credam, facere non possum.

Clodius adhuc mihi denuntiat periculum; Pompeius affirmat, non esse periculum; adjurat; addit etiam, se prius occisum iri ab eo, quam me violatum iri. Tractatur Simul ac quid erit certi, scribam ad te. Si erit pugnandum, arcessam ad societatem laboris: si quies dabitur, ab Amaltheâ te non commovebo.

res.

5

De re publicâ breviter ad te scribam. Jam enim, charta ipsa ne nos prodat, pertimesco. Itaque posthac, si erunt mihi plura ad te scribenda, λλnyopícıs3 obscurabo. Nunc quidem novo quodam morbo civitas moritur; ut, quum omnes ea, quæ sunt acta, improbent, querantur, doleant, varietas in re nullâ sit, aperteque loquantur, et