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. 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 superbos. 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.

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, 6 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 Baie situated.

was

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

profisiscemur, ut Antii simus a. d. v. non. Mai.": 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 Bownidos! 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 Sampsiceramus, quum se omnium sermonibus sentiet vapulare, et quum has actiones evavarρETTOUS videbit, ruere incipiat.

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

1 Bibulus had informed Atticus that the Comitia were about to be postponed.

2 Clodia, the wife of Clodius, is called Bów, "ox-eyed "; an epithet given to Juno by Homer.

3

Pompey is playfully called

by this long name; because he had taken captive a petty chieftain, so called, in Colosyria.

4Capable of being easily overturned:" from, and ἀνατρέπω.

nunc tabescimus, malim ¿vrupavveiota, quam cum optimâ spe dimicare.

6

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 8 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 rugavvw.

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

X.

(ATT. II. 20.)

Scr. Rome, 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 res. Simul ac quid erit certi, scribam ad te. Si erit pugnandum, arcessam ad societatem laboris: si quies dabitur, ab Amaltheâ te non commovebo.

4

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

Three persons are here mentioned, who had been introduced to Cicero by Atticus.

2 The great grammarian and critic. He was endeavouring to preserve friendship be

tween Pompey and Cicero.
3 Practised in business";
"clever."

4

Supply te. For Amalthea, see Ep. 5.

5 In allegories"; "figurative language."

jam clare gemant, tamen medicina nulla afferatur. Neque enim resisti sine internecione posse arbitramur: nec videmus, qui finis cedendi, præter exitium, futurus sit. Bibulus, hominum admiratione et benevolentiâ, in cœlo est. Edicta ejus et conciones describunt et legunt. Novo quodam genere in summam gloriam venit. Populare nunc nihil tam est, quam odium popularium. Hæc quo sint erupturæ, timeo. Sed, si dispicere quid cœpero, scribam ad te apertius.

7

Tu, si me amas tantum, quantum profecto amas; expeditus facito ut sis; si inclamaro, ut accurras. Sed do operam, et dabo, ne sit necesse. Quod scripseram, te Furium scripturum: nihil necesse est tuum nomen mutare. Me faciam Lælium, et te Atticum; neque utar meo chirographo, neque signo; si modo erunt ejusmodi literæ, quas in alienum incidere nolim.

8

Diodotus mortuus est: reliquit nobis H. s. fortasse centum '.

Comitia Bibulus cum Archilochio 10 edicto in ante diem xv Kal. 11 Novemb. distulit.

A Vibio 12 libros accepi. scit nihil; et est non inutilis.

13

Poeta ineptus nec tamen
Describo et remitto.

priere) was a severe satirist; whence archilochius is an epithet meaning "severe," "virulent."

11 That is, 18th October. The ante is usually put before diem, instead of before calendas.

12 Perhaps, Vibius Pansa, an author alluded to by Pliny. Atticus commissioned him to send some books to Cicero.

13 Alexander of Ephesus, called alsoLychnus, who wrote a Cosmography in verse, is here alluded to.