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quod mater abest, sine quâ edacitatem pueri pertimesco. Sed sumus una tamen valde multum. nia, mi suavissime et optime frater.

Rescripsi ad om

XXXI.

(AD DIV. VII. 18.)

Scr. Roma, 700.

Cicero praises the hardihood Trebatius displayed in supporting the toils of war :-jokes on his apparent scarcity of paper :promises to give him a letter of recommendation to Balbus ; and states that he will be absent from Rome during April.

runt.

CICERO TREBATIO.

ACCEPI a te aliquot epistolas uno tempore, quas tu diversis temporibus dederas: in quibus me cætera delectaSignificabant enim, te istam militiam jam firmo animo ferre, et esse fortem virum et constantem. Quæ ego paullisper in te ita desideravi, non imbecillitate animi tui, sed magis ut desiderio nostri te æstuare putarem. Quare perge, ut cœpisti; forti animo istam tolera militiam. Multa, mihi crede, assequere. Ego enim renovabo commendationem; sed tempore. Sic habeto, non tibi majori esse curæ, ut iste tuus a me discessus quam fructuosissimus tibi sit, quam mihi. Itaque, quando vestræ cautiones infirmæ sunt, Græculam tibi misi cautionem' chirographi mei.

Tu me vehm de ratione Gallici belli certiorem facias. Ego enim ignavissimo cuique maximam fidem habeo. Sed, ut ad epistolas tuas redeam, cætera belle: illud miQuis solet eodem exemplo plures dare, qui suâ

ror.

1 Cicero had given Trebatius letters of recommendation, here called cautiones, for Cæsar. The Græcula cautio, here mentioned, alludes most

F

probably to the Greek poem now forwarded to Cæsar by Cicero, through Trebatius; containing, besides, a further recommendation of him.

manu scribit? Nam quod in palimpsesto3, laudo quidem parsimoniam. Sed miror, quid in illâ chartulâ fuerit. quod delere malueris, nisi forte tuas formulas. Non enim puto te meas epistolas delere, ut reponas tuas. An hoc significas, nihil fieri? frigere te? ne chartam quidem tibi suppeditare? Jam ista tua culpa est, qui verecundiam tecum extuleris, et non hic nobiscum reliqueris. Ego te Balbo, quum ad vos proficiscetur, more Romano commendabo. Tu, si intervallum longius erit mearum literarum, ne sis admiratus. Eram enim abfuturus mense Aprili. Has literas scripsi in Pomptino, quum ad villam Metrilii Philemonis divertissem: ex quâ jam audieram fremitum' clientium meorum, quos quidem tu mihi conciliasti. Nam Ulubris honoris mei causâ vim maximam ranunculorum se commosse constabat. VI Idus Aprilis, de Pomptino.

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Cura ut valeas.

ters of your own name.

The

5 "That you had not so much as a supply of paper." 6" With sincerity.' Romans had a good opinion of themselves.

7 Trebatius was the patron of the town of Ulubræ: Cicero jokingly says, that certain clients of Trebatius there, saluted him with an unanimous croaking.

XXXII.

(AD DIV. V. 18.)

Scr. Roma, 701.

A letter of consolation to Fadius, who was at present in exile.

M. CICERO S. D. T. FADIO.

ETSI egomet, qui te consolari cupio, consolandus ipse sum; propterea quod nullam rem gravius jamdiu tuli,

quam incommodum tuum: tamen te magnopere non hortor solum, sed etiam, pro amore nostro, rogo atque oro, te colligas, virumque præbeas, et, quâ conditione omnes homines, et, quibus temporibus nati simus, cogites. Plus tibi virtus tua dedit, quam fortuna abstulit: propterea quod adeptus es, quod non multi homines novi; amisisti, quæ plurimi homines nobilissimi. Ea denique videtur conditio impendere legum, judiciorum, temporum, ut optime actum cum eo videatur esse, qui quam levissimâ pœnâ ab hâc re publicâ discesserit. Tu vero, qui et fortunas et liberos habeas, et nos cæterosque necessitudine, et benivolentiâ tecum conjunctissimos; quumque magnam facultatem' sis habiturus, nobiscum, et cum omnibus tuis vivendi: et quum unum sit judicium, ex tam multis, quod reprehendatur, ut quod unâ sententiâ, eâque dubiâ, potentiæ alicujus condonatum existimetur: omnibus his de causis debes istam molestiam quam lenissime ferre. Meus animus erit in te, liberosque tuos semper, quem tu esse vis, et qui esse debet.

[This is a letter of consolation to a nobleman who had been condemned to exile in these tumultuous times. He had been quæstor during Cicero's consulship, and was his warm friend.]

1 Fadius seems to have been banished Rome, with permission, however, to dwell in Italy, and thus enjoy the company of his friends.

2 The allusion is supposed to be to Pompey; through whose enmity, not through his own fault, Fadius might have been punished.

XXXIII.

(ATT. V. 9.)

Scripta fortasse Actii, circ. xv Kal. Quint. 702.

Cicero informs his friend, that from Actium he was proceeding by land to Athens; and requests him to use all influence that his appointment of Proconsul should not continue above a year.

CICERO ATTICO, S.

ACTIUM venimus a. d. xvII Kal. Quint. quum quidem et Corcyræ et Sybotis muneribus tuis, quæ et

2

Areus', et meus amicus Eutychides opiparè, et piλonpoσnvéσtata nobis congesserant, epulati essemus Saliarem 3 in modum. Actio maluimus iter facere pedibus, qui* incommodissime navigassemus: et Leucatam flectere molestum videbatur. Actuariis autem minutis Patras accedere sine his impedimentis, non satis visum est decorum. Ego, ut sæpe tu me currentem hortatus es, quotidie meditor, præcipio meis, faciam denique, ut summâ modestiâ, et summâ abstinentiâ munus hoc extraordinarium' traducamus. Parthus, velim, quiescat, et fortuna nos juvet: nostra præstabimus. Tu, quæso, quid agas, ubi quoque tempore futurus sis, quales res nostras Romæ reliqueris, maxime de xxo et de Dccc cura ut sciamus. Id unis diligenter literis datis, quæ ad me utique perferantur, consequere. Illud tamen, (quoniam nunc abes, quum id non agitur: aderis autem ad tempus, ut mihi rescripsisti) memento curare per te, et per omnes nostros, in primis per Hortensium, ut annus noster maneat suo statu, ne quid novi decernatur. Hoc tibi ita mando, ut dubitem, an etiam te rogem, ut pugnes, ne intercaletur 10. Sed non audeo tibi omnia onera imponere. Annum quidem utique teneto. Cicero meus, molestissimus et

1 These were two agents of Atticus at Corcyra and Sybotæ, who had supplied Cicero with necessaries.

2 "Most kindly" or "agreeably."

3 Like the Saliares at Rome; an order of priests, dedicated to the service of Jupiter. Their banquets had the same reputation as those of the London aldermen. See Adams.

4 Qui, here, as is often the case, has the meaning of quia; and must have the subjunctive mood after it.

5 & 6 To proceed to Patræ in small passage-boats, and without the usual train of lictors &c., did not appear consistent

with etiquette.

7 The usual time for an appointment to a province as proconsul, was the year after the consulship.

8 Cicero expresses a wish that his government might not be disturbed by any incursion of the Parthians. Though differing from Falstaff in most other respects, he, like him, had a mortal aversion to war.

9 Two debts of 20,000 and 800,000 sesterces due to Cæsar.

10 That no days be added to his legal year of government, owing to any delay in the appointment of a suc

cessor.

suavissimus puer, tibi salutem dicit. Dionysium"1 semper equidem, ut scis, dilexi, sed quotidie pluris facio, et mehercule in primis, quod te amat, nec tui mentionem intermitti sinit.

11 Tutor to his son

[Cicero had been appointed proconsul to Cilicia this year. This letter, with many others, chiefly directed to Atticus, was written on his journey to, or during his residence in, that province.]

XXXIV.

(ATT. V. 11.)

Scr. Athenis, Prid. Non. Quint. 702.

As before, Cicero entreats that his Proconsulship may not be prolonged. Disapproves the proceeding of Marcelius in relation to an inhabitant of Comum. On Pompey's expedition to Spain. Details his own moderation, and that of his attendants, towards the provincials. Notices some requests of Atticus, and speaks of an epistle from Pilia.

CICERO ATTICO, S.

Hur! totiesne me literas dedisse Romam, quum ad te nullas darem? at vero posthac frustra potius dabo, quam, si recte dari potuerint, committam, ut non dem. Ne provincia nobis prorogetur, per fortunas! dum ades, quidquid provideri potest, provide. Non dici potest, quam flagrem desiderio urbis, quam vix harum rerum insulsitatem feram.

Marcellus fœdè de Comensi'; etsi ille magistratum non gesserat, erat tamen Transpadanus. Ita mihi videtur

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