XLIV.

(AD DIV. XVI. 9.)

Scr. Brundisii, Iv Kal. Dec. 703.

Cicero gives to his beloved freedman and secretary, Tiro, whom he had left behind in Greece, details of his voyage homewards :— recommends him a strict attention to his health, which was indifferent.

M. TULLIUS ET CICERO ET QUINTUS, TIRONI, S. P. D. Nos a te, ut scis, discessimus a. d. iv Non. Novembr. Leucadem venimus a. d. vIII Idus Novembr., a. d. vII, Actium. Ibi propter tempestatem a. d. vi Idus morati sumus. Inde a. d. quintum Idus Corcyram bellissime. navigavimus. Corcyræ fuimus usque a. d. xvi Kal. Decembr. tempestatibus retenti. A. d. xv Kal. Dec. in portum Corcyræorum ad Cassiopen stadia' cxx processimus. Ibi retenti ventis sumus usque a. d. 1x Kalendas. Interea, qui cupide profecti sunt, multi naufragia fecerunt. Nos eo die cœnati solvimus2. Inde Austro lenissimo, cœlo sereno, nocte illâ, et die postero in Italiam ad Hydruntem, ludibundi, pervenimus; eodemque vento postridie (id erat a. d. vII Kal. Dec.) horâ quartâ Brundisium venimus; eodemque tempore simul nobiscum in oppidum introiit Terentia; quæ te facit plurimi1.

A. d. v Kal. Decemb. servus Gr. Plancii Brundisii tandem aliquando mihi a te exspectatissimas literas reddidit, datas Idibus Novembr. quæ me molestiâ valde levarunt; utinam omnino levassent! Sed tamen Asclapo medicus plane confirmat, propediem te valentem fore. Nunc quid ego te horter, ut omnem diligentiam adhibeas ad convalescendum? Tuam prudentiam, temperantiam, amorem erga me novi. Scio te omnia facturum, ut nobiscum quam primum sis. Sed tamen ita velim, ut ne quid,

1 The Romans usually reckoned distances by the stadium, which was about the eighth part of our mile. See Lempriere, at the end.

2 "After dinner, we set sail;" funem, understood. 3 Now Otranto, 150 stadia from Brundisium.

4 "Esteems you highly."

properes. Symphoniam Lysonis vellem vitasses, ne in quartam hebdomada incideres. Sed quum pudori' tuo maluisti obseqni, quam valitudini, reliqua cura. Curio misi, ut medico honos haberetur, et tibi daret, quod opus esset; me, cui jussisset, curaturum. Equum et mulum Brundisii tibi reliqui. Romæ vereor, ne ex Kal. Jan.' magni tumultus sint. Nos agemus omnia modice. Reliquum est, ut te hoc rogem, et a te petam, ne temere naviges. Solent nautæ festinare quæstus sui causâ. Cautus sis, mi Tiro. Mare magnum et difficile tibi restat. Si poteris, cum Mescinio. Caute is solet navigare. Si minus, cum honesto aliquo homine, cujus auctoritate navicularius moveatur. In hoc omnem diligentiam si adhibueris, teque nobis incolumem stiteris 10, omnia a te habebo. Etiam atque etiam, noster Tiro, vale. Medico, Curio, Lysoni de te scripsi diligentissime. Vale, salve.

[This epistle is to Tiro, Cicero's favourite and confidential freedman, whom he had left ill at Athens. Tiro is said to have been a man of great literary ability; to have been the inventor of short-hand; and he moreover, after Cicero's death, collected and published his Letters.

The young student will trace Cicero's journey on the Map; and also give the days of the month, in the English mode of computation.]

5 A concert and banquet at the house of Lyso, a wealthy Athenian.

6 The hebdomas, or seventh day, was considered by the ancients as a critical day, in any complaint. Cicero fears lest Tiro should undergo the critical period a fourth time.

7 66 "Your respect for your entertainer."

8 "I have sent word to Cu

rius, to take care that the physician have his fees."

The day the new consuls entered on their office. The tumults were expected to take place, owing to the disputes about Cæsar's command in Gaul.

10 From sisto. This tense is of rare occurrence in the simple verb.

XLV.

(ATT. IX. 18.)

Scr. Arpini, Iv Kal. Apr. 704.

Cicero, who has now been some time in Italy, after his return, gives an account to Atticus of an interview he had had with Cæsar.

4

CICERO ATTICO, S.

UTRUMQUE ex tuo consilio1. Nam et oratio fuit ea nostra, ut bene potius ille de nobis existimaret, quam gratias ageret; et in eo mansimus, ne ad urbem2. Illa3 fefellerunt, facilem quod putaramus. Nihil vidi minus. Damnari se nostro judicio, tardiores fore reliquos, si nos non venerimus, dicere. Ego dissimilem illorum esse causam. Quum multa; veni igitur, et age de pace. Meone, inquam, arbitratu? an tibi, inquit, ego præscribam? sic, inquam, agam, Senatui non placere in Hispanias iri, nec exercitus in Græciam transportari; multaque, inquam, de Cnæo' deplorabo. Tum ille: Ego vero ista dici nolo. Ita putabam, inquam; sed ego eo nolo adesse, quod aut sic mihi dicendum est, multaque quæ nullo modo possem silere, si adessem; aut non veniendum. Summa fuit, ut ille quasi exitum quærens ut deliberarem. Non fuit negandum. Ita discessimus. Credo igitur hunc me non amare. At ego me amavi'; quod mihi jampridem usu non venit. Reliqua1o, o Dii, qui comitatus! quæ, ut tu soles dicere, vexvía11! in quâ

8

complain of the treatment Pompey has suffered."

8 Endeavouring to obtain this of me, as the result of his interview, asked this:" supply peteret.

9 Was satisfied with my

self."

10 Quod ad, understood.

11 What a retinue was his! What a set of infernal beings!"

66

13

15

erat area 12 scelerum. O rem perditam! o copias desperatas! quid, quod Servii 13 filius, quod Titinii, in his castris fuerunt, quibus Pompeius circumsideretur! Sex habet legiones 14. Multum vigilat, audet: nullum video finem mali. Nunc certe promenda tibi sunt consilia. Hoc fuerat extremum. Illa tamen xataxλɛìç 13 illius est odiosa, quam pæne præterii: si sibi consiliis nostris uti non liceret, usurum, quorum posset, ad omniaque esse descensurum. "Vidisti igitur virum, ut scripseras, et ingemuisti ?" Certe. Cedo reliqua." Quid? continuo ipse in Pedanum, ego Arpinum". Inde exspecto quidem λaλayevσav 18 illam tuam. “Tu, (malum)," inquies, “actum ne agas Etiam illum ipsum, quem sequimur, multa fefellerunt. Sed ego tuas literas exspecto. Nihil est enim jam, ut antea, videamus hoc quorsum evadat 20. Extremum fuit de congressu nostro; quo quidem non dubito quin istum offenderim. Eo maturius agendum est. Amabo te epistolam, et OλITIK. Valde tuas literas nunc exspecto.

19 39

[The account of an interview with Cæsar forms part of this letter. The latter, being in the neighbourhood of Cicero's villa at Arpinum, pays him a visit, with the intention of learning his views as to himself and Pompey, and inducing him to go to Rome and produce a reconciliation. The letter is full of colloquial ellipses.]

12 What a scene of miscreants. Scelerum for scelestorum. The readings of this passage vary very much.

13 The fathers of these young men, now in Cæsar's camp, were friends of Cicero, and, as such, probably adherents to Pompey.

14 That is, Cæsar. He was now in Italy with his army, after having passed the Rubicon; for which he was declared, by the senate, an enemy of his country.

15 The last clause or expression Cæsar made use of, at the interview: from xatαxacía," to close," "conclude."

XLVI.

(ATT. XII. 3.)

Scr. in Tusculano, mense Junio, 707.

Cicero gives a commission to Atticus about a debt due to him from Meto; and details the three modes for its recovery.

CICERO ATTICO, S.

1

UNUM te puto minus blandum, quam me; et, si uterque nostrum est aliquando adversus aliquem, inter nos certe nunquam sumus. Audi me igitur hoc ἀγοητεύτως dicentem. Ne vivam, mi Attice, si mihi non modo Tusculanum, ubi cæteroqui sum libenter, sed μaxápwv vñoos2 tanti sunt, ut sine te sim tot dies. Quare obduretur hoc triduum3; ut te quoque ponam in eodem ¬άłɛ1: quod ita est profecto. Sed velim scire, hodiene statim de auctione, aut quo die venias. Ego me interea cum libellis . Ac moleste fero Vennonii me historiam non habere. Sed tamen, ne nihil de re3, nomen illud, quod a Cæsare 10, tres habet conditiones: aut emptionem ab

7