IV.

(ATT. I. 2.)

Scr. Romæ, A. U. C. 688.

Cicero announces the birth of his son :-complains of receiving no letter: states his intention of defending Catiline, in a prosecution for peculation :—requests his friend to hasten his return to Rome.

CICERO ATTICO, S.

Ego de meis ad te

L. JULIO CÆSARE, C. Marcio Figulo consulibus', filiolo me auctum scito, salvâ Terentiâ 2. Abs te tam diu nihil literarum ? rationibus scripsi antea diligenter. Hoc tempore Catilinam 3 competitorem nostrum defendere cogitabamus. Judices habemus, quos voluimus, summâ accusatoris voluntate. Spero, si absolutus erit, conjunctiorem illum nobis fore in ratione petitionis: sin aliter acciderit, humaniter feremus.

Tuo adventu nobis opus est maturo; nam prorsus summa hominum est opinio, tuos familiares 5, nobiles homines, adversarios honori nostro fore. Ad eorum voluntatem mihi conciliandam maximo te mihi usui fore video. Quare Januario mense, ut constituisti, cura ut Romæ sis.

1 The word designatis is here understood, as these two were not consuls till the following year. The election of consuls took place in Quintilis, or July. For an account of the manner of election, the duties &c. of consuls, see Adams.

2 The wife of Cicero: owing to some disagreement, he divorced her subsequently.

3 The great conspirator. He intended, as well as Cicero, to

canvass for the consulship the following year. Cogitabamus, in this sentence, must be construed as a present-" we are purposing."

4 Judices answer somewhat to our Special Jurymen. See, in Adams, the modes of trial at Rome. Catiline was accused of extortion, and Cicero intends to defend him.

5 Probably, among others, Lucullus and Hortensius are here alluded to.

V.

(ATT. I. 13.)

Scr. Romæ, A. U. C. 692.

Cicero acknowledges the receipt of three letters: and apologises for writing seldom, owing to the little dependance he can put on messengers :-mentions a slight offered to him in the senate, and characterises the two consuls :-tells of an enormity committed by Clodius, who had been present, in female apparel, at a sacrifice made by the Vestals to Bona Dea. Of Pompey's insincerity. Of the delay of the Prætors in distributing the provincial offices. Expresses his pleasure that Atticus liked certain orations. Mentions the purchase Messala had made of Autronius's house:—and gives hopes that Teucris (Antony) will eventually pay a debt he owed.

CICERO ATTICO, S.

ACCEPI tuas tres jam epistolas, unam a M. Cornelio, quam Tribus Tabernis, ut opinor, ei dedisti; alteram, quam mihi Canusinus tuus hospes' reddidit; tertiam, quam, ut scribis, ancoris sublatis de phaselo dedisti, quæ fuerunt omnes rhetorum 2. Pure loquuntur, quum humanitatis sparsæ sale, tum insignes amoris notis. Quibus epistolis sum equidem abs te lacessitus ad scribendum ; sed idcirco sum tardior, quod non invenio fidelem tabellarium 3. Quotus enim quisque est, qui epistolam paullo graviorem ferre possit, nisi eam pellectione relevarit 1? Accedit eo, quod mihi non est notum, ut quisque in Epirum proficiscatur. Ego enim te arbitror, cæsis apud Amaltheam tuam victimis, statim esse ad Sicyonem oppugnandum profectum. Neque tamen id

1

6

'A friend of Atticus at Canusium.

2 That is, so elegantly and carefully composed, that they would seem the work of professed teachers of Rhetoric.

3 The messenger, who was usually a slave. The word also sometimes means the same as notarius, viz. the slave who wrote to his master's dictation.

4 Literally, "relieve or lighten it, by means of a perusal"; as if the reading of the contents rendered the letter less burdensome, minus gravem. Quotusquisque, at the beginning of the sentence, should be translated, "How few, if any."

5,6 Amalthea was the name of a villa which Atticus possessed in Epirus. The Sicyo

ipsum certum habeo, quando ad Antonium' proficiscare, aut quid in Epiro temporis ponas. Ita neque Achaïcis hominibus, neque Epiroticis paullo liberiores literas committere audeo. Sunt autem post discessum a me tuum res dignæ literis nostris, sed non committendæ, ejusmodi periculo, ut aut interire, aut aperiri, aut intercipi possint.

9

Primum igitur scito, primum non esse me rogatum sententiam, præpositumque esse nobis pacificatorem Allobrogum, idque admurmurante senatu, neque me invito esse factum. Sum enim et ab observando homine perverso liber, et ad dignitatem in re publicâ retinendam contra illius voluntatem solutus: et ille secundus in dicendo locus habet auctoritatem pæne principis, et voluntatem non nimis devinctam beneficio consulis. Tertius est Catulus, quartus, si etiam hoc quæris, Hortensius. Consul autem ipse parvo animo et pravo, tantum cavillator genere illo moroso, quod etiam sine dicacitate ridetur, facie magis, quam facetiis ridiculus; nihil agens cum republicâ, sejunctus ab optimatibus; a quo nihil speres boni reipublicæ, quia non vult; nihil metuas mali, quia non audet. Ejus autem collega et in me perhonorificus, et partium studiosus, ac defensor bonarum. Quinimmo leviter inter se dissident.

Sed vereor, ne hoc, quod infectum est, serpat longius.

nians owed Atticus money, which he was about to claim: so Cicero tells him, that, like a general, he had first to offer at Amalthea the usual victims for success, and then proceed against the enemy, that is, his creditors, at Sicyon.

7 Atticus had a letter of recommendation to Antony, from Cicero.

8 That is, Calphurnius Piso, a relation of the consul, who had settled the disputes of the Allobroges. It was the custom for the consul to call on the first consul of the year preceding, to give his opinion on any subject before any

other senator, from January to the end of July; and afterwards, the first consul elect, to the end of the year. Cicero evidently is sore at not having been asked to give his opinion first by the new consul; for, the consuls of the preceding year being absent, he had the first claim, as the first of consular rank.

"The privilege of speaking second. The first speaker was usually inclined, from respect, to favour, in his language, the sentiments of the consul The second was quite independent. Observando, above, signifies showing respect to."

66

11

12

Credo enim te audisse, quum apud Cæsarem pro populo fieret1o, venisse eo muliebri vestitu virum; ideoque sacrificium quum virgines instaurassent ", mentionem a Q. Cornificio in senatu factam : (is fuit princeps 12, ne tu forte aliquem nostrûm putes) postea rem ex senatûs-consulto ad pontifices 13 relatam, idque ab iis nefas esse decretum: deinde ex senatûs-consulto consules rogationem promulgasse 14; uxori Cæsarem nuntium remisisse. In hâc causâ Piso, amicitiâ P. Clodii ductus, operam dat, ut ea rogatio, quam ipse fert, et fert ex senatus-consulto et de religione, antiquetur 15. Messala vehementer adhuc agit severe. Boni viri precibus Clodii removentur a causâ ; operæ 16 comparantur; nosmetipsi, qui Lycurgei" a principio fuissemus, quotidie demitigamur. Instat et urget Cato. Quid multa? vereor, ne hæc, neglecta a bonis, defensa ab improbis, magnorum reipublicæ malorum causa sint.

Tuus autem ille amicus (scin' quem dicam 18?) de quo tu ad me scripsisti, postea quam non auderet reprehendere, laudare cœpisse, nos, ut ostendit, admodum diligit, amplectitur, amat, aperte laudat; occulte, sed ita, ut perspicuum sit, invidet. Nihil come, nihil simplex, nihil

10 The sacrifices were offering, at the house of Cæsar, to the Bona Dea." Facio, and its passive, fio, are usual in this sense. Apud, as in French, chez, means, with the accusative of a person-" at the house of."

11 It was necessary, if any interruption occurred during a sacrifice, to begin it anew: instaurare.

12 Was the first to make a motion on the subject.

13 The opinion of the Pontifices was always asked, in a case of sacrilege. See Adams.

14 Issued, or published, a Rogatio, which literally means

an asking" of the people, prior to a law being passed, whether they willed it to

pass, and would not oppose it by an intercession on the part of a tribune.

15

Antiquare legem or rogationem, is, "to reject," 66 or refuse to ratify it." Antiquare is properly said of a Rogatio ; abrogare, of a lex.

16 Properly, workmen or labourers; but here, men hired for the purpose of getting up a popular commotion against an individual, or a proposed law.

17 Vehement assertors of the law, after the example of Lycurgus, a celebrated orator at Athens, in the time of Æschines.

18 Pompey is here alluded to. He had just returned from the East.

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 2o, nescio cui, committere epistolam tantis de rebus non audeo.

20

Provincias 21 prætores nondum sortiti sunt 22. Res, eodem est loco, quo reliquisti.

Τοποθεσίαν 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 άτTάτερɑ25 videntur. In illam orationem Metellinam 26 addidi quædam. Liber tibi mittetur; quoniam te amor nostri popńτopa 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

31

Teucris illa lentum negotium est, sed tamen est in

19 In political matters.
20 Any unknown individual

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