Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Cic. Att.]. | ||
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CXLII (A IV, 16)
TO ATTICUS (IN EPIRUS OR ON HIS JOURNEY TO ASIA)
The bare fact of my letter being by the hand of an amanuensis will be a
sign of the amount of my engagements. I have no fault to find with you as to
the number of your letters, but most of them told me nothing except where you
were, or at most shewed by the fact that they Came from you that no harm had
happened to you. Of this class of letters there were two which gave me very
great pleasure, dated by you from
,
which you praise to the skies, a mention of anyone by the interlocutors was
impossible, unless he had been known to or heard of by them, so in the
"Dialogue on the Republic," which I have begun, I have put the discussion in the
mouths of Africanus, Philus, Laelius, and Manilius. I have added two young
men, Q. Tubero and P. Rutilius, and the two sons-in-law of Laelius, Scaevola
and Fannius. So I am thinking how (since I employ introductions to each book,
as Aristotle
does in what he calls his "Exoterics") to contrive some pretext for naming your
friend in a natural way, as I understand is your wish. May I only be enabled
to carry out my attempt! For, as you cannot but observe, I have undertaken a
subject wide, difficult, and requiring the utmost leisure—the very thing that,
above all others, I lack. In those books which you commend you complain of the
absence of Scaevola among the speakers. Well, I did not withdraw him without a
set purpose, but I did exactly what that god of our idolatry, Plato, did in his
Republic. When Socrates had come to the
As to Pilia's business, which you mention, I will see to it. For the matter is quite clear, as you say, from the information supplied by Aurelianus, and in managing it I shall have also an opportunity of glorifying myself in my Tullia's eyes. I am supporting Vestorius: for I know that it gratifies you, and I am careful that he should understand that to be the case. But do you know the sort of man he is? Though he has two such good-natured people to deal with, nothing can exceed his impracticability. Now as to what you ask about Gaius Cato. You know that he was acquitted under the lex Junia Licinia : [Note]
I have to tell you that he will be acquitted under the lex Fufia, [Note] and not so much to the satisfaction of his defenders as of his accusers. However, he has become reconciled to myself and Milo. Drusus has had notice of prosecution by Lucretius. The 3rd of July is the day fixed for challenging his jurors. About Procilius [Note] there are sinister rumours—but you know what the courts are. Hirrus is on good terms with Domitius. [Note] The senatorial decree which the present consuls have carried about the provinces—"whoever henceforth, etc."—does not seem to me likely to have any effect.
As to your question about Messalla, I don't know what to say: I have never seen
candidates so closely matched. Messalla's means of support you know. Scaurus
has had notice of prosecution from Triarius. If you ask me, no great feeling
of sympathy for him has been roused. Still, his aedileship is remembered with
some gratitude, and he has a certain hold on the country voters from the memory of his father. The two remaining plebeian candidates have compensating
advantages which make them about equal:
Domitius Calvinus is strong in friends, and is farther supported by his very
popular exhibition of gladiators; Memmius finds favour with Caesar's veterans
and relies on Pompey's client towns in
I have answered your letter brought by Paccius: Now allow yourself to be scolded, if you deserve it. For you say in the letter
from
urged. this on you before you had taken any step. For I certainly
should have had some influence on you. As things are, I will suppress the rest
of my scolding. May it only have some effect in hastening your return! The
reason of my not writing oftener to you is the uncertainty I am in as to where
you are or are going to be. However, I thought I ought to give this letter to
a chance messenger, because be seemed to be likely to see you. Since you think
you really will go to
Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Cic. Att.]. | ||
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