Caesar dines with Cicero, Dec. 19, 45 B.C.
O hospitem mihi tam gravem ἀμεταμέλητον! fuit enim periucunde. Sed cum secundis Saturnalibus ad Philippum vesperi venisset, villa ita completa militibus est, ut vix triclinium, ubi cenaturus ipse Caesar esset, vacaret; quippe hominum ⅭⅠↃ ⅭⅠↃ. 5 Sane sum commotus, quid futurum esset postridie; at mihi Barba Cassius subvenit: custodes dedit. Castra in agro, villa defensa est. Ille tertiis Saturnalibus apud Philippum ad h. VII, nec quemquam admisit: rationes opinor cum Balbo. Inde ambulavit 10 in litore; post h. viii in balneum; unctus est, accubuit. Et edit et bibit ἀδεῶς et iucunde, opipare sane et apparate, nec id solum, sed
bene cocto,
condito, sermone bono et, si quaeri’, libenter.
Praeterea tribus tricliniis accepti οἱ περὶ αὐτὸν valde copiose. Libertis minus lautis servisque nihil defuit: nam lautiores eleganter accepti. Quid multa? homines visi sumus. Hospes tamen non is, cui diceres: ‘amabo te, eodem ad me, cum revertere’: semel 20 satis est. Σπουδαῖον οὐδὲν in sermone, φιλόλογα multa. Quid quaeris? delectatus est et libenter fuit. Puteolis se aiebat unum diem fore, alterum ad Baias. Habes hospitium sive ἐπισταθμείαν, odiosam mihi, dixi, non molestam. 25
Cicero, Ep. ad Att. xiii. 52.
Subject. We here catch a glimpse of Caesar as he really was. He had spent a night near Puteoli (where Cicero also had a villa) with Philippus, the step-father of Octavianus. The Dictator proposed a visit, and Cicero in this memorable letter describes to Atticus what happened.
1 O hospitem . . . ἀμεταμέλητον! = Oh, what a formidable guest to have had, and yet I have had no reason to repent of it (ἀμεταμέλητον).
10 rationes (sc. conferebat) . . . Balbo = he was settling accounts with Balbus, I suppose. L. Cornelius Balbus, a native of Gades (Cadiz), was Caesar’s confidential secretary and faithful friend. He was the first enfranchised foreigner who attained to the highest magistracy (Consul 40 B.C.).
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