Me tuae litterae numquam in tantam spem adduxerunt quantam aliorum; ac tamen mea spes etiam tenuior semper fuit quam tuae litterae. Sed tamen, quoniam coeptum est agi, quoquo modo coeptum est et quacumque de causa, non deseram neque optumi atque unici fratris miseras ac luctuosas preces, nec Sesti ceterorumque promissa, nec spem aerumnosissimae mulieris Terentiae, nec miserrimae mulieris Tulliolae obsecrationem et fideles litteras tuas. Mihi Epirus aut iter ad salutem dabit, aut quod scripsi supra.
Te oro et obsecro, T. Pomponi, si me omnibus amplissimis, carissimis iucundissimisque rebus perfidia hominum spoliatum, si me a meis consiliariis proditum et proiectum vides, si intellegis me coactum, ut ipse me et meos perderem, ut me tua misericordia iuves et Quintum fratrem, qui potest esse salvus, sustentes, Terentiam liberosque meos tueare, me, si putas te istic visurum, exspectes, si minus, invisas, si potes, mihique ex agro tuo tantum adsignes, quantum meo corpore occupari potest, et pueros ad me cum litteris quam primum et quam saepissime mittas.
Data XVI Kal. Octobres.
features of the place make any difference to me now that I shun the light of day entirely, but I should like to sail back to freedom from a port of yours, and, if that hope is cut off, I could not find a better place either to drag on my miserable existence, or, what is preferable, to end it. I shall have few people about me, and shall get free from society.
Your letters never aroused my hopes as much as other people’s: and yet my hopes were always fainter than your letters. However, since some kind of a move has been made in the matter, whatever kind it may be and whatsoever its cause, I will not disappoint either my dear and only brother’s sad and touching entreaties, nor the promises of Sestius and others, nor the appeals of my wife in her deep affliction and my little Tullia in her misery, nor your own true-hearted letters. Epirus shall be my road back to freedom or to what I mentioned before.
I beg and beseech you, Pomponius, as you see how I have been robbed of my honours and of my dearest and fondest possessions by men’s treachery, as you see how I was betrayed and cast aside by those on whose advice I relied, as you know how I was forced into betraying myself and my family, of your pity help me, and support my brother Quintus, who is not past salvation: guard Terentia and my children; as for me, wait for me in Rome, if you think there is any chance of seeing me there. If not, come to see me, if you can, and allot me of your land enough for my body to rest in; and send a man with letters as soon and as often as possible.
Sept. 15.
XX
CICERO S. D. Q. CAECILIO Q. F. POMPONIANO ATTICO,
Scr. Thessalonicae IV Non. Oct. a. 696
quod quidem ita esse et avunculum tuum functum esse officio vehementissime probo, gaudere me tum dicam, si mihi hoc verbo licebit uti. Me miserum! quam omnia essent ex sententia, si nobis animus, si consilium, si fides eorum, quibus credidimus, non defuisset! Quae colligere nolo, ne augeam maerorem; sed tibi venire in mentem certo scio, quae vita esset nostra, quae suavitas, quae dignitas. Ad quae recuperanda, per fortunas! incumbe, ut facis, diemque natalem reditus mei cura ut in tuis aedibus amoenissimis agam tecum et cum meis. Ego huic spei et exspectationi, quae nobis proponitur maxima, tamen volui praestolari apud te in Epiro, sed ita ad me scribitur, ut putem esse commodius non eisdem in locis esse.