I gave Philotimus a letter to you: nor have I at present any news. I beg you write me what reports there are on the political situation. In the country towns I notice there is much panic: but a great deal is nonsense. Please let me know your opinion about this and the date of the impending crisis. I do not know to which of your letters you ask for a reply. I have received no letter so far, except the two which were handed me together at my villa in Trebula. One of these contained the edict of P. Lentulus, and was dated the 7th of May: the other was a reply to my letter from Menturnae. I fear there may have been some matter more important in a letter I did not receive, to which you ask for a reply. I will put you in Lentulus’ good graces.
Dionysius is my bosom friend. Your Nicanor does me excellent service. I have no more to say, and day is breaking. I think of going to Beneventum to-day. My continence and diligence shall satisfy....
From the house of Pontius at Trebula, May 11.
IV
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Beneventum May 12, B.C. 51
I reached Beneventum on the 11th of May. There I received the note which you said in your last letter had been despatched. I answered that letter on the day I received it from Pontius’ villa at Trebula. And indeed two letters of yours reached me at Beneventum, one of them handed to me by Funisulanus in the early morning, and the other by my secretary Tullius. I am very grateful to you for your trouble about my first and most important commission. But your departure from Rome lessens my
quidem labor,[[169]] non quo—, sed inopia cogimur eo contenti esse. De illo altero, quem scribis tibi visum esse non alienum, vereor, adduci ut nostra possit, et tu ais δυσδιάγνωστον esse. Equidem sum facilis, sed tu aberis, et me absente res habebit mei rationem?[[170]] Nam posset aliquid, si utervis nostrum adesset, agente Servilia Servio fieri probabile. Nunc, si iam res placeat, agendi tamen viam non video.
Nunc venio ad eam epistulam, quam accepi a Tullio. De Marcello fecisti diligenter. Igitur, senatus consultum si erit factum, scribes ad me; si minus, rem tamen conficies; mihi enim attribui oportebit, item Bibulo. Sed non dubito, quin senatus consultum expeditum sit, in quo praesertim sit compendium populi. De Torquato probe. De Masone et Ligure, cum venerint. De illo, quod Chaerippus (quoniam hic quoque πρόσνευσιν sustulisti), o provincia! etiamne hic mihi curandus est? curandus autem hactenus, ne quid ad senatum “consule!” aut “numera!” Nam de ceteris—sed tamen commode, quod cum Scrofa. De Pomptino recte scribis. Est enim ita, ut, si ante Kal. Iunias Brundisi futurus sit, minus urguendi fuerint M. Anneius et L. Tullius. Quae de Sicinio audisti, ea mihi probantur, modo ne illa exceptio in aliquem incurrat bene de nobis meritum. Sed considerabimus., rem enim probo. De
[169]. de illo, illuc quidem labor Kayser: me ille illud quod labat ZhN: me ille illud M with a marginal variant me illud quidem labat.
[170]. res habebis mirationem M. The text is Tyrrell’s emendation. Many others have been made, e.g. Palmer’s res haerebit. Habebis mei rationem.