IX
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. Athenis Id. Oct. a. 704
In Piraeea cum exissem pridie Idus Octobr., accepi ab Acasto, servo meo, statim tuas litteras. Quas quidem cum exspectassem iam diu, admiratus sum, ut vidi obsignatam epistulam, brevitatem eius, ut aperui, rursus σύγχυσιν litterularum, quia solent tuae compositissimae et clarissimae esse, ac, ne multa, cognovi ex eo, quod ita scripseras, te Romam venisse a. d. XII Kal. Oct. cum febri. Percussus vehementer nec magis, quam debui, statim quaero ex Acasto. Ille et tibi et sibi visum et ita se domi ex tuis
[227]. domi is added by Tyrrell and Purser.
Many thanks for paying the man of Puteoli[[228]] his pence. Now please consider politics, and see what you think I should do about the triumph, to which my friends invite me. I should have been quite happy, had not Bibulus been trying for a triumph, though the man never set his foot outside his house so long as there was one enemy in Syria any more than he set foot out of his house in town when he was consul. But as it is “’twere base to hold one’s peace.”[[229]] But consider the whole matter, that we may be able to decide something on the day we meet.
That’s enough, considering I am in a hurry and am giving this letter to a man who will arrive at the same time as myself or just before me. My son pays you his best respects. Please give the compliments of both of us to your wife and daughter.
IX
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Athens, Oct. 15, B.C. 50
As soon as I landed in port on the 14th of Oct. I received your letter from my slave Acastus. I have been looking forward to it so long that I was surprised at its brevity, as I looked at the letter before breaking the seal. Again, when I opened it, I was startled at the illegibility of the scribble, for your hand is generally very fine and legible. In short I gathered from the style of writing that you had arrived in town, as you stated, on the 19th of Sept., suffering from an attack of fever. Much disturbed, as I was bound to be, I questioned my slave. He said that both he
[228]. Vestorius.