the breach of friendship; and the ties between us, which have been so religiously preserved, will retain their inviolability.
The political position here is wretched, rotten and unstable. I expect you have heard that our friends the knights have almost had a rupture with the Senate. The first point that seriously annoyed them was the publication of a senatorial decree for an investigation into any cases of bribery of jurymen. As I did not happen to be present when the decree was passed, and noticed that the knights were annoyed though they did not openly say so, I remonstrated with the Senate very impressively, I think, and spoke with great weight and fluency, considering how shameless the case was. Here is another intolerable piece of petulance on the part of the knights! Yet I have not only put up with it, but forwarded their cause. The people who farmed the province of Asia from the censors, complained in the Senate that their avariciousness had led them to pay too high a price for it, and requested to have the lease annulled. I was their chief supporter, or rather the second, for it was Crassus who encouraged them to venture on the demand. It is a scandalous affair, a disgraceful request and a confession of foolhardiness. There was considerable danger, that, if they met with a refusal, they might have severed their connection with the Senate entirely. In this case too I was the main person who came to the rescue, and obtained for them a hearing in a very full and friendly House, and discoursed freely on the dignity and harmony of the two orders both on the first of December and the following day. The matter is not yet settled: but the Senate’s inclination is clear. For one person
Metellus consul designatus. Atqui erat[[32]] dicturus, ad quem propter diei brevitatem perventum non est, heros ille noster Cato. Sic ego conservans rationem institutionemque nostram tueor, ut possum, illam a me conglutinatam concordiam. Sed tamen, quoniam ista sunt tam infirma, munitur quaedam nobis ad retinendas opes nostras tuta, ut spero, via; quam tibi litteris satis explicare non possum, significatione parva ostendam tamen. Utor Pompeio familiarissime. Video, quid dicas. Cavebo, quae sunt cavenda, ac scribam alias ad te de meis consiliis capessendae rei publicae plura.
Lucceium scito consulatum habere in animo statim petere. Duo enim soli dicuntur petituri, Caesar (cum eo coire per Arrium cogitat) et Bibulus (cum hoc se putat per C. Pisonem posse coniungi). Rides? Non sunt haec ridicula, mihi crede. Quid aliud scribam ad te, quid? Multa sunt, sed in aliud tempus. † exspectare[[33]] velis, cures ut sciam. Iam illud modeste rogo, quod maxima cupio, ut quam primum venias. Nonis Decembribus.
XVIII
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. XI Kal. Febr. a. 694
Nihil mihi nunc scito tam deesse quam hominem eum, quocum omnia, quae me cura aliqua adficiunt, uno communicem, qui me amet, qui sapiat, quicum ego cum loquar, nihil fingam, nihil dissimulem, nihil
[32]. qui erat MSS. Bosius’ correction quin erat may well be right. But I have ventured to suggest atqui, supposing that the last two letters of designatus were written in an abbreviated form, and the two at’s came together.
[33]. Tyrrell reads Si exspectare velis, following Klotz, with the meaning “If you mean to remain absent from Rome till you hear from me again.” Others suggest Tu fac ut quando nos te exspectare or Quo nos te tempore exspectare. But none of these is very convincing.
only has opposed it, Metellus the consul elect. Our hero Cato was to have spoken, but the day was too short for it to come to his turn. So I am keeping to our policy and plan, and am preserving to the best of my ability that harmony which I have welded: but still, as that is now in such a shaky condition, I am, I hope, keeping a road open to preserve my position. I cannot explain fully in a letter; but I will give you a gentle hint. I am on the best of terms with Pompey. You know what I mean. I will take all reasonable precautions, and will write again at fuller length as to my plans for managing the republic.