Scr. Romae post VIII K. Sext., ante XV K. Nov. a. 695
De re publica quid ego tibi subtiliter? Tota periit atque hoc est miserior, quam reliquisti, quod tum videbatur eius modi dominatio civitatem oppressisse, quae iucunda esset multitudini, bonis autem ita molesta, ut tamen sine pernicie, nunc repente tanto in odio est omnibus, ut, quorsus eruptura sit, horreamus. Nam iracundiam atque intemperantiam illorum sumus experti, qui Catoni irati omnia perdiderunt, sed ita lenibus uti videbantur venenis, ut posse videremur sine dolore interire; nunc vero sibilis volgi, sermonibus honestorum, fremitu Italiae vereor ne exarserint. Equidem sperabam, ut saepe etiam loqui tecum solebam, sic orbem rei publicae esse conversum, ut vix
Diodotus is dead: he left me about £88,000.[[88]] Bibulus has written a scathing edict putting off the elections till the 18th of October. I have received the books from Vibius: he[[89]] is a wretched poet, and indeed has nothing in him; still he is of some use to me. I am going to copy the work out and send it back.
XXI
CICERO TO ATTICUS; GREETING.
Rome, between July 25 and Oct. 18, B.C. 59
To enter into details about politics would be superfluous. The whole country has gone to rack and ruin: and affairs are in one respect worse than when you left. Then it looked as though we were oppressed with a tyranny which was popular with the lower classes, and, though annoying to the upper, still comparatively harmless: but now it has become suddenly so universally detested that I tremble for the issue. For we have had an experience of the wrath and recklessness of the Triumvirs, and in their indignation with Cato, they have ruined the state. The poisons they used seemed to be so slow that I thought we could die painlessly. But now I am afraid they have been roused to energy by the hisses of the crowd, the talk of the loyalists, and the murmurs of Italy. I had hopes, as I used often to say to you, that the wheel of state had turned so smoothly that we could
[88]. 10,000,000 sesterces. But it seems too large a sum for Diodotus, a stoic who lived in Cicero’s house for some time, to have left. Tyrrell therefore suggests centum, i.e. 100,000 sesterces, about £880.
[89]. Not Vibius himself, but Alexander of Ephesus, author of a Cosmographia; cf. Att. II, 22, 7.
sonitum audire, vix impressam orbitam videre possemus; et fuisset ita, si homines transitum tempestatis exspectare potuissent. Sed, cum diu occulte suspirassent, postea iam gemere, ad extremum vero loqui omnes et clamare coeperunt. Itaque ille amicus noster insolens infamiae, semper in laude versatus, circumfluens gloria, deformatus corpore, fractus animo, quo se conferat, nescit; progressum praecipitem, inconstantem reditum videt; bonos inimicos habet, improbos ipsos non amicos.
Ac vide mollitiem animi. Non tenui lacrimas; cum illum a. d. VIII Kal. Sextiles vidi de edictis Bibuli contionantem. Qui antea solitus esset iactare se magnificentissime illo in loco summo cum amore populi, cunctis faventibus, ut ille tum humilis, ut demissus erat, ut ipse etiam sibi, non iis solum, qui aderant, displicebat! O spectaculum uni Crasso iucundum, ceteris non item! Nam, quia deciderat ex astris, lapsus quam progressus potius videbatur, et, ut Apelles, si Venerem, aut Protogenes, si Ialysum illum suum caeno oblitum videret, magnum, credo, acciperet dolorem, sic ego hunc omnibus a me pictum et politum artis coloribus subito deformatum non sine magno dolore vidi. Quamquam nemo putabat propter Clodianum negotium me illi amicum esse debere, tamen tantus fuit amor, ut exhauriri nulla posset