XXIII
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Rome, before Oct. 18, B.C. 59
I don’t think you ever before read a letter of mine which I had not written myself. That will show you how I am plagued to death by business. As I haven’t a moment to spare, and must take some exercise to refresh my poor voice, I am dictating this as I walk.
Well, the first thing I have to tell you, is that our friend the Pasha is heartily sick of his position and wants to be restored to the place from which he fell. He confides his sorrows to me, and at times openly looks for a remedy; but for the life of me I cannot find any. Secondly, the whole of that party, both the principals and their followers, are losing their strength, though no one opposes them; and there
nec voluntatis nec sermonis maiorem umquam fuisse.
Nos autem (nam id te scire cupere certo scio) publicis consiliis nullis intersumus totosque nos ad forensem operam laboremque contulimus. Ex quo, quod facile intellegi possit, in multa commemoratione earum rerum, quas gessimus, desiderioque versamur. Sed βοώπιδος nostrae consanguineus non mediocres terrores iacit atque denuntiat et Sampsiceramo negat, ceteris prae se fert et ostentat. Quam ob rem, si me amas tantum, quantum profecto amas, si dormis, expergiscere, si stas, ingredere, si ingrederis, curre, si curris, advola. Credibile non est, quantum ego in consiliis et prudentia tua, quodque maximum est, quantum in amore et fide ponam. Magnitudo rei longam orationem fortasse desiderat, coniunctio vero nostrorum animorum brevitate contenta est. Permagni nostra interest te, si comitiis non potueris, at declarato illo esse Romae. Cura, ut valeas.
XXIV
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. Romae ante XV K. Nov. a. 695
Quas Numestio litteras dedi, sic te iis evocabam, ut nihil acrius neque incitatius fieri posset. Ad illam celeritatem adde etiam, si quid potes. Ac ne sis perturbatus (novi enim te et non ignoro, “quam sit amor omnis sollicitus atque anxius”)—sed res est, ut
never was a greater unanimity of sentiment or of the popular expression of it than there is now.