As for me—for I am sure you want to hear about myself—I take no part in public deliberations and devote myself entirely to my law-court practice, which arouses, as you can easily conceive, many a memory of my past achievements and much regret for them. But our dear Juno’s brother is venting most alarming threats and, though he denies them to the Pasha, he openly parades them to others. So, if your affection is as real as I know it is, wake up, if you are sleeping, start moving, if you are standing still, run, if you are moving, and fly, if you are running. I set greater store than you can possibly believe by your advice and your wisdom, and, what is still more, by your love and your loyalty. The importance of the theme would perhaps demand a long disquisition; but our hearts are so united that a word is enough. It is of the highest importance to me that you should be in Rome after the elections, if you can’t get here before them. Take care of yourself.
XXIV
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Rome, before Oct. 18, B.C. 59
In the letter I gave to Numestius I made a most urgent and pressing appeal to you to come. To the speed I then enjoined add something, if you possibly can. And don’t be alarmed (for I know you and don’t forget that to love “It is to be all made of sighs and tears”[[91]]): the matter I hope is one that will
[91]. quam ... anxius seems to be a quotation from some drama; and Jeans happily translates by this verse from Shakespeare’s As you like it.
spero, non tam exitu molesta quam aditu. Vettius ille, ille noster index, Caesari, ut perspicimus, pollicitus est sese curaturum, ut in aliquam suspicionem facinoris Curio filius adduceretur. Itaque insinuavit in familiaritatem adulescentis et cum eo, ut res indicat, saepe congressus rem in eum locum deduxit, ut diceret sibi certum esse cum suis servis in Pompeium impetum facere eumque occidere. Hoc Curio ad patrem detulit, ille ad Pompeium. Res delata ad senatum est. Introductus Vettius primo negabat se umquam cum Curione constitisse, neque id sane diu; nam statim fidem publicam postulavit. Reclamatum est. Tum exposuit manum fuisse iuventutis duce Curione, in qua Paulus initio fuisset et Q. Caepio hic Brutus et Lentulus, flaminis filius, conscio patre; postea C. Septimium, scribam Bibuli, pugionem sibi a Bibulo attulisse. Quod totum irrisum est, Vettio pugionem defuisse, nisi ei consul dedisset, eoque magis id eiectum est, quod a. d. III Idus Mai. Bibulus Pompeium fecerat certiorem, ut caveret insidias; in quo ei Pompeius gratias egerat.
Introductus Curio filius dixit ad ea, quae Vettius dixerat, maximeque in eo tum quidem Vettius est reprehensus, quod dixerat id fuisse adulescentium consilium, ut in foro gladiatoribus Gabini Pompeium adorirentur; in eo principem Paulum fuisse, quem constabat eo tempore in Macedonia fuisse. Fit senatus
not be so troublesome at the end as at the beginning. That fellow Vettius, my famous informer, promised Caesar, so far as we can see, that he would get some criminal suspicion thrown on young Curio. So he wormed his way into intimacy with the young man and after meeting him often, as events prove, he went so far as to declare that he was determined to make an attack on Pompey with the assistance of his slaves, and to slay him. Curio told his father of this, and he told Pompey. The affair was reported to the Senate. Vettius was summoned before them and at first denied that he had ever had an appointment with Curio. However he did not stick to that tale long; but at once claimed the privilege of king’s evidence. Amid cries of “no,” he began to explain that there had been a confederacy of the younger men under the leadership of Curio, to which Paulus at first belonged and Q. Caepio, Brutus I mean, and Lentulus, the flamen’s son, with his father’s consent; and then that C. Septimius, Bibulus’ secretary, had brought him a dagger from Bibulus. The idea of Vettius not having a dagger, unless the consul gave him one, and the rest of it, was too much for anybody’s gravity: and the charge was scouted the more because Bibulus had warned Pompey on the 13th of May to be on his guard against plots; and Pompey had thanked him for the advice.
Young Curio was brought in and repelled Vettius’ assertions: and the point for which Vettius was especially jumped on was saying that the young men’s intention was to attack Pompey in the forum at the gladiatorial show which Gabinius gave, and that Paulus was to be the leader, when it was well known that he was in Macedonia at the time. The House decreed
consultum, ut Vettius, quod confessus esset se cum telo fuisse, in vincula coniceretur; qui emisisset, eum contra rem publicam esse facturum. Res erat in ea opinione, ut putarent id esse actum, ut Vettius in foro cum pugione et item servi eius comprehenderentur cum telis, deinde ille se diceret indicaturum. Idque ita factum esset, nisi Curiones rem ante ad Pompeium detulissent. Tum senatus consultum in contione recitatum est. Postero autem die Caesar, is qui olim, praetor cum esset, Q. Catulum ex inferiore loco iusserat dicere, Vettium in rostra produxit eumque in eo loco constituit, quo Bibulo consuli adspirare non liceret. Hic ille omnia, quae voluit de re publica, dixit, et qui illuc factus institutusque venisset, primum Caepionem de oratione sua sustulit, quem in senatu acerrime nominarat, ut appareret noctem et nocturnam deprecationem intercessisse. Deinde, quos in senatu ne tenuissima quidem suspicione attigerat, eos nominavit, L. Lucullum, a quo solitum esse ad se mitti C. Fannium, illum qui in P. Clodium subscripserat, L. Domitium, cuius domum constitutam fuisse, unde eruptio fieret. Me non nominavit, sed dixit consularem disertum vicinum consulis sibi dixisse Ahalam Servilium aliquem aut Brutum opus esse reperiri. Addidit ad extremum, cum iam dimissa contione revocatus a Vatinio fuisset, se audisse a Curione his de rebus conscium esse Pisonem, generum meum, et M. Laterensem.