Sed, quanta tempestas impendeat, vides. Qui transierint senatores, scribam ad te, cum certum habebo. De re frumentaria recte intellegis, quae nullo modo administrari sine vectigalibus potest; nec sine causa et eos, qui circum illum sunt, omnia postulantes et bellum nefarium times. Trebatium nostrum, etsi, ut scribis, nihil bene sperat, tamen videre sane velim. Quem fac horteris, ut properet; opportune enim ad me ante adventum Caesaris venerit. De Lanuvino, statim ut audivi Phameam mortuum, optavi, si modo esset futura res publica, ut id aliquis emeret meorum, neque tamen de te, qui maxime meus es, cogitavi. Sciebam enim te "quoto anno" et "quantum in solo" solere quaerere neque solum Romae, sed etiam Deli tuum διάγραμμα videram.[94] Verum tamen ego illud, quamquam est bellum, minoris aestimo, quam aestimabatur Marcellino consule, cum ego istos hortulos propter domum Anti, quam tum habebam, iucundiores mihi fore putabam et minore impensa, quam si Tusculanum refecissem. Volui HS. Q. Egi per praedem, ille daret tanti, cum haberet venale.
[94] διάγραμμα Malespina; digamma MSS.
consuls to be created by the praetors, but for the very praetors themselves, and that it has never been done; that it is illegal for consuls, because it is illegal for persons with greater powers to be proposed for election by those with less; for praetors, because they are proposed as colleagues of the consuls who have the greater powers. The next thing will be, he will want me to vote for it, and he will not be content with Galba, Scaevola, Cassius and Antonius, "then let the wide earth swallow me." But you see what a storm is coming. Which senators have crossed over to Pompey I will tell you as soon as I know. You are right about the corn supply: it cannot be done without taxation: and you have cause to fear the exorbitant demands of Pompey's associates and a wicked war. I should much like to see my friend Trebatius, although you tell me he is in despair. Do bid him hurry, for it will be convenient, if he comes before Caesar's arrival. As for that estate at Lanuvium, as soon as I heard of the death of Phamea, I longed, if the constitution was going to last, that one of my friends should buy it, and yet I did not think of you, my best friend of all. For I know that it is your custom to inquire in how many years you may recoup yourself of a purchase, and the value of fixtures, and I had seen your inventory not only at Rome but at Delos. But, though it is a pretty property, I rate it at a lower value than it was rated in Marcellinus' consulship, when I thought that, owing to the house I then had at Antium, those little gardens would please me better and cost less than the repair of my villa at Tusculum. I wanted the property for £4,500.[95] I made an offer to that amount through a third party, when he was putting
[95] Q. = quingentis millibus, i.e. 500,000 sesterces.
Noluit. Sed nunc omnia ista iacere puto propter nummorum caritatem. Mihi quidem erit aptissimum vel nobis potius, si tu emeris; sed eius dementias cave contemnas. Valde est venustum. Quamquam mihi ista omnia iam addicta vastitati videntur.
Respondi epistulis tribus, sed exspecto alias; nam me adhuc tuae litterae sustentarunt. D. Liberalibus.