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CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. in Epiro med. m. Mart., ut videtur, a. 706
Litteras tuas accepi pr. Non. Febr. eoque ipso die ex testamento crevi hereditatem. Ex multis meis miserrimis curis est una levata, si, ut scribis, ista hereditas fidem et famam meam tueri potest; quam quidem intellego te etiam sine hereditate tuis opibus defensurum fuisse. De dote quod scribis, per omnes deos te obtestor, ut totam rem suscipias et illam miseram mea culpa et neglegentia tueare meis opibus, si quae sunt, tuis, quibus tibi molestum non erit, facultatibus. Cui quidem deesse omnia, quod scribis, obsecro te, noli pati. In quos enim sumptus abeunt fructus praediorum? Iam illa HS LX, quae scribis, nemo mihi umquam dixit ex dote esse detracta; numquam enim essem passus. Sed haec minima est ex eis iniuriis, quas accepi; de quibus ad te dolore et lacrimis scribere prohibeor. Ex ea pecunia, quae fuit in Asia, partem dimidiam fere exegi. Tutius videbatur fore ibi, ubi est, quam apud publicanos.
Quod me hortaris, ut firmo sim animo, vellem posses aliquid adferre, quam ob rem id facere possem. Sed, si ad ceteras miserias accessit etiam id, quod mihi Chrysippus dixit parari (tu nihil significasti) de
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CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Epirus, March, B.C. 48
I received your letter on the 4th of February, and on the same day I accepted the inheritance formally according to the will. Of my many and miserable anxieties one is taken away, if, as you say, this inheritance is sufficient to maintain my credit and reputation, though I know you would have defended it even without the inheritance with all your resources. As for what you write about the dowry[167] I adjure you for heaven's sake to manage the whole business and protect the poor girl, a victim of my culpable carelessness, with my funds, if there are any, and out of your own, so far as you can without inconvenience. Pray do not let her remain in the utter want you depict. On what are the rents of my farms being wasted? That 500 guineas[168] of which you write, no one ever told me that it had been kept back out of the dowry, for I would never have allowed it. But that is the least of the blows I have suffered. I cannot write to you about them for sorrow and tears. Of the money I had in Asia I have called in nearly half. It would appear to be safer where it is than with the tax-collectors.