Dionysius burned to be with you, so I sent him, with some misgivings I must admit; but it had to be. I knew him before to be a scholar: I find him very obliging, careful of my good name, an honest fellow, and, not to give him a mere freedman's character, evidently a man of honour. Pompey I interviewed on the 10th of December. We were together a matter of two hours: he seemed greatly delighted with
triumpho hortari, suscipere partes suas, monere, ne ante in senatum accederem, quam rem confecissem, ne dicendis sententiis aliquem tribunum alienarem. Quid quaeris? in hoc officio sermonis nihil potuit esse prolixius. De re publica autem ita mecum locutus est, quasi non dubium bellum haberemus. Nihil ad spem concordiae. Plane illum a se alienatum cum ante intellegeret, tum vero proxume iudicasse. Venisse Hirtium a Caesare, qui esset illi familiarissimus, ad se non accessisse, et, cum ille a. d. VIII Idus Decembr. vesperi venisset, Balbus de tota re constituisset a. d. VII ad Scipionem ante lucem venire, multa de nocte eum profectum esse ad Caesarem. Hoc illi τεκμηριῶδες videbatur esse alienationis. Quid multa? nihil me aliud consolatur, nisi quod illum, cui etiam inimici alterum consulatum, fortuna summam potentiam dederit, non arbitror fore tam amentem, ut haec in discrimen adducat. Quodsi ruere coeperit, ne ego multa timeo; quae non audeo scribere. Sed, ut nunc est, a. d. III Nonas Ian. ad urbem cogito.
V
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. in Formiano XV K. Ian., ut videtur, a. 704
Multas uno tempore accepi epistulas tuas; quae mihi, quamquam recentiora audiebam ex iis, qui ad me veniebant, tamen erant iucundae; studium enim et benevolentiam declarabant. Valetudine tua moveor et Piliam in idem genus morbi delapsam curam tibi
my arrival, encouraged me about my triumph, promised to do his part, warned me not to enter the House till my business was finished, for fear I should make an enemy of some tribune by the opinions I expressed. In short, promises could go no further. As to the political situation, he hinted certain war, without hope of agreement. It appeared that, though he had long understood there was a split between himself and Caesar, he had had very recent proof of it. Hirtius, a very intimate friend of Caesar's, had come and had not called on Pompey. Besides Hirtius had arrived on the evening of the 6th of December and Balbus had arranged a meeting with Pompey's father-in-law before daybreak on the 7th to discuss affairs, when, lo, late on the night before, Hirtius set out to go to Caesar. This seemed to Pompey proof positive of a split. In a word I have no consolation except the thought, that, when even his enemies have renewed his term of office and fortune has bestowed on him supreme power, Caesar will not be so mad as to jeopardize these advantages. If he begins to run amuck, my fears are more than I can commit to paper. As things are, I meditate a visit to town on the 3rd of January.