Jan. 19.
XI
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Brundisium, March 8, B.C. 47
Worn out as I am by the agony of my grievous sorrows I should not find it an easy task to write to you, even if there were anything I ought to write; and it is far less easy, when I have nothing worth writing, especially as there is not even a gleam of hope for better days. So hopeless am I that now I do not look forward even to your letters, though they always bring me something I like to hear. So pray write, whenever you have a messenger. I have no answer to give to your last letter, though it is a long time since I received it, for I see no change in the long interval: the right cause is strong, and I am paying very heavily for my folly.
The £250[176] which I had from Cn. Sallustius are to be paid to P. Sallustius. Please see that it is done without delay. I have written to Terentia about it. And now it is nearly all spent: so I wish you would arrange with her for some money for me to go on with. I shall possibly be able to get some here, if I know I have a balance at Rome; but, before I know that, I dare not try. You see the position of all my affairs. There is no sort of misfortune which I am not enduring and expecting. For this state of affairs
[176] 30,000 sesterces.
rerum eo gravior est dolor, quo culpa maior. Ille in Achaia non cessat de nobis detrahere. Nihil videlicet tuae litterae profecerunt. Vale.
VIII Idus Mart.