V
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Formiae Dec. 16, B.C. 50
A number of your letters have reached me at the same time: and, although visitors bring me later news, they are delightful, as they show your affection and good will. I am concerned about your illness, and I suppose Pilia's attack of the same complaint will increase
adferre maiorem sentio. Date igitur operam, ut valeatis. De Tirone video tibi curae esse. Quem quidem ego, etsi mirabilis utilitates mihi praebet, cum valet, in onmi genere vel negotiorum vel studiorum meorum, tamen propter humanitatem et modestiam malo salvum quam propter usum meum. Philogenes mecum nihil umquam de Luscenio locatus est; de ceteris rebus habes Dionysium. Sororem tuam non venisse in Arcanum miror. De Chrysippo meum consilium probari tibi non moleste fero. Ego in Tusculanum nihil sane hoc tempore; devium est τοῖς ἀπαντῶσιν et habet alia δύσχρεστα. Sed de Formiano Tarracinam pridie Kal. Ian. Inde Pomptinam summam, inde in Albanum Pompei. Ita ad urbem III Nonas natali meo.
De re publica cotidie magis timeo. Non enim boni, ut putant, consentiunt. Quos ego equites Romanos, quos senatores vidi, qui acerrime cum cetera tum hoc iter Pompei vituperarent! Pace opus est. Ex victoria cum multa mala tum certe tyrannus exsistet. Sed haec prope diem coram. Iam plane mihi deest, quod ad te scribam; nec enim de re publica, quod uterque nostrum scit eadem, et domestica nota sunt ambobus.
Reliquum est iocari, si hic sinat. Nam ego is sum, qui illi concedi putem utilius esse, quod postulat, quam signa conferri. Sero enim resistimus ei, quem per annos decem aluimus contra nos. "Quid sentis igitur?" inquis. Nihil scilicet nisi de sententia tua nec prius quidem, quam nostrum negotium aut confecerimus
your trouble. Both of you do your best to get well. As for Tiro I see you are attending to him. Though when in health, he is marvellously useful to me in every department of business and literature, it is not a selfish motive, but his own charming character and modest bearing that prompts my hope for his recovery. Philogenes has never said anything to me about Luscenius. As for other matters Dionysius is with you. I am astonished your sister has not come to Arcanum. I am glad you approve my plan about Chrysippus. I shall not go to Tusculum at such a time as this, not I. It is out of the way for chance rencontres and has other drawbacks. But from Formiae I go to Tarracina on the last of December. Thence to the upper end of the Pomptine marsh: thence to Pompey's Alban villa: and so to Rome on the 3rd, my birthday.
The political crisis is causing me greater fear every day. The loyalists are not, as is imagined, in agreement. I have met numbers of Roman knights, and numbers of Members, ready to inveigh bitterly against everything and especially this journey of Pompey's. Peace is our want. Victory will bring many evils, and without doubt a tyrant. But this we shall soon discuss together. I have no news at all now: each of us knows as much as the other about political affairs, and domestic details are for us common knowledge.