quod ab eo non metuas, qui illa templa et tecta non patriam, sed praedam putet? Quid autem sit acturus aut quo modo, nescio, sine senatu, sine magistratibus. Ne simulare quidem poterit quicquam πολιτικῶς. Nos autem ubi exsurgere poterimus aut quando? Quorum dux quam ἀστρατήγητος, tu quoque animadvertis, cui ne Picena quidem nota fuerint; quam autem sine consilio, res testis. Ut enim alia omittam decem annorum peccata, quae condicio non huic fugae praestitit? Nec vero, nunc quid cogitet, scio ac non desino per litteras sciscitari. Nihil esse timidius constat, nihil perturbatius. Itaque nec praesidium, cuius parandi causa ad urbem retentus est, nec locum ac sedem praesidii ullam video. Spes omnis in duabus insidiose retentis paene alienis legionibus. Nam dilectus adhuc quidem invitorum est et a pugnando abhorrentium. Condicionum autem amissum tempus est. Quid futurum sit, non video; commissum quidem a nobis certe est sive a nostro duce, ut e portu sine gubernaculis egressi tempestati nos traderemus.
Itaque de Ciceronibus nostris dubito quid agam; nam mihi interdum amandandi videntur in Graeciam; de Tullia autem et Terentia, cum mihi barbarorum adventus ad urbem proponitur, omnia timeo; cum autem Dolabellae venit in mentem, paulum respiro. Sed velim consideres, quid faciendum putes primum πρὸς τὸ ἀσφαλές (aliter enim mihi de illis ac de me ipso consulendum est), deinde ad opiniones, ne reprehendamur, quod eas Romae velimus esse in communi bonorum fuga. Quin etiam tibi et Peducaeo (scripsit enim ad me), quid faciatis, videndum est. Is enim
fear anything from a man who regards her temples and her homes not as his native land, but as his loot. What he will do, and how he will do it, in the absence of House and magistrates, I do not know. He will be unable even to pretend constitutional methods. But where can our party raise its head or when? You, too, remark how poor a soldier our leader is; why, he did not even know how things were in Picenum; and the crisis shows his lack of policy. Pass over other faults of the last ten years. What compromise were not better than this flight? I do not know what he is thinking of doing now, though I inquire by constant letters. It is agreed that his alarm and confusion has reached the limit. He was kept in Italy to garrison Rome, but no garrison or place to post a garrison can I see. We depend entirely on two legions that were kept here by a trick, and are practically disloyal. For so far the levy has found unwilling recruits, afraid of war. But the time of compromise is passed. The future is obscure. We, or our leader, have brought things to such a pass, that having put to sea without a rudder, we must trust to the mercy of the storm.
So I hesitate what to do with the boys. Sometimes I think of sending them to Greece. As for Tullia and Terentia, when I picture the approach of the barbarians on Rome, I am terrified. But the thought of Dolabella is some small relief to my mind. Please consider my best course, in the first place with an eye to safety, for their safety stands on a different footing to mine, and then with regard to possible criticism, if I leave them in Rome, when the loyal are all in flight. Even you and Peducaeus must be careful what you do, as he writes to me. For your
splendor est vestrum, ut eadem postulentur a vobis quae ab amplissimis civibus. Sed de hoc tu videbis, quippe cum de me ipso ac de meis te considerare velim.
Reliquum est, ut, et quid agatur, quoad poteris, explores scribasque ad me, et quid ipse coniectura assequare, quod etiam a te magis exspecto. Nam acta omnibus nuntiantibus, a te exspecto futura. Μάντις δ' ἄριστος—. Loquacitati ignosces, quae et me levat ad te quidem scribentem et elicit tuas litteras. Aenigma Oppiorum ex Velia plane non intellexi; est enim numero Platonis obscurius.[37]
[37] Aenigma—obscurius, transferred by O. E. Schmidt from the beginning of XIIIa.