XXI
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. Calibus VI Id. Febr. ante lucem a. 705
De malis nostris tu prius audis quam ego. Istim enim emanant. Boni autem hinc quod exspectes, nihil est. Veni Capuam ad Nonas Febr., ita ut iusserant consules. Eo die Lentulus venit sero. Alter consul omnino non venerat VII Idus. Eo enim die ego Capua discessi et mansi Calibus. Inde has litteras postridie ante lucem dedi. Haec, Capuae dum fui, cognovi, nihil in consulibus, nullum usquam dilectum. Nec enim conquisitores φαινοπροσωπεῖν audent, cum
Appian troops. Caesar is said to be tearing along, and is nearly on us, not to join battle—there is no one to join it with—but to cut us off from flight. Now, if it is to be in Italy, I am ready to die with her—and on that I need not ask your advice: but if the struggle is beyond her borders, what am I to do? The winter, my lictors, the improvidence and neglect of the leaders prompt me to stay: my friendship with Pompey, the cause of the loyalists, the disgrace of association with a tyrant, prompt me to flee. One cannot say whether that tyrant will choose Phalaris or Pisistratus as his model. Please unravel this and assist me with your advice. Though I suppose you are in a warm corner in Rome, still help me to the best of your ability. I will advise you if anything new crops up here to-day. The consuls will arrive on the 5th as arranged. I shall look for a letter every day: but answer this one as soon as you can. I have left the ladies and the boys at Formiae.
XXI
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Cales, Feb. 8, B.C. 49
Of our troubles you hear sooner than I. It is from your quarter they come. No good news can be expected from here. I reached Capua on the 5th of February, as the consuls bade. Lentulus arrived late in the day. The other consul had not arrived at all on the 7th: for on that day I left Capua and stayed at Cales. On the 8th before daybreak I dispatch you this letter from there. The discovery I made at Capua was that no reliance is to be placed on the consuls, and that no levy is being made anywhere. For recruiting officers do not dare to show their faces