ille adsit, contraque noster dux nusquam sit, nihil agat, nec nomina dant. Deficit enim non voluntas, sed spes. Gnaeus autem noster (o rem miseram et incredibilem!) ut totus iacet! Non animus est, non consilium, non copiae, non diligentia. Mittam illa, fugam ab urbe turpissimam, timidissimas in oppidis contiones, ignorationem non solum adversarii, sed etiam suarum copiarum; hoc cuius modi est? VII Idus Febr. Capuam C. Cassius tribunus pl. venit, attulit mandata ad consules, ut Romam venirent, pecuniam de sanctiore aerario auferrent, statim exirent. Urbe relicta redeant; quo praesidio? deinde exeant; quis sinat? Consul ei rescripsit, ut prius ipse in Picenum. At illud totum erat amissum; sciebat nemo praeter me ex litteris Dolabellae. Mihi dubium non erat, quin ille iam iamque foret in Apulia, Gnaeus noster in navi.
Ego quid agam σκέμμα magnum—neque mehercule mihi quidem ullum, nisi omnia essent acta turpissime, neque ego ullius consilii particeps—sed tamen quod me deceat. Ipse me Caesar ad pacem hortatur; sed antiquiores litterae, quam ruere coepit. Dolabella, Caelius me illi valde satis facere. Mira me ἀπορία
when Caesar is at hand, and our leader is nowhere to be found and takes no action. No one enlists. It is not good will that is lacking, but hope. What an inconceivable plight is Pompey's, and how utterly he has broken down! He has neither spirit nor plan, nor forces, nor energy. I say nothing of his most disgraceful flight from the city, his timorous speeches in the towns, his ignorance not only of the strength of his opponent but of his own forces: but what of this? On the 7th of February C. Cassius the tribune came to Capua, and brought an order to the consuls to come to Rome, carry off the money from the reserve treasury[51] and leave at once. On quitting the city they are to return—but they have no escort: then there is the getting out of the city—who is going to give them leave? Lentulus replied that Pompey must first come to Picenum. No one except myself knows it; but Dolabella has written to me that that district is totally lost. I have no doubt but that Caesar is on the point of entering Apulia and that Pompey is on board ship.
[51] This reserve fund was said to have been founded originally to meet a possible invasion of the Gauls. It was made up from spoils in war and from the 5 per cent tax on manumitted slaves. It was drawn upon in the second Punic War (cf. Livy XXVII, 11). Caesar (Bellum Civ. 14) says the consuls intended to open it before they left Rome; but fled in haste at a report of his approach.
What I am to do is a big problem. It would be no problem for me at all, if everything had not been disgracefully managed; and I had no part in the plan: still my proper course is a problem. Caesar himself invites to peace: but the letter is dated before he began to run amuck. Dolabella and Caelius declare that he is well satisfied with me. I am at my wits'
torquet. Iuva me consilio, si potes, et tamen ista, quantum potes, provide. Nihil habeo tanta rerum perturbatione, quod scribam. Tuas litteras exspecto.