castris res geretur, video cum altero vinci satius esse quam cum altero vincere), sed illa, quae tum agentur, cum venero, ne ratio absentis habeatur, ut exercitum dimittat. "Dic, M. Tvlli." Quid dicam? "Exspecta, amabo te, dum Atticum conveniam"? Non est locus ad tergiversandum. Contra Caesarem? "Ubi illae sunt densae dexterae?" Nam, ut illi hoc liceret, adiuvi rogatus ab ipso Ravennae de Caelio tribuno pl. Ab ipso autem? Etiam a Gnaeo nostro in illo divino tertio consulatu.
Aliter sensero? Αἰδέομαι non Pompeium modo, sed Τρῶας καὶ Τρωάδας.
Πουλυδάμας μοι πρῶτος ἐλεγχείην καταθήσει.
Quis? Tu ipse scilicet, laudator et factorum et scriptorum meorum. Hanc ergo plagam effugi per duos superiores Marcellorum consulatus, cum est actum de provincia Caesaris, nunc incido in discrimen ipsum? Itaque ut stultus[3] primus suam sententiam dicat, mihi valde placet de triumpho nos moliri aliquid, extra urbem esse cum iustissuma causa. Tamen dabunt operam, ut eliciant sententiam meam. Ridebis hoc loco fortasse. Quam vellem etiam nunc in provincia morari! Plane opus fuit, si hoc impendebat. Etsi nil miserius. Nam, ὁδῦυ πάρεργον, volo te hoc scire.
[3] The reading here is debatable. Sulpicius, Hillus, and alius have been suggested in place of stultus.
field, I see it would be better to be beaten with Pompey than to win with Caesar. But what about the points in debate on my arrival—refusing the claims of a candidate who is away from Rome and ordering the disbanding of his army. "Your opinion, Marcus Tullius," will be the question. What am I to say? "Please wait till I meet Atticus?" There is no chance of evasion. I speak against Caesar? "Where then the pledge of plighted hands?"[4] For I assisted in getting Caesar privilege on these two points, when I was asked by him personally at Ravenna to approach Caelius the tribune to propose a bill. Asked by him personally, do I say? Yes, and by our friend Pompey in that immortal third consulship.
[4] Probably a quotation from some early poet.
Shall I choose the other course? "I fear" not only Pompey, but "the men and long-robed dames of Troy": "Polydamas will be the first to rail."[5] Who's he? Why, you, who praise my work and writings. Have I then avoided this trap during the last two consulships of the Marcelli, when the matter of Caesar's province was under debate, only to fall now into the thick of the trouble? That some fool may have the first vote on the motion, I feel strongly inclined to devote my energies to my triumph, a most reasonable excuse for staying outside the city. Nevertheless they will try to extract my opinion. Perhaps this will excite your mirth: I wish to goodness I were still staying in my province. I certainly ought to have stayed, if this was coming: though it would have been most wretched. For by the way
[5] Iliad vi, 442, and xxii, 100.