XLVI
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. in Tusculano prid. Id. Sext. a. 709
Pollex quidem, ut dixerat ad Idus Sextiles, ita mihi Lanuvi pridie Idus praesto fuit, sed plane pollex, non index. Cognosces igitur ex ipso. Balbum conveni. Lepta enim de sua munerum[[176]] curatione laborans me ad eum perduxerat. In eo autem Lanuvino, quod Lepido tradidit. Ex eo hoc primum: "Paulo ante acceperam eas litteras, in quibus magno opere confirmat ante ludos Romanos." Legi epistulam. Multa de meo Catone, quo saepissime legendo se dicit copiosiorem factum, Bruti Catone lecto se sibi visum disertum. Ex eo cognovi cretionem Cluvi (o Vestorium neglegentem!) liberam cretionem testibus praesentibus sexaginta diebus. Metuebam, ne ille arcessendus esset. Nunc mittendum est, ut meo
[176]. munerum Schmidt, coll. Fam. vi. 19. 2: viin M: vini vulg.
my word, if I had had the whole world to select from, I could hardly have chosen a man more painstaking, more obliging, nor, I am sure, more devoted to my interests than Vestorius. I have sent him an extremely carefully worded letter; and I think you have done the same. I think that is sufficient. What do you say? The one thing that bothers me is that we may seem too careless. So I will wait for your letter.
XLVI
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Tusculum, Aug. 12, B.C. 45
Pollex, having arranged to meet me on the 13th of August, has done so at Lanuvium on the 12th: but he is a mere thumb, and not a pointing finger.[[177]] So you must get your news from him himself. I have met Balbus: for Lepta, being anxious about the contract for the shows, took me to him. Well, he was in the place at Lanuvium, which he made over to Lepidus: and the first thing he said to me was, "I have just had a letter in which Caesar definitely asserts that he will be here before the Roman games." I read the letter. It dilated on my Cato, and he said that by reading it frequently he had increased his flow of language, and, when he read Brutus' Cato, he began to think himself eloquent. I learned from him that the formal acceptance of Cluvius' legacy was an unconditional acceptance within sixty days before witnesses. How careless of Vestorius not to tell me! I was afraid I should have to send for him: but now I must
[177]. In the Latin there is a play on the proper name, which I am unable to reproduce in English.
202iussu cernat. Idem igitur Pollex. Etiam de hortis Cluvianis egi cum Balbo. Nil liberalius. Se enim statim ad Caesarem scripturum, Cluvium autem a T. Hordeonio legare et Terentiae HS IↃↃↃ et sepulcro multisque rebus, nihil a nobis. Subaccusa, quaeso, Vestorium. Quid minus probandum quam Plotium unguentarium per suos pueros omnia tanto ante Balbo, illum mi ne per meos quidem? De Cossinio doleo; dilexi hominem.