Deverti ad illum, de quo tecum mane. Nihil perditius; explicari rem non posse. "Etenim, si ille tali ingenio exitum non reperiebat, quis nunc reperiet?" Quid quaeris? perisse omnia aiebat (quod haud scio an ita sit; verum ille gaudens) adfirmabatque minus diebus XX tumultum Gallicum. In sermonem se post Idus Martias praeterquam Lepido venisse nemini. Ad summam non posse istaec sic abire. O prudentem Oppium! qui nihilo minus illum desiderat, sed loquitur nihil; quod quemquam bonum offendat. Sed haec hactenus.
Tu, quaeso, quicquid novi (multa autem exspecto), scribere ne pigrere, in his, de Sexto satisne certum, maxime autem de Bruto nostro. De quo quidem ille, ad quem deverti, Caesarem solitum dicere: "Magni refert, hic quid velit, sed, quicquid volt, valde volt"; idque eum animadvertisse, cum pro Deiotaro Nicaeae dixerit; valde vehementer eum visum et libere dicere;
CICERO'S LETTERS
TO ATTICUS
BOOK XIV
I
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
At Matius' villa, April 7, B.C. 44
I have stopped for a visit with the man we were speaking of in the morning.[[186]] His view is that nothing could be more disgraceful and the thing was quite hopeless. "For, if Caesar with his genius could not find a solution, who will find it now?" In a word he said the end had come (which may be true, but he was pleased about it), and assured me that in less than twenty days there would be a rising in Gaul. He has not discussed the matter with anyone except Lepidus since the 15th of March: and, in fine, things cannot pass off like this. What a wise man is Oppius! He regrets Caesar quite as much, but says nothing that can offend any of the loyal party. So much for that.
[186]. C. Matius Calvena.
Pray do not delay in sending me any news—and I expect there is plenty: among other things whether we may be sure of Sextus, but especially about our friend Brutus. About him the man I am staying with says Caesar used to say: "What he wants is of great importance, but whatever he wants, he wants it badly"; and that he noticed it, when he pleaded for Deiotarus at Nicaea, for he seemed to speak with emphasis and with boldness. Again—I like to write
218atque etiam (ut enim quicque succurrit, libet scribere) proxime, cum Sesti rogatu apud eum fuissem exspectaremque sedens, quoad vocarer, dixisse eum: "Ego dubitem, quin summo in odio sim, cum M. Cicero sedeat nec suo commodo me convenire possit? Atqui, si quisquam est facilis, hic est. Tamen non dubito, quin me male oderit." Haec et eius modi multa. Sed ad propositum. Quicquid erit non modo magnum, sed etiam parvum, scribes. Equidem nihil intermittam.