There are lots of people here, and I hear there
232Duo quidem quasi designati consules. O di boni! vivit tyrannis, tyrannus occidit! Eius interfecti morte laetamur, cuius facta defendimus! Itaque quam severe nos M. Curtius accusat, ut pudeat vivere, neque iniuria. Nam mori miliens praestitit quam haec pati; quae mihi videntur habitura etiam vetustatem.
Et Balbus hic est multumque mecum. Ad quem a Vetere litterae datae pridie Kal. Ianuar., cum a se Caecilius circumsederetur et iam teneretur, venisse cum maximis copiis Pacorum Parthum; ita sibi esse eum ereptum multis suis amissis. In qua re accusat Volcacium. Ita mihi videtur bellum illud instare. Sed Dolabella et Nicias viderint. Idem Balbus meliora de Gallia. XXI die litteras habebat Germanos illasque nationes re audita de Caesare legates misisse ad Aurelium, qui est praepositus ab Hirtio, se, quod imperatum esset, esse facturos. Quid quaeris? omnia plena pacis, aliter ac mihi Calvena dixerat.
X
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. in Puteolano XIII K. Mai. a. 710
Itane vero? hoc meus et tuus Brutus egit, ut Lanuvi esset, ut Trebonius itineribus deviis proficisceretur in provinciam, ut omnia facta, scripta, dicta, promissa, cogitata Caesaris plus valerent, quam si ipse viveret? Meministine me clamare illo ipso primo
will be more. Two of them are the so-called consuls designate. Good God, the tyranny lives though the tyrant is dead! We rejoice at his assassination and defend his actions. So see how severely M. Curtius criticizes us! We feel ashamed to live, and he is perfectly right. For to die is a thousand times better than to suffer such things, which seem to me to be likely to continue for some considerable time.
Balbus, too, is here, and is often with me. He has had a letter from Vetus, dated the last of December, saying that when Caecilius was besieged and already within his grasp, the Parthian Pacorus came with a large force, and so Caecilius was snatched from his hands and he lost many men. For that he blames Volcacius. So I suppose there is a war imminent there. But that is Dolabella's and Nicias' look out. Balbus also has better news about Gaul. Twenty-one days ago he had a letter that the Germans and the tribes there, on hearing about Caesar, sent ambassadors to Aurelius, who was appointed by Hirtius, saying that they would do as they were bidden. In fact everything seems peaceable there, contrary to what Calvena said.
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CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Puteoli, April 19, B.C. 44