O mi Attice, vereor, ne nobis Idus Martiae nihil dederint praeter laetitiam et odii poenam ac doloris. Quae mihi istim adferuntur! quae hic video!
"Ὢ πράξεως καλῆς μέν, ἀτελοῦς δέ."
Scis, quam diligam Siculos et quam illam clientelam honestam iudicem. Multa illis Caesar neque me
conscious of a heroic and magnificent deed, but what have we, who have killed a king and yet are not free? However, this lies in fortune's hands, since reason no longer rules.
What you tell me of my son is welcome news; I hope all will go well. I am exceedingly grateful to you for arranging that he shall be supplied with sufficient for luxury as well as necessities, and I beg you again and again to continue to do so. You are right about the people of Buthrotum, and I am not remitting my attention. I will undertake their whole case, which is daily looking simpler. As for Cluvius' inheritance, since you are more anxious about my affairs than I am myself, it is approaching £1,000.[[204]] The fall of some houses did not depreciate it; indeed, I am not sure it did not make it better.
[204]. 100,000 sesterces.
Balbus, Hirtius, and Pansa are here with me. Octavius has just come to stay, and that, too, in the very next house, Philippus' place, and he is devoted to me. Lentulus Spinther is staying with me to-day. To-morrow early he is going.
XII
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Puteoli, April 22, B.C. 44
My dear Atticus, I fear the Ides of March may have given us nothing but our joy and satisfaction of our hatred and resentment. What news I get from Rome! What things I see here! "The deed was fair but its result is naught."