You know how fond I am of the Sicilians, and how great an honour I count it to be their patron. Caesar granted them many privileges, and I was pleased at
240invito, etsi Latinitas erat non ferenda. Verum tamen. Ecce autem Antonius accepta grandi pecunia fixit legem a dictatore comitiis latam, qua Siculi cives Romani; cuius rei vivo illo mentio nulla. Quid? Deiotari nostri causa non similis? Dignus ille quidem omni regno, sed non per Fulviam. Sescenta similia. Verum illuc redeo. Tam claram tamque testatam rem tamque iustam Buthrotiam non tenebimus aliqua ex parte? et eo quidem magis, quo iste plura?
Nobiscum hic perhonorifice et peramice Octavius. Quem quidem sui Caesarem salutabant, Philippus non, itaque ne nos quidem; quem nego posse bonum civem. Ita multi circumstant, qui quidem nostris mortem minitantur. Negant haec ferri posse. Quid censes, cum Romam puer venerit, ubi nostri liberatores tuti esse non possunt? Qui quidem semper erunt clari, conscientia vero facti sui etiam beati. Sed nos, nisi me fallit, iacebimus. Itaque exire aveo, "ubi nec Pelopidarum," inquit. Haud amo vel hos designatos, qui etiam declamare me coëgerunt, ut ne apud aquas quidem acquiescere liceret. Sed hoc meae nimiae facilitatis. Nam id erat quondam quasi necesse, nunc, quoquo modo se res habet, non est item.
Quam dudum nihil habeo, quod ad te scribam! Scribo tamen, non ut delectem his litteris, sed ut
it, though to give them the Latin rights was intolerable. However ——. But here is Antony taking a huge bribe and posting up a law said to have been carried by the dictator in the Comitia, which gives the Sicilians the citizenship, though there was no mention of such a thing when Caesar was alive. Again, is not our friend Deiotarus' case just the same? He is certainly worthy of any kingdom, but not of one bought through Fulvia. There are thousands of other cases. However, to return to my point. Shall I not be able to maintain to some extent my case for the people of Buthrotum, since it is so well supported by witnesses and so just, especially as he is free with his grants?
Octavius is here with us on terms of respect and friendship. His people address him as Caesar, but Philippus does not, and so I do not either. I hold that it is impossible for a loyal citizen to do so. We are surrounded by so many who threaten death to our friends, and declare they cannot bear the present state of affairs. What do you think will happen, when this boy comes to Rome, where those who have set us free cannot live in safety. They, indeed, will ever be famous, and even happy in the consciousness of their deed. But we, unless I am much mistaken, shall be crushed. So I long to go "where no bruit of the sons of Pelops may reach my ears,"[[205]] as the saying is. I have no love even for these consuls designate, who have forced me to declaim to them, so that I can't have peace even by the sea. But that is due to my excess of good nature. For at one time declamation was more or less a necessity; now, however things turn out, it is not.
[205]. The full quotation, which comes from the Pelops of Accius, runs:
"evolem, ubi nec Pelopidarum nomen nec facta aut famam audiam."
How long it is since I have had anything to write to you! However, I write, not to charm you with
242eliciam tuas. Tu, si quid erit de ceteris, de Bruto utique, quicquid. Haec conscripsi X Kal. accubans apud Vestorium, hominem remotum a dialecticis, in arithmeticis satis exercitatum.