Puteoli, April 26, B.C. 44
There is one reason why I wish you had made personally the request you are making by letter. Then you could have seen my affection for you not only from what I said, but from my "expression, eyes and brow," as the phrase goes. For I have always had an affection for you, urged thereto at first by your attention to me and afterwards by benefits received, and in these days public affairs have so recommended you to me that there is no one for whom I have more regard. The letter you have written to me in such a friendly and flattering tone makes me feel as though I were receiving a favour from you, not granting one to you, since you refuse to recall your friend, who was my enemy, against my will, though you could quite easily do so. Of course I grant your request, my dear Antony, and I think myself, too, most liberally and honourably treated, when you address me in such a strain. I should have thought it right to grant it you freely, whatever the facts had been, and besides, I am gratifying my own natural kindliness. For I never had any bitterness or even the slightest sternness or severity in me, except what was demanded by public necessity. Besides, I never had any special grudge against Clodius himself, and I always laid down the rule that one should not attack one's enemies' friends, especially their humbler friends, nor should we ourselves be deprived of such supporters. As regards the boy Clodius I think it is your duty to imbue his "receptive mind," as you say, with the idea that
252inimicitias residere in familiis nostris arbitretur. Contendi cum P. Clodio, cum ego publicam causam, ille suam defenderet. Nostras concertationes res publica diiudicavit. Si viveret, mihi cum illo nulla contentio iam maneret. Quare, quoniam hoc a me sic petis, ut, quae tua potestas est, ea neges te me invito usurum, puero quoque hoc a me dabis, si tibi videbitur, non quo aut aetas nostra ab illius aetate quicquam debeat periculi suspicari, aut dignitas mea ullam contentionem extimescat, sed ut nosmet ipsi inter nos coniunctiores simus, quam adhuc fuimus. Interpellantibus enim his inimicitiis animus tuus mihi magis patuit quam domus. Sed haec hactenus.
Illud extremum. Ego, quae te velle quaeque ad te pertinere arbitrabor, semper sine ulla dubitatione summo studio faciam. Hoc velim tibi penitus persuadeas.
XIV
CICERO ATTICO S. D.
Scr. in Puteolano a. d. V K. Mai. a. 710
"Iteradum eadem ista mihi." Coronatus Quintus noster Parilibus! Solusne? Etsi addis Lamiam. Quod demiror equidem: sed scire cupio, qui fuerint alii; quamquam satis scio nisi improbum neminem. Explanabis igitur hoc diligentius. Ego autem casu, cum dedissem ad te litteras VI Kal. satis multis verbis, tribus fere horis post accepi tuas et magni quidem ponderis. Itaque ioca tua plena facetiarum de haeresi
there is no enmity between our families. I fought P. Clodius because I was fighting for the State, he for his own hand; and the State decided the merits of our controversy. If he were alive now I should have no further quarrel with him. So, since in making your request you say you will not use the power you have against my will, you may make this concession to the boy too in my name, if you will; not that a man of my age has anything to fear from a youth of his, or that a person of my position needs shrink from any quarrel, but that we may be more intimate than we have been as yet. For these feuds have come between us, and so your heart has been more open to me than your house. But enough of this.
I have one thing to add, that, whatever I think you wish, and whatever is to your interest, I shall never have any hesitation in carrying out with all my heart and soul. Of that I hope you will feel fully persuaded.