XVIII
CICERO ATTICO.

Scr. in Pompeiano VII Id. Mai. a. 710

Saepius me iam agitas, quod rem gestam Dolabellae nimis in caelum videar efferre. Ego autem, quamquam sane probo factum, tamen, ut tanto opere laudarem, adductus sum tuis et unis et alteris litteris. Sed totum se a te abalienavit Dolabella ea de causa, qua me quoque sibi inimicissimum reddidit. O hominem impudentem! Kal. Ian. debuit, adhuc non solvit, praesertim cum se maximo aere alieno Faberi manu liberarit et opem ab Ope petierit. Licet enim iocari, ne me valde conturbatum putes. Atque ego ad eum VIII Idus litteras dederam bene mane, eodem autem die tuas litteras vesperi acceperam in Pompeiano sane celeriter tertio abs te die. Sed, ut ad te eo ipso die scripseram, satis aculeatas ad Dolabellam litteras dedi; quae si nihil profecerint, puto fore ut me praesentem non sustineat.

Albianum te confecisse arbitror. De Patulciano

that you should not only protect but honour the men who paved the way for freedom. But I hope we shall soon meet to discuss these things. Do you, my dear Dolabella, take the greatest care of yourself, since you preserve the state and all of us.

XVIII
CICERO TO ATTICUS.

Pompeii, May 9, B.C. 44

You are continually reproaching me now with lauding Dolabella to the skies more than I ought. But, though I strongly approve of his action, still it was one and then another letter of yours which induced me to belaud it so highly. But Dolabella has entirely lost your good graces for the same reason that he has made me too a bitter enemy. What a shameless fellow! He has not paid yet, though he ought to have done so on the first of January, especially as he has freed himself from enormous debts by the handwriting of Faberius and has sought help from the goddess of help.[[216]] For I must have my joke, that you may not think I am seriously concerned. I had written too to him very early on the 8th, and on the same day in the evening I got a letter from you at Pompeii, delivered very quickly on the third day after you wrote it. But, as I told you then, my letter to Dolabella was sufficiently stinging. If it takes no effect, I don't think he will be able to face me.

[216]. Faberius was Caesar's secretary and was used by Antony to insert extra details in Caesar's memoranda. Here Dolabella is included in the accusation repeatedly brought by Cicero against Antony, that he used for his own purposes the large sum left by Caesar in the public treasury in the temple of Ops.

I think you have settled Albius' business. With