408a quo adhuc Ἡρακλείδειον illud non abstuli. Quod me hortaris ad scribendum, amice tu quidem, sed me scito agere nihil aliud. Gravedo tua mihi molesta est. Quaeso, adhibe, quam soles diligentiam. "O Tite" tibi prodesse laetor. "Anagnini" sunt Mustela ταξιάρχης et Laco, qui plurimum bibit. Librum, quem rogas, perpoliam et mittam.
Haec ad posteriorem. "Τὰ περὶ τοῦ καθήκοντος," quatenus Panaetius, absolvi duobus. Illius tres sunt; sed, cum initio divisisset ita, tria genera exquirendi officii esse, unum, cum deliberemus, honestum an turpe sit, alterum, utile an inutile, tertium, cum haec inter se pugnare videantur, quo modo iudicandum sit, qualis causa Reguli, redire honestum, manere utile, de duobus primis praeclare disseruit, de tertio pollicetur se deinceps, sed nihil scripsit. Eum locum Posidonius persecutus est. Ego autem et eius librum accersivi et ad Athenodorum Calvum scripsi, ut ad me τὰ κεφάλαια mitteret; quae exspecto. Quem velim cohortere et roges, ut quam primum. In eo est περὶ τοῦ κατὰ περίστασιν καθήκοντος. Quod de inscriptione quaeris, non dubito, quin καθῆκον "officium" sit, nisi quid tu aliud; sed inscriptio plenior "de officiis." Προσφωνῶ autem Ciceroni filio. Visum est non ἀνοίκειον.
of Varro; I have not yet managed to get the book in the style of Heracleides from him. You exhort me to go on writing. That is friendly of you; but let me tell you I do nothing else. I am sorry to hear of your cold. Please take as much care as usual of it. I am glad my book On Old Age[[326]] does you good. The "men of Anagnia"[[327]] are Mustela, the swashbuckler, and Laco, the champion toper. The book you ask for I will polish up and send.
[326]. O Tite are the opening words of the De Senectute.
[327]. 2 Phil. 106. The names have been inserted, as they are given in our MSS.
Now for the second letter. The De Officiis, so far as Panaetius is concerned, I have finished in two books. He has three: but, though at the beginning he makes a three-fold division of cases in which duty has to be determined, one when the question is between right or wrong, another when it is between expediency and inexpediency, and the third, how we are to decide when it is a conflict between duty and expediency—for example, in Regulus' case to return would be right, to stay expedient—he treated of the first two brilliantly; the third he promises to add, but never wrote it. Posidonius took up that topic: but I have ordered his book and written to Athenodorus Calvus to send me an analysis of it, and that I am expecting. I wish you would spur him on and beg him to let me have it as soon as possible. In it duties under given circumstances are handled. As to your query about the title, I have no doubt that καθῆκον (duty) corresponds with officium, unless you have any other suggestion to make. But the fuller title is De Officiis. I am dedicating it to my son. It seems to me not inappropriate.
410De Myrtilo dilucide. O quales tu semper istos! Itane? in D. Brutum? Di istis! Ego me, ut scripseram, in Pompeianum non abdidi, primo tempestatibus, quibus nil taetrius; deinde ab Octaviano cotidie litterae, ut negotium susciperem, Capuam venirem, iterum rem publicam servarem, Romam utique statim.
Iliad, vii. 93
"Αἴδεσθεν μὲν ἀνήνασθαι, δεῖσαν δ' ὑποδέχθαι."
Is tamen egit sane strenue et agit. Romam veniet cum manu magna, sed est plane puer. Putat senatum statim. Quis veniet? Si venerit, quis incertis rebus offendet Antonium? Kal. Ianuar. erit fortasse praesidio, aut quidem ante depugnabitur. Puero municipia mire favent. Iter enim faciens in Samnium venit Cales, mansit Teani. Mirifica ἀπάντησις et cohortatio. Hoc tu putares? Ob hoc ego citius Romam, quam constitueram. Simul et constituero, scribam.