have been together. If you will do this, you will have bound me—who have always been attached to you by my own inclination and by our family friendship—to you under a heavy obligation, and I beg you earnestly and repeatedly to do so.
XVIc
CICERO TO CAPITO, GREETING
Written at the same time as 16b
I never thought I should have to come before you as a suppliant, but upon my soul I am not sorry that I should have an occasion for testing your affection. You know how fond I am of Atticus. Pray grant me one other favour and forget for my sake that once he wished to support a friend of his, who was an enemy of yours, when his reputation was at stake. In the first place your kindly disposition should bid you forgive that, for everyone ought to look after his own friends; in the next place, leaving Atticus out of the question, if you love me—and you are always declaring how great is the respect you have for your friend Cicero—grant me that now I may know for a certainty what I have always believed, that you have a great affection for me. By a decree, which I and many important persons signed, Caesar set free the Buthrotians, and assured us that, when the land-commissioners had crossed the sea, he would send a despatch about the territory to which they should be transferred; and then it happened that he died suddenly. Then, as you know (for you were present), when the consuls ought to have decided on Caesar's proceedings in accordance with a senatorial decree, they postponed the matter till the 1st of June. On the 2nd of June a law was passed in
436Iun., quae lex earum rerum, quas Caesar statuisset, decrevisset, egisset, consulibus cognitionem dedit. Causa Buthrotiorum delata est ad consules. Decretum Caesaris recitatum est et multi praeterea libelli Caesaris prolati. Consules de consilii sententia decreverunt secundum Buthrotios: litteras ad[[347]] Plancum dederunt. Nunc, mi Capito (scio enim, quantum semper apud eos, quibuscum sis, posse soleas, eo plus apud hominem facillimum atque humanissimum, Plancum), enitere, elabora vel potius eblandire, effice, ut Plancus, quem spero optimum esse, sit etiam melior opera tua. Omnino res huius modi mihi videtur esse, ut sine cuiusquam gratia Plancus ipse pro ingenio et prudentia sua non sit dubitaturus, quin decretum consulum, quorum et lege et senatus consulto cognitio et iudicium fuit, conservet, praesertim cum hoc genere cognitionum labefactato acta Caesaris in dubium ventura videantur, quae non modo ii, quorum interest, sed etiam ii, qui illa non probant, otii causa confirmari velint. Quod cum ita sit, tamen interest nostra Plancum hoc animo libenti prolixoque facere; quod certe faciet, si tu nervulos tuos mihi saepe cognitos suavitatemque, qua nemo tibi par est, adhibueris. Quod ut facias, te vehementer rogo.
[347]. litteras ad added by Manutius.
addition to the decree of the Senate, granting the consuls the right of deciding on Caesar's statutes, decrees, and proceedings. The case of the Buthrotians was put before the consuls. Caesar's decree was read to them, and many other papers of Caesar's were brought forward too. By the advice of their council the consuls decided in favour of the Buthrotians, and sent a despatch to Plancus. Now, Capito, I know the influence you always have over those with whom you are, especially with so amiable and good-natured a person as Plancus; please use all your energy, or rather all your powers of persuasion, and make Plancus, who I hope will be sufficiently kindly himself, still more kindly. In any case I think this is the state of affairs: that without favouring anybody, Plancus will have sense and wisdom enough to have no hesitation in obeying the decree of the consuls, who had the right of enquiry and decision conferred upon them by law and by a senatorial decree, especially as, if this kind of decision is rendered null, Caesar's proceedings may well be called in question; and not only those who benefit by them, but even those who disapprove of them, have to give them their support for the sake of peace. Though that is the case, still it is to our interest that Plancus should do this willingly and freely; and no doubt he will if you exert your influence, which I know so well, and your persuasive power, which is unequalled: and that I beg you earnestly to do.
438
XVId
CICERO C. CUPIENNIO S.
Scr. eodem tempore quo ep. 16c