You know L. Tullius Montanus who has gone with my son. I have received a letter from his sister's husband saying that, through going bail for Flaminius, Montanus owes Plancus nearly £200;[[85]] and that he has made some request to you about it. I should like you to assist him by speaking to Plancus or in any other way you can. I feel under an obligation to help him. If you know more about it than I do, or if you think Plancus should be spoken to, I wish you would write to me, that I may know how the matter stands, and what I ought to ask him. I am awaiting news as to what you have done about the letter to Caesar. About Silius I am not much concerned. You must get me either Scapula's or Clodia's gardens. But you seem to have some doubts about Clodia. Is it about the date of her arrival or as to whether the gardens are for sale? But what is this that I hear about Spinther divorcing his wife?
[85]. 20,000 sesterces.
106De lingua Latina securi es animi. Dices: "Qui talia conscribis?" Ἀπόγραφα sunt, minore labore fiunt; verba tantum adfero, quibus abundo.
LIII
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. in Tusculano XI K. Iun. a. 709
Ego, etsi nihil habeo, quod ad te scribam, scribo tamen, quia tecum loqui videor. Hic nobiscum sunt Nicias et Valerius. Hodie tuas litteras exspectabamus matutinas. Erunt fortasse alterae posmeridianae, nisi te Epiroticae litterae impedient; quas ego non interpello. Misi ad te epistulas ad Marcianum et ad Montanum. Eas in eundem fasciculum velim addas, nisi forte iam dedisti.
Make your mind easy about the Latin language. You will say, "What, when you write on such subjects?"[[86]] They are copies, and don't give me much trouble. I only supply words, and of them I have plenty.
[86]. Atticus had commented on the difficulty of rendering Greek philosophic terms in Latin.
LIII
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Tusculum, May 22, B.C. 45