EP. XXVI. This letter was written at Brundisium between November, B. C. 48, and the end of that year. In June, B. C. 49, Cicero embarked at Brundisium for Greece, where he joined the camp of Pompey. For the space of nearly a year from this time little is known of his movements: one or two notes only have been preserved, which show that, during his residence in the camp of Pompey, he was in bad health, embarrassed by pecuniary difficulties, in the habit of inveighing against everything he heard and saw around him, and of giving way to the deepest despondency. After the battle of Pharsalia (August 9, B. C. 48), at which he was not present, he returned to Brundisium, where he remained for ten months. 1. In maximis meis doloribus. During the whole of the time mentioned in the end of the preceding note, "Cicero's mind was in a most agitated and unhappy condition. He was constantly tormented with unavailing remorse on account of the folly of his past conduct in having identified himself with the Pompeians when he might have remained unmolested at home; he was filled with apprehensions as to the manner in which he might be treated by Caesar, whom he had so often offended and so lately deceived; he moreover was visited by secret shame and compunction for having at once given up his associates upon the first turn of fortune; above all, he was haunted by the foreboding that they might after all prove victorious, in which event his fate would have been desperate; and the cup of bitterness was filled by the unnatural treachery of his brother and nephew, who were seeking to recommend themselves to those in power by casting the foulest calumnies and vilest aspersions upon their relative, whom they represented as having seduced them from their duty." Page 324 Ep. XXVII. 1. Spe pacis, which they hoped would follow a 325 complete victory, such as that of Pharsalia was. 2. Nostrum judicium ; i. e. our decision as to how far we ought to go in bearing arms against Roman citizens. but (I confess : sc. fateor) 5. Fatali proelio: that of Pharsalia. 6. Utrumque . . . . victoris that I was of the opinion that both (results) depended upon the ex Page 325 pedition of the conqueror; i. e. upon the expedition with which he had there been this (expedition). 8. Quam cognovit Asia Achaia ; i. e. quam cognoverunt i, qui post Pharsalicam pugnam se in Asiam et in Achaiam receperunt. 326 9. Te ipso allegato ac deprecatore. Cassius post pugnam Pharsalicam ad Caesarem transierat ab eoque benevole receptus erat. Multos igitur alios Pompeianos, Cassio ad Caesarem allegato ac deprecatore, a Caesare veniam impetrasse satis erat credibile. 10. Amissis .... valent = the critical opportunity having been lost, which is most important. 11. Interpositus annus; i. e. the year that had elapsed since the battle of Pharsalia. 12. Ipsum vinci ipsam cladem: the direct object of contemnerent. 13. Tantam moram ; i. e. novem mensium. 14. Nescio quem paltry, insignificant. Pharnaces (son of the famous Mithridates, king of Pontus) taking advantage of Caesar's being engaged in the Alexandrine war, made an incursion into Cappadocia and the lesser Armenia, the dominions of Deiotarus, a king tributary to the Romans. Domitius Calvinus, whom Caesar had appointed to command in Asia and the neighboring provinces, having received notice of this invasion, marched immediately to the assistance of Deiotarus. The two armies came to an engagement, in which Pharnaces had the superiority. Calvinus, at the same time, being called away by Caesar, who had occasion for those troops to complete the conquest of Alexandria, Pharnaces took that opportunity of entering Pontus, which he seized as his hereditary dominions, and where he committed great cruelties and devastations. This letter seems to have been written soon after the transaction above related, and probably while Caesar himself was on the march in order to chastise the insolence of Pharnaces. It was in giving an account of this expedition that Caesar made use of that celebrated expression in a letter to one of his friends, Veni, vidi, vici. - 15. Currentem incitarem. So de Orat. II. 44, 186: fa cilius est currentem incitare quam commovere languentem. 16. In gemitu Italiae. Caesar, after the battle of Pharsa lia, sent Mark Antony into Italy, as his master of the horse; an office, in the absence of the dictator, of supreme authority in the commonwealth; but Antony abused the power with which he was Page thus invested, and taking advantage of the disturbances at Rome 326 (excited by Dolabella and Trevellius, tribuni plebis), turned them to his private purposes, by enriching himself with the spoils of his fellow-citizens. This seems to have been the occasion of those general complaints to which Cicero here alludes. 17. Pro mea, tua, sua parte ability. 18. Auctor: Caesar. = according to my, your, his EP. XXVIII. 1. Negligentia. Dolabella was greatly embarrassed in his affairs; and it seems by this passage as if he had not allowed Tullia a maintenance, during his absence abroad, sufficient to support her rank and dignity. The negligence with which Cicero reproaches himself probably relates to his not having secured a proper settlement on his daughter, when he made the second payment of her fortune to Dolabella. For in a letter written to Atticus about this time, he expressly condemns himself for having acted imprudently in that affair. 2. Ad Caesarem mittere ; i. e. in order to supplicate Caesar's pardon, for having engaged against him on the side of Pompey. EP. XXX. 1. Redditae sunt - litterae. This letter 327 is not extant; but Cicero mentions the purport of it in the oration pro Ligario, chap. III. 7, by which it appears, that he would preserve to him his former state and dignities. EP. XXXI. 1. In Tusculanum. Cicero continued at Brundisium till Caesar arrived in Italy, who came much sooner than was expected, and landed at Tarentum some time in September. They had an interview with each other, which ended much to the satisfaction of Cicero, who, intending to follow Caesar towards Rome, wrote this letter to his wife, to prepare for his reception at his Tusculan villa. 2. Ut.... parata = let all things be ready. The complete expression would be fac ut sint omnia parata. So ut sit below: == there be one; i e. fac ut sit. let 3. De Venusino: sc. agro datae. He wrote the letter near 328 Venusia. Ep. XXXII. 1. M. Marcello. Marcellus was then in exile at Athens. He was consul with Serv. Sulpicius in B. C. 51. 2. Consilio. This refers to the different conduct of Cicero and 610 Page 328 Marcellus, after the battle of Pharsalia: the former having immediately returned into Italy, in order to throw himself at the feet of the. conqueror, the latter retiring to Mitylene, the capital of Lesbos. In this city Marcellus probably resided, when this letter was written. that course of thine. 3. Ista ratio 829 830 331 332 333 = 4. Nihil attinet it is of no use. 5. Cuicuimodi res esset = whatever the situation of the public affairs might be. Cuicuimodi, for cujuscujusmodi. 7. Marcello ; i. e. C. Marcellus. 8. Non adhibemur I am non consulted. 9. Ad.... sumus ; i. e. my services are ready, whenever they are desired. EP. XXXIII. This letter is an answer to a letter of condolence, which Sulpicius, then in Athens, wrote to Cicero on hearing of the death of his daughter Tullia. here 1. Vester Gallus. Manutius conjectures that the person mentioned is Caius Sulpicius Gallus, who was consul in the year Rome 586. 2. M. Cato. Cato the Censor. 3. Fuerunt = lived. 4. Domo absum. of Cicero, upon the death of his daughter, retired from his own house, to one belonging to Atticus, near Rome. 5. Unius. Caesar. EP. XXXIV. 1. Planco. L. Munatius Plancus was a brother of Plancus Bursa, the great enemy of Cicero. In the beginning of the present year he was appointed by Caesar governor of the farther Gaul, where he now was, at the head of three legions. Upon the death of Caesar, to whom he had been warmly attached, Cicero employed all his arts to engage him on the side of the senate; and Plancus, after much hesitation, at length declared himself accordingly. But he soon afterwards betrayed the cause he thus professed to support, and went over with his troops to Antony. 2. Per.... fui; i. e. Antonius assidue me vexavit. 3. Non insolentia. Insolens dicitur, qui sua potestate abutitur ad calumniam bonorum virorum. Page 5. Vocem (liberam) ; i. e. liberam sententiam in senatu pro- 333 nuntiatam. 6. Quae ita longa est. Plancus was in the number of those whom Caesar had named to the consulate, in that general designation of magistrates which he made a short time before his death. But as Plancus stood last in the list, his turn was not to commence till the year 712. = 7. Optandum sit 8. Spiritum ducere spiritum ducere = = to live. it is to be wished (rather than expected). Alii jungunt rei publicae producere ; i. e. vitam rei publicae conservare. 9. Simulacrum = 10. Acta: sc. publica. 11. Mitti = nuntiari. shadow, semblance. 13. Furnium. Furnius was lieutenant to Plancus in Gaul. 14. Et: = sed. EP. XXXV. 1. Tuus affinis. M. Lepidus and Cassius had 334 each of them married a sister of M. Brutus. 2. Scelere et levitate Lepidi. Lepidus treacherously deserted the cause of the republic, and joined himself to Antony on the 29th of May. 3. Quae volumus, audimus; i. e. that you have defeated him. P. Cornelius Dolabella, the proconsul of Syria, had caused Trebonius to be cruelly put to death. Upon this he was declared an enemy by the senate, and Cassius was commissioned to make war against him: the result was, that he was driven to shut himself up in Laodicea, where he died by his own hands. = 4. Quam... . aliquam which indeed is either already in 335 existence; i. e. has already been achieved. 5. Viceramus we should have conquered. The indicative expresses with more emphasis the certainty that the event would have taken place under the conditions specified. 6. Consules designatos. Decimus Brutus and L. Munatius Plancus. 7. In te.... omnia that everything depends on thee and on thy Brutus; i. e. Marcus Brutus, whose legions were now occupying Achaia, Macedonia, and Illyricum. 8. Tarnen after all (it has suffered); i. e. although it has been thus afflicted by civil war, which notion is implied by victis hostibus nostris. |