remarkable. The tabellarii travelled from forty to fifty miles a day in carts, and from twenty-six to twenty-seven on foot. Under favorable conditions much better time was possible: a letter could go from Rome to Brundisium (three hundred and seventy mill. pass.) in five days, on to Dyrrhachium in five more, reaching Athens in twenty-one days from its departure; and letters from Caesar in Britain reached Cicero in Rome in from twenty-seven to thirty-four days. In the time of Washington a month was the usual time for a letter to take in going from the Eastern to the Southern States in winter.

II. WRITING MATERIALS. For ordinary brief communications § 4. the Romans used tablets (tabellae) made of firwood or ivory. These were of various sizes, fastened together in sets of two or more by wire hinges. The inner faces were slightly hollowed out, and the depression was nearly filled with wax, so as to leave a raised rim about the edges. Upon the wax letters were traced with an ivory or metal tool (stilus, graphium) having one end pointed like a pencil for writing, and the other flat, like a paper-cutter, for smoothing the wax. With this flat end mistakes could be corrected, or the whole letter erased and the tabellae prepared for use on other occasions.

For longer communications another material (papyrus) was used, § 5. resembling our paper, but rough and coarse. It was made from the reed of the same name, obtained in Egypt. Upon this papyrus, or charta, they wrote with a pen made of a split reed (calamus) and ink (atramentum) made of soot mixed with resinous gums. The ink could be washed off with a damp sponge, which the writer kept by him for the correction of errors. The tendency of the poor ink to blot and spread upon the poorer paper accounts for the continued use of the bulky tabellae.

These rude writing materials, and the extensive correspondence § 6. carried on by every Roman of birth and position, made it impossible for him to write any but the most important of his letters, or those to his dearest friends, with his own hand. The place of the stenographer and typewriter of to-day was taken by slaves or freedmen, often highly educated, who wrote at the dictation of the master. Such slaves were called in general terms librarii, more particularly servi ab epistolis, servi a manu, or amanuenses.

III. THE LETTER (litterae, epistola). Of the six parts of a modern § 7. letter, the date, address, salutation, body, complimentary close, and signature, the address and complimentary close are entirely wanting in Latin letters, and the date is but rarely given. The delivery of the letters by special messengers (§ 1) made the date and address less necessary than now, and the straightforwardness of the Latin language knew no such meaningless phrases as our 'your obedient servant,' 'yours truly,' 'yours, etc.'

The DATE when expressed will be found at the end of the § 8.

letter, sometimes alone (iv., xxii.), sometimes preceded by dato (x.-xiii.) agreeing with epistola understood. It is written according to the whim of the writer in the longer form a. d. vi. Kal. Dec. = ante diem sextum Kalendas Decembris (xx., xxi.), or the shorter vi. Kal. Dec.sexto [die ante] Kalendas Decembris (iv., x., xii.). The § 9. year is occasionally given (iv.). When the place is mentioned it usually follows the date in the form required to answer the question "where?" from the standpoint of the writer (xiii., xv., xxi. ), or the question "whence?" from the standpoint of the receiver (xii., xiv., xx.); sometimes, of course, the case is ambiguous (x.). Finally both date and place may be less formally expressed (xviii., xix.) in the body of the letter.

§ 10.

The SALUTATION and SIGNATURE are combined as in our 'society form:' Mr. John Doe presents his compliments to Mr. Richard Roe. The writer placed his cognomen first in the nominative case, then that of the person addressed in the dative, and finally the letters S. D. (salutem dicit): CICERO PAETO S. D. This formula was capable of alteration to correspond with the tone of the letter; the fulness of both names and greeting varying inversely with the intimacy of § 11. the correspondents. Politeness required that in formal letters the praenomen of the person addressed or of both should be given. CICERO (or M. CICERO) C. CAESARI S. D.; still greater formality required the descent upon the father's side and official titles (i., ii.): M. TULLIUS M (arci) F (ilius) M (arci) N (epos) CICERO IMP (erator) s. D. C. CAELIO L (uci) F (ilio) C (= Gai) N (epoti) CALDO § 12. QUAEST (ori). On the other hand in friendly letters the S.D. may become the more cordial SAL (iii., iv., vii-xiii.), or SAL (utem ) PLURIMAM, or may be omitted altogether as if too frigid. Then, too, more or less endearing adjectives may be added to the name of the correspondent, as SUUS (xiv., xxi.), SUAVISSIMUS, DULCISSIMUS, etc., or a tender diminutive employed (xx., xxi.), or the praenomen (vi.), or nomen (xiv.), may be substituted for the cognomen of the writer.

§ 13.

The BODY of the letter does not differ essentially from the modern form. The writer, as a rule, plunges abruptly into his subject in the straightforward fashion peculiar to the Romans. In his official and formal letters, however, Cicero sometimes uses certain old-fashioned phrases that had once been strictly insisted upon: SI VALES BENE EST, or to a general in the field (i) SI TU EXERCITUSQUE VALETIS, BENE EST, often with the addition EGO (or EGO QUIDEM) VALEO, all indicated by the initial letters only. The close of the letter is as abrupt as the beginning, though we find a few stock phrases of leave-taking: VALE or VALETE (iv., xiv., xx., xxii.), CURA (or FAC) UT VALEAS (v., x., xiii.).

§ 14. The STYLE of the letters shows the ordinary conversational Latin of the refined and polished circles in which the writer moved. The

sentences are much shorter than in literary Latin, the order of words is less studied and artificial, and the connection is often loose and obscure. Colloquialisms and ellipses abound, the personal pronouns and such verbs as agere, esse, facere, ferre, ire, and venire being omitted with great freedom. The pluperfect is often used for the § 15. imperfect and perfect, and these in turn for the present, owing to the writer's projecting himself into the time of the reading of the letter and describing present actions as past. Exaggerated and pleonastic expressions are especially common, Greek words and phrases are frequently used (iii., iv.). just as some persons nowadays interlard English letters with French and German, and postscripts are not uncommon (xx.).

IV. SEALING and OPENING the LETTER. For sealing the letter § 16. thread (linum), wax (cera), and a seal (signum) were necessary. The seal not only secured the letter against improper inspection, but also attested the genuineness of those written by the librarii, as autograph signatures seem not to have been thought of. Each man's seal had some device peculiar to it, and was affixed to all documents which he wished to acknowledge as his own. The tabellae (§ 4) having been § 17. put together face to face, the thread was passed around them and through small holes bored through them, and was then securely tied. Upon the knot softened wax was dropped, and to this the seal was applied. The chartae (§ 5) were rolled longitudinally and secured in the same way. The letter bore upon the outside merely the name of the person addressed. Cicero in Cat. iii. § 10 describes the process of § 18. opening the letter. The seal was first examined, and then the thread was cut in order to leave the seal uninjured. If the letter was preserved, the seal was kept attached to it in order to attest its genuineness.

EPISTOLAE SELECTAE.

1

I.

(AD FAM. v. 7.)

M. TULLIUS M. F. CICERO S. D. CN. POMPEIO CN. F.

MAGNO IMPERATORI.

S. T. E. Q. V. B. E. Ex litteris tuis, quas publice misisti, cepi una cum omnibus incredibilem voluptatem; tantam enim spem otii ostendisti, quantam ego semper omnibus te uno fretus pollicebar ;

I.

SALUTATION: Formal or familiar? Explain the abbreviations, Exc. V. §§ 10, 11. Magno, a title said to have been conferred upon Pompeius by Sulla in 81.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE: Written from Rome to Pompeius in Asia in 62. Soon after the execution of the conspirators Cicero had § 1. 1-4. S. T., etc: see Exc. V. written a long and exultant letter § 13. litteris, an official (publice) to Pompeius (Sull. § 67), to which despatch received at Rome in the latter had sent a very cold November, 63 (cf. Mur. § 34), anreply not now extant. To this nouncing the death of Mithrareply of Pompeius we here have dates. Cicero had immediately Cicero's answer. For the cam- had a ten days' thanksgiving depaign of Pompeius against Mith-clared in honor of Pompeius. radates see Creighton, pp. 71, 72; spem otii, i.e., abroad, by the Allen, pp. 195, 196; Myers, p. ending of the war. te: for case 97; Pennell, p. 121. On the gen- A. 254 b 2; G. 373 R 1; H. 425 II. eral form of the letter read Exc. 1 (1) note; B. 2183. pollicebar: V. For Cicero's Correspondence e.g., in the oration for the Manilp. 15, § 7. ian law, p. 20, § 23.

sed hoc scito, tuos veteres hostes, novos amicos 5 vehementer litteris perculsos atque ex magna spe deturbatos iacere. Ad me autem litteras quas mi- 2 sisti, quamquam exiguam significationem tuae erga me voluntatis habebant, tamen mihi scito iucundas. fuisse; nulla enim re tam laetari soleo quam meo- 10 rum officiorum conscientia, quibus si quando non mutue respondetur, apud me plus officii residere facillime patior: illud non dubito, quin, si te mea summa erga te studia parum mihi adiunxerunt, res publica nos inter nos conciliatura coniuncturaque 15 sit. Ac, ne ignores, quid ego in tuis litteris desi- 3 derarim, scribam aperte, sicut et mea mea natura et nostra amicitia postulat: res eas gessi, quarum aliquam in tuis litteris et nostrae necessitudinis et rei publicae causa gratulationem exspectavi, quam ego 20 abs te praetermissam esse arbitror, quod vererere, ne cuius animum offenderes; sed scito ea, quae nos pro salute patriae gessimus, orbis terrae iudicio ac testimonio comprobari, quae, cum veneris, tanto

non mutue respondetur, 'no fair return is made.' apud me . . patior, 'I am well content that the balance of services rendered should be in my favor.' studia, as shown by supporting the Manilian law and proposing the thanksgiving.

5-7. scito: for form see on II. 23. 31, used three times in this letter. veteres hostes, novos amicos, the democrats, who had opposed Pompeius up to 71, but had made him consul in 70 (p. 19, § 18), and had given him in 66 the command in Asia (p. 21, § 24). Cicero represents them as alarmed §3. 16-22. desiderarim, 'have by the good feeling now existing missed.' postulat: for number (or supposed to exist) between see on Sull. 44. 22. litteris, the Pompeius and the senate. iacere, despatch, 1. 1. vererere: for as in II. 2. 21.

§ 2. 7-14. litteras, the personal letter to which this is the answer. significationem, 'expression.' quibus = et iis: cf. III. 27. 14.

mood see on II. 2. 25.

ne...

offenderes: cf. Caes. I. 19. 2. animum: see on Sull. 1. 10.

23, 24. iudicio ac testimonio, ‘the expressed judgment.'