Habeō etiam illam molestiam, quod Dolabella noster aput Caesarem est.

Haec tibi nōta esse volui; quae cavē nē tē perturbent et impediant valētūdinem tuam. Ego A. Varroni, quem quom 6 45 amantissimum mei cognōvī tum etiam valdē tuī studiōsum, diligentissimē tē commendāvī, ut et valētūdinis tuae ratiōnem habēret et navigātiōnis et tōtum tē susciperet ac tuērētur. Quem omnia factūrum cōnfīdō; recēpit enim et mēcum locutus est suāvissimē. Tū, quoniam eo tempore mecum esse nōn o potuisti, quo ego maximē operam et fidēlitātem dēsīderāvī tuam, cavē festīnēs aut committas, ut aut aeger aut hieme navigēs. Numquam sērō tē vēnisse putābō, sī salvus veneris. Adhuc nēminem vīderam, qui të posteā vīdisset quam M. Volusius, à quo tuas litteras accēpī. Quod nōn mīrābar; neque enim 5 meās putō ad tē litterās tantā hieme perferrī. Sed dā operam, ut valeās et, sī valēbis, cum rēctē nāvigārī poterit, tum nāvigēs. Cicerō meus in Formiānō erat, Terentia et Tullia Rōmae. Cūrā, ut valeās. III K. Febr. Capuā. .

41. Dolabella: Tullia's husband since 50 (see introductory note to Ep. 9, Tulliae). aput apud, 'with.'

44. valetudinem: Tiro had been in poor health since 50. Varroni: Aulus Terentius Varro Murena, a strong partisan of Pompey and friend of Cicero. quom = cum, correlative to tum, 1. 45.

47. navigationis: to Italy. On Cicero's return from Cilicia he had been obliged to leave Tiro at Patrae on account of his illness (cf. 1. 44).

48. recepit: 'has undertaken,' 'has promised it.'

49. eo tempore: in the busy times

15 (Fam. 7. 3)

Scr. Romae ante K. Sept. a. 708 (46)

M. CICERŌ S. D. M. MARIŌ

Persaepe mihi cogitanti de communibus miseriis, in quibus 1 tot annōs versāmur et, ut videō, versābimur, solet in mentem venire illius temporis, quo proximē fuimus ūnā; quin etiam ipsum diem memoriā teneō; nam a. d. ш Id. Mãi. Lentulō et 5 Mārcellō cōs., cum in Pompēiānum vesperī vēnissem, tū mihi sollicitō animō praestō fuistī. Sollicitum autem tē habēbat cōgitātiō cum officii tum etiam periculi mei. Sī manērem in Italia, verēbāre, nē officiō deessem; si proficiscerer ad bellum, periculum tē meum commovēbat. Quo tempore vidisti pro10 fecto me quoque ita conturbātum, ut nōn explicarem, quid esset optimum factū. Pudōrī tamen māluī fāmaeque cēdere quam salūtis meae rationem ducere. Cuius mē mei facti paeni-2 tuit nōn tam propter periculum meum quam propter vitia

15

Cicero explains his course during the civil war.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE: The war had come, resulting (48) in the defeat and death of Pompey and the complete ascendency of Caesar. Cicero, after some vacillation, had joined Pompey in Greece in June, 49, but was not present at Pharsalus. After that battle he refused to take any further part in the campaign, and returned to Italy, though not to Rome. He remained in a sort of semi-exile at Brundisium till September, 47, when he finally ventured to Rome on Caesar's invitation. The present letter contains an explanation, nearly three years after, of the writer's reasons for his course in the war.

SALUTATION: A little more formal than in the letters to Atticus and members of the family, but less so than in that to Pompey (2). Marius was a neighbor and friend of Cicero's, of rather feeble health, but cheerful and

fond of fun. They exchanged many letters.

2, 3. in mentem venire temporis: see on Verr. 17. 16. 4-6. a. d. Pompeianum: miano, Ep. 14. 57). Like other wealthy Romans Cicero had villas or country houses in various parts of Italy. Marius lived at Stabiae, a village near Pompeii, and, like it, facing the Bay of Naples. praesto . . . fuisti: 'you met me there, in great anxiety.' Cicero was perplexed as to whether he should go to Pompey (as he did a few weeks later), and his friend shared his worry.

cos.: May 12, 49. sc. fundum (cf. For

8. officio: duty to the republic, which he believed Caesar was trying to destroy.

10. me quoque: 'I as well as yourself.'

11. pudori: 'honor,' which bound him to serve both country and Pompey.

13. vitia: 'elements of weakness,' detailed in the following lines-the

multa, quae ibi offendi, quo vēneram, prīmum neque magnās 15 cōpiās neque bellicōsās; deinde extrā ducem paucosque praeterea (dē principibus loquor) reliqui prīmum in ipsō bellō rapācēs, deinde in ōrātiōne ita crūdēlēs, ut ipsam victōriam horrērem; maximum autem aes aliēnum amplissimōrum virōrum. Quid quaeris? nihil boni praeter causam. Quae cum vidissem, dē20 spērāns victoriam prīmum coepī suādēre pacem, cuius fueram semper auctor; deinde, cum ab ea sententia Pompēius valdē abhorreret, suādēre instituī, ut bellum duceret. Hoc interdum probăbat et in ea sententia vidēbātur fore et fuisset fortasse, nisi quadam ex pugna coepisset suis militibus confidere. Ex eō 25 tempore vir ille summus nullus imperātor fuit. Signa tīrōne et collectício exercitu cum legiōnibus robustissimis contulit; victus turpissimē āmissīs etiam castrīs sōlus fūgit. Hunc ego 3 mihi belli finem fēcī nec putavi, cum integrī parēs nōn fuissēmus, fractōs superiōrēs fore; discessi ab eō bellō, in quō aut in aciē 30 cadendum fuit aut in aliquas insidias incidendum aut dēveniendum in victoris manūs aut ad Iubam confugiendum aut capiendus tamquam exiliō locus aut consciscenda mors voluntāria. Certe nihil fuit praeterea, sī tē victōri nōllēs aut non audērēs committere. Ex omnibus autem iis, quae dixi, incom

smallness of the army and lack of warlike spirit, the greed and cruelty of the officers, the prevalence of debt.

15. extra: 'outside of,' 'with the exception of.' ducem: Pompey.

16, 17. primum, deinde: introducing the adjectives which qualify reliqui, and so subordinate to deinde in 1. 15. in ipso bello: before victory was won. deinde... horrerem: cf. Mar. 6. 3-5, and note. In Mar. 3. 17 he speaks of victoria, quae natura insolens et superba est.

18. quid quaeris: see on Ep. 13. 11. 22. ut duceret: 'prolong' it, not come to a decisive battle with Caesar's veterans (legionibus robustissimis, 1. 26).

24. quadam ex pugna: at Dyrrachium early in 48 the Pompeian army won a battle from Caesar, and was so

encouraged as to be eager for the final struggle.

25, 26. summus: with vir. signa

contulit: 'joined battle.' exercitu: may be regarded as abl. of accompaniment or simply of means.

27. solus: as much alone as Napoleon after Waterloo.

...

28. nec putavi . . . fore: 'did not imagine that, since we had not been equal (to Caesar) when at our full strength, we should prove his betters after being crushed.'

31. Iubam: Juba, king of Numidia, a faithful friend of Pompey (Lig. 8. 10). 32. exilio: dat.-what use?

34, 35. ex omnibus ... exilio: 'of all these ills none was more endurable than exile,' though Cicero's experience of that had not been happy.

35 modis nihil tolerabilius exiliō, praesertim innocentī, ubi nūlla adiunctast turpitūdō, addō etiam: cum ea urbe careās, in quā nihil sit, quod videre possīs sine dolore. Ego cum meīs, si quicquam nunc cuiusquam est, etiam in meis esse mālui. Quae acciderunt, omnia dixi futūra. Vēni domum, nōn quō optima 4 40 vivendi condiciō esset, sed tamen, si esset aliqua fōrma rei p., tamquam in patria ut essem, si nulla, tamquam in exiliō. Mortem mihi cur consciscerem, causa nōn vīsast, cūr optārem, multae causae. Vetus est enim, ubi nōn sīs, qui fueris, nōn esse, cūr velis vivere. Sed tamen vacāre culpă. 45 magnum est sōlācium, praesertim cum habeam duas rēs, quibus mē sustentem, optimārum artium scientiam et maximārum rērum glōriam; quarum altera mihi vīvō numquam ēripiētur, altera nē mortuo quidem.

Haec ad te scrīpsī verbōsius et tibi molestus fui, quod tẽ cum 5 50 mei tum rei p. cognōvi amantissimum. Nōtum tibi omne meum cōnsilium esse volui, ut prīmum scīrēs mē numquam voluisse plūs quemquam posse quam universam rem p., postea autem quam alicuius culpă tantum valeret ūnus, ut obsisti non posset, mē voluisse pacem; āmissō exercitu et eō duce, in quō spēs 55 fuerat ūnō, mē voluisse etiam reliquis omnibus, postquam nōn

SC.

39-41. dixi- praedixi. non quo sed ut essem: cf. 3. 2, and note on M. L. 24. 16. si nulla: esset rei p. forma, essem. tanquam in exilio: If the republic were destroyed he would live as an exile from it, though still in his native land.

43, 44. vetus vivere: 'there is the old saying,' etc. Supply is as predicate with sis and antecedent of qui. non esse cur: 'there is no reason why' (cf. quid est quod, M. L. 24. 8). Cur velis is a relative clause of characteristic (A. 535, a, note 3; B. 283, 2; H. 591, 4; H.-B. 517, 2). The

saying is supposed to be a quotation from some old dramatist. Cf. Cicero's tribute to Caesar (Lig. 3. 8, 9): ad me litteras misit, ut essem idem qui fuissem. 46. artium: 'literature.' maximarum rerum: his achievements as consul.

49. verbosius: 'somewhat wordily.' 51-53. consilium: the purpose behind his apparently wavering course in 48. primum: followed not by deinde but by postea autem, 1. 52. plus posse, tantum valeret: see on IV. 10. 6; M. L. 14. 23. unus, of course, is Caesar; duce (amisso), next line, is Pompey.

potuerim, mihi ipsī fīnem fēcisse belli; nunc autem, si haec cīvitās est, cīvem esse mē, sī nōn, exulem esse nōn incommodiōre locō, quam sĩ Rhodum aut Mytilēnās mē contulissem.

Haec tecum cōram mālueram; sed, quia longius fīēbat, volui6 60 per litteras eadem, ut habērēs, quid dicerēs, sī quandō in vituperātōrēs meōs incidissēs. Sunt enim, qui, cum meus interitus nihil fuerit rei p. prōfutūrus, criminis loco putent esse, quod vivam; quibus ego certō sciō nōn vidērī satis multōs perisse. Qui si më audissent, quamvis inīquā pāce, honestē tamen vive65 rent; armis enim īnferiōrēs, nōn causā fuissent.

Habes epistulam verbōsiōrem fortasse, quam vellēs; quod tibi ita vidērī putābō, nisi mihi longiorem remiseris. Ego si quae volō, expedierō, brevi tempore tē, ut spērō, vidēbō.

16 (Fam. 9. 26)

Scr. Romae, a. 708 (46)

CICERO PAETŌ S. D.

Accubueram hōrā nōnā, cum ad te hārum exemplum in1

his withdrawal from the Pompeian army after Pharsalus, when his efforts to secure a general peace had failed.

57. exulem esse: cf. 1. 41 and note. esse is the sixth and last of the infinitives used here as objects of scires.

58. Rhodum, Mytilenam: places often chosen for voluntary exile. Marcellus, whose pardon later in this same year called forth Cicero's oration pro Marcello, was at Mytilene at this time.

59. malueram: sc. loqui, agere or dicere; so with volui, next line. Our idiom would lead us to expect maluissem. We may regard the tense as epistolary, and translate, 'I did wish.'