CD (A X, 16)
TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)
CUMAE, 14 MAY
I HAD just despatched a letter to you on a
variety of subjects, when Dionysius arrived at my
house very early in the morning. I would not only
have shewn myself placable to him, but would have
pardoned him altogether, had he arrived in the
frame of mind described by you. For in your letter
received at Arpinum you said that he was coming
and was prepared to do whatever I wished. For my
part, I wished, or rather desired, that he should
stay with me: and it was because, on his coming to
my Formian villa, he had refused point blank to do
so, that I used to write to you somewhat sharply
about him. Well, he said very little, but the
upshot of his remarks was that I must excuse him,
that his private affairs prevented his going with
me. I answered shortly: I felt much pained: I
quite understood that my position roused his
contempt. You will perhaps be surprised, but I
assure you that I feel this to be among the
heaviest blows which this crisis has inflicted
upon me. I hope he may be loyal to you: that is
equivalent to wishing you to remain prosperous: he
will be so, just as long as you are. I hope my design will be free of all
risk: for, on the one hand, I have kept it dark;
and, on the other, I shall not, I think, be very
closely watched. May I only have a voyage such as
I wish! For all the rest— as far, that
is, as they can be provided for by
prudence-measures shall be taken. Pray, as long as
I am in the country, write and tell me not only
anything you know or have heard, but also what you
foresee will happen. Cato, who might have held
Sicily without any trouble-and, if he had held it,
all loyalists would have joined him—
sailed from Syracuse on the 23rd of April, as
Curio has written to tell me. I only hope, as the
phrase is, that Cotta may hold Sardinia; for there
is rumour going about. Oh, if that were to be so,
what a stigma on Cato! In order to allay suspicion
of my leaving the country, or of what I am thinking of doing, I started for my
Pompeian villa on the 12th of May, with a view of
staying there, while the necessary preparations
for my voyage were being made. On my arrival at my
villa people came to see me: "The centurions of
the three cohorts stationed at
Pompeii"—this is what our friend Ninnius
1 reported to
me—"wished to visit me the next day:
they were desirous of putting themselves and the
town in my hands." I, however, I can tell you, was
off from my villa next morning bef6re daybreak, to
prevent them having any opportunity of seeing me
at all. For what was the good of three cohorts? Or
even if there were more, what equipment had they?
I thought, indeed, of those exploits of Caelius,
2 which I found mentioned in your letter
received as soon as I arrived at my Cuman villa,
which I did on the same day: yet at the same time
it might have been a trap to catch me. 3
I therefore removed all suspicion. But while I was
on my return journey, Hortensius had arrived and
had turned out of his road to call on Terentia,
and used very courteous expressions about me.
However, I believe I shall see him; for he has
sent a servant to tell me that he is coming to my
house. This is better behaviour than that of my
fellow augur Antony, among whose lictors an
actress is riding in a sedan. As you are free of
your quartan ague, and have not only got rid of
your new disease, but also of your cold, be sure
you present yourself before me in Greece full of
vigour, and meanwhile let me have something by way
of a letter.
CUMAE, 14 MAY