CLIII (A IV, 18)
TO ATTICUS (IN ASIA)
ROME, OCTOBER
As it is, 1 to tell you
my opinion of affairs, we must put up with it. You
ask me how I have behaved. With firmness and
dignity. "What about Pompey," you will say, "how
did he take it?" With great consideration, and
with the conviction that he must have some regard
for my position, until a satisfactory atonement
had been made to me. "How, then," you will say,
"was the acquittal secured?" It was a case of mere
dummies, 2 and incredible
incompetence on the part of the
accusers—that is to say, of L. Lentulus,
son of Lucius, who, according to the universal
murmur, acted collusively. In the next place,
Pompey was extraordinarily urgent; and the jurors
were a mean set of fellows. Yet, in spite of
everything, there were thirty-two votes for
conviction, thirty-eight for acquittal. There are
the other prosecutions hanging over his head: he
is by no means entirely free yet. You will say,
"Well, then, how do you bear it?"
With the best air possible, by heaven! and I
really do plume myself on my behaviour. We have
lost, my dear Pomponius, not only all the healthy
sap and blood of our old constitution, but even
its colour and outward show. There is no Republic
to give a moment's pleasure or a feeling of
security. "And is that, then," you will say, "a
satisfaction to you?" Precisely that. For I recall
what a fair course the state had for a short time,
while I was at the helm, and what a return has
been made me! It does not give me a pang that one
man absorbs all power. The men to burst with envy
are those who were indignant at my having had some
power. There are many things which console me,
without my departing an inch from my regular
position; and I am returning to the life best
suited to my natural
disposition—to letters and the studies
that I love. My labour in pleading I console by my
delight in oratory. I find delight in my town
house and my country residences. I do not recall
the height from which I have fallen, but the
humble position from which I have risen. As long
as I have my brother and you with me, let those
fellows be hanged, drawn, and quartered for all I
care: I can play the philosopher with you. That
part of my soul, in which in old times
irritability had its home, has grown completely
callous. I find no pleasure in anything that is
not private and domestic. You will find me in a
state of magnificent repose, to which nothing
contributes more than the prospect of your return.
For there is no one in the wide world whose
feelings are so much in sympathy with my own. But
now let me tell you the rest. Matters are drifting
on to an interregnum;
and there is a dictatorship in the air, in fact a
good deal of talk about it, which did Gabinius
also some service with timid jurors. All the
candidates for the consulship are charged with
bribery. You may add to them Gabinius, on whom L.
Sulla had served notice, feeling certain that he
was in a hopeless position—Torquatus
having, without success, demanded to have the
prosecution. But they will all be acquitted, and
henceforth no one will be condemned for any. thing
except homicide. This last charge is warmly
pressed, and accordingly informers are busy. M.
Fulvius Nobilior has been convicted. Many others
have had the wit to abstain from even putting in
an appearance. Is there any more news? Yes! After
Gabinius's acquittal another panel of jurors, in a
fit of irritation, an hour later condemned
Antiochus Gabinius, some fellow from the studio of
Sopolis, a freedman and orderly officer of
Gabinius, under the lex
Papia. Consequently he at once remarked,
"So the Republic will not acquit me under the law
of treason as it did you!" 3
Pomptinus wants to celebrate a
triumph on the 2nd of November. He is openly
opposed by the praetors Cato and Servilius and the
tribune Q. Mucius. For they say that no law for
his imperium was ever
carried : 4 and this one too was
carried, by heaven, in a stupid way. But Pomptinus
will have the consul Appius on his side. 5 Cato, however, declares that he
shall never triumph so long as he is alive. I
think this affair, like many of the same sort,
will come to nothing. Appius thinks of going to
Cilicia without a law, and at his own expense.
6 I
received a letter on the 24th of October from my
brother and from Caesar, dated from the nearest
Coasts of Britain on the 26th of September.
Britain done with ... hostages taken no booty ...
a tribute, however, imposed; they were on the
point of bringing back the army. Q. Pilius has
just set out to join Caesar. If you have any love
for me or your family, or any truth in you, or
even if you have any taste left, and any idea of
enjoying all your blessings, it is really time for
you to be on your way home, and, in fact, almost
here. I vow I cannot get on without you. And what
wonder that I can't get on without
you, when I miss Dionysius so much?
The latter, in fact, as soon as the day comes,
both I and my young Cicero will demand of you. The
last letter I had from you was dated Ephesus, 9th
of August.
ROME, OCTOBER
