CCCXXIV (A VIII, 12 b)
POMPEY TO L. DOMITIUS AHENOBARBUS
(IN
CORFINIUM)
LUCERIA (BETWEEN 10 AND 16 FEBRUARY) I am much
surprised at not hearing from you, and that I am
informed of public affairs by others rather than
yourself. We cannot be on equal terms with our
opponent if our army is scattered: with forces
concentrated I hope we may be of service to the
Republic and the common safety. Wherefore, as you
had arranged-according to Vibullius's letter to me
of the 9th of February—to start from
Corfinium with your army and join me, I am at a
loss to understand why you have changed your
design. For the reason mentioned to me in
Vibullius's despatch is quite
inadequate—that you have delayed because
you had received intelligence of Caesar having
left Firmum and arrived at Castrum
Truentinum. For the nearer the opponent begins to
approach, the prompter ought you to have been in
effecting a junction with me, before Caesar had
the opportunity of preventing your march or
throwing himself between us. Wherefore I once more
earnestly entreat and exhort you, as I have not
ceased in my former despatches to demand, that you
should come to Luceria on the first day possible,
before the forces, which Caesar has begun
collecting, become concentrated in one spot, and
so separate you from us. But if certain
individuals are preventing your march, in order to
preserve their own country seats, it is only fair
that you should concede my request and be careful
to send me the cohorts, which have arrived from
Picenum and Camerinum, leaving all their property
behind them.
CORFINIUM)
