DCLXXV (F V, 10 a)
P. VATINIUS TO CICERO (AT ROME)
NARONA, 5 DECEMBER.
AFTER the thanksgiving had been decreed in my
honour I started for Dalmatia. I stormed and took
six fortified towns. The largest of them, indeed,
I have had practically to storm four times 1 for I took four towers and four
walls and their entire citadel, which snow, cold,
and rain forced me to evacuate. It was mortifying
to be obliged thus to abandon a town already taken
and a war practically finished. Wherefore I beg
you, if there is any occasion for it, to plead my
cause with Caesar, and to regard it as your duty
to defend my character in every respect, with the
full Conviction that you have no more devoted
friend than myself. Good-bye. 5 December, Narona.
NARONA, 5 DECEMBER.