DCCLXXXI (F XI, 27)
TO C. MATIUS (AT ROME)
TUSCULUM (END OF AUGUST)
I have not yet been able to make up my mind
whether Trebatius—kind man and devoted
friend of us both-brought me more pain or
pleasure. The fact is that I having reached
Tusculum in the evening, early next day he called on me: though he was not fully
recovered. I scolded him for not being
sufficiently considerate of his weak health: but
he said that nothing had been more wearisome to
him than waiting to see me. "Nothing fresh
happened, has there?" said I. Then he told me of
your grievance. But before I answer it I will put
before you a few facts. As far back as I can
remember I have no older friend than your-self.
But after all the length of a friendship is
something in which many others share. Not so
warmth of affection. I became attached to you the
first day I knew you, and formed the opinion that
you were attached to me. After that your
absence—which was a very prolonged
one—my own official career, and the
different line we took in life did not allow our
inclinations to be cemented by a constant
intercourse. Nevertheless, I had proof of your
affection for me many years before the civil war,
when Caesar was in Gaul. For you secured what you
were strongly of opinion was to my advantage and
not without advantage to Caesar
himself—that the latter should like me,
pay me attention, and rate me among his friends. I
pass over instances in those times of words,
letters, and various communications of the most
friendly character passing between us. For a more
dangerous crisis followed: and at the beginning of
the civil war, when you were on your way to
Brundisium to join Caesar, you came to call on me
at Formiae. How much that implies in itself, to
begin with, especially at such a crisis! And in
the next place, do you suppose that I have
forgotten your advice, conversation, and kindly
interest? And in these I remember that Trebatius
took part. 1 Nor, again, have I for gotten the letter
you sent me after you had met Caesar in the
district, if I remember rightly, of Trebula. 2 Then
followed the period in which whether you call it
shame or duty or fortune compelled me to go abroad
to join Pompey. What service or zeal was wanting
on your part, either towards myself when away from
town, or my family, who were still there? Whom did
all my family regard as more warmly attached
either to me or to themselves?
I came to Brundisium :
3 do you suppose that I
have forgotten with what speed you flew to me from
Tarentum, as soon as you heard of it? Or, of how
patiently you sat by my side, talked to me, and
strengthened my courage, which had been broken by
the dread of the universal ruin? At length our
residence at Rome began: could anything be more
intimate than we were? In questions of the first
importance I consulted you as to my attitude
towards Caesar, and in other matters availed
myself of your good offices. Setting Caesar aside,
whom else but me did you so far distinguish as to
visit constantly at home, where you often spent
many hours in the most delightful conversation?
And it was then too, if you remember, that you
instigated me to write these philosophical works.
After Caesar's return, was there any object dearer
to you than that I should be on the terms of
closest friendship with him? And this you had
accomplished. To what end,
therefore, is this preamble which has run to
greater length than I anticipated? Why, to explain
my surprise that you, who were bound to have known
all this, should have believed me capable of
having done anything incompatible with our
friendship. For besides these facts, which are
well attested and as clear as the day, I could
mention many others of a more secret nature, such
as I can hardly express in words. Everything about
you gives me pleasure: but above all your
surpassing fidelity in friendship, the prudence,
trustworthiness and consistency of your character,
as well as the charm of your manners, the
cultivation of your intellect, and your knowledge
of literature. This being
understood, I return to your statement of
grievance. That you voted for that law 4 I at first refused to believe. In the next
place, if I had believed it, I should never have
believed that you did so without some sound
reason. Your rank makes it inevitable that
whatever you do should be noticed: while the
ill-nature of the world causes certain things to
be represented in a harsher light
than your actions have really warranted. If you
never hear such observations I don't know what to
say. For my part, whenever I hear them I defend
you, as I know that I am always defended by you
against my detractors. Now my line of defence is
twofold. There are some statements which I meet
with a blank denial, as about that very vote of
yours. Others I defend on the ground of the
loyalty and kindness of your motives, as in regard
to the superintendence of the games. 5 But it does
not escape a mind so highly cultivated as yours
that, if Caesar was a tyrant—as I think
he was-two opposite theories are capable of being
maintained in regard to your services. One is
mine—when I hold that your loyalty and
kindness are to be commended for shewing affection
to a friend, even after his death. The opposite
theory, advanced by some, is that the liberty of
our country is to be preferred to the life of a
friend. From such discussions as these I only wish
that the arguments I have advanced had come to
your ears! Two other points, which above
everything else redound to you reputation, no one
could put oftener and with more satisfaction than
I do: that your voice was the strongest both
against beginning the civil war, and for
moderation in victory. And in this I have never
found anyone who did not agree with me. Therefore
I am grateful to our friend Trebatius for giving
me an excuse for writing this letter. And if you
do not believe in it, you will thereby condemn me
as wanting in duty and good feeling: than which
nothing can be more discreditable to me or more
foreign to your own character.
TUSCULUM (END OF AUGUST)