APPENDIX B
L. VETTIUS (LETTER L, A II, 24)
L. Vettius, a kind of Titus Oates, was like the
witness in "Great Expectations," prepared to swear
"mostly anything." The interest attaching to such
a sordid person is confined to the question
whether he was really acting with the connivance
of, or under an agreement with, any of the leading
politicians of the day. If the principle of
cui bono is applied,
it is evident that the gainers were the party of
the trumvirs, whose popularity would be increased
by a belief being created that their opponents the
Optimates were prepared to adopt extreme measures
to get rid of them. It would give them just the
advantage which the Rye House plot gave Charles
II. This is Cicero's view, it seems, of the
matter, as insinuated in this letter and in his
speech against Vatinius (24-26 Cp.
pro Sest.
132). In the letter, however, his
insinuations seem directed against Caesar: in the
speech Vatinius is the scape-goat. But Vettius was
not only a liar, but a bad liar. He made blunders;
and when he brought in the name of Bibulus, he was
not aware that Bibulus had got scent of something
going on, and had secured himself by giving Pompey
warning. He also did not tell consistent stories,
mentioning names (such as that of Brutus) at one
time, and withdrawing them at another. He was
accordingly wholly discredited, and could
therefore expect no protection from Caesar, who
had been careful not to commit himself; and he had
nothing for it but suicide, like Pigott at the
time of the Parnell Commission.
Cicero, then, would have us believe that
Vettius had been instigated by Vatinius (acting
for Caesar) to name Bibulus, L. Lucullus, Curio
(father and son), L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, L.
Lentulus, L. Paullus, Cicero himself, his
son-in-law Piso, and M. Laterensis, as having been
all more or less privy to the plot to murder
Pompey and Caesar. That there was absolutely no
such plot, and that Vettius broke down hopelessly
when questioned. That the object was, (1) to
irritate Pompey with the Optimates and so confirm
him in his alliance with Caesar, (2) to discredit
the Optimates generally.
It may be well to state briefly the views put
forward by our other authorities for this period.
(1.) Suetonius (
Caes. 20) appears
to attribute the instigation of Vettius to Caesar,
as also the murder of Vettius in prison, after he broke down so flagrantly. The
text of this passage, however, is somewhat
doubtful.
(2.) Appian (
B. C. 2. 12）
describes the scene as happening at the time that
Caesar's agrarian law was being passed, and
Bibulus was hustled in the forum. Vettius, with a
drawn dagger, rushed into the crowd crying out
that he had been sent by Bibulus, Cicero, and Cato
to assassinate Caesar and Pompey, and that an
attendant of Bibulus had given him the dagger.
Vettius was arrested, put into prison to be
questioned the next day, and was murdered during
the night. Caesar meanwhile addressed the people
and excited their anger; but after the death of
Vettius the matter was hushed up.
(3.) Plutarch (
Lucull. 42) says
that the "Pompeians," annoyed at finding the union
with Caesar opposed by the leading Optimates,
induced Vettius to accuse Lucullus and others of a
plot to assassinate Pompey; and that the corpse of
Vettius shewed evident signs of violence.
(4.) Dio Cassius (
38-39) says
bluntly that Vettius was employed by Lucullus and
Cicero to assassinate Pompey, and was got rid of
in prison. He adds that Vettius was discredited by
bringing in the name of Bibulus, who (as Cicero
also says) had secured himself by giving Pompey
warning. The conclusions seem to be (though in
such a tangled skein of lies it is impossible to
be sure), (1) that there was no plot, properly so
called, though many of the Optimates, and Cicero
among them, had used incautious language; (2) that
Vettius was suborned by some person or party of
persons to make the people believe that there was
one ; (3) that Caesar—though there is
not sufficient evidence to shew that he had been
the instigator—was willing to take
advantage of the prejudice created by the
suspicions thus aroused ; (4) that though Vettius
had served Cicero in his capacity of spy in the
days of the Catilinarian conspiracy, and was able
to report words of his sufficiently
characteristic, yet this letter to Atticus
exonerates Cicero from suspicion, even if there
were a plot, and even if we Could believe that he
could have brought himself to plot the death of
Pompey.
