Cicero · Marcus Tullius Cicero
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Footnote 47: P. Clodius Pulcher. patronus instituam; sed soror, quae tantum habeat consularis loci, unum mihi solum pedem dat.” “Noli,” inquam “de uno pede sororis queri; licet etiam alterum tollas.” Non consulare, inquies, dictum. Fateor; sed ego illam odi male consularem. “Ea est enim seditiosa, ea cum viro bellum gerit” neque solum cum Metello, sed etiam cum Fabio, quod eos[48] in hoc esse moleste fert. Quod de agraria lege quaeris, sane iam videtur refrixisse. Quod me quodam modo molli brachio de Pompei familiaritate obiurgas, nolim ita existimes, me mei praesidii causa cum illo coniunctum esse, sed ita res erat instituta, ut, si inter nos esset aliqua forte dissensio, maximas in re publica discordias versari esset necesse. Quod a me ita praecautum atque provisum est, non ut ego de optima illa mea ratione decederem, sed ut ille esset melior et aliquid de populari levitate deponeret. Quem de meis rebus, in quas eum multi incitarant, multo scito gloriosius quam de suis praedicare; sibi enim bene gestae, mihi conservatae rei publicae dat testimonium. Hoc facere illum mihi quam prosit, nescio; rei publicae certe prodest. Quid? si etiam Caesarem, cuius nunc venti valde sunt secundi, reddo meliorem, num tantum obsum rei publicae? Quin etiam, si mihi nemo invideret, si omnes, ut erat aequum, faverent, tamen non minus esset probanda medicina, quae sanaret vitiosas partes rei publicae, quam quae exsecaret.
Footnote 48: eos esse in hoc esse _MSS._ “now I am their new patron, I intend to begin the practice: though my sister, who, as the consul’s wife, has such a lot of room, will not give me more than standing room.” “Oh, don’t grumble about standing room with your sister,” I answered. “You can always lie with her.” You will say it was not the remark for a consular to make. I confess it was not; but I hate the woman, so unworthy of a consul. “For she’s a shrew and wrangles with her mate,” and not only with Metellus, but with Fabius too, because she is annoyed at their interference in this affair. You ask about the agrarian law. Interest in it seems to have cooled down. You give me a gentle fillip for my familiarity with Pompey. Please don’t imagine I have allied myself to him solely to save my skin: the position of affairs is such that, if we had had any disagreement, there would of necessity have been great discord in the State. Against that I have taken precautions and made provision without wavering from my own excellent policy, while making him more loyal and less the people’s weathercock. He speaks, I may tell you, far more glowingly about my achievements than about his own, though many have tried to set him against me, saying that he did his duty to the country, but I saved it. What good his statements will do me, I fail to see: but they will certainly do the country good. Well! If I can make Caesar, who is now sailing gaily before the breeze, a better patriot too, shall I be doing so poor a service to the country? And, even if none were to envy me and all supported me, as they ought, still a remedy which cures the diseased parts of the State should be preferable to one which amputates them.
Nunc vero, cum equitatus ille, quem ego in clivo Capitolino te signifero ac principe collocaram, senatum deseruerit, nostri autem principes digito se caelum putent attingere, si mulli barbati in piscinis sint, qui ad manum accedant, alia autem neglegant, nonne tibi satis prodesse videor, si perficio, ut nolint obesse, qui possunt? Nam Catonem nostrum non tu amas plus quam ego; sed tamen ille optimo animo utens et summa fide nocet interdum rei publicae; dicit enim tamquam in Platonis πολιτείᾳ, non tamquam in Romuli faece sententiam. Quid verius quam in iudicium venire, qui ob rem iudicandam pecuniam acceperit? Censuit hoc Cato, adsensit senatus; equites curiae bellum, non mihi; nam ego dissensi. Quid impudentius publicanis renuntiantibus? fuit tamen retinendi ordinis causa faciunda iactura. Restitit et pervicit Cato. Itaque nunc consule in carcere incluso, saepe item seditione commota aspiravit nemo eorum, quorum ego concursu itemque ii consules, qui post me fuerunt, rem publicam defendere solebant. “Quid ergo? istos,” inquies, “mercede conductos habebimus?” Quid faciemus, si aliter non possumus? An libertinis atque etiam servis serviamus? Sed, ut tu ais, ἅλις σπουδῆς.
But as it is, when the knights, whom I once stationed on the Capitoline hill with you as their standard-bearer and leader, have deserted the Senate, and our great men think themselves in the seventh heaven, if they have bearded mullet in their fish-ponds that will feed from their hand, and don’t care about anything else, surely you must allow that I have done my best, if I manage to take the will to do harm from those who have the power to do it. For our friend Cato is not more to you than to me: but still with the best of intentions and unimpeachable honesty at times he does harm to the country: for the opinions he delivers would be more in place in Plato’s Republic than among the dregs of humanity collected by Romulus.[49] That a man who accepts a bribe for the verdict he returns at a trial should be put on trial himself is as fair a principle as one could wish. Cato voted for it and won the House’s assent. Result, a war of the knights with the Senate, but not with me. I was against it. That the tax-collectors should repudiate their bargain was a most shameless proceeding. But we ought to have put up with the loss in order to keep their good-will. Cato resisted and carried the day. Result, though we’ve had a consul in prison, and frequent riots, not a breath of encouragement from one of those, who in my own consulship and that of my successors used to rally round us to defend the country. “Must we then bribe them for their support?” you will ask. What help is there, if we cannot get it otherwise? Are we to be slaves of freedmen and slaves? But, as you say, enough of the _grand sérieux_.
Favonius carried my tribe with even more credit than his own, but lost that of Lucceius. His accusation of Nasica was nothing to be proud of; however he conducted it very moderately. He spoke so badly that one would think he devoted more time at Rhodes to grinding in the mills than at Molo’s lectures. I got into his bad books for undertaking the defence; however he is standing again now on public grounds. How Lucceius is getting on I will write and tell you, when I have seen Caesar, who will be here in a couple of days’ time. The wrong the Sicyonians have done you, you attribute to Cato and his imitator Servilius. But does not the blow affect many good citizens? However, if it so pleases them, let us acquiesce, and be utterly deserted at the next question put to the vote. My Amalthea is waiting and longing for you. I am delighted with my places at Tusculum and Pompeii, except that, champion of creditors as I am, they have overwhelmed me not so much with Corinthian bronze as with debts in the common copper coin of the realm. We hope things have settled down in Gaul. Expect my Prognostics[50] and my bits of speeches very shortly: but for all that write and tell me your plans about coming. Pomponia has sent a message that you will be in Rome in July: but that disagrees with the letter you sent to me about placing your name on the census list.
Paetus, as I have already mentioned, has given me the books left him by his brother: but this gift depends on your kind services. As you love me, see that they are preserved and brought to me. You could do me no greater favour: and I should like the Footnote 50: A translation of Aratus’ Διοσημεῖα. diligenter Latinos ut conserves velim. Tuum esse hoc munusculum putabo. Ad Octavium dedi litteras; cum ipso nihil eram locutus; neque enim ista tua negotia provincialia esse putabam neque te in tocullionibus habebam. Sed scripsi, ut debui, diligenter.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.