B.C. 48, ÆT. 58
to Rome and resume his position there (Plut. Cic. 39). It must have
been a dreary time, and his letters, as usual, reflect his feelings, but with
somewhat less exaggeration than do those of the exile. He was really in
greater danger, and owed something to the forbearance of Antony as well
as to that of Cæsar (2 Phil. § 5). He had besides the sorrow of finding
that his brother Quintus and his nephew had not only hastened to give
in their adhesion to Cæsar, but had passionately denounced him to the
conqueror.
TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)
Epirus (January)
I have received from you the sealed document conveyed
by Anteros. I could gather nothing from it about
my domestic affairs. What gives me the most painful
anxiety about them is the fact that the man who has acted
as my steward is not at Rome, nor do I know where in the
wide world he is. My one hope of preserving my credit and
property is in your most thoroughly proved kindness; and
if in this unhappy and desperate crisis you still maintain
that, I shall have greater courage to endure these dangers
which are shared with me by the rest of the party. I adjure
and intreat you to do so. I have in Asia in cistophori[1]
money amounting to 2,200,000 sesterces (about £17,600).
By negotiating a bill of exchange for that sum you will have
no difficulty in maintaining my credit. If indeed I had not
thought that I was leaving that quite clear—in reliance on
the man on whom you have long since known that I ought
to have no reliance[2]—I should have stayed in Italy for some
little time longer, and should not have left my finances embarrassed:
and I have been the longer in writing to you
because it was a long time before I understood what the
danger to be feared was. I beg you again and again to
undertake the protection of my interests in all respects, so
that, supposing the men with whom I now am to survive, I
may along with them remain solvent, and credit your kindness
with my safety.
