quickly resolved not to continue the war. When the news of that disaster reached the fleet at Dyrrachium, Cato and young Gnæus Pompeius desired Cicero, as the only consular present, to take command of it. Plutarch says that on his refusal Pompey and some of his friends drew their swords and threatened his life, but that he was rescued by Cato and allowed to go to Brundisium. Plutarch's narrative, however, is suspiciously inaccurate, as it implies that Cicero went at once to Brundisium, whereas it is plain from his letters that he sailed by Corcyra to Patræ.[1]
Cicero at Brundisium, November, B.C. 48, to September, B.C. 47. From Patræ he came to Brundisium at the end of October or the beginning of November, by special permission of Cæsar obtained through Dolabella.[2] He was still accompanied by lictors, as an imperator who had not abandoned his claim to a triumph; but he found it necessary in entering Brundisium to disguise or dismiss them, and we hear nothing of them again.[3] It does not appear that he had been forbidden to go to Rome; but Cæsar had expressed disapproval of others doing so, and Cicero did not venture to leave Brundisium and approach the city without more distinct authority from the Dictator. The letters from Brundisium are distressing. It was not a pleasant place of residence, and the presence of part of the victorious army at times made it dangerous. As the months went on also he heard of Cæsar's difficulties in Alexandria; of mutinies in the Cæsarian legions that had been sent back to Italy; of disorders in Rome, caused by the tribunician proceedings of Dolabella, which made the position of Antony, Cæsar's Master of the Horse, very difficult; and of the increasing strength of the Pompeians in Africa.[4] All these reports made him doubt the wisdom of the step he had taken in submitting to Cæsar and throwing himself upon his protection. In doing so he had committed an unpardonable sin in the eyes of the Pompeian party. If they eventually succeeded, therefore, he would be in a still worse position than he was now. His heart was still with them—though he disliked young Gnæus Pompeius—-but for his own
