DXLII (F IX, 13)
TO P. CORNELIUS DOLABELLA (IN SPAIN)
(Rome, February)
C. Subernius of Cales is both my friend and very closely
connected with Lepta, who is a very intimate friend of
mine. Having for the express purpose of avoiding the war
gone to Spain with M. Varro before it began, with a view of
being in a province in which none of us had thought that
there was likely to be any war after the defeat of Afranius,[1]
he found himself plunged into the precise evils which he
had done his very best to avoid. For he was overtaken by
a sudden war, which being set in motion by Scapula was
afterwards raised to such serious proportions by Pompey, that
it became impossible for him to extricate himself from that
unhappy affair.[2] M. Planius Heres, also of Cales, and also
a very close friend of our friend Lepta, is in much the same
position. These two men, therefore, I commend to your
protection with a care, zeal, and heartfelt anxiety beyond
which I cannot go in commending anyone. I wish it for their
own sake, and in this matter I am also strongly influenced
by motives of humanity no less than by friendship. For
since Lepta is so anxious that his fortunes would seem to be
at stake, I cannot but be in a state of anxiety next or even
equal to his. Therefore, although I have often had proof
of how much you loved me, yet I would have you be convinced
that I shall have no better opportunity than this of
judging that to be so. I therefore ask you, or, if you allow
- ↑ Afranius and Petreius were conquered by Cæsar in B.C. 49. See p. 1.
- ↑ Bætica and the legions there were disaffected to Cæsar all along. They turned out Cæsar's first governor, Cassius, and afterwards Trebonius. After Thapsus (B.C. 46) they invited the surviving Pompeians to come to them, and meanwhile elected Titus Quintus Scapula and Quintus Afranius to command them. When Cn. and Sextus Pompeius and the other survivors of Thapsus arrived, the state of things became so serious that Cæsar had to go to Spain himself.
