The Letters of Cicero, Volume 1

380

Reading ab infimo.

381

As backing the decree. The phrase was aderat scribendo M. Tullius Cicero, etc.

382

Dederunt, i.e., contionem; lit. gave me a meeting, i.e., the right of addressing the meeting, which only magistrates or those introduced by magistrates could do.

383

C. Messius, a tribune of the year.

384

Clodius had consecrated the site of Cicero's house for a temple of Liberty. The pontifices had to decide whether that consecration held good, or whether the site might be restored to Cicero. Hence his speech de Domo sua ad Pontifices.

385

The origin of the Latin line is not known. The English is Milton's, P. L. ii. 224.

386

The speech de Domo sua ad Pontifices. The genuineness of the existing speech has been doubted. But it may very well be said that no one but Cicero could have written it. It is not certainly one of his happiest efforts, in spite of what he says here; but he is not unaccustomed to estimate his speeches somewhat highly, and to mistake violence for vigour.

387

He will send it to Atticus to get copied by his librarii, and published.

388

Appius Claudius Pulcher, brother of P. Clodius, was a prætor this year.

389

It is not clear that Clodius was wrong; the pontifices decided that for a valid consecration an order of the people was requisite, and, of course, Clodius could allege such an order. Cicero devoted the greater part of his speech, therefore, to shewing (1) that Clodius's adoption was invalid, and that he was therefore no tribune, and incapable of taking an order of the people; (2) that the law was a privilegium, and therefore invalid. The pontifices did not consider either of these points, which were not properly before them, or within their competence; they merely decided the religious question—that unless there had been a iussus populi or plebis scitus there was no valid consecration.

390

Or perhaps only "statue of Liberty," as the temple was not yet completed.

391

A portico or colonnade, built by Q. Catulus, the conqueror of the Cimbri, on the site of the house of M. Flaccus, who was killed with Saturninus in b.c. 100. It was close to Cicero's house, and what Clodius appears to have done was to pull down the portico, and build another, extending over part of Cicero's site, on which was to be a temple for his statue of Liberty.

392

Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus was called on first as consul designate for b.c. 56.

393

Sext. Attilius Serranus, a tribune. He had been a quæstor in Cicero's consulship, but had opposed his recall.

394

Cn. Oppius Cornicinus, the father-in-law of Serranus, is said in p. red. at Quir. § 13 to have done the same in the senate on the 1st of January, when Serranus also went through the same form of "demanding a night" for consideration.

395

Prof. Tyrrell brackets porticum. But I do not understand his difficulty, especially as he saw none in the last letter. Cicero (de Domo, § 102) certainly implies that Clodius had, at any rate, partly pulled down the porticus Catuli, in order to build something on a larger scale, which was to take in some of Cicero's site. This was now to come down, and so leave Cicero his area, and, I presume, the old porticus Catuli was to be restored.

396

Cicero had given Crassus 3,500,000 for it (about £28,000). See Letter XVI.

397

I.e., my modest reserve. There does not seem any reason for Tyrrell's emendation of num for nam.

398

I have translated Klotz's text. That given by Prof. Tyrrell is, to me at any rate, quite unintelligible. Cicero's legatio under Pompey appears to have been, in fact, honorary, or libera, for he doesn't seem to have done anything. He wishes to reserve the right of resigning it to stand for the censorship (censors were elected in the following year), or of turning it into a votiva legatio, to visit certain sacred places on the plea of performing a vow, thus getting the opportunity, if he desired it, of retiring temporarily from Rome in a dignified manner. The force of prope seems to be "almost any, I care not what." It was not likely that a man with his stormy past would do for the delicate duties of the censorship, and he would save appearances by going on a votiva legatio. See Letter XLIV.

399

Facile careo, others read non facile, "I don't like being without a suburban residence."

400

The thing which brought him "nothing but dishonour" was his quitting Rome, and the consequent expenses connected with winning over friends, or paying for Milo's bravoes to face those of Clodius. In the last part of the sentence he seems to mean that, had his supporters backed him properly, he would have got everything necessary to make good his losses from the liberality of the senate. Others explain that defensores really means Pompey only.

401

This and the omission of his wife in the next clause, as the similar hint at the end of the last letter, seem to point to some misunderstanding with Terentia, with whom, however, a final rupture was postponed for nearly twelve years (b.c. 46.)

402

See last letter. The porticus Catuli had been, at any rate, partly demolished by Clodius to make way for his larger scheme of building, which was to take in part of Cicero's "site." See pro Cæl. §79.

403

Next door to Cicero's own house.

404

He would avoid prosecution de vi by getting elected to the ædileship for b.c. 56, for actual magistrates were rarely prosecuted; but he, in this case, actually avoided it by getting a consul and tribune to forbid it by edict (pro Sest. § 89).

405

Designatorem. This may mean (1) an official who shewed people to their places in the theatre; (2) an undertaker's man, who marshalled funerals. To the latter office a certain infamia was attached. We know nothing more of Decimus (see pro Domo, § 50). Gellius was an eques and a stepson of L. Marcius Philippus. He afterwards gave evidence against Sestius for vis (see pro Sest. § 110). Cicero calls him the mover of all seditions (in Vatin. § 4), and one of Clodius's gang (de Har. Resp. § 59). See next letter.

406

Perhaps by M. Antonius. See 2 Phil. § 21; pro Mil. § 40.

407

Lit. "made all Catilines Acidini." Acidinus was the cognomen of several distinguished men. In Leg. Agr. ii. § 64, Cicero classes the Acidini among men "respectable not only for the public offices they had held, and for their services to the state, but also for the noble way in which they had endured poverty." There does not, however, seem any very good reason known for their becoming proverbial as the antithesis to revolutionaries.

408

A slope of the Palatine. Milo's other house (p. ).

409

P. Cornelius Sulla, nephew of the dictator. Cicero defended him in b.c. 62, but he had taken the part of Clodius in the time of Cicero's exile.

410

Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, the consul-designate for the next year. In that capacity he would be called on for his sententia first.

411

Q. Cæcilius Metellus Nepos, the consul. Though he had not opposed Cicero's recall, he stood by his cousin, P. Clodius, in regard to the threatened prosecution. Appius is Appius Claudius, brother of P. Clodius.

412

P. Sestius, the tribune favourable to Cicero, afterwards defended by him.

413

Mr. Purser's reading of nisi anteferret before proscripsit seems to me to darken the passage. What happened was this. Marcellinus's sententia was never put to the vote, because Metellus, Appius, and Hortensius (Cicero seems to mean him) talked out the sitting. Accordingly, Marcellinus published it, i.e., put it up outside the Curia to be read: and under it he (or some other magistrate whose name has dropped out of the text) put a notice that he was going to "watch the sky" all the dies comitiales, so as to prevent the election being held. But this had been rendered inoperative by Clodius's amendment of the lex Ælia Fufia (see 2 Phil. § 81)—or at any rate of doubtful validity—and, accordingly, the only thing left was the obnuntiatio by a magistrate, which Milo proceeded to make. The rule, however was that such obnuntiatio must be made before the comitia were begun (2 Phil. ib.), which again could not begin till sunrise. Hence Milo's early visit to the campus. For the meaning of proposita see Letter XLVII.

414

After which the comitia could not be begun.

415

P. Clodius, his brother Appius, and his cousin Metellus Nepos.

416

Metellus means that he shall take the necessary auspices for the comitia in the comitium, before going to the campus to take the votes.

417

Generally called inter duos lucos, the road down the Capitolium towards the Campus Martius, originally so called as being between the two heads of the mountain. It was the spot traditionally assigned to the "asylum" of Romulus.

418

On the nundinæ and the next day no comitia and no meeting of the senate could be held.

419

Candidate for the ædileship, of whom we know nothing.

420

Apparently a poor lantern, whose sides were made of canvas instead of horn.

421

Quintus Cicero was in Sardinia as Pompey's legatus as superintendent of the corn-supply, to which office he had been appointed in August. The letter is written not earlier than the 10th of December, for the new tribunes for b.c. 56 have come into office, and not later than the 16th, because on the 17th the Saturnalia began. Perhaps as the senate is summoned and presided over by Lupus, it is on the 10th, the day of his entrance upon office.

422

"Full," that is, for the time of year. A "full house" is elsewhere mentioned as between three and four hundred.

423

P. Rutilius Lupus, one of the new tribunes.

424

This refers to Cicero's attempts to exempt the ager publicus in Campania from being divided (see Letter XXIV, p. 55); and not only to his speeches against Rullus. It was because Cæsar disregarded the ancient exception of this land from such distribution that Cicero opposed his bill, and refused to serve on the commission.

425

Nihil vos moramur were the words used by the presiding magistrate, indicating that he had no more business to bring before the senate. If no one said anything, the senate was dismissed; but any magistrate, or magistrate-designate, could speak, and so continue the sitting up to nightfall, when the house stood adjourned.

426

Nihil vos moramur were the words used by the presiding magistrate, indicating that he had no more business to bring before the senate. If no one said anything, the senate was dismissed; but any magistrate, or magistrate-designate, could speak, and so continue the sitting up to nightfall, when the house stood adjourned.

427

Because consul-designate. L. Racilius, one of the new tribunes.

428

The sortitio iudicum was performed by the prætor drawing out the required number of names from the urn, which contained the names of all liable to serve. The accused could, however, challenge a certain number, and the prætor had then to draw others.

429

The formula whereby the senate declared its opinion that so and so was guilty of treason. It had no legal force, but the magistrates might, and sometimes did, act on it.

430

C. Porcius Cato, distant relation of Cato Uticensis, one of the new tribunes.

431

I.e., Marcellinus (Cn. Cornelius Lentulus).

432

The senators not in office only spoke when called on (rogati). The consuls-designate (if there were any) were always called first, and then the consulars in order. To be called first was a subject of ambition, and an opportunity for the presiding magistrate to pay a compliment or the reverse.

433

They went and sat or stood near the speaker they wished to support. It was not, however, a formal division till the speeches ended, and the presiding magistrate counted. Still, it made the division easier.

434

A platform outside the senate-house, where representatives originally of Greek and then of other states were placed. It was apparently possible to hear, or partly hear, the debates from it. It was a locus substructus (Varro, L. L. v. 155). There is no evidence that it was a building to lodge ambassadors in, as Prof. Tyrrell says.

435

The year of this letter has been inferred from the mention of Lentulus's augural banquet. For P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, son of the consul of b.c. 57, was in this year elected into the college of augurs. Yet as we know that Cicero's Tusculan villa was dismantled by Clodius, and was advertised for sale (though not sold), it seems rather extraordinary that Cicero should have gone there for his health. The Fadii Galli were a family of Cicero's native place, Arpinum.

436

There were several sumptuary laws. Those which may possibly be referred to here are (1) the lex Licinia (? b.c. 103), which defined certain foods as illegal at banquets, but excepted quod ex terra vite arbore ve sit natum (Macrobius, Sat. iii. 17, 9; Gell. ii. 24, 7); (2) the lex Æmilia (b.c. 68), which also defined both the quantity and quality of food allowable at banquets (Gell. ii. 24, 12).

437

C. Anicius, a senator and intimate friend of Cicero's.

438

Consul of b.c. 57, who had gone at the end of his consulship to be governor of Cilicia.

439

When Ptolemy Auletes first appealed to the senate (b.c. 57) to restore him to the throne of Egypt, it appears that a resolution was passed authorizing the proconsul of Cilicia to do so; but as Pompey wished to have the business, the senate found itself in a difficulty, not wishing to put him in military command, or daring to offend him by an open refusal (Dio, xxxix. 12). The tribune C. Cato found up a Sibylline oracle forbidding the employment of an army for the purpose, which served the senate as a decent excuse. The commission to Lentulus was eventually withdrawn by an auctoritas senatus, and Lentulus did not venture to do it. Ptolemy, finding that he could not succeed in getting Pompey commissioned, retired to Ephesus, and afterwards succeeded by an enormous bribe in inducing Gabinius, the proconsul of Syria, to do it (b.c. 55).

440

Of having been induced by greed or ambition to undertake the restoration of Ptolemy.

441

Reading tibicini for the unmeaning tibi. It is not certain, but it makes good sense. Ptolemy was called Auletes (flute-player), of which the Latin tibicen is a translation, meant, no doubt, somewhat jocosely.

442

I.e., before going to the senate on the Ides of January (13th). See next letter.

443

The Sibylline oracle forbade restoring the king "with a multitude."

444

Pompey had at this time imperium as curator annonæ.

445

Because it was on Lentulus's motion that Pompey had been made curator annonæ, and so in possession of imperium with naval and military forces.

446

The proposal of Bibulus to send "three legates" implied a concession to the Sibylline verse, in not sending "an army." It was therefore to be voted on as two questions—(1) Shall the Sibylline verse be obeyed, and an army not sent? (2) Shall three legates be sent?

447

That is, the debate went off on the side issue as to who had the prior right of dividing the house. Lupus said he had, because the proposal of Volcatius was really made before the others, i.e., in the previous day's debate (see last letter). The consuls were only too glad thus to avoid having the main question brought to a vote, and let this technical point be spun out in a languid debate.

448

Because they had magistrates ready to stop the comitia by declaring bad omens, and tribunes ready to veto any proposal.

449

A senatus consultum vetoed by a tribune was written out, with the names of its proposers and backers, and a statement at the end as to the tribunes vetoing it. It was thus on record as an auctoritas senatus, "resolution of the senate," not a senatus consultum. A perfect specimen is given in Letter CCXXIII. This auctoritas was to the effect that no one was to undertake the restoration. See Letter CXIII.

450

This is a specimen of the short letter of introduction to a provincial governor which were given almost as a matter of course by men of position at Rome. We shall have many of them in the course of the correspondence: and Cicero elsewhere warns the recipient of such letters not to pay attention to them unless he expressly indicates his wish by some less formal sentence (see Letter CXIV). T. Ampius was the predecessor of Lentulus in Cilicia.

451

I.e., no meeting of the senate for ordinary business. During the month of February the senate usually devoted all its time to hearing and answering deputations from the provinces or foreign states. The lex Pupia forbade the meeting of the senate on dies comitiales, and after the 14th the days in January were all comitiales: but another law (lex Vatinia) ordered it to meet every day in February for the business of the legations. If this business was concluded or deferred it remained a moot point whether a magistrate was not still bound or, at least, allowed to summon it for other business (ad Q. Fr. ii. 13).

452

That of the tribune C. Cato for the recall of Lentulus.

453

A money-lender, and friend of Lentulus Spinther.

454

Pompey.

455

Agent or steward of Atticus.

456

The architect. See Letter XXVIII, p. 68.

457

Clodius, who was ædile this year.

458

For commissioning Pompey with two lictors to restore Ptolemy.

459

Milo impeached by Clodius before the comitia tributa for his employment of gladiators. Dio (xxxix. 18) says that Clodius thus impeached Milo, not with any hope of securing his conviction against the powerful support of Cicero and Pompey, but to get the chance of insulting these latter. Marcellus was one of the candidates for the ædileship with Clodius. See Letter XCI.

460

In b.c. 129, after making a speech in favour of the claims of the Italians for exemption from the agrarian law of Gracchus, Scipio Æmilianus, the younger Africanus, was found dead in his bed. The common report was that he had been assassinated by Carbo, or with his privity, but it was never proved (see de Orat. ii. § 170). Cicero does not here assume the truth of the story, he merely repeats Pompey's words.

461

M. Tullius Albinovanus. It was on this charge de vi that Cicero defended Sestius in the extant speech. The charge of bribery does not appear to have been proceeded with.

462

Adlegatos, probably commissioners named to receive and report on a deposition of an informer before the senate acted.

463

L. Calpurnius Piso Bestia, a candidate in the last election of ædiles.

464

Cn. Domitius Calvinus, consul b.c. 53. In the Civil War he sided with Pompey, and perished at sea after Thapsus (b.c. 46).

465

Ad lucum Pisonis. The place is not known, but there is not sufficient reason for the change to ad lacum Pisonis, a place equally unknown.

466

A part of Rome on the slope of the Mons Oppius.

467

I.e., get out of it as soon as you can.

468

Ptolemy was at Ephesus.

469

The famous C. Asinius Pollio.

470

The postponement of the Egyptian commission.

471

ἐξ ἀπαλῶν ὀνύχων, i.e., "from your earliest youth." Others explain it to mean "from the bottom of your heart," or "thoroughly," from the idea that the nerves ended in the nails. ἔξ αὐτῶν τῶν ὀνύχων, "thoroughly," occurs in late Greek, and similar usages in the Anthology.

472

L. Æmilius Paullus, prætor b.c. 53, consul b.c. 50, a strong Optimate and friend of Cicero's.

473

P. Vatinius, the tribune of b.c. 59, who had supported Cæsar and proposed the law for his five years' command in Gaul. Cicero spoke against him for perjury; but afterwards we shall find them ostensibly reconciled.

474

A Greek grammarian and geographer, of whom we have heard before, and shall hear of again in connexion with Cicero's library.

475

P. Furius Crassipes. Tullia's first husband, C. Calpurnius Piso Frugi, died, it seems, before Cicero returned from exile in b.c. 57. This second marriage (or, perhaps, only betrothal) was shortly ended by a divorce.

476

I.e., on which the sponsalia could not take place.

477

Not going the right way to work to get it.

478

At the end of the next letter he says that, pending Quintus's arrival, he has stopped some of his building.

479

On some alleged informality the feriæ Latinæ were held a second time (instauratæ), really, Cicero implies, in order to bar some additional days for public business, and prevent legislation, as later on the election of Pompey and Crassus was prevented (Dio, xxxix. 30).