113
Cicero is evidently very anxious as to the misunderstanding between Quintus and his brother-in-law Atticus, caused, as he hints, or at any rate not allayed, by Pomponia. The letter is very carefully written, without the familiar tone and mixture of jest and earnest common to most of the letters to Atticus.
114
At the end of the
115
The election in question is that to be held in b.c. 60 for the consulship of b.c. 59. Cæsar and Bibulus were elected, and apparently were the only two candidates declared as yet. They were, of course, extremists, and Lucceius seems to reckon on getting in by forming a coalition with either one or the other, and so getting the support of one of the extreme parties, with the moderates, for himself. The bargain eventually made was between Lucceius and Cæsar, the former finding the money. But the Optimates found more, and carried Bibulus. Arrius is Q. Arrius the orator (see Index). C. Piso is the consul of b.c. 67.
116
Reading (mainly with Schutz)
117
The temple of Iuventas was vowed by M. Livius after the battle of the Metaurus (b.c. 207), and dedicated in b.c. 191 by C. Licinius Lucullus, games being established on the anniversary of its dedication (Livy, xxi. 62; xxxvi. 36). It is suggested, therefore, that some of the Luculli usually presided at these games, but on this occasion refused, because of the injury done by C. Memmius, who was curule ædile.
118
By Agamemnon and Menelaus Cicero means Lucius and Marcus Lucullus; the former Memmius had, as tribune in b.c. 66-65, opposed in his demand for a triumph, the latter he has now injured in the person of his wife.
119
A man who was
120
L. Afranius, the other consul.
121
M. Lollius Palicanus, "a mere mob orator" (
122
The
123
To be absent from the census without excuse rendered a man liable to penalties. Cicero will therefore put up notices in Atticus's various places of business or residence of his intention to appear in due course. To appear just at the end of the period was, it seems, in the case of a man of business, advisable, that he might be rated at the actual amount of his property, no more or less.
124
A special title given to the Ædui on their application for alliance. Cæsar,
125
The migration of the Helvetii did not actually begin till b.c. 58. Cæsar tells us in the first book of his
126
Consul b.c. 69, superseded in Crete by Pompey b.c. 65. Triumphed b.c. 62.
127
Prætor b.c. 63, defended by Cicero in an extant oration.
128
Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus, consul in b.c. 72. Cicero puns on the name Lentulus from
129
b.c. 133, the year before the agrarian law of Tiberius Gracchus. The law of Gracchus had not touched the public land in Campania (the old territory of Capua). The object of this clause (which appears repeatedly in those of b.c. 120 and 111, see Bruns,
130
That is, he proposed to hypothecate the
131
The consulship. The bribery at Afranius's election is asserted in Letter XXI.
132
The day of the execution of the Catilinarian conspirators.
133
Epicharmus, twice quoted by Polybius, xviii. 40; xxxi. 21. νᾶφε καὶ μέμνας' ἀπιστεῖν, ἄρθρα ταῦτα τῶν φρενῶν.
134
135
P. Servilius Vatia Isauricus, son of the conqueror of the Isaurians. As he had not yet been a prætor, he would be called on after the
136
The decree apparently prevented the recovery of debts from a
137
A son must be hard up for something to say for himself if he is always harping on his father's reputation; and so must I, if I have nothing but my consulship. That seems the only point in the quotation. I do not feel that there is any reference to praise of his father in Cicero's own poem. There are two versions of the proverb:
and
138
139
Reading
140
Σπάρτην ἔλαχες κείνην κοσμεῖ. "Sparta is your lot, do it credit," a line of Euripides which had become proverbial.
141
οἱ μὲν παρ' οὐδέν εἰσι, τοῖς δ' οὐδεν μέλει. Rhinton, a dramatist,
142
143
See p. 57.
144
The