The Letters to His Friends

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB, LL.D. » tT. E. PAGE, C.H., LITT.D. fE. CAPPS, PH.D., LL.D. t W. H. D. ROUSE, litt.d. L. A. POST, L.H.D. E. H. WARMINGTON, m.a., f.e.hist.soo. CICERO THE LETTERS TO HIS FRIENDS / C ICER.O. BUST IN THE CAPITOUNE MUSEUM, ROME. CICEKO ITHE LETTEKS TO HIS FEIENDS WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY W. GLYNN WILLIAMS, M.A. POKMERLY SCHOLAR OF ST. JOHN'3 COLLKOE, CAMBRIDQB IN THREE VOLUMES I LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS MCMLVIU First printed 1927 and reprinted 1943, 1952, 1953 Printed in Cheat Britain CONTENTS OF VOLUME I Bust of Cicero .... Frontispiece PAOB Introduction ....... ix Chronological Summary . , xii BOOK I ETTERa i.-ix. To PuBLius Lentulus Spinther . 2 f X. To Lucius Valerius . .88 BOOK II i.-vir. To Gaius Scribonius Curio 92 viii.-xvi. To Marcus Caelius Rufus 116 XVII. To Gnaeus Sallustius 150 XVIII. To Quintus Minucius Thermus 156 XIX. To Gaius Caelius Caldus i6o BOOK III i.-xiiL To Appius Claudius Pulcher . .164 V CONTENTS BOOK IV LETTERS PACK i.-iv. To Servius Sulpicius Rufus . 246 V. The same to Cicero . 268 VI. To Servius Sulpicius Rufus . 276 vii.-x. To Marcus Marcellus . 280 XI. The same to Cicero . 298 XII, Servius Sulpicius Rufus to Cicero , 300 XIII. To Publius Nigidius Figulus . 304 xiv.-xv. To Gnaeus Plancius . 312 BOOK V I. QuiNTUs Metellus Cei.er to Cicero 320 II. To QuiNTUS Metellus Celer . 322 III. QuiNTUs Metellus Nepos to Cicero 334 IV. To QuiNTus Metellus Nepos . 336 v. To Gaius Antoniu».., . ^.,- . 338 VL To Publius Sestiusv j^: ,,.. 842 VII. To Gnaeus Pompkius .Magnus . 346 - VIII. To Marcus Licinius Crassus . S48 ix.-x6. Publius Vatinius to Cicero . 354 XI. To Publius Vatinius . 362 xii.-xiii. To Lucius Lucceius .... 364 XIV. The same to Cicero , , 382 XV. To Lucius Lucceius . 386 vi CONTENTS LKTTERS PAGE XVI. To TiTius 390 XVII. To PUBUUS SiTTIUS . 396 XVIII. To Titus Fadius Gallus . 400 XIX,-XXI. To Mescinius Rufus , . 402 BOOK VI i.-iv. To AuLus Manlius Torquatus . 426 v.-vi. To AuLus Caecina .... 448 VII. The same to Cicero . 464 VIII. To Aulus Caecina .... 472 IX. To FuRFANius . 476 xa.-xi. To Trebianus . .478 XII. To Ampius Balbus .... 486 XIII.- XIV. To QuiNTUS LiGARIUS . 494 XV. To Basilus ..... 500 XVI. Aulus Pompeius Bithvnicus to Cicero 500 XVII. To Aulus Pompeius Bithvnicus 502 xvin.-xix. To Quintus Lepta , . 504 xx.-xxi. To Gaius Toranius . .510 xxii. To Gnaeus DoMiTius Ahenobarbus 5l6 Order of Letters . .521 Index ok Names ...... 525 vii 1 INTRODUCTION " This collection of Cicero's " Letters to his Friends was preserved and edited by his secretary Tiro. The collection is inadequately entitled, as it includes several letters, some of them of profound interest, from his friends to Cicero. There are 426 letters, divided into sixteen books, not arranged in any sort of order,* chronological or otherwise, except that letters from or to particular correspondents are generally grouped together ; the third book, for instance, consists exclusively of letters from Cicero to Appius Claudius Pulcher, and the eighth book of letters from Marcus Caelius Rufus to Cicero. The earliest letter is one from Cicero to Pompey (x. 7) dated 62 b.c, the year after Cicero's consulship ; the latest is one from him to Cassius (xii. 10) written in 43 B.C., the year after the assassination of Caesar, and a few months before his own. These nineteen years from 62 to 43 B.C. cover a period of supreme importance in the history of the Roman Republic—a period more minutely described and vividly illustrated in these letters, giving us as they do the different points of view of various correspondents, than even in the " Letters to Atticus," written by Cicero alone. " The confusion thus caused is to some extent obviated by a summary, in chronological order, prefixed to each volume, of the events in each year covered by the Letters. ix INTRODUCTION The Letters vary greatly in interest and style ; while many of them contain matter of the highest literary or historical value—as, for instance, Cicero's explanation of his political change of front (i. 9), Sulpicius Rufus's letter of condolence to Cicero on the death of his daughter Tullia (iv. 5) and Matius's defence of his friendship for Caesar (xi. 28)-—others are no more than merely formal documents. The text is based on that of Nobbe (1849) ; but w^here there was an obvious call for emendation in that text I have not hesitated to adopt other readings, always with due acknowledgement. Such universally accepted orthographical correc- tions as cum for quum, consili for consilii, and causa for caussa I have made as a matter of course. To Tyrrell and Purser's exhaustive (it has " rightly been described as monumental ") Com- mentary on the Correspondence of Cicero " I have made constant reference, and owe more than I it, can tell ; I have depended upon too, for the dates of the letters, Watson's Select Letters (with the recently revised edition by Mr. W. W. IIow), and Pritchard and Bernard's Selected Letters for the use of Schools have been of invaluable assistance to me, and I have freely consulted the admirable translations of all or some of the letters by E. S. Shuckburgh, G. E. Jeans, and S. H. Jeyes. To all the above distinguished Ciceronians I acknowledge with gratitude my very deep indebted- ness. » Referred to in my notes for the sake of brevity as ".Tyrrell." INTRODUCTION The Manuscripts The oldest and soundest ms. of the Epistulae ad Familiares is the Codex Mediceus 4-9. 9» now in the Laurentian Library at Florence. This is known as M. Other Mss., each giving some of the letters, are : G, Codex Harleianus 2773, in the British Museum. R, Codex Parisianus 17812, in the Bibhoth^que Nationale. (G and R are closely connected, and both in- dependent of M.) T, Codex Turonensis 688, in the Library of Tours. H, Codex Harleianus 2682, in the British Museum. F, Codex Erfurtensis, now Berolinensis, 252, which closely follows H. D, Codex Palatinus, originally at Heidelberg, now in the A^atican. Of these M alone contains all the Epistulae ad Familiares, G, R, and T giving different portions of Bks. I. to VIIL, and H, F, and D of Bks. IX. to XVI. X) A CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF CICERO DATE B.C. 106. Cicero is born on Jan. 3 near Arpinum. 89. Serves under Cn. Pompeius Strabo in the Marsic War. 86. Writes his De inventtone. 80. Delivers his speech Pro Sex. Roscio Amerino. 79-78, Travels in Greece and Asia. 77. Returns to Rome, and marries Terentia. 75-74. Serves as quaestor for Lilybaeum in Sicily. 70. Accuses Verres. First Consulship of Pompey and Crassus. 69. Curule aedile. 66. Praetor. Speech Pro lege Manilla. 64. Elected Consul with C. Antonius Hybrida (the latter by a small majority over Catiline). 63 B.C. § 1 . Cicero, being now consul, successfully opposes the agrarian law of the tribune P. Servilius Rullus, which was in the interests of Caesar and Crassus, and xii CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY intended to check the growing power of Pompey. Caesar is elected Pontifex Maximus. Cicero carries in the Senate tlie proposal of a supplicatio of unusual length to Pompey in honour of his eastern triumphs. § 2. Having conciliated his colleague C. Antonius by resigning to him the governorship in 62 of the rich province of Macedonia, Cicero felt himself able in the autumn of 63 to oppose the treasonable designs of L. Sergius Catilina, of which he had full information from the spy, L, Curius. In the consular elections for 62 Catiline was again defeated. On October 21 Cicero foretold the rising of the Catili- narian Manlius in Etruria on the 27th. Martial law was proclaimed, and the conspirators failed in an attempt to seize Praeneste on November 1, and another plot to murder Cicero was exposed. But Catiline had the audacity to appear in the Senate on November 8, when Cicero so crushingly denounced him that he left Rome to take command of the insurgents in Etruria. § 3. Certain envoys of the Allobroges, having been approached by the conspirators to supply Catiline with cavalry, were arrested, and on the strength of incriminating letters found upon them the following five conspirators were seized and imprisoned — P. Lentulus Sura (praetor), C. Cethegus (senator), L. Statilius, P. Gabinius Cimber, and M. Caeparius ; and at a meeting of the Senate on December 5, mainly at the instance of M. Cato, though Caesar, then praetor elect, was opposed to it, a decree was carried that the five conspirators arrested should be put to death, and that same evening they were strangled under Cicero's supervision. xiii . CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY § 4. On December 29 the tribune Q. Metellus Nepos vetoed Cicero's address to the people on going out of office, alleging that " he had put citizens to " death without a trial ; but Cicero's declaration that he had thereby saved his country was received with applause. This Metellus was one of Pompey's officers and was probably instigated by his general, who was chagrined that Cicero, and not he, should have quelled the conspiracy. 62 B.C. Consuls : D. Junius Silanus and L. Licinius Murena § 1. Catiline, making for Cisalpine Gaul with Manlius's army, is met by Metellus Celer and thrown back on the army of C. Antonius. In a battle near Pistoria the insurgents were utterly and finally defeated, and Catiline slain.

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