CCCXXVII (A VIII, I)
TO ATTICUS (AT ROME)
FORMIAE, 16 FEBRUARY
AFTER I had despatched a letter to you, I
received one from Pompey. I would have sent you
the letter itself; had not my brother's servant
been in such a hurry to start. I will send it,
therefore, tomorrow. The rest of it contained the
operations in Picenum; about what Vibullius had
written to him; about the levy held by
Domitius—all of which are known to you,
but yet were not so flourishing as Philotimus's
letter had represented. But at the end of Pompey's
letter there was a sentence in his own
handwriting: "I am of opinion that you should come
to Luceria; you will not be safer anywhere else."
The interpretation I put on this is that he
considers the towns in this district and the
sea-coast as abandoned, nor am I surprised at a
man, who has given up the head, having no regard
for the other limbs. I wrote back at once and sent
the letter by one of my establishment upon whom I
could rely, saying that I did not want to know
where I should be safest: if he wished me to come
to Luceria for his own sake or for that of the
Republic, I would come at once; and I urged him to
keep a hold upon the seacoast, if he wished to be
supplied with corn from the provinces. I see that
it is no use my writing this. But as before in
regard to keeping the city, so in regard to not
abandoning Italy, I put my opinion on record. I
perceive, indeed, that the plan is to concentrate
all forces at Luceria, and even that not as a
permanent centre, but that, if hard pressed, we
are to abandon that also. You need not, therefore,
be much surprised at my not being very
enthusiastic about engaging in a cause, in which
no provision has ever been sought for making peace
or securing victory, but from the first for a
discreditable and calamitous flight. I must go, to
encounter any danger that chance may
bring with those who are reputed to be loyalists,
rather than be thought to disagree with loyalists.
Yet I foresee that before long the city will be
crammed with the "loyalists," that is, the fine
gentlemen and men of property-crammed chock full,
indeed, when these municipal towns have been
abandoned. And I would be in their number if I had
not these confounded lictors. Nor should I be
dissatisfied to have as my companions Manius
Lepidus, L. Volcatius, and Servius Sulpicius: not
one of them is a greater fool than L. Domitius,
nor more of a weathercock than Appius Claudius.
The one person who makes me hesitate is Pompey,
not from his personal importance, but for old
sake's sake. For what weight can he have in this
controversy? When we were all alarmed at Caesar,
he, for his part, was devoted to him: now that he
has begun to be alarmed at him, he thinks that
everybody ought to be his enemy. However, I shall
go to Luceria, and yet perhaps my arrival will not
give him any satisfaction. For I shall not be able
to conceal my disapproval of what has been done up
to this time. If I could sleep I wouldn't have
pestered you with such long letters. If you are
similarly affected, pray pay me back in kind.
FORMIAE, 16 FEBRUARY
