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 one 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 it, I
implore you to save from disfranchisement two
unhappy men, who owe their loss of citizenship to
fortune—which none can avoid-rather than
to any fault of their own. Be so good as to allow
me by your help to bestow this favour both on the
men themselves, who are my friends, and also on
the municipium of Cales, with which I have strong
ties, and lastly upon Lepta, whom I regard more
than all the rest. What I am going to say I think
is not much to the point, yet, after all, there is
no harm in saying it. The property of one of them
is very small, of the other scarcely up to the
equestrian standard. Wherefore, seeing that
Caesar, with his usual high-mindedness, has
granted them their lives, and since there is very
little else that can be taken from them, do secure
these men their return, if you love me as much as
I am sure you do. The only possible difficulty is
the long journey; which their motive for not
shirking is their desire to be with their families
and to die at home. That you do your best and
exert yourself, or rather that you carry it
through—for as to your ability to do it
I have no doubt—I strongly and
repeatedly entreat you.
(ROME, FEBRUARY)
