Publius Sestius

Reading notes

• Ad Atticum 3.17 §1 Sestius's slaves

  Slaves of P. Sestius, tribune-elect for 57 BC and one of the champions of Cicero's recall, used here as couriers carrying Atticus's letters east. The same Sestius Cicero would defend in the Pro Sestio (56 BC).

• Ad Atticum 3.19 §2 Sestius

  P. Sestius, tribune-designate and then tribune of 57 BC, one of the chief workers for Cicero's recall. His promises are among the hopes Cicero says he will not abandon.

• Ad Atticum 3.20 §3 The bill of Sestius

  A draft recall bill associated with P. Sestius, tribune-designate for 57 BC. Cicero faults it for not naming him expressly and for handling his confiscated property too loosely.

• Ad Atticum 15.13 §5 our friend Sestius

  Publius Sestius, tribune of 57 BC whom Cicero had defended in the Pro Sestio and counted a loyal friend; Dolabella claims Sestius has taken charge of a financial "assignment" Cicero is owed, though Cicero doubts he can do much.

• Ad Atticum 15.27 §1 I gave the same courier a letter to Sestius too

  Publius Sestius, tribune of 57 BC who had worked for Cicero's recall from exile (defended in the Pro Sestio); here a friend whom Cicero has written to in warm terms but who feels slighted at being left behind on the journey.

• Ad Atticum 16.2 §4 Sestius was expected

  P. Sestius, the former tribune whom Cicero had defended in 56 BC; note he is a different man from the Sextus Pompeius of the previous letter, despite the similar names.

• Ad Atticum 16.3 §6 our friend Sextius's opinion

  P. Sestius (here "Sextius"), the former tribune Cicero had defended in 56 BC and a steady ally; Deiotarus's agents were meant to clear their actions with him.

• Ad Atticum 16.14 §1 Sestius's courier

  Publius Sestius, a long-standing political ally whom Cicero had once defended in court; here his unreliable messenger annoys Cicero, and Cicero awaits Sestius's own assessment of the situation.

• Ad Atticum 16.14 §3 I am waiting for Sestius's judgement

  Cicero defers his decision about where to go and how to act until he hears the political assessment of Publius Sestius.

• Ad Atticum 16.15 §4 I received letters from you and from Sestius

  Publius Sestius, the political ally whose judgement Cicero had been awaiting; his warmly affectionate letter now arrives just as Cicero is sealing this one.

• Ad M. Brutum 2.5 §4 with what danger his own son, with what danger mine

  Sestius's son and Cicero's son (Marcus the younger) were both serving under Brutus; if Antony were recognized as proconsul, their bearing arms against him would legally constitute treason, making the constitutional question acutely personal.

• Ad Familiares 7.32 §1 Sestius's

  P. Sestius, tribune of 57 BC and Cicero's client in the Pro Sestio, was notorious for being humourless and stilted; for his clumsy witticisms to be "fathered on" Cicero is the height of insult to Cicero's reputation as a wit.