Cicero to Atticus, written from Brundisium on the twelfth day before the Kalends of Quintilis (July) 47 BC — 20 June (the manuscript dateline: Scr.\ Brundisi xii K.\ Quint.\ a.\ 707 (47)). Ille is Caesar, held up in Alexandria beyond what Cicero had hoped: there is no rumour of his departure, and the report is that the king’s war is detaining him severely. Cicero, who had thought of sending his son back, abandons the plan and begs Atticus to get him out of Brundisium — any punishment is lighter than staying on. He has written to the same effect to Antony, Balbus, and Oppius. If the next campaign falls in Italy, or if Caesar uses his fleets, Brundisium is the worst possible place for a Pompeian of doubtful standing to be sitting in; one of those two contingencies, he reckons, is certain to come about, and perhaps both.

In the second section Atticus’s earlier report of Oppius’s conversation comes into focus: Cicero has understood from it how bitter the Caesarian inner circle is against him, and asks Atticus to soften that anger. The condition he describes is the bottom of the book — “I expect nothing now but misery, but nothing more ruined than what I am now in can possibly happen.” What he wants done is precise: Atticus is to talk to Antony and the others, extricate the matter as best he can, and write back on every point as soon as possible. The signed dateline is preserved at the foot of the letter.