Cicero to Atticus, written from Astura on the tenth day before the Kalends of April 709 AUC — 23 March 45 BC (the manuscript dateline: Scr.\ Asturae x K.\ Apr.\ a.\ 709 (45)). The search for a horti to house the shrine for Tullia drives the first section. Sicca has now arrived and Cicero expects the Silius terms today; a smaller alternative property of Cotta’s, beyond Silius’, is too cramped and lacks the celebritas — the frequented public setting — that Cicero requires for the fanum. If Atticus can close the Silius deal, the Cotta option falls away.

The second section turns to young Cicero’s allowance and to the daily letter-discipline that has become its own ritual: “I see from your letters, and you doubtless see from mine, that we have nothing to write about: the same things day after day, things already worn to nothing. Yet I cannot help sending to you every day, so that I may receive your letters in return.” The third returns to Brutus, who is travelling to meet Pansa; Cicero, fleeing Rome “for many reasons,” is already weighing whether to make some excuse for not seeing him. The grief and the practical projects share the same elliptical register.