Cicero to Atticus, written from Astura on the fourth day before the Nones of May 709 AUC — 4 May 45 BC (the manuscript dateline: Scr.\ Asturae iv Non.\ Mai.\ a.\ 709 (45)). The opening section is domestic relief: two letters from Atticus arrived together, Pilia and Attica are in good health, and Brutus’ long-delayed letter (thirteen days in transit) has arrived. Cicero forwards it with a copy of his own reply — one of the few moments in the sequence where the wider Roman correspondence breaks through the grief.

The second section is the conceptual hinge of the estate search. Cicero now admits that he wants a celebritas — a frequented spot — not the solitudo Astura had given him. The shrine needs witnesses: a fanum surrounded by strangers will outlast a fanum in a private garden, and the Scapula property offers the greatest throng, with the further advantage of being near where Atticus would be staying. Otho is to be approached if he is in Rome; Drusus is selling and will not be passed over if nothing better turns up; the Scapula heirs are the way to keep all options live. The closing section turns to the unresolved business with Terentia — the post-divorce financial settlement that has dragged through this whole period — where Cicero needs Atticus’ gratia (influence) as much as his auctoritas (authority). The ex-wife’s affairs, like the shrine and the second wife Publilia, are being negotiated through the same patient intermediary.