Cicero to Terentia, written from Brundisium on the day before the Kalends of September 47 BC — 31 August, by the Perseus dateline (Scr. Brundis i K. Sept. a. 707 (47)); the subscription line on the letter itself reads K. Septemb., the morning the courier left. Three weeks on from the cautious good news of 14.23 (“a letter from Caesar has at last reached me, and it is generous enough”), and Cicero is back to waiting. The same moment is registered in Att. 11.22: the Pharnaces–Caesar news from Asia, Caesar’s eastward detour, the captivity dragging on through another month.

The note is three lines. Every day they are expecting their own couriers; if the couriers come, perhaps there will be something definite to act on, and he will pass it on at once. Take careful care of your health. Farewell. Caesar will not in fact reach Italy until well into September, and the meeting at Tarentum is still weeks away.