Ad Quintum Fratrem 2.3
Ad Quintum Fratrem 2.3
Headnote
Cicero to his brother Quintus, written from Rome between the day before the Ides of February (12 February) — the principal dispatch of §1–6 was finished before dawn that day — and the fifteenth day before the Kalends of March (15 February), when the closing line was added. The letter is the great Q.fr. companion-piece to Fam. 1.5b: the same week of public riot and senatorial scrambling, but in much fuller daily detail. §2 is the famous report of the Milo-Pompey contio of 8 February, the same scene Fam. 1.5b summarizes in two lines: Pompey shouted down for two solid hours by Clodius’s claque, then Clodius rising to be roared down in turn by Cicero’s side (with lewd verses against Clodius and his sister Clodia, the same Clodia who would be Caelius’s prosecutor two months later), and the famous chant in the gangs — “who is killing the people with hunger? Pompey. Who wishes to go to Alexandria? Pompey. Whom do you want to go? Crassus.” Crassus stood by “with no friendly mind towards Milo.” §3 carries the Senate of the next two days at the temple of Apollo: the SC declaring the 8 February proceedings contra rem publicam, Cato’s “continuous speech” indicting Pompey to the great silence of his enemies, and Pompey’s reply — naming Crassus, swearing that he would be better guarded against Carbo than Africanus had been. §4 is the single clearest narrative of how the senators-vs-Pompey front of the autumn has, in three weeks, become an optimate-Crassan partnership against Pompey: Crassus is sustaining C. Cato; money is going to Clodius; Curio, Bibulus, Favonius, young Servilius are tearing at Pompey in the chamber. §5–6: the indictment of P. Sestius for canvassing and for violence, the political clubs (sodalitates, decuriati) ordered to disperse, and Cicero’s anticipatory advocacy for Sestius worked into a Bestia speech (the Greek phrase pro\=oikonom\=esam\=en marks the rhetorical move). The closing date, with the brother’s wedding-dinner that evening at Pomponius’s, the Lentulan house secured by the Lacus Pisonis, the Lamiae as Quintus’s distinguished tenants in the Carinae, and the gentle joke “although it is winter, still bear in mind that this is Sardinia.”
I wrote to you before about earlier things; now learn what has been done since. From the Kalends of February the embassies were being put off to the Ides of February. On that day the matter was not finished. On the fourth day before the Nones of February Milo appeared. To support him Pompey came; Marcellus spoke at my request; we came off honourably; the day was set forward to the eighth day before the Ides of February. Meanwhile, the embassies put off to the Ides, the question was being moved about the quaestors’ provinces and about furnishing the praetors; but with many complaints about the state of the commonwealth being interposed, no business was got through. C. Cato promulgated a law to abrogate Lentulus’s command. The young son changed his dress.
scripsi ad te antea superiora; nunc cognosce postea quae sint acta. A Kal. Febr. legationes in Idus Febr. reiciebantur. eo die res confecta non est. A. d. iiii Non. Febr. Milo adfuit. ei Pompeius advocatus venit; dixit Marcellus a me rogatus; honeste discessimus; prodicta dies est in viii Idus Febr. interim reiectis legationibus in Idus referebatur de provinciis quaestorum et de ornandis praetoribus; sed res multis querelis de re publica interponendis nulla transacta est C. Cato legem promulgavit de imperio Lentulo abrogando. vestitum filius mutavit.
On the eighth day before the Ides of February Milo appeared. Pompey spoke — or rather wished to. For when he rose, the Clodian gangs raised a shout, and it befell him through his whole speech to be hindered not only by yelling but by railing and abuse. When he had finished — for in this he was indeed brave; he was not put off; he said everything, and at intervals even drew silence and carried the day with weight — but when he had finished, Clodius rose. There came on him such a shout from our side (for it had been agreed to repay the favour) that he could keep neither mind nor tongue nor face steady. The thing was carried on, although Pompey had scarcely finished by the sixth hour, all the way to the eighth, with every form of railing, finally lewd verses, said against Clodius and Clodia. He, frantic and bloodless, kept asking his own people in the very midst of the shouting, who it was who was killing the people with hunger. The gangs answered: “Pompey.” Who wished to go to Alexandria? They answered: “Pompey.” Whom did they want to go? They answered: “Crassus.” He was there at the time, with no friendly mind towards Milo. About the ninth hour, as if at a signal given, the Clodians began to spit on our men. Anger flared. They pressed to drive us from our ground; an attack was made by our side; flight of the gangs; Clodius thrown down from the Rostra; and we then fled too, lest there be some mishap in the crowd. The Senate was summoned to the Curia; Pompey home. I, however, did not go to the Senate, lest I either keep silent in such matters or, in defending Pompey (for he was being torn at by Bibulus, Curio, Favonius, the younger Servilius), give offence to the spirits of the good men. The matter was put off to the next day. Clodius set the trial day forward to the Quirinalia.
A. d. viii Id. Febr. Milo, adfuit. dixit Pompeius sive voluit; nam, ut surrexit, operae Clodianae clamorem sustulerunt, idque ei perpetua oratione contigit non modo ut acclamatione sed ut convicio et maledictis impediretur. qui ut peroravit (nam in eo sane fortis fuit; non est deterritus; dixit omnia atque interdum etiam silentio, cum auctoritate †peregerat†) sed ut peroravit, surrexit Clodius. ei tantus clamor a nostris (placuerat enim referre gratiam) ut neque mente nec lingua neque ore consisteret. ea res acta est, cum hora sexta vix Pompeius perorasset, usque ad horam viii, cum omnia maledicta, versus denique obscenissimi in Clodium et Clodiam dicerentur. ille furens et exsanguis interrogabat suos in clamore ipso, quis esset qui plebem fame necaret. respondebant operae: ’Pompeius.’ quis Alexandream ire cuperet respondebant: ’Pompeius.’ quem ire vellent respondebant: ’Crassum.’ is aderat tum Miloni animo non amico. Hora fere nona quasi signo dato Clodiani nostros consputare coeperunt exarsit dolor. Vrgere illi ut loco nos moverent. factus est a nostris impetus; fuga operarum; eiectus de rostris Clodius, ac nos quoque tum fugimus, ne quid in turba. senatus vocatus in curiam. Pompeius domum. neque ego tamen in senatum, ne aut de tantis rebus tacerem aut in Pompeio defendendo (nam is carpebatur a Bibulo, Curione, Favonio, Servilio filio) animos bonorum virorum offenderem. res in posterum dilata est. Clodius in Quirinalia prodixit diem.
On the seventh day before the Ides of February the Senate was at the temple of Apollo, that Pompey might be present. The matter was handled with weight by Pompey. On that day nothing was finished. On the sixth day before the Ides of February, at the temple of Apollo, a senatus consultum was passed: that the things which had been done on the eighth day before the Ides of February had been done against the commonwealth. On that day Cato vehemently inveighed against Pompey, and accused him with a continuous speech as if he were a defendant. About me he said much, against my wish, with the highest praise of me; when he was reproaching that man’s treachery against me, he was heard in great silence by the malevolent. Pompey replied vehemently against him, and traced the figure of Crassus, and said openly that he would be more fortified to guard his own life than Africanus had been, whom C. Carbo had put to death.
A. d. vii Id. Febr. senatus ad Apollinis fuit, ut Pompeius adesset. Acta res est graviter a Pompeio. eo die nihil perfectum est. A. d. vi Id. Febr. ad Apollinis senatus consultum factum est ea quae facta essent a. d. viii Id. Febr. contra rem publicam esse facta. eo die Cato vehementer est in Pompeium invectus et eum oratione perpetua tamquam reum accusavit; de me multa me invito cum mea summa laude dixit; cum illius in me perfidiam increparet, auditus est magno silentio malevolorum. respondit ei vehementer Pompeius Crassumque descripsit dixitque aperte se munitiorem ad custodiendam vitam suam fore quam Africanus fuisset quem C. Carbo interemisset.
And so to me great matters seemed already to be in motion. For Pompey understands these things and shares them with us: that plots are being made against his life; that C. Cato is being kept up by Crassus; that money is being supplied to Clodius; that both are being confirmed both by him and by Curio, Bibulus, and the rest of his detractors; that he must take great precaution lest he be crushed — with that contio-going people now nearly alienated from him, the nobility hostile, the Senate not even-handed, the youth unprincipled. And so he is making ready, summoning men from the country districts. Clodius, on his side, is strengthening his gangs; a band is being prepared for the Quirinalia. In that we are by far superior to his own forces; but a great band is being expected from Picenum and Gallia, that we may also resist Cato’s bills against Milo and Lentulus.
itaque magnae mihi res iam moveri videbantur. nam Pompeius haec intellegit nobiscumque communicat, insidias vitae suae fieri, C. Catonem a Crasso sustentari, Clodio pecuniam suppeditari, utrumque et ab eo et a Curione, Bibulo, ceterisque suis obtrectatoribus confirmari; vehementer esse providendum ne opprimatur contionario illo populo a se prope alienato, nobilitate inimica, non aequo senatu, iuventute improba. itaque se comparat, homines ex agris accersit operas autem suas Clodius confirmat; manus ad Quirinalia paratur. in eo multo sumus superiores ipsius copiis; sed magna manus ex Piceno et Gallia exspectatur, ut etiam Catonis rogationibus de Milone et Lentulo resistamus.
On the fourth day before the Ides of February Sestius was indicted for canvassing by an informer, Cn. Nerius of the Pupinian tribe, and on the same day by a certain P. Tullius for violence. He was ill. We came at once, as we ought, to him at his house, and gave ourselves over wholly to him; and we did this against the opinion of men who thought we were rightly angry with him — so that we should appear in the highest degree humane and grateful both to him and to all. So we shall do. But that same Nerius, the informer, gave the names of Cn. Lentulus Vatia and C. Cornelius as accessory. The same day a senatus consultum was passed that the political clubs and the gangs organized by tribes (decuriati) should disperse, and that a law should be brought concerning them, that those who did not disperse should be held by the same penalty as for violence.
A. d. iiii Idus Febr. Sestius ab indice Cn. Nerio Pupinia de ambitu est postulatus et eodem die a quodam P. Tullio de vi. is erat aeger. domum, ut debuimus, ad eum statim venimus eique nos totos tradidimus idque fecimus praeter hominum opinionem qui nos ei iure suscensere putabant, at humanissimi gratissimique et ipsi et omnibus videremur, taque faciemus. sed idem Nerius index edidit ad allegatos Cn. Lentulum vatiam et C. Cornelium †ista ei†. eodem die senatus consultum factum est ut sodalitates decuriatique discederent lexque de iis ferretur, ut qui non discessissent ea poena quae est de vi tenerentur.
On the third day before the Ides of February I spoke for Bestia on a charge of canvassing before the praetor Cn. Domitius in the middle of the Forum, with the largest gathering. And I lit, in the speaking, on the place where Sestius, having taken many wounds in the temple of Castor, had been saved by coming to Bestia’s aid. Here I prepared the way for something proōikonomēsamēn quiddam eukairōs, opportunely, regarding those charges that were being got up against Sestius, and adorned him with true praises to the great approval of all. The thing was deeply welcome to the man. This I write to you because in your letters you have often warned me to keep Sestius’s gratitude.
A. d. iii Idus Febr. dixi pro Bestia de ambitu apud praetorem Cn. Domitium in foro medio maximo conventu incidique in eum locum in dicendo, cum Sestius multis in templo Castoris vulneribus acceptis subsidio Bestiae servatus esset. hic προῳκονομησάμην quiddam εὐκαίρωσ de iis quae in Sestium adparabantur crimina, et eum ornavi veris laudibus magno adsensu omnium. res homini fuit vehementer grata. quae tibi eo scribo, quod me de retinenda Sesti gratia litteris saepe monuisti.
The day before the Ides of February I have written this before dawn. On that day I was going to dine at Pomponius’s, at his wedding. The rest in our affairs are of this kind — as you yourself, when I was nearly losing trust, used to predict to me — full of standing and good will; both of which, indeed, my brother, by your wisdom, patience, virtue, devotion, gentleness too, have been restored both to you and to me. For you the Liciniana house by the Lacus Pisonis has been hired; but in a few months, I hope, after the Kalends of July, you will move into your own. The Lamiae, distinguished tenants, have rented yours in the Carinae. From you, after that letter from Olbia, I have received no letter. I want to know what you are doing and how you are amusing yourself, and most of all to see you yourself as soon as may be. See, my brother, that you keep well, and although it is winter, still bear in mind that this is Sardinia. The fifteenth day before the Kalends of March.
pridie Idus Febr. haec scripsi ante lucem. eo die apud V Pomponium in eius nuptiis eram cenaturus. cetera sunt in rebus nostris huius modi, †ut† tu mihi fere diffidenti praedicabas, plena dignitatis et gratiae; quae quidem tua, mi frater, prudentia, patientia, virtute, pietate, suavitate etiam tibi mihique sunt restituta. domus tibi ad lacum Pisonis Liciniana conducta est; sed, ut spero, paucis mensibus post K. Quintilis in tuam commigrabis. tuam in Carinis mundi habitatores Lamiae conduxerunt. A te post illam Olbiensem epistulam nullas litteras accepi. quid agas et ut te oblectes scire cupio maximeque te ipsum videre quam primum. cura, mi frater, ut valeas et, quamquam est hiems, tamen Sardiniam istam esse cogites. xv K. Martias.