Letter 8.14

Taking Arsaces prisoner and storming Seleucia were not worth missing the spectacle of what has happened here. Your eyes would never have hurt again if you had seen Domitius's face when he lost. It was a great election, and party loyalties showed themselves plainly. Very few followed personal ties and did their duty. So Domitius is now my bitterest enemy; he hates no one even among his own friends as much as he hates me. All the more because he thinks the augurship was unfairly snatched from him, and that I was responsible. Now he is furious that people rejoiced so much at his pain, and that I alone was more zealous for Antony. For Gnaeus Domitius himself has brought a charge against the young Gnaeus Saturninus, whose earlier life makes him quite unpopular. That trial is now awaited, and with good hope after the acquittal of Sextus Peducaeus. About the highest affairs of state, I have often written to you that I see no peace for a year. The closer the inevitable conflict comes, the clearer that danger appears. This is the issue over which the men who hold power will fight: Gnaeus Pompey has decided not to allow Gaius Caesar to become consul unless Caesar first hands over his army and provinces; Caesar, for his part, is convinced that he cannot be safe if he leaves his army. Still, he offers this condition: that both men hand over their armies. So that famous love and unpopular partnership has not slipped into hidden mutual criticism; it is breaking out into war. Nor can I find what plan I should take for my own affairs - and I do not doubt that this same uncertainty will trouble you too. I have both gratitude and close ties with these men; at the same time, I hate the cause, not the men. This, I think, has not escaped you: in a domestic disagreement, as long as the contest is carried on civilly and without arms, men ought to follow the more honorable side. Once it comes to war and camps, they should follow the stronger side, and decide that the safer course is better. In this dispute I see that Gnaeus Pompey will have the senate and those who judge public affairs with him. To Caesar will go everyone who lives with fear or with bad hopes. Their armies cannot be compared. Altogether, there is enough time to weigh the forces of both and choose a side. I almost forgot what most needed writing. You know Appius the censor is doing wonders here: working fiercely over statues and pictures, the amount of land people hold, and debts? He is convinced that the censorship is soap or soda. I think he is wrong. He wants to wash off stains, but he is opening all his own veins and organs. Run, by gods and men, and come as soon as possible to laugh at these things: a trial under the Scantinian law before Drusus, Appius busying himself with pictures and statues. Believe me, you must hurry. Our Curio is thought to have acted wisely in what he conceded about Pompey's troop pay. In sum, you ask what I think will happen. Unless one of the two goes to the Parthian war, I see great discord hanging over us, which iron and force will decide. Both are ready in spirit and in resources. If it could happen without danger to you, Fortune was preparing a great and delightful spectacle.

CCLXXIX (Fam. VIII, 14) M. CAELIUS RUFUS TO CICERO (ON HIS JOURNEY HOME) ROME, SEPTEMBER: TAKING Arsaces prisoner and storming Seleucia was not worth your missing the spectacle of events which have been going on here. Your eyes would never have ached again, if you had only seen Domitius 's look when he lost the election. It was a very full comitia, and the voting was evidently on party lines: a very few voted from motives of personal connexion or obligation. Accordingly, Domitius is most bitterly angry with me. He never hated any one even of his own friends so much as he does me: and all the more so that he thinks the augurship has been snatched from him unfairly, and that I am at the bottom of it. Now he is furious that people are so much rejoiced at his vexation, and that there was only one man more zealous for Antony than I was. For the young Cn. Domitius himself has given notice- of action against the young Cn. Saturninus — who is very unpopular owing to his past life. The trial is now imminent, with good hope, too, of an acquittal, after the acquittal of Sextus Peducaeus . As to high politics — I have often told you in my letters that I see no chance of peace lasting a year; and the nearer the struggle comes, which must come, the clearer does that danger appear. The point, on which the men in power are bound to fight, is this — Cn. Pompeius has made up his mind not to allow C. Caesar to become consul, except on condition of his first handing over his army and provinces: while Caesar is fully persuaded that he cannot be safe if he quits his army. He, however, proposes as a compromise that both should give up their armies. So that mighty love and unpopular union of theirs has not degenerated into mere secret bickering, but is breaking out into open war. Nor can I conceive what line to take in my own conduct — and I feel sure that this doubt will exercise you a good deal also — for between myself and these men there are ties of affection and close connexion, since it is the cause, not the men, that I dislike. I think you are alive to this rule, that men ought in a case of home differences, so long as the contest is carried on constitutionally without an appeal to arms, to follow the party most in the right: when it comes to war and the camp, the stronger party; and to make up one's mind that the safer course is the better. In this quarrel I perceive that Cn. Pompeius has on his side the senate and the iudices: that Caesar will be joined by all whose past life gives them reason to be afraid, or their future no reason to hope: that there is no comparison between their armies. On the whole, there is time enough to weigh the forces of both, and to choose sides. I almost forgot what above everything else I was bound to write to you. Do you know that the censor Appius is doing marvels? Busying himself about statues, pictures, land-owning, and debt with the greatest vigour? He is persuaded that his censorship is a kind of soap or soda. I think he is wrong: while he is meaning to wash off stains, he is really exposing all his veins and vitals. Hurry home, in the name of gods and men! Come as quickly as you can to enjoy a laugh, that a trial under the Scantinian law should be before Drusus , and that Appius should be making regulations about statues and pictures. Believe me, you ought to make haste. Our friend Curio is thought to have acted prudently in his concession as to Pompey 's money for his troops. In a word, you want my opinion as to the future. Unless one or the other of these two goes to the Parthian war, I see that a violent quarrel is impending, which the sword and main force will decide. Both are prepared in resolution and forces. If it could only be transacted without extreme danger, fortune is preparing for you a great and enjoyable spectacle.

XIV. Scr. Romae mense Septembri. a.u.c. 704. CAELIUS CICERONI SAL. Tanti non fuit Arsacen capere et Seleuceam expugnare, ut earum rerum, quae hic gestae sunt, spectaculo careres: numquam tibi oculi doluissent, si in repulsa Domitii vultum vidisses. Magna illa comitia fuerunt et plane studia ex partium sensu apparuerunt: perpauci necessitudinem secuti officium praestiterunt. Itaque mihi est Domitius inimicissimus, ut ne familiarem quidem suum quemquam tam oderit quam me, atque eo magis, quod per iniuriam sibi putat ereptum auguratum, cuius ego auctor fuerim. Nunc furit tam gavisos homines suum dolorem unumque me studiosiorem Antonii: nam Cn. Saturninum adolescentem ipse Cn. Domitius reum fecit, sane quam superiore a vita invidiosum; quod iudicium nunc in exspectatione est, etiam in bone spe post Sex. Peducaei absolutionem. De summa re publica saepe tibi scripsi me ad annum pacem non videre, et, quo propius ea contentio, quam fieri necesse est, accedit eo clarius id periculum apparet. Propositum hoc est, de quo, qui rerum potiuntur, sunt dimicaturi, quod Cn. Pompeius constituit non pati C. Caesarem consulem aliter fieri, nisi exercitum et provincias tradiderit, Caesari autem persuasum est se salvum esse non posse, si ab exercitu recesserit; fert illam tamen condicionem, ut ambo exercitus tradant. Sic illi amores et invidiosa coniunctio non ad occultam recidit obtrectationem, sed ad bellum se erumpit. Neque, mearum rerum quid consilii capiam, reperio—quod non dubito quin te quoque haec deliberatio sit perturbatura—; nam mihi cum hominibus his et gratia et necessitudo; tum causam illam, non homines odi. Illud te non arbitror fugere, quin homines in dissensione domestica debeant, quamdiu civiliter sine armis certetur, honestiorem sequi partem, ubi ad bellum et castra ventum sit, firmiorem, et id melius statuere, quod tutius sit. In hac discordia video Cn. Pompeium senatum quique res iudicant secum habiturum, ad Caesarem omnes, qui cum timore aut mala spe vivant, accessuros; exercitum conferendum non esse. Omnino satis spatii est ad considerandas utriusque copias et eligendam partem. Prope oblitus sum, quod maxime fuit scribendum: scis Appium censorem hic ostenta facere: de signis et tabulis, de agri modo, de aere alieno acerrime agere? persuasum est ei censuram lomentum aut nitrum esse: errare mihi videtur; nam sordes eluere vult, venas sibi omnes et viscera aperit. Curre, per deos atque homines! et quam primum haec risum veni, legis Scantiniae iudicium apud Drusum fieri, Appium de tabulis et signis agere; crede mihi, est properandum. Curio noster sapienter id, quod remisit de stipendio Pompeii, fecisse existimatur. Ad summam, quaeris, quid putem futurum: si alteruter eorum ad Parthicum bellum non eat, video magnas impendere discordias, quas ferrum et vis iudicabit; uterque et animo et copiis est paratus. Si sine suo periculo fieri posset, magnum et iucundum tibi Fortuna spectaculum parabat.