Letter 9.3

Although I had nothing to write about, I could not send Caninius to you with nothing at all. What then should I chiefly write? What I think you want to hear: that I shall come to you soon. Yet see, I ask you, whether it is quite proper for us to be in those places during this great conflagration of the state. We shall give occasion for talk to those who do not know that, wherever we are, we have the same style and the same way of life. "What does it matter? We shall still be talked about." I suppose it is terribly important to worry about that, when everyone is wallowing in every kind of crime and disgrace, lest our leisure together or among ourselves be criticized. For my part, ignoring the ignorance of barbarians, I shall pursue my course; for wretched as these circumstances are -- and they are the most wretched imaginable -- our studies somehow now seem to bear richer fruit than they used to, either because we can find peace in nothing else, or because the severity of the disease makes us feel the need for medicine, whose power we did not feel when we were well. But why am I saying this to you, in whose house such things are native -- owls to Athens! Obviously for no reason, except to get you to write back something and to wait for me. So please do.

CDLVIII (Fam. IX, 3) TO M. TERENTIUS VARRO (AT TUSCULUM) ROME (ABOUT THE 18TH OF APRIL) Though I have nothing to say to you, yet I could not let Caninius go to you without taking anything from me. What, then, shall I say for choice? What I think you wish, that I am coming to you very soon. Yet pray consider whether it is quite right for us to be in a place like that when public affairs are in such a blaze. We shall be giving those persons an excuse for talking, who don't know that, wherever we are, we keep the same style and the same manner of life. But what does it matter? Anyhow, we shall give rise to gossip. We ought, forsooth, to take great pains, at a time when society at large is wallowing in every kind of immorality and abomination, to prevent our abstention from active life, whether indulged in alone or together, from being unfavourably remarked upon! For my part, I shall join you, and snap my fingers at the ignorance of these Philistines. For, however miserable the present state of affairs — and nothing can be more so-yet, after all, our studies seem in a way to produce a richer harvest now than of old, whether it is because we can now find relief in nothing else, or because the severity of the disease makes the need of medicine felt, and its virtue is now manifested, which we used not to feel while we were in good health. 'But why these words of wisdom to you now, who have them at hand home-grown — “an owl to Athens ? ” Only, of course, to get you to write me an answer, and wait for my coming. Pray do so therefore.

III. Scr. Romae medio mense Aprili a.u.c. 708. CICERO VARRONI. Etsi, quid scriberem, non habebam, tamen Caninio ad te eunti non potui nihil dare. Quid ergo potissimum scribam? quod velle te puto, cito me ad te esse venturum; etsi vide, quaeso, satisne rectum sit nos hoc tanto incendio civitatis in istia locis esse: dabimus sermonem iis, qui nesciunt nobis, quocumque in loco simus, eundem cultum, eundem victum esse. "Quid refert? tamen in sermonem incidemus." Valde id, credo, laborandum est, ne, cum omnes in omni genere et scelerum et flagitiorum volutentur, nostra nobiscum aut inter nos cessatio vituperetur. Ego vero neglecta barbarorum inscitia persequar; quamvis enim sint haec misera, quae sunt miserrima, tamen artes nostrae nescio quo modo nunc uberiores fructus ferre videntur, quam olim ferebant, sive quia nulla nunc in re alia acquiescimus, sive quod gravitas morbi facit, ut medicinae egeamus eaque nunc appareat, cuius vim non sentiebamus, cum valebamus. Sed quid ego nunc haec ad te, cuius domi nascuntur, glaËx' eÞw 'AyÆnaw? Nihil scilicet, nisi ut rescriberes aliquid, me exspectares: sic igitur facies.