Letter 27: Cicero writes to Quintus in Gaul from Rome in November or December 54 BC.

MARCUS TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS, GREETINGS. 1. As regards Gabinius, there was nothing to be done of those measures which you, with the greatest affection, had thought out. "Let the earth gape open for me!" [originally in Greek]. What I did, I did with the utmost dignity, as everyone perceives, and with the utmost mildness: I neither pressed him hard nor relieved him. I was a vehement witness; for the rest, I held my peace. The disgraceful and ruinous outcome of the trial I bore very lightly; and this in fact is the good that now at last overflows to me, that by those evils of the commonwealth and the license of the audacious, at which I used formerly to burst, I am now not even moved. For there is nothing more abandoned than these men, these times. 2. And so, since no pleasure can now be taken from the commonwealth, I do not know why I should fret. Literature and our studies and our leisure and our country houses delight me, and most of all our boys. One man torments me: Milo. But I should like his consulship to bring an end to it, in which I shall strive no less than I strove in my own, and you from over there will assist, as you are doing. As to that consulship, the rest is all right, unless sheer violence snatches it away; about his private finances I am afraid: "This man is mad beyond all bearing," [originally in Greek] in getting up games at the cost of four hundred thousand sesterces. His want of consideration in this one matter I for my part shall bear up under as I can, and that you may be able to do the same is a task for your sinews. 3. As to the disturbance of next year's times, I had not meant you to understand anything of domestic fear, but the general condition of the commonwealth, in which, even though I have no charge to manage, yet I can scarcely refrain from caring about anything. But how cautious I would have you be in writing, gather from this: that I do not write to you even those things which are being publicly thrown into confusion in the commonwealth, lest my letters, intercepted, should give offense to anyone's feelings. Therefore I want you relieved of domestic worry; in matters of the commonwealth I know how anxious you are wont to be. I see our friend Messalla as consul: if by means of an interrex, without a trial; if by means of a dictator, then without danger; he has no hatred against him; Hortensius's warmth will count for much; Gabinius's acquittal is reckoned a law of impunity. "En passant" [originally in Greek: "by the way"]: about a dictator, however, nothing has yet been done: Pompey is away, Appius is stirring things up, Hirrus is making preparations, many vetoing tribunes are counted, the people do not care, the leading men are unwilling, I keep quiet. 4. As to the slaves you promise me, I love you greatly, and indeed, as you write, I am short-handed both at Rome and on my estates; but take care, I beg you, not to give a thought to anything pertaining to my advantage, my brother, unless with the greatest advantage to yourself and with your fullest means. 5. At Vatinius's letter I laughed; but I know that I am so closely observed by him that I not only swallow those hatreds of his, but even digest them. 6. As to your urging me to finish, I have finished a sweet piece, as it seems at least to me, an epic [originally in Greek] addressed to Caesar; but I am looking for a well-to-do letter-carrier, lest there happen what happened to your Erigona, for whom alone the journey out of Gaul was not safe while Caesar was commander. 7. What then? If I had no good rubble-stone, was I to throw down the building? a building which in fact pleases me more every day; and above all the lower portico and its chambers are coming along rightly. As to Arcanum, it is a work fit for Caesar, or, by Hercules, even for someone of finer taste; for those statues and the wrestling-court and the fish-pond and the Nile-channel belong to many a Philotimus, not to the Diphiluses; but I shall both go to inspect these things myself, and I shall send men, and I shall give the orders. 8. As to the will of Felix, you will complain the more if you knew it: for the tablets which he thought he was sealing, in which you hold a most secure claim to the twelfth shares, those in truth--he slipped, through an error both his own and his slave Sicura's--he did not seal; the ones he did not wish to seal, those he sealed. "But let him howl!" [originally in Greek], so long as we are well. 9. As for Cicero [Quintus's son], I both love him, as you ask, and as he deserves and as I am bound to; but I am sending him away from me, both so as not to draw him away from his teachers, and because his mother Porcia is not departing, without whom I dread the boy's voracity; yet we are nevertheless together a very great deal. I have written back to everything. My sweetest and best brother, farewell.

In regard to Gabinius, I had not to carry out any of the measures which you suggested with such affectionate solicitude. "May the earth swallow me" rather, etc.! I acted with very great dignity and also with the greatest consideration. I neither bore hardly on him nor helped him. I gave strong evidence, in other respects I did not stir. The disgraceful and mischievous result of the trial I bore with the utmost serenity. And this is the advantage which, after all that has happened, has accrued to me—that I am not even affected in the least by those evils in the state and the licentious conduct of the shameless, which used formerly to make me burst with indignation: for anything more abandoned than the men and the times in which we are living there cannot be. Accordingly, as no pleasure can possibly be got from politics, I don't know why I should lose my temper. Literature and my favourite studies, along with the retirement of my country houses, and above all our two boys, furnish my enjoyments. The one man who vexes me is Milo. But I hope an end will be put to my anxieties by his getting the consulship: and to obtain this for him I shall struggle as hard as I did for my own, and you, I am sure, will continue to give assistance from over there. In his case other things are all secure, unless it is snatched from his grasp by downright violence: it is about his means that I am frightened: :For he is now beyond all bearing mad, to spend 1,000,000 sesterce on his games. His want of prudence in this one particular I shall put up with as well as I can, and you should be strong-minded enough to do the same. In mentioning the changes to be expected next year, I didn't mean you to understand me to refer to domestic alarms: the reference was wholly to the state of the Republic, in which, though not charged with any actual duty, I can scarcely discharge myself from all anxiety. Yet how cautious I would have you be in writing you may guess from the fact that I do not mention in my letters to you even open acts of disorder in the state, lest my letter should be intercepted and give offence to the feelings of anyone. Wherefore, as far as domestic affairs are concerned, I would have you be quite easy: in politics I know how anxious you always are. I can see that our friend Messalla will be consul, if by means of an interrex, without any prosecution, if by that of a dictator, without danger of conviction. He is not disliked by anyone. Hortensius's warm support will stand him in good stead. Gabinius's acquittal is looked upon as a general act of indemnity. En passant: nothing has, after all, been done as yet about a dictatorship. Pompey is out of town; Appius is intriguing darkly; Hirrus is paving the way: there are many tribunes calculated on to veto it: the people are indifferent: the leading men disinclined to it: I don't stir a finger. I am exceedingly obliged for your promises as to slaves, and I am indeed, as you say, shorthanded both at Rome and on my estates. But pray do nothing for my convenience unless it entirely suits your own, and your means. About the letter of Vatinius I laughed heartily. But though I know I am being watched by him, I can swallow his hatred and digest it too. You urge me to "finish": well, I have finished what, in my own opinion at least, is a very pretty "epic" on Caesar, but I am in search of a trustworthy letter-carrier, lest it should share the fate of your Erigona—the only personage who has missed a safe journey from Gaul during Caesar's governorship. What? because I had no good stone was I to pull down the whole building?—a building which I like better every day of my life: the lower court especially and the chambers attached to it are admirable. As to Arcanum, it is a building worthy of Caesar, or, by heaven, of some one even more tasteful still. For your statues, palaestra, fish-pond, and conduit are worthy of many Philotimuses, and quite above your Diphiluses. But I will visit them personally, as well as sending men to look after them and giving orders about them. As to the will of Felix, you will complain more when you know all. For the document which he believed himself to have sealed, in which your name was most certainly entered as heir to a twelfth, this, by a mistake of his own and of his slave Sicura, he did not seal: while the one which he did not intend to seal he did seal. But let it go hang, so long as we keep well! I am as devoted to your son Cicero as you can wish, and as he deserves, and as I am bound to be. However, I am letting him leave me, both to avoid keeping him from his teachers, and because his mother is leaving, without whom I am very much alarmed as to the boy's large appetite. Yet, after all, we see a great deal of each other. I have now answered all your letters. Dearest and best of brothers, good-bye.

IX. Scr. Romae mense Decembri a.u.c. 700. MARCUS QUINTO FRATRI SALUTEM. 1. De Gabinio nihil fuit faciendum istorum, quae a te amantissime cogitata sunt. Tote moi chanoi. Feci summa cum gravitate, ut omnes sentiunt, et summa cum lenitate, quae feci; illum neque ursi neque levavi: testis vehemens fui, praeterea quievi. Exitum iudicii foedum et perniciosum levissime tuli; quod quidem bonum mihi nunc denique redundat, ut iis malis rei publicae licentiaque audacium, qua ante rumpebar, nunc ne movear quidem, nihil est enim perditius his hominibus, his temporibus; 2. itaque, ex re publica quoniam nihil iam voluptatis capi potest, cur stomacher nescio. Litterae me et studia nostra et otium villaeque delectant maximeque pueri nostri. Angit unus Milo; sed velim finem afferat consulatus eius, in quo enitar non minus, quam sum enisus in nostro, tuque istinc, quod facis, adiuvabis. De quo cetera, nisi plane vis eripuerit, recte sunt; de re familiari timeo: ho de mainetai ouk et' anektôs, qui ludos HS. CCCC comparet. Cuius in hoc uno inconsiderantiam et ego sustinebo, ut potero, et, tu ut possis, est tuorum nervorum. 3. De motu temporum venientis anni, nihil te intelligere volueram domestici timoris, sed de communi rei publicae statu, in quo etiamsi nihil procuro, tamen nihil curare vix possum; quam autem te velim cautum esse in scribendo, ex hoc coniicito, quod ego ad te ne haec quidem scribo, quae palam in re publica turbantur, ne cuiusquam animum meae litterae interceptae offendant. Quare domestica cura te levatum volo; in re publica scio quam sollicitus esse soleas. Video Messalam nostrum consulem: si per interregem, sine iudicio; si per dictatorem, tamen sine periculo: odii nihil habet; Hortensii calor multum valebit; Gabinii absolutio lex impunitatis putatur. 'En par°rgŸ: de dictatore tamen actum adhuc nihil est: Pompeius abest, Appius miscet; Hirrus parat, multi intercessores numerantur; populus non curat, principes nolunt, ego quiesco. 4. De mancipiis quod mihi polliceris, valde te amo, et sum equidem, uti scribis, et Romae et in praediis infrequens, sed cave, amabo, quidquam, quod ad meum commodum attineat, nisi maximo tuo commodo et maxima tua facultate, mi frater, cogitaris. 5. De epistula Vatinii, risi; sed me ab eo ita observari scio, ut eius ista odia non sorbeam solum, sed etiam concoquam. 6. Quod me hortaris, ut absolvam, habeo absolutum suave, mihi quidem uti videtur, ?pow ad Caesarem, sed quaero locupletem tabellarium, ne accidat quod Erigonae tuae, cui soli Caesare imperatore iter ex Gallia tutum non fuit. 7. Quid? si caementum bonum non haberem, deturbem aedificium? quod quidem mihi quotidie magis placet, in primisque inferior porticus et eius conclavia fiunt recte. De Arcano, Caesaris opus est vel mehercule etiam elegantioris alicuius; imagines enim istae et palaestra et piscina et Nilus multorum Philotimorum est, non Diphilorum; sed et ipsi ea adibimus et mittemus et mandabimus. 8. De Felicis testamento tum magis querere, si scias: quas enim tabulas se putavit obsignare, in quibus in unciis firmissimum tenes, eas vero—lapsus est per errorem et suum et Sicurae servi—non obsignavit, quas noluit, eas obsignavit. All' oimôzetô nos modo valeamus. 9. Ciceronem et ut rogas amo et ut meretur et debeo; dimitto autem a me, et ut a magistris ne abducam et quod mater Porcia non discedit, sine qua edacitatem pueri pertimesco; sed sumus una tamen valde multum. Rescipsi ad omnia. Mi suavissime et optime frater, vale.