And what must my case be when at the same time I miss a daughter:How affectionate!how modest!how clever!The express image of my face,of my speech,of my very soul!Or again a son,the prettiest boy,the very joy of my heart?Cruel inhuman monster that I am,I dismissed him from my arms better schooled in the world than I could have wished:for the poor child began to understand what was going on.So,too,your own son,your own image,whom my little Cicero loved as a brother,and was now beginning to respect as an elder brother!Need I mention also how I refused to allow my unhappy wife--the truest of helpmates--to accompany me,that there might be some one to protect the wrecks of the calamity which had fallen on us both,and guard our common children?Nevertheless,to the best of my ability,I did write a letter to you,and gave it to your freedman Philogonus,which,I believe,was delivered to you later on;and in this I repeat the advice and entreaty,which had been already transmitted to you as a message from me by my slaves,that you should go on with your journey and hasten to Rome.For,in the first place,I desired your protection,in case there were any of my enemies whose cruelty was not yet satisfied by my fall.In the next place,I dreaded the renewed lamentation which our meeting would cause:while Icould not have borne your departure,and was afraid of the very thing you mention in your letter--that you would be unable to tear yourself away.For these reasons the supreme pain of not seeing you--and nothing more painful or more wretched could,I think,have happened to the most affectionate and united of brothers--was a less misery than would have been such a meeting followed by such a parting.Now,if you can,though I,whom you always regarded as a brave man,cannot do so,rouse yourself and collect your energies in view of any contest you may have to confront.I hope,if my hope has anything to go upon,that your own spotless character and the love of your fellow citizens,and even remorse for my treatment,may prove a certain protection to you.But if it turns out that you are free from personal danger,you will doubtless do whatever you think can be done for me.In that matter,indeed,many write to me at great length and declare they have hopes;but I personally cannot see what hope there is,since my enemies have the greatest influence,while my friends have in some cases deserted,in others even betrayed me,fearing perhaps in my restoration a censure on their own treacherous conduct.But how matters stand with you I would have you ascertain and report to me.In any case I shall continue to live as long as you shall need me,in view of any danger you may have to undergo:longer than that I cannot go in this kind of life.For there is neither wisdom nor philosophy with sufficient strength to sustain such a weight of grief.I know that there has been a time for dying,more honourable and more advantageous;and this is not the only one of my many omissions;which,if I should choose to bewail,I should merely be increasing your sorrow and emphasizing my own stupidity.But one thing I am not bound to do,and it is in fact impossible--remain in a life so wretched and so dishonoured any longer than your necessities,or some well-grounded hope,shall demand.For I,who was lately supremely blessed in brother,children,wife,wealth,and in the very nature of that wealth,while in position,influence,reputation,and popularity,I was inferior to none,however,distinguished--I cannot,I repeat.go on longer lamenting over myself and those dear to me in a life of such humiliation as this,and in a state of such utter ruin.Wherefore,what do you mean by writing to me about negotiating a bill of exchange?As though Iwere not now wholly dependent on your means!And that is just the very thing in which 1see and feel,to my misery,of what a culpable act I have been guilty in squandering to no purpose the money which I received from the treasury in your name,while you have to satisfy your creditors out of the very vitals of yourself and your son.However,the sum mentioned in your letter has been paid to M.Antonius,and the same amount to Caepio.For me the sum at present in my hands is sufficient for what I contemplate doing.For in either case--whether I am restored or given up in despair--I shall not want any more money.For yourself,if you are molested,Ithink you should apply to Crassus and Calidius.I don't know how far Hortensius is to be trusted.Myself,with the most elaborate presence of affection and the closest daily intimacy,he treated with the most utter want of principle and thc most consummate treachery,and Q.Arrius helped him in it:acting under whose advice,promises,and injunctions,I was left helpless to fall into this disaster.But this you will keep dark for fear they might injure you.Take care also--and it is on this account that I think you should cultivate Hortensius himself by means of Pomponius--that the epigram on the irs Aurelia attributed to you when candidate for the aedileship is not proved by false testimony to be yours.For there is nothing that I am so afraid of as that,when people understand how much pity for me your prayers and your acquittal will rouse,they may attack you with all the greater violence.
Messahla I reckon as really attached to you:Pompey I regard as still pretending only.But may you never have to put these things to the test!And that prayer I would have offered to the gods had they not ceased to listen to prayers of mine.However,I do pray that they may be content with these endless miseries of ours;among which,after all,there is no discredit for any wrong thing done--sorrow is the beginning and end,sorrow that punishment is most severe when our conduct has been most unexceptionable.As to my daughter and yours and my young Cicero,why should Irecommend them to you,my dear brother?Rather I grieve that their orphan state will cause you no less sorrow than it does me.
Yet as long as you are uncondemned they will not be fatherless.
The rest,by my hopes of restoration and the privilege of dying in my fatherland,my tears will not allow me to write!Terentia also Iwould ask you to protect,and to write me word on every subject.
Be as brave as the nature of the case admits.
Thessalonica,13June.
