nuntiis Brundisinis:the news from Brundisium; after crossing the Rubicon in January, Caesar marched south and Pompey fled with his army to Brundisium, where he was preparing to cross over to Greece.
nactus…esset (211): nancisci,to find, get, obtain; here = if he has caught up with.
211. hic: Caesar.
Gnaeum: Pompey.
dubia: here, not dubious, but some, slight.
transmisisset: again epistolary, has crossed (to Greece).
212. in quem hominem: to what kind of man (i.e., Caesar); many had expected the worst of Caesar, but after his unexpected clemency in sparing the forces of Pompey who surrendered to him in a recent engagement at Corfinium, opinion throughout Italy began to turn in Caesar’s favor.
214. si…occiderit: i.e., especially if there were to be no proscriptions (the public posting of names of political enemies to be liquidated), like those of Sulla.
cuiquam: DAT. OF SEPARATION, common with vbs. that mean to take away, like adimere here; Cicero refers to the confiscations which regularly attended proscriptions.
216. municipales homines: townspeople (living in municipia outside of Rome).
rusticani:country people.
217. prorsus: adv., absolutely.
nisi…nummulos (218): ANAPHORA, ASYNDETON, TRICOLON CRESCENS, and the diminutives all serve to underscore Cicero’s indignation over the people’s apathy and fickleness.
218. nummulos: diminutive of nummus, little sums of money.
illum: Pompey, who had posed as the champion of the senate and constitutionality.
219. confidebant: confidere, to trust completely (in), may take the dat. or, as here, the ABL. OF PLACE WHERE.
220. nostris: refers to the senatorial party.
221. scripseram…exspectabam (222): EPISTOLARY TENSES.
224. valde: adv., greatly, very much.
225. quae apud Corfinium sunt gesta: i.e., Caesar’s clemency in releasing without injury Pompey’s troops whom he had captured at Corfinium in central Italy.
226. libentius: with hoc (ABL. OF DEGREE OF DIFFERENCE), the more gladly.
mea sponte: abl. used as adv., voluntarily, of my own accord.
constitueram: constituere,to place, determine, decide.
227. me praeberem: here, to show myself (to be).
Pompeium: with reconciliarem (to regain, win back).
AD ATTICUM 8.13
Whereas only recently Caesar had been feared and Pompey revered by many Romans, now, as Cicero complains to Atticus, in less than three months since the preceding letter and Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon, the public’s attitude toward both men is changing. Written from his villa at Formiae, March 1, 49 B.C.
Cicero Attico Sal.
Lippitudinis meae signum tibi sit librari manus et eadem causa brevitatis, etsi nunc quidem quod scriberem nihil erat. 210 Omnis exspectatio nostra erat in nuntiis Brundisinis. Si nactus hic esset Gnaeum nostrum, spes dubia pacis; sin ille ante transmisisset, exitiosi belli metus. Sed videsne in quem hominem inciderit res publica, quam acutum, quam vigilantem, quam paratum? Si mehercule neminem occiderit nee cuiquam quidquam 215 ademerit, ab iis qui eum maxime timuerant maxime diligetur.
Multum mecum municipales homines loquuntur, multum rusticani; nihil prorsus aliud curant nisi agros, nisi villulas, nisi nummulos suos. Et vide quam conversa res sit; illum quo antea confidebant metuunt, hunc amant quem timebant. Id quantis 220 nostris peccatis vitiisque evenerit, non possum sine molestia cogitare. Quae autem impendere putarem, scripseram ad te et iam tuas litteras exspectabam.
AD ATTICUM 9.7c
Caesar wrote the following letter to Oppius and Cornelius, two of his agents in Rome, and a copy was sent to Cicero. He will not follow the extreme course of Sulla and others, but seeks reconciliation with Pompey and the senatorial party. March 5 (?), 49 B.C.
Caesar Oppio Cornelio Sal.
Gaudeo mehercule vos significare litteris quam valde probetis 225 ea quae apud Corfinium sunt gesta. Consilio vestro utar libenter et hoc libentius quod mea sponte facere constitueram ut quam lenissimum me praeberem et Pompeium darem operam ut reconciliarem. Temptemus hoc modo si possimus omnium voluntates reciperare et diuturna victoria uti, quoniam reliqui 230 crudelitate odium effugere non potuerunt neque victoriam diutius tenere praeter unum L. Sullam, quem imitaturus non sum. Haec nova sit ratio vincendi ut misericordia et liberalitate nos muniamus. Id quemadmodum fieri possit, nonnulla mihi in mentem veniunt et multa reperiri possunt. De his rebus rogo 235 vos ut cogitationem suscipiatis.
N. Magium, Pompei praefectum, deprehendi. Scilicet meo instituto usus sum et eum statim missum feci. Iam duo praefecti fabrum Pompei in meam potestatem venerunt et a me missi sunt. Si volent grati esse, debebunt Pompeium hortari ut malit 240 mihi esse amicus quam iis qui et illi et mihi semper fuerunt inimicissimi, quorum artificiis effectum est ut res publica in hunc statum perveniret.
228. temptemus…si possimus: let us try in case we should be able, a FUT. LESS VIVID CONDITION equivalent to an IND. QUEST. = let us try to see whether we can.
229. reliqui: Cicero likely has in mind the massacres ordered by Gaius Marius and, certainly, the proscriptions of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, both in the civil wars of the 80’s.
232. liberalitate: here, generosity.
236. N. Magium: Numerius Magius, one of Pompey’s prefects of engineers, captured by Caesar after Corfinium and then dispatched by him to Pompey with a request that the two generals meet.
scilicet: adv., obviously, to be sure, of course.
