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Epistulae ad Familiares, V. xx.-xxi.

do I now regard the letter I received from you to-day about the hundred sestertia as quite the same as the dunning letters received by others in these hard times.

9 At the same time you ought to bear this in mind, that all that money, which came to me in a perfectly legal way, I deposited in the hands of the publicani at Ephesus; that it amounted to 2200 sestertia,[1] and that the whole sum was carried off by Pompey. Now whether I resign myself to that loss, or whether I resent it, you should certainly resign yourself to the loss of the hundred sestertia and estimate that just so much less has come to you, whether from your maintenance allowance or from my liberality; but even if you had put me down as your debtor for that hundred sestertia, still you are such a charming fellow and so devoted to me, that you would hesitate to proceed against me by way of estate-valuation[2] at such a time as this; for anxious as I might be to have the money paid you in cash, I haven't got it. But put that down as a jest on my part, and I am sure you were jesting too. Anyhow, when Tullius returns from the country, I shall send him to you, if you think it has any bearing on the matter. There is no reason why I should wish this letter to be torn up.[3]

XXI

From the same to the same

Rome, April, 46 B.C.

1 Your letter gave me pleasure, as I understood from it what I thought even without a letter, that you

  1. ↑ About £17,600, being the profits, no doubt, of Cicero's government of Cilicia. Pompey appropriated the whole of this sum (which is the first sum mentioned in note a, p. 412) for the purposes of the war.
  2. ↑ "Aestimationem accippere was a formula which came into prominence later, when Caesar promulgated his laws about bankruptcy. Creditors had to take, in liquidation of their claims, the debtor's estate at the value it would have fetched before the "bad times" began. . . . It would be like distraining upon a man's property with us." Tyrrell.
  3. ↑ I agree with Tyrrell in reading conscindi (O. Hirschfeld) as being more in consonance with the tone of the whole letter than non scindi. Cicero means that he has nothing to fear from its publication.
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