Delphi Complete Works of Cornelius Nepos

by Cornelius Nepos

  Hic complures annos moratus, cum et rei familiari tantum operae daret, quantum non indiligens deberet pater familias, et omnia reliqua tempora aut litteris aut Atheniensium rei publicae tribueret, nihilo minus amicis urbana officia praestitit. [4] nam et ad comitia eorum ventitavit et, si qua res maior acta est, non defuit. sicut Ciceroni in omnibus eius periculis singularem fidem praebuit: cui ex patria fugienti sestertium ducenta et quinquaginta milia donavit. [5] tranquillatis autem rebus Romanis remigravit Romam, ut opinor L. Cotta L. Torquato consulibus: quem discedentem sic universa civitas Atheniensium prosecuta est, ut lacrimis desiderii futuri dolorem indicaret.

  IV. When Sulla arrived at Athens in his journey from Asia, he kept Pomponius in his company as long as he remained there, being charmed with the young man’s politeness and knowledge; for he spoke Greek so well that he might have been thought to have been born at Athens; while there was such agreeableness in his Latin style, as to make it evident that the graces of it were natural, not acquired. He also recited verses, both in Greek and Latin, in so pleasing a manner that nothing could have been added to its attractions. It was in consequence of these accomplishments that Sulla would never suffer him to be out of his company, and wanted to take him away with him to Rome. But when he endeavoured to persuade him to go, “Do not desire, I entreat you,” replied Pomponius, “to lead me with you against those, with whom, that I might not bear arms against you, I quitted Italy.” Sulla, commending the good feeling of the young man, directed, at his departure, that all the presents which he had received at Athens should be carried to his house.

  Though he resided at Athens many years, paying such attention to his property as a not unthrifty father of a family ought to pay, and devoting all the rest of his time either to literature or to the public affairs of the Athenians, he nevertheless afforded his services to his friends at Rome; for he used to come to their elections, and whatever important business of theirs was brought forward, he was never found wanting on the occasion. Thus he showed a singular fidelity to Cicero in all his perils; and presented him, when he was banished from his country, with the sum of two hundred and fifty sestertia. And when the affairs of the Romans became tranquil, he returned to Rome, in the consulship, as I believe, of Lucius Cotta and Lucius Torquatus; and the whole city of Athens observed the day of his departure in such a manner, that they testified by their tears the regret which they would afterwards feel for him.

  5. Habebat avunculum Q. Caecilium, equitem Romanum, familiarem L. Luculli, divitem, difficillima natura: cuius sic asperitatem veritus est, ut, quem nemo ferre posset, huius sine offensione ad summam senectutem retinuerit benivolentiam. quo facto tulit pietatis fructum. [2] Caecilius enim moriens testamento adoptavit eum heredemque fecit ex dodrante: ex qua hereditate accepit circiter centiens sestertium. [3] erat nupta soror Attici Q. Tullio Ciceroni, easque nuptias M. Cicero conciliarat, cum quo a condiscipulatu vivebat coniunctissime, multo etiam familiarius quam cum Quinto, ut iudicari possit plus in amicitia valere similitudinem morum quam affinitatem. [4] utebatur autem intime Q. Hortensio, qui iis temporibus principatum eloquentiae tenebat, ut intellegi non posset, uter eum plus diligeret, Cicero an Hortensius: et, id quod erat difficillimum, efficiebat ut, inter quos tantae laudis esset aemulatio, nulla intercederet obtrectatio essetque talium virorum copula.

  V. He had an uncle, Quintus Caecilius, a Roman knight, an intimate friend of Lucius Lucullus, a rich man, but of a very morose temper, whose peevishness he bore so meekly, that he retained without interruption, to the extremity of old age, the good will of a person whom no one else could endure. In consequence, he reaped the fruit of his respectful conduct; for Caecilius, at his death, adopted him by his will, and made him heir to three-fourths of his estate, from which bequest he received about ten thousand sestertia.

  A sister of Atticus was married to Quintus Tullius Cicero; and Marcus Cicero had been the means of forming the connexion, a man with whom Atticus had lived in the closest intimacy from the time that they were fellow-students, in much greater intimacy, indeed, than with Quintus; whence it may be concluded that, in establishing friendship, similarity of manners has more influence than affinity. He was likewise so intimate with Quintus Hortensius, who, in those times, had the highest reputation for eloquence, that it could not be decided which of the two had the greater love for him, Cicero or Hortensius; and he succeeded in effecting what was most difficult, namely, that no enmity should occur between those between whom there was emulation for such eminence, and that he himself should be the bond of union between such great men.

  6. In re publica ita est versatus, ut semper optimarum partium et esset et existimaretur, neque tamen se civilibus fluctibus committeret, quod non magis eos in sua potestate existimabat esse, qui se his dedissent, quam qui maritimis iactarentur. [2] honores non petiit, cum ei paterent propter vel gratiam vel dignitatem: quod neque peti more maiorum neque capi possent conservatis legibus in tam effusis ambitus largitionibus neque geri e re publica sine periculo [3] corruptis civitatis moribus ad hastam publicam numquam accessit. nullius rei neque praes neque manceps factus est. neminem neque suo nomine neque subscribens accusavit, in ius de sua re numquam iit, iudicium nullum habuit. [4] multorum consulum praetorumque praefecturas delatas sic accepit, ut neminem in provinciam sit secutus, honore fuerit contentus, rei familiaris despexerit fructum: qui ne cum Quinto quidem Cicerone voluerit ire in Asiam, cum apud eum legati locum obtinere posset. non enim decere se arbitrabatur, cum praeturam gerere noluisset, asseclam esse praetoris. [5] qua in re non solum dignitati serviebat, sed etiam tranquillitati, cum suspiciones quoque vitaret criminum. quo fiebat ut eius observantia omnibus esset carior, cum eam officio, non timori neque spei tribui viderent.

  VI. He conducted himself in such a manner in political affairs, that he always was, and always was thought to be, on the best side; yet he did not mingle in civil tumults, because he thought that those who had plunged into them were not more under their own control than those who were tossed by the waves of the sea. He aimed at no offices (though they were open to him as well through his influence as through his high standing), since they could neither be sought in the ancient method, nor be gained without violating the laws in the midst of such unrestrained extravagance of bribery, nor be exercised for the good of the country without danger in so corrupt a state of the public morals. He never went to a public sale, nor ever became surety or farmer in any department of the public revenue. He accused no one, either in his own name or as a subscriber to an accusation. He never went to law about property of his own, nor was ever concerned in a trial. Offers of places, under several consuls and praetors, he received in such a way as never to follow any one into his province, being content with the honour, and not solicitous to make any addition to his property; for he would not even go into Asia with Quintus Cicero, when he might have held the office of legate under him; for he did not think it became him, after he had declined to take the praetorship, to become the attendant on a praetor. In such conduct he consulted not only his dignity but his quiet; since he avoided even the suspicion of evil practices. Hence it happened that attentions received from him were more valued by all, as they saw that they were attributable to kindness, not to fear or hope.

  7. Incidit Caesarianum civile bellum. cum haberet annos circiter sexaginta, usus est aetatis vacatione neque se quoquam movit ex urbe. quae amicis suis opus fuerant ad Pompeium proficiscentibus, omnia ex sua re familiari dedit, ipsum Pompeium coniunctum non offendit. [2] nullum ab eo habebat ornamentum, ut ceteri, qui per eum aut honores aut divitias ceperant: quorum partim invitissimi castra sunt secuti, partim summa cum eius offensione domi remanserunt. [3] Caesari autem Attici quies tanto opere fuit grata, ut victor, cum privatis pecunias per epistulas imperaret, huic non solum molestus non fuerit, sed etiam sororis filium et Q. Ciceronem ex Pompei castris concesserit. sic vetere instituto vitae effugit nova pericula.

  VII. When he was about sixty years old, the civil war with Caesar broke out; but he availed himself of the privilege o
f his age, and went nowhere out of the city. Whatever was needful for his friends when going to Pompey, he supplied for them out of his own property. To Pompey himself, who was his intimate friend, he gave no offence; for he had accepted no distinction from him like others, who had gained honours or wealth by his means, and of whom some followed his camp most unwillingly, and some remained at home to his great disgust. But to Caesar the neutrality of Atticus was so pleasing, that when he became conqueror, and desired money from several private persons by letter, he not only forebore to trouble Atticus, but even released, at his request, his sister’s son and Quintus Cicero from Pompey’s camp. Thus, by adhering to his old course of life, he avoided new dangers.

  8. Secutum est illud. occiso Caesare cum res publica penes Brutos videretur esse et Cassium ac tota civitas se ad eos convertisset, [2] sic M. Bruto usus est, ut nullo ille adulescens aequali familiarius quam hoc sene, neque solum eum principem consilii haberet, sed etiam in convictu. [3] excogitatum est a quibusdam, ut privatum aerarium Caesaris interfectoribus ab equitibus Romanis constitueretur. id facile effici posse arbitrati sunt, si principes eius ordinis pecunias contulissent. itaque appellatus est a C. Flavio, Bruti familiari, Atticus, ut eius rei princeps esse vellet. [4] at ille, qui officia amicis praestanda sine factione existimaret semperque a talibus se consiliis removisset, respondit: si quid Brutus de suis facultatibus uti voluisset, usurum, quantum eae paterentur, se neque cum quoquam de ea re collocuturum neque coiturum. sic ille consensionis globus huius unius dissensione disiectus est. [5] neque multo post superior esse coepit Antonius, ita ut Brutus et Cassius omissa cura provinciarum, quae iis dicis causa datae erant a consule, desperatis rebus in exilium proficiscerentur. [6] Atticus, qui pecuniam simul cum ceteris conferre noluerat florenti illi parti, abiecto Bruto Italiaque cedenti sestertium centum milia muneri misit. eidem in Epiro absens trecenta iussit dari, neque eo magis potenti adulatus est Antonio neque desperatos reliquit.

  VIII. Then followed the time, when, on the assassination of Caesar, the commonwealth seemed to be in the hands of the Bruti and Cassius, and the whole state turned towards them. Atticus, at that period, conducted himself towards Brutus in such a way, that that young man was not in more familiar intercourse with any one of his own age, than with him who was so advanced in years, and not only paid him the highest honour at the council, but also at his table. It was projected by some that a private fund should be formed by the Roman knights for the assassins of Caesar; a scheme which they thought might easily be accomplished if even only the leading men of that order would furnish contributions. Atticus was accordingly solicited by Caius Flavius, an intimate friend of Brutus, to consent to become a promoter of the plan. But Atticus, who thought that services were to be done to friends without regard to party, and had always kept himself aloof from such schemes, replied that, “If Brutus wished to make use of any of his property, he might avail himself of it as far as it would allow; but that about that project he would never confer or join with any man.” Thus that combination of a party was broken by his dissent alone. Not long after, Antony began to get the advantage; so that Brutus and Cassius, despairing of their fortune, went into exile, into the provinces which had been given them for form’s sake by the consuls. Atticus, who had refused to contribute with others to that party when it was prosperous, sent to Brutus, when he was cast down and retiring from Italy, a hundred sestertia as a present; and, when he was parted from him, he ordered three hundred to be sent to him in Epirus. Thus he neither paid greater court to Antony when in power, nor deserted those that were in desperate circumstances.

  9. Secutum est bellum gestum apud Mutinam. in quo si tantum eum. prudentem dicam, minus quam debeam praedicem, cum ille potius divinus fuerit, si divinatio appellanda est perpetua naturalis bonitas, quae nullis casibus agitatur neque minuitur. [2] hostis Antonius iudicatus Italia cesserat: spes restituendi nulla erat. non solum inimici, qui tum erant potentissimi et plurimi, sed etiam qui adversariis eius se venditabant et in eo laedendo aliquam consecuturos sperabant commoditatem, Antonii familiares insequebantur, uxorem Fulviam omnibus rebus spoliare cupiebant, liberos etiam exstinguere parabant. [3] Atticus, cum Ciceronis intima familiaritate uteretur, amicissimus esset Bruto, non modo nihil iis indulsit ad Antonium violandum, sed e contrario familiares eius ex urbe profugientes, quantum potuit, texit, quibus rebus indiguerunt, adiuvit. [4] Publio vero Volumnio ea tribuit, ut plura a parente proficisci non potuerint. ipsi autem Fulviae, cum litibus distineretur magnisque terroribus vexaretur, tanta diligentia officium suum praestitit, ut nullum illa stiterit vadimonium sine Attico, Atticus sponsor omnium rerum fuerit. [5] quin etiam, cum illa fundum secunda fortuna emisset in diem neque post calamitatem versuram facere potuisset, ille se interposuit pecuniamque sine faenore sineque ulla stipulatione credidit, maximum existimans quaestum, memorem gratumque cognosci, simulque aperiens se non fortunae, sed hominibus solere esse amicum. [6] quae cum faciebat, nemo eum temporis causa facere poterat existimare: nemini enim in opinionem veniebat Antonium rerum potiturum. [7] sed sensus eius a nonnullis optimatibus reprehendebatur, quod parum odisse malos cives videretur. ille autem, sui iudicii, potius quid se facere par esset intuebatur quam quid alii laudaturi forent.

  IX. Next followed the war that was carried on at Mutina, in which, if I were only to say that he was wise, I should say less of him than I ought; for he rather proved himself divine, if a constant goodness of nature, which is neither increased nor diminished by the events of fortune, may be called divinity. Antony, being declared an enemy, had quitted Italy, nor was there any hope of bringing him back. Not only his open enemies, who were then very powerful and numerous, but also such as had lent themselves to the party opposed to him, and hoped to gain some share of praise by doing him injury, persecuted his friends, sought to spoil his wife Fulvia of all her property, and endeavoured even to get his children put to death. Atticus, though he lived in intimate friendship with Cicero, and was very warmly attached to Brutus, yet would not only never give them his consent to act against Antony, but, on the contrary, protected, as much as he could, such of his friends as fled from the city, and supplied them with whatever they wanted. On Publius Volumnius, indeed, he conferred such obligations, that more could not have proceeded from a father. To Fulvia herself, too, when she was distracted with lawsuits, and troubled with great alarms, he gave his services with such constancy, that she never appeared to answer to bail without the attendance of Atticus. He was her surety in all cases, and even when she had bought an estate, in her prosperous circumstances, to be paid for by a certain day, and was unable after her reverse of fortune to borrow money to discharge the debt, he came to her aid, and lent her the money without interest, and without requiring any security for the repayment, thinking it the greatest gain to be found grateful and obliging, and to show, at the same time, that it was his practice to be a friend, not to fortune but to men; and when he acted in such a manner, no one could imagine that he acted for the sake of time-serving, for it entered into nobody’s thoughts that Antony could regain his authority. But he gradually incurred blame from some of the nobles, because he did not seem to have sufficient hatred towards bad citizens.

  10. Conversa subito fortuna est. ut Antonius rediit in Italiam, nemo non magno in periculo Atticum putarat propter intimam familiaritatem Ciceronis et Bruti. [2] itaque ad adventum imperatorum de foro decesserat, timens proscriptionem, latebatque apud P. Volumnium, cui, ut ostendimus, paulo ante opem tulerat (tanta varietas iis temporibus fuit fortunae, ut modo hi, modo illi in summo essent aut fastigio aut periculo), habebatque secum Q. Gellium Canum, aequalem simillimumque sui. [3] hoc quoque Attici bonitatis exemplum, quod cum eo, quem puerum in ludo cognorat, adeo coniuncte vixit, ut ad extremam aetatem amicitia eorum creverit. [4] Antonius autem, etsi tanto odio ferebatur in Ciceronem, ut non solum ei sed etiam omnibus eius amicis esset inimicus eosque vellet proscribere multis hortantibus, tamen Attici memor fuit officii et ei, cum requisisset, ubinam esset, sua manu scripsit, ne timeret statimque ad se veniret: se eum
et eius causa Canum de proscriptorum numero exemisse. ac ne quod periculum incideret, quod noctu fiebat, praesidium ei misit. [5] sic Atticus in summo timore non solum sibi, sed etiam ei, quem carissimum habebat, praesidio fuit neque enim suae solum a quoquam auxilium petiit salutis, sed coniuncti, ut appareret nullam seiunctam sibi ab eo velle fortunam. [6] quodsi gubernator praecipua laude effertur, qui navem ex hieme marique scopuloso servat, cur non singularis eius existimetur prudentia, qui ex tot tamque gravibus procellis civilibus ad incolumitatem pervenit?

  X. Being under the guidance of his own judgment, however, he considered rather what it was right for him to do, than what others would commend. On a sudden fortune was changed. When Antony returned into Italy, every one thought that Atticus would be in great peril, on account of his close intercourse with Cicero and Brutus. He accordingly withdrew from the forum on the approach of the leaders, from dread of the proscription, and lived in retirement at the house of Publius Volumnius, to whom, as we have said, he had not long before given assistance; (such were the vicissitudes of fortune in those days, that sometimes one party, and sometimes the other, was in the greatest exaltation or in the greatest peril;) and he had with him Quintus Gellius Canus, a man of the same age, and of a character very similar to his own; and this also may be given as an instance of the goodness of Atticus’s disposition, that he lived in such close intimacy with him whom he had known when a boy at school, that their friendship increased even to the end of their lives. But Antony, though he was moved with such hatred towards Cicero, that he showed his enmity, not only to him, but to all his friends, and resolved to proscribe them, yet, at the instance of many, was mindful of the obliging conduct of Atticus; and, after ascertaining where he was, wrote to him with his own hand, that he need be under no apprehension, but might come to him immediately; as he had excepted him and Gellius Canus, for his sake, from the number of the proscribed; and that he might not fall into any danger, as the message was sent at night, he appointed him a guard. Thus Atticus, in a time of the greatest alarm, was able to save, not only himself, but him whom he held most dear; for he did not seek aid from any one for the sake of his own security only, but in conjunction with his friend; so that it might appear that he wished to endure no kind of fortune apart from him. But if a pilot is extolled with the greatest praise, who saves a ship from a tempest in the midst of a rocky sea, why should not his prudence be thought of the highest character, who arrives at safety through so many and so violent civil tumults?