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Cicero's Letters to his Friends

Book I

I

To Publius Lentulus Spinther, Proconsul of Cilicia,^[1] with heartiest greetings from M. Tulius Cicero

Rome, January 13, 56 B.C.

¹ In any such dutiful, or rather affectionate, regard as I show you I satisfy the world; myself I can never satisfy. Such is the magnitude of your services to me, that when I think how you gave yourself no rest in what concerned me until you had fully achieved your purpose, while I have no such success on your behalf, I feel that life is embittered to me. The reasons are these: Ammonius, the king's^[2] repre-

↑ P. Cornelius Spinther was consul in 57, when he urged the recall of Cicero from exile. During the Civil War he was a staunch Pompeian.
↑ Ptolemy XII., nicknamed Auletes (the Flute-player), king of Egypt, having been expelled by his subjects, appealed to the Roman Senate in 57 to restore him. The Senate were disposed to do so, but had to decide between rival candidates for the office of reinstating him. Lentulus, to whom this letter is addressed, should have been appointed to do so ex officio as proconsul of Cilicia, but Pompey, though ostensibly supporting Lentulus, coveted the commission for himself. The Senate, though generally opposed to Pompey's claims, shrank from downright refusal; but, opportunely for them, the tribune C. Cato produced a Sibylline oracle forbidding the restoration of Ptolemy "by the employment of a host of men" (cum multitudine hominum), which gave them a pretext for not commissioning Pompey, who already held the imperium. This is the religio referred to in this and the next letter. Cicero favoured the plea of religio in the interests of Lentulus; the orator, Q. Hortensius, his great rival in the forum, and M. Licinius Lucullus, who acted as Pontifex Maximus for Caesar in 57, supported him, because they wished to keep out Pompey. The whole question was ultimately shelved by a resolution (auctoritas) of the Senate, forbidding the restoration altogether. Ptolemy, however, was restored in 55 by A. Gabinius for a bribe of 10,000 talents.

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[1] P. Cornelius Spinther was consul in 57, when he urged the recall of Cicero from exile. During the Civil War he was a staunch Pompeian.

[2] Ptolemy XII., nicknamed Auletes (the Flute-player), king of Egypt, having been expelled by his subjects, appealed to the Roman Senate in 57 to restore him. The Senate were disposed to do so, but had to decide between rival candidates for the office of reinstating him. Lentulus, to whom this letter is addressed, should have been appointed to do so ex officio as proconsul of Cilicia, but Pompey, though ostensibly supporting Lentulus, coveted the commission for himself. The Senate, though generally opposed to Pompey's claims, shrank from downright refusal; but, opportunely for them, the tribune C. Cato produced a Sibylline oracle forbidding the restoration of Ptolemy "by the employment of a host of men" (cum multitudine hominum), which gave them a pretext for not commissioning Pompey, who already held the imperium. This is the religio referred to in this and the next letter. Cicero favoured the plea of religio in the interests of Lentulus; the orator, Q. Hortensius, his great rival in the forum, and M. Licinius Lucullus, who acted as Pontifex Maximus for Caesar in 57, supported him, because they wished to keep out Pompey. The whole question was ultimately shelved by a resolution (auctoritas) of the Senate, forbidding the restoration altogether. Ptolemy, however, was restored in 55 by A. Gabinius for a bribe of 10,000 talents.

[1]

[2]