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Epistulae ad Familiares, I. v.

Va

To the same

Rome, February, 56 B.C.

1 Though I could have wished for nothing better than that my extreme gratitude to you should be recognized first by yourself, and secondly by everyone else, still I am deeply grieved that the political developments which followed upon your departure have been such, that you should have had cause, while away from home, to test the loyalty and goodwill of myself and others; but your letter has made it clear to me that you quite see and feel that there is the same general loyalty in support of your claims as I met with in the matter of my recall.

2 I was confidently relying upon my strategy, zeal, assiduity, and influence in regard to the king, when suddenly there was sprung upon us Cato's execrable proposal,[1] which was enough to hamper our efforts, and turn our thoughts from a lesser anxiety to an overwhelming dread. Still, though any issue may be apprehended in so chaotic a state of affairs, there is nothing we dread more than treachery; and as for Cato, we shall certainly oppose him, come what will.

3 As regards the affair of Alexandria and the king's cause I can only promise you this:—that I shall satisfy in full measure the expectations both of yourself who are absent, and of your friends who are on the spot; though I am afraid that the business will be either snatched from our hands, or altogether abandoned, and which alternative I desire less I cannot easily determine But if we are hard

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  1. ↑ C. Porcius Cato, tribune this year, proposed a bill that Lentulus should be deprived of his proconsulship of Cilicia, which would ipso facto cancel Lentulus's claim to restore King Ptolemy.
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