Letters of Caesar and Cicero to Each Other Author(s): Adolph F.

Pauli Reviewed work(s): Source: The Classical World, Vol. 51, No. 5 (Feb., 1958), pp. 128-132 Published by: Classical Association of the Atlantic States Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4344010 . Accessed: 13/03/2012 10:51
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WORLD THE CLASSICAL in the life and thioughtof his day expected to learn from letters. We have, for example, some of the letters that passed between Caelius Rufus and Cicero while the latter was governor of Cilicia, isolated from Rome, and was depending upon Caelius to keep him informed about the details of political and social life in the capital.1 They suggest to us how Caesarmight have organizedprivate news-gathering agencies in Rome while he was in Gaul. One should not fail to note the great extent to which Cicero and his correspondentspassed around to each other letters that they had received. Both Caesar and Cicero saw more of each other's letters than either sent to the other. Cicero wrote to Atticus on March 25, 49 (Att. 9.14.1):
I sent you on the 24th of March a copy of Balbus' letter to me and of Caesar'sletter to him. Then on that very day from Capua I got a letter from Q. Pedius saying that Caesarhad written to him on the 14th in the following
terms. ..
2

both give a structuralanalysisof 453-527; Norwood reveals a concentric pattern around the heart of the story (481-503 - f), as follows: a b c d e f e d c b a.28 E. A. Havelock, Virgil's Road to Xanadu," Phoenix 1 (1946) 1, 3-8; 2, 2-7; 1 Suppl. (1947) 9-18, compares the imagery and the romantic geography in the Aristaeus episode and Coleridge's work. C. M. Bowra, "Orpheusand Eurydice,"CQ 46 (1952) 113-126, attempts to reconstructthe lost Hellenistic original by analyzingth,estory of Orpheus and Eurydice as we find it in Vergil and Ovid. A. Klotz, "Die Umarbeitung von Vergils Georgica," WJA 2 (1947) 140-147, discusses the difficulties at the end of the book and maintains that a passage praisingGallus appearedoriginally at the end of the Aristaeus story. Buchner, however, believes that the Aristaeusepisode is a Hellenistic epyllion which was added later; this is supportedby the fact that several verses in the second half of Georgics 4 appear also in Aeneid 1, where they are functional and therefore earlier; cf. Buchner-Hofmann,Lateinische Literatur und Sprache (Bern 1951) 116f.; see also Bichner, 293-297, where the author argues in favor of a second edition in 26 or 25 B.C., after the suicide of Gallus,when the Aristaeusepisode replaceda passage praising Gallus (but as a writer of elegy, not as prefect of Egypit). in Vol. 51, No. 6) (To be continued
GEORGE E. DUCKWORTH PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

LETTERS OF CAESAR AND CICERO TO EACH OTHER*

The purpose of this paper is again to call attention to the extent and nature of the correspondence of Caesar and Cicero with each other and to emphasize the importance of these letters as documents for understanding and interpreting the relationship of the two men. Caesar's ambition and interests, h,is many activities, and his desire to keep in contact with all the important personalities of his time made it necessary that he carry on a wide correspondence. What we have of Cicero's extensive correspondence gives us a unique impression of what a man keenly interested
28. Cf. Richardson, 155, for a different arrangement of panels; both concentric patterns resemble the arrangement of the Eclogues (above, Sect. 4A). See also C. W. Mendell in YCIS 12 (1951) 205-226 for similar patterns in Aeneid 11 (below, Sect. 6B). * Paper read at the meeting of the Classical Association of New England, Middletown, Conn., April 6, 1957.

There follows for Atticus' benefit a quotation from the letter of Q. Pedius. In other letters to Atticus we find: "Caesarhas sent me a very short letter of which I subjoin a copy . . ." (Att. 9.13a.1); Antony has sent me a copy of a letter from Caesar (Att. 11.7.2); "Lamiawas with me after you left, and brought me a letter Caesar had sent to him" (Att. 13.45.1). In fact, it was ratherexpected that an important letter would be sent around in the original or in copies. Suetonius knew three groups of Caesar'sletters: first, the epistulae ad senatum, of which some at least seem to have been publishedby Caesarhimself; second, epistulae ad Ciceronem;and third, epistulae ad familiares.3 Aulus Gellius, writing after the miiddle of the second century, says, "There are volumes of letters of Gaius Caesaraddressedto Gaius Oppius and CorneliusBalbus who had charge of his affairsin his absence."4 Caesar himself, Plutarch, and, above all, Cicero should further be noted as ancient authors in whose extant writings are digests of, or references to the letters of Caesar. The extant fragments and references to his lost letters have been collected several times.5
1. Fam. 2.8-16 (Cicero to Caelius); 8.1-14 (Caelius to Cicero). 2. Date in translation changed from "26th" to "24th." Unless otherwise indicated, the translations are those of E. 0. Winstedt (Att.) and W. G. Williams (Fam., Q. Fr.) in the Loeb Classical Library. 3. uld. 56.6. Cf. A. Klotz (ed.), C. ului Caesaris Commentarii III (Leipzig 1927) 192ff. 4. 17.9.1, trans. J. C. Rolfe (L.C.L.). 5. See A. Klotz, op. cit. (supra, note 3) III (1927) 192-2 10.

THE CLASSICAL WORLD Nonius Marcellus,a Latin grammarianwho lived some time between the years 200 and 400, cites from three different books of letters by Cicero Ad Caesarem, in all twelve short passages. He also cites twenty-nine short passages from three books Ad Caesarem iuniorem. Gurlitt in 1888 maintainedthat all of Nonius' citations are from the same corpus of letters, and that Caesar and Caesar iunior refer to the same individual, namely, Octavian.6 One of the reasonsof Gurlitt for this opinion is, as phrased by Tyrrell and Purser,7 that "None of the letters 'to Caesar' need necessarily be letters addressed to Julius, and all would fit more appropriatelyinto a correspondencewith Octavian." H. Sjogren in his Teubner edition of the fragments of Cicero's letters divides without comment the fragments preserved by Nonius into two groups: Ad Caesarem, and Ad

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Atticurm and the third in the tenth book of this

same group of letters. These had been preservedby Atticus in copies that he had received from Cicero.

In an age when Cicero'sname was still somewhat under a cloud, these letters proclaimedCaesar'shigh esteem for him. Likewise,only three complete letters of Cicero to Caesarhave survivedand in each Cicero recommendssome one to Caesar. One was written in 54, the other two in 45. It is surprising to find that we have evidence for more than twice as many letters addressedby Caesar to Cicero as by Cicero to Caesar, and that, aside from the very doubtful ascriptionsby Nonius Marcellus,rhereis no evidence that the friends of Cicero ever published a group of letters sent by him to Caesar. We know there did appeara group of letters entitled Ad Brutum,another containing epistulae ad Caesarem iuniorem, i.e., Caesarem iuniorem.8 Octavian, and perhaps even a group of letters Ad The number of Caesar'sletters to Cicero known Pompeium. The dearth cf references to h,is letters to us either in extant copies, in d-igests,or by mere written to Caesar can hardly be explained by the referenceis about thirty-four. In the case of Cicero's fact that not all Cicero's published works have surletters to Caesar, the number of epistles is about vived. It has been suggested"that Antony, who held fifteen, exclusive of the doubtful fragmentscited by the papers of Caesarin 44 B.C. and who had a bitter Nonius Marcellus. It is difficult to give more exact quarrel with Cicero which ended with the assassifigures because each reference does not necessarily nation of the orator, would have refused to make refer to a different letter, or even, sometimes, to available to any friend of Cicero the letters that only one letter. Cicero had sent to Caesar. We do not know to what extent Cicero retained copies of all the letters he In the c.ase of each author it is difficult to dewrote.10 Atticus probably had the only copies of termine how many of the letters about which we a large number of the letters written by Cicero to have informationwere ever published. To what exhim. There is (evidence that Tiro 'hadavailablecopies tent, for example, did Tiro or Atticus permit the of letters when he published Ad Farniliares.In 54 publication of the large number of letters Caesar Cicero supplied Caesarwith a copy of a letter that sent to Cicero in 49, in an effort to win the latter had become illegible."1 It se2ms unlikely that Cicero 'to the Caesarianside in the Civil War? would not have retained copies of implortant letters The letters of Caesar and Cicero to each other he sent to Caesarin 49. about which we have any reco.rdwere written for The carliest reference to a specific letter passing the most part in two years. We know that about between Caesarand Cicero is that made in a letter eighteen letters of Caesar and six of Cicero were sent by Marcus to Quintus in February 54 B.C. written in 54 B.C.; for the year 49 we have a record (Q. Fr. 2.10[12].4): of about eleven from Caesarand three from Cicero. Three letters of Caesar have survived in entirety. I forgot to write to you about Caesar;for I see what sort Two of these (Att. 9.6a; 9.16.2-3) were written in of a letter you have been expecting. But he wrote to Balbus and told him that the whole packet of letters, in March 49 and one (Att. 10.8b) in April of the which were mine and Balbus's,was so soaked with water same year. Two were incorporated in the ninth when he receivedit that he did not even know there was .book of the published correspondenceof Cicero Ad any letter from me. He had, however, made out a few
words in Balbus'sletter, to which he replied in the follow6. L. Gurlitt, Nonius (Steglitz 1888). Marcellus und die Cicero-Briefe ing words: 'I see that you have written something about Cicero, which I -ould not understand, but as far as I could conjecture, it was the sort of thing that I thought more to be desired than hoped for.' So later on I sent Caesar an exact duplicate of my letter. 9. Tyrrell and Purser, op. Cit. V12 348. 10. Cf. Fam. 7.25.1. 11. See next paragraph.

7. R. Y. Tyrrell and L. C. Purser (edd.), The Correspondence of M. Tullius Cicero V12 (Dublin and London 1933) 348. 8. In C. Atzert et al. (edd.), M. Tulli Ciceronis Scripta Quae Manserunt Omnia (Leipzig 1914) XI (1914) 150-156.

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THE CLASSICALWORLD
The letter to Lentulus is a description of the circumstances under wh.ich Cicero's celebrated palizoeidia had been produced; that is, Cicero wrote out for Lentulus -an elaborate explanation of the rapid reversal in his policy toward Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus that had taken place between April 5 and May 15, 56 B.C., two years before, -and a justification of his -subsequent conduct. It is interesting to note that Caesar in a letter to Cicero indicated his concern over the enmity existing between Cicero and Crassus. Eventually, Cicero entertained Crassus at a dinner party shortly before the latter left Rome for his Parthian campaign.12 In the letter he wrote to h,is brother Quintus early in June Cicero mentions (Q. Fr. 2.13 [15a] .1) a letter that he had received on June 3 from Caesar. It was
attention, and charm. These expressions of good will on his part are significant or rather most significant; for they have a powerful influence in the direction of our honour and glory and exaltation in the state. But believe me (you know me by this time) when I say that I already possess what I value most of all in the whole situationI mean, first of all, your own efficient service in support of our common position, and, secondly, Caesar's extraordinary affection for me, which I set above all those honours he wishes me to anticipate at his hands. In fact, his letter, delivered simultaneously with yours (which begins with his saying how delighted he was with your arrival and the renewal of the memory of your old affection, and he goes on to say that he wi1l so manage matters that in the midst of my sorrow and yearning for you, I should be cheered by your being, though away from me, in his company more than any other), that letter, I say, gave me more pleasure than you could possibly believe.

Caesar, in writing to Balbus the words intended ultimately for Cicero's ears, showed a graciousness that did not fail to please Cicero. Cicero's enthusiastic recommendation of C. Trebatius Testa to Caesar (Fam. 7.5) is the earliest of three extant letters from Cicero to Caesar. It was written about April 54. in this letter recommending Trebatius Cicero mentions a letter ju.st received from Caesar and three earlier letters, two from himself to Caesar and Caesar's reply to one of them. Trebatius was a promising young jurisconsult "of marvelous memory and vast learning" (singulari memoria, summa scientia), who wished to gaiin military experience and, above all, financial profit in the camp of Caesar. A long letter to P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, written in 54, contains a reference to an old friendship between the two Ciceros and Caesar and to a correspondence that probably dates back to the spring of 56. Cicero says (Fam. 1.9.12):
Here I attached great weight as well to the long-standing friendship, which, as you yourself are aware, my brother Quintus and I had with Caesar, as to Caesar's courtesy and generosity, which even in this short time I have recognized and acknowledged both in his letters and his acts of kindness to me. -

. . .brimming over with every sort of kindness, assiduous

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Here, as in many instances, we have in Cicero's words a digest of what Caesar had written to him. In this letter to his brother Cicero makes three different references to a letter he had received from Caesar; all these references are probably to the one he had received on June 3. Common literary interests were fostered by Caesar and Marcus Cicero. It seems quite certain that early in the year 54 Caesar, while on his way through the Alps to join his army in Gaul, wrote 'his famous De Analogia, a grammatical treatise probably suggested by certain pas-sages in Cicero's De Oratore. This work Caesar dedicated to Cicero. Moreover, we learn that Caesar, although a very busy man, had taken time previous to June 2, 54, to read and comment favorably to Quintus upon a poem by his brother Marcus, either the one known to us as De Temporibus Meis, or, less likely, I think, the one
12. Fam. 1.9.20. I assume that Caesar addressed his letter to Cicero.

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131

dealing with Caesar'sexpedition to Britain.13 Un- Caesar in his letter sent Cicero congratulationson doubtedlyit had been sent directly by MarcusCicero a supplicatio that had been voted by the senate to to Caesar. In a letter to his brother,Cicero gives us Cicero for his military explolits when governor of more informationregardingCaesar'sopinion of this Cilicia, and exulted over the fact that Cato, a leading poem. Subsequent to June 3, Cicero had received conservative,had voted against it and had thereby another letter from Caesar giving some detailed displayed signal ingratitude and enmity towards criticism, but evidently not telling the worst. Cicero Cicero. wrote to Quintus as follows (Q. Fr. 2.15 [161.5): Cicero Imperator, returning from the province What, oh what, my dear brother, did Caesarthink of my of Cilicia, reachedthe outskirtsof Rome on January verses? He wrote to me some time ago that he had read 4, 49. The Civil War between Caesar and Pompey my first book; and of the first part he declaredthat he had never read anything better, even in Greek; the rest of it, broke out about a week later. On June 7 of the as far as a certain passage, was rather 'happy-go-lucky'- same year Cicero left Italy for the camp of Pompey that is the term he uses. Tell me the truth-is it the in Greece. During the intervening months Caesar. subjector the style that does not please him? You needn't appreciatingthe moral value of Cicero'ssupport,had be afraid;I shall fancy myself not a whit the less.L4 attempted to gain it, and, failing in this, had tried Because of the pleasant manner with which to persuadehim to remain neutral. Cicero, recalling Caesar had accepted Trebatius on his staff Cicero that much of the unhappiness he experienced in ventured to ask for a tribuneship for M. Curtius, the years following his consulship had developed and was not only told that there was one at Curtius' from his relationswith Pompey and Caesar,was now service but was even chided for the modesty wiith determined to act cautiously. His anxiety is exwhich the request had been made. pressed in his letters to Atticus. Cicero worked for at almost any price; Pompey was afraid of peace On September 1, 54, Caesar posted a letter to was confident and peace (Att. 7.8.4-5); and Caesiar Cicero from Briitainwhich was received on the 28th ready for any eventuality. (Q. Fr. 3.1.25). On October 24 Cicero received a letter from his brother and another from Caesar The letters that passed between Caesarand Cicero "datedfrom the nearestcoast of Britaiinon the 26th in 49 do credit to the characterof both men. Under of September" (Att. 4.18.5).15 Both letters Cicero trying circumstancesboth show remarkablerestraint summarizes as follows: "Britain done with . . . and courtesy to each other. Caesar,of course, strove hostages taken . . . no baoty . . . a tribute, however, hard to keep Cicero out of Pompey's camp. On imposed; they were on the point of bringing back February17 Cicero wrote to Atticus (Att. 8.2.1.): the army." Cicero welcomed the friendly correspondence with Caesar in 54 B.C. as a sort of consolation for the unpleasantpolitical situation at Rome. From a letter written to Atticus in 50 B.C. we learn that from both Caesar and Pompey Cicero had received letters "in terms that would appear to make more of me than of anyone at all" (Att. 7.1.3).
13. See W. W. Ewbank, The Poems of Cicero (London 1933) 16-19. On Caesar's interest in the creative activity of Cicero the poet in 54, see W. Allen, Jr., "The British Epics of Quintus and Marcus Cicero," TAPA 76 (1955) 143-159; H. W. Benario, "Caesar, Propaganda, and the Poets," CW 50 (1956-57) 23-24. 14. One is also reminded of the suggestion that the extant verses of Caesar and Cicero in criticism of Terence were probably school-room exercises on the same theme produced by them as fellow-pupils of Marcus Antonius Gnipho, a grammaticus who taught at Rome in the first half of the first century B.C. Each writer began his bit of poetry with the same words "tu quoque" and expressed the same group of critical sentiments. Cf. W. A. Oldfather and G. 587f.; J. W. Spaeth, CJ 26 Bloom, CJ 22 (1926-27) (1930-31) 506, 601. 15. Trans. E. S. Shuckburgh.

I sent Caesarone letter from Capua in answer to his inquiries about his gladiators. It was short but friendly,and, so far from abusing Pompey, praised him highly. I had to do that, as I was an advocateof peace between them. If Caesarhas passed on my letter, good: I should like him to placardit in public.

The extant letter of Caesarto Cicero written on April 16, 49, was a desperate effort to keep Cicero neutral. The letter begins (Att. 10.8b.1):
CaesarImperatorto Cicero Imperator,Greeting. Although I had concludedthat you would do nothing rashly I have been so stirredby what or imprudently, nevertheless people say that I thought it best to write to you and ask you in the name of our good will to each other not to go anywhere, now that fortune inclines my way, where you did not think it necessaryto go before anything was
certain.

Eventually,after Pharsalia,friendly relationswere again resumed by the two men. Early in 45 Cicero wrote a long letter of recommendation(Famn. 13.16) in behalf of Publius Crassus,son of the triumvir, who wished to serve under Caesarin Spain. At the end of March he wrote another recommendationin behalf of Praecilius, "the son of a very excellent gentleman who is your close, and my very own

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THE CLASSICAL WORLD but probably unique event in the history of the relations between Rome and the Far East. His account of this romantic story should appeal strongly to the imaginative student. Professor Dubs calls attention to the remarkable fact that in the registeTr of Chinese cities and countries for the year 5 A.D.,there are listed a city and county designated by the most ancient Chinese name for Rome. In this list, only two other foreign names occur, and we know that these two cities were inhabited by non-Chinese immigrants. One must conclude,then, that the city named 'Rome' was settled by people from the Roman empire. But h-owcould 'thisbe? More than four thousand miles separatedthe Roman Empire and the Chinese frontier;between the two lay deserts,mounta-ins, and the vast land of the Parthians,the bitterest enemies of Rome. iCaravans would normally be allowed to pass between west and east, but certainlythe Parthian tribasmenwould not permit any mass migration. This city called Rome was located in northwest Gan-su province. It did not exist in 79 B.C. The Chinese gave it their name for Rome, Li-jien; this was a transcriptionof the name of 'the Greek city Alexandria, which Orientals customarily identified with Rome and the Roman empire. This new city had also another name, given to it by the usurper Wang Mang, who practised the Confucian doctrine of applying to cities names especially appropriateto them. Li-jien, then, he called Jie-lu, which can mean "caitiffs (captured) in taking (a place) by storm," or "caiitiffs raiised up." Did the Chinese capture some Roman soldiers, and settle them as border guards in western China? If so, who could these legionaries hiavebeen, and how did they fall into the 'handsof this distant people? Dubs relates these curious facts to the invasion of Parthia by the triumviTCrassus. Against the advice of wiser generals, in 53 B.C. Crassusmarched into Parthia with 42,000 men. At Carrhae, the legions were surrounded by the Parthians; the Romans formed a square, but their locked shield foirmation(the testudo) could not hold off the rain of arrows from the bows of their mounted enemies. By night, 20,000 Romaans were dead and 10,000 had surrendered. Hardly a fourth of the army escaped to Syria. What happened to the prisoners? Our little evidence from Roman sourcesoffers small enlightenment. Pliny (H. N. 6.47) states that the Parrhians marched them to Margiana (about 1,500 miles) to (Continued on page 137)

very intimate friend" (Fam. 13.15.1). We learn from a letter to Atticus (Att. 13.20.1) that on the last day of April 45, Caesar,in far off Spain, posted a letter of condolence to Cicero upon the death of Cicero'sdaughterTullia. After Cato had committed suicide very dramaticallyin 46, Brutus, M. Fadius Gallus, and Cicero wrote panegyrics entitled Cato. Caesar found the subject matter of these works so distasteful that he wrote in reply an Anticato. However, Caesarand Cicero found it possible to say some pleasant things about each cther's work on Cato.'6 The letters that passedbetween Caesarand Cicero suggest to us that although each may have been trying to use the other for his own poli;tical advantage, it also seems evident that they were willing to do more than just maintain polite diplomatic relations. They disagreed seriously on many matters, yet, less than three months before the Ides of March 44 B.C., Caesarwas Cicero's dinner guest at Pulteoli. "Therewas no serious talk, but plenty of literary. In a word he was pleased and enjoyed himself," so Cicero reported to Atticus (Att. 13.52.2). WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ADOLPH F. PAULI

IN THE JOURNALS
This column is intended primarily to be of service to teachers of Latin in secondary schools. New investigations and evaluations of the lives and works of Caesar, Cicero, Vergil, and information concerning the Rome of their era, constantly appear in classical periodicals, American and European. Unfortunately, too frequently these valuable studies are unknown or inaccessible to teachers and interested students. CW plans to summarize each month certain articles which seem informative and pertinent to classroom use. Obviously, such summaries will present, rather than criticize. Equally obviously, no summary can supplant the wealth of the arguments offered in the original articles; readers are urged to procure, when possible, the periodicals in which they appear.

In recent years, scholars have unearthed and pieced together much new information concerning rhe fascinating but complicated question of Roman influence on and contact with the 'barbarians' beyond the borders of Roman domination. Especially interesting is the problem of communication with the East, and with the older civilization of China. H. H. Dubs, in his article "A Roman City in Ancient China," Greece and Rome, 2nd series, Vol. 4 (1957), pp. 139-148, has rescued from obscurity a minor
16. Caesar on Cicero's Cato (Att. 13.46.2): Multa de meo Catone, quo saepissime legendo se dicit copiosiorem factum, Bruti Catone lecto se sibi visum disertum; Cicero on Caesar's Anticato (Att. 13.50.1): me legisse libros contra Catonem et vehementer probasse . . .; see also Att. 13.51.1. On these works see Schanz-Hosius, Gesch. d. rnm. Lit. 14 335f.