LXXXVI (A III, 26)
B.C. 57. Coss., P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, Q. Cæcilius Metellus Nepos.
The new year found Cicero still at Dyrrachium, waiting for the law to pass for his recall, which (owing chiefly to the riotous opposition of Clodius) did not pass till the 5th of August. We have no letters in the interval between January and August, but a few lively ones recounting the nature of his return (4th of September), and four speeches dealing with his position and that of his property. He seems at once to have attached himself to Pompey, and to have promoted his appointment as præfectus annonæ.
To Atticus (? in Epirus)374
Dyrrachium, January
B.C. 57, ÆT. 49
I have received a letter from my brother Quintus inclosing the decree of the senate passed concerning me. My intention is to await the time for legislation, and, if the law is defeated, I shall avail myself of the resolution of the senate,375 and prefer to be deprived of my life rather than of my country. Make haste, I beg, to come to me.