CCCCLXX (F IX, 16)
TO L. PAPIRIUS PÆTUS[1] (AT NAPLES)
Tusculum (July)
I was charmed with your letter, in which, first of all, what
I loved was the tenderness which prompted you to write,
in alarm lest Silius should by his news have caused me any
anxiety. About this news, not only had you written to
me before—in fact twice, one letter being a duplicate of
the other—shewing me clearly that you were upset, but I
also had answered you in full detail, in order that I might,
as far as such a business and such a crisis admitted, free
you from your anxiety, or at any rate alleviate it. But
since you shew in your last also how anxious you are about
that matter—make up your mind to this, my dear Pætus:
that whatever could possibly be accomplished by art—for it
is not enough nowadays to contend with mere prudence, a
sort of system must be elaborated—however, whatever could
be done or effected towards winning and securing the goodwill
of those men I have done, and not, I think, in vain.
For I receive such attentions, such politenesses from all
Cæsar's favourites as make me believe myself beloved by
them. For, though genuine love is not easily distinguished
from feigned, unless some crisis occurs of a kind to test
faithful affection by its danger, as gold in the fire, there are
other indications of a general nature. But I only employ
one proof to convince me that I am loved from the heart
and in sincerity—namely, that my fortune and theirs is of
such a kind as to preclude any motive on their part for pretending.
In regard, again, to the man who now possesses
all power, I see no reason for my being alarmed: except
the fact that, once depart from law, everything is uncertain;
and that nothing can be guaranteed as to the future which
- ↑ Pætus, to whom twelve letters are addressed, is an unknown man, though evidently very intimate with Cicero, to whom we have heard of his presenting a collection of books (vol. i., pp. 60, 66).