sign of affection nor of complaint in either of
them. In the first he tells her she shall be informed when Caesar is
coming--in the latter, that he is coming. When he has resolved whether
to go and meet him or to remain where he is till Caesar shall have come
upon him, he will again write. Then there are three to Atticus, and two
more to Terentia. In the first he tells him that Caesar is expected. Some
ten or twelve days afterward he is still full of grief as to his brother
Quintus, whose conduct has been shameful. Caesar he knows is near at
hand, but he almost hopes that he will not come to Brundisium. In the
third, as indeed he has in various others, he complains bitterly of the
heat: it is of such a nature that it adds to his grief. Shall he send
word to Caesar that he will wait upon him nearer to Rome?[136] He is
evidently in a sad condition. Quintus, it must be remembered, had been
in Gaul with Caesar, and had seen the rising sun. On his return to Italy
he had not force enough to declare a political conviction, and to go
over to Caesar boldly. He had indeed become lieutenant to his brother
when in Cilicia, having left Caesar for the purpose. He afterward went
with his brother to the Pharsalus, assuring the elder Cicero that they
two would still be of the same party. Then the great catastrophe had
come, when Cicero returned from that wretched campaign to Brundisium,
and remained there in despair as at some penal settlement. Quintus
followed Caesar into Asia with his son, and there pleaded his own cause
with him at the expense of his brother. Of Caesar we must all admit that,
though indifferent to the shedding of blood, arrogant, without principle
in money and without heart in love, he was magnificent, and that he
injured none from vindictive motives. He passed on, leaving Quintus
Cicero, who as a soldier had been true to him, without, as we can fancy,
many words. Cicero afterward interceded for his brother who had reviled
him, and Quintus will ever after have to bear the stain of his
treachery. Then came the two letters for his wife, with just a line in
each. If her messenger should arrive, he will send her word back as to
what she is to do. After an interval of nearly a month, there is the
other--ordering, in perfectly restored good-humor, that the baths shall
be ready at the Tusculan villa: "Let the baths be all ready, and
everything fit for the use of guests; there will probably be many of
them."[137] It is eviden