.C. 63, when
prosecuted by Caesar for his share in the murder of Saturninus (B.C.
100). He lived, we know, in Campania, for his neighbours came to give
evidence in his favour at the trial.]

[Footnote 29: M. Fonteius made a fortune in the province of Gaul beyond
the Alps, of which he was propraetor, B.C. 77-74. In B.C. 69 he had been
accused of malversation, and defended by Cicero. After his acquittal he
seems to be buying a seaside residence in Campania, as so many of the
men of fashion did.]

[Footnote 30: Cicero's "gymnasium" was some arrangement of buildings and
plantations more or less on the model of the Greek gymnasia, at his
Tusculan villa.]

III (A I, 7)

TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS)

ROME, DECEMBER

[Sidenote: B.C. 68, AET. 38]

All's well at your mother's,[31] and I keep an eye on her. I have
undertaken to pay L. Cincius 20,400 sesterces[32] to your credit on the
Ides of February. Pray see that I receive at the earliest possible
opportunity what you say in your letters that you have bought and
secured for me. I should also be very much obliged if you would, as you
promised, think over the means of securing the library for me. My hope
of getting the one enjoyment which I care for, when I come to retire,
depends entirely on your kindness.

[Footnote 31: The mother of Atticus lived to be ninety, dying in B.C.
33, not long before Atticus himself, who at her funeral declared that
"he had never been reconciled to her, for he had never had a word of
dispute with her" (Nep. _Att._ 17).]

[Footnote 32: This sum (about L163) is for the works of art purchased
for the writer by Atticus.]

IV (A I, 9)

[Sidenote: B.C. 67. Coss., C. Calpurnius Piso, M. Acilius Glabrio.]

The year of Cicero's election to the praetorship. It is the year
also of Pompey's great commission by the _lex Gabinia_ against the
Pirates. But Cicero does not seem as yet much concerned with
"foreign politics."

TO ATTICUS (AT ATHENS)

ROME

[Sidenote: B.C. 67, AET. 39]

I get letters from you far too seldom considering that you can much more
easily find people starting for Rome than I to Athens: considering, too,
that you are more certain of my being at Rome than I of your being at
Athens. For instance, it is owing to this uncertainty on my part that
this very letter is somewhat short, because not being sure as to where
you are, I don't choose my confidential talk to fall into strange hands.
The Me