o Atticus for statues.
Statues and more statues are wanted as ornaments for his Tusculanum.
Should there be more than are needed for that villa, he will begin to
decorate another that he has, the Formianum, near Caieta. He wants
whatever Atticus may think proper for his "palaestra" and "gymnasium."
Atticus has a library or collection of maps for sale, and Cicero engages
to buy them, though it seems that he has not at present quite got the
money. He reserves, he says, all his little comings-in,
"vindemiolas"--what he might make by selling his grapes as a lady in the
country might get a little income from her spare butter--in order that
he may have books as a resource for his old age. Again, he bids Atticus
not to be afraid but what he, Cicero, will be able to buy them some
day--which if he can do he will be richer than Crassus, and will envy no
one his mansions or his lawns. He also declares that he has betrothed
Tullia, then ten years old, to Caius Piso, son of Lucius Piso Frugi. The
proposed marriage, which after three years of betrothal was duly
solemnized, was considered to be in all respects desirable. Cicero
thought very highly of his son-in-law, who was related to Calpurnius
Piso, one of the Consuls of that year. So far everything was going well
with our orator.

[Sidenote: B.C. 67, aetat. 40.]

He was then candidate for the Praetorship, and was elected first, as has
been already said. It was in that year, too that a law was passed in
Rome, at the instance of one Gabinius, a tribune, authorizing Pompey to
exterminate the pirates in the Mediterranean, and giving him almost
unlimited power for this object. Pompey was not, indeed, named in this
law. A single general, one who had been Consul, was to be approved by
the Senate, with exclusive command by sea and for fifty miles on shore.
He was to select as his own officers a hitherto unheard-of number, all
of senatorial rank. It was well understood when the law was worded that
Pompey alone could fill the place. The Senate opposed the scheme with
all its power, although, seven years before, it had acknowledged the
necessity of some measure for extirpating the pirates. But jealousies
prevailed, and the Senate was afraid of Pompey. Gabinius, however,
carried his law by the votes of the people, and Pompey was appointed.

Nothing tells us more clearly the wretched condition of things in Rome
at this time than this infliction of pirates, under which their commerce
was almo