indeed have I forgotten the letter which you sent to me after
meeting Caesar, in the district near Trebula, as I remember it. Next
came that ill-fated moment when either my regard for public opinion, or
my sense of duty, or chance, call it what you will, compelled me to go
to Pompey. What act of kindness or thoughtfulness either toward me in
my absence or toward my dear ones in Rome did you neglect? In fact,
whom have all my friends thought more devoted to me and to themselves
than you are? I came to Brundisium. Do you think I have forgotten in
what haste, as soon as you heard of it, you came hurrying to me from
Tarentum? How much your presence meant to me, your words of cheer to a
courage broken by the fear of universal disaster! Finally, our life at
Rome began. What element did our friendship lack? In most important
matters I followed your advice with reference to my relations toward
Caesar; in other matters I followed my own sense of duty. With whom but
myself, if Caesar be excepted, have you gone so far as to visit his
house again and again, and to spend there many hours, oftentimes in the
most delightful discourse? It was then too, if you remember, that you
persuaded me to write those philosophical essays of mine. After his
return, what purpose was more in your thoughts than to have me as good
a friend of Caesar as possible? This you accomplished at once.

"What is the point, then, of this discourse, which is longer than I had
intended it should be? This is the point, that I have been surprised
that you, who ought to see these things, have believed that I have
taken any step which is out of harmony with our friendly relations, for
beside these facts which I have mentioned, which are undisputed and
self-evident facts, there are many more intimate ties of friendship
which I can scarcely put in words. Everything about you charms me, but
most of all, on the one hand, your perfect loyalty in matters of
friendship, your wisdom, dignity, steadfastness; on the other hand,
your wit, refinement, and literary tastes.

"Wherefore--now I come back to the grievance--in the first place, I did
not think that you had voted for that law; in the second place, if I
had thought so, I should never have thought that you had done it
without some sufficient reason. Your position makes whatever you do
noticeable; furthermore, envy puts some