[Sidenote: _Appi Forum, March 21_, B.C. _59_]
I hope you will admire my consistency. I have decided not to see the games at Antium. For it would be rather noticeably inconsistent at a time when I am trying to avoid the suspicion of taking a pleasure trip, suddenly to appear in the character of one travelling not only for pleasure, but for very
Quare usque ad Nonas Maias te in Formiano exspectabo. Nunc fac ut sciam, quo die te visuri simus. Ab Appi Foro hora quarta. Dederam aliam paulo ante a Tribus Tabernis.
[Sidenote: _Scr. in Formiano m. Apr. a. 695_]
Narro tibi, plane relegatus mihi videor, posteaquam in Formiano sum. Dies enim nullus erat, Anti cum essem, quo die non melius scirem, Romae quid ageretur, quam ii, qui erant Romae. Etenim litterae tuae, non solum quid Romae, sed etiam quid in re publica, neque solum quid fieret, verum etiam quid futurum esset, indicabant. Nunc, nisi si quid ex praetereunte viatore exceptum est, scire nihil possumus. Quare, quamquam iam te ipsum exspecto, tamen isti puero, quem ad me statim iussi recurrere, da ponderosam aliquam epistulam plenam omnium non modo actorum, sed etiam opinionum tuarum, ac diem, quo Roma sis exiturus, cura ut sciam. Nos in Formiano esse volumus usque ad prid. Nonas Maias. Eo si ante eam diem non veneris, Romae te fortasse videbo; nam Arpinum quid ego te invitem?
Τρηχεῖ’, ἀλλ’ ἀγαθὴ κουροτρόφος, οὔτ’ ἄρ’ ἔγωγε ἧς γαίης δύναμαι γλυκερώτερον ἄλλο ἰδέσθαι.
foolish pleasure too. So I shall wait for you till the 7th of May at Formiae. Now let me know what day I shall see you. From Appi Forum at 10 o’clock. I sent another letter a little earlier from the Three Taverns.
I assure you I feel an absolute exile since I have been at Formiae. There never was a day when I was at Antium that I was not better up in the news of Rome than those who were living there. The fact is your letters used to set before me not only the city news, but all the political news, and not only what was happening, but what was going to happen too. Now I can’t get to know anything, unless I pick up chance news from a passing traveller. So, although I am expecting you here very soon, give this man of mine, who is under orders to return at once, a bulky missive, full of news of all that has happened and what you think about it: and don’t forget to say what day you are leaving Rome. I intend to stay at Formiae till the 6th of May. If you can’t get here before that date, perhaps I shall see you at Rome, for I can hardly invite you to Arpinum.