[104] Or as Boot, reading _sedet_, "Domitius, who etc., is doing nothing."
municipia vero et rustici Romani illum metuunt, hunc adhuc diligunt. Quare ita paratus est, ut, etiamsi vincere non possit, quo modo tamen vinci ipse possit, non videam. Ego autem non tam γοητείαν huius timeo quam πειθανάγκην. "Αἱ γὰρ τῶν τυρᾶννων δεήσεις," inquit Πλάτων, "οἶσθ' ὅτι μεμιγμέναι ἀνίγκαις."
Illa ἀλίμενα video tibi non probari. Quae ne mihi quidem placebant; sed habebam in illis et occultationem et ὑπηρεσίαν fidelem. Quae si mihi Brundisi suppeterent, mallem; sed ibi occultatio nulla est. Verum, ut scribis, cum sciemus.
Viris bonis me non nimis excuso. Quas enim eos cenas et facere et obire scripsit ad me Sextus, quam lautas, quam tempestivas! Sed sint quamvis boni, non sunt meliores quam nos. Moverent me, si essent fortiores.
De Lanuvino Phameae erravi; Troianum somniaveram. Id ego volui Q, sed pluris est. Istuc tamen mihi cuperem emeres, si ullam spem fruendi viderem.
Nos quae monstra cotidie legamus, intelleges ex illo libello, qui in epistulam coniectus est. Lentulus noster Puteolis est ἀδημονῶν is, ut Caesius narrat, quid agat. Διατροπὴν Corfiniensem reformidat. Pompeio nunc putat satis factum, beneficio Caesaris movetur, sed tamen movetur magis prospecta re.
Tene haec posse ferre? Omnia misera, sed hoc
not love him. The towns and rural population are afraid of Pompey and so far worship Caesar. Caesar is so equipped that, even if he fail to beat, I do not see in what way he can be beaten. I do not fear his _finesse_ so much as his _force majeure_, for as Plato says, "a tyrant's requests partake of the nature of mandates."[105]
Places without harbours, I see, do not meet with your approval. Nor do I like them, but the place has afforded me hiding and a trusty set of attendants. If I could have had the same at Brundisium, I should have preferred it. But there is no hiding place there. But, as you say, when we know!
I am not going to excuse myself much to the loyalists. What dinners according to Sextus they are giving and receiving, how lavish and how early! They may be loyal, but they are not more loyal than I. They would influence me more if they had shown more courage.
I was wrong about Phamea's estate at Lanuvium. I was dreaming about the Trojan estate.[106] I wanted it for £4,500,[107] but the price is higher. However, I should have liked you to buy that estate for me, if I saw any hope of enjoying it.