I notice that you have written to me at frequent intervals, but I received all the letters at once. This circumstance increased my grief. For I had read three to begin with, in which the report of Lentulus was that he was a little better. Then came the thunderbolt of the fourth. But it is not he, as I said, who is to be pitied, but we who are so callous as to live on.[493] You remind me to write that essay on Hortensius: I have digressed into other subjects, but have not forgotten your charge. But, by heaven, at the first line I shrank from the task, lest I, who seem to have acted foolishly in resenting his intemperate conduct as a friend, should once more be foolishly rendering his injurious treatment of me conspicuous, if I wrote anything; and at the same time lest my high _morale_, manifested in my actions, should be somewhat obscured in my writing, and this mode of taking satisfaction should seem to imply a certain instability. But we shall see. Only be sure to write me something as often as possible. I sent a letter to Lucceius asking him to write the history of my consulship: be sure you get it from him, for it is a very pretty bit of writing, and urge him to use despatch, and thank him for having written me an answer saying that he would do so. Go and see my house as often as you can. Say something to Vestorius:[494] for he is acting very liberally in regard to me. [Footnote 491: Reading _communi fueris nomine_. After all, the meaning is very doubtful.] [Footnote 492: Philoxenus, who, having been sent to the quarries by Dionysius of Syracuse, for criticising the tyrant's poetry, was given another chance. After reading a few lines he turned away silently. "Where are you going?" said Dionysius. "Back to the quarries," said Philoxenus. For Σπαρταν ἔλαχες, ταύτην κοσμεῖ, see p. 59.] [Footnote 493: _Ferrei_. The true meaning of the word here seems to me to be shewn by _de Am._ § 87, _quis tam esset ferreus, qui eam vitam ferre posset, cuique non auferret fructum voluptatum omnium solitudo_? There is an intentional play on the words _ferreus_ and _ferre_. Others have altered it to _servi_, and others have explained it as an allusion to the iron age, in both cases spoiling the antithesis--he died, we remain--and in the latter using the word in a sense not elsewhere found. Lentulus is L. Cornelius Lentulus. See Letter L.] [Footnote 494: A money-lender.] CX (A IV, 7) TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) ARPINUM (APRIL-MAY) [Sidenote: B.C. 56, ÆT. 50]