[Footnote 499: We must suppose Atticus to have mentioned some money loss (see last letter), and to have added that, though a ruinous one, his tastes were simple, and he could live on simple fare. Cicero laughs at the affectation of the rich Atticus. _Raudusculum_, "a piece of bronze," was the ancient term for the piece of bronze money used in sales, _per æs et libram_ (Varro, _L. L._ v. 163).] [Footnote 500: μήπω μέγ' εἴπης πρὶν τελευτήσαντ' ἴδῃς, "Do not boast till you see a man dead"--a well-known line from a lost play of Sophocles, containing a sentiment elsewhere often repeated, especially in Herodotus's account of the interview of Solon and Crœsus.] [Footnote 501: εἴη μοὶ οὖτος φίλος οἶκος, according to a probable restoration of the Greek words (instead of εἴη μισητὸς φίλος οἶκος, "I might even hate my town house in comparison"); cp. Hor. _Od._ ii. 6, 7.] CXII (F V, 3) FROM Q. METELLUS NEPOS (IN SPAIN) [Sidenote: B.C. 56, ÆT. 50] The insults of a most outrageous person, with which he loads me in frequent public speeches, are alleviated by your kind services to me; and as they are of little weight as coming from a man of that character, they are regarded by me with contempt, and I am quite pleased by an interchange of persons to regard you in the light of a cousin.[502] Him I don't wish even to remember, though I have twice saved his life in his own despite. Not to be too troublesome to you about my affairs, I have written to Lollius as to what I want done about my provincial accounts, with a view to his informing and reminding you. If you can, I hope you will preserve your old goodwill to me. [Footnote 502: _Fratris_. The mother of Clodius, Cæcilia, was a daughter of Q. Cæcilius Metellus Balearicus (consul B.C. 123), father of the writer of this letter.] CXIII (F I, 7) TO P. LENTULUS SPINTHER (IN CILICIA) ROME (OCTOBER) [Sidenote: B.C. 56, ÆT. 50]