shield."[53] You see in fact the position I am in, and how necessary I regard it, not only to retain but even to acquire all possible sources of popularity. I hope I have justified myself in your eyes, I am at any rate anxious to have done so. The Hermathena you sent I am delighted with: it has been placed with such charming effect that the whole gymnasium seems arranged specially for it.[54] I am exceedingly obliged to you. [Footnote 42: One of the judices rejected by Verres on his trial, a pontifex and augur.] [Footnote 43: Agent of Atticus.] [Footnote 44: C. Antonius (uncle of M. Antonius) was elected with Cicero. Q. Cornificius had been tr. pl. in B.C. 69. See Letter XVIII.] [Footnote 45: M. Cæsonius, Cicero's colleague in the ædileship. He had lost credit as one of the _Iunianum concilium_ in the trial of Oppianicus.] [Footnote 46: Aufidius Lurco, tr. pl. B.C. 61. M. Lollius Palicanus, tr. pl. some years previously.] [Footnote 47: L. Iulius Cæsar, actually consul in B.C. 64, brother-in-law of Lentulus the Catilinarian conspirator, was afterwards _legatus_ to his distant kinsman, Iulius Cæsar, in Gaul. A. Minucius Thermus, defended by Cicero in B.C. 59, but the identification is not certain. D. Iunius Silanus got the consulship in the year after Cicero (B.C. 62), and as consul-designate spoke in favour of executing the Catilinarian conspirators.] [Footnote 48: The text is corrupt in all MSS. I have assumed a reading, something of this sort, _quæ cum erit absoluta, sane facile ac libenter eum nunc fieri consulem viderim_. This at any rate gives nearly the required sense, which is that Cicero regards the influence which Thermus will gain by managing the repair of the _Flaminia_ as likely to make him a formidable candidate, and therefore he would be glad to see him elected in the present year 65 (_nunc_) rather than wait for the next, his own year.] [Footnote 49: C. Calpurnis Piso, consul in B.C. 67, then proconsul of Gallia Transalpina (Narbonensis). He was charged with embezzlement in his province and defended by Cicero in B.C. 63. There were no votes in Transalpine Gaul, but Cicero means in going and coming to canvass the Cispadane cities.] [Footnote 50: Pompey was this year on his way to take over the Mithridatic War. But Cicero may have thought it likely that he or some of his staff would pass through Athens and meet Atticus.] [Footnote 51: L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, prætor in B.C. 58, and consul B.C. 54, fell at Pharsalia, fighting against Cæsar.] [Footnote 52: Q. Cæcilius, a rich uncle of Atticus, so cross-grained that no one but Atticus could get on with him, to whom he accordingly left his large fortune (Nep. _Att._ 5).] [Footnote 53: Hom. _Il._ xxii. 159, Achilles pursuing Hector: "Since not for sacred beast or oxhide shield They strove,--man's guerdon for the fleet of foot: Their stake was Hector's soul, the swift steed's lord." ]