begin a new work. He
has sent his De Gloria to Atticus; a treatise which we have lost. We
should be glad to know how he treated this most difficult subject. We
are astonished at his fecundity and readiness. He was now nearly
sixty-three, and, as he travels about the country, he takes with him all
the adjuncts necessary for the writing of treatises such as he composed
at this period of his life! His Topica, containing Aristotelian
instructions as to a lawyer's work, he put together on board ship,
immediately after this, for the benefit of Trebatius, to whom it had
been promised.

July had come, and at last he resolved to sail from Pompeii and to coast
round to Sicily. He lands for a night at Velia, where he finds Brutus,
with whom he has an interview. Then he writes a letter to Trebatius, who
had there a charming villa, bought no doubt with Gallic spoils. He is
reminded of his promise, and going on to Rhegium writes his Topica,
which he sends to Trebatius from that place. Thence he went across to
Syracuse, but was afraid to stay there, fearing that his motions might
be watched, and that Antony would think that he had objects of State in
his journey. He had already been told that some attributed his going to
a desire to be present at the Olympian games; but the first notion seems
to have been that he had given the Republic up as lost, and was seeking
safety elsewhere. From this we are made to perceive how closely his
motions were watched, and how much men thought of them. From Syracuse he
started for Athens--which place, however, he was doomed never to see
again. He was carried back to Leucopetra on the continent; and though he
made another effort, he was, he says, again brought back. There, at the
villa of his friend Valerius, he learned tidings which induced him to
change his purpose, and hurry off to Rome. Brutus and Cassius had
published a decree of the Senate, calling all the Senators, and
especially the Consulares, to Rome. There was reason to suppose that
Antony was willing to relax his pretensions. They had strenuously
demanded his attendance, and whispers were heard that he had fled from
the difficulties of the times. "When I heard this, I at once abandoned
my journey, with which, indeed, I had never been well pleased."[195]
Then he enters into a long disquisition with Atticus as to the advice
which had been given to him, both by Atticus and by Brutus, and he says
some hard words to Atticus. But he leaves an imp