dia, wife of the consul Metellus. See p. 22, note.]

[Footnote 153: We don't know who this is; probably a _cavaliere
servente_ of Clodia's.]

[Footnote 154: _I.e._, in the business of her brother Clodius's attempt
to get the tribuneship.]

[Footnote 155: Though Caesar has been mentioned before in regard to his
candidature for the consulship, and in connexion with the Clodius case,
this is the first reference to him as a statesman. He is on the eve of
his return from Spain, and already is giving indication of his coalition
with Pompey. His military success in Spain first clearly demonstrated
his importance.]

[Footnote 156: During the meeting of the senate at the time of the
Catilinarian conspiracy (2 _Phil._ Sec. 16).]

[Footnote 157: The consul Caecilius Metellus was imprisoned by the
tribune Flavius for resisting his land law (Dio, xxxvii. 50).]

[Footnote 158: M. Favonius, an extreme Optimate. _Ille Catonis aemulus_
(Suet. _Aug._ 13). He had a bitter tongue, but a faithful heart (Plut.
_Pomp._ 60, 73; Vell. ii 73). He did not get the praetorship (which he
was now seeking) till B.C. 49. He was executed after Philippi (Dio. 47,
49).]

[Footnote 159: P. Scipio Nasica Metellus Pius, the future father-in-law
of Pompey, who got the praetorship, was indicted for _ambitus_ by
Favonius.]

[Footnote 160: [Greek: Apollonios Molon] of Alabanda taught rhetoric at
Rhodes. Cicero had himself attended his lectures. He puns on the name
Molon and _molae_, "mill at which slaves worked."]

[Footnote 161: See pp. 57, 60.]

[Footnote 162: Reading _discessionibus_, "divisions in the senate," with
Manutius and Tyrrell, not _dissentionibus_; and _deinde ne_, but not
_st_ for _si_.]

[Footnote 163: His study, which he playfully calls by this name, in
imitation of that of Atticus. See p. 30.]

[Footnote 164: See Letter XV, p. 25.]

[Footnote 165: His translation of the _Prognostics_ of Aratus.]

[Footnote 166: Gaius Octavius, father of Augustus, governor of
Macedonia.]

XXVII (A II, 2)

TO ATTICUS (ON HIS WAY TO ROME)

TUSCULUM (DECEMBER)

[Sidenote: B.C. 60, AET. 46]

Take care of my dear nephew Cicero, I beg of you. I seem to share his
illness. I am engaged on the "Constitution of Pellene," and, by heaven,
have piled up a huge heap of Dicaearchus at my feet.[167] What a great
man! You may learn much more from him than from Procilius. His
"Constitution of Corinth" and "Constitution of Athens" I have, I think,