lations, the one thing wanting to fill my cup of happiness to
the brim is the sight of you, or rather your embrace; and if I ever
forfeit that again, when I have once got possession of it, and if, too,
I do not exact the full delights of your charming society that have
fallen into arrear in the past, I shall certainly consider myself
unworthy of this renewal of my good fortune.

In regard to my political position, I have resumed what I thought there
would be the utmost difficulty in recovering--my brilliant standing at
the bar, my influence in the senate, and a popularity with the loyalists
even greater than I desired. In regard, however, to my private
property--as to which you are well aware to what an extent it has been
crippled, scattered, and plundered--I am in great difficulties, and
stand in need, not so much of your means (which I look upon as my own),
as of your advice for collecting and restoring to a sound state the
fragments that remain. For the present, though I believe everything
finds its way to you in the letters of your friends, or even by
messengers and rumour, yet I will write briefly what I think you would
like to learn from my letters above all others. On the 4th of August I
started from Dyrrachium, the very day on which the law about me was
carried. I arrived at Brundisium on the 5th of August. There my dear
Tulliola met me on what was her own birthday, which happened also to be
the name-day of the colony of Brundisium and of the temple of Safety,
near your house. This coincidence was noticed and celebrated with warm
congratulations by the citizens of Brundisium. On the 8th of August,
while still at Brundisium, I learnt by a letter from Quintus that the
law had been passed at the _comitia centuriata_ with a surprising
enthusiasm on the part of all ages and ranks, and with an incredible
influx of voters from Italy. I then commenced my journey, amidst the
compliments of the men of highest consideration at Brundisium, and was
met at every point by legates bearing congratulations. My arrival in the
neighbourhood of the city was the signal for every soul of every order
known to my nomenclator coming out to meet me, except those enemies who
could not either dissemble or deny the fact of their being such. On my
arrival at the Porta Capena, the steps of the temples were already
thronged from top to bottom[378] by the populace; and while their
congratulations were displayed by the loudest possible applause, a