o write about, if I had not received yours. For on the 12th,
when Appius had got together a thinly-attended meeting of the senate,
the cold was so great that he was compelled by the general clamour[573]
to dismiss us. As to the Commagenian, because I have blown that
proposition to the winds, Appius makes wonderful advances to me both
personally and through Pomponius; for he sees that if I adopt a similar
style of discussion in the other business, February will not bring him
anything in. And certainly I did chaff him pretty well, and not only
wrenched from his grasp that petty township of his--situated in the
territory of Zeugma on the Euphrates[574]--but also raised a loud laugh
by my satire on the man's purple-edged toga, which he had been granted
when Caesar was consul.[575] "His wish," said I, "for a renewal of the
same honour, to save the yearly re-dying of his purple-edged toga, I do
not think calls for any decree of the house; but you, my lords, who
could not endure that the Bostrian[576] should wear the _toga praetexta_,
will you allow the Commagenian to do so?" You see the style of chaff,
and the line I took. I spoke at length against the petty princeling,
with the result that he was utterly laughed out of court. Alarmed by
this exhibition, as I said, Appius is making up to me. For nothing could
be easier than to explode the rest of his proposals. But I will not go
so far as to trip him up, lest he appeal to the god of hospitality, and
summon all his Greeks--it is they who make us friends again. I will do
what Theopompus wants. I had forgotten to write to you about Caesar: for
I perceive what sort of letter you have been expecting. But the fact is,
he has written word to Balbus that the little packet of letters, in
which mine and Balbus's were packed, had been so drenched with rain that
he was not even aware that there was a letter from me. He had, however,
made out a few words of Balbus's letter, to which he answered as
follows: "I perceive that you have written something about Cicero, which
I have not fully made out: but, as far I could guess, it was of a kind
that I thought was more to be wished than hoped for." Accordingly, I
afterwards sent Caesar a duplicate copy of the letter. Don't be put off
by that passage about his want of means. In answer to it I wrote back
saying that he must not stop payment from any reliance on my money
chest, and descanted playfully on that subject, in familiar terms and
yet withou