hich from boyhood I had set my heart,

"Far to excel, and tower above the crowd,"[671]

is entirely gone: that my opponents have in some cases been left
unattacked by me, in others even defended: that not only my sympathies,
but my very dislikes, are not free: and that Caesar is the one man in the
world who has been found to love me to my heart's content, or even, as
others think, the only one who was inclined to do so. However, there is
none of all these vexations of such a kind as to be beyond the reach of
many daily consolations; but the greatest of consolations will be our
being together. As it is, to those other sources of vexation there is
added my very deep regret for your absence. If I had defended Gabinius,
which Pansa thought I ought to have done, I should have been quite
ruined: those who hate him--and that is entire orders--would have begun
to hate me for the sake of their hatred for him. I confined myself, as I
think with great dignity, to doing only that which all the world saw me
do. And to sum up the whole case, I am, as you advise, devoting all my
efforts to tranquillity and peace. As to the books: Tyrannio is a
slow-coach: I will speak to Chrysippus, but it is a laborious business
and requires a man of the utmost industry. I find it in my own case,
for, though I am as diligent as possible, I get nothing done. As to the
Latin books, I don't know which way to turn--they are copied and exposed
for sale with such a quantity of errors! However, whatever can possibly
be done I will not neglect to do. Gaius Rebilus, as I wrote to you
before, is at Rome. He solemnly affirms his great obligations to you,
and reports well of your health.[672] I think the question of the
treasury was settled in my absence. When you speak of having finished
four tragedies in sixteen days, I presume you are borrowing from some
one else? And do _you_ deign to be indebted to others after writing the
_Electra_, and the _Troades_? Don't be idle; and don't think the
proverbial [Greek: gnothi seauton] was only meant to discourage vanity:
it means also that we should be aware of our own qualities. But pray
send me these tragedies as well as the _Erigona_. I have now answered
your last two letters.

[Footnote 669: B.C. 129. The _Novendialia_ was a nine days' festival on
the occasion of some special evil omens or prodigies; for an instance
(in B.C. 202), see Livy, 30, 38. The book referred to is that "On the
Republic."]

[Footnote 6