ltogether. AS for the rest of the festival,
it was not even so attractive as far less ambitious shows generally are;
the pageants were on such an enormous scale that light-hearted enjoyment
was out of the question. You need not mind having missed them. There is
no pleasure, for instance, in seeing six hundred mules at once in
"Clytaemnestra," or a whole army of gaily-dressed horse and foot engaged
in a theatrical battle. These spectacular effects delight the crowd, but
not you. If you were listening to your reader Protogenes, you had
greater pleasure than fell to any of us. The big-game hunts, continued
through five days, were certainly magnificent. Yet, after all, how can a
person of any refinement enjoy seeing a helpless man torn by a wild
beast of enormous strength, or a noble animal dying under a spear
thrust? If there is anything worth seeing in exhibitions of that kind,
you have often seen it; there was nothing new to me in all I saw. On the
last day the elephants were brought out, and though the populace were
mightily astonished they were not by any means pleased. On the contrary,
a wave of pity went through them, and there was a general impression
that these great creatures have something in common with man.

_To Atticus, in Rome_ Laodicea, B.C. 51

I reached Laodicea on July 31, so you may reckon the year of my
government of the province from that day. Nothing could be more eagerly
awaited or more warmly welcomed than my arrival. But you would hardly
believe how the whole affair bores me. The wide scope of my mind has no
sufficient field, and my well-known industry is wasted here. Imagine! I
administer justice at Laodicea, while A. Plotius presides in the courts
of Rome! And while our friend is at the head of so great an army, I
have, in name only, two miserable legions! But all that is nothing; what
I miss is the glamour of life, the Forum, the city, my own house,
and--you. But I will bear it as best I can, so long as it is for one
year only. If my term is extended, it is all over with me. But this may
easily be prevented, if only you will stay in Rome.

You ask about my doings. Well, I am living at enormous expense, and am
wonderfully pleased with my way of life. My strict abstinence from all
extortion, based on your counsels, is such that I shall probably have to
raise a loan to pay off what you lent me. My predecessor, Appius, has
left open wounds in the province; I refrain from irritating them. I am