15 June 44 BCE: To Atticus (at Rome) from Cicero (on the way to Tusculum)
Cicero doesn't feel safe in Italy
15 June. Although I feel I have written enough to you about what I need and what I would like you to do, if it is not an inconvenience, still, since I have set out and am sailing across the lake, I have decided to send Tiro to you, to take part in the business you are conducting. I have also written to Dolabella to say that, if he feels it right, I would like to set out, and I have asked him about baggage mules.1
As much as is possible in this situation, since I understand that you are extremely busy both with the Buthrotians and with Brutus, for in addition I suspect that the supervision and administration of his games involves you to a great extent—so as much as is possible in this sort of situation, please grant a little of your time to me. I don’t need much. Things seem to me to be heading towards a massacre, and very soon, too. You see the men, you see their weapons. I don’t feel safe at all. But if you think otherwise, please write to me. For I much prefer to stay at home, if I can do so safely.
Read Ad Atticum 15.18 in Latin here | Check the glossary here
Cicero was now Dolabella’s legate, and so needed his permission to leave Italy.