Early April 43 BCE: To Cassius (in Syria) from Cicero (at Rome)
'Loyal men rely entirely on you and Brutus for safety if some reverse occurs—though I hope it won’t.'
From Cicero to Cassius, greetings.1
You can learn how things stand as I write this from Gaius Titius Strabo, a good man of loyal Republican feeling.2 I have no need to say that he is ‘most eager to see you,’ for he has abandoned his house and his fortunes here specifically to go and join you. So I do not even recommend him to you—his arrival itself will be enough of a recommendation.
Please understand and take to heart that loyal men rely entirely on you and Brutus for safety if some reverse occurs—though I hope it won’t. As I write this, the situation has reached its crisis point. Decimus Brutus is barely holding out at Mutina. If he is saved, we have won; if not—gods forbid it—the only way out lies with you both.
So ensure that your courage and your preparations are enough for the difficult work of recovering the entire Republic.3
Goodbye.
Latin text of ad Familiares 12.6 | Glossary | Historia Civilis video overview of 44-43 BCE
Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft very hesitantly suggests that he may be identified with Titinius, who fought with Cassius at Philippi and is a character in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
This ending is verbally similar to the ending of Cic. ad Brut. 2.1—except while Cicero tells Brutus that there is the possibility for things to go well, he only tells Cassius to prepare for the worst.