much out of date as that of Crassus the Rich.[1] Trust me, I have not met a single man who takes these things so quietly as I do myself."[2]
After the rejection of his own policy, Cicero had good reason to be sick of public life, and he seems to have contemplated with satisfaction a complete retirement. "I was weary of piloting the State, even while I was allowed to do so; and now that I have been turned out of the boat, and have not abandoned the helm but have had it wrenched out of my hand, I had rather watch their ship-wreck from the shore, and as your friend Sophocles says—
'Beneath my roof-tree list with drowsy sense
The plashing of the rain.'"[3]
At one time Cicero fancied that the triumvirs would offer him a mission to Egypt, but though he liked the prospect, he felt that he could April, 59 B.C.not accept the offer at their hands. In the same letter he inquires,[4] who is to have the vacant augurship, and adds, "that is the only bait with which they could catch me. Observe my venality. But why do I talk of these things, when all I want is to get rid of them and to devote my whole mind to philosophy? That, I say, is my intention, and I only wish I had done so from the first." Of course this hankering after the augurship is only a momentary whim, which goes down, as does every
↑This is not the triumvir, but another person of the name who had fallen from great wealth to bankruptcy.
