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XI
XI
To M. Fadius Gallus
Rome, May, 55 B.C.
I had only just arrived from Arpinum when your letter was delivered to
me; and from the same bearer I received a letter from Avianius, in which there
was this most liberal offer, that when he came to Rome he would enter my debt
to him on whatever day I chose. Pray put yourself in my place: is it
consistent with your modesty or mine, first to prefer a request as to the day,
and then to ask more than a year`s credit? But, my dear Gallus, everything
would have been easy, if you had bought the things I wanted, and only up to
the price that I wished. However, the purchases which, according to your
letter, you have made shall not only be ratified by me, but with gratitude
besides: for I fully understand that you have displayed zeal and affection in
purchasing (because you thought them worthy of me) things which pleased
yourself - a man, as I have ever thought, of the most fastidious judgment in
all matters of taste. Still, I should like Damasippus to abide by his
decision: for there is absolutely none of those purchases that I care to have.
But you, being unacquainted with my habits, have bought four or five of your
selection at a price at which I do not value any statues in the world. You
compare your Bacchae with Metellus` Muses. Where is the likeness? To begin
with, I should never have considered the Muses worth all that money, and I
think all the Muses would have approved my judgment: still, it would have been
appropriate to a library, and in harmony with my pursuits. But Bacchae! What
place is there in my house for them? But you will say, they are pretty. I know
them very well and have often seen them. I would have commissioned you
definitely in the case of statues known to me, if I had decided on them. The
sort of statues that I am accustomed to buy are such as may adorn a place in a
palaestra after the fashion of gymnasia. What, again, have I, the promoter of
peace, to do with a statue of Mars? I am glad there was not a statue of Saturn
also: for I should have thought these two statues had brought me debt! I
should have preferred some representation of Mercury: I might then, I suppose,
have made a more favourable bargain with Arrianus. You say you meant the table
- stand for yourself; well, if you like it, keep it. But if you have changed
your mind I will, of course, have it. For the money you have laid out, indeed,
I would rather have purchased a place of call at Tarracina, to prevent my
being always a burden on my host. Altogether I perceive that the fault is with
my freedman, whom I had distinctly commissioned to purchase certain definite
things, and also with Iunius, whom I think you know, an intimate friend of
Avianius. I have constructed some new sitting-rooms in a miniature colonnade
on my Tusculan property. I want to ornament them with pictures: for if I take
pleasure in anything of that sort it is in painting. However, if I am to have
what you have bought, I should like you to inform me where they are, when they
are to be fetched, and by what kind of conveyance. For if Damasippus doesn`t
abide by his decision, I shall look for some would-be Damasippus, even at a
loss.
As to what you say about the house, as I was going out of town I
intrusted the matter to my daughter Tullia: for it was at the very hour of my
departure that I got your letter. I also discussed the matter with your friend
Nicias, because he is, as you know, intimate with Cassius. On my return,
however, before I got your last letter, I asked Tullia what she had done. She
said that she had approached Licinia (though I think Cassius is not very
intimate with his sister), and that she at once said that she could venture,
in the absence of her husband (Dexius is gone to Spain), to change houses
without his being there and knowing about it. I am much gratified that you
should value association with me and my domestic life so highly as, in the
first place, to take a house which would enable you to live not only near me,
but absolutely with me, and, in the second place, to be in such a hurry to
make this change of residence. But, upon my life, I do not yield to you in
eagerness for that arrangement. So I will try every means in my power. For I
see the advantage to myself, and, indeed, the advantages to us both. If I
succeed in doing anything, I will let you know. Mind you also write me word
back on everything, and let me know, if you please, when I am to expect you.
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