Marcus Cicero greets the Consul Quintus Metellus.
The letters of my brother Quintus and my close friend Titus Pomponius had given me so much hope that I depended on your assistance as much as your colleague’s, and so I wrote you a letter at once, in which—as my current fortune necessitated—I both thanked you and further sought your help.1 Then it became apparent (not so much from my friends’ letters as from conversations with travellers in the area) that you had had a change of heart, and so I did not dare to pester you with more letters.
Now my brother Quintus has written to me at length about the very kind speech you gave in the Senate.2 This has led me to attempt to write to you, and—without testing the limits of your good will—I beg you, I plead with you, to help your friends and me with them, rather than attacking me on account of your family’s arrogant cruelty.3
You have mastered yourself and given up your own grudge for the sake of the Republic—will you let yourself be led, and support other people’s grudges against the Republic? Yet if you show me clemency and help me, I promise that I will be at your service no matter what happens.
But if because of the violence that has defeated me—and with me, the Republic—it is impossible for the magistrates or the Senate or the people to help me, then be careful: you may wish you still had the opportunity to protect everyone, when you find the person you would protect is gone and there is nothing you can do.4
Latin text of Cic. Fam. 5.4 | Glossary | Where is Cicero?
Cicero and Metellus Nepos had previously been enemies, but Atticus had been attempting to convince Metellus Nepos to support Cicero recall from exile. Metellus Nepos’ colleague was the other consul, Lentulus Spinther, who was already sympathetic to Cicero’s cause.
i.e. if Metellus Nepos acts now, he can protect both Cicero and Clodius, but if he doesn’t… Shackleton Bailey interprets this as Cicero hinting at his own suicide, and rejects that it could be a threat against Clodius. I read it as a rare suicidal death threat combo attack.
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