His friends at Rome were, he thought, doing the matter amiss: they would fail, and he would still have to finish his days abroad.

Atticus, in his way to Epirus, visits him at Dyrrachium, and he is sure that Atticus would not have left Rome but that the affair was hopeless.

The reader of the correspondence is certainly led to the belief that Atticus must have been the most patient of friends; but he feels, at the same time, that Atticus would not have been patient had not Cicero been affectionate and true.

The Consuls for the new year were Lentulus and Metellus Nepos.

The former was Cicero's declared friend, and the other had already abandoned his enmity.