Marcus, in all that he says of his brother, makes the best of him.

That Quintus was a scholar and a man of parts there can be no doubt; one, too, who rose to high office in the Republic.

But he was arrogant, of harsh temper, cruel to those dependent on him, and altogether unimbued with the humanity which was the peculiar characteristic of his brother.

"When I found him to be in the wrong," says Cicero, in his first letter, "I wrote to him as to a brother whom I loved; but as to one younger than myself, and whom I was bound to tell of his fault." As is usual with correspondents, half the letter is taken up with excuses for not writing sooner; then he gives commissions for the purchase of statues for his Tusculan villa, of which we now hear for the first time, and tells his friend how his wife, Terentia, sends her love, though she is suffering from the gout.

Tullia also, the dear little Tullia, "deliciae nostrae,"[140]sends her love.