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290 was prepared for a dispute, which was destined toend in civil war. Meantime the new arrangements about the provinces necessitated the acceptance by Cicero of the governorship of Cilicia, for which he set out in the spring of the year 51 B.C.

The death of the younger Crassus, who fell fighting bravely by his father's side against the Parthians, occasioned a vacancy in a plebeian stall of the college of augurs, and Cicero was elected to fill the place. The augurship always had an attraction for him, and in his political writings of this time, the power and dignity of his new office are dwelt on with evident satisfaction.

In his private affairs we find Cicero at one time much embarrassed, owing to the plunder and destruction of his houses by Clodius. He had to borrow freely to meet the expenses of building and furnishing. As early as the year 54 B.C. he seems to be pretty free from these difficulties. "Very little is now wanting," he writes to Quintus, "for my habits of life are simple, and I shall have no difficulty in meeting what calls remain if only I keep my health." His debt to Cæsar however was still owing, and his letters to Atticus in 51 B.C. are full of instructions as to its discharge. In view of the political complications which were likely to arise between Cæsar and the Senate, Cicero felt it necessary for his own freedom of action that he should no longer be Cæsar's debtor.

Cicero's son and nephew were passing through