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desertion of Italy, and though at first he counselled neutrality with a view to mediation of peace, yet when that hope failed it was with his full concurrence that Cicero betook himself to Pompey's camp. Immediately after the assassination of Cæsar, Atticus could see, though both Cicero and Brutus were blind to it, that, whether or no Cæsar's acts were to be confirmed, it was ruinous policy to allow a public funeral to his body, and that passions would thus be excited which would be fatal to the general amnesty. And once more when six months later Cicero is on the point of retiring to Greece, we find Atticus ready to brave his friend's displeasure by telling him plainly that public opinion will accuse him of deserting his post. Cicero, obedient to the call, returns at once to face Antony in the Senate. If it had not been for Atticus, the First Philippic would never have been spoken.

In private life, as in public, Cicero always leaned on Atticus. All domestic jars (and Cicero's family often caused him uneasiness) are reported at once to his friend, who always plays the part of sympathiser and sometimes that of peace-maker. All his business transactions likewise went through Atticus' hands, and the letters are full of references to them. Cicero was very careless about money-matters; if a house or a farm or a statue took his fancy, he bought first and afterwards considered how he was to find the money. Thus though his fortune was never compromised, hardly even seriously