xxviii INTRODUCTION 



there is extant a letter (Ad Att., iii, 20) of Cicero's 

 congratulating Atticus on his adoption and inherit- 

 ance; in book iii, 2, 3, Appius reminds Axius that 

 a few days before he had stayed at Axius's house in 

 Reate, and that his visit was connected with a dis- 

 pute between the Interamnates and Reatini : Cicero 

 (Ad Att. iv, 15), who tells the whole story at 

 length, was counsel for the Reatini, and stayed 

 with Axius {vixi cum Axio), so that on this occasion 

 Cicero and Axius were guests at the same house. 

 This letter incidentally fixes the date assigned to 

 the imaginary conversations of this book, and of 

 the election of aediles described in it, which must 

 have taken place in July 54 B.C. Varro and Axius 

 (iii, 2, i) are represented as taking shelter from 

 the blazing sun in the Villa Publica during this 

 election: Cicero (Ad Q. F., iii, i) says that he 

 does not remember ever to have known a hotter 

 summer than this of 54. A little further on in the 

 book Varro tells a ^ fish-story ' about Ummidius and 

 Philippus which vividly illustrates the character of 

 Philippus as described by Cicero, and of Ummidius, 

 the miser mentioned by Horace. The latter or his 

 children Varro probably knew personally, for Um- 

 midius lived at Casinum, where stood Varro's villa, 

 and it was an Ummidia who built the theatre, still 

 standing, for the Casinates, as is proved by an in- 



