Narrative in Eighth Book of the " Gallic War" 37 



this last event and Caesar's distribution of the remaining legions 

 into winter quarters for the winter of 50/49? 



At the date of Fam. II, 17, about July 17, Cicero knew that the 

 two legions had been voted as reinforcements for Bibulus (§5). 

 He knew it, as the context shows (antea dubitabam), before he 

 learned of the withdrawal of the Parthians in the present summer. 

 Sallustius, proquaestor under Bibulus in Syria, to whom this letter 

 was addressed, had sent his orderly with two letters to Cicero, 

 probably from Antioch, a journey of perhaps three or four days. 

 In the first of these letters Sallustius had expressed doubt of the 

 reahty of the Parthians' withdrawal (§3). At the date of Sal- 

 lustius's letter sufficient time had elapsed since the withdrawal, 

 in Cicero's judgment, to convince a reasonable man of its reality. 

 At the date of Att. VI, 5 (<:/.§ 3), June 26, Cicero did not know 

 that the Parthians had gone. The date of their retreat may be 

 fixed at about July i ; antea therefore refers to a period prior to 

 that date. If Cicero knew of the senate's decree before July i, 

 it was probably passed not later than the first half of May. It 

 may have been passed in April. Caesar was probably not in- 

 formed of the decree before the middle of May, at the very 

 earliest. 



We do not know in what camp the first legion spent the winter 

 of 51/50. The camp nearest Rome was in the country of the 

 Aedui.^^^ If stationed near IMatisco the first legion had nearly 

 850 111. p. to Capua via Cularo, the Cottian Alps, Genoa, and Rome, 

 or 890 ni. p. via the Graian Alps and Bononia. It certainly reached 

 Capua by December 2 at the latest. Both legions seem to have 

 gone to Rome first, the first perhaps being joined by the fifteenth 

 on the road. They probably remained at the Capital for a time 

 before they were sent into quarters at Capua. ^-° Even if they 

 went straight through, the first must have started not later than 

 early October. But the sources suggest a much earlier date for 

 the bringing down of the two legions. 



Dio's account^-° clearly implies a considerable interval between 



' B. G., VIII, 46, 4. 

 Dio, XL, 65-66; App., B. C, II, 29. 



329 



