Letter coll=F:book=15:letter=17 Letter LXX: ad familiares 15.17
Rome, about the close of Dec., 46 B.C.
On Cassius, cf. Ep. LXXXVI. introd. note.
[sect. 1]
praeposteros, unreasonable.
petasati: on journeys, especially in hot countries, the Romans wore broad-brimmed hats (petasi or causiae). Thus of the Sycophanta in the Trinummus, who is supposed to have just arrived from Seleucia, Charmides says (Trin. 851): pol hic quidem fungino generest: capite se totum tegit. Harpax, who is to impersonate a messenger from abroad, is provided with a chlamys, a machaera, and a petasus (Pseud. 735). Perhaps, however, Cicero means that Cassius's messengers are always on the move, like Mercury, who wore the petasus.
ignosces: Cf. Intr. 84b.
alteras, etc., this second letter from me will be short.