Att. 10.1Conversa subitō fortūna est.Suddenly fortune was reversed. Att. 10.1Ut Antōnius rediit in Ītaliam, nēmō nōn magnō in perīculō Atticum putārat propter intimam familiāritātem Cicerōnis et Brūtī.When Antony returned to Italy, everyone had thought Atticus in great danger because of his close friendship with Cicero and Brutus. Att. 10.2Itaque ad adventum imperātōrum dē forō dēcesserat, timēns prōscrīptiōnem, latēbatque apud P. Volumnium, cui, ut ostendimus, paulō ante opem tulerat (tanta varietās iīs temporibus fuit fortūnae, ut modo hī, modo illī in summō essent aut fastīgiō aut perīculō), habēbatque sēcum Q. Gellium Cānum, aequālem simillimumque suī.And so at the arrival of the generals he had withdrawn from public life, fearing proscription, and was hiding at the house of Publius Volumnius, to whom, as we have shown, he had brought help a little earlier (so great was the fickleness of fortune in those times that now these men, now those, stood either at the height of power or in the greatest danger), and he had with him Quintus Gellius Canus, a man of his own age and very like himself. Att. 10.3Hoc quoque Atticī bonitātis exemplum, quod cum eō, quem puerum in lūdō cognōrat, adeō coniūnctē vīxit, ut ad extrēmam aetātem amīcitia eōrum crēverit.This too is an example of Atticus' goodness, that with this man, whom he had come to know as a boy at school, he lived on such close terms that their friendship grew right up to extreme old age.
Att. 10.4Antōnius autem, etsī tantō odiō ferēbātur in Cicerōnem, ut nōn sōlum eī sed etiam omnibus eius amīcīs esset inimīcus eōsque vellet prōscrībere multīs hortantibus, tamen Atticī memor fuit officiī et eī, cum requīsīsset, ubinam esset, suā manū scrīpsit, nē timēret statimque ad sē venīret: sē eum et eius causā Cānum dē prōscrīptōrum numerō exēmisse.Antony, however, though he was carried along by such hatred of Cicero that he was hostile not only to him but also to all his friends and wanted to proscribe them, with many urging him on, nevertheless remembered Atticus' kindness, and, having asked where he was, wrote to him in his own hand that he should not be afraid and should come to him at once: he had removed him, and for his sake Canus, from the list of the proscribed. Att. 10.4Ac nē quod perīculum incideret, quod noctū fīēbat, praesidium eī mīsit.And so that he should not run into any danger, since this was happening at night, he sent him an escort. Att. 10.5Sīc Atticus in summō timōre nōn sōlum sibi, sed etiam eī, quem cārissimum habēbat, praesidiō fuit , ut appārēret nūllam sēiūnctam sibi ab eō velle fortūnam.Thus Atticus, in the midst of the greatest fear, was a protection not only to himself but also to the man he held dearest, so that it was clear that he wanted no fortune separate from his.
Att. 10.6Quodsī gubernātor praecipuā laude effertur, quī nāvem ex hieme marīque scopulōsō servat, cūr nōn singulāris eius exīstimētur prūdentia, quī ex tot tamque gravibus procellīs cīvīlibus ad incolumitātem pervēnit?But if a helmsman who saves his ship from a storm and a rocky sea is extolled with special praise, why should the good sense of that man not be thought remarkable who came through to safety out of so many and such severe civil tempests?