In this he failed.

He lived to know that he had failed as regarded his brother and his nephew.

It was not, however, added to his misery to live to learn how little his son was to do to maintain the honor of his family.
I find a note scribbled by myself some years ago in a volume in which I had read this epistle, "Probably the most beautiful letter ever written." Reading it again subsequently, I added another note, "The language altogether different from that of his ordinary letters." I do not dissent now either from the enthusiastic praise or the more careful criticism.

The letter was from the man's heart--true, affectionate, and full of anxious, brotherly duty--but written in studied language, befitting, as Cicero thought, the need and the dignity of the occasion.
[Sidenote: B.C.59, aetat.

48.] The year following was that of Caesar's first Consulship, which he held in conjunction with Bibulus, a man who was altogether opposed to him in thought, in character, and in action.