of the De Finibus had got abroad without his leave before he had put in his final corrections, and before the presentation copy had been sent to Brutus to whom the treatise was dedicated.[1] Though Cicero was not aware of it, the same thing must have happened in the case of the Academics, for of the two surviving books one belongs to the revised and the other to the suppressed version. Boissier remarks,[2] that here we have publishing in its inchoate stage. Originally, whoever wished for a book must borrow it and get it copied at his own risk; here we have a private gentleman employing his special facilities to make copies for sale among his friends; in the next generation the Sosii family, the publishers of Horace, make the bringing out and selling of new books a regular trade.
Atticus survived Cicero eight years. With the triumph of Antony all Cicero's friends were in danger. Atticus had to fly for his life, and 42 B.C.took refuge with Volumnius, an officer of Antony's, whom Atticus had himself concealed and protected, while his enemies were in power a few months previously. When however Antony heard of Atticus' kindness to Volumnius and to his own wife and children, he caused word to be sent that he had removed from the Proscription list not only his name but, for his sake, that of his friend Gellius Canus who was in hiding with him.[3] From that time