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(3.) Plutarch (Lucull. 42) says that the "Pompeians," annoyed at finding the union with Caesar opposed by the leading Optimates, induced Vettius to accuse Lucullus and others of a plot to assassinate Pompey; and that the corpse of Vettius shewed evident signs of violence.
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(4.) Dio Cassius (38-39) says bluntly that Vettius was employed by Lucullus and Cicero to assassinate Pompey, and was got rid of in prison. He adds that Vettius was discredited by bringing in the name of Bibulus, who (as Cicero also says) had secured himself by giving Pompey warning. The conclusions seem to be (though in such a tangled skein of lies it is impossible to be sure), (1) that there was no plot, properly so called, though many of the Optimates, and Cicero among them, had used incautious language; (2) that Vettius was suborned by some person or party of persons to make the people believe that there was one ; (3) that Caesar—though there is not sufficient evidence to shew that he had been the instigator—was willing to take advantage of the prejudice created by the suspicions thus aroused ; (4) that though Vettius had served Cicero in his capacity of spy in the days of the Catilinarian conspiracy, and was able to report words of his sufficiently characteristic, yet this letter to Atticus exonerates Cicero from suspicion, even if there were a plot, and even if we Could believe that he could have brought himself to plot the death of Pompey.
