Shackleton Bailey's 4 volume translation of these fascinating letters [recently part of the Loeb Classical Library] is a must-read. Of course, we do not have, for the most part, Atticus' side of this correspondence. However, Cicero's letters of 49BCE show him vascillating between his affection for Pompey, his genuine regard or at least respect for Caesar and his republican conscience. The very fact that Cicero writes to Atticus on the question of "which way should I jump?" shows that he put great stock in Atticus' sense not only on the man Caesar, but also of Atticus' guess as to what would be the politically astute move. It is noteworthy that Cicero is among the first of the optimates to want to compromise with Caesar after January 49 BCE rather than see the Republic disintegrate into civil war; he says as much in one of his letters to Atticus. Sometimes I wondered when reading these letters whether Cicero was playing a CYA game...just in case the letters were to fall into Caesar's possession!