What is the virtue of supporting both sides in the midst of civil conflicts?

How should we judge Atticus, friend to both Cicero AND Marc Antony?

I said in an earlier post that I tend to bounce around ancient literature based on whatever whimsy strikes me in the moment. The other day, that whimsy led to me reading the short life of Phocion by Cornelius Nepos. I’m only mentioning this now because I don’t think it’s worth discussing in detail. Not because Phocion isn’t interesting, Nepos just didn’…