Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 66 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
I have now received three letters from you: one by the hand of Marcus Cornelius, which you gave him, I think, at Tres Tabernae [Three Taverns]; a second, which your host from Canusium delivered to me; and a third, which, as you write, you dispatched from your boat after the anchor had been weighed. All of them were, as the schoolboys of the rhetoricians say, both sprinkled with the salt of refinement and marked with the signs of your affection. By these letters I am, for my part, challenged to write back; but I am the slower to do so for this reason, that I cannot find a trustworthy letter-carrier. For how few there are who can carry a letter of any weight without lightening it by reading it through! There is added to this the fact that it is not known to me whenever anyone is setting out for Epirus. For I suppose that you, after the victims had been slain at your Amalthea, set out at once to attack Sicyon; and yet I do not hold even that for certain, when you may be setting out to Antonius, or how much time you may spend in Epirus. And so I do not dare to entrust a letter that is rather frank either to men of Achaia or to those of Epirus.
Now there have been, since your departure from me, matters worthy of our letters, but not to be committed to such a risk that they might either perish or be opened or be intercepted. First, then, know this: first, that I was not asked my opinion, and that there was set before us the pacifier of the Allobroges, and that this was done amid the murmuring of the senate and not against my will. For I am both freed from having to defer to a perverse fellow, and released, contrary to his wishes, for the retention of my dignity in the commonwealth; and that second place in speaking carries an authority almost that of the leading senator, and a goodwill not too much bound by the favor of the consul. Third is Catulus, fourth, if you ask even this, Hortensius. The consul himself, however, is a man of small and crooked spirit, yet a quibbler of that morose kind which is laughed at even without wit, ridiculous more by his face than by his witticisms, accomplishing nothing for the commonwealth, cut off from the aristocrats, a man from whom you may hope for nothing good for the commonwealth, because he does not wish it, and nothing bad, because he does not dare. But his colleague is both very respectful toward me, and a zealous partisan and defender of the good cause. These two now disagree slightly between themselves. But I fear that this rift, which has begun, may creep further along.
For I believe you have heard that, when the sacrifice for the people was being performed at Caesar's house, a man came there in women's dress, and that after the virgins had repeated the sacrifice anew, mention of it was made in the senate by Quintus Cornificius (he was the first to bring it up, lest perhaps you should think it was one of us); afterward the matter was referred, by a decree of the senate, to the virgins and to the pontiffs, and it was decreed by them to be a sacrilege; thereupon, by a decree of the senate, the consuls promulgated a bill; and Caesar sent a notice of divorce to his wife. In this case Piso, led by his friendship for Publius Clodius, is taking pains that the very bill which he himself is bringing forward -- and brings forward by a decree of the senate and concerning religion -- should be rejected. Messalla up to now is acting vigorously and severely. The honest men are being drawn away from the cause by the entreaties of Clodius, gangs are being got together, and we ourselves, who had from the beginning been Lycurguses, are being softened day by day; Cato presses on and urges. In short, I fear that this matter, neglected by the good men and championed by the wicked, may be the cause of great evils to the commonwealth.
But that friend of yours (you know whom I mean?), about whom you wrote to me that, after he did not dare to find fault, he began to praise -- he, as he shows, esteems us greatly, embraces, loves, openly praises us, but secretly, yet in such a way that it is plain, he envies us. There is nothing courteous in him, nothing straightforward, nothing distinguished in political affairs, nothing honorable, nothing brave, nothing free. But I will write to you about these things another time more in detail; for as yet they are not sufficiently known to me, and I do not dare to entrust a letter about such great matters to some son of the soil or other.
The praetors have not yet drawn lots for the provinces. The situation is in the same place where you left it. The description of the lay of the land [topography] which you ask for, of Misenum and Puteoli, I will include in my speech. I had noticed that "the third day before the Nones of December" was erroneous. The things you praise from my speeches, believe me, were very pleasing to me, but I did not dare to say so before; now, however, because they have been approved by you, they seem to me far more Attic. Into that speech against Metellus I have added certain passages. The book will be sent to you, since your love of us has made you a lover of rhetoric. What news shall I write to you? what? yes, indeed. The consul Messalla has bought Autronius's house for 134,000 sesterces. "What is that to me?" you will say. Only this, that by that purchase both we have been judged to have bought well, and men have begun to understand that it is permissible, in buying, to make use of one's friends' resources to attain some standing. That business of Teucris is a slow affair, but still there is hope in it. You finish up those matters there. From us expect a freer letter. On the sixth day before the Kalends of February, in the consulship of Marcus Messalla and Marcus Piso.
I have had your three letters: one from M. Cornelius, to whom you gave it, I think at the Three Taverns; another brought by your host at Canusium; and a third which you say you posted from the boat just as you got under weigh. All three of them were, as a pupil in the rhetorical schools would say, at once sprinkled with the salt of refinement and stamped with the brand of affection. They certainly provoke an answer: but I have been rather slow about sending one, for lack of a safe messenger. There are very few who can carry a letter of weight without lightening it by a perusal. Besides, I don’t hear of every traveller to Epirus. For I suppose, when you have offered sacrifice at your villa Amalthea, you will start at once to lay siege to Sicyon. I’m not certain either how or when you are going to join Antony or how long you will stay in Epirus. So I dare not trust at all outspoken letters to people going either to Achaia or to Epirus.
Plenty of things have happened worth writing about since your departure, but I dared not commit them to the risk of the letters being either lost or opened or intercepted. First then let me tell you I was not asked my opinion first in the House, but had to play second fiddle to the “peace-maker” of the
Allobroges. Nor did I mind much, though the senate murmured disapproval. It has freed me from the necessity of bowing to a crotchety individual, and sets me at liberty to preserve my political dignity in spite of him. The second place carries nearly as much weight with it as the first, and one’s actions are not so much bound by obligation to the consul. The third place fell to Catulus: the fourth, if you want to go as far, to Hortensius. The consul is petty-minded and perverse, a quibbler who used that bitter kind of sarcasm, which raises a laugh even when there is no wit in the words, on the strength of his expression rather than his expressions. He is no politician at all, he stands aloof from the conservatives: and one cannot expect him to render any good services to the state, because he does not wish to do so, nor any bad, because he does not dare. But his colleague is most polite to me, a keen politician and a bulwark of the conservative party. There is a slight difference of opinion between them at present: but I am afraid that the contagion may spread. No doubt you have heard that, when the sacrifice was taking place in Caesar’s house, a man in woman’s clothes got in; and that after the Vestal Virgins had performed the sacrifice afresh, the matter was mentioned in the House by Cornificius. Note that he was the prime mover and none of us. Then a resolution was passed, the matter was referred to the Virgins and the priests, and they pronounced it a sacrilege. So the consuls were directed by the House to bring in a bill about it. Caesar has divorced his wife. Piso’s friendship
for Clodius is making him do his best to have the bill shelved, though he is the person who has to bring it forward under the House’s orders—and a bill for sacrilege too! Messalla at present takes a strict view of the case. The conservatives are dropping out of it under persuasion from Clodius. Gangs of rowdies are being formed. I, who at first was a perfect Lycurgus, am daily cooling down. Cato, however, is pressing the case with energy. But enough. I am afraid that what with the lack of interest shown in the case by the conservatives, and its championship by the socialists, it may cause a lot of mischief to the state. Your friend—you know whom I mean, the man who, you say, began to praise me as soon as he feared to blame me—is now parading his affection for me openly and ostentatiously; but in his heart of hearts he is envious, and he does not disguise it very well. He is totally lacking in courtesy, candour, in brilliancy in his politics, as well as in sense of honour, resolution and generosity. But I’ll write more fully about that another time. I’ve not got hold of the facts properly yet, and I dare not trust an important letter to a man in the street like this messenger.
The praetors have not drawn their provinces yet: and things are just as they were when you left. I will insert a description of Misenum and Puteoli in my speech as you suggest. I had already spotted the mistake in the date, Dec. 3. The passages in my speeches which took your fancy were, do you know, just those that I was proud of, but didn’t like to say so before: and after Atticus’ approval they look much more Attic in my eyes. I have added a
little to my reply to Metellus. I’ll send the book to you since your affection for me has given you a taste for rhetoric.
Is there any news to tell you? Let me see—yes. The consul Messalla has bought Autronius’ house for £1200. What business is that of mine, you will ask. Only that it proves that my house was a good investment, and is beginning to open people’s eyes to the fact that it is quite legitimate to make use of a friend’s pocket to buy a place that gives one a social position. That Teucris is a slow coach; but it is not hopeless yet. Mind you get your part finished. I’ll write less guardedly soon.
Jan. 25, in the consulship of M. Messalla and M. Piso.
Accepi tuas tres iam epistulas, unam a M. Cornelio, quam Tribus Tabernis, ut opinor, ei dedisti, alteram, quam mihi Canusinus tuus hospes reddidit, tertiam, quam, ut scribis, ancora soluta de phaselo dedisti; quae fuerunt omnes, ut rhetorum pueri loquuntur, cum humanitatis sparsae sale tum insignes amoris notis. Quibus epistulis sum equidem abs te lacessitus ad rescribendum; sed idcirco sum tardior, quod non invenio fidelem tabellarium. Quotus enim quisque est, qui epistulam paulo graviorem ferre possit, nisi eam pellectione relevarit ? Accedit eo, quod mihi non est notum ut quisque in Epirum proficiscitur. Ego enim te arbitror caesis apud Amaltheam tuam victimis, statim esse ad Sicyonem oppugnandum profectum, neque tamen id ipsum certum habeo, quando ad Antonium proficiscare, aut quid in Epiro temporis ponas. Ita neque Achaicis hominibus neque Epiroticis paulo liberiores litteras committere audeo. Sunt autem post discessum a me tuum res dignae litteris nostris, sed non committendae eius modi periculo, ut aut interire aut aperiri aut intercipi possint. Primum igitur scito primum me non esse rogatum sententiam praepositumque esse nobis pacificatorem Allobrogum, idque admurmurante senatu neque me invito esse factum. Sum enim et ab observando homine perverso liber et ad dignitatem in re publica retinendam contra illius voluntatem solutus, et ille secundus in dicendo locus habet auctoritatem paene principis et voluntatem non nimis devinctam beneficio consulis. Tertius est Catulus, quartus, si etiam hoc quaeris, Hortensius. Consul autem ipse parvo animo et pravo tamen cavillator genere illo moroso, quod etiam sine dicacitate ridetur, facie magis quam facetiis ridiculus, nihil agens cum re publica, seiunctus ab optimatibus, a quo nihil speres boni rei publicae, quia non vult, nihil speres mali, quia non audet. Eius autem collega et in me perhonorificus et partium studiosus ac defensor bonarum. Qui nunc leviter inter se dissident. Sed vereor, ne hoc, quod infectum est, serpat longius. Credo enim te audisse, cum apud Caesarem pro populo fieret, venisse eo muliebri vestitu virum, idque sacrificium cum virgines instaurrassent, mentionem a Q. Cornificio in senatu tactam (is fuit princeps, ne tu forte aliquem nostrum putes); postea rem ex senatus consulto ad virgines atque ad pontifices relatam idque ab iis nefas esse decretum; diende ex senatus consulto consules rogationem promulgasse; uxori Caesarem nuntium re misisse. In hac causa Piso amicitia P. Clodi ductus operam dat, ut ea rogatio, quam ipse fert et fert ex senatus consulto et de religione, antiquetur. Messalla vehementer adhuc agit severe. Boni viri precibus Clodi removentur a causa, operae comparantur, nosmet ipsi, qui Lycurgei a principio fuissemus, cotidie demitigamur, instat et urget Cato. Quid multa ? Vereor, ne haec neglecta a bonis, defensa ab improbis magnorum rei publicae malorum causa sit. Tuus autem ille amicus (scin, quem dicam?), de quo tu ad me scripsisti, posteaquam non auderet reprehendere, laudare coepisse, nos, ut ostendit, admodum diligit, amplectitur, amat, aperte laudat, occulte, sed ita, ut perspicuum sit, invidet. Nihil come, nihil simplex, nihil en tois politikois illustre, nihil honestum, nihil forte, nihil liberum. Sed haec ad te scribam alias subtilius; nam neque adhuc mihi satis nota sunt, et huic terrae filio nescio cui committere epistulam tantis de rebus non audeo. Provincias praetores nondum sortiti sunt. Res eodem est loci, quo reliquisti. Topothesian , quam postulas, Miseni et Puteolorum, includam orationi meae. "A. d. III Non. Decembr." mendose fuisse animadverteram. Quae laudas ex orationibus, mihi crede, valde mihi placebant, sed non audebam antea dicere; nunc vero, quod a te probata sunt, multo mi attikotera videntur. In illam orationem Metellinam addidi quaedam. Liber tibi mittetur, quoniam te amor nostri philretora reddidit. Novi tibi quidnam scribam? quid? etiam. Messalla consul Autronianam domum emit HS [+134,000+]. " Quid id ad me ?" inquies. Tantum, quod ea emptione et nos bene emisse iudicati sumus, et homines intellegere coeperunt licere amicorum facultatibus in emendo ad dignitatem aliquam pervenire. Teucris illa lentum negotium est, sed tamen est in spe. Tu ista confice. A nobis liberiorem epistulam exspecta. VI Kal. Febr. M. Messalla, M. Pisone coss.
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I have now received three letters from you: one by the hand of Marcus Cornelius, which you gave him, I think, at Tres Tabernae [Three Taverns]; a second, which your host from Canusium delivered to me; and a third, which, as you write, you dispatched from your boat after the anchor had been weighed. All of them were, as the schoolboys of the rhetoricians say, both sprinkled with the salt of refinement and marked with the signs of your affection. By these letters I am, for my part, challenged to write back; but I am the slower to do so for this reason, that I cannot find a trustworthy letter-carrier. For how few there are who can carry a letter of any weight without lightening it by reading it through! There is added to this the fact that it is not known to me whenever anyone is setting out for Epirus. For I suppose that you, after the victims had been slain at your Amalthea, set out at once to attack Sicyon; and yet I do not hold even that for certain, when you may be setting out to Antonius, or how much time you may spend in Epirus. And so I do not dare to entrust a letter that is rather frank either to men of Achaia or to those of Epirus.
Now there have been, since your departure from me, matters worthy of our letters, but not to be committed to such a risk that they might either perish or be opened or be intercepted. First, then, know this: first, that I was not asked my opinion, and that there was set before us the pacifier of the Allobroges, and that this was done amid the murmuring of the senate and not against my will. For I am both freed from having to defer to a perverse fellow, and released, contrary to his wishes, for the retention of my dignity in the commonwealth; and that second place in speaking carries an authority almost that of the leading senator, and a goodwill not too much bound by the favor of the consul. Third is Catulus, fourth, if you ask even this, Hortensius. The consul himself, however, is a man of small and crooked spirit, yet a quibbler of that morose kind which is laughed at even without wit, ridiculous more by his face than by his witticisms, accomplishing nothing for the commonwealth, cut off from the aristocrats, a man from whom you may hope for nothing good for the commonwealth, because he does not wish it, and nothing bad, because he does not dare. But his colleague is both very respectful toward me, and a zealous partisan and defender of the good cause. These two now disagree slightly between themselves. But I fear that this rift, which has begun, may creep further along.
For I believe you have heard that, when the sacrifice for the people was being performed at Caesar's house, a man came there in women's dress, and that after the virgins had repeated the sacrifice anew, mention of it was made in the senate by Quintus Cornificius (he was the first to bring it up, lest perhaps you should think it was one of us); afterward the matter was referred, by a decree of the senate, to the virgins and to the pontiffs, and it was decreed by them to be a sacrilege; thereupon, by a decree of the senate, the consuls promulgated a bill; and Caesar sent a notice of divorce to his wife. In this case Piso, led by his friendship for Publius Clodius, is taking pains that the very bill which he himself is bringing forward -- and brings forward by a decree of the senate and concerning religion -- should be rejected. Messalla up to now is acting vigorously and severely. The honest men are being drawn away from the cause by the entreaties of Clodius, gangs are being got together, and we ourselves, who had from the beginning been Lycurguses, are being softened day by day; Cato presses on and urges. In short, I fear that this matter, neglected by the good men and championed by the wicked, may be the cause of great evils to the commonwealth.
But that friend of yours (you know whom I mean?), about whom you wrote to me that, after he did not dare to find fault, he began to praise -- he, as he shows, esteems us greatly, embraces, loves, openly praises us, but secretly, yet in such a way that it is plain, he envies us. There is nothing courteous in him, nothing straightforward, nothing distinguished in political affairs, nothing honorable, nothing brave, nothing free. But I will write to you about these things another time more in detail; for as yet they are not sufficiently known to me, and I do not dare to entrust a letter about such great matters to some son of the soil or other.
The praetors have not yet drawn lots for the provinces. The situation is in the same place where you left it. The description of the lay of the land [topography] which you ask for, of Misenum and Puteoli, I will include in my speech. I had noticed that "the third day before the Nones of December" was erroneous. The things you praise from my speeches, believe me, were very pleasing to me, but I did not dare to say so before; now, however, because they have been approved by you, they seem to me far more Attic. Into that speech against Metellus I have added certain passages. The book will be sent to you, since your love of us has made you a lover of rhetoric. What news shall I write to you? what? yes, indeed. The consul Messalla has bought Autronius's house for 134,000 sesterces. "What is that to me?" you will say. Only this, that by that purchase both we have been judged to have bought well, and men have begun to understand that it is permissible, in buying, to make use of one's friends' resources to attain some standing. That business of Teucris is a slow affair, but still there is hope in it. You finish up those matters there. From us expect a freer letter. On the sixth day before the Kalends of February, in the consulship of Marcus Messalla and Marcus Piso.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Accepi tuas tres iam epistulas, unam a M. Cornelio, quam Tribus Tabernis, ut opinor, ei dedisti, alteram, quam mihi Canusinus tuus hospes reddidit, tertiam, quam, ut scribis, ancora soluta de phaselo dedisti; quae fuerunt omnes, ut rhetorum pueri loquuntur, cum humanitatis sparsae sale tum insignes amoris notis. Quibus epistulis sum equidem abs te lacessitus ad rescribendum; sed idcirco sum tardior, quod non invenio fidelem tabellarium. Quotus enim quisque est, qui epistulam paulo graviorem ferre possit, nisi eam pellectione relevarit ? Accedit eo, quod mihi non est notum ut quisque in Epirum proficiscitur. Ego enim te arbitror caesis apud Amaltheam tuam victimis, statim esse ad Sicyonem oppugnandum profectum, neque tamen id ipsum certum habeo, quando ad Antonium proficiscare, aut quid in Epiro temporis ponas. Ita neque Achaicis hominibus neque Epiroticis paulo liberiores litteras committere audeo. Sunt autem post discessum a me tuum res dignae litteris nostris, sed non committendae eius modi periculo, ut aut interire aut aperiri aut intercipi possint. Primum igitur scito primum me non esse rogatum sententiam praepositumque esse nobis pacificatorem Allobrogum, idque admurmurante senatu neque me invito esse factum. Sum enim et ab observando homine perverso liber et ad dignitatem in re publica retinendam contra illius voluntatem solutus, et ille secundus in dicendo locus habet auctoritatem paene principis et voluntatem non nimis devinctam beneficio consulis. Tertius est Catulus, quartus, si etiam hoc quaeris, Hortensius. Consul autem ipse parvo animo et pravo tamen cavillator genere illo moroso, quod etiam sine dicacitate ridetur, facie magis quam facetiis ridiculus, nihil agens cum re publica, seiunctus ab optimatibus, a quo nihil speres boni rei publicae, quia non vult, nihil speres mali, quia non audet. Eius autem collega et in me perhonorificus et partium studiosus ac defensor bonarum. Qui nunc leviter inter se dissident. Sed vereor, ne hoc, quod infectum est, serpat longius. Credo enim te audisse, cum apud Caesarem pro populo fieret, venisse eo muliebri vestitu virum, idque sacrificium cum virgines instaurrassent, mentionem a Q. Cornificio in senatu tactam (is fuit princeps, ne tu forte aliquem nostrum putes); postea rem ex senatus consulto ad virgines atque ad pontifices relatam idque ab iis nefas esse decretum; diende ex senatus consulto consules rogationem promulgasse; uxori Caesarem nuntium re misisse. In hac causa Piso amicitia P. Clodi ductus operam dat, ut ea rogatio, quam ipse fert et fert ex senatus consulto et de religione, antiquetur. Messalla vehementer adhuc agit severe. Boni viri precibus Clodi removentur a causa, operae comparantur, nosmet ipsi, qui Lycurgei a principio fuissemus, cotidie demitigamur, instat et urget Cato. Quid multa ? Vereor, ne haec neglecta a bonis, defensa ab improbis magnorum rei publicae malorum causa sit. Tuus autem ille amicus (scin, quem dicam?), de quo tu ad me scripsisti, posteaquam non auderet reprehendere, laudare coepisse, nos, ut ostendit, admodum diligit, amplectitur, amat, aperte laudat, occulte, sed ita, ut perspicuum sit, invidet. Nihil come, nihil simplex, nihil en tois politikois illustre, nihil honestum, nihil forte, nihil liberum. Sed haec ad te scribam alias subtilius; nam neque adhuc mihi satis nota sunt, et huic terrae filio nescio cui committere epistulam tantis de rebus non audeo. Provincias praetores nondum sortiti sunt. Res eodem est loci, quo reliquisti. Topothesian , quam postulas, Miseni et Puteolorum, includam orationi meae. "A. d. III Non. Decembr." mendose fuisse animadverteram. Quae laudas ex orationibus, mihi crede, valde mihi placebant, sed non audebam antea dicere; nunc vero, quod a te probata sunt, multo mi attikotera videntur. In illam orationem Metellinam addidi quaedam. Liber tibi mittetur, quoniam te amor nostri philretora reddidit. Novi tibi quidnam scribam? quid? etiam. Messalla consul Autronianam domum emit HS [+134,000+]. " Quid id ad me ?" inquies. Tantum, quod ea emptione et nos bene emisse iudicati sumus, et homines intellegere coeperunt licere amicorum facultatibus in emendo ad dignitatem aliquam pervenire. Teucris illa lentum negotium est, sed tamen est in spe. Tu ista confice. A nobis liberiorem epistulam exspecta. VI Kal. Febr. M. Messalla, M. Pisone coss.