Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 49 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
"Although I had decided that you would do nothing rash or imprudent, I have nevertheless been moved by what people are saying. I thought I should write to you, and, in view of our goodwill toward each other, ask you not to go now, when the situation has already turned in my favor, to a place you did not think you needed to go while everything was still undecided.
"You will do a more serious injury to our friendship, and consult your own interests less well, if you seem to be following neither fortune, since everything has turned out most favorably for us and most unfavorably for them, nor the cause, since the cause was the same when you judged it best to keep away from their plans, but instead seem to condemn some action of mine. Nothing more painful can happen to me from you.
"I ask you, by the right of our friendship, not to do this. Finally, what is more fitting for a good, quiet man and a good citizen than to stand apart from civil quarrels? Some approved this course but could not follow it because of danger. You, with the proof of my life examined and with friendship as your guide, will find nothing safer or more honorable than to stay clear of the whole conflict.
"April 16, on the road."
"Although I had concluded that you would do nothing rashly or imprudently, nevertheless I have been so stirred by what people say that I thought it best to write to you and ask you in the name of our goodwill to each other not to go anywhere, now that fortune inclines my way, where you did not think it
necessary to go before anything was certain. For you will have done a serious injury to our friendship and consulted your own interest very little, if you show that you are not following fortune (for everything that has happened seems most favourable to me and most unfavourable to Pompey), nor yet following the right cause (for the cause was the same then, when you thought fit to hold aloof from it), but that you have condemned some act of mine, the greatest harm you could do me. Do not take such a step, I pray you by the right of our friendship. Finally what better befits a good and peaceful man and a loyal citizen than to keep out of civil disturbance. There are some who approved such a course, but could not follow it because of the danger. But you may examine the evidence of my life and the opinion given by my friendship; you will find no safer or more honourable course than to keep quite clear of the quarrel.
"April 16 on the march."
[1] etsi te nihil temere, nihil imprudenter facturum iudicaram, tamen permotus hominum fama scribendum ad te existimavi et pro nostra benevolentia petendum ne quo progredereris proclinata iam re quo integra etiam progrediendum tibi non existimasses. namque et amicitiae graviorem iniuriam feceris et tibi minus commode consulueris, si non fortunae obsecutus videberis (omnia enim secundissima nobis, adversissima illis accidisse videntur), nec causam secutus (eadem enim tum fuit cum ab eorum consiliis abesse iudicasti), sed meum aliquod factum condemnavisse; quo mihi gravius abs te nil accidere potest. [2] quod ne facias pro iure nostrae amicitiae a te peto. postremo quid viro bono et quieto et bono civi magis convenit quam abesse a civilibus controversiis? quod non nulli cum probarent, periculi causa sequi non potuerunt; tu explorato et vitae meae testimonio et amicitiae iudicio neque tutius neque honestius reperies quicquam quam ab omni contentione abesse. xv Kal. Maias ex itinere.
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"Although I had decided that you would do nothing rash or imprudent, I have nevertheless been moved by what people are saying. I thought I should write to you, and, in view of our goodwill toward each other, ask you not to go now, when the situation has already turned in my favor, to a place you did not think you needed to go while everything was still undecided.
"You will do a more serious injury to our friendship, and consult your own interests less well, if you seem to be following neither fortune, since everything has turned out most favorably for us and most unfavorably for them, nor the cause, since the cause was the same when you judged it best to keep away from their plans, but instead seem to condemn some action of mine. Nothing more painful can happen to me from you.
"I ask you, by the right of our friendship, not to do this. Finally, what is more fitting for a good, quiet man and a good citizen than to stand apart from civil quarrels? Some approved this course but could not follow it because of danger. You, with the proof of my life examined and with friendship as your guide, will find nothing safer or more honorable than to stay clear of the whole conflict.
"April 16, on the road."
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
[1] etsi te nihil temere, nihil imprudenter facturum iudicaram, tamen permotus hominum fama scribendum ad te existimavi et pro nostra benevolentia petendum ne quo progredereris proclinata iam re quo integra etiam progrediendum tibi non existimasses. namque et amicitiae graviorem iniuriam feceris et tibi minus commode consulueris, si non fortunae obsecutus videberis (omnia enim secundissima nobis, adversissima illis accidisse videntur), nec causam secutus (eadem enim tum fuit cum ab eorum consiliis abesse iudicasti), sed meum aliquod factum condemnavisse; quo mihi gravius abs te nil accidere potest. [2] quod ne facias pro iure nostrae amicitiae a te peto. postremo quid viro bono et quieto et bono civi magis convenit quam abesse a civilibus controversiis? quod non nulli cum probarent, periculi causa sequi non potuerunt; tu explorato et vitae meae testimonio et amicitiae iudicio neque tutius neque honestius reperies quicquam quam ab omni contentione abesse. xv Kal. Maias ex itinere.