Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 47 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
I received the sealed memorandum Anteros brought from you, but it told me nothing about my private affairs. I am deeply distressed about them, because Philotimus, who was managing them, is not in Rome, and I have no idea where in the world he is. My whole hope of preserving my credit and my property rests on your tried and proven kindness to me.
If you show that kindness in this final desperate crisis, I will face the dangers I share with the others more bravely. I beg and implore you to do it. I have nearly eighteen thousand in local currency in Asia. A bill of exchange for that amount will make it easy for you to maintain my credit. If I had not thought I was leaving everything balanced - trusting a man whom you have long known I should not have trusted - I would have delayed a little longer and not left my private affairs entangled.
I have been rather slow in writing to you about this because it took me a long time to understand what I had to fear. Again and again I beg you to undertake my protection in every way, so that if the people now with me are spared, I too may remain free from embarrassment with them and owe my safety to your kindness.
I got your sealed document, which Anteros brought. It gave me no information about my private affairs. I am exceedingly distressed about them, because Philotimus, who managed them, is not at Rome, nor do I know where in the world he is. And my whole hope of preserving my credit and private property lies in your tried and proved kindness towards me. If in this last desperate crisis you still show that, I shall face the dangers which I share with others more courageously: and I adjure and beseech you to do so. I have in local currency in Asia nearly £18,000. By a bill of exchange for that amount it will be easy for you to maintain my credit. Unless I had thought I were leaving it all square (trusting one, whom you have long since known I ought not to have trusted), I should have delayed a little longer and not left my private concerns embarrassed. The reason why I have been rather long in writing to you about it, is that I was a long time in gathering what was to be feared. Again and again I beseech you that you undertake to protect me in every way, so that, supposing my present associates are spared, I may along with them remain unembarrassed and put down my safety to your kindness.
[1] accepi a te signatum libellum quem Anteros attulerat; ex quo nihil scire potui de nostris domesticis rebus. de quibus acerbissime adflictor quod qui eas dispensavit neque adest istic neque ubi terrarum sit scio. omnem autem spem habeo existimationis privatarumque rerum in tua erga me mihi perspectissima benevolentia. quam si his temporibus miseris et extremis praestiteris, haec pericula quae mihi communia sunt cum ceteris fortius feram; idque ut facias te obtestor atque obsecro. [2] ego in cistophoro in Asia habeo ad sestertium bis et viciens. huius pecuniae permutatione fidem nostram facile tuebere; quam quidem ego nisi expeditam relinquere me putassem credens ei cui tu scis iam pridem minime credere (me debere), commoratus essem paulisper nec domesticas res impeditas reliquissem. ob eamque causam serius ad te scribo quod sero intellexi quid timendum esset. te etiam atque etiam oro ut me totum tuendum suscipias, ut, si ii salvi erunt quibuscum sum, una cum iis possim incolumis esse salutemque meam benevolentiae tuae acceptam referre.
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I received the sealed memorandum Anteros brought from you, but it told me nothing about my private affairs. I am deeply distressed about them, because Philotimus, who was managing them, is not in Rome, and I have no idea where in the world he is. My whole hope of preserving my credit and my property rests on your tried and proven kindness to me.
If you show that kindness in this final desperate crisis, I will face the dangers I share with the others more bravely. I beg and implore you to do it. I have nearly eighteen thousand in local currency in Asia. A bill of exchange for that amount will make it easy for you to maintain my credit. If I had not thought I was leaving everything balanced - trusting a man whom you have long known I should not have trusted - I would have delayed a little longer and not left my private affairs entangled.
I have been rather slow in writing to you about this because it took me a long time to understand what I had to fear. Again and again I beg you to undertake my protection in every way, so that if the people now with me are spared, I too may remain free from embarrassment with them and owe my safety to your kindness.
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] accepi a te signatum libellum quem Anteros attulerat; ex quo nihil scire potui de nostris domesticis rebus. de quibus acerbissime adflictor quod qui eas dispensavit neque adest istic neque ubi terrarum sit scio. omnem autem spem habeo existimationis privatarumque rerum in tua erga me mihi perspectissima benevolentia. quam si his temporibus miseris et extremis praestiteris, haec pericula quae mihi communia sunt cum ceteris fortius feram; idque ut facias te obtestor atque obsecro. [2] ego in cistophoro in Asia habeo ad sestertium bis et viciens. huius pecuniae permutatione fidem nostram facile tuebere; quam quidem ego nisi expeditam relinquere me putassem credens ei cui tu scis iam pridem minime credere (me debere), commoratus essem paulisper nec domesticas res impeditas reliquissem. ob eamque causam serius ad te scribo quod sero intellexi quid timendum esset. te etiam atque etiam oro ut me totum tuendum suscipias, ut, si ii salvi erunt quibuscum sum, una cum iis possim incolumis esse salutemque meam benevolentiae tuae acceptam referre.