Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 46 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
Sicca has written to me carefully about the Silius business, and says that he has reported the matter to you; and you write the same thing yourself. Both the property and the terms please me, but on this condition: that I should prefer cash down to a valuation in lieu of payment. For Silius will not want the pleasure-properties; whereas, just as I can be content with the income-producing ones that I have, so I could hardly be content with smaller ones. Where, then, is the cash to come from? You will squeeze 600,000 sesterces out of Hermogenes, especially since it will be necessary, and I see that there are 600,000 sesterces at home. For the rest of the money we will even pay Silius interest, until we can produce the cash from Faberius, or from someone who owes money to Faberius. There will also be something to come from somewhere. But you will steer the whole affair.
[2] As for the gardens of Drusus, I much prefer this property, and they have never even been comparable. Believe me, one consideration alone moves me, and in it I know that I am being deluded [tetyphosthai, "puffed up," carried away by vanity]. But, as you are doing, indulge me in this error of mine. For as to what you write about an "e(n)gerama" [engērama, a retreat for one's old age], that is now a settled matter; I am after other things more.
As to the business with Silius, I know the terms well enough, but I expect to hear full details from Sicca to-day. Cotta's place, which you say you don't know, is beyond Silius' house, which I think you know. It is a shabby little house and very tiny, with no ground, and not big enough for anything except the purpose for which I require it. I am looking for a public position. But, if the matter is being settled about Silius' gardens,—that is, if you settle it, for it rests entirely with you—there is no reason for thinking of Cotta.
About my son I will do as you say. I will leave
the time to him. See that he is provided with a bill of exchange for as much as is necessary. If you have been able to get anything out of Aledius, as you say, write and tell me. I gather from your letter, and certainly you will from mine, that we have nothing to say to each other—the same old things day after day, though they are long ago worn threadbare. Still I cannot help sending to you every day to get a letter from you. However tell me about Brutus, if you have any information. For I suppose he knows now where to expect Pansa. If, as is generally the case, on the border of his province, he ought to be here about the first of the month. I wish it were later; for there are plenty of reasons why I shun the city. So I am even wondering whether I should make some excuse to him. I could do so easily enough. But there is plenty of time to think about it. My greetings to Pilia and Attica.
scripsit ad me diligenter Sicca de Silio seque ad te rem detulisse; quod tu idem scribis. mihi et res et condicio placet sed ita ut numerato malim quam aestimatione. voluptarias enim possessiones nolet Silius; vectigalibus autem ut his possum esse contentus quae habeo, sic vix minoribus. unde ergo numerato? HS DC exprimes ab Hermogene, cum praesertim necesse erit et domi video esse HS DC. reliquae pecuniae vel usuram Silio pendemus, dum a Faberio vel cum aliquo qui Faberio debet repraesentabimus. erit etiam aliquid alicunde. sed totam rem tu gubernabis. [2] Drusianis vero hortis multo antepono neque sunt umquam comparati. mihi crede, una me causa movet in qua scio me tetufw=sqai . sed, ut facis, obsequere huic errori meo. nam quod scribis ' e)ggh/rama ,' actum iam de isto est; alia magis quaero.
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Sicca has written to me carefully about the Silius business, and says that he has reported the matter to you; and you write the same thing yourself. Both the property and the terms please me, but on this condition: that I should prefer cash down to a valuation in lieu of payment. For Silius will not want the pleasure-properties; whereas, just as I can be content with the income-producing ones that I have, so I could hardly be content with smaller ones. Where, then, is the cash to come from? You will squeeze 600,000 sesterces out of Hermogenes, especially since it will be necessary, and I see that there are 600,000 sesterces at home. For the rest of the money we will even pay Silius interest, until we can produce the cash from Faberius, or from someone who owes money to Faberius. There will also be something to come from somewhere. But you will steer the whole affair.
[2] As for the gardens of Drusus, I much prefer this property, and they have never even been comparable. Believe me, one consideration alone moves me, and in it I know that I am being deluded [tetyphosthai, "puffed up," carried away by vanity]. But, as you are doing, indulge me in this error of mine. For as to what you write about an "e(n)gerama" [engērama, a retreat for one's old age], that is now a settled matter; I am after other things more.
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
scripsit ad me diligenter Sicca de Silio seque ad te rem detulisse; quod tu idem scribis. mihi et res et condicio placet sed ita ut numerato malim quam aestimatione. voluptarias enim possessiones nolet Silius; vectigalibus autem ut his possum esse contentus quae habeo, sic vix minoribus. unde ergo numerato? HS DC exprimes ab Hermogene, cum praesertim necesse erit et domi video esse HS DC. reliquae pecuniae vel usuram Silio pendemus, dum a Faberio vel cum aliquo qui Faberio debet repraesentabimus. erit etiam aliquid alicunde. sed totam rem tu gubernabis. [2] Drusianis vero hortis multo antepono neque sunt umquam comparati. mihi crede, una me causa movet in qua scio me tetufw=sqai . sed, ut facis, obsequere huic errori meo. nam quod scribis ' e)ggh/rama ,' actum iam de isto est; alia magis quaero.