Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 60 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
On the geography we shall deliberate again and again. As for the speeches, you demand two of me; of these, the one I had no wish to write [the text is corrupt here], the other, lest I should praise a man whom I did not love. But that too we shall look into. In the end something will be produced, so that we may not seem to you to have been entirely idle. [2] The things you write to me about Publius are indeed agreeable to me, and I should like you to bring them to me, tracked down by every footprint, when you come, and meanwhile to write if you perceive or suspect anything, and above all what he is going to do about the legation. For my own part, before I read your letter, I was eager to go after the fellow, not, by Hercules, in order to put off my appointed day in court with him (for I am of marvelous keenness for litigation), but it seemed to me that, if there were anything popular in him for his having been made a plebeian, he would lose it. 'Why, what? Did you cross over to the plebs in order to go and pay your respects to Tigranes? Tell me, are the kings of Armenia not in the habit of returning the salutations of patricians?' In short, I had sharpened myself for harrying this legation of his. And if he despises it, and if, as you write, it stirs the bile both of the proposers and of the sponsors of the curiate law, it will be a splendid spectacle. By Hercules, to speak the truth, our friend Publius is treated somewhat contemptuously: first, in that, although he was once the one man in Caesar's household, now he could not even be among twenty; then, one legation was promised, another was given. That rich one, for exacting moneys, is reserved, I suppose, for Drusus of Pisaurum, or for Vatinius the feaster; this meager courier's legation is given to a man whose tribunate is being reserved for the convenience of those people. Set the fellow on fire, I beg you, in whatever way you can. The one hope of our safety is dissension among those people; of which I have perceived certain beginnings from Curio. And now indeed Arrius rages that the consulship has been snatched from him; Megabocchus and that bloodthirsty youth are most hostile. Let there be added too, let there be added also that brawl over the augurate. I hope I shall often send you splendid letters about these matters. [4] But that thing I am eager to know what it is, which you throw out obscurely, that now even some of the five men themselves are talking. What on earth is it? For if there is anything in it, there is more good than I had thought. And I should like you so to judge of this, that I am not asking you from a practical motive [Greek: kata to praktikon, 'with a view to action'], as though my mind were itching to do something in public affairs. Long ago it began to weary me to steer, even when it was permitted; but now indeed, when I am compelled to leave the ship not having thrown away the rudder but having had it snatched from me, I long to behold their shipwrecks from the land, I long, as your friend Sophocles says, 'even beneath a roof to hear the thick patter of rain with a slumbering mind.' [5] About the wall you will see what is needed. I shall correct the Castricius error, and yet Quintus had written to me 1,000,200 sesterces, not 30,000 sesterces to your sister [the figures are uncertain in the text]. Terentia sends you greeting. Cicero [his son] charges you to give Aristodemus the same answer about himself as you gave about his cousin, your sister's son. As to your reminding me about the Amaltheum, we shall not neglect it. Take care that you keep well.
I will give the geography further consideration. As to the two speeches you ask for, one I did not want to write down, because I had broken off in the middle, the other, because I had no desire to praise a man whom I did not like. But that too I will see about. Something shall appear anyhow, to convince you that I have not idled all my time away.
I am highly delighted with the news about Publius, please investigate all the details thoroughly, and bring a full account with you when you come. Meantime, if you pick up any hints, or draw any inferences, write to me, especially as to what he is going to do about the embassy. For my part, before 1 read your letter, I wished the man would go, not, I assure you, through any desire to postpone his impeachment—for I am extraordinarily anxious to conduct the case—but because I thought that he would lose any popularity he had gained by turning plebeian. “Why did you transfer yourself to the plebs? Was it to pay a visit to Tigranes? Pray tell me: don’t the kings of Armenia return the visit of a patrician?” As you see, I had sharpened my wits up to rally him on the subject of his embassy. But if he rejects it with scorn, and, as you say, thereby rouses the indignation of the proposers and augurs of the bill of adoption, it will be a grand sight. To speak the honest truth, you know, our friend Publius is being treated with very scant courtesy. In the first place, though he was once the only man in
Caesar’s house, now he has not a footing even among twenty; and in the second place, one embassy is talked of, and another is given to him. That fat post for levying money is reserved for Drusus of Pisaurum, I suppose, or for the gourmand Vatinius, while this barren messenger’s job is given to him, and his tribunate too has to wait their convenience. Fire the fellow’s resentment please, as much as you can. My one hope of safety lies in their mutual disagreement: and from Curio I gather that there is a hint of such a thing. Arrius is beginning to rage at being robbed of his consulship: Megabocchus and the rest of that bloodthirsty band of youths are at daggers drawn with them. And God grant there may come a dispute about this augurship on the top. I hope I shall have occasion to send you some of my very best letters and plenty of them on these topics.
But I am anxious to know the meaning of that dark hint of yours, that even some of the board of five commissioners are speaking their minds. What on earth can it be? If there really is anything in it, things are in a better way than I thought. Please don’t imagine that I ask the question with a view to action, because my soul is yearning to take part in politics. I have long been sick of holding the helm, even when I was allowed to do so: and now, when I have been marooned and the helm torn from my grasp without waiting for me to surrender it, my only desire is to watch their shipwreck from the dry land. I could wish, as your friend Sophocles says,
About the wall you will see what is necessary. I
will set the mistake about Castricius right; and yet Quintus wrote about £130 to me, though now to your sister he makes it nearly £260. Terentia sends her love; and my little boy commissions you to give Aristodemus the same answer for him as you gave for his cousin, your sister’s son. I won’t forget your reminder about your Amalthea. Take care of yourself.
de geographia etiam atque etiam deliberabimus. orationes autem a me duas postulas; quarum alteram non libebat mihi scribere +qui absciram+, alteram, ne laudarem eum quem non amabam. sed id quoque videbimus. denique aliquid exstabit, ne tibi plane cessasse videamur. [2] de Publio quae ad me scribis sane mihi iucunda sunt, eaque etiam velim omnibus vestigiis indagata ad me adferas cum venies, et interea scribas si quid intelleges aut suspicabere, et maxime de legatione quid sit acturus. equidem ante quam tuas legi litteras, +in+ hominem ire cupiebam, non me hercule ut differrem cum eo vadimonium (nam mira sum alacritate ad litigandum), sed videbatur mihi, si quid esset in eo populare quod plebeius factus esset, id amissurus. 'quid enim? ad plebem transisti ut Tigranem ires salutatum? narra mihi, reges Armenii patricios resalutare non solent?' quid quaeris? acueram <me> ad exagitandam hanc eius legationem. quam si ille contemnit, et si, ut scribis, bilem id commovet et latoribus et auspicibus legis curiatae, spectaculum egregium. hercule verum ut loquamur, subcontumeliose tractatur noster Publius, primum qui, cum domi Caesaris quondam unus vir fuerit, nunc ne in viginti quidem esse potuerit; deinde alia legatio dicta erat, alia data est. illa opima ad exigendas pecunias Druso, ut opinor, Pisaurensi an epuloni Vatinio reservatur; haec ieiuna tabellari legatio datur ei cuius tribunatus ad istorum tempora reservatur. incende hominem, amabo te, quod potes. Vna spes est salutis istorum inter istos dissensio; cuius ego quaedam initia sensi ex Curione. iam vero Arrius consulatum sibi ereptum fremit; Megabocchus et haec sanguinaria iuventus inimicissima est. accedat vero, accedat etiam ista rixa auguratus. spero me praeclaras de istis rebus epistulas ad te saepe missurum. [4] sed illud quid sit scire cupio, quod iacis obscure iam etiam ex ipsis quinque viris loqui quosdam. quidnam id est? si est enim aliquid, plus est boni quam putaram. atque haec sic velim existimes non me abs te kata to praktikon quaerere, quod gestiat animus aliquid agere in re publica. iam pridem gubernare me taedebat, etiam cum licebat; nunc vero cum cogar exire de navi non abiectis sed ereptis gubernaculis, cupio istorum naufragia ex terra intueri, cupio, ut ait tuus amicus Sophocles, kan hupo stegei puknes akouein psakados heudousei phreni. [5] de muro quid opus sit videbis. Castricianum mendum nos corrigemus, et tamen ad me Quintus HS cci&;[c] I[c][c] scripserat, +non ad sororem tuam HS xxx. a.+ Terentia tibi salutem dicit. Cicero tibi mandat ut Aristodemo idem de se respondeas quod de fratre suo, sororis tuae filio, respondisti. de Amaltheiai quod me admones non neglegemus. cura ut valeas.
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On the geography we shall deliberate again and again. As for the speeches, you demand two of me; of these, the one I had no wish to write [the text is corrupt here], the other, lest I should praise a man whom I did not love. But that too we shall look into. In the end something will be produced, so that we may not seem to you to have been entirely idle. [2] The things you write to me about Publius are indeed agreeable to me, and I should like you to bring them to me, tracked down by every footprint, when you come, and meanwhile to write if you perceive or suspect anything, and above all what he is going to do about the legation. For my own part, before I read your letter, I was eager to go after the fellow, not, by Hercules, in order to put off my appointed day in court with him (for I am of marvelous keenness for litigation), but it seemed to me that, if there were anything popular in him for his having been made a plebeian, he would lose it. 'Why, what? Did you cross over to the plebs in order to go and pay your respects to Tigranes? Tell me, are the kings of Armenia not in the habit of returning the salutations of patricians?' In short, I had sharpened myself for harrying this legation of his. And if he despises it, and if, as you write, it stirs the bile both of the proposers and of the sponsors of the curiate law, it will be a splendid spectacle. By Hercules, to speak the truth, our friend Publius is treated somewhat contemptuously: first, in that, although he was once the one man in Caesar's household, now he could not even be among twenty; then, one legation was promised, another was given. That rich one, for exacting moneys, is reserved, I suppose, for Drusus of Pisaurum, or for Vatinius the feaster; this meager courier's legation is given to a man whose tribunate is being reserved for the convenience of those people. Set the fellow on fire, I beg you, in whatever way you can. The one hope of our safety is dissension among those people; of which I have perceived certain beginnings from Curio. And now indeed Arrius rages that the consulship has been snatched from him; Megabocchus and that bloodthirsty youth are most hostile. Let there be added too, let there be added also that brawl over the augurate. I hope I shall often send you splendid letters about these matters. [4] But that thing I am eager to know what it is, which you throw out obscurely, that now even some of the five men themselves are talking. What on earth is it? For if there is anything in it, there is more good than I had thought. And I should like you so to judge of this, that I am not asking you from a practical motive [Greek: kata to praktikon, 'with a view to action'], as though my mind were itching to do something in public affairs. Long ago it began to weary me to steer, even when it was permitted; but now indeed, when I am compelled to leave the ship not having thrown away the rudder but having had it snatched from me, I long to behold their shipwrecks from the land, I long, as your friend Sophocles says, 'even beneath a roof to hear the thick patter of rain with a slumbering mind.' [5] About the wall you will see what is needed. I shall correct the Castricius error, and yet Quintus had written to me 1,000,200 sesterces, not 30,000 sesterces to your sister [the figures are uncertain in the text]. Terentia sends you greeting. Cicero [his son] charges you to give Aristodemus the same answer about himself as you gave about his cousin, your sister's son. As to your reminding me about the Amaltheum, we shall not neglect it. Take care that you keep well.
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
de geographia etiam atque etiam deliberabimus. orationes autem a me duas postulas; quarum alteram non libebat mihi scribere +qui absciram+, alteram, ne laudarem eum quem non amabam. sed id quoque videbimus. denique aliquid exstabit, ne tibi plane cessasse videamur. [2] de Publio quae ad me scribis sane mihi iucunda sunt, eaque etiam velim omnibus vestigiis indagata ad me adferas cum venies, et interea scribas si quid intelleges aut suspicabere, et maxime de legatione quid sit acturus. equidem ante quam tuas legi litteras, +in+ hominem ire cupiebam, non me hercule ut differrem cum eo vadimonium (nam mira sum alacritate ad litigandum), sed videbatur mihi, si quid esset in eo populare quod plebeius factus esset, id amissurus. 'quid enim? ad plebem transisti ut Tigranem ires salutatum? narra mihi, reges Armenii patricios resalutare non solent?' quid quaeris? acueram <me> ad exagitandam hanc eius legationem. quam si ille contemnit, et si, ut scribis, bilem id commovet et latoribus et auspicibus legis curiatae, spectaculum egregium. hercule verum ut loquamur, subcontumeliose tractatur noster Publius, primum qui, cum domi Caesaris quondam unus vir fuerit, nunc ne in viginti quidem esse potuerit; deinde alia legatio dicta erat, alia data est. illa opima ad exigendas pecunias Druso, ut opinor, Pisaurensi an epuloni Vatinio reservatur; haec ieiuna tabellari legatio datur ei cuius tribunatus ad istorum tempora reservatur. incende hominem, amabo te, quod potes. Vna spes est salutis istorum inter istos dissensio; cuius ego quaedam initia sensi ex Curione. iam vero Arrius consulatum sibi ereptum fremit; Megabocchus et haec sanguinaria iuventus inimicissima est. accedat vero, accedat etiam ista rixa auguratus. spero me praeclaras de istis rebus epistulas ad te saepe missurum. [4] sed illud quid sit scire cupio, quod iacis obscure iam etiam ex ipsis quinque viris loqui quosdam. quidnam id est? si est enim aliquid, plus est boni quam putaram. atque haec sic velim existimes non me abs te kata to praktikon quaerere, quod gestiat animus aliquid agere in re publica. iam pridem gubernare me taedebat, etiam cum licebat; nunc vero cum cogar exire de navi non abiectis sed ereptis gubernaculis, cupio istorum naufragia ex terra intueri, cupio, ut ait tuus amicus Sophocles, kan hupo stegei puknes akouein psakados heudousei phreni. [5] de muro quid opus sit videbis. Castricianum mendum nos corrigemus, et tamen ad me Quintus HS cci&;[c] I[c][c] scripserat, +non ad sororem tuam HS xxx. a.+ Terentia tibi salutem dicit. Cicero tibi mandat ut Aristodemo idem de se respondeas quod de fratre suo, sororis tuae filio, respondisti. de Amaltheiai quod me admones non neglegemus. cura ut valeas.