Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 46 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
Sicca was surprised that Silius had changed his mind. For my part, I am more surprised that, when he was laying the blame on his son (a reason that does not seem unjust to me, since he has the sort of son he wants), you say you think that, if we throw in some other property for him to fall back on, he will sell, since this was his own intention.
[2] You ask me what top price I would set, and how much I rate those gardens of Drusus above the others. I have never been to them; the Coponian villa I do know, both the old part and the not-large part, a fine wood, but the yield of neither property, which all the same I think we ought to know. But for my purposes either of these properties is to be valued by my own circumstances rather than by any rational reckoning. Whether or not I can manage it, I would have you consider. For if I were to sell the Faberian holding, I would not hesitate to settle the matter of the Silian property even by cash down, provided only that he could be brought to sell. If he had it not for sale, I would go over to Drusus's, even at the price Egnatius told you he wanted for it. Hermogenes too can be a great help to me in raising the cash down. But allow me, please, to be in the frame of mind that a man eager to buy ought to be in; and yet I am so much a slave to my own desire and grief that I want to be guided by you.
As I said in my letter yesterday, if Silius is the sort of man you think him and Drusus is hard to deal with, I should like you to approach Damasippus. He
I think, has divided up his property on the banks of the Tiber into lots of so and so many acres with fixed prices, which I don't know. So write and tell me, whatever you do.
I am much disturbed about dear Attica's ill-health, it almost makes me fear it is somebody's fault. But the good character of her tutor, the attention of her doctor, and the carefulness of the whole household in every way forbid me to entertain that suspicion. So take care of her. I can write no more.
Silium mutasse sententiam Sicca mirabatur. equidem magis miror quod, cum in filium causam conferret quae mihi non iniusta videtur (habet enim qualem vult), ais te putare, si addiderimus aliud a quo refugiat, cum ab ipso id fuerit destinatum, venditurum. [2] quaeris a me quod summum pretium constituam et quantum anteire istos hortos Drusi. accessi numquam; Coponianam villam et veterem <et> non magnam novi, silvam nobilem, fructum autem neutrius, quod tamen puto nos scire oportere. sed mihi utrivis istorum tempore magis meo quam ratione aestimandi sunt. possim autem adsequi necne tu velim cogites. si enim Faberianum venderem, explicare vel repraesentatione non dubitarem de Silianis, si modo adduceretur ut venderet. si venalis non haberet, transirem ad Drusum vel tanti quanti Egnatius illum velle tibi dixit. Magno etiam adiumento nobis Hermogenes potest esse in repraesentando. at tu concede mihi, quaeso, ut eo animo sim quo is debeat esse qui emere cupiat, et tamen ita servio cupiditati et dolori meo ut a te regi velim.
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Sicca was surprised that Silius had changed his mind. For my part, I am more surprised that, when he was laying the blame on his son (a reason that does not seem unjust to me, since he has the sort of son he wants), you say you think that, if we throw in some other property for him to fall back on, he will sell, since this was his own intention.
[2] You ask me what top price I would set, and how much I rate those gardens of Drusus above the others. I have never been to them; the Coponian villa I do know, both the old part and the not-large part, a fine wood, but the yield of neither property, which all the same I think we ought to know. But for my purposes either of these properties is to be valued by my own circumstances rather than by any rational reckoning. Whether or not I can manage it, I would have you consider. For if I were to sell the Faberian holding, I would not hesitate to settle the matter of the Silian property even by cash down, provided only that he could be brought to sell. If he had it not for sale, I would go over to Drusus's, even at the price Egnatius told you he wanted for it. Hermogenes too can be a great help to me in raising the cash down. But allow me, please, to be in the frame of mind that a man eager to buy ought to be in; and yet I am so much a slave to my own desire and grief that I want to be guided by you.
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
Silium mutasse sententiam Sicca mirabatur. equidem magis miror quod, cum in filium causam conferret quae mihi non iniusta videtur (habet enim qualem vult), ais te putare, si addiderimus aliud a quo refugiat, cum ab ipso id fuerit destinatum, venditurum. [2] quaeris a me quod summum pretium constituam et quantum anteire istos hortos Drusi. accessi numquam; Coponianam villam et veterem <et> non magnam novi, silvam nobilem, fructum autem neutrius, quod tamen puto nos scire oportere. sed mihi utrivis istorum tempore magis meo quam ratione aestimandi sunt. possim autem adsequi necne tu velim cogites. si enim Faberianum venderem, explicare vel repraesentatione non dubitarem de Silianis, si modo adduceretur ut venderet. si venalis non haberet, transirem ad Drusum vel tanti quanti Egnatius illum velle tibi dixit. Magno etiam adiumento nobis Hermogenes potest esse in repraesentando. at tu concede mihi, quaeso, ut eo animo sim quo is debeat esse qui emere cupiat, et tamen ita servio cupiditati et dolori meo ut a te regi velim.