Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 46 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
I have no doubt you have been extremely busy, since you sent me not a line; but the fellow is a worthless rascal not to have waited for your convenience, when he had been sent for that one purpose alone. As things stand now, unless something has detained you, I suspect you are at your place outside the city. As for me, I find no real relief here in writing the whole day through, but at least I get some distraction.
[2] Asinius Pollio has written to me about that filthy kinsman of ours. The younger Balbus did so recently in fairly plain terms, Dolabella obscurely, but this man in the most open way of all. I would take it hard if there were room for any fresh grief. But still--could anything be filthier? What a man to beware of! And yet for my own part--but I must hold my pain in check. As for you, since there is no necessity, you will write something only if you have the leisure.
I have nothing to write. But I want to know, where you are; and, if you are away or are going away, when you will return. So please send me word. You wanted to know, when I am leaving here: I have made up my mind to stay at Lanuvium on the 16th, and then at Tusculum or at Rome on the next day. Which I am going to do, you shall know on the day itself.
You know how full of grievances misfortune makes one. I have none against you; but still I have a hungry longing for the shrine. I will venture to say so much, and you must take it as you usually do, that unless I see it being built, I don't say finished, my resentment will redound on you, quite unjustly, but you will put up with what I am saying, as you put up with all my moods and always have put up with them. I wish you would confine your attempts at consolation to that one point. If you want to know my wishes, I choose Scapula's place
first, and then Clodia's: after them, if Silius won't agree and Drusus acts unfairly, Cusinius' and Trebonius' property. I think there is a third owner: I know for certain that Rebilus was one. If however you prefer my place at Tusculum, as you hinted in a letter, I will agree. Get the thing finished somehow, if you want to see me consoled. You are blaming me already more severely than is your wont, but you do it most affectionately, and I suppose it is my fault for making you do so. However, if you wish to see me consoled, this is the best consolation, or rather, to tell the truth, the only one.
If you have read Hirtius' letter, which seems to me a sort of first sketch of the tirade Caesar has written against Cato, let me know what you think of it, if you can. I return to the shrine. If it is not finished this summer (and we have the whole summer before us), I shall not think myself free from guilt.
non dubito quin occupatissimus fueris qui ad me nihil litterarum; sed homo nequam qui tuum commodum non exspectarit, cum ob eam unam causam missus esset. nunc quidem, nisi quid te tenuit, suspicor te esse in suburbano. at ego hic scribendo dies totos nihil equidem levor sed tamen aberro. [2] Asinius Pollio ad me scripsit de impuro nostro cognato. quod Balbus minor nuper satis plane, Dolabella obscure, hic apertissime. ferrem graviter si novae aegrimoniae locus esset. sed tamen ecquid impurius? O hominem cavendum! quamquam mihi quidem--sed tenendus dolor est. tu, quoniam necesse nihil est, sic scribes ali quid si vacabis.
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I have no doubt you have been extremely busy, since you sent me not a line; but the fellow is a worthless rascal not to have waited for your convenience, when he had been sent for that one purpose alone. As things stand now, unless something has detained you, I suspect you are at your place outside the city. As for me, I find no real relief here in writing the whole day through, but at least I get some distraction.
[2] Asinius Pollio has written to me about that filthy kinsman of ours. The younger Balbus did so recently in fairly plain terms, Dolabella obscurely, but this man in the most open way of all. I would take it hard if there were room for any fresh grief. But still--could anything be filthier? What a man to beware of! And yet for my own part--but I must hold my pain in check. As for you, since there is no necessity, you will write something only if you have the leisure.
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
non dubito quin occupatissimus fueris qui ad me nihil litterarum; sed homo nequam qui tuum commodum non exspectarit, cum ob eam unam causam missus esset. nunc quidem, nisi quid te tenuit, suspicor te esse in suburbano. at ego hic scribendo dies totos nihil equidem levor sed tamen aberro. [2] Asinius Pollio ad me scripsit de impuro nostro cognato. quod Balbus minor nuper satis plane, Dolabella obscure, hic apertissime. ferrem graviter si novae aegrimoniae locus esset. sed tamen ecquid impurius? O hominem cavendum! quamquam mihi quidem--sed tenendus dolor est. tu, quoniam necesse nihil est, sic scribes ali quid si vacabis.