Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 46 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
When the courier came to me without a letter from you, I supposed that your reason for not writing was that the day before you had written that very letter to which I have replied. Still, I had been expecting something about the letter of Asinius Pollio. But I am judging your leisure too much by my own. Even so, I release you from the obligation: unless there is some necessity, you need not feel bound to write unless you are thoroughly at leisure.
[2] As for the couriers, I would do what you advise, if there were any necessary letters to send, as there used to be in the old days, when even on the shorter days they would answer in time with a daily message, and there was always something to report: Silius, Drusus, this or that other matter. Now, if Otho had not turned up, there would have been nothing for me to write about; and even that has been put off. Yet I find relief when I talk with you in your absence, and much more still when I read your letters. But since you are away (so I think) and there is no necessity of writing, my letters shall rest, unless something new arises.
It had occurred to me to advise you to do exactly what you are doing. For I thought you could get that particular business over more conveniently at home without any fear of interruption.
As I said before, I intend to stop at Lanuvium on the 16th, and then either at Rome or Tusculum. You shall know in advance which. You are right in saying that will lighten my sorrow, but believe me it will do so to an extent which you cannot imagine. How eagerly I desire it you can judge from my daring to confess it to you, though I think you do not very much approve of it. But you must bear with my aberration. Bear with it? Nay you must help me in it. I have doubts about Otho, perhaps because I am eager for his place. But anyhow the property is beyond my means, especially
when we have to bid against a man, who is eager for the place, wealthy and one of his heirs. What I should prefer after that is Clodia's. But, if nothing can be done about those, do anything. I count myself more bound by sacred obligation than anyone ever was by any vow. Look into Trebonius' place too, though the owners are away. But, as I wrote yesterday, consider my Tusculan place too, that the summer may not slip away. That certainly must not happen.
tabellarius ad me cum sine litteris tuis venisset, existimavi tibi eam causam non scribendi fuisse quod pridie scripsisses ea ipsa ad quam rescripsi epistula. exspectaram tamen aliquid de litteris Asini Pollionis. sed nimium ex meo otio tuum specto. quamquam tibi remitto, nisi quid necesse erit, necesse ne habeas scribere nisi eris valde otiosus. [2] de tabellariis facerem quod suades, si essent ullae necessariae litterae, ut erant olim cum tamen brevioribus diebus cotidie respondebant tempori tabellam, et erat aliquid, Silius, Drusus, alia quaedam. nunc nisi Otho exstitisset, quod scriberemus non erat; <id> ipsum dilatum est. tamen adlevor cum loquor tecum absens, multo etiam magis cum tuas litteras lego. sed quoniam et abes (sic enim arbitror) et scribendi necessitas nulla est, conquiescent litterae nisi quid novi exstiterit.
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When the courier came to me without a letter from you, I supposed that your reason for not writing was that the day before you had written that very letter to which I have replied. Still, I had been expecting something about the letter of Asinius Pollio. But I am judging your leisure too much by my own. Even so, I release you from the obligation: unless there is some necessity, you need not feel bound to write unless you are thoroughly at leisure.
[2] As for the couriers, I would do what you advise, if there were any necessary letters to send, as there used to be in the old days, when even on the shorter days they would answer in time with a daily message, and there was always something to report: Silius, Drusus, this or that other matter. Now, if Otho had not turned up, there would have been nothing for me to write about; and even that has been put off. Yet I find relief when I talk with you in your absence, and much more still when I read your letters. But since you are away (so I think) and there is no necessity of writing, my letters shall rest, unless something new arises.
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
tabellarius ad me cum sine litteris tuis venisset, existimavi tibi eam causam non scribendi fuisse quod pridie scripsisses ea ipsa ad quam rescripsi epistula. exspectaram tamen aliquid de litteris Asini Pollionis. sed nimium ex meo otio tuum specto. quamquam tibi remitto, nisi quid necesse erit, necesse ne habeas scribere nisi eris valde otiosus. [2] de tabellariis facerem quod suades, si essent ullae necessariae litterae, ut erant olim cum tamen brevioribus diebus cotidie respondebant tempori tabellam, et erat aliquid, Silius, Drusus, alia quaedam. nunc nisi Otho exstitisset, quod scriberemus non erat; <id> ipsum dilatum est. tamen adlevor cum loquor tecum absens, multo etiam magis cum tuas litteras lego. sed quoniam et abes (sic enim arbitror) et scribendi necessitas nulla est, conquiescent litterae nisi quid novi exstiterit.