Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 46 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
There was nothing for me to write. Still, I wanted to know where you are; and if you are away, or are going to be away, when you mean to return. So do let me know. And as for what you wanted to know from me, namely when I would leave this place: I have decided to stay at Lanuvium on the day after the Ides, and from there, the day after that, to go either to my place at Tusculum or to Rome. You will learn on that very day which of the two I am going to do.
[2] You know how prone to fault-finding misfortune is [Greek: philaition he symphora, "misfortune is given to blaming"]—not in your case at all, but even so I have set my heart eagerly on the shrine; and unless I do not merely say it is finished but actually see it being built (I will dare to say this, and you will take it as you usually do), my grief will rush in upon you—unjustly, to be sure, yet you will bear even this very thing I write, just as you bear, and have borne, all that is mine. I should like you to bring all your powers of consolation to bear on this one matter. If you ask what I want: first the property of Scapula, then Clodia's; after that, if Silius is unwilling, Drusus will drive too hard a bargain; then the property of Cusinius and Trebonius. I think there is a third owner; that Rebilus was one I know for certain. But if you favor the Tusculan estate, as you hinted in one of your letters, I will agree with you. This at any rate you will surely accomplish, if you wish to relieve me—me, whom you now even reproach more sharply than your usual manner allows; yet you do it out of the greatest affection, and perhaps because you are overborne by a fault of mine. But all the same, if you wish to relieve me, this is the greatest relief—or, if you want to know the truth, the only one.
[4] If you have read Hirtius's letter, which seems to me a kind of preliminary sketch [Greek: proplasma, "a rough first model"] for that disparagement of Cato which Caesar wrote, you will let me know what you thought of it, if it is convenient for you. I return to the shrine. Unless it is finished this summer—which you see remains wholly before us—I shall not consider myself freed from the guilt.
That's good news about Attica. I am worried about your listlessness, though you say it is nothing. I shall find Tusculum more convenient, as I shall get letters from you more frequently and see you yourself at times: for in other respects things were more endurable at Astura. My feelings are not
more harrowed by galling memories here than there; though to be sure, wherever I am, they are with me. I wrote to you about your "neighbour" Caesar, because I learned about it from your letters. I would rather see him sharing the temple of Quirinus than of Safety. Yes, publish Hirtius' book. I thought the same as you say, that our friend's talent was shown by it, while its object, blackening Cato's character, only looked ridiculous.
nihil erat quod scriberem. scire tamen volebam ubi esses; si abes aut afuturus es, quando rediturus esses. facies igitur certiorem. et quod tu scire volebas ego quando ex hoc loco, postridie Idus Lanuvi constitui manere, inde postridie in Tusculano aut Romae. utrum sim facturus eo ipso die scies. [2] scis quam sit filai/tion sumfora/ , minime in te quidem, sed tamen avide sum adfectus de fano, quod nisi non dico effectum erit sed fieri videro (audebo hoc dicere et tu ut soles accipies), incursabit in te dolor meus non iure ille quidem sed tamen feres hoc ipsum quod scribo ut omnia mea fers ac tulisti. omnis tuas consolationes unam hanc in rem velim conferas. si quaeris quid optem, primum a Scapulae, deinde Clodiae, postea, si Silius nolet, Drusus aget iniuste, Cusini et Treboni. puto tertium esse dominum, Rebilum fuisse certo scio. sin autem tibi Tusculanum placet, ut significasti quibusdam litteris, tibi adsentiar. hoc quidem utique perficies, si me levari vis, quem iam etiam gravius accusas quam patitur tua consuetudo, sed facis summo amore et victus fortasse vitio meo. sed tamen si me levari vis, haec est summa levatio vel, si verum scire vis, una. [4] Hirti epistulam si legeris, quae mihi quasi pro/plasma videtur eius vituperationis quam Caesar scripsit de Catone, facies me quid tibi visum sit, si tibi erit commodum, certiorem. redeo ad fanum. nisi hac aestate absolutum erit quam vides integram restare, scelere me liberatum non putabo.
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There was nothing for me to write. Still, I wanted to know where you are; and if you are away, or are going to be away, when you mean to return. So do let me know. And as for what you wanted to know from me, namely when I would leave this place: I have decided to stay at Lanuvium on the day after the Ides, and from there, the day after that, to go either to my place at Tusculum or to Rome. You will learn on that very day which of the two I am going to do.
[2] You know how prone to fault-finding misfortune is [Greek: philaition he symphora, "misfortune is given to blaming"]—not in your case at all, but even so I have set my heart eagerly on the shrine; and unless I do not merely say it is finished but actually see it being built (I will dare to say this, and you will take it as you usually do), my grief will rush in upon you—unjustly, to be sure, yet you will bear even this very thing I write, just as you bear, and have borne, all that is mine. I should like you to bring all your powers of consolation to bear on this one matter. If you ask what I want: first the property of Scapula, then Clodia's; after that, if Silius is unwilling, Drusus will drive too hard a bargain; then the property of Cusinius and Trebonius. I think there is a third owner; that Rebilus was one I know for certain. But if you favor the Tusculan estate, as you hinted in one of your letters, I will agree with you. This at any rate you will surely accomplish, if you wish to relieve me—me, whom you now even reproach more sharply than your usual manner allows; yet you do it out of the greatest affection, and perhaps because you are overborne by a fault of mine. But all the same, if you wish to relieve me, this is the greatest relief—or, if you want to know the truth, the only one.
[4] If you have read Hirtius's letter, which seems to me a kind of preliminary sketch [Greek: proplasma, "a rough first model"] for that disparagement of Cato which Caesar wrote, you will let me know what you thought of it, if it is convenient for you. I return to the shrine. Unless it is finished this summer—which you see remains wholly before us—I shall not consider myself freed from the guilt.
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
nihil erat quod scriberem. scire tamen volebam ubi esses; si abes aut afuturus es, quando rediturus esses. facies igitur certiorem. et quod tu scire volebas ego quando ex hoc loco, postridie Idus Lanuvi constitui manere, inde postridie in Tusculano aut Romae. utrum sim facturus eo ipso die scies. [2] scis quam sit filai/tion sumfora/ , minime in te quidem, sed tamen avide sum adfectus de fano, quod nisi non dico effectum erit sed fieri videro (audebo hoc dicere et tu ut soles accipies), incursabit in te dolor meus non iure ille quidem sed tamen feres hoc ipsum quod scribo ut omnia mea fers ac tulisti. omnis tuas consolationes unam hanc in rem velim conferas. si quaeris quid optem, primum a Scapulae, deinde Clodiae, postea, si Silius nolet, Drusus aget iniuste, Cusini et Treboni. puto tertium esse dominum, Rebilum fuisse certo scio. sin autem tibi Tusculanum placet, ut significasti quibusdam litteris, tibi adsentiar. hoc quidem utique perficies, si me levari vis, quem iam etiam gravius accusas quam patitur tua consuetudo, sed facis summo amore et victus fortasse vitio meo. sed tamen si me levari vis, haec est summa levatio vel, si verum scire vis, una. [4] Hirti epistulam si legeris, quae mihi quasi pro/plasma videtur eius vituperationis quam Caesar scripsit de Catone, facies me quid tibi visum sit, si tibi erit commodum, certiorem. redeo ad fanum. nisi hac aestate absolutum erit quam vides integram restare, scelere me liberatum non putabo.