Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 45 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
Hilarus the copyist had just left on the fourth day before the Kalends, with the letter I had given him for you, when the courier arrived bearing your letter posted the day before. In it what gave me the greatest pleasure was that our dear Attica asks you not to be sad, and that you write that things are akinduna [free of danger].
[2] The speech for Ligarius, as I see, your influence has commended splendidly. For Balbus and Oppius have written to me that they think marvelously well of it, and that for this reason they have sent that little oration to Caesar. So this is the very same thing you had written to me earlier.
[3] In the matter of Varro, that consideration would not move me, namely the fear that I might seem philendoxos [overfond of glory] (for I had resolved to include in my dialogues none of those who were still living); but since you write both that Varro feels the lack of it and that he sets great store by it, I have composed and completed the work, I don't know how well, but with such care that nothing could go beyond it: the whole inquiry of the Academy in four books. In these I have given to Varro the arguments which Antiochus had brilliantly collected against akatalepsia [the impossibility of certain knowledge]. To these I myself reply; you are the third party in our conversation. If I had represented Cotta and Varro as disputing with each other, as you advise me in your most recent letter, my own would have been a kophon prosopon [a mute character].
[4] This is done pleasingly with persons of antiquity, as Heraclides has done in many works and as I have done in the six books 'On the Republic.' There are too my three books 'On the Orator,' which I think very highly of. In these as well the characters are such that I had to keep silent: for it is Crassus who speaks, and Antonius, old Catulus, Gaius Iulius the brother of Catulus, Cotta, and Sulpicius. I am brought into this conversation as a boy, so that there could be no part for me. But the works I have written in these times follow the Aristotelian manner, in which the conversation of the others is so introduced that the leading role rests with the author himself. Thus I composed five books peri telon [on the ends of good and evil] in such a way that I assigned the Epicurean doctrine to Lucius Torquatus, the Stoic to Marcus Cato, the Peripatetic to Marcus Piso. I had thought this would be azelotypeton [free from giving offense], because all of those men had died. This 'Academica,' as you know, I had attributed to Catulus, Lucullus, and Hortensius. To be sure, the arguments did not suit those characters; for they were more logical [logikotera] than that those men should ever seem to have dreamed of such things. And so, as soon as I read your letter about Varro, I snatched at it as a hermaion [a godsend]. Nothing could have been more fitting for that kind of philosophy in which he seems to me to take the greatest delight, and the roles are such that I have not arranged for my own side to seem the stronger. For the Antiochean arguments are vehemently plausible [pithana]; these, carefully expressed by me, have the acuteness of Antiochus together with the polish of my own style, if indeed there is any such thing in me. But you will consider again and again whether you think these books should be given to Varro. Certain misgivings occur to me; but those when we are face to face.
I have received a letter of consolation from Caesar, posted on the last of April at Hispalis. I did not understand what the proposals for improving the city are; and I should much like to know. I am not displeased that Torquatus is satisfied with my attentions, and I shall not cease to increase them. To the speech for Ligarius I cannot add anything now about Tubero's wife and step-daughter, since the speech is widely circulated, and I do not wish to offend Tubero; for he is most touchy. You certainly had a good audience. Though I am happy enough here, I am longing to see you; so I shall come as arranged. I think you have met my brother; so I am anxious to know what happened.
About my reputation I don't care a straw; though I did once write to you foolishly that there was nothing better; for it is not worth bothering about. And see what deep philosophy there is in this other sentiment of mine, "In all one's life one ought not to stray a nail's breadth from the straight path of conscience." Do you think I am engaged in philosophical treatises for nothing? I should be sorry for you to distress yourself about a mere nothing. Now I come back to my point. Do you suppose I care for anything in the whole matter, except that I should not be untrue to it. I am striving, it seems then, to maintain my position in the law courts. God forbid! Would I could bear my private sorrow as easily as I despise them. But do
you suppose there was some aspiration which was left unfulfilled? Of course one should not praise one's own principles, but I cannot help praising my past life, and yet I can well enough feel indifferent about it, as indeed I do. But that is enough and more than enough about such a trifle.
commodum discesserat Hilarus librarius iv Kal., cui dederam litteras ad te, quom venit tabellarius cum tuis litteris pridie datis; in quibus illud mihi gratissimum fuit quod Attica nostra rogat te ne tristis sis, quodque tu a)ki/nduna esse scribis. [2] Ligarianam, ut video, praeclare auctoritas tua commendavit. scripsit enim ad me Balbus et Oppius mirifice se probare ob eamque causam ad Caesarem eam se oratiunculam misisse. hoc igitur idem tu mihi antea scripseras. [3] in Varrone ista causa me non moveret ne viderer file/ndocoj (sic enim constitueram neminem includere in dialogos eorum qui viverent); sed quia <scribis> et desiderari a Varrone et magni illum aestimare, eos confeci et absolvi nescio quam bene, sed ita accurate ut nihil posset supra, academicam omnem quaestionem libris quattuor. in eis quae erant contra a)katalhyi/an praeclare conlecta ab Antiocho, Varroni dedi. ad ea ipse respondeo; tu es tertius in sermone nostro. si Cottam et Varronem fecissem inter se disputantis, <ut> a te proximis litteris admoneor, meum kwfo\n pro/swpon esset. [4] hoc in antiquis personis suaviter fit, ut et Heraclides in multis et nos <in> vi 'de re publica' libris fecimus. sunt etiam 'de oratore' nostri tres mihi vehementer probati. in eis quoque eae personae sunt ut mihi tacendum fuerit. Crassus enim loquitur, Antonius, Catulus senex, C. Iulius frater Catuli, Cotta, Sulpicius. puero me hic sermo inducitur, ut nullae esse possent partes meae. quae autem his temporibus scripsi )Aristote/leion morem habent in quo ita sermo inducitur ceterorum ut penes ipsum sit principatus. ita confeci quinque libros peri\ telw=n ut Epicurea L. Torquato, Stoica M. Catoni, peripathtika\ M. Pisoni darem. )Azhlotu/phton id fore putaram quod omnes illi decesserant. haec 'academica,' ut scis, cum Catulo, Lucullo, Hortensio contuleram. sane in personas non cadebant; erant enim logikw/tera quam ut illi de iis somniasse umquam viderentur. itaque ut legi tuas de Varrone, tamquam e(/rmaion adripui. aptius esse nihil potuit ad id philosophiae genus quo ille maxime mihi delectari videtur, easque partis ut non sim consecutus ut superior mea causa videatur. sunt enim vehementer piqana\ Antiochia; quae diligenter a me expressa acumen habent Antiochi, nitorem orationis nostrum si modo is est aliquis in nobis. sed tu dandosne putes hos libros Varroni <etiam> atque etiam videbis. mihi quaedam occurrunt; sed ea coram.
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Hilarus the copyist had just left on the fourth day before the Kalends, with the letter I had given him for you, when the courier arrived bearing your letter posted the day before. In it what gave me the greatest pleasure was that our dear Attica asks you not to be sad, and that you write that things are akinduna [free of danger].
[2] The speech for Ligarius, as I see, your influence has commended splendidly. For Balbus and Oppius have written to me that they think marvelously well of it, and that for this reason they have sent that little oration to Caesar. So this is the very same thing you had written to me earlier.
[3] In the matter of Varro, that consideration would not move me, namely the fear that I might seem philendoxos [overfond of glory] (for I had resolved to include in my dialogues none of those who were still living); but since you write both that Varro feels the lack of it and that he sets great store by it, I have composed and completed the work, I don't know how well, but with such care that nothing could go beyond it: the whole inquiry of the Academy in four books. In these I have given to Varro the arguments which Antiochus had brilliantly collected against akatalepsia [the impossibility of certain knowledge]. To these I myself reply; you are the third party in our conversation. If I had represented Cotta and Varro as disputing with each other, as you advise me in your most recent letter, my own would have been a kophon prosopon [a mute character].
[4] This is done pleasingly with persons of antiquity, as Heraclides has done in many works and as I have done in the six books 'On the Republic.' There are too my three books 'On the Orator,' which I think very highly of. In these as well the characters are such that I had to keep silent: for it is Crassus who speaks, and Antonius, old Catulus, Gaius Iulius the brother of Catulus, Cotta, and Sulpicius. I am brought into this conversation as a boy, so that there could be no part for me. But the works I have written in these times follow the Aristotelian manner, in which the conversation of the others is so introduced that the leading role rests with the author himself. Thus I composed five books peri telon [on the ends of good and evil] in such a way that I assigned the Epicurean doctrine to Lucius Torquatus, the Stoic to Marcus Cato, the Peripatetic to Marcus Piso. I had thought this would be azelotypeton [free from giving offense], because all of those men had died. This 'Academica,' as you know, I had attributed to Catulus, Lucullus, and Hortensius. To be sure, the arguments did not suit those characters; for they were more logical [logikotera] than that those men should ever seem to have dreamed of such things. And so, as soon as I read your letter about Varro, I snatched at it as a hermaion [a godsend]. Nothing could have been more fitting for that kind of philosophy in which he seems to me to take the greatest delight, and the roles are such that I have not arranged for my own side to seem the stronger. For the Antiochean arguments are vehemently plausible [pithana]; these, carefully expressed by me, have the acuteness of Antiochus together with the polish of my own style, if indeed there is any such thing in me. But you will consider again and again whether you think these books should be given to Varro. Certain misgivings occur to me; but those when we are face to face.
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
commodum discesserat Hilarus librarius iv Kal., cui dederam litteras ad te, quom venit tabellarius cum tuis litteris pridie datis; in quibus illud mihi gratissimum fuit quod Attica nostra rogat te ne tristis sis, quodque tu a)ki/nduna esse scribis. [2] Ligarianam, ut video, praeclare auctoritas tua commendavit. scripsit enim ad me Balbus et Oppius mirifice se probare ob eamque causam ad Caesarem eam se oratiunculam misisse. hoc igitur idem tu mihi antea scripseras. [3] in Varrone ista causa me non moveret ne viderer file/ndocoj (sic enim constitueram neminem includere in dialogos eorum qui viverent); sed quia <scribis> et desiderari a Varrone et magni illum aestimare, eos confeci et absolvi nescio quam bene, sed ita accurate ut nihil posset supra, academicam omnem quaestionem libris quattuor. in eis quae erant contra a)katalhyi/an praeclare conlecta ab Antiocho, Varroni dedi. ad ea ipse respondeo; tu es tertius in sermone nostro. si Cottam et Varronem fecissem inter se disputantis, <ut> a te proximis litteris admoneor, meum kwfo\n pro/swpon esset. [4] hoc in antiquis personis suaviter fit, ut et Heraclides in multis et nos <in> vi 'de re publica' libris fecimus. sunt etiam 'de oratore' nostri tres mihi vehementer probati. in eis quoque eae personae sunt ut mihi tacendum fuerit. Crassus enim loquitur, Antonius, Catulus senex, C. Iulius frater Catuli, Cotta, Sulpicius. puero me hic sermo inducitur, ut nullae esse possent partes meae. quae autem his temporibus scripsi )Aristote/leion morem habent in quo ita sermo inducitur ceterorum ut penes ipsum sit principatus. ita confeci quinque libros peri\ telw=n ut Epicurea L. Torquato, Stoica M. Catoni, peripathtika\ M. Pisoni darem. )Azhlotu/phton id fore putaram quod omnes illi decesserant. haec 'academica,' ut scis, cum Catulo, Lucullo, Hortensio contuleram. sane in personas non cadebant; erant enim logikw/tera quam ut illi de iis somniasse umquam viderentur. itaque ut legi tuas de Varrone, tamquam e(/rmaion adripui. aptius esse nihil potuit ad id philosophiae genus quo ille maxime mihi delectari videtur, easque partis ut non sim consecutus ut superior mea causa videatur. sunt enim vehementer piqana\ Antiochia; quae diligenter a me expressa acumen habent Antiochi, nitorem orationis nostrum si modo is est aliquis in nobis. sed tu dandosne putes hos libros Varroni <etiam> atque etiam videbis. mihi quaedam occurrunt; sed ea coram.