Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 45 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
Since you were going to inspect the gardens today, you will of course tell me tomorrow what your impression was. As for Faberius, we can discuss it when he comes.
Now about the letter to Caesar: believe me, I swear, I cannot do it. And it is not the discreditable nature of the thing that deters me, though it certainly ought to most of all. For how discreditable flattery is, when the very fact of being alive is discreditable for us! But, as I began to say, it is not this discreditable aspect that holds me back. I could wish, indeed, that I were what I ought to be, but nothing comes to mind. For you see what sorts of matters the addresses of eloquent and learned men to Alexander deal with. They exhort a young man fired with desire for the truest glory, eager to be given some counsel that might serve for everlasting renown, toward honor. They do not lack for things to say; but what can I do? And yet I had carved something or other out of the oak, as it were, that might seem to resemble a statue. But because there were in it some things a little better than what is being done and has been done, it is found fault with; and of that I do not in the least repent. For if that letter had reached its destination, believe me, we would be repenting now. What? Do you not see that the famous pupil of Aristotle himself, a man of the highest talent and the highest modesty, became, once he had been hailed as king, arrogant, cruel, and unrestrained? What? Do you suppose that this man, the messmate of Quirinus in the procession, will be pleased by these moderate letters of ours? [Caesar's statue had been carried in procession together with that of Quirinus.] He would rather miss the writing than disapprove of what is written. In short, let it be as he wishes. Gone is that motive which spurred me on at the time when I was setting you the 'Problem of Archidemus' [problema Archidemou: a logical puzzle]. Far more, by Hercules, do I now wish for that downfall which I then feared, or for whatever fate may please.
Unless something else hinders you, you will come, to my wish. Nicias, urgently summoned by Dolabella (for I read the letter), has set off for the same place, though against my will, yet on my advice.
This part in my own hand. While I was inquiring of Nicias about scholars, as though about other matters, we fell upon the subject of Thalna. About his character he said nothing too remarkable: modest and frugal. But this is what did not please me. He said he knew that Cornificia, the daughter of Quintus, had recently been sought in marriage by him, a woman quite elderly, to be sure, and of many marriages; that she had not found favor with the women, because they discovered that her estate was no greater than 800,000 [sesterces]. I thought you ought to know this.
I had just sent Demeas to you, when Eros arrived. But in his letter
there was no news except that the auction lasts two days. So you will
come after it, as you say, and I hope the business with Faberius will be
settled. Eros thinks he will not settle up to-day, but will to-morrow
morning. You must be polite to him; though such kowtowing is almost
criminal. I hope you will come the day after to-morrow.
Dig out for me from somewhere, if you can, the names of Mummius' ten
legates. Polybius does not give them. I remember Albinus the ex-consul
and Sp. Mummius; and I think Hortensius told me Tuditanus. But in Libo's
annals Tuditanus was praetor fourteen years after Mummius' consulship.
That does not square at all. I am thinking of writing a kind of
political conference, held at Olympia or wherever you like, like that of
your friend Dicaearchus.
hortos quoniam hodie eras inspecturus, quid visum tibi sit cras scilicet. de Faberio autem, cum venerit. [2] de epistula ad Caesarem, iurato mihi crede, non possum; nec me turpitudo deterret, etsi maxime debebat. quam enim turpis est adsentatio, cum vivere ipsum turpe sit nobis! sed, ut coepi, non me hoc turpe deterret. ac vellem quidem (essem enim qui esse debebam), sed in mentem nihil venit. nam quae sunt ad Alexandrum hominum eloquentium et doctorum suasiones vides quibus in rebus versentur. adulescentem incensum cupiditate verissimae gloriae, cupientem sibi aliquid consili dari quod ad laudem sempiternam valeret, cohortantur ad decus. non deest oratio; ego quid possum? tamen nescio quid e quercu exsculpseram quod videretur simile simulacri. in eo quia non nulla erant paulo meliora quam ea quae fiunt et facta sunt, reprehenduntur; quod me minime paenitet. si enim pervenissent istae litterae, mihi crede, nos paeniteret. quid? tu non vides ipsum illum Aristoteli discipulum summo ingenio, summa modestia, postea quam rex appellatus sit, superbum, crudelem, immoderatum fuisse? quid? tu hunc de pompa Quirini contubernalem his nostris moderatis epistulis laetaturum putas? ille vero potius non scripta desideret quam scripta non probet. postremo ut volet. abiit illud quod tum me stimulabat quom tibi dabam pro/blhma )Arxidh/mou . multo me hercule magis nunc opto casum Ulum quem tum timebam vel quem libebit. nisi quid te aliud impediet, mi optato veneris. Nicias a Dolabella magno opere arcessitus (legi enim litteras) etsi invito me tamen eodem me auctore profectus est. [4] hoc manu mea. cum quasi alias res quaererem de philologis e Nicia, incidimus in Thalnam. ille de ingenio nihil nimis, modestum et frugi. sed hoc mihi non placuit. se scire aiebat ab eo nuper petitam Cornificiam, Q. filiam, vetulam sane et multarum nuptiarum; non esse probatum mulieribus, quod ita reperirent rem non maiorem d_c_c_c_. hoc putavi te scire oportere.
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Since you were going to inspect the gardens today, you will of course tell me tomorrow what your impression was. As for Faberius, we can discuss it when he comes.
Now about the letter to Caesar: believe me, I swear, I cannot do it. And it is not the discreditable nature of the thing that deters me, though it certainly ought to most of all. For how discreditable flattery is, when the very fact of being alive is discreditable for us! But, as I began to say, it is not this discreditable aspect that holds me back. I could wish, indeed, that I were what I ought to be, but nothing comes to mind. For you see what sorts of matters the addresses of eloquent and learned men to Alexander deal with. They exhort a young man fired with desire for the truest glory, eager to be given some counsel that might serve for everlasting renown, toward honor. They do not lack for things to say; but what can I do? And yet I had carved something or other out of the oak, as it were, that might seem to resemble a statue. But because there were in it some things a little better than what is being done and has been done, it is found fault with; and of that I do not in the least repent. For if that letter had reached its destination, believe me, we would be repenting now. What? Do you not see that the famous pupil of Aristotle himself, a man of the highest talent and the highest modesty, became, once he had been hailed as king, arrogant, cruel, and unrestrained? What? Do you suppose that this man, the messmate of Quirinus in the procession, will be pleased by these moderate letters of ours? [Caesar's statue had been carried in procession together with that of Quirinus.] He would rather miss the writing than disapprove of what is written. In short, let it be as he wishes. Gone is that motive which spurred me on at the time when I was setting you the 'Problem of Archidemus' [problema Archidemou: a logical puzzle]. Far more, by Hercules, do I now wish for that downfall which I then feared, or for whatever fate may please.
Unless something else hinders you, you will come, to my wish. Nicias, urgently summoned by Dolabella (for I read the letter), has set off for the same place, though against my will, yet on my advice.
This part in my own hand. While I was inquiring of Nicias about scholars, as though about other matters, we fell upon the subject of Thalna. About his character he said nothing too remarkable: modest and frugal. But this is what did not please me. He said he knew that Cornificia, the daughter of Quintus, had recently been sought in marriage by him, a woman quite elderly, to be sure, and of many marriages; that she had not found favor with the women, because they discovered that her estate was no greater than 800,000 [sesterces]. I thought you ought to know this.
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
hortos quoniam hodie eras inspecturus, quid visum tibi sit cras scilicet. de Faberio autem, cum venerit. [2] de epistula ad Caesarem, iurato mihi crede, non possum; nec me turpitudo deterret, etsi maxime debebat. quam enim turpis est adsentatio, cum vivere ipsum turpe sit nobis! sed, ut coepi, non me hoc turpe deterret. ac vellem quidem (essem enim qui esse debebam), sed in mentem nihil venit. nam quae sunt ad Alexandrum hominum eloquentium et doctorum suasiones vides quibus in rebus versentur. adulescentem incensum cupiditate verissimae gloriae, cupientem sibi aliquid consili dari quod ad laudem sempiternam valeret, cohortantur ad decus. non deest oratio; ego quid possum? tamen nescio quid e quercu exsculpseram quod videretur simile simulacri. in eo quia non nulla erant paulo meliora quam ea quae fiunt et facta sunt, reprehenduntur; quod me minime paenitet. si enim pervenissent istae litterae, mihi crede, nos paeniteret. quid? tu non vides ipsum illum Aristoteli discipulum summo ingenio, summa modestia, postea quam rex appellatus sit, superbum, crudelem, immoderatum fuisse? quid? tu hunc de pompa Quirini contubernalem his nostris moderatis epistulis laetaturum putas? ille vero potius non scripta desideret quam scripta non probet. postremo ut volet. abiit illud quod tum me stimulabat quom tibi dabam pro/blhma )Arxidh/mou . multo me hercule magis nunc opto casum Ulum quem tum timebam vel quem libebit. nisi quid te aliud impediet, mi optato veneris. Nicias a Dolabella magno opere arcessitus (legi enim litteras) etsi invito me tamen eodem me auctore profectus est. [4] hoc manu mea. cum quasi alias res quaererem de philologis e Nicia, incidimus in Thalnam. ille de ingenio nihil nimis, modestum et frugi. sed hoc mihi non placuit. se scire aiebat ab eo nuper petitam Cornificiam, Q. filiam, vetulam sane et multarum nuptiarum; non esse probatum mulieribus, quod ita reperirent rem non maiorem d_c_c_c_. hoc putavi te scire oportere.