Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 45 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
On the morning of the fifth day before the Kalends I received a letter from Demea, sent the day before, from which I gathered that I ought to expect you either today or tomorrow. But, as I suppose, the very man who awaits your arrival will himself be the one to delay you. For I do not think the Faberius business is going to be so easily settled, even if it does turn out to involve no delay.
Come, then, whenever you can. Since you are still away, I should very much like you to send me those books of Dicaearchus that you mention, and to add the [Descent (Greek: katabasis)] as well.
About the letter to Caesar, [I have decided (Greek: kekrika)]; and that very point which those people say he is making in writing -- that he will not set out against the Parthians unless affairs are settled -- is the same thing I was urging in that letter. Whether he is free to do so, he can do with me as his authority. For this, evidently, is what he is waiting for, and he is not going to do anything except on my advice. I beg you, let us throw all this aside and at least be half-free -- which we shall attain both by keeping silent and by keeping out of sight.
But go after Otho, as you write. Settle that matter, my dear Atticus. For I can find no other place where I may both be out of the Forum and still be able to be with you. As to how much it will cost -- this comes to my mind. Gaius Albanius is the nearest neighbor. He bought a hundred iugera from Marcus Pilius, as I recall, for 115,000 sesterces. Everything, of course, is cheaper now. But desire comes into it, in which I do not think we shall have any rival except Otho. But you yourself will be able to move even him -- more easily still if you had Canus. O the tasteless gluttony! I am ashamed for the father. Write back if you wish anything.
What extraordinary carelessness! Do you think it was only once that I have been told by Balbus and Faberius that the return had been made? Why it was at their suggestion that I sent a man to make it, for they said I ought to do so. It was my freedman Philotimus who made the return; you know him, I think, a copyist. But you must write and let me know it is finished. I have sent a letter as you advise to Faberius. With Balbus I think you have made some arrangement in the Capitol to-day. About Vergilius I have no scruples; for there is no reason why I should have in his case; and, if I buy, what claim will he have? But see that he may not be in Africa then like Caelius.
The debt you must look into with Cispius; but, if Plancus intends to bid, there will be difficulties. That you should come to me would suit us both, but that business cannot possibly be thrown up. It is
welcome news that you think we can beat Otho. As you say about the assignment, when we begin to negotiate; though he has not mentioned anything except the extent of the ground. Discuss it with Piso in case he can do anything. I have received Dicaearchus' book and am expecting his Descent.
(If you) will commission someone, he will find out ... from the book containing the decrees passed in the consulship of Cn. Cornelius and L. Mummius. Your idea about Tuditanus is reasonable enough, he was either quaestor or military tribune, since he was at Corinth at the time and Hortensius was not speaking at random; and I think you are right. You will be able to find out from Antiochus of course in what year he was quaestor or military tribune. If he was neither, then he would at least have been among the prefects or on the staff, provided he was in the war at all.
v Kal. mane accepi a Demea litteras pridie datas ex quibus aut hodie aut cras <te> exspectare deberem. sed, ut opinor, idem ego qui exspecto tuum adventum morabor te. non enim puto tam expeditum Faberianum negotium futurum, etiam si est futurum ut <non> habeat aliquid morae. [2] cum poteris igitur. quoniam etiamnum abes, Dicaearchi quos scribis libros sane velim mi mittas, addas etiam kataba/sewj . [3] de epistula ad Caesarem kekrika ; atque id ipsum quod isti aiunt illum scribere, se nisi constitutis rebus non iturum in Parthos, idem ego suadebam in illa epistula. utrum liberet facere posse auctore me. hoc enim ille exspectat videlicet neque est facturus quicquam nisi de meo consilio. obsecro abiciamus ista et semiliberi saltem simus; quod adsequemur et tacendo et latendo. [4] sed adgredere Othonem, ut scribis. confice, mi Attice, istam rem. nihil enim aliud reperio ubi et in foro non sim et tecum esse possim. quanti autem, hoc mihi venit in mentem. C. Albanius proximus est vicinus. is ci[c] iugerum de M. Pilio emit, ut mea memoria est, HS c_x_v_. omnia scilicet nunc minoris. sed accedit cupiditas, in qua praeter Othonem non puto nos ullum adversarium habituros. sed eum ipsum tu poteris movere, facilius etiam si canum haberes. O gulam insulsam! pudet me patris. rescribes si quid voles.
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On the morning of the fifth day before the Kalends I received a letter from Demea, sent the day before, from which I gathered that I ought to expect you either today or tomorrow. But, as I suppose, the very man who awaits your arrival will himself be the one to delay you. For I do not think the Faberius business is going to be so easily settled, even if it does turn out to involve no delay.
Come, then, whenever you can. Since you are still away, I should very much like you to send me those books of Dicaearchus that you mention, and to add the [Descent (Greek: katabasis)] as well.
About the letter to Caesar, [I have decided (Greek: kekrika)]; and that very point which those people say he is making in writing -- that he will not set out against the Parthians unless affairs are settled -- is the same thing I was urging in that letter. Whether he is free to do so, he can do with me as his authority. For this, evidently, is what he is waiting for, and he is not going to do anything except on my advice. I beg you, let us throw all this aside and at least be half-free -- which we shall attain both by keeping silent and by keeping out of sight.
But go after Otho, as you write. Settle that matter, my dear Atticus. For I can find no other place where I may both be out of the Forum and still be able to be with you. As to how much it will cost -- this comes to my mind. Gaius Albanius is the nearest neighbor. He bought a hundred iugera from Marcus Pilius, as I recall, for 115,000 sesterces. Everything, of course, is cheaper now. But desire comes into it, in which I do not think we shall have any rival except Otho. But you yourself will be able to move even him -- more easily still if you had Canus. O the tasteless gluttony! I am ashamed for the father. Write back if you wish anything.
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
v Kal. mane accepi a Demea litteras pridie datas ex quibus aut hodie aut cras <te> exspectare deberem. sed, ut opinor, idem ego qui exspecto tuum adventum morabor te. non enim puto tam expeditum Faberianum negotium futurum, etiam si est futurum ut <non> habeat aliquid morae. [2] cum poteris igitur. quoniam etiamnum abes, Dicaearchi quos scribis libros sane velim mi mittas, addas etiam kataba/sewj . [3] de epistula ad Caesarem kekrika ; atque id ipsum quod isti aiunt illum scribere, se nisi constitutis rebus non iturum in Parthos, idem ego suadebam in illa epistula. utrum liberet facere posse auctore me. hoc enim ille exspectat videlicet neque est facturus quicquam nisi de meo consilio. obsecro abiciamus ista et semiliberi saltem simus; quod adsequemur et tacendo et latendo. [4] sed adgredere Othonem, ut scribis. confice, mi Attice, istam rem. nihil enim aliud reperio ubi et in foro non sim et tecum esse possim. quanti autem, hoc mihi venit in mentem. C. Albanius proximus est vicinus. is ci[c] iugerum de M. Pilio emit, ut mea memoria est, HS c_x_v_. omnia scilicet nunc minoris. sed accedit cupiditas, in qua praeter Othonem non puto nos ullum adversarium habituros. sed eum ipsum tu poteris movere, facilius etiam si canum haberes. O gulam insulsam! pudet me patris. rescribes si quid voles.