Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 58 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
I should prefer that you attribute to our misery rather than to inconstancy the fact that we suddenly departed from Vibo [a town in Bruttium], to which we had been summoning you. For news was brought to us of the bill concerning my destruction; in which what we had heard had been amended was of such a kind that I was permitted to be beyond five hundred miles, but was not permitted to arrive there. I immediately directed my journey toward Brundisium [Brindisi], before the day of the bill, lest both Sicca, with whom I was staying, should perish, and because it was not permitted to be at Melita [Malta]. Now do you hasten, that you may overtake us, if only we shall be received. So far we are invited kindly, but as for what remains, we are afraid. As for me, my dear Pomponius [Atticus], I am thoroughly weary of living; and in this matter you have had very great influence with me. But these things when we are together. Only see to it that you come.
Please attribute my sudden departure from Vibo after asking you to join
me there to my misery rather than to caprice. I received a copy of the
bill for my destruction, and found that the alteration of which I had
heard, took the form of banishment beyond four hundred miles. Since I
could not go where I wished, I went straight to Brundisium before the
bill was passed; for fear of involving my host Sicca in my destruction
and because I am not permitted to stay at Malta. Now make haste and join
me; if I can find anyone to take me in. At present I receive kind
invitations: but I fear the future. I indeed, Pomponius, am heartily
sick of life: and it is mainly for your sake that I consented to live.
But of this when we meet. Please do come.
miseriae nostrae potius velim quam inconstantiae tribuas quod a Vibone quo te arcessebamus subito discessimus. adlata est enim nobis rogatio de pernicie mea; in qua quod correctum esse audieramus erat eius modi ut mihi ultra quingenta milia liceret esse, illuc pervenire non liceret. statim iter Brundisium versus contuli ante diem rogationis, ne et Sicca apud quem eram periret et quod Melitae esse non licebat. nunc tu propera ut nos consequare, si modo recipiemur. adhuc invitamur benigne, sed quod superest timemus. me, mi Pomponi, valde paenitet vivere; qua in re apud me tu plurimum valuisti. sed haec coram. fac modo ut venias.
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I should prefer that you attribute to our misery rather than to inconstancy the fact that we suddenly departed from Vibo [a town in Bruttium], to which we had been summoning you. For news was brought to us of the bill concerning my destruction; in which what we had heard had been amended was of such a kind that I was permitted to be beyond five hundred miles, but was not permitted to arrive there. I immediately directed my journey toward Brundisium [Brindisi], before the day of the bill, lest both Sicca, with whom I was staying, should perish, and because it was not permitted to be at Melita [Malta]. Now do you hasten, that you may overtake us, if only we shall be received. So far we are invited kindly, but as for what remains, we are afraid. As for me, my dear Pomponius [Atticus], I am thoroughly weary of living; and in this matter you have had very great influence with me. But these things when we are together. Only see to it that you come.
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
miseriae nostrae potius velim quam inconstantiae tribuas quod a Vibone quo te arcessebamus subito discessimus. adlata est enim nobis rogatio de pernicie mea; in qua quod correctum esse audieramus erat eius modi ut mihi ultra quingenta milia liceret esse, illuc pervenire non liceret. statim iter Brundisium versus contuli ante diem rogationis, ne et Sicca apud quem eram periret et quod Melitae esse non licebat. nunc tu propera ut nos consequare, si modo recipiemur. adhuc invitamur benigne, sed quod superest timemus. me, mi Pomponi, valde paenitet vivere; qua in re apud me tu plurimum valuisti. sed haec coram. fac modo ut venias.