Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 66 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
I shall not give you occasion hereafter to be able to accuse me of negligence about letters; only see to it that, in such great leisure, you are my equal in this matter. The Fabirian house at Naples, which you already had measured out and built up in your imagination, Marcus Fontius has bought for 130,000 sesterces. I wished you to know this, in case that affair should perhaps bear upon your own designs. My brother Quintus, as it seems to me, is disposed toward Pomponia [Atticus's sister, Quintus's wife] with the feeling we wish; and he was now with her on his estates at Arpinum, and he had with him as a companion a learned man, Decimus Turranius. Our father passed away on the fourth day before the Kalends of December [November 28]. These were about all the things that I would wish you to know. I should be glad if, should you be able to find any gymnasium-style ornaments suited to that place which you are not unaware of, you would not pass them by. We take such delight in our Tusculan villa that we are pleased with our own selves only then, when we have come there. As to what you are doing about all matters, and what you intend to do, make us as carefully informed as possible.
I’ll take care that you shall not have any reason to complain of my slackness in writing to you in the future. See to it yourself that you keep up with me. You have plenty of spare time. M. Fontius has bought Rabirius’ house at Naples, which you had in your mind’s eyes ready mapped out and finished,
for about £1150. I mention it in case you still hanker after it. My brother is getting on as well as we can wish, I think, with Pomponia. He is living with her at his estate at Arpinum now, and has with him a littérateur, D. Turranius. My poor father died on November the 27th.
That is about all my budget of news. If you can come across any articles of vertu fit for my Gymnasium, please don’t let them slip. You know the place and what suits it. I’m so pleased with my house at Tusculum that I am never really happy except when I am there. Send me a full account of your doings and of what you are thinking of doing.
Non committam posthac, ut me accusare de epistularum neglegentia possis; tu modo videto, in tanto otio ut par in hoc mihi sis. Domum Fabirianam nam Neapoli, quam tu iam dimensam et exaedificatam animo habebas, M. Fontius emit HS [130,000]. Id te scire volui, si quid forte ea res ad cogitationes tuas pertineret. Quintus frater, ut mihi videtur, quo volumus animo, est in Pomponiam, et cum ea nunc in Arpinatibus praediis erat, et secum habebat hominem chrestomathe , D. Turranium. Pater nobis decessit a. d. IV Kal. Dec. Haec habebam fere, quae te scire vellem. Tu velim, si qua ornamenta gymnasiode reperire poteris, quae loci sint eius, quem tu non ignoras, ne praetermittas. Nos Tusculano ita delectamur, ut nobismet ipsis tum denique, cum illo venimus, placeamus. Quid agas omnibus de rebus, et quid acturus sis, fac nos quam diligentissime certiores.
◆
I shall not give you occasion hereafter to be able to accuse me of negligence about letters; only see to it that, in such great leisure, you are my equal in this matter. The Fabirian house at Naples, which you already had measured out and built up in your imagination, Marcus Fontius has bought for 130,000 sesterces. I wished you to know this, in case that affair should perhaps bear upon your own designs. My brother Quintus, as it seems to me, is disposed toward Pomponia [Atticus's sister, Quintus's wife] with the feeling we wish; and he was now with her on his estates at Arpinum, and he had with him as a companion a learned man, Decimus Turranius. Our father passed away on the fourth day before the Kalends of December [November 28]. These were about all the things that I would wish you to know. I should be glad if, should you be able to find any gymnasium-style ornaments suited to that place which you are not unaware of, you would not pass them by. We take such delight in our Tusculan villa that we are pleased with our own selves only then, when we have come there. As to what you are doing about all matters, and what you intend to do, make us as carefully informed as possible.
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
Non committam posthac, ut me accusare de epistularum neglegentia possis; tu modo videto, in tanto otio ut par in hoc mihi sis. Domum Fabirianam nam Neapoli, quam tu iam dimensam et exaedificatam animo habebas, M. Fontius emit HS [130,000]. Id te scire volui, si quid forte ea res ad cogitationes tuas pertineret. Quintus frater, ut mihi videtur, quo volumus animo, est in Pomponiam, et cum ea nunc in Arpinatibus praediis erat, et secum habebat hominem chrestomathe , D. Turranium. Pater nobis decessit a. d. IV Kal. Dec. Haec habebam fere, quae te scire vellem. Tu velim, si qua ornamenta gymnasiode reperire poteris, quae loci sint eius, quem tu non ignoras, ne praetermittas. Nos Tusculano ita delectamur, ut nobismet ipsis tum denique, cum illo venimus, placeamus. Quid agas omnibus de rebus, et quid acturus sis, fac nos quam diligentissime certiores.