Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 58 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
You raised no small expectation in me when you wrote that Varro, as a friend, had assured you that Pompey would certainly take up my case and even appoint someone to carry it once the letter he was expecting from Caesar had been sent back to him. Did that come to nothing? Was Caesar's letter against us? Or is there still some hope? You also wrote that the same man said, "after the elections."
If you see what misery I am lying in, and if you think kindness requires it, please make me fully informed about my whole case. My brother Quintus, wonderful man that he is and so deeply attached to me, sends everything full of hope, fearing, I suppose, that my spirit will fail. Your letters, by contrast, shift in tone: you do not want me to despair, but you do not want me to hope recklessly either. Please, I beg you, let me know everything you can find out.
You raised my hopes considerably by writing that Varro had assured you
as a friend that Pompey was going to take up my case, and that he would
appoint an agent as soon as he had received a letter which he was
expecting from Caesar. Did it come to nothing? Or was Caesar’s letter
hostile? Or is there still room for hope? You mentioned too that he used
the words “after the elections.”
Please do let me have full information as to the state of my case,—you
know the anxiety I am in and how kind it would be of you. For my
brother, a dear good fellow and very fond of me, sends me nothing but
hopeful news, for fear, I suppose, that I should entirely lose heart.
Whereas your letters vary in tone; for your intention is neither to cast
me into despondency nor to raise rash hopes in me. Pray do let me know
everything you may succeed in discovering.
exspectationem nobis non parvam attuleras cum scripseras Varronem tibi pro amicitia confirmasse causam nostram Pompeium certe suscepturum et, simul a Caesare ei litterae quas exspectaret remissae essent, actorem etiam daturum. Vtrum id nihil fuit, an adversatae sunt Caesaris litterae, an est aliquid in spe? etiam illud scripseras eundem 'secundum comitia' dixisse. [2] fac, si vides quantis in malis iaceam et si putas esse humanitatis tuae, me fac de tota causa nostra certiorem. nam Quintus frater, homo mirus, qui me tam valde amat, omnia mittit spei plena metuens, credo, defectionem animi mei; tuae autem litterae sunt variae; neque enim me desperare vis nec temere sperare. fac, obsecro te, ut omnia quae perspici a te possunt sciamus.
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You raised no small expectation in me when you wrote that Varro, as a friend, had assured you that Pompey would certainly take up my case and even appoint someone to carry it once the letter he was expecting from Caesar had been sent back to him. Did that come to nothing? Was Caesar's letter against us? Or is there still some hope? You also wrote that the same man said, "after the elections."
If you see what misery I am lying in, and if you think kindness requires it, please make me fully informed about my whole case. My brother Quintus, wonderful man that he is and so deeply attached to me, sends everything full of hope, fearing, I suppose, that my spirit will fail. Your letters, by contrast, shift in tone: you do not want me to despair, but you do not want me to hope recklessly either. Please, I beg you, let me know everything you can find out.
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
exspectationem nobis non parvam attuleras cum scripseras Varronem tibi pro amicitia confirmasse causam nostram Pompeium certe suscepturum et, simul a Caesare ei litterae quas exspectaret remissae essent, actorem etiam daturum. Vtrum id nihil fuit, an adversatae sunt Caesaris litterae, an est aliquid in spe? etiam illud scripseras eundem 'secundum comitia' dixisse. [2] fac, si vides quantis in malis iaceam et si putas esse humanitatis tuae, me fac de tota causa nostra certiorem. nam Quintus frater, homo mirus, qui me tam valde amat, omnia mittit spei plena metuens, credo, defectionem animi mei; tuae autem litterae sunt variae; neque enim me desperare vis nec temere sperare. fac, obsecro te, ut omnia quae perspici a te possunt sciamus.