Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 58 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
As long as the kind of letters you all kept sending me gave me some reason to expect a result from them, I was held at Thessalonica by hope and longing. But once it seemed to me that all action for this year was finished, I had no wish to go to Asia, both because crowds are hateful to me and because, if anything were to be done by the new magistrates, I did not want to be far away. And so I have decided to betake myself to you in Epirus, not that the nature of the place matters to me, now that I shun the light of day entirely, but because I would most gladly set out toward my restoration from a harbor of yours, and, if that hope is cut off, nowhere could I more easily either prop up this most wretched life or, what is far better, throw it away. I shall be with only a few; I shall send the crowd away.
[2] Your letters never raised me to as much hope as other people's did; and yet my own hope was always slighter even than your letters. But all the same, since the matter has begun to be acted on, in whatever way it has begun and for whatever reason, I shall not abandon the wretched and grief-stricken entreaties of my best and only brother, nor the promises of Sestius and the rest, nor the hope of that most sorely afflicted woman Terentia, nor the supplication of my most pitiable little Tullia, nor your own faithful letters. Epirus will give me either the road to my restoration or what I wrote above.
[3] I beg and beseech you, Titus Pomponius: if you see me stripped, by men's treachery, of all my most splendid, dearest, and most delightful possessions; if you see me betrayed and cast off by my own advisers; if you understand that I was forced to ruin both myself and my family - then help me with your compassion, and sustain my brother Quintus, who can yet be saved; protect Terentia and my children; wait for me, if you think you will see me there; if not, come to see me, if you can; and assign me out of your land just so much as can be taken up by my body; and send the slave-boys to me with letters as soon and as often as possible. Dispatched on the 16th day before the Kalends of October [16 September].
So long as your letters afforded me any ground for it, my hopes and my longings kept me at Thessalonica: but, as soon as I saw that all political business for this year had come to an end, I made up my mind not to go to Asia, because I cannot put up with society and I do not want to be far away in case the new magistrates should make a move. So I determined to go to your house in Epirus, not that the
features of the place make any difference to me now that I shun the light of day entirely, but I should like to sail back to freedom from a port of yours, and, if that hope is cut off, I could not find a better place either to drag on my miserable existence, or, what is preferable, to end it. I shall have few people about me, and shall get free from society.
Your letters never aroused my hopes as much as other people’s: and yet my hopes were always fainter than your letters. However, since some kind of a move has been made in the matter, whatever kind it may be and whatsoever its cause, I will not disappoint either my dear and only brother’s sad and touching entreaties, nor the promises of Sestius and others, nor the appeals of my wife in her deep affliction and my little Tullia in her misery, nor your own true-hearted letters. Epirus shall be my road back to freedom or to what I mentioned before.
I beg and beseech you, Pomponius, as you see how I have been robbed of my honours and of my dearest and fondest possessions by men’s treachery, as you see how I was betrayed and cast aside by those on whose advice I relied, as you know how I was forced into betraying myself and my family, of your pity help me, and support my brother Quintus, who is not past salvation: guard Terentia and my children; as for me, wait for me in Rome, if you think there is any chance of seeing me there. If not, come to see me, if you can, and allot me of your land enough for my body to rest in; and send a man with letters as soon and as often as possible.
Sept. 15.
quoad eius modi mihi litterae a vobis adferebantur ut aliquid ex iis esset exspectandum, spe et cupiditate Thessalonicae retentus sum; postea quam omnis actio huius anni confecta nobis videbatur, in Asiam ire nolui, quod et celebritas mihi odio est et, si fieret aliquid a novis magistratibus, abesse longe nolebam. itaque in Epirum ad te statui me conferre, non quo mea interesset loci natura qui lucem omnino fugerem, sed et (ad) salutem libentissime ex tuo portu proficiscar et, si ea praecisa erit, nusquam facilius hanc miserrimam vitam vel sustentabo vel, quod multo est melius, abiecero. (ero) cum paucis, multitudinem dimittam. [2] me tuae litterae numquam in tantam spem adduxerunt quantam aliorum; ac tamen mea spes etiam tenuior semper fuit quam tuae litterae. sed tamen quoniam coeptum est agi, quoquo modo coeptum est et quacumque de causa, non deseram neque optimi atque unici fratris miseras ac luctuosas preces nec Sesti ceterorumque promissa nec spem aerumnosissimae mulieris Terentiae nec miserrimae [mulieris] Tulliolae obsecrationem et fidelis litteras tuas. mihi Epirus aut iter ad salutem dabit aut quod scripsi supra. [3] te oro et obsecro, T. Pomponi, si me omnibus amplissimis, carissimis iucundissimisque rebus perfidia hominum spoliatum, si me a meis consiliariis proditum et proiectum vides, si intellegis me coactum ut ipse me et meos perderem, ut me tua misericordia iuves et Quintum fratrem qui potest esse salvus sustentes, Terentiam liberosque meos tueare, me, si putas te istic visurum, exspectes, si minus, invisas, si potes, mihique ex agro tuo tantum adsignes quantum meo corpore occupari potest, et pueros ad me cum litteris quam primum et quam saepissime mittas. data xvi Kal. Octobris.
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As long as the kind of letters you all kept sending me gave me some reason to expect a result from them, I was held at Thessalonica by hope and longing. But once it seemed to me that all action for this year was finished, I had no wish to go to Asia, both because crowds are hateful to me and because, if anything were to be done by the new magistrates, I did not want to be far away. And so I have decided to betake myself to you in Epirus, not that the nature of the place matters to me, now that I shun the light of day entirely, but because I would most gladly set out toward my restoration from a harbor of yours, and, if that hope is cut off, nowhere could I more easily either prop up this most wretched life or, what is far better, throw it away. I shall be with only a few; I shall send the crowd away.
[2] Your letters never raised me to as much hope as other people's did; and yet my own hope was always slighter even than your letters. But all the same, since the matter has begun to be acted on, in whatever way it has begun and for whatever reason, I shall not abandon the wretched and grief-stricken entreaties of my best and only brother, nor the promises of Sestius and the rest, nor the hope of that most sorely afflicted woman Terentia, nor the supplication of my most pitiable little Tullia, nor your own faithful letters. Epirus will give me either the road to my restoration or what I wrote above.
[3] I beg and beseech you, Titus Pomponius: if you see me stripped, by men's treachery, of all my most splendid, dearest, and most delightful possessions; if you see me betrayed and cast off by my own advisers; if you understand that I was forced to ruin both myself and my family - then help me with your compassion, and sustain my brother Quintus, who can yet be saved; protect Terentia and my children; wait for me, if you think you will see me there; if not, come to see me, if you can; and assign me out of your land just so much as can be taken up by my body; and send the slave-boys to me with letters as soon and as often as possible. Dispatched on the 16th day before the Kalends of October [16 September].
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
quoad eius modi mihi litterae a vobis adferebantur ut aliquid ex iis esset exspectandum, spe et cupiditate Thessalonicae retentus sum; postea quam omnis actio huius anni confecta nobis videbatur, in Asiam ire nolui, quod et celebritas mihi odio est et, si fieret aliquid a novis magistratibus, abesse longe nolebam. itaque in Epirum ad te statui me conferre, non quo mea interesset loci natura qui lucem omnino fugerem, sed et (ad) salutem libentissime ex tuo portu proficiscar et, si ea praecisa erit, nusquam facilius hanc miserrimam vitam vel sustentabo vel, quod multo est melius, abiecero. (ero) cum paucis, multitudinem dimittam. [2] me tuae litterae numquam in tantam spem adduxerunt quantam aliorum; ac tamen mea spes etiam tenuior semper fuit quam tuae litterae. sed tamen quoniam coeptum est agi, quoquo modo coeptum est et quacumque de causa, non deseram neque optimi atque unici fratris miseras ac luctuosas preces nec Sesti ceterorumque promissa nec spem aerumnosissimae mulieris Terentiae nec miserrimae [mulieris] Tulliolae obsecrationem et fidelis litteras tuas. mihi Epirus aut iter ad salutem dabit aut quod scripsi supra. [3] te oro et obsecro, T. Pomponi, si me omnibus amplissimis, carissimis iucundissimisque rebus perfidia hominum spoliatum, si me a meis consiliariis proditum et proiectum vides, si intellegis me coactum ut ipse me et meos perderem, ut me tua misericordia iuves et Quintum fratrem qui potest esse salvus sustentes, Terentiam liberosque meos tueare, me, si putas te istic visurum, exspectes, si minus, invisas, si potes, mihique ex agro tuo tantum adsignes quantum meo corpore occupari potest, et pueros ad me cum litteris quam primum et quam saepissime mittas. data xvi Kal. Octobris.