Marcus Tullius Cicero→Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther|c. 58 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Cilicia|AI-assisted
You will learn what is being done from Pollio, who was not only involved in every negotiation but led them. In the deep distress I feel over your affairs, my chief comfort is the hope, and I strongly suspect it will prove true, that the dishonesty of these men will be broken both by the plans of your friends and by time itself, which weakens the designs of your enemies and betrayers.
My second comfort is the memory of my own crisis, whose image I see in your affairs. Your dignity is being attacked in a matter less grave than the one that overthrew mine, but the resemblance is close enough that I hope you will forgive me if I do not fear things that you yourself never thought should be feared.
Show yourself the man I have known from childhood, as the Greeks say, "from tender nails." Believe me, men's wrongdoing will make your greatness shine brighter. Expect from me the utmost zeal and every duty owed to you. I will not disappoint your opinion of me.
CIII (Fam. I, 6) TO P. LENTULUS SPINTHER (IN CILICIA) ROME (FEBRUARY) What is going on you will learn from Polijo, who not only was engaged in all the transactions, but was the leader in them. In my own deep distress, occasioned by the course your business has taken, I am chiefly consoled by the hope which makes me strongly suspect that the dishonest practices of men will be defeated both by the measures of your friends and by mere lapse of time, which must have a tendency to weaken the plans of your enemies and of traitors. In the second place, I derive a ready consolation from the memory of my own dangers, of which I see a reflexion in your fortunes. For though your position is attacked in a less important particular than that which brought mine to the ground, yet the analogy is so strong, that I trust you will pardon me if I am not frightened at what you did not yourself consider ought to cause alarm. But show yourself the man I have known you to be, to use a Greek expression, “since your nails were soft.” The injurious conduct of men will, believe me, only make your greatness more conspicuous. Expect from me the greatest zeal and devotion in everything: I will not falsify your expectation.
VI. Scr. Romae mense Februario a.u.c. 698. M. CICERO S. D. P. LENTULO PROCOS.
Quae gerantur, accipies ex Pollione, qui omnibus negotiis non interfuit solum, sed praefuit. Me in summo dolore, quem [in] tuis rebus capio, maxime scilicet consolatur spes, quod valde suspicor fore, ut infringatur hominum improbitas et consiliis tuorum amicorum et ipsa die, quae debilitat cogitationes et inimicorum et proditorum tuorum; facile secundo loco me consolatur recordatio meorum temporum, quorum imaginem video in rebus tuis, nam, etsi minore in re violatur tua dignitas, quam mea afflicta est, tamen est tanta similitudo, ut sperem te mihi ignoscere, si ea non timuerim, quae ne tu quidem umquam timenda duxisti. Sed praesta te eum, qui mihi a teneris, ut Graeci dicunt, unguiculis es cognitus: illustrabit, mihi crede, tuam amplitudinem hominum iniuria. A me omnia summa in te studia officiaque exspecta: non fallam opinionem tuam.
◆
You will learn what is being done from Pollio, who was not only involved in every negotiation but led them. In the deep distress I feel over your affairs, my chief comfort is the hope, and I strongly suspect it will prove true, that the dishonesty of these men will be broken both by the plans of your friends and by time itself, which weakens the designs of your enemies and betrayers.
My second comfort is the memory of my own crisis, whose image I see in your affairs. Your dignity is being attacked in a matter less grave than the one that overthrew mine, but the resemblance is close enough that I hope you will forgive me if I do not fear things that you yourself never thought should be feared.
Show yourself the man I have known from childhood, as the Greeks say, "from tender nails." Believe me, men's wrongdoing will make your greatness shine brighter. Expect from me the utmost zeal and every duty owed to you. I will not disappoint your opinion of me.
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
VI. Scr. Romae mense Februario a.u.c. 698. M. CICERO S. D. P. LENTULO PROCOS.
Quae gerantur, accipies ex Pollione, qui omnibus negotiis non interfuit solum, sed praefuit. Me in summo dolore, quem [in] tuis rebus capio, maxime scilicet consolatur spes, quod valde suspicor fore, ut infringatur hominum improbitas et consiliis tuorum amicorum et ipsa die, quae debilitat cogitationes et inimicorum et proditorum tuorum; facile secundo loco me consolatur recordatio meorum temporum, quorum imaginem video in rebus tuis, nam, etsi minore in re violatur tua dignitas, quam mea afflicta est, tamen est tanta similitudo, ut sperem te mihi ignoscere, si ea non timuerim, quae ne tu quidem umquam timenda duxisti. Sed praesta te eum, qui mihi a teneris, ut Graeci dicunt, unguiculis es cognitus: illustrabit, mihi crede, tuam amplitudinem hominum iniuria. A me omnia summa in te studia officiaque exspecta: non fallam opinionem tuam.