Marcus Tullius Cicero→Lucius Munatius Plancus|c. 43 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Gaul|AI-assisted
Given our close connection, my zeal for honoring you would not have failed if I could have come into the Senate safely or with dignity. But no one who thinks freely about public affairs can appear there without danger while armed men act with complete impunity. Nor does it seem worthy of my position to give an opinion on the republic in a place where armed men hear me better, and from closer range, than senators do.
So in private matters you will never miss any service or loyalty from me. In public matters too, if something arises where my presence is necessary, I will never fail to support your standing, even at personal risk. But in matters that can be handled just as well without me, I ask you to let me take account of my safety and my dignity.
DCCLXXXV (Fam. X, 2) TO L. MUNATIUS PLANCUS (IN GALLIA COMATA) ROME (AFTER 19 SEPTEMBER?) No zeal which our close connexion could command in support of the complimentary vote to you would have been wanting on my part, had I been able to enter the senate with safety or dignity. But neither can anyone who freely expresses his opinion on politics appear there without danger, when there is absolutely no restraint upon the employment of armed men, nor do I think it consistent with my dignity to speak in a place where these armed men hear me more distinctly and from a shorter distance than senators. Accordingly, in private affairs you shall not have to complain of any lack of service or zeal on my part: nor indeed in public affairs either will I ever fail to appear in support of your dignity, if my presence is ever actually necessary, even at the risk of danger to myself. But in matters which can be equally well carried out, even though I am not there, I must ask you to allow me to consider my own safety and dignity.
II. Scr. Romae post V. Idus Decembres a.u.c. 710. CICERO PLANCO SAL.
Meum studium honori tuo pro necessitudine nostra non defuisset, si aut tuto in senatum aut honeste venire potuissem; sed nec sine periculo quisquam libere de re publica sentiens versari potest in summa impunitate gladiorum nec nostrae dignitatis videtur esse ibi sententiam de re publica dicere, ubi me et melius et proprius audiant armati quam senatores. Quapropter in privatis rebus nullum neque officium neque studium meum desiderabis, ne in publicis quidem, si quid erit, in quo me interesse necesse sit, umquam deero, ne cum periculo quidem meo, dignitati tuae; in iis autem rebus, quae nihilo minus, ut ego absim, confici poterunt, peto a te ut me rationem habere velis et salutis et dignitatis meae.
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Given our close connection, my zeal for honoring you would not have failed if I could have come into the Senate safely or with dignity. But no one who thinks freely about public affairs can appear there without danger while armed men act with complete impunity. Nor does it seem worthy of my position to give an opinion on the republic in a place where armed men hear me better, and from closer range, than senators do.
So in private matters you will never miss any service or loyalty from me. In public matters too, if something arises where my presence is necessary, I will never fail to support your standing, even at personal risk. But in matters that can be handled just as well without me, I ask you to let me take account of my safety and my dignity.
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
II. Scr. Romae post V. Idus Decembres a.u.c. 710. CICERO PLANCO SAL.
Meum studium honori tuo pro necessitudine nostra non defuisset, si aut tuto in senatum aut honeste venire potuissem; sed nec sine periculo quisquam libere de re publica sentiens versari potest in summa impunitate gladiorum nec nostrae dignitatis videtur esse ibi sententiam de re publica dicere, ubi me et melius et proprius audiant armati quam senatores. Quapropter in privatis rebus nullum neque officium neque studium meum desiderabis, ne in publicis quidem, si quid erit, in quo me interesse necesse sit, umquam deero, ne cum periculo quidem meo, dignitati tuae; in iis autem rebus, quae nihilo minus, ut ego absim, confici poterunt, peto a te ut me rationem habere velis et salutis et dignitatis meae.