Marcus Tullius Cicero→Marcus Terentius Varro|c. 45 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|Human translated
Our friend Caninius reminded me in your name to write to you if there was anything I thought you ought to know. Well, there is the expectation of Caesar's arrival, of course, and you are not unaware of that. But nevertheless, although he had written, I believe, that he would come to his Alsiense estate, his people wrote to him not to do so; they said many would trouble him and he would trouble many, and that it seemed he could disembark more conveniently at Ostia. I did not understand what difference it made, but still Hirtius told me that both he and Balbus and Oppius had written to him to do it that way -- men who, as I have learned, are fond of you. I wanted you to know this so that you might know where to prepare your hospitality, or rather so that you might prepare in both places, since it is uncertain what he will do, and at the same time I have shown you that I am on intimate terms with those men and party to their counsels. I see no reason why I should not wish this; for to endure is not to approve if there is something to be endured, nor to approve if there is something not to be approved. Although indeed I no longer know what I might disapprove of, except the beginnings of events; for those were matters of choice. I saw -- for you were away -- that our friends desired war, while this man did not so much desire it as not fear it. So those matters were of counsel; what followed was of necessity. And it was inevitable that one side or the other should win. I know that you were always in grief with me, when we saw that there was not only the monstrous evil of the destruction of one army or the other and their commanders, but that the ultimate evil of all evils was victory in a civil war -- and I feared this even from the side to which I had gone, for they were making cruel threats against the inactive, and both your attitude and my speech were odious to them. But now, if our side had prevailed, they would have been very intemperate, for they were furious at us, as if we had decided anything about our own safety that we had not also advised for them, or as if it had been more useful to the republic for them to flee even to the aid of barbarian kings rather than either to die or to live with some hope, if not the best, at least some. "But we live in a disordered republic." Who denies it? But let those see to this who have made no provision for themselves for every condition of life. For to come to this point, my previous discourse has flowed on longer than I wished. Since I have always considered you a great man, because in these storms you are almost alone in port, and you enjoy the fruits of learning, which are the greatest -- that you contemplate and engage with things whose usefulness and delight are to be preferred to all the activities and pleasures of those men -- I think your Tusculan days are the equivalent of a whole life, and I would gladly yield all riches to all men, if I might be permitted to live in that way without any disturbance. We too imitate this as best we can, and find our most willing rest in our studies. For who would not grant us this: that since our country either cannot or will not use our services, we should return to that life which many learned men, perhaps wrongly, but yet many, have considered preferable even to public service? Those studies which, in the judgment of great men, have a certain exemption from public duty -- why should we not enjoy them to the full, with the republic's permission? But I am doing more than Caninius asked; he asked me if I knew anything that you did not, and I am telling you things you know better than I who am telling them. I shall do then what I was asked: if I hear anything of current events that concerns you, I shall see to it that you are not uninformed.
CDLXVIII (Fam. IX, 6) TO M. TERENTIUS VARRO (AT TUSCULUM) ROME (JUNE) Our friend Caninius has brought a message from you bidding me write and tell you whatever I thought you ought to know. Well then, Caesar 's arrival of course is occupying men's minds, and of that you are yourself not unaware. However, he having written, I presume, to say that he intended to come to his villa at Alsium , his friends wrote to him not to do so: that many people would annoy him, and he himself annoy many: they thought it would be more convenient for him to land at Ostia . I do not myself understand what difference it makes; but yet Hirtius told me that both he and Balbus and Oppius had written to him to do so-men, as I have reason to know, who are attached to you. I wanted you to learn this, that you might know where to prepare yourself a lodging, or rather that you might do so in both places: for what he is going to do is uncertain. At the same time I have shown you that I am intimate with these men and admitted to their counsels And I don't see any reason for avoiding that. It is one thing to bear what one must bear, another to approve what one ought not to approve. Though for my part I do not know why I should not approve, with the exception of the first steps in the movement: for they were within the control of men's wills. I saw of course (you were abroad) that our friends desired war, whereas Caesar did not so much desire it as not fear it (wherefore the first steps were deliberate, the rest merely consequential), and that it must needs be that either this party or that should win. I know that you always lamented with me, when we saw, first, that frightful alternative — the destruction of one or the other army and leader; and, secondly, that the most dreadful evil of all was victory in a civil war, which indeed I dreaded even if it declared on the side of those whom I had joined. For the veriest do-nothings were uttering bloodthirsty threats, and they were offended both by your feelings and my words. At this moment, indeed, if our men had prevailed, they would have been exceedingly violent; for there were some who were very angry with us, as though forsooth we had adopted any resolution as to our own preservation which we had not decided to be good for them also; or as though it were more for the advantage of the state that they should fly to the protection of the beasts, than either die out of hand, or continue to live, if not with the best prospect, yet at least with some. But, it may be said, we are living in a distracted republic. Who denies it? But this is their look-out, who secured no resources for the various phases of life. Well, it was to arrive at this point that my preface has extended to a greater length than I intended. For as I have ever regarded you as a great man, because in the face of these storms you are nearly the only one safely in port, and are reaping the best fruits of philosophy-namely, to fix your mind upon and handle themes, the study and delight of which are to be preferred to all their employments and pleasures: so I consider these days you are spending at Tusculum to be a specimen of true life, and I would with pleasure resign all the wealth in the world to anybody on condition of being allowed, without the interruption of violence, to live a life like yours. And this, indeed, I imitate to the best of my ability, and with the utmost delight find repose in the studies which we both pursue. For who will grudge us this privilege, that, when our country either cannot or will not employ our services, we should return to that way of life, which many learned men have, perhaps wrongly, but still have thought was to be preferred even to public business? These studies, in the opinion of some eminent men, involve a kind of furlough from public duties: why then, when the state allows it, should we not enjoy them to the full? But I have more than fulfilled Caninius 's demand; for he quite legitimately asked me for anything I knew which you didn't: but I am telling you what you know better than I myself who tell it. I will accordingly do what I was asked, that is, prevent your being ignorant of anything that is in your way connected with this crisis which I may hear. 226
VI. Scr. Romae mense Iunio a.u.c. 708. CICERO VARRONI.
Caninius noster me tuis verbis admonuit, ut scriberem ad te, si quid esset, quod putarem te scire oportere. Est igitur adventus Caesaris scilicet in exspectatione, neque tu id ignoras. Sed tamen, cum ille scripsisset, ut opinor, se in Alsiense venturum, scripserunt ad eum sui, ne id faceret; multos ei molestos fore ipsumque multis; Ostiae videri commodius eum exire posse: id ego non intelligebam quid interesset; sed tamen Hirtius mihi dixit et se ad eum et Balbum et Oppium scripsisse, ut ita faceret, homines, ut cognovi, amantes tui. Hoc ego idcirco nosse te volui, ut scires, hospitium tibi ubi parares, vel potius ut utrubique—quid enim ille facturus sit, incertum est—, et simul ostentavi tibi me istis esse familiarem et consiliis eorum interesse. Quod ego cur nolim, nihil video; non enim est ferre, si quid ferendum est, et probare, si quid non probandum est; etsi, quid non probem, equidem iam nescio, praeter initia rerum; nam haec in voluntate fuerunt. Vidi enim—nam tu aberas—nostros amicos cupere bellum, hunc autem non tam cupere quam non timere—ergo haec consilii fuerunt, reliqua necessaria—, vincere autem aut hos aut illos necesse esse. Scio te semper mecum in luctu fuisse, cum videremus cum illud ingens malum, alterius utrius exercitus et ducum interitum, tum vero extremum malorum omnium esse civilis belli victoriam: quam quidem ego etiam illorum timebam, ad quos veneramus—crudeliter enim otiosis minabantur, eratque iis et tua invisa voluntas et mea oratio—; nunc vero, si essent nostri potiti, valde intemperantes fuissent, erant enim nobis perirati, quasi quidquam de nostra salute decrevissemus, quod non idem illis censuissemus, aut quasi utilius rei publicae fuerit eos etiam ad bestiarum auxilium confugere quam vel emori vel cum spe, si non optima, at aliqua tamen vivere. "At in perturbata re publica vivimus." Quis negat? sed hoc viderint ii, qui nulla sibi subsidia ad omnes vitae status paraverunt; huc enim ut venirem, superior longius, quam volui, fluxit oratio: cum enim te semper magnum hominem duxerim, quod his tempestatibus es prope solus in portu fructusque doctrinae percipis eos, qui maximi sunt, ut ea consideres eaque tractes, quorum et usus et delectatio est omnibus istorum et actis et voluptatibus anteponenda. Equidem hos tuos Tusculanenses dies instar esse vitae puto, libenterque omnibus omnes opes concesserim, ut mihi liceat vi nulla interpellante isto modo vivere: quod nos quoque imitamur, ut possumus, et in nostris studiis libentissime conquiescimus; quis enim hoc non dederit nobis, ut, cum opera nostra patria sive non possit uti sive nolit, ad eam vitam revertamur, quam multi docti homines, fortasse non recte, sed tamen multi etiam rei publicae praeponendam putaverunt? Quae igitur studia magnorum hominum sententia vacationem habent quandam publici muneris, iis concedente re publica cur non abutamur? Sed plus facio, quam Caninius mandavit; is enim, si quid ego scirem, rogarat, quod tu nescires, ego tibi ea narro, quae tu melius scis quam ipse, qui narro. Faciam ergo illud, quod rogatus sum, ut eorum, quae temporis huius sint, quae *** tua audiero, ne quid ignores.
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Our friend Caninius reminded me in your name to write to you if there was anything I thought you ought to know. Well, there is the expectation of Caesar's arrival, of course, and you are not unaware of that. But nevertheless, although he had written, I believe, that he would come to his Alsiense estate, his people wrote to him not to do so; they said many would trouble him and he would trouble many, and that it seemed he could disembark more conveniently at Ostia. I did not understand what difference it made, but still Hirtius told me that both he and Balbus and Oppius had written to him to do it that way -- men who, as I have learned, are fond of you. I wanted you to know this so that you might know where to prepare your hospitality, or rather so that you might prepare in both places, since it is uncertain what he will do, and at the same time I have shown you that I am on intimate terms with those men and party to their counsels. I see no reason why I should not wish this; for to endure is not to approve if there is something to be endured, nor to approve if there is something not to be approved. Although indeed I no longer know what I might disapprove of, except the beginnings of events; for those were matters of choice. I saw -- for you were away -- that our friends desired war, while this man did not so much desire it as not fear it. So those matters were of counsel; what followed was of necessity. And it was inevitable that one side or the other should win. I know that you were always in grief with me, when we saw that there was not only the monstrous evil of the destruction of one army or the other and their commanders, but that the ultimate evil of all evils was victory in a civil war -- and I feared this even from the side to which I had gone, for they were making cruel threats against the inactive, and both your attitude and my speech were odious to them. But now, if our side had prevailed, they would have been very intemperate, for they were furious at us, as if we had decided anything about our own safety that we had not also advised for them, or as if it had been more useful to the republic for them to flee even to the aid of barbarian kings rather than either to die or to live with some hope, if not the best, at least some. "But we live in a disordered republic." Who denies it? But let those see to this who have made no provision for themselves for every condition of life. For to come to this point, my previous discourse has flowed on longer than I wished. Since I have always considered you a great man, because in these storms you are almost alone in port, and you enjoy the fruits of learning, which are the greatest -- that you contemplate and engage with things whose usefulness and delight are to be preferred to all the activities and pleasures of those men -- I think your Tusculan days are the equivalent of a whole life, and I would gladly yield all riches to all men, if I might be permitted to live in that way without any disturbance. We too imitate this as best we can, and find our most willing rest in our studies. For who would not grant us this: that since our country either cannot or will not use our services, we should return to that life which many learned men, perhaps wrongly, but yet many, have considered preferable even to public service? Those studies which, in the judgment of great men, have a certain exemption from public duty -- why should we not enjoy them to the full, with the republic's permission? But I am doing more than Caninius asked; he asked me if I knew anything that you did not, and I am telling you things you know better than I who am telling them. I shall do then what I was asked: if I hear anything of current events that concerns you, I shall see to it that you are not uninformed.
Human translation - ToposText / Shuckburgh
Latin / Greek Original
VI. Scr. Romae mense Iunio a.u.c. 708. CICERO VARRONI.
Caninius noster me tuis verbis admonuit, ut scriberem ad te, si quid esset, quod putarem te scire oportere. Est igitur adventus Caesaris scilicet in exspectatione, neque tu id ignoras. Sed tamen, cum ille scripsisset, ut opinor, se in Alsiense venturum, scripserunt ad eum sui, ne id faceret; multos ei molestos fore ipsumque multis; Ostiae videri commodius eum exire posse: id ego non intelligebam quid interesset; sed tamen Hirtius mihi dixit et se ad eum et Balbum et Oppium scripsisse, ut ita faceret, homines, ut cognovi, amantes tui. Hoc ego idcirco nosse te volui, ut scires, hospitium tibi ubi parares, vel potius ut utrubique—quid enim ille facturus sit, incertum est—, et simul ostentavi tibi me istis esse familiarem et consiliis eorum interesse. Quod ego cur nolim, nihil video; non enim est ferre, si quid ferendum est, et probare, si quid non probandum est; etsi, quid non probem, equidem iam nescio, praeter initia rerum; nam haec in voluntate fuerunt. Vidi enim—nam tu aberas—nostros amicos cupere bellum, hunc autem non tam cupere quam non timere—ergo haec consilii fuerunt, reliqua necessaria—, vincere autem aut hos aut illos necesse esse. Scio te semper mecum in luctu fuisse, cum videremus cum illud ingens malum, alterius utrius exercitus et ducum interitum, tum vero extremum malorum omnium esse civilis belli victoriam: quam quidem ego etiam illorum timebam, ad quos veneramus—crudeliter enim otiosis minabantur, eratque iis et tua invisa voluntas et mea oratio—; nunc vero, si essent nostri potiti, valde intemperantes fuissent, erant enim nobis perirati, quasi quidquam de nostra salute decrevissemus, quod non idem illis censuissemus, aut quasi utilius rei publicae fuerit eos etiam ad bestiarum auxilium confugere quam vel emori vel cum spe, si non optima, at aliqua tamen vivere. "At in perturbata re publica vivimus." Quis negat? sed hoc viderint ii, qui nulla sibi subsidia ad omnes vitae status paraverunt; huc enim ut venirem, superior longius, quam volui, fluxit oratio: cum enim te semper magnum hominem duxerim, quod his tempestatibus es prope solus in portu fructusque doctrinae percipis eos, qui maximi sunt, ut ea consideres eaque tractes, quorum et usus et delectatio est omnibus istorum et actis et voluptatibus anteponenda. Equidem hos tuos Tusculanenses dies instar esse vitae puto, libenterque omnibus omnes opes concesserim, ut mihi liceat vi nulla interpellante isto modo vivere: quod nos quoque imitamur, ut possumus, et in nostris studiis libentissime conquiescimus; quis enim hoc non dederit nobis, ut, cum opera nostra patria sive non possit uti sive nolit, ad eam vitam revertamur, quam multi docti homines, fortasse non recte, sed tamen multi etiam rei publicae praeponendam putaverunt? Quae igitur studia magnorum hominum sententia vacationem habent quandam publici muneris, iis concedente re publica cur non abutamur? Sed plus facio, quam Caninius mandavit; is enim, si quid ego scirem, rogarat, quod tu nescires, ego tibi ea narro, quae tu melius scis quam ipse, qui narro. Faciam ergo illud, quod rogatus sum, ut eorum, quae temporis huius sint, quae *** tua audiero, ne quid ignores.