Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 51 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
I reached Laodicea on July 31. Start counting my year of office from that day. Nothing could have been more eagerly desired or more warmly welcomed than my arrival.
But it is unbelievable how sick I am of the work. The range you know so well in my mind and energy has no field large enough here; all my best effort lies idle. Imagine it: I administer justice at Laodicea while Aulus Plotius does the same at Rome, and while our friend has an enormous army, I hold the title to two exiled little legions. In the end, though, I do not miss those things. I miss the light, the Forum, the city, my home, and you. I will bear it as I can, provided it is only for a year. If it is prolonged, I am finished. Yet that can be resisted very easily, if only you are in Rome.
You ask what I am doing here. I am living in such a way that I spend enormous sums of my own. I am wonderfully pleased with this policy. My restraint, learned from your precepts, is so admirable that I fear I may have to borrow to repay the money I exchanged with you. I do not reopen Appius' wounds, but they are visible and cannot be hidden.
When I sent this letter on August 3, I was traveling from Laodicea to the camp in Lycaonia. From there I was thinking of going to the Taurus, so that, if possible, I might settle the matter of your slave in open battle with Moeragenes. The packsaddle has been put on the ox: this is plainly not my proper burden. Still, I will bear it, provided, if you love me, that I serve only a year and that you are present at the right time to stir up the whole Senate.
I am wonderfully anxious because all that is happening in Rome has been unknown to me for so long. So, as I wrote before, make sure I know public affairs as well as everything else. I will write more, though this letter will reach you late. I am giving it to a close and trusted friend, Gaius Andronicus of Puteoli. You, however, can often send letters through the messengers of the tax-farmers, by way of the managers of pasture and harbor dues in my districts.
I reached Laodicea on the 31st of July. So notch that day as the beginning of my year of office. My arrival has been looked forward to with desire and longing.
You would never believe how sick I am of the business and I cannot find sufficient scope for the wide interests and energy you know I possess, and do nothing noticeable. To think that I hold court in Laodicea, while A. Plotius does so at Rome, and that I have the nominal command of two skeleton legions, while Caesar has a huge army! However, it is not these advantages I miss: it is the world, the Forum, the city, my home and you. I will bear as best I can a year of office: an extension would kill me. Still we may combat that very easily if only you are at Rome.
You ask what I am doing. Upon my life I am spending a fortune. I am marvellously pleased with the rule of conduct I have formed: and you have taught me to be so admirably self restrained that I fear I may have to borrow to pay off the money I took from you. I avoid opening the wounds which Appius has inflicted on the province: but they are patent and cannot be hidden. I travel from Laodicea on the 3rd of August, the date of this letter, to the camp in Lycaonia. Thence I intend to go to Taurus, so that I may settle the matter of your slave, if possible, by pitched battle with Moeragenes.
I can endure; but, for heaven’s sake, let it be only for a year. You must be in town at the proper time to stir up every member of the House. I am marvellously anxious, because it is so long since I have had news: so, as I wrote before, give me news of political matters as well as other things. I will write more fully. [This letter I know] will be a long time in reaching you: but I am giving it to a trusty and intimate friend, C. Andronicus of
Puteoli. You, however, will be able to get the contractors for the pasture-dues and harbour-duties of my districts to send yours by the tax-gatherers’ messengers.
Laodiceam veni pridie Kal. Sextilis. ex hoc die clavum anni movebis. nihil exoptatius adventu meo, nihil carius. sed est incredibile quam me negoti taedeat, non habeat satis magnum campum ille tibi non ignotus cursus animi et industriae meae, praeclara opera cesset. quippe, ius Laodiceae me dicere, cum Romae A. Plotius dicat, et, cum exercitum noster amicus habeat tantum, me nomen habere duarum legionum exilium? denique haec non desidero, lucem, forum, urbem, domum, vos desidero. sed feram ut potero, sit modo annuum. si prorogatur, actum est. verum perfacile resisti potest, tu modo Romae sis. [2] quaeris quid hic agam. ita vivam ut maximos sumptus facio. mirifice delector hoc instituto. admirabilis abstinentia ex praeceptis tuis, ut verear ne illud quod tecum permutavi versura mihi solvendum sit. Appi vulnera non refrico, sed apparent nec occuli possunt. iter Laodicea faciebam a. d. iii Non. Sextilis, cum has litteras dabam, in castra in Lycaoniam. Inde ad Taurum cogitabam, ut cum Moeragene signis collatis, si possem, de servo tuo deciderem. clitellae bovi sunt impositae; plane non est nostrum onus. sed feremus, modo, si me amas, sim annuus adsis tu ad tempus ut senatum totum excites. mirifice sollicitus sum quod iam diu mihi ignota sunt ista omnia. qua re ut ad te ante scripsi, cum cetera tum res publica cura ut mihi nota sit. plura scribam +tarde tibi redditu iri+, sed dabam familiari homini ac domestico, C. Andronico Puteolano. tu autem saepe dare tabellariis publicanorum poteris per magistros scripturae et portus nostrarum dioecesium.
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I reached Laodicea on July 31. Start counting my year of office from that day. Nothing could have been more eagerly desired or more warmly welcomed than my arrival.
But it is unbelievable how sick I am of the work. The range you know so well in my mind and energy has no field large enough here; all my best effort lies idle. Imagine it: I administer justice at Laodicea while Aulus Plotius does the same at Rome, and while our friend has an enormous army, I hold the title to two exiled little legions. In the end, though, I do not miss those things. I miss the light, the Forum, the city, my home, and you. I will bear it as I can, provided it is only for a year. If it is prolonged, I am finished. Yet that can be resisted very easily, if only you are in Rome.
You ask what I am doing here. I am living in such a way that I spend enormous sums of my own. I am wonderfully pleased with this policy. My restraint, learned from your precepts, is so admirable that I fear I may have to borrow to repay the money I exchanged with you. I do not reopen Appius' wounds, but they are visible and cannot be hidden.
When I sent this letter on August 3, I was traveling from Laodicea to the camp in Lycaonia. From there I was thinking of going to the Taurus, so that, if possible, I might settle the matter of your slave in open battle with Moeragenes. The packsaddle has been put on the ox: this is plainly not my proper burden. Still, I will bear it, provided, if you love me, that I serve only a year and that you are present at the right time to stir up the whole Senate.
I am wonderfully anxious because all that is happening in Rome has been unknown to me for so long. So, as I wrote before, make sure I know public affairs as well as everything else. I will write more, though this letter will reach you late. I am giving it to a close and trusted friend, Gaius Andronicus of Puteoli. You, however, can often send letters through the messengers of the tax-farmers, by way of the managers of pasture and harbor dues in my districts.
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
Laodiceam veni pridie Kal. Sextilis. ex hoc die clavum anni movebis. nihil exoptatius adventu meo, nihil carius. sed est incredibile quam me negoti taedeat, non habeat satis magnum campum ille tibi non ignotus cursus animi et industriae meae, praeclara opera cesset. quippe, ius Laodiceae me dicere, cum Romae A. Plotius dicat, et, cum exercitum noster amicus habeat tantum, me nomen habere duarum legionum exilium? denique haec non desidero, lucem, forum, urbem, domum, vos desidero. sed feram ut potero, sit modo annuum. si prorogatur, actum est. verum perfacile resisti potest, tu modo Romae sis. [2] quaeris quid hic agam. ita vivam ut maximos sumptus facio. mirifice delector hoc instituto. admirabilis abstinentia ex praeceptis tuis, ut verear ne illud quod tecum permutavi versura mihi solvendum sit. Appi vulnera non refrico, sed apparent nec occuli possunt. iter Laodicea faciebam a. d. iii Non. Sextilis, cum has litteras dabam, in castra in Lycaoniam. Inde ad Taurum cogitabam, ut cum Moeragene signis collatis, si possem, de servo tuo deciderem. clitellae bovi sunt impositae; plane non est nostrum onus. sed feremus, modo, si me amas, sim annuus adsis tu ad tempus ut senatum totum excites. mirifice sollicitus sum quod iam diu mihi ignota sunt ista omnia. qua re ut ad te ante scripsi, cum cetera tum res publica cura ut mihi nota sit. plura scribam +tarde tibi redditu iri+, sed dabam familiari homini ac domestico, C. Andronico Puteolano. tu autem saepe dare tabellariis publicanorum poteris per magistros scripturae et portus nostrarum dioecesium.