Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 49 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
After I had sent you a gloomy letter, and one I fear may be true, about Lucretius' letter sent from Capua to Cassius, Cephalio came from your people. He also brought a letter from you, more cheerful, though not, as usual, firmly grounded.
I can more easily believe anything than what you write, that Pompey has an army. No one reports that here. They report everything I would rather not hear. What a miserable situation. Pompey has always prevailed in bad causes; in the best cause he has collapsed. What can I say, except that he understood the former - and that was not hard - but did not understand the latter? It is a difficult art to govern the republic rightly.
But now, at any moment, we will know everything, and I will write to you immediately.
After I had sent you a despondent and, I fear, true report about the letter Lucretius dispatched to Cassius from Capua, Cephalio came to me from you with a letter more cheerful, but not as decided as usual. Any news is more credible than your news of Pompey having an army. No one brings such a
report here, but every kind of unwelcome news. It is a sorry thought that Pompey has always won in a bad cause, but fails in the best of causes. The only solution is that he knew the ropes in the former (which is not a difficult accomplishment), but did not in the latter. It is a difficult art to rule a republic in the right way. At any moment we may know all, and I will write you immediately.
Cum dedissem ad te litteras tristis et metuo ne veras de Lucreti ad Cassium litteris Capua missis, Cephalio venit a vobis. attulit etiam a te litteras hilariores nec tamen firmas, ut soles. omnia facilius credere possum quam quod scribitis, Pompeium exercitum habere. nemo huc ita adfert omniaque quae nolim. O rem miseram! malas causas semper obtinuit, in optima concidit. quid dicam nisi illud eum scisse (neque enim erat difficile), hoc nescisse? erat enim ars difficilis recte rem publicam regere. sed iam iamque omnia sciemus et scribemus ad te statim.
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After I had sent you a gloomy letter, and one I fear may be true, about Lucretius' letter sent from Capua to Cassius, Cephalio came from your people. He also brought a letter from you, more cheerful, though not, as usual, firmly grounded.
I can more easily believe anything than what you write, that Pompey has an army. No one reports that here. They report everything I would rather not hear. What a miserable situation. Pompey has always prevailed in bad causes; in the best cause he has collapsed. What can I say, except that he understood the former - and that was not hard - but did not understand the latter? It is a difficult art to govern the republic rightly.
But now, at any moment, we will know everything, and I will write to you immediately.
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
Cum dedissem ad te litteras tristis et metuo ne veras de Lucreti ad Cassium litteris Capua missis, Cephalio venit a vobis. attulit etiam a te litteras hilariores nec tamen firmas, ut soles. omnia facilius credere possum quam quod scribitis, Pompeium exercitum habere. nemo huc ita adfert omniaque quae nolim. O rem miseram! malas causas semper obtinuit, in optima concidit. quid dicam nisi illud eum scisse (neque enim erat difficile), hoc nescisse? erat enim ars difficilis recte rem publicam regere. sed iam iamque omnia sciemus et scribemus ad te statim.