Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 46 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
Still, the rumors here are that Murcus has perished in a shipwreck, that Asinius was carried ashore alive into the soldiers' hands, that fifty ships have been driven to Utica by this contrary wind, that Pompey is nowhere to be seen and was never in the Balearic Islands at all, as Paciaecus insists. But there is no reliable authority for any of it. There you have what people have been saying while you are away. Meanwhile there are the games at Praeneste. That is where Hirtius and all that lot are. [2] And mind you, the games run for eight days. What dinners, what delights! Meanwhile, perhaps, the great business has been settled. What remarkable men! But Balbus goes on building: ti gar autoi melei? [what does he care?] Yet if you want the truth, for a man who pursues not the right but the pleasurable, is not life over and done with [bebiotai]? Meanwhile you sleep on. The problem [problema] must now be worked out, if you mean to do anything. If you ask what I think, I think it is all about the harvest. But why say more? I shall soon see you, and indeed, I hope, straight from the road to my house. For at the same time we shall fix a day for Tyrannio, and anything else there may be.
All the same there are reports here that Murcus has been lost at sea, that Asinius reached shore alive to fall into the soldiers' hands, that 50 ships have been carried to Utica by this contrary wind, that Pompey is nowhere to be found and never has been in the Baleares, as Paciaecus declares. But there is no definite authority for any of this. That is what people have been saying while you are away. Meanwhile there are the games at Praeneste. That's where Hirtius and all that crew are; and there are eight days of games! Picture their dinners and their extravagant goings on. Perhaps in the meantime the great question has been settled. What people they are! So Balbus is building: little he recks. But, if you ask me, is not life over and done with, when a man begins to look for pleasure rather than duty? In the meantime you slumber on. Now is the time the problem must be solved, if you mean to do anything. If you ask me what I think, I think "Gather ye roses." But what's the good of going on? I shall see you at once, and I hope you
will come straight from the road to me. For we will arrange a day for Tyrannio at the same time, and anything else there is to do.
hic rumores tamen Murcum perisse naufragio, Asinium delatum vivum in manus militum, L navis delatas Vticam reflatu hoc, Pompeium non comparere nec in Balearibus omnino fuisse, ut Paciaecus adfirmat. sed auctor nullius rei quisquam. habes quae, dum tu abes, locuti sint. ludi interea Praeneste. ibi Hirtius et isti omnes. [2] et quidem ludi dies viii. quae cenae, quae deliciae! res interea fortasse transacta est. O miros homines! at Balbus aedificat; ti/ ga\r au)tw=? me/lei; verum si quaeris, homini non recta sed voluptaria quaerenti nonne bebi/wtai ? tu interea dormis. iam explicandum est pro/blhma , si quid acturus es. si quaeris quid putem, ego fructum puto. sed quid multa? iam te videbo et quidem, ut spero, de via recta ad me. simul enim et diem Tyrannioni constituemus et si quid aliud.
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Still, the rumors here are that Murcus has perished in a shipwreck, that Asinius was carried ashore alive into the soldiers' hands, that fifty ships have been driven to Utica by this contrary wind, that Pompey is nowhere to be seen and was never in the Balearic Islands at all, as Paciaecus insists. But there is no reliable authority for any of it. There you have what people have been saying while you are away. Meanwhile there are the games at Praeneste. That is where Hirtius and all that lot are. [2] And mind you, the games run for eight days. What dinners, what delights! Meanwhile, perhaps, the great business has been settled. What remarkable men! But Balbus goes on building: ti gar autoi melei? [what does he care?] Yet if you want the truth, for a man who pursues not the right but the pleasurable, is not life over and done with [bebiotai]? Meanwhile you sleep on. The problem [problema] must now be worked out, if you mean to do anything. If you ask what I think, I think it is all about the harvest. But why say more? I shall soon see you, and indeed, I hope, straight from the road to my house. For at the same time we shall fix a day for Tyrannio, and anything else there may be.
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
hic rumores tamen Murcum perisse naufragio, Asinium delatum vivum in manus militum, L navis delatas Vticam reflatu hoc, Pompeium non comparere nec in Balearibus omnino fuisse, ut Paciaecus adfirmat. sed auctor nullius rei quisquam. habes quae, dum tu abes, locuti sint. ludi interea Praeneste. ibi Hirtius et isti omnes. [2] et quidem ludi dies viii. quae cenae, quae deliciae! res interea fortasse transacta est. O miros homines! at Balbus aedificat; ti/ ga\r au)tw=? me/lei; verum si quaeris, homini non recta sed voluptaria quaerenti nonne bebi/wtai ? tu interea dormis. iam explicandum est pro/blhma , si quid acturus es. si quaeris quid putem, ego fructum puto. sed quid multa? iam te videbo et quidem, ut spero, de via recta ad me. simul enim et diem Tyrannioni constituemus et si quid aliud.