Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 46 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
Quintus the father, for the fourth time -- or rather the thousandth -- shows not a shred of sense, rejoicing in his son Lupercus and in Statius, only to watch his house heaped high with a double disgrace. I add Philotimus too, as a third. What unparalleled folly -- if my own were not greater! And what brazenness, to make this matter an eranos [a contribution levied from friends] at your expense! Suppose he had come not to ' a thirsty spring ' but to Peirene [the famous fountain at Corinth], a ' breathing-channel of holy Alpheus ' -- still, for him to draw upon you, his ' spring ' (as you write), and that too in straits as great as your own: where in the end will all this come crashing down? [2] But let him see to that himself. Cato gives me real pleasure, but so too does Lucilius Bassus give pleasure to himself.
Quintus the father shows no sense for the fourth time — or rather the thousandth — in rejoicing over his son Lupercus and Statius, only to behold his house heaped with double disgrace. I add Philotimus as a third. What folly — unless my own is greater!
Quintus pater quartum vel potius millesimum nihil sapit qui laetetur Luperco filio et Statio ut cernat duplici dedecore cumulatam domum. addo etiam Philotimum tertium. O stultitiam, nisi mea maior esset, singularem! quod autem os in hanc rem e)/ranon a te! fac non ad ' diyw=san krh/nhn ' sed ad Peirh/nhn eum venisse, ' a)/mpneuma semno\n )Alfeiou= ' in te ' krh/nh? ,' ut scribis, haurire in tantis suis praesertim angustiis, poi= tau=ta a)/ra a)poskh/yei; ; [2] sed ipse viderit. Cato me quidem delectat, sed etiam Bassum Lucilium sua.
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Quintus the father, for the fourth time -- or rather the thousandth -- shows not a shred of sense, rejoicing in his son Lupercus and in Statius, only to watch his house heaped high with a double disgrace. I add Philotimus too, as a third. What unparalleled folly -- if my own were not greater! And what brazenness, to make this matter an eranos [a contribution levied from friends] at your expense! Suppose he had come not to ' a thirsty spring ' but to Peirene [the famous fountain at Corinth], a ' breathing-channel of holy Alpheus ' -- still, for him to draw upon you, his ' spring ' (as you write), and that too in straits as great as your own: where in the end will all this come crashing down? [2] But let him see to that himself. Cato gives me real pleasure, but so too does Lucilius Bassus give pleasure to himself.
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
Quintus pater quartum vel potius millesimum nihil sapit qui laetetur Luperco filio et Statio ut cernat duplici dedecore cumulatam domum. addo etiam Philotimum tertium. O stultitiam, nisi mea maior esset, singularem! quod autem os in hanc rem e)/ranon a te! fac non ad ' diyw=san krh/nhn ' sed ad Peirh/nhn eum venisse, ' a)/mpneuma semno\n )Alfeiou= ' in te ' krh/nh? ,' ut scribis, haurire in tantis suis praesertim angustiis, poi= tau=ta a)/ra a)poskh/yei; ; [2] sed ipse viderit. Cato me quidem delectat, sed etiam Bassum Lucilium sua.