Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 46 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
As for the matter of Caelius, please see to it that there is no shortfall in the gold. I have no knowledge of such things. But there is certainly enough loss in the exchange premium. If the gold is added on top of this--but why am I going on? You will see to it. There you have the style of Hegesias, which Varro admires.
[2] I come to Tyrannio. Is it really so? Did this truly happen? Without me? But how many times, when I was at leisure, have I refused to do such things even without you? So how will you atone for this? Only, of course, if you send me the book; and I ask you again and again to do so. Though the book itself will give me no more pleasure than your admiration has already given me. For I love anyone who is panta philedemon [a lover of learning in every respect], and I am delighted that you have so warmly admired that subtle theoria [theoretical inquiry]. And yet all your own pursuits are of this same kind. For you wish to know; and by that alone the mind is nourished. But, I ask you, what bearing does that refined and weighty inquiry have upon the telos [the end, the supreme good]? But this is a long discourse, and you are busy--perhaps even on some business of mine. And in return for that roasted sunshine you wasted in our little meadow, we shall demand back from you bright and oiled sunshine. But I return to where I began. Send the book, if you love me. For it is surely yours, since indeed it was sent to you.
Chremes, do you have so much leisure to spare from your own affairs that you actually read the orator? [a verse quotation, recasting a line from Terence's Heauton Timorumenos to tease Atticus for reading Cicero's own treatise, the 'Orator']. Bravo! It pleases me, indeed, and it will please me more if you restore 'Aristophanes' in place of 'Eupolis'--not only in your own copies, but in those of others as well, through your copyists. [Cicero is correcting a misattribution in his own published work.]
[4] Caesar, however, seemed to me to laugh at that 'please' of yours, which was both witty and elegant. Furthermore, he bade you be so free of worry that he removed every doubt from my mind, at any rate. I grieve that Attica has been ill so long; but since she is now without the shivering fits, I hope things are as we wish.
I have scribbled a note with all you want on a tablet, and given it to Eros—quite shortly, but more than you ask for. In it I have spoken about my son, of whose intentions you gave me the first hint. I took a most liberal tone with him, and, if you think it convenient, I should like you to ask him about that. But why put it off? I pointed out that you had told me what he wished to do and what he wanted: "he wished to go to Spain, and wanted a liberal allowance." As for the allowance, I said I would give him as much as Publilius or Lentulus the flamen gave their sons. Against Spain I brought forward two arguments, the first, the one I used to you, that I was afraid of adverse criticism: "Was it not enough that we abandoned one side? Must we take the other?" The second that he would be annoyed, if his cousin enjoyed Caesar's intimacy and general goodwill more than he did. I should prefer him to make use of my liberal offer rather than of his liberty. However I gave him permission; for I saw you did not really dislike the idea. I shall think the matter over carefully, and I hope you will too. It is an important point: to stay is simple, to go risky. But we shall see.
About Balbus I have written in the tablet, and I think of doing as you say, as soon as he comes back. If he is rather slow about it, still I shall be three days there; and, I forgot to say, Dolabella will be with me too.
de Caelio vide, quaeso, ne quae lacuna sit in auro. ego ista non novi. sed certe in collubo est detrimenti satis. huc aurum si accedit--sed quid loquor? tu videbis. habes Hegesiae genus, quod Varro laudat. [2] venio ad Tyrannionem. ain tu? verum hoc fuit? sine me? at ego quotiens, cum essem otiosus, sine te tamen nolui? quo modo hoc ergo lues? Vno scilicet si mihi librum miseris; quod ut facias etiam atque etiam rogo. etsi me non magis liber ipse delectabit quam tua admiratio delectavit. amo enim pa/nta filhdei/mona teque istam tam tenuem qewri/an tam valde admiratum esse gaudeo. etsi tua quidem sunt eius modi omnia. scire enim vis; quo uno animus alitur. sed, quaeso, quid ex ista acuta et gravi refertur ad te/loj ? sed longa oratio est, et tu occupatus es in meo quidem fortasse aliquo negotio. et pro isto asso sole quo tu abusus es in nostro pratulo a te nitidum solem unctumque repetemus. sed ad prima redeo. librum, si me amas, mitte. tuus est enim profecto, quoniam quidem est missus ad te. Chreme/s, tantumne ab re/ tua est oti/ tibi , ut etiam oratorem legas? macte virtute! mihi quidem gratum <est> et erit gratius si non modo in tuis libris sed etiam in aliorum per librarios tuos 'Aristophanem' reposueris pro 'Eupoli.' [4] Caesar autem mihi inridere visus est 'quaeso' illud tuum, quod erat et eu)pine\j et urbanum. ita porro te sine cura esse iussit ut mihi quidem dubitationem omnem tolleret. Atticam doleo <tam> diu; sed quoniam iam sine horrore est, spero esse ut volumus.
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As for the matter of Caelius, please see to it that there is no shortfall in the gold. I have no knowledge of such things. But there is certainly enough loss in the exchange premium. If the gold is added on top of this--but why am I going on? You will see to it. There you have the style of Hegesias, which Varro admires.
[2] I come to Tyrannio. Is it really so? Did this truly happen? Without me? But how many times, when I was at leisure, have I refused to do such things even without you? So how will you atone for this? Only, of course, if you send me the book; and I ask you again and again to do so. Though the book itself will give me no more pleasure than your admiration has already given me. For I love anyone who is panta philedemon [a lover of learning in every respect], and I am delighted that you have so warmly admired that subtle theoria [theoretical inquiry]. And yet all your own pursuits are of this same kind. For you wish to know; and by that alone the mind is nourished. But, I ask you, what bearing does that refined and weighty inquiry have upon the telos [the end, the supreme good]? But this is a long discourse, and you are busy--perhaps even on some business of mine. And in return for that roasted sunshine you wasted in our little meadow, we shall demand back from you bright and oiled sunshine. But I return to where I began. Send the book, if you love me. For it is surely yours, since indeed it was sent to you.
Chremes, do you have so much leisure to spare from your own affairs that you actually read the orator? [a verse quotation, recasting a line from Terence's Heauton Timorumenos to tease Atticus for reading Cicero's own treatise, the 'Orator']. Bravo! It pleases me, indeed, and it will please me more if you restore 'Aristophanes' in place of 'Eupolis'--not only in your own copies, but in those of others as well, through your copyists. [Cicero is correcting a misattribution in his own published work.]
[4] Caesar, however, seemed to me to laugh at that 'please' of yours, which was both witty and elegant. Furthermore, he bade you be so free of worry that he removed every doubt from my mind, at any rate. I grieve that Attica has been ill so long; but since she is now without the shivering fits, I hope things are as we wish.
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
de Caelio vide, quaeso, ne quae lacuna sit in auro. ego ista non novi. sed certe in collubo est detrimenti satis. huc aurum si accedit--sed quid loquor? tu videbis. habes Hegesiae genus, quod Varro laudat. [2] venio ad Tyrannionem. ain tu? verum hoc fuit? sine me? at ego quotiens, cum essem otiosus, sine te tamen nolui? quo modo hoc ergo lues? Vno scilicet si mihi librum miseris; quod ut facias etiam atque etiam rogo. etsi me non magis liber ipse delectabit quam tua admiratio delectavit. amo enim pa/nta filhdei/mona teque istam tam tenuem qewri/an tam valde admiratum esse gaudeo. etsi tua quidem sunt eius modi omnia. scire enim vis; quo uno animus alitur. sed, quaeso, quid ex ista acuta et gravi refertur ad te/loj ? sed longa oratio est, et tu occupatus es in meo quidem fortasse aliquo negotio. et pro isto asso sole quo tu abusus es in nostro pratulo a te nitidum solem unctumque repetemus. sed ad prima redeo. librum, si me amas, mitte. tuus est enim profecto, quoniam quidem est missus ad te. Chreme/s, tantumne ab re/ tua est oti/ tibi , ut etiam oratorem legas? macte virtute! mihi quidem gratum <est> et erit gratius si non modo in tuis libris sed etiam in aliorum per librarios tuos 'Aristophanem' reposueris pro 'Eupoli.' [4] Caesar autem mihi inridere visus est 'quaeso' illud tuum, quod erat et eu)pine\j et urbanum. ita porro te sine cura esse iussit ut mihi quidem dubitationem omnem tolleret. Atticam doleo <tam> diu; sed quoniam iam sine horrore est, spero esse ut volumus.