Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 46 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
I do not want you to drop your own affairs and come to me; I will rather come to you, if you are detained any longer. And yet I would not have withdrawn even from your sight, were it not that nothing whatever does me any good. But if there were any relief to be had, it would lie in you alone, and the moment it can come from anyone, it will come from you. As it is, though, this very moment I cannot bear to be without you. But staying at your house was not thought advisable, and at my own house I could not, and even if I were somewhere closer by, I still would not be with you. For the same thing that even now keeps you from being with me would keep you from being with me then too. Up to now nothing has suited me better than this solitude; which I fear Philippus may spoil, for he arrived yesterday evening. Writing and letters do not soothe me but distract me.
Marcianus has written to tell me that my excuses were made with
Appuleius by Laterensis, Naso, Laenas, Torquatus and Strabo. Please send
them a letter on my behalf, thanking them for what they have done. As
for what Flavius says, that more than 25 years ago I went bail for
Cornificius, though the defendant is well off, and Appuleius is a
respectable estate agent, I should be glad, if you would verify the
truth of that statement from the account books of the other sureties;
for before my aedileship I had no dealings with Cornificius. It may be
so: but I should like to know for certain. And please demand payment
from his agents, if you think it right. However it's of no importance:
but still—. Let me know when Pansa departs, when you know yourself. Pay
my respects to Attica, and pray look after her well. Greet Pilia for me.
te tuis negotiis relictis nolo ad me venire, ego potius accedam, si diutius impediere. etsi ne discessissem qui dem e conspectu tuo, nisi me plane nihil ulla res adiuvaret. quod si esset aliquod levamen, id esset in te uno, et cum primum ab aliquo poterit esse, a te erit. nunc tamen ipsum sine te esse non possum. sed nec tuae domi probabatur nec meae poteram nec, si propius essem uspiam, tecum tamen essem. idem enim te impediret quo minus mecum esses, quod nunc etiam impedit. mihi nihil adhuc aptius fuit hac solitudine; quam vereor ne Philippus tollat heri enim vesperi venerat. me scriptio et litterae non leniunt sed obturbant.
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I do not want you to drop your own affairs and come to me; I will rather come to you, if you are detained any longer. And yet I would not have withdrawn even from your sight, were it not that nothing whatever does me any good. But if there were any relief to be had, it would lie in you alone, and the moment it can come from anyone, it will come from you. As it is, though, this very moment I cannot bear to be without you. But staying at your house was not thought advisable, and at my own house I could not, and even if I were somewhere closer by, I still would not be with you. For the same thing that even now keeps you from being with me would keep you from being with me then too. Up to now nothing has suited me better than this solitude; which I fear Philippus may spoil, for he arrived yesterday evening. Writing and letters do not soothe me but distract me.
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
te tuis negotiis relictis nolo ad me venire, ego potius accedam, si diutius impediere. etsi ne discessissem qui dem e conspectu tuo, nisi me plane nihil ulla res adiuvaret. quod si esset aliquod levamen, id esset in te uno, et cum primum ab aliquo poterit esse, a te erit. nunc tamen ipsum sine te esse non possum. sed nec tuae domi probabatur nec meae poteram nec, si propius essem uspiam, tecum tamen essem. idem enim te impediret quo minus mecum esses, quod nunc etiam impedit. mihi nihil adhuc aptius fuit hac solitudine; quam vereor ne Philippus tollat heri enim vesperi venerat. me scriptio et litterae non leniunt sed obturbant.