Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 46 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
I want a shrine built, and this cannot be wrested from me. My eagerness to avoid the appearance of a tomb is not so much on account of the penalty of the law as it is so that I may attain, as fully as possible, an apotheosis [a)poqe/wsin, apotheosis: deification, raising to the status of a god]. This I could do if I built it on the villa property itself; but, as we have often discussed, I dread the changes of owners. Wherever in the open country I build it, I think I can achieve a situation in which posterity will hold it sacred. These follies of mine you must put up with (for I admit they are follies); for I have no one, not even myself, with whom I share my thoughts as boldly as I do with you. But if you are satisfied with the matter, with the site, with the plan, then read the law, please, and send it to me. If anything comes to mind by which we might evade it, we shall make use of it.
If you write anything to Brutus, and provided you do not think it out of place, scold him for not being willing to be at the Cumanum, for the reason I told you. For when I reflect on it, nothing seems to me to have been a more boorish thing he could have done. And if it pleases you to proceed about the shrine in the way we have begun, I should like you to urge on and spur Cluatius. For even if I decide on another site, I think we must make use of his services and advice. You, perhaps, will go to the villa tomorrow.
I have no doubt you are overwhelmingly busy, as you send me no letter. But what a scoundrel not to wait for your convenience when I sent him for that very reason! Now I suppose you are in your suburban estate, unless anything kept you. I sit here writing all day long, and get no relief, though it does distract my thoughts.
Asinius Pollio has written about my blackguardly kinsman. Balbus the younger gave me a clear enough hint lately, Dolabella a vague one, and Pollio states it quite openly. I should be annoyed, if there were any room left for a new sorrow. But could anything be more blackguardly? What a dangerous fellow! Though to me—— But I must restrain my feelings. There is no necessity for you to write, only write, if you have time.
Fanum fieri volo neque hoc mihi eripi potest. sepulcri similitudinem effugere non tam propter poenam legis studeo quam ut maxime adsequar a)poqe/wsin . quod poteram, si in ipsa villa facerem; sed ut saepe locuti sumus, commutationes dominorum reformido. in agro ubicumque fecero, mihi videor adsequi posse ut posteritas habeat religionem. hae meae tibi ineptiae (fateor enim) ferendae sunt; nam habeo ne me quidem ipsum quicum tam audacter communicem quam tecum. sin tibi res, si locus, si institutum placet, lege, quaeso, legem mihique eam mitte. si quid in mentem veniet quo modo eam effugere possimus, utemur. [2] ad Brutum si quid scribes, nisi alienum putabis, obiurgato eum quod in Cumano esse noluerit propter eam causam quam tibi dixi. cogitanti enim mihi nihil tam videtur potuisse facere rustice. et si tibi placebit sic agere de fano ut coepimus, velim cohortere et exacuas Cluatium. nam etiam si alio loco placebit, illius nobis opera consilioque utendum puto. tu ad villam fortasse cras.
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I want a shrine built, and this cannot be wrested from me. My eagerness to avoid the appearance of a tomb is not so much on account of the penalty of the law as it is so that I may attain, as fully as possible, an apotheosis [a)poqe/wsin, apotheosis: deification, raising to the status of a god]. This I could do if I built it on the villa property itself; but, as we have often discussed, I dread the changes of owners. Wherever in the open country I build it, I think I can achieve a situation in which posterity will hold it sacred. These follies of mine you must put up with (for I admit they are follies); for I have no one, not even myself, with whom I share my thoughts as boldly as I do with you. But if you are satisfied with the matter, with the site, with the plan, then read the law, please, and send it to me. If anything comes to mind by which we might evade it, we shall make use of it.
If you write anything to Brutus, and provided you do not think it out of place, scold him for not being willing to be at the Cumanum, for the reason I told you. For when I reflect on it, nothing seems to me to have been a more boorish thing he could have done. And if it pleases you to proceed about the shrine in the way we have begun, I should like you to urge on and spur Cluatius. For even if I decide on another site, I think we must make use of his services and advice. You, perhaps, will go to the villa tomorrow.
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
Fanum fieri volo neque hoc mihi eripi potest. sepulcri similitudinem effugere non tam propter poenam legis studeo quam ut maxime adsequar a)poqe/wsin . quod poteram, si in ipsa villa facerem; sed ut saepe locuti sumus, commutationes dominorum reformido. in agro ubicumque fecero, mihi videor adsequi posse ut posteritas habeat religionem. hae meae tibi ineptiae (fateor enim) ferendae sunt; nam habeo ne me quidem ipsum quicum tam audacter communicem quam tecum. sin tibi res, si locus, si institutum placet, lege, quaeso, legem mihique eam mitte. si quid in mentem veniet quo modo eam effugere possimus, utemur. [2] ad Brutum si quid scribes, nisi alienum putabis, obiurgato eum quod in Cumano esse noluerit propter eam causam quam tibi dixi. cogitanti enim mihi nihil tam videtur potuisse facere rustice. et si tibi placebit sic agere de fano ut coepimus, velim cohortere et exacuas Cluatium. nam etiam si alio loco placebit, illius nobis opera consilioque utendum puto. tu ad villam fortasse cras.