Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 45 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
You did the right thing about the aqueduct. As for the Columnistum [a disputed or corrupt term, likely referring to a tax or payment connected with the property], see to it that we owe nothing—though I rather think I recall, from Camillus, that the law was changed.
[2] As for Piso, what more honorable answer can we give him than the example of Cato's isolation? And this concerns not only the Herennian co-heirs but also—as you know, since you handled the matter with me—the affair of young Lucullus and the money which his guardian (for this too bears on the case) had taken up in Achaia. But Piso is behaving generously, since he says he will do nothing against our wishes. So, as you write, we will decide face to face how to settle the business. As for your having met with the remaining co-heirs, that is plainly well done.
[3] As for your asking for my letter to Brutus, I do not have a copy of it; but all the same it is safe, and Tiro says you ought to have it, and, as I recall, together with that reproachful letter of his I sent you my own as well, the one I had written back to him in reply.
[4] You will see to it that I am spared the annoyance of the lawsuit.
Sestius came to see me yesterday and Theopompus too. He told me that Caesar had sent a letter saying he had resolved to stay at Rome and assigning as a reason the one mentioned in my letter, fear that if he went away his laws would be disregarded, as his sumptuary law was. That is reasonable enough and is just what I suspected. But I must humour your friends, unless you think I could use that very line of argument. He tells me too that Lentulus has certainly divorced Metella. But you will know all this better than he does. So please send an answer,—anything you like provided it is something. For at the moment I cannot think of anything you will put in your answer, unless it is something about Mustela, or unless you see Silius.
de aquae ductu probe fecisti. Columniftum vide ne nullum debeamus; quamquam mihi videor isse <a> Camillo commutatam esse legem. [2] Pisoni quid est quod honestius respondere possimus quam solitudinem Catonis? nec coheredibus solum Herennianis sed etiam, ut scis (tu enim mecum egisti), de puero Lucullo, quam pecuniam tutor (nam hoc quoque ad rem pertinet) in Achaia sumpserat. sed agit liberaliter, quoniam negat se quicquam facturum contra nostram voluntatem. coram igitur ut scribis, constituemus quem ad modum rem explicemus. quod reliquos coheredes convenisti, plane bene. [3] quod epistulam meam ad Brutum poscis, non habeo eius exemplum; sed tamen salvum est et ait Tiro te habere oportere et, ut recordor, una cum illius obiurgatoria tibi meam quoque quam ad eum rescripseram misi. [4] iudiciali molestia ut caream videbis.
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You did the right thing about the aqueduct. As for the Columnistum [a disputed or corrupt term, likely referring to a tax or payment connected with the property], see to it that we owe nothing—though I rather think I recall, from Camillus, that the law was changed.
[2] As for Piso, what more honorable answer can we give him than the example of Cato's isolation? And this concerns not only the Herennian co-heirs but also—as you know, since you handled the matter with me—the affair of young Lucullus and the money which his guardian (for this too bears on the case) had taken up in Achaia. But Piso is behaving generously, since he says he will do nothing against our wishes. So, as you write, we will decide face to face how to settle the business. As for your having met with the remaining co-heirs, that is plainly well done.
[3] As for your asking for my letter to Brutus, I do not have a copy of it; but all the same it is safe, and Tiro says you ought to have it, and, as I recall, together with that reproachful letter of his I sent you my own as well, the one I had written back to him in reply.
[4] You will see to it that I am spared the annoyance of the lawsuit.
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 aquae ductu probe fecisti. Columniftum vide ne nullum debeamus; quamquam mihi videor isse <a> Camillo commutatam esse legem. [2] Pisoni quid est quod honestius respondere possimus quam solitudinem Catonis? nec coheredibus solum Herennianis sed etiam, ut scis (tu enim mecum egisti), de puero Lucullo, quam pecuniam tutor (nam hoc quoque ad rem pertinet) in Achaia sumpserat. sed agit liberaliter, quoniam negat se quicquam facturum contra nostram voluntatem. coram igitur ut scribis, constituemus quem ad modum rem explicemus. quod reliquos coheredes convenisti, plane bene. [3] quod epistulam meam ad Brutum poscis, non habeo eius exemplum; sed tamen salvum est et ait Tiro te habere oportere et, ut recordor, una cum illius obiurgatoria tibi meam quoque quam ad eum rescripseram misi. [4] iudiciali molestia ut caream videbis.