Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 45 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
Stirred by your letter, by what you had written to me about Varro, I have taken the whole Academica away from those most distinguished men and transferred it to our friend [i.e., Varro], and from two books I have expanded it into four. They are altogether bulkier than the earlier ones, but even so a great deal has been cut. I should very much like you to write and tell me how you came to understand that he wanted this; and I am particularly eager to know whom you understood him to be jealous of [zelotypeisthai, "to be jealous"]—unless perhaps Brutus. That, by Hercules, was all we needed! But still I should very much like to know. As for the books, unless perhaps the common self-love [philautia, "self-regard"] is deceiving me, they have turned out so well that in this genre there is nothing comparable even among the Greeks. You will bear that loss with equanimity—that the copies of the Academica you have were transcribed in vain. These, though, will be far more brilliant, more concise, and better.
[2] But now I am at a loss [aporo, "I am perplexed"] which way to turn. I want to dedicate something to Dolabella, who keenly desires it; but I cannot find what, and at the same time "I feel shame before the Trojans" [aideomai Troas, a tag from Homer, Iliad 6.442], and even if I do find something, I shall not be able to escape censure [memphin, "blame"]. So either I must hold back, or I must think up something. But why do we worry about these trifles?
[3] My dear Attica—I beg you, how is she doing? She causes me great anxiety. But I keep tasting your letters over and over again; in them I find rest. Still, I am waiting for fresh ones.
[4] Brinnius's freedman, our coheir, has written to me that—if it suits me—the coheirs and Albius Sabinus wish to come to me. I most certainly do not want that. The inheritance is not worth so much. And yet they will easily be able to meet the date of the auction (for it is the third day before the Ides), if they meet me at my Tusculan villa early in the morning on the day after the Nones. But if they prefer to put the date off more loosely, they can do so by two days, or three, or as seems good—for it makes no difference. Therefore, unless they have already set out, you will hold the men back. About Brutus, if he has done anything, and about Caesar, if you learn anything, and if there is anything else, you will write.
Please give your earnest consideration to deciding whether what I have
written ought to be sent to Varro: though the point has some personal
interest for you too: for you must know I have brought you in as a third
speaker in the dialogue. So I think we must consider. The names,
however, have been entered, but they can be scratched out or altered.
Pray tell me how Attica is. It is three days since I heard from you, and
no wonder: for no one has come here, and perhaps there was no reason for
writing. So I myself have nothing to write. However, I am expecting one
of my messengers the very day I am giving this to Valerius. If he comes
and brings something from you, I foresee I shall have no lack of
material.
Though I was looking for streams and solitude, to make life more
endurable, at present I have not stirred a foot away from the house; we
have had such heavy and continuous rain. The "Academic Treatise" I have
transferred entirely to Varro. At first it was assigned to Catulus,
Lucullus, and Hortensius; then, as that seemed inappropriate because
they were well-known not to be up in such matters, though not
illiterate, as soon as I came here I transferred the conversations to
Cato and Brutus. Then came your letter about Varro and he seemed the
most appropriate person possible to air Antiochus'
est aptior Antiochia ratio. Sed tamen velim scribas ad me, primum
placeatne tibi aliquid ad illum, deinde, si placebit, hocne potissimum.
Quid? Servilia iamne venit? Brutus ecquid agit et quando? De Caesare
quid auditur? Ego ad Nonas, quem ad modum dixi. Tu cum Pisone, si quid
poteris.
XVII, XVIII
I was expecting some news from Rome on the 27th. Then I should have
given some orders to your men. Now I have only the same old questions.
What is Brutus thinking of doing, or, if he has done anything, has any
comment come from Caesar? But why do I ask about these things, when I
care very little about them? I do want to know how our dear Attica is
getting on. Though your letter (but that is quite out of date now) bids
me be hopeful, still I am anxious for fresh news.
You see the advantage of being near at hand. Certainly let us settle
about the gardens. We seemed to be talking to one another, when I was at
Tusculum, so frequent was the interchange of letters. But that will be
the same again soon. Meantime I have taken your hint and finished off
some really quite clever books for Varro. But I am waiting for your
answer to my questions: first, how you knew he wanted anything from me,
when in spite of his voluminous writings he has never challenged me; and
next, who it was of whom he was jealous, unless it may have been Brutus.
If he is not jealous of him, he certainly cannot be of Hortensius or the
speakers in the _De Republica._
publica loquuntur. Plane hoc mihi explices velim, in primis maneasne in
sententia, ut mittam ad eum, quae scripsi, an nihil necesse putes. Sed
haec coram.
commotus tuis litteris, quod ad me de Varrone scripseras, totam Academiam ab hominibus nobilissimis abstuli, transtuli ad nostrum sodalem et ex duobus libris contuli in quattuor. grandiores sunt omnino quam erant illi sed tamen multa detracta. tu autem mihi pervelim scribas qui intellexeris illum velle; illud vero utique scire cupio quem intellexeris ab eo zhlotupei=sqai nisi forte Brutum. id hercle restabat! sed tamen scire pervelim. libri quidem ita exierunt nisi forte me communis filauti/a decipit, ut in tali genere ne apud Graecos quidem simile quicquam. tu illam iacturam feres aequo animo quod illa quae habes [de academicis] frustra descripta sunt. multo tamen haec erunt splendidiora, breviora, meliora. [2] nunc autem a)porw= quo me vertam. volo Dolabellae valde desideranti; non reperio quid, et simul ' ai)de/omai Trw=aj ' neque, si aliquid, potero me/myin effugere. aut cessandum igitur aut aliquid excogitandum. sed quid haec levia curamus? [3] Attica mea, obsecro te, quid agit? quae me valde angit. sed crebro regusto tuas litteras; in his acquiesco. tamen exspecto novas. [4] Brinni libertus coheres noster scripsit ad me velle, si mihi placeret, coheredes se et Sabinum Albium ad me venire. id ego plane nolo. hereditas tanti non est. et tamen obire auctionis diem facile poterunt (est enim iii Idus), si me in Tusculano postridie Nonas mane convenerint. quod si laxius volent proferre diem, poterunt vel biduum vel triduum vel ut videbitur; nihil enim interest. qua re nisi iam profecti sunt, retinebis homines. de Bruto, si quid egerit, de Caesare, si quid scies, si quid erit praeterea scribes.
◆
Stirred by your letter, by what you had written to me about Varro, I have taken the whole Academica away from those most distinguished men and transferred it to our friend [i.e., Varro], and from two books I have expanded it into four. They are altogether bulkier than the earlier ones, but even so a great deal has been cut. I should very much like you to write and tell me how you came to understand that he wanted this; and I am particularly eager to know whom you understood him to be jealous of [zelotypeisthai, "to be jealous"]—unless perhaps Brutus. That, by Hercules, was all we needed! But still I should very much like to know. As for the books, unless perhaps the common self-love [philautia, "self-regard"] is deceiving me, they have turned out so well that in this genre there is nothing comparable even among the Greeks. You will bear that loss with equanimity—that the copies of the Academica you have were transcribed in vain. These, though, will be far more brilliant, more concise, and better.
[2] But now I am at a loss [aporo, "I am perplexed"] which way to turn. I want to dedicate something to Dolabella, who keenly desires it; but I cannot find what, and at the same time "I feel shame before the Trojans" [aideomai Troas, a tag from Homer, Iliad 6.442], and even if I do find something, I shall not be able to escape censure [memphin, "blame"]. So either I must hold back, or I must think up something. But why do we worry about these trifles?
[3] My dear Attica—I beg you, how is she doing? She causes me great anxiety. But I keep tasting your letters over and over again; in them I find rest. Still, I am waiting for fresh ones.
[4] Brinnius's freedman, our coheir, has written to me that—if it suits me—the coheirs and Albius Sabinus wish to come to me. I most certainly do not want that. The inheritance is not worth so much. And yet they will easily be able to meet the date of the auction (for it is the third day before the Ides), if they meet me at my Tusculan villa early in the morning on the day after the Nones. But if they prefer to put the date off more loosely, they can do so by two days, or three, or as seems good—for it makes no difference. Therefore, unless they have already set out, you will hold the men back. About Brutus, if he has done anything, and about Caesar, if you learn anything, and if there is anything else, you will write.
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
commotus tuis litteris, quod ad me de Varrone scripseras, totam Academiam ab hominibus nobilissimis abstuli, transtuli ad nostrum sodalem et ex duobus libris contuli in quattuor. grandiores sunt omnino quam erant illi sed tamen multa detracta. tu autem mihi pervelim scribas qui intellexeris illum velle; illud vero utique scire cupio quem intellexeris ab eo zhlotupei=sqai nisi forte Brutum. id hercle restabat! sed tamen scire pervelim. libri quidem ita exierunt nisi forte me communis filauti/a decipit, ut in tali genere ne apud Graecos quidem simile quicquam. tu illam iacturam feres aequo animo quod illa quae habes [de academicis] frustra descripta sunt. multo tamen haec erunt splendidiora, breviora, meliora. [2] nunc autem a)porw= quo me vertam. volo Dolabellae valde desideranti; non reperio quid, et simul ' ai)de/omai Trw=aj ' neque, si aliquid, potero me/myin effugere. aut cessandum igitur aut aliquid excogitandum. sed quid haec levia curamus? [3] Attica mea, obsecro te, quid agit? quae me valde angit. sed crebro regusto tuas litteras; in his acquiesco. tamen exspecto novas. [4] Brinni libertus coheres noster scripsit ad me velle, si mihi placeret, coheredes se et Sabinum Albium ad me venire. id ego plane nolo. hereditas tanti non est. et tamen obire auctionis diem facile poterunt (est enim iii Idus), si me in Tusculano postridie Nonas mane convenerint. quod si laxius volent proferre diem, poterunt vel biduum vel triduum vel ut videbitur; nihil enim interest. qua re nisi iam profecti sunt, retinebis homines. de Bruto, si quid egerit, de Caesare, si quid scies, si quid erit praeterea scribes.