Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 45 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
Before dawn, while I was writing against the Epicureans, I scratched out something or other to you by the same lamp and at the same task, and sent it off before daybreak. Then, when I had gone back to sleep and woke again with the sunrise, a letter is handed to me from your sister's son, which I have sent on to you in its very form. Its opening is not without the grossest insult; but perhaps he did not stop to think [Greek: ouk epestesen]. It runs like this: "For as for me, whatever can be said against you in an unbecoming way--." He means that many things can be said against me in an unbecoming way, but he claims he does not approve of them. Could anything be more foul than this? Now you will read the rest (for I have sent it on to you) and you will judge for yourself. I believe that this fellow, stung at some point by the daily and unceasing praises of our friend Brutus--praises about me that very many people have reported to me as coming from him--wrote something to me, and to you as well; and you will see to it that I find out. For what he wrote to his father about me I do not know; but as to his mother, how dutifully! "I had wanted," he says, "to be with you as much as possible, and I had written to you to have a house rented for me, and I had written to you about it. You ignored it. So we shall be together that much less. For I cannot bear the sight of that house of yours; you know the reason why." And this reason, his father used to say, is his hatred of his mother. [2] Now help me with your advice, my dear Atticus: [Greek: poteron dikai teichos hypsion], that is, whether I should reject and spurn the man openly, [Greek: e skoliais apatais], or by crooked deceits? For, as Pindar says, [Greek: dicha moi noos atrekeian eipein]--my mind is divided about telling the truth straight out. The former course is altogether more suited to my character, but the latter is perhaps more suited to the times. Yet whatever course you persuade yourself of, consider me persuaded of the same. For my part, I am most afraid of being caught off guard at my place in Tusculum. In a crowd these matters would be easier. Should I go to Astura, then? But what if Caesar arrives suddenly? Help me, I beg you, with your advice. I will adopt whatever you decide.
Is that so? Does Brutus really say Caesar is going over to the right
party? That is good news. But where will he find them, unless, perhaps,
he hangs himself? But how foolish it is of Brutus! Where, then, does
that masterpiece of yours, which I saw in the Parthenon, the tree of
Brutus' family from Ahala and Brutus, come in? But what can he do?
It is excellent to hear that not even the man who began the whole
criminal business has a good word to say for young Quintus. Indeed, I
was beginning to be afraid that even Brutus was fond of him; for in his
letter to me he said, "But I wish you could have had a taste of his
tales." But when we meet, as you say.
However, what do you advise? Shall I fly to meet him or stay where I am?
For my part I am glued to my books, and I don't want to receive him
here. I hear his father has gone to-day to Saxa Rubra to meet him
in a fury. He was so extraordinarily enraged against him that I
remonstrated with him. But I am capable of acting the "giddy goat" too.
So it rests with the future. Do you please see what you think about my
movements and everything else. If you can see the way to-morrow, let me
know early.
ante lucem cum scriberem contra Epicureos, de eodem oleo et opera exaravi nescio quid ad te et ante lucem dedi. deinde cum somno repetito simul cum sole experrectus essem, datur mi epistula a sororis tuae filio quam ipsam tibi misi; cuius est principium non sine maxima contumelia. sed fortasse ou)k e)pe/sthsen . est autem sic, 'ego enim quicquid non belle in te dici potest--.' posse vult in me multa dici non belle sed ea se negat approbare. hoc quicquam pote impurius? iam cetera leges (misi enim ad te) iudicabisque. Bruti nostri cotidianis adsiduisque laudibus quas ab eo de nobis haberi permulti mihi renuntiaverunt commotum istum aliquando scripsisse aliquid ad me credo et ad te, idque ut sciam facies. nam ad patrem de me quid scripserit nescio, de matre quam pie! 'volueram,' inquit 'ut quam plurimum tecum essem, conduci mihi domum et id ad te scripseram. neglexisti. ita minus multum una erimus. nam ego istam domum videre non possum; qua de causa scis. hanc autem causam pater odium matris esse dicebat. [2] nunc me iuva, mi Attice, consilio, ' po/teron di/ka? tei=xoj u(/yion ,' id est utrum aperte hominem asperner et respuam, h)\ skoliai=j a)pa/taij .' Vt enim Pindaro sic ' di/xa moi no/oj a)tre/keian ei)pei=n .' omnino moribus meis illud aptius sed hoc fortasse temporibus. tu autem quod ipse tibi suaseris idem mihi persuasum putato. equidem vereor maxime ne in Tusculano opprimar. in turba haec essent faciliora. utrum igitur Asturae? quid <si> Caesar subito? iuva me, quaeso, consilio. utar eo quod tu decreveris.
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Before dawn, while I was writing against the Epicureans, I scratched out something or other to you by the same lamp and at the same task, and sent it off before daybreak. Then, when I had gone back to sleep and woke again with the sunrise, a letter is handed to me from your sister's son, which I have sent on to you in its very form. Its opening is not without the grossest insult; but perhaps he did not stop to think [Greek: ouk epestesen]. It runs like this: "For as for me, whatever can be said against you in an unbecoming way--." He means that many things can be said against me in an unbecoming way, but he claims he does not approve of them. Could anything be more foul than this? Now you will read the rest (for I have sent it on to you) and you will judge for yourself. I believe that this fellow, stung at some point by the daily and unceasing praises of our friend Brutus--praises about me that very many people have reported to me as coming from him--wrote something to me, and to you as well; and you will see to it that I find out. For what he wrote to his father about me I do not know; but as to his mother, how dutifully! "I had wanted," he says, "to be with you as much as possible, and I had written to you to have a house rented for me, and I had written to you about it. You ignored it. So we shall be together that much less. For I cannot bear the sight of that house of yours; you know the reason why." And this reason, his father used to say, is his hatred of his mother. [2] Now help me with your advice, my dear Atticus: [Greek: poteron dikai teichos hypsion], that is, whether I should reject and spurn the man openly, [Greek: e skoliais apatais], or by crooked deceits? For, as Pindar says, [Greek: dicha moi noos atrekeian eipein]--my mind is divided about telling the truth straight out. The former course is altogether more suited to my character, but the latter is perhaps more suited to the times. Yet whatever course you persuade yourself of, consider me persuaded of the same. For my part, I am most afraid of being caught off guard at my place in Tusculum. In a crowd these matters would be easier. Should I go to Astura, then? But what if Caesar arrives suddenly? Help me, I beg you, with your advice. I will adopt whatever you decide.
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
ante lucem cum scriberem contra Epicureos, de eodem oleo et opera exaravi nescio quid ad te et ante lucem dedi. deinde cum somno repetito simul cum sole experrectus essem, datur mi epistula a sororis tuae filio quam ipsam tibi misi; cuius est principium non sine maxima contumelia. sed fortasse ou)k e)pe/sthsen . est autem sic, 'ego enim quicquid non belle in te dici potest--.' posse vult in me multa dici non belle sed ea se negat approbare. hoc quicquam pote impurius? iam cetera leges (misi enim ad te) iudicabisque. Bruti nostri cotidianis adsiduisque laudibus quas ab eo de nobis haberi permulti mihi renuntiaverunt commotum istum aliquando scripsisse aliquid ad me credo et ad te, idque ut sciam facies. nam ad patrem de me quid scripserit nescio, de matre quam pie! 'volueram,' inquit 'ut quam plurimum tecum essem, conduci mihi domum et id ad te scripseram. neglexisti. ita minus multum una erimus. nam ego istam domum videre non possum; qua de causa scis. hanc autem causam pater odium matris esse dicebat. [2] nunc me iuva, mi Attice, consilio, ' po/teron di/ka? tei=xoj u(/yion ,' id est utrum aperte hominem asperner et respuam, h)\ skoliai=j a)pa/taij .' Vt enim Pindaro sic ' di/xa moi no/oj a)tre/keian ei)pei=n .' omnino moribus meis illud aptius sed hoc fortasse temporibus. tu autem quod ipse tibi suaseris idem mihi persuasum putato. equidem vereor maxime ne in Tusculano opprimar. in turba haec essent faciliora. utrum igitur Asturae? quid <si> Caesar subito? iuva me, quaeso, consilio. utar eo quod tu decreveris.