Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 43 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
Do not suppose that it is out of laziness that I am not writing in my own hand; but, by Hercules, it is laziness. For I have nothing else to say. And yet in your letters too I seem to recognize Alexis. But let me get to the point. If Dolabella had not treated me so utterly disgracefully, I might perhaps have hesitated whether to be the more forgiving or to press my claim with the full rigor of the law. As it is, I am actually glad that an occasion has been handed to me in which both he himself and everyone else may perceive that I have broken off from him; and I shall make this plain, and indeed make it clear that I am acting both on my own account and on behalf of the Republic, for whose sake I hate him, because, after he had begun on my advice to defend it, he not only deserted it once he was bought with money, but, so far as it lay in his power, even overthrew it.
[2] As to your question about how I wish the matter to be handled when the day comes: first, I should like it to be of such a kind that it is not inconvenient for me to be at Rome; on this point, as on the rest, I shall do as you think best. But as to the main issue, I want it pressed thoroughly, vigorously, and severely. Even though calling on the sureties seems to carry a certain duswpia [dysopia, a sense of embarrassment or awkwardness], still I should like you to consider what the nature of this is. For we can, instead of calling on the sureties, introduce a legal agent [procurator]; for they will not join issue in the suit. By doing so, I am not unaware that the sureties are released. But I think it shameful for him too, on an account for which he is bound by security given, not to discharge his agents, and consistent with my own dignity to pursue my right without the utmost disgrace to him. Write back to me what you think best on this; and I have no doubt that you will manage this whole business more gently.
[3] I return to the Republic. Often, by Hercules, you have written to me sensibly on matters of statecraft [politikon genos], but nothing more sensible than in this letter: 'For although that boy [Octavian] has lately, for the present, nicely checked Antony, still we must wait to see how it turns out.' But what a public speech [contio] it was! For it was sent to me. He swears, 'So may it be granted me to attain the honors of my father' — and at the same time he stretched out his right hand toward the statue. Mede soiheien hupo ge toioutou! [May I not be saved by such a one as that!] But, as you write, I see it is most certain that the tribunate of our Casca is the test; and indeed about that very thing I told Oppius, when he was urging me to embrace the young man and his whole cause and the band of veterans, that I could in no way do so unless I were assured that he would be not merely not hostile to the tyrant-slayers [tyrannoctonis] but actually friendly. When he said it would be so, I replied, 'Why then are we in such a hurry? For he has no need of my services before the Kalends of January, while we shall discern his disposition before the Ides of December in the case of Casca.' He agreed with me strongly. So much, then, for these matters. As for what remains, you will have couriers every day, and, as I reckon, you will have something to write every day too. I have sent you a copy of Lepta's letter, from which it seems to me that that stratullax [little general] has been knocked off his footing. But you, when you have read it, will form your own judgment.
[4] The letter was already sealed when I received letters from you and from Sextus. Nothing could be more delightful than Sextus's letter, nothing more affectionate. For your own was brief; the earlier letters were very full. You advise me, both wisely and as a friend, to stay preferably in these parts, until we hear how these disturbances that have been set in motion are going to turn out.
[5] But as for me, my dear Atticus, at this particular time the Republic does not really move me — not that anything is or ought to be dearer to me, but for cases that are hopeless even Hippocrates forbids the application of medicine. So let all that be. It is my private finances that trouble me. Do I say finances? No, rather my good name. For although I have so much left, I do not even yet have ready the means to pay Terentia. Do I say Terentia? You know that we long ago resolved to discharge twenty-five thousand sesterces in Montanus's name. Most modestly Cicero [the son] had asked that it be on his own credit. Most generously — as you too had approved — I had promised it and had told Eros to keep it set aside. But not only that: Aurelius has been forced to raise a loan at the most ruinous rate of interest. For concerning the debt to Terentia, Tiro wrote to me that you say the money will come from Dolabella. I believe he understood the matter wrongly — if anyone ever does understand wrongly — or rather that he understood nothing at all. For you wrote to me Cocceius's answer, and in almost the same words so did Eros.
[6] I must come, then, even into the very flames. For it is more disgraceful to fall in private affairs than in public ones. And so, about the other matters of which you wrote to me so charmingly, in my distress of mind I have not been able, as I used to do, to write back. Join with me in this anxious concern, where I now am, that I may extricate myself; by what means — it does come into my mind, but I can settle nothing for certain before I see you. And why should I be less safely situated there than Marcellus is? But that is not the issue, nor is it what concerns me most; what does concern me you see. So I shall be present.
Do not think it is laziness that makes me not write in my own hand — but, by Hercules, it is laziness. For I have nothing else to say. And yet in your letters too I think I recognize Alexis's handwriting. But to the point. I still hold to the opinion I expressed before: we must proceed cautiously but resolutely. [2] As for Caesar Octavian, the boy is devoted and has considerable talent, but his youth and his name concern me. Can he be trusted? I do not know. But for now he is our best hope against Antony's tyranny. [3] I have heard about Hirtius and Pansa — both promise well. The Senate may yet recover some of its dignity, if men of courage lead the way. [4] About my own plans, I shall follow your advice, as always. But the time for deliberation is running short, and the hour for action approaches. Write to me at length, I beg you.
noli putare pigritia me facere quod non mea manu scribam, sed me hercule pigritia. nihil enim habeo aliud quod dicam. et tamen in tuis quoque epistulis Alexim videor agnoscere. sed ad rem venio. ego si me non improbissime Dolabella tractasset, dubitassem fortasse utrum remissior essem an summo iure contenderem. nunc vero etiam gaudeo mihi causam oblatam in qua et ipse sentiat et reliqui omnes me ab illo abalienatum, idque prae me feram et quidem me causa facere et rei publicae cui illum oderim, quod, cum eam me auctore defendere coepisset, non modo deseruerit emptus pecunia sed etiam, quantum in ipso fuerit, everterit. [2] quod autem quaeris quo modo agi placeat, cum dies venerit, primum velim eius modi sit ut non alienum sit me Romae esse; de quo ut de ceteris faciam ut tu censueris. de summa autem agi prorsus vehementer et severe volo. etsi sponsores appellare videtur habere quandam duswpi/an , tamen hoc quale sit consideres velim. possumus enim, ut sponsores appellemus, procuratorem introducere; neque enim illi litem contestabuntur. quo facto non sum nescius sponsores liberari. sed et illi turpe arbitror eo nomine quod satis dato debeat procuratores eius non dissolvere, et nostrae gravitatis ius nostrum sine summa illius ignominia persequi. de hoc quid placeat rescribas velim; nec dubito quin hoc totum lenius administraturus sis. [3] redeo ad rem publicam. multa me hercule a te saepe in politikw=? genere prudenter sed his litteris nihil prudentius: 'quamquam enim postea in praesentia belle iste puer retundit Antonium, tamen exitum exspectare debemus.' at quae contio! nam est missa mihi. iurat ita sibi parentis honores consequi liceat et simul dextram intendit ad statuam. Mhde\ swqei/hn u(po/ ge toiou/tou ! sed, ut scribis, certissimum esse video discrimen Cascae nostri tribunatum, de quo quidem ipso dixi Oppio, cum me hortaretur ut adulescentem totamque causam manumque veteranorum complecterer, me nullo modo facere posse, <ni> mihi exploratum esset eum non modo non inimicum tyrannoctonis verum etiam amicum fore. cum ille diceret ita futurum, 'quid igitur festinamus?' inquam. 'illi enim mea opera ante Kal. Ian. nihil opus est, nos autem eius voluntatem ante Idus Decembr. perspiciemus in Casca.' valde mihi adsensus est. quam ob rem haec quidem hactenus. quod reliquum est, cotidie tabellarios habebis et, ut ego arbitror, etiam quod scribas habebis cotidie. Leptae litterarum exemplum tibi misi ex quo mihi videtur stratu/llac ille deiectus de gradu. sed tu, cum legeris, existimabis. [4] obsignata iam epistula litteras a te et a Sexto accepi. nihil iucundius litteris Sexti, nihil amabilius. nam tuae breves, priores erant [litterae] uberrimae. tu quidem et prudenter et amice suades ut in his locis potissimum sim, quoad audiamus haec quae commota sunt quorsus evadant. [5] sed me, mi Attice, non sane hoc quidem tempore movet res publica, non quo aut sit mihi quicquam carius aut esse debeat sed desperatis etiam Hippocrates vetat adhibere medicinam. qua re ista valeant; me res familiaris movet. rem dico? immo vero existimatio. Cum enim tanta reliqua sint mihi, ne Terentiae quidem adhuc quod solvam expeditum est. Terentiam dico? scis nos pridem iam constituisse Montani nomine HS x_x_v_ dissolvere. pudentissime hoc Cicero petierat ut fide sua. Liberalissime, ut tibi quoque placuerat, promiseram Erotique dixeram ut sepositum habe ret. non modo sed iniquissimo faenore versuram facere Aurelius coactus est. nam de Terentiae nomine Tiro ad me scripsit te dicere nummos a Dolabella fore. male eum credo intellexisse, si quisquam male intellegit, potius nihil intellexisse. tu enim ad me scripsisti Coccei responsum et isdem paene verbis Eros. [6] veniendum est igitur vel in ipsam flammam. turpius est enim privatim cadere quam publice. itaque ceteris de rebus quas ad me suavissime scripsisti perturbato animo non potui, ut consueram, rescribere. consenti in hac cura, ubi sum , ut me expediam; quibus autem rebus venit quidem mihi in mentem sed certi constituere nihil possum prius quam te videro. qui minus autem ego istic recte esse possim quam est Marcellus? sed non id agitur neque id maxime curo; quid curem vides. adsum igitur.
◆
Do not suppose that it is out of laziness that I am not writing in my own hand; but, by Hercules, it is laziness. For I have nothing else to say. And yet in your letters too I seem to recognize Alexis. But let me get to the point. If Dolabella had not treated me so utterly disgracefully, I might perhaps have hesitated whether to be the more forgiving or to press my claim with the full rigor of the law. As it is, I am actually glad that an occasion has been handed to me in which both he himself and everyone else may perceive that I have broken off from him; and I shall make this plain, and indeed make it clear that I am acting both on my own account and on behalf of the Republic, for whose sake I hate him, because, after he had begun on my advice to defend it, he not only deserted it once he was bought with money, but, so far as it lay in his power, even overthrew it.
[2] As to your question about how I wish the matter to be handled when the day comes: first, I should like it to be of such a kind that it is not inconvenient for me to be at Rome; on this point, as on the rest, I shall do as you think best. But as to the main issue, I want it pressed thoroughly, vigorously, and severely. Even though calling on the sureties seems to carry a certain duswpia [dysopia, a sense of embarrassment or awkwardness], still I should like you to consider what the nature of this is. For we can, instead of calling on the sureties, introduce a legal agent [procurator]; for they will not join issue in the suit. By doing so, I am not unaware that the sureties are released. But I think it shameful for him too, on an account for which he is bound by security given, not to discharge his agents, and consistent with my own dignity to pursue my right without the utmost disgrace to him. Write back to me what you think best on this; and I have no doubt that you will manage this whole business more gently.
[3] I return to the Republic. Often, by Hercules, you have written to me sensibly on matters of statecraft [politikon genos], but nothing more sensible than in this letter: 'For although that boy [Octavian] has lately, for the present, nicely checked Antony, still we must wait to see how it turns out.' But what a public speech [contio] it was! For it was sent to me. He swears, 'So may it be granted me to attain the honors of my father' — and at the same time he stretched out his right hand toward the statue. Mede soiheien hupo ge toioutou! [May I not be saved by such a one as that!] But, as you write, I see it is most certain that the tribunate of our Casca is the test; and indeed about that very thing I told Oppius, when he was urging me to embrace the young man and his whole cause and the band of veterans, that I could in no way do so unless I were assured that he would be not merely not hostile to the tyrant-slayers [tyrannoctonis] but actually friendly. When he said it would be so, I replied, 'Why then are we in such a hurry? For he has no need of my services before the Kalends of January, while we shall discern his disposition before the Ides of December in the case of Casca.' He agreed with me strongly. So much, then, for these matters. As for what remains, you will have couriers every day, and, as I reckon, you will have something to write every day too. I have sent you a copy of Lepta's letter, from which it seems to me that that stratullax [little general] has been knocked off his footing. But you, when you have read it, will form your own judgment.
[4] The letter was already sealed when I received letters from you and from Sextus. Nothing could be more delightful than Sextus's letter, nothing more affectionate. For your own was brief; the earlier letters were very full. You advise me, both wisely and as a friend, to stay preferably in these parts, until we hear how these disturbances that have been set in motion are going to turn out.
[5] But as for me, my dear Atticus, at this particular time the Republic does not really move me — not that anything is or ought to be dearer to me, but for cases that are hopeless even Hippocrates forbids the application of medicine. So let all that be. It is my private finances that trouble me. Do I say finances? No, rather my good name. For although I have so much left, I do not even yet have ready the means to pay Terentia. Do I say Terentia? You know that we long ago resolved to discharge twenty-five thousand sesterces in Montanus's name. Most modestly Cicero [the son] had asked that it be on his own credit. Most generously — as you too had approved — I had promised it and had told Eros to keep it set aside. But not only that: Aurelius has been forced to raise a loan at the most ruinous rate of interest. For concerning the debt to Terentia, Tiro wrote to me that you say the money will come from Dolabella. I believe he understood the matter wrongly — if anyone ever does understand wrongly — or rather that he understood nothing at all. For you wrote to me Cocceius's answer, and in almost the same words so did Eros.
[6] I must come, then, even into the very flames. For it is more disgraceful to fall in private affairs than in public ones. And so, about the other matters of which you wrote to me so charmingly, in my distress of mind I have not been able, as I used to do, to write back. Join with me in this anxious concern, where I now am, that I may extricate myself; by what means — it does come into my mind, but I can settle nothing for certain before I see you. And why should I be less safely situated there than Marcellus is? But that is not the issue, nor is it what concerns me most; what does concern me you see. So I shall be present.
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
noli putare pigritia me facere quod non mea manu scribam, sed me hercule pigritia. nihil enim habeo aliud quod dicam. et tamen in tuis quoque epistulis Alexim videor agnoscere. sed ad rem venio. ego si me non improbissime Dolabella tractasset, dubitassem fortasse utrum remissior essem an summo iure contenderem. nunc vero etiam gaudeo mihi causam oblatam in qua et ipse sentiat et reliqui omnes me ab illo abalienatum, idque prae me feram et quidem me causa facere et rei publicae cui illum oderim, quod, cum eam me auctore defendere coepisset, non modo deseruerit emptus pecunia sed etiam, quantum in ipso fuerit, everterit. [2] quod autem quaeris quo modo agi placeat, cum dies venerit, primum velim eius modi sit ut non alienum sit me Romae esse; de quo ut de ceteris faciam ut tu censueris. de summa autem agi prorsus vehementer et severe volo. etsi sponsores appellare videtur habere quandam duswpi/an , tamen hoc quale sit consideres velim. possumus enim, ut sponsores appellemus, procuratorem introducere; neque enim illi litem contestabuntur. quo facto non sum nescius sponsores liberari. sed et illi turpe arbitror eo nomine quod satis dato debeat procuratores eius non dissolvere, et nostrae gravitatis ius nostrum sine summa illius ignominia persequi. de hoc quid placeat rescribas velim; nec dubito quin hoc totum lenius administraturus sis. [3] redeo ad rem publicam. multa me hercule a te saepe in politikw=? genere prudenter sed his litteris nihil prudentius: 'quamquam enim postea in praesentia belle iste puer retundit Antonium, tamen exitum exspectare debemus.' at quae contio! nam est missa mihi. iurat ita sibi parentis honores consequi liceat et simul dextram intendit ad statuam. Mhde\ swqei/hn u(po/ ge toiou/tou ! sed, ut scribis, certissimum esse video discrimen Cascae nostri tribunatum, de quo quidem ipso dixi Oppio, cum me hortaretur ut adulescentem totamque causam manumque veteranorum complecterer, me nullo modo facere posse, <ni> mihi exploratum esset eum non modo non inimicum tyrannoctonis verum etiam amicum fore. cum ille diceret ita futurum, 'quid igitur festinamus?' inquam. 'illi enim mea opera ante Kal. Ian. nihil opus est, nos autem eius voluntatem ante Idus Decembr. perspiciemus in Casca.' valde mihi adsensus est. quam ob rem haec quidem hactenus. quod reliquum est, cotidie tabellarios habebis et, ut ego arbitror, etiam quod scribas habebis cotidie. Leptae litterarum exemplum tibi misi ex quo mihi videtur stratu/llac ille deiectus de gradu. sed tu, cum legeris, existimabis. [4] obsignata iam epistula litteras a te et a Sexto accepi. nihil iucundius litteris Sexti, nihil amabilius. nam tuae breves, priores erant [litterae] uberrimae. tu quidem et prudenter et amice suades ut in his locis potissimum sim, quoad audiamus haec quae commota sunt quorsus evadant. [5] sed me, mi Attice, non sane hoc quidem tempore movet res publica, non quo aut sit mihi quicquam carius aut esse debeat sed desperatis etiam Hippocrates vetat adhibere medicinam. qua re ista valeant; me res familiaris movet. rem dico? immo vero existimatio. Cum enim tanta reliqua sint mihi, ne Terentiae quidem adhuc quod solvam expeditum est. Terentiam dico? scis nos pridem iam constituisse Montani nomine HS x_x_v_ dissolvere. pudentissime hoc Cicero petierat ut fide sua. Liberalissime, ut tibi quoque placuerat, promiseram Erotique dixeram ut sepositum habe ret. non modo sed iniquissimo faenore versuram facere Aurelius coactus est. nam de Terentiae nomine Tiro ad me scripsit te dicere nummos a Dolabella fore. male eum credo intellexisse, si quisquam male intellegit, potius nihil intellexisse. tu enim ad me scripsisti Coccei responsum et isdem paene verbis Eros. [6] veniendum est igitur vel in ipsam flammam. turpius est enim privatim cadere quam publice. itaque ceteris de rebus quas ad me suavissime scripsisti perturbato animo non potui, ut consueram, rescribere. consenti in hac cura, ubi sum , ut me expediam; quibus autem rebus venit quidem mihi in mentem sed certi constituere nihil possum prius quam te videro. qui minus autem ego istic recte esse possim quam est Marcellus? sed non id agitur neque id maxime curo; quid curem vides. adsum igitur.