Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 58 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
You, for your part, argue diligently what there is to hope for, and especially through the senate, and you write at the same time that the principal clause of the bill is so framed that nothing may lawfully be said about it in the senate. And so silence reigns. Here you reproach me for tormenting myself, when I have been so afflicted as no one ever was before, as you yourself understand. You hold out hope after the elections. What sort of hope is that, with the same tribune of the plebs and an enemy as consul-elect? You have struck me, moreover, with the bringing-out of that speech of mine. [2] To this wound, as you write, apply a remedy, if you can do anything. I did indeed write it long ago, in anger at him, because he had written against me first; but I had so suppressed it that I thought it would never get out. How it slipped out I do not know. But since it never happened that I exchanged a single word of dispute with him, and since it seems to me to have been written more carelessly than my other works, I think it can be proved not to be mine. This matter, if you think I can be cured, I would have you see to; but if I am utterly ruined, I am less concerned about it. [3] Even now I lie in the same condition, without any conversation, without any thought. To be sure, as you write, I had signified to you that you should come to me; [...] since I understand that you are doing good there, but that here you cannot relieve me even by a word. I am unable to write more, nor is there anything for me to write; I am rather awaiting word from your side. Dispatched on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of Sextilis [17 July], at Thessalonica.
You lay great stress on the hopes I may entertain, especially of action on the part of the Senate; yet at the same time you write that the clause forbidding any mention of my case in the House is being posted up. So no one opens his mouth. Then you accuse me of distressing myself, though, as you know quite well, I have more reason for distress than ever mortal had. You hold out hopes to me on the results of the elections. What hope is there, if the same tribune is re-elected and a consul elect is my enemy? Your news too that my speech has been published is a blow to me. Heal the wound, if possible, as you propose. In my indignation I paid him back in his own coin: but I had suppressed it so carefully, that I thought it would never leak out. How it has, I can’t imagine. But since it so happens that I have never said a word against him, and this appears to me to be more carelessly written than my other speeches, I should think it could be passed off as some one else’s work. If you think my case is not
hopeless, please give your attention to the matter; but if I am past praying for, then I don’t much mind about it.
I am still lying dormant at the same place, and neither speak nor think. Though, as you say, I did suggest that you should come to me, I see now that you are useful to me where you are, while here you could not find even a word of comfort to lighten my sorrows. I cannot write more, nor have I anything to say. Therefore, I am all the more anxious for your news.
Thessalonica, July 17.
tu quidem sedulo argumentaris quid sit sperandum et maxime per senatum idemque caput rogationis proponi scribis qua re in senatu dici nihil liceat. itaque siletur. hic tu me accusas quod me adflictem, cum ita sim adflictus ut nemo umquam, quod tute intellegis. spem ostendis secundum comitia. quae ista est eodem tribuno pl. et inimico consule designato? percussisti autem me etiam de oratione prolata. [2] cui vulneri ut scribis medere, si quid potes. scripsi equidem olim ei iratus, quod ille prior scripserat, sed ita compresseram ut numquam emanaturam putarem. quo modo exciderit nescio. sed quia numquam accidit ut cum eo verbo uno concertarem et quia scripta mihi videtur neglegentius quam ceterae, puto posse probari non esse meam. id, si putas me posse sanari, cures velim; sin plane perii, minus laboro. [3] ego etiam nunc eodem in loco iaceo sine sermone ullo, sine cogitatione ulla. scilicet tibi, ut scribis, significaram ut ad me venires; Üsi donatam utÜ intellego te istic prodesse, hic ne verbo quidem levare me posse. non queo plura scribere nec est quod scribam; vestra magis exspecto. data xvi Kal. Sextilis Thessalonicae.
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You, for your part, argue diligently what there is to hope for, and especially through the senate, and you write at the same time that the principal clause of the bill is so framed that nothing may lawfully be said about it in the senate. And so silence reigns. Here you reproach me for tormenting myself, when I have been so afflicted as no one ever was before, as you yourself understand. You hold out hope after the elections. What sort of hope is that, with the same tribune of the plebs and an enemy as consul-elect? You have struck me, moreover, with the bringing-out of that speech of mine. [2] To this wound, as you write, apply a remedy, if you can do anything. I did indeed write it long ago, in anger at him, because he had written against me first; but I had so suppressed it that I thought it would never get out. How it slipped out I do not know. But since it never happened that I exchanged a single word of dispute with him, and since it seems to me to have been written more carelessly than my other works, I think it can be proved not to be mine. This matter, if you think I can be cured, I would have you see to; but if I am utterly ruined, I am less concerned about it. [3] Even now I lie in the same condition, without any conversation, without any thought. To be sure, as you write, I had signified to you that you should come to me; [...] since I understand that you are doing good there, but that here you cannot relieve me even by a word. I am unable to write more, nor is there anything for me to write; I am rather awaiting word from your side. Dispatched on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of Sextilis [17 July], at Thessalonica.
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
tu quidem sedulo argumentaris quid sit sperandum et maxime per senatum idemque caput rogationis proponi scribis qua re in senatu dici nihil liceat. itaque siletur. hic tu me accusas quod me adflictem, cum ita sim adflictus ut nemo umquam, quod tute intellegis. spem ostendis secundum comitia. quae ista est eodem tribuno pl. et inimico consule designato? percussisti autem me etiam de oratione prolata. [2] cui vulneri ut scribis medere, si quid potes. scripsi equidem olim ei iratus, quod ille prior scripserat, sed ita compresseram ut numquam emanaturam putarem. quo modo exciderit nescio. sed quia numquam accidit ut cum eo verbo uno concertarem et quia scripta mihi videtur neglegentius quam ceterae, puto posse probari non esse meam. id, si putas me posse sanari, cures velim; sin plane perii, minus laboro. [3] ego etiam nunc eodem in loco iaceo sine sermone ullo, sine cogitatione ulla. scilicet tibi, ut scribis, significaram ut ad me venires; Üsi donatam utÜ intellego te istic prodesse, hic ne verbo quidem levare me posse. non queo plura scribere nec est quod scribam; vestra magis exspecto. data xvi Kal. Sextilis Thessalonicae.