Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 58 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
Your letter has filled me with expectation about what Pompey wants for me, or at least what he is willing to show. I suppose the elections have been held; you wrote that once they were over he had decided my case should be taken up. If you think I am foolish to hope, I am doing it at your command, though I know your letters usually restrain me and my hopes rather than encourage them. Now please write to me plainly and fully about what you see. I know that many mistakes of my own have brought me into this misery. If some chance repairs even part of them, I shall be less distressed that I have lived and still live.
Because the road is busy and because I am waiting every day for news, I still have not moved from Thessalonica. But now I am being driven out - not by Plancius, who is doing all he can to keep me, but by the place itself, which is wholly unsuited to bearing such calamity in such grief. I did not go to Epirus, as I had written, because all at once reports and letters came to me from every side saying that there was no need to be especially close to Italy. If I hear anything from the elections, I shall turn toward Asia. I had not yet settled exactly where, but you will know.
Written August 12 at Thessalonica.
Your letter has filled me with hopes of Pompey’s intentions or professed intentions as regards me. For I think the elections have been held, and it is when they are over you say he has decided to have my affair brought forward. If you think me foolish for hoping, I only do what you bid me to do, and I know your letters generally are more inclined to restrain me and my hopes than to encourage them. Now please tell me plainly and fully what you see. I know it is through many faults of my own that I have fallen into this misery: and if fate mends my faults even partially, I shall be less disgusted both with my past and my present existence.
The amount of traffic on the roads and the daily expectation of a change of government have prevented me from leaving Thessalonica at present. But now I am forced to quit, not by Plancius—who wants me to stop—but by the nature of the place, which is not at all suitable to help one to bear such distress and misfortune. I did not go to Epirus as I said I should, since all the news and all the letters that have reached me lately have shown me that there was no necessity to remain very near Italy. If I get any important news from the scene of the elections, I shall betake myself to Asia, when I leave here. Where exactly, is not yet fixed: but I will let you know.
Thessalonica, July 21.
ex tuis litteris plenus sum exspectatione de Pompeio quidnam de nobis velit aut ostendat. comitia enim credo esse habita; quibus absolutis scribis illi placuisse agi de nobis. si tibi stultus esse videor qui sperem, facio tuo iussu, etsi scio te me iis epistulis potius et meas spes solitum esse remorari. nunc velim mihi plane perscribas quid videas. scio nos nostris multis peccatis in hanc aerumnam incidisse. ea si qui casus aliqua ex parte correxerit, minus moleste feremus nos vixisse et adhuc vivere. [2] ego propter viae celebritatem et cotidianam exspectationem rerum novarum non commovi me adhuc Thessalonica. sed iam extrudimur non a Plancio (nam is quidem retinet) verum ab ipso loco minime apposito ad tolerandam in tanto luctu calamitatem. in Epirum ideo, ut scripseram, non veni, quod subito mihi universi nuntii venerant et litterae qua re nihil esset necesse quam proxime Italiam esse. hinc, si aliquid a comitiis audierimus, nos in Asiam convertemus; neque adhuc stabat quo potissimum sed scies. data xii Sextilis Thessalonicae.
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Your letter has filled me with expectation about what Pompey wants for me, or at least what he is willing to show. I suppose the elections have been held; you wrote that once they were over he had decided my case should be taken up. If you think I am foolish to hope, I am doing it at your command, though I know your letters usually restrain me and my hopes rather than encourage them. Now please write to me plainly and fully about what you see. I know that many mistakes of my own have brought me into this misery. If some chance repairs even part of them, I shall be less distressed that I have lived and still live.
Because the road is busy and because I am waiting every day for news, I still have not moved from Thessalonica. But now I am being driven out - not by Plancius, who is doing all he can to keep me, but by the place itself, which is wholly unsuited to bearing such calamity in such grief. I did not go to Epirus, as I had written, because all at once reports and letters came to me from every side saying that there was no need to be especially close to Italy. If I hear anything from the elections, I shall turn toward Asia. I had not yet settled exactly where, but you will know.
Written August 12 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
ex tuis litteris plenus sum exspectatione de Pompeio quidnam de nobis velit aut ostendat. comitia enim credo esse habita; quibus absolutis scribis illi placuisse agi de nobis. si tibi stultus esse videor qui sperem, facio tuo iussu, etsi scio te me iis epistulis potius et meas spes solitum esse remorari. nunc velim mihi plane perscribas quid videas. scio nos nostris multis peccatis in hanc aerumnam incidisse. ea si qui casus aliqua ex parte correxerit, minus moleste feremus nos vixisse et adhuc vivere. [2] ego propter viae celebritatem et cotidianam exspectationem rerum novarum non commovi me adhuc Thessalonica. sed iam extrudimur non a Plancio (nam is quidem retinet) verum ab ipso loco minime apposito ad tolerandam in tanto luctu calamitatem. in Epirum ideo, ut scripseram, non veni, quod subito mihi universi nuntii venerant et litterae qua re nihil esset necesse quam proxime Italiam esse. hinc, si aliquid a comitiis audierimus, nos in Asiam convertemus; neque adhuc stabat quo potissimum sed scies. data xii Sextilis Thessalonicae.