Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 56 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
Puteoli is full of the rumor that Ptolemy has been restored to his throne. If you have anything more definite, I would like to know it.
Here I am feeding on Faustus' library. Perhaps you thought I meant the attractions of Puteoli and the Lucrine lake. Those are not lacking either. But by Hercules, as politics robs me of other diversions and pleasures, literature sustains and refreshes me. I would rather sit in that little seat of yours under Aristotle's portrait than in their curule chair, and I would rather walk with you at your house than with the man I see I must walk with. As for that walk, fortune can look after it, or whatever god, if any god cares about such things.
But please inspect my own walk, my Spartan bath, and whatever else falls under Cyrus' department, whenever you can. Press Philotimus to hurry, so that I may have something in that line to set against yours. Pompey came to his Cumaean place on the Parilia and immediately sent someone to greet me. I was on my way to visit him the next morning when I wrote this.
Puteoli is full of the report that Ptolemy is restored. If you have more definite news, I should like to know it. Here I am feasting on Faustus’
library. Perhaps you thought it was on the attractions of Puteoli and the Lucrine lakes. Well, I have them too. But upon my word the more I am deprived of other enjoyments and pleasures on account of the state of politics, the more support and recreation do I find in literature. And I would rather be in that niche of yours under Aristotle’s statue than in their curule chair, and take a walk with you at home than have the company which I see will be with me on my path. But my path I leave to fate or god; if there be any god that looks after these things. Please have a look at my garden path and my Spartan bath and the other things which are in Cyrus’ province, when you can, and urge Philotimus to make haste, so that I may have something in that line to match yours. Pompey came to his place at Cumae on the Parilia: and at once sent a man to me with his compliments. I am going to call on him on the morning following, as soon as I have written this letter.
Puteolis magnus est rumor Ptolomaeum esse in regno. si quid habes certius velim scire. ego hic pascor bibliotheca Fausti. fortasse tu putabas his rebus Puteolanis et Lucrinensibus. ne ista quidem desunt. sed me hercule (ut) a ceteris oblectationibus deseror [et] voluptatum propter rem publicam, sic litteris sustentor et recreor maloque in illa tua sedecula quam habes sub imagine Aristotelis sedere quam in istorum sella curuli tecumque apud te ambulare quam cum eo quocum video esse ambulandum. sed de illa ambulatione fors viderit aut si qui est qui curet deus; [2] nostram ambulationem et Laconicum eaque quae Cyrea sint velim quod poterit invisas et urgeas Philotimum ut properet, ut possim tibi aliquid in eo genere respondere. Pompeius in Cumanum parilibus venit. misit ad me statim qui salutem nuntiaret. ad eum postridie mane vadebam, cum haec scripsi.
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Puteoli is full of the rumor that Ptolemy has been restored to his throne. If you have anything more definite, I would like to know it.
Here I am feeding on Faustus' library. Perhaps you thought I meant the attractions of Puteoli and the Lucrine lake. Those are not lacking either. But by Hercules, as politics robs me of other diversions and pleasures, literature sustains and refreshes me. I would rather sit in that little seat of yours under Aristotle's portrait than in their curule chair, and I would rather walk with you at your house than with the man I see I must walk with. As for that walk, fortune can look after it, or whatever god, if any god cares about such things.
But please inspect my own walk, my Spartan bath, and whatever else falls under Cyrus' department, whenever you can. Press Philotimus to hurry, so that I may have something in that line to set against yours. Pompey came to his Cumaean place on the Parilia and immediately sent someone to greet me. I was on my way to visit him the next morning when I wrote this.
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
Puteolis magnus est rumor Ptolomaeum esse in regno. si quid habes certius velim scire. ego hic pascor bibliotheca Fausti. fortasse tu putabas his rebus Puteolanis et Lucrinensibus. ne ista quidem desunt. sed me hercule (ut) a ceteris oblectationibus deseror [et] voluptatum propter rem publicam, sic litteris sustentor et recreor maloque in illa tua sedecula quam habes sub imagine Aristotelis sedere quam in istorum sella curuli tecumque apud te ambulare quam cum eo quocum video esse ambulandum. sed de illa ambulatione fors viderit aut si qui est qui curet deus; [2] nostram ambulationem et Laconicum eaque quae Cyrea sint velim quod poterit invisas et urgeas Philotimum ut properet, ut possim tibi aliquid in eo genere respondere. Pompeius in Cumanum parilibus venit. misit ad me statim qui salutem nuntiaret. ad eum postridie mane vadebam, cum haec scripsi.