Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 56 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
...now, so that you may have a sense of how things stand, we have to put up with it. You ask how I conducted myself. Firmly and frankly. "What?" you will say, "how did he" [Pompey] "take it?" Graciously, and he thought it right to take my standing into account, at least until satisfaction had been given to me. How, then, was he [Gabinius] acquitted? It was an utter farce [porpapumnai, the Greek transmission is corrupt here; the sense is a sham or play-acting]. The accusers showed unbelievable feebleness of speech, that is, L. Lentulus, son of Lucius, whom everyone is loudly accusing of collusion; then there was Pompey's astonishing pressure, and the corruption of the jurors. And yet thirty-two voted to condemn, thirty-eight to acquit. The other trials hang over him; he is not yet entirely in the clear.
You will say, "How, then, do you bear all this?" Quite happily, by Hercules, and on that account I am very pleased with myself. We have lost, my dear Pomponius, not only the sap and lifeblood but even the former complexion and outward appearance of our state. There is no Republic left to give me pleasure, in which I might find peace. "And so," you will say, "you bear that easily?" That very thing; for I remember how fine the state was for the little while that I had the helm, and what gratitude was shown me in return. No pain gnaws at me that one man alone has all power; those who were pained that I had some power are bursting with rage. Many things give me consolation, and yet I do not abandon my settled position, and to that life which is most in accord with nature I betake myself, to literature and our studies. I console the labor of pleading with the pleasure of oratory; my house and our country places delight me; I do not recall the height from which I fell, but the depth from which I rose. If I have my brother and you with me, those people may be dragged off feet first for all I care; with you I can practice philosophy [emphilosophesai, lit. "philosophize together"]. That seat of my temper, where wrath once dwelt, has grown callous; only private and domestic matters now delight me. You will find a remarkable serenity in me; and the greatest part of it, by Hercules, depends on your return, for there is no one on earth whose feelings are so much in tune with mine.
But hear other news. The situation is drifting toward an interregnum, and there is a certain whiff of a dictatorship - indeed there is much talk of it; this in fact helped Gabinius with the timid jurors. All the candidates for the consulship are charged with bribery. Gabinius is added to their number too; P. Sulla, not doubting that he was out of funds, had applied to prosecute him, with Torquatus speaking against it and gaining nothing. But they will all be acquitted, and hereafter no one will be condemned except a man who has killed someone. This charge, however, is being pursued more severely, and so the courts are hot with it. M. Fulvius Nobilior has been condemned; many other men of the city do not even answer the charge.
What else is new? This too. An hour after Gabinius was acquitted, other jurors, in exasperation, condemned under the Papian law one Antiochus Gabinius, a freedman from among Sopolis' painters, an orderly of Gabinius. And so he said at once, "So the State will not acquit me under the law of treason" [ousoimrisamaphiei, the Greek is garbled in transmission; the sense follows the Latin gloss: he ironically expects no such acquittal as Gabinius got]. Pomptinus wishes to celebrate his triumph on the fourth day before the Nones of November [2 November]. The praetors Cato and Servilius, and the tribune Q. Mucius, are set to meet him at the gate to block it; for they say no law was passed concerning his command - and indeed it was passed in a thoroughly inept manner. But Appius the consul will be on Pomptinus' side. Cato, however, affirms that the man will not triumph while he himself is alive. I think this, like many of that same man's pronouncements, will come to nothing. Appius is thinking of going to Cilicia without a law and at his own expense.
From my brother Quintus and from Caesar I received, on the ninth day before the Kalends of November [24 October], a letter sent from the nearest shores of Britain on the sixth day before the Kalends of October [26 September]: Britain subdued, hostages taken, no booty, but a sum of money imposed, and they were bringing the army back from Britain. Q. Pilius had already set out to join Caesar. You, if there is in you any love for me and your own people, or any honesty, or even if you have any sense and intend to enjoy your own comforts, ought by now to be drawing near and almost here. By Hercules, I do not endure your absence with an even mind; and what wonder, when I miss Dionysius so much? When the day comes, both I and my dear young Cicero will demand him from you. The last letter I had from you was sent from Ephesus on the fifth day before the Ides of August [9 August].
... So now, to give you my opinion on affairs, we have got to put up with them. You want to know how I behaved. With firmness and boldness. You will ask how Pompey took things. Quite kindly, evidently thinking he must consider my dignity until satisfaction had been paid to me. How did Gabinius come to be acquitted then? It was simply a puppet show: the behaviour of the accusers—that is to say of L. Lentulus, the younger, who is being universally accused of collusion—was incredibly infantile: Pompey exerted his influence energetically: and the jury were a rotten lot. Still 32 voted for condemnation and 38 for acquittal. Other trials are hanging over his head: he is not out of the wood yet. You will say: “How then do you take it?” Quite coolly, upon my word, and I congratulate myself thereon. The State, my dear Pomponius, has lost not only its sap and blood,
but even all its old colour and outward semblance. There is in fact no Republic to give one a feeling of joy and peace. “And is that what you find so comfortable?” you may ask. That is the very thing. For I remember its glory during the little while when I directed it, and the return that was paid me. It does not cost me a pang to see one man omnipotent: but those who were annoyed at my small power are bursting with indignation. There are many things which bring consolation to me without my stirring from my original position; and I am returning to the life which suits my nature best, to literature and my studies. For the labour of pleading I console myself by my delight in oratory. I find pleasure in my town house and my country houses. I think not of the height from which I have fallen, but of the depths from which I have risen. If I have but my brother and you with me, they may be hanged drawn and quartered for all I care: I can study philosophy with you. That part of my soul which used to harbour wrath has lost its power of feeling. Now only my private and personal affairs interest me. You will find me in a wonderfully peaceful state of mind, and upon my word your return is a great factor in my peace: for there is no one in the world whose spirit so harmonizes with my own.
But now I will tell you the other news. Things are drifting towards an interregnum: and a dictatorship is in the air. There is a great deal of talk about it, which helped Gabinius with timid jurors. All the candidates for the consulship are accused of bribery. Gabinius is with them too. P. Sulla applied for the prosecution of him, suspecting that he would be too out of pocket to bribe a jury. Torquatus applied too
but did not obtain it. But they will all be acquitted, and in future no one will be condemned except for homicide. That charge is being severely dealt with and so informers are busy. M. Fulvius Nobilior has been condemned: and a number of others are polite enough not even to answer the charge.
Any other news? Yes. An hour after the acquittal of Gabinius another jury in indignation condemned some one called Antiochus Gabinius, out of Sopolis’ studio, a freedman and attendant of Gabinius, under the Papian law. He at once said “So the State will not acquit me of treason as it did you.”
Pomptinus wants to celebrate his triumph on the 2nd of November. He is openly opposed by the praetors Cato and Servilius and the tribune Q. Mucius, who declare that no authority was ever given for a triumph: and it certainly was given in the most absurd manner. However Pomptinus will have the consul Appius on his side. Cato declares he shall never triumph as long as he lives. I fancy it will all come to nothing like most similar affairs. Appius is thinking of going to Cilicia without authority and at his own expense.
On the 24th of October I received a letter from my brother Quintus and from Caesar, dated from the nearest point on the coast of Britain on the 25th of September. Britain is settled, hostages taken, no booty, but a tribute imposed; and they are bringing back the army from the place. Q. Pilius was just on his way to Caesar. If you have any affection for me and your family, if any trust can be put in your word, nay, if you have any sense and want to enjoy your
blessings, you ought to be on your way home and very close at hand too. Upon my word, I cannot endure your absence. And what wonder that I want you, when I miss Dionysius so much? Him both I and little Marcus shall demand from you at the proper time. The last letter I had from you was posted from Ephesus on the 9th of August.
+nunc ut opinionem habeas rerum+, ferendum est. quaeris ego me ut gesserim. constanter et libere. 'quid? ille' inquies ut ferebat?' humaniter meaeque dignitatis quoad mihi satis factum esset habendam sibi rationem putabat. quo modo ergo absolutus? omnino +porpapumnai. accusatorum incredibilis infantia, id est L. Lentuli L. f., quem fremunt omnes praevaricatum, deinde Pompei mira contentio, iudicum sordes. ac tamen xxxii condemnarunt xxxviii absolverunt. iudicia reliqua impendent. [2] nondum est plane expeditus. dices 'tu ergo haec quo modo fers?.' belle me hercule et in eo me valde amo. amisimus, mi Pomponi, omnem non modo sucum ac sanguinem sed etiam colorem et speciem pristinam civitatis. nulla est res publica quae delectet, in qua acquiescam. 'idne igitur' inquies 'facile fers?' id ipsum; recordor enim quam bella paulisper nobis gubernantibus civitas fuerit, quae mihi gratia relata sit. nullus dolor me angit unum omnia posse; dirumpuntur ii qui me aliquid posse doluerunt. multa mihi dant solacia, nec tamen ego de meo statu demigro, quaeque vita maxime est ad naturam ad eam me refero, ad litteras et studia nostra. dicendi laborem delectatione oratoria consolor; domus me et rura nostra delectant; non recordor unde ceciderim sed unde surrexerim. fratrem mecum et te si habebo, per me isti pedibus trahantur; vobis emphilosophesai possum. locus ille animi nostri stomachus ubi habitabat olim concalluit; privata modo et domestica nos delectant. miram securitatem videbis; cuius plurimae me hercule partes sunt in tuo reditu; nemo enim in terris est mihi tam consentientibus sensibus. [3] sed accipe alia. res fluit ad interregnum, et est non nullus odor dictaturae, sermo quidem multus; qui etiam Gabinium apud timidos iudices adiuvit. candidati consulares omnes rei ambitus. accedit etiam Gabinius; quem P. Sulla non dubitans quin foris esset postularat contra dicente et nihil obtinente Torquato. sed omnes absolventur nec posthac quisquam damnabitur nisi qui hominem occiderit. hoc tamen agitur severius, itaque iudicia calent. M. Fulvius Nobilior condemnatus est; multi alii urbani ne respondent quidem. [4] quid aliud novi? etiam. absoluto Gabinio stomachantes alii iudices hora post Antiochum Gabinium nescio quem (e) Sopolidis pictoribus libertum, accensum Gabini, lege Papia condemnarunt. itaque dixit statim +resp. lege maiestatis ousoimrisamaphiei+. Pomptinus vult a. d. iiii Non. Novembr. triumphare. huic obviam Cato et Servilius praetores ad portam et Q. Mucius tribunus. negant enim latum de imperio, et est latum hercule insulse. sed erit cum Pomptino Appius consul. Cato tamen adfirmat se vivo illum non triumphaturum. id ego puto ut multa eiusdem ad nihilum recasurum. Appius sine lege suo sumptu in Ciliciam cogitat. [5] A Quinto fratre et a Caesare accepi a. d. viiii Kal. Nov. xvii litteras datas a litoribus Britanniae proximis a. d. vi Kal. Octobr. confecta Britannia, obsidibus acceptis, nulla praeda, imperata tamen pecunia exercitum ex Britannia reportabant. Q. Pilius erat iam ad Caesarem profectus. tu, si aut amor in te est nostri ac tuorum aut ulla veritas aut etiam si sapis ac frui tuis commodis cogitas, adventare et prope adesse iam debes. non me hercule aequo animo te careo; te autem quid mirum, qui Dionysium tanto opere desiderem? quem quidem abs te cum dies venerit et ego et Cicero meus flagitabit. abs te proximas litteras habebam Epheso a. d. v Idus Sextil. datas.
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...now, so that you may have a sense of how things stand, we have to put up with it. You ask how I conducted myself. Firmly and frankly. "What?" you will say, "how did he" [Pompey] "take it?" Graciously, and he thought it right to take my standing into account, at least until satisfaction had been given to me. How, then, was he [Gabinius] acquitted? It was an utter farce [porpapumnai, the Greek transmission is corrupt here; the sense is a sham or play-acting]. The accusers showed unbelievable feebleness of speech, that is, L. Lentulus, son of Lucius, whom everyone is loudly accusing of collusion; then there was Pompey's astonishing pressure, and the corruption of the jurors. And yet thirty-two voted to condemn, thirty-eight to acquit. The other trials hang over him; he is not yet entirely in the clear.
You will say, "How, then, do you bear all this?" Quite happily, by Hercules, and on that account I am very pleased with myself. We have lost, my dear Pomponius, not only the sap and lifeblood but even the former complexion and outward appearance of our state. There is no Republic left to give me pleasure, in which I might find peace. "And so," you will say, "you bear that easily?" That very thing; for I remember how fine the state was for the little while that I had the helm, and what gratitude was shown me in return. No pain gnaws at me that one man alone has all power; those who were pained that I had some power are bursting with rage. Many things give me consolation, and yet I do not abandon my settled position, and to that life which is most in accord with nature I betake myself, to literature and our studies. I console the labor of pleading with the pleasure of oratory; my house and our country places delight me; I do not recall the height from which I fell, but the depth from which I rose. If I have my brother and you with me, those people may be dragged off feet first for all I care; with you I can practice philosophy [emphilosophesai, lit. "philosophize together"]. That seat of my temper, where wrath once dwelt, has grown callous; only private and domestic matters now delight me. You will find a remarkable serenity in me; and the greatest part of it, by Hercules, depends on your return, for there is no one on earth whose feelings are so much in tune with mine.
But hear other news. The situation is drifting toward an interregnum, and there is a certain whiff of a dictatorship - indeed there is much talk of it; this in fact helped Gabinius with the timid jurors. All the candidates for the consulship are charged with bribery. Gabinius is added to their number too; P. Sulla, not doubting that he was out of funds, had applied to prosecute him, with Torquatus speaking against it and gaining nothing. But they will all be acquitted, and hereafter no one will be condemned except a man who has killed someone. This charge, however, is being pursued more severely, and so the courts are hot with it. M. Fulvius Nobilior has been condemned; many other men of the city do not even answer the charge.
What else is new? This too. An hour after Gabinius was acquitted, other jurors, in exasperation, condemned under the Papian law one Antiochus Gabinius, a freedman from among Sopolis' painters, an orderly of Gabinius. And so he said at once, "So the State will not acquit me under the law of treason" [ousoimrisamaphiei, the Greek is garbled in transmission; the sense follows the Latin gloss: he ironically expects no such acquittal as Gabinius got]. Pomptinus wishes to celebrate his triumph on the fourth day before the Nones of November [2 November]. The praetors Cato and Servilius, and the tribune Q. Mucius, are set to meet him at the gate to block it; for they say no law was passed concerning his command - and indeed it was passed in a thoroughly inept manner. But Appius the consul will be on Pomptinus' side. Cato, however, affirms that the man will not triumph while he himself is alive. I think this, like many of that same man's pronouncements, will come to nothing. Appius is thinking of going to Cilicia without a law and at his own expense.
From my brother Quintus and from Caesar I received, on the ninth day before the Kalends of November [24 October], a letter sent from the nearest shores of Britain on the sixth day before the Kalends of October [26 September]: Britain subdued, hostages taken, no booty, but a sum of money imposed, and they were bringing the army back from Britain. Q. Pilius had already set out to join Caesar. You, if there is in you any love for me and your own people, or any honesty, or even if you have any sense and intend to enjoy your own comforts, ought by now to be drawing near and almost here. By Hercules, I do not endure your absence with an even mind; and what wonder, when I miss Dionysius so much? When the day comes, both I and my dear young Cicero will demand him from you. The last letter I had from you was sent from Ephesus on the fifth day before the Ides of August [9 August].
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
+nunc ut opinionem habeas rerum+, ferendum est. quaeris ego me ut gesserim. constanter et libere. 'quid? ille' inquies ut ferebat?' humaniter meaeque dignitatis quoad mihi satis factum esset habendam sibi rationem putabat. quo modo ergo absolutus? omnino +porpapumnai. accusatorum incredibilis infantia, id est L. Lentuli L. f., quem fremunt omnes praevaricatum, deinde Pompei mira contentio, iudicum sordes. ac tamen xxxii condemnarunt xxxviii absolverunt. iudicia reliqua impendent. [2] nondum est plane expeditus. dices 'tu ergo haec quo modo fers?.' belle me hercule et in eo me valde amo. amisimus, mi Pomponi, omnem non modo sucum ac sanguinem sed etiam colorem et speciem pristinam civitatis. nulla est res publica quae delectet, in qua acquiescam. 'idne igitur' inquies 'facile fers?' id ipsum; recordor enim quam bella paulisper nobis gubernantibus civitas fuerit, quae mihi gratia relata sit. nullus dolor me angit unum omnia posse; dirumpuntur ii qui me aliquid posse doluerunt. multa mihi dant solacia, nec tamen ego de meo statu demigro, quaeque vita maxime est ad naturam ad eam me refero, ad litteras et studia nostra. dicendi laborem delectatione oratoria consolor; domus me et rura nostra delectant; non recordor unde ceciderim sed unde surrexerim. fratrem mecum et te si habebo, per me isti pedibus trahantur; vobis emphilosophesai possum. locus ille animi nostri stomachus ubi habitabat olim concalluit; privata modo et domestica nos delectant. miram securitatem videbis; cuius plurimae me hercule partes sunt in tuo reditu; nemo enim in terris est mihi tam consentientibus sensibus. [3] sed accipe alia. res fluit ad interregnum, et est non nullus odor dictaturae, sermo quidem multus; qui etiam Gabinium apud timidos iudices adiuvit. candidati consulares omnes rei ambitus. accedit etiam Gabinius; quem P. Sulla non dubitans quin foris esset postularat contra dicente et nihil obtinente Torquato. sed omnes absolventur nec posthac quisquam damnabitur nisi qui hominem occiderit. hoc tamen agitur severius, itaque iudicia calent. M. Fulvius Nobilior condemnatus est; multi alii urbani ne respondent quidem. [4] quid aliud novi? etiam. absoluto Gabinio stomachantes alii iudices hora post Antiochum Gabinium nescio quem (e) Sopolidis pictoribus libertum, accensum Gabini, lege Papia condemnarunt. itaque dixit statim +resp. lege maiestatis ousoimrisamaphiei+. Pomptinus vult a. d. iiii Non. Novembr. triumphare. huic obviam Cato et Servilius praetores ad portam et Q. Mucius tribunus. negant enim latum de imperio, et est latum hercule insulse. sed erit cum Pomptino Appius consul. Cato tamen adfirmat se vivo illum non triumphaturum. id ego puto ut multa eiusdem ad nihilum recasurum. Appius sine lege suo sumptu in Ciliciam cogitat. [5] A Quinto fratre et a Caesare accepi a. d. viiii Kal. Nov. xvii litteras datas a litoribus Britanniae proximis a. d. vi Kal. Octobr. confecta Britannia, obsidibus acceptis, nulla praeda, imperata tamen pecunia exercitum ex Britannia reportabant. Q. Pilius erat iam ad Caesarem profectus. tu, si aut amor in te est nostri ac tuorum aut ulla veritas aut etiam si sapis ac frui tuis commodis cogitas, adventare et prope adesse iam debes. non me hercule aequo animo te careo; te autem quid mirum, qui Dionysium tanto opere desiderem? quem quidem abs te cum dies venerit et ego et Cicero meus flagitabit. abs te proximas litteras habebam Epheso a. d. v Idus Sextil. datas.