Marcus Tullius Cicero→Gaius Memmius|c. 50 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Athens|AI-assisted
I had not quite settled in my own mind whether the prospect of seeing you at Athens would give me pain or pleasure. The wrong done to you would have hurt me; the wisdom with which you bear it would have delighted me. Even so, I would rather have seen you. The pain of not seeing you is hardly less, and whatever pleasure was possible would certainly have been greater if I had seen you.
So I will not hesitate to make an effort to visit you when I can do it conveniently. In the meantime I will handle by letter the matter that, I think, can be discussed and settled in that way.
First, let me ask this: do not do anything unwillingly on my account. If you understand that the matter matters greatly to me and not at all to you, grant it only after you have persuaded yourself to do it gladly.
I am on excellent terms with Patro the Epicurean, apart from my strong disagreement with his philosophy. From the start, when he was in Rome and was attentive to you and all your circle, he also paid me special regard. More recently, after obtaining what he wanted for his own interests and honors, he has treated me as almost the chief of his supporters and friends. He was also entrusted and recommended to me by Phaedrus, whom I admired as a philosopher when I was a boy, before I knew Philo, and later still valued as a good, agreeable, and attentive man.
This Patro wrote to me at Rome asking me to reconcile you to him and to request that you grant him some ruined property of Epicurus. I did not write to you then, because I did not want a recommendation from me to interfere with any building plans of yours. But when I reached Athens and he again asked me to write, I agreed, because all your friends were saying that you had given up the building project. If that is so, and if the matter now makes no difference to you, I would like you, if some slight offense has been caused by the perversity of certain people - I know that breed - to take the gentler course, either from your own great kindness or out of regard for me.
If you ask what I really think, I do not see why he presses the matter so hard, nor why you resist it, except that it is much less reasonable for you to take trouble for no reason than for him to do so. Still, I know you understand Patro's argument and his case: he says he is defending honor, duty, the force of wills, the authority of Epicurus, the solemn charge of Phaedrus, and the house, dwelling, and traces of great men. We may laugh at his whole path and philosophical system if we want to criticize this insistence of his. But since I am not especially hostile to him or to the others who enjoy that school, perhaps we should forgive him for caring so intensely. Even if he is wrong, his mistake is foolishness rather than bad faith.
But I must finally say the main point. I love Pomponius Atticus as a second brother. No one is dearer or more delightful to me. He is not one of that school - he is polished in every kind of liberal learning - but he is very fond of Patro and loved Phaedrus deeply. Atticus, a man with no ambition and no habit of making troublesome requests, presses this one request on me as he has never pressed anything before. He does not doubt that I could obtain this from you with a nod, even if you still meant to build. As things stand, if he hears that you have dropped the building plan and that I still failed to obtain this from you, he will think, not that you were ungenerous to me, but that I was careless toward him.
So I ask you to write to your agents that, with your consent, the decree of the Areopagus [the Athenian council] - what they call a minute - may be canceled. But I return to my first point: I would rather you first persuade yourself to do this willingly for my sake than simply do it. Still, be sure of this: if you grant what I ask, I will be deeply grateful.
Farewell.
CXCVIII (Fam. XIII, 1) TO GAIUS MEMMIUS (IN EXILE AT MITYLENE) ATHENS, JULY: THOUGH I had not quite made up my mind whether the prospect of seeing you at Athens was painful or pleasant-because your undeserved calamity would have caused me sorrow, yet the philosophic spirit with which you bear it delight — nevertheless, I should have preferred to have seen you. For I do not feel the pain much less when you are out of sight, while such pleasure as is possible would at any rate have been greater had I seen you. Therefore I shall not hesitate to endeavour to see you whenever I shall be conveniently able to do so. Meanwhile, such business as can be put before you by letter, and, as I think, can be brought to a conclusion, I will put before you now at once I will preface my request by asking you not to do anything for my sake against your own inclination; but if the matter is one which is important to me, and in no way of much importance to yourself, still only grant it in case of having first made up your mind to do so cheerfully. I am in thorough sympathy with Patron the Epicurean , except that I differ from him widely in philosophy. But not only at the very beginning in Rome , when he was paying attention to you as well as all your friends, did he also cultivate my acquaintance with special care, but recently also, after having gained all that he wanted in the way of personal profit and reward, he has continued to regard me as almost the first of his supporters and friends. Besides this, he was introduced and recommended to me by Phaedrus , who, when I was a boy and before I knew Philo , was highly valued by me as a philosopher, and afterwards as, at any rate, a good, agreeable, and kindly man. This Patron , therefore, having written to me at Rome , begging me to reconcile you to him, and to ask you to grant him some ruined house or other once belonging to Epicurus , I did not write to you on the subject, because I did not want any plan of building which you might have to be hampered by a recommendation of mine. On my arrival at Athens , however, having been asked by the same person to write to you on the subject, I have granted his request, because all your friends agreed in saying that you had given up that building idea. If this is so, and if it is now of no importance to you, I would ask you, if some little offence has been caused you by the wrong-headedness of certain persons — and I know the class of men — to take a lenient view of the matter, either from your own great natural kindness or, if you like, out of compliment to me. For my part, if you ask me what I think about it myself, I neither see why he is so anxious for it, nor why you make difficulties; I only feel that it is much less natural for you to trouble yourself without reason, than for him to do so. However, I am sure that Patron 's line of argument and the merits of his case are known to you. He says that he has to maintain his own honour and duty, the sanctity of a will, the prestige of Epicurus , the solemn injunction of Phaedrus , the home, the dwelling-place, the footprints of famous men. We may ridicule the man's entire life and the system which he follows in philosophy, if we take upon ourselves to find fault with what he is now contending for. But, by Hercules , since I am not very unfriendly to him or to others who find pleasure in such things, I think we must be indulgent to him for being so very keen about it. For even if he is wrong in this, it is a fault of the head, not the heart. But to come to the point — for I must mention this sooner or later — I love Pomponius Atticus as a second brother. Nothing can be dearer or more delightful than he is to me. Atticus , then-not that he is of their sect (for he is cultivated to the highest degree in all liberal learning ), but he is very fond of Patron , and was much attached to Phaedrus — presses this upon me as he has never done anything else, though he is the very reverse of self-seeking, the last person in the world to be troublesome in making requests; and he feels no doubt of my being able to obtain this favour from you on the slightest hint, even if you still had the intention of building. In the present circumstances, however, if he hears that you have laid aside your plan of building and that yet I have not obtained this favour from you, he will think, not, indeed, that you have been ungenerous towards me, but that I have been careless in what concerned himself. Wherefore I beg you to write word to your agents that the decree of the Areopagites , which they call a “minute,” may be canceled with your free consent. But I return to what I said at first. Before making up your mind to do this, I would have you be sure that you do it for my sake with a willing heart. At any rate have no doubt of this: if you do what I ask, I shall take it as a very great favour. Farewell.
I. Scr. Athenis ineunte mense Quinctili a.u.c. 703. M. CICERO S. D. C. MEMMIO.
Etsi non satis mihi constiterat, cum aliquane animi mei molestia an potius libenter te Athenis visurus essem, quod iniuria, quam accepisti, dolore me afficeret, sapientia tua, qua fers iniuriam, laetitia, tamen vidisse te mallem; nam, quod est molestiae, non sane multo levius est, quum te non video, quod esse potuit voluptatis, certe, si vidissem te, plus fuisset. Itaque non dubitabo dare operam, ut te videam, quum id satis commode facere potero: interea, quod per litteras et agi tecum et, ut arbitror, confici potest, agam. Ac te illud primum rogabo, ne quid invitus mea causa facias, sed id, quod mea intelliges multum, tua nullam in partem interesse, ita mihi des, si tibi, ut id libenter facias, ante persuaseris. Cum Patrone Epicurio mihi omnia sunt, nisi quod in philosophia vehementer ab eo dissentio; sed et initio Romae, quum te quoque et tuos omnes observabat, me coluit in primis et nuper, quum ea, quae voluit, de suis commodis et praemiis consecutus est, me habuit suorum defensorum et amicorum fere principem et iam a Phaedro, qui nobis, quum pueri essemus, antequam Philonem cognovimus, valde ut philosophus, postea tamen ut vir bonus et suavis et officiosus probabatur, traditus mihi commendatusque est: is igitur Patro quum ad me Romam litteras misisset, uti te sibi placarem peteremque, ut nescio quid illud Epicuri parietinarum sibi concederes, nihil scripsi ad te ob eam rem, quod aedificationis tuae consilium commendatione mea nolebam impediri; idem, ut veni Athenas, quum, idem ad te scriberem, rogasset, ob eam causam impetravit, quod te abiecisse illam aedificationem constabat inter omnes amicos tuos. Quod si ita est et si iam tua plane nihil interest, velim, si qua offensiuncula facta est animi tui perversitate aliquorum—novi enim gentem illam—, des te ad lenitatem vel propter summam tuam humanitatem vel etiam honoris mei causa. Equidem, si, quid ipse sentiam, quaeris, nec cur ille tanto opere contendat video nec cur tu repugnes, nisi tamen multo minus tibi concedi potest quam illi laborare sine causa; quamquam Patronis et orationem et causam tibi cognitam esse certo scio: honorem, officium, testamentorum ius, Epicuri auctoritatem, Phaedri obtestationem, sedem, domicilium, vestigia summorum hominum sibi tuenda esse dicit. Totam hominis viam rationemque, quam sequitur in philosophia, derideamus licet, si hanc eius contentionem volumus reprehendere; sed mehercules, quoniam illi ceterisque, quos illa delectant, non valde inimici sumus, nescio an ignoscendum sit huic, si tanto opere laborat; in quo etiamsi peccat, magis ineptiis quam improbitate peccat. Sed, ne plura—dicendum enim aliquando est—, Pomponium Atticum sic amo, ut alterum fratrem; nihil est illo mihi nec carius nec iucundius: is—non quo sit ex istis; est enim omni liberali doctrina politissimus, sed valde diligit Patronem, valde Phaedrum amavit—sic a me hoc contendit, homo minime ambitiosus, minime in rogando molestus, ut nihil umquam magis, nec dubitat, quin ego a te nutu hoc consequi possem, etiamsi aedificaturus esses; nunc vero, si audierit te aedificationem deposuisse neque tamen me a te impetrasse, non te in me illiberalem, sed me in se negligentem putabit. Quamobrem peto a te, ut scribas ad tuos posse tua voluntate decretum illud Areopagitarum, quem Õpomnhmatismn illi vocant, tolli. Sed redeo ad prima: prius velim tibi persuadeas, ut hoc mea causa libenter facias, quam ut facias; sic tamen habeto, si feceris, quod rogo, fore mihi gratissimum. Vale.
◆
I had not quite settled in my own mind whether the prospect of seeing you at Athens would give me pain or pleasure. The wrong done to you would have hurt me; the wisdom with which you bear it would have delighted me. Even so, I would rather have seen you. The pain of not seeing you is hardly less, and whatever pleasure was possible would certainly have been greater if I had seen you.
So I will not hesitate to make an effort to visit you when I can do it conveniently. In the meantime I will handle by letter the matter that, I think, can be discussed and settled in that way.
First, let me ask this: do not do anything unwillingly on my account. If you understand that the matter matters greatly to me and not at all to you, grant it only after you have persuaded yourself to do it gladly.
I am on excellent terms with Patro the Epicurean, apart from my strong disagreement with his philosophy. From the start, when he was in Rome and was attentive to you and all your circle, he also paid me special regard. More recently, after obtaining what he wanted for his own interests and honors, he has treated me as almost the chief of his supporters and friends. He was also entrusted and recommended to me by Phaedrus, whom I admired as a philosopher when I was a boy, before I knew Philo, and later still valued as a good, agreeable, and attentive man.
This Patro wrote to me at Rome asking me to reconcile you to him and to request that you grant him some ruined property of Epicurus. I did not write to you then, because I did not want a recommendation from me to interfere with any building plans of yours. But when I reached Athens and he again asked me to write, I agreed, because all your friends were saying that you had given up the building project. If that is so, and if the matter now makes no difference to you, I would like you, if some slight offense has been caused by the perversity of certain people - I know that breed - to take the gentler course, either from your own great kindness or out of regard for me.
If you ask what I really think, I do not see why he presses the matter so hard, nor why you resist it, except that it is much less reasonable for you to take trouble for no reason than for him to do so. Still, I know you understand Patro's argument and his case: he says he is defending honor, duty, the force of wills, the authority of Epicurus, the solemn charge of Phaedrus, and the house, dwelling, and traces of great men. We may laugh at his whole path and philosophical system if we want to criticize this insistence of his. But since I am not especially hostile to him or to the others who enjoy that school, perhaps we should forgive him for caring so intensely. Even if he is wrong, his mistake is foolishness rather than bad faith.
But I must finally say the main point. I love Pomponius Atticus as a second brother. No one is dearer or more delightful to me. He is not one of that school - he is polished in every kind of liberal learning - but he is very fond of Patro and loved Phaedrus deeply. Atticus, a man with no ambition and no habit of making troublesome requests, presses this one request on me as he has never pressed anything before. He does not doubt that I could obtain this from you with a nod, even if you still meant to build. As things stand, if he hears that you have dropped the building plan and that I still failed to obtain this from you, he will think, not that you were ungenerous to me, but that I was careless toward him.
So I ask you to write to your agents that, with your consent, the decree of the Areopagus [the Athenian council] - what they call a minute - may be canceled. But I return to my first point: I would rather you first persuade yourself to do this willingly for my sake than simply do it. Still, be sure of this: if you grant what I ask, I will be deeply grateful.
Farewell.
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
I. Scr. Athenis ineunte mense Quinctili a.u.c. 703. M. CICERO S. D. C. MEMMIO.
Etsi non satis mihi constiterat, cum aliquane animi mei molestia an potius libenter te Athenis visurus essem, quod iniuria, quam accepisti, dolore me afficeret, sapientia tua, qua fers iniuriam, laetitia, tamen vidisse te mallem; nam, quod est molestiae, non sane multo levius est, quum te non video, quod esse potuit voluptatis, certe, si vidissem te, plus fuisset. Itaque non dubitabo dare operam, ut te videam, quum id satis commode facere potero: interea, quod per litteras et agi tecum et, ut arbitror, confici potest, agam. Ac te illud primum rogabo, ne quid invitus mea causa facias, sed id, quod mea intelliges multum, tua nullam in partem interesse, ita mihi des, si tibi, ut id libenter facias, ante persuaseris. Cum Patrone Epicurio mihi omnia sunt, nisi quod in philosophia vehementer ab eo dissentio; sed et initio Romae, quum te quoque et tuos omnes observabat, me coluit in primis et nuper, quum ea, quae voluit, de suis commodis et praemiis consecutus est, me habuit suorum defensorum et amicorum fere principem et iam a Phaedro, qui nobis, quum pueri essemus, antequam Philonem cognovimus, valde ut philosophus, postea tamen ut vir bonus et suavis et officiosus probabatur, traditus mihi commendatusque est: is igitur Patro quum ad me Romam litteras misisset, uti te sibi placarem peteremque, ut nescio quid illud Epicuri parietinarum sibi concederes, nihil scripsi ad te ob eam rem, quod aedificationis tuae consilium commendatione mea nolebam impediri; idem, ut veni Athenas, quum, idem ad te scriberem, rogasset, ob eam causam impetravit, quod te abiecisse illam aedificationem constabat inter omnes amicos tuos. Quod si ita est et si iam tua plane nihil interest, velim, si qua offensiuncula facta est animi tui perversitate aliquorum—novi enim gentem illam—, des te ad lenitatem vel propter summam tuam humanitatem vel etiam honoris mei causa. Equidem, si, quid ipse sentiam, quaeris, nec cur ille tanto opere contendat video nec cur tu repugnes, nisi tamen multo minus tibi concedi potest quam illi laborare sine causa; quamquam Patronis et orationem et causam tibi cognitam esse certo scio: honorem, officium, testamentorum ius, Epicuri auctoritatem, Phaedri obtestationem, sedem, domicilium, vestigia summorum hominum sibi tuenda esse dicit. Totam hominis viam rationemque, quam sequitur in philosophia, derideamus licet, si hanc eius contentionem volumus reprehendere; sed mehercules, quoniam illi ceterisque, quos illa delectant, non valde inimici sumus, nescio an ignoscendum sit huic, si tanto opere laborat; in quo etiamsi peccat, magis ineptiis quam improbitate peccat. Sed, ne plura—dicendum enim aliquando est—, Pomponium Atticum sic amo, ut alterum fratrem; nihil est illo mihi nec carius nec iucundius: is—non quo sit ex istis; est enim omni liberali doctrina politissimus, sed valde diligit Patronem, valde Phaedrum amavit—sic a me hoc contendit, homo minime ambitiosus, minime in rogando molestus, ut nihil umquam magis, nec dubitat, quin ego a te nutu hoc consequi possem, etiamsi aedificaturus esses; nunc vero, si audierit te aedificationem deposuisse neque tamen me a te impetrasse, non te in me illiberalem, sed me in se negligentem putabit. Quamobrem peto a te, ut scribas ad tuos posse tua voluntate decretum illud Areopagitarum, quem Õpomnhmatismn illi vocant, tolli. Sed redeo ad prima: prius velim tibi persuadeas, ut hoc mea causa libenter facias, quam ut facias; sic tamen habeto, si feceris, quod rogo, fore mihi gratissimum. Vale.