Marcus Tullius Cicero→Terentia|c. 53 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|AI-assisted
Do not think I write longer letters to anyone else, unless someone has written a longer letter to me and I think I ought to answer. I have nothing to write, and at a time like this nothing is harder for me to do.
To you and to our Tulliola I cannot write without many tears. I see that you are utterly miserable, you whom I always wanted to be completely happy, and whom it was my duty to make happy; I would have done it if I had not been so timid. I love our Piso deeply, as he deserves. As far as I could, I encouraged him by letter and thanked him, as I ought.
I understand that you are placing hope in the new tribunes. That will be firm if Pompey's goodwill is firm; still, I fear Crassus. I see that you are doing everything with the greatest courage and affection. I am not surprised, but I grieve that matters are such that my misery is relieved by miseries so heavy for you. Publius Valerius, a dutiful man, wrote to me, and I read it with the greatest weeping, how you were dragged from Vesta's temple to the Valerian bank. Ah, my light, my longing, you from whom everyone used to seek help! That you, my Terentia, are now harassed like this, lying in tears and mourning, and that it happens through my fault, I who saved the rest of the citizens only to perish myself.
As for what you say about our town house, or rather its site, I will not think myself fully restored until it too has been restored to me. But these things are not yet within our grasp. I am only sorry that you, stripped and plundered as you are, are being asked to bear any part of the present expenses. If the affair succeeds, we will recover everything. But if the same bad fortune keeps us down, will you be so foolish as to throw away even the poor remains of your property?
I beg you, my life: as far as expenses go, let others bear them, people who can do it if they are willing. And, as you love me, do not exhaust your delicate health. Day and night I have you before my eyes. I see you eagerly undertaking every kind of labor. I fear you cannot endure it. Yet I see that everything depends on you. Therefore, so that we may attain what you hope and are striving for, take careful care of your health.
I do not know to whom to write except those who write to me or those about whom you say something in your letters. I will not go farther away, since that is your wish. But please send me letters as often as possible, especially if there is anything on which we may safely build hope. Farewell, my loves, farewell.
LXXVIII (Fam. XIV, 2) TO TERENTIA (AT ROME) THESSALONICA, 5 OCTOBER: GREETINGS to Terentia , and Tulliola , and Cicero . Don't suppose that I write longer letters to anyone else, unless some one has written at unusual length to me, whom I think myself bound to answer. For I have nothing to write about, and there is nothing at such a time as this that I find it more difficult to do. Moreover, to you and my dear Tulliola I cannot write without many tears. For I see you reduced to the greatest misery — the very people whom I desired to be ever enjoying the most complete happiness, a happiness which it was my bounden duty to secure, and which I should have secured if I had not been such a coward. Our dear Piso I love exceedingly for his noble conduct. I have to the best of my ability encouraged him by letter to proceed, and thanked him, as I was bound to do. I gather that you entertain hopes in the new tribunes. We shall have reason to depend on that, if we may depend on Pompey 's goodwill, but yet I am nervous about Crassus . I gather that you have behaved in every respect with the greatest courage and most loyal affection, nor am I surprised at it; but I grieve that the position should be such that my miseries are relieved by such heavy ones on your part. For a kind friend of ours, Publius Valerius , has told me in a letter which I could not read without violent weeping, how you had been dragged from the temple of Vesta to the Valerian bank. To think of it, my dear, my love! You from whom everybody used to look for help! That you, my Terentia , should now be thus harassed, thus prostrate in tears and humiliating distress! And that this should be brought about by my fault, who have preserved the rest of the citizens only to perish myself! As to what you say about our town house, or rather its site, I shall not consider myself fully restored, until it has also been restored for me. However, these things are not yet within our grasp. I am only sorry that you, impoverished and plundered as you are, should be called upon to bear any part of the present expenses. Of course, if the business is successfully accomplished we shall get everything back: but if the same evil fortune keeps us down, will you be so foolish as to throw away even the poor remains of your fortune? I beseech you, my life, as far as expense goes, allow others to bear it, who are well able if they are only willing to do so; and do not, as you love me, try your delicate constitution. For I have you day and night before my eyes: I see you eagerly undertaking labours of every kind: I fear you cannot endure them. Yet I see that everything depends on you! Wherefore, to enable us to attain what you hope and are striving for, attend carefully to your health. J don't know to whom to write except to those who write to me, or to those about whom you say something in your letters. I will not go farther off, since that is your wish, but pray send me a letter as often as possible, especially if there is anything on which we may safely build our hope. Good-bye, my loves, good-bye! Thessalonica , 5 October.
II. Scr. Thessalonicae a. d. III. Non. Oct. a.u.c. 696. TULLIUS S. D. TERENTIAE ET TULLIOLAE ET CICERONI SUIS.
Noli putare me ad quemquam longiores epistulas scribere, nisi si quis ad me plura scripsit, cui puto rescribi oportere; nec enim habeo, quod scribam, nec hoc tempore quidquam difficilius facio. Ad te vero et ad nostram Tulliolam non queo sine plurimis lacrimis scribere; vos enim video esse miserrimas, quas ego beatissimas semper esse volui idque praestare debui et, nisi tam timidi fuissemus, praestitissem. Pisonem nostrum merito eius amo plurimum: eum, ut potui, per litteras cohortatus sum gratiasque egi, ut debui. In novis tribunis pl. intelligo spem te habere: id erit firmum, si Pompeii voluntas erit; sed Crassum tamen metuo. A te quidem omnia fieri fortissime et amantissime video, nec miror, sed maereo casum eiusmodi, ut tantis tuis miseriis meae miseriae subleventur: nam ad me P. Valerius, homo officiosus, scripsit, id quod ego maximo cum fletu legi, quemadmodum a Vestae ad tabulam Valeriam ducta esses. Hem, mea lux, meum desiderium, unde omnes opem petere solebant! te nunc, mea Terentia, sic vexari, sic iacere in lacrimis et sordibus, idque fieri mea culpa, qui ceteros servavi, ut nos periremus! Quod de domo scribis, hoc est de area, ego vero tum denique mihi videbor restitutus, si illa nobis erit restituta; verum haec non sunt in nostra manu: illud doleo, quae impensa facienda est, in eius partem te miseram et despoliatam venire. Quod si conficitur negotium, omnia consequemur; sin eadem nos fortuna premet, etiamne reliquias tuas misera proiicies? Obsecro te, mea vita, quod ad sumptum attinet, sine alios, qui possunt, si modo volunt, sustinere, et valetudinem istam infirmam, si me amas, noli vexare; nam mihi ante oculos dies noctesque versaris: omnes labores te excipere video; timeo, ut sustineas. Sed video in te esse omnia; quare, ut id, quod speras et quod agis, consequamur, servi valetudini. Ego, ad quos scribam, nescio, nisi ad eos, qui ad me scribunt, aut [ad eos,] de quibus ad me vos aliquid scribitis. Longius, quoniam ita vobis placet, non discedam; sed velim quam saepissime litteras mittatis, praesertim si quid est firmius, quod speremus. Valete, mea desideria, valete, D. a. d. III. Non. Oct. Thessalonica.
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Do not think I write longer letters to anyone else, unless someone has written a longer letter to me and I think I ought to answer. I have nothing to write, and at a time like this nothing is harder for me to do.
To you and to our Tulliola I cannot write without many tears. I see that you are utterly miserable, you whom I always wanted to be completely happy, and whom it was my duty to make happy; I would have done it if I had not been so timid. I love our Piso deeply, as he deserves. As far as I could, I encouraged him by letter and thanked him, as I ought.
I understand that you are placing hope in the new tribunes. That will be firm if Pompey's goodwill is firm; still, I fear Crassus. I see that you are doing everything with the greatest courage and affection. I am not surprised, but I grieve that matters are such that my misery is relieved by miseries so heavy for you. Publius Valerius, a dutiful man, wrote to me, and I read it with the greatest weeping, how you were dragged from Vesta's temple to the Valerian bank. Ah, my light, my longing, you from whom everyone used to seek help! That you, my Terentia, are now harassed like this, lying in tears and mourning, and that it happens through my fault, I who saved the rest of the citizens only to perish myself.
As for what you say about our town house, or rather its site, I will not think myself fully restored until it too has been restored to me. But these things are not yet within our grasp. I am only sorry that you, stripped and plundered as you are, are being asked to bear any part of the present expenses. If the affair succeeds, we will recover everything. But if the same bad fortune keeps us down, will you be so foolish as to throw away even the poor remains of your property?
I beg you, my life: as far as expenses go, let others bear them, people who can do it if they are willing. And, as you love me, do not exhaust your delicate health. Day and night I have you before my eyes. I see you eagerly undertaking every kind of labor. I fear you cannot endure it. Yet I see that everything depends on you. Therefore, so that we may attain what you hope and are striving for, take careful care of your health.
I do not know to whom to write except those who write to me or those about whom you say something in your letters. I will not go farther away, since that is your wish. But please send me letters as often as possible, especially if there is anything on which we may safely build hope. Farewell, my loves, 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
II. Scr. Thessalonicae a. d. III. Non. Oct. a.u.c. 696. TULLIUS S. D. TERENTIAE ET TULLIOLAE ET CICERONI SUIS.
Noli putare me ad quemquam longiores epistulas scribere, nisi si quis ad me plura scripsit, cui puto rescribi oportere; nec enim habeo, quod scribam, nec hoc tempore quidquam difficilius facio. Ad te vero et ad nostram Tulliolam non queo sine plurimis lacrimis scribere; vos enim video esse miserrimas, quas ego beatissimas semper esse volui idque praestare debui et, nisi tam timidi fuissemus, praestitissem. Pisonem nostrum merito eius amo plurimum: eum, ut potui, per litteras cohortatus sum gratiasque egi, ut debui. In novis tribunis pl. intelligo spem te habere: id erit firmum, si Pompeii voluntas erit; sed Crassum tamen metuo. A te quidem omnia fieri fortissime et amantissime video, nec miror, sed maereo casum eiusmodi, ut tantis tuis miseriis meae miseriae subleventur: nam ad me P. Valerius, homo officiosus, scripsit, id quod ego maximo cum fletu legi, quemadmodum a Vestae ad tabulam Valeriam ducta esses. Hem, mea lux, meum desiderium, unde omnes opem petere solebant! te nunc, mea Terentia, sic vexari, sic iacere in lacrimis et sordibus, idque fieri mea culpa, qui ceteros servavi, ut nos periremus! Quod de domo scribis, hoc est de area, ego vero tum denique mihi videbor restitutus, si illa nobis erit restituta; verum haec non sunt in nostra manu: illud doleo, quae impensa facienda est, in eius partem te miseram et despoliatam venire. Quod si conficitur negotium, omnia consequemur; sin eadem nos fortuna premet, etiamne reliquias tuas misera proiicies? Obsecro te, mea vita, quod ad sumptum attinet, sine alios, qui possunt, si modo volunt, sustinere, et valetudinem istam infirmam, si me amas, noli vexare; nam mihi ante oculos dies noctesque versaris: omnes labores te excipere video; timeo, ut sustineas. Sed video in te esse omnia; quare, ut id, quod speras et quod agis, consequamur, servi valetudini. Ego, ad quos scribam, nescio, nisi ad eos, qui ad me scribunt, aut [ad eos,] de quibus ad me vos aliquid scribitis. Longius, quoniam ita vobis placet, non discedam; sed velim quam saepissime litteras mittatis, praesertim si quid est firmius, quod speremus. Valete, mea desideria, valete, D. a. d. III. Non. Oct. Thessalonica.