Marcus Tullius Cicero→Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus|c. 56 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|AI-assisted
If you and the army are well, I am glad. From your official dispatch I, like everyone else, have received the liveliest satisfaction. You have given us a strong hope of peace, the very hope I had been assuring everyone of, relying on you alone.
I should tell you that your old enemies, who now pose as your friends, have been struck hard by that dispatch. Their high expectations have disappointed them, and they are thoroughly depressed.
Your private letter to me expressed your affection rather sparingly, yet I assure you it pleased me. Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than the knowledge that I am serving my friends; and if I do not always receive an equal return, I am not sorry to have the balance of kindness on my side. I have no doubt that even if my extraordinary zeal for you has not bound you to me, the interests of the state will certainly bring us into mutual attachment and partnership.
Still, to let you know what I missed in your letter, I will write with the frankness demanded by my own nature and our shared friendship. I did expect some congratulation in your letter on what I had achieved, both because of the tie between us and because of the republic. I suppose you omitted it from fear of hurting someone's feelings. But what I did for the safety of the country has been approved by the judgment and testimony of the whole world.
You are a far greater man than Africanus; but I am not much inferior to Laelius either. When you return home, you will recognize that I acted with such judgment and spirit that you will not be ashamed to be joined with me in public affairs as well as in private friendship.
XII (Fam. V, 7) TO CN. POMPEIUS MAGNUS ROME M. Tullius Cicero , son of Marcus, greets Cn. Pompeius , son of Cneius, Imperator. If you and the army are well I shall be glad. From your official despatch I have, in common with everyone else, received the liveliest satisfaction; for you have given us that strong hope of peace, of which, in sole reliance on you, I was assuring everyone. But I must inform you that your old enemies — now posing as your friends — have received a stunning blow by this despatch, and, being disappointed in the high hopes they were entertaining, are thoroughly depressed. Though your private letter to me contained a somewhat slight expression of your affection, yet I can assure you it gave me pleasure: for there is nothing in which I habitually find greater satisfaction than in the consciousness of serving my friends; and if on any occasion I do not meet with an adequate return, I am not at all sorry to have the balance of kindness in my favour. Of this I feel no doubt — even if my extraordinary zeal in your behalf has failed to unite you to me — that the interests of the state will certainly effect a mutual attachment and coalition between us. To let you know, however, what I missed in your letter I will write with the candour which my own disposition and our common friendship demand. I did expect some congratulation in your letter on my achievements, for the sake at once of the ties between us and of the Republic. This I presume to have been omitted by you from a fear of hurting anyone's feelings. But let me tell you that what I did for the salvation of the country is approved by the judgment and testimony of the whole world. You are a much greater man than Africanus , but I am not much inferior to Laelius either; and when you come home you will recognize that I have acted with such prudence and spirit, that you will not be ashamed of being coupled with me in politics as well as in private friendship.
VII. Scr. Romae a.u.c. 692. M. TULLIUS M. F. CICERO S. D. CN. POMPEIO CN. F. MAGNO IMPERATORI.
S. T. E. Q. V. B. E. Ex litteris tuis, quas publice misisti, cepi una cum omnibus incredibilem voluptatem; tantam enim spem otii ostendisti, quantam ego semper omnibus te uno fretus pollicebar; sed hoc scito, tuos veteres hostes, novos amicos vehementer litteris perculsos atque ex magna spe deturbatos iacere. Ad me autem litteras quas misisti, quamquam exiguam significationem tuae erga me voluntatis habebant, tamen mihi scito iucundas fuisse; nulla enim re tam laetari soleo quam meorum officiorum conscientia, quibus si quando non mutue respondetur, apud me plus officii residere facillime patior: illud non dubito, quin, si te mea summa erga te studia parum mihi adiunxerunt, res publica nos inter nos conciliatura coniuncturaque sit. Ac, ne ignores, quid ego in tuis litteris desiderarim, scribam aperte, sicut et mea natura et nostra amicitia postulat: res eas gessi, quarum aliquam in tuis litteris et nostrae necessitudinis et rei publicae causa gratulationem exspectavi, quam ego abs te praetermissam esse arbitror, quod vererere, ne cuius animum offenderes; sed scito ea, quae nos pro salute patriae gessimus, orbis terrae iudicio ac testimonio comprobari, quae, cum veneris, tanto consilio tantaque animi magnitudine a me gesta esse cognosces, ut tibi multo maiori, quam Africanus fuit, me non multo minorem quam Laelium facile et in re publica et in amicitia adiunctum esse patiare.
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If you and the army are well, I am glad. From your official dispatch I, like everyone else, have received the liveliest satisfaction. You have given us a strong hope of peace, the very hope I had been assuring everyone of, relying on you alone.
I should tell you that your old enemies, who now pose as your friends, have been struck hard by that dispatch. Their high expectations have disappointed them, and they are thoroughly depressed.
Your private letter to me expressed your affection rather sparingly, yet I assure you it pleased me. Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than the knowledge that I am serving my friends; and if I do not always receive an equal return, I am not sorry to have the balance of kindness on my side. I have no doubt that even if my extraordinary zeal for you has not bound you to me, the interests of the state will certainly bring us into mutual attachment and partnership.
Still, to let you know what I missed in your letter, I will write with the frankness demanded by my own nature and our shared friendship. I did expect some congratulation in your letter on what I had achieved, both because of the tie between us and because of the republic. I suppose you omitted it from fear of hurting someone's feelings. But what I did for the safety of the country has been approved by the judgment and testimony of the whole world.
You are a far greater man than Africanus; but I am not much inferior to Laelius either. When you return home, you will recognize that I acted with such judgment and spirit that you will not be ashamed to be joined with me in public affairs as well as in private friendship.
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
VII. Scr. Romae a.u.c. 692. M. TULLIUS M. F. CICERO S. D. CN. POMPEIO CN. F. MAGNO IMPERATORI.
S. T. E. Q. V. B. E. Ex litteris tuis, quas publice misisti, cepi una cum omnibus incredibilem voluptatem; tantam enim spem otii ostendisti, quantam ego semper omnibus te uno fretus pollicebar; sed hoc scito, tuos veteres hostes, novos amicos vehementer litteris perculsos atque ex magna spe deturbatos iacere. Ad me autem litteras quas misisti, quamquam exiguam significationem tuae erga me voluntatis habebant, tamen mihi scito iucundas fuisse; nulla enim re tam laetari soleo quam meorum officiorum conscientia, quibus si quando non mutue respondetur, apud me plus officii residere facillime patior: illud non dubito, quin, si te mea summa erga te studia parum mihi adiunxerunt, res publica nos inter nos conciliatura coniuncturaque sit. Ac, ne ignores, quid ego in tuis litteris desiderarim, scribam aperte, sicut et mea natura et nostra amicitia postulat: res eas gessi, quarum aliquam in tuis litteris et nostrae necessitudinis et rei publicae causa gratulationem exspectavi, quam ego abs te praetermissam esse arbitror, quod vererere, ne cuius animum offenderes; sed scito ea, quae nos pro salute patriae gessimus, orbis terrae iudicio ac testimonio comprobari, quae, cum veneris, tanto consilio tantaque animi magnitudine a me gesta esse cognosces, ut tibi multo maiori, quam Africanus fuit, me non multo minorem quam Laelium facile et in re publica et in amicitia adiunctum esse patiare.