Marcus Tullius Cicero→Marcus Fadius Gallus|c. 56 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|AI-assisted
Although I myself, who want to console you, need consolation, since nothing for a long time has afflicted me so deeply as your disaster, I nevertheless earnestly urge you, and even beg and implore you with all the strength my affection gives me, to summon all your energies, show a brave spirit, and reflect on the conditions under which all mortals, and especially we in these times, have been born.
Your virtue has given you more than fortune has taken away. You have obtained what not many new men have obtained; you have lost what many men of the highest rank have lost. Finally, the condition of legislation, courts, and public affairs in general seems likely to become such that the most fortunate man will appear to be the one who left such a republic as ours with the lightest possible penalty.
In your case, you still keep your property and your children. I and others remain very closely united with you, whether by kinship or affection. You are also likely to have many opportunities to live with me and with all your friends. And your conviction alone, out of so many, is challenged as unjust, because it was passed by one vote, and that a doubtful one, and is regarded as a concession to one person's overpowering influence.
For all these reasons, you ought to be as little distressed as possible by the trouble that has come upon you. My feeling toward you and toward your children will always be what you wish it to be, and what duty requires it to be.
CLXXIX (Fam. V, 18) TO T. FADIUS (IN EXILE) ROME: Although I too, who am desirous of consoling you, stand in need of consolation myself — for nothing for a long time past has so deeply afflicted me as your disaster — nevertheless I do strongly not only exhort, but even beg and implore you, with all the earnestness that my affection dictates, to summon all your energies, to show a manly courage, and to reflect under what conditions all mortals, and in what times we particularly, have been born. Your virtue has given you more than fortune has taken away: for you have obtained what not many “new men” have obtained; you have lost what many men of the highest rank have lost. Finally, a state of legislation, law courts, and politics generally appears to be imminent, such that the man would seem to be the most fortunate who has quitted such a republic as ours with the lightest possible penalty. As for you, however — since you retain your fortune and children, with myself and others still very closely united to you, whether by relationship or affection — and since you are likely to have much opportunity of living with me and all your friends — and since, again, your condemnation is the only one out of so many that is impugned, because, having been passed by one vote (and that a doubtful one), it is regarded as a concession to a particular person's overwhelming power — for all these reasons, I say, you ought to be as little distressed as possible at the inconvenience that has befallen you. My feeling towards yourself and your children will always be such as you wish, and such as it is in duty bound to be.
XVIII. Scr. Romae anno u.c. 702. M. CICERO S. D. T. FADIO.
Etsi egomet, qui te consolari cupio, consolandus ipse sum, propterea quod nullam rem gravius iamdiu tuli quam incommodum tuum, tamen te magno opere non hortor solum, sed etiam pro amore nostro rogo atque oro, te colligas virumque praebeas et, qua condicione omnes homines et quibus temporibus nos nati simus, cogites. Plus tibi virtus tua dedit, quam fortuna abstulit, propterea quod adeptus es, quod non multi homines novi, amisisti, quae plurimi homines nobilissimi. Ea denique videtur condicio impendere legum, iudiciorum, temporum, ut optime actum cum eo videatur esse, qui quam levissima poena ab hac re publica discesserit. Tu vero, qui et fortunas et liberos habeas et nos ceterosque necessitudine et benevolentia tecum coniunctissimos, cumque magnam facultatem sis habiturus nobiscum et cum omnibus tuis vivendi, et cum tuum unum sit iudicium ex tam multis, quod reprehendatur, ut quod una sententia eaque dubia potentiae alicuius condonatum existimetur, omnibus his de causis debes istam molestiam quam levissime ferre. Meus animus erit in te liberosque tuos semper, quem tu esse vis et qui esse debet.
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Although I myself, who want to console you, need consolation, since nothing for a long time has afflicted me so deeply as your disaster, I nevertheless earnestly urge you, and even beg and implore you with all the strength my affection gives me, to summon all your energies, show a brave spirit, and reflect on the conditions under which all mortals, and especially we in these times, have been born.
Your virtue has given you more than fortune has taken away. You have obtained what not many new men have obtained; you have lost what many men of the highest rank have lost. Finally, the condition of legislation, courts, and public affairs in general seems likely to become such that the most fortunate man will appear to be the one who left such a republic as ours with the lightest possible penalty.
In your case, you still keep your property and your children. I and others remain very closely united with you, whether by kinship or affection. You are also likely to have many opportunities to live with me and with all your friends. And your conviction alone, out of so many, is challenged as unjust, because it was passed by one vote, and that a doubtful one, and is regarded as a concession to one person's overpowering influence.
For all these reasons, you ought to be as little distressed as possible by the trouble that has come upon you. My feeling toward you and toward your children will always be what you wish it to be, and what duty requires it to be.
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
XVIII. Scr. Romae anno u.c. 702. M. CICERO S. D. T. FADIO.
Etsi egomet, qui te consolari cupio, consolandus ipse sum, propterea quod nullam rem gravius iamdiu tuli quam incommodum tuum, tamen te magno opere non hortor solum, sed etiam pro amore nostro rogo atque oro, te colligas virumque praebeas et, qua condicione omnes homines et quibus temporibus nos nati simus, cogites. Plus tibi virtus tua dedit, quam fortuna abstulit, propterea quod adeptus es, quod non multi homines novi, amisisti, quae plurimi homines nobilissimi. Ea denique videtur condicio impendere legum, iudiciorum, temporum, ut optime actum cum eo videatur esse, qui quam levissima poena ab hac re publica discesserit. Tu vero, qui et fortunas et liberos habeas et nos ceterosque necessitudine et benevolentia tecum coniunctissimos, cumque magnam facultatem sis habiturus nobiscum et cum omnibus tuis vivendi, et cum tuum unum sit iudicium ex tam multis, quod reprehendatur, ut quod una sententia eaque dubia potentiae alicuius condonatum existimetur, omnibus his de causis debes istam molestiam quam levissime ferre. Meus animus erit in te liberosque tuos semper, quem tu esse vis et qui esse debet.