Marcus Tullius Cicero→Unknown|c. 48 BC|Cicero|From Rome|AI-assisted
I would have sent you a letter sooner, if I could have found some manner of writing; for at such a time it is the part of friends either to console or to make promises. Consolation I was not employing, because I heard from many how bravely and wisely you were bearing the wrong of the times, and how strongly the consciousness of your own deeds and counsels was consoling you; and if indeed you do this, you are reaping a great reward from those most excellent studies, in which I know you have always been engaged, and I urge you again and again to do so. At the same time I pledge you this too—to you, a man most expert in affairs and in precedents and in all antiquity, while I myself am not untrained either, but perhaps less versed in such study than I could wish, and in practical affairs and experience even more versed than I could wish—that this bitterness and wrong of yours will not be lasting; for even he who has the most power seems to me to be sliding day by day toward equity and toward the nature of things, and the very cause is such that now, together with the commonwealth—which cannot lie prostrate forever—it must necessarily come back to life and be restored, and every day something is done more gently and more liberally than we feared: and since these things are often set in the slight turnings of the times, we will watch all the critical moments and let pass no occasion of aiding and relieving you. And so that other manner of writing which I mentioned—the one of promising—will, as I hope, become easier for me day by day, so that I may even be able to make promises; and this I shall do more gladly by deeds than by words. I should wish you to consider that you have more friends than those who are or have been in your situation—so far at least as I have been able to understand—and that I yield to none of them. See that you keep your spirit brave and great, which depends on you alone: the things that lie in fortune will be governed by the times and provided for by our counsels.
Xb. Scr. Romae a.u.c. 708.
Antea misissem ad te litteras, si genus scribendi invenirem; tali enim tempore aut consolari amicorum est aut polliceri: consolatione non utebar, quod ex multis audiebam, quam fortiter sapienterque ferres iniuriam temporum quamque te vehementer consolaretur conscientia factorum et consiliorum tuorum; quod quidem si facis, magnum fructum studiorum optimorum capis, in quibus te semper scio esse versatum, idque ut facias etiam atque etiam te hortor. Simul et illud tibi, homini peritissimo rerum et exemplorum et omnis vetustatis, ne ipse quidem rudis, sed in studio minus fortasse, quam vellem, in rebus atque usu plus etiam, quam vellem, versatus spondeo, tibi istam acerbitatem et iniuriam non diuturnam fore; nam et ipse, qui plurimum potest, quotidie mihi delabi ad aequitatem et ad rerum naturam videtur et ipsa causa ea est, ut iam simul cum re publica, quae in perpetuum iacere non potest, necessario revivescat atque recreetur, quotidieque aliquid fit lenius et liberalius, quam timebamus: quae quoniam in temporum inclinationibus saepe parvis posita sunt, omnia momenta observabimus neque ullum praetermittemus tui iuvandi et levandi locum. Itaque illud alterum, quod dixi, litterarum genus quotidie mihi, ut spero, fiet proclivius, ut etiam polliceri possim: id re quam verbis faciam libentius. Tu velim existimes et plures te amicos habere, quam qui in isto casu sint ac fuerint, quantum quidem ego intelligere potuerim, et me concedere eorum nemini. Fortem fac animum habeas et magnum, quod est in uno te: quae sunt in fortuna, temporibus regentur et consiliis nostris providebuntur.
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I would have sent you a letter sooner, if I could have found some manner of writing; for at such a time it is the part of friends either to console or to make promises. Consolation I was not employing, because I heard from many how bravely and wisely you were bearing the wrong of the times, and how strongly the consciousness of your own deeds and counsels was consoling you; and if indeed you do this, you are reaping a great reward from those most excellent studies, in which I know you have always been engaged, and I urge you again and again to do so. At the same time I pledge you this too—to you, a man most expert in affairs and in precedents and in all antiquity, while I myself am not untrained either, but perhaps less versed in such study than I could wish, and in practical affairs and experience even more versed than I could wish—that this bitterness and wrong of yours will not be lasting; for even he who has the most power seems to me to be sliding day by day toward equity and toward the nature of things, and the very cause is such that now, together with the commonwealth—which cannot lie prostrate forever—it must necessarily come back to life and be restored, and every day something is done more gently and more liberally than we feared: and since these things are often set in the slight turnings of the times, we will watch all the critical moments and let pass no occasion of aiding and relieving you. And so that other manner of writing which I mentioned—the one of promising—will, as I hope, become easier for me day by day, so that I may even be able to make promises; and this I shall do more gladly by deeds than by words. I should wish you to consider that you have more friends than those who are or have been in your situation—so far at least as I have been able to understand—and that I yield to none of them. See that you keep your spirit brave and great, which depends on you alone: the things that lie in fortune will be governed by the times and provided for by our counsels.
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
Xb. Scr. Romae a.u.c. 708.
Antea misissem ad te litteras, si genus scribendi invenirem; tali enim tempore aut consolari amicorum est aut polliceri: consolatione non utebar, quod ex multis audiebam, quam fortiter sapienterque ferres iniuriam temporum quamque te vehementer consolaretur conscientia factorum et consiliorum tuorum; quod quidem si facis, magnum fructum studiorum optimorum capis, in quibus te semper scio esse versatum, idque ut facias etiam atque etiam te hortor. Simul et illud tibi, homini peritissimo rerum et exemplorum et omnis vetustatis, ne ipse quidem rudis, sed in studio minus fortasse, quam vellem, in rebus atque usu plus etiam, quam vellem, versatus spondeo, tibi istam acerbitatem et iniuriam non diuturnam fore; nam et ipse, qui plurimum potest, quotidie mihi delabi ad aequitatem et ad rerum naturam videtur et ipsa causa ea est, ut iam simul cum re publica, quae in perpetuum iacere non potest, necessario revivescat atque recreetur, quotidieque aliquid fit lenius et liberalius, quam timebamus: quae quoniam in temporum inclinationibus saepe parvis posita sunt, omnia momenta observabimus neque ullum praetermittemus tui iuvandi et levandi locum. Itaque illud alterum, quod dixi, litterarum genus quotidie mihi, ut spero, fiet proclivius, ut etiam polliceri possim: id re quam verbis faciam libentius. Tu velim existimes et plures te amicos habere, quam qui in isto casu sint ac fuerint, quantum quidem ego intelligere potuerim, et me concedere eorum nemini. Fortem fac animum habeas et magnum, quod est in uno te: quae sunt in fortuna, temporibus regentur et consiliis nostris providebuntur.