Marcus Tullius Cicero→Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus|c. 48 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|Human translated
I was not deterred from sending you a letter after you came to Italy by the fact that you had sent me none, but because I could find neither what to promise you when I myself was lacking everything, nor what to advise when I myself lacked counsel, nor what consolation to offer in such great evils. Although these things are now no better, and indeed much more desperate, I still preferred my letters to be empty rather than non-existent. If I thought you had attempted to take on more duty for the republic than you were able to deliver, I would still, by whatever means I could, urge you to that condition of life which might be offered and which might exist. But since you have set as the end of your course of action, which was well and bravely undertaken, the limit that fortune itself wished to be the boundary of our struggles, I beg and implore you, by our old bond and connection and by my supreme goodwill toward you and your equal goodwill toward me, to preserve yourself safe for us, for your parent, your wife, and all your family, to whom you are and always have been most dear; to consult for your own safety and that of those who depend on you; to make use at this time of those things which you have learned and which, from adolescence onward, you have most beautifully grasped from the wisest men through memory and knowledge; and to bear the loss of those whom you have lost, bound to you by the deepest goodwill and the most numerous services, if not with an equal mind, then at least with a brave one. I do not know what I can do, or rather I perceive that I can do very little; but this I do promise you: that whatever I shall judge to be conducive to your safety and dignity, I shall do with as great zeal as you have always shown in your zeal and service for my affairs. I have conveyed this my disposition to your mother, an excellent woman and most devoted to you. If you write anything to me, I shall do as I understand you wish; but even if you write less, I shall nonetheless attend to everything I think will be useful to you with the greatest zeal and care. Farewell.
CDLXIII (Fam. VI, 22) TO CN. DOMITIUS AHENOBARBUS (IN ITALY) ROME (MAY) It was not the fact of your never having written to me since your arrival in Italy that deterred me from writing to you. The reason was that I could not think of any promise to make you in my present state of complete destitution, or of any advice to give you, being quite at a loss myself as to what policy to pursue, or of any consolation to offer in the midst of such grave disasters. Although things here are in no way improved, and, in fact, are continually becoming more and more desperate, yet I preferred sending you a colourless letter to not sending you one at all. For myself, if I had perceived that you had undertaken a task in the cause of the Republic greater than you were able to make good, I should yet to the best of my ability have counselled you to accept life on such terms as were offered you and were actually available. But since you have decided that to your policy, righteously and courageously adopted, there should be the same limit as fortune herself had laid down as the finishing point of our struggles, I beg and implore you, in the name of our old union and friendship, and in the name of my extreme affection for you and your no less strong one for me, to preserve yourself alive for us, for your mother, your wife, and all near and dear to you, to whom you have ever been the object of the deepest affection. Consult for the safety of yourself and of those who hang upon you. The lessons gathered from the wisest of philosophers, and grasped and remembered by you from your youth up with such brilliant success — all these put in practice at this crisis. Sorrow for those you have lost — so closely connected with you by the warmest affection and the most constant kindness-bear, if not without pain, yet at least with courage. What I can do I know not, or rather I feel how helpless I am; but this, nevertheless, I do promise: whatever I shall conceive to conduce to your safety and honour, I will do with the same zeal, as you have ever shown and practically employed in what concerned my fortunes. I have conveyed this expression of my warm feelings for you to your mother, the noblest of women and the most devoted of mothers. Whatever you write to me I will do, as far as I shall understand your wishes. But even if you fail to write, I shall yet with the utmost zeal and care do what I shall think to be for your interest. Good-bye.
XXII. Scr. Romae ineunte anno u.c. 708. CICERO DOMITIO
Non ea res me deterruit, quo minus, posteaquam in Italiam venisti, litteras ad te mitterem, quod tu ad me nullas miseras, sed quia nec, quid tibi pollicerer ipse egens rebus omnibus, nec, quid suaderem, cum mihimet ipsi consilium deesset, nec, quid consolationis afferrem in tantis malis, reperiebam. Haec quamquam nihilo meliora sunt nunc atque etiam multo desperatiora, tamen inanes esse meas litteras quam nullas malui. Ego, si te intelligerem plus conatum esse suscipere rei publicae causa muneris, quam quantum praestare potuisses, tamen, quibuscumque rebus possem, ad eamm condicionem te vivendi, quae daretur quaeque esset, hortarer; sed, cum consilii tui bene fortiterque suscepti eum tibi finem statueris, quem ipsa fortuna terminum nostrarum contentionum esse voluisset, oro obtestorque te pro vetere nostra coniunctione ac necessitudine proque summa mea in te benevolentia et tua in me pari, te ut nobis, parenti, coniugi tuisque omnibus, quibus es fuistique semper carissimus, salvum conserves, incolumitati tuae tuorumque, qui ex te pendent, consulas, quae didicisti quaeque ab adolescentia pulcherrime a sapientissimis viris tradita memoria et scientia comprehendisti, iis hoc tempore utare, quos coniunctos summa benevolentia plurimisque officiis amisisti, eorum desiderium, si non aequo animo, at forti feras. Ego quid possim nescio vel potius me parum posse sentio: illud tamen tibi polliceor, me, quaecumque saluti dignitatique tuae conducere arbitrabor, tanto studio esse facturum, quanto semper tu et studio et officio in meis rebus fuisti; hanc meam voluntatem ad matrem tuam, optimam feminam tuique amantissimam, detuli. Si quid ad me scripseris, ita faciam, ut te velle intellexero; sin autem tu minus scripseris, ego tamen omnia, quae tibi utilia esse arbitrabor, summo studio diligenterque curabo. Vale. Cicero
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I was not deterred from sending you a letter after you came to Italy by the fact that you had sent me none, but because I could find neither what to promise you when I myself was lacking everything, nor what to advise when I myself lacked counsel, nor what consolation to offer in such great evils. Although these things are now no better, and indeed much more desperate, I still preferred my letters to be empty rather than non-existent. If I thought you had attempted to take on more duty for the republic than you were able to deliver, I would still, by whatever means I could, urge you to that condition of life which might be offered and which might exist. But since you have set as the end of your course of action, which was well and bravely undertaken, the limit that fortune itself wished to be the boundary of our struggles, I beg and implore you, by our old bond and connection and by my supreme goodwill toward you and your equal goodwill toward me, to preserve yourself safe for us, for your parent, your wife, and all your family, to whom you are and always have been most dear; to consult for your own safety and that of those who depend on you; to make use at this time of those things which you have learned and which, from adolescence onward, you have most beautifully grasped from the wisest men through memory and knowledge; and to bear the loss of those whom you have lost, bound to you by the deepest goodwill and the most numerous services, if not with an equal mind, then at least with a brave one. I do not know what I can do, or rather I perceive that I can do very little; but this I do promise you: that whatever I shall judge to be conducive to your safety and dignity, I shall do with as great zeal as you have always shown in your zeal and service for my affairs. I have conveyed this my disposition to your mother, an excellent woman and most devoted to you. If you write anything to me, I shall do as I understand you wish; but even if you write less, I shall nonetheless attend to everything I think will be useful to you with the greatest zeal and care. Farewell.
Human translation - ToposText / Shuckburgh
Latin / Greek Original
XXII. Scr. Romae ineunte anno u.c. 708. CICERO DOMITIO
Non ea res me deterruit, quo minus, posteaquam in Italiam venisti, litteras ad te mitterem, quod tu ad me nullas miseras, sed quia nec, quid tibi pollicerer ipse egens rebus omnibus, nec, quid suaderem, cum mihimet ipsi consilium deesset, nec, quid consolationis afferrem in tantis malis, reperiebam. Haec quamquam nihilo meliora sunt nunc atque etiam multo desperatiora, tamen inanes esse meas litteras quam nullas malui. Ego, si te intelligerem plus conatum esse suscipere rei publicae causa muneris, quam quantum praestare potuisses, tamen, quibuscumque rebus possem, ad eamm condicionem te vivendi, quae daretur quaeque esset, hortarer; sed, cum consilii tui bene fortiterque suscepti eum tibi finem statueris, quem ipsa fortuna terminum nostrarum contentionum esse voluisset, oro obtestorque te pro vetere nostra coniunctione ac necessitudine proque summa mea in te benevolentia et tua in me pari, te ut nobis, parenti, coniugi tuisque omnibus, quibus es fuistique semper carissimus, salvum conserves, incolumitati tuae tuorumque, qui ex te pendent, consulas, quae didicisti quaeque ab adolescentia pulcherrime a sapientissimis viris tradita memoria et scientia comprehendisti, iis hoc tempore utare, quos coniunctos summa benevolentia plurimisque officiis amisisti, eorum desiderium, si non aequo animo, at forti feras. Ego quid possim nescio vel potius me parum posse sentio: illud tamen tibi polliceor, me, quaecumque saluti dignitatique tuae conducere arbitrabor, tanto studio esse facturum, quanto semper tu et studio et officio in meis rebus fuisti; hanc meam voluntatem ad matrem tuam, optimam feminam tuique amantissimam, detuli. Si quid ad me scripseris, ita faciam, ut te velle intellexero; sin autem tu minus scripseris, ego tamen omnia, quae tibi utilia esse arbitrabor, summo studio diligenterque curabo. Vale. Cicero