Marcus Tullius Cicero→Gaius Trebatius Testa|c. 49 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Gaul|AI-assisted
I was wondering why you had stopped sending me letters. My friend Pansa has told me that you have become an Epicurean. What a splendid camp! What would you have done if I had sent you to Tarentum instead of Samarobriva?
I was already not pleased with you when you defended the same doctrine as my friend Selius. But how will you defend civil law if you do everything for your own sake and not for the citizens'? Where will that trust formula go: "as ought to be done fairly among good men"? For who is good if he does nothing except for himself? What rule will you set up for dividing common property, when nothing can be common among people who measure everything by their own pleasure? How will you like swearing by Jupiter Lapis when you know that Jupiter cannot be angry with anyone?
And what will happen to the people of Ulubrae if you decide that one ought not take part in public life? So, if you are plainly deserting us, I am annoyed. If it is merely useful to humor Pansa, I forgive you. Only write to us sometime: tell me what you are doing, and what you want me to do or arrange for you.
CLXIX (Fam. VII, 12) TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) ROME (?FEBRUARY) I was wondering what had made you cease writing to me. My friend Pansa has informed me that you have become an Epicurean ! What a wonderful camp yours must be! What would you have done if I had sent you to Tarentum instead of Samobriva? I was already a little doubtful about you, when I found you supporting the same doctrine as my friend Selius ! But on what ground will you support the principles of civil law, if you act always in your own interest and not in that of your fellow citizens? What, too, is to become of the legal formula in cases of trust, “as should be done among honest men”? For who can be called honest who does nothing except on his own behalf? What principle will you lay down “in dividing a common property,” when nothing can be “common” among men who measure all things by their own pleasure? How, again, can you ever think it right to swear by Jupiter lapis, when you know that Jupiter cannot be angry with anyone? What is to become of the people of Ulubrae , if you have decided that it is not right to take part in civic business? Wherefore, if you are really and truly a pervert from our faith, I am much annoyed; but if you merely find it convenient to humour Pansa , I forgive you. Only do write and tell us how you are, and what you want me to do or to look after for you.
XII. Scr. Romae (ante m. Martium) a.u.c. 701. CICERO TREBATIO.
Mirabar, quid esset, quod tu mihi litteras mittere intermisisses: indicavit mihi Pansa meus Epicureum te esse factum. O castra praeclara! quid tu fecisses, si te Tarentum et non Samarobrivam misissem? iam tum mihi non placebas, cum idem tuebare, quod Zeius familiaris meus. Sed quonam modo ius civile defendes, cum omnia tua causa facias, non civium? Ubi porro illa erit formula fiduciae: VT INTER BONOS BENE AGIER OPORTET? quis enim bonus est, qui facit nihil nisi sua causa? Quod ius statues COMMVNI DIVIDVNDO, cum commune nihil possit esse apud eos, qui omnia voluptate sua metiuntur? Quomodo autem tibi placebit IOVEM LAPIDEM iurare, cum scias Iovem iratum esse nemini posse? Quid fiet porro populo Ulubrano, si tu statueris politeÊesyai non oportere? Quare, si plane a nobis deficis, moleste fero, sin Pansae assentari commodum est, ignosco: modo scribe aliquando ad nos, quid agas et a nobis quid fieri aut curari velis.
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I was wondering why you had stopped sending me letters. My friend Pansa has told me that you have become an Epicurean. What a splendid camp! What would you have done if I had sent you to Tarentum instead of Samarobriva?
I was already not pleased with you when you defended the same doctrine as my friend Selius. But how will you defend civil law if you do everything for your own sake and not for the citizens'? Where will that trust formula go: "as ought to be done fairly among good men"? For who is good if he does nothing except for himself? What rule will you set up for dividing common property, when nothing can be common among people who measure everything by their own pleasure? How will you like swearing by Jupiter Lapis when you know that Jupiter cannot be angry with anyone?
And what will happen to the people of Ulubrae if you decide that one ought not take part in public life? So, if you are plainly deserting us, I am annoyed. If it is merely useful to humor Pansa, I forgive you. Only write to us sometime: tell me what you are doing, and what you want me to do or arrange for you.
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
XII. Scr. Romae (ante m. Martium) a.u.c. 701. CICERO TREBATIO.
Mirabar, quid esset, quod tu mihi litteras mittere intermisisses: indicavit mihi Pansa meus Epicureum te esse factum. O castra praeclara! quid tu fecisses, si te Tarentum et non Samarobrivam misissem? iam tum mihi non placebas, cum idem tuebare, quod Zeius familiaris meus. Sed quonam modo ius civile defendes, cum omnia tua causa facias, non civium? Ubi porro illa erit formula fiduciae: VT INTER BONOS BENE AGIER OPORTET? quis enim bonus est, qui facit nihil nisi sua causa? Quod ius statues COMMVNI DIVIDVNDO, cum commune nihil possit esse apud eos, qui omnia voluptate sua metiuntur? Quomodo autem tibi placebit IOVEM LAPIDEM iurare, cum scias Iovem iratum esse nemini posse? Quid fiet porro populo Ulubrano, si tu statueris politeÊesyai non oportere? Quare, si plane a nobis deficis, moleste fero, sin Pansae assentari commodum est, ignosco: modo scribe aliquando ad nos, quid agas et a nobis quid fieri aut curari velis.