10 November 44 BCE: To Atticus (at Rome) from Cicero (at Arpinum)
Cicero waits for it to be light enough to read a letter from Atticus
What a wonderful coincidence! On the 9th, I got up before first light to leave Sinuessa, and at dawn had reached the Tirenan bridge1 at Minturnae, where the road branches off to Arpinum. There, I met your letter-carrier, who found us as ‘we pondered / our long sea journey.’2 At once, I asked ‘Hey! Anything from Atticus?’ We couldn’t read it yet; for we had sent away the torches and it wasn’t light enough. But when it became light, I had the earlier of your two letters read to me. It is the most elegant piece I’ve ever read—may I die if I don’t write exactly how I feel! I’ve never read anything kinder. And so I shall come when you call me, as long as you help me.
But nothing could have seemed more out of place as a response to that letter of mine in which I sought your advice. But then, there was your second letter, in which you encourage me to go past ‘blustery Mimas,’ ‘to Psyria’—that is, ‘to go past the Appian Way to our left.’3 And so that day I stayed at Aquinum. It was really a rather long journey, and the road was bad. I’m giving this letter to Tiro as I set out the following morning. In fact, I am sending him very much against my will, because of Eros’ letter. Tiro will explain the situation to you. Please decide what needs to be done, and moreover, whether I could come closer (for I would rather be in Tusculum, or anywhere near the city), or whether I need to go further away. Please write to me often. There will be someone for you to give a letter to every day.
In addition, you ask my advice on what I think it right for you to do. It’s difficult, while I’m away. But still, if the two are equals, you should keep quiet.4 But if the situation spreads further, even to us, then we should make a decision together.
Read Ad Atticum 16.13 in Latin here | Check the glossary here | Watch an overview of events from the Ides of March onwards here
Not even Shackleton Bailey knows what this is.
Odyssey 3.169 trans. Emily Wilson. Cicero was not actually travelling by sea.
Odyssey 3.171-2 trans. Emily Wilson, describing the Greeks’ deliberations over how to return home from Troy. Cicero quotes parts of these lines out of order, and replaces ‘the rocks of Chios’ with ‘the Appian Way.’ The promontory of Mimas stands for the Apennines, and the island of Psyria for the ‘island of Arpinum,’ an island in the River Fibrenus that was one of Cicero’s favourite spots.
‘the two’ are Antony and Octavian.
"Not even Shackleton Bailey knows what this is." ah, the familiar joy of not knowing what the hell cicero is on about <3
"It is the most elegant piece I’ve ever read—may I die if I don’t write exactly how I feel! I’ve never read anything kinder. And so I shall come when you call me, as long as you help me." i've always loved the way they loved (but for real, that last sentence. ohhh man)