17 July 44 BCE: To Atticus (at Rome) from Cicero (at Pompeii)
Cicero struggles to plan his trip around the inevitable civil war
You were wise—I am finally replying to the letter you sent me after meeting with Antony at Tibur—you were very wise indeed, in surrendering and even going so far as to thank him.1 You are correct when you write that the Republic will desert us before our property does.
You writing that you are getting more and more enjoyment out of ‘O Titus, if there is anything…’ increases my eagerness to write.2 You say that you are waiting for Eros, and a little treat along with him. I am glad that you won’t be disappointed in thinking that, but still, I have sent you the same treatise, with more revisions.3 In fact, it is the original copy itself, with additions and alterations in many places. Have it copied onto large paper and read it in private to your dinner-guests—but, if you love me, only when they are cheerful and well fed, so that they don’t take out their anger on me, when they are really annoyed with you.
About my son, I hope it is as I have heard. About Xeno, I shall find out when we meet, although I don’t think there has been any lack of care or generosity on his part. About Herodes, I shall do as you ask, and find out about the things you ask about in your letter from Saufeius and Xeno.
About the younger Quintus, I am glad that the letter I sent you via the letter-carrier reached you before the one he delivered himself; although he really could not have deceived you. Still, though. But I am waiting to hear what he said to you, and what you said in turn. I don’t doubt that you each spoke characteristically. But I hope Curius will deliver that letter to me. He is indeed lovable in his own right, and I am fond of him, yet this will increase through the great weight of your recommendation.
I have replied enough to your letter. Now hear—although I understand it can be left unsaid—what I have to say. Many aspects of my departure worry me, especially (by Hercules) that I shall be parted from you. The stress of the voyage also worries me: it is not suitable for people of our age, or even our position. The timing of my departure is also somewhat absurd. For I am leaving peace to return to war, and am spending time travelling which could be spent on my little estates, which are nicely built and fairly pleasant. This consoles me: either I shall do something useful for my son, or I shall judge how much can be done for him; next, that, as I hope and you have promised, you will soon arrive. If that happens, it will make everything better.
But what distresses me most is accounting for the remainder of my debts: although they have been sorted out, still, I am upset that they include Dolabella’s debt, and that debts from people I don’t know have been assigned to me.4 No part of the situation distresses me more. And so I do not feel that I was mistaken in writing plainly to Balbus to say that, if it should happen that the timings of the debts do not coincide, he should help me, and that I have also asked you to consult him, if something of this sort should happen. Please do this, if it’s alright with you, and all the more if you are setting out for Epirus.
I write this as I embark from my Pompeian villa with three ten-oared little boats. Brutus is at Nesis even now; Cassius is at Naples.
Do you love Deiotarus, and not love Hieras? Who (as Blesamius writes to me) although he was directed not to do anything without Sestius’ approval, neither replied to him or to any of us.
I wish I could give my dear Attica a kiss, even though I am elsewhere. I thought the well-wishes she sent me (via you) were so sweet. So please wish her even more from me, and the same to Pilia.
Read Ad Atticum 16.3 in Latin here | Check the glossary here
Footnote borrowed from Shackleton Bailey: ‘There ought surely to be no doubt that this refers to the Buthrotian business, which had turned out less satisfactorily than had been hoped. The settlers had not been driven out, and Atticus had evidently been obliged to accept some compromise with as good a grace as he could manage.’
The opening of Cicero’s Cato the Elder on Old Age, which is itself quoting Ennius’ Annales.
The treatise ( little treat-ise?) was Cicero’s On Glory.
Footnote borrowed from Shackleton Bailey: ‘[Cicero] feared his claims might not be paid punctually (in which case it would be difficult to meet his own obligations) because (a) they included Dolabella, who had still not repaid Tullia’s dowry and could not be considered a reliable debtor, and (b) in settlement of debt due to him [Cicero] had been assigned claims on third parties whom he did not know personally and of whose reliability he was therefore doubtful.’