28 July: To Gaius Trebatius Testa (at Rome) from Cicero (at Regium)
Cicero sends his friend a (potentially incomprehensible) philosophical work
See how important you are to me (and rightly so, for I don’t outdo you in love—but, still): that which I almost denied you in person, and certainly did not give you, I can’t owe you in your absence. And so, as soon as I set sail from Velia, I decided to compose an Aristotelian Topics, as I was reminded of it by the city that loves you so dearly.1 I have sent you this book from Regium. It is written as clearly as it can be written, given the subject. But if certain parts seem obscure to you, you should consider that no technical skill can be learnt from reading without an interpreter or some practice. You will not have to go far for an example: for can your Civil Law be learnt from books? Although there are a great many of them, they still require a teacher, and practice. Yet, if you read this attentively and often, you will comprehend everything through your own efforts, until your understanding is correct. But it is only through practice that these ‘Topics’ will occur to you when a question is proposed. And I shall hold you to this, if I return safe and find things safe where you are.
28 July, Regium.
Read Ad Familiares 7.19 in Latin here | Check the glossary here
Footnote borrowed from Shackleton Bailey: ‘Cicero’s Topica, on the sources of proof (τόποι, loci), has in fact nothing to do with Aristotle’s work of the same name, which he had possibly never seen. He seems to have followed Antiochus of Ascalon, who probably claimed to be following Aristotle; cf. W. Kroll, RE VIIA, 1103.’