29 May 44 BCE: To Atticus (at Rome) from Cicero (at Tusculum)
Cicero likes good opinions about the Republic (and also being complimented)
Thank you for the letters: I really enjoyed them, especially the one from our dear Sextus. You will say ‘It is because he praises you.’ I think (by Hercules!) that is part of the reason for it, but even before I reached that bit, I very much did like both the way he talks about the Republic, and the care he took in writing it.
Servius the peacemaker, with his little bookcase, seems to have gone on a legation and shrinks from every quirk of the law. He ought ‘not to lay claim by law,’ but instead with what comes next.1 Please write.
Read Ad Atticum 15.7 in Latin here | Check the glossary here
The first half of a line from Ennius’ Annales (Gell. NA 20.10.3–5). The full line, including ‘what comes next,’ is ‘not to lay claim by law, but rather by the sword’ (non ex iure manu consertum, sed magis ferro).