IV. TO ATTICUS, AT ATHENS (ATT. I. 9). ROME, A. U. C. 687; B. C. 67; AET. CIC. 39. De litteris crebrius ab Attico ad se dandis, de signis sibi mittendis. CICERO ATTICO SAL. 1. Nimium raro nobis abs te litterae adferuntur, cum et multo tu facilius reperias qui Romam proficiscantur quam ego qui Athenas et certius tibi sit me esse Romae quam mihi te Athenis. Itaque propter hanc dubitationem meam brevior haec ipsa epistola est, quod, cum incertus essem ubi esses, nolebam illum nostrum familiarem sermonem in alienas manus devenire. 2. Signa Megarica et Hermas, de quibus ad me scripsisti, vehementer exspecto. Quidquid eiusdem generis habebis, dignum Academia tibi quod videbitur, ne dubitaris mittere, et arcae nostrae confidito. Genus hoc est voluptatis meae: quae yvuvasion maxime sunt, ea quaero. Lentulus naves suas pollicetur. Peto abs te, ut haec diligenter cures. Thyillus te rogat et ego eius rogatu Εὐμολπιδῶν πάτρια. 1. devenire] 'find its way by chance,' cf. Brut. 157, consideranti ad quos ista non translata sint, sed nescio quo pacto devenerint. 2. Signa Megarica] of the Megarian marble called κογχίτης λίθος. Academia] the name given by Cicero to his gymnasium in his Tusculan villa. arcae] Ex arca solvere means to pay in money, not by a draft on a banker; but there is no evidence that area implies a ready money payment. In Q. Fr. ii. 12, 5, Cicero says, nihil esse quod posthac arcae nostrae fiducia conturbaret, it will be his own fault if he should fail through any reliance on my purse,' where there is surely no allusion to ready money. The real antitheton to area is sacculus or loculi. Area is the rich man's purse, or perhaps rather safe, or strongbox; while sacculus is the poor man's money-bag, Juv. xi. 26, Ignoret quantum ferrata distet ab area Sacculus. The words sacculus and loculi are combined in Mart. v. 39, 7, excussi loculosque sacculumque. The word for paying by draft is scribere nummos: see on Ep. lxvi. § 7. Genus, &c.] This is the line my fancy takes' (Pretor.) Thyillus] Thyillus, a poet, who afterwards thought of making Cicero's consulship the subject of a poem (Att. i. 16, 15). He now asks Atticus for a description of the ritual of the Eumolpidae,' priests of the Eleusinian Ceres at Athens. Doubtless Thyillus wished to introduce into some poem an account of the ritual of the Eleusinian mysteries. V. TO ATTICUS, AT ATHENS (ATT. I. 8). ROME, A. U. C. 687; B. C. 67; AET. CIC. 39. De matre Caecilia, de controversia Acutiliana, de negotio Tadiano, de Lucceio Attico etiam nunc irato, de pecunia L. Cincio curata, de signis, quibus maximo opere delectetur, mittendis, de Tulliola munusculum flagitante. CICERO ATTICO SAL. 1. Apud te est, ut volumus. Mater tua et soror a me Quintoque fratre diligitur. Cum Acutilio sum locutus. Is sibi negat a suo procuratore quidquam scriptum esse et miratur istam controversiam fuisse, quod ille recusarit satis dare AMPLIUS ABS TE NON PETI. Quod te de Tadiano negotio decidisse scribis, id ego Tadio et gratum esse intellexi et magno opere iucundum. Ille Doster amicus, vir mehercule optimus et mihi amicissimus, sane tibi iratus est. Hoc si quanti tu aestimes sciam, tum quid mihi elaborandum sit scire possim. 2. L. Cincio HS. cccccccc pro signis Megaricis, ut tu ad me scripseras, curavi. Hermae tui Pentelici cum capitibus aeneis, de quibus ad me scripsisti, iam nunc me admodum delectant. Qua re velim et eos et signa et 1. Apud te est] With your people all is as we wish': Cic. refers to the household of Quintus, where Pomponia was the ruling spirit. Is sibi negat] He says he has received no communication from his agent, and expresses his astonishment that that quarrel between you should have arisen from his refusing to give you a guaranty that there would be no further claim on that head.' PETI] The present PETI is used technically in legal transactions: see Fam. xiii. 28, 2, and Ver. ii. 60, iudicatum solvi satis daturos esse dicebant. But petiturum is found, when the accusative before the verb is expressed; cf. Rosc. Com. 35, Quid ita satis non dedit amplius a se neminem petiturum, and Brut. 18, non solvam nisi prius a te cavero amplius eo nomine neminem, cuius petitio sit, petiturum. In Fam. xiii. 28, 2, Klotz gives the whole passage thus: sunt duo quae te nominatim rogo: primum ut, si quid satis dandum erit, amplius eo nomine non peti cures, ut satis detur fide mea, deinde, &c. Thus cures is made to govern peti. I would read primum ut, si quid satis dandum erit AMPLIUS EO NOMINE NON PETI, cures ut satis detur fide mea: 'I beg, first, if any security is to be given guaranteeing the party sued from any further claim on the part of the present claimant, that you will make me responsible for that security.' I print the words in small capitals to draw attention to the fact that the phrase is a legal formula. The low Latin word for a receipt is apocha. decidisse] 'to settle a matter out of cetera, quae tibi eius loci et nostri studii et tuae elegantiae esse videbuntur, quam plurima quam primumque mittas et maxime, quae tibi gymnasii xystique videbuntur esse. Nam in eo genere sic studio efferimur, ut abs te adiuvandi, ab aliis prope reprehendendi simus. Si Lentuli navis non erit, quo tibi placebit imponito. Tulliola, deliciolae nostrae, tuum munusculum flagitat et me ut sponsorem appellat. Mihi autem abiurare certius est quam dependere. VI. TO ATTICUS, AT ATHENS (ATT. I. 10). TUSCULANUM A. U. C. 687; B. C. 67; AET. CIC. 39. De tempore litterarum dandarum angusto, de Lucceio iam a se placando, de signis aliisque ornamentis ab Attico sibi curandis, de bibliotheca Attici a se emenda, de Q. fratris animo, de comitiis suis, de Tulliola de munusculo diem dante. CICERO ATTICO SAL. - erit hoc tibi pro illo tuo 1. Cum essem in Tusculano 'Cum essem in Ceramico,'-verum tamen cum ibi essem, Roma puer a sorore tua missus epistolam mihi abs te adlatam eius loci] any articles of vertu which may seem suitable to my Academy, my enthusiasm for such things, and your own taste.' gymnasii xystique] See on Att. i. 6, 2. quo tibi placebit] 'put them on board any vessel you please.' Tulliola] My darling little Tullia is eager for the gift you promised her, and duns me as your representative. I am determined rather to repudiate than to pay for you. Dependere is a vox propria for paying as a representative of another, as is shown by Boot, who compares Fam. i. 9, 9, dependendum tibi est quod mihi pro illo spopondisti. Tullia was at this time probably not more than nine years of age. In a letter written the next year (Att. i. 3), Cicero tells of her betrothal, but the matter may have been in prospect now, and this may have been a gift promised by Atticus as a betrothal present. Pliny (Epp. v. 11, 1), in a passage, perhaps copied from this letter, writes to a friend: libera tandem hendecasyllaborum meorum fidem qui scripta tua communibus amicis spoponderunt: appellantur quotidie et flagitantur: ac iam periculum est ne cogantur ad exhibendum formulam accipere (receive a summons to produce'). Pliny, in some hendecasyllabic verses, had pledged himself that certain compositions of his friend should appear. There was a special action called actio depensi granted to sponsores who had paid money against those whom they had paid it for.-Sandars' Justinian, p. 354. 1. Cum essem] Being in Tusculanum— there you have a beginning to correspond with your being in Ceramicus-being there, however, I received a letter.' verum tamen] resumes after the paren theses as d'our and 8 in Greek, as well as yàp (for which Shilleto has so brilliantly vindicated this resumptive fores in a note on the Parapresbeia). Sol, dedit nuntiavitque eo ipso die post meridiem iturum eum, qui ad te proficisceretur. Eo factum est, ut epistolae tuae rescriberem aliquid, brevitate temporis tam pauca cogerer scribere. 2. Primum tibi de nostro amico placando aut etiam plane restituendo polliceor. Quod ego etsi mea sponte ante faciebam, eo nunc tamen et agam studiosius et contendam ab illo vehementius, quod tantam ex epistola voluntatem eius rei tuam perspicere videor. Hoc te intellegere volo, pergraviter illum esse offensum, sed quia nullam video gravem subesse causam, magno opere confido illum fore in officio et in nostra potestate. 3. Signa nostra et Hermeraclas, ut scribis, cum commodissime poteris, velim imponas, et si quod aliud oikeiov eius loci, quem non ignoras, reperies, et maxime, quae tibi palaestrae gymnasiique videbuntur esse. Etenim ibi sedens haec ad te scribebam, ut me locus ipse admoneret. Praeterea typos tibi mando, quos in tectorio atrioli possim includere, et putealia sigillata duo. 4. Bibliothecam tuam cave cuiquam despondeas, quamvis acrem amatorem inveneris: nam ego omnes meas vindemiolas eo reservo, ut illud subsidium senectuti parem. 5. De fratre confido ita esse, ut semper volui et elaboravi. Multa signa sunt eius rei, non minimum, quod soror praegnans est. 6. De comitiis meis et tibi me permisisse memini et ego iam pridem hoc communibus amicis, qui te exspectant, praedico, te non modo non arcessi a me, sed prohiberi, quod intellegam multo magis interesse tua te agere, quod agendum est hoc tempore, quam mea te adesse comitiis. Proinde eo animo te velim esse, quasi igitur are also resumptive particles in Cicero, as equidem cum audio socrum meam Laeliam (facilius enim . didi cerunt) sed eam sic audio, de Or. iii. 45; fore in officio et in nostra potestate] 'that he will be complaisant, and will put himself in my hands.' 3. scribebam] I am writing,' epistolary imperf. See Roby, § 1468. typos] bas-reliefs for insertion in the plaster walls of my antechamber' (Pretor). 4. Bibliothecam] Do not on any account betroth your library to anyone, no matter how eager a suitor for it you find. I am hoarding up all my gleanings (savings) to buy it as a support (resource) for my old age.' 6. De comitiis meis] For the praetorship, which he filled, A. u. c. 688, B. c. 66. tibi me permisisse] I do not forget that I gave you free permission' (i.e. to stay away). Cf. neque discessisset a me nisi ego ei permisissem, Fam. xiii. 71. Proinde] I should wish you to feel in this matter just as if I had sent you on my own business to the place you are in. And you will find (and hear from our common friends) that my feelings towards mei negotii causa in ista loca missus esses. Me autem eum et offendes erga te et audies, quasi mihi, si quae parta erunt, non modo te praesente, sed per te parta sint. Tulliola tibi diem dat, sponsorem me appellat. VII. TO ATTICUS, AT ATHENS (ATT. 1. 11). ROME, A. U. C. 687; B. C. 67; AET. CIC. 39. De Lucceio praeter exspectationem nondum placato, de signis mittendis, de bibliotheca sibi conservanda, de ceteris rebus iam deterioribus. CICERO ATTICO SAL. 1. Et mea sponte faciebam antea et post duabus epistolis tuis perdiligenter in eamdem rationem scriptis magno opere sum commotus. Eo accedebat hortator adsiduus Sallustius, ut agerem quam diligentissime cum Lucceio de vestra vetere gratia reconcilianda. Sed, cum omnia fecissem, non modo eam voluntatem eius, quae fuerat erga te, recuperare non potui, verum ne causam quidem elicere immutatae voluntatis. Tametsi iactat ille quidem illud suum arbitrium et ea, quae iam tum, cum aderas, offendere eius animum intellegebam, tamen habet quiddam profecto quod magis in animo eius insederit, quod neque epistolae tuae neque nostra adlegatio tam potest facile delere, quam tu praesens non modo oratione, sed tuo vultu illo familiari tolles, si modo tanti putaris, id quod, si me audies et si humanitati tuae constare voles, certe putabis. Ac ne illud mirere, cur, cum ego antea significarim tibi per litteras me sperare illum in nostra potestate fore, nunc idem videar diffidere, incredibile est quanto mihi videatur illius voluntas obstinatior et in hac iracundia obfirmatior: sed haec aut sanabuntur, cum veneris, aut ei molesta erunt, in utro culpa you are the same as if any success I may attain (at the election) were attained not only in your presence, but through your instrumentality.' Tulliola] My little Tullia is for having the law of you, and is dunning me as your representative.' 1. illud suum arbitrium] that arbitration case (decided by you against him) which he is always harping on.' It is a very uncritical expedient to read tuum against the mss. nostra adlegatio] 'the mission to him that I have undertaken.' Adlegatio is private; legatio, public. idem] yet,' the nom. mase. ei molesta] he will smart for it who deserves it.' Cp. id ipsum utrum libebit, De Sen. 58. A rather unsympathising sentiment. |