Ad Atticum 1.17
Ad Atticum 1.17
Headnote
Cicero to Atticus, written at Rome on the Nones (5) of December 61 BC. The first long letter of the Pomponia quarrel: Atticus, on his way back from Epirus, has sent Cicero copies of letters from his brother Quintus, the proconsul of Asia, complaining about Pomponia (Atticus’s sister) — letters that show “a great variety of feeling and an unlikeness of opinion and judgment.” Quintus and Pomponia’s marriage, brokered by Cicero seven years before, is fraying for the first time on the record. Cicero answers in the central register of the corpus’s domestic dimension (§1–7): he has long known something was wrong; he had hoped Atticus would meet Quintus on the road and mend it in person but the meeting did not happen; he asks Atticus to be the soft party and to receive Quintus’s “mildness of nature ready to take and to lay down offence” in good faith.
The second half of the letter (§8–11) is the political news. The senate has just promulgated, by its own decree, an inquiry against equestrian judges who took bribes in the Clodius trial; the equestrian order is incensed, threatening to break with the senate. Cicero has opposed the inquiry from the floor and saved the day. Then the publicans who had taken the Asian tax-farm at too high a price (Crassus pushing) ask the senate to release them from the contract; Cicero, swallowing his judgment of the demand (“an invidious matter, a base demand, a confession of rashness”), throws his weight behind them too, lest the equestrian order be lost to the senate altogether. The matter awaits a final speech from Cato, “that hero of ours,” who is about to make the speech that, in fact, will sink the publicans’ suit and break Cicero’s policy. The closing sentence about Pompey is the new strategic axis: “I have a most familiar use of Pompey. I see what you would say. I shall guard against what is to be guarded against, and shall write to you on another occasion more about my counsels.” The First Triumvirate is forming underground; Cicero’s “concord of the orders” is its political opponent.
A great variety of feeling and an unlikeness of opinion and judgment in my brother Quintus has been shown to me from the letters in which you sent me copies of his letters. By which thing I have been affected both with such pain as my supreme love toward each of you must have brought me, and with wonder at what could have happened to bring upon my brother Quintus either so heavy an offence or so great a change of feeling. And this much I had already long understood — which I saw you also yourself, when you were leaving us, suspect — that some uncomfortable opinion lay underneath, and that his mind was wounded, and that some odious suspicions had settled in. To which, when I was eager to apply remedy — often before, and yet more vehemently after the lots were drawn for the province — I neither perceived him to be so much offended as your letters declared, nor was getting on as much as I wished.
magna mihi varietas voluntatis et dissimilitudo opinionis ac iudici Quinti fratris mei demonstrata est ex litteris tuis in quibus ad me epistularum illius exempla misisti. qua ex re et molestia sum tanta adfectus, quantam mihi meus amor summus erga utrumque vestrum adferre debuit, et admiratione quidnam accidisset quod adferret Quinto fratri meo aut offensionem tam gravem aut commutationem tantam voluntatis. atque illud a me iam ante intellegebatur, quod te quoque ipsum discedentem a nobis suspicari videbam, subesse nescio quid opinionis incommodae sauciumque esse eius animum et insedisse quasdam odiosas suspiciones. quibus ego mederi cum cuperem antea saepe et vehementius etiam post sortitionem provinciae, nec tantum intellegebam ei esse offensionis quantum litterae tuae declararant nec tantum proficiebam quantum volebam.
But yet I consoled myself with this: that I did not doubt that he would see you either at Dyrrachium or somewhere in those parts. And when that should happen, I trusted, and had persuaded myself, that everything would be made peaceable between you, not only by speech and discussion but by the very sight and meeting of you. For of how great courtesy my brother Quintus is, of how great pleasantness, how mild a spirit both for receiving and laying down offence, it is not for me to write to you, who know it. But by sad mischance you saw him nowhere. For more weight had what had been driven into his head by the artifices of certain men than either duty or connection or that old love between you, which ought to have weighed most.
sed tamen hoc me ipse consolabar quod non dubitabam quin te ille aut Dyrrachi aut in istis locis uspiam visurus esset; quod cum accidisset, confidebam ac mihi persuaseram fore ut omnia placarentur inter vos non modo sermone ac disputatione sed conspectu ipso congressuque vestro. nam quanta sit in Quinto fratre meo comitas, quanta iucunditas, quam mollis animus et ad accipiendam et ad deponendam offensionem, nihil attinet me ad te qui ea nosti scribere. sed accidit perincommode quod eum nusquam vidisti. valuit enim plus quod erat illi non nullorum artificiis inculcatum quam aut officium aut necessitudo aut amor vester ille pristinus, qui plurimum valere debuit.
And where the fault of this trouble lies I can more easily judge than write; for I fear that, while I defend my own people, I shall not spare yours. For I see this much: that, whether or no any wound had been made by his household, that they certainly could have healed it. But the fault of this whole matter, which extends somewhat further than it seems, I shall set out for you more conveniently when you are present.
atque huius incommodi culpa ubi resideat facilius possum existimare quam scribere; vereor enim ne dum defendam meos non parcam tuis. nam sic intellego ut nihil a domesticis vulneris factum sit, illud quidem quod erat eos certe sanare potuisse. sed huiusce rei totius vitium, quod aliquanto etiam latius patet quam videtur, praesenti tibi commodius exponam.
About those letters which he sent you from Thessalonica, and about the conversations which you suppose he had with him, both at Rome among your friends and on the road, what cause there can be I do not know; but all my hope of relieving this trouble is set on your kindness. For if you so resolve — both that the minds of even the best men are often easily provoked and again easily appeased, and that this nimbleness, so to speak, and softness of nature is most often a sign of goodness, and (the head of the matter) that we, among ourselves, must bear with our discomforts or our faults or our injuries to one another — these things, as I hope, will easily be softened. And I beg you to do this. For it concerns me, who love you above all, most of all that there be no one of mine who either does not love you or is not loved by you.
de iis litteris quas ad te Thessalonica misit et de sermonibus quos ab illo et Romae apud amicos tuos et in itinere habitos putas, ecquid tantum causae sit ignoro, sed omnis in tua posita est humanitate mihi spes huius levandae molestiae. nam si ita statueris, et inritabilis animos esse optimorum saepe hominum et eosdem placabilis et esse hanc agilitatem, ut ita dicam, mollitiamque naturae plerumque bonitatis et, id quod caput est, nobis inter nos nostra sive incommoda sive vitia sive iniurias esse tolerandas, facile haec, quem ad modum spero, mitigabuntur; quod ego ut facias te oro. nam ad me qui te unice diligo maxime pertinet neminem esse meorum qui aut te non amet aut abs te non ametur.
That part of your letter was least necessary in which you set out what occasions of either provincial or urban advantages you have passed up, both at other times and in my own consulship. For your nobility and greatness of mind have been clear to me; nor have I ever reckoned that anything stood between me and you except the choice of the way of life laid out — since a certain ambition led me to the pursuit of honours, but another reasoning, by no means to be rebuked, led you to honourable leisure. In true praise of probity, of diligence, of scrupulousness, I do not put myself before you, nor anyone; but in love toward me, leaving aside love of brother and of household, I give you the first place.
illa pars epistulae tuae minime fuit necessaria in qua exponis quas facultates aut provincialium aut urbanorum commodorum et aliis temporibus et me ipso consule praetermiseris. mihi enim perspecta est et ingenuitas et magnitudo animi tui; neque ego inter me atque te quicquam interesse umquam duxi praeter voluntatem institutae vitae, quod me ambitio quaedam ad honorum studium, te autem alia minime reprehendenda ratio ad honestum otium duxit. vera quidem laude probitatis, diligentiae, religionis neque me tibi neque quemquam antepono, amoris vero erga me, cum a fraterno amore domesticoque discessi, tibi primas defero.
For I have seen, and seen deeply, in my various crises, both your anxieties and your joys. To me, often, your congratulation on my praise was pleasing, your consolation on my fear welcome. Indeed now, in your absence, not only does the counsel in which you excel fail me most, but the daily exchange of speech — which is wont to be the sweetest of all things between us — is missed in the highest degree. What shall I say? In public matters, in which I cannot be negligent? Or in forensic labour, which I had borne before through ambition and now bear that I may by my favour protect my dignity? Or in those domestic concerns themselves, in which I, both before and especially after my brother’s departure, miss you and our daily talk? In short, my labour, my rest, my business, my leisure, the matters of the Forum, those of home, the public, the private — none of these can do without your sweetest and most loving counsel and conversation any longer.
vidi enim, vidi penitusque perspexi in meis variis temporibus et sollicitudines et laetitias tuas. fuit mihi saepe et laudis nostrae gratulatio tua iucunda et timoris consolatio grata. quin mihi nunc te absente non solum consilium quo tu excellis, sed etiam sermonis communicatio quae mihi suavissima tecum solet esse, maxime deest—quid dicam? in publicane re, quo in genere mihi neglegenti esse non licet, an in forensi labore, quem antea propter ambitionem sustinebam, nunc ut dignitatem tueri gratia possim, an in ipsis domesticis negotiis, in quibus ego cum antea tum vero post discessum fratris te sermonesque nostros desidero? postremo non labor meus, non requies, non negotium, non otium, non forenses res, non domesticae, non publicae, non privatae carere diutius tuo suavissimo atque amantissimo consilio ac sermone possunt.
And to recall these things has often been hindered by a modesty in each of us; but it has now become necessary on account of that part of your letter in which you wished both yourself and your character to be cleared and approved before me. And in that trouble of his alienated and offended mind there is yet this much of comfort: that, both to me and to your other friends, your wish to give up the province had been known and testified by you some good while in advance, so that what is being done in your not being together may seem to be brought about not by your dissent and breach but by your wish and judgment. So both those bonds which were violated will be expiated, and these bonds of ours, which have been most religiously kept, will hold to their reverence.
atque harum rerum commemorationem verecundia saepe impedivit utriusque nostrum; nunc autem ea fuit necessaria propter eam partem epistulae tuae, per quam te ac mores tuos mihi purgatos ac probatos esse voluisti. atque in ista incommoditate alienati illius animi et offensi illud inest tamen commodi, quod et mihi et ceteris amicis tuis nota fuit et abs te aliquanto ante testificata tua voluntas omittendae provinciae, ut quod una non estis non dissensione ac discidio vestro sed voluntate ac iudicio tuo factum esse videatur. qua re et illa quae violata expiabuntur, et haec nostra quae sunt sanctissime conservata suam religionem obtinebunt.
As for us here, we are involved in a weak, miserable, changeable commonwealth. For I take it you have heard that our equestrians are nearly cut off from the senate. Who first bore very gravely that there had been promulgated by senate’s decree that an inquiry be made about those who had taken bribes for judging. In the decreeing of which, when I had by chance not been there and had felt that the equestrian order took it ill though did not say so openly, I rebuked the senate, with (as it seemed to me) supreme authority, and was, in a not very becoming case, very weighty and copious.
nos hic in re publica infirma misera commutabilique versamur. credo enim te audisse nostros equites paene a senatu esse diiunctos; qui primum illud valde graviter tulerunt, promulgatum ex senatus consulto fuisse ut de eis qui ob iudicandum accepissent quaereretur. qua in re decernenda cum ego casu non adfuissem sensissemque id equestrem ordinem ferre moleste neque aperte dicere, obiurgavi senatum, ut mihi visus sum, summa cum auctoritate et in causa non verecunda admodum gravis et copiosus fui.
Behold another delicacy of the equestrians, scarcely to be borne; which I not only bore but adorned. Those who from the censors took the contract for Asia complained in the senate that they had been carried away by greed and had taken the contract too high; they asked that the contract be set aside. I was leading among their helpers, or rather second; for to make them dare to ask this, Crassus pushed them. An invidious matter, a base demand, a confession of rashness. The supreme danger was that, if they obtained nothing, they would be plainly alienated from the senate. Here too the matter has been most aided by us, and brought it about that they had a most full and most generous senate to deal with; and many things were said by me on the dignity and concord of the orders, on the Kalends of December and the day after. Nor is the matter yet finished, but the senate’s wish is clear; for one alone had spoken against, Metellus, the consul-elect; and there was about to speak, but on account of the day’s brevity it was not reached, that hero of ours, Cato.
ecce aliae deliciae equitum vix ferendae! quas ego non solum tuli sed etiam ornavi. Asiam qui de censoribus conduxerunt questi sunt in senatu se cupiditate prolapsos nimium magno conduxisse, ut induceretur locatio postulaverunt. ego princeps in adiutoribus atque adeo secundus; nam ut illi auderent hoc postulare Crassus eos impulit. invidiosa res, turpis postulatio et confessio temeritatis. summum erat periculum ne, si nihil impetrassent, plane alienarentur a senatu. huic quoque rei subventum est maxime a nobis perfectumque ut frequentissimo senatu et liberalissimo uterentur, multaque a me de ordinum dignitate et concordia dicta sunt Kal. Decembr. et postridie. neque adhuc res confecta est, sed voluntas senatus perspecta; unus enim contra dixerat Metellus consul designatus, atque erat dicturus, ad quem propter diei brevitatem perventum non est, heros ille noster Cato.
So, keeping our reasoning and our institution, I protect, as I can, that concord which was glued together by me. But yet, since these things are so weak, a certain safe road, as I hope, is being fortified for us toward keeping our resources — which I cannot to you in a letter sufficiently set out, but I shall yet show by a small token. I have a most familiar use of Pompey. I see what you would say. I shall guard against what is to be guarded against, and shall write to you on another occasion more about my counsels in handling the commonwealth.
sic ego conservans rationem institutionemque nostram tueor, ut possum, illam a me conglutinatam concordiam. sed tamen quoniam ista sunt tam infirma, munitur quaedam nobis ad retinendas opes nostras tuta, ut spero, via; quam tibi litteris satis explicare non possum, significatione parva ostendam tamen. utor Pompeio familiarissime. video quid dicas. cavebo quae sunt cavenda, ac scribam alias ad te de meis consiliis capessendae rei publicae plura.
Know that Lucceius has it in mind to stand for the consulship at once. For only two are said to be standing: Caesar thinks of joining with him through Arrius, and Bibulus thinks he can be joined with this man through Gaius Piso. You laugh? These are not laughable, believe me. What else shall I write to you? What? Many things, but on another occasion. Since you wish, please make me know. Now this much I modestly ask, what most I desire: that you come as soon as possible. The Nones of December.
Lucceium scito consulatum habere in animo statim petere. duo enim soli dicuntur petituri; Caesar cum eo coire per Arrium cogitat et Bibulus cum hoc se putat per C. Pisonem posse coniungi. rides? non sunt haec ridicula, mihi crede. quid aliud scribam ad te, quid? multa sunt, sed in aliud tempus. †exspectare velis, cures ut sciam. iam illud modeste rogo, quod maxime cupio, ut quam primum venias. Nonis Decembribus.