Ad Atticum 2.1
Ad Atticum 2.1
Headnote
Cicero to Atticus, written at Rome on or just after the Kalends of June 60 BC. The first letter of book 2 of Atticus, opening on the dating-line that begins the political year of 60: “On the Kalends of June, as I was setting out for Antium and gladly leaving Marcus Metellus’s gladiators behind, your boy met me.”
Three large pieces. First, the literature (§1–3): Atticus has sent a Greek memoir of Cicero’s consulship; Cicero has just sent his own Greek memoir to Atticus through Cossinius. Each had written without knowing the other’s would arrive; Cicero finds Atticus’s “a little rough and uncombed,” a kind of female-without- perfume Atticism, while his own “has used up the whole perfumery-box of Isocrates and all his pupils’ little caskets, and not a few of Aristotle’s pigments too.” Posidonius at Rhodes, sent the memoir to expand into a fuller work, has been “not stirred to writing but plainly deterred.” Cicero offers the famous list of his ten “consular speeches” — the canonical corpus he has been publishing as a body, after the model of Demosthenes’s Philippics: De Lege Agraria I (in the senate, Kal. Jan.), II (to the people, on the agrarian law), III (on Otho), Pro Rabirio, the lost speech de proscriptorum filiis, the senate-speech in which he gave up his province, the four Catilinarians, plus the two short fragments of agrarian-law oratory; the corpus later becomes the standard “consular orations” edition.
Second, Clodius (§4–5). Pulchellus “the pretty boy” is now openly canvassing for the tribunate of the plebs as a transferred plebeian. Cicero, in the senate, has destroyed the boasts about how fast Clodius travels (“from Sicily to Rome in seven days; three hours before that, from Rome to Interamna; you entered by night — the same as before; no one came out to meet you — not even then, when they most ought to have come”). At a candidate’s escort, Clodius’s joke about his sister Clodia “giving him only one foot of room” provokes Cicero’s famous reply: “Don’t complain of one foot of your sister’s; you are permitted to lift the other one too.” The not a consular saying the editor admits and defends.
Third, the Pompey-Caesar policy (§6–8). Cicero defends his now-close partnership with Pompey, and adds that he means to draw Caesar (whose “winds are now greatly favourable”) in the same direction. The opposing voice in his own party is Cato, who “with the best mind and the highest faith sometimes harms the commonwealth; he gives his opinion as if he were in the Republic of Plato, not in the dregs of Romulus.” The image of the rich piscinarii content with bearded mullets that come to the hand returns. Closing business: the avenger-of-debt buried in debt, the books of Servius Claudius secured through Paetus, a quiet courtesy to Octavius about Atticus’s provincial affairs.
On the Kalends of June, as I was setting out for Antium and gladly leaving the gladiatorial games of Marcus Metellus behind, your boy met me. He delivered me a letter from you, and the memoir of my consulship written in Greek. Reading it I was glad that I had given to Lucius Cossinius, some good while before, a book of mine on the same matters likewise written in Greek, to be carried to you. For if I had read yours first, you would say I had stolen from you. And though yours — I read it gladly — seemed to me a little rough and uncombed, yet it was for that very reason adorned, since it had neglected adornment, and like women who, by smelling of nothing, seem to smell sweetly. My book, however, has used up the whole perfumery-box of Isocrates and all his pupils’ little caskets, and not a few of Aristotle’s pigments too. You, at Corcyra, as another letter of yours signals, took only a quick look at it; afterwards, I take it, you got it from Cossinius. Which book I should not have dared to send you if I had not lazily and fastidiously approved it.
Kal. Iuniis eunti mihi Antium et gladiatores M. Metelli cupide relinquenti venit obviam tuus puer. is mihi litteras abs te et commentarium consulatus mei Graece scriptum reddidit. in quo laetatus sum me aliquanto ante de isdem rebus Graece item scriptum librum L. Cossinio ad te perferendum dedisse; nam si ego tuum ante legissem, furatum me abs te esse diceres. quamquam tua illa (legi enim libenter) horridula mihi atque incompta visa sunt, sed tamen erant ornata hoc ipso quod ornamenta neglexerant et, ut mulieres, ideo bene olere quia nihil olebant videbantur. meus autem liber totum Isocrati myrothecium atque omnis eius discipulorum arculas ac non nihil etiam Aristotelia pigmenta consumpsit. quem tu Corcyrae, ut mihi aliis litteris significas, strictim attigisti, post autem, ut arbitror, a Cossinio accepisti. quem tibi ego non essem ausus mittere nisi eum lente ac fastidiose probavissem.
Although Posidonius has now written back from Rhodes that, when he read that memoir of ours which I had sent to him to write more elaborately on the same matters, he was not only not stirred to writing but plainly deterred. What more can I say? I have thrown the Greek nation into confusion. So those who were pressing me on every side to give them something to adorn have already stopped giving me trouble. You, if you like the book, will see to it that it be at Athens and in the other towns of Greece; for it seems likely to bring some light to my affairs.
quamquam ad me rescripsit iam Rhodo Posidonius se, nostrum illud ὑπόμνημα cum legeret, quod ego ad eum ut ornatius de isdem rebus scriberet miseram, non modo non excitatum esse ad scribendum sed etiam plane deterritum. quid quaeris? conturbavi Graecam nationem. ita vulgo qui instabant ut darem sibi quod ornarent iam exhibere mihi molestiam destiterunt. tu, si tibi placuerit liber, curabis ut et Athenis sit et in ceteris oppidis Graeciae; videtur enim posse aliquid nostris rebus lucis adferre.
As for the little speeches, both those you ask for and more besides, I shall send. For since the things which I write, stirred up by the zeal of young men, please you also: it suited me, since in those speeches which are called Philippics that fellow-citizen of yours Demosthenes had shown his brilliance, and had cut himself off from this stiffer judicial style of speaking that he might appear more dignified semnoteros and more political politikōteros, to take care that I should also have speeches that were called consular. Of which one is in the senate on the Kalends of January, the second to the people on the agrarian law, the third on Otho, the fourth for Rabirius, the fifth on the children of the proscribed, the sixth when I gave up my province in a public meeting, the seventh when I dismissed Catiline, the eighth which I delivered to the people on the day after Catiline fled, the ninth in the meeting on the day the Allobroges turned informer, the tenth in the senate on the Nones of December. There are besides two short pieces, like fragments apospasmatia of the agrarian law. This whole body sōma I will see that you have. And since both my writings and my deeds delight you, from those same books you will perceive both what I have done and what I have said. Or you should not have asked; for I was not pressing myself on you.
oratiunculas autem et quas postulas et pluris etiam mittam, quoniam quidem ea quae nos scribimus adulescentulorum studiis excitati te etiam delectant. fuit enim mihi commodum, quod in eis orationibus quae Philippicae nominantur enituerat civis ille tuus Demosthenes, et quod se ab hoc refractariolo iudiciali dicendi genere abiunxerat ut σεμνότερόσ τισ et πολιτικώτεροσ videretur, curare ut meae quoque essent orationes quae consulares nominarentur. quarum una est in senatu Kal. Ianuariis, altera ad populum de lege agraria, tertia de Othone, quarta pro Rabirio, quinta de proscriptorum filiis, sexta cum provinciam in contione deposui, septima quom Catilinam emisi, octava quam habui ad populum postridie quam Catilina profugit, nona in contione quo die Allobroges indicarunt, decima in senatu Nonis Decembribus. sunt praeterea duae breves, quasi ἀποσπασμάτια legis agrariae. hoc totum σῶμα curabo ut habeas; et quoniam te cum scripta tum res meae delectant, isdem ex libris perspicies et quae gesserim et quae dixerim; aut ne poposcisses; ego enim tibi me non offerebam.
As for what you ask — why I summon you, and at the same time signal that you are entangled in business and yet do not refuse, not only if there is need but even if I should wish, to come at once — there is no real necessity, but yet you seemed to me able to lay out the times of your travels more conveniently. You are away too long, especially since you are in nearby places, and I do not enjoy you and you go without us. And just now there is peace; but if the madness of Pulchellus could go forward a little, I should rouse you from those parts vehemently. But Metellus admirably hinders him and will hinder him. What more? He is a consul who loves his country philopatris and, as I have always judged, naturally good.
quod quaeris quid sit quo te arcessam, ac simul impeditum te negotiis esse significas neque recusas quin, non modo si opus sit sed etiam si velim, accurras, nihil sane est necesse, verum tamen videbare mihi tempora peregrinationis commodius posse discribere. nimis abes diu, praesertim cum sis in propinquis locis, neque nos te fruimur et tu nobis cares. ac nunc quidem otium est, sed, si paulo plus furor Pulchelli progredi posset, valde ego te istim excitarem. verum praeclare Metellus impedit et impediet. quid quaeris? est consul φιλόπατρισ et, ut semper iudicavi, natura bonus.
The other man, however, does not pretend, but plainly desires to be made tribune of the plebs. When the matter was being acted on in the senate, I broke the man and rebuked his inconsistency, who at Rome was seeking the tribunate of the plebs when he had been declaring in Sicily that he was seeking an inheritance — and I said that we did not have to labour greatly, since it would no more be permitted him as a plebeian to ruin the commonwealth than it had been permitted to patricians like him while I was consul. Now when he had said that he had come from the Strait in seven days, that no one had been able to come out and meet him, and that he had entered by night, and was boasting of this in the assembly, I said that nothing new had happened to him: “From Sicily to Rome in seven days. Three hours before that, from Rome to Interamna. You entered by night — the same as before. No one came out to meet you — not even then, when they most ought to have come.” What more? I am making the impudent man modest, not only by the unbroken gravity of my speech but also by this sort of jokes. So now I rally and joke familiarly with him; indeed, when we were escorting a candidate, he asked me whether I had been wont to give the Sicilians a place at the gladiators. I said no. “But I,” he said, “the new patron, will set the practice up. But my sister, who has so much consular space, gives me only one foot of room.” — “Don’t complain,” I said, “of one foot of your sister’s; you are permitted to lift the other one too.” Not a consular saying, you will say. I confess; but I detest that woman, the wretched consular’s wife. For she is a seditious woman, who makes war with her husband — and not only with Metellus but also with Fabius, because she takes ill that they “are this in this” [text corrupt].
ille autem non simulat sed plane tribunus pl. fieri cupit. qua de re quom in senatu ageretur, fregi hominem et inconstantiam eius reprehendi qui Romae tribunatum pl. peteret cum in Sicilia hereditatem se petere dictitasset, neque magno opere dixi esse nobis laborandum, quod nihilo magis ei liciturum esset plebeio rem publicam perdere quam similibus eius me consule patriciis esset licitum. iam cum se ille septimo die venisse a freto neque sibi obviam quemquam prodire potuisse et noctu se introisse dixisset in eoque se in contione iactasset, nihil ei novi dixi accidisse. ex Sicilia septimo die Romam; ante tribus horis Roma Interamnam. noctu introisti; idem ante. non est itum obviam; ne tum quidem quom iri maxime debuit. quid quaeris? hominem petulantem modestum reddo non solum perpetua gravitate orationis sed etiam hoc genere dictorum. itaque iam familiariter cum ipso cavillor ac iocor; quin etiam cum candidatum deduceremus, quaerit ex me num consuessem Siculis locum gladiatoribus dare. negavi. at ego inquit novus patronus instituam; sed soror, quae tantum habeat consularis loci, unum mihi solum pedem dat noli, inquam de uno pede sororis queri; licet etiam alterum tollas. non consulare inquies dictum. fateor; sed ego illam odi male consularem. ea est enim seditiosa, ea cum viro bellum gerit neque solum cum Metello sed etiam cum Fabio, quod eos †esse in hoc esse† moleste fert.
What you ask about the agrarian law: it now seems to have cooled down. As to your gently rebuking me for my familiarity with Pompey: do not suppose that I have joined myself with him for my own protection, but the matter was so set up that, if there were by chance any disagreement between us, the greatest discords in the commonwealth would be inevitable. This has been forestalled and provided against by me, not so that I should give up that best line of mine, but so that he should be the better and lay aside something of his popular levity. Of my deeds, into which many had stirred him, know that he speaks more gloriously than of his own; for to himself he attributes the well-doing, to me the saving of the commonwealth. How much it profits me that he does this I do not know; certainly it profits the commonwealth. What if I were even to make Caesar better, whose winds are now greatly favourable — am I doing so much harm to the commonwealth?
quod de agraria lege quaeris, sane iam videtur refrixisse. quod me quodam modo molli bracchio de Pompei familiaritate obiurgas, nolim ita existimes, me mei praesidi causa cum illo coniunctum esse, sed ita res erat instituta ut, si inter nos esset aliqua forte dissensio, maximas in re publica discordias versari esset necesse. quod a me ita praecautum atque provisum est non ut ego de optima illa mea ratione decederem sed ut ille esset melior et aliquid de populari levitate deponeret. quem de meis rebus, in quas eum multi incitarant, multo scito gloriosius quam de suis praedicare; sibi enim bene gestae, mihi conservatae rei publicae dat testimonium. hoc facere illum mihi quam prosit nescio; rei publicae certe prodest. quid? si etiam Caesarem cuius nunc venti valde sunt secundi reddo meliorem, num tantum obsum rei publicae?
Indeed, even if no one envied me, if all favoured me, as was fair, yet that medicine which heals the diseased parts of the commonwealth must be no less approved than that which cuts them out. Now in fact, when that cavalry whom I, with you as standard-bearer and chief, had stationed on the Capitoline slope, has deserted the senate; and when our principal men think they touch the sky with a finger if there are bearded mullets in their fish-ponds that come to their hand, while they neglect the rest — do I not seem to do enough good if I bring it about that those who can do harm do not wish to?
quin etiam si mihi nemo invideret, si omnes, ut erat aequum, faverent, tamen non minus esset probanda medicina quae sanaret vitiosas partis rei publicae quam quae exsecaret. nunc vero, quom equitatus ille quem ego in clivo Capitolino te signifero ac principe conlocaram senatum deseruerit, nostri autem principes digito se caelum putent attingere si mulli barbati in piscinis sint qui ad manum accedant, alia autem neglegant, nonne tibi satis prodesse videor si perficio ut nolint obesse qui possunt?
For our Cato — you do not love him more than I do; but yet, with the best mind and the highest faith, he sometimes harms the commonwealth. He gives his opinion as if he were in the Republic of Plato en tēi Platōnos politeiai, not in the dregs of Romulus. What is truer than that the man who took money for judging should come to trial? Cato moved this; the senate agreed; the equestrians made war on the senate-house, not on me (for I disagreed). What more impudent than the publicans renouncing their contract? Yet some sacrifice had to be made for the sake of keeping that order. Cato withstood and prevailed. So now, when a consul has been shut up in prison, when sedition has been stirred often, no one of those by whose flocking I, and likewise the consuls who came after me, were wont to defend the commonwealth, has come forward. “What then?” you will say; “shall we have these men hired by wages?” What shall we do, if otherwise we cannot? Or shall we be slaves to freedmen and to slaves? But, as you say, “enough of zeal” halis spoudēs.
nam Catonem nostrum non tu amas plus quam ego; sed tamen ille optimo animo utens et summa fide nocet interdum rei publicae; dicit enim tamquam in Platonis πολιτείᾳ, non tamquam in Romuli faece sententiam. quid verius quam in iudicium venire qui ob rem iudicandam pecuniam acceperit? censuit hoc Cato, adsensit senatus; equites curiae bellum, non mihi; nam ego dissensi. quid impudentius publicanis renuntiantibus? fuit tamen retinendi ordinis causa facienda iactura. restitit et pervicit Cato. itaque nunc consule in carcere incluso, saepe item seditione commota, aspiravit nemo eorum quorum ego concursu itemque ii consules qui post me fuerunt rem publicam defendere solebant. quid ergo? istos inquies mercede conductos habebimus? quid faciemus, si aliter non possumus? an libertinis atque etiam servis serviamus? sed, ut tu ais, ἅλισ σπουδῆσ.
Favonius carried my tribe more honourably than his own, lost Lucceius’s. He prosecuted Nasica, dishonourably enough but with moderation; he spoke as though at Rhodes he had given his pains rather to the millers than to Molon. With me, because I had defended him, he was lightly displeased. Now nevertheless he is again a candidate for the commonwealth’s sake. What Lucceius is doing I shall write to you when I have seen Caesar, who will be here in two days.
Favonius meam tribum tulit honestius quam suam, Luccei perdidit. accusavit Nasicam inhoneste ac modeste tamen; dixit ita ut Rhodi videretur molis potius quam Moloni operam dedisse. mihi quod defendissem leviter suscensuit. nunc tamen petit iterum rei publicae causa. Lucceius quid agat scribam ad te cum Caesarem videro, qui aderit biduo.
As to the Sicyonians wronging you, you attribute it to Cato and his rival Servilius. Well: does that blow not bear on many good men? But if so we please, let us praise them, and then in dissensions be left alone?
My Amaltheum looks for you and needs you. The Tusculan and Pompeian villas delight me greatly — except that they have buried me, the very avenger of debt, in debt; not Corinthian bronze but this Forum brass. In Gaul we hope there is peace. Expect my Prognostica together with the little speeches in a few days; and yet, what you think about your arrival, write to me. For Pomponia bade word be brought to me that you would be at Rome in the month of Quintilis. That disagreed with the letter you had sent me about your census.
Amalthea mea te exspectat et indiget tui. Tusculanum et Pompeianum valde me delectant, nisi quod me, illum ipsum vindicem aeris alieni, aere non Corinthio sed hoc circumforaneo obruerunt. in Gallia speramus esse otium. Prognostica mea cum oratiunculis prope diem exspecta et tamen quid cogites de adventu tuo scribe ad nos. nam mihi Pomponia nuntiari iussit te mense Quintili Romae fore. id a tuis litteris quas ad me de censu tuo miseras discrepabat.
Paetus, as I wrote to you before, has given me all the books that his brother had left. This gift of his depends on your diligence. If you love me, see that they are kept and brought to me. Nothing can please me more than this. Both the Greek books and especially, with diligence, the Latin — I should like you to keep. I shall reckon this as a little gift of yours. To Octavius I have given a letter; with him I had said nothing; for I did not think those provincial businesses of yours were a matter for him, nor did I count you among the petty money-lenders. But I wrote, as I should, with care.
Paetus, ut antea ad te scripsi, omnis libros quos frater suus reliquisset mihi donavit. hoc illius munus in tua diligentia positum est. si me amas, cura ut conserventur et ad me perferantur; hoc mihi nihil potest esse gratius. et cum Graecos tum vero diligenter Latinos ut conserves velim. tuum esse hoc munusculum putabo. ad Octavium dedi litteras; cum ipso nihil eram locutus; neque enim ista tua negotia provincialia esse putabam neque te in tocullionibus habebam. sed scripsi, ut debui, diligenter.