Ad Atticum 3.5
Ad Atticum 3.5
Headnote
Cicero to Atticus, written from Thurii on 10 April 58 BC, on the road south. Brief, dazed, the apophthegm at the centre: inimici mei mea mihi, non me ipsum ademerunt — “my enemies have taken from me my own things, not myself.” Terentia’s thanks (her debts to Atticus through this period are large and ongoing); Cicero’s own being “unable to write,” the line that recurs from Att. 3.3 onward.
Terentia gives you both often and the greatest thanks. That is most pleasing to me. I live the most wretched and am undone by the greatest grief. What to write to you I do not know. For if you are at Rome, you can no longer overtake me; if you are on the road, when you have caught me up, we shall do face to face what is to be done. Only this I beg you: that, since you have always loved me myself, you remain with the same love; for I am the same. My enemies have taken from me my own things, not myself. Take care of your health. Sent the fourth day before the Ides of April, from Thurii.
Terentia tibi et saepe et maximas agit gratias. id est mihi gratissimum. ego vivo miserrimus et maximo dolore conficior. ad te quid scribam nescio. si enim es Romae, iam me adsequi non potes; sin es in via, cum eris me adsecutus, coram agemus quae erunt agenda. tantum te oro ut, quoniam me ipsum semper amasti, ut eodem amore sis; ego enim idem sum. inimici mei mea mihi, non me ipsum ademerunt. cura ut valeas. data iiii Idus April. Thuri.