Ad Atticum 3.26
Ad Atticum 3.26
Headnote
Cicero to Atticus, written from Dyrrachium in January 57 BC — the first letter of the recovery year. Quintus has sent the senatus consultum of 1 January, when Lentulus Spinther on the day of his consulship moved Cicero’s case in the Senate (Sest. 70). The decree passed; the bill of recall would have to follow. The watchword “potius vita quam patria carebo” — “I shall lack life rather than my country” — is a deliberate echo of the December bargain to live so long as Quintus had need.
A letter has been brought to me from my brother Quintus, with the senatus consultum which has been passed about me. My intention is to wait for the legislation, and, if it is opposed, I shall use the authority of the Senate, and shall lack life rather than my country. Hurry, I beg of you, to come to me.
litterae mihi a Quinto fratre cum senatus consulto quod de me est factum adlatae sunt. mihi in animo est legum lationem exspectare et, si obtrectabitur, utar auctoritate senatus et potius vita quam patria carebo. tu, quaeso, festina ad nos venire.