HermitshCicero by Claude

Letter · 14 March 45 BC · Asturae

Ad Atticum 12.19

Ad Atticum 12.19

Headnote

Cicero to Atticus, written from Astura on the day before the Ides of March 709 AUC — 14 March 45 BC (the manuscript dateline: Scr.\ Asturae prid.\ Id.\ Mart.\ a.\ 709 (45)). Three days after 12.18, the shrine project advances. Astura itself will not do — a coastal villa changes hands, and across endless posterity the fanum must remain “as if consecrated.” Cicero floats the alternative: some gardens across the Tiber, recommended above all because nothing else in his view can be so much frequented. The site is held open until they meet, with one constraint — the shrine must be finished this summer.

Practical matters then come in turn: Atticus is to settle with Apella of Chios for the columns; Cocceius, Libo and Cornificius’s agents are to be handled with measured effort. The note on Antonius (a piece of news Atticus had softened through Balbus and Oppius so as not to upset him) is brushed aside: “I was not agitated by that news and shall not now be agitated by any.” Cicero asks for information about Brutus’s arrival, then closes with the painful Terentia business — a divorce settlement in which Cicero feels an obligation sanctius et antiquius, more sacred and older, than the contingent benefit some imagine for his son. The phrase carries weight: it is the language by which Roman feeling marks a claim that ranks above mere prudence.

The place here is indeed pleasant, set in the sea itself in such a way that it can be looked across to from Antium and from Circeii; but we must work out some plan by which, in any change of owners — and these may come without number through endless posterity, if only the present order holds — that consecrated thing may yet remain. For my part I now have no need of revenues, and can be content with little. I sometimes consider acquiring some gardens across the Tiber, and chiefly for this reason: I see nothing else that can be so much frequented. Which gardens, we will see when we meet — in such a way, however, that the shrine is finished this summer. You meanwhile, settle with Apella of Chios about the columns.
est hic quidem locus amoenus et in mari ipso qui et Antio et Circeiis aspici possit; sed ineunda nobis ratio est quem ad modum in omni mutatione dominorum, quae innumerabiles fieri possunt in infinita posteritate, si modo haec stabunt, illud quasi consecratum remanere possit. equidem iam nihil egeo vectigalibus et parvo contentus esse possum. cogito interdum trans Tiberim hortos aliquos parare et quidem ob hanc causam maxime: nihil enim video quod tam celebre esse possit. sed quos, coram videbimus, ita tamen ut hac aestate fanum absolutum sit. tu tamen cum Apella Chio confice de columnis.
As to what you write about Cocceius and Libo, I approve, and most of all your handling of my judgeship. About the surety, if you have made anything out — and even so, what Cornificius’s agents say I should like to know — arrange it so that you give the matter, busy as you are, not too much labour. About Antonius, Balbus too has written to me jointly with Oppius, and added that this was your wish, that I should not be agitated. I thanked them. But you, as I have already written to you before, I want to know that I was not agitated by that news and shall not now be agitated by any.
de Cocceio et Libone quae scribis approbo, maxime quod de iudicatu meo. de sponsu si quid perspexeris et tamen quid procuratores Cornifici dicant velim scire, ita ut in ea re te cum tam occupatus sis, non multum operae velim ponere. de Antonio Balbus quoque ad me cum Oppio conscripsit idque tibi placuisse ne perturbarer. illis egi gratias. te tamen, ut iam ante ad te scripsi, scire volo me neque isto nuntio esse perturbatum nec iam ullo perturbatum iri.
If Pansa has set off today, as you thought, begin from now on to write to me about Brutus’s coming — what you expect, that is to say, by what dates. If you know where he is by now, you will easily come at it by guess.
Pansa si hodie, ut putabas, profectus est, posthac iam incipito scribere ad me de Bruti adventu quid exspectes, id est quos ad dies. id, si scies ubi iam sit, facile coniectura adsequere.
As to what you write to Tiro about Terentia, I beg you, my dear Atticus, take the whole business in hand. You see that an obligation of my own is at stake, of which you are conscious, and, as some think, the standing of young Cicero. For me, it is much more the former that moves me, as the more sacred and the older claim, especially since I think the second neither sound nor secure.
quod ad Tironem de Terentia scribis, obsecro te, mi Attice, suscipe totum negotium. vides et officium agi meum quoddam cui tu es conscius et, ut non nulli putant, Ciceronis rem. me quidem id multo magis movet quod mihi est et sanctius et antiquius, praesertim cum hoc alterum neque sincerum neque firmum putem fore.

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Ad Atticum 12.19

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