Letter · 2 June 45 BC · in Tusculano

Ad Atticum 13.5

Ad Atticum 13.5

Headnote

Cicero to Atticus, written from the Tusculanum on the fourth day before the Nones of June 709 AUC — 2 June 45 BC (the manuscript dateline: Scr.\ in Tusculano iv Non.\ Iun.\ a.\ 709 (45)). The note picks up the antiquarian thread of the previous day’s letter and at once corrects it. Cicero had named Sp. Mummius among the ten legates sent out after the destruction of Corinth in 146; on reflection the legate must have been his brother Lucius, the conqueror himself. The single Greek word eulogon — the Stoic term of art for what “stands to reason” — is the wry self-mark of a philosopher catching his own slip.

The rest of the section is house-keeping for two parallel transactions. “I have sent you the Torquatus” is a presentation copy of the dialogue that will become Book 1 of the De Finibus, with L.~Manlius Torquatus as the Epicurean spokesman. The pressing of Silius concerns the long-running attempt to acquire suitable horti on the Tiber for the shrine to Tullia; “that day” and “this one” are two possible closing dates which only Atticus, who has been doing the negotiating in town, can keep straight. Crispus and Mustela are further owners in the same property dance. The closing thanks acknowledge what these letters everywhere acknowledge — that Atticus’s June is being spent on Cicero’s affairs.

I had supposed that Sp. Mummius was among the ten legates — but evidently (it does indeed stand to reason eulogon) it was his brother. For he was the one at Corinth. I have sent you the Torquatus. Do speak with Silius, as you write, and press him. He was denying that that day fell in May; this one he was not denying. But you, as in everything, will handle this too with care. About Crispus and Mustela, of course, when you have got something done.
Sp. Mummium putaram in decem legatis fuisse sed videlicet (etenim εὔλογον ) fratri fuisse. fuit enim ad Corinthum. misi tibi Torquatum. conloquere tu quidem cum Silio, ut scribis, et urge. illam diem negabat esse mense Maio, istam non negabat. sed tu ut omnia istuc quoque ages diligenter. de Crispo et Mustela scilicet quom quid egeris.
Since you promise to be with us by the time Brutus arrives, that is enough — especially as these days of yours are being consumed on a great business of mine.
quoniam ad Bruti adventum fore te nobiscum polliceris, satis est, praesertim cum hi tibi dies in magno nostro negotio consumantur.

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Ad Atticum 13.5

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