HermitshCicero by Claude

Letter · 21 April 44 BC · in Cumano

Ad Atticum 14.11

Ad Atticum 14.11

Headnote

Cicero to Atticus, written at the Cumean villa on 21 April 44 BC — Perseus dateline Scr. in Cumano xi K. Mai. a. 710 (44), the day before yesterday’s longer letter being 14.10. A short reply, picking up on a report of one of Antony’s contiones in praise of Caesar. The Greek word akolasian (“licence,” the loss of restraint) is quietly diagnostic: this is the political vice Cicero sees in the new regime, and from Plato onward the term carries an ethical charge no Latin word quite duplicates.

The structural balance of the central sentence — “the great consolation for them is the consciousness of an act supreme and most illustrious; for us, what?” — is one of the recurring shapes of these post-Ides letters: the Liberators justified by their deed, Cicero and Atticus left without a corresponding justification. The closing list (Balbus, Hirtius, Pansa, the young Octavian next door at Philippus’s villa, Lentulus Spinther passing through) records the company at the Cumean villa as the future of the spring is being quietly negotiated room by room.

The day before yesterday I sent you a longer letter; now to your most recent. I should be glad, by Hercules, if Brutus were at Astura. You write of their licence akolasian. Did you suppose otherwise? For my part I expect worse still. When I read out a speech of that kind about so great a man, so illustrious a citizen, I cannot bear it. And yet by now such things move me to laughter. But remember: this is how the habit of ruinous public assemblies is fed — so that our friends, those not heroes but gods-to-be, will indeed have everlasting glory, but not without envy, indeed not without danger. The great consolation for them is the consciousness of an act supreme and most illustrious; for us, what? — for us, who, the king once killed, are not free. But fortune may look to this, since reason does not govern.
nudius tertius dedi ad te epistulam longiorem; nunc ad ea quae proxime. velim me hercule Asturae Brutus. ἀκολασίαν istorum scribis. an censebas aliter? equidem etiam maiora exspecto. quom equidem contionem lego de tanto viro, de clarissimo civi, ferre non queo. etsi ista iam ad risum. sed memento, sic alitur consuetudo perditarum contionum ut nostri illi non heroes sed di futuri quidem in gloria sempiterna sint, sed non sine invidia, ne sine periculo quidem. verum illis magna consolatio conscientia maximi et clarissimi facti, nobis quae? qui interfecto rege liberi non sumus. sed haec fortuna viderit, quoniam ratio non gubernat.
What you write about Cicero is welcome to me; I hope it goes well. That you take care to supply him liberally for his maintenance and upkeep is most agreeable to me, and I beg you again and again to keep doing so. About the Buthrotians, you for your part are taking the right line, and I do not let go of the concern. I shall take up the whole business in court too — a business I see grows easier by the day. About the Cluvian estate: since in my own affair you outdo me in diligence, the income is being brought up to a hundred thousand. The collapse has not made it worse, perhaps even more profitable. Here with me are Balbus, Hirtius, Pansa. Octavius has just arrived, into the villa of Philippus right next door, and devoted entirely to me; Lentulus Spinther is with me today; tomorrow morning he leaves.
de Cicerone quae scribis iucunda mihi sunt; velim sint prospera. quod curae tibi est ut ei suppeditetur ad usum et cultum copiose per mihi gratum est, idque ut facias te etiam atque etiam rogo. de Buthrotiis et tu recte cogitas et ego non dimitto istam curam. suscipiam omnem etiam actionem quam video cotidie faciliorem. de Cluviano, quoniam in re mea me ipsum diligentia vincis, res ad centena perducitur. ruina rem non fecit deteriorem, haud scio an etiam fructuosiorem. hic mecum Balbus, Hirtius, Pansa. modo venit Octavius et quidem in proximam villam Philippi mihi totus deditus; Lentulus Spinther hodie apud me; cras mane vadit.

Cite this passage

Ad Atticum 14.11

Pick a format and click Copy. The permalink jumps any reader to this exact section.

Support this project

Free to read here. Buy the ebook to support the work.

Kindle