Ad Familiares 5.12
Ad Familiares 5.12
Headnote
To L. Lucceius, written probably from Antium in June 56 BC. Lucceius is the optimate-leaning historian who had run with Caesar for the consulship of 59 BC and been beaten down by the optimate cash-bid for Bibulus; his lost History of the Italic and Civil War (the Social War of 91–88 BC and the wars of Marius and Sulla) was nearly finished, and he had told Cicero he was beginning “the rest” — the period after Sulla. The letter is the famous request to write a separate monograph on the Catilinarian conspiracy and Cicero’s exile and recovery: “a kind of moderate-sized body” running from late 64 BC to September 57.
The letter is the most self-conscious surviving specimen of Cicero’s interest in his own historical reputation. The opening apology for shamelessness — “a letter does not blush” (epistula non erubescit, §1) — pre-empts the principal embarrassment, which is the request that Lucceius set aside the laws of history (§3: “leges historiae neglegas”) and even go beyond what truth permits in praising him. The two arguments are that the matter is rich in dramatic shape (the conspiracy and the recovery as a self-contained tragedy of varios actus mutationesque, §6), and that the author of his praise must be one whose own glory the praise will increase. The catalogue of exempla in §7 is unusually concentrated: Alexander chose Apelles and Lysippus for his own glory’s sake, Agesilaus refused all images but is known by Xenophon’s little book, Timoleon by Timaeus, Themistocles by Herodotus, Achilles by Homer (the herald’s call at Sigeum), and Naevius’s Hector who is glad to be praised, “but by a praised man.”
The closing fallback (§8) is that, if Lucceius declines, Cicero will be driven to do what some men reproach — write the history himself; the figure of the gymnastic-games herald who must call in another to proclaim his own victory is the wittiest moment of the letter. The Greek monograph (De Consiliis Suis or, in fragments, the lost Greek commentarius written “in the manner of Theopompus” that Cicero would in fact send to Posidonius) is the survival of this fallback. Lucceius did not, so far as we know, write the monograph Cicero asked for; the labour of the request itself is the document.
The letter is the centerpiece of the early Lucceius correspondence (Fam. 5.12–5.15) and is the classic statement of the ancient distinction between historia as truth and laudatio as embellishment — in this case explicitly inviting the historian to fold one into the other. The acid test of the letter’s seriousness is the closing line of §10: if Lucceius takes the case, Cicero will conficiam commentarios rerum omnium —- “I will draw up notes of all the events” — the explicit commentarius hand-off whose surviving Latin shadow is presumably the De Consulatu Suo.
When face to face I have often tried to take this matter up with you, a kind of almost rustic shyness has held me back: what I shall now set out the more boldly in absence. For a letter does not blush. I burn with an incredible eagerness, and not, I think, one to be reproached, that my name should be made famous and celebrated in your writings. Although you have often shown me that you would do this, I should like you to forgive this haste of mine. For the kind of writing you do, although it had always been keenly looked for by me, has so surpassed my expectation, has so taken hold of me or set me on fire, that I long for our affairs to be entrusted as quickly as possible to your monuments. For not only does the prospect of remembrance with posterity carry me away to a certain hope of immortality; there is also that other longing — to enjoy in life either the authority of your testimony, or the proof of your goodwill, or the charm of your art.
Coram me tecum eadem haec agere saepe conantem deterruit pudor quidam paene subrusticus, quae nunc expromam absens audacius; epistula enim non erubescit. ardeo cupiditate incredibili neque, ut ego arbitror, reprehendenda, nomen ut nostrum scriptis inlustretur et celebretur tuis. quod etsi mihi saepe ostendisti te esse facturum, tamen ignoscas velim huic festinationi meae. genus enim scriptorum tuorum etsi erat semper a me vehementer exspectatum, tamen vicit opinionem meam meque ita vel cepit vel incendit, ut cuperem quam celerrime res nostras monumentis commendari tuis. neque enim me solum commemoratio posteritatis ad spem quandam immortalitatis rapit, sed etiam illa cupiditas, ut vel auctoritate testimoni tui vel indicio benevolentiae vel suavitate ingeni vivi perfruamur.
Yet, while writing this, I was not unaware how heavily you are weighed down by the work you have already taken up and put in hand. But because I saw that the history of the Italic and Civil War was already nearly finished by you, and you had told me you were beginning the rest, I did not wish to fail to remind you to consider whether you would prefer to weave our affairs in with the rest, or, as many of the Greeks have done — Callisthenes the Phocian war, Timaeus the war of Pyrrhus, Polybius the Numantine war, all of whom separated those wars from their continuous histories — you too in like manner would set apart the civil conspiracy from the foreign and external wars. For my part, I do not see that it makes much difference to my fame; but it does make some difference to my impatience that you should not wait until you come to the place, but seize the whole subject and the whole period at once. And at the same time, if your whole mind is engaged on a single argument and a single person, I see already with the mind’s eye how much fuller and more ornate everything is going to be. And yet I am not unaware how shameless I am: first, in laying so great a burden on you (for your occupations may refuse me); next, in even asking you to embellish me. What if you do not think those affairs deserve so much embellishment?
neque tamen, haec cum scribebam, eram nescius quantis oneribus premerere susceptarum rerum et iam institutarum sed, quia videbam Italici belli et civilis historiam iam a te paene esse perfectam, dixeras autem mihi te reliquas res ordiri, desse mihi nolui quin te admonerem, ut cogitares, coniunctene malles cum reliquis rebus nostra contexere an, ut multi Graeci fecerunt, Callisthenes Phocicum bellum, Timaeus Pyrrhi, Polybius Numantinum, qui omnes a perpetuis suis historiis ea, quae dixi, bella separaverunt, tu quoque item civilem coniurationem ab hostilibus externisque bellis seiungeres. equidem ad nostram laudem non multum video interesse, sed ad properationem meam quiddam interest non te exspectare, dum ad locum venias, ac statim causam illam totam et tempus arripere; et simul, si uno in argumento unaque in persona mens tua tota versabitur, cerno iam animo, quanto omnia uberiora atque ornatiora futura sint. neque tamen ignoro quam impudenter faciam, qui primum tibi tantum oneris imponam (potest enim mihi denegare occupatio tua), deinde etiam ut ornes me postulem. quid si illa tibi non tanto opere videntur ornanda?
But still, the man who has once crossed the bounds of modesty had better be shameless boldly and outright. So I beg you, and beg you again, plainly: that you will embellish those affairs even more eagerly than perhaps you feel; that here you will be careless of the laws of history; and as for that bias of which you wrote so charmingly in a certain proem (where you show that you could no more be turned aside from it than the Hercules of Xenophon from Pleasure) — if it argues for me with you a little vehemently, do not despise it, but lavish on our friendship something even beyond what truth allows. If we draw you to take up this work, it will be, I am persuaded, a subject worthy of your skill and your fullness.
sed tamen, qui semei verecundiae finis transierit, eum bene et naviter oportet esse impudentem. itaque te plane etiam atque etiam rogo, ut et ornes ea vehementius etiam quam fortasse sentis, et in eo leges historiae neglegas gratiamque illam, de qua suavissime quodam in prooemio scripsisti, a qua te deflecti non magis potuisse demonstras quam Herculem Xenophontium illum a voluptate, eam, si me tibi vehementius commendabit, ne aspernere amorique nostro plusculum etiam, quam concedet veritas, largiare. quod si te adducemus ut hoc suscipias, erit, ut mihi persuadeo, materies digna facultate et copia tua.
For from the beginning of the conspiracy to my own return, it seems to me a sort of moderate-sized body could be made; in which you will both be able to use that knowledge of yours of civil revolutions, whether in setting out the causes of upheavals or in the remedies for distresses — since you will both rebuke those things you think worthy of blame and approve, by setting out the reasons, those that please you; and, if you think you should treat the matter with the freedom you are accustomed to, you will mark out the perfidy, the snares, the betrayal of many men against me. The variety of my own fortunes too will furnish you, in writing, with many things full of a certain pleasure that may strongly hold the minds of men in the reading, you being the writer. For nothing is better fitted to delight the reader than the changes of times and the vicissitudes of fortune. Things which, although in the experiencing they were not desirable for us, in the reading will be enjoyable: for the safe recollection of past pain has its delight.
A principio enim coniurationis usque ad reditum nostrum videtur mihi modicum quoddam corpus confici posse, in quo et illa poteris uti civilium commutationum scientia vel in explicandis causis rerum novarum vel in remediis incommodorum, cum et reprehendes ea, quae vituperanda duces, et quae placebunt exponendis rationibus comprobabis et, si liberius, ut consuesti, agendum putabis, multorum in nos perfidiam, insidias, proditionem notabis. multam etiam casus nostri varietatem tibi in scribendo suppeditabunt plenam cuiusdam voluptatis, quae vehementer animos hominum in legendo te scriptore tenere possit. nihil est enim aptius ad delectationem lectoris quam temporum varietates fortunaeque vicissitudines. quae etsi nobis optabiles in experiendo non fuerunt, in legendo tamen erunt iucundae; habet enim praeteriti doloris secura recordatio delectationem;
For other men, however, who have not been put through any trouble of their own, but look on others’ fortunes without any pain, the very pity itself is delightful. Which of us is not delighted, with a certain compassion, by Epaminondas dying at Mantinea? Who only then orders that the spear-point be plucked from his side, when he had been told, on his asking, that the shield was safe — so that even in the pain of his wound he might die with calm spirit and with praise. Whose attention in reading is not held in suspense by the flight and return of Themistocles? For the order of annals itself holds us only moderately, like a counting-out of fasti; while the doubtful and varied fortunes of often-excellent men have wonder, expectation, joy, distress, hope, fear; and if they are closed by some notable end, the spirit is filled with the pleasantest pleasure of reading.
ceteris vero nulla perfunctis propria molestia, casus autem alienos sine ullo dolore intuentibus etiam ipsa misericordia est iucunda. quem enim nostrum ille moriens apud Mantineam Epaminondas non cum quadam miseratione delectat? qui tum denique sibi evelli iubet spiculum, postea quam ei percontanti dictum est clipeum esse salvum, ut etiam in vulneris dolore aequo animo cum laude moreretur. cuius studium in legendo non erectum Themistocli fuga redituque retinetur? etenim ordo ipse annalium mediocriter nos retinet quasi enumeratione fastorum at viri saepe excellentis ancipites variique casus habent admirationem, exspectationem, laetitiam, molestiam, spem, timorem; si vero exitu notabili concluduntur, expletur animus iucundissima lectionis voluptate.
I shall therefore have my wish all the more if you will be of this mind: that from your continuous writings, in which you cover the perpetual history of events, you set apart this, as it were a drama, of our affairs and outcomes. For it has its various acts and turnings, both of policy and of times. And I do not fear to seem to be hunting your favour with a small flattery when I declare this — that I would rather be celebrated and adorned by you than by any other. For you are not the man not to know what you are, nor to think those rather to be envious who do not admire you than those who praise you to be flatterers; nor again am I so out of my mind as to wish to be commended to everlasting glory by one who would not, in the very work of commending me, win his own glory of art.
quo mihi acciderit optatius, si in hac sententia fueris ut a continentibus tuis scriptis, in quibus perpetuam rerum gestarum historiam complecteris, secernas hanc quasi fabulam rerum eventorumque nostrorum. habet enim varios actus mutationesque et consiliorum et temporum. ac non vereor ne adsentatiuncula quadam aucupari tuam gratiam videar, quom hoc demonstrem, me a te potissimum ornari celebrarique velle. neque enim tu is es qui, quid sis, nescias et qui non eos magis, qui te non admirentur, invidos quam eos, qui laudent, adsentatores arbitrere; neque autem ego sum ita demens, ut me sempiternae gloriae per eum commendari velim, qui non ipse quoque in me commendando propriam ingeni gloriam consequatur.
For the great Alexander did not wish to be painted especially by Apelles and modelled by Lysippus from any motive of favour, but because he thought their art would be a glory both to themselves and to him. And those artists made the likeness of the body known to the unknowing; which, even if they did not exist, distinguished men would be no more obscure for that. Nor is the Spartan Agesilaus less to be set high — who would suffer no painted or modelled likeness of himself — than those who toiled in that craft: for one little book of Xenophon’s, in praise of that king, easily surpassed all the images and statues of all men. And this will be more outstanding to my mind, both for joy of heart and for dignity of memory, if I come into your writings rather than into others’ — because not only your art will have been at my service, as Timoleon’s was Timaeus’s or Themistocles’s Herodotus’s, but also the authority of a most distinguished and most respected man, tested in the greatest and gravest causes of the commonwealth and approved among the very first — so that to me will seem given, not just the herald’s call which Alexander, when he had come to Sigeum, said had been bestowed by Homer on Achilles, but also the weighty testimony imparted by a famous and great man. For I like that Hector of Naevius, who rejoices not only “to be praised” but adds also “by a praised man.”
neque enim Alexander ille gratiae causa ab Apelle potissimum pingi et a Lysippo fingi volebat, sed quod illorum artem cum ipsis tum etiam sibi gloriae fore putabat. atque illi artifices corporis simulacra ignotis nota faciebant; quae vel si nulla sint, nihilo sint tamen obscuriores clari viri. nec minus est Spartiates Agesilaus ille perhibendus, qui neque pictam neque fictam imaginem suam passus est esse, quam qui in eo genere laborarunt; unus enim Xenophontis libellus in eo rege laudando facile omnis imagines omnium statuasque superavit. atque hoc praestantius mihi fuerit et ad laetitiam animi et ad memoriae dignitatem, si in tua scripta pervenero quam si in ceterorum, quod non ingenium mihi solum suppeditatum fuerit tuum, sicut Timoleonti a Timaeo aut ab Herodoto Themistocli, sed etiam auctoritas clarissimi et spectatissimi viri et in rei p. maximis gravissimisque causis cogniti atque in primis probati, ut mihi non solum praeconium, quod, cum in Sigeum venisset, Alexander ab Homero Achilli tributum esse dixit, sed etiam grave testimonium impertitum clari hominis magnique videatur. placet enim Hector ille mihi Naevianus, qui non tantum ’laudari’ se laetatur, sed addit etiam ’a laudato viro.’
And if I do not get this from you — that is, if some matter shall have hindered you (for I do not think it lawful that you should not grant me anything I ask) — I shall perhaps be forced to do what some often reproach: to write about myself, on the example of many distinguished men. But, as does not escape you, here are the faults of this kind of writing: men necessarily write about themselves more bashfully, if there is anything to be praised; and pass over, if there is anything to be reproached. There is added that there is less credit, less authority; and many in the end reproach and say that the heralds of the gymnastic games are more modest, who, when they have placed the crowns on the rest of the victors, and proclaimed their names with a great voice, when they themselves are crowned before the games are dismissed, call in another herald, lest by their own voice they declare themselves to be victors.
quod si a te non impetro, hoc est, si quae te res impedierit (neque enim fas esse arbitror quicquam me rogantem abs te non impetrare), cogar fortasse facere, quod non nulli saepe reprehendunt, scribam ipse de me, multorum tamen exemplo et clarorum virorum. sed, quod te non fugit, haec sunt in hoc genere vitia: et verecundius ipsi de sese scribant necesse est, si quid est laudandum, et praetereant, si quid reprehendendum est. accedit etiam ut minor sit fides, minor auctoritas, multi denique reprehendant et dicant verecundiores esse praecones ludorum gymnicorum, qui cum ceteris coronas imposuerint victoribus eorumque nomina magna voce pronuntiarint, cum ipsi ante ludorum missionem corona donentur, alium praeconem adhibeant, ne sua voce se ipsi victores esse praedicent.
These things we wish to avoid, and, if you take up our case, shall avoid; and we ask that you do so. And lest perhaps you wonder why, since you have so often shown me that you would commit our times’ policies and outcomes to writing with the greatest care, we now press you with so much insistence and in so many words — the spur of that eagerness has fired us of which I wrote at the start, the eagerness of haste: that we are quick of spirit, that others should know us in your books while we are still living, and that we ourselves, while we live, may enjoy our little glory.
haec nos vitare cupimus et, si recipis causam nostram, vitabimus, idque ut facias rogamus. ac ne forte mirere cur, cum mihi saepe ostenderis te accuratissime nostrorum temporum consilia atque eventus litteris mandaturum, a te id nunc tanto opere et tam multis verbis petamus, illa nos cupiditas incendit, de qua initio scripsi, festinationis, quod alacres animo sumus, ut et ceteri viventibus nobis ex libris tuis nos cognoscant et nosmet ipsi vivi gloriola nostra perfruamur.
Of these matters, what you intend to do, please, if it is no trouble, write back to me. For if you take up the case, I will draw up notes of all the events; but if you put me off to another time, I will speak with you face to face. You meanwhile will not be idle: you will polish what you have in hand, and love us.
his de rebus quid acturus sis, si tibi non est molestum, rescribas mihi velim. si enim suscipis causam, conficiam commentarios rerum omnium, sin autem differs me in tempus aliud, coram tecum loquar. tu interea non cessabis et ea, quae habes instituta, perpolies nosque diliges.