Letter · June 45 BC · in Tusculano

Ad Familiares 6.11

Ad Familiares 6.11

Headnote

Cicero to Trebianus, written from the Tusculan villa in early June 45 BC (works.yaml -0045-06-15 at month-precision; the Perseus dateline reads in Tusculano in.~m.~Iun.~a.~709 (45), “at the beginning of the month of June” — a tightening to circa $-0045$-$06$-$01$ is plausible, but month-precision covers it). This is the companion piece to Fam.~6.10 of nearly a year before, the case now closed: Trebianus has been restored, the intervention of Dolabella has carried the day, and Cicero writes from Tusculum a short letter of congratulation and Stoic stocktaking.

No Greek. The register lightens after the long working note of 6.10: Dolabella has done what Cicero himself could not quite do, and Cicero is unembarrassed to mark the debt. The philosophical pivot in section~2 is the standard consolatio-flipped-into-thanksgiving turn of Book~6 — the recovered dignitas now matters more than the lost res familiaris, and even property would only be the sweeter to enjoy “if there were any commonwealth left”. The parenthetical greeting to Siro the Epicurean (in whose Naples-bay circle Virgil and Varius were just then reading philosophy) is the unobtrusive marker of how thin the line is, in this cluster, between consolatory Stoicism and an Epicurean refuge of letters and friends.

One crux: in section~1 the Perseus text carries a dagger at nec enim acciderat mihi $$opus esse; I have rendered the sense as “for it had never fallen out that I had occasion to need him,” following the standard supplement (mihi <eo> opus esse or similar). The line of thought is secure even if the precise words are not.

Dolabella up till now I had only held in high regard; I was under no obligation to him (for it had never fallen out that I had occasion to need him, and it was he who owed me, for not having failed him in his dangers); now I am so deeply bound by his kindness — both before this, in the matter itself, and now, at this moment, in your restoration, on both of which he has done me the fullest possible service — that I owe more to him than to anyone. On which I congratulate you so warmly that I would rather you congratulated me too than thanked me; thanks I have no use at all for; congratulation you can truly offer.
Dolabellam antea tantum modo diligebam, obligatus ei nihil eram (nec enim acciderat mihi †opus esse, et ille mihi debebat, quod non defueram eius periculis); nunc tanto sum devinctus eius beneficio, quod et antea in re et hoc tempore in salute tua cumulatissime mihi satis fecit, ut nemini plus debeam. qua in re tibi gratulor ita vehementer ut te quoque mihi gratulari quam gratias agere malim; alterum omnino non desidero, alterum vere facere poteris.
For the rest — since your worth and your standing have opened the way back to your own people — it lies with your wisdom and your greatness of spirit to forget what you have lost, and to think on what you have recovered. You will live with your own; you will live with us. You have acquired more of standing than you have lost of property; and even that property of yours would be the sweeter to enjoy, if there were any commonwealth left. Vestorius, our friend, has written to me that you give me the warmest thanks. This praise of yours is welcome to me indeed, and I am quite content for you to publish it both before others and, by Hercules, before our friend Siro. For what we do, we want to find approval especially with the wisest men. I am eager to see you, as soon as may be.
quod reliquum est, quoniam tibi virtus et dignitas tua reditum ad tuos aperuit, est tuae sapientiae magnitudinisque animi quid amiseris oblivisci, quid reciperaris cogitare. vives cum tuis, vives nobiscum; plus adquisisti dignitatis quam amisisti rei familiaris; quae ipsa tum esset iucundior, si ulla res esset publica. Vestorius, noster familiaris, ad me scripsit te mihi maximas gratias agere. haec praedicatio tua mihi valde grata est caque te uti facile patior cum apud alios tum me hercule apud Sironem, nostrum amicum. quae enim facimus, ea prudentissimo cuique maxime probata esse volumus. te cupio videre quam primum.

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Ad Familiares 6.11

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