Ad Familiares 12.30
Ad Familiares 12.30
Headnote
Cicero to Q. Cornificius, proconsul of Africa Vetus, from Rome a little after 9 June 43 BC — Perseus dateline Scr. Romae paulo post v Id. Iun. a. 711 (43). A long reply in mixed mood — affectionate, ironic, harried. Cornificius had reproached Cicero for sending no letter that was not carried by a litigant; Cicero answers with a half-amused defence (“which of your people ever told me there was someone, that I did not entrust him with a letter?”) before turning serious: the load on him has grown heavier, not lighter, since the supposed victory — the war “beaten down and almost done away with” has risen afresh. Chaerippus’s recent visit has carried Cornificius’s whole vultus to him, face and voice both. Practical business follows: Cicero cannot help with the African command’s military expenses because both consuls are dead and the treasury is being scraped bare to pay the legions promised their bonuses (a tributum will be needed); he yields nothing on P. Lucceius’s case but the arbiters’ oath blocks postponement; and he gently corrects Cornificius for stripping his own legates of their lictors in order to make a parallel humiliation feel less pointed — “men worthy of honour were not to be compared with men worthy of disgrace.” The letter closes on the register of dignitas: his own is no dearer to him than Cornificius’s.
What, really? No one comes to you with a letter from me except litigants? Plenty of those, to be sure — for you yourself have made it the case that no one thinks himself recommended to you without a letter of mine. But which of your people ever told me there was someone to whom I could entrust one, that I did not entrust it? And what is more delightful to me than — since I cannot speak with you face to face — either to write to you or to read your letters? What more often vexes me is the load of business that hampers me, so that no chance is given me of writing to you at my own discretion. I would be pelting you not with letters but with whole volumes; by which indeed I ought to be provoked by you. For however busy you are, you have more leisure than I do; or, if not even you have any leisure, do not be shameless or vex me by demanding more frequent letters from me when you yourself send rarely.
itane? praeter litigatores nemo ad te meas litteras? multae istae quidem; tu enim perfecisti ut nemo sine litteris meis tibi se commendatum putaret; sed quis umquam tuorum mihi dixit esse cui darem, quin dederim? aut quid mi iucundius quam, cum coram tecum loqui non possim, aut scribere ad te aut tuas legere litteras? illud magis mihi solet esse molestum, tantis me impediri occupationibus, ut ad te scribendi meo arbitratu facultas nulla detur. non enim te epistulis sed voluminibus lacesserem; quibus quidem me a te provocari oportebat. quamvis enim occupatus sis,’ oti tamen plus habes; aut, si ne tu quidem vacas, noli impudens esse nec mihi molestiam exhibere et a me litteras crebriores, cum tu mihi raro mittas, flagitare.
For where before I was pulled apart by the greatest occupations — because I reckoned the Republic must be guarded by me with every care — now at this time I am pulled apart far more violently. For just as those are taken more gravely ill who, when they seem to have got past the disease, fall back into it afresh, so we are labouring more violently, who, with the war beaten down and almost done away with, are now trying to wage it renewed. But enough of this.
nam cum antea distinebar maximis occupationibus, propterea quod omnibus curis rem p. mihi tuendam putabam, tum hoc tempore multo distineor vehementius. ut enim gravius aegrotant ii qui, cum levati morbo videntur, in eum de integro inciderunt, sic vehementius nos laboramus, qui profligato bello ac paene sublato renovatum bellum gerere conamur. sed haec hactenus..
Persuade yourself, my dear Cornificius, that I am not of so weak a spirit — not to say so inhuman — that you can outdo me either in services or in affection. I did not doubt it, in fact, but Chaerippus has made your affection toward me much better known to me. What a man! Always congenial to me, but now actually charming! By Hercules, he has set out your whole face before me, has carried over to me not only your mind and your words. So do not be afraid that I am offended because you wrote to me by the same draft you sent to others. I did indeed ask for a letter to me alone, but not vehemently — with affection.
tu tibi, mi Cornifici, fac ut persuadeas non esse me tam imbecillo animo, ne dicam inhumano, ut a te vinci possim aut officiis aut amore. non dubitabam equidem, verum tamen multo mihi notiorem amorem tuum effecit Chaerippus. O hominem semper illum quidem mihi aptum, nunc vero etiam suavem! vultus me hercule tuos mihi expressit omnis, non solum animum ac verba pertulit. itaque noli vereri ne tibi suscensuerim, quod eodem exemplo ad me quo ad ceteros. requisivi equidem proprias ad me unum litteras, sed neque vehementer et amanter.
On the expense which you say you are incurring and have incurred for military matters, I can really be no help to you, because the Senate has been left orphaned by the loss of the consuls, and the straits of the public purse are unbelievable: money is being scraped together from every quarter, that what was promised to the soldiers who have served best may be paid out — and I do not think this can be done without a special levy.
de sumptu, quem te in rem militarem facere et fecisse dicis, nihil sane possum tibi opitulari, propterea quod et orbus senatus consulibus amissis et incredibiles angustiae pecuniae publicae; quae conquiritur undique, ut optime meritis militibus promissa solvantur; quod quidem fieri sine tributo posse non arbitror.
About Attius Dionysius, I take it there is nothing in it, since Tratorius has said nothing to me. About P. Lucceius I yield to you in nothing — to make you any more zealous than I am; for the man is intimate with us. But when I pressed the arbiters about a postponement of the date, they showed me they were prevented from granting it both by the formal compromise and by their oath. So Lucceius must come, I think; though, if he has obeyed my letter, when you read this he ought to be at Rome.
de Attio Dionysio nihil puto esse, quoniam mihi nihil dixit Tratorius. de P. Lucceio nihil tibi concedo, quo studiosior tu sis quam ego sum; est enim nobis necessarius. sed a magistris cum contenderem de praeterendo die, probarunt mihi sese quo minus id facerent et compromisso et iure iurando impediri. qua re veniendum arbitror Lucceio; quamquam, si meis litteris obtemperavit, cum tu haec leges illum Romae esse oportebit.
On the other matters, and most of all on the money, you wrote — while you did not know that Pansa was dead — what you reckoned you could obtain from him through us. These things would not have failed you, if he were alive; for he held you dear. But after his death we did not see what could be done. About Venuleius, Latinus, and Horatius I warmly approve; the one thing I do not altogether endorse is what you write — that, to make them bear it with a more level mind, you stripped your own legates also of their lictors. (Men worthy of honour were not to be compared with men worthy of disgrace.) And these, if they do not depart by force of the senatorial decree, I think must be compelled to depart. So much, more or less, in answer to those letters, two copies of which, identical, he brought me at the same time; for the rest, I would have you persuade yourself that my own standing is no dearer to me than yours.
ceteris de rebus maximeque de pecunia, cum Pansae mortem ignorares, scripsisti quae per nos ab eo consequi te posse arbitrarere. quae te non fefellissent, si viveret; nam te diligebat; post mortem autem eius quid fieri posset non videbamus. de Venuleio, Latino, Horatio valde laudo; illud non nimium probo, quod scribis, quo illi animo aequiore ferrent, te tuis etiam legatis lictores ademisse (honore enim cum ignominia dignis non erant comparandi), eosque, ex s. c. si non decedunt, cogendos ut decedant existimo. haec fere ad eas litteras, quas eodem exemplo is binas accepi; de reliquo velim tibi persuadeas non esse mihi meam dignitatem tua cariorem.