Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. -47 AD|Cicero|AI-assisted
I got your sealed document, which Anteros brought. It gave me no
information about my private affairs. I am exceedingly distressed
about them, because Philotimus, who managed them, is not at Rome, nor
do I know where in the world he is. And my whole hope of preserving
my credit and private property lies in your tried and proved kindness
towards me. If in this last desperate crisis you still show that, I
shall face the dangers which I share with others more courageously:
and I adjure and beseech you to do so. I have in local currency
in Asia nearly £18,000. By a bill of exchange for that amount it
will be easy for you to maintain my credit. Unless I had thought I were
leaving it all square (trusting one, whom you have long since known I
ought not to have trusted), I should have delayed a little longer and
not left my private concerns embarrassed. The reason why I have been
rather long in writing to you about it, is that I was a long time in
gathering what was to be feared. Again and again I beseech you that you
undertake to protect me in every way, so that, supposing my present
associates are spared, I may along with them remain unembarrassed and
put down my safety to your kindness.
An Asiatic coin bearing as a device the _cista_ of Dionysius half
opened with a snake creeping out of it.
2,200,000 sesterces.
[1] accepi a te signatum libellum quem Anteros attulerat; ex quo nihil scire potui de nostris domesticis rebus. de quibus acerbissime adflictor quod qui eas dispensavit neque adest istic neque ubi terrarum sit scio. omnem autem spem habeo existimationis privatarumque rerum in tua erga me mihi perspectissima benevolentia. quam si his temporibus miseris et extremis praestiteris, haec pericula quae mihi communia sunt cum ceteris fortius feram; idque ut facias te obtestor atque obsecro. [2] ego in cistophoro in Asia habeo ad sestertium bis et viciens. huius pecuniae permutatione fidem nostram facile tuebere; quam quidem ego nisi expeditam relinquere me putassem credens ei cui tu scis iam pridem minime credere (me debere), commoratus essem paulisper nec domesticas res impeditas reliquissem. ob eamque causam serius ad te scribo quod sero intellexi quid timendum esset. te etiam atque etiam oro ut me totum tuendum suscipias, ut, si ii salvi erunt quibuscum sum, una cum iis possim incolumis esse salutemque meam benevolentiae tuae acceptam referre.
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I got your sealed document, which Anteros brought. It gave me no information about my private affairs. I am exceedingly distressed about them, because Philotimus, who managed them, is not at Rome, nor do I know where in the world he is. And my whole hope of preserving my credit and private property lies in your tried and proved kindness towards me. If in this last desperate crisis you still show that, I shall face the dangers which I share with others more courageously: and I adjure and beseech you to do so. I have in local currency in Asia nearly £18,000. By a bill of exchange for that amount it will be easy for you to maintain my credit. Unless I had thought I were leaving it all square (trusting one, whom you have long since known I ought not to have trusted), I should have delayed a little longer and not left my private concerns embarrassed. The reason why I have been rather long in writing to you about it, is that I was a long time in gathering what was to be feared. Again and again I beseech you that you undertake to protect me in every way, so that, supposing my present associates are spared, I may along with them remain unembarrassed and put down my safety to your kindness.
An Asiatic coin bearing as a device the _cista_ of Dionysius half opened with a snake creeping out of it.
2,200,000 sesterces.
Latin / Greek Original
[1] accepi a te signatum libellum quem Anteros attulerat; ex quo nihil scire potui de nostris domesticis rebus. de quibus acerbissime adflictor quod qui eas dispensavit neque adest istic neque ubi terrarum sit scio. omnem autem spem habeo existimationis privatarumque rerum in tua erga me mihi perspectissima benevolentia. quam si his temporibus miseris et extremis praestiteris, haec pericula quae mihi communia sunt cum ceteris fortius feram; idque ut facias te obtestor atque obsecro. [2] ego in cistophoro in Asia habeo ad sestertium bis et viciens. huius pecuniae permutatione fidem nostram facile tuebere; quam quidem ego nisi expeditam relinquere me putassem credens ei cui tu scis iam pridem minime credere (me debere), commoratus essem paulisper nec domesticas res impeditas reliquissem. ob eamque causam serius ad te scribo quod sero intellexi quid timendum esset. te etiam atque etiam oro ut me totum tuendum suscipias, ut, si ii salvi erunt quibuscum sum, una cum iis possim incolumis esse salutemque meam benevolentiae tuae acceptam referre.