Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. -46 AD|Cicero|AI-assisted
How glad I was of your delightful letter! Why, it made my day a
red-letter day after all. For I was anxious because Tiro had said you
looked to him rather flushed. So I will stay another day, as you
suggest.
But about Cato, that would puzzle a Philadelphian lawyer. I cannot
manage to write anything that your boon companions could read, I won't
say with pleasure, but even without annoyance. If I steer clear of his
utterances in the House and of his entire political outlook and policy,
and content myself with simply eulogizing his unwavering constancy, even
that would be no pleasant hearing for them. But he is a man who cannot
properly be eulogized, unless these points are fully treated, that he
foresaw the present state of affairs, and tried to prevent it, and that
he took his own life by preference to seeing it come about. Can I win
Aledius' approval of any of that? But pray be careful of yourself and
devote the common sense you devote to other things, before all to
recovering your health.
O gratas tuas mihi iucundasque litteras! quid quaeris? restitutus est mihi dies festus. angebar enim quod Tiro e)nereuqe/steron te sibi esse visum dixerat. addam igitur, ut censes, unum diem [2] sed de Catone pro/blhma )Arximh/deion est. non adsequor ut scribam quod tui convivae non modo libenter sed etiam aequo animo legere possint; quin etiam si a sententiis eius dictis, si ab omni voluntate consiliisque quae de re publica habuit recedam yilw=j que velim gravitatem constantiamque eius laudare, hoc ipsum tamen istis odiosum a)/kousma sit. sed vere laudari ille vir non potest nisi haec ornata sint, quod ille ea quae nunc sunt et futura viderit et ne fierent contenderit et facta ne videret vitam reliquerit. Horum quid est quod Aledio probare possimus? sed cura, obsecro, ut valeas eamque quam ad omnis res adhibes in primis ad convalescendum adhibe prudentiam.
◆
How glad I was of your delightful letter! Why, it made my day a red-letter day after all. For I was anxious because Tiro had said you looked to him rather flushed. So I will stay another day, as you suggest.
But about Cato, that would puzzle a Philadelphian lawyer. I cannot manage to write anything that your boon companions could read, I won't say with pleasure, but even without annoyance. If I steer clear of his utterances in the House and of his entire political outlook and policy, and content myself with simply eulogizing his unwavering constancy, even that would be no pleasant hearing for them. But he is a man who cannot properly be eulogized, unless these points are fully treated, that he foresaw the present state of affairs, and tried to prevent it, and that he took his own life by preference to seeing it come about. Can I win Aledius' approval of any of that? But pray be careful of yourself and devote the common sense you devote to other things, before all to recovering your health.
Latin / Greek Original
O gratas tuas mihi iucundasque litteras! quid quaeris? restitutus est mihi dies festus. angebar enim quod Tiro e)nereuqe/steron te sibi esse visum dixerat. addam igitur, ut censes, unum diem [2] sed de Catone pro/blhma )Arximh/deion est. non adsequor ut scribam quod tui convivae non modo libenter sed etiam aequo animo legere possint; quin etiam si a sententiis eius dictis, si ab omni voluntate consiliisque quae de re publica habuit recedam yilw=j que velim gravitatem constantiamque eius laudare, hoc ipsum tamen istis odiosum a)/kousma sit. sed vere laudari ille vir non potest nisi haec ornata sint, quod ille ea quae nunc sunt et futura viderit et ne fierent contenderit et facta ne videret vitam reliquerit. Horum quid est quod Aledio probare possimus? sed cura, obsecro, ut valeas eamque quam ad omnis res adhibes in primis ad convalescendum adhibe prudentiam.