Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. -66 AD|Cicero|AI-assisted
You keep stirring up frequent expectations of your arrival. Recently indeed, when we were already thinking you were on your way, we were suddenly put off by you until the month of Quintilis. Now I truly feel that you should come, at whatever time you can do so conveniently, at the date you mention in your letter; you will attend brother Quintus's election, visit us after a long interval, and settle the Acutilian dispute. Peducaeus too urged me to write to you about this. For we think it would be useful for you to settle that matter at last. My intervention is ready and has been ready. Here we have concluded the case of Gaius Macer with the incredible and extraordinary goodwill of the people. Although we were fair to him, nevertheless we reaped a far greater reward from the people's esteem after his conviction than we would have gained from his gratitude had he been acquitted. As for what you write to me about the Hermathena, it is exceedingly welcome to me. It is an ornament peculiarly suited to my Academy, since Hermes is a feature common to all gymnasia and Minerva is the distinctive emblem of that one of mine. I would therefore like you, as you suggest, to adorn that place with as many other things as possible. The statues you sent me earlier I have not yet seen; they are at my Formian estate, where I am now thinking of going. I shall have them all brought to my Tusculan villa. If ever I begin to have a surplus, I shall adorn Caieta too. Keep your books safe and do not despair of my being able to make them mine. If I achieve that, I surpass Crassus in riches and look down on all men's estates and meadows.
You keep on raising our hopes of seeing you: and just the other day,
when we thought you were nearly here, we find ourselves suddenly put off
till July. Now I really do think you ought to keep your promise
ad id tempus, quod scribis; obieris Quinti fratris comitia, nos longo
intervallo viseris, Acutilianam controversiam transegeris. Hoc me etiam
Peducaeus ut ad te scriberem admonuit. Putamus enim utile esse te
aliquando eam rem transigere. Mea intercessio parata et est et fuit. Nos
hic incredibili ac singulari populi voluntate de C. Macro transegimus.
Cui cum aequi fuissemus, tamen multo maiorem fructum ex populi
existimatione illo damnato cepimus quam ex ipsius, si absolutus esset,
gratia cepissemus.
Quod ad me de Hermathena scribis, per mihi gratum est. Est ornamentum
Academiae proprium meae, quod et Hermes commune omnium et Minerva
singulare est insigne eius gymnasii. Quare velim, ut scribis, ceteris
quoque rebus quam plurimis eum locum ornes. Quae mihi antea signa
misisti, ea nondum vidi; in Formiano sunt, quo ego mine proficisci
cogitabam. Illa omnia in Tusculanum deportabo. Caietam, si quando
abundare coepero, ornabo. Libros tuos conserva et noli desperare eos me
meos facere posse. Quod si adsequor, supero Crassum divitiis atque
omnium vicos et prata contemno.
Crebras exspectationes nobis tui commoves. Nuper quidem, cum iam te adventare arbitraremur, repente abs te in mensem Quintilem reiecti sumus. Nunc vero sentio, quod commodo tuo facere poteris, venias ad id tempus, quod scribis; obieris Quinti fratris comitia, nos longo intervallo viseris, Acutilianam controversiam transegeris. Hoc me etiam Peducaeus ut ad te scriberem admonuit. Putamus enim utile esse te aliquando eam rem transigere. Mea intercessio parata et est et fuit. Nos hic incredibili ac singulari populi voluntate de C. Macro transegimus. Cui cum aequi fuissemus, tamen multo maiorem fructum ex populi existimatione illo damnato cepimus quam ex ipsius, si absolutus esset, gratia cepissemus. Quod ad me de Hermathena scribis, per mihi gratum est. Est ornamentum Academiae proprium meae, quod et Hermes commune omnium et Minerva singulare est insigne eius gymnasii. Quare velim, ut scribis, ceteris quoque rebus quam plurimis eum locum ornes. Quae mihi antea signa misisti, ea non dum vidi; in Formiano sunt, quo ego nunc proficisci cogitabam. Illa omnia in Tusculanum deportabo. Caietam, si quando abundare coepero, ornabo. Libros tuos conserva et noli desperare eos me meos facere posse. Quod si adsequor, supero Crassum divitiis atque omnium vicos et prata contemno.
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You keep stirring up frequent expectations of your arrival. Recently indeed, when we were already thinking you were on your way, we were suddenly put off by you until the month of Quintilis. Now I truly feel that you should come, at whatever time you can do so conveniently, at the date you mention in your letter; you will attend brother Quintus's election, visit us after a long interval, and settle the Acutilian dispute. Peducaeus too urged me to write to you about this. For we think it would be useful for you to settle that matter at last. My intervention is ready and has been ready. Here we have concluded the case of Gaius Macer with the incredible and extraordinary goodwill of the people. Although we were fair to him, nevertheless we reaped a far greater reward from the people's esteem after his conviction than we would have gained from his gratitude had he been acquitted. As for what you write to me about the Hermathena, it is exceedingly welcome to me. It is an ornament peculiarly suited to my Academy, since Hermes is a feature common to all gymnasia and Minerva is the distinctive emblem of that one of mine. I would therefore like you, as you suggest, to adorn that place with as many other things as possible. The statues you sent me earlier I have not yet seen; they are at my Formian estate, where I am now thinking of going. I shall have them all brought to my Tusculan villa. If ever I begin to have a surplus, I shall adorn Caieta too. Keep your books safe and do not despair of my being able to make them mine. If I achieve that, I surpass Crassus in riches and look down on all men's estates and meadows.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Crebras exspectationes nobis tui commoves. Nuper quidem, cum iam te adventare arbitraremur, repente abs te in mensem Quintilem reiecti sumus. Nunc vero sentio, quod commodo tuo facere poteris, venias ad id tempus, quod scribis; obieris Quinti fratris comitia, nos longo intervallo viseris, Acutilianam controversiam transegeris. Hoc me etiam Peducaeus ut ad te scriberem admonuit. Putamus enim utile esse te aliquando eam rem transigere. Mea intercessio parata et est et fuit. Nos hic incredibili ac singulari populi voluntate de C. Macro transegimus. Cui cum aequi fuissemus, tamen multo maiorem fructum ex populi existimatione illo damnato cepimus quam ex ipsius, si absolutus esset, gratia cepissemus. Quod ad me de Hermathena scribis, per mihi gratum est. Est ornamentum Academiae proprium meae, quod et Hermes commune omnium et Minerva singulare est insigne eius gymnasii. Quare velim, ut scribis, ceteris quoque rebus quam plurimis eum locum ornes. Quae mihi antea signa misisti, ea non dum vidi; in Formiano sunt, quo ego nunc proficisci cogitabam. Illa omnia in Tusculanum deportabo. Caietam, si quando abundare coepero, ornabo. Libros tuos conserva et noli desperare eos me meos facere posse. Quod si adsequor, supero Crassum divitiis atque omnium vicos et prata contemno.