Marcus Tullius Cicero→Unknown|c. -49 AD|Cicero|AI-assisted
Of your affection, wherever I turn, I see traces -- most recently in the matter of Tigellius. For I perceived from your letter that you took great pains. I am therefore grateful for your good intention. But a few words about the matter. Cipius, I think, once said: "I do not sleep for everyone." So I, my dear Gallus, do not serve everyone. Though what servitude is this? In the old days, when I was thought to rule, I was not so much courted by anyone as I am now by all of Caesar's closest friends -- except that one. This I count as a gain: not having to endure a man more pestilential than his own country. And I think he is already condemned by the Hipponactean proclamation of Calvus Licinius. But see what he is angry about: I had taken on the case of Phamea, indeed for his own sake, for he was quite a close friend of mine. He came to me and said that the judge had arranged to give his attention on the very day when it was necessary to go into deliberation on the case of Publius Sestius. I replied that there was no way I could do it; if he chose any other day, I would not fail him. But he, knowing that he had a handsome grandson who was a flute-player and a pretty good masseur, left me, as it seemed to me, rather angry. You have your "Sardinians for sale, each worse than the last." You know my case and the unfairness of that lecher. Send me your Cato; for I long to read it. That I have not yet read it is a disgrace to both of us.
XXIV. Scr. in Tusculano (ineunte m. Oct.?) a.u.c. 709. M. CICERO S. D. M. FADIO GALLO.
Amoris quidem tui, quoquo me verti, vestigia, vel proxime de Tigellio; sensi enim ex litteris tuis valde te laborasse: amo igitur voluntatem. Sed pauca de re. Cipius, opinor, olim? "non omnibus dormio:" sic ego non omnibus, mi Galle, servio; etsi quae est haec servitus? olim, cum regnare existimabamur, non tam ab ullis, quam hoc tempore observor a familiarissimis Caesaris omnibus praeter istum: id ego in lucris pono, non ferre hominem pestilentiorem patria sua; eumque addictum iam tum puto esse Calvi Licinii Hipponacteo praeconio. At vide, quid suscenseat: Phameae causam receperam, ipsius quidem causa; erat enim mihi sane familiaris: is ad me venit dixitque iudicem sibi operam dare constituisse eo ipso die, quo de P. Sestio in consilium iri necesse erat; respondi nullo modo me facere posse; quem vellet alium diem si sumpsisset, me ei non defuturum; ille autem, qui sciret se nepotem bellum tibicinem habere et sat bonum unctorem, discessit a me, ut mihi videbatur, iratior. Habes "Sardos venales, alium alio nequiorem;" cognosti meam causam et istius salaconis iniquitatem. Catonem tuum mihi mitte; cupio enim legere: me adhuc non legisse turpe utrique nostrum est.
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Of your affection, wherever I turn, I see traces -- most recently in the matter of Tigellius. For I perceived from your letter that you took great pains. I am therefore grateful for your good intention. But a few words about the matter. Cipius, I think, once said: "I do not sleep for everyone." So I, my dear Gallus, do not serve everyone. Though what servitude is this? In the old days, when I was thought to rule, I was not so much courted by anyone as I am now by all of Caesar's closest friends -- except that one. This I count as a gain: not having to endure a man more pestilential than his own country. And I think he is already condemned by the Hipponactean proclamation of Calvus Licinius. But see what he is angry about: I had taken on the case of Phamea, indeed for his own sake, for he was quite a close friend of mine. He came to me and said that the judge had arranged to give his attention on the very day when it was necessary to go into deliberation on the case of Publius Sestius. I replied that there was no way I could do it; if he chose any other day, I would not fail him. But he, knowing that he had a handsome grandson who was a flute-player and a pretty good masseur, left me, as it seemed to me, rather angry. You have your "Sardinians for sale, each worse than the last." You know my case and the unfairness of that lecher. Send me your Cato; for I long to read it. That I have not yet read it is a disgrace to both of us.
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
XXIV. Scr. in Tusculano (ineunte m. Oct.?) a.u.c. 709. M. CICERO S. D. M. FADIO GALLO.
Amoris quidem tui, quoquo me verti, vestigia, vel proxime de Tigellio; sensi enim ex litteris tuis valde te laborasse: amo igitur voluntatem. Sed pauca de re. Cipius, opinor, olim? "non omnibus dormio:" sic ego non omnibus, mi Galle, servio; etsi quae est haec servitus? olim, cum regnare existimabamur, non tam ab ullis, quam hoc tempore observor a familiarissimis Caesaris omnibus praeter istum: id ego in lucris pono, non ferre hominem pestilentiorem patria sua; eumque addictum iam tum puto esse Calvi Licinii Hipponacteo praeconio. At vide, quid suscenseat: Phameae causam receperam, ipsius quidem causa; erat enim mihi sane familiaris: is ad me venit dixitque iudicem sibi operam dare constituisse eo ipso die, quo de P. Sestio in consilium iri necesse erat; respondi nullo modo me facere posse; quem vellet alium diem si sumpsisset, me ei non defuturum; ille autem, qui sciret se nepotem bellum tibicinem habere et sat bonum unctorem, discessit a me, ut mihi videbatur, iratior. Habes "Sardos venales, alium alio nequiorem;" cognosti meam causam et istius salaconis iniquitatem. Catonem tuum mihi mitte; cupio enim legere: me adhuc non legisse turpe utrique nostrum est.