Marcus Tullius Cicero→Gaius Cassius Longinus|c. 43 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Syria|AI-assisted
The brevity of your letters makes me briefer in writing too, and, to tell the truth, I cannot quite find what to write. I know for certain that our affairs are being carried to you in the official records, but we know nothing about yours. It is as if Asia were closed: nothing reaches us except rumors that Dolabella has been crushed. Those rumors are steady enough, but still without authority.
As for us, just when we thought the war was over, your relative Lepidus suddenly brought us into the deepest anxiety. So convince yourself that the republic's greatest hope lies in you and in your forces.
We do have armies that are altogether firm. Still, even if everything goes favorably, as I hope it will, your arrival matters greatly. The republic's hope is small, for I do not want to say it is none at all. Whatever hope there is, it is pledged to the year of your consulship.
Farewell.
DCCCXCIX (Fam. XII, 9) TO C. CASSIUS LONGINUS (IN SYRIA) ROME (JUNE) THE brevity of your letter makes me the briefer in mine, and, to speak the honest truth, I can think of nothing to say. For what is going on with us I know for certain is conveyed to you in the gazette, what is going on with you we don't know. For just as though Asia were under blockade, nothing reaches us except rumours of Dolabella being crushed. These rumours are persistent enough, but they as yet lack confirmation. As for us, when we thought the war finished, we have suddenly been brought into the most extreme anxiety by your relative Lepidus . Therefore convince yourself that the chief hope of the Republic rests on you and your forces. We have, it is true, trustworthy armies: but nevertheless, though everything should go well, as I hope it will, it is of great importance that you should come. For the hope of the Republic is small — I shrink from saying “none” — but whatever it is, it is plighted to the year of your consulship.
IX. Scr. Romae mense Iunio a.u.c. 711. CICERO CASSIO SAL.
Brevitas tuarum litterarum me quoque breviorem in scribendo facit, et, vere ut dicam, non satis occurrit, quid scribam; nostras enim res in actis perferri ad te certo scio, tuas autem ignoramus; tamquam enim clausa sit Asia, sic nihil perfertur ad nos praeter rumores de oppresso Dolabella, satis illos quidem constantes, sed adhuc sine auctore. Nos, confectum bellum quum putaremus, repente a Lepido tuo in summam sollicitudinem sumus adducti: itaque tibi persuade maximam rei publicae spem in te et in tuis copiis esse. Firmos omnino exercitus habemus, sed tamen, ut omnia, ut spero, prospere procedant, multum interest te venire; exigua enim spes est rei publicae—nam nullam non libet dicere—, sed, quaecumque est, ea despondetur anno consulatus tui. Vale.
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The brevity of your letters makes me briefer in writing too, and, to tell the truth, I cannot quite find what to write. I know for certain that our affairs are being carried to you in the official records, but we know nothing about yours. It is as if Asia were closed: nothing reaches us except rumors that Dolabella has been crushed. Those rumors are steady enough, but still without authority.
As for us, just when we thought the war was over, your relative Lepidus suddenly brought us into the deepest anxiety. So convince yourself that the republic's greatest hope lies in you and in your forces.
We do have armies that are altogether firm. Still, even if everything goes favorably, as I hope it will, your arrival matters greatly. The republic's hope is small, for I do not want to say it is none at all. Whatever hope there is, it is pledged to the year of your consulship.
Farewell.
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
IX. Scr. Romae mense Iunio a.u.c. 711. CICERO CASSIO SAL.
Brevitas tuarum litterarum me quoque breviorem in scribendo facit, et, vere ut dicam, non satis occurrit, quid scribam; nostras enim res in actis perferri ad te certo scio, tuas autem ignoramus; tamquam enim clausa sit Asia, sic nihil perfertur ad nos praeter rumores de oppresso Dolabella, satis illos quidem constantes, sed adhuc sine auctore. Nos, confectum bellum quum putaremus, repente a Lepido tuo in summam sollicitudinem sumus adducti: itaque tibi persuade maximam rei publicae spem in te et in tuis copiis esse. Firmos omnino exercitus habemus, sed tamen, ut omnia, ut spero, prospere procedant, multum interest te venire; exigua enim spes est rei publicae—nam nullam non libet dicere—, sed, quaecumque est, ea despondetur anno consulatus tui. Vale.