Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Friends §1.6.1-1.6.2

Consolation from Past Exile and Encouragement for Spinther

Passage 7 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Cicero mentions that the details of the situation will be delivered by Pollio, and encourages the addressee by drawing a parallel between the addressee's present difficulties and his own past exile, urging him to maintain a brave and noble spirit.

§1.6.1quae gerantur, accipies ex Pollione, qui omnibus negotiis non interfuit solum, sed praefuit.
As for what is being done, you will learn it from Pollio, who not only was present at all the affairs, but directed them.
me in summo dolore, quem in tuis rebus capio, maxime scilicet consolatur spes, quod valde suspicor fore ut infringatur hominum improbitas et consiliis tuorum amicorum et ipsa die, quae debilitat cogitationes et inimicorum et proditorum tuorum
In the supreme grief that I feel in your difficulties, my greatest consolation of course is hope, because I strongly suspect that the wickedness of men will be broken both by the counsels of your friends and by time itself, which weakens the thoughts of both your enemies and your traitors.
§1.6.2facile secundo loco me consolatur recordatio meorum temporum, quorum imaginem video in rebus tuis; nam etsi minore in re violatur tua dignitas quam mea adflictast, tamen est tanta similitudo, ut sperem te mihi ignoscere, si ea non timuerim, quae ne tu quidem umquam timenda duxisti.
Easily in the second place, I am consoled by the remembrance of my own times, the image of which I see in your affairs; for although your dignity is being violated in a lesser matter than my own was shattered, yet there is so great a similarity that I hope you will forgive me if I have not feared those things which not even you yourself ever thought ought to be feared.
sed praesta te eum, qui mihi 'a teneris,' ut Graeci dicunt, unguiculis' es cognitus; inlustrabit, mihi crede, tuam amplitudinem hominum iniuria.
But show yourself to be the man who has been known to me, as the Greeks say, 'from tender nails'; believe me, the injustice of men will illustrate your greatness.
A me omnia summa in te studia officiaque ex specta; non fallam opinionem tuam.
Expect from me all the greatest zeal and services towards you; I shall not fail your expectation.

Notes

  1. §1.6.1quae gerantur — Forms an indirect question clause dependent on the future main verb `accipies`, using the present subjunctive.
  2. §1.6.1fore ut infringatur — A periphrasis consisting of the infinitive `fore` (`futurum esse`) and the `ut`-clause (present subjunctive passive `infringatur`), used instead of the future passive infinitive of `infringo` (*infractum iri*) as the predicate of the accusative-and-infinitive construction after `suspicor`.
  3. §1.6.2minore in re violatur tua dignitas quam mea adflictast — `minore in re` shows the inversion of the preposition `in` placed between the adjective and the noun. In the clause introduced by `quam`, the noun `dignitas` is omitted, the full form being `quam mea [dignitas] adflicta est`.
  4. §1.6.2ne tu quidem umquam timenda duxisti — The verb `duco` (to consider, deem) takes a gerundive (substantivized neuter plural accusative `timenda`, 'things to be feared') as its object complement. `ne ... quidem` means 'not even...'.
  5. §1.6.2a teneris ... unguiculis — A Latin translation of the Greek idiomatic expression *ἀπαλῶν ὀνύχων* (literally, 'from tender nails'), a figurative phrase meaning 'from early childhood' or 'from one's earliest years'.

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §1.6.1-1.6.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:1.6.1-1.6.2

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