Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Friends §10.22.1-10.22.2

Delays on the Agrarian Law and Praise for Plancus

Passage 222 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Cicero praises Plancus and his colleague for their harmony, explains the procedural delays regarding the agrarian law and his joint countermeasure, and reassures him of the supreme honors prepared for him.

§10.22.1in te et in conlega omnis spes est dis adprobantibus.
All hope lies in you and in your colleague, with the gods' approval.
Concordia vestra, quae senatui declarata litteris vestris est, mirifice et senatus et cuncta civitas delectata est.
The senate and the entire state have been wonderfully delighted by your harmony, which was declared to the senate by your letter.
quod ad me scripseras de re agraria, si consultus senatus esset, ut quisque honorificentissimam de te sententiam dixisset, eam secutus esset; qui certe ego fuissem.
As for what you had written to me about the agrarian law, if the senate had been consulted, it would have followed the opinion of each one as they spoke most honorably of you; in which role I certainly would have been.
sed propter tarditatem sententiarum moramque rerum cum ea, quae consule bantur, ad exitum non pervenirent, commodissimum mihi Plancoque fratri visum est uti eo s. c.
But because of the slowness of opinions and the delay of business, since those matters which were being consulted did not reach an outcome, it seemed most convenient to me and to your brother Plancus to make use of that decree of the senate.
, quod ne nostro arbitratu componeretur, quis fuerit impedimento, arbitror te ex Planci litteris cognovisse.
As to who was a hindrance to its being drafted according to our own judgment, I believe you have learned from Plancus's letter.
§10.22.2sed sive in s. c. sive in ceteris rebus desideras aliquid, sic tibi persuade, tantam esse apud omnis bonos tui caritatem, ut nullum genus amplissimae dignitatis excogitari possit, quod tibi non paratum sit.
But whether in the decree of the senate or in other matters you miss anything, convince yourself of this: that so great is the affection for you among all good citizens that no kind of the most ample dignity can be devised which is not prepared for you.
Litteras tuas vehementer exspecto, et quidem talis qualis maxime opto.
I eagerly await your letter, and indeed one such as I most greatly desire.
vale.
Farewell.

Notes

  1. 10.22.1Concordia vestra — Although written in the nominative form, in this syntactic structure it functions as an ablative of cause ('by your harmony'), with the actual subject of `delectata est` being `senatus et cuncta civitas`.
  2. 10.22.1quod ad me scripseras — A restrictive use of the relative pronoun `quod` meaning 'as to what you had written to me,' which introduces the topic for the subsequent conditional clause.
  3. 10.22.1qui certe ego fuissem — The relative pronoun `qui` refers back to `quisque` (each one) in the preceding clause. Combined with the pluperfect subjunctive `fuissem` ('I would have been'), it forms a past counterfactual statement: 'I would certainly have been the one [to express such an honorable opinion].'
  4. 10.22.1impedimento — A dative of purpose/effect (part of a double dative construction), functioning as the predicate in the indirect question `quis fuerit` ('who was [as] a hindrance/obstacle').
  5. 10.22.2tui caritatem — The genitive of the personal pronoun `tui` functions as an objective genitive with the noun `caritatem` (affection, love), meaning 'affection for you' (rather than 'your affection').

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §10.22.1-10.22.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:10.22.1-10.22.2

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

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