Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Friends §11.6.1-11.6.3

Pledge to Defend Decimus Brutus's Honor

Passage 242 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Cicero informs Decimus Brutus of receiving his letter and instructions through Lupus, promising to support his dignity. He explains his attendance at the Senate to prevent silence on Brutus's services to the state and vows to remain a leading defender of his glory.

§11.6.1Lupus noster cum Romam sexto die Mutina venisset, postridie me mane convenit; tua mihi mandata diligentissime exposuit et litteras reddidit.
When our friend Lupus had come to Rome from Mutina on the sixth day, he met me the next morning; he explained your instructions to me most diligently and delivered your letter.
quod mihi tuam dignitatem commendas, eodem tempore existimo te mihi meam dignitatem commendare, quam me hercule non habeo tua cariorem.
As for your commending your dignity to me, I consider that at the same time you are commending my own dignity to me, which, by Hercules, I do not hold dearer than yours.
qua re mihi gratissimum facies, si exploratum habebis tuis laudibus nullo loco nec consilium nec studium meum defuturum.
Therefore you will do me a most welcome favor, if you hold it as certain that neither my counsel nor my zeal will fail your praises in any place.
§11.6.2Cum tribuni pl. edixissent senatus adesset a. d. xiii K. Ian. , haberentque in animo de praesidio consulum designatorum referre, quamquam statueram in senatum ante K. Ian. non venire, tamen, cum eo die ipso edictum tuum propositum esset, nefas esse duxi aut ita haberi senatum ut de tuis divinis in rem p. meritis sileretur (quod factum esset, nisi ego venissem), aut etiam, si quid de te honorifice diceretur, me non adesse.
When the tribunes of the plebs had issued an edict that the Senate should assemble on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of January, and had in mind to make a motion concerning the protection of the consuls-elect, although I had resolved not to come to the Senate before the Kalends of January, yet, since on that very day your edict was published, I thought it a sin either that the Senate should be so held that silence was kept regarding your divine services to the republic (which would have happened, had I not come), or also, if anything was said honorably about you, that I should not be present.
itaque in senatum veni mane.
And so I came to the Senate in the morning.
§11.6.3quod cum esset animadversum, frequentissimi senatores convenerunt.
When this was noticed, the senators assembled in great numbers.
quae de te in senatu egerim, quae in contione maxima dixerim, aliorum te litteris malo cognoscere; illud tibi persuadeas velim, me omnia quae ad tuam dignitatem augendam pertinebunt, quae est per se amplissima, summo semper studio suscepturum et defensurum.
What I did concerning you in the Senate, what I said in a very large public assembly, I prefer that you learn from the letters of others; I would wish you to persuade yourself of this, that I will always, with the greatest zeal, undertake and defend all things which shall pertain to increasing your dignity, which is of itself most ample.
quod quamquam intellego me cum multis esse facturum, tamen appetam huius rei principatum.
And although I understand that I shall be doing this in common with many, yet I shall strive for leadership in this matter.

Notes

  1. §11.6.1quod mihi tuam dignitatem commendas — The conjunction `quod` introduces a noun clause of fact, functioning as an accusative of specification ('As to the fact that you commend your dignity to me').
  2. §11.6.1exploratum habebis — The combination of the perfect passive participle `exploratum` and the verb `habebis` denotes a completed state held by the subject, equivalent to the future perfect `exploraveris` ('if you hold it as fully ascertained'). This construction is a precursor to the compound perfect/future tenses in Romance languages.
  3. §11.6.2nefas esse duxi — The verb `duxi` ('I considered') takes the indeclinable noun `nefas` ('a sin, a violation of divine law') as a predicate accusative, with two coordinate accusative-and-infinitive clauses (`aut ita haberi senatum...` and `aut... me non adesse`) acting as its subjects/objects.
  4. §11.6.3quod cum esset animadversum — The relative pronoun `quod` is used at the beginning of the sentence (connecting relative), referring back to the entire action of Cicero's early arrival in the Senate, and serves as the subject of the `cum` clause.
  5. §11.6.3appetam — First-person singular future indicative of the third-conjugation verb `appetere`. Though identical in form to the present subjunctive, here, paired with `tamen` and corresponding to the future participle `facturum`, it is best understood as future indicative expressing a firm intention ('I shall strive for').

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §11.6.1-11.6.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:11.6.1-11.6.3

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