Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Friends §12.20.1

Visits to Villas and a Letter from the Senate

Passage 288 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Cicero expresses pleasure at his friend's letter but humorously reproaches him for bypassing his lodge at Sinuessa, urging him to make up for it by visiting his other villas and explaining that he is writing in haste from the senate.

§12.20.1gratae mihi tuae litterae, nisi quod Sinuessanum deversoriolum contempsisti.
Your letter was pleasing to me, except for the fact that you looked down upon my little lodging at Sinuessa.
quam quidem contumeliam villa pusilla iniquo animo feret, nisi in Cumano et Pompeiano reddideris u(pomnhmatismo\n.
Indeed, that tiny villa will bear this insult with an uneasy mind, unless you make up for it by a memorandum (ὑπομνηματισμόν) at my villas in Cumae and Pompeii.
sic igitur facies meque amabis et scripto aliquo lacesses; ego enim respondere facilius possum quam provocare.
So, you will do thus, and you will love me and challenge me with some writing; for I can reply more easily than I can initiate a challenge.
quod si, †ut es, cessabis, lacessam, nec tua ignavia etiam mihi inertiam adferet.
But if, as you are doing, you idle, I will challenge you, nor will your laziness bring inertia upon me as well.
plura otiosus; haec cum essem in senatu exaravi.
More when I am at leisure; I scribbled this while I was in the senate.

Notes

  1. §12.20.1nisi quod — Introduces a limitation on the main statement, meaning "except for the fact that" or "save that."
  2. §12.20.1u(pomnhmatismo\n — The Greek word ὑπομνηματισμόν (in the accusative). While it literally means a "memorandum," "notebook," or "official record," it is used here humorously to refer to a visit or a written message left at Cicero's villas as a form of "repayment" or "recompense."
  3. §12.20.1sic igitur facies — The future indicative verbs (facies, amabis, lacesses) are used here with the force of an imperative or a polite request, a feature common in colloquial and epistolary Latin.
  4. §12.20.1plura otiosus — A highly elliptical epistolary expression where a verb of writing or speaking (such as scribam or loquar) is omitted. It translates to "I will write more when I am at leisure."

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §12.20.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:12.20.1

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