Cicero · Letters to Friends §14.7.1-14.7.3

Recovery, Departure Plans, and Advice to Seek Safe Villas

Passage 364 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Cicero informs Terentia of his recovery from a physical ailment and mentions his preparations for the voyage from Athens, advising her to stay in safe villas away from the military.

§14.7.1omnis molestias et sollicitudines quibus et te miserrimam habui, id quod mihi molestissimum est, et Tulliolam, quae nobis nostra vita dulcior est, deposui et eieci.

I have laid aside and cast off all the troubles and anxieties with which I kept both you in utter misery—which is most painful to me—and dear Tullia, who is sweeter to us than our own life.

quid causae autem fuerit postridie intellexi quam a vobis discessi.

But what the cause was, I understood the day after I departed from you.

xolh\n a)/kraton noctu eieci; statim ita sum levatus, ut mihi deus aliquis medicinam fecisse videatur; cui quidem tu deo, quem ad modum soles, pie et caste satis facies.

I vomited pure bile during the night; immediately I was so relieved that some god seems to have cured me; to which god indeed you, as is your custom, will devoutly and chastely pay due thanks.

§14.7.2navem spero nos valde bonam habere.

I hope we have a very good ship.

in eam simul atque conscendi, haec scripsi.

As soon as I boarded her, I wrote this.

deinde conscribam ad nostros familiaris multas epistulas, quibus te et Tulliolam nostram diligentissime commendabo.

Then I shall write many letters to our friends, in which I shall most carefully commend you and our dear Tullia.

cohortarer vos quo animo fortiores essetis, nisi vos fortiores cognossem quam quemquam virum.

I would be encouraging you to be stronger in spirit, had I not known you to be stronger than any man.

et tamen eius modi spero negotia esse, ut et vos istic commodissime sperem esse et me aliquando cum similibus nostri rem p. defensuros.

And yet I hope that matters are of such a kind that I may hope both that you are very comfortable there and that I, along with those like us, will one day defend the republic.

§14.7.3tu primum valetudinem tuam velim cures; deinde, si tibi videbitur, villis iis utere quae longissime aberunt a militibus.

I would wish you first to take care of your health; then, if it seems good to you, use those villas which will be furthest away from the soldiers.

fundo Arpinati bene poteris uti cum familia urbana, si annona carior fuerit.

You will be able to make good use of the Arpinum estate with the city household, if grain becomes dearer.

Cicero bellissimus tibi salutem plurimam dicit.

Dearest Cicero sends you warmest greetings.

etiam atque etiam vale.

Farewell again and again.

D. Vii. Idus Iun.

June 7.

Notes

14.7.1quibus — Relative pronoun in the ablative case, with `molestias et sollicitudines` as its antecedent, indicating cause or instrument (by/with which). The following verb `habui` takes an accusative (te / Tulliolam) and an adjective in the accusative (miserrimam) to mean 'to keep/hold someone in a certain state.'
14.7.1postridie quam — The adverb `postridie` (the day after) and `quam` function together as a temporal conjunction meaning 'the day after.'
14.7.1cui ... deo ... satis facies — The phrase `satis facere` (or `satisfacere`) governs the dative case (`cui... deo`), meaning 'to satisfy, pay due respect/thanks, or perform one's duty to someone.' `cui` is used here as a relative adjective modifying `deo`.
14.7.2cohortarer ... nisi ... cognossem — A mixed conditional sentence. The apodosis `cohortarer` is in the imperfect subjunctive, representing a contrary-to-fact situation in the present ('I would be encouraging'), while the protasis `nisi ... cognossem` is in the pluperfect subjunctive, representing a contrary-to-fact situation in the past ('had I not known').
14.7.2me ... defensuros — Despite the singular subject pronoun `me` (accusative), the future participle in the infinitive is plural (`defensuros`, accusative). This grammatical disagreement is a constructio ad sensum (synesis), where the subject is treated as plural because it includes the phrase `cum similibus nostri` (along with those like us).

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §14.7.1-14.7.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:14.7.1-14.7.3

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