Cicero · Letters to Friends §5.15.1-5.15.5

Gratitude to Lupus and Grief beyond Consolation

Passage 91 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Cicero expresses his gratitude to Lupus for his letters, but laments that due to the loss of old friends, the political turmoil of the civil war, and his profound grief, even literature fails to provide him with a true refuge, expressing a hope to meet him soon.

§5.15.1omnis amor tuus ex omnibus partibus se ostendit in iis litteris, quas a te proxime accepi, non ille quidem mihi ignotus, sed tamen gratus et optatus (dicerem 'iucundus,' nisi id verbum in omne tempus perdidissem), neque ob eam unam causam, quam tu suspicaris et in qua me lenissimis et amantissimis verbis utens re graviter accusas, sed quod, illius tanti vulneris quae remedia esse debebant, ea nulla sunt.

All your love shows itself from every side in those letters which I have recently received from you, a love indeed not unknown to me, but yet grateful and desirable (I would say 'pleasant,' if I had not lost that word for all time), and not for that single cause which you suspect and in which you, using very gentle and loving words, heavily accuse me in fact, but because those things which ought to have been the remedies for that so great a wound, are none.

§5.15.2quid enim? ad amicosne confugiam? quam multi sunt? habuimus enim fere communis; quorum alii occiderunt, alii nescio quo pacto obduruerunt.

For why? Shall I flee to friends? How many are there? For we had almost common friends; of whom some have fallen, others have hardened, I know not in what way.

tecum vivere possem equidem et maxime vellem; vetustas,. amor, consuetudo, studia paria; quod vinclum, quaeso, dest nostrae coniunctionis? possumusne igitur esse una? nec me hercule intellego quid impediat; sed certe adhuc non fuimus, cum essemus vicini in Tusculano, in Puteolano; nam quid dicam in urbe? in qua cum forum commune sit, vicinitas non requiritur.

I indeed could live with you, and would most especially wish to; old association,. love, custom, equal studies; what bond, I ask, is lacking for our union? Can we therefore be together? Nor, by Hercules, do I understand what prevents us; but certainly we have not been so far, though we were neighbors in Tusculum, and in Puteoli; for what shall I say of the city? In which, since the forum is common, neighborhood is not required.

§5.15.3sed casu nescio quo in ea tempora nostra aetas incidit, ut cum maxime florere nos oporteret, tum vivere etiam puderet.

But by some chance or other our age has fallen into those times, so that when it was most fitting for us to flourish, then it was even shameful to live.

quod enim esse poterat mihi perfugium spoliato et domesticis et forensibus ornamentis atque solaciis? Litterae, credo, quibus utor adsidue; quid enim aliud facere possum? sed nescio quo modo ipsae illae excludere me a portu et perfugio videntur et quasi exprobrare, quod in ea vita maneam, in qua nihil insit nisi propagatio miserrimi temporis

For what refuge could there be for me, despoiled of both domestic and public ornaments and consolations? Literature, I suppose, which I use constantly; for what else can I do? But somehow those very writings seem to exclude me from port and refuge, and as if to reproach me for remaining in that life in which there is nothing but the prolongation of a most miserable time.

§5.15.4hic tu me abesse urbe miraris, in qua domus nihil delectare possit, summum sit odium temporum, hominum, fori, curiae? itaque sic litteris utor, in quibus consumo omne tempus, non ut ab iis medicinam perpetuam, sed ut exiguam oblivionem doloris petam.

Here do you wonder that I am absent from the city, in which home can delight in nothing, and there is the greatest hatred of the times, of men, of the forum, of the senate? And so I use literature in this way, in which I spend all my time, not to seek from it a permanent cure, but a slight oblivion of pain.

§5.15.5quod si id egissemus ego atque tu, quod ne in mentem quidem nobis veniebat propter cotidianos metus, omne tempus una fuissemus, neque me valetudo tua offenderet neque te maeror meus.

But if you and I had done that which did not even enter into our minds on account of daily fears, we would have been together all the time, nor would your health have offended me, nor my grief you.

quod quantum fieri poterit consequamur;

Let us pursue this as much as possible; for what is more suitable for both of us?

quid enim est utrique nostrum aptius? propediem te igitur videbo.

I shall see you, therefore, very shortly.

Notes

5.15.1dicerem 'iucundus,' nisi id verbum in omne tempus perdidissem — A mixed conditional sentence with the subjunctive imperfect (dicerem) in the main clause and the subjunctive pluperfect (perdidissem) in the conditional clause. Based on the past fact of having lost the word (alluding to the death of his daughter Tullia), it expresses the counterfactual present consequence of being unable to use the word.
5.15.1illius tanti vulneris quae remedia esse debebant, ea nulla sunt — A syntactic structure where the antecedent `remedia` is attracted into the relative clause as the modifier of the relative adjective `quae`. It is picked up in the main clause by the neuter plural demonstrative pronoun `ea`, equivalent to `ea remedia, quae... debebant, nulla sunt`.
5.15.3ut cum maxime florere nos oporteret, tum vivere etiam puderet — The conjunction `ut` introduces a result clause, within which the correlative structure `cum... tum...` ('when... then...') is employed. The impersonal verbs `oporteret` and `puderet` take the accusative-and-infinitive clause `nos florere` and the infinitive `vivere` as their respective subjects.
5.15.5quod si id egissemus ego atque tu, quod ne in mentem quidem nobis veniebat propter cotidianos metus, omne tempus una fuissemus — The sentence-initial relative of connection `quod` means 'but' or 'and'. The demonstrative pronoun `id`, serving as the object of `egissemus`, proleptically anticipates the content of the following clause (living together), while the intervening relative clause `quod ne in mentem...` takes this `id` as its antecedent.

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §5.15.1-5.15.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:5.15.1-5.15.5

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