Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Friends §7.14.1-7.14.2

Teasing Trebatius for Silence and Joy at His Tie to Caesar

Passage 136 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Cicero, having learned of Trebatius's news through Chrysippus, playfully teases him for not writing directly, and rejoices in his intimacy with Caesar while encouraging him to value their mutual affection.

§7.14.1Chrysippus Vettius, Cyri architecti libertus fecit ut te non immemorem putarem mei; salutem enim verbis tuis mihi nuntiarat.
Chrysippus Vettius, the freedman of the architect Cyrus, made me think that you are not unmindful of me; for he had delivered a greeting to me in your words.
valde iam lautus es qui gravere litteras ad me dare homini praesertim prope domestico.
You are now indeed very grand, since you find it a burden to give a letter to me, especially to a man who is almost of your household.
quod si scribere oblitus es, minus multi iam te advocato causa cadent si nostri oblitus es, dabo operam ut istuc veniam ante quam plane ex animo tuo effluo; sin aestivorum timor te debilitat, aliquid excogita, ut fecisti de Britannia.
But if you have forgotten how to write, fewer people will now lose their cases with you as their advocate; if you have forgotten us, I will do my best to come there before I completely slip out of your mind; but if the fear of summer quarters unnerves you, devise something, as you did concerning Britain.
§7.14.2illud quidem perlibenter audivi ex eodem Chrysippo, te esse Caesari familiarem; sed me hercule mallem, id quod erat aequius, de tuis rebus ex tuis litteris quam saepissime cognoscerem.
I heard indeed with great pleasure from the same Chrysippus that you are intimate with Caesar; but by Hercules, I should have preferred—which would have been fairer—to learn of your affairs from your own letters as frequently as possible.
quod certe ita fieret, si tu maluisses benevolentiae quam litium iura perdiscere.
Which would certainly be so, if you had preferred to learn thoroughly the laws of goodwill rather than those of lawsuits.
sed haec iocati sumus et tuo more et non nihil etiam nostro.
But we have joked about these things both in your manner and not a little in ours as well.
te valde amamus nosque a te amari cum volumus tum etiam confidimus.
We love you greatly, and we both wish and also trust that we are loved by you.

Notes

  1. 7.14.1qui gravere — gravere is the second-person singular present subjunctive of the deponent verb gravor (with the suffix -re instead of -ris). The relative pronoun qui with the subjunctive refers to the antecedent tu, expressing the cause or reason for the adjective lautus (grand/noble).
  2. 7.14.2mallem ... cognoscerem — mallem is the imperfect subjunctive of malo, expressing a wish that is difficult or impossible to realize in the present (I should have preferred). It is directly followed by the imperfect subjunctive cognoscerem without the conjunction ut, forming the object clause of the wish.
  3. 7.14.2quod certe ita fieret, si tu maluisses — The initial quod is a connective relative pronoun referring to the preceding thought. The conditional sentence is mixed: the protasis si ... maluisses (pluperfect subjunctive) expresses a past contrary-to-fact condition, while the apodosis certe ita fieret (imperfect subjunctive) expresses a present contrary-to-fact result.

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §7.14.1-7.14.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:7.14.1-7.14.2

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