Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Friends §7.19.1

Dedication of the Topics to Trebatius and the Need for Practice

Passage 141 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Cicero informs Trebatius that he has sent him a Latin adaptation of Aristotle's Topics, emphasizing that like civil law, any art requires instruction and practice.

§7.19.1vide quanti apud me sis; etsi iure id quidem; non enim te amore vinco.
See how much I value you; and yet that is indeed only fair, for I do not surpass you in affection.
verum tamen quod praesenti tibi prope subnegaram, non tribueram certe id absenti debere non potui.
Nevertheless, what I had almost refused you when you were present and certainly had not granted, I could not fail to owe to you now that you are absent.
itaque ut primum Velia navigare coepi, institui Topica Aristotelea conscribere ab ipsa urbe commonitus amantissima tui.
Therefore, as soon as I began to sail from Velia, I resolved to write a treatise on Aristotle's Topics, being reminded of it by that very city which is so fond of you.
Eum librum tibi misi Regio, scriptum quam planissime res illa scribi potuit.
I have sent you that book from Regium, written as clearly as such a subject could be written.
sin tibi quaedam videbuntur obscuriora, cogitare debebis nullam artem litteris sine interprete et sine aliqua exercitatione percipi posse.
But if some parts of it seem rather obscure to you, you will have to reflect that no art can be acquired from books without an instructor and without some practice.
non longe abieris; num ius civile vestrum ex libris cognosci potest? qui quamquam plurimi sunt, doctorem tamen usumque desiderant.
You do not have to go far for an example; can your civil law be learned from books? Although those books are very numerous, they still require a teacher and experience.
quamquam, tu, si attente leges, si saepius, per te omnia consequere ut certe intellegas; ut vero etiam ipsi tibi loci proposita quaestione occurrant exercitatione consequere; in qua quidem nos te continebimus, si et salvi redierimus et salva ista offenderimus.
And yet, if you read attentively and repeatedly, you will by yourself achieve everything so as to understand it with certainty; but that the topics themselves should occur to you when a question is proposed, this you will achieve by practice; in which indeed I will keep you engaged, if I both return safe and find your affairs there safe.
v K. Sextil. Regio.
July 28, from Regium.

Notes

  1. 7.19.1debere non potui — debere means 'to owe' or 'to be under obligation.' Here it means 'I could not fail to pay the debt (of writing the treatise) to you now that you are absent, which I had almost refused when you were present.' The clause quod... subnegaram serves as the direct object of debere through the antecedent id.
  2. 7.19.1amantissima tui — tui is the genitive of the second-person singular pronoun, serving as an objective genitive governed by amantissima (nominative feminine singular, agreeing with urbe), a superlative adjective derived from a present participle.
  3. 7.19.1ut vero etiam ipsi tibi loci proposita quaestione occurrant exercitatione consequere — The core structure of the sentence has consequere (second-person singular future, a variant of consequeris) as the main verb, with the noun clause ut ... occurrant (subjunctive present) serving as its object. exercitatione is an ablative of means ('by practice'). Within the noun clause, loci is the subject ('topics'), ipsi tibi is the dative ('to you yourself'), proposita quaestione is an ablative absolute ('when a question is proposed'), and occurrant is the verb ('occur').

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §7.19.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:7.19.1

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