Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Friends §7.27.1-7.27.2

Sharp Rebuttal to Unjust Accusations and Exposure of Impotence

Passage 149 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Cicero vigorously refutes an opponent who unjustifiably accuses him, exposing the contradictions in his past claims and pointing out his complete lack of influence.

§7.27.1miror cur me accuses, cum tibi id facere non liceat.
I wonder why you accuse me, since it is not permitted for you to do so.
quod si liceret, tamen non debebas.
But even if it were permitted, nevertheless you ought not to have done so.
'ego enim te in consulatu observaram,' et ais fore ut te Caesar restituat.
"For I had respected you in my consulship," and you say that Caesar will restore you.
multa tu quidem dicis, sed tibi nemo credit.
You indeed say many things, but no one believes you.
tribunatum plebei dicis te mea causa petisse.
You say that you sought the tribunate of the plebs for my sake.
utinam semper esses tribunus! intercessorem non quaereres.
Would that you were always a tribune! You would not be looking for an intercessor.
negas me audere quod sentiam dicere: quasi tibi, cum impudenter me rogares, parum fortiter responderim.
You deny that I dare to say what I think: as if I had answered you with too little firmness when you made a shameless request of me.
§7.27.2haec tibi scripsi, ut isto ipso in genere, in quo aliquid posse vis, te nihil esse cognosceres.
I have written these things to you so that, in that very department in which you wish to be of some influence, you might realize that you are nothing.
quod si humaniter mecum questus esses, libenter tibi me et facile purgassem; non enim ingrata mihi sunt quae fecisti, sed quae scripsisti, molesta.
But if you had complained to me in a gentlemanly way, I would have gladly and easily cleared myself to you; for the things you did are not unpleasing to me, but the things you wrote are annoying.
me autem, propter quem ceteri liberi sunt, tibi liberum non visum demiror.
But I am astonished that I, thanks to whom the rest are free, did not seem free to you.
nam si falsa fuerunt quae tu ad me, ut ais, 'detulisti,' quod tibi ego debeo? si vera tu es optimus testis quid mihi p. R. debeat.
For if the things which you "reported" to me, as you say, were false, what do I owe you? If they were true, you are the best witness of what the Roman people owes me.

Notes

  1. §7.27.1observaram — A syncopated form of observaveram (pluperfect active indicative first-person singular), with ve omitted from the perfect stem. Cicero is quoting his opponent's claim: "I had respected you."
  2. §7.27.1non debebas — The apodosis to the contrary-to-fact conditional clause quod si liceret (imperfect subjunctive). In Latin, verbs expressing obligation, necessity, or possibility (such as debere) typically stand in the indicative (especially imperfect) in the apodosis of a contrary-to-fact condition.
  3. §7.27.1utinam semper esses... non quaereres — The particle utinam with the imperfect subjunctive esses expresses a wish unfulfilled in the present ("Would that you were always a tribune!"). The subsequent non quaereres, also in the imperfect subjunctive, acts as the contrary-to-fact apodosis to this assumed scenario ("you would not then be looking for an intercessor").
  4. §7.27.2me... non visum — An accusative with infinitive (A.C.I.) construction functioning as the object of demiror ("I am astonished"), with esse omitted after the perfect passive participle visum. It forms the clause: "that I... did not seem free to you."
  5. §7.27.2quid mihi p. R. debeat — An indirect question clause dependent on the noun testis ("witness"), with the verb debeat in the present subjunctive. The abbreviation p. R. stands for populus Romanus (the Roman people).

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §7.27.1-7.27.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:7.27.1-7.27.2

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