Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Atticus §1.9.1-1.9.2

Urging for Letters and Statues for the Academy

Passage 9 of 461 · Latin

Summary

Cicero complains about the rarity of letters from Atticus and urges him to send the statues and Herms suitable for his "Academy" villa, mentioning Lentulus's offer of ships.

§1.9.1nimium raro nobis abs te litterae adferuntur, cum et multo tu facilius reperias qui Romam proficiscantur quam ego qui Athenas, et certius tibi sit me esse Romae quam mihi te Athenis.
Letters are brought to us from you too rarely, considering that you can find those who are starting for Rome much more easily than I those for Athens, and that it is more certain for you that I am in Rome than for me that you are in Athens.
itaque propter hanc dubitationem meam brevior haec ipsa epistula est quod, cum incertus essem ubi esses, nolebam illum nostrum familiarem sermonem in alienas manus devenire.
And so, because of this hesitation of mine, this very letter is shorter because, since I was uncertain where you were, I did not wish that familiar conversation of ours to fall into stranger hands.
§1.9.2signa Megarica et Hermas, de quibus ad me scripsisti, vehementer exspecto.
I am eagerly expecting the Megarian statues and the Herms about which you wrote to me.
quicquid eiusdem generis habebis dignum Academia tibi quod videbitur ne dubitaris mittere et arcae nostrae confidito.
Whatever of the same kind you have that shall seem to you worthy of the Academy, do not hesitate to send, and trust to our purse.
genus hoc est voluptatis meae; quae γυμνασιώδη maxime sunt, ea quaero.
This is the kind of my pleasure; those which are most suitable for a gymnasium are what I seek.
Lentulus navis suas pollicetur.
Lentulus promises his ships.
peto abs te ut haec diligenter cures.
I beg of you to attend to these things diligently.
Thyillus te rogat et ego eius rogatu Εὐμολπιδῶν πάτρια.
Thyillus asks you, and I at his request ask for, the traditional rites of the Eumolpidae.

Notes

  1. 1.9.1cum et multo tu facilius reperias... et certius tibi sit — The conjunction 'cum' here introduces a concessive or causal clause ('whereas', 'since'), taking the subjunctive verbs 'reperias' and 'sit'. The correlative 'et... et...' connects two parallel comparative structures: finding travelers to Rome versus to Athens, and the certainty of Cicero being in Rome versus Atticus in Athens.
  2. 1.9.2ne dubitaris — A negative command (prohibition) addressed to the second person singular, formed by 'ne' with the perfect subjunctive 'dubitaris' (a syncopated form of 'dubitaveris'). It is equivalent to 'noli' with the infinitive.
  3. 1.9.2Εὐμολπิดῶν πάτρια — A Greek phrase meaning 'ancestral customs/rites of the Eumolpidae' (a priestly family in Athens) in the neuter plural accusative. Syntactically, an object noun such as 'libros' (books) and a verb of asking (such as 'peto') are ellipted, to be supplied from 'rogat' and 'rogatu' in the preceding clause.

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Atticus §1.9.1-1.9.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi057.humanitext-lat1:1.9.1-1.9.2

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.