Cicero · Letters to Atticus §11.18.1-11.18.2

Appeal for Departure and Mediation with Caesar's Men

Passage 264 of 461 · Latin

Summary

With no news regarding Caesar's departure from Alexandria, Cicero grows anxious and begs Atticus to help him leave his current location and to mediate with Caesar's party.

§11.18.1de illius Alexandrea discessu nihil adhuc rumoris, contraque opinio valde esse impeditum.

There is still no rumor about his departure from Alexandria, but on the contrary there is a belief that he is very much delayed.

itaque nec mitto, ut constitueram, Ciceronem et te rogo ut me hinc expedias.

Therefore, I am not sending Cicero as I had decided, and I ask you to extricate me from here.

quodvis enim supplicium levius est hac permansione.

For any punishment whatsoever is lighter than staying on here.

hac de re et ad Antonium scripsi et ad Balbum et ad Oppium.

On this matter I have written both to Antony, and to Balbus, and to Oppius.

sive enim bellum in Italia futurum est sive classibus utetur, hic esse me minime convenit; quorum fortasse utrumque erit, alterum certe.

For whether there is going to be war in Italy or whether he will use fleets, it is by no means fitting for me to be here; of which perhaps both will happen, one certainly.

§11.18.2intellexi omnino ex Oppi sermone quem tu mihi scripsisti quae istorum ira esset, sed ut eam flectas te rogo.

I fully understood from Oppius' talk, which you wrote to me about, what the anger of those people was, but I ask you to turn it aside.

nihil omnino iam exspecto nisi miserum, sed hoc perditius in quo nunc sum fieri nihil potest.

I now expect nothing at all except misery, but nothing can become more ruinous than this condition in which I now am.

qua re et cum Antonio loquare velim et cum istis et rem, ut poteris, expedias et mihi quam primum de omnibus rebus rescribas.

Therefore, I should like you to speak both with Antony and with those people, and extricate the matter as you can, and write back to me as soon as possible about all things.

vale.

Farewell.

xii Kal. Quintil.

June 20.

Notes

11.18.1nihil adhuc rumoris — rumoris is a partitive genitive depending on the subject pronoun nihil; the copula est is omitted.
11.18.1valde esse impeditum — An accusative with infinitive clause (acI) in apposition to opinio. The subject accusative eum (referring to Caesar) is omitted from the context. It indicates that Caesar's departure is heavily obstructed.
11.18.1hac permansione — Ablative of comparison, dependent on the comparative adjective levius, meaning 'than staying on here'.
11.18.1quorum — Genitive plural neuter of the relative pronoun, whose antecedent is the two alternative conditions mentioned before (sive bellum... sive classibus utetur), functioning partitively ('of which').
11.18.2quae istorum ira esset — An indirect question clause acting as the direct object of the main verb intellexi; the verb esset is in the imperfect subjunctive. istorum ('of those people') refers to Caesar's partisans with a slightly deprecatory tone.
11.18.2hoc perditius in quo nunc sum — hoc is an ablative of comparison and serves as the antecedent to the following relative clause in quo nunc sum, meaning 'more ruinous than this condition in which I now am'.
11.18.2loquare ... expedias ... rescribas — Present subjunctives (volitive subjunctive) with ut omitted, dependent on velim ('I should like you to...'). They express an indirect but strong entreaty or request to Atticus.

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Atticus §11.18.1-11.18.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi057.humanitext-lat1:11.18.1-11.18.2

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