Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Atticus §11.5.1-11.5.4

Distress over Recent Moves and Travel Concerns

Passage 250 of 461 · Latin

Summary

The author expresses his great pain in explaining the causes of his actions, thanks Atticus for seeking new ways to protect him despite the sudden event, and discusses travel difficulties. He also touches upon his family members' cold behavior and other personal affairs.

§11.5.1quae me causae moverint, quam acerbae, quam graves, quam novae, coegerintque impetu magis quodam animi uti quam cogitatione, non possum ad te sine maximo dolore scribere.
What causes moved me, how bitter, how heavy, how strange, and forced me to use a certain impulse of the mind rather than deliberation, I cannot write to you without the greatest pain.
fuerunt quidem tantae ut id quod vides effecerint.
They were indeed so great that they brought about that which you see.
itaque nec quid ad te scribam de meis rebus nec quid a te petam reperio; rem et summam negoti vides.
Therefore, I find neither what to write to you about my affairs nor what to ask of you; you see the matter and the sum of the business.
equidem ex tuis litteris intellexi et iis quas communiter cum aliis scripsisti et iis quas tuo nomine, quod etiam mea sponte videbam, te subita re quasi debilitatum novas rationes tuendi mei quaerere.
Indeed, I have understood from your letters, both those which you wrote in common with others and those in your own name—which I also saw of my own accord—that you, as if weakened by the sudden event, are seeking new ways of protecting me.
§11.5.2quod scribis placere ut propius accedam iterque per oppida noctu faciam, non sane video quem ad modum id fieri possit.
As for your writing that it is pleasing that I should approach closer and make my journey through the towns by night, I do not really see how that can be done.
neque enim ita apta habeo deversoria ut tota tempora diurna in iis possim consumere, neque ad id quod quaeris multum interest utrum me homines in oppido videant an in via.
For I do not have lodgings so suitable that I can spend the entire daytime in them, nor does it matter much for that which you ask whether people see me in a town or on the road.
sed tamen hoc ipsum sicut alia considerabo quem ad modum commodissime fieri posse videatur.
But nevertheless, I will consider this very thing, as other matters, in what way it seems able to be done most conveniently.
§11.5.3ego propter incredibilem et animi et corporis molestiam conficere pluris litteras non potui; iis tantum rescripsi a quibus acceperam.
On account of an incredible trouble of both mind and body, I have not been able to compose more letters; I only wrote back to those from whom I had received them.
tu velim et Basilo et quibus praeterea videbitur, etiam Servilio conscribas, ut tibi videbitur, meo nomine.
I would like you to write both to Basilus and to whomsoever else it shall seem fit, and also to Servilius, as it shall seem fit to you, in my name.
quod tanto intervallo nihil omnino ad vos scripsi, his litteris profecto intellegis rem mihi desse de qua scribam, non voluntatem.
As for my having written absolutely nothing to you all at so great an interval, you surely understand by this letter that it is the subject matter that is lacking to me to write about, not the will.
§11.5.4quod de Vatinio quaeris, neque illius neque cuiusquam mihi praeterea officium desset, si reperire possent qua in re me iuvarent.
As for your asking about Vatinius, neither his service nor anyone else's besides would be lacking to me, if they could find in what matter they might help me.
Quintus aversissimo a me animo Patris fuit.
Quintus was at Patrae with a mind most alienated from me.
eodem Corcyra filius venit.
To the same place his son came from Corcyra.
inde profectos eos una cum ceteris arbitror.
I think that they set out from there together with the others.

Notes

  1. 11.5.1quae me causae moverint — This indirect question clause extends up to the coegerintque clause, functioning as the preposed object of the main verb scribere, and serves to introduce the painful topic of the letter.
  2. 11.5.1tuendi mei — The gerundive tuendi modifies the genitive personal pronoun mei. By grammatical rule, a gerundive construction with a genitive personal or reflexive pronoun (mei, tui, sui, nostri, vestri) always uses the neuter singular genitive form (-i), regardless of the gender or number of the actual referent.
  3. 11.5.2quod scribis placere ut — The quod clause ("As for your writing that...") serves as a clause of respect introducing the topic. placere is an infinitive in indirect discourse governed by scribis, and the ut-clause starting with ut propius accedam acts as the logical subject of the impersonal placere.
  4. 11.5.4Patris — The locative (or ablative of place where) of Patrae, a plural feminine place-name, meaning 'at Patrae'.
  5. 11.5.4inde profectos eos una cum ceteris arbitror — An accusative with infinitive construction dependent on arbitror, with eos as the subject accusative and the infinitive profectos (esse) having its auxiliary verb omitted as is customary.

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Atticus §11.5.1-11.5.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi057.humanitext-lat1:11.5.1-11.5.4

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