Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Atticus §12.9.1

Praise of the Villa's Setting and Annoyance at Chatter

Passage 283 of 461 · Latin

Summary

Cicero praises the beauty of his current villa and its surroundings, stating that he would thoroughly enjoy his solitude if not for a certain disturbance and a previously mentioned reason. He concludes the letter as he is feeling sleepy.

§12.9.1ne ego essem hic libenter atque id cotidie magis, ni esset ea causa quam tibi superioribus litteris scripsi.
Indeed, I should be staying here with pleasure, and more so every day, were it not for that cause of which I wrote to you in my previous letter.
nihil hac solitudine iucundius, nisi paulum interpellasset Amyntae filius.
Nothing could be more pleasant than this solitude, had not the son of Amyntas interrupted me a little.
ὢ ἀπεραντολογίας ἀηδοῦσ! cetera noli putare amabiliora fieri posse villa, litore, prospectu maris, tumulis his rebus omnibus.
Oh, what unpleasant, endless chatter! For the rest, do not think that anything could be more lovely than this villa, the shore, the view of the sea, the hills, indeed all these things.
sed neque haec digna longioribus litteris nec erat quod scriberem, et somnus urgebat.
But neither are these matters worthy of a longer letter, nor was there anything for me to write, and sleep is pressing upon me.

Notes

  1. 12.9.1ne — This is not the negative adverb, but a spelling of the particle nae (indeed, truly), expressing emphasis. It is used with the imperfect subjunctive essem to emphasize the apodosis of a present counterfactual conditional.
  2. 12.9.1ὢ ἀπεραντολογίας ἀηδοῦς! — Genitive of exclamation introduced by the interjection ὢ. It consists of the noun ἀπεραντολογία (endless talking) and the adjective ἀηδής (unpleasant) in the genitive case.
  3. 12.9.1villa, litore, prospectu maris, tumulis his rebus omnibus — The listed nouns and the summarizing demonstrative phrase his rebus omnibus are all ablatives of comparison depending on the comparative adjective amabiliora.
  4. 12.9.1nec erat quod scriberem — The clause quod scriberem is a relative clause of characteristic with the imperfect subjunctive scriberem, meaning 'anything to write'. The subject of erat (such as nihil) is omitted.

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Atticus §12.9.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi057.humanitext-lat1:12.9.1

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