Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Atticus §13.30.1-13.30.2

Clodia's Gardens and the Legates of Mummius

Passage 360 of 461 · Latin

Summary

Cicero, informed by Eros about the auction, expresses his desire to buy Clodia's gardens after settling the Faberius affair. He also inquires about the ten commissioners sent to Mummius and mentions his plan to write a dialogue in the style of Dicaearchus.

§13.30.1commodum ad te miseram Demean quom Eros ad me venit.
Just as I had sent Demeas to you, Eros came to me.
sed in eius epistula nihil erat novi nisi auctionem biduum.
But in his letter there was nothing new, except that the auction is for two days.
ab ea igitur, ut scribis, et velim confecto negotio Faberiano; quem quidem negat Eros hodie, cras mane putat.
Therefore, as you write, I would wish to buy from her, and indeed after the Faberius business is settled; as for him, Eros says not today, but thinks tomorrow morning.
a te colendus est; istae autem κολακεῖαι?at non longe absunt a scelere.
You must cultivate him; but what of those flatteries? Yet they are not far removed from crime.
te, ut spero, perendie.
You, as I hope, the day after tomorrow.
§13.30.2mi, sicunde potes, erues qui decem legati Mummio fuerint.
My friend, if you can from somewhere, find out who the ten commissioners to Mummius were.
Polybius non nominat.
Polybius does not name them.
ego memini Albinum consularem et Sp. Mummium; videor audisse ex Hortensio Tuditanum.
I remember Albinus the consular, and Spurius Mummius; I seem to have heard from Hortensius of Tuditanus.
sed in Libonis annali xiiii annis post praetor est factus Tuditanus quam consul Mummius.
But in Libo's chronicle, Tuditanus was made praetor fourteen years after Mummius was consul.
non sane quadrat.
It certainly does not fit.
volo aliquem Olympiae aut ubi visum πολιτικὸν σύλλογον more Dicaearchi familiaris tui.
I want some political meeting at Olympia or wherever it seems fit, in the manner of your friend Dicaearchus.

Notes

  1. 13.30.1commodum ad te miseram Demean quom Eros ad me venit — commodum is used adverbially as "just then", which, together with quom (= cum), expresses a close temporal relation of "just as I had ..., ... occurred" (often equivalent to a cum inversum construction). miseram is pluperfect and venit is perfect.
  2. 13.30.1nihil erat novi nisi auctionem biduum — novi is a partitive genitive qualifying nihil. The accusative phrase auctionem biduum (or biduo) following nisi suggests an ellipsis of an accusative-with-infinitive construction, such as nisi [fore/esse] auctionem biduum, meaning "except that the auction was for two days (or postponed for two days)".
  3. 13.30.2qui decem legati Mummio fuerint — fuerint is the perfect subjunctive in an indirect question introduced by qui. Mummio is a dative of reference or relation, denoting the ten commissioners assigned or sent "to Mummius".
  4. 13.30.2volo aliquem ... πολιτικὸν σύλλογον — An infinitive such as scribere or facere (to write or compose) is omitted after volo. aliquem ... πολιτικὸν σύλλογον is its direct object. Dicaearchi refers to the Greek philosopher Dicaearchus, indicating Cicero's plan to imitate his dialogue style.

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Atticus §13.30.1-13.30.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi057.humanitext-lat1:13.30.1-13.30.2

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