Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Atticus §13.32.1-13.32.3

Business of Faberius and Revision of Dialogues

Passage 362 of 461 · Latin

Summary

Cicero urges Atticus to proceed with the business of Faberius, requests the works of Dicaearchus, and discusses the revision of his own dialogues and historical inquiries regarding the ten commissioners.

§13.32.1alteram a te epistulam cum hodie accepissem, nolui te una mea contentum.
Having received a second letter from you today, I did not want you to be content with only one of mine.
tu vero age, quod scribis, de Faberio.
But do indeed go ahead, as you write, with the business of Faberius.
in eo enim totum est positum id quod cogitamus; quae cogitatio si non incidisset, mihi crede, istuc ut cetera non laborarem.
For upon that depends entirely what we have in mind; if this plan had not occurred to me, believe me, I should not be troubling myself about that matter any more than about other things.
quam ob rem, ut facis (istuc enim addi nihil potest), urge, insta, perfice.
Therefore, as you are doing (for nothing can be added to that), urge, press on, and finish it.
§13.32.2Dicaearchi περὶ ψυχῆσ utrosque velim mittas et καταβάσεωσ.
I should like you to send both volumes of Dicaearchus' *On the Soul*, and also the *Descent*.
Τριπολιτικὸν non invenio et epistulam eius quam ad Aristoxenum misit.
I cannot find his *Tripoliticus* and the letter which he sent to Aristoxenus.
tris eos libros maxime nunc vellem; apti essent ad id quod cogito.
Those three books I should especially like to have now; they would be suitable for what I am planning.
§13.32.3Torquatus Romae est.
*Torquatus* is in Rome.
misi ut tibi daretur. Catulum et Lucullum, ut opinor, antea.
I have sent it so that it might be given to you. *Catulus* and *Lucullus*, I think, were sent before.
his libris nova prohoemia sunt addita quibus eorum uterque laudatur.
To these books new introductions have been added, in which each of them is praised.
eas litteras volo habeas et sunt quaedam alia.
I want you to have those writings, and there are certain other things besides.
et quod ad te de decem legatis scripsi parum intellexisti, credo, quia διὰ σημείων scripseram.
And as to what I wrote to you about the ten commissioners, you did not quite understand, I suppose, because I had written in shorthand.
de C. Tuditano enim quaerebam quem ex Hortensio audieram fuisse in decem.
For I was inquiring about C. Tuditanus, whom I had heard from Hortensius was among the ten.
eum video in Libonis praetorem P. Popilio P. Rupilio coss.
I see him in Libo's book as praetor in the consulship of P. Popilius and P. Rupilio.
Annis xiiii ante quam praetor factus est legatus esse potuisset, nisi admodum sero quaestor est factus? quod non arbitror.
Could he have been a commissioner fourteen years before he was made praetor, unless he was made quaestor very late in life? Which I do not think was the case.
video enim curulis magistratus eum legitimis annis perfacile cepisse.
For I see that he obtained his curule offices very easily at the legal age.
Postumium autem cuius statuam in Isthmo meminisse te dicis nesciebam fuisse.
As to Postumius, however, whose statue on the Isthmus you say you remember, I did not know that he had been among them.
is autem est qui cos.
He is the one who was consul with L.
cum L. Lucullo fuit; quem tu mihi addidisti sane ad illum σύλλογον personam idoneam.
Lucullus; whom you suggested to me as indeed a suitable character for that dialogue.
videbis igitur, si poteris, ceteros, ut possimus πομπεῦσαι καὶ τοῖσ προσώποισ.
You will look, then, if you can, for the others, so that we may make a fine show with our characters too.

Notes

  1. §13.32.1nolui te una mea contentum — An accusative and infinitive construction with `esse` omitted is used as the object of the verb `nolui`. `una mea` is an ablative with the feminine singular noun `epistula` (letter) understood, functioning as the complement of the adjective `contentum` ('content with').
  2. §13.32.1quae cogitatio si non incidisset ... non laborarem — A conditional sentence introduced by the relative connection `quae`. The verb in the protasis, `incidisset` (pluperfect subjunctive), represents a past contrary-to-fact condition, whereas the verb in the apodosis, `laborarem` (imperfect subjunctive), represents a present, ongoing contrary-to-fact state, forming a mixed conditional structure.
  3. §13.32.2utrosque — The masculine accusative plural of the pronoun `uterque` ('each of the two'). Here it refers to 'both volumes' of Dicaearchus' *On the Soul*, which comprised two distinct dialogues (the *Corinthiacus* and the *Lesbiacus*). Together with the following `et καταβάσεωσ`, this represents two of the three books (tris eos libros) Cicero is asking for.
  4. §13.32.3Annis xiiii ante quam praetor factus est legatus esse potuisset, nisi admodum sero quaestor est factus? — The main clause is a rhetorical question with the pluperfect subjunctive `potuisset` expressing past possibility ('could he have been...'). The protasis `nisi ... est factus` ('unless he was made...') uses the perfect indicative to present a realistic qualification or exception based on actual historical facts.

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Atticus §13.32.1-13.32.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi057.humanitext-lat1:13.32.1-13.32.3

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