Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Atticus §13.49.1-13.49.2

Defense of Phamea and Resentment of Tigellius

Passage 380 of 461 · Latin

Summary

Cicero explains to Atticus how Tigellius is unfairly accusing him over a case involving Phamea, stating that he does not care about the anger of an irrelevant person.

§13.49.1Atticae primum salutem (quam equidem ruri esse arbitror; multam igitur salutem) et Piliae.
First, give my greetings to Attica (whom indeed I think to be in the country; therefore, many greetings to her) and to Pilia.
de Tigellio, si quid novi.
About Tigellius, if there is any news.
qui quidem, ut mihi Gallus Fadius scripsit, μέμψιν ἀναφέρει mihi quandam iniquissimam, me Phameae defuisse cum eius causam recepissem.
He indeed, as Gallus Fadius wrote to me, brings a most unjust complaint against me, that I failed Phamea although I had undertaken his case.
quam quidem receperam contra pueros Octavios Cn. filios non libenter; sed Phameae causa volebam.
I had indeed undertaken that case against the young Octavii, sons of Gnaeus, not very willingly; but I wanted to do it for Phamea's sake.
erat enim, si meministi, in consulatus petitione per te mihi pollicitus si quid opus esset; quod ego perinde tuebar ac si usus essem.
For, if you remember, during my candidacy for the consulship he had promised me through you to help if there should be any need; which promise I regarded just as if I had actually made use of it.
is ad me venit dixitque iudicem operam dare sibi constituisse eo die ipso quo de Sestio nostro lege Pompeia in consilium iri necesse erat.
He came to me and said that the judge had decided to attend to his business on the very day on which it was necessary for the jury to go into consultation regarding our friend Sestius under the Pompeian law.
scis enim dies illorum iudiciorum praestitutos fuisse.
For you know that the days for those trials had been fixed beforehand.
respondi non ignorare eum quid ego deberem Sestio.
I replied that he was not ignorant of what I owed Sestius.
quem vellet alium diem si sumpsisset, me ei non defuturum.
If he had taken any other day he wished, I would not have failed him.
ita tum ille discessit iratus.
So then he departed in anger.
puto me tibi narrasse.
I think I told you.
non laboravi scilicet nec hominis alieni iniustissimam iracundiam mihi curandam putavi.
Of course I did not trouble myself, nor did I think that I should care about the most unjust anger of a stranger.
§13.49.2Gallo autem narravi, cum proxime Romae fui, quid audissem neque nominavi Balbum minorem.
However, when I was recently in Rome, I told Gallus what I had heard, and I did not name the younger Balbus.
habuit suum negotium Gallus ut scribit.
Gallus had his own business, as he writes.
ait illum dicere me animi conscientia quod Phamean destituissem de se suspicari.
He says that Tigellius says that I, from a guilty conscience because I had abandoned Phamea, suspect him.
qua re tibi hactenus mando, de illo nostro, si quid poteris, exquiras, de me ne quid labores.
Therefore I entrust you with this much: inquire about that man of ours, if you can do anything, and do not trouble yourself about me.
est bellum aliquem libenter odisse et quem ad modum non omnibus dormire, ita non omnibus servire.
It is a fine thing to hate someone freely, and just as not to sleep for everyone, so not to be at the service of everyone.
etsi me hercule, ut tu intellegis, magis mihi isti serviunt, si observare servire est.
Although, by Hercules, as you understand, those fellows rather serve me, if to show respect is to serve.

Notes

  1. 13.49.1in consilium iri — An impersonal passive infinitive construction of the intransitive verb ire (literally, "to be gone into consultation"). It refers to the jury retiring to deliberate and reach a verdict.
  2. 13.49.1quod ego perinde tuebar ac si usus essem — quod is a relative pronoun referring to the promise mentioned in the previous clause and serves as the direct object of tuebar. perinde ... ac si is a comparative clause taking the subjunctive (usus essem), meaning "just as if I had actually made use of it."
  3. 13.49.1quem vellet alium diem si sumpsisset — A conditional clause in indirect speech corresponding to a future-more-vivid or past condition. Under the sequence of tenses, what would have been a future perfect (si sumpserit) in direct speech is represented by the pluperfect subjunctive (sumpsisset). quem vellet alium diem stands for alium diem quem vellet.
  4. 13.49.2non omnibus dormire — The infinitives dormire and servire serve as the subjects of est bellum. The phrase "not to sleep for everyone" alludes to the famous anecdote of Cipius, who pretended to sleep to overlook his wife's infidelity with a preferred lover, but woke up to stop others, saying "non omnibus dormio" ("I do not sleep for everyone").

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Atticus §13.49.1-13.49.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi057.humanitext-lat1:13.49.1-13.49.2

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

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