Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Atticus §14.4.1

Anxiety over the Situation and the Solace of the Ides

Passage 387 of 461 · Latin

Summary

Cicero expresses his anxiety over the tense political and military situation following Caesar's assassination, yet finds consolation in the 'Ides of March' and urges Atticus to maintain their regular correspondence.

§14.4.1numquid putas me Lanuvi? ac ego te istic cotidie aliquid novi suspicor.
Do you suppose I am at Lanuvium? And I suspect that you, where you are, daily hear something new.
tument negotia.
Troubles are brewing.
nam cum Matius, quid censes ceteros? equidem doleo, quod numquam in ulla civitate accidit non una cum libertate rem publicam reciperatam.
For when Matius says such things, what do you think of the rest? For my part, I grieve because it has never happened in any state that the commonwealth was not recovered together with liberty.
horribile est quae loquantur, quae minitentur.
It is horrible what they say, what they threaten.
ac vereor Gallica etiam bella, ipse Sextus quo evadat.
And I fear also Gallic wars, and where Sextus himself may end up.
sed omnia licet concurrant, Idus Martiae consolantur.
But though all things should clash together, the Ides of March console me.
nostri autem ἥρωεσ, quod per ipsos confici potuit, gloriosissime et magnificentissime confecerunt; reliquae res opes et copias desiderant, quas nullas habemus.
Our heroes, moreover, have accomplished most gloriously and magnificently what could be accomplished by themselves; the remaining matters require resources and forces, of which we have none.
haec ego ad te.
This much from me to you.
tu, si quid novi (nam cotidie aliquid exspecto), confestim ad me et, si novi nihil, nostro more tamen ne patiamur intermitti litterulas.
Do you, if there is any news (for I expect something every day), write immediately to me, and even if there is no news, let us nevertheless, according to our custom, not allow our little correspondence to be interrupted.
equidem non committam.
For my part, I shall not fail.

Notes

  1. §14.4.1Lanuvi — The locative case of the proper noun Lanuvium, meaning 'at Lanuvium,' with the ellipsis of the existential verb esse.
  2. §14.4.1nam cum Matius, quid censes ceteros? — A highly elliptical construction. In the cum-clause, a verb such as loquatur (speaks) or sentiat (thinks) is omitted, and in the main question, an infinitive like facere (to do) or loqui (to speak) is omitted after the accusative ceteros.
  3. §14.4.1quod numquam in ulla civitate accidit non una cum libertate rem publicam reciperatam. — The accusative and infinitive clause rem publicam reciperatam [esse] (or the noun-participle construction meaning 'the recovery of the state') serves as the subject of the impersonal verb accidit. Combined with non una cum libertate, it laments that the state's recovery did not coincide with the restoration of liberty, a situation Cicero claims is unprecedented.
  4. §14.4.1licet concurrant — The verb licet functions here as a concessive conjunction taking the present subjunctive concurrant, meaning 'although / even if they should clash together.'
  5. §14.4.1quod per ipsos confici potuit — A relative clause introduced by the relative pronoun quod (neuter singular accusative), functioning as the direct object of the main verb confecerunt, meaning 'what could be accomplished by themselves.'
  6. §14.4.1equidem non committam. — An elliptical idiom where a subordinate clause with ut and the subjunctive (such as ut intermittantur) is omitted after committam (from committo, to commit an error). It expresses a strong promise: 'I will not make the mistake of letting [the letters] be interrupted.'

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Atticus §14.4.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi057.humanitext-lat1:14.4.1

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