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Cicero · Letters to Atticus §15.4A.1

Request from Lucius Caesar and Travel Plans for Rome

Passage 414 of 461 · Latin

Summary

Cicero reports on his letters to Brutus and Dolabella, expresses his annoyance at an unexpected meeting request from Lucius Caesar, and shares his plan to head to Rome.

§15.4A.1quam vellem Bruto studium tuum navare potuisses! ego igitur ad eum litteras.
How I wish you had been able to devote your zeal to Brutus! So I [wrote] a letter to him.
ad Dolabellam Tironem misi cum mandatis et litteris.
I sent Tiro to Dolabella with instructions and a letter.
eum ad te vocabis et si quid habebis quod placeat scribes.
Call him to you, and write if you have anything that pleases you.
ecce autem de traverso L. Caesar ut veniam ad se rogat in Nemus aut scribam quo se venire velim; Bruto enim placere se a me conveniri.
But look, out of the blue, Lucius Caesar asks me to come to him at Nemi, or to write where I would like him to come; for he says that Brutus wishes him to be met by me.
o rem odiosam et inexplicabilem! puto me ergo iturum et inde Romam, nisi quid mutaro.
Oh, what a tiresome and intractable business! I think, therefore, that I shall go, and from there to Rome, unless I change my mind.
summatim adhuc ad te; nihildum enim a Balbo.
So far, I write to you only briefly; for nothing yet has come from Balbus.
tuas igitur exspecto nec actorum solum sed etiam futurorum.
I am waiting, then, for your letters, not only about what has been done, but also about what is to come.

Notes

  1. §15.4A.1vellem... potuisses — The imperfect subjunctive vellem followed by the pluperfect subjunctive potuisses expresses an unfulfilled wish in the past ('how I wish you had been able...').
  2. §15.4A.1ego igitur ad eum litteras. — An elliptical expression typical of epistolary style, where a verb of sending or writing (such as misi or scripsi) is omitted.
  3. §15.4A.1Bruto enim placere se a me conveniri. — Indirect speech reporting Lucius Caesar's words. The subject of the impersonal verb placere is the accusative and infinitive clause se a me conveniri ('that he should be met by me'). Bruto is the dative of reference, and the reflexive pronoun se refers to the speaker (Caesar).

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Atticus §15.4A.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi057.humanitext-lat1:15.4A.1

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