Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Atticus §3.25.1

Deepening Despair and a Plea for Atticus to Visit

Passage 73 of 461 · Latin

Summary

After Atticus's departure, Cicero deepens his despair due to letters received from Rome, and implores Atticus to keep his promise and appear before him by the first of January.

§3.25.1post tuum a me discessum litterae mihi Roma adlatae sunt ex quibus perspicio nobis in hac calamitate tabescendum esse.
After your departure from me, letters were brought to me from Rome, from which I perceive that we must waste away in this calamity.
neque enim (sed bonam in partem accipies) si ulla spes salutis nostrae subesset, tu pro tuo amore in me hoc tempore discessisses.
For indeed (but you will take it in good part), if there were any hope of our safety, you, out of your love for me, would not have departed at this time.
sed ne ingrati aut ne omnia velle nobiscum una interire videamur, hoc omitto; illud abs te peto des operam, id quod mihi adfirmasti, ut te ante Kalendas Ianuarias ubicumque erimus sistas.
But lest we should seem ungrateful, or seem to wish that everything should perish together with us, I pass this over; I beg this of you, that you exert yourself—just as you assured me—to present yourself before the Kalends of January, wherever we shall be.

Notes

  1. 3.25.1nobis ... tabescendum esse — An impersonal passive periphrastic construction using the future passive participle (gerundive) of the intransitive verb tabesco (to waste away). 'nobis' is the dative of agent.
  2. 3.25.1si ulla spes salutis nostrae subesset, tu ... discessisses — A mixed conditional sentence. The protasis with 'subesset' (subjunctive imperfect) represents a contrary-to-fact condition in the present, while the apodosis with 'discessisses' (subjunctive pluperfect) represents a contrary-to-fact action in the past.
  3. 3.25.1des operam ... ut ... sistas — 'des operam' is a subjunctive clause depending on 'peto' with 'ut' omitted. 'sistas' is from the reflexive usage of 'sisto' ('te sistas', meaning to present oneself, to appear) in the 'ut' clause dependent on 'des operam'.

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Atticus §3.25.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi057.humanitext-lat1:3.25.1

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

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.