Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Atticus §8.13.1-8.13.2

Anxiety over Brundisium and Municipal Support for Caesar

Passage 189 of 461 · Latin

Summary

Cicero apologizes for using a secretary due to his eye ailment and expresses his anxiety while waiting for news from Brundisium. He notes with distress how public opinion in the municipalities has reversed in favor of the highly efficient Caesar due to self-interest.

§8.13.1lippitudinis meae signum tibi sit librari manus et eadem causa brevitatis; etsi nunc quidem quod scriberem nihil erat.
Let the handwriting of my secretary be a sign to you of my eye-trouble, and let the same be the cause of my brevity; although at the moment there was indeed nothing for me to write.
omnis exspectatio nostra erat in nuntiis Brundisinis si nactus hic esset Gnaeum nostrum, spes dubia pacis, sin ille ante tramisisset, exitiosi belli metus.
All our expectation hung on the news from Brundisium: if he should have caught up with our Gnaeus, there would be a doubtful hope of peace; but if the latter should have crossed over beforehand, there would be the dread of a ruinous war.
sed videsne in quem hominem inciderit res publica, quam acutum, quam vigilantem, quam paratum? si me hercule neminem occiderit nec cuiquam quicquam ademerit, ab iis qui eum maxime timuerant maxime diligetur.
But do you see what kind of man the republic has encountered? How sharp, how vigilant, how well-prepared? By Hercules, if he kills no one and deprives no one of anything, he will be most dearly loved by those who had feared him most.
§8.13.2multum mecum municipales homines loquuntur, multum rusticani; nihil prorsus aliud curant nisi agros, nisi villulas, nisi nummulos suos.
The people of the towns speak much with me, as do the country-folk; they care absolutely for nothing else but their fields, their little villas, and their paltry coins.
et vide quam conversa res sit; illum quo antea confidebant metuunt, hunc amant quem timebant.
And see how completely things have turned around: they fear the one in whom they previously trusted, and they love this one whom they used to fear.
id quantis nostris peccatis vitiisque evenerit non possum sine molestia cogitare.
I cannot reflect without pain on how great our errors and vices were to bring this about.
quae autem impendere putarem, scripseram ad te et iam tuas litteras exspectabam.
What I thought was impending, however, I had already written to you, and now I am expecting your letter.

Notes

  1. §8.13.1librari manus — Meaning 'the handwriting of my secretary.' 'librari' is the genitive singular of the noun 'librarius' (secretary, scribe). 'manus' is the nominative singular of the fourth-declension noun 'manus' (hand, handwriting), serving as the subject of the clause.
  2. §8.13.1si nactus hic esset Gnaeum nostrum, spes dubia pacis, sin ille ante tramisisset, exitiosi belli metus — The pronoun 'hic' (this one) refers to Caesar, while 'ille' (that one) refers to Pompey (Gnaeus). The nominal phrases 'spes dubia pacis' and 'exitiosi belli metus' following the conditional clauses express the expected outcomes, operating with an omitted verb (such as 'est' or 'erit').
  3. §8.13.2quo antea confidebant — The verb 'confido' (trust, rely on) regularly takes either a dative or an ablative complement. Here, the relative pronoun 'quo' is in the ablative, referring back to its antecedent 'illum' (referring to Pompey).

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Atticus §8.13.1-8.13.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi057.humanitext-lat1:8.13.1-8.13.2

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