Cicero Letters to Atticus, Vol. 2 of 3
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Some scanning errors (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand) · 7 illegible passages, excluded from answers
- Extent:
- ~120,000 words · 577 passages
Cite this work
- APACicero. (n.d.). Cicero Letters to Atticus, Vol. 2 of 3. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/cicero/cicero-letters-to-atticus-vol-2-of-3
- MLACicero. Cicero Letters to Atticus, Vol. 2 of 3. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/cicero/cicero-letters-to-atticus-vol-2-of-3.
- ChicagoCicero. Cicero Letters to Atticus, Vol. 2 of 3. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/cicero/cicero-letters-to-atticus-vol-2-of-3.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The second of the three volumes of Cicero's letters to Atticus: the frankest correspondence to reach us from antiquity.
Context and history
Atticus was the friend of his whole life, a rich knight who never sought public office, and precisely for that reason Cicero writes to him as he writes to no one else: without posing, changing his mind halfway through a letter, asking advice and confessing fear. It is the principal source for the last years of the republic seen from within. NOTE TO THE READER: the catalogue also holds 'The Letters of Cicero', a different edition gathering the whole correspondence in chronological order — so the letters to Atticus appear there TOO. This is not an error: they are two distinct editions of the same material, differently translated and differently arranged. It is worth knowing, because the same letter may appear twice in different words, and a citation must say which edition it comes from.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Cato's behaviour to me was shamefully spiteful. He gave me a character for rectitude, equity, clemency, and good faith, for which I did not ask; what I did want, that he denied me. Accordingly in his letter of congratulation and lavish assurances, how Caesar exults over the wrong Cato did me by his deep ingratitude! Yet Cato voted Bibulus a twenty days' * * * * * Page 18 Ignosce mihi; non possum haec ferre nec feram. Cupio ad omnes tuas epistulas, sed nihil necesse est; iam enim te videbo. Illud tamen de Chrysippo--nam de altero illo minus sum admiratus, operario homine; sed tamen ne illo quidem quicquam improbius. Chrysippum vero, quem ego propter litterularum nescio quid libenter vidi, in honore habui, discedere a puero insciente me! Mitto alia, quae audio multa, mitto furta; fugam non fero, qua mihi nihil visum est sceleratius. Itaque usurpavi vetus illud Drusi, ut ferunt, praetoris, in eo, qui eadem liber non iuraret, me istos liberos non addixisse, praesertim cum adesset nemo, a quo recte vindicarentur. Id tu, ut videbitur, ita accipies; ego tibi adsentiar. Uni tuae disertissimae epistulae non rescripsi, in qua est de periculis rei publicae. Quid rescriberem? valde eram perturbatus. Sed ut nihil magno opere metuam, Parthi faciunt, qui repente Bibulum semivivum reliquerunt. III CICERO ATTICO SAL. [Sidenote: _Scr. in Trebulano V Id. Dec. a. 704_] A. d. VIII Idus Decembr. Aeculanum veni et ibi tuas litteras legi, quas Philotimus mihi reddidit. E quibus hanc primo aspectu voluptatem cepi, quod * * * * * Page 19 festival. Forgive me, I cannot and I will not bear it. I long to answer all your letters; but there is no need, for soon I shall see you. Still I must tell you about Chrysippus--the conduct of that other fellow, a mere mechanic, excites my surprise less, though it could not have been more scandalous.…