Cicero Ad Fam. XV.19
Commentary by John Casey: Revised by Jacques Bailly
Text
C. Cassius S.P.D.M.T.C.
Brundisi, A.U.C. 709
S. v. b.
Non mehercule in hac mea peregrinatione quicquam libentius facio quam scribo
ad te; videor enim cum praesente loqui et iocari. Nec tamen hoc usu venit
propter spectra Catina; pro quo tibi proxima epistula tot rusticos
Stoicos regeram ut Catium Athenis natum esse dicas.
2 1
Pansam nostrum secunda voluntate hominum paludatum ex urbe exisse cum
ipsius causa gaudeo tum mehercule etiam omnium nostrum. Spero enim homines
intellecturos quanto sit omnibus odio crudelitas et quanto amori probitas
et clementia, atque ea quae maxime mali petant et concupiscant ad bonos
pervenire. Difficile est enim persuadere hominibus τὸ καλὸν δι’ αὑτὸ
αἱρετόν esse; ἡδονήν vero et ἀταραξίαν virtute, iustitia, τῷ καλῷ
parari et verum et probabile est. Ipse enim Epicurus, a quo omnes Catii
et Amafinii, mali verborum interpretes, proficiscuntur, dicit οὐκ ἔστιν
ἡδέως ἄνευ τοῦ καλῶς καὶ δικαίως ζῆν.
3 1
Itaque et Pansa, qui ἡδονήν sequitur, virtutem
retinet et ii qui a vobis φιλήδονοι vocantur sunt φιλόκαλοι et
φιλοδίκαιοι omnisque virtutes et colunt et retinent. itaque Sulla, cuius
iudicium probare debemus, cum dissentire philosophos videret, non
quaesiit quid bonum esset sed omnia bona coemit. Cuius ego mortem forti
mehercules animo tuli. Nec tamen Caesar diutius nos eum desiderare
patietur (nam habet damnatos quos pro illo nobis restituat) nec ipse
sectorem desiderabit cum filium viderit.
4 1
Nunc, ut ad rem publicam redeam, quid in Hispaniis geratur rescribe.
Peream nisi sollicitus sum; ac malo veterem et clementem dominum habere
quam novum et crudelem experiri. Scis Gnaeum quam sit fatuus, scis quo
modo crudelitatem virtutem putet, scis quam se semper a nobis derisum
putet; vereor ne nos rustice gladio velit ἀντιμυκτηρίσαι. Quid fiat, si
me diligis, rescribe. Hui, quam velim scire utrum ista sollicito animo
an soluto legas! sciam enim eodem tempore quid me facere oporteat. Ne
longior sim, vale. me, ut facis, ama. Si Caesar vicit, celeriter me
exspecta.
At this point, January of 45 BCE, Cicero was in Rome and Cassius was in
Brundisium. Together with ad Fam. XV 16-18 (written to Cassius in Dec. of
46 and January of 45), this forms part of a letter exchange in which
Cassius and Cicero discuss their attitude towards Caesar, who had pardoned
Cassius after Pharsalus, but had not employed him fully. In this letter,
the Sulla mentioned is P. Sulla senior, who had just died. Cicero's
comments on his death are found in ad Fam. XV.17. As this letter was
written, Caesar was beginning his fourth consulship.
- C. Cassius S.P.D.M.T.C.
Brundisi, A.U.C. 709
C. Cassius S.P.D.M.T.C.
: = Gaius Cassius (Longinus) salutem plurimum dicit Marco
Tullio Ciceroni. | Brundisi: locative. Brundisium
was on the coast of Italy. | A.U.C. 709: = ab urbe
condita 709. That is, 45 BCE.
1
S.v.b.: = si vales, bene est, a standard
epistolary formula. | Hac mea peregrinatione: remember
that mea can be translated as "mine" or "of mine." | loqui.
. .iocari: deponent infinitives (passive form, active sense). |
usu venire: an idiom meaning "to occur in one's
experience, come to pass." | spectra: spectra
refers to what Cicero had written to Cassius in a previous letter (ad
Fam. XV.16). The "specter" is the mental image the writer has when
thinking about a person he is writing to. Catinus
suggests that Catiana Catius, a recently deceased Epicurean scholar,
may have coined this term. Cassius is making fun of his bad Greek in this
passage (Epicureans were notorious for bad style). | tot . . . ut:
tot "so many" prepares for the result clause (ut. . .dicas).
| regeram: to throw back (rhetorically). | Athenis:
locative with nascor. | dicas. . .: followed
by accusative and infinitive in indirect speech. Note that a good English
translation of this present subjunctive would be "will say." In
subordinate clauses, the "tenses" of the subjunctive must be interpreted
via the sequence of tenses. "Present" can represent future time.
2
Pansa: Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus, the son of one
of Sulla's victims, had served under Caesar in Gaul and Spain and was a
politician and lawyer attached to Cicero. Cicero had mentioned in his
previous letter (XV.17) that Pansa had just left Rome. | secunda
voluntate hominum: (ablatives of description) "with men's good
will". | cum ipsius causa gaudeo tum mehercule etiam omnium
nostrum (sc, causa): parallelism allows one
to fill in what is missing. | cum. . .tum: "not only. .
.but also." | ipsius causa: causa regularly
comes after the genitive which depends on it and is practically a
preposition. | gaudeo: takes an acc.(Pansam)
and inf. (exisse): Acc. + inf. frequently expresses the cause of
an emotion. The construction is like indirect speech. |
spero intellecturos (sc, esse homines): fut.
inf. + acc. in indirect speech after spero. | quanto
sit omnibus odio crudelitas: subjunctive indirect question
following intellecturus esse. | quanto omnibus odio:
is a double dative construction. | et quanto amori (sc,
omnibus sit): another indirect question parallel to the
previous one (hence omnibus sit can be filled in here). | ea:
acc. subject of pervenire in indirect speech dependent on intellecturus
(esse). | petant. . .concupiscant: subjunctives are the
norm in subordinate clauses in oratio obliqua. | persuadere:
takes what case? | τὸ καλὸν δι’ αὑτὸ αἱρετόν:
"the good should be chosen for its own sake." This Greek phrase is the
accusative subject of esse in indirect speech after persuadere. |
ἡδονήν. . .ἀταραξίαν: "pleasure" and
"tranquility of mind."Accusative direct objects of the (passive) inf. in
indirect speech after verum et probabile est. |
virtute, iustitia, τῷ καλῷ: the
first two words are ablatives of means, the third is a Greek dative, "by
the good," as Greek has no ablative case, the dative is substituted here
for means. | mali interpretes: in apposition with Catii
et Amafinii, both of whom Cicero deemed inadequate interpreters of
Epicurus, not Cicero's favorite philosopher. Cicero is saying that even a
second rate interpreter of a mediocre philosopher knows this sort of
thing. | Epicurus. . .dicit: dicit would take
an accusative and infinitive in Latin, but here the Greek is quoted in
direct speech. | οὐκ ἔστιν ἡδέως ἄνευ τοῦ καλῶς καὶ
δικαίως ζῆν: "It is not possible to live a life of
pleasure without virtue and justice." quoted from Epicurus' "Letter to
Menoecus."
3
ἡδονήν: "pleasure" in the Greek
accusative is direct object of sequitur. | φιλήδονοι . . .
φιλόκαλοι . . . φιλοδίκαιοι: "pleasure lovers," "lovers
of good," and "lovers of justice." All are masculine, nominative, and
plural. | Sulla: Sulla was renowned for profiting from
buying up the confiscated property of those who were proscribed. Cassius
is being sarcastic when he says that the judgment of Sulla ought to be
respected. | cum. . .videret: imperfect subjunctive in
cum temporal clause of past action. | quid bonum esset:
subjunctive in an indirect question. | bona coemit: bonus,
-a, -um in neuter plural as a substantive means "material goods." |
cuius ego mortem forti mehercules animo tuli: drips with
sarcasm. | nos eum desiderare patietur: patior
takes an accusative nos and infinitive desiderare
construction; eum is the direct object of the infinitive. |
pro illo: i.e. Sulla. | nobis: indirect
object of restituat. | restituat: potential
subjunctive. | cum. . .viderit: cum temporal
clause with the indicative of future time. | filium: the
son of Sulla.
4
- Nunc, ut ad rem publicam redeam, quid
in Hispaniis geratur rescribe. Peream nisi sollicitus sum; ac malo
veterem et clementem dominum habere quam novum et crudelem
experiri. Scis Gnaeum quam sit fatuus, scis quo modo crudelitatem
virtutem putet, scis quam se semper a nobis derisum putet; vereor
ne nos rustice gladio velit ἀντιμυκτηρίσαι. Quid fiat, si me
diligis, rescribe. Hui, quam velim scire utrum ista sollicito
animo an soluto legas! sciam enim eodem tempore quid me facere
oporteat. Ne longior sim, vale. me, ut facis, ama. Si Caesar
vicit, celeriter me exspecta.
ut. . .redeam: subjunctive in purpose clause. |
quid. . .geratur: indirect question after the imperative
rescribe. | peream: jussive subjunctive. | malo:
malo is a verb followed by infinitives. | Gnaeum: Gnaeus
Pompeius, the elder son of Pompey the Great, was killed in Spain after the
battle of Munda. | quam sit fatuus: subjunctive in an
indirect question dependant on scis. | quo modo
crudelitatem virtutem putet: putet is subjunctive in indirect
question dependant on scis. Crudelitatem (esse) virtutem is indirect
speech after putet. | quam. . .putet:
subjunctive in indirect question dependant on scis. putet with
indirect speech in acc. (se) and infinitive derisum (sc, esse).
| derisum: derisum agrees with se. | vereor ne.
. .velit ἀντιμυκτηρίσα: a verb
of fearing followed by ne and the subjunctive velit,
which is followed by a Greek infinitive. | ἀντιμυκτηρίσαι:
Greek infinitive "to turn up noses." | quid fiat:
indirect question. | hui: an interjection "alas!" "Oh!"
| quam: with indicative in excalamation. | utrum. .
.an. . .legas: subjunctive in alternative indirect question
after scire. | (sc. si illud sciam)
sciam: a future less vivid conditional with the protasis
understood from the last sentence: translate "If I knew that, I would
know..." followed by the indirect question quid me facere oporteat.
| eodem tempore: ablative of time at which. |
oporteat: subjunctive in an indirect question; takes acc. and
inf. | ne longior sim: negative purpose clause with the
subjunctive. | ut facis: ut with the
indicative is explanatory, "as."
amor, -is, m., love
Athenae, arum, f. pl., Athens
causa (w/preceding gen.), for the sake of (the preceding gen.)
clementia, -ae, f., mercy, clemency
coemo, -emere,-emi, -emptum, to buy up in large quantities
colo, -ere, colui, cultum, to foster, to cultivate
concupisco,-piscere,-pivi,-pitum, to desire, to covet
crudelitas, -atis, f., cruelty
damnatus, ppp. of damno, -are, to condemn
derideo, -ridere, -risi,-risum, to laugh at, to mock
desidero, -are, to long for, to grieve
diligo,-ligere,-lexi, -lectum, to love, to esteem highly
dissentio,-sentire,-sensi,-sentum, to not agree
diutius, adv., longer (comparative of diu)
exeo, exire, exii/exivi, exitum, leave, exit
experior, -periri, -pertus sum, to try, to put to the test
fatuus,-a,-um, foolish, idiotic
fero, ferre, tuli, latus, bear, endure
gaudeo, gaudere, gavisus sum, rejoice
gladium, -i, n., sword
hui, wow
intellego,-ere,-lexi,-lectum, to understand, to believe
interpres, -pretis, m.&f., translator
iocor,-ari, dep. to jest
libenter, willingly, gladly
libentius, comparative of libenter
loquor, loqui, locutus sum, talk
mehercule, by Hercules
natum (participle of nascor,-i, natus sum used as substantive), a son
odium,-i, n., hatred
oportet, oportuit, it behooves, it is right, it is a duty (impersonal)
paludatus,-a, -um, clad in the military uniform
paro,-are, to obtain
patior, pati, passus sum, dep., to allow
peregrinatio, -onis, f., a traveling, a staying in foreign countries
pereo, -ire,-ii, itum, to be destroyed, to perish
pervenio, pervenire, perveni, perventus, arrive, reach
peto, petere, petivi, petitus, seek
praesens, -entis, partic. from praesum, to be present
pro + abl., in place of
probabilis, -e, provable, demonstrable
probitas, -atis, f., honesty, uprightness
probo, -are, to accept, to approve
proficiscor, -fisci, -fectus sum, to originate from, spring form
propter, prep. + acc., on account of
proximus, -a, -um, next
quisquam, cuiusquam, pron., anyone
regero,-gerere,-gessi,-gestum, throw back
rescribo, rescribere, rescripsi, rescriptum, write back
restituo,-uere,-ui,-utum, to restore
retineo,-ere, -tinui, -tentum, to maintain, to hold on to
rusticus, -a, -um, rustic
rusticus, -a,-um, rural, rustic
sector,-oris, m., a buyer of state property
secundus, -a, -um, favorable
sollicitus,-a, -um, agitated, restless
solutus, -a, -um, at ease, relaxed, unperturbed
spectrum, -i, n., spectre, apparition
usus, -us, m., use (usu venit, an idiom it happens, it occurs)
vereor, vereri, veritus sum, fear
vetus, veteris, adj., old
virtus, -utis, f., virtue, excellence
The text of the letter is from from www.thelatinlibrary.com, which took it
from The Society of Ancient Languages with the kind permission of its
webmaster, Brian M. Kleeman. The text is D. Albert Wesenberg's Teubner
edition of 1885.