Signa nostra et Hermeraclas, ut scribis, cum commodissime poteris, velim imponas, et si quod aliud οἰκεῖον eius loci, quem non ignoras, reperies, et maxime quae tibi palaestrae gymnasiique videbuntur esse. Etenim ibi sedens haec ad te scribebam, ut me locus ipse admoneret. Praeterea typos tibi mando, quos in tectorio atrioli possim includere, et putealia sigillata duo. Bibliothecam tuam cave cuiquam despondeas, quamvis acrem amatorem inveneris; nam ego omnes meas vindemiolas eo reservo, ut illud subsidium senectuti parem.
De fratre confido ita esse, ut semper volui et elaboravi. Multa signa sunt eius rei, non minimum, quod soror praegnans est. De comitiis meis et tibi me permisisse memini, et ego iam pridem hoc communibus amicis, qui te exspectant, praedico, te non modo non arcessi a me, sed prohiberi, quod intellegam multo magis interesse tua te agere, quod agendum est hoc tempore, quam mea te adesse comitiis. Proinde eo animo te velim esse, quasi mei negotii
First I promise to patch up the quarrel between you and our friend, even if I cannot quite make peace. I should have done it before of my own accord: but now that I see from your note that you have set your heart on it, I’ll give my mind to it and try harder than ever to win him over. I would have you to know that he is very seriously annoyed with you: but, as I cannot see any serious ground for his annoyance, I hope I shall find him pliable and amenable to my influence.
Please do as you say about the statues and the Hermeraclae: and have them shipped as soon as you can conveniently, and any other things you come across that are suitable for the place—you know what it is like—especially for the Palaestra and Gymnasium. That’s where I am sitting and writing now, so my thoughts naturally run on it. I give you a commission too for bas-reliefs for insertion in the stucco walls of the hall, and for two well-covers in carved relief. Be sure you don’t promise your library to anyone, however ardent a suitor you may find for it. I am saving up all my little gleanings to buy it as a prop for my old age.
My brother’s affairs are, I trust, as I have always wished them to be and striven to make them. Everything points that way, and not the least that your sister is enceinte. As for my election, I’ve not forgotten that I gave you leave to stop away: and I’ve already warned our common friends, who expect you to come, that I’ve not only forborne to ask you to do so, but even forbidden it, knowing that present business is of much more importance to you than your presence at my election would be to me. I should like you to feel exactly as though it were my business which
causa in ista loca missus esses; me autem eum et offendes erga te et audies, quasi mihi, si quae parta erunt, non modo te praesente, sed per te parta sint. Tulliola tibi diem dat, sponsorem me appellat.
XI
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. Romae Quint. aut Sext. a. 687
Et mea sponte faciebam antea et post duabus epistulis tuis perdiligenter in eandem rationem scriptis magno opere sum commotus. Eo accedebat hortator adsiduus Sallustius, ut agerem quam diligentissime cum Lucceio de vestra vetere gratia reconcilianda. Sed, cum omnia fecissem, non modo eam voluntatem eius, quae fuerat erga te, recuperare non potui, verum ne causam quidem elicere immutatae voluntatis. Tametsi iactat ille quidem illud suum arbitrium, et ea, quae iam tum, cum aderas, offendere eius animum intellegebam, tamen habet quiddam profecto, quod magis in animo eius insederit, quod neque epistulae tuae neque nostra adlegatio tam potest facile delere, quam tu praesens non modo oratione, sed tuo vultu illo familiari tolles, si modo tanti putaris, id quod, si me audies et si humanitati tuae constare voles, certe putabis. Ac, ne illud mirere, cur, cum ego antea significarim tibi per litteras me sperare illum in nostra potestate fore, nunc idem videar diffidere, incredibile est, quanto mihi videatur illius voluntas
had taken you away. And you will find and hear from others that my feelings towards you are just as they would be if my success, supposing I have any, were gained not only with you here, but by your aid.