186
XXXVIII
CICERO ATTICO SAL.
Scr. in Tusculano circ. prid. Non. Sext. a. 709
Ante lucem cum scriberem contra Epicureos, de eodem oleo et opera exaravi nescio quid ad te et ante lucem dedi. Deinde, cum somno repetito simul cum sole experrectus essem, datur mi epistula a sororis tuae filio, quam ipsam tibi misi; cuius est principium non sine maxima contumelia. Sed fortasse οὐκ ἐπέστησεν. Est autem sic: "Ego enim, quicquid non belle in te dici potest—." Posse vult in me multa dici non belle, sed ea se negat approbare. Hoc quicquam pote inpurius? Iam cetera leges (misi enim ad te) iudicabisque. Bruti nostri cotidianis adsiduisque laudibus, quas ab eo de nobis haberi permulti mihi renuntiaverunt, commotum istum aliquando scripsisse aliquid ad me credo et ad te, idque ut sciam facies. Nam ad patrem de me quid scripserit, nescio, de matre quam pie! "Volueram," inquit, "ut quam plurimum tecum essem, conduci mihi domum et id ad te scripseram. Neglexisti. Ita minus multum una erimus. Nam ego istam domum videre non possum; qua de causa, scis." Hanc autem causam pater odium matris esse dicebat. Nunc me iuva, mi Attice, consilio, "πότερον δίκᾳ τεῖχος ὕψιον," id est utrum aperte hominem asperner
XXXVIII
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Tusculum, circa Aug. 4, B.C. 45
As I was writing against the Epicureans before daybreak, I scribbled something or other to you by the same lamp and at the same sitting and despatched it before daybreak. Then as I was getting up with the sun after another sleep, I get a letter from your sister's son, which I enclose. The beginning of it is most insulting: but perhaps he did not stop to think. This is how it runs: "For, whatever there is to be said to your discredit, I...." He wants me to understand there is plenty to be said to my discredit, but he does not agree with it. Could anything be more disgusting? You may read the rest (for I have sent it on) and judge for yourself. I fancy it is the daily and continual complimentary remarks which, as I hear from many, our friend Brutus is making about us, which have provoked him into writing something to me and to you—let me know if he has written to you. For what he has written to his father about me I don't know: about his mother how affectionately! "I should have liked," he says, "to be with you as much as possible and to have a house taken for me somewhere: and so I told you. You took no notice: so we shall not be together much: for I cannot bear the sight of your house: you know why." His father tells me the reason is his hatred of his mother. Now, Atticus, help me with your advice. "By honest means shall I the high wall climb?"[[163]] that is to say shall I openly renounce and
[163]. From a fragment of Pindar, as also the following Greek words.
188et respuam "ἢ σκολιαῖς ἀπάταις." Ut enim Pindaro sic "δίχα μοι νόος, ἀτρέκειαν εἰπεἰν." Omnino moribus meis illud aptius, sed hoc fortasse temporibus. Tu autem, quod ipse tibi suaseris, idem mihi persuasum putato. Equidem vereor maxime, ne in Tusculano opprimar. In turba haec essent faciliora. Utrum igitur Asturae? Quid, si Caesar subito? Iuva me, quaeso, consilio. Utar eo, quod tu decreveris.