constantiam:firmness, strength of character; perhaps said somewhat tongue in cheek, as non placet can mean both it does not seem advisable (i.e., since in 59 B.C. the First Triumvirate were in control of Rome) and it is not pleasing (i.e., since Cicero does not enjoy the games anyway).
Anti: loc. of Antium, Antium (modern Anzio), a town on the coast about 30 miles south of Rome and 12 miles west of the Appian Way.
3. hyposoloicon: Greek, somewhat awkward; Cicero, like most educated Romans of the period, spoke Greek as well as Latin and occasionally employed Greek words just as we might use a French or German or even a Latin word or phrase in a letter to a friend.
vitare…suspicionem (4): perhaps because of the political tension revealed in the next letter.
deliciarum: deliciae,luxurious pleasures; so delicate below, luxuriously.
4. anaphainesthai: Greek = videri, to be seen.
5. inepte: adv., foolishly.
peregrinantem: peregrinari,to travel abroad or about.
Nonas Maias:the Nones of May; the Nones = the 5th day of most months, the 7th in March, May, July, and October.
6. Formiano: sc. praedio, my estate at Formiae, on the coast of Latium considerably south of Antium.
fac ut: a common idiom, facere ut = to make sure that, see to it that.
visuri simus: FUT. ACT. PERIPHRASTIC in an IND. QUEST.
7. ab Appi Foro: sc. hanc epistulum dabam, I am mailing this letter. The Forum of Appius and Three Taverns (Tres Tabernae) were villages on the Appian Way east of Antium; Cicero stayed on the Appian Way and by-passed Antium completely.
hora quarta: roughly 10:00 a.m., calculated from sunrise.
dederam aliam: sc. epistulam. Letter-writers often used the impf. instead of the pres. and the plupf. instead of the perf., the so-called EPISTOLARY TENSES, depicting actions as they will appear to the recipient of the letter; in Eng. these are generally better translated as pres. and perf., respectively.
9. Marcus Quinto Fratri: sc. salutem dicit (the salutation was frequently omitted); note the familiar use of the sender’s and recipient’s praenomina. Plebeian aedile in 65 B.C. and praetor in 62, Quintus was governor of Asia 61–58, when Marcus sent him two long letters that have survived, including the one from which this selection has been excerpted.
10. rem publicam: three men, Gaius Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey), and Marcus Licinius Crassus, were in effect ruling by their arbitrary power what had been a constitutional republic.
11. funditus: adv., utterly, completely.
Cato:Gaius Porcius Cato (not the famous Marcus Cato, a kinsman), an opponent of Pompey’s in the early 50’s, when this letter was written, tribune in 57–56 and probably praetor in 55.
AD ATTICUM 2.10
On a trip to his villa at Formiae (on the coast of Latium, south of Rome), Cicero writes Atticus to tell him he has decided not to stop over for the games at Antium. April, 59 B.C.
Cicero Attico Sal.
Volo ames meam constantiam: ludos Anti spectare non placet; est enim hyposoloicon, cum velim vitare omnium deliciarum suspicionem, repente anaphainesthai non solum delicate sed 5 etiam inepte peregrinantem. Quare usque ad Nonas Maias te in Formiano exspectabo. Nunc fac ut sciam quo die te visuri simus. Ab Appi Foro, hora quarta; dederam aliam paulo ante a Tribus Tabernis. Vale.
AD QUINTUM FRATREM 1.2.15–16
Excerpt from a lengthy letter to his younger brother Quintus, then governor of Asia. The First Triumvirate dominates the state, quelling opposition by force, and Clodius threatens to prosecute Cicero. November (?), 59 B.C.
Marcus Quinto Fratri
Portrait of a young woman with stilus and tabella, fresco from Pompeii Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Italy
Alinari/Art Resource, NY.
10 Nunc ea cognosce quae maxime exoptas. Rem publicam funditus amisimus, adeo ut Cato, adulescens nullius consili sed tamen civis Romanus et Cato, vix vivus effugerit, quod, cum Gabinium de ambitu vellet postulare neque praetores diebus aliquot adiri possent, in contionem escendit et Pompeium “privatum 15 dictatorem” appellavit. Propius nihil est factum quam ut occideretur. Ex hoc qui sit status totius rei publicae videre potes.
12. Cato: a Cato (nonetheless), i.e., despite his lack of judgment.
13. Gabinium: Aulus Gabinius, a politician working with the Triumvirate (not the Catilinarian conspirator), was consul-elect (along with Caesar’s father-in-law) for 58.
ambitu: ambitus,bribery, electoral corruption.
postulare:to demand, request, prosecute.
diebus aliquot (14):for several days; the ABL. OF DURATION OF TIME was sometimes used instead of the acc. Cato had to make arrangements with the praetores (praetors, the leading judicial officers), before the trial, and they in the interests of the triumvirate refused to see him.
14. contionem: contio, meeting, assembly.
escendit: escendere,to go, arise; since Cato held no public office at this time, some magistrate must have invited him to speak.
privatum: i.e., self-appointed, one not elected by due constitutional process.
15. propius…quam: lit., nothing was more nearly done than (that); i.e., he was very nearly killed.
ut occideretur (16): NOUN CL. OF RESULT.
