Cicero, Ad Familiares 9.26.1
translation and commentary by William Tune (’24)
Introduction
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE) was a Roman politician, orator, and philosopher. Cicero was born in Arpinum, in Latium. Upon his entry into Roman politics, he was considered a novus homo: a chip on his shoulder for the rest of his career. He is most famous for the defeat of the Catilinarian Conspiracy in 63 BCE, where he gave a series of speeches against the head conspirator, Lucius Sergius Catilina. Cicero was an experienced jurist and was famed for his eloquence in court. Throughout his career, Cicero was an adamant supporter of the Republic, which found him opposed to Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius in the 40s BCE. In 43 BCE, after the publishing of his derisive anti-dictatorial speeches, the Philippics (directed against Marcus Antionius), Cicero was assassinated. Cicero’s reputation has survived throughout the centuries and he is considered one of the foundational political thinkers and philosophers of modern civilization (Grant 1971).
Among a plethora of works, Cicero often wrote letters to his close friends and family. Many of these letters have been preserved and published as Epistulae Ad Familiares. Cicero wrote many letters about many different subjects, but some of his most interesting works are those concerning the mundane and conventional elements of Roman life. Two of these letters are IX.24 and IX.26. These two letters were written in 43 and 46 BCE, shortly after the conclusion of the catastrophic Civil War between Gaius Julius Caesar and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. They are addressed to Paetus, who was evidently a friend of Cicero’s, but not much is known about the man outside of the Epistulae Ad Familiares. In these letters Cicero calls Paetus out of a self-imposed isolation and consults him regarding how he should spend his days now that Rome is under the thumb of Caesar’s dictatorship.
Translation
I had just reclined at 2:30 when I carved a draft of this note to you in my wax tablet. You say “where?” I’m at the house of Volumnius Eutrapelus, and your friends Atticus and Verrius are sitting next to me, Atticus to my right and Verrius to my left. You might be wondering why we are celebrating now that we are slaves? What else is there to do? I’m asking you because you listen to philosophers. Am I supposed to not do anything, or am I supposed to torture myself? What can I even do? You say that I should “Live in my books.” Do you think that there is anything else for me to do or do you think I’d be able to live if I were not living in my books? But even literary study can reach its limit, not that I’d ever be done with it. So, when I’ve stopped literary work, for me, there is little fun in dinner. It’s that one question you asked the philosopher Dio, yet what better thing should I do before I carry myself to bed, I don’t know.
Commentary
I had just reclined – Cicero is referring to the practice at the convivium of reclining while eating. Dinner guests would lie with their weight on their left arm and their body facing towards the table. Later, Cicero will have Verrius to his left and Atticus to his right. On the seating arrangement of Roman couches this would mean that Atticus was a more familiar or esteemed guest at Volumnius Eutrapelus’ house and Verrius was less so.
tablet – The Romans and Greeks would use small wax tablets to carve brief temporary messages or draft copies (exempla) of letters that would be copied later. Apparently it was not bad manners to write one whilst attending a dinner party. Click here for an example of a wooden framed wax tablet.
Volumnius Eutrapelus – Not much is known about this host. His full name was Publius Volumnius Eutrapelus and apparently gave shelter to Cicero’s friend Atticus after the battle of Phillipi as the latter had been allied with Brutus and Cassius, the losing side (Life of Atticus, Cornelius Nepos).
Atticus and Verrius – Cicero refers to Atticus and Verrius as “familiares tui” – “your friends.” However, from Cicero’s other correspondence, both men were close friends of Cicero as well. Atticus was Cicero’s closest friend and confidant. It is through him that we have Cicero’s letters. Verrius may have been a Marcus Verrius Flaccus, the later Augustan grammarian (Elvers 2006).
now that we are slaves – Here Cicero is referring to the recent victory at the Battle of Thapsus of Julius Caesar, over the remaining Republican forces, which subsequently resulted in Caesar declaring himself dictator for ten years in 46 BCE: the year this letter was written. Cicero, ever the staunch republican, regards any autocratic form of government as unjust; those under it, as in the rule of the Achemenid Persian emperors, were slaves (Shackleton Bailey 1977). Click here for an engraving of Caesar holding the fasces.
Live in my books – Cicero is famous for his immense literary output. However, in the later years of his life, and especially under the dictatorship of Caesar, Cicero wrote many philosophical works and withdrew from public life, possibly in despair of the loss of the mos maiorum, the way of the ancestors – the Republic. These works include The Tusculan Disputations, On the Good life, On Old Age, et al. (Grant 1971).
the philosopher Dio – Dio was apparently a Epicurean philosopher, but does not enjoy a reputation that has survived to the modern period (Shackleton Bailey 1977).
yet what better thing should I do – In writing this letter to Paetus, Cicero finds himself impotent. He is tired, for the moment, of writing and reading. To make matters worse, he can’t seem to enjoy dinner anymore either. Therefore, neither pleasure nor work gives Cicero purpose. It may be that this complaint reflects Cicero’s feelings of political impotence. The elder statesmen may have been dismayed at the crumbling of Republican institutions before his very eyes, against which he could not have done much against a popular and strong militarily minded new dictator: Caesar. Perhaps Cicero is longing for the days where he was able to make grand political moves like his defeat of Catiline’s conspiracy nearly two decades earlier. Click here for a painting of Cicero denouncing Catiline.
Sources
Carter, John. 1996. Appian: The Civil Wars. London: Penguin Books
Clough, Arthur H. 2001. Plutarch: Parallel Lives. Translated by John Dryden. New York: Modern Library.
Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum), and Peter Lebrecht Schmidt.2006. “Verrius”. In Brill’s New Pauly Online. Leiden: Brill. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e12201660
Grant, Michael 1971. Cicero: Selected Political Speeches. Translated with an Introduction by Michael Grant. London: Penguin Books.
Grant, Michael 1971. Cicero: On the Good Life. Translated with an Introduction by Michael Grant. London: Penguin Books.
Grant, Michael 1971. Cicero: Selected Works. Translated with an Introduction by Michael Grant. London and New York: Penguin Books.
McConnell, Sean. “Philosophical Role-Playing in Cicero’s Letters to Paetus, 46 Bc.” Antichthon 56 (2022): 121–39.
Shackleton Bailey, D.R. 1977. Cicero: Epistulae Ad Familiares. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Watson, J.S. 1853. Cornelius Nepos: Life of Atticus. Translated by J.S.Watson.