Marcus Tullius Cicero → Titus Pomponius Atticus

totum iter mihi incertum facit exspectatio litterarum vestrarum Kal. Sextil. datarum. nam si spes erit, Epirum, si minus, Cyzicum aut aliud aliquid sequemur. tuae quidem litterae quo saepius a me leguntur, hoc spem faciunt mihi minorem; quae cum . . . . lectae sunt, tum id quod attulerunt ad spem infirmant, ut facile appareat te et consolationi servire et veritati. itaque te rogo plane ut ad me quae scies ut erunt, quae putabis ita scribas. data xii Kal.

I am waiting for your letters of the first of August before I can decide at all where I shall go. If there is any hope, I shall go to Epirus: if not, I shall make for Cyzicus, or take some other direction. The more often I read your letters, the less hope I have: for, though they are cheerful, they tone down any hope they raise, so that one can easily see that your allegiance wavers between consolation of me and truth. I must therefore beg you to report facts just as they are, and what you really think of them. August 19.