Marcus Tullius Cicero → Titus Pomponius Atticus
Tradução moderna em inglês
Letters from you reach us far too rarely, since you can find people setting out for Rome much more easily than I can find those heading to Athens, and you can be more certain that I am in Rome than I can be that you are in Athens. And so, because of this uncertainty of mine, this very letter is rather short, since, not knowing where you were, I did not want that familiar conversation of ours to fall into the hands of strangers. The Megarian statues and the Herms about which you wrote to me — I await them eagerly. Whatever else of the same kind you have that seems to you worthy of the Academy, do not hesitate to send it, and trust in my purse. This is my kind of pleasure; those pieces especially that suit a gymnasium are what I seek. Lentulus promises his ships. I ask that you attend to these matters carefully. Thyillus asks you — and I ask at his request — for the ancestral rites of the Eumolpidae.
Texto latino / grego
Nimium raro nobis abs te litterae adferuntur, cum et multo tu facilius reperias, qui Romam proficiscantur, quam ego, qui Athenas, et certius tibi sit me esse Romae quam mihi te Athenis. Itaque propter hanc dubitationem meam brevior haec ipsa epistula est, quod, cum incertus essem, ubi esses, nolebam illum nostrum familiarem sermonem in alienas manus devenire. Signa Megarica et Hermas, de quibus ad me scripsisti, vehementer exspecto. Quicquid eiusdem generis habebis, dignum Academia tibi quod videbitur, ne dubitaris mittere et arcae nostrae confidito. Genus hoc est voluptatis meae; quae gymnasiode maxime sunt, ea quaero. Lentulus naves suas pollicetur. Peto abs te, ut haec diligenter cures. Thyillus te rogat et ego eius rogatu Eymolpidon patria .
Texto inglês de origem
Your letters are much too few and far between, considering that it is much easier for you to find some one coming to Rome than for me to find anyone going to Athens. Besides you can be surer that I am at Rome than I can be that you are in Athens. The shortness of this letter is due to my doubts as to your whereabouts. Not knowing for certain where you are, I don’t want private correspondence to fall into a stranger’s hands. I am awaiting impatiently the statues of Megaric marble and those of Hermes, which you mentioned in your letter. Don’t hesitate to send anything else of the same kind that you have, if it is fit for my Academy. My purse is long enough. This is my little weakness; and what I want especially are those that are fit for a Gymnasium. Lentulus promises his ships. Please bestir yourself about it. Thyillus asks you, or rather has got me to ask you, for some books on the ritual of the Eumolpidae.