Atticus (189)
- Sections
- T1: (III 297) Cicero ad Atticum II 1, 1 (a. 60)
- T2: Cornelius Nepos Atticus 18, 6
- F1:
- Biographical Essay
- Bibliography
HIDE Column 1
((III 297) Cicero ad Atticum II 1, 1 (a. 60) )
| (III 297) Cicero ad Atticum II 1, 1 (a. 60) | Translation |
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Source Date: 1st C BC Historian's Date: 1st C BC |
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Kal. Juniis eunti mihi Antium … venit obviam tuus puer. is mihi litteras abs te et commentarium consulatus mei Graece scriptum reddidit. in quo laetatus sum me aliquanto ante de isdem rebus Graece item scriptum librum L. Cossinio ad te perferendum dedisse; nam si ego tuum ante legissem, furatum me abs te esse diceres. quamquam tua illa – legi enim libenter – horridula mihi atque incompta visa sunt, sed tamen erant ornata hoc ipso quod ornamenta neglexerant et, ut mulieres, ideo bene olere quia nihil olebant videbantur. meus autem liber (235 T 2) ... |
As I was going to Antium on the day of the June Calends ... your slave met me with a letter from you and commentary on my consulate written in Greek. I felt happy when I got it that I had given a book, also written in Greek, to L. Cossinius to take to you some time before. Indeed, if I had read yours before, you would be accusing me of plagiarism. Actually though, your piece (I read it with pleasure) seemed to me a bit neglected and slovenly; but nevertheless it was embellished by its very neglect of ornament, and as with women, it seemed fragrant because odorless. |
HIDE Column 1
(Cornelius Nepos Atticus 18, 6 )
| Cornelius Nepos Atticus 18, 6 | Translation |
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Source Date: 1st C BC Historian's Date: 1st C BC |
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est etiam unus liber Graece confectus de consulatu Ciceronis. |
There is also a treatise, written in Greek, on Cicero’s consulate. |
At the end of his biography on Atticus, Cornelius Nepos listed the works that Atticus had produced. The order and length of the descriptions indicate that his book on Cicero’s consulate was a minor work. His remarks are very short, while Nepos is enthusiastic about Atticus’ masterwork, the liber annalis, which was a chronology of the Roman magistrates (for the fragments, see H. Beck, U. Walter. Die Frühen römischen Historiker 2 (Darmstadt 2004), 362 -7; cf. N. Horsfall. Cornelius Nepos. A selection, including the Lives of Cato and Atticus (Oxford 1989), with an English translation of fragments 3-8).
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Source Date: ? Historian's Date: 1st c BC |
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ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΚΙΚΕΡΠΩΝΟΣ ΥΠΑΤΕΙΑΣ? |
On Cicero’s Consulship |
See commentary on T 1.
Atticus was born in 110 or 109 in Rome, the son of a wealthy knight who gave him the love of literary matters but obviously no taste for a political career (H. Beck, U. Walter. Die Frühen römischen Historiker 2 (Darmstadt 2004), 358 ). He was a pupil of Mucius Scaevola, with Cicero and L. Manlius Torquatus (cos. 65). When the civil war between Marius and Sulla started, he left Rome to go to Athens where he spent 30 years to satisfy his interest in philosophy (C.J. Castner. A Prosopography of Roman Epicureans from the Second Century B.C. to the Second Century A.D. (Frankfurt 1989), 57 -60 and M. Ducos. ‘Atticus’R. Goulet Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques (Paris 1989), 662 -4). He frequented the different philosophical schools there but very early turned to Epicureanism, perhaps before going to Athens. He returned to Rome in 66, the year of his wedding with Pilia.
His life was then organised between Italy and his Epirote properties. He is known for his dinners with readings of literary authors, which seem to have been a good way to present his friends’ new works, but also for his numerous friendships with politicians. Often seen as an opportunistic banker (K. Welch. ‘T. Pomponius Atticus: a Banker in Politics?’ Historia 45 (1996), 450 -71), he appears to have been a convinced conservative. In 49 he decided to stay in Rome when most of the Roman elites fled at Caesar’s arrival, though he obviously preferred Pompey at that time. He escaped the proscription in 43 thanks to M. Antonius, who also organised the wedding of his friend’s daughter Attica with M. Vipsanius Agrippa, the faithful lieutenant of Octavian. Atticus died in March 32 (Nepos, Att. 22.3).
- H. Beck, U. Walter. Die Frühen römischen Historiker 2 (Darmstadt 2004), 358 -67
- Y. Benferat. Ciues Epicurei. Les épicuriens et l’idée de monarchie à Rome et en Italie de Sylla à Octave (Brussels 2005)
- C.J. Castner. A Prosopography of Roman Epicureans from the Second Century B.C. to the Second Century A.D. (Frankfurt 1989), 57 -60
- M. Ducos. ‘Atticus’R. Goulet Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques (Paris 1989), 662 -4
- M. Labate, E. Narducci. ‘Mobilità dei modelli etici e relativismo dei valori: il personnagio di Attico’M. Labate and E. Narducci Società romana e produzione schiavistica 3 (1981), 127 -82
- H. Leppin. ‘Atticus – zum Wertewandel in der späten römischen Republik’J. Spielvogel Res publica reperta (Stuttgart 2002), 192 -202
- R.J. Leslie. The Epicureanism of Titus Pomponius Atticus (Philadelphia 1950)
- H. Lindsay. ‘The Biography of Atticus: Cornelius Nepos on the Philosophical and Ethical Background of Pomponius Atticus’ Latomus 57 (1998), 324 -36
- A.M. Marshall. ‘Atticus and the Eastern Sojourn’ Latomus 58 (1999), 56 -68
- E.A. Marshall. A Biography of Titus Pomponius Atticus (Cambridge, MA 1986)
- O. Perlwitz. Titus Pomponius Atticus. Untersuchungen zur Person eines einflussreichen Ritters in der ausgehenden römischen Republik (Stuttgart 1992)
- K. Welch. ‘T. Pomponius Atticus: a Banker in Politics?’ Historia 45 (1996), 450 -71
- H. Ziegler. Titus Pomponius Atticus als Politiker (Munich 1936)
Citation:
Benferhat, Yasmina. "Atticus (189)." Brillʼs New Jacoby. General Editor: Ian Worthington. Brill, 2006. Brill Online. <http://www.brillonline.nl/public/atticus>
This extract of Cicero’s correspondence must be placed in a more general context, when Cicero was trying to convince several friends to write about his consulate, while himself preparing a poem on that topic (Att. 1.19.10 and Att. 1.20.6). He tried the Greek philosopher Posidonios (Att. 2.1.2), who politely refused, then the Roman historian Cn. Lucceius (Fam. 5.12.4), also without success. Finally, his best friend Atticus agreed to write about it. The vocabulary Cicero uses (commentarium, librum) points to a short monograph written in prose, not an epic poem.
Atticus was willing to write on historical matters in order to please friends, including genealogies of their families, or, in the case of Cicero, a book on political action. He chose to do so in Greek, most likely because Cicero wanted the Greek world of the Roman Empire to know about him, and Atticus had enough business connections in that part of the Mediterranean to make his book known everywhere. His spoken Greek was excellent, and he was perfectly capable of producing a written account in Greek. But it would be unfair to reduce Atticus’ part to that. A third reason would be his great interest in history, which can be seen in the Brutus 42-4, where Cicero leaves him the comment on the historians. Atticus stood at the center of a circle of friends who were trying to give to Rome a historian writing in Latin to compete with Thucydides (Leg. 1.5-6). He had a real influence, writing an annalis liber which might have been a complete and serious chronology (a tool for the great historian Rome was waiting for), and persuading his friends to participate to this challenge: see H. Peter. Historicorum Romanorum Reliquiae 2 (Leipzig 1967), xx -xxix and H. Beck, U. Walter. Die Frühen römischen Historiker 2 (Darmstadt 2004), 359 -60.