It is a tad strange that he only gives the most basic details about his new son in the indirect statement (me auctum esse filiolo, salva T.) dependent on scito, the impressive future imperative — much more on politics and his interesting job in the law courts involving Catiline (indicted for graft) and Clodius (the prosecutor, but also apparently intriguing with Catiline). However, presumably he is proud: as Foster & McCarthy write, “normally one would not quote the consuls at the birth of your little boy, but this expression blows the announcement up suitable for a billboard, or an engraved almost mock announcement of birth on the part of a proud father.” (pg. 489)

The first paragraph is pretty straightforward, though the details about the case concerning Catiline must be found elsewhere. The first sentence is stuffed with ablatives and ablative look-alikes (cf filiolo and scito), but is simple once these “absolutes” are sorted: (tu) scito me auctum (esse) filiolo. “Cogitamus” in the third sentence is used in the second sense from Lewis and Short, something like “considering to” or “intending to”. D. R. Shackleton Bailey explains that Catiline “was on trial for extortion in his province of Africa. In an earlier letter Cicero wrote that his guilt was plain as daylight, but appears to have undertaken his defence … with a view to getting some cooperation in the consular elections, in which both were candidates” (pg. 116) — as “competitorem nostrum” makes clear. On “iudices … voluntate”, Shackleton Bailey helpfully that “the challenging of the jury (reiectio) had already taken place, and that Cicero was Catiline’s counsel, or one of them. The prosecutor, Cicero’s future bugbear P. Clodius Pulcher, was in collusion with the defence (praevaricatio, itself an indictable offence).” (pg. 117) The ablative “summa voluntate” would be in absolute, emphasis on the accusator/prosecutor. Finally, two conditions, both future, the first in indirect statement with spero. The subject of “absolutus erit” would be Catiline, referred to again with “illum”. “Petitio” refers to Cicero’s canvassing for the office of consul. The second is a pleasing balance of adverb and verb, as well as, strangely, syllables.

The second paragraph, though shorter, is a little stickier. The idiomatice “opus est” (there is need of…) can take either a genitive or ablative (as here). The second sentence focuses on the tension between tuos and nostro: Cicero needs Atticus’ help with Atticus’ influential friends (tuos familiares, nobiles homines) for his own project, the consulship (honori nostro), because they are going to be (fore) “adversarios”. Fore is in indirect statement depending on opinio. For the last two sentences, it seems helpful to give “English word order”: video [te fore maximo usui mihi (double dative) {ad conciliandum voluntatem eorum (i.e. of the familiares above) mihi}]. Qua re (the old “connective relative” in the ablative — also simply quare) (tu) cura [ut (tu) sis Romae (locative)]{ut (tu) constituisti} Ianuario ineunte (time when, maybe masquerading as an absolute).

Finally, a comment on two particular words: summa and fore. Summa can often seem strange, as do other adjectives referring to position, like medius. Its entry in Lewis and Short is over a column’s worth, the most general definition has to do with our English derivative “summit”. In the letter, with voluntate, it has more the sense of “best”, or perhaps “most helpful” — with opinio, however, it is “surfacy”, as though this is the opinion which has surfaced to the top of the gossip like oil on water. Working backwards towards the general, these make sense. A full reading of the entry is very much worth the 3 minutes. Fore is interesting for two reasons: 1) though it looks like an ablative or an adverb, it is actually of sourse the future infinitive of sum (instead of futurum esse), and 2) though it is rather frequent in Cicero’s letters and elsewhere in both prose and poetry, it is not obviously a form of sum nor featured notably in the introductory grammars. I am fond of it. One to watch out for.

I hope this did not make the letter displeasing, but on the contrary, more intriguing. For those whose Latin is better, probably most of this is unnecessary but dare I hope perhaps entertaining.

-Ambulator