Ad Brutum I.9
Commentary by Rachel Thomas and J.
Bailly
Text provided by www.thelatinlibrary.com
Introduction
This letter was written at the end of June or beginning of July, 43
BCE to M. Junius Brutus
(adopted name Q. Servilius Caepio Brutus, born 85 B.C., committed
suicide at Philippi, October, 42BCE). Just a
year prior, Brutus had led the conspiracy against Julius Caesar,
after
whose assassination he gained control of lands in the East (as a
“Liberator” from Caesar). Brutus' first marriage had been to a
daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher, whom he divorced in order
to marry Porcia, Cato’s daughter. In this letter, Cicero sends
advice and consolation to Brutus after Porcia’s death. The
letter
also makes mention of Brutus' having sent a similar letter to Cicero
when his daughter Tullia died in February 45 BCE. Though it is no
longer extant, Brutus' letter is known from Cicero's
reactions to it in his letters to Atticus (12.13.1, 12.14.4.
13.6.3), which suggest that Cicero found Brutus' tone careful and
friendly but too demanding and not comforting.
In this letter, Cicero challenges Brutus to live up to high
standards
in the face of the loss of a wife. Those standards are twofold:
those
required of any man because of a man's nature and duty, but also the
standards set by Brutus' position as political leader of the faction
that killed Caesar. As leader, Brutus must show appropriately
restrained grief, but not excessive or inadequate grief. In this
letter,
instead of employing the typical supposedly comforting commonplaces
about death and grief, Cicero merely alludes to them. Perhaps more
important than such commonplaces, however, is the position of
authority
which Cicero occupies vis-a-vis Brutus--the letter does explicitly
speak of that. Because Cicero and Brutus are allied competitors,
this
letter can be
read as Cicero's effort to reinforce his role as the older, more
experienced statesman. In light of Cicero's complaints to Atticus
that
Brutus' consolatory letter in the past was not comforting, it can
also
be read as a challenge to Brutus to live up to his own rhetoric.
Bibliography: Wilcox, Amanda.
“Sympathetic Rivals: Consolation in Cicero's Letters.” American Journal
of Philology - Volume 126, Number 2, Summer 2005, pp.
237-255.
Text
Scr. Romae. in. Quint., ...ut videtur a. 711 (43).
CICERO BRVTO SAL.
[1] fungerer eo officio quo tu functus es in meo luctu teque per
litteras consolarer, nisi scirem iis remediis quibus meum dolorem
tu
levasses te in tuo non egere, ac velim facilius quam tunc mihi
nunc
tibi tute medeare. est autem alienum tanto viro quantus es tu,
quod
alteri praeceperit id ipsum facere non posse. me quidem cum
rationes
quas conlegeras tum auctoritas tua a nimio maerore deterruit. Cum
enim
mollius tibi ferre viderer quam deceret virum praesertim eum qui
alios
consolari soleret, accusasti me per litteras gravioribus verbis
quam
tua consuetudo ferebat. [2] itaque iudicium tuum magni aestimans
idque
veritus me ipse conlegi et ea quae didiceram, legeram, acceperam,
graviora duxi tua auctoritate addita. ac mihi tum, Brute, officio
solum
erat et naturae, tibi nunc populo et scaenae, ut dicitur,
serviendum
est. nam cum in te non solum exercitus tui sed omnium civium ac
paene
gentium coniecti oculi sint, minime decet propter quem fortiores
ceteri
sumus eum ipsum animo debilitatum videri. quam ob rem accepisti tu
quidem dolorem (id enim amisisti cui simile in terris nihil fuit),
et
est dolendum in tam gravi vulnere ne id ipsum, carere omni sensu
doloris, sit miserius quam dolere, sed ut modice ceteris utile
est,
<ita> tibi necesse est.
[3] scriberem plura nisi ad te haec ipsa nimis multa essent. nos
te
tuumque exercitum exspectamus; sine quo, ut reliqua ex sententia
succedant, vix satis liberi videmur fore. de tota re publica plura
scribam et fortasse iam certiora iis litteris quas veteri nostro
cogitabam dare.
Commentary
Scr. Romae. in. Quint., ...ut videtur a. 711: Scr.
= scripsit,
scriptum, scriptae (litterae) or
something similar. Romae is locative.
The date is July or end of June (so the Loeb edn.) of the year 711
from
the founding of the city (43 BCE).
[1] Cicero writes to Brutus, exhorting him to remember
the words he
wrote to Cicero in a time of grief: grieve and move on with life.
[1] fungerer eo officio quo tu functus es in meo luctu
teque per
litteras consolarer, nisi scirem iis remediis quibus meum dolorem
tu
levasses te in tuo non egere, ac velim facilius quam tunc mihi
nunc
tibi tute medeare. est autem alienum tanto viro quantus es tu,
quod
alteri praeceperit id ipsum facere non posse. me quidem cum
rationes
quas conlegeras tum auctoritas tua a nimio maerore deterruit. Cum
enim
mollius tibi ferre viderer quam deceret virum praesertim eum qui
alios
consolari soleret, accusasti me per litteras gravioribus verbis
quam
tua consuetudo ferebat.
The structure of the clauses of the first sentence is as
follows:
- fungerer eo officio (beginning
of an
apodosis
of present contrary to fact conditional)
- quo tu functus es in meo luctu (relative
clause with
officio as antecedent)
- teque per
litteras consolarer, (2nd apodosis of
present contrary
to fact conditional)
- nisi scirem (protasis of
present
contrary to fact conditional)
- iis remediis ... (beginning of indirect
statement
dependent on scirem)
- quibus meum dolorem tu
levasses (relative clause: antecedent = remediis)
- ... te in tuo (sc. luctu) non
egere, (completion of
indirect statement
dependent on scirem)
- ac velim (additional main
clause)
- facilius ... (beginning of semi-independent
subjunctive
nominal
clause dependent on velim)
- quam tunc mihi (comparative clause with
understood
verb to be supplied from context)
- ... nunc
tibi tute medeare. (completion of semi-independent
subjunctive
nominal clause dependent on velim)
fungerer: fungor takes abl. | litteras: litterae,
although grammatically plural,
usually refers to one letter: translate as singular. | quibus
meum dolorem tu levasses: subordinate clauses within indirect
statement are normally subjunctive (levasses is a
"syncopated" form of
levavisses: secondary sequence). | egere:
takes ablative (or gen.). | velim: this
independent-clause subjunctive can be translated as the
apodosis
of a future-less-vivid ("should-would") conditional, even though it
has
no protasis. | mihi…tibi: medeare is present
subjunctive, primary sequence: this is a
semi-independent subjunctive dependent on velim (volo
frequently takes
such semi-independent subjunctive clauses). Medeor sometimes
takes dative. | alienum: takes dat. or abl. | tanto…quantus:
so great…as. | quod: a relative pronoun whose
antecedent is id. | id ipsum facere non posse:
this infinitive phrase is the subject of est
alienum. id is d.o., ipsum is subject of non
posse. | me: D.O. of deterruit |
cum…tum: 'not only…but also.' | viderer:
imperfect subjunctive in secondary sequence in cum causal
clause;
takes complimentary
infinitive ferre. | deceret ...
soleret: sometimes a clause has a subjunctive verb simply
because 1) it is dependent on another clause with a subjunctive verb
and 2) it is an integral part of the thought of that clause. Soleret
may be subjunctive in a relative clause of characteristic. |
accusasti: syncopated form of accusavisti. |
consuetudo: all nouns in -udo, -udinis are feminine.
[2] It is not seemly for Brutus to seem so weak when he
is always the man
who pushes others to keep it together, and yet he has to grieve at
least
a little bit.
[2] itaque iudicium tuum magni aestimans idque
veritus me ipse conlegi et ea quae didiceram, legeram, acceperam,
graviora duxi tua auctoritate addita. ac mihi tum, Brute, officio
solum
erat et naturae, tibi nunc populo et scaenae, ut dicitur,
serviendum
est. nam cum in te non solum exercitus tui sed omnium civium ac
paene
gentium coniecti oculi sint, minime decet propter quem fortiores
ceteri
sumus eum ipsum animo debilitatum videri. quam ob rem accepisti tu
quidem dolorem (id enim amisisti cui simile in terris nihil fuit),
et
est dolendum in tam gravi vulnere ne id ipsum, carere omni sensu
doloris, sit miserius quam dolere, sed ut modice ceteris utile
est,
<ita> tibi necesse est.
magni: genitive of price. | aestimans ... veritus:
present participles. As adjectives, they modify
the subject: as verbals, they take direct objects. | idque:
-que enclitic attached to id, which is D.O. of veritus.
| veritus: vereor, vereri can mean 'to be in
awe' (closely related to
fearing, but
a more positive sense). We can tell it means 'awe' and not
'fear' because of iudicium…aestimans and genitive of price.
| ipse: intensive modifying subject of conlegi.
|
ea graviora duxi: duco "consider, deem, hold"
frequently takes a
"double accusative": an accusative direct object and another
accusative, just as English "I consider you a friend,"
where you is the object
and a friend is a second object. | didiceram, legeram,
acceperam: in Latin, series often lack a connective such as
"and." Lack of connectives is called "asyndeton." | tua
auctoritate addita: ablative abs. | mihi ...
officio ... naturae... tibi ... populo ... scaenae ....: all
of these datives make sense with serviendum. | solum erat:
solum is adverbial 'only,' and serviendum must be
understood with erat. | serviendum est:
passive
periphrastic; serviendum must be construed with both earlier
erat and
est. The verb
servio, servire takes datives (officio, naturae, populo,
and
scaenae). As a passive periphrastic, serviendum
erat and
serviendum est also take datives of agent (mihi and tibi).
Again, solum is
adverbial. | ut dicitur: a parenthetical remark, this clause
has no effect on the
rest of the sentence. It serves merely to flag the fact that scaenae
is
somehow unusual or remarkable. | non solum: "not
only." | tui: modifies exercitus, which is
possessive dependent on oculi (all
the other genitives are also possessives dependent on oculi).
| omnium: modifies civium, but must also be
understood with gentium. | paene: modifies
the omnium that must be understood with gentium.
| coniecti sint: causal cum clauses take
subjunctive. conjicio is a verb
showing motion and so in te has an accusative. | minime
decet…eum ipsum…debilitatum esse videri: this is the main
thought of
the sentence (decet takes accusative with infinitive),
interrupted by
propter
quem…sumus, which is a relative clause with eum as
antecedent. | minime: here “not at all.” | fortiores:
predicate nominative. | ceteri: English says "the
rest of us"
which makes "of us" a partitive genitive, but Latin says ceteri
[nos],
which makes ceteri an adjective modifying an understood
nominative nos. | debilitatum: a perfect
passive participle used as an adjective after
videri "to seem." | cui simile nihil fuit: nihil
is subject, simile is predicate
nominative, and cui is dative dependent on simile (id
is the antecedent
of cui). | dolendum est: impersonal passive
periphrastic: literally "it must be
grieved," but better English would be "one must grieve." | vulnere:
used to represent an emotional hurt, Brutus' wife’s death. | ne
id ipsum sit miserius: negative purpose clause. | carere
omni sensu doloris: this infinitive clause is in apposition to
id
ipsum. Carere is a nominative (remember that the
infinitive can
function as a verbal noun),
and carere takes abl. | quam dolere: when quam
"than" is used in comparisons, the two items
being compared are always in the same case: thus dolere is
also a
nominative infinitive. | sed ut modice ceteris utile est,
<ita> tibi necesse est: if all the understood elements
were
expressed in this construction, it would read sed ut modice [dolere]
ceteris utile est,
<ita> [modice dolere] tibi necesse
est. | sed: sed sets up an opposition
between the necessity of grieving
expressed in the beginning of the sentence and the necessity of
moderation in grief expressed in the end of the sentence. | modice:
as an adverb, modice modifies an understood dolere,
which is
the subject of est. | utile: a predicate
nominative agreeing with the subject of est. | ut
... ita ...: ut and ita are correlatives
("just as ..., so ...."). | necesse est: the subject
of est is another understood dolere, which is
modified by an understood modice.
[3] Cicero concludes his letter, saying he has written
enough of grief,
and will send other news in another letter soon, which he will
send via
an old, and presumably trusted, friend (sending letters was not a
simple private matter: one had to think of the qualities of the
person
carrying the letter).
[3] scriberem plura nisi ad te haec ipsa nimis multa essent. nos
te
tuumque exercitum exspectamus; sine quo, ut reliqua ex sententia
succedant, vix satis liberi videmur fore. de tota re publica plura
scribam et fortasse iam certiora iis litteris quas veteri nostro
cogitabam dare.
scriberem ... nisi ... essent: present contrary to fact
condition. | plura: modifies an understood plural
accusative verba, as in English "I
would write more" ('more' what? there seems to be an understood noun
there in
English too). | haec ipsa: modifies an understood
plural nominative verba (see previous
note). | nimis: modifies multa, which is
predicate nominative. | quo: refers to exercitum.
| reliqua: nominative neuter plural adjective used
substantively. | ex sententia: an idiom meaning
"satisfactorily." | succedant: subjunctive in purpose
clause. | satis: adverb modifying liberi.
| fore: = futurum esse. | scribam:
although expressed only in the first clause, scribam must
also
be understood in the second half of the sentence. | plura
and certiora: both modify a plural accusative verba
that is the
object of scribam. | iis litteris quas:
remember to translate this plural as singular. | veteri:
dative agreeing with nostro and modifying some understood
masculine dative noun like "friend."
Vocabulary
accipio, accipere, to learn, to be taught; receive, be
inflicted
with
accuso, accusare, to accuse
addo, addere, addidi, additum, to add
aestimo, aestimare, to value, to consider
alienus, alienior, alienissimus (adj), inappropriate to, unworthy
of (+
abl. or dat.)
alter, altera, alterum, another (of two)
amitto, amittere, amisi, amissum, to lose
auctoritas, -atis, f., authority
careo, carere, be without, miss, lack (+ abl.)
certus, -a, -um, certain, fixed
ceterus, -a, -um, rest, remaining
civis, civis, m., citizen
cogito (1), think (about)
colligo, colligere, collegi, collectum, to collect, to assemble
conicio, conicere, conieci, coniectum, to throw together
conl-, see coll-
consolor (1), to console
consuetudo, consuetudinis, f., habit, custom, experience
cum ... tum ...., both ... and ...
debilito, debilitare, to weaken, to deprive of power
decet, (impersonal) it is fitting
deterreo, deterrere, to deter, to discourage (from)
dico, dicere, dixi, dictum, to call, name
disco, discere, didici, to learn
doleo, dolere, to hurt, to feel pain
dolor, doloris, m., pain, anguish
egeo, egere, egui, to need (+gen or abl)
enim (postpositive), namely, for, because
exercitus, -us, m., army
exspecto (1), await, wait for (+acc.)
facile, facilius, facillime (adv), easily, more easily, most
easily
fero, ferre, tuli, latus, to bear
fore = futurum esse
fortasse (adv), perhaps
fortis, fortior, fortissimus (adj), strong
fungor, fungi, functus sum, to execute, to be engaged in (+ abl of
function)
gens, gentis, f., nation, Romans (pl.)
gravis, gravior, gravissimus (adj), heavy, painful
iudicium, iudici(i), n., judgment
lego, legere, legi, lectum, to read
levo, levare, to comfort, lighten, relieve
liber, libera, liberum, free
litterae, -arum, f. pl., letter (sg.), epistle
luctus, luctus, m., grief, sorrow
maeror, maeroris, m., grief, sadness
medeor, mederi, --, -to heal, to find healing (+dat of person)
minime, adv., least
miser, miserior, miserrimus (adj), poor, miserable
modice, moderately
molliter, mollius, mollissime (adv), calmly, quietly
necesse est, it is necessary
nimis (adv), too, excessively
nimius, nimia, nimium (adj), excessive, too great
nisi, if ... not ..., unless
non solum, not only
officium, offici(i), n., office, service
paene (adv), nearly
parum, minus, minime (adv), not enough, very little
plus, pluris, n., more (the noun is always singular and takes
gen.)
plures, pluria, pl. adj., more (the plural is always an adjective)
populus, -i, m., the people
praecipio, praecipere, to recommend
praesertim, especially
propter (prep), on account of, for (+acc)
quam ob rem, why, wherefore
ratio, rationis, argument
reliquus, reliqua, reliquum (adj), the rest, remainder
remedium, -i, n., cure, remedy
satis (adv), enough
scaena, -ae, f., (public) scene, stage
scio, scire, scivi, scitum, know
scribo, scribere, scripsi, scriptum, write
sensus, sensus, m., feeling, sense
sententia, sententiae, f., feeling, thought, meaning
servio, servire, servivi, servitum, to serve, be slave to (+dat.)
similis, simile, like, similar (+dat.)
sine, without (+abl.)
soleo, solere, to be in the habit of
solum, adv., alone, only
solus, -a, -um, alone
succedo, succedere, to advance, to follow
terra, -ae, f., land
tunc, then, at that time
tute, emphatic form of tu
utilis, utilis, utile (adj), useful
verbum, -a, n., word
vereor, vereri, veritus sum (dep), to revere, to respect
vetus, veteris, old
videor, videri, visus sum, to seem
vix (adv), hardly