Latin Texts & Translations

DXLVII (A XII, 16)

TO ATTICUS (AT ROME) ASTURA (10 MARcH)

I DON'T wish you to come to me to the neglect of your business. Rather I will come to you, if you are kept much longer. And yet I should never have gone so far as to quit your sight, had it not been that I was getting absolutely no relief from anything. But if any alleviation had been possible, it would have been in you alone, and as soon as it will be possible from anyone, it will be from you. Yet at this very moment I cannot stand being without you. But to stay at your town house was not thought proper, and it was impossible at mine; nor, if I had stopped at some place nearer Rome, should I have been with you after all. For the same reason would have hindered you from being with me, as hinders you now. As yet nothing suits me better than this solitude, which I fear Philippus ^[Note] will destroy: for he arrived at his villa yesterday evening. Writing and study do not soften my feelings, they only distract them.