{
    "schema": "prokopton42-public-passage-v1",
    "id": "cicero.letters_to_atticus",
    "canonical_url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/works/cicero/letters-to-atticus/reference-1-1-2/",
    "language": "en",
    "title": "Letters to Atticus",
    "author": "Cicero",
    "date": "68-44 BCE",
    "summary": "In letters to Atticus, Cicero shares calculations, fears, and reversals with his closest political confidant. The correspondence preserves a voice less polished than the speeches, caught within the crises of the late Republic.",
    "learning": "Observe political decisions taking shape, distinguish confidence from self-fashioning, and reconstruct the role of the largely absent addressee.",
    "long_summary": "The letters follow elections, alliances, civil war, exile, and domestic decisions almost at the pace of events. Cicero seeks advice, passes news, assesses Caesar, Pompey, and their supporters, then often revises his judgement in the next letter.\n\nThis immediacy reveals reasoning in motion rather than settled doctrine. Atticus remains an active addressee whose replies are largely absent, so silence, self-defence, and relational strategy must be read alongside the events discussed.",
    "historical_context": "The corpus manifests do not yet establish the precise place and circumstances of composition. The images below document the author’s world or the text’s transmission. They do not claim to show the exact scene of writing.",
    "material_world_label": "Roman world, 1st century BCE to 3rd century CE",
    "material_world": {
        "technology": "Paved roads, aqueducts, concrete, glassware, mills, and hypocaust heating equip some cities, but energy comes mainly from bodies, animals, water, and wood.",
        "science": "Astronomy, geometry, natural history, and engineering compile Greek, Egyptian, and Roman knowledge. Measurement exists without a modern laboratory.",
        "medicine": "Physicians, midwives, baths, plants, and rudimentary surgery can help; reliable anaesthesia, antisepsis, and antibiotics do not exist.",
        "transport": "On foot, horseback, cart, or ship, road and sea networks connect the Empire. Travel remains slow, costly, and risky.",
        "agriculture": "Grain, vines, olives, pulses, and livestock supply cities and armies; estates, slavery, and tenancy organize part of the labour.",
        "communication": "Imperial couriers, letters on papyrus or tablets, inscriptions, and oral proclamations spread information. Everything is copied by hand.",
        "clothing": "Tunics and cloaks are common to both sexes; the stola, toga, footwear, colours, and jewellery mark citizenship, office, wealth, and origin."
    },
    "material_world_scenes": [
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/09-54-ce/world-01.webp",
            "title": "Technology, science, and care",
            "description": "Paved roads, aqueducts, concrete, glassware, mills, and hypocaust heating equip some cities, but energy comes mainly from bodies, animals, water, and wood. Astronomy, geometry, natural history, and engineering compile Greek, Egyptian, and Roman knowledge. Measurement exists without a modern laboratory. Physicians, midwives, baths, plants, and rudimentary surgery can help; reliable anaesthesia, antisepsis, and antibiotics do not exist."
        },
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/09-54-ce/world-02.webp",
            "title": "Travel and communication",
            "description": "On foot, horseback, cart, or ship, road and sea networks connect the Empire. Travel remains slow, costly, and risky. Imperial couriers, letters on papyrus or tablets, inscriptions, and oral proclamations spread information. Everything is copied by hand."
        },
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/09-54-ce/world-03.webp",
            "title": "Farming and food",
            "description": "Grain, vines, olives, pulses, and livestock supply cities and armies; estates, slavery, and tenancy organize part of the labour."
        },
        {
            "asset": "/assets/timeline/landmarks/09-54-ce/world-04.webp",
            "title": "Clothing, women and men",
            "description": "Tunics and cloaks are common to both sexes; the stola, toga, footwear, colours, and jewellery mark citizenship, office, wealth, and origin."
        }
    ],
    "intellectual_tradition": {
        "id": "greek-roman-traditions",
        "label": "Greek and Roman traditions"
    },
    "period": {
        "id": "ancient",
        "label": "Antiquity"
    },
    "languages": [
        "lat",
        "en",
        "fr"
    ],
    "manifestations": [
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/cicero/letters_to_atticus/representations/lat.ndjson",
            "language": "lat",
            "records": 1479,
            "role": "original",
            "sha256": "c18722b900f27d95234987069046b79c90898739422ab6d543c77f5c7ad65fc8",
            "source_id": "perseus-cicero-letters_to_atticus-lat"
        },
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/cicero/letters_to_atticus/representations/ai-generated/en-gpt-5-6-sol-corpus-passage-translation-v1.ndjson",
            "generated_on": "2026-09-11",
            "language": "en",
            "model": "gpt-5.6-sol",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "prompt_version": "corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "provider": "codex_subscription",
            "records": 1479,
            "role": "ai_generated_translation_non_official",
            "sha256": "46a9ba0e94d4cd6726a644eddf2c8ebec7d27b5555352262be4a1e98e0e84ef0",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation"
        },
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/cicero/letters_to_atticus/representations/ai-generated/fr-gpt-5-6-sol-corpus-passage-translation-v1.ndjson",
            "generated_on": "2026-09-11",
            "language": "fr",
            "model": "gpt-5.6-sol",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "prompt_version": "corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "provider": "codex_subscription",
            "records": 1479,
            "role": "ai_generated_translation_non_official",
            "sha256": "e4cbdb57ec4313306c1e4fa44f92c123e845d086b7c5e2324ae86d08fc3b709b",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation"
        },
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/cicero/translation_carrier_en_05/representations/en.ndjson",
            "language": "en",
            "records": 1,
            "role": "historical_translation",
            "sha256": "2d5e9462ef8b2f005b93d341387273fed1ead58e543dc8fce2a6b5ba8ac93b1e",
            "source_id": "perseus-cicero-letters-to-atticus-en-carrier"
        },
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/cicero/translation_carrier_en_05/representations/ai-generated/fr-gpt-5-6-sol-corpus-passage-translation-v1.ndjson",
            "generated_on": "2026-09-11",
            "language": "fr",
            "model": "gpt-5.6-sol",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "prompt_version": "corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "provider": "codex_subscription",
            "records": 1,
            "role": "ai_generated_translation_non_official",
            "sha256": "b34c29bc15b5b892cae9cd57911b32826695e588715b7026a8377491b31d59ec",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation"
        },
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/cicero/translation_carrier_en_14/representations/en.ndjson",
            "language": "en",
            "records": 1,
            "role": "historical_translation",
            "sha256": "1f7a3e28da200cc9a11ef41a907dad05d1c845663a2010673d76bdab83b18c2d",
            "source_id": "gutenberg-selected-letters"
        },
        {
            "coverage": "complete",
            "file": "data/corpus/normalized/cicero/translation_carrier_en_14/representations/ai-generated/fr-gpt-5-6-sol-corpus-passage-translation-v1.ndjson",
            "generated_on": "2026-09-11",
            "language": "fr",
            "model": "gpt-5.6-sol",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "prompt_version": "corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "provider": "codex_subscription",
            "records": 1,
            "role": "ai_generated_translation_non_official",
            "sha256": "7fee282ef09b594d82fb1c02bc3ef48942a11323aa1442dcb94361aa40d6e054",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation"
        }
    ],
    "concepts": [
        {
            "id": "anger",
            "label": "Anger"
        },
        {
            "id": "civic_duty",
            "label": "Civic duty"
        },
        {
            "id": "family",
            "label": "Family"
        },
        {
            "id": "fortune",
            "label": "Fortune"
        },
        {
            "id": "friendship",
            "label": "Friendship"
        },
        {
            "id": "judgment",
            "label": "Judgment"
        },
        {
            "id": "reason",
            "label": "Reason"
        }
    ],
    "source_work_ids": [
        "cicero.letters_to_atticus",
        "cicero.translation_carrier_en_05",
        "cicero.translation_carrier_en_14"
    ],
    "passages": 1479,
    "word_count": 211714,
    "word_counts_by_language": {
        "en": 211714,
        "fr": 203445,
        "lat": 124700
    },
    "editorial_status": "gpt_5_6_semantic_draft_v1",
    "structure": {
        "citation_scheme": "cicero-work-hierarchy-v1",
        "kind": "native",
        "levels": [
            {
                "key": "hierarchical_ref",
                "label_fr": "Division",
                "label_en": "Division"
            }
        ],
        "leaf_fr": "Passage",
        "leaf_en": "Passage"
    },
    "canonical_passage_id": "passage:cicero.letters_to_atticus:1.1.2",
    "canonical_ref": "1.1.2",
    "canonical_parent_ref": null,
    "canonical_parent_id": null,
    "representations": [
        {
            "language": "lat",
            "text": "de iis qui nunc petunt Caesar certus putatur. Thermus cum Silano contendere existimatur; qui sic inopes et ab amicis et existimatione sunt ut mihi videatur non esse ἀδύνατον Curium obducere. sed hoc praeter me nemini videtur. nostris rationibus maxime conducere videtur Thermum fieri cum Caesare. nemo est enim ex iis qui nunc petunt qui, si in nostrum annum reciderit, firmior candidatus fore videatur, propterea quod curator est viae Flaminiae † que cum erit absoluta sane facile eum libenter nunc ceteri consuli acciderim†. petitorum haec est adhuc informata cogitatio. nos in omni munere candidatorio fungendo summam adhibebimus diligentiam et fortasse, quoniam videtur in suffragiis multum posse Gallia, cum Romae a iudiciis forum refrixerit, excurremus mense Septembri legati ad Pisonem ut Ianuario revertamur. cum perspexero voluntates nobilium, scribam ad te. cetera spero prolixa esse his dumtaxat urbanis competitoribus. illam manum tu mihi cura ut praestes, quoniam propius abes, Pompei, nostri amici. nega me ei iratum fore si ad mea comitia non venerit. atque haec huius modi sunt.",
            "edition": "perseus-cicero-letters_to_atticus-lat",
            "source_id": "perseus-cicero-letters_to_atticus-lat",
            "translation_type": "historical_human_translation"
        },
        {
            "language": "en",
            "text": "Of those now standing, Caesar is thought certain. Thermus is believed to be competing with Silanus. They are so destitute of both friends and reputation that it does not seem impossible to me to bring Curius in against them. But no one except me thinks so. For our plans it seems best that Thermus be elected with Caesar. For among those now standing there is no one who, if carried over into our year, seems likely to be a stronger candidate, because he is curator of the Via Flaminia, †and when it is finished, I could very easily gladly have the others now befall the consul†. Such is the still unformed outlook regarding the candidates. I shall use the greatest diligence in performing every duty of a candidate, and perhaps, since Gaul seems able to exert much influence in the voting, when the Forum at Rome has cooled after the trials, I shall make an excursion in September as a legate to Piso, so as to return in January. When I have clearly seen the inclinations of the nobles, I shall write to you. I hope the rest will go smoothly, at least with these urban competitors. Since you are nearer, take care to secure for me that band belonging to our friend Pompey. Tell him that I shall be angry with him if he does not come to my election. So much for these matters.",
            "translator": "Codex gpt-5.6-sol",
            "edition": "Prokopton42 non-official AI translation, 2026-09-11",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "generation_model": "gpt-5.6-sol"
        },
        {
            "language": "fr",
            "text": "Parmi ceux qui se présentent maintenant, César passe pour assuré. On estime que Thermus disputera l’élection à Silanus. Tous deux sont si dépourvus d’amis et de réputation qu’il ne me paraît pas ἀδύνατον de leur opposer Curius. Mais personne, sauf moi, ne partage cet avis. Pour nos calculs, le plus avantageux paraît être l’élection de Thermus avec César. Car aucun de ceux qui se présentent aujourd’hui ne semble devoir devenir un candidat plus solide s’il est rejeté sur notre année, parce qu’il est curateur de la voie Flaminia, †et lorsqu’elle sera achevée, il me sera certes très facile que les autres consentent maintenant à ce que je sois consul†. Voilà l’ébauche actuelle de mes réflexions sur les candidats. Pour accomplir tous les devoirs d’un candidat, nous déploierons le plus grand soin; et peut-être, puisque la Gaule paraît peser lourd dans les suffrages, lorsque le forum se sera refroidi à Rome par l’interruption des tribunaux, irons-nous en septembre comme légat auprès de Pison, afin de revenir en janvier. Quand j’aurai discerné les dispositions des nobles, je t’écrirai. Pour le reste, j’espère que la route est largement ouverte, du moins face à ces concurrents de la ville. Quant à la troupe de Pompée, notre ami, veille à me l’assurer, puisque tu es plus près de lui. Dis-lui que je serai fâché contre lui s’il ne vient pas à mes comices. Voilà pour ces affaires.",
            "translator": "Codex gpt-5.6-sol",
            "edition": "Prokopton42 non-official AI translation, 2026-09-11",
            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation",
            "official_status": "non_official",
            "generation_model": "gpt-5.6-sol"
        }
    ],
    "content_checksum": "304ff7a7c8342a9ec805c773b5047ffa06f4663a39bd55b4ed0bb91793906a39"
}