{
    "schema": "prokopton42-public-passage-v1",
    "id": "cicero.letters_to_atticus",
    "canonical_url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/works/cicero/letters-to-atticus/reference-12-18-1/",
    "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,
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            "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",
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            "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",
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            "provider": "codex_subscription",
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            "source_id": "prokopton42-codex-translation:gpt-5.6-sol:corpus-passage-translation-v1",
            "translation_type": "ai_generated_translation"
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    ],
    "concepts": [
        {
            "id": "care_of_soul",
            "label": "Care of the soul"
        },
        {
            "id": "civic_duty",
            "label": "Civic duty"
        },
        {
            "id": "death",
            "label": "Death"
        },
        {
            "id": "fortune",
            "label": "Fortune"
        },
        {
            "id": "friendship",
            "label": "Friendship"
        },
        {
            "id": "salvation",
            "label": "Salvation"
        },
        {
            "id": "time",
            "label": "Time"
        }
    ],
    "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:12.18.1",
    "canonical_ref": "12.18.1",
    "canonical_parent_ref": null,
    "canonical_parent_id": null,
    "representations": [
        {
            "language": "lat",
            "text": "dum recordationes fugio quae quasi morsu quodam dolorem efficiunt, refugio ad te admonendum. quod velim mihi ignoscas, cuicuimodi est. etenim habeo non nullos ex iis quos nunc lectito auctores qui dicant fieri id oportere quod saepe tecum egi et quod a te approbari volo, de fano illo dico, de quo tantum quantum me amas velim cogites. equidem neque de genere dubito (placet enim mihi Cluati) neque de re (statutum est enim), de loco non numquam. velim igitur cogites. ego , quantum his temporibus tam eruditis fieri potuerit, profecto illam consecrabo omni genere monimentorum ab omnium ingeniis sumptorum et Graecorum et Latinorum. quae res forsitan sit refricatura vulnus meum. sed iam quasi voto quodam et promisso me teneri puto, longumque illud tempus cum non ero magis me movet quam hoc exiguum, quod mihi tamen nimium longum videtur. habeo enim nihil temptatis rebus omnibus in quo acquiescam. nam dum illud tractabam de quo ad te ante scripsi, quasi fovebam dolores meos; nunc omnia respuo nec quicquam habeo tolerabilius quam solitudinem; quam, quod eram veritus, non obturbavit Philippus. nam ut heri me salutavit, statim Romam profectus est.",
            "edition": "perseus-cicero-letters_to_atticus-lat",
            "source_id": "perseus-cicero-letters_to_atticus-lat",
            "translation_type": "historical_human_translation"
        },
        {
            "language": "en",
            "text": "While I flee recollections that cause pain as though by biting me, I take refuge in reminding you of something. Please pardon me, whatever its character. For among the authors I am now reading repeatedly, I have some who say that I ought to do what I have often discussed with you and what I want you to approve. I mean that shrine. I should like you to think about it with all the care proportionate to your love for me. I have no doubt about its form, for Cluatius' design pleases me, nor about the undertaking, for it is resolved, but sometimes about the location. I should therefore like you to consider it. So far as has been possible in times as cultivated as ours, I shall assuredly consecrate her with every kind of memorial drawn from every Greek and Latin genius. That may perhaps reopen my wound. But now I think myself bound by a kind of vow and promise, and that long time when I shall not exist affects me more than this brief span, which nevertheless seems far too long to me. After trying everything, I have nothing in which to find rest. While I was handling the work about which I wrote to you before, I seemed almost to soothe my pain; now I reject everything and find nothing more tolerable than solitude. Philippus did not disturb it, as I had feared. For after calling on me yesterday, he immediately left for Rome.",
            "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": "En cherchant à fuir les souvenirs qui causent la douleur comme par une morsure, je me réfugie dans une nouvelle exhortation que je t’adresse. Je voudrais que tu me pardonnes, quelle qu’elle soit. Parmi les auteurs que je lis maintenant, j’en trouve plusieurs qui disent qu’il faut faire ce dont je t’ai souvent entretenu et que je veux te voir approuver. Je parle de ce sanctuaire. Je voudrais que tu y réfléchisses autant que tu m’aimes. Je ne doute ni du modèle, car celui de Cluatius me plaît, ni du projet, car ma décision est prise ; mais parfois je doute du lieu. Je voudrais donc que tu y réfléchisses. Autant qu’il sera possible en des temps si savants, je la consacrerai certainement par toutes sortes de monuments tirés du génie de tous les auteurs grecs et latins. Cette entreprise rouvrira peut-être ma blessure. Mais je me crois déjà lié par une sorte de vœu et de promesse ; et ce long temps où je ne serai plus m’émeut davantage que ce bref temps présent, qui pourtant me semble excessivement long. Après avoir tout essayé, je n’ai rien où trouver le repos. Tant que je travaillais au sujet dont je t’ai parlé auparavant, je semblais pour ainsi dire bercer mes douleurs ; maintenant je rejette tout et ne trouve rien de plus supportable que la solitude. Philippus ne l’a pas troublée comme je l’avais craint. Après être venu hier me saluer, il est aussitôt parti pour Rome.",
            "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",
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}