Letter Writing.

59. In Cicero's time letters were commonly written either upon wax tablets or papyrus. Reference is made in Cic. Cat. 3.5 to a letter upon wax tablets, and they were not infrequently used as late as the fifth century A.D.²³² ; but the introduction into Italy of papyrus, which is mentioned as early as the time of Ennius,²³³ gradually restricted the use of wax tablets, so that, in so far as letters were concerned, they were in general used only in writing to a correspondent near at hand, especially when one hoped for an immediate answer upon the tablets sent. Thus Cicero writes to Lepta: simul atque accepi a Seleuco tuo litteras, statim quaesivi e Balbo per codicillos quid esset in lege.²³⁴ Such occasional notes were called codicilli²³⁵ as indicated in the extract, or sometimes [p. liii] pugillares. For letters, however, sent to a distance, as most of Cicero's were, papyrus was a much more convenient substance, and probably the great majority of his letters were written upon it.²³⁶ Parchment had not yet come into use for letter writing.²³⁷

60. The papyrus plant was grown principally in Egypt It grows in water two or three feet deep, and the plant reaches a height of five or six feet. The method of manufacturing writing material from it is described by Pliny.²³⁸ The stem of the plant was cut into thin strips, and these strips were laid parallel to one another upon a smooth surface; another set of strips was laid upon these at right angles, and the two layers were glued together by the gum which exuded from the strips when they were moistened with waten The layers were then hammered together into a single sheet, called a plagula, which was exposed to the sun to dry. The sheets were from 5 to 10 inches long, and probably one sufficed for an ordinary letter. If more space was needed, several sheets were pasted together. The center of the papyrus industry was Alexandria.

61. Ink (atramentum, or atramentum librarium) was ordinarily made from the liquid of the cuttle fish,²³⁹ or from a composition of soot and gum.²⁴⁰ The inkstand (atramentarium) was commonly cylindrical and often had two compartments, one for black and one for red ink. Pens (calami) were made of reeds grown chiefly in Egypt,²⁴¹ and were kept in a case (calamarium or theca calamaria) made usually of leather. The other articles which completed a writing outfit were a piece of lead (plumbum) and a ruler (regula) for [p. liv] ruling lines, a pen-knife scalprum librarium) for sharpening the pens, and a sponge for erasing ink.

62. The letter regularly opened and closed with certain formulae which varied according to the relations in which the writer and recipient stood. Thus, in writing to an intimate friend like Paetus, Cicero might open his letter thus: Cicero Paeto,²⁴² or Cicero Paeto S.²⁴³ (i.e. salutem), or Cicero Paeto S. D.²⁴⁴ (i.e. salutem dicit); or in a little more formal letter the praenomen or cognomen of one or of both might be added, e.g. M. Cicero S. D. A. Caecinae²⁴⁵ , or Cicero S. D. M. Fadio Gallo.²⁴⁶ In formal letters, if either the writer or the recipient held an office, his title was added, e.g. M. Cicero Imp. S. D. L. Paulo Cos.²⁴⁷ ; still more formally, M. Tullius M. F. Cicero Procos. S. D. Cos. Pr. Tr. Pl. Senatui²⁴⁸ (i.e. M. Tullius Marci filius Cicero pro consule salutem dicit consulibus praetoribus tribunis plebis senatui).

In addressing the members of one's own family it was customary to add suo (or suae), e.g. Tullius Terentiae suae S. P.²⁴⁹ (i.e. salutem plurimam). After this address there often appeared some formula like Si vales, bene est, either written out in full or in the abbreviation s.v.b.e. or s.v. b. (i.e. benest).²⁵⁰ Cicero himself rarely used this formula.²⁵¹

In writing to the members of one's own household, apparently some closing formula was ordinarily used. Such formulae are found at the end of all the letters to Terentia and to Tiro. Among those used are the following: vale, etiam atque etiam vale, vale salve, fac valeas meque diligas, cura ut valeas, ama nos et vale.²⁵² In writing to others than [p. lv] the members of one's household, closing formulae were less frequently used. For instance, all of the seventeen letters from Caelius²⁵³ close abruptly. The date and place of writing, if indicated at all, are usually given at the end of the letter, the name of the place being in the ablative (sometimes with a preposition) or the locative, e.g. d. (i.e. data, datae or datum) a. d. III Non. Oct. Thessalonica, XVII. K. Apr. Corduba, K. Oct. de Venusino, ex Arpinati VI. Non., data XVI Kal. Sextiles Thessalonicae.

63. When a letter was ready to be sent, it was rolled up; a thread was wound about the middle of it and sometimes passed through the papyrus itself, and a seal was attached to the ends of the string.²⁵⁴ The seal was the guarantee of genuineness; so, for instance, upon one occasion, when Cicero had opened some letters from Quintus to certain friends, on the suspicion that they contained slanderous remarks about himself, he was not afraid of the consequences, because Pomponia, the wife of Quintus, who was not on good terms with her husband, had her husband's seal and would not object to sealing the letters again.²⁵⁵ The seal often had for its design the likeness of the owner²⁵⁶ or of one of his ancestors.²⁵⁷ Wax was commonly used to receive the impression, but sometimes Asiatic chalk.²⁵⁸ Upon the outside of the roll the name of the person addressed was written in the dative, sometimes with his title and the place where he could be found, e.g. M. Lucretio flamini Martis decurioni Pompeus.²⁵⁹ [p. lvi]

64. Letters were often written by secretaries from dictation, but most of Cicero's letters to Atticus and Quintus at least were written with his own hand; for in 59 B.C. he writes to Atticus: numquam ante arbitror te epistulam meam legisse, nisi mea manu scriptam²⁶⁰ ; and in 49 B.C.: lippitudinis meae signum tibi sit librarii manus²⁶¹ ; and in 54 B.C. to Quintus: scribis enim te meas litteras superiores vix legere potuisse, in quo nihil eorum, mi frater, fuit quae putas; neque enim occupatus eram neque perturbatus nec iratus alicui, sed hoc facio semper ut, quicumque calamus in manus meas venerit, eo sic utar tamquam bono.²⁶² During the latter part of his life, however, especially during the years 44 and 43 B.C., even the letters to Atticus were written by a secretary.²⁶³ Cicero's principal secretary was Tiro. Mention is also made of another, Spintharus by name.²⁶⁴

As there was no postal system at that time, letters had to be sent by one's own messengers (tabellarii.) or the messengers of one's friends. This made the composition of a letter a more serious matter in Cicero's day than it is in ours. But his letters were not always studied productions: some of them were written while he was traveling; others between the courses at dinner²⁶⁵ ; and he writes to Cassius²⁶⁶ : praeposteros habes tabellarios . . . cum a me discedunt, flagitant litteras . . . atque id ipsum facerent commodius, si mihi aliquid spatii ad scribendum darent, sed petasati veniunt, comites ad portam exspectare dicunt.

Some idea of the speed with which letters were carried may be gathered from the following instances: letters arrived at Rome from Brundisium on the sixth day, from Sicily on [p. lvii] the seventh day, from Britain on the thirty-third day, from Africa and also from Athens on the twenty-first day, from Syria on the fiftieth day.²⁶⁷ A messenger in Cicero's time traveled from 40 to 50 (Roman) miles per day.²⁶⁸

Cicero's Correspondence and its First Publication.

65. The earliest letter (Att. 1.5) in the correspondence was written in 68 B.C.; the latest (Fam. 10.24), a letter from Plancus to Cicero, bears the date of July 28, 43 B.C. Cicero's last extant letter (Fam. 10.29) was written July 6, 43 B.C. The correspondence with Atticus closes with Att. 1.6.15 in Dec. 44 B.C. The fact that the extant correspondence stops several months before his death is probably due to the circumstance that the attitude of Octavius changed in the summer of 43 B.C., and Cicero's letters after that date were not published because of the strictures they contained upon the conduct of Octavius. The following tables indicate the extant and lost collections of letters:

EXTANT COLLECTIONS.
Ad Familiares	16 bks.
Ad Atticum	16
Ad Quintum	3
Ad M. Brutum	2
Total	37 bks.

LOST COLLECTIONS.
Ad Axium	2 bks.
Ad M. Brutum	7
Ad Caesarem	3
Ad Calvum	2
Ad filium	2
Ad Hirtium	9
Ad Nepotem	2
Ad Octavium	3
Ad Pansam	3
Ad Pompeium	4
Total	37 bks.

[p. lviii] The extant collections contain about 870 letters, of which 423 are included in the Bks. ad Fam., 394 in the Bks. ad Att., and the remainder is divided almost equally between the other two collections. The correspondence contains 98 letters from 31 other persons than Cicero. Seventy-three of these letters are found in the Bks. ad Fam.

66. The collection of letters ad Fam. seems to be made up of three parts²⁶⁹ : (i) Bk. 13, (ii) Bks.1-9 and 14-16, (iii) Bks. 10-12. The letters of Bk. 13 are all letters of recommendation, and were probably collected and perhaps published in the summer of 44 B.C. Of the other books, 1-9 and 14-16 contain epistles, other than letters of recommendation, written before the summer of 44 B.C.; and Bks. 10-12 contain letters written later than that date. The date of publication of parts ii and iii is not known. In view of the criticisms made upon Antony in some of these letters, perhaps they were not published until after the battle of Actium, or still later.²⁷⁰ The title Episitulae ad Familiares is modern.

Tiro, Cicero's secretary, was making a collection of Cicero's letters in 44 B.C.²⁷¹ The collection of letters ad Fam. contains no letters from Tiro, but many addressed to him, even by other people than Cicero. He is therefore almost certainly the editor of this collection.

67. The collection ad Atticum contains no letter from Atticus. This state of things, together with the well-known fact that Atticus was a publisher, and that Cornelius Nepos says²⁷² that such a collection of Cicero's letters, not yet published, was in the possession of Atticus, makes it almost certain that these letters were arranged for publication by him. It is probable that they were not published until [p. lix] after his death (32 B.C.).²⁷³ Some of the men of note upon whom Cicero had expressed unfavorable opinions were still living in 32 B.C., and the publication of these letters would therefore have been indiscreet. The books in the collection ad Att. stand in chronological order, and the letters within the books are arranged chronologically, but not with accuracy.

With the Epistulae ad Quintum fratrem may be mentioned the Commentariolum Petitionis,²⁷⁴ a document which Quintus sent to his brother when the latter was a candidate for the consulship. The letters proper, as well as the Epistulae ad M. Brutum, were edited by Tiro.²⁷⁵ There were originally nine books of the letters to Brutus, but seven of them have been lost. Those which remain are probably Bks. 9 and 8 of the original collection. The authenticity of the Epist ad M. Brut. has been seriously doubted, but, with the exception perhaps of 1.16 and 17,²⁷⁶ they are now commonly regarded as authentic.

68. A few references to Cicero's letters during the Middle Ages are found,²⁷⁷ but they do not seem to have been as well known as his philosophical writings. In the year 1389, however, Coluccio Salutato, the Florentine chancellor, obtained from Vercelli a copy of a Ciceronian manuscript, which was found to contain the Epist ad Fam.²⁷⁸ This manuscript and the copy secured by Coluccio are now in the Laurentian Library at Florence. The former belongs to the [p. lx] ninth or tenth century and contains all of the Epist ad Fam. This manuscript, in the opinion of most editors, is of paramount authority for the text. Bks. 1-8 of this collection are also found in two manuscripts of the twelfth century, one in the library of the British Museum and the other in the National Library at Paris. Another manuscript of the eleventh century in the British Museum and one of the fifteenth or sixteenth century at Rome contain Bks. 9-16.

In 1345 Petrarch discovered at Verona a manuscript containing the Epist. ad Att., ad Q. fr., and ad M. Brutum, and, although the original and Petrarch's copy are both lost, another copy, made for Coluccio Salutato, survived and is preserved in the Laurentian Library at Florence. The only other independent sources for the text of these letters are a few leaves at Wrzburg and Munich, and a manuscript known to us only through the marginal readings in one of the early editions, that of Cratander, published in Basel in 1528.

Language and Style.

69. For a complete and scientific study of the language and style of Cicero's correspondence an examination of the Latinity of the thirty-one writers from whom letters are preserved would be necessary. Some of these writers, e.g. Caelius (Bk. 8, ad Fam.), have left us sufficient material upon which to base a fair estimate of their individual characteristics; but such a discussion would be too extended for our purposes. An examination, however, of the letters reveals certain elements common to the correspondence as a whole which differentiate epistolary Latin from the language used in more formal writing. Epistolary Latin is one of the forms of the sermo cotidianus, the speech used in [p. lxi] the familiar intercourse of everyday life, as opposed to the more formal diction adopted in literary compositions intended for a more general audience or body of readers.

70. Formal and informal Latin, if they may be so designated, are in their origin independent of one another. At the moment when Latin literature began, inasmuch as differences in culture did not exist, there was but one Latin spoken by patrician and plebeian alike. With the appearance of literature, Latin developed along two different lines. The poets, especially Ennius, in adapting Latin to literary purposes, adopted certain words and forms of expression and rejected others. On the other hand, the people, in their daily life, were more conservative, retaining much of that which literature rejected,²⁷⁹ while at the same time they adopted many new forms of expression which formal literature either did not employ at all or accepted at a later date. In particular these literary pioneers, being steeped in Greek literature, unconsciously sought to develop literary Latin in accordance with the genius of the Greek language. This latter influence acted only indirectly upon colloquial speech.

71. The cleft thus resulting continued to widen, until, in course of time, certain distinct and interesting differences are noticeable between formal and informal Latin. Of course important differences are found only between the extremes of these two forms of speech. Cicero himself intimates that we may expect to find in his letters evidences of colloquialism, for he writes to his friend Paetus (Fam. 9.21.1) Quid tibi ego videor in epistulis? nonne plebeio sermone agere tecum? . . . epistulas vero cotidianis verbis texere solemus.²⁸⁰

72. A number of factors tend to vary the character of this sermo cotidianus as it is used in letter writing. Some [p. lxii] of these are the character of the person addressed and his relations to the writer, the subject or subjects discussed, the occupation and culture of the writer, the time and place in which the letter is written, and the other circumstances attending the composition.

With local differences in familiar speech and with those which time effects, the student who confines his attention to Cicero's correspondence is not concerned, as the letters fall within a period of twenty-five years, and were written by men who spoke Latin as it was spoken in the city of Rome. The other factors are of interest. One cannot fail to notice the freedom and informality with which Cicero writes to his friend Atticus or his brother Quintus, as compared with the tone which he adopts to those less intimately related to him. It is in the letters addressed to these two persons that we find the greatest divergence from formal standards. The subject and purpose of a letter exert a potent influence upon its character. The 'open letter' to Lentulus (Fam. 1.9), for example, which was to serve as a political pamphlet, takes a tone entirely different from that of the gossipy letters to Trebatius and Paetus. Most of Cicero's correspondents were men of some culture, and there is consequently a uniformity of style and a nearer approximation to formal Latin than we should find in the letters of uncultivated men, but in Pompey and Curius, for instance, we find little suggestion of literary training, but rather the flavor of the camp and of mercantile life. The circumstances under which a letter is written influence perceptibly the character of its language and style. This is especially true of Cicero's own letters, because his nature was peculiarly sensitive to the circumstances surrounding him at the moment; and the letters which he wrote while in exile (e.g. Att. Bk. 3.), offer, in their laxity of style, striking illustrations of the way in which the intensity [p. lxiii] of his feeling was reflected, not merely in the thought expressed, but in the form in which it found expression. Cf., for instance, note to ante oculos, Epist. XIII. 3, and note to cuicuimodi, Epist. XIV.

73. The student of Plautus, of Terence, of Horace in his Satires, and of Petronius, will find, as might be expected, many points of contact between the language of these writers and the language of the Letters, with such differences in general as result from the influences just noted. It is interesting also to observe that many stylistic peculiarities which we ordinarily recognize as the distinguishing characteristics of Silver Latin, first come to the surface in Cicero's correspondence. A full discussion of the Latinity of the correspondence is impossible here, but a few epistolary peculiarities of more or less frequency are noted in the following paragraphs. Further remarks upon these points and upon similar ones will be found in the commentary.

Lexicography and Orthography.

74. New Formations

In general a fairly large number of words are found in the Letters which do not occur elsewhere in Latin, but the majority of them were probably not new. Still, such formations as facteon, Sullaturit, tocullio, Lentulitas, susurrator, and subrostrani, which have a genuine Plautine ring, must have resulted from the inspiration of the moment. Cf. note to facteon, Epist. V. 13.

75. Verbal Substantives

Of especial frequency are verbal substantives in -tio, etc., such as denuntiatio (Plancus, Fam. 10.8.4), and praevaricator (Caelius, Fam. 8.11.1). These substantives condense an idea into a single word and thus secure the brevity at which a letter-writer often aims.

76. Diminutives.

Perhaps the most characteristic form in the Letters is the diminutive. The diminutive ending is [p. lxiv] added to substantives, to adjectives, to adverbs, and even to the comparative form of the adjective and adverb, and suggests often some emotion on the part of the writer. Cf. note to pulchellus, Epist. V. 10.

77. Words compounded with per- and sub-.

Equally common is the use with adjectives, adverbs, and verbs of the prefixes per- and sub-, which respectively strengthen and weaken the force of the words to which they are attached; e.g. perbenivolus (Fam. 14.4. 6), subirascor, 'I am a trifle provoked' (Att. 9.7.7). The use of these prefixes is not by any means unknown in formal literature, but in epistolary Latin it gives rise to many new and strange compounds, e.g. pervesperi (Fam. 9.2.1), subinanis (Att. 2.17.2), and subturpiculus (Att. 4.5.1). It is in the freedom with which such compounds were formed, and the frequency with which they were used, that colloquial Latin was distinguished from formal Latin. These compounds had gone so far toward supplanting the simple words in familiar speech that in some cases they differed in no wise from them, as is shown in the phrase quae parcius frater perscripserat (Q. Cic., Fam. 16.27.1). Cf. also note to pertumultuose, Epist. XXXIV. 3.

78. Verbs compounded with ad-, con-, etc.

In this connection mention may be made of verbs compounded with ad-, con-, de-, and dis-, which are used in the Letters not only with great frequency, but often when they do not apparently differ in meaning from the simple verbs. Compounds with dis- are especially noteworthy. Cf. note to discupio, Epist. XLVIII. 2.

79. Frequentatives.

Frequentatives are used with such freedom, and so often in the double form (e.g. ventito, Matius, Fam. 11.28.7), or with the addition of such words as saepe or crebro, as, for instance, ostentare crebro solebat (Dolabella, Fam. 9.9. 2), that one is at first inclined to think that the frequentative has lost its characteristic force in such cases; but it is more probable that in the double [p. lxv] frequentative, and in the expressions just noted we have an illustration of the colloquial fondness for unduly emphasizing a fact.

80. Hybrids.

A few hybrids are found in the Letters, but apparently only in the more familiar letters to Atticus, e.g. Pseudocato, Att. 1.14.6; tocullio, Att. 2.1. 12; facteon, Att. 1.16.13.

81. Archaism.

As was remarked above, colloquial Latin was conservative in retaining certain forms and expressions which became obsolete in formal Latin. Instances in point are dicier, an obsolete infinitive form (Vatin., Fam. 5.9.1), isto = istuc (Cael., Fam. 8.15.2 et passim), illi = illic (Cael., Fam. 8.15.2), qui (abl.) (Fam. 2.16.2), ast = at (Att. 1.16.17; 3.15.6), and absque = sine (Att. 1.19.1). These forms, as might be expected, are more frequent in the letters of the less cultivated or more colloquial of Cicero's correspondents. They are very rarely found in Cicero's own letters. Cf. note to isto, Epist. XLVIII. 2, and especially to mi, Epist. XCIII. 2.

82. Contracted Forms.

Of most interest in this connection is the occurrence in the tenses of the perfect system of syncopated forms, which are used far more freely in epistolary than in formal Latin. In fact, the comparative frequency of such forms in a letter seems to depend upon its informality. In the seventeen letters from Caelius (Bk. 8, ad Fam.), which are very familiar in their tone, syncopation takes place in the perfect tenses fifty-five times, while full forms occur but four times. Typical examples from the Letters are consuesti (Caecina, Fam. 6.7.6), pugnarunt (Cael.,Fam. 8.11.2), peccasse (Q. Cic., Fam. 16.26.1), and decreram (Plancus, Fam. 10.21.2). About half of the 140 syncopated verb forms which occur in the letters addressed to Cicero belong to the first conjugation. Cf. also notes to decesse, Epist. XIX. 2, commorit, Epist. XLVIII. 1, and Ravennaest, Epist. XXXI. 4.