Epistulae ad Atticum is a collection of letters from Roman politician and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero to his close friend Titus Pomponius Atticus. The letters in this collection, together with Cicero's other letters, are considered the most reliable sources of information for the period leading up to the fall of the Roman Republic. The letters to Atticus are special among Cicero's works in that they provide a candid view into his personal character — containing confession, frank self-revelation, and a record of his moods from day to day, without alteration. Traditionally spanning 16 books, the collection features letters from 68 to 44 BCE. A notable absence of early references to these particular letters suggest that they may not have been published until the middle of the first century CE, significantly later than Cicero's other letters and quite some time after the deaths of both Cicero and Atticus .A manuscript containing the collection, along with Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem, and Epistulae ad Brutum, was rediscovered in 1345 in Verona by Petrarch. Both the original and Petrarch's copy are lost, though a copy made for Coluccio Salutati is preserved in the Laurentian Library in Florence.
“There is said to be hope for a sick man, as long as there is life.”
Aegroto dum anima est, spes esse dicitur.
Marcus Tullius Cicero Epistulae ad Atticum
Epistulae ad Atticum (Letters to Atticus) Book IX, Letter X, section 3
Often paraphrased as: Dum anima est, spes est ("While there is life there is hope")
Compare: "While there's life there’s hope, and only the dead have none." Theocritus, Idyll 4, line 42; as translated A. S. F. Gow
“As for me, I cease not to advocate peace. It may be on unjust terms, but even so it is more expedient than the justest of civil wars.”
Equidem ad pacem hortari non desino; quae vel iniusta utilior est quam iustissimum bellum cum civibus.
Marcus Tullius Cicero Epistulae ad Atticum
Epistulae ad Atticum (Letters to Atticus) Book VII, Letter 14, section 3; as translated by E.O. Winstedt in the Loeb Classical Library http://archive.org/stream/letterstoatticus02ciceuoft#page/68/mode/2up
“So long as there is life in the sick man, it is said that there is hope.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero Epistulae ad Atticum
Epistulae ad Atticum (Letters to Atticus) Book IX, Letter X, section 3
Often paraphrased as: Dum anima est, spes est ("While there is life there is hope")
Compare: "While there's life there's hope, and only the dead have none." Theocritus, Idyll 4, line 42; as translated A. S. F. Gow
Original: (la) Aegroto dum anima est, spes esse dicitur.
