Letter coll=A:book=2:letter=23 Letter IX: ad Atticum 2.23
Rome, Aug. or Sept., 59 B.C.
[sect. 1]
nisi mea manu scriptam: cf. Intr. 64.
quanta occupatione distinear: his attention was given to professional matters rather than to politics; cf. 3.
voculae: cf. pulchellus, Ep. V.10n, and voculas, Ep. LI.2n.
ambulare: Quintilian, 11.3.19, recommends walking, among other things, as good for the voice.
dictavi : Tiro, Cicero's principal secretary, was an expert shorthand writer and the author of a system of stenography. Cf. Intr. 57.
haec dictavi ambulans: no better proof could be required that Cicero did not intend his letters for publication than the fact that many of them were composed while on a journey, or just as the vessel is weighing anchor, between the courses at dinner, or while the messenger is impatiently standing behind him with cloak and hat on. Cf. Ep. LXX.1. To his brother, who had complained of the illegibility of his letters, he writes: sed hoc facio semper, ut quicumque calamus in manus meas venerit, eo sic utar tam quam bono, Q.fr. 2.14.1. Cf. also ante lucem, Ep. XVI. 7 and Intr. 64.