Marcus Tullius Cicero→Unknown|c. -58 AD|Cicero|AI-assisted
I satisfy everyone else in every duty and indeed devotion toward you, but I never satisfy myself; for so great is the magnitude of your services toward me that, since you did not rest until my affair was accomplished, I consider my life bitter because I cannot achieve the same in your cause. The situation is this: Ammonius, the king's envoy, is openly attacking us with money. The matter is being conducted through the same creditors through whom it was conducted when you were present. If there are any who support the king's cause — and they are few — they all want the matter referred to Pompey. The Senate approves the scruple about the religious objection not from genuine religious feeling but from malice and resentment at that royal bribery. We do not cease to exhort and entreat Pompey, and now more freely to reproach and warn him to flee great disgrace; but he plainly leaves no room for either our prayers or our warnings, for both in daily conversation and openly in the Senate he has pleaded your cause in such a way that no one could have pleaded it with greater eloquence or authority or zeal or earnestness, with the fullest testimony to your services toward him and his affection for you. You know that Marcellinus is angry with you: he has indicated that, apart from this royal affair, he will be your most vigorous defender in all other matters. What he offers, we accept; but from his resolve to raise the religious question, which he has already raised repeatedly, he cannot be dissuaded. The matter was handled before the Ides as follows — for I am writing this on the morning of the Ides: the proposal of Hortensius, myself, and Lucullus yields to the religious scruple regarding the army — for the matter cannot be managed otherwise — but from that decree of the Senate which was passed on your motion, it assigns to you the task of restoring the king, insofar as you can do so consistently with the public interest, so that the religious objection removes the army but the Senate retains you as its agent. Crassus proposes three envoys, and does not exclude Pompey, for he includes even those who hold military command. Bibulus proposes three envoys from those who are private citizens. The remaining consulars agree with him, except Servilius, who says the king should not be restored at all, and Volcatius, who on Lupus's motion assigns the task to Pompey, and Afranius, who agrees with Volcatius — a circumstance that increases the suspicion about Pompey's true wishes, for it was noticed that Pompey's close associates were agreeing with Volcatius. The struggle is intense; the situation is tilting: the unconcealed canvassing and agitation of Libo and Hypsaeus, and the zeal of all Pompey's associates, have brought matters to such a point that Pompey appears to desire it. Those who oppose him are also unfriendly to you, because you honored him. In advocating the cause, we carry no less authority because of what we owe you, but people's suspicion extinguishes our influence, because they think they are doing Pompey a favor. So we find ourselves caught up in affairs that were secretly inflamed long before you departed by the king himself and by Pompey's intimate household, then openly stirred up by the consulars and brought into the greatest odium. All will recognize our loyalty and our love for you in your absence when your own people are present; if there were good faith in those in whom it ought to be highest, we would not be struggling.
I. Scripta est epistula Romae Idibus Ianuariis a.u.c. 698. M. CICERO S. D. P. LENTULO PROCOS.
Ego omni officio ac potius pietate erga te ceteris satisfacio omnibus, mihi ipse numquam satisfacio; tanta enim magnitudo est tuorum erga me meritorum, ut, quoniam tu nisi perfecta re de me non conquiesti, ego, quia non idem in tua causa efficio, vitam mihi esse acerbam putem. In causa haec sunt: Ammonius, regis legatus, aperte pecunia nos oppugnat, res agitur per eosdem creditores, per quos, cum tu aderas, agebatur; regis causa si qui sunt qui velint, qui pauci sunt, omnes rem ad Pompeium deferri volunt, senatus religionis calumniam non religione, sed malevolentia et illius regiae largitionis invidia comprobat. Pompeium et hortari et orare et iam liberius accusare et monere, ut magnam infamiam fugiat, non desistimus; sed plane nec precibus nostris nec admonitionibus relinquit locum, nam cum in sermone quotidiano, tum in senatu palam sic egit causam tuam, ut neque eloquentia maiore quisquam nec gravitate nec studio nec contentione agere potuerit, cum summa testificatione tuorum in se officiorum et amoris erga te sui. Marcellinum tibi esse iratum scis: is hac regia causa excepta ceteris in rebus se acerrimum tui defensorem fore ostendit. Quod dat, accipimus: quod instituit referre de religione et saepe iam retulit, ab eo deduci non potest. Res ante Idus acta sic est—nam haec Idibus mane scripsi—: Hortensii et mea et Luculli sententia cedit religioni de exercitu— teneri enim res aliter non potest—, sed ex illo senatus consulto, quod te referente factum est, tibi decernit, ut regem reducas, quod commodo rei publicae facere possis, ut exercitum religio tollat, te auctorem senatus retineat. Crassus tres legatos decernit, nec excludit Pompeium, censet enim etiam ex iis, qui cum imperio sint; Bibulus tres legatos ex iis, qui privati sint. Huic assentiuntur reliqui consulares praeter Servilium, qui omnino reduci negat oportere, et Volcatium, qui Lupo referente Pompeio decernit, et Afranium, qui assentitur Volcatio, quae res auget suspicionem Pompeii voluntatis [,nam advertebatur Pompeii familiares assentiri VoIcatio]. Laboratur vehementer; inclinata res est: Libonis et Hypsaei non obscura concursatio et contentio omniumque Pompeii familiarium studium in eam opinionem rem adduxerunt, ut Pompeius cupere videatur, cui qui nolunt, iidem tibi, quod eum ornasti, non sunt amici; non in causa auctoritatem eo minorem habemus, quod tibi debemus, gratiam autem nostram exstinguit hominum suspicio, quod Pompeio se gratificari putant. Ut in rebus multo ante, quam profectus es, ab ipso rege et ab intimis ac domesticis Pompeii clam exulceratis, deinde palam a consularibus exagitatis et in summam invidiam adductis, ita versamur: nostram fidem omnes, amorem tui absentis praesentes tui cognoscent; si esset in iis fides, in quibus summa esse debebat, non laboraremus.
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I satisfy everyone else in every duty and indeed devotion toward you, but I never satisfy myself; for so great is the magnitude of your services toward me that, since you did not rest until my affair was accomplished, I consider my life bitter because I cannot achieve the same in your cause. The situation is this: Ammonius, the king's envoy, is openly attacking us with money. The matter is being conducted through the same creditors through whom it was conducted when you were present. If there are any who support the king's cause — and they are few — they all want the matter referred to Pompey. The Senate approves the scruple about the religious objection not from genuine religious feeling but from malice and resentment at that royal bribery. We do not cease to exhort and entreat Pompey, and now more freely to reproach and warn him to flee great disgrace; but he plainly leaves no room for either our prayers or our warnings, for both in daily conversation and openly in the Senate he has pleaded your cause in such a way that no one could have pleaded it with greater eloquence or authority or zeal or earnestness, with the fullest testimony to your services toward him and his affection for you. You know that Marcellinus is angry with you: he has indicated that, apart from this royal affair, he will be your most vigorous defender in all other matters. What he offers, we accept; but from his resolve to raise the religious question, which he has already raised repeatedly, he cannot be dissuaded. The matter was handled before the Ides as follows — for I am writing this on the morning of the Ides: the proposal of Hortensius, myself, and Lucullus yields to the religious scruple regarding the army — for the matter cannot be managed otherwise — but from that decree of the Senate which was passed on your motion, it assigns to you the task of restoring the king, insofar as you can do so consistently with the public interest, so that the religious objection removes the army but the Senate retains you as its agent. Crassus proposes three envoys, and does not exclude Pompey, for he includes even those who hold military command. Bibulus proposes three envoys from those who are private citizens. The remaining consulars agree with him, except Servilius, who says the king should not be restored at all, and Volcatius, who on Lupus's motion assigns the task to Pompey, and Afranius, who agrees with Volcatius — a circumstance that increases the suspicion about Pompey's true wishes, for it was noticed that Pompey's close associates were agreeing with Volcatius. The struggle is intense; the situation is tilting: the unconcealed canvassing and agitation of Libo and Hypsaeus, and the zeal of all Pompey's associates, have brought matters to such a point that Pompey appears to desire it. Those who oppose him are also unfriendly to you, because you honored him. In advocating the cause, we carry no less authority because of what we owe you, but people's suspicion extinguishes our influence, because they think they are doing Pompey a favor. So we find ourselves caught up in affairs that were secretly inflamed long before you departed by the king himself and by Pompey's intimate household, then openly stirred up by the consulars and brought into the greatest odium. All will recognize our loyalty and our love for you in your absence when your own people are present; if there were good faith in those in whom it ought to be highest, we would not be struggling.
Latin / Greek Original
I. Scripta est epistula Romae Idibus Ianuariis a.u.c. 698. M. CICERO S. D. P. LENTULO PROCOS.
Ego omni officio ac potius pietate erga te ceteris satisfacio omnibus, mihi ipse numquam satisfacio; tanta enim magnitudo est tuorum erga me meritorum, ut, quoniam tu nisi perfecta re de me non conquiesti, ego, quia non idem in tua causa efficio, vitam mihi esse acerbam putem. In causa haec sunt: Ammonius, regis legatus, aperte pecunia nos oppugnat, res agitur per eosdem creditores, per quos, cum tu aderas, agebatur; regis causa si qui sunt qui velint, qui pauci sunt, omnes rem ad Pompeium deferri volunt, senatus religionis calumniam non religione, sed malevolentia et illius regiae largitionis invidia comprobat. Pompeium et hortari et orare et iam liberius accusare et monere, ut magnam infamiam fugiat, non desistimus; sed plane nec precibus nostris nec admonitionibus relinquit locum, nam cum in sermone quotidiano, tum in senatu palam sic egit causam tuam, ut neque eloquentia maiore quisquam nec gravitate nec studio nec contentione agere potuerit, cum summa testificatione tuorum in se officiorum et amoris erga te sui. Marcellinum tibi esse iratum scis: is hac regia causa excepta ceteris in rebus se acerrimum tui defensorem fore ostendit. Quod dat, accipimus: quod instituit referre de religione et saepe iam retulit, ab eo deduci non potest. Res ante Idus acta sic est—nam haec Idibus mane scripsi—: Hortensii et mea et Luculli sententia cedit religioni de exercitu— teneri enim res aliter non potest—, sed ex illo senatus consulto, quod te referente factum est, tibi decernit, ut regem reducas, quod commodo rei publicae facere possis, ut exercitum religio tollat, te auctorem senatus retineat. Crassus tres legatos decernit, nec excludit Pompeium, censet enim etiam ex iis, qui cum imperio sint; Bibulus tres legatos ex iis, qui privati sint. Huic assentiuntur reliqui consulares praeter Servilium, qui omnino reduci negat oportere, et Volcatium, qui Lupo referente Pompeio decernit, et Afranium, qui assentitur Volcatio, quae res auget suspicionem Pompeii voluntatis [,nam advertebatur Pompeii familiares assentiri VoIcatio]. Laboratur vehementer; inclinata res est: Libonis et Hypsaei non obscura concursatio et contentio omniumque Pompeii familiarium studium in eam opinionem rem adduxerunt, ut Pompeius cupere videatur, cui qui nolunt, iidem tibi, quod eum ornasti, non sunt amici; non in causa auctoritatem eo minorem habemus, quod tibi debemus, gratiam autem nostram exstinguit hominum suspicio, quod Pompeio se gratificari putant. Ut in rebus multo ante, quam profectus es, ab ipso rege et ab intimis ac domesticis Pompeii clam exulceratis, deinde palam a consularibus exagitatis et in summam invidiam adductis, ita versamur: nostram fidem omnes, amorem tui absentis praesentes tui cognoscent; si esset in iis fides, in quibus summa esse debebat, non laboraremus.