Marcus Tullius Cicero→Unknown|c. -58 AD|Cicero|AI-assisted
I have read your letter in which you write that you are grateful to be kept frequently informed by me about all matters and that you easily perceive my goodwill toward you. Of these two things, the first I must do if I wish to be the man you have wished me to be, since I hold you in the highest regard; the second I do gladly, so that, since we are separated by distance of place and time, I may converse with you as often as possible through letters. If this happens less frequently than you expect, the reason will be that my letters are not of the sort I would dare entrust carelessly to anyone: whenever I have access to reliable persons to whom I may properly give them, I shall not let the opportunity pass.
As for your wish to know the loyalty and disposition of each person toward you, it is difficult to speak of individuals. But this one thing I dare write, which I have often indicated to you before and now write again after observing and ascertaining the facts: that certain men — and those especially who ought to have been most bound to you and who had the greatest power to help you — have envied your standing, and that in a dissimilar situation the treatment of your case now and of mine formerly has been very similar. Those whom you had offended for the sake of the republic attacked you openly, while those whose authority, standing, and interests you had defended were not so mindful of your virtue as they were hostile to your glory. At that time, as I wrote to you before, I found Hortensius most eager on your behalf, Lucullus zealous, and among the magistrates Lucius Racilius singularly faithful and spirited. As for my own championing and defense of your standing, perhaps it seems to most people to carry more weight as an obligation, given the greatness of your service to me, than as an independent judgment. Beyond these, among the consulars I can testify to no one's zeal, duty, or friendly spirit toward you. As for Pompey, who very often discusses your affairs with me — not only when prompted by me but also of his own accord — you know that in those times he was not often present in the senate. Your most recent letter was, as I could easily perceive, most delightful to him. To me indeed your kindness, or rather your supreme wisdom, seemed not only pleasing but admirable: for by that letter you retained an outstanding man, bound to you by your exceptional generosity toward him, who harbored some suspicion — on account of certain people's belief in his own ambition — that you had become estranged from him. He always seemed to me to favor your glory, even at that most suspicious time during the Caninius affair, and indeed after reading your letter he was clearly perceived by me to be thinking with his whole heart about your honors and interests.
Therefore, take what I write as follows: I write after frequent consultation with him, and on his judgment and authority. Since no decree of the senate exists by which the restoration of the king of Alexandria has been taken from you, and since the resolution that was passed on this matter — to which you know an intercession was made, that no one at all should restore the king — carries such weight as to seem the zeal of angry men rather than the considered policy of a steadfast senate, he believes you can see for yourself — you who hold Cilicia and Cyprus — what you can accomplish and achieve. And if the situation appears to offer the opportunity for you to hold Alexandria and Egypt, it would be worthy both of your standing and of our empire's dignity to place the king at Ptolemais or some nearby location and then proceed with your fleet and army to Alexandria, so that once you have secured it with a peace settlement and garrisons, Ptolemy may return to his kingdom. In this way he would be restored through you, as the senate originally decreed, and brought back without a large force, as the religious interpreters declared was pleasing to the Sibyl.
But this plan was approved by both him and us with the understanding that we foresaw people would judge your decision by the outcome: if it fell out as we wish and hope, everyone would say you acted wisely and bravely; if something went wrong, those same people would say you acted rashly and recklessly. Therefore, it is not so easy for us as for you — who have Egypt almost within sight — to judge what you can achieve. For our part, we feel that if you are certain you can gain control of that kingdom, you should not hesitate; if it is doubtful, you should not attempt it. I assure you that if you carry this matter through successfully, you will be praised in your absence by many, and upon your return by all; but I see that failure would be dangerous because of the interposed religious authority. So while I urge you toward certain glory, I discourage you from a gamble, and I return to what I wrote at the beginning: people will judge your entire action not so much by your deliberation as by the outcome.
If this plan for conducting the affair seems too dangerous to you, the alternative was approved: that if the king honored his obligations to your friends who had lent him money throughout your province and command, you should aid him with your forces and resources. The nature and situation of your province are such that you could either confirm his return by assisting or obstruct it by neglecting to act. In this plan, what the situation, the case, and the moment demand, you will most easily and best perceive for yourself. But I thought it proper that you should learn from me in particular what our view was.
As for your congratulating me on our position, on my friendship with Milo, and on the feebleness and weakness of Clodius, I am not at all surprised that you, like a master craftsman, take pleasure in your own distinguished works. Although the perversity of men is incredible — for I prefer not to use a harsher word — those who could have kept me loyal to the common cause by supporting me have alienated me by their envy. Know that by their most malicious slanders I have now been nearly driven from that old and long-held position of mine — not that I have forgotten my own dignity, but that I might at last give some thought to my safety as well. Both could have been splendidly maintained if there were loyalty and seriousness among the consulars. But so great is the fickleness in most of them that they are not so much delighted by my steadfastness in public affairs as they are offended by its brilliance.
I write this more freely to you because you have favored my rising reputation and standing not only in these recent times through the achievements I owe to you, but from the very beginning. And because I see that it is not my status as a new man that is envied, as I formerly supposed — for in you, a man of the highest nobility, I have perceived the same vices of envious men, whom they readily allowed to be among the foremost but certainly did not want to soar higher. I am glad your fortune has been different, for there is a great difference between having one's glory diminished and being abandoned in one's safety. That I should not regret my own situation too bitterly was accomplished by your virtue, for you ensured that more seemed added to the memory of my name than taken from my fortune.
I urge you — moved both by your services to me and by my affection — to pursue with all care and effort the full glory to which you have been fired since boyhood, and never to let the injustice of anyone bend that greatness of spirit which I have always admired and loved. Men hold you in high esteem; your generosity is greatly commended; the memory of your consulship is great. You surely see how much more vivid and illustrious these will become when some measure of glory from your province and command is added to them. Yet I want you to conduct military and governmental affairs in such a way that you meditate on these matters far in advance, prepare yourself for them, think on them, and train yourself for them. And I want you to realize — what I do not doubt you understand, since you have always hoped for it — that you can most easily attain the highest and loftiest rank in the state. Let this encouragement of mine not seem to you empty or undertaken without reason: the consideration that moved me was that I thought I should admonish you from our shared experiences to consider, for the rest of your life, whom to trust and whom to guard against.
As for your wish to know the state of public affairs: there is the deepest disagreement, but the contest is unequal. For those who are stronger in resources, arms, and power seem to me to have gained so much from the foolishness and inconsistency of their opponents that they now prevail in authority as well. And so, with very few opposing, they have obtained through the senate everything they did not think they could achieve even through the people without sedition: pay has been decreed for Caesar, ten legates appointed, and it was easily arranged that no successor should be appointed under the Sempronian law.
I write this to you more briefly because the present state of the republic does not please me. Yet I write to remind you of what I myself, though devoted to literature from boyhood, learned more through experience than through study: that while your affairs are still intact, you should learn not to reckon our safety without our dignity—
VII. Scr. Romae mense Martio a.u.c. 698. M. CICERO S. D. P. LENTULO PROCOS.
Legi tuas litteras, quibus ad me scribis gratum tibi esse, quod crebro certior per me fias de omnibus rebus et meam erga te benevolentiam facile perspicias: quorum alterum mihi, ut te plurimum diligam, facere necesse est, si volo is esse, quem tu me esse voluisti; alterum facio libenter, ut, quoniam intervallo locorum et temporum diiuncti sumus, per litteras tecum quam saepissime colloquar. Quod si rarius fiet, quam tu exspectabis, id erit causae, quod non eius generis meae litterae sunt, ut eas audeam temere committere: quoties mihi certorum hominum potestas erit, quibus recte dem, non praetermittam. Quod scire vis, qua quisque in te fide sit et voluntate, difficile dictu est de singulis: unum illud audeo, quod antea tibi saepe significavi, nunc quoque re perspecta et cognita scribere, vehementer quosdam homines et eos maxime, qui te et maxime debuerunt et plurimum iuvare potuerunt, invidisse dignitati tuae simillimamque in re dissimili tui temporis nunc et nostri quondam fuisse rationem, ut, quos tu rei publicae causa laeseras, palam te oppugnarent, quorum auctoritatem, dignitatem voluntatemque defenderas, non tam memores essent virtutis tuae, quam laudis inimici. Quo quidem tempore, ut perscripsi ad te antea, cognovi Hortensium percupidum tui, studiosum Lucullum, ex magistratibus autem L. Racilium et fide et animo singulari; nam nostra propugnatio ac defensio dignitatis tuae propter magnitudinem beneficii tui fortasse plerisque officii maiorem auctoritatem habere videatur quam sententiae. Praeterea quidem de consularibus nemini possum aut studii erga te aut officii aut amici animi esse testis: etenim Pompeium, qui mecum saepissime non solum a me provocatus, sed etiam sua sponte de te communicare solet, scis temporibus illis non saepe in senatu fuisse; cui quidem litterae tuae, quas proxime miseras, quod facile intellexerim, periucundae fuerunt. Mihi quidem humanitas tua vel summa potius sapientia non iucunda solum, sed etiam admirabilis visa est; virum enim excellentem et tibi tua praestanti in eum liberalitate devinctum nonnihil suspicantem propter aliquorum opinionem suae cupiditatis te ab se abalienatum illa epistola retinuisti, qui mihi cum semper tuae laudi favere visus est, etiam ipso suspiciosissimo tempore Caniniano, tum vero lectis tuis litteris perspectus est a me toto animo de te ac de tuis ornamentis et commodis cogitare. Quare ea, quae scribam, sic habeto, me cum illo re saepe communicata de illius ad te sententia atque auctoritate scribere: quoniam senatus consultum nullum exstat, quo reductio regis Alexandrini tibi adempta sit, eaque, quae de ea perscripta est auctoritas, cui scis intercessum esse, ut ne quis omnino regem reduceret, tantam vim habet, ut magis iratorum hominum studium quam constantis senatus consilium esse videatur, te perspicere posse, qui Ciliciam Cyprumque teneas, quid efficere et quid consequi possis, et, si res facultatem habitura videatur, ut Alexandream atque Aegyptum tenere possis, esse et tuae et nostri imperii dignitatis Ptolemaide aut aliquo propinquo loco rege collocato te cum classe atque exercitu proficisci Alexandream, ut, eam cum pace praesidiisque firmaris, Ptolemaeus redeat in regnum; ita fore, ut et per te restituatur, quemadmodum senatus initio censuit, et sine multitudine reducatur, quemadmodum homines religiosi Sibyllae placere dixerunt. Sed haec sententia sic et illi et nobis probabatur, ut ex eventu homines de tuo consilio existimaturos videremus: si cecidisset, ut volumus et optamus, omnes te et sapienter et fortiter, si aliquid esset offensum, eosdem illos et cupide et temere fecisse dicturos: quare, quid assequi possis, non tam facile est nobis quam tibi, cuius prope in conspectu Aegyptus est, iudicare; nos quidem hoc sentimus, si exploratum tibi sit posse te illius regni potiri, non esse cunctandum, si dubium sit, non esse conandum. Illud tibi affirmo, si rem istam ex sententia gesseris, fore, ut absens a multis, cum redieris, ab omnibus collaudere, offensionem esse periculosam propter interpositam auctoritatem religionemque video; sed ego te, ut ad certam laudem adhortor, sic a dimicatione deterreo redeoque ad illud, quod initio scripsi, totius facti tui iudicium non tam ex consilio tuo quam ex eventu homines esse facturos. Quod si haec ratio rei gerendae periculosa tibi esse videbitur, placebat illud, ut, si rex amicis tuis, qui per provinciam atque imperium tuum pecunias ei credidissent, fidem suam praestitisset, et auxiliis eum tuis et copiis adiuvares; eam esse naturam et regionem provinciae tuae, ut illius reditum vel adiuvando confirmares vel negligendo impedires. In hac ratione quid res, quid causa, quid tempus ferat, to facillime optimeque perspicies; quid nobis placuisset, ex me potissimum putavi te scire oportere. Quod mihi de nostro statu, de Milonis familiaritate, de levitate et imbecillitate Clodii gratularis, minime miramur te tuis ut egregium artificem praeclaris operibus laetari: quamquam est incredibilis hominum perversitas—graviore enim verbo uti non libet—, qui nos, quos favendo in communi causa retinere potuerunt, invidendo abalienarunt; quorum malevolentissimis obtrectationibus nos scito de vetere illa nostra diuturnaque sententia prope iam esse depulsos, non nos quidem ut nostrae dignitatis simus obliti, sed ut habeamus rationem aliquando etiam salutis. Poterat utrumque praeclare, si esset fides, si gravitas in hominibus consularibus; sed tanta est in plerisque levitas, ut eos non tam constantia in re publica nostra delectet, quam splendor offendat. Quod eo liberius ad te scribo, quia non solum temporibus his, quae per te sum adeptus, sed iam olim nascenti prope nostrae laudi dignitatique favisti, simulque quod video non, ut antehac putabam, novitati esse invisum meae, in te enim, homine omnium nobilissimo, similia invidorum vitia perspexi, quem tamen illi esse in principibus facile sunt passi, evolare altius certe noluerunt. Gaudeo tuam dissimilem fuisse fortunam, multum enim interest, utrum laus imminuatur, an salus deseratur; me meae tamen ne nimis poeniteret, tua virtute perfectum est, curasti enim, ut plus additum ad memoriam nominis nostri quam demptum de fortuna videretur. Te vero emoneo cum beneficiis tuis, tum amore incitatus meo, ut omnem gloriam, ad quam a pueritia inflammatus fuisti, omni cura atque industria consequare magnitudinemque animi tui, quam ego semper sum admiratus semperque amavi, ne umquam inflectas cuiusquam iniuria. Magna est hominum opinio de te, magna commendatio liberalitatis, magna memoria consulatus tui: haec profecto vides quanto expressiora quantoque illustriora futura sint, cum aliquantum ex provincia atque ex imperio laudis accesserit; quamquam te ita gerere volo, quae per exercitum atque imperium gerenda sunt, ut haec multo ante meditere, huc te pares, haec cogites, ad haec te exerceas sentiasque id, quod quia semper sperasti, non dubito quin adeptus intelligas, te facillime posse obtinere summum atque altissimum gradum civitatis: quae quidem mea cohortatio ne tibi inanis aut sine causa suscepta videatur, illa me ratio movit, ut te ex nostris eventis communibus admonendum putarem, ut considerares, in omni reliqua vita quibus crederes, quos caveres. Quod scribis te velle scire, qui sit rei publicae status, summa dissensio est, sod contentio dispar; nam, qui plus opibus, armis, potentia valent, profecisse tantum mihi videntur stultitia et inconstantia adversariorum, ut etiam auctoritate iam plus valerent: itaque perpaucis adversantibus omnia, quae ne per populum quidem sine seditione se assequi arbitrabantur, per senatum consecuti sunt; nam et stipendium Caesari decretum est et decem legati et, ne lege Sempronia succederetur, facile perfectum est. Quod eo ad te brevius scribo, quia me status hic rei publicae non delectat; scribo tamen, ut te admoneam, quod ipse litteris omnibus a pueritia deditus experiendo tamen magis quam discendo cognovi, tu tuis rebus integris discas, neque salutis nostrae rationem habendam nobis esse sine dignitate neque dignitatis sine salute. Quod mihi de filia et de Crassipede gratularis, agnosco humanitatem tuam speroque et opto nobis hanc coniunctionem voluptati fore. Lentulum nostrum, eximia spe summae virtutis adolescentem, cum ceteris artibus, quibus studuisti semper ipse, tun in primis imitatione tui fac erudias, nulla enim erit hac praestantior disciplina: quem nos, et quia tuus et quia te dignus est filius et quia nos diligit semperque dilexit, in primis amamus carumque habemus.
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I have read your letter in which you write that you are grateful to be kept frequently informed by me about all matters and that you easily perceive my goodwill toward you. Of these two things, the first I must do if I wish to be the man you have wished me to be, since I hold you in the highest regard; the second I do gladly, so that, since we are separated by distance of place and time, I may converse with you as often as possible through letters. If this happens less frequently than you expect, the reason will be that my letters are not of the sort I would dare entrust carelessly to anyone: whenever I have access to reliable persons to whom I may properly give them, I shall not let the opportunity pass.
As for your wish to know the loyalty and disposition of each person toward you, it is difficult to speak of individuals. But this one thing I dare write, which I have often indicated to you before and now write again after observing and ascertaining the facts: that certain men — and those especially who ought to have been most bound to you and who had the greatest power to help you — have envied your standing, and that in a dissimilar situation the treatment of your case now and of mine formerly has been very similar. Those whom you had offended for the sake of the republic attacked you openly, while those whose authority, standing, and interests you had defended were not so mindful of your virtue as they were hostile to your glory. At that time, as I wrote to you before, I found Hortensius most eager on your behalf, Lucullus zealous, and among the magistrates Lucius Racilius singularly faithful and spirited. As for my own championing and defense of your standing, perhaps it seems to most people to carry more weight as an obligation, given the greatness of your service to me, than as an independent judgment. Beyond these, among the consulars I can testify to no one's zeal, duty, or friendly spirit toward you. As for Pompey, who very often discusses your affairs with me — not only when prompted by me but also of his own accord — you know that in those times he was not often present in the senate. Your most recent letter was, as I could easily perceive, most delightful to him. To me indeed your kindness, or rather your supreme wisdom, seemed not only pleasing but admirable: for by that letter you retained an outstanding man, bound to you by your exceptional generosity toward him, who harbored some suspicion — on account of certain people's belief in his own ambition — that you had become estranged from him. He always seemed to me to favor your glory, even at that most suspicious time during the Caninius affair, and indeed after reading your letter he was clearly perceived by me to be thinking with his whole heart about your honors and interests.
Therefore, take what I write as follows: I write after frequent consultation with him, and on his judgment and authority. Since no decree of the senate exists by which the restoration of the king of Alexandria has been taken from you, and since the resolution that was passed on this matter — to which you know an intercession was made, that no one at all should restore the king — carries such weight as to seem the zeal of angry men rather than the considered policy of a steadfast senate, he believes you can see for yourself — you who hold Cilicia and Cyprus — what you can accomplish and achieve. And if the situation appears to offer the opportunity for you to hold Alexandria and Egypt, it would be worthy both of your standing and of our empire's dignity to place the king at Ptolemais or some nearby location and then proceed with your fleet and army to Alexandria, so that once you have secured it with a peace settlement and garrisons, Ptolemy may return to his kingdom. In this way he would be restored through you, as the senate originally decreed, and brought back without a large force, as the religious interpreters declared was pleasing to the Sibyl.
But this plan was approved by both him and us with the understanding that we foresaw people would judge your decision by the outcome: if it fell out as we wish and hope, everyone would say you acted wisely and bravely; if something went wrong, those same people would say you acted rashly and recklessly. Therefore, it is not so easy for us as for you — who have Egypt almost within sight — to judge what you can achieve. For our part, we feel that if you are certain you can gain control of that kingdom, you should not hesitate; if it is doubtful, you should not attempt it. I assure you that if you carry this matter through successfully, you will be praised in your absence by many, and upon your return by all; but I see that failure would be dangerous because of the interposed religious authority. So while I urge you toward certain glory, I discourage you from a gamble, and I return to what I wrote at the beginning: people will judge your entire action not so much by your deliberation as by the outcome.
If this plan for conducting the affair seems too dangerous to you, the alternative was approved: that if the king honored his obligations to your friends who had lent him money throughout your province and command, you should aid him with your forces and resources. The nature and situation of your province are such that you could either confirm his return by assisting or obstruct it by neglecting to act. In this plan, what the situation, the case, and the moment demand, you will most easily and best perceive for yourself. But I thought it proper that you should learn from me in particular what our view was.
As for your congratulating me on our position, on my friendship with Milo, and on the feebleness and weakness of Clodius, I am not at all surprised that you, like a master craftsman, take pleasure in your own distinguished works. Although the perversity of men is incredible — for I prefer not to use a harsher word — those who could have kept me loyal to the common cause by supporting me have alienated me by their envy. Know that by their most malicious slanders I have now been nearly driven from that old and long-held position of mine — not that I have forgotten my own dignity, but that I might at last give some thought to my safety as well. Both could have been splendidly maintained if there were loyalty and seriousness among the consulars. But so great is the fickleness in most of them that they are not so much delighted by my steadfastness in public affairs as they are offended by its brilliance.
I write this more freely to you because you have favored my rising reputation and standing not only in these recent times through the achievements I owe to you, but from the very beginning. And because I see that it is not my status as a new man that is envied, as I formerly supposed — for in you, a man of the highest nobility, I have perceived the same vices of envious men, whom they readily allowed to be among the foremost but certainly did not want to soar higher. I am glad your fortune has been different, for there is a great difference between having one's glory diminished and being abandoned in one's safety. That I should not regret my own situation too bitterly was accomplished by your virtue, for you ensured that more seemed added to the memory of my name than taken from my fortune.
I urge you — moved both by your services to me and by my affection — to pursue with all care and effort the full glory to which you have been fired since boyhood, and never to let the injustice of anyone bend that greatness of spirit which I have always admired and loved. Men hold you in high esteem; your generosity is greatly commended; the memory of your consulship is great. You surely see how much more vivid and illustrious these will become when some measure of glory from your province and command is added to them. Yet I want you to conduct military and governmental affairs in such a way that you meditate on these matters far in advance, prepare yourself for them, think on them, and train yourself for them. And I want you to realize — what I do not doubt you understand, since you have always hoped for it — that you can most easily attain the highest and loftiest rank in the state. Let this encouragement of mine not seem to you empty or undertaken without reason: the consideration that moved me was that I thought I should admonish you from our shared experiences to consider, for the rest of your life, whom to trust and whom to guard against.
As for your wish to know the state of public affairs: there is the deepest disagreement, but the contest is unequal. For those who are stronger in resources, arms, and power seem to me to have gained so much from the foolishness and inconsistency of their opponents that they now prevail in authority as well. And so, with very few opposing, they have obtained through the senate everything they did not think they could achieve even through the people without sedition: pay has been decreed for Caesar, ten legates appointed, and it was easily arranged that no successor should be appointed under the Sempronian law.
I write this to you more briefly because the present state of the republic does not please me. Yet I write to remind you of what I myself, though devoted to literature from boyhood, learned more through experience than through study: that while your affairs are still intact, you should learn not to reckon our safety without our dignity—
Latin / Greek Original
VII. Scr. Romae mense Martio a.u.c. 698. M. CICERO S. D. P. LENTULO PROCOS.
Legi tuas litteras, quibus ad me scribis gratum tibi esse, quod crebro certior per me fias de omnibus rebus et meam erga te benevolentiam facile perspicias: quorum alterum mihi, ut te plurimum diligam, facere necesse est, si volo is esse, quem tu me esse voluisti; alterum facio libenter, ut, quoniam intervallo locorum et temporum diiuncti sumus, per litteras tecum quam saepissime colloquar. Quod si rarius fiet, quam tu exspectabis, id erit causae, quod non eius generis meae litterae sunt, ut eas audeam temere committere: quoties mihi certorum hominum potestas erit, quibus recte dem, non praetermittam. Quod scire vis, qua quisque in te fide sit et voluntate, difficile dictu est de singulis: unum illud audeo, quod antea tibi saepe significavi, nunc quoque re perspecta et cognita scribere, vehementer quosdam homines et eos maxime, qui te et maxime debuerunt et plurimum iuvare potuerunt, invidisse dignitati tuae simillimamque in re dissimili tui temporis nunc et nostri quondam fuisse rationem, ut, quos tu rei publicae causa laeseras, palam te oppugnarent, quorum auctoritatem, dignitatem voluntatemque defenderas, non tam memores essent virtutis tuae, quam laudis inimici. Quo quidem tempore, ut perscripsi ad te antea, cognovi Hortensium percupidum tui, studiosum Lucullum, ex magistratibus autem L. Racilium et fide et animo singulari; nam nostra propugnatio ac defensio dignitatis tuae propter magnitudinem beneficii tui fortasse plerisque officii maiorem auctoritatem habere videatur quam sententiae. Praeterea quidem de consularibus nemini possum aut studii erga te aut officii aut amici animi esse testis: etenim Pompeium, qui mecum saepissime non solum a me provocatus, sed etiam sua sponte de te communicare solet, scis temporibus illis non saepe in senatu fuisse; cui quidem litterae tuae, quas proxime miseras, quod facile intellexerim, periucundae fuerunt. Mihi quidem humanitas tua vel summa potius sapientia non iucunda solum, sed etiam admirabilis visa est; virum enim excellentem et tibi tua praestanti in eum liberalitate devinctum nonnihil suspicantem propter aliquorum opinionem suae cupiditatis te ab se abalienatum illa epistola retinuisti, qui mihi cum semper tuae laudi favere visus est, etiam ipso suspiciosissimo tempore Caniniano, tum vero lectis tuis litteris perspectus est a me toto animo de te ac de tuis ornamentis et commodis cogitare. Quare ea, quae scribam, sic habeto, me cum illo re saepe communicata de illius ad te sententia atque auctoritate scribere: quoniam senatus consultum nullum exstat, quo reductio regis Alexandrini tibi adempta sit, eaque, quae de ea perscripta est auctoritas, cui scis intercessum esse, ut ne quis omnino regem reduceret, tantam vim habet, ut magis iratorum hominum studium quam constantis senatus consilium esse videatur, te perspicere posse, qui Ciliciam Cyprumque teneas, quid efficere et quid consequi possis, et, si res facultatem habitura videatur, ut Alexandream atque Aegyptum tenere possis, esse et tuae et nostri imperii dignitatis Ptolemaide aut aliquo propinquo loco rege collocato te cum classe atque exercitu proficisci Alexandream, ut, eam cum pace praesidiisque firmaris, Ptolemaeus redeat in regnum; ita fore, ut et per te restituatur, quemadmodum senatus initio censuit, et sine multitudine reducatur, quemadmodum homines religiosi Sibyllae placere dixerunt. Sed haec sententia sic et illi et nobis probabatur, ut ex eventu homines de tuo consilio existimaturos videremus: si cecidisset, ut volumus et optamus, omnes te et sapienter et fortiter, si aliquid esset offensum, eosdem illos et cupide et temere fecisse dicturos: quare, quid assequi possis, non tam facile est nobis quam tibi, cuius prope in conspectu Aegyptus est, iudicare; nos quidem hoc sentimus, si exploratum tibi sit posse te illius regni potiri, non esse cunctandum, si dubium sit, non esse conandum. Illud tibi affirmo, si rem istam ex sententia gesseris, fore, ut absens a multis, cum redieris, ab omnibus collaudere, offensionem esse periculosam propter interpositam auctoritatem religionemque video; sed ego te, ut ad certam laudem adhortor, sic a dimicatione deterreo redeoque ad illud, quod initio scripsi, totius facti tui iudicium non tam ex consilio tuo quam ex eventu homines esse facturos. Quod si haec ratio rei gerendae periculosa tibi esse videbitur, placebat illud, ut, si rex amicis tuis, qui per provinciam atque imperium tuum pecunias ei credidissent, fidem suam praestitisset, et auxiliis eum tuis et copiis adiuvares; eam esse naturam et regionem provinciae tuae, ut illius reditum vel adiuvando confirmares vel negligendo impedires. In hac ratione quid res, quid causa, quid tempus ferat, to facillime optimeque perspicies; quid nobis placuisset, ex me potissimum putavi te scire oportere. Quod mihi de nostro statu, de Milonis familiaritate, de levitate et imbecillitate Clodii gratularis, minime miramur te tuis ut egregium artificem praeclaris operibus laetari: quamquam est incredibilis hominum perversitas—graviore enim verbo uti non libet—, qui nos, quos favendo in communi causa retinere potuerunt, invidendo abalienarunt; quorum malevolentissimis obtrectationibus nos scito de vetere illa nostra diuturnaque sententia prope iam esse depulsos, non nos quidem ut nostrae dignitatis simus obliti, sed ut habeamus rationem aliquando etiam salutis. Poterat utrumque praeclare, si esset fides, si gravitas in hominibus consularibus; sed tanta est in plerisque levitas, ut eos non tam constantia in re publica nostra delectet, quam splendor offendat. Quod eo liberius ad te scribo, quia non solum temporibus his, quae per te sum adeptus, sed iam olim nascenti prope nostrae laudi dignitatique favisti, simulque quod video non, ut antehac putabam, novitati esse invisum meae, in te enim, homine omnium nobilissimo, similia invidorum vitia perspexi, quem tamen illi esse in principibus facile sunt passi, evolare altius certe noluerunt. Gaudeo tuam dissimilem fuisse fortunam, multum enim interest, utrum laus imminuatur, an salus deseratur; me meae tamen ne nimis poeniteret, tua virtute perfectum est, curasti enim, ut plus additum ad memoriam nominis nostri quam demptum de fortuna videretur. Te vero emoneo cum beneficiis tuis, tum amore incitatus meo, ut omnem gloriam, ad quam a pueritia inflammatus fuisti, omni cura atque industria consequare magnitudinemque animi tui, quam ego semper sum admiratus semperque amavi, ne umquam inflectas cuiusquam iniuria. Magna est hominum opinio de te, magna commendatio liberalitatis, magna memoria consulatus tui: haec profecto vides quanto expressiora quantoque illustriora futura sint, cum aliquantum ex provincia atque ex imperio laudis accesserit; quamquam te ita gerere volo, quae per exercitum atque imperium gerenda sunt, ut haec multo ante meditere, huc te pares, haec cogites, ad haec te exerceas sentiasque id, quod quia semper sperasti, non dubito quin adeptus intelligas, te facillime posse obtinere summum atque altissimum gradum civitatis: quae quidem mea cohortatio ne tibi inanis aut sine causa suscepta videatur, illa me ratio movit, ut te ex nostris eventis communibus admonendum putarem, ut considerares, in omni reliqua vita quibus crederes, quos caveres. Quod scribis te velle scire, qui sit rei publicae status, summa dissensio est, sod contentio dispar; nam, qui plus opibus, armis, potentia valent, profecisse tantum mihi videntur stultitia et inconstantia adversariorum, ut etiam auctoritate iam plus valerent: itaque perpaucis adversantibus omnia, quae ne per populum quidem sine seditione se assequi arbitrabantur, per senatum consecuti sunt; nam et stipendium Caesari decretum est et decem legati et, ne lege Sempronia succederetur, facile perfectum est. Quod eo ad te brevius scribo, quia me status hic rei publicae non delectat; scribo tamen, ut te admoneam, quod ipse litteris omnibus a pueritia deditus experiendo tamen magis quam discendo cognovi, tu tuis rebus integris discas, neque salutis nostrae rationem habendam nobis esse sine dignitate neque dignitatis sine salute. Quod mihi de filia et de Crassipede gratularis, agnosco humanitatem tuam speroque et opto nobis hanc coniunctionem voluptati fore. Lentulum nostrum, eximia spe summae virtutis adolescentem, cum ceteris artibus, quibus studuisti semper ipse, tun in primis imitatione tui fac erudias, nulla enim erit hac praestantior disciplina: quem nos, et quia tuus et quia te dignus est filius et quia nos diligit semperque dilexit, in primis amamus carumque habemus.