Letter 1.9

IX. Written at Rome, at the end of October, 700 from the founding of the city [54 BC]. Marcus Cicero sends greetings to Publius Lentulus, imperator [a victorious commander hailed by his troops]. Your letter was most welcome to me. From it I understood that you perceive my devotion toward you—for why should I say "goodwill," when that very weightiest and most sacred word "devotion" seems to me too slight for your services to me? As for your writing that my zealous efforts on your behalf are pleasing to you, you do this indeed out of a certain overflow of affection, so that even those things are pleasing which could not be omitted without monstrous wickedness. But my feeling toward you would have been far better known and more conspicuous to you if, throughout all this time during which we have been separated, we had been together and at Rome. For in that very thing which you show you intend to do, and which you are above all able to do and which I eagerly look for from you—in senatorial speeches and in every action and administration of the republic—we would have flourished together (about which I shall indeed show a little later what my own feeling and position are, and I shall write back to you on the points you ask about); but certainly I would have made use of you as a most friendly and most wise authority, and you of me as a counselor perhaps not altogether inexperienced, and at any rate faithful and well-disposed—although for your own sake I rejoice, as I ought, that you are imperator and that you hold your province with a victorious army after affairs well managed—but certainly the fruits that are owed to you from me you could have gathered more richly and more outstandingly in person. And in taking vengeance on those whom you recognize to be partly your enemies because of your championing of my safety, and partly to be envious because of the magnitude and glory of that action, I would have shown myself a wonderful companion to you. Although that everlasting enemy of his own friends, who, adorned by your very great kindnesses, turned against you above all the broken and crippled force that was his, has himself avenged our cause upon himself; for he attempted things by the exposure of which he has left himself, for the future, no share not only of dignity but not even of liberty. As for you, although I would have preferred that you should have made trial of men's loyalty in my affairs rather than also in your own, nevertheless in your trouble I am glad that you have come to know that loyalty of men at no very great price, which I had come to know at the greatest pain. On this whole matter the time now seems to me to be given for setting it forth, so that I may write back to you on the points you ask about. You write that you have been informed by letter that I am on good terms with Caesar and with Appius, and you add that you do not blame me for this. As for Vatinius, however, you show that you wish to know by what considerations I was led to defend and to praise him; and in order that I may set this out for you more plainly, I must trace back the rationale of my plans a little further. I, Lentulus, at the beginning of your measures and actions, considered myself restored not only to my friends but also to the republic; and since I owed you a certain incredible love and every highest and singular devotion to your own person, I judged that I certainly owed to the republic—which had greatly aided you in restoring me—that disposition which I had earlier displayed only from the common duty of citizens, not from any singular benefit toward me. That I was of this mind both the senate heard from me during your consulship, and you yourself saw in our conversations and discussions. And yet even in those first times my mind was offended by many things, when, as you were acting concerning the rest of my dignity, I discerned either the hidden hatreds of some men or their dim enthusiasm toward me; for neither concerning my monuments were you helped by those by whom you ought to have been, nor concerning the wicked violence by which I had been driven from my home together with my brother, nor, by Hercules, in those very matters which, although they were necessary to me on account of the shipwreck of my private fortune, were nevertheless reckoned by me as of the least importance—in making good my losses by the authority of the senate—did they display that willingness which I had expected. When I saw these things—and they were not obscure—nevertheless these matters did not befall me so bitterly as those which they had done were welcome to me; and so, although I owed very much to Pompey (with you yourself as proclaimer and witness of this), and I cherished him not only for his kindness but also with affection and a certain settled judgment of my own, nevertheless, not reckoning what he wished, I persisted in all my former opinions about the republic. When Gnaeus Pompey was sitting in court—he having entered the city in order to praise Publius Sestius, and the witness Vatinius having said that I, moved by the fortune and good luck of Gaius Caesar, had begun to be his friend—I said that I preferred that fortune of Marcus Bibulus, which Vatinius thought stricken down, to all men's triumphs and victories; and I said, with the same man as witness, in another place, that the same men were those who had prevented Bibulus from leaving his house and who had forced me out. But my whole cross-examination contained nothing except reproof of that tribunate of his; in which everything was said with the greatest freedom and spirit about violence, about the auspices, about the bestowal of kingdoms; nor indeed in this case only, but consistently and often in the senate. Indeed, in the consulship of Marcellinus and Philippus, on the Nones of April, the senate assented to me that the matter of the Campanian land should be brought up in a full senate on the Ides of May. Could I have stormed more deeply into the citadel of that cause, or more forgotten my own circumstances and remembered my principles? When this opinion had been delivered by me, a great agitation of minds arose, both among those among whom it ought, and also among those among whom I had never thought it would; for when this decree of the senate had been passed in accordance with my opinion, Pompey, although he had shown me no sign that he was offended, set out for Sardinia and Africa, and on that journey came to Caesar at Luca. There Caesar complained much about my opinion, inasmuch as he had also previously seen Crassus at Ravenna and had been inflamed against me by him. It was well established that Pompey took this very much amiss, which I, although I had heard it from others, came to know especially from my brother; for when Pompey had met him in Sardinia a few days after he had departed from Luca, he said: "You are the very man I want; nothing more opportune could have happened: unless you deal carefully with your brother Marcus, you will have to pay up what you pledged to me on his behalf." In short, he complained gravely; he recounted his own services; he called to memory what he had done very often, with my brother himself, concerning Caesar's acts, and what my brother had undertaken to him regarding me; and he called my brother himself to witness that what he had done concerning my safety he had done with Caesar's goodwill; and he asked him to commend Caesar's cause and dignity to me, so that I should not attack it, if I were unwilling or unable to protect it. When my brother had reported these things to me, and when nevertheless Pompey had sent Vibullius to me with instructions that I should keep the Campanian question open until his return, I collected myself and, as it were, conferred with the republic herself, that she should grant to me, who had endured and gone through so much for her sake, that I might display my duty and my mindful disposition toward those who had served me well, and the pledge of my brother, and that she should allow him whom she had always held to be a good citizen to be also a good man. But in all those actions and opinions of mine which seemed to offend Pompey, the talk of certain men—whom you must by now suspect—was being brought to me: men who, though they held those views about the republic which I was pursuing, and had always held them, nevertheless said that I was not giving satisfaction to Pompey, and that they were glad Caesar would be most hostile to me. This was a thing for me to grieve at, but far more that thing—that they were so embracing my enemy (my enemy? nay rather the enemy of the laws, of the courts, of tranquility, of the fatherland, of all good men), so holding him in their hands, so cherishing him, so kissing him in my very presence—not indeed in order to make me angry, since I have utterly lost my temper for that, but certainly so that they themselves thought they were doing so. At this point, as far as I could accomplish by human deliberation, having looked around at all my affairs and drawn up all my reckonings, I made the sum of all my reflections, which I shall set forth to you briefly, if I shall be able. If I saw the republic held by wicked and desperate citizens, as we know happened both in my times and on some other occasions, I would not join myself to their cause, not driven by rewards (which have the least force with me) nor even by any dangers (by which, however, even the bravest men are moved), not even if the highest services of theirs toward me were certain. But since in the republic Gnaeus Pompey was the leading man—a man who had attained this power and glory by the greatest services to the republic and by most distinguished exploits, and of whose dignity I had been a supporter from my youth, and in his praetorship and consulship had even shown myself a helper, and since the same man had aided me both by his authority and opinion on his own account, and by his counsels and efforts together with you, and held as his enemy my one enemy in the state—I did not think I should dread the reputation of inconsistency if in certain opinions I changed myself a little and attached my goodwill to the dignity of the highest man, who had deserved most excellently of me. In this view Caesar had to be embraced by me, as you see, in a cause and a dignity joined with Pompey's; here there carried great weight both the old friendship—which you are not unaware existed between Caesar and me and my brother Quintus—and also his kindness and generosity, perceived and recognized by us in a short time both in letters and in services; the public situation itself also moved me greatly, which seemed to me unwilling that there should be a conflict with those men, especially after the greatest things had been done by Caesar, and to be vehemently refusing that it should come about; and most gravely there drove me into this frame of mind both Pompey's pledge, which he had given concerning me to Caesar, and my brother's, which he had given to Pompey. Besides, these things had to be observed in the state, which are written down divinely in our Plato: that as the leading men in a republic are, such the rest of the citizens are accustomed to be. I held it in memory that in our consulship those foundations were laid, from the very Kalends of January, of strengthening the senate, so that no one ought to wonder that on the Nones of December there was in that order so much either of spirit or of authority; and I likewise remembered that while we were private citizens, right up to the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus, when our opinions had great weight in the senate, there was almost one single sentiment among all good men. Afterward, when you were holding Nearer Spain with military command, and the republic had not consuls but traffickers in the provinces and slaves and ministers of sedition, a certain chance threw my head, as if for the sake of a contest, into the midst of strife and civil dissension; in which crisis, although a wonderful unanimity of the senate, an incredible unanimity of all Italy, a singular unanimity of all good men had stood forth in protecting me, I will not say what happened—for the fault is of many men and various—I will only say briefly that it was not an army that failed me, but leaders. In which matter, granting that there is blame in those who did not defend me, no less is in those who deserted me; and if those who took fright are to be accused, still more to be reproved are those who pretended to be afraid. That decision of mine at least is certainly to be praised by right, that I was unwilling that my fellow citizens, both preserved by me and eager to preserve me, should be thrown, stripped of their leaders, against armed slaves, and that I preferred it to be declared how great a force there could have been in the unanimity of the good, if it had been permitted them to fight with me standing firm, seeing that they could have raised me up when stricken down; whose spirit you not only perceived, when you were acting on my behalf, but even confirmed and held fast. In which cause—I will not only not deny it, but I will both always remember it and gladly proclaim it—you made use of certain most noble men who were braver in restoring me than the same men had been in keeping me here; and if they had been willing to stand firm in that resolve, they would have recovered their own authority together with my safety. For when good men had been revived by your consulship, and roused by your most steadfast and excellent measures, with Gnaeus Pompey especially joined to the cause, and when Caesar too—adorned by the greatest exploits, by singular distinctions and new honors, and by the judgments of the senate—was being attached to the authority of that order, no opportunity could have existed for any wicked citizen to violate the republic. But attend, I beg, to what followed. First, that fury of women's rites [Clodius, who had violated the rites of the Bona Dea], who had reckoned the Good Goddess of no more account than the three sisters [his own sisters], obtained impunity by the votes of those who, when a tribune of the plebs wished to pursue the punishment of a seditious citizen through good men by due process, abolished a most splendid precedent for the future avenging of sedition against the republic; and the same men afterward allowed not my monument—for that was no spoils of mine, but the contracting for the work had been mine—but rather a monument of the senate to be branded with a hostile name and with bloody letters. That these men wished me to be safe is most gratifying to me; but I could have wished that they had been willing to take account not only of my safety, as physicians do, but also, like trainers, of my strength and color. As it is, just as Apelles finished the head and the upper part of the breast of his Venus with the most polished art, but left the remaining part of the body merely begun, so certain men labored only on my head and left the rest of the body unfinished and rough; in which matter I disappointed the hope not only of the envious but even of my enemies, who had once received a false opinion about one most keen and brave man, in my judgment the most outstanding of all in greatness of spirit and steadfastness, Quintus Metellus, son of Lucius, whom after his return they keep saying was broken and downcast in spirit—as if it is to be believed that one who withdrew of his own complete will, and was absent with remarkable cheerfulness of spirit, and took no care at all to return, should for that very reason have been broken, in which matter he had surpassed in steadfastness and gravity not only all men but that famous Marcus Scaurus, a singular man! But what they had received, or even suspected, about him, the same they thought about me—that I would be of a more abject spirit—whereas the republic gave me an even greater spirit than I had ever had, since it had declared that it could not do without me as its one citizen, and since the republic had recovered me, whereas the proposal of a single tribune of the plebs had recovered Metellus; me the whole republic recovered, with the senate as leader, Italy accompanying, the consul moving the motion, eight tribunes promulgating it, by the centuriate assembly, with all the orders and all men exerting themselves—with all its own forces, in short. Nor indeed have I since taken anything upon myself, nor do I today take anything upon myself, that could by right offend even the most malevolent man; I strive only for this, that I fail neither friends nor even those more distant in service, counsel, and labor. This course of my life perhaps offends those who look upon the splendor and outward appearance of this life, but cannot perceive its anxiety and toil; but this they complain of not obscurely—that in my opinions by which I honor Caesar I am, as it were, deserting from my former cause. But I, while I follow those considerations which I set forth a little before, follow also this, not among the last, about which I had begun to explain: you will not find, Lentulus, the same sentiment of the good men that you left behind—which, strengthened in our consulship, sometimes afterward interrupted, stricken before your consulship, revived by you, is now wholly deserted by those by whom it ought to have been protected; and this those who in that condition of ours were then named the optimates [the "best men," the conservative senatorial party] declare not only by their brow and countenance, by which dissimulation is most easily maintained, but they have also shown it often by their opinion and their ballot. And so the whole opinion and inclination of wise citizens—such as I both am and wish to be reckoned—ought now to be changed; for that same Plato, whom I vehemently follow as my authority, commands this: "to strive in the republic only so far as you can win the approval of your fellow citizens; that one ought to offer violence neither to a parent nor to one's fatherland." And this indeed he says was his reason for not touching public affairs: that, since he had found the Athenian people now almost doting in old age, and since he saw that it could be ruled neither by persuading nor by compelling, although he distrusted that it could be persuaded, he did not think it lawful that it be compelled. My situation was different, since I was neither held entangled by a doting people, nor by an unsettled matter, in deliberating whether I should take up public affairs; but I rejoiced nonetheless that it was permitted me in the same cause to defend both what was useful to myself and what was right for any good man. To this was added a certain memorable and almost divine generosity of Caesar toward me and my brother, which would have to be honored by me whatever he were doing—now, in such great good fortune and such great victories, even if he were not toward us the man he is, he would nevertheless seem to deserve to be honored; for I would have you so think, that, apart from you, the authors of my safety, there is no one to whom I confess myself so bound by services—and not only confess, but even rejoice in it. Since I have explained this to you, those things are easy which you ask of me about Vatinius and about Crassus; for as to what you write about Appius—that, as in Caesar's case, you do not blame me—I rejoice that my policy is approved by you. As for Vatinius, in the first place, a return to good terms had come about through Pompey, as soon as that man was made praetor—though indeed I had opposed his candidacy with the gravest speeches in the senate, and not so much for the sake of injuring him as of defending and honoring Cato; afterward, that I should defend him, a wonderful exertion of Caesar's followed. But why I praised him, I beg of you not to ask of me either in the case of this defendant or of others, lest I lay the same demand back upon you when you come—although I can do so even to you in your absence; for recall to whom you sent a vote of praise from the ends of the earth; and do not be alarmed at this, for the same men are praised and will be praised by me as well; but nevertheless there was also that goad to defending Vatinius, about which I said in court, when I was defending him, that I was doing something which the parasite in the Eunuch advises the soldier: "When she shall name Phaedria, do you at once name Pamphila; if ever she shall say, 'Let us bring Phaedria in to the party,' do you say, 'Let us call Pamphila to sing'; if she shall praise the good looks of that one, do you praise this one's in return; in short, give back like for like, so as to nettle her." Thus I asked of the jurors that, since certain noble men, who had deserved most excellently of me, were over-fond of my enemy, and often, while I looked on, would now sternly draw him aside in the senate, now familiarly and merrily embrace him—and since they had their own Publius [Clodius], they should grant me too another Publius [Vatinius], in whom I might, being moderately provoked, lightly prick back their feelings; nor did I only say this, but I also do it often, with gods and men approving. There you have it about Vatinius; now learn about Crassus. I, when I already had great good will with him—because I had worn down all his very serious injuries against me by a certain voluntary forgetfulness for the sake of the common concord—would nevertheless have borne his sudden defense of Gabinius, whom in the immediately preceding days he had most fiercely attacked, if he had undertaken it without any insult to me; but when he wounded me as I was arguing, not provoking him, I blazed up, not only, I believe, in present anger—for that perhaps would not have been so vehement—but, since that enclosed hatred of his many injuries toward me, which I thought I had wholly poured out, had nevertheless, unknown to me, remained as a residue, the whole of it suddenly appeared. At which very time certain men—and those same ones whom I often signify by a nod and a sign—while they said that they had reaped the greatest fruit from my freedom of speech, and that I then at last seemed to them to have been restored to the republic such as I had been, and while that contest had brought me great fruit even abroad, said that they were glad that both that enemy of mine and those who were in the same cause would never be friends to me; whose unfair talk when it was brought to me through most honorable men, and when Pompey had striven, as he never had at anything more, that I should return to good terms with Crassus, and Caesar by letter had shown that he was affected with the greatest annoyance by that contest, I took account not only of my own times but also of my own nature; and Crassus, so that our reconciliation might be as it were attested to the Roman people, set out for his province almost from my very household gods—for, having made an appointment with me, he dined at my house in the gardens of my son-in-law Crassipes—wherefore his cause, which you write you have heard about, I undertook on his strong recommendation and defended in the senate, as my honor demanded. You have received the considerations by which I was led, and what affair and case I defended, and what my position in the republic is, so far as my part in taking it up is concerned; about which I would have you so judge, that I would have felt these same things even if everything had been free and open to me; for I would think neither that I should fight against such great power, nor that the preeminence of the highest citizens should be destroyed, even if that could be done, nor that I should persist in a single opinion when affairs are changed and the inclinations of good men are altered, but that I should accommodate myself to the times; for in outstanding men in the governing of a republic perpetual persistence in a single opinion has never been praised, but, just as in sailing it is the part of skill to yield to the storm—even if you cannot reach the harbor—whereas, when you can attain that by changing your set of sail, it is foolish to hold with danger the course you have begun rather than, by changing it, to arrive nonetheless where you wish: so, since the aim set before all of us in administering the republic ought to be that which has been most often said by me, peace with dignity, we ought not always to say the same thing, but always to look to the same thing. Wherefore, as I laid down a little before, even if everything were most free for me, I would nevertheless be no other man in the republic than I now am; but since I am both enticed into this frame of mind by men's kindnesses and driven into it by their injuries, I easily allow myself to feel and to say about the republic those things which I think most conduce both to my own interest and also to the interests of the republic. And I do these things more openly and more often because both my brother Quintus is Caesar's legate, and no slightest word of mine, not to say deed, on Caesar's behalf has passed without his receiving it with such conspicuous gratitude that I considered him bound to me; and so I enjoy his whole favor (which is the highest) and his resources (which you understand to be very great) as if they were my own; nor do I seem able otherwise to have broken the designs of desperate men against me, except by joining to those safeguards which I have always had now also the goodwill of the powerful. By these counsels, if I had had you present, as my opinion holds, I would have used the very same ones—for I know the temperance and moderation of your nature, I know your spirit, both most friendly to me and tinged with no malevolence toward others; and on the contrary both great and lofty, and also open and simple; I have seen certain men toward you of such a kind as you could have seen the same men to be toward me: the things which moved me would surely have moved you in the same way—but, at whatever time I shall have the opportunity of your presence, you shall be the director of all my counsels; to you, the same man to whom my safety was a care, my dignity also shall be a care; me at any rate you shall certainly have as the partner and companion of your actions, your opinions, your wishes—in short, of all your affairs; nor in my whole life will any object be so set before me as that you should daily rejoice the more vehemently that you have deserved most excellently of me. As for your asking that I send you my writings which I have composed since your departure: there are certain speeches, which I shall give to Menocritus, and not so many—do not be alarmed. I have also written—for I withdraw myself almost from oratory and betake myself back to the gentler Muses, which now most of all delight me, as they have from my earliest youth—I have therefore written, in the manner of Aristotle (as I at least wished), three books in discussion and dialogue "On the Orator," which I think will not be useless to your Lentulus [Lentulus's son], for they depart from the common precepts and embrace the whole oratorical method of the ancients, both the Aristotelian and the Isocratean. I have also written in verse three books "On My Own Times," which I would have sent to you long ago, had I thought they ought to be published—for they are everlasting witnesses, and will be, of your services toward me and of my devotion—but because I was afraid, not of those who might think themselves injured (for I did this sparingly and gently), but of those whom it would be endless to name, all of them being men who have deserved well of me; these very books, however, if I find anyone to whom I may rightly entrust them, I will see to it that they are conveyed to you. And that whole part of my life and of our common pursuits I make over entirely to you: as much as we shall be able to attain by letters, by studies, by our old delights, all of this I will most gladly confer upon your judgment, you who have always loved these things. As to what you write to me about your domestic affairs, and what you commend to me, these things are of such great care to me that I would not wish to be reminded of them, and indeed I can scarcely be asked about them without great pain. As to what you write about my brother Quintus's business—that the previous summer, because, hindered by illness, you did not cross into Cilicia, you could not complete it, but that now you will do everything to complete it—know that this is of such a kind that my brother truly judges that, with that estate added, his patrimony will be established through you. I would wish that you make me acquainted with all your affairs, and with the studies and exercises of your Lentulus and ours, as intimately and as often as possible, and that you consider that no one was ever dearer or more agreeable to anyone than you are to me, and that I will bring it about that you should not only feel this, but that all nations and all posterity should understand it. Appius previously kept saying in conversation, and afterward said even openly in the senate, that if it were permitted him to carry a curiate law, he would draw lots with his colleague for the provinces; if there were no curiate law, he would arrange with his colleague and succeed you; and that a curiate law was useful for a consul to have carried, but not necessary; that he, since he held a province by decree of the senate, would have military command under the Cornelian law until he entered the city. I do not know what each of your connections writes to you; I understand that opinions vary: there are some who think you can avoid leaving, because a successor is appointed to you without a curiate law; there are also some who think that, if you do leave, someone can be left behind by you to govern the province; to me it is not so certain about the law—although not even that is greatly in doubt—as this is, that it pertains to your supreme distinction, dignity, and freedom (which I know you are accustomed most gladly to enjoy) that you should yield the province to your successor without any delay, especially since you cannot reject his cupidity without arousing suspicion of your own cupidity; I judge both to be my duty, both to show what I feel and to defend what you shall have done. When my earlier letter had already been written, I received your letter about the tax-farmers, in which I could not but approve your fairness; I could have wished that, by good fortune, you had been able to attain what I would wish, namely, that you should not offend either the interest or the goodwill of that order which you have always honored. For my part I shall not cease to defend your decrees, but you know the way of men: you know how seriously hostile men were to that very Quintus Scaevola; nevertheless I advise you that, if by any means you can, you should either reconcile that order to yourself or soften it: although this is difficult, it nevertheless seems to me to belong to your prudence.

Your letter was most delightful to me, from which I understood that you perceive my devotion toward you—for why should I say goodwill, when that very weighty and sacred word "devotion" seems to me too slight for your services toward me? When you write that my efforts on your behalf are pleasing to you, you act indeed from a certain abundance of affection, so that even those things are pleasing which cannot be neglected without criminal wickedness. But my disposition toward you would have been far better known and more conspicuous to you if, during all this time in which we have been separated, we had been both together and at Rome. For in that very activity which you indicate you intend to pursue, and in which you are preeminently capable and which I eagerly expect from you—in senatorial opinions and in every public action and administration of the republic we would have flourished together. About this I shall indeed show a little later what my own feeling and position is, and I shall write back to you concerning those matters you ask about. But certainly I would have made use of you as a most friendly and wise counselor, and you of me as an adviser perhaps not wholly inexperienced, certainly faithful and well-disposed. Although on your own account I rejoice, as I ought, that you are commander and hold your province with a victorious army after successful campaigns—yet certainly you could have reaped more abundantly and more richly in person those rewards that are owed to you from me. And in taking vengeance on those whom you recognize as partly hostile to you on account of your defense of my safety, and partly envious on account of the greatness and glory of that action, I would have shown myself a remarkable ally to you. Although that perpetual enemy of his own friends, who, adorned by your very great services, directed against you above all others that broken and enfeebled force of his—he has avenged our cause himself; for he attempted things by the disclosure of which he left himself no share not only of dignity but not even of liberty for the future. As for you, although I would have preferred you to have tested the loyalty of men in my affairs rather than also in your own, yet in this trouble I am glad you have come to know at no very great cost that fidelity of men which I had learned at the greatest pain. On this whole subject the time now seems to have come for me to set forth my position and write back to you concerning what you ask. You write that you have been informed by letter that I am on good terms with Caesar and with Appius, and you add that you do not disapprove. But you indicate that you wish to know what considerations led me to defend and praise Vatinius. In order to explain this to you more clearly, it is necessary for me to trace back somewhat further the rationale of my plans. I believed, Lentulus, at the beginning of your public actions, that I had been restored not only to my own position but also to the republic's, and since I owed you an incredible affection and every highest and singular devotion to yourself, I thought I certainly owed the republic—which had greatly assisted you in restoring me—that spirit which I had previously displayed only from the common duty of citizens, not from any singular service toward me. That this was my disposition the senate heard from me during your consulship, and you yourself saw it in our conversations and discussions. Although even in those early days my mind was offended in many matters, when I perceived, as you were acting regarding the rest of my dignity, either the hidden hatreds or the halfhearted goodwill of certain men toward me. For you were not assisted regarding my monuments by those who should have helped, nor regarding the criminal violence by which I and my brother had been driven from our home, nor indeed in those very matters which, although they were necessary for me on account of the shipwreck of my private fortune, were nevertheless regarded by me as of the least importance—in the repairing of my losses by the authority of the senate they did not show the willingness I had expected. When I saw these things—and they were not hidden—nevertheless these disappointments did not affect me so bitterly as those things they had done were pleasing. And so, although I owed a very great deal to Pompey—with you yourself as herald and witness of this—and I cherished him not only for his service but also from affection and a certain settled judgment of my own, nevertheless, not calculating what he wanted, I persisted in all my former opinions about the republic. When Gnaeus Pompey was seated in court, having entered the city to praise Publius Sestius, and the witness Vatinius said that I had begun to be a friend of Caesar, moved by his fortune and success, I said that I preferred the fortune of Marcus Bibulus, which Vatinius thought ruined, to the triumphs and victories of all men. And I said at another point before the same witness that the same men who had prevented Bibulus from leaving his house had also driven me out. Indeed my entire cross-examination contained nothing but criticism of that tribunate, in which everything was spoken with the utmost freedom and spirit concerning violence, the auspices, and the giving away of kingdoms. And not only in this case, but consistently and often in the senate. Indeed, in the consulship of Marcellinus and Philippus, on the Nones of April, the senate agreed with me that the matter of the Campanian land should be brought before a full senate on the Ides of May. Could I have more directly assaulted the citadel of that cause, or more completely forgotten my own circumstances and remembered my principles? When this opinion was expressed by me, a great agitation of minds arose, both among those whom it should have affected and also among those I had never expected. For after this decree of the senate was passed according to my motion, Pompey, having shown me no sign that he was offended, departed for Sardinia and Africa, and on that journey came to Caesar at Luca. There Caesar complained at length about my motion, since he had already seen Crassus at Ravenna and had been inflamed against me by him. It was quite clear that Pompey took this badly, which I learned from others and most of all from my brother. When Pompey met him in Sardinia a few days after leaving Luca, he said: "You are the very man I want; nothing could have happened more opportunely. Unless you deal carefully with your brother Marcus, you will have to pay what you pledged to me on his behalf." In short, he complained bitterly; he recalled his own services; he reminded him how often he had discussed Caesar's acts with my brother himself, and what my brother had guaranteed him regarding me; and he called my brother himself to witness that what he had done for my safety he had done with Caesar's consent. He asked him to commend Caesar's cause and dignity to me, so that I would not attack it even if I were unwilling or unable to defend it. When my brother brought these things to me, and when Pompey also sent Vibullius to me with instructions that I should keep the Campanian question open until his return, I collected myself and, having deliberated as it were with the republic itself, I allowed her to grant me—after I had endured and undergone so much for her—that I might fulfill my duty and my grateful spirit toward those who had served me well, along with the pledged word of my brother, and that she would permit a man she had always considered a good citizen to be also a good man. Moreover, in all those actions and opinions of mine that seemed to offend Pompey, the talk of certain men—whom you must by now suspect—was being reported to me: men who, while they held the same views about the republic as I was pursuing, and had always held them, nevertheless said that I was not satisfying Pompey and that they were glad Caesar would be most hostile to me. This was painful to me, but far more painful was the fact that they were embracing my enemy—my enemy, did I say? Rather the enemy of the laws, the courts, tranquility, the fatherland, and all good men—so they held him in their hands, so they cherished him, so they kissed him in my very presence; not indeed to provoke my anger, which I have utterly lost, but certainly because they thought they were doing so. At this point, so far as I could accomplish by human deliberation, having surveyed all my circumstances and weighed all my considerations, I drew up the sum of all my reflections, which I shall set forth to you briefly, if I can. If I saw the republic held by wicked and desperate citizens, as we know happened in my time and on certain other occasions, I would not join myself to their cause, not even if the greatest rewards were at stake—rewards which have the least influence with me—nor even if driven by dangers, by which even the bravest men are moved, not even if their services to me were of the highest. But since in the republic Gnaeus Pompey was the leading man—a man who had achieved this power and glory through the greatest services to the republic and the most distinguished achievements, whose dignity I had supported from my youth and had even assisted in his praetorship and consulship, and since the same man had helped me by his authority and judgment on his own, and by his plans and efforts together with you, and since he held my one personal enemy as his own enemy in the state—I did not think I need fear the reputation of inconsistency if I shifted somewhat in certain opinions and directed my

IX. Scr. Romae exeunte mense Octobri a.u.c. 700. M. CICERO S. D. P. LENTULO IMP. Periucundae mihi fuerunt litterae tuae, quibus intellexi te perspicere meam in te pietatem—quid enim dicam benevolentiam, cum illud ipsum gravissimum et sanctissimum nomen pietatis levius mihi meritis erga me tuis esse videatur?—; quod autem tibi grata mea erga te studia scribis esse, facis tu quidem abundantia quadam amoris, ut etiam grata sint ea, quae praetermitti sine nefario scelere non possunt, tibi autem multo notior atque illustrior meus in te animus esset, si hoc tempore omni, quo diiuncti fuimus, et una et Romae fuissemus: nam in eo ipso, quod te ostendis esse facturum quodque et in primis potes et ego a te vehementer exspecto, in sententiis senatoriis et in omni actione atque administratione rei publicae floruissemus—de qua ostendam equidem paullo post qui sit meus sensus et status, et rescribam tibi ad ea, quae quaeris—, sed certe et ego te auctore amicissimo ac sapientissimo et tu me consiliario fortasse non imperitissimo, fideli quidem et benevolo certe, usus esses—quamquam tua quidem causa te esse imperatorem provinciamque bene gestis rebus cum exercitu victore obtinere, ut debeo, laetor—, sed certe, qui tibi ex me fructus debentur, eos uberiores et praestantiores praesens capere potuisses; in eis vero ulciscendis, quos tibi partim inimicos esse intelligis propter tuam propugnationem salutis meae, partim invidere propter illius actionis amplitudinem et gloriam, mirificum me tibi comitem praebuissem, quamquam ille perennis inimicus amicorum suorum, qui tuis maximis beneficiis ornatus in te potissimum fractam illam et debilitatam vim suam contulit, nostram vicem ultus est ipse sese, ea est enim conatus, quibus patefactis nullam sibi in posterum non modo dignitatis, sed ne libertatis quidem partem reliquit. Te autem, etsi mallem in meis rebus expertum quam etiam in tuis, tamen in molestia gaudeo eam fidem cognosse hominum non ita magna mercede, quam ego maximo dolore cognoram; de qua ratione tota iam videtur mihi exponendi tempus dari, ut tibi rescribam ad ea, quae quaeris. Certiorem te per litteras scribis esse factum me cum Caesare et cum Appio esse in gratia teque id non reprehendere ascribis; Vatinium autem scire te velle ostendis quibus rebus adductus defenderim et laudarim, quod tibi ut planius exponam, altius paullo rationem consiliorum meorum repetam necesse est. Ego me, Lentule, initio rerum atque actionum tuarum non solum meis, sed etiam rei publicae restitutum putabam et, quoniam tibi incredibilem quendam amorem et omnia in te ipsum summa ac singularia studia deberem, rei publicae, quae te in me restituendo multum adiuvisset, eum certe me animum merito ipsius debere arbitrabar, quem antea tantummodo communi officio civium, non aliquo erga me singulari beneficio debitum praestitissem. Hac me mente fuisse et senatus ex me te consule audivit et tu in nostris sermonibus collocutionibusque ipsi vidisti. Etsi iam primis temporibus illis multis rebus meus offendebatur animus, cum te agente de reliqua nostra dignitate aut occulta nonnullorum odia aut obscura in me studia cernebam; nam neque de monumentis meis ab iis adiutus es, a quibus debuisti, neque de vi nefaria, qua cum fratre eram domo expulsus, neque hercule in iis ipsis rebus, quae, quamquam erant mihi propter rei familiaris naufragia necessariae, tamen a me minimi putabantur, in meis damnis ex auctoritate senatus sarciendis eam voluntatem, quam exspectaram, praestiterunt: quae cum viderem—neque erant obscura—, non tamen tam acerba mihi haec accidebant, quam erant illa grata, quae fecerant; itaque, quamquam et Pompeio plurimum, te quidem ipso praedicatore ac teste, debebam et eum non solum beneficio, sed amore etiam et perpetuo quodam iudicio meo diligebam, tamen non reputans, quid ille vellet, in omnibus meis sententiis de re publica pristinis permanebam. Ego sedente Cn. Pompeio, cum, ut laudaret P. Sestium, introisset in urbem dixissetque testis Vatinius me fortuna et felicitate C. Caesaris commotum illi amicum esse coepisse, dixi me eam M. Bibuli fortunam, quam ille afflictam putaret, omnium triumphis victoriisque anteferre, dixique eodem teste alio loco eosdem esse, qui Bibulum exire domo prohibuissent, et qui me coegissent: tota vero interrogatio mea nihil habuit nisi reprehensionem illius tribunatus; in quo omnia dicta sunt libertate animoque maximo de vi, de auspiciis, de donatione regnorum, neque vero hac in causa modo, sed constanter saepe in senatu: quin etiam Marcellino et Philippo consulibus Nonis Aprilibus mihi est senatus assensus, ut de agro Campano frequenti senatu Idibus Maiis referretur; num potui magis in arcem illius causae invadere aut magis oblivisci temporum meorum, meminisse actionum? Hac a me sententia dicta magnus animorum motus est factus cum eorum, quorum oportuit, tum illorum etiam, quorum numquam putaram: nam hoc senatus consulto in meam sententiam facto Pompeius, cum mihi nihil ostendisset se esse offensum, in Sardiniam et in Africam profectus est eoque itinere Lucam ad Caesarem venit; ibi multa de mea sententia questus est Caesar, quippe qui etiam Ravennae Crassum ante vidisset ab eoque in me esset incensus; sane moleste Pompeium id ferre constabat, quod ego, cum audissem ex aliis, maxime ex meo fratre cognovi, quem cum in Sardinia Pompeius paucis post diebus, quam Luca discesserat, convenisset, "te", inquit, "ipsum cupio; nihil opportunius potuit accidere: nisi cum Marco fratre diligenter egeris, dependendum tibi est, quod mihi pro illo spopondisti"; quid multa? questus est graviter: sua merita commemoravit; quid egisset saepissime de actis Caesaris cum ipso meo fratre quidque sibi is de me recepisset, in memoriam redegit seque, quae de mea salute egisset, voluntate Caesaris egisse ipsum meum fratrem testatus est; cuius causam dignitatemque mihi ut commendaret, rogavit, ut eam ne oppugnarem, si nollem aut non possem tueri. Haec cum ad me frater pertulisset et cum tamen Pompeius ad me cum mandatis Vibullium misisset, ut integrum mihi de causa Campana ad suum reditum reservarem, collegi ipse me et cum ipsa quasi re publica collocutus sum, ut mihi tam multa pro se perpesso atque perfuncto concederet, ut officium meum memoremque in bene meritos animum fidemque fratris mei praestarem, eumque, quem bonum civem semper habuisset, bonum virum esse pateretur. In illis autem meis actionibus sententiisque omnibus, quae Pompeium videbantur offendere, certorum hominum, quos iam debes suspicari, sermones perferebantur ad me, qui cum illa sentirent in re publica, quae ego agebam, semperque sensissent, me tamen non satisfacere Pompeio Caesaremque inimicissimum mihi futurum gaudere se aiebant; erat hoc mihi dolendum, sed multo illud magis, quod inimicum meum—meum autem? immo vero legum, iudiciorum, otii, patriae, bonorum omnium—sic amplexabantur, sic in manibus habebant, sic fovebant, sic me praesente osculabantur, non illi quidem ut mihi stomachum facerent, quem ego funditus perdidi, sed certe ut facere se arbitrarentur: hic ego, quantum humano consilio efficere potui, circumspectis rebus meis omnibus rationibusque subductis summam feci cogitationum mearum omnium, quam tibi, si potero, breviter exponam. Ego, si ab improbis et perditis civibus rem publicam teneri viderem, sicut et meis temporibus scimus et nonnullis aliis accidisse, non modo praemiis, quae apud me minimum valent, sed ne periculis quidem compulsus ullis, quibus tamen moventur etiam fortissimi viri, ad eorum causam me adiungerem, ne si summa quidem eorum in me merita constarent; cum autem in re publica Cn. Pompeius princeps esset vir, is, qui hanc potentiam et gloriam maximis in rem publicam meritis praestantissimisque rebus gestis esset consecutus cuiusque ego dignitatis ab adolescentia fautor, in praetura autem et in consulatu adiutor etiam exstitissem, cumque idem auctoritate et sententia per se, consiliis et studiis tecum me adiuvisset meumque inimicum unum in civitate haberet inimicum, non putavi famam inconstantiae mihi pertimescendam, si quibusdam in sententiis paullum me immutassem meamque voluntatem ad summi viri de meque optime meriti dignitatem aggregassem. In hac sententia complectendus erat mihi Caesar, ut vides, in coniuncta et causa et dignitate: hic multum valuit cum vetus amicitia, quam tu non ignoras mild et Quinto fratri cum Caesare fuisse, tum humanitas eius ac liberalitas brevi tempore et litteris et officiis perspecta nobis et cognita; vehementer etiam res ipsa publica me movit, quae mihi videbatur contentionem, praesertim maximis rebus a Caesare gestis, cam illis viris nolle fieri et, ne fieret, vehementer recusare; gravissime autem me in hanc mentem impulit et Pompeii fides, quam de me Caesari dederat, et fratris mei, quam Pompeio; erant praeterea haec animadvertenda in civitate, quae sunt apud Platonem nostrum scripta divinitus, quales in re publica principes essent, tales reliquos solere esse cives. Tenebam memoria nobis consulibus ea fundamenta iacta iam ex Kalendis Ianuariis confirmandi senatus, ut neminem mirari oporteret Nonis Decembr. tantum vel animi fuisse in illo ordine vel auctoritatis, idemque memineram nobis privatis usque ad Caesarem et Bibulum consules, cum sententiae nostrae magnum in senatu pondus haberent, unum fere sensum fuisse bonorum omnium. Postea, cum tu Hispaniam citeriorem cum imperio obtineres neque res publica consules haberet, sed mercatores provinciarum et seditionum servos ac ministros, iecit quidam casus caput meum quasi certaminis causa in mediam contentionem dissensionemque civilem, quo in discrimine cum mirificus senatus, incredibilis Italiae totius, singularis omnium bonorum consensus in me tuendo exstitisset, non dicam, quid acciderit—multorum est enim et varia culpa—, tantum dicam brevi, non mihi exercitum, sed duces defuisse. In quo, ut iam sit in iis culpa, qui me non defenderunt, non minor est in iis, qui reliquerunt, et, si accusandi sunt, si qui pertimuerunt, magis etiam reprehendendi, si qui se timere simularunt: illud quidem certe nostrum consilium iure laudandum est, qui meos cives et a me conservatos et me servare cupientes spoliatos ducibus servis armatis obiici noluerim declararique maluerim, quanta vis esse potuisset in consensu bonorum, si iis pro me stante pugnare licuisset, cum afflictum excitare potuissent; quorum quidem animum tu non perspexisti solum, cum de me ageres, sed etiam confirmasti atque tenuisti. Qua in causa—non modo non negabo, sed etiam semper et meminero et praedicabo libenter—usus es quibusdam nobilissimis hominibus fortioribus in me restituendo, quam fuerant iidem in tenendo: qua in sententia si constare voluissent, suam auctoritatem simul cum salute mea recuperassent, recreatis enim bonis viris consulatu tuo et constantissimis atque optimis actionibus tuis excitatis, Cn. Pompeio praesertim ad causam adiuncto, cum etiam Caesar rebus maximis gestis singularibus ornatus et novis honoribus ac iudiciis senatus ad auctoritatem eius ordinis adiungeretur, nulli improbo civi locus ad rem publicam violandam esse potuisset; sed attende, quaeso, quae sint consecuta. Primum illa furia muliebrium religionum, qui non pluris fecerat Bonam deam quam tres sorores, impunitatem est illorum sententiis assecutus, qui, cum tribunus pl. poenas a seditioso civi per bonos viros iudicio persequi vellet, exemplum praeclarissimum in posterum vindicandae seditionis de re publica sustulerunt iidemque postea non meum monumentum—non enim illae manubiae meae, sed operis locatio mea fuerat—, monumentum vero senatus hostili nomine et cruentis inustum litteris esse passi sunt: qui me homines quod salvum esse voluerunt, est mihi gratissimum; sed vellem non solum salutis meae, quemadmodum medici, sed, ut aliptae, etiam virium et coloris rationem habere voluissent: nunc, ut Apelles Veneris caput et summa pectoris politissima arte perfecit, reliquam partem corporis inchoatam reliquit, sic quidam homines in capite meo solum elaborarunt, reliquum corpus imperfectum ac rude reliquerunt; in quo ego spem fefelli non modo invidorum, sed etiam inimicorum meorum, qui de uno acerrimo et fortissimo viro meoque iudicio omnium magnitudine animi et constantia praestantissimo, Q. Metello L. f., quondam falsam opinionem acceperant, quem post reditum dictitant fracto animo et demisso fuisse;—est vero probandum, qui et summa voluntate cesserit et egregia animi alacritate afuerit neque sane redire curarit, eum ob id ipsum fractum fuisse, in quo cum omnes homines, tum M. illum Scaurum, singularem virum, constantia et gravitate superasset!—; sed, quod de illo acceperant aut etiam suspicabantur, de me idem cogitabant, abiectiore animo me futurum, cum res publica maiorem etiam mihi animum, quam umquam habuissem, daret, cum declarasset se non potuisse me uno civi carere cumque Metellum unius tribune pl. rogatio, me universa res publica duce senatu comitante Italia, referente consule promulgantibus octo tribunis, comitiis centuriatis cunctis ordinibus hominibus incumbentibus, omnibus denique suis viribus reciperavisset. Neque vero ego mihi postea quidquam assumpsi neque hodie assumo, quod quemquam malevolentissimum iure possit offendere: tantum enitor, ut neque amicis neque etiam alienioribus opera, consilio, labore desim. Hic meae vitae cursus offendit eos fortasse, qui splendorem et speciem huius vitae intuentur, sollicitudinem autem et laborem perspicere non possunt; illud vero non obscure queruntur, in meis sententiis, quibus ornem Caesarean, quasi desciscere me a pristina causa. Ego autem cum illa sequor, quae paullo ante proposui, tum hoc non in postremis, de quo coeperam exponere: non offendes eundem bonorum sensum, Lentule, quem reliquisti, qui confirmatus consulatu nostro, nonnumquam postea interruptus, afflictus ante te consulem, recreatus abs te totus est nunc ab iis, a quibus tuendus fuerat, derelictus, idque non solum fronte atque vultu, quibus simulatio facillime sustinetur, declarant ii, qui tum in nostro illo statu optimates nominabantur, sed etiam sententia saepe iam tabellaque docuerunt; itaque tota iam sapientium civium, qualem me et esse et numerari volo, et sententia et voluntas mutata esse debet, id enim iubet idem ille Plato, quem ego vehementer auctorem sequor, "tantum contendere in re publica, quantum probare tuis civibus posses; vim neque parenti nec patriae afferre oportere." Atque hanc quidem ille causam sibi ait non attingendae rei publicae fuisse, quod, cum offendisset populum Atheniensem prope iam desipientem senectute cumque eum nec persuadendo nec cogendo regi posse vidisset, cum persuaderi posse diffideret, cogi fas esse non arbitraretur: mea ratio fuit alia, quod neque desipiente populo nec integra re mihi ad consulendum, capesseremne rem publicam, implicatus tenebar, sed laetatus tamen sum, quod mihi liceret in eadem causa et mihi utilia et cuivis bono recta defendere; huc accessit commemoranda quaedam et divina Caesaris in me fratremque meum liberalitas: qui mihi, quascumque res gereret, tuendus esset, nunc in tanta felicitate tantisque victoriis, etiamsi in nos non is esset, qui est, tamen ornandus videretur; sic enim te existimare velim, cum a vobis, meae salutis auctoribus, discesserim, neminem esse, cuius officiis me tam esse devinctum non solum confitear, sed etiam gaudeam. Quod quoniam tibi eui, facilia sunt ea, quae a me de Vatinio et de Crasso requiris; nam, de Appio quod scribis, sicuti de Caesare, te non reprehendere, gaudeo tibi consilium probari meum. De Vatinio autem, primum reditus intercesserat in gratiam per Pompeium, statim ut ille praetor est factus, cum quidem ego eius petitionem gravissimis in senatu sententiis oppugnassem, neque tam illius laedendi causa quam defendendi atque ornandi Catonis; post autem Caesaris, ut illum defenderem, mira contentio est consecuta. Cur autem laudarim, peto a te, ut id a me neve in hoc reo neve in aliis requiras, ne tibi ego idem reponam, cum veneris—tametsi possum vel absenti, recordare enim, quibus laudationem ex ultimis terris miseris; nec hoc pertimueris, nam a me ipso laudantur et laudabuntur iidem—; sed tamen defendendi Vatinii fuit etiam ille stimulus, de quo in iudicio, cum illum defenderem, dixi me facere quiddam, quod in Eunucho parasitus suaderet militi: ubi nominabit Phaedriam, tu Pamphilam continuo; si quando illa dicet: "Phaedriam intromittamus commissatum", tu: "Pamphilam cantatum provocemus"; si laudabit haec illius formam, tu huius contra; denique par pro pari referto, quod eam mordeat. Sic petivi a iudicibus, ut, quoniam quidam nobiles homines et de me optime meriti nimis amarent inimicum meum meque inspectante saepe eum in senatu modo severe seducerent, modo familiariter atque hilare amplexarentur, quoniamque illi haberent suum Publium, darent mihi ipsi alium Publium, in quo possem illorum animos mediocriter lacessitus leviter repungere; neque solum dixi, sed etiam saepe facio deis hominibusque approbantibus. Habes de Vatinio: nunc cognosce de Crasso. Ego, cum mihi cum illo magna iam gratia esset, quod eius omnes gravissimas iniurias communis concordiae causa voluntaria quadam oblivione contriveram, repentinam eius defensionem Gabinii, quem proximis superioribus diebus acerrime oppugnasset, tamen, si sine ulla mea contumelia suscepisset, tulissem; sed, cum me disputantem, non lacessentem laesisset, exarsi non solum praesenti, credo, iracundia—nam ea tam vehemens fortasse non fuisset—, sed, cum inclusum illud odium multarum eius in me iniuriarum, quod ego effudisse me omne arbitrabar, residuum tamen insciente me fuisset, omne repente apparuit: quo quidem tempore ipso quidam homines, et iidem illi, quos saepe nutu significationeque appello, cum se maximum fructum cepisse dicerent ex libertate mea meque tum denique sibi esse visum rei publicae, qualis fuissem, restitutum cumque ea contentio mihi magnum etiam foris fructum tulisset, gaudere se dicebant mihi et illum inimicum et eos, qui in eadem causa essent, numquam amicos futuros; quorum iniqui sermones cum ad me per homines honestissimos perferrentur cumque Pompeius ita contendisset, ut nihil umquam magis, ut cum Crasso redirem in gratiam, Caesarque per litteras maxima se molestia ex illa contentione affectum ostenderet, habui non temporum solum rationem meorum, sed etiam naturae, Crassusque, ut quasi testata populo Romano esset nostra gratia, paene a meis Laribus in provinciam est profectus—nam, cum mihi condixisset, coenavit apud me in mei generi Crassipedis hortis—, quamobrem eius causam, quod te scribis audisse, magna illius commendatione susceptam defendi in senatu, sicut mea fides postulabat. Accepisti, quibus rebus adductus quamque rem causamque defenderim quique meus in re publica sit pro mea parte capessenda status; de quo sic velim statuas, me haec eadem sensurum fuisse, si mihi integra omnia ac libera fuissent: nam neque pugnandum arbitrarer contra tantas opes neque delendum, etiamsi id fieri posset, summorum civium principatum nec permanendum in una sententia conversis rebus ac bonorum voluntatibus mutatis, sed temporibus assentiendum; numquam enim in praestantibus in re publica gubernanda viris laudata est in una sententia perpetua permansio, sed, ut in navigando tempestati obsequi artis est, etiamsi portum tenere non queas, cum vero id possis mutata velificatione assequi, stultum est eum tenere cum periculo cursum, quem ceperis, potius quam eo commutato quo velis tamen pervenire, sic, cum omnibus nobis in administranda re publica propositum esse debeat id, quod a me saepissime dictum est, cum dignitate otium, non idem semper dicere, sed idem semper spectare debemus. Quamobrem, ut paullo ante posui, si essent omnia mihi solutissima, tamen in re publica non alius essem, atque nunc sum; cum vero in hunc sensum et alliciar beneficiis hominum et compellar iniuriis, facile patior ea me de re publica sentire ac dicere, quae maxime cum mihi, tum etiam rei publicae rationibus putem conducere, apertius autem haec ago ac saepius, quod et Quintus, frater meus, legatus est Caesaris et nullum meum minimum dictum, non modo factum, pro Caesare intercessit, quod ille non ita illustri gratia exceperit, ut ego eum mihi devinctum putarem: itaque eius omni et gratia, quae summa est, et opibus, quas intelligis esse maximas, sic fruor, ut meis, nec mihi aliter potuisse videor hominum perditorum de me consilia frangere, nisi cum praesidiis iis, quae semper habui, nunc etiam potentium benevolentiam coniunxissem. His ego consiliis, si te praesentem habuissem, ut opinio mea fert, essem usus eisdem—novi enim temperantiam et moderationem naturae tuae, novi animum cum mihi amicissimum, tum nulla in ceteros malevolentia suffusum, contraque cum magnum et excelsum, tum etiam apertum et simplicem; vidi ego quosdam in te tales, quales te eosdem in me videre potuisti: quae me moverunt, movissent eadem te profecto—; sed, quocumque tempore mihi potestas praesentis tui fuerit, tu eris omnium moderator consiliorum meorum, tibi erit eidem, cui salus mea fuit, etiam dignitas curae: me quidem certe tuarum actionum, sententiarum, voluntatum, rerum denique omnium socium comitemque habebis, neque mihi in omni vita res tam erit ulla proposita, quam ut quotidie vehementius te de me optime meritum esse laetere. Quod rogas, ut mea tibi scripta mittam, quae post discessum tuum scripserim, sunt orationes quaedam, quas Menocrito dabo, neque ita multae, ne pertimescas. Scripsi etiam—nam ab orationibus diiungo me fere referoque ad mansuetiores Musas, quae me nunc maxime, sicut iam a prima adolescentia delectarunt—scripsi igitur Aristotelio more, quemadmodum quidem volui, tres libros in disputatione ac dialogo "de oratore", quos arbitror Lentulo tuo fore non inutiles, abhorrent enim a communibus praeceptis atque omnem antiquorum, et Aristoteliam et Isocratiam, rationem oratoriam complectuntur. Scripsi etiam versibus tres libros de temporibus meis, quos iam pridem ad te misissem, si esse edendos putassem— sunt enim testes et erupt sempiterni meritorum erga me tuorum meaeque pietatis—, sed, quia verebar non eos, qui se laesos arbitrarentur—etenim id feci parce et molliter—, sed eos, quos erat infinitum bene de me meritos omnes nominare; quos tamen ipsos libros, si quem, cui recte committam, invenero, curabo ad te perferendos. Atque istam quidem partem vitae consuetudinisque nostrae totam ad te defero: quantum litteris, quantum studiis, veteribus nostris delectationibus, consequi poterimus, id omne ad arbitrium tuum, qui haec semper amasti, libentissime conferemus. Quae ad me de tuis rebus domesticis scribis quaeque mihi commendas, ea tantae mihi curae sunt, ut me nolim admoneri, rogari vero sine magno dolore vix possim. Quod de Quinti fratris negotio scribis, te priore aestate, quod morbo impeditus in Ciliciam non transieris, conficere non potuisse, nunc autem omnia facturum, ut conficias, id scito esse eiusmodi, ut frater meus vere existimet adiuncto isto fundo patrimonium fore suum per te constitutum. Tu me de tuis rebus omnibus et de Lentuli tui nostrique studiis et exercitationibus velim quam familiarissime certiorem et quam saepissime facias existimesque neminem cuiquam neque cariorem neque iucundiorem umquam fuisse, quam te mihi, idque me non modo ut tu sentias, sed ut omnes gentes etiam et posteritas omnis intelligat esse facturum. Appius in sermonibus antea dictitabat, postea dixit etiam in senatu palam sese, si licitum esset legem curiatam ferre, sortiturum esse cum collega provincias, si curiata lex non esset, se comparaturum cum collega tibique successurum: legemque curiatam consuli ferri opus esse, necesse non esse; se, quoniam ex senatus consulto provinciam haberet, lege Cornelia imperium habiturum, quoad in urbem introisset. Ego, quid ad te tuorum quisque necessariorum scribat, nescio; varias esse opiniones intelligo: sunt, qui patent posse te non decedere, quod sine lege curiata tibi succedatur; sunt etiam, qui, si decedas, a te relinqui posse, qui provinciae praesit: mihi non tam de iure certum est—quamquam ne id quidem valde dubium est—quam illud, ad tuam summam amplitudinem, dignitatem, libertatem, qua te scio libentissime frui solere, pertinere te sine ulla mora provinciam successori concedere, praesertim cum sine suspicione tuae cupiditatis non possis illius cupiditatem refutare; ego utrumque meum puto esse, et, quid sentiam, ostendere et, quod feceris, defendere. Scripta iam epistola superiore accepi tuas litteras de publicanis, in quibus aequitatem tuam non potui non probare; felicitate a quid vellem consequi potuisses, ne eius ordinis, quem semper ornasti, rem aut voluntatem offenderes. Equidem non desinam tua decreta defendere, sed nosti consuetudinem hominum: scis, quam graviter inimici ipsi illi Q. Scaevolae fuerint; tibi tamen sum auctor, ut, si quibus rebus possis, eum tibi ordinem aut reconcilies aut mitiges: id etsi difficile est, tamen mihi videtur esse prudentiae tuae.