Marcus Tullius Cicero→Gaius Scribonius Curio|c. 50 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|AI-assisted
Rupa was certainly eager to promise public games in your name, but neither I nor any of your friends approved of anything being done in your absence that would not remain entirely open for you to decide once you returned.
As for what I think, I will either write to you later at greater length, or, so that you have no chance to prepare yourself against my arguments, I will catch you unprepared and speak against that plan of yours face to face. Then I will either bring you over to my opinion, or at least leave a record of what I thought in your own mind. If one day, which I hope does not happen, your plan begins to displease you, you will be able to remember mine.
For now, take this briefly: your return falls at a moment when, with the gifts nature, study, and fortune have given you, you can achieve the highest honors in public life more easily through those gifts than through public shows. No one admires the ability to stage such things; it is a matter of money, not character. Besides, everyone is already tired of them.
But I am doing the opposite of what I promised, since I have begun to explain the reasoning behind my view. So I will postpone the whole discussion until you arrive. Know this much: you are awaited with the highest expectation, and people expect from you what ought to be expected from the greatest character and the greatest talent. If you are prepared for that, as you should be and as I trust you are, then you will give the richest and finest gifts to us, your friends, to all your fellow citizens, and to the republic.
You will certainly find that no one is dearer or more welcome to me than you are.
CLXVIII (Fam. II, 3) TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (IN ASIA) ROME (?FEBRUARY) Rupa was not backward in his wish to promise an exhibition of gladiators in your name, but neither I nor any of your friends approved of anything being done in your absence which would tie your hands when you returned. For my part, I will either write you my opinion at greater length later on, or, to give you no opportunity of preparing an answer to it, I will take you unprepared and state my view by word of mouth against yours. I shall thus either bring you over to my opinion, or at least leave in your mind a record of my view, so that, if at any time (which heaven forbid!) you may see cause to repent of your decision, you may be able to recall mine. Briefly, be assured that your return will find the state of things to be such, that you may gain the highest possible honours in the state more easily by the advantages with which you are endowed by nature, study, and fortune, than by gladiatorial exhibitions. The power of giving such things stirs no feeling of admiration in anyone; for it is wholly a question of means, and not of character — and there is nobody who is not by this time sick and tired of them. But I am not acting as I said I would do, for I am embarking on a statement of the reasons for my opinion. So I will put off this entire discussion to your arrival. Believe me, you are expected with the greatest interest, and hopes are entertained of you such as can only be entertained of the highest virtue and ability. If you are as prepared for this as you ought to be — and I feel certain you are — you will be bestowing on us, your friends, on the whole body of your fellow citizens, and on the entire state, the most numerous and most excellent of exhibitions. You will certainly become aware that no one can be dearer or more precious than you are to me.
III. M. CICERO S. D. CURIONI Romae; parte priore 53(?)
Rupae studium non defuit declarandorum munerum tuo nomine, sed nec mihi placuit nec cuiquam tuorum quicquam te absente fieri quod tibi, cum venisses, non esset integrum. Equidem [quid] sentiam aut scribam ad te postea pluribus aut, ne ad ea meditere, imparatum te offendam coramque contra istam rationem meam dicam, ut aut te in meam sententiam adducam aut certe testatum apud animum tuum relinquam quid senserim, ut, si quando, quod nolim, displicere tibi tuum consilium coeperit, possis meum recordari. Brevi tamen sic habeto, in eum statum temporum tuum reditum incidere ut iis bonis quae tibi natura, studio, fortuna data sunt facilius omnia quae sunt amplissima in re publica consequi possis quam muneribus. Quorum neque facultatem quisquam admiratur (est enim copiarum, non virtutis) neque quisquam est quin satietate iam defessus sit. Sed aliter atque ostenderam facio qui ingrediar ad explicandam rationem sententiae meae; qua re omnem hanc disputationem in adventum tuum differo. Summa [te] scito in exspectatione esse eaque a te exspectari quae a summa virtute summoque ingenio exspectanda sunt. Ad quae si es, ut debes, paratus, quod ita esse confido, plurimis maximisque muneribus et nos amicos et civis tuos universos et rem publicam adficies. Illud cognosces profecto, mihi te neque cariorem neque iucundiorem esse quemquam.
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Rupa was certainly eager to promise public games in your name, but neither I nor any of your friends approved of anything being done in your absence that would not remain entirely open for you to decide once you returned.
As for what I think, I will either write to you later at greater length, or, so that you have no chance to prepare yourself against my arguments, I will catch you unprepared and speak against that plan of yours face to face. Then I will either bring you over to my opinion, or at least leave a record of what I thought in your own mind. If one day, which I hope does not happen, your plan begins to displease you, you will be able to remember mine.
For now, take this briefly: your return falls at a moment when, with the gifts nature, study, and fortune have given you, you can achieve the highest honors in public life more easily through those gifts than through public shows. No one admires the ability to stage such things; it is a matter of money, not character. Besides, everyone is already tired of them.
But I am doing the opposite of what I promised, since I have begun to explain the reasoning behind my view. So I will postpone the whole discussion until you arrive. Know this much: you are awaited with the highest expectation, and people expect from you what ought to be expected from the greatest character and the greatest talent. If you are prepared for that, as you should be and as I trust you are, then you will give the richest and finest gifts to us, your friends, to all your fellow citizens, and to the republic.
You will certainly find that no one is dearer or more welcome to me than you are.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
III. M. CICERO S. D. CURIONI Romae; parte priore 53(?)
Rupae studium non defuit declarandorum munerum tuo nomine, sed nec mihi placuit nec cuiquam tuorum quicquam te absente fieri quod tibi, cum venisses, non esset integrum. Equidem [quid] sentiam aut scribam ad te postea pluribus aut, ne ad ea meditere, imparatum te offendam coramque contra istam rationem meam dicam, ut aut te in meam sententiam adducam aut certe testatum apud animum tuum relinquam quid senserim, ut, si quando, quod nolim, displicere tibi tuum consilium coeperit, possis meum recordari. Brevi tamen sic habeto, in eum statum temporum tuum reditum incidere ut iis bonis quae tibi natura, studio, fortuna data sunt facilius omnia quae sunt amplissima in re publica consequi possis quam muneribus. Quorum neque facultatem quisquam admiratur (est enim copiarum, non virtutis) neque quisquam est quin satietate iam defessus sit. Sed aliter atque ostenderam facio qui ingrediar ad explicandam rationem sententiae meae; qua re omnem hanc disputationem in adventum tuum differo. Summa [te] scito in exspectatione esse eaque a te exspectari quae a summa virtute summoque ingenio exspectanda sunt. Ad quae si es, ut debes, paratus, quod ita esse confido, plurimis maximisque muneribus et nos amicos et civis tuos universos et rem publicam adficies. Illud cognosces profecto, mihi te neque cariorem neque iucundiorem esse quemquam.