Letter 7.17

From your letter I both thanked my brother Quintus and can at last praise you, because you now seem to have settled on some definite plan. I was very disturbed by your letters from the first months. Pardon me for saying so, but sometimes you seemed flighty in missing Rome and city life, sometimes lazy, sometimes timid about military labor, and often even a little shameless, which is utterly unlike you. You were hurrying to take money and come home as if you had brought a promissory note to your commander, not a letter of recommendation. It did not occur to you that the very men who went to Alexandria with actual promissory notes have not yet been able to bring away a single coin. If I were considering my own convenience, I would especially want you with me. Our companionship gave me real pleasure, and your judgment and help gave me real usefulness. But since from your youth you entrusted yourself to my friendship and protection, I have always thought it my duty not only to guard you but also to increase and adorn your standing. So, as long as I thought I was going out to a province, I believe you remember what I voluntarily offered you. After that plan changed, since I saw that Caesar treated me with the highest honor and loved me uniquely, and since I knew his incredible generosity and exceptional good faith, I recommended and entrusted you to him as weightily and carefully as I could. He both accepted that recommendation in that spirit and often signaled to me in letters, and showed you in word and deed, that he was strongly moved by my recommendation. Now that you have found such a man, if you think I have any wisdom or any goodwill for your sake, do not let him go. If something should occasionally offend you, when he seems slower because of business or difficulty, endure it and wait for the end. I guarantee that the outcome will be pleasant and honorable for you. I need not urge you at greater length. I only warn you that if you miss this moment, you will never find another so suitable for securing the friendship of a most distinguished and generous man, for enjoying a richer province, or for your time of life. This, as you lawyers write in your books, was also the opinion of Quintus Cornelius. I am glad you did not go to Britain, both because you escaped the hardship and because I will not have to hear your stories about those things. Please write to me fully about where you will winter and with what hope or condition.

CXLV (Fam. VII, 17) TO C. TREBATIUS TESTA (IN GAUL) ROME (SEPTEMBER) From what I gather from your letter I have thanked my brother Quintus , and can besides at last heartily commend you, because you at length seem to have come to some fixed resolution. For I was much put out by your letters in the first months of your absence, because at times you seemed to me — pardon the expression — to be light-minded in your longing for the city and city life, at others timid in undertaking military work, and often even a little inclined to presumption — a thing as unlike your usual self as can be. For, as though you had brought a bill of exchange, and not a letter of recommendation to your commander-in-chief, you were all in a hurry to get your money and return home; and it never occurred to you that those who went to Alexandria with real bills of exchange have as yet not been able to get a farthing. If I looked only to my own interests, I should wish, above all things, to have you with me: for I used to find not only pleasure of no ordinary kind in your society, but also much advantage from your advice and active assistance. But since from your earliest manhood you had devoted yourself to my friendship and protection, I thought it my duty not only to see that you came to no harm, but to advance your fortunes and secure your promotion. Accordingly, as long as I thought I should be going abroad to a province, I am sure you remember the voluntary offers I made you. After that plan had been changed, perceiving that I was being treated by Caesar with the highest consideration, and was regarded by him with unusual affection, and knowing as I did his incredible liberality and unsurpassed loyalty to his word, I recommended you to him in the weightiest and most earnest words at my command. And he accepted this recommendation in a gratifying manner, and repeatedly indicated to me in writing and showed you by word and deed, that he had been powerfully affected by my recommendation. Having got such a man as your patron, if you believe me to have any insight, or to be your well-wisher, do not let him go; and if by chance something at times has annoyed you, when from being busy or in difficulties he has seemed to you somewhat slow to serve you, hold on and wait for the end, which I guarantee will be gratifying and honourable to you. I need not exhort you at any greater length: I only give you this warning, that you will never find a better opportunity, if you let this slip, either of securing the friendship of a most illustrious and liberal man, or of enjoying a wealthier province or a more suitable time of life. “Quintus Cornelius concurred,” as you say in your law books. I am glad you didn't go to Britain , because you have been saved some hard work, and I the necessity of listening to your stories about that expedition. Pray write to me at full length as to where you are going to winter, and what your hopes and present position are.

XVII. Scr. Romae mense Sextili a.u.c. 700. CICERO TREBATIO SAL. Ex tuis litteris et Quinto fratri gratias egi et te aliquando collaudare possum, quod iam videris certa aliqua in sententia constitisse; nam primorum mensum litteris tuis vehementer commovebar, quod mihi interdum—pace tua dixerim—levis in urbis urbanitatisque desiderio, interdum piger, interdum timidus in labore militari, saepe autem etiam, quod a te alienissimum est, subimpudens videbare; tamquam enim syngrapham ad imperatorem, non epistulam attulisses, sic pecunia ablata domum redire properabas, nec tibi in mentem veniebat eos ipsos, qui cum syngraphis venissent Alexandream, nummum adhuc nullum auferre potuisse. Ego, si mei commodi rationem ducerem, te mecum esse maxime vellem; non enim mediocri afficiebar vel voluptate ex consuetudine nostra vel utilitate ex consilio atque opera tua; sed, cum te ex adolescentia tua in amicitiam et fidem meam contulisses, semper te non modo tuendum mihi, sed etiam augendum atque ornandum putavi. Itaque, quoad opinatus sum me in provinciam exiturum, quae ad te ultro detulerim, meminisse te credo; posteaquam ea mutata ratio est, cum viderem me a Caesare honorificentissime tractari et unice diligi hominisque liberalitatem incredibilem et singularem fidem nossem, sic ei te commendavi et tradidi, ut gravissime diligentissimeque potui; quod ille ita et accepit et mihi saepe litteris significavit et tibi et verbis et re ostendit mea commendatione sese valde esse commotum. Hunc tu virum nactus, si me aut sapere aliquid aut velle tua causa putas, ne dimiseris, et, si quae te forte res aliquando offenderit, cum ille aut occupatione aut difficultate tardior tibi erit visus, perferto et ultima exspectato, quae ego tibi iucunda et honesta praestabo. Pluribus te hortari non debeo: tantum moneo, neque amicitiae confirmandae clarissimi ac liberalissimi viri neque uberioris provinciae neque aetatis magis idoneum tempus, si hoc amiseris, te esse ullum umquam reperturum. HOC, quemadmodum vos scribere soletis in vestris libris, IDEM Q. CORNELIO VIDEBATVR. In Britanniam te profectum non esse gaudeo, quod et labore caruisti et ego te de rebus illis non audiam. Ubi sis hibernaturus et qua spe aut condicione, perscribas ad me velim.