Marcus Tullius Cicero→Publius Cornelius Dolabella|c. 45 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|AI-assisted
Although I was content, my dear Dolabella, with your glory, and was deriving great joy and pleasure enough from it, nevertheless I cannot but confess that I am heaped up with the greatest gladness because the common opinion of men enrolls me as a partner in your praises. I have met no one—and I meet very many every day, for there are a great many excellent men who come to these parts for the sake of their health, and besides numerous connections of mine from the towns—all of whom, when they have exalted you to the sky with the highest praises, at once render me the greatest thanks; for they declare that they have no doubt that you, obeying my precepts and counsels, are showing yourself a most outstanding citizen in the person of an extraordinary consul. To these I, although I can most truthfully reply that you do what you do by your own judgment and your own initiative and need no one's counsel, nevertheless do not plainly assent, lest I diminish your praise if it should seem to have proceeded entirely from my counsels, nor do I strongly deny it; for I am even more greedy of glory than is sufficient, and yet it is not foreign to your dignity—that which was honorable even for Agamemnon himself, the king of kings, to have a certain Nestor among those who took counsel—while for me it is glorious that you, a young consul, flourish in praises as if a nursling of my discipline. L. Caesar indeed, when I had come to him at Naples while he was sick, although he was overwhelmed by pains throughout his whole body, nevertheless, before he had fully greeted me, said: 'O my Cicero, I congratulate you, since you have such influence with Dolabella as I, if I had it with my sister's son, could now be safe; but to your Dolabella I both offer congratulations and give thanks, whom indeed, after you as consul, we alone can truly call a consul'; then much about your deed and your achievement: that nothing more magnificent, nothing more illustrious had ever been done, nothing more salutary for the republic; and this is the one voice of all. From you, however, I ask that you allow me to take possession, as it were, of this counterfeit inheritance of another's glory, and that you suffer me to come, in some part, into partnership of your praises. And yet, my dear Dolabella—for I have been jesting in this—I would more gladly pour over to you all my own praises, if indeed there are any of mine, than draw off any portion from yours; for, as I have always loved you as much as you have been able to understand, so by these deeds of yours I have been so inflamed that nothing has ever been more ardent in love; for there is nothing, believe me, more beautiful than virtue, nothing more fair, nothing more lovable. I have always loved, as you know, Marcus Brutus on account of his supreme genius, his most agreeable character, his singular probity and constancy: yet on the Ides of March so much was added to my love that I marveled there had been room for increasing it in him, which had long since seemed to me already heaped to the full. Who was there who would have thought that anything could be added to that love which I had toward you? So much has been added that now at last I seem to myself to love you, whereas before I had only been fond of you. Therefore what reason is there that I should exhort you to serve your dignity and glory? Shall I set before you illustrious men, as those are wont to do who give exhortation? I have no one more illustrious than yourself; you ought to imitate yourself, you should contend with your own self: it is not even permitted to you now, after such great deeds done, to be unlike yourself. Since this is so, exhortation is not necessary; congratulation must rather be employed; for it has fallen to you, as I scarcely know whether to anyone, that the utmost severity of punishment should be not only not invidious but even popular, and most welcome both to all good men and to every lowest person. If this had befallen you by some chance of fortune, I would congratulate you on your good luck; but it befell you through greatness both of spirit and also of genius and judgment; for I have read your address to the assembly: nothing was wiser than that; so step by step and gradually you made now your approach to the matter of the deed, now your retreat, that the affair itself, by the concession of all, granted you the ripeness for inflicting punishment. You have therefore freed both the city from danger and the citizenry from fear, and you have brought the greatest advantage not only for the moment but also as an example: by which deed you ought to understand that the republic is placed in your hands, and that you must not only protect but also adorn those men from whom the beginning of liberty proceeded. But about these matters more in person before long, as I hope: do you, since you are joining together the republic and ourselves, see to it that you guard yourself most diligently, my dear Dolabella.
XIV. Scr. in Pompeiano IV. Non. Maias a.u.c. 710. CICERO DOLABELLAE CONSULI SUO S.
Etsi contentus eram, mi Dolabella, tua gloria satisque ex ea magnam laetitiam voluptatemque capiebam, tamen non possum non confiteri cumulari me maximo gaudio, quod vulgo hominum opinio socium me ascribat tuis laudibus. Neminem conveni—convenio autem quotidie plurimos; sunt enim permulti optimi viri, qui valetudinis causa in haec loca veniant, praeterea ex municipiis frequentes necessarii mei; qui omnes, cum te summis laudibus ad caelum extulerunt, mihi continuo maximas gratias agunt; negant enim se dubitare, quin tu meis praeceptis et consiliis obtemperans praestantissimum te civem in singularem consulem praebeas: quibus ego quamquam verissime possum respondere te, quae facias, tuo iudicio et tua sponte facere nec cuiusquam egere consilio, tamen neque plane assentior, me imminuam tuam laudem, si omnis a meis consiliis profecta videatur, neque valde nego, sum enim avidior etiam, quam satis est, gloriae et tamen non alienum est dignitate tua, quod ipsi Agamemnoni, regum regi, fuit honestum, habere aliquem in consiliis capiendis Nestorem, mihi vero gloriosum te iuvenem consulem florere laudibus quasi alumnum disciplinae meae. L. quidem Caesar, cum ad eum aegrotum Nepolim venissem, quamquam erat oppressus totius corporis doloribus, tamen ante, quam me plane salutavit, "o mi Cicero," inquit, "gratulor tibi, cum tantum vales apud Dolabellam, quantum si ego apud sororis filium valerem, iam salvi esse possemus; Dolabellae vero tuo et gratulor et gratias ago, quem quidem post te consulem solum possumus vere consulem dicere"; deinde multa de facto ac de re gesta tua: nihil magnificentius, nihil praeclarius actum umquam, nihil rei publicae salutarius; atque haec una vox omnium est. A te autem peto, ut me hanc quasi falsam hereditatem alienae gloriae sinas cernere meque aliqua ex parte in societatem tuarum laudum venire patiare. Quamquam, mi Dolabella—haec enim iocatus sum— libentius omnes meas, si modo sunt aliquae meae laudes, ad te transfuderim, quam aliquam partem exhauserim ex tuis; nam, cum te semper tantum dilexerim, quantum tu intelligere potuisti, tum his tuis factis sic incensus sum, ut nihil umquam in amore fuerit ardentius; nihil est enim, mihi crede, virtute formosius, nihil pulchrius, nihil amabilius. Semper amavi, ut scis, M. Brutum propter eius summum ingenium, suavissimos mores, singularem probitatem atque constantiam: tamen Idibus Martiis tantum accessit ad amorem, ut mirarer locum fuisse augendi in eo, quod mihi iampridem cumulatum etiam videbatur. Quis erat, qui putaret ad eum amorem, quem erga te habebam, posse aliquid accedere? tantum accessit, ut mihi nunc denique amare videar, antea dilexisse. Quare quid est, quod ego te hortor, ut dignitati et gloriae servias? proponam tibi claros viros, quod facere solent, qui hortantur? neminem habeo clariorem quam te ipsum; te imitere oportet, tecum ipse certes: ne licet quidem tibi iam tantis rebus gestis non tui similem esse. Quod cum ita sit, hortatio non est necessaria, gratulatione magis utendum est; contigit enim tibi, quod haud scio an nemini, ut summa severitas animadversionis non modo non invidiosa, sed etiam popularis esset et cum bonis omnibus, tum infimo cuique gratissima. Hoc si tibi fortuna quadam contigisset, gratularer felicitati tuae; sed contigit magnitudine cum animi, tum etiam ingenii atque consilii; legi enim concionem tuam: nihil illa sapientius; ita pedetentim et gradatim tum accessus a te ad causam facti, tum recessus, ut res ipsa maturitatem tibi animadvertendi omnium concessu daret. Liberasti igitur et urbem periculo et civitatem metu, neque solum ad tempus maximam utilitatem attulisti, sed etiam ad exemplum: quo facto intelligere debes in te positam esse rem publicam tibique non modo tuendos, sed etiam ornandos esse illos viros, a quibus initium libertatis profectum est. Sed his de rebus coram plura propediem, ut spero: tu quoniam rem publicam nosque conseras, fac, ut diligentissime te ipsum, mi Dolabella, custodias.
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Although I was content, my dear Dolabella, with your glory, and was deriving great joy and pleasure enough from it, nevertheless I cannot but confess that I am heaped up with the greatest gladness because the common opinion of men enrolls me as a partner in your praises. I have met no one—and I meet very many every day, for there are a great many excellent men who come to these parts for the sake of their health, and besides numerous connections of mine from the towns—all of whom, when they have exalted you to the sky with the highest praises, at once render me the greatest thanks; for they declare that they have no doubt that you, obeying my precepts and counsels, are showing yourself a most outstanding citizen in the person of an extraordinary consul. To these I, although I can most truthfully reply that you do what you do by your own judgment and your own initiative and need no one's counsel, nevertheless do not plainly assent, lest I diminish your praise if it should seem to have proceeded entirely from my counsels, nor do I strongly deny it; for I am even more greedy of glory than is sufficient, and yet it is not foreign to your dignity—that which was honorable even for Agamemnon himself, the king of kings, to have a certain Nestor among those who took counsel—while for me it is glorious that you, a young consul, flourish in praises as if a nursling of my discipline. L. Caesar indeed, when I had come to him at Naples while he was sick, although he was overwhelmed by pains throughout his whole body, nevertheless, before he had fully greeted me, said: 'O my Cicero, I congratulate you, since you have such influence with Dolabella as I, if I had it with my sister's son, could now be safe; but to your Dolabella I both offer congratulations and give thanks, whom indeed, after you as consul, we alone can truly call a consul'; then much about your deed and your achievement: that nothing more magnificent, nothing more illustrious had ever been done, nothing more salutary for the republic; and this is the one voice of all. From you, however, I ask that you allow me to take possession, as it were, of this counterfeit inheritance of another's glory, and that you suffer me to come, in some part, into partnership of your praises. And yet, my dear Dolabella—for I have been jesting in this—I would more gladly pour over to you all my own praises, if indeed there are any of mine, than draw off any portion from yours; for, as I have always loved you as much as you have been able to understand, so by these deeds of yours I have been so inflamed that nothing has ever been more ardent in love; for there is nothing, believe me, more beautiful than virtue, nothing more fair, nothing more lovable. I have always loved, as you know, Marcus Brutus on account of his supreme genius, his most agreeable character, his singular probity and constancy: yet on the Ides of March so much was added to my love that I marveled there had been room for increasing it in him, which had long since seemed to me already heaped to the full. Who was there who would have thought that anything could be added to that love which I had toward you? So much has been added that now at last I seem to myself to love you, whereas before I had only been fond of you. Therefore what reason is there that I should exhort you to serve your dignity and glory? Shall I set before you illustrious men, as those are wont to do who give exhortation? I have no one more illustrious than yourself; you ought to imitate yourself, you should contend with your own self: it is not even permitted to you now, after such great deeds done, to be unlike yourself. Since this is so, exhortation is not necessary; congratulation must rather be employed; for it has fallen to you, as I scarcely know whether to anyone, that the utmost severity of punishment should be not only not invidious but even popular, and most welcome both to all good men and to every lowest person. If this had befallen you by some chance of fortune, I would congratulate you on your good luck; but it befell you through greatness both of spirit and also of genius and judgment; for I have read your address to the assembly: nothing was wiser than that; so step by step and gradually you made now your approach to the matter of the deed, now your retreat, that the affair itself, by the concession of all, granted you the ripeness for inflicting punishment. You have therefore freed both the city from danger and the citizenry from fear, and you have brought the greatest advantage not only for the moment but also as an example: by which deed you ought to understand that the republic is placed in your hands, and that you must not only protect but also adorn those men from whom the beginning of liberty proceeded. But about these matters more in person before long, as I hope: do you, since you are joining together the republic and ourselves, see to it that you guard yourself most diligently, my dear Dolabella.
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
XIV. Scr. in Pompeiano IV. Non. Maias a.u.c. 710. CICERO DOLABELLAE CONSULI SUO S.
Etsi contentus eram, mi Dolabella, tua gloria satisque ex ea magnam laetitiam voluptatemque capiebam, tamen non possum non confiteri cumulari me maximo gaudio, quod vulgo hominum opinio socium me ascribat tuis laudibus. Neminem conveni—convenio autem quotidie plurimos; sunt enim permulti optimi viri, qui valetudinis causa in haec loca veniant, praeterea ex municipiis frequentes necessarii mei; qui omnes, cum te summis laudibus ad caelum extulerunt, mihi continuo maximas gratias agunt; negant enim se dubitare, quin tu meis praeceptis et consiliis obtemperans praestantissimum te civem in singularem consulem praebeas: quibus ego quamquam verissime possum respondere te, quae facias, tuo iudicio et tua sponte facere nec cuiusquam egere consilio, tamen neque plane assentior, me imminuam tuam laudem, si omnis a meis consiliis profecta videatur, neque valde nego, sum enim avidior etiam, quam satis est, gloriae et tamen non alienum est dignitate tua, quod ipsi Agamemnoni, regum regi, fuit honestum, habere aliquem in consiliis capiendis Nestorem, mihi vero gloriosum te iuvenem consulem florere laudibus quasi alumnum disciplinae meae. L. quidem Caesar, cum ad eum aegrotum Nepolim venissem, quamquam erat oppressus totius corporis doloribus, tamen ante, quam me plane salutavit, "o mi Cicero," inquit, "gratulor tibi, cum tantum vales apud Dolabellam, quantum si ego apud sororis filium valerem, iam salvi esse possemus; Dolabellae vero tuo et gratulor et gratias ago, quem quidem post te consulem solum possumus vere consulem dicere"; deinde multa de facto ac de re gesta tua: nihil magnificentius, nihil praeclarius actum umquam, nihil rei publicae salutarius; atque haec una vox omnium est. A te autem peto, ut me hanc quasi falsam hereditatem alienae gloriae sinas cernere meque aliqua ex parte in societatem tuarum laudum venire patiare. Quamquam, mi Dolabella—haec enim iocatus sum— libentius omnes meas, si modo sunt aliquae meae laudes, ad te transfuderim, quam aliquam partem exhauserim ex tuis; nam, cum te semper tantum dilexerim, quantum tu intelligere potuisti, tum his tuis factis sic incensus sum, ut nihil umquam in amore fuerit ardentius; nihil est enim, mihi crede, virtute formosius, nihil pulchrius, nihil amabilius. Semper amavi, ut scis, M. Brutum propter eius summum ingenium, suavissimos mores, singularem probitatem atque constantiam: tamen Idibus Martiis tantum accessit ad amorem, ut mirarer locum fuisse augendi in eo, quod mihi iampridem cumulatum etiam videbatur. Quis erat, qui putaret ad eum amorem, quem erga te habebam, posse aliquid accedere? tantum accessit, ut mihi nunc denique amare videar, antea dilexisse. Quare quid est, quod ego te hortor, ut dignitati et gloriae servias? proponam tibi claros viros, quod facere solent, qui hortantur? neminem habeo clariorem quam te ipsum; te imitere oportet, tecum ipse certes: ne licet quidem tibi iam tantis rebus gestis non tui similem esse. Quod cum ita sit, hortatio non est necessaria, gratulatione magis utendum est; contigit enim tibi, quod haud scio an nemini, ut summa severitas animadversionis non modo non invidiosa, sed etiam popularis esset et cum bonis omnibus, tum infimo cuique gratissima. Hoc si tibi fortuna quadam contigisset, gratularer felicitati tuae; sed contigit magnitudine cum animi, tum etiam ingenii atque consilii; legi enim concionem tuam: nihil illa sapientius; ita pedetentim et gradatim tum accessus a te ad causam facti, tum recessus, ut res ipsa maturitatem tibi animadvertendi omnium concessu daret. Liberasti igitur et urbem periculo et civitatem metu, neque solum ad tempus maximam utilitatem attulisti, sed etiam ad exemplum: quo facto intelligere debes in te positam esse rem publicam tibique non modo tuendos, sed etiam ornandos esse illos viros, a quibus initium libertatis profectum est. Sed his de rebus coram plura propediem, ut spero: tu quoniam rem publicam nosque conseras, fac, ut diligentissime te ipsum, mi Dolabella, custodias.