Letter 4021: I reap annual harvests of joy from your letters -- this is the return, these are the riches that Spain pays me.

LVIII (LVIII), year 399. We take the fruits of yearly joy from your letters; this is the return Spain pays us, these the riches. And so, now that winter is driven off and the sea-roads lie open, we entrust your pages to the winds, the pages which this year did indeed render to us frequent, yet late. For autumn was already departing when your men reached the Tiber. Hence it came about that they lingered with us, navigation having failed. We urge you therefore, in accordance with your fairness, to count their delays as a good thing. 2. Although first pardon must be sought in my name, because I let pass the choice you granted me of four chariot-horses. I would have you believe that this abstinence was not from disdain, but because I found none of them either spirited under the yoke or gentle under the saddle; the option, not roused by their merits, gave up once bridled. It seems opportune to court your diligence with prayers, so that for the praetorship of my son [the office his son would hold] noble horses may be prepared, distinguished in appearance and in racing. We have come before men's eyes with the double splendor of a previous show: it seems we must satisfy the expectation which has grown by precedents. 3. Wherefore I commend to your love the cause of our renown, which for a little while must bend the strictness of your life and the gravity of your mind toward the favor of the people. From your house a prize will be brought, to be presented at your judgment to the owners of noble four-horse teams; only from your friendship do I require care over the choice, easily made, since Spain is rich in horse-stock and supplies a great abundance of herds for selection. LVIIII (LX), year 398. TO EUPHRASIUS. I am indeed too insistent a demander of your conversation, but I do not reproach the intervals of your silence, nor do I suspect that anything of our friendship is lost through the rarity of our exchange, since I know that the seat of devotion is in the heart, and that the relief of longing proceeds from the mouth. My earlier letters therefore contained the longing for your conversation rather than a rebuke of your silence, and so there is no need for you to labor to give me proof of your love. For from my own mind I form my judgment of yours; since no one is a truer assessor of another's love than one who takes the measure from his own. 2. These things being so, since in an open matter it is irksome to be long-winded, I announce to you that my son has been designated for the urban praetorship. You understand what this notice means: the nobility of chariot-horses must be prepared. We will send the price next summer, but let the choice already run ahead of the necessity. For in matters of this kind longer diligence avails much. Wherefore gird yourself, so that a second magistracy may surpass the former quaestorian splendor of my son, for which illustrious fame was secured through you. For the truest and greatest advance of praise comes whenever earlier things are outdone by those that follow. LX (LXI), year 399. TO EUPHRASIUS. The coming year awaits the praetorship of my son, if chance should favor what is said. The nobility of chariot-horses must be prepared by me, so that to the expectation of the Roman people my money and your care may make answer. You remember that I requested this in frequent letters. Now I must employ words of reminder, not of petition; and yet, although your goodwill toward us does not call for solicitation, my vows so trouble me that, anxious, I press prayers upon your ears like a new candidate. For I must overcome the fame of my own precedents, which, after the consular munificence of our house and the quaestorian office of my son, promises nothing modest concerning us. 2. This therefore is the sum of my petition: that your diligence make me equal to my past glory. The prices, to be reckoned according to your fairness, my household agents will pay out without delay. It will be your kindness, that whatever of noble stock Spain breeds for the chariot-contest you should either supply from your own house or pick out from the herds of others. 3. I do not fear, amid these matters, that you may judge me eager for plebeian praise. For you know, in your wisdom, that narrow minds do not befit the magistrates of a great city. Your own Tullius [Cicero] also teaches this, condemning extravagance in private affairs, approving magnificence in public ones. Wherefore from your highest resources aid the splendid ardor of a Roman spirit, you who will come to share the people's favor with me, if from your kindness a more renowned fame should arise among the good. LXI (LXII), years 398-402. TO Q. S. Let your Tuentius take his sleep on whichever ear he pleases; for great rank seeks nothing from a poor man. Poverty itself is perhaps burdensome to most, yet it holds an exemption from another's burden. Add, if you please, to his security the privilege of the priesthood, and multiply the defenses of a single man. To me an exhausted fortune seems stronger than all remedies of exemption. 2. But I would have you know that the assessors of the senatorial land [the property qualification] will be present forthwith, and that a fuller pardon is to be hoped for Tuentius, if the investigation confirms the truth of his poverty. Meanwhile, safe in his earlier conduct, let him act as a free man. Nothing will be changed after the adjudication of the illustrious man Felix on his behalf, provided only that the diligence of the examination establishes the senator's straits, long since alleged. Now you, my friend, must be chided by me, since when you skirted nearby roads, you thought it a long way to turn the reins toward us. 3. Spain would have granted pardon for delay to Rome, set above it; for she knows how to subordinate her own desires to the parent of all the provinces, nor is she so grasping that she would refuse to show us her own goods. Wherefore, cheated of your favor, we earnestly request the second fruits of friendship: that as often as chance grants the opportunity, we may at least read the one whom we would rather have seen. [Critical apparatus, partly garbled: variant readings recorded across manuscripts P, V, F and others. Among the notes: the letter title and address "to Euphrasius" appear in P (with the variant spellings "Euphrasium," at p. 121, line 12 "Euphraxium," and "Euphraxio"), omitted in V and F; line 3, "capio" for "honoreditum" in P; "has opes" / "iopes" in V; line 5, "quis" in V, "frequentis" in P; "antehac" in V and F; line 13, "in hos" in P, "mos" in F; line 14, "amari" in V; line 15, "aures" in P (and F); "qui" in P (first hand); line 23, "sedem esse" in F; line 27, "exemplum" (corrected by a later hand) in P; line 28, "sibi" omitted in V, "iudicium" in V. (Book III. p. 119.) Line 15: cf. Cicero, Pro Flacco 12, 28. "probaa" in V; line 18, "nobis" (Lipsius's reading).]

LVIII (LVini) a. 399. Annaos gaudii fmctaB ex litteris tuis capio; hanc reditam mihi, has opes pendit Hispania. itaqae abi palsa hieme pat^scant naviam viae, paginas taas commendo ventis, qaas mihi iste annas freqaentes qaidem, seras tamen reddidit. nam decedebat 6 antamnas , cam homines tai Tiberina tetigenmt. hinc factam est, at haererent apnd nos defecta navigationis. snadeo igitar, eoram moras pro taa iastitia boni consafas. 2 qnamvis- prias nomine meo venia poscenda sit, qaod de caralibas eqais qaattaor datam mihi a te tas electionis omiserim. velim credas, hanc abstinentiam non faisse fastidii, sed qaia nallam eoram iago alacrem vel dorso mitem probavi, optio meritis non exci- lo tata cessavit frenata. oportanam videtar diligentiam taam precibas ambire, at in praetoriam filii mei fanctionem visa et carsa nobiles praeparentar. gemina ante edi- tionis claritadine in os hominam venimas: satisfaciendam videtar expectationi , qaae 3 crevit exemplis. qaare amori tao laadis nostjrae commendo cansam, qaae paalisper censaram vitae taae gravitatemqae animi ad popalares aaras debet inflectere. domo \h pretiam adportabitar tao arbitrata nobiliam qaadrigaram dominis inferendam; solam de amicitia taa electionis caram reqairo facta facilem, cam sit dives eqaini pecoris Hispania et magnas gregam namenis copiam praestet examini. LVIin (LX) a. 398. AD EVPHRASIVM. 20 Sam qaidem sermonis tui nimius flagitator, sed silentii intervalla non arguo ner suspicor aliquid amicitiae nostrae ex alloquii raritate decedere, qui sciam in pectori- bus esse sedem religionis, levamen desiderii ex ore proficisci. priores igitur litterae meae magis desiderium sermonis tui quam castigationem tacitumitatis habuemnt, et ideo elaborandum tibi non est, ut mihi amoris tui fidem fadat. nam tui animi de 25 meo sumo iudidum; siquidem nullus verior aestimator est amoris alieni, quam qui de 2 suo sumit exemplum. his ita positis, quia in re aperta piget esse prolixum, designa- tum tibi ad urbanam praeturam filium meum nuntio. intellegis, quid sibi hoc indicium velit: quadrigamm curalium nobilitas praeparanda est. nos pretium proxima abhinc aestate mittemus, sed iam necessitatem praecurrat electio. multum enim valet in rebus ^to eiusmodi longior diligentia. quapropter accingere, ut quaestoriam quondam filii mei magnificentiam , cui per te inlustris fama quaesita est, secundus eiusdem superet magistratus. vems quippe et maximus laudis profectus est, quotiens sequentibus priora vincuntur. 1 expUo &d c5muoe frib; ii. inc ad eufhtsium P, std ^i) eupnsium et p. 121, 12 eupraxium, eu- pnxio ^, om, VF 3 capio honoreditum P I m, has^iopes V 5 quis V ft^equeutis P antehac VF 13 in hos P, mos F 14 amari V 15 aures PiF) qui P 1 m, 23 sedem esse F 27 exemplum (em m rtu,) P 28 sibi <m. V iudi- cium V LlBERim. 119 LX (LXI) a. 399. AD EVPHRASIVM. PVF Praetnram filii mei, si fors dietum iuvet, proximns annus exspeetat. equomm mihi curulium paranda nobilitas est, ut expectationi populi Rom. mea pecunia, tua & cura respondeat. hoc me crebris litteris postulasse meministi. nunc mihi admonitio- nis verba, non /^etitionis adhibenda sunt ; et tamen, cum voluntas in nos tua ambitum non requirat, in tantum me votiya sollieitant, ut anxias auribus tuis tamquam novus petitor ingeram preces. vincenda est enim mihi fama exemplorum meorum, quae post 2 consularem munificentiam domus nostrae et filii mei qnaestoriam functionem nihil de 10 nobis mediocre promittit. haec igitur petitionis meae summa est, ut me diligentia tua praeteritae gloriae parem faciat. pretia pro tua aequitate numeranda familiares mei incunctanter elsolvent. tui beneficii erit, ut quidquid ad curule certamen generosum gignit Hispania, vel domo praebeas vel de aliorum gregibus excerpas. non vereor 3 inter haec, ne me adpetentem plebeiae laudis existimes. scis enim pro tua sapientia, 15 magnae urbis magistratibus angustos animos non convenire. hoc etiam TuIIius tuus praecipit luxum in privatis negotiis arguens, in publicis magnificentiam probans. quare ex sunimis opibus iuva Komani animi speciosum calorem venturus in partem pupularis mecum favoris, si bonis ex tuo beneficio celebrior fama provenerit. LXI (LXH) a. 398—402. 20 AD Q. S. PVM Tuentius tuus in utramvis aurem somnum capessat; nihil enim magna dignitas a paupere petit. sit fortasse plerisque ipsa inopia gravis, habet tamen alieni oneris exceptionem. adice, si placet, securitati eius sacerdotii privilegium et unius hominis munimenta multiplica. mihi videtur validior esse omnibus vacationis remediis exhau- 25 sta fortnna. sed velim noveris, quaesitores glebae senatoriae protinus adfuturos spe- 2 randamque Tuentii veniam pleniorem, si fidem paupertatis eius exploratio ratam fecerit. interea tutus prioribus gestis agat liberum. nihil novabitur post inlustris viri Felicis pro illo iudicationem , modo ut allegatas dudum senatoris angustias adstruat examinis diligentia. nunc mihi tu amice obiurgandus es , qui cum vicina itinera perstrinxeris, 3 30 flectere ad nos habenas longum putasti. dedisset Hispania Romae posito morae ve- niam; novit enim summittere desideria sua cunctarum provinciarum parenti, nec ita avara est, ut nobis propria bona nolit ostendere. quare fraudati gratia tua secundos amicitiae fructus sedulo postulamus: ut quotiens fors copiam dederit, legamus saltem, quem videre maluimus. 15 Cic. pro Placc. 12, 28. probaa V 18 nobis Lffptiua