Letter 113

I received your letter on the fifth day before the Terminalia at Laodicea. I read it with the greatest pleasure, full as it was of affection, kindness, dutiful zeal, and care. To it, then, I will reply not chrysea chalkeion ["gold for bronze," i.e. a vastly unequal exchange, an allusion to Homer's tale of Glaucus and Diomedes] (since that is what you ask), nor will I follow my own oikonomia [arrangement/order of treatment], but will keep to your order. You say the most recent letter of mine that you have is the one from Cybistra, dated the eleventh day before the Kalends of October, and you want to know which of yours I have received. Almost all that you mention, except those you say were entrusted to Lentulus' slaves and given at Equotuticum and Brundisium. So your diligence has not oichetai [gone to waste], as you fear, but is splendidly bestowed, if indeed your aim was to give me pleasure. For nothing has given me greater pleasure. [2] That you approve of my bathytes [depth/reserve] in the matter of Appius, and even of my liberality in the matter of Brutus, I am exceedingly glad; though I had supposed it would be somewhat otherwise. For Appius had sent me, two or three times on his journey, letters that were hypomempsimoiroi [grumbling, full of complaint] because I was rescinding certain things he had established. It is as if a physician, when a patient has been handed over to another physician, should choose to be angry at the physician who succeeded him, if the latter changed anything the former had prescribed in his treatment. So Appius, having tended the province by aphairesis [subtraction, depletion], having let its blood, having drained off whatever he could, and having handed it over to me half dead, does not gladly see it being prosanatrephomene [nursed back to health, fed up again] by me; but now he resents it, now he gives thanks. For nothing is done by me to bring any insult upon him: it is only the unlikeness of my method that offends the man. For what could be so unlike as that under his command the province was drained dry by expenses and losses, while under my tenure not a single coin has been disbursed, either privately or publicly? What shall I say of his prefects, his companions, even his legates? Of the robberies, the lusts, the insults? But now, by Hercules, no household is governed with such good judgment or such discipline, or is so restrained, as our entire province. Some friends of Appius interpret this absurdly, supposing that I want to be well spoken of precisely so that he may be ill spoken of, and that I act rightly not for the sake of my own praise but for the sake of his disgrace. But if Appius, as the letter of Brutus that you sent to you indicated, is grateful to me, I am not displeased; and yet, on the very day on which I was writing this before dawn, I was planning to abolish many of his unjustly established acts and decisions. [3] Now I come to Brutus, whom on your urging I embraced with all my zeal, and whom I had even begun to love; but I immediately checked myself, so as not to offend you. For do not suppose that I have wanted anything more than to satisfy his commissions, nor that I have taken more trouble over anything. He gave me a little book of commissions, and you had dealt with me on the same matters. I have pursued everything most diligently. First, from Ariobarzanes I pressed so that he would give Brutus the talents that he was promising me. As long as the king was with me, the matter was in very good shape; afterward he began to be hard pressed by Pompey's six hundred agents. Now Pompey, besides being for other reasons more powerful by himself than all the rest together, has further weight because he is thought likely to come to the Parthian war. To him, nonetheless, payment is now made thus: every thirtieth day, thirty-three Attic talents, and this out of the tribute. Nor does even that yield enough for the monthly interest. But our Gnaeus [Pompey] bears it mildly; he goes without the principal, and is content with the interest, and not even with that in full. To no one else does the king pay, nor is he able to pay; for he has no treasury, no revenue. On the system of Appius he levies tribute. It scarcely produces enough for Pompey's interest. The king has two or three very rich friends, but they hold on to their own property as carefully as you or I do. I do not, however, cease through letters to ask, to urge, to upbraid the king. [4] Deiotarus too told me that he had sent envoys to him about Brutus' affair; that they had brought back to him the answer that the king has nothing. And, by Hercules, I judge it so: nothing is more stripped than that kingdom, no one is more destitute than its king. And so I am thinking either of resigning the guardianship, or, as Scaevola did for Glabrio, of refusing both interest and the principal sum. Still, the prefectures that I had promised to Brutus through you I have conferred on M. Scaptius and L. Gavius, who were managing Brutus' affairs in the kingdom; for they were not conducting business in my province. But you remember that we agreed to this effect, that he might take as many prefectures as he wished, provided not for a businessman. And so I had given him two others besides. But the men for whom he had asked them had departed from the province. [5] Now learn about the Salaminians, a matter which I see has come upon you as a novelty too, just as it did upon me. For I never heard from Brutus that that money was his; on the contrary, I have his own little memorandum in which it stands: 'The Salaminians owe money to M. Scaptius and P. Matinius, my associates.' These men he commends to me; he even adds, and as it were applies the spur, that he has interposed on their behalf for a large sum. I had arranged that they should pay at one percent per month, reckoned over two years, with renewal each single year. But Scaptius was demanding four percent. I was afraid that, if he obtained it, you yourself might cease to love me; for I would have departed from my own edict and would have utterly ruined a community placed in the protection of Cato and of Brutus himself and adorned by my own benefits. [6] And at this very time Scaptius thrusts at me a letter saying that that business was Brutus' own affair, at his own risk -- which Brutus had never said either to me or to you -- and asking, moreover, that I confer a prefecture on Scaptius. But that very thing we had excepted through you, that it not be for a businessman; and if for anyone, then certainly not for this man. For he had been Appius' prefect, and had indeed had squadrons of cavalry with which he had besieged the senate of Salamis, shut up in their council house, so that five senators died of starvation. And so I, on the very day I touched the province, when the Cyprian envoys had come to meet me at Ephesus, sent a letter ordering the cavalry to withdraw from the island at once. For these reasons I believe that Scaptius has written something rather hostile about me to Brutus. But nevertheless this is my disposition: if Brutus shall think that I ought to have decreed four percent, when throughout the whole province I was observing one percent and had so decreed in my edict, and this was approved even by the most savage of moneylenders; if he shall complain that a prefecture was denied to a businessman, which I denied to our Torquatus in the case of your friend Laenius, and to Pompey himself in the case of Sex. Statius, and gained their approval; if he shall take it ill that the cavalry was withdrawn -- then I shall feel pain that he is angry with me, but much greater pain that he is not the man I had supposed him to be. [7] This at least Scaptius will admit: that while I was administering justice he had every power, under my edict, of recovering all the money. I add this point too, which I am afraid I may not even be able to justify to you myself. The interest ought to have stopped accruing, the interest that was set in my edict. They [the Salaminians] wished to deposit the money [in a temple, to halt the interest]; I prevailed upon them to keep silent. They indeed granted me this favor; but what will become of them if Paulus comes here? But I have given this whole thing to Brutus -- who has written most courteous letters about me to you, but to me, even when he asks for something, is accustomed to write defiantly, arrogantly, akoinonoetos [without any social tact]. I should be glad, however, if you would write to him about these matters, so that I may know how he takes them; for you will let me know. And indeed I had carefully written all this through to you in an earlier letter; but I wanted you plainly to understand that I had not let slip what you had written to me in one of your letters: that if I brought home nothing else from this province except his goodwill, that would be enough for me. So be it, since you wish it so; but still, I trust, on the understanding that it happens without any wrongdoing on my part. Therefore by my decree the matter stands settled for Scaptio [i.e. in his favor]. How right that is, you shall judge; I will not even appeal to Cato. [8] But do not think that I have cast aside those enkeleusmata [exhortations, commands] of yours, which stick fast in my very vitals. Weeping, you commended my reputation to me; what letter of yours is there in which you do not make mention of it? So let him be angry who will; I shall endure it. To gar eu met' emou ["for the right is on my side"], especially since with my six books I have bound myself, as it were, by sureties -- and I rejoice that you approve of them so strongly. From them you ask about one historical point concerning Cn. Flavius, son of Annius. He, indeed, did not live before the decemvirs, since he was a curule aedile, a magistracy instituted many years after the decemvirs. What, then, did he accomplish by publishing the calendar? People think that for a certain time that table was kept hidden, so that the days for transacting business had to be sought from a few men. And indeed there are not a few authorities for the view that Cn. Flavius the clerk published the calendar and composed the legal forms of action, lest you suppose that I -- or rather Africanus (for it is he who speaks) -- invented this. Ouk elathe se ["it did not escape you"], that point about the actor's gesture. You, you rogue, suspect a hidden meaning; I wrote it apheles [simply, without guile]. About my being made imperator, you write that you learned of it from Philotimus' letter; but I believe that by now, while you were in Epirus, you have received two letters of mine on all the matters, one from the capture of Pindenissus, the other from Laodicea, both given to your slaves. On these matters, because of the hazard of the sea voyage, I sent official dispatches to Rome by two separate couriers. [10] About my Tullia, I agree with you, and I have written to her and to Terentia that it meets with my approval. For you had written to me already before, 'and I could wish you had brought yourself back into your old flock.' As for amending the Memmian letter, there was no trouble at all; for I much prefer this man from Pontidia to that one from Servilia. Therefore you will bring in our friend Saufeius, a man always fond of me, now I believe all the more so because he must have inherited his brother Appius' affection toward me along with the rest of the inheritance -- Appius who showed how much he esteemed me, both often and especially in the case of Bursa. You will indeed free me from a great anxiety. [11] Furnius' proviso does not please me; for I fear no other time except the very one that he alone excepts. But I would write to you more about this if you were at Rome. That you place all your hope of peace in Pompey, I do not wonder. So it is; and I think that 'dissembling' [phrase you used] should be removed. But if the oikonomia [arrangement] of my letter is rather confused, charge it to yourself. For I am following you, schediazonta [improvising, writing offhand]. [12] The boys, the two Ciceros, love one another, exercise together, but also study -- the one, as Isocrates said of Ephorus and Theopompus, needs the bridle, the other the spur. Quintus I am thinking of giving the toga of manhood at the Liberalia; for his father charged me to do so. I shall observe that date as if no intercalary month had been added. Dionysius is indeed among my objects of affection; but the boys say that he flies into furious rages. Still, no man could become more learned, or more upright, or more devoted to you and me. [13] You hear Thermus and Silius truly praised. They conduct themselves very honorably. Add M. Nonius, Bibulus, and myself, if you like. As for Scrofa, I could wish he had a place where he might prove himself; for it is a brilliant affair. The rest weaken Cato's politeuma [policy/political program]. That you commend my cause to Hortensius is very gratifying. About Amianus, Dionysius thinks there is no hope. Of Terentius I have recognized no trace. Moeragenes has certainly perished. I made my journey through his estate, in which not a living creature remains. I did not know this at the time when I spoke with your Democritus. The Rhosian vessels I have ordered. But, look here, you! What are you thinking of? You who are accustomed to feed us little vegetables on fern-patterned platters and the most splendid baskets -- what do I suppose you will set before me on earthenware vessels? The horn has been ordered for Phemius; it will be found, provided he plays something worthy of it. [14] The Parthian war hangs over us. Cassius sent a silly dispatch, and Bibulus' had not yet been brought. When these are read aloud, I think the senate will at last be stirred to action. For my part, I am in great agitation of mind. If, as I hope, our commission is not prorogued, I have June and July to fear. Very well; for two months at least Bibulus will hold out. But what will become of the man I shall leave behind, especially if it is my brother? And what of myself, if I do not depart so quickly? It is a great muddle. Still, I have agreed with Deiotarus that he should be in my camp with all his forces. He has thirty cohorts of four hundred men each, in our style of arms, and two thousand cavalry. There will be enough to hold out until Pompey comes; who, in the letters he sends me, signifies that that business [the Parthian war] will be his. The Parthians are wintering in our province; Orodes himself is expected. In short -- there is a fair amount of trouble. About Bibulus' edict there is nothing new except that exception, of which you had written to me that it was 'too grave a prejudgment against our order.' I, however, have one of equal force [isodynamousan] but more covert, drawn from the Asiatic edict of Q. Mucius, son of Publius: EXCEPT WHERE THE BUSINESS HAS BEEN SO CONDUCTED THAT IT WOULD NOT BE RIGHT TO ABIDE BY IT IN GOOD FAITH. And I have followed Scaevola in many things, among them that point in which the Greeks think liberty has been granted to them, that Greeks should settle disputes among themselves by their own laws. The edict is short on account of this diairesis [division] of mine, because I thought it should be issued under two kinds. One of these is provincial, in which there is provision about the accounts of communities, about debt, about interest, about contracts, and in the same place everything about the tax-farmers; the other, which cannot be transacted conveniently enough without an edict, concerns the possession of inheritances, the possession, sale, and appointment of receivers for goods, matters which are customarily both claimed and carried out under the edict. A third kind, concerning the rest of the administration of justice, I left agraphon [unwritten]. I declared that in that category I would accommodate my decrees to the urban [Roman] edicts. And so I take care, and so far satisfy everyone. The Greeks, indeed, exult that they use foreign jurors. 'Mere triflers, to be sure,' you will say. What does it matter? Still they think they have obtained autonomia [self-government]. For your jurors, I suppose, are weighty men -- Turpio the cobbler and Vettius the contractor. [16] About the tax-farmers you seem to be asking what I am doing. I cherish them, I oblige them, I praise them in words, I honor them; I see to it that they are troublesome to no one. To paradoxotaton [the most paradoxical thing]: the interest rates which they had written into their agreements, even Servilius upheld. I do thus: I fix a fairly generous day, before which, if they [the debtors] pay, I say I will reckon one percent; if they do not pay, then according to the agreement. And so both the Greeks pay at a tolerable rate of interest, and the matter is most welcome to the tax-farmers, if they now have in full measure those things -- the honor of words, the frequent invitation. What more? They are all so friendly with me that each one thinks himself most so. But still meden autois ["nothing to them" -- i.e. let them get nothing serious] -- you know the rest. [17] About the statue of Africanus (O pragmaton asynkloston! [O what an unconnected jumble of topics!] -- but that very thing in your letter delighted me) -- do you really say so? Does this Scipio Metellus not know that his great-grandfather was not censor? And yet that statue, which is set on high near the temple of Ops, has nothing else inscribed except COS [consul]. But on that one which is by the Hercules of Polycles, CONSUL is inscribed; and that it is of the same man the posture, the dress, the ring, the very likeness declare. But by Hercules, when, among the troop of gilded equestrian statues which this Metellus set up on the Capitol, I had noticed under the inscription of Serapio the likeness of Africanus, I thought it a workman's error; now I see it is Metellus' error. [18] O the shameful anistoresia [ignorance of history]! For that point about Flavius and the calendar, if it is otherwise, is a common error, and you nicely eporesas [raised the difficulty], and we followed what was almost the general opinion, as happens in many things among the Greeks. For who has not said that Eupolis, the poet of the Old Comedy, was thrown into the sea by Alcibiades as he was sailing to Sicily? Eratosthenes refutes it, for he brings forward the plays that Eupolis produced after that time. Is Duris of Samos, then, a man careful in history, mocked because he erred along with many? Who has not said that Zaleucus wrote laws for the Locrians? Does Theophrastus, then, lie prostrate if that has been censured by your friend Timaeus? But not to know that one's own great-grandfather was not censor is shameful, especially since after his consulship no Cornelius was censor while he was alive. [19] As to what you write about Philotimus and the payment of 20,600 sesterces, I hear that Philotimus came to the Chersonese around the Kalends of January. But from him I have so far had nothing. The rest of my money Camillus writes that he has received. What it amounts to I do not know, and I am eager to know. But these matters later, and in person perhaps more conveniently. [20] That point near the very end of your letter disturbed me; for you write thus, ti loipon? ["what remains?"], and then most affectionately beseech me not to forget to be vigilant and to watch what is going on. Have you heard something about anyone? Although there is nothing of the kind -- pollou ge kai dei ["far from it indeed"]. For it would not have escaped me, nor will it. But that warning of yours, so careful, seemed to me to signify something or other. [21] About M. Octavius I write back to you now for the second time that you answered him properly; I could wish a little more confidently. For Caelius sent a freedman to me, and a carefully written letter, both about panthers and about [contributions] from the communities. I wrote back that I took it ill, on the one hand, if I were lurking in the dark and it were not heard at Rome that in my province not a coin is paid out except for debt; and I explained that it is not permitted me to procure money nor him to receive it; and I warned him, whom I genuinely love, that since he had accused others, he should live more cautiously. The other point, that the Cibyrates should hunt publicly by my command, I judged to be foreign to my reputation. [22] Your Lepta leaps for joy over your letter; for it was prettily written and put me in great favor with him. Your little daughter did me a kindness in carefully charging you to write greetings to me from her, and Pilia too did me a kindness, but she more dutifully, in that she greets one whom for a long time now she has never seen. Therefore you too write greetings back to both of them. The date of the letter, the day before the Kalends of January, brought a sweet recollection of that most glorious oath, which I had not forgotten. For on that day I was a great praetextatus [I cut a great figure, like a boy in the bordered toga -- or alluding to Pompey in his robes]. There you have my answer to everything: not, as you demanded, chrysea chalkeion [gold for bronze], but we have answered like for like. [23] But look, here is another little letter, which I shall not leave anantiphoneton [unanswered]. By Hercules, Lucceius could well [have taken] the Tusculan villa, unless perhaps (for it is his way) [there was an obstacle] with his flute-player. And I should like to know its condition. Our friend Lentulus, I hear, has put up for sale everything except his Tusculan property. I long to see these men free of debt -- I long to see Sestius free too, and add, if you please, Caelius; in all of whom there is aidesthen men anenasthai, deisan d' hypodechthai ["ashamed to refuse, but afraid to accept" -- Homer, Iliad]. About restoring Memmius -- that Curio is thinking of it, I suppose you have heard. About the debt in the name of Egnatius of Sidicinum, we have neither no hope nor much hope. Pinarius, whom you commend to me, Deiotarus is tending most diligently, as he is gravely ill. I have answered the smaller letter too. [24] I should be glad if, while I am at Laodicea -- that is, until the Ides of May -- you would converse with me by letter as often as possible, and, when you have come to Athens (for by then we shall know about affairs in the city, about the provinces, all of which are deferred to the month of March), at any rate send couriers to me. And, look here, you! Through Herodes, did you extort fifty Attic talents from Caesar? In which matter, as I hear, you incurred great hatred from Pompey. For he thinks you have eaten up his money, and that Caesar will be more careful about building in the grove. This I heard from P. Vedius, a great scoundrel but nonetheless an intimate of Pompey. This Vedius met me with two two-wheeled carriages, and a four-wheeled wagon yoked with horses, and a litter, and a great household, for which, if Curio carries his law, he must necessarily pay a hundred sesterces a head. There was besides a baboon in the carriage, and there was no lack of wild asses. I never saw a more worthless man. But hear the end. He had lodged at Laodicea with Pompeius Vindullus. There he left his belongings when he set out to meet me. Meanwhile Vindullus dies, a matter which was thought to concern Pompey the Great. C. Vennonius came to Vindullus' house. While he was sealing everything, he stumbled upon Vedius' effects. Among them were found five little portraits of married ladies, among them one of the sister of your friend the 'brute' [Brutus] who consorts with such a fellow, and one of [the wife] of 'Lepidus' who bears such things so carelessly. This I wished to paristoresai [relate to you in passing]. For we are both nicely curious. [26] There is one more thing I should like you to consider. I hear that Appius is building a propylon [gateway] at Eleusis. Would we be foolish if we too made one for the Academy? 'I think so,' you will say. Then write me that very thing. For my part I greatly love Athens herself. I want there to be some monument of mine; I hate false inscriptions on the statues of other men. But as it shall please you; and you will inform me on what day the Roman mysteries fall, and how you have wintered. Take care to keep well. On the seven hundred and sixty-fifth day after the battle of Leuctra.

I got your letter on the 5th day before the Terminalia at Laodicea. I was delighted at its tone of affection, kindness, and obliging zeal. I will not pay “gold for brass” (for that is what you ask for), nor will I start an arrangement of my own, but will keep to your order. You say that the last letter you got from me was from Cybistra dated the 21st of September, and you want to know which of yours I have received. Almost all you mention except those which you say were entrusted to Lentulus’ servants at Equotuticus and Brundisium. So your energy is not a dead loss as you fear, but has been well spent, if you aimed at giving me pleasure. For nothing has ever given me more pleasure. I am exceedingly glad that you approve of my reserve in the case of Appius and my generosity even in the matter of your friend Brutus. I had feared you might not quite like it. For Appius on his journey sent me two or three letters showing pique, because I revoked some of his enactments. It is as if a doctor, when a patient has been placed under the care of another, should be angry with his successor for changing his prescription. So Appius, having starved the province, let blood, and tried every lowering treatment, hands it to me drained of life and cannot bear to see it being fed up by me. Sometimes he is angry, sometimes he thanks me; for no act of mine has reflected on his policy. It is only the difference of my regime that annoys him. There is a very wide difference between a province worn out by expense and losses under his rule and not having to pay a penny out of private or public purse under my administration. I need not mention his prefects, his staff and his legates, the acts of robbery, of rape and insult. But now, upon my word, no private house is managed with such judgement or such economy, or is so well ordered as my whole province. Some friends of Appius put an absurd construction on my policy and declare that I am seeking popularity to damage him, and am acting honourably, not for the sake of my own reputation, but to cause him shame. However, if Appius, as the letter from Brutus which you forward to me shows, expresses his thanks, I am content: but the very day on which I write this letter before dawn I am thinking of annulling many of his wrong enactments and decisions. I come now to the matter of Brutus. On your advice I zealously cultivated his friendship, I had even begun to feel a real liking for him: but there I pull myself up for fear I should vex you. For do not imagine that there is anything I should prefer better than to execute his commission, or anything on which I have taken more pains. He gave me a volume of commissions, and you spoke to me about his affairs. I have done my best with all of them; first of all I induced Ariobarzanes to pay him the money he promised me. So long as his highness was with me the business was on a good footing: but later the king was dunned by scores of agents from Pompey. Pompey has more influence than anyone for many reasons and because it is rumoured that he will come to conduct the war against the Parthians. Even to him however payment is made on the following terms. On every thirtieth day some £8,000 is paid and that by tribute imposed on the king’s subjects. Even such a sum will not cover the amount of monthly interest. However our friend Gnaeus is an easy-going creditor. He is willing to forgo his capital and is content with interest, and that not in full. The king pays no one else and has no means to pay. He has no treasury and no regular tribute: he levies taxes on the method of Appius. They are scarcely sufficient to pay the interest on Pompey’s money. His highness has two or three very wealthy friends, but they look after their own pockets as well as you or I. Still I do not cease to write dunning, coaxing and scolding his highness. Deiotarus too has told me that he has sent messengers to him about his debt to Brutus: and they came back with the reply that he has no assets. I can quite believe it, for I have never seen a kingdom more plundered or a king more needy. So I am thinking of resigning my guardianship, or, as Scaevola did for Glabrio, of repudiating both capital and interest. However I have conferred the office of prefect, which I promised Brutus through you, on M. Scaptius and L. Gavius, who are his agents in the kingdom; for they were not conducting their business in my province. You will remember that my principle was that he might have as many offices of prefect at his disposal as he liked, provided he did not give them to business men: so I offered him two others besides. But the gentlemen for whom he asked them had left my province. Now to talk about the people of Salamis, a matter which I see came as a surprise to you as it did to me. Brutus never told me that that money was his. Indeed I have his own memorandum stating “The people of Salamis owe money to M. Scaptius and P. Matinius, my friends.” He recommends these gentlemen to me, and to spur me adds a postscript that he has gone security to them for a large sum. I had arranged that they should pay in compound interest for six years at 12 percent. But Scaptius demanded 48 per cent, I was afraid, if he got his request, that you too would cease to be my friend, for I should have departed from the terms of my own edict, and have ruined utterly a state enjoying the protection of Cato and Brutus himself and distinguished by my attentions. At this very point Scaptius thrusts a letter of Brutus into my hand, stating what Brutus had never told me or you, that Brutus himself was the party concerned, and asking me to give the office of prefect to his agent. But that was the very proviso I had authorized you to make, that no office could be given to a business man, above all to such a fellow as Scaptius. For he had been a prefect of Appius, and indeed had had some squadrons of cavalry, which he had used to beset the Senate at Salamis in their own chamber, so that five Members of the House died of starvation. Accordingly on the day I reached the province, since an embassy from Cyprus had already met me at Ephesus, I sent orders that his cavalry should leave the island at once. This, I fancy, had led Scaptius to write somewhat bitterly about me to Brutus. However, my attitude is this. If Brutus thinks that I ought to have allowed 48 per cent, when throughout my province I have recognized only 12 per cent, and have fixed this rate in my edict, with the approval of the most grasping usurers; if he complains of my refusal to give office to a business man, which I made also to our friend Torquatus in the case of your acquaintance Laenius, and to Pompey himself in the case of Sex. Statius, without annoying either of them; if he is angry at the disbanding of his cavalry, well I shall be sorry that he is angry with me, but I shall be far sorrier at discovering he is not the man I imagined he was. Scaptius will admit that he had the opportunity of getting by my decision all the money allowed by my edict. I will add a point which I fear you may not like, the interest allowed by my edict ought to have ceased to run. The people of Salamis wished to deposit the sum in a temple; but I begged them not to raise the point. They gave way to me: but what will happen to them if Brutus’ brother-in-law, Paulus, comes here? I allowed Brutus all this privilege: and he has written very kind letters about me to you; but to me, even when he asks a favour, he writes in an arrogant, bold tone and uncivilly. Please write to Brutus about the matter, that I may know how he takes it. You can inform me. To be sure, I had given you the full story in a former letter: but I wanted you to understand clearly that I had not forgotten a remark in one of your letters, that if I took nothing else away from this province except Brutus’ good-will, that would be enough. Be it as you wish, provided it can be so without loss of honour to me. So I have given judgement that the payment of the people of Salamis to Scaptius is good at law. The equity of this course I will leave to your consideration. I will not even appeal to Cato: but don’t think I have let slip your exhortations. They are fixed in my heart. With tears in your eyes, you told me to think of my reputation. Is there any letter of yours which does not touch on the topic? So let who will be angry. I can put up with it. “The right is on my side,” especially since I have bound myself to good conduct, with six volumes for bail. I am glad you like the books so much, though there is one point of history which you question, that about Cn. Flavius, the son of Annius. He did not flourish before the days of the decemviri, since he held a curule aedileship, which was instituted long after their time. What good then did he do by publishing the official calendar? It is thought that at one time the calendar was not exposed in public, so that a privileged few might be the sole source of information as to days propitious for business. Moreover, several authorities maintain that this Cn. Flavius was the first man to publish the calendar and to draw up a digest of the forms of legal procedure. So don’t think that I, or rather my spokesman Africanus, invented a fiction. You took my remark about the actor’s mannerism, and suspected a satirical meaning: but I wrote in all naïveté. You tell me that Philotimus wrote to you about my being hailed imperator; but I fancy that, now you are in Epirus, you have got my two letters about the business, one from Pindenissus after its capture, another from Laodicea, both delivered to your slaves. For fear of accidents at sea, I sent the public despatch on my campaign to Rome in duplicate by different carriers. As to my daughter Tullia I agree with you, and I have written to her and her mother giving my consent. For a former letter of yours to me said “I could wish you had returned to your old associates.” There was no occasion to alter the letter that came from Memmius: for I much prefer to accept this candidate from Pontidia than the other from Servilia. So get our friend Saufeius to help you in this business. He always liked me, and now I trust he will like me all the more, since he is bound to have inherited his brother Appius’ liking for me along with the rest of his inheritance, and Appius often expressed great affection for me, especially in the trial of Bursa. Indeed you will relieve me of a source of great anxiety. I do not like Furnius’ proviso; there is nothing else I fear, except the point which he makes his sole proviso. I would write to you more fully on the point, if you were in Rome. I am not surprised that you depend entirely on Pompey for keeping the peace. That is quite right, and I think you must delete your phrase “insincere.” If the order of my paragraphs is muddled, you have yourself to blame, as I am following your own harum-scarum way. My son and nephew are fond of one another, learn their lessons and take their exercise together: but to quote Isocrates’ remark about Ephorus and Theopompus, one wants the rein and the other the spur. I intend to celebrate Quintus’ coming of age on the feast of Bacchus. His father asked me to do this, and I shall act on the assumption that there will be no addition to the calendar. Dionysius is in my good graces: but the boys say he is liable to mad fits of temper. However one could not get a master of more learning and better character and more liking for you and me. The praise you hear of Thermus and Silius is deserved: they conduct themselves in very honourable fashion. You may praise M. Nonius, Bibulus, and myself too, if you like. I only wish Scrofa had scope for his tact. He is a fine fellow. The rest do little credit to Cato’s caucus. I am much obliged to you for recommending my case to Hortensius. As to Amianus Dionysius says there is no help. I have met with no trace of Terentius. Moeragenes has certainly been killed. I made a tour through his district and found not a living thing. I did not know this, when I spoke to your agent Democritus. I have ordered the Rhosian ware for you. But what the deuce will you serve up in porcelain, when you are accustomed to give us vegetarian fare on fern-pattern plates and in magnificent baskets? I have ordered a horn for Phemius, and one will be got. I only hope that his tune will be worthy of the instrument. A war with the Parthians is imminent. Cassius’ despatch was futile, Bibulus’ has not yet come. I think the reading of it will stir the House to action at last. I am very anxious myself. If, as I hope, my tenure of office is not extended, I have June and July to fear. Very good. Bibulus can check them for two months, but what will happen to the man whom I leave behind, especially if he be my brother? Or what will be my own fate, if I do not depart so speedily? It is a great bother. However Deiotarus has decided to join my camp in full force. He has thirty squadrons of four hundred men each armed in our fashion, and two thousand cavalry. He can hold out till Pompey comes. A letter he writes to me presumes that he will conduct the campaign. The Parthians spend the winter in a Roman province. Orodes is expected in person. You may take my word it is a big business. As to Bibulus’ edict there is no new feature, except that proviso of which you wrote “it is a very grave reflection on our order.” However I have a similar proviso, in more circumspect language, borrowed from the Asiatic edict of Q. Mucius, son of Publius, “Provided that the agreement is not such as contravenes equity.” I have followed Scaevola in many details, among them in the stipulation which the Greeks hold as the salvation of their freedom, that Greek cases are to be settled according to Greek law. The edict is short on account of the division I have made, as I considered it fell better under two heads. The one concerns provincial matters and deals with town accounts, debt, the rate of interest, contracts, and includes all matters referring to the tax-collectors. The second head, embracing matters which cannot properly be settled without an edict, deals with inheritance, ownership and sale, the appointment of official receivers, matters where suits are wont to be brought and settled in accordance with the terms of an edict. A third head dealing with the rest of judicial procedure I left unwritten. I stated that in such matters my decrees would be based on those of Rome. I observe this rule, and so far satisfy everybody. The Greeks are jubilant at having foreign jurors. You may say that the jurors are wasters: however the Greeks flatter themselves that they have got home rule, and your own jurors are men of the lofty standing of Turpio the shoe maker and Vettius the broker. You ask how I am dealing with the tax-gatherers. I pet them, indulge them, praise and honour them: and take care they trouble no one. It is very odd that the rates of interest specified in their bonds were upheld even by Servilius. My procedure is this. I name a day fairly remote, before which, if the debtors pay up, I lay down that I shall allow only 12 per cent. But, if they have not paid, judgement will be according to the bond. Accordingly the Greeks pay their debts at a fair rate of interest, and the farmers are gratified, provided they get their fill of compliments and invitations. In short, they are all so intimate with me that each man thinks himself my special favourite. But still you know the old saw. As to the statue of Africanus (what a medley of topics! but that was the delightful feature of your letter, to my mind), do you really mean that Metellus Scipio does not know his great-grandfather was never censor? Certainly the statue which has lately been placed on high near the temple of Ops has only the inscription COS. But the statue near the Hercules of Polycles bears the inscription CENS.: and the pose, the dress, the ring and the likeness prove that it is a statue of the same person. As a matter of fact, when among the crowd of gilded knights placed by Metellus on the Capitol, I noticed a likeness of Africanus with the name Serapio on the pedestal, I thought it was a workman’s error, but now I see it is Metellus’ mistake. What gross ignorance of history! For that misconception about Flavius and the calendar, if it is such, is widely held: and you were quite right in having doubts about it. I have followed the view which is almost universal, as Greek authors often do. Every one says that Eupolis, the poet of the old Comedy, was thrown into the sea by Alcibiades on his voyage to Sicily. Eratosthenes confutes this, producing plays exhibited by him after that date. But that is no reason for laughing at Duris of Samos, who is an accurate historian, because he follows a vulgar error. All historians agree that Zaleucus drew up laws for the Locrians. It is not therefore fatal to Theophrastus, if he is called to account for that by your friend Timaeus. But not to know that one’s great-grandfather was not censor is shocking, especially as after his consulship no Cornelius was censor during his lifetime. As for your remarks about Philotimus and the payment of £182,000, I hear that Philotimus came to the Chersonese about the beginning of January, but so far I have heard nothing from him. Camillus writes that he has received my balance. I don’t know how much it is, and I should like to know. However, we can discuss this later and more conveniently when we meet. That remark at the end of your letter, my dear Atticus, upset me. You used the phrase, “What more is there to say,” and follow it by a most affectionate warning not to forget to be on the watch and to keep an eye on events. Have you heard anything about any of my staff? I am sure there has been no wrong-doing, pas du tout. It could not have escaped my notice, and it will not. But your earnest entreaty seemed to hint something. As for M. Octavius, I repeat that your reply was excellent. I could wish it had been in more positive terms. For Caelius has sent me a freedman of his and a carefully worded letter about panthers and an offer from the townships to furnish contributions. I replied that the second item is annoying, if my conduct is still a secret and the news has not reached town that in my province no money is exacted except in satisfaction of debts: and I have told him that it would be improper for me to allow payment and for him to take it. I have a sincere regard for him and have warned him that after his prosecution of other people he should conduct himself on more careful lines. As to the second point I have told him it would be a blot on my escutcheon that the people of Cibyra should have a public hunt during my governorship. Lepta leaps with joy over your letter: for it was nicely written and puts me in his good graces. Your tiny daughter has done me a favour in ordering you earnestly to send me her greetings. It was kind of Pilia and very dutiful of your daughter to send greetings to one whom as yet she has never met. So please give my greetings to both of them in return. The date of your letter, the last day of December, reminded me pleasantly of the famous and unforgotten oath I took. I was a Pompey in state robes that day. There you have my answer to all your points: not as you asked “gold for copper,” but like for like. There was another short letter which I will not leave unanswered. Lucceius to be sure was able to do something for the villa at Tusculum, unless perhaps there was the old obstacle of the flute player; and I should like to know its condition. Our friend Lentulus I hear has advertised all his property except that at Tusculum. I should like to see these gentlemen free from debt as well as Sestius and you may add Caelius too. To all of them one may apply the quotation, “ashamed to refuse, but yet afraid to take.” I suppose you have heard of Curio’s idea to recall Memmius. As for the debt due from Egnatius of Sidicinum, I have some hope, but not much. Deiotarus is taking very great care of Pinarius, whom you recommended to me, in a serious illness. So there is my answer to your little letter. While I am at Laodicea, which will be up to the 15th of May, please correspond with me as often as possible, and on your arrival at Athens at any rate send me letter carriers, since by that time we shall know what has been done in town and about the provinces, of which the affairs are settled in March. By the bye have you yet got Herodes to wring from Caesar that £12,000? I hear you have excited the animosity of Pompey in the matter. He thinks that you have snapped up money which was his, and that it will not lessen Caesar’s energy in building a palace near the sacred grove of Diana. This bit of news came to me from P. Vedius, a shady character, but an intimate of Pompey. The fellow met me on the road with two chariots, a carriage and horses and a litter and a large following. If Curio carries his law, he will have to pay £l apiece. Besides other things, there was a dog-faced baboon in a chariot, and some wild asses. I never met such a rascal. But listen to the end of the story, At Laodicea Vedius put up with Pompeius Vindullus, and left his belongings with him, while he came to meet me. Meantime Vindullus died, and his property is supposed to go to Pompeius Magnus. C. Vennonius went to the house and, while sealing all the goods, found Vedius’ baggage. Among this baggage there were five little busts of Roman married ladies, among them one of the sister of your friend Brutus—a brute indeed to be acquainted with the fellow—and one of the wife of Lepidus, whose easy conduct agrees with the meaning of his name. I wanted to tell you this little tale en passant, for we are both nice gossips. There is one thing I wish you to consider. I hear that Appius is putting up a porch at Eleusis. Shall I look a fool, if I do so in the Academy? I dare say you may think so: say so plainly, if you do. I am very fond of the city of Athens. I should like it to have some memorial of myself. I dislike lying titles on the statues of other folk. But as you think best. And please let me know the date of the mysteries at Rome, and how you are passing the winter. Keep well. I write this on the seven hundred and sixty-fifth day after the battle of Leuctra.

Accepi tuas litteras a. d. quintum terminalia Laodiceae; quas legi libentissime plenissimas amoris, humanitatis, offici, diligentiae. Iis igitur respondebo <non>chrusea chalkeion (sic enim postulas) nec oikonomian meam instituam, sed ordinem conservabo tuum. recentissimas a Cybistris te meas litteras habere ais a. d. xi Kalendas Octobris datas et scire vis tuas ego quas acceperim. omnis fere quas commemoras, praeter eas quas scribis Lentuli pueris et Equotutico et Brundisio datas. qua re non oichetai tua industria quod vereris sed praeclare ponitur, si quidem id egisti ut ego delectarer. nam nulla re sum delectatus magis. [2] quod meam bathuteta in Appio tibi, liberalitatem etiam in Bruto probo, vehementer gaudeo; ac putaram paulo secus. Appius enim ad me ex itinere bis terve hupomempsimoirous litteras miserat quod quaedam a se constituta rescinderem. Vt si medicus, cum aegrotus alii medico traditus sit, irasci velit ei medico qui sibi successerit si quae ipse in curando constituerit mutet ille, sic Appius, cum ex aphaireseos provinciam curarit, sanguinem miserit, quicquid potuit detraxerit, mihi tradiderit enectam, prosanatrephomenen eam a me non libenter videt sed modo suscenset, modo gratias agit. nihil enim a me fit cum ulla illius contumelia; tantum modo dissimilitudo meae rationis offendit hominem. quid enim potest esse tam dissimile quam illo imperante exhaustam esse sumptibus et iacturis provinciam, nobis eam obtinentibus nummum nullum esse erogatum nec privatim nec publice? quid dicam de illius praefectis, comitibus, legatis etiam? de rapinis, de libidinibus, de contumeliis? nunc autem domus me hercule nulla tanto consilio aut tanta disciplina gubernatur aut tam modesta est quam nostra tota provincia. haec non nulli amici Appi ridicule interpretantur qui me idcirco putent bene audire velle ut ille male audiat, et recte facere non meae laudis sed illius contumeliae causa. sin Appius, ut Bruti litterae quas ad te misit significabant, gratias nobis agit non moleste fero, sed tamen eo ipso die quo haec ante lucem scribebam, cogitabam eius multa inique constituta et acta tollere. [3] nunc venio ad Brutum quem ego omni studio te auctore sum complexus, quem etiam amare coeperam; sed ilico me revocavi, ne te offenderem. noli enim putare me quicquam maluisse quam ut mandatis satis facerem nec ulla de re plus laborasse. mandatorum autem mihi libellum dedit, isdemque de rebus tu mecum egeras. omnia sum diligentissime persecutus. primum ab Ariobarzane sic contendi ut talenta quae mihi pollicebatur illi daret. quoad mecum rex fuit, perbono loco res erat; post a Pompei procuratoribus sescentis premi coeptus est. Pompeius autem quom ob ceteras causas plus potest unus quam ceteri omnes, tum quod putatur ad bellum Parthicum esse venturus. ei tamen sic nunc solvitur, tricesimo quoque die talenta Attica xxxiii et hoc ex tributis. nec inde satis efficitur in usuram menstruam. sed Gnaeus noster clementer id fert; sorte caret, usura nec ea solida contentus est. Alii neque solvit cuiquam nec potest solvere; nullum enim aerarium, nullum vectigal habet. Appi instituto tributa imperat. ea vix in faenus Pompei quod satis sit efficiunt. amici regis duo tresve perdivites sunt sed ii suum tam diligenter tenent quam ego aut tu. equidem non desino tamen per litteras rogare, suadere, accusare regem. [4] Deiotarus etiam mihi narravit se ad eum legatos misisse de re Bruti; eos sibi responsum rettulisse illum non habere. et me hercule ego ita iudico, nihil illo regno spoliatius, nihil rege egentius. itaque aut tutela cogito me abdicare aut ut pro Glabrione Scaevola faenus et impendium recusare. ego tamen quas per te Bruto promiseram praefecturas, M. Scaptio, L. Gavio, qui in regno rem Bruti procurabant, detuli; nec enim in provincia mea negotiabantur. tu autem meministi nos sic agere ut quot vellet praefecturas sumeret, dum ne negotiatori. itaque duas ei praeterea dederam. sed ii quibus petierat de provincia decesserant. [5] nunc cognosce de Salaminiis, quod video tibi etiam novum accidisse tamquam mihi. numquam enim ex illo audivi illam pecuniam esse suam; quin etiam libellum ipsius habeo, in quo est, 'Salaminii pecuniam debent M. Scaptio et P. Matinio, familiaribus meis.' Eos mihi commendat; adscribit etiam et quasi calcar admovet intercessisse se pro iis magnam pecuniam. confeceram ut solverent centesimis bienni ductis cum renovatione singulorum annorum. at Scaptius quaternas postulabat. metui, si impetrasset, ne tu ipse me amare desineres; nam ab edicto meo recessissem et civitatem in Catonis et in ipsius Bruti fide locatam meisque beneficiis ornatam funditus perdidissem. [6] atque hoc tempore ipso impingit mihi epistulam Scaptius Bruti rem illam suo periculo esse, quod nec mihi umquam Brutus dixerat nec tibi, etiam ut praefecturam Scaptio deferrem. id vero per te exceperamus <ne> negotiatori; quod si cuiquam, huic tamen non. fuerat enim praefectus Appio et quidem habuerat turmas equitum quibus inclusum in curia senatum Salamine obsederat, ut fame senatores quinque morerentur. itaque ego, quo die tetigi provinciam, cum mihi Cyprii legati Ephesum obviam venissent, litteras misi ut equites ex insula statim decederent. his de causis credo Scaptium iniquius de me aliquid ad Brutum scripsisse. sed tamen hoc sum animo. si Brutus putabit me quaternas centesimas oportuisse decernere, cum tota provincia singulas observarem itaque edixissem idque etiam acerbissimis faeneratoribus probaretur, si praefecturam negotiatori denegatam queretur, quod ego Torquato nostro in tuo Laenio, Pompeio ipsi in Sex. Statio negavi et iis probavi, si equites deductos moleste feret, accipiam equidem dolorem mihi illum irasci sed multo maiorem non esse eum talem qualem putassem. [7] illud quidem fatebitur Scaptius, me ius dicente sibi omnem pecuniam ex edicto meo auferendi potestatem fuisse. addo etiam illud quod vereor tibi ipsi ut probem. consistere usura debuit quae erat in edicto meo. deponere volebant: impetravi a Salaminus ut silerent. veniam illi quidem mihi dederunt, sed quid iis fiet, si huc Paulus venerit? sed totum hoc Bruto dedi; qui de me ad te humanissimas litteras scripsit, ad me autem, etiam cum rogat aliquid, contumaciter, adroganter, akoinonoetos solet scribere. tu autem velim ad eum scribas de his rebus, ut sciam quo modo haec accipiat; facies enim me certiorem. atque haec superioribus litteris diligenter ad te per scripseram sed plane te intellegere volui mihi non excidisse illud quod tu ad me quibusdam litteris scripsisses, si nihil aliud de hac provincia nisi illius benevolentiam deportassem, mihi id satis esse. sit sane, quoniam ita tu vis, sed tamen cum eo credo quod sine peccato meo fiat. igitur meo decreto soluta res Scaptio stat. quam id rectum sit tu iudicabis; ne ad Catonem quidem provocabo. [8] sed noli me putare enkeleusmata illa tua abiecisse quae mihi in visceribus haerent. flens mihi meam famam commendasti; quae epistula tua est in qua <non> eius mentionem facias? itaque irascatur qui volet; patiar. to gar eu met' emou praesertim cum sex libris tamquam praedibus me ipse obstrinxerim, quos tibi tam valde probari gaudeo. E quibus unum historikon requiris de Cn. Flavio, Anni filio. ille vero ante decemviros non fuit quippe qui aedilis curulis fuerit, qui magistratus multis annis post decemviros institutus est. quid ergo profecit quod protulit fastos? occultatam putant quodam tempore istam tabulam, ut dies agendi peterentur a paucis. nec vero pauci sunt auctores Cn. Flavium scribam fastos protulisse actionesque composuisse, ne me hoc vel potius Africanum (is enim loquitur) commentum putes. ouk elathe se illud de gestu histrionis. tu sceleste suspicaris, ego aphelos scripsi. de me imperatore scribis te ex Philotimi litteris cognosse; sed credo te, iam in Epiro cum esses, binas meas de omnibus rebus accepisse, unas a Pindenisso capto, alteras Laodicea, utrasque tuis pueris datas. quibus de rebus propter casum navigandi per binos tabellarios misi Romam publice litteras. [10] de Tullia mea tibi adsentior scripsique ad eam et ad Terentiam mihi placere. tu enim ad me iam ante scripseras, 'ac vellem te in tuum veterem gregem rettulisses.' correcta vero epistula Memmiana nihil negoti fuit; multo enim malo hunc a Pontidia quam illum a Servilia. qua re adiunges Saufeium nostrum, hominem semper amantem mei, nunc credo eo magis quod debet etiam fratris Appi amorem erga me cum reliqua hereditate crevisse; qui declaravit quanti me faceret cum saepe tum in Bursa. ne tu me sollicitudine magna liberaris. [11] Furni exceptio mihi non placet; nec enim ego ullum aliud tempus timeo nisi quod ille solum excipit. sed scriberem ad te de hoc plura, si Romae esses. in Pompeio te spem omnem oti ponere non miror. ita res est removendumque censeo illud 'dissimulantem.' sed enim oikonomia si perturbatior est, tibi adsignato. te enim sequor schediazonta. [12] Cicerones pueri amant inter se, exercentur, sed discunt, alter, uti dixit Isocrates in Ephoro et Theopompo, frenis eget, alter calcaribus. Quinto togam puram Liberalibus cogitabam dare; mandavit enim pater. ea sic observabo quasi intercalatum non sit. Dionysius mihi quidem in amoribus est; pueri autem aiunt eum furenter irasci; sed homo nec doctior nec sanctior fieri potest nec tui meique amantior. [13] Thermum, Silium vere audis laudari. valde honeste se gerunt. adde M. Nonium, Bibulum, me, si voles. iam Scrofa vellem haberet ubi posset; est enim lautum negotium. ceteri infirmant politeuma Catonis. Hortensio quod causam meam commendas valde gratum. de Amiano spei nihil putat esse Dionysius. Terenti nullum vestigium adgnovi. Moeragenes certe perut. feci iter per eius possessionem in qua animal reliquum nullum est. haec non noram tum, cum Democrito tuo <cum> locutus sum. Rhosica vasa mandavi. sed heus tu! quid cogitas? in felicatis lancibus et splendidissimis canistris holusculis nos soles pascere; quid te in vasis fictilibus appositurum putem? Keras Phemio mandatum est; reperietur, modo aliquid illo dignum canat. [14] Parthicum bellum impendet. Cassius ineptas litteras misit, necdum Bibuli erant adlatae. quibus recitatis puto fore ut aliquando commoveatur senatus. equidem sum in magna animi perturbatione. si, ut opto, non prorogatur nostrum negotium, habeo Iunium et Quintilem in metu. esto; duos quidem mensis sustinebit Bibulus. quid illo fiet quem reliquero, praesertim si fratrem? quid me autem, si non tam cito decedo? Magna turba est. mihi tamen cum Deiotaro convenit ut ille in meis castris esset cum suis copiis omnibus. habet autem cohortis quadringenarias nostra armatura xxx, equitum ci[c] ci[c]. erit ad sustentandum quoad Pompeius veniat; qui litteris quas ad me mittit significat suum negotium illud fore. hiemant in nostra provincia Parthi; exspectatur ipse Orodes. quid quaeris? aliquantum est negoti. de Bibuli edicto nihil novi praeter illam exceptionem de qua tu ad me scripseras nimis gravi praeiudicio in ordinem nostrum.' ego tamen habeo isodunamousan sed tectiorem ex Q. Muci P. L edicto Asiatico, EXTRA QVAM SI ITA NEGOTIVM GESTVM EST VT EO STARI NON OPORTEAT EX FIDE BONA, multaque sum secutus Scaevolae, in iis illud in quo sibi libertatem censent Graeci datam, ut Graeci inter se disceptent suis legibus. breve autem edictum est propter hanc meam diairesin quod duobus generibus edicendum putavi. quorum unum est provinciale in quo est de rationibus civitatum, de aere alieno, de usura, de syngraphis, in eodem omnia de publicanis; alterum, quod sine edicto satis commode transigi non potest, de hereditatum possessionibus, de bonis possidendis, vendendis, magistris faciendis, quae ex edicto et postulari et fieri solent. Tertium de reliquo iure dicundo agraphon reliqui. dixi me de eo genere mea decreta ad edicta urbana accommodaturum. itaque curo et satis facio adhuc omnibus. Graeci vero exsultant quod peregrinis iudicibus utuntur. 'nugatoribus quidem' inquies. quid refert? tamen se autonomian adeptos putant. vestri enim credo gravis habent Turpionem sutorium et Vettium mancipem. [16] de publicanis quid agam videris quaerere. habeo in deliciis, obsequor, verbis laudo, orno; efficio ne cui molesti sint. To paradoxotaton, usuras eorum quas pactionibus adscripserant servavit etiam Servilius. ego sic. diem statuo satis laxam, quam ante si solverint, dico me centesimas ducturum; si non solverint, ex pactione. itaque et Graeci solvunt tolerabili faenore et publicanis res est gratissima, si illa iam habent pleno modio, verborum honorem, invitationem crebram. quid plura? sunt omnes ita mihi familiares ut se quisque maxime putet. sed tamen meden autois&#151;scis reliqua. [17] de statua Africani (o pragmaton asunkloston! sed me id ipsum delectavit in tuis litteris) ain tu? Scipio hic Metellus proavum suum nescit censorem non fuisse? atqui nihil habuit aliud inscriptum nisi cos ea statua quae ad Opis [per te] posita in excelso est. in illa autem quae est ad polukleous Herculem inscriptum est CONSVL; quam esse eiusdem status, amictus, anulus, imago ipsa declarat. at me hercule ego, cum in turma inauratarum equestrium quas hic Metellus in Capitolio posuit animadvertissem in Serapionis subscriptione Africani imaginem, erratum fabrile putavi, nunc video Metelli. [18] O anistoresian turpem! nam illud de Flavio et fastis, si secus est, commune erratum est et tu belle eporesas et nos publicam prope opinionem secuti sumus, ut multa apud Graecos. quis enim non dixit eupolin ton tes archaias ab Alcibiade navigante in Siciliam deiectum esse in mare? redarguit Eratosthenes; adfert enim quas ille post id tempus fabulas docuerit. num idcirco Duris Samius, homo in historia diligens, quod cum multis erravit, inridetur? quis Zaleucum leges Locris scripsisse non dixit? num igitur iacet Theophrastus si id a Timaeo tuo familiari reprensum est? sed nescire proavum suum censorem non fuisse turpe est, praesertim cum post eum consulem nemo Cornelius illo vivo censor fuerit. [19] quod de Philotimo et de solutione HS XXDC scribis, Philotimum circiter Kal. Ianuarias in Chersonesum audio venisse. at mi ab eo nihil adhuc. reliqua mea Camillus scribit se accepisse. ea quae sint nescio et aveo scire. verum haec posterius et coram fortasse commodius. [20] illud me, mi Attice, in extrema fere parte epistulae commovit; scribis enim sic, ti loipon; deinde me obsecras amantissime ne obliviscar vigilare et ut animadvertam quae fiant. num quid de quo inaudisti? etsi nihil eius modi est . pollou ge kai dei. nec enim me fefellisset nec fallet. sed ista admonitio tua tam accurata nescio quid mihi significare visa est. [21] de M. Octavio iterum iam tibi rescribo te illi probe respondisse; paulo vellem fidentius. nam Caelius libertum ad me misit et litteras accurate scriptas et de pantheris et] a civitatibus. rescripsi alterum me moleste ferre, si ego in tenebris laterem nec audiretur Romae nullum in mea provincia nummum nisi in aes alienum erogari, docuique nec mihi conciliare pecuniam licere nec illi capere monuique eum quem plane diligo ut cum alios accusasset cautius viveret; illud autem alterum alienum esse existimatione mea, Cibyratas imperio meo publice venari. [22] Lepta tua epistula gaudio exsultat; etenim scripta belle est meque apud eum magna in gratia posuit. filiola tua gratum mihi fecit quod tibi diligenter mandavit ut mihi salutem adscriberes, gratum etiam Pilia, sed illa officiosius quod mihi quem iam pridem . . . numquam vidit. igitur tu quoque salutem utrique adscribito. Litterarum datarum dies pr. Kal. Ianuar. suavem habuit recordationem clarissimi iuris iurandi quod ego non eram oblitus. Magnus enim praetextatus illo die fui. habes ad omnia. non, ut postulasti, chrusea chalkeion sed paria paribus respondimus. [23] ecce autem alia pusilla epistula quam non relinquam anantiphoneton. bene me hercule [potuit Lucceius Tusculanum, nisi forte (solet enim) cum suo tibicine[. et velim scire qui sit eius status. Lentulum quidem nostrum <omnia> praeter Tusculanum proscripsisse audio. cupio hos expeditos videre, cupio etiam Sestium, adde sis Caelium; in quibus omnibus est aidesthen men anenasthai, deisan d' hupodechthai de Memmio restituendo ut Curio cogitet te audisse puto. de Egnati Sidicini nomine nec nulla nec magna spe sumus. Pinarium quem mihi commendas diligentissime Deiotarus curat graviter aegrum. respondi etiam minori. [24] tu velim dum ero Laodiceae, id est ad Idus Maias, quam saepissime mecum per litteras colloquare et cum Athenas veneris (iam enim sciemus de rebus urbanis, de provinciis, quae omnia in mensem Martium sunt conlata), utique ad me tabellarios mittas. et heus tu! [genuarios] a Caesare per Herodem talenta Attica L extorsistis? in quo, ut audio, magnum odium Pompei suscepistis. putat enim suos nummos vos comedisse, Caesarem in nemore aedificando diligentiorem fore. haec ego ex P. Vedio, magno nebulone sed Pompei tamen familiari, audivi. hic Vedius mihi obviam venit cum duobus essedis et raeda equis iuncta et lectica et familia magna pro qua, si Curio legem pertulerit, HS centenos pendat necesse est. erat praeterea cynocephalus in essedo nec deerant onagri. numquam vidi hominem nequiorem. sed extremum audi. deversatus est Laodiceae apud Pompeium Vindullum. lbi sua deposuit cum ad me profectus est. moritur interim Vindullus; quae res ad Magnum Pompeium pertinere putabatur. C. Vennonius domum Vindulli venit. Cum omnia obsignaret, in Vedianas res incidit. in his inventae sunt quinque imagunculae matronarum in quibus una sororis amici tui hominis 'bruti' qui hoc utatur et illius 'lepidi' qui haec tam neglegenter ferat. haec te volui paristoresai. sumus enim ambo belle curiosi. [26] Vnum etiam velim cogites. audio Appium propulon Eleusine facere. num inepti fuerimus si nos quoque Academiae fecerimus? 'puto' inquies. ergo id ipsum scribes ad me. equidem valde ipsas Athenas amo. volo esse aliquod monumentum; odi falsas inscriptiones statuarum alienarum. sed ut tibi placebit, faciesque me in quem diem Romana incidant mysteria certiorem et quo modo hiemaris. cura ut valeas. post Leuctricam pugnam die septingentesimo sexagesimo quinto.