Letter 371

Although I was already satisfied with your glory, my dear Dolabella, and drew great joy and pleasure from it, I cannot help admitting that my happiness is crowned by the fact that public opinion enrolls me as a partner in your praise. I meet people every day, and many excellent men come to these places for their health, while many of my friends come from the towns. I meet no one who does not first lift you to the heavens with the highest praise and then immediately thank me most warmly. They say they do not doubt that you are obeying my precepts and advice and are showing yourself an outstanding citizen and a singular consul. Although I can answer them, with perfect truth, that what you do, you do by your own judgment and on your own initiative, and that you need no one's advice, I neither entirely agree nor strongly deny it. I do not entirely agree, lest I diminish your praise by making it seem to have sprung wholly from my advice; I do not strongly deny it, because I am greedier for glory than is quite proper. Yet it is not unworthy of your dignity to have someone like Nestor in your councils, something honorable even for Agamemnon, king of kings. For me it is glorious that you, a young consul flourishing in praise, should be thought almost a pupil of my training. When I visited Lucius Caesar, sick at Naples, he was weighed down by pain throughout his body, yet before he had fully greeted me he said, "My dear Cicero, I congratulate you on having such influence with Dolabella. If I had had as much influence with my sister's son, we might already be safe. As for your Dolabella, I both congratulate and thank him; after you, he is the only consul we can truly call a consul." Then he said much about your deed and the achievement itself: nothing more magnificent, nothing more splendid, nothing more salutary for the state had ever been done. That is the single voice of everyone. I ask you to let me accept this almost false inheritance of another man's glory, and allow me to share in some part of your praises. But, my dear Dolabella, I have been joking. I would more gladly pour all my own praise, if I have any, over to you than draw off any part from yours. I have always loved you as much as you could understand, but these actions of yours have set me on fire so that no affection was ever more ardent. Believe me: nothing is more attractive than courage, nothing more beautiful, nothing more lovable. I have always loved Marcus Brutus, as you know, for his exceptional ability, his delightful character, and his singular integrity and constancy. Yet on the Ides of March so much was added to that love that I wondered there had been room to increase what had long seemed full. Who would have thought that anything could be added to the love I had for you? So much has been added that only now do I seem to myself to love you; before, I merely cherished you. What reason is there, then, for me to urge you to serve your dignity and glory? Shall I set famous men before you, as people do when they exhort someone? I have no example more famous than yourself. You must imitate yourself and compete with yourself. After such great achievements, you are no longer even permitted to be unlike yourself. Since that is so, exhortation is unnecessary; congratulation is more fitting. You have had what perhaps no one else has had: the greatest severity of punishment became not only free from ill will, but popular, welcomed by all good men and by the lowest ranks as well. If this had come to you by some stroke of fortune, I would congratulate your luck. But it came from greatness of spirit, and also from intelligence and judgment. I have read your public speech. Nothing could have been wiser. You approached the justification for your act so gradually and step by step, and then withdrew from it in such a way, that the facts themselves, by everyone's agreement, gave you the proper moment for punishment. You have freed the city from danger and the community from fear. You have brought the greatest benefit not only for the moment but as a precedent. From this act you must understand that the republic has been placed in your hands, and that you must not only protect but honor the men from whom the beginning of liberty came. I hope soon to say more about these things face to face. Since you are preserving the republic and us, my dear Dolabella, take the greatest care to guard yourself.

Though I feel content with the glory you have won, my dear Dolabella, and it affords me the greatest joy and pleasure, still I cannot help confessing that the crowning point of my joy is, that in the popular opinion my name is associated with yours in people's praise. I am daily meeting many people; for quite a number of persons of consideration come here for their health, besides many acquaintances of mine from the country towns; and I have not met anyone who does not extol you to the skies, and in the same breath offer me the sincerest congratulations. For they say they have no doubt that it is by following my precepts and advice that you are showing yourself a most distinguished citizen and an excellent consul. Though I can answer them with the fullest truth that what you do, you do acting on your own judgment and on your own initiative and that you need no advice, still I do not entirely assent, lest I should diminish your glory, if it all appears to have sprung from my advice, nor do I quite deny it; for I have more than my proper share of desire for glory. And yet it would not detract from your dignity any more than it disgraced Agamemnon, the king of kings, to have some Nestor to assist in your plans; while it would redound to my glory that you with your brilliant reputation as a consul while still so young should be thought a pupil of my training. Indeed L. Caesar, when I paid him a visit on his sick bed at Naples, though he was racked with pains all over his body, had hardly finished his first greeting before he said: "My dear Cicero, I congratulate you on the influence you have with Dolabella. If I had had as much with my sister's son, we might have been safe now. Dolabella himself I both congratulate and thank: indeed he is the first consul since yourself who can really be called a consul." Then he had much to say about the incident and your achievement. No more splendid and magnificent deed was ever done, nor any more salutary to the state: and that is what the whole world is saying with one voice. I beg you to let me enter into this false heritage of another's glory, and suffer me to share your praises in some slight degree. However, my dear Dolabella, so far I have only been joking, and, if I have any reputation myself, I would rather turn its full stream upon you, than divert any part of yours upon myself. For, though I have always been as fond of you as you must have realized, now by your actions my fondness has been fanned into the most ardent love that is possible. For, believe me, there is nothing fairer than virtue, nothing more beautiful, nothing more loveable. I have always loved M. Brutus, as you know, for his great ability, his most agreeable manners, his extraordinary uprightness and constancy. However on the Ides of March my affection was so enhanced that I wondered there was any room for increase in what I had long thought had reached its culminating point. Who would have thought that there could be any increase in the affection I have for you? But there has been such an increase that I seem to myself now to love, while before I only liked. So what need is there that I should exhort you to have a regard for your dignity and glory? Shall I do what people generally do when exhorting others, set before your eyes distinguished examples? There is none more distinguished than your own. You must imitate yourself and vie with yourself. Indeed, after such an achievement, you dare not fail to be like yourself. As that is so, exhortation is unnecessary and congratulation is more in place. For you have had the fortune, which I doubt if anyone else ever had, that great severity in punishment should not only bring no ill will, but should be popular and most pleasing to all, both of the upper and of the lower class. If this had happened to you by a stroke of fortune, I should congratulate you on your luck: but it has happened through your greatness of heart, yes, and of ability and of prudence. For I have read your harangue. Nothing could have been more skilful. You led up to the case so gradually and gently, and then left it again, that by universal consent the facts themselves showed it was high time to resort to punitive measures. So you freed the city from danger and the state from fear, and you performed a sound service not only to meet the emergency but to serve as a precedent. After that you ought to understand that the republic is in your hand, and that you should not only protect but honour the men who paved the way for freedom. But I hope we shall soon meet to discuss these things. Do you, my dear Dolabella, take the greatest care of yourself, since you preserve the state and all of us.

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 cotidie plurimos. sunt enim permulti optimi viri qui valetudinis causa in haec loca veniant; praeterea ex municipiis frequentes necessarii mei) quin omnes; cum te summis laudibus ad caelum extulerunt, mihi continuo maximas gratias agant. negant enim se dubitare quin tu meis praeceptis et consiliis obtemperans praestantissimum te civem et singularem consulem praebeas. [2] quibus ego quamquam verissime possum respondere te quae facias tuo iudicio et tua sponte facere nec cuiusquam egere consilio, tamen neque plane adsentior, ne 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. [3] L. quidem Caesar, cum ad eum aegrotum Neapolim 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. [4] 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 omnis meas, si modo sunt aliquae meae laudes ad te transfuderim quam aliquam partem exhauserim ex tuis. nam cum te semper tantum dilexerim quantum tu intellegere 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. [5] 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 iam pridem 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. [6] qua re quid est quod ego te horter 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. [7] 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 quom animi tum etiam ingeni atque consili. legi enim contionem tuam. nihil illa sapientius. ita pedetemptim et gradatim tum accessus a te ad causam facti, tum recessus, ut res ipsa maturitatem tibi animadvertendi omnium concessu daret. [8] liberasti igitur et urbem periculo et civitatem metu neque solum ad tempus maximam utilitatem attulisti sed etiam ad exemplum. quo facto intellegere debes in te positam esse rem publicam tibique non modo tuendos sed etiam ornandos illos viros a quibus initium libertatis profectum est. sed his de rebus coram plura prope diem, ut spero. tu quoniam rem publicam nosque conservas, fac ut diligentissime te ipsum, mi Dolabella, custodias.