Marcus Tullius Cicero→Marcus Porcius Cato|c. 47 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|AI-assisted
I am glad to be praised, Hector says somewhere in Naevius, I think, by a revered elder who has himself been praised. Praise is certainly sweet when it comes from men who have themselves lived in high repute.
For myself, I would think I had attained everything either through the congratulations in your letter or through the testimony you gave me in your speech in the senate. It was both the highest compliment and the greatest pleasure to me that you willingly granted to friendship what you plainly granted to truth.
If not all, then even many men in our state were Catos, in a state where it is astonishing that there is even one, what triumphal chariot or laurel could I compare with praise from you? Given my feelings, and given the ideal honesty and sharpness of your judgment, nothing can be more complimentary than the speech of yours that my friends copied for me.
I explained in an earlier letter the reason for my wish, for I will not call it ambition. Even if it does not seem entirely sufficient to you, it at least shows this: the honor is not one that should stir excessive desire, but if the senate offers it, it certainly should not be rejected. I hope that the senate, considering the labors I have undergone for the state, will not think me undeserving of an honor, especially one that has become customary.
If that happens, all I ask of you is this: since, to use your own most friendly words, you have paid me what you judge the highest compliment, still be glad if I have the good fortune to receive what I myself preferred. I perceive that you have acted, felt, and written in this spirit. The facts themselves show that the compliment paid me by a thanksgiving was agreeable to you, since your name appears on the decree. I know that decrees of this kind are usually drawn up by the warmest friends of the man being honored.
I hope to see you soon, and may it be in a better condition of public affairs than my fears predict.
CCLXXVII (Fam. XV, 6) TO M. PORCIUS CATO (AT ROME) (ASIA, SEPTEMBER) RIGHT glad am I to be praised" — says Hector , I think, in Naevius — “by thee, reverend senior, who hast thyself been praised.” For certainly praise is sweet that comes from those who themselves have lived in high repute. For myself, there is nothing I should not consider myself to have attained either by the congratulation contained in your letter, or the testimony borne to me in your senatorial speech: and it was at once the highest compliment and the greatest gratification to me, that you willingly conceded to friendship, what you transparently conceded to truth. And if, I don't say all, but if many were Catos in our state — in which it is a matter of wonder that there is even one — what triumphal chariot or laurel should I have compared with praise from you? For in regard to my feelings, and in view of the ideal honesty and subtilty of your judgment, nothing can be more complimentary than the speech of yours, which has been copied for me by my friends. But the reason of my wish, for I will not call it desire, I have explained “to you in a 'former letter. And even if it does not appear to you to be entirely sufficient, it at any rate leads to this conclusion not that the honour is one to excite excessive desire, but yet is one which, if offered by the senate, ought certainly not to be rejected. Now I hope that that House, considering the labours I have undergone on behalf of the state, will not think me undeserving of an honour, especially one that has become a matter of usage. And if this turns out to be so, all I ask of you is that — to use your own most friendly words — since you have paid me what in your judgment is the highest compliment, you will still ”be glad" if I have the good fortune to get what I myself have preferred. For I perceive that you have acted, felt, and written in this sense: and the facts themselves show that the compliment paid me of a supplicatio was agreeable to you, since your name appears on the decree: for decrees of the senate of this nature are, I am aware, usually drawn out by the warmest friends of the man concerned in the honour. I shall, I hope, soon see you, and may it be in a better state of political affairs than my fears forbode!
VI. Scr. in Cilicia mense Quinctili (III. Non. vel paullo post) a.u.c. 704. M. CICERO S. D. M. CATONI.
"Laetus sum laudari me," inquit Hector, opinor apud Naevium, "abs te, pater, a laudato viro;" ea est enim profecto iucunda laus, quae ab iis proficiscitur, qui ipsi in laude vixerunt. Ego vero vel gratulatione litterarum tuarum vel testimoniis sententiae dictae nihil est quod me non assecutum putem, idque mihi cum amplissimum, tum gratissimum est, te libenter amicitiae dedisse, quod liquido veritati dares. Et, si non modo omnes, verum etiam multi Catones essent in civitate nostra, in qua unum exstitisse mirabile est, quem ego currum aut quam lauream cum tua laudatione conferrem? nam ad meum sensum et ad illud sincerum ac subtile iudicium nihil potest esse laudabilius quam ea tua oratio, quae est ad me perscripta a meis necessariis. Sed causam meae voluntatis—non enim dicam cupiditatis—exposui tibi superioribus litteris, quae etiamsi parum iusta tibi visa est, hanc tamen habet rationem, non ut nimis concupiscendus honos, sed tamen, si deferatur a senatu, minime aspernandus esse videatur; spero autem illum ordinem pro meis ob rem publicam susceptis laboribus me non indignum honore, usitato praesertim, existimaturum. Quod si ita erit, tantum ex te peto, quod amicissime scribis, ut, cum tuo iudicio, quod amplissimum esse arbitraris, mihi tribueris, si id, quod maluero, acciderit, gaudeas: sic enim fecisse te et sensisse et scripsisse video, resque ipsa declarat tibi illum honorem nostrum supplicationis iucundum fuisse, quod scribendo affuisti; haec enim senatus consulta non ignoro ab amicissimis eius, cuius de honore agitur, scribi solere. Ego, ut spero, te propediem videbo, atque utinam re publica meliore, quam timeo!
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I am glad to be praised, Hector says somewhere in Naevius, I think, by a revered elder who has himself been praised. Praise is certainly sweet when it comes from men who have themselves lived in high repute.
For myself, I would think I had attained everything either through the congratulations in your letter or through the testimony you gave me in your speech in the senate. It was both the highest compliment and the greatest pleasure to me that you willingly granted to friendship what you plainly granted to truth.
If not all, then even many men in our state were Catos, in a state where it is astonishing that there is even one, what triumphal chariot or laurel could I compare with praise from you? Given my feelings, and given the ideal honesty and sharpness of your judgment, nothing can be more complimentary than the speech of yours that my friends copied for me.
I explained in an earlier letter the reason for my wish, for I will not call it ambition. Even if it does not seem entirely sufficient to you, it at least shows this: the honor is not one that should stir excessive desire, but if the senate offers it, it certainly should not be rejected. I hope that the senate, considering the labors I have undergone for the state, will not think me undeserving of an honor, especially one that has become customary.
If that happens, all I ask of you is this: since, to use your own most friendly words, you have paid me what you judge the highest compliment, still be glad if I have the good fortune to receive what I myself preferred. I perceive that you have acted, felt, and written in this spirit. The facts themselves show that the compliment paid me by a thanksgiving was agreeable to you, since your name appears on the decree. I know that decrees of this kind are usually drawn up by the warmest friends of the man being honored.
I hope to see you soon, and may it be in a better condition of public affairs than my fears predict.
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
VI. Scr. in Cilicia mense Quinctili (III. Non. vel paullo post) a.u.c. 704. M. CICERO S. D. M. CATONI.
"Laetus sum laudari me," inquit Hector, opinor apud Naevium, "abs te, pater, a laudato viro;" ea est enim profecto iucunda laus, quae ab iis proficiscitur, qui ipsi in laude vixerunt. Ego vero vel gratulatione litterarum tuarum vel testimoniis sententiae dictae nihil est quod me non assecutum putem, idque mihi cum amplissimum, tum gratissimum est, te libenter amicitiae dedisse, quod liquido veritati dares. Et, si non modo omnes, verum etiam multi Catones essent in civitate nostra, in qua unum exstitisse mirabile est, quem ego currum aut quam lauream cum tua laudatione conferrem? nam ad meum sensum et ad illud sincerum ac subtile iudicium nihil potest esse laudabilius quam ea tua oratio, quae est ad me perscripta a meis necessariis. Sed causam meae voluntatis—non enim dicam cupiditatis—exposui tibi superioribus litteris, quae etiamsi parum iusta tibi visa est, hanc tamen habet rationem, non ut nimis concupiscendus honos, sed tamen, si deferatur a senatu, minime aspernandus esse videatur; spero autem illum ordinem pro meis ob rem publicam susceptis laboribus me non indignum honore, usitato praesertim, existimaturum. Quod si ita erit, tantum ex te peto, quod amicissime scribis, ut, cum tuo iudicio, quod amplissimum esse arbitraris, mihi tribueris, si id, quod maluero, acciderit, gaudeas: sic enim fecisse te et sensisse et scripsisse video, resque ipsa declarat tibi illum honorem nostrum supplicationis iucundum fuisse, quod scribendo affuisti; haec enim senatus consulta non ignoro ab amicissimis eius, cuius de honore agitur, scribi solere. Ego, ut spero, te propediem videbo, atque utinam re publica meliore, quam timeo!