Marcus Tullius Cicero→Gaius Scribonius Curio|c. 50 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|AI-assisted
A late congratulation is not usually blamed, especially when no negligence caused the delay. I am far away, and news reaches me late. But I congratulate you, and I earnestly hope that your tribunate will bring you lasting glory.
I urge you to steer and control everything by your own prudence, so that other people's plans do not carry you away. No one can advise you more wisely than you can advise yourself. You will never slip if you listen to yourself.
I do not write this lightly. I know to whom I am writing. I know your spirit; I know your judgment. I am not afraid that you will act timidly or foolishly if you defend what you yourself feel to be right.
You surely see the political moment into which you have not stumbled but deliberately come. It was by your judgment, not by chance, that you placed your tribunate in the very crisis of affairs. I do not doubt that you are thinking about how powerful timing is in public life, how changeable events are, how uncertain outcomes are, how pliable human wills can be, and how much deceit and emptiness there is in life.
But please, give your care and thought to nothing new, only to the same thing I wrote at the beginning. Speak with yourself. Take yourself into counsel. Listen to yourself. Obey yourself. It will not be easy to find another person who can give better advice than you can; certainly no one will give better advice to you than you yourself.
Immortal gods, why am I absent, whether as a spectator of your honors, or as a partner, ally, or helper in your plans? Not that you lack this at all. Still, the greatness and force of my affection might have allowed me to help you by advice.
I will write more to you another time. In a few days I intend to send household letter-carriers, so that, since I have conducted public affairs successfully and to my satisfaction, I may report the deeds of the whole summer to the senate in one dispatch.
About your priesthood, you will learn from the letter I gave your freedman Thraso how much care I took and what a difficult matter and case it was.
My dear Curio, because of your incredible goodwill toward me and my own exceptional goodwill toward you, I ask and beg you not to allow anything to be added to my time in this troublesome province. I dealt with you about this in person, when I did not think you would be tribune this year, and I often asked the same by letter. Then I was asking you as a senator, though a very noble and influential young senator. Now I ask you as tribune of the plebs, and as Curio the tribune: not to pass some new decree, which is usually more difficult, but to prevent any new decree from being passed; to defend the decree of the senate and the laws; and to keep for me the condition under which I set out.
This I ask of you earnestly, again and again.
CCXXVI (Fam. II, 7) TO C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO (IN ROME) CILICIA, 10 DECEMBER: It is not usual to find fault with a tardy congratulation, especially if it has been omitted by no negligence: for I am far off, and news reaches me slowly. However, I both congratulate you and heartily wish that your tribunate may redound to your lasting reputation; and I exhort you to direct and control everything by your own good sense, and not allow yourself to be carried away by suggestions of others. There is no one who can give you wiser advice than you can give yourself: you will never make a slip, if you listen to your own heart. I don't write this inconsiderately: I am fully conscious to whom I am writing: I know your courage, I know your good sense. I am not afraid of your acting timidly or foolishly, if you maintain what you feel in your own heart to be right. To what a political situation you have, I don't say fallen, but come — for it is by your own deliberate choice and not by chance that you have brought your tribuneship into the very midst of a crisis — you, of course, perceive. I do not doubt that you are considering how decisive in politics is the choice of seasons, how rapidly events shift, how uncertain are results, how pliable are men's wills, what treachery, what falseness, there is in life. But I beseech you, Curio , give your whole heart and mind, not to any new principle, but to that which I mentioned at the beginning of my letter: commune with your own thoughts, take your own self into council, listen to yourself, obey your-self. It is not easy to find anyone capable of giving better advice to another than you are: to yourself, at any rate, no one will give better. Good heavens! why am I not there to be, if you will, the spectator of your glory, or the sharer, or partner, or assistant in your counsels? Although of this you do not in the least stand in need, yet, after all, the greatness and intensity of my affection would have secured my being of some use to you by my advice. I will write at greater length to you at another time: for within the next few days I intend to send some letter-carriers from my own establishment, that, since I have performed a public service with good results and to my own satisfaction, I may in one despatch give an account to the senate of the events of the whole summer. As to your election to the priesthood, you will learn from the letter which I delivered to your freedman Thraso how much trouble I have taken, and how difficult a matter it has been to deal with and maintain. For yourself, Curio , in the name of your uncommon affection for me, and my own unparalleled one for you, I beg you not to allow any extension of time to be made in my case to this burden of a province. I urged this on you when I was with you, and when I had no idea that you were going to be tribune this year, and I have often made the same request by letter; but then it was made to you as a member of the senate, who was yet a young man of the highest rank and the greatest popularity, now it is to I tribune, and that tribune a Curio : not to get any novel decree — which is usually somewhat more difficult — but to prevent any novelty: to support both a decree of the senate and laws, and to allow the terms under which I left Rome to remain as they are. This I earnestly beg of you again and again.
VII. M. CICERO IMP. S. D. C. CURIONI TR. PL. in castris ad Pindenissum(?); xii Kal. Ian. 51(?)
Sera gratulatio reprehendi non solet, praesertim si nulla neglegentia praetermissa est. Longe enim absum, audio sero. Sed tibi et gratulor et ut sempiternae laudi tibi sit iste tribunatus exopto, teque hortor ut omnia gubernes et moderere prudentia tua, ne te auferant aliorum consilia. Nemo est qui tibi sapientius suadere possit te ipso; numquam labere si te audies. Non scribo hoc temere. Cui scribam video. Novi animum, novi consilium tuum. Non vereor ne quid timide, ne quid stulte facias si ea defendes quae ipse recta esse senties. Quod [in] rei publicae tempus non incideris sed veneris (iudicio enim tuo, non casu, in ipsum discrimen rerum contulisti tribunatum tuum), profecto vides. Quanta vis in re publica temporum sit, quanta varietas rerum, quam incerti exitus, quam flexibiles hominum voluntates, quid insidiarum, quid vanitatis in vita, non dubito quin cogites. Sed amabo te, cura et cogitationi—nihil novi, sed illud idem quod initio scripsi. Tecum loquere, [et] te adhibe in consilium, te audi, tibi obtempera. Alteri qui melius consilium dare possit quam tu non facile inveniri potest; tibi vero ipsi certe nemo melius dabit. Di immortales! cur ego absum vel spectator laudum tuarum vel particeps vel socius vel minister consiliorum? Tametsi hoc minime tibi deest; sed tamen efficeret magnitudo et vis amoris mei consilio te ut possem iuvare. Scribam ad te plura alias; paucis enim diebus eram missurus domesticos tabellarios, ut, quoniam sane feliciter et ex mea sententia rem publicam gessimus, unis litteris totius aestatis res gestas ad senatum perscriberem. De sacerdotio tuo quantam curam adhibuerim quamque difficili in re atque causa cognosces ex iis litteris quas Thrasoni, liberto tuo, dedi. Te, mi Curio, pro tua incredibili in me benevolentia meaque item in te singulari rogo atque oro ne patiare quicquam mihi ad hanc provincialem molestiam temporis prorogari. Praesens tecum egi, cum te tribunum pl. isto anno fore non putarem, itemque petivi saepe per litteras, sed tum quasi a senatore, nobilissimo tamen adulescente et gratiosissimo, nunc a tribuno pl. et a Curione tribuno, non ut decernatur aliquid novi, quod solet esse difficilius, sed ut ne quid novi decernatur, ut et senati consultum et leges defendas, eaque mihi condicio maneat qua profectus sum. Hoc te vehementer etiam atque etiam rogo.
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A late congratulation is not usually blamed, especially when no negligence caused the delay. I am far away, and news reaches me late. But I congratulate you, and I earnestly hope that your tribunate will bring you lasting glory.
I urge you to steer and control everything by your own prudence, so that other people's plans do not carry you away. No one can advise you more wisely than you can advise yourself. You will never slip if you listen to yourself.
I do not write this lightly. I know to whom I am writing. I know your spirit; I know your judgment. I am not afraid that you will act timidly or foolishly if you defend what you yourself feel to be right.
You surely see the political moment into which you have not stumbled but deliberately come. It was by your judgment, not by chance, that you placed your tribunate in the very crisis of affairs. I do not doubt that you are thinking about how powerful timing is in public life, how changeable events are, how uncertain outcomes are, how pliable human wills can be, and how much deceit and emptiness there is in life.
But please, give your care and thought to nothing new, only to the same thing I wrote at the beginning. Speak with yourself. Take yourself into counsel. Listen to yourself. Obey yourself. It will not be easy to find another person who can give better advice than you can; certainly no one will give better advice to you than you yourself.
Immortal gods, why am I absent, whether as a spectator of your honors, or as a partner, ally, or helper in your plans? Not that you lack this at all. Still, the greatness and force of my affection might have allowed me to help you by advice.
I will write more to you another time. In a few days I intend to send household letter-carriers, so that, since I have conducted public affairs successfully and to my satisfaction, I may report the deeds of the whole summer to the senate in one dispatch.
About your priesthood, you will learn from the letter I gave your freedman Thraso how much care I took and what a difficult matter and case it was.
My dear Curio, because of your incredible goodwill toward me and my own exceptional goodwill toward you, I ask and beg you not to allow anything to be added to my time in this troublesome province. I dealt with you about this in person, when I did not think you would be tribune this year, and I often asked the same by letter. Then I was asking you as a senator, though a very noble and influential young senator. Now I ask you as tribune of the plebs, and as Curio the tribune: not to pass some new decree, which is usually more difficult, but to prevent any new decree from being passed; to defend the decree of the senate and the laws; and to keep for me the condition under which I set out.
This I ask of you earnestly, again and again.
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
VII. M. CICERO IMP. S. D. C. CURIONI TR. PL. in castris ad Pindenissum(?); xii Kal. Ian. 51(?)
Sera gratulatio reprehendi non solet, praesertim si nulla neglegentia praetermissa est. Longe enim absum, audio sero. Sed tibi et gratulor et ut sempiternae laudi tibi sit iste tribunatus exopto, teque hortor ut omnia gubernes et moderere prudentia tua, ne te auferant aliorum consilia. Nemo est qui tibi sapientius suadere possit te ipso; numquam labere si te audies. Non scribo hoc temere. Cui scribam video. Novi animum, novi consilium tuum. Non vereor ne quid timide, ne quid stulte facias si ea defendes quae ipse recta esse senties. Quod [in] rei publicae tempus non incideris sed veneris (iudicio enim tuo, non casu, in ipsum discrimen rerum contulisti tribunatum tuum), profecto vides. Quanta vis in re publica temporum sit, quanta varietas rerum, quam incerti exitus, quam flexibiles hominum voluntates, quid insidiarum, quid vanitatis in vita, non dubito quin cogites. Sed amabo te, cura et cogitationi—nihil novi, sed illud idem quod initio scripsi. Tecum loquere, [et] te adhibe in consilium, te audi, tibi obtempera. Alteri qui melius consilium dare possit quam tu non facile inveniri potest; tibi vero ipsi certe nemo melius dabit. Di immortales! cur ego absum vel spectator laudum tuarum vel particeps vel socius vel minister consiliorum? Tametsi hoc minime tibi deest; sed tamen efficeret magnitudo et vis amoris mei consilio te ut possem iuvare. Scribam ad te plura alias; paucis enim diebus eram missurus domesticos tabellarios, ut, quoniam sane feliciter et ex mea sententia rem publicam gessimus, unis litteris totius aestatis res gestas ad senatum perscriberem. De sacerdotio tuo quantam curam adhibuerim quamque difficili in re atque causa cognosces ex iis litteris quas Thrasoni, liberto tuo, dedi. Te, mi Curio, pro tua incredibili in me benevolentia meaque item in te singulari rogo atque oro ne patiare quicquam mihi ad hanc provincialem molestiam temporis prorogari. Praesens tecum egi, cum te tribunum pl. isto anno fore non putarem, itemque petivi saepe per litteras, sed tum quasi a senatore, nobilissimo tamen adulescente et gratiosissimo, nunc a tribuno pl. et a Curione tribuno, non ut decernatur aliquid novi, quod solet esse difficilius, sed ut ne quid novi decernatur, ut et senati consultum et leges defendas, eaque mihi condicio maneat qua profectus sum. Hoc te vehementer etiam atque etiam rogo.