Marcus Tullius Cicero→Caninius Sallustius|c. 50 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Cilicia|AI-assisted
Your orderly delivered two letters from you to me at Tarsus on July 17. I will answer them in order, as you seem to want.
About my successor, I have heard nothing, and I do not think there will be one. There is no reason why I should not leave on the appointed day, especially now that fear of the Parthians has been removed. I do not really think I will stop anywhere. I may go to Rhodes for the sake of the boys, but even that is uncertain. I want to reach the city as soon as possible; still, my journey will be governed by the condition of the republic and affairs in Rome.
Your successor cannot possibly hurry so much that you could meet me in Asia. About filing accounts, it was no inconvenience to me that you filed none, as you write Bibulus allowed you to do. But I hardly think you can do that under the Julian law. Bibulus does not observe it for a definite reason of his own; I think you should observe it very carefully.
You write that the garrison ought not to have been withdrawn from Apamea. I saw that others thought the same, and I was annoyed that hostile people had made rather unfavorable remarks about the matter. But apart from you, I see no one who doubts whether the Parthians crossed the river. So, moved by the certain talk of men, I dismissed all the garrisons I had prepared, large and strong as they were.
It would not have been proper for me to send you my quaestor's accounts, and in any case they were not finished. We were thinking of depositing them at Apamea. As for my booty, no one has touched, or will touch, a penny of it except the urban quaestors - that is, the Roman people. At Laodicea I think I will accept sureties for all public money, so that both I and the people are protected without the risk of transport.
As for what you write about the 100,000 drachmas, in that kind of matter I cannot accommodate anyone. All money is handled in one of two ways: booty is managed by the prefects, while money assigned to me is handled by the quaestor.
You ask what I think about the legions decreed for Syria. Earlier I doubted whether they would come. Now I have no doubt that, if news arrives first that Syria is quiet, they will not come. I see that Marius, the successor, will arrive late, because the senate decreed that he should go with the legions.
That answers one letter. Now I come to the other.
You ask me to recommend you to Bibulus as carefully as possible. I do not lack goodwill in this, but it seems a good moment to complain to you. You alone, of all those with Bibulus, never informed me how strongly and groundlessly Bibulus's attitude recoiled from me. Many people told me that when Antioch was in great fear and great hope rested on me and my army, he used to say he would rather endure anything than seem to have needed my help.
I was not annoyed that your duty as quaestor led you to keep silent about your praetor, although I heard how you were being treated. But when he wrote to Thermus about the Parthian war, he never sent a line to me, though he understood that the danger of that war concerned me. He wrote to me only about his son's augurship. Moved by pity, and because I had always been very friendly to Bibulus, I took pains to write to him as kindly as possible.
If he is malicious toward everyone, which I never thought, I am less offended by his conduct toward me. But if he is particularly estranged from me, my letter will do you no good. In the letter Bibulus sent to the senate, he credited to himself alone what was common to both of us: he says he arranged that public money be exchanged at a profitable rate. What was entirely mine - my refusal to use Transpadane auxiliary troops - he also writes that he gave up for the people's benefit. What was wholly his own he shares with me: "when we requested more grain for the auxiliary cavalry," he says.
And then this, the mark of a petty spirit, thin and empty even in malice: because the senate, through me, called Ariobarzanes king and commended him to me, Bibulus in his letter does not call him king but "the son of King Ariobarzanes." Men of this temper become worse when asked for favors.
Still, I have accommodated you and written him a letter. When you receive it, do with it what you like.
CCLXXI (Fam. II, 17) TO GNAEUS SALLUSTIUS (PROQUAESTOR IN SYRIA) TARSUS, 18 JULY: Your orderly delivered me your letter at Tarsus on the 17th of July, and I will now proceed to answer it, as I perceive is your wish, in detail. About my successor I have heard nothing, and I don't think there will be one. There is no reason for my not leaving the province to the day, especially as all fear from the Parthians is removed. I am strongly inclined to stop nowhere. I think I shall go to Rhodes for the sake of the boys, but of even that I am not certain. I wish to arrive outside the city as soon as possible, yet the course of politics and events in Rome will guide the course of my journey. Your successor cannot in any case make such haste as to enable you to meet me in Asia . As to delivering the copies of accounts, your non-delivery of them, for which you say Bibulus gave you licence, is no inconvenience to me: but I scarcely think you are justified in so doing by the Julian law, which Bibulus disregards on a certain settled principle, but which I think you ought certainly to observe. You say that the garrison ought not to have been withdrawn from Apamea ; I see that others think the same, and I am much annoyed that rather unpleasant remarks have been made by my ill-wishers. As to whether the Parthians have crossed or not I perceive that you are the only man who has any doubt. Accordingly, all the garrisons, which I had raised to a state of great effectiveness I have been induced by the positive assertions I hear made to dismiss. As to my quaestor's accounts, it was neither reasonable that I should send them to you, nor were they then made up. I think of depositing them at Apamea . Of the booty taken by me no one, except the quaestors of the city — that is, the Roman people — has touched or will touch a farthing. At Laodicea I think I shall accept sureties for all public money, so that both I and the people may be insured against loss in transit. As to what you say about the 100,000 drachmae, in a matter of that kind no concession to anyone is possible on my part. For every sum of money is either treated as booty, in which case it is administered by the praefecti or it is paid over to me, in which case it is administered by the quaestor. You ask me what my opinion is as to the legions which the senate has ordered for Syria . I had my doubts before about their coming; now I feel no doubt, if news is received in time of there being peace in Syria , that they will not come. I see that Marius , the successor to the province, will be slow in coming precisely because the Senate has decreed that he should accompany the legions. There's the answer to one letter. Now for the second. You ask me to recommend you as earnestly as possible to Bibulus . In this matter inclination on my part is not wanting, but it seems to me to be a proper opportunity for expostulating with you: for you are the only man of all Bibulus 's staff who never informed me of his complete and causeless alienation from me. For a number of people reported to me that, when there was a great alarm at Antioch , and great hopes were entertained of me and my army, he was accustomed to say that they would prefer to endure anything rather than be thought to have wanted my help. I am not at all annoyed that, from the loyalty due from a quaestor to his praetor, you say nothing of this: although I was informed of the treatment you are receiving. He, for his part, when writing to Thermus about the Parthian war, never sent me a line, though he knew that the danger from that war specially affected me. The only subject on which he wrote to me was the augurship of his son: in regard to which I was induced by compassion, and by the friendly feelings I had always entertained to Bibulus , to be at the pains of writing to him with the greatest cordiality. If he is universally ill-natured — which I never thought — I am the less offended by his conduct to me: but if he is on special bad terms with me, a letter from me will do you no good. For instance, in his despatch to the senate, Bibulus took the whole credit for matters in which we both had a share. He says in it that he had secured that the rate of exchange should be to the public advantage. Again — and this is wholly my doing — the declining to employ Transpadane auxiliaries he mentions as a concession of his own, also to the profit of the people. On the other hand, when a thing is entirely his own doing, he brings me into it: “When WE demanded more corn for the auxiliary cavalry” he writes. Surely, again, it is the mark of a small mind, and one which from sheer ill-nature is poor and mean, that because the senate conferred the title of king on Ariobarzanes through me, and commended him to me, he in his despatch does not call him king, but the “son of king Ariobarzanes .” Men of this temper are all the worse if favours are asked of them. Nevertheless, I have yielded to your wish, and have written him a letter, with which you can do what you like when you have received it.
XVII. M. CICERO IMP. S. D. CANINI SALLUSTIO PRO Q Tarsi; c. xv Kal. Sext. 50
Litteras a te mihi [binas] stator tuus reddidit Tarsi a. d. XVI Kal. Sext. his ego ordine, ut videris velle, respondebo. De successore meo nihil audivi neque quemquam fore arbitror. Quin ad diem decedam nulla causa est, praesertim sublato metu Parthico. Commoraturum me nusquam sane arbitror. Rhodum Ciceronum causa puerorum accessurum puto, neque id tamen certum. Ad urbem volo quam primum venire; sed tamen iter meum rei publicae et rerum urbanarum ratio gubernabit. Successor tuus non potest ita maturare ullo modo ut tu me in Asia possis convenire. De rationibus referendis, non erat incommodum te nullam referre, quam tibi scribis a Bibulo fieri potestatem; sed id vix mihi videris per legem Iuliam facere posse, quam Bibulus certa quadam ratione non servat, tibi magno opere servandam censeo. Quod scribis Apamea praesidium deduci non oportuisse, videbam item ceteros existimare molesteque ferebam de ea re minus commodos sermones malevolorum fuisse. Sed Parthi transierint necne praeter te video dubitare neminem. Itaque omnia praesidia, quae magna et firma paraveram, commotus hominum non dubio sermone dimisi. Rationes mei quaestoris nec verum fuit me tibi mittere nec tamen erant confectae. Eas nos Apameae deponere cogitabamus. De praeda mea praeter quaestores urbanos, id est populum Romanum, terruncium nec attigit nec tacturus est quisquam. Laodiceae me praedes accepturum arbitror omnis pecuniae publicae, ut et mihi et populo cautum sit sine vecturae periculo. Quod scribis ad me de drachmum CCCIccc, nihil est quod in isto genere cuiquam possim commodare. Omnis enim pecunia ita tractatur ut praeda a praefectis, quae autem mihi attributa est a quaestore curetur. Quod quaeris quid existimem de legionibus quae decretae sunt in Syriam, antea dubitabam venturaene essent; nunc mihi non est dubium quin, si antea auditum erit otium esse in Syria, venturae non sint. Marium quidem successorem tarde video esse venturum, propterea quod senatus ita decrevit ut cum legionibus iret. Uni epistulae respondi; venio ad alteram. Petis a me ut Bibulo te quam diligentissime commendem. In quo mihi voluntas non deest, sed locus esse videtur tecum etulandi. Solus enim tu ex omnibus qui cum Bibulo sunt certiorem me numquam fecisti quam valde Bibuli voluntas a me sine causa abhorreret. Permulti enim ad me detulerunt, cum magnus Antiocheae metus esset et magna spes in me atque in exercitu meo, solitum dicere quidvis se perpeti malle quam videri eguisse auxilio meo. Quod ego officio quaestorio te adductum reticere de praetore tuo non moleste ferebam, quamquam quem ad modum tractarere audiebam. Ille autem, cum ad Thermum de Parthico bello scriberet, ad me litteram numquam misit, ad quem intellegebat eius belli periculum pertinere. Tantum de auguratu fili sui scripsit ad me; in quo ego misericordia commotus, et quod semper amicissimus Bibulo fui, dedi operam ut ei quam humanissime scriberem. Ille si in omnis est malevolus, quod numquam existimavi, minus offendor in me; sin autem a me est alienior, nihil tibi meae litterae proderunt. Nam ad senatum quas Bibulus litteras misit, in iis, quod mihi cum illo erat commune sibi soli attribuit; se ait curasse ut cum quaestu populi pecunia permutaretur. Quod autem meum erat proprium, ut alariis Transpadanis uti negarem, id etiam populo se remisisse scribit. Quod vero illius erat solius id mecum communicat: 'equitibus auxiliariis' inquit 'cum amplius frumenti postularemus.' Illud vero pusilli animi et in ipsa malevolentia ieiuni atque inanis, quod Ariobarzanem, quia senatus per me regem appellavit mihique commendavit, iste in litteris non regem sed regis Ariobarzanis filium appellat. Hoc animo qui sunt deteriores fiunt rogati. sed tibi morem gessi, litteras ad eum scripsi. quas cum acceperis, facies quod voles.
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Your orderly delivered two letters from you to me at Tarsus on July 17. I will answer them in order, as you seem to want.
About my successor, I have heard nothing, and I do not think there will be one. There is no reason why I should not leave on the appointed day, especially now that fear of the Parthians has been removed. I do not really think I will stop anywhere. I may go to Rhodes for the sake of the boys, but even that is uncertain. I want to reach the city as soon as possible; still, my journey will be governed by the condition of the republic and affairs in Rome.
Your successor cannot possibly hurry so much that you could meet me in Asia. About filing accounts, it was no inconvenience to me that you filed none, as you write Bibulus allowed you to do. But I hardly think you can do that under the Julian law. Bibulus does not observe it for a definite reason of his own; I think you should observe it very carefully.
You write that the garrison ought not to have been withdrawn from Apamea. I saw that others thought the same, and I was annoyed that hostile people had made rather unfavorable remarks about the matter. But apart from you, I see no one who doubts whether the Parthians crossed the river. So, moved by the certain talk of men, I dismissed all the garrisons I had prepared, large and strong as they were.
It would not have been proper for me to send you my quaestor's accounts, and in any case they were not finished. We were thinking of depositing them at Apamea. As for my booty, no one has touched, or will touch, a penny of it except the urban quaestors - that is, the Roman people. At Laodicea I think I will accept sureties for all public money, so that both I and the people are protected without the risk of transport.
As for what you write about the 100,000 drachmas, in that kind of matter I cannot accommodate anyone. All money is handled in one of two ways: booty is managed by the prefects, while money assigned to me is handled by the quaestor.
You ask what I think about the legions decreed for Syria. Earlier I doubted whether they would come. Now I have no doubt that, if news arrives first that Syria is quiet, they will not come. I see that Marius, the successor, will arrive late, because the senate decreed that he should go with the legions.
That answers one letter. Now I come to the other.
You ask me to recommend you to Bibulus as carefully as possible. I do not lack goodwill in this, but it seems a good moment to complain to you. You alone, of all those with Bibulus, never informed me how strongly and groundlessly Bibulus's attitude recoiled from me. Many people told me that when Antioch was in great fear and great hope rested on me and my army, he used to say he would rather endure anything than seem to have needed my help.
I was not annoyed that your duty as quaestor led you to keep silent about your praetor, although I heard how you were being treated. But when he wrote to Thermus about the Parthian war, he never sent a line to me, though he understood that the danger of that war concerned me. He wrote to me only about his son's augurship. Moved by pity, and because I had always been very friendly to Bibulus, I took pains to write to him as kindly as possible.
If he is malicious toward everyone, which I never thought, I am less offended by his conduct toward me. But if he is particularly estranged from me, my letter will do you no good. In the letter Bibulus sent to the senate, he credited to himself alone what was common to both of us: he says he arranged that public money be exchanged at a profitable rate. What was entirely mine - my refusal to use Transpadane auxiliary troops - he also writes that he gave up for the people's benefit. What was wholly his own he shares with me: "when we requested more grain for the auxiliary cavalry," he says.
And then this, the mark of a petty spirit, thin and empty even in malice: because the senate, through me, called Ariobarzanes king and commended him to me, Bibulus in his letter does not call him king but "the son of King Ariobarzanes." Men of this temper become worse when asked for favors.
Still, I have accommodated you and written him a letter. When you receive it, do with it what you like.
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
XVII. M. CICERO IMP. S. D. CANINI SALLUSTIO PRO Q Tarsi; c. xv Kal. Sext. 50
Litteras a te mihi [binas] stator tuus reddidit Tarsi a. d. XVI Kal. Sext. his ego ordine, ut videris velle, respondebo. De successore meo nihil audivi neque quemquam fore arbitror. Quin ad diem decedam nulla causa est, praesertim sublato metu Parthico. Commoraturum me nusquam sane arbitror. Rhodum Ciceronum causa puerorum accessurum puto, neque id tamen certum. Ad urbem volo quam primum venire; sed tamen iter meum rei publicae et rerum urbanarum ratio gubernabit. Successor tuus non potest ita maturare ullo modo ut tu me in Asia possis convenire. De rationibus referendis, non erat incommodum te nullam referre, quam tibi scribis a Bibulo fieri potestatem; sed id vix mihi videris per legem Iuliam facere posse, quam Bibulus certa quadam ratione non servat, tibi magno opere servandam censeo. Quod scribis Apamea praesidium deduci non oportuisse, videbam item ceteros existimare molesteque ferebam de ea re minus commodos sermones malevolorum fuisse. Sed Parthi transierint necne praeter te video dubitare neminem. Itaque omnia praesidia, quae magna et firma paraveram, commotus hominum non dubio sermone dimisi. Rationes mei quaestoris nec verum fuit me tibi mittere nec tamen erant confectae. Eas nos Apameae deponere cogitabamus. De praeda mea praeter quaestores urbanos, id est populum Romanum, terruncium nec attigit nec tacturus est quisquam. Laodiceae me praedes accepturum arbitror omnis pecuniae publicae, ut et mihi et populo cautum sit sine vecturae periculo. Quod scribis ad me de drachmum CCCIccc, nihil est quod in isto genere cuiquam possim commodare. Omnis enim pecunia ita tractatur ut praeda a praefectis, quae autem mihi attributa est a quaestore curetur. Quod quaeris quid existimem de legionibus quae decretae sunt in Syriam, antea dubitabam venturaene essent; nunc mihi non est dubium quin, si antea auditum erit otium esse in Syria, venturae non sint. Marium quidem successorem tarde video esse venturum, propterea quod senatus ita decrevit ut cum legionibus iret. Uni epistulae respondi; venio ad alteram. Petis a me ut Bibulo te quam diligentissime commendem. In quo mihi voluntas non deest, sed locus esse videtur tecum etulandi. Solus enim tu ex omnibus qui cum Bibulo sunt certiorem me numquam fecisti quam valde Bibuli voluntas a me sine causa abhorreret. Permulti enim ad me detulerunt, cum magnus Antiocheae metus esset et magna spes in me atque in exercitu meo, solitum dicere quidvis se perpeti malle quam videri eguisse auxilio meo. Quod ego officio quaestorio te adductum reticere de praetore tuo non moleste ferebam, quamquam quem ad modum tractarere audiebam. Ille autem, cum ad Thermum de Parthico bello scriberet, ad me litteram numquam misit, ad quem intellegebat eius belli periculum pertinere. Tantum de auguratu fili sui scripsit ad me; in quo ego misericordia commotus, et quod semper amicissimus Bibulo fui, dedi operam ut ei quam humanissime scriberem. Ille si in omnis est malevolus, quod numquam existimavi, minus offendor in me; sin autem a me est alienior, nihil tibi meae litterae proderunt. Nam ad senatum quas Bibulus litteras misit, in iis, quod mihi cum illo erat commune sibi soli attribuit; se ait curasse ut cum quaestu populi pecunia permutaretur. Quod autem meum erat proprium, ut alariis Transpadanis uti negarem, id etiam populo se remisisse scribit. Quod vero illius erat solius id mecum communicat: 'equitibus auxiliariis' inquit 'cum amplius frumenti postularemus.' Illud vero pusilli animi et in ipsa malevolentia ieiuni atque inanis, quod Ariobarzanem, quia senatus per me regem appellavit mihique commendavit, iste in litteris non regem sed regis Ariobarzanis filium appellat. Hoc animo qui sunt deteriores fiunt rogati. sed tibi morem gessi, litteras ad eum scripsi. quas cum acceperis, facies quod voles.