Letter 2: Cicero writes to Quintus in Asia from Rome in 26 October 59 BC.

Written in the month of November (between the 25th of October and the 19th of November), in the year 695 from the founding of the city. MARCUS TO HIS BROTHER QUINTUS, GREETINGS. I. 1. Statius reached me on the 25th of October. His arrival caused me distress, because you had written that you would be plundered by your own household while he was away; but the fact that he forestalled the eager anticipation of him, and the throng that would have gathered, if he had left the province together with you and had not appeared beforehand, that struck me as no inconvenient turn of events. For people's talk has been used up, and many such cries have already been let loose, of the kind, 'No, but I had looked for some great man' [a tag from the Greek poets]; and I am glad these have all been done with in your absence. 2. But as for his having been sent by you on this account, to clear himself with me, that was not in the least necessary. For, to begin with, he was never an object of suspicion to me; nor did I write to you about him from my own judgment. Rather, since the standing and safety of all of us who enter public life rest not on truth alone but also on reputation, I have always written to you the talk of others, not my own opinions. And how frequent and how serious that talk was, Statius himself recognized on his arrival; for he came in upon the complaints of several persons, which were being voiced at my house about that very man, and he was able to perceive that the talk of the ill-disposed was bursting out against his own name in particular. 3. But what used to disturb me most was when I heard that he had more influence with you than the dignity of that period of life, of your command, and of sound judgment demanded. For how many men, do you suppose, have approached me to recommend them to Statius? And how many things has the man himself, securely [originally in Greek: 'asphalos'], in conversation with me, put in such terms as, 'That did not please me; I advised, I urged, I dissuaded'? In which matters, even if his loyalty is of the highest, as I fully believe, since you so judge, nevertheless the mere appearance of so influential a freedman or slave can carry no dignity. And take this as certain, for I ought neither to speak rashly nor cunningly to keep silent: Statius supplied all the material for the talk of those who wished to disparage you. Before, it could only be understood that some were angry at your strictness; once he was manumitted, the angry did not lack something to talk about. II. 4. Now I will reply to those letters which L. Caesius delivered to me, the man whom, since I understand you wish it, I will not fail in any respect. One of them concerns Zeuxis of Blaundus, whom you write was most intimately recommended to you by me, a most assured matricide. On this matter, and on this whole class of business, learn a few things, lest perhaps you wonder that I have become so ingratiating toward Greeks. Since I perceived that the complaints of the Greeks carried too much weight, on account of men's natures being prepared for deceit, whoever I heard complaining of you, I appeased by whatever means I could. First I soothed the Dionysopolitans, who were most hostile, whose chief man Hermippus I bound to me not only by my conversation but even by friendship; I won over Hephaestius of Apamea, I embraced with all my courtesy that most worthless man, Megaristus of Antandrus, and Nicias of Smyrna, and the greatest trifles of men, even Nymphon of Colophon. All this I did, not because either these men or the whole nation gave me any pleasure; I am thoroughly weary of their fickleness, their flattery, their dispositions that serve not our good offices but the times. 5. But, to return to Zeuxis: when he was repeating the very things you write about, from a conversation he had had with M. Cascellius, I stopped his talk and received the man into friendship. But what your great eagerness was, I do not know, since you write that, because you had sewn up two Mysians in the sack at Smyrna, you desired to set a similar example of your severity in the upper part of the province, and that on this account you had wished by every means to lure Zeuxis out. Once brought into court he perhaps ought not to have been let go; but to hunt him down and lure him by flatteries, as you write, to trial, there was no necessity, especially a man whom I, both from his fellow citizens and from many others, come to know daily as more distinguished, almost, than his own city. 6. 'But it is only to Greeks that I show indulgence.' What? Did I not by every means appease L. Caecilius? What a man! With what anger! With what spirit! Whom, in short, except Tuscenius, whose case cannot be healed, have I not soothed? Look, here above my head is a worthless and sordid fellow, but still of equestrian census, Catienus: he too will be calmed. As for your having been rather harsh toward his father, I do not blame you, for I know for certain that you acted with cause; but what need was there of a letter of the sort you sent to the man himself? 'That he was setting up for himself the very cross from which you had earlier pulled him down; that you would see to it that he was burned in an oven, while the whole province applauded.' And what of this? To one C. Fabius, I know not who, for T. Catienus is carrying that letter around too: 'It is reported to you that the kidnapper Licinius, with his little kite-chick, is collecting the tributes.' Then you ask Fabius to burn both father and son alive, if he can; if not, to send them to you, so that they may be burned by legal sentence. Those letters, sent by you in jest to C. Fabius, if indeed they are yours, have, when they are read, an odious savagery of language. 7. And if you will go back over the precepts of all my letters with me, you will understand that nothing has been censured by me except harshness and irascibility of speech and, occasionally and rarely, carelessness in the letters you send. In which matters, indeed, if my authority had prevailed with you more than your nature, somewhat too sharp, or a certain sweetness in indulging anger, or the wit and pleasantries of your speech, there would surely be nothing for us to regret. And do you suppose I am affected with only a moderate pain, when I hear in what esteem C. Vergilius is held, and your neighbor C. Octavius? For if you set yourself above your more interior neighbors, the one in Cilicia and the one in Syria, you make much indeed of yourself! And this is the grief, that, although those whom I have named do not surpass you in innocence, they nevertheless surpass you in the art of winning goodwill, men who know neither the Cyrus of Xenophon nor Agesilaus, kings from whom, in the highest exercise of command, no one ever heard any harsher word. III. 8. But I am not unaware of how much I have accomplished by giving you these precepts from the start; yet now, as you are departing, which you seem to me already to be doing, leave behind, I beg, as pleasant a memory of yourself as possible. You have a most agreeable successor; in other respects your qualities will be much missed at his coming. In sending letters, as I have often written to you, you have shown yourself too easily prevailed upon: remove all the inequitable ones, if you can; remove the irregular ones; remove the contradictory ones. Statius told me that letters written to you used to be brought in, read by him, and, if they were inequitable, you were informed of it; but that before he himself came to you, there had been no sifting of letters; and that from this came volumes of selected letters which were regularly criticized. 9. On this class I give you no warning now, for it is too late, and you can be aware that I have warned you many times, in various ways and carefully. Yet this one thing, which I entrusted to Theopompus when I had been reminded of it by him: see, through men who love you, which is easy, that these classes of letters be removed, first the inequitable, then the contradictory, then those written absurdly and irregularly, and finally those insulting to anyone. And for my part I do not think these things are as great as I hear, and, if owing to your occupations they have been less noticed, look into it now and purge it. I have read a letter said to have been written by your nomenclator Sulla himself, not to be approved; I have read several angry ones. 10. But on letters in due time; for, while I was holding this very page, L. Flavius, the praetor-designate, came to me, a man very close to me. He told me that you had sent letters to his agents, which seemed to me most inequitable, that they should diminish nothing from the goods which had belonged to L. Octavius Naso, of whom L. Flavius is heir, before they had paid the money to C. Fundanius; and likewise that you had sent word to the people of Apollonis not to allow anything to be diminished from the goods that had been Octavius's, before the debt was paid to Fundanius. These things do not seem likely to me, for they are utterly remote from your good sense. 'Let the heir diminish nothing?' What if he denies the debt? What if he owes nothing at all? What? Is it the praetor's habit to judge that a debt is owed? What? Do I not wish Fundanius well? Am I not his friend? Am I not moved by compassion? No one more so; but the force of law in certain matters is such that there is no room for favor. And so Flavius told me it was written in that letter, which he said was yours, that you would either give thanks to your friends, as it were, or do harm to your enemies, as it were. 11. In short, he took it hard, complained of it to me vehemently, and begged that I write to you as carefully as possible: which I am doing, and I do indeed, again and again, vehemently ask you both to relax your injunction to Flavius's agents about diminishing, and not to write anything further to the people of Apollonis that is against Flavius; and that for Flavius's sake, and of course for Pompey's, you will do everything. I do not, upon my honor, wish to seem generous to him at the expense of your own wrong, but I beg you yourself to leave behind some authority and some memorial of a decree or of a letter of yours, suited to Flavius's interest and his cause. For the man, both most attentive to me and tenacious of his own right and dignity, takes it hard that with you he has prevailed neither by friendship nor by law; and, as I think, both Pompey and Caesar at some point commended Flavius's affairs to you, and Flavius himself had written to you, and I certainly had. Therefore, if there is any matter which you think should be done at my asking, let it be this. If you love me, take care, labor, accomplish it, so that Flavius gives the greatest possible thanks both to you and to me: this I ask of you in such a way that I could not ask with greater zeal. IV. 12. As to what you write to me about Hermias, it was, by Hercules, very distressing to me. I had written you a letter not brotherly enough, which, stirred by the talk of Diodotus, Lucullus's freedman, about the agreement, I had at once written rather angrily, as soon as I had heard of it, and was longing to recall; for this letter, not written in a brotherly way, you in a brotherly way ought to pardon. 13. As to Censorinus, Antonius, the Cassii, Scaevola, that you are esteemed by them, as you write, I rejoice exceedingly. The other contents of that same letter were more severe than I could wish: 'with my ship trimmed' and 'to die once for all' [both originally in Greek]. Those phrases are too grand; my rebukes were most full of affection. I complained of some things, but still moderate and rather trivial ones. I should never have thought you deserving of the least reproach in any matter, since you conducted yourself most blamelessly, were it not that we have many enemies. Whatever I have written to you with some admonition or rebuke, I wrote out of the diligence of my own caution, in which I both remain and shall remain, and I shall not cease asking you to do the same. 14. Attalus of Hypaepa pressed me that you should not hinder the disbursement of what was decreed for the statue of Q. Publicenus: which I both ask and urge upon you, that you not wish the honor of such a man, and so close a connection of ours, to be diminished or hindered through you. Besides, Licinius, the slave of Aesopus, our intimate, a slave known to you, has run away: at Athens he passed himself off as a free man at the house of Patron the Epicurean; from there he came into Asia; afterward a certain Plato of Sardis, an Epicurean, who is regularly much at Athens and who had been at Athens at the time when Licinius arrived there, having afterward learned from Aesopus's letters that the man was a runaway, seized him and handed him over into custody at Ephesus, but whether into the public prison or into the mill, we could not sufficiently understand from his letter. Since he is at Ephesus, however it stands, I would like you to track the man down and, with the utmost diligence, either send him on or bring him back with you. Do not regard how much the man is worth; for he is of little value, who is now of no value; but Aesopus is so afflicted with grief over the slave's wickedness and audacity that you can do nothing more welcome to him than if he recovers the man through you. V. 15. Now learn the things you most long for. We have utterly lost the Republic, so much so that C. Cato, a young man of no judgment, but still a Roman citizen and a Cato, barely escaped with his life; for, when he wished to prosecute Gabinius for electoral bribery, and the praetors could not be approached for some days nor would they grant him a hearing, he climbed onto the speaker's platform and called Pompey 'a dictator without office.' Nothing came nearer than that he should be killed. From this you can see what the state of the whole Republic is. 16. Nevertheless men do not seem likely to fail our cause: in a wonderful manner they declare themselves, offer themselves, make promises. For my part I am filled with the greatest hope, and with even greater spirit: hope, that we shall come out on top; spirit, that in this state of the Republic I do not dread even any mischance. But still the situation stands thus: if Clodius names a day for me [i.e. brings a charge], all Italy will rush together, so that we shall come away with our glory multiplied; but if he tries to act by force, I hope it will come about, through the zeal not only of friends but even of strangers, that we resist force with force. All promise both themselves and their friends, clients, freedmen, slaves, and finally their money. Our old band of loyalists burns with zeal for us and with love; if any before had been somewhat estranged or somewhat lukewarm, now from hatred of these despots they join themselves with the loyalists. Pompey promises everything, and so does Caesar, whom I believe in such a way that I diminish nothing of my own preparations. The tribunes of the plebs designate are friendly to us; the consuls show themselves excellent; we have as praetors most friendly men and most vigorous citizens, Domitius, Nigidius, Memmius, Lentulus; others too are loyal, but these are outstanding. Therefore see that you keep a great spirit and good hope; yet about the particular matters that are transacted daily, I will keep you frequently informed.

Statius arrived at my house on the 25th October. His arrival gave me uneasiness, because you said in your letter that you would be plundered by your household in his absence. However, I thought it a very happy circumstance that he anticipated the expectation of his arrival, and the company that would have assembled to meet him, if he had left the province with you, and had not appeared before. For people have exhausted their remarks, and many observations have been made and done with of the "Nay, but I looked for a mighty man" kind, which I am glad to have all over before you come. But as for the motive for your sending him--that he might clear himself with me--that was not at all necessary. For, to begin with, I had never suspected him, nor in what I wrote to you about him was I expressing my own judgment; but since the interest and safety of all of us who take part in public business depends, not on truth alone, but on report also, I wrote you word of what people were saying, not what I thought myself. How prevalent and how formidable that talk was Statius ascertained himself on his arrival. For he was present when certain persons at my house gave vent to some complaints on that very subject, and had the opportunity of perceiving that the observations of the malevolent were being directed at himself especially. But it used to annoy me most when I was told that he had greater influence with you, than your sober time of life and the wisdom of a governor required. How many people, do you suppose, have solicited me to give them a letter of introduction to Statius? How often, do you suppose, has he himself, while talking without reserve to me, made such observations as, "I never approved of that," "I told him so," "I tried to persuade him," "I warned him not to"? And even if these things show the highest fidelity, as I believe they do, since that is your judgment, yet the mere appearance of a freedman or slave enjoying such influence cannot but lower your dignity: and the long and short of it is--for I am in duty bound not to say anything without good grounds, nor to keep back anything from motives of policy--that Statius has supplied all the material for the gossip of those who wished to decry you; that formerly all that could be made out was that certain persons were angry at your strictness; but that after his manumission the angry had something to talk about. Now I will answer the letters delivered to me by L. Caesius, whom, as I see you wish it, I will serve in every way I can. One of them is about Zeuxis of Blaundus, whom you say was warmly recommended to you by me though a most notorious matricide. In this matter, and on this subject generally, please listen to a short statement, lest you should by chance be surprised at my having become so conciliatory towards Greeks. Seeing, as I did, that the complaints of Greeks, because they have a genius for deceit, were allowed an excessive weight, whenever I was told of any of them making complaint of you, I appeased them by every means in my power. First, I pacified the Dionysopolitans, who were very bitter: whose chief man, Hermippus, I secured not only by my conversation, but by treating him as a friend. I did the same to Hephaestus of Apameia; the same to that most untrustworthy fellow, Megaristus of Antandrus; the same to Nicias of Smyrna; I also embraced with all the courtesy I possessed the most trumpery of men, even Nymphon of Colophon. And all this I did from no liking for these particular people, or the nation as a whole: I was heartily sick of their fickleness and obsequiousness, of feelings that are not affected by our kindness, but by our position. But to return to Zeuxis. When he was telling me the same story as you mention in your letter about what M. Cascellius had said to him in conversation, I stopped him from farther talk, and admitted him to my society. I cannot, however, understand your virulence when you say that, having sewn up in the parricide's-sack two Mysians at Smyrna, you desired to display a similar example of your severity in the upper part of your province, and that, therefore, you had wished to inveigle Zeuxis into your hands by every possible means. For if he had been brought into court, he ought perhaps not to have been allowed to escape: but there was no necessity for his being hunted out and inveigled by soft words to stand a trial, as you say in your letter--especially as he is one whom I learn daily, both from his fellow citizens and from many others, to be a man of higher character than you would expect from such an obscure town as his. But, you will say, it is only Greeks to whom I am indulgent. What! did not I do everything to appease L. Caecilius? What a man! how irritable! how violent! In fact, who is there except Tuscenius, whose case admitted of no cure, have I not softened? See again, I have now on my hands a shifty, mean fellow, though of equestrian rank, called Catienus: even he is going to be smoothed down. I don't blame you for having been somewhat harsh to his father, for I am quite sure you have acted with good reason: but what need was there of a letter of the sort which you sent to the man himself? "That the man was rearing the cross for himself from which you had already pulled him off once; that you would take care to have him smoked to death, and would be applauded by the whole province for it." Again, to a man named C. Fabius--for that letter also T. Catienus is handing round--"that you were told that the kidnapper Licinius, with his young kite of a son, was collecting taxes." And then you go on to ask Fabius to burn both father and son alive if he can; if not, to send them to you, that they may be burnt to death by legal sentence. That letter sent by you in jest to C. Fabius, if it really is from you, exhibits to ordinary readers a violence of language very injurious to you. Now, if you will refer to the exhortations in all my letters, you will perceive that I have never found fault with you for anything except harshness and sharpness of temper, and occasionally, though rarely, for want of caution in the letters you write. In which particulars, indeed, if my influence had had greater weight with you than a somewhat excessive quickness of disposition, or a certain enjoyment in indulging temper, or a faculty for epigram and a sense of humour, we should certainly have had no cause for dissatisfaction. And don't you suppose that I feel no common vexation when I am told how Vergilius is esteemed, and your neighbour C. Octavius? I For if you only excel your neighbours farther up country, in Cilicia and Syria, that is a pretty thing to boast of! And that is just the sting of the matter, that though the men I have named are not more blameless than yourself, they yet outdo you in the art of winning favour, though they know nothing of Xenophon's Cyrus or Agesilaus; from which kings, in the exercise of their great office, no one ever heard an irritable word. But in giving you this advice, as I have from the first, I am well aware how much good I have done. Now, however, as you are about to quit your province, pray do leave behind you--as I think you are now doing--as pleasant a memory as possible. You have a successor of very mild manners; in other respects, on his arrival, you will be much missed. In sending letters of requisition, as I have often told you, you have allowed yourself to be too easily persuaded. Destroy, if you can, all such as are inequitable, or contrary to usage, or contradictory to others. Statius told me that they were usually put before you ready written, read by himself, and that, if they were inequitable, he informed you of the fact: but that before he entered your service there had been no sifting of letters; that the result was that there were volumes containing a selection of letters, which were usually adversely criticised. On this subject I am not going to give you any advice at this time of day, for it is too late; and you cannot but be aware that I have often warned you in various ways and with precision. But I have, on a hint from Theopompus, entrusted him with this message to you: do see by means of persons attached to you, which you will find no difficulty in doing, that the following classes of letters are destroyed--first, those that are inequitable; next, those that are contradictory; then those expressed in an eccentric or unusual manner; and lastly, those that contain reflections on anyone. I don't believe all I hear about these matters, and if, in the multiplicity of your engagements, you have let certain things escape you, now is the time to look into them and weed them out. I have read a letter said to have been written by your nomenclator Sulla himself, which I cannot approve: I have read some written in an angry spirit. But the subject of letters comes in pat: for while this sheet of paper was actually in my hands, L. Flavius, praetor-designate and a very intimate friend, came to see me. He told me that you had sent a letter to his agents, which seemed to me most inequitable, prohibiting them from taking anything from the estate of the late L. Octavius Naso, whose heir L. Flavius is, until they had paid a sum of money to C. Fundanius; and that you had sent a similar letter to the Apollonidenses, not to allow any payment on account of the estate of the late Octavius till the debt to Fundanius had been discharged. It seems to me hardly likely that you have done this; for it is quite unlike your usual good sense. The heir not to take anything? What if he disowns the debt? What if he doesn't owe it at all? Moreover, is the praetor wont to decide whether a debt is due? Don't I, again, wish well to Fundanius? Am I not his friend? Am I not touched with compassion? No one more so: but in certain matters the course of law is so clear as to leave no place for personal feeling. And Flavius told me that expressions were used in the letter, which he said was yours, to the effect that you would "either thank them as friends, or make yourself disagreeable to them as enemies." In short, he was much annoyed, complained of it to me in strong terms, and begged me to write to you as seriously as I could. This I am doing, and I do strongly urge you again and again to withdraw your injunction to Flavius's agents about taking money from the estate, and not to lay any farther injunction on the Apollonidenses contrary to the rights of Flavius. Pray do everything you can for the sake of Flavius and, indeed, of Pompey also. I would not, upon my honour, have you think me liberal to him at the expense of any inequitable decision on your part: but I do entreat you to leave behind you some authority, and some memorandum of a decree or of a letter under your hand, so framed as to support the interests and cause of Flavius. For the man, who is at once very attentive to me, and tenacious of his own rights and dignity, is feeling extremely hurt that he has not prevailed with you either on the grounds of personal friendship or of legal right; and, to the best of my belief, both Pompey and Caesar have, at one time or another, commended the interests of Flavius to you, and Flavius has written to you personally, and certainly I have. Wherefore, if there is anything which you think you ought to do at my request, let it be this. If you love me, take every care, take every trouble, and insure Flavius's cordial thanks both to yourself and myself. I cannot use greater earnestness in making any request than I use in this. As to what you say about Hermias, it has been in truth a cause of much vexation to me. I wrote you a letter in a rather unbrotherly spirit, which I dashed off in a fit of anger and now wish to recall, having been irritated by what Lucullus's freedman told me, immediately after hearing of the bargain. For this letter, which was not expressed in a brotherly way, you ought to have brotherly feeling enough to make allowance. As to Censorinus, Antonius, the Cassii, Scaevola--I am delighted to hear from you that you possess their friendship. The other contents of that same letter of yours were expressed more strongly than I could have wished, such as your "with my ship at least well trimmed" and your "die once for all." You will find those expressions to be unnecessarily strong. My scoldings have always been very full of affection. They mention certain things for complaint, but these are not important, or rather, are quite insignificant. For my part, I should never have thought you deserving of the least blame in any respect, considering the extreme purity of your conduct, had it not been that our enemies are numerous. Whatever I have written to you in a tone of remonstrance or reproach I have written from a vigilant caution, which I maintain, and shall maintain; and I shall not cease imploring you to do the same. Attalus of Hypaepa has begged me to intercede with you that you should not prevent his getting the money paid which has been decreed for a statue of Q. Publicius. In which matter I both ask as a favour and urge as a duty, that you should not consent to allow the honour of a man of his character, and so close a friend of mine, to be lowered or hindered by your means. Furthermore, Licinius, who is known to you, a slave of my friend Aesopus, has run away. He has been at Athens, living in the house of Patron the Epicurean as a free man. Thence he has made his way to Asia. Afterwards a certain Plato of Sardis, who is often at Athens, and happened to be at Athens at the time that Licinius arrived there, having subsequently learnt by a letter from Aesopus that he was an escaped slave, arrested the fellow, and put him into confinement at Ephesus; but whether into the public prison, or into a slave mill, we could not clearly make out from his letter. But since he is at Ephesus, I should be obliged if you would trace him in any manner open to you, and with all care either [send him] or bring him home with you. Don't take into consideration the fellow's value: such a good-for-nothing is worth very little; but Aesopus is so much vexed at his slave's bad conduct and audacity, that you can do him no greater favour than by being the means of his recovering him. Now for the news that you chiefly desire. We have so completely lost the constitution that Cato, a young man of no sense, but yet a Roman citizen and a Cato, scarcely got off with his life because, having determined to prosecute Gabinius for bribery, when the praetors could not be approached for several days, and refused to admit anyone to their presence, he mounted the rostra in public meeting and called Pompey an "unofficial dictator." No one ever had a narrower escape of being killed. From this you may see the state of the whole Republic. People, however, show no inclination to desert my cause. They make wonderful professions, offers of service, and promises: and, indeed, I have the highest hopes and even greater spirit--so that I hope to get the better in the struggle, and feel confident in my mind that, in the present state of the Republic, I need not fear even an accident. However, the matter stands thus: if Clodius gives notice of an action against me, the whole of Italy will rush to my support, so that I shall come off with many times greater glory than before; but if he attempts the use of violence, I hope, by the zeal not only of friends but also of opponents, to be able to meet force with force. All promise me the aid of themselves, their friends, clients, freedmen, slaves, and, finally, of their money. Our old regiment of loyalists is warm in its zeal and attachment to me. If there were any who had formerly been comparatively hostile or lukewarm, they are now uniting themselves with the loyalists from hatred to these despots. Pompey makes every sort of promise, and so does Caesar: but my confidence in them is not enough to induce me to drop any of my preparations. The tribunes-designate are friendly to us. The consuls-designate make excellent professions. Some of the new praetors are very friendly and very brave citizens-Domitius, Nigidius, Memmius, Lentulus--the others are loyalists also, but these are eminently so. Wherefore keep a good heart and high hopes. However, I will keep you constantly informed on particular events as they occur from day to day.

III. Scr. mense Novembri (inter VIII. Kal. Nov. et XIII. Kal. Dec.) a.u.c. 695. MARCUS QUINTO FRATRI SAL. I. 1. Statius ad me venit a.d. VIII. K. Novembr. Eius adventus, quod ita scripsisti, direptum iri te a tuis, dum is abesset, molestus mihi fuit; quod autem exspectationem sui concursumque eum, qui erat futurus, si una tecum decederet neque antea visus esset, sustulit, id mihi non incommode visum est accidisse; exhaustus est enim sermo hominum et multae emissae iam eiusmodi voces, Žll' a?e¤ tina f«vta m°gan: quae te absente confecta esse laetor. 2. Quod autem idcirco a te missus est, mihi ut se purgaret, id necesse minime fuit; primum enim numquam ille mihi fuit suspectus, neque ego, quae ad te de illo scripsi, scripsi meo iudicio, sed, cum ratio salusque omnium nostrum, qui ad rem publicam accedimus, non veritate solum, sed etiam famam niteretur, sermones ad te aliorum semper, non mea iudicia perscripsi: qui quidem quam frequentes essent et quam graves, adventu suo Statius ipse cognovit; etenim intervenit nonnullorum querelis, quae apud me de illo ipso habebantur, et sentire potuit sermones iniquorum in suum potissimum nomen erumpere. 3. Quod autem me maxime movere solebat, cum audiebam illum plus apud te posse, quam gravitas istius aetatis, imperii, prudentiae postularet—quam multos enim mecum egisse putas, ut se Statio commendarem? quam multa autem ipsum Žsfal«w mecum in sermone ita posuisse: "id mihi non placuit; monui, suasi, deterrui?" quibus in rebus etiamsi fidelitas summa est, quod prorsus credo, quoniam tu ita iudicas, tamen species ipsa tam gratiosi liberti aut servi dignitatem habere nullam potest—. Atque hoc sic habeto—nihil enim nec temere dicere nec astute reticere debeo—, materiam omnem sermonem eorum, qui de te detrahere vellent, Statium dedisse: antea tantum intelligi potuisse iratos tuae severitati esse nonnullos, hoc manumisso iratis, quod loquerentur, non defuisse. II. 4. Nunc respondebo ad eas epistulas, quas mihi reddidit L. Caesius—cui, quoniam ita te velle intelligo, nullo loco deero—; quarum altera est de Blaudeno Zeuxide, quem scribis certissimum matricidam tibi a me intime commendari. Qua de re et de hoc genere toto, ne forte me in Graecos tam ambitiosum factum esse mirere, pauca cognosce. Ego cum Graecorum querelas nimium valere sentirem propter hominum ingenia ad fallendum parata, quoscumque de te queri audivi, quacumque potui ratione, placavi. Primum Dionysopolitas, qui erant inimicissimi, lenivi, quorum principem Hermippum non solum sermone meo, sed etiam familiaritate devinxi; ego Apamensem Hephaestium, ego levissimum hominem, Megaristum Antandrium, ego Niciam Smyrnaeum, ego nugas maximas omni mea comitate complexus sum, Nymphontem etiam Colophonium: quae feci omnia, non quo me aut hi homines aut tota natio delectaret: pertaesum est levitatis, assentationis, animorum non officiis, sed temporibus servientium. 5. Sed, ut ad Zeuxim revertar, cum is de M. Cascellii sermone secum habito, quae tu scribis, ea ipsa loqueretur, obstiti eius ermoni et hominem in familiaritatem recepi. Tua autem quae fuerit cupiditas tanta, nescio, quod scribis cupisse te, quoniam Smyrnae duos Mysos insuisses in culleum, simile in superiore parte provinciae edere exemplum severitatis tuae et idcirco Zeuxim elicere omni ratione voluisse ultra quem adductum in iudicium fortasse dimitti non oportuerat, conquiri vero et elici blanditiis, ut tu scribis, ad iudicium necesse non fuit, eum praesertim hominem, quem ego et ex suis civibus et ex multis aliis quotidie magis cognosco nobiliorem esse prope quam civitatem suam. 6. "At enim Graecis solis indulgeo." Quid? L. Caecilium nonne omni ratione placavi? quem hominem! qua ira! quo spiritu! quem denique praeter Tuscenium, cuius causa sanari non potest, non mitigavi? Ecce supra caput homo levis ac sordidus, sed tamen equestri censu, Catienus: etiam is lenietur; cuius tu in patrem quod fuisti asperior, non reprehendo; certo enim scio te fecisse cum causa; sed quid opus fuit eiusmodi litteris, quas ad ipsum misisti? "illum crucem sibi ipsum constituere, ex qua tu eum ante detraxisses; te curaturum, in furno ut combureretur, plaudente tota provincia." Quid vero? ad C. Fabium nescio quem—nam eam quoque epistulam T. Catienus circumgestat—: "renuntiari tibi Licinium plagiarium cum suo pullo milvino tributa exigere." Deinde rogas Fabium, ut et patrem et filium vivos comburat, si possit; si minus, ad te mittat, uti iudicio comburantur. Eae litterae abs te per iocum missae ad C. Fabium, si modo sunt tuae, cum leguntur, invidiosam atrocitatem verborum habent; 7. ac, si omnium mecum praecepta litterarum repetes, intelliges esse nihil a me nisi orationis acerbitatem et iracundiam et, si forte, raro litterarum missarum indiligentiam reprehensam; quibus quidem in rebus si apud te plus auctoritas mea quam tua sive natura paullo acrior sive quaedam dulcedo iracundiae sive dicendi sal facetiaeque valuissent, nihil sane esset, quod nos poeniteret. Et mediocri me dolore putas affici, cum audiam, qua sit existimatione C. Vergilius, qua tuus vicinus C. Octavius? nam, si te interioribus vicinis tuis, Ciliciensi et Syriaco, anteponis, valde magni facis! atque is dolor est, quod, cum ii, quos nominavi, te innocentia non vincant, vincunt tamen artificio benevolentiae colligendae, qui neque Cyrum Xenophontis neque Agesilaum noverint, quorum regum summo in imperio nemo umquam verbum ullum asperius audivit. III. 8. Sed, haec a principio tibi praecipiens quantum profecerim, non ignoro: nunc tamen decedens, id quod mihi iam facere videris, relinque, quaeso, quam iucundissimam memoriam tui. Successorem habes perblandum; cetera valde illius adventu tua requirentur. In litteris mittendis, ut saepe ad te scripsi, nimium te exorabilem praebuisti: tolle omnes, si potes, iniquas, tolle inusitatas, tolle contrarias. Statius mihi narravit scriptas ad te solere afferri, ab se legi et, si iniquae essent, fieri te certiorem; antequam vero ipse ad te venisset, nullum delectum litterarum fuisse; ex eo esse volumina selectarum epistularum, quae reprehendi solerent. 9. Hoc de genere nihil te nunc quidem moneo—sero est enim—ac scire potes multa me varie diligenterque monuisse: illud tamen, quod Theopompo mandavi, cum essem admonitus ab ipso, vide, per homines amantes tui, quod est facile, ut haec genera tollantur epistularum, primum iniquarum, deinde contrariarum, tum absurde et inusitate scriptarum, postremo in aliquem contumeliosarum. Atque ego haec tam esse, quam audio, non puto, et, si sunt occupationibus tuis minus animadversa, nunc perspice et purga. Legi epistulam, quam ipse scripsisse Sulla nomenclator dictus est, non probandam, legi nonnullas iracundas. 10. Sed tempore ipso de epistulis; nam, cum hanc paginam tenerem, L. Flavius, praetor designatus, ad me venit, homo mihi valde familiaris: is mihi, te ad procuratores suos litteras misisse, quae mihi visae sunt iniquissimae, ne quid de bonis, quae L. Octavii Nasonis fuissent, cui L. Flavius heres est, deminuerent, antequam C. Fundanio pecuniam solvissent, itemque misisse ad Apollonidenses, ne de bonis, quae Octavii fuissent, deminui paterentur, priusquam Fundanio debitum solutum esset. Haec mihi veri similia non videntur; sunt enim a prudentia tua remotissima. "Ne deminuat heres?" Quid, si infitiatur? quid, si omnino non debet? quid? praetor solet iudicare deberi? quid? ego Fundanio non cupio? non amicus sum? non misericordia moveor? nemo magis; sed vis iuris eiusmodi est quibusdam in rebus, ut nihil sit loci gratiae. Atque ita mihi dicebat Flavius scriptum in ea epistula, quam tuam esse dicebat, te aut quasi amicis tuis gratias acturum aut quasi inimicis incommodaturum. 11. Quid multa? ferebat graviter id vehementer mecum querebatur orabatque, ut ad te quam diligentissime scriberem: quod facio et te prorsus vehementer etiam atque etiam rogo, ut et procuratoribus Flavii remittas de deminuendo et Apollonidensibus ne quid perscribas, quod contra Flavium sit, amplius: et Flavii causa et scilicet Pompeii facies omnia. Nolo medius fidius ex tua iniuria in illum tibi liberalem me videri, sed te oro, ut tu ipse auctoritatem et monumentum aliquod decreti aut litterarum tuarum relinquas, quod sit ad Flavii rem et ad causam accommodatum; fert enim graviter homo et mei observantissimus et sui iuris dignitatisque retinens se apud te neque amicitia nec iure valuisse, et, ut opinor, Flavii aliquando rem et Pompeius et Caesar tibi commendarunt, et ipse ad te scripserat Flavius et ego certe. Quare, si ulla res est, quam tibi me petente faciendam putes, haec ea sit. Si me amas, cura, elabora, perfice, ut Flavius et tibi et mihi quam maximas gratias agat: hoc te ita rogo, ut maiore studio rogare non possim. IV. 12. Quod ad me de Hermia scribis, mihi mehercule valde molestum fuit. Litteras ad te parum fraterne scripseram, quas oratione Diodoti, Luculli liberti, commotus, de pactione statim quod audieram, iracundius scripseram et revocare cupiebam: huic tu epistulae non fraterne scriptae fraterne debes ignoscere. 13. De Censorino, Antonio, Cassiis, Scaevola, te ab iis diligi, ut scribis, vehementer gaudeo. Cetera fuerunt in eadem epistula graviora, quam vellem: Ùryën tën naËn et 'paj yane?n. Maiora ista; meae obiurgationes fuerunt amoris plenissimae: questus sum nonnulla, sed tamen mediocria et parva potius. Ego te numquam ulla in re dignum minima reprehensione putassem, cum te sanctissime gereres, nisi inimicos multos haberemus. Quae ad te aliqua cum admonitione aut obiurgatione scripsi, scripsi propter diligentiam cautionis meae, in qua et maneo et manebo et, idem ut facias, non desistam rogare. 14. Attalus Hypaepenus mecum egit, ut se ne impedires, quo minus, quod ad Q. Publiceni statuam decretum est, erogaretur: quod ego te et rogo et admoneo, ne talis viri tamque nostri necessarii honorem minui per te aut impediri velis. Praeterea Aesopi, nostri familiaris, Licinius servus tibi notus aufugit: is Athenis apud Patronem Epicureum pro libero fuit: inde in Asiam venit; postea Plato quidam Sardianus, Epicureus, qui Athenis solet esse multum et qui tum Athenis fuerat, cum Licinius eo venisset, cum eum fugitivum esse postea ex Aesopi litteris cognosset, hominem comprehendit et in custodiam Ephesi tradidit, sed, in publicam vel in pistrinum, non satis ex litteris eius intelligere potuimus: tu, quoquo modo est, quoniam Ephesi est, hominem investiges velim summaque diligentia vel tecum deducas. Noli spectare, quanti homo sit; parvi enim pretii est, qui iam nihili est; sed tanto dolore Aesopus est affectus propter servi scelus et audaciam, ut nihil ei gratius facere possis, quam si illum per te recuperarit. V. 15. Nunc ea cognosce, quae maxime exoptas: rem publicam funditus amisimus, adeo ut C. Cato, adolescens nullius consilli, sed tamen civis Romanus et Cato, vix vivus effugerit, quod, cum Gabinium de ambitu vellet postulare neque praetores diebus aliquot adiri possent vel potestatem sui facerent, in concionem escendit et Pompeium privatum dictatorem appellavit: propius nihil est factum, quam ut occideretur. Ex hoc, qui sit status totius rei publicae, videre potes. 16. Nostrae tamen causae non videntur homines defuturi: mirandum in modum profitentur, offerunt se, pollicentur. Equidem cum spe sum maxima, tum maiore etiam animo, spe, superiores fore nos, animo, ut in hac re publica ne casum quidem ullum pertimescam. Sed tamen se res sic habet: si diem nobis Clodius dixerit, tota Italia concurret, ut multiplicata gloria discedamus; sin autem vi agere conabitur, spero fore studiis non solum amicorum, sed etiam alienorum ut vi resistamus. Omnes et se et suos amicos clientes, libertos servos, pecunias denique suas pollicentur. Nostra antiqua manus bonorum ardet studio nostri atque amore; si qui antea aut alienores fuerant aut languidiores, nunc horum regum odio se cum bonis coniungunt. Pompeius omnia pollicetur et Caesar, quibus ego ita credo, ut nihil de mea comparatione deminuam. Tribuni pl. designati sunt nobis amici; consules se optimos ostendunt; praetores habemus amicissimos et acerrimos cives Domitium, Nigidium, Memmium, Lentulum; bonos etiam alios, sed hos singulares: quare magnum fac animum habeas et spem bonam; de singulis tamen rebus, quae quotidie gerantur, faciam te crebro certiorem.