Ad Atticum 6.2
Ad Atticum 6.2
Headnote
Cicero to Atticus, written at Laodicea in the month of May 50 BC (the manuscript dateline: Scr. Laodiceae in m. Mai. a. 704 (50)). The sequel to Ad Atticum 6.1: the great assize circuit of the province is finished, the proconsular year is running out, and the Salaminian loan affair is still on the table. Sent off with the same Philogenes, Atticus’s freedman, who is returning by sea to Italy. The letter is laid out backwards from Atticus’s preceding bulletin: Cicero first answers the last page of it (the gossip about Statius, his brother Quintus’s freedman, and the rumour that some plan against the family is approved by Cicero himself), then comes round to the first (a learned point about the Peloponnese, drawn from Dicaearchus). Only then does he turn to the substance.
Sections 4–5 are the great central panel: the first connected account of Cicero’s own provincial administration. The cities of the assize district have been freed or relieved of their debts by two means — not a farthing of expense charged to them, and the return of plundered public funds by their own Greek magistrates. The publicani are paid in full for the current lustrum and even the arrears of the previous one. The portrait is grave and pleased; the technical vocabulary (continentia, integritas, αὐτονομία) sits inside a confident moral self-portrait, not a defensive one. Sections 7–9 then come back to the scandal at the heart of Ad Atticum 6.1: Brutus’s bond on the Salaminians at quaternae centesimae (forty-eight percent per annum), in defiance of the Lex Gabinia, enforced by the agent Scaptius with a cavalry squadron lent by Appius Claudius. Cicero has forced the Salaminians to pay at the lawful twelve percent renewed yearly; Scaptius has refused; and Cicero has refused, in turn, both the squadron and the prefecture for Scaptius. The letter closes (§10) with the usual spray of news — Caelius the incoming quaestor, Pompey’s good offices for Appius, Sempronius Rufus, the Pammenian business — and the hurried farewell as the crowd presses and Philogenes sets sail.
When your freedman Philogenes had come to me at Laodicea to pay his respects, and said he would sail to you at once, I gave him this letter, in which I am answering those of yours that I received by Brutus’s courier. And I will reply first to the last page of yours, which gave me great vexation — I mean what Cincius wrote to you about Statius’s talk. The most vexing thing in it is that Statius says this plan is approved by me also. Approved? Of the matter itself I will say only this much: that for my own part I could wish for many further bonds of the closest connection between us, although the bonds of affection are already the tightest possible; so far am I from wishing any loosening of that by which we are bound together.
cum Philogenes libertus tuus Laodiceam ad me salutandi causa venisset et se statim ad te navigaturum esse diceret, has ei litteras dedi quibus ad eas rescripsi quas acceperam a Bruti tabellario. et respondebo primum postremae tuae paginae quae mihi magnae molestiae fuit quod ad te scriptum est a Cincio de Stati sermone; in quo hoc molestissimum est, Statium dicere a me quoque id consilium probari. probari autem? de isto hactenus dixerim, me vel plurima vincla tecum summae coniunctionis optare, etsi sunt amoris artissima; tantum abest ut ego ex eo quo astricti sumus laxari aliquid velim.
As for him, I have often had occasion to know that he speaks rather sharply about these things, and I have often soothed him when he was angry. You know this, I suppose. And in this travelling-and-soldiering life of mine I have often seen him fired up with anger, and often pacified. What he wrote to Statius I do not know. Whatever he meant to do in such a matter, he certainly ought not to have written to a freedman. It shall be my own greatest concern that nothing turn out otherwise than we wish and than is proper. Nor is it enough in a matter of this kind that each man answer for himself: the largest share of that duty belongs to the boy Cicero, or rather the young man already; which is the very thing I am always urging on him. And he does seem to me to love his mother very much, as he should, and yourself wonderfully. But the boy’s nature, while great, is still many-sided; and in managing it I have business enough.
illum autem multa de istis rebus asperius solete loqui saepe sum expertus, saepe etiam lenivi iratum. id scire te arbitror. in hac autem peregrinatione militiave nostra saepe incensum ira vidi, saepe placatum. quid ad Statium scripserit nescio. quicquid acturus de tali re fuit, scribendum tamen ad libertum non fuit. mihi autem erit maximae curae ne quid fiat secus quam volumus quamque oportet. nec satis est in eius modi re se quemque praestare ac maximae partes istius offici sunt pueri Ciceronis sive iam adulescentis; quod quidem illum soleo hortari. ac mihi videtur matrem valde, ut debet, amare teque mirifice. sed est magnum illud quidem verum tamen multiplex pueri ingenium; in quo ego regendo habeo negoti satis.
Since I have answered your last page with my first, I now come back to your first. That all the cities of the Peloponnese were on the sea I had believed on the authority of Dicaearchus’s tables — a writer not without merit and, by your own judgment, well-approved. On many counts, in his Trophonian narrative of Chaeron, he reproaches the Greeks with this, that they pursued nothing but the sea; and he does not except a single place in the Peloponnese. Since the authority pleased me (for he was very thoroughly historical and had lived in the Peloponnese), I nevertheless wondered, and, scarcely able to believe it, consulted Dionysius. He was at first taken aback; then, since he thought no worse of Dicaearchus than you do of C. Vestorius or I do of M. Cluvius, he had no doubt that we should trust him. He held that there was a certain coastal Lepreon in Arcadia; Tenea, Aliphera, and Tritia, on the other hand, seemed to him new foundations, and he confirmed this by the Catalogue of Ships, where no mention is made of them. I therefore took over that passage from Dicaearchus word for word. That they are called Phliasians I knew, and that is how you should have it; that, at any rate, is what we have. But at first analogy had misled me — Phlious, Opous, Sipous, since one says Opountioi, Sipountioi. But this we straight away corrected.
quoniam respondi postremae tuae paginae prima mea, nunc ad primam revertar tuam. Peloponnesias civitates omnis maritimas esse hominis non nequam sed etiam tuo iudicio probati Dicaearchi tabulis credidi. is multis nominibus in Trophoniana Chaeronis narratione Graecos in eo reprendit quod mare tantum secuti sint nec ullum in Peloponneso locum excipit. quom mihi auctor placeret (etenim erat ἱστορικώτατοσ et vixerat in Peloponneso), admirabar tamen et vix adcredens communicavi cum Dionysio. atque is primo est commotus, deinde, quod de †deo cum† isto Dicaearcho non minus bene existimabat quam tu de C. Vestorio, ego de M. Cluvio, non dubitabat quin ei crederemus. Arcadiae censebat esse Lepreon quoddam maritimum; Tenea autem et Aliphera et Tritia νεόκτιστα ei videbantur, idque τῷ τῶν νεῶν καταλόγῳ confirmabat ubi mentio non fit istorum. itaque istum ego locum totidem verbis a Dicaearcho transtuli. Phliasios autem dici sciebam et ita fac ut habeas; nos quidem sic habemus. sed primo me ἀναλογία deceperat, Φλιοῦσ, Ὀποῦσ, Σιποῦσ, quod Ὀπούντιοι, Σιπούντιοι. sed hoc continuo correximus.
That you take pleasure in our moderation and restraint I see well. You would do so the more if you were on the spot. Indeed, in this assize-circuit which I held from the Ides of February at Laodicea to the Kalends of May, of every district except Cilicia, we have achieved certain marvellous things. So many cities have been freed of all their debts, many have been greatly relieved; all of them, in the use of their own laws and judgments, have come back to life, having obtained autonomy. I have given them the means to free or relieve themselves of debt in these two ways: first, that absolutely no expense has been incurred in my province — and when I say none, I am not speaking hyperbolically — none, I tell you, not so much as a farthing.
laetari te nostra moderatione et continentia video. tum id magis faceres, si adesses. atque hoc foro quod egi ex Idibus Februariis Laodiceae ad Kal. Maias omnium dioecesium praeter Ciliciae mirabilia quaedam effecimus. ita multae civitates omni aere alieno liberatae, multae valde levatae sunt, omnes suis legibus et iudiciis usae αὐτονομίαν adeptae revixerunt. his ego duobus generibus facultatem ad se aere alieno liberandas aut levandas dedi, uno quod omnino nullus in imperio meo sumptus factus est (nullum cum dico non loquor ὑπερβολικῶσ ), nullus inquam, ne terruncius quidem.
It is incredible how much, by this alone, the cities have surfaced. Then another thing was added. Astonishing thefts had been committed in the cities by their own Greeks, by their own magistrates. I myself examined those who had held magistracies in the last ten years. They confessed openly. So, with no disgrace put on them, they paid the money back to their peoples out of their own shoulders. And the peoples, without a groan, paid back to the publicans the arrears of the previous lustrum as well — to the very men to whom in this same lustrum they had paid nothing. And so with the publicans I am in their good books. “Grateful men,” you will say. We have felt it. As for the rest of the jurisdiction, it has been neither unskilled nor lenient, but combined with a remarkable accessibility; and access to me has been least of all provincial in character — nothing routed through a chamberlain; before daybreak I have been walking about the house as I used to in my candidate days. These things are welcome and great, and not yet burdensome to me, thanks to that old soldiering.
hac autem re incredibile est quantum civitates emerserint. accessit altera. mira erant in civitatibus ipsorum furta Graecorum quae magistratus sui fecerant. quaesivi ipse de iis qui annis decem proximis magistratum gesserant. aperte fatebantur. itaque sine ulla ignominia suis umeris pecunias populis rettulerunt. populi autem nullo gemitu publicanis quibus hoc ipso lustro nihil solverant etiam superioris lustri reliqua reddiderunt. itaque publicanis in oculis sumus. gratis inquis viris. sensimus. iam cetera iuris dictio nec imperita et clemens cum admirabili facilitate; aditus autem ad me minime provinciales; nihil per cubicularium; ante lucem inambulabam domi ut olim candidatus. grata haec et magna mihique nondum laboriosa ex illa vetere militia.
On the Nones of May I had it in mind to set out for Cilicia. Having spent the month of June there (and would that it were in peace! for a great war hangs over us from the Parthians), I meant to put July into the return journey. For my annual term of duty runs out on the third day before the Kalends of Sextilis. I am, however, in great hope that no extension of my time will be granted. I have had the city register down to the Nones of March, from which I gather that, through the firmness of our friend Curio, anything will be done rather than the business of the provinces. So, as I hope, I shall see you soon.
Nonis Maiis in Ciliciam cogitabam. ibi cum Iunium mensem consumpsissem (atque utinam in pace! magnum enim bellum impendet a Parthis), Quintilem in reditu ponere. annuae enim mihi operae a. d. iii Kal. Sextil. emerentur. magna autem in spe sum mihi nihil temporis prorogatum iri. habebam acta urbana usque ad Nonas Martias; e quibus intellegebam Curionis nostri constantia omnia potius actum iri quam de provinciis. ergo, ut spero, prope diem te videbo.
I come to your Brutus — or rather ours, as you prefer to have it. I have indeed done everything I could either to settle in my own province or to attempt in the kingdom. With the king I have therefore dealt in every way, and I deal with him daily by letter. For I had him in person with me for three or four days, in troubled circumstances, from which I freed him. But I did not cease, both then when he was at hand and afterwards in the most frequent letters, to ask and press my own case; to advise and exhort him for his own. I have gained much, but how much I do not plainly know, since I am far away. As for the Salaminians (these I could constrain), I brought them to the point of being willing to pay the whole sum to Scaptius, but with interest reckoned at twelve percent per annum from the date of the most recent bond, and not running continuously but renewed every year. The money was being counted out; Scaptius would not have it. You who say that Brutus is keen to lose something? He had forty-eight percent in his bond. It could not be done; nor, if it could, could I bear it. I hear that Scaptius is altogether sorry now. For as to the decree of the Senate he alleged — that judgment be given on the bond — it was passed for this reason: that the Salaminians had taken the money in defiance of the Lex Gabinia. But the law of Aulus forbade judgment to be given on money taken in such a way. Therefore the Senate decreed that judgment should be given on this particular bond. As things now stand, that bond has the same legal standing as any other, and nothing privileged.
venio ad Brutum tuum, immo nostrum, sic enim mavis. equidem omnia feci quae potui aut in mea provincia perficere aut in regno experiri. omni igitur modo egi cum rege et ago cotidie per litteras scilicet. ipsum enim triduum quadriduumve mecum habui turbulentis in rebus quibus eum liberavi. sed et tum praesens et postea creberrimis litteris non destiti rogare et petere mea causa; suadere et hortari sua. multum profeci sed quantum non plane, quia longe absum, scio. Salaminios autem (hos enim poteram coercere) adduxi ut totum nomen Scaptio vellent solvere sed centesimis ductis a proxima quidem syngrapha nec perpetuis sed renovatis quotannis. numerabantur nummi; noluit Scaptius. tu qui ais Brutum cupere aliquid perdere? quaternas habebat in syngrapha. fieri non poterat nec, si posset, ego pati possem. audio omnino Scaptium paenitere. nam quod senatus consultum esse dicebat ut ius ex syngrapha diceretur, eo consilio factum est quod pecuniam Salaminii contra legem Gabiniam sumpserant. vetabat autem Auli lex ius dici de ita sumpta pecunia. decrevit igitur senatus ut ius diceretur ex ista syngrapha. nunc ista habet iuris idem quod ceterae, nihil praecipui.
These things, done by me in due order, I expect to satisfy Brutus; whether to satisfy you I do not know; Cato I shall certainly satisfy. But I come back now to yourself. Tell me, Atticus — you, the praiser of my integrity and elegance — did you dare, with your mouth (as Ennius says), to ask me to give cavalry-troops to Scaptius for the collection of the money? If you were with me here — you who write that you are sometimes vexed at not being so — would you let me do this if I wished? You say, “not more than fifty.” Spartacus had fewer than that at first. What mischief would such men not have done in so tender a little island? Would not have done? On the contrary, what did they not do before my arrival? They kept the Salaminian Senate shut up in the council-house so many days that some of them died of starvation. For Appius’s prefect was Scaptius, and he had squadrons from Appius. Do you, then — you whose face, by Hercules, is always before my eyes whenever I think of any duty or any honour — do you, I say, ask me to make Scaptius a prefect? We had laid it down on other occasions that no businessman should hold the office, and Brutus had accepted this. Is he to have squadrons? Why squadrons rather than cohorts? In point of expense Scaptius is turning into a real spendthrift.
haec a me ordine facta puto me Bruto probaturum, tibi nescio, Catoni certe probabo. sed iam ad te ipsum revertor. ain tandem, Attice, laudator integritatis et elegantiae nostrae, ausus es hoc ex ore tuo— — inquit Ennius, ut equites Scaptio ad pecuniam cogendam darem me rogare? an tu si mecum esses qui scribis morderi te interdum quod non simul sis, paterere me id facere si vellem? non amplius inquis quinquaginta. cum Spartaco minus multi primo fuerunt. quid tandem isti mali in tam tenera insula non fecissent? non fecissent autem? immo quid ante adventum meum non fecerunt? inclusum in curia senatum habuerunt Salaminium ita multos dies ut interierint non nulli fame. erat enim praefactus Appi Scaptius et habebat turmas ab Appio. id me igitur tu cuius me hercule os mihi ante oculos solet versari cum de aliquo officio ac laude cogito, tu me inquam rogas praefectus ut Scaptius sit? alias hoc statueramus ut negotiatorem neminem idque Bruto probaramus. habeat is turmas? cur potius quam cohortis? sumptu iam nepos evadit Scaptius.
“The leading men want it,” you say. I know; for they came to me all the way at Ephesus and tearfully told me of the cavalry’s crimes and their own miseries. And so I at once gave orders that the cavalry should be out of Cyprus by a fixed day; and for that, then, and for the rest, the Salaminians lifted us to the skies in their decrees. But why cavalry now? For the Salaminians are paying; unless perhaps we wish to achieve, by force of arms, that they should reckon their interest at forty-eight percent. And shall I dare ever to read or to touch those books of yours which you so loudly praise, if I do such a thing? Too much, my dearest Atticus, have you in this matter loved Brutus; me, I fear, too little. And what I have here written, I have written to Brutus, as having been written to me by you.
volunt inquit principes. scio; nam ad me Ephesum usque venerunt flentesque equitum scelera et miserias suas detulerunt. itaque statim dedi litteras ut ex Cypro equites ante certam diem decederent, ob eamque causam tum ob ceteras Salaminii nos in caelum decretis suis sustulerunt. sed iam quid opus equitatu? solvunt enim Salaminii; nisi forte id volumus armis efficere ut faenus quaternis centesimis ducant. et ego audebo legere umquam aut attingere eos libros quos tu dilaudas, si tale quid fecero? nimis inquam in isto Brutum amasti, dulcissime Attice, nos vereor ne parum. atque haec scripsi ego ad Brutum scripsisse te ad me.
Take now the rest of the news. For Appius I am doing here everything — with honour, yet plainly with goodwill. For I do not hate the man himself, and I love Brutus; and Pompey is wonderfully urgent with me on his behalf, a man whom by Hercules I love more and more from day to day. You have heard that C. Caelius the quaestor is coming out here. I do not know what kind of man he is. But that Pammenian business of yours does not please me. I hope myself to be at Athens in the month of September. The dates of your travels I should very much like to know. The simple-mindedness of Sempronius Rufus I learned from your letter from Corcyra. What more would you have? I envy the power of Vestorius. I should have liked even now to prattle on more; but it is light; the crowd presses; Philogenes is in a hurry. Farewell, then; bid Pilia and our Caecilia farewell by letter; and a greeting to you from my Cicero.
cognosce nunc cetera. pro Appio nos hic omnia facimus honeste tamen sed plane libenter. nec enim ipsum odimus et Brutum amamus et Pompeius mirifice a me contendit quem me hercule plus plusque in dies diligo. C. Coelium quaestorem huc venire audisti. nescio quid sit hominis. sed Pammenia illa mihi non placent. ego me spero Athenis fore mense Septembri. tuorum itinerum tempora scire sane velim. εὐήθειαν Semproni Rufi cognovi ex epistula tua Corcyraea. quid quaeris? invideo potentiae Vestori. cupiebam etiam nunc plura garrire sed lucet; urget turba, festinat Philogenes. valebis igitur et valere Piliam et Caeciliam nostram iubebis litteris et salvebis a meo Cicerone.