Ad Familiares 1.7
Ad Familiares 1.7
Headnote
Cicero to Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, proconsul in Cilicia and Cyprus, written at Rome late in July 56 BC. The Lentulus correspondence had opened in January with the daily reports on the Senate’s struggle over the Egyptian commission (Fam. 1.1–1.5b); it now returns to that question, but in a transformed political landscape. The Luca conference is past, the triumvirate has re-asserted itself, and Cicero is writing as a man whose own position has been forced to shift.
The first three sections concern Cicero’s role as informant. Letters of this kind he dares not entrust to chance carriers; among the consulars only Hortensius and Lucullus are reliably friendly to Lentulus’s cause; among the magistrates of the year, only L. Racilius. Pompey, on the other hand, is warmer than Lentulus may suspect; the recent letter Lentulus sent him has been very welcome. The compliment to Lentulus’s humanitas vel summa potius sapientia in writing it is the gentlest rebuke for an earlier coolness.
Sections 4–6 are the substantive political advice on Egypt — and they are, in effect, Pompey’s counsel relayed through Cicero. The legal position: no senatus consultum has stripped Lentulus of the commission to restore Ptolemy XII Auletes; the obstructive resolution forbidding restoration “with a multitude” was vetoed and represents magis iratorum hominum studium quam constantis senatus consilium. Lentulus, holding Cilicia and Cyprus, can take the king to Ptolemais and march on Alexandria with fleet and army; once it is held with garrisons, the king can be restored, and the Sibylline oracle is technically respected. The whole calculation is governed by outcome (§5): success will be praised, a stumble condemned. The fallback (§6) is to give military aid only if the king has kept faith with those of Lentulus’s friends who have lent him money on the provincial credit.
Sections 7–10 are the post-Luca political dispatch. The optimates are perverse: by envying Cicero rather than favouring him in the common cause, they have nearly driven him off the position he had so long held. Lentulus, the most noble of men, has had the same vices of the envious turned against him — the optimates allowed him among the principes, but evolare altius certe noluerunt. The famous summary of the year’s politics is in §10: pay decreed for Caesar, ten legates, and the suspension of the Sempronian succession — everything the Senate of the previous year had refused, the Senate of this year passes “with very few opposing.” The lesson Cicero draws from his own experience for Lentulus to learn from his own affairs whole: neque salutis nostrae rationem habendam nobis esse sine dignitate neque dignitatis sine salute.
The closing section congratulates Lentulus on Tullia’s marriage to Crassipes (announced in Q. fr. 2.4) and commends Lentulus’s son, the young Lentulus, then in his teens, with the hope that he will be educated chiefly by the imitation of his father.
I have read your letter, in which you write to me that it is welcome to you to be informed often, through me, of all matters, and that you readily perceive my goodwill toward you. Of these, the one — that I should love you most — I must do, if I am to be the man you have wished me to be; the other I do gladly, that, since we are separated by an interval of place and of time, I may converse with you by letter as often as I can. If this is done more rarely than you will look for, the reason will be that my letters are not of the kind I would dare to entrust to chance carriers; whenever I have the chance of trusty men to whom I may rightly give them, I shall not let it pass.
legi tuas litteras, quibus ad me scribis gratum tibi esse, quod crebro certior per me fias de omnibus rebus et meam erga te benevolentiam facile perspicias; quorum alterum mihi, ut te plurimum diligam, facere necesse est, si volo is esse, quem tu me esse voluisti; alterum facio libenter, ut, quoniam intervallo locorum et temporum diiuncti sumus, per litteras tecum quam saepissime conloquar. quod si rarius fiet quam tu exspectabis, id erit causae, quod non eius generis meae litterae sunt, ut eas audeam temere committere; quotiens mihi certorum hominum potestas erit, quibus recte dem, non praetermittam.
As to your wishing to know with what good faith and disposition each man stands toward you, it is hard to say of individuals; one thing alone I dare to write, which I have often signalled to you before and now write also having seen and proved the matter: that certain men, and those most who most ought to have helped you and could most have helped you, have envied your distinction; and that the case of your time and of mine, in matters dissimilar, has been the very same: those whom you had wounded for the commonwealth’s sake openly attacked you, while those whose authority and standing and wishes you had defended have proved less mindful of your virtue than envious of your praise. At that time, as I have written to you before, I learned that Hortensius was very fond of you, and Lucullus zealous; and among the magistrates Lucius Racilius, in good faith and spirit, stood out alone. For my own championing and defence of your dignity, on account of the magnitude of the kindness you had done me, must seem to most men to carry the weight of duty rather than of judgement.
quod scire vis, qua quisque in te fide sit et voluntate, difficile dictu est de singulis; unum illud audeo, quod antea tibi saepe significavi, nunc quoque re perspecta et cognita scribere, vehementer quosdam homines et eos maxime, quite et maxime debuerunt et plurimum iuvare potuerunt, invidisse dignitati tuae, simillimamque in re dissimili tui temporis nunc et nostri quondam fuisse rationem, ut, quos tu rei publicae causa laeseras, palam te oppugnarent, quorum auctoritatem, dignitatem voluntatemque defenderas, non tam memores essent virtutis tuae quam laudis inimici. quo quidem tempore, ut perscripsi ad te antea, cognovi Hortensium percupidum tui studiosum Lucullum, ex magistratibus antem L. Racilium et fide et animo singulari; nam nostra propugnatio ac defensio dignitatis tuae propter magnitudinem benefici tui fortasse plerisque offici maiorem auctoritatem habere videatur quam sententiae.
Beyond these I can be witness for no consular of zeal toward you, nor of duty, nor of friendly feeling. As for Pompey, who is most in the habit of speaking with me about you (and not only when I have raised the matter, but also of his own accord), you know that in those days he was not often in the Senate; and your last letter, which you sent recently, was — so much I could easily understand — very welcome to him. To me your humanity, or rather your supreme wisdom, has appeared not only welcome but admirable: for you have held back, by that letter, an excellent man, bound to you by your outstanding generosity toward him, who was suspecting (because of some men’s view of his ambitions) that you had grown estranged from him; he has always seemed to me to favour your praise, even in the most suspicious time of Caninius; but on reading your letter, I saw clearly that he was thinking, with all his soul, about you and about your distinctions and advantages.
praeterea quidem de consularibus nemini possum aut studi erga te aut offici aut amici animi esse testis; etenim Pompeium, qui mecum saepissime non solum a me provocatus, sed etiam sua sponte de te communicare solet, scis temporibus illis non saepe in senatu fuisse; cui quidem litterae tuae, quas proxime miseras, quod facile intellexerim, periucundae fuerunt. mihi quidem humanitas tua vel summa potius sapientia non incunda solum, sed etiam admirabilis visa est; virum enim excellentem et tibi tua praestanti in eum liberalitate devinctum non nihil suspicantem propter aliquorum opinionem suae cupiditatis te ab se abalienatum illa epistula retinuisti; qui mihi cum semper tuae laudi favere visus est, etiam ipso suspiciosissimo tempore Caniniano, tum vero lectis tuis litteris perspectus est a me toto animo de te ac de tuis ornamentis et commodis cogitare.
For this reason, regard what is to follow as written from his counsel and authority, the matter often discussed between us: since no senatorial decree exists by which the restoration of the King of Alexandria has been taken from you, and since the resolution that was written about this affair (against which, you know, a veto was interposed, that no one whatever should restore the King) has so much force that it seems rather the partisanship of angry men than the steady policy of the Senate, you can see clearly — holding Cilicia and Cyprus as you do — what you can effect and what you can secure: and if the affair seems to admit it, that you may hold Alexandria and Egypt, then it is for your dignity and for that of our empire that, having settled the King at Ptolemais or some place nearby, you should set out for Alexandria with fleet and army, so that, when you have made it firm with peace and garrisons, Ptolemy may return to his kingdom; thus it would come about that he be restored through you, as the Senate at first decreed, and brought back without a multitude, as the religious men have said is pleasing to the Sibyl.
qua re ea, quae suam, sic habeto, me cum illo re saepe communicata de illius ad te sententia atque auctoritate scribere: quoniam senatus consultum nullum exstat, quo reductio regis Alexandrini tibi adempta sit, eaque, quae de ea scripta est auctoritas, cui scis intercessum esse, ut ne quis omnino regem reduceret, tantam vim habet, ut magis iratorum hominum studium quam constantis senatus consilium esse videatur, te perspicere posse, qui Ciliciam Cyprumque teneas, quid efficere et quid consequi possis, et, si res facultatem habitura videatur, ut Alexandream atque Aegyptum tenere possis, esse et tuae et nostri imperi dignitatis Ptolomaide aut aliquo propinquo eloco rege conlocato te cum classe atque exercitu proficisci Alexandriam, ut, eam cum pace praesidiisque firmaris, Ptolomaeus redeat in regnum; ita fore ut et per te restituatur, quem ad modum senatus initio censuit, et sine multitudine reducatur, quem ad modum homines religiosi Sibyllae placere dixerunt.
But this counsel was so approved both by him and by us that we saw men would judge of your policy from the outcome: if it fell out as we wish and pray, all would say you had acted both wisely and bravely; if anything were stumbled at, those same men would say you had acted both greedily and rashly. So what you can attain is not as easy for us to point out as for you, who have Egypt almost in your sight. We for our part feel this: if you have made sure that you can master that kingdom, there must be no delay; if it is in doubt, there must be no attempt. This I affirm to you: if you carry the matter through to your wish, it will come about that, while you are absent, you will be praised by many; when you have returned, by all. The danger of a stumble I see, on account of the religious authority brought into the way. But while I exhort you to certain praise, so I deter you from a hazard, and I come back to what I wrote at the start: that men will pass judgement on your whole act not so much from your counsel as from the outcome.
sed haec sententia sic et illi et nobis probabatur, ut ex eventu homines de tuo consilio existimaturos videremus; si cecidisset ut volumus et optamus, omnis te et sapienter et fortiter, si aliquid esset offensum, eosdem illos et cupide et temere fecisse dicturos. qua re, quid adsequi possis, non tam facile est nobis quam tibi, cuius prope in conspectu Aegyptus est, indicare; nos quidem hoc sentimus, si exploratum tibi sit posse te illius regni potiri, non esse cunctandum, si dubium sit, non esse conandum. illud tibi adfirmo, si rem istam ex sententia gesseris, fore ut absens a multis, cum redieris, ab omnibus conlaudere; offensionem esse periculosam propter interpositam auctoritatem religionemque video. sed ego te, ut ad certam laudem adhortor, sic a dimicatione deterreo redeoque ad illud, quod initio scripsi, totius facti tui iudicium non tam ex consilio tuo quam ex eventu homines esse facturos.
If this method of action shall seem to you dangerous, the other was approved: that, if the King has kept faith with your friends who through your province and command have lent him money, you should help him with your auxiliaries and your forces; that the nature and position of your province is such that you may either confirm his restoration by helping or hinder it by neglecting. In this matter, what the case allows, what the cause, what the moment, you yourself will see most easily and best; what we have approved, I thought you should know above all from me.
quod si haec ratio rei gerendae periculosa tibi esse videbitur, placebat illud, ut, si rex amicis tuis, qui per provinciam atque imperium tuum pecunias ei credidissent, fidem suam praestitisset, et auxiliis eum tuis et copiis adiuvares; eam esse naturam et regionem provinciae tuae, ut illius reditum vel adiuvando confirmares vel neglegendo impedires. in hac ratione quid res, quid causa, quid tempus ferat tu facillime optimeque perspicies; quid nobis placuisset, ex me potissimum putavi te scire oportere.
As for your congratulating me on my position, on Milo’s friendship, on the levity and weakness of Clodius — we are not at all surprised that you, like an exceptional craftsman, take pleasure in your own brilliant works. Yet the perversity of men is incredible (I do not care to use a heavier word): those whom by favouring us in the common cause they could have kept on their side, they have alienated by envying us; by whose most malevolent disparagements know that we have nearly been driven off our old and long-held position — not, indeed, that we should forget our standing, but that we should at last take some account of safety. Both could have been done magnificently, if there were good faith, if there were weight, in the consulars; but in most of them so much levity is found that constancy in the commonwealth pleases them less than splendour offends them.
quod mihi de nostro statu, de Milonis familiaritate; de levitate et imbecillitate Clodi gratularis, minime miramur te tuis ut egregium artificem praeclaris operibus laetari; quamquam est incredibilis hominum perversitas (graviore enim verbo uti non libet), qui nos, quos favendo in communi causa retinere potuerunt, invidendo abalienarunt; quorum malevolentissimis obtrectationibus nos scito de vetere illa nostra diuturnaque sententia prope iam esse depulsos, non nos quidem ut nostrae dignitatis simus obliti, sed ut habeamus rationem aliquando etiam salutis. poterat utrumque praeclare, si esset fides, si gravitas in hominibus consularibus; sed tanta est in plerisque levitas, ut eos non tam constantia in re publica nostra delectet, quam splendor offendat.
I write to you the more freely on this account, because not only in those times of mine which I have attained through you, but already long ago, you favoured my praise and dignity even when they were nascent; and at the same time because I see that envy is not, as I had thought before, directed at my newness alone: for in you, the most noble of all men, I have observed the like vices of the envious, who have however readily allowed you to be among the leading men, but have certainly not wished you to fly any higher. I rejoice that your fortune has not been like ours; for there is much difference between praise being diminished and safety being abandoned. That I myself am not too sorry for my own case, your virtue has accomplished: for you have seen to it that more should appear added to the memory of my name than taken from my fortune.
quod eo liberius ad te scribo, quia non solum temporibus his, quae per te sum adeptus, sed iam olim nascenti prope nostrae laudi dignitatique favisti, simulque quod video non, ut antehac putabam, novitati esse invisum meae in te enim, homine omnium nobilissimo, similia invidorum vitia perspexi, quem tamen illi esse in principibus facile sunt passi, evolare altius certe noluerunt. gaudeo tuam dissimilem fuisse fortunam; multum enim interest, utrum laus imminuatur an salus deseratur; me meae tamen ne nimis paeniteret, tua virtute perfectum est; curasti enim, ut plus additum ad memoriam nominis nostri quam demptum de fortuna videretur.
I exhort you, then, moved both by your kindnesses and by my love, to follow with all care and industry that whole glory for which from boyhood you were inflamed, and never to let the greatness of soul, which I have always admired and always loved, be bent by anyone’s wrong. Great is men’s opinion of you, great the commendation of your generosity, great the memory of your consulship. You see, surely, how much more vivid these things will be, how much more illustrious, when some praise has been added from the province and the command. And yet I wish you so to handle what must be handled by army and command that you long beforehand meditate these other matters, prepare yourself for them, think of them, train yourself for them; and that you feel — for since you have always hoped this, I do not doubt, when you have attained it, that you will understand it — that you can most easily hold the highest and topmost station in the state. And that this exhortation of mine may not seem to you empty or undertaken without cause, this consideration moved me, that I thought you should be reminded by our common experience to consider, in all the rest of your life, whom to trust and whom to beware.
te vero emoneo cum beneficiis tuis tum amore incitatus meo, ut omnem gloriam, ad quam a pueritia inflammatus fuisti, omni cura atque industria consequare magnitudinemque animi tui, quam ego semper sum admiratus semperque amavi, ne umquam inflectas cuiusquam iniuria. Magna est hominum opinio de te, magna commendatio liberalitatis, magna memoria consulatus tui. haec profecto vides quanto expressiora quantoque inlustriora futura sint, cum aliquantum ex provincia atque ex imperio laudis accesserit; quamquam te ita gerere volo quae per exercitum atque imperium gerenda sunt, ut haec multo ante meditere, huc te pares, haec cogites, ad haec te exerceas sentiasque (id quod quia semper sperasti, non dubito quin adeptus intellegas), te facillime posse obtinere summum atque altissimum gradum civitatis. quae quidem mea cohortatio ne tibi inanis aut sine causa suscepta videatur, illa me ratio movit, ut te ex nostris eventis communibus admonendum putarem, ut considerares, in omni reliqua vita quibus crederes, quos caveres.
As to your writing that you wish to know what is the state of the commonwealth: there is great dissension, but the contest is unequal; for those who are stronger in resources, in arms, and in might have, in my view, achieved this — by the folly and inconstancy of their adversaries — that they are now stronger even in authority. So, with very few opposing, they have carried through the Senate everything which they had thought they could not have got even through the people without sedition: pay was decreed for Caesar, and ten legates; and that he should not be succeeded under the Sempronian law was easily carried through. I write this to you the more briefly because the present condition of the commonwealth does not delight me; I write it however to admonish you of what I myself, devoted to all literature from boyhood, have nevertheless learned more from experience than from teaching: do you, with your own affairs whole, learn that we must take account neither of safety without dignity, nor of dignity without safety.
quod scribis te velle scire, qui sit rei publicae status, summa dissensio est, sed contentio dispar; nam, qui plus opibus, armis, potentia valent, perfecisse tamen mihi videntur stultitia et inconstantia adversariorum, ut etiam auctoritate iam plus valerent. itaque perpaucis adversantibus omnia, quae ne per populum quidem sine seditione se adsequi arbitrabantur, per senatum consecuti sunt; nam et stipendium Caesari decretum est et decem legati, et, ne lege Sempronia succederetur, facile perfectum est. quod ego ad te brevius scribo, quia me status hic rei publicae non delectat; scribo tamen, ut te admoneam, quod ipse litteris omnibus a pueritia deditus experiendo tamen magis quam discendo cognovi, tu tuis rebus integris discas, neque salutis nostrae rationem habendam nobis esse sine dignitate neque dignitatis sine salute.
As to your congratulating me on my daughter and on Crassipes, I acknowledge your kindness, and hope and pray that this alliance will be a delight to us. Our young Lentulus, a boy of outstanding promise of the highest virtue, see that you train both in the rest of the arts to which you yourself have always given study, and chiefly in the imitation of yourself — for no schooling will be more excellent than this. We love him, and hold him dear, in the first rank: both because he is yours, and because he is a son worthy of you, and because he loves us, and has always loved us.
quod mihi de filia et de Crassipede gratularis, agnosco humanitatem tuam speroque et opto nobis hanc coniunctionem voluptati fore. Lentulum nostrum, eximia spe summae virtutis adulescentem, cum ceteris artibus, quibus studuisti semper ipse, tum in primis imitatione tui fac erudias; nulla enim erit hac praestantior disciplina. quem nos, et quia tuus et quia te dignus est filius et quia nos diligit semperque dilexit, in primis amamus carumque habemus.