HermitshCicero by Claude

Letter · 30 March 43 BC · Romae

Ad Familiares 10.10

Ad Familiares 10.10

Headnote

Cicero to L. Munatius Plancus, governor of Transalpine Gaul, written from Rome on 30 March 43 BC — Perseus dateline Scr. Romae iii K. Apr. a. 711 (43). The letter is short and answers one of Plancus’s reports; the battle at Mutina, on which “the entire fortune of the state is being decided,” has not yet been fought, and Cicero writes in the certainty that by the time the letter is read the issue will have been settled one way or the other.

The substance is twofold. Plancus’s commitment to the republican cause — already known to Cicero from his conversations with Furnius and now confirmed in writing — has won him magnam laudem “great commendation”; the Senate, were the consuls in Rome and not in the field, would already have voted him honours. But the moment is not yet ripe, and Cicero wants Plancus to understand his theory of public recognition: real honour is not a bait dangled before the service, it is the prize of unbroken virtue (perpetuae virtutis praemium) awarded after it. The closing imperatives — incumbe toto pectore ad laudem, subveni patriae, opitulare conlegae — press Plancus to lean his whole weight into the work, with Lepidus (the colleague of the title) named as the man he must stand by. The final pledge — that to the old causes of their friendship, public spirit has now been added, and Cicero now sets Plancus’s life above his own — is a degree of warmth Cicero only reaches when the political stakes are unbearable.

Although I had learned well enough from our friend Furnius what your will was and what your plan for the state, still on reading your own letter I judged the whole of your mind more clearly. For which reason, although the entire fortune of the state is being decided in a single battle — and by the time you are reading this, I take it the issue will already have been settled — still by the mere report which has gone abroad of your loyal intention you have won a great commendation. And so, if we had a consul at Rome, the Senate would have declared, with high honours for you, how welcome your effort and your preparation were. The moment for that has not passed — nor, in my judgement at any rate, has it even yet arrived. For what I am accustomed to consider true honour is the honour conferred and given to distinguished men not from any hope of future benefit but for the magnitude of services already rendered.
etsi satis ex Furnio nostro cognoram quae tua voluntas, quod consilium de re p. esset, tamen tuis litteris lectis liquidius de toto sensu tuo iudicavi. quam ob rem, quamquam in uno proelio omnis fortuna rei p. disceptatur (quod quidem, cum haec legeres, iam decretum arbitrabar fore), tamen ipsa fama, quae de tua voluntate percrebruit, magnam es laudem consecutus. itaque si consulem Romae habuissemus, declaratum esset ab senatu cum tuis magnis honoribus quam gratus esset conatus et apparatus tuus. cuius rei non modo non praeteriit tempus sed ne maturum quidem etiam nunc meo quidem iudicio fuit. is enim denique honos mihi videri solet, qui non propter spem futuri benefici sed propter magna merita claris viris de fertur et datur.
Therefore — let there only be some commonwealth left in which honour can shine — in honours of the very fullest, believe me, you will be steeped in abundance. The kind, however, that can truly be called honour is not an inducement to suit the hour but the prize of unbroken virtue. For which reason, my dear Plancus, lean with the whole of your heart toward glory, come to your country’s rescue, stand by your colleague, support the consensus of every nation and the extraordinary spirit that has rallied to it. You shall find me the supporter of your counsels, the favourer of your standing, in every matter the most loving and the most loyal of friends. To the causes by which we are joined — affection, mutual offices, long acquaintance — the love of country has now been added; and it is this that has brought me to set your life before my own. The third day before the Kalends of April.
qua re, sit modo aliqua res p. in qua honos elucere possit, omnibus; mihi crede, amplissimis honoribus abundabis. is autem, qui vere appellari potest honos, non invitamentum ad tempus sed perpetuae virtutis est praemium. quam ob rem, mi Plance, incumbe toto pectore ad laudem, subveni patriae, opitulare conlegae, omnium gentium consensum et incredibilem conspirationem adiuva. me tuorum consiliorum adiutorem, dignitatis fautorem, omnibus in rebus tibi amicissimum fidelissimumque cognosces. ad eas enim causas, quibus inter nos amore sumus, officiis, vetustate coniuncti, patriae cantas accessit, eaque effecit ut tuam vitam anteferrem meae. iii K. Apr.

Cite this passage

Ad Familiares 10.10

Pick a format and click Copy. The permalink jumps any reader to this exact section.

Support this project

Free to read here. Buy the ebook to support the work.

Kindle