Ad Quintum Fratrem 1.1
Ad Quintum Fratrem 1.1
Headnote
Cicero to his brother Quintus, governor of Asia, written at Rome at the end of 60 BC or the very beginning of 59 BC. The longest of all the surviving letters and the nearest thing in the corpus to a treatise: a forty-six- section essay on provincial administration, addressed to Quintus on the news that his year-long Asian command has been extended for a third year (the announcement of the extension is the letter’s prompt, and Cicero takes blame for it in §2: he had himself, while consul, prevented the appointment of a successor in the previous year). The letter is the first piece of the political- philosophical body of Cicero’s mature prose, written before the dialogues of the late 50s and the philosophical works of the 40s; it stands as their template.
The argument moves through three large fields. The first (§4–16) is the moral foundation: the governor’s own integrity, then the discipline of his household, then the careful selection of those familiars — provincial Romans, Greeks, freedmen, slaves — who could trade on his name. “Let your seal-ring be not as some implement, but as you yourself are; not the agent of another’s will, but the witness of your own.” Cicero warns against trusting any provincial whose love for the governor was not visible before the magistracy; against the deceitful lightness of most contemporary Greeks (“trained by long servitude to excessive flattery”), without however excluding the few worthy of old Greece; and against the use of slaves in any part of public business.
The second field (§17–26) is the practice of justice. Severity is essential and “must not be varied by favour, but kept consistent”; but it must be tempered by “an easy bearing in hearing, mildness in deciding, diligence in giving satisfaction and in argument” — the model is the late Gaius Octavius (the father of the future Augustus), in whose court “the first lictor was quiet, the herald silent, every man spoke as long as he wished.” The famous citation of Xenophon’s Cyropaedia as the manual of just rule that Africanus had at his elbow falls in §23. The ruler’s deepest principle (§24) is that “everything must be referred to this end: that those who shall be in their command be as happy as possible.” The list of Quintus’s actual achievements — the Mysian brigandage put down, Samos and Halicarnassus rebuilt, calumnia (the false accusation that was the “bitterest handmaid of praetorial greed”) driven out — fills §25.
The third field (§32–36) is the politically delicate one: the publicans. The Roman equestrians who farmed the Asian taxes were Cicero’s own political base; they were also the chief instrument of provincial misery. Cicero’s prescription is the characteristic both/and: protect both the publicans and the Greeks, “which seems the work of a divine kind of virtue — which is yours.” Make the Greeks see that without Roman command they would be tributary anyway, and worse off; let the publicans see that without Quintus’s authority they cannot collect; bring them together by the governor’s own gravity and favour.
The fourth and last field is the personal one. The exception in the universal praise of Quintus is his quickness to anger (§37–40). Cicero, who in later years would write a treatise on the same vice in the dialogue form (Tusc. 4 and the lost de Ira), here lays out the practical advice in small: when the mind is taken up before reason can intervene, prepare in advance and meditate that anger must be resisted; especially restrain the tongue. The closing paragraphs (§41–46) raise the question of fame and posterity (“you do not seek glory for yourself alone”), liken Asia to a theatre, and end on the famous closing image: as good poets and industrious actors are diligent in the last act, so let Quintus be diligent in this third year of his command, “that this third year may seem to have been, as the third act, the most perfect and the most adorned.” The final sentence is the older brother’s: “it remains that I beg you, if you wish me and all yours to be well, that you most diligently serve your own health.”
Although I had no doubt that this letter would be outstripped, by the speed of rumour itself, by many messengers, and that you would hear earlier from others that a third year has been added to my longing and to your labour, yet I thought it fitting that the news of this trouble be carried to you by me also. For in earlier letters — not in one but in many — when the matter was already despaired of by others, I yet brought you hope of an early withdrawal, not only that I might delight you as long as possible with a pleasing opinion, but also because so great an effort was being applied both by us and by the praetors that I did not despair of the thing being brought off.
etsi non dubitabam quin hanc epistulam multi nuntii, fama denique esset ipsa sua celeritate superatura tuque ante ab aliis auditurus esses annum tertium accessisse desiderio nostro et labori tuo, tamen existimavi a me quoque tibi huius molestiae nuntium perferri oportere. nam superioribus litteris non unis sed pluribus, cum iam ab aliis desperata res esset, tamen tibi ego spem maturae decessionis adferebam, non solum ut quam diutissime te iucunda opinione oblectarem sed etiam quia tanta adhibebatur et a nobis et a praetoribus contentio ut rem posse confici non diffiderem.
Now, since it has so happened that neither could the praetors with their resources nor we with our zeal accomplish anything, it is altogether hard not to feel it heavily; but yet it is not fitting that our spirits, exercised in the greatest enterprises both of doing and of enduring, be broken and weakened by trouble. And since men ought to bear most heavily what has been brought on by their own fault, there is something in this matter that I must bear more heavily than you. For it has come about by my fault, contrary to what you had urged me as you were setting out and by letter, that no successor was sent in the previous year. Which I, while consulting the safety of the allies, while resisting the impudence of certain businessmen, while seeking to increase our glory by your virtue, did unwisely — especially since I committed the matter to such a turn that the second year of yours could entail a third.
nunc quoniam ita accidit ut neque praetores suis opibus neque nos nostro studio, quicquam proficere possemus, est omnino difficile non graviter id ferre, sed tamen nostros animos maximis in rebus et gerendis et sustinendis exercitatos frangi et debilitari molestia non oportet. et quoniam ea molestissime ferre homines debent quae ipsorum culpa contracta sunt, est quiddam in hac re mihi molestius ferendum quam tibi. factum est enim mea culpa contra quam tu mecum et proficiscens et per litteras egeras ut priore anno non succederetur; quod ego, dum saluti sociorum consulo, dum impudentiae non nullorum negotiatorum resisto, dum nostram gloriam tua virtute augeri expeto, feci non sapienter, praesertim cum id commiserim ut ille alter annus etiam tertium posset adducere.
Since I confess that this is my error, it is the part of your wisdom and humanity to take care, and to bring it about, that what was less wisely foreseen by me be corrected by your diligence. And if you stir yourself up vehemently to all parts of having a good name — so as no longer to compete with others but with yourself — if you rouse all your mind, your care, your thought to the desire of an excellent praise in everything, believe me, this one year added to your labour will bring me, and our descendants too, the joy of many years.
quod quoniam peccatum meum esse confiteor, est sapientiae atque humanitatis tuae curare et perficere ut hoc minus sapienter a me provisum diligentia tua corrigatur. ac si te ipse vehementius ad omnis partis bene audiendi excitaris, non ut cum aliis sed ut tecum iam ipse certes, si omnem tuam mentem, curam, cogitationem ad excellentis in omnibus rebus laudis cupiditatem incitaris, mihi crede, unus annus additus labori tuo multorum annorum laetitiam nobis, immo vero etiam posteris nostris adferet.
Wherefore I ask you first this: do not draw in and let your spirit fall, do not allow yourself to be overwhelmed, as by a tide, by the size of the business; but rather rouse yourself and stand against it, or rather go forward to meet the business of your own accord. For you are not handling that part of the commonwealth in which fortune is master, but one in which reason and diligence can do most. If I saw your command extended while you were managing some great and dangerous war, I should tremble in my mind, since I should understand that fortune’s power, too, had at the same time been extended over us.
quapropter hoc te primum rogo ne contrahas ac demittas animum neve te obrui tamquam fluctu sic magnitudine negoti sinas contraque erigas ac resistas sive etiam ultro occurras negotiis neque enim eius modi partem rei publicae geris in qua fortuna dominetur, sed in qua plurimum ratio possit et diligentia. quod si tibi bellum aliquod magnum et periculosum administranti prorogatum imperium viderem, tremerem, animo quod eodem tempore esse intellegerem etiam fortunae potestatem in nos prorogatam.
As things are, however, that part of the commonwealth has been entrusted to you in which fortune holds either no part or a very small one, and which seems to me to depend wholly on your virtue and moderation of mind. No plots of the enemy, I take it, no contest of battle, no defection of allies, no want of pay or of grain, no mutiny of the army, do we fear — the kind of things that have very often befallen the wisest men, so that, as the best helmsmen could not overcome the force of a storm, they could not overcome the impulse of fortune. To you has been given the highest peace, the highest tranquillity — but in such a way that even peace can sink a sleeping helmsman, and yet delight a wakeful one.
nunc vero ea pars tibi rei publicae commissa est in qua aut nullam aut perexiguam partem fortuna tenet et quae mihi tota in tua virtute ac moderatione animi posita esse videatur. nullas ut opinor, insidias hostium, nullam proeli dimicationem, nullam defectionem sociorum, nullam inopiam stipendi aut rei frumentariae, nullam seditionem exercitus pertimescimus, quae persaepe sapientissimis viris acciderunt, ut, quem ad modum gubernatores optimi vim tempestatis, sic illi fortunae impetum superare non possent tibi data est summa pax, summa tranquillitas, ita tamen ut ea dormientem gubernatorem vel obruere, vigilantem etiam delectare possit.
For that province consists, first, of that kind of allies which is, of every kind of men, the most humane; second, of that kind of citizens who, either because they are publicans, are bound to me by the highest connection; or because they so do business as to be wealthy, think that they have their fortunes safe by the kindness of our consulship.
constat enim ea provincia primum ex eo genere sociorum quod est ex hominum omni genere humanissimum, deinde ex eo genere civium qui aut quod publicani sunt nos summa necessitudine attingunt aut quod ita negotiantur ut locupletes sint nostri consulatus beneficio se incolumis fortunas habere arbitrantur.
“But,” you will say, “among these very men there arise heavy controversies; many injuries are born; great contests follow.” As if I were thinking that you do not have any small business on your hands! I understand that the business is very great and of the highest counsel; but remember, I think this business is more a matter of counsel than of fortune. For what is it to keep within bounds those whom you preside over, if you keep yourself within bounds? Let that be a great and difficult thing for others, hard as it is. For you it has always been very easy — and ought indeed to be so, whose nature is such that, even without learning, it would seem to have been able to be moderate; and the learning has been brought to bear which could even cultivate the most vicious nature. You, when you withstand money, when you withstand pleasure, when you withstand the desire of every kind of thing (as you do), it will be a danger, I take it, that you cannot keep down a wicked businessman or a slightly more grasping publican. As for the Greeks, they will so look at you, living thus, as to think that some man out of the memory of the annals or even some divine man from heaven has come down into the province.
at enim inter hos ipsos exsistunt graves controversiae, multae nascuntur iniuriae, magnae contentiones consequuntur. quasi vero ego id putem non te aliquantum negoti sustinere. intellego permagnum esse negotium et maximi consili, sed memento consili me hoc esse negotium magis aliquanto quam fortunae putare. quid est enim negoti continere eos quibus praesis, si te ipse contineas? id autem sit magnum et difficile ceteris, sic ut est difficillimum: tibi et fuit hoc semper facillimum et vero esse debuit, cuius natura talis est ut etiam sine doctrina videatur moderata esse potuisse, ea autem adhibita doctrina est quae vel vitiosissimam naturam excolere possit. tu cum pecuniae, cum voluptati, cum omnium rerum cupiditati resistes, ut facis, erit, credo, periculum ne improbum negotiatorem, paulo cupidiorem publicanum comprimere non possis nam Graeci quidem sic te ita viventem intuebuntur ut quendam ex annalium memoria aut etiam de caelo divinum hominem esse in provinciam delapsum putent.
I write these things now not in order that you should do them, but that you may rejoice that you do them and have done them. For it is a fine thing that the highest command for three years in Asia has been such that no statue, no painting, no vase, no garment, no slave, no person’s beauty, no terms of money — things in which that province abounds — has drawn you from the highest integrity and self-control.
atque haec nunc non ut facias, sed ut te facere et fecisse gaudeas scribo; praeclarum est enim summo cum imperio fuisse in Asia triennium sic ut nullum te signum, nulla pictura, nullum vas, nulla vestis, nullum mancipium, nulla forma cuiusquam, nulla condicio pecuniae, quibus rebus abundat ista provincia, ab summa integritate continentiaque deduxerit.
What can be found so excellent or so to be wished as that this virtue, this moderation of mind, this temperance, should not lie hidden in darkness, nor be put away, but be set in the light of Asia, in the eyes of the most distinguished province, in the ears of all peoples and nations? Men are not terrified by your journeys, nor exhausted by expense, nor stirred up by your arrival; the highest gladness, both public and private, comes wherever you have come, since the city seems to have received a guardian, not a tyrant, and the house a guest, not a plunderer.
quid autem reperiri tam eximium aut tam expetendum potest quam istam virtutem, moderationem animi, temperantiam non latere in tenebris neque esse abditam, sed in luce Asiae, in oculis clarissimae provinciae atque in auribus omnium gentium ac nationum esse positam? non itineribus tuis perterreri homines, non sumptu exhauriri, non adventu commoveri? esse quocumque veneris et publice et privatim maximam laetitiam, cum urbs custodem non tyrannum, domus hospitem non expilatorem recepisse videatur?
In these matters, however, experience itself has now surely instructed you that it is by no means enough that you yourself have these virtues; you must also look about diligently, so that, in this guardianship of the province, you may be seen to vouch to the allies and to the citizens and to the commonwealth not for yourself alone but for all the agents of your command. Although you have legates of the kind who, on their own account, will have a regard for their own dignity. Of these, in honour and in dignity and in age, Tubero stands first; whom (especially since he is writing history) I think can choose, from his own annals, many men whom he wishes and is able to imitate. Allienus is ours both in spirit and in goodwill, and indeed in his way of life by imitation. As for Gratidius — what shall I say? — whom I know with certainty so labours about his own reputation that, on account of his brotherly love for us, he labours also about ours.
his autem in rebus iam te usus ipse profecto erudivit nequaquam satis esse ipsum has te habere virtutes, sed esse circumspiciendum diligenter ut in hac custodia provinciae non te unum sed omnis ministros imperi tui sociis et civibus et rei publicae praestare videare quamquam legatos habes eos qui ipsi per se habituri sint rationem dignitatis suae. de quibus honore et dignitate et aetate praestat Tubero, quem ego arbitror, praesertim cum scribat historiam, multos ex suis annalibus posse deligere quos velit et possit imitari, Allienus autem noster est cum animo et benevolentia tum vero etiam imitatione vivendi. nam quid ego de Gratidio, dicam? quem certo scio ita laborare de existimatione sua ut propter amorem in nos fraternum etiam de nostra laboret.
A quaestor you have, not chosen by your judgment but the man whom the lot gave. He must both be moderate of his own accord and obey your principles and instructions. If any of these should perchance be more sordid, you would bear with him only so long as he, on his own account, neglected those laws by which he was bound; not that the power which you have entrusted to him for dignity, he should turn to gain. For it does not at all please me, especially since these morals have already inclined too much to excessive softness and to favour-seeking, that you should pry into all squalid matters and shake out every man one by one; rather, that according to each man’s faith, so much should be entrusted to each. And among these, those whom the commonwealth itself has given you as companions and helpers in public business, you will keep them within the bounds I have just prescribed.
quaestorem habes non tuo iudicio delectum sed eum quem sors dedit. hunc oportet et sua sponte esse moderatum et tuis institutis ac praeceptis obtemperare. quorum si quis forte esset sordidior, ferres eatenus quoad per se neglegeret eas leges quibus esset astrictus, non ut ea potestate quam tu ad dignitatem permisisses ad quaestum uteretur neque enim mihi sane placet, praesertim cum hi mores tantum iam ad nimiam lenitatem et ad ambitionem incubuerint, scrutari te omnis sordis, excutere unum quemque eorum, sed quanta sit in quoque fides tantum cuique committere atque inter hos eos, quos tibi comites et adiutores negotiorum publicorum dedit ipsa res publica, dumtaxat finibus iis praestabis quos ante praescripsi;
As to those, however, whom you have wished to be with you out of household intimacy or out of necessary attendances, who are wont to be called as if from the praetor’s cohort — of these we are answerable not only for all the deeds but also for all the words. But you have those with you whom you can easily love when they act rightly, and most easily restrain when they consult your reputation too little. By them, when you were inexperienced, your generosity might have been deceived; for, as each man is the best, so most reluctantly does he suspect that others are wicked. Now indeed let this third year hold the same integrity as the previous, and an even more cautious and diligent one.
quos vero aut ex domesticis convictionibus aut ex necessariis apparitionibus tecum esse voluisti, qui quasi ex cohorte praetoris appellari solent horum non modo facta sed etiam dicta omnia praestanda nobis sunt. sed habes eos tecum, quos possis recte facientis facile diligere, minus consulentis existimationi tuae facillime coercere A quibus, rudis cum esses, videtur potuisse tua liberalitas decipi; nam ut quisque est vir optimus, ita difficillime esse alios improbos suspicatur; nunc vero tertius hic annus habeat integritatem eandem quam superiores, cautiorem etiam ac diligentiorem.
Let your ears be such as are thought to hear what they hear, not such as one whispers into feignedly and pretendedly for gain. Let your seal-ring be not as some implement, but as you yourself are: not the agent of another’s will, but the witness of your own. Let the herald be of that number which our ancestors wished it to be: men whom they appointed to that role not as a kindness but as a labour and duty, and not without thought, except to their own freedmen, whom they commanded little differently from slaves. Let the lictor be the agent not of his own mildness but of yours; and let the fasces and axes carry before greater badges of dignity than of power. In short, let it be known to the whole province that to you the safety, the children, the reputation, the fortunes of all whom you preside over are most dear. Finally, let this be the opinion: that you will be an enemy not only to those who have taken anything but to those also who have given, if you have learned of it. Nor indeed will anyone give, when this is clear: that nothing is wont to be obtained from you through those who pretend to have great influence with you.
sint aures tuae eae quae id quod audiunt existimentur audire, non in quas ficte et simulate quaestus causa insusurretur. sit anulus tuus non ut vas aliquod sed tamquam ipse tu, non minister alienae voluntatis sed testis tuae. accensus sit eo numero quo eum maiores nostri esse voluerunt qui hoc non in benefici loco sed in laboris ac muneris non temere nisi libertis suis deferebant, quibus illi quidem non multo secus ac servis imperabant. sit lictor non suae sed tuae lenitatis apparitor, maioraque praeferant fasces illi ac secures dignitatis insignia quam potestatis. toti denique sit provinciae cognitum tibi omnium quibus praesis salutem, liberos, famam, fortunas esse carissimas. denique haec opinio sit, non modo iis qui aliquid acceperint sed iis etiam qui dederint te inimicum si id cognoveris futurum. neque vero quisquam dabit, cum erit hoc perspectum, nihil per eos qui simulant se apud te multum posse abs te solere impetrari.
And yet my speech is not of such a kind that I want you to be either too hard with your own people or too suspicious. For if there is anyone of them who in two years has never come into the suspicion of greed — as I both hear and (because I know them) judge of Caesius and Chaerippus and Labeo — there is nothing that I do not think can most rightly both be entrusted and credited to them, and to any other man of the same kind. But if there is anyone in whom you have already taken offence, of whom you have suspected something, to him you would credit nothing, and entrust no part of your reputation.
nec tamen haec oratio mea est eius modi ut te in tuos aut durum esse nimium aut suspiciosum velim. nam si quis est eorum qui tibi bienni spatio numquam in suspicionem avaritiae venerit, ut ego Caesium et Chaerippum et Labeonem et audio et quia cognovi existimo, nihil est quod non et iis et si quis est alius eiusdem modi et committi et credi rectissime putem; sed si quis est in quo iam offenderis, de quo aliquid senseris, huic nihil credideris, nullam partem existimationis tuae commiseris.
In the province itself, however, if you have found someone who has come deeply into your familiarity, who was previously unknown to us — consider how far he is to be trusted. Not but that there can be many honest men in the provinces; but it is permitted to hope this; it is dangerous to judge it. For each man’s nature is covered by many veils of pretence and is, as it were, drawn over by certain curtains. The forehead, the eyes, the face very often lie; speech, indeed, lies most often. Wherefore how can you find from that kind of men those who, drawn by desire of money, lack all those things from which we cannot be torn away, and who love you, a stranger, from the heart and not pretend it for their own gain? It seems to me very great — especially if the same men love almost no private man, but always love every praetor. From this kind, if you have happened to know any man more loving of you than of the moment (for it has been possible), gladly enrol him in your number. But if you do not perceive that, no kind of friendship is more to be guarded against, since they know all the paths of money and do everything for money’s sake, and do not care to consult the reputation of one with whom they are not going to live.
in provincia vero ipsa si quem es nactus qui in tuam familiaritatem penitus intrarit, qui nobis ante fuerit ignotus, huic quantum credendum sit vide, non quin possint multi esse provinciales viri boni, sed hoc sperare licet, iudicare periculosum est. multis enim simulationum involucris tegitur et quasi velis quibusdam obtenditur unius cuiusque natura; frons, oculi, vultus persaepe mentiuntur, oratio vero saepissime. quam ob rem qui potes reperire ex eo genere hominum qui pecuniae cupiditate adducti careant iis rebus omnibus a quibus nos divulsi esse non possumus, te autem, alienum hominem, ament ex animo ac non sui commodi causa simulent? mihi quidem permagnum videtur, praesertim si idem homines privatum non fere quemquam, praetores semper omnis amant quo ex genere si quem forte tui cognosti amantiorem (fieri enim potuit) quam temporis, hunc vero ad tuum numerum libenter ascribito; sin autem id non perspicies, nullum genus erit in familiaritate cavendum magis, propterea quod et omnis vias pecuniae norunt et omnia pecuniae causa faciunt et quicum victuri non sunt eius existimationi consulere non curant.
Even of the Greeks themselves certain familiarities are to be diligently guarded against, except those of a very few men — if there are any worthy of old Greece. Most of them, alas, are deceitful and light, and trained by long servitude to excessive flattery. Whom, all of them, I say should be welcomed liberally; the best of them should be joined by hospitality and friendship; their excessive familiarities are neither so faithful (for they do not dare to oppose our wishes), and they envy not only ours but their own.
atque etiam e Graecis ipsis diligenter cavendae sunt quaedam familiaritates praeter hominum perpaucorum si qui sunt vetere Graecia digni; sic vero fallaces sunt permulti et leves et diuturna servitute ad nimiam adsentationem eruditi. quos ego universos adhiberi liberaliter, optimum quemque hospitio amicitiaque coniungi dico oportere; nimiae familiaritates eorum neque tam fideles sunt (non enim audent adversari nostris voluntatibus) et invident non nostris solum verum etiam suis.
Now if I would be cautious and diligent in such matters — in which I fear I am even too hard — with what spirit do you suppose I am toward slaves? Whom indeed we ought to govern in every place, but especially in the provinces. Of which kind much could be prescribed, but this is the briefest and most easily kept: that they so conduct themselves on those Asian journeys as if you were going by the Appian Way, and that they think it makes no difference whether they have come to Tralles or to Formiae. And if any of the slaves is outstandingly faithful, let him be in domestic and private matters; in matters that pertain to the duty of your command and to any part of the commonwealth, let him touch nothing. For many things which can rightly be entrusted to faithful slaves nevertheless, for the sake of avoiding talk and reproach, must not be entrusted.
iam qui in eius modi rebus, in quibus vereor etiam ne durior sim, cautus esse velim ac diligens, quo me animo in servis esse censes? quos quidem cum omnibus in locis tum praecipue in provinciis regere debemus. quo de genere multa praecipi possunt sed hoc et brevissimum est et facillime teneri potest, ut ita se gerant in istis Asiaticis itineribus ut si iter Appia via faceres, neve interesse quicquam putent utrum Trallis an Formias venerint. ac si quis est ex servis egregie fidelis, sit in domesticis rebus et privatis; quae res ad officium imperi tui atque ad aliquam partem rei publicae pertinebunt, de iis rebus ne quid attingat. multa enim quae recte committi servis fidelibus possunt tamen sermonis et vituperationis vitandae causa committenda non sunt.
But somehow my speech has slipped into the manner of a manual of instruction, although that was not my purpose at the start. For what could I prescribe to a man who, especially in this kind, is, as I see, not inferior to me in prudence and even superior in experience? But yet I thought that, if my authority should be added to what you do, it would be the more pleasing to you yourself. Wherefore let these be the foundations of your dignity: first, your own integrity and self-control; next, the modesty of all who are with you, a careful and diligent selection in your familiarities both with provincials and with Greeks, a grave and steady discipline of the household.
sed nescio quo pacto ad praecipiendi rationem delapsa est oratio mea, cum id mihi propositum initio non fuisset. quid enim ei praecipiam quem ego in hoc praesertim genere intellegam prudentia non esse inferiorem quam me, usu vero etiam superiorem? sed tamen si ad ea quae faceres auctoritas accederet mea, tibi ipsi illa putavi fore iucundiora. qua re sint haec fundamenta dignitatis tuae, tua primum integritas et continentia, deinde omnium qui tecum sunt pudor, delectus in familiaritatibus et provincialium hominum et Graecorum percautus et diligens, familiae gravis et constans disciplina.
Things which, while they are honourable in our private and daily affairs, in so great a command, with morals so depraved, with a province so corrupting, must necessarily seem divine. This training and this discipline can sustain in things that have to be set down and decreed that severity which you have used in matters from which we have undertaken some quarrels (with great joy on my part). Unless you suppose that I am moved by the complaints of some Paconius (a man not even Greek but a Mysian or rather a Phrygian) or by the voice of Tuscenius (a frantic and sordid man), out of whose foulest jaws you snatched a most dishonourable greed with the highest equity.
quae cum honesta sint in his privatis nostris cotidianisque rationibus, in tanto imperio, tam depravatis moribus, tam corruptrice provincia divina videantur necesse est. haec institutio atque haec disciplina potest sustinere in rebus statuendis et decernendis eam severitatem qua tu in iis rebus usus es ex quibus non nullas simultates cum magna mea laetitia susceptas habemus; nisi forte me Paconi nescio cuius, hominis ne Graeci quidem ac Mysi aut Phrygis potius, querelis moveri putas aut Tusceni, hominis furiosi ac sordidi, vocibus, cuius tu ex impurissimis faucibus inhonestissimam cupiditatem eripuisti summa cum aequitate
These and other rulings of yours full of severity in that province we should not easily sustain without the highest integrity. Wherefore let there be the highest severity in pronouncing the law, provided that it not be varied by favour but be kept consistent. But it is of small account that the law be pronounced consistently and diligently by you yourself, unless the same is done by those to whom you have ceded any part of that office. To me it seems that there is not much variety of business in administering Asia, and that the whole is sustained chiefly by the saying of justice. In which (especially of provincial knowledge) the principle itself lies open; what must be applied is steadfastness and gravity which can withstand not only favour but even suspicion.
haec et cetera plena severitatis quae statuisti in ista provincia non facile sine summa integritate sustineremus. qua re sit summa in iure dicendo severitas, dum modo ea ne varietur gratia sed conservetur aequabilis. sed tamen parvi refert abs te ipso ius dici aequabiliter et diligenter, nisi idem ab iis fiet quibus tu eius muneris aliquam partem concesseris. ac mihi quidem videtur non sane magna varietas esse negotiorum in administranda Asia sed ea tota iuris dictione maxime sustineri; in qua scientiae praesertim provincialis ratio ipsa expedita est, constantia est adhibenda et gravitas quae resistat non solum gratiae verum etiam suspicioni.
There must also be added an easy bearing in hearing, mildness in deciding, diligence in giving satisfaction and in argument. By these things lately Gaius Octavius was most pleasant; in his court the first lictor was quiet, the herald was silent, every man spoke as often as he wished and as long as he wished. By all this perhaps he would have seemed too mild, were it not that this mildness defended that severity. The Sullan men were compelled to give back what they had taken away by force and fear. The men who in their magistracies had decreed wrongfully had to obey the same law themselves as private men. This severity of his would have seemed bitter, had it not been seasoned with many seasonings of humanity.
adiungenda etiam est facilitas in audiendo, lenitas in decernendo, in satis faciendo ac disputando diligentia. his rebus nuper C. Octavius iucundissimus fuit, apud quem primus lictor quievit, tacuit accensus, quotiens quisque voluit dixit et quam voluit diu; quibus ille rebus fortasse nimis lenis videretur, nisi haec lenitas illam severitatem tueretur. cogebantur Sullani homines quae per vim et metum abstulerant reddere; qui in magistratibus iniuriose decreverant, eodem ipsis privatis erat iure parendum. haec illius severitas acerba videretur, nisi multis condimentis humanitatis mitigaretur.
If this mildness is welcome at Rome, where there is so great arrogance, so unmeasured liberty, so endless licence of men, finally so many magistrates, so many helps, so great authority of the people and of the senate, how much more welcome may a praetor’s courtesy be in Asia, in which so great a multitude of citizens, so great a multitude of allies, so many cities, so many states look to the nod of one man — where there is no help, no place to complain, no senate, no public meeting? Wherefore it is the part of a great man, both naturally moderate and indeed schooled by learning and the best studies, so to bear himself in such great power that no other power may be missed by those over whom he presides.
quod si haec lenitas grata Romae est, ubi tanta adrogantia est, tam immoderata libertas, tam infinita hominum licentia denique tot magistratus, tot auxilia, tanta populi, tanta senatus auctoritas, quam iucunda tandem praetoris comitas in Asia potest esse in qua tanta multitudo civium, tanta sociorum, tot urbes, tot civitates unius hominis nutum intuentur, ubi nullum auxilium est, nulla conquestio, nullus senatus, nulla contio. qua re permagni hominis est et cum ipsa natura moderati tum vero etiam doctrina atque optimarum artium studiis eruditi sic se adhibere in tanta potestate ut nulla alia potestas ab iis quibus is praesit desideretur.
The Cyrus of Xenophon was written not for the truth of history but for the image of just rule, in whom the highest gravity is joined by that philosopher with singular courtesy. Which books, indeed, our Africanus was not without reason wont not to lay out of his hands. For no duty of a diligent and moderate command has been passed over in them. And if those things were so cultivated by him who was never going to be a private citizen, in what manner must they be observed by those to whom command has been so given that they must give it back, and given by laws to which they must return?
Cyrus ille a Xenophonte non ad historiae fidem scriptus sed ad effigiem iusti imperi, cuius summa gravitas ab illo philosopho cum singulari comitate coniungitur; quos quidem libros non sine causa noster ille Africanus de manibus ponere non solebat; nullum est enim praetermissum in iis officium diligentis et moderati imperi—eaque si sic coluit ille qui privatus futurus numquam fuit, quonam modo retinenda sunt iis quibus imperium ita datum est ut redderent, et ab iis legibus datum est ad quas revertendum est?
And to me it seems that everything must be referred to this end by those who govern others: that those who shall be in their command be as happy as possible. That this is the most ancient principle with you, and was so from the beginning, when you first touched Asia, has been celebrated by constant rumour and by every man’s report. It is the part not only of one who governs allies and citizens, but of one who governs slaves, and even mute herds, to serve the interests and the advantage of those whom he governs.
ac mihi quidem videntur huc omnia esse referenda iis qui praesunt aliis, ut ii qui erunt in eorum imperio sint quam beatissimi; quod tibi et esse antiquissimum et ab inrtio, fuisse, ut primum Asiam attigisti, constante fama atque omnium sermone celebratum est. est autem non modo eius qui sociis et civibus, sed etiam eius qui servis, qui mutis pecudibus praesit, eorum quibus praesit commodis utilitatique servire.
It is agreed by all, of this kind, that the highest diligence has been applied by you. No new debt has been contracted by the cities; many have been freed by you from the great and heavy old debt; cities ruined and almost deserted, including the most noble of Ionia, Samos, and one of Caria, Halicarnassus, have been set up again through your work. There are no seditions in the towns, no discords; you have provided that the cities be administered by the counsels of the best men. The brigandage of Mysia has been put down; massacre has been suppressed in many places; peace has been established throughout the province. And not only the brigandage of the roads and the fields, but also and much more the larger brigandage of towns and shrines, has been driven away. From the reputation, the fortunes, and the leisure of the wealthy, that bitterest handmaid of praetorial greed — the false accusation — has been removed. The expenses and tributes of the cities are equally borne by all who dwell in those cities’ territories. Approach to you is most easy; your ears lie open to every man’s complaint; no man’s poverty and isolation has been shut out, not only from that public approach and the tribunal but not even from your house and chamber. In the whole of your command nothing is bitter, nothing cruel, and everything is full of clemency, mildness, humanity.
cuius quidem generis constare inter omnis video abs te summam adhiberi diligentiam, nullum aes alienum novum contrahi civitatibus, vetere autem magno et gravi multas abs te esse liberatas, urbis compluris dirutas ac paene desertas, in quibus unam Ioniae nobilissimam, alteram Cariae, Samum et Halicarnassum, per te esse recreatas, nullas esse in oppidis seditiones, nullas discordias, provideri abs te ut civitates optimatium consiliis administrentur, sublata Mysiae latrocinia, caedis multis locis repressas, pacem tota provincia constitutam, neque solum illa itinerum atque agrorum sed multo etiam plura et maiora oppidorum et fanorum latrocinia esse depulsa, remotam a fama et a fortunis et ab otio locupletium illam acerbissimam ministram praetorum avaritiae, calumniam, sumptus et tributa civitatum ab omnibus qui earum civitatum fines incolant tolerari aequaliter, facillimos esse aditus ad te, patere auris tuas querelis omnium, nullius inopiam ac solitudinem non modo illo, populari accessu ac tribunali sed ne domo quidem et cubiculo esse exclusam tuo, toto denique imperio nihil acerbum esse, nihil crudele atque omnia plena clementiae, mansuetudinis, humanitatis
How great a benefit is yours — that of an unfair and heavy aedilician tax, with great quarrels of mine, you have freed Asia! For if one nobleman complains openly of you, that by edicting that money should not be decreed for the games you have snatched HS 200,000 from him, what indeed would have been paid out, if money had been put forth in the name of all who hold games at Rome, as the practice now was? Yet we have suppressed these complaints of our men by this counsel: that — in Asia, somehow, but at Rome praised with no slight wonder — when the cities had decreed money for our temple and monument, and had done it both for our great services and for your supreme benefits, and that with the highest goodwill of theirs (and the law nominally provided that one might receive money for a temple and monument, and that what was given would not perish but be among the temple ornaments, so that it would seem given to the Roman people and the immortal gods rather than to me) — yet that, in which lay dignity, the law, the doer’s wish, I thought I should not accept, both for other reasons and that they — to whom it was neither owed nor permitted — should bear it with a more equable mind.
quantum vero illud est beneficium tuum quod iniquo et gravi vectigali aedilicio, cum magnis nostris simultatibus Asiam liberasti! etenim si unus homo nobilis queritur so palam te, quod edixeris ne ad ludos pecuniae decernerentur, HS cc sibi eripuisse, quanta tandem pecunia penderetur, si omnium nomine quicumque Romae ludos facerent quod erat iam institutum erogaretur? quamquam has querelas hominum nostrorum illo consilio oppressimus, quod in Asia nescio quonam modo, Romae quidem non mediocri cum admiratione laudatur, quod, cum ad templum monumentumque nostrum civitates pecunias decrevissent, cumque id et pro meis magnis meritis et pro tuis maximis beneficiis summa sua voluntate fecissent, nominatimque lex exciperet ut ad templum et monumentum capere liceret, cumque id quod dabatur non esset interiturum sed in ornamentis templi futurum ut non mihi potius quam populo Romano ac dis immortalibus datum videretur, tamen id, in quo erat dignitas, erat lex, erat eorum qui faciebant voluntas, accipiendum non putavi cum aliis de causis tum etiam ut animo aequiore ferrent ii quibus nec deberetur nec liceret.
Wherefore lean with all your spirit and zeal on that course you have used so far: love those whom the senate and Roman people have committed and entrusted to your good faith and power; protect them by every reckoning; wish them as happy as possible. If the lot had set you over the Africans or the Spaniards or the Gauls — savage and barbarous nations — it would still be the part of your humanity to consider their advantage, and to serve their utility and safety. But when we are over a kind of men in whom is humanity itself, indeed from whom humanity is reckoned to have come to others, certainly to them of all men we ought to give it back, from whom we received it.
quapropter incumbe toto animo et studio omni in eam rationem qua adhuc usus es, ut eos quos tuae fidei potestatique senatus populusque Romanus commisit et credidit diligas et omni ratione tueare et esse quam beatissimos velis. quod si te sors Afris aut Hispanis aut Gallis praefecisset, immanibus ac barbaris nationibus, tamen esset humanitatis tuae consulere eorum commodis et utilitati salutique servire; cum vero ei generi hominum praesimus, non modo in quo ipsa sit sed etiam a quo ad alios pervenisse putetur humanitas, certe iis eam potissimum tribuere debemus a quibus accepimus.
For I shall not now be ashamed to say this, especially in such a life and in such deeds in which no suspicion of sloth or levity can settle: that we have attained the things we have attained by those studies and arts which were handed down to us in the monuments and disciplines of Greece. Wherefore, beyond the common faith owed to all, we are seen to owe to that kind of men in particular this: that, with those whose teachings have schooled us, we should wish to display what we have learned from them.
non enim me hoc iam dicere pudebit, praesertim in ea vita atque iis rebus gestis in quibus non potest residere inertiae aut levitatis ulla suspicio, nos ea quae consecuti sumus iis studiis et artibus esse adeptos quae sint nobis Graeciae monumentis disciplinisque tradita qua re praeter communem fidem quae omnibus debetur, praeterea nos isti hominum generi praecipue debere videmur, ut quorum praeceptis sumus eruditi apud eos ipsos quod ab iis didicerimus velimus expromere.
And that prince of talent and learning, Plato, judged that commonwealths would be happy only when either learned and wise men should begin to govern them, or those who governed them should set their whole zeal on learning and wisdom; this joining of power and wisdom he reckoned could be a salvation to states. This perchance fell at some time to our whole commonwealth; now indeed surely it has fallen to that province of yours, that the man who in the receiving of learning, of virtue, of humanity, has had the most zeal and the most time from boyhood, holds the highest power in it.
atque ille quidem princeps ingeni et doctrinae Plato tum denique fore beatas res publicas putavit, si aut docti et sapientes homines eas regere coepissent aut ii qui regerent omne suum studium in doctrina et sapientia conlocassent hanc coniunctionem videlicet potestatis et sapientiae saluti censuit civitatibus esse posse. quod fortasse aliquando universae rei publicae nostrae, nunc quidem profecto isti provinciae contigit, ut is in ea summam potestatem haberet cui in doctrina, cui in virtute atque humanitate percipienda plurimum a pueritia studi fuisset et temporis.
Wherefore see that this year which has been added to your labour seem to have been extended at the same time for the safety of Asia. Since, in keeping you, Asia has been more fortunate than we in trying to bring you back, bring it about that the joy of the province may soften our longing. For if, in deserving the highest honours that I do not know any man has had, you were the most diligent of all, you ought to apply much greater diligence in keeping these honours.
qua re cura ut hic annus qui ad laborem tuum accessit idem ad salutem Asiae prorogatus esse videatur. quoniam in te retinendo, is fuit Asia felicior quam nos in deducendo,, perfice ut laetitia provinciae desiderium nostrum leniatur. etenim si in promerendo ut tibi tanti honores haberentur quanti haud scio an nemini fuisti omnium diligentissimus, multo maiorem in his honoribus tuendis adhibere diligentiam debes.
Of that kind of honours, what I think I have written to you before. I have always reckoned them, if vulgar, cheap; if instituted for the moment, light. But if (as in fact has happened) they were paid to your merits, I judged that you should put much labour into keeping them. Wherefore, since you live in those cities with the highest command and power — in which you see your virtues consecrated and placed among the gods — in everything which you set up, decree, and do, you will think what you owe to such opinions of men, such judgments about you, such honours. And that will be of such a kind as to consult all men, to apply remedy to the troubles of men, to provide for safety, to wish to be called and held the parent of Asia.
equidem de isto genere honorum quid sentirem scripsi ad te ante. semper eos putavi, si vulgares essent, vilis, si temporis causa constituerentur, levis; si vero, id quod ita factum est, meritis tuis tribuerentur, existimabam multam tibi in his honoribus tuendis operam esse ponendam. qua re quoniam in istis urbibus cum summo imperio et potestate versaris in quibus ’tuas virtutes consecratas et in deorum numero conlocatas vides, in omnibus rebus quas statues, quas decernes, quas ages, quid tantis hominum opinionibus, tantis de te iudiciis, tantis honoribus debeas cogitabis. id autem erit eius modi ut consulas omnibus, ut medeare incommodis hominum, provideas saluti, ut te parentem Asiae et dici et haberi velis.
And yet, to this wish of yours and to your diligence, the publicans bring great difficulty. If we oppose them, we shall cut off, both from us and from the commonwealth, an order which has best deserved of us and is bound through us to the commonwealth. But if we yield to them in everything, we shall let perish from the foundations those whose interest, as well as safety, we ought to consult. This is one — if we wish to think honestly — difficulty in your whole command. For to be self-restrained, to keep down all desires, to coerce one’s own people, to keep an even reckoning of the law, to make oneself easily available in hearing causes and in admitting men, is a fine thing rather than a hard one; for it is set not in any labour but in a certain inclination and will of the mind.
atqui huic tuae voluntati ac diligentiae difficultatem magnam adferunt publicani. quibus si adversamur, ordinem de nobis optime meritum et per nos cum re publica coniunctum et a nobis et a re publica diiungemus; sin autem omnibus in rebus obsequemur, funditus eos perire patiemur quorum non modo saluti sed etiam commodis consulere debemus. haec est una, si vere cogitare volumus, in toto imperio tuo difficultas. nam esse abstinentem, continere omnis cupiditates, suos coercere, iuris aequabilem tenere rationem, facilem se in rebus cognoscendis, in hominibus audiendis admittendisque praebere praeclarum magis est quam difficile; non est enim positum in labore aliquo sed in quadam inductione animi et voluntate.
What bitterness the matter of the publicans brings to the allies, we have learned from our own citizens, who were lately complaining (in the abolition of the tolls of Italy) not so much about the toll as about certain wrongs of the toll-collectors. Wherefore, since I have heard the complaints of citizens in Italy, I am not unaware of what may be happening to allies in the ends of the earth. To handle yourself there in such a way that you both satisfy the publicans (especially when their contracts have been badly let) and do not let the allies perish, seems the work of a divine kind of virtue — which is yours. And first, what is most bitter to the Greeks — that they are tributary — ought not to seem so bitter, since without the command of the Roman people they have, by their own institutions, been so of themselves. They cannot recoil from the name “publican,” since they themselves could not have paid their tribute without a publican (which Sulla had distributed equally among them). That the Greeks are no milder in exacting tributes than our publicans can be understood from this: that the Caunians and all those of the islands which had been assigned by Sulla to the Rhodians lately fled to the senate that they might rather pay their tribute to us than to the Rhodians. Wherefore the name “publican” should be neither shuddered at by those who have always been tributary, nor abhorred by those who could not pay tribute by themselves, nor refused by those who have demanded it.
illa causa publicanorum quantam acerbitatem adferat sociis intelleximus ex civibus qui nuper in portorus Italiae tollendis non tam de portorio quam de non nullis iniuriis portitorum querebantur. qua re non ignoro quid sociis accidat in ultimis terris cum audierim in Italia querelas civium. hic te ita versari ut et publicanis satis facias, praesertim publicis male redemptis, et socios perire non sinas, divinae cuiusdam virtutis esse videtur, id est tuae. ac primum Graecis id quod acerbissimum est, quod sunt vectigales, non ita acerbum videri debet, propterea quod sine imperio populi Romani suis institutis per se ipsi ita fuerunt. nomen autem publicani aspernari non possunt, qui pendere ipsi vectigal sine publicano non potuerint quod iis aequaliter Sulla discripserat. non esse autem leniores in exigendis vectigalibus Graecos quam nostros publicanos hinc intellegi potest quod Caunii nuper omnesque ex insulis quae erant a Sulla Rhodiis attributae confugerunt ad senatum, nobis ut potius vectigal quam Rhodiis penderent. qua re nomen publicani neque ii debent horrere qui semper vectigales fuerunt, neque ii aspernari qui per se pendere vectigal non potuerunt, neque ii recusare qui postulaverunt.
At the same time let Asia consider this also: that no calamity, either of foreign war or of domestic discords, would have been absent from her, if she were not held by this command. And since that command can in no way be retained without tributes, let her with an even mind redeem from herself a perpetual peace and quiet by some part of her own gains.
simul et illud Asia cogitet, nullam ab se neque belli externi neque domesticarum discordiarum calamitatem afuturam fuisse, si hoc imperio non teneretur. id autem imperium cum retineri sine vectigalibus nullo modo possit, aequo animo parte aliqua suorum fructuum pacem sibi sempiternam redimat atque otium.
If they will then bear the kind and the name of publican without an unfair mind, the rest can seem milder to them by your counsel and prudence. They can, in making their pacts, look not at the censorial law but rather at the convenience of finishing the business and at the riddance of trouble. You yourself can do (as you have outstandingly done and are doing) this: bring to mind how great is the dignity of the publicans, how much we owe to that order, so that — with command and force of authority and of the fasces removed — you may join the publicans with the Greeks in favour and authority. And from those whom you have most served and who owe you everything, ask this: that by their easiness they allow us to keep and preserve that connection which we have with the publicans.
quod si genus ipsum et nomen publicani non iniquo animo sustinebunt, poterunt iis consilio et prudentia tua reliqua videri mitiora; possunt in pactionibus faciendis non legem spectare censoriam sed potius commoditatem conficiendi negoti et liberationem molestiae; potes etiam tu id facere, quod et fecisti egregie et facis, ut commemores quanta sit in publicanis dignitas, quantum nos illi ordini debeamus, ut remoto imperio ac vi potestatis et fascium publicanos cum Graecis gratia atque auctoritate coniungas sed et ab iis de quibus optime tu meritus es et qui tibi omnia debent hoc petas, ut facilitate sua nos eam necessitudinem quae est nobis cum publicanis obtinere et conservare patiantur.
But why am I exhorting you in these matters, which you can do not only of your own accord without any man’s prescriptions, but have already in great part accomplished? For the most honourable and greatest of the corporations do not stop giving us thanks daily; which to me is the more pleasant because the Greeks too do the same. To unite by goodwill those things which are diverse in interest, in utility, and almost in nature, is hard. But what is written above I have not written to instruct you (your prudence does not need any man’s prescriptions), but the recollection of your virtue delighted me in the writing — although in this letter I have been longer than I either wished or thought I would be.
sed quid ego te haec hortor quae tu non modo facere potes tua sponte sine cuiusquam praeceptis sed etiam magna iam ex parte perfecisti? non enim desistunt nobis agere cotidie gratias honestissimae et maximae societates; quod quidem mihi idcirco iucundius est quod idem faciunt Graeci; difficile est autem ea quae commodis, utilitate et prope natura diversa sunt, voluntate coniungere. at ea quidem quae supra scripta sunt non ut te instituerem scripsi (neque enim prudentia tua cuiusquam praecepta desiderat), sed me in scribendo commemoratio tuae virtutis delectavit; quamquam in his litteris longior fui quam aut vellem aut quam me putavi fore.
There is one thing in which I shall not stop prescribing to you, nor allow you, so far as is in me, to be praised with an exception. For all who come from those parts so make mention of your virtue, integrity, humanity that, in the highest praises of you, they except one thing: irascibility. Which fault, although in this private and daily life it seems to be of a light and weak mind, yet is most ugly when bitterness of nature is added to the highest command. Wherefore I shall not undertake to set out for you now what is wont to be said about anger by the most learned men, since I do not wish to be too long, and you can easily learn it from the writings of many. That, however, which is proper to a letter — that the man to whom it is written be informed about matters of which he is unaware — I do not think should be passed over.
unum est quod tibi ego praecipere non desinam neque te patiar, quantum erit in me, cum exceptione laudari omnes enim qui istinc veniunt ita de tua virtute, integritate, humanitate commemorant ut in tuis summis laudibus excipiant unam iracundiam; quod vitium cum in hac privata cotidianaque vita levis esse animi atque infirmi videtur, tum vero nihil est tam deforme quam ad summum imperium etiam acerbitatem naturae adiungere. qua re illud non suscipiam ut quae de iracundia dici solent a doctissimis hominibus ea nunc tibi exponam, cum et nimis longus esse nolim et ex multorum scriptis ea facile possis cognoscere; illud, quod est epistulae proprium, ut is ad quem scribitur de iis rebus quas ignorat certior fiat, praetermittendum esse non puto.
Almost all men report this to us: that, when anger is absent, you cannot be made more pleasant; but that, when the wickedness and perversity of any man have stirred you up, you are so inflamed in mind that everybody misses your usual humanity. Wherefore, since not so much some desire of glory as the very thing itself and fortune have led us into a way of life in which there will be perpetual talk of men about us, let us guard — so far as we can effect and follow — that no signal vice be said to have been in us. Nor do I now contend for what is perhaps difficult both in every nature and in our age now, to change one’s mind and to pluck out suddenly anything that is deep-set in our manners. But I admonish you of this: that, if you cannot wholly avoid this — since the mind is taken up by anger before reason can foresee that it might be taken up — prepare yourself in advance, and meditate every day that anger must be resisted. And when it most stirs the mind, then you must most diligently restrain your tongue. Which virtue sometimes seems to me no less than not to be angry at all. For the latter is a sign not only of gravity but sometimes of slowness; but to moderate both mind and speech when you are angry, or even to be silent and to keep the mind’s motion and grief in your own power — although it is not the work of perfect wisdom, yet is the work of no slight talent.
sic ad nos omnes fere deferunt nihil, cum absit iracundia, dicere solent te fieri posse iucundius, sed, cum te alicuius improbitas perversitasque commoverit sic te animo incitari ut ab omnibus tua desideretur humanitas. qua re quoniam in eam rationem vitae nos non tam cupiditas quaedam gloriae quam res ipsa ac fortuna deduxit, ut sempiternus sermo hominum de nobis futurus sit, caveamus, quantum efficere et consequi possumus, ut ne quod in nobis insigne vitium fuisse dicatur. neque ego nunc hoc contendo, quod fortasse cum in omni natura tum iam in nostra aetate difficile est, mutare animum et si quid est penitus insitum moribus id subito evellere, sed te illud admoneo ut, si hoc plene vitare non potes, quod ante occupatur animus ab iracundia quam providere ratio potuit ne occuparetur, ut te ante compares cotidieque meditere resistendum esse iracundiae, cumque ea maxime animum moveat tum tibi esse diligentissime linguam continendam; quae quidem mihi virtus interdum non minor videtur quam omnino non irasci. nam illud est non solum gravitatis sed non numquam etiam lentitudinis; moderari s vero et animo et orationi cum sis iratus, aut etiam tacere et tenere in sua potestate motum animi et dolorem, etsi non est perfectae sapientiae, tamen est non mediocris ingeni
And in this kind men report you have already become much more pleasant and milder. No more vehement excitements of mind of yours, no curses, no insults, are reported to us — which both shrink from learning and humanity, and are above all contrary to command and dignity. For if angers are unappeasable, the bitterness is the highest; but if they can be entreated, the levity is the highest — which yet, as among bad things, is to be preferred to bitterness.
atque in hoc genere multo te esse iam commodiorem mitioremque nuntiant. nullae tuae vehementiores animi concitationes, nulla maledicta ad nos, nullae contumeliae perferuntur, quae cum abhorrent a litteris, ab humanitate, tum vero contraria sunt imperio ac dignitati; nam si implacabiles iracundiae sunt, summa est acerbitas, sin autem exorabiles, summa levitas, quae tamen ut in malis acerbitati anteponenda est.
Since the first year had the most talk on this rebuke (because, I suppose, men’s wrongs, greed, and insolence happened to you beyond opinion and seemed unbearable), and the second year was much milder (because both habit and reason and, as I think, my letters too made you more patient and milder), the third year ought to be so corrected that no man can find fault with even the smallest thing.
sed quoniam primus annus habuit de hac reprehensione plurimum sermonis, credo, propterea quod tibi hominum iniuriae, quod avaritia, quod insolentia praeter opinionem accidebat et intolerabilis videbatur, secundus autem multo lenior, quod et consuetudo et ratio et, ut ego arbitror, meae quoque litterae te patientiorem lenioremque fecerunt, tertius annus ita debet esse emendatus ut ne minimam quidem rem quisquam possit ullam reprehendere.
And here at this point I deal with you, no longer with exhortation or prescriptions, but with brotherly entreaty: lay all your spirit, care, and thought into gathering praise from every quarter. If we stood at a moderate level of report and acclaim, no extraordinary thing would be required of you, nothing beyond the customary practice of others. But now, on account of the splendour and greatness of those things in which we have been busy, unless we attain the highest praise from that province, we scarcely seem able to escape the highest reproach. Such is our position: that all good men both favour us and demand and expect from us every diligence and virtue; and all the wicked — since we have undertaken eternal war with them — seem ready to be content with the slightest thing for finding fault.
ac iam hoc loco non hortatione neque praeceptis sed precibus tecum fraternis ago totum ut animum, curam cogitationemque tuam ponas in omnium laude undique conligenda. quod si in mediocri statu sermonis ac praedicationis nostrae res essent, nihil abs te eximium, nihil praeter aliorum consuetudinem postularetur. nunc vero propter earum rerum in quibus versati sumus o splendorem et magnitudinem, nisi summam laudem ex ista provincia adsequimur, vix videmur summam vituperationem posse vitare. ea nostra ratio est ut omnes boni cum faveant tum etiam omnem a nobis diligentiam virtutemque et postulent et exspectent, omnes autem improbi, quod cum iis bellum sempiternum suscepimus, vel minima re ad reprehendendum contenti esse videantur.
Wherefore, since such a theatre as that of all Asia has been given to your virtues — a theatre filled with the largest crowd, of the greatest size, of the most learned judgment, and so resounding by nature that all the way to Rome the demonstrations and the voices come back — strive, I beg, and labour, not only to seem to have been worthy of these matters, but to have surpassed all of them by your skills.
qua re quoniam eius modi theatrum totius Asiae virtutibus tuis est datum celebritate refertissimum, magnitudine amplissimum, iudicio eruditissimum, natura autem ita resonans ut usque Romam significationes vocesque referantur, contende, quaeso,atque elabora non modo ut his rebus dignus fuisse sed etiam ut illa omnia tuis artibus superasse videare,
And since chance has given me the urban administration of the commonwealth in office, and you the provincial: if my part yields to none, see that yours surpasses all the rest. Consider also: we are no longer labouring for some remaining and hoped-for glory, but fighting for what we have won — which it was not so much our part to seek as to defend. If anything were separate from you for me, I would desire nothing more than the standing which has now been won for me. But now things stand thus: unless all your acts and words there answer our affairs here, I shall reckon that, by all my labours and by all my dangers (in all of which you were a sharer) I have attained nothing. If you above others helped that we might attain a most distinguished name, you will certainly above others labour that we may keep it. You must not use only the opinions and judgments of those who are now men, but those also who shall be in the future — although those will be the truer judgment, freed from detraction and malice.
et quoniam mihi casus urbanam in magistratibus administrationem rei publicae, tibi provincialem dedit, si mea pars nemini cedit, fac ut tua ceteros vincat. simul et illud cogita, nos non de reliqua et sperata gloria iam laborare sed de parta dimicare, quae quidem non tam expetenda nobis fuit quam tuenda est. ac si mihi quicquam esset abs te separatum, nihil amplius desiderarem hoc statu qui mihi iam partus est. nunc vero sic res sese habet ut, nisi omnia tua facta atque dicta nostris rebus istinc respondeant, ego me tantis meis laboribus tantisque periculis quorum tu omnium particeps fuisti nihil consecutum putem. quod si ut amplissimum nomen consequeremur unus praeter ceteros adiuvisti, certe idem ut id retineamus praeter ceteros elaborabis. non est tibi his solis utendum existimationibus ac iudiciis qui nunc sunt hominum sed iis etiam qui futuri sunt; quamquam illorum erit venus iudicium obtrectatione et malevolentia liberatum.
Lastly, you ought to consider this also: you do not seek glory for yourself alone. If that were so, you yet would not neglect it, especially since you have wished to consecrate the memory of your name with the most distinguished monuments. But it must be shared with me, and handed down to our children. In which it must be guarded against, if you should be too negligent, that you should seem to have consulted yourself little but even to have envied your own.
denique etiam illud debes cogitare, non te tibi soli gloriam quaerere quod si esset, tamen non neglegeres, praesertim cum amplissimis monumentis consecrare voluisses memoriam nominis tui. sed ea est tibi communicanda mecum, prodenda liberis nostris; in qua cavendum est ne, si neglegentior fueris, tibi parum consuluisse sed etiam tuis invidisse videaris.
These things are not said in such a way that my speech may seem to have roused you sleeping, but rather to have urged you running. For you will perpetually do what you have done, so that all may praise your fairness, your temperance, your severity, your integrity. But me, on account of my singular love, an infinite desire of your glory holds. Although I judge this: since now Asia ought to be as well known to you as his own house to each man — since to your highest prudence so great experience has been added — there is nothing that pertains to praise which you do not most fully see, and which does not come into your mind daily without anyone’s exhortation. But because, when I read your letters, I seem to hear you, and when I write to you I seem to speak with you, on that account I take greatest pleasure in your longest letter, and I myself in writing am often the longer.
atque haec non eo dicuntur ut te oratio mea dormientem excitasse sed potius ut currentem incitasse videatur. facies enim perpetuo quae fecisti ut omnes aequitatem tuam, temperantiam, severitatem integritatemque laudarent. sed me quaedam tenet propter singularem amorem infinita in te aviditas gloriae quamquam illud existimo, cum iam tibi Asia sic uti uni cuique sua domus nota esse debeat, cum ad tuam summam prudentiam tantus usus accesserit, nihil esse quod ad laudem attineat quod non tu optime perspicias et tibi non sine cuiusquam hortatione in mentem veniat cotidie. sed ego quia, cum tua lego, te audire, et quia, cum ad te scribo, tecum loqui videor, idcirco et tua longissima quaque epistula maxime delector et ipse in scribendo sum saepe longior.
This last thing I beg and exhort you: as good poets and industrious actors are wont to do, so be you most diligent in the last part and the conclusion of your duty and business, that this third year of your command may seem to have been, as the third act, the most perfect and the most adorned. You will most easily do this if you reckon that I — whom you have always wished to please more, alone, than all men — am always with you and present at all things which you say and do. It remains that I beg you, if you wish me and all yours to be well, that you most diligently serve your own health.
illud te ad extremum et oro et hortor ut, tamquam poetae boni et actores industrii solent, sic tu in extrema parte et conclusione muneris ac negoti tui diligentissimus sis ut hic tertius annus imperi tui tamquam tertius actus perfectissimus atque ornatissimus fuisse videatur. id facillime facies, si me cui semper uni magis quam universis placere voluisti tecum semper esse putabis et omnibus iis rebus quas dices et facies interesse. reliquum est ut te orem ut valetudini tuae, si me et tuos omnis valere vis, diligentissime servias.