Letter 21

On the first of June, as I was setting out for Antium and gladly leaving behind the gladiators of Marcus Metellus, your slave met me. He delivered to me a letter from you and a memoir of my consulship written in Greek. In this I was glad that some time before I had given to Lucius Cossinius a book, likewise written in Greek about the same matters, to be carried to you; for if I had read yours first, you would say that I had stolen from you. And yet that work of yours (for I read it with pleasure) seemed to me somewhat rough and unadorned, but nevertheless it was adorned by this very fact, that it had neglected ornaments, and, like women, it seemed to smell sweet for the very reason that it wore no perfume. My book, on the other hand, used up the whole perfume-box of Isocrates and all the little cosmetic cases of his disciples, and even some of the colors of Aristotle. You touched on it briefly at Corcyra, as you indicate to me in another letter, but afterward, I suppose, you received it from Cossinius. I would not have ventured to send it to you unless I had revised it slowly and fastidiously. [2] And yet Posidonius has already written back to me from Rhodes that, when he read this memorandum of mine, which I had sent to him so that he might write more elegantly about the same matters, he was not only not stirred to write, but even quite deterred. What more can I say? I have thrown the Greek nation into confusion. So those who commonly pressed me to give them something to embellish have now ceased to trouble me. You, if the book pleases you, will see to it that it is both at Athens and in the other towns of Greece; for it seems that it can bring some glory to our achievements. [3] As for the little speeches, both those you request and even more, I will send, since indeed those things which I write, stirred by the enthusiasm of young men, also delight you. For it suited me, because in those speeches which are called the Philippics that fellow-citizen of yours Demosthenes had shone, and because he had detached himself from this rather quarrelsome judicial style of speaking in order to appear somewhat more dignified and more statesmanlike, to take care that I too should have speeches which might be called consular. Of these, one is in the senate on the first of January, the second to the people on the agrarian law, the third on Otho, the fourth in defense of Rabirius, the fifth on the sons of the proscribed, the sixth when I laid down my province in the assembly, the seventh when I drove out Catiline, the eighth which I delivered to the people on the day after Catiline fled, the ninth in the assembly on the day the Allobroges gave their information, the tenth in the senate on the fifth of December. Besides these there are two short ones, like fragments of the agrarian law. I will see to it that you have this whole body of work; and since both my writings and my deeds delight you, from these same books you will perceive both what I did and what I said; or you should not have asked, for I was not pressing myself upon you. [4] As to your asking what there is for which I should summon you, and at the same time indicating that you are hindered by business and yet do not refuse, not only if there were need but even if I wished it, to hasten to me, there is really no necessity; but nevertheless you seemed to me able to arrange the times of your travels more conveniently. You are away too long, especially since you are in neighboring regions, and neither do we enjoy you nor are you without us. And now indeed there is quiet, but if the madness of our pretty boy could advance a little further, I would strongly rouse you from there. But Metellus admirably hinders him and will hinder him. What more can I say? He is a patriotic consul and, as I always judged, by nature good. That other man, however, does not pretend but plainly desires to be made tribune of the plebs. When this matter was being discussed in the senate, I broke the man and rebuked his inconsistency, in that he was seeking the tribunate of the plebs at Rome when he had repeatedly said he was seeking an inheritance in Sicily, and I said that we need not labor greatly over it, because it would be no more permitted to him as a plebeian to ruin the republic than it had been permitted to patricians like him while I was consul. And when he said that he had come from the strait on the seventh day and that no one had been able to come out to meet him, and that he had entered by night, and boasted of this in the assembly, I said that nothing new had happened to him. "From Sicily to Rome on the seventh day; three hours earlier from Rome to Interamna. By night you entered; the same as before. No one came out to meet you; not even then, when above all they ought to have come out." What more can I say? I render the insolent fellow modest, not only by the unbroken weightiness of my speech but also by this sort of jest. And so now I banter and joke with him in a friendly way; indeed, even when we were escorting a candidate, he asks me whether I had been accustomed to give the Sicilians a place for gladiators. I said no. "But I," said he, "as their new patron, will establish it; but my sister, who has so much consular space, gives me only a single foot." "Do not," said I, "complain about the one foot of your sister; you may lift up the other as well." Not a consular jest, you will say. I confess it; but I hate that woman who is no fit consul's wife. "For she is seditious, she wages war with her husband" -- and not only with Metellus but also with Fabius, because she takes it ill that they are involved in this. [6] As for your asking about the agrarian law, it now indeed seems to have cooled off. As for your reproaching me, in a somewhat gentle manner, about my intimacy with Pompey, I would not have you think that I am joined with him for the sake of my own protection; but the situation was so arranged that, if there were by chance any disagreement between us, the greatest discords would necessarily be set in motion in the republic. This I have so guarded against and provided for, not so that I should depart from that best policy of mine, but so that he should become better and lay aside something of his demagogic fickleness. Know that he speaks far more gloriously about my achievements, into which many had incited him, than about his own; for he gives testimony that the republic was well managed by himself, but preserved by me. How much it profits me that he does this I do not know; it certainly profits the republic. What of it? If I also render Caesar, whose winds are now very favorable, better, do I harm the republic so much? [7] Indeed, even if no one envied me, if all, as was right, favored me, nevertheless that medicine would be no less to be approved which healed the diseased parts of the republic than that which cut them out. But as it is now, since that body of knights which I, with you as standard-bearer and leader, had stationed on the Capitoline slope has deserted the senate, and our leading men think they touch the sky with their finger if there are bearded mullets in their fishponds that come to the hand, but neglect other things, do I not seem to you to do enough good if I bring it about that those who can do harm should be unwilling to do so? [8] For you do not love our Cato more than I do; but nevertheless he, though using the best intentions and the highest good faith, sometimes harms the republic; for he delivers his opinion as if in Plato's Republic, not as if in the dregs of Romulus. What is truer than that a man who has taken money for delivering a judgment should come to trial? Cato proposed this, the senate assented; the knights are at war with the senate-house, not with me; for I dissented. What is more shameless than the tax-farmers reneging? Yet for the sake of retaining the order, the loss had to be borne. Cato resisted and prevailed. And so now, though a consul was shut up in prison, and although sedition was often stirred up, none of those by whose gathering I, and likewise those consuls who came after me, used to defend the republic, lent their support. "What then?" you will say, "shall we keep those men hired for pay?" What shall we do, if we cannot do otherwise? Or shall we be slaves to freedmen and even to slaves? But, as you say, enough of seriousness. [9] Favonius carried my tribe more honorably than his own, and lost that of Lucceius. He accused Nasica dishonorably, yet modestly; he spoke in such a way that he seemed at Rhodes to have devoted himself to the millstones rather than to Molon. He was a little angry with me because I had defended him. Now, however, he is a candidate again for the sake of the republic. What Lucceius is doing I will write to you when I have seen Caesar, who will be here in two days. [10] As for the Sicyonians injuring you, you attribute it to Cato and his imitator Servilius. What? Does that blow not affect many good men? But if it has so pleased them, let us praise them, and then in our dissensions be left alone? [11] My Amalthea awaits you and longs for you. My Tusculan and Pompeian estates delight me greatly, except that they have buried me -- the very champion against debt -- in debt, not Corinthian but this market-place sort. In Gaul we hope there is quiet. Expect my Prognostica along with the little speeches before long, and yet write to us what you are planning about your arrival. For Pomponia ordered it to be announced to me that you would be at Rome in the month of Quintilis. This was at variance with your letter which you had sent me about your property assessment. [12] Paetus, as I wrote to you before, has given me all the books which his brother had left. This gift of his depends on your diligence. If you love me, see to it that they are preserved and brought to me; nothing can be more welcome to me than this. And I would have you carefully preserve not only the Greek but indeed the Latin ones. I shall consider this little service as your gift. I gave a letter to Octavius; with the man himself I had spoken nothing; for I did not think those provincial affairs were yours, nor did I count you among the petty money-lenders. But I wrote, as I ought, carefully.

On the 1st of June I met your boy as I was on my way to Antium and glad to get away from M. Metellus’s gladiatorial exhibition. He delivered your letter, and a memorial of my consulship written in Greek. I felt very glad that I gave L. Cossinius the book I had written in Greek on the same subject to take to you some time ago. For, if I had read yours first you would say that I had plagiarized from you. Though yours (which I read with pleasure) seemed to me a trifle rough and unadorned, yet its very lack of ornament is an ornament in itself, just as women were thought to have the best scent who used no scent. My book, on the other hand, has exhausted all the scent box of Isocrates, and all the rouge-pots of his pupils, and some of Aristotle’s colours too. You scanned it through, as you tell me in another letter, at Corcyra, before you had received it from Cossinius, I suppose. I should never have dared to send it to you, if I had not revised it with leisure and care. I sent the memoir to Posidonius too, asking him to write something more elaborate on the same subject; but he tells me that, far from being inspired to write by the perusal of it, he was decidedly put off. In fact, I have flabbergasted the whole Greek nation: so I have ceased to be plagued by the people who were always hanging about asking me to give them something of mine to polish up. If you like the book, you will see to it that Athens and other Greek towns have it in stock; for I think it may add some lustre to my achievements. I will send you the bits of speeches you ask for and some more too, as you find some interest in things which I write to satisfy young admirers. Your fellow-citizen, Demosthenes, gained a reputation by the speeches called the Philippics, in which he departed from the quibbling style of pleading we use in the law-courts, and appeared in the role of a serious politician. So I took a fancy to leave behind me also some speeches which may be called consular. One was delivered in the House on the 1st of January, another to the people on the agrarian law, the third on Otho, the fourth for Rabirius, the fifth for the sons of the proscribed, the sixth when I declined a province in a public assembly, the seventh when I drove Catiline out, the eighth before the people the day after Catiline fled, the ninth in an assembly on the day when the Allobroges gave their information, the tenth in the House on the 5th of December. There are two more short ones, mere scraps of the agrarian law. I will see that you have the whole corpus; and, since both my writing and my achievements interest you, you will see from them what I have done, and what I have written. Or else you should not have asked for them: I was not the one to obtrude them. You inquire why I ask you to come back, and hint that you are hindered by business. Still you don’t refuse to come, if there is any need, or even if I wish it. There is no real necessity; but it does seem to me that you could arrange your times for going away more conveniently. You are away too long, especially when you are quite near, and so I have no chance of enjoying your society and you lack mine. Just at present things are peaceful: but if that little beauty should be strong enough to indulge in any wilder freaks I should certainly be routing you out of your retreat. However, Metellus is holding him in nobly and will continue to do so. Most assuredly he is a thoroughly patriotic consul, and, as I always thought, an excellent fellow. Clodius does not beat about the bush, he is quite plainly aiming at the tribunate. When the point was discussed in the Senate, I sat on him, accusing him of inconsistency, for seeking the tribunate now in Rome, when in Sicily he did nothing but repeat that what he wanted was an inheritance. However, I added, we need not put ourselves about on that point, as he would not be allowed to ruin the country if he becomes a plebeian any more than patricians of his kidney were allowed to in my consulship. Then, when he said he had come from the straits in a week, so that no one could go to meet him, and had entered the city at night, and boasted of the fact in a public speech, I said there was nothing new in that. “Seven days from Sicily to Rome: the other time three hours from Rome to Interamna. He came in at night: so he did before. No one met him now: nor did anyone meet him last time, when they certainly ought to have done so.” In fact, I am taking the cheek out of him, not only by serious set speeches, but by quips of this kind too. So nowadays I bandy jests and banter with him quite familiarly. For instance, when we were escorting a candidate, he asked me whether I used to give the Sicilians seats at the gladiatorial shows. I said, “No.” “Well,” said he, “now I am their new patron, I intend to begin the practice: though my sister, who, as the consul’s wife, has such a lot of room, will not give me more than standing room.” “Oh, don’t grumble about standing room with your sister,” I answered. “You can always lie with her.” You will say it was not the remark for a consular to make. I confess it was not; but I hate the woman, so unworthy of a consul. “For she’s a shrew and wrangles with her mate,” and not only with Metellus, but with Fabius too, because she is annoyed at their interference in this affair. You ask about the agrarian law. Interest in it seems to have cooled down. You give me a gentle fillip for my familiarity with Pompey. Please don’t imagine I have allied myself to him solely to save my skin: the position of affairs is such that, if we had had any disagreement, there would of necessity have been great discord in the State. Against that I have taken precautions and made provision without wavering from my own excellent policy, while making him more loyal and less the people’s weathercock. He speaks, I may tell you, far more glowingly about my achievements than about his own, though many have tried to set him against me, saying that he did his duty to the country, but I saved it. What good his statements will do me, I fail to see: but they will certainly do the country good. Well! If I can make Caesar, who is now sailing gaily before the breeze, a better patriot too, shall I be doing so poor a service to the country? And, even if none were to envy me and all supported me, as they ought, still a remedy which cures the diseased parts of the State should be preferable to one which amputates them. But as it is, when the knights, whom I once stationed on the Capitoline hill with you as their standard-bearer and leader, have deserted the Senate, and our great men think themselves in the seventh heaven, if they have bearded mullet in their fish-ponds that will feed from their hand, and don’t care about anything else, surely you must allow that I have done my best, if I manage to take the will to do harm from those who have the power to do it. For our friend Cato is not more to you than to me: but still with the best of intentions and unimpeachable honesty at times he does harm to the country: for the opinions he delivers would be more in place in Plato’s Republic than among the dregs of humanity collected by Romulus. That a man who accepts a bribe for the verdict he returns at a trial should be put on trial himself is as fair a principle as one could wish. Cato voted for it and won the House’s assent. Result, a war of the knights with the Senate, but not with me. I was against it. That the tax-collectors should repudiate their bargain was a most shameless proceeding. But we ought to have put up with the loss in order to keep their good-will. Cato resisted and carried the day. Result, though we’ve had a consul in prison, and frequent riots, not a breath of encouragement from one of those, who in my own consulship and that of my successors used to rally round us to defend the country. “Must we then bribe them for their support?” you will ask. What help is there, if we cannot get it otherwise? Are we to be slaves of freedmen and slaves? But, as you say, enough of the grand sérieux. Favonius carried my tribe with even more credit than his own, but lost that of Lucceius. His accusation of Nasica was nothing to be proud of; however he conducted it very moderately. He spoke so badly that one would think he devoted more time at Rhodes to grinding in the mills than at Molo’s lectures. I got into his bad books for undertaking the defence; however he is standing again now on public grounds. How Lucceius is getting on I will write and tell you, when I have seen Caesar, who will be here in a couple of days’ time. The wrong the Sicyonians have done you, you attribute to Cato and his imitator Servilius. But does not the blow affect many good citizens? However, if it so pleases them, let us acquiesce, and be utterly deserted at the next question put to the vote. My Amalthea is waiting and longing for you. I am delighted with my places at Tusculum and Pompeii, except that, champion of creditors as I am, they have overwhelmed me not so much with Corinthian bronze as with debts in the common copper coin of the realm. We hope things have settled down in Gaul. Expect my Prognostics and my bits of speeches very shortly: but for all that write and tell me your plans about coming. Pomponia has sent a message that you will be in Rome in July: but that disagrees with the letter you sent to me about placing your name on the census list. Paetus, as I have already mentioned, has given me the books left him by his brother: but this gift depends on your kind services. As you love me, see that they are preserved and brought to me. You could do me no greater favour: and I should like the Latin books kept as well as the Greek. I shall count them a present from yourself. I have written to Octavius, but not spoken to him about it: for I did not know that your business extended to the provinces, nor did I count you among the Shylocks. But I have written as punctiliously as duty bade.

Kal. Iuniis eunti mihi Antium et gladiatores M. Metelli cupide relinquenti venit obviam tuus puer. is mihi litteras abs te et commentarium consulatus mei Graece scriptum reddidit. in quo laetatus sum me aliquanto ante de isdem rebus Graece item scriptum librum L. Cossinio ad te perferendum dedisse; nam si ego tuum ante legissem, furatum me abs te esse diceres. quamquam tua illa (legi enim libenter) horridula mihi atque incompta visa sunt, sed tamen erant ornata hoc ipso quod ornamenta neglexerant et, ut mulieres, ideo bene olere quia nihil olebant videbantur. meus autem liber totum Isocrati myrothecium atque omnis eius discipulorum arculas ac non nihil etiam Aristotelia pigmenta consumpsit. quem tu Corcyrae, ut mihi aliis litteris significas, strictim attigisti, post autem, ut arbitror, a Cossinio accepisti. quem tibi ego non essem ausus mittere nisi eum lente ac fastidiose probavissem. [2] quamquam ad me rescripsit iam Rhodo Posidonius se, nostrum illud hupomnema <cum> legeret, quod ego ad eum ut ornatius de isdem rebus scriberet miseram, non modo non excitatum esse ad scribendum sed etiam plane deterritum. quid quaeris? conturbavi Graecam nationem. ita vulgo qui instabant ut darem sibi quod ornarent iam exhibere mihi molestiam destiterunt. tu, si tibi placuerit liber, curabis ut et Athenis sit et in ceteris oppidis Graeciae; videtur enim posse aliquid nostris rebus lucis adferre. [3] oratiunculas autem et quas postulas et pluris etiam mittam, quoniam quidem ea quae nos scribimus adulescentulorum studiis excitati te etiam delectant. fuit enim mihi commodum, quod in eis orationibus quae Philippicae nominantur enituerat civis ille tuus Demosthenes, et quod se ab hoc refractariolo iudiciali dicendi genere abiunxerat ut semnoteros tis et politikoteros videretur, curare ut meae quoque essent orationes quae consulares nominarentur. quarum una est in senatu Kal. Ianuariis, altera ad populum de lege agraria, tertia de Othone, quarta pro Rabirio, quinta de proscriptorum filiis, sexta cum provinciam in contione deposui, septima quom Catilinam emisi, octava quam habui ad populum postridie quam Catilina profugit, nona in contione quo die Allobroges indicarunt, decima in senatu Nonis Decembribus. sunt praeterea duae breves, quasi apospasmatia legis agrariae. hoc totum soma curabo ut habeas; et quoniam te cum scripta tum res meae delectant, isdem ex libris perspicies et quae gesserim et quae dixerim; aut ne poposcisses; ego enim tibi me non offerebam. [4] quod quaeris quid sit quo te arcessam, ac simul impeditum te negotiis esse significas neque recusas quin, non modo si opus sit sed etiam si velim, accurras, nihil sane est necesse, verum tamen videbare mihi tempora peregrinationis commodius posse discribere. nimis abes diu, praesertim cum sis in propinquis locis, neque nos te fruimur et tu nobis cares. ac nunc quidem otium est, sed, si paulo plus furor pulchelli progredi posset, valde ego te istim excitarem. verum praeclare Metellus impedit et impediet. quid quaeris? est consul philopatris et, ut semper iudicavi, natura bonus. ille autem non simulat sed plane tribunus pl. fieri cupit. qua <de> re quom in senatu ageretur, fregi hominem et inconstantiam eius reprehendi qui Romae tribunatum pl. peteret cum in Sicilia hereditatem se petere dictitasset, neque magno opere dixi esse nobis laborandum, quod nihilo magis ei liciturum esset plebeio rem publicam perdere quam similibus eius me consule patriciis esset licitum. iam cum se ille septimo die venisse a freto neque sibi obviam quemquam prodire potuisse et noctu se introisse dixisset in eoque se in contione iactasset, nihil ei novi dixi accidisse. 'ex Sicilia septimo die Romam; ante tribus horis Roma Interamnam. Noctu introisti; idem ante. non est itum obviam; ne tum quidem quom iri maxime debuit.' quid quaeris? hominem petulantem modestum reddo non solum perpetua gravitate orationis sed etiam hoc genere dictorum. itaque iam familiariter cum ipso cavillor ac iocor; quin etiam cum candidatum deduceremus, quaerit ex me num consuessem Siculis locum gladiatoribus dare. negavi. 'at ego' inquit 'novus patronus instituam; sed soror, quae tantum habeat consularis loci, unum mihi solum pedem dat' 'noli,' inquam 'de uno pede sororis queri; licet etiam alterum tollas.' non consulare inquies dictum. fateor; sed ego illam odi male consularem. 'ea est enim seditiosa, ea cum viro bellum gerit' neque solum cum Metello sed etiam cum Fabio, quod eos +esse in hoc esse+ moleste fert. [6] quod de agraria lege quaeris, sane iam videtur refrixisse. quod me quodam modo molli bracchio de Pompei familiaritate obiurgas, nolim ita existimes, me mei praesidi causa cum illo coniunctum esse, sed ita res erat instituta ut, si inter nos esset aliqua forte dissensio, maximas in re publica discordias versari esset necesse. quod a me ita praecautum atque provisum est non ut ego de optima illa mea ratione decederem sed ut ille esset melior et aliquid de populari levitate deponeret. quem de meis rebus, in quas eum multi incitarant, multo scito gloriosius quam de suis praedicare; sibi enim bene gestae, mihi conservatae rei publicae dat testimonium. hoc facere illum mihi quam prosit nescio; rei publicae certe prodest. quid? si etiam Caesarem cuius nunc venti valde sunt secundi reddo meliorem, num tantum obsum rei publicae? [7] quin etiam si mihi nemo invideret, si omnes, ut erat aequum, faverent, tamen non minus esset probanda medicina quae sanaret vitiosas partis rei publicae quam quae exsecaret. nunc vero, quom equitatus ille quem ego in clivo Capitolino te signifero ac principe conlocaram senatum deseruerit, nostri autem principes digito se caelum putent attingere si mulli barbati in piscinis sint qui ad manum accedant, alia autem neglegant, nonne tibi satis prodesse videor si perficio ut nolint obesse qui possunt? [8] nam Catonem nostrum non tu amas plus quam ego; sed tamen ille optimo animo utens et summa fide nocet interdum rei publicae; dicit enim tamquam in Platonis politeiai, non tamquam in Romuli faece sententiam. quid verius quam in iudicium venire qui ob rem iudicandam pecuniam acceperit? censuit hoc Cato, adsensit senatus; equites curiae bellum, non mihi; nam ego dissensi. quid impudentius publicanis renuntiantibus? fuit tamen retinendi ordinis causa facienda iactura. restitit et pervicit Cato. itaque nunc consule in carcere incluso, saepe item seditione commota, aspiravit nemo eorum quorum ego concursu itemque ii consules qui post me fuerunt rem publicam defendere solebant. 'quid ergo? istos' inquies 'mercede conductos habebimus?' quid faciemus, si aliter non possumus? an libertinis atque etiam servis serviamus? sed, ut tu ais, halis spoudes. [9] Favonius meam tribum tulit honestius quam suam, Luccei perdidit. accusavit Nasicam inhoneste ac modeste tamen; dixit ita ut Rhodi videretur molis potius quam Moloni operam dedisse. mihi quod defendissem leviter suscensuit. nunc tamen petit iterum rei publicae causa. Lucceius quid agat scribam ad te cum Caesarem videro, qui aderit biduo. [10] quod Sicyonii te laedunt, Catoni et eius aemulatori attribuis Servilio. quid? ea plaga nonne ad multos bonos viros pertinet? sed si ita placuit, laudemus, deinde in dissensionibus soli relinquamur? [11] Amalthea mea te exspectat et indiget tui. Tusculanum et Pompeianum valde me delectant, nisi quod me, illum ipsum vindicem aeris alieni, aere non Corinthio sed hoc circumforaneo obruerunt. in Gallia speramus esse otium. prognostica mea cum oratiunculis prope diem exspecta et tamen quid cogites de adventu tuo scribe ad nos. nam mihi Pomponia nuntiari iussit te mense Quintili Romae fore. id a tuis litteris quas ad me de censu tuo miseras discrepabat. [12] Paetus, ut antea ad te scripsi, omnis libros quos frater suus reliquisset mihi donavit. hoc illius munus in tua diligentia positum est. si me amas, cura ut conserventur et ad me perferantur; hoc mihi nihil potest esse gratius. et cum Graecos tum vero diligenter Latinos ut conserves velim. tuum esse hoc munusculum putabo. ad Octavium dedi litteras; cum ipso nihil eram locutus; neque enim ista tua negotia provincialia esse putabam neque te in tocullionibus habebam. sed scripsi, ut debui, diligenter.