Letter 15.4

Your great authority, and my constant judgment of your exceptional virtue, made me think it mattered greatly that you should know what I have done, and that you should not be ignorant of the fairness and disinterestedness with which I have protected the allies and governed my province. If you knew these things, I thought I would more easily gain your approval of what I want. I entered my province on the last day of July. Since the season required me to hurry to the army, I spent only two days at Laodicea, four at Apamea, three at Synnada, and three at Philomelium. I held very well attended assizes in these towns and relieved many communities from burdensome exactions, excessive interest, and fraudulent debt. Before my arrival, the army had been almost broken up by mutiny. Five cohorts, without a legate or military tribune and in fact without a single centurion, had taken quarters at Philomelium, while the rest of the army was in Lycaonia. I ordered my legate Marcus Anneius to bring those five cohorts to the main army, gather the whole force into one place, and pitch camp at Iconium in Lycaonia. He carried out the order vigorously, and I myself reached the camp on August 24. In the intervening days, in accordance with the senate's decree, I had gathered a strong body of reserve troops, an adequate cavalry force, and volunteers from free peoples and allied kings. When, after reviewing the army, I began marching to Cilicia on August 28, envoys sent by the ruler of Commagene came to me in great alarm, and not without some foundation, saying that the Parthians had entered Syria. This made me very anxious for Syria, for my own province, and indeed for all the rest of Asia. I decided that I must lead the army through Cappadocia, which borders Cilicia. If I had gone straight down into Cilicia, I could easily have held Cilicia itself because of the natural strength of Mount Amanus. There are only two passes from Syria into Cilicia; both can be closed by small garrisons because they are narrow, and nothing can be imagined better fortified than Cilicia on the Syrian side. But Cappadocia troubled me. It lies completely open toward Syria and is surrounded by kings who, even if they are secretly our friends, do not dare to be openly hostile to the Parthians. I therefore pitched camp in the far south of Cappadocia, at Cybistra, not far from Mount Taurus, both to cover Cilicia and to frustrate the plans of neighboring peoples by holding Cappadocia. In the middle of this serious alarm and anxious expectation of a very dangerous war, King Deiotarus, who has always rightly been held in high honor by you, by me, and by the senate, sent envoys to tell me he was coming to my camp with all his forces. He is distinguished by goodwill and loyalty toward the Roman people, and also by outstanding courage and judgment. Deeply moved by his zeal and kindness, I sent him a letter of thanks and urged him to hurry. While I was detained at Cybistra for five days, forming my plan of campaign, I rescued King Ariobarzanes from a plot that had been formed against him and that surprised him when it came to light. His safety had been entrusted to me by the senate on your motion. I not only saved his life; I also took care that his royal authority should be respected. Metras and Athenaeus, the latter strongly recommended to me by you, had been exiled through Queen Athenais's persistent hostility. I restored them to the highest influence and favor with the king. Then, because serious trouble might have arisen in Cappadocia if the priest, as people thought likely, defended himself by arms, since he was young, well supplied with cavalry, infantry, and money, and trusted by everyone who wanted political change, I arranged for him to leave the kingdom. Thus the king, without civil war or appeal to arms and with the authority of his court fully secured, could hold the kingdom with proper dignity. Meanwhile dispatches and messengers from many directions informed me that Parthians and Arabs had approached Antioch in great force, and that a large body of their cavalry, which had crossed into Cilicia, had been cut to pieces by some squadrons of my cavalry and by the praetorian cohort then on garrison duty at Epiphanea. Seeing that the Parthian forces had turned away from Cappadocia and were now not far from the borders of Cilicia, I led my army to Amanus by the longest forced marches I could. When I arrived there, I learned that the enemy had withdrawn from Antioch and that Bibulus was at Antioch. I therefore informed Deiotarus, who was hurrying to join me with a large and strong body of infantry and cavalry and all the forces he could gather, that I saw no reason for him to leave his own kingdom, and that if anything new occurred I would immediately write and send to him. My coming had been intended, should occasion arise, to relieve both provinces. Now I proceeded to do what I had long judged very much in the interest of both provinces: to reduce Amanus and remove from that mountain a permanent enemy. I pretended to withdraw from the mountain and make for other parts of Cilicia. After going one day's march from Amanus and pitching camp at Epiphanea on the evening of October 12, I set out with the army in light marching order by night. By dawn on October 13, I was already ascending Amanus. I divided the cohorts and auxiliaries into several columns. My brother Quintus and I commanded one, my legate Gaius Pomptinus another, and my legates Marcus Anneius and Lucius Tullius the rest. We surprised most of the inhabitants; cut off from retreat, they were killed or captured. Erana, however, which was more like a town than a village and was the chief place of Amanus, along with Sepyra and Commoris, resisted fiercely and for a long time from before daybreak until four in the afternoon. Pomptinus commanded in that part of Amanus. We took those places, killed many of the enemy, and stormed and burned several fortresses. After this we camped for four days on the slopes of Amanus near the Altars of Alexander. All that time we spent destroying the remaining inhabitants of Amanus and ravaging the lands on the side of the mountain that belongs to my province. Having completed this, I led the army to Pindenissus, a town of the Free Cilicians. It stood on a very high and strongly fortified site, and its people had never submitted even to kings. They were harboring deserters and eagerly expecting the Parthians. I thought it important for the prestige of Roman rule to crush their audacity, so that it would be easier to break the spirit of all who were disaffected anywhere in the region. I surrounded them with palisade and trench, besieged them with six forts and large camps, attacked them with earthworks, mantlets, and towers, and used many catapults and archers. With great personal labor, and without burdening the allies or costing them anything, I reduced them to such extremity that, after every part of their town had been battered or burned, they surrendered to me on the fifty-seventh day. Their nearest neighbors, the people of Tebara, were no less predatory and audacious. After the capture of Pindenissus I received hostages from them. I then dismissed the army to winter quarters and put my brother in command, ordering him to station the men in villages that had either been captured or were disaffected. Now I want you to be convinced that, if a motion is brought before the senate about these matters, I will consider the highest possible compliment to have been paid me if you vote in favor of granting me a mark of honor. I know that in such matters very honorable men are accustomed both to ask and to be asked. In your case, however, I think what is needed from me is more a reminder than a request. You are the man who has often honored me by your votes, praised me extravagantly in conversation, in formal praise, and in the most complimentary speeches in the senate and before the people. Your words have always meant so much to me that, if your voice joined the chorus praising me, I thought I had achieved my highest ambition. You, as I remember, said when voting against a thanksgiving for a certain distinguished and noble man that you would have voted for it if the motion had concerned what he had done in the city as consul. You also voted to grant me a thanksgiving when I was only a civilian, not, as has often been done, "for good service to the state," but, as I remember, "for having saved the state." I pass over your sharing the hatred I incurred, the dangers I ran, and all the storms I encountered; your readiness to share them still more fully if I had allowed it; and finally your treating my enemy as your own. Even after that enemy's death, you showed clearly how highly you valued me by supporting Milo's cause in the senate. For my part, I have borne witness to you, not as a claim on your gratitude, but as a frank statement of my real opinion. I did not confine myself to silent admiration of your outstanding virtues. Who does not admire them? In every kind of speech, whether in the senate or at the bar, in every kind of writing, Greek or Latin, and in every branch of my literary activity, I have proclaimed your superiority not only to our contemporaries but also to the men of whom we read in history. You may ask why I set such value on this moderate congratulation or compliment from the senate. I will speak frankly, as our shared studies, mutual services, close friendship, and even the friendship of our fathers require. If anyone has ever been by nature, and still more by reason and reflection, averse to the empty praise and chatter of the crowd, I am that man. My consulship is witness, as is the rest of my life. I confess that I eagerly pursued things capable of producing true glory; mere glory for its own sake I never thought worth pursuing. I passed over a province after the funds for its equipment had been voted; with it I passed over an almost certain hope of a triumph. Finally, I did not seek the priesthood, though I think you will agree I could have obtained it without much difficulty. But after my unjust disgrace, which you always called a disaster for the republic and an honor rather than a disaster for me, I became anxious that some very clear signs of the approval of the senate and Roman people should be placed on record. So I later wished for the augurship, which I had not troubled myself about before. The compliment usually paid by the senate for success in war, which I once passed over, I now think worth seeking. I now earnestly ask you to approve and support this wish of mine, in which you may see a strong desire to heal the wounds inflicted by my disgrace, though a short time ago I said I would not ask it. I ask only on condition that you do not think my services small or insignificant, but of such a nature and importance that many men have received the highest honors from the senate for far less remarkable successes. I think I have noticed, for you know how carefully I always listen to you, that in granting or withholding honors you usually look not so much at particular achievements as at the character, principles, and conduct of commanders. If you apply that test to me, you will find that with a weak army my strongest support against the threat of a very formidable war has been the fairness and integrity of my conduct. With those as my helpers, I accomplished what no number of legions could have accomplished. Among the allies I created the warmest devotion in place of extreme alienation, complete loyalty in place of dangerous disaffection, and brought minds shaken by the prospect of change back to affection for the old rule. But I have said too much about myself, especially to you, who alone give a hearing to the grievances of all our allies alike. You will learn the truth from those who think they have been restored to life by my administration. Almost with one voice they will praise me to you as I most desire to be praised. Your two chief client states, the island of Cyprus and the kingdom of Cappadocia, will also have something to say about me, and so, I think, will Deiotarus, who is especially attached to you. If these things rise above the ordinary, and if in every age it has been rarer to find men capable of conquering their own desires than men capable of conquering an enemy's army, then it is quite in keeping with your principles, when you find those rarer and more difficult virtues joined with military success, to regard the success itself as more complete and more glorious. I have one final advocate: philosophy. I call on her to plead for me, as though I doubted whether a mere request would be effective. Philosophy has been the best friend I have ever had in life, the greatest gift bestowed by the gods on humankind. Our common sympathy in tastes and studies, and the inseparable devotion and attachment to philosophy that we have had from youth, have made us almost unique examples of men bringing true and ancient philosophy, which some people think only a leisure pursuit, down into the forum, the senate house, and the camp itself. That philosophy pleads the cause of my glory with you, and I do not think Cato can in good conscience refuse her. So convince yourself of this: if my dispatch becomes the basis for granting me this compliment with your support, I will think that the dearest wish of my heart has been fulfilled by your influence and your friendship.

CCXXXVII (Fam. XV, 4) TO M. PORCIUS CATO (AT ROME) CILICIA (JANUARY) Your own immense prestige and my unvarying belief in your consummate virtue have convinced me of the great importance it is to me that you should be acquainted with what I have accomplished, and that you should not be ignorant of the equity and disinterestedness with which I protected our allies and governed my province. For if you knew these facts, I thought I should with greater ease secure your approval of my wishes. Having entered my province on the last day of July, and seeing that the time of year made it necessary for me to make all haste to the army, I spent but two days at Laodicea , four at Apamea , three at Synnada , and the same at Philomelium . Having held largely attended assizes in these towns, I freed a great number of cities from very vexatious tributes, excessive interest, and fraudulent debt. Again, the army having before my arrival been broken up by something like a mutiny, and five cohorts — without a legate or a — military tribune, and, in fact, actually without a single centurion-having taken up its quarters at Philomelium , while the rest of the army was in Lycaonia , I ordered my legate M. Anneius to bring those five cohorts to join the main army; and, having thus got the whole army together into one place, to pitch a camp at Iconium in Lycaonia This order having been energetically executed by him, I arrived at the camp myself on the 24th of August, having meanwhile, in accordance with the decree of the senate, collected in the intervening days a strong body of reserve men, a very adequate force of cavalry, and a contingent of volunteers from the free peoples and allied sovereigns. While this was going on, and when, after reviewing the army, I had on the 28th of August begun my march to Cilicia , some legates sent to me by the sovereign of Commagene announced, with every sign of panic, yet not without some foundation, that the Parthians had entered Syria . On hearing this I was rendered very anxious both for Syria and my own province, and, in fact, for all the rest of Asia . Accordingly, I made up my mind that I must lead the army through the district of Cappadocia , which adjoins Cilicia . For if I had gone straight down into Cilicia , I could easily indeed have held Cilicia itself, owing to the natural strength of Mount Amanus — for there are only two defiles opening into Cilicia from Syria , both of which are capable of being closed by insignificant garrisons owing to their narrowness, nor can anything be imagined better fortified than is Cilicia on the Syrian side — but I was disturbed for Cappadocia , which is quite open on the Syrian side, and is surrounded by kings, who, even if they are our friends in secret, nevertheless do not venture to be openly hostile to the Parthians . Accordingly, I pitched my camp in the extreme south of Cappadocia at the town of Cybistra , not far from Mount Taurus , with the object at once of covering Cilicia , and of thwarting the designs of the neighbouring tribes by holding Cappadocia . Meanwhile, in the midst of this serious commotion and anxious expectation of a very formidable war, king Deiotarus , who has with good reason been always highly honoured in your judgment and my own, as well as that of the senate — a man distinguished for his goodwill and loyalty to the Roman people, as well as for his eminent courage and wisdom — sent legates to tell me that he was on his way to my camp in full force. Much affected by his zeal and kindness, I sent him a letter of thanks, and urged him to hasten. However, being detained at Cybistra five days while maturing my plan of campaign, I rescued king Ariobarzanes , whose safety had been entrusted to me by the senate on your motion, from a plot that, to his surprise, had been formed against him: and I not only saved his life, but I took pains also to secure that his royal authority should be respected Metras and Athenaeus (the latter strongly commended to me by yourself), who had been exiled owing to the persistent enmity of queen Athenais , I restored to a position of the highest influence and favour with the king. Then, as there was danger of serious hostilities arising in Cappadocia in case the priest, as it was thought likely that he would do, defended himself with arms — for he was a young man, well furnished with horse and foot and money, and relying on those all who desired political change of any sort — I contrived that he should leave the kingdom: and that the king, without civil war or an appeal to arms, with the full authority of the court thoroughly secured, should hold the kingdom with proper dignity. Meanwhile, I was informed by despatches and messengers from many sides, that the Parthians and Arabs had approached the town of Antioch in great force, and that a large body of their horsemen, which had crossed into Cilicia , had been cut to pieces by some squadrons of my cavalry and the praetorian cohort then on garrison duty at Epiphanea . Wherefore, seeing that the forces of the Parthians had turned their backs upon Cappadocia , and were not far from the frontiers of Cilicia , I led my army to Amanus with the longest forced marches I could. Arrived there, I learnt that the enemy had retired from Antioch , and that Bibulus was at Antioch . I thereupon informed Deiotarus , who was hurrying to join me with a large and strong body of horse and foot, and with all the forces he could muster, that I saw no reason for his leaving his own dominions, and that in case of any new event, I would immediately write and send to him. And as my intention in coming had been to relieve both provinces, should occasion arise, so now I proceeded to do what I had all along made up my mind was greatly to the interest of both provinces, namely, to reduce Amanus , and to remove from that mountain an eternal enemy. So I made a feint of retiring from the mountain and making for other parts of Cilicia : and having gone a day's march from Amanus and pitched a camp, on the 12th of October, towards evening, at Epiphanea , with my army in light marching order I effected such a night march, that by dawn on the 13th I was already ascending Amanus . Having formed the cohorts and auxiliaries into several columns of attack — I and my legate Quintus (my brother) commanding one, my legate C. Pomptinus another, and my legates M. Anneius and L. Tullius the rest — we surprised most of the inhabitants, who, being cut off from all retreat, were killed or taken prisoners. But Erana , which was more like a town than a village, and was the capital of Amanus , as also Sepyra and Commoris, which offered a determined and protracted resistance from before daybreak till four in the afternoon Pomptinus being in command in that part of Amanus — we took, after killing a great number of the enemy, and stormed and set fire to several fortresses. After these operations we lay encamped for four days on the spurs of Amanus , near the Arae Alexandri, and all that time we devoted to the destruction of the remaining inhabitants of Amanus , and devastating their lands on that side of the mountain which belongs to my province. Having accomplished this, I led the army away to Pindenissus , a town of the Eleutherocilices . And since this town was situated on a very lofty and strongly fortified spot, and was inhabited by men who have never submitted even to the kings, and since they were offering harbourage to deserters, and were eagerly expecting the arrival of the Parthians , I thought it of importance to the prestige of the empire to suppress their audacity, in order that there might be less difficulty in breaking the spirits of all such as were anywhere disaffected to our rule. I encircled them with a stockade and trench: I beleaguered them with six forts and huge camps: I assaulted them by the aid of earthworks, pent-houses, and towers: and having employed numerous catapults and bowmen, with great personal labour, and without troubling the allies or costing them anything, I reduced them to such extremities that, after every region of their town had been battered down or fired, they surrendered to me on the fifty-seventh day. Their next neighbours were the people of Tebara, no less predatory and audacious: from them after the capture of Pindenissus I received hostages. I then dismissed the army to winter quarters; and I put my brother in command, with orders to station the men in villages that had either been captured or were disaffected. Well now, I would have you feel convinced that, should a motion be brought before the senate on these matters, I shall consider that the highest possible compliment has been paid me, if you give your vote in favour of a mark of honour being bestowed upon me. And as to this, though I am aware that in such matters men of the most respectable character are accustomed to ask and to be asked, yet I think in your case that it is rather a reminder than a request which is called for from me. For it is you who have on very many occasions complimented me in votes which you delivered, who have praised me to the skies in conversation, in panegyric, in the most laudatory speeches in senate and public meeting: you are the man to whose words I ever attached such weight as to hold myself in possession of my utmost ambition, if your lips joined the chorus of my praise. It was you finally, as I recollect, who said, when voting against a supplicatio in honour of a certain illustrious and noble person, that you would have voted for it, if the motion had related to what he had done in the city as consul. It was you, too, who voted for granting me a supplicatio, though only a civilian, not as had been done in many instances, “for good services to the state,” but, as I remember, “for having saved the state.” I pass over your having shared the hatred I excited, the dangers I ran, all the storms that I have encountered, and your having been entirely ready to have shared them much more fully if I had allowed it; and finally your having regarded my enemy as your own; of whose death even — thus showing me clearly how much you valued me — you manifested your approval by supporting the cause of Milo in the senate. On the other hand, I have borne a testimony to you, which I do not regard as constituting any claim on your gratitude, but as a frank expression of genuine opinion: for I did not confine myself to a silent admiration of your eminent virtues — who does not admire them? But in all forms of speech, whether in the senate or at the bar; in all kinds of writing, Greek or Latin ; in fine, in all the various branches of my literary activity, I proclaimed your superiority not only to contemporaries, but also to those of whom we have heard in history. You will ask, perhaps, why I place such value on this or that modicum of congratulation or compliment from the senate. I will be frank with you, as our common tastes and mutual good services, our close friendship, nay, the intimacy of our fathers demand. If there ever was anyone by natural inclination, and still more, I think, by reason and reflexion, averse from the empty praise and comments of the vulgar, I am certainly the man. Witness my consulship, in which, as in the rest of my life, I confess that I eagerly pursued the objects capable of producing true glory: mere glory for its own sake I never thought a subject for ambition. Accordingly, I not only passed over a province after the votes for its outfit had been taken, but also with it an almost certain hope of a triumph and finally the priesthood, though, as I think you will agree with me, I could have obtained it without much difficulty, I did not try to get. Yet after my unjust disgrace — always stigmatized by you as a disaster to the Republic, and rather an honour than a disaster to myself — I was anxious that some very signal marks of the approbation of the senate and Roman people should be put on record. Accordingly, in the first place, I did subsequently wish for the augurship, about which I had not troubled myself before; and the compliment usually paid by the senate in the case of success in war, though passed over by me in old times, I now think an object to be desired. That you should approve and support this wish of mine, in which you may trace a strong desire to heal the wounds inflicted upon me by my disgrace, though I a little while ago declared that I would not ask it, I now do earnestly ask of you: but only on condition that you shall not think my humble services paltry and insignificant, but of such a nature and importance, that many for far less signal successes have obtained the highest honours from the senate. I have, too, I think, noticed this — for you know how attentively I ever listen to you — that in granting or withholding honours you are accustomed to look not so much to the particular achievements as to the character, the principles and conduct of commanders. Well, if you apply this test to my case, you will find that, with a weak army, my strongest support against the threat of a very formidable war has been my equity and purity of conduct. With these as my aids I accomplished what I never could have accomplished by any amount of legions: among the allies I have created the warmest devotion in place of the most extreme alienation; the most complete loyalty in place of the most dangerous disaffection; and their spirits fluttered by the prospect of change I have brought back to feelings of affection for the old rule. But I have said too much of myself, especially to you, in whom singly the grievances of all our allies alike find a listener. You will learn the truth from those who think themselves restored to life by my administration. And while all with nearly one consent will praise me in your hearing as I most desire to be praised, so will your two chief client states — the island of Cyprus and the kingdom of Cappadocia — have something to say to you about me also. So, too, I think, will Deiotarus , who is attached to you with special warmth. Now, if these things are above the common run, and if in all ages it has been rarer to find men capable of conquering their own desires than capable of conquering an enemy's army, it is quite in harmony with your principles, when you find these rarer and more difficult virtues combined with success in war, to regard that success itself as more complete and glorious. I have only one last resource — philosophy: and to make her plead for me, as though I doubted the efficacy of a mere request: philosophy, the best friend I have ever had in ail my life, the greatest gift which has been bestowed by the gods upon mankind. Yes! this common sympathy in tastes and studies — our inseparable devotion and attachment to which from boyhood have caused us to become almost unique examples of men bringing that true and ancient philosophy (which some regard as only the employment of leisure and idleness) down to the forum, the council chamber, and the very camp itself — pleads the cause of my glory with you: and I do not think a Cato can, with a good conscience, say her nay. Wherefore I would have you convince yourself that, if my despatch is made the ground of paying me this compliment with your concurrence, I shall consider that the dearest wish of my heart has been fulfilled owing at once to your influence and to your friendship.

IV. Scr. in Cilicia mense Dec. (post XII. Kal. Ian.) a.u.c. 703. M. CICERO IMP. S. D. M. CATONI. Summa tua auctoritas fecit meumque perpetuum de tua singulari virtute iudicium, ut magni mea interesse putarem et res eas, quas gessissem, tibi notas esse et non ignorari a te, qua aequitate et continentia tuerer socios provinciamque administarem; iis enim a te cognitis arbitrabar facilius me tibi, quae vellem, probaturum. Cum in provinciam pr. K. Sext. venissem et propter anni tempus ad exercitum mihi confestim esse eundum viderem, biduum Laodiceae fui, deinde Apameae quatriduum, triduum Synnadis, totidem dies Philomelii: quibus in oppidis cum magni conventus fuissent, multas civitates acerbissimis tributis et gravissimis usuris et falso aere alieno liberavi. Cumque ante adventum meum seditione quadam exercitus esset dissipatus, quinque cohortes sine legato, sine tribuno militum, denique etiam sine centurione ullo apud Philomelium consedissent, reliquus exercitus esset in Lycaonia, M. Anneio legato imperavi, ut eas quinque cohortes ad reliquum exercitum duceret coactoque in unum locum exercitu castra in Lycaonia apud Iconium faceret. Quod cum ab illo diligenter esset actum, ego in castra a. d. VII K. Sept. veni, cum interea superioribus diebus ex senatus consulto et evocatorum firmam manum et equitatum sane idoneum et populorum liberorum regumque sociorum auxilia voluntaria comparavissem. Interim, cum exercitu lustrato iter in Ciliciam facere coepissem, III K. Sept. legati a rege Commageno ad me missi pertumultuose, neque tamen non vere, Parthos in Syriam transisse nuntiaverunt: quo audito vehementer sum commotus cum de Syria, tum de mea provincia, de reliqua denique Asia. Itaque exercitum mihi ducendum per Cappadociae regionem eam, quae Ciliciam attingeret, putavi; nam, si me in Ciliciam demisissem, Ciliciam quidem ipsam propter montis Amani naturam facile tenuissem—duo sunt enim aditus in Ciliciam ex Syria, quorum uterque parvis praesidiis propter angustias intercludi potest, nec est quidquam Cilicia contra Syriam munitius—, sed me Cappadocia movebat, quae patet a Syria regesque habet finitimos, qui etiamsi sunt clam amici nobis, tamen aperte Parthis inimici esse non audent. Itaque in Cappadocia extrema non longe a Tauro apud oppidum Cybistra castra feci, ut et Ciliciam tuerer et Cappadociam tenens nova finitimorum consilia impedirem. Interea in hoc tanto motu tantaque exspectatione maximi belli rex Deiotarus, cui non sine causa plurimum semper et meo et tuo et senatus iudicio tributum est, vir cum benevolentia et fide erga populum Romanum singulari, tum praestanti magnitudine et animi et consilii, legatos ad me misit se cum omnibus suis copiis in mea castra esse venturum; cuius ego studio officioque commotus egi ei per litteras gratias idque ut maturaret hortatus sum. Cum autem ad Cybistra propter rationem belli quinque dies essem moratus, regem Ariobarzanem, cuius salutem a senatu te auctore commendatam habebam, praesentibus insidiis necopinantem liberavi, neque solum ei saluti fui, sed etiam curavi, ut cum auctoritate regnaret: Metram et eum, quem tu mihi diligenter commendaras, Athenaeum, importunitate Athenaidis exsilio multatos, in maxima apud regem auctoritate gratiaque constitui, cumque magnum bellum in Cappadocia concitaretur, si sacerdos armis se, quod facturus putabatur, defenderet, adolescens et equitatu et peditatu ut pecunia paratus ex toto iis, qui novari aliquid volebant, perfeci, ut e regno ille discederet rexque sine tumultu ac sine armis omni auctoritate aulae communita regnum cum dignitate obtineret. Interea cognovi multorum litteris atque nuntiis magnas Parthorum copias atque Arabum ad oppidum Antiocheam accessisse magnumque eorum equitatum, qui in Ciliciam transisset, ab equitum meorum turmis et a cohorte praetoria, quae erat Epiphaneae praesidii causa, occidione occisum. Quare, cum viderem a Cappadocia Parthorum copias aversas non longe a finibus esse Ciliciae, quam potui maximis itineribus ad Amanum exercitum duxi. Quo ut veni, hostem ab Antiochea recessisse, Bibulum Antiocheae esse cognovi; Deiotarum confestim iam ad me venientem cum magno et firmo equitatu et peditatu et cum omnibus suis copiis certiorem feci non videri esse causam, cur abesset a regno, meque ad eum, si quid novi forte accidisset, statim litteras nuntiosque missurum esse; cumque eo animo venissem, ut utrique provinciae, si ita tempus ferret, subvenirem, tum id, quod iam ante statueram vehementer interesse utriusque provinciae, pacare Amanum et perpetuum hostem ex eo monte tollere, agere perrexi; cumque me discedere ab eo monte simulassem et alias partes Ciliciae petere abessemque ab Amano iter unius diei et castra apud Epiphaneam fecissem, a. d. IIII Id. Oct., cum advesperasceret, expedito exercitu ita noctu iter feci, ut a. d. III Id. Oct., cum lucisceret, in Amanum ascenderem, distributisque cohortibus et auxiliis, cum aliis Q. frater legatus mecum simul, aliis C. Pomptinus legatus, reliquis M. Anneius et L. Tullius legati praeessent, plerosque necopinantes oppressimus, qui occisi captique sunt, interclusi fuga, Eranam autem, quae fuit non vici instar, sed urbis, quod erat Amani caput, itemque Sepyram et Commorim, acriter et diu repugnantes Pomptino illam partem Amani tenente, ex antelucano tempore usque ad horam diei X magna multitudine hostium occisa cepimus castellaque vi capta complura incendimus. His rebus ita gestis castra in radicibus Amani habuimus apud Aras Alexandri quatriduum et in reliquiis Amani delendis agrisque vastandis, quae pars eius montis meae provinciae est, id tempus omne consumpsimus. Confectis his rebus ad oppidum Eleutherocilicum Pindenissum exercitum adduxi, quod cum esset altissimo et munitissimo loco ab iisque incoleretur, qui ne regibus quidem umquam paruissent, cum et fugitivos reciperent et Parthorum adventum acerrime exspectarent, ad existimationem imperii pertinere arbitratus sum comprimere eorum audaciam, quo facilius etiam ceterorum animi, qui alieni essent ab imperio nostro, frangerentur: vallo et fossa circumdedi; sex castellis castrisque maximis saepsi; aggere, vineis, turribus oppugnavi ususque tormentis multis, multis sagittariis magno labore meo, sine ulla molestia sumptuve sociorum septimo quinquagesimo die rem confeci, ut omnibus partibus urbis disturbatis aut incensis compulsi in potestatem meam pervenirent. His erant finitimi pari scelere et audacia Tebarani; ab iis Pindenisso capto obsides accepi: exercitum in hiberna dimisi; Q. fratrem negotio praeposui, ut in vicis aut captis aut male pacatis exercitus collocaretur. Nunc velim sic tibi persuadeas, si de iis rebus ad senatum relatum sit, me existimaturum summam mihi laudem tributam, si tu honorem meum sententia tua comprobaris; idque, etsi talibus de rebus gravissimos homines et rogare solere et rogari scio, tamen admonendum potius te a me quam rogandum puto: tu es enim is, qui me tuis sententiis saepissime ornasti, qui oratione, qui praedicatione, qui summis laudibus in senatu, in concionibus ad caelum extulisti, cuius ego semper tanta esse verborum pondera putavi, ut uno verbo tuo cum mea laude coniuncto omnia assequi me arbitrarer; te denique memini, cum cuidam clarissimo atque optimo viro supplicationem non decerneres, dicere te decreturum, si referretur ob eas res, quas is consul in urbe gessisset; tu idem mihi supplicationem decrevisti togato, non, ut multis, re publica bene gesta, sed, ut nemini, re publica conservata; mitto, quod invidiam, quod pericula, quod omnes meas tempestates et subieris et multo etiam magis, si per me licuisset, subire paratissimus fueris, quod denique inimicum meum tuum inimicum putaris, cuius etiam interitum, ut facile intelligerem, mihi quantum tribueres, Milonis causa in senatu defendenda approbaris. A me autem haec sunt in te profecta, quae ego in beneficii loco non pono, sed in veri testimonii atque iudicii, ut praestantissimas tuas virtutes non tacitus admirarer—quis enim te id non facit?—, sed in omnibus orationibus, sententiis dicendis causis agendis, omnibus scriptis, Graecis Latinis, omni denique varietate litterarum mearum te non modo iis, quos vidissemus, sed iis, de quibus audissemus, omnibus anteferrem. Quaeres fortasse, quid sit, quod ego hoc nescio quid gratulationis et honoris a senatu tanti aestimem. Agam iam tecum familiariter, ut est et studiis et officiis nostris mutuis et summa amicitia dignum et necessitudine etiam paterna: si quisquam fuit umquam remotus et natura et magis etiam, ut mihi quidem sentire videor, ratione atque doctrina ab inani laude et sermonibus vulgi, ego profecto is sum. Testis est consulatus meus, in quo, sicut in reliqua vita, fateor ea me studiose secutum, ex quibus vera gloria nasci posset, ipsam quidem gloriam per se numquam putavi expetendam: itaque et provinciam ornatam et spem non dubiam triumphi neglexi; sacerdotium denique, cum, quemadmodum te existimare arbitror, non difficillime consequi possem, non appetivi; idem post iniuriam acceptam, quam tu rei publicae calamitatem semper appellas, meam non modo non calamitatem, sed etiam gloriam, studui quam ornatissima senatus populique Romani de me iudicia intercedere: itaque et augur postea fieri volui, quod antea neglexeram, et eum honorem, qui a senatu tribui rebus bellicis solet, neglectum a me olim, nunc mihi expetendum puto. Huic meae voluntati, in qua inest aliqua vis desiderii ad sanandum vulnus iniuriae, ut faveas adiutorque sis, quod paullo ante me negaram rogaturum, vehementer te rogo, sed ita, si non ieiunum hoc nescio quid, quod ego gessi, et contemnendum videbitur, sed tale atque tantum, ut multi nequaquam paribus rebus honores summos a senatu consecuti sint. Equidem etiam illud mihi animum advertisse videor—scis enim, quam attente te audire soleam—, te non tam res gestas quam mores, instituta atque vitam imperatorum spectare solere in habendis aut non habendis honoribus; quod si in mea causa considerabis, reperies me exercitu imbecillo contra metum maximi belli firmissimum praesidium habuisse aequitatem et continentiam: his ego subsidiis ea sum consecutus, quae nullis legionibus consequi potuissem, ut ex alienissimis sociis amicissimos, ex infidelissimis firmissimos redderem animosque novarum rerum exspectatione suspensos ad veteris imperii benevolentiam traducerem. Sed nimis haec multa de me, praesertim ad te, a quo uno omnium sociorum querelae audiuntur: cognosces ex iis, qui meis institutis se recreatos putant, cumque omnes uno prope consensu de me apud te ea, quae mihi optatissima sunt, praedicabunt, tum duae maximae clientelae tuae, Cyprus insula et Cappadociae regnum, tecum de me loquentur, puto etiam regem Deiotarum, qui uni tibi est maxime necessarius. Quae si etiam maiora sunt et in omnibus saeculis pauciores viri reperti sunt, qui suas cupiditates, quam qui hostium copias vincerent, est profecto tuum, cum ad res bellicas haec, quae rariora et difficiliora sunt, genera virtutis adiunxeris, ipsas etiam illas res gestas iustiores esse et maiores putare. Extremum illud est, ut quasi diffidens rogationi meae philosophiam ad te allegem, qua nec mihi carior ulla umquam res in vita fuit nec hominum generi maius a deis munus ullum est datum: haec igitur, quae mihi tecum communis est, societas studiorum atque artium nostrarum, quibus a pueritia dediti ac devincti soli propemodum nos philosophiam veram illam et antiquam, quae quibusdam otii esse ac desidiae videtur, in forum atque in rem publicam atque in ipsam aciem paene deduximus, tecum agit de mea laude, cui negari a Catone fas esse non puto. Quamobrem tibi sic persuadeas velim: si mihi tua sententia tributus honos ex meis litteris fuerit, me sic existimaturum, cum auctoritate tua, tum benenvolentia erga me mihi, quod maxime cupierim, contigisse.