Letter 2.9

First, as I should, I congratulate you and rejoice both in the rank you already hold and in the rank you may hope for. My congratulation is late not through neglect, but because I know almost nothing of what is happening. I am in places where, because of distance and bandits, every piece of news arrives very slowly. But while I congratulate you, I cannot find words enough to thank you for arranging matters, just as you wrote to me, so that you gave us something we could always laugh about. As soon as I heard, I became that very man - you know whom I mean - and summoned all those young men he is always bragging about. It is hard to speak, but as I imagined you absent and talked with you almost face to face, I began: "By Pollux, no small thing you have done, no ordinary deed." Because it had happened beyond my expectation, I turned to the line, "This unbelievable event is set before me." Then suddenly I launched into, "happy with every happiness." When I was scolded because I was nearly out of my senses with excessive joy, I defended myself: "too much pleasure of the mind..." What more do you want? While laughing at him, I nearly became him. But I will write more about these things, and much else about you and to you, as soon as I have found a little leisure. For now, my dear Rufus, I love you deeply. Fortune gave you to me as the enlarger of my dignity and the avenger not only of my enemies but even of those who envied me, so that some regretted their crimes and others even their stupidity.

CCXXIII (Fam. II, 9) TO M. CAELIUS RUFUS (AT ROME) CILICIA (NOVEMBER) M. CICERO, proconsul, greets M. Caelius , curule aedile elect. First of all, as in duty bound, I congratulate you and express my delight at the rank which you have already attained, and your hopes of advancement in the future. It is somewhat late in the day: that, however, does not arise from my negligence, but from my ignorance of everything that is going on. For I am in a district where, partly from its distance, and partly from brigandage, all news is as late as possible in arriving. Besides congratulating you, I can scarcely find words to thank you for having had an election calculated, as you said in your letter, to give us an endless fund of laughter. And so, as soon as I heard the news, I imagined myself in that man's skin — you know whom I mean — and personified to myself all that “rising generation” about which he is always talking so big. "'Tis hard to say" — looking at you in my mind's eye the while, though far away, and as though I were talking to you face to face — " By heaven, how great, How grand the feat! " But since it had surpassed my expectation, I began the quotation: “A glad surprise Before my eyes.” In fact, I all on a sudden stepped out “gay as gay can be,” and when I was rebuked for being all but silly from excess of joy, I quoted in my defence, “Beyond all measure to express delight,” etc.' In short, while laughing at him, I almost became another like him. But I will write more about this, and much else besides about you and to you, as soon as I have got a minute to spare. Meanwhile however, my dear Rufus , I am deeply attached to you — you whom fortune gave me to be the promoter of my dignity, and such a scourge, not of my enemies only, but of my jealous rivals also, that they had reason to be sorry in some cases for their evil deeds, and in others even for their stupidities.

IX. M. CICERO PRO COS. S. D. M. CAELIO AEDILI CURULI DESIGNATO Primum tibi, ut debeo, gratulor laetorque cum praesenti tum etiam sperata tua dignitate, serius non neglegentia mea sed ignoratione rerum omnium. In iis enim sum locis quo et propter longinquitatem et propter latrocinia tardissime omnia perferuntur. Et cum gratulor tum vero quibus verbis tibi gratias agam non reperio, quod ita factus sis ut dederis nobis, quem ad modum scripseras ad me, quod semper ridere possemus. Itaque, cum primum audivi, ego ille ipse factus sum (scis quem dicam) egique omnis illos adulescentis quos ille iactitat. Difficile est loqui; te autem contemplans absentem et quasi tecum coram loquerer 'non edepol quantam rem egeris neque quantum facinus feceris.. . ' quod quia praeter opinionem mihi acciderat, referebam me ad illud: 'incredibile hoc factum obicitur.' repente vero incessi 'omnibus laetitiis [laetus].' In quo cum obiurgarer quod nimio gaudio paene desiperem, ita me defendebam: 'ego voluptatem animi nimiam.. . ' quid quaeris? Dum illum rideo, paene sum factus ille. Sed haec pluribus multaque alia et de te et ad te cum primum ero aliquid nactus oti. Te vero, mi Rufe, diligo, quem mihi fortuna dedit amplificatorem dignitatis meae, ultorem non modo inimicorum sed etiam invidorum meorum, ut eos partim scelerum suorum, partim etiam ineptiarum paeniteret.