Letter 2.18

I am very glad that my duty toward Rhodo, and the other services I have performed for you and yours, are pleasing to you, a man of great gratitude. Know that your standing becomes more and more a concern of mine every day. You yourself, by your integrity and mercy, have enlarged it so much that nothing seems capable of being added. But as I think more and more each day about your plans, I approve the advice I first set out to our Ariston when he came to me: you would take on dangerous enmities if a young man of power and noble birth were marked with dishonor by you. And by Hercules, it certainly would be dishonor. You have no one superior to him in official rank. He, leaving aside his birth, surpasses your excellent and blameless legates in this one point: he is a quaestor, and your quaestor. I see clearly that no individual, however angry, can harm you. Still, I do not want you to have three brothers, born to the highest rank, energetic and not without eloquence, angry with you, especially if they have a just grievance. I see that they will be tribunes of the plebs in succession over the next three years. And who knows what public conditions will be like? To me they seem likely to be turbulent. Why should I want you to fall into the terrors tribunes can bring, especially when without anyone's criticism you can put a quaestor ahead of legates who only have quaestorian rank? If he proves worthy of his ancestors, as I hope and wish, some part of the credit will be yours. If he gives offense in any way, the whole offense will be his, none of it yours. Because I was setting out for Cilicia, I thought I ought to write to you the things that came to mind and that I judged to concern you. Whatever you do, I hope the gods approve it. But if you listen to me, you will avoid enmities and provide for the quiet of your future.

CCLVII (Fam. II, 18) TO Q. MINUCIUS THERMUS (PROPRAETOR OF ASIA) LAODICEA (MAY) I am exceedingly glad that such services as I have rendered to Rhodon , and any other kindnesses I have done you and yours, have pleased you, the most grateful of men; and let me assure you that I feel greater interest every day in promoting your position, though, indeed, you have yourself so enhanced it by the purity and lenity of your administration, that it seems scarcely to admit of any increase. But as I think over your plans, I am more and more convinced every day of the soundness of the advice which I originally gave our friend Ariston , when he came to see me, that you would be incurring dangerous enmity, if a young man of powerful connexions and high birth received a slight from you. And, by heaven! it certainly will be a slight: for you have no one with you of higher official rank. The man himself, too, to say nothing of his high birth, has claims superior to those of the excellent and unimpeachable officers, your legates, in this special particular, that he is a quaestor and your quaestor. That no individual can, however provoked, do you any harm I quite see; yet I would not like you to have three brothers, of the highest birth, energetic, and not without eloquence, angry with you at once, especially on any good ground: men too whom I see will be successively tribunes during the next three years. Who knows, again, what sort of times await the Republic? In my opinion, they will be stormy. Why should I wish you to incur the alarms which tribunes can cause, especially when, without exciting remark from anyone, you can give the preference to a quaestor over legates of only quaestorian rank? And if he shows himself worthy of his ancestors, as I hope and trust he may do, the credit will to a certain extent be yours: if, on the other hand, he comes to grief in any way, the discredit will be all his, not yours at all. I thought, as I am on the point of starting for Cilicia , that I ought to write and tell you what occurred to me as being for your interests. Whatever you decide upon doing I pray heaven to prosper. But if you will listen to me, you will avoid enmities, and take measures for your tranquillity in the future.

XVIII. M. CICERO IMP. S. D. Q. THERMO PRO PR. Laodiceae; in. Mai. 50 Officium meum erga Rhodonem ceteraque mea studia quae tibi ac tuis praestiti tibi, homini gratissimo, grata esse vehementer gaudeo, mihique scito in dies maiori curae esse dignitatem tuam; quae quidem a te ipso integritate et clementia tua sic amplificata est ut nihil addi posse videatur. Sed mihi magis magisque cottidie de rationibus tuis cogitanti placet illud meum consilium quod initio Aristoni nostro, ut ad me venit, ostendi, gravis te suscepturum inimicitias si adulescens potens et nobilis a te ignominia adfectus esset. Et hercule sine dubio erit ignominia. Habes enim neminem honoris gradu superiorem; ille autem, ut omittam nobilitatem, hoc ipso vincit viros optimos hominesque innocentissimos legatos tuos, quod et quaestor est et quaestor tuus. Nocere tibi iratum neminem posse perspicio, sed tamen tris fratris summo loco natos, promptos, non indisertos, te nolo habere iratos, iure praesertim; quos video deinceps tribunos pl. per triennium fore. Tempora autem rei publicae qualia futura sint quis scit? Mihi quidem turbulenta videntur fore. Cur ego te velim incidere in terrores tribunicios, praesertim cum sine cuiusquam reprehensione quaestoriis legatis quaestorem possis anteferre? Qui si se dignum maioribus suis praebuerit, ut spero et opto, tua laus ex aliqua parte fuerit; sin quid offenderit, sibi totum, nihil tibi offenderit. Quae mihi veniebant in mentem quae ad te pertinere arbitrabar, quod in Ciliciam proficiscebar, existimavi me ad te oportere scribere. tu quod egeris, id velim di approbent. sed si me audies, vitabis inimicitias et posteritatis otio consules.