Marcus Cornelius Fronto→Unknown|c. 164 AD|Marcus Cornelius Fronto|From Rome (career hub)|AI-assisted
To Arrius Antoninus.
1. Greetings, my lord, my dearest son. Just as I gladly and willingly listen to those who extol with the highest praises your words and deeds in the administration of your province, so, if anyone murmurs against them at all or protests, I give him a far more scrupulous hearing and inquire into the manner in which you have managed or judged each matter, as one who desires that your reputation and good name be looked after just as much as my own.
2. Volumnius Serenus of Concordia, if he has subtracted nothing from the true facts of what he has recounted in my presence, nor added anything to them, will rightly and deservedly employ me with you as either his patron or his advocate. But if I shall seem to have gone beyond the bounds of a letter, it will come about for the reason the matter requires, namely that some pleading of a cause is joined to a letter.
3. I will set out the whole matter just as Volumnius has explained it to me, and at the same time I will ask, point by point, whether it is true. 4. Is it provided by the law of the colony of the Concordians that no one is to be made a notary [scriba, a clerk of the public records] except a man whom one could rightly also make a town councillor [decurion]? 5. Have all those who up to this point have ever been given the post of public notary at Concordia been, and are they, town councillors? 6. Was Volumnius made notary and town councillor by a decree of the order? Does he pay the very many installments, up to the fourth, on account of the councillorship? 7. Has he enjoyed, throughout forty-five years, all the rewards and advantages of councillors at the public banquets, in the council-house, at the public shows? 8. Has he dined, has he taken his seat as a councillor, has he cast his vote? If he has been employed in any public mission as an envoy, has Volumnius been an envoy time and again? Has the public traveling-allowance always been decreed to Volumnius as envoy? 9. Likewise, is there in the public records a written commemoration of the mission concerning the grain supply undertaken by Volumnius at no public cost?
10. If all those things which I mentioned above have been so decreed, so paid, so done, is there any reason why, after forty-five years, you should doubt whether he is a councillor who has been a notary, has paid in money on account of the councillorship, has enjoyed the advantages of the councillorship, has discharged its duties? And what is it, my son, what is it that you would wish to be proved to you more fully? Since he was asking for copies [...] not those [...] but I hasten [...] I kept for the censors [...] when you demand [...] does he owe to give counsel [...] he owes [...] he has given offense [...] he owes [...] [...] when it is [...] the right hand unless [...] not birthdays [...] he owes [...] I shall not see that it is enough for the honor, who cannot attain it if he is not native-born to it.
11. What of the fact that our emperors, in the case of Isidorus Lysias, established this, that from a [...] either Ulpia or of the mission [...] you might learn the precedents thoroughly, paid in money to another, discharged the duties.
12. After these matters had been asked of me and answered back and forth, was there not also a prejudgment of the banishment [...] Volumnius was reported, as though he were bursting into the council-house, although he had no right of entering the council-house as a banished man, on the ground that he had paid neither before his exile the whole sum for the councillorship nor any since; and when these matters had been argued out over the longest stretches of time, Lollius Urbicus, the case having been examined, decided nothing against Volumnius, but in place of [...] [Two pages appear to be missing.]
13. [...] finally he has many children of his own, so that these acquire grievously; many of his companions rejected them [...] otherwise [...] but masters hostile to wrongdoing pay penalties to their wicked slaves, yet, indeed, those who have used equal skill, when the ignominy imposed is at once carried out, take away from the dying the chance to sow again [i.e. to leave offspring]; the disgrace is not the same when a solitary man is struck with ignominy, as great a disgrace as it is for a household full of children and grandchildren to be branded with infamy, the sprinkling of which infamy stains and disgraces many at once, just as it is not the same disaster in battle to cut down a single horseman and to wreck a trireme. A tower sufficiently armed with ballistae easily checks the enemy, whereas a ship furnished with ten banks of oars perishes by a worn-out cable [...]
14. Most laws have established penalties so that no one should cut down a fruitful tree. What, then, is the fruitfulness of a tree? A tree, of course, that is fecund and fruit-bearing, its branches laden with berries and apples; and no one will be found who would call a reed, or a cane, however tall, fruitful. And is it more just that apples and berries should be an honor and a protection for trees than children and grandchildren for men?
15. Volumnius [...] because he had been disgraced, a whole company in truth, and the corps of Roman knights, a part of the council-house, is dishonored in one man. Rarely ever have so many heads at once been struck from heaven [by lightning] as you have condemned. In the age of my forefathers men used to seek profit and means with their feet and hands. It is truer that to neglect virtue is generally ruinous to idle old men: so vigorously does a matter grow by sweat, while that man who preferred to be good rather than to seem so has enjoyed fortunes none too prosperous. Truer still is it that he who neglects the reputation of virtue neglects virtue itself as well; nor does anyone earnestly strive to acquire the noble arts who does not care to know whether or not he has acquired them, or [does not care for] the opinion of very many men to be in error, and then to be able to abide by your own opinion, who [...] again a word [...] which you carry on against an absent man, I wonder if [...] unless by a portent, but whether he can grant a divorce and to his agnate kin, I am in doubt; for indeed, as for what is long, it can sometimes become longer, the deep deeper, the numerous more numerous. These and words of this kind I see admit some room for increase, but nothing can become fuller than full. For surely if a cup is full, you would ask in vain for it to be filled more, unless you poured some out. Indeed, since the times for all business are constrained, and one time crowds out another [...] joined together, lest you should blame the other time and think [...] with your own mind, whether this very cause lacks the time for proving the argument.
16. Before [...] with the councillors' garments [...] quite well [...] he ought to have been created [a councillor], if he was created through both [requirements]. When he was created, he ought to have exercised the honor: he exercised it in many ways. After he exercised it, he ought to have paid in money by installments: he paid four times. The duties of the councillorship, these [...]: very many, and [...] you would be [...] indeed [...] without a recess [...] is taken on as a disgrace [...] you have heaped up the basin, if [...] and so great sums redeemed from the defendant avail little; whatever is added here will overflow to no purpose. For where the things which ought to be enough for proof are not enough for the judge, there is no end to uncertainty; if there are more than enough for the judges to be assured of the proof, then, just as for those who have entered upon the right road there is a sure end and measure of the journey, so for those who wander it is easier to roam at large than to arrive.
17. [...] by the art of the forum they may have resisted the second opinion [...] counsels are observed, no one is to be held [...] except such as the laws are; that the most lenient, most gentle, most learned, most dutiful man, in a case I will not call good (suppose it doubtful), an old man of such great age, was kept out of the council-house "for the time being." To which age exemption from all public duties has been granted, which age no law, if they are bound by oath, [exacts service of]; the commonwealth more than among none [...] you who today were giving [...] to him either your own or by ignominy [...] thus you hold it void.
18. On an old man who long ago passed his seventieth year you inflict conspicuous stains, when, I beg you, are they to be effaced? You mock and make sport of the old man. For how little is the time of life remaining for stripping off the infamy and hoping for his former dignity? This, which you call "for the time being," for how long will he hope? If only as long as he lives, he will hope but a little while. Who postpones the harvest of a scorched cornfield "for the time being"? Who pushes off the ripe and dripping vintage "for the time being"? Who prolongs the time for mellow fruits, or fading flowers, or blazing torches? Even for the newly risen sun I would prefer the word "later"—that is, "for the time being"—and for the setting sun the more fitting "at once." Just as you put off the old man, so his age puts off. One might say [...] "for the time being" and "at once" [...] they fear life enough when [...]—that is, to boyhood and youth long courses of life have been given, just as days and nights may sometimes be long, whereas a green old age, and indeed the twilight of life, can sometimes not be long [...] flowers [...] the cornfields and the vines must be measured out.
19. Proculus Julius, a member of the Board of Fifteen, in the tenth year was banished amid lamentations; [...] he bore that two-year period [...] not [...] to an old man, whatever in words now perverse, now truthful [...] with Sextus Didius as his supporter, he brought it about that of the grateful province [...] if I am wise, conspirators were not [...] [...] to have laughed at the penalty imposed, likewise to forestall it, and he reduced the five years of exile to three; [...] he fought the more hotly, three times injured, [...] mercifully [...] to call [...] to [...] unless [...] resources, Proculus the arbiter, a man of a disposition otherwise relaxed and refined, but in pronouncing sentences a little too harsh toward punishment, and more hostile and more aggressive [...] I speak ill of the slanderous; many men in other respects not at all severe, brought forward rather coarsely, were nevertheless harsh in judging while holding the same rank, evidently aiming, in place of the severity they lacked, to substitute cruelties for show.
20. The two years then, after Volumnius had at last been approved as having paid up [...] now there remains to him two years of life to be fulfilled, because [...] to be acknowledged by you [...] your [...] the matter has not yet been arranged otherwise [...] [if] it should be, you take away the ignominy from his children, grandchildren, son-in-law, and connections by marriage, for whom you would leave their father and brothers as treasures at home.
21. Therefore relieve by your compassion an age that is familiar to you and inherited [in your friendship with the family]. You have prevailed upon yourself so as to rescind it; thus is discipline rightly upheld; but I would rather choose that the matters which he had meanwhile put off for himself, or wholly [...] or the honorable rank of the councillorship [...] [...] you should allow [...] among those who will report it [...] between the repeated [...], on the ground that he had paid out for himself the whole sum for the councillorship [...] before he left it all [...] I indeed [...] with learnedly chosen words, and that you may sometimes act [...] [...].
to Arrius Antoninus, greeting. 1. Health to my honoured and most dear son! just as I listen with willing and welcoming ears to those who are loudest in praise of your words and deeds in the administration of your province, so, if anyone grumbles at all or carps at it, I give him a much more critical hearing and require every detail of your acts and decisions, as one who would safeguard your reputation and good name equally with my own. 2. Volumnius Serenus of Concordia, if in what he tells me he has subtracted nothing from the truth, nor added anything to it, has every right and claim to my services as his advocate and intercessor before you. But if I seem to overstep the limits of a letter, the reason will be, that the facts of the case require some legal advocacy to be mixed up with the letter. 3. I will set forth the whole matter as Volumnius has stated it to me, and ask you at the same time as to each point, whether it is true. Is it provided by the charter of the Colony of Concordia, that no one be made a notary except he be eligible also for the office of municipal senator? Have they all been and are they all senators, who up till now have ever been given the post of notary public at Concordia? Was Volumnius elected notary and senator bv a resolution of the local senate? and has he made as many as four payments in respect of his senatorship? Has he enjoyed for five and forty years all the rewards and privileges attaching to senators, at public banquets, in the senate-house, at shows? Has he dined, has he sat, has he voted as a senator? In the case of public deputations has Volumnius been often chosen to be a deputy? Have his expenses as deputy always been voted to Volumnius from the public chest? Again is there in the municipal registers record of a deputation on the corn supply undertaken by Volumnius at his own charges? 4. If all this that I have mentioned above has been so decreed, so paid, so done, how can you be in doubt after five and forty years whether he is a senator, who has been a notary, has paid in money in respect of his being senator, has enjoyed the privileges of being senator, has discharged its duties? And what is there, my son, what is there that you would wish more plainly proved? Since . . . . . . . . (has enjoyed) the privileges, paid-in moneys, discharged duties. 5. After these questions and answers of mine backwards and forwards, is it not also a begging of the question . . . . Volumnius has been accused of forcing his way into the senate illegally, since as a man temporarily banished he had no right to enter it; in that neither before his exile had he paid in all the money for his senatorship nor any since. When all this had been argued out in the lengthiest of proceedings, Lollius Urbicus, after examining the case, made no decree against Volumnius; but in place of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . reckoned in proportion to the honour, I do not see . . . . . . . . . . . . What again of the similar decision of our Emperors in the case of Isidorus Lysias? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . is branded with indelible infamy . . . . The disgrace is not the same for a single man to receive the stigma of ignominy, as is the disgrace for a house full of children and grandchildren to be stained with infamy, for this bespattering with infamy defiles and disgraces many at once. Just as the loss is not the same in wars if a single horseman be cut down or a trireme be rammed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6. Many laws have fixed a penalty for cutting down "happy" trees. What is this happiness of a tree? Is it not flourishing and fruit-bearing branches laden with berries and fruit? No one ever called a reed, however tall, no one ever called a bamboo happy. Is it more right that fruits and berries should count as an honour and safeguard for trees than children and grandchildren for men? . . . . . . . . a troop of Roman cavalry, a part of the senate is dishonoured in the person of one man . . . . scarcely ever have so many men lost their lives physically by lightning as will lose theirs civilly by your decision . . . . 7. He, who has preferred being to seeming good, has enjoyed far from prosperous fortune . . . . Certain it is that he who cares not to be thought virtuous does not care to be virtuous either . . . . Nor is there anyone who is greatly interested in acquiring the noble arts that is not interested to know whether he has acquired them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . but if he can grant a divorce and Gnaeus can be bereaved—that is what I doubt. For what is long can on occasion become longer, what is deep, deeper, what is numerous, more numerous. These and similar words I see admit of some latitude of increase, but nothing can become fuller than full. For surely if a cup be full, it would be useless to ask for it to be filled still more, unless you emptied some of it. For indeed, since in all business time is limited, and one time is closely associated with this business and another with that, consider in your own mind whether this case lacks the time for proving the point urged. Before that . . . . he ought to have been elected senator by the senate: he was elected; when elected he ought to have exercised his rights: he did exercise them in many ways; after exercising them he ought to have paid in money by fixed instalments: he did pay this in four times; he ought to have discharged the duties of senatorship: he did discharge them; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . whatever is added to this will be a superfluity. For when the judge is not satisfied with what ought to be sufficient to convince, there is no limit to uncertainty. As for one who starts on the right road a journey has a fixed destination and limit, so for those who get off the path it is easier to roam than to get home . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . to have shut out from the senate meanwhile , in a case I will not call a good one—let us call it doubtful—a man of such advanced age, most kindly, most gentle, most learned, most dutiful. That age, which is entitled to exemption from all duties, no law, if they are bound by a military oath . . . . . . . . . . . . on an old man past his seventieth year you inflict a signal stain, and when, I ask, is it to be effaced? For how brief is the life left him for shaking off his dishonour and looking forward to regaining his former rank. This that you call the meanwhile , how long can he expect to hope for it? If as long as he breathes, it will be but a brief time for hope. Who delays to put the sickle to the sun-browned cornfield? and who defers the vintage when the grapes are ripe and dropping their juice? Who in fact loses time when fruits are mellowing, flowers fading, and torches burning down? Meanwhile is a word that fits the rising sun, for the setting sun the word is at once . Would that old age might put the old man off as you do . . . . Before youth, before manhood lies many a lengthy lap of life, just as days and nights may sometimes be long. Old age is a twilight that cannot last . . . . must be measured . . . . 9. Proculus . . . . that two years period . . . . . . . . . . . . for an old man whatever is meanwhile means but a mean while . . . . quashed the penalty and shortened the five years to three. For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Proculus, a man of a disposition in all other respects easy-going and pleasure-loving, yet in passing sentence was, I think, a little too ready to punish, and too severe . . . . Many who have seemed in other matters far from taking things seriously, yet have been harsh on the bench, wishing no doubt to hide their real lack of severity under a cloak of ruthlessness put on for the purpose. 10. The two years then . . . . at last for Volumnius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . his children, grand children, son-in-law, and relations to be freed from infamy, for whom . . . . you will leave father and brothers at home. Relieve by your compassion an age which you know so well in your home and in your father . . . . and cancel . . . . that meanwhile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . had paid all the money for his senatorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ad amicos 2.7 [189 Hout; 2.176 Haines]
Arrio Antonino.
1 Have, mi domine fili carissime. Sicut eos, qui dicta factaque tua in administranda provincia maximis laudibus ferunt, laetus ac libens audio, ita, si quis quid remurmurat aut deprecatur, multo scupulosius ausculto et, quo quicque modo gesseris aut judicaveris, requiro, ut qui existimationi tuae famaeque juxta quam meae consultum cupiam.
2 Volumnius Serenus Concordiensis, si nihil in iis, quae apud me commemoravit, verae rei dempsit aut addidit, jure meritoque utetur me apud te vel patrono vel precatore. Quodsi ultra epistulae modum videbor progressus, eo eveniet, quod res postulat, ut cum epistula conjuncta sit quaedam causidicatio.
3 Rem omnem ita, ut mihi Volumnius exposuit, proponam, simul et quidque, verumne sit, rogabo: 4 Estne lege coloniae Concordiensium cautum, ne quis scribam faxit nisi eum, quem decurionem quoque recte facere possit? 5 Fueruntne omnes et sunt ad hoc locorum, quibus unquam scriptus publicus Concordiae datus est, decuriones? 6 Factusne est Volumnius decreto ordinis scriba et decurio? Pensiones plurimas, ad quartam usque, ob decurionatum dependitne? 7 Ususne est per quinque et quadraginta annos omnibus decurionum praemis commodisque in cenis publicis, in curia, in spectaculis? 8 Cenavitne, seditne ut decurio, censuitne? Si quo usus fuit publice legando, legatusne est Volumnius saepenumero? Estne Volumnio legato semper viaticum publicum decretum? 9 Item legationis de re frumentaria gratis a Volumnio susceptae estne in commentariis publicis scripta commemoratio?
10 Si omnia ista, quae supra dixi, ita decreta, ita depensa, ita gesta sunt, estne, cur duvites post quinque et quadraginta annos sitne decurio, qui scriba fuerit, pecuniam ob decurionatum intulerit, commoda decurionatus usurpaverit, munia fuctus sit? Et quid est, mi fili, quid est, quod ista probari tibi plenius velis? Quoniam quaereret exemplaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . non ea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sed propero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . censoribus servaverim est a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cum posces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . num do consilia debet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . debet . . . . . . . . . . offenderit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . debet . . . . . . . reanit cum sit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dextera nisi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . non natales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . debet . . . . . . . pro honore satis non videbo, qui possit assequi non insitus.
11 Quid cum imperatores nostri in Isidori Luciae causa haec instituerunt, ut a . . . . . aut Ulpiam an legationis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . exempla perdisceres alussis pecuniam intulerit, munia fecerit.
12 Post ista ultro citroque a me rogata atque responsa, nonne etiam praejudicium relegationis fuit es . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . delatus est Volumnius, quasi in curiam inrumperet, etsi ei jus introeundae curia non esset ut relegato, quod neque ante exilium pro decurionatu omnem pecuniam neque ullam posterius intulisset; quae eum longissimis temporibus forent perorata, Lollius Urbicus causa inspecta nihil adversus Volumnium statuit, sed loco <...>
[duae paginae deesse videntur]
13 <...> denique plures habet mutuos liberos, graviter ut hi acquirant; pluris respuerunt vel e comitibus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . aliter . . . . . . . . . . . verum domini infensi malificis servis dant poenas, sed, pro, qui arte usi pari simul perlata inrogatis ignominia adimunt morituris sementare; non idem dedecus est homini solitario ignominia feriri, quantum dedecus est plena liberis ac nepotibus domo infamia notari, cujus infamiae aspergo inquinant simul multos et dedecorant, sicut non eadem clades est in proelio unum equitem obtruncarei et triremem frangi. Turris ballistis satis armata facile hostes coercet, cum navis ornata remis denis rudente rudi perierit t . s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
14 Leges plreaeque poenas constituerunt, ne quis arborem felicem succidisset. Quaenam est arbos aborisque felicitas? Arbor scilicet fecunda et frugifera, rami bacis pomisque onusti, neque erit cannam quisquam, qui aut harundinem, quamvis proceram, dixerit felicem. Atque aequiusne est arboribus honori atque tutelae poma et bacas esse quam hominibus liberosque nepotesque?
15 Volumnius . . . . quod dedecoratus erat, globus re vera in uno homine et forum equitum Romanorum, pars curiae dehonestatur: Raro umquam tot simul capita de caelo tacta, quam tu condemnasti. Genitorum meorum aetate lucrum et facultates pedibus, manibus petere solebant. Verius est virtutem neglegere inertibus fere senibus esse exitiosum: Tam valide res sudore crescit, quom ille, qui esse quam videri bonus maluit, fortunis parum prosperis usus est. Verius immo est eum, qui opinionem virtutis neglegat, virtutem quoque ipsam neglegere, neque quisquam bonas artis magno opere studet adipisci, quas adeptus necne sit, non studet scire vel permultorum sententiam errare deinde sententiae tuae stare possis, qui c . r . . r . . m . . . are iterum verbum . . . quod in absentis agis, miror si . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nisi portento sin repudium dare et adgnatis possit, addubito; nam quidem, quod longum sit, posse interdum fieri longius, altum altius, numerosum numerosius. Haec et ejusmodi verba video admittere aliquod augendi laxamentum, pleno autem plenius nihil fieri posse. Nam poculom profecto si plenum sit, magis conpleri frustra postules, nisi effuderis. Enimvero quom omnibus negotiis artata sint tempora, alterum tempus trudat alterum . . . . . . . . . . . . conjunctum, alterum tempus ne culpares ac putes . . . . . . . . . . . . cum animo tuo, an ista ipsa causa tempus argumenti probandi careat.
16 Antequam decurionum vestimentis . . . . . . . . perbene . . . . . . . . . . . . creari debuit, si per utrumque creatus est. Ubi creatus est, usurpare honorem debuit: Multifariam usurpavit. Postquam usurpavit, pensionibus inferre pecuniam debuit: Quater intulit. Munia decurionatus ista . . . . . . . : Plurima et . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fueris isdeteras quidem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sine secessu . . . . . a pro dedecus suscipiatur ad per als . . c . . . amutas labrum cumulasti, si . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . et tanta a reo redemptas parum valent; quidquid huc additum fuerit, frustra abundabit. Nam ubi, quae ad fidem sat esse oportet, satis judici non sunt, nullus finis est ambiguitatis, si plura sint, quam sat est, judicibus perconstare fidem, ut rectam viam ingressis certus est itineris finis ac modus, errantibus autem peragrare facilius est quam pervenire.
17 Nun arte fori alterius sententiae restiterint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . consilia serventur, neminem tenendum quantum esto, nisi qualia jura sunt; lenissimum, mansuetissimum, doctissimum, piissimum in causa non dicam bona (finge enim ambigua) tanto natu senem prohibuisse curia ‘interim’. Cui aetati omnium vacatio munerum data est, quam aetatem nulla lex, si sacramento adiguntur, res publica magis inter nullas se . . . . qui hodie repeti fiotine dabas ei tua aut ignominia . . . inrica sic tenes.
18 Seni septuaginta annos olim egresso insignes maculas infligis, quando, oro te abolendas? Senem tripudis et ludificas. Quantulum enim est vitae natis ais abstine et ista in plerosque? Qunatulum enim est vitae tempus reliquum ad infamiam exuendam et pristinam dignitatem sperandam? Hoc, quod vocas ‘interim’, quantisper sperabit? Si tantisper dum vivet, paulisper sperabit. Quis segeti torridae messem procrastinat ‘interim’? Quis vindemiam maturam ac destillantem propellit ‘interim’? Quis tempus prorogat pomis m itibus aut floribus marcentibus aut facibus ardentibus? Etiam soli ego recenti verbum ‘posterius’, id est interim, occidenti aptius ‘confestim’ vellem. Sicut tu senem differs, ita aetas different. Teneram pro ‘interim’ et ‘confestim’ dixerit et . . . . vita sat timent quando s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., id est adulescentiae et juventuti prolixa curricula vita data sunt, sicut diebus interdum et noctibus licet esse longis, cum senectus viridis et quidem et vitae crepusculum interdum non longum poterit esse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . flores . . . . . . . . . . . . . segetes vites metiendae sunt.
19 Proculus Julius quidecimvir anno decimo lamentis relegatus est gratuando tulit biennium illud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . noit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . homini seni quidquid verbis perversis tum veridicis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sexto Didio fautore effecit, ut gratae provinciae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . si sapiam conspirati nec legerentur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ridisse poenam inrogatam, item praeverti et quinquennium exsulis in triennium artavit; orius pugnavit fervidius ter laesus, adlatas tum per spatia temnio invias usque lanasiastdii clementer . . . . . . . vocare . . . . . . . . . . . . . ad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nisiar facultates arbiter Proculus homo ingenio ad cetera remisso et delicato, sed in sententiis dicundis ad poeniendum paulo durior et infensior et infestior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . male maledico; plerique ad cetera viri minime severi inlautius prolati, in judicando asperi tamen in eadem dignitate fuere, videlicet spectantes, ut pro severitate, qua carebant, obtensui saevitias subornarent.
20 Biennium tunc de exacto demum Volumnio probato de exigendo illi nunc remansit biennium vitae explendum, quia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . adagi a te nosci . . . entia tua res nondum aliter structa est . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sit, detrahis ignominiam ejus liberis, nepotibus, genero, adfinibus, quibus pretia domi patrem fratresque reliqueris.
21 Igitur subleva misericordia aetatem familiarem tibi et oatritam. Pervicisti tibi ut rescindas sic disciplina recte, sed potius opto, ut res, quas sibi interim distulerat, vel totus or . . . a . ee . ms . . . . a . . . ingr . . s . . . al . . . . . . e . . . . . vel decorum ordinem decurionatum . . . . . . . . . rec . . . . . . is . . . . pro . . terea . . p . . . . ia . . . . . . . e . . . . . relaturis . . . . inter iterati sineret, quod omnem pro decurionatu pecuniam dependisset sibi . a . . . . . . . . . . . um priusquam reliquit omni . . o . . . u . . s . . e . . . s . . s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . es . . . . re . . . . r . . . . t equidem docte dictis et interdum facias et . . . . . . . . .
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To Arrius Antoninus.
1. Greetings, my lord, my dearest son. Just as I gladly and willingly listen to those who extol with the highest praises your words and deeds in the administration of your province, so, if anyone murmurs against them at all or protests, I give him a far more scrupulous hearing and inquire into the manner in which you have managed or judged each matter, as one who desires that your reputation and good name be looked after just as much as my own.
2. Volumnius Serenus of Concordia, if he has subtracted nothing from the true facts of what he has recounted in my presence, nor added anything to them, will rightly and deservedly employ me with you as either his patron or his advocate. But if I shall seem to have gone beyond the bounds of a letter, it will come about for the reason the matter requires, namely that some pleading of a cause is joined to a letter.
3. I will set out the whole matter just as Volumnius has explained it to me, and at the same time I will ask, point by point, whether it is true. 4. Is it provided by the law of the colony of the Concordians that no one is to be made a notary [scriba, a clerk of the public records] except a man whom one could rightly also make a town councillor [decurion]? 5. Have all those who up to this point have ever been given the post of public notary at Concordia been, and are they, town councillors? 6. Was Volumnius made notary and town councillor by a decree of the order? Does he pay the very many installments, up to the fourth, on account of the councillorship? 7. Has he enjoyed, throughout forty-five years, all the rewards and advantages of councillors at the public banquets, in the council-house, at the public shows? 8. Has he dined, has he taken his seat as a councillor, has he cast his vote? If he has been employed in any public mission as an envoy, has Volumnius been an envoy time and again? Has the public traveling-allowance always been decreed to Volumnius as envoy? 9. Likewise, is there in the public records a written commemoration of the mission concerning the grain supply undertaken by Volumnius at no public cost?
10. If all those things which I mentioned above have been so decreed, so paid, so done, is there any reason why, after forty-five years, you should doubt whether he is a councillor who has been a notary, has paid in money on account of the councillorship, has enjoyed the advantages of the councillorship, has discharged its duties? And what is it, my son, what is it that you would wish to be proved to you more fully? Since he was asking for copies [...] not those [...] but I hasten [...] I kept for the censors [...] when you demand [...] does he owe to give counsel [...] he owes [...] he has given offense [...] he owes [...][...] when it is [...] the right hand unless [...] not birthdays [...] he owes [...] I shall not see that it is enough for the honor, who cannot attain it if he is not native-born to it.
11. What of the fact that our emperors, in the case of Isidorus Lysias, established this, that from a [...] either Ulpia or of the mission [...] you might learn the precedents thoroughly, paid in money to another, discharged the duties.
12. After these matters had been asked of me and answered back and forth, was there not also a prejudgment of the banishment [...] Volumnius was reported, as though he were bursting into the council-house, although he had no right of entering the council-house as a banished man, on the ground that he had paid neither before his exile the whole sum for the councillorship nor any since; and when these matters had been argued out over the longest stretches of time, Lollius Urbicus, the case having been examined, decided nothing against Volumnius, but in place of [...][Two pages appear to be missing.]
13. [...] finally he has many children of his own, so that these acquire grievously; many of his companions rejected them [...] otherwise [...] but masters hostile to wrongdoing pay penalties to their wicked slaves, yet, indeed, those who have used equal skill, when the ignominy imposed is at once carried out, take away from the dying the chance to sow again [i.e. to leave offspring]; the disgrace is not the same when a solitary man is struck with ignominy, as great a disgrace as it is for a household full of children and grandchildren to be branded with infamy, the sprinkling of which infamy stains and disgraces many at once, just as it is not the same disaster in battle to cut down a single horseman and to wreck a trireme. A tower sufficiently armed with ballistae easily checks the enemy, whereas a ship furnished with ten banks of oars perishes by a worn-out cable [...]
14. Most laws have established penalties so that no one should cut down a fruitful tree. What, then, is the fruitfulness of a tree? A tree, of course, that is fecund and fruit-bearing, its branches laden with berries and apples; and no one will be found who would call a reed, or a cane, however tall, fruitful. And is it more just that apples and berries should be an honor and a protection for trees than children and grandchildren for men?
15. Volumnius [...] because he had been disgraced, a whole company in truth, and the corps of Roman knights, a part of the council-house, is dishonored in one man. Rarely ever have so many heads at once been struck from heaven [by lightning] as you have condemned. In the age of my forefathers men used to seek profit and means with their feet and hands. It is truer that to neglect virtue is generally ruinous to idle old men: so vigorously does a matter grow by sweat, while that man who preferred to be good rather than to seem so has enjoyed fortunes none too prosperous. Truer still is it that he who neglects the reputation of virtue neglects virtue itself as well; nor does anyone earnestly strive to acquire the noble arts who does not care to know whether or not he has acquired them, or [does not care for] the opinion of very many men to be in error, and then to be able to abide by your own opinion, who [...] again a word [...] which you carry on against an absent man, I wonder if [...] unless by a portent, but whether he can grant a divorce and to his agnate kin, I am in doubt; for indeed, as for what is long, it can sometimes become longer, the deep deeper, the numerous more numerous. These and words of this kind I see admit some room for increase, but nothing can become fuller than full. For surely if a cup is full, you would ask in vain for it to be filled more, unless you poured some out. Indeed, since the times for all business are constrained, and one time crowds out another [...] joined together, lest you should blame the other time and think [...] with your own mind, whether this very cause lacks the time for proving the argument.
16. Before [...] with the councillors' garments [...] quite well [...] he ought to have been created [a councillor], if he was created through both [requirements]. When he was created, he ought to have exercised the honor: he exercised it in many ways. After he exercised it, he ought to have paid in money by installments: he paid four times. The duties of the councillorship, these [...]: very many, and [...] you would be [...] indeed [...] without a recess [...] is taken on as a disgrace [...] you have heaped up the basin, if [...] and so great sums redeemed from the defendant avail little; whatever is added here will overflow to no purpose. For where the things which ought to be enough for proof are not enough for the judge, there is no end to uncertainty; if there are more than enough for the judges to be assured of the proof, then, just as for those who have entered upon the right road there is a sure end and measure of the journey, so for those who wander it is easier to roam at large than to arrive.
17. [...] by the art of the forum they may have resisted the second opinion [...] counsels are observed, no one is to be held [...] except such as the laws are; that the most lenient, most gentle, most learned, most dutiful man, in a case I will not call good (suppose it doubtful), an old man of such great age, was kept out of the council-house "for the time being." To which age exemption from all public duties has been granted, which age no law, if they are bound by oath, [exacts service of]; the commonwealth more than among none [...] you who today were giving [...] to him either your own or by ignominy [...] thus you hold it void.
18. On an old man who long ago passed his seventieth year you inflict conspicuous stains, when, I beg you, are they to be effaced? You mock and make sport of the old man. For how little is the time of life remaining for stripping off the infamy and hoping for his former dignity? This, which you call "for the time being," for how long will he hope? If only as long as he lives, he will hope but a little while. Who postpones the harvest of a scorched cornfield "for the time being"? Who pushes off the ripe and dripping vintage "for the time being"? Who prolongs the time for mellow fruits, or fading flowers, or blazing torches? Even for the newly risen sun I would prefer the word "later"—that is, "for the time being"—and for the setting sun the more fitting "at once." Just as you put off the old man, so his age puts off. One might say [...] "for the time being" and "at once" [...] they fear life enough when [...]—that is, to boyhood and youth long courses of life have been given, just as days and nights may sometimes be long, whereas a green old age, and indeed the twilight of life, can sometimes not be long [...] flowers [...] the cornfields and the vines must be measured out.
19. Proculus Julius, a member of the Board of Fifteen, in the tenth year was banished amid lamentations; [...] he bore that two-year period [...] not [...] to an old man, whatever in words now perverse, now truthful [...] with Sextus Didius as his supporter, he brought it about that of the grateful province [...] if I am wise, conspirators were not [...][...] to have laughed at the penalty imposed, likewise to forestall it, and he reduced the five years of exile to three; [...] he fought the more hotly, three times injured, [...] mercifully [...] to call [...] to [...] unless [...] resources, Proculus the arbiter, a man of a disposition otherwise relaxed and refined, but in pronouncing sentences a little too harsh toward punishment, and more hostile and more aggressive [...] I speak ill of the slanderous; many men in other respects not at all severe, brought forward rather coarsely, were nevertheless harsh in judging while holding the same rank, evidently aiming, in place of the severity they lacked, to substitute cruelties for show.
20. The two years then, after Volumnius had at last been approved as having paid up [...] now there remains to him two years of life to be fulfilled, because [...] to be acknowledged by you [...] your [...] the matter has not yet been arranged otherwise [...] [if] it should be, you take away the ignominy from his children, grandchildren, son-in-law, and connections by marriage, for whom you would leave their father and brothers as treasures at home.
21. Therefore relieve by your compassion an age that is familiar to you and inherited [in your friendship with the family]. You have prevailed upon yourself so as to rescind it; thus is discipline rightly upheld; but I would rather choose that the matters which he had meanwhile put off for himself, or wholly [...] or the honorable rank of the councillorship [...][...] you should allow [...] among those who will report it [...] between the repeated [...], on the ground that he had paid out for himself the whole sum for the councillorship [...] before he left it all [...] I indeed [...] with learnedly chosen words, and that you may sometimes act [...][...].
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ad amicos 2.7 [189 Hout; 2.176 Haines] Arrio Antonino. 1 Have, mi domine fili carissime. Sicut eos, qui dicta factaque tua in administranda provincia maximis laudibus ferunt, laetus ac libens audio, ita, si quis quid remurmurat aut deprecatur, multo scupulosius ausculto et, quo quicque modo gesseris aut judicaveris, requiro, ut qui existimationi tuae famaeque juxta quam meae consultum cupiam. 2 Volumnius Serenus Concordiensis, si nihil in iis, quae apud me commemoravit, verae rei dempsit aut addidit, jure meritoque utetur me apud te vel patrono vel precatore. Quodsi ultra epistulae modum videbor progressus, eo eveniet, quod res postulat, ut cum epistula conjuncta sit quaedam causidicatio. 3 Rem omnem ita, ut mihi Volumnius exposuit, proponam, simul et quidque, verumne sit, rogabo: 4 Estne lege coloniae Concordiensium cautum, ne quis scribam faxit nisi eum, quem decurionem quoque recte facere possit? 5 Fueruntne omnes et sunt ad hoc locorum, quibus unquam scriptus publicus Concordiae datus est, decuriones? 6 Factusne est Volumnius decreto ordinis scriba et decurio? Pensiones plurimas, ad quartam usque, ob decurionatum dependitne? 7 Ususne est per quinque et quadraginta annos omnibus decurionum praemis commodisque in cenis publicis, in curia, in spectaculis? 8 Cenavitne, seditne ut decurio, censuitne? Si quo usus fuit publice legando, legatusne est Volumnius saepenumero? Estne Volumnio legato semper viaticum publicum decretum? 9 Item legationis de re frumentaria gratis a Volumnio susceptae estne in commentariis publicis scripta commemoratio? 10 Si omnia ista, quae supra dixi, ita decreta, ita depensa, ita gesta sunt, estne, cur duvites post quinque et quadraginta annos sitne decurio, qui scriba fuerit, pecuniam ob decurionatum intulerit, commoda decurionatus usurpaverit, munia fuctus sit? Et quid est, mi fili, quid est, quod ista probari tibi plenius velis? Quoniam quaereret exemplaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . non ea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sed propero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . censoribus servaverim est a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cum posces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . num do consilia debet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . debet . . . . . . . . . . offenderit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . debet . . . . . . . reanit cum sit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dextera nisi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . non natales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . debet . . . . . . . pro honore satis non videbo, qui possit assequi non insitus. 11 Quid cum imperatores nostri in Isidori Luciae causa haec instituerunt, ut a . . . . . aut Ulpiam an legationis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . exempla perdisceres alussis pecuniam intulerit, munia fecerit. 12 Post ista ultro citroque a me rogata atque responsa, nonne etiam praejudicium relegationis fuit es . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . delatus est Volumnius, quasi in curiam inrumperet, etsi ei jus introeundae curia non esset ut relegato, quod neque ante exilium pro decurionatu omnem pecuniam neque ullam posterius intulisset; quae eum longissimis temporibus forent perorata, Lollius Urbicus causa inspecta nihil adversus Volumnium statuit, sed loco <...> [duae paginae deesse videntur] 13 <...> denique plures habet mutuos liberos, graviter ut hi acquirant; pluris respuerunt vel e comitibus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . aliter . . . . . . . . . . . verum domini infensi malificis servis dant poenas, sed, pro, qui arte usi pari simul perlata inrogatis ignominia adimunt morituris sementare; non idem dedecus est homini solitario ignominia feriri, quantum dedecus est plena liberis ac nepotibus domo infamia notari, cujus infamiae aspergo inquinant simul multos et dedecorant, sicut non eadem clades est in proelio unum equitem obtruncarei et triremem frangi. Turris ballistis satis armata facile hostes coercet, cum navis ornata remis denis rudente rudi perierit t . s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Leges plreaeque poenas constituerunt, ne quis arborem felicem succidisset. Quaenam est arbos aborisque felicitas? Arbor scilicet fecunda et frugifera, rami bacis pomisque onusti, neque erit cannam quisquam, qui aut harundinem, quamvis proceram, dixerit felicem. Atque aequiusne est arboribus honori atque tutelae poma et bacas esse quam hominibus liberosque nepotesque? 15 Volumnius . . . . quod dedecoratus erat, globus re vera in uno homine et forum equitum Romanorum, pars curiae dehonestatur: Raro umquam tot simul capita de caelo tacta, quam tu condemnasti. Genitorum meorum aetate lucrum et facultates pedibus, manibus petere solebant. Verius est virtutem neglegere inertibus fere senibus esse exitiosum: Tam valide res sudore crescit, quom ille, qui esse quam videri bonus maluit, fortunis parum prosperis usus est. Verius immo est eum, qui opinionem virtutis neglegat, virtutem quoque ipsam neglegere, neque quisquam bonas artis magno opere studet adipisci, quas adeptus necne sit, non studet scire vel permultorum sententiam errare deinde sententiae tuae stare possis, qui c . r . . r . . m . . . are iterum verbum . . . quod in absentis agis, miror si . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nisi portento sin repudium dare et adgnatis possit, addubito; nam quidem, quod longum sit, posse interdum fieri longius, altum altius, numerosum numerosius. Haec et ejusmodi verba video admittere aliquod augendi laxamentum, pleno autem plenius nihil fieri posse. Nam poculom profecto si plenum sit, magis conpleri frustra postules, nisi effuderis. Enimvero quom omnibus negotiis artata sint tempora, alterum tempus trudat alterum . . . . . . . . . . . . conjunctum, alterum tempus ne culpares ac putes . . . . . . . . . . . . cum animo tuo, an ista ipsa causa tempus argumenti probandi careat. 16 Antequam decurionum vestimentis . . . . . . . . perbene . . . . . . . . . . . . creari debuit, si per utrumque creatus est. Ubi creatus est, usurpare honorem debuit: Multifariam usurpavit. Postquam usurpavit, pensionibus inferre pecuniam debuit: Quater intulit. Munia decurionatus ista . . . . . . . : Plurima et . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fueris isdeteras quidem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sine secessu . . . . . a pro dedecus suscipiatur ad per als . . c . . . amutas labrum cumulasti, si . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . et tanta a reo redemptas parum valent; quidquid huc additum fuerit, frustra abundabit. Nam ubi, quae ad fidem sat esse oportet, satis judici non sunt, nullus finis est ambiguitatis, si plura sint, quam sat est, judicibus perconstare fidem, ut rectam viam ingressis certus est itineris finis ac modus, errantibus autem peragrare facilius est quam pervenire. 17 Nun arte fori alterius sententiae restiterint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . consilia serventur, neminem tenendum quantum esto, nisi qualia jura sunt; lenissimum, mansuetissimum, doctissimum, piissimum in causa non dicam bona (finge enim ambigua) tanto natu senem prohibuisse curia ‘interim’. Cui aetati omnium vacatio munerum data est, quam aetatem nulla lex, si sacramento adiguntur, res publica magis inter nullas se . . . . qui hodie repeti fiotine dabas ei tua aut ignominia . . . inrica sic tenes. 18 Seni septuaginta annos olim egresso insignes maculas infligis, quando, oro te abolendas? Senem tripudis et ludificas. Quantulum enim est vitae natis ais abstine et ista in plerosque? Qunatulum enim est vitae tempus reliquum ad infamiam exuendam et pristinam dignitatem sperandam? Hoc, quod vocas ‘interim’, quantisper sperabit? Si tantisper dum vivet, paulisper sperabit. Quis segeti torridae messem procrastinat ‘interim’? Quis vindemiam maturam ac destillantem propellit ‘interim’? Quis tempus prorogat pomis m itibus aut floribus marcentibus aut facibus ardentibus? Etiam soli ego recenti verbum ‘posterius’, id est interim, occidenti aptius ‘confestim’ vellem. Sicut tu senem differs, ita aetas different. Teneram pro ‘interim’ et ‘confestim’ dixerit et . . . . vita sat timent quando s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., id est adulescentiae et juventuti prolixa curricula vita data sunt, sicut diebus interdum et noctibus licet esse longis, cum senectus viridis et quidem et vitae crepusculum interdum non longum poterit esse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . flores . . . . . . . . . . . . . segetes vites metiendae sunt. 19 Proculus Julius quidecimvir anno decimo lamentis relegatus est gratuando tulit biennium illud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . noit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . homini seni quidquid verbis perversis tum veridicis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sexto Didio fautore effecit, ut gratae provinciae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . si sapiam conspirati nec legerentur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ridisse poenam inrogatam, item praeverti et quinquennium exsulis in triennium artavit; orius pugnavit fervidius ter laesus, adlatas tum per spatia temnio invias usque lanasiastdii clementer . . . . . . . vocare . . . . . . . . . . . . . ad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nisiar facultates arbiter Proculus homo ingenio ad cetera remisso et delicato, sed in sententiis dicundis ad poeniendum paulo durior et infensior et infestior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . male maledico; plerique ad cetera viri minime severi inlautius prolati, in judicando asperi tamen in eadem dignitate fuere, videlicet spectantes, ut pro severitate, qua carebant, obtensui saevitias subornarent. 20 Biennium tunc de exacto demum Volumnio probato de exigendo illi nunc remansit biennium vitae explendum, quia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . adagi a te nosci . . . entia tua res nondum aliter structa est . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sit, detrahis ignominiam ejus liberis, nepotibus, genero, adfinibus, quibus pretia domi patrem fratresque reliqueris. 21 Igitur subleva misericordia aetatem familiarem tibi et oatritam. Pervicisti tibi ut rescindas sic disciplina recte, sed potius opto, ut res, quas sibi interim distulerat, vel totus or . . . a . ee . ms . . . . a . . . ingr . . s . . . al . . . . . . e . . . . . vel decorum ordinem decurionatum . . . . . . . . . rec . . . . . . is . . . . pro . . terea . . p . . . . ia . . . . . . . e . . . . . relaturis . . . . inter iterati sineret, quod omnem pro decurionatu pecuniam dependisset sibi . a . . . . . . . . . . . um priusquam reliquit omni . . o . . . u . . s . . e . . . s . . s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . es . . . . re . . . . r . . . . t equidem docte dictis et interdum facias et . . . . . . . . .