Letter 3046: I count the joys of your fortune among my own debts, and I take you as my judge of this sentiment — you who have...

I I count the joys of your good fortune as belonging to my own account, and I take you as our judge in this opinion, you who have observed my disposition while you consult your own. This was owed to the tender good things of these times, that a man of repute should join himself to the public counsel. Therefore, since the matter has fallen out according to everyone's prayer, carry through a service befitting the judgment of so great a prince. Expectation presses upon you, ever burdensome to good men; for although it regards the worthy, yet it stands close to danger, while it promises itself something greater. You have an age friendly to virtue, in which, unless every best man wins glory, the fault lies with the man, not the times. You see clearly: just as that very man who presides over Roman affairs was born for the public good, so now you must not strive against the stream; rather, with a favoring current, so to speak, honest arts and virtues are borne along. But your own mind will unfold these things to you more fully than our pen. I have discharged a friend's duty and have taken up the role of one who admonishes rather than one who instructs, and I hope it will at once come to pass that, beyond the expectation which is great concerning you, you may be held greater still. Nor would I have taken up a writing of this kind, were it not clear to me that I was entrusting good words to a corrected heart. As for what remains, remember, when you return greetings, both to carry out your own service and to call forth the diligence of my duty. To Siburius. I yield to your laws and not unwillingly take up the strict economy [Greek: akribologion] of writing. You, however, see that you remember this: that what the usage of a later age has adopted seems to some rather the simpler form. Do you wish that, after the manner of our ancestors, bare names should be set at the head of our letters? If you have so great a love of antiquity, let us with equal zeal return to the old words with which the Salii sing, and the augurs consult the bird, and the decemvirs founded the Tables. Long ago these were renounced, as the succession of the ages changed what had earlier been approved. Or, if a forensic speech were to be written by us, shall we, by Cato's law, invoke beforehand Jupiter and the other gods, lest we be charged as a fault either with neglect of antiquity or with ignorance? And yet it is better to follow Tullius [Cicero], who employs openings unknown to our ancestors. But why should I say more about this, since I am obedient to your word and have given the [...] [text uncertain: herbam dederim, "I have yielded the palm"] to your will? That you should write often, I need in no way entreat you. The constancy of my letters will bring it about that you are reminded of a mutual duty.

I Fortunae tuae gaudia in meo aere duco atque huius sententiae te nobis iudicem lo capio, qui animum meum spectatum habes, cum tuum consulis. debebatur hoc teneris temporum bonis, ut consilio publico vir laudatus accederes. ergo quia res sese ex voto omnium dedit, perage operam iudicio tanti principis congruentem. urguet te ex- pectatio bonis semper onerosa. nam etsi dignos respicit, periculo tamen proxima est, 2 dum sibi amplius poUicetur. habes saeculum virtuti amicum, quo nisi optimus quis- i5 que gloriam parat, hominis est culpa non temporis. vides certe: ut ille ipse, qui Romanis rebus antistat, ad bonum publicum natus est, non tibi adverao nunc amne nitendum est; secundo, ut ita dicam, cursn probae artes et virtutes feruntur. sed 3 haec tibi plenius tuus animus quam stilus noster expediet. ego amici functus officium admonentis potius quam docentis personam recepi et spero actutum fore, ut expecta- 20 tione, quae de te magna est, maior habearis. nec ego istiusmodi scriptum recepissem, nisi apud me liqueret, quod emendato pectori bona verba mandarem. quod restat, memento salute referenda et tuum munus exequi et mei officii diligentiam provocare. xxxxnn. AD SIBVRIVM. 25 Concedo in leges tuas et apxotiofiov scribendi non invitus adfecto. tu tamen fac memineris, illud potias simplex nonnullis videri, quod sequentis aetatis usus recepit. vis, ut epistulis nostris more maiorum nuda nomina praeferantur? si tibi vetustatis tantus est amor, pari studio in verba prisca redeamus, quibns salii cannnt et augures avem consulunt et decemviri tabulas condiderunt. iamdudum his renuntiatum est, ut 30 2 successio temporum placita priora mutavit. an si nobis scribenda sit forensis oratio, 31 Serv. ad Aen. XI 301. istius eorr, ex nexinstius P nexu mnnoris hoins F non om, F 5 iste contractus om, F indicia] F, in iudicio PV 6 accipis P noluptate] luretuSf noluntate VF, noluntatem P com- pensas V, capesaaa F nale add, V sequitur in VF II, 40 etsi] roanet si PF 21 concepissem ego V III^ 5i, finis epistulae po^t III, 4Q coU. est 30 nt] et F LIBER III. • 85 lovem deoBque ceteros Catoni» lege praefabimur , ne nobis vitio detur vel neglegentia PF antiquitatis vel inscitia ? atqui praestat Tullium sequi , qui ignorata maioribus usnrpat exordia. sed quid ego de hoc plura, cum sim tibi dicto audiens atque herbara dede- rim voluntati tuae? ut saepe scribas, nequaquam mibi orandus es. efficiet adsiduitas 5 litterarum mearum, ut mutui admonearis officii. xxxxv.