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XIX
XIX
To Atticus (in Epirus)
Laodicea, 22 February, 50 B.C.
I Received your letter on the fifth day before the Terminalia (19th of
February) at Laodicea. I was delighted to read it, for it teemed with
affection, kindness, and an active and obliging temper. I will, therefore,
answer it sentence by sentence - for such is your request - and I will not
introduce an arrangement of my own, but will follow your order.
You say that the last letter you had of mine was from Cybistra, dated
21st September, and you want to know which of yours I have received. Nearly
all you mention, except the one that you say that you delivered to Lentulus`
messengers at Equotuticus and Brundisium. Wherefore your industry has not been
thrown away, as you fear, but has been exceedingly well laid out, if, that is
to say, your object was to give me pleasure. For I have never been more
delighted with anything. I am exceedingly glad that you approve of my self
restraint in the case of Appius, and of my independence even in the case of
Brutus: and I had thought that it might be somewhat otherwise. For Appius, in
the course of his journey, had sent me two or three rather querulous letters,
because I rescinded some of his decisions. It is exactly as if a doctor, upon
a patient having been placed under another doctor, should choose to be angry
with the latter if he changed some of his prescriptions. Thus Appius, having
treated the province on the system of depletion, bleeding, and removing
everything he could, and having handed it over to me in the last state of
exhaustion, he cannot bear seeing it treated by me on the nutritive system.
Yet he is sometimes angry with me, at other times thanks me; for nothing I
ever do is accompanied with any reflexion upon him. It is only the
dissimilarity of my system that annoys him. For what could be a more striking
difference - under his rule a province drained by charges for maintenance and
by losses, under mine, not a penny exacted either from private persons or
public bodies? Why speak of his praefecti, staff, and legates? Or even of acts
of plunder, licentiousness, and insult? While as things actually are, no
private house, by Hercules, is governed with so much system, or on such strict
principles, nor is so well disciplined, as is my whole province. Some of
Appius` friends put a ridiculous construction on this, holding that I wish
for a good reputation to set off his bad one, and act rightly, not for the
sake of my own credit, but in order to cast a reflexion upon him. But if
Appius, as Brutus` letter forwarded by you indicated, expresses gratitude to
me, I am satisfied. Nevertheless, this very day on which I write this, before
dawn, I am thinking of rescinding many of his inequitable appointments and
decisions.
I now come to Brutus, whose friendship I embraced with all possible
earnestness on your advice. I had even begun to feel genuine affection for him
- but here I pull myself up short, lest I should offend you: for don`t imagine
that there is anything I wish more than to fulfil his commissions, or that
there is anything about which I have taken more trouble. Now he gave me a
volume of commissions, and you had already spoken with me about the same
matters. I have pushed them on with the greatest energy. To begin with, I put
such pressure on Ariobarzanes, that he paid him the talents which he promised
me. As long as the king was with me, the business was in excellent train:
later on he began to be pressed by countless agents of Pompey. Now Pompey has
by himself more influence than all the rest put together for many reasons, and
especially because there is an idea that he is coming to undertake the
Parthian war. However, even he has to put up with the following scale of
payment: on every thirtieth day thirty-three Attic talents (7,920 pounds),
and that raised by special taxes: nor is it sufficient for the monthly
interest. But our friend Gnaeus is an easy creditor: he stands out of his
capital, is content with the interest, and even that not in full. The king
neither pays anyone else, nor is capable of doing so: for he has no treasury,
no regular income. He levies taxes after the method of Appius. They scarcely
produce enough to satisfy Pompey`s interest. The king has two or three very
rich friends, but they stick to their own as energetically as you or I. For my
part, nevertheless, I do not cease sending letters asking, urging, chiding the
king. Deiotarus also has informed me that he has sent emissaries to him on
Brutus` business: that they have brought him back word that he has not got
the money. And, by Hercules, I believe it is the case; nothing can be stripped
cleaner than his kingdom, or be more needy than the king. Accordingly, I am
thinking either of renouncing my guardianship, or, as Scaevola did on behalf
of Glabrio, of stopping payment altogether - principal and interest alike.
However, I have conferred the prefectures which I promised Brutus through you
on M. Scaptius and L. Gavius, who were acting as Brutus` agents in the
kingdom: for they were not carrying on business in my own province. You will
remember that I made that condition, that he might have as many prefectures as
he pleased, so long as it was not for a man in business. Accordingly, I have
given him two others besides: but the men for whom he asked them had left the
province. Now for the case of the Salaminians, which I see came upon you also
as a novelty, as it did upon me. For Brutus never told me that the money was
his own. Nay, I have his own document containing the words, "The Salaminians
owe my friends M. Scaptius and P. Matinius a sum of money." He recommends them
to me: he even adds, as though by way of a spur to me, that he has gone surety
for them to a large amount. I had succeeded in arranging that they should pay
with interest for six years at the rate of twelve per cent., and added yearly
to the capital sum. But Scaptius demanded forty-eight per cent. I was
afraid, if he got that, you yourself would cease to have any affection for me.
For I should have receded from my own edict, and should have utterly ruined a
state which was under the protection not only of Cato, but also of Brutus
himself, and had been the recipient of favours from myself. When lo and
behold! at this very juncture Scaptius comes down upon me with a letter from
Brutus, stating that his own property is being imperilled - a fact that Brutus
had never told either me or you. He also begged that I would confer a
prefecture on Scaptius. That was the very reservation that I had made to you -
"not to a man in business": and if to anyone, to such a man as that - no! For
he has been a praefectus to Appius, and had, in fact, had some squadrons of
cavalry, with which he had kept the senate under so close a siege in their own
council chamber at Salamis, that five senators died of starvation.
Accordingly, the first day of my entering my province, Cyprian legates having
already visited me at Ephesus, I sent orders for the cavalry to quit the
island at once. For these reasons I believe Scaptius has written some
unfavourable remarks about me to Brutus. However, my feeling is this: if
Brutus holds that I ought to have decided in favour of forty-eight per
cent., though throughout my province I have only recognized twelve per cent.,
and had laid down that rule in my ed ct with the assent even of the most
grasping money-lenders; if he complains of my refusal of a prefecture to a
man in business, which I refused to our friend Torquatus in the case of your
protege Laenius, and to Pompey himself in the case of Sext. Statius, without
offending either of them; if, finally, he is annoyed at my recall of the
cavalry, I shall indeed feel some distress at his being angry with me, but
much greater distress at finding him not to be the man that I had thought him.
Thus much Scaptius will own - that he had the opportunity in my court of
taking away with him the whole sum allowed by my edict. I will add a fact
which I fear you may not approve. The interest ought to have ceased to run (I
mean the interest allowed by my edict) but I induced the Salaminians to say
nothing about that. They gave in to me, it is true, but what will become of
them if Paullus comes here? However, I have granted all this in favour of
Brutus, who writes very kind letters to you about me, but to me myself, even
when he has a favour to ask, writes usually in a tone of hauteur, arrogance,
and offensive superiority. You, however, I hope will write to him on this
business in order that I may know how he takes what I have done. For you will
tell me. I have, it is true, written you a full and careful account in a
former letter, but I wished you clearly to understand that I had not forgotten
what you had said to me in one of your letters: that if I brought home from
this province nothing else except his good will, I should have done enough. By
all means, since you will have it so: but I assume my dealings with him to be
without breach of duty on my part. Well, then, by my decree the payment of the
money to Statius is good at law: whether that is just you must judge for
yourself - I will not appeal even to Cato. But don`t think that I have cast
your exhortations to the winds: they have sunk deeply into my mind. With tears
in your eyes you urged me to be careful of my reputation. Have I ever got a
letter from you without the same subject being mentioned? So, then, let who
will be angry, I will endure it: "for the right is on my side," especially as
I have given six books as bail, so to speak, for my good conduct. I am very
glad you like them, though in one point - about Cn. Flavius, son of Annius -
you question my history. He, it is true, did not live before the decemvirs,
for he was curule aedile, an office created many years after the decemvirs.
What good did he do, then, by publishing the Fasti? It is supposed that the
tablet containing them had been kept concealed up to a certain date, in order
that information as to days for doing business might have to be sought from a
small coterie. And indeed several of our authorities relate that a scribe
named Cn. Flavius published the Fasti and composed forms of pleading - so
don`t imagine that I, or rather Africanus (for he is the spokesman), invented
the fact. So you noticed the remark about the "action of an actor," did you?
You suspect a malicious meaning: I wrote in all simplicity.
You say that Philotimus told you about my having been saluted imperator.
But I feel sure that, as you are now in Epirus, you have received my own
letters on the whole subject, one from Pindenissus after its capture, another
from Laodicea, both delivered to your own messengers. On these events, for
fear of accidents at sea, I sent a public despatch to Rome in duplicate by two
different letter-carriers.
As to my Tullia, I agree with you, and I have written to her and to
Terentia giving my consent. For you have already said in a previous letter to
me, "and I could wish that you had returned to your old set." There was no
occasion to alter the letter you sent by Memmius: for I much prefer to accept
this man from Pontidia, than the other from Servilia. Wherefore take our
friend Saufeius into council. He was always fond of me, and now I suppose all
the more so as he is bound to have accepted Appius` affection for me with the
rest of the property he has inherited. Appius often showed how much he valued
me, and especially in the trial of Bursa. Indeed you will have relieved me of
a serious anxiety.
I don`t like Furnius` proviso. For, in fact, there is no state of things
that alarms me except just that of which he makes the only exception. But I
should have written at great length to you on this subject if you had been at
Rome. I don`t wonder that you rest all your hope of peace on Pompey: I believe
that is the truth, and in my opinion you must strike out your word
"insincerity." If my arrangement of topics is somewhat random, blame yourself:
for I am following your own haphazard order.
My son and nephew are very fond of each other. They take their lessons
and their exercise together; but as Isocrates said of Ephorus and Theopompus,
the one wants the rein, the other the spur. I intend giving Quintus the toga
virilis on the Liberalia. For his father commissioned me to do so. And I shall
observe the day without taking intercalation into account. I am very fond of
Dionysius: the boys, however, say that heagets into mad passions. But after
all there could not be a man of greater learning, purer character, or more
attached to you and me. The praises you hear of Thermus and Silius are
thoroughly deserved: they conduct themselves in the most honourable manner.
You may say the same of M. Nonius, Bibulus, and myself, if you like. I only
wish Scrofa had had an opportunity to do the same: for he is an excellent
fellow. The rest don`t do much honour to Cato`s policy. Many thanks for
commending my case to Hortensius. As for Amianus, Dionysius thinks there is no
hope. I haven`t found a trace of Terentius. Moeragenes has certainly been
killed. I made a progress through his district, in which there was not a
single living thing left. I didn`t know about this, when I spoke to your man
Democritus. I have ordered the service of Rhosian ware. But, hallo! what are
you thinking of? You generally serve us up a dinner of herbs on fern-pattern
plates, and the most sparkling of baskets: what am I to expect you to give on
porcelain? I have ordered a horn for Phemius: one will be sure to turn up; I
only hope he may play something worthy of it.
There is a threat of a Parthian war. Cassius` despatch was empty brag:
that of Bibulus had not arrived: when that is read I think the senate will at
length be roused. I am myself in serious anxiety. If, as I hope, my government
is not prolonged, I have only June and July to fear. May it be so! Bibulus
will keep them in check for two months. What will happen to the man I leave in
charge, especially if it is my brother? Or, again, what will happen to me, if
I don`t leave my province so soon? It is a great nuisance. However, I have
agreed with Deiotarus that he should join my camp in full force. He has thirty
cohorts of four hundred men apiece, armed in the Roman fashion, and two
thousand cavalry. That will be sufficient to hold out till the arrival of
Pompey, who in a letter he writes to me indicates that the business will be
put in his hands. The Parthians are wintering in a Roman province. Orodes is
expected in person. In short, it is a serious matter. As to Bibulus` edict,
there is nothing new, except the proviso of which you said in your letter,
"that it reflected with excessive severity on our order." I, however, have a
proviso in my own edict of equivalent force, but less openly expressed
(derived from the Asiatic edict of Q. Mucius, son of Publius) - "provided that
the agreement made is not such as cannot hold good in equity." I have followed
Scaevola in many points, among others in this - which the Greeks regard as a
charta of liberty - that Greeks are to decide controversies between each other
according to their own laws. But my edict was shortened by my method of making
a division, as I thought it well to publish it under two heads: the first,
exclusively applicable to a province, concerned borough accounts, debt, rate
of interest, contracts, all regulations also referring to the publicani: the
second, including what cannot conveniently be transacted without an edict,
related to inheritances, ownership and sale, appointment of receivers, all
which are by custom brought into court and settled in accordance with the
edict: a third division, embracing the remaining departments of judicial
business, I left unwritten. I gave out that in regard to that class of
business I should accommodate my decisions to those made at Rome: I
accordingly do so, and give general satisfaction. The Greeks, indeed, are
jubilant because they have non-Roman jurors. "Yes," you will say, "a very
poor kind." What does that matter? They, at any rate, imagine themselves to
have obtained "autonomy." You at Rome, I suppose, have men of high character
in that capacity - Turpio the shoemaker and Vettius the broker! You seem to
wish to know how I treat the publicani. I pet, indulge, compliment, and honour
them: I contrive, however, that they oppress no one. The most surprising thing
is that even Servilius maintained the rates of usury entered on their
contracts. My line is this: I name a day fairly distant, before which, if they
have paid, I give out that I shall recognize only twelve per cent: if they
have not paid, the rate shall be according to the contract. The result is that
the Greeks pay at a reasonable rate of interest, and the publicani are
thoroughly satisfied by receiving in full measure what I mentioned -
complimentary speeches and frequent invitations. Need I say more? They are all
on such terms with me that each thinks himself my most intimate friend.
However, mNdev aurois - you know the rest.
As to the statue of Africanus - what a mass of confusion! But that was
just what interested me in your letter. Do you really mean it? Does the
present Metellus Scipio not know that his great-grandfather was never
censor? Why, the statue placed at a high elevation in the temple of Ops had no
inscription except cens, while on the statue near the Hercules of Polycles
there is also the inscription cens, and that this is the statue of the same
man is proved by attitude, dress, ring, and the likeness itself. But, by
Hercules, when I observed in the group of gilded equestrian statues, placed by
the present Metellus on the Capitol, a statue of Africanus with the name of
Serapio inscribed under it, I thought it a mistake of the workman. I now see
that it is an error of Metellus`. What a shocking historical blunder! For
that about Flavius and the Fasti, if it is a blunder, is one shared in by all,
and you were quite right to raise the question. I followed the opinion which
runs through nearly all historians, as is often the case with Greek writers.
For example, do they not all say that Eupolis, the poet of the old comedy, was
thrown into the sea by Alcibiades on his voyage to Sicily? Eratosthenes
disproves it: for he produces some plays exhibited by him after that date. Is
that careful historian, Duris of Samos, laughed out of court because he, in
common with many others, made this mistake? Has not, again, every writer
affirmed that Zaleucus drew up a constitution for the Locrians? Are we on that
account to regard Theophrastus as utterly discredited, because your favourite
Timaeus attacked his statement? But not to know that one`s own great -
grandfather was never censor is discreditable, especially as since his
consulship no Cornelius was censor in his lifetime.
As to what you say about Philotimus and the payment of the 20,600
sestertia, I hear that Philotimus arrived in the Chersonese about the 1st of
January: but as yet I have not had a word from him. The balance due to me
Camillus writes me word that he has received; I don`t know how much it is, and
I am anxious to know. However, we will talk of this later on, and with greater
advantage, perhaps, when we meet?
But, my dear Atticus, that sentence almost at the end of your letter gave
me great uneasiness. For you say, "What else is there to say?" and then you go
on to entreat me in most affectio ate terms not to forget my vigilance, and to
keep my eyes on what is going on. Have you heard anything about anyone? I am
sure nothing of the sort has taken place. No, no, it can`t be! It would never
have eluded my notice, nor will it. Yet that reminder of yours, so carefully
worded, seems to suggest something.
As to M. Octavius, I hereby again repeat that your answer was excellent:
I could have wished it a little more positive still. For Caelius has sent me a
freedman and a carefully written letter about some panthers and also a grant
from the states. I have written back to say that, as to the latter, I am much
vexed if my course of conduct is still obscure, and if it is not known at Rome
that not a penny has been exacted from my province except for the payment of
debt; and I have explained to him that it is improper both for me to solicit
the money and for him to receive it; and I have advised him (for I am really
attached to him) that, after prosecuting others, he should be extra-careful
as to his own conduct. As to the former request, I have said that it is
inconsistent with my character that the people of Cibyra should hunt at the
public expense while I am governor.
Lepta jumps for joy at your letter. It is indeed prettily written, and
has placed me in a very agreeable light in his eyes. I am much obliged to your
little daughter for so earnestly bidding you send me her love. It is very kind
of Pilia also; but your daughter`s kindness is the greater, because she sends
the message to one she has never seen. Therefore pray give my love to both in
return. The day on which your letter was dated, the last day of December,
reminded me pleasantly of that glorious oath of mine, which I have not
forgotten. I was a civilian Magnus on that day.
There`s your letter completely answered! Not as you were good enough to
ask, with "gold for bronze," but tit for tat. Oh, but here is another little
note, which I will not leave unanswered. Lucceius, on my word, could get a
good price for his Tusculan property, unless, perchance, his flute-player is
a fixture (for that`s his way), and I should like to know in what condition it
is. Our friend Lentulus, I hear, has advertised everything for sale except his
Tusculan property. I should like to see these men cleared of their
embarrassments, Cestius also, and you may add Caelius, to all of whom the line
applies,
"Ashamed to shrink and yet afraid to take."
I suppose you have heard of Curio`s plan for recalling Memmius. Of the
debt due from Egnatius of Sidicinum I am not without some hope, though it is a
feeble one. Pinarius, whom you recommended to me, is seriously ill, and is
being very carefully looked after by Deiotarus. So there`s the answer to your
note also.
Pray talk to me on paper as frequently as possible while I am at
Laodicea, where I shall be up to the 15th of May: and when you reach Athens at
any rate send me letter-carriers, for by that time we shall know about the
business in the city and the arrangements as to the provinces, the settlement
of all which has been fixed for March.
But look here! Have you yet wrung out of Caesar by the agency of Herodes
the fifty Attic talents? In that matter you have, I hear, roused great wrath
on the part of Pompey. For he thinks that you have snapped up money rightly
his, and that Caesar will be no less lavish in his building at the Nemus
Dianae.
I was told all this by P. Vedius, a hare-brained fellow enough, but yet
an intimate friend of Pompey`s. This Vedius came to meet me with two chariots,
and a carriage and horses, and a sedan, and a large suite of servants, for
which last, if Curio has carried his law, he will have to pay a toll of a
hundred sestertii apiece. There was also in a chariot a dog-headed baboon,
as well as some wild asses. I never saw a more extravagant fool. But the cream
of the whole is this: He stayed at Laodicea with Pompeius Vindullus. There he
deposited his properties when coming to see me. Meanwhile Vindullus dies, and
his property is supposed to revert to Pompeius Magnus. Gaius Vennonius comes
to Vindullus` house: when, while putting a seal on all goods, he comes across
the baggage of Vedius. In this are found five small portrait busts of married
ladies, among which is one of the wife of your friend - "brute," indeed, to be
intimate with such a fellow! and of the wife of Lepidus - as easy-going as
his name to take this so calmly! I wanted you to know these historiettes by
the way; for we have both a pretty taste in gossip. There is one other thing I
should like you to turn over in your mind. I am told that Appius is building a
propylaeum at Eleusis. Should I be foolishly vain if I also built one at the
Academy? "I think so," you will say. Well, then, write and tell me that that
is your opinion. For myself, I am deeply attached to Athens itself. I would
like some memorial of myself to exist. I loathe sham inscriptions on statues
really representing other people. But settle it as you please, and be kind
enough to inform me on what day the Roman mysteries fall, and how you have
passed the winter. Take care of your health. Dated the 765th day since the
battle of Leuctra!
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