§38haec ille reputans et dies noctesque cogitans non modo tibi non suscenset—esset enim non solum ingratus sed etiam amens—, verum omnem tranquillitatem et quietem senectutis refert acceptam clementiae tuae.
Pondering these things and thinking of them day and night, he is so far from being angry with you—for he would be not only ungrateful but even mad—that he ascribes all the tranquility and peace of his old age to your clemency.
quo quidem animo cum antea fuit, tum non dubito quin tuis litteris, quarum exemplum legi, quas ad eum Tarracone huic Blesamio dedisti, se magis etiam erexerit ab omnique sollicitudine abstraxerit.
As he was indeed of this mind before, so now I do not doubt that he has raised himself up still more and freed himself from all anxiety by your letter, a copy of which I have read, which you gave to this Blesamius for him at Tarraco.
iubes enim eum bene sperare et bono esse animo, quod scio te non frustra scribere solere.
For you bid him hope for the best and be of good cheer, and I know that you are not accustomed to write this in vain.
memini enim isdem fere verbis ad me te scribere meque tuis litteris bene sperare non frustra esse iussum.
For I remember that you wrote to me in almost the same words, and that I was not in vain bidden by your letter to hope for the best.
§39laboro equidem regis Deiotari causa quocum mihi amicitiam res publica conciliavit, hospitium voluntas utriusque coniunxit, familiaritatem consuetudo attulit, summam vero necessitudinem magna eius officia in me et in exercitum meum effecerunt: sed cum de illo laboro, tum de multis amplissimis viris quibus semel ignotum a te esse oportet, nec tuum beneficium in dubium vocari, nec haerere in animis hominum sollicitudinem sempiternam, nec accidere ut quisquam te timere incipiat eorum qui sint semel a te liberati timore.
I am indeed anxious for the sake of King Deiotarus, with whom the state established a friendship for me, mutual goodwill joined in hospitality, long acquaintance brought intimacy, and his great services to me and my army produced the closest bond of relationship; but while I am anxious about him, I am also anxious about many most illustrious men who, having once been pardoned by you, ought to remain so, and that your favor should not be called into question, nor everlasting anxiety cling to the minds of men, nor should it happen that anyone among those who have once been freed from fear by you should begin to fear you.
§40non debeo, Caesar, quod fieri solet in tantis periculis, temptare ecquonam modo dicendo misericordiam tuam commovere possim.
I ought not, Caesar, as is usually done in such great dangers, to try to see in what way I can move your compassion by my speaking.
nihil opus est.
There is no need.
occurrere solet ipsa supplicibus et calamitosis, nullius oratione evocata.
Clemency itself is accustomed to run to meet supplicants and the unfortunate, summoned by no one's speech.
propone tibi duos reges et id animo contemplare quod oculis non potes: dabis profecto id misericordiae quod iracundiae denegasti.
Set before yourself two kings and contemplate in your mind what you cannot with your eyes; you will surely grant to clemency what you denied to anger.
multa sunt monumenta clementiae tuae, sed maxime eorum incolumitates quibus salutem dedisti.
There are many monuments of your clemency, but especially the safety of those to whom you have given life.
quae si in privatis gloriosa sunt, multo magis commemorabuntur in regibus.
And if these things are glorious in private individuals, they will be much more celebrated in kings.
semper regium nomen in hac civitate sanctum fuit, sociorum vero regum et amicorum sanctissimum.
The royal name has always been sacred in this city, but that of allied and friendly kings has been most sacred.
§41quod nomen hi reges ne amitterent te victore timuerunt, retentum vero et a te confirmatum posteris etiam suis tradituros se esse confidunt.
These kings feared lest they might lose this name when you were the victor, but now that it has been retained and confirmed by you, they trust that they will transmit it even to their descendants.
corpora sua pro salute regum suorum hi legati regii tradunt, Hieras et Blesamius et Antigonus, tibi nobisque omnibus iam diu noti, eademque fide et virtute praeditus Dorylaus, qui nuper cum Hiera legatus est ad te missus, cum regum amicissimi, tum tibi etiam, ut spero, probati.
These royal ambassadors, Hieras, Blesamius, and Antigonus, long well-known to you and to us all, and Dorylaus, endowed with the same loyalty and virtue, who was recently sent to you with Hieras as an ambassador—men who are most friendly to the kings, and also, as I hope, approved by you—surrender their own bodies for the safety of their kings.
§42exquire de Blesamio num quid ad regem contra dignitatem tuam scripserit.
Inquire concerning Blesamius, whether he wrote anything to the king against your dignity.
Hieras quidem causam omnem suscipit et criminibus illis pro rege se supponit reum.
Hieras indeed undertakes the whole defense, and places himself as the defendant under those charges in place of the king.
memoriam tuam implorat, qua vales plurimum; negat umquam se a te in Deiotari tetrarchia pedem discessisse; in primis finibus tibi praesto se fuisse dicit, usque ad ultimos prosecutum; cum e balneo exisses, tecum se fuisse, cum illa munera inspexisses cenatus, cum in cubiculo recubuisses; eandemque adsiduitatem tibi se praebuisse postridie.
He implores your memory, in which you are most strong; he denies that he ever departed a foot from you in the tetrarchy of Deiotarus; he says that he was ready for you at the first frontiers, and followed you to the last; that he was with you when you came out of the bath, when you, having dined, inspected those gifts, and when you lay down in your bedchamber; and that he showed you the same constant attendance on the following day.
§43quam ob rem si quid eorum quae obiecta sunt cogitatum sit, non recusat quin id suum facinus iudices.
Wherefore, if any of those things which have been charged was thought of, he does not refuse that you should judge it to be his own crime.
Quocirca, C. Caesar, velim existimes hodierno die sententiam tuam aut cum summo dedecore miserrimam pestem importaturam esse regibus aut incolumem famam cum salute: quorum alterum optare illorum crudelitatis est, alterum conservare clementiae tuae.
Therefore, Gaius Caesar, I would wish you to consider that on this day your decision will bring upon the kings either a most miserable ruin with the greatest disgrace, or an unimpaired reputation with safety; to desire the one of which belongs to their cruelty, to preserve the other to your clemency.