§1.9.16in quo ego spem fefelli non modo invidorum, sed etiam inimicorum meorum, qui de uno acerrimo et fortissimo viro meoque iudicio omnium magnitudine animi et constantia praestantissimo, Q. Metello L. f.
In this matter, I disappointed the hope not only of the envious, but also of my enemies, who once received a false opinion concerning a single most spirited and brave man, and in my judgment the most outstanding of all in greatness of soul and constancy, Q.
, quondam falsam opinionem acceperunt, quem post reditum dictitant fracto animo et demisso fuisse (est vero probandum, qui et summa voluntate cesserit et egregia animi alacritate afuerit neque sane redire curarit, eum ob id ipsum fractum fuisse, in quo cum omnis homines tum M. illum Scaurum, singularem virum, constantia et gravitate superasset!)—sed, quod de illo acceperant aut etiam suspicabantur, de me idem cogitabant, abiectiore animo me futurum, cum res publica maiorem etiam mihi animum quam umquam habuissem, daret, cum declarasset se non potuisse me uno civi carere, cumque Metellum unius tr. pl. rogatio, me universa res publica duce senatu, comitante Italia, promulgantibus omnibus magistratibus, te ferente consule, comitiis centuriatis, cunctis ordinibus hominibus incumbentibus, omnibus denique suis viribus reciperavisset.
Metellus, son of Lucius, whom they repeatedly say after his return to have been broken and cast down in spirit (it must indeed be approved that he who yielded with the greatest willingness and was away with extraordinary alacrity of mind and did not indeed care to return, was broken on that very account, in which he had surpassed both all men and that singular man, M. Scaurus, in constancy and dignity!)—but they thought the same about me, what they had received or even suspected about him, that I would be of a more cast-down spirit, when the republic was giving me even a greater spirit than I had ever had, when it had declared that it could not do without me as a single citizen, and when the bill of a single tribune of the plebs had recovered Metellus, but the entire republic, with the senate leading, Italy accompanying, all magistrates promulgating, you as consul proposing, in the centuriate assembly, all ranks and men exerting themselves, in short, with all its forces, had recovered me.
§1.9.17neque vero ego mihi postea quicquam adsumpsi neque hodie adsumo, quod quemquam malevolentissimum iure possit offendere; tantum enitor, ut neque amicis neque etiam alienioribus opera, consilio, labore desim.
And indeed I did not assume anything to myself afterwards, nor do I assume today, which could rightly offend anyone, even the most malevolent; I only strive that I may not be lacking to my friends, nor even to strangers, in my effort, counsel, and labor.
hic meae vitae cursus offendit eos fortasse, qui splendorem et speciem huius vitae intuentur, sollicitudinem autem et laborem perspicere non possunt; illud vero non obscure queruntur, in meis sententiis, quibus ornem Caesarem, quasi desciscere me a pristina causa.
This course of my life offends those, perhaps, who look at the splendor and appearance of this life, but cannot perceive the anxiety and labor; but they complain not obscurely that in my opinions, by which I adorn Caesar, I am as it were defecting from my former cause.
ego autem cum illa sequor, quae paulo ante proposui, tum hoc non in postremis, de quo coeperam exponere.
But I, while I follow those things which I proposed a little before, also follow this, not among the least, which I had begun to explain.
non offendes eundem bonorum sensum, Lentule, quem reliquisti, qui confirmatus consulatu nostro, non numquam postea interruptus, adflictus ante te consulem, recreatus abs te totus est nunc ab iis, a quibus tuendus fuerat, derelictus; idque non solum fronte atque vultu, quibus simulatio facillime sustinetur, declarant ii, qui tum nostro illo statu optimates nominabantur, sed etiam sensu saepe iam tabellaque docuerunt.
You will not find (offendes) the same feeling among the good men, Lentulus, which you left behind, which, strengthened by our consulship, sometimes interrupted afterwards, afflicted before you were consul, and entirely restored by you, is now abandoned by those by whom it ought to have been protected; and those who were then called optimates in that state of ours declare this not only by forehead and countenance, by which simulation is most easily maintained, but they have also often shown it by their feelings and by their voting-ballots.
§1.9.18itaque tota iam sapientium civium, qualem me et esse et numerari volo, et sententia et voluntas mutata esse debet.
Therefore, the whole opinion and will of wise citizens, such as I wish both to be and to be numbered, ought now to be changed.
id enim iubet idem ille Plato, quem ego vehementer auctorem sequor, tantam contendere in re publica, quantum probare tuis civibus possis; vim neque parenti nec patriae adferre oportere.
For that same Plato, whom I follow as a guide with great earnestness, commands us to exert only so much effort in the republic as you can make acceptable to your fellow-citizens; and that force ought to be brought neither against a parent nor against one's country.
atque hanc quidem ille causam sibi ait non attingendae rei publicae fuisse, quod, cum offendisset populum Atheniensem prope iam desipientem senectute, cumque eum nec persuadendo nec cogendo regi posse vidisset, cum persuaderi posse diffideret, cogi fas esse non arbitraretur.
And indeed he says this was the cause for him not to touch the republic, because, when he had found the Athenian people almost already doting with old age, and when he had seen that they could be ruled neither by persuading nor by compelling, since he despaired of being able to persuade them, and did not think it was right to compel them.
mea ratio fuit alia, quod neque desipiente populo nec integra re mihi ad consulendum, capesseremne rem publicam, implicatus tenebar, sed laetatus tamen sum, quod mihi liceret in eadem causa et mihi utilia et cuivis bono recta defendere.
My situation was different, because I was held entangled neither with a doting people nor with an intact situation for me to deliberate whether I should take up the republic, but I nevertheless rejoiced that I was permitted in the same cause to defend both what was useful to me and what was right for any good man.
huc accessit commemoranda quaedam et divina Caesaris in me fratremque meum liberalitas; qui mihi, quascumque res gereret, tuendus esset, nunc in tanta felicitate tantisque victoriis, etiam si in nos non is esset, qui est, tamen ornandus videretur.
To this was added a certain memorable and divine generosity of Caesar toward me and my brother; who, even if he were to be defended by me whatever things he did, now in such great prosperity and such great victories, even if he were not toward us what he is, would nevertheless seem to deserve to be adorned.
sic enim te existimare velim, cum a vobis meae salutis auctoribus discesserim, neminem esse, cuius officiis me tam esse devinctum non solum confitear, sed etiam gaudeam.
For I would wish you to think thus, that, apart from you who are the authors of my safety, there is no one to whose services I not only confess but also rejoice to be so bound.
quod quoniam tibi exposui, facilia sunt ea, quae a me de Vatinio et de Crasso requiris.
Since I have explained this to you, those things which you ask of me concerning Vatinius and Crassus are easy.