§15.3.1Cum ad me legati missi ab Antiocho Commageno venissent in castra ad Iconium a. d. iii AS Sept. iique mihi nuntiassent regis Parthorum filium, quocum esset nupta regis Armeniorum soror, a d Euphratem cum maximis Parthorum copiis multarumque praeterea gentium magna manu venisse Euphratemque iam transire coepisse dicique Armenium regem in Cappadociam impetum esse facturum, putavi pro nostra necessitudine me hoc ad te scribere oportere.
When envoys sent to me by Antiochus of Commagene had come into the camp at Iconium on the third day before the Kalends of September, and they had reported to me that the son of the king of the Parthians, to whom the sister of the king of the Armenians was married, had come to the Euphrates with very large forces of the Parthians and also with a large host of many other nations, and had already begun to cross the Euphrates, and that it was said that the Armenian king would make an attack on Cappadocia, I thought that, on account of our close friendship, I ought to write this to you.
§15.3.2publice propter duas causas nihil scripsi, quod et ipsum Commagenum legati dicebant ad senatum statim nuntios litterasque misisse et existimabam M. Bibulum procos. , qui circiter Idus Sext. ab Epheso in Syriam navibus profectus erat, quod secundos ventos habuisset, iam in provinciam suam pervenisse; cuius litteris omnia certiora perlatum iri ad senatum putabam.
I wrote nothing officially for two reasons: both because the envoys said that Commagenus himself had immediately sent messengers and letters to the senate, and because I estimated that the proconsul Marcus Bibulus, who had set out by ship from Ephesus for Syria around the Ides of August, had already arrived in his province, since he had had favorable winds; I thought that by his letters more certain news of everything would be brought to the senate.
mihi, ut in eius modi re tantoque bello, maximae curae est ut, quae copiis et opibus tenere vix possumus, ea mansuetudine et continentia nostra, sociorum fidelitate teneamus.
For my part, as is natural in a matter of this kind and in so great a war, it is my greatest concern that, what we can scarcely hold by forces and resources, we should hold by our moderation and self-control, and by the fidelity of our allies.
tu velim, ut consuesti, nos absentis diligas et defendas.
I would wish that you, as you are accustomed, love and defend us in our absence.