§2.19.1Cum optatissimum nuntium accepissem te mihi quaestorem obtigisse, eo iucundiorem mihi eam sortem sperabam fore, quo diutius in provincia mecum fuisses; magni enim videbatur interesse ad eam necessitudinem, quam nobis sors tribuisset, consuetudinem quoque accedere.
When I had received the most welcome news that you had fallen to me as quaestor, I hoped that this lot would be the more pleasant to me, the longer you should have been with me in the province; for it seemed to be of great importance that to that relationship, which lot had assigned to us, daily intimacy should also be added.
postea, quom mihi nihil neque a te ipso neque ab ullo alio de adventu tuo scriberetur, verebar ne ita caderet, quod etiam nunc vereor, ne, ante quam tu in provinciam venisses, ego de provincia decederem.
Afterwards, when nothing was written to me either by yourself or by anyone else concerning your arrival, I was afraid that it might so turn out—which I even now fear—that I might depart from the province before you had arrived in the province.
accepi autem a te missas litteras in Cilicia, cum essem in castris, a. d. x K. Quintilis scriptas humanissime, quibus facile et officium et ingenium tuum perspici posset, sed neque unde nec quo die datae essent aut quo tempore te exspectarem significabant, nec is, qui attulerat, a te acceperat, ut ex eo scirem, quo ex loco aut quo tempore essent datae.
However, I received a letter sent by you in Cilicia, when I was in the camp, written most politely on the tenth day before the Kalends of July, by which both your sense of duty and your talent could easily be perceived; but it did not indicate either from where or on what day it had been sent, or at what time I should expect you, nor had the man who brought it received it from you, so that I could learn from him from what place or at what time it had been sent.
§2.19.2quae cum essent incerta, existimavi tamen faciundum esse ut ad te statores meos et lictores cum litteris mitterem.
Since these matters were uncertain, I nevertheless judged that I ought to send my messengers and lictors to you with a letter.
quas si satis opportuno tempore accepisti, gratissimum mihi feceris, si ad me in Ciliciam quam primum veneris.
If you received this at a sufficiently convenient time, you will do me a most agreeable favor if you come to me in Cilicia as soon as possible.
nam, quod ad me Curius, consobrinus tuus, mihi, ut scis, maxime necessarius, quod item C. Vergilius, propinquus tuus, familiarissimus noster, de te accuratissime scripsit, valet id quidem apud me multum, sicuti debet hominum amicissimorum diligens commendatio, sed tuae litterae de tua praesertim dignitate et de nostra coniunctione maximi sunt apud me ponderis.
For, as to what your cousin Curius, a man most closely connected with me, as you know, and likewise C. Vergilius, your relative, our very intimate friend, wrote to me most carefully about you, that indeed carries great weight with me, just as the diligent recommendation of most friendly men ought to; but your own letter, especially concerning your dignity and our connection, is of the greatest weight with me.
mihi quaestor optatior obtingere nemo potuit.
No more desirable quaestor could have fallen to my lot.
quam ob rem, quaecumque a me ornamenta †ad te proficiscentur, ut omnes intellegant a me habitam esse rationem tuae maiorumque tuorum dignitatis.
Therefore, whatever honors †shall proceed from me to you, [I shall see to it] that all may understand that account has been taken by me of your dignity and that of your ancestors.
sed id facilius consequar, si ad me in Ciliciam veneris; quod ego et mea et rei publicae et maxime tua interesse arbitror.
But I shall more easily attain this if you come to me in Cilicia; which I judge to be of importance to myself, to the republic, and especially to you.