§3.6.1Cum meum factum cum tuo comparo, etsi non magis mihi faveo in nostra amicitia tuenda quam tibi, tamen multo magis meo facto delector quam tuo.
When I compare my action with yours, although I am not more favorable to myself in protecting our friendship than to you, yet I am much more pleased with my action than with yours.
ego enim Brundisi quaesivi ex Phania, cuius mihi videbar et fidelitatem erga te perspexisse et nosse locum, quem apud te is teneret, quam in partem provinciae maxime putaret te velle ut in succedendo primum venirem.
For at Brundisium I asked Phanias—whose loyalty toward you I seemed to have clearly seen and whose position that he held with you I seemed to know—into which part of the province he thought you most wished me to come first in succeeding you.
Cum ille mihi respondisset nihil me tibi gratius facere posse quam si ad Sidam navigassem, etsi minus dignitatis habebat ille adventus et ad multas res mihi minus erat aptus, tamen ita me dixi esse facturum.
When he replied to me that I could do nothing more pleasing to you than if I sailed to Sida, although that arrival had less dignity and was less suitable for me for many things, yet I said that I would do so.
§3.6.2idem ego cum L. Clodium Corcyrae convenissem, hominem ita tibi coniunctum, ut mihi, cum illo cum loquerer, tecum loqui viderer, dixi ei me ita facturum esse, ut in eam partem, quam Phania rogasset, primum venirem.
When I, the same man, had met Lucius Clodius at Corcyra—a man so closely connected with you that, when I spoke with him, I seemed to be speaking with you—I told him that I would act in such a way as to come first to that part which Phanias had requested.
tunc ille, mihi cum gratias egisset, magno opere a me petivit ut Laudiceam protinus irem; te in prima provincia velle esse, ut quam primum decederes; quin, nisi ego successor essem, quem tu cuperes videre, te antea, quam tibi successum esset, decessurum fuisse; quod quidem erat consentaneum cum iis litteris, quas ego Romae acceperam, ex quibus perspexisse mihi videbar, quam festinares decedere.
Then he, after he had thanked me, earnestly requested of me that I should go straight to Laodicea; that you wished to be in the first part of the province, so that you might depart as soon as possible; indeed, that unless I were the successor whom you desired to see, you would have departed before you were succeeded; which indeed was consistent with those letters which I had received at Rome, from which I seemed to have perceived how much you were hastening to depart.
respondi Clodio me ita esse facturum ac multo quidem libentius quam si illud esset faciendum, quod promiseram Phaniae.
I replied to Clodius that I would do so, and indeed much more gladly than if I had to do that which I had promised to Phanias.
itaque et consilium mutavi et ad te statim mea manu scriptas litteras misi; quas quidem ex tuis litteris intellexi satis mature ad te esse perlatas.
Therefore, I both changed my plan and immediately sent a letter written by my own hand to you; which indeed, from your letter, I understood was delivered to you quite in time.
§3.6.3hoc ego meo facto valde delector; nihil enim potuit fieri amantius.
I am greatly pleased with this action of mine; for nothing could have been done more lovingly.
considera nunc vicissim tuum.
Consider now in turn yours.
non modo ibi non fuisti, ubi me quam primum videre posses, sed eo discessisti, quo ego te ne persequi quidem possem triginta diebus, qui tibi ad decedendum lege, ut opinor, Cornelia constituti essent, ut tuum factum, qui quo animo inter nos simus ignorent, alieni hominis, ut levissime dicam, et fugientis congressum, meum vero coniunctissimi et amicissimi esse videatur.
Not only were you not there where you could see me as soon as possible, but you departed to a place where I could not even pursue you within the thirty days which, as I think, were appointed for your departure by the Cornelia law, so that your action seems to be that of a stranger, to say the least, and of one fleeing a meeting, but mine indeed of one most closely connected and friendly, to those who do not know with what mind we are toward each other.
§3.6.4ac mihi tamen, ante quam in provinciam veni, redditae sunt a te litterae, quibus etsi te Tarsum proficisci demonstrabas, tamen mihi non dubiam spem mei conveniendi adferebas, cum interea, credo equidem, malevoli homines (late enim patet hoc vitium et est in multis), sed tamen probabilem materiem nacti sermonis ignari meae constantiae conabantur alienare a te voluntatem meam; qui te forum Tarsi agere, statuere multa, decernere, iudicare dicerent, cum posses iam suspicari tibi esse successum, quae ne ab iis quidem fieri solerent, qui brevi tempore sibi succedi putarent.
And yet, before I came into the province, a letter was delivered to me from you, in which, although you showed that you were setting out for Tarsus, yet you offered me a not uncertain hope of meeting me, while in the meantime, as I indeed believe, malevolent men (for this vice is widespread and is in many), but yet having found a plausible subject for talk, ignorant of my constancy, tried to alienate my goodwill from you; who said that you were holding court at Tarsus, establishing many things, decreeing, and judging, when you could already suspect that you had been succeeded, things which were not accustomed to be done even by those who thought they were to be succeeded in a short time.
§3.6.5Horum ego sermone non movebar, quin etiam, credas mi velim, si quid tu ageres, levari me putabam molestia et ex annua provincia, quae mihi longa videretur, prope iam undecim mensuum provinciam factam esse gaudebam, si absenti mihi unius mensis labor detractus esset; illud, vere dicam, me movet, in tanta militum paucitate abesse tris cohortis, quae sint plenissimae, nec me scire ubi sint; molestissime autem fero, quod te ubi visurus sim nescio; coque ad te tardius scripsi, quod cotidie te ipsum exspectabam, cum interea ne litteras quidem ullas accepi, quae me docerent, quid ageres aut ubi te visurus essem.
I was not moved by the talk of these men; on the contrary, I would like you to believe me, if you were doing anything, I thought myself relieved of trouble, and I rejoiced that from a one-year province, which seemed long to me, it had now become almost an eleven-month province, if the labor of one month were taken away from me while absent; that which, to speak truly, moves me is that, in such a great scarcity of soldiers, three cohorts are absent, which are most full, and I do not know where they are; and I bear it most vexatiously that I do not know where I am to see you; and for this reason I wrote to you later, because I was expecting you yourself every day, while in the meantime I received not even any letter to inform me what you were doing or where I was to see you.
itaque virum fortem mihique in primis probatum, D. Antonium, praefectum evocatorum, misi ad te, cui, si tibi videretur, cohortis traderes, ut, dum tempus anni esset idoneum, aliquid negoti gerere possem; in quo, tuo consilio ut me sperarem esse usurum, et amicitia nostra et litterae tuae fecerant, quod ne nunc quidem despero.
Therefore, I sent to you a brave man and one especially approved by me, Decimus Antonius, prefect of the recall-guards, to whom, if it should seem good to you, you might hand over the cohorts, so that, while the season of the year is suitable, I might carry out some business; in which, that I should hope to use your counsel, both our friendship and your letters had brought about, which I do not despair of even now.
sed plane, quando aut ubi te visurus sim, nisi ad me scripseris, ne suspicari quidem possum.
But clearly, when or where I am to see you, unless you write to me, I cannot even suspect.
§3.6.6ego, ut me tibi amicissimum esse et aequi et iniqui intellegant, curabo; de tuo in me animo iniquis secus existimandi videris non nihil loci dedisse.
I will take care that both the fair-minded and the unfair-minded understand that I am most friendly to you; regarding your mind toward me, you seem to have given not a little room to the unfair-minded to think otherwise.
id si correxeris, mihi valde gratum erit.
If you correct this, it will be very pleasing to me.
et ut habere rationem possis, quo loco me salva lege Cornelia convenias, ego in provinciam veni pridie K. Sextilis, iter in Ciliciam facio per Cappadociam, castra movi ab Iconio pridie K. Septembris.
And so that you can make a calculation in what place you may meet me without violating the Cornelia law, I came into the province on the day before the Kalends of August, I am making my journey into Cilicia through Cappadocia, and I moved camp from Iconium on the day before the Kalends of September.
nunc tu et ex diebus et ex ratione itineris, si putabis me esse conveniendum, constitues, quo loco id commodissime fieri possit et quo die.
Now you, both from the days and from the plan of the journey, if you think I ought to be met, will decide in what place this can be done most conveniently and on what day.