§3.8.4Romae composui edictum; nihil addidi, nisi quod publicani me rogarunt, cum Samum ad me venissent, ut de tuo edicto totidem verbis transferrem in meum.
I drafted my edict at Rome; I added nothing, except what the tax-contractors requested of me, when they had come to me at Samos, that I should transfer from your edict into mine in so many words.
diligentissime scriptum caput est, quod pertinet ad minuendos sumptus civitatum.
The chapter which pertains to reducing the expenses of the states was written with the greatest care.
quo in capite sunt quaedam nova salutaria civitatibus, quibus ego magno opere delector; hoc vero, ex quo suspicio nata est me exquisisse aliquid in quo te offenderem, tralaticium est.
In which chapter there are certain new measures beneficial to the states, in which I greatly delight; but this indeed, from which the suspicion arose that I had searched out something in which to offend you, is traditional.
neque enim eram tam desipiens, ut privatae rei causa legari putarem, qui et tibi non privato et pro re non privata sua, sed publica, non in privato, sed in publico orbis terrae consilio, id est in senatu, ut gratias agerent, mittebantur; neque, cum edixi ne quis iniussu meo proficisceretur, exclusi eos, qui me in castra et qui trans Taurum persequi non possent.
For I was not so foolish as to think that those were being sent as envoys for the sake of a private matter, who were being sent to you, who are no private citizen, and on behalf of a matter not private but public, not in a private place but in the public council of the world, that is, in the Senate, in order to give thanks; nor, when I edicted that no one should set out without my order, did I exclude those who were unable to follow me into the camp or across the Taurus.
nam id est maxime in tuis litteris inridendum.
For that is the most ridiculous thing in your letter.
quid enim erat, quod me persequerentur in castra Taurumve transirent, cum ego Laudicea usque ad Iconium iter ita fecerim, ut me omnium illarum dioecesium, quae eis Taurum sunt, omniumque carum civitatum magistratus legationesque convenirent?
For what reason was there for them to follow me into the camp or cross the Taurus, when I made my journey from Laodicea to Iconium in such a way that the magistrates and embassies of all those dioceses which are on this side of the Taurus, and of all those states, met with me?
§3.8.5nisi forte postea coeperunt legare quam ego Taurum transgressus sum; quod certe non ita est.
Unless by chance they began to send embassies after I crossed the Taurus; which certainly is not the case.
Cum enim Laudiceae, cum Apameae, cum Synnadis, cum Philomeli, cum Iconi essem, quibus in oppidis omnibus commoratus sum, omnes iam istius generis legationes crant constitutae.
For when I was at Laodicea, at Apamea, at Synnada, at Philomelium, at Iconium, in all of which towns I made a stay, all the embassies of that kind had already been appointed.
atque hoc tamen te scire volo, me de isto sumptu legationum aut minuendo aut remittendo decrevisse nil nisi quod principes civitatum a me postulassent, ne in venditionem tributorum et illam acerbissimam exactionem, quam tu non ignoras, capitum atque ostiorum inducerentur sumptus minime necessarii.
And yet I wish you to know this, that I decreed nothing concerning either reducing or remitting that expense of embassies except what the leading men of the states had requested of me, so that expenses which were least necessary should not be introduced into the sale of taxes and that most bitter exaction, of which you are not ignorant, of heads and doors.
ego autem, cum hoc suscepissem non solum iustitia, sed etiam misericordia adductus, ut levarem miseriis perditas civitates et perditas maxime per magistratus suos, non potui in illo sumptu non necessario neglegens esse.
But I, having undertaken this led not only by justice but also by pity, so that I might relieve from their miseries states that were ruined, and ruined especially by their own magistrates, could not be negligent regarding that unnecessary expense.
tu, si istius modi sermones ad te delati de me sunt, non debuisti credere; si autem hoc genere delectaris, ut, quae tibi in mentem veniant, aliis attribuas, genus sermonis inducis in amicitiam minime liberale.
You, if speeches of that kind concerning me were reported to you, ought not to have believed them; if, however, you delight in this sort of practice, namely of attributing to others what comes into your own mind, you are introducing a style of discourse into our friendship that is least gentlemanly.
ego, si in provincia de tua fama detrahere umquam cogitassem, non tuum libertum Brundisi neque ad praefectum fabrum Corcyrae, quem in locum me venire velles, rettulissem.
If I had ever thought of detracting from your reputation in the province, I would not have reported to your freedman at Brundisium, nor to your prefect of engineers at Corcyra, to which place you wished me to come.
qua re potes doctissimis hominibus auctoribus, quorum sunt de amicitia gerenda praeclarissime scripti libri, genus hoc totum orationis tollere: 'disputabant, ego contra disserebam; dicebant, ego negabam. ' §3.8.6an mihi de te nihil esse dictum umquam putas? ne hoc quidem, quod, cum me Laudiceam venire voluisses, Taurum ipse transisti? quod isdem diebus meus conventus crat Apameae, Synnade, Philomeli, tuus Tarsi? non dicam plura, ne, in quo te obiurgem, id ipsum videar imitari; illud dicam ut sentio: si ista, quae alios loqui dicis, ipse sentis, tua summa culpa est; sin autem alii tecum haec loquuntur, tua tamen, quod audis, culpa non nulla est.
Therefore, on the authority of the most learned men, whose books written on the conduct of friendship are most excellent, you can eliminate this whole style of speaking: 'They argued, I asserted the contrary; they said, I denied.' Or do you think that nothing was ever said to me about you? Not even this, that, although you had wished me to come to Laodicea, you yourself crossed the Taurus? That on the very same days my court was at Apamea, Synnada, Philomelium, and yours at Tarsus? I will say no more, lest I should seem to imitate the very thing for which I chide you; I will say this as I feel: if you yourself feel those things which you say others are speaking, the fault is entirely yours; but if others speak these things with you, yet your fault, in that you listen, is not null.
mea ratio in tota amicitia nostra constans et gravis reperietur.
My conduct in our entire friendship will be found to be consistent and serious.
quod si qui me astutiorem fingit, quid potest esse callidius quam, cum te absentem semper defenderem, cum praesertim mihi usu venturum non arbitrarer, ut ego quoque a te absens defendendus essem, nunc committere, ut tu iure optimo me absentem deserere posses?
But if anyone portrays me as too cunning, what could be more crafty than—when I always defended you in your absence, especially since I did not think it would happen in practice that I too would need to be defended by you in my absence—now to commit a fault, so that you could with the best right desert me in my absence?