§9.14.1etsi contentus eram, mi Dolabella, tua gloria satisque ex ea magnam laetitiam voluptatemque capiebam, tamen non possum non confiteri cumulari me maximo gaudio, quod vulgo hominum opinio socium me adscribat tuis laudibus.
Although I was content, my Dolabella, with your glory and was receiving sufficiently great joy and pleasure from it, yet I cannot help but confess that I am filled with the greatest joy, because the opinion of the common people attributes me as a partner to your praises.
neminem conveni (convenio autem cotidie plurimos; sunt enim permulti optimi viri, qui valetudinis causa in haec loca veniant, praeterea ex municipiis frequentes necessarii mei), quin omnes, cum te summis laudibus ad caelum extulerunt, mihi continuo maximas gratias agant; negant enim se dubitare quin tu meis praeceptis et consiliis obtemperans praestantissimum te civem et singularem consulem praebeas.
I have met no one (and indeed I meet very many people daily; for there are very many excellent men who come to these places for the sake of their health, besides numerous connections of mine from the municipalities) without all of them, when they have extolled you to the skies with the highest praises, immediately offering the greatest thanks to me; for they say they do not doubt but that you, obeying my precepts and counsels, are showing yourself a most excellent citizen and an extraordinary consul.
§9.14.2quibus ego quamquam verissime possum respondere te, quae facias, tuo iudicio et tua sponte facere nec cuiusquam egere consilio, tamen neque plane adsentior, ne imminuam tuam laudem, si omnis a meis consiliis profecta videatur, neque valde nego; sum enim avidior etiam quam satis est gloriae; et tamen non alienum est dignitate tua, quod ipsi Agamemnoni, regum regi, fuit honestum, habere aliquem in consiliis capiendis Nestorem, mihi vero gloriosum te iuvenem consulem florere laudibus quasi alumnum disciplinae meae.
Although I can respond to them with the greatest truth that you do what you do by your own judgment and your own accord, and do not need anyone's counsel, yet I neither agree fully, lest I should diminish your praise if it all should seem to have proceeded from my counsels, nor do I strongly deny it; for I am more eager for glory than is sufficient; and yet it is not foreign to your dignity, which was honorable to Agamemnon himself, the king of kings, to have some Nestor in making plans, and to me indeed it is glorious that you, a young consul, flourish with praises as if an alumnus of my training.
§9.14.3L. quidem Caesar, cum ad eum aegrotum Neapolim venissem, quamquam erat oppressus totius corporis doloribus, tamen, ante quam me plane salutavit, 'O mi Cicero,' inquit, 'gratulor tibi, cum tantum vales apud Dolabellam, quantum si ego apud sororis filium valerem, iam salvi esse possemus; Dolabellae vero tuo et gratulor et gratias ago, quem quidem post te consulem solum possumus vere consulem dicere. ' deinde multa de facto ac de re gesta tua: nihil magnificentius, nihil praeclarius actum umquam, nihil rei p.
Indeed Lucius Caesar, when I had come to him while he was ill at Naples, although he was oppressed with pains of his whole body, yet, before he greeted me properly, said: 'O my Cicero, I congratulate you, since you have as much influence with Dolabella as, if I had as much with my sister's son, we might now be safe; but to your Dolabella indeed I both congratulate and give thanks, whom indeed after you as consul we can alone truly call a consul.' Then he said many things about your deed and achievement: that nothing more magnificent, nothing more glorious had ever been done, nothing more salutary for the republic.
salutarius. atque haec una vox omnium est.
And this is the single voice of all.
§9.14.4A te autem peto ut me hanc quasi falsam hereditatem alienae gloriae sinas cernere meque aliqua ex parte in societatem tuarum laudum venire patiare.
But I ask of you that you permit me to enter upon this, as it were, false inheritance of another's glory, and that you allow me to enter to some extent into the partnership of your praises.
quamquam, mi Dolabella (haec enim iocatus sum) libentius omnis meas, si modo sunt aliquae meae laudes, ad te transfuderim quam aliquam partem exhauserim ex tuis.
Although, my Dolabella (for I said this in jest), I would more gladly transfer all my own praises to you, if only there are any praises of mine, than drain away any part of yours.
nam cum te semper tantum dilexerim, quantum tu intellegere potuisti, tum his tuis factis sic incensus sum, ut nihil umquam in amore fuerit ardentius.
For as I have always loved you as much as you could understand, so by these deeds of yours I have been so inflamed that nothing has ever been more ardent in love.
nihil est enim, mihi crede, virtute formosius, nihil pulchrius, nihil amabilius.
For there is nothing, believe me, more beautiful than virtue, nothing more lovely, nothing more amiable.
§9.14.5semper amavi, ut scis, M. Brutum propter eius summum ingenium, suavissimos mores, singularem probitatem atque constantiam; tamen Idibus Martiis tantum accessit ad amorem ut mirarer locum fuisse augendi in eo, quod mihi iam pridem cumulatum etiam videbatur.
I have always loved, as you know, Marcus Brutus because of his supreme talent, sweetest character, extraordinary integrity and constancy; yet on the Ides of March so much was added to my love that I wondered there was room for increase in that which already long before seemed to me even to have been filled to the brim.
quis erat qui putaret ad eum amorem, quem erga te habebam, pesse aliquid accedere? tantum accessit ut mihi nunc denique amare videar, antea dilexisse.
Who was there who would think that anything could be added to that love which I had toward you? So much was added that I seem to myself now at last to love, whereas before I esteemed.
§9.14.6qua re quid est quod ego te horter ut dignitati et gloriae servias? proponam tibi claros viros, quod facere solent qui hortantur? neminem habeo clariorem quam te ipsum;
Wherefore what is there for which I should exhort you to serve dignity and glory? Shall I propose famous men to you, as those who exhort are accustomed to do?
te imitere oportet, tecum ipse certes; ne licet quidem tibi iam tantis rebus gestis non tui similem esse.
I have no one more famous than yourself; you ought to imitate yourself, you must contend with yourself; indeed, it is not even permitted to you now, after such great deeds, not to be like yourself.
§9.14.7quod cum ita sit, hortatio non est necessaria, gratulatione magis utendum est; contigit enim tibi quod haud scio an nemini, ut' summa severitas animadversionis non modo non invidiosa sed etiam popularis esset et cum bonis omnibus tum infimo cuique gratissima.
Since this is so, exhortation is not necessary, we must rather use congratulation; for there has happened to you what I suspect has happened to no one else, that the greatest severity of punishment was not only not a source of unpopularity but was even popular, and most pleasing both to all good citizens and to every lowest man.
hoc si tibi fortuna quadam contigisset, gratularer felicitati tuae; sed contigit magnitudine cum animi tum etiam ingeni atque consili.
If this had happened to you by some fortune, I would congratulate your good luck; but it happened by the greatness of both your mind and also your talent and counsel.
legi enim contionem tuam; nihil illa sapientius; ita pedetemptim et gradatim tum accessus a te ad causam facti, tum recessus, ut res ipsa maturitatem tibi animadvertendi omnium concessu daret.
For I read your speech to the assembly; nothing is wiser than that; so cautiously and step by step was first the approach made by you to the cause of the deed, and then the retreat, that the matter itself by the consent of all gave you the ripe opportunity for punishing.
§9.14.8liberasti igitur et urbem periculo et civitatem metu neque solum ad tempus maximam utilitatem attulisti sed etiam ad exemplum.
You have therefore freed both the city from danger and the citizens from fear, and have brought the greatest utility not only for the time being but also as an example.
quo facto intellegere debes in te positam esse rem p. tibique non modo tuendos, sed etiam ornandos esse illos viros, a quibus initium libertatis profectum est.
Which being done, you ought to understand that the republic is placed in your hands, and that those men from whom the beginning of liberty proceeded must be not only protected by you but also honored.
sed his de rebus coram plura propediem, ut spero.
But concerning these matters more in person very soon, as I hope.
tu quoniam rem p. nosque conservas, fac ut diligentissime te ipsum, mi Dolabella, custodias.
Since you preserve the republic and us, make sure, my Dolabella, that you guard yourself most diligently.