§2.16.1cenato mihi et iam dormitanti pridie K. Maias epistula est illa reddita in qua de agro Campano scribis.
On the day before the Kalends of May, as I had dined and was already growing sleepy, that letter of yours was delivered to me in which you write about the Campanian land.
quid quaeris? primo ita me pupugit ut somnum mihi ademerit, sed id cogitatione magis quam molestia; cogitanti autem haec fere succurrebant.
What can I say? At first it stung me so much that it took away my sleep, but that was due to thinking rather than to distress; and as I thought, the following things mostly occurred to me.
primum ex eo quod superioribus litteris scripseras, ex familiari te illius audisse prolatum iri aliquid quod nemo improbaret, maius aliquid timueram.
First, from what you had written in your previous letter, that you had heard from a close friend of his that something would be proposed which no one would disapprove of, I had feared something greater.
hoc mihi eius modi non videbatur.
This did not seem to me to be of that kind.
deinde ut me egomet consoler, omnis exspectatio largitionis agrariae in agrum Campanum videtur esse derivata, qui ager; ut dena iugera sint, non amplius homines quinque milia potest sustinere; reliqua omnis multitudo ab illis abalienetur necesse est.
Secondly, to comfort myself, all expectation of the agrarian distribution seems to have been directed towards the Campanian land, which land, even if there are ten iugera each, cannot support more than five thousand men; all the rest of the multitude must inevitably be alienated from them.
praeterea si ulla res est quae bonorum animos quos iam video esse commotos vehementius possit incendere, haec certe est et eo magis quod portoriis Italiae sublatis, agro Campano diviso, quod vectigal superest domesticum praeter vicensimam? quae mihi videtur una contiuncula clamore pedisequorum nostrorum esse peritura.
Furthermore, if there is anything that can more vehemently inflame the minds of the 'good men,' whom I already see to be disturbed, this is certainly it, and all the more so because, now that the Italian customs duties have been abolished and the Campanian land divided, what domestic revenue is left except the five percent tax on manumissions? This tax, it seems to me, is likely to perish in a single assembly at the shout of our footmen.
§2.16.2Gnaeus quidem noster iam plane quid cogitet nescio.
As for our Gnaeus, indeed, I no longer know at all what he is thinking.
"
φυσᾷ γὰρ οὐ σμικροῖσιν αὐλίσκοισ ἔτι,
ἀλλ' ἀγρίαισ φύσαισι φορβειᾶσ ἄτερ
"
qui quidem etiam istuc adduci potuerit.
"For he no longer blows on small pipes, but with wild blasts and without a mouthpiece." To think that he could have been brought even to this point!
nam adhuc haec ἐσοφίζετο, se leges Caesaris probare, actiones ipsum praestare debere; agrariam legem sibi placuisse, potuerit intercedi necne nihil ad se pertinere; de rege Alexandrino placuisse sibi aliquando confici; Bibulus de caelo tum servasset necne sibi quaerendum non fuisse; de publicanis voluisse illi ordini commodare; quid futurum fuerit si Bibulus tum in forum descendisset se divinare non potuisse.
For up to now he used to play the sophist: that he approved of Caesar's laws, but Caesar himself had to guarantee his own actions; that the agrarian law pleased him, but whether it could be vetoed or not was none of his business; that concerning the Alexandrian king, he had been pleased that the matter should be settled at some time; that he did not have to inquire whether Bibulus had been watching the heavens at that time; that regarding the tax-collectors, he had wished to accommodate that order; and that he could not divine what would have happened if Bibulus had then gone down to the forum.
nunc vero, Sampsicerame, quid dices? vectigal te nobis in monte Antilibano constituisse, agri Campani abstulisse? quid? hoc quem ad modum obtinebis?
"oppressos vos"
inquit
"tenebo exercitu Caesaris. "
non me hercule me tu quidem tam isto exercitu quam ingratis animis eorum hominum qui appellantur boni, qui mihi non modo praemiorum sed ne sermonum quidem umquam fructum ullum aut gratiam rettulerunt.
But now, Sampsiceramus, what will you say? That you established revenue for us on Mount Antilibanus, but took away that of the Campanian land? What? How will you maintain this? "I will hold you down," he says, "oppressed by Caesar's army." By Hercules, you will hold me down not so much by that army of yours as by the ungrateful minds of those men who are called 'good,' who have never returned to me any fruit or gratitude, not only of rewards but not even of words.
§2.16.3quod si in eam me partem incitarem, profecto iam aliquam reperirem resistendi viam.
But if I were to urge myself in that direction, I would surely have found by now some way of resisting.
nunc prorsus hoc statui, ut, quoniam tanta controversia est Dicaearcho familiari tuo cum Theophrasto amico meo ut ille tuus τὸν πρακτικὸν βίον longe omnibus anteponat, hic autem τὸν θεωρητικόν utrique a me mos gestus esse videatur.
Now I have completely resolved on this: since there is such a great controversy between your close friend Dicaearchus and my friend Theophrastus, the former putting the active life far above all else, and the latter the contemplative life, I should appear to have complied with both.
puto enim me Dicaearcho adfatim satis fecisse; respicio nunc ad hanc familiam quae mihi non modo ut requiescam permittit, sed reprehendit quia non semper quierim.
For I think I have fully satisfied Dicaearchus; I now look back to this other school, which not only permits me to rest, but even reproaches me because I have not always been at rest.
qua re incumbamus, o noster Tite, ad illa praeclara studia et eo unde discedere non oportuit aliquando revertamur.
Therefore, my Titus, let us apply ourselves to those noble studies, and let us at last return to that place from which we ought never to have departed.
§2.16.4quod de Quinti fratris epistula scribis, ad me quoque fuit πρόσθε λέων, ὄπιθεν δὲ—.
As to what you write about my brother Quintus's letter, to me also it was "lion in front, and behind—".
quid dicam nescio; nam ita deplorat primis versibus mansionem suam ut quemvis movere possit, ita rursus remittit ut me roget ut annalis suos emendem et edam.
I know not what to say; for in his first lines he so deplores his staying that he might move anyone, yet again he relaxes so much as to ask me to correct and publish his annals.
illud tamen quod scribis animadvertas velim de portorio circumvectionis; ait se de consili sententia rem ad senatum reiecisse.
However, I would like you to pay attention to what you write about the transit duty; he says that he has referred the matter to the senate on the advice of his council.
nondum videlicet meas litteras legerat quibus ad eum re consulta et explorata perscripseram non deberi.
Obviously he had not yet read my letter, in which, after investigating and examining the matter, I had written to him that it was not due.
velim si qui Graeci iam Romam ex Asia de ea causa venerunt videas et, si tibi videbitur, iis demonstres quid ego de ea re sentiam.
If any Greeks have already come to Rome from Asia on that account, I would like you to see them and, if it seems good to you, explain to them what I think on that matter.
si possum discedere, ne causa optima in senatu pereat, ego satis faciam publicanis; εἰ δὲ μὴ (vere tecum loquar), in hac re malo universae Asiae et negotiatoribus; nam eorum quoque vehementer interest.
If I can disengage myself, without the best cause being ruined in the senate, I shall satisfy the tax-collectors; otherwise (to speak frankly with you), in this matter I prefer to side with the whole of Asia and the businessmen, for it is also of vehement interest to them.
hoc ego sentio valde nobis opus esse.
I feel that this is very necessary for us.
sed tu id videbis.
But you will see to that.
quaestores autem, quaeso, num etiam de cistophoro dubitant? nam si aliud nihil erit, cum erimus omnia experti, ego ne illud quidem contemnam quod extremum est; te in Arpinati videbimus et hospitio agresti accipiemus, quoniam maritimum hoc contempsisti.
As for the quaestors, pray, do they still hesitate even about the cistophorus? For if there is nothing else, when we have tried everything, I shall not despise even that which is the last resort; we shall see you in Arpinum and receive you with rustic hospitality, since you have despised this seaside one.