§6.1.14Parthicum bellum impendet.
A Parthian war is imminent.
Cassius ineptas litteras misit, necdum Bibuli erant adlatae.
Cassius sent a silly letter, and Bibulus's had not yet arrived.
quibus recitatis puto fore ut aliquando commoveatur senatus.
When these are read aloud, I think the Senate will finally be moved.
equidem sum in magna animi perturbatione.
For my part, I am in great anxiety of mind.
si, ut opto, non prorogatur nostrum negotium, habeo Iunium et Quintilem in metu.
If, as I hope, our business is not prorogued, I have June and July in dread.
esto; duos quidem mensis sustinebit Bibulus.
So be it; Bibulus will hold out for at least two months.
quid illo fiet quem reliquero, praesertim si fratrem? quid me autem, si non tam cito decedo? Magna turba est.
What will become of him whom I leave behind, especially if it is my brother? And what will become of me, if I do not depart so quickly? It is a great trouble.
mihi tamen cum Deiotaro convenit ut ille in meis castris esset cum suis copiis omnibus.
However, I have agreed with Deiotarus that he should be in my camp with all his forces.
habet autem cohortis quadringenarias nostra armatura XXX, equitum cIↃ cIↃ. erit ad sustentandum quoad Pompeius veniat; qui litteris quas ad me mittit significat suum negotium illud fore.
Moreover, he has thirty cohorts of four hundred men each, armed in our fashion, and two thousand cavalry. This will be enough to hold out until Pompey comes; who, in the letters he sends me, indicates that that business will be his own.
hiemant in nostra provincia Parthi; exspectatur ipse Orodes.
The Parthians are wintering in our province; Orodes himself is expected.
quid quaeris? aliquantum est negoti.
What more do you want? There is a considerable amount of trouble.
de Bibuli edicto nihil novi praeter illam exceptionem de qua tu ad me scripseras
"nimis gravi praeiudicio in ordinem nostrum. "
ego tamen habeo ἰσοδυναμοῦσαν sed tectiorem ex Q. Muci P. L edicto Asiatico,
"extra quam si ita negotium gestum est ut eo stari non oporteat ex fide bona,"
multaque sum secutus Scaevolae, in iis illud in quo sibi libertatem censent Graeci datam, ut Graeci inter se disceptent suis legibus.
Concerning Bibulus's edict, there is nothing new except that exception about which you wrote to me: "with too heavy a prejudice against our order." I, however, have an equivalent but more cautious one from the Asiatic edict of Q. Mucius, son of P. Scaevola: "except where the transaction has been conducted in such a way that in good faith it ought not to be stood by," and I have followed many of Scaevola's provisions, including that one in which the Greeks consider freedom has been given to them, namely, that Greeks may decide their disputes among themselves by their own laws.
breve autem edictum est propter hanc meam διαίρεσιν quod duobus generibus edicendum putavi.
Moreover, the edict is short because of this division of mine, since I thought it should be published in two classes.
quorum unum est provinciale in quo est de rationibus civitatum, de aere alieno, de usura, de syngraphis, in eodem omnia de publicanis; alterum, quod sine edicto satis commode transigi non potest, de hereditatum possessionibus, de bonis possidendis, vendendis, magistris faciendis, quae ex edicto et postulari et fieri solent.
One of these is provincial, in which is contained what concerns the accounts of the cities, debt, interest, bonds, and in the same class everything concerning the tax-collectors; the other, which cannot be transacted conveniently enough without an edict, concerns the possessions of inheritances, taking possession and selling of goods, and the appointment of receivers, which are customary both to be petitioned for and done from an edict.
tertium de reliquo iure dicundo ἄγραφον reliqui.
A third class, concerning the remaining administration of justice, I left unwritten.
dixi me de eo genere mea decreta ad edicta urbana accommodaturum.
I said that in that class I would adapt my decrees to the urban edicts.
itaque curo et satis facio adhuc omnibus.
And so I manage and satisfy everyone so far.
Graeci vero exsultant quod peregrinis iudicibus utuntur.
Indeed, the Greeks are exultant because they use judges of their own nationality.
"nugatoribus quidem"
inquies.
"Triflers indeed," you will say.
quid refert? tamen se αὐτονομίαν adeptos putant.
What does it matter? Yet they think they have obtained autonomy.
vestri enim credo gravis habent Turpionem sutorium et Vettium mancipem.
For in your country, I believe, they have such grave judges as Turpio the shoemaker and Vettius the broker.
§6.1.16de publicanis quid agam videris quaerere.
You seem to ask what I am doing about the tax-collectors.
habeo in deliciis, obsequor, verbis laudo, orno; efficio ne cui molesti sint.
I cherish them, comply with them, praise them in words, and honor them; I make sure they are troublesome to no one.
τὸ, usuras eorum quas pactionibus adscripserant servavit etiam Servilius.
As to the point of keeping their interest rates which they had written into their agreements, even Servilius observed it.
ego sic.
I do so.
diem statuo satis laxam, quam ante si solverint, dico me centesimas ducturum; si non solverint, ex pactione.
I set a sufficiently distant date, before which if they pay, I say I will charge interest at one percent; if they do not pay, according to the agreement.
itaque et Graeci solvunt tolerabili faenore et publicanis res est gratissima, si illa iam habent pleno modio, verborum honorem, invitationem crebram.
And so both the Greeks pay at a tolerable rate of interest, and the business is most gratifying to the tax-collectors, if they already have those things in full measure: verbal honor and frequent invitations.
quid plura? sunt omnes ita mihi familiares ut se quisque maxime putet.
What more? They are all so intimate with me that each one thinks himself the most so.
sed tamen μηδὲν αὐτοῖσ—scis reliqua.
But yet, "nothing for them"—you know the rest.
§6.1.17de statua Africani (ὢ πραγμάτων! sed me id ipsum delectavit in tuis litteris) ain tu? Scipio hic Metellus proavum suum nescit censorem non fuisse? atqui nihil habuit aliud inscriptum nisi cos ea statua quae ad Opis †per te† posita in excelso est.
Concerning the statue of Africanus (oh, what a state of affairs! but that very thing delighted me in your letter), do you really say so? Does this Metellus Scipio not know that his great-grandfather was not a censor? And yet that statue which is placed on high near the temple of Ops by you had nothing else inscribed but consul.
in illa autem quae est ad Πολυκλέουσ Herculem inscriptum est consul; quam esse eiusdem status, amictus, anulus, imago ipsa declarat.
In that one, however, which is near the Hercules of Polycles, is inscribed consul; which the pose, the dress, the ring, and the likeness itself declare to be of the same person.
at me hercule ego, cum in turma inauratarum equestrium quas hic Metellus in Capitolio posuit animadvertissem in Serapionis subscriptione Africani imaginem, erratum fabrile putavi, nunc video Metelli.
But by Hercules, when I had noticed, in the troop of gilded equestrian statues which this Metellus placed on the Capitol, the likeness of Africanus with the inscription of Serapio, I thought it was a craftsman's error, but now I see it is Metellus's.
§6.1.18o ἀνιστορησίαν turpem! nam illud de Flavio et fastis, si secus est, commune erratum est et tu belle ἠπόρησασ et nos publicam prope opinionem secuti sumus, ut multa apud Graecos.
Oh, shameful ignorance of history! For that matter about Flavius and the calendar, if it is otherwise, is a common error, and you raised the question beautifully, and we followed what is almost public opinion, as in many cases among the Greeks.
quis enim non dixit Εὔπολιν τὸν τῆσ ἀρχαίασ ab Alcibiade navigante in Siciliam deiectum esse in mare? redarguit Eratosthenes;
For who has not said that Eupolis of the Old Comedy was thrown into the sea by Alcibiades when sailing to Sicily?
adfert enim quas ille post id tempus fabulas docuerit.
Eratosthenes refuted this; for he adduces what plays he produced after that time.
num idcirco Duris Samius, homo in historia diligens, quod cum multis erravit, inridetur? quis Zaleucum leges Locris scripsisse non dixit? num igitur iacet Theophrastus si id a Timaeo tuo familiari reprensum est? sed nescire proavum suum censorem non fuisse turpe est, praesertim cum post eum consulem nemo Cornelius illo vivo censor fuerit.
Is Duris of Samos, a man diligent in history, laughed at for that reason because he erred with many? Who has not said that Zaleucus wrote laws for the Locrians? Is Theophrastus therefore discredited if that was criticized by your friend Timaeus? But not to know that one's own great-grandfather was not a censor is shameful, especially since after his consulship no Cornelius was censor while he was alive.