§6.1.4Deiotarus etiam mihi narravit se ad eum legatos misisse de re Bruti; eos sibi responsum rettulisse illum non habere.
Deiotarus also told me that he had sent envoys to him concerning Brutus's affair; and that they had brought back word to him that he had nothing.
et me hercule ego ita iudico, nihil illo regno spoliatius, nihil rege egentius.
And, by Hercules, I judge so myself, that nothing is more despoiled than that kingdom, and nothing more destitute than the king.
itaque aut tutela cogito me abdicare aut ut pro Glabrione Scaevola faenus et impendium recusare.
Therefore, I am thinking either of abdicating my guardianship, or, as Scaevola did for Glabrio, refusing to pay interest and expenses.
ego tamen quas per te Bruto promiseram praefecturas, M. Scaptio, L. Gavio, qui in regno rem Bruti procurabant, detuli; nec enim in provincia mea negotiabantur.
Nevertheless, I conferred the prefectships which I had promised to Brutus through you on M. Scaptius and L. Gavius, who were managing Brutus's affairs in the kingdom; for they were not doing business in my province.
tu autem meministi nos sic agere ut quot vellet praefecturas sumeret, dum ne negotiatori.
But you remember that we agreed to act on the condition that he might take as many prefectships as he wished, provided they were not for a businessman.
itaque duas ei praeterea dederam.
Therefore, I had given him two others besides.
sed ii quibus petierat de provincia decesserant.
But those for whom he had asked them had departed from the province.
§6.1.5nunc cognosce de Salaminiis, quod video tibi etiam novum accidisse tamquam mihi.
Now learn about the Salaminians, which I see has come as a surprise to you as well as to me.
numquam enim ex illo audivi illam pecuniam esse suam;
For I never heard from him that that money was his own; indeed, I even have a booklet of his own in which it is written, "The Salaminians owe money to M.
quin etiam libellum ipsius habeo, in quo est,
"Salaminii pecuniam debent M. Scaptio et P. Matinio, familiaribus meis. "
eos mihi commendat; adscribit etiam et quasi calcar admovet intercessisse se pro iis magnam pecuniam.
Scaptius and P. Matinius, my friends." He commends them to me; he even adds a note and, as it were, applies a spur, stating that he has guaranteed a large sum of money on their behalf.
confeceram ut solverent centesimis bienni ductis cum renovatione singulorum annorum.
I had arranged that they should pay, calculating two years' interest at one percent a month with annual compound interest.
at Scaptius quaternas postulabat.
But Scaptius was demanding four percent.
metui, si impetrasset, ne tu ipse me amare desineres; nam ab edicto meo recessissem et civitatem in Catonis et in ipsius Bruti fide locatam meisque beneficiis ornatam funditus perdidissem.
I feared that if he obtained this, you yourself would cease to love me; for I would have departed from my own edict and utterly ruined a city placed under the protection of Cato and Brutus himself, and adorned with my own benefits.
§6.1.6atque hoc tempore ipso impingit mihi epistulam Scaptius Bruti rem illam suo periculo esse, quod nec mihi umquam Brutus dixerat nec tibi, etiam ut praefecturam Scaptio deferrem.
And at this very time, Scaptius thrusts into my hand a letter from Brutus stating that the matter is at his own risk—which Brutus had never told either me or you—and also that I should confer a prefectship on Scaptius.
id vero per te exceperamus ne negotiatori; quod si cuiquam, huic tamen non.
But we had excepted this through you, "provided it was not to a businessman"; and if to anyone, certainly not to this man.
fuerat enim praefectus Appio et quidem habuerat turmas equitum quibus inclusum in curia senatum Salamine obsederat, ut fame senatores quinque morerentur.
For he had been a prefect under Appius and indeed had possessed troops of cavalry with which he had besieged the senate in the council chamber at Salamis, so that five senators died of hunger.
itaque ego, quo die tetigi provinciam, cum mihi Cyprii legati Ephesum obviam venissent, litteras misi ut equites ex insula statim decederent.
Therefore, on the day I touched the province, when Cyprian envoys came to meet me at Ephesus, I sent a letter ordering that the cavalry should immediately depart from the island.
his de causis credo Scaptium iniquius de me aliquid ad Brutum scripsisse.
For these reasons, I believe Scaptius wrote something rather unfair about me to Brutus.
sed tamen hoc sum animo. si Brutus putabit me quaternas centesimas oportuisse decernere, cum tota provincia singulas observarem itaque edixissem idque etiam acerbissimis faeneratoribus probaretur, si praefecturam negotiatori denegatam queretur, quod ego Torquato nostro in tuo Laenio, Pompeio ipsi in Sex.
But still, I am of this mind: if Brutus thinks I ought to have decreed four percent, when I observed one percent throughout the whole province and had so decreed, and this was approved of even by the harshest usurers; if he complains of a prefectship denied to a businessman, which I denied to our Torquatus in the case of your friend Laenius, and to Pompey himself in the case of Sex.
Statio negavi et iis probavi, si equites deductos moleste feret, accipiam equidem dolorem mihi illum irasci sed multo maiorem non esse eum talem qualem putassem.
Statius, and proved my point to them; if he takes the removal of the cavalry amiss, I shall indeed feel pain that he is angry with me, but much greater pain that he is not such a man as I had thought.
§6.1.7illud quidem fatebitur Scaptius, me ius dicente sibi omnem pecuniam ex edicto meo auferendi potestatem fuisse.
At least Scaptius will admit that, when I was administering justice, he had every opportunity to recover the whole of his money according to my edict.
addo etiam illud quod vereor tibi ipsi ut probem.
I also add what I fear you yourself may not approve.
consistere usura debuit quae erat in edicto meo.
The interest ought to have stood at what was in my edict.
deponere volebant: impetravi a Salaminiis ut silerent.
They wished to deposit the money: I prevailed upon the Salaminians to keep quiet.
veniam illi quidem mihi dederunt, sed quid iis fiet, si huc Paulus venerit? sed totum hoc Bruto dedi;
They indeed granted me this favor, but what will become of them if Paulus comes here?
qui de me ad te humanissimas litteras scripsit, ad me autem, etiam cum rogat aliquid, contumaciter, adroganter, ἀκοινονοήτωσ solet scribere.
But I gave up all this to Brutus; who wrote a very kind letter to you about me, but to me, even when he asks for something, he is accustomed to write in a haughty, arrogant, and unsociable manner.
tu autem velim ad eum scribas de his rebus, ut sciam quo modo haec accipiat; facies enim me certiorem.
But I wish you would write to him about these matters, so that I may know how he takes this; for you will inform me.
atque haec superioribus litteris diligenter ad te per scripseram sed plane te intellegere volui mihi non excidisse illud quod tu ad me quibusdam litteris scripsisses, si nihil aliud de hac provincia nisi illius benevolentiam deportassem, mihi id satis esse.
And I had written all this diligently to you in my former letter, but I wanted you to understand clearly that I have not forgotten what you wrote to me in a certain letter, that if I brought nothing else back from this province except his goodwill, that would be enough for me.
sit sane, quoniam ita tu vis, sed tamen cum eo credo quod sine peccato meo fiat.
Let it be so indeed, since you so wish, but yet with the proviso, I believe, that it be done without any wrongdoing on my part.
igitur meo decreto soluta res Scaptio stat.
Therefore, by my decree, the matter of the payment to Scaptius stands unresolved.
quam id rectum sit tu iudicabis; ne ad Catonem quidem provocabo.
How right that is, you will judge; I will not appeal even to Cato.