And as to this,though I am aware that in such matters men of the most respectable character are accustomed to ask and to be asked,yet I think in your case that it is rather a reminder than a request which is called for from me.For it is you who have on very many occasions complimented me in votes which you delivered,who have praised me to the skies in conversation,in panegyric,in the most laudatory speeches in senate and public meeting:you are the man to whose words I ever attached such weight as to hold myself in possession of my utmost ambition,if your lips joined the chorus of my praise.It was you finally,as I recollect,who said,when voting against a supplicatlo in honour of a certain illustrious and noble person,that you would have voted for it,if the motion had related to what he had done in the city as consul.It was you,too,who voted for granting me a supplicatio,though only a civilian,not as had been done in many instances,"for good services to the state,"but,as I remember,"for having saved the state."I pass over your having shared the hatred I excited,the dangers I ran,all the storms'that I have encountered,and your having been entirely ready to have shared them much more fully if I had allowed it;and finally your having regarded my enemy as your own;of whose death even--thus shewing me clearly how much you valued me--you manifested your approval by supporting the cause of Milo in the senate.On the other hand,I have borne a testimony to you,which I do not regard as constituting any claim on your gratitude,but as a frank expression of genuine opinion:for I did not confine myself to a silent admiration of your eminent virtues--who does not admire them?But in all forms of speech,whether in the senate or at the bar;in all kinds of writing,Greek or Latin;in fine,in all the various branches of my literary activity,I proclaimed your superiority not only to contemporaries,but also to those of whom we have heard in history.
Yon will ask,perhaps,why I place such value on this or that modicum of congratulation or compliment from the senate.Iwill be frank with you,as our common tastes'and mutual good services,our close friendship,nay,the intimacy of our fathers demand.If there ever was anyone by natural inclination,and still more,I think,by reason and reflexion,averse from the empty praise and comments of the vulgar,I am certainly the man.
Witness my consulship,in which,as in the rest of my life,Iconfess that I eagerly pursued the objects capable of producing true glory:mere glory for its own sake I never thought a subject for ambition.Accordingly,I not only passed over a province after the votes for its outfit had been taken,but also with it an almost certain hope of a triumph;and finally the priesthood,though,as Ithink you will agree with me,I could have obtained it without much difficulty,I did not try to get.Yet after my unjust disgrace--always stigmatized by you as a disaster to the Republic,and rather an honour than a disaster to myself--I was anxious that some very signal marks of the approbation of the senate and Roman people should be put on record.Accordingly,in the first place,I did subsequently wish for the augurship,about which I had not troubled myself before;and the compliment usually paid by the senate in the case of success in war,though passed over by me in old times,I now think an object to be desired.That you should approve and support this wish of mine,in which you may trace a strong desire to heal the wounds inflicted upon me by my disgrace,though I a little while ago declared that I would not ask it,I now do earnestly ask of you:but only on condition that you shall not think my humble services paltry and insignificant,but of such a nature and importance,that many for far less signal successes have obtained the highest honours from the senate.I have,too,I think,noticed this--for you know how attentively I ever listen to you--that in granting or withholding honours you are accustomed to look not so much to the particular achievements as to the character,the principles'and conduct of commanders.Well,if you apply this test to my case,you will find that,with a weak army,my strongest support against the threat of a very formidable war has been my equity and purity of conduct.With these as my aids I accomplished what I never could have accomplished by any amount of legions:among the allies I have created the warmest devotion in place of the most extreme alienation;the most complete loyalty in place of the most dangerous disaffection;and their spirits fluttered by the prospect of change I have brought back to feelings of affection for the old rule.
But I have said too much of myself,especially to you,in whom singly the grievances of all our allies alike find a listener.You will learn the truth from those who think themselves restored to life by my administration.And while all with nearly one consent will praise me in your hearing as I most desire to be praised,so will your two chief client states--the island of Cyprus and the kingdom of Cappadocia--have something to say to you about me also.So,too,I think,will Deiotarus,who is attached to you with special warmth.Now,if these things are above the common run,and if in all ages it has been rarer to find men capable of conquering their own desires than capable of conquering an enemy's army,it is quite in harmony with your principles,when you find these rarer and more difficult virtues combined with success in war,to regard that success itself as more complete and glorious.
I have only one last resource--philosophy:and to make her plead for me,as though I doubted the efficacy of a mere request:philosophy,the best friend I have ever had in all my life,the greatest gift which has been bestowed by the gods upon mankind.
Yes!this common sympathy in tastes and studies--our inseparable devotion and attachment to which from boyhood have caused us to become almost unique examples of men bringing that true and ancient philosophy (which some regard as only the employment of leisure and idleness)down to the forum,the council chamber,and the very camp itself--pleads the cause of my glory with you:and Ido not think a Cato can,with a good conscience,say her nay.
Wherefore I would have you convince yourself that,if my despatch is made the ground of paying me this compliment with your concurrence,I shall consider that the dearest wish of my heart has been fulfilled owing at once to your influence and to your friendship.
