I despatch this letter on the 6th of July, being about to leave Athens, where I have stayed just ten days. Pomptinus has come along with Cn. Volusius. My quaestor is here. Your friend Tullius is the one absentee. I have some open boats of Rhodes and two-deckers from Mitylene and a few despatch boats. There is no news of the Parthians. For the rest, God help us.
So far our journey through Greece has provoked great admiration, and I have no fault at all to find with my staff at present. They seem to understand what my case is, and the terms on which they stand. They do everything to maintain my good name. For the rest, if the saying be true, “Like master, like man,”[[178]] assuredly they will stick to their good behaviour,
[177]. He had ordered him to be flogged, disregarding the fact that Caesar had sent 5,000 colonists to Transpadane Gaul. Magistrates of a colonia had the full civitas.
[178]. The proverb ends τοία χἠ κύων (“the dog is like its mistress”) according to the Scholiast on Plato De Repub., viii, 563.
enim a me fieri ita videbunt, ut sibi sit delinquendi locus. Sin id parum profuerit, fiet aliquid a nobis severius. Nam adhuc lenitate dulces sumus et, ut spero, proficimus aliquantum. Sed ego hanc, ut Siculi dicunt, ἀνεξίαν in unum annum meditatus sum. Proinde pugna, ne, si quid prorogatum sit, turpis inveniar.
Nunc redeo, ad quae mihi mandas. In praefectis excusatio: iis, quos voles, deferto. Non ero tam μετέωρος, quam in Appuleio fui. Xenonem tam diligo quam tu, quod ipsum sentire certo scio. Apud Patronem et reliquos barones te in maxima gratia posui et hercule merito tuo feci. Nam mihi Ister dixit te scripsisse ad se mihi ex illius litteris rem illam curae fuisse, quod ei pergratum erat. Sed, cum Patro mecum egisset, ut peterem a vestro Ariopago, ὑπομνηματισμὸν tollerent, quem Polycharmo praetore fecerant, commodius visum est et Xenoni et post ipsi Patroni me ad Memmium scribere, qui pridie, quam ego Athenas veni, Mitilenas profectus erat, ut is ad suos scriberet posse id sua voluntate fieri. Non enim dubitabat Xeno, quin ab Ariopagitis invito Memmio impetrari non posset. Memmius autem aedificandi consilium abiecerat; sed erat Patroni iratus. Itaque scripsi ad eum accurate; cuius epistulae misi ad te exemplum.
Tu velim Piliam meis verbis consolere. Indicabo enim tibi, tu illi nihil dixeris. Accepi fasciculum, in quo erat epistula Piliae. Abstuli, aperui, legi. Valde scripta est συμπαθῶς. Brundisio quae tibi epistulae
for they will see no excuse for misconduct in any act of mine. If example be futile, I must try severer means. So far I have been mild and kind, and I hope I am making headway. But I have looked forward to playing patience, as the Sicilians say, for one year only. So fight for me, for fear extension of office might spoil my conduct.
To return to the commissions you have given me. Prefects have exemption from serving on a jury. Give the office to whom you will. I shall not be so difficile, as I was in the case of Appuleius. I am as fond of Xeno as you are, and I am sure he knows it. I have put you in well-deserved favour with Patro and the other blockheads. Ister has told me you have written to him that you learned from Patro’s letter I was taking an interest in the point, much to his delight. But when Patro urged me to ask your Areopagus to cancel the minute they had made when Polycharmus was praetor, it seemed better to Xeno and afterwards to Patro himself that I should send a letter to Memmius, who had set out to Mitylenae the day before I arrived at Athens, asking him to inform his agents that the minute could be cancelled with his free consent. For Xeno was sure the Areopagus would refuse to act against his will. Memmius had abandoned his plan of building a house; but he was angry with Patro. I enclose a copy of the careful letter I wrote him.
Please convey my condolences to Pilia. I will tell you a secret you are not to repeat to her: I received the parcel containing her letter, took it out, opened and read it. It was written in terms of sympathy for Quintus. Please consider the letters you got from Brundisium without one from me as having