De Sicyoniis, ut ad te scripsi antea, non multum spei est in senatu; nemo est enim, idem qui queratur. Quare, si id exspectas, longum est; alia via, si qua potes, pugna. Cum est actum, neque animadversum est, ad quos pertineret, et raptim in eam sententiam pedarii cucurrerunt. Inducendi senatus consulti maturitas nondum est, quod neque sunt, qui querantur, et multi partim malevolentia, partim opinione aequitatis delectantur.
Metellus tuus est egregius consul; unum reprehendo, quod otium nuntiari e Gallia non magno opere gaudet. Cupit, credo, triumphare. Hoc vellem mediocrius; cetera egregia. Auli filius vero ita se gerit, ut eius consulatus non consulatus sit, sed Magni nostri ὑπώπιον.
De meis scriptis misi ad te Graece perfectum consulatum meum. Eum librum L. Cossinio dedi. Puto te Latinis meis delectari, huic autem Graeco Graecum invidere. Alii si scripserint, mittemus ad te; sed, mihi crede, simul atque hoc nostrum legerunt, nescio quo pacto retardantur.
Nunc, ut ad rem meam redeam, L. Papirius Paetus, vir bonus amatorque noster, mihi libros eos, quos Ser. Claudius reliquit, donavit. Cum mihi per legem Cinciam licere capere Cincius, amicus tuus, diceret,
because it is most consistent with my position, or because I am by no means dissatisfied with the Senate’s estimation of me.
As regards the Sicyonians, there is very little hope to be placed in the Senate, as I wrote you before: for there is no one now to raise a complaint. It would be tedious to wait for them to move. Fight the point in some other way, if you can. When the law was passed, nobody noticed to whom it applied, and the dummy members plumped eagerly in its favour. The time has not yet come for rescinding the decree, because there is no one who complains about it, and some favour it, partly from spite and partly from an idea of its justness.
Your friend Metellus is an excellent consul: I have only one fault to find with him, he is not at all pleased with the news of peace from Gaul. I take it he wants a triumph. I wish he would moderate that desire: in every other way he is excellent. The behaviour of Aulus’s son makes his consulship not a consulship, but a blot on the scutcheon[[45]] of our friend Pompey.
I have sent you one of my works, a history of my consulship in Greek. I have given it to L. Cossinius. I fancy you like my Latin work, but, being a Greek, envy this Greek one. If others write about it, I will send you copies; but I assure you, as soon as they read mine, they somehow or other don’t hurry themselves about it.
Now to return to business. L. Papirius Paetus, my good friend and admirer, has offered me the books left to him by Ser. Claudius: and, as your friend Cincius said I could take them without breaking the
[45]. Lit. “a black eye.”