Ep. 3.18.1Officium cōnsulātūs iniūnxit mihi, ut reī pūblicae nōmine prīncipī grātiās agerem.The duty of my consulship laid upon me the task of thanking the emperor in the name of the state. Ep. 3.18.1Quod ego in senātū cum ad ratiōnem et locī et temporis ex mōre fēcissem, bonō cīvī convenientissimum crēdidī eadem illa spatiōsius et ūberius volūmine amplectī, prīmum ut imperātōrī nostrō virtūtēs suae vērīs laudibus commendārentur, deinde ut futūrī prīncipēs nōn quasi ā magistrō sed tamen sub exemplō praemonērentur, quā potissimum viā possent ad eandem glōriam nītī.When I had done this in the senate in the customary way, as suited the place and the time, I thought it most fitting for a good citizen to treat those same things at greater length and more fully in a book, first so that our emperor's virtues might be commended to him with true praise, and secondly so that future emperors might be forewarned, not as if by a teacher but still by example, by what road above all they might strive towards the same glory. Ep. 3.18.3Nam praecipere quālis esse dēbeat prīnceps, pulchrum quidem sed onerōsum ac prope superbum est;For to prescribe what an emperor ought to be is a fine thing indeed, but burdensome and almost arrogant; Ep. 3.18.3laudāre vērō optimum prīncipem ac per hoc posterīs velut ē speculā lūmen quod sequantur ostendere, idem ūtilitātis habet arrogantiae nihil.but to praise an excellent emperor, and by this to show posterity, as if from a watchtower, a light to follow, has the same usefulness and nothing of arrogance.
Ep. 3.18.4Cēpī autem nōn mediocrem voluptātem, quod hunc librum cum amīcīs recitāre voluissem, nōn per cōdicillōs, nōn per libellōs, sed "sī commodum" et "sī valdē vacāret" admonitī - numquam porrō aut valdē vacat Rōmae aut commodum est audīre recitantem -, foedissimīs īnsuper tempestātibus per bīduum convēnērunt, cumque modestia mea fīnem recitātiōnī facere voluisset, ut adicerem tertium diem exēgērunt.And I took no small pleasure in the fact that, when I wished to read this book to my friends, they, invited not by notes, not by programmes, but with 'if it is convenient' and 'if you are quite free' — and at Rome no one is ever quite free, nor is it ever convenient, to hear someone reading — assembled for two days in the foulest weather besides, and when my modesty wished to put an end to the reading, they insisted that I add a third day. Ep. 3.18.5Mihi hunc honōrem habitum putem an studiīs?Shall I think this honour was paid to me, or to literature? Ep. 3.18.5studiīs mālō, quae prope exstīncta refoventur.To literature, I prefer to think, which, all but extinct, is being revived.
Ep. 3.18.6At cui māteriae hanc sēdulitātem praestitērunt?But on what subject did they bestow this diligence? Ep. 3.18.6nempe quam in senātū quoque, ubi perpetī necesse erat, gravārī tamen vel punctō temporis solēbāmus, eandem nunc et quī recitāre et quī audīre trīduō velint inveniuntur, nōn quia ēloquentius quam prius, sed quia līberius ideōque etiam libentius scrībitur.On the very one which even in the senate, where we had to endure it, we used to find tiresome for even a moment of time; now people are found who are willing both to read it and to listen to it for three days, not because it is written more eloquently than before, but because it is written more freely, and therefore more gladly too. Ep. 3.18.7Accēdet ergō hoc quoque laudibus prīncipis nostrī, quod rēs anteā tam invīsa quam falsa, nunc ut vēra ita amābilis facta est.This too, then, will be added to our emperor's praises, that a thing once as hateful as it was false has now become as lovable as it is true. Ep. 3.18.8Sed ego cum studium audientium tum iūdicium mīrē probāvī: animadvertī enim sevērissima quaeque vel maximē satisfacere.But I wonderfully approved both the enthusiasm of my audience and their judgement: for I noticed that the most austere passages gave the greatest satisfaction.
Ep. 3.18.9Meminī quidem mē nōn multīs recitāsse quod omnibus scrīpsī, nihilō minus tamen, tamquam sit eadem omnium futūra sententia, hāc sevēritāte aurium laetor, ac sīcut ōlim theātra male mūsicōs canere docuērunt, ita nunc in spem addūcor posse fierī, ut eadem theātra bene canere mūsicōs doceant.I remember, indeed, that I read to few what I wrote for all; yet nonetheless, as if everyone's opinion will be the same, I rejoice in this severity of ear, and just as once theatres taught musicians to play badly, so now I am led to hope that it may come about that the same theatres teach musicians to play well. Ep. 3.18.10Omnēs enim, quī placendī causā scrībunt, quālia placēre vīderint scrībent.For all who write to please will write the sort of things they have seen to please. Ep. 3.18.10Ac mihi quidem cōnfīdō in hōc genere māteriae laetiōris stilī cōnstāre ratiōnem, cum ea potius quae pressius et astrictius, quam illa quae hilarius et quasi exsultantius scrīpsī, possint vidērī accersīta et inducta.And for my part I am confident that in this kind of subject a more luxuriant style is justified, since the passages I wrote in a terser and more compressed manner, rather than those I wrote more gaily and, as it were, exuberantly, might seem far-fetched and dragged in.
Ep. 3.18.10Nōn ideō tamen segnius precor, ut quandōque veniat diēs - utinamque iam vēnerit!Yet I do not pray any less earnestly that the day may come at some time — and would that it had come already! — Ep. 3.18.10-, quō austērīs illīs sevērīsque dulcia haec blandaque vel iūstā possessiōne dēcēdant.— when these sweet and flattering things will give way to those austere and severe ones, even from their rightful possession. Ep. 3.18.11Habēs ācta mea trīduī;There you have my three days' proceedings; Ep. 3.18.11quibus cognitīs voluī tantum tē voluptātis absentem et studiōrum nōmine et meō capere, quantum praesēns percipere potuissēs.now that you know of them, I wanted you, though absent, to take as much pleasure, both for literature's sake and for mine, as you could have had if you had been present. Ep. 3.18.11Valē.Farewell.