Ep. 4.15.1Sī quid omnīnō, hōc certē iūdiciō faciō, quod Asinium Rūfum singulāriter amō.If I do anything at all with judgement, I certainly do this: I love Asinius Rufus exceptionally. Ep. 4.15.1Est homō eximius et bonōrum amantissimus.He is an outstanding man and most devoted to good men. Ep. 4.15.1Cūr enim nōn mē quoque inter bonōs numerem?For why should I not count myself among the good as well? Ep. 4.15.1Īdem Cornēlium Tacitum - scīs quem virum - artā familiāritāte complexus est.He has also embraced Cornelius Tacitus — you know what a man he is — in close friendship. Ep. 4.15.2Proinde sī utrumque nostrum probās, dē Rūfō quoque necesse est idem sentiās, cum sit ad cōnectendās amīcitiās vel tenācissimum vinculum mōrum similitūdō.So if you think well of us both, you must think the same of Rufus too, since likeness of character is perhaps the firmest bond for knitting friendships together. Ep. 4.15.3Sunt eī līberī plūrēs.He has several children. Ep. 4.15.3Nam in hōc quoque fūnctus est optimī cīvis officiō, quod fēcunditāte uxōris lārgē fruī voluit, eō saeculō quō plērīsque etiam singulōs fīliōs orbitātis praemia gravēs faciunt.For in this too he has done the duty of an excellent citizen, in that he chose to enjoy his wife's fertility to the full, in an age in which the rewards of childlessness make most people feel even a single son a burden.
Ep. 4.15.3Quibus ille dēspectīs, avī quoque nōmen assūmpsit.Despising those rewards, he has even taken on the name of grandfather. Ep. 4.15.3Est enim avus, et quidem ex Saturiō Firmō, quem dīligēs ut ego sī ut ego propius īnspēxeris.For he is a grandfather, and indeed through Saturius Firmus, whom you will love as I do if, like me, you get to know him more closely. Ep. 4.15.4Haec eō pertinent, ut sciās quam cōpiōsam, quam numerōsam domum ūnō beneficiō sīs obligātūrus;All this is meant to let you know how large, how numerous a household you will oblige with a single favour; Ep. 4.15.4ad quod petendum vōtō prīmum, deinde bonō quōdam ōmine addūcimur.and to ask for it we are led first by a wish, and then by a certain good omen. Ep. 4.15.5Optāmus enim tibi ōmināmurque in proximum annum cōnsulātum: ita nōs virtūtēs tuae, ita iūdicia prīncipis augurārī volunt.For we wish and foretell for you the consulship next year: so your virtues, so the emperor's judgements bid us prophesy. Ep. 4.15.6Concurrit autem ut sit eōdem annō quaestor maximus ex līberīs Rūfī, Asinius Bassus, iuvenis - nesciō an dīcam, quod mē pater et sentīre et dīcere cupit, adulēscentis verēcundia vetat - ipsō patre melior.It happens too that in the same year the eldest of Rufus' children, Asinius Bassus, will be quaestor, a young man — I am not sure whether I should say what his father wants me both to think and to say, though the young man's modesty forbids it — better than his father himself.
Ep. 4.15.7Difficile est ut mihi dē absente crēdās - quamquam crēdere solēs omnia -, tantum in illō industriae probitātis ērudītiōnis ingeniī studiī memoriae dēnique esse, quantum expertus inveniēs.It is hard for you to believe me about someone absent — although you are used to believing everything I tell you — that there is as much industry, integrity, learning, talent, application and memory in him as you will find when you have tried him. Ep. 4.15.8Vellem tam ferāx saeculum bonīs artibus habērēmus, ut aliquōs Bassō praeferre dēbērēs: tum ego tē prīmus hortārer monēremque, circumferrēs oculōs ac diū pēnsitārēs, quem potissimum ēligerēs.I wish our age were so fertile in good qualities that there were some you ought to prefer to Bassus: then I would be the first to urge and advise you to look about you and weigh at length whom above all you should choose. Ep. 4.15.9Nunc vērō - sed nihil volō dē amīcō meō arrogantius dīcere;As it is — but I do not want to say anything too presumptuous about my friend; Ep. 4.15.9hoc sōlum dīcō, dignum esse iuvenem quem mōre maiōrum in fīliī locum assūmās.I say only this, that the young man is worthy for you to take him in the place of a son, after the custom of our ancestors.
Ep. 4.15.9Dēbent autem sapientēs virī, ut tū, tālēs quasi līberōs ā rē pūblicā accipere, quālēs ā nātūrā solēmus optāre.Wise men like you ought to receive from the state, as their children, such men as we usually wish to receive from nature. Ep. 4.15.10Decōrus erit tibi cōnsulī quaestor patre praetōriō, propinquīs cōnsulāribus, quibus iūdiciō ipsōrum, quamquam adulēscentulus adhūc, iam tamen invicem ōrnāmentō est.It will become you as consul to have a quaestor whose father is of praetorian rank and whose relatives are ex-consuls, to whom, in their own judgement, young as he still is, he is already in his turn a distinction. Ep. 4.15.11Proinde indulgē precibus meīs, obsequere cōnsiliō, et ante omnia sī festīnāre videor ignōsce, prīmum quia vōtīs suīs amor plērumque praecurrit;So grant my prayers, follow my advice, and above all forgive me if I seem to be in a hurry, first because love usually runs ahead of its own wishes; Ep. 4.15.11deinde quod in eā cīvitāte, in quā omnia quasi ab occupantibus aguntur, quae lēgitimum tempus exspectant, nōn mātūra sed sēra sunt;then because in a state where everything is done as if by those who seize it first, things that wait for the proper time come not in season but too late; Ep. 4.15.11in summā quod rērum, quās assequī cupiās, praesūmptiō ipsa iūcunda est.and finally because the very anticipation of the things you long to obtain is delightful.
Ep. 4.15.12Revereātur iam tē Bassus ut cōnsulem, tū dīlige illum ut quaestōrem, nōs dēnique utrīusque vestrum amantissimī laetitiā duplicī perfruāmur.Let Bassus already revere you as consul, and do you love him as your quaestor, and let us, finally, who are most devoted to you both, enjoy a double joy. Ep. 4.15.13Etenim cum sīc tē, sīc Bassum dīligāmus, ut et illum cuiuscumque et tuum quemcumque quaestōrem in petendīs honōribus omnī ope labōre grātiā sīmus iuvātūrī, perquam iūcundum nōbīs erit, sī in eundem iuvenem studium nostrum et amīcitiae meae et cōnsulātūs tuī ratiō contulerit, sī dēnique precibus meīs tū potissimum adiūtor accesseris, cuius et suffrāgiō senātūs libentissimē indulgeat et testimōniō plūrimum crēdat.For since we love you and Bassus so much that we would help, with all our resources, effort and influence, both him in seeking office, whoever's quaestor he might be, and whoever might be your quaestor, it will be most delightful to us if the claims both of my friendship and of your consulship direct our support to the same young man, if, in short, you above all come to support my prayers, you whose vote the senate most gladly indulges and whose testimony it trusts the most.
Ep. 4.15.13Valē.Farewell.