Ep. 8.6.1Cognōvisse iam ex epistulā meā dēbēs, adnotāsse mē nūper monumentum Pallantis sub hāc īnscrīptiōne: "Huic senātus ob fidem pietātemque ergā patrōnōs ōrnāmenta praetōria dēcrēvit et sēstertium centiēs quīnquāgiēs, cuius honōre contentus fuit."You ought to know already from my letter that I recently noticed the monument of Pallas with this inscription: 'To him the senate, on account of his loyalty and devotion towards his patrons, decreed the insignia of a praetor and fifteen million sesterces, with the honour of which he was content.' Ep. 8.6.2Posteā mihi vīsum est pretium operae ipsum senātūs cōnsultum quaerere.Afterwards it seemed to me worth the effort to look up the decree of the senate itself. Ep. 8.6.2Invēnī tam cōpiōsum et effūsum, ut ille superbissimus titulus modicus atque etiam dēmissus vidērētur.I found it so wordy and effusive that that most arrogant inscription seemed modest and even humble. Ep. 8.6.2Cōnferant sē misceantque, nōn dīcō illī veterēs, Āfricānī Achāicī Numantīnī, sed hī proximī Mariī Sullae Pompeī - nōlō prōgredī longius -: īnfrā Pallantis laudēs iacēbunt.Let them come together and combine — I do not mean those men of old, the Africani, the Achaici, the Numantini, but these more recent ones, the Marii, Sullas and Pompeys — I do not want to go further —: they will lie far below the praises of Pallas.
Ep. 8.6.3Urbānōs quī illa cēnsuērunt putem an miserōs?Am I to think those who voted this witty, or wretched? Ep. 8.6.3Dīcerem urbānōs, sī senātum decēret urbānitās;I would call them witty, if wit befitted the senate; Ep. 8.6.3miserōs, sed nēmō tam miser est ut illa cōgātur.wretched, but no one is so wretched as to be forced into this. Ep. 8.6.3Ambitiō ergō et prōcēdendī libīdō?Was it ambition, then, and the desire for advancement? Ep. 8.6.3Sed quis adeō dēmēns, ut per suum, per pūblicum dēdecus prōcēdere velit in eā cīvitāte, in quā hic esset ūsus flōrentissimae dignitātis, ut prīmus in senātū laudāre Pallantem posset?But who is so mad as to wish to advance through his own disgrace and the public's, in a state in which the advantage of the most eminent rank was this, that one could be the first in the senate to praise Pallas? Ep. 8.6.4Mittō quod Pallantī servō praetōria ōrnāmenta offeruntur - quippe offeruntur ā servīs -, mittō quod cēnsent nōn exhortandum modo vērum etiam compellendum ad ūsum aureōrum ānulōrum;I pass over the fact that the insignia of a praetor are offered to Pallas, a slave — offered, naturally, by slaves —; I pass over their resolution that he should be not only urged but even compelled to wear gold rings; Ep. 8.6.4erat enim contrā maiestātem senātūs, sī ferreīs praetōrius ūterētur.for it was contrary to the majesty of the senate that a man of praetorian rank should wear iron ones.
Ep. 8.6.5Levia haec et trānseunda, illa memoranda quod nōmine Pallantis senātus - nec expiāta posteā cūria est -, Pallantis nōmine senātus grātiās agit Caesarī, quod et ipse cum summō honōre mentiōnem eius prōsecūtus esset et senātuī facultātem fēcisset testandī ergā eum benevolentiam suam.These things are trivial and to be passed by; what must be recorded is that in the name of Pallas the senate — and the senate house was never purified afterwards — in the name of Pallas the senate gives thanks to Caesar, because he himself had honoured him with the highest distinction in mentioning him and had given the senate the opportunity of attesting its goodwill towards him. Ep. 8.6.6Quid enim senātuī pulchrius, quam ut ergā Pallantem satis grātus vidērētur?For what could be finer for the senate than to seem sufficiently grateful towards Pallas? Ep. 8.6.6Additur: "Ut Pallās, cui sē omnēs prō virīlī parte obligātōs fatentur, singulāris fideī singulāris industriae frūctum meritissimō ferat".It is added: 'That Pallas, to whom all confess themselves obliged to the best of their ability, may reap the most deserved reward of his unique loyalty and unique diligence'.
Ep. 8.6.6Prōlātōs imperiī fīnēs, redditōs exercitūs reī pūblicae crēdās.You would think he had extended the boundaries of the empire or restored armies to the state. Ep. 8.6.7Astruitur hīs: "Cum senātuī populōque Rōmānō līberālitātis grātior repraesentārī nūlla māteria posset, quam sī abstinentissimī fidēlissimīque custōdis prīncipālium opum facultātēs adiuvāre contigisset".To this is joined: 'Since no more welcome occasion for liberality could be presented to the senate and Roman people than if it fell to them to augment the means of the most disinterested and loyal guardian of the imperial wealth'. Ep. 8.6.7Hoc tunc vōtum senātūs, hoc praecipuum gaudium populī, haec līberālitātis māteria grātissima, sī Pallantis facultātēs adiuvāre pūblicārum opum ēgestiōne contingeret.This, then, was the prayer of the senate, this the chief joy of the people, this the most welcome occasion for liberality: if it should fall to them to augment the means of Pallas by draining the public wealth. Ep. 8.6.8Iam quae sequuntur?Now, what follows? Ep. 8.6.8Voluisse quidem senātum cēnsēre dandum ex aerāriō sēstertium centiēs quīnquāgiēs et quantō ab eius modī cupiditātibus remōtior eius animus esset, tantō impēnsius petere ā pūblicō parente, ut eum compelleret ad cēdendum senātuī.That the senate had wished to vote that fifteen million sesterces be given him from the treasury, and that, the further removed his mind was from desires of that kind, the more earnestly it begged the father of the state to compel him to yield to the senate.
Ep. 8.6.9Id vērō dēerat, ut cum Pallante auctōritāte pūblicā agerētur, Pallās rogārētur ut senātuī cēderet, ut illī superbissimae abstinentiae Caesar ipse patrōnus, ipse advocārētur, nē sēstertium centiēs quīnquāgiēs sperneret.This indeed was all that was lacking: that Pallas should be dealt with by public authority, that Pallas should be asked to yield to the senate, that Caesar himself, his patron, should himself be called in as advocate against that most arrogant self-restraint, so that he should not scorn fifteen million sesterces. Ep. 8.6.9Sprēvit, quod sōlum potuit tantīs opibus pūblicē oblātīs arrogantius facere, quam sī accēpisset.He did scorn it, which was the only thing he could do, with such wealth offered publicly, more arrogant than if he had accepted it. Ep. 8.6.10Senātus tamen id quoque similis querentī laudibus tulit, hīs quidem verbīs: sed cum prīnceps optimus parēnsque pūblicus rogātus ā Pallante eam partem sententiae, quae pertinēbat ad dandum eī ex aerāriō sēstertium centiēs quīnquāgiēs, remittī voluisset, testārī senātum, et sē libenter ac meritō hanc summam inter reliquōs honōrēs ob fidem dīligentiamque Pallantī dēcernere coepisse, voluntātī tamen prīncipis suī, cui in nūllā rē fās putāret repugnāre, in hāc quoque rē obsequī.Yet the senate bore this too with praises, as if complaining, and indeed in these words: but since the best of emperors and father of the state, at the request of Pallas, had wished that part of the motion which concerned giving him fifteen million sesterces from the treasury to be dropped, the senate declared that it had begun to decree this sum to Pallas, among his other honours, willingly and deservedly on account of his loyalty and diligence, but that it complied in this matter too with the will of its emperor, whom it thought it unlawful to oppose in anything.
Ep. 8.6.11Imāgināre Pallantem velut intercēdentem senātūs cōnsultō moderantemque honōrēs suōs et sēstertium centiēs quīnquāgiēs ut nimium recūsantem, cum praetōria ōrnāmenta tamquam minus recēpisset;Picture Pallas, as it were, vetoing a decree of the senate and moderating his own honours, and refusing fifteen million sesterces as too much, when he had accepted the insignia of a praetor as if they were less; Ep. 8.6.12Imāgināre Caesarem lībertī precibus vel potius imperiō cōram senātū obtemperantem - imperat enim lībertus patrōnō, quem in senātū rogat -;picture Caesar obeying the entreaties, or rather the command, of a freedman in the presence of the senate — for a freedman commands his patron when he makes a request of him in the senate —; Ep. 8.6.12Imāgināre senātum usquequāque testantem meritō libenterque sē hanc summam inter reliquōs honōrēs Pallantī coepisse dēcernere et persevērātūrum fuisse, nisi obsequerētur prīncipis voluntātī, cui nōn esset fās in ūllā rē repugnāre.picture the senate declaring at every turn that it had begun, deservedly and willingly, to decree this sum to Pallas among his other honours, and would have persisted, had it not been complying with the will of the emperor, whom it was unlawful to oppose in anything.
Ep. 8.6.12Ita nē sēstertium centiēs quīnquāgiēs Pallās ex aerāriō ferret, verēcundiā ipsīus obsequiō senātūs opus fuit in hoc praecipuē nōn obsecūtūrī, sī in ūllā rē putāsset fās esse nōn obsequī.Thus, to keep Pallas from carrying off fifteen million sesterces from the treasury, there was need of his own modesty and of the senate's obedience, a senate that would especially not have obeyed in this, had it thought it lawful not to obey in anything. Ep. 8.6.13Fīnem exīstimās?Do you think this is the end? Ep. 8.6.13Māne dum et maiōra accipe: "Utique, cum sit ūtile prīncipis benignitātem promptissimam ad laudem praemiaque merentium illūstrārī ubīque et maximē iīs locīs, quibus incitārī ad imitātiōnem praepositī rērum eius cūrae possent, et Pallantis spectātissima fidēs atque innocentia exemplō prōvocāre studium tam honestae aemulātiōnis posset, ea quae X. Kal.Wait a little and hear greater things still: 'And whereas it is expedient that the emperor's generosity, most ready to praise and reward the deserving, should be made known everywhere, and above all in those places where those placed in charge of his affairs might be spurred to imitation, and whereas the most proven loyalty and integrity of Pallas might by its example arouse zeal for so honourable an emulation, that the matters which on the tenth day before the Kalends Ep. 8.6.13Februāriās quae proximae fuissent in amplissimō ōrdine optimus prīnceps recitāsset senātūsque cōnsulta dē iīs rēbus facta in aere inciderentur, idque aes fīgerētur ad statuam lōrīcātam dīvī Iūliī".of February last the best of emperors had read out in the most distinguished order, and the decrees of the senate passed concerning them, should be engraved on bronze, and that this bronze should be fixed beside the armoured statue of the deified Julius'.
Ep. 8.6.14Parum vīsum tantōrum dēdecorum esse cūriam testem: dēlēctus est celeberrimus locus, in quō legenda praesentibus, legenda futūrīs prōderentur.It seemed too little for the senate house to be witness of such great disgraces: a most frequented place was chosen, in which they might be published for those now living to read and for those to come to read. Ep. 8.6.14Placuit aere signārī omnēs honōrēs fastīdiōsissimī mancipiī, quōsque repudiāsset quōsque quantum ad dēcernentēs pertinet gessit.It was resolved that all the honours of that most disdainful slave should be recorded in bronze, both those he had refused and those which, as far as the voters were concerned, he held. Ep. 8.6.14Incīsa et īnsculpta sunt pūblicīs aeternīsque monumentīs praetōria ōrnāmenta Pallantis, sīc quasi foedera antīqua, sīc quasi sacrae lēgēs.The praetorian insignia of Pallas were carved and engraved on public and everlasting monuments, as if they were ancient treaties, as if they were sacred laws. Ep. 8.6.15Tanta prīncipis, tanta senātūs, tanta Pallantis ipsīus - quid dīcam nesciō, ut vellent in oculīs omnium fīgī Pallās īnsolentiam suam, patientiam Caesar, humilitātem senātūs.So great was the emperor's, so great the senate's, so great Pallas's own — I do not know what to call it — that they wished to be fixed before the eyes of all: Pallas his insolence, Caesar his complaisance, the senate its abasement.
Ep. 8.6.15Nec puduit ratiōnem turpitūdinī obtendere, ēgregiam quidem pulchramque ratiōnem, ut exemplō Pallantis praemiōrum ad studium aemulātiōnis cēterī prōvocārentur.Nor were they ashamed to put forward a reason to cover their shame, an excellent and fine reason indeed: that by the example of Pallas's rewards others might be spurred to zeal for emulation. Ep. 8.6.16Ea honōrum vīlitās erat, illōrum etiam quōs Pallās nōn dēdignābātur.Such was the cheapness of honours, even of those which Pallas did not disdain. Ep. 8.6.16Inveniēbantur tamen honestō locō nātī, quī peterent cuperentque quod darī lībertō prōmittī servīs vidēbant.Yet men of respectable birth were found who sought and coveted what they saw being given to a freedman and promised to slaves. Ep. 8.6.17Quam iuvat quod in tempora illa nōn incidī, quōrum sīc mē tamquam illīs vīxerim pudet!How glad I am that my life did not fall in those times, of which I am as ashamed as if I had lived in them! Ep. 8.6.17Nōn dubitō similiter afficī tē.I do not doubt that you are affected in the same way. Ep. 8.6.17Sciō quam sit tibi vīvus et ingenuus animus: ideō facilius est ut mē;I know how lively and generous a spirit you have: so it is the more likely that you feel as I do; Ep. 8.6.17quamquam indignātiōnem quibusdam in locīs fortasse ultrā epistulae modum extulerim, parum doluisse quam nimis crēdās.although in some places I may perhaps have carried my indignation beyond the limits of a letter, you should believe that I have felt too little pain rather than too much.
Ep. 8.6.17Valē.Farewell.