Καὶ τὰ πρὸ τούτου δὲ ὁποῖός τις γέγονα περὶ αὐτὸν ἐντεῦθεν εἴσεσθε. αἰσθόμενος, ὅτι τῶν ἁμαρτανομένων κληρονομήσω μὲν αὐτὸς τὴν ἀδοξίαν καὶ τὸν κίνδυνον, ἐξεργασθήσεται δὲ ἑτέροις τὰ πλεῖστα, [D] πρῶτον μὲν ἱκέτευον, εἰ ταῦτα πράττειν αὐτῷ φαίνοιτο καὶ πάντως ἐμὲ προσαγορεύειν καίσαρα δεδογμένον εἴη, ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς καὶ σπουδαίους δοῦναί μοι τοὺς ὑπουργοῦντας· ὁ δὲ πρότερον ἔδωκε τοὺς μοχθηροτάτους. ὡς δὲ ὁ μὲν εἷς ὁ πονηρότατος καὶ μάλα ἄσμενος(476) ὑπήκουσεν, οὐδεὶς δὲ ἠξίου τῶν ἄλλων, ἄνδρα δίδωσιν ἄκων ἐμοὶ καὶ μάλα ἀγαθὸν Σαλούστιον, ὃς διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν εὐθέως αὐτῷ γέγονεν ὕποπτος. οὐκ ἀρκεσθεὶς ἐγὼ τῷ τοιούτῳ, βλέπων δὲ πρὸς τὸ διάφορον τοῦ τρόπου καὶ κατανόησας(477) τῷ μὲν ἄγαν αὐτὸν πιστεύοντα, [282] τῷ δὲ οὐδ᾽ ὅλως προσέχοντα, τῆς δεξιᾶς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν γονάτων ἁψάμενος· Τούτων, ἔφην, οὐδείς ἐστί μοι συνήθης οὐδὲ γέγονεν ἔμπροσθεν· ἐπιστάμενος δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐκ φήμης, σοῦ κελεύσαντος, ἑταίρους ἐμαυτοῦ καὶ φίλους νομίζω, τοῖς πάλαι γνωρίμοις ἐπ᾽ ἴσης τιμῶν. οῦ μὴν δίκαιον ἢ τούτοις ἐπιτετράφθαι τὰ ἐμὰ ἢ τὰ τούτων ἡμῖν συγκινδυνεῦσαι. τί οὖν ἱκετεύω; γραπτοὺς ἡμῖν δὸς ὥσπερ νόμους, [B] τίμων ἀπέχεσθαι χρὴ καὶ ὅσα πράττειν ἐπιτρέπεις. δῆλον γάρ, ὅτι τὸν μὲν πειθόμενον ἐπαινέσεις, τὸν δὲ ἀπειθοῦντα κολάσεις, εἰ καὶ ὅ, τι μάλιστα νομίζω μηδένα ἀπειθήσειν. (And how I behaved to him before that you shall now learn. Since I was well aware that whenever mistakes were made I alone should incur the disgrace and danger, though most of the work was carried on by others, I first of all implored him, if he had made up his mind to that course and was altogether determined to proclaim me Caesar, to give me good and able men to assist me. He however at first gave me the vilest wretches. And when one, the most worthless of them, had very gladly accepted and no one of the others consented, he gave me with a bad grace an officer who was indeed excellent, Sallust, who on account of his virtue has at once fallen under his suspicion. And since I was not satisfied with such an arrangement and saw how his manner to them varied, for I observed that he trusted one of them too much and paid no attention at all to the other, I clasped his right hand and his knees and said: “I have no acquaintance with any of these men nor have had in the past. But I know them by report, and since you bid me I regard them as my comrades and friends and pay them as much respect as I would to old acquaintances. Nevertheless it is not just that my affairs should be entrusted to them or that their fortunes should be hazarded with mine. What then is my petition? Give me some sort of written rules as to what I must avoid and what you entrust to me to perform. For it is clear that you will approve of him who obeys you and punish him who is disobedient, though indeed I am very sure that no one will disobey you.”)