Quintus was a poet, as well as his brother—­nay, a better poet, in the latter’s estimation, or at least he was polite enough to say so more than once.  In quantity, at least, if not in quality, the younger must have been a formidable rival, for he wrote, as appears from one of these letters, four tragedies in fifteen days—­possibly translations only from the Greek.

One of the most remarkable of all Cicero’s letters, and perhaps that which does him most credit both as a man and a statesman, is one which he wrote to his brother, who was at the time governor of Asia.  Indeed, it is much more than a letter; it is rather a grave and carefully weighed paper of instructions on the duties of such a position.  It is full of sound practical sense, and lofty principles of statesmanship—­very different from the principles which too commonly ruled the conduct of Roman governors abroad.  The province which had fallen to the lot of Quintus Cicero was one of the richest belonging to the Empire, and which presented the greatest temptations and the greatest facilities for the abuse of power to selfish purposes.  Though called Asia, it consisted only of the late kingdom of Pergamus, and had come under the dominion of Rome, not by conquest, as was the case with most of the provinces, but by way of legacy from Attalus, the last of its kings; who, after murdering most of his own relations, had named the Roman people as his heirs.  The seat of government was at Ephesus.  The population was of a very mixed character, consisting partly of true Asiatics, and partly of Asiatic Greeks, the descendants of the old colonists, and containing also a large Roman element—­merchants who were there for purposes of trade, many of them bankers and money-lenders, and speculators who farmed the imperial taxes, and were by no means scrupulous in the matter of fleecing the provincials.  These latter—­the ‘Publicani’, as they were termed—­might prove very dangerous enemies to any too zealous reformer.  If the Roman governor there really wished to do his duty, what with the combined servility and double-dealing of the Orientals, the proverbial lying of the Greeks, and the grasping injustice of the Roman officials, he had a very difficult part to play.  How Quintus had been playing it is not quite clear.  His brother, in this admirable letter, assumes that he had done all that was right, and urges him to maintain the same course.  But the advice would hardly have been needed if all had gone well hitherto.

“You will find little trouble in holding your subordinates in check, if you can but keep a check upon yourself.  So long as you resist gain, and pleasure, and all other temptations, as I am sure you do, I cannot fancy there will be any danger of your not being able to check a dishonest merchant or an extortionate collector.  For even the Greeks, when they see you living thus, will look upon you as some hero from their old annals, or some supernatural being from heaven, come down into their province.