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my orders; and that money Pompey has used, as Sestius used that which you had deposited. But that, I take it, does not affect you at all. I should, indeed, have been angry with myself for never having thought of adding an entry, to the effect that it was by my orders that you had deposited the money in the Temple, had it not been certified by the most solemn and incontrovertible records to whom that money was assigned, by what decree of the Senate, and by what written instructions on your part or on mine it was handed over to P. Sestius. For when I saw that the whole transaction had been so distinctly and minutely recorded[1] as to admit of no misunderstanding, I did not add an entry in which you were not concerned. And yet I should prefer to have added it, now that I see you regret its omission.
6 It is just as you write, "that you were bound to make that entry"; I am of the same opinion myself; and in that there will be no discrepancy between your accounts and mine. You will, I am sure, add the words "by my orders"—words which I certainly did not add myself; and there is no reason why I should deny the omission, nor should I do so, even if there were a reason, and you objected to my denial.
Again, as to the nine hundred sestertia, the entry was made exactly as you, or else your cousin, wished it to be made. But (since it seemed you were not altogether pleased in the case of Lucceius), if there is any correction I can make even at this late hour in handing in the accounts—well, as regards that, I have to consider, seeing that I did not avail myself of the decree of the Senate,[2] what latitude is allowed me by the laws. At any rate, in the matter of the money collected, it was no business of yours