Marcus Tullius Cicero→Publius Silius|c. 50 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Bithynia|Human translated
I commend to you Lucius Genucilius Curvus most warmly. I ask you to receive him among those you protect and to assist him in all his affairs in your province. Whatever you do for him will be most welcome to me.
VII (Fam. XIII, 47) TO P. SILIUS NERVA (IN BITHYNIA) ROME: Why should I recommend one whom you already like? But in spite of that I write this to you that you may thereby be assured that I not only like, but really love him. Of all your services, which are many and great, the most acceptable to me will be your treating Egnatius in such a way as to make him feel that he is loved by me, and I by you. I reiterate this request with warmth. Our plans have no doubt fallen through. Let us console ourselves therefore with the hackneyed reflexion, “perhaps it is all for the best.” But of this when we meet. Go on as you have begun-loving me and feeling certain that I love you.
XLVII. Scr. a.u.c. 703. CICERO SILIO SAL.
Quid ego tibi commendem eum, quem tu ipse diligis? sed tamen, ut scires eum a me non diligi solum, verum etiam amari, ob eam rem tibi haec scribo: omnium tuorum officiorum, quae et multa et magna sunt, mihi gratissimum fuerit, si ita tractaris Egnatium, ut sentiat et se a me et me a te amari; hoc te vehementer etiam atque etiam rogo. Illa nostra scilicet ceciderunt: utamur igitur vulgari consolatione: "quid, si hoc melius?" Sed haec coram: tu fac, quod facis, ut me ames teque amari a me scias.
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I commend to you Lucius Genucilius Curvus most warmly. I ask you to receive him among those you protect and to assist him in all his affairs in your province. Whatever you do for him will be most welcome to me.
Human translation - ToposText / Shuckburgh
Latin / Greek Original
XLVII. Scr. a.u.c. 703. CICERO SILIO SAL.
Quid ego tibi commendem eum, quem tu ipse diligis? sed tamen, ut scires eum a me non diligi solum, verum etiam amari, ob eam rem tibi haec scribo: omnium tuorum officiorum, quae et multa et magna sunt, mihi gratissimum fuerit, si ita tractaris Egnatium, ut sentiat et se a me et me a te amari; hoc te vehementer etiam atque etiam rogo. Illa nostra scilicet ceciderunt: utamur igitur vulgari consolatione: "quid, si hoc melius?" Sed haec coram: tu fac, quod facis, ut me ames teque amari a me scias.