Marcus Tullius Cicero→Servius Sulpicius Rufus|c. 50 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Achaea|AI-assisted
CICERO TO SERVIUS, GREETINGS.
Although I am accustomed to make requests of you gladly whenever any of my friends has need of something, nevertheless I give you thanks far more gladly when you have done something on my recommendation, as you always do; for it is incredible what thanks all of them render to me, even those who have been recommended to you by me only moderately. All these things are gratifying to me, but in the matter of Lucius Mescinius most gratifying of all; for he spoke with me in this way: that you, as soon as you had read my letter, at once promised everything to his agents, but in fact did much more and greater things. This, then-for I think it must be said to you again and again-I should like you to believe you have done a thing most gratifying to me. And indeed I rejoice at this the more keenly because I see that you will derive great pleasure from Mescinius himself; for there is in him not only virtue and uprightness and the highest sense of duty and the highest attentiveness, but also those studies of ours in which we formerly delighted, and by which now we even live. As for what remains, I should like you to enlarge your kindnesses toward him in every way that shall be worthy of you. There are two matters that I ask of you by name: first, that, if any security must be given, you see to it that security is given on my own good faith, so that NO FURTHER CLAIM BE MADE UNDER THAT HEAD [a Roman legal formula of release from liability]; second, since the inheritance consists almost entirely of those goods which Oppia, who was the wife of Mindius, has made away with, that you assist and devise a plan by which that woman may be brought to Rome: for if she thinks it will turn out so, as is our expectation, we shall complete the business. That we may achieve this, I beg you most earnestly again and again. As for that which I wrote above, this [...] and I take it upon myself that you will so well bestow the things which you have done for Mescinius's sake and which you shall do, that you yourself will judge that you have acted kindly toward a man most grateful and most agreeable to you; for I wish that to what you have done for my sake this too be added.
XXVIIIa. Scr. Romae a.u.c. 708. CICERO SERVIO SAL.
Etsi libenter petere a te soleo, si quid opus est meorum cuipiam, tamen multo libentius gratias tibi ago, quum fecisti aliquid commendatione mea, quod semper facis; incredibile est enim, quas mihi gratias omnes agant, etiam mediocriter a me tibi commendati; quae mihi omnia grata sunt, de L. Mescinio gratissimum; sic enim est mecum locutus, te, ut meas litteras legeris, statim procuratoribus suis pollicitum esse omnia, multo vero plura et maiora fecisse: id igitur—puto enim etiam atque etiam mihi dicendum esse—velim existimes mihi te fecisse gratissimum. Quod quidem hoc vehementius laetor, quod ex ipso Mescinio te video magnam capturum voluptatem; est enim in eo quum virtus et probitas et summum officium summaque observantia, tum studia illa nostra, quibus antea delectabamur, nunc etiam vivimus. Quod reliquum est, velim augeas tua in eum beneficia omnibus rebus, quae te erunt dignae; sunt duo, quae te nominatim rogo: primum, ut, si quid satisdandum erit, AMPLIUS EO NOMINE NON PETI, cures, ut satisdetur fide mea; deinde, quum fere consistat hereditas in iis rebus, quas avertit Oppia, quae uxor Mindii fuit, adiuves ineasque rationem, quemadmodum ea mulier Romam perducatur: quod si putarit illa fore, ut opinio nostra est, negotium conficiemus. Hoc ut assequamur, te vehementer etiam atque etiam rogo: illud, quod supra scripsi, id * * * in meque recipio, te ea, quae fecisti Mescinii causa quaeque feceris, ita bene collocaturum, ut ipse iudices homini te gratissimo, iucundissimo benigne fecisse; volo enim ad id, quod mea causa fecisti, hoc etiam accedere.
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CICERO TO SERVIUS, GREETINGS.
Although I am accustomed to make requests of you gladly whenever any of my friends has need of something, nevertheless I give you thanks far more gladly when you have done something on my recommendation, as you always do; for it is incredible what thanks all of them render to me, even those who have been recommended to you by me only moderately. All these things are gratifying to me, but in the matter of Lucius Mescinius most gratifying of all; for he spoke with me in this way: that you, as soon as you had read my letter, at once promised everything to his agents, but in fact did much more and greater things. This, then-for I think it must be said to you again and again-I should like you to believe you have done a thing most gratifying to me. And indeed I rejoice at this the more keenly because I see that you will derive great pleasure from Mescinius himself; for there is in him not only virtue and uprightness and the highest sense of duty and the highest attentiveness, but also those studies of ours in which we formerly delighted, and by which now we even live. As for what remains, I should like you to enlarge your kindnesses toward him in every way that shall be worthy of you. There are two matters that I ask of you by name: first, that, if any security must be given, you see to it that security is given on my own good faith, so that NO FURTHER CLAIM BE MADE UNDER THAT HEAD [a Roman legal formula of release from liability]; second, since the inheritance consists almost entirely of those goods which Oppia, who was the wife of Mindius, has made away with, that you assist and devise a plan by which that woman may be brought to Rome: for if she thinks it will turn out so, as is our expectation, we shall complete the business. That we may achieve this, I beg you most earnestly again and again. As for that which I wrote above, this [...] and I take it upon myself that you will so well bestow the things which you have done for Mescinius's sake and which you shall do, that you yourself will judge that you have acted kindly toward a man most grateful and most agreeable to you; for I wish that to what you have done for my sake this too be added.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
XXVIIIa. Scr. Romae a.u.c. 708. CICERO SERVIO SAL.
Etsi libenter petere a te soleo, si quid opus est meorum cuipiam, tamen multo libentius gratias tibi ago, quum fecisti aliquid commendatione mea, quod semper facis; incredibile est enim, quas mihi gratias omnes agant, etiam mediocriter a me tibi commendati; quae mihi omnia grata sunt, de L. Mescinio gratissimum; sic enim est mecum locutus, te, ut meas litteras legeris, statim procuratoribus suis pollicitum esse omnia, multo vero plura et maiora fecisse: id igitur—puto enim etiam atque etiam mihi dicendum esse—velim existimes mihi te fecisse gratissimum. Quod quidem hoc vehementius laetor, quod ex ipso Mescinio te video magnam capturum voluptatem; est enim in eo quum virtus et probitas et summum officium summaque observantia, tum studia illa nostra, quibus antea delectabamur, nunc etiam vivimus. Quod reliquum est, velim augeas tua in eum beneficia omnibus rebus, quae te erunt dignae; sunt duo, quae te nominatim rogo: primum, ut, si quid satisdandum erit, AMPLIUS EO NOMINE NON PETI, cures, ut satisdetur fide mea; deinde, quum fere consistat hereditas in iis rebus, quas avertit Oppia, quae uxor Mindii fuit, adiuves ineasque rationem, quemadmodum ea mulier Romam perducatur: quod si putarit illa fore, ut opinio nostra est, negotium conficiemus. Hoc ut assequamur, te vehementer etiam atque etiam rogo: illud, quod supra scripsi, id * * * in meque recipio, te ea, quae fecisti Mescinii causa quaeque feceris, ita bene collocaturum, ut ipse iudices homini te gratissimo, iucundissimo benigne fecisse; volo enim ad id, quod mea causa fecisti, hoc etiam accedere.