Marcus Tullius Cicero→Marcus Claudius Marcellus|c. 47 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Mytilene|AI-assisted
I am extremely glad that, through Gaius Marcellus's election to the consulship, you have reaped the reward of your loyalty to your family, your spirit toward the republic, and your own brilliant and excellent consulship.
I have no doubt what people at Rome feel. As for me, though I am far away and was sent by your action to the end of the earth, I am praising you to the skies with the most sincere and well-deserved compliments. From boyhood I have had a singular affection for you, and you have always wished and judged me to be a man of the widest influence. By this achievement, whether it is due to you or to the favorable judgment of the Roman people about you, my affection for you has become warmer and stronger.
It gives me the greatest delight when men of the greatest wisdom and highest character tell me that, in word and deed, in tastes and principles, I am like you or you are like me.
If you add one thing to the distinguished achievements of your consulship, either securing someone to succeed me at the earliest possible moment or preventing any addition to the term you defined both by decree of the senate and by law, I will consider that I owe you everything.
Take care of your health, and give me your regard and support while I am absent. The news that has reached me about the Parthians I have decided not to communicate to you as my intimate friend, because I do not think it necessary at present to send an official dispatch about it; and since I am addressing a consul, it might be thought that I was writing officially.
CCXV (Fam. XV, 9) TO M. CLAUDIUS MARCELLUS (CONSUL) (LYCAONIA, SEPTEMBER) I am exceedingly glad that by the election of Gaius Marcellus to the consulate you have reaped the reward of your loyalty to your friends, your patriotic spirit, and your own most brilliant and excellent consulship. I have no doubt about the feelings of those at home: for myself, indeed, distant as I am and sent by your own action to the other end of the earth, I am praising you, by Hercules , up to the skies with the most sincere and well-deserved compliments. For as I have had from boyhood a singular affection for you, while you have ever wished and judged me to be a man of the widest influence, so by this achievement, whether due to yourself or the favourable judgment of the Roman people concerning you, my affection for you has become warmer and stronger, and I feel the greatest delight when I am told by people of the greatest wisdom and men of the highest character, that in word and deed, in tastes and principles, I am like you or you are like me. If you will add one thing to the eminent achievements of your consulship-the securing of some one to succeed me at the earliest possible opportunity, or the prevention of any addition being made to the time which you defined in virtue both of a senatorial decree and of the law — I shall consider that I shall owe you everything. Take care of your health and let me have your regard and support in my absence. The news that has reached me about the Parthians , as I do not think it necessary at present to send an official despatch about them, I have resolved not to communicate to you as my intimate friend, for, as I was addressing a consul, it might be considered that I was writing officially.
IX. Scr. ibidem eodem mense ac fortasse die eiusdem anni. M. CICERO PROCOS. S. D. M. MARCELLO COS.
Te et pietatis in tuos et animi in rem publicam et clarissimi atque optimi consulatus C. Marcello consule facto fructum cepisse vehementer gaudeo. Non dubito, quid praesentes sentiant; nos quidem longinqui et a te ipso missi in ultimas gentes ad caelum mehercule tollimus verissimis ac iustissimis laudibus. Nam, cum te a pueritia tua unice dilexerim tuque me in omni genere semper amplissimum esse et volueris et iudicaris, tum hoc vel tuo facto vel populi Romani de te iudicio multo acrius vehementiusque diligo maximaque laetitia afficior, cum ab hominibus prudentissimis virisque optimis omnibus dictis factis, studiis institutis vel me tui similem esse audio vel te mei. Unum vero si addis ad praeclarissimas res consulatus tui, ut aut mihi succedat quam primum aliquis aut ne quid accedat temporis ad id, quod tu mihi et senatus consulto et lege finisti, omnia me per te consecutum putabo. Cura, ut valeas et me absentem diligas atque defendas. Quae mihi de Parthis nuntiata sunt, quia non putabam a me etiam nunc scribenda esse publice, propterea ne pro familiaritate quidem nostra volui ad te scribere, ne, cum ad consulem scripsissem, publice viderer scripsisse.
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I am extremely glad that, through Gaius Marcellus's election to the consulship, you have reaped the reward of your loyalty to your family, your spirit toward the republic, and your own brilliant and excellent consulship.
I have no doubt what people at Rome feel. As for me, though I am far away and was sent by your action to the end of the earth, I am praising you to the skies with the most sincere and well-deserved compliments. From boyhood I have had a singular affection for you, and you have always wished and judged me to be a man of the widest influence. By this achievement, whether it is due to you or to the favorable judgment of the Roman people about you, my affection for you has become warmer and stronger.
It gives me the greatest delight when men of the greatest wisdom and highest character tell me that, in word and deed, in tastes and principles, I am like you or you are like me.
If you add one thing to the distinguished achievements of your consulship, either securing someone to succeed me at the earliest possible moment or preventing any addition to the term you defined both by decree of the senate and by law, I will consider that I owe you everything.
Take care of your health, and give me your regard and support while I am absent. The news that has reached me about the Parthians I have decided not to communicate to you as my intimate friend, because I do not think it necessary at present to send an official dispatch about it; and since I am addressing a consul, it might be thought that I was writing officially.
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
IX. Scr. ibidem eodem mense ac fortasse die eiusdem anni. M. CICERO PROCOS. S. D. M. MARCELLO COS.
Te et pietatis in tuos et animi in rem publicam et clarissimi atque optimi consulatus C. Marcello consule facto fructum cepisse vehementer gaudeo. Non dubito, quid praesentes sentiant; nos quidem longinqui et a te ipso missi in ultimas gentes ad caelum mehercule tollimus verissimis ac iustissimis laudibus. Nam, cum te a pueritia tua unice dilexerim tuque me in omni genere semper amplissimum esse et volueris et iudicaris, tum hoc vel tuo facto vel populi Romani de te iudicio multo acrius vehementiusque diligo maximaque laetitia afficior, cum ab hominibus prudentissimis virisque optimis omnibus dictis factis, studiis institutis vel me tui similem esse audio vel te mei. Unum vero si addis ad praeclarissimas res consulatus tui, ut aut mihi succedat quam primum aliquis aut ne quid accedat temporis ad id, quod tu mihi et senatus consulto et lege finisti, omnia me per te consecutum putabo. Cura, ut valeas et me absentem diligas atque defendas. Quae mihi de Parthis nuntiata sunt, quia non putabam a me etiam nunc scribenda esse publice, propterea ne pro familiaritate quidem nostra volui ad te scribere, ne, cum ad consulem scripsissem, publice viderer scripsisse.