Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Titius|c. 50 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|AI-assisted
Although I do not doubt that my first recommendation still has enough weight with you, I yield to the wishes of a very close friend, Gaius Avianius Flaccus. For his sake I not only want everything possible, but, by Hercules, I also owe it.
I spoke carefully with you about him in person, and you answered me with the greatest kindness. I also wrote to you before in detail. But he thinks it matters to him that I write to you as often as possible. So I would like you to forgive me if, while obeying his wishes, I seem to remember your constancy less than I should.
What I ask of you is the same as before: accommodate Avianius about both the place where he may unload his grain and the time for doing it. He obtained both through me for three years while Pompey was in charge of that business. The chief thing by which you can most oblige me is this: make sure that, since Avianius thinks himself loved by me, he knows that I am loved by you. That will be deeply pleasing to me.
CLXXVII (Fam. XIII, 75) TO TITUS TITIUS, A LEGATUS ROME: Though I have no doubt that my first introduction retains its full value in your eyes, I yet yield to the request of a man with whom I am very intimate, C. Avianius Flaccus , for whose sake I not only desire, but am in duty bound to secure every possible favour. In regard to him I both spoke earnestly to you in a personal interview — on which occasion you answered me with the greatest kindness — and have written with full particulars to you on a previous occasion; but he thinks it to his interest that I should write to you as often as possible. Wherefore I would have you pardon me if in compliance with his wishes, I shall appear to be at all forgetful of the stability of your character. What I beg of you is this — that you would accommodate Avianius as to the place and time for landing his corn: for which he obtained by my influence a three years' licence whilst Pompey was at the head of that business. The chief thing is — and you can therein lay me under the greatest obligation — that you should have convinced Avianius that I enjoy your affection, since he thinks himself secure of mine. You will greatly oblige me by doing this.
LXXV. Scr. Romae a.u.c. 701. M. CICERO T. TITIO T. F. LEG. S. D.
Etsi non dubito, quin apud te mea commendatio prima satis valeat, tamen obsequor homini familiarissimo, C. Avianio Flacco, cuius causa omnia quum cupio, tum mehercule etiam debeo: de quo et praesens tecum egi diligenter, quum tu mihi humanissime respondisti, et scripsi ad te accurate antea, sed putat interesse sua me ad te quam saepissime scribere; quare velim mihi ignoscas, si illius voluntati obtemperans minus videbor meminisse constantiae tuae: a te idem illud peto, ut et de loco, quo deportet frumentum, et de tempore Avianio commodes, quorum utrumque per eundem me obtinuit triennium, dum Pompeius isti negotio praefuit. Summa est, in quo mihi gratissimum facere possis, si curaris, ut Avianius, quoniam se a me amari putat, me a te amari sciat: erit id mihi pergratum.
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Although I do not doubt that my first recommendation still has enough weight with you, I yield to the wishes of a very close friend, Gaius Avianius Flaccus. For his sake I not only want everything possible, but, by Hercules, I also owe it.
I spoke carefully with you about him in person, and you answered me with the greatest kindness. I also wrote to you before in detail. But he thinks it matters to him that I write to you as often as possible. So I would like you to forgive me if, while obeying his wishes, I seem to remember your constancy less than I should.
What I ask of you is the same as before: accommodate Avianius about both the place where he may unload his grain and the time for doing it. He obtained both through me for three years while Pompey was in charge of that business. The chief thing by which you can most oblige me is this: make sure that, since Avianius thinks himself loved by me, he knows that I am loved by you. That will be deeply pleasing to me.
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
LXXV. Scr. Romae a.u.c. 701. M. CICERO T. TITIO T. F. LEG. S. D.
Etsi non dubito, quin apud te mea commendatio prima satis valeat, tamen obsequor homini familiarissimo, C. Avianio Flacco, cuius causa omnia quum cupio, tum mehercule etiam debeo: de quo et praesens tecum egi diligenter, quum tu mihi humanissime respondisti, et scripsi ad te accurate antea, sed putat interesse sua me ad te quam saepissime scribere; quare velim mihi ignoscas, si illius voluntati obtemperans minus videbor meminisse constantiae tuae: a te idem illud peto, ut et de loco, quo deportet frumentum, et de tempore Avianio commodes, quorum utrumque per eundem me obtinuit triennium, dum Pompeius isti negotio praefuit. Summa est, in quo mihi gratissimum facere possis, si curaris, ut Avianius, quoniam se a me amari putat, me a te amari sciat: erit id mihi pergratum.