Marcus Tullius Cicero→Publius Sulpicius Rufus|c. 50 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|Human translated
I commend to you Gaius Ateius Capito, a man of the highest integrity and learning, most closely connected with me. I ask you to protect his interests in your province with the greatest care and to treat him with all the honor and generosity his merits deserve. This will be most welcome to me, and you will find him worthy of your friendship and your esteem.
DXXVIII (Fam. XIII, 77) TO P. SULPICIUS RUFUS (IN ILLYRICUM) ROME (AUTUMN) Marcus Cicero sends warmest greeting to Publius Sulpicius , imperator. Though in these times it is not my custom to appear often in the senate, yet, when I read your letter, I made up my mind that I could not omit supporting the honour proposed for you, with due regard to the claims of our old friendship and of the many acts of kindness that have passed between us. Accordingly, I attended and had great pleasure in voting for the supplicatio in your honour, nor in the future will I at any time fail to support your interests, character, or public position. So, that your family may be aware of this feeling of mine towards you, pray write and tell them that in anything you need they should not hesitate to inform me of it as a matter of right. I strongly commend Marcus Bolanus to you as an excellent and gallant man, highly accomplished in every way, and an old friend of my own. You will much oblige me if you will take care to make him understand that this introduction has been of great service to him. He will himself convince you of his excellent character and grateful disposition: and I promise you that you will reap great pleasure from his friendship. Once more I beg you with more than common earnestness, in the name of our friendship and your unbroken zeal in my service, to bestow some pains on the following matter also. Dionysius , a slave of mine who had the care of my library, worth a large sum of money, having purloined a large number of books, and thinking that he could not escape punishment, absconded. He is in your province: my friend Marcus Bolanus and many others saw him at Narona ; but they believed his assertion that I had given him his freedom. If you would take the trouble to restore this man to me, I can't tell you how much obliged I shall be to you. It is a small matter in itself; yet my vexation is serious. Bolanus will inform you where he is and what can be done. If I recover the man by your means, I shall consider myself to have received a great kindness at your hands.
LXXVII. Scr. Romae mense Sextili a.u.c. 709. M. CICERO S. D. P. SULPICIO IMPERATORI.
Quum his temporibus non sane in senatum ventitarem, tamen, ut tuas litteras legi, non existimavi me salvo iure nostrae veteris amicitiae multorumque inter nos officiorum facere posse, ut honori tuo deessem; itaque affui supplicationemque tibi libenter decrevi, nec reliquo tempore ullo aut rei aut existimationi aut dignitati tuae deero. Atque, hoc ut tui necessarii sciant, hoc me animo erga te esse, velim facias eos per litteras certiores, ut, si quid tibi opus sit, ne dubitent mihi iure suo denuntiare. M. Bolanum, virum bonum et fortem et omnibus rebus ornatum meumque veterem amicum, tibi magno opere commendo. Pergratum mihi feceris, si curaris, ut is intelligat, hanc commendationem sibi magno adiumento fuisse, ipsumque virum optimum gratissimumque cognosces: promitto tibi te ex eius amicitia magnam voluptatem esse capturum. Praeterea a te peto in maiorem modum pro nostra amicitia et pro tuo perpetuo in me studio, ut in hac re etiam elabores: Dionysius, servus meus, qui meam bibliothecen multorum nummorum tractavit, quum multos libros surripuisset nec se impune laturum putaret, aufugit. Is est in provincia tua: eum et M. Bolanus, meus familiaris, et multi alii Naronae viderunt, sed, quum se a me manumissum esse diceret, crediderunt. Hunc tu si mihi restituendum curaris, non possum dicere, quam mihi gratum futurum sit: res ipsa parva, sed animi mei dolor magnus est. Ubi sit et quid fieri possit, Bolanus te docebit: ego si hominem per te recuperaro, summo me a te beneficio affectum arbitrabor.
◆
I commend to you Gaius Ateius Capito, a man of the highest integrity and learning, most closely connected with me. I ask you to protect his interests in your province with the greatest care and to treat him with all the honor and generosity his merits deserve. This will be most welcome to me, and you will find him worthy of your friendship and your esteem.
Human translation - ToposText / Shuckburgh
Latin / Greek Original
LXXVII. Scr. Romae mense Sextili a.u.c. 709. M. CICERO S. D. P. SULPICIO IMPERATORI.
Quum his temporibus non sane in senatum ventitarem, tamen, ut tuas litteras legi, non existimavi me salvo iure nostrae veteris amicitiae multorumque inter nos officiorum facere posse, ut honori tuo deessem; itaque affui supplicationemque tibi libenter decrevi, nec reliquo tempore ullo aut rei aut existimationi aut dignitati tuae deero. Atque, hoc ut tui necessarii sciant, hoc me animo erga te esse, velim facias eos per litteras certiores, ut, si quid tibi opus sit, ne dubitent mihi iure suo denuntiare. M. Bolanum, virum bonum et fortem et omnibus rebus ornatum meumque veterem amicum, tibi magno opere commendo. Pergratum mihi feceris, si curaris, ut is intelligat, hanc commendationem sibi magno adiumento fuisse, ipsumque virum optimum gratissimumque cognosces: promitto tibi te ex eius amicitia magnam voluptatem esse capturum. Praeterea a te peto in maiorem modum pro nostra amicitia et pro tuo perpetuo in me studio, ut in hac re etiam elabores: Dionysius, servus meus, qui meam bibliothecen multorum nummorum tractavit, quum multos libros surripuisset nec se impune laturum putaret, aufugit. Is est in provincia tua: eum et M. Bolanus, meus familiaris, et multi alii Naronae viderunt, sed, quum se a me manumissum esse diceret, crediderunt. Hunc tu si mihi restituendum curaris, non possum dicere, quam mihi gratum futurum sit: res ipsa parva, sed animi mei dolor magnus est. Ubi sit et quid fieri possit, Bolanus te docebit: ego si hominem per te recuperaro, summo me a te beneficio affectum arbitrabor.