Marcus Tullius Cicero→Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus|c. 43 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Mutina|AI-assisted
It matters very much at what moment this letter is delivered to you: whether you are under some anxiety, or free from every trouble. So I instructed the man I sent to you to watch for the right time to give you the letter. Just as people who come to us in person at the wrong moment are often troublesome, so letters offend when they are delivered out of season.
But if, as I hope, nothing is troubling you and nothing is hindering you, and if the man I entrusted with the letter has chosen a suitably tactful moment to approach you, I am confident that I shall easily obtain from you what I want.
Lucius Lamia is running for the praetorship. Of all men, he is one of those I use most closely. There is a long-standing and intimate friendship between us, and, what matters most, nothing is more delightful to me than his company. Beyond that, I am bound to him by a great kindness and a great service. In the Clodian crisis, when he was the leading man of the equestrian order and fought most vigorously for my safety, the consul Gabinius banished him from Rome. Until then, that had never happened to a Roman citizen at Rome.
Since the Roman people remembers this, it would be disgraceful for me not to remember it. So persuade yourself of this, my dear Brutus: I am the one running for the praetorship. Lamia, of course, has the highest distinction and the greatest popularity because of the splendid generosity of his aedileship. Even so, as if none of that existed, I have taken the whole business on myself.
Now, if you value me as much as I am sure you do, since you control the equestrian centuries, where you reign outright, send to our friend Lupus and have him secure those centuries for us. I will not detain you any longer. I will put at the end what I feel: though I expect everything from you, Brutus, there is nothing you can do that would please me more than this.
DCCCLXXXIV (Fam. XI, 16) TO DECIMUS BRUTUS (AT EPOREDIA) ROME (MAY-JUNE) IT is of very great importance at what time you receive this letter-whether when you are suffering any anxiety or when you are free from all distress. Accordingly, I have instructed the bearer to be careful as to the time of its delivery. For just as in personal intercourse those who visit us at an inconvenient time are often troublesome, so do letters cause annoyance if delivered unseasonably. If, however, as I hope, nothing is vexing or hampering you, and if the messenger charged with it selects the time of approaching you with tact and discretion, I feel confident that I shall have no difficulty in obtaining from you what I desire. Lucius Lamia is a candidate for the praetorship. I am particularly intimate with him. There is a friendship of very old standing and very close between us, and what is of the greatest weight of all is that he is supremely delightful in a social point of view. Besides that, I am under great obligations to him for kindness and good offices. For in the Clodian period, being at the head of the equestrian order and fighting with the greatest gallantry in defence of my safety, he was banished from Rome by the consul Gabinius , a thing that had never before that time happened to any Roman citizen at Rome . When the Roman people remembers this, it is most discreditable that I should forget it. Therefore, my dear Brutus , persuade yourself that I am a candidate for the praetorship: for though Lamia is in a brilliant position and extremely popular, and conducted his aedileship with most magnificent liberality, yet I have taken up his cause as if these things were not so. In these circumstances, if you value me as highly as I feel sure you do, since you control certain centuries of the equites, among whom you are all-powerful, send word to our friend Lupus to secure the votes of those centuries for us. Though there is nothing that I do not expect from you, Brutus , yet there is nothing in which you can more oblige me than this.
XVI. Scr. mense incerto (exeunte Aprili?) a.u.c. 711. M. CICERO D. BRUTO COS. DESIG. S. D.
Permagni interest, quo tibi haec tempore epistula reddita sit, utrum cum sollicitudinis aliquid haberes, an cum ab omni molestia vacuus esses: itaque ei praecepi, quem ad te misi, ut tempus observaret epistulae tibi reddendae: nam, quemadmodum coram, qui ad nos intempestive adeunt, molesti saepe sunt, sic epistulae offendunt non loco redditae; si autem, ut spero, nihil te perturbat, nihil impedit, et ille, cui mandavi satis scite et commode tempus ad te cepit adeundi, confido me, quod velim, facile a te impetraturum. L. Lamia praeturam petit. Hoc ego utor uno omnium plurimum: magna vetustas, magna consuetudo intercedit, quodque plurimum valet, nihil mihi eius est familiaritate iucundius. Magno praeterea beneficio eius magnoque merito sum obligatus; nam Clodianis temporibus, cum equestris ordinis princeps esset proque mea salute acerrime propugnaret, a Gabinio consule relegatus est, quod ante id tempus civi Romano Romae contigit nemini. Hoc cum populus Romanus meminit, me ipsum non meminisse turpissimum est. Quapropter persuade tibi, mi Brute, me petere praeturam; quamquam enim Lamia summo splendore, summa gratia est magnificentissimo munere aedilicio, tamen, quasi ea ita non essent, ego suscepi totum negotium. Nunc si me tanti facis, quanti certi facis, quoniam equitum centurias tenes, in quibus regnas, mitte ad Lupum nostrum, ut is nobis eas enturias conficiat. Non tenebo te pluribus; ponam in extremo, quod sentio: nihil est, Brute, cum omnia a te exspectem, quod mihi gratius facere possis.
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It matters very much at what moment this letter is delivered to you: whether you are under some anxiety, or free from every trouble. So I instructed the man I sent to you to watch for the right time to give you the letter. Just as people who come to us in person at the wrong moment are often troublesome, so letters offend when they are delivered out of season.
But if, as I hope, nothing is troubling you and nothing is hindering you, and if the man I entrusted with the letter has chosen a suitably tactful moment to approach you, I am confident that I shall easily obtain from you what I want.
Lucius Lamia is running for the praetorship. Of all men, he is one of those I use most closely. There is a long-standing and intimate friendship between us, and, what matters most, nothing is more delightful to me than his company. Beyond that, I am bound to him by a great kindness and a great service. In the Clodian crisis, when he was the leading man of the equestrian order and fought most vigorously for my safety, the consul Gabinius banished him from Rome. Until then, that had never happened to a Roman citizen at Rome.
Since the Roman people remembers this, it would be disgraceful for me not to remember it. So persuade yourself of this, my dear Brutus: I am the one running for the praetorship. Lamia, of course, has the highest distinction and the greatest popularity because of the splendid generosity of his aedileship. Even so, as if none of that existed, I have taken the whole business on myself.
Now, if you value me as much as I am sure you do, since you control the equestrian centuries, where you reign outright, send to our friend Lupus and have him secure those centuries for us. I will not detain you any longer. I will put at the end what I feel: though I expect everything from you, Brutus, there is nothing you can do that would please me more than this.
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
XVI. Scr. mense incerto (exeunte Aprili?) a.u.c. 711. M. CICERO D. BRUTO COS. DESIG. S. D.
Permagni interest, quo tibi haec tempore epistula reddita sit, utrum cum sollicitudinis aliquid haberes, an cum ab omni molestia vacuus esses: itaque ei praecepi, quem ad te misi, ut tempus observaret epistulae tibi reddendae: nam, quemadmodum coram, qui ad nos intempestive adeunt, molesti saepe sunt, sic epistulae offendunt non loco redditae; si autem, ut spero, nihil te perturbat, nihil impedit, et ille, cui mandavi satis scite et commode tempus ad te cepit adeundi, confido me, quod velim, facile a te impetraturum. L. Lamia praeturam petit. Hoc ego utor uno omnium plurimum: magna vetustas, magna consuetudo intercedit, quodque plurimum valet, nihil mihi eius est familiaritate iucundius. Magno praeterea beneficio eius magnoque merito sum obligatus; nam Clodianis temporibus, cum equestris ordinis princeps esset proque mea salute acerrime propugnaret, a Gabinio consule relegatus est, quod ante id tempus civi Romano Romae contigit nemini. Hoc cum populus Romanus meminit, me ipsum non meminisse turpissimum est. Quapropter persuade tibi, mi Brute, me petere praeturam; quamquam enim Lamia summo splendore, summa gratia est magnificentissimo munere aedilicio, tamen, quasi ea ita non essent, ego suscepi totum negotium. Nunc si me tanti facis, quanti certi facis, quoniam equitum centurias tenes, in quibus regnas, mitte ad Lupum nostrum, ut is nobis eas enturias conficiat. Non tenebo te pluribus; ponam in extremo, quod sentio: nihil est, Brute, cum omnia a te exspectem, quod mihi gratius facere possis.