Letter 13.21

Marcus Aemilius Avianius has respected and loved me from his earliest youth, a man who is both good and very cultured and most careful in every kind of duty. If I thought he was at Sicyon and did not hear that he was still staying where I left him, at Cibyra, there would be no need for me to write more to you about him; for he would certainly bring it about by his own character and culture that he would be loved by you without anyone's recommendation, no less than by me and his other friends. But since I suppose he is away, I commend to you most earnestly his household at Sicyon and his property, especially his freedman Gaius Avianius Hammonius, whom I commend to you also on his own account. For he has not only won my approval because of his singular devotion and faithfulness to his patron, but he has also rendered great services to me personally, and stood by me in my most troubled times with such loyalty and goodwill as if he had been freed by me. I therefore ask you to protect him in his patron's business as his agent, whom I commend to you, and to esteem and include him among your friends on his own merits. You will find a modest and dutiful man, worthy of your esteem. Farewell.

DXIV (Fam. XIII, 21) TO SERVIUS SULPICIUS RUFUS (IN ACHAIA) ROME: M. Aemilius Avianius has always from his earliest manhood shown me attention and affection. He is both a good and cultivated man, and worthy of your favour in every kind of employment. If I had thought that he was at Sicyon , and had I not been told that he was still staying where I left him at Cibyra , there had been no necessity for my writing at any greater length to you about him. For he would of himself have secured your affection by his own character and culture without anyone's recommendation, in as great a degree as he enjoys mine and that of all his other friends. But as I suppose him to be away, I commend with more than common earnestness his family at Sicyon and his property, especially his freedman C. Avianius Hammonius , whom indeed I commend to you on his own account also. For, while he has earned my esteem by his remarkable loyalty and fidelity to his patron, he has also done me personally some valuable services, and stood by me in the time of my greatest distress with a fidelity and affection as great as though I had myself liberated him. Accordingly, I beg you to support Hammonius for himself; as well as in his patron's business, and to go so far as to like and reckon among your friends both his agent, whom I am commending to you, and Avianius himself. You will find him modest and serviceable, and worthy of your affection. Good-bye.

XXI. Scr. Romae a.u.c. 708. CICERO SERVIO SAL. M. Aemilius Avianius ab ineunte adolescentia me observavit semperque dilexit, vir quum bonus, tum perhumanus et in omni genere officii diligentissimus: quem si arbitrarer esse Sicyone et nisi audirem ibi eum etiam nunc, ubi ego reliqui, Cibyrae commorari, nihil esset necesse plura me ad te de eo scribere; perficeret enim ipse profecto suis moribus suaque humanitate, ut sine cuiusquam commendatione diligeretur abs te non minus quam et a me et a ceteris suis familiaribus; sed, quum illum abesse putem, commendo tibi in maiorem modum domum eius, quae est Sicyone, remque familiarem, maxime C. Avianium Hammonium, libertum eius, quem quidem tibi etiam suo nomine commendo; nam quum propterea mihi est probatus, quod est in patronum suum officio et fide singulari, tum etiam in me ipsum magna officia contulit mihique molestissimis temporibus ita fideliter benevoleque praesto fuit, ut si a me manumissus esset. Itaque peto a te, ut eum et in patroni eius negotio sic tueare, ut eius procuratorem, quem tibi commendo, et ipsum suo nomine diligas habeasque in numero tuorum: hominem pudentem et officiosum cognosces et dignum, qui a te diligatur. Vale.