Marcus Tullius Cicero→Gaius Claudius Marcellus|c. 47 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|AI-assisted
I was filled with the greatest joy when I heard that you had been elected consul. I pray that the gods make your office fortunate, and that you administer it in a way worthy of your own standing and that of your ancestors.
If only I could have been at Rome to see that long-desired day and to give you the service and support that your magnificent services and kindness to me deserved. But the unexpected and unlooked-for accident of my having to take a province has deprived me of that opportunity.
Still, so that I may see you as consul actually administering the state in a way worthy of your position, I earnestly ask you to take care that I am not treated unfairly, and that no additional time is added to my one-year term of office. If you do this, you will crown your earlier kindnesses to me abundantly.
CCXVI (Fam. XV, 7) TO L. AEMILIUS PAULLUS (CONSUL-DESIGNATE) (LYCAONIA, SEPTEMBER) THOUGH I never doubted that the Roman people, considering your eminent services to the Republic and the splendid position of your family, would enthusiastically elect you consul by a unanimous vote, yet I had a feeling of intense exultation when the news reached me; and I pray the gods to render your official career fortunate, and that your office may be administered by you in a manner worthy of your own and your ancestors' position. And would that it had been in my power to have been at home to see that most wished — for day, and to have rendered you the service and support which your magnificent services and kindness to me deserved! But since the unexpected and unlooked — for accident of my having to take a province has deprived me of that opportunity, yet, that I may be enabled to see you as consul actually administering the state in a manner worthy of your position, I earnestly beg you to take care to prevent my being treated unfairly, or any additional time being added to my year's term of office. If you do that, you will abundantly crown your former kindnesses to me.
VII. Scr. in castris ad Cybistra Cappadociae inter III. Kal. Sept. et XI. Kal. Oct. a.u.c. 703. M. CICERO PROCOS. S. D. C. MARCELLO COS. DESIG.
Maxime sum laetitia affectus, cum audivi consulem te factum esse, eumque honorem tibi deos fortunare volo atque a te pro tuo parentisque tui dignitate administrari; nam cum te semper amavi dilexique, cum mei amantissimum cognovi in omni varietate rerum mearum, tum patris tui pluribus beneficiis vel defensus tristibus temporibus vel ornatus secundis et sum totus vester et esse debeo, cum praesertim matris tuae, gravissimae atque optimae feminae, maiora erga salutem dignitatemque meam studia, quam erant a muliere postulanda, perspexerim. Quapropter a te peto in maiorem modum, ut me absentem diligas atque defendas.
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I was filled with the greatest joy when I heard that you had been elected consul. I pray that the gods make your office fortunate, and that you administer it in a way worthy of your own standing and that of your ancestors.
If only I could have been at Rome to see that long-desired day and to give you the service and support that your magnificent services and kindness to me deserved. But the unexpected and unlooked-for accident of my having to take a province has deprived me of that opportunity.
Still, so that I may see you as consul actually administering the state in a way worthy of your position, I earnestly ask you to take care that I am not treated unfairly, and that no additional time is added to my one-year term of office. If you do this, you will crown your earlier kindnesses to me abundantly.
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
VII. Scr. in castris ad Cybistra Cappadociae inter III. Kal. Sept. et XI. Kal. Oct. a.u.c. 703. M. CICERO PROCOS. S. D. C. MARCELLO COS. DESIG.
Maxime sum laetitia affectus, cum audivi consulem te factum esse, eumque honorem tibi deos fortunare volo atque a te pro tuo parentisque tui dignitate administrari; nam cum te semper amavi dilexique, cum mei amantissimum cognovi in omni varietate rerum mearum, tum patris tui pluribus beneficiis vel defensus tristibus temporibus vel ornatus secundis et sum totus vester et esse debeo, cum praesertim matris tuae, gravissimae atque optimae feminae, maiora erga salutem dignitatemque meam studia, quam erant a muliere postulanda, perspexerim. Quapropter a te peto in maiorem modum, ut me absentem diligas atque defendas.