Marcus Tullius Cicero→Gaius Claudius Marcellus|c. 47 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome|AI-assisted
Since the dearest wish of my heart has come true, I ask you for a favor that is very easy for you to grant, since I believe the senate is not unwilling. Of all the Marcelli, and even the Marcellini, the goodwill of your whole family and name toward me has always been extraordinary. Now you hold the consulship in which you can satisfy the views of all your family, and it happens also to be the consulship in which my public services and the glory and distinction attached to them have fallen. I ask you, when my dispatch is read, to see that a decree of the senate is passed in the most complimentary terms possible.
If the ties between you and me had been less than those between me and all the members of your family, I would have made them my spokesmen to you, men by whom, as you know well, I am regarded with special affection. Your father's services to me are very great; no one could have been a warmer friend to my personal safety or political standing. As for your brother, I do not think anyone fails to know how highly he values me and always has valued me. Your whole house has always honored me with the most important services of every kind. And you yourself have yielded to no member of your family in affection for me.
For that reason I ask you with unusual earnestness to resolve that, so far as it depends on you, I receive the highest possible compliment, and to consider that in voting for a thanksgiving, and in all other matters, you have sufficient reason to defend my reputation.
CCXXXVIII (Fam. XV, 10) TO L. CLAUDIUS MARCELLUS (CONSUL) CILICIA (JANUARY) Since the dearest wish of my heart has come to pass, that of all the Marcelli and even the Marcellini — for the good feeling of your whole family and name towards me has ever been extraordinary — since, I say, it has come to pass that your possession of the consulship enables you to satisfy the views of all your family, that consulship in which it also happens that my public services and the glory and distinction accompanying them have fallen, I ask you a favour which it is very easy for you to grant, since the senate, I believe, is not averse, namely, to see to a senatorial decree being passed in as complimentary terms as possible when my despatch is read. Had the ties between you and me been less than those between me and all the members of your family, I would have made those my spokesmen to you, by whom you know well that I am regarded with special affection. The kindnesses done me by your father are very eminent, nor could anyone have been a warmer friend to my personal safety or my political position. As for your brother, I don't think that there is anyone who does not know how much he values and has ever valued me. In fact, your whole house has always honoured me with the most important services of every kind. Nor, indeed, have you yielded to any of your family in affection for me. Wherefore I ask you, with more than common earnestness, to determine that, as far as you are concerned, I shall receive the highest possible compliment, and to consider that in voting a supplicatio and in all other matters you have sufficient motive for defending my reputation.
X. Scr. in Cilicia mense Ianuario (post XII. Kal. Ian.) a.u.c. 704. M. CICERO IMP. SAL. D. C. MARCELLO C. F. COS.
Quoniam id accidit, quod mihi maxime fuit optatum, ut omnium Marcellorum, Marcellinorum etiam—mirificus enim generis ac nominis vestri fuit erga me semper animus—, quoniam ergo ita accidit, ut omnium vestrum studio tuus consulatus satisfacere posset, in quem meae res gestae lausque et honos earum potissimum incideret, peto a te id, quod facillimum factu est non aspernante, ut confido, senatu, ut quam honorificentissimum senatus consultum litteris meis recitatis faciundum cures. Si mihi tecum minus esset, quam est cum tuis omnibus, allegarem ad te illos, a quibus intelligis me praecipue diligi. Patris tui beneficia in me sunt amplissima; neque enim saluti meae neque honori amicior quisquam dici potest; frater tuus quanti me faciat semperque fecerit, esse hominem, qui ignoret, arbitror neminem; domus tua denique tota me semper omnibus summis officiis prosecuta est; neque vero tu in me diligendo cuiquam concessisti tuorum: quare a te peto in maiorem modum, ut me per te quam ornatissimum velis esse meamque et in supplicatione decernenda et in ceteris rebus existimationem satis tibi esse commendatam putes.
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Since the dearest wish of my heart has come true, I ask you for a favor that is very easy for you to grant, since I believe the senate is not unwilling. Of all the Marcelli, and even the Marcellini, the goodwill of your whole family and name toward me has always been extraordinary. Now you hold the consulship in which you can satisfy the views of all your family, and it happens also to be the consulship in which my public services and the glory and distinction attached to them have fallen. I ask you, when my dispatch is read, to see that a decree of the senate is passed in the most complimentary terms possible.
If the ties between you and me had been less than those between me and all the members of your family, I would have made them my spokesmen to you, men by whom, as you know well, I am regarded with special affection. Your father's services to me are very great; no one could have been a warmer friend to my personal safety or political standing. As for your brother, I do not think anyone fails to know how highly he values me and always has valued me. Your whole house has always honored me with the most important services of every kind. And you yourself have yielded to no member of your family in affection for me.
For that reason I ask you with unusual earnestness to resolve that, so far as it depends on you, I receive the highest possible compliment, and to consider that in voting for a thanksgiving, and in all other matters, you have sufficient reason to defend my reputation.
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
X. Scr. in Cilicia mense Ianuario (post XII. Kal. Ian.) a.u.c. 704. M. CICERO IMP. SAL. D. C. MARCELLO C. F. COS.
Quoniam id accidit, quod mihi maxime fuit optatum, ut omnium Marcellorum, Marcellinorum etiam—mirificus enim generis ac nominis vestri fuit erga me semper animus—, quoniam ergo ita accidit, ut omnium vestrum studio tuus consulatus satisfacere posset, in quem meae res gestae lausque et honos earum potissimum incideret, peto a te id, quod facillimum factu est non aspernante, ut confido, senatu, ut quam honorificentissimum senatus consultum litteris meis recitatis faciundum cures. Si mihi tecum minus esset, quam est cum tuis omnibus, allegarem ad te illos, a quibus intelligis me praecipue diligi. Patris tui beneficia in me sunt amplissima; neque enim saluti meae neque honori amicior quisquam dici potest; frater tuus quanti me faciat semperque fecerit, esse hominem, qui ignoret, arbitror neminem; domus tua denique tota me semper omnibus summis officiis prosecuta est; neque vero tu in me diligendo cuiquam concessisti tuorum: quare a te peto in maiorem modum, ut me per te quam ornatissimum velis esse meamque et in supplicatione decernenda et in ceteris rebus existimationem satis tibi esse commendatam putes.