14 surviving letters between Marcus Tullius Cicero and Quintus Cornificius, spanning 43 BC.
“Your remembrance of me, which you expressed in your letter, is very welcome to me; I ask you to maintain it -- not becau…”
“I shall answer first what came last in the letter I most recently received from you, for I have noticed that you great orators sometimes do this.”
“I read your letter with the greatest pleasure, in which the most delightful thing was learning that mine had been delive…”
“Your letter was welcome, except that you scorned my little inn at Sinuessa.”
“Gaius Anicius, my friend, a man distinguished in every respect, has been appointed legate with a free commission to Afri…”
“Here at Rome we are waging war against that utterly worthless gladiator, our colleague Antony, but on unequal terms: we fight arms with words.”
“Tratorius has explained to me the whole condition of your command and the state of your province.”
“I miss no opportunity, as indeed I should not, not only to praise you but even to secure honors for you.”
“I received your letter on the festival of Liber; Cornificius delivered it, as he said, on the twenty-first day.”
“Quintus Turius, who did business as a banker in Africa, was a good and honorable man.”
“Sextus Aufidius, by the respect with which he honors me, ranks among my closest friends, and in distinction he yields to no Roman knight.”
“I agree with you that the men whom you say are threatening Lilybaeum ought to have been punished there on the spot.”
“Not only you, who know all my affairs intimately, but I think no one in the Roman people is unaware of the close friends…”
“Is that really so?”