Marcus Tullius Cicero→Unknown|c. -50 AD|Cicero|Human translated
My friend Nero ^ thanks me in terms of quite astonishing and incredible warmth, saying that no mark of honour which could have been given him was omitted by you. You will be richly rewarded by him, for he is the most grateful young fellow in the world. But, by heaven, I too am exceedingly obliged to you : for of all our men of rank I value none more than him. And so, if you do what he wished me to ask of you, I shall be supremely obliged : first, in the matter of Pausanias of Alabanda, if you would keep the business back till Nero arrives — I have gathered that he is very interested in him, and so I put this request strongly — and next if you would regard as specially commended to your care the people of Nysa,^ whom Nero regards as his special friends and is most energetic in protecting and defending, so that this city may feel that its best protection consists in Nero being its patron. I have often recommended ServiUus Strabo ' to you : I now do so with the greater earnestness that Nero has taken up his case. I only ask you to push on the business, so as not to leave an innocent man a prey to the greed of some governor unlike yourself. This will be a favour to me ; but I shall also consider it an instance of your natural kindness. The upshot of this letter is that you should ad- vance Nero in all possible ways, as you have started doing ^ T. Claudius Nero, the future husband of Livia. He seems to have visited Cicero with a view to marrying Tullia, but was too late, Terentia having already betrothed her to Dolabella. See Letter CCLXXV. - Nysa, in Caria, was known at this time for several eminent philo- sophers and rhetoricians, and was therefore probably visited by Roman youths, and had need of a patronus (Strabo, xiv. 2, §§ 43-48). ^ Nothing is known of this man, apparently. He seems to be a Carian Greek, a freedman of some Servilius. It is a curious coincidence that the geographer Strabo studied at Nysa, and probably not long after this time. II. H 98 CICERO'S LETTERS B.C. 51, ^r. 55 and have done. Your province, unlike this of mine, offers a wide theatre ' for displaying the glorious reputation of a young man of high birth, genius, and disinterested conduct. Wherefore, if he enjoys your support, as I am sure he will do and has done, he will be enabled to secure and bind to his interests most respectable bodies of clients which are a heritage from his ancestors. In this respect, if you give him your assistance, with the man himself you will have made a splendid investment of your kindness, but you will also have exceedingly obliged me.
LXIV. Scr. in Cilicia exeunte anno u.c. 703. M. CICERO S. D. P. SILIO PROPR.
Nero meus mirificas apud me tibi gratias egit, prorsus incredibiles, ut nullum honorem sibi haberi potuisse diceret, qui a te praetermissus esset. Magnum fructum ex ipso capies, nihil est enim illo adolescente gratius; sed mehercule mihi quoque gratissimum fecisti, pluris enim ex omni nobilitate neminem facio. Itaque, si ea feceris, quae ille per me tecum agi voluit, gratissimum mihi feceris: primum de Pausania Alabandensi, sustentes rem, dum Nero veniat—vehementer eius causa cupere eum intellexi; itaque hoc valde te rogo—; deinde Nysaeos, quos Nero in primis habet necessarios diligentissimeque tuetur ac defendit, habeas tibi commendatissimos, ut intelligat illa civitas sibi in Neronis patrocinio summum esse praesidium. Strabonem Servilium tibi saepe commendavi; nunc eo facio id impensius, quod eius causam Nero suscepit. Tantum a te petimus, ut tu agas eam rem, ne relinquas hominem innocentem ad alicuis tui dissimilis quaestum: id quum gratum mihi erit, tum etiam existimabo te humanitate tua esse usum. Summa huius epistulae haec est, ut ornes omnibus rebus Neronem, sicuti instituisti atque fecisti. Magnum theatrum habet ista provincia, non ut haec nostra, ad adolescentis nobilis, ingeniosi, abstinentis commendationem atque gloriam; quare, si te fautore usus erit, sicuti profecto et utetur et usus est, amplissimas clientelas acceptas a maioribus confirmare poterit et beneficiis suis obligare. Hoc in genere si eum adiuveris eo studio, quo ostendisti, apud ipsum praeclarissime posueris, sed mihi etiam gratissimum feceris.
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My friend Nero ^ thanks me in terms of quite astonishing and incredible warmth, saying that no mark of honour which could have been given him was omitted by you. You will be richly rewarded by him, for he is the most grateful young fellow in the world. But, by heaven, I too am exceedingly obliged to you : for of all our men of rank I value none more than him. And so, if you do what he wished me to ask of you, I shall be supremely obliged : first, in the matter of Pausanias of Alabanda, if you would keep the business back till Nero arrives — I have gathered that he is very interested in him, and so I put this request strongly — and next if you would regard as specially commended to your care the people of Nysa,^ whom Nero regards as his special friends and is most energetic in protecting and defending, so that this city may feel that its best protection consists in Nero being its patron. I have often recommended ServiUus Strabo ' to you : I now do so with the greater earnestness that Nero has taken up his case. I only ask you to push on the business, so as not to leave an innocent man a prey to the greed of some governor unlike yourself. This will be a favour to me ; but I shall also consider it an instance of your natural kindness. The upshot of this letter is that you should ad- vance Nero in all possible ways, as you have started doing ^ T. Claudius Nero, the future husband of Livia. He seems to have visited Cicero with a view to marrying Tullia, but was too late, Terentia having already betrothed her to Dolabella. See Letter CCLXXV. - Nysa, in Caria, was known at this time for several eminent philo- sophers and rhetoricians, and was therefore probably visited by Roman youths, and had need of a patronus (Strabo, xiv. 2, §§ 43-48). ^ Nothing is known of this man, apparently. He seems to be a Carian Greek, a freedman of some Servilius. It is a curious coincidence that the geographer Strabo studied at Nysa, and probably not long after this time. II. H 98 CICERO'S LETTERS B.C. 51, ^r. 55 and have done. Your province, unlike this of mine, offers a wide theatre ' for displaying the glorious reputation of a young man of high birth, genius, and disinterested conduct. Wherefore, if he enjoys your support, as I am sure he will do and has done, he will be enabled to secure and bind to his interests most respectable bodies of clients which are a heritage from his ancestors. In this respect, if you give him your assistance, with the man himself you will have made a splendid investment of your kindness, but you will also have exceedingly obliged me.
Latin / Greek Original
LXIV. Scr. in Cilicia exeunte anno u.c. 703. M. CICERO S. D. P. SILIO PROPR.
Nero meus mirificas apud me tibi gratias egit, prorsus incredibiles, ut nullum honorem sibi haberi potuisse diceret, qui a te praetermissus esset. Magnum fructum ex ipso capies, nihil est enim illo adolescente gratius; sed mehercule mihi quoque gratissimum fecisti, pluris enim ex omni nobilitate neminem facio. Itaque, si ea feceris, quae ille per me tecum agi voluit, gratissimum mihi feceris: primum de Pausania Alabandensi, sustentes rem, dum Nero veniat—vehementer eius causa cupere eum intellexi; itaque hoc valde te rogo—; deinde Nysaeos, quos Nero in primis habet necessarios diligentissimeque tuetur ac defendit, habeas tibi commendatissimos, ut intelligat illa civitas sibi in Neronis patrocinio summum esse praesidium. Strabonem Servilium tibi saepe commendavi; nunc eo facio id impensius, quod eius causam Nero suscepit. Tantum a te petimus, ut tu agas eam rem, ne relinquas hominem innocentem ad alicuis tui dissimilis quaestum: id quum gratum mihi erit, tum etiam existimabo te humanitate tua esse usum. Summa huius epistulae haec est, ut ornes omnibus rebus Neronem, sicuti instituisti atque fecisti. Magnum theatrum habet ista provincia, non ut haec nostra, ad adolescentis nobilis, ingeniosi, abstinentis commendationem atque gloriam; quare, si te fautore usus erit, sicuti profecto et utetur et usus est, amplissimas clientelas acceptas a maioribus confirmare poterit et beneficiis suis obligare. Hoc in genere si eum adiuveris eo studio, quo ostendisti, apud ipsum praeclarissime posueris, sed mihi etiam gratissimum feceris.