Lucius Munatius Plancus→Marcus Tullius Cicero|c. 43 BC|Cicero|From Gaul|To Rome|AI-assisted
Your letters were very welcome to me, and I saw that you had written them because of what Furnius told you. My excuse for not writing earlier is that I had heard you had left the country, and I did not learn of your return much before your own letter informed me of it. I say this because I think I could not omit even the smallest attention to you without the gravest fault. I have many reasons for preserving that duty: the close ties between our fathers, the respect for you that began in my childhood, and your affection for me in return.
So, my dear Cicero, insofar as our respective ages allow it, persuade yourself that you are the one man whose company has enabled me to maintain the upright life my father set before me. The advice you give me therefore seems inspired not only by wisdom, though in that you stand supreme, but also by loyal friendship, which I measure by the man himself.
If I had been thinking differently, your rebuke would have been enough to stop me. If I had been hesitating, your encouragement would have been enough to drive me toward the course you judged most honorable. As it is, what is there to pull me another way? Whatever advantages I possess, whether granted by fortune's kindness or won by my own labor, are, even in the judgment of my bitterest opponent, great enough to lack nothing except the good opinion of the world, though your affection makes you value them with partial kindness.
If you were ever certain of anything, be certain of this: whatever effort my strength can make, whatever provision my mind can supply, whatever influence my personal authority can exert, all of it will always be at the service of the republic. Your views are not unknown to me. If I had the chance, as I deeply wish I had, to see you face to face, I would never disagree with your policy; and even as things stand, I will allow no action of mine to deserve your just criticism.
I am anxiously waiting for news from every quarter, to learn what is happening in Cisalpine Gaul and in the city as January approaches. Meanwhile my greatest anxiety here is that these tribes, stirred up by the misconduct of others, may see our difficulty as their opportunity. But if my success matches my deserts, I will satisfy the expectations both of you, which is my chief ambition, and of all loyal citizens.
DCCCV (Fam. X, 4) L. MUNATIUS PLANCUS TO CICERO (AT ROME) GALLIA COMATA (NOVEMBER) I was very much pleased with your letters, which I note as having been written in consequence of what Furnius said to you. The excuse for not having written before which I have to offer is that I was told that you had left the country; nor did I learn of your return much before your own letter told me of it. I say this, because I do not think that I can omit any attention to you, however insignificant, without the very gravest breach of duty. For being careful to pay such attentions I have innumerable reasons, whether I look to the close ties between our fathers, or my reverence for you which began with my childhood, or your mutual affection for me. Wherefore, my dear Cicero ; as far as our respective ages permit, convince yourself that you are the one man whose society has enabled me to maintain the purity of life of which my father gave me an example. Therefore all the counsels you give are, in my eyes, inspired not more by wisdom — though in that they are supreme-than by loyal friendship, which I gauge by person.
Supposing me then to be otherwise minded, your reprimand at any rate would have been sufficient to stop me: or supposing me to be hesitating, your exhortation would have sufficed to force me to follow the course which you thought to be the most honourable. As it is, however, what is there to draw me in a different direction? Whatever advantages I possess, whether bestowed upon me by the kindness of fortune or acquired by my own labour, though your affection induces you to value them with partial kindness, are yet so great in the judgment even of my bitterest opponent, that they lack nothing but the good opinion of the world. Wherefore, if you were ever sure of anything, be sure of this — whatever effort my bodily strength, whatever provision my mental powers, whatever impression my personal influence, are capable of making — all these shall ever be at the service of the Republic. Your sentiments are not unknown to me: and if I had the opportunity — as I wish with all my heart I had — of seeing you face to face, I should never have dissented from your policy; nor even as it is will I allow any act of mine to deserve your just rebuke. I am anxiously awaiting news from every quarter, to learn what goes on in Cisalpine Gaul , or in the city, when January comes. Meanwhile my greatest anxiety and concern here are lest, instigated by the malpractices of others, these tribes should regard our difficulty as their opportunity. But if my success equals my deserts, I shall at any rate satisfy the expectations both of yourself, which is my chief ambition, and of all loyalists.
IV. Scr. in Gallia Transalpina post V. Idus Decembres a.u.c. 710. PLANCUS CICERONI.
Gratissimae mihi tuae litterae fuerunt, quas ex Furnii sermone te scripsisse animadverti. Ego autem praeteriti temporis excusationem affero, quod te profectum audieram nec multo ante redisse scii, quam ex epistula tua cognovi; nullum enim in te officium, ne minimum quidem, sine maxima culpa videor posse praeterire, in quo tuendo habeo causas plurimas vel paternae necessitudinis vel meae a pueritia observantiae vel tui erge me mutui amoris. Quare, mi Cicero, quod mea tuaque patitur aetas, persuade tibi te unum esse, in quo ego colendo patriam mihi constituerim sanctitatem. Omnia igitur tua consilia mihi non magis prudentiae plena, quae summa est, videntur quam fidelitatis, quam ego ex mea conscientia metior: quare, si aut aliter sentirem, certe admonitio tua me reprimere, aut, si dubitarem, hortatio impellere posset, ut id sequerer, quod tu optimum putares; nunc vero quid est, quod me in aliam partem trahere possit? quaecumque in me bona sunt aut fortunae beneficio tributa aut meo labore parta, etsi a te propter amorem carius sunt aestimata, tamen vel inimicissimi iudicio tanta sunt, ut praeter bonam famam nihil desiderare videantur. Quare hoc unum tibi persuade, quantum viribus eniti, consilio providere, auctoritate monere potuero, hoc omne rei publicae semper futurum. Non est ignotus mihi sensus tuus: neque, si facultas, optabilis mihi quidem, tui praesentis esset, umquam a tuis consiliis discreparem, nec nunc committam, ut ullum meum factum reprehendere iure possis. Sum in exspectatione omnium rerum, quid in Gallia citeriore, quid in urbe mense Ianuario geratur, ut sciam. Interim maximam hic sollicitudinem curamque sustineo, ne inter aliena vitia hae gentes nostra mala suam putent occasionem. Quod si proinde, ut ipse mereor, mihi successerit, certe et tibi cui maxime cupio, et omnibus viris bonis satisfaciam. Fac valeas meque mutuo diligas.
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Your letters were very welcome to me, and I saw that you had written them because of what Furnius told you. My excuse for not writing earlier is that I had heard you had left the country, and I did not learn of your return much before your own letter informed me of it. I say this because I think I could not omit even the smallest attention to you without the gravest fault. I have many reasons for preserving that duty: the close ties between our fathers, the respect for you that began in my childhood, and your affection for me in return.
So, my dear Cicero, insofar as our respective ages allow it, persuade yourself that you are the one man whose company has enabled me to maintain the upright life my father set before me. The advice you give me therefore seems inspired not only by wisdom, though in that you stand supreme, but also by loyal friendship, which I measure by the man himself.
If I had been thinking differently, your rebuke would have been enough to stop me. If I had been hesitating, your encouragement would have been enough to drive me toward the course you judged most honorable. As it is, what is there to pull me another way? Whatever advantages I possess, whether granted by fortune's kindness or won by my own labor, are, even in the judgment of my bitterest opponent, great enough to lack nothing except the good opinion of the world, though your affection makes you value them with partial kindness.
If you were ever certain of anything, be certain of this: whatever effort my strength can make, whatever provision my mind can supply, whatever influence my personal authority can exert, all of it will always be at the service of the republic. Your views are not unknown to me. If I had the chance, as I deeply wish I had, to see you face to face, I would never disagree with your policy; and even as things stand, I will allow no action of mine to deserve your just criticism.
I am anxiously waiting for news from every quarter, to learn what is happening in Cisalpine Gaul and in the city as January approaches. Meanwhile my greatest anxiety here is that these tribes, stirred up by the misconduct of others, may see our difficulty as their opportunity. But if my success matches my deserts, I will satisfy the expectations both of you, which is my chief ambition, and of all loyal citizens.
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
IV. Scr. in Gallia Transalpina post V. Idus Decembres a.u.c. 710. PLANCUS CICERONI.
Gratissimae mihi tuae litterae fuerunt, quas ex Furnii sermone te scripsisse animadverti. Ego autem praeteriti temporis excusationem affero, quod te profectum audieram nec multo ante redisse scii, quam ex epistula tua cognovi; nullum enim in te officium, ne minimum quidem, sine maxima culpa videor posse praeterire, in quo tuendo habeo causas plurimas vel paternae necessitudinis vel meae a pueritia observantiae vel tui erge me mutui amoris. Quare, mi Cicero, quod mea tuaque patitur aetas, persuade tibi te unum esse, in quo ego colendo patriam mihi constituerim sanctitatem. Omnia igitur tua consilia mihi non magis prudentiae plena, quae summa est, videntur quam fidelitatis, quam ego ex mea conscientia metior: quare, si aut aliter sentirem, certe admonitio tua me reprimere, aut, si dubitarem, hortatio impellere posset, ut id sequerer, quod tu optimum putares; nunc vero quid est, quod me in aliam partem trahere possit? quaecumque in me bona sunt aut fortunae beneficio tributa aut meo labore parta, etsi a te propter amorem carius sunt aestimata, tamen vel inimicissimi iudicio tanta sunt, ut praeter bonam famam nihil desiderare videantur. Quare hoc unum tibi persuade, quantum viribus eniti, consilio providere, auctoritate monere potuero, hoc omne rei publicae semper futurum. Non est ignotus mihi sensus tuus: neque, si facultas, optabilis mihi quidem, tui praesentis esset, umquam a tuis consiliis discreparem, nec nunc committam, ut ullum meum factum reprehendere iure possis. Sum in exspectatione omnium rerum, quid in Gallia citeriore, quid in urbe mense Ianuario geratur, ut sciam. Interim maximam hic sollicitudinem curamque sustineo, ne inter aliena vitia hae gentes nostra mala suam putent occasionem. Quod si proinde, ut ipse mereor, mihi successerit, certe et tibi cui maxime cupio, et omnibus viris bonis satisfaciam. Fac valeas meque mutuo diligas.