Marcus Tullius Cicero→Servius Sulpicius Rufus|c. 50 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Achaea|AI-assisted
I do not think that the Lacedaemonians [Spartans] doubt either that they themselves, by their own authority and that of their ancestors, are sufficiently commended to your good faith and justice; and I, who had come to know you most intimately, did not doubt that the rights and the deserts of peoples were perfectly well known to you. And so, when Philippus the Lacedaemonian asked me to commend their state to you, although I remembered that I owe everything to that state, I nevertheless replied that the Lacedaemonians had no need of a commendation in your eyes. Accordingly, I should like you to believe this: that I reckon all the states of Achaia fortunate, in proportion to the disturbance of these times, in that you preside over them; and that I have likewise judged that you, who alone best knew not only our own records but also all those of Greece, are, of your own accord, a friend to the Lacedaemonians, and will remain so. Therefore I ask only this much of you: that, when you do on behalf of the Lacedaemonians those things which your good faith, your dignity, and your justice demand, you should, if it seems good to you, indicate to them that you do not take it amiss that you understand the things you do to be welcome to me also; for it bears upon my sense of duty that they should consider their affairs to be a care to me. This I ask of you most earnestly, again and again.
XXVIIIb. Scr. Romae a.u.c. 708. CICERO SERVIO SAL.
Nec Lacedaemonios dubitare arbitror, quin ipsi sua maiorumque suorum auctoritate satis commendati sint fidei et iustitiae tuae, et ego, qui te optime novissem, non dubitavi, quin tibi notissima et iura et merita populorum essent: itaque, quum a me peteret Philippus Lacedaemonius, ut tibi civitatem commendarem, etsi memineram me ei civitati omnia debere, tamen respondi commendatione Lacedaemonios apud te non egere. Itaque sic velim existimes, me omnes Achaiae civitates arbitrari pro horum temporum pertubatione felices, quod iis tu praesis, eundemque me ita iudicasse, te, quod unus optime nosses non nostra solum, sed etiam Graeciae monumenta omnia, tua sponte amicum Lacedaemoniis et esse et fore. Quare tantum a te peto, ut, quum ea facies Lacedaemoniorum causa, quae tua fides, amplitudo, iustitia postulat, ut iis, si tibi videbitur, significes te non moleste ferre, quod intelligas ea, quae facias, mihi quoque grata esse; pertinet enim ad officium meum eos existimare curae mihi suas res esse: hoc te vehementer etiam atque etiam rogo.
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I do not think that the Lacedaemonians [Spartans] doubt either that they themselves, by their own authority and that of their ancestors, are sufficiently commended to your good faith and justice; and I, who had come to know you most intimately, did not doubt that the rights and the deserts of peoples were perfectly well known to you. And so, when Philippus the Lacedaemonian asked me to commend their state to you, although I remembered that I owe everything to that state, I nevertheless replied that the Lacedaemonians had no need of a commendation in your eyes. Accordingly, I should like you to believe this: that I reckon all the states of Achaia fortunate, in proportion to the disturbance of these times, in that you preside over them; and that I have likewise judged that you, who alone best knew not only our own records but also all those of Greece, are, of your own accord, a friend to the Lacedaemonians, and will remain so. Therefore I ask only this much of you: that, when you do on behalf of the Lacedaemonians those things which your good faith, your dignity, and your justice demand, you should, if it seems good to you, indicate to them that you do not take it amiss that you understand the things you do to be welcome to me also; for it bears upon my sense of duty that they should consider their affairs to be a care to me. This I ask of you most earnestly, again and again.
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
XXVIIIb. Scr. Romae a.u.c. 708. CICERO SERVIO SAL.
Nec Lacedaemonios dubitare arbitror, quin ipsi sua maiorumque suorum auctoritate satis commendati sint fidei et iustitiae tuae, et ego, qui te optime novissem, non dubitavi, quin tibi notissima et iura et merita populorum essent: itaque, quum a me peteret Philippus Lacedaemonius, ut tibi civitatem commendarem, etsi memineram me ei civitati omnia debere, tamen respondi commendatione Lacedaemonios apud te non egere. Itaque sic velim existimes, me omnes Achaiae civitates arbitrari pro horum temporum pertubatione felices, quod iis tu praesis, eundemque me ita iudicasse, te, quod unus optime nosses non nostra solum, sed etiam Graeciae monumenta omnia, tua sponte amicum Lacedaemoniis et esse et fore. Quare tantum a te peto, ut, quum ea facies Lacedaemoniorum causa, quae tua fides, amplitudo, iustitia postulat, ut iis, si tibi videbitur, significes te non moleste ferre, quod intelligas ea, quae facias, mihi quoque grata esse; pertinet enim ad officium meum eos existimare curae mihi suas res esse: hoc te vehementer etiam atque etiam rogo.