Marcus Tullius Cicero→Appius Claudius Pulcher|c. 51 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Cilicia|AI-assisted
Although, contrary to my own wishes and to my surprise, it has turned out that I must go to a province with imperium [formal command authority], one consolation comes to me amid many different anxieties and reflections. You could have no successor more friendly to you than I am, and I could take over a province from no one more inclined to hand it over in good order and free from difficulties.
If you too hold the same expectation of my goodwill toward you, you will certainly not be disappointed. In the name of our close connection and of your own extraordinary kindness, I ask and urge you again and again, with all earnestness, to look after my interests in whatever matters lie within your power. There are very many in which you will be able to do so.
You see that by decree of the senate I am being forced to take a province. If, so far as you can, you hand it over to me as free from difficulties as possible, you will make the course of my official duty much easier. What you can do in that direction I leave to your judgment. I confine myself to asking earnestly that you do whatever occurs to you as being in my interest.
I would have written at greater length if your kindness required a longer address, or if the friendship between us allowed it, or if the matter itself did not speak plainly enough and need no words. I want you to be convinced of this: if I learn that my interests have been looked after by you, you yourself will receive from that fact a great and lasting satisfaction.
Volume II CLXXXII (Fam. III, 2) TO APPIUS CLAUDIUS PULCHER (IN CILICIA) ROME (BEFORE MAY) Though, contrary to my own wishes, and to my surprise, it has turned out that I am obliged to go to a province with imperium, in the midst of many various anxieties and reflexions one consolation occurs to me, that you could have no more friendly successor than I am to you, nor I take over a province from anyone more inclined to hand it over in good order and free from difficulties. And if you, too, entertain the same expectation as to my goodwill towards you, you will certainly never find yourself mistaken. In the name of our intimate union and of your own extraordinary kindness, I again and again beg and beseech you most earnestly, in whatever particulars shall lie in your power — and there are very many in which you will be able to do so — to provide and take measures for my interests. You see that by the decree of the senate I am forced to take a province. If you will, as far as you have the power, hand it over to me as free as possible from difficulties, you will greatly facilitate what I may call the running of my official course. What it may be in your power to do in that direction I leave to you: I confine myself to earnestly begging you to do what occurs to you as being in my interest, I would have written at greater length to you, had either such kindness as yours looked for a longer address, or the friendship between us admitted of it, or had it not been that the matter spoke for itself and required no words. I would have you convinced of this — that if I shall be made aware that my interests have been consulted by you, you will yourself receive from that circumstance a great and abiding satisfaction. [Farewell.]
II. Scr. Romae ineunte a.u.c. 703 (ante Non. Maias). M. CICERO PROCOS. S. D. APPIO PULCHRO IMP.
Cum et contra voluntatem meam et praetor opinionem accidisset, ut mihi cum imperio in provinciam proficisci necesse esset, in multis et variis molestiis cogitationibusque meis haec una consolatio occurrebat, quod neque tibi amicior, quam ego sum, quisquam posset succedere neque ego ab ullo provinciam accipere, qui mallet eam quam maxime mihi aptam explicatamque tradere; quod si tu quoque eandem de mea voluntate erga te spem habes, ea te profecto numquam fallet. A te maximo opere pro nostra summa coniunctione tuaque singulari humanitate etiam atque etiam quaeso et peto, ut, quibuscumque rebus poteris— poteris autem plurimis—, prospicias et consulas rationibus meis. Vides ex senatus consulto provinciam esse habendam: si eam, quod eius facere potueris, quam expeditissimam mihi tradideris, facilior erit mihi quasi decursus mei temporis. Quid in eo genere efficere possis, tui consilii est: ego te, quod tibi veniet in mentem mea interesse, valde rogo. Pluribus verbis ad te scriberem, si aut tua humanitas longiorem orationem exspectaret aut id fieri nostra amicitia pateretur aut res verba desideraret ac non pro se ipsa loqueretur: hoc velim tibi persuadeas, si rationibus meis provisum a te esse intellexero, magnam te ex eo et perpetuam voluptatem esse capturum.
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Although, contrary to my own wishes and to my surprise, it has turned out that I must go to a province with imperium [formal command authority], one consolation comes to me amid many different anxieties and reflections. You could have no successor more friendly to you than I am, and I could take over a province from no one more inclined to hand it over in good order and free from difficulties.
If you too hold the same expectation of my goodwill toward you, you will certainly not be disappointed. In the name of our close connection and of your own extraordinary kindness, I ask and urge you again and again, with all earnestness, to look after my interests in whatever matters lie within your power. There are very many in which you will be able to do so.
You see that by decree of the senate I am being forced to take a province. If, so far as you can, you hand it over to me as free from difficulties as possible, you will make the course of my official duty much easier. What you can do in that direction I leave to your judgment. I confine myself to asking earnestly that you do whatever occurs to you as being in my interest.
I would have written at greater length if your kindness required a longer address, or if the friendship between us allowed it, or if the matter itself did not speak plainly enough and need no words. I want you to be convinced of this: if I learn that my interests have been looked after by you, you yourself will receive from that fact a great and lasting satisfaction.
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
II. Scr. Romae ineunte a.u.c. 703 (ante Non. Maias). M. CICERO PROCOS. S. D. APPIO PULCHRO IMP.
Cum et contra voluntatem meam et praetor opinionem accidisset, ut mihi cum imperio in provinciam proficisci necesse esset, in multis et variis molestiis cogitationibusque meis haec una consolatio occurrebat, quod neque tibi amicior, quam ego sum, quisquam posset succedere neque ego ab ullo provinciam accipere, qui mallet eam quam maxime mihi aptam explicatamque tradere; quod si tu quoque eandem de mea voluntate erga te spem habes, ea te profecto numquam fallet. A te maximo opere pro nostra summa coniunctione tuaque singulari humanitate etiam atque etiam quaeso et peto, ut, quibuscumque rebus poteris— poteris autem plurimis—, prospicias et consulas rationibus meis. Vides ex senatus consulto provinciam esse habendam: si eam, quod eius facere potueris, quam expeditissimam mihi tradideris, facilior erit mihi quasi decursus mei temporis. Quid in eo genere efficere possis, tui consilii est: ego te, quod tibi veniet in mentem mea interesse, valde rogo. Pluribus verbis ad te scriberem, si aut tua humanitas longiorem orationem exspectaret aut id fieri nostra amicitia pateretur aut res verba desideraret ac non pro se ipsa loqueretur: hoc velim tibi persuadeas, si rationibus meis provisum a te esse intellexero, magnam te ex eo et perpetuam voluptatem esse capturum.