Letter 7071: This isn't a new request -- it's one you'll recognize.

I bring before you a petition that is neither novel nor untried, but one which you will recognize as already pressed upon your ears. I defend, with a father's affection, the daughters of Rufinus of illustrious memory, a former prefect of the city, whose forlorn condition I desire to be safeguarded through you who have the care of the commonwealth; and therefore I come as an intercessor, that whatever the need of a household indeed distinguished but pitiable may require, they may obtain by easy granting. For their estate in Apulia is ample not so much in its revenue as in its tax assessment. Unless this be propped up by the aid of good judges, worn out by the public burdens it will sink beneath them. Therefore it awaits the relief of your help, and it will make me your debtor in gratitude, if as their saving defender you raise up those who are bowed down under a heavy load. [Here the source contains the critical apparatus of the printed edition, badly OCR-garbled and largely illegible; it records manuscript variants for this and neighboring letters and is not letter text. (...)] To Patruinus. Your judgments have made me more ready in the matter of defending Herennius, a praiseworthy man. For the choice carries the greatest pleasure, and hoped-for protections rouse the spirit. But it is not my way to display in writing what our care has contributed toward advancing the business. The man whom we have helped will recount these things to you; at the same time the outcome of the matter itself will bear witness to our services. For all the things that the plundering had scattered have, upon investigation, come to light. And so there will return into Herennius's right a succession that is owed indeed by the laws, but bitter to a father's feeling. Now I render and hold thanks to your good opinion of me, and I hope that confidence in us will remain abiding among the men of highest rank, of which you have received the proofs. To Patruinus. My love for you strives with the utmost of its powers, that day by day the regard of good men may accrue to you; so far am I from allowing your old friends to be plucked from you by the wickedness of false accusations. Among them the most distinguished Scipio, a praiser of your virtues with me too as witness, laments that he has been robbed of your love through his rivals. But it does not seem likely to me that the steadiness of your mind could be altered by false rumors, since a man well conscious of his own life ought to reckon that slanderous talk has no power over him. Therefore I urge and entreat that you spit away any lies that have been pressed in, and that you claim this honor for your own merits, so that you may understand yourself to be judged by all to be such as you yourself are. Let no one transfer to you the seeds of his own hatred. For it has long been a kind of art, in order to feed the strength of one's discord, to provoke the fear of those more powerful. I will not go on further, since the wisdom of your character pledges to me the success of my request; which wisdom I think will answer my letter to this extent, that you will assert not so much that you have forgiven the most distinguished Scipio, as that you believed nothing about him.

Non novum atque intemptatum ad te refero postulatum , sed quod ingestum tuis 20 auribus recognoscas. inlustris memoriae viri Rufini expraefecti urbi filias patema ad- fectione defendo, quarum solitudinem per vos, quibus reip. cura est, opto tutari, et ideo precator accedo, ut quidquid clarae quidem sed miserabilis domus usus ex- egerit, facili impetratione mereantur. res namque illis est per Apuliam non tam re- ditu ampla quam censu. haec nisi bonorum iudicum fulciatur auxilio, publicis oneri- 2& bus fessa subcumbet. opis igitur tuae levamen expectat, meque tibi gratiae faciet debitorem, si gravi onere inc/matas salutaris defensor erexeris. I si om, P animiUB P 1 m. uestra] uestri P uon didicium nieum V, uon didicit iumdnm [aic) meum r^ cit iudi in apatio anU vacuo relicto suppl. P 1 m, secutae V 2 uisu [r) probaiiit] ego^ probatuni Vy ««««««»««« P II om. VF 12 securus F iudm tum P, eorr, 2 m,; quae sequuntur inUrierunt exeepti$ lil' teris hia: 15 b . . . 16 euen . . . presta . . . 17 sio 14 tibij V, te F sentiri] ego, sentiro VF pras (t. e. praestas) V 15 dictu] SchottuSy dictum VF perfectiunem] Lyp$ius, profectionem VF 16 qui si aliqui V 19 om, V; haec epi$t, revera ad Patruinum $eripta e$ty ulpote qui come$ a. l, fuerit; supernmt in Phaec: 19 ad ... 20 Non nou . . . fero postu ... 21 aurib; reco . . . riae uiri ruf . . . Ifas paterna a ... 22 qua- rum solitudlne p . . . est — et id . . . 23 ut — dare qu . . . bliis — exeger ... 24 petratione merean- tur r . . . est per — reditu amp ... 25 censu — iudicum f u . . . auxilio — subcnmbet 21 iUustris memoriae (/7j, /////////////riae P, i mte (i. e, in mente) V urbi] (ZT), urbis V 23 precatUB V quidem sed] (77)» quid si V 26 fassa V neque (77) 27 incliuatas] egOy ulnctas (77), iuncta V cxxvn. AD PATRVINVM. Vn Promptiorem me cirea Herennii laudabilis viri defensionem iudicia vestra fecerunt. habet enim plurimum voluptatis electio, et provocant animum sperata praesidia. sed o meum non est scripto ostentare, quid negotio promovendo cura nostra contulerit. narrabit baec vobis ille, quem iuvimus; simul ipsius rei exitus officia nostra testa- bitur. cuncta enim, quae direptio sparserat, investigata patuerunt. itaque in ius Herennii revertetur legibus quidem debita, sed patris sensui acerba successio. nunc vestrae de me existimationi ago atque habeo gratias et spero fiduciam nostri apud 10 optimates viros esse mansuram, cuius documenta cepistis. cxxvm. AD PATRVINVM. PVF Amor in te meus ex summis opibus adnititur, ut in dies singulos bonorum tibi cultus accedat, tantum abest, ut sinam veteres tibi amicos insimulationum inprobitate 15 decerpi. inter quos v. c. Scipio, virtutum tuarura me quoque teste laudator, spolia- tum se amore tuo per aemulos ingemiscit. sed mihi verisimile non videtur, stabili- tatem animi tui falsis rumoribus potuisse mutari, cum bene conscius vitae nihil in se maledicis licere sermonibus debeat aestimare. quare hortor et deprecor, despuas, 2 si qua sunt inculcata mendacia, atque hunc honorem meritis tuis vindices, ut qualis 20 ipse es , talem te ab omnibus intellegas indicari. nemo in te transferat odii sui se- mina. iam dudum enim genus artis est ad alendas vires discordiae suae metum solli- citare potiorum. non ibo longius, cum mihi inpetrationem spondeat sapientia morum tuorum; quam puto eatenus responsuram litteris meis, ut non tam ignovisse te Sci- pioni c. V. quam nihil de eo adseras credidisse.