Letter 9023: I ask that, having been admitted into your clientele, he may be glad both that my patronage has been of use to him...
I ask that, having been admitted into your clientele, he may be glad both that my patronage has been of use to him and that yours has been added.
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To Caecilianus: I do not refuse to intercede on behalf of just debts — it would be wrong to decline an opportunity for a favor in such a case. The people of Formiae [a town on the Via Appia, modern Formia] have had a fixed allotment of olive oil from Africa decreed by long tradition for the relief of their poverty. They ask you to maintain the custom preserved by long usage, to which your distinguished humanity must also add its dispatch.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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My son Caecilianus, a distinguished man currently managing the grain supply of our common fatherland, has learned...
1. The remonstrance which you have addressed to me in your letter is gratifying to me in proportion to the love which it manifests. If, therefore, I attempt to clear myself from blame in regard to my silence, the thing which I must attempt is to show that you had no just cause for being displeased with me.
My friends Magnus and Magnillus have a petition I've agreed to support.
Don't blame the boy for the slow return.
Your sons have good natures and even better eagerness.