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Cicero · Letters to Friends §13.13.1

Recommendation of Castronius Paetus of Luca

Passage 311 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Cicero commends L. Castronius Paetus, a leading citizen of Luca and his very close friend, requesting the recipient to show him every favor.

§13.13.1L. Castronius Paetus, longe princeps municipi Lucensis, est honestus, gravis, plenus offici, bonus plane vir et cum virtutibus tum etiam fortuna, si quid hoc ad rem pertinet, ornatus;
L. Castronius Paetus, by far the leading citizen of the municipality of Luca, is an honorable, serious man, full of duty, and clearly a good man, adorned both with virtues and also with fortune, if this has any bearing on the matter.
meus autem est familiarissimus, sic prosus ut nostri ordinis observet neminem diligentius.
Moreover, he is a very close friend of mine, so much so indeed that he respects no one of our order more diligently.
qua re ut et meum amicum et tua dignum amicitia tibi commendo.
Therefore, I recommend him to you both as my friend and as one worthy of your friendship.
cui quibuscumque rebus commodaveris, tibi profecto iucundum, mihi certe erit gratum.
And in whatever matters you accommodate him, it will surely be pleasant for you, and certainly a favor to me.
vale.
Farewell.

Notes

  1. §13.13.1longe princeps — The adverb longe modifies the noun/adjective princeps (which inherently has a superlative sense), meaning "by far the first" or "the leading by far."
  2. §13.13.1cum virtutibus tum etiam fortuna — cum... tum etiam... is a correlative construction meaning "not only... but also especially...". Both virtutibus and fortuna are ablatives of specification or means modifying the subsequent participle ornatus.
  3. §13.13.1sic prorsus ut ... observet — sic... ut introduces an adverbial clause of result ("so... that"), with the subordinate verb observet in the present subjunctive. prorsus ("entirely", "indeed") emphasizes the intensity of the result.
  4. §13.13.1ut et meum amicum et tua dignum amicitia — Here ut introduces noun and adjective phrases meaning "as". tua amicitia is an ablative governed by the adjective dignus ("worthy of").
  5. §13.13.1cui quibuscumque rebus commodaveris — cui is a relative connection (referring to Paetus) acting as the indirect object of commodaveris (future perfect indicative), which governs the dative. quibuscumque rebus is an ablative of specification or means ("in whatever matters").

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §13.13.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:13.13.1

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