Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Friends §13.21.1-13.21.2

Commendation of Avianius's Estate and Freedman

Passage 318 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Cicero commends the house and property of his absent friend Avianius in Sicyon, and especially his faithful freedman Hammonius, to the recipient.

§13.21.1M. Aemilius Avianius ab ineunte adulescentia me observavit semperque dilexit, vir cum bonus tum perhumanus et in omni genere offici diligendus.
M. Aemilius Avianius has respected and always loved me from his early youth, a man who is both good and extremely courteous, and worthy of being loved for every kind of service.
quem si arbitrarer esse Sicyone et nisi audirem ibi eum etiam nunc, ubi ego reliqui, Cibyrae commorari, nihil esset necesse plura me ad te de eo scribere; perficeret enim ipse profecto suis moribus suaque humanitate ut sine cuiusquam commendatione diligeretur abs te non minus quam et a me et a ceteris suis familiaribus. §13.21.2sed cum illum abesse putem, commendo tibi in maiorem modum domum eius quae est Sicyone remque familiarem, maxime C. Avianium Hammonium, libertum eius, quem quidem tibi etiam suo nomine commendo.
If I thought that he was at Sicyon, and if I did not hear that even now he is staying at Cibyra, where I left him, there would be no need for me to write more to you about him; for he himself would surely have brought it about by his own character and courtesy that, without anyone's recommendation, he would be loved by you no less than by me and by the rest of his friends.\n But since I think he is absent, I commend to you in a special manner his house at Sicyon and his property, especially C. Avianius Hammonius, his freedman, whom indeed I commend to you also on his own account.
nam cum propterea mihi est probatus, quod est in patronum suum officio et fide singulari, tum etiam in me ipsum magna officia contulit mihique molestissimis temporibus ita fideliter benevoleque praesto fuit, ut si a me manumissus esset.
For he has recommended himself to me not only because he is of singular duty and fidelity towards his patron, but also because he has conferred great services upon myself and has stood by me in my most troublesome times so faithfully and benevolently that it was as if he had been manumitted by me.
itaque peto a te ut eum Hammonium et in patroni eius negotio sic tueare ut eius procuratorem, quem tibi commendo, et ipsum suo nomine diligas habeasque in numero tuorum.
Therefore, I ask of you that you protect this Hammonius, both in the business of his patron as his agent, whom I commend to you, and also love him on his own account and hold him in the number of your friends.
hominem pudentem et officiosum cognosces et dignum qui a te diligatur.
You will find him to be a modest and dutiful man, and worthy to be loved by you.
vale.
Farewell.

Notes

  1. §13.21.1ab ineunte adulescentia — Meaning 'from his early youth', referring to the age of the subject, M. Aemilius Avianius.
  2. §13.21.1quem si arbitrarer ... nihil esset — Relative connection with `quem` at the beginning of the sentence. Both the conditional clauses (si arbitrarer... et nisi audirem...) and the apodosis (nihil esset...) are in the imperfect subjunctive, representing a present counterfactual condition.
  3. §13.21.2cum propterea mihi est probatus ... tum etiam ... — The correlative construction `cum ... tum ...`, meaning 'not only ... but also ...'. When the `cum` clause takes the indicative (here `est probatus`), it strongly contrasts established facts rather than indicating a simple cause.
  4. §13.21.2ut si a me manumissus esset — Pluperfect subjunctive introduced by the comparative-conditional conjunction `ut si` ('as if'), representing a hypothetical past condition contrary to fact (he was not actually manumitted by Cicero).
  5. §13.21.2dignum qui a te diligatur — The construction `dignus` + relative pronoun `qui` + subjunctive (`diligatur`) expressing character or suitability ('worthy to be loved by you').

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §13.21.1-13.21.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:13.21.1-13.21.2

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