Cicero · Letters to Friends §13.66.1-13.66.2

Recommendation of Aulus Caecina and Request for Support

Passage 349 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Cicero strongly commends Aulus Caecina, who is in misfortune, and asks the recipient to assist him in settling his business affairs and protect him in the province.

§13.66.1A. Caecinam, maxime proprium clientem familiae vestrae, non commendarem tibi, cum scirem qua fide in tuos, qua clementia in calamitosos soleres esse, nisi me et patris eius, quo sum familiarissime usus, memoria et huius fortuna ita moveret, ut hominis omnibus mecum studiis officiisque coniunctissimi movere debebat.

I should not recommend Aulus Caecina to you, the particularly close client of your family, knowing as I do with what fidelity towards your own people and what clemency towards the unfortunate you are wont to act, were I not so moved both by the memory of his father, with whom I was on most intimate terms, and by his own misfortune, as the memory and misfortune of a man most closely united to me in all pursuits and duties ought to have moved me.

A te hoc omni contentione peto, sic ut maiore cura, maiore animi labore petere non possim, ut ad ea, quae tua sponte sine cuiusquam commendatione faceres in hominem tantum et talem et calamitosum, aliquem adferant cumulum meae litterae, quo studiosius eum quibuscumque rebus possis iuves.

I beg this of you with all possible earnestness, so that I could not beg with greater care or greater effort of mind, that my letter may bring some addition to those things which you would do of your own accord, without anyone's recommendation, for a man so great, of such character, and so unfortunate, so that you may help him in whatever matters you can all the more zealously.

§13.66.2quod si Romae fuisses, etiam salutem A. Caecinae essemus, ut opinio mea fert, per te consecuti; de qua tamen magnam spem habemus freti clementia conlegae tui.

But if you had been at Rome, we should also, as my opinion goes, have secured the safety of Aulus Caecina through you; yet of this we have great hope, relying on the clemency of your colleague.

nunc quoniam tuam iustitiam secutus tutissimum sibi portum provinciam istam duxit esse, etiam atque etiam te rogo atque oro ut eum et in reliquus veteris negotiationis conligendis iuves et ceteris rebus tegas atque tueare.

Now, since he, following your justice, has deemed that province of yours to be his safest harbor, I ask and entreat you again and again that you both help him in collecting the remains of his former business and protect and guard him in all other matters.

hoc mihi gratius facere nihil potes.

You can do nothing more pleasing to me than this.

Notes

13.66.1non commendarem ... nisi ... moveret — A conditional sentence expressing a present contrary-to-fact situation (subjunctive imperfect). Combined with the cum-clause ("knowing as I do..."), it forms a double-negative emphasis: "I would not recommend him... unless [these things] were moving me (but they do, so I do)."
13.66.1ut ... movere debebat — The verb debebat in the ut-clause is in the indicative imperfect. In contrary-to-fact contexts, verbs expressing obligation or propriety (such as debeo, oportet, etc.) are regularly put in the indicative (especially imperfect) rather than the subjunctive to state the obligation as an objective fact.
13.66.2in reliquus veteris negotiationis conligendis — The form reliquus is understood as a spelling variation or corruption of reliquis (ablative plural). Syntactically, it functions as a gerundive construction agreeing with the noun: "in collecting the remains (reliquiis) of his former business."

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §13.66.1-13.66.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:13.66.1-13.66.2

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.