Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Friends §13.76.1-13.76.2

Request for Hippianus's Tax Exemption and Favor

Passage 356 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Emphasizing his deep bond with Hippius, Cicero earnestly requests the addressees to treat Valgius Hippianus generously and to grant him exemption from taxes on the land he purchased from them in Fregellae.

§13.76.1tantae mihi cum Q. Hippio causae necessitudinis sunt, ut nihil possit esse coniunctius quam nos inter nos sumus.
There are such great bonds of intimacy between me and Quintus Hippius that nothing could be more closely joined than we are to one another.
quod nisi ita esset, uterer mea consuetudine ut vobis nulla in re molestus essem.
If this were not so, I would have followed my usual custom of not being troublesome to you in any matter.
etenim vos mihi optimi testes estis, quom mihi persuasum esset nihil esse quod a vobis impetrare non possem, numquam me tamen gravem vobis esse voluisse.
For you yourselves are my best witnesses that, even when I was convinced there was nothing I could not obtain from you, I nevertheless never wished to be a burden to you.
§13.76.2vehementer igitur vos etiam atque etiam rogo ut honoris mei causa quam liberalissime C. Valgium Hippianum tractetis remque cum eo conficiatis, ut quam possessionem habet in agro Fregellano a vobis emptam eam liberam et immunem habere possit.
Therefore, I earnestly ask you again and again, for the sake of my honor, to treat Gaius Valgius Hippianus as generously as possible and to settle the matter with him, so that he may be able to hold free and exempt from taxes that possession which he has in the territory of Fregellae, bought from you.
id si a vobis impetraro, summo me beneficio vestro adfectum arbitrabor.
If I obtain this from you, I shall consider myself to have been favored with your greatest kindness.

Notes

  1. §13.76.1quod nisi ita esset — quod is a connecting relative pronoun. nisi ... esset is a contrary-to-fact conditional clause (imperfect subjunctive), referring to a present or ongoing past state. The main verb uterer is also in the imperfect subjunctive as the apodosis.
  2. §13.76.1testes estis ... voluisse — The phrase testes estis (you are witnesses) governs the accusative and infinitive clause numquam me ... voluisse (that I never wished). The clause beginning with quom (an archaic spelling of cum), mihi persuasum esset..., is a concessive or temporal clause inserted between them.
  3. §13.76.2quam possessionem habet ... eam — A case of relative attraction (prolepsis), where the antecedent noun possessionem is incorporated into the relative clause introduced by quam, and is subsequently resumed by the demonstrative pronoun eam in the main clause.

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §13.76.1-13.76.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:13.76.1-13.76.2

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