Humanitext Reader

Cicero · Letters to Friends §15.11.1-15.11.2

Gratitude to Marcellus for Supporting Cicero's Honor

Passage 380 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Cicero expresses his gratitude to the consul Marcellus for his dedication to Cicero's honor, praising their deep bond and Marcellus's service to the republic, while expressing hope for an upcoming meeting.

§15.11.1quantae curae tibi meus honos fuerit et quam idem exstiteris consul in me ornando et amplificando qui fueras semper cum parentibus tuis et cum tota domo, etsi res ipsa loquebatur, cognovi tamen ex meorum omnium litteris.
How great a concern my honor was to you, and how you, as consul, showed yourself to be the same in honoring and advancing me as you had always been along with your parents and your entire household, although the matter itself spoke, I nevertheless learned from the letters of all my people.
itaque nihil est tantum, quod ego non tua causa debeam facturusque sim †cum studiose ac libenter.
Therefore, there is nothing so great that I do not owe it for your sake and am not going to do with zeal and pleasure.
§15.11.2nam magni interest cui debeas, debere autem nemini malui quam tibi cui me cum studia communia, beneficia paterna tuaque iam ante coniunxerant, tum accedit mea quidem sententia maximum vinculum, quod ita rem p. geris atque gessisti, qua mihi carius nihil est, ut, quantum tibi omnes boni o debeant, quo minus tantundem ego unus debeam non recusem.
For it is of great importance to whom you owe, and I preferred to owe no one more than you, to whom common pursuits, your father's services, and your own had already previously united me; and then there is added what is in my opinion the greatest bond, namely, that you govern and have governed the republic (than which nothing is dearer to me) in such a way that I do not refuse to owe just as much myself alone as all good men owe to you.
quam ob rem tibi velim ii sint exitus, quos mereris et quos fore confido.
For which reason, I would wish for you those successes which you deserve and which I trust will be yours.
ego, si me navigatio non morabitur, quae incurrebat in ipsos etesias, propediem te, ut spero, videbo.
As for me, if my voyage, which was running into the Etesian winds themselves, does not delay me, I shall see you, as I hope, very soon.

Notes

  1. 15.11.1quantae curae tibi meus honos fuerit — A "double dative" construction combining the predicative dative (quantae curae) and the dative of reference (tibi). fuerit is perfect subjunctive introducing an indirect question.
  2. 15.11.1quam idem exstiteris consul ... qui fueras — The correlation "idem ... qui ..." means "the same ... as ...". "consul" acts as a nominative predicate (appositive) meaning "as consul."
  3. 15.11.2rem p. geris atque gessisti, qua mihi carius nihil est, ut ... non recusem — "ut" introduces a consecutive (result) clause corresponding to "ita" (in "ita rem p. geris"). The relative pronoun "qua" is an ablative of comparison, referring back to "rem p." (rem publicam).
  4. 15.11.2quo minus tantundem ego unus debeam non recusem — Since "non recuso" is a negated verb of refusing, it takes a clause introduced by "quo minus" with the subjunctive, meaning "I do not refuse to [owe...]."

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §15.11.1-15.11.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:15.11.1-15.11.2

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.