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Cicero · Letters to Friends §5.9.1-5.9.2

Vatinius's Appeal for Defense and Search for the Runaway

Passage 83 of 413 · Latin

Summary

Vatinius requests Cicero to undertake his defense and protect his dignity, while also reporting that he is actively searching for Cicero's runaway reader slave.

§5.9.1V. B. E. E. V. si tuam consuetudinem in patrociniis tuendis servas, P. Vatinius cliens advenit, qui pro se causam dicier vult.
If you are well, it is well; I am well. If you keep your custom in defending your clients, Publius Vatinius has arrived as a client, who wants his cause to be pleaded. If you keep your custom in defending your clients, Publius Vatinius has arrived as a client, who wants his cause to be pleaded.
non, puto, repudiabis in honore, quem in periculo recepisti.
I think you will not, in his hour of honor, reject him whom you received in his hour of danger.
ego autem quem potius adoptem aut invocem quam illum, quo defendente vincere didici? an verear ne, qui potentissimorum hominum conspirationem neglexerit pro mea salute, is pro honore meo pusillorum ac malevolorum obtrectationes et invidias non prosternat atque obterat? qua re, si me, sicut soles, amas, suscipe meme totum atque hoc, quicquid est oneris ac muneris, pro mea dignitate tibi tuendum ac sustinendum puta.
But whom rather should I adopt or invoke than him under whose defense I learned to win? Or should I fear lest he who neglected the conspiracy of the most powerful men for my safety should not, for my honor, overthrow and crush the slanders and envies of petty and malevolent men? Therefore, if you love me, as you are wont, receive me entirely and consider this, whatever burden and duty it may be, as something to be defended and sustained by you for my dignity.
scis meam fortunam nescio quo modo facile obtrectatores invenire non meo quidem me hercules merito, sed quanti id refert, si tamen fato nescio qua accidit? si qui forte fuerit qui nostrae dignitati obesse velit, peto a te ut tuam consuetudinem et liberalitatem in me absente defendendo mihi praestes.
You know that my fortune somehow easily finds detractors, indeed by no merit of mine, by Hercules, but what does that matter if it nevertheless happens by some fate? If by chance there is someone who wishes to harm our dignity, I beg of you to show me your custom and generosity in defending me in my absence.
Litteras ad senatum de rebus nostris gestis, quo exemplo miseram, infra tibi perscripsi. §5.9.2dicitur mihi tuus servus anagnostes fugitivus cum Vardaeis esse.
I have copied below for you the letter to the senate about our achievements, in the exact form in which I sent it. I am told that your runaway slave, a reader, is with the Vardaei.
de quo tu mihi nihil mandasti, ego tamen, terra marique ut conquireretur, praemandavi et profecto tibi illum reperiam, nisi si in Dalmatiam aufugerit, et inde tamen aliquando eruam.
You have given me no instructions about him, but I have nevertheless given orders beforehand for him to be searched for by land and sea, and I will certainly find him for you, unless he has fled into Dalmatia, and even from there I will eventually drag him out.
tu nos fac ames.
Mind you love me.
vale.
Farewell.
A. d. v Id. Quintilis ex castris Narona.
July 11, from the camp at Narona.

Notes

  1. 5.9.1V. B. E. E. V. — A standard epistolary formulaic abbreviation. While usually written as "S. V. B. E. E. V." ("Si vales, bene est, ego valeo"), the omission of the "S" here leads to reconstructions such as "Valere te bene opto, ego valeo" ("I wish you to be well, I am well") or "Vales? Bene est; ego valeo" ("Are you well? That is good; I am well").
  2. 5.9.1dicier — An archaic form of the present passive infinitive, equivalent to the classical "dici". Combined with "causam" (from "causam dicere", to plead a cause), it means "to have one's cause pleaded" or "to be defended".
  3. 5.9.1an verear ne — The particle "an" introduces a rhetorical question with the deliberative/dubitative subjunctive "verear" (present), followed by a clause of fearing introduced by "ne". It expresses the rhetorical sense: "Or should I fear lest...?" (implying "of course not").
  4. 5.9.2fac ames — The imperative "fac" (from "facere") followed directly by the present subjunctive "ames" with the omission of the conjunction "ut". It is a common colloquial and epistolary construction expressing a strong request or exhortation: "make sure that you love" or "be sure to love".

Cite this passage

Cicero, Letters to Friends §5.9.1-5.9.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0474.phi056.humanitext-lat1:5.9.1-5.9.2

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