Cicero to L. Munatius Plancus, written from Rome shortly after 10 December 44 BC — Perseus dateline Scr. Romae paulo post iv Id. Dec. a. 710 (44). Furnius, the courier of the Plancus correspondence, has returned from Gaul with a report on Plancus’s administration. The letter opens with the report itself — “manhood in military matters, justice in the administration of the province, wisdom in every kind of business” — and slides from compliment into the longest and most directive piece of political advice in the sequence so far.

The frank centre of the letter is its third section. Cicero acknowledges, in print and to Plancus’s face, what everyone had thought during the Caesarian years: “there was a certain time when men thought you too compliant with the times.” The exoneration is on the ground that Plancus had not approved what he endured but had been gauging what was possible. Now, with Plancus consul-designate and the senatorial bench thinned of men of his calibre, the calculation is different. “Press on, by the immortal gods!\ into that care and consideration which will bring you the highest standing and glory; for there is one course \ and one only, that leads to glory: governing the republic well.” Cicero closes by disclaiming any need to instruct Plancus — they have drunk from the same springs — and promising continued attention to his interests at Rome.