HermitshCicero by Claude

Letter · January 50 BC · Tarsi

Ad Familiares 13.9

Ad Familiares 13.9

Headnote

Cicero to Furius Crassipes, quaestor of Bithynia, written from Tarsus during Cicero’s own proconsulship of Cilicia, at the turn of the year 51/50 BC (the manuscript dateline: Scr., ut videtur, Tarsi vel ex. a. 703 (51) vel in. a. 704 (50)). Crassipes was Cicero’s former son-in-law, having been briefly married to Tullia in 56–55 BC; he was now serving as quaestor in the neighbouring province. The letter is a recommendation on behalf of the Roman company (societas) of tax-farmers operating in Bithynia, and in particular of its working agent Cnaeus Pupius, with a heavy reminder to a young quaestor of how much falls within his competence in such matters.

The metadata entry carries a year-precision placeholder of -0005-02-22 that is plainly wrong; the Perseus dateline puts the letter at Tarsus in the winter of 51/50 BC, during Cicero’s Cilician command. The file prefix 005bc- should be revised to 051bc- (or 050bc-) at the next consolidation pass; this worker has preserved the existing prefix at the PM’s instruction.

Although in person I commended to you, as earnestly as I could, the company of tax-farmers in Bithynia, and although I understood that, what with my recommendation and your own inclination both, you were eager to oblige that company in whatever ways you might, still, since the parties whose affairs are in question judged that it was much in their interest that I should also declare to you by letter what my disposition is towards them, I have not hesitated to write you these lines.
quamquam tibi praesens commendavi, ut potui diligentissime, socios Bithyniae teque cum mea commendatione tum etiam tua sponte intellexi cupere ei societati quibuscumque rebus posses commodare, tamen cum ii, quorum res agitur, magni sua interesse arbitrarentur me etiam per litteras declarare tibi qua essem erga ipsos voluntate, non dubitavi haec ad te scribere.
For I should like you to consider that, while I have always been most ready to do a service to the whole order of tax-farmers — as the great services of that order on my behalf have obliged me to do — I am the friend, beyond all others, of this Bithynian company, which by the rank of its members and the standing of the men in it is the largest single part of the citizen body (for it is composed of the rest of the companies), and that as it happens very many of its members are particular friends of mine: chief among them the man whose own peculiar concern is being acted upon at this time, Publius Rupilius the son of Publius, of the Menenian tribe, who is the company’s manager.
volo enim te existimare me, cum universo ordini publicanorum semper libentissime tribuerim idque magnis eius ordinis erga me meritis facere debuerim, tum in primis amicum esse huic Bithynicae societati, quae societas ordine ipso et hominum genere pars est maxima civitatis (constat enim ex ceteris societatibus), et casu permulti sunt in ea societate valde mihi familiares in primisque is, cuius praecipuum officium agitur hoc tempore, P. Rupilius P. f. Men., qui est magister in ea societate.
Which being so, I ask of you in the strongest terms that you take Cnaeus Pupius, who is among the company’s working agents, under your care with all your good offices and every generosity, and see to it that his services — which lies easily within your power — are as welcome to the partners as may be, and that you stand up for the interests and the business of the company (and how much such a matter falls within a quaestor’s competence I am not unaware) and make them prosper as fully as possible through your own action. In doing this you will not only have done me the most welcome thing, but, on a point of which I have experience, I assure you and pledge my word: you will find the company of Bithynia, if you have done them this favour, mindful of it and grateful.
quae cum ita sint, in maiorem modum a te peto Cn. a Pupium, qui est in operis eius societatis, omnibus tuis officiis atque omni liberalitate tueare curesque ut eius operae, quod tibi facile factu est, quam gratissimae sint sociis, remque et utilitatem sociorum (cuius rei quantam potestatem quaestor habeat non sum ignarus) per te quam maxime defensam et auctam velis. id cum mihi gratissimum feceris, tum illud tibi expertus promitto et spondeo, te socios Bithyniae, si iis commodaris, memores esse et gratos cogniturum.

Cite this passage

Ad Familiares 13.9

Pick a format and click Copy. The permalink jumps any reader to this exact section.

Support this project

Free to read here. Buy the ebook to support the work.

Kindle