Cicero at Rome to P. Servilius Isauricus, proconsul of Asia, written in the course of 46 BC (the manuscript dateline: Scr. Romae, ut videtur, a. 708). A recommendation of T. Agusius, framed at greater warmth than the routine cards: Agusius had been the companion of Cicero’s exile in 58–57 BC, “the partner of all my journeyings, voyages, labours, and perils,” and is recommended to Servilius “as one of my household and most intimate connections.”

The closing piece in the Servilius recommendation cluster preserved here at the end of Ad Familiares 13. The opening admission — that Cicero is bound to recommend many, since the closeness of his connection with Servilius is public knowledge, but that the cases differ — is the standard discriminator of the genre, and exists to tell the recipient that this particular recommendation is to be taken at the higher weight. The remembrance of the exile period — which still defines for Cicero the bond he owes those who shared it — is the characteristic touch.