May or June 43 BCE: To Decimus Brutus (at Eporedia) from Cicero (at Rome)

Cicero has his own electoral candidate to support

From Marcus Cicero to Decimus Brutus, consul-designate, greetings.

When exactly this letter is delivered to you is very important—whether you have something worrying you  or are free from all trouble. And so I have instructed the man I have sent to you to be mindful of when he should deliver the letter. Letters delivered at the wrong time are as offensive, just as untimely visitors cause trouble during a face-to-face conversation. But if, as I hope, nothing is bothering you, nothing is getting in your way, and the man I have given orders to chooses a suitable and convenient time to approach you, I trust that I shall easily get what I want from you.

Lucius Lamia is seeking election to the praetorship. I am closer friends with him than anyone else. There is a very intimate relationship between is, that goes back a very long way, and—this holds more weight—nothing is more pleasant to me than being his friend. Besides, I am indebted to his great kindness and great services.

In Clodius’ time,¹ when he was the leader of the Equestrian Class and was very fierce in defending my safety, he was relegated² by the consul Gabinius³—which before that time had never happened to a Roman citizen in Rome. Since the Roman people remember this, it would be most shameful for me not to remember it.

For this reason, please imagine, my Brutus, that it is me seeking election to the praetorship. Although Lamia is absolutely brilliant and has great influence, and put on sumptuous games as aedile,⁴ still, I have taken up this matter as if these things were not so.

Now, if you value me as much as I am sure you do, since you hold sway with the Equestrian Centuries⁵ and have control over them, send word to our dear Lupus to make those centuries ready for us. I shall not keep you with anything more.

I shall end by putting down what I feel: although I expect everything from you, Brutus, there is nothing you could do that would make me more grateful than this.

---

Latin text of ad Familiares 11.16 | Glossary | Historia Civilis video overview of 44-43 BCE

1. 61ish to 52 BCE.

2. ‘To enforce compliance with their edicts and ensure the smooth operation of the state, Roman magistrates had several methods of coercion open to them. One of these powers was that of relegatio, which allowed the expulsion of a citizen from Rome by magisterial decree. All examples of relegation were accomplished by magistrates with imperium, and lesser magistrates probably did not possess this power. Any number of individuals could be relegated under a single decree, and they could even be directed to relocate to a specific area. This act was generally used to remove undesirable foreigners from Rome, as when Greek philosophers were expelled from Rome in 161 and two Epicureans, Philiscus and Alcaeus, were banished seven years later.’ (From A History of Exile in the Roman Republic by Gordon P. Kelly.)

3. in 58 BCE.

4. in 45 BCE.

5. The Equestrian Class formed a large voting bloc in the Centuriate Assembly.