Patrem tuum plurimi feci, meque ille mirifice et coluit et amavit; nec mehercule umquam mihi dubium fuit, quin a te diligerer; ego quidem id facere non destiti. Quam ob rem peto a te in maiorem modum, ut civitatem Buthrotiam subleves decretumque consulum, quod ii secundum Buthrotios fecerunt, cum et lege et senatus consulto statuendi potestatem haberent, des operam ut Plancus noster quam primum confirmet et comprobet. Hoc te vehementer, mi Cupienni, etiam atque etiam rogo.
XVIe
CICERO PLANCO PRAET. DES. S.
Scr. post ep. 16b
Ignosce mihi, quod, cum antea accuratissime de Buthrotiis ad te scripserim, eadem de re saepius scribam. Non mehercule, mi Plance, facio, quo parum confidam aut liberalitati tuae aut nostrae amicitiae, sed, cum tanta res agatur Attici nostri, nunc vero etiam existimatio, ut id, quod probavit Caesar nobis testibus et obsignatoribus, qui et decretis et responsis Caesaris interfueramus, videatur obtinere potuisse, praesertim cum tota potestas eius rei tua sit, ut ea, quae consules decreverunt secundum
XVId
CICERO TO C. CUPIENNIUS, GREETING.
Written at the same time at 16c
I was a great admirer of your father, and he was exceedingly attentive and affectionate to me; and I am sure I have never had any doubt that you have a regard for me. Certainly I have never ceased to have one for you. So I beg you with more than usual earnestness to assist the city of Buthrotum, and to make it your business that our friend Plancus should confirm and verify the decree which the consuls made in favour of the Buthrotians, when they had been granted the power of settling the question both by a statute and by a senatorial decree. This I do most earnestly beg and entreat you, my dear Cupiennius.
XVIe
CICERO TO PLANCUS, PRAETOR ELECT, GREETING.
Written after 16b
Pardon me for writing again on the same subject, when I have already written very fully to you about the Buthrotians. I do assure you, my dear Plancus, that I do not do so because I have little faith in your generosity or your friendship for me. But my friend Atticus has so great a monetary stake in the matter; and now, what is more, his very reputation is involved in showing that he can obtain what Caesar approved of, and we, who were present when Caesar made his decrees and gave his answer, witnessed and sealed. And I appeal to you especially, because it is a case where the whole power, I will not say of confirming, but of confirming freely and willingly