CCCCL (F XIII, 11)
TO M. IUNIUS BRUTUS (IN CISALPINE GAUL[1])
Rome (?)
I have observed that you take great pains to allow nothing
which concerns me to be unknown to you; I therefore feel
no doubt that you know not only to what municipium I
belong, but also how careful I am to defend the interests of
my fellow townsmen of Arpinum. Now their entire income
and resources, which enable them to keep their temples and
other public buildings in repair, depend upon the rents
which they own in the province of Gallia. To visit these
estates, to collect the moneys owed by the tenants, and
generally to investigate and provide for the management of
the whole property, we are sending a commission of Roman
knights, Quintus Fufidius, son of Quintus, Marcus Faucius,
son of Marcus, Quintus Mamercius, son of Quintus.
I beg you with more than common earnestness, in the name of our friendship, that you would have an eye to this affair, and take pains that as far as you are concerned the business of the municipium may be transacted with as little difficulty, and finished as promptly, as possible; and that you would treat the persons themselves, whose names I have given, with all the honour and kindness which characterize you. By doing so you will have attached men of honour to your person, and have put a most grateful municipium under an obligation to you for your kind service. For myself, you will have done me a more than common favour, because, while it has been my invariable custom to protect my fellow townsmen's interests, this particular year has a special claim upon my attention and service to them. For this year I
- ↑ Marcus Brutus had not only been pardoned by Cæsar for his part in the Civil War, but made governor of Cisalpine Gaul, i.e., North Italy, which was still treated as a province, though its inhabitants were full citizens, and continued to be so treated till the time of Augustus. An analogy in some respects would be the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
