lf ever been
forward in pursuing, and also, above all, in the imitation of yourself:
he can study in no better school than that. He holds a very high place
in my regard and affection, as well because he is yours, as because he
is worthy of such a father, and because he is devoted to me, and has
always been so.

[Footnote 503: See Letter XCV.]

[Footnote 504: See Letter CII.]

[Footnote 505: Joined to the province of Cilicia by Cato in B.C. 58-57.
What Cicero is recommending is a clear evasion. Lentulus is not to
_take_ Ptolemy back, but to go to Egypt and make it ready for him.]

[Footnote 506: Cicero says elsewhere that he supported this (_pro
Balbo_, Sec.61; _de Prov. Cons._ Sec.28; cp. Dio, xxxix. 25).]

[Footnote 507: The law of Gaius Gracchus (B.C. 123) enacting that the
senate should name before the elections the provinces to be held by the
next consuls.]

CXIV (F XIII, 6 a)

Q. VALERIUS ORCA (PROCONSUL IN AFRICA)

ROME (MAY)

[Sidenote: B.C. 56, AET. 50]

If you are well I shall be glad. I am quite well. I presume that you
will remember that, when escorting you on the commencement of your
official journey,[508] I mentioned to you in the presence of Publius
Cuspius, and also afterwards urged you privately at some length, that
whomsoever I might recommend to you as connexions of his, you should
regard as among connexions of my own. You, as was to be expected from
your extreme regard and uninterrupted attentions to me, undertook to do
this for me with the utmost liberality and kindness. Cuspius, who is
most careful in his duties towards all connected with him, takes a
surprising interest in the well-being of certain persons of your
province, because he has been twice in Africa when presiding over the
very large concerns of his revenue-company. Accordingly, this patronage
of his, which he exercises on their behalf, I am accustomed as far as I
can to back up by such means and influence as I possess. Wherefore I
thought it necessary to explain to you in this letter why I give letters
of introduction to all the friends of Cuspius. In future letters I will
merely append the mark[509] agreed upon between you and me, and at the
same time indicate that he is one of Cuspius's friends. But the
recommendation which I have resolved to subscribe to in this present
letter, let me tell you, is more serious than any of them. For P.
Cuspius has pressed me with particular earnestness to recommend Lucius
Iulius t