Letter coll=F:book=5:letter=14 Letter LXXVII: ad familiares 5.14
Rome, May 9, 45 B.C.
Lucceius urges Cicero not to give himself up entirely to grief for the loss of his daughter. On Lucceius, cf. Ep. XVIII. introd. note.
[sect. 1]
S. v. b. e. v.: i.e. si vales benest. Ego valeo, or si vales bene est. Valeo. Cf. Intr. 62.
habeo certum: for scio certum; cf. Ep. LII.1. See also sic habeto, Ep. XXVI.1n .
quae res: a natural substitute for quid from the pen of a lawyer. Cf. quae res for quod, Fam. 12.14.2.
delectare: in the second pers. sing. Cicero uses the ending -re in the pres. subj., imperf. ind., and fut. ind., elsewhere the ending -ris. Two exceptions may be noted to the last statement: (1) in his earlier writings -re is also found in the imperf. subj.; (2) in verbs having no active form -re is also used in the pres. ind. Other cases of the use of forms in -re, as delectare here, are archaic or colloquial.
quorum consuesti: the case of the relative is assimilated to that of its antecedent. Cf. Hor. Sat. 1.6.15 iudice quo nosti populo.
animo: on the personification of animus, cf. Ep. LII.1n. 2