1He neither told lies nor could endure them. 1And so his affability was not without strictness nor his dignity without good nature, so that it was hard to understand whether his friends feared or loved him more. 1Whatever he was asked, he promised scrupulously, because he thought it the mark not of generous but of frivolous men to promise what they could not perform. 2He also took such care in carrying out what he had once agreed to that he seemed to be handling not a commission but his own business. 2He was never weary of a task once undertaken: for he thought his own reputation was at stake in it, and he held nothing dearer.
3So it came about that he managed all the business of the Ciceros, of Marcus Cato, of Quintus Hortensius, of Aulus Torquatus, and of many Roman knights besides. 3From this it can be judged that it was not from indolence but from judgement that he avoided the management of public affairs.