Att. 15.1Mendācium neque dīcēbat neque patī poterat.He neither told lies nor could endure them. Att. 15.1Itaque eius cōmitās nōn sine sevēritāte erat neque gravitās sine facilitāte, ut difficile esset intellēctū, utrum eum amīcī magis verērentur an amārent.And 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. Att. 15.1Quidquid rogābātur, religiōsē prōmittēbat, quod nōn līberālēs, sed levēs arbitrābātur pollicērī quod praestāre nōn possent.Whatever 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. Att. 15.2Īdem in tenendō, quod semel annuisset, tanta erat cūra, ut nōn mandātam, sed suam rem vidērētur agere.He 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. Att. 15.2Numquam susceptī negōtiī eum pertaesum est: suam enim exīstimātiōnem in eā rē agī putābat, quā nihil habēbat cārius.He was never weary of a task once undertaken: for he thought his own reputation was at stake in it, and he held nothing dearer.
Att. 15.3Quō fīēbat ut omnia Cicerōnum, M. Catōnis, Q. Hortēnsiī, A. Torquātī, multōrum praetereā equitum Rōmānōrum negōtia prōcūrāret.So 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. Att. 15.3Ex quō iūdicārī potest nōn inertiā, sed iūdiciō fūgisse reī pūblicae prōcūrātiōnem.From this it can be judged that it was not from indolence but from judgement that he avoided the management of public affairs.