1You ask me earnestly to plead a case that concerns your interest, one that is, besides, fine and well known. 1I shall do it, but not for nothing. 1'How can it be,' you say, 'that you, of all people, should not plead for nothing?' 1It can: for I shall demand a fee more honourable than unpaid advocacy. 2I ask, and I even stipulate, that Cremutius Ruso should plead with me. 2This is my custom, and I have often done it already for many distinguished young men; 2for I have a wonderful desire to show good young men to the forum, to commend them to fame. 3If to anyone, I owe this service to my friend Ruso, both because of his birth and because of his exceptional affection for me; 3I think it of great importance that he should be seen and heard in the same courts, and on the same side too.
4Oblige me, oblige me before he speaks; 4for when he has spoken you will thank me. 4I promise that he will be equal to your anxiety, to my hopes, to the greatness of the case. 4He is of the finest character, and will soon be bringing others forward, if meanwhile he is brought forward by us. 5For no one has a talent so brilliant from the start that he can rise to the surface unless material, opportunity, and a patron and sponsor too, fall to his lot. 5Farewell.