Although Cicero's letter collections were known and read throughout antiquity, traces of his influence on the style of later letter writers and on the organization of their epistolary collections seem to diminish steadily. What remains constant in the extant collections of Cicero, Pliny, Fronto, Symmachus, and Sidonius is the large number of correspondents represented, the preponderance of letters from the period of the writer's highest prestige, and the subject matter of the letters published, which highlights the familial and wider social connections of the writers and their political, financial, and literary interests. All five collections project the ethos and values of a senatorial class.

中文翻译：

---

从西塞罗到西多尼斯的参议员地志学：一种类型的出现

尽管西塞罗的书信集在整个上古时代都广为人知和阅读，但他对后来的信书作者的风格及其书信集的组织影响的痕迹似乎在逐渐减少。在现存的西塞罗（Cicero），普林尼（Pliny），弗朗托（Fronto），西马修斯（Symmachus）和西多尼乌斯（Sidonius）的现成收藏中，不变的是代表着大量的记者，作者声望最高的时期的来信以及出版的来信的主题。作家的家族和更广泛的社会联系及其政治，经济和文学利益。所有五个集合都反映了参议院阶级的精神和价值观。