In Roman classical literature, the references by Cicero and Varro regarding "Pinnius" point to two completely different historical individuals from the Pinnia family (gens): [1]

1. Varro on Quintus Pinnius

Marcus Terentius Varro dedicated the entire third book of his agricultural treatise, De Re Rustica, to his close friend and neighbor, Quintus Pinnius. [1, 2]

• The Latin Opening (Varro, De Re Rustica 3.1.1):

  "Cum duae vitae traditae sint hominum, rustica et urbana, quidni, Pinni, dubium non est, quin hae non solum loco discretae sint, sed etiam tempore diversam originem habeant."

  [1]
• The English Translation:

  "Though there are traditionally two ways in which men live—one in the country, the other in the city—there is clearly no doubt, Pinnius, that these differ not merely in the matter of place but also in the time at which each had its beginning."

  [1]

Context: In this final book, Varro discusses specialized villa husbandry like breeding birds, bees, and fish. Varro chooses Pinnius as the dedicatee partly as a scholarly joke; the name Pinnius evokes the Latin word pinna (meaning "feather" or "wing"), perfectly matching a text whose first major topic is aviaries and poultry.[1, 2, 3, 4]

2. Cicero on Titus Pinnius

Marcus Tullius Cicero references a different member of the family, Titus Pinnius, in a formal letter found in his collection Epistulae ad Familiares (Letters to Friends, 13.61). [1]

• The Latin Text (Cicero, Ad Fam. 13.61):

  "T. Pinnio familiarissime me usum esse scire te arbitror. Quod ex testamento eius potuit intellegi, qui me cum tutorem tum etiam secundum heredem instituerit..."

  [1]
• The English Translation:

  "I think you know that I was very intimate with T. Pinnius. This fact he testified by his will, for he appointed me both a guardian and an heir in the second degree..."

  [1]

Context: Cicero wrote this letter to Publius Silius Nerva (the governor of Bithynia and Pontus). He was writing to ask for administrative assistance on behalf of Titus Pinnius's young son, who was owed a staggering eight million sesterces by the people of Nicaea. [1]

If you are trying to locate these specific texts in a library database or a textbook, would you like the full bilingual passages or the exact Loeb Classical Library volume citations for either Varro's On Agriculture or Cicero's Letters to Friends?