§19qua re gaude tuo isto tam excellenti bono et fruere cum fortuna et gloria tum etiam natura et moribus tuis; ex quo quidem maximus est fructus iucunditasque sapienti.
Therefore, rejoice in that very excellent good of yours, and enjoy both fortune and glory, as well as your own nature and character; from which indeed there is the greatest fruit and pleasure for a wise man.
cetera cum tua recordabere, etsi persaepe virtuti, tamen plerumque felicitati tuae gratulabere: de nobis quos in re publica tecum simul esse voluisti quotiens cogitabis, totiens de maximis tuis beneficiis, totiens de incredibili liberalitate, totiens de singulari sapientia cogitabis: quae non modo summa bona sed nimirum audebo vel sola dicere.
When you remember your other affairs, though very often you will congratulate your virtue, yet for the most part you will congratulate your good fortune; but as often as you think of us, whom you wished to be together with you in the republic, so often you will think of your greatest benefits, so often of your incredible liberality, so often of your singular wisdom: which I shall dare to call not only the highest goods, but indeed almost the only ones.
tantus est enim splendor in laude vera, tanta in magnitudine animi et consili dignitas ut haec a virtute donata, cetera a fortuna commodata esse videantur.
For so great is the splendor in true praise, so great the dignity in greatness of mind and counsel, that these seem to have been given by virtue, and the rest to have been lent by fortune.
§20noli igitur in conservandis viris bonis defetigari, non cupiditate praesertim aliqua aut pravitate lapsis, sed opinione offici stulta fortasse, certe non improba, et specie quadam rei publicae.
Therefore, do not grow weary in preserving good men, especially those who fell not from some desire or depravity, but perhaps from a foolish, though certainly not wicked, opinion of duty, and from a certain appearance of the republic.
non enim tua ulla culpa est, si te aliqui timuerunt, contraque summa laus, quod minime timendum fuisse senserunt.
For it is no fault of yours if some feared you; on the contrary, it is your highest praise that they perceived there was least cause to fear you.
§21nunc venio ad gravissimam querelam et atrocissimam suspicionem tuam, quae non tibi ipsi magis quam cum omnibus civibus, tum maxime nobis qui a te conservati sumus providenda est: quam etsi spero falsam esse, numquam tamen extenuabo, tua enim cautio nostra cautio est.
Now I come to your most grave complaint and most terrible suspicion, which must be provided against not more for yourself than for all citizens, and especially for us who have been preserved by you; which, although I hope it is false, I will never extenuate, for your safety is our safety.
quod si in alterutro peccandum sit, malim videri nimis timidus quam parum prudens.
But if one must err in one of the two, I would prefer to seem too timid than too little prudent.
sed quisnam est iste tam demens? de tuisne?—tametsi qui magis sunt tui quam quibus tu salutem insperantibus reddidisti?—anne ex eo numero qui una tecum fuerunt? non est credibilis tantus in ullo furor ut quo duce omnia summa sit adeptus, huius vitam non anteponat suae.
But who on earth is that so mad a person? One of your own?—though who are more yours than those to whom you restored safety when they did not hope for it?—or is he from that number who were together with you? It is not credible that there is such great madness in anyone that, under whose leadership he obtained all the highest things, he would not prefer this man's life to his own.
an si nihil tui cogitant sceleris, cavendum est ne quid inimici? qui? omnes enim qui fuerunt aut sua pertinacia vitam amiserunt aut tua misericordia retinuerunt, ut aut nulli supersint de inimicis aut qui fuerunt sint amicissimi.
Or, if your own people think of no crime, must we beware lest our enemies do? Which enemies? For all who were have either lost their lives by their own obstinacy or have retained them by your mercy, so that either none of our enemies survive, or those who were have become our greatest friends.
§22sed tamen cum in animis hominum tantae latebrae sint et tanti recessus, augeamus sane suspicionem tuam: simul enim augebimus diligentiam.
But yet, since there are such great hiding-places and such great recesses in the minds of men, let us by all means increase your suspicion; for at the same time we shall increase our diligence.
nam quis est omnium tam ignarus rerum, tam rudis in re publica, tam nihil umquam nec de sua nec de communi salute cogitans, qui non intellegat tua salute contineri suam et ex unius tua vita pendere omnium? equidem de te dies noctesque, ut debeo, cogitans casus dumtaxat humanos et incertos eventus valetudinis et naturae communis fragilitatem extimesco, doleoque, cum res publica immortalis esse debeat, eam in unius mortalis anima consistere.
For who of all is so ignorant of things, so untrained in the republic, so unthinking ever of his own or the common safety, as not to understand that his own safety is contained in yours, and that the lives of all depend on your single life? I indeed, thinking of you day and night, as I ought, dread the merely human casualties and the uncertain events of health and the common frailty of nature; and I grieve that, while the republic ought to be immortal, it depends on the breath of a single mortal.
§23si vero ad humanos casus incertosque motus valetudinis sceleris etiam accedit insidiarumque consensio, quem deum, si cupiat, posse opitulari rei publicae credimus?
omnia sunt excitanda tibi, C. Caesar, uni quae iacere sentis belli ipsius impetu, quod necesse fuit, perculsa atque prostrata: constituenda iudicia, revocanda fides, comprimendae libidines, propaganda suboles, omnia quae dilapsa iam diffluxerunt severis legibus vincienda sunt.
But if, to human casualties and the uncertain movements of health, there is also added a conspiracy of crime and treachery, what god do we believe can help the republic, even if he should wish to? All things, Julius Caesar, must be raised up by you alone, which you perceive lie shattered and prostrate by the very impact of the war, as was necessary: judgments must be established, faith restored, passions restrained, offspring propagated, and all things which have already decayed and flowed away must be bound together by severe laws.
§24non fuit recusandum in tanto civili bello, tanto animorum ardore et armorum quin quassata res publica, quicumque belli eventus fuisset, multa perderet et ornamenta dignitatis et praesidia stabilitatis suae, multaque uterque dux faceret armatus quae idem togatus fieri prohibuisset.
It was not to be refused in so great a civil war, in such great ardour of minds and arms, but that the shattered republic, whatever the outcome of the war had been, would lose many ornaments of its dignity and the protections of its stability, and that each leader would do many things while armed which the same man in his toga would have prohibited from being done.
quae quidem tibi nunc omnia belli volnera sananda sunt, quibus praeter te mederi nemo potest.
All these wounds of war must now be healed by you, which no one except you is able to cure.