§12.4.1vellem Idibus Martiis me ad cenam invitasses; reliquiarum nihil fuisset.
I could wish that you had invited me to dinner on the Ides of March; there would have been nothing left of the remains.
nunc me reliquiae vestrae exercent et quidem praeter ceteros me hercule.
As it is, your remains are keeping me busy, and indeed, by Hercules, beyond all others.
quamquam egregios consules habemus sed turpissimos consularis, senatum fortem sed infimo quemque honore fortissimum; populo vero nihil fortius, nihil melius Italiaque universa: nihil autem foedius Philippo et Pisone legatis, nihil flagitiosius.
Although we have excellent consuls but most disgraceful consulars, a brave senate but where those of the lowest rank are the bravest; indeed, nothing is braver, nothing better than the people and all Italy: but nothing is more shameful, nothing more scandalous than the legates Philippus and Piso.
qui cum essent missi ut Antonio ex senatus sententia certas res nuntiarent, cum ille earum rerum nulli paruisset, ultro ab illo ad nos intolerabilia postulata rettulerunt.
Although they had been sent to deliver certain instructions to Antonius in accordance with the opinion of the senate, when he complied with none of those instructions, they actually brought back intolerable demands from him to us.
itaque ad nos concurritur factique iam in re salutari populares sumus.
Therefore, there is a rush to me, and we have now become popular in a salutary cause.
§12.4.2sed tu quid ageres, quid acturus, ubi denique esses, nesciebam; fama nuntiabat te esse in Syria, auctor erat nemo.
But what you were doing, what you were going to do, where in short you were, I did not know; rumor reported that you were in Syria, but there was no authority.
de Bruto, quo propius est, eo firmiora videntur esse quae nuntiantur.
Concerning Brutus, the nearer he is, the more certain what is reported seems to be.
Dolabella valde vituperabatur ab hominibus non insulsis, quod tibi tam cito succederet, cum tu vixdum xxx dies in Syria fuisses.
Dolabella was heavily criticized by men not without sense, because he was succeeding you so quickly when you had scarcely been thirty days in Syria.
itaque constabat eum recipi in Syriam non oportere.
Therefore, it was clear that he ought not to be received into Syria.
summa laus et tua et Bruti est, quod exercitum praeter spem existimamini comparasse.
The greatest praise of both you and Brutus is that, contrary to expectation, you are thought to have raised an army.
scriberem plura, si rem causamque nossem; nunc quae scribo scribo ex opinione hominum atque fama.
I would write more, if I knew the situation and the cause; now what I write, I write from the opinion of men and from rumor.
tuas litteras avide exspecto.
I eagerly await your letters.
vale.
Farewell.