§13.1.1etsi non satis mihi constiterat cum aliquane animi mei molestia an potius libenter te Athenis visurus essem, quod iniuria, quam accepisti, dolore me adficeret, sapientia tua, qua fers iniuriam, laetitia, tamen vidisse te mallem; nam quod est molestiae non sane multo levius est, cum te non video, quod esse potuit voluptatis certe, si vidissem te, plus fuisset.
Although it had not been quite clear to me whether I should see you in Athens with some annoyance of mind or rather with pleasure—because the injustice you received affected me with pain, while your wisdom, with which you bear the injustice, with joy—yet I should have preferred to have seen you; for that which is of annoyance is indeed not much lighter when I do not see you, whereas that which could certainly have been of pleasure, if I had seen you, would have been greater.
itaque non dubitabo dare operam ut te videam, cum id satis commode facere potuero; interea quod per litteras et agi tecum et, ut arbitror, confici potest agam.
Therefore, I shall not hesitate to take care to see you, when I am able to do so conveniently enough; meanwhile, I shall conduct by letter what can be both transacted with you and, as I think, completed.
§13.1.2nunc te illud primum rogabo ne quid invitus mea causa facias, sed id, quod mea intelleges multum, tua nullam in partem interesse, ita mihi des, si tibi ut id libenter facias ante persuaseris.
Now I shall first ask you this, that you do nothing for my sake against your will, but that you grant me that which you understand to be of great interest to me and of no interest in any part to you, only if you have first persuaded yourself to do it willingly.
Cum zzzPatrone Epicurio mihi omnia sunt, nisi quod in philosophia vehementer ab eo dissentio.
I have all things in common with Patro the Epicurean, except that I differ from him vehemently in philosophy.
sed et initio Romae, cum te quoque et tuos omnis observabat, me coluit in primis et nuper, cum ea quae voluit de suis commodis et praemiis consecutus est, me habuit suorum defensorum et amicorum fere principem et iam a Phaedro, qui nobis, cum pueri essemus, ante quam Philonem cognovimus, valde ut philosophus, postea tamen ut vir bonus et suavis et officiosus probabatur, traditus mihi commendatusque est.
But both at first in Rome, when he used to show respect to you also and to all your people, he cultivated me among the foremost, and recently, when he obtained those things which he wanted concerning his advantages and rewards, he regarded me as almost the chief of his defenders and friends, and he has already been handed over and recommended to me by Phaedrus, who was highly approved by us when we were boys, before we knew Philo, indeed as a philosopher, but afterwards as a good, pleasant, and obliging man.
§13.1.3is igitur Patro cum ad me Romam litteras misisset, uti te sibi placarem peteremque ut nescio quid illud Epicuri parietinarum sibi concederes, nihil scripsi ad te ob eam rem, quod aedificationis tuae consilium commendatione mea nolebam impediri; idem, ut veni Athenas, cum idem ad te scriberem rogasset, ob eam causam impetravit, quod te abiecisse illam aedificationem constabat inter omnis amicos tuos.
Therefore, when this Patro had sent a letter to me in Rome, asking that I should reconcile you to him and request that you grant him I know not what ruins of Epicurus, I wrote nothing to you on that account, because I did not want your building plan to be hindered by my recommendation; but when I came to Athens, and he asked me to write the same thing to you, he obtained it for this reason, because it was well known among all your friends that you had cast aside that building plan.
§13.1.4quod si ita est et si iam tua plane nihil interest, velim, si qua offensiuncula facta est animi tui perversitate aliquorum (novi enim gentem illam), des te ad lenitatem vel propter summam tuam humanitatem vel etiam honoris mei causa.
And if this is so, and if it is now of plainly no interest to you, I would wish, if any slight offense has been caused to your mind by the perversity of some people (for I know that class of men), that you yield yourself to gentleness, either on account of your supreme humanity or even for the sake of my honor.
equidem, si quid ipse sentiam quaeris, nec cur ille tanto opere contendat video, nec cur tu repugnes, nisi tamen multo minus tibi concedi potest quam illi laborare sine causa.
For my part, if you ask what I myself think, I neither see why he strives so much, nor why you resist, except indeed that it can be much less granted to you than to him to labor without cause.
quamquam Patronis et orationem et causam tibi cognitam esse certo scio; honorem, officium, testamentorum ius, Epicuri auctoritatem, Phaedri obtestationem, sedem, domicilium, vestigia summorum hominum sibi tuenda esse dicit.
Although I know for certain that both the speech and the cause of Patro are known to you; he says that he must defend honor, duty, the law of testaments, the authority of Epicurus, the entreaty of Phaedrus, the seat, the dwelling, and the footsteps of the greatest men.
totam hominis vitam rationemque quam sequitur in philosophia, derideamus licet, si hanc eius contentionem volumus reprehendere; sed me hercules, quoniam illi ceterisque, quos illa delectant, non valde inimici sumus nescio an ignoscendum sit huic, si tanto opere laborat; in quo etiam si peccat, magis ineptiis quam improbitate peccat.
We may deride the man's whole life and the system he follows in philosophy, if we wish to find fault with this striving of his; but, by Hercules, since we are not very hostile to him and the others whom those things delight, I do not know whether he ought not to be forgiven, if he labors so much; in which even if he errs, he errs more from silliness than from wickedness.
§13.1.5sed ne plura (dicendum enim aliquando est), Pomponium Atticum sic amo ut alterum fratrem.
But, not to say more (for indeed it must be said at some time), I love Pomponius Atticus like a second brother.
nihil est illo mihi nec carius nec iucundius.
Nothing is dearer or more pleasant to me than he.
is (non quo sit ex istis; est enim omni liberali doctrina politissimus, sed valde diligit Patronem, valde Phaedrum amavit) sic a me hoc contendit, homo minime ambitiosus, minime in rogando molestus, ut nihil umquam magis, nec dubitat quin ego a te nutu hoc consequi possem, etiam si aedificaturus esses.
He (not because he is one of those; for he is most refined in all liberal learning, but he loves Patro exceedingly, and loved Phaedrus exceedingly) has so striven for this from me, a man least ambitious, least troublesome in asking, that never anything more, nor does he doubt that I could obtain this from you by a nod, even if you were about to build.
nunc vero, si audierit te aedificationem deposuisse neque tamen me a te impetrasse non te in me inliberalem sed me in se neglegentem putabit.
But now indeed, if he hears that you have laid aside the building plan, and yet that I have not obtained this from you, he will not think that you were ungenerous toward me, but that I was negligent toward him.
quam ob rem peto a te ut scribas ad tuos posse tua voluntate decretum illud Areopagitarum, quem u(pomnhmatismo\n illi vocant, tolli.
Wherefore I beg you to write to your people that that decree of the Areopagites, which they call hypomnematismon, can be repealed with your consent.
sed redeo ad prima.
But I return to the first point.
§13.1.6prius velim tibi persuadeas ut hoc mea causa libenter facias quam ut facias; sic tamen habeto, si feceris quod rogo, fore mihi gratissimum.
I would have you persuade yourself to do this willingly for my sake before you do it; yet hold it so, that if you do what I ask, it will be most pleasing to me.
vale.
Farewell.