§4.1.1C. Trebativs, familiaris meus, ad me scripsit te ex se quaesisse, quibus in locis essem, molesteque te ferre, quod me propter valetudinem tuam, cum ad urbem accessissem, non vidisses, et hoc tempore velle te mecum, si propius accessissem, de officio utriusque nostrum communicare.
C. Trebatius, my close friend, wrote to me that you had inquired of him where I was, and that you took it hard that, because of your health, you had not seen me when I had approached the city, and that at this time you wished, if I had approached closer, to confer with me about the duty of both of us.
utinam, Servi, salvis rebus (sic enim est dicendum) conloqui potuissemus inter nos! profecto aliquid opis occidenti rei publicae tulissemus.
If only, Servius, while affairs were still safe (for so indeed one must speak), we had been able to converse together! Surely we would have brought some help to the falling republic.
cognoram enim iam absens te haec mala multo ante providentem defensorem pacis et in consulatu tuo et post consulatum fuisse; ego autem, cum consilium tuum probarem et idem ipse sentirem, nihil proficiebam; sero enim veneram, solus eram, rudis esse videbar in causa, incideram in hominum pugnandi cupidorum insanias. .
For even while absent, I already knew that you, foreseeing these evils long before, had been a defender of peace both in your consulship and after your consulship; but I, although I approved of your counsel and felt the same myself, made no progress; for I had arrived late, I was alone, I seemed inexperienced in the cause, and I had fallen into the madness of men eager for fighting.
nunc, quoniam nihil iam videmur opitulari posse rei publicae, si quid est, in quo nobismet ipsis consulere possimus, non ut aliquid ex pristino statu nostro retineamus, sed ut quam honestissime lugeamus, nemo est omnium, quicum potius mihi quam tecum communicandum putem; nec enim clarissimorum virorum, quorum similes esse debemus, exempla neque doctissimorum, quos semper coluisti, praecepta te fugiunt.
Now, since we seem no longer able to bring any help to the republic, if there is anything in which we can look out for ourselves—not to retain anything of our former status, but to mourn as honorably as possible—there is no one of all men with whom I think I should confer rather than with you; for neither the examples of the most illustrious men, whom we ought to resemble, nor the precepts of the most learned, whom you have always cultivated, escape you.
atque ipse antea ad te scripsissem te frustra in senatum sive potius in conventum senatorum esse venturum, ni veritus essem ne eius animum offenderem, qui a me, ut te imitarer, petebat.
And I myself would have written to you before that you would go in vain to the senate, or rather to the assembly of senators, if I had not feared to offend the mind of him who was requesting me to imitate you.
cui quidem ego, cum me rogaret ut adessem in senatu, eadem omnia, quae a te de pace et de Hispaniis dicta sunt, ostendi me esse dicturum.
Indeed, when he asked me to be present in the senate, I showed him that I was going to say all the very same things that were said by you about peace and about the Spains.
§4.1.2res vides quo modo se habeat, orbem terrarum. imperiis distributis ardere bello, urbem sine legibus, sine iudiciis, sine iure, sine fide relictam direptioni et incendiis.
You see how the matter stands: that the world, with military commands distributed, is ablaze with war; that the city, left without laws, without trials, without justice, without good faith, is abandoned to plunder and fire.
itaque mihi venire in mentem nihil potest, non modo quod sperem, sed vix iam quod audeam optare.
Therefore, nothing can come into my mind, not only to hope for, but scarcely now even to dare to wish for.
sin autem tibi, homini prudentissimo, videtur utile esse nos conloqui, quamquam longius etiam cogitabam ab urbe discedere, cuius iam etiam nomen invitus audio, tamen propius accedam, Trebatioque mandavi ut, si quid tu eum velles ad me mittere, ne recusaret, idque ut facias velim aut, si quem tuorum fidelium voles, ad me mittas, ne aut tibi exire ex urbe necesse sit aut mihi accedere.
But if it seems useful to you, a most prudent man, that we should converse, although I was thinking of departing even further from the city, whose very name I now hear unwillingly, nevertheless I will approach closer, and I have instructed Trebatius that, if you wished to send him to me with any message, he should not refuse; and I would wish you to do so, or, if you wish, to send one of your faithful people to me, so that it may not be necessary either for you to go out of the city or for me to approach it.
ego tantum tibi tribuo, quantum mihi fortasse adrogo, ut exploratum habeam, quicquid nos communi sententia statuerimus, id omnis homines probaturos.
I attribute as much to you as I perhaps claim for myself, so that I hold it as certain that whatever we decide by common opinion, all men will approve.
vale.
Farewell.