§4.12.1etsi scio non iucundissimum me nuntium vobis allaturum, tamen, quoniam casus et natura in nobis dominatur, visum est faciendum, quoquo modo res se haberet, vos certiores facere.
Although I know that I shall not bring you a very pleasant piece of news, yet, since chance and nature rule over us, I thought I ought to make you informed, in whatever way the matter stood.
A. d. x K. Iun. cum ab Epidauro Piraeum navi advectus essem, ibi M. Marcellum, conlegam nostrum, conveni eumque diem ibi consumpsi, ut cum eo essem.
On the tenth day before the Kalends of June, when I had arrived by ship from Epidaurus at Piraeus, I met there our colleague Marcus Marcellus, and spent that day there in order to be with him.
postero die cum ab eo digressus essem eo consilio, ut ab Athenis in Boeotiam irem reliquamque iuris dictionem ab solverem, ille, ut aiebat, supra Maleas in Italiam versus navigaturus erat.
On the following day, when I had departed from him with the intention of going from Athens to Boeotia and finishing the rest of my judicial administration, he, as he said, was about to sail around Malea towards Italy.
§4.12.2post diem tertium eius diei cum ab Athenis proficisci in animo haberem, circiter hora decima noctis P. Postumius, familiaris eius, ad me venit et mihi nuntiavit M. Marcellum, conlegam nostrum, post cenae tempus a P. Magio Cilone, familiare eius, pugione percussum esse et duo vulnera accepisse, unum in stomacho, alterum in capite secundum aurem sperare tamen eum vivere posse; Magium se ipsum interfecisse postea; se a Marcello ad me missum esse, qui haec nuntiaret et rogaret, uti medicos ei mitterem.
Three days after that day, when I was intending to set out from Athens, about the tenth hour of the night, Publius Postumius, a friend of his, came to me and informed me that our colleague Marcus Marcellus, after dinner-time, had been struck with a dagger by Publius Magius Cilo, his friend, and had received two wounds, one in the stomach, the other in the head behind the ear; yet it was hoped that he could live; that Magius had killed himself afterwards; that he had been sent by Marcellus to me to report these things and to ask that I should send doctors to him.
itaque medicos coegi et e vestigio eo sum profectus prima luce.
Therefore, I gathered doctors and set out for that place immediately at dawn.
cum non longe a Piraeo abessem, puer Acidim obviam mihi venit cum codicillis, in quibus erat scriptum paulo ante lucem Marcellum diem suum obisse.
When I was not far from Piraeus, a slave-boy, Acidim, met me with tablets, on which it was written that a little before dawn Marcellus had met his end.
§4.12.3ita vir clarissimus ab homine deterrimo acerbissima morte est adfectus, et, cui inimici propter dignitatem pepercerant, inventus est amicus, qui ei mortem offerret.
Thus a most illustrious man was met with a most bitter death by a most wicked man, and he, whom enemies had spared on account of his dignity, found a friend to bring him death.
ego tamen ad tabernaculum eius perrexi.
I, however, proceeded to his tent.
inveni duos libertos et pauculos servos; reliquos aiebant profugisse metu perterritos, quod dominus eorum ante tabernaculum interfectus esset.
I found two freedmen and a very few slaves; they said the rest had fled, terrified by fear, because their master had been killed before the tent.
coactus sum in eadem illa lectica, qua ipse delatus eram, meisque lecticariis in urbem eum referre ibique pro ea copia, quae Athenis erat, funus ei satis amplum faciendum curavi.
I was forced to carry him back into the city in that very litter in which I myself had been brought, and by my own litter-bearers; and there, according to the means that were available at Athens, I took care that a sufficiently grand funeral should be held for him.
ab Atheniensibus, locum sepulturae intra urbem ut darent, impetrare non potui, quod religione se impediri dicerent, neque tamen id antea cuiquam concesserant.
I could not obtain from the Athenians that they should give a place of burial within the city, because they said they were prevented by religious scruples, nor indeed had they ever granted that to anyone before.
quod proximum fuit, uti in quo vellemus gymnasio eum sepeliremus, nobis permiserunt.
They did, however, permit us what was the next best thing, to bury him in whichever gymnasium we wished.
nos in nobilissimo orbi terrarum gymnasio Academiae locum delegimus ibique eum combussimus posteaque curavimus, ut eidem Athenienses in eodem loco monumentum ei marmoreum faciendum locarent.
We chose a place in the most famous gymnasium in the world, the Academy, and there we cremated him, and afterwards took care that the same Athenians should contract for a marble monument to be erected for him in the same place.
ita, quae nostra officia fuerunt pro collegio et pro propinquitate, et vivo et mortuo omnia ei praestitimus.
Thus, all the services which were our duty on account of our colleague-ship and our close relationship, we rendered to him both alive and dead.
vale.
Farewell.
D. pr. K. Iun. Athenis.
Dispatched on the day before the Kalends of June, from Athens.