§4.8.1neque monere te audeo, praestanti prudentia virum, nec confirmare, maximi animi hominem unumque fortissimum, consolari vero nullo modo.
I neither dare to advise you, a man of outstanding prudence, nor to encourage you, a man of the greatest spirit and singularly the bravest, and indeed to console you in no way.
nam, si ea, quae acciderunt, ita fers, ut audio, gratulari magis virtuti debeo quam consolari dolorem tuum; sin te tanta mala rei publicae frangunt, non ita abundo ingenio, ut te consoler, cum ipse me non possim.
For if you bear those things which have happened in the way that I hear, I ought to congratulate your virtue rather than console your grief; but if such great evils of the republic break you, I do not so abound in talent that I may console you, since I myself cannot console myself.
reliquum est igitur, ut tibi me in omni re eum praebeam praestemque et ad omnia, quae tui velint, ita sim praesto, ut me non solum omnia debere †tua causa, sed causa quoque, etiam quae non possim, putem.
It remains, therefore, that I should present and prove myself to be such a man to you in every matter, and be so ready for all things which your people may wish, that I think myself not only to owe everything for your sake, but also for their sake, even those things which I cannot do.
§4.8.2illud tamen vel tu me monuisse vel censuisse puta vel propter benevolentiam tacere non potuisse, ut, quod ego facio, tu quoque animum inducas, si sit aliqua res publica, in ea te esse oportere iudicio hominum reque principem, necessitate cedentem tempori; sin autem nulla sit, hunc tamen aptissimum esse etiam ad exsulandum locum.
Yet consider that I have advised or proposed this to you, or could not keep silent because of my goodwill: that, as I do, you also should bring your mind to believe that, if there is any republic, you ought to be the leading man in it both in the judgment of men and in reality, yielding to the time by necessity; but if there is none, yet this is the most suitable place even for living in exile.
si enim libertatem sequimur, qui locus hoc dominatu vacat? sin qualemcumque locum, quae est domestica sede iucundior? sed, mihi crede, etiam is, qui omnia tenet, favet ingeniis, nobilitatem vero et dignitates hominum, quantum ei res et ipsius causa concedit, amplectitur.
For if we pursue liberty, what place is free from this domination? But if any kind of place, what is more pleasant than one's own home? But believe me, even he who holds everything favors talents, and indeed embraces the nobility and dignities of men as much as the state of affairs and his own cause permit.
sed plura quam statueram.
But more than I had intended.
redeo ergo ad unum illud, me tuum esse; fore cum tuis, si modo erunt tui, si minus, me certe in omnibus rebus satis nostrae coniunctioni amorique facturum.
I return therefore to that one thing, that I am yours; that I will be with your people, if only they will be yours; if less, I will certainly in all things do enough for our connection and love.
vale.
Farewell.