§5.10a.1S. V. B. E. E. Q. V. de Dionysio tuo adhuc nihil extrico, et eo minus, quod me frigus Dalmaticum, quod illinc eiecit, etiam hic refrigeravit; sed tamen non desistam, quin illum aliquando eruam.
If you are well, it is well; I also am well. Concerning your Dionysius, I have as yet extracted nothing, and all the less so, because the Dalmatian cold, which drove me from there, has chilled me even here; but nevertheless I shall not cease until I eventually drag him out.
sed tamen omnia mi dura imperas.
But nonetheless, you impose all kinds of hard tasks on me.
de Catilio nescio quid ad me scripsisti deprecationis diligentissimae.
Concerning Catilius, you have written I know not what most earnest plea to me.
apage te cum nostro Sex. Servilio;
Away with you and our friend Sextus Servilius!
nam me hercule ego quoque illum amo; sed huiusce modi vos clientis, huius modi causas recipitis? hominem unum omnium crudelissimum, qui tot ingenuos, matresfamilias,. civis Romanos occidit, abripuit, disperdidit, regiones vastavit? simius, non semissis homo, contra me arma tulit, et eum bello cepi.
For by Hercules, I too love him; but do you receive clients of this sort, cases of this kind? A single man, the most cruel of all, who has killed, carried off, and ruined so many freeborn people, matrons, [and] Roman citizens, and has laid waste to whole regions? An ape, a man not worth half an as, bore arms against me, and I captured him in war.
§5.10a.2sed tamen, mi Cicero, quid facere possum? omnia me hercule cupio, quae tu mi imperas.
But still, my Cicero, what can I do? By Hercules, I desire to do everything that you command me.
meam animadversionem et supplicium, quo usurus eram in eum, quem cepissem, remitto tibi et condono; quid illis respondere possum, qui ob sua bona direpta, navis expugnatas, fratres, liberos, parentis occisos actiones expostulant? si me hercules Appios haberem, in cuius locum suffectus sum, tamen hoc sustinere non possem.
The punishment and penalty which I was going to inflict upon him, whom I had captured, I remit and grant to you; what can I reply to those who demand legal actions because of their plundered goods, captured ships, and murdered brothers, children, and parents? By Hercules, even if I had the Appii, in whose place I was substituted, I still could not withstand this.
quid ergo est? faciam omnia sedulo, quae te sciam velle.
What is it then? I will diligently do everything that I know you wish.
defenditur a Q.Volusio, tuo discipulo, si forte ea res poterit adversarios fugare; in eo maxima spes est.
He is being defended by Quintus Volusius, your disciple, in case by chance that circumstance can put the adversaries to flight; in that lies our greatest hope.
§5.10a.3nos, si quid erit istic opus, defendes.
As for us, if there is any need of it over there, you will defend us.
Caesar adhuc mi iniuriam facit; de meis supplicationibus et rebus gestis Dalmaticis adhuc non refert, quasi vero non iustissimi triumphi in Dalmatia res gesserim! nam, si hoc exspectandumst, dum totum bellum conficiam, viginti oppida sunt Dalmatiae antiqua, quae ipsi sibi asciverunt, amplius sexaginta.
Caesar is still doing me an injustice; concerning my thanksgivings and achievements in Dalmatia, he has not yet made a motion, as if indeed I had not achieved actions in Dalmatia worthy of a most well-deserved triumph! For, if I must wait for this, until I finish the whole war, there are twenty ancient towns in Dalmatia, and those which they have associated with themselves are more than sixty.
haec nisi omnia expugno, si mihi supplicationes non decernuntur, longe alia condicione ego sum ac ceteri imperatores
Unless I storm all of these, if thanksgivings are not decreed for me, I am in a far different condition than other commanders.