§5.2.1si tu exercitusque valetis, benest.
If you and the army are well, it is good.
scribis ad me 'te existimasse pro mutuo inter nos animo et pro reconciliata gratia numquam te a me ludibrio laesum in. ' quod cuius modi sit, satis intellegere non possum, sed tamen suspicor ad te esse adlatum me in senatu, cum disputarem permultos esse qui rem p. a me conservatam dolerent, dixisse a te propinquos tuos, quibus negare non potuisses, impetrasse ut ea, quae statuisses tibi in senatu de mea laude esse dicenda, reticeres.
You write to me: "that you had expected, in view of our mutual affection and our restored friendship, that you would never be harmed by me as an object of ridicule." I cannot sufficiently understand what kind of thing this is, but nevertheless, I suspect it has been reported to you that, when I was arguing in the senate that there were very many who grieved that the state had been saved by me, I said that your relatives, whom you could not refuse, had obtained from you that you should keep silent about those things which you had decided ought to be spoken by you in the senate concerning my praise.
quod cum dicerem, illud adiunxi mihi tecum ita dispertitum officium fuisse in rei p. salute retinenda, ut ego urbem a domesticis insidiis et ab intestino scelere, tu Italiam et ab armatis hostibus et ab occulta coniuratione defenderes, atque hanc nostram tanti et tam praeclari muneris societatem a tuis propinquis labefactatam, qui, cum tu a me rebus amplissimis atque honorificentissimis ornatus esses, timuissent ne quae mihi pars abs te voluntatis mutuae tribueretur.
When I said this, I added that the duty in preserving the safety of the state had been so divided between me and you that I should defend the city from domestic plots and from internal crime, and you should defend Italy both from armed enemies and from a hidden conspiracy, and that this partnership of ours in so great and so glorious a task had been undermined by your relatives, who, although you had been adorned by me with most ample and honorable favors, had feared lest any share of mutual goodwill should be bestowed upon me by you.
§5.2.2hoc in sermone cum a me exponeretur, quae mea exspectatio fuisset orationis tuae quantoque in errore versatus essem, visa est oratio non iniucunda, et mediocris quidam est risus consecutus non in te sed magis in errorem meum, et quod me abs te cupisse laudari aperte atque ingenue confitebar.
When this was being set forth by me in this speech—namely, what my expectation of your speech had been and in how great an error I had been involved—the speech seemed not unpleasing, and a certain moderate laughter followed, not at you, but rather at my error, and because I was openly and ingenuously confessing that I had desired to be praised by you.
iam hoc non potest in te non honorifice esse dictum, me in clarissimis meis atque amplissimis rebus tamen aliquod testimonium tuae vocis habere voluisse.
Now, this cannot but be spoken honorably towards you, that in my most glorious and ample achievements, I nevertheless wished to have some testimony of your voice.
§5.2.3quod autem ita scribis: 'pro mutuo inter nos animo,' quid tu existimes esse in amicitia mutuum, nescio, equidem hoc arbitror, cum par voluntas accipitur et redditur.
But as to what you write: "in view of our mutual affection," I do not know what you consider to be "mutual" in friendship; I, for my part, think this, when equal goodwill is received and returned.
ego si hoc dicam, me tua causa praetermisisse provinciam tibi ipse levior videar esse; meae enim rationes ita tulerunt, atque eius mei consili maiorem in dies singulos fructum voluptatemque capio;
If I should say this, that I passed over the province for your sake, I might seem too light even to you yourself; for my own interests so required, and I reap a greater fruit and pleasure from that decision of mine day by day.
illud dico, me, ut primum in contione provinciam deposuerim, statim, quem ad modum eam tibi traderem, cogitare coepisse.
I do say this, that as soon as I laid down the province in the public assembly, I immediately began to think how I might hand it over to you.
nihil dico de sortitione vestra; tantum te suspicari volo, nihil in ea re per conlegam meum me insciente esse factum.
I say nothing of your lottery; I only wish you to suspect that nothing was done in that matter through my colleague without my knowledge.
recordare cetera, quam cito senatum illo die facta sortitione coegerim, quam multa de te verba fecerim, cum tu ipse mihi dixisti orationem meam non solum in te honorificam sed etiam in conlegas tuos contumeliosam fuisse.
Recall the rest: how quickly, on that day after the lottery was made, I convoked the senate, how many words I spoke about you, when you yourself told me that my speech was not only honorable towards you but even insulting towards your colleagues.
§5.2.4iam illud senatus consultum, quod eo die factum est, ea praescriptione est, ut, dum id exstabit, officium meum in te obscurum esse non possit.
Now, that decree of the senate, which was made on that day, is of such a character (with such a preamble) that as long as it exists, my duty towards you cannot be obscure.
postea vero quam profectus es, velim recordere quae ego de te in senatu egerim, quae in contionibus dixerim, quas ad te litteras miserim.
But after you departed, I would like you to recall what I did concerning you in the senate, what I said in the public assemblies, what letters I sent to you.
quae cum omnia conlegeris, tu ipse velim iudices, satisne videatur his omnibus rebus tuus adventus, cum proxime Romam venisti, mutue respondisse.
When you have gathered all these things together, I would like you yourself to judge whether your arrival, when you recently came to Rome, seems to have responded mutually to all these things.
§5.2.5quod scribis de 'reconciliata gratia' nostra, non intellego cur reconciliatam esse dicas, quae numquam imminutast.
As for your writing about our "restored friendship," I do not understand why you say it has been restored, since it was never diminished.
§5.2.6quod scribis non oportuisse 'Metellum, fratrem tuum, ob dictum a me oppugnari,' primum hoc velim existimes, animum mihi istum tuum vehementer probari et fraternam plenam humanitatis ac pietatis voluntatem; deinde, si qua ego in re fratri tuo rei publicae causa restiterim, ut mihi ignoscas (tam enim sum amicus rei p. quam qui maxime); si vero meam salutem contra illius impetum in me crudelissimum defenderim, satis habeas nihil me etiam tecum de tui fratris iniuria conqueri.
As for your writing that "Metellus, your brother, ought not to have been attacked by me because of a speech," first, I would like you to believe that your that disposition is vehemently approved by me, and your brotherly goodwill full of humanity and affection; next, if in any matter I resisted your brother for the sake of the state, that you may forgive me (for I am as great a friend of the state as anyone can be); but if I defended my safety against his most cruel attack on me, you should be satisfied that I am not complaining to you at all about your brother's injustice.
quem ego cum comperissem omnem sui tribunatus conatum in meam perniciem parare atque meditari, egi cum Claudia, uxore tua, et cum vestra sorore Mucia, cuius erga me studium pro Cn. Pompei necessitudine multis in rebus perspexeram, ut eum ab illa iniuria deterrerent.
When I had discovered that he was preparing and meditating every effort of his tribuneship for my ruin, I pleaded with Claudia, your wife, and with your sister Mucia, whose devotion towards me I had perceived in many matters because of her intimacy with Gnaeus Pompeius, that they might deter him from that injustice.