§6.2.1peto a te ne me putes oblivione tui rarius ad te scribere, quam solebam, sed aut gravitate valetudinis, qua tamen iam paulum videor levari, aut quod absim ab urbe, ut, qui ad te proficiscantur, scire non possim.
I ask of you not to think that I write to you more rarely than I was accustomed because of forgetfulness of you, but either on account of the severity of my health (from which, however, I already seem to be somewhat relieved), or because I am away from the city, so that I cannot know who may be setting out to you.
qua re velim ita statutum habeas, me tui memoriam cum summa benevolentia tenere tuasque omnis res non minori mihi curae quam meas esse.
Therefore, I would wish you to hold it as determined that I keep the memory of you with the greatest goodwill and that all your affairs are of no less concern to me than my own.
§6.2.2quod maiore in varietate versata est adhuc tua causa quam homines aut volebant aut opinabantur, mihi crede, non est pro malis temporum quod moleste feras; necesse est enim aut armis urgeri rem p. sempiternis aut iis positis recreari aliquando aut funditus interire.
As to the fact that your cause has been hitherto involved in greater variety than people either wished or expected, believe me, it is not something that you should bear with annoyance, considering the badness of the times; for it is necessary that the republic either be pressed by everlasting arms, or recover at some time when they are laid down, or perish utterly.
si arma valebunt, nec eos, a quibus reciperis, vereri debes nec eos, quos adiuvisti; si armis aut condicione positis aut defetigatione abiectis aut victoria detractis civitas respiraverit, et dignitate tua frui tibi et fortunis licebit; sin omnino interierint omnia fueritque is exitus, quem vir prudentissimus, M. Antonius, iam tum timebat, cum tantum instare malorum suspicabatur, misera est illa quidem consolatio, tali praesertim civi et viro, sed tamen necessaria, nihil esse praecipue cuiquam dolendum in eo quod accidat universis.
If arms prevail, you ought neither to fear those by whom you are received, nor those whom you assisted; if, when arms are either laid down by agreement, or cast aside through exhaustion, or removed by victory, the state takes breath again, you will be allowed to enjoy both your dignity and your fortunes; but if all things perish utterly, and there be that end which that most wise man, Marcus Antonius, already feared at that very time when he suspected that so many evils were threatening, that is indeed a miserable consolation, especially for such a citizen and man, but yet a necessary one: that nothing ought to be especially grieved for by anyone in that which happens to all.
§6.2.3quae vis insit in his paucis verbis (plura enim committenda epistulae non erant), si attendes, quod facis, profecto etiam sine meis litteris intelleges te aliquid habere, quod speres, nihil, quod aut hoc aut aliquo rei p. statu timeas; omnia si interierint, cum superstitem te esse rei publicae ne si liceat quidem velis, ferendam esse fortunam, praesertim quae absit a culpa.
What force is in these few words (for more things were not to be committed to a letter), if you attend, as you do, you will surely understand, even without my letter, that you have something to hope for, and nothing to fear either in this or in any state of the republic; and that if all things perish, since you would not wish to survive the republic even if it were permitted, fortune must be borne, especially that which is free from guilt.
sed haec hactenus.
But so much for these things.
tu velim scribas ad me quid agas et ubi futurus sis, ut aut quo scribam aut quo veniam scire possim.
I would wish you to write to me what you are doing and where you will be, so that I may be able to know either where to write or where to come.