§6.6.1vereor ne desideres officium meum, quod tibi pro nostra et meritorum multorum et studiorum parium coniunctione deesse non debet; sed tamen vereor ne litterarum a me officium requiras.
I fear that you may miss my service, which, in view of our connection of both many services and equal studies, ought not to be lacking to you; but yet I fear that you may require from me the service of letters.
quas tibi et iam pridem et saepe misissem, nisi cotidie melius exspectans gratulationem quam confirmationem animi tui complecti litteris maluissem. §6.6.2nunc, ut spero, brevi gratulabimur; itaque in aliud tempus id argumentum epistulae differo.
Which I would have sent to you both long ago and often, if I, daily expecting something better, had not preferred to embrace in my letters a congratulation rather than a confirmation of your mind. Now, as I hope, we shall shortly congratulate each other; therefore, I defer that subject of a letter to another time.
his autem litteris animum tuum, quem minime imbecillum esse et audio et spero, etsi non sapientissimi, at amicissimi hominis auctoritate confirmandum etiam atque etiam puto, nec iis quidem verbis, quibus te consoler ut adflictum et iam omni spe salutis orbatum, sed ut eum, de cuius incolumitate non plus dubitem quam te memini dubitare de mea.
But by this letter I think your mind, which I both hear and hope is by no means weak, should be strengthened again and again by the authority of a man, if not the wisest, yet most friendly; and indeed not with those words with which I might console you as one afflicted and already deprived of all hope of safety, but as one about whose safety I do not doubt more than I remember you doubted about mine.
nam, cum me ex re p. expulissent ii qui illam cadere posse stante me non putarunt, memini me ex multis hospitibus, qui ad me ex Asia, in qua tu eras, venerant, audire te de glorioso et celeri reditu meo confirmare. §6.6.3si te ratio quaedam mira Tuscae disciplinae, quam a patre, nobilissimo atque optimo viro, acceperas, non fefellit, ne nos quidem nostra divinatio fallet, quam cum sapientissimorum virorum monumentis atque praeceptis plurimoque, ut tu scis, doctrinae studio tum magno etiam usu tractandae rei p. magnaque nostrorum temporum varietate consecuti sumus; §6.6.4cui quidem divinationi hoc plus confidimus, quod ea nos nihil in his tam obscuris rebus tamque perturbatis umquam omnino fefellit.
For when those who did not think the republic could fall while I stood had expelled me from the state, I remember hearing from many guests who had come to me from Asia, where you were, that you confirmed my glorious and speedy return. If a certain wonderful system of Tuscan discipline, which you had received from your father, a most noble and excellent man, did not deceive you, neither indeed will our own divination deceive us, which we have acquired not only by the writings and precepts of the wisest men and, as you know, by a very great study of learning, but also by a great experience in managing the republic and by the great variety of our times; To which divination indeed we trust the more, because it has never at all deceived us in these so obscure and troubled affairs.
dicerem, quae ante futura dixissem, ni vererer ne ex eventis fingere viderer.
I would tell what I had said beforehand would happen, if I did not fear lest I should seem to invent it from the events.
sed tamen plurimi sunt testes me et initio, ne coniungeret se cum Caesare, monuisse Pompeium et postea, ne seiungeret.
But yet there are very many witnesses that I, both in the beginning, warned Pompey not to join himself with Caesar, and afterwards, not to separate himself.
coniunctione frangi senatus opes, diiunctione civile bellum excitari videbam.
I saw that by union the resources of the senate were broken, and by division a civil war was excited.
atque utebar familiarissime Caesare, Pompeium faciebam plurimi, sed erat meum consilium cum fidele Pompeio tum salutare utrique. §6.6.5quae praeterea providerim praetereo; nolo enim hunc de me optime meritum existimare ea me suasisse Pompeio, quibus ille si paruisset, esset hic quidem clarus in toga et princeps, sed tantas opes, quantas nunc habet, non haberet.
And I was on most familiar terms with Caesar, and valued Pompey very highly, but my advice was both faithful to Pompey and salutary to both. What else I foresaw, I pass over; for I do not wish this man, who has deserved excellently of me, to think that I advised Pompey those things, which if he had obeyed, this man indeed would be illustrious in the toga and a leading citizen, but would not have such great power as he now has.
eundum in Hispaniam censui.
I voted that he should go to Spain.
quod si fecisset, civile bellum nullum omnino fuisset.
If he had done so, there would have been no civil war at all.
rationem haberi absentis non tam pugnavi ut liceret, quam ut, quoniam ipso consule pugnante populus iusserat, haberetur.
I did not fight so much that it should be allowed for an absent candidate to be considered, as that, since the people had ordered it while the consul himself was pushing for it, it should be considered.
causa orta belli est.
The cause of war arose.
quid ego praetermisi aut monitorum aut querelarum, cum vel iniquissimam pacem iustissimo bello anteferrem? §6.6.6Victa est auctoritas mea non tam a Pompeio (nam is movebatur) quam ab iis, qui duce Pompeio freti peropportunam et rebus domesticis et cupiditatibus suis illius belli victoriam fore putabant.
What did I omit, either of warnings or of complaints, when I preferred even the most unjust peace to the most just war? My authority was overcome not so much by Pompey (for he was moved) as by those who, relying on Pompey as leader, thought that the victory of that war would be very opportune both for their domestic affairs and for their desires.
susceptum bellum est quiescente me, depulsum ex Italia manente me, quoad potui; sed valuit apud me plus pudor meus quam timor; veritus sum deesse Pompei saluti, cum ille aliquando non defuisset meae.
The war was undertaken while I was quiet, and was driven from Italy while I remained, as long as I could; but my shame prevailed more with me than my fear; I feared to be lacking to Pompey's safety, when he at some time had not been lacking to mine.
itaque vel officio vel fama bonorum vel pudore victus, ut in fabulis Amphiaraus, sic ego 'prudens et sciens ad pestem ante oculos positam' sum profectus. quo in bello nihil adversi accidit non praedicente me. §6.6.7qua re, quoniam, ut augures et astrologi solent, ego quoque augur publicus ex meis superioribus praedictis constitui apud te auctoritatem auguri et divinationis meae, debebit habere fidem nostra praedictio.
Therefore, overcome either by duty, or by the reputation of good men, or by shame, like Amphiaraus in the plays, so I set out, 'knowing and wise, to the ruin placed before my eyes.' In which war nothing adverse happened without my foretelling it. Therefore, since, as augurs and astrologers are wont, I also, a public augur, have established with you the authority of my augury and divination from my former predictions, our prediction ought to have belief.
non igitur ex alitis involatu nec e cantu sinistro oscinis, ut in nostra disciplina est, nec ex tripudiis solistimis aut soniviis tibi auguror, sed habeo alia signa, quae ob servem; quae etsi non sunt certiora illis, minus tamen habent vel obscuritatis vel erroris.
Therefore I do not augur for you from the flight of birds, nor from the unlucky song of a singing bird, as is in our discipline, nor from the sacred dance of the chickens, but I have other signs to observe; which, though they are not more certain than those, yet have less of either obscurity or error.