§7.2.1mandatum tuum curabo diligenter.
I will take care of your commission diligently.
sed homo acutus ei mandasti potissimum, cui expediret illud venire quam plurimo.
But, as a sharp man, you have entrusted it of all people to the one for whom it would be advantageous that the property should sell for as much as possible.
sed eo vidisti multum, quod praefinisti quo ne pluris emerem.
However, you showed great foresight in this, that you prescribed a limit so that I should not buy it for more.
quod si mihi permisisses, qui meus amor in te est, confecissem cum coheredibus; nunc, quoniam tuum pretium novi, inlicitatorem potius ponam quam illud minoris veneat.
If you had left it to me, such is my love for you, I would have settled it with the co-heirs; now, since I know your price, I will place a puffer rather than let it be sold for less.
sed de ioco satis est.
But enough of joking.
tuum negotium agam, sicuti debeo, diligenter.
I will attend to your business diligently, as I ought.
§7.2.2de Bursa te gaudere certo scio; sed nimis verecunde mihi gratularis; putas enim, ut scribis, propter hominis sordis minus me magnam illam laetitiam putare.
I know for certain that you rejoice about Bursa; but you congratulate me too bashfully; for you think, as you write, that because of the man's baseness, I do not consider that joy of mine to be so great.
credas mihi velim magis me iudicio hoc quam morte inimici laetatum.
I would like you to believe me that I rejoiced more at this trial than at the death of my enemy.
primum enim iudicio malo quam gladio, deinde gloria potius amici quam calamitate in primisque me deIectavit tantum studium bonorum in me exstitisse contra incredibilem contentionem clarissimi et potentissimi viri;
For first, I prefer a trial to the sword, and second, the glory of a friend rather than the disaster of an enemy; and above all, it delighted me that such great zeal of the good citizens was displayed toward me against the incredible opposition of a most distinguished and powerful man.
§7.2.3postremo (vix veri simile fortasse videatur) oderam multo peius hunc quam illum ipsum Clodium.
Lastly (perhaps it may seem scarcely credible), I hated this man much more bitterly than Clodius himself.
illum enim oppugnaram, hunc defenderam; et ille, cum omnis res p. in meo capite discrimen esset habitura, magnum quiddam spectavit, nec sua sponte sed eorum auxilio, qui me stante stare non poterant, hic simiolus animi causa me in quem inveberetur delegerat persuaseratque non nullis invidis meis se in me emissarium semper fore.
For I had attacked the latter, but I had defended the former; and while the latter, when the whole state was about to face a crisis over my person, aimed at something grand, not of his own accord but by the aid of those who could not stand while I was standing, this little ape selected me as the target for his abuse merely for his own amusement, and convinced some of my envious rivals that he would always be a tool against me.
quam ob rem valde iubeo gaudere te.
Therefore, I bid you rejoice exceedingly.
Magna res gesta est.
A great thing has been done.
numquam ulli fortiores cives fuerunt quam qui ausi sunt eum contra tantas opes eius, a quo ipsi lecti iudices erant, condemnare; quod fecissent numquam, nisi iis dolori meus fuisset dolor.
Never were there braver citizens than those who dared to condemn him against such great power of the man by whom they themselves had been chosen as judges; which they would never have done, unless my pain had been a source of pain to them.
§7.2.4nos hic in multitudine et celebritate iudiciorum et novis legibus ita distinemur ut cotidie vota faciamus ne intercaletur, ut quam primum te videre possimus.
We are so detained here by a multitude and frequency of trials and by new laws that we make vows daily that there may be no intercalation, so that we may see you as soon as possible.