§7.24.1amoris quidem tui, quoquo me verti, vestigia, vel proxime de Tigellio; sensi enim ex litteris tuis valde te laborasse.
Whithersoever I turn, I find traces of your affection, most recently in the matter of Tigellius; for I perceived from your letter that you have been very anxious on my account.
amo igitur voluntatem.
I love you, therefore, for your goodwill.
sed pauca de re.
But a few words on the matter.
Cipius opinor, olim: 'non omnibus dormio. ' sic ego non omnibus, mi Galle, servio.
Cipius, I think, once said: "I do not sleep for everyone." In the same way, my dear Gallus, I do not slave for everyone.
etsi quae est haec servitus? olim cum regnare existimabamur, non tam ab ullis quam hoc tempore observor a familiarissimis Caesaris omnibus praeter istum.
And yet, what kind of slavery is this? In the old days, when I was thought to reign, I was not courted by any so much as I am at this time by all the most intimate friends of Caesar, except for that fellow.
id ego in lucris pono, non ferre hominem pestilentiorem patria sua; eumque addictum iam totum puto esse Calvi §7.24.2Licini Hipponacteo praeconio.
I count it as a gain not to have to bear a man more pestilential than his own homeland; and I think he has now been knocked down completely by the Hipponactean auction-cry of Calvus Licinius.
at vide quid suscenseat.
But see what he is angry about.
Phameae causam receperam ipsius quidem causa; erat enim mihi sane familiaris.
I had undertaken the cause of Phameas, indeed for his own sake; for he was truly intimate with me.
is ad me venit dixitque iudicem sibi operam dare constituisse eo ipso die quo de P. Sestio in consilium iri necesse erat.
He came to me and said that the judge had decided to hear his case on the very day on which it was necessary for the jury to retire for consultation on the case of P. Sestio.
respondi nullo modo me facere posse; quem vellet alium diem si sumpsisset, me ei non defuturum.
I replied that it was impossible for me to do so; but that if he had chosen any other day he pleased, I would not fail him.
ille autem, qui sciret se nepotem bellum tibicinem habere et sat bonum unctorem, discessit a me, ut mi videbatur, iratior.
He, however, knowing that he had a grandson who was a pretty flute-player and a tolerably good anointer, departed from me, as it seemed to me, rather angry.
habes 'Sardos venalis alium alio nequiorem. ' Cognosti meam causam et istius salaconis iniquitatem.
Thus you have "Sardinians for sale, each one more worthless than the next." You now know my case and the unfairness of that braggart.
'Catonem' tuum mihi mitte; cupio enim legere.
Send me your "Cato"; for I desire to read it.
me adhuc non legisse turpe utrique nostrum est.
That I have not yet read it is a disgrace to both of us.