§7.28.1memini cum mihi desipere videbare, quod cum istis potius viveres quam nobiscum.
I remember when you seemed to me to be acting foolishly, because you lived with those people rather than with us.
erat enim multo domicilium huius urbis, cum quidem haec urbs, aptius humanitati et suavitati tuae quam tota Peloponnesus, nedum Patrae.
For the residence of this city, at least when this city was indeed a city, was much more suited to your refinement and pleasant nature than the whole Peloponnese, not to mention Patras.
nunc contra et vidisse mihi multum videris, cum prope desperatis his rebus te in Graeciam contulisti, et hoc tempore non solum sapiens, qui hinc absis, sed etiam beatus.
Now, on the contrary, you seem to me both to have shown great foresight when you betook yourself to Greece when our affairs were almost despaired of, and at this time to be not only wise in being absent from here, but also fortunate.
quamquam quis, qui aliquid sapiat, nunc esse beatus potest?
Although, who that has any wisdom at all can be fortunate now?
§7.28.2sed quod tu cui licebat, pedibus es consecutus ut ibi esses, 'ubi nec Pelopidarum' (nosti cetera), nos idem prope modum consequimur alia ratione.
But as for the fact that you, for whom it was permitted, achieved by means of your feet that you should be there, "where neither of the descendants of Pelops..." (you know the rest), we achieve almost the same thing in another way.
Cum enim salutationi nos dedimus amicorum, quae fit hoc etiam frequentius quam solebat, quod quasi avem albam videntur bene sentientem civem videre, abdo me in bibliothecam.
For when I have given myself to the morning-salutations of my friends—which happen even more frequently now than they used to, because they seem to see a well-disposed citizen as if he were a white bird—I hide myself in the library.
itaque opera efficio tanta quanta fortasse tu senties; intellexi enim ex tuo sermone quodam, cum meam maestitiam et desperationem accusares domi tuae, discere te ex meis libris animum meum desiderare.
And so I produce works as great as perhaps you will perceive; for I understood from a certain conversation of yours, when you were reproaching my sadness and despair at your home, that you learn from my books to miss my old spirit.
§7.28.3sed me hercule et tum rem publicam lugebam, quae non solum suis erga me sed etiam meis erga se beneficiis erat mihi vita mea carior, et hoc tempore, quamquam me non ratio solum consolatur, quae plurimum debet valere, sed etiam dies, quae stultis quoque mederi solet, tamen doleo ita rem communem esse dilapsam ut ne spes quidem melius aliquando fore relinquatur.
But, by Hercules, both then I was mourning the republic, which was dearer to me than my own life, not only because of its benefits toward me but also because of my services toward it, and at this time, although not only reason consoles me, which ought to have the greatest weight, but also time, which is accustomed to heal even fools, nevertheless I grieve that the common interest has so collapsed that not even a hope is left that things will at some time be better.
nec vero nunc quidem culpa in eo est in cuius potestate omnia sunt (nisi forte id ipsum esse non debuit), sed alia casu, alia etiam nostra culpa sic acciderunt ut de praeteritis non sit querendum.
Nor indeed is the blame now in him in whose power all things are (unless perhaps that very thing ought not to have been), but some things by chance, others even by our own fault, have so happened that we must not complain about the past.
reliquam spem nullam video.
I see no remaining hope.
qua re ad prima redeo: sapienter haec reliquisti, si consilio, feliciter. si casu.
Therefore I return to my first point: you left these things wisely if by design, fortunately if by chance.