§7.30.1ego vero iam te nec hortor nec rogo ut domum redeas; quin hinc ipse evolare cupio et aliquo pervenire, 'ubi nec Pelopidarum nomen nec facta audiam. ' incredibile est quam turpiter mihi facere videar, qui his rebus intersim.
Indeed, I no longer encourage you nor ask you to return home; on the contrary, I myself desire to fly away from here and to reach some place "where I shall hear neither the name nor the deeds of the descendants of Pelops." It is unbelievable how shamefully I seem to myself to act, since I am present at these affairs.
ne tu videris multo ante providisse quid impenderet, tum cum hinc profugisti.
Truly, you seem to have foreseen long before what was hanging over us, back when you fled from here.
quamquam haec etiam auditu acerba sunt, tamen audire tolerabilius est quam videre.
Although these things are bitter even to hear, yet it is more tolerable to hear them than to see them.
in campo certe non fuisti, cum hora secunda comitiis quaestoriis institutis sella Q. Maximi, quem illi consulem esse dicebant, posita esset;
You certainly were not in the Campus, when at the second hour, the quaestorian elections having been started, the chair of Q.
quo mortuo nuntiato sella sublata est.
Maximus, whom they used to say was consul, was set up; but when his death was announced, the chair was removed.
ille autem, qui comitiis tributis esset auspicatus, centuriata habuit, consulem hora septima renuntiavit, qui usque ad K. Ian. esset quae erant futurae mane postridie.
However, he who had taken the auspices for the assembly of the tribes held the assembly of the centuries, and at the seventh hour declared a consul, who was to be in office until the Kalends of January, which was the next morning.
ita Caninio consule scito neminem prandisse.
And so, know that while Caninius was consul no one had lunch.
nihil tamen eo consule mali factum est; fuit enim mirifica vigilantia, qui suo toto consulatu somnum non viderit.
Yet, nothing bad was done while he was consul; for he was of a wonderful vigilance, who during his entire consulship never saw sleep.
§7.30.2haec tibi ridicula videntur; non enim ades.
These things seem laughable to you, because you are not present.
quae si videres, lacrimas non teneres.
If you were to see them, you would not restrain your tears.
quid, si cetera scribam? sunt enim innumerabilia generis eiusdem;
What if I should write about the rest?
quae quidem ego non ferrem, nisi me in philosophiae portum contulissem et nisi haberem socium studiorum meorum Atticum nostrum.
For there are countless things of the same kind; indeed, I could not have borne them if I had not betaken myself to the harbor of philosophy, and if I did not have our Atticus as a partner of my studies.
cuius quoniam proprium te esse scribis mancipio et nexo, meum autem usu et fructu, contentus isto sum.
Since you write that you are his own by ownership and bond, but mine by use and fruit, I am content with that.
id enim est cuiusque proprium, quo quisque fruitur atque utitur.
For that is each one's own property, which each one enjoys and uses.
sed haec alias pluribus.
But of these things more at another time.
§7.30.3Acilius, qui in Graeciam cum legionibus missus est, maximo meo beneficiost (bis enim est a me iudicio capitis rebus salvis defensus) et est homo non ingratus meque vehementer observat.
Acilius, who was sent into Greece with the legions, is under the greatest obligation to me (for twice he was defended by me in a capital trial with his safety and property preserved), and he is not an ungrateful man and respects me vehemently.
ad eum de te diligentissime scripsi eamque epistulam cum hac epistula coniunxi.
I wrote to him most carefully about you, and I have joined that letter to this one.
quam ille quo modo acceperit et quid tibi pollicitus sit velim ad me scribas.
I would like you to write to me how he received it and what he promised you.