§7.33.1quod declamationibus nostris cares, damni nihil facis; quod Hirtio invideres, nisi eum amares non erat causa invidendi, nisi forte ipsius eloquentiae magis quam quod me audiret invideres.
In that you miss our declamations, you suffer no loss; as for your envying Hirtius, unless you loved him, there was no reason to envy him, unless perhaps you envied his own eloquence more than the fact that he listens to me.
nos enim plane, mi suavissime Volumni, aut nihil sumus aut nobis quidem ipsis displicemus gregalibus illis, quibus te plaudente vigebamus, ami_is, ut etiam, si quando aliquid dignum nostro nomine emisimus, ingemescamus, quod haec 'pinnigero, non armigero in corpore tela exerceantur,' ut ait Philoctetes apud Accium, 'abiecta gloria. ' §7.33.2sed tamen omnia mihi erunt, si tu veneris, hilariora; quamquam venis, ut ipse intellegis, in maximarum quasi concursum occupationum.
For indeed, my sweetest Volumnius, we are either utterly nothing or we are displeasing to our very selves, now that those associates are lost, in whose company we used to flourish while you applauded, so that even, if ever we have produced anything worthy of our name, we groan because, as Philoctetes says in Accius, "with glory cast aside, these weapons are wielded against a feathered, not an armored body." But nevertheless, if you come, everything will be more cheerful for me; although you are coming, as you yourself understand, into what is, as it were, a clash of the greatest occupations.
quas si, ut volumus, exceperimus, ego vero multam salutem et foro dicam et curiae vivamque tecum multum et cum communibus nostris amatoribus.
If we deal with these as we wish, I shall indeed bid a long farewell both to the forum and to the senate-house, and shall live much with you and with our common admirers.
nam et Cassius tuus et Dolabella noster vel potius uterque noster studiis iisdem tenentur et meis aequissimis utuntur auribus.
For both your Cassius and our Dolabella, or rather both of ours, are devoted to the same pursuits and enjoy my most favorable ears.
opus est huc limatulo et polito tuo iudicio et illis interioribus litteris Emeisi, quibus saepe verecundiorem me in loquendo facis.
For this there is need of your somewhat refined and polished judgment, and of those deeper literary pursuits of yours, by which you often make me more restrained in speaking.
mihi enim iudicatum est, si modo hoc Caesar aut patietur aut volet, deponere illam iam personam, in qua me saepe illi ipsi probavi, ac me totum in litteras abdere tecumque et cum ceteris earum studiosis honestissimo otio perfrui.
For I have resolved, if only Caesar will either permit or wish it, to lay aside at last that role in which I have often proved myself to him himself, and to bury myself completely in literature, and to enjoy with you and other students of it a most honorable leisure.
tu vellem ne veritus esses ne †pluribus legerem tuas litteras, si mihi, quem ad modum scribis, longiores forte misisses, ac velim posthac sic statuas, tuas mihi litteras longissimas quasque gratissimas fore.
I wish you had not feared lest I should read your letters before others, if by chance you had sent me longer ones, as you write; and I would like you hereafter to be assured of this, that the longer your letters are, the more welcome they will be to me.