§9.18.1Cum essem otiosus in Tusculano, propterea quod discipulos obviam miseram ut eadem me quam maxime conciliarent familiari suo, accepi tuas litteras plenissimas suavitatis; ex quibus intellexi probari tibi meum consilium, quod, ut Dionysius tyrannus, cum Syracusis pulsus esset, Corinthi dicitur ludum aperuisse, sic ego sublatis iudiciis, amisso regno forensi ludum quasi habere coeperim.
When I was at leisure in my Tusculan estate, because I had sent my disciples to meet [him] so that they might reconcile me as much as possible to their familiar friend by the same means, I received your letter full of sweetness; from which I understood that my plan is approved by you, which is that, just as the tyrant Dionysius, when he was expelled from Syracuse, is said to have opened a school at Corinth, so I, now that trials have been abolished and my forensic kingdom lost, have begun to keep a sort of school.
§9.18.2quid quaeris? me quoque delectat consilium; multa enim consequor.
What more do you ask? The plan pleases me too; for I attain many things.
primum, id quod maxime nunc opus est, munio me ad haec tempora.
First, which is what is most necessary now, I fortify myself against these times.
id cuius modi sit nescio; tantum video, nullius adhuc consilium me huic anteponere; nisi forte mori melius fuit.
What kind of times they are, I do not know; I only see that so far I prefer no one's plan to this; unless by chance it was better to die.
in lectulo, fateor, sed non accidit; in acie non fui; ceteri quidem, Pompeius, Lentulus tuus, Scipio, Afranius foede perierunt.
In bed, I confess, but that did not happen; I was not in the battle-line; the others indeed, Pompey, your Lentulus, Scipio, Afranius, perished foully.
at Cato praeclare.
But Cato gloriously.
iam istuc quidem, cum volemus, licebit; demus modo operam ne tam necesse nobis sit, quam illi fuit, id quod agimus.
Now that indeed will be permitted to us when we wish; let us only take care that what we are doing is not as necessary for us as it was for him.
ergo hoc primum.
Therefore, this is the first.
§9.18.3sequitur illud: ipse melior fio primum valetudine, quam intermissis exercitationibus amiseram; deinde ipsa illa, si qua fuit in me, facultas orationis, nisi me ad has exercitationes rettulissem, exaruisset.
The following comes next: I myself am becoming better, first in health, which I had lost by interrupting my exercises; secondly, that very faculty of eloquence, if there was any in me, would have dried up unless I had returned to these exercises.
extremum illud est, quod tu nescio an primum putes: pluris iam pavones confeci quam tu pullos columbinos.
The last is this, which I do not know whether you might think the first: I have already consumed more peacocks than you have young pigeons.
tu istic te Hateriano iure delectas, ego me hic Hirtiano.
You delight yourself there with Haterian law (sauce), I myself here with Hirtian sauce (law).
veni igitur, si vir es, et disce a me prolegome/nas, quas quaeris; etsi sus Minervam, †sed quo modo video.
Come then, if you are a man, and learn from me the 'introductions' which you ask for; although it is a pig [teaching] Minerva, but I see how.
§9.18.4si aestimationes tuas vendere non potes neque ollam denariorum implere, Romam tibi remigrandum est; satius est hic cruditate quam istic fame.
If you cannot sell your valuations and fill your pot of denarii, you must return to Rome; it is better to die here of indigestion than there of hunger.
video te bona perdidisse; spero idem istuc familiaris tuos.
I see that you have lost your property; I hope your friends have the same fate.
actum igitur de te est, nisi provides.
It is all over with you, then, unless you look out.
potes mulo isto, quem tibi reliquum dicis esse, quoniam cantherium comedisti, Romam pervehi.
You can ride to Rome on that mule which you say is left to you, since you have eaten your gelding.
sella tibi erit in ludo tamquam hypodidascalo proxima; eam pulvinus sequetur.
You shall have a chair in my school next to mine, as if you were an assistant master; a cushion will follow it.