§9.2.1Caninius tuus et idem noster cum ad me pervesperi venisset et se postridie mane ad te iturum esse dixisset, dixi ei me daturum litterarum aliquid; mane ut peteret rogavi.
When your friend and likewise mine, Caninius, had come to me very late in the evening and said that he was going to you the next morning, I told him that I would give him some letter; I asked him to call for it in the morning.
conscripsi epistulam noctu; nec ille ad me rediit; oblitum credidi.
I wrote the letter during the night; but he did not return to me; I believed he had forgotten.
ac tamen eam ipsam tibi epistulam misissem per meos, nisi audissem ex eodem postridie te mane e Tusculano exiturum.
And yet I would have sent that very letter to you by my own men, if I had not heard from the same person the next morning that you were about to leave your Tusculan villa.
at tibi repente paucis post diebus, cum minime exspectarem, venit ad me Caninius mane; proficisci ad te statim dixit.
But to your surprise, suddenly a few days later, when I least expected it, Caninius came to me in the morning; he said he was setting out to you immediately.
etsi erat e(/wlos illa epistula, praesertim tantis postea novis rebus adlatis, tamen perire lucubrationem meam nolui et eam ipsam Caninio dedi; sed cum eo ut cum homine docto et amantissimo tui locutus ea sum, quae pertulisse illum ad te existimo.
Although that letter was stale, especially since so much new news had been brought in the meantime, yet I did not want my night's labor to be lost, and I gave that very letter to Caninius; but I spoke with him as with a learned man and one most affectionate toward you, about those matters which I think he has conveyed to you.
§9.2.2tibi autem idem consili do quod mihimet ipsi, ut vitemus oculos hominum, si linguas minus facile possimus; qui enim victoria se efferunt, quasi victos nos intuentur, qui autem victos nostros moleste ferunt, nos dolent vivere.
Moreover, I give you the same advice as I give myself, that we should avoid the eyes of men, even if we can less easily avoid their tongues; for those who exalt themselves in victory look upon us as if conquered, while those who are troubled by the defeat of our party grieve that we are alive.
quaeres fortasse cur, cum haec in urbe sint, non absim quem ad modum tu.
You will perhaps ask why, since these things are so in the city, I am not away in the same manner as you.
tu enim ipse, qui et me et alios prudentia vincis, omnia, credo, vidisti, nihil te omnino fefellit.
For you yourself, who surpass both me and others in prudence, have, I believe, seen everything, and nothing at all has deceived you.
quis est tam Lynceus qui in tantis tenebris nihil offendat, nusquam incurrat?
Who is so sharp-sighted like Lynceus as to stumble at nothing in such great darkness, and run in nowhere?
§9.2.3ac mihi quidem iam pridem venit in mentem bellum esse aliquo exire, ut ea, quae agebantur hic quaeque dicebantur, nec viderem nec audirem.
And indeed it had come into my mind long ago that it would be pleasant to go out somewhere, so that I might neither see nor hear those things which were being done and said here.
sed calumniabar ipse; putabam, qui obviam mihi venisset, ut cuique commodum esset, suspicaturum aut dicturum, etiam si non suspicaretur: 'hic aut metuit et ea re fugit aut aliquid cogitat et hàbet navem paratam. ' denique, levissime qui suspicaretur et qui fortasse me optime novisset, putaret me idcirco discedere, quod quosdam homines oculi mei ferre non possent.
But I was finding fault with myself; I thought that whoever met me would suspect or say, as it might suit each one, even if he did not really suspect: 'This man either fears and on that account flees, or he is plotting something and has a ship ready.' Finally, the one who suspected most leniently, and who perhaps knew me best, would think that I was departing because my eyes could not bear the sight of certain men.
haec ego suspicans adhuc Romae maneo, et tamen lelhqo/tws consuetudo diurna callum iam obduxit stomacho meo.
Suspecting these things, I still remain in Rome, and yet, imperceptibly, daily habit has already formed a callus over my feelings.
habes rationem mei consili.
You have the reason for my plan.
§9.2.4tibi igitur hoc censeo, latendum tantisper ibidem, dum effervescit haec gratulatio et simul dum audiamus quem ad modum negotium confectum sit; confectum enim esse existimo.
Therefore, I advise you to remain hidden in the same place for a while, until this celebration cools down and at the same time until we hear how the business has been settled; for I think it has been settled.
Magni autem intererit qui fuerit victoris animus, qui exitus rerum; quamquam quo me coniectura ducat habeo, sed exspecto tamen.
Moreover, it will be of great importance what the victor's mind was, and what the outcome of things will be; although I have where my conjecture leads me, yet I am waiting.
§9.2.5te vero nolo, nisi ipse rumor iam raucus erit factus, ad Baias venire; erit enim nobis honestius, etiam cum hinc discesserimus, videri venisse in illa loca ploratum potius quam natatum.
Indeed, I do not want you to come to Baiae unless the rumor itself has already become hoarse; for it will be more honorable for us, even when we depart from here, to seem to have come to those places to weep rather than to swim.
sed haec tu melius; modo nobis stet illud, una vivere in studiis nostris, a quibus antea delectationem modo petebamus, nunc vero etiam salutem; non deesse, si quis adbibere volet, non modo ut architectos verum etiam ut fabros ad aedificandam rem publicam et potius libenter accurrere; si nemo utetur opera, tamen et scribere et legere politei/as et, si minus in curia atque in foro, at in litteris et libris, ut doctissimi veteres fecerunt, gnavare rem p. et de moribus ac legibus quaerere.
But you know these things better; only let that remain fixed for us, to live together in our studies, from which we previously sought only pleasure, but now indeed even safety; not to be wanting, if anyone wishes to call us in, not only as architects but even as workmen for building up the state, and rather to run thither gladly; and if no one uses our help, still both to write and read about constitutions, and, if not in the senate-house and in the forum, yet in literature and books, as the most learned ancients did, to serve the state and to inquire about morals and laws.
mihi haec videntur; tu quid sis acturus et quid tibi placeat pergratum erit si ad me scripseris.
These things seem right to me; it will be very pleasing to me if you write what you are going to do and what pleases you.