§10.7.1ego vero Apuliam et Sipontum et tergiversationem istam probo nec tuam rationem eandem esse duco quam meam, non quin in re publica rectum idem sit utrique nostrum, sed ea non agitur.
Indeed, I approve of Apulia and Sipontum and that tergiversation of yours, and I do not consider your reasoning to be the same as mine; not because what is right in the state is not the same for both of us, but because the state is not what is at stake.
regnandi contentio est, in qua pulsus est modestior rex et probior et integrior et is, qui nisi vincit, nomen populi Romani deleatur necesse est, sin autem vincit, Sullano more exemploque vincet.
It is a struggle for kingship, in which the banished one is a more moderate king, more honest and more upright, and one who, unless he wins, must inevitably have the name of the Roman people blotted out; whereas, if he does win, he will win after the manner and example of Sulla.
ergo hac in contentione neutrum tibi palam sentiendum et tempori serviendum est.
Therefore, in this struggle, you must openly side with neither and serve the time.
mea causa autem alia est, quod beneficio vinctus ingratus esse non possum, nec tamen in acie me sed Melitae aut alio in loco simili futurum puto. "nihil"
inquies
"iuvas eum in quem ingratus esse non vis?"
immo minus fortasse voluisset.
My case, however, is different, because, bound by a benefit, I cannot be ungrateful; and yet I do not think I shall be in the battle line, but at Malta or in some other similar place. “Will you do nothing,” you will say, “to help him to whom you do not wish to be ungrateful?” Nay, perhaps he would have wished for even less.
sed de hoc videbimus; exeamus modo.
But we shall see about this; let us only get away.
quod ut meliore tempore possimus facit Adriano mari Dolabella, Fretensi Curio.
What makes it possible for us to do this at a better time is Dolabella on the Adriatic Sea, and Curio at the Straits.
§10.7.2iniecta autem mihi spes quaedam est velle mecum Ser.
Moreover, a certain hope has been inspired in me that Ser.
Sulpicium conloqui.
Sulpicius wants to confer with me.
ad eum misi Philotimum libertum cum litteris.
To him I have sent my freedman Philotimus with a letter.
si vir esse volet, praeclara συνοδία, sin autem—, erimus nos qui solemus.
If he is willing to act like a man, a splendid company; but if not—, we shall be the same as we are wont to be.
§10.7.3Curio mecum vixit iacere Caesarem putans offensione populari Siciliaeque diffidens si Pompeius navigare coepisset.
Curio lived with me, thinking that Caesar was prostrate under public unpopularity, and distrusting Sicily if Pompey should begin to sail.
Quintum puerum accepi vehementer.
I treated young Quintus with severity.
avaritiam video fuisse et spem magni congiari.
I see that there was greed and the hope of a large largess.
magnum hoc malum est, sed scelus illud quod timueramus spero nullum fuisse.
This is a great evil, but that crime which we had feared, I hope was non-existent.
hoc autem vitium puto te existimare non a nostra indulgentia sed a natura profectum.
However, I think you judge this fault to have proceeded not from our indulgence but from his nature.
quem tamen nos disciplina regemus.
Yet we shall rule him with discipline.
de Oppiis Veliensibus quid placeat cum Philotimo videbis Epirum nostram putabimus sed alios cursus videbamur habituri.
You will see with Philotimus what is your pleasure concerning the Oppii of Velia. We shall regard Epirus as our own, but we seemed likely to have other courses.