§14.22.1certior a Pilia factus mitti ad te Idibus tabellarios statim hoc nescio quid exaravi.
Having been informed by Pilia that messengers are being sent to you on the Ides, I immediately scribbled off these few lines.
primum igitur scire te volui me hinc Arpinum xvi Kalend. Iun.
First, therefore, I wanted you to know that I am going from here to Arpinum on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of June.
eo igitur mittes si quid erit posthac; quamquam ipse iam iamque adero.
Therefore, you will send thither if there is anything hereafter; although I myself shall be there very soon.
cupio enim ante quam Romam venio odorari diligentius quid futurum sit.
For I desire, before I come to Rome, to scent out more carefully what is going to happen.
quamquam vereor ne nihil coniectura aberrem.
Although I fear lest I do not stray at all from the truth in my conjecture.
minime enim obscurum est quid isti moliantur; meus vero discipulus qui hodie apud me cenat valde amat illum quem Brutus noster sauciavit.
For it is not at all obscure what those fellows are plotting; indeed, my pupil who dines with me today is very fond of him whom our Brutus wounded.
et si quaeris (perspexi enim plane), timent otium; ὑπόθεσιν autem hanc habent eamque prae se ferunt, clarissimum virum interfectum, totam rem publicam illius interitu perturbatam, inrita fore quae ille egisset simul ac desisteremus timere, clementiam illi malo fuisse, qua si usus non esset, nihil ei tale accidere potuisse.
And if you ask (for I have seen it clearly), they fear peace; moreover, they hold this thesis and make a display of it: that a most illustrious man has been slain, that the whole commonwealth has been thrown into confusion by his death, that what he had enacted would be void as soon as we ceased to fear, and that clemency was his undoing, and if he had not used it, nothing of the sort could have happened to him.
§14.22.2mihi autem venit in mentem, si Pompeius cum exercitu firmo veniat, quod est εὔλογον, certe fore bellum.
But it occurs to me that, if Pompey should come with a strong army, which is reasonable to expect, there will certainly be war.
haec me species cogitatioque perturbat.
This prospect and reflection disturbs me.
neque enim iam quod tibi tum licuit nobis nunc licebit.
For what was permitted to you then will no longer be permitted to us now.
nam aperte laetati sumus.
For we have openly rejoiced.
deinde habent in ore nos ingratos.
Furthermore, they have it on their lips that we are ungrateful.
nullo modo licebit quod tum et tibi licuit et multis.
In no way will that be permitted which then was permitted both to you and to many.
φαινοπροσωπητέον ergo et ἰτέον in castra? miliens mori melius, huic praesertim aetati.
Must we then put on a mask and go into camp? To die a thousand times is better, especially for this age of mine.
itaque me Idus Martiae non tam consolantur quam antea.
And so the Ides of March do not comfort me as much as before.
magnum enim mendum continent.
For they contain a great blunder.
etsi illi iuvenes
"ἄλλοισ ἐν ἐσθλοῖς τόνδ' ἀπωθοῦνται ψόγον"
sed si tu melius quidpiam speras, quod et plura audis et interes consiliis, scribas ad me velim simulque cogites quid agendum nobis sit super legatione votiva.
Although those young men "ἄλλοισ ἐν ἐσθλοῖς τόνδ' ἀπωθοῦνται ψόγον" But if you hope for anything better, because you both hear more and are present at their counsels, I would like you to write to me, and at the same time consider what we must do regarding the votive legation.
equidem in his locis moneor a multis ne in senatu Kalendis.
Indeed, in these parts I am warned by many not to be in the Senate on the Kalends.
dicuntur enim occulte milites ad eam diem comparari et quidem in istos qui mihi videntur ubivis tutius quam in senatu fore.
For soldiers are said to be secretly prepared for that day, and indeed against those who, it seems to me, will be safer anywhere else than in the Senate.