§15.1A.1Here dederam ad te litteras exiens e Puteolano deverteramque in Cumanum.
Yesterday, as I was leaving my Puteolan villa, I dispatched a letter to you and turned aside to my Cuman villa.
ibi bene valentem videram Piliam.
There I saw Pilia in good health.
quin etiam paulo post Cumis eam vidi.
Nay, indeed, a little later I saw her at Cumae.
venerat enim in funus; cui funeri ego quoque operam dedi.
For she had come to a funeral, which I also attended.
Cn. Lucullus familiaris noster matrem efferebat.
Our friend Gnaeus Lucullus was burying his mother.
mansi igitur eo die in Sinuessano atque inde mane postridie Arpinum proficiscens hanc epistulam exaravi.
I stayed therefore that day in my Sinuessan villa, and setting out from there for Arpinum on the next morning, I write this letter.
§15.1A.2erat autem nihil novi quod aut scriberem aut ex te quaererem, nisi forte hoc ad rem putas pertinere.
There is, however, nothing of news for me either to write or to ask of you, unless perchance you think this is relevant to the matter.
Brutus noster misit ad me orationem suam habitam in contione Capitolina petivitque a me ut eam ne ambitiose corrigerem ante quam ederet.
Our friend Brutus has sent me his speech delivered in the Capitoline assembly, and asked me to correct it without flattery before he publishes it.
est autem oratio scripta elegantissime sententiis, verbis, ut nihil possit ultra.
Now, the speech is written most elegantly in thoughts and words, so that nothing could go beyond it.
ego tamen si illam causam habuissem, scripsissem ardentius.
I, however, if I had had that cause, would have written more passionately.
ὑπόθεσισ vides quae sit et persona dicentis.
You see what the subject is, and what the character of the speaker is.
itaque eam corrigere non potui.
And so I was not able to correct it.
quo enim in genere Brutus noster esse vult et quod iudicium habet de optimo genere dicendi, id ita consecutus in ea oratione est ut elegantius esse nihil possit; sed ego secutus aliud sum sive hoc recte sive non recte.
For in that style in which our Brutus wants to be, and according to the judgment which he has about the best style of speaking, he has so achieved it in that speech that nothing could be more elegant; but I have followed another, whether rightly or wrongly.
tu tamen velim eam orationem legas, nisi forte iam legisti, certioremque me facias quid iudices ipse.
Nevertheless, I would wish you to read that speech, unless perchance you have already read it, and let me know what you yourself judge.
quamquam vereor ne cognomine tuo lapsus ὑπεραττικὸσ sis in iudicando.
Although I fear lest, misled by your cognomen, you may be hyper-Attic in your judgment.
sed si recordabere Δημοσθένουσ fulmina, tum intelleges posse et Ἀττικώτατα et gravissime dici.
But if you recall the thunderbolts of Demosthenes, then you will understand that it is possible to speak both in the most Attic style and with the greatest weight.
sed haec coram.
But of these things when we meet.
nunc nec sine epistula nec cum inani epistula volui ad te Metrodorum venire.
For now, I did not wish Metrodorus to come to you either without a letter or with an empty letter.