§15.5.1a Bruto tabellarius rediit; attulit et ab eo et Cassio.
A messenger has returned from Brutus; he brought letters from both him and Cassius.
consilium meum magno opere exquirunt, Brutus quidem utrum de duobus.
They are urgently asking for my advice, Brutus indeed as to which of the two courses to take.
o rem miseram! plane non habeo quid scribam.
Oh, what a miserable business! I have absolutely no idea what to write.
itaque silentio puto me usurum, nisi quid aliud tibi videtur; sin tibi quid venit in mentem, scribe, quaeso.
And so I think I shall keep silent, unless you think otherwise; but if anything comes into your mind, please write.
Cassius vero vehementer orat ac petit ut Hirtium quam optimum faciam.
Cassius, indeed, earnestly begs and entreats me to make Hirtius as well-disposed as possible.
sanum putas? † ὁ θησαυρὸς ἄνθρακεσ.
Do you think he is sane? † ὁ θησαυρὸς ἄνθρακεσ.
epistulam tibi misi.
I have sent you the letter.
§15.5.2ut tu de provincia Bruti et Cassi per senatus consultum, ita scribit et Balbus et Oppius.
Just as you write concerning the province of Brutus and Cassius by decree of the Senate, so both Balbus and Oppius write.
Hirtius quidem se afuturum (etenim iam in Tusculano est) mihique ut absim vehementer auctor est, et ille quidem periculi causa quod sibi etiam fuisse dicit, ego autem, etiam ut nullum periculum sit, tantum abest ut Antoni suspicionem fugere nunc curem ne videar eius secundis rebus non delectari, ut mihi causa ea sit cur Romam venire nolim ne illum videam.
Hirtius indeed says he will be absent (for he is already at his villa in Tusculum) and strongly advises me to be absent, and he does so indeed because of the danger which he says existed even for himself; but for my part, even if there were no danger, so far am I from caring to avoid Antony's suspicion now, lest I seem not to be pleased by his success, that this is my very reason for not wanting to come to Rome, so that I may not see him.
§15.5.3Varro autem noster ad me epistulam misit sibi a nescio quo missam (nomen enim delerat); in qua scriptum erat veteranos eos qui reiciantur (nam partem esse dimissam) improbissime loqui, ut magno periculo Romae sint futuri qui ab eorum partibus dissentire videantur.
Our friend Varro, moreover, sent me a letter sent to him by someone or other (for he had erased the name); in which it was written that those veterans who are being discharged (for a part has been disbanded) are speaking most outrageously, so that those who seem to dissent from their party will be in great danger at Rome.
quis porro noster itus, reditus, vultus, incessus inter istos? quod si, ut scribis, L. Antonius in D. Brutum, reliqui in nostros, ego quid faciam aut quo me pacto geram? mihi vero deliberatum est, ut nunc quidem est, abesse ex ea urbe in qua non modo florui cum summa verum etiam servivi cum aliqua dignitate; nec tam statui ex Italia exire, de quo tecum deliberabo, quam istuc non venire.
Furthermore, what is to be our going, our returning, our expression, our gait among such fellows? But if, as you write, Lucius Antonius marches against Decimus Brutus, and the others against our friends, what am I to do, or how am I to conduct myself? For my part, I have indeed resolved, as things now stand, to be absent from that city in which I not only flourished with the highest distinction but also served with some dignity; nor have I so much decided to depart from Italy (about which I shall deliberate with you) as not to come to where you are.