§2.15.1ut scribis ita video non minus incerta in re publica quam in epistula tua, sed tamen ista ipsa me varietas sermonum opinionumque delectat.
Just as you write, I see that affairs in the state are no less uncertain than in your letter, but yet that very variety of rumors and opinions delights me.
Romae enim videor esse cum tuas litteras lego et, ut fit in tantis rebus, modo hoc modo illud audire.
For I seem to be in Rome when I read your letters and, as happens in such great matters, to hear now this, now that.
illud tamen explicare non possum quidnam inveniri possit nullo recusante ad facultatem agrariam.
However, I cannot explain this: what on earth can be found for the agrarian resources without anyone refusing.
§2.15.2Bibuli autem ista magnitudo animi in comitiorum dilatione quid habet nisi ipsius iudicium sine ulla correctione rei publicae? nimirum in Publio spes est.
But what does that greatness of mind of Bibulus in postponing the elections contain, except his own judgment without any correction of the state? To be sure, there is hope in Publius.
fiat, fiat tribunus pl. , si nihil aliud ut eo citius tu ex Epiro revertare; nam ut illo tu careas non video posse fieri, praesertim si mecum aliquid volet disputare.
Let him become, let him become tribune of the plebs, if for no other reason than that you may return from Epirus all the more quickly; for I do not see how it is possible for you to do without him, especially if he wishes to dispute anything with me.
sed id quidem non dubium est quin si quid erit eius modi sis advolaturus.
But indeed there is no doubt that if there is anything of that kind, you will fly hither.
verum ut hoc non sit, tamen, sive ruet sive geret rem publicam, praeclarum spectaculum mihi propono, modo te consessore spectare liceat.
But even if this should not be so, still, whether he ruins or rules the state, I promise myself a splendid spectacle, if only I am allowed to watch with you sitting by my side.
§2.15.3cum haec maxime scriberem, ecce tibi Sebosus! nondum plane ingemueram,
"salve"
inquit Arrius. hoc est Roma decedere! quos ego homines effugi cum in hos incidi! ego vero
"in montis patrios et ad incunabula nostra"
pergam. denique si solus non potuero, cum rusticis potius quam cum his perurbanis, ita tamen ut, quoniam tu certi nihil scribis, in Formiano tibi praestoler usque ad iii Nonas Maias.
Just as I was writing this, lo and behold, Sebosus! I had not yet fully finished groaning when Arrius says 'Hello.' This is what it means to leave Rome! What men I fled, only to fall in with these! Indeed, I shall go 'to the ancestral mountains and to our cradle.' In short, if I cannot be alone, I would rather be with country folk than with these highly civilized town-dwellers; yet on the condition that, since you write nothing definite, I shall wait for you in my Formian villa up to the third day before the Nones of May.
§2.15.4Terentiae pergrata est adsiduitas tua et diligentia in controversia Mulviana.
Your attentiveness and diligence in the Mulvian controversy are very pleasing to Terentia.
nescit omnino te communem causam defendere eorum qui agros publicos possideant; sed tamen tu aliquid publicanis pendis, haec etiam id recusat.
She does not know at all that you are defending the common cause of those who possess public lands; yet you pay something to the tax-collectors, whereas she refuses even to do that.
ea tibi igitur et Κικέρων,, salutem dicunt.
Therefore she and Cicero,, send you their greetings.