§2.17.1prorsus ut scribis ita sentio, turbatur Sampsiceramus.
I feel exactly as you write: Sampsiceramus is perturbed.
nihil est quod non timendum sit; ὁμολογουμένως τυραννίδα συσκευάζεται.
There is nothing that is not to be feared; he is openly preparing a tyranny.
quid enim ista repentina adfinitatis coniunctio, quid ager Campanus, quid effusio pecuniae significant? quae si essent extrema tamen esset nimium mali, sed ea natura rei est ut haec extrema esse non possint.
For what does that sudden bond of affinity, what does the Campanian land, what does the squandering of money mean? Even if these were the worst, it would still be too much of an evil, but such is the nature of the case that these cannot be the limit.
quid enim? eos haec ipsa per se delectare possunt? numquam huc venissent nisi ad alias res pestiferas aditus sibi compararent.
For what? Can these things by themselves please them? They would never have come to this point unless they were preparing for themselves an approach to other pestilential designs.
verum, ut scribis, haec in Arpinati a. d. vi circiter Idus Maias non deflebimus, ne et opera et oleum philologiae nostrae perierit; sed conferemus tranquillo animo.
But, as you write, we shall not lament these things in Arpinum around the tenth of May, lest both the labor and the oil of our studies be wasted; rather, we shall discuss them with a tranquil mind.
§2.17.2di immortales neque tam me εὐελπιστία consolatur ut antea quam ἀδιαφορία, qua nulla in re tam utor quam in hac civili et publica.
Immortal gods! It is not so much good hope that comforts me as before, but rather indifference, which I practice in nothing so much as in this civic and public business.
quin etiam quod est subinane in nobis et non ἀφιλόδοξον (bellum est enim sua vitia nosse), id adficitur quadam delectatione.
Nay, even that part in us which is somewhat vain and not indifferent to fame (for it is a fine thing to know one's own faults) is affected with a certain pleasure.
solebat enim me pungere ne Sampsicerami merita in patriam ad annos sescentos maiora viderentur quam nostra.
For it used to sting me lest Sampsiceramus's services to the fatherland should seem greater than ours for six hundred years to come.
hac quidem cura certe iam vacuus sum; iacet enim ille sic ut † phocis † Curiana stare videatur.
From this anxiety, at least, I am certainly now free; for he has fallen so low that the Curian... seems to stand upright.
sed haec coram.
But of these things when we meet.
§2.17.3tu tamen videris mihi Romae fore ad nostrum adventum, quod sane facile patiar si tuo commodo fieri possit; sin ut scribis ita venies, velim ex Theophane expiscere quonam in me animo sit Arabarches.
You, however, seem to me likely to be in Rome at the time of my arrival, which indeed I shall easily welcome if it can be done to your convenience; but if, as you write, you come here, I would like you to fish out from Theophanes what disposition the Arabarches has towards me.
quaeres scilicet κατὰ τὸ κηδεμονικὸν et ad me ab eo quasi ὑποθήκασ adferes quem ad modum me geram.
You will, of course, inquire in a caring manner and bring back to me from him, as it were, suggestions as to how I should conduct myself.
aliquid ex eius sermone poterimus περὶ τῶν suspicari.
We shall be able to suspect something from his conversation concerning the state of affairs.