§3.19.1quoad eius modi mihi litterae a vobis adferebantur ut aliquid ex iis esset exspectandum, spe et cupiditate Thessalonicae retentus sum; postea quam omnis actio huius anni confecta nobis videbatur, in Asiam ire nolui, quod et celebritas mihi odio est et, si fieret aliquid a novis magistratibus, abesse longe nolebam.
long as letters of such a kind were brought to me from you that something was to be expected from them, I was detained at Thessalonica by hope and desire; after it seemed to us that all the action of this year was finished, I did not want to go to Asia, because both the crowd is hateful to me, and, if anything should be done by the new magistrates, I did not want to be far away.
itaque in Epirum ad te statui me conferre, non quo mea interesset loci natura qui lucem omnino fugerem, sed et ad salutem libentissime ex tuo portu proficiscar et, si ea praecisa erit, nusquam facilius hanc miserrimam vitam vel sustentabo vel, quod multo est melius, abiecero.
Therefore, I decided to betake myself to you in Epirus, not because the nature of the place mattered to me, who would completely flee the light, but both because I shall depart most gladly from your harbor towards safety, and, if that is cut off, nowhere more easily shall I either support this most wretched life or, what is much better, throw it away.
ero cum paucis, multitudinem dimittam. §3.19.2me tuae litterae numquam in tantam spem adduxerunt quantam aliorum; ac tamen mea spes etiam tenuior semper fuit quam tuae litterae.
I shall be with a few, I shall dismiss the multitude. letters never led me into as great a hope as those of others; and yet my hope was always even thinner than your letters.
sed tamen quoniam coeptum est agi, quoquo modo coeptum est et quacumque de causa, non deseram neque optimi atque unici fratris miseras ac luctuosas preces nec Sesti ceterorumque promissa nec spem aerumnosissimae mulieris Terentiae nec miserrimae Tulliolae obsecrationem et fidelis litteras tuas.
But nevertheless, since the business has begun to be conducted, in whatever way it has begun and for whatever reason, I shall not desert either the wretched and mournful entreaties of my excellent and only brother, or the promises of Sestius and the others, or the hope of my most afflicted wife Terentia, or the supplication of my most miserable Tulliola, and your faithful letters.
mihi Epirus aut iter ad salutem dabit aut quod scripsi supra. §3.19.3te oro et obsecro, T. Pomponi, si me omnibus amplissimis, carissimis iucundissimisque rebus perfidia hominum spoliatum, si me a meis consiliariis proditum et proiectum vides, si intellegis me coactum ut ipse me et meos perderem, ut me tua misericordia iuves et Quintum fratrem qui potest esse salvus sustentes, Terentiam liberosque meos tueare, me, si putas te istic visurum, exspectes, si minus, invisas, si potes, mihique ex agro tuo tantum adsignes quantum meo corpore occupari potest, et pueros ad me cum litteris quam primum et quam saepissime mittas.
Epirus will give me either a way to safety or what I wrote above. beg and beseech you, T. Pomponius, if you see me despoiled of all the most honorable, dearest, and most pleasant things by the treachery of men, if you see me betrayed and cast aside by my own counselors, if you understand that I was forced to ruin myself and my family, that you help me with your mercy and support my brother Quintus, who can be saved, protect Terentia and my children, and, if you think you will see me there, wait for me, if not, visit me, if you can, and assign to me from your land as much as can be occupied by my body, and send boys to me with letters as soon and as often as possible.
data xvi Kal. Octobris.
Written on the 16th day before the Kalends of October.