§4.2.5postridie senatus consultum factum est id quod ad te misi.
On the next day, the decree of the Senate was made, which I have sent to you.
deinde consules porticum Catuli restituendam locarunt; illam porticum redemptores statim sunt demoliti libentissimis omnibus.
Then the consuls contracted for the restoration of the portico of Catulus; the contractors immediately demolished that portico, to the great joy of everyone.
nobis superficiem aedium consules de consili sententia aestimarunt sestertio viciens, cetera valde inliberaliter, Tusculanam villam quingentis milibus, Formianum HS ducentis quinquaginta milibus.
The consuls, in accordance with the opinion of their council, valued the superstructure of our house at two million sesterces, and the rest very illiberally—the Tusculan villa at five hundred thousand, and the Formian estate at two hundred and fifty thousand sesterces.
quae aestimatio non modo vehementer ab optimo quoque sed etiam a plebe reprehenditur.
This valuation is vehemently criticized not only by all the best citizens, but even by the common people.
dices:
"quid igitur causae fuit?"
dicunt illi quidem pudorem meum, quod neque negarim neque vehementius postularim; sed non est id; nam hoc quidem etiam profuisset; verum iidem, mi T. Pomponi, iidem inquam illi quos ne tu quidem ignoras qui mihi pinnas inciderant nolunt easdem renasci.
You will say: "What then was the cause?" They indeed say it was my modesty, because I neither refused nor demanded more vehemently; but that is not it; for even this modesty would have been beneficial; but indeed, my dear Titus Pomponius, those very men—the very ones whom even you know well—who had clipped my wings, do not want them to grow again.
sed, ut spero, iam renascuntur.
But, as I hope, they are already growing again.
tu modo ad nos veni; quod vereor ne tardius interventu Varronis tui nostrique facias.
Only do come to us; though I fear you may do so rather late owing to the intervention of your and my friend Varro.
§4.2.6quoniam acta quae sint habes, de reliqua nostra cogitatione cognosce.
Since you know what has been done, learn about our remaining plans.
ego me a Pompeio legari ita sum passus ut nulla re impedirer.
I allowed myself to be appointed a legate by Pompey on such terms that I should not be hindered in any way.
quod nisi vellem mihi esset integrum ut, si comitia censorum proximi consules haberent, petere possem, votivam legationem sumpsissem prope omnium fanorum, lucorum; sic enim nostrae rationes utilitatis meae postulabant.
If I had not wished to keep my hands free so that, if the next consuls should hold the election of censors, I might be able to stand, I would have taken a votive legation to almost all the temples and sacred groves; for so our calculations of my interest demanded.
sed volui meam potestatem esse vel petendi vel ineunte aestate exeundi et interea me esse in oculis civium de me optime meritorum non alienum putavi.
But I wished to have the power either of standing for office or of going out at the beginning of summer, and meanwhile I thought it not inappropriate to remain in the sight of citizens who have deserved so well of me.
§4.2.7ac forensium quidem rerum haec nostra consilia sunt, domesticarum autem valde impedita.
And such are our plans for public affairs, but for domestic ones they are very much embarrassed.
domus aedificatur, scis quo sumptu, qua molestia; reficitur Formianum, quod ego nec relinquere possum nec videre; Tusculanum proscripsi; suburbano facile careo.
My house is being built—you know at what expense and with what trouble; the Formian estate is being rebuilt, which I can neither abandon nor look upon; I have advertised my Tusculan villa for sale; I can easily do without a suburban estate.
amicorum benignitas exhausta est in ea re quae nihil habuit praeter dedecus, quod sensisti tu absens nos praesentes; quorum studiis ego et copiis, si esset per meos defensores licitum, facile essem omnia consecutus.
The kindness of my friends has been exhausted in an affair which brought nothing but disgrace, which you felt in your absence and we in our presence; by whose zeal and resources, if it had been permitted by my defenders, I should easily have obtained everything.
quo in genere nunc vehementer laboratur.
In this matter we are now in great distress.
cetera quae me sollicitant μυστικώτερα sunt.
The other things which trouble me are more μυστικώτερα.
amamur a fratre et a filia.
I am loved by my brother and my daughter.
te exspectamus.
We are expecting you.