§6.5.1nunc quidem profecto Romae es.
Now indeed you must surely be in Rome.
quo te, si ita est, salvum venisse gaudeo; unde quidem quam diu afuisti, magis a me abesse videbare quam si domi esses; minus enim mihi meae notae res erant, minus etiam publicae.
If so, I am glad that you have arrived safe; indeed, as long as you were away from there, you seemed to be further from me than if you had been at home; for my own affairs were less known to me, and public affairs even less.
qua re velim, etsi ut spero te haec legente aliquantum iam viae processero, tamen obvias mihi litteras quam argutissimas de omnibus rebus crebro mittas, imprimis de quo scripsi ad te antea.
Therefore, although I shall already have advanced some distance on my journey (as I hope) when you read this, I would like you nevertheless to send me frequent letters, as full of details as possible about all matters, to meet me on my way, especially about what I wrote to you before.
τῆσ ξυναόρου τῆσ ἐμῆσ οὑξελεύθεροσ ἔδοξέ. hoc tu indaga, ut soles, et hoc magis.
"My spouse's freedman seemed..." Do you investigate this, as is your custom, and this all the more.
§6.5.2ἐξ ἄστεωσ ἑπταλόφου στείχων παρέδωκεν μνῶν κδ, μη, o)fei/lhma tw=| *kami/llw|, e(auto/n te o)fei/lonta mna=s κδ e)k tw=n *krotwniatikw=n kai\ e)k tw=n *xerronhsitikw=n μη kai\ mna=s klhronomh=sai χμ, κμ.
On departing from the city of seven hills, he handed over a statement of 24 minae, but set down a debt to Camillus of 48 minae, and himself as owing 24 minae from the Crotonian estates and 48 minae from the Chersonesite estates, and that he had inherited 640 or 240 minae.
tou/twn de\ mhde\ o)bolo\n dieuluth=sqai, pa/ntwn o)feilhqe/ntwn tou= deute/rou mhno\s th=| noumhni/a|.
But of these not even an obol has been paid, though all were due on the first day of the second month.
to\n de\ a)peleu/qeron au)tou=, o)/nta o(mw/numon tw=| *ko/nwnos patri/, mhde\n o(losxerw=s pefrontike/nai.
And his freedman, who has the same name as Conon's father, has not cared at all.
tau=ta ou)=n prw=ton me\n i(/na pa/nta sw/|zhtai, deu/teron de\ i(/na mhde\ tw=n to/kwn o)ligwrh/sh|s tw=n a)po\ th=s proekkeime/nhs h(me/ras.
Therefore, first, so that all these things may be saved, and secondly, so that you do not neglect even the interest from the day mentioned above.
o(/sas au)to\n h)ne/gkamen sfo/dra de/doika: kai\ ga\r parh=n pro\s h(ma=s kataskeyo/menos kai/ ti sxedo\n e)lpi/sas: a)pognou\s d' a)lo/gws a)pe/sth e)peipw/n
"εἴκω: αἰσχρόν τοι δηρόν τε μένειν"
—, meque obiurgavit vetere proverbio τὰ μὲν—. reliqua vide et quantum fieri potest perspice.
I fear greatly how many things we have tolerated from him; for he came to us to spy, and with some expectation; but giving up without reason, he departed, saying: "Yield I must; 'tis shameful indeed to remain for long" — and he reproached me with the old proverb: "The one part..." See to the rest, and as far as possible look into it.
§6.5.3nos etsi annuum tempus prope iam emeritum habebamus (dies enim xxxiii erant reliqui), sollicitudine provinciae tamen vel maxime urgebamur.
Although we had almost completed our year's term (for there were thirty-three days remaining), we were nevertheless urged to the utmost by anxiety for the province.
cum enim arderet Syria bello et Bibulus in tanto maerore suo maximam curam belli sustineret ad meque legati eius quaestor et amici eius litteras mitterent ut subsidio venirem, etsi exercitum infirmum habebam, auxilia sane bona sed ea Galatarum, Pisidarum, Lyciorum (haec enim sunt nostra robora), tamen esse officium meum putavi exercitum habere quam proxime hostem quoad mihi praeesse provinciae per senatus consultum liceret.
For since Syria was ablaze with war, and Bibulus, in his great grief, was bearing the chief burden of the war, and his legates, quaestor, and friends were sending letters to me to come to his aid, although I had a weak army—with auxiliaries indeed good, but those of Galatians, Pisidians, and Lycians (for these are our strength)—nevertheless, I thought it my duty to keep my army as close as possible to the enemy as long as I was permitted by the decree of the senate to govern the province.
sed quo ego maxime delectabar, Bibulus molestus mihi non erat, de omnibus rebus scribebat ad me potius.
But what pleased me most was that Bibulus was not troublesome to me, but rather wrote to me about all matters.
et mihi decessionis dies λεληθότωσ obrepebat.
And the day of my departure was secretly creeping up on me.
qui cum advenerit, ἄλλο πρόβλημα quem praeficiam, nisi Caldus quaestor venerit; de quo adhuc nihil certi habebamus.
When it arrives, there will be "another problem" as to whom I should put in charge, unless Caldus the quaestor arrives; about whom we still had no certain news.
§6.5.4cupiebam me hercule longiorem epistulam facere, sed nec erat res de qua scriberem nec iocari prae cura poteram.
I would have wished, by Hercules, to make this letter longer, but there was neither any matter to write about nor could I joke because of my anxiety.
valebis igitur et puellae salutem Atticulae dices nostraeque Piliae.
Keep well, then, and give my greetings to the little girl Atticula and to our Pilia.