§7.2.1Brundisium venimus vii Kalend. Decembr. usi tua felicitate navigandi; ita belle nobis
"
flavit ab Epiro lenissimus Onchesmites.
We arrived at Brundisium on the seventh day before the Kalends of December, having enjoyed your good fortune in sailing; so beautifully for us "blew from Epirus the gentlest Onchesmites.
"
hunc σπονδειάζοντα si cui voles τῶν pro tuo vendito.
"If you wish, sell this spondaic line as your own to any of those people.
§7.2.2valetudo tua me valde conturbat; significant enim tuae litterae te prorsus laborare.
Your health disturbs me greatly; for your letters indicate that you are thoroughly unwell.
ego autem, cum sciam quam sis fortis, vehementius esse quiddam suspicor quod te cogat cedere et prope modum infringat.
But I, knowing how brave you are, suspect that there is something more severe which forces you to yield and almost breaks you.
etsi alteram quartanam Pamphilus tuus mihi dixit decessisse et alteram leviorem accedere.
Although your Pamphilus told me that one of the two quartan fevers had departed and the other, lighter one, was coming on.
Terentia vero, quae quidem eodem tempore ad portam Brundisinam venit quo ego in portum mihique obvia in foro fuit, L. Pontium sibi in Trebulano dixisse narrabat etiam eam decessisse.
Terentia, however, who indeed arrived at the gate of Brundisium at the very same time that I entered the harbor and met me in the forum, related that L. Pontius had told her in the Trebulanum that that one too had departed.
quod si ita est, est quod maxime me hercule opto idque spero tua prudentia et temperantia te consecutum.
If this is so, it is what I most earnestly wish, and I hope you have achieved it by your prudence and temperance.
§7.2.3venio ad epistulas tuas; quas ego sescentas uno tempore accepi, aliam alia iucundiorem, quae quidem erant tua manu.
I come to your letters; of which I received countless numbers at one time, each more delightful than the other, which were indeed in your own hand.
nam Alexidis manum amabam quod tam prope accedebat ad similitudinem tuae, litteras non amabam quod indicabant te non valere.
For I loved Alexis's hand because it came so near to the likeness of yours, but I did not love the letters because they indicated you were not well.
cuius quoniam mentio facta est, Tironem Patris aegrum reliqui, adulescentem, ut nosti (et adde, si quid vis), probum.
Since mention has been made of him, I left Tiro sick at Patrae, a young man, as you know (and add whatever praise you like), of excellent character.
nihil vidi melius.
I have never seen anyone better.
itaque careo aegre et, quamquam videbatur se non graviter habere, tamen sum sollicitus maximamque spem habeo in M'.
Therefore, I miss him sorely, and though he did not seem to be seriously ill, yet I am anxious and have the greatest hope in the diligence of M'.
Curi diligentia de qua ad me scripsit Tiro et multi nuntiarunt.
Curius, of which Tiro wrote to me and many reported.
Curius autem ipse sensit quam tu velles se a me diligi et eo sum admodum delectatus.
Curius himself, moreover, perceived how much you wished him to be loved by me, and I was extremely pleased with that.
et me hercule est quam facile diligas αὐτόχθων in homine urbanitas.
And, by Hercules, how easily one can love the inborn urbanity in the man!
eius testamentum deporto trium Ciceronum signis obsignatum cohortisque praetoriae.
I am bringing back his will, sealed with the seals of three Ciceros and of the praetorian cohort.
fecit palam te ex libella, me ex terruncio.
He made it publicly, leaving you a libella and me a terruncius.
in Actio Corcyrae Alexio me opipare muneratus est.
At Actium in Corcyra, Alexio entertained me sumptuously.
Q. Ciceroni obsisti non potuit quo minus Thyamim videret.
Q. Cicero could not be prevented from seeing the Thyamis.
§7.2.4filiola tua te delectari laetor et probari tibi φυσικὴν esse τὴν πρὸσ τὰ τέκνα.
I am glad that you take delight in your little daughter, and that you agree that love for one's children is natural.
etenim si haec non est, nulla potest homini esse ad hominem naturae adiunctio; qua sublata vitae societas tollitur.
For if this does not exist, there can be no natural bond between man and man; and if that is taken away, the society of life is destroyed.
"bene eveniat!"
inquit Carneades spurce sed tamen prudentius quam Lucius noster et Patron qui, cum omnia ad se referant, numquam quicquam alterius causa fieri putent et, cum ea re bonum virum oportere esse dicant ne malum habeat non quo id natura rectum sit, non intellegant se de callido homine loqui non de bono viro.
"May it turn out well!" says Carneades, coarsely but yet more wisely than our Lucius and Patron, who, since they refer everything to themselves, think that nothing is ever done for the sake of another, and who, when they say that a man ought to be good in order not to suffer harm, not because it is naturally right, do not understand that they are speaking of a cunning man, not of a good man.
sed haec, opinor, sunt in iis libris quos tu laudando animos mihi addidisti.
But these things, I think, are in those books of mine to which you added courage by praising them.