§7.9.1"cotidiene"
inquis
"a te accipiendae litterae sunt?"
si habebo cui dem, cotidie.
"Must I receive letters from you every day?" you say. If I have someone to give them to, every day.
"at iam ipse ades. "
tum igitur cum venero desinam.
"But you are already on the point of arriving yourself." Then, therefore, when I arrive, I will stop.
unas video mihi a te non esse redditas quas L. Quinctius familiaris meus cum ferret ad bustum Basili vulneratus et despoliatus est.
I see that one of your letters has not been delivered to me, which my friend Lucius Quinctius, while carrying it, was wounded and robbed near the tomb of Basilus.
§7.9.2videbis igitur num quid fuerit in iis quod me scire opus sit et simul hoc διευκρινήσεισ πρόβλημα sane πολιτικόν.
You will see, therefore, whether there was anything in them that I need to know, and at the same time you will clear up this thoroughly political problem.
cum sit necesse aut haberi Caesaris rationem illo exercitum vel per senatum vel per tribunos pl. obtinente, aut persuaderi Caesari ut tradat provinciam atque exercitum et ita consul fiat, aut, si id ei non persuadeatur, haberi comitia sine illius ratione illo patiente atque obtinente provinciam, aut, si per tribunos pl. non patiatur et tamen quiescat, rem adduci ad interregnum, aut, si ob eam causam quod ratio eius non habeatur exercitum adducat, armis cum eo contendere, illum autem initium facere armorum aut statim nobis minus paratis aut tum cum comitiis amicis eius postulantibus ut e lege ratio habeatur impetratum non sit, ire autem ad arma aut hanc unam ob causam quod ratio non habeatur aut addita causa si forte tribunus pl. senatum impediens aut populum incitans notatus aut senatus consulto circumscriptus aut sublatus aut expulsus sit dicensve se expulsum ad illum confugerit, suscepto autem bello aut tenenda sit urbs aut ea relicta ille commeatu et reliquis copiis intercludendus—quod horum malorum quorum aliquod certe subeundum est minimum putes.
For since it is necessary either that Caesar's candidacy be accepted while he retains his army either through the senate or through the tribunes of the plebs; or that Caesar be persuaded to hand over his province and army and so become consul; or, if he cannot be persuaded of this, that the elections be held without his candidacy being accepted, while he submits and retains his province; or, if he does not submit through the tribunes of the plebs and yet remains quiet, that the matter be brought to an interregnum; or, if he leads his army because his candidacy is not accepted, that we contend with him in arms—while he, moreover, begins hostilities either immediately when we are less prepared, or when, at the elections, his friends' demand that his candidacy be accepted in accordance with the law has not been granted, and he resorts to arms either for this sole reason that his candidacy is not accepted, or with an additional reason if by chance a tribune of the plebs, who was blocking the senate or inciting the people, has been censured, or restricted by a decree of the senate, or removed, or expelled, or has fled to him claiming to have been expelled; and once war is undertaken, we must either hold the city or, abandoning it, cut him off from provisions and the rest of his forces—which of these evils, one of which must certainly be undergone, do you think is the least?
dices profecto persuaderi illi ut tradat exercitum et ita consul fiat.
You will surely say that he should be persuaded to hand over his army and so become consul.
est omnino id eius modi ut, si ille eo descendat, contra dici nihil possit idque eum, si non obtinet ut ratio habeatur retinentis exercitum, noli facere miror.
It is altogether of such a nature that, if he should stoop to that, nothing could be said against it, and I am surprised that he does not do it, if he does not obtain the acceptance of his candidacy while retaining his army.
nobis autem, ut quidam putant, nihil est timendum magis quam ille consul.
But for us, as some think, there is nothing more to be feared than he as consul.
"at sic malo"
inquies
"quam cum exercitu. "
certe; sed istud ipsum
"sic,"
scio, magnum malum putat aliquis neque ei remedium est ullum
"cedendum est, si id volet. "
vide consulem illum iterum quem vidisti consulatu priore
"at tum imbecillus plus"
inquit
"valuit quam tota res publica. "
quid nunc putas? et eo consule Pompeio certum est esse in Hispania.
"But I prefer it thus," you will say, "than with his army." Certainly; but some person, I know, thinks that very "thus" to be a great evil, and there is no remedy for it. "We must yield, if he wants that." Behold him as consul again, whom you saw in his former consulship! "But then, though weak, he had more power," he says, "than the entire republic." What do you think now? Especially since, while he is consul, it is certain that Pompey will be in Spain.
o rem miseram! si quidem id ipsum deterrimum est quod recusari non potest et quod ille si faciat, iam iam a bonis omnibus summam ineat gratiam.
O miserable situation! Since indeed that very thing is the worst which cannot be refused, and which, if he should do it, would immediately win him the highest gratitude from all good citizens.
§7.9.4tollamus igitur hoc quo illum posse adduci negat; de reliquis quid est deterrimum? concedere illi quod, ut idem dicit, impudentissime postulat.
Let us, therefore, set aside this alternative, to which Pompey says Caesar cannot be brought; of the remaining ones, what is the worst? To concede to him what, as the same man says, he demands most impudently.
nam quid impudentius? tenuisti provinciam per annos decem non tibi a senatu sed a te ipso per vim et per factionem datos; praeteriit tempus non legis sed libidinis tuae, fac tamen legis; ut succedatur decernitur; impedis et ais,
"habe meam rationem. "
habe tu nostram.
For what is more impudent? You have held your province for ten years, given to you not by the senate but by yourself through violence and faction; the time has elapsed, not of the law, but of your own desire, yet let us grant it was of the law; a decree is made for a successor; you obstruct it and say, "Accept my candidacy." Do you rather accept ours!
exercitum tu habeas diutius quam populus iussit invito senatu?
"depugnes oportet, nisi concedis. "
cum bona quidem spe, ut ait idem, vel vincendi vel in libertate moriendi.
Are you to hold your army longer than the people ordered, against the will of the senate? "You must fight to the finish, unless you concede." With good hope indeed, as the same man says, of either conquering or dying in freedom.
iam si pugnandum est, quo tempore, in casu, quo consilio, in temporibus situm est.
Now, if we must fight, the time, the occasion, and the plan depend on the circumstances.
itaque te in ea quaestione non exerceo; ad ea quae dixi adfer si quid habes.
Therefore, I do not trouble you with that question; if you have anything to add to what I have said, bring it forward.
equidem dies noctesque torqueor.
For my part, I am tortured day and night.