§8.11D.1cum ad te litteras misissem quae tibi Canusi redditae sunt, suspicionem nullam habebam te rei publicae causa mare transiturum eramque in spe magna fore ut in Italia possemus aut concordiam constituere, qua mihi nihil utilius videbatur, aut rem publicam summa cum dignitate defendere.
When I sent you the letter which was delivered to you at Canusium, I had no suspicion that you would cross the sea for the sake of the republic, and I was in great hope that we would be able in Italy either to establish harmony—than which nothing seemed more useful to me—or to defend the republic with the greatest dignity.
interim nondum meis litteris ad te perlatis ex iis mandatis quae D. Laelio ad consules dederas certior tui consili factus non exspectavi dum mihi a te litterae redderentur, confestimque cum Quinto fratre et cum liberis nostris iter ad te in Apuliam facere coepi.
Meanwhile, before my letter had been delivered to you, having been informed of your plan from those instructions which you had given to the consuls through Decimus Laelius, I did not wait for a letter to be delivered to me from you, and immediately began to make my way to you in Apulia with my brother Quintus and with our children.
§8.11D.2cum Teanum Sidicinum venissem, C. Messius familiaris tuus mihi dixit aliique complures Caesarem iter habere Capuam et eo ipso die mansurum esse Aeserniae.
When I had come to Teanum Sidicinum, your intimate friend Gaius Messius told me, as did several others, that Caesar was marching to Capua and would stay at Aesernia on that very day.
sane sum commotus quod, si ita esset, non modo iter meum interclusum sed me ipsum plane exceptum putabam.
I was indeed deeply moved, because I thought that, if this were so, not only was my route cut off, but I myself was completely trapped.
itaque tum Cales processi, ut ibi potissimum consisterem, dum certum nobis ab Aesernia de eo quod audieram referretur.
And so I then proceeded to Cales, in order to stop there by preference, until a certain report should be brought back to us from Aesernia concerning what I had heard.
§8.11D.3at mihi, cum Calibus essem, adfertur litterarum tuarum exemplum quas tu ad Lentulum consulem misisses.
But to me, while I was at Cales, a copy of your letter was brought, which you had sent to the consul Lentulus.
hae scriptae sic erant, litteras tibi a L. Domitio a. d. xiii Kal. Martias adlatas esse (earumque exemplum subscripseras); magnique interesse rei publicae scripseras omnis copias primo quoque tempore in unum locum convenire et ut praesidio quod satis esset Capuae relinqueret.
It was written in this way: that a letter had been brought to you by Lucius Domitius on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of March (and you had appended a copy of it); and you had written that it was of great importance to the republic that all forces should assemble in one place at the earliest possible time, and that he should leave what would be sufficient as a garrison for Capua.
his ego litteris lectis in eadem opinione fui qua reliqui omnes, te cum omnibus copiis ad Corfinium esse venturum; quo mihi, cum Caesar ad oppidum castra haberet, tutum iter esse non arbitrabar.
Having read this letter, I was of the same opinion as all the rest, that you would come to Corfinium with all your forces; to which place, since Caesar had his camp near the town, I did not think the route was safe for me.
cum res in summa exspectatione esset, utrumque simul audivimus, et quae Corfini acta essent et te iter Brundisium facere coepisse;
While the situation was in the highest state of suspense, we heard both things at the same time: both what had been done at Corfinium, and that you had begun to make your way to Brundisium.
cumque nec mihi nec fratri meo dubium esset quin Brundisium contenderemus, a multis qui e Samnio Apuliaque veniebant admoniti sumus ut caveremus ne exciperemur a Caesare, quod is in eadem loca quae nos petebamus profectus celerius etiam quam nos possemus eo quo intenderet venturus esset.
And since neither I nor my brother had any doubt that we should hasten to Brundisium, we were warned by many who came from Samnium and Apulia to be on our guard lest we be intercepted by Caesar, because he, having set out for the same places that we were seeking, would arrive even more quickly than we could at the place where he was aiming.
quod cum ita esset, nec mihi nec fratri meo nec cuiquam amicorum placuit committere ut temeritas nostra non solum nobis sed etiam rei publicae noceret, cum praesertim non dubitaremus quin, si etiam tutum nobis iter fuisset, te tamen iam consequi non possemus.
Since this was the case, it pleased neither me, nor my brother, nor any of our friends to allow our rashness to harm not only ourselves but also the republic, especially since we did not doubt that, even if the route had been safe for us, we could not, however, overtake you now.
§8.11D.4interim accepimus tuas litteras Canusio a. d. x K. Martias datas, quibus nos hortaris ut celerius Brundisium veniamus.
Meanwhile we received your letter dated from Canusium on the tenth day before the Kalends of March, in which you exhort us to come more quickly to Brundisium.
quas cum accepissemus a. d. iii K. Martias, non dubitabamus quin tu iam Brundisium pervenisses, nobisque iter illud omnino interclusum videbamus neque minus nos esse captos quam qui Corfini fuissent.
When we had received it on the third day before the Kalends of March, we did not doubt that you had already arrived at Brundisium, and we saw that that route was altogether cut off from us, and that we were no less captured than those who had been at Corfinium.
neque enim eos solos arbitrabamur capi qui in armatorum manus incidissent sed eos nihilo minus qui regionibus exclusi intra praesidia atque intra arma aliena venissent.
For we did not think that those alone were captured who had fallen into the hands of armed men, but no less those who, shut out from their regions, had come within the garrisons and within the weapons of others.