§8.16.1omnia mihi provisa sunt praeter occultum et tutum iter ad mare Superum.
Everything has been provided for by me, except for a secret and safe route to the Upper Sea.
hoc enim mari uti non possumus hoc tempore anni.
For we cannot use this sea at this season of the year.
illuc autem quo spectat animus et quo res vocat, qua veniam? cedendum enim est celeriter, ne forte qua re impediar atque adliger.
But thither, whither my mind looks and whither the situation calls me, by what route shall I arrive? For I must depart quickly, lest by chance I should be hindered in some way and held fast.
nec vero ille me ducit qui videtur; quem ego hominem ἀπολιτικώτατον omnium iam ante cognoram, nunc vero etiam ἀστρατηγητότατον.
Nor indeed does he lead me who seems to do so; whom I had already known before to be the most unpolitic of all men, but now indeed also the most ungeneral-like.
non me igitur is ducit sed sermo hominum qui ad me a Philotimo scribitur.
Therefore it is not he who leads me, but the talk of men which is written to me by Philotimus.
is enim me ab optimatibus ait conscindi.
For he says that I am being torn to pieces by the optimates.
quibus optimatibus, di boni! qui nunc quo modo occurrunt, quo modo autem se venditant Caesari! municipia vero deum, nec simulant, ut cum de illo aegroto vota faciebant.
What optimates, good gods! How they now run to meet, how they sell themselves to Caesar! Indeed, the municipal towns regard him as a god, and they do not pretend, as when they used to make vows for that sick man.
§8.16.2sed plane quicquid mali hic Pisistratus non fecerit tam gratum erit quam si alium facere prohibuerit.
But clearly, whatever evil this Pisistratus does not commit will be as welcome as if he had prevented someone else from committing it.
hunc propitium sperant, illum iratum putant.
They hope that this one will be propitious, and think that that one is angry.
quas fieri censes ἀπαντήσεισ ex oppidis, quos honores!
"metuunt"
inquies.
What meetings from the towns do you think are taking place, what honors! "They fear him," you will say.
credo, sed me hercule illum magis.
I believe it, but by Hercules, they fear the other more.
huius insidiosa clementia delectantur, illius iracundiam formidant.
They delight in this one's insidious clemency, and dread the other's wrath.
iudices de CCCLX qui praecipue Gnaeo nostro delectabantur, ex quibus cotidie aliquem video, nescio quas eius Lucerias horrent.
The three hundred and sixty judges who were particularly delighted with our Gnaeus—of whom I see someone every day—dread I know not what Lucerias of his.
itaque quaero qui sint isti optimates qui me exturbent cum ipsi domi maneant.
Therefore I ask who those optimates are who would drive me out, while they themselves remain at home.
sed tamen, quicumque sunt,
"αἰδέομαι. "
etsi qua spe proficiscar video coniungoque me cum homine magis ad vastandam Italiam quam ad vincendum parato dominumque exspecto.
But yet, whoever they are, "I stand in awe of them." Although I see with what hope I shall set out, and I am joining myself with a man readier for devastating Italy than for conquering, and I am waiting for a master.
et quidem cum haec scribebam iiii Nonas iam exspectabam aliquid a Brundisio.
And indeed, when I was writing this on the fourth day before the Nones, I was already expecting something from Brundisium.
quid autem
"aliquid"
? quam inde turpiter fugisset, et victor hic qua se referret et quo.
What do I mean by "something"? How disgracefully he had fled from there, and by what route and whither this victor would return.
quod ubi audissem, si ille Appia veniret, ego Arpinum cogitabam.
When I have heard this, if he should come by the Appian Way, I was thinking of going to Arpinum.