§8.2.1mihi vero omnia grata, et quod scripsisti ad me quae audieras et quod non credidisti quae digna diligentia mea non erant et quod monuisti quod sentiebas.
Indeed, everything is pleasing to me: both that you wrote to me what you had heard, and that you did not believe what was unworthy of my diligence, and that you advised me of what you felt.
ego ad Caesarem unas Capua litteras dedi quibus ad ea rescripsi quae mecum ille de gladiatoribus suis egerat, brevis sed benevolentiam significantis, non modo sine contumelia sed etiam cum maxima laude Pompei.
I sent one letter to Caesar from Capua, in which I replied to those things which he had discussed with me concerning his gladiators, brief but showing goodwill, not only without insult but even with the greatest praise of Pompey.
id enim illa sententia postulabat qua illum ad concordiam hortabar.
For that was demanded by that opinion in which I exhorted him to concord.
eas si quo ille misit, in publico proponat velim.
If he has sent them anywhere, I should wish him to publish them.
alteras eodem die dedi quo has ad te.
I dispatched another on the same day as this to you.
non potui non dare, cum et ipse ad me scripsisset et Balbus.
I could not help sending it, since both he himself had written to me and Balbus.
earum exemplum ad te misi.
I have sent you a copy of them.
nihil arbitror fore quod reprehendas.
I think there will be nothing for you to criticize.
si qua erunt, doce me quo modo μέμψιν effugere possim.
If there is any such thing, teach me how I can escape blame.
§8.2.2"nihil"
inquies
"omnino scripseris.
"Write nothing at all," you will say.
"
qui magis effugias eos qui volent fingere? verum tamen ita faciam, quoad fieri poterit.
How would you more easily escape those who will want to make things up? But nevertheless, I will do so as far as it can be done.
nam quod me hortaris ad memoriam factorum, dictorum, scriptorum etiam meorum, facis amice tu quidem mihique gratissimum sed mihi videris aliud tu honestum meque dignum in hac causa iudicare atque ego existimem.
For as to your exhorting me to the memory of my deeds, words, and even writings, you indeed do so in a friendly manner and it is most pleasing to me, but you seem to me to judge something else to be honorable and worthy of me in this cause than what I think.
mihi enim nihil ulla in gente umquam ab ullo auctore rei publicae ac duce turpius factum esse videtur quam a nostro amico factum est.
For to me it seems that nothing baser has ever been done in any nation by any statesman and leader than what has been done by our friend.
quoius ego vicem doleo; qui urbem reliquit, id est patriam, pro qua et in qua mori praeclarum fuit.
I grieve for his sake; he who abandoned the city, that is, our fatherland, for which and in which it was noble to die.
ignorare mihi videris haec quanta sit clades.
You seem to me to be ignorant of how great a disaster this is.
§8.2.3es enim etiam nunc domi tuae sed invitis perditissimis hominibus esse diutius non potes.
For you are even now at your own home, but you cannot be there any longer if those most desperate men are unwilling.
hoc miserius, hoc turpius quicquam? vagamur egentes cum coniugibus et liberis;
Is there anything more wretched than this, anything baser?
in unius hominis quotannis periculose aegrotantis anima positas omnis nostras spes habemus non expulsi sed evocati ex patria; quam non servandam ad reditum nostrum sed diripiendam et inflammandam reliquimus.
We wander in want with our wives and children; we have all our hopes placed on the life of a single man who falls dangerously ill every year, not expelled but summoned away from our fatherland, which we left not to be preserved for our return, but to be plundered and set on fire.
ita multi nobiscum sunt? non in suburbanis? non in hortis? non in ipsa urbe? et, si nunc sunt, non erunt? nos interea ne Capuae quidem sed Luceriae, et oram quidem maritimam iam relinquemus, Afranium exspectabimus et Petreium.
Are there so many with us? Are they not in their suburban villas? Not in their gardens? Not in the city itself? And if they are there now, will they not remain? We meanwhile are not even at Capua but at Luceria, and we shall soon abandon even the coast-line, and wait for Afranius and Petreius.
nam in Labieno parum est dignitatis.
For in Labienus there is too little prestige.
hic tu in me illud desideras.
Here you miss that in me.
nihil de me dico, alii viderint.
I say nothing of myself; let others see to it.
hic quidem quae est? domi vestrae estis et eritis omnes boni.
Here indeed, what is there? You are at your homes, and all you "good" men will remain there.
quis tum se mihi non ostendit? quis nunc adest hoc bello? sic enim iam appellandum est.
Who then did not show himself to me? Who is present now in this war? For so indeed it must now be called.
§8.2.4Vibulli res gestae sunt adhuc maximae.
The exploits of Vibullius are up to now of the greatest importance.
id ex Pompei litteris cognosces; in quibus animadvertito illum locum ubi erit διπλῇ.
You will learn this from Pompey's letter; in which please notice that place where there will be a double mark.
videbis de Gnaeo nostro ipse Vibullius quid existimet.
You will see what Vibullius himself thinks of our Gnaeus.
quo igitur haec spectat oratio? ego pro Pompeio libenter emori possum; facio pluris omnium hominum neminem; sed non ita ut tu uno in eo iudico spem de salute rei publicae.
Where then does this discourse point? I can gladly die for Pompey; I value no one of all men more highly; but not in such a way that I, like you, judge the hope for the safety of the republic to lie in him alone.
significas enim aliquanto secus quam solebas, ut etiam Italia, si ille cedat, putes cedendum.
For you indicate something quite different from what you used to, so that you think we must depart even from Italy, if he withdraws.
quod ego nec rei publicae puto esse utile nec liberis meis, praeterea neque rectum neque honestum †sed cur†.
This I think is neither useful for the republic nor for my children, and furthermore neither right nor honorable †but why†.
"poterisne igitur videre tyrannum?"
quasi intersit audiam an videam, aut locupletior mihi sit quaerendus auctor quam Socrates qui, cum xxx tyranni essent, pedem porta non extulit.
"Will you then be able to look upon a tyrant?" As if it makes a difference whether I hear or see him, or as if I must seek a more trustworthy authority than Socrates, who, when there were thirty tyrants, did not set foot outside the gate.
est mihi praeterea praecipua causa manendi.
I have, moreover, a special reason for staying.
de qua utinam aliquando tecum loquar! ego xiii Kalend. , cum eadem lucerna hanc epistulam scripsissem qua inflammaram tuam, Formiis ad Pompeium, si de pace agetur, profecturus, si de bello, quid ero?
About which I wish I might talk with you some day! I, on the 13th before the Kalends, having written this letter with the same lamp with which I had burned yours, am about to set out from Formiae to Pompey, if there is negotiation about peace; if about war, what shall I be?