§8.3.1maximis et miserrimis rebus perturbatus, cum coram tecum mihi potestas deliberandi non esset, uti tamen tuo consilio volui.
Perturbed by the greatest and most wretched affairs, since I did not have the opportunity of deliberating with you in person, I nevertheless wished to employ your counsel.
deliberatio autem omnis haec est, si Pompeius Italia excedat, quod eum facturum esse suspicor, quid mihi agendum putes.
But the whole deliberation is this: if Pompey should depart from Italy, which I suspect he will do, what you think I ought to do.
et quo facilius consilium dare possis, quid in utramque partem mihi in mentem veniat explicabo brevi.
And so that you may be able to give advice more easily, I will briefly explain what comes into my mind on either side.
§8.3.2cum merita Pompei summa erga salutem meam familiaritasque quae mihi cum eo est, tum ipsa rei publicae causa me adducit ut mihi vel consilium meum cum illius consilio vel fortuna mea cum illius fortuna coniungenda esse videatur.
Not only Pompey's greatest services toward my safety and the intimacy which I have with him, but also the cause of the republic itself leads me to think that either my plan must be joined with his plan, or my fortune with his fortune.
accedit illud. si maneo et illum comitatum optimorum et clarissimorum civium desero, cadendum est in unius potestatem.
To this is added the following: if I remain and desert that company of the best and most illustrious citizens, I must fall into the power of one man.
qui etsi multis rebus significat se nobis esse amicum (et ut esset a me est, tute scis, propter suspicionem huius impendentis tempestatis multo ante provisum), tamen utrumque considerandum est et quanta fides ei sit habenda et, si maxime exploratum sit eum nobis amicum fore, sitne viri fortis et boni civis esse in ea urbe in qua cum summis honoribus imperiisque usus sit, res maximas gesserit, sacerdotio sit amplissimo praeditus, non futurus sit, qui fuerit, subeundumque periculum sit cum aliquo fore dedecore, si quando Pompeius rem publicam reciperarit.
Although he indicates by many things that he is a friend to us (and that he should be so was managed by me, as you yourself know, having been provided for long before on account of the suspicion of this impending storm), nevertheless both must be considered: both how much trust must be placed in him, and, even if it should be fully ascertained that he will be a friend to us, whether it is the part of a brave man and a good citizen to be in that city in which, though he has enjoyed the highest honors and commands, has achieved the greatest things, and is endowed with the most ample priesthood, he will not be what he was, and whether a danger must be undergone, which would involve some disgrace, if ever Pompey should recover the republic.
§8.3.3in hac parte haec sunt.
On this side, these are the points.
vide nunc quae sint in altera.
Now see what there is on the other side.
nihil actum est a Pompeio nostro sapienter, nihil fortiter, addo etiam nihil nisi contra consilium auctoritatemque meam.
Nothing has been done by our Pompey wisely, nothing bravely; I add even nothing except contrary to my advice and authority.
omitto illa vetera, quod istum in rem publicam ille aluit, auxit, armavit, ille legibus per vim et contra auspicia ferendis auctor, ille Galliae ulterioris adiunctor, ille gener, ille in adoptando P. Clodio augur, ille restituendi mei quam retinendi studiosior, ille provinciae propagator, ille absentis in omnibus adiutor, idem etiam tertio consulatu, postquam esse defensor rei publicae coepit, contendit ut decem tribuni pl.
I omit those old things: that he nourished, increased, and armed that man against the republic; that he was the promoter of laws to be passed by force and contrary to the auspices; that he was the adder of Farther Gaul; that he was his son-in-law; that he was the augur in the adoption of Publius Clodius; that he was more eager to restore me than to retain me; that he was the extender of his province; that he was the helper of him in his absence in all things; and also that the same man in his third consulship, after he began to be a defender of the republic, strove that the ten tribunes of the plebs should propose that consideration should be had for him in his absence, which same thing he himself sanctioned by a certain law of his own, and resisted the consul Marcus Marcellus when he was limiting the Gallic provinces to the day of the Kalends of March—but to omit these things, what is baser, what more disordered than this departure from the city, or rather most shameful flight?
ferrent ut absentis ratio haberetur, quod idem ipse sanxit lege quadam sua, Marcoque Marcello consuli finienti provincias Gallias Kalendarum Martiarum die restitit—sed ut haec omittam, quid foedius, quid perturbatius hoc ab urbe discessu sive potius turpissima fuga? quae condicio non accipienda fuit potius quam relinquenda patria?
What condition ought not to have been accepted rather than that our fatherland should be abandoned?