§9.3.1Domiti filius transiit Formias viii Idus currens ad matrem Neapolim mihique nuntiari iussit patrem ad urbem esse cum de eo curiose quaesisset servus noster Dionysius.
The son of Domitius passed through Formiae on the eighth day before the Ides (March 8th), rushing to his mother in Naples, and ordered that it be announced to me that his father was near the city, when our slave Dionysius had inquired closely about him.
nos autem audieramus eum profectum sive ad Pompeium sive in Hispaniam.
We, however, had heard that he had set out either to Pompey or to Spain.
id cuius modi sit scire sane velim.
I should indeed like to know what the truth of this is.
nam ad id quod delibero pertinet, si ille certe nusquam discessit, intellegere Gnaeum non esse facilis nobis ex Italia exitus, cum ea tota armis praesidiisque teneatur, hieme praesertim.
For it bears upon what I am deliberating, to understand—if indeed he has definitely not departed anywhere—that because of Gnaeus there is no easy exit from Italy for us, since the whole of it is held by arms and garrisons, especially in winter.
nam si commodius anni tempus esset, vel infero mari liceret uti.
For if the season of the year were more favorable, we might even use the lower sea.
nunc nihil potest nisi supero tramitti quo iter interclusum est.
Now, nothing can be crossed except by the upper sea, to which the road is blocked.
quaeres igitur et de Domitio et de Lentulo.
You will inquire therefore both about Domitius and about Lentulus.
§9.3.2a Brundisio nulla adhuc fama venerat, et erat hic dies vii Idus quo die suspicabamur aut pridie ad Brundisium venisse Caesarem.
No report has yet come from Brundisium, and today is the seventh day before the Ides (March 9th), the day on which, or the day before, we suspected Caesar had arrived at Brundisium.
nam Kal. Arpis manserat.
For on the Kalends he had stayed at Arpi.
sed si Postumum audire velles, persecuturus erat Gnaeum; transisse enim iam putabat coniectura tempestatum ac dierum.
But if you chose to listen to Postumus, Caesar was going to pursue Gnaeus; for Postumus thought, by calculating the weather and the days, that Pompey had already crossed.
ego nautas eum non putabam habiturum, ille confidebat et eo magis quod audita naviculariis hominis liberalitas esset.
I did not think that he would have sailors, but he was confident, and all the more so because the man's generosity had been reported to the shipowners.
sed tota res Brundisina quo modo habeat se diutius nescire non possum.
But how the whole Brundisian business stands, I cannot remain ignorant of any longer.