§1.14.1breves litterae tuae—breves dico, immo nullae.
Your letter is short—short, did I say? Nay, rather, it is nothing at all.
tribusne versiculis his temporibus Brutus ad me? nihil scripsisses potius.
Is it with a mere three lines that Brutus writes to me at such a time as this? You had better have written nothing at all.
et requiris meas! quis umquam ad te tuorum sine meis venit? quae autem epistula non pondus habuit? quae si ad te perlatae non sunt, ne domesticas quidem tuas perlatas arbitror.
And yet you ask for mine! Who among your people has ever come to you without letters of mine? And what letter of mine has not had weight? If these have not been delivered to you, I suppose that not even those from your family have been delivered.
Ciceroni scribis te longiorem daturum epistulam.
You write to Cicero that you will give him a longer letter.
recte id quidem, sed haec quoque debuit esse plenior.
That is indeed proper, but this one too ought to have been fuller.
ego autem, cum ad me de Ciceronis abs te discessu scripsisses, statim extrusi tabellarios litterasque ad Ciceronem ut, etiam si in Italiam venisset, ad te rediret; nihil enim mihi iucundius, nihil illi honestius.
But I, when you wrote to me about Cicero's departure from you, immediately dispatched messengers and a letter to Cicero so that, even if he had already arrived in Italy, he might return to you; for nothing could be more pleasing to me, nothing more honorable for him.
quamquam aliquotiens ei scripseram sacerdotum comitia mea summa contentione in alterum annum esse reiecta— quod ego cum Ciceronis causa elaboravi tum Domiti, Catonis, Lentuli, Bibulorum; quod ad te etiam scripseram—; sed videlicet, cum illam pusillam epistulam tuam ad me dabas, nondum erat tibi id notum.
Although I had written to him several times that the priestly elections had been postponed to the following year through my utmost efforts—a postponement which I worked hard to secure as much for Cicero's sake as for that of Domitius, Cato, Lentulus, and the Bibuli; and which I had also written to you about—; but evidently, when you were dispatching that tiny letter of yours to me, this was not yet known to you.
§1.14.2qua re omni studio a te, mi Brute, contendo ut Ciceronem meum ne dimittas tecumque deducas; quod ipsum, si rem publicam cui susceptus es respicis, tibi iam iamque faciendum est.
Therefore, my Brute, I entreat you with all possible zeal not to dismiss my Cicero, but to keep him with you; which very thing you must do immediately, if you have any regard for the republic to which you have been dedicated.
renatum enim bellum est idque non parvum scelere Lepidi.
For war has broken out anew, and no small one at that, through the crime of Lepidus.
exercitus autem Caesaris, qui erat optimus, non modo nihil prodest sed etiam cogit exercitum tuum flagitari.
Moreover, Caesar's army, which was excellent, not only is of no use but even forces your army to be demanded.
qui si Italiam attigerit, erit civis nemo quem quidem civem appellari fas sit, qui se non in tua castra conferat.
And if it reaches Italy, there will be no citizen—who indeed can lawfully be called a citizen—who will not betake himself to your camp.
etsi Brutum praeclare cum Planco coniunctum habemus; sed non ignoras quam sint incerti et animi hominum infecti partibus et exitus proeliorum.
Although we have Brutus excellently joined with Plancus; but you are not ignorant of how uncertain both the minds of men, infected by party spirit, and the outcomes of battles are.
quin etiam si, ut spero, vicerimus, tamen magnam gubernationem tui consili tuaeque auctoritatis res desiderabit.
Nay even if, as I hope, we win, yet the state will require the great guidance of your counsel and your authority.
subveni igitur, per deos, idque quam primum tibique persuade non te Idibus Martiis quibus servitutem a tuis civibus depulisti plus profuisse patriae quam si mature veneris profuturum.
Come to our aid, therefore, by the gods, and that as soon as possible, and persuade yourself that you did not profit your country more on the Ides of March, when you warded off slavery from your fellow citizens, than you will profit it if you arrive in good time.
v Idus Quintiles.
July 11th.