§1.16.1particulam litterularum tuarum, quas misisti Octavio, legi missam ab Attico mihi.
I have read a portion of your letter, which you sent to Octavius, sent to me by Atticus.
studium tuum curaque de salute mea nulla me nova voluptate adfecit.
Your zeal and care for my safety affected me with no new pleasure.
non solum enim usitatum sed etiam cotidianum est aliquid audire de te, quod pro nostra dignitate fideliter atque honorifice dixeris aut feceris.
For it is not only usual but even daily to hear something about you, what you have faithfully and honorably said or done for our dignity.
at dolore quantum maximum capere animo possum eadem illa pars epistulae scripta ad Octavium de nobis adfecit.
But that same part of the letter written to Octavius about us affected me with as great a pain as my mind can possibly hold.
sic enim illi gratias agis de re publica, tam suppliciter ac demisse—quid scribam? pudet condicionis ac fortunae sed tamen scribendum est: commendas nostram salutem illi, quae morte qua non perniciosior? ut prorsus prae te feras non sublatam dominationem sed dominum commutatum esse.
For you thank him so for the republic, so suppliantly and humbly—what shall I write? I am ashamed of our condition and fortune, but yet I must write: you commend our safety to him, which is more ruinous than any death? So that you utterly show that domination has not been removed, but the master has been changed.
verba tua recognosce et aude negare servientis adversus regem istas esse preces.
Recognize your own words, and dare to deny that those are the prayers of a slave to a king.
Vnum ais esse quod ab eo postuletur et exspectetur, ut eos civis de quibus viri boni populusque Romanus bene existimet salvos velit.
You say there is one thing that is demanded and expected of him: that he wish those citizens to be safe of whom the good men and the Roman people think well.
quid si nolit? non erimus? atqui non esse quam esse per illum praestat.
What if he does not wish so? Shall we not exist? Yet it is better not to exist than to exist through him.
§1.16.2ego medius fidius non existimo tam omnis deos aversos esse a salute populi Romani ut Octavius orandus sit pro salute cuiusquam civis, non dicam pro liberatoribus orbis terrarum; iuvat enim magnifice loqui et certe decet adversus ignorantis quid pro quoque timendum aut a quoque petendum sit.
Indeed, by Hercules, I do not think that all the gods are so turned away from the safety of the Roman people that Octavius must be begged for the safety of any citizen, not to say for the liberators of the world; for it is a pleasure to speak grandly, and certainly it is fitting against those who do not know what is to be feared for whom, or what is to be sought from whom.
hoc tu, Cicero, posse fateris Octavium et illi amicus es? aut, si me carum habes, vis Romae videre, cum ut ibi esse possem commendandus puero illi fuerim? cui quid agis gratias, si ut nos salvos esse velit et patiatur rogandum putas? an hoc pro beneficio habendum est, quod se quam Antonium esse maluerit a quo ista petenda essent? Vindici quidem alienae dominationis, non vicario, ecquis supplicat ut optime meritis de re publica liceat esse salvis?
Do you, Cicero, confess that Octavius can do this, and are you a friend to him? Or, if you hold me dear, do you wish to see me in Rome, since I would have to be recommended to that boy so that I might be able to be there? Why do you thank him, if you think he must be begged to wish and permit us to be safe? Or is this to be held as a benefit, because he preferred himself to be the one from whom those things were to be sought, rather than Antonius? Does anyone supplicate the champion against another's domination—not its proxy—that those who have deserved best of the republic be allowed to be safe?
§1.16.3ista vero imbecillitas et desperatio, cuius culpa non magis in te residet quam in omnibus aliis, et Caesarem in cupiditatem regni impulit et Antonio post interitum illius persuasit ut interfecti locum occupare conaretur et nunc puerum istum extulit, ut tu iudicares precibus esse impetrandam salutem talibus viris misericordiaque unius vix etiam nunc viri tutos fore nos, haud ulla alia re.
But that weakness and despair indeed, the blame for which lies no more in you than in all others, both drove Caesar into the desire for kingship, and persuaded Antonius after his death to attempt to occupy the place of the slain, and has now raised up that boy, so that you should judge that safety must be obtained by prayers for such men, and that we shall be safe only by the mercy of one who is even now scarcely a man, and by no other thing.
quod si Romanos nos esse meminissemus, non audacius dominari cuperent postremi homines quam id nos prohiberemus, neque magis inritatus esset Antonius regno Caesaris quam ob eiusdem mortem deterritus.
But if we had remembered that we are Romans, the lowest men would not desire to dominate more boldly than we would prevent it, nor would Antonius have been more excited by the kingship of Caesar than deterred by his death.
§1.16.4tu quidem consularis et tantorum scelerum vindex, quibus oppressis vereor ne in breve tempus dilata sit abs te pernicies, qui potes intueri quae gesseris, simul et ista vel probare vel ita demisse ac facile pati ut probantis speciem habeas? quod autem tibi cum Antonio privatim odium? nempe quia postulabat haec, salutem ab se peti, precariam nos incolumitatem habere a quibus ipse libertatem accepisset, esse arbitrium suum de re publica, quaerenda esse arma putasti quibus dominari prohiberetur, scilicet ut illo prohibito rogaremus alterum qui se in eius locum reponi pateretur, an ut esset sui iuris ac mancipi res publica? nisi forte non de servitute sed de condicione serviendi recusatum est a nobis.
Indeed, you, a consular and the avenger of such great crimes, after suppressing which I fear that ruin has been delayed by you only for a short time, how can you look upon what you have done, and at the same time either approve of those things or endure them so humbly and easily as to have the appearance of one who approves? What personal hatred, moreover, did you have with Antonius? Surely because he demanded these things: that safety be sought from him, that we have a precarious safety from whom he himself had received freedom, and that the determination of the republic be his own; you thought weapons must be sought by which he might be prevented from dominating, namely, so that, with him prevented, we might beg another who would allow himself to be put in his place, or was it so that the republic should be self-governing and its own master? Unless by chance it was not about slavery, but about the condition of serving, that we made our refusal.
atqui non solum bono domino potuimus Antonio tolerare nostram fortunam sed etiam beneficiis atque honoribus ut participes frui quantis vellemus.
And yet we could have endured our fortune not only with a good master in Antonius, but we could also have enjoyed benefits and honors as partners, as many as we wished.
quid enim negaret iis quorum patientiam videret maximum dominationis suae praesidium esse? sed nihil tanti fuit quo venderemus fidem nostram et libertatem.
For what would he deny to those whose submission he saw to be the greatest protection of his domination? But nothing was of such value that we should sell our loyalty and freedom.