§40.11.1quo spectare illas litteras ad te nunc missas l T. Quinctii credis, quibus et bene te consuluisse rebus tuis ait, quod Demetrium Romam miseris, et hortatur, ut iterum et cum pluribus legatis et primoribus eum remittas Macedonum?
"Where do you believe those letters now sent to you by Titus Quinctius point, in which he both says that you consulted well for your affairs because you sent Demetrius to Rome, and exhorts you to send him back again with more envoys and leading men of the Macedonians?
§40.11.2T. Quinctius nunc est auctor omnium rerum isti et magister.
Titus Quinctius is now the adviser and teacher of all things for that fellow.
eum sibi te abdicate patre in locum tuum substituit.
He has substituted him in your place, having disowned you as his father.
illic ante omnia clandestina cocta sunt consilia.
There, before all, secret plans were concocted.
§40.11.3quaeruntur adiutores consiliis, cum te plures et principes Macedonum cum isto mittere iubet.
Assistants for their plans are sought when he orders you to send more and leading men of the Macedonians with that fellow.
qui hine integri et sinceri Romam eunt, Philippum regem se habere credentes, imbuti illinc
Those who go from here to Rome whole and sincere, believing that they have Philip as their king, return from there imbued and infected with Roman enticements.
§40.11.4et infecti Romanis delenimentis redeunt Demetrius iis unus omnia est, eum iam regem vivo patre appellant.
To them Demetrius alone is everything; they already call him king while his father is still alive.
haec si indignor, audiendum est statim non ab aliis solum sed etiam a te, pater, cupiditatis regni crimen.
If I am indignant at these things, immediately, father, the charge of desiring the kingdom must be heard by me, not only from others but even from you.
§40.11.5ego vero, si in medio ponitur, non agnosco.
But as for me, if it is placed in the open, I do not acknowledge the charge.
quem enim suo loco moveo, ut ipse in eius locum succedam? unus ante me pater est, et ut diu sit, deos rogo.
For whom am I moving from his place, so that I myself may succeed to his place? There is only one before me, my father, and I pray to the gods that he may be so for a long time.
§40.11.6superstes — et ita sim, si merebor, ut ipse me esse velit — hereditatem regni, si pater tradet accipiam.
If I survive—and may I be so, if I deserve it, in such a way that you yourself wish me to survive—I will receive the inheritance of the kingdom if my father delivers it.
§40.11.7cupit regnum, et quidem scelerate cupit, qui transcendere festinat ordinem aetatis, naturae, moris Macedonum, iuris gentium.
He desires the kingdom, and indeed desires it criminally, who hastens to bypass the order of age, of nature, of the custom of the Macedonians, of the law of nations.
obstat frater maior, ad quem iure, voluntate etiam patris, regnum pertinet.
The elder brother stands in the way, to whom by right, and also by the father's will, the kingdom belongs.
tollatur:
Let him be removed!
§40.11.8non primus regnum fraterna caede petiero.
'I shall not be the first to have sought a kingdom through the murder of a brother.
pater senex et solus de se magis timebit, quam ut filii necem ulciscatur.
My father, old and alone, will fear more for himself than to avenge the murder of his son.
Romani laetabuntur probabunt, defendent factum. §40.11.9hae spes incertae, pater, sed non inanes sunt.
The Romans will rejoice, approve, and defend the deed.' These hopes, father, are uncertain, but they are not empty.
§40.11.10ita enim se res habet: periculum vitae propellere a me potes, puniendo eos, qui ad me interficiendum ferrum sumpserunt; si facinori eorum successerit, mortem meam idem tu persequi non poteris. ”
For this is how the matter stands: you can ward off the danger of life from me by punishing those who took up the sword to kill me; but if their crime succeeds, you, the very same person, will not be able to avenge my death."