§40.14.1non est res, qua erubescam, pater, si die festo inter aequales largiore vino sum usus.
It is not a matter for which I should blush, father, if on a holiday among my equals I indulged rather freely in wine.
tu quoque velim inquiras, §40.14.2qua laetitia, quo lusu apud me celebratum hesternum convivium sit, illo etiam — pravo forsitan — gaudio provehente, quod in iuvenali armorum certamine pars nostra non inferior fuerat.
I would wish that you too would inquire with what joy, with what play yesterday's banquet was celebrated at my house, driven on also by that — perhaps improper — joy, that in the youthful contest of arms our side had not been inferior.
miseria haec et metus crapulam facile excusserunt; §40.14.3quae si non intervenissent, insidiatores nos sopiti iaceremus.
This misery and fear easily shook off the hangover; and if these had not intervened, we, the "plotters," would be lying fast asleep.
§40.14.4si domum tuam expugnaturus, capta domo dominum interfecturus eram, non temperassem vino in unum diem, non milites meos abstinuissem?
If I had been going to storm your house, and, after capturing the house, to kill the master, would I not have refrained from wine for a single day, would I not have restrained my soldiers?
§40.14.5et ne ego me solus nimia simplicitate tuear, ipse quoque minime malus ac suspicax frater “nihil aliud scio,” inquit “nihil arguo, nisi quod cum ferro comisatum venerunt. ” §40.14.6si quaeram, unde id ipsum scias, necesse erit te fateri aut speculatorum tuorum plenam domum fuisse meam, aut illos ita aperte sumpsisse ferrum, ut omnes viderent.
And lest I alone should defend myself with too much simplicity, even my brother himself, who is by no means malicious or suspicious, says: "I know nothing else, I charge nothing, except that they came to the revel with steel." If I were to ask where you know that very thing from, it would be necessary for you to confess either that my house was full of your spies, or that they took up the steel so openly that everyone saw.
§40.14.7et ne quid ipse aut prius inquisisse aut nunc criminose argumentari videretur, te quaerere ex iis, quos nominasset, iubebat, an ferrum habuissent, ut tamquam in re dubia, cum id quaesisses, quod ipsi fatentur, pro convictis haberentur.
And lest he himself should seem either to have investigated previously or to be arguing maliciously now, he was bidding you to inquire of those whom he had named, whether they had steel, so that, as if in a doubtful matter, when you inquired into what they themselves confess, they might be held as convicted.
§40.14.8quin tu illud quaeri iubes, num tui occidendi causa ferrum sumpserint, num me auctore et sciente? hoc enim videri vis, non illud quod fatentur et palam est.
Why do you not bid that to be inquired, whether they took up steel for the purpose of killing you, whether by my authorization and with my knowledge? For this is what you want to appear, not that which they confess and is public.
ei sui se tuendi causa sumpsisse dicunt.
They say that they took it up for the sake of defending themselves.
§40.14.9recte an perperam fecerint, ipsi sui facti rationem reddent: meam causam, quae nihil eo facto contingitur, ne miscueris.
Whether they did rightly or wrongly, they themselves will render an account of their deed; do not mix in my case, which is not touched at all by that deed.
aut explica, utrum aperte an clam te aggressuri fuerimus.
Or explain, whether we were going to attack you openly or secretly.
si aperte, cur non omnes ferrum habuimus?
If openly, why did we not all have steel?
§40.14.10cur nemo praeter eos, qui tuum speculatorem pulsaverunt? si clam, quis ordo consilii fuit?
Why did no one besides those who struck your spy? If secretly, what was the order of the plan?
§40.14.11convivio soluto cum comisator ego discessissem, quattuor substitissent, ut sopitum te adgrederentur? quomodo fefellissent et alieni et mei et maxime suspecti, quia paulo ante in rixa fuerant? quomodo autem trucidato te ipsi evasuri fuerunt? quattuor gladiis domus tua capi et expugnari potuit?
When, after the banquet was dissolved, I had departed as a reveler, were four to have remained, so that they might attack you while you were asleep? How would they, both strangers and my men, and highly suspected because they had been in a quarrel a little before, have escaped notice? And how, after you were slain, were they themselves going to escape? Could your house be captured and stormed by four swords?