bellum gerere dicitur, tamen ante reditum eius negotium confectum iri puto.
Quod autem scribis quandam laetitiam bonorum esse commotam, ut sit auditum de litteris, tu quidem nihil praetermittis in quo putes aliquid solacii esse, sed ego non adducor quemquam bonum ullam salutem putare mihi tanti fuisse, ut eam peterem ab illo, et eo minus, quod huius consilii iam ne socium quidem habeo quemquam. Qui in Asia sunt, rerum exitum exspectant, Achaici etiam Fufio spem deprecationis afferunt. Horum et timor idem fuit primo qui meus et constitutum; mora Alexandrina causam illorum correxit, meam evertit. Quam ob rem idem a te nunc peto quod superioribus litteris, ut, si quid in perditis rebus dispiceres, quod mihi putares faciendum, me moneres. Si recipior ab his, quod vides non fieri, tamen, quoad bellum erit, quid agam aut ubi sim, non reperio; sin iactor, eo minus. Itaque tuas litteras exspecto, easque ut ad me sine dubitatione scribas, rogo.
Quod suades, ut ad Quintum scribam de his litteris, facerem, si me quicquam istae litterae delectarent. Etsi quidam scripsit ad me his verbis: "Ego ut in his malis Patris sum non invitus; essem libentius, si frater tuus ea de te loqueretur, quae ego audire vellem." Quod ais illum ad te scribere me
he is said to be still fighting--still I think the business will be settled before he does return.
You say, however, that some feeling of pleasure was aroused among the loyalists when they heard of this letter. Of course you do not omit anything in which you think there is the least consolation, but I cannot bring myself to believe that any of the loyalists supposed that I prize any salvation highly enough to beg for it of him: especially as I have not even a single partner in this policy now. Those who are in Asia are waiting to see how things turn out: those in Achaia too keep holding out to Fufius the hope that they will petition for pardon. They at first had the same fear and the same plan as myself; but the hitch at Alexandria improved their case and ruined mine. So I still make the same request of you as in former letters: if in these desperate straits you see anything you think I ought to do, tell me of it. If I am taken back by the loyalists, which you see is not the case, still, so long as the war lasts, I don't see what I am to do or where I am to stay; still less, if I am rejected by them. So I await a letter from you, and I beg you to write to me without hesitation.