Brutus, or On Eminent Orators Passage 329

melius , quaeso, ominare , inquit Brutus. Sit sane ut vis, inquam, et id non tam mea causa quam tua; sed fortunatus illius exitus, qui ea non vidit cum fierent quae ro providit futura. Saepe enim inter nos impendentis casus deflevimus, cum belli civilis causas in privatorum cupiditatibus inclusas, pacis spem a publico consilio esse exclusam videremus. Sed illum videtur felicitas ipsius qua semper est usus ab eis miseriis quae consecutae sunt morte vindicavisse.

“Speak with a better omen, please,” said Brutus. “Let it be as you wish,” I replied, “and not so much for my sake as yours. Yet fortunate was his departure, since he did not see, as they occurred, the events that he foresaw would come. For we often lamented together the impending disasters when we saw that the causes of civil war were enclosed within the appetites of private men, while hope of peace had been excluded from public deliberation. But the good fortune he had always enjoyed seems, through death, to have rescued him from the miseries that followed.”

« Fais, je te prie, de meilleurs présages », dit Brutus. « Soit comme tu le veux, répondis-je, et cela moins à cause de moi que de toi. Mais heureuse fut la fin d’Hortensius, qui ne vit pas s’accomplir les événements dont il avait prévu l’avenir. Nous avions en effet souvent déploré ensemble les malheurs menaçants, lorsque nous voyions les causes de la guerre civile enfermées dans les convoitises des particuliers, et l’espoir de paix exclu des délibérations publiques. Mais la félicité dont il jouit toujours paraît l’avoir délivré par la mort des malheurs qui suivirent. »