Letters to Atticus Passage 4

ego hic duo magna συντάγματα absolvi; nullo enim alio modo a miseria quasi aberrare possum. tu mihi, etiam si nihil erit quod scribas, quod fore ita video, tamen id ipsum scribas velim te nihil habuisse quod scriberes, dum modo ne his verbis.

Here I have completed two substantial treatises; for there is no other way in which I can, as it were, stray away from my misery. Even if you have nothing to write, as I see will be the case, I should nevertheless like you to write that very fact, that you had nothing to write, provided you do not use those words.

Ici, j’ai achevé deux grands traités; car je ne puis autrement m’écarter en quelque sorte de mon malheur. Toi, même si tu n’as rien à écrire, comme je vois que ce sera le cas, je voudrais pourtant que tu m’écrives cela même, que tu n’avais rien à écrire, pourvu que ce ne soit pas en ces termes.