Lettres à Atticus Passage 3

intellexi ex tuis litteris te ex Turranio audisse a me provinciam fratri traditam. adeon ego non perspexeram prudentiam litterarum tuarum? ἐπέχειν te scribebas. quid erat dubitatione dignum, si esset quicquam cur placeret fratrem et talem fratrem relinqui? ἀθέτησισ ista mihi tua, non ἐποχὴ videbatur. monebas de Q. Cicerone puero ut eum quidem neutiquam relinquerem. τοὐμὸν ὄνειρον . eadem omnia quasi conlocuti essemus vidimus. non fuit faciendum aliter meque ἐπιχρονία tua dubitatione liberavit. sed puto te accepisse de hac re epistulam scriptam accuratius.

I understood from your letter that you had heard from Turranius that I handed the province over to my brother. Could I really have failed so completely to grasp the prudence of your letters? You wrote that you were suspending judgment. What room was there for doubt if there were any reason why leaving my brother, and such a brother, should be approved? That seemed to me a rejection on your part, not a suspension of judgment. You warned me about young Quintus Cicero, saying that I must by no means leave him. That was my own dream. We saw all the same things, as though we had discussed them together. No other course was possible, and your prolonged hesitation freed me from uncertainty. But I think you have received a letter explaining this matter more carefully.

Ta lettre m’a appris que Turranius t’avait dit que j’avais remis la province à mon frère. Aurais-je donc si mal pénétré le sens prudent de ta lettre? Tu écrivais suspendre ton jugement. Quelle hésitation pouvait subsister s’il existait la moindre raison de juger bon que je laissasse mon frère, et un tel frère? Ton attitude me paraissait un rejet, non une suspension du jugement. Tu m’avertissais surtout de ne laisser sous aucun prétexte le jeune Q. Cicéron. C’était mon propre rêve. Nous avons vu toutes choses de la même manière, comme si nous en avions parlé ensemble. Il ne fallait pas agir autrement, et ton délai m’a délivré de l’hésitation. Mais je pense que tu as reçu sur ce sujet une lettre plus détaillée.