Lettres à Atticus Passage 1

tuae litterae mihi gratae iucundaeque sunt. de pueris in Graeciam transportandis tum cogitabam cum fuga ex Italia quaeri videbatur. nos enim Hispaniam peteremus; illis hoc aeque commodum non erat. tu ipse cum Sexto etiam nunc mihi videris Romae recte esse posse; etenim minime amici Pompeio nostro esse debetis. nemo enim umquam tantum de urbanis praediis detraxit. videsne me etiam iocari?

Your letters are welcome and pleasant to me. I thought of transporting the boys to Greece when it seemed that we should have to seek escape from Italy. We would have made for Spain, but that course was not equally convenient for them. Even now it seems to me that you and Sextus can properly remain in Rome. For you ought to be anything but friendly to our Pompey. No one has ever reduced the value of city property so much. You see that I can still joke.

Tes lettres me sont précieuses et agréables. Je pensais transporter les enfants en Grèce lorsque nous paraissions chercher à fuir l’Italie. Pour notre part, nous aurions gagné l’Espagne; cette destination ne leur convenait pas également. Toi-même et Sextus me semblez pouvoir encore demeurer à Rome sans inconvénient; car vous devez être les moins amis du monde de notre Pompée. Personne n’a jamais autant diminué la valeur des propriétés urbaines. Vois-tu que je plaisante encore?