Att. 21.1Tālī modō cum septem et septuāgintā annōs complēsset atque ad.When in this way he had completed seventy-seven years and right up to. Att. 21.1Extrēmam senectūtem nōn minus dignitāte quam grātiā fortūnāque crēvisset (multās enim hērēditātēs nūllā aliā rē quam bonitāte cōnsecūtus est) tantāque prosperitāte ūsus esset valētūdinis ut annīs trīgintā medicīnā nōn indiguisset, nactus est morbum, quem initiō et ipse et medicī contempsērunt: nam putārunt esse tēnesmon, cui remedia celeria faciliaque prōpōnēbantur.extreme old age had grown no less in standing than in favour and fortune (for he gained many inheritances by nothing else than his goodness), and had enjoyed such good health that for thirty years he had needed no medicine, he contracted an illness which at first both he himself and his doctors made light of: for they thought it was tenesmus, for which quick and easy remedies were proposed. Att. 21.3In hōc cum trēs mēnsēs sine ūllīs dolōribus, praeterquam quōs ex cūrātiōne capiēbat, cōnsūmpsisset, subitō tanta vīs morbī in īmum intestīnum prōrūpit, ut extrēmō tempore per lumbōs fistulae pūris ērūperint.When he had spent three months in this without any pains, except those he suffered from the treatment, suddenly such a violent attack of the disease broke out in the lower intestine that at the last fistulas of pus burst out through his loins.
Att. 21.4Atque hoc priusquam eī accideret, postquam in diēs dolōrēs accrēscere febrēsque accessisse sēnsit, Agrippam generum ad sē arcessī iussit et cum eō L. Cornēlium Balbum Sextumque Peducaeum.And before this happened to him, when he felt that the pains were increasing day by day and that fevers had come on, he ordered his son-in-law Agrippa to be summoned to him, and with him Lucius Cornelius Balbus and Sextus Peducaeus. Att. 21.5Hōs ut vēnisse vīdit, in cubitum innīxus "quantam" inquit "cūram dīligentiamque in valētūdine meā tuendā hōc tempore adhibuerim, cum vōs testēs habeam, nihil necesse est plūribus verbīs commemorāre.When he saw that they had come, leaning on his elbow, he said: 'How much care and attention I have given to looking after my health at this time, there is no need to recall in many words, since I have you as witnesses. Att. 21.5Quibus quoniam, ut spērō, satisfēcī, mē nihil reliquī fēcisse, quod ad sānandum mē pertinēret, reliquum est ut egomet mihi cōnsulam.And since, as I hope, I have satisfied you that I have left nothing undone that bore on curing me, it remains for me to look after myself.
Att. 21.5Id vōs ignōrāre nōluī: nam mihi stat alere morbum dēsinere.I did not want you to be unaware of this: for I am resolved to stop feeding the disease. Att. 21.6Namque hīs diēbus quidquid cibī sūmpsī, ita prōdūxī vītam, ut auxerim dolōrēs sine spē salūtis.For in these days, whatever food I have taken, I have so prolonged my life as to increase my pains without hope of recovery. Att. 21.6Quārē ā vōbīs petō, prīmum ut cōnsilium probētis meum, deinde nē frūstrā dēhortandō impedīre cōnēminī."Therefore I ask of you, first that you approve my decision, and then that you do not try to hinder me by dissuading me in vain.'