Ep. 5.7.1Nec hērēdem īnstituī nec praecipere posse rem pūblicam cōnstat;It is established that a community can neither be appointed heir nor take a preferential legacy; Ep. 5.7.1Sāturnīnus autem, quī nōs relīquit hērēdēs, quadrantem reī pūblicae nostrae, deinde prō quadrante praeceptiōnem quadringentōrum mīlium dedit.Saturninus, however, who has left me his heir, gave a quarter to our community, and then, in place of the quarter, a preferential legacy of four hundred thousand sesterces. Ep. 5.7.1Hoc sī iūs aspiciās irritum, sī dēfūnctī voluntātem ratum et firmum est.If you look at the law, this is void; if at the dead man's wishes, it is valid and firm. Ep. 5.7.2Mihi autem dēfūnctī voluntās - vereor quam in partem iūris cōnsultī quod sum dictūrus accipiant - antīquior iūre est, utique in eō quod ad commūnem patriam voluit pervenīre.But to me the dead man's wishes — I am afraid of how the lawyers will take what I am about to say — come before the law, especially in what he wanted to go to our common homeland. Ep. 5.7.3An cui dē meō sēstertium sēdeciēs contulī, huic quadringentōrum mīlium paulō amplius tertiam partem ex adventīciō dēnegem?Or am I, who have given this community a million six hundred thousand sesterces from my own money, to refuse it a little more than a third of four hundred thousand from a windfall?
Ep. 5.7.3Sciō tē quoque ā iūdiciō meō nōn abhorrēre, cum eandem rem pūblicam ut cīvis optimus dīligās.I know that you too do not disagree with my judgement, since as an excellent citizen you love the same community. Ep. 5.7.4Velim ergō, cum proximē decuriōnēs contrahentur, quid sit iūris indicēs, parcē tamen et modestē;I should like you, then, when the town councillors next meet, to point out what the law is, but sparingly and modestly; Ep. 5.7.4deinde subiungās nōs quadringenta mīlia offerre, sīcut praecēperit Sāturnīnus.then to add that I am offering the four hundred thousand, as Saturninus directed. Ep. 5.7.4Illīus hoc mūnus, illīus līberālitās;Let this be called his gift, his generosity; Ep. 5.7.4nostrum tantum obsequium vocētur.only the compliance mine. Ep. 5.7.5Haec ego scrībere pūblicē supersēdī, prīmum quod memineram prō necessitūdine amīcitiae nostrae, prō facultāte prūdentiae tuae et dēbēre tē et posse perinde meīs ac tuīs partibus fungī;I have refrained from writing this officially, first because I remembered that, given the closeness of our friendship and the reach of your good sense, you both ought to and could act on my behalf just as on your own; Ep. 5.7.5deinde quia verēbar nē modum, quem tibi in sermōne custōdīre facile est, tenuisse in epistulā nōn vidērer.and secondly because I was afraid that I might not seem to have kept in a letter the measure that is easy for you to keep in speech.
Ep. 5.7.6Nam sermōnem vultus gestus vōx ipsa moderātur, epistula omnibus commendātiōnibus dēstitūta malignitātī interpretantium expōnitur.For speech is tempered by the face, gestures and the voice itself, while a letter, stripped of all these recommendations, is exposed to the malice of those who interpret it. Ep. 5.7.6Valē.Farewell.