Ep. 7.24.1Ummidia Quadrātilla paulō minus octōgēnsimō aetātis annō dēcessit ūsque ad novissimam valētūdinem viridis, atque etiam ultrā mātrōnālem modum compāctō corpore et rōbustō.Ummidia Quadratilla has died a little short of her eightieth year, vigorous right up to her last illness, and with a body compact and sturdy even beyond what is usual in a married woman. Ep. 7.24.2Dēcessit honestissimō testāmentō: relīquit hērēdēs ex besse nepōtem, ex tertiā parte neptem.She died leaving a most honourable will: she left her grandson heir to two-thirds, her granddaughter to one third. Ep. 7.24.2Neptem parum nōvī, nepōtem familiārissimē dīligō, adulēscentem singulārem nec iīs tantum, quōs sanguine attingit, inter propinquōs amandum.The granddaughter I hardly know; the grandson I love most intimately, an exceptional young man, deserving to be loved among his relatives not only by those to whom he is related by blood. Ep. 7.24.3Ac prīmum cōnspicuus fōrmā omnēs sermōnēs malignōrum et puer et iuvenis ēvāsit, intrā quartum et vīcēnsimum annum marītus, et sī deus adnuisset pater.First, though conspicuous for his good looks, he escaped all the gossip of the malicious both as a boy and as a young man; he was a husband before his twenty-fourth year, and, had god consented, would have been a father.
Ep. 7.24.3Vīxit in contuberniō aviae dēlicātae sevērissimē, et tamen obsequentissimē.He lived in the household of his pleasure-loving grandmother most austerely, and yet most dutifully. Ep. 7.24.4Habēbat illa pantomīmōs fovēbatque, effūsius quam prīncipī fēminae convenit.She kept pantomime actors and indulged them more lavishly than befits a woman of the highest rank. Ep. 7.24.4Hōs Quadrātus nōn in theātrō, nōn domī spectābat, nec illa exigēbat.Quadratus did not watch them, either in the theatre or at home, nor did she demand it. Ep. 7.24.5Audīvī ipsam cum mihi commendāret nepōtis suī studia, solēre sē, ut fēminam in illō ōtiō sexūs, laxāre animum lūsū calculōrum, solēre spectāre pantomīmōs suōs, sed cum factūra esset alterutrum, semper sē nepōtī suō praecēpisse abīret studēretque;I heard her say herself, when she was commending her grandson's studies to me, that she was accustomed, as a woman in the idleness of her sex, to relax her mind with a game of draughts, and accustomed to watch her pantomimes, but that whenever she was about to do either, she always told her grandson to go away and study; Ep. 7.24.5quod mihi nōn amōre eius magis facere quam reverentiā vidēbātur.which she seemed to me to do not so much out of love for him as out of respect.
Ep. 7.24.6Mīrāberis, et ego mīrātus sum.You will be surprised, and I was surprised too. Ep. 7.24.6Proximīs sacerdōtālibus lūdīs, prōductīs in commissiōne pantomīmīs, cum simul theātrō ego et Quadrātus ēgrederēmur, ait mihi: "Scīs mē hodiē prīmum vīdisse saltantem aviae meae lībertum?"At the recent priestly games, when the pantomimes had been brought on at the opening, as Quadratus and I were leaving the theatre together, he said to me: 'Do you know that today, for the first time, I saw my grandmother's freedman dance?' Ep. 7.24.6Hoc nepōs.So said the grandson. Ep. 7.24.7At herculē aliēnissimī hominēs in honōrem Quadrātillae - pudet mē dīxisse honōrem - per adūlātiōnis officium in theātrum cursitābant exsultābant plaudēbant mīrābantur ac deinde singulōs gestūs dominae cum canticīs reddēbant;But, by Hercules, utter strangers, to honour Quadratilla — I am ashamed to have said honour — would run to the theatre by way of flattering service, leap up, applaud, admire, and then reproduce for their mistress every gesture, with the songs; Ep. 7.24.7quī nunc exiguissima lēgāta, theātrālis operae corōllārium, accipient ab hērēde, quī nōn spectābat.and now they will receive very tiny legacies, a tip for their theatrical services, from the heir who did not watch.
Ep. 7.24.8Haec, quia solēs sī quid incidit novī nōn invītus audīre, deinde quia iūcundum est mihi quod cēperam gaudium scrībendō retractāre.I write this because you are not unwilling to hear if anything new has happened, and then because it is pleasant to me to relive in writing the joy I had felt. Ep. 7.24.8Gaudeō enim pietāte dēfūnctae, honōre optimī iuvenis;For I rejoice at the dutifulness of the dead woman and at the honour done to an excellent young man; Ep. 7.24.8laetor etiam quod domus aliquandō C. Cassī, huius quī Cassiānae scholae prīnceps et parēns fuit, serviet dominō nōn minōrī.I am glad too that the house that once belonged to Gaius Cassius, the founder and father of the Cassian school, will serve a master no less great. Ep. 7.24.9Implēbit enim illam Quadrātus meus et decēbit, rūrsusque eī prīstinam dignitātem celebritātem glōriam reddet, cum tantus ōrātor inde prōcēdet, quantus iūris ille cōnsultus.For my Quadratus will fill it and grace it, and restore to it again its former dignity, renown and glory, since as great an orator will come forth from it as that man was a jurist.
Ep. 7.24.9Valē.Farewell.