Ep. 8.18.1Falsum est nīmīrum quod crēditur vulgō, testāmenta hominum speculum esse mōrum, cum Domitius Tullus longē melior appāruerit morte quam vītā.It is evidently false, what is commonly believed, that men's wills are a mirror of their characters, since Domitius Tullus has shown himself far better in death than in life. Ep. 8.18.2Nam cum sē captandum praebuisset, relīquit fīliam hērēdem, quae illī cum frātre commūnis, quia genitam frātre adoptāverat.For though he had let himself be courted by legacy-hunters, he left as his heir his daughter, whom he shared with his brother, since he had adopted his brother's child. Ep. 8.18.2Prōsecūtus est nepōtēs plūrimīs iūcundissimīsque lēgātīs, prōsecūtus etiam proneptem.He honoured his grandchildren with a great many very pleasing legacies, and honoured his great-granddaughter too. Ep. 8.18.2In summā omnia pietāte plēnissima ac tantō magis inexspectāta sunt.In short, everything is full of family affection, and all the more unexpected for that. Ep. 8.18.3Ergō variī tōtā cīvitāte sermōnēs: aliī fictum ingrātum immemorem loquuntur, sēque ipsōs dum īnsectantur illum turpissimīs cōnfessiōnibus prōdunt, ut quī dē patre avō proavō quasi dē orbō querantur;So there is varied talk throughout the whole city: some call him false, ungrateful, forgetful, and while they attack him they betray themselves by most shameful confessions, since they complain of a father, grandfather and great-grandfather as if he were childless; Ep. 8.18.3aliī contrā hoc ipsum laudibus ferunt, quod sit frūstrātus improbās spēs hominum, quōs sīc dēcipī prō mōribus temporum est.others, on the contrary, extol this very thing with praise, that he has frustrated the wicked hopes of men whom it is in keeping with the morals of the times to deceive in this way.
Ep. 8.18.3Addunt etiam nōn fuisse eī līberum aliō testāmentō morī: neque enim relīquisse opēs fīliae sed reddidisse, quibus auctus per fīliam fuerat.They add too that he was not free to die with any other will: for he had not left the wealth to his daughter but given it back, since it was through his daughter that he had been enriched by it. Ep. 8.18.4Nam Curtilius Mancia perōsus generum suum Domitium Lūcānum - frāter is Tullī - sub eā condiciōne fīliam eius neptem suam īnstituerat hērēdem, sī esset manū patris ēmissa.For Curtilius Mancia, who loathed his son-in-law Domitius Lucanus — he was Tullus's brother — had made Lucanus's daughter, his own granddaughter, his heir on condition that she was released from her father's control. Ep. 8.18.4Ēmīserat pater, adoptāverat patruus, atque ita circumscrīptō testāmentō cōnsors frāter in frātris potestātem ēmancipātam fīliam adoptiōnis fraude revocāverat et quidem cum opibus amplissimīs.Her father had released her, her uncle had adopted her, and so, the will having been circumvented, the brother, his partner, had brought the emancipated daughter back into his brother's control by the trick of adoption, and with very great wealth at that.
Ep. 8.18.5Fuit aliōquī frātribus illīs quasi fātō datum ut dīvitēs fierent, invītissimīs ā quibus factī sunt.Those brothers, moreover, seemed destined, as if by fate, to become rich, very much against the will of those who made them so. Ep. 8.18.5Quīn etiam Domitius Afer, quī illōs in nōmen assūmpsit, relīquit testāmentum ante decem et octō annōs nūncupātum, adeōque posteā improbātum sibi, ut patris eōrum bona prōscrībenda cūrāverit.Indeed Domitius Afer, who took them into his name, left a will declared eighteen years before, and afterwards so disapproved of by him that he had their father's property confiscated. Ep. 8.18.6Mīra illīus asperitās, mīra fēlīcitās hōrum: illīus asperitās, quī numerō cīvium excidit, quem socium etiam in līberīs habuit;Remarkable was his harshness, remarkable their good fortune: his harshness, in that he struck from the roll of citizens a man whom he had had as a partner even in children; Ep. 8.18.6fēlīcitās hōrum, quibus successit in locum patris, quī patrem abstulerat.their good fortune, in that the man who had taken their father from them stepped into their father's place. Ep. 8.18.7Sed haec quoque hērēditās Afrī, ut reliqua cum frātre quaesīta, trānsmittenda erant fīliae frātris, ā quō Tullus ex asse hērēs īnstitūtus praelātusque fīliae fuerat, ut conciliārētur.But this inheritance from Afer too, like the rest acquired with his brother, had to be passed on to the brother's daughter, by whom Tullus had been made sole heir and preferred to his own daughter, in order to win him over.
Ep. 8.18.7Quō laudābilius testāmentum est, quod pietās fidēs pudor scrīpsit, in quō dēnique omnibus affīnitātibus prō cuiusque officiō grātia relāta est, relāta et uxōrī.All the more praiseworthy, then, is the will, which family affection, good faith and a sense of shame wrote, in which, in short, gratitude has been shown to all his relations by marriage according to each one's service, and shown to his wife too. Ep. 8.18.8Accēpit amoenissimās vīllās, accēpit magnam pecūniam uxor optima et patientissima ac tantō melius dē virō merita, quantō magis est reprehēnsa quod nūpsit.His wife received the most delightful villas, received a large sum of money, a most excellent and most patient woman, and one who deserved all the better of her husband for being the more criticised for marrying him. Ep. 8.18.8Nam mulier nātālibus clāra, mōribus proba, aetāte dēclīvis, diū vidua māter ōlim, parum decōrē secūta mātrimōnium vidēbātur dīvitis senis ita perditī morbō, ut esse taediō posset uxōrī, quam iuvenis sānusque dūxisset.For a woman of distinguished birth, upright character, advancing years, long a widow and once a mother, seemed to have entered with too little propriety upon marriage with a rich old man so ruined by disease that he could have been a burden to a wife whom he had married as a young and healthy man.
Ep. 8.18.9Quippe omnibus membrīs extortus et frāctus, tantās opēs sōlīs oculīs obībat, ac nē in lectulō quidem nisi ab aliīs movēbātur;For, twisted and broken in all his limbs, he could survey his great wealth with his eyes alone, and could not even turn in bed except by the help of others; Ep. 8.18.9quīn etiam - foedum miserandumque dictū - dentēs lavandōs fricandōsque praebēbat.and what is more — foul and pitiful to tell — he had his teeth washed and scrubbed for him. Ep. 8.18.9Audītum frequenter ex ipsō, cum quererētur dē contumēliīs dēbilitātis suae, digitōs sē servōrum suōrum cōtīdiē lingere.He was often heard to say, when complaining of the indignities of his infirmity, that he licked the fingers of his slaves every day. Ep. 8.18.10Vīvēbat tamen et vīvere volēbat, sustentante maximē uxōre, quae culpam incohātī mātrimōniī in glōriam persevērantiā verterat.Yet he lived and wished to live, sustained above all by his wife, who by her constancy had turned the reproach of having begun the marriage into glory. Ep. 8.18.11Habēs omnēs fābulās urbis;You have all the gossip of the city; Ep. 8.18.11nam sunt omnēs fābulae Tullus.for all the gossip is Tullus.
Ep. 8.18.11Exspectātur auctiō: fuit enim tam cōpiōsus, ut amplissimōs hortōs eōdem quō ēmerat diē īnstrūxerit plūrimīs et antīquissimīs statuīs;The auction is awaited: for he was so well supplied that on the very day he bought a large garden estate he furnished it with a great many very ancient statues; Ep. 8.18.11tantum illī pulcherrimōrum operum in horreīs quae neglegēbat.so many beautiful works of art did he have in storerooms which he neglected. Ep. 8.18.11Invicem tū, sī quid istīc epistulā dignum, nē gravāre.In return, if there is anything worth a letter there, do not grudge it. Ep. 8.18.12Nam cum aurēs hominum novitāte laetantur, tum ad ratiōnem vītae exemplīs ērudīmur.For not only are men's ears delighted by novelty, but we are also instructed by examples in the conduct of life. Ep. 8.18.12Valē.Farewell.