si quis requirit cur Romae non sim: quia discessus est; cur non sim in iis meis praediolis quae sunt huius temporis: quia frequentiam illam non facile ferrem. ibi sum igitur ubi is qui optimas Baias habebat quotannis hoc tempus consumere solebat. cum Romam venero, nec vultu nec oratione reprehendar. hilaritatem illam qua hanc tristitiam temporum condiebamus in perpetuum amisi, constantia et firmitas nec animi nec orationis requiretur.
If anyone wants to know why I am not in Rome, the answer is that it is the vacation. If they ask why I don’t stay in those of my little properties which would be seasonable just now, it is because I would find the crowds disagreeable. So I stay where the owner of a fine property at Baiae used regularly to pass this time of year. When I come back to Rome neither my looks nor my words will give any occasion for censure.
Si alguien pregunta por qué no estoy en Roma: porque son las vacaciones. Y por qué no estoy en aquellas de mis finquitas apropiadas para estas fechas: porque me resulta difícil soportar tal aglomeración. De modo que estoy donde solía pasar anualmente estas fechas el propietario de un lugar óptimo en Bayas. Cuando llegue a Roma no me censurarán ni por mi aspecto ni por mis palabras.
Commentary
Cicero writes from his secluded seaside villa in Astura, which he says used to be frequented by an owner from Baiae.
