2.2

Pliny writes to his friend Palinurus to chastise him for not writing more often.

(1)

nec liquet mihi an dēbeam: liquet is impersonal, an dēbeam is deliberative subj. in an indirect question. “and it is not clear to me whether I ought to be,” i.e., I am not sure whether I ought to be. The phrase non liquet is common in legal Latin, indicating that a matter cannot be decided on the evidence available (LS liqueo II.B).

Scīs quam sit amor: "you know how love is."

inīquus interdum, impotēns saepe, μικραίτιος semper: “sometimes unfair, often intemperate, always easily provoked.” Tricolon. μικραίτιος: Greek nom. sing. with amor; lit. “blaming small things," "petty," "nitpicking."

nesciō an iūsta: "I don't know whether (it) is just," “fair.” Iusta refers back to the causa.

tamquam nōn minus iūsta quam magna sit: “as if (the cause) is no less just than it is great.” Subjunctive after tamquam is normal in a hypothetical comparison (LS tamquam II.B).

graviter īrāscor quod: “I am greatly angry because,” “I am greatly angry that.”

tam diū: “for such a long time.” 

litterae nūllae: supply redditae sint/sunt, “no letters (have come from you).” Irascor quod can take either the subjunctive or the indicative. 

(2) 

ūnō modō: “in one way.”

nunc saltem: adv., “now at least.”

plūrimās et longissimās: supply litterās.

miserīs: future perfect indicative of mittere.

mihi: “in my opinion.”

cēterae: “all other (excuses).”

falsae vidēbuntur: supply mihi from the previous clause.

Nōn sum audītūrus: lit., “I will not hear,” i.e., “I had better not hear,” or “I don’t want to hear.” What follows are a series of excuses about why one might not write.

illud enim nec dī sinant ut: “and may the gods not allow you (to write) the following, that ....” Sinant: opt. subj. For illud = "the following words," see OLD ille 13.

īnformior: supply eram.

Ipse: “I, myself.”

studiīs ... dēsidiā: ablative after fruor, as normal.

quōrum utrumque: “and both of these (pursuits),” i.e., both studiīs and dēsidiā.

ōtiō: another letter to the same Paulinus (9.3) has the theme of otium cum studiīs as against dēsidiā. Literary pursuits, he argues there, have the potential to confer immortal fame on the writer.