{"book":"seneca-letters","title":"Letters to Lucilius","sub":"Seneca · all 124 letters","credit":"Latin: The Latin Library (public domain). English: our own plain-English rendering.","order":["1","2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9","10","11","12","13","14","15","16","17","18","19","20","21","22","23","24","25","26","27","28","29","30","31","32","33","34","35","36","37","38","39","40","41","42","43","44","45","46","47","48","49","50","51","52","53","54","55","56","57","58","59","60","61","62","63","64","65","66","67","68","69","70","71","72","73","74","75","76","77","78","79","80","81","82","83","84","85","86","87","88","89","90","91","92","93","94","95","96","97","98","99","100","101","102","103","104","105","106","107","108","109","110","111","112","113","114","115","116","117","118","119","120","121","122","123","124"],"titles":{"1":"Letter 1 · Take back your time","2":"Letter 2 · Read deeply, not widely","3":"Letter 3 · Trusting a friend","4":"Letter 4 · Death is no great evil","5":"Letter 5 · Philosophy without show","6":"Letter 6 · Sharing what you learn","7":"Letter 7 · Avoid the crowd","8":"Letter 8 · Working for those to come","9":"Letter 9 · The wise man and friendship","10":"Letter 10 · Talking with yourself","11":"Letter 11 · Blushing and the watcher","12":"Letter 12 · The pleasures of old age","13":"Letter 13 · Suffering in imagination","14":"Letter 14 · Caring for the body, avoiding danger","15":"Letter 15 · Exercise the mind","16":"Letter 16 · Philosophy is for living","17":"Letter 17 · Do not wait to be rich","18":"Letter 18 · Practising poverty","19":"Letter 19 · Time to retire","20":"Letter 20 · Match words with deeds","21":"Letter 21 · Fame that lasts","22":"Letter 22 · Getting out of business","23":"Letter 23 · Real joy","24":"Letter 24 · Facing what you fear","25":"Letter 25 · Correcting two friends","26":"Letter 26 · Old age and the final test","27":"Letter 27 · Wisdom cannot be bought","28":"Letter 28 · Travel will not cure you","29":"Letter 29 · Advice that is heard","30":"Letter 30 · Bassus faces death","31":"Letter 31 · Hard work and the only good","32":"Letter 32 · Finish life before death","33":"Letter 33 · Beyond quotations","34":"Letter 34 · My work in progress","35":"Letter 35 · Friend, not just lover","36":"Letter 36 · Scorning the critics","37":"Letter 37 · The oath of a good man","38":"Letter 38 · Seeds of wisdom","39":"Letter 39 · Minds made for great things","40":"Letter 40 · Speak slowly","41":"Letter 41 · God within","42":"Letter 42 · A good man is rare","43":"Letter 43 · Living in the open","44":"Letter 44 · True nobility","45":"Letter 45 · Books, logic and life","46":"Letter 46 · A book read in one sitting","47":"Letter 47 · Slaves are people too","48":"Letter 48 · Philosophy is not a word game","49":"Letter 49 · Time flies when you look back","50":"Letter 50 · The blind woman who blamed the house","51":"Letter 51 · Why Seneca left Baiae","52":"Letter 52 · Who can help us climb","53":"Letter 53 · Seasick, and sick of soul","54":"Letter 54 · Rehearsing death","55":"Letter 55 · Hiding is not living","56":"Letter 56 · Living above a bathhouse","57":"Letter 57 · Fear in the Naples tunnel","58":"Letter 58 · Plato's six kinds of being","59":"Letter 59 · Joy versus pleasure","60":"Letter 60 · Stop wishing for more","61":"Letter 61 · Ready to go at any moment","62":"Letter 62 · Busy is an excuse","63":"Letter 63 · On grieving a friend","64":"Letter 64 · Honouring the teachers of mankind","65":"Letter 65 · How many causes are there?","66":"Letter 66 · Are all goods equal?","67":"Letter 67 · Is it worth praying for hardship?","68":"Letter 68 · Hide your leisure too","69":"Letter 69 · Stop moving around","70":"Letter 70 · Life is not always worth keeping","71":"Letter 71 · The only good is the honourable","72":"Letter 72 · Philosophy needs whole days","73":"Letter 73 · Philosophers are grateful citizens","74":"Letter 74 · Fortune's scramble for prizes","75":"Letter 75 · Say what you feel","76":"Letter 76 · Going back to school at sixty","77":"Letter 77 · A good ending","78":"Letter 78 · Bearing illness","79":"Letter 79 · Climb Etna for me","80":"Letter 80 · Freedom cannot be bought","81":"Letter 81 · Kindness and ingratitude","82":"Letter 82 · Death and clever syllogisms","83":"Letter 83 · A day in my life, and drunkenness","84":"Letter 84 · Be like the bees","85":"Letter 85 · Virtue is enough","86":"Letter 86 · Scipio's bathhouse","87":"Letter 87 · Travelling light","88":"Letter 88 · The liberal arts","89":"Letter 89 · The parts of philosophy","90":"Letter 90 · The golden age","91":"Letter 91 · Lyon burns in a night","92":"Letter 92 · Reason is the whole of happiness","93":"Letter 93 · A full life, not a long one","94":"Letter 94 · The value of advice","95":"Letter 95 · Precepts need principles","96":"Letter 96 · Life is soldiering","97":"Letter 97 · Every age has its vices","98":"Letter 98 · Never hang on luck","99":"Letter 99 · A letter to a grieving father","100":"Letter 100 · In defence of Fabianus","101":"Letter 101 · Live each day as a life","102":"Letter 102 · The soul's birthday","103":"Letter 103 · Beware of people","104":"Letter 104 · The fever at Nomentum","105":"Letter 105 · How to live more safely","106":"Letter 106 · Is the good a body?","107":"Letter 107 · Lead me, Fate","108":"Letter 108 · Learning for life","109":"Letter 109 · Can the wise help the wise?","110":"Letter 110 · Afraid in the light","111":"Letter 111 · Quibbles and true height","112":"Letter 112 · A vine too old to graft","113":"Letter 113 · Are the virtues living beings?","114":"Letter 114 · As the life, so the style","115":"Letter 115 · The face of a good soul","116":"Letter 116 · No passion in moderation","117":"Letter 117 · Wisdom and being wise","118":"Letter 118 · Fortune's elections","119":"Letter 119 · The short cut to riches","120":"Letter 120 · How we learned the good","121":"Letter 121 · Every creature knows itself","122":"Letter 122 · Turning night into day","123":"Letter 123 · No dinner waiting","124":"Letter 124 · Your own good"},"subs":{"1":"Time is the only thing we truly own, so stop letting it slip away.","2":"A settled mind stays with a few good authors and digests one idea a day.","3":"Judge a person before you befriend them, then trust them completely.","4":"Grow up in mind, stop fearing death, and live within nature's simple limits.","5":"Be different inside, not outwardly odd; hope and fear walk chained together.","6":"Seneca feels himself changing and wants Lucilius to learn by living alongside him.","7":"The games made Seneca crueller; keep away from the crowd and its bad examples.","8":"Seneca's retirement is busy work for future readers, warning against fortune's gifts.","9":"The wise man is content with himself, yet still wants friends for friendship's sake.","10":"Only a good person is safe alone; live as if God saw you.","11":"Some natural reactions cannot be trained away; keep a good man before your eyes.","12":"Seneca sees his age in his old house and learns to treat each day as complete.","13":"We suffer more from fear than from reality, so test what frightens you.","14":"Look after the body without serving it, and avoid provoking the powerful.","15":"A little bodily exercise is enough; train the mind, and remember how far you have come.","16":"Philosophy shapes life whatever rules the world; natural desires have limits.","17":"Do not put off philosophy until you have enough money; poverty is no obstacle.","18":"During the Saturnalia, set aside days to live poorly and learn it is nothing to fear.","19":"Lucilius should withdraw from office before success and its desires swallow him.","20":"Live consistently: wisdom is always wanting the same thing and refusing the same thing.","21":"Writers like Epicurus and Cicero gave lasting fame; take away desires, do not add wealth.","22":"How to withdraw from public life wisely, and why we die worse than we are born.","23":"Learn to rejoice in what is your own, and stop always beginning to live.","24":"Imagine the worst, strip things of their masks, and do not rush towards death.","25":"How to reform two friends, and why you need an imagined witness.","26":"Seneca feels his mind young in an old body and prepares for death as a test.","27":"Let your vices die before you; a rich man who bought learned slaves stayed ignorant.","28":"You take yourself wherever you go; change your mind, not your sky.","29":"A wise man advises only those who will listen, and does not court the crowd.","30":"The old philosopher Aufidius Bassus shows how to meet death calmly.","31":"Stop your ears to people's wishes; the only good is a mind that trusts itself.","32":"Hurry to complete your life so that no extra time is needed.","33":"Stoic wisdom is not a set of sayings; stop quoting and think for yourself.","34":"Seneca rejoices in Lucilius' progress; wanting to be good is half the battle.","35":"Become someone who can be a true friend, and be consistent with yourself.","36":"A friend who retired should ignore his critics and learn to despise death.","37":"Becoming good is like a gladiator's oath; reason alone sets you free.","38":"Quiet conversation works best; a few words planted well will grow.","39":"A noble mind rises to great things, while excess pleasure enslaves.","40":"A philosopher's speech should be measured, never rushed like a torrent.","41":"A holy spirit dwells in us; praise a person only for what is truly theirs.","42":"Most vices are only waiting for power; count the true cost of what you want.","43":"Live so that you could keep your door open; your conscience is your witness.","44":"Philosophy ignores family trees; the mind makes a person noble.","45":"Read good books, avoid word puzzles, and learn what really makes a person happy.","46":"Seneca devours Lucilius's new book and promises him an honest verdict.","47":"Treat those below you as you would want those above you to treat you.","48":"Friendship shares everything, and logic puzzles about mice help no one who is suffering.","49":"A visit to Campania stirs memories and a plea to spend short life on what matters.","50":"Our faults live inside us, not in places, and the mind can still be reshaped.","51":"Choose places that strengthen character, not resorts that soften it.","52":"Three kinds of learner, and how to pick a teacher who lives what he teaches.","53":"A rough crossing shows how the worst illnesses of the mind go unnoticed.","54":"An asthma attack teaches Seneca that death is only the state before birth.","55":"Passing Vatia's villa, Seneca separates true leisure from mere idleness.","56":"Outer noise matters little when the mind within is quiet.","57":"Even the wise feel a natural jolt, and the soul is too fine to be crushed.","58":"A lesson in categories that ends in reflections on old age and choosing one's death.","59":"True joy comes only from virtue, and flattery keeps us from seeing our faults.","60":"The prayers of our families harm us, and the idle are already dead.","61":"Want what must be, and meet death willingly and full.","62":"Seneca keeps himself free and spends his mind with the best of men.","63":"Weep but do not wail, and let the memory of the dead become sweet.","64":"Reading Sextius fires the spirit, and each generation must add to wisdom.","65":"Stoic, Aristotelian and Platonic causes, and why studying nature frees the mind.","66":"Joy and brave endurance of torture are equal goods, because virtue does not grow or shrink.","67":"Not pain itself but the courage to bear it is something to wish for.","68":"Retire quietly, treat your own faults, and use old age for wisdom.","69":"Constant travel feeds old desires; settle down and prepare for death.","70":"The wise man lives as long as he ought, and death is always an open door.","71":"Aim your whole life at one target and let virtue make every lot equal.","72":"Do not wait for spare time to study, since business never ends.","73":"The wise honour the ruler who keeps the peace, and god lives within good men.","74":"Only the honourable is good, so leave the games where fortune throws her gifts.","75":"Plain speech that matches one's life, and the three grades of those making progress.","76":"It is never too late to learn, and reason is the one good that is truly ours.","77":"The mail ships arrive, Marcellinus dies calmly, and life is like a play.","78":"Friends, philosophy and contempt for death make sickness bearable.","79":"A tour of Sicily prompts thoughts on poetry, wisdom's summit and late fame.","80":"While the crowd watches boxing, Seneca trains his mind and strips away life's masks.","81":"Keep doing favours despite the ungrateful, and weigh a benefit against a later wrong.","82":"Only real training of the mind beats the fear of death; logic-chopping cannot.","83":"Seneca reports on his day, then argues against drunkenness with plain facts, not syllogisms.","84":"Read widely, then digest what you gather into something that is your own.","85":"Against the Peripatetics: moderate passions are still vices, and virtue alone makes life happy.","86":"At Scipio's villa Seneca contrasts the old hero's dark little bath with modern luxury, then learns about transplanting trees.","87":"A trip with almost no baggage shows how little we need; then arguments that wealth is not a good.","88":"Grammar, music, geometry and astronomy prepare the mind, but only philosophy makes a man good.","89":"A map of philosophy's divisions, ending with a sermon against greed and luxury.","90":"Against Posidonius: philosophy did not invent crafts; the first humans were innocent but not wise.","91":"The fire that destroyed Lyon teaches us to expect anything, since all human works are doomed to fall.","92":"The happy life lies in perfected reason alone; health and pleasure add nothing to it.","93":"On the death of Metronax: measure a life by what it achieves, not by its years.","94":"Aristo says specific precepts are useless without doctrine; Seneca defends them as a real help.","95":"Advice alone cannot make us wise in an age of complex vice; we need firm doctrines about good and evil.","96":"Troubles are the tax on a long life; pay it willingly and do not ask to be pampered.","97":"Vice belongs to people, not to times; the Clodius trial proves it, and a guilty conscience is its own punishment.","98":"Happiness that depends on fortune is fragile; the mind is stronger than any fortune and can lose calmly.","99":"Seneca's stern letter to Marullus on the death of his small son: weep as nature allows, remember gladly, never make a show of grief.","100":"Fabianus's prose flows rather than sparkles, but he shaped character, not phrases, and wrote for minds, not ears.","101":"Senecio's sudden death mocks long plans: treat each day as a whole life, and never beg for life at any price, as Maecenas did.","102":"After answering the logicians on whether fame after death is a good, Seneca rises to the hope that the day of death is the birthday of eternity.","103":"The commonest danger comes from other people: be kind, stay watchful, and take refuge in philosophy without flaunting it.","104":"Fleeing a fever to his country house, Seneca reflects on living for loved ones, why a change of scene cannot heal the mind, and the examples of Socrates and Cato.","105":"Give no one cause for greed, envy, hatred, fear or contempt; talk little, do no wrong, and remember that the guilty never feel safe.","106":"A Stoic proof that the good, the virtues and the passions are all bodies, followed by a shrug: this is a board game, and we should learn for life, not for school.","107":"When his slaves run off, Lucilius is told to expect life's knocks, accept nature's law, and follow God willingly, in the words of Cleanthes' prayer.","108":"Seneca recalls his youthful zeal under Attalus and Sotion, including a year without meat, and warns against reading philosophy with a grammarian's eyes.","109":"Yes: good people sharpen each other's virtues and share joy and counsel; but such puzzles matter less than being made braver and juster.","110":"Most of our fears are empty and we stumble through self-made darkness; Attalus, watching Rome's wealth paraded, learned to be content with water and barley.","111":"Sophisms make no one braver; the true philosopher, like a great mountain, looks bigger the closer you come.","112":"Lucilius's friend says he wants to reform, but he has only fallen out with his vices for a while; wait until he truly hates them.","113":"Seneca mocks the school puzzle that the virtues are animals, then turns to what matters: courage, ruling oneself, and justice done for its own sake.","114":"Why eloquence decays: a corrupt style, like Maecenas's, betrays a corrupt mind and a luxurious age; heal the mind and the words will follow.","115":"Care for substance, not style; if we could see a good man's soul we would worship it, while our awe of gold is childish and the poets feed it.","116":"The Peripatetics would moderate the passions; Seneca would shut them out, since they grow once admitted. We say we cannot; the truth is that we will not.","117":"Is wisdom a good while 'being wise' is not? Seneca disputes the school's hair-splitting, then demands teaching that helps him face fortune and death.","118":"Seek nothing at fortune's polling booths; then a definition: the good is what accords perfectly with nature, and the honourable is the perfect good.","119":"Borrow from yourself: natural wants are few and easily met, while fortunes only breed more craving; the rich do not have wealth, wealth has them.","120":"Our idea of virtue came by analogy from admired deeds like those of Fabricius and Horatius; the mark of the perfect man is being always the same.","121":"Is this ethics? Yes: from birth every animal senses its own constitution and cares for itself, shunning danger by nature rather than experience.","122":"Luxury turns nature upside down: those who sleep by day and feast by night live like the dead; keep to the road nature laid down.","123":"Arriving late at Alba to find nothing ready, Seneca finds hunger the best sauce; shut your ears to voices that preach pleasure, even under a Stoic label.","124":"The good is grasped by the mind, not the senses, so neither animals nor infants can have it; your own good is reason made perfect."},"sections":{"1":[{"ref":"Letter 1.1–2","orig":"Ita fac, mi Lucili: vindica te tibi, et tempus quod adhuc aut auferebatur aut subripiebatur aut excidebat collige et serva. Persuade tibi hoc sic esse ut scribo: quaedam tempora eripiuntur nobis, quaedam subducuntur, quaedam effluunt. Turpissima tamen est iactura quae per neglegentiam fit. Et si volueris attendere, magna pars vitae elabitur male agentibus, maxima nihil agentibus, tota vita aliud agentibus. Quem mihi dabis qui aliquod pretium tempori ponat, qui diem aestimet, qui intellegat se cotidie mori? In hoc enim fallimur, quod mortem prospicimus: magna pars eius iam praeterit; quidquid aetatis retro est mors tenet. Fac ergo, mi Lucili, quod facere te scribis, omnes horas complectere; sic fiet ut minus ex crastino pendeas, si hodierno manum inieceris.","en":"Do this, my Lucilius: claim yourself back for yourself, and gather up and keep the time that until now was being taken from you, or stolen from you, or simply slipping away. Convince yourself that it is just as I write: some of our time is snatched from us, some is quietly removed, and some drains away. Yet the most shameful loss is the one that comes through carelessness. And if you care to look closely, a large part of life slips by while we do wrong, the greatest part while we do nothing, and the whole of it while we do something other than what we should. Show me someone who puts any value on time, who reckons the worth of a day, who understands that he is dying daily. This is where we go wrong: we look ahead to death, but a great part of it has already gone by. Whatever years lie behind us, death holds. So do what you write that you are doing, my Lucilius: embrace every hour. That way you will depend less on tomorrow, if you lay hold of today."},{"ref":"Letter 1.3–4","orig":"Dum differtur vita transcurrit. Omnia, Lucili, aliena sunt, tempus tantum nostrum est; in huius rei unius fugacis ac lubricae possessionem natura nos misit, ex qua expellit quicumque vult. Et tanta stultitia mortalium est ut quae minima et vilissima sunt, certe reparabilia, imputari sibi cum impetravere patiantur, nemo se iudicet quicquam debere qui tempus accepit, cum interim hoc unum est quod ne gratus quidem potest reddere. Interrogabis fortasse quid ego faciam qui tibi ista praecipio. Fatebor ingenue: quod apud luxuriosum sed diligentem evenit, ratio mihi constat impensae. Non possum dicere nihil perdere, sed quid perdam et quare et quemadmodum dicam; causas paupertatis meae reddam. Sed evenit mihi quod plerisque non suo vitio ad inopiam redactis: omnes ignoscunt, nemo succurrit.","en":"While we put life off, it runs past. Everything, Lucilius, belongs to others; only time is ours. Nature has put us in possession of this one thing, fleeting and slippery as it is, and anyone who wants to can push us out of it. And people are so foolish that when they are given the smallest and cheapest things, which can certainly be replaced, they allow them to be charged to their account; yet nobody who has received time thinks he owes anything, although it is the one thing that not even a grateful person can pay back. You may ask what I do, since I lecture you like this. I will admit it frankly: I do what a man does who is extravagant but careful, I keep an account of my spending. I cannot say that I lose nothing, but I can tell you what I lose, and why, and how; I can give the reasons for my poverty. But it has gone with me as it goes with most people who have been brought low through no fault of their own: everyone forgives, nobody helps."},{"ref":"Letter 1.5","orig":"Quid ergo est? non puto pauperem cui quantulumcumque superest sat est; tu tamen malo serves tua, et bono tempore incipies. Nam ut visum est maioribus nostris, 'sera parsimonia in fundo est'; non enim tantum minimum in imo sed pessimum remanet. Vale.","en":"So what is the point? I do not consider a man poor if what little he has left is enough for him. Still, I would rather you kept what is yours, and you will be starting at a good time. For as our ancestors put it, \"thrift comes too late when you are down to the dregs\"; what is left at the bottom is not only the least but the worst. Farewell."}],"2":[{"ref":"Letter 2.1–2","orig":"Ex iis quae mihi scribis et ex iis quae audio bonam spem de te concipio: non discurris nec locorum mutationibus inquietaris. Aegri animi ista iactatio est: primum argumentum compositae mentis existimo posse consistere et secum morari. Illud autem vide, ne ista lectio auctorum multorum et omnis generis voluminum habeat aliquid vagum et instabile. Certis ingeniis immorari et innutriri oportet, si velis aliquid trahere quod in animo fideliter sedeat. Nusquam est qui ubique est. Vitam in peregrinatione exigentibus hoc evenit, ut multa hospitia habeant, nullas amicitias; idem accidat necesse est iis qui nullius se ingenio familiariter applicant sed omnia cursim et properantes transmittunt.","en":"From what you write to me and from what I hear, I have good hopes of you: you do not rush about, and you are not unsettled by changes of place. That kind of restless tossing belongs to a sick mind. The first sign of a well-ordered mind, I think, is being able to stay in one place and spend time with oneself. But watch out that this reading of many authors and books of every kind does not have something wandering and unsteady about it. You need to linger with a chosen few great minds and feed on them if you want to draw out something that will stay faithfully in your mind. Someone who is everywhere is nowhere. People who spend their lives travelling end up with many places to stay and no friendships. The same must happen to those who never get to know any one writer closely, but skim through everything in a hurry."},{"ref":"Letter 2.3–4","orig":"Non prodest cibus nec corpori accedit qui statim sumptus emittitur; nihil aeque sanitatem impedit quam remediorum crebra mutatio; non venit vulnus ad cicatricem in quo medicamenta temptantur; non convalescit planta quae saepe transfertur; nihil tam utile est ut in transitu prosit. Distringit librorum multitudo; itaque cum legere non possis quantum habueris, satis est habere quantum legas. 'Sed modo' inquis 'hunc librum evolvere volo, modo illum.' Fastidientis stomachi est multa degustare; quae ubi varia sunt et diversa, inquinant non alunt. Probatos itaque semper lege, et si quando ad alios deverti libuerit, ad priores redi. Aliquid cotidie adversus paupertatem, aliquid adversus mortem auxili compara, nec minus adversus ceteras pestes; et cum multa percurreris, unum excerpe quod illo die concoquas.","en":"Food does no good and does not become part of the body if it is thrown up as soon as it is eaten. Nothing hinders health so much as constantly changing remedies. A wound will not heal over if you keep trying new ointments on it. A plant that is often moved will never grow strong. Nothing is so useful that it can help you in passing. A mass of books is a distraction. So since you cannot read all the books you might own, it is enough to own as many as you can read. \"But,\" you say, \"sometimes I want to open this book, sometimes that one.\" Tasting lots of dishes is the mark of a jaded stomach; when they are varied and mixed, they pollute rather than nourish. So always read the proven authors, and if you ever feel like turning aside to others, come back to the first ones. Each day get yourself some help against poverty, some against death, and just as much against the other plagues; and when you have run through many things, pick out one to digest that day."},{"ref":"Letter 2.5–6","orig":"Hoc ipse quoque facio; ex pluribus quae legi aliquid apprehendo. Hodiernum hoc est quod apud Epicurum nanctus sum - soleo enim et in aliena castra transire, non tamquam transfuga, sed tamquam explorator -: 'honesta' inquit 'res est laeta paupertas'. Illa vero non est paupertas, si laeta est; non qui parum habet, sed qui plus cupit, pauper est. Quid enim refert quantum illi in arca, quantum in horreis iaceat, quantum pascat aut feneret, si alieno imminet, si non acquisita sed acquirenda computat? Quis sit divitiarum modus quaeris? primus habere quod necesse est, proximus quod sat est. Vale.","en":"I do this myself too: from the many things I have read, I take hold of one. Today's is something I found in Epicurus (I often cross into the other side's camp, not as a deserter but as a scout): \"Poverty that is cheerful,\" he says, \"is an honourable thing.\" But if it is cheerful, it is not poverty at all. The poor man is not the one who has too little, but the one who wants more. What does it matter how much he has lying in his strongbox or his barns, how many animals he grazes or how much he lends at interest, if he hungers after what belongs to someone else, and counts not what he has gained but what he has still to gain? Do you ask what the proper limit of wealth is? First, to have what is necessary; next, to have what is enough. Farewell."}],"3":[{"ref":"Letter 3.1","orig":"Epistulas ad me perferendas tradidisti, ut scribis, amico tuo; deinde admones me ne omnia cum eo ad te pertinentia communicem, quia non soleas ne ipse quidem id facere: ita eadem epistula illum et dixisti amicum et negasti. Itaque si proprio illo verbo quasi publico usus es et sic illum amicum vocasti quomodo omnes candidatos 'bonos viros' dicimus, quomodo obvios, si nomen non succurrit, 'dominos' salutamus, hac abierit.","en":"You have given your letters for me, so you write, to a friend of yours to deliver. Then you warn me not to share with him everything that concerns you, because you are not in the habit of doing so yourself. So in the same letter you have both called him a friend and denied it. Well, if you used that word in its loose, everyday sense, and called him a friend in the way we call every candidate for office a \"good man\", or the way we greet people we meet as \"sir\" when their name escapes us, then let it pass."},{"ref":"Letter 3.2","orig":"Sed si aliquem amicum existimas cui non tantundem credis quantum tibi, vehementer erras et non satis nosti vim verae amicitiae. Tu vero omnia cum amico delibera, sed de ipso prius: post amicitiam credendum est, ante amicitiam iudicandum. Isti vero praepostero officia permiscent qui, contra praecepta Theophrasti, cum amaverunt iudicant, et non amant cum iudicaverunt. Diu cogita an tibi in amicitiam aliquis recipiendus sit. Cum placuerit fieri, toto illum pectore admitte; tam audaciter cum illo loquere quam tecum.","en":"But if you think someone is a friend and yet you do not trust him as much as you trust yourself, you are badly mistaken and do not fully understand what true friendship means. By all means talk everything over with a friend, but first talk over the friend himself. After friendship comes trust; before friendship comes judgement. Those people get their duties back to front who, against the advice of Theophrastus, judge a man after they have come to love him, instead of loving him after they have judged him. Think for a long time about whether to admit someone into your friendship. When you have decided to, welcome him with your whole heart, and speak with him as boldly as you would with yourself."},{"ref":"Letter 3.3–4","orig":"Tu quidem ita vive ut nihil tibi committas nisi quod committere etiam inimico tuo possis; sed quia interveniunt quaedam quae consuetudo fecit arcana, cum amico omnes curas, omnes cogitationes tuas misce. Fidelem si putaveris, facies; nam quidam fallere docuerunt dum timent falli, et illi ius peccandi suspicando fecerunt. Quid est quare ego ulla verba coram amico meo retraham? quid est quare me coram illo non putem solum? Quidam quae tantum amicis committenda sunt obviis narrant, et in quaslibet aures quidquid illos urit exonerant; quidam rursus etiam carissimorum conscientiam reformidant et, si possent, ne sibi quidem credituri interius premunt omne secretum. Neutrum faciendum est; utrumque enim vitium est, et omnibus credere et nulli, sed alterum honestius dixerim vitium, alterum tutius.","en":"Certainly you should live in such a way that you entrust nothing to yourself that you could not entrust even to your enemy. But since some things come up that custom treats as secret, share all your worries and all your thoughts with your friend. If you think him loyal, you will make him so. Some people have taught others to deceive by being afraid of being deceived, and by their suspicion have given them the right to do wrong. What reason is there for me to hold back any words in my friend's presence? Why should I not feel as if I were alone when I am with him? Some people tell anyone they meet things that should be trusted only to friends, and unload whatever is burning them into any ear that will listen. Others, in turn, are afraid to let even their dearest know, and, if they could, would not even trust themselves, but press every secret deep inside. We should do neither. Both are faults, trusting everyone and trusting no one; but I would call the first the more honourable fault and the second the safer."},{"ref":"Letter 3.5–6","orig":"Sic utrosque reprehendas, et eos qui semper inquieti sunt, et eos qui semper quiescunt. Nam illa tumultu gaudens non est industria sed exagitatae mentis concursatio, et haec non est quies quae motum omnem molestiam iudicat, sed dissolutio et languor. Itaque hoc quod apud Pomponium legi animo mandabitur: 'quidam adeo in latebras refugerunt ut putent in turbido esse quidquid in luce est'. Inter se ista miscenda sunt: et quiescenti agendum et agenti quiescendum est. Cum rerum natura delibera: illa dicet tibi et diem fecisse se et noctem. Vale.","en":"In the same way you should criticise both kinds of people: those who are always restless and those who are always at rest. The love of bustle is not hard work but the scurrying of a mind that has been stirred up; and the rest that counts every movement a nuisance is not rest but slackness and idleness. So you will commit to memory something I read in Pomponius: \"Some people have fled so far into hiding that they think whatever is in the light is in turmoil.\" The two should be blended: the one at rest should act, and the one who acts should rest. Consult the nature of things: she will tell you that she made both the day and the night. Farewell."}],"4":[{"ref":"Letter 4.1–2","orig":"Persevera ut coepisti et quantum potes propera, quo diutius frui emendato animo et composito possis. Frueris quidem etiam dum emendas, etiam dum componis: alia tamen illa voluptas est quae percipitur ex contemplatione mentis ab omni labe purae et splendidae. Tenes utique memoria quantum senseris gaudium cum praetexta posita sumpsisti virilem togam et in forum deductus es: maius expecta cum puerilem animum deposueris et te in viros philosophia transscripserit. Adhuc enim non pueritia sed, quod est gravius, puerilitas remanet; et hoc quidem peior est, quod auctoritatem habemus senum, vitia puerorum, nec puerorum tantum sed infantum: illi levia, hi falsa formidant, nos utraque.","en":"Keep going as you have begun, and hurry as much as you can, so that you may enjoy a mind that is corrected and settled for all the longer. You do enjoy it even while you are correcting it and settling it; but there is a different pleasure, one that comes from contemplating a mind that is pure of every stain and shining. You certainly remember how much joy you felt when you laid aside the boy's bordered toga, put on the toga of a man, and were escorted to the forum. Expect a greater joy when you have laid aside a boy's mind and philosophy has enrolled you among men. For what still remains in us is not childhood but, worse, childishness. And this is all the more wretched because we have the authority of old men and the faults of boys, and not just of boys but of infants: boys fear trivial things, infants imaginary things, and we fear both."},{"ref":"Letter 4.3–4","orig":"Profice modo: intelleges quaedam ideo minus timenda quia multum metus afferunt. Nullum malum magnum quod extremum est. Mors ad te venit: timenda erat si tecum esse posset: necesse est aut non perveniat aut transeat. 'Difficile est' inquis 'animum perducere ad contemptionem animae.' Non vides quam ex frivolis causis contemnatur? Alius ante amicae fores laqueo pependit, alius se praecipitavit e tecto ne dominum stomachantem diutius audiret, alius ne reduceretur e fuga ferrum adegit in viscera: non putas virtutem hoc effecturam quod efficit nimia formido? Nulli potest secura vita contingere qui de producenda nimis cogitat, qui inter magna bona multos consules numerat.","en":"Just make progress. You will understand that some things are less to be feared precisely because they bring so much fear. No evil is great if it is the last one. Death comes to you: it would be something to fear if it could stay with you. As it is, it must either not arrive or pass on. \"It is hard,\" you say, \"to bring the mind to the point of despising life.\" Do you not see how trivial the reasons are for which people despise it? One man hanged himself at his girlfriend's door; another threw himself off a roof so as not to hear his angry master any longer; another drove a sword into his belly so that he would not be brought back after running away. Do you not think that courage will achieve what excessive fear achieves? No one can have a life free from care who thinks too much about lengthening it, who counts living through many consulships among the great blessings."},{"ref":"Letter 4.5–6","orig":"Hoc cotidie meditare, ut possis aequo animo vitam relinquere, quam multi sic complectuntur et tenent quomodo qui aqua torrente rapiuntur spinas et aspera. Plerique inter mortis metum et vitae tormenta miseri fluctuantur et vivere nolunt, mori nesciunt. Fac itaque tibi iucundam vitam omnem pro illa sollicitudinem deponendo. Nullum bonum adiuvat habentem nisi ad cuius amissionem praeparatus est animus; nullius autem rei facilior amissio est quam quae desiderari amissa non potest. Ergo adversus haec quae incidere possunt etiam potentissimis adhortare te et indura.","en":"Practise this every day, so that you can leave life calmly. Many people cling to it and hold on the way those swept away by a torrent grab at thorns and rocks. Most people toss about miserably between fear of death and the torments of life: they do not want to live, and they do not know how to die. So make your whole life pleasant by setting aside all worry about it. No good thing helps its owner unless his mind is prepared to lose it; and nothing is easier to lose than what cannot be missed once it is lost. So encourage yourself and toughen yourself against these things that can happen even to the most powerful."},{"ref":"Letter 4.7–8","orig":"De Pompei capite pupillus et spado tulere sententiam, de Crasso crudelis et insolens Parthus; Gaius Caesar iussit Lepidum Dextro tribuno praebere cervicem, ipse Chaereae praestitit; neminem eo fortuna provexit ut non tantum illi minaretur quantum permiserat. Noli huic tranquillitati confidere: momento mare evertitur; eodem die ubi luserunt navigia sorbentur. Cogita posse et latronem et hostem admovere iugulo tuo gladium; ut potestas maior absit, nemo non servus habet in te vitae necisque arbitrium. Ita dico: quisquis vitam suam contempsit tuae dominus est. Recognosce exempla eorum qui domesticis insidiis perierunt, aut aperta vi aut dolo: intelleges non pauciores servorum ira cecidisse quam regum. Quid ad te itaque quam potens sit quem times, cum id propter quod times nemo non possit?","en":"A boy still under a guardian and a eunuch passed sentence on Pompey's head; a cruel and arrogant Parthian passed it on Crassus. Gaius Caesar ordered Lepidus to offer his neck to the tribune Dexter, and he himself offered his own to Chaerea. Fortune has never raised anyone so high that she did not threaten him as much as she had allowed him. Do not trust this calm: in a moment the sea is turned upside down, and on the same day that boats have played on it they are swallowed. Remember that a robber or an enemy can put a sword to your throat. Even without some higher power, there is no slave who does not have power of life and death over you. I say this: whoever has come to despise his own life is master of yours. Look back at the examples of those who have died through plots in their own homes, either by open force or by trickery: you will see that no fewer have fallen to the anger of slaves than to the anger of kings. So what does it matter to you how powerful the person you fear is, when anyone at all can do the thing you are afraid of?"},{"ref":"Letter 4.9–10","orig":"At si forte in manus hostium incideris, victor te duci iubebit - eo nempe quo duceris. Quid te ipse decipis et hoc nunc primum quod olim patiebaris intellegis? Ita dico: ex quo natus es, duceris. Haec et eiusmodi versanda in animo sunt si volumus ultimam illam horam placidi exspectare cuius metus omnes alias inquietas facit. Sed ut finem epistulae imponam, accipe quod mihi hodierno die placuit - et hoc quoque ex alienis hortulis sumptum est: 'magnae divitiae sunt lege naturae composita paupertas'. Lex autem illa naturae scis quos nobis terminos statuat? Non esurire, non sitire, non algere. Ut famem sitimque depellas non est necesse superbis assidere liminibus nec supercilium grave et contumeliosam etiam humanitatem pati, non est necesse maria temptare nec sequi castra: parabile est quod natura desiderat et appositum.","en":"But suppose you happen to fall into enemy hands: the victor will order you to be led away. Yes, to the place you are being led to anyway. Why do you deceive yourself, and only now understand what you have been going through all along? I put it plainly: from the moment you were born, you have been led there. These thoughts and others like them must be turned over in the mind if we want to wait calmly for that last hour, the fear of which makes all the others restless. But to put an end to this letter, take what pleased me today. This too has been picked from someone else's garden: \"Poverty brought into line with the law of nature is great wealth.\" And do you know what limits that law of nature sets for us? Not to be hungry, not to be thirsty, not to be cold. To drive away hunger and thirst you do not need to sit at proud men's doors, or put up with their heavy frowns and even their insulting kindness. You do not need to brave the seas or follow the army. What nature wants is easy to get and close at hand."},{"ref":"Letter 4.11","orig":"Ad supervacua sudatur; illa sunt quae togam conterunt, quae nos senescere sub tentorio cogunt, quae in aliena litora impingunt: ad manum est quod sat est. Cui cum paupertate bene convenit dives est. Vale.","en":"It is for the extras that we sweat. They are what wear out our togas, what force us to grow old in a tent, what drive us onto foreign shores. What is enough is within reach. Whoever is on good terms with poverty is rich. Farewell."}],"5":[{"ref":"Letter 5.1–2","orig":"Quod pertinaciter studes et omnibus omissis hoc unum agis, ut te meliorem cotidie facias, et probo et gaudeo, nec tantum hortor ut perseveres sed etiam rogo. Illud autem te admoneo, ne eorum more qui non proficere sed conspici cupiunt facias aliqua quae in habitu tuo aut genere vitae notabilia sint; asperum cultum et intonsum caput et neglegentiorem barbam et indictum argento odium et cubile humi positum et quidquid aliud ambitionem perversa via sequitur evita. Satis ipsum nomen philosophiae, etiam si modeste tractetur, invidiosum est: quid si nos hominum consuetudini coeperimus excerpere? Intus omnia dissimilia sint, frons populo nostra conveniat.","en":"I approve and I am glad that you are studying hard and, putting everything else aside, doing just this one thing: making yourself better every day. I do not only urge you to keep at it; I beg you. But I do warn you not to behave like those who want to be noticed rather than to make progress, doing things that make your appearance or way of life stand out. Avoid rough clothing, uncut hair, an unkempt beard, loudly declared hatred of silver, a bed laid on the ground, and anything else that chases attention by a twisted route. The very name of philosophy, even when it is handled modestly, draws enough resentment. What if we begin to set ourselves apart from the customs of other people? Let everything be different on the inside, but let our outward face fit in with the public."},{"ref":"Letter 5.3–4","orig":"Non splendeat toga, ne sordeat quidem; non habeamus argentum in quod solidi auri caelatura descenderit, sed non putemus frugalitatis indicium auro argentoque caruisse. Id agamus ut meliorem vitam sequamur quam vulgus, non ut contrariam: alioquin quos emendari volumus fugamus a nobis et avertimus; illud quoque efficimus, ut nihil imitari velint nostri, dum timent ne imitanda sint omnia. Hoc primum philosophia promittit, sensum communem, humanitatem et congregationem; a qua professione dissimilitudo nos separabit. Videamus ne ista per quae admirationem parare volumus ridicula et odiosa sint. Nempe propositum nostrum est secundum naturam vivere: hoc contra naturam est, torquere corpus suum et faciles odisse munditias et squalorem appetere et cibis non tantum vilibus uti sed taetris et horridis.","en":"Let our toga not be gleaming, but not filthy either. Let us not own silver with solid gold worked into it, but let us not think that going without gold and silver is proof of frugality. Let us aim to live a better life than the crowd, not an opposite one. Otherwise we drive away and repel the very people we want to improve; and we also make them unwilling to imitate anything of ours, because they fear they would have to imitate all of it. The first thing philosophy promises is fellow feeling, humanity and belonging together; being different will cut us off from that promise. Let us make sure that the things by which we hope to win admiration are not ridiculous and offensive. After all, our aim is to live according to nature; and it is against nature to torment one's body, to hate simple cleanliness, to go looking for dirt, and to eat food that is not merely cheap but foul and revolting."},{"ref":"Letter 5.5–6","orig":"Quemadmodum desiderare delicatas res luxuriae est, ita usitatas et non magno parabiles fugere dementiae. Frugalitatem exigit philosophia, non poenam; potest autem esse non incompta frugalitas. Hic mihi modus placet: temperetur vita inter bonos mores et publicos; suspiciant omnes vitam nostram sed agnoscant. 'Quid ergo? eadem faciemus quae ceteri? nihil inter nos et illos intererit?' Plurimum: dissimiles esse nos vulgo sciat qui inspexerit propius; qui domum intraverit nos potius miretur quam supellectilem nostram. Magnus ille est qui fictilibus sic utitur quemadmodum argento, nec ille minor est qui sic argento utitur quemadmodum fictilibus; infirmi animi est pati non posse divitias.","en":"Just as craving delicacies is a mark of luxury, so avoiding ordinary things that can be had cheaply is a mark of madness. Philosophy demands frugality, not punishment; and frugality can still be neat. This is the balance I like: let life be set somewhere between good morals and ordinary ones. Let everyone look up to our life, but let them recognise it too. \"What then? Shall we do the same things as everyone else? Will there be no difference between us and them?\" A very great one. Let anyone who looks more closely see that we are unlike the crowd. Let anyone who enters our house admire us rather than our furniture. He is a great man who uses earthenware as if it were silver, and he is no less great who uses silver as if it were earthenware. It is the mark of a weak mind to be unable to bear wealth."},{"ref":"Letter 5.7–8","orig":"Sed ut huius quoque diei lucellum tecum communicem, apud Hecatonem nostrum inveni cupiditatum finem etiam ad timoris remedia proficere. 'Desines' inquit 'timere, si sperare desieris.' Dices, 'quomodo ista tam diversa pariter sunt?' Ita est, mi Lucili: cum videantur dissidere, coniuncta sunt. Quemadmodum eadem catena et custodiam et militem copulat, sic ista quae tam dissimilia sunt pariter incedunt: spem metus sequitur. Nec miror ista sic ire: utrumque pendentis animi est, utrumque futuri exspectatione solliciti. Maxima autem utriusque causa est quod non ad praesentia aptamur sed cogitationes in longinqua praemittimus; itaque providentia, maximum bonum condicionis humanae, in malum versa est.","en":"But so that I may share today's small profit with you too: I found in our own Hecato that setting a limit to our desires also helps as a cure for fear. \"You will stop fearing,\" he says, \"if you stop hoping.\" You will say, \"How can things so different go together?\" That is how it is, my Lucilius: though they seem to be at odds, they are joined. Just as the same chain binds the prisoner and the soldier guarding him, so these two, different as they are, walk side by side: fear follows hope. And I am not surprised they move together. Both belong to a mind left hanging, both to a mind anxious as it waits for the future. The chief cause of both is that we do not fit ourselves to the present, but send our thoughts far ahead. So foresight, the greatest good of the human condition, has been turned into an evil."},{"ref":"Letter 5.9","orig":"Ferae pericula quae vident fugiunt, cum effugere, securae sunt: nos et venturo torquemur et praeterito. Multa bona nostra nobis nocent; timoris enim tormentum memoria reducit, providentia anticipat; nemo tantum praesentibus miser est. Vale.","en":"Wild animals flee the dangers they see, and once they have escaped them they are free from care. We are tormented both by what is to come and by what is past. Many of our good things harm us: memory brings back the torment of fear, and foresight brings it early. No one is miserable only because of the present. Farewell."}],"6":[{"ref":"Letter 6.1–3","orig":"Intellego, Lucili, non emendari me tantum sed transfigurari; nec hoc promitto iam aut spero, nihil in me superesse quod mutandum sit. Quidni multa habeam quae debeant colligi, quae extenuari, quae attolli? Et hoc ipsum argumentum est in melius translati animi, quod vitia sua quae adhuc ignorabat videt; quibusdam aegris gratulatio fit cum ipsi aegros se esse senserunt. Cuperem itaque tecum communicare tam subitam mutationem mei; tunc amicitiae nostrae certiorem fiduciam habere coepissem, illius verae quam non spes, non timor, non utilitatis suae cura divellit, illius cum qua homines moriuntur, pro qua moriuntur. Multos tibi dabo qui non amico sed amicitia caruerint: hoc non potest accidere cum animos in societatem honesta cupiendi par voluntas trahit. Quidni non possit? sciunt enim ipsos omnia habere communia, et quidem magis adversa.","en":"I can tell, Lucilius, that I am not only being improved but transformed. I do not yet promise or hope that nothing remains in me that needs changing. Of course I have many things that should be pulled together, or thinned out, or lifted up. And this itself is proof that my mind has changed for the better: it now sees faults of its own that it did not know about before. Some sick people are congratulated when they realise for themselves that they are sick. So I would like to share with you this sudden change in me. Then I would have begun to have firmer trust in our friendship, that true friendship which no hope, no fear, no concern for one's own advantage can tear apart, the kind that people die with and die for. I could name many people who have lacked not a friend but friendship. That cannot happen when an equal will draws two minds into a partnership of wanting what is honourable. And why can it not? Because they know that they have everything in common, and especially their troubles."},{"ref":"Letter 6.4–5","orig":"Concipere animo non potes quantum momenti afferri mihi singulos dies videam. 'Mitte' inquis 'et nobis ista quae tam efficacia expertus es.' Ego vero omnia in te cupio transfundere, et in hoc aliquid gaudeo discere, ut doceam; nec me ulla res delectabit, licet sit eximia et salutaris, quam mihi uni sciturus sum. Si cum hac exceptione detur sapientia, ut illam inclusam teneam nec enuntiem, reiciam: nullius boni sine socio iucunda possessio est. Mittam itaque ipsos tibi libros, et ne multum operae impendas dum passim profutura sectaris, imponam notas, ut ad ipsa protinus quae probo et miror accedas. Plus tamen tibi et viva vox et convictus quam oratio proderit; in rem praesentem venias oportet, primum quia homines amplius oculis quam auribus credunt, deinde quia longum iter est per praecepta, breve et efficax per exempla.","en":"You cannot imagine how much difference I see each day making to me. \"Send me too,\" you say, \"these things you have found so effective.\" I do want to pour everything into you, and part of my joy in learning something is that I can teach it. Nothing will delight me, however excellent and beneficial, if I am to know it only for myself. If wisdom were given to me on condition that I keep it shut away and not speak of it, I would refuse it. No good thing is pleasant to possess without someone to share it. So I will send you the books themselves, and so that you do not spend much effort hunting here and there for what will help you, I will mark them, so that you can go straight to the passages I approve of and admire. But the living voice and life together will help you more than written words. You need to come and see for yourself, first because people trust their eyes more than their ears, and second because the road through rules is long, while the road through examples is short and effective."},{"ref":"Letter 6.6–7","orig":"Zenonem Cleanthes non expressisset, si tantummodo audisset: vitae eius interfuit, secreta perspexit, observavit illum, an ex formula sua viveret. Platon et Aristoteles et omnis in diversum itura sapientium turba plus ex moribus quam ex verbis Socratis traxit; Metrodorum et Hermarchum et Polyaenum magnos viros non schola Epicuri sed contubernium fecit. Nec in hoc te accerso tantum, ut proficias, sed ut prosis; plurimum enim alter alteri conferemus. Interim quoniam diurnam tibi mercedulam debeo, quid me hodie apud Hecatonem delectaverit dicam. 'Quaeris' inquit 'quid profecerim? amicus esse mihi coepi.' Multum profecit: numquam erit solus. Scito esse hunc amicum omnibus. Vale.","en":"Cleanthes would not have been a copy of Zeno if he had only heard him. He shared his life, saw into his private moments, and watched whether he lived by his own rule. Plato and Aristotle and the whole crowd of philosophers who would go off in different directions drew more from Socrates' character than from his words. It was not Epicurus' school that made great men of Metrodorus, Hermarchus and Polyaenus, but living under the same roof with him. And I do not summon you only so that you may make progress, but so that you may be of use; for we will give each other a great deal. Meanwhile, since I owe you your little daily wage, I will tell you what delighted me today in Hecato. \"Do you ask,\" he says, \"what progress I have made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.\" He has made great progress: he will never be alone. You may be sure that such a man is a friend to everyone. Farewell."}],"7":[{"ref":"Letter 7.1–2","orig":"Quid tibi vitandum praecipue existimes quaeris? turbam. Nondum illi tuto committeris. Ego certe confitebor imbecillitatem meam: numquam mores quos extuli refero; aliquid ex eo quod composui turbatur, aliquid ex iis quae fugavi redit. Quod aegris evenit quos longa imbecillitas usque eo affecit ut nusquam sine offensa proferantur, hoc accidit nobis quorum animi ex longo morbo reficiuntur. Inimica est multorum conversatio: nemo non aliquod nobis vitium aut commendat aut imprimit aut nescientibus allinit. Utique quo maior est populus cui miscemur, hoc periculi plus est. Nihil vero tam damnosum bonis moribus quam in aliquo spectaculo desidere; tunc enim per voluptatem facilius vitia subrepunt.","en":"You ask what I think you should especially avoid? The crowd. You cannot yet trust yourself to it safely. I will certainly admit my own weakness: I never bring home the same character I took out. Something I had set in order is disturbed; something I had driven away comes back. What happens to sick people who have been so weakened by a long illness that they cannot be taken out anywhere without harm, happens to us whose minds are recovering from a long disease. Mixing with many people is harmful: there is no one who does not recommend some vice to us, or stamp it on us, or smear it on us without our knowing. And the bigger the crowd we mingle with, the greater the danger. But nothing is so ruinous to good character as sitting idle at some show; for then vices creep in more easily through pleasure."},{"ref":"Letter 7.3–4","orig":"Quid me existimas dicere? avarior redeo, ambitiosior, luxuriosior? immo vero crudelior et inhumanior, quia inter homines fui. Casu in meridianum spectaculum incidi, lusus exspectans et sales et aliquid laxamenti quo hominum oculi ab humano cruore acquiescant. Contra est: quidquid ante pugnatum est misericordia fuit; nunc omissis nugis mera homicidia sunt. Nihil habent quo tegantur; ad ictum totis corporibus ex positi numquam frustra manum mittunt. Hoc plerique ordinariis paribus et postulaticiis praeferunt. Quidni praeferant? non galea, non scuto repellitur ferrum. Quo munimenta? quo artes? omnia ista mortis morae sunt. Mane leonibus et ursis homines, meridie spectatoribus suis obiciuntur. Interfectores interfecturis iubent obici et victorem in aliam detinent caedem; exitus pugnantium mors est. Ferro et igne res geritur.","en":"What do you think I mean? That I come home greedier, more ambitious, more self-indulgent? Worse: crueller and less humane, because I have been among human beings. I happened to drop in on the midday show, expecting some fun and wit and a bit of relief to let people's eyes rest from human blood. It was the opposite. Whatever fighting went on before was mercy by comparison; now the trifles are dropped and it is pure murder. The men have nothing to protect them. Their whole bodies are open to the blow, and they never strike in vain. Most people prefer this to the regular matched pairs and the fighters brought on by request. Why wouldn't they? The blade is not turned back by helmet or shield. What is the point of armour? What is the point of skill? All that just delays death. In the morning men are thrown to lions and bears; at midday they are thrown to the spectators. The crowd orders the killers to be thrown against those who will kill them, and keeps the winner back for another slaughter. The only way out for the fighters is death. The business is done with sword and fire."},{"ref":"Letter 7.5","orig":"Haec fiunt dum vacat harena. 'Sed latrocinium fecit aliquis, occidit hominem.' Quid ergo? quia occidit, ille meruit ut hoc pateretur: tu quid meruisti miser ut hoc spectes? 'Occide, verbera, ure! Quare tam timide incurrit in ferrum? quare parum audacter occidit? quare parum libenter moritur? Plagis agatur in vulnera, mutuos ictus nudis et obviis pectoribus excipiant.' Intermissum est spectaculum: 'interim iugulentur homines, ne nihil agatur'. Age, ne hoc quidem intellegitis, mala exempla in eos redundare qui faciunt? Agite dis immortalibus gratias quod eum docetis esse crudelem qui non potest discere.","en":"This goes on while the arena is supposedly on its break. \"But one of them committed robbery; he killed a man.\" So what? Because he killed, he deserved to suffer this. But what have you done, you wretch, to deserve watching it? \"Kill him! Whip him! Burn him! Why does he run on the sword so timidly? Why doesn't he kill more boldly? Why doesn't he die more willingly? Drive him into his wounds with the lash! Let them trade blows with bare chests facing each other!\" The show has an interval: \"Meanwhile let's have some throats cut, so that there's something going on.\" Come now, do you not understand even this, that bad examples come back on those who set them? Thank the immortal gods that you are teaching cruelty to a man who cannot learn it."},{"ref":"Letter 7.6–7","orig":"Subducendus populo est tener animus et parum tenax recti: facile transitur ad plures. Socrati et Catoni et Laelio excutere morem suum dissimilis multitudo potuisset: adeo nemo nostrum, qui cum maxime concinnamus ingenium, ferre impetum vitiorum tam magno comitatu venientium potest. Unum exemplum luxuriae aut avaritiae multum mali facit: convictor delicatus paulatim enervat et mollit, vicinus dives cupiditatem irritat, malignus comes quamvis candido et simplici rubiginem suam affricuit: quid tu accidere his moribus credis in quos publice factus est impetus?","en":"A tender mind, one that does not yet hold firmly to what is right, must be taken away from the crowd; it easily goes over to the majority. A crowd unlike them could have shaken even Socrates, Cato and Laelius out of their principles. So much the less can any of us, at the very moment we are getting our character into shape, withstand the onslaught of vices that come with so large an escort. A single example of luxury or greed does great harm. A pampered companion at table gradually weakens and softens us; a rich neighbour stirs up desire; a spiteful comrade rubs his rust off even on someone clean and simple. What do you think happens to a character that is attacked by the whole public at once?"},{"ref":"Letter 7.8–9","orig":"Necesse est aut imiteris aut oderis. Utrumque autem devitandum est: neve similis malis fias, quia multi sunt, neve inimicus multis, quia dissimiles sunt. Recede in te ipse quantum potes; cum his versare qui te meliorem facturi sunt, illos admitte quos tu potes facere meliores. Mutuo ista fiunt, et homines dum docent discunt. Non est quod te gloria publicandi ingenii producat in medium, ut recitare istis velis aut disputare; quod facere te vellem, si haberes isti populo idoneam mercem: nemo est qui intellegere te possit. Aliquis fortasse, unus aut alter incidet, et hic ipse formandus tibi erit instituendusque ad intellectum tui. 'Cui ergo ista didici?' Non est quod timeas ne operam perdideris, si tibi didicisti.","en":"You must either imitate them or hate them. But both must be avoided: you should not become like the bad because they are many, nor become the enemy of the many because they are unlike you. Withdraw into yourself as much as you can. Spend time with people who will make you better, and welcome those whom you can make better. This works both ways: people learn while they teach. There is no reason for the glory of showing off your talent to draw you out into public, so that you want to give readings or hold debates before those people. I would want you to do that if you had goods suited to that crowd; but there is no one there who could understand you. Perhaps someone will come your way, one or two, and even he will have to be shaped and trained by you to understand you. \"Then for whom did I learn all this?\" You need not fear that you have wasted your effort, if you learned it for yourself."},{"ref":"Letter 7.10–12","orig":"Sed ne soli mihi hodie didicerim, communicabo tecum quae occurrunt mihi egregie dicta circa eundem fere sensum tria, ex quibus unum haec epistula in debitum solvet, duo in antecessum accipe. Democritus ait, 'unus mihi pro populo est, et populus pro uno'. Bene et ille, quisquis fuit - ambigitur enim de auctore -, cum quaereretur ab illo quo tanta diligentia artis spectaret ad paucissimos perventurae, 'satis sunt' inquit 'mihi pauci, satis est unus, satis est nullus'. Egregie hoc tertium Epicurus, cum uni ex consortibus studiorum suorum scriberet: 'haec' inquit 'ego non multis, sed tibi; satis enim magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus'. Ista, mi Lucili, condenda in animum sunt, ut contemnas voluptatem ex plurium assensione venientem. Multi te laudant: ecquid habes cur placeas tibi, si is es quem intellegant multi ? introrsus bona tua spectent. Vale.","en":"But so that I have not learned only for myself today, I will share with you three fine sayings that I came across, all with nearly the same meaning. One of them will pay what this letter owes; take the other two as an advance. Democritus says: \"One man is a whole people to me, and a people is one man.\" Well said, too, by whoever it was (the author is disputed) who was asked why he took such care over an art that would reach very few people, and replied: \"A few are enough for me, one is enough, none is enough.\" The third is Epicurus', and it is excellent. Writing to one of his fellow students, he says: \"I write this not for the many but for you; for each of us is a large enough audience for the other.\" Store these sayings in your mind, my Lucilius, so that you may despise the pleasure that comes from the approval of the many. Many people praise you. Have you any reason to be pleased with yourself, if you are the kind of person the many can understand? Let your good things face inward. Farewell."}],"8":[{"ref":"Letter 8.1–2","orig":"'Tu me' inquis 'vitare turbam iubes, secedere et conscientia esse contentum? ubi illa praecepta vestra quae imperant in actu mori?' Quid? ego tibi videor inertiam suadere? In hoc me recondidi et fores clusi, ut prodesse pluribus possem. Nullus mihi per otium dies exit; partem noctium studiis vindico; non vaco somno sed succumbo, et oculos vigilia fatigatos cadentesque in opere detineo. Secessi non tantum ab hominibus sed a rebus, et in primis a meis rebus: posterorum negotium ago. Illis aliqua quae possint prodesse conscribo; salutares admonitiones,velut medicamentorum utilium compositiones, litteris mando, esse illas efficaces in meis ulceribus expertus, quae etiam si persanata non sunt, serpere desierunt.","en":"\"Are you telling me,\" you say, \"to avoid the crowd, to withdraw, and to be content with a clear conscience? Where are those precepts of yours that tell us to die in the midst of action?\" What? Do I seem to you to be recommending idleness? I have hidden myself away and shut my doors precisely so that I can be useful to more people. No day of mine passes in leisure. I claim part of the night for study. I do not make time for sleep; I give in to it, and I keep my eyes at their work even when they are tired from staying awake and are closing. I have withdrawn not only from people but from business, and above all from my own business. I am working for those who come after. I am writing down some things that may help them. I am putting healthy advice into writing, like the recipes for useful medicines, having found it effective on my own sores, which, even if they are not fully healed, have stopped spreading."},{"ref":"Letter 8.3–4","orig":"Rectum iter, quod sero cognovi et lassus errando, aliis monstro. Clamo: 'vitate quaecumque vulgo placent, quae casus attribuit; ad omne fortuitum bonum suspiciosi pavidique subsistite: et fera et piscis spe aliqua oblectante decipitur. Munera ista fortunae putatis? insidiae sunt. Quisquis vestrum tutam agere vitam volet, quantum plurimum potest ista viscata beneficia devitet in quibus hoc quoque miserrimi fallimur: habere nos putamus, haeremus. In praecipitia cursus iste deducit; huius eminentis vitae exitus cadere est. Deinde ne resistere quidem licet, cum coepit transversos agere felicitas, aut saltim rectis aut semel ruere: non vertit fortuna sed cernulat et allidit.","en":"The right road, which I found late and tired out from wandering, I point out to others. I cry out: \"Avoid whatever pleases the crowd, whatever chance hands out. Stop short, suspicious and wary, before every good that comes by luck. Both the wild animal and the fish are caught by some tempting hope. Do you think these are gifts of fortune? They are traps. Whoever of you wants to live a safe life, let him avoid as far as he can these limed favours, in which we wretches are fooled in this way too: we think we hold them, and we are the ones stuck. That race leads over the cliff; the end of this lofty life is a fall. And then you cannot even resist once prosperity has started driving you off course, or at least go down upright and all at once. Fortune does not just overturn you; she throws you headlong and dashes you to pieces."},{"ref":"Letter 8.5–6","orig":"Hanc ergo sanam ac salubrem formam vitae tenete, ut corpori tantum indulgeatis quantum bonae valetudini satis est. Durius tractandum est ne animo male pareat: cibus famem sedet, potio sitim exstinguat, vestis arceat frigus, domus munimentum sit adversus infesta temporis. Hanc utrum caespes erexerit an varius lapis gentis alienae, nihil interest: scitote tam bene hominem culmo quam auro tegi. Contemnite omnia quae supervacuus labor velut ornamentum ac decus ponit; cogitate nihil praeter animum esse mirabile, cui magno nihil magnum est.' Si haec mecum, si haec cum posteris loquor, non videor tibi plus prodesse quam cum ad vadimonium advocatus descenderem aut tabulis testamenti anulum imprimerem aut in senatu candidato vocem et manum commodarem? Mihi crede, qui nihil agere videntur maiora agunt: humana divinaque simul tractant.","en":"\"So hold to this sound and healthy rule of life: indulge the body only as much as is enough for good health. It must be treated rather harshly, so that it does not disobey the mind. Let food relieve hunger, drink quench thirst, clothing keep out the cold, and a house be a shelter against the hostile weather. Whether it is built of turf or of coloured marble from some foreign land makes no difference. Know that a person is sheltered just as well by thatch as by gold. Despise everything that needless labour sets up as ornament and decoration. Remember that nothing is admirable except the mind, and to a great mind nothing is great.\" If I say these things to myself, and to those who come after me, do you not think I am doing more good than when I went down to court to stand bail for someone, or pressed my seal on a will, or lent my voice and my hand to a candidate in the Senate? Believe me, those who seem to be doing nothing are doing greater things: they are dealing with the human and the divine together."},{"ref":"Letter 8.7–8","orig":"Sed iam finis faciendus est et aliquid, ut institui, pro hac epistula dependendum. Id non de meo fiet: adhuc Epicurum compilamus, cuius hanc vocem hodierno die legi: 'philosophiae servias oportet, ut tibi contingat vera libertas'. Non differtur in diem qui se illi subiecit et tradidit: statim circumagitur; hoc enim ipsum philosophiae servire libertas est. Potest fieri ut me interroges quare ab Epicuro tam multa bene dicta referam potius quam nostrorum: quid est tamen quare tu istas Epicuri voces putes esse, non publicas? Quam multi poetae dicunt quae philosophis aut dicta sunt aut dicenda! Non attingam tragicos nec togatas nostras - habent enim hae quoque aliquid severitatis et sunt inter comoedias ac tragoedias mediae -: quantum disertissimorum versuum inter mimos iacet! quam multa Publilii non excalceatis sed coturnatis dicenda sunt!","en":"But now I must come to an end and, as is my custom, pay something for this letter. It will not come out of my own pocket: I am still plundering Epicurus. Today I read this saying of his: \"You must be a slave to philosophy to win true freedom.\" A man who submits and hands himself over to her is not kept waiting from day to day: he is set free at once. For this very slavery to philosophy is freedom. You may ask me why I quote so many good sayings from Epicurus rather than from our own school. But why should you think these sayings belong to Epicurus and not to everyone? How many poets say things that philosophers have said or should say! I will not touch on the tragedians or our Roman dramas (these too have a certain seriousness and stand midway between comedy and tragedy). How many very eloquent lines lie buried among the mimes! How many of Publilius' lines deserve to be spoken not by actors in slippers but by actors in tragic boots!"},{"ref":"Letter 8.9–10","orig":"Unum versum eius, qui ad philosophiam pertinet et ad hanc partem quae modo fuit in manibus, referam, quo negat fortuita in nostro habenda: alienum est omne quidquid optando evenit. Hunc sensum a te dici non paulo melius et adstrictius memini: non est tuum fortuna quod fecit tuum. Illud etiam nunc melius dictum a te non praeteribo: dari bonum quod potuit auferri potest. Hoc non imputo in solutum: de tuo tibi. Vale.","en":"I will quote one line of his that belongs to philosophy, and to the very part of it we have just been handling, in which he denies that things that come by chance should be counted as ours: \"Whatever comes to you by wishing belongs to someone else.\" I remember you putting the same thought a good deal better and more tightly: \"What fortune made yours is not yours.\" And I will not pass over something you said even better: \"A good that could be given can be taken away.\" I do not count this as payment: I am giving you what is already yours. Farewell."}],"9":[{"ref":"Letter 9.1–2","orig":"An merito reprehendat in quadam epistula Epicurus eos qui dicunt sapientem se ipso esse contentum et propter hoc amico non indigere, desideras scire. Hoc obicitur Stilboni ab Epicuro et iis quibus summum bonum visum est animus in patiens. In ambiguitatem incidendum est, si exprimere 'apátheian' uno verbo cito voluerimus et impatientiam dicere; poterit enim contrarium ei quod significare volumus intellegi. Nos eum volumus dicere qui respuat omnis mali sensum: accipietur is qui nullum ferre possit malum. Vide ergo num satius sit aut invulnerabilem animum dicere aut animum extra omnem patientiam positum.","en":"You want to know whether Epicurus is right to criticise, in one of his letters, those who say that the wise man is content with himself and so has no need of a friend. Epicurus makes this objection against Stilbo and against those who held that the highest good is a mind that is incapable of suffering. We are bound to run into ambiguity if we try to render the Greek word \"apatheia\" quickly with a single Latin word and call it \"impatientia\". For it could be taken to mean the opposite of what we intend. We mean someone who rejects all feeling of evil; it will be understood as someone who cannot endure any evil. So consider whether it would be better to say \"a mind that cannot be wounded\" or \"a mind placed beyond all suffering\"."},{"ref":"Letter 9.3–4","orig":"Hoc inter nos et illos interest: noster sapiens vincit quidem incommodum omne sed sentit, illorum ne sentit quidem. Illud nobis et illis commune est, sapientem se ipso esse contentum. Sed tamen et amicum habere vult et vicinum et contubernalem, quamvis sibi ipse sufficiat. Vide quam sit se contentus: aliquando sui parte contentus est. Si illi manum aut morbus aut hostis exciderit, si quis oculum vel oculos casus excusserit, reliquiae illi suae satisfacient et erit imminuto corpore et amputato tam laetus quam integro fuit; sed si quae sibi desunt non desiderat, non deesse mavult.","en":"This is the difference between us and them: our wise man overcomes every hardship but feels it; theirs does not even feel it. What we have in common with them is that the wise man is content with himself. But even so, though he is sufficient for himself, he still wants to have a friend, a neighbour and a companion. See how content with himself he is: at times he is content with only part of himself. If disease or an enemy has cut off his hand, if some accident has knocked out one eye or both, what is left of him will satisfy him, and he will be as happy with a body that is lessened and maimed as he was when it was whole. But though he does not miss what he lacks, he would rather not lack it."},{"ref":"Letter 9.5–6","orig":"Ita sapiens se contentus est, non ut velit esse sine amico sed ut possit; et hoc quod dico 'possit' tale est: amissum aequo animo fert. Sine amico quidem numquam erit: in sua potestate habet quam cito reparet. Quomodo si perdiderit Phidias statuam protinus alteram faciet, sic hic faciendarum amicitiarum artifex substituet alium in locum amissi. Quaeris quomodo amicum cito facturus sit? Dicam, si illud mihi tecum convenerit, ut statim tibi solvam quod debeo et quantum ad hanc epistulam paria faciamus. Hecaton ait, 'ego tibi monstrabo amatorium sine medicamento, sine herba, sine ullius veneficae carmine: si vis amari, ama'. Habet autem non tantum usus amicitiae veteris et certae magnam voluptatem sed etiam initium et comparatio novae.","en":"So the wise man is content with himself, not in the sense that he wants to be without a friend, but in the sense that he could be. And by \"could\" I mean this: when he loses one, he bears it calmly. He will never actually be without a friend, for it is in his power how quickly he replaces one. Just as Phidias, if he lost a statue, would at once make another, so this master craftsman of friendships will put another in the place of the one he lost. You ask how he will make a friend quickly? I will tell you, if we agree that I may pay you what I owe right away and that we are square as far as this letter is concerned. Hecato says: \"I will show you a love potion without drugs, without herbs, without any witch's spell: if you want to be loved, love.\" Not only the enjoyment of an old and settled friendship brings great pleasure, but also the beginning and the winning of a new one."},{"ref":"Letter 9.7","orig":"Quod interest inter metentem agricolam et serentem, hoc inter eum qui amicum paravit et qui parat. Attalus philosophus dicere solebat iucundius esse amicum facere quam habere, 'quomodo artifici iucundius pingere est quam pinxisse'. Illa in opere suo occupata sollicitudo ingens oblectamentum habet in ipsa occupatione: non aeque delectatur qui ab opere perfecto removit manum. Iam fructu artis suae fruitur: ipsa fruebatur arte cum pingeret. Fructuosior est adulescentia liberorum, sed infantia dulcior.","en":"The difference between the farmer who reaps and the farmer who sows is the difference between the man who has made a friend and the man who is making one. The philosopher Attalus used to say that it is more pleasant to make a friend than to have one, \"just as it is more pleasant for an artist to be painting than to have painted.\" The absorbed care of someone busy at his work gives enormous delight in the very being busy; the one who has taken his hand away from a finished work does not enjoy it as much. Now he enjoys the fruit of his art; he was enjoying the art itself while he painted. Our children are more fruitful when they are grown, but sweeter when they are small."},{"ref":"Letter 9.8","orig":"Nunc ad propositum revertamur. Sapiens etiam si contentus est se, tamen habere amicum vult, si nihil aliud, ut exerceat amicitiam, ne tam magna virtus iaceat, non ad hoc quod dicebat Epicurus in hac ipsa epistula, 'ut habeat qui sibi aegro assideat, succurrat in vincula coniecto vel inopi', sed ut habeat aliquem cui ipse aegro assideat, quem ipse circumventum hostili custodia liberet. Qui se spectat et propter hoc ad amicitiam venit male cogitat. Quemadmodum coepit, sic desinet: paravit amicum adversum vincla laturum opem; cum primum crepuerit catena, discedet.","en":"Now let us return to the subject. Even if the wise man is content with himself, he still wants to have a friend, if for no other reason than to practise friendship, so that so great a virtue should not lie idle. It is not for the reason Epicurus gave in this very letter, \"so that he may have someone to sit by him when he is ill, and to come to his aid when he is thrown into chains or is in need\", but so that he may have someone by whose sickbed he himself may sit, someone he himself may free when surrounded by an enemy's guards. Whoever looks to himself and comes to friendship for that reason is thinking badly. As it began, so it will end. He made a friend to bring him help against chains; as soon as the chain rattles, that friend will be gone."},{"ref":"Letter 9.9–10","orig":"Hae sunt amicitiae quas temporarias populus appellat; qui utilitatis causa assumptus est tamdiu placebit quamdiu utilis fuerit. Hac re florentes amicorum turba circumsedet, circa eversos solitudo est, et inde amici fugiunt ubi probantur; hac re ista tot nefaria exempla sunt aliorum metu relinquentium, aliorum metu prodentium. Necesse est initia inter se et exitus congruant: qui amicus esse coepit quia expedit et desinet quia expedit; placebit aliquod pretium contra amicitiam, si ullum in illa placet praeter ipsam. 'In quid amicum paras?' Ut habeam pro quo mori possim, ut habeam quem in exsilium sequar, cuius me morti et opponam et impendam: ista quam tu describis negotiatio est, non amicitia, quae ad commodum accedit, quae quid consecutura sit spectat.","en":"These are the friendships people call fair-weather ones. The friend taken up for the sake of usefulness will be welcome only as long as he is useful. That is why the prosperous are surrounded by a crowd of friends, while there is loneliness around the ruined, and friends run away just where they are put to the test. That is why there are so many wicked examples of people deserting out of fear or betraying out of fear. Beginnings and endings must match. The man who became a friend because it paid will stop being one because it pays. Some price will be preferred to friendship if anything in it is valued besides the friendship itself. \"What do you get a friend for?\" To have someone I can die for, someone I can follow into exile, someone for whose life I can put myself in harm's way and give my own. What you describe is a business deal, not a friendship: it goes where the profit is and watches what it will gain."},{"ref":"Letter 9.11–12","orig":"Non dubie habet aliquid simile amicitiae affectus amantium; possis dicere illam esse insanam amicitiam. Numquid ergo quisquam amat lucri causa? numquid ambitionis aut gloriae? Ipse per se amor, omnium aliarum rerum neglegens, animos in cupiditatem formae non sine spe mutuae caritatis accendit. Quid ergo? ex honestiore causa coit turpis affectus? 'Non agitur' inquis 'nunc de hoc, an amicitia propter se ipsam appetenda sit.' Immo vero nihil magis probandum est; nam si propter se ipsam expetenda est, potest ad illam accedere qui se ipso contentus est. 'Quomodo ergo ad illam accedit?' Quomodo ad rem pulcherrimam, non lucro captus nec varietate fortunae perterritus; detrahit amicitiae maiestatem suam qui illam parat ad bonos casus.","en":"No doubt the passion of lovers has something like friendship about it; you could call it friendship gone mad. Does anyone love for the sake of profit, then? Or for ambition, or for glory? Love on its own, caring nothing for anything else, fires the heart with desire for beauty, not without hope that the affection will be returned. What then? Does a shameful passion spring from a more honourable motive? \"That is not the question now,\" you say, \"whether friendship is to be sought for its own sake.\" On the contrary, nothing needs proving more; for if it is to be sought for its own sake, then someone who is content with himself can come to it. \"How, then, does he come to it?\" As one comes to the most beautiful thing, not caught by profit and not frightened off by changes of fortune. Whoever gets a friend for good times strips friendship of its dignity."},{"ref":"Letter 9.13–14","orig":"'Se contentus est sapiens.' Hoc, mi Lucili, plerique perperam interpretantur: sapientem undique submovent et intra cutem suam cogunt. Distinguendum autem est quid et quatenus vox ista promittat: se contentus est sapiens ad beate vivendum, non ad vivendum; ad hoc enim multis illi rebus opus est, ad illud tantum animo sano et erecto et despiciente fortunam. Volo tibi Chrysippi quoque distinctionem indicare. Ait sapientem nulla re egere, et tamen multis illi rebus opus esse: 'contra stulto nulla re opus est - nulla enim re uti scit - sed omnibus eget'. Sapienti et manibus et oculis et multis ad cotidianum usum necessariis opus est, eget nulla re; egere enim necessitatis est, nihil necesse sapienti est.","en":"\"The wise man is content with himself.\" Many people misunderstand this, my Lucilius. They push the wise man away from everything and shut him up inside his own skin. But we must make clear what this saying promises and how far it goes. The wise man is content with himself for living happily, not for living. For living he needs many things; for living happily he needs only a mind that is sound, upright and looks down on fortune. I want to show you Chrysippus' distinction too. He says that the wise man lacks nothing, and yet needs many things: \"The fool, on the other hand, needs nothing, because he knows how to use nothing, but he lacks everything.\" The wise man needs hands and eyes and many things necessary for daily use, but he lacks nothing; for to lack something implies necessity, and nothing is necessary to the wise man."},{"ref":"Letter 9.15–16","orig":"Ergo quamvis se ipso contentus sit, amicis illi opus est; hos cupit habere quam plurimos, non ut beate vivat; vivet enim etiam sine amicis beate. Summum bonum extrinsecus instrumenta non quaerit; domi colitur, ex se totum est; incipit fortunae esse subiectum si quam partem sui foris quaerit. 'Qualis tamen futura est vita sapientis, si sine amicis relinquatur in custodiam coniectus vel in aliqua gente aliena destitutus vel in navigatione longa retentus aut in desertum litus eiectus?' Qualis est Iovis, cum resoluto mundo et dis in unum confusis paulisper cessante natura acquiescit sibi cogitationibus suis traditus. Tale quiddam sapiens facit: in se reconditur, secum est.","en":"So although he is content with himself, he needs friends. He wants to have as many as possible, but not in order to live happily; he will live happily even without friends. The highest good does not look for tools from outside. It is cultivated at home and comes wholly from within. It starts to be subject to fortune if it looks for any part of itself outside. \"But what sort of life will the wise man have if he is left without friends, thrown into prison, or stranded among some foreign people, or held up on a long voyage, or cast up on a deserted shore?\" The same life as Jupiter's when the universe is dissolved, the gods are merged into one, and nature pauses for a while: he rests in himself, given over to his own thoughts. The wise man does something like this: he withdraws into himself and keeps his own company."},{"ref":"Letter 9.17","orig":"Quamdiu quidem illi licet suo arbitrio res suas ordinare, se contentus est et ducit uxorem; se contentus est et liberos tollit; se contentus est et tamen non viveret si foret sine homine victurus. Ad amicitiam fert illum nulla utilitas sua, sed naturalis irritatio; nam ut aliarum nobis rerum innata dulcedo est, sic amicitiae. Quomodo solitudinis odium est et appetitio societatis, quomodo hominem homini natura conciliat, sic inest huic quoque rei stimulus qui nos amicitiarum appetentes faciat.","en":"As long as he is free to order his affairs as he chooses, he is content with himself, and yet he takes a wife; he is content with himself, and yet he raises children; he is content with himself, and yet he would not go on living if he had to live without another human being. What draws him to friendship is not any advantage to himself but a natural urge. Just as we have an inborn liking for other things, so we have one for friendship. Just as there is a hatred of loneliness and a longing for company, just as nature draws human being to human being, so there is in this too a spur that makes us seek friendships."},{"ref":"Letter 9.18","orig":"Nihilominus cum sit amicorum amantissimus, cum illos sibi comparet, saepe praeferat, omne intra se bonum terminabit et dicet quod Stilbon ille dixit, Stilbon quem Epicuri epistula insequitur. Hic enim capta patria, amissis liberis, amissa uxore, cum ex incendio publico solus et tamen beatus exiret, interroganti Demetrio, cui cognomen ab exitio urbium Poliorcetes fuit, num quid perdidisset, 'omnia' inquit 'bona mea mecum sunt'.","en":"Nevertheless, although he is most devoted to his friends, although he holds them equal to himself and often ranks them above himself, he will keep every good within himself, and he will say what Stilbo said, the Stilbo whom Epicurus' letter attacks. When his city had been captured, his children lost and his wife lost, and he was coming out of the general blaze alone and yet happy, Demetrius, who got the surname Poliorcetes, \"Sacker of Cities\", from the cities he destroyed, asked him whether he had lost anything. \"All my goods,\" he said, \"are with me.\""},{"ref":"Letter 9.19","orig":"Ecce vir fortis ac strenuus! ipsam hostis sui victoriam vicit. 'Nihil' inquit 'perdidi': dubitare illum coegit an vicisset. 'Omnia mea mecum sunt': iustitia, virtus, prudentia, hoc ipsum, nihil bonum putare quod eripi possit. Miramur animalia quaedam quae per medios ignes sine noxa corporum transeunt: quanto hic mirabilior vir qui per ferrum et ruinas et ignes inlaesus et indemnis evasit! Vides quanto facilius sit totam gentem quam unum virum vincere? Haec vox illi communis est cum Stoico: aeque et hic intacta bona per concrematas urbes fert; se enim ipse contentus est; hoc felicitatem suam fine designat.","en":"There is a brave and energetic man! He conquered his enemy's very victory. \"I have lost nothing,\" he said, and made the other wonder whether he had won at all. \"All my goods are with me\": justice, courage, good sense, and this very thing, counting nothing good that can be snatched away. We marvel at certain animals that can pass through the middle of fires without harm to their bodies. How much more marvellous is this man, who came out through swords, ruins and fire unhurt and unharmed! Do you see how much easier it is to conquer a whole people than one man? That saying is one he shares with the Stoic: the Stoic too carries his goods untouched through burnt-out cities, for he is content with himself. That is the boundary he sets to his happiness."},{"ref":"Letter 9.20–21","orig":"Ne existimes nos solos generosa verba iactare, et ipse Stilbonis obiurgator Epicurus similem illi vocem emisit, quam tu boni consule, etiam si hunc diem iam expunxi. 'Si cui' inquit 'sua non videntur amplissima, licet totius mundi dominus sit, tamen miser est.' Vel si hoc modo tibi melius enuntiari videtur - id enim agendum est ut non verbis serviamus sed sensibus -, 'miser est qui se non beatissimum iudicat, licet imperet mundo'. Ut scias autem hos sensus esse communes, natura scilicet dictante, apud poetam comicum invenies: non est beatus, esse se qui non putat. Quid enim refert qualis status tuus sit, si tibi videtur malus '","en":"In case you think we Stoics are the only ones who toss out noble sayings, Epicurus himself, Stilbo's critic, uttered a similar saying. Accept it kindly, even though I have already paid off today's debt. \"If what he has does not seem to someone most ample,\" he says, \"he is wretched, even if he is master of the whole world.\" Or, if you think it is better put this way (for we should aim to serve the sense and not the words): \"He is wretched who does not judge himself supremely happy, even if he rules the world.\" And so that you know these thoughts are common to all, since nature herself dictates them, you will find in a comic poet: \"He is not happy who does not think he is.\" For what does it matter what your position is, if it seems bad to you?"},{"ref":"Letter 9.22","orig":"'Quid ergo?' inquis 'si beatum se dixerit ille turpiter dives et ille multorum dominus sed plurium servus, beatus sua sententia fiet?' Non quid dicat sed quid sentiat refert, nec quid uno die sentiat, sed quid assidue. Non est autem quod verearis ne ad indignum res tanta perveniat: nisi sapienti sua non placent; omnis stultitia laborat fastidio sui. Vale.","en":"\"What then?\" you say. \"If that man who is disgracefully rich, and that man who is master of many but slave of more, calls himself happy, will he become happy by his own verdict?\" What matters is not what he says but what he feels, and not what he feels on a single day but what he feels constantly. But there is no need to fear that so great a thing will come to someone unworthy of it. Only the wise man is pleased with what he has; all folly suffers from being sick of itself. Farewell."}],"10":[{"ref":"Letter 10.1","orig":"Sic est, non muto sententiam: fuge multitudinem, fuge paucitatem, fuge etiam unum. Non habeo cum quo te communicatum velim. Et vide quod iudicium meum habeas: audeo te tibi credere. Crates, ut aiunt, huius ipsius Stilbonis auditor, cuius mentionem priore epistula feci, cum vidisset adulescentulum secreto ambulantem, interrogavit quid illic solus faceret. 'Mecum' inquit 'loquor.' Cui Crates 'cave' inquit 'rogo et diligenter attende: cum homine malo loqueris'.","en":"That is how it is; I do not change my opinion. Avoid the many, avoid the few, avoid even one. I have no one I would want you to share yourself with. And see what judgement you have from me: I dare to trust you to yourself. Crates, they say, a pupil of that same Stilbo I mentioned in my last letter, saw a young man walking by himself and asked him what he was doing there alone. \"Talking with myself,\" he said. To which Crates said: \"Be careful, I beg you, and pay close attention: you are talking with a bad man.\""},{"ref":"Letter 10.2–3","orig":"Lugentem timentemque custodire solemus, ne solitudine male utatur. Nemo est ex imprudentibus qui relinqui sibi debeat; tunc mala consilia agitant, tunc aut aliis aut ipsis futura pericula struunt, tunc cupiditates improbas ordinant; tunc quidquid aut metu aut pudore celabat animus exponit, tunc audaciam acuit, libidinem irritat, iracundiam instigat. Denique quod unum solitudo habet commodum, nihil ulli committere, non timere indicem, perit stulto: ipse se prodit. Vide itaque quid de te sperem, immo quid spondeam mihi - spes enim incerti boni nomen est -: non invenio cum quo te malim esse quam tecum. Repeto memoria quam magno animo quaedam verba proieceris, quanti roboris plena: gratulatus sum protinus mihi et dixi, 'non a summis labris ista venerunt, habent hae voces fundamentum; iste homo non est unus e populo, ad salutem spectat'.","en":"We usually keep watch over someone who is grieving or afraid, so that he does not misuse his solitude. No one who lacks wisdom should be left to himself. That is when they turn over bad plans, when they build up dangers for others or for themselves, when they arrange their wicked desires. That is when the mind brings out whatever it was hiding from fear or shame; it sharpens its daring, stirs up its lust, provokes its anger. In short, the one advantage solitude has, trusting nothing to anyone and not fearing an informer, is lost on the fool: he betrays himself. So see what I hope for from you, or rather what I promise myself (for \"hope\" is the name for a good that is uncertain): I find no one I would rather you were with than yourself. I remember how nobly you tossed out certain words, how full of strength they were. I congratulated myself at once and said: \"Those words did not come from the tip of the lips; they have a foundation. This man is not one of the crowd; he is looking to his salvation.\""},{"ref":"Letter 10.4–5","orig":"Sic loquere, sic vive; vide ne te ulla res deprimat. Votorum tuorum veterum licet deis gratiam facias, alia de integro suscipe: roga bonam mentem, bonam valetudinem animi, deinde tunc corporis. Quidni tu ista vota saepe facias? Audacter deum roga: nihil illum de alieno rogaturus es. Sed ut more meo cum aliquo munusculo epistulam mittam, verum est quod apud Athenodorum inveni: 'tunc scito esse te omnibus cupiditatibus solutum, cum eo perveneris ut nihil deum roges nisi quod rogare possis palam'. Nunc enim quanta dementia est hominum! turpissima vota dis insusurrant; si quis admoverit aurem, conticiscent, et quod scire hominem nolunt deo narrant. Vide ergo ne hoc praecipi salubriter possit: sic vive cum hominibus tamquam deus videat, sic loquere cum deo tamquam homines audiant. Vale.","en":"Speak like that, live like that; see that nothing drags you down. You may release the gods from your old prayers; take up new ones afresh. Pray for a good mind, for good health of mind, and only then of body. Why not make those prayers often? Pray boldly to God: you will not be asking him for anything that belongs to someone else. But so that I send my letter with a little gift, as is my way, here is something true that I found in Athenodorus: \"Know that you are free of all desires when you have reached the point of asking God for nothing that you could not ask for openly.\" As it is, how mad people are! They whisper the most shameful prayers to the gods; if anyone puts his ear close, they fall silent; and they tell God what they do not want a human being to know. So see whether this is not a healthy rule: live with people as if God were watching, and speak with God as if people were listening. Farewell."}],"11":[{"ref":"Letter 11.1","orig":"Locutus est mecum amicus tuus bonae indolis, in quo quantum esset animi, quantum ingenii, quantum iam etiam profectus, sermo primus ostendit. Dedit nobis gustum, ad quem respondebit; non enim ex praeparato locutus est, sed subito deprehensus. Ubi se colligebat, verecundiam, bonum in adulescente signum, vix potuit excutere; adeo illi ex alto suffusus est rubor. Hic illum, quantum suspicor, etiam cum se confirmaverit et omnibus vitiis exuerit, sapientem quoque sequetur. Nulla enim sapientia naturalia corporis aut animi vitia ponuntur: quidquid infixum et ingenitum est lenitur arte, non vincitur.","en":"Your friend, a young man of good character, has been talking with me. His very first words showed how much spirit he has, how much talent, and how much progress he has already made. He gave us a taste, and he will live up to it; for he did not speak from preparation but was caught off guard. As he gathered himself, he could hardly shake off his modesty, a good sign in a young man, so deeply did the blush spread over him from within. I suspect this will stay with him even when he has grown strong and rid himself of every fault, even when he is wise. For no wisdom removes the natural weaknesses of body or mind. Whatever is fixed in us and inborn is softened by training, not conquered."},{"ref":"Letter 11.2–4","orig":"Quibusdam etiam constantissimis in conspectu populi sudor erumpit non aliter quam fatigatis et aestuantibus solet, quibusdam tremunt genua dicturis, quorundam dentes colliduntur, lingua titubat, labra concurrunt: haec nec disciplina nec usus umquam excutit, sed natura vim suam exercet et illo vitio sui etiam robustissimos admonet. Inter haec esse et ruborem scio, qui gravissimis quoque viris subitus affunditur. Magis quidem in iuvenibus apparet, quibus et plus caloris est et tenera frons; nihilominus et veteranos et senes tangit. Quidam numquam magis quam cum erubuerint timendi sunt, quasi omnem verecundiam effuderint; Sulla tunc erat violentissimus cum faciem eius sanguis invaserat. Nihil erat mollius ore Pompei; numquam non coram pluribus rubuit, utique in contionibus. Fabianum, cum in senatum testis esset inductus, erubuisse memini, et hic illum mire pudor decuit.","en":"Some people, even very steady ones, break into a sweat in front of a crowd, just as people usually do when tired and overheated. Some people's knees shake when they are about to speak; some people's teeth chatter, their tongue stumbles, their lips close together. Neither training nor experience ever shakes these things off; nature exerts her power and, through this weakness, reminds even the strongest of her. Among these things, I know, is blushing, which rushes suddenly even over very serious men. It shows more in the young, who have more heat and a more delicate face; but it affects veterans and old men too. Some people are never more to be feared than when they have blushed, as if they had poured out all their shame at once. Sulla was at his most violent when the blood had rushed into his face. Nothing was more sensitive than Pompey's face: he always blushed in front of a group, especially at public meetings. I remember Fabianus blushing when he was brought into the Senate as a witness, and this modesty suited him wonderfully."},{"ref":"Letter 11.5–6","orig":"Non accidit hoc ab infirmitate mentis sed a novitate rei, quae inexercitatos, etiam si non concutit, movet naturali in hoc facilitate corporis pronos; nam ut quidam boni sanguinis sunt, ita quidam incitati et mobilis et cito in os prodeuntis. Haec, ut dixi, nulla sapientia abigit: alioquin haberet rerum naturam sub imperio, si omnia eraderet vitia. Quaecumque attribuit condicio nascendi et corporis temperatura, cum multum se diuque animus composuerit, haerebunt; nihil horum vetari potest, non magis quam accersi.","en":"This does not come from weakness of mind but from the newness of the situation, which, even if it does not shake the inexperienced, stirs them, since they are prone to it by a natural tendency of the body. For just as some people have calm blood, so others have blood that is excitable and quick and rises readily to the face. As I said, no wisdom drives these things away; otherwise wisdom would have nature under its command, if it could erase every flaw. Whatever the circumstances of birth and the make-up of the body have given us will cling to us, however long and hard the mind has worked to settle itself. None of these things can be forbidden, any more than they can be summoned."},{"ref":"Letter 11.7–8","orig":"Artifices scaenici, qui imitantur affectus, qui metum et trepidationem exprimunt, qui tristitiam repraesentant, hoc indicio imitantur verecundiam. Deiciunt enim vultum, verba summittunt, figunt in terram oculos et deprimunt: ruborem sibi exprimere non possunt; nec prohibetur hic nec adducitur. Nihil adversus haec sapientia promittit, nihil proficit: sui iuris sunt, iniussa veniunt, iniussa discedunt. Iam clausulam epistula poscit. Accipe, et quidem utilem ac salutarem, quam te affigere animo volo: 'aliquis vir bonus nobis diligendus est ac semper ante oculos habendus, ut sic tamquam illo spectante vivamus et omnia tamquam illo vidente faciamus'.","en":"Actors on the stage, who imitate emotions, who portray fear and nervousness, who represent sadness, imitate modesty by these signs: they lower their faces, speak softly, fix their eyes on the ground and keep them down. But they cannot force themselves to blush. A blush cannot be prevented, and it cannot be brought on. Against these things wisdom promises nothing and achieves nothing. They are their own masters: they come without being ordered and leave without being ordered. Now my letter asks for its closing words. Here is one, useful and healthy, which I want you to fix in your mind: \"We should choose some good man and always keep him before our eyes, so that we live as if he were watching us and do everything as if he saw it.\""},{"ref":"Letter 11.9–10","orig":"Hoc, mi Lucili, Epicurus praecepit; custodem nobis et paedagogum dedit, nec immerito: magna pars peccatorum tollitur, si peccaturis testis assistit. Aliquem habeat animus quem vereatur, cuius auctoritate etiam secretum suum sanctius faciat. O felicem illum qui non praesens tantum sed etiam cogitatus emendat! O felicem qui sic aliquem vereri potest ut ad memoriam quoque eius se componat atque ordinet! Qui sic aliquem vereri potest cito erit verendus. Elige itaque Catonem; si hic tibi videtur nimis rigidus, elige remissioris animi virum Laelium. Elige eum cuius tibi placuit et vita et oratio et ipse animum ante se ferens vultus; illum tibi semper ostende vel custodem vel exemplum. Opus est, inquam, aliquo ad quem mores nostri se ipsi exigant: nisi ad regulam prava non corriges. Vale.","en":"This, my Lucilius, is Epicurus' advice. He has given us a guardian and a tutor, and rightly so: a large part of wrongdoing is removed if a witness stands by the person about to do wrong. Let the mind have someone it respects, someone whose authority makes even its private moments more pure. Happy is the man who improves others not only when he is present but even when he is thought of! Happy is the man who can respect someone so much that even the memory of him makes him compose and order himself! Whoever can respect someone like this will soon deserve respect himself. So choose Cato. If he seems too stern to you, choose Laelius, a man of gentler spirit. Choose someone whose life and speech have pleased you, and whose very face, which shows his mind, you liked. Always hold him before you as your guardian or your model. We need, I say, someone against whom our characters can measure themselves. You will not straighten what is crooked except with a ruler. Farewell."}],"12":[{"ref":"Letter 12.1–2","orig":"Quocumque me verti, argumenta senectutis meae video. Veneram in suburbanum meum et querebar de impensis aedificii dilabentis. Ait vilicus mihi non esse neglegentiae suae vitium, omnia se facere, sed villam veterem esse. Haec villa inter manus meas crevit: quid mihi futurum est, si tam putria sunt aetatis meae saxa? Iratus illi proximam occasionem stomachandi arripio. 'Apparet' inquam 'has platanos neglegi: nullas habent frondes. Quam nodosi sunt et retorridi rami, quam tristes et squalidi trunci! Hoc non accideret si quis has circumfoderet, si irrigaret.' Iurat per genium meum se omnia facere, in nulla re cessare curam suam, sed illas vetulas esse. Quod intra nos sit, ego illas posueram, ego illarum primum videram folium.","en":"Wherever I turn, I see evidence of my old age. I had gone to my house outside the city and was complaining about the cost of the crumbling building. My steward told me that it was not his carelessness at fault, that he was doing everything, but the house was old. This house grew up under my own hands. What will become of me if stones of my own age are so rotten? Angry with him, I seized on the next chance to vent my temper. \"It is obvious,\" I said, \"that these plane trees are neglected. They have no leaves. How knotted and dry the branches are, how gloomy and shabby the trunks! This would not happen if someone dug around them and watered them.\" He swore by my guardian spirit that he was doing everything, that his care was not slacking anywhere, but the trees were old. Between ourselves, I had planted them; I had seen their first leaves."},{"ref":"Letter 12.3–4","orig":"Conversus ad ianuam 'quis est iste?' inquam 'iste decrepitus et merito ad ostium admotus? foras enim spectat. Unde istunc nanctus es ? quid te delectavit: alienum mortuum tollere?' At ille 'non cognoscis me?' inquit: 'ego sum Felicio, cui solebas sigillaria afferre; ego sum Philositi vilici filius, deliciolum tuum'. 'Perfecte' inquam 'iste delirat: pupulus, etiam delicium meum factus est? Prorsus potest fieri: dentes illi cum maxime cadunt.' Debeo hoc suburbano meo, quod mihi senectus mea quocumque adverteram apparuit. Complectamur illam et amemus; plena est voluptatis, si illa scias uti. Gratissima sunt poma cum fugiunt; pueritiae maximus in exitu decor est; deditos vino potio extrema delectat, illa quae mergit, quae ebrietati summam manum imponit;","en":"Turning to the door, I said, \"Who is that? That decrepit old man, so fittingly placed at the doorway, for he is looking to go out? Where did you pick him up? What pleasure did you get from taking in someone else's corpse?\" But he said, \"Don't you know me? I am Felicio, to whom you used to bring little figurines. I am the son of Philositus the steward, your little pet.\" \"The man is completely raving,\" I said. \"Has he turned into a little boy, even my pet? Well, it could be: his teeth are falling out right now.\" I owe this to my country house: my old age showed itself to me wherever I turned. Let us embrace old age and love it. It is full of pleasure if you know how to use it. Fruit is most welcome when it is going over; boyhood is at its most beautiful as it ends; for those given to wine, the last drink is the one that delights them, the one that sinks them, that puts the finishing touch on their drunkenness."},{"ref":"Letter 12.5","orig":"quod in se iucundissimum omnis voluptas habet in finem sui differt. Iucundissima est aetas devexa iam, non tamen praeceps, et illam quoque in extrema tegula stantem iudico habere suas voluptates; aut hoc ipsum succedit in locum voluptatium, nullis egere. Quam dulce est cupiditates fatigasse ac reliquisse!","en":"Every pleasure keeps what is most delightful in it for its end. The time of life that is already sloping down, but not yet falling steeply, is the most delightful; and I judge that even the age standing at the very edge of the roof has its own pleasures. Or else this itself takes the place of pleasures: needing none. How sweet it is to have worn out one's desires and left them behind!"},{"ref":"Letter 12.6","orig":"'Molestum est' inquis 'mortem ante oculos habere.' Primum ista tam seni ante oculos debet esse quam iuveni - non enim citamur ex censu -; deinde nemo tam sene est ut improbe unum diem speret. Unus autem dies gradus vitae est. Tota aetas partibus constat et orbes habet circumductos maiores minoribus: est aliquis qui omnis complectatur et cingat - hic pertinet a natali ad diem extremum -; est alter qui annos adulescentiae excludit; est qui totam pueritiam ambitu suo adstringit; est deinde per se annus in se omnia continens tempora, quorum multiplicatione vita componitur; mensis artiore praecingitur circulo; angustissimum habet dies gyrum, sed et hic ab initio ad exitum venit, ab ortu ad occasum.","en":"\"It is unpleasant,\" you say, \"to have death before one's eyes.\" First, death should be before the eyes of the young just as much as the old, for we are not called up in order of age. Second, no one is so old that it would be shameless for him to hope for one more day. And one day is a step in life. The whole of life is made of parts, and has circles drawn around it, larger ones around smaller. There is one that embraces and surrounds them all: this runs from birthday to last day. There is another that shuts in the years of youth. There is one that binds the whole of childhood within its circuit. Then there is the year, a thing in itself, which contains all the seasons, and life is made up by multiplying these. The month is surrounded by a tighter circle. The day has the narrowest ring of all, but it too goes from beginning to end, from sunrise to sunset."},{"ref":"Letter 12.7–8","orig":"Ideo Heraclitus, cui cognomen fecit orationis obscuritas, 'unus' inquit 'dies par omni est'. Hoc alius aliter excepit. Dixit enim *** parem esse horis, nec mentitur; nam si dies est tempus viginti et quattuor horarum, necesse est omnes inter se dies pares esse, quia nox habet quod dies perdidit. Alius ait parem esse unum diem omnibus similitudine; nihil enim habet longissimi temporis spatium quod non ct in uno die invenias, lucem et noctem, et in alternas mundi vices plura facit ista, non alia: *** alias contractior, alias productior. Itaque sic ordinandus est dies omnis tamquam cogat agmen et consummet atque expleat vitam. Pacuvius, qui Syriam usu suam fecit, cum vino et illis funebribus epulis sibi parentaverat, sic in cubiculum ferebatur a cena ut inter plausus exoletorum hoc ad symphoniam caneretur: 'bebíôtai, bebíôtai'.","en":"That is why Heraclitus, who got his nickname from the obscurity of his speech, said: \"One day is equal to every day.\" Different people have taken this in different ways. One said that days are equal in hours, and he is not wrong; for if a day is a period of twenty-four hours, all days must be equal to one another, because the night gains what the day loses. Another says that one day is equal to all days in likeness; for even the longest stretch of time has nothing you would not find in a single day, light and darkness, and in the alternating changes of the universe it makes more of these, not different ones, sometimes shorter and sometimes longer. So every day should be ordered as if it brings up the rear and completes and fills out our life. Pacuvius, who made Syria his own by long possession, used to hold a funeral feast for himself with wine and all the funeral banquet. Then he would be carried from dinner to his bedroom while, amid the applause of his favourites, this was sung to music: \"He has lived! He has lived!\""},{"ref":"Letter 12.9–10","orig":"Nullo non se die extulit. Hoc quod ille ex mala conscientia faciebat nos ex bona faciamus, et in somnum ituri laeti hilaresque dicamus, vixi et quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi. Crastinum si adiecerit deus, laeti recipiamus. Ille beatissimus est et securus sui possessor qui crastinum sine sollicitudine exspectat; quisquis dixit 'vixi' cotidie ad lucrum surgit. Sed iam debeo epistulam includere. 'Sic' inquis 'sine ullo ad me peculio veniet?' Noli timere: aliquid secum fert. Quare aliquid dixi? multum. Quid enim hac voce praeclarius quam illi trado ad te perferendam? 'Malum est in necessitate vivere, sed in necessitate vivere necessitas nulla est.' Quidni nulla sit? patent undique ad libertatem viae multae, breves faciles. Agamus deo gratias quod nemo in vita teneri potest: calcare ipsas necessitates licet.","en":"There was not a day on which he did not bury himself. What he did from a bad conscience, let us do from a good one. When we are going to sleep, let us say, glad and cheerful: \"I have lived, and I have run the course that fortune gave me.\" If God adds a tomorrow, let us welcome it gladly. The happiest man, the one who owns himself without worry, is the man who waits for tomorrow without anxiety. Whoever has said \"I have lived\" gets up each day to a profit. But now I must seal my letter. \"What?\" you say. \"Is it going to come to me without any pocket money?\" Don't worry: it brings something with it. Why did I say \"something\"? A great deal. For what could be finer than this saying, which I hand to it to deliver to you? \"It is bad to live under necessity, but there is no necessity to live under necessity.\" Why should there be none? On every side, many roads lie open to freedom, short and easy ones. Let us thank God that no one can be held in life. We may trample on necessity itself."},{"ref":"Letter 12.11","orig":"'Epicurus' inquis 'dixit: quid tibi cum alieno?' Quod verum est meum est; perseverabo Epicurum tibi ingerere, ut isti qui in verba iurant nec quid dicatur aestimant, sed a quo, sciant quae optima sunt esse communia. Vale.","en":"\"Epicurus said that,\" you say. \"What are you doing with someone else's property?\" Whatever is true is mine. I shall keep on pressing Epicurus on you, so that those who swear by the words of a master, and weigh not what is said but who said it, may learn that the best things belong to everyone. Farewell."}],"13":[{"ref":"Letter 13.1–2","orig":"Multum tibi esse animi scio; nam etiam antequam instrueres te praeceptis salutaribus et dura vincentibus, satis adversus fortunam placebas tibi, et multo magis postquam cum illa manum conseruisti viresque expertus es tuas, quae numquam certam dare fiduciam sui possunt nisi cum multae difficultates hinc et illinc apparuerunt, aliquando vero et propius accesserunt. Sic verus ille animus et in alienum non venturus arbitrium probatur; haec eius obrussa est. Non potest athleta magnos spiritus ad certamen afferre qui numquam suggillatus est: ille qui sanguinem suum vidit, cuius dentes crepuere sub pugno, ille qui subplantatus ad versarium toto tulit corpore nec proiecit animum proiectus, qui quotiens cecidit contumacior resurrexit, cum magna spe descendit ad pugnam.","en":"I know you have plenty of courage. Even before you equipped yourself with the healthy teachings that overcome hardship, you were pleased enough with yourself against fortune, and far more so after you came to grips with her and tested your strength. That strength can never give you sure confidence in itself until many difficulties have appeared on every side, and sometimes come right up close. That is how a true spirit, one that will never submit to anyone else's control, is proved: this is its touchstone. An athlete who has never been bruised cannot bring great spirit to a contest. It is the one who has seen his own blood, whose teeth have rattled under a fist, who has been tripped and taken the full weight of his opponent on his body, who has been thrown but has not thrown away his courage, who each time he falls gets up more defiant: that is the one who goes down to the fight with high hopes."},{"ref":"Letter 13.3–4","orig":"Ergo, ut similitudinem istam prosequar, saepe iam fortuna supra te fuit, nec tamen tradidisti te, sed subsiluisti et acrior constitisti; multum enim adicit sibi virtus lacessita. Tamen, si tibi videtur, accipe a me auxilia quibus munire te possis. Plura sunt, Lucili, quae nos terrent quam quae premunt, et saepius opinione quam re laboramus. Non loquor tecum Stoica lingua, sed hac summissiore; nos enim dicimus omnia ista quae gemitus mugitusque exprimunt levia esse et contemnenda. Omittamus haec magna verba, sed, di boni, vera: illud tibi praecipio, ne sis miser ante tempus, cum illa quae velut imminentia expavisti fortasse numquam ventura sint, certe non venerint.","en":"So, to follow up that comparison, fortune has often got on top of you already, and yet you have not surrendered. You have jumped up and stood firm more fiercely; for courage adds greatly to itself when it is provoked. Still, if you like, take from me some help with which to strengthen yourself. There are more things, Lucilius, that frighten us than harm us, and we suffer more often in imagination than in reality. I am not speaking to you in the Stoic tongue, but in this humbler one. For we Stoics say that all those things that draw out groans and bellows are trivial and to be despised. Let us leave aside these grand words, true though they are, good heavens. This is my advice to you: do not be miserable before the time comes. The things you have dreaded as though they were hanging over you may perhaps never come, and they certainly have not come yet."},{"ref":"Letter 13.5","orig":"Quaedam ergo nos magis torquent quam debent, quaedam ante torquent quam debent, quaedam torquent cum omnino non debeant; aut augemus dolorem aut praecipimus aut fingimus. Primum illud, quia res in controversia est et litem contestatam habemus, in praesentia differatur. Quod ego leve dixero tu gravissimum esse contendes; scio alios inter flagella ridere, alios gemere sub colapho. Postea videbimus utrum ista suis viribus valeant an imbecillitate nostra.","en":"So some things torment us more than they should, some torment us before they should, and some torment us when they should not at all. We either enlarge our pain, or anticipate it, or invent it. The first of these, since the matter is in dispute and we have a case pending, let us postpone for now. What I call trivial, you will insist is very serious. I know that some people laugh under the lash, and others groan at a slap. We will see later whether those things are strong in their own right or strong because of our weakness."},{"ref":"Letter 13.6–7","orig":"Illud praesta mihi, ut, quotiens circumsteterint qui tibi te miserum esse persuadeant, non quid audias sed quid sentias cogites, et cum patientia tua deliberes ac te ipse interroges, qui tua optime nosti, 'quid est quare isti me complorent? quid est quod trepident, quod contagium quoque mei timeant, quasi transilire calamitas possit? est aliquid istic mali, an res ista magis infamis est quam mala?' Ipse te interroga, 'numquid sine causa crucior et maereo et quod non est malum facio?' 'Quomodo' inquis 'intellegam, vana sint an vera quibus angor?' Accipe huius rei regulam: aut praesentibus torquemur aut futuris aut utrisque. De praesentibus facile iudicium est: si corpus tuum liberum et sanum est, nec ullus ex iniuria dolor est, videbimus quid futurum sit: hodie nihil negotii habet.","en":"Promise me this: whenever people surround you trying to convince you that you are miserable, think not about what you hear but about what you feel. Consider it patiently and ask yourself, since you know your own affairs best: \"Why are these people lamenting over me? Why are they trembling, and even afraid of catching something from me, as if disaster could jump from one person to another? Is there anything bad here, or is this thing more disreputable than bad?\" Ask yourself: \"Am I tormenting myself and grieving without cause, and making something bad that is not bad?\" \"How can I tell,\" you say, \"whether what troubles me is empty or real?\" Here is the rule for this: we are tormented either by present things, or by future things, or by both. About present things it is easy to judge. If your body is free and healthy and there is no pain from any injury, we will see what the future holds. Today there is nothing wrong."},{"ref":"Letter 13.8–9","orig":"'At enim futurum est.' Primum dispice an certa argumenta sint venturi mali; plerumque enim suspicionibus laboramus, et illudit nobis illa quae conficere bellum solet fama, multo autem magis singulos conficit. Ita est, mi Lucili: cito accedimus opinioni; non coarguimus illa quae nos in metum adducunt nec excutimus, sed trepidamus et sic vertimus terga quemadmodum illi quos pulvis motus fuga pecorum exuit castris aut quos aliqua fabula sine auctore sparsa conterruit. Nescio quomodo magis vana perturbant; vera enim modum suum habent: quidquid ex incerto venit coniecturae et paventis animi licentiae traditur. Nulli itaque tam perniciosi, tam inrevocabiles quam lymphatici metus sunt; ceteri enim sine ratione, hi sine mente sunt.","en":"\"But it is going to happen.\" First, look into whether there is sure evidence of the coming evil. For most of the time we suffer from suspicions, and we are mocked by rumour, which often decides wars and far more often destroys individuals. That is how it is, my Lucilius: we are quick to accept an opinion. We do not test or examine the things that bring us to fear. We tremble and turn tail like soldiers driven out of their camp by dust kicked up by stampeding cattle, or panicked by some story spread without a source. Somehow empty things disturb us more; real things have their own limits. Whatever comes from uncertainty is handed over to guesswork and to the free rein of a fearful mind. That is why no fears are so destructive, so impossible to call back, as panic fears. Other fears lack reason; these lack a mind."},{"ref":"Letter 13.10–11","orig":"Inquiramus itaque in rem diligenter. Verisimile est aliquid futurum mali: non statim verum est. Quam multa non exspectata venerunt! quam multa exspectata nusquam comparuerunt! Etiam si futurum est, quid iuvat dolori suo occurrere? satis cito dolebis cum venerit: interim tibi meliora promitte. Quid facies lucri? tempus. Multa intervenient quibus vicinum periculum vel prope admotum aut subsistat aut desinat aut in alienum caput transeat: incendium ad fugam patuit; quosdam molliter ruina deposuit; aliquando gladius ab ipsa cervice revocatus est; aliquis carnifici suo superstes fuit. Habet etiam mala fortuna levitatem. Fortasse erit, fortasse non erit: interim non est; meliora propone.","en":"So let us look into the matter carefully. It is likely that something bad will happen: that does not make it true right away. How many things have come that were not expected! How many that were expected have never appeared at all! Even if it is going to happen, what good does it do to run out to meet your pain? You will suffer soon enough when it comes; meanwhile, promise yourself better things. What will you gain by that? Time. Many things will come between, through which a danger that is close, or even right upon you, will stop, or come to an end, or pass on to someone else's head. A fire has left a way to escape; some people have been set down gently by a collapsing building; sometimes a sword has been called back from the very neck; some have outlived their own executioner. Even bad luck is fickle. Perhaps it will happen, perhaps it will not; in the meantime it is not happening. Look forward to better things."},{"ref":"Letter 13.12","orig":"Nonnumquam, nullis apparentibus signis quae mali aliquid praenuntient, animus sibi falsas imagines fingit: aut verbum aliquod dubiae significationis detorquet in peius aut maiorem sibi offensam proponit alicuius quam est, et cogitat non quam iratus ille sit, sed quantum liceat irato. Nulla autem causa vitae est, nullus miseriarum modus, si timetur quantum potest. Hic prudentia prosit, hic robore animi evidentem quoque metum respue; si minus, vitio vitium repelle, spe metum tempera. Nihil tam certum est ex his quae timentur ut non certius sit et formidata subsidere et sperata decipere.","en":"Sometimes, with no visible signs to warn of anything bad, the mind makes up false pictures for itself. It twists some word of doubtful meaning in the worse direction, or imagines that someone's offence is greater than it is, and it thinks not about how angry that person is, but about how much an angry person could do. But there is no reason to live, no limit to our misery, if we fear as much as is possible. Here let good sense help; here reject with strength of mind even a fear that is well founded. If you cannot, fight one fault with another: temper fear with hope. None of the things we fear is so certain that it is not more certain still that what we dread often dies away and what we hope for often lets us down."},{"ref":"Letter 13.13","orig":"Ergo spem ac metum examina, et quotiens incerta erunt omnia, tibi fave: crede quod mavis. Si plures habebit sententias metus, nihilominus in hanc partem potius inclina et perturbare te desine ac subinde hoc in animo volve, maiorem partem mortalium, cum illi nec sit quicquam mali nec pro certo futurum sit, aestuare ac discurrere. Nemo enim resistit sibi, cum coepit impelli, nec timorem suum redigit ad verum; nemo dicit 'vanus auctor est, vanus: aut finxit aut credidit'. Damus nos aurae ferendos; expavescimus dubia pro certis; non servamus modum rerum, statim in timorem venit scrupulus.","en":"So weigh up hope and fear, and whenever everything is uncertain, favour yourself: believe what you prefer. Even if fear has more votes, lean the other way anyway, stop upsetting yourself, and turn this over in your mind again and again: most people get agitated and run about when nothing bad is happening to them and nothing is certain to happen. For no one resists himself once he has begun to be pushed, and no one reduces his fear to the truth. No one says, \"The source is unreliable, unreliable: he either made it up or believed it.\" We let ourselves be carried by the breeze. We are terrified of doubtful things as if they were certain. We do not keep things in proportion; a small worry turns straight into fear."},{"ref":"Letter 13.14–15","orig":"Pudet me ibi sic tecum loqui et tam lenibus te remediis focilare. Alius dicat 'fortasse non veniet': tu dic 'quid porro, si veniet? videbimus uter vincat; fortasse pro me venit, et mors ista vitam honestabit'. Cicuta magnum Socratem fecit. Catoni gladium assertorem libertatis extorque: magnam partem detraxeris gloriae. Nimium diu te cohortor, cum tibi admonitione magis quam exhortatione opus sit. Non in diversum te a natura tua ducimus: natus es ad ista quae dicimus; eo magis bonum tuum auge et exorna.","en":"I am ashamed to speak to you like this and to revive you with such mild remedies. Let someone else say, \"Perhaps it will not come.\" You should say, \"And what if it does? We will see which of us wins. Perhaps it comes for my benefit, and that death will bring honour to my life.\" Hemlock made Socrates great. Wrench from Cato's hand the sword that won him his freedom, and you will have taken away a great part of his glory. I have been urging you on for too long, when what you need is a reminder rather than encouragement. I am not leading you in a direction opposite to your nature: you were born for the things we are talking about. So all the more, increase and adorn the good that is in you."},{"ref":"Letter 13.16–17","orig":"Sed iam finem epistulae faciam, si illi signum suum in pressero, id est aliquam magnificam vocem perferendam ad te mandavero. 'Inter cetera mala hoc quoque habet stultitia: semper incipit vivere.' Considera quid vox ista significet, Lucili virorum optime, et intelleges quam foeda sit hominum levitas cotidie nova vitae fundamenta ponentium, novas spes etiam in exitu inchoantium. Circumspice tecum singulos: occurrent tibi senes qui se cum maxime ad ambitionem, ad peregrinationes, ad negotiandum parent. Quid est autem turpius quam senex vivere incipiens? Non adicerem auctorem huic voci, nisi esset secretior nec inter vulgata Epicuri dicta, quae mihi et laudare et adoptare permisi. Vale.","en":"But now I will end my letter, once I have pressed its seal on it, that is, once I have given it some splendid saying to carry to you. \"Among its other evils, folly has this one too: it is always beginning to live.\" Think about what this saying means, Lucilius, best of men, and you will see how disgraceful people's fickleness is, laying new foundations for their life every day and starting new hopes even at the very end. Look around at individuals: you will come across old men who are getting ready, right now, for political careers, for travel, for business. And what is more shameful than an old man starting to live? I would not add the author of this saying if it were not one of the less known ones, not among the popular sayings of Epicurus that I have allowed myself to praise and adopt. Farewell."}],"14":[{"ref":"Letter 14.1–3","orig":"Fateor insitam esse nobis corporis nostri caritatem; fateor nos huius gerere tutelam. Non nego indulgendum illi, serviendum nego; multis enim serviet qui corpori servit, qui pro illo nimium timet, qui ad illud omnia refert. Sic gerere nos debemus, non tamquam propter corpus vivere debeamus, sed tamquam non possimus sine corpore; huius nos nimius amor timoribus inquietat, sollicitudinibus onerat, contumeliis obicit; honestum ei vile est cui corpus nimis carum est. Agatur eius diligentissime cura, ita tamen ut, cum exiget ratio, cum dignitas, cum fides, mittendum in ignes sit. Nihilominus quantum possumus evitemus incommoda quoque, non tantum pericula, et in tutum nos reducamus, excogitantes subinde quibus possint timenda depelli. Quorum tria, nisi fallor, genera sunt: timetur inopia, timentur morbi, timentur quae per vim potentioris eveniunt.","en":"I admit that we are born with love for our body; I admit that we are its guardians. I do not deny that we should indulge it; I deny that we should be its slaves. For a man will be a slave to many things if he is a slave to his body, if he fears too much for it, if he refers everything to it. We should behave not as though we ought to live for the body, but as though we cannot live without it. Too much love for it troubles us with fears, weighs us down with worries and exposes us to insults. Honour is cheap to someone who holds his body too dear. Let us take the greatest care of it, but in such a way that, when reason, dignity or loyalty demands, we are ready to throw it into the fire. Even so, let us avoid as far as we can not only dangers but also discomforts, and withdraw to safety, thinking ahead about ways to ward off what we fear. There are, if I am not mistaken, three kinds of such things: we fear poverty, we fear diseases, and we fear what comes through the violence of someone more powerful."},{"ref":"Letter 14.4–5","orig":"Ex his omnibus nihil nos magis concutit quam quod ex aliena potentia impendet; magno enim strepitu et tumultu venit. Naturalia mala quae rettuli, inopia atque morbus, silentio subeunt nec oculis nec auribus quicquam terroris incutiunt: ingens alterius mali pompa est; ferrum circa se et ignes habet et catenas et turbam ferarum quam in viscera immittat humana. Cogita hoc loco carcerem et cruces et eculeos et uncum et adactum per medium hominem qui per os emergeret stipitem et distracta in diversum actis curribus membra, illam tunicam alimentis ignium et illitam et textam, et quidquid aliud praeter haec commenta saevitia est.","en":"Of all these, nothing shakes us more than what hangs over us from someone else's power; for it comes with great noise and uproar. The natural evils I mentioned, poverty and disease, creep up in silence, and bring no terror to the eyes or ears. But the other evil comes with a huge parade: it has swords and fire around it, and chains, and a pack of wild beasts to set loose on human flesh. Picture here the prison, the crosses, the racks, the hook, the stake driven through the middle of a man until it comes out through his mouth, the limbs torn apart by chariots driven in opposite directions, that tunic smeared and woven with things that feed fire, and whatever else cruelty has invented besides."},{"ref":"Letter 14.6","orig":"Non est itaque mirum, si maximus huius rei timor est cuius et varietas magna et apparatus terribilis est. Nam quemadmodum plus agit tortor quo plura instrumenta doloris exposuit - specie enim vincuntur qui patientiae restitissent -, ita ex iis quae animos nostros subigunt et domant plus proficiunt quae habent quod ostendant. Illae pestes non minus graves sunt - famem dico et sitim et praecordiorum suppurationes et febrem viscera ipsa torrentem - sed latent, nihil habent quod intentent, quod praeferant: haec ut magna bella aspectu paratuque vicerunt.","en":"So it is no wonder if our greatest fear is of this thing, which has such variety and such terrifying equipment. For just as the torturer achieves more the more instruments of pain he puts on display (people are overcome by the sight who would have held out under the suffering), so among the things that subdue and tame our minds, those that have something to show are the most effective. The other plagues are no less serious (I mean hunger and thirst and ulcers of the stomach and fever that burns the very inner organs), but they are hidden. They have nothing to brandish, nothing to parade. These others, like great wars, have won by their look and their equipment."},{"ref":"Letter 14.7","orig":"Demus itaque operam, abstineamus offensis. Interdum populus est quem timere debeamus; interdum, si ea civitatis disciplina est ut plurima per senatum transigantur, gratiosi in eo viri; interdum singuli quibus potestas populi et in populum data est. Hos omnes amicos habere operosum est, satis est inimicos non habere. Itaque sapiens numquam potentium iras provocabit, immo declinabit, non aliter quam in navigando procellam.","en":"So let us take care to avoid giving offence. Sometimes it is the people we should fear; sometimes, if the state is organised so that most business is done through the Senate, the influential men in it; sometimes individuals who have been given power by the people and over the people. It is hard work to have all of these as friends; it is enough not to have them as enemies. So the wise man will never provoke the anger of the powerful; he will steer clear of it, just as he would steer clear of a storm at sea."},{"ref":"Letter 14.8","orig":"Cum peteres Siciliam, traiecisti fretum Temerarius gubernator contempsit austri minas - ille est enim qui Siculum pelagus exasperet et in vertices cogat -; non sinistrum petit litus sed id a quo propior Charybdis maria convolvit. At ille cautior peritos locorum rogat quis aestus sit, quae signa dent nubes; longe ab illa regione verticibus infami cursum tenet. Idem facit sapiens: nocituram potentiam vitat, hoc primum cavens, ne vitare videatur; pars enim securitatis et in hoc est, non ex professo eam petere, quia quae quis fugit damnat.","en":"When you were going to Sicily, you crossed the strait. A reckless helmsman scorned the threats of the south wind (that is the wind that roughens the Sicilian sea and whips it into whirlpools). He did not head for the left-hand shore but for the one near which Charybdis churns the waters. But a more careful helmsman asks those who know the area what the tides are like and what signs the clouds give, and keeps his course far from that region notorious for whirlpools. The wise man does the same. He avoids power that could harm him, taking care above all not to seem to be avoiding it. For part of safety lies in not openly seeking it, since what someone flees from, he condemns."},{"ref":"Letter 14.9–10","orig":"Circumspiciendum ergo nobis est quomodo a vulgo tuti esse possimus. Primum nihil idem concupiscamus: rixa est inter competitores. Deinde nihil habeamus quod cum magno emolumento insidiantis eripi possit; quam minimum sit in corpore tuo spoliorum. Nemo ad humanum sanguinem propter ipsum venit, aut admodum pauci; plures computant quam oderunt. Nudum latro transmittit; etiam in obsessa via pauperi pax est. Tria deinde ex praecepto veteri praestanda sunt ut v itentur: odium, invidia, contemptus. Quomodo hoc fiat sapientia sola monstrabit; difficile enim temperamentum est, verendumque ne in contemptum nos invidiae timor transferat, ne dum calcare nolumus videamur posse calcari. Multis timendi attulit causas timeri posse. Undique nos reducamus: non minus contemni quam suspici nocet.","en":"So we must look around for ways to be safe from the mob. First, let us not want the same things as they do: rivals fight. Next, let us have nothing that could be snatched from us to the great profit of someone lying in wait. Let there be as little plunder on your person as possible. No one comes after human blood for its own sake, or very few do; more people calculate than hate. The robber lets the naked man pass; even on a road beset by bandits, the poor man is left in peace. Then, according to an old rule, there are three things to avoid: hatred, envy and contempt. Only wisdom will show how to do this. For the balance is hard to strike, and we must beware that fear of envy does not carry us into contempt, that while we do not want to trample on others, we seem to be people who can be trampled on. Being able to cause fear has given many people reasons to be afraid. Let us withdraw on every side: being despised is no less harmful than being looked up to."},{"ref":"Letter 14.11–12","orig":"Ad philosophiam ergo confugiendum est; hae litterae, non dico apud bonos sed apud mediocriter malos infularum loco sunt. Nam forensis eloquentia et quaecumque alia populum movet adversarios habet: haec quieta et sui negotii contemni non potest, cui ab omnibus artibus etiam apud pessimos honor est. Numquam in tantum convalescet nequitia, numquam sic contra virtutes coniurabitur, ut non philosophiae nomen venerabile et sacrum maneat. Ceterum philosophia ipsa tranquille modesteque tractanda est. 'Quid ergo?' inquis 'videtur tibi M. Cato modeste philosophari, qui bellum civile sententia reprimit? qui furentium principum armis medius intervenit? qui aliis Pompeium offendentibus, aliis Caesarem, simul lacessit duos?'","en":"So we must take refuge in philosophy. This study is like the sacred headbands of a priest, not only among good people but even among the moderately bad. For eloquence in the courts, and anything else that stirs the people, has enemies. But philosophy, quiet and minding its own business, cannot be despised; all the arts, even among the worst people, honour her. Wickedness will never grow so strong, there will never be such a conspiracy against the virtues, that the name of philosophy does not remain respected and sacred. But philosophy itself must be practised calmly and modestly. \"What then?\" you say. \"Do you think Marcus Cato practised philosophy modestly, when he tried to stop a civil war with his vote? When he stepped between the weapons of raging leaders? When some were offending Pompey and others Caesar, and he challenged both at once?\""},{"ref":"Letter 14.13","orig":"Potest aliquis disputare an illo tempore capessenda fuerit sapienti res publica. Quid tibi vis, arce Cato? iam non agitur de libertate: olim pessum data est. Quaeritur utrum Caesar an Pompeius possideat rem publicam: quid tibi cum ista contentione? nullae partes tuae sunt. Dominus eligitur: quid tua, uter vincat? potest melior vincere, non potest non peior esse qui vicerit. Ultimas partes attigi Catonis; sed ne priores quidem anni fuerunt qui sapientem in illam rapinam rei publicae admitterent. Quid aliud quam vociferatus est Cato et misit irritas voces, cum modo per populi levatus manus et obrutus sputis exportandus extra forum traheretur, modo e senatu in carcerem duceretur?","en":"One could debate whether a wise man should have taken part in public life at that time. What are you after, Marcus Cato? It is no longer a question of freedom: that was ruined long ago. The question is whether Caesar or Pompey is to own the state. What have you to do with that contest? No side is yours. A master is being chosen. What does it matter to you which of them wins? The better one may win; but the one who has won cannot fail to be the worse. I have touched on Cato's last role; but not even the years before were such as to let a wise man into that plundering of the state. What did Cato do but shout and let out words that achieved nothing, when at one time he was lifted up by the hands of the mob and covered in spit and dragged out of the forum, and at another led from the Senate to prison?"},{"ref":"Letter 14.14–15","orig":"Sed postea videbimus an sapienti opera rei publicae danda sit: interim ad hos te Stoicos voco qui a re publica exclusi secesserunt ad colendam vitam et humano generi iura condenda sine ulla potentioris offensa. Non conturbabit sapiens publicos mores nec populum in se vitae novitate convertet. 'Quid ergo? utique erit tutus qui hoc propositum sequetur?' Promittere tibi hoc non magis possum quam in homine temperanti bonam valetudinem, et tamen facit temperantia bonam valetudinem. Perit aliqua navis in portu: sed quid tu accidere in medio mari credis? Quanto huic periculum paratius foret multa agenti molientique, cui ne otium quidem tutum est? Pereunt aliquando innocentes - quis negat? -, nocentes tamen saepius. Ars ei constat qui per ornamenta percussus est.","en":"But we will see later whether the wise man should give his efforts to the state. Meanwhile, I direct you to those Stoics who, shut out of public life, withdrew to cultivate their lives and to lay down laws for the human race without offending any of the powerful. The wise man will not upset public customs, nor draw people's attention to himself by a strange way of life. \"What then? Will anyone who follows this plan be safe no matter what?\" I can no more promise you that than I can promise good health to a man who lives moderately; and yet moderation does produce good health. Some ship is lost in harbour; but what do you think happens in the open sea? How much more ready would danger be for someone busy with many schemes and projects, when even leisure is not safe for this man? Innocent people sometimes die, who denies it? But the guilty die more often. A swordsman's skill is still sound if he is struck through his armour."},{"ref":"Letter 14.16–18","orig":"Denique consilium rerum omnium sapiens, non exitum spectat; initia in potestate nostra sunt, de eventu fortuna iudicat, cui de me sententiam non do. 'At aliquid vexationis afferet, aliquid adversi.' Non damnat latro cum occidit. Nunc ad cotidianam stipem manum porrigis. Aurea te stipe implebo, et quia facta est auri mentio, accipe quemadmodum usus fructusque eius tibi esse gratior possit. 'Is maxime divitiis fruitur qui minime divitiis indiget.' 'Ede' inquis 'auctorem.' Ut scias quam benigni simus, propositum est aliena laudare: Epicuri est aut Metrodori aut alicuius ex illa officina. Et quid interest quis dixerit? omnibus dixit. Qui eget divitiis timet pro illis; nemo autem sollicito bono fruitur. Adicere illis aliquid studet; dum de incremento cogitat, oblitus est usus. Rationes accipit, forum conterit, kalendarium versat: fit ex domino procurator. Vale.","en":"In short, the wise man looks at the plan of everything, not the outcome. Beginnings are in our power; fortune decides the result, and I do not grant her any verdict over me. \"But she will bring some trouble, some misfortune.\" The robber does not condemn you when he kills you. Now you are holding out your hand for your daily coin. I will fill it with a golden coin, and since gold has been mentioned, learn how its use and enjoyment can become more pleasing to you. \"He enjoys riches most who needs riches least.\" \"Name the author,\" you say. To show you how generous we are, we have made a point of praising other people's sayings. It is from Epicurus, or Metrodorus, or someone from that workshop. And what does it matter who said it? He said it for everyone. A man who needs riches fears for them; and no one enjoys a good that makes him anxious. He is eager to add something to it; while he thinks about increasing it, he forgets to use it. He receives accounts, wears out the forum, turns the pages of his ledger of loans. From master he becomes manager. Farewell."}],"15":[{"ref":"Letter 15.1–2","orig":"Mos antiquis fuit, usque ad meam servatus aetatem, primis epistulae verbis adicere 'si vales bene est, ego valeo'. Recte nos dicimus 'si philosopharis, bene est'. Valere enim hoc demum est. Sine hoc aeger est animus; corpus quoque, etiam si magnas habet vires, non aliter quam furiosi aut frenetici validum est. Ergo hanc praecipue valetudinem cura, deinde et illam secundam; quae non magno tibi constabit, si volueris bene valere. Stulta est enim, mi Lucili, et minime conveniens litterato viro occupatio exercendi lacertos et dilatandi cervicem ac latera firmandi; cum tibi feliciter sagina cesserit et tori creverint, nec vires umquam opimi bovis nec pondus aequabis. Adice nunc quod maiore corporis sarcina animus eliditur et minus agilis est. Itaque quantum potes circumscribe corpus tuum et animo locum laxa.","en":"The ancients had a custom, kept up until my own time, of adding to the first words of a letter: \"If you are well, good; I am well.\" We would rightly say, \"If you are doing philosophy, good.\" For this, in the end, is what it is to be well. Without it the mind is sick; and the body too, even if it has great strength, is strong only in the way a madman's or a lunatic's is. So look after this health above all, and after that the other kind, which will not cost you much if you want to be well. For it is foolish, my Lucilius, and not at all fitting for an educated man, to spend his time exercising his arms, broadening his neck and strengthening his chest. Even when your feeding up has gone well and your muscles have grown, you will never match the strength or the weight of a fatted ox. Add to this that the mind is crushed by a heavier load of body and becomes less nimble. So limit your body as much as you can, and give room to your mind."},{"ref":"Letter 15.3–4","orig":"Multa sequuntur incommoda huic deditos curae: primum exercitationes, quarum labor spiritum exhaurit et inhabilem intentioni ac studiis acrioribus reddit; deinde copia ciborum subtilitas impeditur. Accedunt pessimae notae mancipia in magisterium recepta, homines inter oleum et vinum occupati, quibus ad votum dies actus est si bene desudaverunt, si in locum eius quod effluxit multum potionis altius in ieiuno iturae regesserunt. Bibere et sudare vita cardiaci est. Sunt exercitationes et faciles et breves, quae corpus et sine mora lassent et tempori parcant, cuius praecipua ratio habenda est: cursus et cum aliquo pondere manus motae et saltus vel ille qui corpus in altum levat vel ille qui in longum mittit vel ille, ut ita dicam, saliaris aut, ut contumeliosius dicam, fullonius: quoslibet ex his elige usum rude facile.","en":"Many troubles follow those who devote themselves to this pursuit. First, the exercises, whose effort drains one's energy and makes one unfit for concentration and the more demanding studies. Next, a heavy diet dulls the mind's sharpness. Then there are slaves of the worst sort taken on as trainers, men whose time is divided between the oil and the wine, whose day has gone to their liking if they have sweated well and, in place of what has flowed out of them, poured back plenty of drink, which goes down all the deeper on an empty stomach. Drinking and sweating is the life of a man with a stomach disorder. There are exercises that are easy and short, which tire the body quickly and save time, which should be our main concern: running, moving the hands with some weight in them, and jumping, either the high jump or the long jump, or, so to speak, the Salian priests' leap, or, to put it more rudely, the fuller's leap. Choose any of these; practice makes it easy."},{"ref":"Letter 15.5–6","orig":"Quidquid facies, cito redi a corpore ad animum; illum noctibus ac diebus exerce. Labore modico alitur ille; hanc exercitationem non frigus, non aestus impediet, ne senectus quidem. Id bonum cura quod vetustate fit melius. Neque ego te iubeo semper imminere libro aut pugillaribus: dandum est aliquod intervallum animo, ita tamen ut non resolvatur, sed remittatur. Gestatio et corpus concutit et studio non officit: possis legere, possis dictare, possis loqui, possis audire, quorum nihil ne ambulatio quidem vetat fieri.","en":"Whatever you do, come back quickly from the body to the mind. Exercise the mind night and day. It is fed with moderate effort, and cold will not hinder this exercise, nor heat, not even old age. Take care of the good that gets better with age. I am not telling you to be always bent over a book or writing tablets. The mind must be given some break, but in such a way that it is relaxed, not let go slack. Being carried in a litter shakes up the body and does not interfere with study: you can read, dictate, talk or listen. Even walking does not prevent any of these."},{"ref":"Letter 15.7","orig":"Nec tu intentionem vocis contempseris, quam veto te per gradus et certos modos extollere, deinde deprimere. Quid si velis deinde quemadmodum ambules discere? Admitte istos quos nova artificia docuit fames: erit qui gradus tuos temperet et buccas edentis observet et in tantum procedat in quantum audaciam eius patientia et credulitate produxeris. Quid ergo? a clamore protinus et a summa contentione vox tua incipiet? usque eo naturale est paulatim incitari ut litigantes quoque a sermone incipiant, ad vociferationem transeant; nemo statim Quiritium fidem implorat.","en":"Nor should you despise the exercise of the voice, though I forbid you to raise it by steps and set scales and then lower it again. What if you then wanted to learn how to walk? Let in those people whom hunger has taught new tricks: there will be someone to regulate your steps, watch your cheeks as you eat, and go as far as your patience and credulity encourage his nerve. What then? Is your voice to start straight off with shouting and the greatest strain? It is so natural to be roused little by little that even people quarrelling begin with conversation and move on to shouting. No one starts straight off by calling on the citizens for help."},{"ref":"Letter 15.8–9","orig":"Ergo utcumque tibi impetus animi suaserit, modo vehementius fac vitiis convicium, modo lentius, prout vox te quoque hortabitur in id latus; modesta, cum recipies illam revocarisque, descendat, non decidat; mediatorisui habeat et hoc indocto et rustico more desaeviat. Non enim id agimus ut exerceatur vox, sed ut exerceat. Detraxi tibi non pusillum negotii: una mercedula et unum graecum ad haec beneficia accedet. Ecce insigne praeceptum: 'stulta vita ingrata est, trepida; tota in futurum fertur'. 'Quis hoc' inquis 'dicit?' idem qui supra. Quam tu nunc vitam dici existimas stultam? Babae et Isionis? Non ita est: nostra dicitur, quos caeca cupiditas in nocitura, certe numquam satiatura praecipitat, quibus si quid satis esse posset, fuisset, qui non cogitamus quam iucundum sit nihil poscere, quam magnificum sit plenum esse nec ex fortuna pendere.","en":"So, however the impulse of your mind urges you, rail against vices sometimes more fiercely, sometimes more gently, as your voice itself also encourages you in that direction. When you draw it back and call it in, let it come down in a controlled way, not collapse. Let it keep its middle range and not rage in this untrained, rustic manner. For our aim is not to exercise the voice, but to let the voice exercise us. I have taken no small burden off you. One little payment and one Greek gift will be added to these kindnesses. Here is a remarkable precept: \"The life of the fool is ungrateful and anxious; it is carried along entirely into the future.\" \"Who says this?\" you ask. The same man as before. What life do you think is being called foolish? That of Baba and Isio? Not so: it is our own, we whom blind desire hurls towards things that will harm us and will certainly never satisfy us; we who, if anything could be enough for us, would already have had enough; we who do not think how pleasant it is to ask for nothing, how splendid it is to be full and not depend on fortune."},{"ref":"Letter 15.10–11","orig":"Subinde itaque, Lucili, quam multa sis consecutus recordare; cum aspexeris quot te antecedant, cogita quot sequantur. Si vis gratus esse adversus deos et adversus vitam tuam, cogita quam multos antecesseris. Quid tibi cum ceteris? te ipse antecessisti. Finem constitue quem transire ne possis quidem si velis; discedant aliquando ista insidiosa bona et sperantibus meliora quam assecutis. Si quid in illis esset solidi, aliquando et implerent: nunc haurientium sitim concitant. Mittantur speciosi apparatus; et quod futuri temporis incerta sors volvit, quare potius a fortuna impetrem ut det, quam a me ne petam? Quare autem petam? oblitus fragilitatis humanae congeram? in quid laborem? Ecce hic dies ultimus est; ut non sit, prope ab ultimo est. Vale.","en":"So, Lucilius, keep reminding yourself how much you have achieved. When you look at how many are ahead of you, think how many are behind you. If you want to be grateful to the gods and to your own life, think how many people you have overtaken. What have you to do with the others? You have overtaken yourself. Set a limit that you could not pass even if you wanted to. Let those treacherous goods go at last, the ones that look better to those who hope for them than to those who have got them. If there were anything solid in them, they would sometimes fill us up; as it is, they only make those who drink them thirstier. Let showy trappings be sent away. And as for what the uncertain lot of the future holds in store, why should I beg fortune to give it to me rather than ask myself not to ask for it? Why should I ask for anything? Should I pile things up, forgetting how fragile human life is? What should I toil for? Look, this is my last day; or if it is not, it is close to the last. Farewell."}],"16":[{"ref":"Letter 16.1–2","orig":"Liquere hoc tibi, Lucili, scio, neminem posse beate vivere, ne tolerabiliter quidem, sine sapientiae studio, et beatam vitam perfecta sapientia effici, ceterum tolerabilem etiam inchoata. Sed hoc quod liquet firmandum et altius cotidiana meditatione figendum est: plus operis est in eo ut proposita custodias quam ut honesta proponas. Perseverandum est et assiduo studio robur addendum, donec bona mens sit quod bona voluntas est. Itaque - non opus est - tibi apud me pluribus verbis aut affirmatione tam longa: intellego multum te profecisse. Quae scribis unde veniant scio; non sunt ficta nec colorata. Dicam tamen quid sentiam: iam de te spem habeo, nondum fiduciam. Tu quoque idem facias volo: non est quod tibi cito et facile credas. Excute te et varie scrutare et observa; illud ante omnia vide, utrum in philosophia an in ipsa vita profeceris.","en":"I know this is clear to you, Lucilius: no one can live happily, or even bearably, without the study of wisdom. A happy life is made by wisdom when it is complete, but a bearable life is made even by wisdom just begun. But what is clear must be strengthened and fixed more deeply by daily reflection. It is more work to keep the resolutions you have made than to make good ones. You must persevere and add strength by constant study, until what is now a good will becomes a good mind. So there is no need for more words with me, or for such long assurances: I can see you have made great progress. I know where the things you write come from; they are not invented or dressed up. Still, I will tell you what I think: I already have hope for you, but not yet confidence. I want you to do the same: there is no reason to trust yourself quickly and easily. Shake yourself out, examine yourself from different angles, and keep watch on yourself. Above all, see whether it is in philosophy that you have made progress, or in life itself."},{"ref":"Letter 16.3–4","orig":"Non est philosophia populare artificium nec ostentationi paratum; non in verbis sed in rebus est. Nec in hoc adhibetur, ut cum aliqua oblectatione consumatur dies, ut dematur otio nausia: animum format et fabricat, vitam disponit, actiones regit, agenda et omittenda demonstrat, sedet ad gubernaculum et per ancipitia fluctuantium derigit cursum. Sine hac nemo intrepide potest vivere, nemo secure; innumerabilia accidunt singulis horis quae consilium exigant, quod ab hac petendum est. Dicet aliquis, 'quid mihi prodest philosophia, si fatum est? quid prodest, si deus rector est? quid prodest, si casus imperat? Nam et mutari certa non possunt et nihil praeparari potest adversus incerta, sed aut consilium meum occupavit deus decrevitque quid facerem, aut consilio meo nihil fortuna permittit.'","en":"Philosophy is not a trick for pleasing the crowd, nor is it made for show. It lies not in words but in deeds. It is not used so that the day may be passed with some entertainment, or so that the boredom may be taken out of leisure. It shapes and builds the mind, orders life, guides actions, shows what should be done and what left undone. It sits at the helm and steers our course as we are tossed among dangers. Without it no one can live without fear, no one without worry. Countless things happen every hour that call for advice, and that advice must be sought from philosophy. Someone will say: \"What use is philosophy to me if there is fate? What use is it if God rules? What use is it if chance is in command? For what is fixed cannot be changed, and nothing can be prepared against what is uncertain. Either God has forestalled my planning and decided what I should do, or fortune leaves nothing to my planning.\""},{"ref":"Letter 16.5–6","orig":"Quidquid est ex his, Lucili, vel si omnia haec sunt, philosophandum est; sive nos inexorabili lege fata constringunt, sive arbiter deus universi cuncta disposuit, sive casus res humanas sine ordine impellit et iactat, philosophia nos tueri debet. Haec adhortabitur ut deo libenter pareamus, ut fortunae contumaciter; haec docebit ut deum sequaris, feras casum. Sed non est nunc in hanc disputationem transeundum, quid sit iuris nostri si providentia in imperio est, aut si fatorum series illigatos trahit, aut si repentina ac subita dominantur: illo nunc revertor, ut te moneam et exhorter ne patiaris impetum animi tui delabi et refrigescere. Contine illum et constitue, ut habitus animi fiat quod est impetus.","en":"Whichever of these is true, Lucilius, or even if all of them are, we must do philosophy. Whether the fates bind us by an unbending law, or God, the ruler of the universe, has arranged everything, or chance drives human affairs and tosses them about without order, philosophy must protect us. She will urge us to obey God willingly and fortune defiantly. She will teach you to follow God and to endure chance. But this is not the time to go into the debate about what is in our power if providence rules, or if a chain of fates drags us along bound, or if sudden and unexpected events are in control. I return now to my point, to warn and urge you not to let the eagerness of your spirit slip away and cool off. Hold it in and make it firm, so that what is now an impulse becomes a settled state of mind."},{"ref":"Letter 16.7–8","orig":"Iam ab initio, si te bene novi, circumspicies quid haec epistula munusculi attulerit: excute illam, et invenies. Non est quod mireris animum meum: adhuc de alieno liberalis sum. Quare autem alienum dixi ? quidquid bene dictum est ab ullo meum est. Istuc quoque ab Epicuro dictum est: 'si ad naturam vives, numquam eris pauper; si ad opiniones, numquam eris dives'. Exiguum natura desiderat, opinio immensum. Congeratur in te quidquid multi locupletes possederant; ultra privatum pecuniae modum fortuna te provehat, auro tegat, purpura vestiat, eo deliciarum opumque perducat ut terram marmoribus abscondas; non tantum habere tibi liceat sed calcare divitias; accedant statuae et picturae et quidquid ars ulla luxuriae elaboravit: maiora cupere ab his disces.","en":"If I know you well, you have been looking around from the beginning to see what little gift this letter has brought. Shake it out and you will find it. There is no reason to admire my generosity: I am still being generous with someone else's property. But why did I say someone else's? Whatever has been well said by anyone is mine. This too was said by Epicurus: \"If you live according to nature, you will never be poor; if you live according to opinion, you will never be rich.\" Nature wants very little; opinion wants without limit. Suppose that everything many rich men have owned were heaped on you. Suppose fortune carried you beyond the wealth of any private citizen, covered you with gold, dressed you in purple, and brought you to such luxury and riches that you hid the ground under marble; suppose you could not only own riches but walk on them; add statues and paintings and whatever any art has produced for luxury: from all this you will only learn to want more."},{"ref":"Letter 16.9","orig":"Naturalia desideria finita sunt: ex falsa opinione nascentia ubi desinant non habent; nullus enim terminus falso est. Via eunti aliquid extremum est: error immensus est. Retrahe ergo te a vanis, et cum voles scire quod petes, utrum naturalem habeat an caecam cupiditatem, considera num possit alicubi consistere: si longe progresso semper aliquid longius restat, scito id naturale non esse. Vale.","en":"Natural desires have limits. Those born from false opinion have nowhere to stop, for what is false has no boundary. When you walk along a road, there is an end to it; when you wander, there is no end. So pull yourself back from empty things. When you want to know whether what you are seeking comes from a natural desire or a blind one, consider whether it can come to rest anywhere. If, after you have gone a long way, something always remains further on, know that it is not natural. Farewell."}],"17":[{"ref":"Letter 17.1–2","orig":"Proice omnia ista, si sapis, immo ut sapias, et ad bonam mentem magno cursu ac totis viribus tende; si quid est quo teneris, aut expedi aut incide. 'Moratur' inquis 'me res familiaris; sic illam disponere volo ut sufficere nihil agenti possit, ne aut paupertas mihi oneri sit aut ego alicui.' Cum hoc dicis, non videris vim ac potentiam eius de quo cogitas boni nosse; et summam quidem rei pervides, quantum philosophia prosit, partes autem nondum satis subtiliter dispicis, necdum scis quantum ubique nos adiuvet, quemadmodum et in maximis, ut Ciceronis utar verbo, 'opituletur' et in minima descendat. Mihi crede, advoca illam in consilium: suadebit tibi ne ad calculos sedeas.","en":"Throw all those things away, if you are wise, or rather, so that you may become wise, and strive towards a good mind at full speed and with all your strength. If there is anything that holds you back, untie it or cut it. \"My property is holding me up,\" you say. \"I want to arrange it so that it can support me while I do nothing, so that poverty does not become a burden to me, or I to anyone else.\" When you say this, you do not seem to understand the force and power of the good you are thinking about. You grasp the main point, how useful philosophy is, but you do not yet see the details clearly enough. You do not yet know how much it helps us everywhere, how it gives us aid, to use Cicero's word, in the greatest matters and also comes down to the smallest. Believe me, call philosophy in as your adviser: she will advise you not to sit down at your accounts."},{"ref":"Letter 17.3–4","orig":"Nempe hoc quaeris et hoc ista dilatione vis consequi, ne tibi paupertas timenda sit: quid si appetenda est? Multis ad philosophandum obstitere divitiae: paupertas expedita est, secura est. Cum classicum cecinit, scit non se peti; cum aqua conclamata est, quomodo exeat, non quid efferat, quaerit; si navigandum est, non strepunt portus nec unius comitatu inquieta sunt litora; non circumstat illam turba servorum, ad quos pascendos transmarinarum regionum est optanda fertilitas. Facile est pascere paucos ventres et bene institutos et nihil aliud desiderantes quam impleri: parvo fames constat, magno fastidium. Paupertas contenta est desideriis instantibus satis facere: quid est ergo quare hanc recuses contubernalem cuius mores sanus dives imitatur?","en":"Surely what you are after, and what you want to achieve by this delay, is not to have to fear poverty. But what if poverty is something to be desired? Riches have kept many people from doing philosophy; poverty is unencumbered and free from care. When the trumpet sounds, poverty knows that it is not the target. When there is a shout of \"Fire!\", it asks how to get out, not what to carry out. If it has to go to sea, the harbours do not ring with noise and the shores are not disturbed by the retinue of one man. No crowd of slaves surrounds it, slaves for whose feeding one would need to pray for the harvests of lands overseas. It is easy to feed a few stomachs that are well trained and want nothing more than to be filled. Hunger costs little; fussiness costs a lot. Poverty is content to satisfy pressing needs. So why would you refuse to live with her, when a sensible rich man copies her ways?"},{"ref":"Letter 17.5","orig":"Si vis vacare animo, aut pauper sis oportet aut pauperi similis. Non potest studium salutare fieri sine frugalitatis cura; frugalitas autem paupertas voluntaria est. Tolle itaque istas excusationes: 'nondum habeo quantum sat est; si ad illam summam pervenero, tunc me totum philosophiae dabo'. Atqui nihil prius quam hoc parandum est quod tu differs et post cetera paras; ab hoc incipiendum est. 'Parare' inquis 'unde vivam volo.' Simul et parare te disce: si quid te vetat bene vivere, bene mori non vetat.","en":"If you want to have time for your mind, you must either be poor or be like a poor man. Study cannot do you good without attention to frugality, and frugality is voluntary poverty. So away with those excuses: \"I do not yet have enough. When I reach that figure, then I will give myself entirely to philosophy.\" But this is the very thing you must get before anything else, the thing you are putting off and planning to get after everything else. You must start with this. \"I want to get something to live on,\" you say. Then at the same time learn to get ready: if anything prevents you from living well, it does not prevent you from dying well."},{"ref":"Letter 17.6–7","orig":"Non est quod nos paupertas a philosophia revocet, ne egestas quidem. Toleranda est enim ad hoc properantibus vel fames; quam toleravere quidam in obsidionibus, et quod aliud erat illius patientiae praemium quam in arbitrium non cadere victoris? Quanto hoc maius est quod promittitur: perpetua libertas, nullius nec hominis nec dei timor. Ecquid vel esurienti ad ista veniendum est? Perpessi sunt exercitus inopiam omnium rerum, vixerunt herbarum radicibus et dictu foedis tulerunt famem; haec omnia passi sunt pro regno, quo magis mireris, alieno: dubitabit aliquis ferre paupertatem ut animum furoribus liberet? Non est ergo prius acquirendum: licet ad philosophiam etiam sine viatico pervenire.","en":"There is no reason for poverty to call us away from philosophy, not even real destitution. Those who are hurrying towards it must put up even with hunger. Some people have put up with hunger during sieges, and what was the reward for their endurance except not falling into the power of the conqueror? How much greater is what is promised here: lasting freedom, and fear of no one, human or divine. Should we not come to this even if we are starving? Armies have endured the lack of everything, lived on the roots of plants, and fought off hunger with things too disgusting to mention. They suffered all this for a kingdom, and, which makes it more remarkable, someone else's. Will anyone hesitate to put up with poverty in order to free his mind from madness? So you do not need to acquire wealth first. It is possible to reach philosophy even without money for the journey."},{"ref":"Letter 17.8–9","orig":"Ita est? cum omnia habueris, tunc habere et sapientiam voles? haec erit ultimum vitae instrumentum et, ut ita dicam, additamentum? Tu vero, sive aliquid habes, iam philosophare - unde enim scis an iam nimis habeas? -, sive nihil, hoc prius quaere quam quicquam. 'At necessaria deerunt.' Primum deesse non poterunt, quia natura minimum petit, naturae autem se sapiens accommodat. Sed si necessitates ultimae inciderint, iamdudum exibit e vita et molestus sibi esse desinet. Si vero exiguum erit et angustum quo possit vita produci, id boni consulet nec ultra necessaria sollicitus aut anxius ventri et scapulis suum reddet et occupationes divitum concursationesque ad divitias euntium securus laetusque ridebit","en":"Is that so? Only when you have everything will you want to have wisdom too? Is she to be the last piece of equipment for life, a sort of extra? No: if you have something, start doing philosophy now (for how do you know you do not already have too much?); and if you have nothing, seek this before anything else. \"But I will lack the necessities.\" First, you cannot lack them, because nature asks for very little, and the wise man adapts himself to nature. But if the most extreme need does arise, he will soon leave life and stop being a burden to himself. If, however, what he has to sustain his life is small and meagre, he will make the best of it. Without worrying or fretting about anything beyond the necessities, he will give his belly and his shoulders what they are owed, and, free from care and cheerful, he will laugh at the busyness of the rich and the rushing about of those chasing riches,"},{"ref":"Letter 17.10–11","orig":"ac dicet, 'quid in longum ipse te differs? expectabisne fenoris quaestum aut ex merce compendium aut tabulas beati senis, cum fieri possis statim dives? Repraesentat opes sapientia, quas cuicumque fecit supervacuas dedit.' Haec ad alios pertinent: tu locupletibus propior es. Saeculum muta, nimis habes; idem est autem omni saeculo quod sat est. Poteram hoc loco epistulam claudere, nisi te male instituissem. Reges Parthos non potest quisquam salutare sine munere; tibi valedicere non licet gratis. Quid istic? ab Epicuro mutuum sumam: 'multis parasse divitias non finis miseriarum fuit sed mutatio'.","en":"and he will say: \"Why do you keep putting yourself off for so long? Will you wait for the interest on a loan, or the profit on some goods, or the will of a rich old man, when you could become rich at once? Wisdom pays out wealth in cash on the spot; she has given it to everyone for whom she has made it unnecessary.\" This applies to other people; you are closer to the rich. Change the age you live in, and you have too much. But in every age, what is enough is the same. I could close my letter here, if I had not trained you badly. No one can greet the Parthian kings without a gift; I am not allowed to say goodbye to you without paying. What then? I will borrow from Epicurus: \"For many people, getting rich has not been the end of their troubles but a change in them.\""},{"ref":"Letter 17.12","orig":"Nec hoc miror; non est enim in rebus vitium sed in ipso animo. Illud quod paupertatem nobis gravem fecerat et divitias graves fecit. Quemadmodum nihil refert utrum aegrum in ligneo lecto an in aureo colloces - quocumque illum transtuleris, morbum secum suum transferet -, sic nihil refert utrum aeger animus in divitiis an in paupertate ponatur: malum illum suum sequitur. Vale.","en":"I am not surprised. For the fault is not in things but in the mind itself. What made poverty hard for us has also made riches hard. Just as it makes no difference whether you put a sick man on a wooden bed or a golden one (wherever you move him, he will take his illness with him), so it makes no difference whether a sick mind is placed in riches or in poverty: its trouble follows it. Farewell."}],"18":[{"ref":"Letter 18.1–2","orig":"December est mensis: cum maxime civitas sudat. Ius luxuriae publice datum est; ingenti apparatu sonant omnia, tamquam quicquam inter Saturnalia intersit et dies rerum agendarum; adeo nihil interest ut non videatur mihi errasse qui dixit olim mensem Decembrem fuisse, nunc annum. Si te hic haberem, libenter tecum conferrem quid existimares esse faciendum, utrum nihil ex cotidiana consuetudine movendum an, ne dissidere videremur cum publicis moribus, et hilarius cenandum et exuendam togam. Nam quod fieri nisi in tumultu et tristi tempore civitatis non solebat, voluptatis causa ac festorum dierum vestem mutavimus.","en":"It is the month of December, and the city is sweating more than ever. The right to indulge has been officially granted. Everything resounds with enormous preparations, as if there were any difference between the Saturnalia and ordinary working days. So little difference is there that I think the man was right who said that December used to be a month and is now the whole year. If I had you here, I would gladly discuss with you what you think we should do: whether we should change nothing in our daily routine, or, so as not to seem out of step with public customs, dine more merrily and take off the toga. For we have changed our dress for the sake of pleasure and holidays, something that used to be done only in times of upheaval and public mourning."},{"ref":"Letter 18.3–5","orig":"Si te bene novi, arbitri partibus functus nec per omnia nos similes esse pilleatae turbae voluisses nec per omnia dissimiles; nisi forte his maxime diebus animo imperandum est, ut tunc voluptatibus solus abstineat cum in illas omnis turba procubuit; certissimum enim argumentum firmitatis suae capit, si ad blanda et in luxuriam trahentia nec it nec abducitur. Hoc multo fortius est, ebrio ac vomitante populo siccum ac sobrium esse, illud temperantius, non excerpere se nec insignire nec misceri omnibus et eadem sed non eodem modo facere; licet enim sine luxuria agere festum diem. Ceterum adeo mihi placet temptare animi tui firmitatem ut e praecepto magnorum virorum tibi quoque praecipiam: interponas aliquot dies quibus contentus minimo ac vilissimo cibo, dura atque horrida veste, dicas tibi 'hoc est quod timebatur?'","en":"If I know you well, acting as referee, you would have wanted us to be neither like the crowd in their festive caps in every respect nor unlike them in every respect. Unless perhaps these are the very days when we should command the mind to be alone in holding back from pleasures when the whole crowd has sunk into them. For the mind gains the surest proof of its own firmness if it neither goes towards, nor is drawn away by, the things that flatter and drag it into luxury. It is much braver to stay dry and sober when the people are drunk and vomiting; but it is more moderate not to cut oneself off or make oneself conspicuous, nor yet to mingle with everyone, but to do the same things in a different way. For one can celebrate a holiday without luxury. But I am so keen to test the firmness of your mind that, following the advice of great men, I will advise you too: set aside a few days during which you are content with the smallest amount of the cheapest food, and with rough, coarse clothing, and say to yourself, \"Is this what I was afraid of?\""},{"ref":"Letter 18.6–7","orig":"In ipsa securitate animus ad difficilia se praeparet et contra iniurias fortunae inter beneficia firmetur. Miles in media pace decurrit, sine ullo hoste vallum iacit, et supervacuo labore lassatur ut sufficere necessario possit; quem in ipsa re trepidare nolueris, ante rem exerceas. Hoc secuti sunt qui omnibus mensibus paupertatem imitati prope ad inopiam accesserunt, ne umquam expavescerent quod saepe didicissent. Non est nunc quod existimes me dicere Timoneas cenas et pauperum cellas et quidquid aliud est per quod luxuria divitiarum taedio ludit: grabattus ille verus sit et sagum et panis durus ac sordidus. Hoc triduo et quatriduo fer, interdum pluribus diebus, ut non lusus sit sed experimentum: tunc, mihi crede, Lucili, exultabis dipondio satur et intelleges ad securitatem non opus esse fortuna; hoc enim quod necessitati sat est dabit et irata.","en":"It is in a time of safety that the mind should prepare itself for hardship, and strengthen itself against fortune's blows while it is enjoying her favours. A soldier does manoeuvres in the midst of peace; he builds ramparts with no enemy in sight and tires himself out with unnecessary work so that he can cope with necessary work. If you do not want someone to panic when the moment comes, train him before it comes. This is what those people did who every month imitated poverty and came close to real want, so that they would never be terrified of what they had often practised. You should not think I mean dinners like Timon's, or rich men's \"poor rooms\", or any of the other ways luxury plays games out of boredom with wealth. Let the pallet be real, and the cloak, and the bread hard and coarse. Endure this for three or four days, sometimes more, so that it is not a game but a test. Then, believe me, Lucilius, you will rejoice at being full for a penny, and you will understand that you do not need fortune to be free from care. For even when she is angry, she will give what is enough for necessity."},{"ref":"Letter 18.8–9","orig":"Non est tamen quare tu multum tibi facere videaris - facies enim quod multa milia servorum, multa milia pauperum faciunt -: illo nomine te Cuspice, quod facies non coactus, quod tam facile erit tibi illud pati semper quam aliquando experiri. Exerceamur ad palum, et ne imparatos fortuna deprehendat, fiat nobis paupertas familiaris; securius divites erimus si scierimus quam non sit grave pauperes esse. Certos habebat dies ille magister voluptatis Epicurus quibus maligne famem exstingueret, visurus an aliquid deesset ex plena et consummata voluptate, vel quantum deesset, et an dignum quod quis magno labore pensaret. Hoc certe in iis epistulis ait quas scripsit Charino magistratu ad Polyaenum; et quidem gloriatur non toto asse se pasci, Metrodorum, qui nondum tantum profecerit, toto.","en":"But there is no reason to think you are doing anything great. You will be doing what many thousands of slaves and many thousands of poor people do. Admire yourself on this account: that you will be doing it without being forced, and that it will be as easy for you to endure it always as to try it now and then. Let us practise at the post, and so that fortune does not catch us unprepared, let us make poverty familiar to us. We will be rich with less worry if we know how light a thing it is to be poor. Epicurus, that master of pleasure, had fixed days on which he satisfied his hunger stingily, to see whether anything was missing from full and complete pleasure, or how much was missing, and whether it was worth anyone's great effort to make it up. He says this, at least, in the letters he wrote to Polyaenus in the year Charinus was archon. And he actually boasts that he fed himself on less than a penny, while Metrodorus, who had not yet made so much progress, needed a whole penny."},{"ref":"Letter 18.10–12","orig":"In hoc tu victu saturitatem putas esse? Et voluptas est; voluptas autem non illa levis et fugax et subinde reficienda, sed stabilis et certa. Non enim iucunda res est aqua et polenta aut frustum hordeacii panis, sed summa voluptas est posse capere etiam ex his voluptatem et ad id se deduxisse quod eripere nulla fortunae iniquitas possit. Liberaliora alimenta sunt carceris, sepositos ad capitale supplicium non tam anguste qui occisurus est pascit: quanta est animi magnitudo ad id sua sponte descendere quod ne ad extrema quidem decretis timendum sit! hoc est praeoccupare tela fortunae. Incipe ergo, mi Lucili, sequi horum consuetudinem et aliquos dies destina quibus secedas a tuis rebus minimoque te facias familiarem; incipe cum paupertate habere commercium; aude, hospes, contemnere opes et te quoque dignum finge deo.","en":"Do you think there is a full stomach in this kind of diet? There is pleasure too, and not that light and fleeting pleasure that constantly has to be topped up, but a pleasure that is stable and sure. For water and barley porridge or a crust of barley bread are not delightful things; but it is the highest pleasure to be able to get pleasure even from these, and to have brought oneself to a point that no unfairness of fortune can snatch away. Prison food is more generous; those set aside for execution are not fed so meanly by the man who will kill them. What greatness of mind it is to come down of one's own free will to something that is not to be feared even by those condemned to the worst! This is getting in ahead of fortune's weapons. So begin, my Lucilius, to follow the practice of these men. Set aside some days on which you withdraw from your affairs and make yourself at home with the barest minimum. Begin to have dealings with poverty. \"Dare, my guest, to scorn riches, and make yourself too worthy of a god.\""},{"ref":"Letter 18.13–14","orig":"Nemo alius est deo dignus quam qui opes contempsit; quarum possessionem tibi non interdico, sed efficere volo ut illas intrepide possideas; quod uno consequeris modo, si te etiam sine illis beate victurum persuaseris tibi, si illas tamquam exituras semper aspexeris. Sed iam incipiamus epistulam complicare. 'Prius' inquis 'redde quod debes.' Delegabo te ad Epicurum, ab illo fiet numeratio: 'immodica ira gignit insaniam'. Hoc quam verum sit necesse est scias, cum habueris et servum et inimicum.","en":"No one is worthy of a god except the one who has scorned riches. I do not forbid you to own them, but I want you to own them without fear. You will achieve that in one way only: if you convince yourself that you will live happily even without them, and if you always look on them as about to leave. But now let us begin to fold up the letter. \"First,\" you say, \"pay what you owe.\" I will refer you to Epicurus; he will do the paying: \"Anger without limit breeds madness.\" You are bound to know how true this is, since you have had both a slave and an enemy."},{"ref":"Letter 18.15","orig":"In omnes personas hic exardescit affectus; tam ex amore nascitur quam ex odio, non minus inter seria quam inter lusus et iocos; nec interest ex quam magna causa nascatur sed in qualem perveniat animum. Sic ignis non refert quam magnus sed quo incidat; nam etiam maximum solida non receperunt, rursus arida et corripi facilia scintillam quoque fovent usque in incendium. Ita est, mi Lucili: ingentis irae exitus furor est, et ideo ira vitanda est non moderationis causa sed sanitatis. Vale.","en":"This passion flares up against every kind of person. It is born from love as much as from hatred, no less in serious matters than in games and jokes. And it does not matter how great the cause from which it arises, but what kind of mind it reaches. In the same way, with fire it does not matter how great it is, but where it falls; for solid things do not catch even the greatest fire, while dry things that catch easily nurse even a spark into a blaze. That is how it is, my Lucilius: the outcome of great anger is madness, and so anger should be avoided not for the sake of moderation but for the sake of sanity. Farewell."}],"19":[{"ref":"Letter 19.1–2","orig":"Exulto quotiens epistulas tuas accipio; implent enim me bona spe, et iam non promittunt de te sed spondent. Ita fac, oro atque obsecro - quid enim habeo melius quod amicum rogem quam quod pro ipso rogaturus sum? si potes, subducte istis occupationibus; si minus, eripe. Satis multum temporis sparsimus: incipiamus vasa in senectute colligere. Numquid invidiosum est? in freto viximus, moriamur in portu. Neque ego suaserim tibi nomen ex otio petere, quod nec iactare debes nec abscondere; numquam enim usque eo te abigam generis humani furore damnato ut latebram tibi aliquam parari et oblivionem velim: id age ut otium tuum non emineat sed appareat.","en":"I jump for joy whenever I receive your letters. They fill me with good hope, and they no longer merely promise about you, they guarantee. Keep going like this, I beg and implore you. For what better thing can I ask of a friend than what I would ask on his behalf? If you can, slip away from that business of yours; if not, tear yourself away. We have scattered enough of our time: let us begin to pack our bags in old age. Is there anything to resent in that? We have lived on the open sea; let us die in harbour. I would not advise you to seek fame from your retirement, which you should neither show off nor hide. For I will never drive you so far, in condemning the madness of the human race, that I want you to find some hiding place and be forgotten. Make sure that your retirement is visible but does not stand out."},{"ref":"Letter 19.3–4","orig":"Deinde videbunt de isto quibus integra sunt et prima consilia an velint vitam per obscurum transmittere: tibi liberum non est. In medium te protulit ingenii vigor, scriptorum elegantia, clarae et nobiles amicitiae; iam notitia te invasit; ut in extrema mergaris ac penitus recondaris, tamen priora monstrabunt. Tenebras habere non potes; sequetur quocumque fugeris multum pristinae lucis: quietem potes vindicare sine ullius odio, sine desiderio aut morsu animi tui. Quid enim relinques quod invitus relictum a te possis cogitare? Clientes? quorum nemo te ipsum sequitur, sed aliquid ex te; amicitia olim petebatur, nunc praeda; mutabunt testamenta destituti senes, migrabit ad aliud limen salutator. Non potest parvo res magna constare: aestima utrum te relinquere an aliquid ex tuis malis.","en":"Next, those whose plans are fresh and just beginning will decide whether they want to pass their life in obscurity. You are not free to do so. The energy of your talent, the elegance of your writing and your famous and noble friendships have brought you into public view. Fame has already taken hold of you. Even if you sank into the remotest place and hid yourself deep away, your earlier life would give you away. You cannot have darkness; wherever you flee, much of your former light will follow. But you can claim peace without anyone's hatred, without regret or pangs of conscience. For what will you leave behind that you could think of having left unwillingly? Your clients? None of them follows you for yourself, but for something from you. Once people sought friendship; now they seek plunder. The lonely old men will change their wills; the morning caller will move on to another doorstep. A great thing cannot be had for a small price. Decide whether you would rather leave yourself or something of yours."},{"ref":"Letter 19.5–6","orig":"Utinam quidem tibi senescere contigisset intra natalium tuorum modum, nec te in altum fortuna misisset! Tulit te longe a conspectu vitae salubris rapida felicitas, provincia et procuratio et quidquid ab istis promittitur; maiora deinde officia te excipient et ex aliis alia: quis exitus erit? quid exspectas donec desinas habere quod cupias? numquam erit tempus. Qualem dicimus seriem esse causarum ex quibus nectitur fatum, talem esse *** cupiditatum: altera ex fine alterius nascitur. In eam demissus es vitam quae numquam tibi terminum miseriarum ac servitutis ipsa factura sit: subduc cervicem iugo tritam; semel illam incidi quam semper premi satius est.","en":"If only it had been your lot to grow old within the station of your birth, and fortune had not sent you out into the deep! Swift success has carried you far from the sight of a healthy life: a province, a governorship, and everything these promise. Then greater duties will take you over, one after another. What will the end be? Why wait until you have nothing left to desire? That time will never come. Just as we say there is a chain of causes from which fate is woven, so there is a chain of desires: one is born from the end of another. You have been plunged into a life that will never, of itself, put an end to your troubles and your slavery. Pull your chafed neck out from under the yoke. It is better to have it cut once than to be pressed down for ever."},{"ref":"Letter 19.7–8","orig":"Si te ad privata rettuleris, minora erunt omnia, sed affatim implebunt: at nunc plurima et undique ingesta non satiant. Utrum autem mavis ex inopia saturitatem an in copia famem? Et avida felicitas est et alienae aviditati exposita; quamdiu tibi satis nihil fuerit, ipse aliis non eris. 'Quomodo' inquis 'exibo?' Utcumque. Cogita quam multa temere pro pecunia, quam multa laboriose pro honore temptaveris: aliquid et pro otio audendum est, aut in ista sollicitudine procurationum et deinde urbanorum officiorum senescendum, in tumultu ac semper novis fluctibus quos effugere nulla modestia, nulla vitae quiete contingit. Quid enim ad rem pertinet an tu quiescere velis? fortuna tua non vult. Quid si illi etiam nunc permiseris crescere? quantum ad successus accesserit accedet ad metus.","en":"If you withdraw into private life, everything will be smaller, but it will fill you amply. As it is, you have a great deal, heaped on you from every side, and it does not satisfy you. Which would you rather have: to be satisfied out of scarcity, or hungry in the midst of plenty? Success is greedy, and it is exposed to the greed of others. As long as nothing is enough for you, you will not be enough for others. \"How shall I get out?\" you ask. Any way you can. Think how many things you have attempted rashly for money, how many things laboriously for office. You must dare something for leisure too. Otherwise you must grow old in the anxieties of governorships and then of duties in the city, in uproar and ever-new waves that no modesty and no quietness of life allows you to escape. For what does it matter whether you want to rest? Your fortune does not want it. What if you let it grow even now? Whatever is added to your successes will be added to your fears."},{"ref":"Letter 19.9–10","orig":"Volo tibi hoc loco referre dictum Maecenatis vera in ipso eculeo elocuti: 'ipsa enim altitudo attonat summa'. Si quaeris in quo libro dixerit, in eo qui Prometheus inscribitur. Hoc voluit dicere, attonita habet summa. Est ergo tanti ulla potentia ut sit tibi tam ebrius sermo? Ingeniosus ille vir fuit, magnum exemplum Romanae eloquentiae daturus nisi illum enervasset felicitas, immo castrasset. Hic te exitus manet nisi iam contrahes vela, nisi, quod ille sero voluit, terram leges. Poteram tecum hac Maecenatis sententia parem facere rationem, sed movebis mihi controversiam, si novi te, nec voles quod debeo nisi in aspero et probo accipere. Ut se res habet, ab Epicuro versura facienda est. 'Ante' inquit 'circumspiciendum est cum quibus edas et bibas quam quid edas et bibas; nam sine amico visceratio leonis ac lupi vita est.'","en":"Here I want to quote a saying of Maecenas, who spoke the truth while on the very rack: \"The height itself strikes the summits with thunder.\" If you ask in which book he said it, it was the one called Prometheus. What he meant was that high places are thunderstruck. Is any power worth so much that it should make you speak so drunkenly? He was a man of talent, and would have given a great model of Roman eloquence if success had not weakened him, or rather castrated him. This end awaits you, unless you shorten sail now, unless you do what he wished to do too late, and hug the shore. I could have settled my account with you with this saying of Maecenas, but if I know you, you will dispute it with me and refuse to accept what I owe you unless it is in new and genuine coin. As things stand, I must take out a loan from Epicurus. \"You should look around to see whom you are eating and drinking with,\" he says, \"before you look at what you are eating and drinking. For feeding without a friend is the life of a lion or a wolf.\""},{"ref":"Letter 19.11–12","orig":"Hoc non continget tibi nisi secesseris: alioquin habebis convivas quos ex turba salutantium nomenclator digesserit; errat autem qui amicum in atrio quaerit, in convivio probat. Nullum habet maius malum occupatus homo et bonis suis obsessus quam quod amicos sibi putat quibus ipse non est, quod beneficia sua efficacia iudicat ad conciliandos animos, cum quidam quo plus debent magis oderint: leve aes alienum debitorem facit, grave inimicum. 'Quid ergo? beneficia non parant amicitias?' Parant, si accepturos licuit eligere, si collocata, non sparsa sunt. Itaque dum incipis esse mentis tuae, interim hoc consilio sapientium utere, ut magis ad rem existimes pertinere quis quam quid acceperit. Vale.","en":"This will not happen for you unless you withdraw. Otherwise you will have as dinner guests those whom your name-caller has picked out from the crowd of morning visitors. But a man is wrong to look for a friend in his entrance hall and to test him at dinner. A busy man, besieged by his possessions, has no greater evil than this: he thinks people are his friends when he is not theirs, and he believes his favours work to win people's hearts, when in fact some people hate you more the more they owe you. A small debt makes a debtor; a large one makes an enemy. \"What then? Do favours not win friendships?\" They do, if one has been able to choose who receives them, if they are placed, not scattered. So while you are beginning to be master of your own mind, follow this advice of the wise in the meantime: consider it more important who receives something than what he receives. Farewell."}],"20":[{"ref":"Letter 20.1","orig":"Si vales et te dignum putas qui aliquando fias tuus, gaudeo; mea enim gloria erit, si te istinc ubi sine spe exeundi fluctuaris extraxero. Illud autem te, mi Lucili, rogo atque hortor, ut philosophiam in praecordia ima demittas et experimentum profectus tui capias non oratione nec scripto, sed animi firmitate, cupiditatum deminutione: verba rebus proba.","en":"If you are well, and if you think yourself worthy of one day becoming your own master, I am glad. It will be my glory if I pull you out of the place where you are tossing about with no hope of getting out. But I ask and urge you, my Lucilius, to let philosophy sink into the depths of your heart, and to measure your progress not by speech or writing but by firmness of mind and the lessening of your desires. Prove your words by your deeds."},{"ref":"Letter 20.2","orig":"Aliud propositum est declamantibus et assensionem coronae captantibus, aliud his qui iuvenum et otiosorum aures disputatione varia aut volubili detinent: facere docet philosophia, non dicere, et hoc exigit, ut ad legem suam quisque vivat, ne orationi vita dissentiat vel ipsa inter se vita; ut unus sit omnium actionum color. Maximum hoc est et officium sapientiae et indicium, ut verbis opera concordent, ut ipse ubique par sibi idemque sit. 'Quis hoc praestabit?' Pauci, aliqui tamen. Est enim difficile; nec hoc dico, sapientem uno semper iturum gradu, sed una via.","en":"Those who make speeches and hunt for the applause of the audience have one aim; those who hold the ears of young men and idle people with varied or fluent debate have another. Philosophy teaches us to act, not to talk. She demands that each person live by his own law, so that his life does not disagree with his words, nor his life with itself, so that all his actions have one colour. This is the greatest duty of wisdom and its greatest proof: that deeds match words, that a person is equal to himself and the same everywhere. \"Who will manage this?\" Few, but some. For it is difficult. And I do not mean that the wise man will always walk at the same pace, but that he will walk the same road."},{"ref":"Letter 20.3–4","orig":"Observa te itaque, numquid vestis tua domusque dissentiant, numquid in te liberalis sis, in tuos sordidus, numquid cenes frugaliter, aedifices luxuriose; unam semel ad quam vivas regulam prende et ad hanc omnem vitam tuam exaequa. Quidam se domi contrahunt, dilatant foris et extendunt: vitium est haec diversitas et signum vacillantis animi ac nondum habentis tenorem suum. Etiam nunc dicam unde sit ista inconstantia et dissimilitudo rerum consiliorumque: nemo proponit sibi quid velit, nec si proposuit perseverat in eo, sed transilit; nec tantum mutat sed redit et in ea quae deseruit ac damnavit revolvitur.","en":"So watch yourself: do your clothes and your house disagree with each other? Are you generous to yourself and stingy to your household? Do you dine frugally and build extravagantly? Take hold, once and for all, of one rule to live by, and bring your whole life into line with it. Some people pinch themselves at home and spread themselves out in public. This inconsistency is a fault and the sign of a wavering mind that does not yet have its own steady course. I will tell you, too, where this fickleness and unevenness of action and purpose come from. No one sets before himself what he wants; or if he has, he does not stick to it, but jumps to something else. And he does not just change; he goes back and rolls back into things he had abandoned and condemned."},{"ref":"Letter 20.5–6","orig":"Itaque ut relinquam definitiones sapientiae veteres et totum complectar humanae vitae modum, hoc possum contentus esse: quid est sapientia? semper idem velle atque idem nolle. Licet illam exceptiunculam non adicias, ut rectum sit quod velis; non potest enim cuiquam idem semper placere nisi rectum. Nesciunt ergo homines quid velint nisi illo momento quo volunt; in totum nulli velle aut nolle decretum est; variatur cotidie iudicium et in contrarium vertitur ac plerisque agitur vita per lusum. Preme ergo quod coepisti, et fortasse perduceris aut ad summum aut eo quod summum nondum esse solus intellegas.","en":"So, leaving aside the ancient definitions of wisdom and embracing the whole scope of human life, I can be content with this. What is wisdom? Always wanting the same thing and always refusing the same thing. You need not even add that little proviso, that what you want must be right; for nothing but what is right can always please the same person. So people do not know what they want except at the moment they want it. No one has decided once and for all to want or not want. Judgement changes daily and turns into its opposite, and most people live life as a kind of game. So press on with what you have begun, and perhaps you will be brought either to the summit or to a point that only you understand is not yet the summit."},{"ref":"Letter 20.7–8","orig":"'Quid fiet' inquis 'huic turbae familiarium sine re familiari?' Turba ista cum a te pasci desierit, ipsa se pascet, aut quod tu beneficio tuo non potes scire, paupertatis scies: illa veros certosque amicos retinebit, discedet quisquis non te se aliud sequebatur. Non est autem vel ob hoc unum amanda paupertas, quod a quibus ameris ostendet? O quando ille veniet dies quo nemo in honorem tuum mentiatur! Huc ergo cogitationes tuae tendant, hoc cura, hoc opta, omnia alia vota deo remissurus, ut contentus sis temet ipso et ex te nascentibus bonis. Quae potest esse felicitas propior? Redige te ad parva ex quibus cadere non possis, idque ut libentius facias, ad hoc pertinebit tributum huius epistulae, quod statim conferam.","en":"\"What will become of this crowd of dependants,\" you say, \"without anything to maintain them?\" Once that crowd stops being fed by you, it will feed itself; or else you will learn from poverty what you cannot learn from your own generosity. Poverty will keep your true and sure friends; whoever was following not you but something else will go. Is poverty not worth loving for this one reason alone, that it will show you who loves you? Oh, when will that day come when no one lies to do you honour? So let your thoughts tend towards this, make this your concern, make this your wish, handing all other prayers back to God: that you be content with yourself and with the goods that come from you. What happiness could be nearer? Bring yourself down to small things from which you cannot fall. And so that you do this more willingly, the tax on this letter will bear on it; I will pay it at once."},{"ref":"Letter 20.9–10","orig":"Invideas licet, etiam nunc libenter pro me dependet Epicurus. 'Magnificentior, mihi crede, sermo tuus in grabatto videbitur et in panno; non enim dicentur tantum illa sed probabuntur.' Ego certe aliter audio quae dicit Demetrius noster, cum illum vidi nudum, quanto minus quam stramentis incubantem: non praeceptor veri sed testis est. 'Quid ergo? non licet divitias in sinu positas contemnere?' Quidni liceat? Et ille ingentis animi est qui illas circumfusas sibi, multum diuque miratus quod ad se venerint, ridet suasque audit magis esse quam sentit. Multum est non corrumpi divitiarum contubernio; magnus ille qui in divitîs pauper est.","en":"You may be jealous, but Epicurus is still happily paying on my behalf. \"Believe me, your words will seem more magnificent from a pallet and in rags; for then they will not just be spoken, they will be proved.\" I certainly listen differently to what our friend Demetrius says after I have seen him half-naked, lying on something less than straw: he is not a teacher of the truth but a witness to it. \"What then? Is it not allowed to despise riches when they are lying in one's lap?\" Of course it is. And he has a great spirit who, surrounded by riches, having wondered long and hard that they came to him, laughs, and hears rather than feels that they are his. It is a lot not to be corrupted by living with riches. He is a great man who is poor in the midst of riches."},{"ref":"Letter 20.11–12","orig":"'Nescio' inquis 'quomodo paupertatem iste laturus sit, si in illam inciderit.' Nec ego, Epicure, an gulus iste pauper contempturus sit divitias, si in illas inciderit; itaque in utroque mens aestimanda est inspiciendumque an ille paupertati indulgeat, an hic divitiis non indulgeat. Alioquin leve argumentum est bonae voluntatis grabattus aut pannus, nisi apparuit aliquem illa non necessitate pati sed malle. Ceterum magnae indolis est ad ista non properare tamquam meliora, sed praeparari tamquam ad facilia. Et sunt, Lucili, facilia; cum vero multum ante meditatus accesseris, iucunda quoque; inest enim illis, sine qua nihil est iucundum, securitas.","en":"\"I do not know,\" you say, \"how that man would bear poverty if he fell into it.\" Nor do I know, Epicurus, whether this poor man would despise riches if he fell into them. So in both cases we must weigh the mind, and look into whether the one is content with his poverty and whether the other is not indulging in his riches. Otherwise the pallet and the rags are weak proof of good will, unless it is clear that someone endures them not from necessity but by choice. But it is the sign of a great nature not to rush towards these things as if they were better, but to prepare for them as if they were easy. And they are easy, Lucilius. When you come to them after long reflection, they are even pleasant. For they contain the one thing without which nothing is pleasant: freedom from care."},{"ref":"Letter 20.13","orig":"Necessarium ergo iudico id quod tibi scripsi magnos viros saepe fecisse, aliquos dies interponere quibus nos imaginaria paupertate exerceamus ad veram; quod eo magis faciendum est quod deliciis permaduimus et omnia dura ac difficilia iudicamus. Potius excitandus e somno et vellicandus est animus admonendusque naturam nobis minimum constituisse. Nemo nascitur dives; quisquis exit in lucem iussus est lacte et panno esse contentus: ab his initiis nos regna non capiunt. Vale.","en":"So I judge it necessary to do what I wrote to you that great men have often done: to set aside some days on which we train for real poverty with imaginary poverty. This is all the more necessary because we have been soaked in luxury and consider everything hard and difficult. Rather, the mind must be roused from sleep and pinched, and reminded that nature has given us very little to need. No one is born rich. Everyone who comes into the light is told to be content with milk and a scrap of cloth. From such beginnings, kingdoms are not enough to hold us. Farewell."}],"21":[{"ref":"Letter 21.1–2","orig":"Cum istis tibi esse negotium iudicas de quibus scripseras? Maximum negotium tecum habes, tu tibi molestus es. Quid velis nescis, melius probas honesta quam sequeris, vides ubi sit posita felicitas sed ad illam pervenire non audes. Quid sit autem quod te impediat, quia parum ipse dispicis, dicam: magna esse haec existimas quae relicturus es, et cum proposuisti tibi illam securitatem ad quam transiturus es, retinet te huius vitae a qua recessurus es fulgor tamquam in sordida et obscura casurum. Erras, Lucili: ex hac vita ad illam ascenditur. Quod interest inter splendorem et lucem, cum haec certam originem habeat ac suam, ille niteat alieno, hoc inter hanc vitam et illam: haec fulgore extrinsecus veniente percussa est, crassam illi statim umbram faciet quisquis obstiterit: illa suo lumine illustris est. Studia te tua clarum et nobilem efficient.","en":"Do you think your trouble is with the people you wrote about? Your biggest trouble is with yourself: you are a nuisance to yourself. You do not know what you want. You approve of what is honourable more readily than you follow it. You see where happiness lies, but you do not dare to reach it. Since you do not see clearly enough yourself what is holding you back, I will tell you. You think the things you are about to leave behind are great, and when you set before yourself that freedom from care you are about to move to, the glitter of this life you are about to leave holds you back, as if you were going to fall into something squalid and dark. You are wrong, Lucilius: moving from this life to that one is a climb. The difference between glitter and light, that light has a sure source of its own while glitter shines with borrowed brightness, is the difference between this life and that one. This life is lit by a gleam that comes from outside, and anyone who stands in the way will at once cast a thick shadow over it. That life shines with its own light. Your studies will make you famous and noble."},{"ref":"Letter 21.3–4","orig":"Exemplum Epicuri referam. Cum Idomeneo scriberet et illum a vita speciosa ad fidelem stabilemque gloriam revocaret, regiae tunc potentiae ministrum et magna tractantem, 'si gloria' inquit 'tangeris, notiorem te epistulae meae facient quam omnia ista quae colis et propter quae coleris'. Numquid ergo mentitus est? quis Idomenea nosset nisi Epicurus illum litteris suis incidisset? Omnes illos megistanas et satrapas et regem ipsum ex quo Idomenei titulus petebatur oblivio alta suppressit. Nomen Attici perire Ciceronis epistulae non sinunt. Nihil illi profuisset gener Agrippa et Tiberius progener et Drusus Caesar pronepos; inter tam magna nomina taceretur nisi sibi Cicero illum applicuisset.","en":"I will give you the example of Epicurus. He was writing to Idomeneus, who was then a minister of royal power and handling great affairs, and trying to call him back from a showy life to a glory that is faithful and lasting. \"If you are moved by glory,\" he said, \"my letters will make you better known than all those things you court and for which you are courted.\" Did he lie? Who would know of Idomeneus if Epicurus had not engraved him in his letters? All those grandees and satraps, and the king himself from whom Idomeneus got his title, have been buried deep in oblivion. Cicero's letters do not allow the name of Atticus to perish. It would have done him no good to have Agrippa as his son-in-law, Tiberius as the husband of his granddaughter, and Drusus Caesar as his great-grandson; among such great names he would not be mentioned if Cicero had not attached him to himself."},{"ref":"Letter 21.5–6","orig":"Profunda super nos altitudo temporis veniet, pauca ingenia caput exserent et in idem quandoque silentium abitura oblivioni resistent ac se diu vindicabunt. Quod Epicurus amico suo potuit promittere, hoc tibi promitto, Lucili: habebo apud posteros gratiam, possum mecum duratura nomina educere. Vergilius noster duobus memoriam aeternam promisit et praestat: fortunati ambo! si quid mea carmina possunt, nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo, dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit. Quoscumque in medium fortuna protulit, quicumque membra ac partes alienae potentiae fuerant, horum gratia viguit, domus frequentata est, dum ipsi steterunt: post ipsos cito memoria defecit. Ingeniorum crescit dignatio nec ipsis tantum honor habetur, sed quidquid illorum memoriae adhaesit excipitur.","en":"The deep flood of time will roll over us. A few minds will lift their heads above it, and though they too will one day pass into the same silence, they will resist oblivion and keep themselves alive for a long time. What Epicurus could promise his friend, I promise you, Lucilius: I will find favour with those who come after, and I can take names with me that will last. Our Virgil promised, and delivers, eternal memory to two men: \"Fortunate pair! If my songs have any power, no day will ever remove you from the memory of time, as long as the house of Aeneas dwells by the Capitol's unmoving rock and the Roman father holds his power.\" Whenever fortune has brought people into the public eye, whenever they have been limbs and parts of someone else's power, their influence has flourished and their houses have been crowded only while they themselves stood. After them, the memory of them has quickly failed. But the esteem of great minds grows, and honour is paid not only to them: whatever has attached itself to their memory is taken up too."},{"ref":"Letter 21.7–8","orig":"Ne gratis Idomeneus in epistulam meam venerit, ipse eam de suo redimet. Ad hunc Epicurus illam nobilem sententiam scripsit qua hortatur ut Pythoclea locupletem non publica nec ancipiti via faciat. 'Si vis' inquit 'Pythoclea divitem facere, non pecuniae adiciendum sed cupiditati detrahendum est.' Et apertior ista sententia est quam ut interpretanda sit, et disertior quam ut adiuvanda. Hoc unum te admoneo, ne istud tantum existimes de divitîs dictum: quocumque transtuleris, idem poterit. Si vis Pythoclea honestum facere, non honoribus adiciendum est sed cupiditatibus detrahendum; si vis Pythoclea esse in perpetua voluptate, non voluptatibus adiciendum est sed cupiditatibus detrahendum; si vis Pythoclea senem facere et implere vitam, non annis adiciendum est sed cupiditatibus detrahendum.","en":"So that Idomeneus has not come into my letter for nothing, he will pay for it out of his own pocket. It was to him that Epicurus wrote that famous saying in which he urges him to make Pythocles rich, but not by the usual, risky route. \"If you want to make Pythocles rich,\" he says, \"do not add to his money, but take away from his desires.\" This saying is too clear to need explaining and too well put to need improving. I warn you of only one thing: do not think this was said only about riches. Wherever you apply it, it will have the same force. If you want to make Pythocles honoured, do not add to his honours but take away from his desires. If you want Pythocles to have unending pleasure, do not add to his pleasures but take away from his desires. If you want to make Pythocles an old man and fill his life, do not add to his years but take away from his desires."},{"ref":"Letter 21.9–10","orig":"Has voces non est quod Epicuri esse iudices: publicae sunt. Quod fieri in senatu solet faciendum ego in philosophia quoque existimo: cum censuit aliquis quod ex parte mihi placeat, iubeo illum dividere sententiam et sequor quod probo. Eo libentius Epicuri egregia dicta commemoro, ut istis qui ad illum confugiunt spe mala inducti, qui velamentum ipsos vitiorum suorum habituros existimant, probent quocumque ierint honeste esse vivendum. Cum adieris eius hortulos et inscriptum hortulis 'HOSPES HIC BENE MANEBIS, HIC SVMMVM BONVM VOLVPTAS EST' paratus erit istius domicilii custos hospitalis, humanus, et te polenta excipiet et aquam quoque large ministrabit et dicet, 'ecquid bene acceptus es?' 'Non irritant' inquit 'hi hortuli famem sed exstinguunt, nec maiorem ipsis potionibus sitim faciunt, sed naturali et gratuito remedio sedant; in hac voluptate consenui.'","en":"There is no reason to think that these sayings belong to Epicurus: they are public property. I think we should do in philosophy what is usually done in the Senate: when someone has proposed a motion that I partly like, I ask him to divide it, and I vote for the part I approve. I am all the more glad to quote Epicurus' excellent sayings so that those who run to him with bad intentions, thinking they will have a cover for their vices, may see that wherever they go they must live honourably. When you come to his garden and see the words written there, \"STRANGER, YOU WILL DO WELL TO STAY HERE; HERE THE HIGHEST GOOD IS PLEASURE\", the keeper of that house will be ready for you, hospitable and kind. He will welcome you with barley porridge and serve you plenty of water too, and say, \"Have you not been well received?\" \"These gardens,\" he says, \"do not stir up hunger but satisfy it. They do not make thirst greater by the very drinks they give, but quench it with a natural remedy that costs nothing. It is in this pleasure that I have grown old.\""},{"ref":"Letter 21.11","orig":"De his tecum desideriis loquor quae consolationem non recipiunt, quibus dandum est aliquid ut desinant. Nam de illis extraordinariis quae licet differre, licet castigare et opprimere, hoc unum commonefaciam: ista voluptas naturalis est, non necessaria. Huic nihil debes; si quid impendis, voluntarium est. Venter praecepta non audit: poscit, appellat. Non est tamen molestus creditor: parvo dimittitur, si modo das illi quod debes, non quod potes. Vale.","en":"I am talking to you about the desires that will not accept consolation, that must be given something to make them stop. As for the extraordinary ones, which can be put off, rebuked and suppressed, I will remind you of this one thing: that pleasure is natural, not necessary. You owe it nothing; anything you spend on it is by choice. The belly does not listen to advice: it demands, it presses its claim. Yet it is not a troublesome creditor. It can be sent away with a little, provided you give it what you owe, not what you can. Farewell."}],"22":[{"ref":"Letter 22.1–2","orig":"Iam intellegis educendum esse te ex istis occupationibus speciosis et malis, sed quomodo id consequi possis quaeris. Quaedam non nisi a praesente monstrantur; non potest medicus per epistulas cibi aut balinei tempus eligere: vena tangenda est. Vetus proverbium est gladiatorem in harena capere consilium: aliquid adversarii vultus, aliquid manus mota, aliquid ipsa inclinatio corporis intuentem monet. Quid fieri soleat, quid oporteat, in universum et mandari potest et scribi; tale consilium non tantum absentibus, etiam posteris datur: illud alterum, quando fieri debeat aut quemadmodum, ex longinquo nemo suadebit, cum rebus ipsis deliberandum est.","en":"You understand by now that you must get yourself out of those showy and harmful occupations of yours, but you ask how you can do it. Some things can only be shown by someone who is present. A doctor cannot choose the time for eating or bathing by letter; he has to feel the pulse. There is an old saying that the gladiator makes his plan in the arena: something in the opponent's face, something in the movement of his hand, even the very lean of his body warns the one who watches closely. What is generally done, and what ought to be done, can be passed on and written down in general terms. Such advice is given not only to those who are absent but even to future generations. But the other question, when or how something should be done, no one will advise on from a distance; it must be decided in the face of the facts themselves."},{"ref":"Letter 22.3","orig":"Non tantum praesentis sed vigilantis est occasionem observare properantem; itaque hanc circumspice, hanc si videris prende, et toto impetu, totis viribus id age ut te istis officiis exuas. Et quidem quam sententiam feram attende: censeo aut ex ista vita tibi aut e vita exeundum. Sed idem illud existimo, leni eundum via, ut quod male implicuisti solvas potius quam abrumpas, dummodo, si alia solvendi ratio non erit, vel abrumpas. Nemo tam timidus est ut malit semper pendere quam semel cadere.","en":"You must not only be present but alert to watch for an opportunity as it hurries by. So look around for it, and when you see it, seize it, and with all your drive and all your strength work to strip yourself of those duties. And listen to the verdict I give: I think you must leave either that life or life itself. But I also think you should go gently, so that you untie rather than break what you have badly entangled, provided that, if there is no other way to untie it, you break it. No one is so timid that he would rather hang in suspense for ever than fall once."},{"ref":"Letter 22.4–5","orig":"Interim, quod primum est, impedire te noli; contentus esto negotiis in quae descendisti, vel, quod videri mavis, incidisti. Non est quod ad ulteriora nitaris, aut perdes excusationem et apparebit te non incidisse. Ista enim quae dici solent falsa sunt: 'non potui aliter. Quid si nollem? necesse erat.' Nulli necesse est felicitatem cursu sequi: est aliquid, etiam si non repugnare, subsistere nec instare fortunae ferenti. Numquid offenderis si in consilium non venio tantum sed advoco, et quidem prudentiores quam ipse sum, ad quos soleo deferre si quid delibero? Epicuri epistulam ad hanc rem pertinentem lege, Idomeneo quae inscribitur, quem rogat ut quantum potest fugiat et properet, antequam aliqua vis maior interveniat et auferat libertatem recedendi.","en":"Meanwhile, and this comes first, do not tie yourself up any further. Be content with the business you have gone down into, or, as you would rather it appeared, fallen into. There is no reason to struggle on towards anything further, or you will lose your excuse and it will be clear that you did not fall into it. The things people usually say are false: \"I could not do otherwise. What if I didn't want to? I had to.\" No one has to chase success at a run. It is something, even if you do not fight fortune, to stand still and not press on when she carries you along. Will you be offended if I not only come to give advice but call in others to advise, people wiser than I am, to whom I usually refer anything I am considering? Read Epicurus' letter on this subject, the one addressed to Idomeneus. He asks him to flee as fast as he can and to hurry, before some greater force intervenes and takes away his freedom to withdraw."},{"ref":"Letter 22.6–7","orig":"Idem tamen subicit nihil esse temptandum nisi cum apte poterit tempestiveque temptari; sed cum illud tempus captatum diu venerit, exsiliendum ait. Dormitare de fuga cogitantem vetat et sperat salutarem etiam ex difficillimis exitum, si nec properemus ante tempus nec cessemus in tempore. Puto, nunc et Stoicam sententiam quaeris. Non est quod quisquam illos apud te temeritatis infamet: cautiores quam fortiores sunt. Exspectas forsitan ut tibi haec dicant: 'turpe est cedere oneri; luctare cum officio quod semel recepisti. Non est vir fortis ac strenuus qui laborem fugit, nisi crescit illi animus ipsa rerum difficultate.'","en":"But he also adds that nothing should be attempted except when it can be attempted suitably and at the right time. But when that long-awaited moment arrives, he says, one must leap out. He forbids anyone who is thinking of escape to doze, and he hopes for a safe way out even from the most difficult situations, as long as we neither hurry before the time nor hang back when the time comes. Now, I suppose, you want the Stoic view too. There is no reason for anyone to accuse them of rashness in your eyes: they are more cautious than brave. Perhaps you expect them to say to you: \"It is shameful to give way under a burden. Wrestle with the duty you have once taken on. A man is not brave and energetic if he runs from hard work, unless his spirit grows in the very face of difficulties.\""},{"ref":"Letter 22.8","orig":"Dicentur tibi ista, si operae pretium habebit perseverantia, si nihil indignum bono viro faciendum patiendumve erit; alioqui sordido se et contumelioso labore non conteret nec in negotiis erit negotii causa. Ne illud quidem quod existimas facturum eum faciet, ut ambitiosis rebus implicitus semper aestus earum ferat; sed cum viderit gravia in quibus volutatur, incerta, ancipitia, referet pedem, non vertet terga, sed sensim recedet in tutum.","en":"That is what you will be told, if perseverance is going to be worth the effort, if nothing unworthy of a good man will have to be done or suffered. Otherwise he will not wear himself out in degrading and humiliating labour, nor will he be busy for the sake of being busy. Nor will he even do what you think he will do, and, once entangled in ambitious affairs, go on bearing their heat and turmoil for ever. When he sees how heavy, uncertain and dangerous the things he is rolling about in are, he will step back. He will not turn tail, but will withdraw little by little to safety."},{"ref":"Letter 22.9–10","orig":"Facile est autem, mi Lucili, occupationes evadere, si occupationum pretia contempseris; illa sunt quae nos morantur et detinent. 'Quid ergo? tam magnas spes relinquam? ab ipsa messe discedam? nudum erit latus, incomitata lectica, atrium vacuum?' Ab his ergo inviti homines recedunt et mercedem miseriarum amant, ipsas exsecrantur. Sic de ambitione quo modo de amica queruntur, id est, si verum affectum eorum inspicias, non oderunt sed litigant. Excute istos qui quae cupiere deplorant et de earum rerum loquuntur fuga quibus carere non possunt, videbis voluntariam esse illis in eo moram quod aegre ferre ipsos et misere loquuntur.","en":"And it is easy, my Lucilius, to escape from business, if you despise the rewards of business. They are what hold us back and keep us there. \"What then? Am I to leave such great hopes behind? Walk away just as the harvest comes in? Will there be no one at my side, no escort for my litter, an empty entrance hall?\" These are the things people reluctantly withdraw from. They love the wages of their misery while cursing the misery itself. They complain about ambition as they complain about a mistress; that is, if you look at their true feelings, they do not hate it, they are just quarrelling with it. Shake out those people who lament what they have longed for and talk about escaping things they cannot do without. You will see that they are staying of their own free will in the situation they say they find hard and wretched."},{"ref":"Letter 22.11–12","orig":"Ita est, Lucili: paucos servitus, plures servitutem tenent. Sed si deponere illam in animo est et libertas bona fide placuit, in hoc autem unum advocationem petis, ut sine perpetua sollicitudine id tibi facere contingat, quidni tota te cohors Stoicorum probatura sit? omnes Zenones et Chrysippi moderata, honesta, tua suadebunt. Sed si propter hoc tergiversaris, ut circumaspicias quantum feras tecum et quam magna pecunia instruas otium, numquam exitum invenies: nemo cum sarcinis enatat. Emerge ad meliorem vitam propitiis diis, sed non sic quomodo istis propitii sunt quibus bono ac benigno vultu mala magnifica tribuerunt, ob hoc unum excusati, quod ista quae urunt, quae excruciant, optantibus data sunt.","en":"That is how it is, Lucilius: slavery holds on to a few people, but many more hold on to slavery. But if you really mean to lay it down, and if freedom truly appeals to you, and the only reason you are asking for advice is so that you can do it without constant anxiety, why should the whole company of Stoics not approve of you? All the Zenos and Chrysippuses will advise you to do what is moderate, honourable and right for you. But if you are hanging back so that you can look around to see how much you can take with you and how large a fortune you can furnish your leisure with, you will never find a way out. No one swims to shore with his luggage. Rise to a better life with the gods' favour, but not with the kind of favour they show to those on whom, with kind and gracious faces, they have bestowed magnificent evils, excused only because the things that burn and torture them were given at their own request."},{"ref":"Letter 22.13–15","orig":"Iam imprimebam epistulae signum: resolvenda est, ut cum sollemni ad te munusculo veniat et aliquam magnificam vocem ferat secum; et occurrit mihi ecce nescio utrum verior an eloquentior. 'Cuius?' inquis. Epicuri; adhuc enim alienas sarcinas adoro: 'nemo non ita exit e vita tamquam modo intraverit'. Quemcumque vis occupa, adulescentem, senem, medium: invenies aeque timidum mortis, aeque inscium vitae. Nemo quicquam habet facti; in futurum enim nostra distulimus. Nihil me magis in ista voce delectat quam quod exprobratur senibus infantia. 'Nemo' inquit 'aliter quam quomodo natus est exit e vita.' Falsum est: peiores morimur quam nascimur. Nostrum istud, non naturae vitium est. Illa nobiscum queri debet et dicere, 'quid hoc est? sine cupiditatibus vos genui, sine timoribus, sine superstitione, sine perfidia ceterisque pestibus: quales intrastis exite'.","en":"I was already pressing my seal on this letter, but it must be opened again, so that it can come to you with its customary little gift and carry some splendid saying with it. And look, one occurs to me; I do not know whether it is more true or more eloquent. \"Whose?\" you ask. Epicurus'; for I am still adoring other people's baggage. \"Everyone leaves life as if he had only just come in.\" Take anyone you like, young, old, middle-aged: you will find him equally afraid of death, equally ignorant of life. No one has anything finished, because we have put everything off into the future. Nothing in this saying delights me more than the charge that old men are still infants. \"No one,\" he says, \"leaves life otherwise than as he was born.\" That is false: we die worse than we are born. That is our fault, not nature's. Nature should complain about us and say: \"What is this? I brought you into the world without desires, without fears, without superstition, without treachery and the other plagues. Leave as you came in.\""},{"ref":"Letter 22.16–17","orig":"Percepit sapientiam, si quis tam securus moritur quam nascitur; nunc vero trepidamus cum periculum accessit, non animus nobis, non color constat, lacrimae nihil profuturae cadunt. Quid est turpius quam in ipso limine securitatis esse sollicitum? Causa autem haec est, quod inanes omnium bonorum sumus, vitae iactura laboramus. Non enim apud nos pars eius ulla subsedit: transmissa est et effluxit. Nemo quam bene vivat sed quam diu curat, cum omnibus possit contingere ut bene vivant, ut diu nulli. Vale.","en":"A man has grasped wisdom if he dies as free from care as he was born. But as it is, we tremble when danger comes near; our courage fails, our colour fails, and tears fall that will do no good. What is more shameful than to be anxious on the very threshold of peace? The reason is this: we are empty of all good things, and we suffer from the loss of life. For no part of it has stayed with us; it has passed through and drained away. No one cares how well he lives, only how long, although everyone can manage to live well, and no one can manage to live long. Farewell."}],"23":[{"ref":"Letter 23.1–2","orig":"Putas me tibi scripturum quam humane nobiscum hiemps gerit, quae et remissa fuit et brevis, quam malignum ver sit, quam praeposterum frigus, et alias ineptias verba quaerentium? Ego vero aliquid quod et mihi et tibi prodesse possit scribam. Quid autem id erit nisi ut te exhorter ad bonam mentem? Huius fundamentum quod sit quaeris? ne gaudeas vanis. Fundamentum hoc esse dixi: culmen est. Ad summa pervenit qui scit quo gaudeat, qui felicitatem suam in aliena potestate non posuit; sollicitus est et incertus sui quem spes aliqua proritat, licet ad manum sit, licet non ex difficili petatur, licet numquam illum sperata deceperint.","en":"Do you think I am going to write to you about how kindly the winter has treated us, which was both mild and short, or how grudging the spring is, how unseasonable the cold, and the other trivia of people hunting for something to say? No, I will write something that can do both you and me some good. And what will that be, except to urge you towards a good mind? You ask what its foundation is? Not to rejoice in empty things. I said this is the foundation: it is the summit. The man who has reached the top is the one who knows what to rejoice in, who has not put his happiness in someone else's power. Anyone who is spurred on by some hope is anxious and unsure of himself, even if what he hopes for is within reach, even if it is not hard to get, even if his hopes have never let him down."},{"ref":"Letter 23.3–4","orig":"Hoc ante omnia fac, mi Lucili: disce gaudere. Existimas nunc me detrahere tibi multas voluptates qui fortuita summoveo, qui spes, dulcissima oblectamenta, devitandas existimo? immo contra nolo tibi umquam deesse laetitiam. Volo illam tibi domi nasci: nascitur si modo intra te ipsum fit. Ceterae hilaritates non implent pectus; frontem remittunt, leves sunt, nisi forte tu iudicas eum gaudere qui ridet: animus esse debet alacer et fidens et supra omnia erectus. Mihi crede, verum gaudium res severa est. An tu existimas quemquam soluto vultu et, ut isti delicati loquuntur, hilariculo mortem contemnere, paupertati domum aperire, voluptates tenere sub freno, meditari dolorum patientiam? Haec qui apud se versat in magno gaudio est, sed parum blando. In huius gaudii possessione esse te volo: numquam deficiet, cum semel unde petatur inveneris.","en":"Above all, my Lucilius, do this: learn how to rejoice. Do you now think I am taking many pleasures away from you, since I remove the gifts of chance and think that hopes, those sweetest delights, should be avoided? On the contrary, I never want you to lack happiness. I want it to be born at home for you, and it is born there if only it is made within you. Other kinds of cheerfulness do not fill the heart. They smooth the brow; they are shallow; unless perhaps you think that someone who laughs is rejoicing. The mind must be eager and confident and raised above everything. Believe me, real joy is a serious thing. Or do you think anyone can despise death, open his house to poverty, keep his pleasures in check and practise enduring pain with a relaxed face and, as those fastidious people say, a little merry one? Whoever turns these things over in his mind is full of joy, but not a joy that flatters. I want you to possess this joy. It will never run out, once you have found where it comes from."},{"ref":"Letter 23.5–6","orig":"Levium metallorum fructus in summo est: illa opulentissima sunt quorum in alto latet vena assidue plenius responsura fodienti. Haec quibus delectatur vulgus tenuem habent ac perfusoriam voluptatem, et quodcumque invecticium gaudium est fundamento caret: hoc de quo loquor, ad quod te conor perducere, solidum est et quod plus pateat introrsus. Fac, oro te, Lucili carissime, quod unum potest praestare felicem: dissice et conculca ista quae extrinsecus splendent, quae tibi promittuntur ab alio vel ex alio; ad verum bonum specta et de tuo gaude. Quid est autem hoc 'de tuo'? te ipso et tui optima parte. Corpusculum bonum esse credideris: veri boni aviditas tuta est.","en":"Mines of cheap metals yield their product near the surface. The richest ones are those whose vein lies hidden deep down and will answer the one who keeps digging with ever greater abundance. The things the crowd enjoys give a thin, superficial pleasure, and any joy that is brought in from outside has no foundation. The joy I am talking about, the one I am trying to lead you to, is solid, and it opens out more the further in you go. Please, dearest Lucilius, do the one thing that can make you happy: throw aside and trample on those things that glitter on the outside, that are promised to you by someone else or from something else. Look to the true good, and rejoice in what is your own. And what is \"your own\"? Yourself, and the best part of you. As for the poor body ... (a few lines are missing from the Latin text here) ... something you believe to be good. But the hunger for the true good is safe."},{"ref":"Letter 23.7–8","orig":"Quod sit istud interrogas, aut unde subeat? Dicam: ex bona conscientia, ex honestis consiliis, ex rectis actionibus, ex contemptu fortuitorum, ex placido vitae et continuo tenore unam prementis viam. Nam illi qui ex aliis propositis in alia transiliunt aut ne transiliunt quidem sed casu quodam transmittuntur, quomodo habere quicquam certum mansurumve possunt suspensi et vagi? Pauci sunt qui consilio se suaque disponant: ceteri, eorum more quae fluminibus innatant, non eunt sed feruntur; ex quibus alia lenior unda detinuit ac mollius vexit, alia vehementior rapuit, alia proxima ripae cursu languescente deposuit, alia torrens impetus in mare eiecit. Ideo constituendum est quid velimus et in eo perseverandum.","en":"Do you ask what that true good is, or where it comes from? I will tell you. It comes from a good conscience, from honourable plans, from right actions, from contempt for the gifts of chance, from a calm and steady course of life that treads one road. For those who jump from one purpose to another, or do not even jump but are carried across by some accident, how can they have anything sure or lasting when they are hanging in the air and wandering? There are few who order themselves and their affairs by a plan. The rest are like things floating in rivers: they do not go, they are carried. Some of them a gentler current has held back and carried along more softly; others a more violent one has swept away; some, as the flow slackened, it has set down near the bank; others a rushing torrent has hurled out into the sea. So we must decide what we want, and stick to it."},{"ref":"Letter 23.9–11","orig":"Hic est locus solvendi aeris alieni. Possum enim tibi vocem Epicuri tui reddere et hanc epistulam liberare: 'molestum est semper vitam inchoare'; aut si hoc modo magis sensus potest exprimi, 'male vivunt qui semper vivere incipiunt'. 'Quare?' inquis; desiderat enim explanationem ista vox. Quia semper illis imperfecta vita est; non potest autem stare paratus ad mortem qui modo incipit vivere. Id agendum est ut satis vixerimus: nemo hoc praestat qui orditur cum maxime vitam. Non est quod existimes paucos.esse hos: propemodum omnes sunt. Quidam vero tunc incipiunt cum desinendum est. Si hoc iudicas mirum, adiciam quod magis admireris: quidam ante vivere desierunt quam inciperent. Vale.","en":"This is the place to pay my debt. I can give you back a saying of your friend Epicurus and so release this letter from what it owes: \"It is tiresome always to be beginning life.\" Or, if the sense can be better expressed this way: \"Those who are always beginning to live live badly.\" \"Why?\" you ask; for the saying needs explaining. Because their life is always unfinished. And a man who is only just beginning to live cannot stand ready for death. We must make sure we have lived enough. No one achieves this who is only now setting up the loom of his life. Do not think these people are few: they are almost everyone. Some, indeed, begin just when they ought to be ending. If you find that surprising, I will add something that will surprise you more: some people have stopped living before they have begun. Farewell."}],"24":[{"ref":"Letter 24.1–2","orig":"Sollicitum esse te scribis de iudici eventu quod tibi furor inimici denuntiat; existimas me suasurum ut meliora tibi ipse proponas et acquiescas spei blandae. Quid enim necesse est mala accersere, satis cito patienda cum venerint praesumere, ac praesens tempus futuri metu perdere? Est sine dubio stultum, quia quandoque sis futurus miser, esse iam miserum. Sed ego alia te ad securitatem via ducam: si vis omnem sollicitudinem exuere, quidquid vereris ne eveniat eventurum utique propone, et quodcumque est illud malum, tecum ipse metire ac timorem tuum taxa: intelleges profecto aut non magnum aut non longum esse quod metuis.","en":"You write that you are worried about the outcome of a lawsuit that an enemy is threatening you with in his rage. You think I will advise you to picture a better outcome for yourself and rest in comforting hope. For why is it necessary to summon up troubles, to suffer in advance things that will have to be suffered soon enough when they come, and to waste the present in fear of the future? It is certainly foolish to be miserable now because you may be miserable some day. But I will lead you to peace of mind by another road. If you want to strip off all anxiety, assume that whatever you fear may happen will certainly happen. Whatever that evil is, measure it in your own mind and assess your fear. You will surely understand that what you fear is either not great or not long."},{"ref":"Letter 24.3","orig":"Nec diu exempla quibus confirmeris colligenda sunt: omnis illa aetas tulit. In quamcumque partem rerum vel civilium vel externarum memoriam miseris, occurrent tibi ingenia aut profectus aut impetus magni. Numquid accidere tibi, si damnaris, potest durius quam ut mittaris in exilium, ut ducaris in carcerem? Numquid ultra quicquam ulli timendum est quam ut uratur, quam ut pereat? Singula ista constitue et contemptores eorum cita, qui non quaerendi sed eligendi sunt.","en":"And you do not need to spend long gathering examples to strengthen you; every age has produced them. Whatever part of our own history or of foreign history you turn your mind to, you will come across characters that show either great progress or great drive. If you are condemned, can anything harsher happen to you than being sent into exile or taken to prison? Is there anything more that anyone need fear than being burned, or being killed? Set out each of these, and call up those who despised them. You do not have to search for them; you only have to choose."},{"ref":"Letter 24.4","orig":"Damnationem suam Rutilius sic tulit tamquam nihil illi molestum aliud esset quam quod male iudicaretur. Exilium Metellus fortiter tulit, Rutilius etiam libenter; alter ut rediret rei publicae praestitit, alter reditum suum Sullae negavit, cui nihil tunc negabatur. In carcere Socrates disputavit et exire, cum essent qui promitterent fugam, noluit remansitque, ut duarum rerum gravissimarum hominibus metum demeret, mortis et carceris.","en":"Rutilius bore his condemnation as if the only thing that troubled him was that the court judged badly. Metellus bore exile bravely, Rutilius even gladly. The one allowed himself to return for the sake of the state; the other refused to return for Sulla, to whom nothing was refused at that time. Socrates held discussions in prison, and though there were people who promised him escape, he refused to leave. He stayed, to take away from mankind the fear of the two most dreaded things, death and prison."},{"ref":"Letter 24.5","orig":"Mucius ignibus manum imposuit. Acerbum est uri: quanto acerbius si id te faciente patiaris! Vides hominem non eruditum nec ullis praeceptis contra mortem aut dolorem subornatum, militari tantum robore instructum, poenas a se irriti conatus exigentem; spectator destillantis in hostili foculo dexterae stetit nec ante removit nudis ossibus fluentem manum quam ignis illi ab hoste subductus est. Facere aliquid in illis castris felicius potuit, nihil fortius. Vide quanto acrior sit ad occupanda pericula virtus quam crudelitas ad irroganda: facilius Porsina Mucio ignovit quod voluerat occidere quam sibi Mucius quod non occiderat.","en":"Mucius put his hand in the fire. It is painful to be burned; how much more painful if you suffer it by your own act! You see a man without learning, not coached by any teachings against death or pain, equipped only with a soldier's toughness, punishing himself for a failed attempt. He stood and watched his right hand melting on the enemy's brazier, and he did not take away the dripping hand, its bones bare, until the enemy took the fire away from him. He could have done something more successful in that camp, but nothing braver. See how much keener courage is to seize on danger than cruelty is to inflict it: Porsenna forgave Mucius for wanting to kill him more easily than Mucius forgave himself for not killing Porsenna."},{"ref":"Letter 24.6–7","orig":"'Decantatae' inquis 'in omnibus scholis fabulae istae sunt; iam mihi, cum ad contemnendam mortem ventum fuerit, Catonem narrabis.' Quidni ego narrem ultima illa nocte Platonis librum legentem posito ad caput gladio? Duo haec in rebus extremis instrumenta prospexerat, alterum ut vellet mori, alterum ut posset. Compositis ergo rebus, utcumque componi fractae atque ultimae poterant, id agendum existimavit ne cui Catonem aut occidere liceret aut servare contingeret; et stricto gladio quem usque in illum diem ab omni caede purum servaverat, 'nihil' inquit 'egisti, fortuna, omnibus conatibus meis obstando. Non pro mea adhuc sed pro patriae libertate pugnavi, nec agebam tanta pertinacia ut liber, sed ut inter liberos, viverem: nunc quoniam deploratae sunt res generis humani, Cato deducatur in tutum.'","en":"\"Those stories,\" you say, \"have been sung over and over in every school. Next, when we get to despising death, you will tell me about Cato.\" Why should I not tell of him reading a book of Plato's on that last night, with a sword laid by his head? He had provided these two tools for his last hour, one so that he would want to die, the other so that he could. So, having set his affairs in order, as far as broken and final affairs could be set in order, he thought he must make sure that no one would have the power to kill Cato or the luck to save him. Drawing the sword, which he had kept clean of all bloodshed until that day, he said: \"Fortune, you have achieved nothing by blocking all my efforts. I have fought until now not for my own freedom but for my country's, and I did not strive so stubbornly in order to live free, but to live among the free. Now, since the affairs of mankind are beyond hope, let Cato be led away to safety.\""},{"ref":"Letter 24.8–9","orig":"Impressit deinde mortiferum corpori vulnus; quo obligato a medicis cum minus sanguinis haberet, minus virium, animi idem, iam non tantum Caesari sed sibi iratus nudas in vulnus manus egit et generosum illum contemptoremque omnis potentiae spiritum non emisit sed eiecit. Non in hoc exempla nunc congero ut ingenium exerceam, sed ut te adversus id quod maxime terribile videtur exhorter; facilius autem exhortabor, si ostendero non fortes tantum viros hoc momentum efflandae animae contempsisse sed quosdam ad alia ignavos in hac re aequasse animum fortissimorum, sicut illum Cn. Pompei socerum Scipionem, qui contrario in Africam vento relatus cum teneri navem suam vidisset ab hostibus, ferro se transverberavit et quaerentibus ubi imperator esset, 'imperator' inquit 'se bene habet'.","en":"Then he dealt his body a fatal wound. When the doctors had bandaged it, though he had less blood and less strength, he had the same spirit. Angry now not only with Caesar but with himself, he drove his bare hands into the wound, and he did not let go of that noble spirit, which scorned all power: he threw it out. I am not piling up examples now to exercise my wit, but to encourage you against what seems most terrible. And I will encourage you more easily if I show that not only brave men have despised this moment of breathing out the soul, but that some who were cowardly in other respects have matched the courage of the bravest in this. Take Scipio, the father-in-law of Gnaeus Pompeius. Driven back to Africa by a contrary wind, he saw his ship being taken by the enemy. He ran himself through with his sword, and when people asked where the commander was, he said: \"The commander is doing well.\""},{"ref":"Letter 24.10–11","orig":"Vox haec illum parem maioribus fecit et fatalem Scipionibus in Africa gloriam non est interrumpi passa. Multum fuit Carthaginem vincere, sed amplius mortem. 'Imperator' inquit 'se bene habet': an aliter debebat imperator, et quidem Catonis, mori? Non revoco te ad historias nec ex omnibus saeculis contemptores mortis, qui sunt plurimi, colligo; respice ad haec nostra tempora, de quorum languore ac delicis querimur: omnis ordinis homines suggerent, omnis fortunae, omnis aetatis, qui mala sua morte praeciderint. Mihi crede, Lucili, adeo mors timenda non est ut beneficio eius nihil timendum sit.","en":"Those words made him equal to his ancestors and did not allow the glory destined for the Scipios in Africa to be broken off. It was a great thing to conquer Carthage, but a greater thing to conquer death. \"The commander is doing well.\" Should a commander, and Cato's commander at that, have died in any other way? I am not calling you back to history, nor collecting from every age those who have despised death, who are very many. Look at these times of ours, whose softness and luxury we complain about: they will supply people of every rank, every fortune and every age who have cut short their troubles by death. Believe me, Lucilius, death is so far from being something to fear that, thanks to it, nothing is to be feared."},{"ref":"Letter 24.12–13","orig":"Securus itaque inimici minas audi; et quamvis conscientia tibi tua fiduciam faciat, tamen, quia multa extra causam valent, et quod aequissimum est spera et ad id te quod est iniquissimum compara. Illud autem ante omnia memento, demere rebus tumultum ac videre quid in quaque re sit: scies nihil esse in istis terribile nisi ipsum timorem. Quod vides accidere pueris, hoc nobis quoque maiusculis pueris evenit: illi quos amant, quibus assueverunt, cum quibus ludunt, si personatos vident, expavescunt: non hominibus tantum sed rebus persona demenda est et reddenda facies sua.","en":"So listen to your enemy's threats without worry. And although your conscience gives you confidence, still, since many things outside the merits of the case carry weight, hope for what is most fair and prepare yourself for what is most unfair. Above all, remember this: strip things of their uproar and see what is in each of them. You will learn that there is nothing terrible in them except fear itself. What you see happen to children happens to us too, who are only slightly bigger children. If they see the people they love, whom they are used to, whom they play with, wearing masks, they are terrified. The mask must be taken off not only people but things, and their true face given back to them."},{"ref":"Letter 24.14","orig":"Quid mihi gladios et ignes ostendis et turbam carnificum circa te frementem? Tolle istam pompam sub qua lates et stultos territas: mors es, quam nuper servus meus, quam ancilla contempsit. Quid tu rursus mihi flagella et eculeos magno apparatu explicas? quid singulis articulis singula machinamenta quibus extorqueantur aptata et mille alia instrumenta excarnificandi particulatim hominis? Pone ista quae nos obstupefaciunt; iube conticiscere gemitus et exclamationes et vocum inter lacerationem elisarum acerbitatem: nempe dolor es, quem podagricus ille contemnit, quem stomachicus ille in ipsis delicis perfert, quem in puerperio puella perpetitur. Levis es si ferre possum; brevis es si ferre non possum.","en":"Why do you show me swords and fire and a crowd of executioners roaring around you? Take away that parade you hide behind and scare fools with. You are death, which my slave, which my maid recently despised. Why do you once again spread out before me whips and racks with great ceremony? Why the machines fitted one to each joint to wrench it apart, and a thousand other tools for butchering a person piece by piece? Put away those things that stun us. Order the groans and shrieks to fall silent, and the harsh cries forced out under torture. You are pain, of course, which that man with gout despises, which that man with a bad stomach endures in the midst of his delicacies, which the young girl endures in childbirth. You are light if I can bear you; you are short if I cannot."},{"ref":"Letter 24.15–16","orig":"Haec in animo voluta, quae saepe audisti, saepe dixisti; sed an vere audieris, an vere dixeris, effectu proba; hoc enim turpissimum est quod nobis obici solet, verba nos philosophiae, non opera tractare. Quid? tu nunc primum tibi mortem imminere scisti, nunc exilium, nunc dolorem? in haec natus es; quidquid fieri potest quasi futurum cogitemus. Quod facere te moneo scio certe fecisse: nunc admoneo ut animum tuum non mergas in istam sollicitudinem; hebetabitur enim et minus habebit vigoris cum exsurgendum erit. Abduc illum a privata causa ad publicam; dic mortale tibi et fragile corpusculum esse, cui non ex iniuria tantum aut ex potentioribus viribus denuntiabitur dolor: ipsae voluptates in tormenta vertuntur, epulae cruditatem afferunt, ebrietates nervorum torporem tremoremque, libidines pedum, manuum, articulorum omnium depravationes.","en":"Turn these things over in your mind. You have often heard them and often said them, but prove by results whether you truly heard them and truly said them. For the most shameful charge that is usually made against us is that we deal in the words of philosophy, not its deeds. What? Is this the first time you have learned that death threatens you, or exile, or pain? You were born to these things. Let us think of whatever can happen as something that will happen. What I am advising you to do, I know you have certainly done. Now I advise you not to drown your mind in this anxiety of yours; for it will be dulled and will have less energy when it is time to rise up. Lead it away from your private case to the case of all mankind. Tell yourself that you have a mortal and fragile body, which will be threatened with pain not only by injury or by the power of the stronger. Pleasures themselves turn into torments: feasts bring indigestion, drinking bouts bring numbness and trembling of the muscles, and lusts bring deformities of the feet, the hands and every joint."},{"ref":"Letter 24.17–18","orig":"Pauper fiam: inter plures ero. Exul fiam: ibi me natum putabo quo mittar. Alligabor: quid enim? nunc solutus sum? ad hoc me natura grave corporis mei pondus adstrinxit. Moriar: hoc dicis, desinam aegrotare posse, desinam alligari posse, desinam mori posse. Non sum tam ineptus ut Epicuream cantilenam hoc loco persequar et dicam vanos esse inferorum metus, nec Ixionem rota volvi nec saxum umeris Sisyphi trudi in adversum nec ullius viscera et renasci posse cotidie et carpi: nemo tam puer est ut Cerberum timeat et tenebras et larvalem habitum nudis ossibus cohaerentium. Mors nos aut consumit aut exuit; emissis meliora restant onere detracto, consumptis nihil restat, bona pariter malaque summota sunt.","en":"I shall become poor: I shall be among the majority. I shall be exiled: I shall consider myself born in the place I am sent to. I shall be put in chains: so what? Am I free now? Nature has bound me to this heavy weight of my body. I shall die: that is to say, I shall stop being able to fall ill, stop being able to be chained, stop being able to die. I am not so silly as to keep repeating the Epicurean refrain at this point and say that the terrors of the underworld are empty, that Ixion is not whirled round on his wheel, that no rock is pushed uphill on Sisyphus' shoulders, that no one's innards can be reborn and devoured every day. No one is such a child as to fear Cerberus and the darkness and the ghostly look of beings held together by bare bones. Death either consumes us or sets us free. If we are released, better things remain, once the burden is taken off. If we are consumed, nothing remains; good and bad alike are taken away."},{"ref":"Letter 24.19–20","orig":"Permitte mihi hoc loco referre versum tuum, si prius admonuero ut te iudices non aliis scripsisse ista sed etiam tibi. Turpe est aliud loqui, aliud sentire: quanto turpius aliud scribere, aliud sentire! Memini te illum locum aliquando tractasse, non repente nos in mortem incidere sed minutatim procedere. Cotidie morimur; cotidie enim demitur aliqua pars vitae, et tunc quoque cum crescimus vita decrescit. Infantiam amisimus, deinde pueritiam, deinde adulescentiam. Usque ad hesternum quidquid trans;t temporis perit; hunc ipsum quem agimus diem cum morte dividimus. Quemadmodum clepsydram non extremum stilicidium exhaurit sed quidquid ante defluxit, sic ultima hora qua esse desinimus non sola mortem facit sed sola consummat; tunc ad illam pervenimus, sed diu venimus.","en":"Let me quote a line of yours here, once I have first reminded you to consider that you wrote those words not only for others but also for yourself. It is shameful to say one thing and think another; how much more shameful to write one thing and think another! I remember you once handling the idea that we do not fall into death suddenly, but move towards it little by little. We die every day. For every day some part of life is taken away, and even while we are growing, life is shrinking. We have lost our infancy, then our childhood, then our youth. All the time that has passed up to yesterday is lost; this very day that we are living we share with death. Just as it is not the last drop that empties the water clock but all that has flowed out before, so the last hour in which we cease to exist does not by itself make death, but by itself completes it. At that point we arrive at death, but we have been on our way for a long time."},{"ref":"Letter 24.21–22","orig":"Haec cum descripsisses quo soles ore, semper quidem magnus, numquam tamen acrior quam ubi veritati commodas verba, dixisti, mors non una venit, sed quae rapit ultima mors est. Malo te legas quam epistulam meam; apparebit enim tibi hanc quam timemus mortem extremam esse, non solam. Video quo spectes: quaeris quid huic epistulae infulserim, quod dictum alicuius animosum, quod praeceptum utile. Ex hac ipsa materia quae in manibus fuit mittetur aliquid. Obiurgat Epicurus non minus eos qui mortem concupiscunt quam eos qui timent, et ait: 'ridiculum est currere ad mortem taedio vitae, cum genere vitae ut currendum ad mortem esset effeceris'.","en":"When you had described this in your usual style, always impressive but never sharper than when you fit words to the truth, you said: \"Death does not come just once; the one that takes us is the last death.\" I would rather you read yourself than my letter; for it will become clear to you that this death we fear is the last, not the only one. I see what you are looking for: you want to know what I have slipped into this letter, what bold saying of someone's, what useful precept. You will be sent something on the very subject we have been handling. Epicurus rebukes those who long for death no less than those who fear it. He says: \"It is absurd to run towards death because you are tired of life, when it is your way of life that has made you run towards death.\""},{"ref":"Letter 24.23–25","orig":"Item alio loco dicit: 'quid tam ridiculum quam appetere mortem, cum vitam inquietam tibi feceris metu mortis?' His adicias et illud eiusdem notae licet, tantam hominum imprudentiam esse, immo dementiam, ut quidam timore mortis cogantur ad mortem. Quidquid horum tractaveris, confirmabis animum vel ad mortis vel ad vitae patientiam; in utrumque enim monendi ac firmandi sumus, et ne nimis amemus vitam et ne nimis oderimus. Etiam cum ratio suadet finire se, non temere nec cum procursu capiendus est impetus. Vir fortis ac sapiens non fugere debet e vita sed exire; et ante omnia ille quoque vitetur affectus qui multos occupavit, libido moriendi. Est enim, mi Lucili, ut ad alia, sic etiam ad moriendum inconsulta animi inclinatio, quae saepe generosos atque acerrimae indolis viros corripit, saepe ignavos iacentesque: illi contemnunt vitam, hi gravantur.","en":"And again, in another place, he says: \"What is so absurd as to seek death, when you have made your life restless through fear of death?\" To these you may add something else of the same sort: people are so foolish, or rather so mad, that some are driven to death by the fear of death. Whichever of these thoughts you handle, you will strengthen your mind to endure either death or life. For we need to be warned and strengthened in both directions, so that we neither love life too much nor hate it too much. Even when reason advises us to end our lives, we should not take the step rashly or in a headlong rush. A brave and wise man should not flee from life but walk out of it. And above all, let us avoid that feeling which has taken hold of many: the lust for death. For there is, my Lucilius, a thoughtless leaning of the mind towards death, as towards other things. It often seizes noble men of the keenest character, and often cowardly and spineless ones: the first despise life, the second find it a burden."},{"ref":"Letter 24.26","orig":"Quosdam subit eadem faciendi videndique satietas et vitae non odium sed fastidium, in quod prolabimur ipsa impellente philosophia, dum dicimus 'quousque eadem? nempe ex pergiscar dormiam, edam esuriam, algebo aestuabo. Nullius rei finis est, sed in orbem nexa sunt omnia, fugiunt ac sequuntur; diem nox premit, dies noctem, aestas in autumnum desinit, autumno hiemps instat, quae vere compescitur; omnia sic transeunt ut revertantur. Nihil novi facio, nihil novi video: fit aliquando et huius rei nausia.' Multi sunt qui non acerbum iudicent vivere sed supervacuum. Vale.","en":"Some people are overcome by boredom with doing and seeing the same things, and by a distaste for life rather than a hatred of it. We slide into this with philosophy itself pushing us, when we say: \"How long will it be the same things? I shall wake up, sleep, eat, be hungry, be cold, be hot. Nothing comes to an end. Everything is linked in a circle; things flee and follow. Night presses on day, day on night; summer ends in autumn, winter presses on autumn and is checked by spring. Everything passes only to return. I do nothing new, I see nothing new. Sooner or later even this becomes sickening.\" There are many who judge living not painful but pointless. Farewell."}],"25":[{"ref":"Letter 25.1–2","orig":"Quod ad duos amicos nostros pertinet, diversa via eundum est; alterius enim vitia emendanda, alterius frangenda sunt. Utar libertate tota: non amo illum nisi offendo. 'Quid ergo?' inquis 'quadragenarium pupillum cogitas sub tutela tua continere? Respice aetatem eius iam duram et intractabilem: non potest reformari; tenera finguntur.' An profecturus sim nescio: malo successum mihi quam fidem deesse. Nec desperaveris etiam diutinos aegros posse sanari, si contra intemperantiam steteris, si multa invitos et facere coegeris et pati. Ne de altero quidem satis fiduciae habeo, excepto eo quod adhuc peccare erubescit; nutriendus est hic pudor, qui quamdiu in animo eius duraverit, aliquis erit bonae spei locus. Cum hoc veterano parcius agendum puto, ne in desperationem sui veniat;","en":"As for our two friends, we must take different routes with them. The faults of one need correcting; the faults of the other need breaking. I shall use complete frankness: I do not love him unless I offend him. \"What then?\" you say. \"Do you intend to keep a forty-year-old ward under your guardianship? Think of his age, already hardened and unmanageable. He cannot be reshaped; only what is soft can be moulded.\" I do not know whether I shall succeed, but I would rather lack success than lack loyalty. And do not give up hope that even long-standing invalids can be cured, if you stand firm against their lack of self-control, and force them to do and suffer many things against their will. I am not very confident about the other one either, except that he still blushes when he does wrong. That shame must be nourished; as long as it lasts in his mind, there will be some room for good hope. With this veteran I think we must act more gently, so that he does not come to despair of himself."},{"ref":"Letter 25.3–4","orig":"nec ullum tempus aggrediendi fuit melius quam hoc, dum interquiescit, dum emendato similis est. Aliis haec intermissio eius imposuit, mihi verba non dat: exspecto cum magno fenore vitia reditura, quae nunc scio cessare, non deesse. Impendam huic rei dies et utrum possit aliquid agi an non possit experiar. Tu nobis te, ut facis, fortem praesta et sarcinas contrahe; nihil ex his quae habemus necessarium est. Ad legem naturae revertamur; divitiae paratae sunt. Aut gratuitum est quo egemus, aut vile: panem et aquam natura desiderat. Nemo ad haec pauper est, intra quae quisquis desiderium suum clusit cum ipso Iove de felicitate contendat, ut ait Epicurus, cuius aliquam vocem huic epistulae involvam.","en":"And there was never a better time to tackle him than now, while he is taking a rest and looks like a reformed man. This pause of his has fooled others, but it does not fool me. I expect his vices to come back with heavy interest; I know that they are resting now, not gone. I shall give time to this matter and find out whether something can be done or not. As for you, show yourself brave to us, as you are doing, and pack your bags. None of the things we have is necessary. Let us go back to the law of nature: then riches are ready to hand. What we need is either free or cheap. Nature wants bread and water. No one is poor in respect of these things. Whoever has confined his desire within these limits can compete with Jupiter himself for happiness, as Epicurus says. I shall wrap one of his sayings into this letter."},{"ref":"Letter 25.5–6","orig":"'Sic fac' inquit 'omnia tamquam spectet Epicurus.' Prodest sine dubio custodem sibi imposuisse et habere quem respicias, quem interesse cogitationibus tuis iudices. Hoc quidem longe magnificentius est, sic vivere tamquam sub alicuius boni viri ac semper praesentis oculis, sed ego etiam hoc contentus sum, ut sic facias quaecumque facies tamquam spectet aliquis: omnia nobis mala solitudo persuadet. Cum iam profeceris tantum ut sit tibi etiam tui reverentia, licebit dimittas paedagogum: interim aliquorum te auctoritate custodi - aut Cato ille sit aut Scipio aut Laelius aut alius cuius interventu perditi quoque homines vitia supprimerent, dum te efficis eum cum quo peccare non audeas. Cum hoc effeceris et aliqua coeperit apud te tui esse dignatio, incipiam tibi permittere quod idem suadet Epicurus: 'tunc praecipue in te ipse secede cum esse cogeris in turba'.","en":"\"Do everything,\" he says, \"as if Epicurus were watching.\" It certainly helps to set a guardian over yourself, and to have someone you can look to, someone you consider present in your thoughts. It is indeed far nobler to live as if under the eyes of some good man who is always present; but I am content even with this: that whatever you do, you do as if someone were watching. Loneliness persuades us to every evil. When you have made so much progress that you have respect even for yourself, you may dismiss your tutor. Meanwhile protect yourself with the authority of certain men, whether it is the famous Cato, or Scipio, or Laelius, or someone else whose arrival would make even ruined men check their vices, until you make yourself the kind of person in whose company you would not dare to do wrong. When you have done this and some self-respect has begun to grow in you, I shall begin to allow you what Epicurus also advises: \"Withdraw into yourself especially when you are forced to be in a crowd.\""},{"ref":"Letter 25.7","orig":"Dissimilem te fieri multis oportet, dum tibi tutum sit ad te recedere. Circumspice singulos: nemo est cui non satius sit cum quolibet esse quam secum. 'Tunc praecipue in te ipse secede cum esse cogeris in turba' - si bonus vir es, si quietus, si temperans. Alioquin in turbam tibi a te recedendum est: istic malo viro propius es. Vale.","en":"You must make yourself unlike the many, until it is safe for you to withdraw into yourself. Look around at individuals: there is no one who would not be better off with anyone at all than with himself. \"Withdraw into yourself especially when you are forced to be in a crowd\": that is, if you are a good man, a calm man, a self-controlled man. Otherwise, you must withdraw from yourself into the crowd: there you are further from a bad man. Farewell."}],"26":[{"ref":"Letter 26.1–2","orig":"Modo dicebam tibi in conspectu esse me senectutis: iam vereor ne senectutem post me reliquerim. Aliud iam his annis, certe huic corpori, vocabulum convenit, quoniam quidem senectus lassae aetatis, non fractae nomen est: inter decrepitos me numera et extrema tangentis. Gratias tamen mihi apud te ago: non sentio in animo aetatis iniuriam, cum sentiam in corpore. Tantum vitia et vitiorum ministeria senuerunt: viget animus et gaudet non multum sibi esse cum corpore; magnam partem oneris sui posuit. Exsultat et mihi facit controversiam de senectute: hunc ait esse florem suum. Credamus illi: bono suo utatur.","en":"I was telling you just now that I was within sight of old age. Now I fear I have left old age behind me. Some other word now fits these years of mine, or at least this body, since \"old age\" is the name for a time of life that is tired, not broken. Count me among the decrepit, those touching the very end. Still, I thank myself in your presence: I do not feel the harm of age in my mind, though I feel it in my body. Only my vices, and the things that serve my vices, have grown old. My mind is vigorous and glad that it has little to do with the body. It has put down a large part of its load. It leaps for joy and argues with me about old age: it says this is its time of flowering. Let us believe it: let it enjoy its own good."},{"ref":"Letter 26.3–4","orig":"Ire in cogitationem iubet et dispicere quid ex hac tranquillitate ac modestia morum sapientiae debeam, quid aetati, et diligenter excutere quae non possim facere, quae nolim, proinde habiturus atque si nolim quidquid non posse me gaudeo: quae enim querela est, quod incommodum, si quidquid debebat desinere defecit? 'Incommodum summum est' inquis 'minui et deperire et, ut proprie dicam, liquescere. Non enim subito impulsi ac prostrati sumus: carpimur, singuli dies aliquid subtrahunt viribus.' Ecquis exitus est melior quam in finem suum natura solvente dilabi? non quia aliquid mali ictus est et e vita repentinus excessus, sed quia lenis haec est via, subduci. Ego certe, velut appropinquet experimentum et ille laturus sententiam de omnibus annis meis dies venerit, ita me observo et alloquor:","en":"It tells me to think it over and work out what I owe to wisdom for this calm and moderation of character, and what I owe to age; and to examine carefully what I cannot do and what I do not want to do, and to treat whatever I am glad I cannot do as if I did not want to. For what cause is there for complaint, what harm is there, if whatever was bound to end has failed? \"The greatest harm,\" you say, \"is to diminish and waste away and, to put it exactly, melt. We are not suddenly struck and laid low: we are worn away, and each day takes something from our strength.\" Is there any better end than to slip away to one's own end as nature loosens us? Not because a sudden blow and departure from life is any evil, but because this way is gentle: being quietly withdrawn. For my part, as though the test were approaching, and the day had come that is to pass sentence on all my years, I watch myself and speak to myself like this:"},{"ref":"Letter 26.5–6","orig":"'nihil est' inquam 'adhuc quod aut rebus aut verbis exhibuimus; levia sunt ista et fallacia pignora animi multisque involuta lenociniis: quid profecerim morti crediturus sum. Non timide itaque componor ad illum diem quo remotis strophis ac fucis de me iudicaturus sum, utrum loquar fortia an sentiam, numquid simulatio fuerit et mimus quidquid contra fortunam iactavi verborum contumacium. Remove existimationem hominum: dubia semper est et in partem utramque dividitur. Remove studia tota vita tractata: mors de te pronuntiatura est. Ita dico: disputationes et litterata colloquia et ex praeceptis sapientium verba collecta et eruditus sermo non ostendunt verum robur animi; est enim oratio etiam timidissimis audax. Quid egeris tunc apparebit cum animam ages. Accipio condicionem, non reformido iudicium.'","en":"\"So far,\" I say, \"nothing we have shown in deeds or words counts. These are light and deceptive pledges of the mind, wrapped up in many enticements. I shall trust death to show what progress I have made. So I am getting ready without fear for that day on which, with the tricks and the make-up removed, I shall pass judgement on myself: whether I only speak bravely or truly feel so, whether all the defiant words I have hurled against fortune were pretence and play-acting. Set aside people's opinion: it is always doubtful and divided both ways. Set aside the studies you have pursued all your life: death is going to deliver its verdict on you. This is what I mean: debates and learned conversations, words gathered from the teachings of the wise, and educated talk do not show the true strength of the mind. For speech is bold even in the most timid. What you have done will become clear when you are breathing your last. I accept the terms; I do not dread the judgement.\""},{"ref":"Letter 26.7–9","orig":"Haec mecum loquor, sed tecum quoque me locutum puta. Iuvenior es: quid refert? non dinumerantur anni. Incertum est quo loco te mors exspectet; itaque tu illam omni loco exspecta. Desinere iam volebam et manus spectabat ad clausulam, sed conficienda sunt aera et huic epistulae viaticum dandum est. Puta me non dicere unde sumpturus sim mutuum: scis cuius arca utar. Exspecta me pusillum, et de domo fiet numeratio; interim commodabit Epicurus, qui ait 'meditare mortem', vel si commodius sic transire ad nos hic potest sensus: 'egregia res est mortem condiscere'. Supervacuum forsitan putas id discere quod semel utendum est. Hoc est ipsum quare meditari debeamus: semper discendum est quod an sciamus experiri non possumus.","en":"This is what I say to myself, but consider that I have said it to you too. You are younger: what does it matter? Years are not counted out in order. It is uncertain where death is waiting for you; so wait for it everywhere. I was about to stop, and my hand was already looking for the closing words, but the payment must be made, and this letter must be given money for the journey. Suppose I do not tell you where I am going to borrow from: you know whose strongbox I use. Wait a little for me, and the payment will be made from my own house. Meanwhile Epicurus will lend it to me. He says, \"Practise death,\" or, if the sense can pass across to us more conveniently this way: \"It is an excellent thing to learn death thoroughly.\" Perhaps you think it pointless to learn something that is to be used only once. That is exactly why we should practise it: we must always keep learning what we cannot test whether we know."},{"ref":"Letter 26.10","orig":"'Meditare mortem': qui hoc dicit meditari libertatem iubet. Qui mori didicit servire dedidicit; supra omnem potentiam est, certe extra omnem. Quid ad illum carcer et custodia et claustra? liberum ostium habet. Una est catena quae nos alligatos tenet, amor vitae, qui ut non est abiciendus, ita minuendus est, ut si quando res exiget, nihil nos detineat nec impediat quominus parati simus quod quandoque faciendum est statim facere. Vale.","en":"\"Practise death.\" Whoever says this is telling us to practise freedom. Whoever has learned to die has unlearned how to be a slave. He is above all power, or at least outside it. What are prison and guards and bars to him? He has an open door. There is one chain that keeps us bound: love of life. It is not to be thrown away, but it should be reduced, so that if circumstances ever demand it, nothing holds us back or prevents us from being ready to do at once what must be done at some time. Farewell."}],"27":[{"ref":"Letter 27.1–2","orig":"'Tu me' inquis 'mones? iam enim te ipse monuisti, iam correxisti? ideo aliorum emendationi vacas?' Non sum tam improbus ut curationes aeger obeam, sed, tamquam in eodem valetudinario iaceam, de communi tecum malo colloquor et remedia communico. Sic itaque me audi tamquam mecum loquar; in secretum te meum admitto et te adhibito mecum exigo. Clamo mihi ipse, 'numera annos tuos, et pudebit eadem velle quae volueras puer, eadem parare. Hoc denique tibi circa mortis diem praesta: moriantur ante te vitia. Dimitte istas voluptates turbidas, magno luendas: non venturae tantum sed praeteritae nocent. Quemadmodum scelera etiam si non sunt deprehensa cum fierent, sollicitudo non cum ipsis abit, ita improbarum voluptatum etiam post ipsas paenitentia est. Non sunt solidae, non sunt fideles; etiam si non nocent, fugiunt.","en":"\"Are you giving me advice?\" you say. \"Have you already advised yourself, already corrected yourself? Is that why you have time to improve other people?\" I am not so shameless as to undertake cures while I am sick myself. But as if I were lying in the same hospital, I am talking to you about the illness we share and passing on remedies. So listen to me as though I were talking to myself. I am letting you into my private thoughts, and with you there I am examining myself. I shout to myself: \"Count your years, and you will be ashamed to want the same things you wanted as a boy, and to chase the same things. At the least, do this for yourself as the day of your death approaches: let your vices die before you. Get rid of those muddied pleasures that cost so much to pay for. They do harm not only when they are coming but when they are past. Just as with crimes, even if they were not detected when they were committed, the anxiety does not go away with them, so with wicked pleasures the regret remains even after they are over. They are not solid, they are not faithful. Even if they do no harm, they run away."},{"ref":"Letter 27.3–4","orig":"Aliquod potius bonum mansurum circumspice; nullum autem est nisi quod animus ex se sibi invenit. Sola virtus praestat gaudium perpetuum, securum; etiam si quid obstat, nubium modo intervenit, quae infra feruntur nec umquam diem vincunt.' Quando ad hoc gaudium pervenire continget? non quidem cessatur adhuc, sed festinetur. Multum restat operis, in quod ipse necesse est vigiliam, ipse laborem tuum impendas, si effici cupis; delegationem res ista non recipit.","en":"\"Look around instead for some good that will last. And there is none except what the mind finds for itself from within itself. Only virtue gives lasting joy, free from care. Even if something gets in the way, it comes between only like clouds, which drift along beneath and never overpower the daylight.\" When will I manage to reach this joy? I am not idle so far, but let me hurry. A great deal of work remains, and you must spend your own sleepless nights and your own labour on it if you want to get it done. This is a task that cannot be delegated."},{"ref":"Letter 27.5","orig":"Aliud litterarum genus adiutorium admittit Calvisius Sabinus memoria nostra fuit dives; et patrimonium habebat libertini et ingenium; numquam vidi hominem beatum indecentius. Huic memoria tam mala erat ut illi nomen modo Ulixis excideret, modo Achillis, modo Priami, quos tam bene noverat quam paedagogos nostros novimus. Nemo vetulus nomenclator, qui nomina non reddit sed imponit, tam perperam tribus quam ille Troianos et Achivos persalutabat.","en":"Another kind of learning does allow help. Calvisius Sabinus, in our own time, was a rich man. He had both the fortune and the character of a freedman. I never saw a man whose good luck was more indecent. His memory was so bad that he kept forgetting the name of Ulysses, then Achilles, then Priam, figures he knew as well as we knew our childhood tutors. No aged name-caller, one who does not recall people's names but makes them up, ever got the tribes as wrong as he greeted the Trojans and the Greeks."},{"ref":"Letter 27.6–7","orig":"Nihilominus eruditus volebat videri. Hanc itaque compendiariam excogitavit: magna summa emit servos, unum qui Homerum teneret, alterum qui Hesiodum; novem praeterea lyricis singulos assignavit. Magno emisse illum non est quod mireris: non invenerat, faciendos locavit. Postquam haec familia illi comparata est, coepit convivas suos inquietare. Habebat ad pedes hos, a quibus subinde cum peteret versus quos referret, saepe in medio verbo excidebat. Suasit illi Satellius Quadratus, stultorum divitum arrosor et, quod sequitur, arrisor, et, quod duobus his adiunctum est, derisor, ut grammaticos haberet analectas. Cum dixisset Sabinus centenis millibus sibi constare singulos servos, 'minoris' inquit 'totidem scrinia emisses'. Ille tamen in ea opinione erat ut putaret se scire quod quisquam in domo sua sciret.","en":"Nevertheless, he wanted to seem educated. So he thought up this shortcut. He bought slaves at great cost: one to know Homer by heart, another Hesiod, and he assigned one each to the nine lyric poets. You need not be surprised that he paid a lot: he had not found them, he had them made to order. Once he had acquired this household, he began to pester his dinner guests. He kept these slaves at his feet, and kept asking them for lines to repeat, and then he would often break down in the middle of a word. Satellius Quadratus, a nibbler at foolish rich men, and so their smiler too, and, what goes with both of these, their mocker, advised him to keep scholars to pick up the scraps. When Sabinus said that each slave had cost him a hundred thousand sesterces, Satellius said: \"You could have bought as many bookcases for less.\" Yet Sabinus really believed that he knew whatever anyone in his house knew."},{"ref":"Letter 27.8–9","orig":"Idem Satellius illum hortari coepit ut luctaretur, hominem aegrum, pallidum, gracilem. Cum Sabinus respondisset, 'et quomodo possum? vix vivo', 'noli, obsecro te' inquit 'istuc dicere: non vides quam multos servos valentissimos habeas?' Bona mens nec commodatur nec emitur; et puto, si venalis esset, non haberet emptorem: at mala cotidie emitur. Sed accipe iam quod debeo et vale. 'Divitiae sunt ad legem naturae composita paupertas.' Hoc saepe dicit Epicurus aliter atque aliter, sed numquam nimis dicitur quod num quam satis discitur; quisbusdam remedia monstranda, quibusdam inculcanda sunt. Vale.","en":"The same Satellius began urging him to take up wrestling, a sickly, pale, thin man. When Sabinus replied, \"And how can I? I am barely alive,\" Satellius said: \"Please, don't say that. Don't you see how many very strong slaves you have?\" A good mind can be neither borrowed nor bought. And I think that if it were for sale, it would find no buyer; but a bad mind is bought every day. But now take what I owe you, and farewell. \"Poverty brought into line with the law of nature is wealth.\" Epicurus says this often, in one way and another. But what is never learned enough can never be said too often. To some people remedies must be pointed out; into others they must be hammered. Farewell."}],"28":[{"ref":"Letter 28.1–2","orig":"Hoc tibi soli putas accidisse et admiraris quasi rem novam quod peregrinatione tam longa et tot locorum varietatibus non discussisti tristitiam gravitatemque mentis? Animum debes mutare, non caelum. Licet vastum traieceris mare, licet, ut ait Vergilius noster, terraeque urbesque recedant, sequentur te quocumque perveneris vitia. Hoc idem querenti cuidam Socrates ait, 'quid miraris nihil tibi peregrinationes prodesse, cum te circumferas? premit te eadem causa quae expulit'. Quid terrarum iuvare novitas potest? quid cognitio urbium aut locorum? in irritum cedit ista iactatio. Quaeris quare te fuga ista non adiuvet? tecum fugis. Onus animi deponendum est: non ante tibi ullus placebit locus.","en":"Do you think this has happened to you alone, and are you surprised, as if it were something new, that you have not shaken off your sadness and heaviness of mind by such long travel and so many changes of scene? You need to change your mind, not your sky. Though you cross the vast sea, though, as our Virgil says, \"lands and cities fall away behind\", your vices will follow you wherever you go. When someone was complaining of this very thing, Socrates said: \"Why are you surprised that travelling does you no good, when you take yourself around with you? You are weighed down by the same thing that drove you away.\" What good can new lands do? What good is getting to know cities or places? All that tossing about comes to nothing. Do you ask why this running away does not help you? You are running away with yourself. You must lay down the burden on your mind; until then, no place will please you."},{"ref":"Letter 28.3–4","orig":"Talem nunc esse habitum tuum cogita qualem Vergilius noster vatis inducit iam concitatae et instigatae multumque habentis se spiritus non sui: bacchatur vates, magnum si pectore possit excussisse deum. Vadis huc illuc ut excutias insidens pondus quod ipsa iactatione incommodius fit, sicut in navi onera immota minus urgent, inaequaliter convoluta citius eam partem in quam incubuere demergunt. Quidquid facis, contra te facis et motu ipso noces tibi; aegrum enim concutis. At cum istuc exemeris malum, omnis mutatio loci iucunda fiet; in ultimas expellaris terras licebit, in quolibet barbariae angulo colloceris, hospitalis tibi illa qualiscumque sedes erit. Magis quis veneris quam quo interest, et ideo nulli loco addicere debemus animum. Cum hac persuasione vivendum est: 'non sum uni angulo natus, patria mea totus hic mundus est'.","en":"Think of your state now as being like the one our Virgil gives to the prophetess, already roused and goaded and full of a spirit not her own: \"The prophetess raves, trying to shake the great god from her breast.\" You go here and there to shake off the weight that sits on you, and it becomes more troublesome through the very tossing, just as on a ship cargo that stays still presses less, while cargo that rolls about unevenly sinks the side it lands on more quickly. Whatever you do, you do against yourself, and you harm yourself by the very movement; for you are shaking a sick man. But once you have removed that evil, every change of place will become pleasant. You may be driven out to the ends of the earth, you may be settled in any corner of a foreign land, and that home, whatever it is like, will be welcoming to you. What matters is who you are when you arrive, more than where you arrive, and so we should not tie our mind to any one place. We must live with this conviction: \"I was not born for one corner; this whole world is my homeland.\""},{"ref":"Letter 28.5–6","orig":"Quod si liqueret tibi, non admirareris nil adiuvari te regionum varietatibus in quas subinde priorum taedio migras; prima enim quaeque placuisset si omnem tuam crederes. Nunc non peregrinaris sed erras et ageris ac locum ex loco mutas, cum illud quod quaeris, bene vivere, omni loco positum sit. Num quid tam turbidum fieri potest quam forum? ibi quoque licet quiete vivere, si necesse sit. Sed si liceat disponere se, conspectum quoque et viciniam fori procul fugiam; nam ut loca gravia etiam firmissimam valetudinem temptant, ita bonae quoque menti necdum adhuc perfectae et convalescenti sunt aliqua parum salubria.","en":"If this were clear to you, you would not be surprised that you get no help from the different regions you keep moving to out of boredom with the ones before. For the first one would have pleased you, if you believed that every one was yours. As it is, you are not travelling, you are wandering and being driven about, and changing one place for another, when what you are looking for, living well, is to be found in every place. Can anything be as turbulent as the forum? Even there it is possible to live calmly, if you must. But if one were allowed to arrange things, I would flee far from the sight and neighbourhood of the forum. For just as unhealthy places test even the strongest health, so there are some places that are not wholesome for a good mind that is not yet perfect and is still recovering."},{"ref":"Letter 28.7–9","orig":"Dissentio ab his qui in fluctus medios eunt et tumultuosam probantes vitam cotidie cum difficultatibus rerum magno animo colluctantur. Sapiens feret ista, non eliget, et malet in pace esse quam in pugna; non multum prodest vitia sua proiecisse, si cum alienis rixandum est. 'Triginta' inquit 'tyranni Socraten circumsteterunt nec potuerunt animum eius infringere.' Quid interest quot domini sint? servitus una est; hanc qui contempsit in quanta libet turba dominantium liber est. Tempus est desinere, sed si prius portorium solvero. 'Initium est salutis notitia peccati.' Egregie mihi hoc dixisse videtur Epicurus; nam qui peccare se nescit corrigi non vult; deprehendas te oportet antequam emendes.","en":"I disagree with those who go out into the middle of the waves, who approve of a stormy life and wrestle bravely with difficulties every day. The wise man will endure such things, but not choose them, and he will prefer to be at peace rather than at war. It does not help much to have thrown out your own vices if you have to brawl with other people's. \"The Thirty Tyrants,\" someone says, \"surrounded Socrates, and could not break his spirit.\" What difference does it make how many masters there are? Slavery is one thing; and whoever has despised it is free, however great the crowd of masters. It is time to stop, but only after I have paid the harbour toll. \"The beginning of health is knowing one's wrongdoing.\" Epicurus seems to me to have put this excellently. For whoever does not know he is doing wrong does not want to be corrected. You must catch yourself in the act before you can reform."},{"ref":"Letter 28.10","orig":"Quidam vitiis gloriantur: tu existimas aliquid de remedio cogitare qui mala sua virtutum loco numerant? Ideo quantum potes te ipse coargue, inquire in te; accusatoris primum partibus fungere, deinde iudicis, novissime deprecatoris; aliquando te offende. Vale.","en":"Some people boast about their vices. Do you think anyone gives a thought to a cure when he counts his faults as virtues? So as far as you can, prove yourself guilty, investigate yourself. Play the part first of the prosecutor, then of the judge, and last of the one pleading for mercy. Sometimes be harsh with yourself. Farewell."}],"29":[{"ref":"Letter 29.1–2","orig":"De Marcellino nostro quaeris et vis scire quid agat. Raro ad nos venit, non ulla alia ex causa quam quod audire verum timet, a quo periculo iam abest; nulli enim nisi audituro dicendum est. Ideo de Diogene nec minus de aliis Cynicis qui libertate promiscua usi sunt et obvios quosque monuerunt dubitari solet an hoc facere debuerint. Quid enim, si quis surdos obiurget aut natura morbove mutos? 'Quare' inquis 'verbis parcam? gratuita sunt. Non possum scire an ei profuturus sim quem admoneo: illud scio, alicui me profuturum, si multos admonuero. Spargenda manus est: non potest fieri ut non aliquando succedat multa temptanti.'","en":"You ask about our friend Marcellinus and want to know what he is doing. He rarely visits us, for no other reason than that he is afraid of hearing the truth. From that danger he is already safe; for the truth should be told only to someone who will listen. That is why it is often debated whether Diogenes and the other Cynics, who used their freedom of speech on everyone and lectured anyone they met, should have done so. For what if someone rebukes the deaf, or those who are mute by nature or through illness? \"Why,\" you say, \"should I be sparing with words? They cost nothing. I cannot know whether I shall help the person I advise; but I do know that I shall help someone if I advise many. I must scatter handfuls of seed. Someone who tries many times cannot fail to succeed sometimes.\""},{"ref":"Letter 29.3–4","orig":"Hoc, mi Lucili, non existimo magno viro faciendum: diluitur eius auctoritas nec habet apud eos satis ponderis quos posset minus obsolefacta corrigere. Sagittarius non aliquando ferire debet, sed aliquando deerrare; non est ars quae ad effectum casu venit. Sapientia ars est: certum petat, eligat profecturos, ab iis quos desperavit recedat, non tamen cito relinquat et in ipsa desperatione extrema remedia temptet. Marcellinum nostrum ego nondum despero; etiam nunc servari potest, sed si cito illi manus porrigitur. Est quidem periculum ne porrigentem trahat; magna in illo ingeni vis est, sed iam tendentis in pravum. Nihilominus adibo hoc periculum et audebo illi mala sua ostendere.","en":"This, my Lucilius, is not what I think a great man should do. His authority is watered down, and he does not carry enough weight with those he could have corrected if it had not been worn out. An archer should not hit the target only sometimes; he should miss it only sometimes. An art that reaches its result by chance is no art. Wisdom is an art. Let it aim at a sure mark, choose those who will make progress, and withdraw from those it has given up on; yet it should not abandon them quickly, and even when things are hopeless it should try the last remedies. I have not yet given up on our Marcellinus. Even now he can be saved, but only if a hand is held out to him quickly. There is indeed a danger that he will pull in the one who holds it out. He has great force of talent, but it is already leaning towards the bad. All the same, I shall face this danger and dare to show him his faults."},{"ref":"Letter 29.5–6","orig":"Faciet quod solet: advocabit illas facetias quae risum evocare lugentibus possunt, et in se primum, deinde in nos iocabitur; omnia quae dicturus sum occupabit. Scrutabitur scholas nostras et obiciet philosophis congiaria, amicas, gulam; ostendet mihi alium in adulterio, alium in popina, alium in aula; ostendet mihi lepidum philosophum Aristonem, qui in gestatione disserebat - hoc enim ad edendas operas tempus exceperat. De cuius secta cum quaereretur, Scaurus ait 'utique Peripateticus non est'. De eodem cum consuleretur Iulius Graecinus, vir egregius, quid sentiret, 'non possum' inquit 'tibi dicere; nescio enim quid de gradu faciat', tamquam de essedario interrogaretur.","en":"He will do what he always does. He will call on that wit of his that can draw laughter even from mourners, and he will make jokes first about himself and then about us. He will get in first with everything I am going to say. He will go through our schools and throw at the philosophers their handouts, their girlfriends, their gluttony. He will show me one philosopher in adultery, another in a cookshop, another at court. He will show me the charming philosopher Aristo, who used to lecture while being carried about in a litter, for he had set aside that time for publishing his works. When someone asked what school he belonged to, Scaurus said, \"Well, he is certainly not a Peripatetic\", that is, not a walker. When Julius Graecinus, an excellent man, was asked what he thought of him, he said, \"I cannot tell you; for I do not know what he does on foot\", as though he were being asked about a chariot fighter."},{"ref":"Letter 29.7–8","orig":"Hos mihi circulatores qui philosophiam honestius neglexissent quam vendunt in faciem ingeret. Constitui tamen contumelias perpeti: moveat ille mihi risum, ego fortasse illi lacrimas movebo, aut si ridere perseverabit, gaudebo tamquam in malis quod illi genus insaniae hilare contigerit. Sed non est ista hilaritas longa: observa, videbis eosdem intra exiguum tempus acerrime ridere et acerrime rabere. Propositum est aggredi illum et ostendere quanto pluris fuerit cum multis minoris videretur. Vitia eius etiam si non excidero, inhibebo; non desinent, sed intermittent fortasse autem et desinent, si intermittendi consuetudinem fecerint. Non est hoc ipsum fastidiendum, quoniam quidem graviter affectis sanitatis loco est bona remissio.","en":"He will throw in my face these street performers, who would have done more honour to philosophy by neglecting it than by selling it. Still, I have decided to put up with his insults. Let him make me laugh; perhaps I shall make him weep. Or if he keeps on laughing, I shall be glad, as one is amid misfortunes, that he has been struck with a cheerful kind of madness. But that cheerfulness does not last. Watch, and you will see such people laughing most wildly and raging most wildly within a short time. My plan is to tackle him and show him how much more he was worth when many thought him worth less. Even if I do not cut out his vices, I shall hold them in check. They will not stop, but they will pause; and perhaps they will even stop, if they make a habit of pausing. Even this is not to be scorned, since for those who are seriously ill a good remission takes the place of health."},{"ref":"Letter 29.9–10","orig":"Dum me illi paro, tu interim, qui potes, qui intellegis unde quo evaseris et ex eo suspicaris quousque sis evasurus, compone mores tuos, attolle animum, adversus formidata consiste; numerare eos noli qui tibi metum faciunt. Nonne videatur stultus, si quis multitudinem eo loco timeat per quem transitus singulis est? aeque ad tuam mortem multis aditus non est licet illam multi minentur. Sic istuc natura disposuit: spiritum tibi tam unus eripiet quam unus dedit. Si pudorem haberes, ultimam mihi pensionem remisisses; sed ne ego quidem me sordide geram in finem aeris alieni et tibi quod debeo impingam. 'Numquam volui populo placere; nam quae ego scio non probat populus, quae probat populus ego nescio.'","en":"While I prepare myself for him, you meanwhile, since you are able to, and since you understand where you have come from and where you have got to, and can guess from that how far you will get, set your character in order, lift up your mind, and stand firm against what frightens you. Do not count those who make you afraid. Would anyone not seem a fool if he were afraid of a crowd in a place where people can pass only one at a time? In the same way, many cannot get at your death, even if many threaten it. Nature has arranged it like this: one person will take your breath away, just as one gave it. If you had any shame, you would have let me off the last payment. But I shall not be mean either at the end of my debt, and I shall press on you what I owe. \"I have never wanted to please the people. For what I know, the people do not approve; and what the people approve, I do not know.\""},{"ref":"Letter 29.11","orig":"'Quis hoc?' inquis, tamquam nescias cui imperem. Epicurus; sed idem hoc omnes tibi ex omni domo conclamabunt, Peripatetici, Academici, Stoici, Cynici. Quis enim placere populo potest cui placet virtus? malis artibus popularis favor quaeritur. Similem te illis facias oportet: non probabunt nisi agnoverint. Multo autem ad rem magis pertinet qualis tibi videaris quam aliis; conciliari nisi turpi ratione amor turpium non potest.","en":"\"Who said this?\" you ask, as if you did not know whom I am putting to work. Epicurus. But everyone from every school will shout the same to you: Peripatetics, Academics, Stoics, Cynics. For who can please the people if virtue pleases him? Popular favour is won by bad methods. You must make yourself like them: they will not approve of you unless they recognise you as one of their own. But it matters much more how you seem to yourself than how you seem to others. The love of the base can only be won by base means."},{"ref":"Letter 29.12","orig":"Quid ergo illa laudata et omnibus praeferenda artibus rebusque philosophia praestabit? scilicet ut malis tibi placere quam populo, ut aestimes iudicia, non numeres, ut sine metu deorum hominumque vivas, ut aut vincas mala aut finias. Ceterum, si te videro celebrem secundis vocibus vulgi, si intrante te clamor et plausus, pantomimica ornamenta, obstrepuerint, si tota civitate te feminae puerique laudaverint, quidni ego tui miserear, cum sciam quae via ad istum favorem ferat? Vale.","en":"What then will that much-praised philosophy do for you, which is to be preferred to all arts and all things? Surely this: that you will prefer to please yourself rather than the people; that you will weigh opinions, not count them; that you will live without fear of gods or men; that you will either overcome your troubles or put an end to them. But if I see you celebrated by the cheering of the crowd, if shouting and applause, the trappings of a pantomime dancer, ring out as you enter, if women and children praise you all over the city, why should I not pity you, when I know what road leads to that kind of popularity? Farewell."}],"30":[{"ref":"Letter 30.1","orig":"Bassum Aufidium, virum optimum, vidi quassum, aetati obluctantem. Sed iam plus illum degravat quam quod possit attolli; magno senectus et universo pondere incubuit. Scis illum semper infirmi corporis et exsucti fuisse; diu illud continuit et, ut verius dicam, concinnavit: subito defecit. Quemadmodum in nave quae sentinam trahit uni rimae aut alteri obsistitur, ubi plurimis locis laxari coepit et cedere, succurri non potest navigio dehiscenti, ita in senili corpore aliquatenus imbecillitas sustineri et fulciri potest. Ubi tamquam in putri aedificio omnis iunctura diducitur, et dum alia excipitur, alia discinditur, circumspiciendum est quomodo exeas.","en":"I have seen Aufidius Bassus, that excellent man, shattered and wrestling with his age. But by now it weighs him down more than he can lift. Old age has settled on him with its great and entire weight. You know that his body was always weak and dried up. For a long time he held it together, or, to put it more truly, patched it up. Suddenly it gave out. On a ship that is shipping water, one or two leaks can be stopped, but when it has begun to loosen and give way in many places, a vessel that is splitting open cannot be helped. In the same way, in an old man's body, weakness can be propped up and supported only up to a point. When, as in a rotting building, every joint is coming apart, and while one is being repaired another is splitting, you must look around for a way out."},{"ref":"Letter 30.2–4","orig":"Bassus tamen noster alacer animo est: hoc philosophia praestat, in conspectu mortis hilarem esse et in quocumque corporis habitu fortem laetumque nec deficientem quamvis deficiatur. Magnus gubernator et scisso navigat velo et, si exarmavit, tamen reliquias navigii aptat ad cursum. Hoc facit Bassus noster et eo animo vultuque finem suum spectat quo alienum spectare nimis securi putares. Magna res est, Lucili, haec et diu discenda, cum adventat hora illa inevitabilis, aequo animo abire. Alia genera mortis spei mita sunt: desinit morbus, incendium exstinguitur, ruina quos videbatur oppressura deposuit; mare quos hauserat eadem vi qua sorbebat eiecit incolumes; gladium miles ab ipsa perituri cervice re vocavit: nil habet quod speret quem senectus ducit ad mortem; huic uni intercedi non potest. Nullo genere homines mollius moriuntur sed nec diutius.","en":"Yet our Bassus is lively in mind. This is what philosophy gives: to be cheerful in the sight of death, to be brave and glad in whatever state the body is in, and not to fail even though one is failing. A great helmsman sails on even with a torn sail, and if his ship has been stripped of its rigging, he still fits what is left of it to keep on course. This is what our Bassus does. He looks on his own end with a mind and face that you would think too carefree even for looking on someone else's. This is a great thing, Lucilius, and must be learned over a long time: to depart calmly when that inevitable hour arrives. Other kinds of death are mixed with hope. An illness ends; a fire is put out; a collapsing building sets down gently those it seemed about to crush; the sea throws up unharmed, with the same force with which it swallowed them, those it had sucked under; the soldier has called back his sword from the very neck of the man about to die. But the man whom old age is leading to death has nothing to hope for. In this case alone no one can intervene. No kind of death is gentler, but none is longer drawn out."},{"ref":"Letter 30.5–7","orig":"Bassus noster videbatur mihi prosequi se et componere et vivere tamquam superstes sibi et sapienter ferre desiderium sui. Nam de morte multa loquitur et id agit sedulo ut nobis persuadeat, si quid incommodi aut metus in hoc negotio est, morientis vitium esse, non mortis; non magis in ipsa quicquam esse molestiae quam post ipsam. Tam demens autem est qui timet quod non est passurus quam qui timet quod non est sensurus. An quis quam hoc futurum credit, ut per quam nihil sentiatur, ea sentiatur? 'Ergo' inquit 'mors adeo extra omne malum est ut sit extra omnem malorum metum.' Haec ego scio et saepe dicta et saepe dicenda, sed neque cum legerem aeque mihi profuerunt neque cum audirem iis dicentibus qui negabant timenda a quorum metu aberant: hic vero plurimum apud me auctoritatis habuit, cum loqueretur de morte vicina.","en":"Our Bassus seemed to me to be attending his own funeral and laying himself out, living as if he had outlived himself and bearing wisely the loss of himself. For he talks a lot about death, and works hard to persuade us that if there is any discomfort or fear in this business, the fault lies with the dying person, not with death. There is no more trouble in death itself than there is after it. Someone who fears what he will not suffer is as mad as someone who fears what he will not feel. Or does anyone believe that the thing through which nothing is felt will itself be felt? \"So,\" he says, \"death is so far beyond all evil that it is beyond all fear of evils.\" I know that these things have often been said and should often be said. But they did not help me as much when I read them, or when I heard them from people who denied that things were to be feared while they themselves were far from the fear of them. But this man had the greatest authority with me when he spoke about a death that was close at hand."},{"ref":"Letter 30.8–9","orig":"Dicam enim quid sentiam: puto fortiorem esse eum qui in ipsa morte est quam qui circa mortem. Mors enim admota etiam imperitis animum dedit non vitandi inevitabilia; si gladiator tota pugna timidissimus iugulum adversario praestat et errantem gladium sibi attemperat. At illa quae in propinquo est utique ventura desiderat lentam animi firmitatem, quae est rarior nec potest nisi a sapiente praestari. Libentissime itaque illum audiebam quasi ferentem de morte: sententiam et qualis esset eius natura velut propius inspectae indicantem. Plus, ut puto, fidei haberet apud te, plus ponderis, si quis revixisset et in morte nihil mali esse narraret expertus: accessus mortis quam perturbationem afferat optime tibi hi dicent qui secundum illam steterunt, qui venientem et viderunt et receperunt.","en":"I will tell you what I think: I believe a man is braver when he is in the very act of dying than when he is merely near death. For when death is brought close, it has given even the untrained the courage not to avoid what cannot be avoided. So the gladiator who has been most cowardly throughout the whole fight offers his throat to his opponent and guides the wavering sword to the right spot. But a death that is nearby and certain to come calls for a slow, steady firmness of mind, which is rarer and cannot be shown except by a wise man. So I listened to him most gladly, as if he were giving his verdict on death and reporting what its nature was, as one who had inspected it more closely. I think a man would have more credit and more weight with you if he came back to life and told you from experience that there is nothing bad in death. As for how much disturbance the approach of death brings, those who have stood right next to it, who have seen it coming and welcomed it, will tell you best."},{"ref":"Letter 30.10–11","orig":"Inter hos Bassum licet numeres, qui nos decipi noluit. Is ait tam stultum esse qui mortem timeat quam qui senectutem; nam quemadmodum senectus adulescentiam sequitur, ita mors senectutem. Vivere noluit qui mori non vult; vita enim cum exceptione mortis data est; ad hanc itur. Quam ideo timere dementis est quia certa exspectantur, dubia metuuntur. Mors necessitatem habet aequam et invictam: quis queri potest in ea condicione se esse in qua nemo non est? prima autem pars est aequitatis aequalitas. Sed nunc supervacuum est naturae causam agere, quae non aliam voluit legem nostram esse quam suam: quid quid composuit resolvit, et quidquid resolvit componit iterum.","en":"You may count Bassus among these; he did not want us to be deceived. He says that a man who fears death is as foolish as one who fears old age. For just as old age follows youth, so death follows old age. A man who does not want to die did not want to live. For life was given to us on condition of death; it is towards death that we are going. So it is madness to fear it, since what is certain is simply waited for, and only what is doubtful is feared. Death has a necessity that is fair and unconquerable. Who can complain of being in a condition that everyone is in? The first part of fairness is equality. But it is pointless now to plead nature's case; she wanted our law to be no different from her own. Whatever she has put together she takes apart, and whatever she takes apart she puts together again."},{"ref":"Letter 30.12","orig":"Iam vero si cui contigit ut illum senectus leviter emitteret, non repente avulsum vitae sed minutatim subductum, o ne ille agere gratias diis omnibus debet quod satiatus ad requiem homini necessariam, lasso gratam perductus est. Vides quosdam optantes mortem, et quidem magis quam rogari solet vita. Nescio utros existimem maiorem nobis animum dare, qui deposcunt mortem an qui hilares eam quietique opperiuntur, quoniam illud ex rabie interdum ac repentina indignatione fit, haec ex iudicio certo tranquillitas est. Venit aliquis ad mortem iratus: mortem venientem nemo hilaris excepit nisi qui se ad illam diu composuerat.","en":"And if someone has had the fortune to be released gently by old age, not torn suddenly from life but withdrawn little by little, surely he should thank all the gods that he has been brought, having had his fill, to the rest a human being needs, and which is welcome to the weary. You see some people longing for death, more earnestly than people usually pray for life. I do not know which to think gives us more courage: those who demand death, or those who wait for it cheerfully and calmly. The first sometimes comes from frenzy and sudden anger; the second is the calm that comes from settled judgement. People have come to death in anger; but no one has welcomed death cheerfully as it came, except someone who had long prepared himself for it."},{"ref":"Letter 30.13","orig":"Fateor ergo ad hominem mihi carum ex pluribus me causis frequentius venisse, ut scirem an illum totiens eundem invenirem, numquid cum corporis viribus minueretur animi vigor; qui sic crescebat illi quomodo manifestior notari solet agitatorum laetitia cum septimo spatio palmae appropinquat.","en":"So I admit that I visited this dear man more often than usual, for several reasons. I wanted to know whether I would find him the same each time, and whether the vigour of his mind was declining with his bodily strength. But it was growing in him, just as the joy of charioteers is usually seen more plainly when, on the seventh lap, they are nearing the prize."},{"ref":"Letter 30.14–15","orig":"Dicebat quidem ille Epicuri praeceptis obsequens, primum sperare se nullum dolorem esse in illo extremo anhelitu; si tamen esset, habere aliquantum in ipsa brevitate solacii; nullum enim dolorem longum esse qui magnus est. Ceterum succursurum sibi etiam in ipsa distractione animae corporis que, si cum cruciatu id fieret, post illum dolorem se dolere non posse. Non dubitare autem se quin senilis anima in primis labris esset nec magna vi distraheretur a corpore. 'Ignis qui alentem materiam occupavit aqua et interdum ruina exstinguendus est: ille qui alimentis deficitur sua sponte subsidit.' Libenter haec, mi Lucili, audio non tamquam nova, sed tamquam in rem praesentem perductus. Quid ergo? non multos spectavi abrumpentes vitam? Ego vero vidi, sed plus momenti apud me habent qui ad mortem veniunt sine odio vitae et admittunt illam, non attrahunt.","en":"Following Epicurus' teachings, he used to say, first, that he hoped there would be no pain in that last breath; but if there were, there would be some comfort in its very shortness, for no pain that is great lasts long. Besides, he said, even at the moment when soul and body were being torn apart, it would help him to know that if this happened with agony, after that pain he could feel no more pain. He had no doubt, however, that an old man's soul was already on his lips and would not be torn from the body with much force. \"A fire that has taken hold of fuel that feeds it must be put out with water and sometimes by pulling the building down. The fire that runs short of fuel dies down of its own accord.\" I am glad to hear these things, my Lucilius, not as something new but as if I had been brought face to face with the reality. What then? Have I not watched many people break off their lives? I have indeed. But those who come to death without hatred of life, and let it in rather than drag it in, carry more weight with me."},{"ref":"Letter 30.16–18","orig":"Illud quidem aiebat tormentum nostra nos sentire opera, quod tunc trepidamus cum prope a nobis esse credimus mortem: a quo enim non prope est, parata omnibus locis omnibusque momentis? 'Sed consideremus' inquit 'tunc cum aliqua causa moriendi videtur accedere, quanto aliae propiores sint quae non timentur.' Hostis alicui mortem minabatur, hanc cruditas occupavit. Si distinguere voluerimus causas metus nostri, inveniemus alias esse, alias videri. Non mortem timemus sed cogitationem mortis; ab ipsa enim semper tantundem absumus. Ita si timenda mors est, semper timenda est: quod enim morti tempus exemptum est? Sed vereri debeo ne tam longas epistulas peius quam mortem oderis. Itaque finem faciam: tu tamen mortem ut numquam timeas semper cogita. Vale.","en":"He used to say that it is by our own doing that we feel the torment of trembling when we believe death is near us. For from whom is it not near, when it is ready in every place and at every moment? \"But let us consider,\" he said, \"when some cause of death seems to be approaching, how many others are nearer that we do not fear.\" An enemy was threatening someone with death, and indigestion got there first. If we are willing to sort out the causes of our fear, we shall find that some are real and some only seem real. We do not fear death but the thought of death; for we are always the same distance from death itself. So if death is to be feared, it is always to be feared: for what time is exempt from death? But I ought to be afraid that you will hate such long letters more than death. So I shall stop. But you, so that you never fear death, always think about it. Farewell."}],"31":[{"ref":"Letter 31.1–2","orig":"Agnosco Lucilium meum: incipit quem promiserat exhibere. Sequere illum impetum animi quo ad optima quaeque calcatis popularibus bonis ibas: non desidero maiorem melioremque te fieri quam moliebaris. Fundamenta tua multum loci occupaverunt: tantum effice quantum conatus es, et illa quae tecum in animo tulisti tracta. Ad summam sapiens eris, si cluseris aures, quibus ceram parum est obdere: firmiore spissamento opus est quam in sociis usum Ulixem ferunt. Illa vox quae timebatur erat blanda, non tamen publica: at haec quae timenda est non ex uno scopulo sed ex omni terrarum parte circumsonat. Praetervehere itaque non unum locum insidiosa voluptate suspectum, sed omnes urbes. Surdum te amantissimis tuis praesta: bono animo mala precantur. Et si esse vis felix, deos ora ne quid tibi ex his quae optantur eveniat.","en":"I recognise my Lucilius: he is beginning to show the man he promised to be. Follow that drive of spirit with which you were heading for all that is best, trampling on the goods the crowd values. I do not want you to become any greater or better than you were striving to be. Your foundations have taken up a lot of ground: just finish as much as you set out to do, and carry through the plans you have carried in your mind. In short, you will be wise if you close your ears, and it is not enough to stop them with wax. You need a stronger plug than the one Ulysses is said to have used for his companions. The voice they feared was seductive, but it was not everywhere; but the voice we must fear sounds all around us, not from one rock but from every part of the world. So sail past not just one place made dangerous by treacherous pleasure, but every city. Make yourself deaf to those who love you most: they pray for bad things with good intentions. And if you want to be happy, pray to the gods that none of the things people wish for you comes your way."},{"ref":"Letter 31.3–4","orig":"Non sunt ista bona quae in te isti volunt congeri: unum bonum est, quod beatae vitae causa et firmamentum est, sibi fidere. Hoc autem contingere non potest, nisi contemptus est labor et in eorum numero habitus quae neque bona sunt neque mala; fieri enim non potest ut una ulla res modo mala sit, modo bona, modo levis et perferenda, modo expavescenda. Labor bonum non est: quid ergo est bonum? laboris contemptio. Itaque in vanum operosos culpaverim: rursus ad honesta nitentes, quanto magis incubuerint minus que sibi vinci ac strigare permiserint, admirabor et clamabo, 'tanto melior, surge et inspira et clivum istum uno si potes spiritu exsupera'.","en":"Those things that these people want heaped on you are not goods. There is only one good, the cause and the support of a happy life: trusting oneself. But this cannot happen unless hard work is despised and counted among the things that are neither good nor bad. For it is impossible for any one thing to be bad at one time and good at another, sometimes light and bearable, sometimes to be dreaded. Hard work is not a good. What then is a good? Scorn for hard work. So I would blame people who toil away at empty things. But when I see people striving towards what is honourable, the harder they apply themselves and the less they let themselves be beaten or slacken, the more I shall admire them and shout: \"So much the better! Get up, take a breath, and conquer that hill in one breath if you can.\""},{"ref":"Letter 31.5","orig":"Generosos animos labor nutrit. Non est ergo quod ex illo voto vetere parentum tuorum eligas quid contingere tibi velis, quid optes; et in totum iam per maxima acto viro turpe est etiam nunc deos fatigare. Quid votis opus est? fac te ipse felicem; facies autem, si intellexeris bona esse quibus admixta virtus est, turpia quibus malitia coniuncta est. Quemadmodum sine mixtura lucis nihil splendidum est, nihil atrum nisi quod tenebras habet aut aliquid in se traxit obscuri, quemadmodum sine adiutorio ignis nihil calidum est, nihil sine aere frigidum, ita honesta et turpia virtutis ac malitiae societas efficit.","en":"Hard work nourishes noble minds. So there is no reason to pick out from that old prayer of your parents what you would like to happen to you, what you should wish for. In general, it is shameful for a man who has already passed through the highest offices to be still pestering the gods. What need is there for prayers? Make yourself happy. And you will, if you understand that the things mixed with virtue are good, and the things joined with wickedness are shameful. Just as nothing is bright without some mixture of light, and nothing is dark unless it contains darkness or has drawn some shadow into itself; just as nothing is hot without the help of fire, and nothing is cold without air; so it is the partnership of virtue or wickedness that makes things honourable or shameful."},{"ref":"Letter 31.6–8","orig":"Quid ergo est bonum ? rerum scientia. Quid malum est? rerum imperitia. Ille prudens atque artifex pro tempore quaeque repellet aut eliget; sed nec quae repellit timet nec miratur quae eligit, si modo magnus illi et invictus animus est. Summitti te ac deprimi veto. Laborem si non recuses, parum est: posce. 'Quid ergo?' inquis 'labor frivolus et supervacuus et quem humiles causae evocaverunt non est malus?' Non magis quam ille qui pulchris rebus impenditur, quoniam animi est ipsa tolerantia quae se ad dura et aspera hortatur ac dicit, 'quid cessas? non est viri timere sudorem'. Huc et illud accedat, ut perfecta virtus sit, aequalitas ac tenor vitae per omnia consonans sibi, quod non potest esse nisi rerum scientia contingit et ars per quam humana ac divina noscantur. Hoc est summum bonum; quod si occupas, incipis deorum socius esse, non supplex.","en":"What then is good? Knowledge of things. What is bad? Ignorance of things. Your wise and skilled man will reject or choose each thing according to the occasion. But he neither fears what he rejects nor admires what he chooses, if only his mind is great and unconquered. I forbid you to give in and be crushed. It is not enough not to refuse hard work: ask for it. \"What then?\" you say. \"Is hard work that is trivial and pointless, called up by petty causes, not bad?\" No more than work spent on noble things. For it is the mind's own endurance that urges itself on to what is hard and rough, and says: \"Why are you hanging back? It is not a man's part to fear sweat.\" Add to this, so that virtue may be complete, an evenness and a steady course of life that is in harmony with itself throughout. This cannot happen without knowledge of things and the art by which human and divine matters are understood. This is the highest good. If you seize it, you begin to be the gods' companion, not their suppliant."},{"ref":"Letter 31.9–10","orig":"'Quomodo' inquis 'isto pervenitur?' Non per Poeninum Graiumve montem nec per deserta Candaviae; nec Syrtes tibi nec Scylla aut Charybdis adeundae sunt, quae tamen omnia transisti procuratiunculae pretio: tutum iter est, iucundum est, ad quod natura te instruxit. Dedit tibi illa quae si non deserueris, par deo surges. Parem autem te deo pecunia non faciet: deus nihil habet Praetexta non faciet: deus nudus est. Fama non faciet nec ostentatio tui et in populos nominis dimissa notitia: nemo novit deum, multi de illo male existimant, et impune. Non turba servorum lecticam tuam per itinera urbana ac peregrina portantium: deus ille maximus potentissimusque ipse vehit omnia. Ne forma quidem et vires beatum te facere possunt: nihil horum patitur vetustatem.","en":"\"How,\" you ask, \"does one get there?\" Not over the Pennine or Graian Alps, nor through the wilds of Candavia. You do not have to face the Syrtes, or Scylla and Charybdis, though you have passed through all of them for the price of a petty governorship. The journey is safe and pleasant, and nature has equipped you for it. She has given you gifts which, if you do not desert them, will raise you up equal to God. But money will not make you equal to God: God has nothing. A bordered robe of office will not do it: God is naked. Fame will not do it, nor showing yourself off, nor spreading knowledge of your name among nations: no one knows God, many think ill of him, and they get away with it. Nor will a crowd of slaves carrying your litter along the streets of the city and abroad: that greatest and most powerful God himself carries everything. Not even beauty and strength can make you happy: neither of them stands up to age."},{"ref":"Letter 31.11","orig":"Quaerendum est quod non fiat in dies peius, cui non possit obstari. Quid hoc est? animus, sed hic rectus, bonus, magnus. Quid aliud voces hunc quam deum in corpore humano hospitantem? Hic animus tam in equitem Romanum quam in libertinum, quam in servum potest cadere. Quid est enim eques Romanus aut libertinus aut servus? nomina ex ambitione aut iniuria nata. Subsilire in caelum ex angulo licet: exsurge modo ... et te quoque dignum finge deo. Finges autem non auro vel argento: non potest ex hac materia imago deo exprimi similis; cogita illos, cum propitii essent, fictiles fuisse. Vale.","en":"We must look for something that does not get worse day by day, something that nothing can obstruct. What is this? The mind, but a mind that is upright, good and great. What else would you call it but God dwelling as a guest in a human body? Such a mind can fall to a Roman knight just as much as to a freedman or a slave. For what is a Roman knight, or a freedman, or a slave? Names born of ambition or of injustice. It is possible to leap up to heaven from a corner. Only rise up ... \"and make yourself too worthy of a god.\" But you will not make yourself so with gold or silver. An image like God cannot be modelled from that material. Remember that when the gods were kind to us, they were made of clay. Farewell."}],"32":[{"ref":"Letter 32.1–2","orig":"Inquiro de te et ab omnibus sciscitor qui ex ista regione veniunt quid agas, ubi et cum quibus moreris. Verba dare non potes: tecum sum. Sic vive tamquam quid facias auditurus sim, immo tamquam visurus. Quaeris quid me maxime ex iis quae de te audio delectet? quod nihil audio, quod plerique ex iis quos interrogo nesciunt quid agas. Hoc est salutare, non conversari dissimilibus et diversa cupientibus. Habeo quidem fiduciam non posse te detorqueri mansurumque in proposito, etiam si sollicitantium turba circumeat. Quid ergo est? non timeo ne mutent te, timeo ne impediant. Multum autem nocet etiam qui moratur, utique in tanta brevitate vitae, quam breviorem inconstantia facimus, aliud eius subinde atque aliud facientes initium; diducimus illam in particulas ac lancinamus.","en":"I ask about you, and I question everyone who comes from your part of the world about what you are doing, where you spend your time and with whom. You cannot deceive me: I am with you. Live as if I were going to hear what you do, or rather, as if I were going to see it. Do you ask what delights me most in what I hear about you? That I hear nothing, that most of the people I ask do not know what you are doing. This is healthy: not to mix with people who are unlike you and want different things. I am confident that you cannot be twisted away and that you will hold to your purpose, even if a crowd of tempters surrounds you. What then? I am not afraid that they will change you; I am afraid that they will hold you up. And even someone who delays you does great harm, especially since life is so short, and we make it shorter by our inconsistency, making one fresh start after another. We cut life up into little bits and tear it to shreds."},{"ref":"Letter 32.3–4","orig":"Propera ergo, Lucili carissime, et cogita quantum additurus celeritati fueris, si a tergo hostis instaret, si equitem adventare suspicareris ac fugientium premere vestigia. Fit hoc, premeris: accelera et evade, perduc te in tutum et subinde considera quam pulchra res sit consummare vitam ante mortem, deinde exspectare securum reliquam temporis sui partem, nihil sibi, in possessione beatae vitae positum, quae beatior non fit si longior. O quando illud videbis tempus quo scies tempus ad te non pertinere, quo tranquillus placidusque eris et crastini neglegens et in summa tui satietate! Vis scire quid sit quod faciat homines avidos futuri? nemo sibi contigit. Optaverunt itaque tibi alia parentes tui; sed ego contra omnium tibi eorum contemptum opto quorum illi copiam. Vota illorum multos compilant ut te locupletent; quidquid ad te transferunt alicui detrahendum est.","en":"So hurry, dearest Lucilius, and think how much you would add to your speed if an enemy were pressing on your back, if you suspected cavalry were coming and were close on the heels of those in flight. This is happening: you are being pursued. Speed up and escape, bring yourself to safety, and keep thinking how splendid it is to complete your life before death, and then to wait without worry for the rest of your time, asking nothing for yourself, in possession of a happy life, which does not become happier by becoming longer. Oh, when will you see the time when you know that time does not concern you, when you are calm and peaceful, careless of tomorrow and fully satisfied with yourself? Do you want to know what makes people greedy for the future? No one has yet come into possession of himself. Your parents wished other things for you; but I, on the contrary, wish you contempt for all those things they wished you plenty of. Their prayers plunder many people in order to make you rich. Whatever they transfer to you must be taken from someone."},{"ref":"Letter 32.5","orig":"Opto tibi tui facultatem, ut vagis cogitationibus agitata mens tandem resistat et certa sit, ut placeat sibi et intellectis veris bonis, quae simul intellecta sunt possidentur, aetatis adiectione non egeat. Ille demum necessitates supergressus est et exauctoratus ac liber qui vivit vita peracta.","en":"I wish you control of yourself, so that your mind, tossed about by wandering thoughts, may at last come to rest and be steady, so that it may be pleased with itself and, having understood the true goods, which are possessed as soon as they are understood, may have no need of more years. He alone has risen above necessity, and has been discharged and set free, who lives as one whose life is already complete."}],"33":[{"ref":"Letter 33.1–2","orig":"Desideras his quoque epistulis sicut prioribus adscribi aliquas voces nostrorum procerum. Non fuerunt circa flosculos occupati: totus contextus illorum virilis est. Inaequalitatem scias esse ubi quae eminent notabilia sunt: non est admirationi una arbor ubi in eandem altitudinem tota silva surrexit. Eiusmodi vocibus referta sunt carmina, refertae historiae. Itaque nolo illas Epicuri existimes esse: publicae sunt et maxime nostrae, sed in illo magis adnotantur quia rarae interim interveniunt, quia inexspectatae, quia mirum est fortiter aliquid dici ab homine mollitiam professo. Ita enim plerique iudicant: apud me Epicurus est et fortis, licet manuleatus sit; fortitudo et industria et ad bellum prompta mens tam in Persas quam in alte cinctos cadit.","en":"You want these letters too, like the earlier ones, to have some sayings of our great men added at the end. They did not busy themselves with little flowers: their whole fabric is manly. You should know that there is unevenness where the things that stand out are noticeable. No single tree is admired when the whole forest has grown to the same height. Poetry is full of sayings like that, and so is history. So I do not want you to think they belong to Epicurus. They are public property, and especially ours. But they are more noticed in him, because they turn up only now and then, because they are unexpected, and because it is surprising that something brave should be said by a man who professed softness. That is how most people judge. For me, Epicurus is brave too, even though he wore long sleeves. Courage and energy and a mind ready for war can be found among the Persians as well as among those with their tunics girded high."},{"ref":"Letter 33.3–4","orig":"Non est ergo quod exigas excerpta et repetita: continuum est apud nostros quidquid apud alios excerpitur. Non habemus itaque ista ocliferia nec emptorem decipimus nihil inventurum cum intraverit praeter illa quae in fronte suspensa sunt: ipsis permittimus unde velint sumere exemplar. Iam puta nos velle singulares sententias ex turba separare: cui illas assignabimus? Zenoni an Cleanthi an Chrysippo an Panaetio an Posidonio? Non sumus sub rege: sibi quisque se vindicat. Apud istos quidquid Hermarchus dixit, quidquid Metrodorus, ad unum refertur; omnia quae quisquam in illo contubernio locutus est unius ductu et auspiciis dicta sunt. Non possumus, inquam, licet temptemus, educere aliquid ex tanta rerum aequalium multitudine: pauperis est numerare pecus. Quocumque miseris oculum, id tibi occurret quod eminere posset nisi inter paria legeretur.","en":"So there is no reason to demand extracts and quotations. What is extracted in other writers is continuous in ours. We do not have those eye-catching goods in the shop window, nor do we cheat the buyer, who on entering would find nothing but what was hung up at the front. We let people take their samples from wherever they like. Now suppose we wanted to pick out individual sayings from the crowd: to whom shall we credit them? To Zeno, or Cleanthes, or Chrysippus, or Panaetius, or Posidonius? We are not under a king: each of us claims his own freedom. With the Epicureans, whatever Hermarchus said, whatever Metrodorus said, is credited to one man. Everything anyone said in that fellowship was said under the leadership and authority of one man. We cannot, I say, even if we try, pick out anything from such a great mass of things of equal worth. \"Only a poor man counts his flock.\" Wherever you cast your eye, you will come across something that could stand out if it were not being read among its equals."},{"ref":"Letter 33.5–6","orig":"Quare depone istam spem posse te summatim degustare ingenia maximorum virorum: tota tibi inspicienda sunt, tota tractanda. Continuando res geritur et per lineamenta sua ingenii opus nectitur ex quo nihil subduci sine ruina potest. Nec recuso quominus singula membra, dummodo in ipso homine, consideres: non est formonsa cuius crus laudatur aut brachium, sed illa cuius universa facies admirationem partibus singulis abstulit. Si tamen exegeris, non tam mendice tecum agam, sed plena manu fiet; ingens eorum turba est passim iacentium; sumenda erunt, non colligenda. Non enim excidunt sed fluunt; perpetua et inter se contexta sunt. Nec dubito quin multum conferant rudibus adhuc et extrinsecus auscultantibus; facilius enim singula insidunt circumscripta et carminis modo inclusa.","en":"So give up the hope that you can taste the minds of the greatest men in summary. You must look into them as a whole, handle them as a whole. The work goes on continuously, and the product of a mind is woven together through its own lines, so that nothing can be taken away without it collapsing. I do not object to your looking at individual limbs, provided you look at them on the person himself. A woman is not beautiful whose leg or arm is praised, but one whose whole appearance draws admiration away from the separate parts. But if you insist, I will not deal with you so stingily; it will be done with a full hand. There is a huge crowd of such sayings lying about everywhere. They need only be taken, not gathered, for they do not drop out here and there; they flow. They are continuous and woven together. I do not doubt that they help a great deal those who are still beginners and listening from outside. For single sayings sink in more easily when they are marked off and packed tight like a line of verse."},{"ref":"Letter 33.7","orig":"Ideo pueris et sententias ediscendas damus et has quas Graeci chrias vocant, quia complecti illas puerilis animus potest, qui plus adhuc non capit. Certi profectus viro captare flosculos turpe est et fulcire se notissimis ac paucissimis vocibus et memoria stare: sibi iam innitatur. Dicat ista, non teneat; turpe est enim seni aut prospicienti senectutem ex commentario sapere. 'Hoc Zenon dixit': tu quid? 'Hoc Cleanthes': tu quid? Quousque sub alio moveris? impera et dic quod memoriae tradatur, aliquid et de tuo profer.","en":"That is why we give children maxims to learn by heart, and those anecdotes the Greeks call \"chreiai\", because a child's mind, which cannot yet take in more, can grasp them. But for a man who has made definite progress, it is shameful to hunt for little flowers, to prop himself up with a few very well-known sayings, and to stand on his memory. Let him now lean on himself. Let him speak such sayings, not hold on to them. For it is shameful for an old man, or one in sight of old age, to be wise out of a notebook. \"Zeno said this.\" And you? \"Cleanthes said this.\" And you? How long will you move under someone else's command? Take command yourself and say something that deserves to be remembered. Bring out something of your own."},{"ref":"Letter 33.8–9","orig":"Omnes itaque istos, numquam auctores, semper interpretes, sub aliena umbra latentes, nihil existimo habere generosi, numquam ausos aliquando facere quod diu didicerant. Memoriam in alienis exercuerunt; aliud autem est meminisse, aliud scire. Meminisse est rem commissam memoriae custodire; at contra scire est et sua facere quaeque nec ad exemplar pendere et totiens respicere ad magistrum. 'Hoc dixit Zenon, hoc Cleanthes.' Aliquid inter te intersit et librum. Quousque disces? iam et praecipe. Quid est quare audiam quod legere possum? 'Multum' inquit 'viva vox facit.' Non quidem haec quae alienis verbis commodatur et actuari vice fungitur.","en":"So I think that all these people, never authors but always interpreters, hiding in someone else's shadow, have nothing noble about them. They have never dared to do, for once, what they have spent so long learning. They have exercised their memory on other people's thoughts. But it is one thing to remember and another to know. To remember is to keep safe something entrusted to the memory. To know, on the other hand, is to make each thing your own, not to hang on a model and keep looking back to the teacher. \"Zeno said this, Cleanthes said that.\" Let there be some difference between you and a book. How long will you go on learning? Start teaching now. Why should I listen to what I can read? \"The living voice,\" someone says, \"does a great deal.\" Not this kind, which lends itself to other people's words and does the job of a clerk."},{"ref":"Letter 33.10–11","orig":"Adice nunc quod isti qui numquam tutelae suae fiunt primum in ea re sequuntur priores in qua nemo non a priore descivit; deinde in ea re sequuntur quae adhuc quaeritur. Numquam autem invenietur, si contenti fuerimus inventis. Praeterea qui alium sequitur nihil invenit, immo nec quaerit. Quid ergo? non ibo per priorum vestigia? ego vero utar via vetere, sed si propiorem planioremque invenero, hanc muniam. Qui ante nos ista moverunt non domini nostri sed duces sunt. Patet omnibus veritas; nondum est occupata; multum ex illa etiam futuris relictum est. Vale.","en":"Add to this that those who never become their own guardians follow their predecessors, first, in a matter in which everyone has departed from his predecessor, and second, in a matter that is still being investigated. But it will never be discovered if we are content with what has been discovered. Besides, someone who follows another finds nothing; in fact he is not even looking. What then? Shall I not walk in the footsteps of those before me? I shall indeed use the old road, but if I find a shorter and smoother one, I shall build that. Those who set these matters going before us are not our masters but our guides. The truth lies open to all; it has not yet been taken over. Much of it has been left for those still to come. Farewell."}],"34":[{"ref":"Letter 34.1–2","orig":"Cresco et exsulto et discussa senectute recalesco quotiens ex iis quae agis ac scribis intellego quantum te ipse - nam turbam olim reliqueras - superieceris. Si agricolam arbor ad fructum perducta delectat, si pastor ex fetu gregis sui capit voluptatem, si alumnum suum nemo aliter intuetur quam ut adulescentiam illius suam iudicet, quid evenire credis iis qui ingenia educaverunt et quae tenera formaverunt adulta subito vident? Assero te mihi; meum opus es. Ego cum vidissem indolem tuam, inieci manum, exhortatus sum, addidi stimulos nec lente ire passus sum sed subinde incitavi; et nunc idem facio, sed iam currentem hortor et invicem hortantem.","en":"I grow, I jump for joy, I shake off old age and warm up again whenever I see from what you do and write how far you have risen above yourself (for you left the crowd behind long ago). If a farmer is delighted when a tree he has tended bears fruit, if a shepherd takes pleasure in the young of his flock, if no one looks at his foster child without regarding the child's youth as his own, what do you think happens to those who have brought up minds and suddenly see grown up what they shaped when it was young? I claim you as mine: you are my work. When I saw your character, I laid my hand on you, encouraged you, applied the spur, and did not let you go slowly but kept urging you on. And I am doing the same now, but now I am cheering on someone who is already running, and who cheers me on in return."},{"ref":"Letter 34.3–4","orig":"'Quid illud?' inquis 'adhuc volo.' In hoc plurimum est, non sic quomodo principia totius operis dimidium occupare dicuntur. Ista res animo constat; itaque pars magna bonitatis est velle fieri bonum. Scis quem bonum dicam? perfectum, absolutum, quem malum facere nulla vis, nulla necessitas possit. Hunc te prospicio, si perseveraveris et incubueris et id egeris ut omnia facta dictaque tua inter se congruant ac respondeant sibi et una forma percussa sint. Non est huius animus in recto cuius acta discordant. Vale.","en":"\"What do you mean?\" you say. \"I am still only at the stage of wanting to.\" In this lies the greatest part, and not in the way that beginnings are said to take up half of any task. This is a matter of the mind; and so a great part of goodness is wanting to become good. Do you know whom I call good? The one who is complete and perfect, whom no force and no necessity can make bad. I see you becoming such a man, if you persevere and apply yourself and make sure that all your deeds and words agree with each other, answer to each other, and are stamped in one mould. A man whose actions clash with each other does not have a mind that is straight. Farewell."}],"35":[{"ref":"Letter 35.1–2","orig":"Cum te tam valde rogo ut studeas, meum negotium ago: habere amicum volo, quod contingere mihi, nisi pergis ut coepisti excolere te, non potest. Nunc enim amas me, amicus non es. 'Quid ergo? haec inter se diversa sunt?' immo dissimilia. Qui amicus est amat; qui amat non utique amicus est; itaque amicitia semper prodest, amor aliquando etiam nocet. Si nihil aliud, ob hoc profice, ut amare discas. Festina ergo dum mihi proficis, ne istuc alteri didiceris. Ego quidem percipio iam fructum, cum mihi fingo uno nos animo futuros et quidquid aetati meae vigoris abscessit, id ad me et tua, quamquam non multum abest, rediturum; sed tamen re quoque ipsa esse laetus volo.","en":"When I beg you so earnestly to study, I am looking after my own interest. I want to have a friend, and that cannot happen for me unless you go on shaping yourself as you have begun. For at present you love me, but you are not my friend. \"What then? Are these different things?\" Yes, they are unlike. A friend loves, but one who loves is not necessarily a friend. That is why friendship always helps, while love sometimes even harms. If for no other reason, make progress so that you may learn how to love. So hurry, while you are making progress for me, so that you do not learn this for someone else. I am already enjoying the fruit of it when I imagine that we shall be of one mind, and that whatever vigour has left me with age will come back to me from yours, although you are not much younger. But still, I want to rejoice in the reality too."},{"ref":"Letter 35.3–4","orig":"Venit ad nos ex iis quos amamus etiam absentibus gaudium, sed id leve et evanidum: conspectus et praesentia et conversatio habet aliquid vivae voluptatis, utique si non tantum quem velis sed qualem velis videas. Affer itaque te mihi, ingens munus, et quo magis instes, cogita te mortalem esse, me senem. Propera ad me, sed ad te prius. Profice et ante omnia hoc cura, ut constes tibi. Quotiens experiri voles an aliquid actum sit, observa an eadem hodie velis quae heri: mutatio voluntatis indicat animum natare, aliubi atque aliubi apparere, prout tulit ventus. Non vagatur quod fixum atque fundatum est: istud sapienti perfecto contingit, aliquatenus et proficienti provectoque. Quid ergo interest? hic commovetur quidem, non tamen transit, sed suo loco nutat; ille ne commovetur quidem. Vale.","en":"Joy comes to us from those we love even when they are absent, but it is light and fades away. Seeing them, being with them and talking with them has something of living pleasure in it, especially if you see not only the person you want but the kind of person you want. So bring yourself to me, a huge gift. And to make you press on all the more, remember that you are mortal and I am old. Hurry to me, but first to yourself. Make progress, and above all take care to be consistent with yourself. Whenever you want to test whether anything has been achieved, see whether you want the same things today as yesterday. A change of will shows that the mind is drifting, showing up here and then there, as the wind has carried it. What is fixed and founded does not wander. This belongs to the perfect wise man, and to some extent to the one who is making progress and has come far. What then is the difference? The second is moved, but does not shift his position; he sways in his own place. The first is not even moved. Farewell."}],"36":[{"ref":"Letter 36.1–2","orig":"Amicum tuum hortare ut istos magno animo contemnat qui illum obiurgant quod umbram et otium petierit, quod dignitatem suam destituerit et, cum plus consequi posset, praetulerit quietem omnibus; quam utiliter suum negotium gesserit cotidie illis ostentet. Hi quibus invidetur non desinent transire: alii elidentur, alii cadent. Res est inquieta felicitas; ipsa se exagitat. Movet cerebrum non uno genere: alios in aliud irritat, hos in impotentiam, illos in luxuriam; hos inflat, illos mollit et totos resolvit. 'At bene aliquis illam fert.' Sic, quomodo vinum. Itaque non est quod tibi isti persuadeant eum esse felicem qui a multis obsidetur: sic ad illum quemadmodum ad lacum concurritur, quem exhauriunt et turbant. 'Nugatorium et inertem vocant.' Scis quosdam perverse loqui et significare contraria. Felicem vocabant: quid ergo? erat?","en":"Encourage your friend to despise wholeheartedly those who scold him for seeking the shade and leisure, for abandoning his high position, and for preferring peace to everything when he could have achieved more. Let him show them every day how profitably he has managed his own affairs. Those who are envied will not stop passing by: some will be crushed, others will fall. Prosperity is a restless thing; it torments itself. It goes to the head in more ways than one. It spurs different people to different things: some to lack of self-control, some to luxury. Some it puffs up, others it softens and dissolves entirely. \"But some people carry it well.\" Yes, the way some people carry their wine. So there is no reason for those people to persuade you that the man besieged by many is happy. People run to him as they run to a pool, which they drain and muddy. \"They call him a trifler and a lazybones.\" You know that some people speak perversely and mean the opposite. They used to call him happy. So what? Was he?"},{"ref":"Letter 36.3","orig":"Ne illud quidem curo, quod quibusdam nimis horridi animi videtur et tetrici. Ariston aiebat malle se adulescentem tristem quam hilarem et amabilem turbae; vinum enim bonum fieri quod recens durum et asperum visum est; non pati aetatem quod in dolio placuit. Sine eum tristem appellent et inimicum processibus suis: bene se dabit in vetustate ipsa tristitia, perseveret modo colere virtutem, perbibere liberalia studia, non illa quibus perfundi satis est, sed haec quibus tingendus est animus.","en":"Nor do I care that some think his mind too rough and stern. Aristo used to say that he preferred a young man who was serious to one who was cheerful and popular with the crowd. For wine becomes good, he said, when it seemed harsh and rough when new; wine that was pleasant in the vat does not stand up to age. Let them call him gloomy and an enemy of his own advancement. That very gloominess will turn out well with age, provided he keeps on cultivating virtue and drinking deep of liberal studies: not those it is enough to be sprinkled with, but those in which the mind must be steeped."},{"ref":"Letter 36.4–5","orig":"Hoc est discendi tempus. 'Quid ergo? aliquod est quo non sit discendum?' Minime; sed quemadmodum omnibus annis studere honestum est, ita non omnibus institui. Turpis et ridicula res est elementarius senex: iuveni parandum, seni utendum est. Facies ergo rem utilissimam tibi, si illum quam optimum feceris; haec aiunt beneficia esse expetenda tribuendaque, non dubie primae sortis, quae tam dare prodest quam accipere. Denique nihil illi iam liberi est, spopondit; minus autem turpe est creditori quam spei bonae decoquere. Ad illud aes alienum solvendum opus est negotianti navigatione prospera, agrum colenti ubertate eius quam colit terrae, caeli favore: ille quod debet sola potest voluntate persolvi.","en":"Now is the time for learning. \"What then? Is there any time when one should not learn?\" Not at all. But just as it is honourable to study at every age, it is not honourable to be taught the basics at every age. An old man learning his ABC is a shameful and ridiculous thing. The young man must prepare; the old man must use. So you will be doing something very useful for yourself if you make him as good as possible. People say that the favours most to be sought and given, without doubt the first-class ones, are those that are as good to give as to receive. Besides, he is no longer free: he has given his word. And it is less shameful to go bankrupt to a creditor than to disappoint good hopes. To pay off a money debt, the trader needs a lucky voyage, and the farmer needs the fertility of the land he farms and the favour of the weather. But what he owes can be paid by will alone."},{"ref":"Letter 36.6–7","orig":"In mores fortuna ius non habet. Hos disponat ut quam tranquillissimus ille animus ad perfectum veniat, qui nec ablatum sibi quicquam sentit nec adiectum, sed in eodem habitu est quomodocumque res cedunt; cui sive aggeruntur vulgaria bona, supra res suas eminet, sive aliquid ex istis vel omnia casus excussit, minor non fit. Si in Parthia natus esset, arcum infans statim tenderet; si in Germania, protinus puer tenerum hastile vibraret; si avorum nostrorum temporibus fuisset, equitare et hostem comminus percutere didicisset. Haec singulis disciplina gentis suae suadet atque imperat.","en":"Fortune has no rights over character. Let him arrange his character so that his mind may reach perfection in the greatest calm, a mind that feels nothing taken away from it and nothing added, but stays in the same state however things turn out. If ordinary goods are heaped on such a mind, it rises above its possessions; if chance has knocked some or all of them away, it does not become smaller. If he had been born in Parthia, he would have been drawing a bow as a baby. If in Germany, he would have been brandishing a slender spear as a young boy. If he had lived in our grandfathers' time, he would have learned to ride and to strike down an enemy hand to hand. These are the things the training of each person's nation urges and commands."},{"ref":"Letter 36.8–9","orig":"Quid ergo huic meditandum est? quod adversus omnia tela, quod adversus omne hostium genus bene facit, mortem contemnere, quae quin habeat aliquid in se terribile, ut et animos nostros quos in amorem sui natura formavit offendat, nemo dubitat; nec enim opus esset in id comparari et acui in quod instinctu quodam voluntario iremus, sicut feruntur omnes ad conservationem sui. Nemo discit ut si necesse fuerit aequo animo in rosa iaceat, sed in hoc duratur, ut tormentis non summittat fidem, ut si necesse fuerit stans etiam aliquando saucius pro vallo pervigilet et ne pilo quidem incumbat, quia solet obrepere interim somnus in aliquod adminiculum reclinatis. Mors nullum habet incommodum; esse enim debet aliquid cuius sit incommodum.","en":"What then should he practise? What works well against every weapon, against every kind of enemy: despising death. No one doubts that death has something terrible about it, which shocks even our minds, which nature has formed to love themselves. There would be no need to prepare and sharpen ourselves for something we would go towards by a kind of willing instinct, in the way that all creatures are drawn to preserve themselves. No one learns how to lie calmly on a bed of roses, if he has to. But people are hardened so that they will not give up their loyalty under torture, and so that, if need be, they will stand all night on guard at the rampart, sometimes even wounded, and not even lean on a spear, because sleep tends to creep up on those who recline on any support. Death has no disadvantage; for there must be someone for it to be a disadvantage to."},{"ref":"Letter 36.10–11","orig":"Quod si tanta cupiditas te longioris aevi tenet? cogita nihil eorum quae ab oculis abeunt et in rerum naturam, ex qua prodierunt ac mox processura sunt, reconduntur consumi: desinunt ista, non pereunt, et mors, quam pertimescimus ac recusamus, intermittit vitam, non eripit; veniet iterum qui nos in lucem reponat dies, quem multi recusarent nisi oblitos reduceret. Sed postea diligentius docebo omnia quae videntur perire mutari. Aequo animo debet rediturus exire. Observa orbem rerum in se remeantium: videbis nihil in hoc mundo exstingui sed vicibus descendere ac surgere. Aestas abit, sed alter illam annus adducet; hiemps cecidit, referent illam sui menses; solem nox obruit, sed ipsam statim dies abiget. Stellarum iste discursus quidquid praeterit repetit; pars caeli levatur assidue, pars mergitur.","en":"But what if so great a desire for a longer life has hold of you? Consider that none of the things that pass from our sight and are taken back into the nature of things, from which they came and from which they will soon come forth again, is destroyed. They come to an end; they do not perish. And death, which we so dread and resist, interrupts life; it does not snatch it away. The day will come again that restores us to the light, and many would refuse it if it did not bring them back having forgotten. But I shall teach you more carefully later that everything that seems to perish is changed. One who is going to return should leave calmly. Observe the cycle of things returning upon themselves: you will see that nothing in this world is extinguished, but everything goes down and rises in turn. Summer goes, but another year will bring it back. Winter has fallen, but its own months will bring it back. Night overwhelms the sun, but day will soon drive night away. The wandering of the stars returns to whatever it has passed; one part of the sky is constantly rising, another sinking."},{"ref":"Letter 36.12","orig":"Denique finem faciam, si hoc unum adiecero, nec infantes pueros nec mente lapsos timere mortem et esse turpissimum si eam securitatem nobis ratio non praestat ad quam stultitia perducit. Vale.","en":"Finally, I shall end once I have added this one point: neither infants nor children nor the mentally deranged fear death, and it is most shameful if reason does not give us the freedom from care to which folly leads them. Farewell."}],"37":[{"ref":"Letter 37.1–2","orig":"Quod maximum vinculum est ad bonam mentem, promisisti virum bonum, sacramento rogatus es. Deridebit te, si quis tibi dixerit mollem esse militiam et facilem. Nolo te decipi. Eadem honestissimi huius et illius turpissimi auctoramenti verba sunt: 'uri, vinciri ferroque necari'. Ab illis qui manus harenae locant et edunt ac bibunt quae per sanguinem reddant cavetur ut ista vel inviti patiantur: a te ut volens libensque patiaris. Illis licet arma summittere, misericordiam populi temptare: tu neque summittes nec vitam rogabis; recta tibi invictoque moriendum est. Quid porro prodest paucos dies aut annos lucrificare? sine missione nascimur.","en":"You have promised to be a good man, and that is the strongest bond binding you to a good mind: you have taken the oath. Anyone who tells you that this service is soft and easy will be laughing at you. I do not want you to be deceived. The words of this most honourable oath and of that most shameful one are the same: \"to be burned, to be bound, to be killed with the sword.\" Those who hire out their hands to the arena, who eat and drink what they must pay back in blood, give a guarantee that they will suffer these things even against their will. You give a guarantee that you will suffer them willingly and gladly. They are allowed to lower their weapons and appeal to the mercy of the people. You will neither lower yours nor beg for your life. You must die standing and unconquered. And what good is it to gain a few days or years? We are born without hope of discharge."},{"ref":"Letter 37.3–4","orig":"'Quomodo ergo' inquis 'me expediam?' Effugere non potes necessitates, potes vincere. Fit via vi; et hanc tibi viam dabit philosophia. Ad hanc te confer si vis salvus esse, si securus, si beatus, denique si vis esse, quod est maximum, liber; hoc contingere aliter non potest. Humilis res est stultitia, abiecta, sordida, servilis, multis affectibus et sacrissimis subiecta. Hos tam graves dominos, interdum alternis imperantes, interdum pariter, dimittit a te sapientia, quae sola libertas est. Una ad hanc fert via, et quidem recta; non aberrabis; vade certo gradu. Si vis omnia tibi subicere, te subice rationi; multos reges, si ratio te rexerit. Ab illa disces quid et quemadmodum aggredi debeas; non incides rebus.","en":"\"How then,\" you ask, \"shall I get myself out?\" You cannot escape what must be, but you can overcome it. \"A way is made by force\"; and philosophy will give you this way. Turn to her if you want to be safe, if you want to be free from care, if you want to be happy, and finally, what is greatest, if you want to be free. This cannot happen any other way. Folly is a low thing, abject, mean, slavish, subject to many passions, and the cruellest of them. These harsh masters, who sometimes rule in turn and sometimes all together, are sent away from you by wisdom, which alone is freedom. One road leads to her, and it is a straight one; you will not go astray. Walk with a sure step. If you want to make everything subject to you, make yourself subject to reason. You will rule many, if reason rules you. From her you will learn what to undertake and how; you will not blunder into things."},{"ref":"Letter 37.5","orig":"Neminem mihi dabis qui sciat quomodo quod vult coeperit velle: non consilio adductus illo sed impetu impactus est. Non minus saepe fortuna in nos incurrit quam nos in illam. Turpe est non ire sed ferri, et subito in medio turbine rerum stupentem quaerere, 'huc ego quemadmodum veni?' Vale.","en":"You will not find me anyone who knows how he came to want what he wants. He was not led there by planning; he was driven there by impulse. Fortune runs into us no less often than we run into her. It is shameful not to walk but to be carried along, and suddenly, in the middle of a whirlwind of events, to ask in bewilderment, \"How did I get here?\" Farewell."}],"38":[{"ref":"Letter 38.1","orig":"Merito exigis ut hoc inter nos epistularum commercium frequentemus. Plurimum proficit sermo, quia minutatim irrepit animo: disputationes praeparatae et effusae audiente populo plus habent strepitus, minus familiaritatis. Philosophia bonum consilium est: consilium nemo clare dat. Aliquando utendum est et illis, ut ita dicam, contionibus, ubi qui dubitat impellendus est; ubi vero non hoc agendum est, ut velit discere, sed ut discat, ad haec submissiora verba veniendum est. Facilius intrant et haerent; nec enim multis opus est sed efficacibus.","en":"You are right to insist that we keep up this exchange of letters between us more often. Conversation does the most good, because it creeps into the mind little by little. Lectures that are prepared in advance and poured out before a listening crowd have more noise but less intimacy. Philosophy is good advice, and no one gives advice at the top of his voice. Sometimes we must use those, so to speak, public speeches, when someone who is hesitating needs a push. But when the aim is not to make someone want to learn but to make him learn, we must come to these quieter words. They enter more easily and they stick. For we do not need many words, but effective ones."},{"ref":"Letter 38.2","orig":"Seminis modo spargenda sunt, quod quamvis sit exiguum, cum occupavit idoneum locum, vires suas explicat et ex minimo in maximos auctus diffunditur. Idem facit ratio: non late patet, si aspicias; in opere crescit. Pauca sunt quae dicuntur, sed si illa animus bene excepit, convalescunt et exsurgunt. Eadem est, inquam, praeceptorum condicio quae seminum: multum efficiunt, et angusta sunt. Tantum, ut dixi, idonea mens rapiat illa et in se trahat; multa invicem et ipsa generabit et plus reddet quam acceperit. Vale.","en":"They should be scattered like seed. However tiny it is, once it has found a suitable spot, it unfolds its strength, and from the smallest beginnings it spreads out into the largest growth. Reason does the same. It does not cover much ground, if you look at it; it grows as it works. Few words are spoken, but if the mind has received them well, they gain strength and spring up. The nature of precepts, I say, is the same as that of seeds: they achieve much, and they are small. Only, as I said, let a suitable mind seize them and draw them in. It will then produce many things in its turn, and give back more than it received. Farewell."}],"39":[{"ref":"Letter 39.1–2","orig":"Commentarios quos desideras, diligenter ordinatos et in angustum coactos, ego vero componam; sed vide ne plus profutura sit ratio ordinaria quam haec quae nunc vulgo breviarium dicitur, olim cum latine loqueremur summarium vocabatur. Illa res discenti magis necessaria est, haec scienti; illa enim docet, haec admonet. Sed utriusque rei tibi copiam faciam. Tu a me non est quod illum aut illum exigas: qui notorem dat ignotus est. Scribam ergo quod vis, sed meo more; interim multos habes quorum scripta nescio an satis ordinentur. Sume in manus indicem philosophorum: haec ipsa res expergisci te coget, si videris quam multi tibi laboraverint. Concupisces et ipse ex illis unus esse; habet enim hoc optimum in se generosus animus, quod concitatur ad honesta. Neminem excelsi ingenii virum humilia delectant et sordida: magnarum rerum species ad se vocat et extollit.","en":"The notes you want, carefully arranged and compressed into a small space, I shall certainly put together. But consider whether a regular exposition would not help you more than what is now commonly called a \"breviarium\", and was once, when we spoke Latin, called a \"summarium\". The first is more necessary for the learner, the second for the one who already knows. The first teaches; the second reminds. But I shall give you plenty of both. There is no reason for you to ask me for this or that authority: whoever gives you a guarantor is himself unknown. So I shall write what you want, but in my own way. Meanwhile you have many writers whose work I am not sure is well enough arranged. Take in your hands a list of the philosophers. That very thing will force you to wake up, when you see how many have worked for you. You will want to be one of them yourself. For a noble mind has this excellent quality: it is roused towards what is honourable. No man of lofty talent takes pleasure in what is low and mean. The sight of great things calls to him and lifts him up."},{"ref":"Letter 39.3–4","orig":"Quemadmodum flamma surgit in rectum, iacere ac deprimi non potest, non magis quam quiescere, ita noster animus in motu est, eo mobilior et actuosior quo vehementior fuerit. Sed felix qui ad meliora hunc impetum dedit: ponet se extra ius dicionemque fortunae; secunda temperabit, adversa comminuet et aliis admiranda despiciet. Magni animi est magna contemnere ac mediocria malle quam nimia; illa enim utilia vitaliaque sunt, at haec eo quod superfluunt nocent. Sic segetem nimia sternit ubertas, sic rami onere franguntur, sic ad maturitatem non pervenit nimia fecunditas. Idem animis quoque evenit quos immoderata felicitas rumpit, qua non tantum in aliorum iniuriam sed etiam in suam utuntur.","en":"Just as a flame rises straight up and cannot lie down or be pressed low, any more than it can rest, so our mind is always in motion, and the fiercer it is, the more mobile and active it is. But happy is the one who has turned this drive towards better things. He will put himself beyond fortune's jurisdiction and control. He will moderate prosperity, cut adversity down to size, and look down on what others admire. It is the mark of a great mind to despise great things and to prefer what is moderate to what is excessive. For moderate things are useful and life-giving, while excessive things do harm by their very overflow. So too much richness flattens the crop; so branches break under their load; so too much fruitfulness never ripens. The same happens to minds that are wrecked by unlimited prosperity, which they use to harm not only others but themselves."},{"ref":"Letter 39.5–6","orig":"Qui hostis in quemquam tam contumeliosus fuit quam in quosdam voluptates suae sunt? quorum impotentiae atque insanae libidini ob hoc unum possis ignoscere, quod quae fecere patiuntur. Nec immerito hic illos furor vexat; necesse est enim in immensum exeat cupiditas quae naturalem modum transilit. Ille enim habet suum finem, inania et ex libidine orta sine termino sunt. Necessaria metitur utilitas: supervacua quo redigis? Voluptatibus itaque se mergunt quibus in consuetudinem adductis carere non possunt, et ob hoc miserrimi sunt, quod eo pervenerunt ut illis quae supervacua fuerant facta sint necessaria. Serviunt itaque voluptatibus, non fruuntur, et mala sua, quod malorum ultimum est, et amant; tunc autem est consummata infelicitas, ubi turpia non solum delectant sed etiam placent, et desinit esse remedio locus ubi quae fuerant vitia mores sunt. Vale.","en":"What enemy was ever as insulting to anyone as their own pleasures are to some people? You could forgive their lack of self-control and their mad lust for this one reason: they suffer what they have done. And this frenzy rightly torments them. For desire that leaps over the natural limit must run out into the boundless. Nature has its own limit; things that are empty and born of lust have no boundary. Usefulness measures what is necessary; by what will you measure what is superfluous? So they sink themselves in pleasures, which they cannot do without once they have become habits, and they are most wretched for this reason: they have reached the point where things that were superfluous have become necessary. So they are slaves to their pleasures rather than enjoying them. They even love their own evils, which is the worst of all evils. And unhappiness is complete when shameful things not only delight but are actually approved of, and there is no longer any room for a cure when what used to be vices have become habits. Farewell."}],"40":[{"ref":"Letter 40.1","orig":"Quod frequenter mihi scribis gratias ago; nam quo uno modo potes te mihi ostendis. Numquam epistulam tuam accipio ut non protinus una simus. Si imagines nobis amicorum absentium iucundae sunt, quae memoriam renovant et desiderium falso atque inani solacio levant, quanto iucundiores sunt litterae, quae vera amici absentis vestigia, veras notas afferunt? Nam quod in conspectu dulcissimum est, id amici manus epistulae impressa praestat, agnoscere.","en":"Thank you for writing to me so often, for you are showing yourself to me in the only way you can. I never receive a letter from you without our being together at once. If pictures of absent friends are pleasing to us, renewing our memory and easing our longing with false and empty comfort, how much more pleasing are letters, which bring us real traces and real marks of an absent friend? For what is sweetest when we see a friend face to face, recognising him, a friend's hand pressed on a letter provides."},{"ref":"Letter 40.2","orig":"Audisse te scribis Serapionem philosophum, cum istuc applicuisset: 'solet magno cursu verba convellere, quae non effundit ima sed premit et urguet; plura enim veniunt quam quibus vox una sufficiat'. Hoc non probo in philosopho, cuius pronuntiatio quoque, sicut vita, debet esse composita; nihil autem ordinatum est quod praecipitatur et properat. Itaque oratio illa apud Homerum concitata et sine intermissione in morem nivis superveniens oratori data est, lenis et melle dulcior seni profluit.","en":"You write that you heard the philosopher Serapio when he put in to your shore. \"He usually snatches up his words at a great pace, and he does not pour them out but squeezes and crowds them, for more come than a single voice can cope with.\" I do not approve of this in a philosopher, whose delivery, like his life, should be well ordered; and nothing that rushes headlong and hurries is orderly. That is why, in Homer, the excited style that comes down without a break like snow is given to the orator, while the gentle style, sweeter than honey, flows from the old man."},{"ref":"Letter 40.3–4","orig":"Sic itaque habe: istam vim dicendi rapidam atque abundantem aptiorem esse circulanti quam agenti rem magnam ac seriam docentique. Aeque stillare illum nolo quam currere; nec extendat aures nec obruat. Nam illa quoque inopia et exilitas minus intentum auditorem habet taedio interruptae tarditatis; facilius tamen insidit quod exspectatur quam quod praetervolat. Venique tradere homines discipulis praecepta dicuntur: non traditur quod fugit. Adice nunc quod quae veritati operam dat oratio incomposita esse debet et simplex: haec popularis nihil habet veri. Movere vult turbam et inconsultas aures impetu rapere, tractandam se non praebet, aufertur: quomodo autem regere potest quae regi non potest? Quid quod haec oratio quae sanandis mentibus adhibetur descendere in nos debet? remedia non prosunt nisi immorantur.","en":"So take it that this rapid, overflowing force of speaking is better suited to a street performer than to someone handling a great and serious subject and teaching. I no more want him to trickle than to race. He should neither strain the ears nor overwhelm them. For that poverty and thinness too makes the listener less attentive, because he grows bored with its halting slowness; but still, what is waited for sinks in more easily than what flies past. Besides, people are said to hand down precepts to their pupils: what runs away cannot be handed down. Add to this that speech which serves the truth should be unadorned and simple. This popular style has nothing of truth in it. It wants to stir the crowd and carry away unthinking ears by storm. It does not offer itself to be examined; it is swept off. And how can something rule others when it cannot itself be ruled? What of the fact that speech used to heal minds ought to sink into us? Remedies do no good unless they stay a while."},{"ref":"Letter 40.5–6","orig":"Multum praeterea habet inanitatis et vani, plus sonat quam valet. Lenienda sunt quae me exterrent, compescenda quae irritant, discutienda quae fallunt, inhibenda luxuria, corripienda avaritia: quid horum raptim potest fieri? quis medicus aegros in transitu curat? Quid quod ne voluptatem quidem ullam habet talis verborum sine dilectu ruentium strepitus? Sed ut pleraque quae fieri posse non crederes cognovisse satis est, ita istos qui verba exercuerunt abunde est semel audisse. Quid enim quis discere, quid imitari velit? quid de eorum animo iudicet quorum oratio perturbata et immissa est nec potest reprimi?","en":"Besides, it has a great deal of emptiness and vanity; it has more sound than strength. The things that terrify me must be soothed, the things that provoke me must be checked, the things that deceive me must be shaken off, luxury must be restrained, greed must be rebuked. Which of these can be done in a rush? What doctor cures the sick in passing? What of the fact that such a clatter of words, rushing along without any selection, does not even give any pleasure? But just as with most things you would not have believed possible, it is enough to have seen them once, so with those who have trained their words, it is more than enough to have heard them once. For what would anyone want to learn from them, what would he want to imitate? What would he judge of the mind of people whose speech is confused, let loose and impossible to hold back?"},{"ref":"Letter 40.7–8","orig":"Quemadmodum per proclive currentium non ubi visum est gradus sistitur, sed incitato corporis ponderi servit ac longius quam voluit effertur, sic ista dicendi celeritas nec in sua potestate est nec satis decora philosophiae, quae ponere debet verba, non proicere, et pedetemptim procedere. 'Quid ergo? non aliquando et insurget?' Quidni? sed salva dignitate morum, quam violenta ista et nimia vis exuit. Habeat vires magnas, moderatas tamen; perennis sit unda, non torrens. Vix oratori permiserim talem dicendi velocitatem inrevocabilem ac sine lege vadentem: quemadmodum enim iudex subsequi poterit aliquando etiam imperitus et rudis? Tum quoque, cum illum aut ostentatio abstulerit aut affectus impotens sui, tantum festinet atque ingerat quantum aures pati possunt.","en":"Just as when people run down a slope, their step does not stop where they intended, but is carried along by the momentum of the body and goes further than they wanted, so this speed of speaking is not in its own control, and it is not fitting enough for philosophy, which should place its words, not throw them out, and proceed step by step. \"What then? Will it never rise up?\" Of course it may, but without losing the dignity of character, which that violent and excessive force strips away. Let it have great strength, but controlled. Let it be a stream that never fails, not a torrent. I would hardly allow even an orator such speed of speech, which cannot be called back and runs on without rule. For how could a judge follow it, especially one who is sometimes inexperienced and untrained? Even when the orator has been carried away by the desire to show off or by feeling he cannot control, let him hurry and pile on only as much as the ears can bear."},{"ref":"Letter 40.9–10","orig":"Recte ergo facies si non audieris istos qui quantum dicant, non quemadmodum quaerunt, et ipse malueris, si necesse est, vel P. Vinicium dicere qui itaque. Cum quaereretur quomodo P. Vinicius diceret, Asellius ait 'tractim'. Nam Geminus Varius ait, 'quomodo istum disertum dicatis nescio: tria verba non potest iungere'. Quidni malis tu sic dicere quomodo Vinicius? Aliquis tam insulsus intervenerit quam qui illi singula verba vellenti, tamquam dictaret, non diceret, ait 'dic, numquam dicas?' Nam Q. Hateri cursum, suis temporibus oratoris celeberrimi, longe abesse ab homine sano volo: numquam dubitavit, numquam intermisit; semel incipiebat, semel desinebat.","en":"So you will do well not to listen to those who care about how much they say, not how they say it. And if you must, you yourself should prefer to speak even like Publius Vinicius. When people asked how Publius Vinicius spoke, Asellius said: \"Drawn out.\" For Geminus Varius said: \"I don't know how you can call that man eloquent: he can't join three words together.\" Why should you not prefer to speak like Vinicius? Some wit may come along as tasteless as the man who, while Vinicius was plucking out his words one at a time as if he were dictating, not speaking, said: \"Speak! Will you never speak?\" As for the rush of Quintus Haterius, the most famous orator of his day, I want it kept far from any sane man. He never hesitated, never paused. He started once, and stopped once."},{"ref":"Letter 40.11–13","orig":"Quaedam tamen et nationibus puto magis aut minus convenire. In Graecis hanc licentiam tuleris: nos etiam cum scribimus interpungere assuevimus. Cicero quoque noster, a quo Romana eloquentia exsiluit, gradarius fuit. Romanus sermo magis se circumspicit et aestimat praebetque aestimandum. Fabianus, vir egregius et vita et scientia et, quod post ista est, eloquentia quoque, disputabat expedite magis quam concitate, ut posses dicere facilitatem esse illam, non celeritatem. Hanc ego in viro sapiente recipio, non exigo; ut oratio eius sine impedimento exeat, proferatur tamen malo quam profluat. Eo autem magis te deterreo ab isto morbo quod non potest tibi ista res contingere aliter quam si te pudere desierit: perfrices frontem oportet et te ipse non audias; multa enim inobservatus ille cursus feret quae reprendere velis.","en":"But I think some styles suit some nations more or less than others. In a Greek you might put up with this lack of restraint; we Romans are used to pausing even when we write. Our own Cicero too, from whom Roman eloquence sprang, was a slow pacer. Roman speech is more careful, weighs itself, and offers itself to be weighed. Fabianus, a man outstanding in his life and his learning, and, what comes after these, in eloquence too, used to speak readily rather than hurriedly, so that you could call it fluency, not speed. I accept this in a wise man; I do not demand it. Let his speech come out without obstruction, but I would rather it were brought out than that it flowed out. And I warn you away from that disease all the more because you cannot acquire it unless you stop feeling shame. You would have to wipe the blush off your face and not listen to yourself; for that unchecked rush will bring out many things you would want to take back."},{"ref":"Letter 40.14","orig":"Non potest, inquam, tibi contingere res ista salva verecundia. Praeterea exercitatione opus est cotidiana et a rebus studium transferendum est ad verba. Haec autem etiam si aderunt et poterunt sine ullo tuo labore decurrere, tamen temperanda sunt; nam quemadmodum sapienti viro incessus modestior convenit, ita oratio pressa, non audax. Summa ergo summarum haec erit: tardilocum esse te iubeo. Vale.","en":"You cannot, I say, acquire it without losing your modesty. Besides, it needs daily practice, and one must shift one's attention from things to words. And even if the words are there and can run on without any effort from you, they still need to be controlled. For just as a more modest walk suits a wise man, so does restrained speech, not bold speech. So the sum of it all is this: I tell you to be slow of speech. Farewell."}],"41":[{"ref":"Letter 41.1–2","orig":"Facis rem optimam et tibi salutarem si, ut scribis, perseveras ire ad bonam mentem, quam stultum est optare cum possis a te impetrare. Non sunt ad caelum elevandae manus nec exorandus aedituus ut nos ad aurem simulacri, quasi magis exaudiri possimus, admittat: prope est a te deus, tecum est, intus est. Ita dico, Lucili: sacer intra nos spiritus sedet, malorum bonorumque nostrorum observator et custos; hic prout a nobis tractatus est, ita nos ipse tractat. Bonus vero vir sine deo nemo est: an potest aliquis supra fortunam nisi ab illo adiutus exsurgere? Ille dat consilia magnifica et erecta. In unoquoque virorum bonorum (quis deus incertum est) habitat deus.","en":"You are doing an excellent thing, and one good for you, if, as you write, you are persevering in your way towards a good mind. It is foolish to pray for this when you can obtain it from yourself. There is no need to raise our hands to heaven, or to beg the temple keeper to let us come up to the ear of the statue, as if we could be heard better that way. God is near you, he is with you, he is within you. I mean this, Lucilius: a holy spirit dwells within us, watcher and guardian of our good and bad deeds. As we treat it, so it treats us. No one is a good man without God. Can anyone rise above fortune unless helped by him? He gives noble and upright counsel. In every good man \"a god dwells (what god is uncertain)\"."},{"ref":"Letter 41.3","orig":"Si tibi occurrerit vetustis arboribus et solitam altitudinem egressis frequens lucus et conspectum caeli densitate ramorum aliorum alios protegentium summovens, illa proceritas silvae et secretum loci et admiratio umbrae in aperto tam densae atque continuae fidem tibi numinis faciet. Si quis specus saxis penitus exesis montem suspenderit, non manu factus, sed naturalibus causis in tantam laxitatem excavatus, animum tuum quadam religionis suspicione percutiet. Magnorum fluminum capita veneramur; subita ex abdito vasti amnis eruptio aras habet; coluntur aquarum calentium fontes, et stagna quaedam vel opacitas vel immensa altitudo sacravit.","en":"If you come upon a grove thick with ancient trees that have grown beyond the usual height, shutting out the sight of the sky with the density of branches sheltering one another, the height of the forest, the seclusion of the place, and your wonder at a shade so thick and unbroken in the open air will give you a sense of a divine presence. If some cave, with its rocks eaten deep away, holds up a mountain above it, not made by hand but hollowed out to such a size by natural causes, it will strike your mind with a kind of religious awe. We worship the sources of great rivers. Where a vast stream bursts out suddenly from a hidden place, there are altars. Hot springs are worshipped, and certain pools have been made holy by their darkness or their immense depth."},{"ref":"Letter 41.4–5","orig":"Si hominem videris interritum periculis, intactum cupiditatibus, inter adversa felicem, in mediis tempestatibus placidum, ex superiore loco homines videntem, ex aequo deos, non subibit te veneratio eius? non dices, 'ista res maior est altiorque quam ut credi similis huic in quo est corpusculo possit'? Vis isto divina descendit; animum excellentem, moderatum, omnia tamquam minora transeuntem, quidquid timemus optamusque ridentem, caelestis potentia agitat. Non potest res tanta sine adminiculo numinis stare; itaque maiore sui parte illic est unde descendit. Quemadmodum radii solis contingunt quidem terram sed ibi sunt unde mittuntur, sic animus magnus ac sacer et in hoc demissus, ut propius divina nossemus, conversatur quidem nobiscum sed haeret origini suae; illinc pendet, illuc spectat ac nititur, nostris tamquam melior interest.","en":"If you see a man who is not frightened by dangers, untouched by desires, happy in adversity, calm in the middle of storms, who looks at people from a higher level and at the gods from an equal one, will you not be filled with reverence for him? Will you not say, \"This thing is too great and too lofty to be believed to be of the same kind as the poor body it lives in\"? A divine power has come down into it. A mind that is outstanding and restrained, that passes by everything as beneath it, that laughs at everything we fear and wish for, is moved by a heavenly power. So great a thing cannot stand without the support of a divinity. And so, in its greater part, it is still there, where it came down from. Just as the rays of the sun touch the earth but are still in the place from which they are sent, so a great and holy mind, sent down here so that we might know divine things more closely, does keep company with us, but it clings to its source. It depends on that, looks towards that and strives towards that; it takes part in our affairs as one who is better than we are."},{"ref":"Letter 41.6","orig":"Quis est ergo hic animus? qui nullo bono nisi suo nitet. Quid enim est stultius quam in homine aliena laudare? quid eo dementius qui ea miratur quae ad alium transferri protinus possunt? Non faciunt meliorem equum aurei freni. Aliter leo aurata iuba mittitur, dum contractatur et ad patientiam recipiendi ornamenti cogitur fatigatus, aliter incultus, integri spiritus: hic scilicet impetu acer, qualem illum natura esse voluit, speciosus ex horrido, cuius hic decor est, non sine timore aspici, praefertur illi languido et bratteato.","en":"What then is this mind? One that shines with no good but its own. For what is more foolish than to praise in a man what belongs to someone else? What is more insane than to admire things that can be passed on to someone else at once? Golden bridles do not make a horse better. A lion with a gilded mane, handled until he is worn out and forced to put up with the decoration, is sent into the arena in one way; a wild lion, his spirit unbroken, in another. The second, of course, fierce in his charge, as nature meant him to be, splendid in his shagginess, whose beauty lies in the fact that no one can look at him without fear, is preferred to the first, the sluggish one covered in gold leaf."},{"ref":"Letter 41.7–8","orig":"Nemo gloriari nisi suo debet. Vitem laudamus si fructu palmites onerat, si ipsa pondere eorum quae tulit adminicula deducit: num quis huic illam praeferret vitem cui aureae uvae, aurea folia dependent? Propria virtus est in vite fertilitas; in homine quoque id laudandum est quod ipsius est. Familiam formonsam habet et domum pulchram, multum serit, multum fenerat: nihil horum in ipso est sed circa ipsum. Lauda in illo quod nec eripi potest nec dari, quod proprium hominis est. Quaeris quid sit? animus et ratio in animo perfecta. Rationale enim animal est homo; consummatur itaque bonum eius, si id implevit cui nascitur. Quid est autem quod ab illo ratio haec exigat? rem facillimam, secundum naturam suam vivere. Sed hanc difficilem facit communis insania: in vitia alter alterum trudimus. Quomodo autem revocari ad salutem possunt quos nemo retinet, populus impellit? Vale.","en":"No one should boast of anything but what is his own. We praise a vine if it loads its shoots with fruit, if the very weight of what it has produced bends its supports. Would anyone prefer to this a vine from which golden grapes and golden leaves hang down? Fruitfulness is the particular virtue of a vine; and in a man too, what should be praised is what belongs to him. He has a handsome household of slaves and a beautiful house, he sows many crops and lends out much money: none of these is in him; they are around him. Praise in him what can neither be taken away nor given, what belongs to a human being as such. Do you ask what that is? The mind, and reason made perfect in the mind. For a human being is a rational animal. So his good is complete if he has fulfilled what he was born for. And what does this reason demand of him? The easiest thing in the world: to live according to his own nature. But the madness we all share makes this difficult: we push one another into vices. And how can people be called back to health when no one holds them back and the crowd pushes them on? Farewell."}],"42":[{"ref":"Letter 42.1–2","orig":"Iam tibi iste persuasit virum se bonum esse? Atqui vir bonus tam cito nec fieri potest nec intellegi. Scis quem nunc virum bonum dicam? hunc secundae notae; nam ille alter fortasse tamquam phoenix semel anno quingentesimo nascitur. Nec est mirum ex intervallo magna generari: mediocria et in turbam nascentia saepe fortuna producit, eximia vero ipsa raritate commendat. Sed iste multum adhuc abest ab eo quod profitetur; et si sciret quid esset vir bonus, nondum esse se crederet, fortasse etiam fieri posse desperaret. 'At male existimat de malis.' Hoc etiam mali faciunt, nec ulla maior poena nequitiaest quam quod sibi ac suis displicet.","en":"Has that man already convinced you that he is a good man? But a good man can neither be made nor recognised so quickly. Do you know what kind of good man I mean now? One of the second rank. For the other kind is perhaps born only once in five hundred years, like the phoenix. And it is not surprising that great things are produced only at long intervals. Fortune often produces ordinary things, born to join the crowd; but she makes the outstanding ones precious by their very rarity. But that man is still far from what he claims to be. If he knew what a good man was, he would not yet believe himself to be one; perhaps he would even despair of becoming one. \"But he thinks badly of bad people.\" Bad people do that too, and there is no greater punishment for wickedness than that it displeases itself and its own."},{"ref":"Letter 42.3–4","orig":"'At odit eos qui subita et magna potentia impotenter utuntur.' Idem faciet cum idem potuerit. Multorum quia imbecilla sunt latent vitia, non minus ausura cum illis vires suae placuerint quam illa quae iam felicitas aperuit. Instrumenta illis explicandae nequitiae desunt. Sic tuto serpens etiam pestifera tractatur dum riget frigore: non desunt tunc illi venena sed torpent. Multorum crudelitas et ambitio et luxuria, ut paria pessimis audeat, fortunae favore deficitur. Eadem velle cognosces: da posse quantum volunt.","en":"\"But he hates those who use sudden, great power without self-control.\" He will do the same when he has the same power. Many people's vices are hidden because they are weak; they will be no less daring, once their strength pleases them, than the vices that prosperity has already brought into the open. They simply lack the tools to unfold their wickedness. In the same way, even a deadly snake can be handled safely while it is stiff with cold: it does not lack poison then, but its poison is numbed. The cruelty, ambition and luxury of many people lack only the favour of fortune to dare as much as the worst. You will recognise that they want the same things: give them the power to do as much as they want."},{"ref":"Letter 42.5–6","orig":"Meministi, cum quendam affirmares esse in tua potestate, dixisse me volaticum esse ac levem et te non pedem eius tenere sed pinnam? Mentitus sum: pluma tenebatur, quam remisit et fugit. Scis quos postea tibi exhibuerit ludos, quam multa in caput suum casura temptaverit. Non videbat se per aliorum pericula in suum ruere non cogitabat quam onerosa essent quae petebat, etiam si supervacua non essent. Hoc itaque in his quae affectamus, ad quae labore magno contendimus, inspicere debemus, aut nihil in illis commodi esse aut plus incommodi: quaedam supervacua sunt, quaedam tanti non sunt. Sed hoc non pervidemus et gratuita nobis videntur quae carissime constant.","en":"Do you remember when you insisted that a certain man was in your power, and I said he was flighty and fickle, and that you were holding not his foot but his wing? I was wrong: you were holding a feather, which he left behind and flew away. You know what tricks he played on you afterwards, how many things he attempted that were going to fall on his own head. He did not see that he was rushing to his own danger through the dangers of others. He did not think how burdensome the things he was seeking were, even if they had not been superfluous. So in the things we aim at, the things we strive for with great effort, we should look at this: either there is nothing good in them, or there is more bad. Some things are superfluous; others are not worth so much. But we do not see this clearly, and things seem free to us that cost us most dearly."},{"ref":"Letter 42.7–8","orig":"Ex eo licet stupor noster appareat, quod ea sola putamus emi pro quibus pecuniam solvimus, ea gratuita vocamus pro quibus nos ipsos impendimus. Quae emere nollemus si domus nobis nostra pro illis esset danda, si amoenum aliquod fructuosumve praedium, ad ea paratissimi sumus pervenire cum sollicitudine, cum periculo, cum iactura pudoris et libertatis et temporis; adeo nihil est cuique se vilius. Idem itaque in omnibus consiliis rebusque faciamus quod solemus facere quotiens ad institorem alicuius mercis accessimus: videamus hoc quod concupiscimus quanti deferatur. Saepe maximum pretium est pro quo nullum datur. Multa possum tibi ostendere quae acquisita acceptaque libertatem nobis extorserint; nostri essemus, si ista nostra non essent.","en":"Our stupidity can be seen from this: we think we buy only the things we pay money for, and we call free the things we pay for with ourselves. Things we would refuse to buy if we had to give our house for them, or some pleasant or productive estate, we are all too ready to get at the cost of anxiety, danger, and the loss of our self-respect, our freedom and our time. So true is it that nothing is cheaper to anyone than himself. So in all our plans and affairs, let us do what we usually do whenever we go up to a trader selling some goods: let us see what price is being asked for the thing we desire. Often the greatest price is paid for the thing for which no money is paid. I could show you many things whose getting and receiving have wrung our freedom from us. We would belong to ourselves if those things did not belong to us."},{"ref":"Letter 42.9–10","orig":"Haec ergo tecum ipse versa, non solum ubi de incremento agetur, sed etiam ubi de iactura. 'Hoc periturum est.' Nempe adventicium fuit; tam facile sine isto vives quam vixisti. Si diu illud habuisti, perdis postquam satiatus es; si non diu, perdis antequam assuescas. 'Pecuniam minorem habebis.' Nempe et molestiam. 'Gratiam minorem.' Nempe et invidiam. Circumspice ista quae nos agunt in insaniam, quae cum plurimis lacrimis amittimus: scies non damnum in iis molestum esse, sed opinionem damni. Nemo illa perisse sentit sed cogitat. Qui se habet nihil perdidit: sed quoto cuique habere se contigit? Vale.","en":"So turn these thoughts over in your mind, not only when there is a question of gain, but also when there is a question of loss. \"This is going to be lost.\" Well, it came from outside; you will live without it as easily as you lived before you had it. If you have had it a long time, you lose it after you have had your fill of it; if not long, you lose it before you have got used to it. \"You will have less money.\" Yes, and less trouble. \"Less influence.\" Yes, and less envy. Look around at the things that drive us to madness, which we lose with floods of tears: you will see that what troubles us in them is not the loss but the opinion of loss. No one feels that they are gone; he thinks it. Whoever has himself has lost nothing. But how few people have managed to have themselves! Farewell."}],"43":[{"ref":"Letter 43.1–2","orig":"Quomodo hoc ad me pervenerit quaeris, quis mihi id te cogitare narraverit quod tu nulli narraveras? Is qui scit plurimum, rumor. 'Quid ergo?' inquis 'tantus sum ut possim excitare rumorem?' Non est quod te ad hunc locum respiciens metiaris: ad istum respice in quo moraris. Quidquid inter vicina eminet magnum est illic ubi eminet; nam magnitudo non habet modum certum: comparatio illam aut tollit aut deprimit. Navis quae in flumine magna est in mari parvula est; gubernaculum quod alteri navi magnum alteri exiguum est.","en":"You ask how this reached me, who told me that you were thinking about something you had told no one? The one who knows most: rumour. \"What?\" you say. \"Am I so important that I can start a rumour?\" There is no reason to measure yourself by looking at this place here. Look at the place where you are living. Whatever stands out among its neighbours is great in the place where it stands out. For greatness has no fixed measure: comparison either raises it or lowers it. A ship that is large on a river is tiny on the sea. A rudder that is large for one ship is small for another."},{"ref":"Letter 43.3–5","orig":"Tu nunc in provincia, licet contemnas ipse te, magnus es. Quid agas, quemadmodum cenes, quemadmodum dormias, quaeritur, scitur: eo tibi diligentius vivendum est. Tunc autem felicem esse te iudica cum poteris in publico vivere, cum te parietes tui tegent, non abscondent, quos plerumque circumdatos nobis iudicamus non ut tutius vivamus, sed ut peccemus occultius. Rem dicam ex qua mores aestimes nostros: vix quemquam invenies qui possit aperto ostio vivere. Ianitores conscientia nostra, non superbia opposuit: sic vivimus ut deprendi sit subito aspici. Quid autem prodest recondere se et oculos hominum auresque vitare? Bona conscientia turbam advocat, mala etiam in solitudine anxia atque sollicita est. Si honesta sunt quae facis, omnes sciant; si turpia, quid refert neminem scire cum tu scias? O te miserum si contemnis hunc testem! Vale.","en":"You are now in a province, and though you may think little of yourself, you are great there. What you do, how you dine, how you sleep, is asked about and known. So you must live all the more carefully. But consider yourself happy only when you can live in public, when your walls protect you but do not hide you. We usually think walls are built around us not so that we may live more safely, but so that we may do wrong more secretly. I will tell you something by which you can judge our morals: you will scarcely find anyone who can live with his door open. It is our conscience, not our pride, that has put doorkeepers there. We live in such a way that to be seen suddenly is to be caught. But what good is it to hide away and avoid people's eyes and ears? A good conscience calls in the crowd; a bad one is anxious and worried even in solitude. If what you do is honourable, let everyone know it. If it is shameful, what does it matter that no one knows, when you know? How wretched you are if you despise this witness! Farewell."}],"44":[{"ref":"Letter 44.1–2","orig":"Iterum tu mihi te pusillum facis et dicis malignius tecum egisse naturam prius, deinde fortunam, cum possis eximere te vulgo et ad felicitatem hominum maximam emergere. Si quid est aliud in philosophia boni, hoc est, quod stemma non inspicit; omnes, si ad originem primam revocantur, a dis sunt. Eques Romanus es, et ad hunc ordinem tua te perduxit industria; at mehercules multis quattuordecim clausa sunt, non omnes curia admittit, castra quoque quos ad laborem et periculum recipiant fastidiose legunt: bona mens omnibus patet, omnes ad hoc sumus nobiles. Nec reicit quemquam philosophia nec eligit: omnibus lucet.","en":"Once again you are making yourself small in my eyes, and saying that first nature and then fortune treated you rather meanly, when you could raise yourself above the crowd and rise to the greatest happiness a human being can have. If there is anything else good in philosophy, it is this: it does not look at family trees. Everyone, if traced back to his first origin, comes from the gods. You are a Roman knight, and your own hard work brought you into this order. But, by Hercules, the fourteen rows of theatre seats are closed to many; the Senate house does not admit everyone; even the army is choosy about whom it takes on for toil and danger. But a good mind is open to all; for this, we are all noble. Philosophy neither rejects nor selects anyone: she shines for all."},{"ref":"Letter 44.3–4","orig":"Patricius Socrates non fuit; Cleanthes aquam traxit et rigando horto locavit manus; Platonem non accepit nobilem philosophia sed fecit: quid est quare desperes his te posse fieri parem? Omnes hi maiores tui sunt, si te illis geris dignum; geres autem, si hoc protinus tibi ipse persuaseris, a nullo te nobilitate superari. Omnibus nobis totidem ante nos sunt; nullius non origo ultra memoriam iacet. Platon ait neminem regem non ex servis esse oriundum, neminem non servum ex regibus. Omnia ista longa varietas miscuit et sursum deorsum fortuna versavit.","en":"Socrates was not a patrician. Cleanthes drew water and hired out his hands to water a garden. Philosophy did not receive Plato as a nobleman; she made him one. Why should you despair of being able to become equal to these men? They are all your ancestors, if you behave in a way worthy of them. And you will, if you convince yourself at once that no one surpasses you in nobility. Each of us has just as many forebears before us; everyone's origin lies beyond memory. Plato says that there is no king who is not descended from slaves, and no slave who is not descended from kings. The long course of time has mixed all these things up, and fortune has turned them upside down."},{"ref":"Letter 44.5–6","orig":"Quis est generosus? ad virtutem bene a natura compositus. Hoc unum intuendum est: alioquin si ad vetera revocas, nemo non inde est ante quod nihil est. A primo mundi ortu usque in hoc tempus perduxit nos ex splendidis sordidisque alternata series. Non facit nobilem atrium plenum fumosis imaginibus; nemo in nostram gloriam vixit nec quod ante nos fuit nostrum est: animus facit nobilem, cui ex quacumque condicione supra fortunam licet surgere. Puta itaque te non equitem Romanum esse sed libertinum: potes hoc consequi, ut solus sis liber inter ingenuos. 'Quomodo?' inquis. Si mala bonaque non populo auctore distineris. Intuendum est non unde veniant, sed quo eant. Si quid est quod vitam beatam potest facere, id bonum est suo iure; depravari enim in malum non potest.","en":"Who is well born? The one who is well fitted by nature for virtue. This is the only thing to look at. Otherwise, if you go back to ancient times, everyone comes from a point before which there is nothing. From the first beginning of the world down to this time, a line that alternates between the splendid and the lowly has brought us here. An entrance hall full of smoky ancestral portraits does not make a man noble. No one has lived for our glory, and what was before us is not ours. The mind makes a man noble, and it can rise above fortune from any condition. So suppose you were not a Roman knight but a freedman: you could still achieve this, to be the only free man among the free-born. \"How?\" you ask. If you distinguish between bad and good without taking the crowd as your authority. You must look not at where things come from but at where they are going. If there is anything that can make life happy, it is good in its own right; for it cannot be twisted into something bad."},{"ref":"Letter 44.7","orig":"Quid est ergo in quo erratur, cum omnes beatam vitam optent? quod instrumenta eius pro ipsa habent et illam dum petunt fugiunt. Nam cum summa vitae beatae sit solida securitas et eius inconcussa fiducia, sollicitudinis colligunt causas et per insidiosum iter vitae non tantum ferunt sarcinas sed trahunt; ita longius ab effectu eius quod petunt semper abscedunt et quo plus operae impenderunt, hoc se magis impediunt et feruntur retro. Quod evenit in labyrintho properantibus: ipsa illos velocitas implicat. Vale.","en":"Where, then, do people go wrong, since everyone wants a happy life? They take its tools for the thing itself, and while they seek it, they run away from it. For although the essence of a happy life is solid freedom from care and unshaken confidence in it, they gather causes of anxiety, and on the treacherous road of life they do not just carry their baggage, they drag it. So they keep moving further away from achieving what they seek, and the more effort they spend, the more they hinder themselves and are carried backwards. This is what happens to people hurrying in a maze: their very speed entangles them. Farewell."}],"45":[{"ref":"Letter 45.1–2","orig":"Librorum istic inopiam esse quereris. Non refert quam multos sed quam bonos habeas: lectio certa prodest, varia delectat. Qui quo destinavit pervenire vult unam sequatur viam, non per multas vagetur: non ire istuc sed errare est. 'Vellem' inquis 'non magis consilium mihi quam libros dares.' Ego vero quoscumque habeo mittere paratus sum et totum horreum excutere; me quoque isto, si possem, transferrem, et nisi mature te finem officii sperarem impetraturum, hanc senilem expeditionem indixissem mihi nec me Charybdis et Scylla et fabulosum istud fretum deterrere potuissent. Tranassem ista, non solum traiecissem, dummodo te complecti possem et praesens aestimare quantum animo crevisses.","en":"You complain that there is a shortage of books where you are. It does not matter how many books you have, but how good they are. Reading that is focused does good; reading that is varied merely pleases. Someone who wants to reach his destination should follow one road and not wander along many: that is not travelling but straying. \"I would rather,\" you say, \"you gave me books than advice.\" I am ready to send you whatever books I have, and to empty the whole storeroom. I would even move myself there if I could; and if I did not hope you would soon obtain release from your post, I would have ordered this old man's expedition for myself. Neither Charybdis nor Scylla nor that legendary strait could have frightened me off. I would have swum across it, not just sailed across, so long as I could embrace you and judge in person how much you have grown in spirit."},{"ref":"Letter 45.3–4","orig":"Ceterum quod libros meos tibi mitti desideras, non magis ideo me disertum puto quam formonsum putarem si imaginem meam peteres. Indulgentiae scio istud esse, non iudici; et si modo iudici est, indulgentia tibi imposuit. Sed qualescumque sunt, tu illos sic lege tamquam verum quaeram adhuc, non sciam, et contumaciter quaeram. Non enim me cuiquam emancipavi, nullius nomen fero; multum magnorum virorum iudicio credo, aliquid et meo vindico. Nam illi quoque non inventa sed quaerenda nobis reliquerunt, et invenissent forsitan necessaria nisi et supervacua quaesissent.","en":"But as for your wanting my own books sent to you, I no more think myself eloquent because of that than I would think myself handsome if you asked for my portrait. I know this comes from affection, not judgement; and if it is judgement, affection has misled you. But whatever they are like, read them as if I were still looking for the truth, not as if I knew it, and looking for it stubbornly. For I have not sold myself to anyone; I bear no one's name. I trust greatly the judgement of great men, but I claim something for my own as well. For they too have left us not discoveries but things still to be sought. And perhaps they would have found what was necessary if they had not also looked into what was superfluous."},{"ref":"Letter 45.5–6","orig":"Multum illis temporis verborum cavillatio eripuit, captiosae disputationes quae acumen irritum exercent. Nectimus nodos et ambiguam significationem verbis illigamus ac deinde dissolvimus: tantum nobis vacat? iam vivere, iam mori scimus? Tota illo mente pergendum est ubi provideri debet ne res nos, non verba decipiant. Quid mihi vocum similitudines distinguis, quibus nemo umquam nisi dum disputat captus est? Res fallunt: illas discerne. Pro bonis mala amplectimur; optamus contra id quod optavimus; pugnant vota nostra cum votis, consilia cum consilis.","en":"Quibbling over words took much of their time, and captious arguments that exercise a sharpness that achieves nothing. We tie knots, and bind ambiguous meanings to words, and then untie them. Do we have so much time to spare? Do we know already how to live, how to die? We must go with our whole mind in the direction where we must take care that things, not words, do not deceive us. Why do you draw distinctions for me between similar words, by which no one has ever been caught except while arguing? It is things that deceive us: distinguish between them. We embrace bad things in place of good. We pray for the opposite of what we prayed for before. Our prayers fight with our prayers, our plans with our plans."},{"ref":"Letter 45.7","orig":"Adulatio quam similis est amicitiae! Non imitatur tantum illam sed vincit et praeterit; apertis ac propitiis auribus recipitur et in praecordia ima descendit, eo ipso gratiosa quo laedit: doce quemadmodum hanc similitudinem possim dinoscere. Venit ad me pro amico blandus inimicus; vitia nobis sub virtutum nomine obrepunt: temeritas sub titulo fortitudinis latet, moderatio vocatur ignavia, pro cauto timidus accipitur. In his magno periculo erramus: his certas notas imprime.","en":"How like friendship flattery is! It does not only imitate friendship, it outdoes it and overtakes it. It is welcomed by open and kindly ears and sinks into the depths of the heart, and it is welcome precisely because it does harm. Teach me how I can tell this likeness apart. An enemy comes to me in the guise of a friend, full of charm. Vices creep up on us under the names of virtues: rashness hides under the title of courage, moderation is called laziness, the coward is taken for the cautious man. In these matters we go wrong at great risk. Stamp these things with sure marks."},{"ref":"Letter 45.8","orig":"Ceterum qui interrogatur an cornua habeat non est tam stultus ut frontem suam temptet, nec rursus tam ineptus aut hebes ut nesciat nisi tu illi subtilissima collectione persuaseris. Sic ista sine noxa decipiunt quomodo praestigiatorum acetabula et calculi, in quibus me fallacia ipsa delectat. Effice ut quomodo fiat intellegam: perdidi lusum. Idem de istis captionibus dico - quo enim nomine potius sophismata appellem? -: nec ignoranti nocent nec scientem iuvant.","en":"Besides, a man who is asked whether he has horns is not so stupid as to feel his forehead, nor again so silly or dull as not to know, unless you persuade him by some very subtle syllogism. Such tricks deceive without doing harm, like the cups and pebbles of conjurors, where the very deception delights me. Make me understand how it is done, and I have lost the fun. I say the same about these catches (for what better name can I give to sophisms?): they do not harm the person who does not understand them, and they do not help the person who does."},{"ref":"Letter 45.9","orig":"Si utique vis verborum ambiguitates diducere, hoc nos doce, beatum non eum esse quem vulgus appellat, ad quem pecunia magna confluxit, sed illum cui bonum omne in animo est, erectum et excelsum et mirabilia calcantem, qui neminem videt cum quo se commutatum velit, qui hominem ea sola parte aestimat qua homo est, qui natura magistra utitur, ad illius leges componitur, sic vivit quomodo illa praescripsit; cui bona sua nulla vis excutit, qui mala in bonum vertit, certus iudicii, inconcussus, intrepidus; quem aliqua vis movet, nulla perturbat; quem fortuna, cum quod habuit telum nocentissimum vi maxima intorsit, pungit, non vulnerat, et hoc raro; nam cetera eius tela, quibus genus humanum debellatur, grandinis more dissultant, quae incussa tectis sine ullo habitatoris incommodo crepitat ac solvitur.","en":"If you really want to untangle ambiguities of words, teach us this: that the happy man is not the one the crowd calls happy, into whose hands great wealth has flowed, but the one whose every good is in his mind; upright and lofty, trampling on the things people marvel at; who sees no one with whom he would want to change places; who values a person only in that part in which he is a person; who uses nature as his teacher, shapes himself by her laws, and lives as she has prescribed; whose goods no force can shake from him; who turns bad things into good; sure in his judgement, unshaken, fearless; whom some force may move but none can throw into confusion; whom fortune, when she has hurled the most harmful weapon she has with the greatest force, only pricks and does not wound, and that rarely. For her other weapons, by which the human race is conquered, bounce off him like hail, which rattles on the roofs and melts without any harm to the person who lives inside."},{"ref":"Letter 45.10–11","orig":"Quid me detines in eo quem tu ipse pseudomenon appellas, de quo tantum librorum compositum est? Ecce tota mihi vita mentitur: hanc coargue, hanc ad verum, si acutus es, redige. Necessaria iudicat quorum magna pars supervacua est; etiam quae non est supervacua nihil in se momenti habet in hoc, ut possit fortunatum beatumque praestare. Non enim statim bonum est, si quid necessarium est: aut proicimus bonum, si hoc nomen pani et polentae damus et ceteris sine quibus vita non ducitur. Quod bonum est utique necessarium est: quod necessarium est non utique bonum est, quoniam quidem necessaria sunt quaedam eademque vilissima. Nemo usque eo dignitatem boni ignorat ut illud ad haec in diem utilia demittat.","en":"Why do you keep me busy with the puzzle you yourself call \"the liar\", about which so many books have been written? Look, my whole life is lying to me: refute that, bring that back to the truth, if you are clever. It judges things necessary of which a large part is superfluous. And even what is not superfluous has no weight in itself when it comes to making a person fortunate and happy. For a thing is not good just because it is necessary; otherwise we cheapen the good, if we give this name to bread and barley porridge and the other things without which life cannot be carried on. What is good is certainly necessary; what is necessary is not necessarily good, since some things are both necessary and very cheap. No one is so ignorant of the dignity of the good as to lower it to these things that are useful from day to day."},{"ref":"Letter 45.12–13","orig":"Quid ergo? non eo potius curam transferes, ut ostendas omnibus magno temporis impendio quaeri supervacua et multos transisse vitam dum vitae instrumenta conquirunt? Recognosce singulos, considera universos: nullius non vita spectat in crastinum. Quid in hoc sit mali quaeris? Infinitum. Non enim vivunt sed victuri sunt: omnia differunt. Etiamsi attenderemus, tamen nos vita praecurreret; nunc vero cunctantes quasi aliena transcurrit et ultimo die finitur, omni perit. Sed ne epistulae modum excedam, quae non debet sinistram manum legentis implere, in alium diem hanc litem cum dialecticis differam nimium subtilibus et hoc solum curantibus, non et hoc. Vale.","en":"What then? Will you not rather shift your attention to showing everyone that superfluous things are sought at a great cost of time, and that many people have passed their whole life gathering the tools for living? Look at people one by one, consider them all together: everyone's life looks towards tomorrow. You ask what is bad in this? Infinitely much. For they are not living; they are going to live. They put everything off. Even if we paid attention, life would still run ahead of us; but as it is, while we delay, it runs past as if it belonged to someone else, and though it ends on the last day, it is lost on every day. But so as not to go beyond the proper size of a letter, which should not fill the reader's left hand, I shall put off to another day this dispute with the logicians, who are too subtle and care only about this, and not about that as well. Farewell."}],"46":[{"ref":"Letter 46.1","orig":"Librum tuum quem mihi promiseras accepi et tamquam lecturus ex commodo adaperui ac tantum degustare volui; deinde blanditus est ipse ut procederem longius. Qui quam disertus fuerit ex hoc intellegas licet: levis mihi visus est, cum esset nec mei nec tui corporis, sed qui primo aspectu aut Titi Livii aut Epicuri posset videri. Tanta autem dulcedine me tenuit et traxit ut illum sine ulla dilatione perlegerim. Sol me invitabat, fames admonebat, nubes minabantur; tamen exhausi totum.","en":"I have received the book you promised me. I opened it meaning to read it at my leisure and only wanted a taste; then the book itself coaxed me on to go further. You can judge how eloquent it was from this: it seemed light to me, though it is not of your size or mine, but at first glance could pass for something by Titus Livius or Epicurus. It held me and drew me along with such charm that I read it through without a single break. The sun was inviting me out, hunger was reminding me, clouds were threatening; still, I finished the whole thing."},{"ref":"Letter 46.2–3","orig":"Non tantum delectatus sed gavisus sum. Quid ingenii iste habuit, quid animi! Dicerem 'quid impetus!', si interquievisset, si ex intervallo surrexisset; nunc non fuit impetus sed tenor. Compositio virilis et sancta; nihilominus interveniebat dulce illud et loco lene. Grandis, erectus es: hoc te volo tenere, sic ire. Fecit aliquid et materia; ideo eligenda est fertilis, quae capiat ingenium, quae incitet. De libro plura scribam cum illum retractavero; nunc parum mihi sedet iudicium, tamquam audierim illa, non legerim. Sine me et inquirere. Non est quod verearis: verum audies. O te hominem felicem, quod nihil habes propter quod quisquam tibi tam longe mentiatur! nisi quod iam etiam ubi causa sublata est mentimur consuetudinis causa. Vale.","en":"I was not just pleased, I was delighted. What talent it had, what spirit! I would say \"what force!\" if it had paused now and then and risen again after an interval; as it is, it was not a burst but a steady flow. The style is manly and pure; even so, that sweetness you have kept breaking in, gentle where the place called for it. You are lofty and upright: I want you to hold on to that and go on this way. The subject matter also played a part; that is why you should choose a fertile one, which can take hold of the mind and rouse it. I will write more about the book when I have gone over it again; for now my judgement has not settled, as if I had heard it rather than read it. Let me examine it too. You have no reason to be afraid: you will hear the truth. How lucky you are, having nothing that would make anyone lie to you from so far away! Except that we now lie even when the reason is gone, just out of habit. Farewell."}],"47":[{"ref":"Letter 47.1–2","orig":"Libenter ex iis qui a te veniunt cognovi familiariter te cum servis tuis vivere: hoc prudentiam tuam, hoc eruditionem decet. 'Servi sunt.' Immo homines. 'Servi sunt ' Immo contubernales. 'Servi sunt.' Immo humiles amici. 'Servi sunt.' Immo conservi, si cogitaveris tantundem in utrosque licere fortunae. Itaque rideo istos qui turpe existimant cum servo suo cenare: quare, nisi quia superbissima consuetudo cenanti domino stantium servorum turbam circumdedit? Est ille plus quam capit, et ingenti aviditate onerat distentum ventrem ac desuetum iam ventris officio, ut maiore opera omnia egerat quam ingessit.","en":"I was glad to learn from people who come from you that you live on friendly terms with your slaves. That fits your good sense and your learning. \"They are slaves.\" No, they are human beings. \"They are slaves.\" No, they share your roof. \"They are slaves.\" No, they are humble friends. \"They are slaves.\" No, they are fellow slaves, if you consider that fortune has the same power over both of you. So I laugh at those who think it shameful to dine with their own slave. Why, except that a most arrogant custom has surrounded the master at dinner with a crowd of slaves standing by? He eats more than he can hold, and with enormous greed loads a swollen belly that has already forgotten a belly's proper work, so that it takes more effort to throw it all up than it did to cram it in."},{"ref":"Letter 47.3–4","orig":"At infelicibus servis movere labra ne in hoc quidem ut loquantur, licet; virga murmur omne compescitur, et ne fortuita quidem verberibus excepta sunt, tussis, sternumenta, singultus; magno malo ulla voce interpellatum silentium luitur; nocte tota ieiuni mutique perstant. Sic fit ut isti de domino loquantur quibus coram domino loqui non licet. At illi quibus non tantum coram dominis sed cum ipsis erat sermo, quorum os non consuebatur, parati erant pro domino porrigere cervicem, periculum imminens in caput suum avertere; in conviviis loquebantur, sed in tormentis tacebant.","en":"But the wretched slaves are not allowed to move their lips, not even to speak. Every murmur is checked with the rod, and not even accidents escape a beating: a cough, a sneeze, a hiccup. Any sound that breaks the silence is paid for heavily. All night long they stand there hungry and mute. That is how it comes about that people who may not speak in their master's presence speak about their master. But those slaves who could talk not only in their masters' presence but with the masters themselves, whose mouths were not sewn shut, were ready to offer their necks for their master and turn a threatening danger onto their own heads. They talked at dinner, but under torture they kept silent."},{"ref":"Letter 47.5–6","orig":"Deinde eiusdem arrogantiae proverbium iactatur, totidem hostes esse quot servos: non habemus illos hostes sed facimus. Alia interim crudelia, inhumana praetereo, quod ne tamquam hominibus quidem sed tamquam iumentis abutimur. Cum ad cenandum discubuimus, alius sputa deterget, alius reliquias temulentorum toro subditus colligit. Alius pretiosas aves scindit; per pectus et clunes certis ductibus circumferens eruditam manum frusta excutit, infelix, qui huic uni rei vivit, ut altilia decenter secet, nisi quod miserior est qui hoc voluptatis causa docet quam qui necessitatis discit.","en":"Then there is the proverb, born of the same arrogance, that you have as many enemies as you have slaves. We do not have them as enemies; we make them so. I pass over other cruel and inhuman things for now: that we abuse them not even as human beings but as beasts of burden. When we recline to dine, one wipes up the spittle, another crouches under the couch and collects the leftovers of the drunks. Another carves the costly birds; moving his trained hand in sure strokes round the breast and the rump, he cuts off the portions. Unhappy man, who lives for this one purpose, to carve fowl gracefully; except that the one who teaches this for pleasure is more wretched than the one who learns it from necessity."},{"ref":"Letter 47.7–8","orig":"Alius vini minister in muliebrem modum ornatus cum aetate luctatur: non potest effugere pueritiam, retrahitur, iamque militari habitu glaber retritis pilis aut penitus evulsis tota nocte pervigilat, quam inter ebrietatem domini ac libidinem dividit et in cubiculo vir, in convivio puer est. Alius, cui convivarum censura permissa est, perstat infelix et exspectat quos adulatio et intemperantia aut gulae aut linguae revocet in crastinum. Adice obsonatores quibus dominici palati notitia subtilis est, qui sciunt cuius illum rei sapor excitet, cuius delectet aspectus, cuius novitate nauseabundus erigi possit, quid iam ipsa satietate fastidiat, quid illo die esuriat. Cum his cenare non sustinet et maiestatis suae deminutionem putat ad eandem mensam cum servo suo accedere. Di melius! quot ex istis dominos habet!","en":"Another, the wine-server, dressed up like a woman, wrestles with his age. He cannot escape boyhood; he is dragged back to it. Already he has a soldier's build, yet he is kept smooth, his hairs rubbed away or plucked out by the roots. He stays awake all night, which he divides between his master's drunkenness and his lust: in the bedroom he is a man, at dinner a boy. Another, who has been given charge of judging the guests, stands there, poor wretch, and watches for those whose flattery and lack of restraint, of appetite or of tongue, will get them invited back tomorrow. Add the caterers, who have a fine knowledge of their master's palate: they know which flavour will stir him, which sight will please him, which novelty can revive him when he feels sick, what he now turns from out of sheer surfeit, what he is hungry for that day. With these men he cannot bear to dine; he thinks it a loss of his dignity to come to the same table as his slave. Heaven forbid! How many masters he has among these very people!"},{"ref":"Letter 47.9–10","orig":"Stare ante limen Callisti domi num suum vidi et eum qui illi impegerat titulum, qui inter reicula manicipia produxerat, aliis intrantibus excludi. Rettulit illi gratiam servus ille in primam decuriam coniectus, in qua vocem praeco experitur: et ipse illum invicem apologavit, et ipse non iudicavit domo sua dignum. Dominus Callistum vendidit: sed domino quam multa Callistus! Vis tu cogitare istum quem servum tuum vocas ex isdem seminibus ortum eodem frui caelo, aeque spirare, aeque vivere, aeque mori! tam tu illum videre ingenuum potes quam ille te servum. Variana clade multos splendidissime natos, senatorium per militiam auspicantes gradum, fortuna depressit: alium ex illis pastorem, alium custodem casae fecit. Contemne nunc eius fortunae hominem in quam transire dum contemnis potes.","en":"I have seen the former master of Callistus standing at Callistus's door, and the man who had hung the sale-ticket on him and put him up among the cast-off slaves being shut out while others went in. That slave paid him back: he had been thrown into the first batch, the one on which the auctioneer tries out his voice, and he in turn rejected his old master and judged him unworthy of his house. The master sold Callistus: but how much Callistus has made the master pay! Will you not reflect that the man you call your slave sprang from the same seeds, enjoys the same sky, breathes as you do, lives as you do, dies as you do! You can as easily see him as freeborn as he can see you as a slave. In the disaster of Varus, fortune brought low many men of the most splendid birth, who were beginning a senator's career through military service: one of them she made a shepherd, another a keeper of a hut. Now despise a man of that fortune, when you could pass into it while you despise it."},{"ref":"Letter 47.11–13","orig":"Nolo in ingentem me locum immittere et de usu servorum disputare, in quos superbissimi, crudelissimi, contumeliosissimi sumus. Haec tamen praecepti mei summa est: sic cum inferiore vivas quemadmodum tecum superiorem velis vivere. Quotiens in mentem venerit quantum tibi in servum tuum liceat, veniat in mentem tantundem in te domino tuo licere. 'At ego' inquis 'nullum habeo dominum.' Bona aetas est: forsitan habebis. Nescis qua aetate Hecuba servire coeperit, qua Croesus, qua Darei mater, qua Platon, qua Diogenes? Vive cum servo clementer, comiter quoque, et in sermonem illum admitte et in consilium et in convictum. Hoc loco acclamabit mihi tota manus delicatorum 'nihil hac re humilius, nihil turpius'. Hos ego eosdem deprehendam alienorum servorum osculantes manum.","en":"I do not want to launch into a huge subject and argue about how slaves should be treated, when we are extremely arrogant, cruel and insulting towards them. But this is the sum of my advice: live with your inferior as you would want your superior to live with you. Whenever it comes to your mind how much power you have over your slave, let it come to your mind that your master has just as much over you. \"But I,\" you say, \"have no master.\" You are at a good age; perhaps you will have one. Do you not know at what age Hecuba became a slave, or Croesus, or the mother of Darius, or Plato, or Diogenes? Live with your slave kindly, even courteously; admit him to your conversation, to your counsels and to your table. At this point the whole troop of the dainty will shout at me: \"Nothing is lower than this, nothing more shameful.\" These same men I will catch kissing the hands of other people's slaves."},{"ref":"Letter 47.14–15","orig":"Ne illud quidem videtis, quam omnem invidiam maiores nostri dominis, omnem contumeliam servis detraxerint? Dominum patrem familiae appellaverunt, servos - quod etiam in mimis adhuc durat - familiares; instituerunt diem festum, non quo solo cum servis domini vescerentur, sed quo utique; honores illis in domo gerere, ius dicere permiserunt et domum pusillam rem publicam esse iudicaverunt. 'Quid ergo? omnes servos admovebo mensae meae?' Non magis quam omnes liberos. Erras si existimas me quosdam quasi sordidioris operae reiecturum, ut puta illum mulionem et illum bubulcum. Non ministeriis illos aestimabo sed moribus: sibi quisque dat mores, ministeria casus assignat. Quidam cenent tecum quia digni sunt, quidam ut sint; si quid enim in illis ex sordida conversatione servile est, honestiorum convictus excutiet.","en":"Do you not even see how our ancestors removed all resentment from masters and all insult from slaves? They called the master \"father of the household\" and the slaves \"members of the household\", a usage that still survives in the mimes. They set up a holiday on which masters would dine with their slaves, not as the only day, but as a day when they certainly would. They let slaves hold offices in the house and give judgements, and they considered the household a small republic. \"What then? Shall I bring all my slaves to my table?\" No more than all free men. You are wrong if you think I would turn some away as if their work were too dirty, like that muleteer, say, or that herdsman. I will judge them not by their duties but by their character. Each person gives himself his character; chance assigns the duties. Let some dine with you because they are worthy, others so that they may become so. For if there is anything slavish in them from low company, the society of more honourable people will shake it out of them."},{"ref":"Letter 47.16","orig":"Non est, mi Lucili, quod amicum tantum in foro et in curia quaeras: si diligenter attenderis, et domi invenies. Saepe bona materia cessat sine artifice: tempta et experire. Quemadmodum stultus est qui equum empturus non ipsum inspicit sed stratum eius ac frenos, sic stultissimus est qui hominem aut ex veste aut ex condicione, quae vestis modo nobis circumdata est, aestimat.","en":"There is no reason, my Lucilius, to look for a friend only in the forum and the senate house. If you pay careful attention, you will find one at home too. Good material often goes unused for lack of a craftsman: try it and put it to the test. Just as a man is foolish who, when buying a horse, does not inspect the horse itself but its saddle-cloth and bridle, so he is most foolish of all who judges a person by his clothes or by his station, which is wrapped around us just like clothing."},{"ref":"Letter 47.17–18","orig":"'Servus est.' Sed fortasse liber animo. 'Servus est.' Hoc illi nocebit? Ostende quis non sit: alius libidini servit, alius avaritiae, alius ambitioni, omnes spei, omnes timori. Dabo consularem aniculae servientem, dabo ancillulae divitem, ostendam nobilissimos iuvenes mancipia pantomimorum: nulla servitus turpior est quam voluntaria. Quare non est quod fastidiosi isti te deterreant quominus servis tuis hilarem te praestes et non superbe superiorem: colant potius te quam timeant. Dicet aliquis nunc me vocare ad pilleum servos et dominos de fastigio suo deicere, quod dixi, 'colant potius dominum quam timeant'. 'Ita' inquit 'prorsus? colant tamquam clientes, tamquam salutatores?' Hoc qui dixerit obliviscetur id dominis parum non esse quod deo sat est. Qui colitur, et amatur: non potest amor cum timore misceri.","en":"\"He is a slave.\" But perhaps free in spirit. \"He is a slave.\" Will that harm him? Show me who is not. One is a slave to lust, another to greed, another to ambition, all to hope, all to fear. I will show you an ex-consul slaving for an old woman, a rich man slaving for a little maidservant; I will show you young men of the noblest families in bondage to pantomime actors. No slavery is more shameful than the voluntary kind. So do not let those fastidious people put you off from being cheerful with your slaves rather than arrogantly superior. Let them respect you rather than fear you. Someone will now say that I am calling slaves to the cap of freedom and throwing masters down from their high place, because I said, \"Let them respect their master rather than fear him.\" \"Really?\" he says. \"Respect him as clients do, as morning callers do?\" Whoever says this will forget that what is enough for a god is not too little for masters. One who is respected is also loved: love cannot be mixed with fear."},{"ref":"Letter 47.19–21","orig":"Rectissime ergo facere te iudico quod timeri a servis tuis non vis, quod verborum castigatione uteris: verberibus muta admonentur. Non quidquid nos offendit et laedit; sed ad rabiem cogunt pervenire deliciae, ut quidquid non ex voluntate respondit iram evocet. Regum nobis induimus animos; nam illi quoque obliti et suarum virium et imbecillitatis alienae sic excandescunt, sic saeviunt, quasi iniuriam acceperint, a cuius rei periculo illos fortunae suae magnitudo tutissimos praestat. Nec hoc ignorant, sed occasionem nocendi captant querendo; acceperunt iniuriam ut facerent. Diutius te morari nolo; non est enim tibi exhortatione opus. Hoc habent inter cetera boni mores: placent sibi, permanent. Levis est malitia, saepe mutatur, non in melius sed in aliud. Vale.","en":"So I judge that you are acting quite rightly in not wanting to be feared by your slaves and in using words to correct them: dumb animals are corrected with blows. Not everything that offends us also harms us; but luxury drives us to fury, so that anything that does not answer to our wishes calls up our anger. We put on the temper of kings. They too forget both their own strength and others' weakness, and they blaze and rage as if they had been wronged, though the greatness of their fortune keeps them perfectly safe from any danger of that. Nor are they unaware of this; but by complaining they seize a chance to do harm. They claim to have been wronged so that they can do wrong. I do not want to keep you longer; you have no need of encouragement. Among its other qualities, good character has this: it is content with itself and it lasts. Wickedness is fickle; it changes often, not for the better but just into something else. Farewell."}],"48":[{"ref":"Letter 48.1–2","orig":"Ad epistulam quam mihi ex itinere misisti, tam longam quam ipsum iter fuit, postea rescribam; seducere me debeo et quid suadeam circumspicere. Nam tu quoque, qui consulis, diu an consuleres cogitasti: quanto magis hoc mihi faciendum est, cum longiore mora opus sit ut solvas quaestionem quam ut proponas? utique cum aliud tibi expediat, aliud mihi. Iterum ego tamquam Epicureus loquor? mihi vero idem expedit quod tibi: aut non sum amicus, nisi quidquid agitur ad te pertinens meum est. Consortium rerum omnium inter nos facit amicitia; nec secundi quicquam singulis est nec adversi; in commune vivitur. Nec potest quisquam beate degere qui se tantum intuetur, qui omnia ad utilitates suas convertit: alteri vivas oportet, si vis tibi vivere.","en":"I will reply later to the letter you sent me from your journey, which was as long as the journey itself. I need to withdraw and consider what advice to give. You yourself, who are asking for advice, thought for a long time about whether to ask; how much more must I do this, since it takes longer to solve a problem than to pose it? Especially since one thing is good for you and another for me. Am I talking like an Epicurean again? No, the same thing is good for me as for you: otherwise I am no friend, unless whatever concerns you is my concern too. Friendship makes a partnership between us in everything. Neither good fortune nor bad belongs to either of us alone; we live in common. No one can live happily who looks only to himself and turns everything to his own advantage. You must live for another if you want to live for yourself."},{"ref":"Letter 48.3–4","orig":"Haec societas diligenter et sancte observata, quae nos homines hominibus miscet et iudicat aliquod esse commune ius generis humani, plurimum ad illam quoque de qua loquebar interiorem societatem amicitiae colendam proficit; omnia enim cum amico communia habebit qui multa cum homine. Hoc, Lucili virorum optime, mihi ab istis subtilibus praecipi malo, quid amico praestare debeam, quid homini, quam quot modis 'amicus' dicatur, et 'homo' quam multa significet. In diversum ecce sapientia et stultitia discedunt! cui accedo? in utram ire partem iubes? Illi homo pro amico est, huic amicus non est pro homine; ille amicum sibi parat, hic se amico: tu mihi verba distorques et syllabas digeris.","en":"This fellowship, carefully and faithfully kept, which binds us as human beings to other human beings and holds that there is a law common to the human race, also helps a great deal in cultivating that more inward fellowship of friendship I was speaking of. For a man who has much in common with a fellow human being will have everything in common with a friend. This, Lucilius, best of men, is what I would rather those subtle thinkers taught me: what I owe a friend and what I owe a human being, rather than in how many senses the word \"friend\" is used and how many things \"man\" means. Look, wisdom and folly go off in opposite directions! Which do I join? Which way do you tell me to go? For one, every human being is a friend; for the other, a friend is not even a human being. One gets a friend for himself; the other gives himself to a friend. And you twist words for me and sort out syllables."},{"ref":"Letter 48.5–6","orig":"Scilicet nisi interrogationes vaferrimas struxero et conclusione falsa a vero nascens mendacium adstrinxero, non potero a fugiendis petenda secernere. Pudet me: in re tam seria senes ludimus. 'Mus syllaba est; mus autem caseum rodit; syllaba ergo caseum rodit.' Puta nunc me istuc non posse solvere: quod mihi ex ista inscientia periculum imminet? quod incommodum? Sine dubio verendum est ne quando in muscipulo syllabas capiam, aut ne quando, si neglegentior fuero, caseum liber comedat. Nisi forte illa acutior est collectio: 'mus syllaba est; syllaba autem caseum non rodit; mus ergo caseum non rodit'.","en":"Apparently, unless I build the craftiest questions and tie up a lie born from a truth by a false conclusion, I will not be able to tell what to seek from what to avoid. I am ashamed: in so serious a matter, old men that we are, we play games. \"Mouse is a syllable. A mouse nibbles cheese. So a syllable nibbles cheese.\" Suppose now that I cannot solve this: what danger threatens me from that ignorance? What harm? No doubt I must fear that one day I will catch syllables in a mousetrap, or that some day, if I am careless, a book will eat my cheese. Unless perhaps this is a sharper argument: \"Mouse is a syllable. A syllable does not nibble cheese. So a mouse does not nibble cheese.\""},{"ref":"Letter 48.7–8","orig":"O pueriles ineptias! in hoc supercilia subduximus? in hoc barbam demisimus? hoc est quod tristes docemus et pallidi? Vis scire quid philosophia promittat generi humano? consilium. Alium mors vocat, alium paupertas urit, alium divitiae vel alienae torquent vel suae; ille malam fortunam horret, hic se felicitati suae subducere cupit; hunc homines male habent, illum dii. Quid mihi lusoria ista componis? non est iocandi locus: ad miseros advocatus es. Opem laturum te naufragis, captis, aegris, egentibus, intentae securi subiectum praestantibus caput pollicitus es: quo diverteris? quid agis? Hic cum quo ludis timet: succurre, quidquid laqueti respondentium poenis. Omnes undique ad te manus tendunt, perditae vitae perituraeque auxilium aliquod implorant, in te spes opesque sunt; rogant ut ex tanta illos volutatione extrahas, ut disiectis et errantibus clarum veritatis lumen ostendas.","en":"What childish nonsense! Is this why we have knitted our brows? Is this why we have let our beards grow? Is this what we teach, gloomy and pale? Do you want to know what philosophy promises the human race? Counsel. Death is calling one man, poverty is scorching another, riches torment a third, either another's or his own. One dreads bad fortune, another longs to escape his own good fortune. One is badly treated by men, another by the gods. Why do you put together these games for me? This is no place for joking: you have been called in to help the wretched. You promised to bring aid to the shipwrecked, the captive, the sick, the needy, and those who hold their heads under the raised axe. Where are you turning aside to? What are you doing? The man you are playing with is afraid: help him, whatever the punishments of those who answer (the text is corrupt here). From every side all hold out their hands to you. Those whose lives are ruined or about to be ruined beg for some help; their hopes and resources lie in you. They ask you to pull them out of this great turmoil, and to show the clear light of truth to those who are scattered and wandering."},{"ref":"Letter 48.9","orig":"Dic quid natura necessarium fecerit, quid supervacuum, quam faciles leges posuerit, quam iucunda sit vita, quam expedita illas sequentibus, quam acerba et implicita eorum qui opinioni plus quam naturae crediderunt … si prius docueris quam partem eorum levatura sint. Quid istorum cupiditates demit? quid temperat? Utinam tantum non prodessent! nocent. Hoc tibi cum voles manifestissimum faciam, comminui et debilitari generosam indolem in istas argutias coniectam.","en":"Tell them what nature has made necessary and what superfluous, how easy are the laws she has laid down, how pleasant and unhindered life is for those who follow them, and how bitter and tangled for those who have trusted opinion more than nature … if you first teach them what part of their troubles these things will relieve. Which of these quibbles takes away desires? Which one moderates them? If only they were merely useless! They do harm. Whenever you like, I will make it perfectly clear to you that a noble nature is weakened and worn down when it is thrown into these subtleties."},{"ref":"Letter 48.10–11","orig":"Pudet dicere contra fortunam militaturis quae porrigant tela, quemadmodum illos subornent. Hac ad summum bonum itur? per istud philosophiae 'sive nive' et turpes infamesque etiam ad album sedentibus exceptiones? Quid enim aliud agitis, cum eum quem interrogatis scientes in fraudem inducitis, quam ut formula cecidisse videatur? Sed quemadmodum illos praetor, sic hos philosophia in integrum restituit. Quid disceditis ab ingentibus promissis et grandia locuti, effecturos vos ut non magis auri fulgor quam gladii praestringat oculos meos, ut ingenti constantia et quod omnes optant et quod omnes timent calcem, ad grammaticorum elementa descenditis? Quid dicitis?\nsic itur ad astra\nHoc enim est quod mihi philosophia promittit, ut parem deo faciat; ad hoc invitatus sum, ad hoc veni: fidem praesta.","en":"I am ashamed to say what weapons they hand to people who are going to fight fortune, and how they equip them. Is this the way to the highest good? Through that \"if or if not\" of philosophy, and through special pleas that would be disgraceful and discreditable even to men who sit by the praetor's notice board? For what else are you doing, when you knowingly lead the man you are questioning into a trap, than making it look as though he has lost his case on a technicality? But just as the praetor restores those people to their original position, so philosophy restores these. Why do you back away from your huge promises? After talking grandly, saying you would make sure that the gleam of gold dazzles my eyes no more than the gleam of a sword, and that with great steadiness I would trample on both what all men long for and what all men fear, why do you come down to the ABCs of the grammarians? What do you say?\nThus one goes to the stars.\nFor this is what philosophy promises me: that it will make me equal to a god. To this I have been invited, for this I have come: keep your word."},{"ref":"Letter 48.12","orig":"Quantum potes ergo, mi Lucili, reduc te ab istis exceptionibus et praescriptionibus philosophorum: aperta decent et simplicia bonitatem. Etiam si multum superesset aetatis, parce dispensandum erat ut sufficeret necessariis: nunc quae dementia est supervacua discere in tanta temporis egestate! Vale.","en":"So, my Lucilius, draw yourself back as far as you can from these exceptions and objections of the philosophers. Open, simple things suit goodness. Even if a great deal of life remained to us, we would have to spend it sparingly so that it covered what is necessary. As it is, what madness it is to learn superfluous things when time is so scarce! Farewell."}],"49":[{"ref":"Letter 49.1","orig":"Est quidem, mi Lucili, supinus et neglegens qui in amici memoriam ab aliqua regione admonitus reducitur; tamen repositum in animo nostro desiderium loca interdum familiaria evocant, nec exstinctam memoriam reddunt sed quiescentem irritant, sicut dolorem lugentium, etiam si mitigatus est tempore, aut servulus familiaris amisso aut vestis aut domus renovat. Ecce Campania et maxime Neapolis ac Pompeiorum tuorum conspectus incredibile est quam recens desiderium tui fecerint: totus mihi in oculis es. Cum maxime a te discedo; video lacrimas combibentem et affectibus tuis inter ipsam coercitionem exeuntibus non satis resistentem.","en":"It is true, my Lucilius, that a man is lazy and careless if it takes a particular place to bring a friend back to his memory. Still, familiar places sometimes call up the longing that lies stored in our minds. They do not bring back a memory that has died, but they stir one that is resting, just as a favourite slave, a garment or a house renews the grief of mourners for someone they have lost, even when time has softened it. Look how Campania, and above all the sight of Naples and of your Pompeii, has made my longing for you incredibly fresh: you are right before my eyes. I am taking leave of you at this very moment. I see you swallowing your tears and not quite holding back your feelings, which break out even as you try to control them."},{"ref":"Letter 49.2–3","orig":"Modo amisisse te videor; quid enim non 'modo' est, si recorderis? Modo apud Sotionem philosophum puer sedi, modo causas agere coepi, modo desii velle agere, modo desii posse. Infinita est velocitas temporis, quae magis apparet respicientibus. Nam ad praesentia intentos fallit; adeo praecipitis fugae transitus lenis est. Causam huius rei quaeris? quidquid temporis transit eodem loco est; pariter aspicitur, una iacet; omnia in idem profundum cadunt. Et alioqui non possunt longa intervalla esse in ea re quae tota brevis est. Punctum est quod vivimus et adhuc puncto minus; sed et hoc minimum specie quadam longioris spatii natura derisit: aliud ex hoc infantiam fecit, aliud pueritiam, aliud adulescentiam, aliud inclinationem quandam ab adulescentia ad senectutem, aliud ipsam senectutem. In quam angusto quodam quot gradus posuit!","en":"I seem to have lost you just now; for what is not \"just now\" when you remember it? Just now I sat as a boy with the philosopher Sotion, just now I began to plead cases, just now I stopped wanting to plead them, just now I stopped being able to. Time's speed is boundless, and it shows more clearly to those who look back. Those intent on the present do not notice it, so gentle is the passage of its headlong flight. Do you ask the reason? All the time that has passed is in the same place; it is seen all together and it lies all in one heap; everything falls into the same abyss. And anyway there cannot be long intervals in something that is short as a whole. The span we live is a point, and even less than a point. Yet nature has mocked even this tiny thing with the look of a longer stretch: out of it she has made one part infancy, another childhood, another youth, another a kind of slope from youth into old age, and another old age itself. How many steps she has set in so narrow a space!"},{"ref":"Letter 49.4–5","orig":"Modo te prosecutus sum; et tamen hoc 'modo' aetatis nostrae bona portio est, cuius brevitatem aliquando defecturam cogitemus. Non solebat mihi tam velox tempus videri: nunc incredibilis cursus apparet, sive quia admoveri lineas sentio, sive quia attendere coepi et computare damnum meum. Eo magis itaque indignor aliquos ex hoc tempore quod sufficere ne ad necessaria quidem potest, etiam si custoditum diligentissime fuerit, in supervacua maiorem partem erogare. Negat Cicero, si duplicetur sibi aetas, habiturum se tempus quo legat lyricos: eodem loco pono dialecticos: tristius inepti sunt. Illi ex professo lasciviunt, hi agere ipsos aliquid existimant.","en":"I saw you off just now; and yet this \"just now\" is a good share of our life, whose shortness, let us remember, will one day run out. Time did not used to seem so swift to me; now its speed seems incredible, whether because I feel the finishing line coming closer or because I have begun to pay attention and count my losses. So I am all the more indignant that some people spend the greater part of this time on superfluous things, when it cannot suffice even for necessary ones, however carefully it is guarded. Cicero says that if his life were doubled he would still not have time to read the lyric poets. I put the logicians in the same class; they are silly in a gloomier way. The poets are frivolous openly; these men think they are actually doing something."},{"ref":"Letter 49.6–7","orig":"Nec ego nego prospicienda ista, sed prospicienda tantum et a limine salutanda, in hoc unum, ne verba nobis dentur et aliquid esse in illis magni ac secreti boni iudicemus. Quid te torques et maceras in ea quaestione quam subtilius est contempsisse quam solvere? Securi est et ex commodo migrantis minuta conquirere: cum hostis instat a tergo et movere se iussus est miles, necessitas excutit quidquid pax otiosa collegerat. Non vacat mihi verba dubie cadentia consectari et vafritiam in illis meam experiri.\nAspice qui coeant populi, quae moenia clusis\nferrum acuant portis.\nMagno mihi animo strepitus iste belli circumsonantis exaudiendus est.","en":"I do not say that we should not look into these things, but only look into them and greet them from the doorway, for this one purpose: so that we are not fooled into thinking there is some great and secret good in them. Why do you torment yourself and waste away over a question that it is wiser to scorn than to solve? It is for a man who moves house at his ease and in safety to hunt out every small item. When the enemy is pressing from behind and the soldier has been ordered to march, necessity shakes out whatever idle peace had gathered. I have no time to chase after words with doubtful meanings and try out my cleverness on them.\nSee what peoples gather, what walls sharpen the sword behind closed gates.\nI must listen with a great heart to this din of war resounding all around me."},{"ref":"Letter 49.8–9","orig":"Demens omnibus merito viderer, si cum saxa in munimentum murorum senes feminaeque congererent, cum iuventus intra portas armata signum eruptionis exspectaret aut posceret, cum hostilia in portis tela vibrarent et ipsum solum suffossionibus et cuniculis tremeret, sederem otiosus et eiusmodi quaestiunculas ponens: 'quod non perdidisti habes; cornua autem non perdidisti; cornua ergo habes' aliaque ad exemplum huius acutae delirationis concinnata. Atqui aeque licet tibi demens videar si istis impendero operam: et nunc obsideor. Tunc tamen periculum mihi obsesso externum immineret, murus me ab hoste secerneret: nunc mortifera mecum sunt. Non vaco ad istas ineptias; ingens negotium in manibus est. Quid agam? mors me sequitur, fugit vita.","en":"Everyone would rightly think me mad if, while old men and women were piling up stones to strengthen the walls, while the young men were armed inside the gates, waiting for or demanding the signal to sally out, while the enemy's spears were quivering in the gates and the ground itself was trembling with mines and tunnels, I sat idle and set little puzzles like this: \"What you have not lost, you have. You have not lost horns. So you have horns,\" and other things made on the model of this sharp-witted raving. And yet you may just as well think me mad if I spend my effort on these things: I am under siege now too. Then, when besieged, I would face a danger from outside, and a wall would separate me from the enemy; now the deadly things are inside with me. I have no time for this nonsense; I have a huge task in hand. What am I to do? Death is chasing me, and life is running away."},{"ref":"Letter 49.10–11","orig":"Adversus haec me doce aliquid; effice ut ego mortem non fugiam, vita me non effugiat. Exhortare adversus difficilia, adversus inevitabilia; angustias temporis mei laxa. Doce non esse positum bonum vitae in spatio eius sed in usu posse fieri, immo saepissime fieri, ut qui diu vixit parum vixerit. Dic mihi dormituro 'potes non expergisci'; dic experrecto 'potes non dormire amplius'. Dic exeunti 'potes non reverti'; dic redeunti 'potes non exire'. Erras si in navigatione tantum existimas minimum esse quo a morte vita diducitur: in omni loco aeque tenue intervallum est. Non ubique se mors tam prope ostendit: ubique tam prope est. Has tenebras discute, et facilius ea trades ad quae praeparatus sum. Dociles natura nos edidit, et rationem dedit imperfectam, sed quae perfici posset.","en":"Teach me something against these things. Make it so that I do not flee death and life does not flee me. Encourage me against hardships, against what cannot be avoided; widen the narrow limits of my time. Teach me that the good of life does not lie in its length but in its use, and that it can happen, indeed it very often happens, that a man who has lived long has lived little. Say to me as I go to sleep, \"You may not wake up\"; say to me when I have woken, \"You may not sleep again.\" Say to me as I go out, \"You may not come back\"; say to me as I return, \"You may not go out again.\" You are wrong if you think that only on a sea voyage is the gap between life and death very small: everywhere the distance is just as thin. Death does not show itself so near everywhere, but everywhere it is just as near. Scatter this darkness, and you will more easily pass on to me the things I am prepared for. Nature made us teachable and gave us a reason that is imperfect but can be perfected."},{"ref":"Letter 49.12","orig":"De iustitia mihi, de pietate disputa, de frugalitate, de pudicitia utraque, et illa cui alieni corporis abstinentia est, et hac cui sui cura. Si me nolueris per devia ducere, facilius ad id quo tendo perveniam; nam, ut ait ille tragicus, 'veritatis simplex oratio est', ideoque illam implicari non oportet; nec enim quicquam minus convenit quam subdola ista calliditas animis magna conantibus. Vale.","en":"Discuss justice with me, and duty, and thrift, and both kinds of chastity: the one that keeps its hands off another's body and the one that takes care of its own. If you will not lead me along byways, I will more easily reach the goal I am heading for. For, as the tragic poet says, \"the language of truth is simple\", and so it should not be tangled up. Nothing suits minds that attempt great things less than that sly cleverness. Farewell."}],"50":[{"ref":"Letter 50.1–2","orig":"Epistulam tuam accepi post multos menses quam miseras; supervacuum itaque putavi ab eo qui afferebat quid ageres quaerere. Valde enim bonae memoriae est, si meminit; et tamen spero te sic iam vivere ut, ubicumque eris, sciam quid agas. Quid enim aliud agis quam ut meliorem te ipse cotidie facias, ut aliquid ex erroribus ponas, ut intellegas tua vitia esse quae putas rerum? Quaedam enim locis et temporibus adscribimus; at illa, quocumque transierimus, secutura sunt. Harpasten, uxoris meae fatuam, scis hereditarium onus in domo mea remansisse. Ipse enim aversissimus ab istis prodigiis sum; si quando fatuo delectari volo, non est mihi longe quaerendus: me rideo. Haec fatua subito desiit videre. Incredibilem rem tibi narro, sed veram: nescit esse se caecam; subinde paedagogum suum rogat ut migret, ait domum tenebricosam esse.","en":"I received your letter many months after you sent it. So I thought it pointless to ask the man who brought it what you were doing. He would need a very good memory to remember that. And yet I hope you are now living in such a way that, wherever you are, I know what you are doing. For what else are you doing but making yourself better every day, laying aside some of your errors, and understanding that the faults you think belong to circumstances are your own? We blame some things on places and times; but those faults will follow us wherever we move. You know that Harpaste, my wife's fool, has stayed in my house as a burden I inherited. I myself have a strong dislike for such freaks; if I ever want to be amused by a fool, I do not have to look far: I laugh at myself. This fool has suddenly lost her sight. I am telling you something incredible but true: she does not know she is blind. Again and again she asks her attendant to move house; she says the house is dark."},{"ref":"Letter 50.3–4","orig":"Hoc quod in illa ridemus omnibus nobis accidere liqueat tibi: nemo se avarum esse intellegit, nemo cupidum. Caeci tamen ducem quaerunt, nos sine duce erramus et dicimus, 'non ego ambitiosus sum, sed nemo aliter Romae potest vivere; non ego sumptuosus sum, sed urbs ipsa magnas impensas exigit; non est meum vitium quod iracundus sum, quod nondum constitui certum genus vitae: adulescentia haec facit'. Quid nos decipimus? non est extrinsecus malum nostrum: intra nos est, in visceribus ipsis sedet, et ideo difficulter ad sanitatem pervenimus quia nos aegrotare nescimus. Si curari coeperimus, quando tot morborum tantas vires discutiemus? Nunc vero ne quaerimus quidem medicum, qui minus negotii haberet si adhiberetur ad recens vitium; sequerentur teneri et rudes animi recta monstrantem.","en":"Be clear that what we laugh at in her happens to all of us. No one understands that he is greedy, no one that he is covetous. The blind at least look for a guide; we wander without one and say, \"I am not ambitious, but no one can live any other way at Rome. I am not extravagant, but the city itself demands great expense. It is not my fault that I am quick to anger, that I have not yet settled on a fixed way of life: youth does this.\" Why do we deceive ourselves? Our trouble is not outside us. It is within us, it sits in our very innards, and that is why we come to health with difficulty: we do not know we are sick. Even if we begin to be treated, when shall we shake off the great strength of so many diseases? As it is, we do not even look for a doctor, who would have less work to do if he were called in for a fresh fault. Tender, untrained minds would follow someone who showed them what is right."},{"ref":"Letter 50.5–6","orig":"Nemo difficulter ad naturam reducitur nisi qui ab illa defecit: erubescimus discere bonam mentem. At mehercules, si turpe est magistrum huius rei quaerere, illud desperandum est, posse nobis casu tantum bonum influere: laborandum est et, ut verum dicam, ne labor quidem magnus est, s modo, ut dixi, ante animum nostrum formare incipimus et recorrigere quam indurescat pravitas eius. Sed nec indurata despero: nihil est quod non expugnet pertinax opera et intenta ac diligens cura. Robora m rectum quamvis flexa revocabis; curvatas trabes calor explicat et aliter natae in id finguntur quod usus noster exigit: quanto facilius animus accipit formam, flexibilis et omni umore obsequentior! Quid enim est aliud animus quam quodam modo se habens spiritus? vides autem tanto spiritum esse faciliorem omni alia materia quanto tenuior est.","en":"No one finds it hard to be brought back to nature except one who has deserted her. We blush to learn good sense. But, by heaven, if it is shameful to seek a teacher of this, we must give up hope that so great a good could flow into us by chance. We must work, and to tell the truth, the work is not even great, if only, as I said, we begin to shape and correct our minds before their crookedness hardens. But even when it has hardened, I do not despair: there is nothing that stubborn effort and close, careful attention cannot conquer. You can bring oak timbers back straight however bent they are. Heat unbends curved beams, and wood that grew another way is shaped into what our use requires. How much more easily does the mind take a shape, pliable as it is and more yielding than any liquid! For what else is the mind but breath in a certain condition? And you see that breath is easier to work than any other material, just as it is finer."},{"ref":"Letter 50.7–8","orig":"Illud, mi Lucili, non est quod te impediat quominus de nobis bene speres, quod malitia nos iam tenet, quod diu in possessione nostri est: ad neminem ante bona mens venit quam mala; omnes praeoccupati sumus; virtutes discere vitia dediscere est. Sed eo maiore animo ad emendationem nostri debemus accedere quod semel traditi nobis boni perpetua possessio est; non dediscitur virtus. Contraria enim male in alieno haerent, ideo depelli et exturbari possunt; fideliter sedent quae in locum suum veniunt. Virtus secundum naturam est, vitia inimica et infesta sunt.","en":"There is no reason, my Lucilius, for this to stop you from having good hopes of us: that wickedness already has hold of us and has long been in possession. Good sense comes to no one before bad sense; all of us have been taken over beforehand. To learn the virtues is to unlearn the vices. But we should set about correcting ourselves with all the more spirit because, once good has been handed to us, we hold it for ever: virtue is not unlearned. Things that are opposed to us cling poorly in foreign ground, and so they can be driven out and thrown out; what comes into its own place sits there faithfully. Virtue accords with nature; vices are its enemies and hostile to it."},{"ref":"Letter 50.9","orig":"Sed quemadmodum virtutes receptae exire non possunt facilisque earum tutela est, ita initium ad illas eundi arduum, quia hoc proprium imbecillae mentis atque aegrae est, formidare inexperta; itaque cogenda est ut incipiat. Deinde non est acerba medicina; protinus enim delectat, dum sanat. Aliorum remediorum post sanitatem voluptas est, philosophia pariter et salutaris et dulcis est. Vale.","en":"But just as the virtues, once received, cannot leave and are easy to guard, so the first step towards them is hard, because it is typical of a weak and sick mind to fear what it has not tried. So it must be forced to begin. After that the medicine is not bitter, for it gives pleasure at once, while it heals. With other remedies the pleasure comes after recovery; philosophy is healthful and sweet at the same time. Farewell."}],"51":[{"ref":"Letter 51.1–2","orig":"Quomodo quisque potest, mi Lucili: tu istic habes Aetnam, et illuc nobilissimum Siciliae montem - quem quare dixerit Messala unicum, sive Valgius, apud utrumque enim legi, non reperio, cum plurima loca evomant ignem, non tantum edita, quod crebrius evenit, videlicet quia ignis in altissimum effertur, sed etiam iacentia -, nos, utcumque possumus, contenti sumus Bais; quas postero die quam attigeram reliqui, locum ob hoc devitandum, cum habeat quasdam naturales dotes, quia illum sibi celebrandum luxuria desumpsit. 'Quid ergo? ulli loco indicendum est odium?' Minime; sed quemadmodum aliqua vestis sapienti ac probo viro magis convenit quam aliqua, nec ullum colorem ille odit sed aliquem parum putat aptum esse frugalitatem professo, sic regio quoque est quam sapiens vir aut ad sapientiam tendens declinet tamquam alienam bonis moribus.","en":"Each of us does as he can, my Lucilius. You have Etna over there, the most famous mountain in Sicily. (Why Messala called it unique, or was it Valgius, since I have read it in both, I cannot find out, since a great many places spew fire, not only high ones, where it happens more often, clearly because fire is carried to the highest point, but low-lying ones too.) We, as best we can, are content with Baiae. I left it the day after I arrived, a place to be avoided for this reason: though it has certain natural gifts, luxury has chosen it for its own celebrations. \"What then? Should we declare hatred for any place?\" Not at all. But just as some clothing suits a wise and upright man better than other clothing, and he does not hate any colour, but thinks some colour hardly suitable for a man who professes thrift, so too there is a region that a wise man, or one striving for wisdom, will avoid as foreign to good character."},{"ref":"Letter 51.3–4","orig":"Itaque de secessu cogitans numquam Canopum eliget, quamvis neminem Canopus esse frugi vetet, ne Baias quidem: deversorium vitiorum esse coeperunt. Illic sibi plurimum luxuria permittit, illic, tamquam aliqua licentia debeatur loco, magis solvitur. Non tantum corpori sed etiam moribus salubrem locum eligere debemus; quemadmodum inter tortores habitare nolim, sic ne inter popinas quidem. Videre ebrios per litora errantes et comessationes navigantium et symphoniarum cantibus strepentes lacus et alia quae velut soluta legibus luxuria non tantum peccat sed publicat, quid necesse est?","en":"So when he thinks of retiring from the world, he will never choose Canopus, although Canopus forbids no one to be sober; nor Baiae either: it has become a hostel for the vices. There luxury allows itself the most; there it lets itself go more freely, as if some licence were owed to the place. We ought to choose a place that is healthy not only for the body but also for character. Just as I would not want to live among torturers, so I would not want to live among cookshops either. What need is there to see drunks wandering along the shore, the revels of people in boats, the lakes echoing with songs and bands, and all the other things by which luxury, as if freed from the laws, not only sins but makes a show of it?"},{"ref":"Letter 51.5–6","orig":"Id agere debemus ut irritamenta vitiorum quam longissime profugiamus; indurandus est animus et a blandimentis voluptatum procul abstrahendus. Una Hannibalem hiberna solverunt et indomitum illum nivibus atque Alpibus virum enervaverunt fomenta Campaniae: armis vicit, vitiis victus est. Nobis quoque militandum est, et quidem genere militiae quo numquam quies, numquam otium datur: debellandae sunt in primis voluptates, quae, ut vides, saeva quoque ad se ingenia rapuerunt. Si quis sibi proposuerit quantum operis aggressus sit, sciet nihil delicate, nihil molliter esse faciendum. Quid mihi cum istis calentibus stagnis? quid cum sudatoriis, in quae siccus vapor corpora exhausurus includitur? omnis sudor per laborem exeat.","en":"We should make it our aim to flee as far as possible from the things that provoke vice. The mind must be hardened and pulled far away from the allurements of pleasure. A single winter's quarters undid Hannibal, and the pampering of Campania unmanned the man whom snow and the Alps could not tame. He conquered with arms and was conquered by vices. We too must serve as soldiers, and in a kind of service that never allows rest or leisure. First of all, pleasures must be defeated, which, as you see, have carried off even fierce natures. If anyone sets before himself how great a task he has undertaken, he will know that nothing is to be done delicately or softly. What have I to do with those hot pools? What with the sweating rooms, where dry steam is shut in to drain the body? Let all sweat come out through work."},{"ref":"Letter 51.7–8","orig":"Si faceremus quod fecit Hannibal, ut interrupto cursu rerum omissoque bello fovendis corporibus operam daremus, nemo non intempestivam desidiam, victori quoque, nedum vincenti, periculosam, merito reprehenderet: minus nobis quam illis Punica signa sequentibus licet, plus periculi restat cedentibus, plus operis etiam perseverantibus. Fortuna mecum bellum gerit: non sum imperata facturus; iugum non recipio, immo, quod maiore virtute faciendum est, excutio. Non est emolliendus animus: si voluptati cessero, cedendum est dolori, cedendum est labori, cedendum est paupertati; idem sibi in me iuris esse volet et ambitio et ira; inter tot affectus distrahar, immo discerpar.","en":"If we did what Hannibal did, broke off our course of action, abandoned the war and devoted ourselves to pampering our bodies, everyone would rightly blame that ill-timed idleness, which is dangerous even for a victor, let alone for one still fighting to win. We are allowed less than those who followed the standards of Carthage; more danger awaits us if we give ground, and more toil even if we hold on. Fortune is making war on me. I will not do what she orders; I do not accept the yoke. No, what takes greater courage, I shake it off. The mind must not be softened. If I give in to pleasure, I must give in to pain, give in to toil, give in to poverty. Ambition and anger will want the same rights over me. I will be pulled in pieces among so many passions, torn apart even."},{"ref":"Letter 51.9–10","orig":"Libertas proposita est; ad hoc praemium laboratur. Quae sit libertas quaeris? Nulli rei servire, nulli necessitati, nullis casibus, fortunam in aequum deducere. Quo die illam intellexero plus posse, nil poterit: ego illam feram, cum in manu mors sit? His cogitationibus intentum loca seria sanctaque eligere oportet; effeminat animos amoenitas nimia, nec dubie aliquid ad corrumpendum vigorem potest regio. Quamlibet viam iumenta patiuntur quorum durata in aspero ungula est: in molli palustrique pascuo saginata cito subteruntur. Et fortior miles ex confragoso venit: segnis est urbanus et verna. Nullum laborem recusant manus quae ad arma ab aratro transferuntur: in primo deficit pulvere ille unctus et nitidus.","en":"Freedom is the goal; this is the prize we work for. Do you ask what freedom is? To be a slave to nothing, to no necessity, to no chance events, and to bring fortune down to an even footing. On the day I understand that I am stronger, she will have no power. Shall I put up with her when death is in my hands? A man intent on these thoughts should choose serious and pure places. Too much charm makes minds soft, and a region can certainly do something to corrupt one's vigour. Pack animals whose hooves have been hardened on rough ground can bear any road; those fattened in soft, marshy pasture are soon worn down underneath. The braver soldier also comes from rugged country; the town-bred and home-born slave is sluggish. Hands that move from the plough to arms refuse no labour; your sleek, oiled fellow gives out at the first dust."},{"ref":"Letter 51.11","orig":"Severior loci disciplina firmat ingenium aptumque magnis conatibus reddit. Literni honestius Scipio quam Bais exulabat: ruina eiusmodi non est tam molliter collocanda. Illi quoque ad quos primos fortuna populi Romani publicas opes transtulit, C. Marius et Cn. Pompeius et Caesar, exstruxerunt quidem villas in regione Baiana, sed illas imposuerunt summis iugis montium: videbatur hoc magis militare, ex edito speculari late longeque subiecta. Aspice quam positionem elegerint, quibus aedificia excitaverint locis et qualia: scies non villas esse sed castra.","en":"A sterner discipline of place strengthens the character and fits it for great efforts. Scipio spent his exile more honourably at Liternum than he would have at Baiae: a downfall like his should not be settled so softly. Even those men to whom the fortune of the Roman people first transferred the public wealth, Gaius Marius, Gnaeus Pompey and Caesar, did build country houses in the region of Baiae, but they set them on the highest ridges of the mountains. This seemed more soldierly, to look out from a height far and wide over what lay beneath. Look at the position they chose, the places where they raised their buildings, and what kind of buildings: you will know they are not country houses but camps."},{"ref":"Letter 51.12–13","orig":"Habitaturum tu putas umquam fuisse illic M. Catonem, ut praenavigantes adulteras dinumeraret et tot genera cumbarum variis coloribus picta et fluvitantem toto lacu rosam, ut audiret canentium nocturna convicia? nonne ille manere intra vallum maluisset, quod in unam noctem manu sua ipse duxisset? Quidni mallet, quisquis vir est, somnum suum classico quam symphonia rumpi? Sed satis diu cum Bais litigavimus, numquam satis cum vitiis, quae, oro te, Lucili, persequere sine modo, sine fine; nam illis quoque nec finis est nec modus. Proice quaecumque cor tuum laniant, quae si aliter extrahi nequirent, cor ipsum cum illis reveliendum erat. Voluptates praecipue exturba et invisissimas habe: latronum more, quos 'philêtas' Aegyptii vocant, in hoc nos amplectuntur, ut strangulent. Vale.","en":"Do you think Marcus Cato would ever have lived there, to count the adulterous women sailing past, all the kinds of boats painted in various colours, and the roses floating over the whole lake, and to listen to the nightly brawling of singers? Would he not rather have stayed inside a rampart that he had marked out with his own hand for a single night? Why would any real man not rather have his sleep broken by a trumpet than by a band? But I have quarrelled with Baiae long enough, though never enough with the vices. I beg you, Lucilius, pursue them without limit and without end, for they too have neither end nor limit. Throw away whatever tears at your heart; if they could not be pulled out any other way, the heart itself should be torn out with them. Above all, drive out pleasures and hold them most hateful. Like the bandits the Egyptians call \"philetae\", they embrace us in order to strangle us. Farewell."}],"52":[{"ref":"Letter 52.1–2","orig":"Quid est hoc, Lucili, quod nos alio tendentes alio trahit et eo unde recedere cupimus impellit? quid colluctatur cum animo nostro nec permittit nobis quicquam semel velle? Fluctuamur inter varia consilia; nihil libere volumus, nihil absolute, nihil semper. 'Stultitia' inquis 'est cui nihil constat, nihil diu placet.' Sed quomodo nos aut quando ab illa revellemus? Nemo per se satis valet ut emergat; oportet manum aliquis porrigat, aliquis educat.","en":"What is it, Lucilius, that drags us in one direction when we are heading in another, and pushes us towards the very place we want to get away from? What wrestles with our mind and does not allow us to want anything once and for all? We waver between different plans. We want nothing freely, nothing completely, nothing for good. \"It is folly,\" you say, \"that has nothing settled and is pleased with nothing for long.\" But how or when shall we tear ourselves away from it? No one is strong enough by himself to get out; someone must hold out a hand, someone must lead him out."},{"ref":"Letter 52.3","orig":"Quosdam ait Epicurus ad veritatem sine ullius adiutorio exisse, fecisse sibi ipsos viam; hos maxime laudat quibus ex se impetus fuit, qui se ipsi protulerunt: quosdam indigere ope aliena, non ituros si nemo praecesserit, sed bene secuturos. Ex his Metrodorum ait esse; egregium hoc quoque, sed secundae sortis ingenium. Nos ex illa prima nota non sumus; bene nobiscum agitur, si in secundam recipimur. Ne hunc quidem contempseris hominem qui alieno beneficio esse salvus potest; et hoc multum est, velle servari.","en":"Epicurus says that some people have made their way to the truth without anyone's help, cutting a road for themselves. He praises most those who had their drive from within and brought themselves forward. Others, he says, need someone else's help: they will not go if no one goes ahead of them, but they will follow well. Among these, he says, is Metrodorus. This too is an excellent mind, but of the second class. We are not of that first rank; we do well if we are admitted to the second. Do not look down even on the man who can be saved by another's kindness; it is a great deal just to want to be saved."},{"ref":"Letter 52.4–5","orig":"Praeter haec adhuc invenies genus aliud hominum ne ipsum quidem fastidiendum eorum qui cogi ad rectum compellique possunt, quibus non duce tantum opus sit sed adiutore et, ut ita dicam, coactore; hic tertius color est. Si quaeris huius quoque exemplar, Hermarchum ait Epicurus talem fuisse. Itaque alteri magis gratulatur, alterum magis suspicit; quamvis enim ad eundem finem uterque pervenerit, tamen maior est laus idem effecisse in difficiliore materia. Puta enim duo aedificia excitata esse, ambo paria, aeque excelsa atque magnifica. Alter puram aream accepit, illic protinus opus crevit; alterum fundamenta lassarunt in mollem et fluvidam humum missa multumque laboris exhaustum est dum pervenitur ad solidum: intuentibus quidquid fecit alter … alterius magna pars et difficilior latet.","en":"Besides these you will find yet another kind of person, and not to be despised either: those who can be forced and driven to what is right, who need not only a guide but a helper and, so to speak, someone to drive them on. This is the third shade. If you want an example of this type too, Epicurus says that Hermarchus was one. So he congratulates the one more, but he admires the other more; for although both reached the same goal, there is greater credit in achieving the same result with more difficult material. Imagine two buildings put up, both equal, equally tall and splendid. One builder got a clean site and the work rose at once. The foundations wore out the other builder, sunk into soft, shifting ground, and much labour was spent before solid ground was reached. Whatever the first did is there for all to see … a great and more difficult part of the second's work is hidden."},{"ref":"Letter 52.6–7","orig":"Quaedam ingenia facilia, expedita, quaedam manu, quod aiunt, facienda sunt et in fundamentis suis occupata. Itaque illum ego feliciorem dixerim qui nihil negotii secum habuit, hunc quidem melius de se meruisse qui malignitatem naturae suae vicit et ad sapientiam se non perduxit sed extraxit. Hoc durum ac laboriosum ingenium nobis datum scias licet; imus per obstantia. Itaque pugnemus, aliquorum invocemus auxilium. 'Quem' inquis 'invocabo? Hunc aut illum?' Tu vero etiam ad priores revertere, qui vacant; adiuvare nos possunt non tantum qui sunt, sed qui fuerunt.","en":"Some natures are easy and ready; others, as they say, have to be made by hand and are busy with their foundations. So I would call the first man more fortunate, who had no trouble with himself, but the second more deserving, who conquered the meanness of his nature and did not so much lead himself to wisdom as drag himself there. You may be sure that this hard, laborious nature is the one given to us: we go forward through obstacles. So let us fight, and call on some people for help. \"Whom,\" you say, \"shall I call on? This man or that?\" Go back also to the ancients, who have time for us. Not only those who are living can help us, but those who have lived."},{"ref":"Letter 52.8–9","orig":"Ex his autem qui sunt eligamus non eos qui verba magna celeritate praecipitant et communes locos volvunt et in privato circulantur, sed eos qui vita docent, qui cum dixerunt quid faciendum sit probant faciendo, qui docent quid vitandum sit nec umquam in eo quod fugiendum dixerunt deprehenduntur; eum elige adiutorem quem magis admireris cum videris quam cum audieris. Nec ideo te prohibuerim hos quoque audire quibus admittere populum ac disserere consuetudo est, si modo hoc proposito in turbam prodeunt, ut meliores fiant faciantque meliores, si non ambitionis hoc causa exercent. Quid enim turpius philosophia captante clamores? numquid aeger laudat medicum secantem?","en":"Of the living, let us choose not those who pour out words at great speed, roll out commonplaces and hold forth to little crowds, but those who teach by their lives, who, having said what should be done, prove it by doing it, who teach what should be avoided and are never caught doing what they have said should be shunned. Choose as your helper the man you admire more when you see him than when you hear him. I would not stop you from hearing those too who are in the habit of admitting the public and lecturing, as long as they come before the crowd with this aim, to become better and make others better, and do not do it for ambition's sake. For what is more shameful than philosophy chasing applause? Does a sick man praise the surgeon while he cuts?"},{"ref":"Letter 52.10–11","orig":"Tacete, favete et praebete vos curationi; etiam si exclamaveritis, non aliter audiam quam si ad tactum vitiorum vestrorum ingemescatis. Testari vultis attendere vos moverique rerum magnitudine? sane liceat: ut quidem iudicetis et feratis de meliore suffragium, quidni non permittam? Apud Pythagoram discipulis quinque annis tacendum erat: numquid ergo existimas statim illis et loqui et laudare licuisse? Quanta autem dementia eius est quem clamores imperitorum hilarem ex auditorio dimittunt! Quid laetaris quod ab hominibus his laudatus es quos non potes ipse laudare? Disserebat populo Fabianus, sed audiebatur modeste; erumpebat interdum magnus clamor laudantium, sed quem rerum magnitudo evocaverat, non sonus inoffense ac molliter orationis elapsae.","en":"Be silent, be reverent, and give yourselves up to the cure. Even if you cry out, I will hear it only as groaning when your faults are touched. Do you want to show that you are paying attention and are moved by the greatness of the subject? Very well, you may. Why should I not allow you to judge and cast your vote for the better course? In Pythagoras's school the pupils had to keep silent for five years: do you suppose, then, that they were allowed to speak and applaud straight away? What madness it is in a man who leaves the lecture hall cheerful because of the shouts of the ignorant! Why are you glad to be praised by people whom you cannot praise yourself? Fabianus used to lecture to the public, but he was listened to with restraint. Sometimes a great shout of praise would break out, but one called forth by the greatness of the subject, not by the sound of a speech flowing smoothly and gently."},{"ref":"Letter 52.12–13","orig":"Intersit aliquid inter clamorem theatri et scholae: est aliqua et laudandi elegantia. Omnia rerum omnium, si observentur, indicia sunt, et argumentum morum ex minimis quoque licet capere: impudicum et incessus ostendit et manus mota et unum interdum responsum et relatus ad caput digitus et flexus oculorum; improbum risus, insanum vultus habitusque demonstrat. Illa enim in apertum per notas exeunt: qualis quisque sit scies, si quemadmodum laudet, quemadmodum laudetur aspexeris. Hinc atque illinc philosopho manus auditor intentat et super ipsum caput mirantium turba consistit: non laudatur ille nunc, si intellegis, sed conclamatur. Relinquantur istae voces illis artibus quae propositum habent populo placere: philosophia adoretur.","en":"Let there be some difference between the shouting in a theatre and in a school; there is a certain good taste in praising too. Everything, if you watch it, is a sign of everything else, and you can draw evidence of character even from the smallest things. A lewd man is shown by his walk, by a movement of the hand, sometimes by a single answer, by a finger raised to the head, by a turn of the eyes; a wicked man by his laugh, a madman by his face and bearing. These things come out into the open through marks. You will know what each man is like if you see how he praises and how he is praised. The listener stretches out his hands to the philosopher from this side and that, and the crowd of admirers hangs right over his head. If you understand, he is not being praised now, he is being shouted down. Let these cries be left to those arts whose aim is to please the people. Let philosophy be worshipped."},{"ref":"Letter 52.14–15","orig":"Permittendum erit aliquando iuvenibus sequi impetum animi, tunc autem cum hoc ex impetu facient, cum silentium sibi imperare non poterunt; talis laudatio aliquid exhortationis affert ipsis audientibus et animos adulescentium exstimulat. At ad rem commoveantur, non ad verba composita; alioquin nocet illis eloquentia, si non rerum cupiditatem facit sed sui. Differam hoc in praesentia; desiderat enim propriam et longam exsecutionem, quemadmodum populo disserendum, quid sibi apud populum permittendum sit, quid populo apud se. Damnum quidem fecisse philosophiam non erit dubium postquam prostituta est; sed potest in penetralibus suis ostendi, si modo non institorem sed antistitem nancta est. Vale.","en":"The young must sometimes be allowed to follow the impulse of their feelings, but only when they do it from impulse, when they cannot command themselves to be silent. Praise of that kind brings some encouragement to the listeners themselves and spurs on the minds of the young. But let them be moved by the substance, not by polished words. Otherwise eloquence harms them, if it makes them desire itself rather than the substance. I will put this off for now, for it needs a long treatment of its own: how one should lecture to the public, what a speaker may allow himself before the public, and what he may allow the public before him. There is no doubt that philosophy has suffered damage since she was put up for sale. But she can still be shown in her own sanctuary, provided she has found not a peddler but a priest. Farewell."}],"53":[{"ref":"Letter 53.1–2","orig":"Quid non potest mihi persuaderi, cui persuasum est ut navigarem? Solvi mari languido; erat sine dubio caelum grave sordidis nubibus, quae fere aut in aquam aut in ventum resolvuntur, sed putavi tam pauca milia a Parthenope tua usque Puteolos subripi posse, quamvis dubio et impendente caelo. Itaque quo celerius evaderem, protinus per altum ad Nesida derexi praecisurus omnes sinus. Cum iam eo processissem ut mea nihil interesset utrum irem an redirem, primum aequalitas illa quae me corruperat periit; nondum erat tempestas, sed iam inclinatio maris ac subinde crebrior fluctus. Coepi gubernatorem rogare ut me in aliquo litore exponeret: aiebat ille aspera esse et importuosa nec quicquam se aeque in tempestate timere quam terram.","en":"What can I not be persuaded of, when I was persuaded to go by sea? I set sail on a calm sea. The sky, no doubt, was heavy with dirty clouds, of the kind that usually turn into rain or wind, but I thought the few miles from your Parthenope to Puteoli could be stolen, even under a doubtful and threatening sky. So, to get across more quickly, I headed straight over the open water for Nesis, meaning to cut across all the bays. When I had gone so far that it made no difference whether I went on or turned back, first that smoothness which had lured me vanished. It was not yet a storm, but the sea was already heaving and the waves came thicker and thicker. I began to ask the helmsman to put me ashore somewhere. He said the coast was rough and had no harbours, and that in a storm there was nothing he feared so much as land."},{"ref":"Letter 53.3–4","orig":"Peius autem vexabar quam ut mihi periculum succurreret; nausia enim me segnis haec et sine exitu torquebat, quae bilem movet nec effundit. Institi itaque gubernatori et illum, vellet nollet, coegi, peteret litus. Cuius ut viciniam attigimus, non exspecto ut quicquam ex praeceptis Vergilii fiat,\nobvertunt pelago proras\naut\nancora de prora iacitur:\nmemor artificii mei vetus frigidae cultor mitto me in mare, quomodo psychrolutam decet, gausapatus. Quae putas me passum dum per aspera erepo, dum viam quaero, dum facio? Intellexi non immerito nautis terram timeri. Incredibilia sunt quae tulerim, cum me ferre non possem: illud scito, Ulixem non fuisse tam irato mari natum ut ubique naufragia faceret: nausiator erat. Et ego quocumque navigare debuero vicensimo anno perveniam.","en":"But I was suffering too badly for the danger to occur to me. I was tormented by that sluggish seasickness that has no outlet, which stirs up the bile but does not bring it up. So I pressed the helmsman and forced him, willing or not, to make for the shore. As soon as we came near it, I did not wait for anything to be done as Virgil prescribes,\nThey turn their prows to the sea\nor\nThe anchor is thrown from the prow:\nremembering my skill as an old devotee of cold water, I threw myself into the sea in my woollen cloak, as a cold-bather should. What do you think I suffered as I crawled out over the rocks, looking for a path and then making one? I understood that sailors have good reason to fear land. What I endured, when I could not endure myself, is beyond belief. Know this: Ulysses was not born to so angry a sea that he was shipwrecked everywhere; he was just seasick. And I too, wherever I have to sail, will get there in the twentieth year."},{"ref":"Letter 53.5–6","orig":"Ut primum stomachum, quem scis non cum mari nausiam effugere, collegi, ut corpus unctione recreavi, hoc coepi mecum cogitare, quanta nos vitiorum nostrorum sequeretur oblivio, etiam corporalium, quae subinde admonent sui, nedum illorum quae eo magis latent quo maiora sunt. Levis aliquem motiuncula decipit; sed cum crevit et vera febris exarsit, etiam duro et perpessicio confessionem exprimit. Pedes dolent, articuli punctiunculas sentiunt: adhuc dissimulamus et aut talum extorsisse dicimus nos aut in exercitatione aliqua laborasse. Dubio et incipiente morbo quaeritur nomen, qui ubi ut talaria coepit intendere et utrosque distortos pedes fecit, necesse est podagram fateri.","en":"As soon as I had settled my stomach, which you know does not escape seasickness just by escaping the sea, and had refreshed my body with a rub of oil, I began to think about how we forget our faults, even our bodily ones, which keep reminding us of themselves, let alone those which hide themselves the more, the greater they are. A slight chill deceives a man; but when it has grown and a true fever has flared up, it forces an admission even from someone tough and hardened. The feet ache, the joints feel little prickings: we still pretend, and say we have twisted an ankle or strained ourselves in some exercise. While the disease is doubtful and just beginning, a name is sought for it; but when it begins to swell the ankles and has twisted both feet out of shape, one has to admit it is gout."},{"ref":"Letter 53.7–8","orig":"Contra evenit in his morbis quibus afficiuntur animi: quo quis peius se habet, minus sentit. Non est quod mireris, Lucili carissime; nam qui leviter dormit, et species secundum quietem capit et aliquando dormire se dormiens cogitat: gravis sopor etiam somnia exstinguit animumque altius mergit quam ut in ullo intellectu sui sit. Quare vitia sua nemo confitetur? quia etiam nunc in illis est: somnium narrare vigilantis est, et vitia sua confiteri sanitatis indicium est. Expergiscamur ergo, ut errores nostros coarguere possimus. Sola autem nos philosophia excitabit, sola somnum excutiet gravem: illi te totum dedica. Dignus illa es, illa digna te est: ite in complexum alter alterius. Omnibus aliis rebus te nega, fortiter, aperte; non est quod precario philosopheris.","en":"The opposite happens with the diseases that attack the mind: the worse a man is, the less he feels it. There is nothing surprising in this, my dearest Lucilius. For a man who sleeps lightly both sees images in his rest and sometimes, while asleep, thinks that he is asleep; a heavy sleep wipes out even dreams and sinks the mind too deep for it to have any awareness of itself. Why does no one admit his faults? Because he is still in them. Telling a dream is for a man who is awake, and admitting one's faults is a sign of health. Let us wake up, then, so that we can expose our errors. But only philosophy will rouse us; only she will shake off that heavy sleep. Devote yourself wholly to her. You are worthy of her, and she is worthy of you: go into each other's arms. Say no to everything else, bravely and openly. There is no reason to practise philosophy only as a favour granted."},{"ref":"Letter 53.9–10","orig":"Si aeger esses, curam intermisisses rei familiaris et forensia tibi negotia excidissent nec quemquam tanti putares cui advocatus in remissione descenderes; toto animo id ageres ut quam primum morbo liberareris. Quid ergo? non et nunc idem facies? omnia impedimenta dimitte et vaca bonae menti: nemo ad illam pervenit occupatus. Exercet philosophia regnum suum; dat tempus, non accipit; non est res subsiciva; ordinaria est, domina est, adest et iubet. Alexander cuidam civitati partem agrorum et dimidium rerum omnium promittenti 'eo' inquit 'proposito in Asiam veni, ut non id acciperem quod dedissetis, sed ut id haberetis quod reliquissem'. Idem philosophia rebus omnibus: 'non sum hoc tempus acceptura quod vobis superfuerit, sed id vos habebitis quod ipsa reiecero'.","en":"If you were ill, you would have stopped looking after your household affairs, your business in the courts would have slipped your mind, and you would think no one important enough for you to go down and plead for him during a lull in your illness. You would put your whole mind into getting rid of the disease as soon as possible. What then? Will you not do the same now? Put away every hindrance and make time for a sound mind: no one reaches it while he is busy. Philosophy exercises her own sovereignty. She gives time; she does not receive it. She is not a spare-time activity. She is the regular business, she is the mistress: she is present and gives orders. When a certain city promised Alexander part of its land and half of all its property, he said, \"I came to Asia not to accept what you might give, but so that you might keep what I left you.\" Philosophy says the same to all our affairs: \"I will not accept the time you have left over; you will have what I myself turn down.\""},{"ref":"Letter 53.11–12","orig":"Totam huc converte mentem, huic asside, hanc cole: ingens intervallum inter te et ceteros fiet; omnes mortales multo antecedes, non multo te dii antecedent. Quaeris quid inter te et illos interfuturum sit? diutius erunt. At mehercules magni artificis est clusisse totum in exiguo; tantum sapienti sua quantum deo omnis aetas patet. Est aliquid quo sapiens antecedat deum: ille naturae beneficio non timet, suo sapiens. Ecce res magna, habere imbecillitatem hominis, securitatem dei. Incredibilis philosophiae vis est ad omnem fortuitam vim retundendam. Nullum telum in corpore eius sedet; munita est, solida; quaedam defetigat et velut levia tela laxo sinu eludit, quaedam discutit et in eum usque qui miserat respuit. Vale.","en":"Turn your whole mind to her, sit by her, cultivate her: a huge distance will open between you and the rest. You will be far ahead of all mortals, and the gods will not be far ahead of you. Do you ask what the difference will be between you and them? They will last longer. But, by heaven, it is the mark of a great craftsman to have enclosed the whole within a small space. The wise man's life lies as open to him as all time lies open to a god. There is one respect in which the wise man is ahead of god: god does not fear because of the kindness of nature, the wise man because of his own. What a great thing, to have the frailty of a man and the untroubled calm of a god! Philosophy has an incredible power to blunt every blow of chance. No weapon lodges in her body. She is fortified and solid. Some blows she wears out and, like light missiles, dodges with the loose fold of her robe; others she shakes off and hurls back at the one who threw them. Farewell."}],"54":[{"ref":"Letter 54.1–2","orig":"Longum mihi commeatum dederat mala valetudo; repente me invasit. 'Quo genere?' inquis. Prorsus merito interrogas: adeo nullum mihi ignotum est. Uni tamen morbo quasi assignatus sum, quem quare Graeco nomine appellem nescio; satis enim apte dici suspirium potest. Brevis autem valde et procellae similis est impetus; intra horam fere desinit: quis enim diu exspirat? Omnia corporis aut incommoda aut pericula per me transierunt: nullum mihi videtur molestius. Quidni? aliud enim quidquid est aegrotare est, hoc animam egerere. Itaque medici hanc 'meditationem mortis' vocant; facit enim aliquando spiritus ille quod saepe conatus est. Hilarem me putas haec tibi scribere quia effugi?","en":"Ill health had given me a long leave; suddenly it attacked me. \"What kind?\" you ask. You are right to ask, since there is no kind I do not know. But I have been handed over, as it were, to one disease in particular. I do not know why I should call it by its Greek name, since it can quite properly be called \"breathlessness\". Its attack is very short and like a squall; it usually ends within an hour, for who can go on breathing his last for long? Every discomfort and danger of the body has passed through me; none seems to me more troublesome. Why not? Anything else is being ill; this is breathing out your life. That is why doctors call it \"rehearsing death\", for sometimes the breath does what it has often tried to do. Do you think I am cheerful as I write this to you because I have escaped?"},{"ref":"Letter 54.3–4","orig":"Tam ridicule facio, si hoc fine quasi bona valetudine delector, quam ille, quisquis vicisse se putat cum vadimonium distulit. Ego vero et in ipsa suffocatione non desii cogitationibus laetis ac fortibus acquiescere. 'Quid hoc est?' inquam 'tam saepe mors experitur me? Faciat: ego illam diu expertus sum.' 'Quando?' inquis. Antequam nascerer. Mors est non esse. Id quale sit iam scio: hoc erit post me quod ante me fuit. Si quid in hac re tormenti est, necesse est et fuisse, antequam prodiremus in lucem; atqui nullam sensimus tunc vexationem.","en":"If I delight in this end as though it were good health, I am as ridiculous as a man who thinks he has won his case because he has got the hearing postponed. But even in the middle of the choking I did not stop taking comfort in cheerful and brave thoughts. \"What is this?\" I said. \"Does death test me so often? Let it: I tested it long ago.\" \"When?\" you ask. Before I was born. Death is not being. I already know what that is like: what was before me will be after me. If there is any torment in this state, there must also have been some before we came into the light. Yet we felt no distress then."},{"ref":"Letter 54.5–6","orig":"Rogo, non stultissimum dicas si quis existimet lucernae peius esse cum exstincta est quam antequam accenditur? Nos quoque et exstinguimur et accendimur: medio illo tempore aliquid patimur, utrimque vero alta securitas est. In hoc enim, mi Lucili, nisi fallor, erramus, quod mortem iudicamus sequi, cum illa et praecesserit et secutura sit. Quidquid ante nos fuit mors est; quid enim refert non incipias an desinas, cum utriusque rei hic sit effectus, non esse? His et eiusmodi exhortationibus - tacitis scilicet, nam verbis locus non erat - alloqui me non desii; deinde paulatim suspirium illud, quod esse iam anhelitus coeperat, intervalla maiora fecit et retardatum est. At remansit, nec adhuc, quamvis desierit, ex natura fluit spiritus; sentio haesitationem quandam eius et moram. Quomodo volet, dummodo non ex animo suspirem.","en":"Tell me, would you not call a man a complete fool if he thought a lamp was worse off when it had been put out than before it was lit? We too are put out and lit. In the time between, we suffer something; on either side there is deep calm. This, my Lucilius, unless I am mistaken, is where we go wrong: we think that death follows, when it has both gone before and will follow after. Whatever was before us is death. For what does it matter whether you do not begin or you stop, when the result of both is the same: not to be? With these and similar encouragements, silent ones of course, since there was no room for words, I did not stop speaking to myself. Then little by little that breathlessness, which had begun to turn into mere panting, came at longer intervals and slowed down. But it has stayed, and even now, though it has stopped, my breath does not flow naturally; I feel a kind of catch and delay in it. Let it be as it likes, so long as I do not sigh from the heart."},{"ref":"Letter 54.7","orig":"Hoc tibi de me recipe: non trepidabo ad extrema, iam praeparatus sum, nihil cogito de die toto. Illum tu lauda et imitare quem non piget mori, cum iuvet vivere: quae est enim virtus, cum eiciaris, exire? Tamen est et hic virtus: eicior quidem, sed tamquam exeam. Et ideo numquam eicitur sapiens quia eici est inde expelli unde invitus recedas: nihil invitus facit sapiens; necessitatem effugit, quia vult quod coactura est. Vale.","en":"Take this pledge from me about myself: I will not tremble at the end. I am already prepared; I make no plans for a whole day. Praise and imitate the man who does not mind dying, though he enjoys living. For what virtue is there in leaving when you are thrown out? Yet there is virtue even here: I am being thrown out, but as though I were leaving of my own accord. And that is why the wise man is never thrown out: being thrown out means being expelled from a place you leave unwillingly. The wise man does nothing unwillingly. He escapes necessity, because he wants what it is about to force on him. Farewell."}],"55":[{"ref":"Letter 55.1","orig":"A gestatione cum maxime venio, non minus fatigatus quam si tantum ambulassem quantum sedi; labor est enim et diu ferri, ac nescio an eo maior quia contra naturam est, quae pedes dedit ut per nos ambularemus, oculos ut per nos videremus. Debilitatem nobis indixere deliciae, et quod diu noluimus posse desimus.","en":"I have just come back from a ride in my litter, as tired as if I had walked as far as I sat. For it is work even to be carried for a long time, and perhaps greater work because it is against nature, which gave us feet so that we could walk for ourselves, and eyes so that we could see for ourselves. Luxury has condemned us to weakness, and we have lost the ability to do what for a long time we did not want to do."},{"ref":"Letter 55.2","orig":"Mihi tamen necessarium erat concutere corpus, ut, sive bilis insederat faucibus, discuteretur, sive ipse ex aliqua causa spiritus densior erat, extenuaret illum iactatio, quam profuisse mihi sensi. Ideo diutius vehi perseveravi invitante ipso litore, quod inter Cumas et Servili Vatiae villam curvatur et hinc mari, illinc lacu velut angustum iter cluditur. Erat autem a recenti tempestate spissum; fluctus enim illud, ut scis, frequens et concitatus exaequat, longior tranquillitas solvit, cum harenis, quae umore alligantur, sucus abscessit.","en":"Still, I needed to give my body a shake, so that the jolting might clear away any bile that had settled in my throat, or thin out my breath if for some reason it had become too thick. I felt that it had done me good. So I kept on riding longer, drawn on by the shore itself, which curves between Cumae and the country house of Servilius Vatia and is shut in like a narrow path by the sea on one side and the lake on the other. It was firm from a recent storm. For, as you know, the waves, when frequent and strong, make it level; a longer calm loosens it, when the moisture has left the sand that the wet binds together."},{"ref":"Letter 55.3","orig":"Ex consuetudine tamen mea circumspicere coepi an aliquid illic invenirem quod mihi posset bono esse, et derexi oculos in villam quae aliquando Vatiae fuit. In hac ille praetorius dives, nulla alia re quam otio notus, consenuit, et ob hoc unum felix habebatur. Nam quotiens aliquos amicitiae Asinii Galli, quotiens Seiani odium, deinde amor merserat - aeque enim offendisse illum quam amasse periculosum fuit -, exclamabant homines, 'o Vatia, solus scis vivere'.","en":"As is my habit, though, I began to look around to see whether I could find something there that might do me good, and I turned my eyes to the house that once belonged to Vatia. In it that rich ex-praetor grew old, known for nothing but his leisure, and for this one thing he was thought happy. For whenever friendship with Asinius Gallus, or hatred of Sejanus, or later love for him, had ruined some people (for it was as dangerous to have offended him as to have loved him), people used to cry out, \"Vatia, you alone know how to live!\""},{"ref":"Letter 55.4","orig":"At ille latere sciebat, non vivere; multum autem interest utrum vita tua otiosa sit an ignava. Numquam aliter hanc villam Vatia vivo praeteribam quam ut dicerem, 'Vatia hic situs est'. Sed adeo, mi Lucili, philosophia sacrum quiddam est et venerabile ut etiam si quid illi simile est mendacio placeat. Otiosum enim hominem seductum existimat vulgus et securum et se contentum, sibi viventem, quorum nihil ulli contingere nisi sapienti potest. Ille solus scit sibi vivere; ille enim, quod est primum, scit vivere.","en":"But what he knew was how to hide, not how to live. There is a great difference between a life of leisure and a life of idleness. While Vatia was alive, I never passed this house without saying, \"Here lies Vatia.\" But, my Lucilius, philosophy is something so sacred and worthy of reverence that even a false likeness of her pleases. For the common people think that a man at leisure has withdrawn, is free from care, content with himself and living for himself, none of which can happen to anyone but the wise man. He alone knows how to live for himself, because he knows how to live, and that comes first."},{"ref":"Letter 55.5","orig":"Nam qui res et homines fugit, quem cupiditatum suarum infelicitas relegavit, qui alios feliciores videre non potuit, qui velut timidum atque iners animal metu oblituit, ille sibi non vivit, sed, quod est turpissimum, ventri, somno, libidini; non continuo sibi vivit qui nemini. Adeo tamen magna res est constantia et in proposito suo perseverantia ut habeat auctoritatem inertia quoque pertinax.","en":"For a man who flees affairs and people, who has been banished by the failure of his own desires, who could not bear to see others more fortunate, who has hidden himself out of fear like a timid, lazy animal, is not living for himself. He is living, most shamefully, for his belly, his sleep and his lust. A man does not necessarily live for himself because he lives for no one. Still, steadiness and perseverance in one's purpose is so great a thing that even stubborn idleness gains a certain authority."},{"ref":"Letter 55.6–7","orig":"De ipsa villa nihil tibi possum certi scribere; frontem enim eius tantum novi et exposita, quae ostendit etiam transeuntibus. Speluncae sunt duae magni operis, cuivis laxo atrio pares, manu factae, quarum altera solem non recipit, altera usque in occidentem tenet. Platanona medius rivus et a mari et ab Acherusio lacu receptus euripi modo dividit, alendis piscibus, etiam si assidue exhauriatur, sufficiens. Sed illi, cum mare patet, parcitur: cum tempestas piscatoribus dedit ferias, manus ad parata porrigitur. Hoc tamen est commodissimum in villa, quod Baias trans parietem habet: incommodis illarum caret, voluptatibus fruitur. Has laudes eius ipse novi: esse illam totius anni credo; occurrit enim Favonio et illum adeo excipit ut Bais neget. Non stulte videtur elegisse hunc locum Vatia in quem otium suum pigrum iam et senile conferret.","en":"About the house itself I cannot write you anything certain, for I know only its front and the parts on show, which it displays even to passers-by. There are two grottoes, of great workmanship, each as large as any spacious hall, made by hand. One never gets the sun, the other keeps it until sunset. A stream fed from both the sea and the Acherusian lake divides a grove of plane trees down the middle like a channel. It is enough to keep fish, even if it is fished constantly. But when the sea is open, the stream is spared; when a storm has given the fishermen a holiday, hands reach out to the stock laid by. The most convenient thing about the house, though, is that it has Baiae on the other side of the wall: it is free of Baiae's drawbacks and enjoys its pleasures. These points in its favour I know myself. I believe it is a house for the whole year, for it faces the west wind and catches it so fully that it keeps it from Baiae. Vatia seems to have chosen this place not foolishly as the spot to bring his leisure, already lazy and old."},{"ref":"Letter 55.8–9","orig":"Sed non multum ad tranquillitatem locus confert: animus est qui sibi commendet omnia. Vidi ego in villa hilari et amoena maestos, vidi in media solitudine occupatis similes. Quare non est quod existimes ideo parum bene compositum esse te quod in Campania non es. Quare autem non es? huc usque cogitationes tuas mitte. Conversari cum amicis absentibus licet, et quidem quotiens velis, quamdiu velis. Magis hac voluptate, quae maxima est, fruimur dum absumus; praesentia enim nos delicatos facit, ct quia aliquando una loquimur, ambulamus, consedimus, cum diducti sumus nihil de iis quos modo vidimus cogitamus.","en":"But the place does not contribute much to peace of mind; it is the mind that gives everything its value. I have seen people gloomy in a cheerful and lovely house; I have seen people in the middle of solitude who looked busy. So there is no reason to think that you are not well settled because you are not in Campania. But why are you not here? Send your thoughts this far. You can talk with absent friends, as often as you like and for as long as you like. We enjoy this pleasure, the greatest there is, more when we are apart. For presence makes us fussy, and because we sometimes talk, walk and sit together, when we are separated we give no thought to those we have just seen."},{"ref":"Letter 55.10–11","orig":"Et ideo aequo animo ferre debemus absentiam, quia nemo non multum etiam praesentibus abest. Pone hic primum noctes separatas, deinde occupationes utrique diversas, deinde studia secreta, suburbanas profectiones: videbis non multum esse quod nobis peregrinatio eripiat. Amicus animo possidendus est; hic autem numquam abest; quemcumque vult cotidie videt. Itaque mecum stude, mecum cena, mecum ambula: in angusto vivebamus, si quicquam esset cogitationibus clusum. Video te, mi Lucili; cum maxime audio; adeo tecum sum ut dubitem an incipiam non epistulas sed codicellos tibi scribere. Vale.","en":"And so we should bear absence calmly, because everyone is often absent even from those who are present. Count here, first, the nights spent apart, then each person's different occupations, then private studies and trips out of town: you will see that travel does not take much from us. A friend must be held in the mind, and the mind is never absent; it sees whomever it wishes every day. So study with me, dine with me, walk with me. We would be living within narrow bounds if anything were closed to our thoughts. I see you, my Lucilius; at this very moment I hear you. I am so much with you that I wonder whether I should start writing you not letters but notes. Farewell."}],"56":[{"ref":"Letter 56.1","orig":"Peream si est tam necessarium quam videtur silentium in studia seposito. Ecce undique me varius clamor circumsonat: supra ipsum balneum habito. Propone nunc tibi omnia genera vocum quae in odium possunt aures adducere: cum fortiores exercentur et manus plumbo graves iactant, cum aut laborant aut laborantem imitantur, gemitus audio, quotiens retentum spiritum remiserunt, sibilos et acerbissimas respirationes; cum in aliquem inertem et hac plebeia unctione contentum incidi, audio crepitum illisae manus umeris, quae prout plana pervenit aut concava, ita sonum mutat. Si vero pilicrepus supervenit et numerare coepit pilas, actum est.","en":"Damn me if silence is as necessary as it seems for a man who has shut himself away to study. Look, all sorts of noise are sounding around me on every side: I live right over a bathhouse. Now imagine every kind of sound that can make you hate your ears. When the stronger men are exercising and swinging their lead-weighted hands, whether they are working hard or pretending to, I hear groans every time they let out their held breath, and hissing and the harshest gasping. When I happen on some lazy fellow content with a cheap massage, I hear the slap of a hand striking his shoulders, and the sound changes as the hand lands flat or cupped. But if a ball-player comes along and starts counting the balls, it is all over."},{"ref":"Letter 56.2","orig":"Adice nunc scordalum et furem deprensum et illum cui vox sua in balineo placet, adice nunc eos qui in piscinam cum ingenti impulsae aquae sono saliunt. Praeter istos quorum, si nihil aliud, rectae voces sunt, alipilum cogita tenuem et stridulam vocem quo sit notabilior subinde exprimentem nec umquam tacentem nisi dum vellit alas et alium pro se clamare cogit; iam biberari varias exclamationes et botularium et crustularium et omnes popinarum institores mercem sua quadam et insignita modulatione vendentis.","en":"Now add a brawler, a thief caught in the act, and the man who likes the sound of his own voice in the bath. Add those who jump into the pool with a huge splash of displaced water. Besides these, whose voices, if nothing else, are natural, think of the armpit-plucker who keeps squeezing out a thin, shrill cry to make himself noticed, and is never quiet except when he is plucking armpits and making someone else yell instead of him. Then the various cries of the drinks-seller, and the sausage-seller and the pastry-seller and all the hawkers from the cookshops, each selling his wares with his own peculiar tune."},{"ref":"Letter 56.3–4","orig":"'O te' inquis 'ferreum aut surdum, cui mens inter tot clamores tam varios, tam dissonos constat, cum Chrysippum nostrum assidua salutatio perducat ad mortem.' At mehercules ego istum fremitum non magis curo quam fluctum aut deiectum aquae, quamvis audiam cuidam genti hanc unam fuisse causam urbem suam transferendi, quod fragorem Nili cadentis ferre non potuit. Magis mihi videtur vox avocare quam crepitus; illa enim animum adducit, hic tantum aures implet ac verberat. In his quae me sine avocatione circumstrepunt essedas transcurrentes pono et fabrum inquilinum et serrarium vicinum, aut hunc qui ad Metam Sudantem tubulas experitur et tibias, nec cantat sed exclamat:","en":"\"You must be made of iron,\" you say, \"or deaf, if your mind holds steady amid so many shouts, so varied and so jarring, when constant morning greetings are driving our friend Chrysippus to his death.\" But, by heaven, I care no more about this din than about waves or falling water, though I hear that a certain people moved their city for this one reason, that they could not bear the roar of the falling Nile. A voice seems to me more distracting than a clatter, for a voice draws the mind, while a clatter only fills and batters the ears. Among the things that make a noise around me without distracting me I count carriages rushing past, the carpenter who lodges here, the saw-worker next door, or the man near the Sweating Post who tries out little horns and pipes and does not sing but bellows."},{"ref":"Letter 56.5–6","orig":"etiam nunc molestior est mihi sonus qui intermittitur subinde quam qui continuatur. Sed iam me sic ad omnia ista duravi ut audire vel pausarium possim voce acerbissima remigibus modos dantem. Animum enim cogo sibi intentum esse nec avocari ad externa; omnia licet foris resonent, dum intus nihil tumultus sit, dum inter se non rixentur cupiditas et timor, dum avaritia luxuriaque non dissideant nec altera alteram vexet. Nam quid prodest totius regionis silentium, si affectus fremunt? Omnia noctis erant placida composta quiete.\nFalsum est: nulla placida est quies nisi quam ratio composuit; nox exhibet molestiam, non tollit, et sollicitudines muta. Nam dormientium quoque insomnia tam turbulenta sunt quam dies: illa tranquillitas vera est in quam bona mens explicatur.","en":"Even now a sound that stops and starts bothers me more than one that goes on steadily. But I have hardened myself to all these things so thoroughly that I could even listen to a boatswain calling the time to rowers in the harshest voice. For I force my mind to attend to itself and not be drawn away by things outside. Everything outside may resound, so long as there is no uproar within, so long as desire and fear do not quarrel with each other, so long as greed and luxury do not disagree and harass one another. For what good is the silence of a whole neighbourhood if the passions are roaring?\nAll things were settled in the calm peace of night.\nThat is false: there is no calm peace except the one that reason has settled. Night brings trouble; it does not remove it; it only changes our worries. For even the dreams of sleepers are as troubled as the day. The true tranquillity is the one in which a sound mind unfolds itself."},{"ref":"Letter 56.7–8","orig":"Aspice illum cui somnus laxae domus silentio quaeritur, cuius aures ne quis agitet sonus, omnis servorum turba conticuit et suspensum accedentium propius vestigium ponitur: huc nempe versatur atque illuc, somnum inter aegritudines levem captans; quae non audit audisse se queritur. Quid in causa putas esse? Animus illi obstrepit. Hic placandus est, huius compescenda seditio est, quem non est quod existimes placidum, si iacet corpus: interdum quies inquieta est; et ideo ad rerum actus excitandi ac tractatione bonarum artium occupandi sumus, quotiens nos male habet inertia sui impatiens.","en":"Look at the man who seeks sleep in the silence of a spacious house. So that no sound may disturb his ears, the whole crowd of slaves has fallen silent, and those who come near him tread on tiptoe. Yet of course he tosses this way and that, catching a light sleep amid his distress; he complains that he has heard what he does not hear. What do you think is the cause? His mind is making a racket. This is what must be calmed, its rebellion put down. You have no reason to think it calm just because the body lies still. Sometimes rest is restless. And so we must be roused to action and kept busy with good pursuits whenever idleness, unable to bear itself, gets the better of us."},{"ref":"Letter 56.9","orig":"Magni imperatores, cum male parere militem vident, aliquo labore compescunt et expeditionibus detinent: numquam vacat lascivire districtis, nihilque tam certum est quam otii vitia negotio discuti. Saepe videmur taedio rerum civilium et infelicis atque ingratae stationis paenitentia secessisse; tamen in illa latebra in quam nos timor ac lassitudo coniecit interdum recrudescit ambitio. Non enim excisa desit, sed fatigata aut etiam obirata rebus parum sibi cedentibus.","en":"Great generals, when they see that the soldiers are not obeying well, keep them in check with some work and occupy them with expeditions. Those who are fully occupied never have time to run wild, and nothing is more certain than that the vices of leisure are shaken off by activity. We often seem to have withdrawn because we are tired of public life and regret an unhappy and thankless post. Yet in that hiding place into which fear and weariness have thrown us, ambition sometimes breaks out again. For it has not stopped because it was cut out, but because it was tired, or even angry that things did not go its way."},{"ref":"Letter 56.10–11","orig":"Idem de luxuria dico, quae videtur aliquando cessisse, deinde frugalitatem professos sollicitat atque in media parsimonia voluptates non damnatas sed relictas petit, et quidem eo vehementius quo occultius. Omnia enim vitia in aperto leniora sunt; morbi quoque tunc ad sanitatem inclinant cum ex abdito erumpunt ac vim sui proferunt. Et avaritiam itaque et ambitionem et cetera mala mentis humanae tunc perniciosissima scias esse cum simulata sanitate subsidunt. Otiosi videmur, et non sumus. Nam si bona fide sumus, si receptui cecinimus, si speciosa contempsimus, ut paulo ante dicebam, nulla res nos avocabit, nullus hominum aviumque concentus interrumpet cogitationes bonas, solidasque iam et certas.","en":"I say the same of luxury, which sometimes seems to have gone away, but then tempts those who have professed thrift, and in the midst of frugality goes after pleasures that were not condemned but only left behind, and all the more violently the more secretly. For all vices are milder in the open. Diseases too are turning towards health when they break out from hiding and show their strength. So you may be sure that greed, ambition and the other evils of the human mind are most deadly when they sink down under a pretence of health. We seem to be at leisure, and we are not. For if we are genuinely at leisure, if we have sounded the retreat, if we have scorned outward show, as I was saying a little earlier, nothing will distract us. No chorus of men or birds will break in on good thoughts that are now solid and sure."},{"ref":"Letter 56.12–13","orig":"Leve illud ingenium est nec sese adhuc reduxit introsus quod ad vocem et accidentia erigitur; habet intus aliquid sollicitudinis et habet aliquid concepti pavoris quod illum curiosum facit, ut ait Vergilius noster:\net me, quem dudum non ulla iniecta movebant\ntela neque adverso glomerati e agmine Grai,\nnunc omnes terrent aurae, sonus excitat omnis\nsuspensum et pariter comitique onerique timentem. Prior ille sapiens est, quem non tela vibrantia, non arietata inter se arma agminis densi, non urbis impulsae fragor territat: hic alter imperitus est, rebus suis timet ad omnem crepitum expavescens, quem una quaelibet vox pro fremitu accepta deiecit, quem motus levissimi exanimant; timidum illum sarcinae faciunt.","en":"A mind is flighty and has not yet drawn back into itself if it starts up at a voice or at chance events. It has some anxiety within, and some fear it has taken in, which makes it curious, as our Virgil says:\nAnd I, whom lately no spears hurled at me could move,\nnor Greeks massed in a hostile column,\nnow every breeze alarms, every sound startles,\nanxious, and fearing alike for my companion and my burden.\nThe first man is the wise one, whom neither brandished spears, nor the clashing arms of a packed column, nor the crash of a city under attack can frighten. The second is untrained: he fears for his possessions and panics at every rattle. Any single voice, taken for a roar, throws him down; the slightest movements terrify him. His baggage makes him timid."},{"ref":"Letter 56.14–15","orig":"Quemcumque ex istis felicibus elegeris, multa trahentibus, multa portantibus, videbis illum 'comitique onerique timentem'. Tunc ergo te scito esse compositum cum ad te nullus clamor pertinebit, cum te nulla vox tibi excutiet, non si blandietur, non si minabitur, non si inani sono vana circumstrepet. 'Quid ergo? non aliquando commodius est et carere convicio?' Fateor; itaque ego ex hoc loco migrabo. Experiri et exercere me volui: quid necesse est diutius torqueri, cum tam facile remedium Ulixes sociis etiam adversus Sirenas invenerit Vale.","en":"Pick any of those fortunate people, dragging much and carrying much, and you will see him \"fearing alike for his companion and his burden\". So know that you are settled when no shouting reaches you, when no voice shakes you out of yourself, whether it flatters or threatens or buzzes around you with empty sound. \"What then? Is it not sometimes more comfortable to be free of the racket?\" I admit it; and so I will move from this place. I wanted to test and train myself. What need is there to be tortured any longer, when Ulysses found so easy a remedy for his companions even against the Sirens? Farewell."}],"57":[{"ref":"Letter 57.1–2","orig":"Cum a Bais deberem Neapolim repetere, facile credidi tempestatem esse, ne iterum navem experirer; et tantum luti tota via fuit ut possim videri nihilominus navigasse. Totum athletarum fatum mihi illo die perpetiendum fuit: a ceromate nos haphe excepit in crypta Neapolitana. Nihil illo carcere longius, nihil illis facibus obscurius, quae nobis praestant non ut per tenebras videamus, sed ut ipsas. Ceterum etiam si locus haberet lucem, pulvis auferret, in aperto quoque res gravis et molesta: quid illic, ubi in se volutatur et, cum sine ullo spiramento sit inclusus, in ipsos a quibus excitatus est recidit? Duo incommoda inter sc contraria simul pertulimus: eadem via, eodem die et luto et pulvere laboravimus.","en":"When I had to go back from Baiae to Naples, I easily persuaded myself that there was a storm, so as not to try a ship again. And there was so much mud all along the road that I might as well have gone by sea. That day I had to endure the whole lot of an athlete: after the oil, we got the dust in the Naples tunnel. Nothing is longer than that prison, nothing dimmer than those torches, which serve not to let us see through the darkness but to let us see the darkness itself. Besides, even if the place had light, the dust would take it away; dust is a heavy nuisance even in the open, so what is it like there, where it rolls around on itself and, shut in without any vent, falls back on the very people who raised it? We endured two opposite discomforts at once: on the same road, on the same day, we struggled with both mud and dust."},{"ref":"Letter 57.3–4","orig":"Aliquid tamen mihi illa obscuritas quod cogitarem dedit: sensi quendam ictum animi et sine metu mutationem quam insolitae rei novitas simul ac foeditas fecerat. Non de me nunc tecum loquor, qui multum ab homine tolerabili, nedum a perfecto absum, sed de illo in quem fortuna ius perdidit: huius quoque ferietur animus, mutabitur color. Quaedam enim, mi Lucili, nulla effugere virtus potest; admonet illam natura mortalitatis suae. Itaque et vultum adducet ad tristia et inhorrescet ad subita et caligabit, si vastam altitudinem in crepidine eius constitutus despexerit: non est hoc timor, sed naturalis affectio inexpugnabilis rationi.","en":"Still, that gloom gave me something to think about. I felt a kind of jolt in my mind and a change, without fear, caused by the novelty and at the same time the ugliness of an unusual experience. I am not talking to you now about myself, who am far from being a tolerable man, let alone a perfect one, but about the man over whom fortune has lost her power. His mind too will be struck, his colour will change. For there are some things, my Lucilius, that no virtue can escape; nature reminds it of its mortality. So he will frown at sad things, shudder at sudden ones, and grow dizzy if he stands on the edge of a vast height and looks down. This is not fear, but a natural feeling that reason cannot overcome."},{"ref":"Letter 57.5–6","orig":"Itaque fortes quidam et paratissimi fundere suum sanguinem alienum videre non possunt; quidam ad vulneris novi, quidam ad veteris et purulenti tractationem inspectionemque succidunt ac linquuntur animo; alii gladium facilius recipiunt quam vident. Sensi ergo, ut dicebam, quandam non quidem perturbationem, sed mutationem: rursus ad primum conspectum redditae lucis alacritas rediit incogitata et iniussa. Illud deinde mecum loqui coepi, quam inepte quaedam magis aut minus timeremus, cum omnium idem finis esset. Quid enim interest utrum supra aliquem vigilarium ruat an mons? nihil invenies. Erunt tamen qui hanc ruinam magis timeant, quamvis utraque mortifera aeque sit; adeo non effectu, sed efficientia timor spectat.","en":"So some brave men, quite ready to shed their own blood, cannot look at someone else's. Some faint and lose consciousness at the handling and sight of a fresh wound, some at an old and festering one; others take a sword more easily than they can look at one. So, as I was saying, I felt not a disturbance but a kind of change. Then, at the first sight of the returning daylight, my good spirits came back, without thought and without command. Next I began to say to myself how foolish it is that we fear some things more and others less, when the end of all of them is the same. For what difference does it make whether a watchtower falls on someone or a mountain? You will find none. Yet there will be people who fear the second kind of collapse more, though both are equally deadly. So much does fear look not at the result but at what produces it."},{"ref":"Letter 57.7–8","orig":"Nunc me putas de Stoicis dicere, qui existimant animam hominis magno pondere extriti permanere non posse et statim spargi, quia non fuerit illi exitus liber? Ego vero non facio: qui hoc dicunt videntur mihi errare. Quemadmodum flamma non potest opprimi - nam circa id diffugit quo urgetur -, quemadmodum aer verbere atque ictu non laeditur, ne scinditur quidem, sed circa id cui cessit refunditur, sic animus, qui ex tenuissimo constat, deprehendi non potest nec intra corpus effligi, sed beneficio subtilitatis suae per ipsa quibus premitur erumpit. Quomodo fulmini, etiam cum latissime percussit ac fulsit, per exiguum foramen est reditus, sic animo, qui adhuc tenuior est igne, per omne corpus fuga est.","en":"Do you think I am now going to speak of the Stoics who hold that the soul of a man crushed by a great weight cannot survive and is scattered at once, because it had no free way out? I am not; those who say this seem to me to be wrong. Just as a flame cannot be smothered, for it escapes around whatever presses on it, and just as the air is not harmed by a lash or a blow, or even cut, but flows back around whatever it has given way to, so the soul, which is made of the finest substance, cannot be caught or crushed inside the body. Thanks to its fineness it breaks out through the very things that press on it. Just as lightning, even when it has struck and flashed over a very wide area, has a way back through a tiny opening, so the soul, which is finer still than fire, has an escape through any part of the body."},{"ref":"Letter 57.9","orig":"Itaque de illo quaerendum est, an possit immortalis esse. Hoc quidem certum habe: si superstes est corpori, opteri illum nullo genere posse, quoniam nulla immortalitas cum exceptione est, nec quicquam noxium aeterno est. Vale.","en":"So the question we must ask about the soul is whether it can be immortal. Be sure of this much: if it survives the body, it cannot be crushed in any way, since no immortality comes with exceptions, and nothing can harm what is eternal. Farewell."}],"58":[{"ref":"Letter 58.1–2","orig":"Quanta verborum nobis paupertas, immo egestas sit, numquam magis quam hodierno die intellexi. Mille res inciderunt, cum forte de Platone loqueremur, quae nomina desiderarent nec haberent, quaedam vero quae cum habuissent fastidio nostro perdidissent. Quis autem ferat in egestate fastidium? Hunc quem Graeci 'oestron' vocant, pecora peragentem et totis saltibus dissipantem, 'asilum' nostri vocabant. Hoc Vergilio licet credas:\nest lucum Silari iuxta ilicibusque virentem\nplurimus Alburnum volitans, cui nomen asilo\nRomanum est, oestrum Grai vertere vocantes,\nasper, acerba sonans, quo tota exterrita silvis\ndiffugiunt armenta.","en":"I have never understood more clearly than today how poor, or rather how destitute, we are in words. When we happened to be talking about Plato, a thousand things came up that needed names and had none, and some that had once had names but had lost them through our fussiness. Yet who could put up with fussiness in the midst of poverty? The insect the Greeks call \"oestrus\", which drives cattle on and scatters them over whole forest pastures, our people used to call \"asilus\". You can take Virgil's word for it:\nNear the grove of Silarus and Alburnus, green with holm-oaks,\nswarms a fly whose Roman name is asilus;\nthe Greeks have turned it into oestrus.\nIt is fierce and buzzes harshly, and whole herds\nscatter in terror through the woods."},{"ref":"Letter 58.3–5","orig":"Puto intellegi istud verbum interisse. Ne te longe differam, quaedam simplicia in usu erant, sicut 'cernere ferro inter se' dicebant. Idem Vergilius hoc probabit tibi:\ningentis, genitos diversis partibus orbis,\ninter se coiisse viros et cernere ferro.\nQuod nunc 'decernere' dicimus: simplicis illius verbi usus amissus est. Dicebant antiqui 'si iusso', id est 'iussero'. Hoc nolo mihi credas, sed eidem Vergilio:\ncetera, qua iusso, mecum manus inferat arma. Non id ago nunc hac diligentia ut ostendam quantum tempus apud grammaticum perdiderim, sed ut ex hoc intellegas quantum apud Ennium et Accium verborum situs occupaverit, cum apud hunc quoque, qui cotidie excutitur, aliqua nobis subducta sint.","en":"I take it you see that this word has died out. Not to keep you waiting long, some simple verbs were in use; for example, people used to say \"cernere ferro inter se\", \"to decide between themselves with the sword\". The same Virgil will prove this to you:\nMighty men, born in different parts of the world,\nhad met each other to decide it with the sword.\nWhat we now say with \"decernere\": the use of that simple verb has been lost. The ancients used to say \"si iusso\", meaning \"if I shall have ordered\". I do not want you to take my word for this, but the same Virgil's:\nLet the other soldiers bring their arms with me where I have ordered.\nI am not taking all this care now to show how much time I wasted with the grammar teacher, but so that you may understand from it how much of the vocabulary of Ennius and Accius has been covered in mould, when even in Virgil, who is combed through every day, some words have been taken from us."},{"ref":"Letter 58.6","orig":"'Quid sibi' inquis 'ista praeparatio vult? quo spectat?' Non celabo te: cupio, si fieri potest, propitiis auribus tuis 'essentiam' dicere; si minus, dicam et iratis. Ciceronem auctorem huius verbi habeo, puto locupletem; si recentiorem quaeris, Fabianum, disertum et elegantem, orationis etiam ad nostrum fastidium nitidae. Quid enim fiet, mi Lucili? quomodo dicetur 'ousia', res necessaria, natura continens fundamentum omnium? Rogo itaque permittas mihi hoc verbo uti. Nihilominus dabo operam ut ius a te datum parcissime exerceam; fortasse contentus ero mihi licere.","en":"\"What is all this preamble for?\" you say. \"Where is it heading?\" I will not hide it from you. I want, if possible, to say \"essentia\" with your ears in favour; if not, I will say it even if they are angry. I have Cicero as the authority for this word, and I think him a rich one. If you want someone more recent, I have Fabianus, eloquent and refined, whose style is polished enough even for our fussy taste. For what else is to be done, my Lucilius? How else shall we say \"ousia\", a necessary thing, the nature that holds the foundation of everything? So I beg you to let me use this word. Even so, I will take care to use the right you give me as sparingly as possible; perhaps I will be content just to be allowed."},{"ref":"Letter 58.7–8","orig":"Quid proderit facilitas tua, cum ecce id nullo modo Latine exprimere possim propter quod linguae nostrae convicium feci? Magis damnabis angustias Romanas, si scieris unam syllabam esse quam mutare non possum. Quae sit haec quaeris? 'to on'. Duri tibi videor ingenii: in medio positum, posse sic transferri ut dicam 'quod est'. Sed multum interesse video: cogor verbum pro vocabulo ponere; sed si ita necesse est, ponam 'quod est'. Sex modis hoc a Platone dici amicus noster, homo eruditissimus, hodierno die dicebat. Omnes tibi exponam, si ante indicavero esse aliquid genus, esse et speciem. Nunc autem primum illud genus quaerimus ex quo ceterae species suspensae sunt, a quo nascitur omnis divisio, quo universa comprensa sunt. Invenietur autem si coeperimus singula retro legere; sic enim perducemur ad primum.","en":"What good will your indulgence do, when, look, I cannot express at all in Latin the very thing for which I have abused our language? You will blame the narrowness of Latin even more when you learn that there is a single syllable I cannot translate. What is it, you ask? \"To on\". You think me slow-witted: it is right in front of us, it can be rendered as \"that which is\". But I see a great difference: I am forced to put a verb in place of a noun. Still, if I must, I will put \"that which is\". Our friend, a most learned man, was saying today that Plato uses this term in six senses. I will explain them all to you, once I have first pointed out that there is such a thing as a genus and also such a thing as a species. What we are looking for now is that first genus on which the other species depend, from which every division springs, and in which everything is included. It will be found if we begin to trace things back one by one; in this way we will be led to the first."},{"ref":"Letter 58.9–10","orig":"Homo species est, ut Aristoteles ait; equus species est; canis species est. Ergo commune aliquod quaerendum est his omnibus vinculum, quod illa complectatur et sub se habeat. Hoc quid est? animal. Ergo genus esse coepit horum omnium quae modo rettuli - hominis, equi, canis - animal. Sed quaedam animum habent nec sunt animalia; placet enim satis et arbustis animam inesse; itaque et vivere illa et mori dicimus. Ergo animantia superiorem tenebunt locum, quia et animalia in hac forma sunt et sata. Sed quaedam anima carent, ut saxa; itaque erit aliquid animantibus antiquius, corpus scilicet. Hoc sic dividam ut dicam corpora omnia aut animantia esse aut inanima.","en":"Man is a species, as Aristotle says; horse is a species; dog is a species. So we must look for some common bond among all these, which embraces them and holds them beneath it. What is it? Animal. So \"animal\" has turned out to be the genus of all the things I just mentioned: man, horse, dog. But some things have life and yet are not animals, for it is generally held that plants and trees too have life in them; that is why we say they live and die. So \"living things\" will hold a higher place, since both animals and plants fall under this form. But some things lack life, like stones; so there will be something prior to living things, namely \"body\". I will divide this by saying that all bodies are either living or lifeless."},{"ref":"Letter 58.11–12","orig":"Etiam nunc est aliquid superius quam corpus; dicimus enim quaedam corporalia esse, quaedam incorporalia. Quid ergo erit ex quo haec deducantur? illud cui nomen modo parum proprium imposuimus, 'quod est'. Sic enim in species secabitur ut dicamus: 'quod est' aut corporale est aut incorporale. Hoc ergo est genus primum et antiquissimum et, ut ita dicam, generale; cetera genera quidem sunt, sed specialia. Tamquam homo genus est; habet enim in se nationum species, Graecos, Romanos, Parthos; colorum, albos, nigros, flavos; habet singulos, Catonem, Ciceronem, Lucretium. Ita qua multa continet, in genus cadit; qua sub alio est, in speciem. Illud genus 'quod est' generale supra se nihil habet; initium rerum est; omnia sub illo sunt.","en":"There is something higher still than body, for we say that some things are bodily and some bodiless. What, then, will these be derived from? From the thing to which we just gave the not very fitting name \"that which is\". It will be cut into species so that we say: \"that which is\" is either bodily or bodiless. This, then, is the first and oldest genus and, so to speak, the general one. The others are genera too, but specific ones. Take \"man\": he is a genus, for he contains within him species of nations, Greeks, Romans, Parthians; of colours, white, black, fair; he contains individuals, Cato, Cicero, Lucretius. So in so far as he contains many things, he falls into the class of genus; in so far as he is under something else, into that of species. That general genus, \"that which is\", has nothing above it; it is the beginning of things; everything is under it."},{"ref":"Letter 58.13–14","orig":"Stoici volunt superponere huic etiam nunc aliud genus magis principale; de quo statim dicam, si prius illud genus de quo locutus sum merito primum poni docuero, cum sit rerum omnium capax. 'Quod est' in has species divido, ut sint corporalia aut incorporalia; nihil tertium est. Corpus quomodo divido? ut dicam: aut animantia sunt aut inanima. Rursus animantia quemadmodum divido? ut dicam: quaedam animum habent, quaedam tantum animam, at sic: quaedam impetum habent, incedunt, transeunt, quaedam solo affixa radicibus aluntur, crescunt. Rursus animalia in quas species seco? aut mortalia sunt aut immortalia.","en":"The Stoics want to place yet another genus above this one, more primary still; I will speak about it shortly, once I have shown that the genus I have been talking about is rightly put first, since it contains all things. I divide \"that which is\" into these species: things are either bodily or bodiless; there is no third. How do I divide body? By saying that bodies are either living or lifeless. Next, how do I divide living things? By saying that some have mind and some only life; or like this: some have impulse, walk and move about, while others are fixed to the soil by their roots, and feed and grow. Again, into what species do I cut animals? They are either mortal or immortal."},{"ref":"Letter 58.15–16","orig":"Primum genus Stoicis quibusdam videtur 'quid'; quare videatur subiciam. 'In rerum' inquiunt 'natura quaedam sunt, quaedam non sunt, et haec autem quae non sunt rerum natura complectitur, quae animo succurrunt, tamquam Centauri, Gigantes et quidquid aliud falsa cogitatione formatum habere aliquam imaginem coepit, quamvis non habeat substantiam.' Nunc ad id quod tibi promisi revertor, quomodo quaecumque sunt in sex modos Plato partiatur. Primum illud 'quod est' nec visu nec tactu nec ullo sensu comprenditur: cogitabile est. Quod generaliter est, tamquam homo generalis, sub oculos non venit; sed specialis venit, ut Cicero et Cato. Animal non videtur: cogitatur. Videtur autem species eius, equus et canis.","en":"Some Stoics think the first genus is \"something\". I will add why they think so. \"In nature,\" they say, \"some things exist and some do not. But nature also includes the things that do not exist, which come into the mind, such as Centaurs, Giants and whatever else has been formed by false thinking and has begun to have some image, although it has no substance.\" Now I return to what I promised you: how Plato divides all that exists into six classes. The first, \"that which is\", is not grasped by sight or touch or any sense: it can be thought. What exists in general, like man in general, does not come before the eyes; but the specific does, like Cicero and Cato. \"Animal\" is not seen; it is thought. But its species are seen, a horse and a dog."},{"ref":"Letter 58.17–18","orig":"Secundum ex his quae sunt ponit Plato quod eminet et exsuperat omnia; hoc ait per excellentiam esse. Poeta communiter dicitur - omnibus enim versus facientibus hoc nomen est - sed iam apud Graecos in unius notam cessit: Homerum intellegas, cum audieris poetam. Quid ergo hoc est? deus scilicet, maior ac potentior cunctis. Tertium genus est eorum quae proprie sunt; innumerabilia haec sunt, sed extra nostrum posita conspectum. Quae sint interrogas? Propria Platonis supellex est: 'ideas' vocat, ex quibus omnia quaecumque videmus fiunt et ad quas cuncta formantur. Hae immortales, immutabiles, inviolabiles sunt.","en":"The second of the things that exist, according to Plato, is that which stands out and surpasses everything; he says this exists in a pre-eminent way. \"Poet\" is used as a common term, for all who make verses have this name; but among the Greeks it has come to mark one man: when you hear \"the poet\", you understand Homer. What, then, is this? God, of course, greater and more powerful than all things. The third class is of things that exist in the proper sense. They are countless, but placed beyond our sight. What are they, you ask? They are Plato's own furniture. He calls them \"ideas\". From them come all the things we see, and everything is shaped after them. They are immortal, unchangeable, inviolable."},{"ref":"Letter 58.19","orig":"Quid sit idea, id est quid Platoni esse videatur, audi: 'idea est eorum quae natura fiunt exemplar aeternum'. Adiciam definitioni interpretationem, quo tibi res apertior fiat. Volo imaginem tuam facere. Exemplar picturae te habeo, ex quo capit aliquem habitum mens nostra quem operi suo imponat; ita illa quae me docet et instruit facies, a qua petitur imitatio, idea est. Talia ergo exemplaria infinita habet rerum natura, hominum, piscium, arborum, ad quae quodcumque fieri ab illa debet exprimitur.","en":"Hear what an idea is, that is, what Plato thinks it is: \"An idea is the eternal model of the things that come into being by nature.\" I will add an explanation to the definition, to make the matter clearer to you. Suppose I want to paint your portrait. I have you as the model for the painting, from which my mind takes a certain look that it puts on its work. So that face which teaches and guides me, from which the likeness is sought, is the idea. Nature has countless such models, of men, of fish, of trees, and whatever she has to make is modelled on them."},{"ref":"Letter 58.20–21","orig":"Quartum locum habebit idos. Quid sit hoc idos attendas oportet, et Platoni imputes, non mihi, hanc rerum difficultatem; nulla est autem sine difficultate subtilitas. Paulo ante pictoris imagine utebar. Ille cum reddere Vergilium coloribus vellet, ipsum intuebatur. Idea erat Vergilii facies, futuri operis exemplar; ex hac quod artifex trahit et operi suo imposuit idos est. Quid intersit quaeris? Alterum exemplar est, alterum forma ab exemplari sumpta et operi imposita; alteram artifex imitatur, alteram facit. Habet aliquam faciem statua: haec est idos. Habet aliquam faciem exemplar ipsum quod intuens opifex statuam figuravit: haec idea est. Etiam nunc si aliam desideras distinctionem, idos in opere est, idea extra opus, nec tantum extra opus est, sed ante opus.","en":"The fourth place will belong to the \"eidos\". You must pay attention to what this eidos is, and blame Plato, not me, for the difficulty of the subject; but there is no subtlety without difficulty. A little earlier I used the image of a painter. When he wanted to render Virgil in colours, he looked at Virgil himself. The idea was Virgil's face, the model of the future work. What the artist draws from it and has put on his work is the eidos. Do you ask what the difference is? One is the model; the other is the form taken from the model and put on the work. The artist imitates the one and creates the other. A statue has a certain appearance: that is the eidos. The model itself, which the craftsman looked at as he shaped the statue, has a certain appearance: that is the idea. If you want yet another distinction, the eidos is in the work, the idea is outside the work; and not only outside it, but before it."},{"ref":"Letter 58.22","orig":"Quintum genus est eorum quae communiter sunt; haec incipiunt ad nos pertinere; hic sunt omnia, homines, pecora, res. Sextum genus est eorum quae quasi sunt, tamquam inane, tamquam tempus. Quaecumque videmus aut tangimus Plato in illis non numerat quae esse proprie putat; fluunt enim et in assidua deminutione atque adiectione sunt. Nemo nostrum idem est in senectute qui fuit iuvenis; nemo nostrum est idem mane qui fuit pridie. Corpora nostra rapiuntur fluminum more. Quidquid vides currit cum tempore; nihil ex iis quae videmus manet; ego ipse, dum loquor mutari ista, mutatus sum.","en":"The fifth class is of things that exist in the ordinary sense. These begin to concern us: here is everything, people, cattle, objects. The sixth class is of things that quasi-exist, such as void, such as time. Whatever we see or touch, Plato does not count among the things he thinks exist in the proper sense. For they flow and are constantly being reduced and added to. None of us is the same in old age as he was in youth; none of us is the same in the morning as he was the day before. Our bodies are swept along like rivers. Whatever you see runs with time; nothing of what we see stays. I myself, while I say that these things change, have changed."},{"ref":"Letter 58.23–24","orig":"Hoc est quod ait Heraclitus: 'in idem flumen bis descendimus et non descendimus'. Manet enim idem fluminis nomen, aqua transmissa est. Hoc in amne manifestius est quam in homine; sed nos quoque non minus velox cursus praetervehit, et ideo admiror dementiam nostram, quod tantopere amamus rem fugacissimam, corpus, timemusque ne quando moriamur, cum omne momentum mors prioris habitus sit: vis tu non timere ne semel fiat quod cotidie fit! De homine dixi, fluvida materia et caduca et omnibus obnoxia causis: mundus quoque, aeterna res et invicta, mutatur nec idem manet. Quamvis enim omnia in sc habeat quae habuit, aliter habet quam habuit: ordinem mutat.","en":"This is what Heraclitus says: \"We step into the same river twice and do not step into it.\" The name of the river stays the same; the water has flowed past. This is plainer in a river than in a man, but a course no less swift carries us along too. And so I wonder at our madness in loving so much the most fleeting of things, the body, and in fearing that some day we will die, when every moment is the death of our previous state. Will you not stop fearing that once will happen what happens every day! I have spoken of man, a flowing, perishable substance exposed to every cause. The universe too, an eternal and unconquered thing, changes and does not stay the same. For although it has in itself everything it had, it has it differently than it had it: it changes its arrangement."},{"ref":"Letter 58.25–26","orig":"'Quid ista' inquis 'mihi subtilitas proderit?' Si me interrogas, nihil; sed quemadmodum ille caelator oculos diu intentos ac fatigatos remittit atque avocat et, ut dici solet, pascit, sic nos animum aliquando debemus relaxare et quibusdam oblectamentis reficere. Sed ipsa oblectamenta opera sint; ex his quoque, si observaveris, sumes quod possit fieri salutare. Hoc ego, Lucili, facere soleo: ex omni notione, etiam si a philosophia longissime aversa est, eruere aliquid conor et utile efficere. Quid istis quae modo tractavimus remotius a reformatione morum? quomodo meliorem me facere ideae Platonicae possunt? quid ex istis traham quod cupiditates meas comprimat? Vel hoc ipsum, quod omnia ista quae sensibus serviunt, quae nos accendunt et irritant, negat Plato ex iis esse quae vere sint.","en":"\"What good,\" you say, \"will this subtlety do me?\" If you ask me, none. But just as an engraver rests his eyes, which have long been strained and tired, and turns them away and, as the saying is, feeds them, so we should sometimes relax the mind and refresh it with some amusements. But let the amusements themselves be work; from these too, if you look carefully, you will take something that can be made healthful. This, Lucilius, is my habit: from every idea, even if it is very far removed from philosophy, I try to dig out something and make it useful. What is further from the reform of character than the things we have just handled? How can Plato's ideas make me better? What can I draw from them to curb my desires? Perhaps just this: that Plato denies that all these things which serve the senses, which inflame and provoke us, are among the things that truly exist."},{"ref":"Letter 58.27–28","orig":"Ergo ista imaginaria sunt et ad tempus aliquam faciem ferunt, nihil horum stabile nec solidum est; et nos tamen cupimus tamquam aut semper futura aut semper habituri. Imbecilli fluvidique inter vana constitimus: ad illa mittamus animum quae aeterna sunt. Miremur in sublimi volitantes rerum omnium formas deumque inter illa versantem et hoc providentem, quemadmodum quae immortalia facere non potuit, quia materia prohibebat, defendat a morte ac ratione vitium corporis vincat. Manent enim cuncta, non quia aeterna sunt, sed quia defenduntur cura regentis: immortalia tutore non egerent. Haec conservat artifex fragilitatem materiae vi sua vincens. Contemnamus omnia quae adeo pretiosa non sunt ut an sint omnino dubium sit.","en":"So these things are imaginary and wear some appearance for a time. None of them is stable or solid; and yet we desire them as though they would always exist or we would always have them. Weak and fluid, we stand among empty things. Let us turn the mind to the things that are eternal. Let us marvel at the forms of all things flying on high, and at god moving among them and taking care how to defend from death what he could not make immortal, because matter prevented it, and how to overcome by reason the defects of body. For all things last not because they are eternal but because they are defended by the care of the one who rules them; immortal things would need no guardian. The craftsman preserves these things, overcoming the frailty of matter by his power. Let us despise all the things that are so far from precious that it is doubtful whether they exist at all."},{"ref":"Letter 58.29–30","orig":"Illud simul cogitemus, si mundum ipsum, non minus mortalem quam nos sumus, providentia periculis eximit, posse aliquatenus nostra quoque providentia longiorem prorogari huic corpusculo moram, si voluptates, quibus pars maior perit, potuerimus regere et coercere. Plato ipse ad senectutem se diligentia protulit. Erat quidem corpus validum ac forte sortitus et illi nomen latitudo pectoris fecerat, sed navigationes ac pericula multum detraxerant viribus; parsimonia tamen et eorum quae aviditatem evocant modus et diligens sui tutela perduxit illum ad senectutem multis prohibentibus causis.","en":"Let us also reflect that if providence rescues the universe itself from dangers, which is no less mortal than we are, then to some degree our own providence too can extend the stay of this little body, if we can govern and restrain the pleasures through which most people perish. Plato himself brought himself to old age by care. He had, it is true, been given a strong and sturdy body, and the breadth of his chest had given him his name; but sea voyages and dangers had taken much from his strength. Still, frugality, moderation in the things that arouse greed, and careful guarding of himself brought him to old age, though many causes stood in the way."},{"ref":"Letter 58.31","orig":"Nam hoc scis, puto, Platoni diligentiae suae beneficio contigisse quod natali suo decessit et annum unum atque octogensimum implevit sine ulla deductione. Ideo magi, qui forte Athenis erant, immolaverunt defuncto, amplioris fuisse sortis quam humanae rati, quia consummasset perfectissimum numerum, quem novem novies multiplicata componunt. Non dubito quin paratus sis et paucos dies ex ista summa et sacrificium remittere.","en":"For you know, I think, that thanks to his carefulness Plato was lucky enough to die on his birthday, after completing exactly his eighty-first year, without a day missing. That is why some Magi who happened to be in Athens offered sacrifice to him after his death, thinking him of more than human lot, because he had completed the most perfect number, which nine times nine makes. I have no doubt that you would be ready to give up both a few days from that total and the sacrifice."},{"ref":"Letter 58.32–33","orig":"Potest frugalitas producere senectutem, quam ut non puto concupiscendam, ita ne recusandam quidem; iucundum est secum esse quam diutissime, cum quis se dignum quo frueretur effecit. Itaque de isto feremus sententiam, an oporteat fastidire senectutis extrema et finem non opperiri sed manu facere. Prope est a timente qui fatum segnis exspectat, sicut ille ultra modum deditus vino est qui amphoram exsiccat et faecem quoque exsorbet. De hoc tamen quaeremus, pars summa vitae utrum faex sit an liquidissimum ac purissimum quiddam, si modo mens sine iniuria est et integri sensus animum iuvant nec defectum et praemortuum corpus est; plurimum enim refert, vitam aliquis extendat an mortem.","en":"Frugality can prolong old age, which, while I do not think it something to long for, I do not think it something to refuse either. It is pleasant to be with oneself as long as possible, once one has made oneself worth enjoying. So we will give our verdict on this question: whether one ought to scorn the last stage of old age and not wait for the end, but bring it about with one's own hand. A man who waits sluggishly for his fate is close to being afraid, just as a man who drains the jar and sucks up the dregs as well is too fond of wine. But we will ask about this: whether the last part of life is the dregs or something very clear and pure, provided the mind is unharmed, the senses are sound and serve the spirit, and the body is not worn out and dead before its time. For it makes a great difference whether someone is lengthening his life or his death."},{"ref":"Letter 58.34–35","orig":"At si inutile ministeriis corpus est, quidni oporteat educere animum laborantem? et fortasse paulo ante quam debet faciendum est, ne cum fieri debebit facere non possis; et cum maius periculum sit male vivendi quam cito moriendi, stultus est qui non exigua temporis mercede magnae rei aleam redimit. Paucos longissima senectus ad mortem sine iniuria pertulit, multis iners vita sine usu sui iacuit: quanto deinde crudelius iudicas aliquid ex vita perdidisse quam ius finiendae? Noli me invitus audire, tamquam ad te iam pertineat ista sententia, et quid dicam aestima: non relinquam senectutem, si me totum mihi reservabit, totum autem ab illa parte meliore; at si coeperit concutere mentem, si partes eius convellere, si mihi non vitam reliquerit sed animam, prosiliam ex aedificio putri ac ruenti.","en":"But if the body is useless for its duties, why should one not lead the struggling soul out? And perhaps it should be done a little before it must be, so that when it must be done you are still able to do it. And since the danger of living badly is greater than that of dying soon, a man is a fool who does not buy off the risk of a great loss at the small price of a little time. Very long old age has brought few men to death unharmed; for many, life has lain inert and useless. How much crueller, then, do you think it is to have lost part of one's life than the right to end it? Do not listen to me reluctantly, as if this view already applied to you; weigh what I say. I will not leave old age if it keeps me whole for myself, whole in my better part. But if it begins to shake my mind, to tear away parts of it, if it leaves me not life but only breath, I will leap out of the rotten, collapsing building."},{"ref":"Letter 58.36–37","orig":"Morbum morte non fugiam, dumtaxat sanabilem nec officientem animo. Non afferam mihi manus propter dolorem: sic mori vinci est. Hunc tamen si sciero perpetuo mihi esse patiendum, exibo, non propter ipsum, sed quia impedimento mihi futurus est ad omne propter quod vivitur; imbecillus est et ignavus qui propter dolorem moritur, stultus qui doloris causa vivit. Sed in longum exeo; est praeterea materia quae ducere diem possit: et quomodo finem imponere vitae poterit qui epistulae non potest? Vale ergo: quod libentius quam mortes meras lecturus es. Vale.","en":"I will not escape illness by death, so long as it is curable and does not hinder the mind. I will not lay hands on myself because of pain: to die like that is to be defeated. But if I know that I must suffer it for ever, I will leave, not because of the pain itself, but because it will stand in the way of everything we live for. He is weak and cowardly who dies because of pain, and foolish who lives for the sake of pain. But I am running on too long. Besides, there is matter here that could fill a day, and how will a man be able to put an end to his life if he cannot put an end to a letter? So farewell: you will read that more gladly than all this talk of death. Farewell."}],"59":[{"ref":"Letter 59.1–2","orig":"Magnam ex epistula tua percepi voluptatem; permitte enim mihi uti verbis publicis nec illa ad significationem Stoicam revoca. Vitium esse voluptatem credimus. Sit sane; ponere tamen illam solemus ad demonstrandam animi hilarem affectionem. Scio, inquam, et voluptatem, si ad nostrum album verba derigimus, rem infamem esse et gaudium nisi sapienti non contingere; est enim animi elatio suis bonis verisque fidentis. Vulgo tamen sic loquimur ut dicamus magnum gaudium nos ex illius consulatu aut nuptiis aut ex partu uxoris percepisse, quae adeo non sunt gaudia ut saepe initia futurae tristitiae sint; gaudio autem iunctum est non desinere nec in contrarium verti.","en":"I got great pleasure from your letter. Allow me to use everyday words and do not take them back to their Stoic meaning. We believe that pleasure is a vice. Let it be so; still, we usually use the word to indicate a cheerful state of mind. I know, I say, that \"pleasure\", if we measure our words by our own rulebook, is a thing of ill repute, and that joy comes to no one but the wise man; for joy is the lifting up of a mind that trusts in its own true goods. In ordinary speech, though, we say that we felt great joy at a man's consulship, or his marriage, or his wife giving birth. These are so far from being joys that they are often the beginnings of future sorrow. But it belongs to joy not to end and not to turn into its opposite."},{"ref":"Letter 59.3–4","orig":"Itaque cum dicit Vergilius noster\net mala mentis\ngaudia,\ndiserte quidem dicit, sed parum proprie; nullum enim malum gaudium est. Voluptatibus hoc nomen imposuit et quod voluit expressit; significavit enim homines malo suo laetos. Tamen ego non immerito dixeram cepisse me magnam ex epistula tua voluptatem; quamvis enim ex honesta causa imperitus homo gaudeat, tamen affectum eius impotentem et in diversum statim inclinaturum voluptatem voco, opinione falsi boni motam, immoderatam et immodicam. Sed ut ad propositum revertar, audi quid me in epistula tua delectaverit: habes verba in potestate, non effert te oratio nec longius quam destinasti trahit.","en":"So when our Virgil speaks of\nthe evil joys\nof the mind,\nhe speaks eloquently but not quite precisely, for no joy is evil. He gave this name to pleasures and expressed what he meant: he meant people who are glad about their own harm. Still, I was not wrong to say that I got great pleasure from your letter. For even if an untrained person is glad for an honourable reason, I call his feeling pleasure, since it is uncontrolled and ready to swing at once the other way, stirred by the belief in a false good, and immoderate and excessive. But to return to my point, hear what delighted me in your letter. You have your words under control. Your language does not carry you away or drag you further than you intended."},{"ref":"Letter 59.5–6","orig":"Multi sunt qui ad id quod non proposuerant scribere alicuius verbi placentis decore vocentur, quod tibi non evenit: pressa sunt omnia et rei aptata; loqueris quantum vis et plus significas quam loqueris. Hoc maioris rei indicium est: apparet animum quoque nihil habere supervacui, nihil tumidi. Invenio tamen translationes verborum ut non temerarias ita quae periculum sui fecerint; invenio imagines, quibus si quis nos uti vetat et poetis illas solis iudicat esse concessas, neminem mihi videtur ex antiquis legisse, apud quos nondum captabatur plausibilis oratio: illi, qui simpliciter et demonstrandae rei causa eloquebantur, parabolis referti sunt, quas existimo necessarias, non ex eadem causa qua poetis, sed ut imbecillitas nostrae adminicula sint, ut et dicentem et audientem in rem praesentem adducant.","en":"There are many who are drawn by the charm of some pleasing word to write what they had not intended. This does not happen to you. Everything is concise and fitted to the subject. You say as much as you want and mean more than you say. This is a sign of something greater: it is clear that your mind too has nothing superfluous and nothing swollen in it. I do find metaphors, not rash ones, but ones that have been tested. I find images, and if anyone forbids us to use them and judges that they are allowed only to poets, he seems to me never to have read any of the ancients, in whose time no one was yet chasing applause with his style. Those men, who spoke simply and in order to make a point, are full of comparisons. I think these are necessary, not for the same reason as for poets, but to serve as props for our weakness, and to bring both speaker and listener face to face with the subject."},{"ref":"Letter 59.7","orig":"Sextium ecce cum maxime lego, virum acrem, Graecis verbis, Romanis moribus philosophantem. Movit me imago ab illo posita: ire quadrato agmine exercitum, ubi hostis ab omni parte suspectus est, pugnae paratum. 'Idem' inquit 'sapiens facere debet: omnis virtutes suas undique expandat, ut ubicumque infesti aliquid orietur, illic parata praesidia sint et ad nutum regentis sine tumultu respondeant.' Quod in exercitibus iis quos imperatores magni ordinant fieri videmus, ut imperium ducis simul omnes copiae sentiant, sic dispositae ut signum ab uno datum peditem simul equitemque percurrat, hoc aliquanto magis necessarium esse nobis ait.","en":"Look, I am reading Sextius at this very moment, a keen man, who philosophises in Greek words but with Roman morals. I was struck by an image he set out: an army marching in a hollow square, ready for battle, where the enemy is expected from every side. \"The wise man,\" he says, \"must do the same. Let him deploy all his virtues on every side, so that wherever something hostile arises, defences are ready there and respond without confusion to the nod of the one in command.\" We see this done in armies drawn up by great generals: all the forces sense the leader's command at once, since they are arranged so that a signal given by one man runs through foot and horse at the same moment. This, he says, is still more necessary for us."},{"ref":"Letter 59.8","orig":"Illi enim saepe hostem timuere sine causa, tutissimumque illis iter quod suspectissimum fuit: nihil stultitia pacatum habet; tam superne illi metus est quam infra; utrumque trepidat latus; sequuntur pericula et occurrunt; ad omnia pavet, imparata est et ipsis terretur auxiliis. Sapiens autem, ad omnem incursum munitus, intentus, non si paupertas, non si luctus, non si ignominia, non si dolor impetum faciat, pedem referet: interritus et contra illa ibit et inter illa.","en":"For armies have often feared an enemy without cause, and the road they most suspected was the safest for them. Folly has nothing at peace. Its fear is as much above as below; both flanks are in a panic; dangers follow and come to meet it. It is scared of everything, it is unprepared, and it is terrified even by its own reinforcements. The wise man, though, fortified against every attack and alert, will not step back whether poverty, grief, disgrace or pain makes the charge. Unafraid, he will go both against them and through the midst of them."},{"ref":"Letter 59.9–10","orig":"Nos multa alligant, multa debilitant. Diu in istis vitiis iacuimus, elui difficile est; non enim inquinati sumus sed infecti. Ne ab alia imagine ad aliam transeamus, hoc quaeram quod saepe mecum dispicio, quid ita nos stultitia tam pertinaciter teneat? Primo quia non fortiter illam repellimus nec toto ad salutem impetu nitimur, deinde quia illa quae a sapientibus viris reperta sunt non satis credimus nec apertis pectoribus haurimus leviterque tam magnae rei insistimus. Quemadmodum autem potest aliquis quantum satis sit adversus vitia discere, qui quantum a vitiis vacat discit? Nemo nostrum in altum descendit; summa tantum decerpsimus et exiguum temporis inpendisse philosophiae satis abundeque occupatis fuit.","en":"Many things bind us, many things weaken us. We have lain in these vices a long time; it is hard to wash them out. For we are not merely stained, we are dyed. Not to go from one image to another, let me ask something I often consider by myself: why does folly hold us so stubbornly? First, because we do not push it away bravely or strive towards health with our whole force; second, because we do not fully trust what wise men have discovered, nor drink it in with open hearts, and we apply ourselves lightly to so great a matter. How can anyone learn enough to fight the vices if he learns only in the time the vices leave him free? None of us goes down into the depths. We have only plucked the surface, and to have spent a little time on philosophy has seemed more than enough to busy people."},{"ref":"Letter 59.11","orig":"Illud praecipue inpedit, quod cito nobis placemus; si invenimus qui nos bonos viros dicat, qui prudentes, qui sanctos, adgnoscimus. Non sumus modica laudatione contenti: quidquid in nos adulatio sinc pudore congessit tamquam debitum prendimus. Optimos nos esse, sapientissimos adfirmantibus adsentimur, cum sciamus illos saepe multa mentiri; adeoque indulgemus nobis ut laudari velimus in id cu: contraria cum maxime facimus. Mitissimum ille se in ipsis suppliciis audit, in rapinis liberalissimum et in ebrietatibus ac libidinibus temperantissimum; sequitur itaque ut ideo mutari nolimus quia nos optimos esse credidimus.","en":"What stands in our way most of all is that we are quickly pleased with ourselves. If we find someone to call us good men, sensible, holy, we recognise ourselves. We are not content with moderate praise. Whatever flattery has shamelessly heaped on us, we take as our due. We agree with those who assure us that we are the best and the wisest, though we know that they often tell many lies. And we are so indulgent to ourselves that we want to be praised for the very thing whose opposite we are doing at that moment. One man hears himself called most merciful in the very act of inflicting punishment, most generous while plundering, and most self-controlled amid drunkenness and lust. So it follows that we do not want to change, precisely because we have come to believe we are the best."},{"ref":"Letter 59.12–13","orig":"Alexander cum iam in India vagaretur et gentes ne finitimis quidem satis notas bello vastaret, in obsidione cuiusdam urbis, dum circumit muros et inbecillissima moenium quaerit, sagitta ictus diu persedere et incepta agere perseveravit. Deinde cum represso sanguine sicci vulneris dolor cresceret et crus suspensum equo paulatim obtorpuisset, coactus absistere 'omnes' inquit 'iurant esse me Iovis filium, sed vulnus hoc hominem esse me clamat'. Idem nos faciamus. Pro sua quemque portione adulatio infatuat: dicamus, 'vos quidem dicitis me prudentem esse, ego autem video quam multa inutilia concupiscam, nocitura optem. Ne hoc quidem intellego quod animalibus satietas monstrat, quis cibo debeat esse, quis potioni modus; quantum capiam adhuc nescio.'","en":"When Alexander was already roaming through India and laying waste by war peoples that were not well known even to their neighbours, during the siege of a certain city, while he was going round the walls looking for the weakest part of the fortifications, he was struck by an arrow. For a long time he stayed in the saddle and kept at what he had begun. Then, when the bleeding had stopped and the pain of the dry wound grew, and his leg, hanging from the horse, had gradually gone numb, he was forced to withdraw and said, \"Everyone swears I am the son of Jupiter, but this wound shouts that I am a man.\" Let us do the same. Flattery makes a fool of each of us in proportion to his lot. Let us say: \"You say that I am wise, but I see how many useless things I desire and how many harmful things I wish for. I do not even understand what fullness shows to animals, what the limit should be for food and for drink. I still do not know how much I can hold.\""},{"ref":"Letter 59.14","orig":"Iam docebo quemadmodum intellegas te non esse sapientem. Sapiens ille plenus est gaudio, hilaris et placidus, inconcussus; cum dis ex pari vivit. Nunc ipse te consule: si numquam maestus es, si nulla spes animum tuum futuri exspectatione sollicitat, si per dies noctesque par et aequalis animi tenor erecti et placentis sibi est, pervenisti ad humani boni summam; sed si appetis voluptates et undique et cmnes, scito tantum tibi ex sapientia quantum ex gaudio deesse. Ad hoc cupis pervenire, sed erras, qui inter divitias illuc venturum esse te speras, inter honores, id est gaudium inter sollicitudines quaeris: ista, quae sic petis tamquam datura laetitiam ac voluptatem, causae dolorum sunt.","en":"Now I will teach you how to see that you are not wise. The wise man is full of joy, cheerful and calm, unshaken. He lives on equal terms with the gods. Now consult yourself. If you are never gloomy, if no hope troubles your mind with waiting for the future, if day and night the course of your mind is even and level, upright and content with itself, you have reached the height of human good. But if you seek pleasures from everywhere and of every kind, know that you lack as much wisdom as you lack joy. You want to reach joy, but you are mistaken if you hope to get there by way of riches and honours; that is, you are looking for joy in the midst of worries. The things you seek as if they would give you gladness and pleasure are causes of pain."},{"ref":"Letter 59.15–16","orig":"Omnes, inquam, illo tendunt ad gaudium, sed unde stabile magnumque consequantur ignorant: ille ex conviviis et luxuria, ille ex ambitione et circumfusa clientium turba, ille ex amica, alius ex studiorum liberalium vana ostentatione et nihil sanantibus litteris - omnes istos oblectamenta fallacia et brevia decipiunt, sicut ebrietas, quae unius horae hilarem insaniam longi temporis taedio pensat, sicut plausus et acclamationis secundae favor, qui magna sollicitudine et partus est et expiandus. Hoc ergo cogita, hunc esse sapientiae effectum, gaudii aequalitatem. Talis est sapientis animus qualis mundus super lunam: semper illic serenum est. Habes ergo et quare velis sapiens esse, si numquam sine gaudio est. Gaudium hoc non nascitur nisi ex virtutum conscientia: non potest gaudere nisi fortis, nisi iustus, nisi temperans.","en":"All people, I say, are heading towards joy, but they do not know where to find one that is steady and great. One looks for it in feasts and luxury; another in ambition and a crowd of clients around him; another in his mistress; another in a vain display of liberal studies and in literature that heals nothing. All of them are cheated by delights that are deceptive and brief, like drunkenness, which pays for one hour of cheerful madness with a long time of disgust, or like the favour of applause and shouts of approval, which is won and must be paid for with great anxiety. So reflect on this: the effect of wisdom is an even, steady joy. The mind of the wise man is like the universe above the moon: there it is always clear. So you have a reason to want to be wise, if the wise man is never without joy. This joy is born only from the knowledge of one's own virtues. No one can rejoice unless he is brave, just and self-controlled."},{"ref":"Letter 59.17–18","orig":"'Quid ergo' inquis, 'stulti ac mali non gaudent?' Non magis quam praedam nancti leones: cum fatigaverunt se vino ac libidinibus, cum illos nox inter vitia defecit, cum voluptates angusto corpori ultra quam capiebat ingestae suppurare coeperunt, tunc exclamant miseri Vergilianum illum versum:\nnamque ut supremam falsa inter gaudia noctem\negerimus nosti. Omnem luxuriosi noctem inter falsa gaudia et quidem tamquam supremam agunt: illud gaudium quod deos deorumque aemulos sequitur non interrumpitur, non desinit; desineret, si sumptum esset aliunde. Quia non est alieni muneris, ne arbitrii quidem alieni est: quod non dedit fortuna non eripit. Vale.","en":"\"What then?\" you say. \"Do fools and bad men not rejoice?\" No more than lions that have caught their prey. When they have worn themselves out with wine and lust, when night has failed them in the middle of their vices, when the pleasures crammed into a small body beyond what it could hold have begun to fester, then the wretches cry out that line of Virgil:\nFor you know how we spent that last night\namid false joys.\nThe pleasure-lovers spend every night amid false joys, and indeed as if it were their last. The joy that comes to the gods and to those who rival the gods is not interrupted and does not end. It would end if it had been taken from somewhere else. Because it is not another's gift, it is not at another's disposal either. What fortune has not given, she does not take away. Farewell."}],"60":[{"ref":"Letter 60.1–2","orig":"Queror, litigo, irascor. Etiam nunc optas quod tibi optavit nutrix tua aut paedagogus aut mater? nondum intellegis quantum mali optaverint? O quam inimica nobis sunt vota nostrorum! eo quidem inimiciora quo cessere felicius. Iam non admiror si omnia nos a prima pueritia mala sequuntur: inter exsecrationes parentum crevimus. Exaudiant di quandoque nostram pro nobis vocem gratuitam. Quousque poscemus aliquid deos? ita nondum ipsi alere nos possumus? Quamdiu sationibus implebimus magnarum urbium campos? quamdiu nobis populus metet? quamdiu unius mensae instrumentum multa navigia et quidem non ex uno mari subvehent? Taurus paucissimorum iugerum pascuo impletur; una silva elephantis pluribus sufficit: homo et terra et mari pascitur.","en":"I complain, I quarrel, I am angry. Do you still wish for what your nurse or your tutor or your mother wished for you? Do you not yet understand how much harm they wished on you? Oh, how hostile to us are the prayers of our own people! And all the more hostile the more successfully they have turned out. I am no longer surprised that every evil follows us from earliest childhood: we grew up amid our parents' curses. May the gods at some point hear a prayer of ours for ourselves that asks for nothing. How long shall we keep demanding things of the gods? Can we not yet feed ourselves? How long shall we fill the plains of great cities with our sowing? How long shall a whole people reap for us? How long shall many ships, and from more than one sea, bring in the furnishings of a single table? A bull is filled by the pasture of a very few acres; one forest is enough for several elephants. A human being is fed by land and sea."},{"ref":"Letter 60.3–4","orig":"Quid ergo? tam insatiabilem nobis natura alvum dedit, cum tam modica corpora dedisset, ut vastissimorum edacissimorumque animalium aviditatem vinceremus? Minime; quantulum est enim quod naturae datur! Parvo illa dimittitur: non fames nobis ventris nostri magno constat sed ambitio. Hos itaque, ut ait Sallustius, 'ventri oboedientes' animalium loco numeremus, non hominum, quosdam vero ne animalium quidem, sed mortuorum. Vivit is qui multis usui est, vivit is qui se utitur; qui vero latitant et torpent sic in domo sunt quomodo in conditivo. Horum licet in limine ipso nomen marmori inscribas: mortem suam antecesserunt. Vale.","en":"What then? Has nature given us so insatiable a belly, when she gave us such modest bodies, that we outdo the greed of the hugest and most voracious animals? Not at all. How little it is that nature needs! She is sent away satisfied with little. It is not the hunger of our belly that costs us so much, but our ambition. So let us count these people, \"obedient to the belly\" as Sallust says, among the animals, not among human beings; and some not even among the animals, but among the dead. The man who is of use to many is alive; the man who makes use of himself is alive. But those who lurk and grow sluggish are in their house as in a tomb. You might as well carve their name in marble right on the doorstep: they have gone ahead of their own death. Farewell."}],"61":[{"ref":"Letter 61.1–2","orig":"Desinamus quod voluimus velle. Ego certe id ago ne senex eadem velim quae puer volui. In hoc unum eunt dies, in hoc noctes, hoc opus meum est, haec cogitatio, imponere veteribus malis finem. Id ago ut mihi instar totius vitae dies sit; nec mehercules tamquam ultimum rapio, sed sic illum aspicio tamquam esse vel ultimus possit. Hoc animo tibi hanc epistulam scribo, tamquam me cum maxime scribentem mors evocatura sit; paratus exire sum, et ideo fruar vita quia quam diu futurum hoc sit non nimis pendeo. Ante senectutem curavi ut bene viverem, in senectute ut bene moriar; bene autem mori est libenter mori.","en":"Let us stop wanting what we used to want. I, at least, am working to make sure that as an old man I do not want the same things I wanted as a boy. To this one end my days go, to this my nights; this is my work, this my thought: to put an end to old evils. I am working to make one day equal to a whole life. By heaven, I do not snatch at it as if it were the last, but I look at it as one that could even be the last. It is in this spirit that I am writing this letter to you, as if death were about to call me away at the very moment of writing. I am ready to leave, and that is why I will enjoy life: because I do not hang too much on how long this will last. Before old age I took care to live well; in old age I take care to die well. And to die well is to die willingly."},{"ref":"Letter 61.3–4","orig":"Da operam ne quid umquam invitus facias: quidquid necesse futurum est repugnanti, id volenti necessitas non est. Ita dico: qui imperia libens excipit partem acerbissimam servitutis effugit, facere quod nolit; non qui iussus aliquid facit miser est, sed qui invitus facit. Itaque sic animum componamus ut quidquid res exiget, id velimus, et in primis ut finem nostri sine tristitia cogitemus. Ante ad mortem quam ad vitam praeparandi sumus. Satis instructa vita est, sed nos in instrumenta eius avidi sumus; deesse aliquid nobis videtur et semper videbitur: ut satis vixerimus, nec anni nec dies faciunt sed animus. Vixi, Lucili carissime, quantum satis erat; mortem plenus exspecto. Vale.","en":"Make sure you never do anything unwillingly. Whatever is bound to be a necessity for the one who resists is not a necessity for the one who is willing. I put it like this: whoever takes orders gladly escapes the bitterest part of slavery, doing what he does not want to do. The wretched man is not the one who does something because he is told to, but the one who does it unwillingly. So let us set our minds to want whatever circumstances demand, and above all to think of our end without sadness. We must be prepared for death before we are prepared for life. Life is well enough equipped, but we are greedy for its equipment. Something seems to be missing, and always will. Having lived enough is not a matter of years or days, but of the mind. I have lived, dearest Lucilius, as long as was enough; I await death full. Farewell."}],"62":[{"ref":"Letter 62.1–2","orig":"Mentiuntur qui sibi obstare ad studia liberalia turbam negotiorum videri volunt: simulant occupationes et augent et ipsi se occupant. Vaco, Lucili, vaco, et ubicumque sum, ibi meus sum. Rebus enim me non trado sed commodo, nec consector perdendi temporis causas; et quocumque constiti loco, ibi cogitationes meas tracto et aliquid in animo salutare converso. Cum me amicis dedi, non tamen mihi abduco nec cum illis moror quibus me tempus aliquod congregavit aut causa ex officio nata civili, sed cum optimo quoque sum; ad illos, in quocumque loco, in quocumque saeculo fuerunt, animum meum mitto.","en":"People lie when they want it to seem that a crowd of business keeps them from liberal studies. They pretend to be busy, they exaggerate it, and they make themselves busy. I am free, Lucilius, I am free, and wherever I am, there I am my own. For I do not hand myself over to affairs; I lend myself. I do not chase after reasons for wasting time. Wherever I have stopped, there I handle my thoughts and turn over in my mind something healthful. When I have given myself to my friends, I still do not take myself away from myself, nor do I linger with those whom some occasion or some cause arising from a public duty has brought me together with. I am with the best people. To them, in whatever place, in whatever age they lived, I send my mind."},{"ref":"Letter 62.3","orig":"Demetrium, virorum optimum, mecum circumfero et relictis conchyliatis cum illo seminudo loquor, illum admiror. Quidni admirer? vidi nihil ei deesse. Contemnere aliquis omnia potest, omnia habere nemo potest: brevissima ad divitias per contemptum divitiarum via est. Demetrius autem noster sic vivit, non tamquam contempserit omnia, sed tamquam aliis habenda permiserit. Vale.","en":"I carry Demetrius, the best of men, around with me, and leaving the purple-clad behind, I talk with him, half-naked as he is, and admire him. Why should I not admire him? I have seen that he lacks nothing. Anyone can despise everything, but no one can have everything. The shortest way to riches is through contempt for riches. And our Demetrius lives not as if he had despised everything, but as if he had left it for others to own. Farewell."}],"63":[{"ref":"Letter 63.1–2","orig":"Moleste fero decessisse Flaccum, amicum tuum, plus tamen aequo dolere te nolo. Illud, ut non doleas, vix audebo exigere; et esse melius scio. Sed cui ista firmitas animi continget nisi iam multum supra fortunam elato? illum quoque ista res vellicabit, sed tantum vellicabit. Nobis autem ignosci potest prolapsis ad lacrimas, si non nimiae decucurrerunt, si ipsi illas repressimus. Nec sicci sint oculi amisso amico nec fluant; lacrimandum est, non plorandum. Duram tibi legem videor ponere, cum poetarum Graecorum maximus ius flendi dederit in unum dumtaxat diem, cum dixerit etiam Niobam de cibo cogitasse? Quaeris unde sint lamentationes, unde immodici fletus? per lacrimas argumenta desiderii quaerimus et dolorem non sequimur sed ostendimus; nemo tristis sibi est. O infelicem stultitiam! est aliqua et doloris ambitio.","en":"I am sorry that your friend Flaccus has died, but I do not want you to grieve more than is right. That you should not grieve at all I will hardly dare to demand, though I know it is better. But who will be granted such firmness of mind, except a man already raised far above fortune? Even he will be stung by such a thing, but only stung. We can be forgiven for slipping into tears, as long as they have not flowed too freely and we have checked them ourselves. When a friend is lost, let the eyes be neither dry nor streaming. We should shed tears, not wail. Do you think I am laying down a harsh law for you, when the greatest of the Greek poets granted the right to weep for one day only, and said that even Niobe thought about food? Do you ask where laments come from, where excessive weeping comes from? Through tears we look for proofs of our longing, and we do not follow our grief but display it. No one is sad for himself. What wretched folly! There is some ambition even in grief."},{"ref":"Letter 63.3–4","orig":"'Quid ergo?' inquis 'obliviscar amici?' Brevem illi apud te memoriam promittis, si cum dolore mansura est: iam istam frontem ad risum quaelibet fortuita res transferet. Non differo in longius tempus quo desiderium omne mulcetur, quo etiam acerrimi luctus residunt: cum primum te observare desieris, imago ista tristitiae discedet. Nunc ipse custodis dolorem tuum; sed custodienti quoque elabitur, eoque citius quo est acrior desinit. Id agamus ut iucunda nobis amissorum fiat recordatio. Nemo libenter ad id redit quod non sine tormento cogitaturus est, sicut illud fieri necesse est, ut cum aliquo nobis morsu amissorum quos amavimus nomen occurrat; sed hic quoque morsus habet suam voluptatem.","en":"\"What then?\" you say. \"Shall I forget my friend?\" You promise him a short memory in your heart if it is to last only as long as the pain. Soon any chance event will turn that brow of yours to laughter. I am not putting off to some distant date the time when every longing is soothed and even the sharpest grief subsides. As soon as you stop watching yourself, that picture of sadness will go. At present you are guarding your grief yourself; but even as you guard it, it slips away, and the sharper it is, the sooner it ends. Let us make it our aim that the memory of those we have lost becomes pleasant to us. No one gladly returns to what he cannot think of without torment. Just so, it is bound to happen that the name of those we loved and lost comes to us with a certain sting; but even this sting has its own pleasure."},{"ref":"Letter 63.5–7","orig":"Nam, ut dicere solebat Attalus noster, 'sic amicorum defunctorum memoria iucunda est quomodo poma quaedam sunt suaviter aspera, quomodo in vino nimis veteri ipsa nos amaritudo delectat; cum vero intervenit spatium, omne quod angebat exstinguitur et pura ad nos voluptas venit'. Si illi credimus, 'amicos incolumes cogitare melle ac placenta frui est: eorum qui fuerunt retractatio non sine acerbitate quadam iuvat. Quis autem negaverit haec acria quoque et habentia austeritatis aliquid stomachum excitare?' Ego non idem sentio: mihi amicorum defunctorum cogitatio dulcis ac blanda est; habui enim illos tamquam amissurus, amisi tamquam habeam. Fac ergo, mi Lucili, quod aequitatem tuam decet, desine beneficium fortunae male interpretari: abstulit, sed dedit.","en":"For, as our Attalus used to say, \"The memory of dead friends is pleasant in the way that some fruits are pleasantly sharp, and in the way that in a very old wine the bitterness itself delights us. But when time has passed, all that hurt is wiped out, and a pure pleasure comes to us.\" If we believe him, \"thinking of friends who are alive and well is enjoying honey and cake; going back over those who have been is pleasing, but not without a certain bitterness. Yet who would deny that these sharp things, which have something harsh about them, also stimulate the stomach?\" I do not feel the same. For me the thought of dead friends is sweet and soothing. For I had them as one who would lose them; I have lost them as one who still has them. So, my Lucilius, do what befits your fairness: stop misreading fortune's kindness. She has taken away, but she gave."},{"ref":"Letter 63.8–10","orig":"Ideo amicis avide fruamur quia quamdiu contingere hoc possit incertum est. Cogitemus quam saepe illos reliquerimus in aliquam peregrinationem longinquam exituri, quam saepe eodem morantes loco non viderimus: intellegemus plus nos temporis in vivis perdidisse. Feras autem hos qui neglegentissime amicos habent, miserrime lugent, nec amant quemquam nisi perdiderunt? ideoque tunc effusius maerent quia verentur ne dubium sit an amaverint; sera indicia affectus sui quaerunt. Si habemus alios amicos, male de iis et meremur et existimamus, qui parum valent in unius elati solacium; si non habemus, maiorem iniuriam ipsi nobis fecimus quam a fortuna accepimus: illa unum abstulit, nos quemcumque non fecimus.","en":"So let us enjoy our friends eagerly, since it is uncertain how long this can be granted to us. Let us think how often we have left them when setting out on some long journey, how often we have not seen them while staying in the same place: we will understand that we lost more time with them while they were alive. Can you put up with people who treat their friends most carelessly and mourn them most miserably, and love no one until they have lost him? They grieve more lavishly then because they fear there may be doubt whether they loved; they look for late proofs of their feeling. If we have other friends, we treat them badly and think badly of them if they count for so little in consoling us for the one we have buried. If we have none, we have done ourselves a greater wrong than we have received from fortune: she has taken one away, but we have failed to make any."},{"ref":"Letter 63.11–12","orig":"Deinde ne unum quidem nimis amavit qui plus quam unum amare non potuit. Si quis despoliatus amissa unica tunica complorare se malit quam circumspicere quomodo frigus effugiat et aliquid inveniat quo tegat scapulas, nonne tibi videatur stultissimus? Quem amabas extulisti: quaere quem ames. Satius est amicum reparare quam flere. Scio pertritum iam hoc esse quod adiecturus sum, non ideo tamen praetermittam quia ab omnibus dictum est: finem dolendi etiam qui consilio non fecerat tempore invenit. Turpissimum autem est in homine prudente remedium maeroris lassitudo maerendi: malo relinquas dolorem quam ab illo relinquaris; et quam primum id facere desiste quod, etiam si voles, diu facere non poteris.","en":"Besides, a man who could not love more than one did not love even that one too much. If a man who had been robbed and had lost his only tunic chose to wail over himself rather than look around for a way to escape the cold and find something to cover his shoulders, would you not think him a complete fool? You have buried the one you loved: look for someone to love. It is better to replace a friend than to weep for him. I know that what I am going to add is very well worn, but I will not leave it out just because everyone has said it: even the man who did not end his grief by choice finds its end in time. But in a sensible man the most shameful cure for sorrow is being tired of sorrowing. I would rather you left grief than that grief left you. And stop as soon as possible doing what, even if you want to, you will not be able to do for long."},{"ref":"Letter 63.13–14","orig":"Annum feminis ad lugendum constituere maiores, non ut tam diu lugerent, sed ne diutius: viris nullum legitimum tempus est, quia nullum honestum. Quam tamen mihi ex illis mulierculis dabis vix retractis a rogo, vix a cadavere revulsis, cui lacrimae in totum mensem duraverint? Nulla res citius in odium venit quam dolor, qui recens consolatorem invenit et aliquos ad se adducit, inveteratus vero deridetur, nec immerito; aut enim simulatus aut stultus est. Haec tibi scribo, is qui Annaeum Serenum carissimum mihi tam immodice flevi ut, quod minime velim, inter exempla sim eorum quos dolor vicit. Hodie tamen factum meum damno et intellego maximam mihi causam sic lugendi fuisse quod numquam cogitaveram mori eum ante me posse. Hoc unum mihi occurrebat, minorem esse et multo minorem - tamquam ordinem fata servarent!","en":"Our ancestors fixed a year as the period of mourning for women, not so that they would mourn that long, but so that they would not mourn longer. For men there is no lawful period, because none is honourable. Yet which of those poor women, barely dragged back from the pyre, barely torn away from the corpse, will you show me whose tears have lasted a whole month? Nothing becomes hateful more quickly than grief. When fresh, it finds someone to console it and draws some people to it; but when it has grown old, it is laughed at, and rightly, for it is either pretended or foolish. I write this to you, I who wept so immoderately for Annaeus Serenus, who was very dear to me, that, much against my will, I am among the examples of those whom grief has conquered. Today, though, I condemn what I did, and I understand that the main reason I mourned like that was that I had never thought he could die before me. This one thing kept occurring to me: that he was younger, much younger. As if the fates kept to an order!"},{"ref":"Letter 63.15–16","orig":"Itaque assidue cogitemus de nostra quam omnium quos diligimus mortalitate. Tunc ego debui dicere, 'minor est Serenus meus: quid ad rem pertinet? post me mori debet, sed ante me potest'. Quia non feci, imparatum subito fortuna percussit. Nunc cogito omnia et mortalia esse et incerta lege mortalia; hodie fieri potest quidquid umquam potest. Cogitemus ergo, Lucili carissime, cito nos eo perventuros quo illum pervenisse maeremus; et fortasse, si modo vera sapientium fama est recipitque nos locus aliquis, quem putamus perisse praemissus est. Vale.","en":"So let us think constantly about our own mortality and that of all whom we love. At the time I ought to have said: \"My Serenus is younger: what does that matter? He should die after me, but he can die before me.\" Because I did not, fortune struck me suddenly while I was unprepared. Now I reflect that all things are mortal, and mortal by no fixed law. Whatever can ever happen can happen today. So let us reflect, dearest Lucilius, that we will soon arrive where we grieve that he has arrived. And perhaps, if only the tale told by wise men is true and some place receives us, the one we think has perished has only been sent on ahead. Farewell."}],"64":[{"ref":"Letter 64.1–3","orig":"Fuisti here nobiscum. Potes queri, si here tantum; ideo adieci 'nobiscum'; mecum enim semper es. Intervenerant quidam amici propter quos maior fumus fieret, non hic qui erumpere ex lautorum culinis et terrere vigiles solet, sed hic modicus qui hospites venisse significet. Varius nobis fuit sermo, ut in convivio, nullam rem usque ad exitum adducens sed aliunde alio transiliens. Lectus est deinde liber Quinti Sextii patris, magni, si quid mihi credis, viri, et licet neget Stoici. Quantus in illo, di boni, vigor est, quantum animi! Hoc non in omnibus philosophis invenies: quorundam scripta clarum habentium nomen exanguia sunt. Instituunt, disputant, cavillantur, non faciunt animum quia non habent: cum legeris Sextium, dices, 'vivit, viget, liber es, supra hominem est, dimittit me plenum ingentis fiduciae'.","en":"You were with us yesterday. You could complain if I said only \"yesterday\"; that is why I added \"with us\", for with me you always are. Some friends had dropped in, and because of them a bigger smoke was made. Not the kind that usually bursts out of the kitchens of the rich and alarms the night watch, but the modest kind that signals guests have come. Our talk was varied, as at a dinner, taking nothing through to the end but jumping from one thing to another. Then a book was read by Quintus Sextius the father, a great man, if you believe me, and a Stoic, though he denies it. Good gods, what vigour there is in him, what spirit! You will not find this in all philosophers. The writings of some who have a famous name are bloodless. They lay down rules, they argue, they quibble; they do not create spirit because they have none. When you have read Sextius you will say, \"He is alive, he is vigorous, he is free, he is more than a man, he sends me away full of great confidence.\""},{"ref":"Letter 64.4–6","orig":"In qua positione mentis sim cum hunc lego fatebor tibi: libet omnis casus provocare, libet exclamare, 'quid cessas, fortuna? congredere: paratum vides'. Illius animum induo qui quaerit ubi se experiatur, ubi virtutem suam ostendat,\nspumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votis\noptat aprum aut fulvum descendere monte leonem. Libet aliquid habere quod vincam, cuius patientia exercear. Nam hoc quoque egregium Sextius habet, quod et ostendet tibi beatae vitae magnitudinem et desperationem eius non faciet: scies esse illam in excelso, sed volenti penetrabilem. Hoc idem virtus tibi ipsa praestabit, ut illam admireris et tamen speres. Mihi certe multum auferre temporis solet contemplatio ipsa sapientiae; non aliter illam intueor obstupefactus quam ipsum interim mundum, quem saepe tamquam spectator novus video.","en":"I will confess to you the state of mind I am in when I read him: I want to challenge every misfortune, I want to cry out, \"Why do you hold back, fortune? Come on, fight: you see I am ready.\" I put on the spirit of a man who looks for somewhere to test himself, somewhere to show his courage,\nand among the tame herds prays that a foaming boar be granted,\nor a tawny lion come down from the mountain.\nI want to have something to conquer, something whose endurance can train me. For Sextius has this excellent quality too: he will show you the greatness of the happy life, and yet he will not make you despair of it. You will know that it is on a height, but a height that can be reached by one who wants to. Virtue itself will do the same for you: you will admire her and still hope. Certainly the mere contemplation of wisdom often takes up a lot of my time. I gaze at it in amazement, just as I sometimes gaze at the universe itself, which I often see as if I were seeing it for the first time."},{"ref":"Letter 64.7","orig":"Veneror itaque inventa sapientiae inventoresque; adire tamquam multorum hereditatem iuvat. Mihi ista acquisita, mihi laborata sunt. Sed agamus bonum patrem familiae, faciamus ampliora quae accepimus; maior ista hereditas a me ad posteros transeat. Multum adhuc restat operis multumque restabit, nec ulli nato post mille saecula praecludetur occasio aliquid adhuc adiciendi.","en":"So I revere the discoveries of wisdom and their discoverers. It is a pleasure to enter on them as on an inheritance from many people. These things have been acquired for me, worked for me. But let us act like a good head of a household: let us increase what we have received. Let this inheritance pass from me to those who come after, larger than before. Much work still remains and much will remain, and no one born a thousand ages from now will be denied the chance of adding something more."},{"ref":"Letter 64.8","orig":"Sed etiam si omnia a veteribus inventa sunt, hoc semper novum erit, usus et inventorum ab aliis scientia ac dispositio. Puta relicta nobis medicamenta quibus sanarentur oculi: non opus est mihi alia quaerere, sed haec tamen morbis et temporibus aptanda sunt. Hoc asperitas oculorum collevatur; hoc palpebrarum crassitudo tenuatur; hoc vis subita et umor avertitur; hoc acuetur visus: teras ista oportet et eligas tempus, adhibeas singulis modum. Animi remedia inventa sunt ab antiquis; quomodo autem admoveantur aut quando nostri operis est quaerere.","en":"But even if everything has been discovered by the ancients, this will always be new: the use, the understanding and the arrangement of what others have discovered. Suppose that remedies have been left to us for healing the eyes. I do not need to look for others, but these still have to be fitted to the disease and the time. With this one, soreness of the eyes is relieved; with this one, thickening of the eyelids is reduced; with this one, a sudden inflammation and discharge are drawn off; with this one, sight will be sharpened. You must grind these things, choose the time, and apply the right amount of each. The remedies of the mind have been discovered by the ancients; but how and when they are to be applied is for us to work out."},{"ref":"Letter 64.9–10","orig":"Multum egerunt qui ante nos fuerunt, sed non peregerunt. Suspiciendi tamen sunt et ritu deorum colendi. Quidni ego magnorum virorum et imagines habeam incitamenta animi et natales celebrem? quidni ego illos honoris causa semper appellem? Quam venerationem praeceptoribus meis debeo, eandem illis praeceptoribus generis humani, a quibus tanti boni initia fluxerunt. Si consulem videro aut praetorem, omnia quibus honor haberi honori solet faciam: equo desiliam, caput adaperiam, semita cedam. Quid ergo? Marcum Catonem utrumque et Laelium Sapientem et Socraten cum Platone et Zenonem Cleanthenque in animum meum sine dignatione summa recipiam? Ego vero illos veneror et tantis nominibus semper assurgo. Vale.","en":"Those who came before us achieved much, but they did not finish. Still, they must be looked up to and honoured like gods. Why should I not keep portraits of great men as spurs to the mind, and celebrate their birthdays? Why should I not always address them with titles of honour? The reverence I owe my own teachers I owe equally to those teachers of the human race from whom the beginnings of so great a good have flowed. If I see a consul or a praetor, I will do everything by which honour is usually paid to office: I will jump off my horse, uncover my head, step aside from the path. What then? Shall I receive into my mind both Marcus Catos, and Laelius the Wise, and Socrates with Plato, and Zeno and Cleanthes, without the highest respect? No, I revere them and I always rise for such great names. Farewell."}],"65":[{"ref":"Letter 65.1","orig":"Hesternum diem divisi cum mala valetudine: antemeridianum illa sibi vindicavit, postmeridiano mihi cessit. Itaque lectione primum temptavi animum; deinde, cum hanc recepisset, plus illi imperare ausus sum, immo permittere: aliquid scripsi et quidem intentius quam soleo, dum cum materia difficili contendo et vinci nolo, donec intervenerunt amici qui mihi vim afferrent et tamquam aegrum intemperantem coercerent.","en":"I shared yesterday with ill health. It claimed the morning for itself and gave way to me in the afternoon. So first I tested my mind with reading. Then, when it had coped with this, I dared to demand more of it, or rather to allow it more. I wrote something, and with more concentration than usual, as I grappled with a difficult subject and did not want to be beaten, until some friends came in, used force on me, and restrained me as if I were an unruly patient."},{"ref":"Letter 65.2–3","orig":"In locum stili sermo successit, ex quo eam partem ad te perferam quae in lite est. Te arbitrum addiximus. Plus negotii habes quam existimas: triplex causa est. Dicunt, ut scis, Stoici nostri duo esse in rerum natura ex quibus omnia fiant, causam et materiam. Materia iacet iners, res ad omnia parata, cessatura si nemo moveat; causa autem, id est ratio, materiam format et quocumque vult versat, ex illa varia opera producit. Esse ergo debet unde fiat aliquid, deinde a quo fiat: hoc causa est, illud materia. Omnis ars naturae imitatio est; itaque quod de universo dicebam ad haec transfer quae ab homine facienda sunt. Statua et materiam habuit quae pateretur artificem, et artificem qui materiae daret faciem; ergo in statua materia aes fuit, causa opifex. Eadem condicio rerum omnium est: ex eo constant quod fit, et ex eo quod facit.","en":"Conversation took the place of the pen, and from it I will pass on to you the part that is in dispute. We have appointed you judge. You have more work than you think: the case has three parts. Our Stoics say, as you know, that there are two things in nature from which everything comes: cause and matter. Matter lies inert, ready for anything, but idle if no one moves it. Cause, that is, reason, shapes matter and turns it wherever it wants, and produces various works from it. So there must be something from which a thing is made, and then something by which it is made: the latter is cause, the former matter. All art is an imitation of nature. So transfer what I was saying about the universe to the things that have to be made by human beings. A statue had both matter, which submitted to the artist, and an artist, who gave the matter a form. So in a statue the matter was the bronze and the cause the craftsman. The same is true of all things: they consist of what is made and of what makes."},{"ref":"Letter 65.4–5","orig":"Stoicis placet unam causam esse, id quod facit. Aristoteles putat causam tribus modis dici: 'prima' inquit 'causa est ipsa materia, sine qua nihil potest effici; secunda opifex; tertia est forma, quae unicuique operi imponitur tamquam statuae'. Nam hanc Aristoteles 'idos' vocat. 'Quarta quoque' inquit 'his accedit, propositum totius operis.' Quid sit hoc aperiam. Aes prima statuae causa est; numquam enim facta esset, nisi fuisset id ex quo funderetur ducereturve. Secunda causa artifex est; non potuisset enim aes illud in habitum statuae figurari, nisi accessissent peritae manus. Tertia causa est forma; neque enim statua ista 'doryphoros' aut 'diadumenos' vocaretur, nisi haec illi esset impressa facies. Quarta causa est faciendi propositum; nam nisi hoc fuisset, facta non esset.","en":"The Stoics hold that there is one cause: that which makes. Aristotle thinks that \"cause\" is used in three ways. \"The first cause,\" he says, \"is the matter itself, without which nothing can be made; the second is the craftsman; the third is the form, which is put on each work, as on a statue.\" This is what Aristotle calls the \"eidos\". \"A fourth,\" he says, \"is added to these: the purpose of the whole work.\" I will explain what this is. Bronze is the first cause of a statue, for it would never have been made unless there had been something from which it could be cast or drawn out. The second cause is the artist, for that bronze could not have been shaped into the form of a statue unless skilled hands had been applied. The third cause is the form, for that statue would not be called \"The Spear-Bearer\" or \"The Youth Tying on a Headband\" unless this appearance had been stamped on it. The fourth cause is the purpose in making it, for if this had not existed, it would not have been made."},{"ref":"Letter 65.6","orig":"Quid est propositum? quod invitavit artificem, quod ille secutus fecit: vel pecunia est haec, si venditurus fabricavit, vel gloria, si laboravit in nomen, vel religio, si donum templo paravit. Ergo et haec causa est propter quam fit: an non putas inter causas facti operis esse numerandum quo remoto factum non esset?","en":"What is the purpose? It is what attracted the artist, what he pursued in making it. It is either money, if he made it to sell, or glory, if he worked to make a name, or religion, if he prepared it as a gift for a temple. So this too is a cause: the thing for the sake of which it is made. Or do you not think that we should count among the causes of a finished work that without which it would not have been made?"},{"ref":"Letter 65.7","orig":"His quintam Plato adicit exemplar, quam ipse 'idean' vocat; hoc est enim ad quod respiciens artifex id quod destinabat effecit. Nihil autem ad rem pertinet utrum foris habeat exemplar ad quod referat oculos an intus, quod ibi ipse concepit et posuit. Haec exemplaria rerum omnium deus intra se habet numerosque universorum quae agenda sunt et modos mente complexus est; plenus his figuris est quas Plato 'ideas' appellat, immortales, immutabiles, infatigabiles. Itaque homines quidem pereunt, ipsa autem humanitas, ad quam homo effingitur, permanet, et hominibus laborantibus, intereuntibus, illa nihil patitur.","en":"To these Plato adds a fifth, the model, which he himself calls the \"idea\". For this is what the artist looked at in producing what he intended. It makes no difference whether he has a model outside himself to turn his eyes to, or inside, one that he himself conceived and set up there. God has within himself these models of all things, and his mind has embraced the numbers and measures of everything that is to be done. He is full of these shapes which Plato calls \"ideas\": immortal, unchangeable, tireless. So human beings perish, but humanity itself, on which each human being is modelled, lasts, and while human beings suffer and die, it suffers nothing."},{"ref":"Letter 65.8–9","orig":"Quinque ergo causae sunt, ut Plato dicit: id ex quo, id a quo, id in quo, id ad quod, id propter quod; novissime id quod ex his est. Tamquam in statua - quia de hac loqui coepimus - id ex quo aes est, id a quo artifex est, id in quo forma est quae aptatur illi, id ad quod exemplar est quod imitatur is qui facit, id propter quod facientis propositum est, id quod ex istis est ipsa statua est. Haec omnia mundus quoque, ut ait Plato, habet: facientem, hic deus est; ex quo fit, haec materia est; formam, haec est habitus et ordo mundi quem videmus; exemplar, scilicet ad quod deus hanc magnitudinem operis pulcherrimi fecit; propositum, propter quod fecit.","en":"So there are five causes, as Plato says: that from which, that by which, that in which, that towards which, that for the sake of which; and finally, what results from these. Take a statue, since we began to speak of this: that from which is the bronze; that by which is the artist; that in which is the form fitted to it; that towards which is the model which the maker imitates; that for the sake of which is the maker's purpose; and what results from these is the statue itself. The universe too, as Plato says, has all of these. A maker: this is god. That from which it is made: this is matter. A form: this is the shape and order of the universe that we see. A model: the one, of course, on which god made this vast and most beautiful work. A purpose: that for the sake of which he made it."},{"ref":"Letter 65.10–11","orig":"Quaeris quod sit propositum deo? bonitas. Ita certe Plato ait: 'quae deo faciendi mundum fuit causa? bonus est; bono nulla cuiusquam boni invidia est; fecit itaque quam optimum potuit'. Fer ergo iudex sententiam et pronuntia quis tibi videatur verisimillimum dicere, non quis verissimum dicat; id enim tam supra nos est quam ipsa veritas. Haec quae ab Aristotele et Platone ponitur turba causarum aut nimium multa aut nimium pauca comprendit. Nam si quocumque remoto quid effici non potest, id causam iudicant esse faciendi, pauca dixerunt. Ponant inter causas tempus: nihil sine tempore potest fieri. Ponant locum: si non fuerit ubi fiat aliquid, ne fiet quidem. Ponant motum: nihil sine hoc nec fit nec perit; nulla sine motu ars, nulla mutatio est.","en":"Do you ask what god's purpose is? Goodness. That, at any rate, is what Plato says: \"What was god's reason for making the world? He is good. A good being grudges no good thing to anyone. So he made it as good as he could.\" Now then, as judge, give your verdict and declare who seems to you to say what is most probable, not who says what is most true, for that is as far above us as truth itself. This crowd of causes put forward by Aristotle and Plato includes either too many or too few. For if they judge that whatever is needed for something to be made is a cause of its making, they have named too few. Let them put time among the causes: nothing can be made without time. Let them put place: if there is nowhere for something to be made, it will not be made. Let them put motion: nothing is made or destroyed without it; without motion there is no art and no change."},{"ref":"Letter 65.12–13","orig":"Sed nos nunc primam et generalem quaerimus causam. Haec simplex esse debet; nam et materia simplex est. Quaerimus quid sit causa? ratio scilicet faciens, id est deus; ista enim quaecumque rettulistis non sunt multae et singulae causae, sed ex una pendent, ex ea quae facit. Formam dicis causam esse? hanc imponit artifex operi: pars causae est, non causa. Exemplar quoque non est causa, sed instrumentum causae necessarium. Sic necessarium est exemplar artifici quomodo scalprum, quomodo lima: sine his procedere ars non potest, non tamen hae partes artis aut causae sunt.","en":"But we are looking now for the first and general cause. This must be simple, for matter too is simple. Do we ask what the cause is? It is, of course, creative reason, that is, god. For all the things you have listed are not many separate causes, but depend on one, the one that makes. Do you say that form is a cause? The artist puts this on the work: it is part of the cause, not the cause. The model too is not a cause, but a tool the cause needs. The model is necessary to the artist in the way that a chisel or a file is: without these the art cannot go forward, yet they are not parts of the art or causes."},{"ref":"Letter 65.14–15","orig":"'Propositum' inquit 'artificis, propter quod ad faciendum aliquid accedit, causa est.' Ut sit causa, non est efficiens causa, sed superveniens. Hae autem innumerabiles sunt: nos de causa generali quaerimus. Illud vero non pro solita ipsis subtilitate dixerunt, totum mundum et consummatum opus causam esse; multum enim interest inter opus et causam operis. Aut fer sententiam aut, quod facilius in eiusmodi rebus est, nega tibi liquere et nos reverti iube. 'Quid te' inquis 'delectat tempus inter ista conterere, quae tibi nullum affectum eripiunt, nullam cupiditatem abigunt?' Ego quidem illa ago ac tracto quibus pacatur animus, et me prius scrutor, deinde hunc mundum.","en":"\"The artist's purpose,\" he says, \"for which he sets about making something, is a cause.\" Granted that it is a cause, it is not an efficient cause but a supervening one. And there are countless such causes; we are asking about the general cause. But they spoke without their usual subtlety when they said that the whole universe, the finished work, is a cause. For there is a great difference between a work and the cause of a work. Either give your verdict, or, which is easier in matters like this, declare that the case is not clear to you and order us to come back. \"Why do you enjoy wasting time,\" you say, \"on these things, which take no passion away from you and drive off no desire?\" For my part I work at and handle the things by which the mind is brought to peace, and I examine myself first, then this universe."},{"ref":"Letter 65.16","orig":"Ne nunc quidem tempus, ut existimas, perdo; ista enim omnia, si non concidantur nec in hanc subtilitatem inutilem distrahantur, attollunt et levant animum, qui gravi sarcina pressus explicari cupit et reverti ad illa quorum fuit. Nam corpus hoc animi pondus ac poena est; premente illo urguetur, in vinclis est, nisi accessit philosophia et illum respirare rerum naturae spectaculo iussit et a terrenis ad divina dimisit. Haec libertas eius est, haec evagatio; subducit interim se custodiae in qua tenetur et caelo reficitur.","en":"Not even now am I wasting time, as you think. For all these questions, as long as they are not chopped up and pulled apart into this useless hair-splitting, raise and lighten the mind, which is weighed down by a heavy burden and longs to be set free and to return to the things it once belonged to. For this body is a weight and a punishment to the mind. Pressed down by it, the mind is crushed and in chains, unless philosophy has come to it and told it to breathe again in the sight of the natural world, and has released it from earthly things to divine ones. This is its freedom, this its roaming abroad. For a while it slips out of the prison in which it is kept and is refreshed by the sky."},{"ref":"Letter 65.17–18","orig":"Quemadmodum artifices alicuius rei subtilioris quae intentione oculos defetigat, si malignum habent et precarium lumen, in publicum prodeunt et in aliqua regione ad populi otium dedicata oculos libera luce delectant, sic animus in hoc tristi et obscuro domicilio clusus, quotiens potest, apertum petit et in rerum naturae contemplatione requiescit. Sapiens assectatorque sapientiae adhaeret quidem in corpore suo, sed optima sui parte abest et cogitationes suas ad sublimia intendit. Velut sacramento rogatus hoc quod vivit stipendium putat; et ita formatus est ut illi nec amor vitae nec odium sit, patiturque mortalia quamvis sciat ampliora superesse.","en":"Craftsmen who make some delicate object that tires the eyes with concentration, if the light they have is poor and uncertain, go out into the open and, in some area set aside for the people's leisure, delight their eyes in the free daylight. In the same way the mind, shut up in this gloomy, dark house, seeks the open whenever it can and rests in the contemplation of the natural world. The wise man, and the one who follows wisdom, is indeed attached to his body, but in his best part he is absent, and he directs his thoughts to lofty things. As if bound by a military oath, he regards his life as a term of service. He is so formed that he neither loves life nor hates it, and he puts up with mortal things although he knows that greater things remain."},{"ref":"Letter 65.19–20","orig":"Interdicis mihi inspectione rerum naturae, a toto abductum redigis in partem? Ego non quaeram quae sint initia universorum? quis rerum formator? quis omnia in uno mersa et materia inerti convoluta discreverit? Non quaeram quis sit istius artifex mundi? qua ratione tanta magnitudo in legem et ordinem venerit? quis sparsa collegerit, confusa distinxerit, in una deformitate iacentibus faciem diviserit? unde lux tanta fundatur? ignis sit, an aliquid igne lucidius? Ego ista non quaeram? ego nesciam unde descenderim? semel haec mihi videnda sint, an saepe nascendum? quo hinc iturus sim? quae sedes exspectet animam solutam legibus servitutis humanae? Vetas me caelo interesse, id est iubes me vivere capite demisso?","en":"Do you forbid me to study the natural world? Do you drag me away from the whole and confine me to a part? Shall I not ask what the beginnings of all things are? Who shaped things? Who separated everything when it was sunk in one mass and wrapped up in inert matter? Shall I not ask who the artist of this universe is? By what plan so vast a thing came under law and order? Who gathered what was scattered, separated what was mixed, and gave distinct appearances to things lying in a single shapeless heap? From where is so much light poured? Is it fire, or something brighter than fire? Shall I not ask these things? Shall I not know where I came down from? Whether I am to see these things once, or be born many times? Where I shall go from here? What home awaits the soul when it is freed from the laws of human slavery? Do you forbid me to take part in heaven, that is, do you order me to live with my head bowed?"},{"ref":"Letter 65.21–22","orig":"Maior sum et ad maiora genitus quam ut mancipium sim mei corporis, quod equidem non aliter aspicio quam vinclum aliquod libertati meae circumdatum; hoc itaque oppono fortunae, in quo resistat, nec per illud ad me ullum transire vulnus sino. Quidquid in me potest iniuriam pati hoc est in hoc obnoxio domicilio animus liber habitat. Numquam me caro ista compellet ad metum, numquam ad indignam bono simulationem; numquam in honorem huius corpusculi mentiar. Cum visum erit, distraham cum illo societatem; et nunc tamen, dum haeremus, non erimus aequis partibus socii: animus ad se omne ius ducet. Contemptus corporis sui certa libertas est.","en":"I am greater, and born for greater things, than to be the slave of my body, which I regard as nothing but a chain put around my freedom. So I set it against fortune, for her to stop at, and I do not let any wound pass through it to me. Whatever in me can suffer injury is this: in this vulnerable dwelling lives a free mind. This flesh will never drive me to fear, never to a pretence unworthy of a good man. I will never lie out of respect for this little body. When it seems right, I will break off my partnership with it. Even now, while we are joined, we will not be equal partners: the mind will claim all rights for itself. Contempt for one's body is sure freedom."},{"ref":"Letter 65.23–24","orig":"Ut ad propositum revertar, huic libertati multum conferet et illa de qua modo loquebamur inspectio; nempe universa ex materia et ex deo constant. Deus ista temperat quae circumfusa rectorem sequuntur et ducem. Potentius autem est ac pretiosius quod facit, quod est deus, quam materia patiens dei. Quem in hoc mundo locum deus obtinet, hunc in homine animus; quod est illic materia, id in nobis corpus est. Serviant ergo deteriora melioribus; fortes simus adversus fortuita; non contremescamus iniurias, non vulnera, non vincula, non egestatem. Mors quid est? aut finis aut transitus. Nec desinere timeo - idem est enim quod non coepisse -, nec transire, quia nusquam tam anguste ero. Vale.","en":"To come back to my point, that study of nature we were just talking about will also contribute much to this freedom. The universe, after all, consists of matter and of god. God controls the things that surround him and follow him as their ruler and leader. And what makes, which is god, is more powerful and more precious than matter, which is acted on by god. The place god holds in this universe, the mind holds in a human being; what matter is there, the body is in us. So let the worse serve the better. Let us be brave against chance events. Let us not tremble at injuries, at wounds, at chains, at poverty. What is death? Either an end or a passing over. I am not afraid to cease to be, for that is the same as not to have begun; nor to pass over, for nowhere will I be so cramped. Farewell."}],"66":[{"ref":"Letter 66.1–2","orig":"Claranum condiscipulum meum vidi post multos annos: non, puto, exspectas ut adiciam senem, sed mehercules viridem animo ac vigentem et cum corpusculo suo colluctantem. Inique enim se natura gessit et talem animum male collocavit; aut fortasse voluit hoc ipsum nobis ostendere, posse ingenium fortissimum ac beatissimum sub qualibet cute latere. Vicit tamen omnia impedimenta et ad cetera contemnenda a contemptu sui venit. Errare mihi visus est qui dixit\ngratior et pulchro veniens e corpore virtus\nNon enim ullo honestamento eget: ipsa magnum sui decus est et corpus suum consecrat. Aliter certe Claranum nostrum coepi intueri: formosus mihi videtur et tam rectus corpore quam est animo.","en":"I have seen my old schoolfellow Claranus after many years. I do not suppose you expect me to add that he is an old man; but, by heaven, he is fresh and vigorous in spirit and wrestling with his poor little body. Nature treated him unfairly and housed such a spirit badly. Or perhaps she wanted to show us exactly this: that the bravest and happiest mind can lie hidden under any skin. Still, he has overcome every obstacle, and from despising himself he has come to despise everything else. The man who said this seems to me to be wrong:\nVirtue is more pleasing when it comes from a beautiful body.\nFor virtue needs no ornament. She herself is her own great glory, and she makes her body sacred. At any rate, I have begun to see our Claranus differently: he seems handsome to me, and as upright in body as he is in mind."},{"ref":"Letter 66.3–4","orig":"Potest ex casa vir magnus exire, potest et ex deformi humilique corpusculo formosus animus ac magnus. Quosdam itaque mihi videtur in hoc tales natura generare, ut approbet virtutem omni loco nasci. Si posset per se nudos edere animos, fecisset; nunc quod amplius est facit: quosdam enim edit corporibus impeditos, sed nihilominus perrumpentis obstantia. Claranus mihi videtur in exemplar editus, ut scire possemus non deformitate corporis foedari animum, sed pulchritudine animi corpus ornari. Quamvis autem paucissimos una fecerimus dies, tamen multi nobis sermones fuerunt, quos subinde egeram et ad te permittam.","en":"A great man can come out of a hovel, and a beautiful, great mind can come out of an ugly, lowly little body. So it seems to me that nature produces some people like this in order to prove that virtue can be born anywhere. If she could produce minds naked by themselves, she would have done so. As it is, she does something greater: she produces some who are hampered by their bodies but who nevertheless break through the obstacles. Claranus seems to me to have been produced as an example, so that we could know that the mind is not disfigured by ugliness of body, but the body is adorned by beauty of mind. Although we spent only a very few days together, we had many conversations, which I have been setting down and will pass on to you."},{"ref":"Letter 66.5","orig":"Hoc primo die quaesitum est, quomodo possint paria bona esse, si triplex eorum condicio est. Quaedam, ut nostris videtur, prima bona sunt, tamquam gaudium, pax, salus patriae; quaedam secunda, in materia infelici expressa, tamquam tormentorum patientia et in morbo gravi temperantia. Illa bona derecto optabimus nobis, haec, si necesse erit. Sunt adhuc tertia, tamquam modestus incessus et compositus ac probus vultus et conveniens prudenti viro gestus.","en":"On the first day the question was this: how can goods be equal if they fall into three classes? Some, as our school holds, are primary goods, such as joy, peace, the safety of one's country. Some are secondary, shaped out of unhappy material, such as endurance under torture and self-control in serious illness. The first kind we will wish for ourselves outright; the second, if it becomes necessary. There is also a third kind, such as a modest walk, a calm and honest expression, and a bearing that suits a sensible man."},{"ref":"Letter 66.6","orig":"Quomodo ista inter se paria esse possunt, cum alia optanda sint, alia aversanda? Si volumus ista distinguere, ad primum bonum revertamur et consideremus id quale sit. Animus intuens vera, peritus fugiendorum ac petendorum, non ex opinione sed ex natura pretia rebus imponens, toti se inserens mundo et in omnis eius actus contemplationem suam mittens, cogitationibus actionibusque intentus ex aequo, magnus ac vehemens, asperis blandisque pariter invictus, neutri se fortunae summittens, supra omnia quae contingunt acciduntque eminens, pulcherrimus, ordinatissimus cum decore tum viribus, sanus ac siccus, imperturbatus intrepidus, quem nulla vis frangat, quem nec attollant fortuita nec deprimant - talis animus virtus est.","en":"How can these be equal to one another, when some are to be wished for and others shunned? If we want to distinguish them, let us go back to the primary good and consider what it is like. A mind that looks at the truth; that is skilled in what to avoid and what to seek; that sets values on things not by opinion but by nature; that joins itself to the whole universe and directs its contemplation to all its workings; that is equally intent on thought and action; great and vigorous, unconquered alike by harsh things and by soothing ones, yielding to neither kind of fortune, standing high above all that happens and befalls; most beautiful, perfectly ordered in grace as well as in strength; healthy and sober; untroubled, fearless; which no force can break, which chance events neither lift up nor cast down: such a mind is virtue."},{"ref":"Letter 66.7–8","orig":"Haec eius est facies, si sub unum veniat aspectum et semel tota se ostendat. Ceterum multae eius species sunt, quae pro vitae varietate et pro actionibus explicantur: nec minor fit aut maior ipsa. Decrescere enim summum bonum non potest nec virtuti ire retro licet; sed in alias atque alias qualitates convertitur, ad rerum quas actura est habitum figurata. Quidquid attigit in similitudinem sui adducit et tinguit; actiones, amicitias, interdum domos totas quas intravit disposuitque condecorat; quidquid tractavit, id amabile, conspicuum, mirabile facit. Itaque vis eius et magnitudo ultra non potest surgere, quando incrementum maximo non est: nihil invenies rectius recto, non magis quam verius vero, quam temperato temperatius.","en":"This is how she looks if she comes into view all at once and shows herself whole. But she has many aspects, which unfold according to the variety of life and of actions; and she herself does not become smaller or greater. For the highest good cannot decrease, and virtue may not go backwards. But she changes into one quality after another, shaped to fit the character of the things she is to do. Whatever she touches, she brings into her own likeness and dyes it. She adorns actions, friendships, sometimes whole households that she has entered and set in order. Whatever she has handled, she makes lovable, notable, admirable. So her force and greatness cannot rise further, since the greatest admits no increase. You will find nothing straighter than straight, any more than truer than true or more temperate than temperate."},{"ref":"Letter 66.9–10","orig":"Omnis in modo est virtus; modo certa mensura est; constantia non habet quo procedat, non magis quam fiducia aut veritas aut fides. Quid accedere perfecto potest? nihil, aut perfectum non erat cui accessit; ergo ne virtuti quidem, cui si quid adici potest, defuit. Honestum quoque nullam accessionem recipit; honestum est enim propter ista quae rettuli. Quid porro? decorum et iustum et legitimum non eiusdem esse formae putas, certis terminis comprehensum? Crescere posse imperfectae rei signum est. Bonum omne in easdem cadit leges: iuncta est privata et publica utilitas, tam mehercules quam inseparabile est laudandum petendumque. Ergo virtutes inter se pares sunt et opera virtutis et omnes homines quibus illae contigere.","en":"All virtue lies in limit, and limit is a fixed measure. Steadiness has nowhere to advance, any more than confidence or truth or loyalty. What can be added to what is perfect? Nothing; or else what it was added to was not perfect. So nothing can be added to virtue either; if anything can be added, it was lacking. The honourable too admits no addition, for it is honourable because of the very things I have listed. What next? Do you not think that the seemly, the just and the lawful are of the same form, enclosed within fixed limits? The ability to grow is a sign of an imperfect thing. Every good falls under the same laws. Private and public advantage are joined together, as inseparably, by heaven, as what is praiseworthy and what is desirable. So the virtues are equal to one another, and so are the works of virtue and all the people who have attained the virtues."},{"ref":"Letter 66.11–12","orig":"Satorum vero animaliumque virtutes, cum mortales sint, fragiles quoque caducaeque sunt et incertae; exsiliunt residuntque et ideo non eodem pretio aestimantur. Una inducitur humanis virtutibus regula; una enim est ratio recta simplexque. Nihil est divino divinius, caelesti caelestius. Mortalia minuuntur cadunt, deteruntur crescunt, exhauriuntur implentur; itaque illis in tam incerta sorte inaequalitas est: divinorum una natura est. Ratio autem nihil aliud est quam in corpus humanum pars divini spiritus mersa; si ratio divina est, nullum autem bonum sine ratione est, bonum omne divinum est. Nullum porro inter divina discrimen est; ergo nec inter bona. Paria itaque sunt et gaudium et fortis atque obstinata tormentorum perpessio; in utroque enim eadem est animi magnitudo, in altero remissa et laxa, in altero pugnat et intenta.","en":"But the virtues of plants and animals, since these are mortal, are also fragile, perishable and uncertain. They spring up and sink down, and so they are not valued at the same price. One rule is applied to human virtues, for right reason is one and simple. Nothing is more divine than the divine, more heavenly than the heavenly. Mortal things decrease and fall, wear away and grow, are emptied and filled; so in so uncertain a lot there is inequality among them. Divine things have one nature. Reason is nothing other than a part of the divine spirit sunk into a human body. If reason is divine, and there is no good without reason, then every good is divine. Further, there is no difference among divine things; so there is none among goods either. So joy and a brave, unyielding endurance of torture are equal. In both there is the same greatness of mind: in one it is relaxed and easy, in the other it is fighting and strained."},{"ref":"Letter 66.13","orig":"Quid? tu non putas parem esse virtutem eius qui fortiter hostium moenia expugnat, et eius qui obsidionem patientissime sustinet? Magnus Scipio, qui Numantiam cludit et comprimit cogitque invictas manus in exitium ipsas suum verti, magnus ille obsessorum animus, qui scit non esse clusum cui mors aperta est, et in complexu libertatis exspirat. Aeque reliqua quoque inter se paria sunt, tranquillitas, simplicitas, liberalitas, constantia, aequanimitas, tolerantia; omnibus enim istis una virtus subest, quae animum rectum et indeclinabilem praestat.","en":"What? Do you not think the virtue of the man who bravely storms the enemy's walls is equal to that of the man who endures a siege with the utmost patience? Great is Scipio, who shuts in Numantia, squeezes it, and forces its unconquered hands to turn to their own destruction. Great too is the spirit of the besieged, who know that a man is not shut in when death is open to him, and who breathe their last in the embrace of freedom. The other virtues are equal to one another in the same way: tranquillity, simplicity, generosity, steadiness, calm, endurance. For beneath all of them lies one virtue, which keeps the mind straight and unswerving."},{"ref":"Letter 66.14–15","orig":"'Quid ergo? nihil interest inter gaudium et dolorum inflexibilem patientiam?' Nihil, quantum ad ipsas virtutes: plurimum inter illa in quibus virtus utraque ostenditur; in altero enim naturalis est animi remissio ac laxitas, in altero contra naturam dolor. Itaque media sunt haec quae plurimum intervalli recipiunt: virtus in utroque par est. Virtutem materia non mutat: nec peiorem facit dura ac difficilis nec meliorem hilaris et laeta; necessest ergo par sit. In utraque enim quod fit aeque recte fit, aeque prudenter, aeque honeste; ergo aequalia sunt bona, ultra quae nec hic potest se melius in hoc gaudio gerere nec ille melius in illis cruciatibus; duo autem quibus nihil fieri melius potest paria sunt.","en":"\"What then? Is there no difference between joy and an unbending endurance of pain?\" None, as far as the virtues themselves are concerned. A very great one between the circumstances in which each virtue is displayed. In the one there is a natural relaxing and ease of the mind; in the other, pain, which is against nature. So these circumstances are indifferent things, which admit a very wide gap; virtue is equal in both. Material does not change virtue. Hard and difficult material does not make it worse, nor cheerful and happy material better. So it must be equal. For in both cases what is done is done equally rightly, equally wisely, equally honourably. So the goods are equal, beyond which neither can this man conduct himself better in this joy, nor that man better in those torments. And two things than which nothing can be done better are equal."},{"ref":"Letter 66.16","orig":"Nam si quae extra virtutem posita sunt aut minuere illam aut augere possunt, desinit unum bonum esse quod honestum. Si hoc concesseris, omne honestum per;t. Quare? dicam: quia nihil honestum est quod ab invito, quod a coacto fit; omne honestum voluntarium est. Admisce illi pigritiam, querelam, tergiversationem, metum: quod habet in se optimum perdidit, sibi placere. Non potest honestum esse quod non est liberum; nam quod timet servit.","en":"For if things placed outside virtue can either diminish it or increase it, the honourable ceases to be the only good. If you grant this, everything honourable is lost. Why? I will tell you: because nothing is honourable that is done by someone unwilling or forced. Everything honourable is voluntary. Mix in with it sluggishness, complaint, shuffling, fear, and it has lost the best thing it has in it: being content with itself. What is not free cannot be honourable, for what fears is a slave."},{"ref":"Letter 66.17","orig":"Honestum omne securum est, tranquillum est: si recusat aliquid, si complorat, si malum iudicat, perturbationem recepit et in magna discordia volutatur; hinc enim species recti vocat, illinc suspicio mali retrahit. Itaque qui honeste aliquid facturus est, quidquid opponitur, id etiam si incommodum putat, malum non putet, velit, libens faciat. Omne honestum iniussum incoactumque est, sincerum et nulli malo mixtum.","en":"Everything honourable is free from care and calm. If it refuses something, if it laments, if it judges something to be evil, it has taken in disturbance and is tossed about in great conflict: on one side the appearance of right calls it, on the other the suspicion of evil pulls it back. So the man who is going to do something honourably should not think that whatever stands in his way is evil, even if he thinks it inconvenient. He should want to do it and do it gladly. Everything honourable is unordered and unforced, pure and mixed with no evil."},{"ref":"Letter 66.18–19","orig":"Scio quid mihi responderi hoc loco possit: 'hoc nobis persuadere conaris, nihil interesse utrum aliquis in gaudio sit an in eculeo iaceat ac tortorem suum lasset?'. Poteram respondere: Epicurus quoque ait sapientem, si in Phalaridis tauro peruratur, exclamaturum, 'dulce est et ad me nihil pertinet'. Quid miraris si ego paria bona dico alterius in convivio iacentis, alterius inter tormenta fortissime stantis, cum quod incredibilius est dicat Epicurus, dulce esse torreri? Sed hoc respondeo, plurimum interesse inter gaudium et dolorem; si quaeratur electio, alterum petam, alterum vitabo: illud secundum naturam est, hoc contra. Quamdiu sic aestimantur, magno inter se dissident spatio: cum ad virtutem ventum est, utraque par est, et quae per laeta procedit et quae per tristia.","en":"I know what may be said to me in reply at this point: \"Are you trying to persuade us that it makes no difference whether someone is feeling joy or lying on the rack and wearing out his torturer?\" I could answer: Epicurus too says that the wise man, if he is being burned in the bull of Phalaris, will cry out, \"It is pleasant and it does not concern me.\" Why are you surprised if I say that the goods of one man reclining at a feast and of another standing up most bravely under torture are equal, when Epicurus says something harder to believe, that it is pleasant to be roasted? But my answer is this: there is a very great difference between joy and pain. If I were asked to choose, I would seek the one and avoid the other. The one is in accordance with nature, the other against it. As long as they are valued like this, they are far apart. But when it comes to virtue, both are equal, the virtue that proceeds through happy things and the virtue that proceeds through sad ones."},{"ref":"Letter 66.20–21","orig":"Nullum habet momentum vexatio et dolor et quidquid aliud incommodi est; virtute enim obruitur. Quemadmodum minuta lumina claritas solis obscurat, sic dolores, molestias, iniurias virtus magnitudine sua elidit atque opprimit; et quocumque affulsit, ibi quidquid sine illa apparet exstinguitur, nec magis ullam portionem habent incommoda, cum in virtutem inciderunt, quam in mari nimbus. Hoc ut scias ita esse, ad omne pulchrum vir bonus sine ulla cunctatione procurret: stet illic licet carnifex, stet tortor atque ignis, perseverabit nec quid passurus sed quid facturus sit aspiciet, et se honestae rei tamquam bono viro credet; utilem illam sibi iudicabit, tutam, prosperam. Eundem locum habebit apud illum honesta res, sed tristis atque aspera, quem vir bonus pauper aut exul aut exilis ac pallidus.","en":"Trouble and pain and every other inconvenience carry no weight, for they are overwhelmed by virtue. Just as the brightness of the sun blots out small lights, so virtue by its greatness crushes and smothers pains, annoyances and injuries. Wherever it has shone, whatever appears there without it is put out, and inconveniences, once they have met virtue, count for no more than a rain shower in the sea. To show you that this is so, the good man will run to every noble act without any hesitation. Though the executioner stand there, the torturer and the fire, he will persist, and he will look not at what he is going to suffer but at what he is going to do. He will entrust himself to the honourable deed as to a good man. He will judge it useful to himself, safe, prosperous. An honourable deed that is sad and harsh will have the same place in his eyes as a good man who is poor, or an exile, or thin and pale."},{"ref":"Letter 66.22–23","orig":"Agedum pone ex alia parte virum bonum divitiis abundantem, ex altera nihil habentem, sed in se omnia: uterque aeque vir bonus erit, etiam si fortuna dispari utetur. Idem, ut dixi, in rebus iudicium est quod in hominibus: aeque laudabilis virtus est in corpore valido ac libero posita quam in morbido ac vincto. Ergo tuam quoque virtutem non magis laudabis si corpus illi tuum integrum fortuna praestiterit quam si ex aliqua parte mutilatum: alioqui hoc erit ex servorum habitu dominum aestimare. Omnia enim ista in quae dominium casus exercet serva sunt, pecunia et corpus et honores, imbecilla, fluida, mortalia, possessionis incertae: illa rursus libera et invicta opera virtutis, quae non ideo magis appetenda sunt si benignius a fortuna tractantur, nec minus si aliqua iniquitate rerum premuntur.","en":"Come now, put on one side a good man overflowing with riches, and on the other one who has nothing but has everything in himself. Both will be equally good men, even if their fortunes differ. As I said, the same judgement applies to things as to people. Virtue is as praiseworthy when set in a healthy, free body as in one that is sick and in chains. So you will not praise your own virtue more if fortune has kept your body whole for it than if it has been maimed in some part. Otherwise, this will be judging a master by the dress of his slaves. For all the things over which chance exercises lordship are slaves: money, the body, honours. They are weak, shifting, mortal, and uncertain to keep. The works of virtue, on the other hand, are free and unconquered. They are no more desirable because fortune treats them more kindly, nor any less so if they are weighed down by some unfairness of circumstance."},{"ref":"Letter 66.24–25","orig":"Quod amicitia in hominibus est, hoc in rebus appetitio. Non, puto, magis amares virum bonum locupletem quam pauperem, nec robustum et lacertosum quam gracilem et languidi corporis; ergo ne rem quidem magis appetes aut amabis hilarem ac pacatam quam distractam et operosam. Aut si hoc est, magis diliges ex duobus aeque bonis viris nitidum et unctum quam pulverulentum et horrentem; deinde hoc usque pervenies ut magis diligas integrum omnibus membris et illaesum quam debilem aut luscum; paulatim fastidium tuum illo usque procedet ut ex duobus aeque iustis ac prudentibus comatum et crispulum malis. Ubi par in utroque virtus est, non comparet aliarum rerum inaequalitas; omnia enim alia non partes sed accessiones sunt.","en":"What friendship is among people, desire is among things. You would not, I think, love a good man who is rich more than one who is poor, or a strong, muscular one more than one who is thin and frail. So you will not desire or love a thing more because it is cheerful and peaceful than because it is harassed and laborious. Or if you do, then of two equally good men you will be fonder of the one who is sleek and oiled than of the one who is dusty and unkempt. Next you will go so far as to be fonder of one who is sound and unharmed in all his limbs than of one who is crippled or one-eyed. Little by little your fastidiousness will go so far that, of two equally just and wise men, you will prefer the one with long, curly hair. Where virtue is equal in both, inequality in other things does not show, for all other things are not parts but additions."},{"ref":"Letter 66.26–27","orig":"Num quis tam iniquam censuram inter, suos agit ut sanum filium quam aegrum magis diligat, procerumve et excelsum quam brevem aut modicum? Fetus suos non distinguunt ferae et se in alimentum pariter omnium sternunt; aves ex aequo partiuntur cibos. Ulixes ad Ithacae suae saxa sic properat quemadmodum Agamemnon ad Mycenarum nobiles muros; nemo enim patriam quia magna est amat, sed quia sua. Quorsus haec pertinent? ut scias; virtutem omnia opera velut fetus suos isdem oculis intueri, aeque indulgere omnibus, et quidem impensius laborantibus, quoniam quidem etiam parentium amor magis in ea quorum miseretur inclinat. Virtus quoque opera sua quae videt affici et premi non magis amat, sed parentium bonorum more magis complectitur ac fovet.","en":"Does anyone judge his children so unfairly as to love a healthy son more than a sick one, or a tall and lofty one more than a short or middling one? Wild beasts make no distinction among their young, and lie down to feed them all equally. Birds share out food evenly. Ulysses hurries to the rocks of his Ithaca just as Agamemnon hurries to the famous walls of Mycenae; for no one loves his country because it is great, but because it is his. What is all this leading to? So that you may know that virtue looks on all her works as on her own offspring with the same eyes. She is equally indulgent to all, and indeed more generous to those in trouble, since even parents' love leans more towards the children they feel sorry for. Virtue too does not love more those of her works that she sees afflicted and oppressed, but, like good parents, she embraces and cherishes them more."},{"ref":"Letter 66.28–30","orig":"Quare non est ullum bonum altero maius? quia non est quicquam apto aptius, quia plano nihil est planius. Non potes dicere hoc magis par esse alicui quam illud; ergo nec honesto honestius quicquam est. Quod si par omnium virtutum natura est, tria genera bonorum in aequo sunt. Ita dico: in aequo est moderate gaudere et moderate dolere. Laetitia illa non vincit hanc animi firmitatem sub tortore gemitus devorantem: illa bona optabilia, haec mirabilia sunt, utraque nihilominus paria, quia quidquid incommodi est vi tanto maioris boni tegitur. Quisquis haec imparia iudicat ab ipsis virtutibus avertit oculos et exteriora circumspicit. Bona vera idem pendent, idem patent: illa falsa multum habent vani; itaque speciosa et magna contra visentibus, cum ad pondus revocata sunt, fallunt.","en":"Why is no good greater than another? Because nothing is more fitting than the fitting, and nothing is flatter than the flat. You cannot say that this is more equal to something than that; so nothing is more honourable than the honourable. And if the nature of all the virtues is equal, the three kinds of goods are on a level. I mean this: to rejoice with moderation and to suffer with moderation are on a level. That gladness does not surpass this firmness of mind that swallows its groans under the torturer. The first goods are to be wished for, these are to be admired, and yet both are equal, because whatever inconvenience there is is covered by the force of a far greater good. Whoever judges them unequal turns his eyes away from the virtues themselves and looks around at external things. True goods weigh the same and are the same size. False goods have much emptiness in them; so, though they look splendid and great to those who view them, they disappoint when they are put on the scales."},{"ref":"Letter 66.31–32","orig":"Ita est, mi Lucili: quidquid vera ratio commendat solidum et aeternum est, firmat animum attollitque semper futurum in excelso. illa quae temere laudantur et vulgi sententia bona sunt inflant inanibus laetos; rursus ea quae timentur tamquam mala iniciunt formidinem mentibus et illas non aliter quam animalia specie periculi agitant. Utraque ergo res sine causa animum et diffundit et mordet: nec illa gaudio nec haec metu digna est. Sola ratio immutabilis et iudicii tenax est; non enim servit sed imperat sensibus. Ratio rationi par est, sicut rectum recto; ergo et virtus virtuti; nihil enim aliud est virtus quam recta ratio. Omnes virtutes rationes sunt; rationes sunt, si rectae sunt; si rectae sunt, et pares sunt.","en":"So it is, my Lucilius: whatever true reason recommends is solid and eternal. It strengthens the mind and raises it up to stay for ever on high. Those things that are praised thoughtlessly and are goods in the opinion of the crowd puff up with emptiness those who are glad of them. On the other hand, the things that are feared as evils cast terror into minds and disturb them just as the appearance of danger disturbs animals. So both kinds of thing expand and sting the mind without reason: the first do not deserve joy, nor the second fear. Only reason is unchangeable and holds firmly to its judgement, for it does not serve the senses but commands them. Reason is equal to reason, as straight to straight; so virtue is equal to virtue, for virtue is nothing other than right reason. All virtues are reasons. They are reasons if they are right; if they are right, they are also equal."},{"ref":"Letter 66.33–34","orig":"Qualis ratio est, tales et actiones sunt; ergo omnes pares sunt; nam cum similes rationi sint, similes et inter se sunt. Pares autem actiones inter se esse dico qua honestae rectaeque sunt; ceterum magna habebunt discrimina variante materia, quae modo latior est, modo angustior, modo illustris, modo ignobilis, modo ad multos pertinens, modo ad paucos. In omnibus tamen istis id quod optimum est par est: honestae sunt. Tamquam viri boni omnes pares sunt qua boni sunt, sed habent differentias aetatis: alius senior est, alius iunior; habent corporis: alius formosus, alius deformis est; habent fortunae: ille dives, hic pauper est, ille gratiosus, potens, urbibus notus et populis, hic ignotus plerisque et obscurus. Sed per illud quo boni sunt pares sunt.","en":"As reason is, so actions are; so all actions are equal. For since they are like reason, they are also like one another. I say that actions are equal to one another in so far as they are honourable and right. Otherwise they will show great differences as the material varies, which is sometimes broader, sometimes narrower, sometimes glorious, sometimes obscure, sometimes affecting many, sometimes few. Yet in all these cases what is best is equal: they are honourable. Just so, all good men are equal in so far as they are good, but they have differences of age, one older, another younger; of body, one handsome, another ugly; of fortune, one rich, another poor, one popular, powerful, known to cities and nations, another unknown to most and obscure. But in that by which they are good, they are equal."},{"ref":"Letter 66.35","orig":"De bonis ac malis sensus non iudicat; quid utile sit, quid inutile, ignorat. Non potest ferre sententiam nisi in rem praesentem perductus est; nec futuri providus est nec praeteriti memor; quid sit consequens nescit. Ex hoc autem rerum ordo seriesque contexitur et unitas vitae per rectum iturae. Ratio ergo arbitra est bonorum ac malorum; aliena et externa pro vilibus habet, et ea quae neque bona sunt neque mala accessiones minimas ac levissimas iudicat; omne enim illi bonum in animo est.","en":"The senses do not judge good and evil; they do not know what is useful and what is not. They cannot give a verdict unless brought face to face with the matter at hand. They cannot foresee the future or remember the past; they do not know what follows from what. Yet it is from this that the order and sequence of things is woven together, and the unity of a life that is to go the straight way. So reason is the judge of good and evil. It treats things foreign and external as worthless, and judges things that are neither good nor evil to be the smallest and lightest of additions. For all its good lies in the mind."},{"ref":"Letter 66.36–37","orig":"Ceterum bona quaedam prima existimat, ad quae ex proposito venit, tamquam victoriam, bonos liberos, salutem patriae; quaedam secunda, quae non apparent nisi in rebus adversis, tamquam aequo animo pati morbum, ignem, exsilium; quaedam media, quae nihilo magis secundum naturam sunt quam contra naturam, tamquam prudenter ambulare, composite sedere. Non enim minus secundum naturam est sedere quam stare aut ambulare. Duo illa bona superiora diversa sunt: prima enim secundum naturam sunt, gaudere liberorum pietate, patriae incolumitate; secunda contra naturam sunt, fortiter obstare tormentis et sitim perpeti morbo urente praecordia.","en":"But it considers some goods primary, which it approaches by choice, such as victory, good children, the safety of one's country. Some are secondary, which appear only in adversity, such as bearing illness, fire or exile with a calm mind. Some are intermediate, which are no more in accordance with nature than against it, such as walking sensibly or sitting in a composed way. For sitting is no less in accordance with nature than standing or walking. The two higher kinds of good are different. The primary ones are in accordance with nature: to rejoice in one's children's devotion, in the safety of one's country. The secondary ones are against nature: to hold out bravely against torture and to endure thirst while fever burns the chest."},{"ref":"Letter 66.38–39","orig":"'Quid ergo? aliquid contra naturam bonum est?' Minime; sed id aliquando contra naturam est in quo bonum illud exsistit. Vulnerari enim et subiecto igne tabescere et adversa valetudine affligi contra naturam est, sed inter ista servare animum infatigabilem secundum naturam est. Et ut quod volo exprimam breviter, materia boni aliquando contra naturam est bonum numquam, quoniam bonum sine ratione nullum est, sequitur autem ratio naturam. 'Quid est ergo ratio?' Naturae imitatio. 'Quod est summum hominis bonum?' Ex naturae voluntate se gerere.","en":"\"What then? Is something that is against nature good?\" Not at all. But the setting in which that good arises is sometimes against nature. To be wounded, to waste away over a fire, to be afflicted with ill health is against nature; but to keep an unwearied mind in the midst of these things is in accordance with nature. To put what I mean briefly: the material of a good is sometimes against nature, the good never, since there is no good without reason, and reason follows nature. \"What, then, is reason?\" An imitation of nature. \"What is the highest good of a human being?\" To conduct oneself according to nature's will."},{"ref":"Letter 66.40–41","orig":"'Non est' inquit 'dubium quin felicior pax sit numquam lacessita quam multo reparata sanguine. Non est dubium' inquit 'quin felicior res sit inconcussa valetudo quam ex gravibus morbis et extrema minitantibus in tutum vi quadam et patientia educta. Eodem modo non erit dubium quin maius bonum sit gaudium quam obnixus animus ad perpetiendos cruciatus vulnerum aut ignium.' Minime; illa enim quae fortuita sunt plurimum discriminis recipiunt; aestimantur enim utilitate sumentium. Bonorum unum propositum est consentire naturae; hoc in omnibus par est. Cum alicuius in senatu sententiam sequimur, non potest dici: ille magis assentitur quam ille. Ab omnibus in eandem sententiam itur. Idem de virtutibus dico: omnes naturae assentiuntur. Idem de bonis dico: omnia naturae assentiuntur.","en":"\"There is no doubt,\" he says, \"that a peace that has never been disturbed is happier than one restored at the cost of much blood. There is no doubt,\" he says, \"that unshaken health is a happier thing than health brought back to safety by a kind of force and endurance from serious illnesses that threatened the worst. In the same way there will be no doubt that joy is a greater good than a mind straining to endure the torments of wounds or fire.\" Not at all. Things that depend on chance admit a very great difference, for they are valued by their usefulness to those who get them. Goods have one aim: to agree with nature. This is equal in all of them. When we follow someone's motion in the senate, it cannot be said that this man agrees more than that man; everyone goes over to the same motion. I say the same of the virtues: they all agree with nature. I say the same of goods: they all agree with nature."},{"ref":"Letter 66.42–43","orig":"Alter adulescens decessit, alter senex, aliquis protinus infans, cui nihil amplius contigit quam prospicere vitam: omnes hi aeque fuere mortales, etiam si mors aliorum longius vitam passa est procedere, aliorum in medio flore praecidit, aliorum interrupit ipsa principia. Alius inter cenandum solutus est; alterius continuata mors somno est; aliquem concubitus exstinxit. His oppone ferro transfossos aut exanimatos serpentium morsu aut fractos ruina aut per longam nervorum contractionem extortos minutatim. Aliquorum melior dici, aliquorum peior potest exitus: mors quidem omnium par est. Per quae veniunt diversa sunt; in quod desinunt unum est. Mors nulla maior aut minor est; habet enim eundem in omnibus modum, finisse vitam.","en":"One man died young, another old, another straight away as a baby, who got no more than a glimpse of life. All these were equally mortal, even if death let some lives go on further, cut off others in full bloom, and broke off others at their very beginning. One man passed away at dinner; another's death was a continuation of sleep; lovemaking finished off another. Set against these those run through by a sword, or killed by snakebite, or crushed by a falling building, or twisted bit by bit through a long cramping of the sinews. Some ends can be called better, some worse; but death is equal for all. The ways by which it comes are different; that in which they end is one. No death is greater or smaller, for in all cases it has the same measure: it has ended life."},{"ref":"Letter 66.44–45","orig":"Idem tibi de bonis dico: hoc bonum inter meras voluptates, hoc est inter tristia et acerba; illud fortunae indulgentiam rexit, hoc violentiam domuit: utrumque aeque bonum est, quamvis illud plana et molli via ierit, hoc aspera. Idem enim finis omnium est: bona sunt, laudanda sunt, virtutem rationemque comitantur; virtus aequat inter se quidquid agnoscit. Nec est quare hoc inter nostra placita mireris: apud Epicurum duo bona sunt, ex quibus summum illud beatumque componitur, ut corpus sine dolore sit, animus sine perturbatione. Haec bona non crescunt si plena sunt: quo enim crescet quod plenum est? Dolore corpus caret: quid ad hanc accedere indolentiam potest? Animus constat sibi et placidus est: quid accedere ad hanc tranquillitatem potest?","en":"I say the same to you about goods. This good is found amid pure pleasures, that one amid sad and bitter things. One has governed fortune's indulgence, the other has tamed her violence. Both are equally good, although one has gone by a flat, soft road and the other by a rough one. For all have the same end: they are goods, they are praiseworthy, they go along with virtue and reason. Virtue makes equal whatever it acknowledges. There is no reason for you to be surprised at this among our doctrines. In Epicurus there are two goods, from which that highest and happy good is made up: that the body be free from pain and the mind free from disturbance. These goods do not grow if they are full; for how can what is full grow? The body is free from pain: what can be added to this painlessness? The mind is at one with itself and calm: what can be added to this tranquillity?"},{"ref":"Letter 66.46","orig":"Quemadmodum serenitas caeli non recipit maiorem adhuc claritatem in sincerissimum nitorem repurgata, sic hominis corpus animumque curantis et bonum suum ex utroque nectentis perfectus est status, et summam voti sui invenit si nec aestus animo est nec dolor corpori. Si qua extra blandimenta contingunt, non augent summum bonum, sed, ut ita dicam, condiunt et oblectant; absolutum enim illud humanae naturae bonum corporis et animi pace contentum est.","en":"Just as a clear sky, cleansed to the purest brightness, admits no further clarity, so the state of a man who takes care of body and mind and weaves his good from both is complete. He has found the fulfilment of his prayers if there is no turmoil in his mind and no pain in his body. Whatever charms come to him from outside do not increase the highest good but, so to speak, season it and give it relish. For that complete good of human nature is content with peace of body and mind."},{"ref":"Letter 66.47","orig":"Dabo apud Epicurum tibi etiam nunc simillimam huic nostrae divisionem bonorum. Alia enim sunt apud illum quae malit contingere sibi, ut corporis quietem ab omni incommodo liberam et animi remissionem bonorum suorum contemplatione gaudentis; alia sunt quae, quamvis nolit accidere, nihilominus laudat et comprobat, tamquam illam quam paulo ante dicebam malae valetudinis et dolorum gravissimorum perpessionem, in qua Epicurus fuit illo summo ac fortunatissimo die suo. Ait enim se vesicae et exulcerati ventris tormenta tolerare ulteriorem doloris accessionem non recipientia, esse nihilominus sibi illum beatum diem. Beatum autem diem agere nisi qui est in summo bono non potest.","en":"I will show you, even in Epicurus, a division of goods very like this one of ours. There are some things he would prefer to happen to him, such as rest for the body free from every discomfort and relaxation for the mind as it enjoys contemplating its own goods. There are others which, though he would not want them to happen, he still praises and approves, like the one I mentioned a little earlier: the endurance of ill health and very severe pain, which Epicurus showed on that last and most fortunate day of his. He says that he was bearing torments of the bladder and of an ulcerated stomach that could not admit any further increase of pain, and yet that day was a happy one for him. But no one can spend a happy day unless he is in possession of the highest good."},{"ref":"Letter 66.48–49","orig":"Ergo et apud Epicurum sunt haec bona, quae malles non experiri, sed, quia ita res tulit, et amplexanda et laudanda et exaequanda summis sunt. Non potest dici hoc non esse par maximis bonum quod beatae vitae clausulam imposuit, cui Epicurus extrema voce gratias egit. Permitte mihi, Lucili virorum optime, aliquid audacius dicere: si ulla bona maiora esse aliis possent, haec ego quae tristia videntur mollibus illis et delicatis praetulissem, haec maiora dixissem. Maius est enim difficilia perfringere quam laeta moderari.","en":"So even in Epicurus there are these goods that you would rather not experience, but which, because things turned out that way, must be embraced and praised and put on a level with the highest. It cannot be said that the good which put the final touch on a happy life, and for which Epicurus gave thanks with his last words, is not equal to the greatest goods. Allow me, Lucilius, best of men, to say something bolder. If any goods could be greater than others, I would have preferred these, which seem sad, to those soft and dainty ones; I would have called these greater. For it is greater to break through difficulties than to keep happy things in moderation."},{"ref":"Letter 66.50–51","orig":"Eadem ratione fit, scio, ut aliquis felicitatem bene et ut calamitatem fortiter ferat. Aeque esse fortis potest qui pro vallo securus excubuit nullis hostibus castra temptantibus et qui succisis poplitibus in genua se excepit nec arma dimisit: 'macte virtute esto' sanguinulentis et ex acie redeuntibus dicitur. Itaque haec magis laudaverim bona exercitata et fortia et cum fortuna rixata. Ego dubitem quin magis laudem truncam illam et retorridam manum Mucii quam cuiuslibet fortissimi salvam? Stetit hostium flammarumque contemptor et manum suam in hostili foculo destillantem perspectavit, donec Porsina cuius poenae favebat gloriae invidit et ignem invito eripi iussit.","en":"It is by the same reason, I know, that a man bears prosperity well and calamity bravely. The man who kept watch in front of the rampart without a care, when no enemy was attacking the camp, can be as brave as the one who, with his hamstrings cut, dropped to his knees and did not let go of his weapons. But \"Well done, bravo!\" is said to men coming back bloodstained from the battle line. So I would praise more highly these goods that have been tested, that are brave and have fought it out with fortune. Should I hesitate to praise that maimed and withered hand of Mucius more than the uninjured hand of any brave man? He stood there, scorning the enemy and the flames, and watched his own hand melting in the enemy's brazier, until Porsenna, who had favoured his punishment, grudged him his glory and ordered the fire to be taken from him against his will."},{"ref":"Letter 66.52–53","orig":"Hoc bonum quidni inter prima numerem tantoque maius putem quam illa secura et intemptata fortunae quanto rarius est hostem amissa manu vicisse quam armata? 'Quid ergo?' inquis 'hoc bonum tibi optabis?' Quidni? hoc enim nisi qui potest et optare, non potest facere. An potius optem ut malaxandos articulos exoletis meis porrigam? ut muliercula aut aliquis in mulierculam ex viro versus digitulos meos ducat? Quidni ego feliciorem putem Mucium, quod sic tractavit ignem quasi illam manum tractatori praestitisset? In integrum restituit quidquid erraverat: confecit bellum inermis ac mancus et illa manu trunca reges duos vicit. Vale.","en":"Why should I not count this good among the primary ones, and think it as much greater than those safe goods untested by fortune as it is rarer to have conquered an enemy after losing a hand than with a hand armed? \"What then?\" you say. \"Will you wish for this good for yourself?\" Why not? For only a man who can also wish for this can do it. Or should I rather wish to hold out my joints to be kneaded by my pretty boys? Or to have my little fingers stretched by some little woman, or by some man turned into a little woman? Why should I not think Mucius the more fortunate for having handled the fire as if he had lent that hand to the torturer? He made good all his mistake: unarmed and maimed, he finished a war, and with that stump of a hand he conquered two kings. Farewell."}],"67":[{"ref":"Letter 67.1–2","orig":"Ut a communibus initium faciam, ver aperire se coepit, sed iam inclinatum in aestatem, quo tempore calere debebat, intepuit nec adhuc illi fides est; saepe enim in hiemem revolvitur. Vis scire quam dubium adhuc sit? nondum me committo frigidae verae, adhuc rigorem eius infringo. 'Hoc est' inquis 'nec calidum nec frigidum pati.' Ita est, mi Lucili: iam aetas mea contenta est suo frigore; vix media regelatur aestate. Itaque maior pars in vestimentis degitur. Ago gratias senectuti quod me lectulo affixit: quidni gratias illi hoc nomine agam? Quidquid debebam nolle, non possum. Cum libellis mihi plurimus sermo est. Si quando intervenerunt epistulae tuae, tecum esse mihi videor et sic afficior animo tamquam tibi non rescribam sed respondeam. Itaque et de hoc quod quaeris, quasi colloquar tecum, quale sit una scrutabimur.","en":"To begin with ordinary matters: spring has started to open up, but though it is already sloping towards summer, at the time when it should have been warm, it has only turned mild, and it cannot be trusted yet, for it often slips back into winter. Do you want to know how uncertain it still is? I do not yet trust myself to truly cold water; I still take the chill off it. \"That is putting up with neither heat nor cold,\" you say. So it is, my Lucilius: at my age I am content with my own chill, which barely thaws in midsummer. So I spend most of my time wrapped up in clothes. I thank old age for having fixed me to my couch. Why should I not thank it on this account? Whatever I ought not to want, I am no longer able to do. Most of my conversation is with my books. Whenever your letters arrive, I feel I am with you, and I am so affected that I seem not to be writing back to you but answering you aloud. So on this question you ask, too, let us examine together what it is like, as if I were talking with you."},{"ref":"Letter 67.3–4","orig":"Quaeris an omne bonum optabile sit. 'Si bonum est' inquis 'fortiter torqueri et magno animo uri et patienter aegrotare, sequitur ut ista optabilia sint; nihil autem video ex istis voto dignum. Neminem certe adhuc scio eo nomine votum solvisse quod flagellis caesus esset aut podagra distortus aut eculeo longior factus.' Distingue, mi Lucili, ista, et intelleges esse in iis aliquid optandum. Tormenta abesse a me velim; sed si sustinenda fuerint, ut me in illis fortiter, honeste, animose geram optabo. Quidni ego malim non incidere bellum? sed si inciderit, ut vulnera, ut famem et omnia quae bellorum necessitas affert generose feram optabo. Ton sum tam demens ut aegrotare cupiam; sed si aegrotandum fuerit, ut nihil intemperanter, nihil effeminate faciam optabo. Ita non incommoda optabilia sunt, sed virtus qua perferuntur incommoda.","en":"You ask whether every good is desirable. \"If it is a good,\" you say, \"to be tortured bravely, to be burned with a great spirit and to be ill with patience, it follows that these things are desirable. But I see nothing among them worth praying for. At any rate I know of no one so far who has paid a vow because he was flogged, or twisted by gout, or stretched longer on the rack.\" Draw distinctions here, my Lucilius, and you will understand that there is something in them to be wished for. I would like torture to stay away from me; but if it has to be endured, I will wish to conduct myself bravely, honourably and with spirit under it. Of course I would prefer not to be caught up in war; but if I am, I will wish to bear nobly the wounds, the hunger and everything that the necessities of war bring. I am not so mad as to want to be ill; but if I must be ill, I will wish to do nothing without restraint and nothing unmanly. So it is not the hardships that are desirable, but the virtue by which hardships are borne."},{"ref":"Letter 67.5","orig":"Quidam ex nostris existimant omnium istorum fortem tolerantiam non esse optabilem, sed ne abominandam quidem, quia voto purum bonum peti debet et tranquillum et extra molestiam positum. Ego dissentio. Quare? primum quia fieri non potest ut aliqua res bona quidem sit sed optabilis non sit; deinde si virtus optabilis est, nullum autem sine virtute bonum, et omne bonum optabile est; deinde etiam si … tormentorum fortis patientia optabilis est.","en":"Some of our school think that the brave endurance of all these things is not desirable, though not something to be abhorred either, because what we seek in prayer should be a pure good, calm and removed from trouble. I disagree. Why? First, because it cannot be that something is good and yet not desirable. Next, if virtue is desirable, and there is no good without virtue, then every good is desirable. Next, even if … brave endurance of torture is desirable."},{"ref":"Letter 67.6","orig":"Etiam nunc interrogo: nempe fortitudo optabilis est? Atqui pericula contemnit et provocat; pulcherrima pars eius maximeque mirabilis illa est, non cedere ignibus, obviam ire vulneribus, interdum tela ne vitare quidem sed pectore excipere. Si fortitudo optabilis est, et tormenta patienter ferre optabile est; hoc enim fortitudinis pars est. Sed separa ista, ut dixi: nihil erit quod tibi faciat errorem. Non enim pati tormenta optabile est, sed pati fortiter: illud opto 'fortiter', quod est virtus.","en":"Let me ask again: surely courage is desirable? And yet it scorns and challenges dangers. Its most beautiful and most admirable part is this: not to give way to fire, to go to meet wounds, sometimes not even to dodge weapons but to take them in the chest. If courage is desirable, then to bear torture patiently is desirable, for this is part of courage. But separate these things, as I said, and there will be nothing to mislead you. For it is not suffering torture that is desirable, but suffering it bravely. I wish for that \"bravely\", which is virtue."},{"ref":"Letter 67.7–8","orig":"'Quis tamen umquam hoc sibi optavit?' Quaedam vota aperta et professa sunt, cum particulatim fiunt; quaedam latent, cum uno voto multa comprensa sunt. Tamquam opto mihi vitam honestam; vita autem honesta actionibus variis constat: in hac es Reguli arca, Catonis scissum manu sua vulnus, Rutili exsilium, calix venenatus qui Socraten transtulit e carcere in caelum. Ita cum optavi mihi vitam honestam, et haec optavi sine quibus interdum honesta non potest esse. O terque quaterque beati,\nquis ante ora patrum Troiae sub moenibus altis\ncontigit oppetere!\nQuid interest, optes hoc alicui an optabile fuisse fatearis?","en":"\"But who has ever wished this for himself?\" Some prayers are open and declared, when they are made item by item. Others are hidden, when many things are included in one prayer. For instance, I wish for an honourable life. But an honourable life is made up of various actions. In it is the chest of Regulus, the wound of Cato torn open by his own hand, the exile of Rutilius, the poisoned cup that took Socrates from prison to heaven. So when I wished for an honourable life, I wished also for these things, without which sometimes it cannot be honourable.\nOh three and four times blessed,\nwho had the fortune to die before their fathers' eyes\nbeneath the high walls of Troy!\nWhat difference is there between wishing this for someone and admitting that it was desirable?"},{"ref":"Letter 67.9","orig":"Decius se pro re publica devovit et in medios hostes concitato equo mortem petens irruit. Alter post hunc, paternae virtutis aemulus, conceptis sollemnibus ac iam familiaribus verbis in aciem confertissimam incucurrit, de hoc sollicitus tantum, ut litaret, optabilem rem putans bonam mortem. Dubitas ergo an optimum sit memorabilem mori et in aliquo opere virtutis?","en":"Decius devoted himself for the republic, and spurring his horse into the midst of the enemy, charged in seeking death. Another after him, rivalling his father's courage, spoke the solemn words that were by now a family formula and rushed into the thickest of the battle line, anxious only that his sacrifice be accepted, thinking a good death a thing to be wished for. Do you doubt, then, whether it is best to die memorably, and in some act of virtue?"},{"ref":"Letter 67.10","orig":"Cum aliquis tormenta fortiter patitur, omnibus virtutibus utitur. Fortasse una in promptu sit et maxime appareat, patientia; ceterum illic est fortitudo, cuius patientia et perpessio et tolerantia rami sunt; illic est prudentia, sine qua nullum initur consilium, quae suadet quod effugere non possis quam fortissime ferre; illic est constantia, quae deici loco non potest et propositum nulla vi extorquente dimittit; illic est individuus ille comitatus virtutum. Quidquid honeste fit una virtus facit, sed ex consilii sententia; quod autem ab omnibus virtutibus comprobatur, etiam si ab una fieri videtur, optabile est.","en":"When someone endures torture bravely, he is using all the virtues. Perhaps one is in the foreground and shows most clearly: patience. But courage is there too, of which patience, endurance and tolerance are branches. Prudence is there, without which no plan is undertaken, and which advises bearing as bravely as possible what you cannot escape. Steadiness is there, which cannot be thrown from its position and lets go of its purpose under no force that tries to wrench it away. That inseparable company of the virtues is there. Whatever is done honourably, one virtue does, but by the decision of the whole council. And what is approved by all the virtues, even if it seems to be done by one, is desirable."},{"ref":"Letter 67.11–13","orig":"Quid? tu existimas ea tantum optabilia esse quae per voluptatem et otium veniunt, quae excipiuntur foribus ornatis? Sunt quaedam tristis vultus bona; sunt quaedam vota quae non gratulantium coetu, sed adorantium venerantiumque celebrantur. Ita tu non putas Regulum optasse ut ad Poenos perveniret? Indue magni viri animum et ab opinionibus vulgi secede paulisper; cape, quantam debes, virtutis pulcherrimae ac magnificentissimae speciem, quae nobis non ture nec sertis, sed sudore ct sanguine colenda est. Aspice M. Catonem sacro illi pectori purissimas manus admoventem et vulnera parum alte demissa laxantem. Utrum tandem illi dicturus es 'vellem quae velles' et 'moleste fero' an 'feliciter quod agis'?","en":"What? Do you think only those things are desirable which come through pleasure and ease, and are welcomed at decorated doors? There are some goods with a sad face. There are some prayers celebrated not by a crowd of people offering congratulations but by people kneeling in reverence and worship. Do you not think, then, that Regulus wished to reach the Carthaginians? Put on the spirit of a great man and step away from the opinions of the crowd for a while. Grasp, as fully as you should, the image of virtue, most beautiful and most magnificent, which we must worship not with incense or garlands but with sweat and blood. Look at Marcus Cato laying his most pure hands on that sacred breast and tearing open wounds that had not gone deep enough. Tell me, will you say to him, \"I wish you what you wish\" and \"I am sorry\", or \"Good luck in what you are doing\"?"},{"ref":"Letter 67.14–16","orig":"Hoc loco mihi Demetrius noster occurrit, qui vitam securam et sine ullis fortunae incursionibus mare mortuum vocat. Nihil habere ad quod exciteris, ad quod te concites, cuius denuntiatione et incursu firmitatem animi tui temptes, sed in otio inconcusso iacere non est tranquillitas: malacia est. Attalus Stoicus dicere solebat, 'malo me fortuna in castris suis quam in deliciis habeat. Torqueor, sed fortiter: bene est. Occidor, sed fortiter: bene est.' Audi Epicurum, dicet et 'dulce est'. Ego tam honestae rei ac severae numquam molle nomen imponam. Uror, sed invictus: quidni hoc optabile sit? - non quod urit me ignis, sed quod non vincit. Nihil est virtute praestantius, nihil pulchrius; et bonum est et optabile quidquid ex huius geritur imperio. Vale.","en":"At this point I think of our Demetrius, who calls a life free from care and from any attacks of fortune a \"dead sea\". To have nothing to rouse you, nothing to spur you on, nothing whose threat and attack would test the firmness of your mind, but to lie in unshaken ease, is not tranquillity: it is a dead calm. The Stoic Attalus used to say, \"I would rather fortune kept me in her camp than in her luxuries. I am being tortured, but bravely: all is well. I am being killed, but bravely: all is well.\" Listen to Epicurus: he will even say, \"It is pleasant.\" I will never give so soft a name to so honourable and stern a thing. I am being burned, but unconquered: why should this not be desirable? Not that the fire burns me, but that it does not conquer me. Nothing is more excellent than virtue, nothing more beautiful; and whatever is done at her command is both good and desirable. Farewell."}],"68":[{"ref":"Letter 68.1–2","orig":"Consilio tuo accedo: absconde te in otio, sed et ipsum otium absconde. Hoc te facturum Stoicorum etiam si non praecepto, at exemplo licet scias; sed ex praecepto quoque facies: et tibi et cui voles approbaris. Nec ad omnem rem publicam mittimus nec semper nec sine ullo fine; praeterea, cum sapienti rem publicam ipso dignam dedimus, id est mundum, non est extra rem publicam etiam si recesserit, immo fortasse relicto uno angulo in maiora atque ampliora transit et caelo impositus intellegit, cum sellam aut tribunal ascenderet, quam humili loco sederit. Depone hoc apud te, numquam plus agere sapientem quam cum in conspectum eius divina atque humana venerunt.","en":"I agree with your plan: hide yourself away in leisure, but hide the leisure itself too. You may be sure that in doing this you will be following the Stoics, if not their teaching, at least their example. But you will be following their teaching as well; you will satisfy both yourself and anyone you like. We do not send the wise man into every state, nor always, nor without any limit. Besides, since we have given the wise man a state worthy of him, that is, the universe, he is not outside the state even if he has withdrawn. Perhaps, rather, having left one corner, he passes into greater and wider regions, and, set in the heavens, he understands how lowly a place he sat in when he mounted the official chair or the tribunal. Store this away in your mind: the wise man is never more active than when things divine and human have come before his eyes."},{"ref":"Letter 68.3–4","orig":"Nunc ad illud revertor quod suadere tibi coeperam, ut otium tuum ignotum sit. Non est quod inscribas tibi philosophiam ac quietem: aliud proposito tuo nomen impone, valetudinem et imbecillitatem vocato et desidiam. Gloriari otio iners ambitio est. Animalia quaedam, ne inveniri possint, vestigia sua circa ipsum cubile confundunt: idem tibi faciendum est, alioqui non deerunt qui persequantur. Multi aperta transeunt, condita et abstrusa rimantur; furem signata sollicitant. Vile videtur quidquid patet; aperta effractarius praeterit. Hos mores habet populus, hos imperitissimus quisque: in secreta irrumpere cupit.","en":"Now I come back to the advice I had begun to give you: that your leisure should be unknown. There is no reason to label yourself with philosophy and retirement. Give your plan another name: call it ill health and weakness and laziness. To boast of one's leisure is idle ambition. Some animals confuse their tracks around their lair so that they cannot be found. You must do the same; otherwise there will be no lack of people to hunt you down. Many pass by what is open and pry into what is hidden and tucked away. A sealed thing tempts the thief. Whatever lies open seems cheap; the burglar passes by what is unlocked. The public has these habits, and so does every ignorant person: they want to break into secrets."},{"ref":"Letter 68.5–6","orig":"Optimum itaque est non iactare otium suum; iactandi autem genus est nimis latere et a conspectu hominum secedere. Ille Tarentum se abdidit, ille Neapoli inclusus est, ille multis annis non transit domus suae limen: convocat turbam quisquis otio suo aliquam fabulam imposuit. Cum secesseris, non est hoc agendum, ut de te homines loquantur, sed ut ipse tecum loquaris. Quid autem loqueris? quod homines de aliis libentissime faciunt, de te apud te male existima: assuesces et dicere verum et audire. Id autem maxime tracta quod in te esse infirmissimum senties.","en":"So it is best not to show off one's leisure. And one way of showing it off is to hide too much and withdraw from people's sight. One man has buried himself at Tarentum, another is shut up in Naples, another for many years has not crossed his own threshold. Anyone who has made his leisure into some kind of story draws a crowd. When you have withdrawn, your aim should not be to have people talk about you, but to talk with yourself. And what will you say? What people most love to do about others: think badly of yourself, to yourself. You will get used to both telling and hearing the truth. Above all, work on what you feel is weakest in you."},{"ref":"Letter 68.7–8","orig":"Nota habet sui quisque corporis vitia. Itaque alius vomitu levat stomachum, alius frequenti cibo fulcit, alius interposito ieiunio corpus exhaurit et purgat; ii quorum pedes dolor repetit aut vino aut balineo abstinent: in cetera neglegentes huic a quo saepe infestantur occurrunt. Sic in animo nostro sunt quaedam quasi causariae partes quibus adhibenda curatio est. Quid in otio facio? ulcus meum curo. Si ostenderem tibi pedem turgidum, lividam manum, aut contracti cruris aridos nervos, permitteres mihi uno loco iacere et fovere morbum meum: maius malum est hoc, quod non possum tibi ostendere: in pectore ipso collectio et vomica est. Nolo nolo laudes, nolo dicas, 'o magnum virum! contempsit omnia et damnatis humanae vitae furoribus fugit'. Nihil damnavi nisi me.","en":"Each person knows the weak points of his own body. So one relieves his stomach by vomiting, another props it up with frequent meals, another drains and purges his body with a fast now and then. Those whose feet are attacked again and again by pain keep off wine or the baths. Careless in other things, they head off the thing that often troubles them. In the same way there are some parts of our mind that are, so to speak, on the sick list, and a cure must be applied to them. What do I do in my leisure? I treat my sore. If I showed you a swollen foot, a bruised hand, or the withered sinews of a contracted leg, you would let me lie in one place and nurse my illness. This trouble is greater, and I cannot show it to you: the abscess and the gathering of pus are in my very chest. No, no, do not praise me, do not say, \"What a great man! He has scorned everything, condemned the madness of human life, and escaped.\" I have condemned nothing but myself."},{"ref":"Letter 68.9–10","orig":"Non est quod proficiendi causa venire ad me velis. Erras, qui hinc aliquid auxili speras: non medicus sed aeger hic habitat. Malo illa, cum discesseris, dicas: 'ego istum beatum hominem putabam et eruditum, erexeram aures: destitutus sum, nihil vidi, nihil audivi quod concupiscerem, ad quod reverterer'. Si hoc sentis, si hoc loqueris, aliquid profectum est: malo ignoscas otio meo quam invideas. 'Otium' inquis 'Seneca, commendas mihi? ad Epicureas voces delaberis?' Otium tibi commendo, in quo maiora agas et pulchriora quam quae reliquisti: pulsare superbas potentiorum fores, digerere in litteram senes orbos, plurimum in foro posse invidiosa potentia ac brevis est et, si verum aestimes, sordida.","en":"There is no reason for you to want to come to me for the sake of making progress. You are wrong if you hope for any help from here: not a doctor but a patient lives here. When you leave, I would rather you said: \"I thought that man was happy and learned, I had pricked up my ears: I have been let down. I saw nothing, heard nothing that I desired, nothing to come back for.\" If you feel this, if you say this, some progress has been made. I would rather you forgave my leisure than envied it. \"Is it leisure, Seneca,\" you say, \"that you recommend to me? Are you slipping into Epicurean talk?\" I recommend to you a leisure in which you may do greater and finer things than those you have left. Knocking on the proud doors of the powerful, making lists of childless old men, having great power in the forum: that is power that breeds envy, it is short-lived and, if you judge truly, sordid."},{"ref":"Letter 68.11–13","orig":"Ille me gratia forensi longe antecedet, ille stipendiis militaribus et quaesita per hoc dignitate, ille clientium turba. Par esse non possum, plus habent gratiae: est tanti ab omnibus vinci, dum a me fortuna vincatur. Utinam quidem hoc propositum sequi olim fuisset animus tibi! utinam de vita beata non in conspectu mortis ageremus! Sed nunc quoque non moramur; multa enim quae supervacua esse et inimica credituri fuimus rationi, nunc experientiae credimus. Quod facere solent qui serius exierunt et volunt tempus celeritate reparare, calcar addamus. Haec aetas optime facit ad haec studia: iam despumavit, iam vitia primo fervore adulescentiae indomita lassavit; non multum superest ut exstinguat.","en":"One man will be far ahead of me in influence at the bar, another in military service and the rank gained through it, another in his crowd of clients. I cannot equal them; they have more influence. It is worth being beaten by everyone, as long as fortune is beaten by me. If only you had had the will to follow this plan long ago! If only we were not discussing the happy life within sight of death! But even now we are not too late. For many things which we would have believed on reason's word to be superfluous and hostile, we now believe on experience's word. Let us do what those who have set out late and want to make up time by speed usually do: let us use the spur. This age is best suited to these studies. It has now boiled off its froth; it has now tired out the vices that were untamed in the first heat of youth. Not much is left before it puts them out."},{"ref":"Letter 68.14","orig":"'Et quando' inquis 'tibi proderit istud quod in exitu discis, aut in quam rem?' In hanc, ut exeam melior. Non est tamen quod existimes ullam aetatem aptiorem esse ad bonam mentem quam quae se multis experimentis, longa ac frequenti rerum paenitentia domuit, quae ad salutaria mitigatis affectibus venit. Hoc est huius boni tempus: quisquis senex ad sapientiam pervenit, annis pervenit. Vale.","en":"\"And when,\" you say, \"will what you learn at your departure do you any good, and for what?\" For this: that I may depart a better man. But there is no reason to think that any age is better suited to a sound mind than one that has tamed itself through many trials and through long and repeated regret over things, and has come to healthy ways once its passions have been softened. This is the time for this good. Whoever reaches wisdom as an old man reaches it through his years. Farewell."}],"69":[{"ref":"Letter 69.1–3","orig":"Mutare te loca et aliunde alio transilire nolo, primum quia tam frequens migratio instabilis animi est: coalescere otio non potest nisi desit circumspicere et errare. Ut animum possis continere, primum corporis tui fugam siste. Deinde plurimum remedia continuata proficiunt: interrumpenda non est quies et vitae prioris oblivio; sine dediscere oculos tuos, sine aures assuescere sanioribus verbis. Quotiens processeris, in ipso transitu aliqua quae renovent cupiditates tuas tibi occurrent. Quemadmodum ei qui amorem exuere conatur evitanda est omnis admonitio dilecti corporis - nihil enim facilius quam amor recrudescit -, ita qui deponere vult desideria rerum omnium quarum cupiditate flagravit et oculos et aures ab iis quae reliquit avertat.","en":"I do not want you to keep changing places and jumping from one to another. First, because such frequent moving is the mark of an unsteady mind. The mind cannot settle in leisure unless it stops looking around and wandering. To be able to hold your mind steady, first stop your body from running away. Next, remedies do most good when they are continued without a break. Your rest and your forgetting of your former life must not be interrupted. Let your eyes unlearn, let your ears get used to healthier words. Whenever you go out, on the very way you will meet things that renew your desires. Just as a man who is trying to shake off a love must avoid everything that reminds him of the body he loved (for nothing flares up again more easily than love), so a man who wants to lay aside his longing for all the things he burned for must turn both eyes and ears away from what he has left."},{"ref":"Letter 69.4–5","orig":"Cito rebellat affectus. Quocumque se verterit, pretium aliquod praesens occupationis suae aspiciet. Nullum sine auctoramento malum est: avaritia pecuniam promittit, luxuria multas ac varias voluptates, ambitio purpuram et plausum et ex hoc potentiam et quidquid potest potentia. Mercede te vitia sollicitant: hic tibi gratis vivendum est. Vix effici toto saeculo potest ut vitia tam longa licentia tumida subigantur et iugum accipiant, nedum si tam breve tempus intervallis discindimus; unam quamlibet rem vix ad perfectum perducit assidua vigilia et intentio.","en":"Passion soon rebels. Wherever it turns, it will see some immediate reward for its efforts. There is no vice without its wages. Greed promises money; luxury many and varied pleasures; ambition the purple and applause, and from this power and whatever power can do. The vices tempt you with pay; here you must live for nothing. A whole lifetime is hardly enough to subdue vices swollen by such long licence and make them accept the yoke, let alone if we break up so short a time with interruptions. Constant watchfulness and effort can barely bring any single thing to perfection."},{"ref":"Letter 69.6","orig":"Si me quidem velis audire, hoc meditare et exerce, ut mortem et excipias et, si ita res suadebit, accersas: interest nihil, illa ad nos veniat an ad illam nos. Illud imperitissimi cuiusque verbum falsum esse tibi ipse persuade: 'bella res est mori sua morte'. Nemo moritur nisi sua morte. Illud praeterea tecum licet cogites: nemo nisi suo die moritur. Nihil perdis ex tuo tempore; nam quod relinquis alienum est. Vale.","en":"If you will listen to me, practise and train yourself for this: to welcome death and, if circumstances advise it, to summon it. It makes no difference whether it comes to us or we go to it. Persuade yourself that this saying of every ignorant person is false: \"It is a fine thing to die one's own death.\" No one dies except his own death. You may also reflect on this: no one dies except on his own day. You lose nothing of your own time, for what you leave behind belongs to someone else. Farewell."}],"70":[{"ref":"Letter 70.1–2","orig":"Post longum intervallum Pompeios tuos vidi. In conspectum adulescentiae meae reductus sum; quidquid illic iuvenis feceram videbar mihi facere adhuc posse et paulo ante fecisse. Praenavigavimus, Lucili, vitam et quemadmodum in mari, ut ait Vergilius noster,\nterraeque urbesque recedunt,\nsic in hoc cursu rapidissimi temporis primum pueritiam abscondimus, deinde adulescentiam, deinde quidquid est illud inter iuvenem et senem medium, in utriusque confinio positum, deinde ipsius senectutis optimos annos; novissime incipit ostendi publicus finis generis humani.","en":"After a long interval I have seen your Pompeii. I was brought back face to face with my youth. Whatever I had done there as a young man, I felt I could still do, and that I had done it only a little while ago. We have sailed past life, Lucilius, and just as at sea, as our Virgil says,\nlands and cities fall away,\nso on this voyage of swiftest time we first lose sight of childhood, then of youth, then of that stretch between young manhood and old age that lies on the border of both, then of the best years of old age itself. Last of all the common end of the human race begins to come into view."},{"ref":"Letter 70.3–4","orig":"Scopulum esse illum putamus dementissimi: portus est, aliquando petendus, numquam recusandus, in quem si quis intra primos annos delatus est, non magis queri debet quam qui cito navigavit. Alium enim, ut scis, venti segnes ludunt ac detinent et tranquillitatis lentissimae taedio lassant, alium pertinax flatus celerrime perfert. Idem evenire nobis puta: alios vita velocissime adduxit quo veniendum erat etiam cunctantibus, alios maceravit et coxit. Quae, ut scis, non semper retinenda est; non enim vivere bonum est, sed bene vivere. Itaque sapiens vivet quantum debet, non quantum potest.","en":"We think it a rock, in our utter madness: it is a harbour, to be sought one day and never refused. If someone has been carried into it in his first years, he has no more reason to complain than one who has had a quick voyage. For one man, as you know, is toyed with and held back by idle winds and worn out by the tedium of a very sluggish calm; another is carried along very swiftly by a steady breeze. Think that the same happens to us. Life has brought some very quickly to where they had to come even if they lingered; others it has worn down and cooked slowly. Life, as you know, is not always to be held on to. For living is not a good, but living well is. So the wise man will live as long as he ought, not as long as he can."},{"ref":"Letter 70.5–6","orig":"Videbit ubi victurus sit, cum quibus, quomodo, quid acturus. Cogitat semper qualia vita, non quanta sit. Si multa occurrunt molesta et tranquillitatem turbantia, emittit se; nec hoc tantum in necessitate ultima facit, sed cum primum illi coepit suspecta esse fortuna, diligenter circumspicit numquid illic desinendum sit. Nihil existimat sua referre, faciat finem an accipiat, tardius fiat an citius: non tamquam de magno detrimento timet; nemo multum ex stilicidio potest perdere. Citius mori aut tardius ad rem non pertinet, bene mori aut male ad rem pertinet; bene autem mori est effugere male vivendi periculum. Itaque effeminatissimam vocem illius Rhodii existimo, qui cum in caveam coniectus esset a tyranno et tamquam ferum aliquod animal aleretur, suadenti cuidam ut abstineret cibo, 'omnia' inquit 'homini, dum vivit, speranda sunt'.","en":"He will look at where he is to live, with whom, how, and what he is to do. He always considers what his life is like, not how long it is. If many troubles come his way that disturb his peace, he releases himself. He does not do this only in the last extremity: as soon as he begins to distrust fortune, he looks around carefully to see whether he should stop there. He thinks it makes no difference to him whether he makes an end or receives one, whether it comes later or sooner. He does not fear it as a great loss; no one can lose much from a trickle of drops. Dying sooner or later is not the point; dying well or badly is the point. And dying well means escaping the danger of living badly. So I think that saying of the man from Rhodes utterly unmanly. When he had been thrown into a cage by a tyrant and was being fed like some wild beast, and someone advised him to stop eating, he said, \"A man may hope for anything while he lives.\""},{"ref":"Letter 70.7–8","orig":"Ut sit hoc verum, non omni pretio vita emenda est. Quaedam licet magna, licet certa sint, tamen ad illa turpi infirmitatis confessione non veniam: ego cogitem in eo qui vivit omnia posse fortunam, potius quam cogitem in eo qui scit mori nil posse fortunam? Aliquando tamen, etiam si certa mors instabit et destinatum sibi supplicium sciet, non commodabit poenae suae manum: sibi commodaret. Stultitia est timore mortis mori: venit qui occidat, exspecta. Quid occupas? quare suscipis alienae crudelitatis procurationem? utrum invides carnifici tuo an parcis?","en":"Even if this is true, life is not to be bought at any price. Some things, however great and however certain, I will not come to by a shameful confession of weakness. Shall I think that fortune can do anything to a man who is alive, rather than that fortune can do nothing to a man who knows how to die? Sometimes, though, even when certain death is at hand and he knows his punishment has been decided, he will not lend his own hand to his punishment; he would be lending it to himself. It is folly to die from fear of death. The man who will kill you is coming: wait for him. Why get in first? Why take on the management of someone else's cruelty? Do you begrudge your executioner his job, or are you sparing him?"},{"ref":"Letter 70.9","orig":"Socrates potuit abstinentia finire vitam et inedia potius quam veneno mori; triginta tamen dies in carcere et in exspectatione mortis exegit, non hoc animo tamquam omnia fieri possent, tamquam multas spes tam longum tempus reciperet, sed ut praeberet se legibus, ut fruendum amicis extremum Socraten daret. Quid erat stultius quam mortem contemnere, venenum timere?","en":"Socrates could have ended his life by fasting and died of starvation rather than poison. Yet he spent thirty days in prison waiting for death, not in the belief that anything might happen, or that so long a time held many hopes, but in order to submit to the laws and to give his friends the enjoyment of Socrates to the last. What would have been more foolish than to despise death and fear poison?"},{"ref":"Letter 70.10","orig":"Scribonia, gravis femina, amita Drusi Libonis fuit, adulescentis tam stolidi quam nobilis, maiora sperantis quam illo saeculo quisquam sperare poterat aut ipse ullo. Cum aeger a senatu in lectica relatus esset non sane frequentibus exsequis - omnes enim necessarii deseruerant impie iam non reum sed funus -, habere coepit consilium utrum conscisceret mortem an exspectaret. Cui Scribonia 'quid te' inquit 'delectat alienum negotium agere?' Non persuasit illi: manus sibi attulit, nec sine causa. Nam post diem tertium aut quartum inimici moriturus arbitrio si vivit, alienum negotium agit.","en":"Scribonia, a woman of dignity, was the aunt of Drusus Libo, a young man as dull as he was noble, who hoped for more than anyone could hope for in that age, or than he himself could in any age. When he had been carried home ill from the senate in a litter, with a funeral train that was certainly thin (for all his relatives had wickedly deserted him, no longer a defendant now but a corpse), he began to consider whether to take his own life or wait for death. Scribonia said to him, \"What pleasure is there in doing someone else's work?\" She did not persuade him: he laid hands on himself, and not without reason. For if a man is going to die in three or four days at his enemy's pleasure, then if he lives on, he is doing someone else's work."},{"ref":"Letter 70.11–12","orig":"Non possis itaque de re in universum pronuntiare, cum mortem vis externa denuntiat, occupanda sit an exspectanda; multa enim sunt quae in utramque partem trahere possunt. Si altera mors cum tormento, altera simplex et facilis est, quidni huic inicienda sit manus? Quemadmodum navem eligam navigaturus et domum habitaturus, sic mortem exiturus e vita. Praeterea quemadmodum non utique melior est longior vita, sic peior est utique mors longior. In nulla re magis quam in morte morem animo gerere debemus. Exeat qua impetum cepit: sive ferrum appetit sive laqueum sive aliquam potionem venas occupantem, pergat et vincula servitutis abrumpat. Vitam et aliis approbare quisque debet, mortem sibi: optima est quae placet.","en":"So you cannot give a general ruling on whether, when an outside power announces death, it should be anticipated or awaited, for there are many things that can pull either way. If one death comes with torture and the other is simple and easy, why not lay hold of the second? Just as I will choose a ship when I am going to sail and a house when I am going to live somewhere, so I will choose my death when I am going to leave life. Besides, just as a longer life is not necessarily better, so a longer death is necessarily worse. In nothing should we indulge the mind more than in death. Let it go out where it has set its impulse; whether it seeks the sword, or the noose, or some draught that seizes the veins, let it go on and break the chains of slavery. Everyone ought to make his life acceptable to others as well, his death to himself alone. The best death is the one that pleases."},{"ref":"Letter 70.13–14","orig":"Stulte haec cogitantur: 'aliquis dicet me parum fortiter fecisse, aliquis nimis temere, aliquis fuisse aliquod genus mortis animosius'. Vis tu cogitare id in manibus esse consilium ad quod fama non pertinet! Hoc unum intuere, ut te fortunae quam celerrime eripias; alioquin aderunt qui de facto tuo male existiment. Invenies etiam professos sapientiam qui vim afferendam vitae suae negent et nefas iudicent ipsum interemptorem sui fieri: exspectandum esse exitum quem natura decrevit. Hoc qui dicit non videt se libertatis viam cludere: nihil melius aeterna lex fecit quam quod unum introitum nobis ad vitam dedit, exitus multos.","en":"These are foolish thoughts: \"Someone will say that I acted without enough courage, someone that I was too hasty, someone that there was a braver kind of death.\" Will you not realise that what you have in hand is a decision that reputation has nothing to do with! Look only to this: to snatch yourself away from fortune as quickly as possible. Otherwise there will always be people to think badly of what you have done. You will even find men who profess wisdom who say that one must not do violence to one's own life, and judge it a sin to become one's own slayer: one must wait for the end that nature has decreed. The man who says this does not see that he is shutting the road to freedom. The eternal law has done nothing better than this: it has given us one entrance into life, but many exits."},{"ref":"Letter 70.15–16","orig":"Ego exspectem vel morbi crudelitatem vel hominis, cum possim per media exire tormenta et adversa discutere? Hoc est unum cur de vita non possimus queri: neminem tenet. Bono loco res humanae sunt, quod nemo nisi vitio suo miser est. Placet? vive: non placet? licet eo reverti unde venisti. Ut dolorem capitis levares, sanguinem saepe misisti; ad extenuandum corpus vena percutitur. Non opus est vasto vulnere dividere praecordia: scalpello aperitur ad illam magnam libertatem via et puncto securitas constat. Quid ergo est quod nos facit pigros inertesque? Nemo nostrum cogitat quandoque sibi ex hoc domicilio exeundum; sic veteres inquilinos indulgentia loci et consuetudo etiam inter iniurias detinet.","en":"Shall I wait for the cruelty of disease or of man, when I can go out through the midst of torments and shake off my troubles? This is the one reason why we cannot complain about life: it holds no one. Human affairs are in a good state in this, that no one is wretched except through his own fault. Does life please you? Live. Does it not please you? You may go back to where you came from. To relieve a headache you have often had blood let; to reduce the body, a vein is opened. There is no need to split the chest with a huge wound: a lancet opens the way to that great freedom, and peace comes at the cost of a pinprick. What is it, then, that makes us sluggish and idle? None of us thinks that he must some day leave this dwelling. Just so, fondness for the place and habit keep old tenants there, even when they are badly treated."},{"ref":"Letter 70.17–18","orig":"Vis adversus hoc corpus liber esse? tamquam migraturus habita. Propone tibi quandoque hoc contubernio carendum: fortior eris ad necessitatem exeundi. Sed quemadmodum suus finis veniet in mentem omnia sine fine concupiscentibus? Nullius rei meditatio tam necessaria est; alia enim fortasse exercentur in supervacuum. Adversus paupertatem praeparatus est animus: permansere divitiae. Ad contemptum nos doloris armavimus: numquam a nobis exegit huius virtutis experimentum integri ac sani felicitas corporis. Ut fortiter amissorum desideria pateremur praecepimus nobis: omnis quos amabamus superstites fortuna servavit.","en":"Do you want to be free in relation to this body? Live in it as if you were about to move out. Keep before you the thought that some day you must do without this companionship: you will be braver when the time to leave has to come. But how will people think of their own end when they desire everything without end? Yet nothing is so necessary to practise. Other things we train for perhaps to no purpose. The mind has been prepared against poverty, and the riches have stayed. We have armed ourselves to despise pain, and the good fortune of a sound, healthy body has never required us to test this virtue. We have taught ourselves to bear bravely the loss of those we miss, and fortune has kept alive everyone we loved."},{"ref":"Letter 70.19","orig":"Huius unius rei usum qui exigat dies veniet. Non est quod existimes magnis tantum viris hoc robur fuisse quo servitutis humanae claustra perrumperent; non est quod iudices hoc fieri nisi a Catone non posse, qui quam ferro non emiserat animam manu extraxit: vilissimae sortis homines ingenti impetu in tutum evaserunt, cumque e commodo mori non licuisset nec ad arbitrium suum instrumenta mortis eligere, obvia quaeque rapuerunt et quae natura non erant noxia vi sua tela fecerunt.","en":"For this one thing, the day will come that demands its use. There is no reason to think that only great men have had the strength to break through the bars of human slavery. There is no reason to judge that this can be done only by a Cato, who with his hand dragged out the life he had not let out with the sword. Men of the humblest lot have escaped to safety with a mighty effort. When they were not allowed to die at their convenience or to choose the instruments of death as they liked, they snatched up whatever lay at hand, and by their own strength made weapons of things that by nature were harmless."},{"ref":"Letter 70.20","orig":"Nuper in ludo bestiariorum unus e Germanis, cum ad matutina spectacula pararetur, secessit ad exonerandum corpus - nullum aliud illi dabatur sine custode secretum; ibi lignum id quod ad emundanda obscena adhaerente spongia positum est totum in gulam farsit et interclusis faucibus spiritum elisit. Hoc fuit morti contumeliam facere. Ita prorsus, parum munde et parum decenter: quid est stultius quam fastidiose mori?","en":"Recently, in a training school for wild-beast fighters, one of the Germans, while he was being got ready for the morning show, withdrew to relieve himself; this was the only privacy he was allowed without a guard. There he took the stick with a sponge attached that is kept for wiping away filth, rammed the whole thing down his throat, blocked his windpipe and choked the life out of himself. That was treating death with contempt. Quite so, not very cleanly and not very decently: but what is more foolish than being fussy about how one dies?"},{"ref":"Letter 70.21–22","orig":"O virum fortem, o dignum cui fati daretur electio! Quam fortiter ille gladio usus esset, quam animose in profundam se altitudinem maris aut abscisae rupis immisisset! Undique destitutus invenit quemadmodum et mortem sibi deberet et telum, ut scias ad moriendum nihil aliud in mora esse quam velle. Existimetur de facto hominis acerrimi ut cuique visum erit, dum hoc constet, praeferendam esse spurcissimam mortem servituti mundissimae. Quoniam coepi sordidis exemplis uti, perseverabo; plus enim a se quisque exiget, si viderit hanc rem etiam a contemptissimis posse contemni. Catones Scipionesque et alios quos audire cum admiratione consuevimus supra imitationem positos putamus: iam ego istam virtutem habere tam multa exempla in ludo bestiario quam in ducibus belli civilis ostendam.","en":"What a brave man! How worthy of being given the choice of his fate! How bravely he would have used a sword, how boldly he would have thrown himself into the deep sea or off a sheer cliff! Deprived of everything on every side, he found a way to owe himself both his death and the weapon for it. So you may know that nothing delays dying except the will. Let each person judge the deed of this most spirited man as he sees fit, so long as this is agreed: that the filthiest death is to be preferred to the cleanest slavery. Since I have begun to use low examples, I will go on. For each person will demand more of himself if he sees that even the most despised people can despise this thing. We think that the Catos and Scipios and others whom we are used to hearing of with admiration are placed beyond imitation. I will now show that this virtue has as many examples in the beast-fighters' school as among the leaders of the civil war."},{"ref":"Letter 70.23–24","orig":"Cum adveheretur nuper inter custodias quidam ad matutinum spectaculum missus, tamquam somno premente nutaret, caput usque eo demisit donec radiis insereret, et tamdiu se in sedili suo tenuit donec cervicem circumactu rotae frangeret; eodem vehiculo quo ad poenam ferebatur effugit. Nihil obstat erumpere et exire cupienti: in aperto nos natura custodit. Cui permittit necessitas sua, circumspiciat exitum mollem; cui ad manum plura sunt per quae sese asserat, is dilectum agat et qua potissimum liberetur consideret: cui difficilis occasio est, is proximam quamque pro optima arripiat, sit licet inaudita, sit nova. Non deerit ad mortem ingenium cui non defuerit animus.","en":"Recently a man was being taken under guard to the morning show. As if nodding off with sleep, he let his head drop until he got it between the spokes, and kept himself in his seat until the turning of the wheel broke his neck. He escaped by means of the very vehicle that was carrying him to his punishment. Nothing stands in the way of one who wants to break out and leave. Nature keeps us in an open prison. The man whose circumstances allow it may look around for a gentle way out. The man who has many means to hand for setting himself free may make a choice and consider which is the best way to be freed. The man for whom the chance is hard to find should seize whatever is nearest as if it were the best, even if it is unheard of and new. A man who has not lacked courage will not lack ingenuity for dying."},{"ref":"Letter 70.25–27","orig":"Vides quemadmodum extrema quoque mancipia, ubi illis stimulos adegit dolor, excitentur et intentissimas custodias fallant? Ille vir magnus est qui mortem sibi non tantum imperavit sed invenit. Ex eodem tibi munere plura exempla promisi. Secundo naumachiae spectaculo unus e barbaris lanceam quam in adversarios acceperat totam iugulo suo mersit. 'Quare, quare' inquit 'non omne tormentum, omne ludibrium iamdudum effugio? quare ego mortem armatus exspecto?' Tanto hoc speciosius spectaculum fuit quanto honestius mori discunt homines quam occidere. Quid ergo? quod animi perditi quoque noxiosi habent non habebunt illi quos adversus hos casus instruxit longa meditatio et magistra rerum omnium ratio? Illa nos docet fati varios esse accessus, finem eundem, nihil autem interesse unde incipiat quod venit.","en":"Do you see how even the lowest slaves, when pain has driven its goad into them, are roused and outwit the closest watch? That man is great who has not only ordered himself to die but found a way to do it. I promised you more examples from the same games. During the second staging of a mock sea battle, one of the barbarians plunged into his own throat the whole spear he had been given for use against the enemy. \"Why, why,\" he said, \"have I not long since escaped all this torment and all this mockery? Why do I wait for death when I am armed?\" This was a far finer show, in that people learn it is more honourable to die than to kill. What then? What even ruined and criminal spirits have, will those not have who have been equipped against these chances by long reflection and by reason, the teacher of all things? Reason teaches us that fate has various approaches but the same end, and that it makes no difference where what is coming begins."},{"ref":"Letter 70.28","orig":"Eadem illa ratio monet ut si licet moriaris quemadmodum placet, si minus quemadmodum potes, et quidquid obvenerit ad vim afferendam tibi invadas. Iniuriosum est rapto vivere, at contra pulcherrimum mori rapto. Vale.","en":"That same reason advises you to die as you please, if you may; if not, as you can, and to seize on whatever comes to hand for doing violence to yourself. It is wrong to live by robbery, but on the other hand it is most noble to die by robbery. Farewell."}],"71":[{"ref":"Letter 71.1–2","orig":"Subinde me de rebus singulis consulis, oblitus vasto nos mari dividi. Cum magna pars consilii sit in tempore, necesse est evenire ut de quibusdam rebus tunc ad te perferatur sententia mea cum iam contraria potior est. Consilia enim rebus aptantur; res nostrae feruntur, immo volvuntur; ergo consilium nasci sub diem debet. Et hoc quoque nimis tardum est: sub manu, quod aiunt, nascatur. Quemadmodum autem inveniatur ostendam. Quotiens quid fugiendum sit aut quid petendum voles scire, ad summum bonum, propositum totius vitae tuae, respice. Illi enim consentire debet quidquid agimus: non disponet singula, nisi cui iam vitae suae summa proposita est. Nemo, quamvis paratos habeat colores, similitudinem reddet, nisi iam constat quid velit pingere. Ideo peccamus quia de partibus vitae omnes deliberamus, de tota nemo deliberat.","en":"You keep consulting me about particular matters, forgetting that a vast sea separates us. Since a large part of advice depends on timing, it must happen that on some questions my opinion reaches you when the opposite course has already become the better one. For advice is fitted to circumstances, and our circumstances are carried along, or rather rolled along. So advice should be born on the day. Even this is too slow: let it be born \"on the spot\", as they say. But I will show you how it can be found. Whenever you want to know what to avoid or what to seek, look to the highest good, the aim of your whole life. Everything we do must agree with it. No one will set particular things in order unless he has already set before himself the sum of his life. No one, however well stocked with colours, will produce a likeness unless he has already settled what he wants to paint. The reason we go wrong is that we all deliberate about the parts of life; no one deliberates about the whole."},{"ref":"Letter 71.3–4","orig":"Scire debet quid petat ille qui sagittam vult mittere, et tunc derigere ac moderari manu telum: errant consilia nostra, quia non habent quo derigantur; ignoranti quem portum petat nullus suus ventus est. Necesse est multum in vita nostra casus possit, quia vivimus casu. Quibusdam autem evenit ut quaedam scire se nesciant; quemadmodum quaerimus saepe eos cum quibus stamus, ita plerumque finem summi boni ignoramus appositum. Nec multis verbis nec circumitu longo quod sit summum bonum colliges: digito, ut ita dicam, demonstrandum est nec in multa spargendum. Quid enim ad rem pertinet in particulas illud diducere? cum possis dicere 'summum bonum est quod honestum est' et, quod magis admireris, 'unum bonum est quod honestum est, cetera falsa et adulterina bona sunt'.","en":"A man who wants to shoot an arrow must know what he is aiming at, and only then direct and steady the shaft with his hand. Our plans go astray because they have nothing to be directed at. For the man who does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right one. Chance must have great power in our lives, because we live by chance. It happens to some people that they do not know that they know certain things. Just as we often look for people who are standing next to us, so we mostly do not know that the goal of the highest good is right beside us. You will not need many words or a long detour to work out what the highest good is. It should be pointed out, so to speak, with a finger, not scattered over many things. What is the use of breaking it into little pieces, when you can say, \"The highest good is what is honourable,\" and, which may surprise you more, \"The only good is what is honourable; the rest are false and counterfeit goods\"?"},{"ref":"Letter 71.5","orig":"Hoc si persuaseris tibi et virtutem adamaveris - amare enim parum est -, quidquid illa contigerit, id tibi, qualecumque aliis videbitur, faustum felixque erit. Et torqueri, si modo iacueris ipso torquente securior, et aegrotare, si non male dixeris fortunae, si non cesseris morbo, omnia denique quae ceteris videntur mala et mansuescent et in bonum abibunt, si super illa eminueris. Hoc liqueat, nihil esse bonum nisi honestum: et omnia incommoda suo iure bona vocabuntur quae modo virtus honestaverit.","en":"If you persuade yourself of this and fall in love with virtue (for merely loving her is too little), then whatever she touches will be lucky and happy for you, however it seems to others. Being tortured, if only you lie there calmer than your torturer; being ill, if you do not curse fortune or give in to the disease; in short, all the things that seem evils to others will both grow tame and turn into good, if you rise above them. Let this be clear: nothing is good except what is honourable. And all hardships will rightly be called goods, as long as virtue has made them honourable."},{"ref":"Letter 71.6","orig":"Multis videmur maiora promittere quam recipit humana condicio, non immerito; ad corpus enim respiciunt. Revertantur ad animum: iam hominem deo metientur. Erige te, Lucili virorum optime, et relinque istum ludum litterarium philosophorum qui rem magnificentissimam ad syllabas vocant, qui animum minuta docendo demittunt et conterunt: fies similis illis qui invenerunt ista, non qui docent et id agunt ut philosophia potius difficilis quam magna videatur.","en":"To many people we seem to promise more than the human condition admits, and not without reason, for they look at the body. Let them turn back to the mind: then they will measure man by god. Rouse yourself, Lucilius, best of men, and leave that elementary school of the philosophers who reduce the most magnificent of subjects to syllables, who lower and wear down the mind by teaching trifles. You will become like those who discovered these truths, not those who teach them and work to make philosophy seem difficult rather than great."},{"ref":"Letter 71.7","orig":"Socrates, qui totam philosophiam revocavit ad mores et hanc summam dixit esse sapientiam, bona malaque distinguere, 'sequere' inquit 'illos, si quid apud te habeo auctoritatis, ut sis beatus, et te alicui stultum videri sine. Quisquis volet tibi contumeliam faciat et iniuriam, tu tamen nihil patieris, si modo tecum erit virtus. Si vis inquit 'beatus esse, si fide bona vir bonus, sine contemnat te aliquis.' Hoc nemo praestabit nisi qui omnia prior ipse contempserit, nisi qui omnia bona exaequaverit, quia nec bonum sine honesto est et honestum in omnibus par est.","en":"Socrates, who brought the whole of philosophy back to conduct and said that the highest wisdom is to tell good from evil, says: \"If I have any authority with you, follow those principles, so that you may be happy, and let someone think you a fool. Let anyone who wants insult you and wrong you; you will still suffer nothing, as long as virtue is with you. If you want to be happy,\" he says, \"if you want to be in good faith a good man, let someone despise you.\" No one will manage this unless he has first despised everything himself, and unless he has made all goods equal, since there is no good without the honourable, and the honourable is equal in all cases."},{"ref":"Letter 71.8–9","orig":"'Quid ergo? nihil interest inter praeturam Catonis et repulsam? nihil interest utrum Pharsalica acie Cato vincatur an vincat? hoc eius bonum, quo victis partibus non potest vinci, par erat illi bono quo victor rediret in patriam et componeret pacem?' Quidni par sit? eadem enim virtute et mala fortuna vincitur et ordinatur bona; virtus autem non potest maior aut minor fieri: unius staturae est. 'Sed Cn. Pompeius amittet exercitum, sed illud pulcherrimum rei publicae praetextum, optimates, et prima acies Pompeianarum partium, senatus ferens arma, uno proelio profligabuntur et tam magni ruina imperii in totum dissiliet orbem: aliqua pars eius in Aegypto, aliqua in Africa, aliqua in Hispania cadet. Ne hoc quidem miserae rei publicae continget, semel ruere.'","en":"\"What then? Is there no difference between Cato's election to the praetorship and his defeat? No difference whether Cato is beaten or wins in the battle line at Pharsalus? Was this good of his, by which he could not be conquered when his side was conquered, equal to the good by which he would have returned victorious to his country and arranged a peace?\" Why should it not be equal? For it is by the same virtue that bad fortune is overcome and good fortune set in order. And virtue cannot become greater or smaller; it is of one stature. \"But Gnaeus Pompey will lose his army. That finest pretext of the republic, the aristocrats, and the front line of Pompey's party, the senate in arms, will be routed in a single battle, and the ruin of so great an empire will be scattered over the whole world. Part of it will fall in Egypt, part in Africa, part in Spain. The wretched republic will not even have the fortune to fall once and for all.\""},{"ref":"Letter 71.10–12","orig":"Omnia licet fiant: Iubam in regno suo non locorum notitia adiuvet, non popularium pro rege suo virtus obstinatissima, Uticensium quoque fides malis fracta deficiat et Scipionem in Africa nominis sui fortuna destituat: olim provisum est ne quid Cato detrimenti caperet. 'Victus est tamen.' Et hoc numera inter repulsas Catonis: tam magno animo feret aliquid sibi ad victoriam quam ad praeturam obstitisse. Quo die repulsus est lusit, qua nocte periturus fuit legit; eodem loco habuit praetura et vita excidere; omnia quae acciderent ferenda esse persuaserat sibi. Quidni ille mutationem rei publicae forti et aequo pateretur animo? quid enim mutationis periculo exceptum? non terra, non caelum, non totus hic rerum omnium contextus, quamvis deo agente ducatur; non semper tenebit hunc ordinem, sed illum ex hoc cursu aliquis dies deiciet.","en":"Let all this happen. Let Juba in his own kingdom be helped neither by his knowledge of the ground nor by the most stubborn courage of his people on behalf of their king. Let the loyalty of the people of Utica too, broken by misfortune, give way, and let the fortune of his name desert Scipio in Africa. Long ago provision was made that Cato should come to no harm. \"Yet he was defeated.\" Count this too among Cato's electoral defeats. He will bear it with as great a spirit that something stood in the way of his victory as that something stood in the way of his praetorship. On the day he was defeated he played games; on the night he was to die he read. He counted losing the praetorship and losing his life as the same; he had persuaded himself that everything that happened must be borne. Why should he not bear the change in the state with a brave and calm mind? For what is exempt from the danger of change? Not the earth, not the sky, not this whole fabric of all things, though it is guided by god. It will not always keep this order; some day will throw it off this course."},{"ref":"Letter 71.13–14","orig":"Certis eunt cuncta temporibus: nasci debent, crescere, exstingui. Quaecumque supra nos vides currere et haec quibus innixi atque impositi sumus veluti solidissimis carpentur ac desinent; nulli non senectus sua est. Inaequalibus ista spatiis eodem natura dimittit: quidquid est non erit, nec peribit sed resolvetur. Nobis solvi perire est; proxima enim intuemur, ad ulteriora non prospicit mens hebes et quae se corpori addixerit; alioqui fortius finem sui suorumque pateretur, si speraret, ut omnia illa, sic vitam mortemque per vices ire et composita dissolvi, dissoluta componi, in hoc opere aeternam artem cuncta temperantis dei verti.","en":"Everything goes by fixed times: it must be born, grow and be extinguished. All the bodies you see running above us, and this earth we lean on and are set on as if it were most solid, will be eaten away and come to an end. Nothing is without its old age. Nature sends all these things to the same place at unequal intervals. Whatever is will not be; yet it will not perish, but be broken up. For us, being broken up is perishing, for we look at what is nearest. The dull mind, which has given itself over to the body, does not look ahead to what lies further off. Otherwise it would bear its own end and the end of its dear ones more bravely, if it hoped that, like everything else, life and death take turns, that what is put together is broken up and what is broken up is put together, and that in this work the eternal art of god, who regulates all things, is at work."},{"ref":"Letter 71.15","orig":"Itaque ut M. Cato, cum aevum animo percucurrerit, dicet, 'omne humanum genus, quodque est quodque erit, morte damnatum est; omnes quae usquam rerum potiuntur urbes quaeque alienorum imperiorum magna sunt decora, ubi fuerint aliquando quaeretur et vario exitii genere tollentur: alias destruent bella, alias desidia paxque ad inertiam versa consumet et magnis opibus exitiosa res, luxus. Omnes hos fertiles campos repentini maris inundatio abscondet aut in subitam cavernam considentis soli lapsus abducet. Quid est ergo quare indigner aut doleam, si exiguo momento publica fata praecedo?'","en":"So, like Marcus Cato, when he has run through the ages in his mind, he will say: \"The whole human race, both what is and what will be, is condemned to death. All the cities that anywhere hold power, and all those that are the great glories of foreign empires, one day people will ask where they were, and they will be swept away by various kinds of destruction. Some wars will destroy; others idleness and peace turned to sloth will consume, and luxury, the ruin of great wealth. All these fertile plains will be hidden by a sudden flood of the sea, or a slip of the settling ground will carry them off into a sudden chasm. What reason is there, then, for me to be indignant or to grieve if I go a brief moment ahead of the fate of the world?\""},{"ref":"Letter 71.16","orig":"Magnus animus deo pareat et quidquid lex universi iubet sine cunctatione patiatur: aut in meliorem emittitur vitam lucidius tranquilliusque inter divina mansurus aut certe sine ullo futurus incommodo, si naturae remiscebitur et revertetur in totum. Non est ergo M. Catonis maius bonum honesta vita quam mors honesta, quoniam non intenditur virtus. Idem esse dicebat Socrates veritatem et virtutem. Quomodo illa non crescit, sic ne virtus quidem: habet numeros suos, plena est.","en":"Let a great mind obey god and endure without hesitation whatever the law of the universe commands. Either it is sent out into a better life, to stay in a brighter and calmer place among divine things, or at least it will be free from all harm, if it is mingled again with nature and returns to the whole. So an honourable life is not a greater good for Marcus Cato than an honourable death, since virtue is not stretched further. Socrates used to say that truth and virtue are the same. Just as truth does not grow, so neither does virtue: it has its full measure, it is complete."},{"ref":"Letter 71.17","orig":"Non est itaque quod mireris paria esse bona, et quae ex proposito sumenda sunt et quae si ita res tulit. Nam si hanc inaequalitatem receperis ut fortiter torqueri in minoribus bonis numeres, numerabis etiam in malis, et infelicem Socraten dices in carcere, infelicem Catonem vulnera sua animosius quam fecerat retractantem, calamitosissimum omnium Regulum fidei poenas etiam hostibus servatae pendentem. Atqui nemo hoc dicere, ne ex mollissimis quidem, ausus est; negant enim illum esse beatum, sed tamen negant miserum.","en":"So there is no reason to be surprised that goods are equal, both those to be chosen deliberately and those that circumstances have brought. For if you admit this inequality, so as to count being tortured bravely among the lesser goods, you will also count it among the evils. You will call Socrates unhappy in prison, Cato unhappy as he reopened his wounds with more spirit than he had made them, and Regulus the most unfortunate of all as he paid the penalty for keeping faith even with his enemies. Yet no one, not even among the softest, has dared to say this. They deny that such a man is happy, but they still deny that he is wretched."},{"ref":"Letter 71.18–19","orig":"Academici veteres beatum quidem esse etiam inter hos cruciatus fatentur, sed non ad perfectum nec ad plenum, quod nullo modo potest recipi: nisi beatus est, in summo bono non est. Quod summum bonum est supra se gradum non habet, si modo illi virtus inest, si illam adversa non minuunt, si manet etiam comminuto corpore incolumis: manet autem. Virtutem enim intellego animosam et excelsam, quam incitat quidquid infestat. Hunc animum, quem saepe induunt generosae indolis iuvenes quos alicuius honestae rei pulchritudo percussit, ut omnia fortuita contemnant, profecto sapientia infundet et tradet; persuadebit unum bonum esse quod honestum, hoc nec remitti nec intendi posse, non magis quam regulam qua rectum probari solet flectes. Quidquid ex illa mutaveris iniuria est recti.","en":"The Old Academics admit that a man is happy even amid these tortures, but not perfectly or fully. This cannot be accepted in any way: unless he is happy, he is not in possession of the highest good. The highest good has no step above it, provided virtue is in it, adversity does not diminish it, and it remains unharmed even when the body is broken; and remain it does. For I understand virtue as spirited and lofty, spurred on by whatever attacks it. This spirit, which young men of noble nature often put on when the beauty of some honourable deed has struck them, so that they despise all chance events, wisdom will certainly pour in and hand on. It will persuade you that the only good is the honourable, and that this can be neither slackened nor tightened, any more than you can bend the ruler by which straightness is usually tested. Whatever you change in it is an offence against straightness."},{"ref":"Letter 71.20–21","orig":"Idem ergo de virtute dicemus: et haec recta est, flexuram non recipit;. Haec de omnibus rebus iudicat, de hac nulla. Si rectior ipsa non potest fieri, ne quae ab illa quidem fiunt alia aliis rectiora sunt; huic enim necesse est respondeant; ita paria sunt. 'Quid ergo?' inquis 'iacere in convivio et torqueri paria sunt?' Hoc mirum videtur tibi? illud licet magis admireris: iacere in convivio malum est, iacere in eculeo bonum est, si illud turpiter, hoc honeste fit. Bona ista aut mala non efficit materia sed virtus; haec ubicumque apparuit, omnia eiusdem mensurae ac pretii sunt.","en":"We will say the same of virtue, then: it too is straight and admits no bending. It judges all things, and nothing judges it. If it cannot itself become straighter, neither are the things done by it straighter one than another, for they must correspond to it; so they are equal. \"What then?\" you say. \"Are reclining at a banquet and being tortured equal?\" Does this seem surprising to you? You may be more surprised at this: reclining at a banquet is an evil, lying on the rack is a good, if the first is done shamefully and the second honourably. It is not the material that makes these things good or evil, but virtue. Wherever virtue has appeared, everything is of the same measure and value."},{"ref":"Letter 71.22–23","orig":"In oculos nunc mihi manus intentat ille qui omnium animum aestimat ex suo, quod dicam paria bona esse honeste iudicantis et honeste periclitantis, quod dicam paria bona esse eius qui triumphat et eius qui ante currum vehitur invictus animo. Non putant enim fieri quidquid facere non possunt; ex infirmitate sua ferunt de virtute sententiam. Quid miraris si uri, vulnerari, occidi, alligari iuvat, aliquando etiam libet? Luxurioso frugalitas poena est, pigro supplicii loco labor est, delicatus miseretur industrii, desidioso studere torqueri est: eodem modo haec ad quae omnes imbecilli sumus dura atque intoleranda credimus, obliti quam multis tormentum sit vino carere aut prima luce excitari. Non ista difficilia sunt natura, sed nos fluvidi et enerves.","en":"At this point the man who judges everyone's mind by his own is shaking his fist in my face, because I say that the goods of one who judges honourably and of one who faces danger honourably are equal; because I say that the goods of the man who celebrates a triumph and of the man carried before his chariot, unconquered in spirit, are equal. For such people think that nothing can be done which they cannot do; they pass judgement on virtue from their own weakness. Why are you surprised if being burned, wounded, killed or chained is welcome, and sometimes even pleasing? To the luxurious man thrift is a punishment; to the lazy man work is like a penalty; the dainty man pities the hardworking; for the idle, studying is torture. In the same way we believe that the things against which we are all weak are hard and unbearable, forgetting how many people find it torment to go without wine or to be woken at first light. These things are not difficult by nature; it is we who are soft and feeble."},{"ref":"Letter 71.24–25","orig":"Magno animo de rebus magnis iudicandum est; alioqui videbitur illarum vitium esse quod nostrum est. Sic quaedam rectissima, cum in aquam demissa sunt, speciem curvi praefractique visentibus reddunt. Non tantum quid videas, sed quemadmodum, refert: animus noster ad vera perspicienda caligat. Da mihi adulescentem incorruptum et ingenio vegetum: dicet fortunatiorem sibi videri qui omnia rerum adversarum onera rigida cervice sustollat, qui supra fortunam exstet. Non est mirum in tranquillitate non concuti: illud mirare, ibi extolli aliquem ubi omnes deprimuntur, ibi stare ubi omnes iacent.","en":"Great things must be judged with a great mind; otherwise what is our fault will seem to be theirs. In the same way some perfectly straight things, when dipped in water, look bent and broken to those who see them. It matters not only what you see but how you see it: our mind is dim in seeing the truth. Give me a young man who is uncorrupted and of lively intelligence: he will say that the man who seems more fortunate to him is the one who lifts all the burdens of adversity with an unbending neck, who stands above fortune. It is no wonder not to be shaken in calm weather. Marvel at this: that someone is raised up where all are pressed down, stands where all lie flat."},{"ref":"Letter 71.26–27","orig":"Quid est in tormentis, quid est in aliis quae adversa appellamus mali? hoc, ut opinor, succidere mentem et incurvari et succumbere. Quorum nihil sapienti viro potest evenire: stat rectus sub quolibet pondere. Nulla illum res minorem facit; nihil illi eorum quae ferenda sunt displicet. Nam quidquid cadere in hominem potest in se cecidisse non queritur. Vires suas novit; scit se esse oneri ferendo. Non educo sapientem ex hominum numero nec dolores ab illo sicut ab aliqua rupe nullum sensum admittente summoveo. Memini ex duabus illum partibus esse compositum: altera est irrationalis, haec mordetur, uritur, dolet; altera rationalis, haec inconcussas opiniones habet, intrepida est et indomita. In hac positum est summum illud hominis bonum. Antequam impleatur, incerta mentis volutatio est; cum vero perfectum est, immota illi stabilitas est.","en":"What is evil in torture, what is evil in the other things we call adversities? This, I think: that the mind gives way, bends and collapses. None of this can happen to the wise man: he stands upright under any weight. Nothing makes him smaller; nothing he has to bear displeases him. For whatever can fall on a human being, he does not complain has fallen on him. He knows his strength; he knows he was made to carry a load. I do not take the wise man out of the number of human beings, nor do I remove pain from him as if he were some rock that admits no feeling. I remember that he is made up of two parts. One is irrational: this is bitten, burned and feels pain. The other is rational: this holds unshaken opinions, is fearless and untamed. In it lies that highest good of a human being. Before it is complete, the mind is uncertain and tossed about; but when it has been perfected, it has an unmoved stability."},{"ref":"Letter 71.28–29","orig":"Itaque inchoatus et ad summa procedens cultorque virtutis, etiam si appropinquat perfecto bono sed ei nondum summam manum imposuit, ibit interim cessim et remittet aliquid ex intentione mentis; nondum enim incerta transgressus est, etiam nunc versatur in lubrico. Beatus vero et virtutis exactae tunc se maxime amat cum fortissime expertus est, et metuenda ceteris, si alicuius honesti officii pretia sunt, non tantum fert sed amplexatur multoque audire mavult 'tanto melior' quam 'tanto felicior'. Venio nunc illo quo me vocat exspectatio tua. Ne extra rerum naturam vagari virtus nostra videatur, et tremet sapiens et dolebit et expallescet; hi enim omnes corporis sensus sunt. Ubi ergo calamitas, ubi illud malum verum est? illic scilicet, si ista animum detrahunt, si ad confessionem servitutis adducunt, si illi paenitentiam sui faciunt.","en":"So the beginner, who is moving towards the heights and cultivating virtue, even if he is drawing near to the perfect good but has not yet put the finishing touch to it, will sometimes step backwards and relax some of his mental effort. For he has not yet passed beyond uncertainty; he is still moving on slippery ground. But the happy man, whose virtue is complete, loves himself most when he has been tested most bravely. Things that others fear, if they are the price of some honourable duty, he not only bears but embraces, and he would much rather hear \"so much the better\" than \"so much the luckier\". Now I come to the point your expectation is calling me to. So that our virtue may not seem to wander outside nature, the wise man will tremble, feel pain and turn pale, for all these are feelings of the body. Where, then, is calamity, where is that true evil? There, clearly, if these things drag the mind down, if they bring it to confess itself a slave, if they make it regret itself."},{"ref":"Letter 71.30–31","orig":"Sapiens quidem vincit virtute fortunam, at multi professi sapientiam levissimis nonnumquam minis exterriti sunt. Hoc loco nostrum vitium est, qui idem a sapiente exigimus et a proficiente. Suadeo adhuc mihi ista quae laudo, nondum persuadeo; etiam si persuasissem, nondum tam parata haberem aut tam exercitata ut ad omnes casus procurrerent. Quemadmodum lana quosdam colores semel ducit, quosdam nisi saepius macerata et recocta non perbibit, sic alias disciplinas ingenia, cum accepere, protinus praestant: haec, nisi alte descendit et diu sedit et animum non coloravit sed infecit, nihil ex iis quae promiserat praestat.","en":"The wise man, it is true, conquers fortune by virtue; but many who profess wisdom have sometimes been terrified by the slightest threats. Here the fault is ours, for demanding the same of the wise man and of one who is making progress. I am still urging on myself the things I praise; I have not yet convinced myself. And even if I had convinced myself, I would not yet have them so ready or so well practised that they would rush to meet every chance. Just as wool takes some colours at once, while others it does not drink in unless it has been steeped and boiled again and again, so with other studies minds deliver the goods as soon as they have taken them in; but this one, unless it has gone deep and sat there long and has not just coloured the mind but dyed it through, delivers none of what it promised."},{"ref":"Letter 71.32–33","orig":"Cito hoc potest tradi et paucissimis verbis: unum bonum esse virtutem, nullum certe sine virtute, et ipsam virtutem in parte nostri meliore, id est rationali, positam. Quid erit haec virtus? iudicium verum et immotum; ab hoc enim impetus venient mentis, ab hoc omnis species quae impetum movet redigetur ad liquidum. Huic iudicio consentaneum erit omnia quae virtute contacta sunt et bona iudicare et inter se paria. Corporum autem bona corporibus quidem bona sunt, sed in totum non sunt bona; his pretium quidem erit aliquod, ceterum dignitas non erit; magnis inter se intervallis distabunt: alia minora, alia maiora erunt.","en":"This can be passed on quickly and in very few words: the only good is virtue; there is certainly no good without virtue; and virtue itself is set in the better part of us, that is, the rational part. What will this virtue be? A true and unshaken judgement. From it will come the impulses of the mind; by it every impression that stirs an impulse will be brought to clarity. It will accord with this judgement to judge all things touched by virtue both good and equal to one another. The goods of the body are good for the body, but they are not wholly goods. They will have some value, but they will not have worth. They will stand at great distances from one another: some will be smaller, some greater."},{"ref":"Letter 71.34–35","orig":"Et in ipsis sapientiam sectantibus magna discrimina esse fateamur necesse est: alius iam in tantum profecit ut contra fortunam audeat attollere oculos, sed non pertinaciter - cadunt enim nimio splendore praestricti -, alius in tantum ut possit cum illa conferre vultum, nisi iam pervenit ad summum et fiduciae plenus est. Imperfecta necesse est labent et modo prodeant, modo sublabantur aut succidant. Sublabentur autem, nisi ire et niti perseveraverint; si quicquam ex studio et fideli intentione laxaverint, retro eundum est. Nemo profectum ibi invenit ubi reliquerat.","en":"We must also admit that there are great differences among those who are pursuing wisdom themselves. One has already advanced so far that he dares to lift his eyes against fortune, but not steadily, for they drop, dazzled by too much brightness. Another has advanced so far that he can meet her face to face, unless he has already reached the summit and is full of confidence. Imperfect things must waver, now moving forward, now slipping back or sinking down. And they will slip back unless they keep going and struggling; if they relax any of their zeal and faithful effort, they must go backwards. No one finds his progress where he left it."},{"ref":"Letter 71.36–37","orig":"Instemus itaque et perseveremus; plus quam profligavimus restat, sed magna pars est profectus velle proficere. Huius rei conscius mihi sum: volo et mente tota volo. Te quoque instinctum esse et magno ad pulcherrima properare impetu video. Properemus: ita demum vita beneficium erit; alioquin mora est, et quidem turpis inter foeda versantibus. Id agamus ut nostrum omne tempus sit; non erit autem, nisi prius nos nostri esse coeperimus. Quando continget contemnere utramque fortunam, quando continget omnibus oppressis affectibus et sub arbitrium suum adductis hanc vocem emittere 'vici'? Quem vicerim quaeris? Non Persas nec extrema Medorum nec si quid ultra Dahas bellicosum iacet, sed avaritiam, sed ambitionem, sed metum mortis, qui victores gentium vicit. Vale.","en":"So let us press on and persevere. More remains than we have finished off; but a great part of progress is wanting to progress. Of this I am aware in myself: I want it, and I want it with my whole mind. I see that you too are fired up and hurrying with great drive towards the finest things. Let us hurry. Only then will life be a gift; otherwise it is a delay, and a shameful one for those who spend it among foul things. Let us make it our aim that all our time is our own. It will not be, unless we first begin to be our own. When will it be granted to us to despise both kinds of fortune? When will it be granted, with all passions crushed and brought under our control, to utter the words \"I have conquered\"? Do you ask whom I have conquered? Not the Persians, nor the far-off Medes, nor any warlike people lying beyond the Dahae, but greed, ambition and the fear of death, which has conquered the conquerors of nations. Farewell."}],"72":[{"ref":"Letter 72.1","orig":"Quod quaeris a me liquebat mihi - sic rem edidiceram - per se; sed diu non retemptavi memoriam meam, itaque non facile me sequitur. Quod evenit libris situ cohaerentibus, hoc evenisse mihi sentio: explicandus est animus et quaecumque apud illum deposita sunt subinde excuti debent, ut parata sint quotiens usus exegerit. Ergo hoc in praesentia differamus; multum enim operae, multum diligentiae poscit. Cum primum longiorem eodem loco speravero moram, tunc istud in manus sumam.","en":"The thing you ask me about used to be clear to me on its own, I had learned it so thoroughly. But I have not tested my memory for a long time, so it does not follow me easily. I feel that what happens to books whose pages have stuck together from disuse has happened to me. The mind must be unrolled, and whatever has been stored in it must be shaken out now and then, so that it is ready whenever need requires. So let us put this off for now, for it calls for much work and much care. As soon as I can hope to stay in one place for a longer time, I will take it in hand."},{"ref":"Letter 72.2","orig":"Quaedam enim sunt quae possis et in cisio scribere, quaedam lectum et otium et secretum desiderant. Nihilominus his quoque occupatis diebus agatur aliquid et quidem totis. Numquam enim non succedent occupationes novae: serimus illas, itaque ex una exeunt plures. Deinde ipsi nobis dilationem damus: 'cum hoc peregero, toto animo incumbam' et 'si hanc rem molestam composuero, studio me dabo'.","en":"For there are some things you could write even in a gig, and some that need a couch, leisure and privacy. Even so, something should be done on these busy days too, and indeed on whole days. For new business will never stop coming along: we sow it, and so several spring from one. Then we grant ourselves postponements: \"When I have finished this, I will apply myself with my whole mind,\" and \"If I settle this troublesome business, I will give myself to study.\""},{"ref":"Letter 72.3","orig":"Non cum vacaveris philosophandum est, sed ut philosopheris vacandum est; omnia alia neglegenda ut huic assideamus, cui nullum tempus satis magnum est, etiam si a pueritia usque ad longissimos humani aevi terminos vita producitur. Non multum refert utrum omittas philosophiam an intermittas; non enim ubi interrupta est manet, sed eorum more quae intenta dissiliunt usque ad initia sua recurrit, quod a continuatione discessit. Resistendum est occupationibus, nec explicandae sed summovendae sunt. Tempus quidem nullum est parum idoneum studio salutari; atqui multi inter illa non student propter quae studendum est.","en":"You should not practise philosophy when you have free time; you should make free time in order to practise philosophy. Everything else should be neglected so that we can sit by her side, for whom no length of time is great enough, even if life is drawn out from childhood to the farthest limits of human age. It makes little difference whether you drop philosophy or interrupt it. For it does not stay where it was broken off; like things that snap when stretched, it springs back all the way to its beginnings, because it has lost its continuity. We must resist our business affairs; they are not to be sorted out but removed. There is no time unsuited to healthy study; and yet many people do not study amid the very things that are the reason for studying."},{"ref":"Letter 72.4–5","orig":"'Incidet aliquid quod impediat.' Non quidem eum cuius animus in omni negotio laetus atque alacer est: imperfectis adhuc interscinditur laetitia, sapientis vero contexitur gaudium, nulla causa rumpitur, nulla fortuna; semper et ubique tranquillus est. Non enim ex alieno pendet nec favorem fortunae aut hominis exspectat. Domestica illi felicitas est; exiret ex animo si intraret: ibi nascitur. Aliquando extrinsecus quo admoneatur mortalitatis intervenit, sed id leve et quod summam cutem stringat. Aliquo, inquam, incommodo afflatur; maximum autem illud bonum fixum est. Ita dico, extrinsecus aliqua sunt incommoda, velut in corpore interdum robusto solidoque eruptiones quaedam pustularum et ulcuscula, nullum in alto malum est.","en":"\"Something will happen to get in the way.\" Not for the man whose mind is glad and eager in every task. In those who are still imperfect, gladness is cut short; but the joy of the wise man is woven continuously. It is not broken by any cause or any fortune; he is calm always and everywhere. For he does not depend on anything outside himself, nor wait for the favour of fortune or of any person. His happiness is homegrown; it would go out of his mind if it came in from outside: it is born there. Sometimes something happens from outside to remind him of his mortality, but it is slight and grazes only the surface of the skin. He is touched, I say, by some discomfort, but that greatest good of his is fixed. I mean that there are some discomforts from outside, as a strong, solid body sometimes gets an outbreak of pimples and little sores, but there is no evil deep down."},{"ref":"Letter 72.6","orig":"Hoc, inquam, interest inter consummatae sapientiae virum et alium procedentis quod inter sanum et ex morbo gravi ac diutino emergentem, cui sanitatis loco est levior accessio: hic nisi attendit, subinde gravatur et in eadem revolvitur, sapiens recidere non potest, ne incidere quidem amplius. Corpori enim ad tempus bona valetudo est, quam medicus, etiam si reddidit, non praestat - saepe ad eundem qui advocaverat excitatur: animus semel in totum sanatur.","en":"The difference, I say, between a man of perfect wisdom and one who is making progress is the same as between a healthy man and one who is recovering from a long and serious illness, for whom a milder attack takes the place of health. Unless the second pays attention, he soon gets worse and falls back into the same state. The wise man cannot relapse, or even fall ill any more. For the body has good health only for a time, and the doctor, even when he has restored it, does not guarantee it; he is often called back to the same patient who sent for him. The mind is healed once and for all."},{"ref":"Letter 72.7","orig":"Dicam quomodo intellegas sanum: si se ipse contentus est, si confidit sibi, si scit omnia vota mortalium, omnia beneficia quae dantur petunturque, nullum in beata vita habere momentum. Nam cui aliquid accedere potest, id imperfectum est; cui aliquid abscedere potest, id imperpetuum est: cuius perpetua futura laetitia est, is suo gaudeat. Omnia autem quibus vulgus inhiat ultro citroque fluunt: nihil dat fortuna mancipio. Sed haec quoque fortuita tunc delectant cum illa ratio temperavit ac miscuit haec est quae etiam externa commendet, quorum avidis usus ingratus est.","en":"I will tell you how to recognise a healthy mind: if it is content with itself, if it trusts itself, if it knows that all the prayers of mortals and all the favours that are given and sought have no weight at all in a happy life. For what can be added to is imperfect; what can be taken from is not everlasting. The man whose gladness is to last for ever should rejoice in what is his own. All the things the crowd gapes at flow this way and that; fortune gives nothing to be owned outright. But even these chance things please us when reason has tempered and mixed them. It is reason that makes even external things acceptable, though the use of them is unwelcome to the greedy."},{"ref":"Letter 72.8–9","orig":"Solebat Attalus hac imagine uti: 'vidisti aliquando canem missa a domino frusta panis aut carnis aperto ore captantem? quidquid excepit protinus integrum devorat et semper ad spem venturi hiat. Idem evenit nobis: quidquid exspectantibus fortuna proiecit, id sine ulla voluptate demittimus statim, ad rapinam alterius erecti et attoniti.' Hoc sapienti non evenit: plenus est; etiam si quid obvenit, secure excipit ac reponit; laetitia fruitur maxima, continua, sua. Habet aliquis bonam voluntatem, habet profectum, sed cui multum desit a summo: hic deprimitur alternis et extollitur ac modo in caelum allevatur, modo defertur ad terram. Imperitis ac rudibus nullus praecipitationis finis est; in Epicureum illud chaos decidunt, inane sine termino.","en":"Attalus used to use this image: \"Have you ever seen a dog snapping with open jaws at scraps of bread or meat thrown by its master? Whatever it catches it swallows whole at once, and it is always gaping in hope of what is to come. The same happens to us. Whatever fortune throws to us while we wait, we gulp down at once without any pleasure, alert and eager to snatch the next thing.\" This does not happen to the wise man. He is full. Even if something comes his way, he takes it calmly and puts it aside; he enjoys a gladness that is very great, continuous and his own. Someone may have good will and have made progress, but still be far from the summit. He is pushed down and lifted up by turns: now he is raised to heaven, now he is carried down to earth. For the untrained and ignorant there is no end to falling. They drop into that Epicurean chaos, a void without limit."},{"ref":"Letter 72.10–11","orig":"Est adhuc genus tertium eorum qui sapientiae alludunt, quam non quidem contigerunt, in conspectu tamen et, ut ita dicam, sub ictu habent: hi non concutiuntur, ne defluunt quidem; nondum in sicco, iam in portu sunt. Ergo cum tam magna sint inter summos imosque discrimina, cum medios quoque sequatur fluctus suus, sequatur ingens periculum ad deteriora redeundi, non debemus occupationibus indulgere. Excludendae sunt: si semel intraverint, in locum suum alias substituent. Principiis illarum obstemus: melius non incipient quam desinent. Vale.","en":"There is also a third class, of those who play close to wisdom. They have not reached it, but they have it in sight and, so to speak, within striking distance. These are not shaken; they do not even drift. They are not yet on dry land, but they are already in harbour. So since there are such great differences between the highest and the lowest, since even those in the middle are followed by their own tide, and by a huge danger of slipping back into worse ways, we must not indulge our business affairs. They must be shut out. If they once get in, they will put others in their place. Let us block them at the start: it is better that they do not begin than that they stop. Farewell."}],"73":[{"ref":"Letter 73.1–2","orig":"Errare mihi videntur qui existimant philosophiae fideliter deditos contumaces esse ac refractarios, contemptores magistratuum aut regum eorumve per quos publica administrantur. Ex contrario enim nulli adversus illos gratiores sunt, nec immerito; nullis enim plus praestant quam quibus frui tranquillo otio licet. Itaque ii quibus multum ad propositum bene vivendi confert securitas publica necesse est auctorem huius boni ut parentem colant, multo quidem magis quam illi inquieti et in medio positi, qui multa principibus debent sed multa et imputant, quibus numquam tam plene occurrere ulla liberalitas potest ut cupiditates illorum, quae crescunt dum implentur, exsatiet. Quisquis autem de accipiendo cogitat oblitus accepti est, nec ullum habet malum cupiditas maius quam quod ingrata est.","en":"Those who think that people faithfully devoted to philosophy are stubborn and rebellious, scorners of magistrates or kings or of those who run public affairs, seem to me to be wrong. On the contrary, no one is more grateful to them, and rightly, for they do no greater service to anyone than to those who are allowed to enjoy peaceful leisure. So those for whom public security contributes much to their aim of living well must honour the author of this good like a parent. They must do so far more than those restless people who stand in the thick of affairs. These owe much to their rulers but also charge much to them, and no generosity can ever meet them so fully as to satisfy their desires, which grow as they are filled. But whoever thinks about receiving has forgotten what he has received, and desire has no greater evil than that it is ungrateful."},{"ref":"Letter 73.3–4","orig":"Adice nunc quod nemo eorum qui in re publica versantur quot vincat, sed a quibus vincatur, aspicit; et illis non tam iucundum est multos post se videre quam grave aliquem ante se. Habet hoc vitium omnis ambitio: non respicit. Nec ambitio tantum instabilis est, verum cupiditas omnis, quia incipit semper a fine. At ille vir sincerus ac purus, qui reliquit et curiam et forum et omnem administrationem rei publicae ut ad ampliora secederet, diligit eos per quos hoc ei facere tuto licet solusque illis gratuitum testimonium reddit et magnam rem nescientibus debet. Quemadmodum praeceptores suos veneratur ac suspicit quorum beneficio illis inviis exit, sic et hos sub quorum tutela positus exercet artes bonas.","en":"Add now that none of those engaged in public life looks at how many he has surpassed, but by whom he has been surpassed. It is not so pleasant for them to see many behind them as it is painful to see anyone ahead. All ambition has this fault: it does not look back. And not only ambition is unsteady, but every desire, because it always starts from where it ended. But that sincere and pure man, who has left the senate house and the forum and all public administration in order to withdraw to greater things, loves those through whom he can do this in safety. He alone gives them an unpaid testimony and owes them a great debt without their knowing it. Just as he reveres and looks up to his teachers, thanks to whom he escaped from those pathless wanderings, so too he honours those under whose protection he practises good pursuits."},{"ref":"Letter 73.5","orig":"'Verum alios quoque rex viribus suis protegit.' Quis negat? Sed quemadmodum Neptuno plus debere se iudicat ex iis qui eadem tranquillitate usi sunt qui plura et pretiosiora illo mari vexit, animosius a mercatore quam a vectore solvitur votum et ex ipsis mercatoribus effusius ratus est qui odores ac purpuras et auro pensanda portabat quam qui vilissima quaeque et saburrae loco futura congesserat, sic huius pacis beneficium ad omnis pertinentis altius ad eos pervenit qui illa bene utuntur.","en":"\"But the king protects other people too by his strength.\" Who denies it? But among those who have had the same calm weather, the one who has carried more and more precious goods across that sea judges that he owes more to Neptune; the merchant pays his vow more gladly than the passenger; and among the merchants themselves, the one carrying perfumes and purple cloth and goods worth their weight in gold is more lavishly grateful than the one who had loaded up the cheapest goods, fit to serve as ballast. In the same way the benefit of this peace, which extends to everyone, reaches more deeply those who use it well."},{"ref":"Letter 73.6–7","orig":"Multi enim sunt ex his togatis quibus pax operosior bello est: an idem existimas pro pace debere eos qui illam ebrietati aut libidini impendunt aut aliis vitiis quae vel bello rumpenda sunt? Nisi forte tam iniquum putas esse sapientem ut nihil viritim se debere pro communibus bonis iudicet. Soli lunaeque plurimum debeo, et non uni mihi oriuntur; anno temperantique annum deo privatim obligatus sum, quamvis nihil in meum honorem … discripta sint. Stulta avaritia mortalium possessionem proprietatemque discernit nec quicquam suum credit esse quod publicum est; at ille sapiens nihil magis suum iudicat quam cuius illi cum humano genere consortium est. Nec enim essent ista communia, nisi pars illorum pertineret ad singulos; socium efficit etiam quod ex minima portione commune est.","en":"For there are many of these citizens in togas for whom peace is more toilsome than war. Or do you think that those who spend peace on drunkenness or lust or other vices, which ought to be broken up even by war, owe the same for it? Unless perhaps you think the wise man so unfair that he judges he owes nothing personally for the common goods. I owe a great deal to the sun and the moon, and they do not rise for me alone. I am personally obliged to the seasons and to the god who governs them, although nothing … has been arranged in my honour. The foolish greed of mortals distinguishes possession from ownership and does not believe anything is its own that is public. But the wise man thinks nothing more his own than what he shares with the human race. For these things would not be common unless a part of them belonged to each individual; even something shared in the smallest portion makes one a partner."},{"ref":"Letter 73.8–9","orig":"Adice nunc quod magna et vera bona non sic dividuntur ut exiguum in singulos cadat: ad unumquemque tota perveniunt. E congiario tantum ferunt homines quantum in capita promissum est; epulum et visceratio et quidquid aliud manu capitur discedit in partes: at haec individua bona, pax et libertas, ea tam omnium tota quam singulorum sunt. Cogitat itaque per quem sibi horum usus fructusque contingat, per quem non ad arma illum nec ad servandas vigilias nec ad tuenda moenia et multiplex belli tributum publica necessitas vocet, agitque gubernatori suo gratias. Hoc docet philosophia praecipue, bene debere beneficia, bene solvere; interdum autem solutio est ipsa confessio.","en":"Add now that great and true goods are not divided so that a tiny bit falls to each person: they come whole to every single one. From a public handout people take only as much as was promised per head. A banquet, a distribution of meat and anything else that is taken by hand is divided into parts. But these indivisible goods, peace and freedom, belong as wholly to all as to each. So the wise man thinks of the one through whom he gets the use and enjoyment of these things, through whom public necessity does not call him to arms, or to keep watch, or to guard walls, or to pay the many taxes of war, and he gives thanks to his helmsman. This above all is what philosophy teaches: to owe benefits well and to repay them well. And sometimes the acknowledgement itself is the repayment."},{"ref":"Letter 73.10–12","orig":"Confitebitur ergo multum se debere ei cuius administratione ac providentia contingit illi pingue otium et arbitrium sui temporis et imperturbata publicis occupationibus quies.\nO Meliboee, deus nobis haec otia fecit;\nnamque erit ille mihi semper deus. Si illa quoque otia multum auctori suo debent quorum munus hoc maximum est,\nille meas errare boves, ut cernis, et ipsum\nludere quae vellem calamo permisit agresti,\nquanti aestimamus hoc otium quod inter deos agitur, quod deos facit? Ita dico, Lucili, et te in caelum compendiario voco. Solebat Sextius dicere Iovem plus non posse quam bonum virum. Plura Iuppiter habet quae praestet hominibus, sed inter duos bonos non est melior qui locupletior, non magis quam inter duos quibus par scientia regendi gubernaculum est meliorem dixeris cui maius speciosiusque navigium est.","en":"So he will acknowledge that he owes much to the man by whose management and foresight he enjoys rich leisure, control of his own time, and a quiet undisturbed by public business.\nO Meliboeus, a god has made this leisure for us;\nfor he will always be a god to me.\nIf even that leisure owes much to its author, whose greatest gift is this,\nhe has let my cattle wander, as you see, and let me\nplay what I please on my rustic pipe,\nhow highly shall we value this leisure which is spent among the gods and makes men gods? That is what I say, Lucilius, and I am calling you to heaven by a short cut. Sextius used to say that Jupiter can do no more than a good man. Jupiter has more things to offer to human beings; but of two good men the richer is not the better, any more than, of two men with equal skill at the helm, you would call the better one the man with the larger and finer ship."},{"ref":"Letter 73.13–14","orig":"Iuppiter quo antecedit virum bonum? diutius bonus est: sapiens nihilo se minoris aestimat quod virtutes eius spatio breviore cluduntur. Quemadmodum ex duobus sapientibus qui senior decessit non est beatior eo cuius intra pauciores annos terminata virtus est, sic deus non vincit sapientem felicitate, etiam si vincit aetate; non est virtus maior quae longior. Iuppiter omnia habet, sed nempe aliis tradidit habenda: ad ipsum hic unus usus pertinet, quod utendi omnibus causa est: sapiens tam aequo animo omnia apud alios videt contemnitque quam Iuppiter et hoc se magis suspicit quod Iuppiter uti illis non potest, sapiens non vult.","en":"In what way is Jupiter ahead of a good man? He is good for longer. The wise man does not value himself any less because his virtues are enclosed in a shorter span. Just as, of two wise men, the one who died older is not happier than the one whose virtue ended within fewer years, so god does not surpass the wise man in happiness, even if he surpasses him in age. Virtue is not greater for being longer. Jupiter owns everything, but of course he has handed it over to others to own. This one use belongs to him: that he is the cause of everyone's using it. The wise man sees everything in others' hands and despises it as calmly as Jupiter does, and he thinks the more of himself because Jupiter cannot use these things, while the wise man does not want to."},{"ref":"Letter 73.15–16","orig":"Credamus itaque Sextio monstranti pulcherrimum iter et clamanti 'hac\nitur ad astra,\nhac secundum frugalitatem, hac secundum temperantiam, hac secundum fortitudinem'. Non sunt dii fastidiosi, non invidi: admittunt et ascendentibus manum porrigunt. Miraris hominem ad deos ire? Deus ad homines venit, immo quod est propius, in homines venit: nulla sine deo mens bona est. Semina in corporibus humanis divina dispersa sunt, quae si bonus cultor excipit, similia origini prodeunt et paria iis ex quibus orta sunt surgunt: si malus, non aliter quam humus sterilis ac palustris necat ac deinde creat purgamenta pro frugibus. Vale.","en":"So let us believe Sextius when he points out the finest road and cries: \"This way\none goes to the stars;\nthis way, by thrift; this way, by self-control; this way, by courage.\" The gods are not disdainful, not jealous. They let us in and hold out a hand to those who climb. Are you surprised that a human being goes to the gods? God comes to human beings; indeed, what is closer still, he comes into human beings. No mind is good without god. Divine seeds are scattered in human bodies. If a good farmer receives them, they come up like their source and grow equal to that from which they sprang. If a bad one does, they die, just as in barren, marshy soil, and then it produces weeds instead of crops. Farewell."}],"74":[{"ref":"Letter 74.1–2","orig":"Epistula tua delectavit me et marcentem excitavit; memoriam quoque meam, quae iam mihi segnis ac lenta est, evocavit. Quidni tu, mi Lucili, maximum putes instrumentum vitae beatae hanc persuasionem unum bonum esse quod honestum est? Nam qui alia bona iudicat in fortunae venit potestatem, alieni arbitrii fit: qui omne bonum honesto circumscripsit intra se felix est. Hic amissis liberis maestus, hic sollicitus aegris, hic turpibus et aliqua sparsis infamia tristis; illum videbis alienae uxoris amore cruciari, illum suae; non deerit quem repulsa distorqueat; erunt quos ipse honor vexet.","en":"Your letter delighted me and woke me up from my drowsiness. It also called up my memory, which is now slow and sluggish. Why should you not think, my Lucilius, that the greatest means to a happy life is this conviction: that the only good is what is honourable? For whoever judges other things to be goods falls into fortune's power and comes under someone else's control. Whoever has bounded all good by the honourable is happy within himself. One man is gloomy at the loss of his children, another anxious over their illness, another sad because they are disgraceful and stained with some scandal. You will see one man tormented by love for another man's wife, another by love for his own. There will be no lack of people twisted by an electoral defeat; there will be some tormented by office itself."},{"ref":"Letter 74.3","orig":"Illa vero maxima ex omni mortalium populo turba miserorum quam exspectatio mortis exagitat undique impendens; nihil enim est unde non subeat. Itaque, ut in hostili regione versantibus, huc et illuc circumspiciendum est et ad omnem strepitum circumagenda cervix; nisi hic timor e pectore eiectus est, palpitantibus praecordiis vivitur.","en":"But the largest crowd of wretches among the whole population of mortals is the one harried by the expectation of death, which hangs over them on every side, for there is nowhere from which it cannot come. So, as if they were in enemy country, they must look this way and that and turn their heads at every noise. Unless this fear has been thrown out of the heart, one lives with a pounding chest."},{"ref":"Letter 74.4","orig":"Occurrent acti in exsilium et evoluti bonis; occurrent, quod genus egestatis gravissimum est, in divitis inopes; occurrent naufragi similiave naufragis passi, quos aut popularis ira aut invidia, perniciosum optimis telum, inopinantis securosque disiecit procellae more quae in ipsa sereni fiducia solet emergere, aut fulminis subiti ad cuius ictum etiam vicina tremuerunt. Nam ut illic quisquis ab igne propior stetit percusso similis obstipuit, sic in his per aliquam vim accidentibus unum calamitas opprimit, ceteros metus, paremque passis tristitiam facit pati posse.","en":"You will meet people driven into exile and turned out of their property. You will meet people who are poor in the midst of riches, the hardest kind of poverty. You will meet people shipwrecked, or who have suffered something like shipwreck, whom either the anger of the people or envy, a deadly weapon against the best, has scattered when they were off their guard and felt secure. It came like a storm that tends to rise just when we trust the calm, or like a sudden thunderbolt at whose stroke even what is nearby trembles. For just as there anyone who stood near the fire is stunned like the one who was struck, so in these violent events calamity crushes one person and fear the rest, and the ability to suffer brings the same sadness as having suffered."},{"ref":"Letter 74.5–6","orig":"Omnium animos mala aliena ac repentina sollicitant. Quemadmodum aves etiam inanis fundae sonus territat, ita nos non ad ictum tantum exagitamur sed ad crepitum. Non potest ergo quisquam beatus esse qui huic se opinioni credidit. Non enim beatum est nisi quod intrepidum; inter suspecta male vivitur. Quisquis se multum fortuitis dedit ingentem sibi materiam perturbationis et inexplicabilem fecit: una haec via est ad tuta vadenti, externa despicere et honesto esse contentum. Nam qui aliquid virtute melius putat aut ullum praeter illam bonum, ad haec quae a fortuna sparguntur sinum expandit et sollicitus missilia eius exspectat.","en":"The sudden misfortunes of others trouble everyone's mind. Just as birds are frightened even by the sound of an empty sling, so we are alarmed not only by the blow but by the rattle. So no one who has trusted himself to this opinion can be happy. For nothing is happy unless it is fearless; one lives badly among suspicions. Whoever has given himself up much to chance has made for himself a huge and endless supply of disturbance. There is one road for anyone who wants to go where it is safe: to look down on external things and be content with the honourable. For whoever thinks anything better than virtue, or any good besides it, spreads out the fold of his robe for the things that fortune scatters, and anxiously waits for her missiles."},{"ref":"Letter 74.7","orig":"Hanc enim imaginem animo tuo propone, ludos facere fortunam et in hunc mortalium coetum honores, divitias, gratiam excutere, quorum alia inter diripientium manus scissa sunt, alia infida societate divisa, alia magno detrimento eorum in quos devenerant prensa. Ex quibus quaedam aliud agentibus inciderunt, quaedam, quia nimis captabantur, amissa et dum avide rapiuntur expulsa sunt: nulli vero, etiam cui rapina feliciter cessit, gaudium rapti duravit in posterum. Itaque prudentissimus quisque, cum primum induci videt munuscula, a theatro fugit et scit magno parva constare. Nemo manum conserit cum recedente, nemo exeuntem ferit: circa praemium rixa est.","en":"Picture this image in your mind: fortune is holding games and throwing honours, riches and influence among this crowd of mortals. Some of these have been torn apart in the hands of those grabbing for them; some have been divided in an untrustworthy partnership; some have been caught at great cost to those they fell to. Some of them fell to people who were busy with something else; some were lost because they were grabbed at too eagerly and knocked away in the greedy scramble. And no one, not even one whose snatching succeeded, kept the joy of his prize until the next day. So the wisest people, as soon as they see the little presents being brought in, flee from the theatre, knowing that small things come at a great price. No one grapples with a man who is leaving; no one strikes a man on his way out. The brawling is around the prize."},{"ref":"Letter 74.8–10","orig":"Idem in his evenit quae fortuna desuper iactat: aestuamus miseri, distringimur, multas habere cupimus manus, modo in hanc partem, modo in illam respicimus; nimis tarde nobis mitti videntur quae cupiditates nostras irritant, ad paucos perventura, exspectata omnibus; ire obviam cadentibus cupimus; gaudemus si quid invasimus invadendique aliquos spes vana delusit; vilem praedam magno aliquo incommodo luimus aut fallimur. Secedamus itaque ab istis ludis et demus raptoribus locum; illi spectent bona ista pendentia et ipsi magis pendeant. Quicumque beatus esse constituet, unum esse bonum putet quod honestum est; nam si ullum aliud existimat, primum male de providentia iudicat, quia multa incommoda iustis viris accidunt, et quia quidquid nobis dedit breve est et exiguum si compares mundi totius aevo.","en":"The same happens with the things fortune throws down from above. We wretches are in a fever; we are pulled in different directions; we wish we had many hands; we look now this way, now that. The things that provoke our desires seem to be thrown to us too slowly, things that will reach few but that all are waiting for. We want to run to meet them as they fall. We are glad if we have grabbed something, and if others have been cheated by an empty hope of grabbing. We pay for a cheap prize with some great loss, or else we are deceived. So let us withdraw from these games and leave room for the grabbers. Let them look at those goods hanging in the air, and let them hang there more themselves. Whoever decides to be happy should think that the only good is what is honourable. For if he thinks there is any other, first he judges providence badly, because many troubles befall just men, and because whatever it has given us is short and small if you compare it with the age of the whole universe."},{"ref":"Letter 74.11–12","orig":"Ex hac deploratione nascitur ut ingrati divinorum interpretes simus: querimur quod non semper, quod et pauca nobis et incerta et abitura contingant. Inde est quod nec vivere nec mori volumus: vitae nos odium tenet, timor mortis. Natat omne consilium nec implere nos ulla felicitas potest. Causa autem est quod non pervenimus ad illud bonum immensum et insuperabile ubi necesse est resistat voluntas nostra quia ultra summum non est locus. Quaeris quare virtus nullo egeat? Praesentibus gaudet, non concupiscit absentia; nihil non illi magnum est quod satis. Ab hoc discede iudicio: non pietas constabit, non fides, multa enim utramque praestare cupienti patienda sunt ex iis quae mala vocantur, multa impendenda ex iis quibus indulgemus tamquam bonis.","en":"From this complaining it follows that we are ungrateful interpreters of divine things. We complain that we are not granted things for ever, and that what we are granted is little, uncertain and about to leave us. That is why we neither want to live nor want to die: hatred of life holds us, and fear of death. Every plan is adrift, and no good fortune can fill us. The reason is that we have not reached that immeasurable and unsurpassable good, where our wishes must come to a stop because there is no place beyond the highest. Do you ask why virtue needs nothing? It rejoices in what is present and does not desire what is absent. Everything that is enough is great to it. Depart from this judgement and neither devotion nor loyalty will stand. For whoever wants to practise either must suffer many of the things we call evils, and give up many of the things we indulge in as goods."},{"ref":"Letter 74.13–14","orig":"Perit fortitudo, quae periculum facere debet sui; perit magnanimitas, quae non potest eminere nisi omnia velut minuta contempsit quae pro maximis vulgus optat; perit gratia et relatio gratiae si timemus laborem, si quicquam pretiosius fide novimus, si non optima spectamus. Sed ut illa praeteream, aut ista bona non sunt quae vocantur aut homo felicior deo est, quoniam quidem quae cara nobis sunt non habet in usu deus; nec enim libido ad illum nec epularum lautitia nec opes nec quicquam ex his hominem inescantibus et vili voluptate ducentibus pertinet. Ergo aut credibile est bona deo deesse aut hoc ipsum argumentum est bona non esse, quod deo desunt.","en":"Courage dies, which must put itself to the test. Greatness of soul dies, which cannot stand out unless it has despised as trifles all the things the crowd wishes for as the greatest. Gratitude and the returning of kindness die if we fear toil, if we know anything more precious than loyalty, if we do not look to what is best. But to pass over these, either the things called goods are not goods, or man is happier than god, since the things we hold dear are not things god makes use of. For lust has nothing to do with him, nor the luxury of banquets, nor riches, nor any of the things that bait human beings and lead them by cheap pleasure. So either it is believable that god lacks goods, or the very fact that god lacks them is proof that they are not goods."},{"ref":"Letter 74.15–16","orig":"Adice quod multa quae bona videri volunt animalibus quam homini pleniora contingunt. Illa cibo avidius utuntur, venere non aeque fatigantur; virium illis maior est et aequabilior firmitas: sequitur ut multo feliciora sint homine. Nam sine nequitia, sine fraudibus degunt; fruuntur voluptatibus, quas et magis capiunt et ex facili, sine ullo pudoris aut paenitentiae metu. Considera tu itaque an id bonum vocandum sit quo deus ab homine, homo ab animalibus vincitur. Summum bonum in animo contineamus: obsolescit si ab optima nostri parte ad pessimam transit et transfertur ad sensus, qui agiliores sunt animalibus mutis. Non est summa felicitatis nostrae in carne ponenda: bona illa sunt vera quae ratio dat, solida ac sempiterna, quae cadere non possunt, ne decrescere quidem ac minui.","en":"Add that many things that want to seem goods fall more abundantly to animals than to human beings. They eat more greedily, they are not so worn out by sex, they have greater and steadier strength. It follows that they are much happier than human beings. For they live without wickedness and without deceit. They enjoy pleasures, which they take more fully and easily, without any fear of shame or regret. So consider whether something should be called good in which god is surpassed by man and man by the animals. Let us keep the highest good in the mind. It loses its value if it passes from the best part of us to the worst and is transferred to the senses, which are keener in dumb animals. The sum of our happiness should not be placed in the flesh. The true goods are those that reason gives, solid and everlasting, which cannot fall, or even decrease and be diminished."},{"ref":"Letter 74.17","orig":"Cetera opinione bona sunt et nomen quidem habent commune cum veris, proprietas in illis boni non est; itaque commoda vocentur et, ut nostra lingua loquar, producta. Ceterum sciamus mancipia nostra esse, non partes, et sint apud nos, sed ita ut meminerimus extra nos esse; etiam si apud nos sint, inter subiecta et humilia numerentur propter quae nemo se attollere debeat. Quid enim stultius quam aliquem eo sibi placere quod ipse non fecit?","en":"The other things are goods by opinion. They share the name with true goods, but the proper nature of good is not in them. So let them be called advantages and, to use our own language, \"preferred things\". But let us know that they are our slaves, not parts of us. Let them be with us, but in such a way that we remember they are outside us. Even if they are with us, let them be counted among things subordinate and lowly, on account of which no one should give himself airs. For what is more foolish than for someone to be pleased with himself because of something he did not do himself?"},{"ref":"Letter 74.18","orig":"Omnia ista nobis accedant, non haereant, ut si abducentur, sine ulla nostri laceratione discedant. Utamur illis, non gloriemur, et utamur parce tamquam depositis apud nos et abituris. Quisquis illa sine ratione possedit non diu tenuit; ipsa enim se felicitas, nisi temperatur, premit. Si fugacissimis bonis credidit, cito deseritur, et, ut deseratur, affligitur. Paucis deponere felicitatem molliter licuit: ceteri cum iis inter quae eminuere labuntur, et illos degravant ipsa quae extulerant.","en":"Let all these things be added to us, not stuck to us, so that if they are taken away they may go without tearing any part of us. Let us use them, not boast of them, and use them sparingly, as things deposited with us that will go away. Whoever has possessed them without reason has not held them long, for good fortune, unless it is kept in check, crushes itself. If a man has trusted in the most fleeting of goods, he is soon deserted, and when he is deserted, he is struck down. Few have been allowed to lay down their good fortune gently. The rest slip and fall with the things among which they stood out, and the very things that had raised them up weigh them down."},{"ref":"Letter 74.19","orig":"Ideo adhibebitur prudentia, quae modum illis ac parsimoniam imponat, quoniam quidem licentia opes suas praecipitat atque urget, nec umquam immodica durarunt nisi illa moderatrix ratio compescuit. Hoc multarum tibi urbium ostendet eventus, quarum in ipso flore luxuriosa imperia ceciderunt, et quidquid virtute partum erat intemperantia corruit. Adversus hos casus muniendi sumus. Nullus autem contra fortunam inexpugnabilis murus est: intus instruamur; si illa pars tuta est, pulsari homo potest, capi non potest. Quod sit hoc instrumentum scire desideras?","en":"So prudence will be brought in to impose limit and thrift on these things, since licence hurls its wealth headlong and drives it on, and things without measure have never lasted unless reason, the regulator, has restrained them. The fate of many cities will show you this: their luxurious empires fell in their very prime, and intemperance ruined whatever virtue had won. We must fortify ourselves against these disasters. But there is no wall against fortune that cannot be stormed. Let us equip ourselves within. If that part is safe, a person can be attacked, but he cannot be captured. Do you want to know what this equipment is?"},{"ref":"Letter 74.20–21","orig":"Nihil indignetur sibi accidere sciatque illa ipsa quibus laedi videtur ad conservationem universi pertinere et ex iis esse quae cursum mundi officiumque consummant; placeat homini quidquid deo placuit; ob hoc ipsum se suaque miretur, quod non potest vinci, quod mala ipsa sub se tenet, quod ratione, qua valentius nihil est, casum doloremque et iniuriam subigit. Ama rationem! huius te amor contra durissima armabit. Feras catulorum amor in venabula impingit feritasque et inconsultus impetus praestat indomitas; iuvenilia nonnumquam ingenia cupido gloriae in contemptum tam ferri quam ignium misit; species quosdam atque umbra virtutis in mortem voluntariam trudit: quanto his omnibus fortior ratio est, quanto constantior, tanto vehementius per metus ipsos et pericula exibit.","en":"Let him not resent anything that happens to him, and let him know that the very things by which he seems to be harmed serve the preservation of the universe and are among the things that complete the course and function of the world. Let whatever has pleased god please man. Let him admire himself and what is his for this very reason: that he cannot be conquered, that he holds evils themselves under him, that by reason, than which nothing is stronger, he subdues chance, pain and injury. Love reason! Love of her will arm you against the hardest things. Love of their cubs drives wild beasts onto the hunting spears, and their fierceness and headlong charge keeps them untamed. The desire for glory has sometimes sent young minds to scorn both sword and fire. The appearance and shadow of virtue drives some to a voluntary death. As much stronger and steadier than all these as reason is, so much more forcefully will it break out through fears and dangers themselves."},{"ref":"Letter 74.22","orig":"'Nihil agitis' inquit 'quod negatis ullum esse aliud honesto bonum. non faciet vos haec munitio tutos a fortuna et immunes. Dicitis enim inter bona esse liberos pios et bene moratam patriam et parentes bonos. Horum pericula non potestis spectare securi: perturbabit vos obsidio patriae, liberorum mors, parentum servitus.'","en":"\"You achieve nothing,\" someone says, \"by denying that there is any good other than the honourable. This fortification will not make you safe and immune from fortune. For you say that devoted children, a well-ordered country and good parents are among the goods. You cannot watch them in danger and stay untroubled. The siege of your country, the death of your children, the enslavement of your parents will disturb you.\""},{"ref":"Letter 74.23","orig":"Quid adversus hos pro nobis responderi soleat ponam; deinde tunc adiciam quid praeterea respondendum putem. Alia condicio est in iis quae ablata in locum suum aliquid incommodi substituunt: tamquam bona valetudo vitiata in malam transfert; acies oculorum exstincta caecitate nos afficit; non tantum velocitas perit poplitibus incisis, sed debilitas pro illa subit. Hoc non est periculum in iis quae paulo ante rettulimus. Quare? si amicum bonum amisi, non est mihi pro illo perfidia patienda, nec si bonos liberos extuli, in illorum locum impietas succedit.","en":"I will set out what our school usually answers to these people, and then I will add what further answer I think should be given. There is a different condition in the case of things which, when taken away, put some disadvantage in their place. For instance, good health, when damaged, turns into bad health; the sharpness of the eyes, when put out, leaves us blind; when the hamstrings are cut, not only is speed lost, but lameness comes in its place. This danger does not exist with the things we mentioned a little earlier. Why? If I have lost a good friend, I do not have to put up with treachery in his place; nor, if I have buried good children, does undutifulness come into their place."},{"ref":"Letter 74.24","orig":"Deinde non amicorum illic aut liberorum interitus sed corporum est. Bonum autem uno modo perit, si in malum transit; quod natura non patitur, quia omnis virtus et opus omne virtutis incorruptum manet. Deinde etiam si amici perierunt, etiam si probati respondentesque voto patris liberi, est quod illorum expleat locum. Quid sit quaeris? quod illos quoque bonos fecerat, virtus.","en":"Next, what perishes there is not friends or children, but their bodies. And a good perishes in only one way: if it turns into an evil. Nature does not allow this, since every virtue and every work of virtue stays incorruptible. Next, even if friends have perished, even if children have perished who were of proven worth and answered their father's prayers, there is something that fills their place. Do you ask what it is? What had made them good too: virtue."},{"ref":"Letter 74.25–26","orig":"Haec nihil vacare patitur loci, totum animum tenet, desiderium omnium tollit, sola satis est; omnium enim bonorum vis et origo in ipsa est. Quid refert an aqua decurrens intercipiatur atque abeat, si fons ex quo fluxerat salvus est? Non dices vitam iustiorem salvis liberis quam amissis nec ordinatiorem nec prudentiorem nec honestiorem; ergo ne meliorem quidem. Non facit adiectio amicorum sapientiorem, non facit stultiorem detractio; ergo nec beatiorem aut miseriorem. Quamdiu virtus salva fuerit, non senties quidquid abscesserit. 'Quid ergo? non est beatior et amicorum et liberorum turba succinctus?' Quidni non sit? Summum enim bonum nec infringitur nec augetur; in suo modo permanet, utcumque fortuna se gessit. Sive illi senectus longa contigit sive citra senectutem finitus est, eadem mensura summi boni est, quamvis aetatis diversa sit.","en":"Virtue allows no place to be empty. It fills the whole mind and takes away the longing for everything; it alone is enough, for the power and source of all goods are in it. What does it matter whether running water is cut off and flows away, if the spring from which it flowed is safe? You will not say that a life is more just when the children are safe than when they are lost, or more ordered, or wiser, or more honourable; so not better either. The addition of friends does not make a man wiser, their removal does not make him more foolish; so neither does it make him happier or more wretched. As long as virtue is safe, you will not feel whatever has gone. \"What then? Is a man not happier when he is surrounded by a crowd of friends and children?\" Why should he be? For the highest good is neither broken nor increased. It stays at its own measure, however fortune has behaved. Whether a long old age has fallen to a man, or he has come to his end short of old age, the measure of the highest good is the same, although the measure of years differs."},{"ref":"Letter 74.27–28","orig":"Utrum maiorem an minorem circulum scribas ad spatium eius pertinet, non ad formam: licet alter diu manserit, alterum statim obduxeris et in eum in quo scriptus est pulverem solveris, in eadem uterque forma fuit. Quod rectum est nec magnitudine aestimatur nec numero nec tempore; non magis produci quam contrahi potest. Honestam vitam ex centum annorum numero in quantum voles corripe et in unum diem coge: aeque honesta est. Modo latius virtus funditur, regna urbes provincias temperat, fert leges, colit amicitias, inter propinquos liberosque dispensat officia, modo arto fine circumdatur paupertatis exsilii orbitatis; non tamen minor est si ex altiore fastigio in humile subducitur, in privatum ex regio, ex publico et spatioso iure in angustias domus vel anguli coit.","en":"Whether you draw a larger or a smaller circle affects its area, not its shape. One may stay a long time, while you smudge the other at once and turn it back into the dust in which it was drawn; both were of the same shape. What is right is not judged by size or number or time; it can no more be lengthened than shortened. Take an honourable life from the full hundred years, cut it down as much as you like and squeeze it into a single day: it is equally honourable. Sometimes virtue spreads out widely: it governs kingdoms, cities and provinces, makes laws, cultivates friendships, distributes duties among relatives and children. Sometimes it is hemmed in by the narrow bounds of poverty, exile or bereavement. Yet it is not smaller if it is brought down from a higher summit to a lowly place, from a royal to a private station, if from a public and wide jurisdiction it is drawn together into the confines of a house or a corner."},{"ref":"Letter 74.29–30","orig":"Aeque magna est, etiam si in se recessit undique exclusa; nihilominus enim magni spiritus est et erecti, exactae prudentiae, indeclinabilis iustitiae. Ergo aeque beata est; beatum enim illud uno loco positum est, in ipsa mente, stabile, grande, tranquillum, quod sine scientia divinorum humanorumque non potest effici. Sequitur illud quod me responsurum esse dicebam. Non affligitur sapiens liberorum amissione, non amicorum; eodem enim animo fert illorum mortem quo suam exspectat; non magis hanc timet quam illam dolet. Virtus enim convenientia constat: omnia opera eius cum ipsa concordant et congruunt. Haec concordia perit si animus, quem excelsum esse oportet, luctu aut desiderio summittitur. Inhonesta est omnis trepidatio et sollicitudo, in ullo actu pigritia; honestum enim securum et expeditum est, interritum est, in procinctu stat.","en":"It is just as great even if it has withdrawn into itself, shut out on every side. For it is no less the mark of a great and upright spirit, of perfect prudence and unswerving justice. So it is just as happy, for happiness is placed in one spot, the mind itself: stable, grand, calm. And this cannot be achieved without knowledge of things divine and human. Now comes the answer I said I would give. The wise man is not cast down by the loss of children or friends. He bears their death with the same mind with which he awaits his own. He no more fears his own death than he grieves over theirs. For virtue consists in consistency: all its works agree and harmonise with it. This harmony is lost if the mind, which ought to be lofty, is brought low by grief or longing. All alarm and anxiety is dishonourable, and so is sluggishness in any act. For the honourable is untroubled and unhindered; it is unafraid, and stands ready for battle."},{"ref":"Letter 74.31–32","orig":"'Quid ergo? non aliquid perturbationi simile patietur? non et color eius mutabitur et vultus agitabitur et artus refrigescent? et quidquid aliud non ex imperio animi, sed inconsulto quodam naturae impetu geritur?' Fateor; sed manebit illi persuasio eadem, nihil illorum malum esse nec dignum ad quod mens sana deficiat. Omnia quae facienda erunt audaciter faciet et prompte. Hoc enim stultitiae proprium quis dixerit, ignave et contumaciter facere quae faciat, et alio corpus impellere, alio animum, distrahique inter diversissimos motus. Nam propter illa ipsa quibus extollit se miraturque contempta est, et ne illa quidem quibus gloriatur libenter facit. Si vero aliquod timetur malum, eo proinde, dum exspectat, quasi venisset urguetur, et quidquid ne patiatur timet iam metu patitur.","en":"\"What then? Will he not feel something like disturbance? Will his colour not change, his face be troubled, his limbs grow cold? And whatever else happens not by the mind's command but by some unthinking impulse of nature?\" I admit it. But he will keep the same conviction, that none of these things is evil or worth a sound mind collapsing over. Whatever has to be done he will do boldly and readily. For who would not say that this is the mark of folly: to do what it does in a cowardly and grudging way, to push the body one way and the mind another, and to be torn between the most opposite impulses? For it is despised on account of the very things for which it exalts and admires itself, and it does not even do willingly the things it boasts of. But if some evil is feared, then while it waits, it is weighed down by it as if it had come, and whatever it fears to suffer, it already suffers through fear."},{"ref":"Letter 74.33","orig":"Quemadmodum in corporibus infirmis languorem signa praecurrunt - quaedam enim segnitia enervis est et sine labore ullo lassitudo et oscitatio et horror membra percurrens - sic infirmus animus multo ante quam opprimatur malis quatitur; praesumit illa et ante tempus cadit. Quid autem dementius quam angi futuris nec se tormento reservare, sed arcessere sibi miserias et admovere? quas optimum est differre, si discutere non possis.","en":"Just as in weak bodies signs run ahead of illness (for there is a kind of limp sluggishness, a tiredness without any work, yawning, and shivering running through the limbs), so a weak mind is shaken long before it is overwhelmed by evils. It anticipates them and falls before its time. What is madder than to be tormented by the future, and instead of saving oneself for the torment, to summon miseries and bring them closer? It is best to put them off if you cannot shake them off."},{"ref":"Letter 74.34","orig":"Vis scire futuro neminem debere torqueri? Quicumque audierit post quinquagesimum annum sibi patienda supplicia, non perturbatur nisi si medium spatium transiluerit et se in illam saeculo post futuram sollicitudinem immiserit: eodem modo fit ut animos libenter aegros et captantes causas doloris vetera atque obliterata contristent. Et quae praeterierunt et quae futura sunt absunt: neutra sentimus. Non est autem nisi ex eo quod sentias dolor. Vale.","en":"Do you want to know that no one should be tormented by the future? Anyone who has heard that he will have to suffer punishment fifty years from now is not disturbed, unless he has leapt over the time in between and thrown himself into that anxiety which lies an age ahead. In the same way it happens that minds that like to be sick and hunt for reasons for pain are saddened by things old and forgotten. Both what is past and what is to come are absent: we feel neither. And there is no pain except from what you feel. Farewell."}],"75":[{"ref":"Letter 75.1–2","orig":"Minus tibi accuratas a me epistulas mitti quereris. Quis enim accurate loquitur nisi qui vult putide loqui? Qualis sermo meus esset si una desideremus aut ambularemus, inlaboratus et facilis, tales esse epistulas meas volo, quae nihil habent accersitum nec fictum. Si fieri posset, quid sentiam ostendere quam loqui mallem. Etiam si disputarem, nec supploderem pedem nec manum iactarem nec attollerem vocem, sed ista oratoribus reliquissem, contentus sensus meos ad te pertulisse, quos nec exornassem nec abiecissem.","en":"You complain that the letters I send you are not carefully written enough. But who speaks carefully except someone who wants to speak affectedly? I want my letters to be like my talk would be if we were sitting or walking together: unlaboured and easy. They have nothing forced or artificial about them. If it were possible, I would rather show you what I feel than say it. Even if I were arguing a point, I would not stamp my foot or wave my hand or raise my voice. I would leave those things to orators, content to have conveyed my thoughts to you, neither dressed up nor cast down."},{"ref":"Letter 75.3–4","orig":"Hoc unum plane tibi adprobare vellem, omnia me illa sentire quae dicerem, nec tantum sentire sed amare. Aliter homines amicam, aliter liberos osculantur; tamen in hoc quoque amplexu tam sancto et moderato satis apparet adfectus. Non mehercules ieiuna esse et arida volo quae de rebus tam magnis dicentur (neque enim philosophia ingenio renuntiat), multum tamen operae inpendi verbis non oportet. Haec sit propositi nostri summa: quod sentimus loquamur, quod loquimur sentiamus; concordet sermo cum vita. Ille promissum suum implevit qui et cum videas illum et cum audias idem est. Videbimus qualis sit, quantus sit: unus est.","en":"This one thing I would like to prove to you completely: that I feel everything I say, and not only feel it but love it. People kiss a mistress one way and their children another; yet even in that embrace, so pure and restrained, their feeling shows clearly enough. By heaven, I do not want what is said on such great subjects to be thin and dry, for philosophy does not renounce talent; but we should not spend much effort on words. Let this be the sum of our aim: let us say what we feel and feel what we say; let our speech agree with our life. The man who has kept his promise is the one who is the same whether you see him or hear him. We will see what sort of man he is and how great: he is one and the same."},{"ref":"Letter 75.5–6","orig":"Non delectent verba nostra sed prosint. Si tamen contingere eloquentia non sollicito potest, si aut parata est aut parvo constat, adsit et res pulcherrimas prosequatur: sit talis ut res potius quam se ostendat. Aliae artes ad ingenium totae pertinent, hic animi negotium agitur. Non quaerit aeger medicum eloquentem, sed si ita competit ut idem ille qui sanare potest compte de iis quae facienda sunt disserat, boni consulet. Non tamen erit quare gratuletur sibi quod inciderit in medicum etiam disertum; hoc enim tale est quale si peritus gubernator etiam formosus est.","en":"Let our words not please but help. Still, if eloquence can come to a man without his fretting over it, if it is ready to hand or costs little, let it be present and accompany the finest subjects: but let it be such that it shows the subject rather than itself. Other arts are wholly concerned with cleverness; here the business of the soul is at stake. A sick man does not look for an eloquent doctor. But if it so happens that the same man who can cure him discusses elegantly what must be done, he will take it in good part. Yet there will be no reason for him to congratulate himself on having found a doctor who is also well spoken. That is like a skilled helmsman who also happens to be handsome."},{"ref":"Letter 75.7–8","orig":"Quid aures meas scabis? quid oblectas? aliud agitur: urendus, secandus, abstinendus sum. Ad haec adhibitus es; curare debes morbum veterem, gravem, publicum; tantum negotii habes quantum in pestilentia medicus. Circa verba occupatus es? iamdudum gaude si sufficis rebus. Quando tam multa disces? quando quae didiceris adfiges tibi ita ut excidere non possint? quando illa experieris? Non enim, ut cetera, memoriae tradidisse satis est: in opere temptanda sunt; non est beatus qui scit illa, sed qui facit. 'Quid ergo? infra illum nulli gradus sunt? statim a sapientia praeceps est?' Non, ut existimo; nam qui proficit in numero quidem stultorum est, magno tamen intervallo ab illis diducitur. Inter ipsos quoque proficientes sunt magna discrimina: in tres classes, ut quibusdam placet, dividuntur.","en":"Why do you tickle my ears? Why do you entertain me? There is other business at hand: I need to be cauterised, operated on, put on a diet. That is what you have been called in for. You must cure a disease that is old, serious and widespread; you have as much work as a doctor in a plague. Are you busy with words? Be glad right now if you are equal to the things themselves. When will you learn so much? When will you fix what you have learned in yourself so that it cannot fall out? When will you put it to the test? For it is not enough, as with other things, to have committed it to memory: it must be tried in action. The happy man is not the one who knows these things but the one who does them. \"What then? Are there no steps below him? Is there a sheer drop straight down from wisdom?\" No, I think not. For the man who is making progress is still counted among the fools, but he is separated from them by a great distance. Among those making progress there are also great differences. They are divided, as some hold, into three classes."},{"ref":"Letter 75.9–10","orig":"Primi sunt qui sapientiam nondum habent sed iam in vicinia eius constiterunt; tamen etiam quod prope est extra est. Qui sint hi quaeris? qui omnes iam adfectus ac vitia posuerunt, quae erant conplectenda didicerunt, sed illis adhuc inexperta fiducia est. Bonum suum nondum in usu habent, iam tamen in illa quae fugerunt decidere non possunt; iam ibi sunt unde non est retro lapsus, sed hoc illis de se nondum liquet: quod in quadam epistula scripsisse me memini, 'scire se nesciunt'. Iam contigit illis bono suo frui, nondum confidere. Quidam hoc proficientium genus de quo locutus sum ita conplectuntur ut illos dicant iam effugisse morbos animi, adfectus nondum, et adhuc in lubrico stare, quia nemo sit extra periculum malitiae nisi qui totam eam excussit; nemo autem illam excussit nisi qui pro illa sapientiam adsumpsit.","en":"First are those who do not yet have wisdom but have already taken their stand near it; yet even what is near is still outside. Do you ask who they are? Those who have already laid aside all their passions and vices, and have learned what they must embrace, but whose confidence has not yet been tested. They do not yet have their good in use, but they can no longer fall back into the things they have escaped. They are already at the point from which there is no slipping back, but this is not yet clear to them about themselves. As I remember writing in one letter, \"they do not know that they know\". It has already been granted them to enjoy their good, but not yet to be sure of it. Some describe this class of those making progress, the one I have spoken of, by saying that they have already escaped the diseases of the mind but not yet the passions, and still stand on slippery ground. For no one is beyond the danger of wickedness except one who has shaken it off entirely; and no one has shaken it off except one who has taken on wisdom in its place."},{"ref":"Letter 75.11–12","orig":"Quid inter morbos animi intersit et adfectus saepe iam dixi. Nunc quoque te admonebo: morbi sunt inveterata vitia et dura, ut avaritia, ut ambitio; nimio artius haec animum inplicuerunt et perpetua eius mala esse coeperunt. Ut breviter finiam, morbus est iudicium in pravo pertinax, tamquam valde expetenda sint quae leviter expetenda sunt; vel, si mavis, ita finiamus: nimis inminere leviter petendis vel ex toto non petendis, aut in magno pretio habere in aliquo habenda vel in nullo. Adfectus sunt motus animi inprobabiles, subiti et concitati, qui frequentes neglectique fecere morbum, sicut destillatio una nec adhuc in morem adducta tussim facit, adsidua et vetus pthisin. Itaque qui plurimum profecere extra morbos sunt, adfectus adhuc sentiunt perfecto proximi.","en":"I have often told you before what the difference is between diseases of the mind and passions. I will remind you again now. Diseases are vices that have become ingrained and hardened, like greed and ambition. These have wrapped the mind far too tightly and have begun to be its permanent evils. To define it briefly, disease is a stubborn judgement set on something wrong, as if things were greatly to be sought that are to be sought only lightly. Or, if you prefer, let us define it this way: to press too hard after things that should be sought lightly or not at all, or to set a high value on things that should be valued somewhat or not at all. Passions are objectionable movements of the mind, sudden and violent. When frequent and neglected, they have produced disease, just as a single catarrh, not yet become a habit, produces a cough, but a constant, long-standing one produces consumption. So those who have made the most progress are beyond the diseases; they still feel the passions, though they are very close to perfection."},{"ref":"Letter 75.13–14","orig":"Secundum genus est eorum qui et maxima animi mala et adfectus deposuerunt, sed ita ut non sit illis securitatis suae certa possessio; possunt enim in eadem relabi. Tertium illud genus extra multa et magna vitia est, sed non extra omnia. Effugit avaritiam sed iram adhuc sentit; iam non sollicitatur libidine, etiamnunc ambitione; iam non concupiscit, sed adhuc timet, et in ipso metu ad quaedam satis firmus est, quibusdam cedit: mortem contemnit, dolorem reformidat.","en":"The second class is of those who have laid aside both the greatest evils of the mind and the passions, but not so that they have a sure hold on their freedom from care, for they can slip back into the same state. That third class is free of many great vices, but not of all. It has escaped greed but still feels anger. It is no longer troubled by lust, but still by ambition. It no longer desires, but it still fears, and even in its fear it is firm enough against some things and gives way to others: it scorns death but dreads pain."},{"ref":"Letter 75.15–16","orig":"De hoc loco aliquid cogitemus: bene nobiscum agetur, si in hunc admittimur numerum. Magna felicitate naturae magnaque et adsidua intentione studii secundus occupatur gradus; sed ne hic quidem contemnendus est color tertius. Cogita quantum circa te videas malorum; aspice quam nullum sit nefas sine exemplo, quantum cotidie nequitia proficiat, quantum publice privatimque peccetur: intelleges satis nos consequi, si inter pessimos non sumus. 'Ego vero' inquis 'spero me posse et amplioris ordinis fieri.' Optaverim hoc nobis magis quam promiserim: praeoccupati sumus, ad virtutem contendimus inter vitia districti. Pudet dicere: honesta colimus quantum vacat. At quam grande praemium expectat, si occupationes nostras et mala tenacissima abrumpimus!","en":"Let us give some thought to this point: we will be doing well if we are admitted to this group. The second step is gained by great good fortune of nature and great, constant effort in study; but even this third shade is not to be despised. Think how many evils you see around you. Look how there is no crime without a precedent, how much wickedness advances every day, how much wrong is done in public and in private. You will understand that we achieve enough if we are not among the worst. \"But I,\" you say, \"hope that I can rise to a higher rank as well.\" I would pray for this for us rather than promise it. We have been taken over already; we strive towards virtue while pulled this way and that among vices. I am ashamed to say it: we cultivate the honourable when we have spare time. But what a great reward awaits us if we break off our business and our most tenacious evils!"},{"ref":"Letter 75.17–18","orig":"Non cupiditas nos, non timor pellet; inagitati terroribus, incorrupti voluptatibus, nec mortem horrebimus nec deos; sciemus mortem malum non esse, deos malo non esse. Tam inbecillum est quod nocet quam cui nocetur: optima vi noxia carent. Expectant nos, si ex hac aliquando faece in illud evadimus sublime et excelsum, tranquillitas animi et expulsis erroribus absoluta libertas. Quaeris quae sit ista? Non homines timere, non deos; nec turpia velle nec nimia; in se ipsum habere maximam potestatem: inaestimabile bonum est suum fieri. Vale.","en":"Desire will not drive us, nor fear. Untroubled by terrors, uncorrupted by pleasures, we will dread neither death nor the gods. We will know that death is not an evil and that the gods are not a source of evil. What harms is as weak as what is harmed; the best things have no power to do harm. If we ever escape from these dregs to that lofty height, there await us peace of mind and, once errors have been driven out, complete freedom. Do you ask what that is? Not to fear human beings or gods; to want nothing shameful and nothing excessive; to have the greatest power over oneself. To become one's own is a priceless good. Farewell."}],"76":[{"ref":"Letter 76.1–2","orig":"Inimicitias mihi denuntias si quicquam ex iis quae cotidie facio ignoraveris. Vide quam simpliciter tecum vivam: hoc quoque tibi committam. Philosophum audio et quidem quintum iam diem habeo ex quo in scholam eo et ab octava disputantem audio. 'Bona' inquis 'aetate.' Quidni bona? quid autem stultius est quam quia diu non didiceris non discere? 'Quid ergo? idem faciam quod trossuli et iuvenes?' Bene mecum agitur si hoc unum senectutem meam dedecet: omnis aetatis homines haec schola admittit. 'In hoc senescamus, ut iuvenes sequamur?' In theatrum senex ibo et in circum deferar et nullum par sine me depugnabit: ad philosophum ire erubescam?","en":"You threaten to be my enemy if I keep you in the dark about anything I do each day. See how openly I live with you: I will entrust even this to you. I am attending a philosopher's lectures. In fact it is now the fifth day that I have been going to his school and hearing him lecture from two o'clock. \"At a fine age!\" you say. Why not fine? What is more foolish than not learning because you have not learned for a long time? \"What then? Am I to do the same as the dandies and the youngsters?\" I am doing well if this is the only thing unbecoming to my old age. This school admits people of every age. \"Are we to grow old just to follow the young?\" Shall I go to the theatre as an old man, have myself carried to the circus, and let no pair of gladiators fight it out without me, and then blush to go to a philosopher?"},{"ref":"Letter 76.3–4","orig":"Tamdiu discendum est quamdiu nescias; si proverbio credimus, quamdiu vivas. Nec ulli hoc rei magis convenit quam huic: tamdiu discendum est quemadmodum vivas quamdiu vivas. Ego tamen illic aliquid et doceo. Quaeris quid doceam? etiam seni esse discendum. Pudet autem me generis humani quotiens scholam intravi. Praeter ipsum theatrum Neapolitanorum, ut scis, transeundum est Metronactis petenti domum. Illud quidem fartum est, et ingenti studio quis sit pythaules bonus iudicatur; habet tubicen quoque Graecus et praeco concursum: at in illo loco in quo vir bonus quaeritur, in quo vir bonus discitur, paucissimi sedent, et hi plerisque videntur nihil boni negotii habere quod agant; inepti et inertes vocantur. Mihi contingat iste derisus: aequo animo audienda sunt inperitorum convicia et ad honesta vadenti contemnendus est ipse contemptus.","en":"You must keep learning as long as you do not know, and, if we believe the proverb, as long as you live. And to nothing does this apply more than to this: you must keep learning how to live as long as you live. Still, I do some teaching there too. Do you ask what I teach? That even an old man must learn. But I am ashamed of the human race every time I enter the school. As you know, anyone heading for Metronax's house has to pass right by the theatre of the Neapolitans. That place is packed, and people judge with enormous enthusiasm who is a good piper. The Greek trumpeter and the herald draw a crowd too. But in that place where the question is what makes a good man, where a good man is learned, very few sit, and most people think these few have no worthwhile business to do; they are called silly and idle. Let that mockery fall to me. The insults of the ignorant must be heard calmly, and a man on his way to the honourable must scorn scorn itself."},{"ref":"Letter 76.5–7","orig":"Perge, Lucili, et propera, ne tibi accidat quod mihi, ut senex discas; immo ideo magis propera quoniam id nunc adgressus es quod perdiscere vix senex possis. 'Quantum' inquis 'proficiam?' Quantum temptaveris. Quid expectas? nulli sapere casu obtigit. Pecunia veniet ultro, honor offeretur, gratia ac dignitas fortasse ingerentur tibi: virtus in te non incidet. Ne levi quidem opera aut parvo labore cognoscitur; sed est tanti laborare omnia bona semel occupaturo. Unum est enim bonum quod honestum: in illis nihil invenies veri, nihil certi, quaecumque famae placent. Quare autem unum sit bonum quod honestum dicam, quoniam parum me exsecutum priore epistula iudicas magisque hanc rem tibi laudatam quam probatam putas, et in artum quae dicta sunt contraham.","en":"Go on, Lucilius, and hurry, so that what happened to me does not happen to you, learning as an old man. Or rather, hurry all the more because you have now taken up something you could hardly master even as an old man. \"How much progress will I make?\" you say. As much as you attempt. What are you waiting for? No one has become wise by chance. Money will come of its own accord, office will be offered, influence and rank may perhaps be heaped upon you; virtue will not fall into your lap. It is not come to know by light effort or small labour; but it is worth the labour to gain all goods at once. For the only good is what is honourable. In the things that please public opinion you will find nothing true, nothing certain. But I will tell you why the only good is what is honourable, since you think I did not go into it enough in my earlier letter, and that I praised the idea to you rather than proved it; and I will pull together briefly what was said."},{"ref":"Letter 76.8–9","orig":"Omnia suo bono constant. Vitem fertilitas commendat et sapor vini, velocitas cervum; quam fortia dorso iumenta sint quaeris, quorum hic unus est usus, sarcinam ferre; in cane sagacitas prima est, si investigare debet feras, cursus, si consequi, audacia, si mordere et invadere: id in quoque optimum esse debet cui nascitur, quo censetur. In homine quid est optimum? ratio: hac antecedit animalia, deos sequitur. Ratio ergo perfecta proprium bonum est, cetera illi cum animalibus satisque communia sunt. Valet: et leones. Formonsus est: et pavones. Velox est: et equi. Non dico, in his omnibus vincitur; non quaero quid in se maximum habeat, sed quid suum. Corpus habet: et arbores. Habet impetum ac motum voluntarium: et bestiae et vermes. Habet vocem: sed quanto clariorem canes, acutiorem aquilae, graviorem tauri, dulciorem mobilioremque luscinii?","en":"Everything is valued by its own good. A vine is prized for its fruitfulness and the taste of its wine, a stag for its speed. With pack animals you ask how strong their backs are, since their one use is to carry loads. In a dog the first thing is keenness of scent if it has to track wild animals, speed if it has to catch them, daring if it has to bite and attack. In each thing the best quality should be the one it is born for, the one by which it is judged. What is best in a human being? Reason. By this he is ahead of the animals and follows the gods. So perfect reason is his own proper good; everything else he shares with animals and plants. He is strong: so are lions. He is handsome: so are peacocks. He is swift: so are horses. I do not say that he is beaten in all these things. I am not asking what is greatest in him, but what is his own. He has a body: so do trees. He has impulse and voluntary movement: so do beasts and worms. He has a voice: but how much louder is a dog's, how much shriller an eagle's, deeper a bull's, sweeter and more agile a nightingale's!"},{"ref":"Letter 76.10–11","orig":"Quid est in homine proprium? ratio: haec recta et consummata felicitatem hominis implevit. Ergo si omnis res, cum bonum suum perfecit, laudabilis est et ad finem naturae suae pervenit, homini autem suum bonum ratio est, si hanc perfecit laudabilis est et finem naturae suae tetigit. Haec ratio perfecta virtus vocatur eademque honestum est. Id itaque unum bonum est in homine quod unum hominis est; nunc enim non quaerimus quid sit bonum, sed quid sit hominis bonum. Si nullum aliud est hominis quam ratio, haec erit unum eius bonum, sed pensandum cum omnibus. Si sit aliquis malus, puto inprobabitur; si bonus, puto probabitur. Id ergo in homine primum solumque est quo et probatur et inprobatur.","en":"What is a human being's own? Reason. When this is right and complete, it fills up his happiness. So if everything is praiseworthy and has reached the end of its nature when it has perfected its own good, and a human being's own good is reason, then if he has perfected it he is praiseworthy and has reached the end of his nature. This perfect reason is called virtue, and it is the same as the honourable. So the only good in a human being is the one thing that belongs only to a human being. For we are not asking now what the good is, but what the good of a human being is. If nothing else belongs to a human being but reason, this will be his only good, but it must be weighed against everything else. If someone is bad, I think he will be disapproved of; if good, I think he will be approved of. So that is the first and only thing in a human being by which he is approved of and disapproved of."},{"ref":"Letter 76.12","orig":"Non dubitas an hoc sit bonum; dubitas an solum bonum sit. Si quis omnia alia habeat, valetudinem, divitias, imagines multas, frequens atrium, sed malus ex confesso sit, inprobabis illum; item si quis nihil quidem eorum quae rettuli habeat, deficiatur pecunia, clientium turba, nobilitate et avorum proavorumque serie, sed ex confesso bonus sit, probabis illum. Ergo hoc unum est bonum hominis, quod qui habet, etiam si aliis destituitur, laudandus est, quod qui non habet in omnium aliorum copia damnatur ac reicitur.","en":"You do not doubt whether this is a good; you doubt whether it is the only good. If someone has everything else, health, riches, many ancestral portraits, a crowded hall, but is admittedly bad, you will disapprove of him. Likewise, if someone has none of the things I have mentioned, lacks money, a crowd of clients, noble birth and a line of grandfathers and great-grandfathers, but is admittedly good, you will approve of him. So this is the one good of a human being: whoever has it is to be praised even if he is without other things, and whoever does not have it is condemned and rejected, though he has plenty of everything else."},{"ref":"Letter 76.13–14","orig":"Quae condicio rerum, eadem hominum est: navis bona dicitur non quae pretiosis coloribus picta est nec cui argenteum aut aureum rostrum est nec cuius tutela ebore caelata est nec quae fiscis atque opibus regiis pressa est, sed stabilis et firma et iuncturis aquam excludentibus spissa, ad ferendum incursum maris solida, gubernaculo parens, velox et non sentiens ventum; gladium bonum dices non cui auratus est balteus nec cuius vagina gemmis distinguitur, sed cui et ad secandum subtilis acies est et mucro munimentum omne rupturus; regula non quam formosa, sed quam recta sit quaeritur: eo quidque laudatur cui comparatur, quod illi proprium est.","en":"The condition of things is the same as that of people. A ship is called good not because it is painted in costly colours, or has a silver or gold beak, or has its guardian image carved in ivory, or is loaded down with treasures and royal wealth, but because it is steady, firm and tight at the joints to keep out the water, solid enough to bear the assault of the sea, obedient to the helm, swift and not troubled by the wind. You will call a sword good not because its belt is gilded or its sheath studded with jewels, but because it has a fine edge for cutting and a point that will break through any defence. With a ruler, the question is not how handsome it is but how straight. Each thing is praised for what it is acquired for, for what is its own."},{"ref":"Letter 76.15–16","orig":"Ergo in homine quoque nihil ad rem pertinet quantum aret, quantum feneret, a quam multis salutetur, quam pretioso incumbat lecto, quam perlucido poculo bibat, sed quam bonus sit. Bonus autem est si ratio eius explicita et recta est et ad naturae suae voluntatem accommodata. Haec vocatur virtus, hoc est honestum et unicum hominis bonum. Nam cum sola ratio perficiat hominem, sola ratio perfecte beatum facit; hoc autem unum bonum est quo uno beatus efficitur. Dicimus et illa bona esse quae a virtute profecta contractaque sunt, id est opera eius omnia; sed ideo unum ipsa bonum est quia nullum sine illa est.","en":"So with a human being too, it does not matter how much land he ploughs, how much money he lends out, how many people greet him, how costly the couch he lies on, how transparent the cup he drinks from, but how good he is. And he is good if his reason is fully developed and right and fitted to the will of his nature. This is called virtue; this is the honourable and the only good of a human being. For since reason alone perfects a human being, reason alone makes him perfectly happy. And this is the only good, the one thing by which he is made happy. We also say that those things are goods which have come from virtue and been produced by it, that is, all its works. But virtue itself is the only good for this reason, that there is no good without it."},{"ref":"Letter 76.17–18","orig":"Si omne in animo bonum est, quidquid illum confirmat, extollit, amplificat, bonum est; validiorem autem animum et excelsiorem et ampliorem facit virtus. Nam cetera quae cupiditates nostras inritant deprimunt quoque animum et labefaciunt et cum videntur attollere inflant ac multa vanitate deludunt. Ergo id unum bonum est quo melior animus efficitur. Omnes actiones totius vitae honesti ac turpis respectu temperantur; ad haec faciendi et non faciendi ratio derigitur. Quid sit hoc dicam: vir bonus quod honeste se facturum putaverit faciet etiam si laboriosum erit, faciet etiam si damnosum erit, faciet etiam si periculosum erit; rursus quod turpe erit non faciet, etiam si pecuniam adferet, etiam si voluptatem, etiam si potentiam; ab honesto nulla re deterrebitur, ad turpia nulla invitabitur.","en":"If all good is in the mind, whatever strengthens, raises and enlarges the mind is good. And virtue makes the mind stronger, loftier and larger. For the other things that excite our desires also press the mind down and weaken it, and when they seem to raise it up, they puff it up and fool it with much emptiness. So the only good is that by which the mind is made better. All the actions of a whole life are governed by regard for the honourable and the shameful; to these the reason for doing and not doing is directed. I will tell you what this means. A good man will do what he thinks it honourable to do even if it is laborious, even if it is costly, even if it is dangerous. On the other hand, he will not do what is shameful, even if it brings money, even if it brings pleasure, even if it brings power. Nothing will deter him from the honourable, and nothing will lure him to the shameful."},{"ref":"Letter 76.19","orig":"Ergo si honestum utique secuturus est, turpe utique vitaturus, et in omni actu vitae spectaturus haec duo, nec aliud bonum quam honestum nec aliud malum quam turpe, si una indepravata virtus est et sola permanet tenoris sui, unum est bonum virtus, cui iam accidere ne sit bonum non potest. Mutationis periculum effugit: stultitia ad sapientiam erepit, sapientia in stultitiam non revolvitur.","en":"So if he will pursue the honourable in any event and avoid the shameful in any event, and in every act of life will look to these two, holding no good but the honourable and no evil but the shameful; if virtue alone is uncorrupted and alone keeps to its course, then the only good is virtue, which can no longer cease to be good. It has escaped the danger of change. Folly creeps up to wisdom; wisdom does not roll back into folly."},{"ref":"Letter 76.20–21","orig":"Dixi, si forte meministi, et concupita vulgo et formidata inconsulto impetu plerosque calcasse: inventus est qui divitias proiceret, inventus est qui flammis manum inponeret, cuius risum non interrumperet tortor, qui in funere liberorum lacrimam non mitteret, qui morti non trepidus occurreret; amor enim, ira, cupiditas pericula depoposcerunt. Quod potest brevis obstinatio animi, aliquo stimulo excitata, quanto magis virtus, quae non ex impetu nec subito sed aequaliter valet, cui perpetuum robur est? Sequitur ut quae ab inconsultis saepe contemnuntur, a sapientibus semper, ea nec bona sint nec mala. Unum ergo bonum ipsa virtus est, quae inter hanc fortunam et illam superba incedit cum magno utriusque contemptu.","en":"I said, if you happen to remember, that many people have trampled on the things the crowd desires and fears, in a thoughtless impulse. A man has been found to throw away riches, a man to put his hand into the flames, whose laughter the torturer could not interrupt, who shed no tear at his children's funeral, who met death without trembling. Love, anger and desire have called for dangers. If a brief stubbornness of mind can do this when roused by some goad, how much more can virtue, which is strong not from impulse or suddenly but evenly, and whose strength is lasting? It follows that the things often despised by the thoughtless and always by the wise are neither good nor evil. So the only good is virtue itself, which walks proudly between this fortune and that, with great contempt for both."},{"ref":"Letter 76.22–23","orig":"Si hanc opinionem receperis, aliquid bonum esse praeter honestum, nulla non virtus laborabit; nulla enim obtineri poterit si quicquam extra se respexerit. Quod si est, rationi repugnat, ex qua virtutes sunt, et veritati, quae sine ratione non est; quaecumque autem opinio veritati repugnat falsa est. Virum bonum concedas necesse est summae pietatis erga deos esse. Itaque quidquid illi accidit aequo animo sustinebit; sciet enim id accidisse lege divina qua universa procedunt. Quod si est, unum illi bonum erit quod honestum; in hoc enim positum est et parere diis nec excandescere ad subita nec deplorare sortem suam, sed patienter excipere fatum et facere imperata.","en":"If you accept the view that anything is good besides the honourable, every virtue will be in trouble. For none can be held if it looks to anything outside itself. If that is so, the view is at odds with reason, from which the virtues come, and with truth, which does not exist without reason. And any opinion at odds with truth is false. You must grant that a good man has the highest devotion towards the gods. So he will bear calmly whatever happens to him, for he will know that it has happened by the divine law by which all things proceed. If that is so, the only good for him will be the honourable. For in this lie obeying the gods, not flaring up at sudden events, not bewailing one's lot, but patiently accepting fate and doing what is commanded."},{"ref":"Letter 76.24–25","orig":"Si ullum aliud est bonum quam honestum, sequetur nos aviditas vitae, aviditas rerum vitam instruentium, quod est intolerabile, infinitum, vagum. Solum ergo bonum est honestum, cui modus est. Diximus futuram hominum feliciorem vitam quam deorum, si ea bona sunt quorum nullus diis usus est, tamquam pecunia, honores. Adice nunc quod, si modo solutae corporibus animae manent, felicior illis status restat quam est dum versantur in corpore. Atqui si ista bona sunt quibus per corpora utimur, emissis erit peius, quod contra fidem est, feliciores esse liberis et in universum datis clusas et obsessas.","en":"If there is any good other than the honourable, we will be pursued by greed for life, greed for the things that furnish life, which is unbearable, without limit, without direction. So the only good is the honourable, which has a limit. We have said that human life would be happier than that of the gods if those things were goods of which the gods have no use, like money and offices. Add now that, if souls remain when they are released from bodies, a happier state awaits them than they have while they live in the body. And yet if the things we use through our bodies are goods, souls will be worse off when they are let out. That is against belief: that souls are happier when shut up and besieged than when they are free and given back to the universe."},{"ref":"Letter 76.26–27","orig":"Illud quoque dixeram, si bona sunt ea quae tam homini contingunt quam mutis animalibus, et muta animalia beatam vitam actura; quod fieri nullo modo potest. Omnia pro honesto patienda sunt; quod non erat faciendum si esset ullum aliud bonum quam honestum. Haec quamvis latius exsecutus essem priore epistula, constrinxi et breviter percucurri. Numquam autem vera tibi opinio talis videbitur, nisi animum adleves et te ipse interroges, si res exegerit ut pro patria moriaris et salutem omnium civium tua redimas, an porrecturus sis cervicem non tantum patienter sed etiam libenter. Si hoc facturus es, nullum aliud bonum est; omnia enim relinquis ut hoc habeas. Vide quanta vis honesti sit: pro re publica morieris, etiam si statim facturus hoc eris cum scieris tibi esse faciendum.","en":"I had also said that if the things that fall to human beings as much as to dumb animals are goods, dumb animals too will live a happy life, which can in no way be. Anything must be endured for the sake of the honourable; this would not have to be done if there were any good other than the honourable. Although I had gone into this at greater length in my earlier letter, I have condensed it and run through it briefly. But such a view will never seem true to you unless you lift up your mind and ask yourself this: if circumstances required you to die for your country and buy the safety of all your fellow citizens with your own, would you offer your neck not only patiently but gladly? If you would do this, there is no other good, for you give up everything to have this. See how great the power of the honourable is: you will die for the republic even if you are to do it at once, as soon as you know you must."},{"ref":"Letter 76.28–29","orig":"Interdum ex re pulcherrima magnum gaudium etiam exiguo tempore ac brevi capitur, et quamvis fructus operis peracti nullus ad defunctum exemptumque rebus humanis pertineat, ipsa tamen contemplatio futuri operis iuvat, et vir fortis ac iustus, cum mortis suae pretia ante se posuit, libertatem patriae, salutem omnium pro quibus dependit animam, in summa voluptate est et periculo suo fruitur. Sed ille quoque cui etiam hoc gaudium eripitur quod tractatio operis maximi et ultimi praestat, nihil cunctatus desiliet in mortem, facere recte pieque contentus. Oppone etiamnunc illi multa quae dehortentur, dic, 'factum tuum matura sequetur oblivio et parum grata existimatio civium'. Respondebit tibi, 'ista omnia extra opus meum sunt, ego ipsum contemplor; hoc esse honestum scio; itaque quocumque ducit ac vocat venio'.","en":"Sometimes great joy is taken from a very noble deed even in a short and brief time. And although no fruit of the finished work reaches the man who has died and been removed from human affairs, still the mere contemplation of the work to come is a pleasure. The brave and just man, when he has set before himself the rewards of his death, his country's freedom and the safety of all for whom he pays with his life, is in the highest pleasure and enjoys his own danger. But even the man from whom this joy is also taken away, the joy that the handling of his greatest and last work affords, will leap into death without hesitating, content to act rightly and dutifully. Set before him still many things to dissuade him. Say, \"Your deed will soon be followed by oblivion and by an ungrateful judgement from your fellow citizens.\" He will answer you, \"All those things lie outside my work. I look at the work itself. I know that this is honourable, and so I go wherever it leads and calls.\""},{"ref":"Letter 76.30–31","orig":"Hoc ergo unum bonum est, quod non tantum perfectus animus sed generosus quoque et indolis bonae sentit: cetera levia sunt, mutabilia. Itaque sollicite possidentur; etiam si favente fortuna in unum congesta sunt, dominis suis incubant gravia et illos semper premunt, aliquando et inludunt. Nemo ex istis quos purpuratos vides felix est, non magis quam ex illis quibus sceptrum et chlamydem in scaena fabulae adsignant: cum praesente populo lati incesserunt et coturnati, simul exierunt, excalceantur et ad staturam suam redeunt. Nemo istorum quos divitiae honoresque in altiore fastigio ponunt magnus est. Quare ergo magnus videtur? cum basi illum sua metiris. Non est magnus pumilio licet in monte constiterit; colossus magnitudinem suam servabit etiam si steterit in puteo.","en":"So this is the only good, and not only a perfect mind but a noble and well-born one feels it. Everything else is light and changeable. So it is possessed anxiously. Even if, with fortune's favour, it has been heaped up in one place, it sits heavily on its owners and always weighs them down, and sometimes makes fools of them too. None of those you see dressed in purple is happy, any more than those to whom the play assigns a sceptre and a cloak on stage. They stride about in front of the audience, puffed up and in their high boots; as soon as they go off, they take off their shoes and return to their own height. None of those whom riches and offices set on a higher pinnacle is great. Why, then, does he seem great? You are measuring him with his pedestal. A dwarf is not tall even if he stands on a mountain; a colossal statue will keep its size even if it stands in a well."},{"ref":"Letter 76.32–33","orig":"Hoc laboramus errore, sic nobis inponitur, quod neminem aestimamus eo quod est, sed adicimus illi et ea quibus adornatus est. Atqui cum voles veram hominis aestimationem inire et scire qualis sit, nudum inspice; ponat patrimonium, ponat honores et alia fortunae mendacia, corpus ipsum exuat: animum intuere, qualis quantusque sit, alieno an suo magnus. Si rectis oculis gladios micantes videt et si scit sua nihil interesse utrum anima per os an per iugulum exeat, beatum voca; si cum illi denuntiata sunt corporis tormenta et quae casu veniunt et quae potentioris iniuria, si vincula et exilia et vanas humanarum formidines mentium securus audit et dicit:\n'non ulla laborum,\no virgo, nova mi facies inopinave surgit;\nomnia praecepi atque animo mecum ipse peregi.\nTu hodie ista denuntias: ego semper denuntiavi mihi et hominem paravi ad humana.'","en":"This is the error we suffer from, this is how we are taken in: we value no one by what he is, but add to him the things he is decked out with. Yet when you want to make a true valuation of a man and know what he is like, look at him naked. Let him lay aside his inheritance, his offices and fortune's other lies; let him strip off his very body. Look at his mind, what it is like and how great, whether it is great by what belongs to others or by what is its own. If he looks at flashing swords without flinching, if he knows that it makes no difference to him whether his breath goes out through his mouth or his throat, call him happy. If, when bodily tortures are announced to him, whether those that come by chance or those that come by the wrong of someone more powerful, he hears calmly of chains and exile and the empty terrors of human minds, and says:\n\"No shape of trouble, maiden,\nrises before me new or unexpected;\nI have foreseen them all and gone through them in my mind.\nToday you announce these things to me; I have always announced them to myself, and I have prepared a human being for human lot.\""},{"ref":"Letter 76.34–35","orig":"Praecogitati mali mollis ictus venit. At stultis et fortunae credentibus omnis videtur nova rerum et inopinata facies; magna autem pars est apud inperitos mali novitas. Hoc ut scias, ea quae putaverant aspera fortius, cum adsuevere, patiuntur. Ideo sapiens adsuescit futuris malis, et quae alii diu patiendo levia faciunt hic levia facit diu cogitando. Audimus aliquando voces inperitorum dicentium 'sciebam hoc mihi restare': sapiens scit sibi omnia restare; quidquid factum est, dicit 'sciebam'. Vale.","en":"The blow of an evil thought about in advance lands softly. But to fools and those who trust in fortune, every aspect of things seems new and unexpected, and for the ignorant a great part of an evil is its novelty. To show you this: once they have grown used to them, they bear more bravely the things they had thought harsh. That is why the wise man grows used to future evils, and what others make light by long enduring, he makes light by long thinking. We sometimes hear the words of the ignorant saying, \"I knew this was in store for me.\" The wise man knows that everything is in store for him. Whatever has happened, he says, \"I knew.\" Farewell."}],"77":[{"ref":"Letter 77.1–2","orig":"Subito nobis hodie Alexandrinae naves apparuerunt, quae praemitti solent et nuntiare secuturae classis adventum: tabellarias vocant. Gratus illarum Campaniae aspectus est: omnis in pilis Puteolorum turba consistit et ex ipso genere velorum Alexandrinas quamvis in magna turba navium intellegit; solis enim licet siparum intendere, quod in alto omnes habent naves. Nulla enim res aeque adiuvat cursum quam summa pars veli; illinc maxime navis urgetur. Itaque quotiens ventus increbruit maiorque est quam expedit, antemna summittitur: minus habet virium flatus ex humili. Cum intravere Capreas et promunturium ex quo\nalta procelloso speculatur vertice Pallas,\nceterae velo iubentur esse contentae: siparum\nAlexandrinarum insigne est.","en":"Suddenly today the Alexandrian ships came into view, the ones that are usually sent ahead to announce the arrival of the fleet that is to follow. They call them the mail boats. The sight of them is welcome to Campania. The whole crowd gathers on the piers at Puteoli and can tell the Alexandrian ships even in a great crowd of vessels by the very kind of sails they have. For they alone are allowed to spread the topsail, which all ships carry out at sea. For nothing helps a ship's speed so much as the top part of the sail; that is where the ship is driven hardest. So whenever the wind has freshened and is stronger than is useful, the yard is lowered: the breeze has less force low down. When they have entered between Capri and the headland from which\nPallas keeps watch from her high and stormy peak,\nthe other ships are ordered to be content with the mainsail. The topsail is the mark of the Alexandrian ships."},{"ref":"Letter 77.3–4","orig":"In hoc omnium discursu properantium ad litus magnam ex pigritia mea sensi voluptatem, quod epistulas meorum accepturus non properavi scire quis illic esset rerum mearum status, quid adferrent: olim iam nec perit quicquam mihi nec adquiritur. Hoc, etiam si senex non essem, fuerat sentiendum, nunc vero multo magis: quantulumcumque haberem, tamen plus iam mihi superesset viatici quam viae, praesertim cum eam viam simus ingressi quam peragere non est necesse. Iter inperfectum erit si in media parte aut citra petitum locum steteris: vita non est inperfecta si honesta est; ubicumque desines, si bene desines, tota est. Saepe autem et fortiter desinendum est et non ex maximis causis; nam nec eae maximae sunt quae nos tenent.","en":"In all this running about of people hurrying to the shore, I felt great pleasure in my own laziness. Though I was about to receive letters from my people, I was in no hurry to know how my affairs stood there or what news they brought. For a long time now I have neither lost nor gained anything. I ought to feel this even if I were not old, but now much more so. However little I had, I would still have more provisions left than road, especially since we have set out on a road that we do not have to travel to the end. A journey will be incomplete if you stop halfway or short of your destination; a life is not incomplete if it is honourable. Wherever you stop, if you stop well, it is whole. And often one must stop bravely, and not for the greatest reasons; for the reasons that hold us here are not the greatest either."},{"ref":"Letter 77.5","orig":"Tullius Marcellinus, quem optime noveras, adulescens quietus et cito senex, morbo et non insanabili correptus sed longo et molesto et multa imperante, coepit deliberare de morte. Convocavit complures amicos. Unusquisque aut, quia timidus erat, id illi suadebat quod sibi suasisset, aut, quia adulator et blandus, id consilium dabat quod deliberanti gratius fore suspicabatur.","en":"Tullius Marcellinus, whom you knew very well, a quiet young man who grew old early, was seized by an illness. It was not incurable, but it was long and troublesome and demanded a great deal, and he began to consider death. He called together a number of friends. Each of them either advised him what he would have advised himself, because he was timid, or, being a flatterer and a smooth talker, gave the advice he suspected would be more welcome to the man who was deliberating."},{"ref":"Letter 77.6–7","orig":"Amicus noster Stoicus, homo egregius et, ut verbis illum quibus laudari dignus est laudem, vir fortis ac strenuus, videtur mihi optime illum cohortatus. Sic enim coepit: 'noli, mi Marcelline, torqueri tamquam de re magna deliberes. Non est res magna vivere: omnes servi tui vivunt, omnia animalia: magnum est honeste mori, prudenter, fortiter. Cogita quamdiu iam idem facias: cibus, somnus, libido -- per hunc circulum curritur; mori velle non tantum prudens aut fortis aut miser, etiam fastidiosus potest.' Non opus erat suasore illi sed adiutore: servi parere nolebant. Primum detraxit illis metum et indicavit tunc familiam periculum adire cum incertum esset an mors domini voluntaria fuisset; alioqui tam mali exempli esse occidere dominum quam prohibere.","en":"Our Stoic friend, an excellent man and, to praise him in the words he deserves, a brave and vigorous man, seems to me to have given him the best encouragement. He began like this: \"Do not torment yourself, my Marcellinus, as if you were deliberating over something great. Living is not something great: all your slaves live, all animals live. What is great is to die honourably, wisely, bravely. Think how long you have been doing the same things: food, sleep, sex; this is the circle we run round. Not only a wise man or a brave one or a wretched one can want to die, but also one who is simply fed up.\" He needed not an adviser but a helper: the slaves did not want to obey. So first the Stoic took their fear away from them and pointed out that the household runs a risk only when it is uncertain whether the master's death was voluntary; otherwise it is as bad an example to kill one's master as to prevent him."},{"ref":"Letter 77.8–9","orig":"Deinde ipsum Marcellinum admonuit non esse inhumanum, quemadmodum cena peracta reliquiae circumstantibus dividantur, sic peracta vita aliquid porrigi iis qui totius vitae ministri fuissent. Erat Marcellinus facilis animi et liberalis etiam cum de suo fieret; minutas itaque summulas distribuit flentibus servis et illos ultro consolatus est. Non fuit illi opus ferro, non sanguine: triduo abstinuit et in ipso cubiculo poni tabernaculum iussit. Solium deinde inlatum est, in quo diu iacuit et calda subinde suffusa paulatim defecit, ut aiebat, non sine quadam voluptate, quam adferre solet lenis dissolutio non inexperta nobis, quos aliquando liquit animus.","en":"Then he advised Marcellinus himself that it would not be unkind, just as at the end of a dinner the leftovers are shared among those standing around, so at the end of a life to hand something to those who had served him all his life. Marcellinus was easygoing and generous, even when it cost him. So he distributed small sums to his weeping slaves and even comforted them. He had no need of a sword or of bloodshed. He went without food for three days and had a tent put up in his very bedroom. Then a tub was brought in, in which he lay for a long time, and as hot water was poured in now and then, he gradually faded away, not without a certain pleasure, as he said, the kind that a gentle fainting usually brings, which is not unknown to those of us who have sometimes lost consciousness."},{"ref":"Letter 77.10–11","orig":"In fabellam excessi non ingratam tibi; exitum enim amici tui cognosces non difficilem nec miserum. Quamvis enim mortem sibi consciverit, tamen mollissime excessit et vita elapsus est. Sed ne inutilis quidem haec fabella fuerit; saepe enim talia exempla necessitas exigit. Saepe debemus mori nec volumus, morimur nec volumus. Nemo tam inperitus est ut nesciat quandoque moriendum; tamen cum prope accessit, tergiversatur, tremit, plorat. Nonne tibi videtur stultissimus omnium qui flevit quod ante annos mille non vixerat? aeque stultus est qui flet quod post annos mille non vivet. Haec paria sunt: non eris nec fuisti; utrumque tempus alienum est.","en":"I have wandered off into a story that you will not find unwelcome, for you will learn that your friend's end was neither hard nor wretched. Although he chose death for himself, he went out very gently and slipped away from life. But this story will not have been useless either, for necessity often calls for such examples. Often we ought to die and do not want to; we die and do not want to. No one is so ignorant as not to know that he must die some day; yet when it has come close, he shuffles, trembles, weeps. Would you not think a man the greatest fool of all if he wept because he had not been alive a thousand years ago? The man who weeps because he will not be alive a thousand years from now is just as foolish. These are equal: you will not be and you were not. Both times belong to someone else."},{"ref":"Letter 77.12–13","orig":"In hoc punctum coniectus es, quod ut extendas, quousque extendes? Quid fles? quid optas? perdis operam.\nDesine fata deum flecti sperare precando.\nRata et fixa sunt et magna atque aeterna necessitate ducuntur: eo ibis quo omnia eunt. Quid tibi novi est? Ad hanc legem natus es; hoc patri tuo accidit, hoc matri, hoc maioribus, hoc omnibus ante te, hoc omnibus post te. Series invicta et nulla mutabilis ope inligavit ac trahit cuncta. Quantus te populus moriturorum sequetur, quantus comitabitur! Fortior, ut opinor, esses, si multa milia tibi commorerentur; atqui multa milia et hominum et animalium hoc ipso momento quo tu mori dubitas animam variis generibus emittunt. Tu autem non putabas te aliquando ad id perventurum ad quod semper ibas? Nullum sine exitu iter est.","en":"You have been thrown into this point of time. Even if you stretch it, how far will you stretch it? Why do you weep? Why do you pray? You are wasting your effort.\nStop hoping that the decrees of the gods can be bent by prayer.\nThey are settled and fixed, and driven by a great and eternal necessity. You will go where everything goes. What is new to you in this? You were born under this law. This happened to your father, to your mother, to your ancestors, to all before you, and it will happen to all after you. An unbroken chain, which no power can change, has bound and drags all things. How great a throng of those about to die will follow you, how great a throng will go with you! You would be braver, I think, if many thousands were dying with you. And yet many thousands of people and animals, at the very moment you are hesitating to die, are breathing out their lives in various ways. Did you not think that you would one day arrive where you were always going? No journey is without its end."},{"ref":"Letter 77.14–15","orig":"Exempla nunc magnorum virorum me tibi iudicas relaturum? puerorum referam. Lacon ille memoriae traditur, inpubis adhuc, qui captus clamabat 'non serviam' sua illa Dorica lingua, et verbis fidem inposuit: ut primum iussus est fungi servili et contumelioso ministerio (adferre enim vas obscenum iubebatur), inlisum parieti caput rupit. Tam prope libertas est: et servit aliquis? Ita non sic perire filium tuum malles quam per inertiam senem fieri? Quid ergo est cur perturberis, si mori fortiter etiam puerile est? Puta nolle te sequi: duceris. Fac tui iuris quod alieni est. Non sumes pueri spiritum, ut dicas 'non servio'? Infelix, servis hominibus, servis rebus, servis vitae; nam vita, si moriendi virtus abest, servitus est.","en":"Do you expect me now to tell you examples of great men? I will tell you of boys. There is the Spartan who is remembered, still a boy, who when captured kept shouting in his Doric dialect, \"I will not be a slave,\" and made his words good. As soon as he was ordered to perform a slave's degrading task (he was told to bring a chamber pot), he dashed his head against the wall and broke it open. Freedom is so close, and does anyone remain a slave? Would you not rather your son died like that than grew old through cowardice? Why, then, are you troubled, if dying bravely is something even boys do? Suppose you do not want to follow: you will be led. Make yours by right what belongs to another. Will you not take on the spirit of a boy, to say, \"I am not a slave\"? Wretch, you are a slave to people, a slave to things, a slave to life. For life, if the courage to die is lacking, is slavery."},{"ref":"Letter 77.16–17","orig":"Ecquid habes propter quod expectes? voluptates ipsas quae te morantur ac retinent consumpsisti: nulla tibi nova est, nulla non iam odiosa ipsa satietate. Quis sit vini, quis mulsi sapor scis: nihil interest centum per vesicam tuam an mille amphorae transeant: saccus es. Quid sapiat ostreum, quid mullus optime nosti: nihil tibi luxuria tua in futuros annos intactum reservavit. Atqui haec sunt a quibus invitus divelleris. Quid est aliud quod tibi eripi doleas? Amicos? Scis enim amicus esse? Patriam? tanti enim illam putas ut tardius cenes? Solem? quem, si posses, extingueres: quid enim umquam fecisti luce dignum? Confitere non curiae te, non fori, non ipsius rerum naturae desiderio tardiorem ad moriendum fieri: invitus relinquis macellum, in quo nihil reliquisti.","en":"Have you anything to wait for? You have used up the very pleasures that delay and hold you back. None is new to you, none that is not already hateful from sheer fullness. You know the taste of wine and of honeyed wine; it makes no difference whether a hundred jars or a thousand pass through your bladder: you are a strainer. You know perfectly well what an oyster tastes like, what a mullet tastes like. Your luxury has left nothing untouched for the years to come. And yet these are the things from which you are torn away unwillingly. What else is there that you would be sorry to have taken from you? Friends? Do you even know how to be a friend? Your country? Do you value it so highly that you would dine later for it? The sun? You would put it out if you could, for what have you ever done that deserves the light? Admit that it is not longing for the senate house or the forum, or for the natural world itself, that makes you slow to die. You are unwilling to leave the meat market, where you have left nothing."},{"ref":"Letter 77.18–19","orig":"Mortem times: at quomodo illam media boletatione contemnis! Vivere vis: scis enim? Mori times: quid porro? ista vita non mors est? C. Caesar, cum illum transeuntem per Latinam viam unus ex custodiarum agmine demissa usque in pectus vetere barba rogaret mortem, 'nunc enim' inquit 'vivis?' Hoc istis respondendum est quibus succursura mors est: 'mori times: nunc enim vivis?' 'Sed ego' inquit 'vivere volo, qui multa honeste facio; invitus relinquo officia vitae, quibus fideliter et industrie fungor.' Quid? tu nescis unum esse ex vitae officiis et mori? Nullum officium relinquis; non enim certus numerus quem debeas explere finitur.","en":"You fear death; yet how you scorn it in the middle of a dish of mushrooms! You want to live: do you even know how? You fear to die: well, is this life of yours not death? When Gaius Caesar was going along the Latin Way, one of a column of prisoners, with an old beard hanging right down to his chest, asked him for death. Caesar said, \"Why, are you alive now?\" This is the answer to give those for whom death would come as a relief: \"You fear to die: why, are you alive now?\" \"But I,\" someone says, \"want to live, since I do many honourable things. I am unwilling to leave the duties of life, which I perform faithfully and diligently.\" What? Do you not know that dying too is one of life's duties? You are leaving no duty undone, for there is no fixed number laid down that you must complete."},{"ref":"Letter 77.20","orig":"Nulla vita est non brevis; nam si ad naturam rerum respexeris, etiam Nestoris et Sattiae brevis est, quae inscribi monumento suo iussit annis se nonaginta novem vixisse. Vides aliquem gloriari senectute longa: quis illam ferre potuisset si contigisset centesimum implere? Quomodo fabula, sic vita: non quam diu, sed quam bene acta sit, refert. Nihil ad rem pertinet quo loco desinas. Quocumque voles desine: tantum bonam clausulam inpone. Vale.","en":"No life is not short. For if you look at the nature of things, even the life of Nestor is short, and that of Sattia, who had it inscribed on her tomb that she had lived ninety-nine years. You see someone boasting of a long old age: who could have put up with her if she had managed to complete a hundred? Life is like a play: what matters is not how long it is but how well it is acted. It makes no difference at what point you stop. Stop wherever you like; only give it a good ending. Farewell."}],"78":[{"ref":"Letter 78.1–2","orig":"Vexari te destillationibus crebris ac febriculis, quae longas destillationes et in consuetudinem adductas sequuntur, eo molestius mihi est quia expertus sum hoc genus valetudinis, quod inter initia contempsi -- poterat adhuc adulescentia iniurias ferre et se adversus morbos contumaciter gerere -- deinde succubui et eo perductus sum ut ipse destillarem, ad summam maciem deductus. Saepe impetum cepi abrumpendae vitae: patris me indulgentissimi senectus retinuit. Cogitavi enim non quam fortiter ego mori possem, sed quam ille fortiter desiderare non posset. Itaque imperavi mihi ut viverem; aliquando enim et vivere fortiter facere est.","en":"I am all the more sorry that you are troubled by frequent catarrhs and the little fevers that follow long catarrhs that have become habitual, because I have had experience of this kind of illness. At the start I made light of it. My youth could still put up with injuries and behave defiantly towards diseases. Then I gave in, and was brought to the point where I was nothing but catarrh myself, worn down to extreme thinness. I often felt the urge to break off my life; the old age of my most loving father held me back. For I thought not of how bravely I could die, but of how little bravely he could bear the loss. So I ordered myself to live; for sometimes even living is an act of courage."},{"ref":"Letter 78.3","orig":"Quae mihi tunc fuerint solacio dicam, si prius hoc dixero, haec ipsa quibus adquiescebam medicinae vim habuisse; in remedium cedunt honesta solacia, et quidquid animum erexit etiam corpori prodest. Studia mihi nostra saluti fuerunt; philosophiae acceptum fero quod surrexi, quod convalui; illi vitam debeo et nihil illi minus debeo.","en":"I will tell you what comforted me then, once I have first said this: the very things I found rest in had the power of medicine. Honourable comforts turn into a remedy, and whatever has lifted the mind also helps the body. Our studies were my salvation. I credit philosophy with my getting up and getting well. I owe her my life, and that is the least I owe her."},{"ref":"Letter 78.4","orig":"Multum autem mihi contulerunt ad bonam valetudinem et amici, quorum adhortationibus, vigiliis, sermonibus adlevabar. Nihil aeque, Lucili, virorum optime, aegrum reficit atque adiuvat quam amicorum adfectus, nihil aeque expectationem mortis ac metum subripit: non iudicabam me, cum illos superstites relinquerem, mori. Putabam, inquam, me victurum non cum illis, sed per illos; non effundere mihi spiritum videbar, sed tradere. Haec mihi dederunt voluntatem adiuvandi me et patiendi omne tormentum; alioqui miserrimum est, cum animum moriendi proieceris, non habere vivendi.","en":"My friends also contributed a great deal to my good health; I was lifted up by their encouragement, their watching by my bed and their conversation. Nothing, Lucilius, best of men, refreshes and helps a sick man so much as the affection of his friends; nothing so steals away the expectation and fear of death. I did not think I was dying when I would leave them behind me alive. I thought, I say, that I would live on, not with them but through them. I did not seem to myself to be pouring out my breath but handing it on. These things gave me the will to help myself and to endure every torment. Otherwise it is the most wretched thing, when you have thrown away the resolve to die, not to have the resolve to live."},{"ref":"Letter 78.5","orig":"Ad haec ergo remedia te confer. Medicus tibi quantum ambules, quantum exercearis monstrabit; ne indulgeas otio, ad quod vergit iners valetudo; ut legas clarius et spiritum, cuius iter ac receptaculum laborat, exerceas; ut naviges et viscera molli iactatione concutias; quibus cibis utaris, vinum quando virium causa advoces, quando intermittas ne inritet et exasperet tussim. Ego tibi illud praecipio quod non tantum huius morbi sed totius vitae remedium est: contemne mortem. Nihil triste est cum huius metum effugimus.","en":"So turn to these remedies. The doctor will show you how far to walk and how much to exercise. He will tell you not to give in to idleness, towards which sluggish ill health tends; to read aloud and exercise your breath, whose passage and container are in trouble; to go sailing and shake up your insides with a gentle rocking; what food to eat; when to call in wine to build up your strength, and when to stop it so that it does not irritate and aggravate your cough. I give you this advice, which is a remedy not only for this disease but for your whole life: despise death. Nothing is grim once we have escaped the fear of it."},{"ref":"Letter 78.6–7","orig":"Tria haec in omni morbo gravia sunt: metus mortis, dolor corporis, intermissio voluptatum. De morte satis dictum est: hoc unum dicam, non morbi hunc esse sed naturae metum. Multorum mortem distulit morbus et saluti illis fuit videri perire. Morieris, non quia aegrotas, sed quia vivis. Ista te res et sanatum manet; cum convalueris, non mortem sed valetudinem effugeris. Ad illud nunc proprium incommodum revertamur: magnos cruciatus habet morbus, sed hos tolerabiles intervalla faciunt. Nam summi doloris intentio invenit finem; nemo potest valde dolere et diu; sic nos amantissima nostri natura disposuit ut dolorem aut tolerabilem aut brevem faceret.","en":"In every illness there are these three hard things: fear of death, pain of body, and the interruption of pleasures. Enough has been said about death. I will say only this: this fear belongs not to disease but to nature. For many people illness has put off death, and seeming to be dying has been their salvation. You will die not because you are ill but because you are alive. That fate awaits you even when you are cured. When you have recovered, you will have escaped not death but ill health. Let us now return to the disadvantage proper to illness. Illness brings great torments, but these are made bearable by the intervals. For the most intense pain comes to an end. No one can suffer severely and for long. Nature, who loves us dearly, has so arranged us that she has made pain either bearable or brief."},{"ref":"Letter 78.8","orig":"Maximi dolores consistunt in macerrimis corporis partibus: nervi articulique et quidquid aliud exile est acerrime saevit cum in arto vitia concepit. Sed cito hae partes obstupescunt et ipso dolore sensum doloris amittunt, sive quia spiritus naturali prohibitus cursu et mutatus in peius vim suam qua viget admonetque nos perdit, sive quia corruptus umor, cum desiit habere quo confluat, ipse se elidit et iis quae nimis implevit excutit sensum.","en":"The greatest pains arise in the leanest parts of the body. Sinews, joints and everything else that is slender rage most fiercely when they have taken in trouble in a narrow space. But these parts soon go numb and lose the feeling of pain through the pain itself. Either the breath, blocked from its natural course and changed for the worse, loses the force by which it is vigorous and warns us, or the corrupted fluid, when it no longer has anywhere to flow, crushes itself and takes away feeling from the parts it has overfilled."},{"ref":"Letter 78.9–10","orig":"Sic podagra et cheragra et omnis vertebrarum dolor nervorumque interquiescit cum illa quae torquebat hebetavit; omnium istorum prima verminatio vexat, impetus mora extinguitur et finis dolendi est optorpuisse. Dentium, oculorum, aurium dolor ob hoc ipsum acutissimus est quod inter angusta corporis nascitur, non minus, mehercule, quam capitis ipsius; sed si incitatior est, in alienationem soporemque convertitur. Hoc itaque solacium vasti doloris est, quod necesse est desinas illum sentire si nimis senseris. Illud autem est quod inperitos in vexatione corporis male habet: non adsueverunt animo esse contenti; multum illis cum corpore fuit. Ideo vir magnus ac prudens animum diducit a corpore et multum cum meliore ac divina parte versatur, cum hac querula et fragili quantum necesse est.","en":"So gout in the feet and in the hands and every pain in the spine and sinews has a rest when it has dulled the parts it was torturing. In all of these the first twinge is what hurts; the attack dies away with time, and the end of the pain is numbness. Pain in the teeth, the eyes and the ears is sharpest for this very reason, that it arises in narrow parts of the body; no less so, by heaven, than pain in the head itself. But if it is more violent, it turns into delirium and stupor. So this is the consolation for enormous pain: you are bound to stop feeling it if you have felt it too much. What distresses the ignorant when the body is afflicted is this: they have not got used to being content with the mind. They have had too much to do with the body. That is why a great and wise man separates the mind from the body and spends much time with the better and divine part, and with this complaining, fragile part only as much as he must."},{"ref":"Letter 78.11–12","orig":"'Sed molestum est' inquit 'carere adsuetis voluptatibus, abstinere cibo, sitire, esurire.' Haec prima abstinentia gravia sunt, deinde cupiditas relanguescit ipsis per quae cupimus fatigatis ac deficientibus; inde morosus est stomachus, inde quibus fuit aviditas cibi odium est. Desideria ipsa moriuntur; non est autem acerbum carere eo quod cupere desieris. Adice quod nullus non intermittitur dolor aut certe remittitur. Adice quod licet cavere venturum et obsistere inminenti remediis; nullus enim non signa praemittit, utique qui ex solito revertitur. Tolerabilis est morbi patientia, si contempseris id quod extremum minatur.","en":"\"But it is hard,\" he says, \"to go without the pleasures one is used to, to abstain from food, to be thirsty and hungry.\" These things are hard when you first abstain. Then desire grows weak, as the very organs through which we desire are tired and failing. Then the stomach becomes fussy; then people who had a greedy appetite for food come to loathe it. Desires themselves die, and it is not bitter to go without what you have stopped wanting. Add that there is no pain that does not stop now and then, or at least ease off. Add that you can guard against an attack that is coming and meet one that threatens with remedies. For every pain sends signs ahead of it, at any rate one that recurs in its usual way. Enduring illness is bearable if you despise the last thing it threatens."},{"ref":"Letter 78.13","orig":"Noli mala tua facere tibi ipse graviora et te querelis onerare: levis est dolor si nihil illi opinio adiecerit. Contra si exhortari te coeperis ac dicere 'nihil est aut certe exiguum est; duremus; iam desinet', levem illum, dum putas, facies. Omnia ex opinione suspensa sunt; non ambitio tantum ad illam respicit et luxuria et avaritia: ad opinionem dolemus.","en":"Do not make your troubles worse for yourself and weigh yourself down with complaints. Pain is light if opinion has added nothing to it. On the other hand, if you begin to encourage yourself and say, \"It is nothing, or at least it is little; let us hold out; it will stop soon,\" you will make it light by thinking it so. Everything depends on opinion. It is not only ambition, luxury and greed that look to opinion: we feel pain according to opinion."},{"ref":"Letter 78.14","orig":"Tam miser est quisque quam credidit. Detrahendas praeteritorum dolorum conquestiones puto et illa verba: 'nulli umquam fuit peius. Quos cruciatus, quanta mala pertuli! Nemo me surrecturum putavit. Quotiens deploratus sum a meis, quotiens a medicis relictus! In eculeum inpositi non sic distrahuntur.' Etiam si sunt vera ista, transierunt: quid iuvat praeteritos dolores retractare et miserum esse quia fueris? Quid quod nemo non multum malis suis adicit et sibi ipse mentitur? Deinde quod acerbum fuit ferre, tulisse iucundum est: naturale est mali sui fine gaudere. Circumcidenda ergo duo sunt, et futuri timor et veteris incommodi memoria: hoc ad me iam non pertinet, illud nondum.","en":"Each person is as wretched as he believes himself to be. I think we should get rid of complaints about past pains and phrases like these: \"No one was ever worse off. What torments, what evils I have endured! No one thought I would get up again. How often my family wept over me as lost, how often the doctors gave me up! People put on the rack are not stretched like that.\" Even if all this is true, it is over. What good is it to go back over past pains and be wretched because you once were? Besides, everyone adds a great deal to his troubles and lies to himself. Then, what was bitter to bear is pleasant to have borne; it is natural to rejoice at the end of one's trouble. So two things must be cut away: fear of the future and the memory of past hardship. The latter no longer concerns me, the former does not yet."},{"ref":"Letter 78.15","orig":"In ipsis positus difficultatibus dicat,\nforsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.\nToto contra ille pugnet animo; vincetur si cesserit, vincet si se contra dolorem suum intenderit: nunc hoc plerique faciunt, adtrahunt in se ruinam cui obstandum est. Istud quod premit, quod inpendet, quod urguet, si subducere te coeperis, sequetur et gravius incumbet; si contra steteris et obniti volueris, repelletur.","en":"Set in the very midst of difficulties, let a man say,\nPerhaps one day it will please us to remember even this.\nLet him fight back with his whole mind. He will be beaten if he gives way; he will win if he strains against his pain. As it is, most people do this: they pull down on themselves the collapse they ought to be holding up. That weight which presses, which hangs over you, which bears down, will follow and lie more heavily on you if you begin to draw back. If you stand against it and are willing to push back, it will be driven off."},{"ref":"Letter 78.16","orig":"Athletae quantum plagarum ore, quantum toto corpore excipiunt! ferunt tamen omne tormentum gloriae cupiditate nec tantum quia pugnant ista patiuntur, sed ut pugnent: exercitatio ipsa tormentum est. Nos quoque evincamus omnia, quorum praemium non corona nec palma est nec tubicen praedicationi nominis nostri silentium faciens, sed virtus et firmitas animi et pax in ceterum parta, si semel in aliquo certamine debellata fortuna est. 'Dolorem gravem sentio.'","en":"How many blows athletes take on the face, how many all over the body! Yet they bear every torment from desire for glory, and they suffer these things not only because they fight, but in order to fight: the training itself is torment. Let us too conquer everything, when our prize is not a wreath or a palm or a trumpeter calling for silence to announce our name, but virtue, firmness of mind, and peace won for the rest of time, once fortune has been thoroughly beaten in some contest. \"I feel severe pain.\""},{"ref":"Letter 78.17","orig":"Quid ergo? non sentis si illum muliebriter tuleris? Quemadmodum perniciosior est hostis fugientibus, sic omne fortuitum incommodum magis instat cedenti et averso. 'Sed grave est.' Quid? nos ad hoc fortes sumus, ut levia portemus? Utrum vis longum esse morbum an concitatum et brevem? Si longus est, habet intercapedinem, dat refectioni locum, multum temporis donat, necesse est, ut exsurgat, et desinat: brevis morbus ac praeceps alterutrum faciet, aut extinguetur aut extinguet. Quid autem interest, non sit an non sim? in utroque finis dolendi est.","en":"What then? Do you not feel it if you bear it like a woman? Just as an enemy is more deadly to those who flee, so every chance misfortune presses harder on one who gives way and turns his back. \"But it is severe.\" What? Are we brave only so as to carry light loads? Would you rather an illness were long, or violent and short? If it is long, it has pauses, it allows room for recovery, it grants a great deal of time; it must rise and then subside. A short and headlong illness will do one of two things: it will be put out or it will put you out. And what does it matter whether it ceases to be or I do? In both cases pain ends."},{"ref":"Letter 78.18","orig":"Illud quoque proderit, ad alias cogitationes avertere animum et a dolore discedere. Cogita quid honeste, quid fortiter feceris; bonas partes tecum ipse tracta; memoriam in ea quae maxime miratus es sparge; tunc tibi fortissimus quisque et victor doloris occurrat: ille qui dum varices exsecandas praeberet legere librum perseveravit, ille qui non desiit ridere cum hoc ipsum irati tortores omnia instrumenta crudelitatis suae experirentur. Non vincetur dolor ratione, qui victus est risu?","en":"It will also help to turn the mind to other thoughts and move away from the pain. Think of what you have done honourably and bravely. Go over the good parts you have played. Spread your memory over the things you have most admired. Then let every bravest man who conquered pain come to mind: the man who went on reading a book while he offered his varicose veins to be cut out; the man who did not stop laughing while his torturers, angered by that very laughter, tried every instrument of their cruelty on him. Will pain not be conquered by reason, when it has been conquered by laughter?"},{"ref":"Letter 78.19","orig":"Quidquid vis nunc licet dicas, destillationes et vim continuae tussis egerentem viscerum partes et febrem praecordia ipsa torrentem et sitim et artus in diversum articulis exeuntibus tortos: plus est flamma et eculeus et lamina et vulneribus ipsis intumescentibus quod illa renovaret et altius urgueret inpressum. Inter haec tamen aliquis non gemuit. Parum est: non rogavit. Parum est: non respondit. Parum est: risit et quidem ex animo. Vis tu post hoc dolorem deridere?","en":"Now you may name whatever you like: catarrhs, and the violence of a constant cough that brings up bits of the lungs, and fever that parches the very chest, and thirst, and limbs twisted awry with the joints forced out of place. Worse are the flame, the rack, the red-hot plate, and something pressed into the swelling wounds themselves to open them again and drive deeper. Yet amid all this a man did not groan. That is not enough: he did not beg. That is not enough: he did not answer. That is not enough: he laughed, and laughed from the heart. After this, will you not laugh at pain?"},{"ref":"Letter 78.20–21","orig":"'Sed nihil' inquit 'agere sinit morbus, qui me omnibus abduxit officiis.' Corpus tuum valetudo tenet, non et animum. Itaque cursoris moratur pedes, sutoris aut fabri manus inpedit: si animus tibi esse in usu solet, suadebis docebis, audies disces, quaeres recordaberis. Quid porro? nihil agere te credis si temperans aeger sis? ostendes morbum posse superari vel certe sustineri. Est, mihi crede, virtuti etiam in lectulo locus. Non tantum arma et acies dant argumenta alacris animi indomitique terroribus: et in vestimentis vir fortis apparet. Habes quod agas: bene luctare cum morbo. Si nihil te coegerit, si nihil exoraverit, insigne prodis exemplum. O quam magna erat gloriae materia, si spectaremur aegri! ipse te specta, ipse te lauda.","en":"\"But illness,\" he says, \"does not let me do anything; it has taken me away from all my duties.\" Ill health has hold of your body, not your mind as well. So it slows the feet of a runner and hinders the hands of a cobbler or a smith. But if you are used to making use of your mind, you will advise and teach, listen and learn, inquire and remember. What next? Do you think you are doing nothing if you are a self-controlled patient? You will show that illness can be overcome, or at least endured. Believe me, there is room for virtue even in a sickbed. It is not only arms and the battle line that give proof of a spirit that is eager and untamed by terrors: the brave man shows himself even in his bedclothes. You have something to do: wrestle well with your illness. If it forces nothing out of you and wheedles nothing out of you, you are setting a notable example. Oh, what a great opportunity for glory there would be if we had spectators when we were ill! Be your own spectator, your own applause."},{"ref":"Letter 78.22–23","orig":"Praeterea duo genera sunt voluptatum. Corporales morbus inhibet, non tamen tollit; immo, si verum aestimes, incitat. Magis iuvat bibere sitientem, gratior est esurienti cibus; quidquid ex abstinentia contingit avidius excipitur. Illas vero animi voluptates, quae maiores certioresque sunt, nemo medicus aegro negat. Has quisquis sequitur et bene intellegit omnia sensuum blandimenta contemnit. 'O infelicem aegrum!' Quare? quia non vino nivem diluit? quia non rigorem potionis suae, quam capaci scypho miscuit, renovat fracta insuper glacie? quia non ostrea illi Lucrina in ipsa mensa aperiuntur? quia non circa cenationem eius tumultus cocorum est ipsos cum opsoniis focos transferentium? Hoc enim iam luxuria commenta est: ne quis intepescat cibus, ne quid palato iam calloso parum ferveat, cenam culina prosequitur.","en":"Besides, there are two kinds of pleasure. Illness checks the bodily ones but does not remove them. In fact, if you judge truly, it sharpens them. Drinking is more pleasant when one is thirsty, food more welcome when one is hungry; whatever comes after abstaining is received more eagerly. But the pleasures of the mind, which are greater and surer, no doctor denies to a sick man. Whoever pursues these and understands them well despises all the allurements of the senses. \"Oh, the poor sick man!\" Why? Because he does not cool his wine with snow? Because he does not keep the chill of the drink he has mixed in a large cup by breaking ice into it? Because Lucrine oysters are not opened for him right at the table? Because there is no bustle of cooks round his dining room, carrying the very stoves along with the food? For luxury has now devised this: so that no food cools, so that nothing is too lukewarm for a palate already hardened, the kitchen follows the dinner around."},{"ref":"Letter 78.24–26","orig":"'O infelicem aegrum!' Edet quantum concoquat; non iacebit in conspectu aper ut vilis caro a mensa relegatus, nec in repositorio eius pectora avium (totas enim videre fastidium est) congesta ponentur. Quid tibi mali factum est? cenabis tamquam aeger, immo aliquando tamquam sanus. Sed omnia ista facile perferemus, sorbitionem, aquam calidam, et quidquid aliud intolerabile videtur delicatis et luxu fluentibus magisque animo quam corpore morbidis: tantum mortem desinamus horrere. Desinemus autem, si fines bonorum ac malorum cognoverimus; ita demum nec vita taedio erit nec mors timori. Vitam enim occupare satietas sui non potest tot res varias, magnas, divinas percensentem: in odium illam sui adducere solet iners otium. Rerum naturam peragranti numquam in fastidium veritas veniet: falsa satiabunt.","en":"\"Oh, the poor sick man!\" He will eat as much as he can digest. No boar will lie in view, banished from the table as cheap meat, nor will the breasts of birds be piled on his serving tray (for it is tiresome to see them whole). What harm has been done to you? You will dine like a sick man, or rather, sometimes like a healthy one. But we will easily put up with all these things: gruel, warm water, and whatever else seems unbearable to the dainty, who are awash in luxury and sicker in mind than in body. Only let us stop dreading death. And we will stop, if we come to know the limits of good and evil. Only then will life not be a weariness nor death a terror. For surfeit of itself cannot seize a life that surveys so many varied, great and divine things; it is idle leisure that usually brings life to hate itself. For one who ranges through the natural world, truth will never become tiresome; false things will cloy."},{"ref":"Letter 78.27–29","orig":"Rursus si mors accedit et vocat, licet inmatura sit, licet mediam praecidat aetatem, perceptus longissimae fructus est. Cognita est illi ex magna parte natura; scit tempore honesta non crescere: iis necesse est videri omnem vitam brevem qui illam voluptatibus vanis et ideo infinitis metiuntur. His te cogitationibus recrea et interim epistulis nostris vaca. Veniet aliquando tempus quod nos iterum iungat ac misceat; quantulumlibet sit illud, longum faciet scientia utendi. Nam, ut Posidonius ait, 'unus dies hominum eruditorum plus patet quam inperitis longissima aetas'. Interim hoc tene, hoc morde: adversis non succumbere, laetis non credere, omnem fortunae licentiam in oculis habere, tamquam quidquid potest facere factura sit. Quidquid expectatum est diu, levius accedit. Vale.","en":"Again, if death approaches and calls, even though it is untimely, even though it cuts off life in the middle, the man has gathered the fruit of the longest life. He has come to know nature in great part; he knows that honourable things do not grow with time. Every life is bound to seem short to those who measure it by empty pleasures, which are therefore endless. Refresh yourself with these thoughts, and meanwhile give time to our letters. A time will come some day that will join us together again. However short it may be, knowing how to use it will make it long. For, as Posidonius says, \"one day of educated men is wider than the longest life of the ignorant.\" Meanwhile hold on to this, bite on this: do not give in to adversity, do not trust prosperity, keep before your eyes fortune's whole licence, as if she will do whatever she can do. Whatever has been long expected arrives more lightly. Farewell."}],"79":[{"ref":"Letter 79.1","orig":"Expecto epistulas tuas quibus mihi indices circuitus Siciliae totius quid tibi novi ostenderit, et omnia de ipsa Charybdi certiora. Nam Scyllam saxum esse et quidem non terribile navigantibus optime scio: Charybdis an respondeat fabulis perscribi mihi desidero et, si forte observaveris (dignum est autem quod observes), fac nos certiores utrum uno tantum vento agatur in vertices an omnis tempestas aeque mare illud contorqueat, et an verum sit quidquid illo freti turbine abreptum est per multa milia trahi conditum et circa Tauromenitanum litus emergere.","en":"I am waiting for your letters telling me what new things your tour of all Sicily has shown you, and everything more certain about Charybdis itself. For I know very well that Scylla is a rock, and not a terrible one for sailors. I want you to write to me in full whether Charybdis lives up to the stories. And if by chance you have observed it (and it is worth observing), let me know whether it is whipped into whirlpools by one wind only, or whether every storm churns that sea equally; and whether it is true that whatever is snatched away by that whirl of the strait is dragged hidden for many miles and surfaces near the shore of Tauromenium."},{"ref":"Letter 79.2","orig":"Si haec mihi perscripseris, tunc tibi audebo mandare ut in honorem meum Aetnam quoque ascendas, quam consumi et sensim subsidere ex hoc colligunt quidam, quod aliquanto longius navigantibus solebat ostendi. Potest hoc accidere non quia montis altitudo descendit, sed quia ignis evanuit et minus vehemens ac largus effertur, ob eandem causam fumo quoque per diem segniore. Neutrum autem incredibile est, nec montem qui devoretur cotidie minui, nec manere eundem, quia non ipsum ignis exest sed in aliqua inferna valle conceptus exaestuat et aliis pascitur, in ipso monte non alimentum habet sed viam.","en":"If you write all this to me, then I will dare to ask you to climb Etna too, in my honour. Some people infer that it is being eaten away and gradually sinking because it used to be visible to sailors from a good deal further off. This could happen not because the height of the mountain is going down, but because the fire has faded and is thrown up less violently and less abundantly, which is also why the smoke is weaker by day. Neither is unbelievable: neither that a mountain which is being devoured grows smaller every day, nor that it stays the same, because the fire does not eat the mountain itself but, formed in some valley below, boils up and feeds on other matter; in the mountain itself it has not its food but its passage."},{"ref":"Letter 79.3–4","orig":"In Lycia regio notissima est (Hephaestion incolae vocant), foratum pluribus locis solum, quod sine ullo nascentium damno ignis innoxius circumit. Laeta itaque regio est et herbida, nihil flammis adurentibus sed tantum vi remissa ac languida refulgentibus. Sed reservemus ista, tunc quaesituri cum tu mihi scripseris quantum ab ipso ore montis nives absint, quas ne aestas quidem solvit; adeo tutae sunt ab igne vicino. Non est autem quod istam curam inputes mihi; morbo enim tuo daturus eras, etiam si nemo mandaret.","en":"In Lycia there is a very well-known region, which the inhabitants call Hephaestion. The ground is pierced in several places, and a harmless fire plays round it without any damage to what grows there. So the region is fertile and grassy, the flames not scorching anything but only glowing with a slack, feeble force. But let us put these matters aside, to look into them when you have written to me how far from the mouth of the mountain itself the snows lie, which not even summer melts, so safe are they from the fire nearby. There is no reason for you to charge this task to my account, for you would have given in to your own passion for it even if no one asked you."},{"ref":"Letter 79.5–6","orig":"Quid tibi do ne Aetnam describas in tuo carmine, ne hunc sollemnem omnibus poetis locum adtingas? Quem quominus Ovidius tractaret, nihil obstitit quod iam Vergilius impleverat; ne Severum quidem Cornelium uterque deterruit. Omnibus praeterea feliciter hic locus se dedit, et qui praecesserant non praeripuisse mihi videntur quae dici poterant, sed aperuisse. Multum interest utrum ad consumptam materiam an ad subactam accedas: crescit in dies, et inventuris inventa non obstant. Praeterea condicio optima est ultimi: parata verba invenit, quae aliter instructa novam faciem habent. Nec illis manus inicit tamquam alienis; sunt enim publica.","en":"What will you take not to describe Etna in your poem, not to touch on this subject that is a set piece for every poet? Nothing stopped Ovid from handling it just because Virgil had already covered it fully; nor did the two of them put off Cornelius Severus. Besides, this subject has turned out well for everyone, and those who went before do not seem to me to have snatched away what could be said, but to have opened it up. It makes a great difference whether you come to material that has been used up or material that has been prepared. It grows from day to day, and what has been discovered is no obstacle to those who will discover more. Besides, the last comer is in the best position: he finds words ready, which, arranged differently, take on a new look. And he does not lay hands on them as if they were someone else's, for they are public property."},{"ref":"Letter 79.7–8","orig":"Aut ego te non novi aut Aetna tibi salivam movet; iam cupis grande aliquid et par prioribus scribere. Plus enim sperare modestia tibi tua non permittit, quae tanta in te est ut videaris mihi retracturus ingenii tui vires, si vincendi periculum sit: tanta tibi priorum reverentia est. Inter cetera hoc habet boni sapientia: nemo ab altero potest vinci nisi dum ascenditur. Cum ad summum perveneris, paria sunt; non est incremento locus, statur. Numquid sol magnitudini suae adicit? numquid ultra quam solet luna procedit? Maria non crescunt; mundus eundem habitum ac modum servat.","en":"Either I do not know you, or Etna makes your mouth water. You already long to write something grand and equal to those who came before. For your modesty does not allow you to hope for more. It is so great in you that I think you would hold back the strength of your talent if there were a risk of surpassing them, so great is your respect for your predecessors. Among its other advantages wisdom has this one: no one can be surpassed by another except while climbing. When you have reached the top, all are equal; there is no room for growth; you stand still. Does the sun add to its size? Does the moon go beyond its usual course? The seas do not grow; the universe keeps the same form and measure."},{"ref":"Letter 79.9–10","orig":"Extollere se quae iustam magnitudinem implevere non possunt: quicumque fuerint sapientes, pares erunt et aequales. Habebit unusquisque ex iis proprias dotes: alius erit affabilior, alius expeditior, alius promptior in eloquendo, alius facundior: illud de quo agitur, quod beatum facit, aequalest in omnibus. An Aetna tua possit sublabi et in se ruere, an hoc excelsum cacumen et conspicuum per vasti maris spatia detrahat adsidua vis ignium, nescio: virtutem non flamma, non ruina inferius adducet; haec una maiestas deprimi nescit. Nec proferri ultra nec referri potest; sic huius, ut caelestium, stata magnitudo est. Ad hanc nos conemur educere.","en":"Things that have filled out their proper size cannot raise themselves higher. All who are wise will be equal and on a level. Each of them will have his own gifts: one will be more affable, another more nimble, another quicker in speaking, another more eloquent. But the thing in question, that which makes one happy, is equal in all of them. Whether your Etna can slip down and collapse into itself, whether the constant force of the fires is pulling down that lofty peak, visible across wide stretches of the sea, I do not know. But neither flame nor collapse will bring virtue lower. This alone is a majesty that cannot be brought down. It can be neither pushed further nor drawn back; like that of the heavenly bodies, its size is fixed. Let us try to raise ourselves to this."},{"ref":"Letter 79.11–12","orig":"Iam multum operis effecti est; immo, si verum fateri volo, non multum. Nec enim bonitas est pessimis esse meliorem: quis oculis glorietur qui suspicetur diem? Cui sol per caliginem splendet, licet contentus interim sit effugisse tenebras, adhuc non fruitur bono lucis. Tunc animus noster habebit quod gratuletur sibi cum emissus his tenebris in quibus volutatur non tenui visu clara prospexerit, sed totum diem admiserit et redditus caelo suo fuerit, cum receperit locum quem occupavit sorte nascendi. Sursum illum vocant initia sua; erit autem illic etiam antequam hac custodia exsolvatur, cum vitia disiecerit purusque ac levis in cogitationes divinas emicuerit.","en":"A great deal of the work has already been done; or rather, if I want to admit the truth, not a great deal. For goodness is not being better than the worst. Who would boast of his eyes because he can make out that it is day? A man for whom the sun shines through a fog may be content for now to have escaped the darkness, but he does not yet enjoy the good of light. Our mind will have reason to congratulate itself when, released from this darkness in which it rolls about, it has not glimpsed brightness with weak sight but has let in the full daylight, and has been given back to its own sky, when it has regained the place it held by the lot of its birth. Its origins call it upwards. And it will be there even before it is released from this prison, when it has scattered its vices and, pure and light, has leapt up into divine thoughts."},{"ref":"Letter 79.13–14","orig":"Hoc nos agere, Lucili carissime, in hoc ire impetu toto, licet pauci sciant, licet nemo, iuvat. Gloria umbra virtutis est: etiam invitam comitabitur. Sed quemadmodum aliquando umbra antecedit, aliquando sequitur vel a tergo est, ita gloria aliquando ante nos est visendamque se praebet, aliquando in averso est maiorque quo serior, ubi invidia secessit. Quamdiu videbatur furere Democritus! Vix recepit Socraten fama. Quamdiu Catonem civitas ignoravit! respuit nec intellexit nisi cum perdidit. Rutili innocentia ac virtus lateret, nisi accepisset iniuriam: dum violatur, effulsit. Numquid non sorti suae gratias egit et exilium suum complexus est? De his loquor quos inlustravit fortuna dum vexat: quam multorum profectus in notitiam evasere post ipsos! quam multos fama non excepit sed eruit!","en":"It is good, dearest Lucilius, for us to be doing this, to be going towards this with all our force, though few know it, though no one does. Glory is the shadow of virtue: it will go with her even against her will. But just as a shadow sometimes goes in front and sometimes follows or is behind, so glory is sometimes in front of us and offers itself to be seen, and sometimes it is behind, and greater the later it comes, once envy has withdrawn. How long Democritus was thought mad! Fame barely accepted Socrates. How long Cato went unrecognised by the state! It rejected him and did not understand him until it had lost him. The innocence and virtue of Rutilius would have lain hidden if he had not been wronged: while he was being injured, he shone out. Did he not thank his fate and embrace his exile? I am speaking of those whom fortune made famous while she persecuted them. How many people's progress has come to light after their deaths! How many has fame not so much welcomed as dug up!"},{"ref":"Letter 79.15–16","orig":"Vides Epicurum quantopere non tantum eruditiores sed haec quoque inperitorum turba miretur: hic ignotus ipsis Athenis fuit, circa quas delituerat. Multis itaque iam annis Metrodoro suo superstes in quadam epistula, cum amicitiam suam et Metrodori grata commemoratione cecinisset, hoc novissime adiecit, nihil sibi et Metrodoro inter bona tanta nocuisse quod ipsos illa nobilis Graecia non ignotos solum habuisset sed paene inauditos. Numquid ergo non postea quam esse desierat inventus est? numquid non opinio eius enituit? Hoc Metrodorus quoque in quadam epistula confitetur, se et Epicurum non satis enotuisse; sed post se et Epicurum magnum paratumque nomen habituros qui voluissent per eadem ire vestigia.","en":"You see how greatly not only the learned but even this crowd of the ignorant admire Epicurus. He was unknown in Athens itself, near which he had lived hidden away. So when he had already outlived his Metrodorus by many years, in a certain letter, after singing the praises of his friendship with Metrodorus in grateful remembrance, he added this at the end: that amid such great goods it had done neither him nor Metrodorus any harm that famous Greece had not only not known them but had hardly even heard of them. Was he not, then, discovered after he had ceased to exist? Did his reputation not shine out? Metrodorus too admits this in a certain letter: that he and Epicurus had not become well enough known, but that after them anyone who chose to follow in their footsteps would have a great name ready-made."},{"ref":"Letter 79.17","orig":"Nulla virtus latet, et latuisse non ipsius est damnum: veniet qui conditam et saeculi sui malignitate conpressam dies publicet. Paucis natus est qui populum aetatis suae cogitat. Multa annorum milia, multa populorum supervenient: ad illa respice. Etiam si omnibus tecum viventibus silentium livor indixerit, venient qui sine offensa, sine gratia iudicent. Si quod est pretium virtutis ex fama, nec hoc interit. Ad nos quidem nihil pertinebit posterorum sermo; tamen etiam non sentientes colet ac frequentabit.","en":"No virtue stays hidden, and to have been hidden is no loss to it. The day will come that makes public a virtue that was buried and suppressed by the spite of its own age. A man who thinks only of the people of his own time was born for few. Many thousands of years, many thousands of peoples will come after: look to them. Even if envy has imposed silence on all who live with you, there will come people who judge without offence and without favour. If there is any reward for virtue from fame, even this does not perish. The talk of those who come after will mean nothing to us; yet it will honour and throng around us even when we do not feel it."},{"ref":"Letter 79.18","orig":"Nulli non virtus et vivo et mortuo rettulit gratiam, si modo illam bona secutus est fide, si se non exornavit et pinxit, sed idem fuit sive ex denuntiato videbatur sive inparatus ac subito. Nihil simulatio proficit; paucis inponit leviter extrinsecus inducta facies: veritas in omnem partem sui eadem est. Quae decipiunt nihil habent solidi. Tenue est mendacium: perlucet si diligenter inspexeris. Vale.","en":"Virtue has repaid everyone, both living and dead, provided he has followed her in good faith, has not decked himself out and painted himself, but has been the same whether he was seen after warning or unprepared and suddenly. Pretence achieves nothing. A mask lightly put on from outside deceives few; truth is the same on every side. Things that deceive have nothing solid in them. A lie is thin: it is transparent if you look at it carefully. Farewell."}],"80":[{"ref":"Letter 80.1","orig":"Hodierno die non tantum meo beneficio mihi vaco sed spectaculi, quod omnes molestos ad sphaeromachian avocavit. Nemo inrumpet, nemo cogitationem meam inpediet, quae hac ipsa fiducia procedit audacius. Non crepabit subinde ostium, non adlevabitur velum: licebit tuto vadere, quod magis necessarium est per se eunti et suam sequenti viam. Non ergo sequor priores? facio, sed permitto mihi et invenire aliquid et mutare et relinquere; non servio illis, sed assentior.","en":"Today I have time to myself, not only thanks to my own efforts but thanks to the games, which have drawn all the bothersome people away to the boxing. No one will burst in, no one will hinder my thinking, which goes forward more boldly because of this very confidence. The door will not keep creaking, the curtain will not be lifted. I will be able to go forward safely, which is all the more necessary for one who goes on his own and follows his own road. Do I not follow my predecessors, then? I do, but I allow myself to discover something, to change something and to leave something out. I am not their slave, but I agree with them."},{"ref":"Letter 80.2","orig":"Magnum tamen verbum dixi, qui mihi silentium promittebam et sine interpellatore secretum: ecce ingens clamor ex stadio perfertur et me non excutit mihi, sed in huius ipsius rei contemplationem transfert. Cogito mecum quam multi corpora exerceant, ingenia quam pauci; quantus ad spectaculum non fidele et lusorium fiat concursus, quanta sit circa artes bonas solitudo; quam inbecilli animo sint quorum lacertos umerosque miramur.","en":"But I have spoken a big word in promising myself silence and privacy without interruption. Look, a huge roar comes over from the stadium. It does not throw me out of myself, but turns me to the contemplation of this very thing. I think to myself how many people exercise their bodies and how few their minds; what a crowd rushes to a show that is unreliable and a mere game, and what emptiness there is around the good arts; how weak in mind are the men whose arms and shoulders we admire."},{"ref":"Letter 80.3","orig":"Illud maxime revolvo mecum: si corpus perduci exercitatione ad hanc patientiam potest qua et pugnos pariter et calces non unius hominis ferat, qua solem ardentissimum in ferventissimo pulvere sustinens aliquis et sanguine suo madens diem ducat, quanto facilius animus conroborari possit ut fortunae ictus invictus excipiat, ut proiectus, ut conculcatus exsurgat. Corpus enim multis eget rebus ut valeat: animus ex se crescit, se ipse alit, se exercet. Illis multo cibo, multa potione opus est, multo oleo, longa denique opera: tibi continget virtus sine apparatu, sine inpensa. Quidquid facere te potest bonum tecum est.","en":"This is what I turn over in my mind most of all: if the body can be brought by training to such endurance that it bears the fists and kicks of more than one man at once, and a man spends the day under the blazing sun in the scorching dust, dripping with his own blood, how much more easily could the mind be strengthened to take fortune's blows unconquered, to rise again when thrown down and trampled on? For the body needs many things to be strong; the mind grows from within, feeds itself and trains itself. Athletes need much food, much drink, much oil, and in short long effort. You will get virtue without equipment and without expense. Whatever can make you good is with you."},{"ref":"Letter 80.4–5","orig":"Quid tibi opus est ut sis bonus? velle. Quid autem melius potes velle quam eripere te huic servituti quae omnes premit, quam mancipia quoque condicionis extremae et in his sordibus nata omni modo exuere conantur? Peculium suum, quod comparaverunt ventre fraudato, pro capite numerant: tu non concupisces quanticumque ad libertatem pervenire, qui te in illa putas natum? Quid ad arcam tuam respicis? emi non potest. Itaque in tabellas vanum coicitur nomen libertatis, quam nec qui emerunt habent nec qui vendiderunt: tibi des oportet istud bonum, a te petas. Libera te primum metu mortis (illa nobis iugum inponit), deinde metu paupertatis.","en":"What do you need in order to be good? To want it. And what better thing can you want than to snatch yourself away from this slavery which weighs on everyone, which even slaves of the lowest condition, born in this squalor, try in every way to throw off? Their savings, which they have scraped together by cheating their bellies, they pay out for their freedom. Will you not long to reach freedom at any cost, you who think you were born in it? Why do you look at your money chest? Freedom cannot be bought. That is why the name of freedom that is entered in the registers is empty: neither those who have bought it have it nor those who have sold it. You must give this good to yourself; ask it of yourself. First free yourself from the fear of death, for it puts the yoke on us; then from the fear of poverty."},{"ref":"Letter 80.6–7","orig":"Si vis scire quam nihil in illa mali sit, compara inter se pauperum et divitum vultus: saepius pauper et fidelius ridet; nulla sollicitudo in alto est; etiam si qua incidit cura, velut nubes levis transit: horum qui felices vocantur hilaritas ficta est aut gravis et suppurata tristitia, eo quidem gravior quia interdum non licet palam esse miseros, sed inter aerumnas cor ipsum exedentes necesse est agere felicem. Saepius hoc exemplo mihi utendum est, nec enim ullo efficacius exprimitur hic humanae vitae mimus, qui nobis partes quas male agamus adsignat. Ille qui in scaena latus incedit et haec resupinus dicit,\nen impero Argis; regna mihi liquit Pelops,\nqua ponto ab Helles atque ab Ionio mari\nurguetur Isthmos,\nservus est, quinque modios accipit et quinque denarios.","en":"If you want to know how little evil there is in poverty, compare the faces of the poor and the rich. The poor man laughs more often and more genuinely. No worry goes deep in him. Even if some care comes, it passes like a light cloud. The cheerfulness of those who are called happy is fake, or else their sadness is heavy and festering, and all the heavier because sometimes they are not allowed to be openly wretched, but amid sorrows that eat away their very hearts they have to act the happy man. I have to use this example rather often, for nothing expresses more effectively this mime of human life, which assigns us parts that we play badly. The man who struts across the stage and, head thrown back, says,\nBehold, I rule Argos; Pelops left me his kingdom,\nwhere the Isthmus is pressed by the sea of Helle\nand by the Ionian sea,\nis a slave. He gets five measures of grain and five denarii."},{"ref":"Letter 80.8–9","orig":"Ille qui superbus atque inpotens et fiducia virium tumidus ait,\nquod nisi quieris, Menelae, hac dextra occides,\ndiurnum accipit, in centunculo dormit. Idem de istis licet omnibus dicas quos supra capita hominum supraque turbam delicatos lectica suspendit: omnium istorum personata felicitas est. Contemnes illos si despoliaveris. Equum empturus solvi iubes stratum, detrahis vestimenta venalibus ne qua vitia corporis lateant: hominem involutum aestimas? Mangones quidquid est quod displiceat, id aliquo lenocinio abscondunt, itaque ementibus ornamenta ipsa suspecta sunt: sive crus alligatum sive brachium aspiceres, nudari iuberes et ipsum tibi corpus ostendi.","en":"The man who, proud and headstrong and swollen with confidence in his strength, says,\nUnless you keep quiet, Menelaus, you will die by this right hand,\ngets a daily wage and sleeps under a patchwork blanket. You may say the same of all those dainty people whom a litter carries above people's heads and above the crowd: the happiness of all of them is a mask. You will despise them if you strip them. When you are going to buy a horse, you order its saddle-cloth to be taken off. You pull the clothes off slaves for sale so that no bodily defects are hidden. Do you judge a man while he is wrapped up? Slave-dealers hide with some trick whatever might displease, and so buyers are suspicious of the very finery. If you saw a leg or an arm bandaged, you would order it to be uncovered and the body itself shown to you."},{"ref":"Letter 80.10","orig":"Vides illum Scythiae Sarmatiaeve regem insigni capitis decorum? Si vis illum aestimare totumque scire qualis sit, fasciam solve: multum mali sub illa latet. Quid de aliis loquor? si perpendere te voles, sepone pecuniam, domum, dignitatem, intus te ipse considera: nunc qualis sis aliis credis. Vale.","en":"Do you see that king of Scythia or Sarmatia, adorned with the emblem on his head? If you want to value him and know fully what he is like, untie the headband: much evil lies hidden beneath it. But why do I speak of others? If you want to weigh yourself, put aside your money, your house, your rank, and look at yourself within. As it is, you take other people's word for what you are. Farewell."}],"81":[{"ref":"Letter 81.1","orig":"Quereris incidisse te in hominem ingratum: si hoc nunc primum, age aut fortunae aut diligentiae tuae gratias. Sed nihil facere hoc loco diligentia potest nisi te malignum; nam si hoc periculum vitare volueris, non dabis beneficia; ita ne apud alium pereant, apud te peribunt. Non respondeant potius quam non dentur: et post malam segetem serendum est. Saepe quidquid perierat adsidua infelicis soli sterilitate unius anni restituit ubertas.","en":"You complain that you have run into an ungrateful man. If this is the first time, thank either your luck or your own care. But in this matter care can do nothing except make you mean-spirited. If you try to avoid this danger, you will stop doing favours, and so, to keep them from being wasted on someone else, they will be wasted on you. Better that favours bring no return than that they are never given. Even after a bad harvest we must sow again. Often a single fertile year has made good everything lost to the steady barrenness of poor soil."},{"ref":"Letter 81.2–3","orig":"Est tanti, ut gratum invenias, experiri et ingratos. Nemo habet tam certam in beneficiis manum ut non saepe fallatur: aberrent, ut aliquando haereant. Post naufragium maria temptantur; feneratorem non fugat a foro coctor. Cito inerti otio vita torpebit, si relinquendum est quidquid offendit. Te vero benigniorem haec ipsa res faciat; nam cuius rei eventus incertus est, id ut aliquando procedat saepe temptandum est. Sed de isto satis multa in iis libris locuti sumus qui de beneficiis inscribuntur: illud magis quaerendum videtur, quod non satis, ut existimo, explicatum est, an is qui profuit nobis, si postea nocuit, paria fecerit et nos debito solverit. Adice, si vis, et illud: multo plus postea nocuit quam ante profuerat.","en":"It is worth trying the ungrateful in order to find one grateful man. No one's hand is so sure in giving favours that it is not often deceived. Let some go astray so that some may one day stick. People sail the seas again after a shipwreck, and a bankrupt does not drive the moneylender out of the market. Life would soon go numb in idle leisure if we had to give up everything that hurt us. Let this very experience make you more generous, since anything whose outcome is uncertain must be tried often if it is ever to succeed. But I have said enough on that subject in the books entitled On Benefits. A question that seems more worth asking, and which I think has not been fully explained, is this: if someone helped us and later harmed us, has he squared the account and released us from our debt? Add this too, if you like: that the later harm was much greater than the earlier help."},{"ref":"Letter 81.4–5","orig":"Si rectam illam rigidi iudicis sententiam quaeris, alterum ab altero absolvet et dicet, 'quamvis iniuriae praeponderent, tamen beneficiis donetur quod ex iniuria superest'. Plus nocuit, sed prius profuit; itaque habeatur et temporis ratio. Iam illa manifestiora sunt quam ut admoneri debeas quaerendum esse quam libenter profuerit, quam invitus nocuerit, quoniam animo et beneficia et iniuriae constant. 'Nolui beneficium dare; victus sum aut verecundia aut instantis pertinacia aut spe.'","en":"If you want the strict verdict of a severe judge, he will cancel one against the other and say: \"Although the wrongs outweigh, let what remains of the wrong be written off in honour of the favours.\" He did more harm, but he helped first, so let the timing also be taken into account. There are other points so obvious that you hardly need reminding to ask them: how willingly he helped, and how unwillingly he harmed, since both favours and wrongs depend on the intention. \"I did not want to do him the favour; I was won over by embarrassment, or by his persistent pressing, or by hope.\""},{"ref":"Letter 81.6–7","orig":"Eo animo quidque debetur quo datur, nec quantum sit sed a quali profectum voluntate perpenditur. Nunc coniectura tollatur: et illud beneficium fuit et hoc, quod modum beneficii prioris excessit, iniuria est. Vir bonus utrosque calculos sic ponit ut se ipse circumscribat: beneficio adicit, iniuriae demit. Alter ille remissior iudex, quem esse me malo, iniuriae oblivisci iubebit, officii meminisse. 'Hoc certe' inquis 'iustitiae convenit, suum cuique reddere, beneficio gratiam, iniuriae talionem aut certe malam gratiam.' Verum erit istud cum alius iniuriam fecerit, alius beneficium dederit; nam si idem est, beneficio vis iniuriae extinguitur. Nam cui, etiam si merita non antecessissent, oportebat ignosci, post beneficia laedenti plus quam venia debetur.","en":"Each thing is owed in the spirit in which it is given, and what is weighed is not how great it is but the kind of will it came from. Now let us put guesswork aside. The first was a favour, and the second, since it went beyond the measure of the earlier favour, is a wrong. A good man sets out both sides of the account so as to cheat himself: he adds to the favour and takes away from the wrong. The other, more lenient judge, the kind I would rather be, will tell us to forget the wrong and remember the kindness. \"Surely,\" you say, \"justice means giving each his due: thanks for a favour, and for a wrong, repayment in kind, or at least resentment.\" That will be true when one person has done the wrong and another the favour. But if it is the same person, the force of the wrong is extinguished by the favour. For a man who ought to be forgiven even if he had no earlier merits, more than pardon is owed when he does harm after doing good."},{"ref":"Letter 81.8","orig":"Non pono utrique par pretium: pluris aestimo beneficium quam iniuriam. Non omnes esse grati sciunt: debere beneficium potest etiam inprudens et rudis et unus e turba, utique dum prope est ab accepto, ignorat autem quantum pro eo debeat. Uni sapienti notum est quanti res quaeque taxanda sit. Nam ille de quo loquebar modo stultus, etiam si bonae voluntatis est, aut minus quam debet aut alio quam debet tempore aut quo non debet loco reddit; id quod referendum est effundit atque abicit.","en":"I do not set an equal price on both: I value a favour more than a wrong. Not everyone knows how to be grateful. Even a thoughtless, uneducated man, just one of the crowd, can feel indebted for a favour, especially soon after he has received it, but he does not know how much he owes in return. Only the wise man knows how highly each thing should be rated. The fool I spoke of just now, even if he means well, repays either less than he owes, or at the wrong time, or in the wrong place; what he ought to return, he squanders and throws away."},{"ref":"Letter 81.9–10","orig":"Mira in quibusdam rebus verborum proprietas est, et consuetudo sermonis antiqui quaedam efficacissimis et officia docentibus notis signat. Sic certe solemus loqui: 'ille illi gratiam rettulit'. Referre est ultro quod debeas adferre. Non dicimus 'gratiam reddidit'; reddunt enim et qui reposcuntur et qui inviti et qui ubilibet et qui per alium. Non dicimus 'reposuit beneficium' aut 'solvit': nullum nobis placuit quod aeri alieno convenit verbum. Referre est ad eum a quo acceperis rem ferre. Haec vox significat voluntariam relationem: qui rettulit, ipse se appellavit. Sapiens omnia examinabit secum, quantum acceperit, a quo, quare, quando, ubi, quemadmodum. Itaque negamus quemquam scire gratiam referre nisi sapientem, non magis quam beneficium dare quisquam scit nisi sapiens – hic scilicet qui magis dato gaudet quam alius accepto.","en":"In some matters words are remarkably exact, and the idiom of the old language marks certain things with terms that are very expressive and teach us our duties. We commonly say, \"He returned thanks to him.\" To return (referre) means to bring back of your own accord what you owe. We do not say \"he paid back thanks,\" for people pay back when they are dunned, or unwillingly, or anywhere at all, or through someone else. We do not say \"he restored the favour\" or \"settled it\": we have chosen no word that suits a money debt. To return is to carry a thing back to the person you received it from. The word means a voluntary giving back: the one who has returned thanks has summoned himself. The wise man will weigh everything in his own mind: how much he received, from whom, why, when, where, and how. So we say that no one knows how to return thanks except the wise man, just as no one but the wise man knows how to give a favour, the kind of man, of course, who enjoys giving more than another enjoys receiving."},{"ref":"Letter 81.11–12","orig":"Hoc aliquis inter illa numerat quae videmur inopinata omnibus dicere (paradoxa Graeci vocant) et ait, 'nemo ergo scit praeter sapientem referre gratiam? ergo nec quod debet creditori suo reponere quisquam scit alius nec, cum emit aliquam rem, pretium venditori persolvere?' Ne nobis fiat invidia, scito idem dicere Epicurum. Metrodorus certe ait solum sapientem referre gratiam scire. Deinde idem admiratur cum dicimus, 'solus sapiens scit amare, solus sapiens amicus est'. Atqui et amoris et amicitiae pars est referre gratiam, immo hoc magis vulgare est et in plures cadit quam vera amicitia. Deinde idem admiratur quod dicimus fidem nisi in sapiente non esse, tamquam non ipse idem dicat. An tibi videtur fidem habere qui referre gratiam nescit?","en":"Someone counts this among the statements of ours that seem surprising to everyone (the Greeks call them paradoxes) and says: \"So no one except the wise man knows how to return thanks? Then no one else knows how to repay his creditor what he owes, or to pay the seller the price when he buys something?\" So that we do not get all the blame, you should know that Epicurus says the same. Certainly Metrodorus says that only the wise man knows how to return thanks. Then this same critic is astonished when we say, \"Only the wise man knows how to love; only the wise man is a friend.\" Yet returning thanks is part of both love and friendship; indeed it is more common and applies to more people than true friendship does. Then he is astonished again when we say there is no loyalty except in the wise man, as if he did not say the same himself. Or do you think a man who does not know how to return thanks has loyalty?"},{"ref":"Letter 81.13–14","orig":"Desinant itaque infamare nos tamquam incredibilia iactantes et sciant apud sapientem esse ipsa honesta, apud vulgum simulacra rerum honestarum et effigies. Nemo referre gratiam scit nisi sapiens. Stultus quoque, utcumque scit et quemadmodum potest, referat; scientia illi potius quam voluntas desit: velle non discitur. Sapiens omnia inter se comparabit; maius enim aut minus fit, quamvis idem sit, tempore, loco, causa. Saepe enim hoc non potuere divitiae in domum infusae quod opportune dati mille denarii. Multum enim interest donaveris an succurreris, servaverit illum tua liberalitas an instruxerit; saepe quod datur exiguum est, quod sequitur ex eo magnum. Quantum autem existimas interesse utrum aliquis quod daret a se sumpserit an beneficium acceperit ut daret?","en":"So let them stop slandering us as people who throw out incredible claims, and let them understand that the wise man has the honourable things themselves, while the crowd has only their images and likenesses. No one knows how to return thanks except the wise man. Let the fool too return them as best he knows and as far as he can; what he lacks is knowledge rather than will, and willing is not something learned. The wise man will compare everything with everything else. The same thing becomes greater or smaller according to the time, the place and the reason. Often riches poured into a house could not do what a thousand denarii given at the right moment did. It makes a great difference whether you gave a present or came to the rescue, whether your generosity saved a man or set him up. Often what is given is small, but what follows from it is great. And how great a difference do you think it makes whether someone took what he gave from his own means, or received a favour so that he could give?"},{"ref":"Letter 81.15–16","orig":"Sed ne in eadem quae satis scrutati sumus revolvamur, in hac comparatione beneficii et iniuriae vir bonus iudicabit quidem quod erit aequissimum, sed beneficio favebit; in hanc erit partem proclivior. Plurimum autem momenti persona solet adferre in rebus eiusmodi: 'dedisti mihi beneficium in servo, iniuriam fecisti in patre; servasti mihi filium, sed patrem abstulisti'. Alia deinceps per quae procedit omnis conlatio prosequetur, et si pusillum erit quod intersit, dissimulabit; etiam si multum fuerit, sed si id donari salva pietate ac fide poterit, remittet, id est si ad ipsum tota pertinebit iniuria.","en":"But so as not to go back over things we have already examined enough: in weighing favour against wrong, the good man will judge what is fairest, but he will lean towards the favour and be more inclined to that side. In matters like this the person involved usually counts for a great deal. \"You did me a favour in the case of my slave and a wrong in the case of my father; you saved my son but took my father.\" He will go on through all the other points on which any comparison depends. If the difference is tiny, he will overlook it. Even if it is large, he will let it go, provided this can be done without failing in duty and good faith, that is, if the whole wrong concerns only himself."},{"ref":"Letter 81.17–18","orig":"Summa rei haec est: facilis erit in commutando; patietur plus inputari sibi; invitus beneficium per compensationem iniuriae solvet; in hanc partem inclinabit, huc verget, ut cupiat debere gratiam, cupiat referre. Errat enim si quis beneficium accipit libentius quam reddit: quanto hilarior est qui solvit quam qui mutuatur, tanto debet laetior esse qui se maximo aere alieno accepti benefici exonerat quam qui cum maxime obligatur. Nam in hoc quoque falluntur ingrati, quod creditori quidem praeter sortem extra ordinem numerant, beneficiorum autem usum esse gratuitum putant: et illa crescunt mora tantoque plus solvendum est quanto tardius. Ingratus est qui beneficium reddit sine usura; itaque huius quoque rei habebitur ratio, cum conferentur accepta et expensa.","en":"The upshot is this: he will be easy-going in striking the balance. He will let more be charged to his account. He will be reluctant to pay off a favour by setting a wrong against it. He will lean, he will tilt, towards wanting to owe gratitude and wanting to repay it. Anyone who is happier to receive a favour than to repay it is mistaken. Just as the man who pays off a loan is more cheerful than the man who borrows, so the man who frees himself from the huge debt of a favour received should be happier than the one who is taking on an obligation. For the ungrateful make another mistake here too: to a creditor they pay interest on top of the principal, but they think the use of favours is free. Favours also grow with delay, and the later you pay, the more you owe. Whoever repays a favour without interest is ungrateful. So this too will be taken into account when receipts and expenses are compared."},{"ref":"Letter 81.19","orig":"Omnia facienda sunt ut quam gratissimi simus. Nostrum enim hoc bonum est, quemadmodum iustitia non est (ut vulgo creditur) ad alios pertinens: magna pars eius in se redit. Nemo non, cum alteri prodest, sibi profuit, non eo nomine dico, quod volet adiuvare adiutus, protegere defensus, quod bonum exemplum circuitu ad facientem revertitur (sicut mala exempla recidunt in auctores nec ulla miseratio contingit iis qui patiuntur iniurias quas posse fieri faciendo docuerunt), sed quod virtutum omnium pretium in ipsis est. Non enim exercentur ad praemium: recte facti fecisse merces est.","en":"We should do everything we can to be as grateful as possible. This is a good that belongs to us, just as justice does not, as people commonly think, concern only others: a large part of it comes back to the person himself. Everyone who helps another helps himself. I do not mean that the one he helped will want to help him, or the one he defended will want to protect him, or that a good example comes round again to the one who set it (just as bad examples fall back on those who set them, and no pity is felt for people who suffer wrongs they taught were possible by doing them). I mean that the reward of all the virtues lies in the virtues themselves. They are not practised for a prize: the reward for doing right is to have done it."},{"ref":"Letter 81.20","orig":"Gratus sum non ut alius mihi libentius praestet priori inritatus exemplo, sed ut rem iucundissimam ac pulcherrimam faciam; gratus sum non quia expedit, sed quia iuvat. Hoc ut scias ita esse, si gratum esse non licebit nisi ut videar ingratus, si reddere beneficium non aliter quam per speciem iniuriae potero, aequissimo animo ad honestum consilium per mediam infamiam tendam. Nemo mihi videtur pluris aestimare virtutem, nemo illi magis esse devotus quam qui boni viri famam perdidit ne conscientiam perderet.","en":"I am grateful, not so that another person, spurred on by the earlier example, will be readier to do something for me, but in order to do a most pleasant and beautiful thing. I am grateful not because it pays but because it delights me. To show you that this is so: if I cannot be grateful except by seeming ungrateful, if I can repay a favour only in a way that looks like a wrong, I will head for the honourable course with complete calm, right through disgrace. No one, I think, values virtue more or is more devoted to it than the man who has lost the reputation of a good man so as not to lose his clear conscience."},{"ref":"Letter 81.21","orig":"Itaque, ut dixi, maiore tuo quam alterius bono gratus es; illi enim vulgaris et cotidiana res contigit, recipere quod dederat, tibi magna et ex beatissimo animi statu profecta, gratum fuisse. Nam si malitia miseros facit, virtus beatos, gratum autem esse virtus est, rem usitatam reddidisti, inaestimabilem consecutus es, conscientiam grati, quae nisi in animum divinum fortunatumque non pervenit. Contrarium autem huic adfectum summa infelicitas urget: nemo sibi gratus est qui alteri non fuit. Hoc me putas dicere, qui ingratus est miser erit? non differo illum: statim miser est.","en":"So, as I said, your being grateful is a greater good for you than for the other man. What he has gained is ordinary and everyday: getting back what he gave. What you have gained is something great that comes from the happiest state of mind: having been grateful. For if wickedness makes men wretched and virtue makes them happy, and gratitude is a virtue, then you have given back something ordinary and gained something beyond price: the awareness of being grateful, which comes only to a godlike and fortunate mind. The opposite state is weighed down by the deepest unhappiness: no one who has been ungrateful to another is grateful to himself. Do you think I mean that the ungrateful man will be wretched? I do not give him a delay: he is wretched now."},{"ref":"Letter 81.22–23","orig":"Itaque ingrati esse vitemus non aliena causa sed nostra. Minimum ex nequitia levissimumque ad alios redundat: quod pessimum ex illa est et, ut ita dicam, spississimum, domi remanet et premit habentem, quemadmodum Attalus noster dicere solebat, 'malitia ipsa maximam partem veneni sui bibit'. Illud venenum quod serpentes in alienam perniciem proferunt, sine sua continent, non est huic simile: hoc habentibus pessimum est. Torquet se ingratus et macerat; odit quae accepit, quia redditurus est, et extenuat, iniurias vero dilatat atque auget. Quid autem eo miserius cui beneficia excidunt, haerent iniuriae? At contra sapientia exornat omne beneficium ac sibi ipsa commendat et se adsidua eius commemoratione delectat.","en":"So let us avoid being ungrateful, not for others' sake but for our own. Only the least and lightest part of wickedness spills over onto other people. The worst of it, the thickest part so to speak, stays at home and weighs on its owner. As our Attalus used to say, \"Wickedness itself drinks most of its own poison.\" The venom that snakes produce to destroy others, while holding it without harm to themselves, is not like this: this poison is worst for those who carry it. The ungrateful man tortures and wears himself out. He hates what he has received because he will have to repay it, and he makes it smaller, while he stretches and enlarges the wrongs done to him. What is more wretched than a man who forgets favours and clings to wrongs? Wisdom, by contrast, adorns every favour, commends it to itself, and delights in recalling it constantly."},{"ref":"Letter 81.24–25","orig":"Malis una voluptas est et haec brevis, dum accipiunt beneficia, ex quibus sapienti longum gaudium manet ac perenne. Non enim illum accipere sed accepisse delectat, quod inmortale est et adsiduum. Illa contemnit quibus laesus est, nec obliviscitur per neglegentiam sed volens. Non vertit omnia in peius nec quaerit cui inputet casum, et peccata hominum ad fortunam potius refert. Non calumniatur verba nec vultus; quidquid accidit benigne interpretando levat. Non offensae potius quam offici meminit; quantum potest in priore ac meliore se memoria detinet, nec mutat animum adversus bene meritos nisi multum male facta praecedunt et manifestum etiam coniventi discrimen est; tunc quoque in hoc dumtaxat, ut talis sit post maiorem iniuriam qualis ante beneficium. Nam cum beneficio par est iniuria, aliquid in animo benivolentiae remanet.","en":"The wicked have one pleasure, and a short one: while they are receiving favours. From these the wise man gets a joy that lasts long and never ends. What delights him is not receiving but having received, which is undying and constant. He despises the things that have hurt him, and forgets them not through carelessness but on purpose. He does not turn everything for the worse or look for someone to blame for what happened; he puts men's mistakes down to fortune instead. He does not twist words or looks; whatever happens, he lightens it by interpreting it kindly. He does not remember an offence rather than a service. As far as he can, he keeps his memory on the earlier and better part, and he does not change his feelings towards those who have treated him well unless their misdeeds far outweigh it and the difference is plain even to someone looking away. Even then his only change is to be, after the greater wrong, what he was before the favour. For when a wrong equals a favour, some goodwill remains in the mind."},{"ref":"Letter 81.26–27","orig":"Quemadmodum reus sententiis paribus absolvitur et semper quidquid dubium est humanitas inclinat in melius, sic animus sapientis, ubi paria maleficiis merita sunt, desinit quidem debere, sed non desinit velle debere, et hoc facit quod qui post tabulas novas solvunt. Nemo autem esse gratus potest nisi contempsit ista propter quae vulgus insanit: si referre vis gratiam, et in exilium eundum est et effundendus sanguis et suscipienda egestas et ipsa innocentia saepe maculanda indignisque obicienda rumoribus. Non parvo sibi constat homo gratus.","en":"Just as a defendant is acquitted when the votes are equal, and humanity always tilts whatever is doubtful towards the better side, so the wise man's mind, when services and injuries are equal, stops owing but does not stop wanting to owe. He does what those people do who pay their debts after the slate has been wiped clean. No one can be grateful unless he has come to despise the things that drive the crowd mad. If you want to return thanks, you must be ready to go into exile, to shed your blood, to accept poverty, and often to have your very innocence stained and exposed to undeserved rumours. The grateful man pays a high price for being so."},{"ref":"Letter 81.28–29","orig":"Nihil carius aestimamus quam beneficium quamdiu petimus, nihil vilius cum accepimus. Quaeris quid sit quod oblivionem nobis acceptorum faciat? cupiditas accipiendorum; cogitamus non quid inpetratum sed quid petendum sit. Abstrahunt a recto divitiae, honores, potentia et cetera quae opinione nostra cara sunt, pretio suo vilia. Nescimus aestimare res, de quibus non cum fama sed cum rerum natura deliberandum est; nihil habent ista magnificum quo mentes in se nostras trahant praeter hoc, quod mirari illa consuevimus. Non enim quia concupiscenda sunt laudantur, sed concupiscuntur quia laudata sunt, et cum singulorum error publicum fecerit, singulorum errorem facit publicus.","en":"We value nothing more highly than a favour while we are asking for it, and nothing more cheaply once we have got it. Do you ask what makes us forget what we have received? Greed for what we still want to receive. We think not of what we have obtained but of what we still have to ask for. Wealth, honours, power and everything else that is dear in our opinion but cheap by its real value pull us away from what is right. We do not know how to value things; we ought to decide about them by consulting nature, not reputation. These things have nothing grand about them to draw our minds to them, except that we have grown used to admiring them. They are not praised because they are worth wanting; they are wanted because they have been praised. And when the mistakes of individuals have created a public mistake, the public mistake then creates the mistakes of individuals."},{"ref":"Letter 81.30–31","orig":"Sed quemadmodum illa credidimus, sic et hoc eidem populo credamus, nihil esse grato animo honestius; omnes hoc urbes, omnes etiam ex barbaris regionibus gentes conclamabunt; in hoc bonis malisque conveniet. Erunt qui voluptates laudent, erunt qui labores malint; erunt qui dolorem maximum malum dicant, erunt qui ne malum quidem appellent; divitias aliquis ad summum bonum admittet, alius illas dicet malo vitae humanae repertas, nihil esse eo locupletius cui quod donet fortuna non invenit: in tanta iudiciorum diversitate referendam bene merentibus gratiam omnes tibi uno, quod aiunt, ore adfirmabunt. In hoc tam discors turba consentiet, cum interim iniurias pro beneficiis reddimus, et prima causa est cur quis ingratus sit si satis gratus esse non potuit.","en":"But just as we have believed the people about those things, let us believe the same people about this: nothing is more honourable than a grateful heart. All cities will shout it out, and all nations even from barbarian lands; on this good and bad men will agree. Some will praise pleasures, others will prefer hard work. Some will call pain the greatest evil, others will not even call it an evil. One man will admit wealth to the supreme good; another will say it was invented to plague human life, and that no one is richer than the man for whom fortune can find nothing to give. Amid such a variety of opinions, they will all tell you with one voice, as the saying goes, that those who deserve well must be thanked. On this so quarrelsome a crowd will agree, and yet meanwhile we repay favours with wrongs. And the first reason a man is ungrateful is that he could not be grateful enough."},{"ref":"Letter 81.32","orig":"Eo perductus est furor ut periculosissima res sit beneficia in aliquem magna conferre; nam quia putat turpe non reddere, non vult esse cui reddat. Tibi habe quod accepisti; non repeto, non exigo: profuisse tutum sit. Nullum est odium perniciosius quam e beneficii violati pudore. Vale.","en":"Madness has gone so far that it is a very dangerous thing to do anyone a great favour. Because he thinks it shameful not to repay, he would rather there were no one to repay. \"Keep what you received. I do not ask for it back or demand it. Just let it be safe to have helped you.\" No hatred is more deadly than the one that comes from shame at a favour betrayed. Farewell."}],"82":[{"ref":"Letter 82.1–2","orig":"Desii iam de te esse sollicitus. 'Quem' inquis 'deorum sponsorem accepisti?' Eum scilicet qui neminem fallit, animum recti ac boni amatorem. In tuto pars tui melior est. Potest fortuna tibi iniuriam facere: quod ad rem magis pertinet, non timeo ne tu facias tibi. I qua ire coepisti et in isto te vitae habitu compone placide, non molliter. Male mihi esse malo quam molliter – 'male' nunc sic excipe quemadmodum a populo solet dici: dure, aspere, laboriose. Audire solemus sic quorundam vitam laudari quibus invidetur: 'molliter vivit'; hoc dicunt, 'mollis est'. Paulatim enim effeminatur animus atque in similitudinem otii sui et pigritiae in qua iacet solvitur. Quid ergo? viro non vel obrigescere satius est? * * * deinde idem delicati timent, cui vitam suam fecere similem. Multum interest inter otium et conditivum.","en":"I have stopped worrying about you. \"Which of the gods,\" you ask, \"did you take as your guarantor?\" The one, of course, who deceives no one: a mind that loves what is right and good. The better part of you is in safe keeping. Fortune can do you wrong; what matters more is that I am not afraid you will wrong yourself. Go on the way you have started, and settle yourself in this way of life calmly, but not softly. I would rather be badly off than soft. Take \"badly\" here in the sense the ordinary people give it: hard, rough, full of toil. We often hear the lives of people who are envied praised like this: \"He lives softly.\" What they mean is \"He is soft.\" For the mind is gradually unmanned and dissolves into the likeness of the idleness and sloth it lies in. What then? Is it not better for a man even to grow stiff? * * * then these same pampered people are afraid of the thing they have made their life resemble. There is a great difference between leisure and a tomb."},{"ref":"Letter 82.3–4","orig":"'Quid ergo?' inquis 'non satius est vel sic iacere quam in istis officiorum verticibus volutari?' Utraque res detestabilis est, et contractio et torpor. Puto, aeque qui in odoribus iacet mortuus est quam qui rapitur unco; otium sine litteris mors est et hominis vivi sepultura. Quid deinde prodest secessisse? tamquam non trans maria nos sollicitudinum causae persequantur. Quae latebra est in quam non intret metus mortis? quae tam emunita et in altum subducta vitae quies quam non dolor territet? quacumque te abdideris, mala humana circumstrepent. Multa extra sunt quae circumeunt nos quo aut fallant aut urgeant, multa intus quae in media solitudine exaestuant.","en":"\"What then?\" you say. \"Is it not better to lie idle even like that than to be spun round in those whirlpools of duties?\" Both are hateful, strain and torpor alike. In my view, a man who lies among perfumes is as dead as one who is dragged off by the hook. Leisure without study is death, the burial of a living man. Besides, what good does it do to withdraw? As if the causes of our worries did not follow us across the seas. What hiding place does the fear of death not enter? What calm life, however well fortified and removed on high, does pain not frighten? Wherever you hide, human troubles will be roaring around you. There are many things outside us that surround us to deceive us or press on us, and many within that boil up in the middle of solitude."},{"ref":"Letter 82.5–6","orig":"Philosophia circumdanda est, inexpugnabilis murus, quem fortuna multis machinis lacessitum non transit. In insuperabili loco stat animus qui externa deseruit et arce se sua vindicat; infra illum omne telum cadit. Non habet, ut putamus, fortuna longas manus: neminem occupat nisi haerentem sibi. Itaque quantum possumus ab illa resiliamus; quod sola praestabit sui naturaeque cognitio. Sciat quo iturus sit, unde ortus, quod illi bonum, quod malum sit, quid petat, quid evitet, quae sit illa ratio quae adpetenda ac fugienda discernat, qua cupiditatum mansuescit insania, timorum saexitia conpescitur.","en":"We must put philosophy around us like a wall that cannot be stormed, one that fortune, attack it with many siege engines as she may, cannot get over. The mind that has abandoned external things and claims its freedom in its own citadel stands in a place that cannot be overcome; every weapon falls short of it. Fortune does not have long arms, as we suppose; she seizes no one who is not clinging to her. So let us spring back from her as far as we can. Only knowledge of ourselves and of nature will make this possible. Let the mind know where it is going and where it came from, what is good for it and what is bad, what it should seek and what it should avoid, and what that reason is which tells apart what we should pursue and what we should shun, by which the madness of desires is tamed and the savagery of fears is held in check."},{"ref":"Letter 82.7–8","orig":"Haec quidam putant ipsos etiam sine philosophia repressisse; sed cum securos aliquis casus expertus est, exprimitur sera confessio; magna verba excidunt cum tortor poposcit manum, cum mors propius accessit. Possis illi dicere, 'facile provocabas mala absentia: ecce dolor, quem tolerabilem esse dicebas, ecce mors, quam contra multa animose locutus es; sonant flagella, gladius micat; nunc animis opus, Aenea, nunc pectore firmo'. Faciet autem illud firmum adsidua meditatio, si non verba exercueris sed animum, si contra mortem te praeparaveris, adversus quam non exhortabitur nec attollet qui cavillationibus tibi persuadere temptaverit mortem malum non esse. Libet enim, Lucili, virorum optime, ridere ineptias Graecas, quas nondum, quamvis mirer, excussi.","en":"Some people think they have held these things in check by themselves, even without philosophy. But when some misfortune catches them off guard, a late confession is forced out of them. Big words fall away when the torturer calls for the hand, when death has come closer. You could say to such a man: \"It was easy to challenge evils while they were far away. Here is pain, which you used to say could be borne. Here is death, against which you spoke so boldly and so often. The whips are cracking, the sword is flashing. Now is the time for courage, Aeneas, now for a steady heart.\" What makes the heart steady is constant practice, if you train not your words but your mind, if you prepare yourself against death. Against death you will get no encouragement or uplift from someone who tries to convince you with quibbles that death is not an evil. For I like, Lucilius, best of men, to laugh at Greek absurdities, which, to my own surprise, I have not yet shaken off."},{"ref":"Letter 82.9","orig":"Zenon noster hac conlectione utitur: 'nullum malum gloriosum est; mors autem gloriosa est; mors ergo non est malum'. Profecisti! liberatus sum metu; post hoc non dubitabo porrigere cervicem. Non vis severius loqui nec morituro risum movere? Non mehercules facile tibi dixerim utrum ineptior fuerit qui se hac interrogatione iudicavit mortis metum extinguere, an qui hoc, tamquam ad rem pertineret, conatus est solvere.","en":"Our Zeno uses this argument: \"No evil is glorious. But death is glorious. Therefore death is not an evil.\" Well done! I am freed from fear; after this I shall not hesitate to hold out my neck. Will you not speak more seriously, and not make a dying man laugh? Honestly, I could not easily tell you who was the more foolish: the man who thought he could extinguish the fear of death with this argument, or the man who tried to refute it, as if it mattered."},{"ref":"Letter 82.10","orig":"Nam et ipse interrogationem contrariam opposuit ex eo natam quod mortem inter indifferentia ponimus, quae adiaphora Graeci vocant. 'Nihil' inquit 'indifferens gloriosum est; mors autem gloriosum est; ergo mors non est indifferens.' Haec interrogatio vides ubi obrepat: mors non est gloriosa, sed fortiter mori gloriosum est. Et cum dicis 'indifferens nihil gloriosum est', concedo tibi ita ut dicam nihil gloriosum esse nisi circa indifferentia; tamquam indifferentia esse dico (id est nec bona nec mala) morbum, dolorem, paupertatem, exilium, mortem.","en":"For he himself set against it an opposite argument, arising from the fact that we class death among the indifferent things, which the Greeks call adiaphora. \"Nothing indifferent,\" he says, \"is glorious. But death is glorious. Therefore death is not indifferent.\" You see where this argument creeps in: death is not glorious, but dying bravely is glorious. And when you say \"nothing indifferent is glorious,\" I grant you that, but only in the sense that I say nothing is glorious except in connection with indifferent things. By indifferent things, that is, things neither good nor bad, I mean illness, pain, poverty, exile and death."},{"ref":"Letter 82.11","orig":"Nihil horum per se gloriosum est, nihil tamen sine his. Laudatur enim non paupertas, sed ille quem paupertas non summittit nec incurvat; laudatur non exilium, sed ille qui fortiore vultu in exilium iit quam misisset; laudatur non dolor, sed ille quem nihil coegit dolor; nemo mortem laudat, sed eum cuius mors ante abstulit animum quam conturbavit.","en":"None of these is glorious in itself, yet nothing is glorious without them. What is praised is not poverty but the man whom poverty does not bring low or bend. What is praised is not exile but the man who went into exile with a braver face than the man who sent him there. What is praised is not pain but the man whom pain forced to do nothing. No one praises death, but only the man whom death took away before it could unsettle him."},{"ref":"Letter 82.12","orig":"Omnia ista per se non sunt honesta nec gloriosa, sed quidquid ex illis virtus adiit tractavitque honestum et gloriosum facit: illa in medio posita sunt. Interest utrum malitia illis an virtus manum admoverit; mors enim illa quae in Catone gloriosa est in Bruto statim turpis est et erubescenda. Hic est enim Brutus qui, cum periturus mortis moras quaereret, ad exonerandum ventrem secessit et evocatus ad mortem iussusque praebere cervicem, 'praebebo', inquit 'ita vivam'. Quae dementia est fugere cum retro ire non possis! 'Praebebo', inquit 'ita vivam'. Paene adiecit 'vel sub Antonio'. O hominem dignum qui vitae dederetur!","en":"None of these things is honourable or glorious in itself, but whichever of them virtue has approached and handled, it makes honourable and glorious. In themselves they lie in the middle. What matters is whether wickedness or virtue has laid its hand on them. The same death that is glorious in Cato is at once shameful and blush-worthy in Brutus. For this is the Brutus who, when he was about to die and looking for ways to delay his death, went off to relieve himself, and when he was called out to die and ordered to offer his neck, said: \"I will offer it, so long as I may live.\" What madness to run away when you cannot go back! \"I will offer it, so long as I may live.\" He almost added, \"even under Antony.\" What a man, fit to be handed over to life!"},{"ref":"Letter 82.13–14","orig":"Sed, ut coeperam dicere, vides ipsam mortem nec malum esse nec bonum: Cato illa honestissime usus est, turpissime Brutus. Omnis res quod non habuit decus virtute addita sumit. Cubiculum lucidum dicimus, hoc idem obscurissimum est nocte; dies illi lucem infundit, nox eripit: sic istis quae a nobis indifferentia ac media dicuntur, divitiis, viribus, formae, honoribus, regno, et contra morti, exilio, malae valetudini, doloribus quaeque alia aut minus aut magis pertimuimus, aut malitia aut virtus dat boni vel mali nomen. Massa per se nec calida nec frigida est: in fornacem coniecta concaluit, in aquam demissa refrixit. Mors honesta est per illud quod honestum est, id est virtus et animus externa contemnens.","en":"But, as I had begun to say, you see that death itself is neither bad nor good: Cato made the most honourable use of it, Brutus the most shameful. Everything takes on a grace it did not have once virtue is added. We call a room bright, yet the same room is very dark at night; the day pours light into it and the night takes it away. So with the things we call indifferent and intermediate, such as wealth, strength, beauty, honours and kingship, and on the other side death, exile, ill health, pains and whatever else we fear more or less: it is either wickedness or virtue that gives them the name of good or evil. A lump of metal is neither hot nor cold in itself. Thrown into a furnace, it grows hot; plunged into water, it cools. Death is honourable because of what is honourable, that is, virtue and a mind that despises external things."},{"ref":"Letter 82.15","orig":"Est et horum, Lucili, quae appellamus media grande discrimen. Non enim sic mors indifferens est quomodo utrum capillos pares an inpares habeas: mors inter illa est quae mala quidem non sunt, tamen habent mali speciem: sui amor est et permanendi conservandique se insita voluntas atque aspernatio dissolutionis, * * * quia videtur multa nobis bona eripere et nos ex hac cui adsuevimus rerum copia educere. Illa quoque res morti nos alienat, quod haec iam novimus, illa ad quae transituri sumus nescimus qualia sint, et horremus ignota. Naturalis praeterea tenebrarum metus est, in quas adductura mors creditur.","en":"But even among these things we call intermediate, Lucilius, there is a great difference. Death is not indifferent in the way that it is indifferent whether you have an even or an odd number of hairs. Death is among the things that are not evils, yet have the appearance of evil. There is in us a love of self, an inborn will to survive and preserve ourselves, and a recoil from dissolution * * * because it seems to snatch many goods from us and lead us away from this abundance of things we are used to. Another thing that sets us against death is this: we already know what is here, but we do not know what the things we are to pass on to are like, and we shudder at the unknown. Besides, there is a natural fear of the darkness into which death is believed to lead us."},{"ref":"Letter 82.16","orig":"Itaque etiam si indifferens mors est, non tamen ea est quae facile neglegi possit: magna exercitatione durandus est animus ut conspectum eius accessumque patiatur. Mors contemni debet magis quam solet; multa enim de illa credidimus; multorum ingeniis certatum est ad augendam eius infamiam; descriptus est carcer infernus et perpetua nocte oppressa regio, in qua ingens ianitor Orci ossa super recubans antro semesa cruento aeternum latrans exsangues terreat umbras. Etiam cum persuaseris istas fabulas esse nec quicquam defunctis superesse quod timeant, subit alius metus: aeque enim timent ne apud inferos sint quam ne nusquam.","en":"So even if death is indifferent, it is not something that can easily be ignored. The mind must be hardened by long training to endure the sight and approach of it. Death ought to be despised more than it usually is, for we have believed many things about it. Many talented writers have competed to increase its bad name. They have described the prison of the underworld and a land weighed down by endless night, where \"the huge doorkeeper of Orcus, lying on half-eaten bones in his bloody cave, terrifies the bloodless shades with endless barking.\" Even when you have convinced yourself that these are stories and that nothing is left to the dead to fear, another fear steals in: people are just as afraid of being in the underworld as of being nowhere."},{"ref":"Letter 82.17","orig":"His adversantibus quae nobis offundit longa persuasio, fortiter pati mortem quidni gloriosum sit et inter maxima opera mentis humanae? Quae numquam ad virtutem exsurget si mortem malum esse crediderit: exsurget si putabit indifferens esse. Non recipit rerum natura ut aliquis magno animo accedat ad id quod malum iudicat: pigre veniet et cunctanter. Non est autem gloriosum quod ab invito et tergiversante fit; nihil facit virtus quia necesse est.","en":"With these things against us, poured over us by long-held belief, why should it not be glorious, and one of the greatest works of the human mind, to endure death bravely? The mind will never rise up to virtue if it believes that death is an evil; it will rise up if it thinks death indifferent. Nature does not allow anyone to go with a great spirit towards something he judges to be evil. He will come slowly and hesitantly. But nothing is glorious that is done by someone unwilling and trying to back out. Virtue does nothing because it must."},{"ref":"Letter 82.18","orig":"Adice nunc quod nihil honeste fit nisi cui totus animus incubuit atque adfuit, cui nulla parte sui repugnavit. Ubi autem ad malum acceditur aut peiorum metu, aut spe bonorum ad quae pervenire tanti sit devorata unius mali patientia, dissident inter se iudicia facientis: hinc est quod iubeat proposita perficere, illinc quod retrahat et ab re suspecta ac periculosa fugiat; igitur in diversa distrahitur. Si hoc est, perit gloria; virtus enim concordi animo decreta peragit, non timet quod facit. Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito quam tua te fortuna sinet.","en":"Add now that nothing is done honourably unless the whole mind has thrown itself into it and been present for it, with no part of itself resisting. But when someone goes to meet an evil, either from fear of worse things or in hope of goods so worth reaching that it pays to swallow the endurance of one evil, the doer's judgements are at odds with each other. On one side is what bids him carry out his purpose; on the other, what holds him back and makes him flee from a suspect and dangerous thing. So he is pulled in opposite directions. If this is so, the glory is gone. For virtue carries out its decisions with a mind in agreement with itself; it is not afraid of what it does. \"Do not give way to troubles, but go against them more boldly than your fortune allows you.\""},{"ref":"Letter 82.19","orig":"Non ibis audentior si mala illa esse credideris. Eximendum hoc e pectore est; alioqui haesitabit impetum moratura suspicio; trudetur in id quod invadendum est. Nostri quidem videri volunt Zenonis interrogationem veram esse, fallacem autem alteram et falsam quae illi opponitur. Ego non redigo ista ad legem dialecticam et ad illos artificii veternosissimi nodos: totum genus istuc exturbandum iudico quo circumscribi se qui interrogatur existimat et ad confessionem perductus aliud respondet, aliud putat. Pro veritate simplicius agendum est, contra metum fortius.","en":"You will not go more boldly if you believe those things are evils. This belief must be taken out of your heart. Otherwise suspicion will make you hesitate and check your charge; you will be shoved into what you ought to attack. Our people, of course, want Zeno's argument to be thought true, and the other, which is set against it, deceptive and false. I do not reduce these matters to the rules of logic and to those knots of a most senile craft. I think the whole kind of argument should be thrown out by which the person questioned thinks he is being trapped, and, led to an admission, answers one thing and thinks another. For the truth we must act more simply; against fear, more bravely."},{"ref":"Letter 82.20","orig":"Haec ipsa quae involvuntur ab illis solvere malim et expandere, ut persuadeam, non ut inponam. In aciem educturus exercitum pro coniugibus ac liberis mortem obiturum quomodo exhortabitur? Do tibi Fabios totum rei publicae bellum in unam transferentes domum. Laconas tibi ostendo in ipsis Thermopylarum angustiis positos: nec victoriam sperant nec reditum; ille locus illis sepulchrum futurus est.","en":"These very things that they tangle up, I would rather untie and spread out, in order to persuade, not to trick. When a general is about to lead into battle an army ready to face death for their wives and children, how will he encourage them? I give you the Fabii, taking the whole war of the state upon one household. I show you the Spartans posted in the very pass of Thermopylae. They hope for neither victory nor return; that place will be their tomb."},{"ref":"Letter 82.21","orig":"Quemadmodum exhortaris ut totius gentis ruinam obiectis corporibus excipiant et vita potius quam loco cedant? Dices 'quod malum est gloriosum non est; mors gloriosa est; mors ergo non malum'? O efficacem contionem! Quis post hanc dubitet se infestis ingerere mucronibus et stans mori? At ille Leonidas quam fortiter illos adlocutus est! 'Sic', inquit 'conmilitones, prandete tamquam apud inferos cenaturi.' Non in ore crevit cibus, non haesit in faucibus, non elapsus est manibus: alacres et ad prandium illi promiserunt et ad cenam.","en":"How do you encourage them to take on the ruin of a whole nation by throwing their bodies in its way, and to give up their lives rather than their position? Will you say: \"What is evil is not glorious. Death is glorious. Therefore death is not an evil\"? What an effective speech! Who would hesitate after this to throw himself on the enemy's blades and die standing? But how bravely Leonidas spoke to them! \"Comrades,\" he said, \"eat your breakfast as men who will dine in the underworld.\" The food did not swell in their mouths or stick in their throats or slip from their hands. Eagerly they promised to come both to the breakfast and to the dinner."},{"ref":"Letter 82.22","orig":"Quid? dux ille Romanus, qui ad occupandum locum milites missos, cum per ingentem hostium exercitum ituri essent, sic adlocutus est: 'ire, conmilitones, illo necesse est unde redire non est necesse'. Vides quam simplex et imperiosa virtus sit: quem mortalium circumscriptiones vestrae fortiorem facere, quem erectiorem possunt? frangunt animum, qui numquam minus contrahendus est et in minuta ac spinosa cogendus quam cum ad aliquid grande conponitur.","en":"And what of that Roman general who, when the soldiers he had sent to seize a position were about to go through a huge enemy army, spoke to them like this: \"Comrades, you must go to a place from which you need not return\"? You see how simple and commanding virtue is. Which mortal can your tricks of argument make braver or more upright? They break the spirit, which should never be less narrowed down and forced into petty, thorny points than when it is gearing up for something great."},{"ref":"Letter 82.23","orig":"Non trecentis, sed omnibus mortalibus mortis timor detrahi debet. Quomodo illos doces malum non esse? quomodo opiniones totius aevi, quibus protinus infantia inbuitur, evincis? quod auxilium invenis inbecillitati humanae? quid dicis quo inflammati in media pericula inruant? qua oratione hunc timendi consensum, quibus ingenii viribus obnixam contra te persuasionem humani generis avertis? verba mihi captiosa componis et interrogatiunculas nectis? Magnis telis magna portenta feriuntur.","en":"It is not from three hundred men but from all mortals that the fear of death must be removed. How do you teach them that it is not an evil? How do you overcome the opinions of all the ages, which soak into us from infancy onwards? What help do you find for human weakness? What do you say that will fire men to rush into the midst of danger? With what speech, with what force of intellect, do you turn aside this universal agreement to fear, this conviction of the human race that stands firm against you? Do you put together trick phrases for me and string little syllogisms together? Great monsters are struck down with great weapons."},{"ref":"Letter 82.24","orig":"Serpentem illam in Africa saevam et Romanis legionibus bello ipso terribiliorem frustra sagittis fundisque petierunt: ne Pythio quidem vulnerabilis erat. Cum ingens magnitudo pro vastitate corporis solida ferrum et quidquid humanae torserant manus reiceret, molaribus demum fracta saxis est. Et adversus mortem tu tam minuta iacularis? subula leonem excipis? Acuta sunt ista quae dicis: nihil est acutius arista; quaedam inutilia et inefficacia ipsa subtilitas reddit. Vale.","en":"That fierce serpent in Africa, more frightening to the Roman legions than the war itself, was attacked in vain with arrows and slings; not even Pythian Apollo could have wounded it. Since its enormous bulk, solid in proportion to its vast body, threw back iron and anything human hands had hurled, it was finally crushed with millstones. And against death do you throw such tiny darts? Do you meet a lion with an awl? What you say is sharp; nothing is sharper than an ear of corn's bristle. Some things are made useless and ineffective by their very subtlety. Farewell."}],"83":[{"ref":"Letter 83.1–2","orig":"Singulos dies tibi meos et quidem totos indicari iubes:bene de me iudicas si nihil esse in illis putas quod abscondam. Sic certe vivendum est tamquam in conspectu vivamus, sic cogitandum tamquam aliquis in pectus intimum introspicere possit: et potest. Quid enim prodest ab homine aliquid esse secretum? nihil deo clusum est; interest animis nostris et cogitationibus medius intervenit – sic 'intervenit' dico tamquam aliquando discedat. Faciam ergo quod iubes, et quid agam et quo ordine libenter tibi scribam. Observabo me protinus et, quod est utilissimum, diem meum recognoscam. Hoc nos pessimos facit, quod nemo vitam suam respicit; quid facturi simus cogitamus, et id raro, quid fecerimus non cogitamus; atqui consilium futuri ex praeterito venit.","en":"You ask me to report each of my days to you, and every bit of them. You think well of me if you believe there is nothing in them I would hide. Certainly we should live as though we lived in full view, and think as though someone could look into the depths of our heart. And someone can. What good is it to keep something secret from a human being? Nothing is closed to God. He is present in our minds and comes into the middle of our thoughts. I say \"comes into\" as if he ever left. So I will do what you ask, and gladly write to you what I do and in what order. I will watch myself from now on and, most useful of all, review my day. What makes us worst is that no one looks back over his own life. We think about what we are going to do, and rarely even that; we do not think about what we have done. Yet plans for the future come from the past."},{"ref":"Letter 83.3–4","orig":"Hodiernus dies solidus est, nemo ex illo quicquam mihi eripuit; totus inter stratum lectionemque divisus est; minimum exercitationi corporis datum, et hoc nomine ago gratias senectuti: non magno mihi constat. Cum me movi, lassus sum; hic autem est exercitationis etiam fortissimis finis. Progymnastas meos quaeris? unus mihi sufficit Pharius, puer, ut scis, amabilis, sed mutabitur: iam aliquem teneriorem quaero. Hic quidem ait nos eandem crisin habere, quia utrique dentes cadunt. Sed iam vix illum adsequor currentem et intra paucissimos dies non potero: vide quid exercitatio cotidiana proficiat. Cito magnum intervallum fit inter duos in diversum euntes: eodem tempore ille ascendit, ego descendo, nec ignoras quanto ex his velocius alterum fiat. Mentitus sum; iam enim aetas nostra non descendit sed cadit.","en":"Today is unbroken; no one has stolen any of it from me. It has been divided entirely between rest and reading. A tiny part was given to bodily exercise, and on that score I thank old age: it costs me little. As soon as I have moved, I am tired, and that is the goal of exercise even for the strongest. Do you ask who my training partners are? One is enough for me, Pharius, a lovable boy, as you know, but I will change him; I am already looking for someone younger. He says that he and I are at the same critical stage, because we are both losing our teeth. But already I can hardly keep up with him when he runs, and in a very few days I will not be able to. See what daily exercise achieves. A great gap soon opens between two people going in opposite directions: he is climbing while I am going down, and you know how much faster one of these goes than the other. I lied: at my age we are no longer going down but falling."},{"ref":"Letter 83.5–6","orig":"Quomodo tamen hodiernum certamen nobis cesserit quaeris? quod raro cursoribus evenit, hieran fecimus. Ab hac fatigatione magis quam exercitatione in frigidam descendi: hoc apud me vocatur parum calda. Ille tantus psychrolutes, qui kalendis Ianuariis euripum salutabam, qui anno novo quemadmodum legere, scribere, dicere aliquid, sic auspicabar in Virginem desilire, primum ad Tiberim transtuli castra, deinde ad hoc solium quod, cum fortissimus sum et omnia bona fide fiunt, sol temperat: non multum mihi ad balneum superest. Panis deinde siccus et sine mensa prandium, post quod non sunt lavandae manus. Dormio minimum. Consuetudinem meam nosti: brevissimo somno utor et quasi interiungo; satis est mihi vigilare desisse; aliquando dormisse me scio, aliquando suspicor.","en":"Do you want to know how today's race went? We ended in a dead heat, which rarely happens to runners. After this fatigue, rather than exercise, I went down into cold water; in my house that means water not quite hot. I, that great cold-water bather, who used to greet the canal on the first of January, who began the new year by jumping into the Aqua Virgo just as I began it by reading, writing or saying something, moved my camp first to the Tiber and then to this tub, which, when I am at my strongest and everything is done in good faith, is warmed by the sun. I have not much further to go before I reach the hot bath. Then some dry bread and a lunch without a table, after which there is no need to wash my hands. I sleep very little. You know my habit: I use the briefest sleep and, as it were, just unharness for a while. It is enough for me to have stopped being awake. Sometimes I know I have slept, sometimes I only suspect it."},{"ref":"Letter 83.7–8","orig":"Ecce circensium obstrepit clamor; subita aliqua et universa voce feriuntur aures meae, nec cogitationem meam excutiunt, ne interrumpunt quidem. Fremitum patientissime fero; multae voces et in unum confusae pro fluctu mihi sunt aut vento silvam verberante et ceteris sine intellectu sonantibus. Quid ergo est nunc cui animum adiecerim? dicam. Superest ex hesterno mihi cogitatio quid sibi voluerint prudentissimi viri qui rerum maximarum probationes levissimas et perplexas fecerint, quae ut sint verae, tamen mendacio similes sunt.","en":"Listen, the shouting from the Circus is roaring. My ears are struck by some sudden, universal cry, yet it does not shake my thoughts loose or even interrupt them. I put up with the din very patiently. Many voices blended into one are to me like the surf, or the wind lashing a forest, or other sounds with no meaning. What then have I turned my mind to now? I will tell you. A thought is left over from yesterday: what did those very wise men mean when they made the proofs of the greatest matters so trivial and tangled, proofs which, even when true, look like lies?"},{"ref":"Letter 83.9–10","orig":"Vult nos ab ebrietate deterrere Zenon, vir maximus, huius sectae fortissimae ac sanctissimae conditor. Audi ergo quemadmodum colligat virum bonum non futurum ebrium: 'ebrio secretum sermonem nemo committit, viro autem bono committit; ergo vir bonus ebrius non erit'. Quemadmodum opposita interrogatione simili derideatur adtende (satis enim est unam ponere ex multis): 'dormienti nemo secretum sermonem committit, viro autem bono committit; vir bonus ergo non dormit'. Quo uno modo potest Posidonius Zenonis nostri causam agit, sed ne sic quidem, ut existimo, agi potest. Ait enim 'ebrium' duobus modis dici, altero cum aliquis vino gravis est et inpos sui, altero si solet ebrius fieri et huic obnoxius vitio est; hunc a Zenone dici qui soleat fieri ebrius, non qui sit; huic autem neminem commissurum arcana quae per vinum eloqui possit.","en":"Zeno, a very great man, the founder of this bravest and holiest school, wants to deter us from drunkenness. So listen to how he argues that a good man will not get drunk: \"No one entrusts a secret to a drunk man. But people do entrust secrets to a good man. Therefore the good man will not be drunk.\" Notice how it is made ridiculous by setting a similar argument against it (it is enough to give one out of many): \"No one entrusts a secret to a sleeping man. But people do entrust secrets to a good man. Therefore the good man does not sleep.\" Posidonius pleads our Zeno's case in the only way it can be pleaded, but I think it cannot be pleaded even so. He says \"drunk\" is used in two senses: in one, someone is heavy with wine and not in control of himself; in the other, someone habitually gets drunk and is prone to this vice. Zeno, he says, means the man who habitually gets drunk, not the man who is drunk at the moment, and no one will entrust to such a man secrets he might blurt out in his wine."},{"ref":"Letter 83.11","orig":"Quod est falsum; prima enim illa interrogatio conplectitur eum qui est ebrius, non eum qui futurus est. Plurimum enim interesse concedes et inter ebrium et ebriosum: potest et qui ebrius est tunc primum esse nec habere hoc vitium, et qui ebriosus est saepe extra ebrietatem esse; itaque id intellego quod significari verbo isto solet, praesertim cum ab homine diligentiam professo ponatur et verba examinante. Adice nunc quod, si hoc intellexit Zenon et nos intellegere noluit, ambiguitate verbi quaesiit locum fraudi, quod faciendum non est ubi veritas quaeritur.","en":"This is false. That first argument covers the man who is drunk, not the man who will be. You will grant that there is a great difference between a drunk man and a drunkard. The man who is drunk may be drunk for the first time and not have the vice, and the drunkard is often not drunk. So I take the word in its usual meaning, especially since it is used by a man who claims to be precise and weighs his words. Add to this that if Zeno meant this and did not want us to understand it, he was looking for room to cheat in the ambiguity of a word, which ought not to be done when the truth is being sought."},{"ref":"Letter 83.12–13","orig":"Sed sane hoc senserit: quod sequitur falsum est, ei qui soleat ebrius fieri non committi sermonem secretum. Cogita enim quam multis militibus non semper sobriis et imperator et tribunus et centurio tacenda mandaverint. De illa C. Caesaris caede, illius dico qui superato Pompeio rem publicam tenuit, tam creditum est Tillio Cimbro quam C. Cassio. Cassius tota vita aquam bibit, Tillius Cimber et nimius erat in vino et scordalus. In hanc rem iocatus est ipse: 'ego' inquit 'quemquam feram, qui vinum ferre non possum?'. Sibi quisque nunc nominet eos quibus scit et vinum male credi et sermonem bene; unum tamen exemplum quod occurrit mihi referam, ne intercidat. Instruenda est enim vita exemplis inlustribus, nec semper confugiamus ad vetera.","en":"But suppose he did mean it. What follows is false: that no secret is entrusted to someone who habitually gets drunk. Think how many soldiers, not always sober, have been given confidential orders by generals, tribunes and centurions. In the plot to murder Gaius Caesar, I mean the one who defeated Pompey and seized control of the state, Tillius Cimber was trusted as much as Gaius Cassius. Cassius drank water all his life; Tillius Cimber was both too fond of wine and quarrelsome. He himself joked about it: \"Am I to put up with anyone, when I cannot put up with wine?\" Now let each of us name for himself people whom he knows can be badly trusted with wine but well trusted with a secret. Still, I will give one example that comes to mind, so that it is not lost. For life should be equipped with famous examples, and let us not always run back to old ones."},{"ref":"Letter 83.14–15","orig":"L. Piso, urbis custos, ebrius ex quo semel factus est fuit. Maiorem noctis partem in convivio exigebat; usque in horam sextam fere dormiebat: hoc eius erat matutinum. Officium tamen suum, quo tutela urbis continebatur, diligentissime administravit. Huic et divus Augustus dedit secreta mandata, cum illum praeponeret Thraciae, quam perdomuit, et Tiberius proficiscens in Campaniam, cum multa in urbe et suspecta relinqueret et invisa. Puto, quia bene illi cesserat Pisonis ebrietas, postea Cossum fecit urbis praefectum, virum gravem, moderatum, sed mersum vino et madentem, adeo ut ex senatu aliquando, in quem e convivio venerat, oppressus inexcitabili somno tolleretur. Huic tamen Tiberius multa sua manu scripsit quae committenda ne ministris quidem suis iudicabat: nullum Cosso aut privatum secretum aut publicum elapsum est.","en":"Lucius Piso, the prefect of the city, was drunk from the moment he was first appointed. He spent most of the night at dinner parties and slept until about noon; that was his morning. Yet he carried out his duty, which included the protection of the city, most carefully. The deified Augustus gave him secret orders when he put him in charge of Thrace, which he completely subdued, and so did Tiberius when he left for Campania, leaving behind many things in the city that were both suspect and hated. I suppose it was because Piso's drunkenness had turned out well for him that Tiberius later made Cossus prefect of the city, a serious and restrained man, but so soaked and sodden with wine that once he was carried out of the Senate, which he had come to straight from a banquet, overcome by a sleep he could not be woken from. Yet Tiberius wrote him many letters in his own hand containing things he judged should not be entrusted even to his own staff. Not a single secret, private or public, ever slipped from Cossus."},{"ref":"Letter 83.16","orig":"Itaque declamationes istas de medio removeamus: 'non est animus in sua potestate ebrietate devinctus: quemadmodum musto dolia ipsa rumpuntur et omne quod in imo iacet in summam partem vis caloris eiectat, sic vino exaestuante quidquid in imo iacet abditum effertur et prodit in medium. Onerati mero quemadmodum non continent cibum vino redundante, ita ne secretum quidem; quod suum alienumque est pariter effundunt.'","en":"So let us get rid of those rhetorical set pieces: \"The mind bound by drunkenness is not in its own control. Just as new wine bursts the very jars, and the force of its heat throws everything at the bottom up to the top, so when wine boils up, whatever lies hidden at the bottom is brought out and exposed. Men loaded with neat wine cannot keep down their food when the wine overflows, and neither can they keep a secret. They pour out their own and other people's alike.\""},{"ref":"Letter 83.17","orig":"Sed quamvis hoc soleat accidere, ita et illud solet, ut cum iis quos sciamus libentius bibere de rebus necessariis deliberemus; falsum ergo est hoc quod patrocinii loco ponitur, ei qui soleat ebrius fieri non dari tacitum. Quanto satius est aperte accusare ebrietatem et vitia eius exponere, quae etiam tolerabilis homo vitaverit, nedum perfectus ac sapiens, cui satis est sitim extinguere, qui, etiam si quando hortata est hilaritas aliena causa producta longius, tamen citra ebrietatem resistit.","en":"But although this often happens, it also often happens that we consult on important matters with people we know are rather fond of drink. So this point, put forward as a defence, is false: that no confidence is given to someone who habitually gets drunk. How much better to attack drunkenness openly and set out its vices, which even an ordinary decent man would avoid, let alone the perfect and wise man. For him it is enough to quench his thirst, and even when good cheer, prolonged for another's sake, has drawn him on, he still stops short of drunkenness."},{"ref":"Letter 83.18–19","orig":"Nam de illo videbimus, an sapientis animus nimio vino turbetur et faciat ebriis solita: interim, si hoc colligere vis, virum bonum non debere ebrium fieri, cur syllogismis agis? Dic quam turpe sit plus sibi ingerere quam capiat et stomachi sui non nosse mensuram, quam multa ebrii faciant quibus sobrii erubescant, nihil aliud esse ebrietatem quam voluntariam insaniam. Extende in plures dies illum ebrii habitum: numquid de furore dubitabis? nunc quoque non est minor sed brevior. Refer Alexandri Macedonis exemplum, qui Clitum carissimum sibi ac fidelissimum inter epulas transfodit et intellecto facinore mori voluit, certe debuit. Omne vitium ebrietas et incendit et detegit, obstantem malis conatibus verecundiam removet; plures enim pudore peccandi quam bona voluntate prohibitis abstinent.","en":"Whether the wise man's mind is disturbed by too much wine and does what drunk men usually do, we will look at later. Meanwhile, if you want to prove that a good man ought not to get drunk, why use syllogisms? Say how shameful it is to cram in more than you can hold and not to know the capacity of your own stomach; how many things drunk men do that make them blush when sober; that drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness. Stretch that drunken state over several days: will you doubt that it is madness? Even now it is no less, only shorter. Cite the example of Alexander of Macedon, who ran Clitus through at a banquet, his dearest and most loyal friend, and when he understood what he had done wanted to die, and certainly ought to have. Drunkenness both inflames and uncovers every vice. It removes the sense of shame that stands in the way of wicked attempts. For more people keep away from forbidden things out of shame at doing wrong than out of good will."},{"ref":"Letter 83.20–21","orig":"Ubi possedit animum nimia vis vini, quidquid mali latebat emergit. Non facit ebrietas vitia sed protrahit: tunc libidinosus ne cubiculum quidem expectat, sed cupiditatibus suis quantum petierunt sine dilatione permittit; tunc inpudicus morbum profitetur ac publicat; tunc petulans non linguam, non manum continet. Crescit insolenti superbia, crudelitas saevo, malignitas livido; omne vitium laxatur et prodit. Adice illam ignorationem sui, dubia et parum explanata verba, incertos oculos, gradum errantem, vertiginem capitis, tecta ipsa mobilia velut aliquo turbine circumagente totam domum, stomachi tormenta cum effervescit merum ac viscera ipsa distendit. Tunc tamen utcumque tolerabile est, dum illi vis sua est: quid cum somno vitiatur et quae ebrietas fuit cruditas facta est?","en":"When too much wine has taken over the mind, every hidden evil comes to the surface. Drunkenness does not create vices; it drags them into the open. Then the lustful man does not even wait for the bedroom, but grants his desires all they ask without delay. Then the shameless man admits and advertises his sickness. Then the aggressive man controls neither his tongue nor his hand. The arrogant man's pride grows, the cruel man's cruelty, the envious man's spite; every vice is let loose and shows itself. Add the loss of self-awareness, the slurred and unclear words, the unsteady eyes, the wandering step, the dizzy head, the ceiling itself moving as if a whirlwind were spinning the whole house round, the agony of the stomach when the wine ferments and swells the very guts. Still, this is somehow bearable while the wine has its full force. What about when it is spoiled by sleep and what was drunkenness has become indigestion?"},{"ref":"Letter 83.22–24","orig":"Cogita quas clades ediderit publica ebrietas: haec acerrimas gentes bellicosasque hostibus tradidit, haec multorum annorum pertinaci bello defensa moenia patefecit, haec contumacissimos et iugum recusantes in alienum egit arbitrium, haec invictos acie mero domuit. Alexandrum, cuius modo feci mentionem, tot itinera, tot proelia, tot hiemes per quas victa temporum locorumque difficultate transierat, tot flumina ex ignoto cadentia, tot maria tutum dimiserunt: intemperantia bibendi et ille Herculaneus ac fatalis scyphus condidit. Quae gloria est capere multum? cum penes te palma fuerit et propinationes tuas strati somno ac vomitantes recusaverint, cum superstes toti convivio fueris, cum omnes viceris virtute magnifica et nemo vini tam capax fuerit, vinceris a dolio.","en":"Think what disasters public drunkenness has caused. It has handed very fierce and warlike nations over to their enemies. It has opened walls defended through a stubborn war of many years. It has forced the most defiant peoples, who refused the yoke, under the rule of others. It has tamed with wine men unconquered in battle. Alexander, whom I mentioned just now, came through so many marches, so many battles, so many winters, overcoming the hardships of season and terrain, so many rivers flowing from unknown sources, so many seas, all in safety. What buried him was immoderate drinking and that fatal cup of Hercules. What glory is there in holding a lot? When the prize is yours, when the others, sprawled asleep and vomiting, have refused your toasts, when you have outlasted the whole party, when you have beaten everyone with your splendid prowess and no one has had such a capacity for wine, you are beaten by a barrel."},{"ref":"Letter 83.25","orig":"M. Antonium, magnum virum et ingeni nobilis, quae alia res perdidit et in externos mores ac vitia non Romana traiecit quam ebrietas nec minor vino Cleopatrae amor? Haec illum res hostem rei publicae, haec hostibus suis inparem reddidit; haec crudelem fecit, cum capita principum civitatis cenanti referrentur, cum inter apparatissimas epulas luxusque regales ora ac manus proscriptorum recognosceret, cum vino gravis sitiret tamen sanguinem. Intolerabile erat quod ebrius fiebat cum haec faceret: quanto intolerabilius quod haec in ipsa ebrietate faciebat!","en":"Mark Antony was a great man of noble talent. What else ruined him and carried him over into foreign habits and un-Roman vices but drunkenness, and a love for Cleopatra no less than his love of wine? This made him an enemy of the state; this made him no match for his enemies; this made him cruel, when the heads of the leading men of the state were brought to him at dinner, when amid the most lavish feasts and royal luxury he identified the faces and hands of the proscribed, when, heavy with wine, he still thirsted for blood. It was intolerable that he was getting drunk while he did these things; how much more intolerable that he did them while actually drunk!"},{"ref":"Letter 83.26","orig":"Fere vinolentiam crudelitas sequitur; vitiatur enim exasperaturque sanitas mentis. Quemadmodum morosos difficilesque faciunt diutini morbi et ad minimam rabidos offensionem, ita ebrietates continuae efferant animos; nam cum saepe apud se non sint, consuetudo insaniae durat et vitia vino concepta etiam sine illo valent.","en":"Cruelty usually follows heavy drinking, for the soundness of the mind is spoiled and made savage. Just as long illnesses make people peevish and difficult, ready to fly into a rage at the smallest offence, so constant drunkenness makes minds wild. For since they are often not in their right mind, the habit of madness sets hard, and vices conceived in wine keep their strength even without it."},{"ref":"Letter 83.27","orig":"Dic ergo quare sapiens non debeat ebrius fieri; deformitatem rei et inportunitatem ostende rebus, non verbis. Quod facillimum est, proba istas quae voluptates vocantur, ubi transcenderunt modum, poenas esse. Nam si illud argumentaberis, sapientem multo vino non inebriari et retinere rectum tenorem etiam si temulentus sit, licet colligas nec veneno poto moriturum nec sopore sumpto dormiturum nec elleboro accepto quidquid in visceribus haerebit eiecturum deiecturumque. Sed si temptantur pedes, lingua non constat, quid est quare illum existimes in parte sobrium esse, in parte ebrium? Vale.","en":"So say why the wise man ought not to get drunk. Show the ugliness and offensiveness of the thing by facts, not words. The easiest way is to prove that these so-called pleasures, once they go beyond measure, are punishments. For if you argue that the wise man does not get drunk on a lot of wine and keeps a straight course even when tipsy, you might as well conclude that he will not die if he drinks poison, will not sleep if he takes a sleeping draught, and will not throw up and purge whatever is stuck in his insides if he takes hellebore. But if his feet are unsteady and his tongue is not in control, what reason do you have to think he is sober in one part and drunk in another? Farewell."}],"84":[{"ref":"Letter 84.1–2","orig":"Itinera ista quae segnitiam mihi excutiunt et valetudini meae prodesse iudico et studiis. Quare valetudinem adiuvent vides: cum pigrum me et neglegentem corporis litterarum amor faciat, aliena opera exerceor. Studio quare prosint indicabo: a lectionibus non recessi. Sunt autem, ut existimo, necessariae, primum ne sim me uno contentus, deinde ut, cum ab aliis quaesita cognovero, tum et de inventis iudicem et cogitem de inveniendis. Alit lectio ingenium et studio fatigatum, non sine studio tamen, reficit. Nec scribere tantum nec tantum legere debemus: altera res contristabit vires et exhauriet (de stilo dico), altera solvet ac diluet. Invicem hoc et illo commeandum est et alterum altero temperandum, ut quidquid lectione collectum est stilus redigat in corpus.","en":"These journeys, which shake the laziness out of me, are good, I think, for both my health and my studies. You can see why they help my health: since my love of books makes me lazy and careless of my body, I get exercise through other people's effort. I will tell you why they help my studies: I have not given up my reading. Reading is necessary, I believe, first so that I am not satisfied with myself alone, and second so that, when I have learned what others have discovered, I can judge their findings and think about what is still to be found. Reading feeds the mind, and when it is tired from study it refreshes it, though not without study. We should neither only write nor only read. The one, I mean writing, will depress and drain our strength; the other will slacken and dilute it. We should go back and forth between them and balance one with the other, so that the pen gives a body to whatever reading has gathered."},{"ref":"Letter 84.3","orig":"Apes, ut aiunt, debemus imitari, quae vagantur et flores ad mel faciendum idoneos carpunt, deinde quidquid attulere disponunt ac per favos digerunt et, ut Vergilius noster ait, liquentia mella stipant et dulci distendunt nectare cellas.","en":"We should imitate the bees, as they say. They wander about and pick the flowers suitable for making honey, then arrange whatever they have brought and sort it through the combs and, as our Virgil says, \"pack in the flowing honey and swell the cells with sweet nectar.\""},{"ref":"Letter 84.4","orig":"De illis non satis constat utrum sucum ex floribus ducant qui protinus mel sit, an quae collegerunt in hunc saporem mixtura quadam et proprietate spiritus sui mutent. Quibusdam enim placet non faciendi mellis scientiam esse illis sed colligendi. Aiunt inveniri apud Indos mel in arundinum foliis, quod aut ros illius caeli aut ipsius arundinis umor dulcis et pinguior gignat; in nostris quoque herbis vim eandem sed minus manifestam et notabilem poni, quam persequatur et contrahat animal huic rei genitum. Quidam existimant conditura et dispositione in hanc qualitatem verti quae ex tenerrimis virentium florentiumque decerpserint, non sine quodam, ut ita dicam, fermento, quo in unum diversa coalescunt.","en":"About bees it is not quite settled whether they draw from flowers a juice that is honey straight away, or whether they change what they have gathered into this flavour by some mixing and by a property of their own breath. Some think they have the skill not of making honey but of collecting it. They say that among the Indians honey is found on the leaves of reeds, produced either by the dew of that sky or by the sweet, thick sap of the reed itself, and that the same property is present in our plants too, only less obvious and noticeable, and the creature born for this task tracks it down and gathers it. Others think that what the bees have plucked from the tenderest green and flowering plants is turned into this substance by storing and arranging, not without a kind of ferment, so to speak, by which different things grow together into one."},{"ref":"Letter 84.5–6","orig":"Sed ne ad aliud quam de quo agitur abducar, nos quoquehas apes debemus imitari et quaecumque ex diversa lectione congessimus separare (melius enim distincta servantur), deinde adhibita ingenii nostri cura et facultate in unum saporem varia illa libamenta confundere, ut etiam si apparuerit unde sumptum sit, aliud tamen esse quam unde sumptum est appareat. Quod in corpore nostro videmus sine ulla opera nostra facere naturam (alimenta quae accepimus, quamdiu in sua qualitate perdurant et solida innatant stomacho, onera sunt; at cum ex eo quod erant mutata sunt, tunc demum in vires et in sanguinem transeunt), idem in his quibus aluntur ingenia praestemus, ut quaecumque hausimus non patiamur integra esse, ne aliena sint.","en":"But so as not to be led away from the subject, we too should imitate these bees. We should separate whatever we have gathered from our various reading, since things kept apart keep better, and then, applying the care and ability of our own minds, blend those various samples into one flavour, so that even if it is clear where it was taken from, it is still clearly something different from its source. We see nature doing this in our bodies without any effort on our part. The food we have taken, as long as it keeps its own nature and floats whole in the stomach, is a burden; but when it has been changed from what it was, then at last it passes into strength and blood. Let us do the same with the things that nourish our minds: let us not allow whatever we have taken in to stay whole, so that it does not remain someone else's."},{"ref":"Letter 84.7–8","orig":"Concoquamus illa; alioqui in memoriam ibunt, non in ingenium. Adsentiamur illis fideliter et nostra faciamus, ut unum quiddam fiat ex multis, sicut unus numerus fit ex singulis cum minores summas et dissidentes conputatio una conprendit. Hoc faciat animus noster: omnia quibus est adiutus abscondat, ipsum tantum ostendat quod effecit. Etiam si cuius in te comparebit similitudo quem admiratio tibi altius fixerit, similem esse te volo quomodo filium, non quomodo imaginem: imago res mortua est. 'Quid ergo? non intellegetur cuius imiteris orationem? cuius argumentationem? cuius sententias?' Puto aliquando ne intellegi quidem posse, si magni vir ingenii omnibus quae ex quo voluit exemplari traxit formam suam inpressit, ut in unitatem illa conpetant.","en":"Let us digest it; otherwise it will go into our memory, not into our mind. Let us give it our honest assent and make it our own, so that one thing is made out of many, just as one number is made out of separate ones when a single calculation takes in smaller and differing sums. Let our mind do this: let it hide everything that has helped it and show only what it has produced. Even if there appears in you a likeness to someone whom admiration has fixed deeply in you, I want you to resemble him as a son does, not as a portrait does: a portrait is a dead thing. \"What then? Will it not be clear whose style you are imitating, whose reasoning, whose sayings?\" I think sometimes it cannot even be recognised, if a man of great talent has stamped his own form on everything he has drawn from the model he chose, so that it all comes together into a unity."},{"ref":"Letter 84.9–10","orig":"Non vides quam multorum vocibus chorus constet? unus tamen ex omnibus redditur. Aliqua illic acuta est, aliqua gravis, aliqua media; accedunt viris feminae, interponuntur tibiae: singulorum illic latent voces, omnium apparent. De choro dico quem veteres philosophi noverant: in commissionibus nostris plus cantorum est quam in theatris olim spectatorum fuit. Cum omnes vias ordo canentium implevit et cavea aeneatoribus cincta est et ex pulpito omne tibiarum genus organorumque consonuit, fit concentus ex dissonis. Talem animum esse nostrum volo: multae in illo artes, multa praecepta sint, multarum aetatum exempla, sed in unum conspirata.","en":"Do you not see how many voices a chorus is made of? Yet a single sound comes out of them all. In it one voice is high, one low, one in between; women are added to men, and pipes are placed among them. The voices of individuals are hidden there, while the voice of all is heard. I am speaking of the kind of chorus the old philosophers knew. At our shows there are more singers than there used to be spectators in the theatres. When the ranks of singers have filled all the aisles, the seating is ringed with trumpeters, and every kind of pipe and instrument has sounded from the stage, harmony is made out of discord. I want our mind to be like this. Let it hold many skills, many precepts, examples from many ages, but all brought into agreement as one."},{"ref":"Letter 84.11","orig":"'Quomodo' inquis 'hoc effici poterit?' Adsidua intentione:si nihil egerimus nisi ratione suadente, nihil vitaverimus nisi ratione suadente. Hanc si audire volueris, dicet tibi: relinque ista iamdudum ad quae discurritur; relinque divitias, aut periculum possidentium aut onus; relinque corporis atque animi voluptates, molliunt et enervant; relinque ambitum, tumida res est, vana, ventosa, nullum habet terminum, tam sollicita est ne quem ante se videat quam ne secum, laborat invidia et quidem duplici. Vides autem quam miser sit si is cui invidetur et invidet.","en":"\"How,\" you ask, \"can this be done?\" By constant effort: if we do nothing except at the prompting of reason, and avoid nothing except at the prompting of reason. If you are willing to listen to reason, it will tell you: leave at once those things people run about after. Leave wealth, which is either a danger or a burden to those who own it. Leave the pleasures of body and mind; they soften and weaken. Leave ambition. It is a swollen thing, empty and windy; it has no limit. It is as anxious not to see anyone ahead of it as not to see anyone level with it. It suffers from envy, and a double envy at that. And you see how wretched a man is if he is envied and envies too."},{"ref":"Letter 84.12–13","orig":"Intueris illas potentium domos, illa tumultuosa rixa salutantium limina? multum habent contumeliarum ut intres, plus cum intraveris. Praeteri istos gradus divitum et magno adgestu suspensa vestibula: non in praerupto tantum istic stabis sed in lubrico. Huc potius te ad sapientiam derige, tranquillissimasque res eius et simul amplissimas pete. Quaecumque videntur eminere in rebus humanis, quamvis pusilla sint et comparatione humillimorum exstent, per difficiles tamen et arduos tramites adeuntur. Confragosa in fastigium dignitatis via est; at si conscendere hunc verticem libet, cui se fortuna summisit, omnia quidem sub te quae pro excelsissimis habentur aspicies, sed tamen venies ad summa per planum. Vale.","en":"Do you see those houses of the powerful, those doorways crowded with the rowdy scuffle of callers? They offer many insults as you go in, and more once you are in. Pass by those steps of the rich and those porches raised up on huge platforms: there you will stand not just on a steep edge but on a slippery one. Turn yourself here instead, to wisdom, and seek its things, which are at once the calmest and the greatest. Whatever seems to tower in human affairs, however small it is and only standing out in comparison with the lowest, is still reached by difficult and steep paths. The road to the height of rank is rough. But if you want to climb this peak, to which fortune has bowed down, you will see below you all the things that are thought most lofty, and yet you will come to the heights over level ground. Farewell."}],"85":[{"ref":"Letter 85.1–2","orig":"Peperceram tibi et quidquid nodosi adhuc supererat praeterieram, contentus quasi gustum tibi dare eorum quae a nostris dicuntur ut probetur virtus ad explendam beatam vitam sola satis efficax. Iubes me quidquid est interrogationum aut nostrarum aut ad traductionem nostram excogitatarum conprendere: quod si facere voluero, non erit epistula sed liber. Illud totiens testor, hoc me argumentorum genere non delectari; pudet in aciem descendere pro dis hominibusque susceptam subula armatum. 'Qui prudens est et temperans est; qui temperans est, et constans; qui constans est inperturbatus est; qui inperturbatus est sine tristitia est; qui sine tristitia est beatus est; ergo prudens beatus est, et prudentia ad beatam vitam satis est.'","en":"I had gone easy on you and skipped whatever knotty points were left, content to give you a sort of taste of what our school says to prove that virtue alone is fully effective in producing a happy life. You tell me to gather up all the arguments, whether ours or those devised to mock us. If I try to do that, it will be a book, not a letter. I declare again and again that I take no pleasure in this kind of argument. I am ashamed to go into a battle undertaken for gods and men armed with an awl. \"The prudent man is also self-controlled. The self-controlled man is also steady. The steady man is undisturbed. The undisturbed man is without sorrow. The man without sorrow is happy. Therefore the prudent man is happy, and prudence is enough for a happy life.\""},{"ref":"Letter 85.3","orig":"Huic collectioni hoc modo Peripatetici quidam respondent, ut inperturbatum et constantem et sine tristitia sic interpretentur tamquam inperturbatus dicatur qui raro perturbatur et modice, non qui numquam. Item sine tristitia eum dici aiunt qui non est obnoxius tristitiae nec frequens nimiusve in hoc vitio; illud enim humanam naturam negare, alicuius animum inmunem esse tristitia; sapientem non vinci maerore, ceterum tangi; et cetera in hunc modum sectae suae respondentia. Non his tollunt adfectus sed temperant.","en":"Some Peripatetics answer this chain of reasoning by interpreting \"undisturbed,\" \"steady\" and \"without sorrow\" so that \"undisturbed\" means someone who is disturbed rarely and moderately, not someone who is never disturbed. Likewise they say \"without sorrow\" means someone who is not subject to sorrow and does not give way to this failing often or excessively. For, they say, it goes against human nature to claim that anyone's mind is immune to sorrow. The wise man is not overcome by grief, but he is touched by it. And they say other things of this kind, in keeping with their school. By these means they do not remove the passions but moderate them."},{"ref":"Letter 85.4","orig":"Quantulum autem sapienti damus, si inbecillissimis fortior est et maestissimis laetior et effrenatissimis moderatior et humillimis maior! Quid si miretur velocitatem suam Ladas ad claudos debilesque respiciens? Illa vel intactae segetis per summa volaret gramina nec cursu teneras laesisset aristas, vel mare per medium fluctu suspensa tumenti ferret iter, celeres nec tingueret aequore plantas. Haec est pernicitas per se aestimata, non quae tardissimorum conlatione laudatur. Quid si sanum voces leviter febricitantem? non est bona valetudo mediocritas morbi.","en":"But how little we grant the wise man if he is only braver than the weakest, happier than the saddest, more restrained than the most unbridled, and greater than the lowest! What if Ladas were to admire his own speed by looking at the lame and the crippled? \"She could fly over the tops of the uncut corn and not harm the tender ears as she ran, or make her way through the middle of the sea, borne on the swelling wave, and not wet her swift feet in the water.\" That is swiftness judged on its own, not praised by comparison with the slowest. What if you called a man with a slight fever healthy? Good health is not a moderate amount of illness."},{"ref":"Letter 85.5–6","orig":"'Sic' inquit 'sapiens inperturbatus dicitur quomodo apyrina dicuntur non quibus nulla inest duritia granorum sed quibus minor.' Falsum est. Non enim deminutionem malorum in bono viro intellego sed vacationem; nulla debent esse, non parva; nam si ulla sunt, crescent et interim inpedient. Quomodo oculos maior et perfecta suffusio excaecat, sic modica turbat. Si das aliquos adfectus sapienti, inpar illis erit ratio et velut torrente quodam auferetur, praesertim cum illi non unum adfectum des cum quo conluctetur sed omnis. Plus potest quamvis mediocrium turba quam posset unius magni violentia.","en":"\"The wise man,\" he says, \"is called undisturbed in the same way that pomegranates are called seedless: not because their seeds have no hardness at all, but because they have less.\" That is false. In the good man I understand not a reduction of evils but freedom from them. There should be none, not small ones. For if there are any, they will grow and in the meantime get in the way. Just as a large, complete cataract blinds the eyes, a moderate one blurs them. If you grant the wise man any passions, his reason will be no match for them and will be swept away as if by a torrent, especially since you are giving him not one passion to wrestle with but all of them. A crowd of passions, however moderate, is stronger than the violence of a single great one."},{"ref":"Letter 85.7–8","orig":"Habet pecuniae cupiditatem, sed modicam; habet ambitionem, sed non concitatam; habet iracundiam, sed placabilem; habet inconstantiam, sed minus vagam ac mobilem; habet libidinem, sed non insanam. Melius cum illo ageretur qui unum vitium integrum haberet quam cum eo qui leviora quidem, sed omnia. Deinde nihil interest quam magnus sit adfectus: quantuscumque est, parere nescit, consilium non accipit. Quemadmodum rationi nullum animal optemperat, non ferum, non domesticum et mite (natura enim illorum est surda suadenti), sic non sequuntur, non audiunt adfectus, quantulicumque sunt. Tigres leonesque numquam feritatem exuunt, aliquando summittunt, et cum minime expectaveris exasperatur torvitas mitigata. Numquam bona fide vitia mansuescunt.","en":"He has a desire for money, but a moderate one. He has ambition, but not a fierce one. He has a temper, but one that can be calmed. He has inconstancy, but less wandering and fickle. He has lust, but not a mad lust. It would go better with a man who had one vice complete than with one who had all of them, even in lighter form. Besides, it makes no difference how great a passion is. However large it is, it does not know how to obey or take advice. Just as no animal obeys reason, neither wild nor domestic and tame, since their nature is deaf to persuasion, so the passions, however small, do not follow and do not listen. Tigers and lions never put off their wildness; sometimes they lower it, and when you least expect it their softened savagery flares up. Vices are never honestly tamed."},{"ref":"Letter 85.9–10","orig":"Deinde, si ratio proficit, ne incipient quidem adfectus; si invita ratione coeperint, invita perseverabunt. Facilius est enim initia illorum prohibere quam impetum regere. Falsa est itaque ista mediocritas et inutilis, eodem loco habenda quo si quis diceret modice insaniendum, modiceaegrotandum. Sola virtus habet, non recipiunt animi mala temperamentum; facilius sustuleris illa quam rexeris. Numquid dubium est quin vitia mentis humanae inveterata et dura, quae morbos vocamus, inmoderata sint, ut avaritia, ut crudelitas, ut inpotentia? Ergo inmoderati sunt et adfectus; ab his enim ad illa transitur.","en":"Next, if reason makes progress, the passions will not even begin. If they have started against reason's will, they will carry on against its will. It is easier to prevent their beginnings than to control their charge. So this \"moderation\" is false and useless. It should be put on the same footing as if someone said we ought to be moderately mad or moderately ill. Only virtue has measure; the evils of the mind do not admit of moderation. You could more easily remove them than control them. Is there any doubt that the vices of the human mind that have grown old and hard, which we call diseases, are without measure, such as greed, cruelty and lack of self-control? Then the passions are without measure too, since it is from them that we pass to the vices."},{"ref":"Letter 85.11–12","orig":"Deinde, si das aliquid iuris tristitiae, timori, cupiditati, ceteris motibus pravis, non erunt in nostra potestate. Quare? quia extra nos sunt quibus inritantur; itaque crescent prout magnas habuerint minoresve causas quibus concitentur. Maior erit timor, si plus quo exterreatur aut propius aspexerit, acrior cupiditas quo illam amplioris rei spes evocaverit. Si in nostra potestate non est an sint adfectus, ne illud quidem est, quanti sint: si ipsis permisisti incipere, cum causis suis crescent tantique erunt quanti fient. Adice nunc quod ista, quamvis exigua sint, in maius excedunt; numquam perniciosa servant modum; quamvis levia initia morborum serpunt et aegra corpora minima interdum mergit accessio.","en":"Next, if you give any authority to sorrow, fear, desire and the other wrong impulses, they will not be in our power. Why? Because the things that stir them up are outside us. So they will grow according to whether the causes that rouse them are greater or smaller. Fear will be greater if it sees more to terrify it, or sees it closer; desire will be keener the larger the prize that hope has called it to. If it is not in our power whether the passions exist, neither is it in our power how great they are. If you have let them begin, they will grow along with their causes and be as great as they become. Add now that these things, however small, grow larger. Harmful things never keep within limits. However light the beginnings of diseases, they creep on, and sometimes the smallest attack of fever overwhelms a sick body."},{"ref":"Letter 85.13–14","orig":"Illud vero cuius dementiae est, credere quarum rerum extra nostrum arbitrium posita principia sunt, earum nostri esse arbitri terminos! Quomodo ad id finiendum satis valeo ad quod prohibendum parum valui, cum facilius sit excludere quam admissa conprimere? Quidam ita distinxerunt ut dicerent, 'temperans ac prudens positione quidem mentis et habitu tranquillus est, eventu non est. Nam, quantum ad habitum mentis suae, non perturbatur nec contristatur nec timet, sed multae extrinsecus causae incidunt quae illi perturbationem adferant.'","en":"But what madness it is to believe that when the beginnings of things lie outside our control, their ends are under our control! How am I strong enough to stop something I was too weak to prevent, when it is easier to keep things out than to hold them down once they are in? Some have drawn this distinction: \"The self-controlled and prudent man is calm in the disposition and habit of his mind, but not in what actually happens. As far as the habit of his mind goes, he is not disturbed or saddened or afraid; but many causes fall on him from outside that bring him disturbance.\""},{"ref":"Letter 85.15–16","orig":"Tale est quod volunt dicere: iracundum quidem illum non esse, irasci tamen aliquando; et timidum quidem non esse, timere tamen aliquando, id est vitio timoris carere, adfectu non carere. Quod si recipitur, usu frequenti timor transibit in vitium, et ira in animum admissa habitum illum ira carentis animi retexet. Praeterea si non contemnit venientes extrinsecus causas et aliquid timet, cum fortiter eundum erit adversus tela, ignes, pro patria, legibus, libertate, cunctanter exibit et animo recedente. Non cadit autem in sapientem haec diversitas mentis.","en":"What they want to say amounts to this: he is not an angry man, but he does sometimes get angry; and he is not a fearful man, but he does sometimes fear. That is, he is free of the vice of fear but not of the passion. If this is accepted, fear will turn into a vice through frequent use, and anger once let into the mind will undo that habit of a mind free from anger. Besides, if he does not despise causes coming from outside and fears something, when he must march bravely against weapons and fire for his country, its laws and its freedom, he will go out hesitantly and with a shrinking heart. But such a divided mind does not happen to the wise man."},{"ref":"Letter 85.17","orig":"Illud praeterea iudico observandum, ne duo quae separatim probanda sunt misceamus; per se enim colligitur unum bonum esse quod honestum, per se rursus ad vitam beatam satis esse virtutem. Si unum bonum est quod honestum, omnes concedunt ad beate vivendum sufficere virtutem; e contrario non remittetur, si beatum sola virtus facit, unum bonum esse quod honestum est.","en":"I think we must also take care not to mix up two things that need to be proved separately. One argument proves by itself that the only good is what is honourable; another proves by itself that virtue is enough for a happy life. If the only good is what is honourable, everyone grants that virtue is sufficient for living happily. But the reverse does not follow: if virtue alone makes a man happy, it is not thereby conceded that the only good is what is honourable."},{"ref":"Letter 85.18","orig":"Xenocrates et Speusippus putant beatum vel sola virtute fieri posse, non tamen unum bonum esse quod honestum est. Epicurus quoque iudicat, cum virtutem habeat, beatum esse, sed ipsam virtutem non satis esse ad beatam vitam, quia beatum efficiat voluptas quae ex virtute est, non ipsa virtus. Inepta distinctio: idem enim negat umquam virtutem esse sine voluptate. Ita si ei iuncta semper est atque inseparabilis, et sola satis est; habet enim secum voluptatem, sine qua non est etiam cum sola est.","en":"Xenocrates and Speusippus think that a man can be made happy even by virtue alone, but not that the honourable is the only good. Epicurus also judges that a man who has virtue is happy, but that virtue itself is not enough for a happy life, because what makes him happy is the pleasure that comes from virtue, not virtue itself. A silly distinction, since he also says that virtue never exists without pleasure. So if pleasure is always joined to virtue and cannot be separated from it, virtue alone is enough too; for it has pleasure with it, and never exists without it even when it stands alone."},{"ref":"Letter 85.19","orig":"Illud autem absurdum est, quod dicitur beatum quidem futurum vel sola virtute, non futurum autem perfecte beatum; quod quemadmodum fieri possit non reperio. Beata enim vita bonum in se perfectum habet, inexsuperabile; quod si est, perfecte beata est. Si deorum vita nihil habet maius aut melius, beata autem vita divina est, nihil habet in quod amplius possit attolli.","en":"It is absurd, too, to say that a man will be happy even with virtue alone, but will not be perfectly happy. I cannot find how that could happen. For the happy life contains a good that is complete in itself and cannot be surpassed. If that is so, it is perfectly happy. If the life of the gods has nothing greater or better, and the happy life is divine, it has nothing higher to which it could be raised."},{"ref":"Letter 85.20","orig":"Praeterea, si beata vita nullius est indigens, omnis beata vita perfecta est eademque est et beata et beatissima. Numquid dubitas quin beata vita summum bonum sit? ergo si summum bonum habet, summe beata est. Quemadmodum summum bonum adiectionem non recipit (quid enim supra summum erit?), ita ne beata quidem vita, quae sine summo bono non est. Quod si aliquem 'magis' beatum induxeris, induces et 'multo magis'; innumerabilia discrimina summi boni facies, cum summum bonum intellegam quod supra se gradum non habet.","en":"Besides, if the happy life lacks nothing, every happy life is perfect, and the same life is both happy and supremely happy. Do you doubt that the happy life is the supreme good? Then if it has the supreme good, it is supremely happy. Just as the supreme good does not admit any addition (for what will be above the supreme?), neither does the happy life, which does not exist without the supreme good. But if you bring in someone who is \"more\" happy, you will also bring in someone \"much more\" happy, and you will make countless grades of the supreme good, whereas I understand the supreme good as that which has no step above it."},{"ref":"Letter 85.21–22","orig":"Si est aliquis minus beatus quam alius, sequitur ut hic alterius vitam beatioris magis concupiscat quam suam; beatus autem nihil suae praefert. Utrumlibet ex his incredibile est, aut aliquid beato restare quod esse quam quod est malit, aut id illum non malle quod illo melius est. Utique enim quo prudentior est, hoc magis se ad id quod est optimum extendet et id omni modo consequi cupiet. Quomodo autem beatus est qui cupere etiamnunc potest, immo qui debet? Dicam quid sit ex quo veniat hic error: nesciunt beatam vitam unam esse. In optimo illam statu ponit qualitas sua, non magnitudo; itaque in aequo est longa et brevis, diffusa et angustior, in multa loca multasque partes distributa et in unum coacta. Qui illam numero aestimat et mensura et partibus, id illi quod habet eximium eripit. Quid autem est in beata vita eximium? quod plena est.","en":"If one person is less happy than another, it follows that he desires the life of the happier man more than his own. But a happy man prefers nothing to his own life. Either option is incredible: that something is left for the happy man which he would rather have than what he has, or that he does not prefer what is better than what he has. For surely the wiser he is, the more he will reach for what is best and want to attain it by every means. And how is a man happy who can still desire, or rather ought to? I will tell you where this mistake comes from: they do not know that the happy life is one. What puts it in the best condition is its quality, not its size. So it is the same whether long or short, spread out or narrower, divided among many places and parts or concentrated in one. Whoever values it by number, measure and parts robs it of what is outstanding in it. And what is outstanding in the happy life? That it is full."},{"ref":"Letter 85.23–24","orig":"Finis, ut puto, edendi bibendique satietas est. Hic plus edit, ille minus: quid refert? uterque iam satur est. Hic plus bibit, ille minus: quid refert? uterque non sitit. Hic pluribus annis vixit, hic paucioribus: nihil interest si tam illum multi anni beatum fecerunt quam hunc pauci. Ille quem tu minus beatum vocas non est beatus: non potest hoc nomen inminui. 'Qui fortis est sine timore est; qui sine timore est sine tristitia est; qui sine tristitia est beatus est.' Nostrorum haec interrogatio est. Adversus hanc sic respondere conantur: falsam nos rem et controversiosam pro confessa vindicare, eum qui fortis est sine timore esse. 'Quid ergo?' inquit 'fortis inminentia mala non timebit? istuc dementis alienatique, non fortis est. Ille vero' inquit 'moderatissime timet, sed in totum extra metum non est.'","en":"The goal of eating and drinking, I suppose, is to be satisfied. This man eats more, that one less: what does it matter? Both are now full. This one drinks more, that one less: what does it matter? Neither is thirsty. This one has lived more years, that one fewer: it makes no difference, if many years have made the one as happy as few have made the other. The man you call less happy is not happy; the term cannot be diminished. \"The brave man is without fear. The man without fear is without sorrow. The man without sorrow is happy.\" This argument is ours. They try to answer it by saying that we are claiming as agreed something false and disputed, namely that the brave man is without fear. \"What?\" he says. \"Will the brave man not fear evils that threaten him? That would be the mark of a madman out of his mind, not of a brave man. He does fear, but very moderately; he is not entirely free of fear.\""},{"ref":"Letter 85.25–26","orig":"Qui hoc dicunt rursus in idem revolvuntur, ut illis virtutum loco sint minora vitia; nam qui timet quidem, sed rarius et minus, non caret malitia, sed leviore vexatur. 'At enim dementem puto qui mala inminentia non extimescit.' Verum est quod dicis, si mala sunt; sed si scit mala illa non esse et unam tantum turpitudinem malum iudicat, debebit secure pericula aspicere et aliis timenda contemnere. Aut si stulti et amentis est mala non timere, quo quis prudentior est, hoc timebit magis. 'Ut vobis' inquit 'videtur, praebebit se periculis fortis.' Minime: non timebit illa sed vitabit; cautio illum decet, timor non decet. 'Quid ergo?' inquit 'mortem, vincula, ignes, alia tela fortunae non timebit?' Non; scit enim illa non esse mala sed videri; omnia ista humanae vitae formidines putat.","en":"Those who say this slide back into the same position, where lesser vices take the place of virtues. For the man who fears, but less often and less strongly, is not free of wickedness; he is only troubled by a milder form of it. \"But I think a man is mad if he does not dread evils that threaten him.\" What you say is true, if they are evils. But if he knows they are not evils and judges that only shameful conduct is evil, he will have to look at dangers without anxiety and despise what others have to fear. Or if it is the mark of a fool and a madman not to fear evils, then the wiser someone is, the more he will fear. \"On your view,\" he says, \"the brave man will throw himself into dangers.\" Not at all. He will not fear them, but he will avoid them. Caution suits him; fear does not. \"What then?\" he says. \"Will he not fear death, chains, fire and fortune's other weapons?\" No. He knows they are not evils but only seem so. He thinks all these are bogeys of human life."},{"ref":"Letter 85.27–28","orig":"Describe captivitatem, verbera, catenas, egestatem et membrorum lacerationes vel per morbum vel per iniuriam et quidquid aliud adtuleris: inter lymphatos metus numerat. Ista timidis timenda sunt. An id existimas malum ad quod aliquando nobis nostra sponte veniendum est? Quaeris quid sit malum?cedere iis quae mala vocantur et illis libertatem suam dedere, pro qua cuncta patienda sunt: perit libertas nisi illa contemnimus quae nobis iugum inponunt. Non dubitarent quid conveniret forti viro si scirent quid esset fortitudo. Non est enim inconsulta temeritas nec periculorum amor nec formidabilium adpetitio: scientia est distinguendi quid sit malum et quid non sit. Diligentissima in tutela sui fortitudo est et eadem patientissima eorum quibus falsa species malorum est.","en":"Describe captivity, floggings, chains, poverty, and limbs torn by disease or by violence, and anything else you like: he counts them among the terrors of the frenzied. These are things for the timid to fear. Or do you think something is an evil that we must sometimes go to of our own accord? Do you ask what evil is? To give way to the things called evils and surrender to them our freedom, for which anything must be endured. Freedom dies unless we despise the things that put the yoke on us. They would not be in doubt about what befits a brave man if they knew what bravery is. It is not thoughtless rashness, or love of danger, or seeking out things to be feared. It is the knowledge that distinguishes what is evil from what is not. Bravery is most careful in protecting itself, and also most patient in bearing things that only look like evils."},{"ref":"Letter 85.29–30","orig":"'Quid ergo? si ferrum intentatur cervicibus viri fortis, si pars subinde alia atque alia suffoditur, si viscera sua in sinu suo vidit, si ex intervallo, quo magis tormenta sentiat, repetitur et per adsiccata vulnera recens demittitur sanguis, non timet? istum tu dices nec dolere?' Iste vero dolet (sensum enim hominis nulla exuit virtus), sed non timet: invictus ex alto dolores suos spectat. Quaeris quis tunc animus illi sit? qui aegrum amicum adhortantibus. 'Quod malum est nocet; quod nocet deteriorem facit; dolor et paupertas deteriorem non faciunt; ergo mala non sunt.' 'Falsum est' inquit 'quod proponitis; non enim, si quid nocet, etiam deteriorem facit. Tempestas et procella nocet gubernatori, non tamen illum deteriorem facit.'","en":"\"What then? If a sword is held to the brave man's throat, if one part of him after another is stabbed, if he has seen his own guts in his lap, if after a pause, so that he may feel the torture more, he is tortured again and fresh blood is drawn through wounds that have dried, is he not afraid? Will you say he does not even feel pain?\" He does feel pain, for no virtue strips a man of human feeling, but he does not fear. Unconquered, he looks down on his pains from on high. Do you ask what his state of mind is then? The mind of those who are encouraging a sick friend. \"What is evil does harm. What does harm makes a man worse. Pain and poverty do not make a man worse. Therefore they are not evils.\" \"Your premise is false,\" he says. \"Not everything that harms also makes a man worse. A storm and a gale harm the helmsman, but they do not make him a worse helmsman.\""},{"ref":"Letter 85.31–32","orig":"Quidam e Stoicis ita adversus hoc respondent: deteriorem fieri gubernatorem tempestate ac procella, quia non possit id quod proposuit efficere nec tenere cursum suum; deteriorem illum in arte sua non fieri, in opere fieri. Quibus Peripateticus 'ergo' inquit 'et sapientem deteriorem faciet paupertas, dolor, et quidquid aliud tale fuerit; virtutem enim illi non eripiet, sed opera eius inpediet'. Hoc recte diceretur nisi dissimilis esset gubernatoris condicio et sapientis. Huic enim propositum est in vita agenda non utique quod temptat efficere, sed omnia recte facere: gubernatori propositum est utique navem in portum perducere. Artes ministrae sunt, praestare debent quod promittunt, sapientia domina rectrixque est; artes serviunt vitae, sapientia imperat.","en":"Some Stoics answer this as follows: the helmsman is made worse by a storm and a gale, because he cannot achieve what he set out to do or hold his course; he is not made worse in his skill, but in his work. To them the Peripatetic says: \"Then poverty, pain and anything else of that kind will also make the wise man worse. It will not take his virtue from him, but it will hinder its work.\" This would be right if the situation of the helmsman and of the wise man were not different. The wise man's aim in living his life is not to achieve whatever he attempts at all costs, but to do everything rightly. The helmsman's aim is to bring the ship into harbour at all costs. The arts are servants; they must deliver what they promise. Wisdom is the mistress and ruler. The arts serve life; wisdom commands it."},{"ref":"Letter 85.33–34","orig":"Ego aliter respondendum iudico: nec artem gubernatoris deteriorem ulla tempestate fieri nec ipsam administrationem artis. Gubernator tibi non felicitatem promisit sed utilem operam et navis regendae scientiam; haec eo magis apparet quo illi magis aliqua fortuita vis obstitit. Qui hoc potuit dicere, 'Neptune, numquam hanc navem nisi rectam', arti satis fecit: tempestas non opus gubernatoris inpedit sed successum. 'Quid ergo?' inquit 'non nocet gubernatori ea res quae illum tenere portum vetat, quae conatus eius inritos efficit, quae aut refert illum aut detinet et exarmat?' Non tamquam gubernatori, sed tamquam naviganti nocet: alioqui gubernator ille non est. Gubernatoris artem adeo non inpedit ut ostendat; tranquillo enim, ut aiunt, quilibet gubernator est. Navigio ista obsunt, non rectori eius, qua rector est.","en":"I think the answer should be different: neither the helmsman's skill nor the very exercise of that skill is made worse by any storm. The helmsman did not promise you good luck, but useful work and the knowledge of how to steer a ship. That shows all the more the more some chance force has opposed him. A man who could say, \"Neptune, you will never sink this ship except on an even keel,\" has done all his art requires. The storm does not hinder the helmsman's work, only his success. \"What then?\" he says. \"Is the helmsman not harmed by the thing that keeps him from reaching harbour, makes his efforts useless, and either drives him back or holds him fast and strips his rigging?\" It harms him not as a helmsman but as a passenger; otherwise he would not be a helmsman. It is so far from hindering the helmsman's skill that it displays it: in calm weather, as they say, anyone is a helmsman. These things damage the ship, not its pilot insofar as he is its pilot."},{"ref":"Letter 85.35–37","orig":"Duas personas habet gubernator, alteram communem cum omnibus qui eandem conscenderunt navem: ipse quoque vector est; alteram propriam: gubernator est. Tempestas tamquam vectori nocet, non tamquam gubernatori. Deinde gubernatoris ars alienum bonum est: ad eos quos vehit pertinet, quomodo medici ad eos quos curat: sapientis commune bonum est: est et eorum cum quibus vivit et proprium ipsius. Itaque gubernatori fortasse noceatur cuius ministerium aliis promissum tempestate inpeditur: sapienti non nocetur a paupertate, non a dolore, non ab aliis tempestatibus vitae. Non enim prohibentur opera eius omnia, sed tantum ad alios pertinentia: ipse semper in actu est, in effectu tunc maximus cum illi fortuna se opposuit; tunc enim ipsius sapientiae negotium agit, quam diximus et alienum bonum esse et suum.","en":"The helmsman plays two parts. One he shares with everyone who has boarded the same ship: he too is a passenger. The other is his own: he is the helmsman. The storm harms him as a passenger, not as a helmsman. Next, the helmsman's skill is a good for others: it concerns the people he carries, just as a doctor's skill concerns the people he treats. The wise man's good is shared: it belongs both to those he lives with and to himself. So perhaps the helmsman is harmed, since the service he promised to others is hindered by the storm. But the wise man is not harmed by poverty or pain or the other storms of life. Not all his work is blocked, only the part that concerns others. He himself is always active, and his achievement is greatest when fortune has set herself against him. For then he is doing the business of wisdom itself, which we have said is a good both for others and for himself."},{"ref":"Letter 85.38–39","orig":"Praeterea ne aliis quidem tunc prodesse prohibetur cum illum aliquae necessitates premunt. Propter paupertatem prohibetur docere quemadmodum tractanda res publica sit, at illud docet, quemadmodum sit tractanda paupertas. Per totam vitam opus eius extenditur. Ita nulla fortuna, nulla res actus sapientis excludit; id enim ipsum agit quo alia agere prohibetur. Ad utrosque casus aptatus est: bonorum rector est, malorum victor. Sic, inquam, se exercuit ut virtutem tam in secundis quam in adversis exhiberet nec materiam eius sed ipsam intueretur; itaque nec paupertas illum nec dolor nec quidquid aliud inperitos avertit et praecipites agit prohibet.","en":"Besides, he is not prevented from helping others even when some hardships press on him. Because of poverty he is prevented from teaching how the state should be managed, but he teaches how poverty should be managed. His work extends through his whole life. So no fortune, no circumstance, shuts out the wise man's activity, for he is busy with the very thing that prevents him from doing other things. He is fitted for both kinds of chance: he is master of the good and conqueror of the bad. He has trained himself, I say, to show virtue in prosperity as well as in adversity, and to look at virtue itself rather than its material. So neither poverty nor pain nor anything else that turns the ignorant aside and drives them headlong holds him back."},{"ref":"Letter 85.40","orig":"Tu illum premi putas malis? utitur. Non ex ebore tantum Phidias sciebat facere simulacra; faciebat ex aere. Si marmor illi, si adhuc viliorem materiam obtulisses, fecisset quale ex illa fieri optimum posset. Sic sapiens virtutem, si licebit, in divitiis explicabit, si minus, in paupertate; si poterit, in patria, si minus, in exilio; si poterit, imperator, si minus, miles; si poterit, integer, si minus, debilis. Quamcumque fortunam acceperit, aliquid ex illa memorabile efficiet.","en":"Do you think he is weighed down by evils? He makes use of them. Phidias did not know how to make statues only from ivory; he made them from bronze. If you had given him marble, or some cheaper material still, he would have made the best thing that could be made from it. So the wise man will display virtue in wealth if he may, and if not, in poverty; in his own country if he can, and if not, in exile; as a general if he can, and if not, as a soldier; sound in body if he can, and if not, crippled. Whatever fortune he receives, he will make something memorable out of it."},{"ref":"Letter 85.41","orig":"Certi sunt domitores ferarum qui saevissima animalia et ad occursum expavescenda hominem pati subigunt nec asperitatem excussisse contenti usque in contubernium mitigant: leonis faucibus magister manum insertat, osculatur tigrim suus custos, elephantum minimus Aethiops iubet subsidere in genua et ambulare per funem. Sic sapiens artifex est domandi mala: dolor, egestas, ignominia, carcer, exilium ubique horrenda, cum ad hunc pervenere, mansueta sunt. Vale.","en":"There are skilled animal tamers who force the fiercest beasts, whose appearance makes people panic, to put up with a man, and who, not content with removing their savagery, tame them to the point of living with them. The trainer puts his hand in the lion's jaws, the keeper kisses his tiger, a tiny Ethiopian orders an elephant to kneel down and walk a tightrope. In the same way the wise man is an expert in taming evils. Pain, poverty, disgrace, prison and exile, which are dreaded everywhere, become tame when they come to him. Farewell."}],"86":[{"ref":"Letter 86.1–2","orig":"In ipsa Scipionis Africani villa iacens haec tibi scribo, adoratis manibus eius et ara, quam sepulchrum esse tanti viri suspicor. Animum quidem eius in caelum ex quo erat redisse persuadeo mihi, non quia magnos exercitus duxit (hos enim et Cambyses furiosus ac furore feliciter usus habuit), sed ob egregiam moderationem pietatemque, quam magis in illo admirabilem iudico cum reliquit patriam quam cum defendit. Aut Scipio Romae esse debebat aut Roma in libertate. 'Nihil' inquit 'volo derogare legibus, nihil institutis; aequum inter omnes cives ius sit. Utere sine me beneficio meo, patria. Causa tibi libertatis fui, ero et argumentum: exeo, si plus quam tibi expedit crevi.'","en":"I am writing this to you while staying at the very villa of Scipio Africanus, after paying my respects to his spirit and to an altar which I suspect is the tomb of that great man. I am convinced that his soul has returned to the heaven it came from, not because he led great armies (the madman Cambyses had those too, and used his madness successfully), but because of his outstanding restraint and devotion to his country, which I think more admirable in him when he left his country than when he defended it. Either Scipio had to stay out of Rome, or Rome had to stay out of freedom. \"I do not want,\" he said, \"to detract in any way from the laws or institutions. Let there be equal rights among all citizens. Enjoy my service without me, my country. I was the cause of your freedom; I will also be its proof. I am leaving, if I have grown greater than is good for you.\""},{"ref":"Letter 86.3–4","orig":"Quidni ego admirer hanc magnitudinem animi, qua in exilium voluntarium secessit et civitatem exoneravit? Eo perducta res erat ut aut libertas Scipioni aut Scipio libertati faceret iniuriam. Neutrum fas erat; itaque locum dedit legibus et se Liternum recepit tam suum exilium rei publicae inputaturus quam Hannibalis. Vidi villam extructam lapide quadrato, murum circumdatum silvae, turres quoque in propugnaculum villae utrimque subrectas, cisternam aedificiis ac viridibus subditam quae sufficere in usum vel exercitus posset, balneolum angustum, tenebricosum ex consuetudine antiqua: non videbatur maioribus nostris caldum nisi obscurum.","en":"How could I not admire this greatness of spirit, with which he withdrew into voluntary exile and relieved the state of a burden? Things had come to the point where either freedom would wrong Scipio or Scipio would wrong freedom. Neither was right, so he gave way to the laws and took himself off to Liternum, meaning to put his own exile down to the state's account just as much as Hannibal's. I saw the villa, built of squared stone; a wall surrounding a wood; towers raised on both sides as a defence for the house; a cistern hidden below the buildings and gardens, big enough to supply even an army; and a small, narrow bath, dark in the old style. To our ancestors a bath did not seem hot unless it was dark."},{"ref":"Letter 86.5–6","orig":"Magna ergo me voluptas subiit contemplantem mores Scipionis ac nostros: in hoc angulo ille 'Carthaginis horror', cui Roma debet quod tantum semel capta est, abluebat corpus laboribus rusticis fessum. Exercebat enim opere se terramque (ut mos fuit priscis) ipse subigebat. Sub hoc ille tecto tam sordido stetit, hoc illum pavimentum tam vile sustinuit: at nunc quis est qui sic lavari sustineat? Pauper sibi videtur ac sordidus nisi parietes magnis et pretiosis orbibus refulserunt, nisi Alexandrina marmora Numidicis crustis distincta sunt, nisi illis undique operosa et in picturae modum variata circumlitio praetexitur, nisi vitro absconditur camera, nisi Thasius lapis, quondam rarum in aliquo spectaculum templo, piscinas nostras circumdedit, in quas multa sudatione corpora exsaniata demittimus, nisi aquam argentea epitonia fuderunt.","en":"So I felt great pleasure comparing Scipio's ways with ours. In this corner that \"terror of Carthage,\" to whom Rome owes the fact that it was captured only once, used to wash a body tired from farm work. For he kept himself fit with toil and, as was the old custom, tilled the land himself. He stood under this shabby roof; this cheap floor bore his weight. But who today could bear to bathe like this? A man thinks himself poor and mean unless his walls gleam with large and costly circles, unless Alexandrian marble is set off with Numidian panels, unless an elaborate coating, varied like a painting, is laid around them on every side, unless the ceiling is buried in glass, unless Thasian stone, once a rare sight in some temple, surrounds the pools into which we lower bodies drained by long sweating, unless the water has poured from silver taps."},{"ref":"Letter 86.7–8","orig":"Et adhuc plebeias fistulas loquor: quid cum ad balnea libertinorum pervenero? Quantum statuarum, quantum columnarum est nihil sustinentium sed in ornamentum positarum impensae causa! quantum aquarum per gradus cum fragore labentium! Eo deliciarum pervenimus ut nisi gemmas calcare nolimus. In hoc balneo Scipionis minimae sunt rimae magis quam fenestrae muro lapideo exsectae, ut sine iniuria munimenti lumen admitterent; at nunc blattaria vocant balnea, si qua non ita aptata sunt ut totius diei solem fenestris amplissimis recipiant, nisi et lavantur simul et colorantur, nisi ex solio agros ac maria prospiciunt. Itaque quae concursum et admirationem habuerant cum dedicarentur, ea in antiquorum numerum reiciuntur cum aliquid novi luxuria commenta est quo ipsa se obrueret.","en":"And so far I am talking about the plumbing of ordinary people. What about when I come to the baths of freedmen? What a quantity of statues, what a quantity of columns holding nothing up but placed there for decoration, just to spend money! What quantities of water tumbling noisily down steps! We have reached such a pitch of luxury that we will not walk on anything but gems. In this bath of Scipio's there are tiny chinks rather than windows cut in the stone wall, to let in light without weakening the fortification. But nowadays people call baths \"cockroach holes\" if they are not arranged to catch the sun all day through huge windows, if people cannot bathe and tan at the same time, if they cannot look out from the tub over fields and seas. So baths that drew crowds and admiration when they were opened are thrown back among the old-fashioned as soon as luxury has thought up some new way to outdo itself."},{"ref":"Letter 86.9–10","orig":"At olim et pauca erant balnea nec ullo cultu exornata: cur enim exornaretur res quadrantaria et in usum, non in oblectamentum reperta? Non suffundebatur aqua nec recens semper velut ex calido fonte currebat, nec referre credebant in quam perlucida sordes deponerent. Sed, di boni, quam iuvat illa balinea intrare obscura et gregali tectorio inducta, quae scires Catonem tibi aedilem aut Fabium Maximum aut ex Corneliis aliquem manu sua temperasse! Nam hoc quoque nobilissimi aediles fungebantur officio intrandi ea loca quae populum receptabant exigendique munditias et utilem ac salubrem temperaturam, non hanc quae nuper inventa est similis incendio, adeo quidem ut convictum in aliquo scelere servum vivum lavari oporteat. Nihil mihi videtur iam interesse, ardeat balineum an caleat.","en":"But once there were few baths, and they were not decorated at all. Why should something costing a quarter-as and invented for use, not for delight, be decorated? The water was not poured in, and did not always run fresh as if from a hot spring, and people did not think it mattered how clear the water was in which they left their dirt. But, good gods, what a pleasure it is to go into those dark baths with their common plaster, knowing that Cato as aedile, or Fabius Maximus, or one of the Cornelii had regulated the heat with his own hand! For even the noblest aediles performed this duty of entering the places that received the public and insisting on cleanliness and a useful and healthy temperature, not the heat recently invented, which is like a fire, so much so that a slave convicted of some crime ought to be bathed alive. It seems to me there is no longer any difference between a bath being on fire and being warm."},{"ref":"Letter 86.11","orig":"Quantae nunc aliqui rusticitatis damnant Scipionem quod non in caldarium suum latis specularibus diem admiserat, quod non in multa luce decoquebatur et expectabat ut in balneo concoqueret! O hominem calamitosum! nesciit vivere. Non saccata aqua lavabatur sed saepe turbida et, cum plueret vehementius, paene lutulenta. Nec multum eius intererat an sic lavaretur; veniebat enim ut sudorem illic ablueret, non ut unguentum.","en":"How crude some people now think Scipio was because he did not let daylight into his hot room through wide panes, because he did not stew in full light and wait to digest his food in the bath! What a wretched man! He did not know how to live. He did not bathe in filtered water, but often in cloudy water, and when it rained hard, almost muddy. It did not matter much to him whether he bathed like that, for he came to wash off sweat, not perfume."},{"ref":"Letter 86.12–13","orig":"Quas nunc quorundam voces futuras credis? 'Non invideo Scipioni: vere in exilio vixit qui sic lavabatur.' Immo, si scias, non cotidie lavabatur; nam, ut aiunt qui priscos mores urbis tradiderunt, brachia et crura cotidie abluebant, quae scilicet sordes opere collegerant, ceterum toti nundinis lavabantur. Hoc loco dicet aliquis: 'liquet mihi inmundissimos fuisse'. Quid putas illos oluisse? militiam, laborem, virum. Postquam munda balnea inventa sunt, spurciores sunt. Descripturus infamem et nimiis notabilem deliciis Horatius Flaccus quid ait? Pastillos Buccillus olet. Dares nunc Buccillum: proinde esset ac si hircum oleret, Gargonii loco esset, quem idem Horatius Buccillo opposuit. Parum est sumere unguentum nisi bis die terque renovatur, ne evanescat in corpore. Quid quod hoc odore tamquam suo gloriantur?","en":"What do you think some people will say now? \"I do not envy Scipio. A man who bathed like that really did live in exile.\" In fact, if you want to know, he did not bathe every day. According to those who have recorded the old customs of the city, they washed their arms and legs every day, since these had picked up dirt from work, but bathed all over only once a week, on market days. At this point someone will say: \"Clearly they were very dirty.\" What do you think they smelled of? Of soldiering, of work, of manhood. Since spotless baths were invented, people are filthier. When Horace Flaccus wanted to describe a disreputable man notorious for his excessive refinement, what did he say? \"Buccillus smells of scented lozenges.\" Show us Buccillus today: it would be as if he smelled of goat; he would take the place of Gargonius, whom Horace set against Buccillus. It is not enough to put on perfume unless it is renewed two or three times a day, so that it does not fade on the body. And what of the fact that they boast of this scent as if it were their own?"},{"ref":"Letter 86.14–15","orig":"Haec si tibi nimium tristia videbuntur, villae inputabis, in qua didici ab Aegialo, diligentissimo patre familiae (is enim nunc huius agri possessor est) quamvis vetus arbustum posse transferri. Hoc nobis senibus discere necessarium est, quorum nemo non olivetum alteri ponit, quod vidi illud arborum trimum et quadrimum fastidiendi fructus aut deponere. Te quoque proteget illa quae tarda venit seris factura nepotibus umbram, ut ait Vergilius noster, qui non quid verissime sed quid decentissime diceretur aspexit, nec agricolas docere voluit sed legentes delectare.","en":"If you think all this too gloomy, blame the villa, where I learned from Aegialus, a most careful farmer who now owns this estate, that even an old orchard can be transplanted. We old men need to learn this, since every one of us plants an olive grove for someone else, now that I have seen trees three and four years old, bearing fruit one might despise, being planted out. You too will be shaded by that tree \"which comes slowly, to give shade to grandchildren far off,\" as our Virgil says. He looked not at what could be said most truly but at what could be said most gracefully, and wanted not to teach farmers but to delight readers."},{"ref":"Letter 86.16–17","orig":"Nam, ut alia omnia transeam, hoc quod mihi hodie necesse fuit deprehendere, adscribam: vere fabis satio est; tunc te quoque, Medica, putres accipiunt sulci, et milio venit annua cura. An uno tempore ista ponenda sint et an utriusque verna sit satio, hinc aestimes licet: Iunius mensis est quo tibi scribo, iam proclivis in Iulium: eodem die vidi fabam metentes, milium serentes. Ad olivetum revertar, quod vidi duobus modis positum: magnarum arborum truncos circumcisis ramis et ad unum redactis pedem cum rapo suo transtulit, amputatis radicibus, relicto tantum capite ipso ex quo illae pependerant. Hoc fimo tinctum in scrobem demisit, deinde terram non adgessit tantum, sed calcavit et pressit.","en":"For, to pass over everything else, I will note down this, which I had to find out today: \"In spring is the time to sow beans; then you too, lucerne, are received by the crumbling furrows, and millet comes as the yearly care.\" Whether these should be planted at the same time, and whether both are sown in spring, you can judge from this: it is June as I write to you, already sliding towards July, and on the same day I saw people harvesting beans and sowing millet. I will go back to the olive grove, which I saw planted in two ways. He took the trunks of large trees, cut off their branches and trimmed them down to one foot, and transplanted them with their root-ball, after cutting away the roots and leaving only the stock itself from which they had hung. He smeared this with manure and lowered it into a trench, then not only heaped earth over it but trod it and packed it down."},{"ref":"Letter 86.18–19","orig":"Negat quicquam esse hac, ut ait, pisatione efficacius. Videlicet frigus excludit et ventum; minus praeterea movetur et ob hoc nascentes radices prodire patitur ac solum adprendere, quas necesse est cereas adhuc et precario haerentes levis quoque revellat agitatio. Rapum autem arboris antequam obruat radit; ex omni enim materia quae nudata est, ut ait, radices exeunt novae. Non plures autem super terram eminere debet truncus quam tres aut quattuor pedes; statim enim ab imo vestietur nec magna pars eius quemadmodum in olivetis veteribus arida et retorrida erit. Alter ponendi modus hic fuit: ramos fortes nec corticis duri, quales esse novellarum arborum solent, eodem genere deposuit. Hi paulo tardius surgunt, sed cum tamquam a planta processerint, nihil habent in se abhorridum aut triste.","en":"He says nothing is more effective than this packing, as he calls it. Clearly it keeps out the cold and the wind. Besides, the tree moves less, and so it lets the new roots come out and take hold of the soil. These roots are still soft as wax and cling only precariously, so even a slight shaking would tear them out. He scrapes the tree's root-ball before burying it, for new roots, he says, come out of all the wood that has been laid bare. The trunk should not stand more than three or four feet above the ground, for then it will be clothed with growth right from the bottom and no large part of it will be dry and withered, as it is in old olive groves. The second method of planting was this: he set strong branches, with bark not yet hard, as young trees usually have, in the same way. These come up a little more slowly, but since they have grown as if from a cutting, there is nothing rough or unsightly about them."},{"ref":"Letter 86.20–21","orig":"Illud etiamnunc vidi, vitem ex arbusto suo annosam transferri; huius capillamenta quoque, si fieri potest, colligenda sunt, deinde liberalius sternenda vitis, ut etiam ex corpore radicescat. Et vidi non tantum mense Februario positas sed etiam Martio exacto; tenent et conplexae sunt non suas ulmos. Omnes autem istas arbores quae, ut ita dicam, grandiscapiae sunt, ait aqua adiuvandas cisternina; quae si prodest, habemus pluviam in nostra potestate. Plura te docere non cogito, ne quemadmodum Aegialus me sibi adversarium paravit, sic ego parem te mihi. Vale.","en":"I also saw this: an old vine being transplanted from its orchard. Its fine rootlets too should be gathered up if possible, and then the vine should be laid down more generously, so that it roots from its stem as well. I saw vines planted not only in February but even at the end of March; they are holding on and have embraced elms that are not their own. All these trees that have, so to speak, big trunks should be helped, he says, with water from a cistern; if that works, we have rain in our own control. I do not intend to teach you any more, in case, just as Aegialus has made me his rival, I make you mine. Farewell."}],"87":[{"ref":"Letter 87.1–2","orig":"Naufragium antequam navem ascenderem feci: quomodo acciderit non adicio, ne et hoc putes inter Stoica paradoxa ponendum, quorum nullum esse falsum nec tam mirabile quam prima facie videtur, cum volueris, adprobabo, immo etiam si nolueris. Interim hoc me iter docuit quam multa haberemus supervacua et quam facile iudicio possemus deponere quae, si quando necessitas abstulit, non sentimus ablata. Cum paucissimis servis, quos unum capere vehiculum potuit, sine ullis rebus nisi quae corpore nostro continebantur, ego et Maximus meus biduum iam beatissimum agimus. Culcita in terra iacet, ego in culcita; ex duabus paenulis altera stragulum, altera opertorium facta est.","en":"I was shipwrecked before I even boarded. I will not add how it happened, in case you think this too should be counted among the Stoic paradoxes. None of them is false, or as astonishing as it looks at first sight, and I will prove it to you whenever you like, or even if you do not like. Meanwhile this journey has taught me how many unnecessary things we have, and how easily we could decide to give up things whose loss we do not even notice when necessity takes them from us. With a very few slaves, as many as one carriage could hold, and with no belongings except what we had on our bodies, my friend Maximus and I have now spent two most happy days. The mattress lies on the ground and I lie on the mattress. Of our two cloaks, one serves as a sheet and the other as a blanket."},{"ref":"Letter 87.3–4","orig":"De prandio nihil detrahi potuit; paratum fuit non magis hora, nusquam sine caricis, numquam sine pugillaribus; illae, si panem habeo, pro pulmentario sunt, si non habeo, pro pane. Cotidie mihi annum novum faciunt, quem ego faustum et felicem reddo bonis cogitationibus et animi magnitudine, qui numquam maior est quam ubi aliena seposuit et fecit sibi pacem nihil timendo, fecit sibi divitias nihil concupiscendo. Vehiculum in quod inpositus sum rusticum est; mulae vivere se ambulando testantur; mulio excalceatus, non propter aestatem. Vix a me obtineo ut hoc vehiculum velim videri meum: durat adhuc perversa recti verecundia, et quotiens in aliquem comitatum lautiorem incidimus invitus erubesco, quod argumentum est ista quae probo, quae laudo, nondum habere certam sedem et immobilem. Qui sordido vehiculo erubescit pretioso gloriabitur.","en":"Nothing could be taken off my lunch. It was ready in no more than an hour, never without dried figs, never without my writing tablets. The figs serve as a relish if I have bread, and as bread if I do not. Every day they make a New Year for me, which I make lucky and happy by good thoughts and greatness of spirit. The spirit is never greater than when it has put aside what does not belong to it and made peace for itself by fearing nothing, and wealth for itself by wanting nothing. The carriage I am riding in is a farm cart. The mules show they are alive only by walking. The muleteer is barefoot, and not because it is summer. I can hardly bring myself to want this carriage to be seen as mine. A perverse embarrassment about what is right still persists, and whenever we meet a smarter party I blush against my will. That proves the things I approve and praise do not yet have a firm and settled home in me. Whoever blushes at a shabby carriage will boast of an expensive one."},{"ref":"Letter 87.5–6","orig":"Parum adhuc profeci: nondum audeo frugalitatem palam ferre; etiamnunc curo opiniones viatorum. Contra totius generis humani opiniones mittenda vox erat: 'insanitis, erratis, stupetis ad supervacua, neminem aestimatis suo. Cum ad patrimonium ventum est, diligentissimi conputatores sic rationem ponitis singulorum quibus aut pecuniam credituri estis aut beneficia (nam haec quoque iam expensa fertis): late possidet, sed multum debet; habet domum formosam, sed alienis nummis paratam; familiam nemo cito speciosiorem producet, sed nominibus non respondet; si creditoribus solverit, nihil illi supererit. Idem in reliquis quoque facere debebitis et excutere quantum proprii quisque habeat.'","en":"I have made little progress so far. I do not yet dare to show my frugality openly; I still care what passing travellers think. I ought to have raised my voice against the opinions of the whole human race: \"You are mad, you are wrong, you gape at superfluous things, you value no one for himself. When it comes to property, you most careful of accountants, you draw up the account of each person you are about to lend money or favours to (for you now enter these too as expenditure): he owns a great deal of land, but he owes a great deal; he has a beautiful house, but bought with other people's money; no one will quickly show off a finer staff of slaves, but he does not meet his debts; if he paid his creditors, he would have nothing left. You will have to do the same with everything else too, and shake out how much each person really owns.\""},{"ref":"Letter 87.7–8","orig":"Divitem illum putas quia aurea supellex etiam in via sequitur, quia in omnibus provinciis arat, quia magnus kalendari liber volvitur, quia tantum suburbani agri possidet quantum invidiose in desertis Apuliae possideret: cum omnia dixeris, pauper est. Quare? quia debet. 'Quantum?' inquis. Omnia; nisi forte iudicas interesse utrum aliquis ab homine an a fortuna mutuum sumpserit. Quid ad rem pertinent mulae saginatae unius omnes coloris? quid ista vehicula caelata? Instratos ostro alipedes pictisque tapetis: aurea pectoribus demissa monilia pendent, tecti auro fulvum mandunt sub dentibus aurum. Ista nec dominum meliorem possunt facere nec mulam.","en":"You think that man rich because his gold plate follows him even on a journey, because he farms in every province, because a large account book of loans is unrolled for him, because he owns as much land near Rome as would cause envy even in the wilds of Apulia. When you have said all that, he is poor. Why? Because he is in debt. \"How much?\" you ask. Everything, unless perhaps you think it makes a difference whether a man has borrowed from another man or from fortune. What have fattened mules all of one colour to do with it? What about those engraved carriages? \"Steeds with wings on their heels, covered in purple and embroidered rugs; golden collars hang down on their chests; decked in gold, they champ the yellow gold between their teeth.\" These things can make neither the master better nor the mule."},{"ref":"Letter 87.9–10","orig":"M. Cato Censorius, quem tam e re publica fuit nasci quam Scipionem (alter enim cum hostibus nostris bellum, alter cum moribus gessit), cantherio vehebatur et hippoperis quidem inpositis, ut secum utilia portaret. O quam cuperem illi nunc occurrere aliquem ex his trossulis, in via divitibus, cursores et Numidas et multum ante se pulveris agentem! Hic sine dubio cultior comitatiorque quam M. Cato videretur, hic qui inter illos apparatus delicatos cum maxime dubitat utrum se ad gladium locet an ad cultrum. O quantum erat saeculi decus, imperatorem, triumphalem, censorium, quod super omnia haec est, Catonem, uno caballo esse contentum et ne toto quidem; partem enim sarcinae ab utroque latere dependentes occupabant. Ita non omnibus obesis mannis et asturconibus et tolutariis praeferres unicum illum equum ab ipso Catone defrictum?","en":"Marcus Cato the Censor, whose birth was as great a blessing to the state as Scipio's (for one waged war on our enemies, the other on our morals), used to ride a gelding, and with saddlebags on it too, so that he could carry what he needed with him. Oh, how I would like one of these dandies to meet him on the road now, rich on the road, with his runners and Numidians and a great cloud of dust ahead of him! No doubt this man would seem smarter and better attended than Marcus Cato, this man who, amid all that luxurious equipment, is just now wondering whether to hire himself out for the sword or for the knife. What an ornament to his age it was that a general, a man who had celebrated a triumph, a censor, and above all a Cato, was content with a single nag, and not even the whole of it, since part of it was taken up by the baggage hanging down on either side! So would you not prefer that one horse, rubbed down by Cato himself, to all the plump ponies, Asturian cobs and trotters?"},{"ref":"Letter 87.11–12","orig":"Video non futurum finem in ista materia ullum nisi quem ipse mihi fecero. Hic itaque conticiscam, quantum ad ista quae sine dubio talia divinavit futura qualia nunc sunt qui primus appellavit 'inpedimenta'. Nunc volo paucissimas adhuc interrogationes nostrorum tibi reddere ad virtutem pertinentes, quam satisfacere vitae beatae contendimus. 'Quod bonum est bonos facit (nam et in arte musica quod bonum est facit musicum); fortuita bonum non faciunt; ergo non sunt bona.' Adversus hoc sic respondent Peripatetici ut quod primum proponimus falsum esse dicant. 'Ab eo' inquiunt 'quod est bonum non utique fiunt boni. In musica est aliquid bonum tamquam tibia aut chorda aut organum aliquod aptatum ad usus canendi; nihil tamen horum facit musicum.'","en":"I see that there will be no end to this subject unless I make one myself. So I will fall silent here, as far as these things are concerned, which the man who first called them \"impedimenta\" surely foresaw would become what they are now. Now I want to give you a very few more of our school's arguments concerning virtue, which we maintain is sufficient for the happy life. \"What is good makes men good (for in music too, what is good makes a musician). Chance things do not make men good. Therefore they are not goods.\" The Peripatetics answer this by saying that our first premise is false. \"People are not necessarily made good,\" they say, \"by what is good. In music there is something good, such as a pipe, a string, or some instrument fitted for making music; yet none of these makes a musician.\""},{"ref":"Letter 87.13–14","orig":"His respondebimus, 'non intellegitis quomodo posuerimus quod bonum est in musica. Non enim id dicimus quod instruit musicum, sed quod facit: tu ad supellectilem artis, non ad artem venis. Si quid autem in ipsa arte musica bonum est, id utique musicum faciet.' Etiamnunc facere istuc planius volo. Bonum in arte musica duobus modis dicitur, alterum quo effectus musici adiuvatur, alterum quo ars: ad effectum pertinent instrumenta, tibiae et organa et chordae, ad artem ipsam non pertinent. Est enim artifex etiam sine istis: uti forsitan non potest arte. Hoc non est aeque duplex in homine; idem enim est bonum et hominis et vitae.","en":"We will answer them: \"You do not understand what we meant by what is good in music. We do not mean what equips a musician, but what makes him one. You are turning to the tools of the art, not to the art. But if there is anything good in the art of music itself, that will certainly make a musician.\" I want to make this plainer still. The good in the art of music is spoken of in two senses: one that helps the musician's performance, the other that helps his art. The instruments, pipes, organs and strings, concern the performance; they do not concern the art itself. For a man is an artist even without them, though perhaps he cannot use his art. This double sense does not apply in the same way to man, for the good of the man and the good of his life are the same."},{"ref":"Letter 87.15","orig":"'Quod contemptissimo cuique contingere ac turpissimo potest bonum non est; opes autem et lenoni et lanistae contingunt; ergo non sunt bona.' 'Falsum est' inquiunt 'quod proponitis; nam et in grammatice et in arte medendi aut gubernandi videmus bona humillimis quibusque contingere.'","en":"\"What can come to the most despised and disgraceful person is not a good. Wealth comes to the pimp and the trainer of gladiators. Therefore it is not a good.\" \"Your premise is false,\" they say. \"For in grammar, and in the arts of medicine and navigation, we see goods coming to the lowest people.\""},{"ref":"Letter 87.16","orig":"Sed istae artes non sunt magnitudinem animi professae, non consurgunt in altum nec fortuita fastidiunt: virtus extollit hominem et super cara mortalibus conlocat; nec ea quae bona nec ea quae mala vocantur aut cupit nimis aut expavescit. Chelidon, unus ex Cleopatrae mollibus, atrimonium grande possedit. Nuper Natalis, tam inprobae linguae quam inpurae, in cuius ore feminae purgabantur, et multorum heres fuit et multos habuit heredes. Quid ergo? utrum illum pecunia inpurum effecit an ipse pecuniam inspurcavit? quae sic in quosdam homines quomodo denarius in cloacam cadit.","en":"But these arts do not claim greatness of spirit; they do not rise high or look down on chance things. Virtue lifts a man up and sets him above what mortals hold dear. It neither desires too much nor dreads the things called good or bad. Chelidon, one of Cleopatra's eunuchs, owned a large fortune. Recently Natalis, whose tongue was as shameless as it was filthy, in whose mouth women cleansed themselves, was heir to many and left many heirs. What then? Did the money make him filthy, or did he befoul the money? Money falls into some men as a denarius falls into a sewer."},{"ref":"Letter 87.17–18","orig":"Virtus super ista consistit; suo aere censetur; nihil ex istis quolibet incurrentibus bonum iudicat. Medicina et gubernatio non interdicit sibi ac suis admiratione talium rerum; qui non est vir bonus potest nihilominus medicus esse, potest gubernator, potest grammaticus tam mehercules quam cocus. Cui contingit habere rem non quamlibet, hunc non quemlibet dixeris; qualia quisque habet, talis est. Fiscus tanti est quantum habet; immo in accessionem eius venit quod habet. Quis pleno sacculo ullum pretium ponit nisi quod pecuniae in eo conditae numerus effecit? Idem evenit magnorum dominis patrimoniorum: accessiones illorum et appendices sunt. Quare ergo sapiens magnus est? quia magnum animum habet. Verum est ergo quod contemptissimo cuique contingit bonum non esse.","en":"Virtue stands above these things. It is valued by its own coin. It judges nothing good among these things that happen to anyone at random. Medicine and navigation do not forbid themselves and their followers to admire such things. A man who is not good can still be a doctor, can be a helmsman, can be a grammarian, just as much, heaven knows, as a cook. You would call a man no ordinary man if it has fallen to him to have no ordinary thing. As a man's possessions are, so is he. A money chest is worth as much as it holds; or rather, it becomes an addition to what it holds. Who puts any value on a full purse except what the sum of money stored in it produces? The same happens to the owners of great fortunes: they are the additions and appendages of their fortunes. So why is the wise man great? Because he has a great mind. It is true, then, that what comes to the most despised person is not a good."},{"ref":"Letter 87.19–20","orig":"Itaque indolentiam numquam bonum dicam:habet illam cicada, habet pulex. Ne quietem quidem et molestia vacare bonum dicam: quid est otiosius verme? Quaeris quae res sapientem faciat? quae deum. Des oportet illi divinum aliquid, caeleste, magnificum: non in omnes bonum cadit nec quemlibet possessorem patitur. Vide et quid quaeque ferat regio et quid quaeque recuset: hic segetes, illic veniunt felicius uvae, arborei fetus alibi atque iniussa virescunt gramina. Nonne vides, croceos ut Tmolus odores, India mittit ebur, molles sua tura Sabaei, at Chalybes nudi ferrum?","en":"So I will never call freedom from pain a good: a cicada has it, a flea has it. I will not even call rest and freedom from trouble a good: what is more idle than a worm? Do you ask what makes a wise man? What makes a god. You must give him something divine, heavenly, magnificent. The good does not come to everyone, nor does it put up with just any owner. \"See also what each region yields and what each refuses: here corn, there grapes come up more happily, elsewhere young trees and grasses grow green unbidden. Do you not see how Tmolus sends us its saffron scents, India its ivory, the soft Sabaeans their incense, and the naked Chalybes iron?\""},{"ref":"Letter 87.21–22","orig":"Ista in regiones discripta sunt, ut necessarium mortalibus esset inter ipsos commercium, si invicem alius aliquid ab alio peteret. Summum illud bonum habet et ipsum suam sedem; non nascitur ubi ebur, nec ubi ferrum. Quis sit summi boni locus quaeris? animus. Hic nisi purus ac sanctus est, deum non capit. 'Bonum ex malo non fit; divitiae fiunt autem ex avaritia; divitiae ergo non sunt bonum.' 'Non est' inquit 'verum, bonum ex malo non nasci; ex sacrilegio enim et furto pecunia nascitur. Itaque malum quidem est sacrilegium et furtum, sed ideo quia plura mala facit quam bona; dat enim lucrum, sed cum metu, sollicitudine, tormentis et animi et corporis.'","en":"These things are distributed among regions so that trade between mortals would be necessary, if each in turn had to seek something from another. That supreme good also has its own home. It does not grow where ivory grows or where iron does. Do you ask where the supreme good is found? In the mind. Unless the mind is pure and holy, it cannot hold God. \"Good does not come from evil. Riches come from greed. Therefore riches are not a good.\" \"It is not true,\" he says, \"that good does not arise from evil, for money arises from sacrilege and theft. So sacrilege and theft are indeed evil, but only because they produce more evil than good. They bring profit, but with fear, anxiety, and torments of mind and body.\""},{"ref":"Letter 87.23–24","orig":"Quisquis hoc dicit, necesse est recipiat sacrilegium, sicut malum sit quia multa mala facit, ita bonum quoque ex aliqua parte esse, quia aliquid boni facit: quo quid fieri portentuosius potest? Quamquam sacrilegium, furtum, adulterium inter bona haberi prorsus persuasimus. Quam multi furto non erubescunt, quam multi adulterio gloriantur! nam sacrilegia minuta puniuntur, magna in triumphis feruntur. Adice nunc quod sacrilegium, si omnino ex aliqua parte bonum est, etiam honestum erit et recte factum vocabitur, nostra enim actio est quod nullius mortalium cogitatio recipit. Ergo bona nasci ex malo non possunt. Nam si, ut dicitis, ob hoc unum sacrilegium malum est, quia multum mali adfert, si remiseris illi supplicia, si securitatem spoponderis, ex toto bonum erit. Atqui maximum scelerum supplicium in ipsis est.","en":"Whoever says this must accept that sacrilege, just as it is evil because it does much evil, is also in some part good, because it does some good. What could be more monstrous than that? And yet we have thoroughly convinced ourselves that sacrilege, theft and adultery are among the goods. How many people do not blush at theft, how many boast of adultery! For petty sacrilege is punished, while great sacrilege is carried in triumphs. Add now that if sacrilege is good in any part at all, it will also be honourable and will be called a right action, for it is our own act; yet no mortal's mind accepts this. Therefore goods cannot arise from evil. For if, as you say, sacrilege is evil only because it brings much evil, then if you remit its punishments and guarantee its safety, it will be wholly good. Yet the greatest punishment of crimes lies in the crimes themselves."},{"ref":"Letter 87.25","orig":"Erras, inquam, si illa ad carnificem aut carcerem differs: statim puniuntur cum facta sunt, immo dum fiunt. Non nascitur itaque ex malo bonum, non magis quam ficus ex olea: ad semen nata respondent, bona degenerare non possunt. Quemadmodum ex turpi honestum non nascitur, ita ne ex malo quidem bonum; nam idem est honestum et bonum.","en":"You are wrong, I say, if you postpone that to the executioner or the prison. Crimes are punished at once, as soon as they are done, or rather while they are being done. So good does not come from evil, any more than a fig from an olive tree. What grows matches its seed; goods cannot degenerate. Just as the honourable does not arise from the shameful, neither does good from evil. For the honourable and the good are the same."},{"ref":"Letter 87.26–27","orig":"Quidam ex nostris adversus hoc sic respondent: 'putemus pecuniam bonum esse undecumque sumptam; non tamen ideo ex sacrilegio pecunia est, etiam si ex sacrilegio sumitur. Hoc sic intellege. In eadem urna et aurum est et vipera: si aurum ex urna sustuleris, non ideo sustuleris quia illic et vipera est; non ideo, inquam, mihi urna aurum dat quia viperam habet, sed aurum dat, cum et viperam habeat. Eodem modo ex sacrilegio lucrum fit, non quia turpe et sceleratum est sacrilegium, sed quia et lucrum habet. Quemadmodum in illa urna vipera malum est, non aurum quod cum vipera iacet, sic in sacrilegio malum est scelus, non lucrum.' A quibus dissentio; dissimillima enim utriusquerei condicio est. Illic aurum possum sine vipera tollere, hic lucrum sine sacrilegio facere non possum; lucrum istud non est adpositum sceleri sed inmixtum.","en":"Some of our people answer this as follows: \"Let us suppose that money is a good, from wherever it is taken. Still, money is not therefore from sacrilege, even if it is taken by sacrilege. Understand it like this. In the same urn there is gold and a viper. If you take the gold from the urn, you do not take it because there is also a viper there. The urn does not give me gold because it has a viper; it gives me gold even though it also has a viper. In the same way profit comes from sacrilege, not because sacrilege is shameful and wicked, but because it also contains profit. Just as in that urn the viper is the evil, not the gold lying with the viper, so in sacrilege the crime is the evil, not the profit.\" I disagree with them, for the two cases are quite unlike. There I can take the gold without the viper; here I cannot make the profit without the sacrilege. That profit is not placed beside the crime but mixed into it."},{"ref":"Letter 87.28","orig":"'Quod dum consequi volumus in multa mala incidimus, id bonum non est; dum divitias autem consequi volumus, in multa mala incidimus; ergo divitiae bonum non sunt.' 'Duas' inquit 'significationes habet propositio vestra: unam, dum divitias consequi volumus, in multa nos mala incidere. In multa autem mala incidimus et dum virtutem consequi volumus: aliquis dum navigat studii causa, naufragium fecit, aliquis captus est.","en":"\"That which, while we try to get it, leads us into many evils is not a good. While we try to get riches, we fall into many evils. Therefore riches are not a good.\" \"Your premise,\" he says, \"has two meanings. One is that while we try to get riches we fall into many evils. But we also fall into many evils while we try to get virtue. One man, sailing to pursue his studies, has been shipwrecked; another has been taken captive."},{"ref":"Letter 87.29–30","orig":"Altera significatio talis est: per quod in mala incidimus bonum non est. Huic propositioni non erit consequens per divitias nos aut per voluptates in mala incidere; aut si per divitias in multa mala incidimus, non tantum bonum non sunt divitiae sed malum sunt; vos autem illas dicitis tantum bonum non esse. Praeterea' inquit 'conceditis divitias habere aliquid usus: inter commoda illas numeratis. Atqui eadem ratione ne commodum quidem erunt; per illas enim multa nobis incommoda eveniunt.' His quidam hoc respondent: 'erratis, qui incommoda divitis inputatis. Illae neminem laedunt: aut sua nocet cuique stultitia aut aliena nequitia, sic quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit: occidentis telum est. Non ideo divitiae tibi nocent si propter divitias tibi nocetur.'","en":"\"The other meaning is this: that through which we fall into evils is not a good. It will not follow from this premise that we fall into evils through riches or through pleasures. Or, if we fall into many evils through riches, riches are not merely not a good but an evil, whereas you say only that they are not a good. Besides,\" he says, \"you grant that riches have some use; you count them among the advantages. Yet by the same reasoning they will not even be advantages, since many disadvantages come to us through them.\" Some answer this: \"You are wrong to blame riches for the disadvantages. Riches harm no one. Each person is harmed either by his own folly or by someone else's wickedness, just as a sword kills no one; it is the killer's weapon. Riches do not harm you just because you are harmed on account of riches.\""},{"ref":"Letter 87.31–32","orig":"Posidonius, ut ego existimo, melius, qui ait divitias esse causam malorum, non quia ipsae faciunt aliquid, sed quia facturos inritant. Alia est enim causa efficiens, quae protinus necessest noceat, alia praecedens. Hanc praecedentem causam divitiae habent: inflant animos, superbiam pariunt, invidiam contrahunt, et usque eo mentem alienant ut fama pecuniae nos etiam nocitura delectet. Bona autem omnia carere culpa decet; pura sunt, non corrumpunt animos, non sollicitant; extollunt quidem et dilatant, sed sine tumore. Quae bona sunt fiduciam faciunt, divitiae audaciam; quae bona sunt magnitudinem animi dant, divitiae insolentiam. Nihil autem aliud est insolentia quam species magnitudinis falsa.","en":"Posidonius, I think, puts it better. He says riches are a cause of evils, not because they do anything themselves, but because they spur on those who will. For the efficient cause, which necessarily does harm at once, is one thing; the preceding cause is another. Riches contain this preceding cause. They puff up minds, breed arrogance, attract envy, and unsettle the mind so far that even a reputation for money that will harm us gives us pleasure. But all goods ought to be free of blame. They are pure; they do not corrupt or trouble minds. They do raise and enlarge the mind, but without swelling it. Real goods produce confidence, riches produce recklessness. Real goods give greatness of spirit, riches give insolence. And insolence is nothing but a false appearance of greatness."},{"ref":"Letter 87.33–34","orig":"'Isto modo' inquit 'etiam malum sunt divitiae, non tantum bonum non sunt.' Essent malum si ipsae nocerent, si, ut dixi, haberent efficientem causam: nunc praecedentem habent et quidem non inritantem tantum animos sed adtrahentem; speciem enim boni offundunt veri similem ac plerisque credibilem. Habet virtus quoque praecedentem causam ad invidiam; multis enim propter sapientiam, multis propter iustitiam invidetur. Sed nec ex se hanc causam habet nec veri similem; contra enim veri similior illa species hominum animis obicitur a virtute, quae illos in amorem et admirationem vocet.","en":"\"In that case,\" he says, \"riches are even an evil, not merely not a good.\" They would be an evil if they did harm themselves, if, as I said, they contained the efficient cause. As it is, they contain the preceding cause, and one that not only spurs minds on but draws them in. For they spread over us an appearance of good that looks like the truth and that most people believe. Virtue too contains a preceding cause of envy, since many are envied for their wisdom and many for their justice. But virtue does not have this cause from itself, and it has no deceptive likeness of truth. On the contrary, virtue presents to men's minds a truer likeness, one that calls them to love and admiration."},{"ref":"Letter 87.35–36","orig":"Posidonius sic interrogandum ait: 'quae neque magnitudinem animo dant nec fiduciam nec securitatem non sunt bona; divitiae autem et bona valetudo et similia his nihil horum faciunt; ergo non sunt bona'. Hanc interrogationem magis etiamnunc hoc modo intendit: 'quae neque magnitudinem animo dant nec fiduciam nec securitatem, contra autem insolentiam, tumorem, arrogantiam creant, mala sunt; a fortuitis autem in haec inpellimur; ergo non sunt bona'. 'Hac' inquit 'ratione ne commoda quidem ista erunt.' Alia est commodorum condicio, alia bonorum: commodum est quod plus usus habet quam molestiae; bonum sincerum esse debet et ab omni parte innoxium. Non est id bonum quod plus prodest, sed quod tantum prodest.","en":"Posidonius says the argument should be framed like this: \"Things that give the mind neither greatness nor confidence nor freedom from care are not goods. Riches, good health and the like do none of these things. Therefore they are not goods.\" He tightens this argument still further as follows: \"Things that give the mind neither greatness nor confidence nor freedom from care, but on the contrary create insolence, conceit and arrogance, are evils. We are driven to these by chance things. Therefore they are not goods.\" \"By this reasoning,\" he says, \"they will not even be advantages.\" Advantages are one thing, goods another. An advantage is what has more usefulness than trouble. A good must be pure and harmless in every part. What is good is not what helps more, but what only helps."},{"ref":"Letter 87.37–38","orig":"Praeterea commodumet ad animalia pertinet et ad inperfectos homines et ad stultos. Itaque potest ei esse incommodum mixtum, sed commodum dicitur a maiore sui parte aestimatum: bonum ad unum sapientem pertinet; inviolatum esse oportet. Bonum animum habe: unus tibi nodus, sed Herculaneus restat: 'ex malis bonum non fit; ex multis paupertatibus divitiae fiunt; ergo divitiae bonum non sunt'. Hanc interrogationem nostri non agnoscunt, Peripatetici et fingunt illam et solvunt. Ait autem Posidonius hoc sophisma, per omnes dialecticorum scholas iactatum, sic ab Antipatro refelli:","en":"Besides, advantage applies to animals too, and to imperfect men and fools. So it can have disadvantage mixed into it, but it is called an advantage because it is judged by its greater part. The good belongs to the wise man alone; it must be unspoiled. Cheer up: you have only one knot left, but it is a knot of Hercules. \"Good does not come from evils. Riches come from many poverties. Therefore riches are not a good.\" Our school does not recognise this argument; the Peripatetics both invent it and solve it. Posidonius says that this sophism, tossed about in all the schools of the logicians, is refuted by Antipater as follows:"},{"ref":"Letter 87.39","orig":"'paupertas non per possessionem dicitur, sed per detractionem' (vel, ut antiqui dixerunt, orbationem; Graeci kata steresin dicunt); 'non quod habeat dicit, sed quod non habeat. Itaque ex multis inanibus nihil impleri potest: divitias multae res faciunt, non multae inopiae. Aliter' inquit 'quam debes paupertatem intellegis. Paupertas enim est non quae pauca possidet, sed quae multa non possidet; ita non ab eo dicitur quod habet, sed ab eo quod ei deest.'","en":"\"Poverty is spoken of not in terms of possession but in terms of subtraction (or, as the ancients called it, deprivation; the Greeks say kata steresin). It refers not to what someone has but to what he does not have. So nothing can be filled from many empty things. Riches are made of many things, not of many lacks. You understand poverty,\" he says, \"in the wrong way. Poverty is not the state of owning few things but of not owning many. So it takes its name not from what it has but from what it lacks.\""},{"ref":"Letter 87.40","orig":"Facilius quod volo exprimerem, si Latinum verbum esset quo anuparxia significaretur. Hanc paupertati Antipater adsignat: ego non video quid aliud sit paupertas quam parvi possessio. De isto videbimus, si quando valde vacabit, quae sit divitiarum, quae paupertatis substantia; sed tunc quoque considerabimus numquid satius sit paupertatem permulcere, divitiis demere supercilium quam litigare de verbis, quasi iam de rebus iudicatum sit.","en":"I could express what I mean more easily if there were a Latin word for anuparxia, \"non-existence.\" This is what Antipater assigns to poverty. For my part I do not see what poverty is except the possession of little. We will look into this, if ever we have plenty of free time: what the substance of riches is and what the substance of poverty. But then too we will consider whether it would not be better to soothe poverty and take the arrogance out of riches than to quarrel about words, as if the facts had already been decided."},{"ref":"Letter 87.41","orig":"Putemus nos ad contionem vocatos: lex de abolendis divitis fertur. His interrogationibus suasuri aut dissuasuri sumus? his effecturi ut populus Romanus paupertatem, fundamentum et causam imperii sui, requirat ac laudet, divitias autem suas timeat, ut cogitet has se apud victos repperisse, hinc ambitum et largitiones et tumultus in urbem sanctissimam temperatissimam inrupisse, nimis luxuriose ostentari gentium spolia, quod unus populus eripuerit omnibus facilius ab omnibus uni eripi posse? Haec satius est suadere, et expugnare adfectus, non circumscribere. Si possumus, fortius loquamur; si minus, apertius. Vale.","en":"Let us imagine we have been called to a public assembly. A law to abolish riches is being proposed. Are we going to argue for it or against it with these syllogisms? Will these make the Roman people long for and praise poverty, the foundation and cause of their empire, and fear their own riches? Will they make them reflect that they found these riches among the peoples they conquered, that from this source bribery, handouts and riots have burst into a city once most holy and most restrained, that the spoils of nations are displayed too extravagantly, and that what one people has taken from all can more easily be taken by all from one? It is better to argue for this, and to storm the passions, not to trick them. If we can, let us speak more bravely; if not, more plainly. Farewell."}],"88":[{"ref":"Letter 88.1–2","orig":"De liberalibus studiis quid sentiam scire desideras: nullum suspicio, nullum in bonis numero quod ad aes exit. Meritoria artificia sunt, hactenus utilia si praeparant ingenium, non detinent. Tamdiu enim istis inmorandum est quamdiu nihil animus agere maius potest; rudimenta sunt nostra, non opera. Quare liberalia studia dicta sint vides: quia homine libero digna sunt. Ceterum unum studium vere liberale est quod liberum facit, hoc est sapientiae, sublime, forte, magnanimum: cetera pusilla et puerilia sunt. An tu quicquam in istis esse credis boni quorum professores turpissimos omnium ac flagitiosissimos cernis? Non discere debemus ista, sed didicisse. Quidam illud de liberalibus studiis quaerendum iudicaverunt, an virum bonum facerent: ne promittunt quidem nec huius rei scientiam adfectant.","en":"You want to know what I think about the liberal arts. I have no respect for any study, and count none among the goods, whose aim is to make money. They are paid crafts, useful only insofar as they prepare the mind without holding it back. We should linger over them only as long as the mind can do nothing greater. They are our apprenticeship, not our work. You can see why they are called liberal studies: because they are worthy of a free man. But there is only one study that is truly liberal, the one that makes a man free. That is the study of wisdom, lofty, brave and great-souled. The others are petty and childish. Do you really believe there is anything good in subjects whose teachers you see are the most disgraceful and vicious of all men? We should not be learning these things; we should have learned them already. Some people have thought it worth asking whether the liberal studies make a man good. They do not even promise it or claim to know how."},{"ref":"Letter 88.3–4","orig":"Grammatice circa curam sermonis versatur et, si latius evagari vult, circa historias, iam ut longissime fines suos proferat, circa carmina. Quid horum ad virtutem viam sternit? Syllabarum enarratio et verborum diligentia et fabularum memoria et versuum lex ac modificatio – quid ex his metum demit, cupiditatem eximit, libidinem frenat? Ad geometriam transeamus et ad musicen: nihil apud illas invenies quod vetet timere, vetet cupere. Quae quisquis ignorat, alia frustra scit. * * * utrum doceant isti virtutem an non: si non docent, ne tradunt quidem; si docent, philosophi sunt. Vis scire quam non ad docendam virtutem consederint? aspice quam dissimilia inter se omnium studia sint: atqui similitudo esset idem docentium.","en":"Grammar is concerned with the correct use of language and, if it wants to range more widely, with history, and at its very furthest with poetry. Which of these paves the way to virtue? The analysis of syllables, precision about words, remembering stories, the rules and scansion of verse: which of these takes away fear, removes desire, reins in lust? Let us move on to geometry and music. You will find nothing in them that forbids us to fear or to desire. Whoever does not know how to do that knows everything else to no purpose. * * * whether these men teach virtue or not. If they do not teach it, they do not pass it on either. If they do teach it, they are philosophers. Do you want to know how little they sat down to teach virtue? Look how different all their studies are from one another. Yet there would be a likeness among people teaching the same thing."},{"ref":"Letter 88.5","orig":"Nisi forte tibi Homerum philosophum fuisse persuadent, cum his ipsis quibus colligunt negent; nam modo Stoicum illum faciunt, virtutem solam probantem et voluptates refugientem et ab honesto ne inmortalitatis quidem pretio recedentem, modo Epicureum, laudantem statum quietae civitatis et inter convivia cantusque vitam exigentis, modo Peripateticum, tria bonorum genera inducentem, modo Academicum, omnia incerta dicentem. Apparet nihil horum esse in illo, quia omnia sunt; ista enim inter se dissident. Demus illis Homerum philosophum fuisse: nempe sapiens factus est antequam carmina ulla cognosceret; ergo illa discamus quae Homerum fecere sapientem.","en":"Unless perhaps they persuade you that Homer was a philosopher, when they disprove it by the very passages they use to prove it. For sometimes they make him a Stoic, approving virtue alone, fleeing pleasures, and not turning from the honourable even at the price of immortality. Sometimes they make him an Epicurean, praising the state of a peaceful community that spends its life in banquets and songs. Sometimes a Peripatetic, bringing in three kinds of good. Sometimes an Academic, saying that everything is uncertain. It is plain that none of these is in him, because all of them are, and they contradict one another. Let us grant them that Homer was a philosopher. Surely he became wise before he knew any poems. So let us learn the things that made Homer wise."},{"ref":"Letter 88.6","orig":"Hoc quidem me quaerere, uter maioraetate fuerit, Homerus an Hesiodus, non magis ad rem pertinet quam scire, cum minor Hecuba fuerit quam Helena, quare tam male tulerit aetatem. Quid, inquam, annos Patrocli et Achillis inquirere ad rem existimas pertinere?","en":"For me to ask which was older, Homer or Hesiod, is no more to the point than knowing why Hecuba, though younger than Helen, bore her years so badly. What, I ask, do you think is the point of looking into the ages of Patroclus and Achilles?"},{"ref":"Letter 88.7–8","orig":"Quaeris Ulixes ubi erraverit potius quam efficias ne nos semper erremus? Non vacat audire utrum inter Italiam et Siciliam iactatus sit an extra notum nobis orbem (neque enim potuit in tam angusto error esse tam longus): tempestates nos animi cotidie iactant et nequitia in omnia Ulixis mala inpellit. Non deest forma quae sollicitet oculos, non hostis; hinc monstra effera et humano cruore gaudentia, hinc insidiosa blandimenta aurium, hinc naufragia et tot varietates malorum. Hoc me doce, quomodo patriam amem, quomodo uxorem, quomodo patrem, quomodo ad haec tam honesta vel naufragus navigem. Quid inquiris an Penelopa inpudica fuerit, an verba saeculo suo dederit? an Ulixem illum esse quem videbat, antequam sciret, suspicata sit? Doce me quid sit pudicitia et quantum in ea bonum, in corpore an in animo posita sit.","en":"Do you ask where Ulysses wandered, instead of making sure that we do not wander all the time? I have no time to hear whether he was tossed about between Italy and Sicily or beyond the world we know (for such a long wandering could not have happened in so narrow a space). Storms of the mind toss us every day, and wickedness drives us into all the troubles of Ulysses. There is no lack of beauty to tempt the eyes, or of enemies. On one side are savage monsters that delight in human blood, on another treacherous charms for the ears, on another shipwrecks and every variety of misfortune. Teach me this: how to love my country, my wife, my father; how to sail towards these honourable things even when shipwrecked. Why do you inquire whether Penelope was unchaste, whether she deceived her own generation, whether she suspected that the man she saw was Ulysses before she knew it? Teach me what chastity is, how great a good there is in it, and whether it lies in the body or in the mind."},{"ref":"Letter 88.9–10","orig":"Ad musicum transeo. Doces me quomodo inter se acutae ac graves consonent, quomodo nervorum disparem reddentium sonum fiat concordia: fac potius quomodo animus secum meus consonet nec consilia mea discrepent. Monstras mihi qui sint modi flebiles: monstra potius quomodo inter adversa non emittam flebilem vocem. Metiri me geometres docet latifundia potius quam doceat quomodo metiar quantum homini satis sit; numerare docet me et avaritiae commodat digitos potius quam doceat nihil ad rem pertinere istas conputationes, non esse feliciorem cuius patrimonium tabularios lassat, immo quam supervacua possideat qui infelicissimus futurus est si quantum habeat per se conputare cogetur.","en":"I pass to the musician. You teach me how high and low notes harmonise with each other, how strings giving different sounds produce concord. Make my mind instead harmonise with itself, so that my intentions do not clash. You show me which modes are mournful. Show me instead how not to utter a mournful cry in adversity. The geometer teaches me to measure large estates instead of teaching me how to measure how much is enough for a man. He teaches me to count and lends my fingers to greed, instead of teaching me that such calculations are beside the point, that a man is no happier because his fortune wears out his accountants, and indeed how many superfluous things a man owns who would be most miserable if forced to count up by himself how much he has."},{"ref":"Letter 88.11–12","orig":"Quid mihi prodest scire agellum in partes dividere, si nescio cum fratre dividere? Quid prodest colligere subtiliter pedes iugeri et conprendere etiam si quid decempedam effugit, si tristem me facit vicinus inpotens et aliquid ex meo abradens? Docet quomodo nihil perdam ex finibus meis: at ego discere volo quomodo totos hilaris amittam. 'Paterno agro et avito' inquit 'expellor.' Quid? ante avum tuum quis istum agrum tenuit? cuius, non dico hominis, sed populi fuerit potes expedire? Non dominus isto, sed colonus intrasti. Cuius colonus es? si bene tecum agitur, heredis. Negant iurisconsulti quicquam usu capi publicum: hoc quod tenes, quod tuum dicis, publicum est et quidem generis humani.","en":"What good does it do me to know how to divide a plot of land into parts, if I do not know how to share it with my brother? What good is it to reckon precisely the feet in an acre and to catch even what escapes the measuring rod, if an overbearing neighbour who scrapes off part of my land makes me miserable? He teaches me how to lose nothing from my boundaries; but I want to learn how to lose all of it cheerfully. \"I am being driven from the land of my father and grandfather,\" he says. What? Who held that land before your grandfather? Can you explain which people, let alone which person, it belonged to? You did not enter it as its owner but as a tenant. Whose tenant are you? If things go well for you, your heir's. The lawyers say that nothing public can be acquired by long possession. What you hold, what you call yours, is public, and indeed belongs to the human race."},{"ref":"Letter 88.13–14","orig":"O egregiam artem! scis rotunda metiri, in quadratum redigis quamcumque acceperis formam, intervalla siderum dicis, nihil est quod in mensuram tuam non cadat: si artifex es, metire hominis animum, dic quam magnus sit, dic quam pusillus sit. Scis quae recta sit linea: quid tibi prodest, si quid in vita rectum sit ignoras? Venio nunc ad illum qui caelestium notitia gloriatur: frigida Saturni sese quo stella receptet, quos ignis caeli Cyllenius erret in orbes. Hoc scire quid proderit? ut sollicitus sim cum Saturnus et Mars ex contrario stabunt aut cum Mercurius vespertinum faciet occasum vidente Saturno, potius quam hoc discam, ubicumque sunt ista, propitia esse nec posse mutari?","en":"What an excellent art! You know how to measure circles, you reduce any shape you are given to a square, you state the distances between the stars; there is nothing that does not fall within your measurements. If you are an expert, measure a man's mind; say how great it is, say how small it is. You know what a straight line is. What good is that to you, if you do not know what is straight in life? I come now to the man who boasts of his knowledge of the heavens: \"where Saturn's cold star withdraws, and in what orbits the fire of Cyllenian Mercury wanders.\" What good will it do to know this? So that I may be anxious when Saturn and Mars are in opposition, or when Mercury sets in the evening in view of Saturn, instead of learning that, wherever these things are, they are favourable and cannot be changed?"},{"ref":"Letter 88.15–16","orig":"Agit illa continuus ordo fatorum et inevitabilis cursus; per statas vices remeant et effectus rerum omnium aut movent aut notant. Sed sive quidquid evenit faciunt, quid inmutabilis rei notitia proficiet? sive significant, quid refert providere quod effugere non possis? Scias ista, nescias: fient. Si vero solem ad rapidum stellasque sequentes ordine respicies, numquam te crastina fallet hora, nec insidiis noctis capiere serenae. Satis abundeque provisum est ut ab insidiis tutus essem.","en":"An unbroken order of fate and an inescapable course drive them on. They come round again at fixed intervals and either cause or signal the outcomes of all things. But if they cause whatever happens, what will knowledge of an unchangeable thing achieve? If they signal it, what is the point of foreseeing what you cannot escape? Know these things or do not know them: they will happen. \"But if you watch the swift sun and the stars that follow in order, tomorrow's hour will never deceive you, and you will not be caught by the snares of a cloudless night.\" Enough and more than enough provision has been made for me to be safe from snares."},{"ref":"Letter 88.17–18","orig":"'Numquid me crastina non fallit hora? fallit enim quod nescienti evenit.' Ego quid futurum sit nescio: quid fieri possit scio. Ex hoc nihil deprecabor, totum expecto: si quid remittitur, boni consulo. Fallit me hora si parcit, sed ne sic quidem fallit. Nam quemadmodum scio omnia accidere posse, sic scio et non utique casura; itaque secunda expecto, malis paratus sum. In illo feras me necesse est non per praescriptum euntem; non enim adducor ut in numerum liberalium artium pictores recipiam, non magis quam statuarios aut marmorarios aut ceteros luxuriae ministros. Aeque luctatores et totam oleo ac luto constantem scientiam expello ex his studiis liberalibus; aut et unguentarios recipiam et cocos et ceteros voluptatibus nostris ingenia accommodantes sua.","en":"\"Does tomorrow's hour not deceive me? For whatever happens to a man who does not know it deceives him.\" I do not know what will happen; I know what can happen. So I will pray to be spared nothing; I expect everything. If anything is let off, I take it kindly. The hour deceives me if it spares me, but even so it does not really deceive me. For just as I know that anything can happen, I also know that it will not necessarily happen. So I hope for good things and am ready for bad. On one point you must bear with me for not following the set course. I cannot be persuaded to admit painters to the list of liberal arts, any more than sculptors or marble workers or the other servants of luxury. Likewise I shut wrestlers, and all that knowledge made of oil and mud, out of these liberal studies. Otherwise I would have to admit perfumers too, and cooks, and the others who put their talents at the service of our pleasures."},{"ref":"Letter 88.19","orig":"Quid enim, oro te, liberale habent isti ieiuni vomitores, quorum corpora in sagina, animi in macie et veterno sunt? An liberale studium istuc esse iuventuti nostrae credimus, quam maiores nostri rectam exercuerunt hastilia iacere, sudem torquere, equum agitare, arma tractare? Nihil liberos suos docebant quod discendum esset iacentibus. Sed nec hae nec illae docent aluntve virtutem; quid enim prodest equum regere et cursum eius freno temperare, adfectibus effrenatissimis abstrahi? quid prodest multos vincere luctatione vel caestu, ab iracundia vinci?","en":"Tell me, what is liberal about those men who starve and vomit, whose bodies are fattened while their minds are wasted and sluggish? Or do we believe that this is a liberal study for our young men, whom our ancestors trained to stand upright, throw the javelin, hurl the stake, ride a horse and handle weapons? They taught their sons nothing that had to be learned lying down. But neither these nor those teach or nourish virtue. What good is it to guide a horse and control its pace with the bridle, while being carried off by the most unbridled passions? What good is it to beat many opponents at wrestling or boxing, while being beaten by anger?"},{"ref":"Letter 88.20–21","orig":"'Quid ergo? nihil nobis liberalia conferunt studia?' Ad alia multum, ad virtutem nihil; nam et hae viles ex professo artes quae manu constant ad instrumenta vitae plurimum conferunt, tamen ad virtutem non pertinent. 'Quare ergo liberalibus studiis filios erudimus?' Non quia virtutem dare possunt, sed quia animum ad accipiendam virtutem praeparant. Quemadmodum prima illa, ut antiqui vocabant, litteratura, per quam pueris elementa traduntur, non docet liberales artes sed mox percipiendis locum parat, sic liberales artes non perducunt animum ad virtutem sed expediunt. Quattuor ait esse artium Posidonius genera: sunt vulgares et sordidae, sunt ludicrae, sunt pueriles, sunt liberales. Vulgares opificum, quae manu constant et ad instruendam vitam occupatae sunt, in quibus nulla decoris, nulla honesti simulatio est.","en":"\"What then? Do the liberal studies give us nothing?\" Much for other purposes, nothing for virtue. Even these admittedly low crafts that depend on the hands contribute a great deal to the equipment of life, yet they have nothing to do with virtue. \"Why then do we educate our sons in the liberal studies?\" Not because they can give virtue, but because they prepare the mind to receive it. Just as that first learning, as the ancients called it, through which children are taught their letters, does not teach the liberal arts but prepares the ground for learning them soon, so the liberal arts do not lead the mind to virtue but clear the way for it. Posidonius says there are four kinds of arts: the common and low, those for entertainment, those for children, and the liberal. The common arts belong to workmen; they depend on the hands and are busy with equipping life, and there is no pretence of grace or honour in them."},{"ref":"Letter 88.22–23","orig":"Ludicrae sunt quae ad voluptatem oculorum atque aurium tendunt; his adnumeres licet machinatores qui pegmata per se surgentia excogitant et tabulata tacite in sublime crescentia et alias ex inopinato varietates, aut dehiscentibus quae cohaerebant aut his quae distabant sua sponte coeuntibus aut his quae eminebant paulatim in se residentibus. His inperitorum feriuntur oculi, omnia subita quia causas non novere mirantium. Pueriles sunt et aliquid habentes liberalibus simile hae artes quas egkuklious Graeci, nostri autem liberales vocant. Solae autem liberales sunt, immo, ut dicam verius, liberae, quibus curae virtus est.","en":"The arts of entertainment aim at pleasing the eyes and ears. Among these you can count the engineers who devise stage platforms that rise by themselves, floors that silently grow upwards, and other surprising changes: things that were joined coming apart, things that were separate coming together of their own accord, or things that stood tall gradually sinking down into themselves. By these the eyes of the ignorant are struck, since they marvel at everything sudden because they do not know the causes. The arts for children, which have something in common with the liberal arts, are those the Greeks call enkyklioi and we call liberal. But the only liberal arts, or rather, to put it more truly, free arts, are those whose concern is virtue."},{"ref":"Letter 88.24–25","orig":"'Quemadmodum' inquit 'est aliqua pars philosophiae naturalis, est aliqua moralis, est aliqua rationalis, sic et haec quoque liberalium artium turba locum sibi in philosophia vindicat. Cum ventum est ad naturales quaestiones, geometriae testimonio statur; ergo eius quam adiuvat pars est.' Multa adiuvant nos nec ideo partes nostri sunt; immo si partes essent, non adiuvarent. Cibus adiutorium corporis nec tamen pars est. Aliquod nobis praestat geometria ministerium: sic philosophiae necessaria est quomodo ipsi faber, sed nec hic geometriae pars est nec illa philosophiae.","en":"\"Just as,\" he says, \"there is a part of philosophy concerned with nature, a part concerned with ethics, and a part concerned with logic, so this whole crowd of liberal arts too claims a place in philosophy. When we come to questions of nature, we rely on the evidence of geometry. So geometry is part of the discipline it helps.\" Many things help us without being parts of us; indeed if they were parts, they would not be helping. Food helps the body, yet it is not part of it. Geometry does us some service. It is necessary to philosophy in the same way that a carpenter is necessary to geometry; but just as he is not part of geometry, so geometry is not part of philosophy."},{"ref":"Letter 88.26–27","orig":"Praeterea utraque fines suos habet; sapiens enim causas naturalium et quaerit et novit, quorum numeros mensurasque geometres persequitur et supputat. Qua ratione constent caelestia, quae illis sit vis quaeve natura sapiens scit: cursus et recursus et quasdam obversationes per quas descendunt et adlevantur ac speciem interdum stantium praebent, cum caelestibus stare non liceat, colligit mathematicus. Quae causa in speculo imagines exprimat sciet sapiens: illud tibi geometres potest dicere, quantum abesse debeat corpus ab imagine et qualis forma speculi quales imagines reddat. Magnum esse solem philosophus probabit, quantus sit mathematicus, qui usu quodam et exercitatione procedit. Sed ut procedat, inpetranda illi quaedam principia sunt; non est autem ars sui iuris cui precarium fundamentum est.","en":"Besides, each has its own boundaries. The wise man investigates and knows the causes of natural things, while the geometer tracks and calculates their numbers and measurements. The wise man knows on what principle the heavenly bodies exist, what their power and nature are. The mathematician gathers their courses and returns and certain turns by which they sink and rise and sometimes seem to stand still, although heavenly bodies cannot stand still. The wise man will know what causes a mirror to form images. The geometer can tell you how far a body must be from its image, and what shape of mirror gives what sort of images. The philosopher will prove that the sun is large; the mathematician how large, proceeding by a kind of practice and experience. But in order to proceed, he has to be granted certain first principles, and an art is not independent if its foundation is borrowed."},{"ref":"Letter 88.28","orig":"Philosophia nil ab alio petit, totum opus a solo excitat: mathematice, ut ita dicam, superficiaria est, in alieno aedificat; accipit prima, quorum beneficio ad ulteriora perveniat. Si per se iret ad verum, si totius mundi naturam posset conprendere, dicerem multum conlaturam mentibus nostris, quae tractatu caelestium crescunt trahuntque aliquid ex alto. Una re consummatur animus, scientia bonorum ac malorum inmutabili; nihil autem ulla ars alia de bonis ac malis quaerit. Singulas lubet circumire virtutes.","en":"Philosophy asks nothing from anything else; it raises the whole building from the ground by itself. Mathematics, so to speak, holds its land on a lease: it builds on someone else's ground. It takes over its first principles, and with their help reaches further. If it went to the truth on its own, if it could grasp the nature of the whole universe, I would say it would do a great deal for our minds, which grow by studying the heavens and draw something from on high. There is only one thing that brings the mind to perfection: the unchanging knowledge of good and evil. And no other art inquires into good and evil. Let us go round the virtues one by one."},{"ref":"Letter 88.29","orig":"Fortitudo contemptrix timendorum est; terribilia et sub iugum libertatem nostram mittentia despicit, provocat, frangit: numquid ergo hanc liberalia studia corroborant? Fides sanctissimum humani pectoris bonum est, nulla necessitate ad fallendum cogitur, nullo corrumpitur praemio: 'ure', inquit 'caede, occide: non prodam, sed quo magis secreta quaeret dolor, hoc illa altius condam'. Numquid liberalia studia hos animos facere possunt? Temperantia voluptatibus imperat, alias odit atque abigit, alias dispensat et ad sanum modum redigit nec umquam ad illas propter ipsas venit; scit optimum esse modum cupitorum non quantum velis, sed quantum debeas sumere.","en":"Courage despises what is to be feared. It looks down on, challenges and breaks the terrors that put our freedom under the yoke. Do the liberal studies strengthen this? Loyalty is the holiest good of the human heart. No necessity forces it to betray, no bribe corrupts it. \"Burn me,\" it says, \"beat me, kill me: I will not betray you. The more pain probes for secrets, the deeper I will bury them.\" Can the liberal studies create such spirits? Self-control governs pleasures. Some it hates and drives off; others it regulates and brings to a healthy measure, and it never goes to them for their own sake. It knows that the best measure of the things we want is not how much you would like to take, but how much you ought to take."},{"ref":"Letter 88.30–31","orig":"Humanitas vetat superbum esse adversus socios, vetat amarum; verbis, rebus, adfectibus comem se facilemque omnibus praestat; nullum alienum malum putat, bonum autem suum ideo maxime quod alicui bono futurum est amat. Numquid liberalia studia hos mores praecipiunt? non magis quam simplicitatem, quam modestiam ac moderationem, non magis quam frugalitatem ac parsimoniam, non magis quam clementiam, quae alieno sanguini tamquam suo parcit et scit homini non esse homine prodige utendum. 'Cum dicatis' inquit 'sine liberalibus studiis ad virtutem non perveniri, quemadmodum negatis illa nihil conferre virtuti?' Quia nec sine cibo ad virtutem pervenitur, cibus tamen ad virtutem non pertinet; ligna navi nihil conferunt, quamvis non fiat navis nisi ex lignis: non est, inquam, cur aliquid putes eius adiutorio fieri sine quo non potest fieri.","en":"Humanity forbids us to be arrogant or harsh towards our fellows. In words, deeds and feelings it shows itself kind and easy to everyone. It thinks no one else's trouble foreign to it, and it loves its own good most of all because it will be good for someone else. Do the liberal studies teach these ways? No more than they teach sincerity, modesty and restraint, no more than frugality and thrift, no more than mercy, which spares another's blood as if it were its own and knows that a man must not use another man wastefully. \"Since you say,\" he objects, \"that virtue cannot be reached without the liberal studies, how can you deny that they contribute anything to virtue?\" Because virtue cannot be reached without food either, yet food has nothing to do with virtue. Timber contributes nothing to a ship, even though a ship can only be made of timber. There is no reason, I say, to think that something is done with the help of a thing without which it cannot be done."},{"ref":"Letter 88.32–33","orig":"Potest quidem etiam illud dici, sine liberalibus studiis veniri ad sapientiam posse; quamvis enim virtus discenda sit, tamen non per haec discitur. Quid est autem quare existimem non futurum sapientem eum qui litteras nescit, cum sapientia non sit in litteris? Res tradit, non verba, et nescio an certior memoria sit quae nullum extra se subsidium habet. Magna et spatiosa res est sapientia; vacuo illi loco opus est; de divinis humanisque discendum est, de praeteritis de futuris, de caducis de aeternis, de tempore. De quo uno vide quam multa quaerantur: primum an per se sit aliquid; deinde an aliquid ante tempus sit sine tempore; cum mundo coeperit an etiam ante mundum quia fuerit aliquid, fuerit et tempus.","en":"It can indeed also be said that wisdom can be reached without the liberal studies. For although virtue has to be learned, it is not learned through these. Why should I think that a man who cannot read will not become wise, when wisdom does not lie in letters? It hands on facts, not words, and I rather think that a memory is more reliable when it has no support outside itself. Wisdom is a great and spacious thing. It needs free room. There is much to learn about things divine and human, about past and future, about the perishable and the eternal, about time. See how many questions are asked about time alone. First, whether it is something in itself. Next, whether anything exists before time and without time. Whether it began with the world, or, since something existed even before the world, time existed too."},{"ref":"Letter 88.34–35","orig":"Innumerabiles quaestiones sunt de animo tantum: unde sit, qualis sit, quando esse incipiat, quamdiu sit, aliunde alio transeat et domicilia mutet in alias animalium formas aliasque coniectus, an non amplius quam semel serviat et emissus vagetur in toto; utrum corpus sit an non sit; quid sit facturus cum per nos aliquid facere desierit, quomodo libertate sua usurus cum ex hac effugerit cavea; an obliviscatur priorum et illinc nosse se incipiat unde corpori abductus in sublime secessit. Quamcumque partem rerum humanarum divinarumque conprenderis, ingenti copia quaerendorum ac discendorum fatigaberis. Haec tam multa, tam magna ut habere possint liberum hospitium, supervacua ex animo tollenda sunt. Non dabit se in has angustias virtus; laxum spatium res magna desiderat. Expellantur omnia, totum pectus illi vacet.","en":"There are countless questions about the soul alone: where it comes from, what it is like, when it begins to exist, how long it exists; whether it passes from one place to another and changes its lodging, thrown into one animal form after another, or is enslaved only once and, when released, roams the universe; whether it is a body or not; what it will do when it has stopped acting through us, how it will use its freedom when it has escaped from this cage; whether it forgets its past and begins to know itself from the moment it is withdrawn from the body and departs on high. Whatever part of things human and divine you take up, you will be worn out by the huge quantity of things to investigate and learn. So that these many and great things can find free lodging, superfluous things must be removed from the mind. Virtue will not give itself to such cramped quarters; a great thing needs ample space. Let everything else be driven out, and let the whole heart be free for it."},{"ref":"Letter 88.36–37","orig":"'At enim delectat artium notitia multarum.' Tantum itaque ex illis retineamus quantum necessarium est. An tu existimas reprendendum qui supervacua usibus comparat et pretiosarum rerum pompam in domo explicat, non putas eum qui occupatus est in supervacua litterarum supellectile? Plus scire velle quam sit satis intemperantiae genus est. Quid quod ista liberalium artium consectatio molestos, verbosos, intempestivos, sibi placentes facit et ideo non discentes necessaria quia supervacua didicerunt? Quattuor milia librorum Didymus grammaticus scripsit: misererer si tam multa supervacua legisset. In his libris de patria Homeri quaeritur, in his de Aeneae matre vera, in his libidinosior Anacreon an ebriosior vixerit, in his an Sappho publica fuerit, et alia quae erant dediscenda si scires. I nunc et longam esse vitam nega!","en":"\"But knowing many arts is a pleasure.\" Then let us keep only as much of them as is necessary. Do you think a man who buys superfluous things for use and displays a parade of costly objects in his house deserves blame, but not the man who is taken up with superfluous literary furniture? Wanting to know more than is enough is a kind of intemperance. And what of the fact that this pursuit of the liberal arts makes people tiresome, wordy, tactless and self-satisfied, and therefore not learning what is necessary because they have learned what is superfluous? Didymus the grammarian wrote four thousand books. I would pity him if he had only read so many superfluous things. In these books he asks about Homer's birthplace, in these about the true mother of Aeneas, in these whether Anacreon lived more as a lecher or as a drunkard, in these whether Sappho was a prostitute, and other things you would have to unlearn if you knew them. Go on now and say that life is not long!"},{"ref":"Letter 88.38–39","orig":"Sed ad nostros quoque cum perveneris, ostendam multa securibus recidenda. Magno inpendio temporum, magna alienarum aurium molestia laudatio haec constat: 'o hominem litteratum!' Simus hoc titulo rusticiore contenti: 'o virum bonum!' Itane est? annales evolvam omnium gentium et quis primus carmina scripserit quaeram? quantum temporis inter Orphea intersit et Homerum, cum fastos non habeam, conputabo? et Aristarchi notas quibus aliena carmina conpunxit recognoscam, et aetatem in syllabis conteram? Itane in geometriae pulvere haerebo? adeo mihi praeceptum illud salutare excidit: 'tempori parce'? Haec sciam? et quid ignorem?","en":"But when you come to our own school too, I will show you many things that need cutting down with an axe. This praise costs a great deal of time and a great deal of annoyance to other people's ears: \"What a learned man!\" Let us be content with this plainer title: \"What a good man!\" Is this how it is to be? Am I to unroll the annals of every nation and ask who first wrote poetry? Am I to calculate, without a calendar, how much time passed between Orpheus and Homer? Am I to study the marks with which Aristarchus pricked other men's verses, and wear out my life on syllables? Am I to stick fast in the geometer's sand? Have I so far forgotten that healthy precept, \"Be sparing of time\"? Am I to know these things? And what am I to be ignorant of?"},{"ref":"Letter 88.40–41","orig":"Apion grammaticus, qui sub C. Caesare tota circulatus est Graecia et in nomen Homeri ab omnibus civitatibus adoptatus, aiebat Homerum utraque materia consummata, et Odyssia et Iliade, principium adiecisse operi suo quo bellum Troianum conplexus est. Huius rei argumentum adferebat quod duas litteras in primo versu posuisset ex industria librorum suorum numerum continentes. Talia sciat oportet qui multa vult scire. Non vis cogitare quantum temporis tibi auferat mala valetudo, quantum occupatio publica, quantum occupatio privata, quantum occupatio cotidiana, quantum somnus? Metire aetatem tuam: tam multa non capit.","en":"Apion the grammarian, who went touring all over Greece in the reign of Gaius Caesar and was adopted by every city in Homer's name, used to say that Homer, having finished both his subjects, the Odyssey and the Iliad, added a beginning to his work in which he took in the whole Trojan War. As proof of this he offered the fact that Homer had deliberately put two letters in the first line that stood for the number of his books. That is the kind of thing a man who wants to know many things must know. Will you not think how much time bad health takes from you, how much public business, how much private business, how much daily routine, how much sleep? Measure your lifetime: it does not have room for so much."},{"ref":"Letter 88.42–43","orig":"De liberalibus studiis loquor: philosophi quantum habent supervacui, quantum ab usu recedentis! Ipsi quoque ad syllabarum distinctiones et coniunctionum ac praepositionum proprietates descenderunt et invidere grammaticis, invidere geometris; quidquid in illorum artibus supervacuum erat transtulere in suam. Sic effectum est ut diligentius loqui scirent quam vivere. Audi quantum mali faciat nimia subtilitas et quam infesta veritati sit. Protagoras ait de omni re in utramque partem disputari posse ex aequo et de hac ipsa, an omnis res in utramque partem disputabilis sit. Nausiphanes ait ex his quae videntur esse nihil magis esse quam non esse.","en":"I am talking about the liberal studies. But how much superfluous material the philosophers have, how much that is far from practical use! They too have come down to distinguishing syllables and the proper uses of conjunctions and prepositions, and have envied the grammarians and envied the geometers. Whatever was superfluous in those men's arts they have carried over into their own. The result is that they know how to speak more carefully than to live. Listen to how much harm excessive subtlety does, and how hostile it is to truth. Protagoras says that on every subject it is possible to argue both sides equally, including on this very question, whether every subject can be argued both ways. Nausiphanes says that of the things that seem to exist, none exists any more than it does not exist."},{"ref":"Letter 88.44–45","orig":"Parmenides ait ex his quae videntur nihil esse universo. Zenon Eleates omnia negotia de negotio deiecit: ait nihil esse. Circa eadem fere Pyrrhonei versantur et Megarici et Eretrici et Academici, qui novam induxerunt scientiam, nihil scire. Haec omnia in illum supervacuum studiorum liberalium gregem coice; illi mihi non profuturam scientiam tradunt, hi spem omnis scientiae eripiunt. Satius est supervacua scire quam nihil. Illi non praeferunt lumen per quod acies derigatur ad verum, hi oculos mihi effodiunt. Si Protagorae credo, nihil in rerum natura est nisi dubium; si Nausiphani, hoc unum certum est, nihil esse certi; si Parmenidi, nihil est praeter unum; si Zenoni, ne unum quidem.","en":"Parmenides says that of the things that seem to exist, none exists except the whole. Zeno of Elea threw out all the trouble along with the troubles: he says that nothing exists. The Pyrrhonists, the Megarians, the Eretrians and the Academics deal with much the same things; they have brought in a new kind of knowledge: knowing nothing. Throw all these into that superfluous herd of the liberal studies. The first group hand me knowledge that will do me no good; the second snatch away all hope of knowledge. It is better to know superfluous things than nothing. The first do not carry a light ahead to direct my sight to the truth; the second gouge out my eyes. If I believe Protagoras, there is nothing in nature that is not doubtful. If I believe Nausiphanes, this alone is certain: that nothing is certain. If I believe Parmenides, nothing exists except the One. If I believe Zeno, not even the One."},{"ref":"Letter 88.46","orig":"Quid ergo nos sumus? quid ista quae nos circumstant, alunt, sustinent? Tota rerum natura umbra est aut inanis aut fallax. Non facile dixerim utris magis irascar, illis qui nos nihil scire voluerunt, an illis qui ne hoc quidem nobis reliquerunt, nihil scire. Vale.","en":"What then are we? What are these things that surround, nourish and support us? The whole of nature is a shadow, either empty or deceptive. I could not easily say which I am more annoyed with: those who wanted us to know nothing, or those who did not even leave us this, the knowledge that we know nothing. Farewell."}],"89":[{"ref":"Letter 89.1","orig":"Rem utilem desideras et ad sapientiam properanti necessariam, dividi philosophiam et ingens corpus eius in membra disponi; facilius enim per partes in cognitionem totius adducimur. Utinam quidem quemadmodum universa mundi facies in conspectum venit, ita philosophia tota nobis posset occurrere, simillimum mundo spectaculum! Profecto enim omnes mortales in admirationem sui raperet, relictis iis quae nunc magna magnorum ignorantia credimus. Sed quia contingere hoc non potest, est sic nobis aspicienda quemadmodum mundi secreta cernuntur.","en":"You want something useful, and necessary for anyone hurrying towards wisdom: that philosophy be divided and its huge body arranged into its limbs. For we are more easily brought to know the whole through its parts. I only wish that philosophy could present itself to us whole, just as the entire face of the universe comes into view, a sight very like the universe itself! Surely it would carry all mortals away in admiration of it, and they would abandon the things that we now, in our great ignorance of great things, believe to be great. But since this cannot happen, we must look at philosophy the way the secrets of the universe are observed."},{"ref":"Letter 89.2–3","orig":"Sapientis quidem animus totam molem eius amplectitur nec minus illam velociter obit quam caelum acies nostra; nobis autem, quibus perrumpenda caligo est et quorum visus in proximo deficit, singula quaeque ostendi facilius possunt, universi nondum capacibus. Faciam ergo quod exigis et philosophiam in partes, non in frusta dividam. Dividi enim illam, non concidi, utile est; nam conprehendere quemadmodum maxima ita minima difficile est. Discribitur in tribus populus, in centurias exercitus; quidquid in maius crevit facilius agnoscitur si discessit in partes, quas, ut dixi, innumerabiles esse et parvulas non oportet. Idem enim vitii habet nimia quod nulla divisio: simile confuso est quidquid usque in pulverem sectum est.","en":"The wise man's mind takes in the whole mass of it, and goes over it as quickly as our eyes go over the sky. But for us, who have to break through the fog and whose sight fails at close range, it is easier to show things one at a time, since we cannot yet take in the whole. So I will do what you ask and divide philosophy into parts, not into scraps. It is useful to divide it, not to chop it up, for it is as hard to grasp the smallest things as the largest. The people are divided into tribes, the army into centuries. Whatever has grown large is more easily understood if it is separated into parts, which, as I said, should not be countless and tiny. Too much division has the same fault as none at all: anything cut up into dust is like something jumbled together."},{"ref":"Letter 89.4–5","orig":"Primum itaque, si videtur tibi, dicam inter sapientiam et philosophiam quid intersit. Sapientia perfectum bonum est mentis humanae; philosophia sapientiae amor est et adfectatio: haec eo tendit quo illa pervenit. Philosophia unde dicta sit apparet; ipso enim nomine fatetur quid amet. Sapientiam quidam ita finierunt ut dicerent divinorum et humanorum scientiam; quidam ita: sapientia est nosse divina et humana et horum causas. Supervacua mihi haec videtur adiectio, quia causae divinorum humanorumque pars divinorum sunt. Philosophiam quoque fuerunt qui aliter atque aliter finirent: alii studium illam virtutis esse dixerunt, alii studium corrigendae mentis; a quibusdam dicta est adpetitio rectae rationis.","en":"First, then, if you like, I will say what the difference is between wisdom and philosophy. Wisdom is the perfected good of the human mind. Philosophy is the love of wisdom and the striving for it: it aims at the place wisdom has reached. It is clear why philosophy is so called; by its very name it declares what it loves. Some have defined wisdom as the knowledge of things divine and human. Others define it like this: wisdom is knowing things divine and human and their causes. This addition seems superfluous to me, since the causes of things divine and human are part of the divine. There have also been those who defined philosophy in different ways. Some said it is the pursuit of virtue, others the pursuit of improving the mind; some have called it the striving for right reason."},{"ref":"Letter 89.6–7","orig":"Illud quasi constitit, aliquid inter philosophiam et sapientiam interesse; neque enim fieri potest ut idem sit quod adfectatur et quod adfectat. Quomodo multum inter avaritiam et pecuniam interest, cum illa cupiat, haec concupiscatur, sic inter philosophiam et sapientiam. Haec enim illius effectus ac praemium est; illa venit, ad hanc itur. Sapientia est quam Graeci sophian vocant. Hoc verbo Romani quoque utebantur, sicut philosophia nunc quoque utuntur; quod et togatae tibi antiquae probabunt et inscriptus Dossenni monumento titulus: hospes resiste et sophian Dossenni lege.","en":"It is more or less agreed that there is some difference between philosophy and wisdom. For what is striven for and what strives cannot be the same. Just as there is a great difference between greed and money, since one desires and the other is desired, so there is between philosophy and wisdom. Wisdom is the result and reward of philosophy: philosophy is on its way, wisdom is where it is going. Wisdom is what the Greeks call sophia. The Romans too used this word, just as they still use \"philosophy.\" The old Roman comedies will prove this to you, and so will the inscription on the tomb of Dossennus: \"Stranger, stop and read the sophia of Dossennus.\""},{"ref":"Letter 89.8","orig":"Quidam ex nostris, quamvis philosophia studium virtutis esset et haec peteretur, illa peteret, tamen non putaverunt illas distrahi posse; nam nec philosophia sine virtute est nec sine philosophia virtus. Philosophia studium virtutis est, sed per ipsam virtutem; nec virtus autem esse sine studio sui potest nec virtutis studium sine ipsa. Non enim quemadmodum in iis qui aliquid ex distanti loco ferire conantur alibi est qui petit, alibi quod petitur; nec quemadmodum itinera quae ad urbes perducunt extra urbes sunt, sic viae ad virtutem extra ipsam: ad virtutem venitur per ipsam, cohaerent inter se philosophia virtusque.","en":"Some of our school, although philosophy is the pursuit of virtue, virtue being what is sought and philosophy what seeks it, still thought the two could not be pulled apart. For there is no philosophy without virtue and no virtue without philosophy. Philosophy is the pursuit of virtue, but by means of virtue itself. Virtue cannot exist without the pursuit of itself, nor can the pursuit of virtue exist without virtue. It is not as with people trying to hit something from a distance, where the one aiming is in one place and the target in another. Nor, as the roads that lead to cities are outside the cities, are the roads to virtue outside virtue. One comes to virtue by means of virtue; philosophy and virtue hold together."},{"ref":"Letter 89.9–10","orig":"Philosophiae tres partes esse dixerunt et maximi et plurimi auctores: moralem, naturalem, rationalem. Prima componit animum; secunda rerum naturam scrutatur; tertia proprietates verborum exigit et structuram et argumentationes, ne pro vero falsa subrepant. Ceterum inventi sunt et qui in pauciora philosophiam et qui in plura diducerent. Quidam ex Peripateticis quartam partem adiecerunt civilem, quia propriam quandam exercitationem desideret et circa aliam materiam occupata sit; quidam adiecerunt his partem quam oikonomiken vocant, administrandae familiaris rei scientiam; quidam et de generibus vitae locum separaverunt. Nihil autem horum non in illa parte morali reperietur.","en":"The greatest authorities, and the largest number of them, have said that philosophy has three parts: ethics, physics and logic. The first puts the mind in order. The second investigates the nature of the universe. The third examines the proper meanings of words, their structure and arguments, so that falsehoods do not creep in disguised as truth. But there have also been those who divided philosophy into fewer parts, and those who divided it into more. Some of the Peripatetics added a fourth part, politics, because it needs its own kind of training and deals with a different subject matter. Some added to these a part they call oikonomike, the science of managing a household. Some have also set apart a topic on the different kinds of life. But there is none of these that will not be found in the ethical part."},{"ref":"Letter 89.11–12","orig":"Epicurei duas partes philosophiae putaverunt esse, naturalem atque moralem: rationalem removerunt. Deinde cum ipsis rebus cogerentur ambigua secernere, falsa sub specie veri latentia coarguere, ipsi quoque locum quem 'de iudicio et regula' appellant – alio nomine rationalem – induxerunt, sed eum accessionem esse naturalis partis existimant. Cyrenaici naturalia cum rationalibus sustulerunt et contenti fuerunt moralibus, sed hi quoque quae removent aliter inducunt; in quinque enim partes moralia dividunt, ut una sit de fugiendis et petendis, altera de adfectibus, tertia de actionibus, quarta de causis, quinta de argumentis. Causae rerum ex naturali parte sunt, argumenta ex rationali.","en":"The Epicureans held that philosophy has two parts, physics and ethics; they got rid of logic. Then, when they were forced by the facts themselves to sort out ambiguities and to expose falsehoods hiding under the appearance of truth, they too brought in a topic they call \"on judgement and the rule,\" which is logic under another name. But they think it an appendage of physics. The Cyrenaics did away with physics along with logic and were content with ethics. But they too bring back in another way what they throw out. They divide ethics into five parts: the first on what to avoid and what to seek, the second on the passions, the third on actions, the fourth on causes, the fifth on proofs. But the causes of things belong to physics, and proofs to logic."},{"ref":"Letter 89.13–14","orig":"Ariston Chius non tantum supervacuas esse dixit naturalem et rationalem sed etiam contrarias; moralem quoque, quam solam reliquerat, circumcidit. Nam eum locum qui monitiones continet sustulit et paedagogi esse dixit, non philosophi, tamquam quidquam aliud sit sapiens quam generis humani paedagogus. Ergo cum tripertita sit philosophia, moralem eius partem primum incipiamus disponere. Quam in tria rursus dividi placuit, ut prima esset inspectio suum cuique distribuens et aestimans quanto quidque dignum sit, maxime utilis – quid enim est tam necessarium quam pretia rebus inponere? – secunda de impetu, de actionibus tertia. Primum enim est ut quanti quidque sit iudices, secundum ut impetum ad illa capias ordinatum temperatumque, tertium ut inter impetum tuum actionemque conveniat, ut in omnibus istis tibi ipse consentias.","en":"Aristo of Chios said that physics and logic were not just superfluous but actually harmful. He even cut down ethics, the only part he had left. He removed the topic that contains advice, and said it belonged to a tutor, not a philosopher, as if the wise man were anything other than the tutor of the human race. Since philosophy, then, has three parts, let us begin by arranging its ethical part. It has been agreed that this is again divided into three. The first is the inquiry that assigns each thing its due and judges how much each is worth, a most useful inquiry, for what is so necessary as putting prices on things? The second concerns impulse; the third, actions. The first task is to judge what each thing is worth. The second is to form an orderly and measured impulse towards those things. The third is to make your impulse and your action agree, so that in all of these you are consistent with yourself."},{"ref":"Letter 89.15","orig":"Quidquid ex tribus defuit turbat et cetera. Quid enim prodest inter se aestimata habere omnia, si sis in impetu nimius? quid prodest impetus repressisse et habere cupiditates in sua potestate, si in ipsa rerum actione tempora ignores nec scias quando quidque et ubi et quemadmodum agi debeat? Aliud est enim dignitates et pretia rerum nosse, aliud articulos, aliud impetus refrenare et ad agenda ire, non ruere. Tunc ergo vita concors sibi est ubi actio non destituit impetum, impetus ex dignitate rei cuiusque concipitur, proinde remissus aut acrior prout illa digna est peti.","en":"If any one of the three is missing, it throws the others into confusion too. What good is it to have all things valued correctly against each other if you go too far in your impulses? What good is it to have held back your impulses and to have your desires under control, if in the actual doing of things you do not know the right moments and cannot tell when, where and how each thing should be done? It is one thing to know the worth and value of things, another to know the right moments, another to rein in your impulses and to go towards action, not rush into it. So life is in harmony with itself when action does not let down impulse, and impulse is formed according to the worth of each thing, weaker or keener in proportion to how far that thing deserves to be sought."},{"ref":"Letter 89.16","orig":"Naturalis pars philosophiae in duo scinditur, corporalia et incorporalia; utraque dividuntur in suos, ut ita dicam, gradus. Corporum locus in hos primum, in ea quae faciunt et quae ex his gignuntur – gignuntur autem elementa. Ipse de elementis locus, ut quidam putant, simplex est, ut quidam, in materiam et causam omnia moventem et elementa dividitur.","en":"The physical part of philosophy is divided into two: things with body and things without body. Each is divided into its own degrees, so to speak. The topic of bodies is divided first into these: things that create and things produced from them; and the things produced are the elements. The topic of the elements itself is, as some think, simple; according to others it is divided into matter, the cause that moves all things, and the elements."},{"ref":"Letter 89.17–18","orig":"Superest ut rationalem partem philosophiae dividam. Omnis oratio aut continua est aut inter respondentem et interrogantem discissa; hanc dialektiken, illam rhetoriken placuit vocari. Rhetorike verba curat et sensus et ordinem; dialektike in duas partes dividitur, in verba et significationes, id est in res quae dicuntur et vocabula quibus dicuntur. Ingens deinde sequitur utriusque divisio. Itaque hoc loco finem faciam et summa sequar fastigia rerum; alioqui, si voluero facere partium partes, quaestionum liber fiet. Haec, Lucili virorum optime, quominus legas non deterreo, dummodo quidquid legeris ad mores statim referas. Illos conpesce, marcentia in te excita, soluta constringe, contumacia doma, cupiditates tuas publicasque quantum potes vexa; et istis dicentibus 'quousque eadem?' responde:","en":"It remains for me to divide the logical part of philosophy. All speech is either continuous or broken up between the one answering and the one asking. It has been agreed to call the latter dialektike and the former rhetorike. Rhetoric is concerned with words, meanings and arrangement. Dialectic is divided into two parts, words and meanings, that is, into the things said and the terms in which they are said. Then follows a huge subdivision of each. So I will stop here and \"trace only the main heads of the matter.\" Otherwise, if I try to make parts of the parts, it will become a handbook of problems. Lucilius, best of men, I do not discourage you from reading these things, as long as you immediately relate whatever you read to your conduct. Keep your conduct in check. Rouse what is sluggish in you, tighten what is slack, tame what is stubborn, harass your own desires and the public's as much as you can. And when people say \"How long will you keep on about the same things?\", answer:"},{"ref":"Letter 89.19","orig":"'Ego debebam dicere \"quousque eadem peccabitis?\" Remedia ante vultis quam vitia desinere? Ego vero eo magis dicam, et quia recusatis perseverabo; tunc incipit medicina proficere ubi in corpore alienato dolorem tactus expressit. Dicam etiam invitis profutura. Aliquando aliqua ad vos non blanda vox veniat, et quia verum singuli audire non vultis, publice audite.","en":"\"It is I who should be saying, 'How long will you keep committing the same sins?' Do you want the remedies to stop before the vices do? I will speak all the more, and because you refuse, I will persist. Medicine begins to do good at the point where touching a diseased body has drawn out pain. I will say things that will help you even against your will. For once let some voice that does not flatter reach you, and since as individuals you do not want to hear the truth, hear it in public."},{"ref":"Letter 89.20","orig":"'Quousque fines possessionum propagabitis? Ager uni domino qui populum cepit angustus est? Quousque arationes vestras porrigetis, ne provinciarum quidem spatio contenti circumscribere praediorum modum? Inlustrium fluminum per privatum decursus est et amnes magni magnarumque gentium termini usque ad ostium a fonte vestri sunt. Hoc quoque parum est nisi latifundiis vestris maria cinxistis, nisi trans Hadriam et Ionium Aegaeumque vester vilicus regnat, nisi insulae, ducum domicilia magnorum, inter vilissima rerum numerantur. Quam vultis late possidete, sit fundus quod aliquando imperium vocabatur, facite vestrum quidquid potestis, dum plus sit alieni.","en":"\"How far will you push the boundaries of your estates? Is a field that once held a whole people too narrow for one owner? How far will you extend your ploughlands, not content to limit your farms even by the area of provinces? Famous rivers run through private land, and great streams that form the borders of great nations are yours from source to mouth. Even this is too little unless you have surrounded your vast estates with seas, unless your steward reigns beyond the Adriatic, the Ionian and the Aegean, unless islands, the homes of great leaders, are counted among the cheapest of things. Own as much land as you like, let what was once called an empire be a farm, make yours whatever you can: there will still be more that belongs to others."},{"ref":"Letter 89.21","orig":"'Nunc vobiscum loquor quorum aeque spatiose luxuria quam illorum avaritia diffunditur. Vobis dico: quousque nullus erit lacus cui non villarum vestrarum fastigia inmineant? nullum flumen cuius non ripas aedificia vestra praetexant? Ubicumque scatebunt aquarum calentium venae, ibi nova deversoria luxuriae excitabuntur. Ubicumque in aliquem sinum litus curvabitur, vos protinus fundamenta iacietis, nec contenti solo nisi quod manu feceritis, mare agetis introrsus. Omnibus licet locis tecta vestra resplendeant, aliubi inposita montibus in vastum terrarum marisque prospectum, aliubi ex plano in altitudinem montium educta, cum multa aedificaveritis, cum ingentia, tamen et singula corpora estis et parvola. Quid prosunt multa cubicula? in uno iacetis. Non est vestrum ubicumque non estis.","en":"\"Now I am talking to you, whose luxury spreads as widely as those men's greed. I say to you: how long will there be no lake overhung by the roofs of your villas, no river whose banks are not fringed by your buildings? Wherever springs of hot water bubble up, new resorts of luxury will be raised. Wherever the shore curves into a bay, you will immediately lay foundations, and not content with any ground except what you have made by hand, you will drive the sea back. Though your houses gleam everywhere, some set on mountains with a vast view over land and sea, some raised from the plain to the height of mountains, though you have built many and huge buildings, you are still each one body, and a small one. What good are many bedrooms? You lie in one. Nothing is yours where you are not."},{"ref":"Letter 89.22–23","orig":"'Ad vos deinde transeo quorum profunda et insatiabilis gula hinc maria scrutatur, hinc terras, alia hamis, alia laqueis, alia retium variis generibus cum magno labore persequitur: nullis animalibus nisi ex fastidio pax est. Quantulum ex istis epulis per tot comparatis manus fesso voluptatibus ore libatis? quantulum ex ista fera periculose capta dominus crudus ac nauseans gustat? quantulum ex tot conchyliis tam longe advectis per istum stomachum inexplebilem labitur? Infelices, ecquid intellegitis maiorem vos famem habere quam ventrem?' Haec aliis dic, ut dum dicis audias ipse, scribe, ut dum scribis legas, omnia ad mores et ad sedandam rabiem adfectuum referens. Stude, non ut plus aliquid scias, sed ut melius. Vale.","en":"\"Then I turn to you, whose deep and insatiable gluttony searches the seas on one side and the lands on the other, pursuing some creatures with hooks, some with snares, some with various kinds of nets, at great effort. No animal has peace except when you are sick of it. How little of those feasts, prepared by so many hands, do you taste with mouths worn out by pleasures? How little of that beast, caught at such risk, does its master taste, when he is suffering from indigestion and nausea? How little of all those shellfish brought from so far slides down that bottomless stomach? Poor wretches, do you not understand that your hunger is bigger than your belly?\" Say this to others, so that as you say it you hear it yourself. Write it, so that as you write it you read it, relating everything to conduct and to calming the frenzy of the passions. Study, not to know something more, but to know it better. Farewell."}],"90":[{"ref":"Letter 90.1–2","orig":"Quis dubitare, mi Lucili, potest quin deorum inmortalium munus sit quod vivimus, philosophiae quod bene vivimus? Itaque tanto plus huic nos debere quam dis quanto maius beneficium est bona vita quam vita pro certo haberetur, nisi ipsam philosophiam di tribuissent; cuius scientiam nulli dederunt, facultatem omnibus. Nam si hanc quoque bonum vulgare fecissent et prudentes nasceremur, sapientia quod in se optimum habet perdidisset, inter fortuita non esse. Nunc enim hoc in illa pretiosum atque magnificum est, quod non obvenit, quod illam sibi quisque debet, quod non ab alio petitur. Quid haberes quod in philosophia suspiceres si beneficiaria res esset?","en":"Who can doubt, my Lucilius, that our being alive is the gift of the immortal gods, but our living well is the gift of philosophy? So it would be taken for certain that we owe philosophy more than we owe the gods, just as a good life is a greater benefit than life itself, if the gods had not granted philosophy too. They have given no one the knowledge of it, but everyone the capacity for it. For if they had made this too a common good, and we were born wise, wisdom would have lost the best thing about it: that it is not one of the gifts of chance. As it is, what is precious and splendid about wisdom is that it does not just turn up, that each person owes it to himself, that it is not sought from someone else. What would you find to look up to in philosophy if it were handed out as a favour?"},{"ref":"Letter 90.3","orig":"Huius opus unum est de divinis humanisque verum invenire; ab hac numquam recedit religio, pietas, iustitia et omnis alius comitatus virtutum consertarum et inter se cohaerentium. Haec docuit colere divina, humana diligere, et penes deos imperium esse, inter homines consortium. Quod aliquamdiu inviolatum mansit, antequam societatem avaritia distraxit et paupertatis causa etiam iis quos fecit locupletissimos fuit; desierunt enim omnia possidere, dum volunt propria.","en":"Its one task is to discover the truth about things divine and human. Religion, piety, justice and all the rest of the company of virtues, linked and bound together, never leave its side. It has taught us to worship the divine and love the human, and that power belongs to the gods while partnership belongs to men. This partnership remained unbroken for some time, before greed tore society apart and became the cause of poverty even for those it had made richest. For they stopped owning everything once they wanted things of their own."},{"ref":"Letter 90.4","orig":"Sed primi mortalium quique ex his geniti naturam incorrupti sequebantur eundem habebant et ducem et legem, commissi melioris arbitrio; natura est enim potioribus deteriora summittere. Mutis quidem gregibus aut maxima corpora praesunt aut vehementissima: non praecedit armenta degener taurus, sed qui magnitudine ac toris ceteros mares vicit; elephantorum gregem excelsissimus ducit: inter homines pro maximo est optimum. Animo itaque rector eligebatur, ideoque summa felicitas erat gentium in quibus non poterat potentior esse nisi melior; tuto enim quantum vult potest qui se nisi quod debet non putat posse.","en":"But the first human beings, and those born from them, followed nature unspoiled. They had one and the same person as leader and law, and entrusted themselves to the judgement of a better man. For it is nature's way to put the weaker under the stronger. Among dumb herds, indeed, the biggest or fiercest animals are in charge. It is not a feeble bull that leads the herd, but the one that has beaten the other males in size and muscle. The tallest elephant leads the herd. Among men, the best counts as the greatest. So the ruler was chosen for his mind, and the peoples were supremely happy among whom no one could be more powerful unless he was better. For a man can safely do as much as he likes who thinks he can do only what he ought."},{"ref":"Letter 90.5","orig":"Illo ergo saeculo quod aureum perhibent penes sapientes fuisse regnum Posidonius iudicat. Hi continebant manus et infirmiorem a validioribus tuebantur, suadebant dissuadebantque et utilia atque inutilia monstrabant; horum prudentia ne quid deesset suis providebat, fortitudo pericula arcebat, beneficentia augebat ornabatque subiectos. Officium erat imperare, non regnum. Nemo quantum posset adversus eos experiebatur per quos coeperat posse, nec erat cuiquam aut animus in iniuriam aut causa, cum bene imperanti bene pareretur, nihilque rex maius minari male parentibus posset quam ut abiret e regno.","en":"So in that age which people call golden, Posidonius holds, kingship was in the hands of the wise. They restrained violence and protected the weaker from the stronger. They advised for and against, and pointed out what was useful and what was not. Their wisdom saw to it that their people lacked nothing, their courage warded off dangers, and their generosity enriched and adorned their subjects. Ruling was a duty, not a throne. No one tested how much power he had against those who had given him his power in the first place, and no one had either the will or the reason to do wrong, since good rule was met with good obedience. The worst threat a king could make against those who obeyed badly was that he would leave the throne."},{"ref":"Letter 90.6","orig":"Sed postquam subrepentibus vitiis in tyrannidem regna conversa sunt, opus esse legibus coepit, quas et ipsas inter initia tulere sapientes. Solon, qui Athenas aequo iure fundavit, inter septem fuit sapientia notos; Lycurgum si eadem aetas tulisset, sacro illi numero accessisset octavus. Zaleuci leges Charondaeque laudantur; hi non in foro nec in consultorum atrio, sed in Pythagorae tacito illo sanctoque secessu didicerunt iura quae florenti tunc Siciliae et per Italiam Graeciae ponerent.","en":"But after vices crept in and kingships were turned into tyrannies, there came to be a need for laws, and at first these too were made by the wise. Solon, who founded Athens on equal justice, was one of the seven men famous for wisdom. If the same age had produced Lycurgus, he would have joined that sacred number as an eighth. The laws of Zaleucus and Charondas are praised. These men learned the principles of justice that they laid down for Sicily, then flourishing, and for Greek Italy, not in the forum or in the halls of legal advisers, but in the silent and holy retreat of Pythagoras."},{"ref":"Letter 90.7","orig":"Hactenus Posidonio adsentior: artes quidem a philosophia inventas quibus in cotidiano vita utitur non concesserim, nec illi fabricae adseram gloriam. 'Illa' inquit 'sparsos et aut casis tectos aut aliqua rupe suffossa aut exesae arboris trunco docuit tecta moliri.' Ego vero philosophiam iudico non magis excogitasse has machinationes tectorum supra tecta surgentium et urbium urbes prementium quam vivaria piscium in hoc clausa ut tempestatum periculum non adiret gula et quamvis acerrime pelago saeviente haberet luxuria portus suos in quibus distinctos piscium greges saginaret.","en":"So far I agree with Posidonius. But I would not grant that the crafts which life uses every day were invented by philosophy, and I will not assign it the glory of such workmanship. \"It was philosophy,\" he says, \"that taught people who were scattered about, sheltering in huts, or in some hollowed-out rock, or in the trunk of a hollow tree, to build houses.\" For my part, I think philosophy no more devised these contrivances of buildings rising on buildings and cities crowding cities than it devised fishponds, walled in so that gluttony need not face the danger of storms and, however fiercely the sea rages, luxury may have its own harbours in which to fatten separate shoals of fish."},{"ref":"Letter 90.8–9","orig":"Quid ais? philosophia homines docuit habere clavem et seram? Quid aliud erat avaritiae signum dare? Philosophia haec cum tanto habitantium periculo inminentia tecta suspendit? Parum enim erat fortuitis tegi et sine arte et sine difficultate naturale invenire sibi aliquod receptaculum. Mihi crede, felix illud saeculum ante architectos fuit, ante tectores. Ista nata sunt iam nascente luxuria, in quadratum tigna decidere et serra per designata currente certa manu trabem scindere; nam primi cuneis scindebant fissile lignum. Non enim tecta cenationi epulum recepturae parabantur, nec in hunc usum pinus aut abies deferebatur longo vehiculorum ordine vicis intrementibus, ut ex illa lacunaria auro gravia penderent.","en":"What are you saying? Did philosophy teach people to have keys and bolts? What was that but giving a signal to greed? Did philosophy hang up these towering roofs that threaten such danger to those who live beneath them? It was apparently not enough to shelter under whatever came to hand and find some natural refuge without skill and without trouble. Believe me, that age was happy before there were architects and plasterers. These things arose when luxury was already arising: cutting timbers square and splitting a beam with a sure hand as the saw runs along the marked line. For the first men split their wood with wedges. Houses were not being prepared to hold a banqueting hall for a feast, and pines and firs were not being carried for this purpose in long lines of wagons, making the streets shake, so that panelled ceilings heavy with gold could hang from them."},{"ref":"Letter 90.10–12","orig":"Furcae utrimque suspensae fulciebant casam; spissatis ramalibus ac fronde congesta et in proclive disposita decursus imbribus quamvis magnis erat. Sub his tectis habitavere securi: culmus liberos texit, sub marmore atque auro servitus habitat. In illo quoque dissentio a Posidonio, quod ferramenta fabrilia excogitata a sapientibus viris iudicat; isto enim modo dicat licet sapientes fuisse per quos tunc laqueis captare feras et fallere visco inventum et magnos canibus circumdare saltus. Omnia enim ista sagacitas hominum, non sapientia invenit. In hoc quoque dissentio, sapientes fuisse qui ferri metalla et aeris invenerint, cum incendio silvarum adusta tellus in summo venas iacentis liquefacta fudisset: ista tales inveniunt quales colunt.","en":"Forked poles propped up at each end held up the hut. With close-packed branches and heaped-up leaves laid on a slope, the rain, however heavy, ran off. Under these roofs they lived without fear. Thatch covered free men; slavery lives under marble and gold. On this point too I disagree with Posidonius: he thinks that the tools of the craftsman were invented by wise men. By that reasoning he might as well say that it was wise men who first discovered how \"to catch wild beasts in snares, to trick them with birdlime, and to ring great glades with hounds.\" All these things were discovered by human cleverness, not by wisdom. I also disagree that it was wise men who discovered iron and copper, when the earth, scorched by forest fires, melted the veins of ore lying near the surface and poured them out. Such things are discovered by the kind of people who care about them."},{"ref":"Letter 90.13–14","orig":"Ne illa quidem tam subtilis mihi quaestio videtur quam Posidonio, utrum malleus in usu esse prius an forcipes coeperint. Utraque invenit aliquis excitati ingenii, acuti, non magni nec elati, et quidquid aliud corpore incurvato et animo humum spectante quaerendum est. Sapiens facilis victu fuit. Quidni? cum hoc quoque saeculo esse quam expeditissimus cupiat. Quomodo, oro te, convenit ut et Diogenen mireris et Daedalum? Uter ex his sapiens tibi videtur? qui serram commentus est, an ille qui, cum vidisset puerum cava manu bibentem aquam, fregit protinus exemptum e perula calicem cum hac obiurgatione sui: 'quamdiu homo stultus supervacuas sarcinas habui!', qui se conplicuit in dolio et in eo cubitavit?","en":"Nor does the question whether the hammer or the tongs came into use first seem to me as subtle as it does to Posidonius. Both were invented by someone with a quick and sharp mind, but not a great or lofty one, and so was everything else that has to be looked for with a bent body and a mind fixed on the ground. The wise man was easily satisfied in his way of living. Why not? Even in our own age he wants to be as unencumbered as possible. How, I ask you, can you admire both Diogenes and Daedalus? Which of them seems wise to you? The one who invented the saw, or the one who, when he saw a boy drinking water from his cupped hand, at once took his cup out of his bag and broke it, scolding himself: \"What a fool I have been, carrying useless baggage all this time!\", the man who curled himself up in a tub and slept in it?"},{"ref":"Letter 90.15","orig":"Hodie utrum tandem sapientiorem putas qui invenit quemadmodum in immensam altitudinem crocum latentibus fistulis exprimat, qui euripos subito aquarum impetu implet aut siccat et versatilia cenationum laquearia ita coagmentat ut subinde alia facies atque alia succedat et totiens tecta quotiens fericula mutentur, an eum qui et aliis et sibi hoc monstrat, quam nihil nobis natura durum ac difficile imperaverit, posse nos habitare sine marmorario ac fabro, posse nos vestitos esse sine commercio sericorum, posse nos habere usibus nostris necessaria si contenti fuerimus iis quae terra posuit in summo? Quem si audire humanum genus voluerit, tam supervacuum sciet sibi cocum esse quam militem.","en":"Today, which do you think is wiser: the man who has discovered how to spray saffron perfume to an immense height from hidden pipes, who fills or empties channels with a sudden rush of water, and who fits together revolving ceilings for dining rooms so that one scene follows another and the ceiling changes as often as the courses; or the man who shows others and himself that nature has commanded nothing of us that is hard or difficult, that we can live without the marble worker and the carpenter, that we can be clothed without the silk trade, that we can have what we need for our use if we are content with what the earth has placed on its surface? If the human race would listen to him, it would know that a cook is as unnecessary to it as a soldier."},{"ref":"Letter 90.16","orig":"Illi sapientes fuerunt aut certe sapientibus similes quibus expedita erat tutela corporis. Simplici cura constant necessaria: in delicias laboratur. Non desiderabis artifices: sequere naturam. Illa noluit esse districtos; ad quaecumque nos cogebat instruxit. 'Frigus intolerabilest corpori nudo.' Quid ergo? non pelles ferarum et aliorum animalium a frigore satis abundeque defendere queunt? non corticibus arborum pleraeque gentes tegunt corpora? non avium plumae in usum vestis conseruntur? non hodieque magna Scytharum pars tergis vulpium induitur ac murum, quae tactu mollia et inpenetrabilia ventis sunt? Quid ergo? non quilibet virgeam cratem texuerunt manu et vili obliverunt luto, deinde stipula aliisque silvestribus operuere fastigium et pluviis per devexa labentibus hiemem transiere securi?","en":"Those were wise men, or at least like wise men, who found the protection of the body a simple matter. What is necessary takes only simple care; it is for luxuries that people toil. You will not need craftsmen: follow nature. Nature did not want us to be distracted. For whatever she required of us, she equipped us. \"Cold is unbearable to a naked body.\" What then? Cannot the skins of wild beasts and other animals protect us against cold more than enough? Do not many peoples cover their bodies with the bark of trees? Are not birds' feathers sewn together to serve as clothing? Does not a large part of the Scythians even today dress in the skins of foxes and mice, which are soft to the touch and proof against the wind? What then? Has not anyone at all woven a hurdle of twigs by hand and daubed it with cheap mud, then covered the roof with straw and other things from the woods, and, as the rain ran down the slopes, got through the winter without fear?"},{"ref":"Letter 90.17","orig":"'Opus est tamen calorem solis aestivi umbra crassiore propellere.' Quid ergo? non vetustas multa abdidit loca quae vel iniuria temporis vel alio quolibet casu excavata in specum recesserunt? Quid ergo? non in defosso latent Syrticae gentes quibusque propter nimios solis ardores nullum tegimentum satis repellendis caloribus solidum est nisi ipsa arens humus?","en":"\"But we need thicker shade to keep off the heat of the summer sun.\" What then? Has not time hidden away many places which, hollowed out by the damage of the years or by some other chance, have become caves? What then? Do not the peoples of the Syrtes live hidden in pits, and others for whom, because of the excessive heat of the sun, no covering is solid enough to keep off the heat except the parched earth itself?"},{"ref":"Letter 90.18","orig":"Non fuit tam iniqua natura ut, cum omnibus aliis animalibus facilem actum vitae daret, homo solus non posset sine tot artibus vivere; nihil durum ab illa nobis imperatum est, nihil aegre quaerendum, ut possit vita produci. Ad parata nati sumus: nos omnia nobis difficilia facilium fastidio fecimus. Tecta tegimentaque et fomenta corporum et cibi et quae nunc ingens negotium facta sunt obvia erant et gratuita et opera levi parabilia; modus enim omnium prout necessitas erat: nos ista pretiosa, nos mira, nos magnis multisque conquirenda artibus fecimus.","en":"Nature was not so unfair that, while giving all other animals an easy way of life, she made man alone unable to live without so many crafts. She has commanded nothing hard of us, nothing that has to be searched for painfully, in order to prolong life. We were born into a world made ready for us. It is we who have made everything difficult for ourselves by despising what was easy. Shelter, clothing, remedies for the body, food, and the things that have now become huge business were ready to hand, free, and obtainable with little effort. For the measure of all things matched our need. It is we who have made them costly, we who have made them marvellous, we who have made them things to be hunted down by many great crafts."},{"ref":"Letter 90.19","orig":"Sufficit ad id natura quod poscit. A natura luxuria descivit, quae cotidie se ipsa incitat et tot saeculis crescit et ingenio adiuvat vitia. Primo supervacua coepit concupiscere, inde contraria, novissime animum corpori addixit et illius deservire libidini iussit. Omnes istae artes quibus aut circitatur civitas aut strepit corpori negotium gerunt, cui omnia olim tamquam servo praestabantur, nunc tamquam domino parantur. Itaque hinc textorum, hinc fabrorum officinae sunt, hinc odores coquentium, hinc molles corporis motus docentium mollesque cantus et infractos. Recessit enim ille naturalis modus desideria ope necessaria finiens; iam rusticitatis et miseriae est velle quantum sat est.","en":"Nature is enough for what she requires. Luxury has deserted nature. Every day it spurs itself on, it has been growing for so many centuries, and it helps the vices along with ingenuity. First it began to desire superfluous things, then things contrary to nature, and finally it made the mind the slave of the body and ordered it to serve the body's lusts. All these crafts by which the city is kept bustling or noisy are doing business for the body. Once everything was supplied to it as to a slave; now everything is provided for it as for a master. Hence the workshops of weavers and of carpenters, hence the smells of cooks, hence the teachers of soft body movements and of soft, broken songs. That natural measure which limited desires by the resources they needed has gone. Now wanting just enough is thought boorish and wretched."},{"ref":"Letter 90.20","orig":"Incredibilest, mi Lucili, quam facile etiam magnos viros dulcedo orationis abducat a vero. Ecce Posidonius, ut mea fert opinio, ex iis qui plurimum philosophiae contulerunt, dum vult describere primum quemadmodum alia torqueantur fila, alia ex molli solutoque ducantur, deinde quemadmodum tela suspensis ponderibus rectum stamen extendat, quemadmodum subtemen insertum, quod duritiam utrimque conprimentis tramae remolliat, spatha coire cogatur et iungi, textrini quoque artem a sapientibus dixit inventam, oblitus postea repertum hoc subtilius genus in quo tela iugo vincta est, stamen secernit harundo, inseritur medium radiis subtemen acutis, quod lato paviunt insecti pectine dentes. Quid si contigisset illi videre has nostri temporis telas, in quibus vestis nihil celatura conficitur, in qua non dico nullum corpori auxilium, sed nullum pudori est?","en":"It is incredible, my Lucilius, how easily the charm of eloquence draws even great men away from the truth. Take Posidonius, one of those, in my opinion, who have contributed most to philosophy. He wants to describe first how some threads are twisted and others drawn out from soft, loose wool; then how the loom stretches the warp straight with hanging weights; how the weft is inserted to soften the hardness of the warp that presses on it from both sides, and is forced together and joined by the batten. And he said that the art of weaving too was invented by wise men, forgetting that the more refined kind was discovered later, in which \"the web is tied to the beam, the reed separates the warp, the weft is shot through the middle by sharp shuttles, and the notched teeth of the broad comb beat it tight.\" What if he had happened to see the fabrics of our own time, which make clothes that hide nothing, and give no help, I will not say to the body, but even to modesty?"},{"ref":"Letter 90.21–22","orig":"Transit deinde ad agricolas nec minus facunde describit proscissum aratro solum et iteratum quo solutior terra facilius pateat radicibus, tunc sparsa semina et collectas manu herbas ne quid fortuitum et agreste succrescat quod necet segetem. Hoc quoque opus ait esse sapientium, tamquam non nunc quoque plurima cultores agrorum nova inveniant per quae fertilitas augeatur. Deinde non est contentus his artibus, sed in pistrinum sapientem summittit; narrat enim quemadmodum rerum naturam imitatus panem coeperit facere. 'Receptas' inquit 'in os fruges concurrens inter se duritia dentium frangit, et quidquid excidit ad eosdem dentes lingua refertur; tunc umore miscetur ut facilius per fauces lubricas transeat; cum pervenit in ventrem, aequali eius fervore concoquitur; tunc demum corpori accedit.","en":"Then he passes to the farmers, and describes no less eloquently the soil broken by the plough and ploughed again, so that the loosened earth opens more easily to the roots; then the seed sown, and the weeds picked out by hand so that nothing random and wild grows up to choke the crop. This too, he says, is the work of wise men, as if even now farmers were not discovering many new ways to increase fertility. Then, not content with these crafts, he sends the wise man down to the mill. For he tells how the wise man, imitating nature, began to make bread. \"The grain taken into the mouth,\" he says, \"is crushed by the hard teeth meeting together, and whatever falls out is brought back to the same teeth by the tongue. Then it is mixed with saliva so that it may pass more easily through the slippery throat. When it reaches the stomach, it is digested by the stomach's even heat, and then at last it is absorbed by the body."},{"ref":"Letter 90.23","orig":"Hoc aliquis secutus exemplar lapidem asperum aspero inposuit ad similitudinem dentium, quorum pars immobilis motum alterius expectat; deinde utriusque adtritu grana franguntur et saepius regeruntur donec ad minutiam frequenter trita redigantur; tum farinam aqua sparsit et adsidua tractatione perdomuit finxitque panem, quem primo cinis calidus et fervens testa percoxit, deinde furni paulatim reperti et alia genera quorum fervor serviret arbitrio.' Non multum afuit quin sutrinum quoque inventum a sapientibus diceret.","en":"\"Following this model, someone set one rough stone on another, in imitation of the teeth, one row of which stays still and waits for the movement of the other. Then the grains are crushed by the rubbing of the two stones and brought back again and again until, ground many times, they are reduced to powder. Then he sprinkled the flour with water, kneaded it into shape by constant handling, and formed a loaf, which at first was baked in hot ashes and on a heated tile; later ovens were gradually discovered, and other kinds of stove whose heat could be controlled at will.\" He very nearly said that shoemaking too was invented by the wise."},{"ref":"Letter 90.24","orig":"Omnia ista ratio quidem, sed non recta ratio commenta est. Hominis enim, non sapientis inventa sunt, tam mehercules quam navigia quibus amnes quibusque maria transimus, aptatis ad excipiendum ventorum impetum velis et additis a tergo gubernaculis quae huc atque illuc cursum navigii torqueant. Exemplum a piscibus tractum est, qui cauda reguntur et levi eius in utrumque momento velocitatem suam flectunt.","en":"Reason did devise all these things, but not right reason. They are the inventions of man, not of the wise man, just as, heaven knows, are the ships in which we cross rivers and seas, with sails fitted to catch the force of the winds and rudders added at the stern to turn the ship's course this way and that. The model was taken from fish, which steer with their tails and change their direction of speed with a slight movement of the tail to either side."},{"ref":"Letter 90.25","orig":"'Omnia' inquit 'haec sapiens quidem invenit, sed minora quam ut ipse tractaret sordidioribus ministris dedit.' Immo non aliis excogitata ista sunt quam quibus hodieque curantur. Quaedam nostra demum prodisse memoria scimus, ut speculariorum usum perlucente testa clarum transmittentium lumen, ut suspensuras balneorum et inpressos parietibus tubos per quos circumfunderetur calor qui ima simul ac summa foveret aequaliter. Quid loquar marmora quibus templa, quibus domus fulgent? quid lapideas moles in rotundum ac leve formatas quibus porticus et capacia populorum tecta suscipimus? quid verborum notas quibus quamvis citata excipitur oratio et celeritatem linguae manus sequitur? Vilissimorum mancipiorum ista commenta sunt:","en":"\"The wise man,\" he says, \"did invent all these things, but they were too small for him to handle himself, so he gave them to humbler assistants.\" Not at all. These things were devised by no one other than the kind of people who look after them today. We know that some things have appeared only within our own memory, such as the use of window panes that let in clear light through transparent glass, and the raised floors of baths and the pipes set into the walls to spread the heat round so that it warms the bottom and the top equally. Why should I mention the marble with which temples and houses gleam? Or the masses of stone shaped round and smooth with which we hold up colonnades and buildings big enough for crowds? Or the shorthand signs by which a speech, however fast, is taken down, and the hand keeps pace with the speed of the tongue? These are the inventions of the lowest slaves."},{"ref":"Letter 90.26–27","orig":"sapientia altius sedet nec manus edocet: animorum magistra est. Vis scire quid illa eruerit, quid effecerit? Non decoros corporis motus nec varios per tubam ac tibiam cantus, quibus exceptus spiritus aut in exitu aut in transitu formatur in vocem. Non arma nec muros nec bello utilia molitur: paci favet et genus humanum ad concordiam vocat. Non est, inquam, instrumentorum ad usus necessarios opifex. Quid illi tam parvola adsignas? artificem vides vitae. Alias quidem artes sub dominio habet; nam cui vita, illi vitae quoque ornantia serviunt: ceterum ad beatum statum tendit, illo ducit, illo vias aperit.","en":"Wisdom sits higher up. It does not train the hands; it is the teacher of minds. Do you want to know what it has dug out, what it has achieved? Not graceful movements of the body, or varied tunes on trumpet and pipe, in which the breath is taken in and shaped into sound as it goes out or passes through. It does not make weapons or walls or things useful in war. It favours peace and calls the human race to harmony. It is not, I say, a maker of tools for everyday needs. Why do you assign it such trifling things? You are looking at the craftsman of life. It does hold the other crafts under its rule, for whoever is served by life is also served by the things that adorn life. But its aim is the state of happiness; that is where it leads and to that it opens the way."},{"ref":"Letter 90.28","orig":"Quae sint mala, quae videantur ostendit; vanitatem exuit mentibus, dat magnitudinem solidam, inflatam vero et ex inani speciosam reprimit, nec ignorari sinit inter magna quid intersit et tumida; totius naturae notitiam ac sui tradit. Quid sint di qualesque declarat, quid inferi, quid lares et genii, quid in secundam numinum formam animae perpetitae, ubi consistant, quid agant, quid possint, quid velint. Haec eius initiamenta sunt, per quae non municipale sacrum sed ingens deorum omnium templum, mundus ipse, reseratur, cuius vera simulacra verasque facies cernendas mentibus protulit; nam ad spectacula tam magna hebes visus est.","en":"It shows what things are evil and what only seem so. It strips the mind of vanity. It gives a solid greatness, and checks the kind that is puffed up and showy but hollow, and does not let us be ignorant of the difference between what is great and what is swollen. It hands on knowledge of the whole of nature and of itself. It makes clear what the gods are and what they are like, what the underworld is, what the household gods and guardian spirits are, what souls are that have been admitted to the second rank of divinity, where they dwell, what they do, what they can do and what they want. These are its rites of initiation, through which not a local shrine but the vast temple of all the gods, the universe itself, is thrown open. It has brought out its true images and true faces for our minds to see, for our eyesight is too dull for such great sights."},{"ref":"Letter 90.29–30","orig":"Ad initia deinde rerum redit aeternamque rationem toti inditam et vim omnium seminum singula proprie figurantem. Tum de animo coepit inquirere, unde esset, ubi, quamdiu, in quot membra divisus. Deinde a corporibus se ad incorporalia transtulit veritatemque et argumenta eius excussit; post haec quemadmodum discernerentur vitae aut vocis ambigua; in utraque enim falsa veris inmixta sunt. Non abduxit, inquam, se (ut Posidonio videtur) ab istis artibus sapiens, sed ad illas omnino non venit. Nihil enim dignum inventu iudicasset quod non erat dignum perpetuo usu iudicaturus; ponenda non sumeret.","en":"Then it goes back to the beginnings of things, to the eternal reason that pervades the whole and the power of all the seeds that shapes each thing in its own way. Then it began to inquire about the soul: where it came from, where it is, how long it lasts, into how many parts it is divided. Then it moved from bodies to things without body and examined truth and its proofs. After this it looked at how the ambiguities of life and of speech are to be distinguished, since in both, falsehoods are mixed with truths. The wise man, I say, did not withdraw from those crafts, as Posidonius thinks; he never took them up at all. For he would have judged nothing worth inventing that he would not judge worth using forever. He would not take up things that had to be put down again."},{"ref":"Letter 90.31","orig":"'Anacharsis' inquit 'invenit rotam figuli, cuius circuitu vasa formantur.' Deinde quia apud Homerum invenitur figuli rota, maluit videri versus falsos esse quam fabulam. Ego nec Anacharsim auctorem huius rei fuisse contendo et, si fuit, sapiens quidem hoc invenit, sed non tamquam sapiens, sicut multa sapientes faciunt qua homines sunt, non qua sapientes. Puta velocissimum esse sapientem: cursu omnis anteibit qua velox est, non qua sapiens. Cuperem Posidonio aliquem vitrearium ostendere, qui spiritu vitrum in habitus plurimos format qui vix diligenti manu effingerentur. Haec inventa sunt postquam sapientem invenire desimus.","en":"\"Anacharsis,\" he says, \"invented the potter's wheel, by whose turning pots are shaped.\" Then, since the potter's wheel is found in Homer, he preferred to have the lines thought spurious rather than the story. I do not maintain that Anacharsis was the inventor of this, and if he was, a wise man did invent it, but not as a wise man, just as wise men do many things insofar as they are human beings, not insofar as they are wise. Suppose a wise man is very fast: he will outrun everyone insofar as he is fast, not insofar as he is wise. I should like to show Posidonius some glassblower who with his breath shapes glass into many forms that a careful hand could hardly produce. These things were discovered after we stopped discovering the wise man."},{"ref":"Letter 90.32–33","orig":"'Democritus' inquit 'invenisse dicitur fornicem, ut lapidum curvatura paulatim inclinatorum medio saxo alligaretur.' Hoc dicam falsum esse; necesse est enim ante Democritum et pontes et portas fuisse, quarum fere summa curvantur. Excidit porro vobis eundem Democritum invenisse quemadmodum ebur molliretur, quemadmodum decoctus calculus in zmaragdum converteretur, qua hodieque coctura inventi lapides in hoc utiles colorantur. Ista sapiens licet invenerit, non qua sapiens erat invenit; multa enim facit quae ab inprudentissimis aut aeque fieri videmus aut peritius atque exercitatius.","en":"\"Democritus,\" he says, \"is said to have invented the arch, so that the curve of stones leaning gradually inward is locked together by the keystone.\" I would say this is false. There must have been bridges and gateways before Democritus, and their tops are generally curved. Besides, you have forgotten that the same Democritus discovered how ivory could be softened, and how a pebble could be turned into an emerald by boiling, a process by which stones found suitable for it are still coloured today. Though a wise man may have discovered these things, he did not discover them because he was wise. For he does many things that we see done by the most foolish people just as well, or with more skill and practice."},{"ref":"Letter 90.34","orig":"Quid sapiens investigaverit, quid in lucem protraxerit quaeris? Primum verum naturamque, quam non ut cetera animalia oculis secutus est, tardis ad divina; deinde vitae legem, quam universa derexit, nec nosse tantum sed sequi deos docuit et accidentia non aliter excipere quam imperata. Vetuit parere opinionibus falsis et quanti quidque esset vera aestimatione perpendit; damnavit mixtas paenitentia voluptates et bona semper placitura laudavit et palam fecit felicissimum esse cui felicitate non opus est, potentissimum esse qui se habet in potestate.","en":"Do you ask what the wise man has investigated and brought to light? First, truth and nature, which he has followed not, like the other animals, with eyes too slow for the divine. Next, the law of life, which he has brought into line with the universe. He has taught us not only to know the gods but to follow them, and to receive whatever happens exactly as if it were a command. He has forbidden us to obey false opinions and has weighed the value of each thing by a true estimate. He has condemned pleasures mixed with regret, praised goods that will always satisfy, and made it plain that the happiest man is the one who has no need of happiness, and the most powerful is the one who has power over himself."},{"ref":"Letter 90.35–36","orig":"Non de ea philosophia loquor quae civem extra patriam posuit, extra mundum deos, quae virtutem donavit voluptati, sed de illa quae nullum bonum putat nisi quod honestum est, quae nec hominis nec fortunae muneribus deleniri potest, cuius hoc pretium est, non posse pretio capi. Hanc philosophiam fuisse illo rudi saeculo quo adhuc artificia deerant et ipso usu discebantur utilia non credo. Sicut aut fortunata tempora, cum in medio iacerent beneficia naturae promiscue utenda, antequam avaritia atque luxuria dissociavere mortales et ad rapinam ex consortio docuere discurrere: non erant illi sapientes viri, etiam si faciebant facienda sapientibus.","en":"I am not speaking of the philosophy that has placed the citizen outside his country and the gods outside the world, and has handed virtue over to pleasure, but of the philosophy that thinks nothing good except what is honourable, that cannot be won over by the gifts of man or of fortune, whose value lies in this: that it cannot be bought at any price. I do not believe that this philosophy existed in that rough age when crafts were still lacking and useful things were learned by experience alone. Those were fortunate times, when the blessings of nature lay open to all to be used in common, before greed and luxury split mortals apart and taught them to run off from partnership to plunder. Those men were not wise, even if they did what the wise ought to do."},{"ref":"Letter 90.37–38","orig":"Statum quidem generis humani non alium quisquam suspexerit magis, nec si cui permittat deus terrena formare et dare gentibus mores, aliud probaverit quam quod apud illos fuisse memoratur apud quos nulli subigebant arva coloni; ne signare quidem aut partiri limite campum fas erat: in medium quaerebant, ipsaque tellus omnia liberius nullo poscente ferebat. Quid hominum illo genere felicius? In commune rerum natura fruebantur; sufficiebat illa ut parens in tutelam omnium; haec erat publicarum opum secura possessio. Quidni ego illud locupletissimum mortalium genus dixerim in quo pauperem invenire non posses? Inrupit in res optime positas avaritia et, dum seducere aliquid cupit atque in suum vertere, omnia fecit aliena et in angustum se ex inmenso redegit. Avaritia paupertatem intulit et multa concupiscendo omnia amisit.","en":"No one could look up to any condition of the human race more than that, and if a god allowed someone to shape earthly things and give peoples their way of life, he would approve nothing other than what is recorded of those people among whom \"no farmers tilled the fields; it was not even lawful to mark out or divide the land with boundaries. They sought for the common store, and the earth itself bore everything more freely when no one demanded it.\" What race of men was happier than that? They enjoyed nature in common. Like a parent, she was enough to protect everyone. This was the secure possession of shared wealth. Why should I not call that the richest race of mortals, among whom you could not find a poor man? Greed burst into this excellent arrangement and, in its desire to set something aside and turn it to its own use, made everything belong to others and shrank itself from boundlessness to a narrow space. Greed brought in poverty and, by desiring much, lost everything."},{"ref":"Letter 90.39–40","orig":"Licet itaque nunc conetur reparare quod perdidit, licet agros agris adiciat vicinum vel pretio pellens vel iniuria, licet in provinciarum spatium rura dilatet et possessionem vocet per sua longam peregrinationem: nulla nos finium propagatio eo reducet unde discessimus. Cum omnia fecerimus, multum habebimus: universum habebamus. Terra ipsa fertilior erat inlaborata et in usus populorum non diripientium larga. Quidquid natura protulerat, id non minus invenisse quam inventum monstrare alteri voluptas erat; nec ulli aut superesse poterat aut deesse: inter concordes dividebatur. Nondum valentior inposuerat infirmiori manum, nondum avarus abscondendo quod sibi iaceret alium necessariis quoque excluserat: par erat alterius ac sui cura.","en":"So although greed now tries to recover what it has lost, although it adds field to field, driving out its neighbour by money or by force, although it extends its estates to the size of provinces and calls it ownership to take a long journey through its own lands, no extension of boundaries will bring us back to where we started. When we have done everything, we will have much; we used to have the whole. The earth itself was more fertile when it was not worked, and generous to the needs of peoples who did not plunder it. Whatever nature produced, it was as much a pleasure to show it to another as to have found it. No one could have too much or too little; it was shared among people who lived in harmony. The stronger had not yet laid hands on the weaker. The greedy man had not yet, by hiding away what lay there for his own use, shut another out even from necessities. Each cared for the other as for himself."},{"ref":"Letter 90.41–42","orig":"Arma cessabant incruentaeque humano sanguine manus odium omne in feras verterant. Illi quos aliquod nemus densum a sole protexerat, qui adversus saevitiam hiemis aut imbris vili receptaculo tuti sub fronde vivebant, placidas transigebant sine suspirio noctes. Sollicitudo nos in nostra purpura versat et acerrimis excitat stimulis: at quam mollem somnum illis dura tellus dabat! Non inpendebant caelata laquearia, sed in aperto iacentis sidera superlabebantur et, insigne spectaculum noctium, mundus in praeceps agebatur, silentio tantum opus ducens. Tam interdiu illis quam nocte patebant prospectus huius pulcherrimae domus; libebat intueri signa ex media caeli parte vergentia, rursus ex occulto alia surgentia.","en":"Weapons were idle, and hands not yet stained with human blood had turned all their hostility against wild beasts. Those whom some thick grove had sheltered from the sun, who lived under leaves, safe in a cheap refuge against the severity of winter or of rain, spent peaceful nights without a sigh. Worry tosses us on our purple and wakes us with the sharpest goads. But what soft sleep the hard earth gave them! No carved and panelled ceilings hung over them. They lay in the open and the stars glided above them, and the heavens, the glorious spectacle of the nights, swept swiftly on, conducting so great a work in silence. By day as well as by night the view of this most beautiful house lay open to them. They loved to watch the constellations sinking from the middle of the sky, and others rising again from hidden places."},{"ref":"Letter 90.43","orig":"Quidni iuvaret vagari inter tam late sparsa miracula? At vos ad omnem tectorum pavetis sonum et inter picturas vestras, si quid increpuit, fugitis attoniti. Non habebant domos instar urbium: spiritus ac liber inter aperta perflatus et levis umbra rupis aut arboris et perlucidi fontes rivique non opere nec fistula nec ullo coacto itinere obsolefacti sed sponte currentes et prata sine arte formosa, inter haec agreste domicilium rustica politum manu – haec erat secundum naturam domus, in qua libebat habitare nec ipsam nec pro ipsa timentem: nunc magna pars nostri metus tecta sunt.","en":"Why should it not have been a delight to wander among such widely scattered wonders? But you tremble at every sound from your roofs, and if something creaks among your paintings, you run away in terror. They did not have houses as big as cities. The air and the free breeze blowing through open spaces, the light shade of a rock or a tree, clear springs and streams not spoiled by works or pipes or any forced channel but running freely, meadows beautiful without art, and among them a rustic dwelling finished by a country hand: this was a home in keeping with nature, in which it was a pleasure to live, fearing neither for it nor from it. Nowadays our houses are a large part of our fear."},{"ref":"Letter 90.44–45","orig":"Sed quamvis egregia illis vita fuerit et carens fraude, non fuere sapientes, quando hoc iam in opere maximo nomen est. Non tamen negaverim fuisse alti spiritus viros et, ut ita dicam, a dis recentes; neque enim dubium est quin meliora mundus nondum effetus ediderit. Quemadmodum autem omnibus indoles fortior fuit et ad labores paratior, ita non erant ingenia omnibus consummata. Non enim dat natura virtutem: ars est bonum fieri. Illi quidem non aurum nec argentum nec perlucidos lapides in ima terrarum faece quaerebant parcebantque adhuc etiam mutis animalibus: tantum aberat ut homo hominem non iratus, non timens, tantum spectaturus occideret. Nondum vestis illis erat picta, nondum texebatur aurum, adhuc nec eruebatur.","en":"But however excellent and free of deceit their life was, they were not wise men, since that name now belongs to the greatest achievement. Still, I would not deny that they were men of lofty spirit and, so to speak, fresh from the gods. For there is no doubt that the world, not yet worn out, produced better things. But although they all had a sturdier nature and were readier for toil, not all of them had minds brought to perfection. Nature does not give virtue; becoming good is an art. They did not look for gold or silver or shining stones in the lowest dregs of the earth, and they still spared even dumb animals. So far were they from a man killing a man, not in anger or fear, but just to watch. They did not yet have embroidered clothes; gold was not yet woven, or even mined."},{"ref":"Letter 90.46","orig":"Quid ergo est? Ignorantia rerum innocentes erant; multum autem interest utrum peccare aliquis nolit an nesciat. Deerat illis iustitia, deerat prudentia, deerat temperantia ac fortitudo. Omnibus his virtutibus habebat similia quaedam rudis vita: virtus non contingit animo nisi instituto et edocto et ad summum adsidua exercitatione perducto. Ad hoc quidem, sed sine hoc nascimur, et in optimis quoque, antequam erudias, virtutis materia, non virtus est. Vale.","en":"What then? They were innocent through ignorance. But it makes a great difference whether someone does not want to do wrong or does not know how to. They lacked justice, they lacked prudence, they lacked self-control and courage. Their rough life had certain things resembling all these virtues. But virtue does not come to a mind unless it has been trained and taught and brought to perfection by constant practice. We are born for virtue, but not with it, and even in the best people, before you educate them, there is the material of virtue, not virtue itself. Farewell."}],"91":[{"ref":"Letter 91.1","orig":"Liberalis noster nunc tristis est nuntiato incendio quo Lugdunensis colonia exusta est; movere hic casus quemlibet posset, nedum hominem patriae suae amantissimum. Quae res effecit ut firmitatem animi sui quaerat, quam videlicet ad ea quae timeri posse putabat exercuit. Hoc vero tam inopinatum malum et paene inauditum non miror si sine metu fuit, cum esset sine exemplo; multas enim civitates incendium vexavit, nullam abstulit. Nam etiam ubi hostili manu in tecta ignis inmissus est, multis locis deficit, et quamvis subinde excitetur, raro tamen sic cuncta depascitur ut nihil ferro relinquat. Terrarum quoque vix umquam tam gravis et perniciosus fuit motus ut tota oppida everteret. Numquam denique tam infestum ulli exarsit incendium ut nihil alteri superesset incendio.","en":"Our friend Liberalis is sad now, having heard of the fire that has burned down the colony of Lyon. This disaster could move anyone, let alone a man who loves his native city so dearly. It has made him look for the steadiness of mind he had trained, no doubt, against the things he thought might be feared. I am not surprised that he had no fear of this evil, so unexpected and almost unheard of, since there was no precedent for it. Fire has damaged many cities, but it has wiped none out. Even where fire has been set to buildings by an enemy's hand, it dies out in many places, and although it is stirred up again and again, it rarely consumes everything so completely that it leaves nothing for the sword. Hardly ever has an earthquake been so violent and destructive as to overturn whole towns. In short, no fire has ever blazed so fiercely against any city that nothing was left for another fire."},{"ref":"Letter 91.2–3","orig":"Tot pulcherrima opera, quae singula inlustrare urbes singulas possent, una nox stravit, et in tanta pace quantum ne bello quidem timeri potest accidit. Quis hoc credat? ubique armis quiescentibus, cum toto orbe terrarum diffusa securitas sit, Lugudunum, quod ostendebatur in Gallia, quaeritur. Omnibus fortuna quos publice adflixit quod passuri erant timere permisit; nulla res magna non aliquod habuit ruinae suae spatium: in hac una nox interfuit inter urbem maximam et nullam. Denique diutius illam tibi perisse quam perit narro. Haec omnia Liberalis nostri adfectum inclinant, adversus sua firmum et erectum. Nec sine causa concussus est: inexpectata plus adgravant; novitas adicit calamitatibus pondus, nec quisquam mortalium non magis quod etiam miratus est doluit.","en":"So many beautiful buildings, any one of which could have made a single city famous, were levelled in one night, and in a time of such deep peace something happened greater than anyone could fear even in war. Who would believe it? With weapons at rest everywhere, with security spread over the whole world, Lyon, the showpiece of Gaul, is being searched for. To all those whom she has struck down as communities, fortune has allowed time to fear what they were going to suffer. No great thing has fallen without some interval before its ruin. Here a single night lay between a very great city and no city at all. In fact it is taking me longer to tell you it has perished than it took to perish. All this bends the feelings of our Liberalis, who is firm and upright against his own misfortunes. And he has good reason to be shaken. The unexpected weighs on us more heavily. Novelty adds weight to disasters, and every mortal grieves more over what has also amazed him."},{"ref":"Letter 91.4","orig":"Ideo nihil nobis inprovisum esse debet; in omnia praemittendus animus cogitandumque non quidquid solet sed quidquid potest fieri. Quid enim est quod non fortuna, cum voluit, ex florentissimo detrahat? quod non eo magis adgrediatur et quatiat quo speciosius fulget? Quid illi arduum quidve difficile est?","en":"That is why nothing should be unforeseen by us. We should send the mind ahead to meet everything and consider not what usually happens but what can happen. For what is there that fortune cannot, when she likes, pull down from the height of prosperity? What does she not attack and shake all the more, the more brilliantly it shines? What is steep or difficult for her?"},{"ref":"Letter 91.5","orig":"Non una via semper, ne trita quidem incurrit: modo nostras in nos manus advocat, modo suis contenta viribus invenit pericula sine auctore. Nullum tempus exceptum est: in ipsis voluptatibus causae doloris oriuntur. Bellum in media pace consurgit et auxilia securitatis in metum transeunt: ex amico fit inimicus, hostis ex socio. In subitas tempestates hibernisque maiores agitur aestiva tranquillitas. Sine hoste patimur hostilia, et cladis causas, si alia deficiunt, nimia sibi felicitas invenit. Invadit temperantissimos morbus, validissimos pthisis, innocentissimos poena, secretissimos tumultus; eligit aliquid novi casus per quod velut oblitis vires suas ingerat.","en":"She does not always come at us by one road, or even by a well-worn one. Sometimes she calls our own hands against us; sometimes, content with her own strength, she finds dangers without anyone to cause them. No time is exempt. The causes of pain arise in the midst of pleasures themselves. War breaks out in the midst of peace, and the supports of our security turn into sources of fear. A friend becomes an enemy, an ally a foe. Summer calm is whipped up into sudden storms worse than winter's. We suffer the harms of war without an enemy, and if other causes are lacking, excessive prosperity finds causes of disaster for itself. Disease attacks the most temperate, consumption the strongest, punishment the most innocent, riots the most secluded. Chance picks out something new by which to bring its strength to bear on us, as if we had forgotten it."},{"ref":"Letter 91.6–7","orig":"Quidquid longa series multis laboribus, multa deum indulgentia struxit, id unus dies spargit ac dissipat. Longam moram dedit malis properantibus qui diem dixit: hora momentumque temporis evertendis imperis sufficit. Esset aliquod inbecillitatis nostrae solacium rerumque nostrarum si tam tarde perirent cuncta quam fiunt: nunc incrementa lente exeunt, festinatur in damnum. Nihil privatim, nihil publice stabile est; tam hominum quam urbium fata volvuntur. Inter placidissima terror existit nihilque extra tumultuantibus causis mala unde minime expectabantur erumpunt. Quae domesticis bellis steterant regna, quae externis, inpellente nullo ruunt: quota quaeque felicitatem civitas pertulit! Cogitanda ergo sunt omnia et animus adversus ea quae possunt evenire firmandus.","en":"Whatever a long succession of years has built up through much labour and much favour of the gods, a single day scatters and destroys. Whoever said \"a day\" gave a long delay to hurrying evils: an hour, an instant of time, is enough to overthrow empires. It would be some comfort for our weakness and our affairs if everything perished as slowly as it comes into being. As it is, growth comes slowly, while ruin hurries. Nothing is stable, in private or public life; the fates of men and of cities alike keep turning. Terror arises in the midst of the greatest calm, and with no outside causes stirring up trouble, evils burst out from where they were least expected. Kingdoms that had stood through civil wars and foreign ones fall with no one pushing them. How few cities have lasted out their prosperity! So we must think about everything and strengthen the mind against whatever can happen."},{"ref":"Letter 91.8–9","orig":"Exilia, tormenta, bella, naufragia meditare. Potest te patriae, potest patriam tibi casus eripere, potest te in solitudines abigere, potest hoc ipsum in quo turba suffocatur fieri solitudo. Tota ante oculos sortis humanae condicio ponatur, nec quantum frequenter evenit sed quantum plurimum potest evenire praesumamus animo, si nolumus opprimi nec illis inusitatis velut novis obstupefieri; in plenum cogitanda fortuna est. Quotiens Asiae, quotiens Achaiae urbes uno tremore ceciderunt! Quot oppida in Syria, quot in Macedonia devorata sunt! Cypron quotiens vastavit haec clades! Quotiens in se Paphus corruit! Frequenter nobis nuntiati sunt totarum urbium interitus, et nos inter quos ista frequenter nuntiantur, quota pars omnium sumus! Consurgamus itaque adversus fortuita et quidquid inciderit sciamus non esse tam magnum quam rumore iactetur.","en":"Think over exile, torture, war and shipwreck. Chance can snatch you from your country, or your country from you. It can drive you out into deserts; this very place where crowds are choking can become a desert. Let the whole condition of human fate be set before our eyes, and let us anticipate in our minds not how much commonly happens but the most that can happen, if we do not want to be overwhelmed and stunned by rare events as though they were new. Fortune must be considered in full. How often have cities of Asia, how often cities of Achaea, collapsed in a single earthquake! How many towns in Syria, how many in Macedonia, have been swallowed up! How often has this disaster laid Cyprus waste! How often has Paphos fallen in on itself! We have often been told of the destruction of whole cities, and we, among whom such news is often reported, how small a part of the whole we are! So let us rise up against the things of chance, and know that whatever has happened is not as great as rumour makes it out."},{"ref":"Letter 91.10–11","orig":"Civitas arsit opulenta ornamentumque provinciarum quibus et inserta erat et excepta, uni tamen inposita et huic non latissimo monti: omnium istarum civitatium quas nunc magnificas ac nobiles audis vestigia quoque tempus eradet. Non vides quemadmodum in Achaia clarissimarum urbium iam fundamenta consumpta sint nec quicquam extet ex quo appareat illas saltem fuisse? Non tantum manu facta labuntur, nec tantum humana arte atque industria posita vertit dies: iuga montium diffluunt, totae desedere regiones, operta sunt fluctibus quae procul a conspectu maris stabant; vasta vis ignium colles per quos relucebat erosit et quondam altissimos vertices, solacia navigantium ac speculas, ad humile deduxit. Ipsius naturae opera vexantur et ideo aequo animo ferre debemus urbium excidia.","en":"A wealthy city has burned, the jewel of the provinces in which it was set and from which it stood apart, and yet it was built on a single hill, and not a very large one. Of all those cities that you now hear of as splendid and famous, time will wipe out even the traces. Do you not see how in Achaea the very foundations of the most famous cities have already been worn away, and nothing is left to show that they even existed? It is not only things made by hand that decay, and not only works set up by human skill and effort that time overturns. Mountain ridges melt away, whole regions have sunk, places that stood far out of sight of the sea have been covered by the waves. The vast force of fire has eaten away the hills through which it used to glow, and has brought down to low ground peaks that were once very high, the comfort and lookout of sailors. The works of nature herself are battered, and so we ought to bear the destruction of cities with an even mind."},{"ref":"Letter 91.12","orig":"Casurae stant; omnis hic exitus manet, sive ventorum interna vis flatusque per clusa violenti pondus sub quo tenentur excusserint, sive torrentium impetus in abdito vastior obstantia effregerit, sive flammarum violentia conpaginem soli ruperit, sive vetustas, a qua nihil tutum est, expugnaverit minutatim, sive gravitas caeli egesserit populos et situs deserta corruperit. Enumerare omnes fatorum vias longum est. Hoc unum scio: omnia mortalium opera mortalitate damnata sunt, inter peritura vivimus.","en":"They stand only to fall. This end awaits them all: whether the force of winds trapped within, blowing violently through closed passages, shakes off the weight that holds them down; or the rush of torrents, more violent in its hidden course, breaks through whatever stands in its way; or the violence of flames bursts the framework of the ground; or age, from which nothing is safe, takes them by storm little by little; or an unhealthy climate drains away their peoples and neglect ruins what they have left. It would take too long to list all the paths of fate. This one thing I know: all the works of mortals are condemned to mortality. We live among things that are bound to perish."},{"ref":"Letter 91.13–14","orig":"Haec ergo atque eiusmodi solacia admoveo Liberali nostro incredibili quodam patriae suae amore flagranti, quae fortasse consumpta est ut in melius excitaretur. Saepe maiori fortunae locum fecit iniuria: multa ceciderunt ut altius surgerent. Timagenes, felicitati urbis inimicus, aiebat Romae sibi incendia ob hoc unum dolori esse, quod sciret meliora surrectura quam arsissent. In hac quoque urbe veri simile est certaturos omnes ut maiora celsioraque quam amisere restituant. Sint utinam diuturna et melioribus auspiciis in aevum longius condita! Nam huic coloniae ab origine sua centensimus annus est, aetas ne homini quidem extrema. A Planco deducta in hanc frequentiam loci opportunitate convaluit: quot tamen gravissimos casus intra spatium humanae pertulit senectutis!","en":"These, then, and comforts like them are what I am offering our Liberalis, who burns with an incredible love for his native city. Perhaps it has been consumed so that it may be raised up better. Often a disaster has made room for greater fortune. Many things have fallen in order to rise higher. Timagenes, who resented Rome's prosperity, used to say that fires in Rome grieved him for one reason only: he knew that better buildings would rise than those that had burned. In this city too it is likely that everyone will compete to rebuild greater and loftier buildings than those they have lost. May they last long, and be founded under better auspices for a longer age! For this colony is in only the hundredth year since its foundation, an age not even the limit for a human being. Founded by Plancus, it grew strong to its present population thanks to its favourable site. Yet how many very serious disasters it has endured within the span of a human old age!"},{"ref":"Letter 91.15","orig":"Itaque formetur animus ad intellectum patientiamque sortis suae et sciat nihil inausum esse fortunae, adversus imperia illam idem habere iuris quod adversus imperantis, adversus urbes idem posse quod adversus homines. Nihil horum indignandum est: in eum intravimus mundum in quo his legibus vivitur. Placet: pare. Non placet: quacumque vis exi. Indignare si quid in te iniqui proprie constitutum est; sed si haec summos imosque necessitas alligat, in gratiam cum fato revertere, a quo omnia resolvuntur.","en":"So let the mind be trained to understand and endure its lot, and let it know that there is nothing fortune does not dare, that she has the same rights over empires as over emperors, and the same power over cities as over men. None of this should make us indignant. We have entered a world in which life is lived by these laws. Do you like it? Obey. Do you not like it? Leave by whatever way you wish. Be indignant if some unfairness has been ordained against you in particular. But if this necessity binds the highest and the lowest alike, make your peace with fate, by which all things are dissolved."},{"ref":"Letter 91.16","orig":"Non est quod nos tumulis metiaris et his monumentis quae viam disparia praetexunt: aequat omnis cinis. Inpares nascimur, pares morimur. Idem de urbibus quod de urbium incolis dico: tam Ardea capta quam Roma est. Conditor ille iuris humani non natalibus nos nec nominum claritate distinxit, nisi dum sumus: ubi vero ad finem mortalium ventum est, 'discede' inquit 'ambitio: omnium quae terram premunt siremps lex esto'. Ad omnia patienda pares sumus; nemo altero fragilior est, nemo in crastinum sui certior.","en":"There is no reason for you to measure us by our tombs and by the monuments of different sizes that line the road. All ashes are made equal. We are born unequal; we die equal. I say the same about cities as about their inhabitants: Ardea was captured just as Rome was. The founder of human law did not distinguish us by birth or by the fame of our names, except while we live. But when we come to the end of mortal things, he says: \"Away with ambition! For all that lie upon the earth, let the law be the same.\" We are equal in having to endure everything. No one is more fragile than another, no one more certain of his own tomorrow."},{"ref":"Letter 91.17–18","orig":"Alexander Macedonum rex discere geometriam coeperat, infelix, sciturus quam pusilla terra esset, ex qua minimum occupaverat. Ita dico: 'infelix' ob hoc quod intellegere debebat falsum se gerere cognomen: quis enim esse magnus in pusillo potest? Erant illa quae tradebantur subtilia et diligenti intentione discenda, non quae perciperet vesanus homo et trans oceanum cogitationes suas mittens. 'Facilia' inquit 'me doce'. Cui praeceptor 'ista' inquit 'omnibus eadem sunt, aeque difficilia'. Hoc puta rerum naturam dicere: 'ista de quibus quereris omnibus eadem sunt; nulli dare faciliora possum, sed quisquis volet sibi ipse illa reddet faciliora'. Quomodo? aequanimitate. Et doleas oportet et sitias et esurias et senescas (si tibi longior contigerit inter homines mora) et aegrotes et perdas aliquid et pereas.","en":"Alexander, king of Macedon, had begun to learn geometry, poor man, soon to find out how tiny the earth was, of which he had seized only the smallest part. I say \"poor man\" because he should have understood that he bore a false title. For who can be great in something tiny? What he was being taught was subtle and needed careful attention to learn, not the kind of thing to be grasped by a madman who was sending his thoughts beyond the ocean. \"Teach me the easy parts,\" he said. His teacher answered: \"These things are the same for everyone, equally hard.\" Imagine that nature is saying this: \"The things you complain about are the same for everyone. I cannot give anyone easier ones; but anyone who wishes can make them easier for himself.\" How? By an even temper. You will have to feel pain, and thirst, and hunger, and grow old (if you are granted a longer stay among men), and fall ill, and lose things, and die."},{"ref":"Letter 91.19–20","orig":"Non est tamen quod istis qui te circumstrepunt credas: nihil horum malum est, nihil intolerabile aut durum. Ex consensu istis metus est. Sic mortem times quomodo famam: quid autem stultius homine verba metuente? Eleganter Demetrius noster solet dicere eodem loco sibi esse voces inperitorum quo ventre redditos crepitus. 'Quid enim' inquit 'mea, susum isti an deosum sonent?' Quanta dementia est vereri ne infameris ab infamibus! Quemadmodum famam extimuisti sine causa, sic et illa quae numquam timeres nisi fama iussisset. Num quid detrimenti faceret vir bonus iniquis rumoribus sparsus?","en":"But there is no reason for you to believe the people who clamour around you. None of these things is an evil, none is unbearable or hard. It is only by common agreement that they are feared. You fear death as you fear gossip. And what is more foolish than a man who is afraid of words? Our Demetrius neatly says that the talk of ignorant people means as much to him as the rumblings of a stomach. \"What do I care,\" he says, \"whether they make their noise up above or down below?\" What madness it is to fear being disgraced by the disgraceful! Just as you were afraid of gossip for no reason, so you are afraid of things you would never fear if gossip had not told you to. Would a good man suffer any loss by being spattered with unfair rumours?"},{"ref":"Letter 91.21","orig":"Ne morti quidem hoc apud nos noceat: et haec malam opinionem habet. Nemo eorum qui illam accusat expertus est: interim temeritas est damnare quod nescias. At illud scis, quam multis utilis sit, quam multos liberet tormentis, egestate, querellis, supplicis, taedio. Non sumus in ullius potestate, cum mors in nostra potestate sit. Vale.","en":"Let death not suffer from this either, as far as we are concerned; it too has a bad reputation. None of those who accuse it has tried it. Meanwhile it is rash to condemn what you do not know. But this you do know: how useful it is to many, how many it frees from torture, poverty, complaints, punishments and weariness. We are in no one's power, since death is in ours. Farewell."}],"92":[{"ref":"Letter 92.1","orig":"Puto, inter me teque conveniet externa corpori adquiri, corpus in honorem animi coli, in animo esse partes ministras, per quas movemur alimurque, propter ipsum principale nobis datas. In hoc principali est aliquid inrationale, est et rationale; illud huic servit, hoc unum est quod alio non refertur sed omnia ad se refert. Nam illa quoque divina ratio omnibus praeposita est, ipsa sub nullo est; et haec autem nostra eadem est, quae ex illa est.","en":"I think you and I will agree that external things are acquired for the sake of the body, that the body is cared for out of respect for the mind, and that in the mind there are subordinate parts, through which we move and are nourished, given to us for the sake of the ruling part itself. In this ruling part there is something irrational and something rational. The irrational serves the rational. The rational is the one thing that is not referred to anything else but refers everything to itself. For that divine reason too is set over all things and is itself under none; and this reason of ours is the same, since it comes from that."},{"ref":"Letter 92.2","orig":"Si de hoc inter nos convenit, sequitur ut de illo quoque conveniat, in hoc uno positam esse beatam vitam, ut in nobis ratio perfecta sit. Haec enim sola non summittit animum, stat contra fortunam; in quolibet rerum habitu servitus servat. Id autem unum bonum est quod numquam defringitur. Is est, inquam, beatus quem nulla res minorem facit; tenet summa, et ne ulli quidem nisi sibi innixus; nam qui aliquo auxilio sustinetur potest cadere. Si aliter est, incipient multum in nobis valere non nostra. Quis autem vult constare fortuna aut quis se prudens ob aliena miratur?","en":"If we agree about this, it follows that we agree about this too: that the happy life rests on this one thing, that reason in us is perfect. For this alone does not let the mind sink; it stands firm against fortune; in any state of affairs it keeps us safe. And the only good is the one that is never broken. That man, I say, is happy whom nothing makes smaller. He holds the heights and leans on no one but himself. For whoever is held up by some support can fall. If it is otherwise, things that are not ours will begin to have great power over us. And who wants to depend on fortune, or what sensible man admires himself for things that belong to others?"},{"ref":"Letter 92.3–4","orig":"Quid est beata vita? securitas et perpetua tranquillitas. Hanc dabit animi magnitudo, dabit constantia bene iudicati tenax. Ad haec quomodo pervenitur? si veritas tota perspecta est; si servatus est in rebus agendis ordo, modus, decor, innoxia voluntas ac benigna, intenta rationi nec umquam ab illa recedens, amabilis simul mirabilisque. Denique ut breviter tibi formulam scribam, talis animus esse sapientis viri debet qualis deum deceat. Quid potest desiderare is cui omnia honesta contingunt? Nam si possunt aliquid non honesta conferre ad optimum statum, in his erit beata vita sine quibus non est. Et quid turpius stultiusve quam bonum rationalis animi ex inrationalibus nectere?","en":"What is the happy life? Freedom from care and lasting calm. Greatness of mind will give this, and so will steadiness that holds fast to sound judgements. How does one reach these? If the truth has been seen as a whole; if in doing things one has kept order, measure, fitness, and a will that is harmless and kind, intent on reason and never leaving it, lovable and admirable at once. In short, to write you the formula briefly: the wise man's mind should be such as would befit a god. What can a man want who has everything honourable? For if things that are not honourable can contribute anything to the best condition, the happy life will consist in things without which it does not exist. And what is more shameful or foolish than to tie the good of a rational mind to irrational things?"},{"ref":"Letter 92.5–6","orig":"Quidam tamen augeri summum bonum iudicant, quia parum plenum sit fortuitis repugnantibus. Antipater quoque inter magnos sectae huius auctores aliquid se tribuere dicit externis, sed exiguum admodum. Vides autem quale sit die non esse contentum nisi aliquis igniculus adluxerit: quod potest in hac claritate solis habere scintilla momentum? Si non es sola honestate contentus, necesse est aut quietem adici velis, quam Graeci aochlesian vocant, aut voluptatem. Horum alterum utcumque recipi potest; vacat enim animus molestia liber ad inspectum universi, nihilque illum avocat a contemplatione naturae. Alterum illud, voluptas, bonum pecoris est: adicimus rationali inrationale, honesto inhonestum, magno * * * vitam facit titillatio corporis?","en":"Yet some think the supreme good can be increased, because it is not quite complete when chance things are against it. Even Antipater, one of the great authorities of this school, says he gives some weight to external things, but only very little. But you see what it is like not to be content with daylight unless some little fire has added its glow. What weight can a spark have in this brightness of the sun? If you are not content with honour alone, you must want either rest added, which the Greeks call aochlesia, or pleasure. The first of these can be accepted in some way, for the mind, free of trouble, is at leisure to survey the universe, and nothing calls it away from the contemplation of nature. The second, pleasure, is the good of cattle. We are adding the irrational to the rational, the dishonourable to the honourable, to the great * * * Does a tickling of the body make a life?"},{"ref":"Letter 92.7–8","orig":"Quid ergo dubitatis dicere bene esse homini, si palato bene est? Et hunc tu, non dico inter viros numeras, sed inter homines, cuius summum bonum saporibus et coloribus et sonis constat? Excedat ex hoc animalium numero pulcherrimo ac dis secundo; mutis adgregetur animal pabulo laetum. Inrationalis pars animi duas habet partes, alteram animosam, ambitiosam, inpotentem, positam in adfectionibus, alteram humilem, languidam, voluptatibus deditam: illam effrenatam, meliorem tamen, certe fortiorem ac digniorem viro, reliquerunt, hanc necessariam beatae vitae putaverunt, enervem et abiectam.","en":"Why then do you hesitate to say that a man is well off if his palate is? And do you count him, I will not say among real men, but among human beings, whose supreme good consists of flavours, colours and sounds? Let him leave this most beautiful class of living beings, second only to the gods. Let him join the dumb beasts, a creature happy with its fodder. The irrational part of the mind has two parts. One is spirited, ambitious, uncontrolled, and lies in the passions. The other is low, languid and given over to pleasures. They have left out the first, which is unbridled but better, and certainly braver and more worthy of a man, and thought the second necessary for the happy life, feeble and grovelling as it is."},{"ref":"Letter 92.9","orig":"Huic rationem servire iusserunt, et fecerunt animalis generosissimi summum bonum demissum et ignobile, praeterea mixtum portentosumque et ex diversis ac male congruentibus membris. Nam ut ait Vergilius noster in Scylla, prima hominis facies et pulchro pectore virgo pube tenus, postrema inmani corpore pistrix delphinum caudas utero commissa luporum. Huic tamen Scyllae fera animalia adiuncta sunt, horrenda, velocia: at isti sapientiam ex quibus composuere portentis?","en":"They have ordered reason to serve this part, and have made the supreme good of the noblest of living beings something low and mean, and besides that a monstrous mixture made of different and badly matching limbs. As our Virgil says of Scylla: \"Above, a human face, a maiden with a lovely breast down to the waist; below, a sea monster of huge body, with dolphins' tails joined to a belly of wolves.\" Yet this Scylla had wild animals attached to her, dreadful and swift. What monstrous parts have these people put wisdom together from?"},{"ref":"Letter 92.10","orig":"Prima pars hominis est ipsa virtus; huic committitur inutilis caro et fluida, receptandis tantum cibis habilis, ut ait Posidonius. Virtus illa divina in lubricum desinit et superioribus eius partibus venerandis atque caelestibus animal iners ac marcidum adtexitur. Illa utcumque altera quies nihil quidem ipsa praestabat animo, sed inpedimenta removebat: voluptas ultro dissolvit et omne robur emollit. Quae invenietur tam discors inter se iunctura corporum? Fortissimae rei inertissima adstruitur, severissimae parum seria, sanctissimae intemperans usque ad incesta.","en":"Man's first part is virtue itself. To this is joined useless, flabby flesh, fit only for taking in food, as Posidonius says. That divine virtue ends in something slippery, and to its upper parts, which are worthy of reverence and heavenly, a sluggish, flabby animal is attached. That other thing, rest, whatever it was worth, did not in itself give the mind anything, but it did remove obstacles. Pleasure actually dissolves the mind and softens all its strength. What joining of bodies so discordant could be found? To the bravest thing is added the laziest, to the sternest the most frivolous, to the holiest something unrestrained to the point of incest."},{"ref":"Letter 92.11–12","orig":"'Quid ergo?' inquit 'si virtutem nihil inpeditura sit bona valetudo et quies et dolorum vacatio, non petes illas?' Quidni petam? non quia bona sunt, sed quia secundum naturam sunt, et quia bono a me iudicio sumentur. Quid erit tunc in illis bonum? hoc unum, bene eligi. Nam cum vestem qualem decet sumo, cum ambulo ut oportet, cum ceno quemadmodum debeo, non cena aut ambulatio aut vestis bona sunt, sed meum in iis propositum servantis in quaque re rationi convenientem modum. Etiamnunc adiciam: mundae vestis electio adpetenda est homini; natura enim homo mundum et elegans animal est. Itaque non est bonum per se munda vestis sed mundae vestis electio, quia non in re bonum est sed in electione quali; actiones nostrae honestae sunt, non ipsa quae aguntur.","en":"\"What then?\" he says. \"If good health, rest and freedom from pain are not going to hinder virtue at all, will you not seek them?\" Of course I will seek them, not because they are goods, but because they are in accordance with nature, and because I shall choose them with good judgement. What then will be good in them? Only this: that they are chosen well. For when I put on suitable clothing, when I walk as I should, when I dine as I ought, it is not the dinner or the walk or the clothing that is good, but my purpose in them, keeping in each thing a measure that agrees with reason. I will add this: a man should choose clean clothing, for by nature man is a clean and tidy animal. So what is good is not clean clothing in itself but the choice of clean clothing, since the good lies not in the thing but in the quality of the choice. It is our actions that are honourable, not the things we act upon."},{"ref":"Letter 92.13–14","orig":"Quod de veste dixi, idem me dicere de corpore existima. Nam hoc quoque natura ut quandam vestem animo circumdedit; velamentum eius est. Quis autem umquam vestimenta aestimavit arcula? nec bonum nec malum vagina gladium facit. Ergo de corpore quoque idem tibi respondeo: sumpturum quidem me, si detur electio, et sanitatem et vires, bonum autem futurum iudicium de illis meum, non ipsa. 'Est quidem' inquit 'sapiens beatus; summum tamen illud bonum non consequitur nisi illi et naturalia instrumenta respondeant. Ita miser quidem esse qui virtutem habet non potest, beatissimus autem non est qui naturalibus bonis destituitur, ut valetudine, ut membrorum integritate.'","en":"What I have said about clothing, take me to be saying about the body too. For nature has also put the body round the mind like a kind of garment; it is the mind's covering. But who has ever judged clothes by their chest? A scabbard does not make a sword good or bad. So about the body too I give you the same answer: I will choose health and strength, if I am given the choice, but what will be good is my judgement about them, not the things themselves. \"The wise man is indeed happy,\" he says, \"but he does not attain the supreme good unless the natural instruments also serve him well. So a man who has virtue cannot be wretched, but a man who lacks natural goods, such as health and sound limbs, is not supremely happy.\""},{"ref":"Letter 92.15","orig":"Quod incredibilius videtur, id concedis, aliquem in maximis et continuis doloribus non esse miserum, esse etiam beatum: quod levius est negas, beatissimum esse. Atqui si potest virtus efficere ne miser aliquis sit, facilius efficiet ut beatissimus sit; minus enim intervalli a beato ad beatissimum restat quam a misero ad beatum. An quae res tantum valet ut ereptum calamitatibus inter beatos locet non potest adicere quod superest, ut beatissimum faciat? in summo deficit clivo?","en":"You grant what seems harder to believe: that a man in the greatest and constant pain is not wretched, and is even happy. What is easier, you deny: that he is supremely happy. Yet if virtue can bring it about that someone is not wretched, it will more easily bring it about that he is supremely happy. For the distance from happy to supremely happy is shorter than from wretched to happy. Or can a thing strong enough to snatch a man from disasters and place him among the happy not add what is left, to make him supremely happy? Does it fail at the very top of the slope?"},{"ref":"Letter 92.16","orig":"Commoda sunt in vita et incommoda, utraque extra nos. Si non est miser vir bonus quamvis omnibus prematur incommodis, quomodo non est beatissimus si aliquibus commodis deficitur? Nam quemadmodum incommodorum onere usque ad miserum non deprimitur, sic commodorum inopia non deducitur a beatissimo, sed tam sine commodis beatissimus est quam non est sub incommodis miser; aut potest illi eripi bonum suum, si potest minui.","en":"In life there are advantages and disadvantages, both outside us. If the good man is not wretched though he is weighed down by every disadvantage, how is he not supremely happy if he lacks some advantages? For just as he is not pressed down to wretchedness by the burden of disadvantages, so he is not drawn away from supreme happiness by a lack of advantages. He is as supremely happy without advantages as he is not wretched under disadvantages. Otherwise his good can be taken from him, if it can be lessened."},{"ref":"Letter 92.17–18","orig":"Paulo ante dicebam igniculum nihil conferre lumini solis; claritate enim eius quidquid sine illo luceret absconditur. 'Sed quaedam' inquit 'soli quoque opstant.' At sol integer est etiam inter opposita, et quamvis aliquid interiacet quod nos prohibeat eius aspectu, in opere est, cursu suo fertur; quotiens inter nubila eluxit, non est sereno minor, ne tardior quidem, quoniam multum interest utrum aliquid obstet tantum an inpediat. Eodem modo virtuti opposita nihil detrahunt: non est minor, sed minus fulget. Nobis forsitan non aeque apparet ac nitet, sibi eadem est et more solis obscuri in occulto vim suam exercet. Hoc itaque adversus virtutem possunt calamitates et damna et iniuriae quod adversus solem potest nebula.","en":"A little while ago I was saying that a small fire adds nothing to the light of the sun; for in the sun's brightness whatever would shine without it is hidden. \"But some things,\" he says, \"block even the sun.\" But the sun is whole even when things are in its way, and although something lies between us and keeps us from seeing it, it is at work and follows its course. Whenever it has shone out between the clouds, it is no smaller than in clear weather, not even slower, since there is a great difference between something merely being in the way and actually hindering. In the same way, obstacles take nothing away from virtue. It is not smaller; it only shines less. To us perhaps it is not as visible and bright, but to itself it is the same, and like the sun when hidden it exerts its power unseen. So disasters, losses and wrongs have the same power against virtue as a cloud has against the sun."},{"ref":"Letter 92.19","orig":"Invenitur qui dicat sapientem corpore parum prospero usum nec miserum esse nec beatum. Hic quoque fallitur; exaequat enim fortuita virtutibus et tantundem tribuit honestis quantum honestate carentibus. Quid autem foedius, quid indignius quam comparari veneranda contemptis? Veneranda enim sunt iustitia, pietas, fides, fortitudo, prudentia: e contrario vilia sunt quae saepe contingunt pleniora vilissimis, crus solidum et lacertus et dentes et horum sanitas firmitasque.","en":"There is someone who says that a wise man whose body is in poor shape is neither wretched nor happy. He too is wrong, for he puts chance things on a level with the virtues and gives the honourable no more weight than things without honour. But what is uglier or more unworthy than comparing things that deserve reverence with things that deserve contempt? Justice, piety, loyalty, courage and prudence deserve reverence. On the other hand, things that often come in fuller measure to the lowest people are cheap: a sturdy leg, a strong arm, good teeth, and their health and firmness."},{"ref":"Letter 92.20","orig":"Deinde si sapiens cui corpus molestum est nec miser habebitur nec beatus, sed in medio relinquetur, vita quoque eius nec adpetenda erit nec fugienda. Quid autem tam absurdum quam sapientis vitam adpetendam non esse? aut quid tam extra fidem quam esse aliquam vitam nec adpetendam nec fugiendam? Deinde si damna corporis miserum non faciunt, beatum esse patiuntur; nam quibus potentia non est in peiorem transferendi statum, ne interpellandi quidem optimum.","en":"Besides, if a wise man troubled by his body is to be thought neither wretched nor happy, but left in the middle, then his life too will be neither to be sought nor to be avoided. But what is so absurd as saying that the wise man's life is not to be sought? Or what is so beyond belief as a life that is neither to be sought nor to be avoided? Again, if bodily losses do not make a man wretched, they allow him to be happy. For things that have no power to move him to a worse state have no power even to interrupt the best."},{"ref":"Letter 92.21–22","orig":"'Frigidum' inquit 'aliquid et calidum novimus, inter utrumque tepidum est; sic aliquis beatus est, aliquis miser, aliquis nec beatus nec miser.' Volo hanc contra nos positam imaginem excutere. Si tepido illi plus frigidi ingessero, fiet frigidum; si plus calidi adfudero, fiet novissime calidum. At huic nec misero nec beato quantumcumque ad miserias adiecero, miser non erit, quemadmodum dicitis; ergo imago ista dissimilis est. Deinde trado tibi hominem nec miserum nec beatum. Huic adicio caecitatem: non fit miser; adicio debilitatem: non fit miser; adicio dolores continuos et graves: miser non fit. Quem tam multa mala in miseram vitam non transferunt ne ex beata quidem educunt.","en":"\"We know something cold and something hot,\" he says, \"and between them is the lukewarm. In the same way, one person is happy, another wretched, and another neither happy nor wretched.\" I want to examine this comparison, which is set against us. If I add more cold to that lukewarm thing, it will become cold. If I pour in more heat, it will in the end become hot. But however much I add to the troubles of this man who is neither wretched nor happy, he will not become wretched, as you yourselves say. So the comparison does not fit. Next, I hand you a man who is neither wretched nor happy. I add blindness to him: he does not become wretched. I add lameness: he does not become wretched. I add constant and severe pain: he does not become wretched. A man whom so many evils do not move into a wretched life is not led out of a happy life either."},{"ref":"Letter 92.23","orig":"Si non potest, ut dicitis, sapiens ex beato in miserum decidere, non potest in non beatum. Quare enim qui labi coepit alicubi subsistat? quae res illum non patitur ad imum devolvi retinet in summo. Quidni non possit beata vita rescindi? ne remitti quidem potest, et ideo virtus ad illam per se ipsa satis est.","en":"If, as you say, the wise man cannot fall from happiness into wretchedness, he cannot fall into unhappiness either. For why should someone who has begun to slip stop somewhere? Whatever keeps him from rolling to the bottom holds him at the top. Why can the happy life not be broken off? It cannot even be loosened. And that is why virtue by itself is enough for it."},{"ref":"Letter 92.24","orig":"'Quid ergo?' inquit 'sapiens non est beatior qui diutius vixit, quem nullus avocavit dolor, quam ille qui cum mala fortuna semper luctatus est?' Responde mihi: numquid et melior est et honestior? Si haec non sunt, ne beatior quidem est. Rectius vivat oportet ut beatius vivat: si rectius non potest, ne beatius quidem. Non intenditur virtus, ergo ne beata quidem vita, quae ex virtute est. Virtus enim tantum bonum est ut istas accessiones minutas non sentiat, brevitatem aevi et dolorem et corporum varias offensiones; nam voluptas non est digna ad quam respiciat.","en":"\"What then?\" he says. \"Is the wise man who has lived longer and has never been distracted by pain not happier than the one who has always wrestled with bad fortune?\" Answer me: is he also better and more honourable? If not, he is not happier either. He would have to live more rightly in order to live more happily. If he cannot live more rightly, he cannot live more happily either. Virtue is not intensified, so neither is the happy life, which comes from virtue. For virtue is so great a good that it does not feel these small additions: shortness of life, pain, and the various ailments of the body. As for pleasure, it does not deserve even a glance from virtue."},{"ref":"Letter 92.25","orig":"Quid est in virtute praecipuum? futuro non indigere nec dies suos conputare. In quantulo libet tempore bona aeterna consummat. Incredibilia nobis haec videntur et supra humanam naturam excurrentia; maiestatem enim eius ex nostra inbecillitate metimur et vitiis nostris nomen virtutis inponimus. Quid porro? non aeque incredibile videtur aliquem in summis cruciatibus positum dicere 'beatus sum'? Atqui haec vox in ipsa officina voluptatis audita est. 'Beatissimum' inquit 'hunc et ultimum diem ago' Epicurus, cum illum hinc urinae difficultas torqueret, hinc insanabilis exulcerati dolor ventris.","en":"What is the chief thing about virtue? That it does not need the future or count its days. In however short a time, it completes eternal goods. These things seem incredible to us and to go beyond human nature, for we measure its greatness by our own weakness and give the name of virtue to our vices. What more? Does it not seem just as incredible that a man in the greatest agony should say, \"I am happy\"? Yet this cry was heard in the very workshop of pleasure. \"I am spending this happiest and last day,\" said Epicurus, when he was tortured on one side by difficulty passing urine and on the other by the incurable pain of an ulcerated stomach."},{"ref":"Letter 92.26–27","orig":"Quare ergo incredibilia ista sint apud eos qui virtutem colunt, cum apud eos quoque reperiantur apud quos voluptas imperavit? Hi quoque degeneres et humillimae mentis aiunt in summis doloribus, in summis calamitatibus sapientem nec miserum futurum nec beatum. Atqui hoc quoque incredibile est, immo incredibilius; non video enim quomodo non in imum agatur e fastigio suo deiecta virtus. Aut beatum praestare debet aut, si ab hoc depulsa est, non prohibebit fieri miserum. Stans non potest mitti: aut vincatur oportet aut vincat. 'Dis' inquit 'inmortalibus solis et virtus et beata vita contigit, nobis umbra quaedam illorum bonorum et similitudo; accedimus ad illa, non pervenimus.' Ratio vero dis hominibusque communis est: haec in illis consummata est, in nobis consummabilis.","en":"Why then should these things be incredible among those who cultivate virtue, when they are found even among those ruled by pleasure? These people too, degenerate and of the lowest mind, say that in the greatest pains and the greatest disasters the wise man will be neither wretched nor happy. Yet this too is incredible, or rather more incredible. For I do not see how virtue, once thrown down from its height, is not driven to the bottom. Either it must make a man happy, or, if it has been driven from this, it will not prevent him from becoming wretched. While it stands, it cannot be dismissed; it must either be defeated or win. \"Only the immortal gods,\" he says, \"have virtue and the happy life. We have a kind of shadow and likeness of those goods. We approach them, but do not reach them.\" But reason is common to gods and men. In them it is perfected; in us it can be perfected."},{"ref":"Letter 92.28–29","orig":"Sed ad desperationem nos vitia nostra perducunt. Nam ille alter secundus est ut aliquis parum constans ad custodienda optima, cuius iudicium labat etiamnunc et incertum est. Desideret oculorum atque aurium sensum, bonam valetudinem et non foedum aspectum corporis et habitu manente suo aetatis praeterea longius spatium. Per haec potest non paenitenda agi vita, at inperfecto viro huic malitiae vis quaedam inest, quia animum habet mobilem ad prava, illa aitarens malitia et ea agitata abest. Non est adhuc bonus, sed in bonum fingitur; cuicumque autem deest aliquid ad bonum, malus est.","en":"But our vices lead us to despair. For that second kind of man, someone not steady enough to guard the best things, whose judgement still wavers and is uncertain, is only second best. He may want his eyesight and hearing, good health, a body not ugly to look at, keeping its condition, and a longer span of life besides. With these he can live a life he need not regret. But in this imperfect man there is still some force of wickedness, because his mind can be moved towards wrong, even if fully developed and active wickedness is absent. He is not yet good, but he is being shaped towards good. And whoever falls short of the good in anything is bad."},{"ref":"Letter 92.30","orig":"Sed si cui virtus animusque in corpore praesens, hic deos aequat, illo tendit originis suae memor. Nemo inprobe eo conatur ascendere unde descenderat. Quid est autem cur non existimes in eo divini aliquid existere qui dei pars est? Totum hoc quo continemur et unum est et deus; et socii sumus eius et membra. Capax est noster animus, perfertur illo si vitia non deprimant. Quemadmodum corporum nostrorum habitus erigitur et spectat in caelum, ita animus, cui in quantum vult licet porrigi, in hoc a natura rerum formatus est, ut paria dis vellet; et si utatur suis viribus ac se in spatium suum extendat, non aliena via ad summa nititur.","en":"But \"if anyone has virtue and a mind present in his body,\" that man equals the gods; he strives towards them, mindful of where he came from. No one is wrong to try to climb back up to where he came down from. And why should you not think there is something divine in one who is part of God? This whole which contains us is one, and it is God; we are his partners and his limbs. Our mind has the capacity; it is carried there if vices do not drag it down. Just as the posture of our bodies is upright and looks towards the sky, so the mind, which may reach out as far as it wishes, has been shaped by nature for this purpose: to want to be equal to the gods. And if it uses its own strength and stretches out into its own space, it strives for the heights by no path foreign to it."},{"ref":"Letter 92.31–32","orig":"Magnus erat labor ire in caelum: redit. Cum hoc iter nactus est, vadit audaciter contemptor omnium nec ad pecuniam respicit aurumque et argentum, illis in quibus iacuere tenebris dignissima, non ab hoc aestimat splendore quo inperitorum verberant oculos, sed a vetere caeno ex quo illa secrevit cupiditas nostra et effodit. Scit, inquam, aliubi positas esse divitias quam quo congeruntur; animum impleri debere, non arcam. Hunc inponere dominio rerum omnium licet, hunc in possessionem rerum naturae inducere, ut sua orientis occidentisque terminis finiat, deorumque ritu cuncta possideat, cum opibus suis divites superne despiciat, quorum nemo tam suo laetus est quam tristis alieno.","en":"It would be a great labour to go up to heaven; the mind returns there. Once it has found this road, it walks boldly on, despising everything. It does not look back at money. Gold and silver, which fully deserve the darkness they lay in, it values not by the glitter with which they dazzle the eyes of the ignorant, but by the ancient mud from which our greed separated and dug them out. It knows, I say, that riches are stored somewhere other than where they are piled up, and that it is the mind that must be filled, not the strongbox. This mind may be set in control of all things and put in possession of the natural world, so that it bounds its own property by the limits of east and west, and possesses everything as the gods do, looking down from on high on the rich with their wealth, none of whom is as glad of his own as he is sad at another's."},{"ref":"Letter 92.33–34","orig":"Cum se in hanc sublimitatem tulit, corporis quoque ut oneris necessarii non amator sed procurator est, nec se illi cui inpositus est subicit. Nemo liber est qui corpori servit; nam ut alios dominos quos nimia pro illo sollicitudo invenit transeas, ipsius morosum imperium delicatumque est. Ab hoc modo aequo animo exit, modo magno prosilit, nec quis deinde relicti eius futurus sit exitus quaerit; sed ut ex barba capilloque tonsa neglegimus, ita ille divinus animus egressurus hominem, quo receptaculum suum conferatur, ignis illud excludat an terra contegat an ferae distrahant, non magis ad se iudicat pertinere quam secundas ad editum infantem. Utrum proiectum aves differant an consumatur canibus data praeda marinis, quid ad illum qui nullus est?","en":"When the mind has carried itself to this height, it treats the body too as a necessary burden, not loving it but taking care of it, and it does not put itself under what it has been set over. No one who is a slave to his body is free. For, to pass over the other masters that too much anxiety for the body finds for it, the body's own rule is peevish and fussy. The mind leaves the body sometimes calmly, sometimes with a great leap, and does not ask what will become of what it has left behind. Just as we pay no attention to the clippings of our beard and hair, so that divine mind, about to leave the human being, thinks it no more its concern where its former home goes, whether fire burns it up, earth covers it or wild beasts tear it apart, than the afterbirth is to a newborn baby. Whether birds pull apart the body thrown out, or it is \"eaten, given as prey to the dogs of the sea,\" what does that matter to one who no longer exists?"},{"ref":"Letter 92.35","orig":"Sed tunc quoque cum inter homines est, non timet ullas post mortem minas eorum quibus usque ad mortem timeri parum est. 'Non conterret' inquit 'me nec uncus nec proiecti ad contumeliam cadaveris laceratio foeda visuris. Neminem de supremo officio rogo, nulli reliquias meas commendo. Ne quis insepultus esset rerum natura prospexit: quem saevitia proiecerit dies condet.' Diserte Maecenas ait, nec tumulum curo: sepelit natura relictos. Alte cinctum putes dixisse; habuit enim ingenium et grande et virile, nisi illud secunda discinxissent. Vale.","en":"But even while it is among men, it does not fear any threats after death from those for whom being feared up to the point of death is not enough. \"I am not terrified,\" it says, \"by the hook, or by the mangling of a corpse thrown out to be abused, a foul sight for those who will see it. I ask no one for the last rites; I entrust my remains to no one. Nature has seen to it that no one goes unburied. Whom cruelty has thrown out, time will bury.\" Maecenas puts it eloquently: \"I do not care for a tomb: nature buries those left behind.\" You would think a man with his belt tightly fastened had said it. For he had a great and manly talent, had prosperity not loosened its belt. Farewell."}],"93":[{"ref":"Letter 93.1–2","orig":"In epistula qua de morte Metronactis philosophi querebaris, tamquam et potuisset diutius vivere et debuisset, aequitatem tuam desideravi, quae tibi in omni persona, in omni negotio superest, in una re deest, in qua omnibus: multos inveni aequos adversus homines, adversus deos neminem. Obiurgamus cotidie fatum: 'quare ille in medio cursu raptus est? quare ille non rapitur? quare senectutem et sibi et aliis gravem extendit?' Utrum, obsecro te, aequius iudicas, te naturae an tibi parere naturam? quid autem interest quam cito exeas unde utique exeundum est? Non ut diu vivamus curandum est, sed ut satis; nam ut diu vivas fato opus est, ut satis, animo. Longa est vita si plena est; impletur autem cum animus sibi bonum suum reddidit et ad se potestatem sui transtulit.","en":"In the letter in which you complained about the death of the philosopher Metronax, as if he could and should have lived longer, I missed your sense of fairness. You have plenty of it for every person and every business, but you lack it in one matter, as everyone does. I have found many who are fair towards men, but none who is fair towards the gods. Every day we scold fate: \"Why was he snatched away in mid-course? Why is that man not snatched away? Why does he drag out an old age that is a burden to himself and to others?\" Tell me, which do you think is fairer: that you should obey nature, or that nature should obey you? And what difference does it make how soon you leave a place you must leave anyway? We should take care not to live long but to live enough. For living long needs fate; living enough needs the mind. A life is long if it is full. And it is filled when the mind has given itself its own good and taken control of itself."},{"ref":"Letter 93.3","orig":"Quid illum octoginta anni iuvant per inertiam exacti? non vixit iste sed in vita moratus est, nec sero mortuus est, sed diu. 'Octoginta annis vixit.' Interest mortem eius ex quo die numeres. 'At ille obiit viridis.'","en":"What good are eighty years spent in idleness? That man has not lived; he has lingered in life. He did not die late; he died slowly. \"He lived eighty years.\" It depends from what day you count his death. \"But that other man died in his prime.\""},{"ref":"Letter 93.4","orig":"Sed officia boni civis, boni amici, boni filii executus est; in nulla parte cessavit; licet aetas eius inperfecta sit, vita perfecta est. 'Octoginta annis vixit.' Immo octoginta annis fuit, nisi forte sic vixisse eum dicis quomodo dicuntur arbores vivere. Obsecro te, Lucili, hoc agamus ut quemadmodum pretiosa rerum sic vita nostra non multum pateat sed multum pendeat; actu illam metiamur, non tempore. Vis scire quid inter hunc intersit vegetum contemptoremque fortunae functum omnibus vitae humanae stipendiis atque in summum bonum eius evectum et illum cui multi anni transmissi sunt? alter post mortem quoque est, alter ante mortem perit.","en":"But he carried out the duties of a good citizen, a good friend and a good son; he failed in no respect. Though his lifetime was incomplete, his life was complete. \"He lived eighty years.\" No, he existed for eighty years, unless perhaps you mean he lived in the sense that trees are said to live. I beg you, Lucilius, let us make it our business that our life, like precious things, is not large in extent but heavy in weight. Let us measure it by what it does, not by its length. Do you want to know the difference between this vigorous man, who despised fortune, completed every campaign of human life and rose to its highest good, and the man over whom many years have passed? One lives on even after death; the other is dead before he dies."},{"ref":"Letter 93.5–6","orig":"Laudemus itaque et in numero felicium reponamus eum cui quantulumcumque temporis contigit bene conlocatum est. Vidit enim veram lucem; non fuit unus e multis; et vixit et viguit. Aliquando sereno usus est, aliquando, ut solet, validi sideris fulgor per nubila emicuit. Quid quaeris quamdiu vixerit? vivit: ad posteros usque transiluit et se in memoriam dedit. Nec ideo mihi plures annos accedere recusaverim; nihil tamen mihi ad beatam vitam defuisse dicam si spatium eius inciditur; non enim ad eum diem me aptavi quem ultimum mihi spes avida promiserat, sed nullum non tamquam ultimum aspexi. Quid me interrogas quando natus sim, an inter iuniores adhuc censear? habeo meum.","en":"So let us praise and count among the happy the man who has used well whatever little time was granted to him. He has seen the true light. He was not one of the many. He both lived and flourished. Sometimes he enjoyed clear skies; sometimes, as happens, the glow of a mighty star flashed out through the clouds. Why ask how long he lived? He lives: he has leapt across to later generations and given himself to memory. That does not mean I would refuse more years for myself. Yet I will say that I lacked nothing for a happy life if its span is cut short. For I have not fitted myself to the day that greedy hope promised me would be my last; I have looked on every day as if it were the last. Why do you ask me when I was born, or whether I am still counted among the younger men? I have what is mine."},{"ref":"Letter 93.7–8","orig":"Quemadmodum in minore corporis habitu potest homo esse perfectus, sic et in minore temporis modo potest vita esse perfecta. Aetas inter externa est. Quamdiu sim alienum est: quamdiu ero, vere ut sim, meum est. Hoc a me exige, ne velut per tenebras aevum ignobile emetiar, ut agam vitam, non ut praetervehar. Quaeris quod sit amplissimum vitae spatium? usque ad sapientiam vivere; qui ad illam pervenit attigit non longissimum finem, sed maximum. Ille vero glorietur audacter et dis agat gratias interque eos sibi, et rerum naturae inputet quod fuit. Merito enim inputabit: meliorem illi vitam reddidit quam accepit. Exemplar boni viri posuit, qualis quantusque esset ostendit; si quid adiecisset, fuisset simile praeterito.","en":"Just as a man can be perfect in a smaller body, so a life can be perfect in a smaller measure of time. Age is one of the external things. How long I shall exist is not up to me; how truly I shall exist while I do is up to me. Demand this of me: that I do not measure out an inglorious lifetime as if through darkness, that I live my life and do not just ride past it. Do you ask what the fullest span of life is? Living until you reach wisdom. Whoever has reached it has attained not the longest goal but the greatest. Let him boast boldly, thank the gods and, among them, himself, and credit nature with the fact that he has existed. He will be right to credit it, for he has given back to nature a better life than he received. He has set up the model of a good man and shown what kind of man he was and how great. If he had added anything, it would have been like what went before."},{"ref":"Letter 93.9","orig":"Et tamen quousque vivimus? Omnium rerum cognitione fruiti sumus: scimus a quibus principiis natura se attollat, quemadmodum ordinet mundum, per quas annum vices revocet, quemadmodum omnia quae usquam erunt cluserit et se ipsam finem sui fecerit; scimus sidera impetu suo vadere, praeter terram nihil stare, cetera continua velocitate decurrere; scimus quemadmodum solem luna praetereat, quare tardior velociorem post se relinquat, quomodo lumen accipiat aut perdat, quae causa inducat noctem, quae reducat diem: illuc eundum est ubi ista propius aspicias.","en":"And yet how long do we live? We have enjoyed knowledge of all things. We know from what first principles nature raises herself, how she orders the universe, through what changes she brings back the year, how she has enclosed everything that will ever exist and made herself her own limit. We know that the stars move by their own motion, that nothing stands still except the earth, and that everything else runs on with constant speed. We know how the moon overtakes the sun, why the slower leaves the faster behind it, how it receives or loses its light, what cause brings on the night and what brings back the day. We must go to the place where you can look at these things more closely."},{"ref":"Letter 93.10–11","orig":"'Nec hac spe' inquit sapiens ille 'fortius exeo, quod patere mihi ad deos meos iter iudico. Merui quidem admitti et iam inter illos fui animumque illo meum misi et ad me illi suum miserant. Sed tolli me de medio puta et post mortem nihil ex homine restare: aeque magnum animum habeo, etiam si nusquam transiturus excedo.' Non tam multis vixit annis quam potuit. Et paucorum versuum liber est et quidem laudandus atque utilis: annales Tanusii scis quam ponderosi sint et quid vocentur. Hoc est vita quorundam longa, et quod Tanusii sequitur annales.","en":"\"Nor do I leave more bravely,\" says the wise man, \"because of this hope, that I believe the road lies open to me to my gods. I have indeed earned admission, and I have already been among them; I have sent my mind there, and they had sent theirs to me. But suppose I am removed altogether and nothing is left of a man after death: I have just as great a spirit, even if I depart to go nowhere.\" He did not live as many years as he could have. But a book of few lines can also be praiseworthy and useful. You know how weighty the annals of Tanusius are and what they are called. That is what the long life of some people is like, and it shares what goes with the annals of Tanusius."},{"ref":"Letter 93.12","orig":"Numquid feliciorem iudicas eum qui summo die muneris quam eum qui medio occiditur? numquid aliquem tam stulte cupidum esse vitae putas ut iugulari in spoliario quam in harena malit? Non maiore spatio alter alterum praecedimus. Mors per omnis it; qui occidit consequitur occisum. Minimum est de quo sollicitissime agitur. Quid autem ad rem pertinet quam diu vites quod evitare non possis? Vale.","en":"Do you think the man killed on the last day of the games is happier than the one killed in the middle of them? Do you think anyone is so foolishly greedy for life that he would rather have his throat cut in the stripping room than in the arena? None of us goes before another by any great interval. Death passes through everyone; the killer follows the killed. What we worry about so anxiously is the smallest of matters. And what does it matter how long you avoid what you cannot avoid? Farewell."}],"94":[{"ref":"Letter 94.1–2","orig":"Eam partem philosophiae quae dat propria cuique personae praecepta nec in universum componit hominem sed marito suadet quomodo se gerat adversus uxorem, patri quomodo educet liberos, domino quomodo servos regat, quidam solam receperunt, ceteras quasi extra utilitatem nostram vagantis reliquerunt, tamquam quis posset de parte suadere nisi qui summam prius totius vitae conplexus esset. Ariston Stoicus e contrario hanc partem levem existimat et quae non descendat in pectus usque, anilia habentem praecepta; plurimum ait proficere ipsa decreta philosophiae constitutionemque summi boni; 'quam qui bene intellexit ac didicit quid in quaque re faciendum sit sibi ipse praecipit.'","en":"Some people have accepted only that part of philosophy which gives precepts suited to each role and does not shape the human being as a whole, but advises a husband how to behave towards his wife, a father how to bring up his children, a master how to manage his slaves. They have left the other parts aside as wandering beyond what is useful to us, as if anyone could give advice about a part without first having grasped the sum of life as a whole. Aristo the Stoic, on the other hand, thinks this part trivial and says it does not get down into the heart, since its precepts are fit for old women. He says the greatest benefit comes from the doctrines of philosophy themselves and from the definition of the supreme good. \"Whoever has understood this well and learned it gives himself precepts about what to do in every situation.\""},{"ref":"Letter 94.3–4","orig":"Quemadmodum qui iaculari discit destinatum locum captat et manum format ad derigenda quae mittit, cum hanc vim ex disciplina et exercitatione percepit, quocumque vult illa utitur (didicit enim non hoc aut illud ferire sed quodcumque voluerit), sic qui se ad totam vitam instruxit non desiderat particulatim admoneri, doctus in totum, non enim quomodo cum uxore aut cum filio viveret sed quomodo bene viveret: in hoc est et quomodo cum uxore ac liberis vivat. Cleanthes utilem quidem iudicat et hanc partem, sed inbecillam nisi ab universo fluit, nisi decreta ipsa philosophiae et capita cognovit. In duas ergo quaestiones locus iste dividitur: utrum utilis an inutilis sit, et an solus virum bonum possit efficere, id est utrum supervacuus sit an omnis faciat supervacuos.","en":"Someone learning to throw the javelin aims at a set target and trains his hand to direct what he throws. Once he has acquired this ability through instruction and practice, he uses it wherever he likes, for he has learned to hit not this or that but whatever he wishes. In the same way, a man who has equipped himself for the whole of life does not need to be advised point by point. He has been taught about the whole, not how to live with his wife or his son, but how to live well, and that includes how to live with his wife and children. Cleanthes thinks this part is useful too, but weak unless it flows from the whole, unless it knows the doctrines and main heads of philosophy. So this topic divides into two questions: whether it is useful or useless, and whether it alone can make a good man, that is, whether it is superfluous or makes everything else superfluous."},{"ref":"Letter 94.5","orig":"Qui hanc partem videri volunt supervacuam hoc aiunt: si quid oculis oppositum moratur aciem, removendum est; illo quidem obiecto operam perdit qui praecipit 'sic ambulabis, illo manum porriges'. Eodem modo ubi aliqua res occaecat animum et ad officiorum dispiciendum ordinem inpedit, nihil agit qui praecipit 'sic vives cum patre, sic cum uxore'. Nihil enim proficient praecepta quamdiu menti error offusus est: si ille discutitur, apparebit quid cuique debeatur officio. Alioqui doces illum quid sano faciendum sit, non efficis sanum.","en":"Those who want this part to be thought superfluous say this. If something placed in front of the eyes blocks their sight, it must be removed. As long as it is in the way, a man wastes his effort in instructing, \"Walk like this, stretch out your hand that way.\" In the same way, when something blinds the mind and keeps it from seeing the order of its duties, a man achieves nothing by instructing, \"Live like this with your father, like this with your wife.\" For precepts will do no good as long as error clouds the mind. If the error is cleared away, it will become plain what is owed to each duty. Otherwise you are teaching him what a healthy man ought to do, not making him healthy."},{"ref":"Letter 94.6","orig":"Pauperi ut agat divitem monstras: hoc quomodo manente paupertate fieri potest? Ostendis esurienti quid tamquam satur faciat: fixam potius medullis famem detrahe. Idem tibi de omnibus vitiis dico: ipsa removenda sunt, non praecipiendum quod fieri illis manentibus non potest. Nisi opiniones falsas quibus laboramus expuleris, nec avarus quomodo pecunia utendum sit exaudiet nec timidus quomodo periculosa contemnat.","en":"You show a poor man how to act like a rich one: how can that be done while he stays poor? You show a hungry man what to do as if he were full: better to take away the hunger fixed in his marrow. I say the same about all the vices. The vices themselves must be removed; there is no point in prescribing what cannot be done while they remain. Unless you drive out the false opinions we suffer from, the greedy man will not listen to how money should be used, nor the coward to how he should despise dangers."},{"ref":"Letter 94.7","orig":"Efficias oportet ut sciat pecuniam nec bonum nec malum esse; ostendas illi miserrimos divites; efficias ut quidquid publice expavimus sciat non esse tam timendum quam fama circumfert, nec diu dolere quemquam nec mori saepe: in morte, quam pati lex est, magnum esse solacium quod ad neminem redit; in dolore pro remedio futuram obstinationem animi, qui levius sibi facit quidquid contumaciter passus est; optimam doloris esse naturam, quod non potest nec qui extenditur magnus esse nec qui est magnus extendi; omnia fortiter excipienda quae nobis mundi necessitas imperat.","en":"You must bring him to know that money is neither good nor bad. You must show him that the rich are most wretched. You must make him know that whatever we are all afraid of is not as fearful as rumour spreads it to be: that no one suffers pain for long or dies often; that in death, which it is our law to suffer, there is great comfort in the fact that it comes to no one twice; that in pain the mind's resolve will serve as a remedy, for the mind makes lighter whatever it has endured defiantly; that pain has the excellent property that when it lasts long it cannot be great, and when it is great it cannot last long; and that we must bravely accept everything that the necessity of the universe commands of us."},{"ref":"Letter 94.8–9","orig":"His decretis cum illum in conspectum suae condicionis adduxeris et cognoverit beatam esse vitam non quae secundum voluptatem est sed secundum naturam, cum virtutem unicum bonum hominis adamaverit, turpitudinem solum malum fugerit, reliqua omnia – divitias, honores, bonam valetudinem, vires, imperia – scierit esse mediam partem nec bonis adnumerandam nec malis, monitorem non desiderabit ad singula qui dicat 'sic incede, sic cena; hoc viro, hoc feminae, hoc marito, hoc caelibi convenit'. Ista enim qui diligentissime monent ipsi facere non possunt; haec paedagogus puero, haec avia nepoti praecipit, et irascendum non esse magister iracundissimus disputat. Si ludum litterarium intraveris, scies ista quae ingenti supercilio philosophi iactant in puerili esse praescripto.","en":"When by these doctrines you have brought him to see his own condition, and he has learned that the happy life is not the one that accords with pleasure but the one that accords with nature, when he has come to love virtue as man's only good and to shun disgrace as the only evil, and has learned that everything else, wealth, honours, good health, strength, power, belongs to the middle ground and should be counted neither among goods nor among evils, he will not need an adviser for each detail to tell him: \"Walk like this, dine like this; this suits a man, this a woman, this a husband, this a bachelor.\" For the people who give such advice most carefully cannot follow it themselves. The tutor prescribes these things to a boy, the grandmother to her grandson, and the most bad-tempered schoolmaster argues that one should not lose one's temper. If you go into an elementary school, you will learn that what philosophers toss about with such lofty airs is found in the copybooks for children."},{"ref":"Letter 94.10–11","orig":"Utrum deinde manifesta an dubia praecipies? Non desiderant manifesta monitorem, praecipienti dubia non creditur; supervacuum est ergo praecipere. Id adeo sic disce: si id mones quod obscurum est et ambiguum, probationibus adiuvandum erit; si probaturus es, illa per quae probas plus valent satisque per se sunt. 'Sic amico utere, sic cive, sic socio.' 'Quare?' 'Quia iustum est.' Omnia ista mihi de iustitia locus tradit: illic invenio aequitatem per se expetendam, nec metu nos ad illam cogi nec mercede conduci, non esse iustum cui quidquam in hac virtute placet praeter ipsam. Hoc cum persuasi mihi et perbibi, quid ista praecepta proficiunt quae eruditum docent? praecepta dare scienti supervacuum est, nescienti parum; audire enim debet non tantum quid sibi praecipiatur sed etiam quare.","en":"Next, will you give precepts that are obvious or doubtful? Obvious ones need no adviser, and someone who gives doubtful ones is not believed. So giving precepts is superfluous. Learn it this way too. If you give advice that is obscure and ambiguous, you will need to support it with proofs. If you are going to prove it, the proofs are more powerful and enough in themselves. \"Treat a friend like this, a fellow citizen like this, a partner like this.\" \"Why?\" \"Because it is just.\" The topic of justice teaches me all that. There I find that fairness is to be sought for its own sake, that we are neither forced to it by fear nor hired to it by reward, and that no one is just who likes anything in this virtue except the virtue itself. Once I have convinced myself of this and absorbed it, what good are these precepts that teach a man who is already educated? Giving precepts to someone who knows is superfluous; to someone who does not know, it is not enough. For he ought to hear not only what he is told to do but also why."},{"ref":"Letter 94.12–13","orig":"Utrum, inquam, veras opiniones habenti de bonis malisque sunt necessaria an non habenti? Qui non habet nihil a te adiuvabitur, aures eius contraria monitionibus tuis fama possedit; qui habet exactum iudicium de fugiendis petendisque scit quid sibi faciendum sit etiam te tacente. Tota ergo pars ista philosophiae summoveri potest. Duo sunt propter quae delinquimus: aut inest animo pravis opinionibus malitia contracta aut, etiam si non est falsis occupatus, ad falsa proclivis est et cito specie quo non oportet trahente corrumpitur. Itaque debemus aut percurare mentem aegram et vitiis liberare aut vacantem quidem sed ad peiora pronam praeoccupare. Utrumque decreta philosophiae faciunt; ergo tale praecipiendi genus nil agit.","en":"Are precepts necessary, I ask, for someone who holds true opinions about good and evil, or for someone who does not? The one who does not will get no help from you; rumour contrary to your advice has taken possession of his ears. The one who has an exact judgement about what to avoid and what to seek knows what to do even if you are silent. So this whole part of philosophy can be removed. There are two reasons why we go wrong. Either there is wickedness in the mind, contracted from wrong opinions, or, even if the mind is not taken over by falsehoods, it is prone to them and quickly corrupted when some appearance draws it where it should not go. So we must either thoroughly cure the sick mind and free it from its vices, or get in first with a mind that is empty but inclined to worse things. The doctrines of philosophy do both. So this kind of precept-giving achieves nothing."},{"ref":"Letter 94.14–15","orig":"Praeterea si praecepta singulis damus, inconprehensibile opus est; alia enim dare debemus feneranti, alia colenti agrum, alia negotianti, alia regum amicitias sequenti, alia pares, alia inferiores amaturo. In matrimonio praecipies quomodo vivat cum uxore aliquis quam virginem duxit, quomodo cum ea quae alicuius ante matrimonium experta est, quemadmodum cum locuplete, quemadmodum cum indotata. An non putas aliquid esse discriminis inter sterilem et fecundam, inter provectiorem et puellam, inter matrem et novercam? Omnis species conplecti non possumus: atqui singulae propria exigunt, leges autem philosophiae breves sunt et omnia alligant.","en":"Besides, if we give precepts to individuals, the task is endless. We must give some to the moneylender, others to the farmer, others to the merchant, others to the man seeking the friendship of kings, others to one who will love his equals, others to one who will love his inferiors. On marriage you will prescribe how a man should live with a wife he married as a virgin, how with one who knew another man before marriage, how with a rich one, how with one without a dowry. Or do you not think there is some difference between a barren woman and a fertile one, between an older woman and a girl, between a mother and a stepmother? We cannot cover every kind; yet each requires its own rules. But the laws of philosophy are short and bind everything."},{"ref":"Letter 94.16–17","orig":"Adice nunc quod sapientiae praecepta finita debent esse et certa; si qua finiri non possunt, extra sapientiam sunt; sapientia rerum terminos novit. Ergo ista praeceptiva pars summovenda est, quia quod paucis promittit praestare omnibus non potest; sapientia autem omnis tenet. Inter insaniam publicam et hanc quae medicis traditur nihil interest nisi quod haec morbo laborat, illa opinionibus falsis; altera causas furoris traxit ex valetudine, altera animi mala valetudo est. Si quis furioso praecepta det quomodo loqui debeat, quomodo procedere, quomodo in publico se gerere, quomodo in privato, erit ipso quem monebit insanior: bilis nigra curanda est et ipsa furoris causa removenda. Idem in hoc alio animi furore faciendum est: ipse discuti debet; alioqui abibunt in vanum monentium verba.","en":"Add now that the precepts of wisdom must be definite and certain. If some things cannot be defined, they lie outside wisdom; wisdom knows the limits of things. So this preceptive part must be removed, because it cannot give everyone what it promises to a few, while wisdom holds everyone. Between general madness and the kind entrusted to doctors there is no difference, except that one suffers from disease and the other from false opinions. One has taken the causes of its frenzy from ill health; the other is itself an ill health of the mind. If someone were to give a madman precepts on how he should speak, how he should walk, how he should behave in public and in private, he would be madder than the man he was advising. It is the black bile that must be treated and the cause of the madness itself removed. The same must be done with this other madness of the mind: the madness itself must be dispersed. Otherwise the advisers' words will go for nothing."},{"ref":"Letter 94.18–19","orig":"Haec ab Aristone dicuntur; cui respondebimus ad singula. Primum adversus illud quod ait, si quid obstat oculo et inpedit visum, debere removeri, fateor huic non opus esse praeceptis ad videndum, sed remedio quo purgetur acies et officientem sibi moram effugiat; natura enim videmus, cui usum sui reddit qui removit obstantia; quid autem cuique debeatur officio natura non docet. Deinde cuius curata suffusio est, is non protinus cum visum recepit aliis quoque potest reddere: malitia liberatus et liberat. Non opus est exhortatione, ne consilio quidem, ut colorum proprietates oculus intellegat; a nigro album etiam nullo monente distinguet. Multis contra praeceptis eget animus ut videat quid agendum sit in vita. Quamquam oculis quoque aegros medicus non tantum curat sed etiam monet.","en":"That is what Aristo says. We will answer him point by point. First, against his claim that if something is in the way of the eye and hinders sight, it must be removed: I admit that a man does not need precepts in order to see, but a remedy to clear his sight and free it from the obstruction hampering it. For we see by nature, and whoever removes the obstacles gives nature back its use. But nature does not teach what is owed to each duty. Next, a man whose cataract has been treated cannot, as soon as he has recovered his sight, give sight back to others as well. But a man freed from wickedness frees others too. The eye needs no encouragement, not even advice, to recognise the qualities of colours; it will tell white from black with no one advising it. The mind, on the other hand, needs many precepts in order to see what should be done in life. And yet a doctor does not only treat people with eye disease; he also advises them."},{"ref":"Letter 94.20","orig":"'Non est' inquit 'quod protinus inbecillam aciem committas inprobo lumini; a tenebris primum ad umbrosa procede, deinde plus aude et paulatim claram lucem pati adsuesce. Non est quod post cibum studeas, non est quod plenis oculis ac tumentibus imperes; adflatum et vim frigoris in os occurrentis evita' – alia eiusmodi, quae non minus quam medicamenta proficiunt. Adicit remediis medicina consilium.","en":"\"There is no need,\" he says, \"to expose weak eyes at once to harsh light. Go first from darkness to shade, then venture further, and gradually get used to bearing bright light. There is no need to study after a meal, no need to strain your eyes when they are full and swollen. Avoid the wind and the force of cold air blowing in your face.\" And other things of this kind, which do no less good than medicines. Medicine adds advice to its remedies."},{"ref":"Letter 94.21–22","orig":"'Error' inquit 'est causa peccandi: hunc nobis praecepta non detrahunt nec expugnant opiniones de bonis ac malis falsas.' Concedo per se efficacia praecepta non esse ad evertendam pravam animi persuasionem; sed non ideo non aliis quidem adiecta proficiunt. Primum memoriam renovant; deinde quae in universo confusius videbantur in partes divisa diligentius considerantur. Aut isto modo licet et consolationes dicas supervacuas et exhortationes: atqui non sunt supervacuae; ergo ne monitiones quidem. 'Stultum est' inquit 'praecipere aegro quid facere tamquam sanus debeat, cum restituenda sanitas sit, sine qua inrita sunt praecepta.' Quid quod habent aegri quaedam sanique communia de quibus admonendi sunt? tamquam ne avide cibos adpetant, ut lassitudinem vitent. Habent quaedam praecepta communia pauper et dives.","en":"\"Error,\" he says, \"is the cause of wrongdoing. Precepts do not take it away from us, nor do they storm our false opinions about good and evil.\" I grant that precepts are not effective on their own in overturning a wrong conviction of the mind. But it does not follow that they are no use when added to other things. First, they refresh the memory. Next, things that seemed rather confused in general are examined more carefully when divided into parts. Or by that reasoning you could also call consolations and exhortations superfluous. Yet they are not superfluous; so neither is advice. \"It is foolish,\" he says, \"to prescribe to a sick man what he should do as if he were healthy, when it is his health that must be restored, and without it precepts are useless.\" What of the fact that the sick and the healthy have some things in common about which they must be advised? For example, not to take food greedily, and to avoid fatigue. Poor and rich have some precepts in common."},{"ref":"Letter 94.23–24","orig":"'Sana' inquit 'avaritiam, et nihil habebis quod admoneas aut pauperem aut divitem, si cupiditas utriusque consedit.' Quid quod aliud est non concupiscere pecuniam, aliud uti pecunia scire? cuius avari modum ignorant, etiam non avari usum. 'Tolle' inquit 'errores: supervacua praecepta sunt.' Falsum est. Puta enim avaritiam relaxatam, puta adstrictam esse luxuriam, temeritati frenos iniectos, ignaviae subditum calcar: etiam remotis vitiis, quid et quemadmodum debeamus facere discendum est. 'Nihil' inquit 'efficient monitiones admotae gravibus vitiis.' Ne medicina quidem morbos insanabiles vincit, tamen adhibetur aliis in remedium, aliis in levamentum. Ne ipsa quidem universae philosophiae vis, licet totas in hoc vires suas advocet, duram iam et veterem animis extrahet pestem; sed non ideo nihil sanat quia non omnia.","en":"\"Cure greed,\" he says, \"and you will have nothing to advise either the poor man or the rich, once the desire of each has settled down.\" But is it not one thing not to crave money and another to know how to use it? The greedy do not know the limit of money, and even those who are not greedy do not know its use. \"Remove errors,\" he says, \"and precepts are superfluous.\" That is false. Suppose greed has been loosened, luxury tightened, reins put on rashness, a spur applied to laziness: even with the vices removed, we still have to learn what we ought to do and how. \"Advice applied to serious vices,\" he says, \"will achieve nothing.\" Not even medicine conquers incurable diseases, yet it is used for some as a cure and for others as a relief. Not even the power of philosophy as a whole, though it summon all its strength for this, will draw out of minds a plague that has become hard and old. But it does not follow that it cures nothing because it does not cure everything."},{"ref":"Letter 94.25","orig":"'Quid prodest' inquit 'aperta monstrare?' Plurimum; interdum enim scimus nec adtendimus. Non docet admonitio sed advertit, sed excitat, sed memoriam continet nec patitur elabi. Pleraque ante oculos posita transimus: admonere genus adhortandi est. Saepe animus etiam aperta dissimulat; ingerenda est itaque illi notitia rerum notissimarum. Illa hoc loco in Vatinium Calvi repetenda sententia est: 'factum esse ambitum scitis, et hoc vos scire omnes sciunt'.","en":"\"What is the use,\" he says, \"of pointing out what is obvious?\" A great deal. For sometimes we know things but do not pay attention. Advice does not teach; it draws attention, it rouses, it holds the memory and does not let things slip away. We pass by most things that are right in front of our eyes. Advising is a kind of exhorting. Often the mind pretends not to notice even what is obvious, so it must have forced on it the knowledge of the most familiar things. Here we should recall Calvus' remark against Vatinius: \"You know that there has been bribery, and everyone knows that you know it.\""},{"ref":"Letter 94.26","orig":"Scis amicitias sancte colendas esse, sed non facis. Scis inprobum esse qui ab uxore pudicitiam exigit, ipse alienarum corruptor uxorum; scis ut illi nil cum adultero, sic tibi nil esse debere cum paelice, et non facis. Itaque subinde ad memoriam reducendus es; non enim reposita illa esse oportet sed in promptu. Quaecumque salutaria sunt saepe agitari debent, saepe versari, ut non tantum nota sint nobis sed etiam parata. Adice nunc quod aperta quoque apertiora fieri solent.","en":"You know that friendships should be kept sacred, but you do not do it. You know that a man is shameless who demands chastity from his wife while he himself seduces other men's wives. You know that just as she must have nothing to do with a lover, so you must have nothing to do with a mistress, and you do not act on it. So you must be brought back to remembering it again and again. For these things should not be stored away but ready to hand. Whatever is healthy should be discussed often and turned over often, so that it is not only known to us but also at our disposal. Add to this that even obvious things usually become more obvious."},{"ref":"Letter 94.27–28","orig":"'Si dubia sunt' inquit 'quae praecipis, probationes adicere debebis; ergo illae, non praecepta proficient.' Quid quod etiam sine probationibus ipsa monentis auctoritas prodest? sic quomodo iurisconsultorum valent responsa, etiam si ratio non redditur. Praeterea ipsa quae praecipiuntur per se multum habent ponderis, utique si aut carmini intexta sunt aut prosa oratione in sententiam coartata, sicut illa Catoniana: 'emas non quod opus est, sed quod necesse est; quod non opus est asse carum est', qualia sunt illa aut reddita oraculo aut similia: 'tempori parce', 'te nosce'. Numquid rationem exiges cum tibi aliquis hos dixerit versus? Iniuriarum remedium est oblivio. Audentis fortuna iuvat, piger ipse sibi opstat. Advocatum ista non quaerunt: adfectus ipsos tangunt et natura vim suam exercente proficiunt.","en":"\"If the things you prescribe are doubtful,\" he says, \"you will have to add proofs. So it is the proofs, not the precepts, that will do good.\" But what of the fact that even without proofs the authority of the adviser helps? In the same way the opinions of legal experts carry weight even if no reason is given. Besides, the things prescribed carry a great deal of weight in themselves, especially if they are woven into verse or compressed in prose into a maxim, like those of Cato: \"Buy not what you want but what you need. What you do not need is dear at a penny.\" Or those given by an oracle, or like them: \"Be sparing of time,\" \"Know yourself.\" Will you demand a reason when someone recites these lines to you? \"The cure for wrongs is to forget them.\" \"Fortune helps the bold; the lazy man stands in his own way.\" Such sayings need no advocate. They touch the feelings directly and do good because nature is exerting its own force."},{"ref":"Letter 94.29–30","orig":"Omnium honestarum rerum semina animi gerunt, quae admonitione excitantur non aliter quam scintilla flatu levi adiuta ignem suum explicat; erigitur virtus cum tacta est et inpulsa. Praeterea quaedam sunt quidem in animo, sed parum prompta, quae incipiunt in expedito esse cum dicta sunt; quaedam diversis locis iacent sparsa, quae contrahere inexercitata mens non potest. Itaque in unum conferenda sunt et iungenda, ut plus valeant animumque magis adlevent. Aut si praecepta nihil adiuvant, omnis institutio tollenda est; ipsa natura contenti esse debemus. Hoc qui dicunt non vident alium esse ingenii mobilis et erecti, alium tardi et hebetis, utique alium alio ingeniosiorem. Ingenii vis praeceptis alitur et crescit novasque persuasiones adicit innatis et depravata corrigit.","en":"Our minds carry the seeds of all honourable things, and they are roused by advice just as a spark helped by a light breath spreads its fire. Virtue rises up when it is touched and pushed. Besides, there are some things in the mind that are not quite ready to hand, which begin to be available once they are spoken. Some lie scattered in different places, and an untrained mind cannot gather them together. So they must be brought together and joined, so that they are stronger and lift the mind more. Or if precepts are no help, all teaching must be abolished and we should be content with nature alone. Those who say this do not see that one person has a quick and alert mind and another a slow and dull one, and that certainly one is more gifted than another. The power of the mind is fed and grows through precepts; it adds new convictions to those it was born with and corrects those that have gone wrong."},{"ref":"Letter 94.31","orig":"'Si quis' inquit 'non habet recta decreta, quid illum admonitiones iuvabunt vitiosis obligatum?' Hoc scilicet, ut illis liberetur; non enim extincta in illo indoles naturalis est sed obscurata et oppressa. Sic quoque temptat resurgere et contra prava nititur, nacta vero praesidium et adiuta praeceptis evalescit, si tamen illam diutina pestis non infecit nec enecuit; hanc enim ne disciplina quidem philosophiae toto impetu suo conisa restituet. Quid enim interest inter decreta philosophiae et praecepta nisi quod illa generalia praecepta sunt, haec specialia? Utraque res praecipit, sed altera in totum, particulatim altera.","en":"\"If someone does not have sound doctrines,\" he says, \"how will advice help him when he is bound by vices?\" By freeing him from them, of course. For his natural character has not been extinguished but darkened and crushed. Even so it tries to rise again and struggles against what is wrong, and once it finds support and is helped by precepts it grows strong, provided a long-standing plague has not infected it and killed it off. For then not even the teaching of philosophy, straining with all its force, will restore it. What is the difference between the doctrines of philosophy and its precepts, except that the former are general precepts and the latter specific ones? Both give instruction, but one for the whole, the other for the parts."},{"ref":"Letter 94.32–33","orig":"'Si quis' inquit 'recta habet et honesta decreta, hic ex supervacuo monetur.' Minime; nam hic quoque doctus quidem est facere quae debet, sed haec non satis perspicit. Non enim tantum adfectibus inpedimur quominus probanda faciamus sed inperitia inveniendi quid quaeque res exigat. Habemus interdum compositum animum, sed residem et inexercitatum ad inveniendam officiorum viam, quam admonitio demonstrat. 'Expelle' inquit 'falsas opiniones de bonis et malis, in locum autem earum veras repone, et nihil habebit admonitio quod agat.' Ordinatur sine dubio ista ratione animus, sed non ista tantum; nam quamvis argumentis collectum sit quae bona malaque sint, nihilominus habent praecepta partes suas. Et prudentia et iustitia officiis constat: officia praeceptis disponuntur.","en":"\"If someone has sound and honourable doctrines,\" he says, \"it is superfluous to advise him.\" Not at all. For this man has indeed been taught to do what he ought, but he does not see it clearly enough. We are prevented from doing what we approve not only by our passions but also by lack of skill in finding out what each situation requires. Sometimes our minds are well ordered, but sluggish and untrained in finding the path of duty, and advice points it out. \"Drive out false opinions about good and evil,\" he says, \"put true ones in their place, and advice will have nothing to do.\" No doubt the mind is set in order by this method, but not by this alone. For although it has been worked out by arguments what things are good and bad, precepts still have their part to play. Both prudence and justice consist of duties, and duties are set out by precepts."},{"ref":"Letter 94.34–35","orig":"Praeterea ipsum de malis bonisque iudicium confirmatur officiorum exsecutione, ad quam praecepta perducunt. Utraque enim inter se consentiunt: nec illa possunt praecedere ut non haec sequantur, et haec ordinem sequuntur suum; unde apparet illa praecedere. 'Infinita' inquit 'praecepta sunt.' Falsum est; nam de maximis ac necessariis rebus non sunt infinita; tenues autem differentias habent quas exigunt tempora, loca, personae, sed his quoque dantur praecepta generalia.","en":"Besides, the judgement about good and evil is itself strengthened by carrying out duties, and precepts lead us to that. For the two agree with each other: doctrines cannot come first without precepts following, and precepts follow in their proper order, which shows that doctrines come first. \"Precepts are infinite,\" he says. That is false. On the greatest and most necessary matters they are not infinite. They have fine distinctions required by times, places and persons, but for these too general precepts are given."},{"ref":"Letter 94.36","orig":"'Nemo', inquit, 'praeceptis curat insaniam; ergo ne malitiam quidem.' Dissimile est; nam si insaniam sustuleris, sanitas reddita est; si falsas opiniones exclusimus, non statim sequitur dispectus rerum agendarum; ut sequatur, tamen admonitio conroborabit rectam de bonis malisque sententiam. Illud quoque falsum est, nihil apud insanos proficere praecepta. Nam quemadmodum sola non prosunt, sic curationem adiuvant; et denuntiatio et castigatio insanos coercuit – de illis nunc insanis loquor quibus mens mota est, non erepta.","en":"\"No one,\" he says, \"cures madness by precepts; so neither can wickedness be cured by them.\" The cases are different. If you remove madness, health is restored. But if we have shut out false opinions, a clear view of what to do does not follow at once; even if it does follow, advice will still strengthen the right judgement about good and evil. It is also false that precepts do the mad no good. For although they do not help on their own, they do help the cure. Warning and rebuke have restrained the mad; I am speaking now of those mad people whose minds are disturbed, not taken away."},{"ref":"Letter 94.37–38","orig":"'Leges' inquit 'ut faciamus quod oportet non efficiunt, et quid aliud sunt quam minis mixta praecepta?' Primum omnium ob hoc illae non persuadent quia minantur, at haec non cogunt sed exorant; deinde leges a scelere deterrent, praecepta in officium adhortantur. His adice quod leges quoque proficiunt ad bonos mores, utique si non tantum imperant sed docent. In hac re dissentio a Posidonio, qui 'improbo' inquit 'quod Platonis legibus adiecta principia sunt. Legem enim brevem esse oportet, quo facilius ab inperitis teneatur. Velut emissa divinitus vox sit: iubeat, non disputet. Nihil videtur mihi frigidius, nihil ineptius quam lex cum prologo. Mone, dic quid me velis fecisse: non disco sed pareo.' Proficiunt vero; itaque malis moribus uti videbis civitates usas malis legibus.","en":"\"Laws,\" he says, \"do not make us do what we should, and what are they but precepts mixed with threats?\" First of all, laws do not persuade precisely because they threaten, whereas precepts do not compel but plead. Next, laws deter us from crime, while precepts urge us to duty. Add that laws too help towards good conduct, especially if they not only command but teach. On this point I disagree with Posidonius, who says: \"I do not approve of the preambles added to Plato's laws. A law should be short, so that the uneducated can grasp it more easily. Let it be like a voice sent from heaven: let it command, not argue. Nothing seems to me colder or sillier than a law with a prologue. Warn me, tell me what you want me to have done; I am not learning, I am obeying.\" But laws do help. You will see that states with bad laws have bad morals."},{"ref":"Letter 94.39–40","orig":"'At non apud omnis proficiunt.' Ne philosophia quidem; nec ideo inutilis et formandis animis inefficax est. Quid autem? philosophia non vitae lex est? Sed putemus non proficere leges: non ideo sequitur ut ne monitiones quidem proficiant. Aut sic et consolationes nega proficere dissuasionesque et adhortationes et obiurgationes et laudationes. Omnia ista monitionum genera sunt; per ista ad perfectum animi statum pervenitur. Nulla res magis animis honesta induit dubiosque et in pravum inclinabiles revocat ad rectum quam bonorum virorum conversatio; paulatim enim descendit in pectora et vim praeceptorum obtinet frequenter aspici, frequenter audiri. Occursus mehercules ipse sapientium iuvat, et est aliquid quod ex magno viro vel tacente proficias.","en":"\"But they do not help everyone.\" Neither does philosophy, yet it is not therefore useless or ineffective in shaping minds. And is philosophy not the law of life? But suppose laws do not help. It does not follow that advice does not help either. Otherwise you must deny that consolations help, and dissuasions, exhortations, rebukes and praises. All of these are kinds of advice. Through them the mind reaches its perfect state. Nothing fills minds with honourable principles more, or calls back to the right path those who are wavering and inclined to wrong, than the company of good men. For being seen and heard often gradually sinks into the heart and has the force of precepts. Heaven knows, even meeting wise men helps, and there is something you can gain from a great man even when he is silent."},{"ref":"Letter 94.41–42","orig":"Nec tibi facile dixerim quemadmodum prosit, sicut illud intellegam profuisse. 'Minuta quaedam' ut ait Phaedon 'animalia cum mordent non sentiuntur, adeo tenuis illis et fallens in periculum vis est; tumor indicat morsum et in ipso tumore nullum vulnus apparet.' Idem tibi in conversatione virorum sapientium eveniet: non deprehendes quemadmodum aut quando tibi prosit, profuisse deprendes. 'Quorsus' inquis 'hoc pertinet?' Aeque praecepta bona, si saepe tecum sint, profutura quam bona exempla. Pythagoras ait alium animum fieri intrantibus templum deorumque simulacra ex vicino cernentibus et alicuius oraculi opperientibus vocem.","en":"I could not easily tell you how it helps, though I would understand that it has helped. \"Certain tiny creatures,\" as Phaedo says, \"are not felt when they bite, so slight and deceptive is their power to harm. The swelling shows the bite, and in the swelling itself no wound can be seen.\" The same will happen to you in the company of wise men. You will not detect how or when they help you, but you will detect that they have helped. \"What is the point of this?\" you ask. Good precepts, if they are often with you, will help just as much as good examples. Pythagoras says that people's minds change when they enter a temple, see the images of the gods up close, and wait for the voice of some oracle."},{"ref":"Letter 94.43–44","orig":"Quis autem negabit feriri quibusdam praeceptis efficaciter etiam inperitissimos? velut his brevissimis vocibus, sed multum habentibus ponderis: Nil nimis. Avarus animus nullo satiatur lucro. Ab alio expectes alteri quod feceris. Haec cum ictu quodam audimus, nec ulli licet dubitare aut interrogare 'quare?'; adeo etiam sine ratione ipsa veritas lucet. Si reverentia frenat animos ac vitia conpescit, cur non et admonitio idem possit? Si inponit pudorem castigatio, cur admonitio non faciat, etiam si nudis praeceptis utitur? Illa vero efficacior est et altius penetrat quae adiuvat ratione quod praecipit, quae adicit quare quidque faciendum sit et quis facientem oboedientemque praeceptis fructus expectet. Si imperio proficitur, et admonitione; atqui proficitur imperio; ergo et admonitione.","en":"And who will deny that even the most ignorant are struck effectively by certain precepts? Such as these very short sayings that carry great weight: \"Nothing in excess.\" \"A greedy mind is satisfied by no gain.\" \"Expect from others what you have done to another.\" We hear these with a kind of blow, and no one is allowed to doubt them or ask \"Why?\", so brightly does truth itself shine even without a reason. If respect reins in minds and checks vices, why should advice not do the same? If rebuke produces shame, why should advice not do so, even using bare precepts? But the advice that supports its precepts with reason is more effective and goes deeper: the kind that adds why each thing should be done and what reward awaits the one who does it and obeys the precepts. If commands do good, so does advice. But commands do good. Therefore so does advice."},{"ref":"Letter 94.45–46","orig":"In duas partes virtus dividitur, in contemplationem veri et actionem: contemplationem institutio tradit, actionem admonitio. Virtutem et exercet et ostendit recta actio. Acturo autem si prodest qui suadet, et qui monet proderit. Ergo si recta actio virtuti necessaria est, rectas autem actiones admonitio demonstrat, et admonitio necessaria est. Duae res plurimum roboris animo dant, fides veri et fiducia: utramque admonitio facit. Nam et creditur illi et, cum creditum est, magnos animus spiritus concipit ac fiducia impletur; ergo admonitio non est supervacua. M. Agrippa, vir ingentis animi, qui solus ex iis quos civilia bella claros potentesque fecerunt felix in publicum fuit, dicere solebat multum se huic debere sententiae: 'nam concordia parvae res crescunt, discordia maximae dilabuntur'.","en":"Virtue is divided into two parts: the contemplation of truth and action. Teaching hands on contemplation; advice hands on action. Right action both exercises virtue and displays it. If someone who persuades helps a man who is about to act, someone who advises will help too. So if right action is necessary to virtue, and advice points out right actions, advice too is necessary. Two things give the mind the greatest strength: belief in the truth and confidence. Advice produces both. For people believe it, and once they believe, the mind takes on great courage and is filled with confidence. So advice is not superfluous. Marcus Agrippa, a man of great spirit, the only one of those whom the civil wars made famous and powerful whose prosperity was a benefit to the public, used to say that he owed much to this maxim: \"By harmony small things grow; by discord the greatest fall apart.\""},{"ref":"Letter 94.47–48","orig":"Hac se aiebat et fratrem et amicum optimum factum. Si eiusmodi sententiae familiariter in animum receptae formant eum, cur non haec pars philosophiae quae talibus sententiis constat idem possit? Pars virtutis disciplina constat, pars exercitatione; et discas oportet et quod didicisti agendo confirmes. Quod si est, non tantum scita sapientiae prosunt sed etiam praecepta, quae adfectus nostros velut edicto coercent et ablegant. 'Philosophia' inquit 'dividitur in haec, scientiam et habitum animi; nam qui didicit et facienda ac vitanda percepit nondum sapiens est nisi in ea quae didicit animus eius transfiguratus est. Tertia ista pars praecipiendi ex utroque est, et ex decretis et ex habitu; itaque supervacua est ad implendam virtutem, cui duo illa sufficiunt.'","en":"He said it was through this that he had become the best of brothers and the best of friends. If maxims of this kind, taken intimately into the mind, shape it, why should this part of philosophy, which consists of such maxims, not do the same? Part of virtue consists in teaching, part in practice. You must learn, and confirm by action what you have learned. If this is so, not only the doctrines of wisdom help us but also its precepts, which restrain and banish our passions as if by an edict. \"Philosophy,\" he says, \"is divided into these: knowledge and the disposition of the mind. For a man who has learned and grasped what should be done and avoided is not yet wise unless his mind has been transformed into what he has learned. This third part, that of giving precepts, comes from both, from the doctrines and from the disposition. So it is superfluous for perfecting virtue, for which those two are enough.\""},{"ref":"Letter 94.49–50","orig":"Isto ergo modo et consolatio supervacua est (nam haec quoque ex utroque est) et adhortatio et suasio et ipsa argumentatio; nam et haec ab habitu animi compositi validique proficiscitur. Sed quamvis ista ex optimo habitu animi veniant, optimus animi habitus ex his est; et facit illa et ex illis ipse fit. Deinde istud quod dicis iam perfecti viri est ac summam consecuti felicitatis humanae. Ad haec autem tarde pervenitur; interim etiam inperfecto sed proficienti demonstranda est in rebus agendis via. Hanc forsitan etiam sine admonitione dabit sibi ipsa sapientia, quae iam eo perduxit animum ut moveri nequeat nisi in rectum. Inbecillioribus quidem ingeniis necessarium est aliquem praeire: 'hoc vitabis, hoc facies'.","en":"In that case consolation too is superfluous (for it also comes from both), and so are exhortation, persuasion and argument itself; for these also start from the disposition of a well-ordered and strong mind. But although these things come from the best disposition of the mind, the best disposition of the mind also comes from them: it both produces them and is itself produced by them. Next, what you describe belongs to a man already perfect, who has reached the peak of human happiness. But these things are reached slowly. Meanwhile, even the imperfect man who is making progress must be shown the way in practical matters. Wisdom may perhaps give itself this way even without advice, once it has brought the mind to the point where it cannot be moved except towards the right. But weaker characters certainly need someone to go ahead of them: \"You will avoid this, you will do this.\""},{"ref":"Letter 94.51–52","orig":"Praeterea si expectat tempus quo per se sciat quid optimum factu sit, interim errabit et errando inpedietur quominus ad illud perveniat quo possit se esse contentus; regi ergo debet dum incipit posse se regere. Pueri ad praescriptum discunt; digiti illorum tenentur et aliena manu per litterarum simulacra ducuntur, deinde imitari iubentur proposita et ad illa reformare chirographum: sic animus noster, dum eruditur ad praescriptum, iuvatur. Haec sunt per quae probatur hanc philosophiae partem supervacuam non esse. Quaeritur deinde an ad faciendum sapientem sola sufficiat. Huic quaestioni suum diem dabimus: interim omissis argumentis nonne apparet opus esse nobis aliquo advocato qui contra populi praecepta praecipiat?","en":"Besides, if he waits for the time when he knows by himself what is best to do, he will go astray in the meantime, and by going astray he will be prevented from reaching the point where he can be content with himself. So he must be guided until he begins to be able to guide himself. Children learn from a model. Their fingers are held and guided by another's hand over the shapes of the letters; then they are told to copy the models and reshape their handwriting to match them. In the same way our mind is helped while it is being taught according to a model. These are the arguments proving that this part of philosophy is not superfluous. The next question is whether it alone is enough to make a man wise. We will give this question its own day. Meanwhile, leaving arguments aside, is it not clear that we need some advocate to give precepts against the precepts of the crowd?"},{"ref":"Letter 94.53–54","orig":"Nulla ad aures nostras vox inpune perfertur: nocent qui optant, nocent qui execrantur. Nam et horum inprecatio falsos nobis metus inserit et illorum amor male docet bene optando; mittit enim nos ad longinqua bona et incerta et errantia, cum possimus felicitatem domo promere. Non licet, inquam, ire recta via; trahunt in pravum parentes, trahunt servi. Nemo errat uni sibi, sed dementiam spargit in proximos accipitque invicem. Et ideo in singulis vitia populorum sunt quia illa populus dedit. Dum facit quisque peiorem, factus est; didicit deteriora, dein docuit, effectaque est ingens illa nequitia congesto in unum quod cuique pessimum scitur.","en":"No voice reaches our ears without doing harm. Those who wish us well harm us, and those who curse us harm us. The curses of the one plant false fears in us, and the love of the other teaches us badly by wishing us well, for it sends us off to distant goods, uncertain and wandering, when we could bring happiness out of our own home. We are not allowed, I say, to go by the straight road. Our parents drag us into the wrong way, our slaves drag us. No one goes wrong for himself alone; he spreads his madness to those around him and catches theirs in turn. And that is why the vices of nations are in individuals: the nation gave them. Each person, while he makes someone worse, has been made worse himself. He learned worse things, then taught them, and that huge wickedness was produced by piling together what is known to be worst in each person."},{"ref":"Letter 94.55","orig":"Sit ergo aliquis custos et aurem subinde pervellat abigatque rumores et reclamet populis laudantibus. Erras enim si existimas nobiscum vitia nasci: supervenerunt, ingesta sunt. Itaque monitionibus crebris opiniones quae nos circumsonant repellantur.","en":"So let there be some guardian to tweak our ear now and then, drive away rumours and shout back when the crowd is praising. You are wrong if you think our vices are born with us. They came afterwards; they were heaped on us. So let the opinions that roar around us be driven off by frequent advice."},{"ref":"Letter 94.56","orig":"Nulli nos vitio natura conciliat: illa integros ac liberos genuit. Nihil quo avaritiam nostram inritaret posuit in aperto: pedibus aurum argentumque subiecit calcandumque ac premendum dedit quidquid est propter quod calcamur ac premimur. Illa vultus nostros erexit ad caelum et quidquid magnificum mirumque fecerat videri a suspicientibus voluit: ortus occasusque et properantis mundi volubilem cursum, interdiu terrena aperientem, nocte caelestia, tardos siderum incessus si compares toti, citatissimos autem si cogites quanta spatia numquam intermissa velocitate circumeant, defectus solis ac lunae invicem obstantium, alia deinceps digna miratu, sive per ordinem subeunt sive subitis causis mota prosiliunt, ut nocturnos ignium tractus et sine ullo ictu sonituque fulgores caeli patescentis columnasque ac trabes et varia simulacra flammarum.","en":"Nature does not attach us to any vice. She brought us into the world whole and free. She put nothing in open view to provoke our greed. She placed gold and silver under our feet and gave us to trample and crush everything for the sake of which we are trampled and crushed. She raised our faces to the sky and wanted everything magnificent and wonderful that she had made to be seen by those who look up: risings and settings, and the rolling course of the hurrying universe, which by day reveals the things of earth and by night the things of heaven; the movements of the stars, slow if you compare them with the whole, but extremely fast if you consider how vast the spaces are that they travel round at never-ceasing speed; the eclipses of sun and moon as each blocks the other; and other things in turn worth marvelling at, whether they come on in regular order or burst forth driven by sudden causes, like the trails of fire at night, the flashes of lightning in an opening sky without any stroke or sound, and columns and beams and various shapes of flame."},{"ref":"Letter 94.57–58","orig":"Haec supra nos natura disposuit, aurum quidem et argentum et propter ista numquam pacem agens ferrum, quasi male nobis committerentur, abscondit. Nos in lucem propter quae pugnaremus extulimus, nos et causas periculorum nostrorum et instrumenta disiecto terrarum pondere eruimus, nos fortunae mala nostra tradidimus nec erubescimus summa apud nos haberi quae fuerant ima terrarum. Vis scire quam falsus oculos tuos deceperit fulgor? nihil est istis quamdiu mersa et involuta caeno suo iacent foedius, nihil obscurius, quidni? quae per longissimorum cuniculorum tenebras extrahuntur; nihil est illis dum fiunt et a faece sua separantur informius. Denique ipsos opifices intuere per quorum manus sterile terrae genus et infernum perpurgatur: videbis quanta fuligine oblinantur.","en":"These things nature arranged above us. But gold and silver, and iron, which because of them is never at peace, she hid, as if they were unsafe to entrust to us. It is we who have brought into the light the things we would fight over. It is we who have thrown aside the mass of the earth and dug up the causes and instruments of our own dangers. It is we who have handed our troubles over to fortune, and we are not ashamed that what was lowest in the earth is held highest among us. Do you want to know how falsely the glitter has deceived your eyes? Nothing is fouler or darker than these things while they lie buried and wrapped in their own mud. And why not, since they are dragged out through the darkness of the longest tunnels? Nothing is uglier than they are while they are being produced and separated from their dross. Finally, look at the very workmen through whose hands this barren and hellish kind of earth is refined: you will see how much soot they are smeared with."},{"ref":"Letter 94.59–60","orig":"Atqui ista magis inquinant animos quam corpora, et in possessore eorum quam in artifice plus sordium est. Necessarium itaque admoneri est, habere aliquem advocatum bonae mentis et in tanto fremitu tumultuque falsorum unam denique audire vocem. Quae erit illa vox? ea scilicet quae tibi tantis clamoribus ambitionis exsurdato salubria insusurret verba, quae dicat: non est quod invideas istis quos magnos felicesque populus vocat, non est quod tibi compositae mentis habitum et sanitatem plausus excutiat, non est quod tibi tranquillitatis tuae fastidium faciat ille sub illis fascibus purpura cultus, non est quod feliciorem eum iudices cui summovetur quam te quem lictor semita deicit. Si vis exercere tibi utile, nulli autem grave imperium, summove vitia.","en":"Yet these things stain minds more than bodies, and there is more filth in their owner than in their maker. So it is necessary to be advised, to have some advocate of a sound mind, and amid so much roaring and uproar of falsehoods to hear at last a single voice. What will that voice be? One, of course, that whispers healthy words to you when you have been deafened by all the shouting of ambition, one that says: There is no reason for you to envy those whom the crowd calls great and happy. There is no reason for applause to shake from you the settled health of your well-ordered mind. There is no reason for that man in purple under those rods of office to make you tired of your own calm. There is no reason to think the man for whom the crowd is cleared out of the way happier than you, whom his lictor pushes off the path. If you want to exercise a command that is useful to you and burdensome to no one, clear your vices out of the way."},{"ref":"Letter 94.61","orig":"Multi inveniuntur qui ignem inferant urbibus, qui inexpugnabilia saeculis et per aliquot aetates tuta prosternant, qui aequum arcibus aggerem attollant et muros in miram altitudinem eductos arietibus ac machinis quassent. Multi sunt qui ante se agant agmina et tergis hostium graves instent et ad mare magnum perfusi caede gentium veniant, sed hi quoque, ut vincerent hostem, cupiditate victi sunt. Nemo illis venientibus restitit, sed nec ipsi ambitioni crudelitatique restiterant; tunc cum agere alios visi sunt, agebantur.","en":"Many people can be found who set fire to cities, who lay low places that were impregnable for generations and safe for several ages, who raise siege mounds as high as citadels and batter walls built to an amazing height with rams and engines. There are many who drive armies ahead of them, press hard on the backs of their enemies, and reach the great sea drenched in the blood of nations. But even these, in order to conquer their enemy, were conquered by desire. No one withstood them as they came, but neither had they themselves withstood ambition and cruelty. When they seemed to be driving others, they were being driven."},{"ref":"Letter 94.62–63","orig":"Agebat infelicem Alexandrum furor aliena vastandi et ad ignota mittebat. An tu putas sanum qui a Graeciae primum cladibus, in qua eruditus est, incipit? qui quod cuique optimum est eripit, Lacedaemona servire iubet, Athenas tacere? Non contentus tot civitatium strage, quas aut vicerat Philippus aut emerat, alias alio loco proicit et toto orbe arma circumfert; nec subsistit usquam lassa crudelitas inmanium ferarum modo quae plus quam exigit fames mordent. Iam in unum regnum multa regna coniecit, iam Graeci Persaeque eundem timent, iam etiam a Dareo liberae nationes iugum accipiunt; it tamen ultra oceanum solemque, indignatur ab Herculis Liberique vestigiis victoriam flectere, ipsi naturae vim parat. Non ille ire vult, sed non potest stare, non aliter quam in praeceps deiecta pondera, quibus eundi finis est iacuisse.","en":"A mad passion to lay waste other men's lands drove the unhappy Alexander and sent him into the unknown. Do you think a man sane who begins with the ruin of Greece, where he was educated? Who snatches from each city what is best in it, orders Sparta to be a slave and Athens to be silent? Not content with the destruction of so many cities, which Philip had either conquered or bought, he throws down others in other places and carries his weapons around the whole world. His cruelty never stops anywhere, tired, like savage beasts that bite more than hunger demands. He has already thrown many kingdoms into one; Greeks and Persians already fear the same man; even nations free of Darius already accept the yoke. Yet he goes beyond the ocean and the sun, resents turning his victory back from the footsteps of Hercules and Bacchus, and prepares to do violence to nature herself. It is not that he wants to go; he cannot stand still, just like weights thrown down a slope, which stop moving only when they come to rest."},{"ref":"Letter 94.64–65","orig":"Ne Gnaeo quidem Pompeio externa bella ac domestica virtus aut ratio suadebat, sed insanus amor magnitudinis falsae. Modo in Hispaniam et Sertoriana arma, modo ad colligandos piratas ac maria pacanda vadebat: hae praetexebantur causae ad continuandam potentiam. Quid illum in Africam, quid in septentrionem, quid in Mithridaten et Armeniam et omnis Asiae angulos traxit? infinita scilicet cupido crescendi, cum sibi uni parum magnus videretur. Quid C. Caesarem in sua fata pariter ac publica inmisit? gloria et ambitio et nullus supra ceteros eminendi modus. Unum ante se ferre non potuit, cum res publica supra se duos ferret.","en":"Nor was it virtue or reason that persuaded Gnaeus Pompey into foreign and civil wars, but a mad love of false greatness. At one time he marched to Spain against the forces of Sertorius, at another to round up the pirates and bring peace to the seas: these were the pretexts put forward for prolonging his power. What drew him to Africa, to the north, against Mithridates and Armenia and every corner of Asia? An endless desire to grow, of course, since he alone thought himself not great enough. What drove Gaius Caesar into his own ruin and the state's alike? Glory, ambition, and no limit to rising above everyone else. He could not bear one man ahead of him, although the state bore two above itself."},{"ref":"Letter 94.66–67","orig":"Quid, tu C. Marium semel consulem (unum enim consulatum accepit, ceteros rapuit), cum Teutonos Cimbrosque concideret, cum Iugurtham per Africae deserta sequeretur, tot pericula putas adpetisse virtutis instinctu? Marius exercitus, Marium ambitio ducebat. Isti cum omnia concuterent, concutiebantur turbinum more, qui rapta convolvunt sed ipsi ante volvuntur et ob hoc maiore impetu incurrunt quia nullum illis sui regimen est, ideoque, cum multis fuerunt malo, pestiferam illam vim qua plerisque nocuerunt ipsi quoque sentiunt. Non est quod credas quemquam fieri aliena infelicitate felicem.","en":"And Gaius Marius, consul once (for he received one consulship and seized the rest), when he was cutting down the Teutons and Cimbri, when he was chasing Jugurtha through the deserts of Africa, do you think he sought so many dangers at the prompting of virtue? Marius led the armies; ambition led Marius. When these men were shaking everything, they were being shaken themselves, like whirlwinds, which whirl round what they seize but are whirled round first themselves, and so rush on with greater force because they have no control over themselves. And so, after being a curse to many, they too feel the destructive force with which they have harmed so many. There is no reason for you to believe that anyone becomes happy through another's misfortune."},{"ref":"Letter 94.68–69","orig":"Omnia ista exempla quae oculis atque auribus nostris ingeruntur retexenda sunt, et plenum malis sermonibus pectus exhauriendum; inducenda in occupatum locum virtus, quae mendacia et contra verum placentia exstirpet, quae nos a populo cui nimis credimus separet ac sinceris opinionibus reddat. Hoc est enim sapientia, in naturam converti et eo restitui unde publicus error expulerit. Magna pars sanitatis est hortatores insaniae reliquisse et ex isto coitu invicem noxio procul abisse. Hoc ut esse verum scias, aspice quanto aliter unusquisque populo vivat, aliter sibi. Non est per se magistra innocentiae solitudo nec frugalitatem docent rura, sed ubi testis ac spectator abscessit, vitia subsidunt, quorum monstrari et conspici fructus est.","en":"All these examples that are forced on our eyes and ears must be unpicked, and the heart full of bad talk must be emptied. Virtue must be brought into the place that has been occupied, to root out lies and things that please us against the truth, to separate us from the crowd we trust too much, and to give us back to sound opinions. For this is wisdom: to turn back to nature and be restored to the place from which public error has driven us out. A large part of health is to have left the people who urge us on to madness and to have gone far away from that company so harmful to both sides. To see that this is true, look how differently each person lives for the public and for himself. Solitude is not in itself a teacher of innocence, and the countryside does not teach frugality. But when the witness and the spectator have gone, vices sink down, for their reward is to be shown off and seen."},{"ref":"Letter 94.70–72","orig":"Quis eam quam nulli ostenderet induit purpuram? quis posuit secretam in auro dapem? quis sub alicuius arboris rusticae proiectus umbra luxuriae suae pompam solus explicuit? Nemo oculis suis lautus est, ne paucorum quidem aut familiarium, sed apparatum vitiorum suorum pro modo turbae spectantis expandit. Ita est: inritamentum est omnium in quae insanimus admirator et conscius. Ne concupiscamus efficies si ne ostendamus effeceris. Ambitio et luxuria et inpotentia scaenam desiderant: sanabis ista si absconderis. Itaque si in medio urbium fremitu conlocati sumus, stet ad latus monitor et contra laudatores ingentium patrimoniorum laudet parvo divitem et usu opes metientem. Contra illos qui gratiam ac potentiam attollunt otium ipse suspiciat traditum litteris et animum ab externis ad sua reversum.","en":"Who has put on purple that he would show to no one? Who has served a secret feast on gold plate? Who, stretched out under the shade of some country tree, has spread out the display of his luxury all alone? No one is extravagant for his own eyes, or even for the eyes of a few friends. He spreads out the equipment of his vices in proportion to the crowd watching. So it is: an admirer and a witness is the spur to everything we are mad about. You will stop us craving if you stop us displaying. Ambition, luxury and lack of self-control need a stage; you will cure them if you hide them. So if we are placed in the middle of the din of cities, let an adviser stand at our side, and against those who praise huge fortunes let him praise the man who is rich with little and measures wealth by use. Against those who glorify influence and power, let him himself look up to leisure given over to study, and a mind that has turned from external things to its own."},{"ref":"Letter 94.73–74","orig":"Ostendat ex constitutione vulgi beatos in illo invidioso fastigio suo trementis et attonitos longeque aliam de se opinionem habentis quam ab aliis habetur; nam quae aliis excelsa videntur ipsis praerupta sunt. Itaque exanimantur et trepidant quotiens despexerunt in illud magnitudinis suae praeceps; cogitant enim varios casus et in sublimi maxime lubricos. Tunc adpetita formidant et quae illos graves aliis reddit gravior ipsis felicitas incubat. Tunc laudant otium lene et sui iuris, odio est fulgor et fuga a rebus adhuc stantibus quaeritur. Tunc demum videas philosophantis metu et aegrae fortunae sana consilia. Nam quasi ista inter se contraria sint, bona fortuna et mens bona, ita melius in malis sapimus: secunda rectum auferunt. Vale.","en":"Let him point out people who are happy by the standards of the crowd, trembling and dazed on their envied summit, and holding an opinion of themselves very different from the one others hold of them. For what seems lofty to others is a sheer drop to them. So they lose heart and tremble whenever they look down from that precipice of their greatness. For they think of the various accidents, which are most slippery at a height. Then they dread what they sought, and the prosperity that makes them a burden to others weighs more heavily on themselves. Then they praise gentle leisure that is its own master; they hate their splendour and look for a way to escape while their position still stands. Then at last you may see men philosophising out of fear, and sound advice coming from a sick fortune. For as if good fortune and a good mind were opposites, we are wiser in bad times: prosperity takes away good sense. Farewell."}],"95":[{"ref":"Letter 95.1","orig":"Petis a me ut id quod in diem suum dixeram debere differri repraesentem et scribam tibi an haec pars philosophiae quam Graeci paraeneticen vocant, nos praeceptivam dicimus, satis sit ad consummandam sapientiam. Scio te in bonam partem accepturum si negavero. Eo magis promitto et verbum publicum perire non patior: 'postea noli rogare quod inpetrare nolueris'.","en":"You ask me to pay now what I had said should be put off to its proper day, and to write to you whether this part of philosophy which the Greeks call paraenetike and we call preceptive is enough to bring wisdom to completion. I know you would take it in good part if I refused. All the more reason for me to promise, and not to let the common saying go to waste: \"Afterwards, do not ask for what you would rather not get.\""},{"ref":"Letter 95.2","orig":"Interdum enim enixe petimus id quod recusaremus si quis offerret. Haec sive levitas est sive vernilitas punienda est promittendi facilitate. Multa videri volumus velle sed nolumus. Recitator historiam ingentem attulit minutissime scriptam, artissime plictam, et magna parte perlecta 'desinam' inquit 'si vultis': adclamatur 'recita, recita' ab iis qui illum ommutescere illic cupiunt. Saepe aliud volumus, aliud optamus, et verum ne dis quidem dicimus, sed dii aut non exaudiunt aut miserentur.","en":"For sometimes we ask eagerly for something we would refuse if anyone offered it. Whether this is fickleness or servility, it should be punished by promising readily. There are many things we want to seem to want, but do not. A reciter brought a huge history, written in the tiniest hand and very tightly rolled, and when he had read a large part of it, said: \"I will stop, if you like.\" The shout goes up, \"Read on, read on!\" from people who want him to fall silent right there. Often we want one thing and pray for another, and we do not tell the truth even to the gods; but the gods either do not listen or take pity on us."},{"ref":"Letter 95.3–4","orig":"Ego me omissa misericordia vindicabo et tibi ingentem epistulam inpingam, quam tu si invitus leges, dicito 'ego mihi hoc contraxi', teque inter illos numera quos uxor magno ducta ambitu torquet, inter illos quos divitiae per summum adquisitae sudorem male habent, inter illos quos honores nulla non arte atque opera petiti discruciant, et ceteros malorum suorum compotes. Sed ut omisso principio rem ipsam adgrediar, 'beata' inquiunt 'vita constat ex actionibus rectis; ad actiones rectas praecepta perducunt; ergo ad beatam vitam praecepta sufficiunt'. Non semper ad actiones rectas praecepta perducunt, sed cum obsequens ingenium est; aliquando frustra admoventur, si animum opiniones obsident pravae.","en":"I, without pity, will take my revenge and hurl an enormous letter at you. If you read it unwillingly, say: \"I brought this on myself,\" and count yourself among those tormented by a wife they married after great canvassing, among those troubled by riches acquired with the greatest sweat, among those tortured by honours sought by every art and effort, and the others who have got their own misfortunes. But to leave the preamble and tackle the subject itself: \"The happy life,\" they say, \"consists of right actions. Precepts lead to right actions. Therefore precepts are enough for the happy life.\" Precepts do not always lead to right actions, only when the character is compliant. Sometimes they are applied in vain, if wrong opinions besiege the mind."},{"ref":"Letter 95.5–6","orig":"Deinde etiam si recte faciunt, nesciunt facere se recte. Non potest enim quisquam nisi ab initio formatus et tota ratione compositus omnis exsequi numeros ut sciat quando oporteat et in quantum et cum quo et quemadmodum et quare. Non potest toto animo ad honesta conari, ne constanter quidem aut libenter, sed respiciet, sed haesitabit. 'Si honesta' inquit 'actio ex praeceptis venit, ad beatam vitam praecepta abunde sunt: atqui est illud, ergo et hoc.' His respondebimus actiones honestas et praeceptis fieri, non tantum praeceptis.","en":"Next, even if people act rightly, they do not know that they are acting rightly. For no one who has not been shaped from the beginning and fully ordered by reason can carry out every part of his duty so as to know when he should act, how far, with whom, how and why. He cannot strive towards the honourable with his whole heart, or even steadily or willingly; he will look back, he will hesitate. \"If honourable action comes from precepts,\" he says, \"precepts are more than enough for the happy life. The first is true, so the second is too.\" We will answer that honourable actions do come from precepts, but not from precepts alone."},{"ref":"Letter 95.7–8","orig":"'Si aliae' inquit 'artes contentae sunt praeceptis, contenta erit et sapientia; nam et haec ars vitae est. Atqui gubernatorem facit ille qui praecipit \"sic move gubernaculum, sic vela summitte, sic secundo vento utere, sic adverso resiste, sic dubium communemque tibi vindica\". Alios quoque artifices praecepta conformant; ergo in hoc idem poterunt artifice vivendi.' Omnes istae artes circa instrumenta vitae occupatae sunt, non circa totam vitam; itaque multa illas inhibent extrinsecus et inpediunt, spes, cupiditas, timor. At haec quae artem vitae professa est nulla re quominus se exerceat vetari potest; discutit enim inpedimenta et iactat obstantia. Vis scire quam dissimilis sit aliarum artium condicio et huius? in illis excusatius est voluntate peccare quam casu, in hac maxima culpa est sponte delinquere.","en":"\"If other arts are content with precepts,\" he says, \"wisdom will be content with them too, since it too is an art, the art of living. The man who makes a helmsman is the one who instructs him: 'Move the rudder like this, lower the sails like this, use a following wind like this, resist a head wind like this, turn a doubtful, shifting wind to your advantage like this.' Precepts shape other craftsmen too; so they will be able to do the same for this craftsman of living.\" All those arts are concerned with the equipment of life, not with the whole of life. So many things hold them back and hinder them from outside: hope, desire, fear. But this art, which professes to be the art of living, cannot be prevented by anything from exercising itself, for it shakes off obstacles and throws aside whatever stands in its way. Do you want to know how different the position of the other arts is from this one? In them a deliberate mistake is more excusable than an accidental one; in this, the greatest fault is to go wrong on purpose."},{"ref":"Letter 95.9","orig":"Quod dico tale est. Grammaticus non erubescet soloecismo si sciens fecit, erubescet si nesciens; medicus si deficere aegrum non intellegit, quantum ad artem magis peccat quam si se intellegere dissimulat: at in hac arte vivendi turpior volentium culpa est. Adice nunc quod artes quoque pleraeque – immo ex omnibus liberalissimae – habent decreta sua, non tantum praecepta, sicut medicina; itaque alia est Hippocratis secta, alia Asclepiadis, alia Themisonis.","en":"What I mean is this. A grammarian will not blush at a solecism if he made it knowingly, but he will blush if he made it without knowing. If a doctor does not understand that his patient is sinking, he fails more as far as his art is concerned than if he pretends not to understand. But in this art of living, the fault of those who err willingly is more shameful. Add now that most arts too, indeed the most liberal of them all, have their doctrines, not just precepts; medicine, for example. So there is one school of Hippocrates, another of Asclepiades, another of Themison."},{"ref":"Letter 95.10–11","orig":"Praeterea nulla ars contemplativa sine decretis suis est, quae Graeci vocant dogmata, nobis vel decreta licet appellare vel scita vel placita; quae et in geometria et in astronomia invenies. Philosophia autem et contemplativa est et activa: spectat simul agitque. Erras enim si tibi illam putas tantum terrestres operas promittere: altius spirat. 'Totum' inquit 'mundum scrutor nec me intra contubernium mortale contineo, suadere vobis aut dissuadere contenta: magna me vocant supraque vos posita. Nam tibi de summa caeli ratione deumque disserere incipiam et rerum primordia pandam, unde omnis natura creet res, auctet alatque, quoque eadem rursus natura perempta resolvat, ut ait Lucretius.' Sequitur ergo ut, cum contemplativa sit, habeat decreta sua.","en":"Besides, no theoretical art is without its doctrines, which the Greeks call dogmata, and which we may call decrees, tenets or principles. You will find them in geometry and in astronomy. And philosophy is both theoretical and practical: it contemplates and acts at the same time. You are wrong if you think it promises you only earthly tasks. Its aims are higher. \"I investigate the whole universe,\" it says, \"and I do not keep myself within the dwelling of mortals, content to persuade or dissuade you. Great things call me, set far above you. 'For I shall begin to tell you of the highest law of heaven and the gods, and reveal the first beginnings of things, from which nature creates all things, increases and nourishes them, and into which nature in turn dissolves them when destroyed,'\" as Lucretius says. It follows, then, that since philosophy is theoretical, it has its doctrines."},{"ref":"Letter 95.12–13","orig":"Quid quod facienda quoque nemo rite obibit nisi is cui ratio erit tradita qua in quaque re omnis officiorum numeros exsequi possit? quos non servabit qui in rem praecepta acceperit, non in omne. Inbecilla sunt per se et, ut ita dicam, sine radice quae partibus dantur. Decreta sunt quae muniant, quae securitatem nostram tranquillitatemque tueantur, quae totam vitam totamque rerum naturam simul contineant. Hoc interest inter decreta philosophiae et praecepta quod inter elementa et membra: haec ex illis dependent, illa et horum causae sunt et omnium. 'Antiqua' inquit 'sapientia nihil aliud quam facienda ac vitanda praecepit, et tunc longe meliores erant viri: postquam docti prodierunt, boni desunt; simplex enim illa et aperta virtus in obscuram et sollertem scientiam versa est docemurque disputare, non vivere.'","en":"And what of the fact that no one will even perform his duties properly unless he has been given the reasoning by which he can carry out every part of duty in every situation? A man who has received precepts for a particular case, not for the whole, will not keep them. Precepts given for parts are weak in themselves and, so to speak, without roots. It is doctrines that fortify us, that protect our security and calm, that hold together the whole of life and the whole of nature at once. The difference between philosophy's doctrines and its precepts is the difference between elements and limbs: the limbs depend on the elements, and the elements are the causes both of the limbs and of everything. \"The wisdom of old,\" he says, \"did nothing but prescribe what to do and what to avoid, and men were far better then. Since the learned have appeared, the good have been lacking. That simple and open virtue has been turned into an obscure and clever science, and we are taught to argue, not to live.\""},{"ref":"Letter 95.14","orig":"Fuit sine dubio, ut dicitis, vetus illa sapientia cum maxime nascens rudis non minus quam ceterae artes quarum in processu subtilitas crevit. Sed ne opus quidem adhuc erat remediis diligentibus. Nondum in tantum nequitia surrexerat nec tam late se sparserat: poterant vitiis simplicibus obstare remedia simplicia. Nunc necesse est tanto operosiora esse munimenta quanto vehementiora sunt quibus petimur.","en":"No doubt, as you say, that ancient wisdom was crude when it was just being born, no less than the other arts, whose subtlety grew as they developed. But at that time there was no need yet for careful remedies. Wickedness had not yet risen so high or spread so widely. Simple remedies could stand against simple vices. Now our defences must be as much more elaborate as the forces attacking us are more violent."},{"ref":"Letter 95.15","orig":"Medicina quondam paucarum fuit scientia herbarum quibus sisteretur fluens sanguis, vulnera coirent; paulatim deinde in hanc pervenit tam multiplicem varietatem. Nec est mirum tunc illam minus negotii habuisse firmis adhuc solidisque corporibus et facili cibo nec per artem voluptatemque corrupto: qui postquam coepit non ad tollendam sed ad inritandam famem quaeri et inventae sunt mille conditurae quibus aviditas excitaretur, quae desiderantibus alimenta erant onera sunt plenis.","en":"Medicine was once the knowledge of a few herbs to stop bleeding and close wounds. Then little by little it reached its present enormous variety. It is not surprising that it had less to do then, when bodies were still firm and sturdy and food was simple and not spoiled by art and pleasure. But once food began to be sought not to take away hunger but to provoke it, and a thousand seasonings were invented to rouse greed, what was nourishment for the hungry became a burden to the full."},{"ref":"Letter 95.16–17","orig":"Inde pallor et nervorum vino madentium tremor et miserabilior ex cruditatibus quam ex fame macies; inde incerti labantium pedes et semper qualis in ipsa ebrietate titubatio; inde in totam cutem umor admissus distentusque venter dum male adsuescit plus capere quam poterat; inde suffusio luridae bilis et decolor vultus tabesque in se putrescentium et retorridi digiti articulis obrigescentibus nervorumque sine sensu iacentium torpor aut palpitatio sine intermissione vibrantium. Quid capitis vertigines dicam? quid oculorum auriumque tormenta et cerebri exaestuantis verminationes et omnia per quae exoneramur internis ulceribus adfecta? Innumerabilia praeterea febrium genera, aliarum impetu saevientium, aliarum tenui peste repentium, aliarum cum horrore et multa membrorum quassatione venientium?","en":"Hence pallor, and the trembling of sinews soaked in wine, and a thinness more pitiable from indigestion than from hunger. Hence the unsteady feet of people tottering, and a staggering always like that of actual drunkenness. Hence fluid seeping under the whole skin, and the belly swollen as it wrongly gets used to taking in more than it could hold. Hence jaundice spreading yellow bile, a discoloured face, the wasting of those who rot from within, withered fingers with stiffening joints, and the numbness of sinews lying without feeling or their ceaseless twitching and quivering. Why should I mention dizziness? Why the tortures of the eyes and ears, the itching pains of the seething brain, and all the passages by which we relieve ourselves affected by internal ulcers? Besides, countless kinds of fever, some raging with violent attacks, some creeping on with a slow sickness, some coming with shivering and much shaking of the limbs?"},{"ref":"Letter 95.18","orig":"Quid alios referam innumerabiles morbos, supplicia luxuriae? Immunes erant ab istis malis qui nondum se delicis solverant, qui sibi imperabant, sibi ministrabant. Corpora opere ac vero labore durabant, aut cursu defatigati aut venatu aut tellure versanda; excipiebat illos cibus qui nisi esurientibus placere non posset. Itaque nihil opus erat tam magna medicorum supellectile nec tot ferramentis atque puxidibus. Simplex erat ex causa simplici valetudo: multos morbos multa fericula fecerunt.","en":"Why should I list the other countless diseases, the punishments of luxury? People were free from these evils who had not yet dissolved themselves in pleasures, who were their own masters and their own servants. They hardened their bodies by work and real toil, tiring themselves out with running or hunting or turning the soil. They came home to food that could please only the hungry. So there was no need for such a huge stock of medical equipment, for so many instruments and pill boxes. Health was simple because its cause was simple. Many courses have made many diseases."},{"ref":"Letter 95.19–20","orig":"Vide quantum rerum per unam gulam transiturarum permisceat luxuria, terrarum marisque vastatrix. Necesse est itaque inter se tam diversa dissideant et hausta male digerantur aliis alio nitentibus. Nec mirum quod inconstans variusque ex discordi cibo morbus est et illa ex contrariis naturae partibus in eundem conpulsa ventrem redundant. Inde tam novo aegrotamus genere quam vivimus. Maximus ille medicorum et huius scientiae conditor feminis nec capillos defluere dixit nec pedes laborare: atqui et capillis destituuntur et pedibus aegrae sunt. Non mutata feminarum natura sed victa est; nam cum virorum licentiam aequaverint, corporum quoque virilium incommoda aequarunt.","en":"See how many things luxury, the ravager of land and sea, mixes together to pass down a single throat. Such different things must disagree with one another, and once swallowed they are badly digested, as they pull in different directions. No wonder the illness that comes from discordant food is changeable and varied, and that things forced into the same belly from opposite parts of nature overflow. So we are ill in ways as new as the ways we live. The greatest of doctors and the founder of this science said that women did not lose their hair or suffer from gout in their feet. Yet now they both lose their hair and have diseased feet. Women's nature has not changed, but it has been overcome. For since they have matched men's licence, they have also matched the ailments of men's bodies."},{"ref":"Letter 95.21","orig":"Non minus pervigilant, non minus potant, et oleo et mero viros provocant; aeque invitis ingesta visceribus per os reddunt et vinum omne vomitu remetiuntur; aeque nivem rodunt, solacium stomachi aestuantis. Libidine vero ne maribus quidem cedunt: pati natae (di illas deaeque male perdant!) adeo perversum commentae genus inpudicitiae viros ineunt. Quid ergo mirandum est maximum medicorum ac naturae peritissimum in mendacio prendi, cum tot feminae podagricae calvaeque sint? Beneficium sexus sui vitiis perdiderunt et, quia feminam exuerant, damnatae sunt morbis virilibus.","en":"They stay up just as late and drink just as much. They challenge men with oil and neat wine. Like men, they bring back up through the mouth what they have forced into unwilling insides, and measure out all their wine again in vomit. Like men, they chew snow to soothe a burning stomach. In lust they do not even give way to men. Born to take the passive part (may the gods and goddesses destroy them!), they have devised so perverse a kind of lewdness that they take the man's part with men. So what is surprising in the greatest of doctors and the most expert in nature being caught out in a falsehood, when so many women are gouty and bald? They have lost the privilege of their sex through their vices, and because they had stripped off womanhood, they have been condemned to men's diseases."},{"ref":"Letter 95.22–23","orig":"Antiqui medici nesciebant dare cibum saepius et vino fulcire venas cadentis, nesciebant sanguinem mittere et diutinam aegrotationem balneo sudoribusque laxare, nesciebant crurum vinculo brachiorumque latentem vim et in medio sedentem ad extrema revocare. Non erat necesse circumspicere multa auxiliorum genera, cum essent periculorum paucissima. Nunc vero quam longe processerunt mala valetudinis! Has usuras voluptatium pendimus ultra modum fasque concupitarum. Innumerabiles esse morbos non miraberis: cocos numera. Cessat omne studium et liberalia professi sine ulla frequentia desertis angulis praesident; in rhetorum ac philosophorum scholis solitudo est: at quam celebres culinae sunt, quanta circa nepotum focos se iuventus premit!","en":"The doctors of old did not know how to give food more often and prop up a failing pulse with wine. They did not know how to let blood and relieve a long illness with baths and sweating. They did not know how to call back to the extremities, by binding the legs and arms, a hidden force lodged in the middle of the body. There was no need to look around for many kinds of help when there were very few kinds of danger. But now how far the evils of ill health have advanced! This is the interest we pay on pleasures desired beyond measure and beyond what is right. You will not be surprised that diseases are countless: count the cooks. All study has come to a standstill. Those who teach the liberal arts sit in deserted corners without any audience. There is solitude in the schools of the rhetoricians and philosophers. But how crowded the kitchens are, what a throng of young men press round the stoves of the spendthrifts!"},{"ref":"Letter 95.24","orig":"Transeo puerorum infelicium greges quos post transacta convivia aliae cubiculi contumeliae expectant; transeo agmina exoletorum per nationes coloresque discripta ut eadem omnibus levitas sit, eadem primae mensura lanuginis, eadem species capillorum, ne quis cui rectior est coma crispulis misceatur; transeo pistorum turbam, transeo ministratorum per quos signo dato ad inferendam cenam discurritur. Di boni, quantum hominum unus venter exercet!","en":"I pass over the droves of unhappy boys who, when the banquet is over, face further indignities in the bedroom. I pass over the troops of male prostitutes sorted by race and colour, so that all have the same smoothness, the same length of first down, the same kind of hair, so that no one with straighter hair is mixed with the curly-haired. I pass over the crowd of bakers, and the waiters who, at a given signal, run in all directions to bring in the dinner. Good gods, how many people one belly keeps busy!"},{"ref":"Letter 95.25","orig":"Quid? tu illos boletos, voluptarium venenum, nihil occulti operis iudicas facere, etiam si praesentanei non fuerunt? Quid? tu illam aestivam nivem non putas callum iocineribus obducere? Quid? illa ostrea, inertissimam carnem caeno saginatam, nihil existimas limosae gravitatis inferre? Quid? illud sociorum garum, pretiosam malorum piscium saniem, non credis urere salsa tabe praecordia? Quid? illa purulenta et quae tantum non ex ipso igne in os transferuntur iudicas sine noxa in ipsis visceribus extingui? Quam foedi itaque pestilentesque ructus sunt, quantum fastidium sui exhalantibus crapulam veterem! scias putrescere sumpta, non concoqui.","en":"What? Do you think those mushrooms, a pleasurable poison, do no hidden work even if they have not acted at once? What? Do you not think that summer snow hardens the liver? What? Do you think those oysters, a most sluggish flesh fattened on mud, bring no slimy heaviness with them? What? Do you not believe that that \"garum of the allies,\" the costly rotting juice of bad fish, burns the stomach with its salty decay? What? Do you think those festering dishes, transferred to the mouth almost straight from the fire, are cooled in the insides themselves without harm? How foul and pestilent the belching is, how disgusted people are with themselves when they breathe out yesterday's debauch! You can tell that what they have eaten is rotting, not being digested."},{"ref":"Letter 95.26–27","orig":"Memini fuisse quondam in sermone nobilem patinam in quam quidquid apud lautos solet diem ducere properans in damnum suum popina congesserat: veneriae spondylique et ostrea eatenus circumcisa qua eduntur intervenientibus distinguebantur echini totam destructique sine ullis ossibus mulli constraverant. Piget esse iam singula: coguntur in unum sapores. In cena fit quod fieri debebat in ventre: expecto iam ut manducata ponantur. Quantulo autem hoc minus est, testas excerpere atque ossa et dentium opera cocum fungi? 'Gravest luxuriari per singula: omnia semel et in eundem saporem versa ponantur. Quare ego ad unam rem manum porrigam? plura veniant simul, multorum ferculorum ornamenta coeant et cohaereant.","en":"I remember that there was once talk of a famous dish into which a cookshop, hurrying to its own ruin, had heaped everything that usually fills a whole day among the well-to-do. Venus mussels, thorny oysters, and oysters trimmed down to the edible part were set out in layers, with sea urchins between them, and boned mullets were spread over the whole. People are now tired of single dishes; flavours are forced together into one. At dinner is done what should have been done in the stomach. I expect next that food will be served already chewed. And how little less is it to pick out the shells and bones and to have the cook do the work of the teeth? \"It is too much trouble to indulge in luxury one dish at a time. Let everything be served at once, turned into a single flavour. Why should I reach out my hand for just one thing? Let many come together, let the ornaments of many courses unite and cling together."},{"ref":"Letter 95.28–29","orig":"Sciant protinus hi qui iactationem ex istis peti et gloriam aiebant non ostendi ista sed conscientiae dari. Pariter sint quae disponi solent, uno iure perfusa; nihil intersit; ostrea, echini, spondyli, mulli perturbati concoctique ponantur.' Non esset confusior vomentium cibus. Quomodo ista perplexa sunt, sic ex istis non singulares morbi nascuntur sed inexplicabiles, diversi, multiformes, adversus quos et medicina armare se coepit multis generibus, multis observationibus. Idem tibi de philosophia dico. Fuit aliquando simplicior inter minora peccantis et levi quoque cura remediabiles: adversus tantam morum eversionem omnia conanda sunt. Et utinam sic denique lues ista vincatur!","en":"\"Let those who said that such things were sought for show and glory know at once that they are not being displayed but given to our own awareness. Let the things that are usually served separately be put together, drenched in a single sauce. Let there be no difference: let oysters, sea urchins, thorny oysters and mullets be served mixed up and cooked together.\" Food that has been vomited would not be more jumbled. And as these foods are tangled together, so the diseases that come from them are not simple but inexplicable, varied, multiform, and against them medicine too has begun to arm itself with many kinds of remedy and many observations. I say the same to you about philosophy. It was once simpler, when people did smaller wrongs that could be cured with slight care. Against such an overturning of morals, everything must be tried. And I only hope this plague may be conquered even so!"},{"ref":"Letter 95.30–31","orig":"Non privatim solum sed publice furimus. Homicidia conpescimus et singulas caedes: quid bella et occisarum gentium gloriosum scelus? Non avaritia, non crudelitas modum novit. Et ista quamdiu furtim et a singulis fiunt minus noxia minusque monstrosa sunt: ex senatus consultis plebisque scitis saeva exercentur et publice iubentur vetata privatim. Quae clam commissa capite luerent, tum quia paludati fecere laudamus. Non pudet homines, mitissimum genus, gaudere sanguine alterno et bella gerere gerendaque liberis tradere, cum inter se etiam mutis ac feris pax sit.","en":"We are mad not only in private but in public. We punish murder and single killings. What about wars and the glorious crime of slaughtering whole nations? Neither greed nor cruelty knows any limit. As long as these things are done secretly and by individuals, they are less harmful and less monstrous. But savage acts are carried out by decrees of the Senate and votes of the people, and things forbidden to private citizens are ordered publicly. Deeds that would be paid for with one's life if done in secret, we praise when men in generals' cloaks have done them. Human beings, the gentlest of species, are not ashamed to delight in each other's blood, to wage wars and hand them on to their children to wage, when even dumb and wild beasts are at peace with one another."},{"ref":"Letter 95.32–33","orig":"Adversus tam potentem explicitumque late furorem operosior philosophia facta est et tantum sibi virium sumpsit quantum iis adversus quae parabatur accesserat. Expeditum erat obiurgare indulgentis mero et petentis delicatiorem cibum, non erat animus ad frugalitatem magna vi reducendus a qua paullum discesserat: nunc manibus rapidis opus est, nunc arte magistra. Voluptas ex omni quaeritur. Nullum intra se manet vitium: in avaritiam luxuria praeceps est. Honesti oblivio invasit; nihil turpest cuius placet pretium. Homo, sacra res homini, iam per lusum ac iocum occiditur et quem erudiri ad inferenda accipiendaque vulnera nefas erat, is iam nudus inermisque producitur satisque spectaculi ex homine mors est.","en":"Against such a powerful and widespread madness, philosophy has become more laborious and has taken on as much extra strength as has been added to the forces it was prepared against. It was easy to rebuke people who indulged in wine and looked for more delicate food. There was no need to bring back with great force a mind that had strayed only a little from frugality. \"Now there is need of quick hands, now of the master's skill.\" Pleasure is sought from every source. No vice keeps within its own bounds; luxury rushes headlong into greed. Forgetfulness of the honourable has taken hold. Nothing is shameful if its price is pleasing. Man, a sacred thing to man, is now killed for sport and fun. He whom it was a sin to train to give and receive wounds is now led out naked and unarmed, and a man's death is spectacle enough."},{"ref":"Letter 95.34–35","orig":"In hac ergo morum perversitate desideratur solito vehementius aliquid quod mala inveterata discutiat: decretis agendum est ut revellatur penitus falsorum recepta persuasio. His si adiunxerimus praecepta, consolationes, adhortationes, poterunt valere: per se inefficaces sunt. Si volumus habere obligatos et malis quibus iam tenentur avellere, discant quid malum, quid bonum sit, sciant omnia praeter virtutem mutare nomen, modo mala fieri, modo bona. Quemadmodum primum militiae vinculum est religio et signorum amor et deserendi nefas, tunc deinde facile cetera exiguntur mandanturque iusiurandum adactis, ita in iis quos velis ad beatam vitam perducere prima fundamenta iacienda sunt et insinuanda virtus. Huius quadam superstitione teneantur, hanc ament; cum hac vivere velint, sine hac nolint.","en":"So in this perversion of morals something stronger than usual is needed to shake off long-established evils. We must act by doctrines, so that the belief in falsehoods that has been taken in may be torn out by the roots. If we add precepts, consolations and exhortations to these, they will be able to have force; on their own they are ineffective. If we want to hold people bound and tear them away from the evils that now grip them, let them learn what is evil and what is good. Let them know that everything except virtue changes its name, becoming now evil, now good. Just as the first bond of military service is religious devotion, love of the standards and the horror of desertion, and after that the rest is easily demanded and ordered of men who have taken the oath, so in those you want to lead to the happy life the first foundations must be laid and virtue must be instilled. Let them be held by a kind of reverent awe of it; let them love it; let them want to live with it and not want to live without it."},{"ref":"Letter 95.36","orig":"'Quid ergo? non quidam sine institutione subtili evaserunt probi magnosque profectus adsecuti sunt dum nudis tantum praeceptis obsequuntur?' Fateor, sed felix illis ingenium fuit et salutaria in transitu rapuit. Nam ut dii immortales nullam didicere virtutem cum omni editi et pars naturae eorum est bonos esse, ita quidam ex hominibus egregiam sortiti indolem in ea quae tradi solent perveniunt sine longo magisterio et honesta conplexi sunt cum primum audiere; unde ista tam rapacia virtutis ingenia vel ex se fertilia. At illis aut hebetibus et obtusis aut mala consuetudine obsessis diu robigo animorum effricanda est.","en":"\"What then? Have not some people turned out honest without subtle instruction, and made great progress while obeying only bare precepts?\" I admit it, but they had a fortunate character and snatched up healthy teachings in passing. For just as the immortal gods learned no virtue, since they were born with all of it and being good is part of their nature, so some human beings, blessed with an outstanding nature, reach what is usually taught without long schooling, and embraced the honourable as soon as they heard it. Hence those characters that seize so eagerly on virtue, or are fertile in it of themselves. But in others, who are dull and blunt or held captive by bad habits, the rust on their minds must be rubbed off for a long time."},{"ref":"Letter 95.37","orig":"Ceterum, ut illos in bonum pronos citius educit ad summa, et hos inbecilliores adiuvabit malisque opinionibus extrahet qui illis philosophiae placita tradiderit; quae quam sint necessaria sic licet videas. Quaedam insident nobis quae nos ad alia pigros, ad alia temerarios faciunt; nec haec audacia reprimi potest nec illa inertia suscitari nisi causae eorum eximuntur, falsa admiratio et falsa formido. Haec nos quamdiu possident, dicas licet 'hoc patri praestare debes, hoc liberis, hoc amicis, hoc hospitibus': temptantem avaritia retinebit. Sciet pro patria pugnandum esse, dissuadebit timor; sciet pro amicis desudandum esse ad extremum usque sudorem, sed deliciae vetabunt; sciet in uxore gravissimum esse genus iniuriae paelicem, sed illum libido in contraria inpinget.","en":"But just as whoever hands on the tenets of philosophy leads those who are inclined to the good more quickly to the heights, so he will help these weaker ones and pull them out of their bad opinions. You can see how necessary those tenets are from this. Certain things are lodged in us that make us sluggish about some things and rash about others. This rashness cannot be checked, nor that sluggishness roused, unless their causes are removed: false admiration and false fear. As long as these possess us, you may say, \"This is what you owe your father, this your children, this your friends, this your guests,\" but greed will hold him back when he tries. He will know that he must fight for his country, but fear will talk him out of it. He will know that he must toil for his friends to the last drop of sweat, but his love of comfort will forbid it. He will know that a mistress is the gravest kind of wrong to a wife, but lust will drive him the other way."},{"ref":"Letter 95.38–40","orig":"Nihil ergo proderit dare praecepta nisi prius amoveris obstatura praeceptis, non magis quam proderit arma in conspectu posuisse propiusque admovisse nisi usurae manus expediuntur. Ut ad praecepta quae damus possit animus ire, solvendus est. Putemus aliquem facere quod oportet: non faciet adsidue, non faciet aequaliter; nesciet enim quare faciat. Aliqua vel casu vel exercitatione exibunt recta, sed non erit in manu regula ad quam exigantur, cui credat recta esse quae fecit. Non promittet se talem in perpetuum qui bonus casu est. Deinde praestabunt tibi fortasse praecepta ut quod oportet faciat, non praestabunt ut quemadmodum oportet; si hoc non praestant, ad virtutem non perducunt. Faciet quod oportet monitus, concedo; sed id parum est, quoniam quidem non in facto laus est sed in eo quemadmodum fiat.","en":"So it will do no good to give precepts unless you first remove what will stand in their way, any more than it will do good to have placed weapons in view and moved them closer, unless the hands that are to use them are freed. For the mind to be able to go towards the precepts we give, it must be set loose. Suppose someone does what he should. He will not do it constantly, he will not do it consistently, for he will not know why he is doing it. Some things will turn out right, either by chance or by practice, but he will have no rule in his hand to test them by, no rule to trust that what he has done is right. A man who is good by chance will not promise to be so forever. Next, precepts may perhaps ensure that he does what he should; they will not ensure that he does it in the way he should. If they do not ensure this, they do not lead to virtue. He will do what he should when advised, I grant; but that is too little, since the merit lies not in the deed but in the way it is done."},{"ref":"Letter 95.41","orig":"Quid est cena sumptuosa flagitiosius et equestrem censum consumente? quid tam dignum censoria nota, si quis, ut isti ganeones loquuntur, sibi hoc et genio suo praestet? et deciens tamen sestertio aditiales cenae frugalissimis viris constiterunt. Eadem res, si gulae datur, turpis est, si honori, reprensionem effugit; non enim luxuria sed inpensa sollemnis est.","en":"What is more disgraceful than an extravagant dinner that swallows up a knight's fortune? What more deserves the censor's black mark, if a man \"treats himself and his genius to it,\" as those gluttons say? And yet inaugural dinners have cost the most frugal men a million sesterces. The same thing, if given to gluttony, is shameful; if given to an official honour, it escapes blame. For it is not luxury but a customary expense."},{"ref":"Letter 95.42","orig":"Mullum ingentis formae – quare autem non pondus adicio et aliquorum gulam inrito? quattuor pondo et selibram fuisse aiebant – Tiberius Caesar missum sibi cum in macellum deferri et venire iussisset, 'amici,' inquit 'omnia me fallunt nisi istum mullum aut Apicius emerit aut P. Octavius'. Ultra spem illi coniectura processit: liciti sunt, vicit Octavius et ingentem consecutus est inter suos gloriam, cum quinque sestertiis emisset piscem quem Caesar vendiderat, ne Apicius quidem emerat. Numerare tantum Octavio fuit turpe, non illi qui emerat ut Tiberio mitteret, quamquam illum quoque reprenderim: admiratus est rem qua putavit Caesarem dignum. Amico aliquis aegro adsidet: probamus.","en":"A mullet of enormous size (and why should I not add its weight and whet some people's appetites? They said it weighed four and a half pounds) was sent to Tiberius Caesar. He ordered it to be taken to the market and sold, and said: \"Friends, I am quite mistaken if either Apicius or Publius Octavius does not buy that mullet.\" His guess came true beyond his hopes. They bid against each other, Octavius won, and gained great glory among his friends for having bought for five thousand sesterces a fish that Caesar had sold and that not even Apicius had bought. Paying so much was shameful for Octavius, but not for the man who had bought it to send it to Tiberius, although I would criticise him too: he admired a thing he thought worthy of Caesar. Someone sits by the bedside of a sick friend: we approve."},{"ref":"Letter 95.43–44","orig":"At hoc hereditatis causa facit: vultur est, cadaver expectat. Eadem aut turpia sunt aut honesta: refert quare aut quemadmodum fiant. Omnia autem honeste fient si honesto nos addixerimus idque unum in rebus humanis bonum iudicarimus quaeque ex eo sunt; cetera in diem bona sunt. Ergo infigi debet persuasio ad totam pertinens vitam: hoc est quod decretum voco. Qualis haec persuasio fuerit, talia erunt quae agentur, quae cogitabuntur; qualia autem haec fuerint, talis vita erit. In particulas suasisse totum ordinanti parum est.","en":"But he does it for the sake of an inheritance: he is a vulture waiting for a corpse. The same things are either shameful or honourable; what matters is why or how they are done. And everything will be done honourably if we have devoted ourselves to the honourable and judged it and whatever comes from it to be the only good in human affairs. Other things are good only for the day. So a conviction must be fixed in us that applies to the whole of life. This is what I call a doctrine. As this conviction is, so will our actions and thoughts be; and as these are, so will our life be. Giving advice about the details is not enough for someone arranging the whole."},{"ref":"Letter 95.45–46","orig":"M. Brutus in eo libro quem peri kathekontos inscripsit dat multa praecepta et parentibus et liberis et fratribus: haec nemo faciet quemadmodum debet nisi habuerit quo referat. Proponamus oportet finem summi boni ad quem nitamur, ad quem omne factum nostrum dictumque respiciat; veluti navigantibus ad aliquod sidus derigendus est cursus. Vita sine proposito vaga est; quod si utique proponendum est, incipiunt necessaria esse decreta. Illud, ut puto, concedes, nihil esse turpius dubio et incerto ac timide pedem referente. Hoc in omnibus rebus accidet nobis nisi eximuntur quae reprendunt animos et detinent et ire conarique totos vetant.","en":"Marcus Brutus, in the book he entitled On Duty, gives many precepts to parents, children and brothers. No one will carry these out as he should unless he has something to refer them to. We must set before ourselves the goal of the supreme good, towards which we can strive and to which our every deed and word may look, just as sailors must steer their course by some star. Life without a purpose wanders. But if a purpose must certainly be set, doctrines begin to be necessary. I think you will grant this: nothing is more shameful than a man who is doubtful, uncertain and timidly drawing his foot back. This will happen to us in everything unless the things that hold our minds back, detain them and forbid them to go forward and strive with all their might are removed."},{"ref":"Letter 95.47–48","orig":"Quomodo sint dii colendi solet praecipi. Accendere aliquem lucernas sabbatis prohibeamus, quoniam nec lumine dii egent et ne homines quidem delectantur fuligine. Vetemus salutationibus matutinis fungi et foribus adsidere templorum: humana ambitio istis officiis capitur, deum colit qui novit. Vetemus lintea et strigiles Iovi ferre et speculum tenere Iunoni: non quaerit ministros deus. Quidni? ipse humano generi ministrat, ubique et omnibus praesto est. Audiat licet quem modum servare in sacrificiis debeat, quam procul resilire a molestis superstitionibus, numquam satis profectum erit nisi qualem debet deum mente conceperit, omnia habentem, omnia tribuentem, beneficum gratis.","en":"Precepts are commonly given on how the gods should be worshipped. Let us forbid anyone to light lamps on the Sabbath, since the gods do not need light and not even men enjoy soot. Let us forbid people to pay morning calls and sit at the doors of temples: human ambition is caught by such attentions, but God is worshipped by the one who knows him. Let us forbid people to bring towels and scrapers to Jupiter and hold a mirror for Juno. God does not look for servants. Why should he? He himself serves the human race; he is present everywhere and to everyone. A man may hear what limit he should keep in sacrifices and how far to recoil from burdensome superstitions, but he will never have made enough progress unless he has formed in his mind the right idea of God: as one who has everything, gives everything, and does good for nothing in return."},{"ref":"Letter 95.49–50","orig":"Quae causa est dis bene faciendi? natura. Errat si quis illos putat nocere nolle: non possunt. Nec accipere iniuriam queunt nec facere; laedere etenim laedique coniunctum est. Summa illa ac pulcherrima omnium natura quos periculo exemit ne periculosos quidem fecit. Primus est deorum cultus deos credere; deinde reddere illis maiestatem suam, reddere bonitatem sine qua nulla maiestas est; scire illos esse qui praesident mundo, qui universa vi sua temperant, qui humani generis tutelam gerunt interdum incuriosi singulorum. Hi nec dant malum nec habent; ceterum castigant quosdam et coercent et inrogant poenas et aliquando specie boni puniunt. Vis deos propitiare? bonus esto. Satis illos coluit quisquis imitatus est.","en":"What reason do the gods have for doing good? Their nature. Anyone who thinks they are unwilling to do harm is mistaken: they cannot. They can neither receive nor do wrong, for harming and being harmed go together. That supreme and most beautiful nature of all has not made dangerous those whom it has freed from danger. The first way to worship the gods is to believe in the gods. Next, to give them back their majesty, and to give back their goodness, without which there is no majesty. To know that it is they who rule the universe, who govern all things by their power, who protect the human race, though sometimes careless of individuals. They neither give evil nor have it. But they do chastise and restrain some people, impose penalties, and sometimes punish under the appearance of good. Do you want to win the gods' favour? Be good. Whoever has imitated them has worshipped them enough."},{"ref":"Letter 95.51–52","orig":"Ecce altera quaestio, quomodo hominibus sit utendum. Quid agimus? quae damus praecepta? Ut parcamus sanguini humano? quantulum est ei non nocere cui debeas prodesse! Magna scilicet laus est si homo mansuetus homini est. Praecipiemus ut naufrago manum porrigat, erranti viam monstret, cum esuriente panem suum dividat? Quare omnia quae praestanda ac vitanda sunt dicam? cum possim breviter hanc illi formulam humani offici tradere: omne hoc quod vides, quo divina atque humana conclusa sunt, unum est; membra sumus corporis magni. Natura nos cognatos edidit, cum ex isdem et in eadem gigneret; haec nobis amorem indidit mutuum et sociabiles fecit. Illa aequum iustumque composuit; ex illius constitutione miserius est nocere quam laedi; ex illius imperio paratae sint iuvandis manus.","en":"Here is another question: how we should treat human beings. What are we doing? What precepts do we give? That we should spare human blood? How little it is not to harm someone you ought to help! It is a great glory, of course, if a man is gentle to a man. Shall we instruct him to hold out his hand to a shipwrecked man, show the way to a man who has lost it, share his bread with the hungry? Why should I list everything that should be done or avoided, when I can briefly hand him this formula of human duty? All that you see, in which things divine and human are enclosed, is one. We are limbs of a great body. Nature made us kin, since she produced us from the same things and for the same things. She has put mutual love in us and made us sociable. She established fairness and justice. By her ordinance it is more wretched to harm than to be harmed. At her command let our hands be ready to help."},{"ref":"Letter 95.53–54","orig":"Ille versus et in pectore et in ore sit: homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto. Habeamus in commune: in commune nati sumus. Societas nostra lapidum fornicationi simillima est, quae, casura nisi in vicem obstarent, hoc ipso sustinetur. Post deos hominesque dispiciamus quomodo rebus sit utendum. In supervacuum praecepta iactabimus nisi illud praecesserit, qualem de quacumque re habere debeamus opinionem, de paupertate, de divitiis, de gloria, de ignominia, de patria, de exilio. Aestimemus singula fama remota et quaeramus quid sint, non quid vocentur.","en":"Let this line be in our hearts and on our lips: \"I am human; I count nothing human foreign to me.\" Let us hold things in common: we were born for the common good. Our fellowship is very like an arch of stones, which would fall if they did not hold each other up, and is supported by that very fact. After gods and men, let us consider how we should use things. We will toss out precepts in vain unless we have first settled what opinion we should hold about each thing: about poverty, riches, glory, disgrace, country, exile. Let us assess each thing without regard to reputation and ask what it is, not what it is called."},{"ref":"Letter 95.55–56","orig":"Ad virtutes transeamus. Praecipiet aliquis ut prudentiam magni aestimemus, ut fortitudinem conplectamur, iustitiam, si fieri potest, propius etiam quam ceteras nobis adplicemus; sed nil aget si ignoramus quid sit virtus, una sit an plures, separatae an innexae, an qui unam habet et ceteras habeat, quo inter se differant. Non est necesse fabro de fabrica quaerere quod eius initium, quis usus sit, non magis quam pantomimo de arte saltandi: omnes istae artes se sciunt, nihil deest; non enim ad totam pertinent vitam. Virtus et aliorum scientia est et sui; discendum de ipsa est ut ipsa discatur.","en":"Let us move on to the virtues. Someone will instruct us to value prudence highly, to embrace courage, and to hold justice, if possible, even closer to us than the others. But he will achieve nothing if we do not know what virtue is: whether it is one or many, whether the virtues are separate or linked, whether one who has one has the others too, and how they differ from each other. A carpenter has no need to inquire about carpentry, what its origin or use is, any more than a pantomime dancer needs to inquire about the art of dancing. All these arts understand themselves; nothing is lacking, for they do not concern the whole of life. Virtue is the knowledge both of other things and of itself. We must learn about virtue in order to learn virtue."},{"ref":"Letter 95.57","orig":"Actio recta non erit nisi recta fuerit voluntas; ab hac enim est actio. Rursus voluntas non erit recta nisi habitus animi rectus fuerit; ab hoc enim est voluntas. Habitus porro animi non erit in optimo nisi totius vitae leges perceperit et quid de quoque iudicandum sit exegerit, nisi res ad verum redegerit. Non contingit tranquillitas nisi inmutabile certumque iudicium adeptis: ceteri decidunt subinde et reponuntur et inter missa adpetitaque alternis fluctuantur.","en":"An action will not be right unless the will is right, for the action comes from the will. Again, the will will not be right unless the disposition of the mind is right, for the will comes from this. And the disposition of the mind will not be at its best unless it has grasped the laws of the whole of life, has worked out what judgement should be made about each thing, and has brought things down to the truth. Calm comes only to those who have reached an unchanging and certain judgement. The others keep falling and getting up again, and waver back and forth between what they have given up and what they seek."},{"ref":"Letter 95.58","orig":"Causa his quae iactationis est? quod nihil liquet incertissimo regimine utentibus, fama. Si vis eadem semper velle, vera oportet velis. Ad verum sine decretis non pervenitur: continent vitam. Bona et mala, honesta et turpia, iusta et iniusta, pia et impia, virtutes ususque virtutum, rerum commodarum possessio, existimatio ac dignitas, valetudo, vires, forma, sagacitas sensuum – haec omnia aestimatorem desiderant. Scire liceat quanti quidque in censum deferendum sit.","en":"What is the cause of this tossing about? That nothing is clear to those who use the most uncertain of guides: reputation. If you want always to want the same things, you must want true things. The truth cannot be reached without doctrines; they hold life together. Good and evil, honourable and shameful, just and unjust, pious and impious, the virtues and their practice, the possession of advantages, esteem and rank, health, strength, beauty, keenness of the senses: all these need someone to assess them. Let us be allowed to know at what value each should be entered in the register."},{"ref":"Letter 95.59–60","orig":"Falleris enim et pluris quaedam quam sunt putas, adeoque falleris ut quae maxima inter nos habentur – divitiae, gratia, potentia – sestertio nummo aestimanda sint. Hoc nescies nisi constitutionem ipsam qua ista inter se aestimantur inspexeris. Quemadmodum folia per se virere non possunt, ramum desiderant cui inhaereant, ex quo trahant sucum, sic ista praecepta, si sola sunt, marcent; infigi volunt sectae. Praeterea non intellegunt hi qui decreta tollunt eo ipso confirmari illa quo tolluntur. Quid enim dicunt? praeceptis vitam satis explicari, supervacua esse decreta sapientiae. Atqui hoc ipsum quod dicunt decretum est tam mehercules quam si nunc ego dicerem recedendum a praeceptis velut supervacuis, utendum esse decretis, in haec sola studium conferendum; hoc ipso quo negarem curanda esse praecepta praeciperem.","en":"For you are mistaken and think some things worth more than they are, and you are so mistaken that the things held greatest among us, wealth, influence and power, should be valued at a penny. You will not know this unless you have examined the very standard by which these things are valued against each other. Just as leaves cannot stay green by themselves but need a branch to cling to and draw sap from, so these precepts wither if they are on their own; they need to be grafted onto a school of thought. Besides, those who do away with doctrines do not understand that doctrines are confirmed by the very act of doing away with them. For what do they say? That life is sufficiently explained by precepts and that the doctrines of wisdom are superfluous. Yet this very statement of theirs is a doctrine, just as much, heaven knows, as if I were now to say that precepts should be dropped as superfluous, that doctrines should be used, and that all our effort should be given to them alone. By the very act of denying that precepts should be heeded, I would be giving a precept."},{"ref":"Letter 95.61–62","orig":"Quaedam admonitionem in philosophia desiderant, quaedam probationem et quidem multam, quia involuta sunt vixque summa diligentia ac summa subtilitate aperiuntur. Si probationes necessariae sunt, necessaria sunt et decreta quae veritatem argumentis colligunt. Quaedam aperta sunt, quaedam obscura: aperta quae sensu conprehenduntur, quae memoria; obscura quae extra haec sunt. Ratio autem non impletur manifestis: maior eius pars pulchriorque in occultis est. Occulta probationem exigunt, probatio non sine decretis est; necessaria ergo decreta sunt. Quae res communem sensum facit, eadem perfectum, certa rerum persuasio; sine qua si omnia in animo natant, necessaria sunt decreta quae dant animis inflexibile iudicium.","en":"Some things in philosophy need advice, others need proof, and a great deal of it, because they are complicated and can hardly be opened up with the greatest care and subtlety. If proofs are necessary, so are the doctrines that gather truth together by argument. Some things are plain, others obscure. Plain are those grasped by the senses or by memory; obscure are those that lie beyond these. But reason is not satisfied with what is evident; its greater and more beautiful part lies in what is hidden. Hidden things demand proof, and proof does not exist without doctrines. Therefore doctrines are necessary. What makes common sense also makes perfect sense: a firm conviction about things. If, without it, everything in the mind drifts, then doctrines are necessary, since they give minds unbending judgement."},{"ref":"Letter 95.63–64","orig":"Denique cum monemus aliquem ut amicum eodem habeat loco quo se, ut ex inimico cogitet fieri posse amicum, in illo amorem incitet, in hoc odium moderetur, adicimus 'iustum est, honestum'. Iustum autem honestumque decretorum nostrorum continet ratio; ergo haec necessaria est, sine qua nec illa sunt. Sed utrumque iungamus; namque et sine radice inutiles rami sunt et ipsae radices iis quae genuere adiuvantur. Quantum utilitatis manus habeant nescire nulli licet, aperte iuvant: cor illud, quo manus vivunt, ex quo impetum sumunt, quo moventur, latet. Idem dicere de praeceptis possum: aperta sunt, decreta vero sapientiae in abdito. Sicut sanctiora sacrorum tantum initiati sciunt, ita in philosophia arcana illa admissis receptisque in sacra ostenduntur; at praecepta et alia eiusmodi profanis quoque nota sunt.","en":"Finally, when we advise someone to regard a friend as highly as himself, to reflect that an enemy may become a friend, to stir up love in the one case and moderate hatred in the other, we add: \"It is just and honourable.\" But the just and honourable are contained in the reasoning of our doctrines. So that reasoning is necessary, since without it the others do not exist. But let us join the two. For branches are useless without a root, and the roots themselves are helped by what they have produced. No one can fail to know how useful the hands are; they help us openly. But the heart, through which the hands live, from which they take their impulse and by which they are moved, is hidden. I can say the same about precepts: they are plain, whereas the doctrines of wisdom are hidden. Just as only the initiated know the holier parts of the rites, so in philosophy its secrets are shown only to those who have been admitted and received into its rites. But precepts and other such things are known even to the uninitiated."},{"ref":"Letter 95.65","orig":"Posidonius non tantum praeceptionem (nihil enim nos hoc verbo uti prohibet) sed etiam suasionem et consolationem et exhortationem necessariam iudicat; his adicit causarum inquisitionem, aetiologian quam quare nos dicere non audeamus, cum grammatici, custodes Latini sermonis, suo iure ita appellent, non video. Ait utilem futuram et descriptionem cuiusque virtutis; hanc Posidonius 'ethologian' vocat, quidam 'characterismon' appellant, signa cuiusque virtutis ac vitii et notas reddentem, quibus inter se similia discriminentur.","en":"Posidonius judges necessary not only precept-giving (for nothing stops us using this word) but also persuasion, consolation and exhortation. To these he adds the investigation of causes, aetiologia, and I do not see why we should not dare to use that word, since the grammarians, the guardians of the Latin language, use it by their own right. He says that a description of each virtue will also be useful. Posidonius calls this \"ethologia\"; some call it \"characterismos.\" It sets out the signs and marks of each virtue and vice, by which things that resemble each other can be told apart."},{"ref":"Letter 95.66–67","orig":"Haec res eandem vim habet quam praecipere; nam qui praecipit dicit 'illa facies si voles temperans esse', qui describit ait 'temperans est qui illa facit, qui illis abstinet'. Quaeris quid intersit? alter praecepta virtutis dat, alter exemplar. Descriptiones has et, ut publicanorum utar verbo, iconismos ex usu esse confiteor: proponamus laudanda, invenietur imitator. Putas utile dari tibi argumenta per quae intellegas nobilem equum, ne fallaris empturus, ne operam perdas in ignavo? Quanto hoc utilius est excellentis animi notas nosse, quas ex alio in se transferre permittitur.","en":"This has the same force as giving precepts. For the one who gives precepts says, \"You will do these things if you want to be self-controlled,\" while the one who describes says, \"The self-controlled man is the one who does these things and abstains from those.\" Do you ask what the difference is? One gives the precepts of virtue, the other its model. I admit that these descriptions, or, to use the tax collectors' word, these identity sketches, are useful. Let us set out things worth praising, and someone will be found to imitate them. Do you think it useful to be given the signs by which you can recognise a thoroughbred horse, so that you are not cheated when you buy and do not waste your effort on a sluggish one? How much more useful it is to know the marks of an excellent mind, which you are permitted to transfer from another to yourself."},{"ref":"Letter 95.68–69","orig":"Continuo pecoris generosi pullus in arvis altius ingreditur et mollia crura reponit; primus et ire viam et fluvios temptare minantis audet et ignoto sese committere ponti, nec vanos horret strepitus. Illi ardua cervix argutumque caput, brevis alvus obesaque terga, luxuriatque toris animosum pectus...... Tum, si qua sonum procul arma dederunt, stare loco nescit, micat auribus et tremit artus, conlectumque premens volvit sub naribus ignem. Dum aliud agit, Vergilius noster descripsit virum fortem: ego certe non aliam imaginem magno viro dederim. Si mihi M. Cato exprimendus sit inter fragores bellorum civilium inpavidus et primus incessens admotos iam exercitus Alpibus civilique se bello ferens obvium, non alium illi adsignaverim vultum, non alium habitum.","en":"\"From the start the foal of noble stock steps higher in the fields and sets down its supple legs. It is the first to dare to lead the way and to try threatening rivers and to trust itself to an unknown bridge, and it does not shy at idle noises. Its neck is high, its head fine, its belly short, its back broad, and its spirited chest swells with muscle. ...... Then, if weapons clash far off, it cannot stand still; its ears prick up, its limbs tremble, and snorting it rolls the gathered fire beneath its nostrils.\" While he was dealing with something else, our Virgil described a brave man. Certainly I would give no other image of a great man. If I had to portray Marcus Cato, unafraid amid the crash of civil wars, the first to attack armies already approaching the Alps and throwing himself in the way of civil war, I would give him no other look, no other bearing."},{"ref":"Letter 95.70","orig":"Altius certe nemo ingredi potuit quam qui simul contra Caesarem Pompeiumque se sustulit et aliis Caesareanas opes, aliis Pompeianas foventibus utrumque provocavit ostenditque aliquas esse et rei publicae partes. Nam parum est in Catone dicere 'nec vanos horret strepitus'. Quidni? cum veros vicinosque non horreat, cum contra decem legiones et Gallica auxilia et mixta barbarica arma civilibus vocem liberam mittat et rem publicam hortetur ne pro libertate decidat, sed omnia experiatur, honestius in servitutem casura quam itura.","en":"Certainly no one could step higher than the man who rose up against Caesar and Pompey at once and, when some were backing Caesar's forces and others Pompey's, challenged both, and showed that the state too had a party. For it is too little to say of Cato that \"he does not shy at idle noises.\" Of course he does not, when he does not shy at real noises close at hand, when against ten legions, Gallic auxiliaries, and barbarian arms mixed with Roman ones he raises a free voice and urges the state not to give up the struggle for freedom but to try everything, since it would be more honourable to fall into slavery than to walk into it."},{"ref":"Letter 95.71","orig":"Quantum in illo vigoris ac spiritus, quantum in publica trepidatione fiduciaest! Scit se unum esse de cuius statu non agatur; non enim quaeri an liber Cato, sed an inter liberos sit: inde periculorum gladiorumque contemptus. Libet admirantem invictam constantiam viri inter publicas ruinas non labantis dicere 'luxuriatque toris animosum pectus'.","en":"How much vigour and spirit there is in him, how much confidence amid the public panic! He knows he is the one man whose status is not in question, for the question is not whether Cato is free, but whether he lives among free men. Hence his contempt for dangers and swords. Admiring the unconquered steadiness of a man who did not waver amid the collapse of the state, one would like to say: \"and his spirited chest swells with muscle.\""},{"ref":"Letter 95.72","orig":"Proderit non tantum quales esse soleant boni viri dicere formamque eorum et liniamenta deducere sed quales fuerint narrare et exponere, Catonis illud ultimum ac fortissimum vulnus per quod libertas emisit animam, Laeli sapientiam et cum suo Scipione concordiam, alterius Catonis domi forisque egregia facta, Tuberonis ligneos lectos, cum in publicum sterneret, haedinasque pro stragulis pelles et ante ipsius Iovis cellam adposita conviviis vasa fictilia. Quid aliud paupertatem in Capitolio consecrare? Ut nullum aliud factum eius habeam quo illum Catonibus inseram, hoc parum credimus? censura fuit illa, non cena.","en":"It will help not only to say what good men are usually like and to sketch their form and features, but to tell and set out what they have actually been like: that last and bravest wound of Cato's, through which freedom breathed out its life; the wisdom of Laelius and his harmony with his friend Scipio; the outstanding deeds of the other Cato at home and abroad; the wooden couches of Tubero when he laid out a public feast, with goatskins instead of coverlets, and earthenware dishes set out for the banquet in front of the very shrine of Jupiter. What else was that but consecrating poverty on the Capitol? Even if I had no other deed of his by which to rank him with the Catos, do we think this too little? That was not a dinner; it was a censorship."},{"ref":"Letter 95.73","orig":"O quam ignorant homines cupidi gloriae quid illa sit aut quemadmodum petenda! Illo die populus Romanus multorum supellectilem spectavit, unius miratus est. Omnium illorum aurum argentumque fractum est et milliens conflatum, at omnibus saeculis Tuberonis fictilia durabunt. Vale.","en":"How little do men greedy for glory know what it is or how it should be sought! On that day the Roman people looked at the furniture of many, but admired the furniture of one. All their gold and silver has been broken up and melted down a thousand times, but Tubero's earthenware will last through all the ages. Farewell."}],"96":[{"ref":"Letter 96.1–2","orig":"Tamen tu indignaris aliquid aut quereris et non intellegis nihil esse in istis mali nisi hoc unum quod indignaris et quereris? Si me interrogas, nihil puto viro miserum nisi aliquid esse in rerum natura quod putet miserum. Non feram me quo die aliquid ferre non potero. Male valeo: pars fati est. Familia decubuit, fenus offendit, domus crepuit, damna, vulnera, labores, metus incucurrerunt: solet fieri. Hoc parum est: debuit fieri. Decernuntur ista, non accidunt. Si quid credis mihi, intimos adfectus meos tibi cum maxime detego: in omnibus quae adversa videntur et dura sic formatus sum: non pareo deo sed adsentior; ex animo illum, non quia necesse est, sequor. Nihil umquam mihi incidet quod tristis excipiam, quod malo vultu; nullum tributum invitus conferam. Omnia autem ad quae gemimus, quae expavescimus, tributa vitae sunt: horum, mi Lucili, nec speraveris immunitatem nec petieris.","en":"Are you still resentful about something, or complaining, and do you not understand that there is nothing bad in these things except this one thing, that you are resentful and complaining? If you ask me, I think nothing is wretched for a man except his believing that something in the universe is wretched. I will not put up with myself on the day I can no longer put up with something. I am unwell: that is part of fate. My slaves have fallen sick, my income from interest has failed, my house has cracked, losses, wounds, toils and fears have come rushing at me: this is what usually happens. That is too weak: this was bound to happen. These things are decreed, not accidents. If you believe me at all, I am now laying bare my innermost feelings to you: in everything that seems hostile and hard, I have trained myself like this. I do not obey God, I agree with him. I follow him willingly, not because I must. Nothing will ever happen to me that I would receive sadly or with a sour face; I will pay no tax unwillingly. And everything that makes us groan or fills us with dread is a tax on life: do not hope, my Lucilius, to be exempt from it, and do not ask to be."},{"ref":"Letter 96.3–5","orig":"Vesicae te dolor inquietavit, epistulae venerunt parum dulces, detrimenta continua – propius accedam, de capite timuisti. Quid, tu nesciebas haec te optare cum optares senectutem? Omnia ista in longa vita sunt, quomodo in longa via et pulvis et lutum et pluvia. 'Sed volebam vivere, carere tamen incommodis omnibus.' Tam effeminata vox virum dedecet. Videris quemadmodum hoc votum meum excipias; ego illud magno animo, non tantum bono facio: neque di neque deae faciant ut te fortuna in delicis habeat. Ipse te interroga, si quis potestatem tibi deus faciat, utrum velis vivere in macello an in castris. Atqui vivere, Lucili, militare est. Itaque hi qui iactantur et per operosa atque ardua sursum ac deorsum eunt et expeditiones periculosissimas obeunt fortes viri sunt primoresque castrorum; isti quos putida quies aliis laborantibus molliter habet turturillae sunt, tuti contumeliae causa. Vale.","en":"A pain in your bladder has troubled you, letters have come that were far from pleasant, the losses keep coming, and, to come closer to the point, you have feared for your life. What, did you not know that you were praying for these things when you prayed for old age? All of these belong to a long life, just as dust, mud and rain belong to a long road. 'But I wanted to live, and still be free of every inconvenience.' Such a soft cry does not become a man. You may take this prayer of mine however you like; I make it with a great heart, not merely a kind one: may neither gods nor goddesses allow Fortune to pamper you. Ask yourself this: if some god gave you the choice, would you rather live in a food market or in an army camp? And yet, Lucilius, to live is to be a soldier. So those who are tossed about, who go up and down through hard and steep places and undertake the most dangerous campaigns, are the brave men and the leaders of the camp; those whom a rotten idleness keeps in comfort while others toil are turtle-doves, safe only because they are held in contempt. Farewell."}],"97":[{"ref":"Letter 97.1–2","orig":"Erras, mi Lucili, si existimas nostri saeculi esse vitium luxuriam et neglegentiam boni moris et alia quae obiecit suis quisque temporibus: hominum sunt ista, non temporum. Nulla aetas vacavit a culpa; et si aestimare licentiam cuiusque saeculi incipias, pudet dicere, numquam apertius quam coram Catone peccatum est. Credat aliquis pecuniam esse versatam in eo iudicio in quo reus erat P. Clodius ob id adulterium quod cum Caesaris uxore in operto commiserat, violatis religionibus eius sacrificii quod 'pro populo' fieri dicitur, sic summotis extra consaeptum omnibus viris ut picturae quoque masculorum animalium contegantur? Atqui dati iudicibus nummi sunt et, quod hac etiamnunc pactione turpius est, stupra insuper matronarum et adulescentulorum nobilium stilari loco exacta sunt.","en":"You are wrong, my Lucilius, if you think that luxury, the neglect of good morals and the other faults each person charges against his own times are the vice of our age: these belong to human beings, not to times. No age has been free of guilt. And if you begin to weigh up the licence of each age, I am ashamed to say it, but wrongdoing was never more open than in Cato's presence. Would anyone believe that money changed hands at the trial in which Publius Clodius was the defendant, for the adultery he had committed with Caesar's wife in secret, profaning the rites of the sacrifice said to be performed 'on behalf of the people', when all men are removed so far outside the enclosure that even pictures of male animals are covered up? Yet money was given to the jurors, and, what is even more shameful than this bargain, sex with married women and young noblemen was demanded on top of it, as a kind of bonus."},{"ref":"Letter 97.3–5","orig":"Minus crimine quam absolutione peccatum est: adulterii reus adulteria divisit nec ante fuit de salute securus quam similes sui iudices suos reddidit. Haec in eo iudicio facta sunt in quo, si nihil aliud, Cato testimonium dixerat. Ipsa ponam verba Ciceronis, quia res fidem excedit. 'Accersivit ad se, promisit, intercessit, dedit. Iam vero (o di boni, rem perditam!) etiam noctes certarum mulierum atque adulescentulorum nobilium introductiones nonnullis iudicibus pro mercedis cumulo fuerunt.' Non vacat de pretio queri, plus in accessionibus fuit. 'Vis severi illius uxorem? dabo illam. Vis divitis huius? tibi praestabo concubitum. Adulterium nisi feceris, damna. Illa formonsa quam desideras veniet. Illius tibi noctem promitto nec differo; intra comperendinationem fides promissi mei extabit.' Plus est distribuere adulteria quam facere; hoc vero matribus familiae denuntiare est.","en":"The sin lay less in the crime than in the acquittal: a man accused of adultery handed out adulteries, and he did not feel safe until he had made his jurors like himself. These things were done at the trial in which, if nothing else, Cato had given evidence. I will quote Cicero's own words, since the thing is beyond belief. 'He summoned them, he promised, he stood surety, he paid. And worse still (good gods, what a ruin!), nights with certain women and introductions to young noblemen were even given to some jurors as a top-up to their fee.' There is no point complaining about the price; the extras were worth more. 'Do you want the wife of that strict man? I will give her to you. Do you want the wife of this rich one? I guarantee you a night with her. If you do not commit adultery, convict. That beautiful woman you long for will come. I promise you a night with her, and I will not put it off; my promise will be kept before the adjourned hearing.' It is worse to hand out adulteries than to commit them; this amounts to serving a summons on the mothers of families."},{"ref":"Letter 97.6–7","orig":"Hi iudices Clodiani a senatu petierant praesidium, quod non erat nisi damnaturis necessarium, et inpetraverant; itaque eleganter illis Catulus absoluto reo 'quid vos' inquit 'praesidium a nobis petebatis? an ne nummi vobis eriperentur?' Inter hos tamen iocos inpune tulit ante iudicium adulter, in iudicio leno, qui damnationem peius effugit quam meruit. Quicquam fuisse corruptius illis moribus credis quibus libido non sacris inhiberi, non iudicis poterat, quibus in ea ipsa quaestione quae extra ordinem senatusconsulto exercebatur plus quam quaerebatur admissum est? Quaerebatur an post adulterium aliquis posset tutus esse: apparuit sine adulterio tutum esse non posse.","en":"These jurors of Clodius had asked the senate for a guard, which they would only have needed if they meant to convict, and they had got it. So Catulus put it to them wittily after the defendant was acquitted: 'Why did you ask us for a guard? So that your money would not be snatched from you?' Yet amid these jokes he went unpunished, a man who was an adulterer before the trial and a pimp during it, and who escaped conviction in a worse way than he deserved it. Do you think anything was ever more corrupt than the morals of a time when lust could be restrained neither by sacred rites nor by courts, when in the very inquiry held by special decree of the senate more wrong was done than was being investigated? The question was whether anyone could be safe after adultery; it turned out that no one could be safe without adultery."},{"ref":"Letter 97.8–9","orig":"Hoc inter Pompeium et Caesarem, inter Ciceronem Catonemque commissum est, Catonem inquam illum quo sedente populus negatur permisisse sibi postulare Florales iocos nudandarum meretricum, si credis spectasse tunc severius homines quam iudicasse. Et fient et facta sunt ista, et licentia urbium aliquando disciplina metuque, numquam sponte considet. Non est itaque quod credas nos plurimum libidini permisisse, legibus minimum; longe enim frugalior haec iuventus est quam illa, cum reus adulterium apud iudices negaret, iudices apud reum confiterentur, cum stuprum committeretur rei iudicandae causa, cum Clodius, isdem vitiis gratiosus quibus nocens, conciliaturas exerceret in ipsa causae dictione. Credat hoc quisquam? qui damnabatur uno adulterio absolutus est multis.","en":"This happened among Pompey and Caesar, among Cicero and Cato, yes, that Cato in whose presence the people are said not to have allowed themselves to call for the Floralia jokes with naked prostitutes, if you can believe that men were stricter as spectators then than as jurors. Such things will happen and have happened, and the licence of cities will sometimes settle down through discipline and fear, never of its own accord. So there is no reason for you to believe that we have given the most freedom to lust and the least to law. For the young people of today are far more restrained than those of that time, when the defendant denied adultery before the jurors and the jurors confessed it before the defendant, when sexual crimes were committed in order to decide a case, when Clodius, winning favour by the same vices that made him guilty, played the go-between during the very pleading of his case. Could anyone believe it? The man facing conviction for one adultery was acquitted by many."},{"ref":"Letter 97.10–11","orig":"Omne tempus Clodios, non omne Catones feret. Ad deteriora faciles sumus, quia nec dux potest nec comes deesse, et res ipsa etiam sine duce, sine comite procedit. Non pronum est tantum ad vitia sed praeceps, et, quod plerosque inemendabiles facit, omnium aliarum artium peccata artificibus pudori sunt offenduntque deerrantem, vitae peccata delectant. Non gaudet navigio gubernator everso, non gaudet aegro medicus elato, non gaudet orator si patroni culpa reus cecidit, at contra omnibus crimen suum voluptati est: laetatur ille adulterio in quod inritatus est ipsa difficultate; laetatur ille circumscriptione furtoque, nec ante illi culpa quam culpae fortuna displicuit. Id prava consuetudine evenit.","en":"Every age will produce men like Clodius; not every age will produce men like Cato. We slide easily towards what is worse, because we can never lack a leader or a companion, and the thing goes ahead even without a leader or a companion. The path to vice is not just downhill but a sheer drop. And what makes most people incurable is this: in every other art, mistakes shame the craftsman and trouble the one who goes wrong, but the mistakes of life give pleasure. The helmsman is not glad when his ship capsizes, the doctor is not glad when his patient is carried out to burial, the advocate is not glad if the defendant loses through his counsel's fault; but everyone, on the contrary, takes pleasure in his own crime. One man delights in an adultery that its very difficulty spurred him on to; another delights in fraud and theft, and the wrong does not displease him until its luck has turned. This comes from bad habit."},{"ref":"Letter 97.12–13","orig":"Alioquin, ut scias subesse animis etiam in pessima abductis boni sensum nec ignorari turpe sed neglegi, omnes peccata dissimulant et, quamvis feliciter cesserint, fructu illorum utuntur, ipsa subducunt. At bona conscientia prodire vult et conspici: ipsas nequitia tenebras timet. Eleganter itaque ab Epicuro dictum puto: 'potest nocenti contingere ut lateat, latendi fides non potest', aut si hoc modo melius hunc explicari posse iudicas sensum: 'ideo non prodest latere peccantibus quia latendi etiam si felicitatem habent, fiduciam non habent'. Ita est, tuta scelera esse possunt, secura esse non possunt.","en":"Otherwise, so that you know that even in minds led into the worst there lies a sense of the good, and that what is shameful is not unknown but ignored, consider that everyone hides his sins, and however well they have turned out, people enjoy their fruits while hiding the deeds themselves. But a good conscience wants to come forward and be seen; wickedness fears even the dark. So I think Epicurus put it neatly: 'The guilty may manage to stay hidden, but they cannot be sure of staying hidden.' Or, if you think the meaning can be better explained this way: 'Hiding is no help to wrongdoers, because even if they have the luck to stay hidden, they do not have the confidence.' That is how it is: crimes can be safe, but they cannot be free of worry."},{"ref":"Letter 97.14–15","orig":"Hoc ego repugnare sectae nostrae si sic expediatur non iudico. Quare? quia prima illa et maxima peccantium est poena peccasse, nec ullum scelus, licet illud fortuna exornet muneribus suis, licet tueatur ac vindicet, inpunitum est, quoniam sceleris in scelere supplicium est. Sed nihilominus et hae illam secundae poenae premunt ac sequuntur, timere semper et expavescere et securitati diffidere. Quare ego hoc supplicio nequitiam liberem? quare non semper illam in suspenso relinquam? Illic dissentiamus cum Epicuro ubi dicit nihil iustum esse natura et crimina vitanda esse quia vitari metus non posse: hic consentiamus, mala facinora conscientia flagellari et plurimum illi tormentorum esse eo quod perpetua illam sollicitudo urget ac verberat, quod sponsoribus securitatis suae non potest credere. Hoc enim ipsum argumentum est, Epicure, natura nos a scelere abhorrere, quod nulli non etiam inter tuta timor est.","en":"I do not think this conflicts with our school, if it is explained like this. Why? Because the first and greatest punishment of wrongdoers is to have done wrong, and no crime goes unpunished, even if Fortune decorates it with her gifts, even if she protects and defends it, since the punishment of a crime lies in the crime itself. But none the less these secondary punishments press on the first and follow it: always fearing, always dreading, never trusting one's own safety. Why should I free wickedness from this punishment? Why should I not always leave it hanging in suspense? Let us disagree with Epicurus where he says that nothing is just by nature and that crimes should be avoided because fear cannot be avoided. Let us agree with him here: that evil deeds are whipped by conscience, and that their greatest torment is that constant anxiety presses and lashes them, because they cannot trust those who guarantee their safety. For this very fact, Epicurus, proves that we shrink from crime by nature: that no one is without fear, even in safety."},{"ref":"Letter 97.16","orig":"Multos fortuna liberat poena, metu neminem. Quare nisi quia infixa nobis eius rei aversatio est quam natura damnavit? Ideo numquam fides latendi fit etiam latentibus quia coarguit illos conscientia et ipsos sibi ostendit. Proprium autem est nocentium trepidare. Male de nobis actum erat, quod multa scelera legem et vindicem effugiunt et scripta supplicia, nisi illa naturalia et gravia de praesentibus solverent et in locum patientiae timor cederet. Vale.","en":"Fortune frees many from punishment, but no one from fear. Why, unless because there is planted in us a loathing for what nature has condemned? That is why those who hide can never be sure of staying hidden: their conscience convicts them and shows them to themselves. It is the mark of the guilty to tremble. Things would have gone badly for us, since many crimes escape the law, the avenger and the written penalties, if those natural and heavy penalties were not paid on the spot, and if fear did not take the place of the punishment. Farewell."}],"98":[{"ref":"Letter 98.1–2","orig":"Numquam credideris felicem quemquam ex felicitate suspensum. Fragilibus innititur qui adventicio laetus est: exibit gaudium quod intravit. At illud ex se ortum fidele firmumque est et crescit et ad extremum usque prosequitur: cetera quorum admiratio est vulgo in diem bona sunt. 'Quid ergo? non usui ac voluptati esse possunt?' Quis negat? sed ita si illa ex nobis pendent, non ex illis nos. Omnia quae fortuna intuetur ita fructifera ac iucunda fiunt si qui habet illa se quoque habet nec in rerum suarum potestate est. Errant enim, Lucili, qui aut boni aliquid nobis aut mali iudicant tribuere fortunam: materiam dat bonorum ac malorum et initia rerum apud nos in malum bonumve exiturarum. Valentior enim omni fortuna animus est et in utramque partem ipse res suas ducit beataeque ac miserae vitae sibi causa est.","en":"Never believe that anyone who hangs on good luck is happy. Whoever rejoices in what comes from outside is leaning on fragile things: a joy that came in will go out. But the joy born from within is faithful and firm; it grows and follows us right to the end. The other things the crowd admires are goods for a day. 'What then? Can they not be useful and pleasant?' Who denies it? But only if they depend on us, not we on them. Everything that Fortune looks upon becomes profitable and pleasant only if the one who has it also has himself, and is not in the power of his possessions. For they are wrong, Lucilius, who think that Fortune gives us anything good or bad: she gives the material for goods and evils, the first beginnings of things that will turn out bad or good in our hands. For the mind is stronger than any fortune; it steers its affairs in either direction by itself, and it is the cause of its own happy or miserable life."},{"ref":"Letter 98.3–4","orig":"Malus omnia in malum vertit, etiam quae cum specie optimi venerant: rectus atque integer corrigit prava fortunae et dura atque aspera ferendi scientia mollit, idemque et secunda grate excipit modesteque et adversa constanter ac fortiter. Qui licet prudens sit, licet exacto faciat cuncta iudicio, licet nihil supra vires suas temptet, non continget illi bonum illud integrum et extra minas positum nisi certus adversus incerta est. Sive alios observare volueris (liberius enim inter aliena iudicium est) sive te ipsum favore seposito, et senties hoc et confiteberis, nihil ex his optabilibus et caris utile esse nisi te contra levitatem casus rerumque casum sequentium instruxeris, nisi illud frequenter et sine querella inter singula damna dixeris:\ndis aliter visum est.","en":"A bad man turns everything to bad, even things that came looking like the best; the upright and honest man corrects the wrongs of fortune and softens what is hard and harsh by knowing how to bear it. He likewise receives good fortune gratefully and modestly, and bad fortune steadily and bravely. Though a man be wise, though he do everything with careful judgment, though he attempt nothing beyond his strength, he will not reach that good which is whole and beyond the reach of threats unless he is sure of himself in the face of what is unsure. Whether you choose to watch others (for judgment is freer about other people's affairs) or yourself, setting bias aside, you will both feel this and admit it: none of these desirable and dear things is of use unless you have armed yourself against the fickleness of chance and of the things that follow chance, unless you often say, without complaint, at each loss:\nThe gods decided otherwise."},{"ref":"Letter 98.5–6","orig":"Immo mehercules, ut carmen fortius ac iustius petam quo animum tuum magis fulcias, hoc dicito quotiens aliquid aliter quam cogitabas evenerit: 'di melius'. Sic composito nihil accidet. Sic autem componetur si quid humanarum rerum varietas possit cogitaverit antequam senserit, si et liberos et coniugem et patrimonium sic habuerit tamquam non utique semper habiturus et tamquam non futurus ob hoc miserior si habere desierit. Calamitosus est animus futuri anxius et ante miserias miser, qui sollicitus est ut ea quibus delectatur ad extremum usque permaneant; nullo enim tempore conquiescet et expectatione venturi praesentia, quibus frui poterat, amittet. In aequo est autem amissae rei dolor et timor amittendae.","en":"No, by Hercules, to find you a braver and fairer line to prop up your mind, say this whenever something turns out differently from what you expected: 'The gods know better.' Nothing will happen to a man settled like this. And he will be settled like this if he has thought about what the changeability of human affairs can do before he feels it, if he holds his children, his wife and his property as one who will not necessarily have them forever, and who will not be more miserable because of it if he stops having them. A mind anxious about the future is a wretched thing, miserable before its miseries, worried that the things it enjoys should last right to the end. It will never be at rest, and by waiting for what is to come it will lose the present things it could have enjoyed. Grief for a thing lost and fear of losing it are on the same level."},{"ref":"Letter 98.7–8","orig":"Nec ideo praecipio tibi neglegentiam. Tu vero metuenda declina; quidquid consilio prospici potest prospice; quodcumque laesurum est multo ante quam accidat speculare et averte. In hoc ipsum tibi plurimum conferet fiducia et ad tolerandum omne obfirmata mens. Potest fortunam cavere qui potest ferre; certe in tranquillo non tumultuatur. Nihil est nec miserius nec stultius quam praetimere: quae ista dementia est malum suum antecedere? Denique, ut breviter includam quod sentio et istos satagios ac sibi molestos describam tibi, tam intemperantes in ipsis miseriis sunt quam ante illas. Plus dolet quam necesse est qui ante dolet quam necesse est; eadem enim infirmitate dolorem non aestimat qua non expectat; eadem intemperantia fingit sibi perpetuam felicitatem suam, fingit crescere debere quaecumque contigerunt, non tantum durare, et oblitus huius petauri quo humana iactantur sibi uni fortuitorum constantiam spondet.","en":"I am not recommending carelessness to you on this account. By all means steer clear of what should be feared; whatever can be foreseen by planning, foresee; watch for whatever is going to hurt you long before it happens, and turn it aside. For this very purpose confidence will help you most, and a mind hardened to endure everything. The man who can bear fortune can guard against it; at any rate he does not panic in calm weather. Nothing is more miserable or more foolish than fearing in advance: what madness it is to run ahead to meet your own trouble! In short, to sum up briefly what I think and to describe to you these busybodies who torment themselves: they are as lacking in self-control in their miseries as they were before them. He suffers more than he needs to who suffers before he needs to. For through the same weakness that stops him expecting pain, he cannot measure it; through the same lack of restraint he imagines that his good luck will last forever, and imagines that whatever has come his way must not only last but grow; and forgetting this acrobat's springboard on which human affairs are tossed up and down, he promises himself alone that chance will stay constant."},{"ref":"Letter 98.9–10","orig":"Egregie itaque videtur mihi Metrodorus dixisse in ea epistula qua sororem amisso optimae indolis filio adloquitur: 'mortale est omne mortalium bonum'. De his loquitur bonis ad quae concurritur; nam illud verum bonum non moritur, certum est sempiternumque, sapientia et virtus; hoc unum contingit inmortale mortalibus. Ceterum tam inprobi sunt tamque obliti quo eant, quo illos singuli dies trudant, ut mirentur aliquid ipsos amittere, amissuri uno die omnia. Quidquid est cui dominus inscriberis apud te est, tuum non est; nihil firmum infirmo, nihil fragili aeternum et invictum est. Tam necesse est perire quam perdere et hoc ipsum, si intellegimus, solacium est. Aequo animo perde: pereundum est.","en":"So I think Metrodorus spoke superbly in the letter in which he consoles his sister on the loss of a son of the finest character: 'Every good of mortals is mortal.' He is speaking of the goods people rush after; for the true good does not die. It is sure and everlasting: wisdom and virtue. This is the one immortal thing that falls to mortals. Yet people are so perverse and so forgetful of where they are going, of where each day is pushing them, that they are surprised to lose anything, when they are going to lose everything in a single day. Whatever you are registered as the owner of is with you, but it is not yours; nothing is firm for the weak, nothing everlasting and unconquerable for the fragile. It is as necessary to perish as to lose, and this very thing, if we understand it, is a comfort. Lose with a calm mind: you have to perish."},{"ref":"Letter 98.11–12","orig":"Quid ergo adversus has amissiones auxili invenimus? hoc, ut memoria teneamus amissa nec cum ipsis fructum excidere patiamur quem ex illis percepimus. Habere eripitur, habuisse numquam. Peringratus est qui, cum amisit, pro accepto nihil debet. Rem nobis eripit casus, usum fructumque apud nos relinquit, quem nos iniquitate desiderii perdidimus. Dic tibi 'ex istis quae terribilia videntur nihil est invictum'. Singula vicere iam multi, ignem Mucius, crucem Regulus, venenum Socrates, exilium Rutilius, mortem ferro adactam Cato: et nos vincamus aliquid.","en":"What help, then, have we found against these losses? This: to keep what we have lost in our memory, and not to let the benefit we got from it fall away along with it. Having can be snatched away; having had, never. He is thoroughly ungrateful who, once he has lost something, feels he owes nothing for having received it. Chance snatches the thing from us but leaves us its use and benefit, and we lose these through the unfairness of our longing. Tell yourself: 'Of all these things that seem terrifying, none is unconquerable.' Many have already conquered each of them: Mucius fire, Regulus the cross, Socrates poison, Rutilius exile, Cato death driven home by the sword. Let us too conquer something."},{"ref":"Letter 98.13–14","orig":"Rursus ista quae ut speciosa et felicia trahunt vulgum a multis et saepe contempta sunt. Fabricius divitias imperator reiecit, censor notavit; Tubero paupertatem et se dignam et Capitolio iudicavit, cum fictilibus in publica cena usus ostendit debere iis hominem esse contentum quibus di etiamnunc uterentur. Honores reppulit pater Sextius, qui ita natus ut rem publicam deberet capessere, latum clavum divo Iulio dante non recepit; intellegebat enim quod dari posset et eripi posse. Nos quoque aliquid et ipsi faciamus animose; simus inter exempla. Quare defecimus? quare desperamus? Quidquid fieri potuit potest, nos modo purgemus animum sequamurque naturam, a qua aberranti cupiendum timendumque est et fortuitis serviendum. Licet reverti in viam, licet in integrum restitui: restituamur, ut possimus dolores quocumque modo corpus invaserint perferre et fortunae dicere 'cum viro tibi negotium est: quaere quem vincas'.","en":"On the other hand, those things that draw the crowd because they look splendid and lucky have been scorned by many, and often. Fabricius as general refused riches and as censor branded them with disgrace. Tubero judged poverty worthy both of himself and of the Capitol when, by using earthenware at a public banquet, he showed that a man ought to be content with what the gods still used. Sextius the elder refused honours: though he was born to take part in public life, he did not accept the senator's broad stripe when the deified Julius offered it, for he understood that what could be given could also be taken away. Let us too do something bold ourselves; let us be among the examples. Why have we lost heart? Why do we despair? Whatever could be done can be done, if only we cleanse our minds and follow nature; whoever strays from her must crave and fear and be a slave to chance. We can return to the road; we can be restored to our former state. Let us be restored, so that we can endure pain however it attacks the body, and say to Fortune: 'You are dealing with a man: look for someone you can beat.'"},{"ref":"Letter 98.15–17","orig":"* * * His sermonibus et his similibus lenitur illa vis ulceris, quam opto mehercules mitigari et aut sanari aut stare et cum ipso senescere. Sed securus de illo sum: de nostro damno agitur, quibus senex egregius eripitur. Nam ipse vitae plenus est, cui adici nihil desiderat sua causa sed eorum quibus utilis est. Liberaliter facit quod vivit. Alius iam hos cruciatus finisset: hic tam turpe putat mortem fugere quam ad mortem confugere. 'Quid ergo? non si suadebit res exibit?' Quidni exeat, si nemo iam uti eo poterit, si nihil aliud quam dolori operam dabit? Hoc est, mi Lucili, philosophiam in opere discere et ad verum exerceri, videre quid homo prudens animi habeat contra mortem, contra dolorem, cum illa accedat, hic premat; quid faciendum sit a faciente discendum est.","en":"[...] With talk like this, and more like it, the force of that ulcer is eased, and by Hercules I hope it is soothed and either cured or halted, growing old along with him. But I am not worried about him: it is our loss that is at stake, since an excellent old man is being taken from us. For he himself has had his fill of life, and wants nothing added to it for his own sake, only for the sake of those to whom he is useful. It is generous of him to go on living. Another man would already have ended these torments; he thinks it as shameful to run from death as to run to death. 'What then? If circumstances advise it, will he not leave?' Why would he not leave, if no one can make use of him any longer, if he will do nothing but attend to his pain? This, my Lucilius, is learning philosophy in practice and training on the real thing: seeing what courage a wise man has against death and against pain, when the one approaches and the other presses. What must be done must be learned from someone doing it."},{"ref":"Letter 98.18","orig":"Adhuc argumentis actum est an posset aliqui dolori resistere, an mors magnos quoque animos admota summittere. Quid opus est verbis? in rem praesentem eamus: nec mors illum contra dolorem facit fortiorem nec dolor contra mortem. Contra utrumque sibi fidit nec spe mortis patienter dolet nec taedio doloris libenter moritur: hunc fert, illam expectat. Vale.","en":"Up to now the question of whether anyone could resist pain, and whether death, when it comes near, could humble even great souls, has been argued with reasons. What need is there for words? Let us go to the real case. Death does not make him braver against pain, nor pain against death. He trusts himself against both; he does not bear pain patiently in the hope of death, nor die gladly out of weariness with pain. The one he bears, the other he waits for. Farewell."}],"99":[{"ref":"Letter 99.1–2","orig":"Epistulam quam scripsi Marullo cum filium parvulum amisisset et diceretur molliter ferre misi tibi, in qua non sum solitum morem secutus nec putavi leniter illum debere tractari, cum obiurgatione esset quam solacio dignior. Adflicto enim et magnum vulnus male ferenti paulisper cedendum est; exsatiet se aut certe primum impetum effundat: hi qui sibi lugere sumpserunt protinus castigentur et discant quasdam etiam lacrimarum ineptias esse. 'Solacia expectas? convicia accipe. Tam molliter tu fers mortem filii? quid faceres si amicum perdidisses? Decessit filius incertae spei, parvulus; pusillum temporis perit.","en":"I am sending you the letter I wrote to Marullus when he had lost his little son and was said to be taking it weakly. In it I did not follow the usual custom, and I did not think he ought to be handled gently, since he deserved rebuke more than comfort. When someone is stricken and bearing a great wound badly, we should give way to him for a little while; let him have his fill of grief, or at least pour out its first rush. But those who have taken up mourning by choice should be corrected at once and learn that even tears can be foolish. 'Do you expect comfort? Take reproaches instead. Are you bearing your son's death so weakly? What would you do if you had lost a friend? A son has died whose future was uncertain, a little one; a tiny amount of time has been lost."},{"ref":"Letter 99.3–4","orig":"Causas doloris conquirimus et de fortuna etiam inique queri volumus, quasi non sit iustas querendi causas praebitura: at mehercules satis mihi iam videbaris animi habere etiam adversus solida mala, nedum ad istas umbras malorum quibus ingemescunt homines moris causa. Quod damnorum omnium maximum est, si amicum perdidisses, danda opera erat ut magis gauderes quod habueras quam maereres quod amiseras. Sed plerique non conputant quanta perceperint, quantum gavisi sint. Hoc habet inter reliqua mali dolor iste: non supervacuus tantum sed ingratus est. Ergo quod habuisti talem amicum, perit opera? Tot annis, tanta coniunctione vitae, tam familiari studiorum societate nil actum est? Cum amico effers amicitiam? Et quid doles amisisse, si habuisse non prodest? Mihi crede, magna pars ex iis quos amavimus, licet ipsos casus abstulerit, apud nos manet; nostrum est quod praeterit tempus nec quicquam est loco tutiore quam quod fuit.","en":"We hunt around for reasons to grieve, and we want to complain about fortune even unfairly, as if she would not give us fair reasons to complain. But by Hercules, I thought you already had courage enough even against solid evils, let alone against these shadows of evils that people groan over for the sake of custom. Even if you had lost a friend, which is the greatest of all losses, you should have made an effort to be more glad that you had had him than sad that you had lost him. But most people do not count up how much they have received, how much joy they have had. Among its other faults this grief has this one: it is not only useless but ungrateful. So, because you had such a friend, was all the effort wasted? After so many years, so close a partnership in life, so intimate a sharing of studies, has nothing been achieved? Do you bury friendship along with your friend? And why grieve at having lost him, if having had him does you no good? Believe me, a great part of those we have loved stays with us, even if chance has taken them away. The time that has passed is ours, and nothing is in a safer place than what has been."},{"ref":"Letter 99.5","orig":"Ingrati adversus percepta spe futuri sumus, quasi non quod futurum est, si modo successerit nobis, cito in praeterita transiturum sit. Anguste fructus rerum determinat qui tantum praesentibus laetus est: et futura et praeterita delectant, haec expectatione, illa memoria, sed alterum pendet et non fieri potest, alterum non potest non fuisse. Quis ergo furor est certissimo excidere? Adquiescamus iis quae iam hausimus, si modo non perforato animo hauriebamus et transmittente quidquid acceperat.","en":"We are ungrateful for what we have received because we hope for the future, as if what is to come, if only it turns out well for us, will not quickly pass into the past. He puts a narrow limit on the enjoyment of things who takes pleasure only in the present: both the future and the past give delight, the one through expectation, the other through memory. But the one is uncertain and may not happen; the other cannot not have happened. What madness, then, to let slip what is most certain? Let us rest content with what we have already drunk in, provided that we did not drink it in with a mind full of holes that let through whatever it took in."},{"ref":"Letter 99.6–7","orig":"'Innumerabilia sunt exempla eorum qui liberos iuvenes sine lacrimis extulerint, qui in senatum aut in aliquod publicum officium a rogo redierint et statim aliud egerint. Nec inmerito; nam primum supervacuum est dolere si nihil dolendo proficias; deinde iniquum est queri de eo quod uni accidit, omnibus restat; deinde desiderii stulta conquestio est, ubi minimum interest inter amissum et desiderantem. Eo itaque aequiore animo esse debemus quod quos amisimus sequimur. Respice celeritatem rapidissimi temporis, cogita brevitatem huius spatii per quod citatissimi currimus, observa hunc comitatum generis humani eodem tendentis, minimis intervallis distinctum etiam ubi maxima videntur: quem putas perisse praemissus est. Quid autem dementius quam, cum idem tibi iter emetiendum sit, flere eum qui antecessit?","en":"'There are countless examples of men who have buried their young sons without tears, who have returned from the funeral pyre to the senate or to some public duty and at once turned to other business. And rightly so. For first, it is pointless to grieve if you achieve nothing by grieving; next, it is unfair to complain about something that has happened to one and awaits everyone; and next, it is foolish to lament a loss when there is very little distance between the one lost and the one who misses him. So we ought to be all the calmer because we are following those we have lost. Look at the speed of time as it rushes along, think how short is this stretch over which we are racing at full speed, watch this procession of the human race all heading for the same place, separated by the smallest gaps even where they seem greatest: the one you think has perished has been sent on ahead. And what could be madder than to weep for the one who has gone in front, when you must travel the same road yourself?"},{"ref":"Letter 99.8–9","orig":"Flet aliquis factum quod non ignoravit futurum? Aut si mortem in homine non cogitavit, sibi inposuit. Flet aliquis factum quod aiebat non posse non fieri? quisquis aliquem queritur mortuum esse, queritur hominem fuisse. Omnis eadem condicio devinxit: cui nasci contigit mori restat. Intervallis distinguimur, exitu aequamur. Hoc quod inter primum diem et ultimum iacet varium incertumque est: si molestias aestimes, etiam puero longum, si velocitatem, etiam seni angustum. Nihil non lubricum et fallax et omni tempestate mobilius; iactantur cuncta et in contrarium transeunt iubente fortuna, et in tanta volutatione rerum humanarum nihil cuiquam nisi mors certum est; tamen de eo queruntur omnes in quo uno nemo decipitur.","en":"Does anyone weep over something happening that he knew would happen? Or if he did not think about death in the case of a human being, he deceived himself. Does anyone weep over something happening that he said could not fail to happen? Whoever complains that someone has died is complaining that he was human. The same condition binds everyone: whoever has had the lot of being born still has to die. We are separated by intervals, but made equal by the end. What lies between the first day and the last is changeable and uncertain: if you measure its troubles, it is long even for a boy; if you measure its speed, it is short even for an old man. Everything is slippery and deceptive and more changeable than any weather. All things are tossed about and turn into their opposites at Fortune's command, and in such a great upheaval of human affairs nothing is certain for anyone except death. Yet everyone complains about the one thing in which no one is deceived."},{"ref":"Letter 99.10–11","orig":"'\"Sed puer decessit.\" Nondum dico melius agi cum eo qui cito vita defungitur: ad eum transeamus qui consenuit: quantulo vincit infantem! Propone temporis profundi vastitatem et universum conplectere, deinde hoc quod aetatem vocamus humanam compara immenso: videbis quam exiguum sit quod optamus, quod extendimus. Ex hoc quantum lacrimae, quantum sollicitudines occupant? quantum mors antequam veniat optata, quantum valetudo, quantum timor? quantum tenent aut rudes aut inutiles anni? dimidium ex hoc edormitur. Adice labores, luctus, pericula, et intelleges etiam in longissima vita minimum esse quod vivitur.","en":"'\"But he died a child.\" I will not yet say that it goes better for someone who is quickly finished with life. Let us move on to the man who has grown old: by how little he beats the infant! Picture the vastness of the depths of time and take in the whole universe, then compare this thing we call a human lifetime with that immensity: you will see how tiny is what we pray for, what we try to stretch out. How much of it is taken up by tears, how much by worries? How much by death longed for before it comes, how much by illness, how much by fear? How much is held by years either untaught or useless? Half of it is slept away. Add toil, grief and danger, and you will understand that even in the longest life the part that is really lived is very small."},{"ref":"Letter 99.12–13","orig":"Sed quis tibi concedit non melius se habere eum cui cito reverti licet, cui ante lassitudinem peractum est iter? Vita nec bonum nec malum est: boni ac mali locus est. Ita nihil ille perdidit nisi aleam in damnum certiorem. Potuit evadere modestus et prudens, potuit sub cura tua in meliora formari, sed, quod iustius timetur, potuit fieri pluribus similis. Aspice illos iuvenes quos ex nobilissimis domibus in harenam luxuria proiecit; aspice illos qui suam alienamque libidinem exercent mutuo inpudici, quorum nullus sine ebrietate, nullus sine aliquo insigni flagitio dies exit: plus timeri quam sperari potuisse manifestum erit. Non debes itaque causas doloris accersere nec levia incommoda indignando cumulare.","en":"But who will grant you that the one who is allowed to return quickly, whose journey is finished before he tires, is not better off? Life is neither good nor bad: it is the place for good and bad. So he has lost nothing except a gamble more likely to end in loss. He might have turned out modest and wise, he might have been shaped for the better under your care, but, as is more rightly feared, he might have become like the majority. Look at those young men from the noblest houses whom luxury has thrown into the arena; look at those who serve their own lust and others' in shameless exchange, not one of whose days ends without drunkenness or some notorious disgrace. It will be clear that there was more to fear than to hope. So you should not go looking for reasons to grieve, nor heap up light troubles by resenting them."},{"ref":"Letter 99.14–15","orig":"Non hortor ut nitaris et surgas; non tam male de te iudico ut tibi adversus hoc totam putem virtutem advocandam. Non est dolor iste sed morsus: tu illum dolorem facis. Sine dubio multum philosophia profecit, si puerum nutrici adhuc quam patri notiorem animo forti desideras. 'Quid? nunc ego duritiam suadeo et in funere ipso rigere vultum volo et animum ne contrahi quidem patior? Minime. Inhumanitas est ista, non virtus, funera suorum isdem oculis quibus ipsos videre nec commoveri ad primam familiarium divulsionem. Puta autem me vetare: quaedam sunt sui iuris; excidunt etiam retinentibus lacrimae et animum profusae levant.","en":"I am not urging you to strain and rise to the occasion; I do not think so poorly of you that I believe you need to summon all your courage against this. This is not pain but a sting: you are the one who turns it into pain. Philosophy has certainly done you a lot of good if you can bravely bear the loss of a boy who was still better known to his nurse than to his father. 'What? Am I now recommending hardness, and do I want your face to stay rigid at the very funeral, and will I not let your heart even contract? Not at all. That is inhumanity, not virtue: to look at the funerals of your own people with the same eyes with which you looked at the people themselves, and not to be moved when your family is first torn apart. But suppose I did forbid it: some things are their own masters. Tears fall even from those who hold them back, and when they pour out they relieve the heart."},{"ref":"Letter 99.16–17","orig":"Quid ergo est? permittamus illis cadere, non imperemus; fluat quantum adfectus eiecerit, non quantum poscet imitatio. Nihil vero maerori adiciamus nec illum ad alienum augeamus exemplum. Plus ostentatio doloris exigit quam dolor: quotus quisque sibi tristis est? Clarius cum audiuntur gemunt, et taciti quietique dum secretum est, cum aliquos videre, in fletus novos excitantur; tunc capiti suo manus ingerunt (quod potuerant facere nullo prohibente liberius), tunc mortem comprecantur sibi, tunc lectulo devolvuntur: sine spectatore cessat dolor. Sequitur nos, ut in aliis rebus, ita in hac quoque hoc vitium, ad plurium exempla componi nec quid oporteat sed quid soleat aspicere. A natura discedimus, populo nos damus nullius rei bono auctori et in hac re sicut in his omnibus inconstantissimo. Videt aliquem fortem in luctu suo, impium vocat et efferatum; videt aliquem conlabentem et corpori adfusum, effeminatum ait et enervem.","en":"What, then? Let us allow them to fall, but not command them to; let as much flow as the feeling drives out, not as much as imitation demands. But let us add nothing to our sorrow and not increase it to match someone else's example. The display of grief demands more than grief does: how many people are sad just for themselves? They groan more loudly when they are heard, and though they are silent and calm while alone, when they see people they are roused to fresh weeping. Then they beat their heads with their hands (which they could have done more freely when no one was stopping them), then they pray for death, then they roll off their couches: without an audience, grief stops. In this, as in other things, this fault follows us: we shape ourselves by what most people do, and look not at what is right but at what is usual. We leave nature and give ourselves to the crowd, which is a good guide to nothing, and in this, as in everything, very inconsistent. It sees someone brave in his grief and calls him unfeeling and savage; it sees someone collapsing and clinging to the body and calls him soft and spineless."},{"ref":"Letter 99.18–19","orig":"Omnia itaque ad rationem revocanda sunt. Stultius vero nihil est quam famam captare tristitiae et lacrimas adprobare, quas iudico sapienti viro alias permissas cadere, alias vi sua latas. Dicam quid intersit. Cum primus nos nuntius acerbi funeris perculit, cum tenemus corpus e complexu nostro in ignem transiturum, lacrimas naturalis necessitas exprimit et spiritus ictu doloris inpulsus quemadmodum totum corpus quatit, ita oculos, quibus adiacentem umorem perpremit et expellit. Hae lacrimae per elisionem cadunt nolentibus nobis: aliae sunt quibus exitum damus cum memoria eorum quos amisimus retractatur, et inest quiddam dulce tristitiae cum occurrunt sermones eorum iucundi, conversatio hilaris, officiosa pietas; tunc oculi velut in gaudio relaxantur. His indulgemus, illis vincimur.","en":"So everything must be brought back to reason. Nothing is more foolish than chasing a reputation for sadness and approving of tears. I think that a wise man's tears are sometimes allowed to fall and sometimes carried along by their own force. I will tell you the difference. When the first news of a bitter death has struck us, when we hold the body that will pass from our embrace into the fire, natural necessity forces out tears, and the breath, driven by the blow of grief, shakes the whole body and the eyes too, pressing out and expelling the moisture near them. These tears fall by being squeezed out, against our will. There are others to which we give an outlet when we go back over the memory of those we have lost, and there is something sweet in the sadness when we recall their pleasant talk, their cheerful company, their dutiful affection; then the eyes are released as if in joy. To these tears we give way; by the others we are overcome."},{"ref":"Letter 99.20–21","orig":"Non est itaque quod lacrimas propter circumstantem adsidentemque aut contineas aut exprimas: nec cessant nec fluunt umquam tam turpiter quam finguntur: eant sua sponte. Ire autem possunt placidis atque compositis; saepe salva sapientis auctoritate fluxerunt tanto temperamento ut illis nec humanitas nec dignitas deesset. Licet, inquam, naturae obsequi gravitate servata. Vidi ego in funere suorum verendos, in quorum ore amor eminebat remota omni lugentium scaena; nihil erat nisi quod veris dabatur adfectibus. Est aliquis et dolendi decor; hic sapienti servandus est et quemadmodum in ceteris rebus, ita etiam in lacrimis aliquid sat est: inprudentium ut gaudia sic dolores exundavere.","en":"So there is no reason for you either to hold back your tears or to force them out because someone is standing or sitting beside you. They are never so disgraceful when held back or when flowing as when they are faked: let them go of their own accord. And they can go when a person is calm and composed. They have often flowed without harm to a wise man's dignity, with such restraint that they lacked neither humanity nor dignity. We can, I say, obey nature and keep our gravity. I have seen men worthy of respect at the funerals of their own people, on whose faces love stood out with all the theatre of mourning removed; there was nothing but what was given to true feeling. There is a kind of dignity in grieving too. The wise man should keep it, and just as in other things, so in tears there is a point where enough is enough. It is the foolish whose sorrows, like their joys, overflow."},{"ref":"Letter 99.22–23","orig":"'Aequo animo excipe necessaria. Quid incredibile, quid novum evenit? quam multis cum maxime funus locatur, quam multis vitalia emuntur, quam multi post luctum tuum lugent! Quotiens cogitaveris puerum fuisse, cogita et hominem, cui nihil certi promittitur, quem fortuna non utique perducit ad senectutem: unde visum est dimittit. Ceterum frequenter de illo loquere et memoriam eius quantum potes celebra; quae ad te saepius revertetur si erit sine acerbitate ventura; nemo enim libenter tristi conversatur, nedum tristitiae. Si quos sermones eius, si quos quamvis parvoli iocos cum voluptate audieras, saepius repete; potuisse illum implere spes tuas, quas paterna mente conceperas, audacter adfirma.","en":"'Accept what must be with a calm mind. What unbelievable thing, what new thing has happened? For how many people is a funeral being contracted at this very moment, for how many are grave-clothes being bought, how many are mourning after your mourning! Whenever you think that he was a boy, think also that he was a human being, to whom nothing certain is promised, whom Fortune does not necessarily bring to old age: she lets him go whenever she sees fit. For the rest, speak of him often and honour his memory as much as you can. It will come back to you more often if it comes without bitterness; for no one likes spending time with a sad person, let alone with sadness itself. If you listened with pleasure to any of his talk, to any of his jokes, however small he was, recall them often; boldly declare that he could have fulfilled the hopes you had formed with a father's heart."},{"ref":"Letter 99.24–25","orig":"Oblivisci quidem suorum ac memoriam cum corporibus efferre et effusissime flere, meminisse parcissime, inhumani animi est. Sic aves, sic ferae suos diligunt, quarum concitatus est amor et paene rabidus, sed cum amissis totus extinguitur. Hoc prudentem virum non decet: meminisse perseveret, lugere desinat. 'Illud nullo modo probo quod ait Metrodorus, esse aliquam cognatam tristitiae voluptatem, hanc esse captandam in eiusmodi tempore. Ipsa Metrodori verba subscripsi. Metrodoron epistolon pros ten adelphen. estin gar tis hedone lupe suggenes, hen chre thereuein kata touton ton kairon.","en":"To forget one's own people, to bury their memory with their bodies, to weep most lavishly and remember most sparingly, is the mark of an inhuman mind. That is how birds and wild beasts love their young: their love is aroused and almost frenzied, but when they are lost it is completely extinguished. This does not become a wise man: let him go on remembering and stop mourning. 'I do not at all approve of what Metrodorus says, that there is a pleasure akin to sadness, and that it should be hunted for at such a time. I have copied out Metrodorus's own words. Metrodorus, letter to his sister: For there is a pleasure akin to sadness, which one should hunt for at such a time."},{"ref":"Letter 99.26","orig":"De quibus non dubito quid sis sensurus; quid enim est turpius quam captare in ipso luctu voluptatem, immo per luctum, et inter lacrimas quoque quod iuvet quaerere? Hi sunt qui nobis obiciunt nimium rigorem et infamant praecepta nostra duritiae, quod dicamus dolorem aut admittendum in animum non esse aut cito expellendum. Utrum tandem est aut incredibilius aut inhumanius, non sentire amisso amico dolorem an voluptatem in ipso dolore aucupari?","en":"I have no doubt what you will think of these words. For what is more shameful than to hunt for pleasure in the middle of mourning, or rather by means of mourning, and to look for something enjoyable even among tears? These are the people who accuse us of excessive rigour and slander our teachings as harsh, because we say that grief should either not be admitted into the mind or quickly driven out. Which, I ask you, is more unbelievable or more inhuman: to feel no grief at the loss of a friend, or to hunt for pleasure in grief itself?"},{"ref":"Letter 99.27–28","orig":"Nos quod praecipimus honestum est: cum aliquid lacrimarum adfectus effuderit et, ut ita dicam, despumaverit, non esse tradendum animum dolori. Quid, tu dicis miscendam ipsi dolori voluptatem? sic consolamur crustulo pueros, sic infantium fletum infuso lacte conpescimus. Ne illo quidem tempore quo filius ardet aut amicus expirat cessare pateris voluptatem, sed ipsum vis titillare maerorem? Utrum honestius dolor ab animo summovetur an voluptas ad dolorem quoque admittitur? \"Admittitur\" dico? Captatur, et quidem ex ipso. \"Est aliqua\" inquit \"voluptas cognata tristitiae.\" Istuc nobis licet dicere, vobis quidem non licet. Unum bonum nostis, voluptatem, unum malum, dolorem: quae potest inter bonum et malum esse cognatio? Sed puta esse: nunc potissimum eruitur? Et ipsum dolorem scrutamur, an aliquid habeat iucundum circa se et voluptarium?","en":"What we teach is honourable: when feeling has poured out some tears and, so to speak, has foamed itself out, the mind should not be handed over to grief. What, do you say pleasure should be mixed with grief itself? That is how we comfort children with a cake, how we quiet the crying of babies by giving them milk. Even at the moment when your son is burning on the pyre or your friend is breathing his last, you will not let pleasure stop, but want to tickle your sorrow itself? Which is more honourable: to drive grief from the mind, or to admit pleasure even into grief? Did I say \"admit\"? It is hunted, and hunted from grief itself. \"There is a pleasure,\" he says, \"akin to sadness.\" We may say that, but you Epicureans may not. You know one good, pleasure, and one evil, pain: what kinship can there be between good and evil? But suppose there is: is now the moment to dig it out? Are we to search grief itself to see whether it has anything pleasant and delightful about it?"},{"ref":"Letter 99.29–30","orig":"Quaedam remedia aliis partibus corporis salutaria velut foeda et indecora adhiberi aliis nequeunt, et quod aliubi prodesset sine damno verecundiae, id fit inhonestum loco vulneris: non te pudet luctum voluptate sanare? Severius ista plaga curanda est. Illud potius admone, nullum mali sensum ad eum qui perit pervenire; nam si pervenit, non perit. Nulla, inquam, res eum laedit qui nullus est: vivit si laeditur. Utrum putas illi male esse quod nullus est an quod est adhuc aliquis? Atqui nec ex eo potest ei tormentum esse quod non est (quis enim nullius sensus est?) nec ex eo quod est; effugit enim maximum mortis incommodum, non esse.","en":"Some remedies that are healthy for certain parts of the body cannot be applied to others because they are foul and unseemly, and what would help elsewhere without offending modesty becomes indecent because of where the wound is. Are you not ashamed to heal mourning with pleasure? This wound must be treated more severely. Rather, point this out: no sense of evil reaches the one who has perished; for if it reaches him, he has not perished. Nothing, I say, hurts the one who no longer exists: if he is hurt, he is alive. Do you think it is bad for him because he no longer exists, or because he still exists as someone? Yet no torment can come to him from the fact that he does not exist (for what sensation belongs to no one?), nor from the fact that he exists; for he has escaped the greatest disadvantage of death, which is not existing."},{"ref":"Letter 99.31–32","orig":"Illud quoque dicamus ei qui deflet ac desiderat in aetate prima raptum: omnes, quantum ad brevitatem aevi, si universo compares, et iuvenes et senes, in aequo sumus. Minus enim ad nos ex aetate omni venit quam quod minimum esse quis dixerit, quoniam quidem minimum aliqua pars est: hoc quod vivimus proximum nihilo est; et tamen, o dementiam nostram, late disponitur. 'Haec tibi scripsi, non tamquam expectaturus esses remedium a me tam serum (liquet enim mihi te locutum tecum quidquid lecturus es) sed ut castigarem exiguam illam moram qua a te recessisti, et in reliquum adhortarer contra fortunam tolleres animos et omnia eius tela non tamquam possent venire sed tamquam utique essent ventura prospiceres. Vale.'","en":"Let us also say this to the one who weeps for and misses someone snatched away in early youth: as far as the shortness of life goes, compared with the universe, all of us, young and old, are on the same level. For less comes to us out of all time than what anyone could call the smallest part, since the smallest is still some part: this span we live is next to nothing. And yet, oh our madness, we lay it out on a grand scale. 'I have written this to you, not as if you would be waiting for so late a remedy from me (for I am sure you have already said to yourself everything you are about to read), but to rebuke that short delay in which you fell short of yourself, and to urge you for the future to raise your spirits against Fortune and to look ahead at all her weapons, not as things that might come, but as things that will certainly come. Farewell.'"}],"100":[{"ref":"Letter 100.1–2","orig":"Fabiani Papiri libros qui inscribuntur civilium legisse te cupidissime scribis, et non respondisse expectationi tuae; deinde oblitus de philosopho agi compositionem eius accusas. Puta esse quod dicis et effundi verba, non figi. Primum habet ista res suam gratiam et est decor proprius orationis leniter lapsae; multum enim interesse existimo utrum exciderit an fluxerit. Adice nunc quod in hoc quoque quod dicturus sum ingens differentia est: Fabianus mihi non effundere videtur orationem sed fundere; adeo larga est et sine perturbatione, non sine cursu tamen veniens. Illud plane fatetur et praefert, non esse tractatam nec diu tortam. Sed ita, ut vis, esse credamus: mores ille, non verba composuit et animis scripsit ista, non auribus.","en":"You write that you read the books of Papirius Fabianus entitled On Civic Affairs with great eagerness, and that they did not live up to your expectations; then, forgetting that we are dealing with a philosopher, you criticise his style. Suppose it is as you say, and that his words are poured out rather than set firmly in place. First, that quality has its own charm, and there is a grace proper to speech that glides gently along; for I think it makes a great difference whether it tumbles out or flows. Add now that in this point too, which I am about to make, there is a huge difference: Fabianus seems to me not to spill his words but to pour them; they come so abundantly and without confusion, though not without movement. His style plainly admits and displays that it has not been worked over and long twisted into shape. But let us believe it is as you would have it: he shaped character, not words, and he wrote these things for minds, not for ears."},{"ref":"Letter 100.3–4","orig":"Praeterea ipso dicente non vacasset tibi partes intueri, adeo te summa rapuisset; et fere quae impetu placent minus praestant ad manum relata; sed illud quoque multum est, primo aspectu oculos occupasse, etiam si contemplatio diligens inventura est quod arguat. Si me interrogas, maior ille est qui iudicium abstulit quam qui meruit; et scio hunc tutiorem esse, scio audacius sibi de futuro promittere. Oratio sollicita philosophum non decet: ubi tandem erit fortis et constans, ubi periculum sui faciet qui timet verbis?","en":"Besides, if he had been speaking in person, you would have had no time to examine the parts, so completely would the whole have carried you away; and generally what pleases by its rush does less well when it is taken in hand and examined. But this too is a great deal, to have captured the eyes at first glance, even if careful study will find something to criticise. If you ask me, the man who has swept away your judgment is greater than the one who has earned it; though I know the second is safer, and I know he can promise himself more confidently about the future. Anxious speech does not suit a philosopher: when, after all, will he be brave and steadfast, when will he put himself to the test, if he is afraid for his words?"},{"ref":"Letter 100.5–6","orig":"Fabianus non erat neglegens in oratione sed securus. Itaque nihil invenies sordidum: electa verba sunt, non captata, nec huius saeculi more contra naturam suam posita et inversa, splendida tamen quamvis sumantur e medio. Sensus honestos et magnificos habes, non coactos in sententiam sed latius dictos. Videbimus quid parum recisum sit, quid parum structum, quid non huius recentis politurae: cum circumspexeris omnia, nullas videbis angustias inanis. Desit sane varietas marmorum et concisura aquarum cubiculis interfluentium et pauperis cella et quidquid aliud luxuria non contenta decore simplici miscet: quod dici solet, domus recta est. Adice nunc quod de compositione non constat: quidam illam volunt esse ex horrido comptam, quidam usque eo aspera gaudent ut etiam quae mollius casus explicuit ex industria dissipent et clausulas abrumpant ne ad expectatum respondeant.","en":"Fabianus was not careless in his speech, but unworried. So you will find nothing mean in it: his words are chosen, not hunted for, and not placed and turned against their own nature in the fashion of this age; yet they are splendid, even though they are taken from ordinary use. You have honourable and noble thoughts, not squeezed into epigrams but expressed more expansively. We will see what is not trimmed enough, what is not built up enough, what lacks this recent polish: when you have looked all around, you will see no empty pettiness. Granted, it may lack the variety of marbles, and the channelled water flowing through the bedrooms, and the 'poor man's room', and whatever else luxury mixes in when it is not content with simple beauty: as the saying goes, the house is soundly built. Add now that there is no agreement about style: some want it polished out of roughness, while some take such delight in harshness that they deliberately break up even what chance has laid out more smoothly, and cut off the endings of their sentences so that they do not answer to what was expected."},{"ref":"Letter 100.7–8","orig":"Lege Ciceronem: compositio eius una est, pedem curvat lenta et sine infamia mollis. At contra Pollionis Asinii salebrosa et exiliens et ubi minime expectes relictura. Denique omnia apud Ciceronem desinunt, apud Pollionem cadunt, exceptis paucissimis quae ad certum modum et ad unum exemplar adstricta sunt. Humilia praeterea tibi videri dicis omnia et parum erecta: quo vitio carere eum iudico. Non sunt enim illa humilia sed placida et ad animi tenorem quietum compositumque formata, nec depressa sed plana. Deest illis oratorius vigor stimulique quos quaeris et subiti ictus sententiarum; sed totum corpus, videris quam sit comptum, honestum est. Non habet oratio eius sed dabit dignitatem.","en":"Read Cicero: his style is all of a piece; it bends its rhythm slowly, and it is soft without being disgraceful. Asinius Pollio's, on the contrary, is bumpy and jerky, and will leave off where you least expect it. In short, everything in Cicero comes to a close, while in Pollio it drops off, except a very few passages that are bound to a fixed rhythm and a single pattern. You also say that everything in Fabianus seems low to you, and not elevated enough: I judge him to be free of that fault. For those passages are not low but calm, shaped to match a quiet and settled state of mind; not sunk down, but level. They lack the orator's vigour and the stings you are looking for, and the sudden strokes of epigram; but the whole body, however well groomed you may judge it, is honourable. His speech does not possess dignity, but it will give it."},{"ref":"Letter 100.9","orig":"Adfer quem Fabiano possis praeponere. Dic Ciceronem, cuius libri ad philosophiam pertinentes paene totidem sunt quot Fabiani: cedam, sed non statim pusillum est si quid maximo minus est. Dic Asinium Pollionem: cedam, et respondeamus: in re tanta eminere est post duos esse. Nomina adhuc T. Livium; scripsit enim et dialogos, quos non magis philosophiae adnumerare possis quam historiae, et ex professo philosophiam continentis libros: huic quoque dabo locum. Vide tamen quam multos antecedat qui a tribus vincitur et tribus eloquentissimis.","en":"Bring me someone you could rank above Fabianus. Name Cicero, whose books on philosophy are almost as many as Fabianus's: I will give way, but a thing is not automatically tiny just because it is smaller than the greatest. Name Asinius Pollio: I will give way, and let us answer that in so great a field it is a distinction to come after two. Name Titus Livy as well; for he also wrote dialogues, which you could count as philosophy no more than as history, and books that openly deal with philosophy: to him too I will give place. But see how many a man outstrips who is beaten by only three, and those three the most eloquent of all."},{"ref":"Letter 100.10","orig":"Sed non praestat omnia: non est fortis oratio eius, quamvis elata sit; non est violenta nec torrens, quamvis effusa sit; non est perspicua sed pura. 'Desideres' inquis 'contra vitia aliquid aspere dici, contra pericula animose, contra fortunam superbe, contra ambitionem contumeliose. Volo luxuriam obiurgari, libidinem traduci, inpotentiam frangi. Sit aliquid oratorie acre, tragice grande, comice exile.' Vis illum adsidere pusillae rei, verbis: ille rerum se magnitudini addixit, eloquentiam velut umbram non hoc agens trahit.","en":"But he does not supply everything: his speech is not forceful, though it is lofty; it is not violent or torrential, though it is abundant; it is not transparent, but it is pure. 'You would want,' you say, 'something said harshly against vice, boldly against danger, proudly against fortune, insultingly against ambition. I want luxury rebuked, lust exposed, lack of self-control broken. Let there be something sharp as in oratory, grand as in tragedy, slight as in comedy.' You want him to fuss over a tiny thing, words: he has given himself to the greatness of his subject, and he draws eloquence after him like a shadow, without aiming at it."},{"ref":"Letter 100.11","orig":"Non erunt sine dubio singula circumspecta nec in se collecta nec omne verbum excitabit ac punget, fateor; exibunt multa nec ferient et interdum otiosa praeterlabetur oratio, sed multum erit in omnibus lucis, sed ingens sine taedio spatium. Denique illud praestabit, ut liqueat tibi illum sensisse quae scripsit. Intelleges hoc actum ut tu scires quid illi placeret, non ut ille placeret tibi. Ad profectum omnia tendunt, ad bonam mentem: non quaeritur plausus.","en":"Doubtless not every detail will be examined and gathered together, nor will every word rouse and sting, I admit; many things will go out without striking home, and sometimes the speech will glide idly past. But there will be much light in all of it, and a great expanse without tedium. Finally, it will achieve this: it will be clear to you that he felt what he wrote. You will understand that the aim was for you to know what he approved of, not for him to win your approval. Everything tends towards progress, towards a good mind: applause is not what is sought."},{"ref":"Letter 100.12","orig":"Talia esse scripta eius non dubito, etiam si magis reminiscor quam teneo haeretque mihi color eorum non ex recenti conversatione familiariter sed summatim, ut solet ex vetere notitia; cum audirem certe illum, talia mihi videbantur, non solida sed plena, quae adulescentem indolis bonae attollerent et ad imitationem sui evocarent sine desperatione vincendi, quae mihi adhortatio videtur efficacissima. Deterret enim qui imitandi cupiditatem fecit, spem abstulit. Ceterum verbis abundabat, sine commendatione partium singularum in universum magnificus. Vale.","en":"I have no doubt that his writings are like this, even though I remember rather than retain them, and their colour clings to me not in detail, from recent acquaintance, but in outline, as usually happens with something known long ago. Certainly when I heard him, they seemed to me like this: not solid but full, able to raise up a young man of good character and call him to imitate them without making him despair of surpassing them; and this seems to me the most effective kind of encouragement. For the man who creates the desire to imitate but takes away the hope of succeeding only discourages. For the rest, he was rich in words, and though no single part won special praise, he was magnificent as a whole. Farewell."}],"101":[{"ref":"Letter 101.1–2","orig":"Omnis dies, omnis hora quam nihil simus ostendit et aliquo argumento recenti admonet fragilitatis oblitos; tum aeterna meditatos respicere cogit ad mortem. Quid sibi istud principium velit quaeris? Senecionem Cornelium, equitem Romanum splendidum et officiosum, noveras: ex tenui principio se ipse promoverat et iam illi declivis erat cursus ad cetera; facilius enim crescit dignitas quam incipit. Pecunia quoque circa paupertatem plurimum morae habet; dum ex illa erepat haeret. Iam Senecio divitiis inminebat, ad quas illum duae res ducebant efficacissimae, et quaerendi et custodiendi scientia, quarum vel altera locupletem facere potuisset.","en":"Every day, every hour shows how nothing we are, and with some fresh proof reminds us, who have forgotten our fragility, of it; then it forces us, who were planning for eternity, to look back at death. You ask what this opening is about? You knew Cornelius Senecio, a distinguished and obliging Roman knight. From a modest beginning he had advanced himself, and the road to everything else was now downhill for him; for rank grows more easily than it begins. Money too lingers longest around poverty; while it is crawling out of it, it gets stuck. Senecio was already close to wealth, and two very effective things were leading him to it, the knowledge of how to earn and the knowledge of how to keep, either of which could have made him rich."},{"ref":"Letter 101.3–4","orig":"Hic homo summae frugalitatis, non minus patrimonii quam corporis diligens, cum me ex consuetudine mane vidisset, cum per totum diem amico graviter adfecto et sine spe iacenti usque in noctem adsedisset, cum hilaris cenasset, genere valetudinis praecipiti arreptus, angina, vix conpressum artatis faucibus spiritum traxit in lucem. Intra paucissimas ergo horas quam omnibus erat sani ac valentis officiis functus decessit. Ille qui et mari et terra pecuniam agitabat, qui ad publica quoque nullum relinquens inexpertum genus quaestus accesserat, in ipso actu bene cedentium rerum, in ipso procurrentis pecuniae impetu raptus est.\nInsere nunc, Meliboee, piros, pone ordine vites.\nQuam stultum est aetatem disponere ne crastini quidem dominum! o quanta dementia est spes longas inchoantium: emam, aedificabo, credam, exigam, honores geram, tum deinde lassam et plenam senectutem in otium referam.","en":"This man, a model of thrift, as careful of his estate as of his body, had called on me in the morning as usual; he had sat all day, and on into the night, beside a friend who was gravely ill and lying without hope; he had dined cheerfully; then he was seized by a swift kind of illness, quinsy, and with his throat closed up he barely drew his squeezed breath until daybreak. So within a very few hours of performing all the duties of a healthy and strong man, he died. The man who kept his money at work on sea and land, who had also entered public contracts and left no kind of profit untried, was snatched away in the very act of things going well, in the very rush of money pouring in.\nNow graft your pears, Meliboeus, and set your vines in rows.\nHow foolish it is to plan out your life when you are not even master of tomorrow! Oh, what madness it is for people to embark on long hopes: I will buy, I will build, I will lend, I will call in debts, I will hold office, and then at last I will bring my tired and well-filled old age to rest."},{"ref":"Letter 101.5–6","orig":"Omnia, mihi crede, etiam felicibus dubia sunt; nihil sibi quisquam de futuro debet promittere; id quoque quod tenetur per manus exit et ipsam quam premimus horam casus incidit. Volvitur tempus rata quidem lege, sed per obscurum: quid autem ad me an naturae certum sit quod mihi incertum est? Navigationes longas et pererratis litoribus alienis seros in patriam reditus proponimus, militiam et castrensium laborum tarda manipretia, procurationes officiorumque per officia processus, cum interim ad latus mors est, quae quoniam numquam cogitatur nisi aliena, subinde nobis ingeruntur mortalitatis exempla non diutius quam dum miramur haesura.","en":"Believe me, everything is uncertain, even for the fortunate; no one should promise himself anything about the future. Even what we hold slips through our hands, and chance cuts into the very hour we are grasping. Time rolls on by a fixed law, but in the dark: and what does it matter to me whether a thing is certain to nature if it is uncertain to me? We plan long voyages and late homecomings after wandering along foreign shores; military service and the slow wages of labour in camp; stewardships and promotions from one office to the next, while all the time death is at our side. And since it is never thought of except as someone else's, examples of mortality are thrust on us again and again, which will stick with us no longer than our surprise at them lasts."},{"ref":"Letter 101.7–8","orig":"Quid autem stultius quam mirari id ullo die factum quod omni potest fieri? Stat quidem terminus nobis ubi illum inexorabilis fatorum necessitas fixit, sed nemo scit nostrum quam prope versetur a termino; sic itaque formemus animum tamquam ad extrema ventum sit. Nihil differamus; cotidie cum vita paria faciamus. Maximum vitae vitium est quod inperfecta semper est, quod aliquid ex illa differtur. Qui cotidie vitae suae summam manum inposuit non indiget tempore; ex hac autem indigentia timor nascitur et cupiditas futuri exedens animum. Nihil est miserius dubitatione venientium quorsus evadant; quantum sit illud quod restat aut quale sollicita mens inexplicabili formidine agitatur.","en":"And what is more foolish than being surprised that something has happened on a particular day when it can happen on any day? Our boundary stands where the relentless necessity of fate has fixed it, but none of us knows how near the boundary he is; so let us shape our minds as though we had reached the very end. Let us put nothing off; let us settle our accounts with life every day. The greatest fault of life is that it is always unfinished, that some part of it is always being put off. The man who puts the finishing touch to his life every day is not in need of time; and it is from this need that fear arises, and a craving for the future that eats away the mind. Nothing is more wretched than doubting how things to come will turn out; the worried mind is tossed about by a fear it cannot untangle, over how much remains and what it will be like."},{"ref":"Letter 101.9–10","orig":"Quo modo effugiemus hanc volutationem? Uno: si vita nostra non prominebit, si in se colligitur; ille enim ex futuro suspenditur cui inritum est praesens. Ubi vero quidquid mihi debui redditum est, ubi stabilita mens scit nihil interesse inter diem et saeculum, quidquid deinceps dierum rerumque venturum est ex alto prospicit et cum multo risu seriem temporum cogitat. Quid enim varietas mobilitasque casuum perturbabit, si certus sis adversus incerta? Ideo propera, Lucili mi, vivere, et singulos dies singulas vitas puta. Qui hoc modo se aptavit, cui vita sua cotidie fuit tota, securus est: in spem viventibus proximum quodque tempus elabitur, subitque aviditas et miserrimus ac miserrima omnia efficiens metus mortis. Inde illud Maecenatis turpissimum votum quo et debilitatem non recusat et deformitatem et novissime acutam crucem, dummodo inter haec mala spiritus prorogetur:","en":"How shall we escape this turmoil? In one way: if our life does not stretch out ahead, if it is gathered into itself; for the man whose present is wasted hangs on the future. But when I have paid back everything I owed myself, when my steadied mind knows that there is no difference between a day and a century, it looks down from on high at whatever days and events are still to come, and thinks of the sequence of time with much laughter. For what will the variety and fickleness of chance disturb, if you are sure of yourself against what is unsure? So hurry to live, my Lucilius, and think of each single day as a single life. The man who has fitted himself to this, whose life has been complete each day, is free from care; for those who live on hope, each coming moment slips away, and greed creeps in, and the fear of death, which is most wretched in itself and makes everything wretched. Hence that most shameful prayer of Maecenas, in which he does not refuse weakness or deformity, or even, at the last, the sharp cross, provided that his breath is prolonged amid these evils:"},{"ref":"Letter 101.11–12","orig":"debilem facito manu,\ndebilem pede coxo,\ntuber adstrue gibberum,\nlubricos quate dentes:\nvita dum superest, benest;\nhanc mihi, vel acuta\nsi sedeam cruce, sustine.\nQuod miserrimum erat si incidisset optatur, et tamquam vita petitur supplici mora. Contemptissimum putarem si vivere vellet usque ad crucem: 'tu vero' inquit 'me debilites licet, dum spiritus in corpore fracto et inutili maneat; depraves licet, dum monstroso et distorto temporis aliquid accedat; suffigas licet et acutam sessuro crucem subdas': est tanti vulnus suum premere et patibulo pendere districtum, dum differat id quod est in malis optimum, supplici finem? est tanti habere animam ut agam?","en":"Make me weak in the hand,\nweak in the lame foot,\nbuild a crooked hump on me,\nshake my loose teeth:\nwhile life remains, all is well;\nkeep it for me, even if\nI sit on the sharp cross. What would be most wretched if it happened is prayed for, and a delay of punishment is begged for as though it were life. I would think him most contemptible if he wanted to live right up to the cross. But he says: 'You may cripple me, as long as breath remains in my broken and useless body; you may deform me, as long as some time is added to my monstrous and twisted life; you may nail me up and set the sharp cross beneath me as I sit.' Is it worth so much to press on one's own wound and hang stretched on the gibbet, just to put off the best thing among evils, the end of punishment? Is it worth so much to keep the breath of life only to be forever breathing it out?"},{"ref":"Letter 101.13–14","orig":"Quid huic optes nisi deos faciles? quid sibi vult ista carminis effeminati turpitudo? quid timoris dementissimi pactio? quid tam foeda vitae mendicatio? Huic putes umquam recitasse Vergilium:\nusque adeone mori miserum est?\nOptat ultima malorum et quae pati gravissimum est extendi ac sustineri cupit: qua mercede? scilicet vitae longioris. Quod autem vivere est diu mori? Invenitur aliquis qui velit inter supplicia tabescere et perire membratim et totiens per stilicidia emittere animam quam semel exhalare? Invenitur qui velit adactus ad illud infelix lignum, iam debilis, iam pravus et in foedum scapularum ac pectoris tuber elisus, cui multae moriendi causae etiam citra crucem fuerant, trahere animam tot tormenta tracturam? Nega nunc magnum beneficium esse naturae quod necesse est mori.","en":"What could you wish for such a man except gods who grant his prayer? What is the point of this shameful, unmanly poetry? What is this bargain struck by the maddest fear? What is this vile begging for life? You would think Virgil had never read these words to him:\nIs dying really so wretched?\nHe prays for the worst of evils, and wants the things that are hardest to suffer to be stretched out and prolonged: for what reward? Why, a longer life. But what sort of living is a long dying? Can anyone be found who would rather waste away amid torture, perishing limb by limb and letting out his life drop by drop so many times, than breathe it out once? Can anyone be found who, fastened to that accursed wood, already crippled, already deformed, his shoulders and chest crushed into an ugly swelling, with many reasons to die even before the cross, would want to draw a breath that will draw out so many torments? Deny now that it is a great kindness of nature that we must die."},{"ref":"Letter 101.15","orig":"Multi peiora adhuc pacisci parati sunt: etiam amicum prodere, ut diutius vivant, et liberos ad stuprum manu sua tradere, ut contingat lucem videre tot consciam scelerum. Excutienda vitae cupido est discendumque nihil interesse quando patiaris quod quandoque patiendum est; quam bene vivas referre, non quamdiu; saepe autem in hoc esse bene, ne diu. Vale.","en":"Many are ready to strike even worse bargains: to betray even a friend in order to live longer, and to hand over their children for abuse with their own hands, so that they may go on seeing a daylight that has witnessed so many crimes. The craving for life must be shaken off, and we must learn that it makes no difference when you suffer what you must suffer at some time; that what matters is how well you live, not how long; and that living well often means not living long. Farewell."}],"102":[{"ref":"Letter 102.1–2","orig":"Quomodo molestus est iucundum somnium videnti qui excitat (aufert enim voluptatem etiam si falsam, effectum tamen verae habentem) sic epistula tua mihi fecit iniuriam; revocavit enim me cogitationi aptae traditum et iturum, si licuisset, ulterius. Iuvabat de aeternitate animarum quaerere, immo mehercules credere; praebebam enim me facilem opinionibus magnorum virorum rem gratissimam promittentium magis quam probantium. Dabam me spei tantae, iam eram fastidio mihi, iam reliquias aetatis infractae contemnebam in immensum illud tempus et in possessionem omnis aevi transiturus, cum subito experrectus sum epistula tua accepta et tam bellum somnium perdidi. Quod repetam, si te dimisero, et redimam.","en":"Just as someone who wakes a person in the middle of a pleasant dream is a nuisance (for he takes away a pleasure which, though false, has the effect of a real one), so your letter has done me an injury. It called me back when I had given myself up to a fitting line of thought and would have gone further, if I had been allowed. I was enjoying inquiring into the immortality of souls, or rather, by Hercules, believing in it; for I was lending a willing ear to the opinions of great men who promise this most welcome thing rather than prove it. I was giving myself up to so great a hope; already I was weary of myself, already I was scorning what is left of my broken life, as one about to pass into that immense time and take possession of all eternity, when suddenly I was woken by the arrival of your letter and lost so lovely a dream. I will go back to it, once I have dealt with you, and win it back."},{"ref":"Letter 102.3–4","orig":"Negas me epistula prima totam quaestionem explicuisse in qua probare conabar id quod nostris placet, claritatem quae post mortem contingit bonum esse. Id enim me non solvisse quod opponitur nobis: 'nullum' inquiunt 'bonum ex distantibus; hoc autem ex distantibus constat'. Quod interrogas, mi Lucili, eiusdem quaestionis est loci alterius, et ideo non id tantum sed alia quoque eodem pertinentia distuleram; quaedam enim, ut scis, moralibus rationalia inmixta sunt. Itaque illam partem rectam et ad mores pertinentem tractavi, numquid stultum sit ac supervacuum ultra extremum diem curas trans mittere, an cadant bona nostra nobiscum nihilque sit eius qui nullus est, an ex eo quod, cum erit, sensuri non sumus, antequam sit aliquis fructus percipi aut peti possit.","en":"You say that in my first letter I did not fully explain the question in which I was trying to prove what our school holds, that the renown that comes after death is a good. For, you say, I did not resolve the objection raised against us: 'No good,' they say, 'is made up of separate things; but this is made up of separate things.' What you are asking about, my Lucilius, belongs to the same question but to another part of it, and so I had put off not only this but other points relating to the same thing; for, as you know, some matters of logic are mixed in with ethics. So I dealt with the part that is straightforward and concerns conduct: whether it is foolish and pointless to send our concerns beyond our last day; whether our goods fall along with us and nothing belongs to one who no longer exists; whether any benefit can be gained or sought, before it exists, from something that we will not perceive when it does exist."},{"ref":"Letter 102.5–6","orig":"Haec omnia ad mores spectant; itaque suo loco posita sunt. At quae a dialecticis contra hanc opinionem dicuntur segreganda fuerunt et ideo seposita sunt. Nunc, quia omnia exigis, omnia quae dicunt persequar, deinde singulis occurram. Nisi aliquid praedixero, intellegi non poterunt quae refellentur. Quid est quod praedicere velim? quaedam continua corpora esse, ut hominem; quaedam esse composita, ut navem, domum, omnia denique quorum diversae partes iunctura in unum coactae sunt; quaedam ex distantibus, quorum adhuc membra separata sunt, tamquam exercitus, populus, senatus. Illi enim per quos ista corpora efficiuntur iure aut officio cohaerent, natura diducti et singuli sunt. Quid est quod etiam nunc praedicere velim?","en":"All these questions concern conduct, and so they were put in their proper place. But what the logicians say against this view had to be separated off, and so it was set aside. Now, since you demand everything, I will go through everything they say and then answer each point. Unless I say something first, the arguments to be refuted cannot be understood. What is it I want to say first? That some bodies are continuous, like a human being; some are composite, like a ship, a house, and in short everything whose different parts are forced into one by joining; and some are made of separate things, whose members remain apart, such as an army, a people, a senate. For those who make up these bodies are held together by law or duty, but by nature they are separate and single. What else do I want to say first?"},{"ref":"Letter 102.7–8","orig":"nullum bonum putamus esse quod ex distantibus constat; uno enim spiritu unum bonum contineri ac regi debet, unum esse unius boni principale. Hoc si quando desideraveris per se probatur: interim ponendum fuit, quia in nos nostra tela mittuntur. 'Dicitis' inquit 'nullum bonum ex distantibus esse; claritas autem ista bonorum virorum secunda opinio est. Nam quomodo fama non est unius sermo nec infamia unius mala existimatio, sic nec claritas uni bono placuisse; consentire in hoc plures insignes et spectabiles viri debent, ut claritas sit. Haec autem ex iudiciis plurium efficitur, id est distantium; ergo non est bonum.","en":"That we hold that nothing made up of separate things is a good; for a single good must be held together and governed by a single spirit, and a single good must have a single ruling part. This proves itself, whenever you want proof; meanwhile it had to be laid down, because our own weapons are being turned against us. 'You say,' the objector says, 'that no good is made up of separate things; but renown is the favourable opinion of good men. For just as reputation is not the talk of one person, and disrepute is not one person's bad opinion, so renown is not having pleased one good man; many distinguished and notable men must agree on it for there to be renown. But this is produced by the judgments of many, that is, of separate people; therefore it is not a good."},{"ref":"Letter 102.9–11","orig":"'Claritas' inquit 'laus est a bonis bono reddita; laus oratio, vox est aliquid significans; vox est autem, licet virorum sit bonorum, non bonum. Nec enim quidquid vir bonus facit bonum est; nam et plaudit et sibilat, sed nec plausum quisquam nec sibilum, licet omnia eius admiretur et laudet, bonum dicit, non magis quam sternumentum aut tussim. Ergo claritas bonum non est. 'Ad summam dicite nobis utrum laudantis an laudati bonum sit: si laudati bonum esse dicitis, tam ridiculam rem facitis quam si adfirmetis meum esse quod alius bene valeat. Sed laudare dignos honesta actio est; ita laudantis bonum est cuius actio est, non nostrum qui laudamur: atqui hoc quaerebatur.' Respondebo nunc singulis cursim. Primum an sit aliquod ex distantibus bonum etiamnunc quaeritur et pars utraque sententias habet. Deinde claritas desiderat multa suffragia? potest et unius boni viri iudicio esse contenta: nos bonus bonos iudicat.","en":"'Renown,' he says, 'is praise given to a good man by good men; praise is speech, and speech is an utterance that means something; but an utterance, even the utterance of good men, is not a good. For not everything a good man does is a good: he claps and he hisses, but no one calls his clapping or hissing a good, however much he admires and praises everything that man does, any more than his sneezing or coughing. Therefore renown is not a good. In short, tell us whether it is the good of the one who praises or of the one who is praised. If you say it is the good of the one praised, you are doing something as absurd as claiming that another man's good health is mine. But to praise the worthy is an honourable action; so it is the good of the one who praises, since the action is his, not ours who are praised: and yet this is what was being asked.' I will now answer each point briefly. First, whether any good can be made up of separate things is still being debated, and there are opinions on both sides. Next, does renown need many votes? It can be content with the judgment of a single good man: a good man judges us good."},{"ref":"Letter 102.12","orig":"'Quid ergo?' inquit 'et fama erit unius hominis existimatio et infamia unius malignus sermo? Gloriam quoque' inquit 'latius fusam intellego; consensum enim multorum exigit.' Diversa horum condicio est et illius. Quare? quia si de me bene vir bonus sentit, eodem loco sum quo si omnes boni idem sentirent; omnes enim, si me cognoverint, idem sentient. Par illis idemque iudicium est, aeque vero inficiscitur. Dissidere non possunt; ita pro eo est ac si omnes idem sentiant, quia aliud sentire non possunt.","en":"'What then?' he says. 'Will reputation also be one man's opinion, and disrepute one man's spiteful talk? Glory too,' he says, 'I take to be spread more widely; for it demands the agreement of many.' The case of these is different from that of renown. Why? Because if a good man thinks well of me, I am in the same position as if all good men thought the same; for all of them, if they come to know me, will think the same. Their judgment is equal and identical, and equally steeped in truth. They cannot disagree; so it is as good as if all of them thought the same, because they cannot think otherwise."},{"ref":"Letter 102.13–14","orig":"Ad gloriam aut famam non est satis unius opinio. Illic idem potest una sententia quod omnium, quia omnium, si perrogetur, una erit: hic diversa dissimilium iudicia sunt. Difficiles adsensus, dubia omnia invenies, levia, suspecta. Putas tu posse unam omnium esse sententiam? non est unius una sententia. Illic placet verum, veritatis una vis, una facies est: apud hos falsa sunt quibus adsentiuntur. Numquam autem falsis constantia est; variantur et dissident. 'Sed laus' inquit 'nihil aliud quam vox est, vox autem bonum non est.' Cum dicunt claritatem esse laudem bonorum a bonis redditam, non ad vocem referunt sed ad sententiam. Licet enim vir bonus taceat sed aliquem iudicet dignum laude esse, laudatus est.","en":"For glory or reputation one man's opinion is not enough. In renown one verdict counts for as much as everyone's, because everyone's, if they were all asked in turn, would be one; in glory there are the differing judgments of unlike people. You will find agreement hard to win, and everything doubtful, fickle and suspect. Do you think everyone can hold one opinion? Not even one person holds one opinion. Among the good it is truth that wins approval, and truth has one force, one face; among the crowd, what they agree to is false. And falsehood never has consistency; it shifts and disagrees. 'But praise,' he says, 'is nothing but an utterance, and an utterance is not a good.' When they say that renown is the praise given to good men by good men, they are referring not to the utterance but to the judgment. For even if a good man says nothing but judges someone worthy of praise, that person has been praised."},{"ref":"Letter 102.15–16","orig":"Praeterea aliud est laus, aliud laudatio, haec et vocem exigit; itaque nemo dicit laudem funebrem sed laudationem, cuius officium oratione constat. Cum dicimus aliquem laude dignum, non verba illi benigna hominum sed iudicia promittimus. Ergo laus etiam taciti est bene sentientis ac bonum virum apud se laudantis. Deinde, ut dixi, ad animum refertur laus, non ad verba, quae conceptam laudem egerunt et in notitiam plurium emittunt. Laudat qui laudandum esse iudicat. Cum tragicus ille apud nos ait magnificum esse 'laudari a laudato viro', laude digno ait. Et cum aeque antiquus poeta ait 'laus alit artis', non laudationem dicit, quae corrumpit artes; nihil enim aeque et eloquentiam et omne aliud studium auribus deditum vitiavit quam popularis adsensio.","en":"Besides, praise is one thing and a speech of praise another; the latter also requires the voice. That is why no one speaks of 'funeral praise' but of a 'funeral eulogy', whose function consists in speaking. When we say someone is worthy of praise, we are promising him not people's kind words but their judgments. So praise can also belong to someone silent who thinks well of a good man and praises him inwardly. Next, as I said, praise refers to the mind, not to the words, which express the praise once it has been conceived and send it out to be known by more people. The one who judges that someone should be praised is praising him. When our tragic poet says it is a splendid thing 'to be praised by a man who is praised', he means by a man worthy of praise. And when an equally ancient poet says 'praise nourishes the arts', he does not mean speeches of praise, which corrupt the arts; for nothing has spoiled eloquence and every other pursuit devoted to the ears as much as popular approval."},{"ref":"Letter 102.17–18","orig":"Fama vocem utique desiderat, claritas potest etiam citra vocem contingere contenta iudicio; plena est non tantum inter tacentis sed etiam inter reclamantis. Quid intersit inter claritatem et gloriam dicam: gloria multorum iudiciis constat, claritas bonorum. 'Cuius' inquit 'bonum est claritas, id est laus bono a bonis reddita? utrum laudati an laudantis?' Utriusque. Meum, qui laudor; quia natura me amantem omnium genuit, et bene fecisse gaudeo et gratos me invenisse virtutum interpretes laetor. Hoc plurium bonum est quod grati sunt, sed et meum; ita enim animo compositus sum ut aliorum bonum meum iudicem, utique eorum quibus ipse sum boni causa.","en":"Reputation certainly needs the voice, but renown can be had even without the voice, content with judgment; it is complete not only among the silent but even among those who shout against it. I will tell you the difference between renown and glory: glory consists of the judgments of many, renown of the judgments of the good. 'Whose good is renown,' he says, 'that is, praise given to a good man by good men? Is it the good of the one praised or of the one praising?' Of both. It is mine, as the one praised, because nature has made me a lover of all people, and I rejoice at having done good and am glad to have found people who interpret my virtues gratefully. That they are grateful is the good of many, but it is mine too; for my mind is so arranged that I count the good of others as my own, especially of those whose good I have caused."},{"ref":"Letter 102.19–20","orig":"Est istud laudantium bonum; virtute enim geritur; omnis autem virtutis actio bonum est. Hoc contingere illis non potuisset nisi ego talis essem. Itaque utriusque bonum est merito laudari, tam mehercules quam bene iudicasse iudicantis bonum est et eius secundum quem iudicatum est. Numquid dubitas quin iustitia et habentis bonum sit et autem sit eius cui debitum solvit? Merentem laudare iustitia est; ergo utriusque bonum est. Cavillatoribus istis abunde responderimus. Sed non debet hoc nobis esse propositum, arguta disserere et philosophiam in has angustias ex sua maiestate detrahere: quanto satius est ire aperta via et recta quam sibi ipsum flexus disponere quos cum magna molestia debeas relegere? Neque enim quicquam aliud istae disputationes sunt quam inter se perite captantium lusus.","en":"It is also the good of those who praise, for it is done by virtue, and every action of virtue is a good. This could not have fallen to them unless I were the kind of man I am. So being deservedly praised is the good of both, just as, by Hercules, judging well is a good for the one who judges and for the one in whose favour the judgment was given. Do you doubt that justice is a good both for the one who has it and for the one to whom it pays what is owed? To praise the deserving is justice; therefore it is the good of both. We will have answered these quibblers fully. But this should not be our aim, to discuss clever trifles and drag philosophy down from its majesty into these narrow straits. How much better it is to go along the open, straight road than to lay out twists and turns for yourself that you must retrace with great trouble! For these debates are nothing but the games of people skilfully trying to catch each other out."},{"ref":"Letter 102.21–22","orig":"Dic potius quam naturale sit in immensum mentem suam extendere. Magna et generosa res est humanus animus; nullos sibi poni nisi communes et cum deo terminos patitur. Primum humilem non accipit patriam, Ephesum aut Alexandriam aut si quod est etiamnunc frequentius accolis laetius tectis solum: patria est illi quodcumque suprema et universa circuitu suo cingit, hoc omne convexum intra quod iacent maria cum terris, intra quod aer humanis divina secernens etiam coniungit, in quo disposita tot numina in actus suos excubant. Deinde artam aetatem sibi dari non sinit: 'omnes' inquit 'anni mei sunt; nullum saeculum magnis ingeniis clusum est, nullum non cogitationi pervium tempus. Cum venerit dies ille qui mixtum hoc divini humanique secernat, corpus hic ubi inveni relinquam, ipse me dis reddam. Nec nunc sine illis sum, sed gravi terrenoque detineor.'","en":"Say rather how natural it is for the mind to stretch itself out into the infinite. The human soul is a great and noble thing; it allows no limits to be set to it except those it shares with God. First, it does not accept a lowly homeland, Ephesus or Alexandria or any other place even more crowded with inhabitants or more richly built: its homeland is whatever encloses in its circuit the highest things and the universe, this whole vault within which lie the seas and the lands, within which the air both separates the divine from the human and joins them, in which so many deities are stationed, each keeping watch over its task. Next, it does not allow a cramped lifetime to be given to it. 'All the years,' it says, 'are mine; no age is closed to great minds, no time is not open to thought. When that day comes which will separate this mixture of the divine and the human, I will leave this body here where I found it and give myself back to the gods. Even now I am not without them, but I am held back by what is heavy and earthly.'"},{"ref":"Letter 102.23–25","orig":"Per has mortalis aevi moras illi meliori vitae longiorique proluditur. Quemadmodum decem mensibus tenet nos maternus uterus et praeparat non sibi sed illi loco in quem videmur emitti iam idonei spiritum trahere et in aperto durare, sic per hoc spatium quod ab infantia patet in senectutem in alium mature scimus partum. Alia origo nos expectat, alius rerum status. Nondum caelum nisi ex intervallo pati possumus. Proinde intrepidus horam illam decretoriam prospice: non est animo suprema, sed corpori. Quidquid circa te iacet rerum tamquam hospitalis loci sarcinas specta: transeundum est. Excutit redeuntem natura sicut intrantem. Non licet plus efferre quam intuleris, immo etiam ex eo quod ad vitam adtulisti pars magna ponenda est: detrahetur tibi haec circumiecta, novissimum velamentum tui, cutis; detrahetur caro et suffusus sanguis discurrensque per totum; detrahentur ossa nervique, firmamenta fluidorum ac labentium.","en":"Through these delays of mortal life we are rehearsing for that better and longer life. Just as our mother's womb holds us for ten months and prepares us not for itself but for the place into which we seem to be sent out once we are fit to draw breath and live in the open, so through this span that stretches from infancy to old age we are ripening for another birth. Another beginning awaits us, another state of things. As yet we can bear the sight of heaven only from a distance. So look ahead without fear to that decisive hour: it is the last hour not for the soul but for the body. Whatever things lie around you, regard them as baggage in a guest-house: you must move on. Nature shakes you out as you leave, just as when you came in. You may not take out more than you brought in; indeed, even of what you brought with you into life, a great part must be laid down. This covering around you, your last wrapping, the skin, will be stripped from you; the flesh will be stripped away, and the blood that is spread and runs through the whole; the bones and sinews will be stripped away, the supports of what is fluid and slipping."},{"ref":"Letter 102.26–27","orig":"Dies iste quem tamquam extremum reformidas aeterni natalis est. Depone onus: quid cunctaris, tamquam non prius quoque relicto in quo latebas corpore exieris? Haeres, reluctaris: tum quoque magno nisu matris expulsus es. Gemis, ploras: et hoc ipsum flere nascentis est, sed tunc debebat ignosci: rudis et inperitus omnium veneras. Ex maternorum viscerum calido mollique fomento emissum adflavit aura liberior, deinde offendit durae manus tactus, tenerque adhuc et nullius rei gnarus obstipuisti inter ignota: nunc tibi non est novum separari ab eo cuius ante pars fueris; aequo animo membra iam supervacua dimitte et istuc corpus inhabitatum diu pone. Scindetur, obruetur, abolebitur: quid contristaris? ita solet fieri: pereunt semper velamenta nascentium. Quid ista sic diligis quasi tua? Istis opertus es: veniet qui te revellat dies et ex contubernio foedi atque olidi ventris educat.","en":"That day you dread as your last is the birthday of eternity. Lay down your burden: why do you hesitate, as if you had not already once left a body in which you were hidden and come out? You cling, you resist: that time too you were pushed out by your mother's great effort. You groan, you wail: this weeping too is what the newborn do, but then it deserved to be forgiven, since you had come raw and ignorant of everything. When you were sent out of the warm, soft comfort of your mother's womb, a freer air blew on you, then the touch of a rough hand struck you, and still tender and knowing nothing, you were stunned amid the unknown. Now it is not new for you to be separated from something of which you were once a part; calmly let go of limbs you no longer need, and lay down this body you have long lived in. It will be torn apart, buried, destroyed: why are you sad? This is what usually happens: the wrappings of the newborn always perish. Why do you love these things as if they were yours? You have merely been covered by them. The day will come that will tear you out and lead you from your lodging in this foul and stinking belly."},{"ref":"Letter 102.28","orig":"Huic nunc quoque tu quantum potes subduc te voluptatique nisi quae * * * necessariisque cohaerebit alienus iam hinc altius aliquid sublimiusque meditare: aliquando naturae tibi arcana retegentur, discutietur ista caligo et lux undique clara percutiet. Imaginare tecum quantus ille sit fulgor tot sideribus inter se lumen miscentibus. Nulla serenum umbra turbabit; aequaliter splendebit omne caeli latus: dies et nox aeris infimi vices sunt. Tunc in tenebris vixisse te dices cum totam lucem et totus aspexeris, quam nunc per angustissimas oculorum vias obscure intueris, et tamen admiraris illam iam procul: quid tibi videbitur divina lux cum illam suo loco videris?","en":"Even now, as far as you can, withdraw yourself from it, and from pleasure, except what [...] will be bound up with necessary things; already a stranger to it, think now on something higher and loftier. One day the secrets of nature will be revealed to you, this fog will be scattered, and a bright light will strike you from every side. Imagine for yourself how great that brightness is, with so many stars mingling their light. No shadow will disturb the clear sky; every side of heaven will shine alike: day and night are the changes of the lowest air. Then you will say that you lived in darkness, when with your whole self you have seen the whole light, which you now glimpse dimly through the very narrow passages of your eyes; and yet you already admire it from afar. What will the divine light seem to you when you see it in its own place?"},{"ref":"Letter 102.29–30","orig":"Haec cogitatio nihil sordidum animo subsidere sinit, nihil humile, nihil crudele. Deos rerum omnium esse testes ait; illis nos adprobari, illis in futurum parari iubet et aeternitatem proponere. Quam qui mente concepit nullos horret exercitus, non terretur tuba, nullis ad timorem minis agitur. Quidni non timeat qui mori sperat? is quoque qui animum tamdiu iudicat manere quamdiu retinetur corporis vinculo, solutum statim spargi, id agit ut etiam post mortem utilis esse possit. Quamvis enim ipse ereptus sit oculis, tamen\nmulta viri virtus animo multusque recursat\ngentis honos.\nCogita quantum nobis exempla bona prosint: scies magnorum virorum non minus praesentiam esse utilem quam memoriam. Vale.","en":"This thought lets nothing base settle in the mind, nothing low, nothing cruel. It tells us that the gods are witnesses of everything; it bids us win their approval, prepare ourselves for them for the future, and set eternity before us. Whoever has grasped this in his mind shrinks from no army, is not frightened by the trumpet, is driven to fear by no threats. How could he not be free of fear, when he hopes to die? Even the man who thinks that the soul lasts only as long as it is held by the bond of the body, and that once released it is scattered at once, works to be useful even after death. For though he himself has been snatched from our eyes, still\nthe hero's great courage and the great honour of his race\nkeep coming back to the mind.\nThink how much good examples help us: you will realise that the memory of great men is no less useful than their presence. Farewell."}],"103":[{"ref":"Letter 103.1–2","orig":"Quid ista circumspicis quae tibi possunt fortasse evenire sed possunt et non evenire? Incendium dico, ruinam, alia quae nobis incidunt, non insidiantur: illa potius vide, illa vita quae nos observant, quae captant. Rari sunt casus, etiamsi graves, naufragium facere, vehiculo everti: ab homine homini cotidianum periculum. Adversus hoc te expedi, hoc intentis oculis intuere; nullum est malum frequentius, nullum pertinacius, nullum blandius. Tempestas minatur antequam surgat, crepant aedificia antequam corruant, praenuntiat fumus incendium: subita est ex homine pernicies, et eo diligentius tegitur quo propius accedit. Erras si istorum tibi qui occurrunt vultibus credis: hominum effigies habent, animos ferarum, nisi quod illarum perniciosus est primus incursus: quos transiere non quaerunt. Numquam enim illas ad nocendum nisi necessitas incitat; aut fame aut timore coguntur ad pugnam: homini perdere hominem libet.","en":"Why do you keep looking around for things that may perhaps happen to you, but may just as well not happen? I mean fire, collapsing buildings and other things that befall us but do not lie in wait for us. Look out rather for the things that watch us and try to catch us. Accidents, even serious ones, are rare: being shipwrecked, being overturned in a carriage. But from man comes danger to man every day. Prepare yourself against this, watch this with alert eyes; no evil is more frequent, none more persistent, none more flattering. A storm threatens before it rises, buildings creak before they collapse, smoke announces a fire: ruin from man comes suddenly, and the nearer it comes, the more carefully it is hidden. You are wrong if you trust the faces of those you meet: they have the appearance of men and the minds of wild beasts, except that with beasts only the first charge is dangerous: those they have passed by they do not hunt down. For nothing but necessity ever drives them to harm; they are forced to fight by hunger or by fear. Man enjoys destroying man."},{"ref":"Letter 103.3–5","orig":"Tu tamen ita cogita quod ex homine periculum sit ut cogites quod sit hominis officium; alterum intuere ne laedaris, alterum ne laedas. Commodis omnium laeteris, movearis incommodis, et memineris quae praestare debeas, quae cavere. Sic vivendo quid consequaris? non te ne noceant, sed ne fallant. Quantum potes autem in philosophiam recede: illa te sinu suo proteget, in huius sacrario eris aut tutus aut tutior. Non arietant inter se nisi in eadem ambulantes via. Ipsam autem philosophiam non debebis iactare; multis fuit periculi causa insolenter tractata et contumaciter: tibi vitia detrahat, non aliis exprobret. Non abhorreat a publicis moribus nec hoc agat ut quidquid non facit damnare videatur. Licet sapere sine pompa, sine invidia. Vale.","en":"But think about the danger that comes from man in such a way that you also think about man's duty; watch the one so that you are not harmed, the other so that you do no harm. Rejoice in everyone's good fortune, be moved by their misfortunes, and remember what you ought to provide and what you ought to guard against. What will you gain by living like this? Not that people will not harm you, but that they will not deceive you. As far as you can, though, withdraw into philosophy: she will shelter you in her embrace, and in her sanctuary you will be either safe or safer. People only collide when they are walking on the same road. But you must not boast of philosophy itself; for many it has been a cause of danger when handled arrogantly and defiantly. Let it strip your own faults from you, not reproach others with theirs. Let it not shun public customs, nor behave so as to seem to condemn whatever it does not do itself. You can be wise without display and without arousing ill will. Farewell."}],"104":[{"ref":"Letter 104.1–2","orig":"In Nomentanum meum fugi – quid putas? urbem? immo febrem et quidem subrepentem; iam manum mihi iniecerat. Medicus initia esse dicebat motis venis et incertis et naturalem turbantibus modum. Protinus itaque parari vehiculum iussi; Paulina mea retinente exire perseveravi. Illud mihi in ore erat domini mei Gallionis, qui cum in Achaia febrem habere coepisset, protinus navem escendit clamitans non corporis esse sed loci morbum. Hoc ego Paulinae meae dixi, quae mihi valetudinem meam commendat. Nam cum sciam spiritum illius in meo verti, incipio, ut illi consulam, mihi consulere. Et cum me fortiorem senectus ad multa reddiderit, hoc beneficium aetatis amitto; venit enim mihi in mentem in hoc sene et adulescentem esse cui parcitur. Itaque quoniam ego ab illa non inpetro ut me fortius amet, a me inpetrat illa ut me diligentius amem.","en":"I have fled to my place at Nomentum, and from what, do you suppose? The city? No, a fever, and one that was creeping up on me; it had already laid its hand on me. The doctor said it was starting, since my pulse was agitated, irregular and upsetting its natural rhythm. So I at once ordered my carriage to be got ready, and though my Paulina tried to hold me back, I insisted on leaving. I kept repeating the words of my master Gallio, who, when he began to have a fever in Achaea, immediately boarded a ship, crying out that the illness was not of the body but of the place. I said this to my Paulina, who urges me to look after my health. For since I know that her life is bound up with mine, I begin to take care of myself in order to take care of her. And though old age has made me braver about many things, I lose this advantage of my years; for it occurs to me that in this old man there is also a young man who is being spared. So since I cannot get her to love me more bravely, she gets me to love myself more carefully."},{"ref":"Letter 104.3–4","orig":"Indulgendum est enim honestis adfectibus; et interdum, etiam si premunt causae, spiritus in honorem suorum vel cum tormento revocandus et in ipso ore retinendus est, cum bono viro vivendum sit non quamdiu iuvat sed quamdiu oportet: ille qui non uxorem, non amicum tanti putat ut diutius in vita commoretur, qui perseverabit mori, delicatus est. Hoc quoque imperet sibi animus, ubi utilitas suorum exigit, nec tantum si vult mori, sed si coepit, intermittat et se suis commodet. Ingentis animi est aliena causa ad vitam reverti, quod magni viri saepe fecerunt; sed hoc quoque summae humanitatis existimo, senectutem suam, cuius maximus fructus est securior sui tutela et vitae usus animosior, attentius curare, si scias alicui id tuorum esse dulce, utile, optabile.","en":"For we must indulge honourable feelings; and sometimes, even if there are pressing reasons to die, the breath of life must be called back, even with torment, for the sake of one's loved ones, and held at the very lips, since a good man should live not as long as it pleases him but as long as he ought. The man who does not value his wife or a friend enough to stay longer in life, who insists on dying, is self-indulgent. The mind should also impose this on itself when the interest of its loved ones demands it: not only if it wants to die, but even if it has begun to, let it break off and give itself to its own. It is the mark of a great soul to return to life for someone else's sake, as great men have often done; but I think this too shows the highest kindness: to take closer care of your old age, whose greatest benefit is a less anxious guard over oneself and a bolder use of life, if you know that this is sweet, useful and desirable to one of your loved ones."},{"ref":"Letter 104.5–6","orig":"Habet praeterea in se non mediocre ista res gaudium et mercedem; quid enim iucundius quam uxori tam carum esse ut propter hoc tibi carior fias? Potest itaque Paulina mea non tantum suum mihi timorem inputare sed etiam meum. Quaeris ergo quomodo mihi consilium profectionis cesserit? Ut primum gravitatem urbis excessi et illum odorem culinarum fumantium quae motae quidquid pestiferi vaporis sorbuerunt cum pulvere effundunt, protinus mutatam valetudinem sensi. Quantum deinde adiectum putas viribus postquam vineas attigi? in pascuum emissus cibum meum invasi. Repetivi ergo iam me; non permansit marcor ille corporis dubii et male cogitantis. Incipio toto animo studere.","en":"Besides, this carries no small joy and reward in itself; for what is more pleasant than to be so dear to your wife that you become dearer to yourself because of it? So my Paulina can charge to my account not only her own fear but mine as well. You ask, then, how my plan to leave turned out? As soon as I left behind the heavy air of the city and that smell of smoking kitchens which, once stirred up, pour out with the dust whatever deadly fumes they have absorbed, I at once felt my health change. And how much strength do you think was added once I reached my vineyards? Let loose in the pasture, I fell upon my food. So I have now found myself again; the listlessness of a body unsure of itself and thinking gloomy thoughts has not lasted. I am beginning to study with my whole mind."},{"ref":"Letter 104.7–8","orig":"Non multum ad hoc locus confert nisi se sibi praestat animus, qui secretum in occupationibus mediis si volet habebit: at ille qui regiones eligit et otium captat ubique quo distringatur inveniet. Nam Socraten querenti cuidam quod nihil sibi peregrinationes profuissent respondisse ferunt, 'non inmerito hoc tibi evenit; tecum enim peregrinabaris'. O quam bene cum quibusdam ageretur, si a se aberrarent! Nunc premunt se ipsi, sollicitant, corrumpunt, territant. Quid prodest mare traicere et urbes mutare? si vis ista quibus urgueris effugere, non aliubi sis oportet sed alius. Puta venisse te Athenas, puta Rhodon; elige arbitrio tuo civitatem: quid ad rem pertinet quos illa mores habeat? tuos adferes.","en":"Place does not contribute much to this unless the mind is master of itself; if it wishes, it will have privacy in the midst of business. But the man who picks out regions and hunts for leisure will find something to distract him everywhere. For they say that when someone complained to Socrates that his travels had done him no good, he replied: 'No wonder this happened to you; for you were travelling with yourself.' Oh, how well it would go with some people if they wandered away from themselves! As it is, they press on themselves, trouble themselves, corrupt and terrify themselves. What good does it do to cross the sea and change cities? If you want to escape the things that weigh on you, you need to be not somewhere else but someone else. Suppose you have come to Athens, suppose to Rhodes; choose whatever city you like: what does it matter what customs it has? You will bring your own."},{"ref":"Letter 104.9–10","orig":"Divitias iudicabis bonum: torquebit te paupertas, quod est miserrimum, falsa. Quamvis enim multum possideas, tamen, quia aliquis plus habet, tanto tibi videris defici quanto vinceris. Honores iudicabis bonum: male te habebit ille consul factus, ille etiam refectus; invidebis quotiens aliquem in fastis saepius legeris. Tantus erit ambitionis furor ut nemo tibi post te videatur si aliquis ante te fuerit. Maximum malum iudicabis mortem, cum in illa nihil sit mali nisi quod ante ipsam est, timeri. Exterrebunt te non tantum pericula sed suspiciones; vanis semper agitaberis. Quid enim proderit\nevasisse tot urbes\nArgolicas mediosque fugam tenuisse per hostis?\nIpsa pax timores sumministrabit; ne tutis quidem habebitur fides consternata semel mente, quae ubi consuetudinem pavoris inprovidi fecit, etiam ad tutelam salutis suae inhabilis est. Non enim vitat sed fugit; magis autem periculis patemus aversi.","en":"You will judge riches a good: then poverty will torment you, and, what is most wretched, a false poverty. For however much you own, because someone has more, you will seem to yourself to fall short by as much as you are surpassed. You will judge public office a good: it will pain you that this man has been made consul, that one even re-elected; you will be envious whenever you read someone's name in the lists of consuls more often. Your ambition will be so frenzied that you will think no one comes after you if anyone comes before you. You will judge death the greatest evil, although there is nothing bad in it except what comes before it: being feared. Not only dangers but suspicions will frighten you; you will always be tossed about by empty things. For what good will it do\nto have escaped so many Argive cities\nand held your course of flight through the midst of the enemy?\nPeace itself will supply fears; once the mind has been thrown into panic, it will not trust even what is safe. Once it has made a habit of blind terror, it becomes incapable even of protecting its own safety. For it does not avoid danger, it runs from it; and we are more exposed to danger when we turn our backs."},{"ref":"Letter 104.11–12","orig":"Gravissimum iudicabis malum aliquem ex his quos amabis amittere, cum interim hoc tam ineptum erit quam flere quod arboribus amoenis et domum tuam ornantibus decidant folia. Quidquid te delectat aeque vide ut videres: dum virent, utere. Alium alio die casus excutiet, sed quemadmodum frondium iactura facilis est quia renascuntur, sic istorum quos amas quosque oblectamenta vitae putas esse damnum, quia reparantur etiam si non renascuntur. 'Sed non erunt idem.' Ne tu quidem idem eris. Omnis dies, omnis hora te mutat; sed in aliis rapina facilius apparet, hic latet, quia non ex aperto fit. Alii auferuntur, at ipsi nobis furto subducimur. Horum nihil cogitabis nec remedia vulneribus oppones, sed ipse tibi seres sollicitudinum causas alia sperando, alia desperando? Si sapis, alterum alteri misce: nec speraveris sine desperatione nec desperaveris sine spe.","en":"You will judge it the most serious evil to lose any of those you love, when all the while this will be as silly as weeping because the leaves fall from the pleasant trees that adorn your home. Look on whatever delights you in the same way: while it is green, enjoy it. Chance will shake off one on one day, another on another; but just as the loss of leaves is easy to bear because they grow back, so is the loss of those you love and think of as the delights of your life, because they are replaced even if they are not reborn. 'But they will not be the same.' Nor will you be the same. Every day, every hour changes you; but in others the plundering is easier to see, while in you it is hidden, because it does not happen in the open. Others are carried off, but we ourselves are stolen from ourselves by stealth. Will you think about none of this and apply no remedies to your wounds, but sow the seeds of worry for yourself by hoping for some things and despairing of others? If you are wise, mix the one with the other: do not hope without despair, nor despair without hope."},{"ref":"Letter 104.13–14","orig":"Quid per se peregrinatio prodesse cuiquam potuit? Non voluptates illa temperavit, non cupiditates refrenavit, non iras repressit, non indomitos amoris impetus fregit, nulla denique animo mala eduxit. Non iudicium dedit, non discussit errorem, sed ut puerum ignota mirantem ad breve tempus rerum aliqua novitate detinuit. Ceterum inconstantiam mentis, quae maxime aegra est, lacessit, mobiliorem levioremque reddit ipsa iactatio. Itaque quae petierant cupidissime loca cupidius deserunt et avium modo transvolant citiusque quam venerant abeunt.","en":"What good could travel in itself ever do anyone? It has not moderated pleasures, not reined in desires, not checked anger, not broken the untamed attacks of love; in short, it has drawn no evils out of the mind. It has given no judgment, it has not shaken off error, but, as with a child marvelling at the unknown, it has held the attention for a short while with the novelty of things. Besides, it provokes the fickleness of the mind, which is at its sickest, and the very tossing about makes it more restless and more unsteady. So people leave the places they sought so eagerly even more eagerly, and like birds they fly across and depart more quickly than they came."},{"ref":"Letter 104.15–16","orig":"Peregrinatio notitiam dabit gentium, novas tibi montium formas ostendet, invisitata spatia camporum et inriguas perennibus aquis valles; alicuius fluminis singularem ponet sub observatione naturam, sive ut Nilus aestivo incremento tumet, sive ut Tigris eripitur ex oculis et acto per occulta cursu integrae magnitudinis redditur, sive ut Maeander, poetarum omnium exercitatio et ludus, implicatur crebris anfractibus et saepe in vicinum alveo suo admotus, antequam sibi influat, flectitur: ceterum neque meliorem faciet neque saniorem. Inter studia versandum est et inter auctores sapientiae ut quaesita discamus, nondum inventa quaeramus; sic eximendus animus ex miserrima servitute in libertatem adseritur. Quamdiu quidem nescieris quid fugiendum, quid petendum, quid necessarium, quid supervacuum, quid iustum, quid iniustum, quid honestum, quid inhonestum sit, non erit hoc peregrinari sed errare.","en":"Travel will give you knowledge of peoples, show you new shapes of mountains, unseen stretches of plains, and valleys watered by never-failing streams; it will put before your eyes the special nature of some river: how the Nile swells with its summer flood, or how the Tigris is snatched from sight and, after running its course underground, is given back at its full size, or how the Maeander, the practice ground and plaything of all the poets, winds in frequent bends and, often brought close to its own channel, turns aside before it flows into itself. But it will not make you better or saner. We must spend our time in study and among the authors of wisdom, so that we may learn what has been discovered and search for what has not yet been found; this is how the mind is freed from the most wretched slavery and set at liberty. As long as you do not know what to avoid and what to seek, what is necessary and what superfluous, what is just and what unjust, what is honourable and what dishonourable, this will not be travelling but wandering."},{"ref":"Letter 104.17–19","orig":"Nullam tibi opem feret iste discursus; peregrinaris enim cum adfectibus tuis et mala te tua sequuntur. Utinam quidem sequerentur! Longius abessent: nunc fers illa, non ducis. Itaque ubique te premunt et paribus incommodis urunt. Medicina aegro, non regio quaerenda est. Fregit aliquis crus aut extorsit articulum: non vehiculum navemque conscendit, sed advocat medicum ut fracta pars iungatur, ut luxata in locum reponatur. Quid ergo? animum tot locis fractum et extortum credis locorum mutatione posse sanari? Maius est istud malum quam ut gestatione curetur. Peregrinatio non facit medicum, non oratorem; nulla ars loco discitur: quid ergo? sapientia, ars omnium maxima, in itinere colligitur? Nullum est, mihi crede, iter quod te extra cupiditates, extra iras, extra metus sistat; aut si quod esset, agmine facto gens illuc humana pergeret. Tamdiu ista urguebunt mala macerabuntque per terras ac maria vagum quamdiu malorum gestaveris causas.","en":"This rushing about will bring you no help; for you are travelling with your passions, and your troubles follow you. If only they did follow you! They would be further away: as it is, you are carrying them, not leading them. So they press on you everywhere and chafe you with the same discomforts. A sick man should look for medicine, not for a region. Someone has broken a leg or dislocated a joint: he does not board a carriage or a ship, but calls a doctor to set the broken part or put the dislocated one back in place. What then? Do you think a mind broken and twisted in so many places can be cured by a change of places? That evil is too great to be cured by a carriage ride. Travel does not make a doctor or an orator; no art is learned from a place. What then? Is wisdom, the greatest of all arts, picked up on a journey? Believe me, there is no journey that could set you down beyond desires, beyond anger, beyond fear; or if there were, the whole human race would march there in a column. These evils will press on you and wear you down as you wander over lands and seas for as long as you carry around the causes of your troubles."},{"ref":"Letter 104.20–21","orig":"Fugam tibi non prodesse miraris? tecum sunt quae fugis. Te igitur emenda, onera tibi detrahe et desideria intra salutarem modum contine; omnem ex animo erade nequitiam. Si vis peregrinationes habere iucundas, comitem tuum sana. Haerebit tibi avaritia quamdiu avaro sordidoque convixeris; haerebit tumor quamdiu superbo conversaberis; numquam saevitiam in tortoris contubernio pones; incendent libidines tuas adulterorum sodalicia. Si velis vitiis exui, longe a vitiorum exemplis recedendum est. Avarus, corruptor, saevus, fraudulentus, multum nocituri si prope a te fuissent, intra te sunt. Ad meliores transi: cum Catonibus vive, cum Laelio, cum Tuberone. Quod si convivere etiam Graecis iuvat, cum Socrate, cum Zenone versare: alter te docebit mori si necesse erit, alter antequam necesse erit.","en":"Are you surprised that running away does you no good? What you are running from is with you. So correct yourself, take the burdens off yourself, and keep your desires within healthy limits; scrape all wickedness out of your mind. If you want your travels to be pleasant, heal your companion. Greed will cling to you as long as you live with a greedy and mean man; arrogance will cling to you as long as you keep company with a proud one; you will never lay aside cruelty while sharing lodgings with a torturer; the fellowship of adulterers will inflame your lusts. If you want to be stripped of your vices, you must withdraw far from examples of vice. The miser, the seducer, the cruel man, the cheat, who would do you great harm if they were near you, are inside you. Move over to better people: live with the Catos, with Laelius, with Tubero. And if you also like living with Greeks, spend your time with Socrates and with Zeno: the one will teach you to die if it becomes necessary, the other to die before it becomes necessary."},{"ref":"Letter 104.22–23","orig":"Vive cum Chrysippo, cum Posidonio: hi tibi tradent humanorum divinorumque notitiam, hi iubebunt in opere esse nec tantum scite loqui et in oblectationem audientium verba iactare, sed animum indurare et adversus minas erigere. Unus est enim huius vitae fluctuantis et turbidae portus eventura contemnere, stare fidenter ac paratum tela fortunae adverso pectore excipere, non latitantem nec tergiversantem. Magnanimos nos natura produxit, et ut quibusdam animalibus ferum dedit, quibusdam subdolum, quibusdam pavidum, ita nobis gloriosum et excelsum spiritum quaerentem ubi honestissime, non ubi tutissime vivat, simillimum mundo, quem quantum mortalium passibus licet sequitur aemulaturque; profert se, laudari et aspici credit.","en":"Live with Chrysippus, with Posidonius: they will pass on to you knowledge of things human and divine, they will bid you be active, and not only speak cleverly and toss out words to entertain your listeners, but harden your mind and raise it up against threats. For there is one harbour in this tossing, stormy life: to despise what is to come, to stand firm and confident, ready to take the weapons of fortune full in the chest, not hiding and not turning your back. Nature has brought us forth great-souled, and just as she gave some animals a fierce spirit, others a cunning one, others a timid one, so to us she gave a spirit that is proud and lofty, seeking where it may live most honourably, not most safely, very like the universe, which it follows and imitates as far as mortal steps allow; it puts itself forward, believing it is praised and watched."},{"ref":"Letter 104.24–26","orig":"Dominus omnium est, supra omnia est; itaque nulli se rei summittat, nihil illi videatur grave, nihil quod virum incurvet.\nTerribiles visu formae, Letumque Labosque:\nminime quidem, si quis rectis oculis intueri illa possit et tenebras perrumpere; multa per noctem habita terrori dies vertit ad risum.\nTerribiles visu formae, Letumque Labosque:\negregie Vergilius noster non re dixit terribiles esse sed visu, id est videri, non esse. Quid, inquam, in istis est tam formidabile quam fama vulgavit? quid est, obsecro te, Lucili, cur timeat laborem vir, mortem homo? Totiens mihi occurrunt isti qui non putant fieri posse quidquid facere non possunt, et aiunt nos loqui maiora quam quae humana natura sustineat. At quanto ego de illis melius existimo! ipsi quoque haec possunt facere, sed nolunt. Denique quem umquam ista destituere temptantem? cui non faciliora apparuere in actu? Non quia difficilia sunt non audemus, sed quia non audemus difficilia sunt.","en":"It is master of all things, it is above all things; so let it submit to nothing, let nothing seem heavy to it, nothing that could bend a man.\nShapes terrible to see, Death and Toil:\nnot at all, if one could look at them with steady eyes and break through the darkness; many things thought terrifying at night the day turns to laughter.\nShapes terrible to see, Death and Toil:\nour Virgil said superbly that they are terrible not in fact but 'to see', that is, they seem terrible but are not. What is there in them, I ask, as frightful as rumour has made out? Why, I beg you, Lucilius, should a man fear toil, or a mortal fear death? I keep meeting people who think that whatever they cannot do cannot be done, and who say that we talk of things greater than human nature can bear. But how much better I think of them than that! They too can do these things, but they do not want to. In short, whom have these things ever failed who tried them? To whom have they not proved easier in the doing? It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult."},{"ref":"Letter 104.27","orig":"Si tamen exemplum desideratis, accipite Socraten, perpessicium senem, per omnia aspera iactatum, invictum tamen et paupertate, quam graviorem illi domestica onera faciebant, et laboribus, quos militares quoque pertulit. Quibus ille domi exercitus, sive uxorem eius moribus feram, lingua petulantem, sive liberos indociles et matri quam patri similiores sivere aut in bello fuit aut in tyrannide aut in libertate bellis ac tyrannis saeviore.","en":"But if you want an example, take Socrates, an old man who endured everything, tossed through every hardship, yet unconquered both by poverty, which his burdens at home made heavier, and by toils, including those he endured in military service. He was tried by these at home, whether you think of his wife, savage in her manners and pert in her tongue, or of his children, unteachable and more like their mother than their father; and in public he lived either in war, or under tyranny, or under a freedom more savage than wars and tyrants."},{"ref":"Letter 104.28","orig":"Viginti et septem annis pugnatum est; post finita arma triginta tyrannis noxae dedita est civitas, ex quibus plerique inimici erant. Novissime damnatio est sub gravissimis nominibus impleta: obiecta est et religionum violatio et iuventutis corruptela, quam inmittere in deos, in patres, in rem publicam dictus est. Post haec carcer et venenum. Haec usque eo animum Socratis non moverant ut ne vultum quidem moverint. O illam mirabilem laudem et singularem! usque ad extremum nec hilariorem quisquam nec tristiorem Socraten vidit; aequalis fuit in tanta inaequalitate fortunae.","en":"The war was fought for twenty-seven years; after the fighting ended, the city was handed over to the Thirty Tyrants to be harmed, and most of them were his enemies. Finally his condemnation was carried out on the gravest charges: he was accused of violating religion and of corrupting the young, whom he was said to have turned against the gods, their fathers and the state. After this came prison and poison. All this so little moved Socrates' mind that it did not even move his face. Oh, what wonderful and unique praise! Right to the end no one ever saw Socrates more cheerful or more sad; he stayed even amid such unevenness of fortune."},{"ref":"Letter 104.29–30","orig":"Vis alterum exemplum? accipe hunc M. Catonem recentiorem, cum quo et infestius fortuna egit et pertinacius. Cui cum omnibus locis obstitisset, novissime et in morte, ostendit tamen virum fortem posse invita fortuna vivere, invita mori. Tota illi aetas aut in armis est exacta civilibus aut intacta concipiente iam civile bellum; et hunc licet dicas non minus quam Socraten inseruisse dixisse nisi forte Cn. Pompeium et Caesarem et Crassum putas libertatis socios fuisse. Nemo mutatum Catonem totiens mutata re publica vidit; eundem se in omni statu praestitit, in praetura, in repulsa, in accusatione, in provincia, in contione, in exercitu, in morte. Denique in illa rei publicae trepidatione, cum illinc Caesar esset decem legionibus pugnacissimis subnixus, totis exterarum gentium praesidiis, hinc Cn. Pompeius, satis unus adversus omnia, cum alii ad Caesarem inclinarent, alii ad Pompeium, solus Cato fecit aliquas et rei publicae partes.","en":"Do you want another example? Take this more recent one, Marcus Cato, with whom fortune dealt even more hostilely and more persistently. Though she had opposed him everywhere, and last of all even in his death, he still showed that a brave man can live and die in spite of fortune. His whole life was spent either in civil war or in a time untouched by it but already conceiving civil war; and you may say of him, no less than of Socrates, that he lived as a slave under a so-called freedom, unless perhaps you think Gnaeus Pompey, Caesar and Crassus were allies of freedom. No one saw Cato change, though the state changed so often; he showed himself the same in every situation: as praetor, in defeat at the polls, as prosecutor, in his province, in the assembly, with the army, in death. Finally, in that panic of the state, when on one side stood Caesar, backed by ten of the most warlike legions and by all the forces of foreign nations, and on the other Gnaeus Pompey, a match by himself for anything, when some leaned towards Caesar and others towards Pompey, Cato alone formed a party for the republic too."},{"ref":"Letter 104.31–32","orig":"Si animo conplecti volueris illius imaginem temporis, videbis illinc plebem et omnem erectum ad res novas vulgum, hinc optumates et equestrem ordinem, quidquid erat in civitate sancti et electi, duos in medio relictos, rempublicam et Catonem. Miraberis, inquam, cum animadverteris\nAtriden Priamumque et saevom ambobus Achillen;\nutrumque enim inprobat, utrumque exarmat. Hanc fert de utroque sententiam: ait se, si Caesar vicerit, moriturum, si Pompeius, exulaturum. Quid habebat quod timeret qui ipse sibi et victo et victori constituerat quae constituta esse ab hostibus iratissimis poterant? Perit itaque ex decreto suo.","en":"If you want to picture that time in your mind, you will see on one side the common people and the whole mob eager for revolution, on the other the aristocrats and the order of knights, all that was revered and select in the state, and two left in the middle, the republic and Cato. You will be amazed, I say, when you see\nAtreus's son, and Priam, and Achilles fierce to both;\nfor he condemns both, he disarms both. He passes this verdict on each: he says that if Caesar wins he will die, and if Pompey wins he will go into exile. What had he to fear, when he himself had set for himself, defeated or victorious, the penalties the angriest enemies could have set? So he died by his own decree."},{"ref":"Letter 104.33","orig":"Vides posse homines laborem pati: per medias Africae solitudines pedes duxit exercitum. Vides posse tolerari sitim: in collibus arentibus sine ullis inpedimentis victi exercitus reliquias trahens inopiam umoris loricatus tulit et, quotiens aquae fuerat occasio, novissimus bibit. Vides honorem et notam posse contemni: eodem quo repulsus est die in comitio pila lusit. Vides posse non timeri potentiam superiorum: et Pompeium et Caesarem, quorum nemo alterum offendere audebat nisi ut alterum demereretur, simul provocavit. Vides tam mortem posse contemni quam exilium: et exilium sibi indixit et mortem et interim bellum.","en":"You see that men can endure toil: he led an army on foot through the middle of the African deserts. You see that thirst can be borne: dragging the remnants of a defeated army over parched hills without any baggage, he endured the lack of water in full armour, and whenever there was a chance of water, he drank last. You see that office and disgrace can be scorned: on the very day he was defeated at the polls, he played ball in the voting place. You see that one need not fear the power of those above: he challenged Pompey and Caesar at the same time, when no one dared offend one of them except to win favour with the other. You see that death can be scorned as much as exile: he sentenced himself to exile and to death, and meanwhile to war."},{"ref":"Letter 104.34","orig":"Possumus itaque adversus ista tantum habere animi, libeat modo subducere iugo collum. In primis autem respuendae voluptates: enervant et effeminant et multum petunt, multum autem a fortuna petendum est. Deinde spernendae opes: auctoramenta sunt servitutum. Aurum et argentum et quidquid aliud felices domos onerat relinquatur: non potest gratis constare libertas. Hanc si magno aestimas, omnia parvo aestimanda sunt. Vale.","en":"So we can have as much courage against these things, if only we are willing to pull our necks out of the yoke. First of all, pleasures must be spurned: they weaken and soften us and demand much, and what they demand must be begged from fortune. Next, wealth must be despised: it is the wage of slavery. Let gold and silver and whatever else weighs down prosperous homes be left behind: freedom cannot be had for nothing. If you value it highly, everything else must be valued little. Farewell."}],"105":[{"ref":"Letter 105.1–2","orig":"Quae observanda tibi sint ut tutior vivas dicam. Tu tamen sic audias censeo ista praecepta quomodo si tibi praeciperem qua ratione bonam valetudinem in Ardeatino tuereris. Considera quae sint quae hominem in perniciem hominis instigent: invenies spem, invidiam, odium, metum, contemptum. Ex omnibus istis adeo levissimum est contemptus ut multi in illo remedii causa delituerint. Quem quis contemnit, calcat sine dubio sed transit; nemo homini contempto pertinaciter, nemo diligenter nocet; etiam in acie iacens praeteritur, cum stante pugnatur.","en":"I will tell you what you should watch out for in order to live more safely. But I think you should listen to these precepts as if I were advising you how to keep in good health in the district of Ardea. Consider what it is that drives man to destroy man: you will find hope, envy, hatred, fear and contempt. Of all these, contempt is so much the lightest that many have hidden in it as a kind of remedy. When someone despises a person, he certainly tramples on him, but he passes on; no one harms a despised person persistently or carefully; even in battle the man lying on the ground is passed by, and the fighting is with the man who is standing."},{"ref":"Letter 105.3–4","orig":"Spem inproborum vitabis si nihil habueris quod cupiditatem alienam et inprobam inritet, si nihil insigne possederis; concupiscuntur enim etiam pars innotarum sunt sic raro. Invidiam effugies si te non ingesseris oculis, si bona tua non iactaveris, si scieris in sinu gaudere. Odium aut est ex offensa (hoc vitabis neminem lacessendo) aut gratuitum, a quo te sensus communis tuebitur. Fuit hoc multis periculosum: quidam odium habuerunt nec inimicum. Illud, ne timearis, praestabit tibi et fortunae mediocritas et ingeni lenitas: eum esse te homines sciant quem offendere sine periculo possint; reconciliatio tua et facilis sit et certa. Timeri autem tam domi molestum est quam foris, tam a servis quam a liberis: nulli non ad nocendum satis virium est. Adice nunc quod qui timetur timet: nemo potuit terribilis esse secure.","en":"You will avoid the hopes of the wicked if you have nothing that provokes another's wicked greed, if you own nothing remarkable; for even small things are coveted if they are striking and rare. You will escape envy if you do not thrust yourself before people's eyes, if you do not boast of your goods, if you know how to rejoice privately. Hatred comes either from offence (you will avoid this by provoking no one) or without cause, and from that common sense will protect you. This has been dangerous for many: some have been hated without having an enemy. As for not being feared, a modest fortune and a gentle character will ensure it for you: let people know that you are someone they can offend without danger; let reconciliation with you be both easy and sure. Being feared is as troublesome at home as abroad, by slaves as much as by the free: everyone has strength enough to do harm. Add now that whoever is feared is afraid: no one has ever been able to inspire terror and live free of worry."},{"ref":"Letter 105.5–6","orig":"Contemptus superest, cuius modum in sua potestate habet qui illum sibi adiunxit, qui contemnitur quia voluit, non quia debuit. Huius incommodum et artes bonae discutiunt et amicitiae eorum qui apud aliquem potentem potentes sunt, quibus adplicari expediet, non inplicari, ne pluris remedium quam periculum constet. Nihil tamen aeque proderit quam quiescere et minimum cum aliis loqui, plurimum secum. Est quaedam dulcedo sermonis quae inrepit et eblanditur et non aliter quam ebrietas aut amor secreta producit. Nemo quod audierit tacebit, nemo quantum audierit loquetur; qui rem non tacuerit non tacebit auctorem. Habet unusquisque aliquem cui tantum credat quantum ipsi creditum est; ut garrulitatem suam custodiat et contentus sit unius auribus, populum faciet; sic quod modo secretum erat rumor est.","en":"Contempt remains. The one who has taken it on keeps its measure in his own control, if he is despised because he wished it, not because he deserved it. Its disadvantage is dispelled both by good qualities and by the friendship of those who have influence with some powerful man; it will pay to attach yourself to them, but not to entangle yourself, or the remedy may cost more than the danger. Yet nothing will help so much as keeping quiet and talking very little with others and a great deal with yourself. There is a certain sweetness in conversation that creeps in and coaxes secrets out, just as drunkenness or love does. No one will keep silent about what he has heard, no one will tell only as much as he has heard; whoever has not kept quiet about the thing will not keep quiet about its source. Everyone has someone he trusts as much as he himself was trusted; even if he guards his talkativeness and is content with one pair of ears, he will create a crowd; so what was a secret a moment ago becomes rumour."},{"ref":"Letter 105.7–8","orig":"Securitatis magna portio est nihil inique facere: confusam vitam et perturbatam inpotentes agunt; tantum metuunt quantum nocent, nec ullo tempore vacant. Trepidant enim cum fecerunt, haerent; conscientia aliud agere non patitur ac subinde respondere ad se cogit. Dat poenas quisquis expectat; quisquis autem meruit expectat. Tutum aliqua res in mala conscientia praestat, nulla securum; putat enim se, etiam si non deprenditur, posse deprendi, et inter somnos movetur et, quotiens alicuius scelus loquitur, de suo cogitat; non satis illi oblitteratum videtur, non satis tectum. Nocens habuit aliquando latendi fortunam, numquam fiduciam. Vale.","en":"A large part of peace of mind is doing nothing wrong: those without self-control lead confused and disordered lives; they fear as much as they harm and are never at ease. For they tremble once they have done something, and they are stuck; conscience does not let them attend to anything else, and keeps forcing them to answer to it. Whoever expects punishment is being punished; and whoever has deserved it expects it. With a bad conscience something may make you safe, but nothing makes you free from worry; for the guilty man thinks that even if he is not caught, he could be caught; he tosses in his sleep, and whenever someone speaks of another's crime, he thinks of his own; it never seems to him wiped out enough, hidden enough. The guilty have sometimes had the luck to stay hidden, but never the confidence. Farewell."}],"106":[{"ref":"Letter 106.1–3","orig":"Tardius rescribo ad epistulas tuas, non quia districtus occupationibus sum. Hanc excusationem cave audias: vaco, et omnes vacant qui volunt. Neminem res sequuntur: ipsi illas amplexantur et argumentum esse felicitatis occupationem putant. Quid ergo fuit quare non protinus rescriberem? id de quo quaerebas veniebat in contextum operis mei; scis enim me moralem philosophiam velle conplecti et omnes ad eam pertinentis quaestiones explicare. Itaque dubitavi utrum differrem te donec suus isti rei veniret locus, an ius tibi extra ordinem dicerem: humanius visum est tam longe venientem non detinere. Itaque et hoc ex illa serie rerum cohaerentium excerpam et, si quaerunt eiusmodi, non quaerenti tibi ultro mittam. Quae sint haec interrogas? Quae scire magis iuvat quam prodest, sicut hoc de quo quaeris: bonum an corpus sit?","en":"I am slow in replying to your letters, not because I am tied up with business. Beware of accepting that excuse: I have free time, and so does everyone who wants it. Affairs do not chase anyone: people embrace them of their own accord and think being busy is proof of happiness. So why did I not reply at once? The subject you asked about was coming up in the course of my work; for you know that I want to cover the whole of moral philosophy and explain all the questions that belong to it. So I hesitated over whether to put you off until the proper place for this topic arrived, or to give you a ruling out of turn: it seemed kinder not to keep waiting someone who has come so far. So I will take this too out of that series of connected topics, and if there are others of that kind, I will send them to you without your asking. What are they, you ask? Things it is more pleasant than useful to know, like the question you ask: is the good a body?"},{"ref":"Letter 106.4–6","orig":"Bonum facit; prodest enim; quod facit corpus est. Bonum agitat animum et quodam modo format et continet, quae propria sunt corporis. Quae corporis bona sunt corpora sunt; ergo et quae animi sunt; nam et hoc corpus est. Bonum hominis necesse est corpus sit, cum ipse sit corporalis. Mentior, nisi et quae alunt illum et quae valetudinem eius vel custodiunt vel restituunt corpora sunt; ergo et bonum eius corpus est. Non puto te dubitaturum an adfectus corpora sint (ut aliud quoque de quo non quaeris infulciam), tamquam ira, amor, tristitia, nisi dubitas an vultum nobis mutent, an frontem adstringant, an faciem diffundant, an ruborem evocent, an fugent sanguinem. Quid ergo? tam manifestas notas corporis credis inprimi nisi a corpore? Si adfectus corpora sunt, et morbi animorum, ut avaritia, crudelitas, indurata vitia et in statum inemendabilem adducta; ergo et malitia et species eius omnes, malignitas, invidia, superbia;","en":"The good acts, for it benefits; what acts is a body. The good stirs the mind and in a way shapes it and holds it together, which are properties of a body. The goods of the body are bodies; so also are those of the mind, for the mind too is a body. The good of a human being must be a body, since he himself is bodily. I am lying if the things that nourish him, and those that preserve or restore his health, are not bodies; so his good too is a body. I do not think you will doubt whether the passions are bodies (to slip in something else you did not ask about), such as anger, love and sadness, unless you doubt whether they change our faces, knit our brows, relax our expressions, call up a blush or drive away the blood. What then? Do you think such clear bodily marks are stamped on us by anything but a body? If the passions are bodies, so are the diseases of the mind, such as greed, cruelty, and vices that have hardened and reached an incurable state; so also are wickedness and all its forms, spite, envy, pride;"},{"ref":"Letter 106.7–9","orig":"ergo et bona, primum quia contraria istis sunt, deinde quia eadem tibi indicia praestabunt. An non vides quantum oculis det vigorem fortitudo? quantam intentionem prudentia? quantam modestiam et quietem reverentia? quantam serenitatem laetitia? quantum rigorem severitas? quantam remissionem lenitas? Corpora ergo sunt quae colorem habitumque corporum mutant, quae in illis regnum suum exercent. Omnes autem quas rettuli virtutes bona sunt, et quidquid ex illis est. Numquid est dubium an id quo quid tangi potest corpus sit? Tangere enim et tangi nisi corpus nulla potest res, ut ait Lucretius. Omnia autem ista quae dixi non mutarent corpus nisi tangerent; ergo corpora sunt. Etiam nunc cui tanta vis est ut inpellat et cogat et retineat et inhibeat corpus est. Quid ergo? non timor retinet? non audacia inpellit? non fortitudo inmittit et impetum dat? non moderatio refrenat ac revocat? non gaudium extollit? non tristitia deducit?","en":"so also are the goods, first because they are the opposites of these, and next because they will show you the same signs. Do you not see how much vigour courage gives the eyes? How much focus prudence gives? How much modesty and calm reverence gives? How much serenity joy gives? How much sternness severity gives? How much ease gentleness gives? So the things that change the colour and bearing of bodies, and exercise their rule over them, are bodies. And all the virtues I have mentioned are goods, and so is whatever comes from them. Can there be any doubt that whatever can touch something is a body? 'For nothing can touch or be touched except a body', as Lucretius says. And none of the things I have mentioned would change the body unless they touched it; so they are bodies. Again, whatever has force enough to drive, compel, restrain and check is a body. What then? Does fear not restrain? Does boldness not drive? Does courage not launch us and give us impetus? Does moderation not rein us in and call us back? Does joy not lift us up? Does sadness not bring us down?"},{"ref":"Letter 106.10–12","orig":"Denique quidquid facimus aut malitiae aut virtutis gerimus imperio: quod imperat corpori corpus est, quod vim corpori adfert, corpus. Bonum corporis corporale est, bonum hominis et corporis bonum est; itaque corporale est. Quoniam, ut voluisti, morem gessi tibi, nunc ipse dicam mihi quod dicturum esse te video: latrunculis ludimus. In supervacuis subtilitas teritur: non faciunt bonos ista sed doctos. Apertior res est sapere, immo simplicior: paucis satis est ad mentem bonam uti litteris, sed nos ut cetera in supervacuum diffundimus, ita philosophiam ipsam. Quemadmodum omnium rerum, sic litterarum quoque intemperantia laboramus: non vitae sed scholae discimus. Vale.","en":"In short, whatever we do, we do at the command of either wickedness or virtue: what commands the body is a body, and what applies force to a body is a body. The good of the body is bodily, and the good of a human being is also the good of his body; so it is bodily. Now that I have humoured you as you wished, I will say to myself what I can see you are going to say: we are playing board games. Our subtlety is being worn away on superfluous things: these things make people learned, not good. Being wise is a plainer matter, or rather a simpler one: a little learning is enough for a good mind, but we spill philosophy itself into superfluous things, just as we do everything else. As with everything else, we suffer from excess in learning too: we learn not for life but for school. Farewell."}],"107":[{"ref":"Letter 107.1–2","orig":"Ubi illa prudentia tua? ubi in dispiciendis rebus subtilitas? ubi magnitudo? Tam pusilla te res tangit? Servi occupationes tuas occasionem fugae putaverunt. Si amici deciperent (habeant enim sane nomen quod illis noster error inposuit, et vocentur quo turpius non sint) * * * omnibus rebus tuis desunt illi qui et operam tuam conterebant et te aliis molestum esse credebant. Nihil horum insolitum, nihil inexpectatum est; offendi rebus istis tam ridiculum est quam queri quod spargaris in balneo aut vexeris in publico aut inquineris in luto. Eadem vitae condicio est quae balnei, turbae, itineris: quaedam in te mittentur, quaedam incident. Non est delicata res vivere. Longam viam ingressus es: et labaris oportet et arietes et cadas et lasseris et exclames 'o mors!', id est mentiaris. Alio loco comitem relinques, alio efferes, alio timebis: per eiusmodi offensas emetiendum est confragosum hoc iter.","en":"Where is that good sense of yours? Where is your sharpness in examining things? Where is your greatness of mind? Does so small a thing upset you? Your slaves took your busy schedule as a chance to run away. If friends were deceiving you (for let them keep the name our mistake gave them, and let them be called by it, so that their failure to live up to it is the more shameful) [...] your affairs are now without people who wasted your efforts and thought you a nuisance to others. None of this is unusual, none of it unexpected; to be upset by such things is as ridiculous as complaining that you are splashed in the baths, jostled in public, or dirtied in the mud. The conditions of life are the same as those of the baths, the crowd, the road: some things will be thrown at you, some will just happen to hit you. Living is not a dainty business. You have set out on a long road: you are bound to slip, bump into things, fall, grow tired, and cry out 'O death!', that is, tell a lie. In one place you will leave a companion behind, in another you will bury one, in another you will be afraid for one: it is through stumbles like these that this rough road must be travelled."},{"ref":"Letter 107.3–4","orig":"Mori vult? praeparetur animus contra omnia; sciat se venisse ubi tonat fulmen; sciat se venisse ubi\nLuctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae\npallentesque habitant Morbi tristisque Senectus.\nIn hoc contubernio vita degenda est. Effugere ista non potes, contemnere potes; contemnes autem si saepe cogitaveris et futura praesumpseris. Nemo non fortius ad id cui se diu composuerat accessit et duris quoque, si praemeditata erant, obstitit: at contra inparatus etiam levissima expavit. Id agendum est ne quid nobis inopinatum sit; et quia omnia novitate graviora sunt, hoc cogitatio adsidua praestabit, ut nulli sis malo tiro.","en":"He wants to die, does he? Let his mind be prepared against everything; let him know that he has come where the thunder roars; let him know that he has come where\nGrief and avenging Cares have made their beds,\nand pale Diseases dwell, and sad Old Age.\nIn this company life must be spent. You cannot escape these things, but you can despise them; and you will despise them if you think about them often and anticipate the future. Everyone approaches more bravely what he has long prepared himself for, and withstands even hardships if they were thought about in advance; whereas the unprepared man is terrified even by the lightest things. We must make sure that nothing takes us by surprise; and since everything is heavier when it is new, constant reflection will ensure that you are a raw recruit to no evil."},{"ref":"Letter 107.5–6","orig":"'Servi me reliquerunt.' Alium compilaverunt, alium accusaverunt, alium occiderunt, alium prodiderunt, alium mulcaverunt, alium veneno, alium criminatione petierunt: quidquid dixeris multis accidit * * * deinceps quae multa et varia sunt in nos deriguntur. Quaedam in nos fixa sunt, quaedam vibrant et cum maxime veniunt, quaedam in alios perventura nos stringunt. Nihil miremur eorum ad quae nati sumus, quae ideo nulli querenda quia paria sunt omnibus. Ita dico, paria sunt; nam etiam quod effugit aliquis pati potuit. Aequum autem ius est non quo omnes usi sunt sed quod omnibus latum est. Imperetur aequitas animo et sine querella mortalitatis tributa pendamus.","en":"'My slaves have left me.' Others have been robbed by theirs, accused, murdered, betrayed, beaten, attacked with poison or with false charges: whatever you name has happened to many [...] and then the many and varied things aimed at us. Some are stuck fast in us, some are quivering and coming at us this very moment, some that are bound for others graze us. Let us not be surprised at any of the things we were born to, which no one should complain about, since they are the same for everyone. Yes, I say, the same; for even what someone has escaped, he could have suffered. And a law is fair not when everyone has experienced it but when it has been laid down for everyone. Let fairness be imposed on the mind, and let us pay the taxes of mortality without complaint."},{"ref":"Letter 107.7–9","orig":"Hiems frigora adducit: algendum est. Aestas calores refert: aestuandum est. Intemperies caeli valetudinem temptat: aegrotandum est. Et fera nobis aliquo loco occurret et homo perniciosior feris omnibus. Aliud aqua, aliud ignis eripiet. Hanc rerum condicionem mutare non possumus: illud possumus, magnum sumere animum et viro bono dignum, quo fortiter fortuita patiamur et naturae consentiamus. Natura autem hoc quod vides regnum mutationibus temperat: nubilo serena succedunt; turbantur maria cum quieverunt; flant in vicem venti; noctem dies sequitur; pars caeli consurgit, pars mergitur: contrariis rerum aeternitas constat. Ad hanc legem animus noster aptandus est; hanc sequatur, huic pareat; et quaecumque fiunt debuisse fieri putet nec velit obiurgare naturam. Optimum est pati quod emendare non possis, et deum quo auctore cuncta proveniunt sine murmuratione comitari: malus miles est qui imperatorem gemens sequitur.","en":"Winter brings cold: we must shiver. Summer brings back heat: we must swelter. Bad weather tests our health: we must be ill. Somewhere a wild beast will meet us, and a man more deadly than all the beasts. Water will take one thing from us, fire another. We cannot change this condition of things; what we can do is take on a great spirit, worthy of a good man, with which to endure what chance brings bravely and agree with nature. And nature governs this kingdom you see by changes: clear skies follow cloud; the seas are stirred up after they have been calm; the winds blow in turn; day follows night; one part of the sky rises, another sinks: the eternity of things consists of opposites. Our mind must be fitted to this law; let it follow this, obey this; let it think that whatever happens had to happen, and let it not want to scold nature. It is best to endure what you cannot correct, and to accompany without grumbling the God by whose authority everything comes about. He is a bad soldier who follows his general with a groan."},{"ref":"Letter 107.10–12","orig":"Quare inpigri atque alacres excipiamus imperia nec deseramus hunc operis pulcherrimi cursum, cui quidquid patiemur intextum est; et sic adloquamur Iovem, cuius gubernaculo moles ista derigitur, quemadmodum Cleanthes noster versibus disertissimis adloquitur, quos mihi in nostrum sermonem mutare permittitur Ciceronis, disertissimi viri, exemplo. Si placuerint, boni consules; si displicuerint, scies me in hoc secutum Ciceronis exemplum.\nDuc, o parens celsique dominator poli,\nquocumque placuit: nulla parendi mora est;\nadsum inpiger. Fac nolle, comitabor gemens\nmalusque patiar facere quod licuit bono.\nDucunt volentem fata, nolentem trahunt.\nSic vivamus, sic loquamur; paratos nos inveniat atque inpigros fatum. Hic est magnus animus qui se ei tradidit: at contra ille pusillus et degener qui obluctatur et de ordine mundi male existimat et emendare mavult deos quam se. Vale.","en":"So let us take our orders eagerly and cheerfully, and not abandon the course of this most beautiful work, into which whatever we suffer is woven. And let us address Jupiter, by whose steering this great mass is guided, as our Cleanthes addresses him in most eloquent verses, which I am allowed to translate into our language, following the example of Cicero, a most eloquent man. If you like them, take them in good part; if you dislike them, you will know that in this I followed Cicero's example.\nLead me, O father and ruler of the high heavens,\nwherever you please: I do not delay to obey;\nI am here, eager. Suppose I am unwilling: I will follow groaning,\nand suffer as a bad man what I could have done as a good one.\nFate leads the willing and drags the unwilling.\nLet us live like this, let us speak like this; let fate find us ready and eager. The great soul is the one that has handed itself over to fate; the small and degenerate one, on the other hand, struggles against it, thinks badly of the order of the world, and would rather correct the gods than itself. Farewell."}],"108":[{"ref":"Letter 108.1–2","orig":"Id de quo quaeris ex iis est quae scire tantum eo, ut scias, pertinet. Sed nihilominus, quia pertinet, properas nec vis expectare libros quos cum maxime ordino continentis totam moralem philosophiae partem. Statim expediam; illud tamen prius scribam, quemadmodum tibi ista cupiditas discendi, qua flagrare te video, digerenda sit, ne ipsa se inpediat. Nec passim carpenda sunt nec avide invadenda universa: per partes pervenietur ad totum. Aptari onus viribus debet nec plus occupari quam cui sufficere possimus. Non quantum vis sed quantum capis hauriendum est. Bonum tantum habe animum: capies quantum voles. Quo plus recipit animus, hoc se magis laxat.","en":"The question you ask belongs to the things that are worth knowing only for the sake of knowing them. But all the same, because it is worth knowing, you are in a hurry and do not want to wait for the books I am arranging at this very moment, which cover the whole moral part of philosophy. I will deal with it at once; but first I will write about how you should manage this eagerness for learning with which I see you burning, so that it does not trip itself up. Things should not be picked at here and there, nor should everything be greedily attacked at once: we will reach the whole through its parts. The load should be fitted to our strength, and we should not take on more than we can manage. You should drink in not as much as you want but as much as you can hold. Only have a good mind: you will hold as much as you want. The more the mind takes in, the more it expands."},{"ref":"Letter 108.3–4","orig":"Haec nobis praecipere Attalum memini, cum scholam eius obsideremus et primi veniremus et novissimi exiremus, ambulantem quoque illum ad aliquas disputationes evocaremus, non tantum paratum discentibus sed obvium. 'Idem' inquit 'et docenti et discenti debet esse propositum, ut ille prodesse velit, hic proficere.' Qui ad philosophum venit cotidie aliquid secum boni ferat: aut sanior domum redeat aut sanabilior. Redibit autem: ea philosophiae vis est ut non studentis sed etiam conversantis iuvet. Qui in solem venit, licet non in hoc venerit, colorabitur; qui in unguentaria taberna resederunt et paullo diutius commorati sunt odorem secum loci ferunt; et qui ad philosophum fuerunt traxerint aliquid necesse est quod prodesset etiam neglegentibus. Attende quid dicam: neglegentibus, non repugnantibus.","en":"I remember Attalus teaching us this when I used to besiege his school, the first to arrive and the last to leave, and when I would draw him into discussions even as he walked, since he was not only available to learners but came to meet them. 'The teacher and the learner,' he said, 'should have the same aim: the one should want to help, the other to make progress.' Whoever comes to a philosopher should take something good home with him every day: he should go home either healthier or more curable. And he will: such is the power of philosophy that it helps not only those who study it but also those who just spend time with it. Whoever comes into the sun will get a tan, even if he did not come for that; those who have sat down in a perfume shop and lingered a little too long carry the smell of the place away with them; and those who have been with a philosopher are bound to have picked up something that would help them even if they were careless. Notice what I say: careless, not resistant."},{"ref":"Letter 108.5–6","orig":"'Quid ergo? non novimus quosdam qui multis apud philosophum annis persederint et ne colorem quidem duxerint?' Quidni noverim? pertinacissimos quidem et adsiduos, quos ego non discipulos philosophorum sed inquilinos voco. Quidam veniunt ut audiant, non ut discant, sicut in theatrum voluptatis causa ad delectandas aures oratione vel voce vel fabulis ducimur. Magnam hanc auditorum partem videbis cui philosophi schola deversorium otii sit. Non id agunt ut aliqua illo vitia deponant, ut aliquam legem vitae accipiant qua mores suos exigant, sed ut oblectamento aurium perfruantur. Aliqui tamen et cum pugillaribus veniunt, non ut res excipiant, sed ut verba, quae tam sine profectu alieno dicant quam sine suo audiunt.","en":"'What then? Do we not know some people who have sat with a philosopher for many years and not even picked up a tinge?' Of course I know them: very persistent and regular ones too, whom I call not pupils of philosophers but lodgers. Some come to hear, not to learn, just as we are drawn to the theatre for pleasure, to delight our ears with speech or song or plays. You will see that a large part of the audience treats the philosopher's school as an inn for its idleness. Their aim is not to lay aside any vices there, or to receive any rule of life by which to test their conduct, but to enjoy the entertainment of their ears. Some even come with notebooks, not to take down the ideas but the words, which they will repeat with as little benefit to others as they get from hearing them."},{"ref":"Letter 108.7–8","orig":"Quidam ad magnificas voces excitantur et transeunt in adfectum dicentium alacres vultu et animo, nec aliter concitantur quam solent Phrygii tibicinis sono semiviri et ex imperio furentes. Rapit illos instigatque rerum pulchritudo, non verborum inanium sonitus. Si quid acriter contra mortem dictum est, si quid contra fortunam contumaciter, iuvat protinus quae audias facere. Adficiuntur illis et sunt quales iubentur, si illa animo forma permaneat, si non impetum insignem protinus populus, honesti dissuasor, excipiat: pauci illam quam conceperant mentem domum perferre potuerunt. Facile est auditorem concitare ad cupidinem recti; omnibus enim natura fundamenta dedit semenque virtutum. Omnes ad omnia ista nati sumus: cum inritator accessit, tunc illa animi bona veluti sopita excitantur. Non vides quemadmodum theatra consonent quotiens aliqua dicta sunt quae publice adgnoscimus et consensu vera esse testamur?","en":"Some are roused by splendid utterances and take on the feelings of the speakers, eager in face and mind, stirred up just like the half-men of Phrygia at the sound of the pipe, raving to order. The beauty of the ideas carries them away and spurs them on, not the sound of empty words. If something is said sharply against death, or defiantly against fortune, they want at once to do what they hear. They are moved by it and become what they are told to be, if only that shape remains in the mind, if only the crowd, that great discourager of the honourable, does not at once intercept the fine impulse: few have been able to carry home the frame of mind they had conceived. It is easy to rouse a listener to desire what is right; for nature has given everyone the foundations and seeds of the virtues. We are all born for all these things: when someone comes to stir us up, those goods of the mind are awakened as if from sleep. Do you not see how theatres ring out whenever things are said that we publicly recognise and unanimously declare to be true?"},{"ref":"Letter 108.9–10","orig":"Desunt inopiae multa, avaritiae omnia.\nIn nullum avarus bonus est, in se pessimus.\nAd hos versus ille sordidissimus plaudit et vitiis suis fieri convicium gaudet: quanto magis hoc iudicas evenire cum a philosopho ista dicuntur, cum salutaribus praeceptis versus inseruntur, efficacius eadem illa demissuri in animum inperitorum? Nam ut dicebat Cleanthes, 'quemadmodum spiritus noster clariorem sonum reddit cum illum tuba per longi canalis angustias tractum patentiore novissime exitu effudit, sic sensus nostros clariores carminis arta necessitas efficit.' Eadem neglegentius audiuntur minusque percutiunt quamdiu soluta oratione dicuntur: ubi accessere numeri et egregium sensum adstrinxere certi pedes, eadem illa sententia velut lacerto excussiore torquetur.","en":"Poverty lacks many things, greed everything.\nThe greedy man is good to no one, and worst to himself.\nAt these lines the meanest miser applauds and rejoices that his vices are being abused: how much more do you think this happens when such things are said by a philosopher, when verses are woven into healthy precepts, to drive those same thoughts home more effectively into the minds of the untaught? For as Cleanthes used to say, 'just as our breath makes a clearer sound when a trumpet has drawn it through the narrow passages of a long tube and poured it out at last through a wider opening, so the strict constraints of verse make our thoughts clearer.' The same things are heard more carelessly and strike us less as long as they are said in prose; when rhythm is added and a fixed metre has bound a fine thought, that same idea is hurled as if by a stronger arm."},{"ref":"Letter 108.11","orig":"De contemptu pecuniae multa dicuntur et longissimis orationibus hoc praecipitur, ut homines in animo, non in patrimonio putent esse divitias, eum esse locupletem qui paupertati suae aptatus est et parvo se divitem fecit; magis tamen feriuntur animi cum carmina eiusmodi dicta sunt:\nIs minimo eget mortalis qui minimum cupit.\nQuod vult habet qui velle quod satis est potest.","en":"Much is said about despising money, and in very long speeches people are taught to think that riches are in the mind, not in one's estate, and that the rich man is the one who has adapted himself to his poverty and made himself wealthy on a little; yet minds are struck harder when lines like these are recited:\nThe mortal who desires least needs least.\nHe has what he wants who can want what is enough."},{"ref":"Letter 108.12","orig":"Cum haec atque eiusmodi audimus, ad confessionem veritatis adducimur; illi enim quibus nihil satis est admirantur, adclamant, odium pecuniae indicunt. Hunc illorum adfectum cum videris, urge, hoc preme, hoc onera, relictis ambiguitatibus et syllogismis et cavillationibus et ceteris acuminis inriti ludicris. Dic in avaritiam, dic in luxuriam; cum profecisse te videris et animos audientium adfeceris, insta vehementius: veri simile non est quantum proficiat talis oratio remedio intenta et tota in bonum audientium versa. Facillime enim tenera conciliantur ingenia ad honesti rectique amorem, et adhuc docilibus leviterque corruptis inicit manum veritas si advocatum idoneum nacta est.","en":"When we hear these and similar lines, we are brought to acknowledge the truth; for even those who find nothing enough admire them, cheer them, and declare their hatred of money. When you see them in this mood, press on it, bear down on it, load it up, leaving aside ambiguities, syllogisms, quibbles and the other toys of futile cleverness. Speak against greed, speak against luxury; when you see that you have made progress and moved the minds of your hearers, press harder. You would not believe how much good such speech does when it aims at a cure and is wholly turned to the good of the hearers. For tender minds are very easily won over to love of the honourable and the right, and truth lays hold of those who are still teachable and only lightly corrupted, if it has found a suitable advocate."},{"ref":"Letter 108.13–14","orig":"Ego certe cum Attalum audirem in vitia, in errores, in mala vitae perorantem, saepe miseritus sum generis humani et illum sublimem altioremque humano fastigio credidi. Ipse regem se esse dicebat, sed plus quam regnare mihi videbatur cui liceret censuram agere regnantium. Cum vero commendare paupertatem coeperat et ostendere quam quidquid usum excederet pondus esset supervacuum et grave ferenti, saepe exire e schola pauperi libuit. Cum coeperat voluptates nostras traducere, laudare castum corpus, sobriam mensam, puram mentem non tantum ab inlicitis voluptatibus sed etiam supervacuis, libebat circumscribere gulam ac ventrem.","en":"Certainly when I listened to Attalus holding forth against vices, errors and the evils of life, I often pitied the human race and thought him lofty and raised above the height of humanity. He used to call himself a king, but he seemed to me more than a king, since he was entitled to pass judgment on kings. When he began to commend poverty and to show how everything beyond what we need is a superfluous weight, heavy for the one who carries it, I often wanted to leave the school a poor man. When he began to expose our pleasures, and to praise a chaste body, a sober table, and a mind pure not only of unlawful pleasures but of superfluous ones, I wanted to restrict my gullet and my belly."},{"ref":"Letter 108.15–16","orig":"Inde mihi quaedam permansere, Lucili; magno enim in omnia impetu veneram, deinde ad civitatis vitam reductus ex bene coeptis pauca servavi. Inde ostreis boletisque in omnem vitam renuntiatum est; nec enim cibi sed oblectamenta sunt ad edendum saturos cogentia (quod gratissimum est edacibus et se ultra quam capiunt farcientibus), facile descensura, facile reditura. Inde in omnem vitam unguento abstinemus, quoniam optimus odor in corpore est nullus. Inde vino carens stomachus. Inde in omnem vitam balneum fugimus; decoquere corpus atque exinanire sudoribus inutile simul delicatumque credidimus. Cetera proiecta redierunt, ita tamen ut quorum abstinentiam interrupi modum servem et quidem abstinentiae proximiorem, nescio an difficiliorem, quoniam quaedam absciduntur facilius animo quam temperantur.","en":"Some of these habits have stayed with me, Lucilius; for I had rushed at everything with great enthusiasm, and then, when I was brought back to city life, I kept a few of my good beginnings. From that time I have given up oysters and mushrooms for the rest of my life; for they are not food but relishes that force people to eat when they are full (which is most welcome to gluttons who stuff themselves beyond what they can hold): easy to go down, easy to come back up. From that time I have gone without perfume for the rest of my life, since the best scent for the body is none. From that time my stomach has gone without wine. From that time I have shunned the baths for the rest of my life; we believed that boiling the body and draining it with sweat was both useless and effeminate. The other things I had given up have come back, but in such a way that where I broke off abstaining, I keep to moderation, and indeed a moderation very close to abstinence, perhaps even harder, since some things are more easily cut off by the mind than kept within limits."},{"ref":"Letter 108.17–18","orig":"Quoniam coepi tibi exponere quanto maiore impetu ad philosophiam iuvenis accesserim quam senex pergam, non pudebit fateri quem mihi amorem Pythagoras iniecerit. Sotion dicebat quare ille animalibus abstinuisset, quare postea Sextius. Dissimilis utrique causa erat, sed utrique magnifica. Hic homini satis alimentorum citra sanguinem esse credebat et crudelitatis consuetudinem fieri ubi in voluptatem esset adducta laceratio. Adiciebat contrahendam materiam esse luxuriae; colligebat bonae valetudini contraria esse alimenta varia et nostris aliena corporibus.","en":"Since I have begun to tell you how much greater my enthusiasm for philosophy was when I came to it as a young man than it is now that I carry on as an old one, I will not be ashamed to confess what love for Pythagoras Sotion inspired in me. He used to explain why Pythagoras had abstained from animal food, and why Sextius did later. Each had a different reason, but each a noble one. Sextius believed that man had enough nourishment without bloodshed, and that cruelty becomes a habit once butchery is turned into a pleasure. He added that the material for luxury should be reduced; he reasoned that a varied diet, foreign to our bodies, is bad for health."},{"ref":"Letter 108.19","orig":"At Pythagoras omnium inter omnia cognationem esse dicebat et animorum commercium in alias atque alias formas transeuntium. Nulla, si illi credas, anima interit, ne cessat quidem nisi tempore exiguo, dum in aliud corpus transfunditur. Videbimus per quas temporum vices et quando pererratis pluribus domiciliis in hominem revertatur: interim sceleris hominibus ac parricidii metum fecit, cum possent in parentis animam inscii incurrere et ferro morsuve violare, si in quo corpore cognatus aliqui spiritus hospitaretur.","en":"But Pythagoras used to say that all things are related to all things, and that there is an exchange of souls passing into one form after another. If you believe him, no soul perishes, nor does it even rest except for a short time, while it is being poured into another body. We shall see through what changes of time, and when, after wandering through many dwellings, it returns into a human being: meanwhile he made people afraid of crime and parricide, since they might unknowingly come upon the soul of a parent and injure it with a knife or with their teeth, if some kindred spirit were lodging in that body."},{"ref":"Letter 108.20–21","orig":"Haec cum exposuisset Sotion et implesset argumentis suis, 'non credis' inquit 'animas in alia corpora atque alia discribi et migrationem esse quod dicimus mortem? Non credis in his pecudibus ferisve aut aqua mersis illum quondam hominis animum morari? Non credis nihil perire in hoc mundo, sed mutare regionem? nec tantum caelestia per certos circuitus verti, sed animalia quoque per vices ire et animos per orbem agi? Magni ista crediderunt viri. Itaque iudicium quidem tuum sustine, ceterum omnia tibi in integro serva. Si vera sunt ista, abstinuisse animalibus innocentia est; si falsa, frugalitas est. Quod istic credulitatis tuae damnum est? alimenta tibi leonum et vulturum eripio.'","en":"When Sotion had explained this and filled it out with his own arguments, he would say: 'Do you not believe that souls are assigned to one body after another, and that what we call death is a migration? Do you not believe that in these cattle, or wild beasts, or creatures sunk in the water, the soul that once was a man's lingers? Do you not believe that nothing in this world perishes, but only changes its region? And that not only the heavenly bodies turn in fixed circuits, but living things too take their turns and souls are driven round in a cycle? Great men have believed these things. So suspend your judgment, but keep every option open. If these things are true, abstaining from animals is innocence; if false, it is thrift. What harm does your believing it do you? I am only taking from you the food of lions and vultures.'"},{"ref":"Letter 108.22","orig":"His ego instinctus abstinere animalibus coepi, et anno peracto non tantum facilis erat mihi consuetudo sed dulcis. Agitatiorem mihi animum esse credebam nec tibi hodie adfirmaverim an fuerit. Quaeris quomodo desierim? In primum Tiberii Caesaris principatum iuventae tempus inciderat: alienigenarum sacra movebantur et inter argumenta superstitionis ponebatur quorundam animalium abstinentia. Patre itaque meo rogante, qui non calumniam timebat sed philosophiam oderat, ad pristinam consuetudinem redii; nec difficulter mihi ut inciperem melius cenare persuasit.","en":"Spurred on by this, I began to abstain from animal food, and after a year the habit was not only easy for me but pleasant. I believed my mind was livelier, though today I would not swear to you whether it was. You ask how I came to stop? The time of my youth fell in the early years of the reign of Tiberius Caesar: foreign rites were being expelled, and abstaining from certain animal foods was counted among the proofs of superstition. So at the request of my father, who did not fear false accusation but hated philosophy, I went back to my former habit; and he had no trouble persuading me to begin dining better."},{"ref":"Letter 108.23","orig":"Laudare solebat Attalus culcitam quae resisteret corpori: tali utor etiam senex, in qua vestigium apparere non possit. Haec rettuli ut probarem tibi quam vehementes haberent tirunculi impetus primos ad optima quaeque, si quis exhortaretur illos, si quis inpelleret. Sed aliquid praecipientium vitio peccatur, qui nos docent disputare, non vivere, aliquid discentium, qui propositum adferunt ad praeceptores suos non animum excolendi sed ingenium. Itaque quae philosophia fuit facta philologia est.","en":"Attalus used to praise a mattress that resisted the body: I use one like that even in old age, on which no impression can be seen. I have told you this to show you how strong are the first impulses of beginners towards all that is best, if someone encourages them, if someone urges them on. But some of the fault lies with the teachers, who teach us to argue, not to live, and some with the learners, who bring to their teachers the aim of improving not their minds but their cleverness. So what used to be philosophy has become philology."},{"ref":"Letter 108.24–25","orig":"Multum autem ad rem pertinet quo proposito ad quamquam rem accedas. Qui grammaticus futurus Vergilium scrutatur non hoc animo legit illud egregium\nfugit inreparabile tempus:\n'vigilandum est; nisi properamus relinquemur; agit nos agiturque velox dies; inscii rapimur; omnia in futurum disponimus et inter praecipiti lenti sumus': sed ut observet, quotiens Vergilius de celeritate temporum dicit, hoc uti verbo illum 'fugit'.\nOptima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi\nprima fugit; subeunt morbi tristisque senectus\net labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis.\nIlle qui ad philosophiam spectat haec eadem quo debet adducit. 'Numquam Vergilius' inquit 'dies dicit ire, sed fugere, quod currendi genus concitatissimum est, et optimos quosque primos rapi: quid ergo cessamus nos ipsi concitare, ut velocitatem rapidissimae rei possimus aequare? Meliora praetervolant, deteriora succedunt.'","en":"It matters a great deal with what aim you approach any subject. The man who is going to be a grammarian, studying Virgil, does not read that splendid line\ntime flies, never to be recovered\nin this spirit: 'We must keep awake; unless we hurry, we will be left behind; the swift day drives us on and is driven; we are swept away without knowing it; we arrange everything for the future and dawdle on the edge of a cliff.' Instead he reads it to note that whenever Virgil speaks of the speed of time, he uses this word 'flies'.\nEach best day of life for wretched mortals\nis the first to fly; diseases follow, and sad old age,\nand toil, and the harshness of cruel death sweeps us off.\nThe man who looks to philosophy takes these same lines where he should. 'Virgil never says,' he observes, 'that days go, but that they fly, which is the swiftest kind of running, and that all the best are the first to be snatched away: why then do we hesitate to spur ourselves on, so that we can match the speed of this most rapid thing? The better things fly past, the worse take their place.'"},{"ref":"Letter 108.26–27","orig":"Quemadmodum ex amphora primum quod est sincerissimum effluit, gravissimum quodque turbidumque subsidit, sic in aetate nostra quod est optimum in primo est. Id exhauriri aliis potius patimur, ut nobis faecem reservemus? Inhaereat istud animo et tamquam missum oraculo placeat:\noptima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi\nprima fugit.\nQuare optima? quia quod restat incertum est. Quare optima? quia iuvenes possumus discere, possumus facilem animum et adhuc tractabilem ad meliora convertere; quia hoc tempus idoneum est laboribus, idoneum agitandis per studia ingeniis et exercendis per opera corporibus: quod superest segnius et languidius est et propius a fine. Itaque toto hoc agamus animo et omissis ad quae devertimur in rem unam laboremus, ne hanc temporis pernicissimi celeritatem, quam retinere non possumus, relicti demum intellegamus. Primus quisque tamquam optimus dies placeat et redigatur in nostrum.","en":"Just as from a wine jar the purest wine flows out first, while the heaviest and cloudiest part sinks to the bottom, so in our life what is best comes first. Do we let others drain it, so that we keep the dregs for ourselves? Let this cling to the mind and please us as though it had been sent by an oracle:\neach best day of life for wretched mortals\nis the first to fly.\nWhy best? Because what remains is uncertain. Why best? Because when young we can learn, we can turn a mind that is still easy and pliable towards better things; because this time is suited to toil, suited to exercising the mind in study and the body in work: what is left is slower and more languid and nearer the end. So let us do this with our whole mind, and, leaving aside the things that distract us, let us work at one thing, so that we do not realise the swiftness of this most rapid time, which we cannot hold back, only once we have been left behind. Let each first day please us as the best, and let us make it our own."},{"ref":"Letter 108.28–29","orig":"Quod fugit occupandum est. Haec non cogitat ille qui grammatici oculis carmen istud legit, ideo optimum quemque primum esse diem quia subeunt morbi, quia senectus premit et adhuc adulescentiam cogitantibus supra caput est, sed ait Vergilium semper una ponere morbos et senectutem – non mehercules inmerito; senectus enim insanabilis morbus est. 'Praeterea' inquit 'hoc senectuti cognomen inposuit, \"tristem\" illam vocat:\nsubeunt morbi tristisque senectus.\nAlio loco dicit\npallentesque habitant Morbi tristisque Senectus.'\nNon est quod mireris ex eadem materia suis quemque studiis apta colligere: in eodem prato bos herbam quaerit, canis leporem, ciconia lacertam.","en":"What flies must be seized. The man who reads that poem with a grammarian's eyes does not think about this: that each best day comes first because diseases follow, because old age presses on and hangs over the heads of those still thinking about their youth. Instead he says that Virgil always puts diseases and old age together, and not without reason, by Hercules; for old age is an incurable disease. 'Besides,' he says, 'he has given old age this epithet, calling it \"sad\":\ndiseases follow, and sad old age.\nElsewhere he says:\nand pale Diseases dwell, and sad Old Age.'\nThere is no reason to be surprised that each person gathers from the same material what suits his own studies: in the same meadow the cow looks for grass, the dog for a hare, the stork for a lizard."},{"ref":"Letter 108.30–31","orig":"Cum Ciceronis librum de re publica prendit hinc philologus aliquis, hinc grammaticus, hinc philosophiae deditus, alius alio curam suam mittit. Philosophus admiratur contra iustitiam dici tam multa potuisse. Cum ad hanc eandem lectionem philologus accessit, hoc subnotat: duos Romanos reges esse quorum alter patrem non habet, alter matrem. Nam de Servi matre dubitatur; Anci pater nullus, Numae nepos dicitur. Praeterea notat eum quem nos dictatorem dicimus et in historiis ita nominari legimus apud antiquos 'magistrum populi' vocatum. Hodieque id extat in auguralibus libris, et testimonium est quod qui ab illo nominatur 'magister equitum' est. Aeque notat Romulum perisse solis defectione; provocationem ad populum etiam a regibus fuisse; id ita in pontificalibus libris et aliqui qui putant et Fenestella.","en":"When Cicero's book On the Republic is picked up by a philologist on one side, a grammarian on another, a devotee of philosophy on a third, each turns his attention to something different. The philosopher marvels that so much could have been said against justice. When the philologist comes to the same reading, he makes this note: that there were two Roman kings, one of whom had no father and the other no mother. For there is doubt about Servius's mother, and Ancus has no father, but is called Numa's grandson. He also notes that the official we call dictator, and read of under that name in the histories, was called by the ancients 'master of the people'. This is still found today in the augural books, and the proof is that the man he appoints is called 'master of the horse'. He likewise notes that Romulus died during an eclipse of the sun; that there was a right of appeal to the people even from the kings; that this is what the pontifical books say, and some others think so, including Fenestella."},{"ref":"Letter 108.32–33","orig":"Eosdem libros cum grammaticus explicuit, primum 'reapse' dici a Cicerone, id est 're ipsa', in commentarium refert, nec minus 'sepse', id est 'se ipse'. Deinde transit ad ea quae consuetudo saeculi mutavit, tamquam ait Cicero 'quoniam sumus ab ipsa calce eius interpellatione revocati.' Hanc quam nunc in circo 'cretam' vocamus 'calcem' antiqui dicebant. Deinde Ennianos colligit versus et in primis illos de Africano scriptos:\ncui nemo civis neque hostis\nquibit pro factis reddere opis pretium.\nEx eo se ait intellegere opem apud antiquos non tantum auxilium significasse sed operam. Ait enim Ennius neminem potuisse Scipioni neque civem neque hostem reddere operae pretium.","en":"When a grammarian explains the same books, he first enters in his notebook that Cicero uses 'reapse', that is, 're ipsa' ('in reality'), and likewise 'sepse', that is, 'se ipse' ('himself'). Then he moves on to things the usage of the age has changed, as when Cicero says: 'since we have been called back from the very chalk line by his interruption.' What we now call the 'creta' in the circus, the ancients called the 'calx'. Then he collects Ennius's verses, above all those written about Africanus:\nto whom no citizen nor enemy\ncould give the value of his help in return for his deeds.\nFrom this he says he understands that among the ancients 'ops' meant not only aid but effort. For Ennius is saying that no one, citizen or enemy, could have repaid Scipio the worth of his effort."},{"ref":"Letter 108.34–35","orig":"Felicem deinde se putat quod invenerit unde visum sit Vergilio dicere\nquem super ingens\nporta tonat caeli.\nEnnium hoc ait Homero subripuisse, Ennio Vergilium; esse enim apud Ciceronem in his ipsis de re publica hoc epigramma Enni:\nsi fas endo plagas caelestum ascendere cuiquam est,\nmi soli caeli maxima porta patet.\nSed ne et ipse, dum aliud ago, in philologum aut grammaticum delabar, illud admoneo, auditionem philosophorum lectionemque ad propositum beatae vitae trahendam, non ut verba prisca aut ficta captemus et translationes inprobas figurasque dicendi, sed ut profutura praecepta et magnificas voces et animosas quae mox in rem transferantur. Sic ista ediscamus ut quae fuerint verba sint opera.","en":"Then he thinks himself lucky to have found where Virgil got the idea of saying\nover whom the huge\ngate of heaven thunders.\nHe says Ennius stole this from Homer, and Virgil from Ennius; for in these very books On the Republic Cicero quotes this epigram of Ennius:\nIf it is right for anyone to climb into the regions of the gods,\nfor me alone the great gate of heaven stands open.\nBut so that I too do not slide into being a philologist or grammarian while I am doing something else, let me give this advice: listening to philosophers and reading them should be directed to the goal of a happy life, not so that we can hunt for archaic or invented words and far-fetched metaphors and figures of speech, but for precepts that will help us, and for noble, spirited utterances that can soon be turned into action. Let us learn them in such a way that what were words become deeds."},{"ref":"Letter 108.36–38","orig":"Nullos autem peius mereri de omnibus mortalibus iudico quam qui philosophiam velut aliquod artificium venale didicerunt, qui aliter vivunt quam vivendum esse praecipiunt. Exempla enim se ipsos inutilis disciplinae circumferunt, nulli non vitio quod insequuntur obnoxii. Non magis mihi potest quisquam talis prodesse praeceptor quam gubernator in tempestate nauseabundus. Tenendum rapiente fluctu gubernaculum, luctandum cum ipso mari, eripienda sunt vento vela: quid me potest adiuvare rector navigii attonitus et vomitans? Quanto maiore putas vitam tempestate iactari quam ullam ratem? Non est loquendum sed gubernandum. Omnia quae dicunt, quae turba audiente iactant, aliena sunt: dixit illa Platon, dixit Zenon, dixit Chrysippus et Posidonius et ingens agmen nominum tot ac talium. Quomodo probare possint sua esse monstrabo: faciant quae dixerint.","en":"I judge that no one does worse by the whole of humanity than those who have learned philosophy as if it were some trade for sale, who live otherwise than they teach we should live. For they carry themselves around as examples of a useless discipline, prey to every vice they attack. Such a teacher can help me no more than a seasick helmsman in a storm. The helm must be held while the waves snatch at it, one must wrestle with the sea itself, the sails must be snatched from the wind: what help can a ship's master be to me if he is dazed and vomiting? How much greater a storm do you think tosses life than any ship? We must not talk but steer. Everything they say, everything they toss out while a crowd listens, belongs to others: Plato said it, Zeno said it, Chrysippus and Posidonius and a huge column of names as great said it. I will show them how they can prove it is their own: let them do what they have said."},{"ref":"Letter 108.39","orig":"Quoniam quae volueram ad te perferre iam dixi, nunc desiderio tuo satis faciam et in alteram epistulam integrum quod exegeras transferam, ne ad rem spinosam et auribus erectis curiosisque audiendam lassus accedas. Vale.","en":"Since I have now told you what I wanted to pass on, I will satisfy your wish and carry over the whole of what you asked for into another letter, so that you do not come tired to a thorny subject that needs to be heard with ears pricked up and attentive. Farewell."}],"109":[{"ref":"Letter 109.1–3","orig":"An sapiens sapienti prosit scire desideras. Dicimus plenum omni bono esse sapientem et summa adeptum: quomodo prodesse aliqui possit summum habenti bonum quaeritur. Prosunt inter se boni. Exercent enim virtutes et sapientiam in suo statu continent; desiderat uterque aliquem cum quo conferat, cum quo quaerat. Peritos luctandi usus exercet; musicum qui paria didicit movet. Opus est et sapienti agitatione virtutum; ita quemadmodum ipse se movet, sic movetur ab alio sapiente. Quid sapiens sapienti proderit? Impetum illi dabit, occasiones actionum honestarum commonstrabit. Praeter haec aliquas cogitationes suas exprimet; docebit quae invenerit. Semper enim etiam sapienti restabit quod inveniat et quo animus eius excurrat.","en":"You want to know whether a wise man can help a wise man. We say that the wise man is full of every good and has reached the highest point: the question is how anyone can help someone who possesses the highest good. Good men help one another. For they exercise each other's virtues and keep wisdom in its proper state; each wants someone to compare notes with, someone to inquire with. Skilled wrestlers are kept in training by practice; a musician is stirred by one who has learned as much as he has. The wise man too needs his virtues kept in motion; so just as he stirs himself, he is also stirred by another wise man. How will a wise man help a wise man? He will give him an impulse, he will point out opportunities for honourable actions. Besides this, he will share some of his thoughts with him; he will teach what he has discovered. For there will always be something left even for the wise man to discover, somewhere for his mind to range."},{"ref":"Letter 109.4–6","orig":"Malus malo nocet facitque peiorem, iram eius incitando, tristitiae adsentiendo, voluptates laudando; et tunc maxime laborant mali ubi plurimum vitia miscuere et in unum conlata nequitia est. Ergo ex contrario bonus bono proderit. 'Quomodo?' inquis. Gaudium illi adferet, fiduciam confirmabit; ex conspectu mutuae tranquillitatis crescet utriusque laetitia. Praeterea quarumdam illi rerum scientiam tradet; non enim omnia sapiens scit; etiamsi sciret, breviores vias rerum aliqui excogitare posset et has indicare per quas facilius totum opus circumfertur. Proderit sapienti sapiens, non scilicet tantum suis viribus sed ipsius quem adiuvabit. Potest quidem ille etiam relictus sibi explicare partes suas: utetur propria velocitate, sed nihilominus adiuvat etiam currentem hortator. 'Non prodest sapienti sapiens sed sibi ipse. Hoc ut scias, detrahe illi vim propriam et ille nihil aget.'","en":"A bad man harms a bad man and makes him worse, by stirring up his anger, agreeing with his gloom, praising his pleasures; and bad men are in the worst state when they have pooled their vices most and their wickedness has been gathered into one. So, conversely, a good man will help a good man. 'How?' you ask. He will bring him joy, he will strengthen his confidence; from seeing each other's calm, the gladness of both will grow. Besides, he will pass on to him knowledge of certain things; for the wise man does not know everything, and even if he did, someone could think up shorter ways to things and point out the routes by which the whole task is more easily managed. The wise man will help the wise man, not only by his own strength, of course, but by the strength of the one he helps. That man could certainly play his part even if left to himself: he will use his own speed, but still, someone cheering him on helps even a runner. 'The wise man does not help the wise man; he helps himself. To see this, take away his own power, and the other will achieve nothing.'"},{"ref":"Letter 109.7–8","orig":"Isto modo dicas licet non esse in melle dulcedinem; nam ipse ille qui esse debeat nisi ita aptatus lingua palatoque est ad eiusmodi gustum ut illum talis sapor capiat, offendetur; sunt enim quidam quibus morbi vitio mel amarum videatur. Oportet utrumque valere ut et ille prodesse possit et hic profuturo idonea materia sit. 'Ut in summum' inquit 'perducto calorem calefieri supervacuum est, et in summum perducto bonum supervacuum est si qui prosit. Numquid instructus omnibus rebus agricola ab alio instrui quaerit? numquid armatus miles quantum in aciem exituro satis est ulla amplius arma desiderat? Ergo nec sapiens; satis enim vitae instructus, satis armatus est.'","en":"In that way you might as well say that there is no sweetness in honey; for the person who is to taste it, unless his tongue and palate are suited to that kind of taste so that the flavour pleases him, will be put off by it; for there are some to whom, because of illness, honey seems bitter. Both must be healthy, so that the one can help and the other can be suitable material for the helper. 'Just as it is pointless,' he says, 'to heat something that has been brought to the highest heat, so it is pointless for anyone to help one who has been brought to the highest good. Does a farmer fully equipped with everything ask to be equipped by someone else? Does a soldier armed with all that is needed for going into battle want any more weapons? So neither does the wise man; for he is sufficiently equipped and sufficiently armed for life.'"},{"ref":"Letter 109.9–11","orig":"Ad haec respondeo: et qui in summum perductus est calorem opus est calore adiecto ut summum teneat. 'Sed ipse se' inquit 'calor continet.' Primum multum interest inter ista quae comparas. Calor enim unus est, prodesse varium est. Deinde calor non adiuvatur adiectione caloris ut caleat: sapiens non potest in habitu mentis suae stare nisi amicos aliquos similes sui admisit cum quibus virtutes suas communicet. Adice nunc quod omnibus inter se virtutibus amicitia est; itaque prodest qui virtutes alicuius paris sui amat amandasque invicem praestat. Similia delectant, utique ubi honesta sunt et probare ac probari sciunt. Etiam nunc sapientis animum perite movere nemo alius potest quam sapiens, sicut hominem movere rationaliter non potest nisi homo. Quomodo ergo ad rationem movendam ratione opus est, sic ut moveatur ratio perfecta opus est ratione perfecta.","en":"To this I answer: even what has been brought to the highest heat needs heat added in order to keep that highest point. 'But heat,' he says, 'maintains itself.' First, there is a great difference between the things you are comparing. For heat is one thing, while helping takes many forms. Next, heat is not helped by the addition of heat in order to be hot; but the wise man cannot keep his state of mind unless he has admitted some friends like himself with whom to share his virtues. Add now that all the virtues are friends with one another; so a man helps who loves the virtues of someone his equal and offers his own to be loved in return. Like things give pleasure, especially when they are honourable and know how to approve and be approved. Again, no one but a wise man can skilfully move a wise man's mind, just as no one but a human being can move a human being by reason. So just as reason is needed to move reason, perfect reason is needed to move perfect reason."},{"ref":"Letter 109.12–13","orig":"Prodesse dicuntur et qui media nobis largiuntur, pecuniam, gratiam, incolumitatem, alia in usus vitae cara aut necessaria; in his dicetur etiam stultus prodesse sapienti. Prodesse autem est animum secundum naturam movere virtute sua. Ut eius qui movebitur, hoc non sine ipsius quoque qui proderit bono fiet; necessest enim alienam virtutem exercendo exerceat et suam. Sed ut removeas ista quae aut summa bona sunt aut summorum efficientia, nihilominus prodesse inter se sapientes possunt. Invenire enim sapientem sapienti per se res expetenda est, quia natura bonum omne carum est bono et sic quisque conciliatur bono quemadmodum sibi.","en":"People are also said to help us who give us intermediate things, money, influence, safety, and other things valuable or necessary for the uses of life; in these respects even a fool will be said to help a wise man. But to help is to move the mind in accordance with nature by one's own virtue. As this benefits the one who is moved, it will also not happen without benefit to the helper; for in exercising another's virtue he must necessarily exercise his own as well. But even if you set aside those things which are either the highest goods or produce them, wise men can still help one another. For a wise man to find a wise man is in itself something to be desired, because everything good is by nature dear to the good, and each is drawn to a good man as he is to himself."},{"ref":"Letter 109.14","orig":"Necesse est ex hac quaestione argumenti causa in alteram transeam. Quaeritur enim an deliberaturus sit sapiens, an in consilium aliquem advocaturus. Quod facere illi necessarium est cum ad haec civilia et domestica venit et, ut ita dicam, mortalia; in his sic illi opus est alieno consilio quomodo medico, quomodo gubernatori, quomodo advocato et litis ordinatori. Proderit ergo sapiens aliquando sapienti; suadebit enim. Sed in illis quoque magnis ac divinis, ut diximus, communiter honesta tractando et animos cogitationesque miscendo utilis erit.","en":"I must pass from this question to another for the sake of the argument. For it is asked whether the wise man will deliberate, whether he will call someone in for advice. He must do this when he comes to civic and domestic matters and, so to speak, mortal ones; in these he needs another's advice just as he needs that of a doctor, a helmsman, or an advocate who manages a lawsuit. So a wise man will sometimes help a wise man; for he will advise him. But in those great and divine matters too, as we have said, he will be useful by discussing the honourable in common and blending minds and thoughts."},{"ref":"Letter 109.15–16","orig":"Praeterea secundum naturam est et amicos conplecti et amicorum auctu ut suo proprioque laetari; nam nisi hoc fecerimus, ne virtus quidem nobis permanebit, quae exercendo sensu valet. Virtus autem suadet praesentia bene conlocare, in futurum consulere, deliberare et intendere animum: facilius intendet explicabitque qui aliquem sibi adsumpserit. Quaeret itaque aut perfectum virum aut proficientem vicinumque perfecto. Proderit autem ille perfectus, si consilium communi prudentia iuverit. Aiunt homines plus in alieno negotio videre initio. Hoc illis evenit quos amor sui excaecat quibusque dispectum utilitatis timor in periculis excutit: incipiet sapere securior et extra metum positus. Sed nihilominus quaedam sunt quae etiam sapientes in alio quam in se diligentius vident. Praeterea illud dulcissimum et honestissimum 'idem velle atque idem nolle' sapiens sapienti praestabit; egregium opus pari iugo ducet.","en":"Besides, it is in accordance with nature to embrace friends and to rejoice in their growth as in one's own; for unless we do this, not even virtue will stay with us, since it grows strong by exercising its perceptions. And virtue advises us to arrange the present well, to plan for the future, to deliberate and focus the mind: whoever takes someone into partnership will focus and work things out more easily. So he will look for either a perfect man or one making progress and close to perfection. The perfect man will help if he aids the deliberation with the wisdom they share. People say that others see more in someone else's affairs. This happens to those whom self-love blinds and whom fear in danger robs of the ability to see their advantage: a man will begin to be wise when he is free from care and placed beyond fear. But even so there are some things that even the wise see more clearly in another than in themselves. Besides, the wise man will give the wise man that sweetest and most honourable thing, 'to want the same and not want the same'; together they will draw a noble load under an equal yoke."},{"ref":"Letter 109.17–18","orig":"Persolvi quod exegeras, quamquam in ordine rerum erat quas moralis philosophiae voluminibus conplectimur. Cogita quod soleo frequenter tibi dicere, in istis nos nihil aliud quam acumen exercere. Totiens enim illo revertor: quid ista me res iuvat? fortiorem fac me, iustiorem, temperantiorem. Nondum exerceri vacat: adhuc medico mihi opus est. Quid me poscis scientiam inutilem? Magna promisisti: exhibe fidem. Dicebas intrepidum fore etiam si circa me gladii micarent, etiam si mucro tangeret iugulum; dicebas securum fore etiam si circa me flagrarent incendia, etiam si subitus turbo toto navem meam mari raperet: hanc mihi praesta curam, ut voluptatem, ut gloriam contemnam. Postea docebis inplicita solvere, ambigua distinguere, obscura perspicere: nunc doce quod necesse est. Vale.","en":"I have paid what you demanded, although it belonged in the series of topics I am covering in my volumes on moral philosophy. Think about what I often tell you: in these things we are only exercising our cleverness. For I keep coming back to this: how does this help me? Make me braver, juster, more self-controlled. I have no time for exercises yet: I still need a doctor. Why do you demand useless knowledge of me? You have promised great things: keep your word. You used to say that I would be fearless even if swords flashed around me, even if a blade touched my throat; you used to say that I would be free from care even if fires blazed around me, even if a sudden whirlwind swept my ship across the whole sea: give me this treatment, so that I despise pleasure, despise glory. Later you will teach me to untangle knots, to distinguish ambiguities, to see through obscurities: now teach me what is necessary. Farewell."}],"110":[{"ref":"Letter 110.1–2","orig":"Ex Nomentano meo te saluto et iubeo habere mentem bonam, hoc est propitios deos omnis, quos habet placatos et faventes quisquis sibi se propitiavit. Sepone in praesentia quae quibusdam placent, unicuique nostrum paedagogum dari deum, non quidem ordinarium, sed hunc inferioris notae ex eorum numero quos Ovidius ait 'de plebe deos'. Ita tamen hoc seponas volo ut memineris maiores nostros qui crediderunt Stoicos fuisse; singulis enim et Genium et Iunonem dederunt. Postea videbimus an tantum dis vacet ut privatorum negotia procurent: interim illud scito, sive adsignati sumus sive neglecti et fortunae dati, nulli te posse inprecari quicquam gravius quam si inprecatus fueris ut se habeat iratum. Sed non est quare cuiquam quem poena putaveris dignum optes ut infestos deos habeat: habet, inquam, etiam si videtur eorum favore produci.","en":"I greet you from my place at Nomentum and wish you a good mind, that is, all the gods on your side; for whoever has made himself well disposed to himself has the gods calm and favourable. Set aside for the moment the view some people hold, that each of us has been given a god as a guardian, not one of the regular gods but one of lower rank, one of those Ovid calls 'gods of the common people'. But I want you to set this aside while remembering that our ancestors, who believed it, were Stoics; for they gave each man a Genius and each woman a Juno. Later we will see whether the gods have so much free time that they look after the affairs of private individuals: meanwhile know this, that whether we have been assigned to them or neglected and handed over to fortune, you can call down nothing worse on anyone than to curse him to be angry with himself. But there is no reason to wish that anyone you think deserves punishment should have the gods against him: he has them against him, I say, even if he seems to be advanced by their favour."},{"ref":"Letter 110.3–4","orig":"Adhibe diligentiam tuam et intuere quid sint res nostrae, non quid vocentur, et scies plura mala contingere nobis quam accidere. Quotiens enim felicitatis et causa et initium fuit quod calamitas vocabatur! quotiens magna gratulatione excepta res gradum sibi struxit in praeceps et aliquem iam eminentem adlevavit etiamnunc, tamquam adhuc ibi staret unde tuto cadunt! Sed ipsum illud cadere non habet in se mali quicquam si exitum spectes, ultra quem natura neminem deiecit. Prope est rerum omnium terminus, prope est, inquam, et illud unde felix eicitur et illud unde infelix emittitur: nos utraque extendimus et longa spe ac metu facimus. Sed, si sapis, omnia humana condicione metire; simul et quod gaudes et quod times contrahe. Est autem tanti nihil diu gaudere ne quid diu timeas.","en":"Take care and look at what our circumstances are, not what they are called, and you will see that more of our so-called evils turn out to be strokes of luck than misfortunes. For how often has what was called a disaster been the cause and beginning of happiness! How often has something welcomed with great congratulation built itself a step towards a fall, and lifted someone already prominent even higher, as if he still stood where people can fall safely! But that very fall has nothing bad in it if you look at the end, beyond which nature has thrown no one down. The end of all things is near; near, I say, is both the point where the fortunate man is thrown out and the point where the unfortunate is released: we stretch both out and make them long by hope and fear. But if you are wise, measure everything by the human condition; shrink both what you rejoice in and what you fear. It is well worth rejoicing in nothing for long, so that you fear nothing for long."},{"ref":"Letter 110.5–6","orig":"Sed quare istuc malum adstringo? Non est quod quicquam timendum putes: vana sunt ista quae nos movent, quae attonitos habent. Nemo nostrum quid veri esset excussit, sed metum alter alteri tradidit; nemo ausus est ad id quo perturbabatur accedere et naturam ac bonum timoris sui nosse. Itaque res falsa et inanis habet adhuc fidem quia non coarguitur. Tanti putemus oculos intendere: iam apparebit quam brevia, quam incerta, quam tuta timeantur. Talis est animorum nostrorum confusio qualis Lucretio visa est:\nnam veluti pueri trepidant atque omnia caecis\nin tenebris metuunt, ita nos in luce timemus.\nQuid ergo? non omni puero stultiores sumus qui in luce timemus?","en":"But why do I narrow this evil down? There is no reason for you to think anything should be feared: these things that move us and hold us stunned are empty. None of us has shaken out what was true; one person has passed fear on to another; no one has dared to go up to what disturbed him and learn the nature, and the good, of what he feared. So a false and empty thing is still believed because it is not refuted. Let us think it worth the effort of fixing our eyes on it: it will soon be clear how brief, how uncertain, how harmless the things we fear are. The confusion of our minds is such as it seemed to Lucretius:\nfor just as children tremble and fear everything\nin blind darkness, so we fear in the light.\nWhat then? Are we not more foolish than any child, since we fear in the light?"},{"ref":"Letter 110.7–8","orig":"Sed falsum est, Lucreti, non timemus in luce: omnia nobis fecimus tenebras. Nihil videmus, nec quid noceat nec quid expediat; tota vita incursitamus nec ob hoc resistimus aut circumspectius pedem ponimus. Vides autem quam sit furiosa res in tenebris impetus. At mehercules id agimus ut longius revocandi simus, et cum ignoremus quo feramur, velociter tamen illo quo intendimus perseveramus. Sed lucescere, si velimus, potest. Uno autem modo potest, si quis hanc humanorum divinorumque notitiam acceperit, si illa se non perfuderit sed infecerit, si eadem, quamvis sciat, retractaverit et ad se saepe rettulerit, si quaesierit quae sint bona, quae mala, quibus hoc falso sit nomen adscriptum, si quaesierit de honestis et turpibus, de providentia.","en":"But it is false, Lucretius: we do not fear in the light; we have made everything darkness for ourselves. We see nothing, neither what harms nor what helps; all our lives we keep running into things, and yet we do not stop because of this or tread more carefully. And you see how mad a thing it is to charge in the dark. But by Hercules, we act so that we must be called back from further away, and though we do not know where we are being carried, we still press on swiftly in the direction we are heading. But it can grow light, if we wish. And it can only in one way: if someone takes in this knowledge of things human and divine, if he is not just sprinkled with it but dyed in it, if he goes over the same things again even though he knows them and often applies them to himself, if he asks what things are good, what bad, and which have falsely been given that name, if he asks about the honourable and the shameful, and about providence."},{"ref":"Letter 110.9–10","orig":"Nec intra haec humani ingenii sagacitas sistitur: prospicere et ultra mundum libet, quo feratur, unde surrexerit, in quem exitum tanta rerum velocitas properet. Ab hac divina contemplatione abductum animum in sordida et humilia pertraximus, ut avaritiae serviret, ut relicto mundo terminisque eius et dominis cuncta versantibus terram rimaretur et quaereret quid ex illa mali effoderet, non contentus oblatis. Quidquid nobis bono futurum erat deus et parens noster in proximo posuit; non expectavit inquisitionem nostram et ultro dedit: nocitura altissime pressit. Nihil nisi de nobis queri possumus: ea quibus periremus nolente rerum natura et abscondente protulimus. Addiximus animum voluptati, cui indulgere initium omnium malorum est, tradidimus ambitioni et famae, ceteris aeque vanis et inanibus.","en":"Nor does the keenness of the human mind stop within these limits: it likes to look even beyond the universe, to ask where it is carried, where it arose from, to what end so swift a movement of things is hurrying. From this divine contemplation we have dragged the mind away into base and low things, to make it the slave of greed, so that, leaving the universe and its boundaries and the masters who direct all things, it should dig into the earth and search for what evil it could dig out of it, not content with what was offered. Whatever was going to be good for us, God, our parent, placed close at hand; he did not wait for us to search for it, but gave it freely; the harmful things he buried very deep. We can complain only about ourselves: we have brought out the things that destroy us, against the will of nature, which hid them. We have handed our minds over to pleasure, indulging which is the beginning of all evils; we have given them to ambition and fame and other things equally vain and empty."},{"ref":"Letter 110.11","orig":"Quid ergo nunc te hortor ut facias? nihil novi – nec enim novis malis remedia quaeruntur – sed hoc primum, ut tecum ipse dispicias quid sit necessarium, quid supervacuum. Necessaria tibi ubique occurrent: supervacua et semper et toto animo quaerenda sunt.","en":"What, then, am I now urging you to do? Nothing new (for we are not looking for remedies for new evils), but first this: to work out for yourself what is necessary and what superfluous. Necessary things will meet you everywhere: superfluous things must always be hunted for, and with your whole mind."},{"ref":"Letter 110.12","orig":"Non est autem quod te nimis laudes si contempseris aureos lectos et gemmeam supellectilem; quae est enim virtus supervacua contemnere? Tunc te admirare cum contempseris necessaria. Non magnam rem facis quod vivere sine regio apparatu potes, quod non desideras milliarios apros nec linguas phoenicopterorum et alia portenta luxuriae iam tota animalia fastidientis et certa membra ex singulis eligentis: tunc te admirabor si contempseris etiam sordidum panem, si tibi persuaseris herbam, ubi necesse est, non pecori tantum sed homini nasci, si scieris cacumina arborum explementum esse ventris in quem sic pretiosa congerimus tamquam recepta servantem. Sine fastidio implendus est; quid enim ad rem pertinet quid accipiat, perditurus quidquid acceperit?","en":"There is no reason to praise yourself too much if you have despised gilded couches and jewelled furniture; for what virtue is there in despising superfluous things? Admire yourself when you have despised necessary things. You do nothing great in being able to live without royal splendour, in not craving boars weighing a thousand pounds, or flamingo tongues, and the other monstrosities of a luxury that now disdains whole animals and picks out particular parts of each. I will admire you when you have despised even coarse bread, when you have persuaded yourself that grass grows, in time of need, not only for cattle but for man, when you know that the tips of trees can fill the belly, into which we pile precious things as if it kept what it received. It should be filled without fussiness; for what does it matter what it takes in, since it will lose whatever it takes in?"},{"ref":"Letter 110.13–14","orig":"Delectant te disposita quae terra marique capiuntur, alia eo gratiora si recentia perferuntur ad mensam, alia si diu pasta et coacta pinguescere fluunt ac vix saginam continent suam; delectat te nitor horum arte quaesitus. At mehercules ista sollicite scrutata varieque condita, cum subierint ventrem, una atque eadem foeditas occupabit. Vis ciborum voluptatem contemnere? exitum specta. Attalum memini cum magna admiratione omnium haec dicere: 'diu' inquit 'mihi inposuere divitiae. Stupebam ubi aliquid ex illis alio atque alio loco fulserat; existimabam similia esse quae laterent his quae ostenderentur. Sed in quodam apparatu vidi totas opes urbis, caelata et auro et argento et iis quae pretium auri argentique vicerunt, exquisitos colores et vestes ultra non tantum nostrum sed ultra finem hostium advectas; hinc puerorum perspicuos cultu atque forma greges, hinc feminarum, et alia quae res suas recognoscens summi imperii fortuna protulerat.","en":"You take pleasure in the arrangement of things caught on land and sea, some the more welcome if they are brought fresh to the table, others if, after being fed for a long time and forced to fatten, they are dripping and barely hold in their own fat; you take pleasure in the sheen artfully given to them. But by Hercules, once these things so anxiously sought out and so variously seasoned have gone down into the belly, one and the same foulness will take them over. Do you want to despise the pleasure of food? Look at where it ends up. I remember Attalus saying this, to everyone's great admiration: 'For a long time,' he said, 'riches fooled me. I was dazzled whenever some of them shone out here and there; I thought that what was hidden was like what was on display. But at a certain procession I saw the whole wealth of the city: work chased in gold and silver and in things that surpass the value of gold and silver, exquisite colours, and garments brought from beyond not only our frontiers but beyond those of our enemies; on one side troops of boys, remarkable for their dress and beauty, on the other troops of women, and other things which the fortune of the supreme power had brought out in reviewing its own possessions."},{"ref":"Letter 110.15–17","orig":"\"Quid hoc est\" inquam \"aliud inritare cupiditates hominum per se incitatas? quid sibi vult ista pecuniae pompa? ad discendam avaritiam convenimus?\" At mehercules minus cupiditatis istinc effero quam adtuleram. Contempsi divitias, non quia supervacuae sed quia pusillae sunt. Vidistine quam intra paucas horas ille ordo quamvis lentus dispositusque transierit? Hoc totam vitam nostram occupabit quod totum diem occupare non potuit? Accessit illud quoque: tam supervacuae mihi visae sunt habentibus quam fuerunt spectantibus. Hoc itaque ipse mihi dico quotiens tale aliquid praestrinxerit oculos meos, quotiens occurrit domus splendida, cohors culta servorum, lectica formonsis inposita calonibus: \"quid miraris? quid stupes? pompa est. Ostenduntur istae res, non possidentur, et dum placent transeunt\".","en":"\"What is this,\" I said, \"but stirring up men's desires, which are excited enough by themselves? What is the point of this parade of money? Have we gathered to learn greed?\" But by Hercules, I took away less desire from there than I had brought. I despised riches, not because they are superfluous but because they are paltry. Did you see how within a few hours that procession passed, slow and orderly though it was? Shall this fill our whole life, when it could not fill a whole day? There was something more: they seemed to me as superfluous to their owners as they were to the spectators. So I say this to myself whenever something of that kind dazzles my eyes, whenever I meet a splendid house, a well-groomed troop of slaves, a litter carried by handsome bearers: \"Why do you marvel? Why are you dazzled? It is a parade. These things are displayed, not owned, and while they please, they pass by.\""},{"ref":"Letter 110.18–20","orig":"Ad veras potius te converte divitias; disce parvo esse contentus et illam vocem magnus atque animosus exclama: habemus aquam, habemus polentam; Iovi ipsi controversiam de felicitate faciamus. Faciamus, oro te, etiam si ista defuerint; turpe est beatam vitam in auro et argento reponere, aeque turpe in aqua et polenta. \"Quid ergo faciam si ista non fuerint?\" Quaeris quod sit remedium inopiae? Famem fames finit: alioquin quid interest magna sint an exigua quae servire te cogant? quid refert quantulum sit quod tibi possit negare fortuna? Haec ipsa aqua et polenta in alienum arbitrium cadit; liber est autem non in quem parum licet fortunae, sed in quem nihil. Ita est: nihil desideres oportet si vis Iovem provocare nihil desiderantem.' Haec nobis Attalus dixit, natura omnibus dixit; quae si voles frequenter cogitare, id ages ut sis felix, non ut videaris, et ut tibi videaris, non aliis. Vale.","en":"Turn rather to true riches; learn to be content with little, and cry out that famous saying with a great and spirited heart: we have water, we have barley meal; let us challenge Jupiter himself to a contest in happiness. Let us do so, I beg you, even if these things are lacking; it is shameful to place the happy life in gold and silver, and just as shameful to place it in water and barley meal. \"What then shall I do if I do not have them?\" Do you ask what the remedy for want is? Hunger ends hunger: otherwise, what difference does it make whether the things that force you to be a slave are great or small? What does it matter how little it is that fortune can refuse you? This very water and barley meal fall under another's control; but the free man is not the one over whom fortune has little power, but the one over whom it has none. That is how it is: you must want nothing if you want to challenge Jupiter, who wants nothing.' This is what Attalus told us, and what nature has told everyone; if you are willing to think about it often, you will act so as to be happy, not to seem happy, and to seem so to yourself, not to others. Farewell."}],"111":[{"ref":"Letter 111.1–2","orig":"Quid vocentur Latine sophismata quaesisti a me. Multi temptaverunt illis nomen inponere, nullum haesit; videlicet, quia res ipsa non recipiebatur a nobis nec in usu erat, nomini quoque repugnatum est. Aptissimum tamen videtur mihi quo Cicero usus est: 'cavillationes' vocat. Quibus quisquis se tradidit quaestiunculas quidem vafras nectit, ceterum ad vitam nihil proficit: neque fortior fit neque temperantior neque elatior. At ille qui philosophiam in remedium suum exercuit ingens fit animo, plenus fiduciae, inexsuperabilis et maior adeunti.","en":"You asked me what the Greek 'sophismata' are called in Latin. Many have tried to give them a name, but none has stuck; clearly, since the thing itself was not accepted among us or in use, the name too met resistance. The most fitting, though, seems to me the one Cicero used: he calls them 'cavillationes', quibbles. Whoever gives himself up to them weaves cunning little questions, but makes no progress towards living: he becomes neither braver nor more self-controlled nor more lofty. But the man who has practised philosophy as a cure for himself becomes great in spirit, full of confidence, unconquerable, and greater the closer you come."},{"ref":"Letter 111.3–4","orig":"Quod in magnis evenit montibus, quorum proceritas minus apparet longe intuentibus: cum accesseris, tunc manifestum fit quam in arduo summa sint. Talis est, mi Lucili, verus et rebus, non artificiis philosophus. In edito stat, admirabilis, celsus, magnitudinis verae; non exsurgit in plantas nec summis ambulat digitis eorum more qui mendacio staturam adiuvant longioresque quam sunt videri volunt; contentus est magnitudine sua. Quidni contentus sit eo usque crevisse quo manus fortuna non porrigit? Ergo et supra humana est et par sibi in omni statu rerum, sive secundo cursu vita procedit, sive fluctuatur et it per adversa ac difficilia: hanc constantiam cavillationes istae de quibus paulo ante loquebar praestare non possunt. Ludit istis animus, non proficit, et philosophiam a fastigio suo deducit in planum.","en":"It is what happens with great mountains, whose height is less apparent to those who view them from a distance: when you come near, then it becomes clear how steep the summits are. Such, my Lucilius, is the true philosopher, true in deeds, not in tricks. He stands on a height, admirable, lofty, of true greatness; he does not rise on his soles or walk on tiptoe like those who help out their stature with a lie and want to seem taller than they are; he is content with his own greatness. And why should he not be content to have grown to a height where fortune cannot reach out her hands? So he is above human affairs and equal to himself in every state of things, whether life proceeds on a favourable course, or is tossed about and goes through adversity and difficulty. This steadiness those quibbles I was talking about a little earlier cannot provide. The mind plays with them, it does not progress, and it brings philosophy down from its summit to the plain."},{"ref":"Letter 111.5","orig":"Nec te prohibuerim aliquando ista agere, sed tunc cum voles nihil agere. Hoc tamen habent in se pessimum: dulcedinem quandam sui faciunt et animum specie subtilitatis inductum tenent ac morantur, cum tanta rerum moles vocet, cum vix tota vita sufficiat ut hoc unum discas, vitam contemnere. 'Quid regere?' inquis. Secundum opus est; nam nemo illam bene rexit nisi qui contempserat. Vale.","en":"I would not forbid you to do these things now and then, but only when you want to do nothing. Yet they have this very bad feature: they create a certain sweetness of their own, and they hold the mind, lured by an appearance of subtlety, and delay it, when so great a mass of things calls us, when a whole life is scarcely enough to learn this one thing: to despise life. 'What about governing it?' you say. That is the second task; for no one has governed it well except one who had despised it. Farewell."}],"112":[{"ref":"Letter 112.1–3","orig":"Cupio mehercules amicum tuum formari ut desideras et institui, sed valde durus capitur; immo, quod est molestius, valde mollis capitur et consuetudine mala ac diutina fractus. Volo tibi ex nostro artificio exemplum referre. Non quaelibet insitionem vitis patitur: si vetus et exesa est, si infirma gracilisque, aut non recipiet surculum aut non alet nec adplicabit sibi nec in qualitatem eius naturamque transibit. Itaque solemus supra terram praecidere ut, si non respondit, temptari possit secunda fortuna et iterum repetita infra terram inseratur. Hic de quo scribis et mandas non habet vires: indulsit vitiis. Simul et emarcuit et induruit; non potest recipere rationem, non potest nutrire. 'At cupit ipse.' Noli credere. Non dico illum mentiri tibi: putat se cupere. Stomachum illi fecit luxuria: cito cum illa redibit in gratiam.","en":"By Hercules, I want your friend to be shaped and trained as you wish, but he is very hard to take hold of; or rather, what is more troublesome, he is very soft to take hold of, broken by long bad habit. I want to give you an example from our own craft. Not every vine takes a graft: if it is old and worn, if it is weak and thin, it will either not accept the cutting, or not nourish it, or not join it to itself and pass into its quality and nature. So we usually cut the vine off above ground, so that, if it does not respond, a second attempt can be made and it can be grafted again below ground. This man you write to me about and commend to me has no strength: he has indulged his vices. He has at once withered and hardened; he cannot take in reason, he cannot nourish it. 'But he wants to himself.' Do not believe it. I do not say he is lying to you: he thinks he wants to. Luxury has put him out of temper: he will soon make up with it again."},{"ref":"Letter 112.4","orig":"'Sed dicit se offendi vita sua.' Non negaverim; quis enim non offenditur? Homines vitia sua et amant simul et oderunt. Tunc itaque de illo feremus sententiam cum fidem nobis fecerit invisam iam sibi esse luxuriam: nunc illis male convenit. Vale.","en":"'But he says his life disgusts him.' I would not deny it; for who is not disgusted with his life? People love and hate their vices at the same time. So we will pass judgment on him when he has convinced us that luxury is now hateful to him: at present they are merely on bad terms. Farewell."}],"113":[{"ref":"Letter 113.1–2","orig":"Desideras tibi scribi a me quid sentiam de hac quaestione iactata apud nostros, an iustitia, fortitudo, prudentia ceteraeque virtutes animalia sint. Hac subtilitate effecimus, Lucili carissime, ut exercere ingenium inter inrita videremur et disputationibus nihil profuturis otium terere. Faciam quod desideras et quid nostris videatur exponam; sed me in alia esse sententia profiteor: puto quaedam esse quae deceant phaecasiatum palliatumque. Quae sint ergo quae antiquos moverint vel quae sint quae antiqui moverint dicam. Animum constat animal esse, cum ipse efficiat ut simus animalia, cum ab illo animalia nomen hoc traxerint; virtus autem nihil aliud est quam animus quodam modo se habens; ergo animal est. Deinde virtus agit aliquid; agi autem nihil sine impetu potest; si impetum habet, qui nulli est nisi animali, animal est.","en":"You want me to write to you what I think about this question that is tossed around in our school: whether justice, courage, prudence and the other virtues are living beings. By such subtlety, dearest Lucilius, we have made it seem that we exercise our minds on trifles and waste our leisure on debates that will do no good. I will do what you want and set out what our people think; but I declare that I hold another opinion: I think there are some things that suit a man in Greek slippers and a Greek cloak. So I will tell you what it was that moved the ancients, or rather what the ancients put forward. It is agreed that the mind is a living being, since it makes us living beings, and since living beings get their very name from it; and virtue is nothing but the mind in a certain state; therefore it is a living being. Next, virtue does something; but nothing can be done without an impulse; if it has an impulse, which belongs only to a living being, it is a living being."},{"ref":"Letter 113.3–4","orig":"'Si animal est' inquit 'virtus, habet ipsa virtutem.' Quidni habeat se ipsam? quomodo sapiens omnia per virtutem gerit, sic virtus per se. 'Ergo' inquit 'et omnes artes animalia sunt et omnia quae cogitamus quaeque mente conplectimur. Sequitur ut multa millia animalium habitent in his angustiis pectoris, et singuli multa simus animalia aut multa habeamus animalia.' Quaeris quid adversus istud respondeatur? Unaquaeque ex istis res animal erit: multa animalia non erunt. Quare? dicam, si mihi accommodaveris subtilitatem et intentionem tuam. Singula animalia singulas habere debent substantias; ista omnia unum animum habent; itaque singula esse possunt, multa esse non possunt. Ego et animal sum et homo, non tamen duos esse nos dices. Quare? quia separati debent esse. Ita dico: alter ab altero debet esse diductus ut duo sint. Quidquid in uno multiplex est sub unam naturam cadit; itaque unum est.","en":"'If virtue is a living being,' he says, 'it has virtue itself.' Why should it not have itself? Just as the wise man does everything through virtue, so virtue does everything through itself. 'Then,' he says, 'all the arts are living beings too, and everything we think and grasp with the mind. It follows that many thousands of living beings live in the narrow space of the breast, and that each of us is many living beings, or has many living beings.' Do you ask what is answered to this? Each of these things will be a living being, but they will not be many living beings. Why? I will tell you, if you lend me your subtlety and attention. Separate living beings must have separate substances; all these have a single mind; so each can be a living being, but they cannot be many. I am both a living being and a man, yet you will not say that I am two. Why? Because they would have to be separate. I mean this: one must be divided from the other for there to be two. Whatever is manifold in one thing falls under one nature; so it is one."},{"ref":"Letter 113.5–7","orig":"Et animus meus animal est et ego animal sum, duo tamen non sumus. Quare? quia animus mei pars est. Tunc aliquid per se numerabitur cum per se stabit; ubi vero alterius membrum erit, non poterit videri aliud. Quare? dicam: quia quod aliud est suum oportet esse et proprium et totum et intra se absolutum. Ego in alia esse me sententia professus sum; non enim tantum virtutes animalia erunt, si hoc recipitur, sed opposita quoque illis vitia et adfectus, tamquam ira, timor, luctus, suspicio. Ultra res ista procedet: omnes sententiae, omnes cogitationes animalia erunt. Quod nullo modo recipiendum est; non enim quidquid ab homine fit homo est. 'Iustitia quid est?' inquit. Animus quodam modo se habens. 'Itaque si animus animal est, et iustitia.' Minime; haec enim habitus animi est et quaedam vis. Idem animus in varias figuras convertitur et non totiens animal aliud est quotiens aliud facit; nec illud quod fit ab animo animal est.","en":"My mind is a living being and I am a living being, yet we are not two. Why? Because my mind is part of me. A thing will be counted by itself when it stands by itself; but when it is a limb of something else, it cannot be thought of as a different thing. Why? I will tell you: because what is a different thing must be its own, peculiar to itself, whole and complete within itself. I have declared that I hold a different opinion; for if this is accepted, not only will the virtues be living beings, but also the vices opposed to them, and the passions, such as anger, fear, grief, suspicion. The matter will go further: all opinions, all thoughts will be living beings. That cannot be accepted in any way; for not everything done by a man is a man. 'What is justice?' he says. The mind in a certain state. 'So if the mind is a living being, so is justice.' Not at all; for justice is a state of the mind and a kind of power. The same mind turns into various shapes, and is not a different living being each time it does something different; nor is what is done by the mind a living being."},{"ref":"Letter 113.8–10","orig":"Si iustitia animal est, si fortitudo, si ceterae virtutes, utrum desinunt esse animalia subinde aut rursus incipiunt, an semper sunt? desinere virtutes non possunt. Ergo multa animalia, immo innumerabilia, in hoc animo versantur. 'Non sunt' inquit 'multa, quia ex uno religata sunt et partes unius ac membra sunt.' Talem ergo faciem animi nobis proponimus qualis est hydrae multa habentis capita, quorum unumquodque per se pugnat, per se nocet. Atqui nullum ex illis capitibus animal est, sed animalis caput: ceterum ipsa unum animal est. Nemo in Chimaera leonem animal esse dixit aut draconem: hae partes erant eius; partes autem non sunt animalia. Quid est quo colligas iustitiam animal esse? 'Agit' inquit 'aliquid et prodest; quod autem agit et prodest impetum habet; quod autem impetum habet animal est.' Verum est si suum impetum habet; suum autem non habet sed animi.","en":"If justice is a living being, if courage is, if the other virtues are, do they stop being living beings from time to time and then begin again, or are they always so? Virtues cannot cease. So many living beings, indeed countless ones, are moving about in this mind. 'They are not many,' he says, 'because they are tied to one and are parts and limbs of one.' So we are picturing the mind as looking like the hydra with its many heads, each of which fights on its own and does harm on its own. And yet none of those heads is a living being, but the head of a living being: the hydra itself is one living being. No one has said that the lion or the serpent in the Chimaera was a living being: these were its parts; and parts are not living beings. How do you conclude that justice is a living being? 'It does something,' he says, 'and it benefits; what does something and benefits has an impulse; what has an impulse is a living being.' That is true if it has its own impulse; but it does not have its own, only the mind's."},{"ref":"Letter 113.11–13","orig":"Omne animal donec moriatur id est quod coepit: homo donec moriatur homo est, equus equus, canis canis; transire in aliud non potest. Iustitia, id est animus quodam modo se habens, animal est. Credamus: deinde animal est fortitudo, id est animus quodam modo se habens. Quis animus? ille qui modo iustitia erat? Tenetur in priore animali, in aliud animal transire ei non licet; in eo illi in quo primum esse coepit perseverandum est. Praeterea unus animus duorum esse animalium non potest, multo minus plurium. Si iustitia, fortitudo, temperantia ceteraeque virtutes animalia sunt, quomodo unum animum habebunt? singulos habeant oportet, aut non sunt animalia. Non potest unum corpus plurium animalium esse. Hoc et ipsi fatentur. Iustitiae quod est corpus? 'Animus'. Quid? fortitudinis quod est corpus? 'Idem animus'. Atqui unum corpus esse duorum animalium non potest.","en":"Every living being is, until it dies, what it began as: a man is a man until he dies, a horse a horse, a dog a dog; it cannot pass into something else. Justice, that is, the mind in a certain state, is a living being. Let us believe it: then courage is a living being, that is, the mind in a certain state. Which mind? The one that was justice just now? It is held in the first living being; it is not allowed to pass into another living being; it must remain in the one in which it first began to exist. Besides, one mind cannot belong to two living beings, much less to more. If justice, courage, self-control and the other virtues are living beings, how will they have one mind? They must each have their own, or they are not living beings. One body cannot belong to several living beings. This they themselves admit. What is the body of justice? 'The mind.' What? What is the body of courage? 'The same mind.' And yet one body cannot belong to two living beings."},{"ref":"Letter 113.14–15","orig":"'Sed idem animus' inquit 'iustitiae habitum induit et fortitudinis et temperantiae.' Hoc fieri posset si quo tempore iustitia esset fortitudo non esset, quo tempore fortitudo esset temperantia non esset; nunc vero omnes virtutes simul sunt. Ita quomodo singulae erunt animalia, cum unus animus sit, qui plus quam unum animal non potest facere? Denique nullum animal pars est alterius animalis; iustitia autem pars est animi; non est ergo animal. Videor mihi in re confessa perdere operam; magis enim indignandum de isto quam disputandum est. Nullum animal alteri par est. Circumspice omnium corpora: nulli non et color proprius est et figura sua et magnitudo.","en":"'But the same mind,' he says, 'takes on the state of justice and of courage and of self-control.' That could happen if, at the time there was justice, there was no courage, and at the time there was courage, there was no self-control; but in fact all the virtues exist together. So how will each be a living being, when there is one mind, which cannot make more than one living being? Finally, no living being is part of another living being; but justice is part of the mind; so it is not a living being. I seem to be wasting effort on something already admitted; for this deserves indignation more than debate. No living being is identical to another. Look around at the bodies of all of them: every one has its own colour, its own shape and its own size."},{"ref":"Letter 113.16–17","orig":"Inter cetera propter quae mirabile divini artificis ingenium est hoc quoque existimo esse, quod in tanta copia rerum numquam in idem incidit; etiam quae similia videntur, cum contuleris, diversa sunt. Tot fecit genera foliorum: nullum non sua proprietate signatum; tot animalia: nullius magnitudo cum altero convenit, utique aliquid interest. Exegit a se ut quae alia erant et dissimilia essent et inparia. Virtutes omnes, ut dicitis, pares sunt; ergo non sunt animalia. Nullum non animal per se agit; virtus autem per se nihil agit, sed cum homine. Omnia animalia aut rationalia sunt, ut homines, ut dii, aut inrationalia, ut ferae, ut pecora; virtutes utique rationales sunt; atqui nec homines sunt nec dii; ergo non sunt animalia.","en":"Among the other things that make the mind of the divine craftsman marvellous, I think this is one: that in such an abundance of things he has never repeated himself; even things that seem alike are different when you compare them. He made so many kinds of leaves: every one is marked with its own character; so many animals: no one's size matches another's; there is always some difference. He demanded of himself that things which were different should also be unlike and unequal. All the virtues, as you say, are equal; therefore they are not living beings. Every living being acts by itself; but virtue does nothing by itself, only together with a man. All living beings are either rational, like men and gods, or irrational, like wild beasts and cattle; the virtues are certainly rational; yet they are neither men nor gods; therefore they are not living beings."},{"ref":"Letter 113.18–19","orig":"Omne rationale animal nihil agit nisi primum specie alicuius rei inritatum est, deinde impetum cepit, deinde adsensio confirmavit hunc impetum. Quid sit adsensio dicam. Oportet me ambulare: tunc demum ambulo cum hoc mihi dixi et adprobavi hanc opinionem meam; oportet me sedere: tunc demum sedeo. Haec adsensio in virtute non est. Puta enim prudentiam esse: quomodo adsentietur 'oportet me ambulare'? Hoc natura non recipit. Prudentia enim ei cuius est prospicit, non sibi; nam nec ambulare potest nec sedere. Ergo adsensionem non habet; quod adsensionem non habet rationale animal non est. Virtus si animal est, rationale est; rationale autem non est; ergo nec animal.","en":"No rational living being does anything unless it has first been stirred by the impression of some thing, then has taken an impulse, and then assent has confirmed this impulse. I will tell you what assent is. I ought to walk: I walk only when I have said this to myself and approved this opinion of mine; I ought to sit: only then do I sit. This assent is not found in virtue. For suppose it is prudence: how will it assent to 'I ought to walk'? Its nature does not allow this. For prudence looks out for the one to whom it belongs, not for itself; for it can neither walk nor sit. So it has no assent; and what has no assent is not a rational living being. If virtue is a living being, it is rational; but it is not rational; therefore it is not a living being either."},{"ref":"Letter 113.20–21","orig":"Si virtus animal est, virtus autem bonum omnest, omne bonum animal est. Hoc nostri fatentur. Patrem servare bonum est, et sententiam prudenter in senatu dicere bonum est, et iuste decernere bonum est; ergo et patrem servare animal est et prudenter sententiam dicere animal est. Eo usque res exegit ut risum tenere non possis: prudenter tacere bonum est, * * * cenare bonum est; ita et tacere et cenare animal est. Ego mehercules titillare non desinam et ludos mihi ex istis subtilibus ineptiis facere. Iustitia et fortitudo, si animalia sunt, certe terrestria sunt; omne animal terrestre alget, esurit, sitit; ergo iustitia alget, fortitudo esurit, clementia sitit.","en":"If virtue is a living being, and virtue is a good, then every good is a living being. Our school admits this. To save one's father is a good, to give one's opinion wisely in the senate is a good, to judge justly is a good; so saving one's father is a living being, and giving one's opinion wisely is a living being. The matter has gone so far that you cannot help laughing: to keep wisely silent is a good, [...] to dine is a good; so keeping silent and dining are living beings. By Hercules, I will not stop tickling myself and making sport out of these subtle absurdities. If justice and courage are living beings, they are certainly land animals; every land animal feels cold, hunger and thirst; so justice feels cold, courage is hungry, mercy is thirsty."},{"ref":"Letter 113.22–23","orig":"Quid porro? non interrogabo illos quam figuram habeant ista animalia? hominis an equi an ferae? Si rotundam illis qualem deo dederint, quaeram an et avaritia et luxuria et dementia aeque rotundae sint; sunt enim et ipsae animalia. Si has quoque conrotundaverint, etiamnunc interrogabo an prudens ambulatio animal sit. Necesse est confiteantur, deinde dicant ambulationem animal esse et quidem rotundum. Ne putes autem primum me ex nostris non ex praescripto loqui sed meae sententiae esse, inter Cleanthen et discipulum eius Chrysippum non convenit quid sit ambulatio. Cleanthes ait spiritum esse a principali usque in pedes permissum, Chrysippus ipsum principale. Quid est ergo cur non ipsius Chrysippi exemplo sibi quisque se vindicet et ista tot animalia quot mundus ipse non potest capere derideat?","en":"What next? Shall I not ask them what shape these living beings have? That of a man, a horse, or a wild beast? If they give them a round shape like the one they give to God, I will ask whether greed and luxury and madness are equally round; for they too are living beings. If they make these round as well, I will go on to ask whether a prudent walk is a living being. They must admit it, and then say that a walk is a living being, and a round one at that. And so that you do not think I am the first of our school to speak not by the book but by my own opinion: Cleanthes and his pupil Chrysippus do not agree about what walking is. Cleanthes says it is breath sent from the ruling part down to the feet; Chrysippus says it is the ruling part itself. Why then should not each person, following the example of Chrysippus himself, claim his own freedom and laugh at all these living beings, more than the universe itself could hold?"},{"ref":"Letter 113.24–25","orig":"'Non sunt' inquit 'virtutes multa animalia, et tamen animalia sunt. Nam quemadmodum aliquis et poeta est et orator, et tamen unus, sic virtutes istae animalia sunt sed multa non sunt. Idem est animus et animus et iustus et prudens et fortis, ad singulas virtutes quodam modo se habens.' Sublata * * * convenit nobis. Nam et ego interim fateor animum animal esse, postea visurus quam de ista re sententiam feram: actiones eius animalia esse nego. Alioqui et omnia verba erunt animalia et omnes versus. Nam si prudens sermo bonum est, bonum autem omne animal est, sermo animal est. Prudens versus bonum est, bonum autem omne animal est; versus ergo animal est. Ita\narma virumque cano\nanimal est, quod non possunt rotundum dicere cum sex pedes habeat.","en":"'The virtues,' he says, 'are not many living beings, and yet they are living beings. For just as someone can be both a poet and an orator and yet be one person, so these virtues are living beings but not many. The mind is the same: it is a mind, and it is just and prudent and brave, being in a certain state with respect to each virtue.' [...] we are in agreement. For I too admit for the time being that the mind is a living being, and will see later what verdict to give on this: but I deny that its actions are living beings. Otherwise all words will be living beings too, and all verses. For if wise speech is a good, and every good is a living being, speech is a living being. A wise verse is a good, and every good is a living being; so a verse is a living being. So\nArms and the man I sing\nis a living being, and they cannot call it round, since it has six feet."},{"ref":"Letter 113.26–27","orig":"'Textorium' inquis 'totum mehercules istud quod cum maxime agitur.' Dissilio risu cum mihi propono soloecismum animal esse et barbarismum et syllogismum et aptas illis facies tamquam pictor adsigno. Haec disputamus attractis superciliis, fronte rugosa? Non possum hoc loco dicere illud Caelianum: 'o tristes ineptias!' Ridiculae sunt. Quin itaque potius aliquid utile nobis ac salutare tractamus et quaerimus quomodo ad virtutes pervenire possimus, quae nos ad illas via adducat? Doce me non an fortitudo animal sit, sed nullum animal felix esse sine fortitudine, nisi contra fortuita convaluit et omnis casus antequam exciperet meditando praedomuit. Quid est fortitudo? Munimentum humanae imbecillitatis inexpugnabile, quod qui circumdedit sibi securus in hac vitae obsidione perdurat; utitur enim suis viribus, suis telis.","en":"'This whole thing that is being discussed at this very moment,' you say, 'is, by Hercules, a piece of fine weaving.' I burst out laughing when I imagine a solecism being a living being, and a barbarism, and a syllogism, and I give them suitable faces, like a painter. Are we discussing this with knitted brows and wrinkled foreheads? I cannot use Caelius's phrase here, 'O gloomy trifles!' They are ridiculous. So why do we not rather deal with something useful and healthy for us, and ask how we can reach the virtues, what road leads us to them? Teach me, not whether courage is a living being, but that no living being is happy without courage, unless it has grown strong against chance and has tamed every misfortune beforehand by thinking about it before it comes. What is courage? The impregnable fortification of human weakness; whoever has surrounded himself with it holds out free from care in this siege that is life; for he uses his own strength and his own weapons."},{"ref":"Letter 113.28–30","orig":"Hoc loco tibi Posidonii nostri referre sententiam volo: 'non est quod umquam fortunae armis putes esse te tutum: tuis pugna. Contra ipsam fortuna non armat; itaque contra hostes instructi, contra ipsam inermes sunt.' Alexander Persas quidem et Hyrcanos et Indos et quidquid gentium usque in oceanum extendit oriens vastabat fugabatque, sed ipse modo occiso amico, modo amisso, iacebat in tenebris, alias scelus, alias desiderium suum maerens, victor tot regum atque populorum irae tristitiaeque succumbens; id enim egerat ut omnia potius haberet in potestate quam adfectus. O quam magnis homines tenentur erroribus qui ius dominandi trans maria cupiunt permittere felicissimosque se iudicant si multas milite provincias obtinent et novas veteribus adiungunt, ignari quod sit illud ingens parque dis regnum: imperare sibi maximum imperium est.","en":"Here I want to pass on to you the opinion of our Posidonius: 'There is no reason ever to think yourself safe by the weapons of fortune: fight with your own. Fortune does not arm people against herself; so though they are equipped against enemies, against her they are unarmed.' Alexander, it is true, was laying waste to and routing the Persians, the Hyrcanians, the Indians and whatever peoples the East stretches out as far as the Ocean; but he himself, now after killing a friend, now after losing one, lay in darkness, mourning at one time his crime, at another his loss, the conqueror of so many kings and peoples giving way to anger and sadness; for he had made it his aim to have everything in his power except his passions. Oh, what great errors grip men who long to extend their right to rule across the seas, and who judge themselves most happy if they hold many provinces with their soldiers and add new ones to the old, not knowing what that vast kingdom equal to the gods' is: to rule oneself is the greatest rule of all."},{"ref":"Letter 113.31–32","orig":"Doceat me quam sacra res sit iustitia alienum bonum spectans, nihil ex se petens nisi usum sui. Nihil sit illi cum ambitione famaque: sibi placeat. Hoc ante omnia sibi quisque persuadeat: me iustum esse gratis oportet. Parum est. Adhuc illud persuadeat sibi: me in hanc pulcherrimam virtutem ultro etiam inpendere iuvet; tota cogitatio a privatis commodis quam longissime aversa sit. Non est quod spectes quod sit iustae rei praemium: maius in iusto est. Illud adhuc tibi adfige quod paulo ante dicebam, nihil ad rem pertinere quam multi aequitatem tuam noverint. Qui virtutem suam publicari vult non virtuti laborat sed gloriae. Non vis esse iustus sine gloria? at mehercules saepe iustus esse debebis cum infamia, et tunc, si sapis, mala opinio bene parta delectet. Vale.","en":"Let someone teach me how sacred a thing justice is, which looks to another's good and seeks nothing from itself except to be exercised. Let it have nothing to do with ambition and fame: let it please itself. Above all, let each person persuade himself of this: I must be just without reward. That is not enough. Let him also persuade himself of this: let me be glad to spend myself willingly on this most beautiful virtue; let all my thoughts be turned as far as possible from private advantage. There is no reason to look for the reward of a just act: the greater reward is in being just. Fix this too in your mind, which I was saying a little while ago: that it makes no difference how many people know of your fairness. Whoever wants his virtue publicised is working not for virtue but for glory. Do you not want to be just without glory? But by Hercules, you will often have to be just with disgrace, and then, if you are wise, let a bad reputation well earned delight you. Farewell."}],"114":[{"ref":"Letter 114.1–2","orig":"Quare quibusdam temporibus provenerit corrupti generis oratio quaeris et quomodo in quaedam vitia inclinatio ingeniorum facta sit, ut aliquando inflata explicatio vigeret, aliquando infracta et in morem cantici ducta; quare alias sensus audaces et fidem egressi placuerint, alias abruptae sententiae et suspiciosae, in quibus plus intellegendum esset quam audiendum; quare aliqua aetas fuerit quae translationis iure uteretur inverecunde. Hoc quod audire vulgo soles, quod apud Graecos in proverbium cessit: talis hominibus fuit oratio qualis vita. Quemadmodum autem uniuscuiusque actio dicendi similis est, sic genus dicendi aliquando imitatur publicos mores, si disciplina civitatis laboravit et se in delicias dedit. Argumentum est luxuriae publicae orationis lascivia, si modo non in uno aut in altero fuit, sed adprobata est et recepta.","en":"You ask why in certain periods a corrupt kind of oratory has sprung up, and how minds came to lean towards certain faults, so that sometimes a bloated style flourished, and sometimes a broken style drawn out like a song; why at one time daring thoughts that went beyond belief were in favour, and at another abrupt and cryptic epigrams, in which more had to be understood than was heard; why there was an age that used its right to metaphor shamelessly. The answer is what you often hear people say, and what has become a proverb among the Greeks: people's speech was like their lives. And just as each person's way of acting resembles his way of speaking, so the style of speaking sometimes imitates public morals, if the discipline of the state has weakened and given itself up to luxury. Wantonness of speech is a proof of public luxury, provided it is not found in just one or two people but has been approved and accepted."},{"ref":"Letter 114.3","orig":"Non potest alius esse ingenio, alius animo color. Si ille sanus est, si compositus, gravis, temperans, ingenium quoque siccum ac sobrium est: illo vitiato hoc quoque adflatur. Non vides, si animus elanguit, trahi membra et pigre moveri pedes? si ille effeminatus est, in ipso incessu apparere mollitiam? si ille acer est et ferox, concitari gradum? si furit aut, quod furori simile est, irascitur, turbatum esse corporis motum nec ire sed ferri? Quanto hoc magis accidere ingenio putas, quod totum animo permixtum est, ab illo fingitur, illi paret, inde legem petit?","en":"The mind and the intellect cannot have different colours. If the mind is healthy, composed, serious and self-controlled, the intellect too is dry and sober: when the mind is corrupted, the intellect is tainted too. Do you not see that if the mind has grown languid, the limbs drag and the feet move lazily? That if it is effeminate, its softness shows in the very walk? That if it is keen and fierce, the step quickens? That if it is raging, or angry, which is like raging, the movement of the body is disturbed, and it does not walk but is swept along? How much more do you think this happens to the intellect, which is wholly blended with the mind, is shaped by it, obeys it, and takes its law from it?"},{"ref":"Letter 114.4–5","orig":"Quomodo Maecenas vixerit notius est quam ut narrari nunc debeat quomodo ambulaverit, quam delicatus fuerit, quam cupierit videri, quam vitia sua latere noluerit. Quid ergo? non oratio eius aeque soluta est quam ipse discinctus? non tam insignita illius verba sunt quam cultus, quam comitatus, quam domus, quam uxor? Magni vir ingenii fuerat si illud egisset via rectiore, si non vitasset intellegi, si non etiam in oratione difflueret. Videbis itaque eloquentiam ebrii hominis involutam et errantem et licentiae plenam. Quid turpius 'amne silvisque ripa comantibus'? Vide ut 'alveum lyntribus arent versoque vado remittant hortos'. Quid? si quis 'feminae cinno crispat et labris columbatur incipitque suspirans, ut cervice lassa fanantur nemoris tyranni'. 'Inremediabilis factio rimantur epulis lagonaque temptant domos et spe mortem exigunt.' 'Genium festo vix suo testem.' 'Tenuisve cerei fila et crepacem molam.' 'Focum mater aut uxor investiunt.'","en":"How Maecenas lived is too well known to need telling now: how he walked, how dainty he was, how much he wanted to be looked at, how little he wanted his vices hidden. What then? Was his style not as loose as his dress was ungirded? Were his words not as conspicuous as his clothes, his retinue, his house, his wife? He would have been a man of great talent if he had pursued it on a straighter road, if he had not avoided being understood, if he had not been slack even in his speech. So you will see the eloquence of a drunk man, tangled, wandering and full of licence. What is uglier than 'a bank with river and woods tressed'? See how 'they plough the channel with skiffs and, turning up the shallows, leave gardens behind'. What of someone who 'curls for a woman with a wink and bills and coos with his lips and begins sighing, as the tyrants of the grove rave with weary neck'? 'An incurable faction, they pry at feasts and assail houses with the flask and exact death by hope.' 'A Genius scarcely witness to his own festival.' 'Or the threads of a slender taper and crackling meal.' 'Mother or wife dress the hearth.'"},{"ref":"Letter 114.6","orig":"Non statim cum haec legeris hoc tibi occurret, hunc esse qui solutis tunicis in urbe semper incesserit (nam etiam cum absentis Caesaris partibus fungeretur, signum a discincto petebatur); hunc esse qui in tribunali, in rostris, in omni publico coetu sic apparuerit ut pallio velaretur caput exclusis utrimque auribus, non aliter quam in mimo fugitivi divitis solent; hunc esse cui tunc maxime civilibus bellis strepentibus et sollicita urbe et armata comitatus hic fuerit in publico, spadones duo, magis tamen viri quam ipse; hunc esse qui uxorem milliens duxit, cum unam habuerit?","en":"When you read this, will it not strike you at once that this is the man who always walked about the city with his tunic unbelted (for even when he was acting for Caesar in his absence, the watchword was sought from a man with his clothes undone); that this is the man who appeared on the tribunal, on the speaker's platform, at every public gathering, with his head wrapped in a cloak so that only his ears stuck out on either side, just like the rich man's runaway slaves in a farce; that this is the man who, at the very time when civil wars were raging and the city was anxious and in arms, went about in public escorted by two eunuchs, who were more men than he was; that this is the man who married his wife a thousand times, though he had only one?"},{"ref":"Letter 114.7–8","orig":"Haec verba tam inprobe structa, tam neglegenter abiecta, tam contra consuetudinem omnium posita ostendunt mores quoque non minus novos et pravos et singulares fuisse. Maxima laus illi tribuitur mansuetudinis: pepercit gladio, sanguine abstinuit, nec ulla alia re quid posset quam licentia ostendit. Hanc ipsam laudem suam corrupit istis orationis portentosissimae delicis; apparet enim mollem fuisse, non mitem. Hoc istae ambages compositionis, hoc verba transversa, hoc sensus miri, magni quidem saepe sed enervati dum exeunt, cuivis manifestum facient: motum illi felicitate nimia caput. Quod vitium hominis esse interdum, interdum temporis solet.","en":"These words, so badly put together, so carelessly thrown down, so contrary to everyone's usage, show that his character too was no less strange, perverse and eccentric. He is given the highest praise for his mildness: he spared the sword, kept away from bloodshed, and showed his power in nothing except his licence. He spoiled this very praise by the affectations of his utterly monstrous style; for it is clear that he was soft, not gentle. His roundabout word order, his words turned inside out, his strange thoughts, often great but losing their strength on the way out, will make it clear to anyone that his head was turned by too much good fortune. This fault is sometimes the man's, sometimes the age's."},{"ref":"Letter 114.9–10","orig":"Ubi luxuriam late felicitas fudit, cultus primum corporum esse diligentior incipit; deinde supellectili laboratur; deinde in ipsas domos inpenditur cura ut in laxitatem ruris excurrant, ut parietes advectis trans maria marmoribus fulgeant, ut tecta varientur auro, ut lacunaribus pavimentorum respondeat nitor; deinde ad cenas lautitia transfertur et illic commendatio ex novitate et soliti ordinis commutatione captatur, ut ea quae includere solent cenam prima ponantur, ut quae advenientibus dabantur exeuntibus dentur. Cum adsuevit animus fastidire quae ex more sunt et illi pro sordidis solita sunt, etiam in oratione quod novum est quaerit et modo antiqua verba atque exoleta revocat ac profert, modo fingit et ignota ac deflectit, modo, id quod nuper increbruit, pro cultu habetur audax translatio ac frequens.","en":"When prosperity has spread luxury far and wide, people first begin to take more care over their bodily appearance; next they work at their furniture; next they spend their care on their very houses, so that they sprawl out to the size of an estate, so that their walls gleam with marble brought from across the seas, so that their roofs are picked out in gold, so that the gleam of the floors matches the panelled ceilings; next elegance moves on to dinners, and there distinction is sought through novelty and by changing the usual order, so that what usually closes a dinner is served first, and what used to be given to arriving guests is given to departing ones. When the mind has grown used to disdaining what is customary, and the usual seems mean to it, it looks for novelty in speech too: at one moment it calls back and brings out old and obsolete words, at another it invents unknown ones and twists them, at another, as has lately become common, bold and frequent metaphor is taken for refinement."},{"ref":"Letter 114.11","orig":"Sunt qui sensus praecidant et hoc gratiam sperent, si sententia pependerit et audienti suspicionem sui fecerit; sunt qui illos detineant et porrigant; sunt qui non usque ad vitium accedant (necesse est enim hoc facere aliquid grande temptanti) sed qui ipsum vitium ament. Itaque ubicumque videris orationem corruptam placere, ibi mores quoque a recto descivisse non erit dubium. Quomodo conviviorum luxuria, quomodo vestium aegrae civitatis indicia sunt, sic orationis licentia, si modo frequens est, ostendit animos quoque a quibus verba exeunt procidisse.","en":"Some cut their thoughts short and hope to win favour if the sentence is left hanging and makes the hearer guess its meaning; some drag them out and stretch them; some do not merely approach a fault (for anyone attempting something grand must do that) but love the fault itself. So wherever you see a corrupt style winning approval, there will be no doubt that morals too have departed from what is right. Just as luxury in banquets and in dress is a sign of a sick city, so licence in speech, if it is widespread, shows that the minds from which the words come have also collapsed."},{"ref":"Letter 114.12","orig":"Mirari quidem non debes corrupta excipi non tantum a corona sordidiore sed ab hac quoque turba cultiore; togis enim inter se isti, non iudicis distant. Hoc magis mirari potes, quod non tantum vitiosa sed vitia laudentur. Nam illud semper factum est: nullum sine venia placuit ingenium. Da mihi quemcumque vis magni nominis virum: dicam quid illi aetas sua ignoverit, quid in illo sciens dissimulaverit. Multos tibi dabo quibus vitia non nocuerint, quosdam quibus profuerint. Dabo, inquam, maximae famae et inter admiranda propositos, quos si quis corrigit, delet; sic enim vitia virtutibus inmixta sunt ut illas secum tractura sint.","en":"You should not be surprised that corrupt speech is welcomed not only by the shabbier crowd of bystanders but also by this more cultivated throng; for these people differ from each other in their togas, not in their judgment. You may rather be surprised that not only faulty works but the faults themselves are praised. For this has always happened: no talent has pleased without being pardoned for something. Give me any man of great name you like: I will tell you what his own age forgave him, what it knowingly overlooked in him. I will give you many whose faults did them no harm, and some whom their faults helped. I will give you, I say, men of the greatest fame, held up as objects of admiration, whom anyone who corrects will destroy; for their faults are so mixed with their virtues that they would drag the virtues away with them."},{"ref":"Letter 114.13–14","orig":"Adice nunc quod oratio certam regulam non habet: consuetudo illam civitatis, quae numquam in eodem diu stetit, versat. Multi ex alieno saeculo petunt verba, duodecim tabulas loquuntur; Gracchus illis et Crassus et Curio nimis culti et recentes sunt, ad Appium usque et Coruncanium redeunt. Quidam contra, dum nihil nisi tritum et usitatum volunt, in sordes incidunt. Utrumque diverso genere corruptum est, tam mehercules quam nolle nisi splendidis uti ac sonantibus et poeticis, necessaria atque in usu posita vitare. Tam hunc dicam peccare quam illum: alter se plus iusto colit, alter plus iusto neglegit; ille et crura, hic ne alas quidem vellit.","en":"Add now that style has no fixed rule: the usage of the city, which never stays the same for long, keeps changing it. Many seek words from another age and talk the language of the Twelve Tables; to them Gracchus, Crassus and Curio are too polished and modern, and they go back as far as Appius and Coruncanius. Others, on the contrary, want nothing but what is worn and familiar, and fall into vulgarity. Both are corrupt, in different ways, just as much, by Hercules, as it is to refuse to use any words but splendid, sonorous and poetic ones and to avoid those that are necessary and in common use. I would say the one errs as much as the other: one grooms himself more than is proper, the other neglects himself more than is proper; the first plucks even his legs, the second not even his armpits."},{"ref":"Letter 114.15–16","orig":"Ad compositionem transeamus. Quot genera tibi in hac dabo quibus peccetur? Quidam praefractam et asperam probant; disturbant de industria si quid placidius effluxit; nolunt sine salebra esse iuncturam; virilem putant et fortem quae aurem inaequalitate percutiat. Quorundam non est compositio, modulatio est; adeo blanditur et molliter labitur. Quid de illa loquar in qua verba differuntur et diu expectata vix ad clausulas redeunt? Quid illa in exitu lenta, qualis Ciceronis est, devexa et molliter detinens nec aliter quam solet ad morem suum pedemque respondens? Non tantum * * * in genere sententiarum vitium est, si aut pusillae sunt et pueriles aut inprobae et plus ausae quam pudore salvo licet, si floridae sunt et nimis dulces, si in vanum exeunt et sine effectu nihil amplius quam sonant.","en":"Let us move on to arrangement. How many kinds of fault shall I show you in it? Some approve of an abrupt and rough arrangement; they deliberately break up anything that has flowed out too smoothly; they want no joint without a jolt; they think an arrangement manly and strong if it strikes the ear with its unevenness. With some it is not arrangement but melody, so much does it fawn and glide softly along. What shall I say of the kind in which words are held back and, long awaited, barely come round at the end of the sentence? Or of the kind that is slow at its close, like Cicero's, sloping gently down and softly lingering, and always ending in its usual manner and rhythm? Not only [...] there is fault in the kind of thoughts, too, if they are petty and childish, or shameless and more daring than modesty allows, if they are flowery and too sweet, if they end in emptiness and achieve nothing beyond their sound."},{"ref":"Letter 114.17–18","orig":"Haec vitia unus aliquis inducit, sub quo tunc eloquentia est, ceteri imitantur et alter alteri tradunt. Sic Sallustio vigente anputatae sententiae et verba ante expectatum cadentia et obscura brevitas fuere pro cultu. L. Arruntius, vir rarae frugalitatis, qui historias belli Punici scripsit, fuit Sallustianus et in illud genus nitens. Est apud Sallustium 'exercitum argento fecit', id est, pecunia paravit. Hoc Arruntius amare coepit; posuit illud omnibus paginis. Dicit quodam loco 'fugam nostris fecere', alio loco 'Hiero rex Syracusanorum bellum fecit', et alio loco 'quae audita Panhormitanos dedere Romanis fecere'. Gustum tibi dare volui: totus his contexitur liber. Quae apud Sallustium rara fuerunt apud hunc crebra sunt et paene continua, nec sine causa; ille enim in haec incidebat, at hic illa quaerebat. Vides autem quid sequatur ubi alicui vitium pro exemplo est.","en":"One man introduces these faults, someone who dominates eloquence at the time; the rest imitate him and pass them on to one another. So when Sallust was in vogue, clipped sentences, words falling before you expected them, and obscure brevity passed for refinement. Lucius Arruntius, a man of rare frugality, who wrote histories of the Punic War, was a follower of Sallust and strove for that style. In Sallust there is the phrase 'he made an army with silver', meaning he raised one with money. Arruntius fell in love with this; he put it on every page. In one place he says 'they made a flight for our men', in another 'Hiero, king of the Syracusans, made war', and in another 'this news made the people of Panormus surrender to the Romans'. I wanted to give you a taste: the whole book is woven out of these. What was rare in Sallust is frequent and almost continuous in him, and not without reason; for Sallust fell into these phrases, while Arruntius went looking for them. You see what follows when someone takes a fault as a model."},{"ref":"Letter 114.19–20","orig":"Dixit Sallustius 'aquis hiemantibus'. Arruntius in primo libro belli Punici ait 'repente hiemavit tempestas', et alio loco cum dicere vellet frigidum annum fuisse ait 'totus hiemavit annus', et alio loco 'inde sexaginta onerarias leves praeter militem et necessarios nautarum hiemante aquilone misit'. Non desinit omnibus locis hoc verbum infulcire. Quodam loco dicit Sallustius 'dum inter arma civilia aequi bonique famas petit'. Arruntius non temperavit quominus primo statim libro poneret ingentes esse 'famas' de Regulo. Haec ergo et eiusmodi vitia, quae alicui inpressit imitatio, non sunt indicia luxuriae nec animi corrupti; propria enim esse debent et ex ipso nata ex quibus tu aestimes alicuius adfectus: iracundi hominis iracunda oratio est, commoti nimis incitata, delicati tenera et fluxa.","en":"Sallust said 'with waters wintering'. Arruntius in the first book of his Punic War says 'suddenly the weather wintered', and elsewhere, wanting to say that the year had been cold, he says 'the whole year wintered', and elsewhere 'from there he sent sixty cargo ships, lightly laden apart from the soldiers and the sailors' necessities, with the north wind wintering'. He never stops stuffing this word in everywhere. In one place Sallust says 'while amid civil war he sought reputations for justice and goodness'. Arruntius could not stop himself from writing, in his very first book, that there were huge 'reputations' about Regulus. These and similar faults, then, which imitation has stamped on someone, are not signs of luxury or of a corrupt mind; for the faults by which you judge someone's feelings must be his own and born from within him: an angry man's speech is angry, an agitated man's too excited, a dainty man's soft and loose."},{"ref":"Letter 114.21–22","orig":"Quod vides istos sequi qui aut vellunt barbam aut intervellunt, qui labra pressius tondent et adradunt servata et summissa cetera parte, qui lacernas coloris inprobi sumunt, qui perlucentem togam, qui nolunt facere quicquam quod hominum oculis transire liceat: inritant illos et in se avertunt, volunt vel reprehendi dum conspici. Talis est oratio Maecenatis omniumque aliorum qui non casu errant sed scientes volentesque. Hoc a magno animi malo oritur: quomodo in vino non ante lingua titubat quam mens cessit oneri et inclinata vel prodita est, ita ista orationis quid aliud quam ebrietas nulli molesta est nisi animus labat. Ideo ille curetur: ab illo sensus, ab illo verba exeunt, ab illo nobis est habitus, vultus, incessus. Illo sano ac valente oratio quoque robusta, fortis, virilis est: si ille procubuit, et cetera ruinam sequuntur.","en":"You see this in those who pluck out their beards or pluck them in patches, who clip and shave their lips closely while keeping the rest of the hair and letting it grow, who wear cloaks of an outrageous colour and togas you can see through, who refuse to do anything that might escape people's notice: they provoke people's eyes and draw them to themselves, and they would rather be criticised as long as they are noticed. Such is the style of Maecenas and of all others who err not by accident but knowingly and deliberately. This arises from a great sickness of the mind: just as with wine the tongue does not stumble until the mind has given way under the load and has been bent or betrayed, so this style, which is nothing but a kind of drunkenness, troubles no one unless the mind is tottering. So the mind should be cured: from it come our thoughts, from it our words, from it our bearing, our expression, our walk. When it is sound and strong, our speech too is vigorous, brave and manly: if it has collapsed, everything else follows it into ruin."},{"ref":"Letter 114.23–24","orig":"Rege incolumi mens omnibus una est:\namisso rupere fidem.\nRex noster est animus; hoc incolumi cetera manent in officio, parent, obtemperant: cum ille paulum vacillavit, simul dubitant. Cum vero cessit voluptati, artes quoque eius actusque marcent et omnis ex languido fluidoque conatus est. Quoniam hac similitudine usus sum, perseverabo. Animus noster modo rex est, modo tyrannus: rex cum honesta intuetur, salutem commissi sibi corporis curat et illi nihil imperat turpe, nihil sordidum; ubi vero inpotens, cupidus, delicatus est, transit in nomen detestabile ac dirum et fit tyrannus. Tunc illum excipiunt adfectus inpotentes et instant; qui initio quidem gaudet, ut solet populus largitione nocitura frustra plenus et quae non potest haurire contrectans;","en":"While the king is safe, all are of one mind:\nwhen he is lost, they break their faith.\nOur mind is our king; while it is safe, everything else stays at its post, obeys and complies: when it wavers a little, the rest waver with it. And when it has given way to pleasure, its skills and actions also grow limp, and every effort comes from something languid and slack. Since I have used this comparison, I will keep to it. Our mind is sometimes a king, sometimes a tyrant: a king when it looks to what is honourable, cares for the well-being of the body entrusted to it, and orders it to do nothing shameful, nothing base; but when it is uncontrolled, greedy and pampered, it passes into that hateful and dreadful name and becomes a tyrant. Then uncontrolled passions take hold of it and press it hard; at first it is glad of them, as the people usually are when they are glutted to no purpose with a harmful handout and paw at what they cannot swallow;"},{"ref":"Letter 114.25","orig":"cum vero magis ac magis vires morbus exedit et in medullas nervosque descendere deliciae, conspectu eorum quibus se nimia aviditate inutilem reddidit laetus, pro suis voluptatibus habet alienarum spectaculum, sumministrator libidinum testisque, quarum usum sibi ingerendo abstulit. Nec illi tam gratum est abundare iucundis quam acerbum quod non omnem illum apparatum per gulam ventremque transmittit, quod non cum omni exoletorum feminarumque turba convolutatur, maeretque quod magna pars suae felicitatis exclusa corporis angustiis cessat.","en":"but when the disease has eaten away its strength more and more, and the pleasures have gone down into its marrow and sinews, it is pleased at the sight of the things it has made itself unfit for through excessive greed, and in place of its own pleasures it has the spectacle of other people's; it becomes the supplier and witness of lusts whose enjoyment it has taken from itself by overloading itself. It is not so much pleased at having plenty of delights as pained that it cannot pass all that feast through its gullet and belly, that it cannot roll around with the whole crowd of male and female prostitutes, and it grieves that a large part of its good fortune lies idle, shut out by the narrow limits of the body."},{"ref":"Letter 114.26–27","orig":"Numquid enim, mi Lucili, non in hoc furor est, quod nemo nostrum mortalem se cogitat, quod nemo inbecillum? immo quod nemo nostrum unum esse se cogitat? Aspice culinas nostras et concursantis inter tot ignes cocos: unum videri putas ventrem cui tanto tumultu comparatur cibus? Aspice veteraria nostra et plena multorum saeculorum vindemiis horrea: unum putas videri ventrem cui tot consulum regionumque vina cluduntur? Aspice quot locis terra vertatur, quot millia colonorum arent, fodiant: unum videri putas ventrem cui et in Sicilia et in Africa seritur? Sani erimus et modica concupiscemus si unusquisque se numeret, metiatur simul corpus, sciat quam nec multum capere nec diu possit. Nihil tamen aeque tibi profuerit ad temperantiam omnium rerum quam frequens cogitatio brevis aevi et huius incerti: quidquid facies, respice ad mortem. Vale.","en":"For is it not madness, my Lucilius, that none of us thinks himself mortal, none thinks himself weak? Or rather, that none of us thinks he is only one? Look at our kitchens and the cooks running about among so many fires: do you think it is a single belly for which food is prepared with such commotion? Look at our cellars and storerooms full of the vintages of many generations: do you think it is a single belly for which the wines of so many consuls and regions are stored up? Look at how many places the soil is turned, how many thousands of farmers plough and dig: do you think it is a single belly for which crops are sown in Sicily and in Africa? We will be healthy and desire moderate things if each of us counts himself as one, and at the same time measures his body, and knows how little it can hold and for how short a time. Yet nothing will help you so much towards self-control in all things as often thinking about how short life is, and how uncertain: whatever you do, keep your eye on death. Farewell."}],"115":[{"ref":"Letter 115.1–2","orig":"Nimis anxium esse te circa verba et compositionem, mi Lucili, nolo: habeo maiora quae cures. Quaere quid scribas, non quemadmodum; et hoc ipsum non ut scribas sed ut sentias, ut illa quae senseris magis adplices tibi et velut signes. Cuiuscumque orationem videris sollicitam et politam, scito animum quoque non minus esse pusillis occupatum. Magnus ille remissius loquitur et securius; quaecumque dicit plus habent fiduciae quam curae. Nosti comptulos iuvenes, barba et coma nitidos, de capsula totos: nihil ab illis speraveris forte, nihil solidum. Oratio cultus animi est: si circumtonsa est et fucata et manu facta, ostendit illum quoque non esse sincerum et habere aliquid fracti. Non est ornamentum virile concinnitas.","en":"I do not want you to be too anxious about words and their arrangement, my Lucilius: I have greater things for you to care about. Look for what to write, not how; and even that not in order to write it but to feel it, so that you may apply what you have felt more closely to yourself and, as it were, set your seal on it. Whenever you see someone's style anxious and polished, know that his mind too is no less busy with trifles. A great mind speaks in a more relaxed and unworried way; whatever it says has more confidence than care. You know those dandyish young men, their beards and hair gleaming, fresh out of a bandbox: you should expect nothing strong from them, nothing solid. Speech is the dress of the mind: if it is clipped, painted and artificial, it shows that the mind too is not genuine and has something broken in it. Prettiness is not a manly adornment."},{"ref":"Letter 115.3","orig":"Si nobis animum boni viri liceret inspicere, o quam pulchram faciem, quam sanctam, quam ex magnifico placidoque fulgentem videremus, hinc iustitia, illinc fortitudine, hinc temperantia prudentiaque lucentibus! Praeter has frugalitas et continentia et tolerantia et liberalitas comitasque et (quis credat?) in homine rarum humanitas bonum splendorem illi suum adfunderent. Tunc providentia cum elegantia et ex istis magnanimitas eminentissima quantum, di boni, decoris illi, quantum ponderis gravitatisque adderent! quanta esset cum gratia auctoritas! Nemo illam amabilem qui non simul venerabilem diceret.","en":"If we could look into a good man's mind, oh what a beautiful face we would see, how holy, how radiant with grandeur and calm, with justice shining on one side, courage on another, self-control and prudence on another! Besides these, thrift and restraint and endurance and generosity and friendliness and (who would believe it?) kindness, a rare good in a human being, would pour their own brightness over it. Then foresight together with good taste, and, arising from these, the most outstanding greatness of soul: how much beauty, good gods, how much weight and dignity they would add to it! How much authority there would be, combined with charm! No one would call it lovable without also calling it worthy of reverence."},{"ref":"Letter 115.4–5","orig":"Si quis viderit hanc faciem altiorem fulgentioremque quam cerni inter humana consuevit, nonne velut numinis occursu obstupefactus resistat et ut fas sit vidisse tacitus precetur, tum evocante ipsa vultus benignitate productus adoret ac supplicet, et diu contemplatus multum extantem superque mensuram solitorum inter nos aspici elatam, oculis mite quiddam sed nihilominus vivido igne flagrantibus, tunc deinde illam Vergili nostri vocem verens atque attonitus emittat?\nO quam te memorem, virgo? namque haut tibi vultus\nmortalis nec vox hominem sonat...\nsis felix nostrumque leves quaecumque laborem.\nAderit levabitque, si colere eam voluerimus. Colitur autem non taurorum opimis corporibus contrucidatis nec auro argentoque suspenso nec in thensauros stipe infusa, sed pia et recta voluntate.","en":"If anyone saw this face, loftier and more radiant than is usually seen among human things, would he not stop, dumbstruck as if he had met a god, and pray silently that it be lawful to have seen it? Then, drawn on by the very kindness of its expression inviting him, would he not worship and beseech it; and after gazing long at it, towering high and raised above the measure of what we usually see among us, its eyes gentle yet burning with a lively fire, would he not then, full of awe and amazement, utter that line of our Virgil?\nO maiden, how shall I name you? For your face\nis not mortal, nor does your voice sound human...\nBe gracious, whoever you are, and lighten our toil.\nShe will be present and will lighten it, if we are willing to worship her. And she is worshipped not by slaughtering the fat bodies of bulls, nor by hanging up offerings of gold and silver, nor by pouring coins into temple treasuries, but by a devout and upright will."},{"ref":"Letter 115.6–7","orig":"Nemo, inquam, non amore eius arderet si nobis illam videre contingeret; nunc enim multa obstrigillant et aciem nostram aut splendore nimio repercutiunt aut obscuritate retinent. Sed si, quemadmodum visus oculorum quibusdam medicamentis acui solet et repurgari, sic nos aciem animi liberare inpedimentis voluerimus, poterimus perspicere virtutem etiam obrutam corpore, etiam paupertate opposita, etiam humilitate et infamia obiacentibus; cernemus, inquam, pulchritudinem illam quamvis sordido obtectam. Rursus aeque malitiam et aerumnosi animi veternum perspiciemus, quamvis multus circa divitiarum radiantium splendor inpediat et intuentem hinc honorum, illinc magnarum potestatium falsa lux verberet.","en":"No one, I say, would fail to burn with love for her if we were allowed to see her; as it is, many things get in the way and either dazzle our sight with too much brightness or hold it back in darkness. But if, just as the eyesight can be sharpened and cleared by certain medicines, we are willing to free the sight of our mind from its obstacles, we will be able to see virtue even when it is buried in a body, even when poverty stands in the way, even when lowliness and disgrace lie across its path; we will see, I say, that beauty even though it is covered in squalor. On the other hand, we will equally see wickedness and the sluggishness of a wretched mind, however much the great glare of glittering riches around it gets in the way, and the false light of honours on one side and of great powers on the other beats on the eyes of the observer."},{"ref":"Letter 115.8","orig":"Tunc intellegere nobis licebit quam contemnenda miremur, simillimi pueris, quibus omne ludicrum in pretio est; parentibus quippe nec minus fratribus praeferunt parvo aere empta monilia. Quid ergo inter nos et illos interest, ut Ariston ait, nisi quod nos circa tabulas et statuas insanimus, carius inepti? Illos reperti in litore calculi leves et aliquid habentes varietatis delectant, nos ingentium maculae columnarum, sive ex Aegyptiis harenis sive ex Africae solitudinibus advectae porticum aliquam vel capacem populi cenationem ferunt.","en":"Then we will be able to understand how contemptible the things we admire are; we are just like children, to whom every toy is precious; indeed they prefer necklaces bought for a few coins to their parents, and to their brothers too. So what difference is there between us and them, as Ariston says, except that we go mad over paintings and statues, and are more expensively foolish? They are delighted by smooth pebbles found on the beach that have some variety of colour; we by the veins of huge columns, brought either from the Egyptian sands or the African deserts, that hold up some colonnade or a dining hall big enough for a crowd."},{"ref":"Letter 115.9–10","orig":"Miramur parietes tenui marmore inductos, cum sciamus quale sit quod absconditur. Oculis nostris inponimus, et cum auro tecta perfudimus, quid aliud quam mendacio gaudemus? Scimus enim sub illo auro foeda ligna latitare. Nec tantum parietibus aut lacunaribus ornamentum tenue praetenditur: omnium istorum quos incedere altos vides bratteata felicitas est. Inspice, et scies sub ista tenui membrana dignitatis quantum mali iaceat. Haec ipsa res quae tot magistratus, tot iudices detinet, quae et magistratus et iudices facit, pecunia, ex quo in honore esse coepit, verus rerum honor cecidit, mercatoresque et venales in vicem facti quaerimus non quale sit quidque sed quanti; ad mercedem pii sumus, ad mercedem impii, et honesta quamdiu aliqua illis spes inest sequimur, in contrarium transituri si plus scelera promittent.","en":"We admire walls faced with a thin layer of marble, though we know what is hidden beneath. We deceive our own eyes, and when we have covered our ceilings with gold, what do we rejoice in but a lie? For we know that ugly wood lurks under that gold. And it is not only walls and ceilings that are given a thin veneer: all those you see strutting about with heads held high have a gold-leaf happiness. Look beneath, and you will know how much evil lies under that thin skin of rank. This very thing that occupies so many magistrates and judges, that makes both magistrates and judges, money: from the moment it began to be honoured, the true honour of things fell, and becoming merchants and merchandise by turns, we ask not what a thing is like but what it costs. We are dutiful for pay and undutiful for pay, and we follow the honourable as long as there is some hope of gain in it, ready to cross to the opposite side if crime promises more."},{"ref":"Letter 115.11–13","orig":"Admirationem nobis parentes auri argentique fecerunt, et teneris infusa cupiditas altius sedit crevitque nobiscum. Deinde totus populus in alia discors in hoc convenit: hoc suspiciunt, hoc suis optant, hoc dis velut rerum humanarum maximum, cum grati videri volunt, consecrant. Denique eo mores redacti sunt ut paupertas maledicto probroque sit, contempta divitibus, invisa pauperibus. Accedunt deinde carmina poetarum, quae adfectibus nostris facem subdant, quibus divitiae velut unicum vitae decus ornamentumque laudantur. Nihil illis melius nec dare videntur di inmortales posse nec habere.\nRegia Solis erat sublimibus alta columnis,\nclara micante auro.\nEiusdem currum aspice:\nAureus axis erat, temo aureus, aurea summae\ncurvatura rotae, radiorum argenteus ordo.\nDenique quod optimum videri volunt saeculum aureum appellant.","en":"Our parents made us admire gold and silver, and the greed poured into us when we were young has settled deep and grown up with us. Then the whole people, divided about everything else, agrees about this: this is what they look up to, this is what they wish for their families, this is what they dedicate to the gods as the greatest of human things, when they want to seem grateful. In the end morals have been brought so low that poverty is a curse and a disgrace, despised by the rich and hated by the poor. Then come the songs of the poets, setting a torch to our passions, in which riches are praised as the one glory and adornment of life. The immortal gods seem to them unable to give or to have anything better.\nThe palace of the Sun stood high on lofty columns,\nbright with flashing gold.\nLook at his chariot:\nGolden the axle, golden the pole, golden the curving rims\nof the wheels, and a row of silver spokes.\nFinally, the age they want to seem best of all they call golden."},{"ref":"Letter 115.14–15","orig":"Nec apud Graecos tragicos desunt qui lucro innocentiam, salutem, opinionem bonam mutent.\nSine me vocari pessimum, ut dives vocer.\nAn dives omnes quaerimus, nemo an bonus.\nNon quare et unde, quid habeas tantum rogant.\nUbique tanti quisque, quantum habuit, fuit.\nQuid habere nobis turpe sit quaeris? nihil.\nAut dives opto vivere aut pauper mori.\nBene moritur quisquis moritur dum lucrum facit.\nPecunia, ingens generis humani bonum,\ncui non voluptas matris aut blandae potest\npar esse prolis, non sacer meritis parens;\ntam dulce si quid Veneris in vultu micat,\nmerito illa amores caelitum atque hominum movet.\nCum hi novissimi versus in tragoedia Euripidis pronuntiati essent, totus populus ad eiciendum et actorem et carmen consurrexit uno impetu, donec Euripides in medium ipse prosilivit petens ut expectarent viderentque quem admirator auri exitum faceret. Dabat in illa fabula poenas Bellerophontes quas in sua quisque dat.","en":"Nor are there lacking among the Greek tragedians characters who would exchange innocence, safety and good name for profit.\nLet me be called the worst, so long as I am called rich.\nWe all ask whether a man is rich, no one whether he is good.\nThey do not ask why or from where, only how much you have.\nEverywhere each man has been worth as much as he had.\nDo you ask what it is shameful for us to have? Nothing.\nI wish to live rich, or else to die poor.\nHe dies well who dies while making a profit.\nMoney, the great good of the human race,\nwhich neither the pleasure of a mother can equal,\nnor of sweet children, nor a father revered for his services;\nif Venus's face has any such sweetness in its sparkle,\nshe rightly stirs the love of gods and men.\nWhen these last lines were spoken in a tragedy of Euripides, the whole audience rose up with one impulse to throw out both the actor and the play, until Euripides himself leapt into their midst and asked them to wait and see what end this admirer of gold would come to. In that play Bellerophon paid the penalty that everyone pays in his own drama."},{"ref":"Letter 115.16","orig":"Nulla enim avaritia sine poena est, quamvis satis sit ipsa poenarum. O quantum lacrimarum, quantum laborum exigit! quam misera desideratis, quam misera partis est! Adice cotidianas sollicitudines quae pro modo habendi quemque discruciant. Maiore tormento pecunia possidetur quam quaeritur. Quantum damnis ingemescunt, quae et magna incidunt et videntur maiora. Denique ut illis fortuna nihil detrahat, quidquid non adquiritur damnum est.","en":"For no greed is without punishment, although it is punishment enough in itself. Oh, how many tears, how much toil it demands! How wretched it is in what it longs for, how wretched in what it has gained! Add the daily worries that torment each person in proportion to what he has. Money is possessed with greater torment than it is sought. How people groan over their losses, which are great when they happen and seem even greater! Finally, even if fortune takes nothing from them, whatever they do not gain counts as a loss."},{"ref":"Letter 115.17","orig":"'At felicem illum homines et divitem vocant et consequi optant quantum ille possidet.' Fateor. Quid ergo? tu ullos esse condicionis peioris existimas quam qui habent et miseriam et invidiam? Utinam qui divitias optaturi essent cum divitibus deliberarent; utinam honores petituri cum ambitiosis et summum adeptis dignitatis statum! Profecto vota mutassent, cum interim illi nova suscipiunt cum priora damnaverint. Nemo enim est cui felicitas sua, etiam si cursu venit, satis faciat; queruntur et de consiliis et de processibus suis maluntque semper quae reliquerunt.","en":"'But people call that man happy and rich, and pray to get as much as he owns.' I admit it. What then? Do you think anyone is in a worse state than those who have both misery and envy? If only those about to pray for riches would consult the rich; if only those about to seek office would consult the ambitious and those who have reached the highest rank! They would surely have changed their prayers, while all the while those people are taking up new prayers after condemning their earlier ones. For there is no one whose good fortune satisfies him, even if it has come at a run; they complain about their plans and their progress, and always prefer what they have left behind."},{"ref":"Letter 115.18","orig":"Itaque hoc tibi philosophia praestabit, quo equidem nihil maius existimo: numquam te paenitebit tui. Ad hanc tam solidam felicitatem, quam tempestas nulla concutiat, non perducent te apte verba contexta et oratio fluens leniter: eant ut volent, dum animo compositio sua constet, dum sit magnus et opinionum securus et ob ipsa quae aliis displicent sibi placens, qui profectum suum vita aestimet et tantum scire se iudicet quantum non cupit, quantum non timet. Vale.","en":"So philosophy will give you this, and I think nothing is greater: you will never regret being yourself. To this happiness, so solid that no storm can shake it, you will not be brought by neatly woven words and smoothly flowing speech: let the words go as they will, provided the mind keeps its own composure, provided it is great and unconcerned with opinions, and pleased with itself because of the very things that displease others, measuring its progress by its life and judging that it knows only as much as it does not desire and does not fear. Farewell."}],"116":[{"ref":"Letter 116.1","orig":"Utrum satius sit modicos habere adfectus an nullos saepe quaesitum est. Nostri illos expellunt, Peripatetici temperant. Ego non video quomodo salubris esse aut utilis possit ulla mediocritas morbi. Noli timere: nihil eorum quae tibi non vis negari eripio. Facilem me indulgentemque praebebo rebus ad quas tendis et quas aut necessarias vitae aut utiles aut iucundas putas: detraham vitium. Nam cum tibi cupere interdixero, velle permittam, ut eadem illa intrepidus facias, ut certiore consilio, ut voluptates ipsas magis sentias: quidni ad te magis perventurae sint si illis imperabis quam si servies?","en":"It has often been asked whether it is better to have moderate passions or none. Our school drives them out; the Peripatetics moderate them. I do not see how any moderate amount of a disease can be healthy or useful. Do not be afraid: I am not taking away any of the things you do not want to be refused. I will be easygoing and indulgent towards the things you aim at and consider necessary, useful or pleasant in life: I will remove the vice. For when I have forbidden you to crave, I will allow you to want, so that you may do those same things without fear, with more reliable judgment, and feel the pleasures themselves more: why should they not reach you more fully if you command them than if you are their slave?"},{"ref":"Letter 116.2–3","orig":"'Sed naturale est' inquis 'ut desiderio amici torquear: da ius lacrimis tam iuste cadentibus. Naturale est opinionibus hominum tangi et adversis contristari: quare mihi non permittas hunc tam honestum malae opinionis metum?' Nullum est vitium sine patrocinio; nulli non initium verecundum est et exorabile, sed ab hoc latius funditur. Non obtinebis ut desinat si incipere permiseris. Inbecillus est primo omnis adfectus; deinde ipse se concitat et vires dum procedit parat: excluditur facilius quam expellitur. Quis negat omnis adfectus a quodam quasi naturali fluere principio? Curam nobis nostri natura mandavit, sed huic ubi nimium indulseris, vitium est. Voluptatem natura necessariis rebus admiscuit, non ut illam peteremus, sed ut ea sine quibus non possumus vivere gratiora nobis illius faceret accessio: suo veniat iure, luxuria est. Ergo intrantibus resistamus, quia facilius, ut dixi, non recipiuntur quam exeunt.","en":"'But it is natural,' you say, 'for me to be tormented by longing for a friend: grant me the right to tears that fall so justly. It is natural to be touched by people's opinions and saddened by bad ones: why would you not allow me this honourable fear of a bad reputation?' No vice lacks its defence; every vice begins modestly and is easily won over, but from there it spreads more widely. You will not manage to make it stop if you have allowed it to start. Every passion is weak at first; then it rouses itself and gathers strength as it advances: it is more easily kept out than thrown out. Who denies that all passions flow from a kind of natural origin? Nature has entrusted us with care for ourselves, but when you indulge this too much, it is a vice. Nature has mixed pleasure with necessary things, not so that we should seek it, but so that its addition should make the things we cannot live without more pleasant to us: let it come in on its own account, and it is luxury. So let us resist the passions as they come in, because, as I said, it is easier not to let them in than to get them out."},{"ref":"Letter 116.4–5","orig":"'Aliquatenus' inquis 'dolere, aliquatenus timere permitte.' Sed illud 'aliquatenus' longe producitur nec ubi vis accipit finem. Sapienti non sollicite custodire se tutum est, et lacrimas suas et voluptates ubi volet sistet: nobis, quia non est regredi facile, optimum est omnino non progredi. Eleganter mihi videtur Panaetius respondisse adulescentulo cuidam quaerenti an sapiens amaturus esset. 'De sapiente' inquit 'videbimus: mihi et tibi, qui adhuc a sapiente longe absumus, non est committendum ut incidamus in rem commotam, inpotentem, alteri emancupatam, vilem sibi. Sive enim nos respicit, humanitate eius inritamur, sive contempsit, superbia accendimur. Aeque facilitas amoris quam difficultas nocet: facilitate capimur, cum difficultate certamus. Itaque conscii nobis inbecillitatis nostrae quiescamus; nec vino infirmum animum committamus nec formae nec adulationi nec ullis rebus blande trahentibus.'","en":"'Let me grieve to some extent,' you say, 'and fear to some extent.' But that 'to some extent' stretches a long way and does not stop where you want it to. It is safe for the wise man not to keep an anxious watch on himself; he will halt his tears and his pleasures wherever he likes. For us, since it is not easy to turn back, it is best not to go forward at all. I think Panaetius gave a neat answer to a young man who asked whether the wise man would fall in love. 'As for the wise man,' he said, 'we shall see: you and I, who are still far from being wise, must not let ourselves fall into a state that is agitated, out of control, enslaved to another, and worthless in its own eyes. For if the one we love looks kindly on us, we are aroused by that kindness; if we are scorned, we are inflamed by the pride. Ease in love does as much harm as difficulty: we are captured by ease, and we struggle with difficulty. So, conscious of our weakness, let us keep quiet; let us not trust our weak mind to wine, or beauty, or flattery, or anything that seductively draws us on.'"},{"ref":"Letter 116.6–8","orig":"Quod Panaetius de amore quaerenti respondit, hoc ego de omnibus adfectibus dico: quantum possumus nos a lubrico recedamus; in sicco quoque parum fortiter stamus. Occurres hoc loco mihi illa publica contra Stoicos voce: 'nimis magna promittitis, nimis dura praecipitis. Nos homunciones sumus; omnia nobis negare non possumus. Dolebimus, sed parum; concupiscemus, sed temperate; irascemur, sed placabimur.' Scis quare non possimus ista? quia nos posse non credimus. Immo mehercules aliud est in re: vitia nostra quia amamus defendimus et malumus excusare illa quam excutere. Satis natura homini dedit roboris si illo utamur, si vires nostras colligamus ac totas pro nobis, certe non contra nos concitemus. Nolle in causa est, non posse praetenditur. Vale.","en":"What Panaetius answered to the question about love, I say about all the passions: let us step back as far as we can from slippery ground; even on dry land we do not stand very firmly. At this point you will confront me with that common complaint against the Stoics: 'You promise too much, you demand too much. We are poor little human beings; we cannot deny ourselves everything. We will grieve, but a little; we will desire, but moderately; we will get angry, but be appeased.' Do you know why we cannot do these things? Because we do not believe we can. No, by Hercules, the real reason is something else: we defend our vices because we love them, and we would rather excuse them than shake them off. Nature has given man enough strength, if we use it, if we gather our forces and rouse them all on our own behalf, and certainly not against ourselves. Unwillingness is the reason; inability is the excuse. Farewell."}],"117":[{"ref":"Letter 117.1–3","orig":"Multum mihi negotii concinnabis et, dum nescis, in magnam me litem ac molestiam inpinges, qui mihi tales quaestiunculas ponis, in quibus ego nec dissentire a nostris salva gratia nec consentire salva conscientia possum. Quaeris an verum sit quod Stoicis placet, sapientiam bonum esse, sapere bonum non esse. Primum exponam quid Stoicis videatur; deinde tunc dicere sententiam audebo. Placet nostris quod bonum est corpus esse, quia quod bonum est facit, quidquid facit corpus est. Quod bonum est prodest; faciat autem aliquid oportet ut prosit; si facit, corpus est. Sapientiam bonum esse dicunt; sequitur ut necesse sit illam corporalem quoque dicere. At sapere non putant eiusdem condicionis esse. Incorporale est et accidens alteri, id est sapientiae; itaque nec facit quicquam nec prodest. 'Quid ergo?' inquit 'non dicimus: bonum est sapere?' Dicimus referentes ad id ex quo pendet, id est ad ipsam sapientiam.","en":"You will stir up a lot of trouble for me and, without knowing it, land me in a great dispute and nuisance, by putting such little questions to me, in which I can neither disagree with our school without losing their goodwill nor agree with them without troubling my conscience. You ask whether the Stoic doctrine is true, that wisdom is a good, but being wise is not a good. First I will set out what the Stoics think; then I will venture to give my own opinion. Our school holds that what is good is a body, because what is good acts, and whatever acts is a body. What is good benefits; but it must do something in order to benefit; if it does something, it is a body. They say wisdom is a good; it follows that they must also call it bodily. But they do not think being wise has the same status. It is incorporeal and an attribute of something else, namely wisdom; so it neither does anything nor benefits. 'What then?' he says. 'Do we not say that being wise is good?' We do say it, referring it to that on which it depends, namely to wisdom itself."},{"ref":"Letter 117.4–5","orig":"Adversus hos quid ab aliis respondeatur audi, antequam ego incipio secedere et in alia parte considere. 'Isto modo' inquiunt 'nec beate vivere bonum est. Velint nolint, respondendum est beatam vitam bonum esse, beate vivere bonum non esse.' Etiamnunc nostris illud quoque opponitur: 'vultis sapere; ergo expetenda res est sapere; si expetenda res est, bona est'. Coguntur nostri verba torquere et unam syllabam expetendo interponere quam sermo noster inseri non sinit. Ego illam, si pateris, adiungam. 'Expetendum est' inquiunt 'quod bonum est, expetibile quod nobis contingit cum bonum consecuti sumus. Non petitur tamquam bonum, sed petito bono accedit.'","en":"Hear what others answer to them, before I begin to secede and take my seat on the other side. 'In that way,' they say, 'living happily is not a good either. Like it or not, they must answer that the happy life is a good, but living happily is not.' Our school also faces this objection: 'You want to be wise; so being wise is a thing to be sought; if it is to be sought, it is good.' Our people are forced to twist words and slip an extra syllable into the word 'to be sought', which our language does not allow. I will add it, if you will let me. 'What is good,' they say, 'is to be sought; what is seekable is what falls to us when we have attained the good. It is not sought as a good, but comes along with the good that is sought.'"},{"ref":"Letter 117.6","orig":"Ego non idem sentio et nostros iudico in hoc descendere quia iam primo vinculo tenentur et mutare illis formulam non licet. Multum dare solemus praesumptioni omnium hominum et apud nos veritatis argumentum est aliquid omnibus videri; tamquam deos esse inter alia hoc colligimus, quod omnibus insita de dis opinio est nec ulla gens usquam est adeo extra leges moresque proiecta ut non aliquos deos credat. Cum de animarum aeternitate disserimus, non leve momentum apud nos habet consensus hominum aut timentium inferos aut colentium. Utor hac publica persuasione: neminem invenies qui non putet et sapientiam bonum et sapere.","en":"I do not agree, and I think our people come down to this because they are already bound by the first link in the chain and are not allowed to change their formula. We usually give great weight to what all people presume, and among us it counts as proof of truth that something seems so to everyone. For example, we infer that the gods exist from, among other things, the fact that an opinion about the gods is implanted in everyone, and there is no nation anywhere so far cast out beyond laws and customs that it does not believe in some gods. When we discuss the immortality of souls, the agreement of mankind, whether they fear the underworld or worship it, carries no slight weight with us. I make use of this common conviction: you will find no one who does not think that both wisdom and being wise are good."},{"ref":"Letter 117.7","orig":"Non faciam quod victi solent, ut provocem ad populum: nostris incipiamus armis confligere. Quod accidit alicui, utrum extra id cui accidit est an in eo cui accidit? Si in eo est cui accidit, tam corpus est quam illud cui accidit. Nihil enim accidere sine tactu potest; quod tangit corpus est: nihil accidere sine actu potest; quod agit corpus est. Si extra est, postea quam acciderat recessit; quod recessit motum habet; quod motum habet corpus est.","en":"I will not do what the defeated usually do and appeal to the people: let us begin to fight with our own weapons. When something happens to someone, is it outside the one to whom it happens, or in him? If it is in the one to whom it happens, it is as much a body as he is. For nothing can happen without touch; what touches is a body. Nothing can happen without action; what acts is a body. If it is outside, it withdrew after it happened; what has withdrawn has movement; what has movement is a body."},{"ref":"Letter 117.8","orig":"Speras me dicturum non esse aliud cursum, aliud currere, nec aliud calorem, aliud calere, nec aliud lucem, aliud lucere: concedo ista alia esse, sed non sortis alterius. Si valetudo indifferens est, et bene valere indifferens est; si forma indifferens est, et formonsum esse. Si iustitia bonum est, et iustum esse; si turpitudo malum est, et turpem esse malum est, tam mehercules quam si lippitudo malum est, lippire quoque malum est. Hoc ut scias, neutrum esse sine altero potest: qui sapit sapiens est; qui sapiens est sapit. Adeo non potest dubitari an quale illud sit, tale hoc sit, ut quibusdam utrumque unum videatur atque idem.","en":"You expect me to say that a run is not one thing and running another, that heat is not one thing and being hot another, that light is not one thing and shining another: I grant that these are different, but not of a different class. If health is indifferent, being healthy is indifferent too; if beauty is indifferent, so is being beautiful. If justice is a good, so is being just; if baseness is an evil, being base is an evil too, just as, by Hercules, if eye disease is an evil, having sore eyes is also an evil. So that you may see this, neither can exist without the other: whoever is being wise is a wise man; whoever is a wise man is being wise. So little can it be doubted that the one is of the same character as the other that to some people they seem one and the same."},{"ref":"Letter 117.9–10","orig":"Sed illud libenter quaesierim, cum omnia aut mala sint aut bona aut indifferentia, sapere in quo numero sit? Bonum negant esse; malum utique non est; sequitur ut medium sit. Id autem medium atque indifferens vocamus quod tam malo contingere quam bono possit, tamquam pecunia, forma, nobilitas. Hoc, ut sapiat, contingere nisi bono non potest; ergo indifferens non est. Atqui ne malum quidem est, quod contingere malo non potest; ergo bonum est. Quod nisi bonus non habet bonum est; sapere non nisi bonus habet; ergo bonum est. 'Accidens est' inquit 'sapientiae.' Hoc ergo quod vocas sapere, utrum facit sapientiam an patitur? Sive facit illud sive patitur, utroque modo corpus est; nam et quod fit et quod facit corpus est. Si corpus est, bonum est; unum enim illi deerat quominus bonum esset, quod incorporale erat.","en":"But I would gladly ask this: since everything is either bad or good or indifferent, in which class is being wise? They deny that it is good; it is certainly not bad; it follows that it is intermediate. But we call intermediate and indifferent what can fall to a bad man as well as a good one, such as money, beauty, noble birth. Being wise can fall to no one but a good man; therefore it is not indifferent. Yet neither is it bad, since it cannot fall to a bad man; therefore it is good. What only the good man has is good; only the good man is wise; therefore being wise is good. 'It is an attribute of wisdom,' he says. Well then, this thing you call being wise: does it act on wisdom, or is it acted on? Whether it acts or is acted on, either way it is a body; for both what is acted on and what acts is a body. If it is a body, it is good; for the one thing that kept it from being good was that it was incorporeal."},{"ref":"Letter 117.11–12","orig":"Peripateticis placet nihil interesse inter sapientiam et sapere, cum in utrolibet eorum et alterum sit. Numquid enim quemquam existimas sapere nisi qui sapientiam habet? numquid quemquam qui sapit non putas habere sapientiam? Dialectici veteres ista distinguunt; ab illis divisio usque ad Stoicos venit. Qualis sit haec dicam. Aliud est ager, aliud agrum habere, quidni? cum habere agrum ad habentem, non ad agrum pertineat. Sic aliud est sapientia, aliud sapere. Puto, concedes duo esse haec, id quod habetur et eum qui habet: habetur sapientia, habet qui sapit. Sapientia est mens perfecta vel ad summum optimumque perducta; ars enim vitae est. Sapere quid est? non possum dicere 'mens perfecta', sed id quod contingit perfectam mentem habenti; ita alterum est mens bona, alterum quasi habere mentem bonam.","en":"The Peripatetics hold that there is no difference between wisdom and being wise, since each of them includes the other. For do you think anyone is wise except someone who has wisdom? Do you think anyone who is wise does not have wisdom? The old logicians distinguish them; from them the distinction came down to the Stoics. I will tell you what it is. A field is one thing, having a field another; of course, since having a field concerns the owner, not the field. So wisdom is one thing, being wise another. You will grant, I think, that these are two things, what is had and the one who has it: wisdom is had, and the one who is wise has it. Wisdom is the mind perfected, or brought to the highest and best state; for it is the art of living. What is being wise? I cannot call it 'the mind perfected', but rather what falls to the one who has a perfected mind; so the one is a good mind, the other, so to speak, the having of a good mind."},{"ref":"Letter 117.13","orig":"'Sunt' inquit 'naturae corporum, tamquam hic homo est, hic equus; has deinde sequuntur motus animorum enuntiativi corporum. Hi habent proprium quiddam et a corporibus seductum, tamquam video Catonem ambulantem: hoc sensus ostendit, animus credidit. Corpus est quod video, cui et oculos intendi et animum. Dico deinde: Cato ambulat. Non corpus' inquit 'est quod nunc loquor, sed enuntiativum quiddam de corpore, quod alii effatum vocant, alii enuntiatum, alii dictum. Sic cum dicimus \"sapientiam\", corporale quiddam intellegimus; cum dicimus \"sapit\", de corpore loquimur. Plurimum autem interest utrum illud dicas an de illo.'","en":"'There are,' he says, 'the natures of bodies, such as: this is a man, this is a horse; these are then followed by movements of the mind that make statements about bodies. These have something peculiar to themselves and separate from bodies; for example, I see Cato walking: the senses have shown this, the mind has believed it. What I see is a body, and I have directed both my eyes and my mind to it. Then I say: Cato is walking. What I am now saying,' he says, 'is not a body but a statement about a body, which some call a proposition, some an enunciation, some a thing said. So when we say \"wisdom\", we mean something bodily; when we say \"he is wise\", we are speaking about a body. And it makes a great difference whether you speak of the thing itself or about it.'"},{"ref":"Letter 117.14–15","orig":"Putemus in praesentia ista duo esse (nondum enim quid mihi videatur pronuntio): quid prohibet quominus aliud quidem sit sed nihilominus bonum? Dicebam paulo ante aliud esse agrum, aliud habere agrum. Quidni? in alia enim natura est qui habet, in alia quod habetur: illa terra est, hic homo est. At in hoc de quo agitur eiusdem naturae sunt utraque, et qui habet sapientiam et ipsa. Praeterea illic aliud est quod habetur, alius qui habet: hic in eodem est et quod habetur et qui habet. Ager iure possidetur, sapientia natura; ille abalienari potest et alteri tradi, haec non discedit a domino. Non est itaque quod compares inter se dissimilia. Coeperam dicere posse ista duo esse et tamen utraque bona esse, tamquam sapientia et sapiens duo sunt et utrumque bonum esse concedis. Quomodo nihil obstat quominus et sapientia bonum sit et habens sapientiam, sic nihil obstat quominus et sapientia bonum sit et habere sapientiam, id est sapere.","en":"Let us suppose for the present that these are two things (for I am not yet stating my own view): what prevents the one from being different and yet still good? I said a little while ago that a field is one thing and having a field another. Of course: for the one who has is of one nature and what is had of another: the field is earth, the owner is a man. But in the case we are discussing, both are of the same nature, the one who has wisdom and wisdom itself. Besides, in that case what is had is one thing and the one who has it another; in this case what is had and the one who has it are in the same thing. A field is owned by law, wisdom by nature; the field can be sold and handed over to another, wisdom does not leave its master. So there is no reason to compare unlike things. I had begun to say that these can be two things and yet both good, just as wisdom and the wise man are two and you grant that both are good. Just as nothing prevents both wisdom and the one who has wisdom from being good, so nothing prevents both wisdom and having wisdom, that is, being wise, from being good."},{"ref":"Letter 117.16–17","orig":"Ego in hoc volo sapiens esse, ut sapiam. Quid ergo? non est id bonum sine quo nec illud bonum est? Vos certe dicitis sapientiam, si sine usu detur, accipiendam non esse. Quid est usus sapientiae? sapere: hoc est in illa pretiosissimum, quo detracto supervacua fit. Si tormenta mala sunt, torqueri malum est, adeo quidem ut illa non sint mala si quod sequitur detraxeris. Sapientia habitus perfectae mentis est, sapere usus perfectae mentis: quomodo potest usus eius bonum non esse quae sine usu bonum non est? Interrogo te an sapientia expetenda sit: fateris. Interrogo an usus sapientiae expetendus sit: fateris. Negas enim te illam recepturum si uti ea prohibearis. Quod expetendum est bonum est. Sapere sapientiae usus est, quomodo eloquentiae eloqui, quomodo oculorum videre. Ergo sapere sapientiae usus est, usus autem sapientiae expetendus est; sapere ergo expetendum est; si expetendum est, bonum est.","en":"I want to be a wise man for this purpose: to be wise. What then? Is that not a good without which the other is not a good? You at any rate say that wisdom should not be accepted if it is given without its use. What is the use of wisdom? Being wise: this is what is most precious in it; take this away and it becomes superfluous. If tortures are evils, being tortured is an evil, so much so indeed that tortures are not evils if you take away what follows from them. Wisdom is the state of a perfected mind, being wise is the use of a perfected mind: how can the use of something not be good when that thing is not good without its use? I ask you whether wisdom is to be sought: you admit it. I ask whether the use of wisdom is to be sought: you admit it. For you say you would not accept wisdom if you were forbidden to use it. What is to be sought is good. Being wise is the use of wisdom, as speaking eloquently is the use of eloquence, as seeing is the use of the eyes. So being wise is the use of wisdom, and the use of wisdom is to be sought; so being wise is to be sought; if it is to be sought, it is good."},{"ref":"Letter 117.18–19","orig":"Olim ipse me damno qui illos imitor dum accuso et verba apertae rei inpendo. Cui enim dubium potest esse quin, si aestus malum est, et aestuare malum sit? si algor malum est, malum sit algere? si vita bonum est, et vivere bonum sit? Omnia ista circa sapientiam, non in ipsa sunt; at nobis in ipsa commorandum est. Etiam si quid evagari libet, amplos habet illa spatiososque secessus: de deorum natura quaeramus, de siderum alimento, de his tam variis stellarum discursibus, an ad illarum motus nostra moveantur, an corporibus omnium animisque illinc impetus veniat, an et haec quae fortuita dicuntur certa lege constricta sint nihilque in hoc mundo repentinum aut expers ordinis volutetur. Ista iam a formatione morum recesserunt, sed levant animum et ad ipsarum quas tractat rerum magnitudinem attollunt; haec vero de quibus paulo ante dicebam minuunt et deprimunt nec, ut putatis, exacuunt, sed extenuant.","en":"For some time I have been condemning myself for imitating these people while I accuse them, and for wasting words on an obvious matter. For who can doubt that if heat is an evil, being hot is also an evil? That if cold is an evil, being cold is an evil? That if life is a good, living is also a good? All these things are around wisdom, not in it; but we should dwell in wisdom itself. Even if we like to roam a little, it has wide and spacious retreats: let us inquire into the nature of the gods, the fuel of the heavenly bodies, the many varied courses of the stars; whether our affairs move with their movements; whether an impulse comes from there to the bodies and minds of all; whether even the things called chance are bound by a fixed law and nothing in this universe rolls on suddenly or without order. These things have already left the shaping of character behind, but they lift the mind and raise it to the greatness of the very things it studies; whereas the things I was talking about a little earlier shrink and depress it, and do not sharpen it, as you people think, but wear it thin."},{"ref":"Letter 117.20–21","orig":"Obsecro vos, tam necessariam curam maioribus melioribusque debitam in re nescio an falsa, certe inutili terimus? Quid mihi profuturum est scire an aliud sit sapientia, aliud sapere? Quid mihi profuturum est scire illud bonum esse, hoc non esse? Temere me geram, subibo huius voti aleam: tibi sapientia, mihi sapere contingat. Pares erimus. Potius id age ut mihi viam monstres qua ad ista perveniam. Dic quid vitare debeam, quid adpetere, quibus animum labantem studiis firmem, quemadmodum quae me ex transverso feriunt aguntque procul a me repellam, quomodo par esse tot malis possim, quomodo istas calamitates removeam quae ad me inruperunt, quomodo illas ad quas ego inrupi. Doce quomodo feram aerumnam sine gemitu meo, felicitatem sine alieno, quomodo ultimum ac necessarium non expectem sed ipsemet, cum visum erit, profugiam.","en":"I beg you, are we to waste the care that is so necessary, and that we owe to greater and better things, on a matter which may be false and is certainly useless? What good will it do me to know whether wisdom is one thing and being wise another? What good will it do me to know that the one is good and the other not? I will act rashly and take a gamble on this prayer: may wisdom fall to you, and being wise to me. We will be equal. Instead, show me the way by which I can reach these things. Tell me what I should avoid, what I should aim at, with what studies I can steady my tottering mind, how I can drive far away the things that strike me from the side and carry me off, how I can be a match for so many evils, how I can remove the disasters that have burst in on me, and those I have burst in on myself. Teach me how to bear misfortune without groaning, and good fortune without making others groan; how not to wait for the last and inevitable hour, but, when it seems right, to flee of my own accord."},{"ref":"Letter 117.22–23","orig":"Nihil mihi videtur turpius quam optare mortem. Nam si vis vivere, quid optas mori? sive non vis, quid deos rogas quod tibi nascenti dederunt? Nam ut quandoque moriaris etiam invito positum est, ut cum voles in tua manu est; alterum tibi necesse est, alterum licet. Turpissimum his diebus principium diserti mehercules viri legi: 'ita' inquit 'quam primum moriar'. Homo demens, optas rem tuam. 'Ita quam primum moriar.' Fortasse inter has voces senex factus es; alioqui quid in mora est? Nemo te tenet: evade qua visum est; elige quamlibet rerum naturae partem, quam tibi praebere exitum iubeas. Haec nempe sunt et elementa quibus hic mundus administratur; aqua, terra, spiritus, omnia ista tam causae vivendi sunt quam viae mortis.","en":"Nothing seems more shameful to me than praying for death. For if you want to live, why pray to die? Or if you do not want to live, why ask the gods for what they gave you at birth? For it has been settled that you will die at some point even against your will, and when you wish to, it is in your own hands; the one is necessary for you, the other permitted. These days I read a most shameful opening sentence by a man who was, by Hercules, eloquent: 'So,' he says, 'may I die as soon as possible.' Madman, you are praying for something that is already yours. 'So may I die as soon as possible.' Perhaps you have grown old while saying such things; otherwise, what is the delay? No one is holding you: escape by whatever route you like; choose any part of nature you please and order it to provide you with a way out. These are the very elements by which this universe is run: water, earth, air, all of them are as much causes of living as ways of dying."},{"ref":"Letter 117.24–25","orig":"'Ita quam primum moriar': 'quam primum' istud quid esse vis? quem illi diem ponis? citius fieri quam optas potest. Inbecillae mentis ista sunt verba et hac detestatione misericordiam captantis: non vult mori qui optat. Deos vitam et salutem roga: si mori placuit, hic mortis est fructus, optare desinere. Haec, mi Lucili, tractemus, his formemus animum. Hoc est sapientia, hoc est sapere, non disputatiunculis inanibus subtilitatem vanissimam agitare. Tot quaestiones fortuna tibi posuit, nondum illas solvisti: iam cavillaris? Quam stultum est, cum signum pugnae acceperis, ventilare. Remove ista lusoria arma: decretoriis opus est. Dic qua ratione nulla animum tristitia, nulla formido perturbet, qua ratione hoc secretarum cupiditatium pondus effundam. Agatur aliquid.","en":"'So may I die as soon as possible': what do you mean by this 'as soon as possible'? What day do you set for it? It can happen sooner than you pray for. These are the words of a weak mind, fishing for pity with this cursing: the man who prays for death does not want to die. Ask the gods for life and health: if you have decided to die, one benefit of death is that you stop praying. Let us deal with these things, my Lucilius, let us shape our minds with these. This is wisdom, this is being wise, not stirring up the emptiest subtlety with futile little debates. Fortune has set you so many questions, and you have not yet solved them: are you already quibbling? How foolish it is, when you have received the signal for battle, to fence at the air. Put away these toy weapons: you need real ones for a fight to the death. Tell me how no sadness, no fear can disturb the mind, how I can pour out this weight of hidden desires. Let something be done."},{"ref":"Letter 117.26–27","orig":"'Sapientia bonum est, sapere non est bonum': sic fit ut negemur sapere, ut hoc totum studium derideatur tamquam operatum supervacuis. Quid si scires etiam illud quaeri, an bonum sit futura sapientia? Quid enim dubi est, oro te, an nec messem futuram iam sentiant horrea nec futuram adulescentiam pueritia viribus aut ullo robore intellegat? Aegro interim nil ventura sanitas prodest, non magis quam currentem luctantemque post multos secuturum menses otium reficit. Quis nescit hoc ipso non esse bonum id quod futurum est, quia futurum est? Nam quod bonum est utique prodest; nisi praesentia prodesse non possunt. Si non prodest, bonum non est; si prodest, iam est. Futurus sum sapiens; hoc bonum erit cum fuero: interim non est. Prius aliquid esse debet, deinde quale esse.","en":"'Wisdom is a good, being wise is not a good': this is how it comes about that we are said not to be wise, and that this whole pursuit is laughed at as busy with superfluous things. What if you knew that this question is also asked, whether future wisdom is a good? For what doubt is there, I ask you, that granaries do not yet feel the harvest to come, and that childhood does not perceive its future youth in strength or any vigour? Meanwhile health to come does a sick man no good, any more than rest that will follow many months later refreshes a man who is running or wrestling. Who does not know that what is to come is not a good for the very reason that it is to come? For what is good certainly benefits; and only present things can benefit. If it does not benefit, it is not good; if it benefits, it already exists. I am going to be wise; this will be a good when I am: meanwhile it is not. A thing must first exist, then be of a certain kind."},{"ref":"Letter 117.28–30","orig":"Quomodo, oro te, quod adhuc nihil est iam bonum est? Quomodo autem tibi magis vis probari non esse aliquid quam si dixero 'futurum est'? nondum enim venisse apparet quod veniet. Ver secuturum est: scio nunc hiemem esse. Aestas secutura est: scio aestatem non esse. Maximum argumentum habeo nondum praesentis futurum esse. Sapiam, spero, sed interim non sapio; si illud bonum haberem, iam hoc carerem malo. Futurum est ut sapiam: ex hoc licet nondum sapere me intellegas. Non possum simul et in illo bono et in hoc malo esse; duo ista non coeunt nec apud eundem sunt una malum et bonum. Transcurramus sollertissimas nugas et ad illa quae nobis aliquam opem sunt latura properemus. Nemo qui obstetricem parturienti filiae sollicitus accersit edictum et ludorum ordinem perlegit; nemo qui ad incendium domus suae currit tabulam latrunculariam prospicit ut sciat quomodo alligatus exeat calculus.","en":"How, I ask you, can what is still nothing already be a good? And how could you want it better proved to you that something does not exist than if I say 'it is to come'? For what will come clearly has not yet come. Spring will follow: I know it is winter now. Summer will follow: I know it is not summer. The strongest proof I have that something is not yet present is that it is still to come. I will be wise, I hope, but meanwhile I am not wise; if I had that good, I would already be free of this evil. It is to come that I will be wise: from this you can understand that I am not yet wise. I cannot be both in that good and in this evil at once; these two do not meet, and evil and good do not dwell together in the same person. Let us run past these most ingenious trifles and hurry to the things that will bring us some help. No one who is anxiously fetching a midwife for his daughter in labour stops to read through the programme of the games; no one running to a fire at his house studies a game board to see how a trapped piece can escape."},{"ref":"Letter 117.31–32","orig":"At mehercule omnia tibi undique nuntiantur, et incendium domus et periculum liberorum et obsidio patriae et bonorum direptio; adice isto naufragia motusque terrarum et quidquid aliud timeri potest: inter ista districtus rebus nihil aliud quam animum oblectantibus vacas? Quid inter sapientiam et sapere intersit inquiris? nodos nectis ac solvis tanta mole inpendente capiti tuo? Non tam benignum ac liberale tempus natura nobis dedit ut aliquid ex illo vacet perdere. Et vide quam multa etiam diligentissimis pereant: aliud valetudo sua cuique abstulit, aliud suorum; aliud necessaria negotia, aliud publica occupaverunt; vitam nobiscum dividit somnus. Ex hoc tempore tam angusto et rapido et nos auferente quid iuvat maiorem partem mittere in vanum?","en":"But by Hercules, news reaches you from every side of everything: your house on fire, your children in danger, your country besieged, your property plundered; add to these shipwrecks and earthquakes and whatever else can be feared: pulled in all directions among these, do you have time for things that only amuse the mind? Are you asking what difference there is between wisdom and being wise? Do you tie and untie knots with such a great weight hanging over your head? Nature has not given us time so generous and lavish that we have any to waste. And see how much is lost even by the most careful: one man's own health has taken away part of his time, another's the health of his family; necessary business has taken up part, public affairs another; sleep shares our life with us. Of this time, so narrow and swift and carrying us away with it, what good is it to throw the greater part away on nothing?"},{"ref":"Letter 117.33","orig":"Adice nunc quod adsuescit animus delectare se potius quam sanare et philosophiam oblectamentum facere cum remedium sit. Inter sapientiam et sapere quid intersit nescio: scio mea non interesse sciam ista an nesciam. Dic mihi: cum quid inter sapientiam et sapere intersit didicero, sapiam? Cur ergo potius inter vocabula me sapientiae detines quam inter opera? Fac me fortiorem, fac securiorem, fac fortunae parem, fac superiorem. Possum autem superior esse si derexero eo omne quod disco. Vale.","en":"Add now that the mind gets used to amusing itself rather than healing itself, and to making philosophy an entertainment when it is a remedy. What difference there is between wisdom and being wise, I do not know; I know that it makes no difference to me whether I know it or not. Tell me: when I have learned the difference between wisdom and being wise, will I be wise? Why then do you keep me among the words of wisdom rather than its works? Make me braver, make me more free from care, make me a match for fortune, make me superior to it. And I can be superior if I direct everything I learn to that end. Farewell."}],"118":[{"ref":"Letter 118.1–2","orig":"Exigis a me frequentiores epistulas. Rationes conferamus: soluendo non eris. Conuenerat quidem ut tua priora essent: tu scriberes, ego rescriberem. Sed non ero difficilis: bene credi tibi scio. Itaque in anticessum dabo nec faciam quod Cicero, uir disertissimus, facere Atticum iubet, ut etiam 'si rem nullam habebit, quod in buccam uenerit scribat'. Numquam potest deesse quod scribam, ut omnia illa quae Ciceronis implent epistulas transeam: quis candidatus laboret; quis alienis, quis suis uiribus pugnet; quis consulatum fiducia Caesaris, quis Pompei, quis arcae petat; quam durus sit fenerator Caecilius, a quo minoris centesimis propinqui nummum mouere non possint. Sua satius est mala quam aliena tractare, se excutere et uidere quam multarum rerum candidatus sit, et non suffragari.","en":"You demand more frequent letters from me. Let us compare accounts: you will not be able to pay. It had been agreed, indeed, that yours should come first: that you would write and I would reply. But I will not be difficult: I know you are good for credit. So I will pay in advance, and I will not do what Cicero, that most eloquent man, tells Atticus to do, to write 'even if he has nothing to say, whatever comes into his mouth'. I can never lack something to write about, even if I pass over all the things that fill Cicero's letters: which candidate is struggling; who is fighting with borrowed resources, who with his own; who is seeking the consulship relying on Caesar, who on Pompey, who on his strongbox; how hard a moneylender Caecilius is, from whom his own relatives cannot squeeze a penny at less than twelve per cent. It is better to deal with one's own troubles than other people's, to examine oneself and see how many things one is standing for, and to refuse to vote for them."},{"ref":"Letter 118.3","orig":"Hoc est, mi Lucili, egregium, hoc securum ac liberum, nihil petere et tota fortunae comitia transire. Quam putas esse iucundum tribubus uocatis, cum candidati in templis suis pendeant et alius nummos pronuntiet, alius per sequestrem agat, alius eorum manus osculis conterat quibus designatus contingendam manum negaturus est, omnes attoniti uocem praeconis expectent, stare otiosum et spectare illas nundinas nec ementem quicquam nec uendentem?","en":"This, my Lucilius, is a splendid thing, this is carefree and free: to seek nothing and to pass by all of fortune's elections. How pleasant do you think it is, when the tribes have been called to vote, when the candidates are hanging about anxiously in their chosen temples, one promising cash, another working through an agent, another wearing out with kisses the hands of those whom, once elected, he will not even allow to touch his own, when everyone waits spellbound for the herald's voice, to stand at leisure and watch that market, neither buying nor selling anything?"},{"ref":"Letter 118.4–5","orig":"Quanto hic maiore gaudio fruitur qui non praetoria aut consularia comitia securus intuetur, sed magna illa in quibus alii honores anniuersarios petunt, alii perpetuas potestates, alii bellorum euentus prosperos triumphosque, alii diuitias, alii matrimonia ac liberos, alii salutem suam suorumque! Quanti animi res est solum nihil petere, nulli supplicare, et dicere, 'nihil mihi tecum, fortuna; non facio mei tibi copiam. Scio apud te Catones repelli, Vatinios fieri. Nihil rogo.' Hoc est priuatam facere fortunam. Licet ergo haec in uicem scribere et hanc semper integram egerere materiam circumspicientibus tot milia hominum inquieta, qui ut aliquid pestiferi consequantur per mala nituntur in malum petuntque mox fugienda aut etiam fastidienda.","en":"How much greater is the joy of the man who looks on without concern not at elections for praetors or consuls, but at those great elections in which some seek yearly offices, others lasting power, others success in war and triumphs, others riches, others marriages and children, others the safety of themselves and their families! What greatness of soul it takes to be the only one who seeks nothing, begs nothing of anyone, and says: 'I have nothing to do with you, Fortune; I do not put myself at your disposal. I know that with you men like Cato are defeated and men like Vatinius are elected. I ask for nothing.' This is to reduce fortune to a private citizen. So we can write to each other about these things and always draw on this inexhaustible material, as we look around at so many thousands of restless people who, to obtain something harmful, struggle through evils towards evil, and seek what they will soon have to flee, or even find tiresome."},{"ref":"Letter 118.6–7","orig":"Cui enim adsecuto satis fuit quod optanti nimium uidebatur? Non est, ut existimant homines, auida felicitas sed pusilla; itaque neminem satiat. Tu ista credis excelsa quia longe ab illis iaces; ei uero qui ad illa peruenit humilia sunt. Mentior nisi adhuc quaerit escendere: istud quod tu summum putas gradus est. Omnes autem male habet ignorantia ueri. Tamquam ad bona feruntur decepti rumoribus, deinde mala esse aut inania aut minora quam sperauerint adepti ac multa passi uident; maiorque pars miratur ex interuallo fallentia, et uulgo bona pro magnis sunt.","en":"For who, once he got it, was ever satisfied with what seemed too much when he was praying for it? Happiness is not greedy, as people think, but small; so it satisfies no one. You think those things lofty because you lie far below them; but to the one who has reached them they are lowly. I am lying if he is not still trying to climb: what you think is the summit is only a step. And ignorance of the truth harms everyone. Deceived by rumour, they are carried towards things as though they were goods; then, having obtained them after much suffering, they see that they are bad, or empty, or smaller than they had hoped; and most people admire what deceives from a distance, and for the crowd the good means the big."},{"ref":"Letter 118.8–9","orig":"Hoc ne nobis quoque eueniat, quaeramus quid sit bonum. Varia eius interpretatio fuit, alius illud aliter expressit. Quidam ita finiunt: 'bonum est quod inuitat animos, quod ad se uocat'. Huic statim opponitur: quid si inuitat quidem sed in perniciem? scis quam multa mala blanda sint. Verum et ueri simile inter se differunt. Ita quod bonum est uero iungitur; non est enim bonum nisi uerum est. At quod inuitat ad se et adlicefacit uerisimile est: subrepit, sollicitat, adtrahit. Quidam ita finierunt: 'bonum est quod adpetitionem sui mouet, uel quod impetum animi tendentis ad se mouet.' Et huic idem opponitur; multa enim impetum animi mouent quae petantur petentium malo. Melius illi qui ita finierunt: 'bonum est quod ad se impetum animi secundum naturam mouet et ita demum petendum est cum coepit esse expetendum'. Iam et honestum est; hoc enim est perfecte petendum.","en":"So that this does not happen to us too, let us ask what the good is. It has been interpreted in various ways; different people have expressed it differently. Some define it like this: 'The good is what attracts minds, what calls them to itself.' The objection to this is immediate: what if it attracts, but to ruin? You know how many evils are enticing. The true and the plausible differ from each other. So the good is joined to the true; for it is not good unless it is true. But what attracts and entices is merely plausible: it creeps up, it tempts, it draws in. Some have defined it like this: 'The good is what arouses desire for itself, or what stirs towards itself the impulse of a mind reaching out.' The same objection applies to this; for many things stir the mind's impulse which are sought to the harm of those who seek them. Better are those who have defined it like this: 'The good is what stirs the mind's impulse towards itself in accordance with nature, and is to be sought only when it has begun to be thoroughly worth seeking.' Then it is also honourable; for this is what is perfectly worth seeking."},{"ref":"Letter 118.10–11","orig":"Locus ipse me admonet ut quid intersit inter bonum honestumque dicam. Aliquid inter se mixtum habent et inseparabile: nec potest bonum esse nisi cui aliquid honesti inest, et honestum utique bonum est. Quid ergo inter duo interest? Honestum est perfectum bonum, quo beata uita completur, cuius contactu alia quoque bona fiunt. Quod dico talest: sunt quaedam neque bona neque mala, tamquam militia, legatio, iurisdictio. Haec cum honeste administrata sunt, bona esse incipiunt et ex dubio in bonum transeunt. Bonum societate honesti fit, honestum per se bonum est; bonum ex honesto fluit, honestum ex se est. Quod bonum est malum esse potuit; quod honestum est nisi bonum esse non potuit.","en":"The topic itself reminds me to say what the difference is between the good and the honourable. They have something mixed together and inseparable: nothing can be good unless there is something honourable in it, and the honourable is always good. So what difference is there between the two? The honourable is the perfect good, by which the happy life is made complete, and by whose touch other things too become good. What I mean is this: there are some things neither good nor bad, such as military service, an embassy, a judgeship. When these have been honourably carried out, they begin to be good and pass from the doubtful into the good. The good comes about through partnership with the honourable; the honourable is good by itself. The good flows from the honourable; the honourable comes from itself. What is good could have been bad; what is honourable could only have been good."},{"ref":"Letter 118.12–13","orig":"Hanc quidam finitionem reddiderunt: 'bonum est quod secundum naturam est'. Adtende quid dicam: quod bonum, est secundum naturam: non protinus quod secundum naturam est etiam bonum est. Multa naturae quidem consentiunt, sed tam pusilla sunt ut non conueniat illis boni nomen; leuia enim sunt, contemnenda. Nullum est minimum contemnendum bonum; nam quamdiu exiguum est bonum non est: cum bonum esse coepit, non est exiguum. Unde adcognoscitur bonum? si perfecte secundum naturam est. 'Fateris' inquis 'quod bonum est secundum naturam esse; haec eius proprietas est. Fateris et alia secundum naturam quidem esse sed bona non esse. Quomodo ergo illud bonum est cum haec non sint? quomodo ad aliam proprietatem peruenit cum utrique praecipuum illud commune sit, secundum naturam esse?'","en":"Some have given this definition: 'The good is what is in accordance with nature.' Pay attention to what I say: what is good is in accordance with nature, but what is in accordance with nature is not automatically good as well. Many things agree with nature, but they are so trivial that the name of good does not suit them; for they are slight and to be despised. No good is so small as to be despised; for as long as it is small, it is not good: when it has begun to be good, it is not small. How then is the good recognised? If it is perfectly in accordance with nature. 'You admit,' you say, 'that what is good is in accordance with nature; this is its property. You admit that other things too are in accordance with nature but are not good. How then is the one good when the others are not? How does it arrive at a different property when both share that chief feature, being in accordance with nature?'"},{"ref":"Letter 118.14–16","orig":"Ipsa scilicet magnitudine. Nec hoc nouum est, quaedam crescendo mutari. Infans fuit; factus est pubes: alia eius proprietas fit; ille enim inrationalis est, hic rationalis. Quaedam incremento non tantum in maius exeunt sed in aliud. 'Non fit' inquit 'aliud quod maius fit. Utrum lagonam an dolium impleas uino, nihil refert: in utroque proprietas uini est. Et exiguum mellis pondus et magnum sapore non differt.' Diuersa ponis exempla; in istis enim eadem qualitas est; quamuis augeantur, manet. Quaedam amplificata in suo genere et in sua proprietate perdurant; quaedam post multa incrementa ultima demum uertit adiectio et nouam illis aliamque quam in qua fuerunt condicionem inprimit. Unus lapis facit fornicem, ille qui latera inclinata cuneauit et interuentu suo uinxit. Summa adiectio quare plurimum facit uel exigua? quia non auget sed implet.","en":"By its very size, of course. Nor is it anything new that some things change by growing. There was an infant; he has become an adolescent: his property becomes different; for the infant is irrational, the adolescent rational. Some things by growth pass not only into something bigger but into something else. 'What becomes bigger,' he says, 'does not become something else. Whether you fill a flask or a cask with wine makes no difference: in both there is the property of wine. A small amount of honey and a large one do not differ in taste.' You are giving examples of a different kind; for in them the quality is the same; however much they are increased, it remains. Some things, when enlarged, stay in their own kind and their own property; others, after many increases, are at last transformed by the final addition, which stamps on them a new condition, different from the one they were in. One stone makes an arch: the one that wedges the sloping sides and binds them together by coming between them. Why does the final addition, even a small one, achieve the most? Because it does not add, it completes."},{"ref":"Letter 118.17","orig":"Quaedam processu priorem exuunt formam et in nouam transeunt. Ubi aliquid animus diu protulit et magnitudinem eius sequendo lassatus est, infinitum coepit uocari; quod longe aliud factum est quam fuit cum magnum uideretur sed finitum. Eodem modo aliquid difficulter secari cogitauimus: nouissime crescente hac difficultate insecabile inuentum est. Sic ab eo quod uix et aegre mouebatur processimus ad inmobile. Eadem ratione aliquid secundum naturam fuit: hoc in aliam proprietatem magnitudo sua transtulit et bonum fecit. Vale.","en":"Some things in their progress shed their former shape and pass into a new one. When the mind has extended something for a long time and has grown tired of following its size, it begins to be called infinite; and this has become something far different from what it was when it seemed great but finite. In the same way we have thought of something as hard to divide: at last, as this difficulty increases, it is found to be indivisible. So from what could barely and with difficulty be moved we have advanced to the immovable. By the same reasoning, something was in accordance with nature: its greatness has carried it over into another property and made it good. Farewell."}],"119":[{"ref":"Letter 119.1–2","orig":"Quotiens aliquid inueni, non expecto donec dicas 'in commune': ipse mihi dico. Quid sit quod inuenerim quaeris? Sinum laxa, merum lucrum est. Docebo quomodo fieri diues celerrime possis. Quam ualde cupis audire! nec inmerito: ad maximas te diuitias conpendiaria ducam. Opus erit tamen tibi creditore: ut negotiari possis, aes alienum facias oportet, sed nolo per intercessorem mutueris, nolo proxenetae nomen tuum iactent. Paratum tibi creditorem dabo Catonianum illum, a te mutuum sumes. Quantulumcumque est, satis erit si, quidquid deerit, id a nobis petierimus. Nihil enim, mi Lucili, interest utrum non desideres an habeas. Summa rei in utroque eadem est: non torqueberis. Nec illud praecipio, ut aliquid naturae neges – contumax est, non potest uinci, suum poscit – sed ut quidquid naturam excedit scias precarium esse, non necessarium.","en":"Whenever I have found something, I do not wait for you to say 'Halves!': I say it to myself. You ask what it is I have found? Open your purse, it is pure profit. I will teach you how you can become rich very quickly. How badly you want to hear! And rightly: I will lead you by a short cut to the greatest riches. But you will need a creditor: to do business, you must get into debt; but I do not want you to borrow through a middleman, I do not want brokers bandying your name about. I will give you a ready creditor, the one Cato recommended: borrow from yourself. However little it is, it will be enough if we seek from ourselves whatever is lacking. For, my Lucilius, it makes no difference whether you do not want something or whether you have it. The sum of the matter is the same in both cases: you will not be tormented. Nor am I advising you to deny nature anything (she is stubborn, she cannot be defeated, she demands her due), but to know that whatever goes beyond nature is a matter of favour, not of necessity."},{"ref":"Letter 119.3–4","orig":"Esurio: edendum est. Utrum hic panis sit plebeius an siligineus ad naturam nihil pertinet: illa uentrem non delectari uult sed impleri. Sitio: utrum haec aqua sit quam ex lacu proximo excepero an ea quam multa niue clusero, ut rigore refrigeretur alieno, ad naturam nihil pertinet. Illa hoc unum iubet, sitim extingui; utrum sit aureum poculum an crustallinum an murreum an Tiburtinus calix an manus concaua, nihil refert. Finem omnium rerum specta, et superuacua dimittes. Fames me appellat: ad proxima quaeque porrigatur manus; ipsa mihi commendabit quodcumque conprendero. Nihil contemnit esuriens.","en":"I am hungry: I must eat. Whether this bread is coarse or made of fine wheat is nothing to nature: she wants the belly not to be pleased but filled. I am thirsty: whether this water is what I have drawn from the nearest pond or what I have packed in a lot of snow so that it is chilled by a cold not its own is nothing to nature. She orders only this, that thirst be quenched; whether the cup is gold or crystal or fluorspar, or a cup from Tibur, or the hollow of the hand, makes no difference. Look at the purpose of everything, and you will let go of what is superfluous. Hunger calls on me: let my hand reach out to whatever is nearest; hunger itself will make whatever I grab appetising to me. A hungry man despises nothing."},{"ref":"Letter 119.5","orig":"Quid sit ergo quod me delectauerit quaeris? Videtur mihi egregie dictum, 'sapiens diuitiarum naturalium est quaesitor acerrimus'. 'Inani me' inquis 'lance muneras. Quid est istud? Ego iam paraueram fiscos; circumspiciebam in quod me mare negotiaturus inmitterem, quod publicum agitarem, quas arcesserem merces. Decipere est istud, docere paupertatem cum diuitias promiseris. 'Ita tu pauperem iudicas cui nihil deest? 'Suo' inquis 'et patientiae suae beneficio, non fortunae.' Ideo ergo illum non iudicas diuitem quia diuitiae eius desinere non possunt?","en":"What is it, then, that has pleased me, you ask? It seems to me a splendid saying: 'The wise man is the keenest seeker of natural riches.' 'You are presenting me with an empty dish,' you say. 'What is this? I had already got my money boxes ready; I was looking around for which sea to launch myself on for trade, which public contract to take on, what goods to import. This is cheating, teaching poverty when you promised riches.' Do you, then, judge a man poor who lacks nothing? 'He owes it,' you say, 'to himself and his own endurance, not to fortune.' So do you refuse to judge him rich for the very reason that his riches cannot come to an end?"},{"ref":"Letter 119.6–7","orig":"Utrum mauis habere multum an satis? Qui multum habet plus cupit, quod est argumentum nondum illum satis habere; qui satis habet consecutus est quod numquam diuiti contigit, finem. An has ideo non putas esse diuitias quia propter illas nemo proscriptus est? quia propter illas nulli uenenum filius, nulli uxor inpegit? quia in bello tutae sunt? quia in pace otiosae? quia nec habere illas periculosum est nec operosum disponere? 'At parum habet qui tantum non alget, non esurit, non sitit.' Plus Iuppiter non habet. Numquam parum est quod satis est, et numquam multum est quod satis non est. Post Dareum et Indos pauper est Alexander. Mentior? Quaerit quod suum faciat, scrutatur maria ignota, in oceanum classes nouas mittit et ipsa, ut ita dicam, mundi claustra perrumpit. Quod naturae satis est homini non est.","en":"Would you rather have much or enough? The man who has much wants more, which proves that he does not yet have enough; the man who has enough has reached what the rich man never reaches: an end. Or do you not think these are riches because no one has been proscribed on their account? Because no son has poisoned his father for them, no wife her husband? Because they are safe in war and at ease in peace? Because they are neither dangerous to have nor laborious to manage? 'But the man has too little who is merely not cold, not hungry, not thirsty.' Jupiter has no more. Enough is never too little, and what is not enough is never much. After Darius and the Indians, Alexander is poor. Am I lying? He looks for something to make his own, he explores unknown seas, he sends new fleets into the Ocean and bursts, so to speak, the very bars of the world. What is enough for nature is not enough for a man."},{"ref":"Letter 119.8–10","orig":"Inuentus est qui concupisceret aliquid post omnia: tanta est caecitas mentium et tanta initiorum suorum unicuique, cum processit, obliuio. Ille modo ignobilis anguli non sine controuersia dominus tacto fine terrarum per suum rediturus orbem tristis est. Neminem pecunia diuitem fecit, immo contra nulli non maiorem sui cupidinem incussit. Quaeris quae sit huius rei causa? plus incipit habere posse qui plus habet. Ad summam quem uoles mihi ex his quorum nomina cum Crasso Licinoque numerantur in medium licet protrahas; adferat censum et quidquid habet et quidquid sperat simul conputet: iste, si mihi credis, pauper est, si tibi, potest esse. At hic qui se ad quod exigit natura composuit non tantum extra sensum est paupertatis sed extra metum. Sed ut scias quam difficile sit res suas ad naturalem modum coartare, hic ipse quem circumcidimus, quem tu uocas pauperem, habet aliquid et superuacui.","en":"A man has been found who craved something after having everything: so great is the blindness of minds, and so great is each person's forgetfulness of his beginnings once he has advanced. The man who was recently the disputed master of an obscure corner, having reached the end of the earth, is sad to have to return through a world that is his own. Money has made no one rich; on the contrary, it has struck into everyone a greater craving for itself. Do you ask the reason for this? Whoever has more begins to be able to have more. In short, bring out before me anyone you like from those whose names are counted along with Crassus and Licinus; let him bring his census return and reckon up at once everything he has and everything he hopes for: that man, if you believe me, is poor; if you believe yourself, he may be. But the man who has adapted himself to what nature demands is not only beyond feeling poverty but beyond fearing it. And so that you know how hard it is to restrict one's affairs to nature's measure, even this very man we have pared down, whom you call poor, has something superfluous."},{"ref":"Letter 119.11–12","orig":"At excaecant populum et in se conuertunt opes, si numerati multum ex aliqua domo effertur, si multum auri tecto quoque eius inlinitur, si familia aut corporibus electa aut spectabilis cultu est. Omnium istorum felicitas in publicum spectat: ille quem nos et populo et fortunae subduximus beatus introsum est. Nam quod ad illos pertinet apud quos falso diuitiarum nomen inuasit occupata paupertas, sic diuitias habent quomodo habere dicimur febrem, cum illa nos habeat. E contrario dicere solemus 'febris illum tenet': eodem modo dicendum est 'diuitiae illum tenent'. Nihil ergo monuisse te malim quam hoc, quod nemo monetur satis, ut omnia naturalibus desideriis metiaris, quibus aut gratis satis fiat aut paruo: tantum miscere uitia desideriis noli.","en":"But riches dazzle the people and draw their eyes, if a lot of cash is carried out of some house, if a lot of gold is smeared even on its roof, if its slaves are either picked for their looks or remarkable for their dress. The happiness of all these people faces outward, to the public: the man we have taken away from both the people and fortune is happy inwardly. For as for those in whom a busy poverty has falsely usurped the name of riches, they have riches the way we are said to have a fever, when in fact it has us. We usually say, the other way round, 'the fever holds him': in the same way we ought to say 'riches hold him'. So there is nothing I would rather advise you than this, which no one is advised enough: measure everything by natural desires, which can be satisfied either for nothing or for little: only do not mix vices in with your desires."},{"ref":"Letter 119.13–14","orig":"Quaeris quali mensa, quali argento, quam paribus ministeriis et leuibus adferatur cibus? Nihil praeter cibum natura desiderat.\nNum, tibi cum fauces urit sitis, aurea quaeris\npocula? num esuriens fastidis omnia praeter\npauonem rhombumque?\nAmbitiosa non est fames, contenta desinere est; quo desinat non nimis curat. Infelicis luxuriae ista tormenta sunt: quaerit quemadmodum post saturitatem quoque esuriat, quemadmodum non impleat uentrem sed farciat, quemadmodum sitim prima potione sedatam reuocet. Egregie itaque Horatius negat ad sitim pertinere quo poculo aut quam eleganti manu ministretur. Nam si pertinere ad te iudicas quam crinitus puer et quam perlucidum tibi poculum porrigat, non sitis.","en":"Do you ask on what table, on what silver, by what matching and smooth-skinned servants your food will be brought? Nature desires nothing but food.\nWhen thirst burns your throat, do you ask for golden\ncups? When hungry, do you scorn everything except\npeacock and turbot?\nHunger is not ambitious; it is content to stop; it does not much care what it stops with. These are the torments of unhappy luxury: it looks for ways to be hungry even after it is full, ways not to fill the belly but to stuff it, ways to call back a thirst quenched by the first drink. So Horace says superbly that it makes no difference to thirst from what cup, or by how elegant a hand, the drink is served. For if you think it matters to you how long-haired the boy is and how transparent the cup he hands you, you are not thirsty."},{"ref":"Letter 119.15–16","orig":"Inter reliqua hoc nobis praestitit natura praecipuum, quod necessitati fastidium excussit. Recipiunt superuacua dilectum: 'hoc parum decens, illud parum lautum, oculos hoc meos laedit'. Id actum est ab illo mundi conditore, qui nobis uiuendi iura discripsit, ut salui essemus, non ut delicati: ad salutem omnia parata sunt et in promptu, delicis omnia misere ac sollicite comparantur. Utamur ergo hoc naturae beneficio inter magna numerando et cogitemus nullo nomine melius illam meruisse de nobis quam quia quidquid ex necessitate desideratur sine fastidio sumitur. Vale.","en":"Among other things, nature has given us this special gift: she has shaken fussiness out of necessity. Superfluous things invite choosiness: 'This is not seemly enough, that not smart enough, this offends my eyes.' The founder of the universe, who laid down for us the laws of living, arranged that we should be well, not pampered: everything for our well-being is ready and at hand, while everything for our pleasures is got together with misery and anxiety. So let us make use of this kindness of nature, counting it among the great ones, and let us reflect that she has deserved nothing better of us than this: that whatever is wanted out of necessity is taken without fussiness. Farewell."}],"120":[{"ref":"Letter 120.1–2","orig":"Epistula tua per plures quaestiunculas uagata est sed in una constitit et hanc expediri desiderat, quomodo ad nos boni honestique notitia peruenerit. Haec duo apud alios diuersa sunt, apud nos tantum diuisa. Quid sit hoc dicam. Bonum putant esse aliqui id quod utile est. Itaque hoc et diuitiis et equo et uino et calceo nomen inponunt; tanta fit apud illos boni uilitas et adeo in sordida usque descendit. Honestum putant cui ratio recti officii constat, tamquam pie curatam patris senectutem, adiutam amici paupertatem, fortem expeditionem, prudentem moderatamque sententiam.","en":"Your letter wandered over several little questions but came to rest on one, and wants it explained: how knowledge of the good and the honourable reached us. For other schools these two are different things; for us they are only divided. I will tell you what this means. Some think the good is what is useful. So they give this name to riches, a horse, wine and a shoe; so cheap does the good become for them, and so far down does it sink into what is mean. The honourable they take to be whatever follows the principle of right duty, such as caring dutifully for a father's old age, helping a friend in poverty, a brave campaign, a wise and moderate opinion."},{"ref":"Letter 120.3","orig":"nos ista duo quidem facimus, sed ex uno. Nihil est bonum nisi quod honestum est; quod honestum, est utique bonum. Superuacuum iudico adicere quid inter ista discriminis sit, cum saepe dixerim. Hoc unum dicam, nihil nobis uideri bonum quo quis et male uti potest; uides autem diuitiis, nobilitate, uiribus quam multi male utantur. Nunc ergo ad id reuertor de quo desideras dici, quomodo ad nos prima boni honestique notitia peruenerit.","en":"We do make these two things, but out of one. Nothing is good except what is honourable; what is honourable is certainly good. I think it pointless to add what difference there is between them, since I have often said it. I will say just this: nothing seems good to us which anyone can also use badly; and you see how many people misuse riches, noble birth and strength. So now I return to the point you want discussed: how the first knowledge of the good and the honourable reached us."},{"ref":"Letter 120.4","orig":"Hoc nos natura docere non potuit: semina nobis scientiae dedit, scientiam non dedit. Quidam aiunt nos in notitiam incidisse, quod est incredibile, uirtutis alicui speciem casu occucurrisse. Nobis uidetur obseruatio collegisse et rerum saepe factarum inter se conlatio; per analogian nostri intellectum et honestum et bonum iudicant. Hoc uerbum cum Latini grammatici ciuitate donauerint, ego damnandum non puto, immo in ciuitatem suam redigendum. Utar ergo illo non tantum tamquam recepto sed tamquam usitato. Quae sit haec analogia dicam.","en":"Nature could not teach us this: she gave us the seeds of knowledge, not knowledge itself. Some say that we stumbled on the idea by chance, that the image of virtue happened to present itself to someone, which is unbelievable. We think it was put together by observation and by comparing things often done; our school holds that the honourable and the good are understood by analogy. Since the Latin grammarians have granted this word citizenship, I do not think it should be condemned, but rather restored to the citizenship that is its right. So I will use it not only as accepted but as familiar. I will tell you what this analogy is."},{"ref":"Letter 120.5","orig":"Noueramus corporis sanitatem: ex hac cogitauimus esse aliquam et animi. Noueramus uires corporis: ex his collegimus esse et animi robur. Aliqua benigna facta, aliqua humana, aliqua fortia nos obstupefecerant: haec coepimus tamquam perfecta mirari. Suberant illis multa uitia quae species conspicui alicuius facti fulgorque celabat: haec dissimulauimus. Natura iubet augere laudanda, nemo non gloriam ultra uerum tulit: ex his ergo speciem ingentis boni traximus.","en":"We knew health of the body: from this we thought there must also be a health of the mind. We knew bodily strength: from this we inferred that there is also a strength of the mind. Certain kind deeds, certain humane deeds, certain brave deeds had astonished us: we began to admire these as if they were perfect. Under them lay many faults, which the appearance and brilliance of some remarkable deed concealed: these we overlooked. Nature bids us magnify what deserves praise, and everyone has carried glory beyond the truth: from these, then, we drew the idea of a vast good."},{"ref":"Letter 120.6","orig":"Fabricius Pyrrhi regis aurum reppulit maiusque regno iudicauit regias opes posse contemnere. Idem medico Pyrrhi promittente uenenum se regi daturum monuit Pyrrhum caueret insidias. Eiusdem animi fuit auro non uinci, ueneno non uincere. Admirati sumus ingentem uirum quem non regis, non contra regem promissa flexissent, boni exempli tenacem, quod difficillimum est, in bello innocentem, qui aliquod esse crederet etiam in hostes nefas, qui in summa paupertate quam sibi decus fecerat non aliter refugit diuitias quam uenenum. 'Viue' inquit 'beneficio meo, Pyrrhe, et gaude quod adhuc dolebas, Fabricium non posse corrumpi.'","en":"Fabricius refused King Pyrrhus's gold and judged it greater than a kingdom to be able to despise a king's wealth. When Pyrrhus's doctor promised to poison the king, the same Fabricius warned Pyrrhus to beware of the plot. It was the mark of the same spirit not to be conquered by gold and not to conquer by poison. We admired this great man, whom neither the king's promises nor promises against the king could sway, who held fast to a good example, innocent in war, which is the hardest thing of all, who believed that some things were wrong even against enemies, and who, in the utmost poverty, which he had made his glory, shrank from riches just as he did from poison. 'Live, Pyrrhus,' he said, 'thanks to me, and rejoice at what used to pain you, that Fabricius cannot be corrupted.'"},{"ref":"Letter 120.7","orig":"Horatius Cocles solus impleuit pontis angustias adimique a tergo sibi reditum, dummodo iter hosti auferretur, iussit et tam diu prementibus restitit donec reuulsa ingenti ruina tigna sonuerunt. Postquam respexit et extra periculum esse patriam periculo suo sensit, 'ueniat, si quis uult' inquit 'sic euntem sequi' iecitque se in praeceps et non minus sollicitus in illo rapido alueo fluminis ut armatus quam ut saluus exiret, retento armorum uictricium decore tam tutus redit quam si ponte uenisset.","en":"Horatius Cocles alone blocked the narrow bridge and ordered his way back to be cut off behind him, so long as the enemy's path was taken away, and he held out against the attackers until the timbers, torn away, crashed down in a huge collapse. When he looked back and saw that his country was out of danger at the cost of his own danger, he said, 'Let anyone follow who wants to go this way,' and threw himself headlong; and anxious in that rushing river channel no less to come out armed than to come out alive, keeping the glory of his victorious weapons, he returned as safely as if he had come back over the bridge."},{"ref":"Letter 120.8–9","orig":"Haec et eiusmodi facta imaginem nobis ostendere uirtutis. Adiciam quod mirum fortasse uideatur: mala interdum speciem honesti obtulere et optimum ex contrario enituit. Sunt enim, ut scis, uirtutibus uitia confinia, et perditis quoque ac turpibus recti similitudo est: sic mentitur prodigus liberalem, cum plurimum intersit utrum quis dare sciat an seruare nesciat. Multi, inquam, sunt, Lucili, qui non donant sed proiciunt: non uoco ego liberalem pecuniae suae iratum. Imitatur neglegentia facilitatem, temeritas fortitudinem. Haec nos similitudo coegit adtendere et distinguere specie quidem uicina, re autem plurimum inter se dissidentia. Dum obseruamus eos quos insignes egregium opus fecerat, coepimus adnotare quis rem aliquam generoso animo fecisset et magno impetu, sed semel. Hunc uidimus in bello fortem, in foro timidum, animose paupertatem ferentem, humiliter infamiam: factum laudauimus, contempsimus uirum.","en":"These and similar deeds showed us the image of virtue. I will add something that may seem surprising: evil things have sometimes presented the appearance of the honourable, and the best has shone out through its opposite. For, as you know, vices border on virtues, and even the lost and shameful bear a likeness to what is right: so the spendthrift passes himself off as generous, though there is a great difference between knowing how to give and not knowing how to save. There are many, I say, Lucilius, who do not give but throw away: I do not call a man generous who is angry with his money. Carelessness imitates easygoingness, and rashness courage. This likeness forced us to pay attention and to distinguish things that are close in appearance but differ greatly in reality. While observing those whom some remarkable deed had made famous, we began to note who had done something with a noble spirit and a great impulse, but only once. We saw one man brave in war and timid in the forum, bearing poverty with spirit and disgrace with abject humility: we praised the deed and despised the man."},{"ref":"Letter 120.10","orig":"Alium uidimus aduersus amicos benignum, aduersus inimicos temperatum, et publica et priuata sancte ac religiose administrantem; non deesse ei in iis quae toleranda erant patientiam, in iis quae agenda prudentiam. Vidimus ubi tribuendum esset plena manu dantem, ubi laborandum, pertinacem et obnixum et lassitudinem corporis animo subleuantem. Praeterea idem erat semper et in omni actu par sibi, iam non consilio bonus, sed more eo perductus ut non tantum recte facere posset, sed nisi recte facere non posset.","en":"We saw another kind to his friends, restrained towards his enemies, managing public and private affairs with integrity and conscience; he did not lack patience in what had to be endured, nor prudence in what had to be done. We saw him giving with a full hand where giving was due, and, where toil was needed, persistent and determined, lifting his body's weariness with his mind. Besides, he was always the same and consistent with himself in every action, no longer good by deliberate choice but brought by habit to the point where he not only could act rightly but could not act except rightly."},{"ref":"Letter 120.11–12","orig":"Intelleximus in illo perfectam esse uirtutem. Hanc in partes diuisimus: oportebat cupiditates refrenari, metus conprimi, facienda prouideri, reddenda distribui: conprehendimus temperantiam, fortitudinem, prudentiam, iustitiam et suum cuique dedimus officium. Ex quo ergo uirtutem intelleximus? ostendit illam nobis ordo eius et decor et constantia et omnium inter se actionum concordia et magnitudo super omnia efferens sese. Hinc intellecta est illa beata uita secundo defluens cursu, arbitrii sui tota. Quomodo ergo hoc ipsum nobis apparuit? dicam. Numquam uir ille perfectus adeptusque uirtutem fortunae maledixit, numquam accidentia tristis excepit, ciuem esse se uniuersi et militem credens labores uelut imperatos subit. Quidquid inciderat non tamquam malum aspernatus est et in se casu delatum, sed quasi delegatum sibi. 'Hoc qualecumque est' inquit 'meum est; asperum est, durum est, in hoc ipso nauemus operam.'","en":"We understood that in him virtue was perfect. We divided it into parts: desires had to be reined in, fears suppressed, what must be done foreseen, what is owed distributed: so we grasped self-control, courage, prudence and justice, and gave each its own duty. From what, then, did we understand virtue? Its order showed it to us, and its beauty and steadiness, and the harmony of all its actions with one another, and its greatness rising above everything. From this we understood that happy life, flowing on with a favourable course, wholly its own master. How, then, did this itself become clear to us? I will tell you. That perfect man, who had attained virtue, never cursed fortune, never received what happened with sadness; believing himself a citizen and soldier of the universe, he undertook his toils as if they had been ordered. Whatever happened, he did not reject it as an evil that had fallen on him by chance, but took it as if it had been assigned to him. 'Whatever this is,' he says, 'it is mine; it is harsh, it is hard: let us put our effort into this very thing.'"},{"ref":"Letter 120.13–15","orig":"Necessario itaque magnus apparuit qui numquam malis ingemuit, numquam de fato suo questus est; fecit multis intellectum sui et non aliter quam in tenebris lumen effulsit aduertitque in se omnium animos, cum esset placidus et lenis, humanis diuinisque rebus pariter aequus. Habebat perfectum animum et ad summam sui adductum, supra quam nihil est nisi mens dei, ex quo pars et in hoc pectus mortale defluxit; quod numquam magis diuinum est quam ubi mortalitatem suam cogitat et scit in hoc natum hominem, ut uita defungeretur, nec domum esse hoc corpus sed hospitium, et quidem breue hospitium, quod relinquendum est ubi te grauem esse hospiti uideas. Maximum, inquam, mi Lucili, argumentum est animi ab altiore sede uenientis, si haec in quibus uersatur humilia iudicat et angusta, si exire non metuit; scit enim quo exiturus sit qui unde uenerit meminit. Non uidemus quam multa nos incommoda exagitent, quam male nobis conueniat hoc corpus?","en":"So he necessarily seemed great, since he never groaned at evils, never complained about his fate; he made many understand him, and shone out like a light in darkness, turning everyone's minds towards himself, since he was calm and gentle, equally fair to things human and divine. He had a perfect mind, brought to its highest point, above which there is nothing but the mind of God, a part of which has flowed down even into this mortal breast; and it is never more divine than when it thinks about its own mortality and knows that man was born in order to finish life, and that this body is not a home but an inn, and a short stay at that, which must be left when you see that you are a burden to your host. The greatest proof, I say, my Lucilius, that the mind comes from a loftier dwelling is that it judges the things among which it moves to be lowly and narrow, and that it is not afraid to leave; for whoever remembers where he came from knows where he is going. Do we not see how many troubles harass us, how badly this body suits us?"},{"ref":"Letter 120.16–17","orig":"Nunc de capite, nunc de uentre, nunc de pectore ac faucibus querimur; alias nerui nos, alias pedes uexant, nunc deiectio, nunc destillatio; aliquando superest sanguis, aliquando deest: hinc atque illinc temptamur et expellimur. Hoc euenire solet in alieno habitantibus. At nos corpus tam putre sortiti nihilominus aeterna proponimus et in quantum potest aetas humana protendi, tantum spe occupamus, nulla contenti pecunia, nulla potentia. Quid hac re fieri inpudentius, quid stultius potest? Nihil satis est morituris, immo morientibus; cotidie enim propius ab ultimo stamus, et illo unde nobis cadendum est hora nos omnis inpellit.","en":"Now we complain about our head, now our stomach, now our chest and throat; sometimes our sinews trouble us, sometimes our feet, now diarrhoea, now catarrh; sometimes there is too much blood, sometimes too little: we are attacked on this side and that, and are being driven out. This is what usually happens to those who live in someone else's house. Yet we, who have been allotted so rotten a body, still plan for eternity, and in our hopes we lay claim to as much time as a human lifetime can be stretched to, content with no amount of money, no amount of power. What could be more shameless, what more foolish than this? Nothing is enough for those who are going to die, or rather who are dying; for every day we stand nearer the end, and every hour pushes us towards the edge from which we must fall."},{"ref":"Letter 120.18","orig":"Vide in quanta caecitate mens nostra sit: hoc quod futurum dico cum maxime fit, et pars eius magna iam facta est; nam quod uiximus tempus eo loco est quo erat antequam uiximus. Erramus autem qui ultimum timemus diem, cum tantumdem in mortem singuli conferant. Non ille gradus lassitudinem facit in quo deficimus, sed ille profitetur; ad mortem dies extremus peruenit, accedit omnis; carpit nos illa, non corripit. Ideo magnus animus conscius sibi melioris naturae dat quidem operam ut in hac statione qua positus est honeste se atque industrie gerat, ceterum nihil horum quae circa sunt suum iudicat, sed ut commodatis utitur, peregrinus et properans.","en":"See how blind our mind is: this thing I speak of as future is happening at this very moment, and a great part of it has already happened; for the time we have lived is where it was before we lived. We are wrong to fear the last day, since each day contributes just as much to death. It is not the step on which we collapse that causes the weariness; that step only reveals it. The last day reaches death; every day draws near it. Death plucks at us bit by bit; it does not snatch us all at once. So a great mind, aware of its better nature, does indeed take care to behave honourably and diligently in the post where it has been placed, but it counts nothing around it as its own, and uses everything as if on loan, like a traveller in a hurry."},{"ref":"Letter 120.19–20","orig":"Cum aliquem huius uideremus constantiae, quidni subiret nos species non usitatae indolis? utique si hanc, ut dixi, magnitudinem ueram esse ostendebat aequalitas. Vero tenor permanet, falsa non durant. Quidam alternis Vatinii, alternis Catones sunt; et modo parum illis seuerus est Curius, parum pauper Fabricius, parum frugi et contentus uilibus Tubero, modo Licinum diuitiis, Apicium cenis, Maecenatem delicis prouocant. Maximum indicium est malae mentis fluctuatio et inter simulationem uirtutum amoremque uitiorum adsidua iactatio.\nHabebat saepe ducentos,\nsaepe decem seruos; modo reges atque tetrarchas,\nomnia magna loquens, modo 'sit mihi mensa tripes et\nconcha salis puri, toga quae defendere frigus\nquamuis crassa queat'. Decies centena dedisses\nhuic parco, paucis contento: quinque diebus\nnil erat.","en":"When we saw someone of such steadiness, how could the image of an unusual character not come to us? Especially if, as I said, his consistency showed that this greatness was genuine. What is true keeps its course; false things do not last. Some people are Vatinius and Cato by turns; at one moment even Curius is not strict enough for them, Fabricius not poor enough, Tubero not frugal enough and content with cheap things; at another they challenge Licinus in wealth, Apicius in dinners, Maecenas in luxuries. The greatest sign of a bad mind is wavering, and being constantly tossed between pretending to virtues and loving vices.\nHe often had two hundred slaves,\noften ten; now it was kings and tetrarchs,\nall grand talk, now: 'Let me have a three-legged table and\na shell of clean salt, and a toga that can keep out the cold,\nhowever coarse.' Had you given a million\nto this thrifty man, content with little, in five days\nthere was nothing left."},{"ref":"Letter 120.21","orig":"Homines multi tales sunt qualem hunc describit Horatius Flaccus, numquam eundem, ne similem quidem sibi; adeo in diuersum aberrat. Multos dixi? prope est ut omnes sint. Nemo non cotidie et consilium mutat et uotum: modo uxorem uult habere, modo amicam, modo regnare uult, modo id agit nequis sit officiosior seruus, modo dilatat se usque ad inuidiam, modo subsidit et contrahitur infra humilitatem uere iacentium, nunc pecuniam spargit, nunc rapit.","en":"Many people are like the man Horatius Flaccus describes here, never the same, not even like themselves; so far do they stray in different directions. Did I say many? It is nearly everyone. Everyone changes his plans and his prayers every day: now he wants a wife, now a mistress; now he wants to rule, now he makes sure that no slave is more obsequious than he is; now he puffs himself up until he is envied, now he shrinks and contracts below the humility of those who really are down low; now he scatters money, now he grabs it."},{"ref":"Letter 120.22","orig":"Sic maxime coarguitur animus inprudens: alius prodit atque alius et, quo turpius nihil iudico, inpar sibi est. Magnam rem puta unum hominem agere. Praeter sapientem autem nemo unum agit, ceteri multiformes sumus. Modo frugi tibi uidebimur et graues, modo prodigi et uani; mutamus subinde personam et contrariam ei sumimus quam exuimus. Hoc ergo a te exige, ut qualem institueris praestare te, talem usque ad exitum serues; effice ut possis laudari, si minus, ut adgnosci. De aliquo quem here uidisti merito dici potest 'hic qui est?': tanta mutatio est. Vale.","en":"This is how a foolish mind is most clearly exposed: it appears now as one person, now as another, and, what I think most shameful of all, it is inconsistent with itself. Consider it a great thing to play one part. But no one except the wise man plays one part; the rest of us take many shapes. At one moment we will seem to you thrifty and serious, at another wasteful and frivolous; we keep changing our mask and putting on the opposite of the one we have taken off. So demand this of yourself: that you keep to the end the character you have set out to show; make sure you can be praised, or if not, at least recognised. Of someone you saw only yesterday it can rightly be asked, 'Who is this?': so great is the change. Farewell."}],"121":[{"ref":"Letter 121.1–3","orig":"Litigabis, ego uideo, cum tibi hodiernam quaestiunculam, in qua satis diu haesimus, exposuero; iterum enim exclamabis 'hoc quid ad mores?' Sed exclama, dum tibi primum alios opponam cum quibus litiges, Posidonium et Archidemum (hi iudicium accipient), deinde dicam: non quidquid morale est mores bonos facit. Aliud ad hominem alendum pertinet, aliud ad exercendum, aliud ad uestiendum, aliud ad docendum, aliud ad delectandum; omnia tamen ad hominem pertinent, etiam si non omnia meliorem eum faciunt. Mores alia aliter attingunt: quaedam illos corrigunt et ordinant, quaedam naturam eorum et originem scrutantur. Cum quaero quare hominem natura produxerit, quare praetulerit animalibus ceteris, longe me iudicas mores reliquisse? falsum est. Quomodo enim scies qui habendi sint nisi quid homini sit optimum inueneris, nisi naturam eius inspexeris? Tunc demum intelleges quid faciendum tibi, quid uitandum sit, cum didiceris quid naturae tuae debeas.","en":"You will argue with me, I can see, when I have set out today's little question, over which we have been stuck long enough; for you will again cry out, 'What has this to do with morals?' But cry out, while I first set others against you to argue with, Posidonius and Archedemus (they will accept the challenge), and then I will say: not everything that concerns morals makes morals good. One thing concerns feeding a man, another exercising him, another clothing him, another teaching him, another delighting him; yet all concern man, even if not all make him better. Different things touch morals in different ways: some correct and order them, some examine their nature and origin. When I ask why nature produced man, why she set him above the other animals, do you think I have left morals far behind? That is false. For how will you know what morals to have unless you have found out what is best for man, unless you have looked into his nature? Only then will you understand what you should do and what you should avoid, when you have learned what you owe to your nature."},{"ref":"Letter 121.4","orig":"'Ego' inquis 'uolo discere quomodo minus cupiam, minus timeam. Superstitionem mihi excute; doce leue esse uanumque hoc quod felicitas dicitur, unam illi syllabam facillime accedere.' Desiderio tuo satis faciam: et uirtutes exhortabor et uitia conuerberabo. Licet aliquis nimium inmoderatumque in hac parte me iudicet, non desistam persequi nequitiam et adfectus efferatissimos inhibere et uoluptates ituras in dolorem conpescere et uotis obstrepere. Quidni? cum maxima malorum optauerimus, et ex gratulatione natum sit quidquid adloquimur.","en":"'I,' you say, 'want to learn how to desire less and fear less. Shake superstition out of me; teach me that what is called good fortune is light and empty, and that a single syllable is very easily added to it.' I will satisfy your wish: I will urge on the virtues and lash the vices. Though someone may judge me excessive and immoderate in this, I will not stop pursuing wickedness, restraining the wildest passions, checking pleasures that will turn into pain, and shouting down prayers. Why not? Since we have prayed for the greatest evils, and whatever we are now consoled for was born from something we were once congratulated on."},{"ref":"Letter 121.5–6","orig":"Interim permitte mihi ea quae paulo remotiora uidentur excutere. Quaerebamus an esset omnibus animalibus constitutionis suae sensus. Esse autem ex eo maxime apparet quod membra apte et expedite mouent non aliter quam in hoc erudita; nulli non partium suarum agilitas est. Artifex instrumenta sua tractat ex facili, rector nauis scite gubernaculum flectit, pictor colores quos ad reddendam similitudinem multos uariosque ante se posuit celerrime denotat et inter ceram opusque facili uultu ac manu commeat: sic animal in omnem usum sui mobilest. Mirari solemus saltandi peritos quod in omnem significationem rerum et adfectuum parata illorum est manus et uerborum uelocitatem gestus adsequitur: quod illis ars praestat, his natura. Nemo aegre molitur artus suos, nemo in usu sui haesitat. Hoc edita protinus faciunt; cum hac scientia prodeunt; instituta nascuntur.","en":"Meanwhile, let me examine things that seem a little more remote. We were asking whether all animals have a sense of their own constitution. That they do is clearest from the fact that they move their limbs suitably and readily, just as if they had been trained for it; every one of them is nimble in its parts. A craftsman handles his tools easily, a helmsman skilfully turns the rudder, a painter very quickly picks out the many varied colours he has set before him to render a likeness, and passes between the wax and his work with an easy eye and hand: in the same way an animal moves readily for every use of itself. We usually marvel at skilled dancers because their hands are ready to express every meaning of things and feelings, and their gestures keep pace with the speed of the words: what art gives to dancers, nature gives to animals. No animal moves its limbs with difficulty, none hesitates in the use of itself. They do this as soon as they are born; they come out with this knowledge; they are born trained."},{"ref":"Letter 121.7–8","orig":"'Ideo' inquit 'partes suas animalia apte mouent quia, si aliter mouerint, dolorem sensura sunt. Ita, ut uos dicitis, coguntur, metusque illa in rectum, non uoluntas mouet.' Quod est falsum; tarda enim sunt quae necessitate inpelluntur, agilitas sponte motis est. Adeo autem non adigit illa ad hoc doloris timor ut in naturalem motum etiam dolore prohibente nitantur. Sic infans qui stare meditatur et ferre se adsuescit, simul temptare uires suas coepit, cadit et cum fletu totiens resurgit donec se per dolorem ad id quod natura poscit exercuit. Animalia quaedam tergi durioris inuersa tam diu se torquent ac pedes exerunt et obliquant donec ad locum reponantur. Nullum tormentum sentit supina testudo, inquieta est tamen desiderio naturalis status nec ante desinit niti, quatere se, quam in pedes constitit.","en":"'Animals,' he says, 'move their parts suitably because they would feel pain if they moved them otherwise. So, as you say, they are compelled, and it is fear that makes them move correctly, not will.' That is false; for things driven by necessity are slow, while nimbleness belongs to what moves of its own accord. And the fear of pain is so far from driving them to this that they strive for their natural movement even when pain gets in the way. So a baby who is trying to stand and getting used to carrying its weight, as soon as it begins to test its strength, falls, and gets up again weeping, again and again, until through pain it has trained itself to what nature demands. Certain animals with harder backs, when turned over, twist and thrust out their feet and move them sideways until they are back in position. A tortoise on its back feels no pain, yet it is restless from longing for its natural position and does not stop struggling and shaking itself until it stands on its feet."},{"ref":"Letter 121.9–11","orig":"Ergo omnibus constitutionis suae sensus est et inde membrorum tam expedita tractatio, nec ullum maius indicium habemus cum hac illa ad uiuendum uenire notitia quam quod nullum animal ad usum sui rude est. 'Constitutio' inquit 'est, ut uos dicitis, principale animi quodammodo se habens erga corpus. Hoc tam perplexum et subtile et uobis quoque uix enarrabile quomodo infans intellegit? Omnia animalia dialectica nasci oportet ut istam finitionem magnae parti hominum togatorum obscuram intellegant.' Verum erat quod opponis si ego ab animalibus constitutionis finitionem intellegi dicerem, non ipsam constitutionem. Facilius natura intellegitur quam enarratur. Itaque infans ille quid sit constitutio non nouit, constitutionem suam nouit; et quid sit animal nescit, animal esse se sentit.","en":"So all animals have a sense of their own constitution, and hence their handling of their limbs is so ready; and we have no greater proof that they come into life with this knowledge than that no animal is unskilled in the use of itself. 'A constitution,' he says, 'is, as you say, the ruling part of the mind in a certain relation to the body. How can a baby understand something so complicated and subtle, which even you can hardly explain? All animals would have to be born logicians to understand this definition, which is obscure to most people in togas.' Your objection would be sound if I were saying that animals understand the definition of a constitution, not the constitution itself. Nature is more easily understood than explained. So that baby does not know what a constitution is, but knows its own constitution; and it does not know what an animal is, but feels that it is an animal."},{"ref":"Letter 121.12–13","orig":"Praeterea ipsam constitutionem suam crasse intellegit et summatim et obscure. Nos quoque animum habere nos scimus: quid sit animus, ubi sit, qualis sit aut unde nescimus. Qualis ad nos animi nostri sensus, quamuis naturam eius ignoremus ac sedem, talis ad omnia animalia constitutionis suae sensus est. Necesse est enim id sentiant per quod alia quoque sentiunt; necesse est eius sensum habeant cui parent, a quo reguntur. Nemo non ex nobis intellegit esse aliquid quod impetus suos moueat: quid sit illud ignorat. Et conatum sibi esse scit: quis sit aut unde sit nescit. Sic infantibus quoque animalibusque principalis partis suae sensus est non satis dilucidus nec expressus.","en":"Besides, it understands its constitution itself roughly, in outline and dimly. We too know that we have a mind: what the mind is, where it is, what it is like or where it comes from, we do not know. Just as we have a sense of our mind, though we do not know its nature or its seat, so all animals have a sense of their constitution. For they must perceive that by which they perceive other things; they must have a sense of that which they obey, by which they are ruled. Every one of us understands that there is something that moves his impulses: what it is he does not know. He knows that he has a drive: what it is or where it comes from he does not know. So babies and animals too have a sense of their ruling part, though not a very clear or distinct one."},{"ref":"Letter 121.14–15","orig":"'Dicitis' inquit 'omne animal primum constitutioni suae conciliari, hominis autem constitutionem rationalem esse et ideo conciliari hominem sibi non tamquam animali sed tamquam rationali; ea enim parte sibi carus est homo qua homo est. Quomodo ergo infans conciliari constitutioni rationali potest, cum rationalis nondum sit?' Unicuique aetati sua constitutio est, alia infanti, alia puero, alia adulescenti, alia seni: omnes ei constitutioni conciliantur in qua sunt. Infans sine dentibus est: huic constitutioni suae conciliatur. Enati sunt dentes: huic constitutioni conciliatur. Nam et illa herba quae in segetem frugemque uentura est aliam constitutionem habet tenera et uix eminens sulco, aliam cum conualuit et molli quidem culmo, sed quo ferat onus suum, constitit, aliam cum flauescit et ad aream spectat et spica eius induruit: in quamcumque constitutionem uenit, eam tuetur, in eam componitur.","en":"'You say,' he says, 'that every animal is first attached to its own constitution, but that man's constitution is rational, and so man is attached to himself not as an animal but as a rational being; for man is dear to himself in the part by which he is man. How then can a baby be attached to a rational constitution, when it is not yet rational?' Each age has its own constitution, one for the baby, another for the boy, another for the young man, another for the old man: all are attached to the constitution they are in. The baby has no teeth: it is attached to this constitution of its own. Its teeth have come through: it is attached to this constitution. For even the plant that will become a crop and grain has one constitution when it is tender and barely showing above the furrow, another when it has grown strong and stands on a stalk that is soft but able to bear its load, another when it turns yellow and looks towards the threshing floor and its ear has hardened: whatever constitution it comes into, it protects that and adapts itself to it."},{"ref":"Letter 121.16–17","orig":"Alia est aetas infantis, pueri, adulescentis, senis; ego tamen idem sum qui et infans fui et puer et adulescens. Sic, quamuis alia atque alia cuique constitutio sit, conciliatio constitutionis suae eadem est. Non enim puerum mihi aut iuuenem aut senem, sed me natura commendat. Ergo infans ei constitutioni suae conciliatur quae tunc infanti est, non quae futura iuueni est; neque enim si aliquid illi maius in quod transeat restat, non hoc quoque in quo nascitur secundum naturam est. Primum sibi ipsum conciliatur animal; debet enim aliquid esse ad quod alia referantur. Voluptatem peto. Cui? mihi; ergo mei curam ago. Dolorem refugio. Pro quo? pro me; ergo mei curam ago. Si omnia propter curam mei facio, ante omnia est mei cura. Haec animalibus inest cunctis, nec inseritur sed innascitur.","en":"The ages of baby, boy, young man and old man are different; yet I am the same person who was a baby, a boy and a young man. So, although each has one constitution after another, the attachment to one's own constitution is the same. For nature commends to me not the boy or the young man or the old man, but myself. So the baby is attached to the constitution it has as a baby, not to the one it will have as a young man; for even if there remains something greater for it to pass into, the state in which it is born is also in accordance with nature. An animal is first attached to itself; for there must be something to which other things are referred. I seek pleasure. For whom? For myself; so I am taking care of myself. I flee pain. For whose sake? For my own; so I am taking care of myself. If I do everything out of care for myself, care for myself comes before everything. This is in all animals, and it is not grafted on but inborn."},{"ref":"Letter 121.18–19","orig":"Producit fetus suos natura, non abicit; et quia tutela certissima ex proximo est, sibi quisque commissus est. Itaque, ut in prioribus epistulis dixi, tenera quoque animalia et materno utero uel ouo modo effusa quid sit infestum ipsa protinus norunt et mortifera deuitant; umbram quoque transuolantium reformidant obnoxia auibus rapto uiuentibus. Nullum animal ad uitam prodit sine metu mortis. 'Quemadmodum' inquit 'editum animal intellectum habere aut salutaris aut mortiferae rei potest?' Primum quaeritur an intellegat, non quemadmodum intellegat. Esse autem illis intellectum ex eo apparet quod nihil amplius, si intellexerint, facient. Quid est quare pauonem, quare anserem gallina non fugiat, at tanto minorem et ne notum quidem sibi accipitrem? quare pulli faelem timeant, canem non timeant? Apparet illis inesse nocituri scientiam non experimento collectam; nam antequam possint experisci, cauent.","en":"Nature brings forth her offspring, she does not throw them away; and because the surest protection is the nearest, each has been entrusted to itself. So, as I said in earlier letters, even young animals just out of the mother's womb or the egg know at once by themselves what is dangerous and avoid what is deadly; those that are prey to birds that live by plunder shrink even from the shadow of those flying over. No animal comes into life without fear of death. 'How,' he says, 'can a newborn animal have an understanding of what is healthy or deadly?' The first question is whether it understands, not how. And that they have understanding is clear from the fact that they would do nothing more if they did understand. Why is it that a hen does not flee a peacock or a goose, but does flee the hawk, which is so much smaller and not even known to it? Why do chicks fear a cat but not a dog? It is clear that they have a knowledge of what will harm them that has not been gathered from experience; for they are on their guard before they can have any experience."},{"ref":"Letter 121.20–21","orig":"Deinde ne hoc casu existimes fieri, nec metuunt alia quam debent nec umquam obliuiscuntur huius tutelae et diligentiae: aequalis est illis a pernicioso fuga. Praeterea non fiunt timidiora uiuendo; ex quo quidem apparet non usu illa in hoc peruenire sed naturali amore salutis suae. Et tardum est et uarium quod usus docet: quidquid natura tradit et aequale omnibus est et statim. Si tamen exigis, dicam quomodo omne animal perniciosa intellegere cogatur. Sentit se carne constare; itaque sentit quid sit quo secari caro, quo uri, quo obteri possit, quae sint animalia armata ad nocendum: horum speciem trahit inimicam et hostilem. Inter se ista coniuncta sunt; simul enim conciliatur saluti suae quidque et iuuatura petit, laesura formidat. Naturales ad utilia impetus, naturales a contrariis aspernationes sunt; sine ulla cogitatione quae hoc dictet, sine consilio fit quidquid natura praecepit.","en":"Next, so that you do not think this happens by chance: they neither fear things other than those they should, nor ever forget this watchfulness and care; their flight from what is deadly is always the same. Besides, they do not become more timid by living; from which it is clear that they do not come to this by experience but by a natural love of their own safety. What experience teaches is slow and variable: whatever nature hands down is the same for all, and immediate. But if you insist, I will tell you how every animal is led to understand what is harmful. It feels that it is made of flesh; so it feels what can cut the flesh, burn it or crush it, and which animals are armed to do harm: it forms an image of these as hostile and dangerous. These things are linked; for each creature is at once attached to its own safety, seeks what will help it and dreads what will hurt it. Impulses towards what is useful are natural, and so are recoilings from the opposite; whatever nature has prescribed happens without any reflection to dictate it, without planning."},{"ref":"Letter 121.22–23","orig":"Non uides quanta sit subtilitas apibus ad fingenda domicilia, quanta diuidui laboris obeundi undique concordia? Non uides quam nulli mortalium imitabilis illa aranei textura, quanti operis sit fila disponere, alia in rectum inmissa firmamenti loco, alia in orbem currentia ex denso rara, qua minora animalia, in quorum perniciem illa tenduntur, uelut retibus inplicata teneantur? Nascitur ars ista, non discitur. Itaque nullum est animal altero doctius: uidebis araneorum pares telas, par in fauis angulorum omnium foramen. Incertum est et inaequabile quidquid ars tradit: ex aequo uenit quod natura distribuit. Haec nihil magis quam tutelam sui et eius peritiam tradidit, ideoque etiam simul incipiunt et discere et uiuere.","en":"Do you not see how great the skill of bees is in building their homes, how great their harmony in sharing out the work on every side? Do you not see how that weaving of the spider cannot be imitated by any mortal, what a task it is to arrange the threads, some sent straight out to act as supports, others running in a circle, close together at the centre and spreading wider apart, so that smaller creatures, for whose destruction the web is spread, are caught and held as if tangled in nets? This art is born, not learned. So no animal is more skilled than another: you will see spiders' webs all alike, and in honeycombs every cell with its angles the same. Whatever art hands down is uncertain and uneven: what nature distributes comes out equal. She has handed down nothing more than self-protection and the skill for it, and so they begin to learn and to live at the same time."},{"ref":"Letter 121.24","orig":"Nec est mirum cum eo nasci illa sine quo frustra nascerentur. Primum hoc instrumentum in illa natura contulit ad permanendum, conciliationem et caritatem sui. Non poterant salua esse nisi uellent; nec hoc per se profuturum erat, sed sine hoc nulla res profuisset. Sed in nullo deprendes uilitatem sui, ne neglegentiam quidem; tacitis quoque et brutis, quamquam in cetera torpeant, ad uiuendum sollertia est. Videbis quae aliis inutilia sunt sibi ipsa non deesse. Vale.","en":"Nor is it surprising that they are born with that without which they would be born in vain. The first tool nature gave them for survival was attachment to and love of themselves. They could not be safe unless they wanted to be; this by itself would not have been enough, but without it nothing else would have helped. But in no creature will you catch any low opinion of itself, or even neglect of itself; even dumb and brute creatures, though sluggish in other things, are clever at living. You will see that creatures useless to others do not fail themselves. Farewell."}],"122":[{"ref":"Letter 122.1–2","orig":"Detrimentum iam dies sensit; resiluit aliquantum, ita tamen ut liberale adhuc spatium sit si quis cum ipso, ut ita dicam, die surgat. Officiosior meliorque si quis illum expectat et lucem primam excipit: turpis qui alto sole semisomnus iacet, cuius uigilia medio die incipit; et adhuc multis hoc antelucanum est. Sunt qui officia lucis noctisque peruerterint nec ante diducant oculos hesterna graues crapula quam adpetere nox coepit. Qualis illorum condicio dicitur quos natura, ut ait Vergilius, pedibus nostris subditos e contrario posuit,\nnosque ubi primus equis Oriens adflauit anhelis,\nillis sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper,\ntalis horum contraria omnibus non regio sed uita est.","en":"The day has already felt its loss; it has shrunk back somewhat, yet there is still a generous amount of time if one rises, so to speak, with the day itself. A man is more dutiful and better if he waits for it and greets the first light; shameful is the man who lies half-asleep when the sun is high, whose waking begins at midday; and for many even this is before dawn. There are those who have reversed the functions of day and night, and do not open their eyes, heavy with yesterday's drinking, until night has begun to approach. Just as with those whom nature, as Virgil says, has placed beneath our feet on the opposite side of the world,\nand when the East first breathes on us with panting horses,\nfor them red Vesper lights his late lamps,\nso with these people it is not their region but their life that is the opposite of everyone else's."},{"ref":"Letter 122.3","orig":"Sunt quidam in eadem urbe antipodes qui, ut M. Cato ait, nec orientem umquam solem uiderunt nec occidentem. Hos tu existimas scire quemadmodum uiuendum sit, qui nesciunt quando? Et hi mortem timent, in quam se uiui condiderunt? tam infausti ominis quam nocturnae aues sunt. Licet in uino unguentoque tenebras suas exigant, licet epulis et quidem in multa fericula discoctis totum peruersae uigiliae tempus educant, non conuiuantur sed iusta sibi faciunt. Mortuis certe interdiu parentatur. At mehercules nullus agenti dies longus est. Extendamus uitam: huius et officium et argumentum actus est. Circumscribatur nox et aliquid ex illa in diem transferatur.","en":"There are some antipodes in this same city who, as Marcus Cato says, have never seen the sun either rise or set. Do you think these people know how to live, when they do not know when to live? And do they fear death, when they have buried themselves alive in it? They are as ill-omened as birds of the night. Though they spend their hours of darkness amid wine and perfume, though they pass the whole time of their perverse waking in feasts, and those spread over many courses, they are not banqueting but holding their own funeral rites. Offerings to the dead, at least, are made by day. But by Hercules, no day is long for a man who is busy. Let us lengthen life: its duty and its proof is action. Let the night be cut back and some of it transferred to the day."},{"ref":"Letter 122.4–5","orig":"Aues quae conuiuiis comparantur, ut inmotae facile pinguescant, in obscuro continentur; ita sine ulla exercitatione iacentibus tumor pigrum corpus inuadit et superba umbra iners sagina subcrescit. At istorum corpora qui se tenebris dicauerunt foeda uisuntur, quippe suspectior illis quam morbo pallentibus color est: languidi et euanidi albent, et in uiuis caro morticina est. Hoc tamen minimum in illis malorum dixerim: quanto plus tenebrarum in animo est! ille in se stupet, ille caligat, inuidet caecis. Quis umquam oculos tenebrarum causa habuit? Interrogas quomodo haec animo prauitas fiat auersandi diem et totam uitam in noctem transferendi? Omnia uitia contra naturam pugnant, omnia debitum ordinem deserunt; hoc est luxuriae propositum, gaudere peruersis nec tantum discedere a recto sed quam longissime abire, deinde etiam econtrario stare.","en":"Birds being fattened for banquets are kept in the dark so that, unable to move, they grow fat easily; so as they lie there without any exercise, swelling invades their lazy bodies, and in the proud shade an idle fat grows beneath the skin. And the bodies of those who have devoted themselves to darkness look foul, for their colour is more alarming than that of people pale from illness: they are languid and faded and white, and in living men the flesh is like a corpse's. Yet I would call this the least of their evils: how much more darkness there is in their minds! Such a man is dazed within himself, he is in a fog, he envies the blind. Who ever had eyes for the sake of darkness? Do you ask how the mind comes to this perversity of turning away from the day and transferring the whole of life to the night? All vices fight against nature, all abandon the proper order; this is the aim of luxury, to delight in what is perverse, and not only to depart from what is right but to go as far away from it as possible, and then even to take up the opposite position."},{"ref":"Letter 122.6–7","orig":"Non uidentur tibi contra naturam uiuere qui ieiuni bibunt, qui uinum recipiunt inanibus uenis et ad cibum ebrii transeunt? Atqui frequens hoc adulescentium uitium est, qui uires excolunt ut in ipso paene balinei limine inter nudos bibant, immo potent et sudorem quem mouerunt potionibus crebris ac feruentibus subinde destringant. Post prandium aut cenam bibere uulgare est; hoc patres familiae rustici faciunt et uerae uoluptatis ignari: merum illud delectat quod non innatat cibo, quod libere penetrat ad neruos; illa ebrietas iuuat quae in uacuum uenit. Non uidentur tibi contra naturam uiuere qui commutant cum feminis uestem? Non uiuunt contra naturam qui spectant ut pueritia splendeat tempore alieno? Quid fieri crudelius uel miserius potest? numquam uir erit, ut diu uirum pati possit? et cum illum contumeliae sexus eripuisse debuerat, non ne aetas quidem eripiet?","en":"Do you not think people live against nature who drink on an empty stomach, who take wine into empty veins and go on to their food drunk? Yet this is a common fault of young men, who train their strength in order to drink, or rather to swill, almost on the very threshold of the baths among the naked, and keep scraping off the sweat they have worked up with frequent hot drinks. To drink after lunch or dinner is common; that is what country fathers do, who know nothing of true pleasure: the undiluted wine that delights is the one that does not float on food, that goes freely into the sinews; the drunkenness that pleases is the one that comes into an empty body. Do you not think people live against nature who exchange clothes with women? Do those not live against nature who try to make boyhood glow at a time not its own? What could be more cruel or more wretched? Is he never to be a man, so that he can long submit to a man? And when his sex should have saved him from abuse, will not even his age save him?"},{"ref":"Letter 122.8–9","orig":"Non uiuunt contra naturam qui hieme concupiscunt rosam fomentoque aquarum calentium et locorum apta mutatione bruma lilium (florem uernum) exprimunt? Non uiuunt contra naturam qui pomaria in summis turribus serunt? quorum siluae in tectis domuum ac fastigiis nutant, inde ortis radicibus quo inprobe cacumina egissent? Non uiuunt contra naturam qui fundamenta thermarum in mari iaciunt et delicate natare ipsi sibi non uidentur nisi calentia stagna fluctu ac tempestate feriantur? Cum instituerunt omnia contra naturae consuetudinem uelle, nouissime in totum ab illa desciscunt. 'Lucet: somni tempus est. Quies est: nunc exerceamur, nunc gestemur, nunc prandeamus. Iam lux propius accedit: tempus est cenae. Non oportet id facere quod populus; res sordida est trita ac uulgari uia uiuere. Dies publicus relinquatur: proprium nobis ac peculiare mane fiat.'","en":"Do those not live against nature who crave a rose in winter, and force out a spring flower, the lily, in midwinter, nourishing it with hot water and a suitable change of location? Do those not live against nature who plant orchards on the tops of towers? Whose woods wave on the roofs and pinnacles of houses, their roots springing from a height their tops should never have reached? Do those not live against nature who lay the foundations of hot baths in the sea and do not think they are swimming luxuriously unless their heated pools are lashed by waves and storm? When they have begun to want everything against nature's ways, they end by breaking away from her altogether. 'It is light: time for sleep. It is quiet: now let us exercise, now let us go for a drive, now let us lunch. Now the light is coming nearer: time for dinner. We should not do what the people do; it is a shabby thing to live in the worn and common way. Let the public day be left to others: let us have a morning of our own, all to ourselves.'"},{"ref":"Letter 122.10–11","orig":"Isti uero mihi defunctorum loco sunt; quantulum enim a funere absunt et quidem acerbo qui ad faces et cereos uiuunt? Hanc uitam agere eodem tempore multos meminimus, inter quos et Acilium Butam praetorium, cui post patrimonium ingens consumptum Tiberius paupertatem confitenti 'sero' inquit 'experrectus es'. Recitabat Montanus Iulius carmen, tolerabilis poeta et amicitia Tiberi notus et frigore. Ortus et occasus libentissime inserebat; itaque cum indignaretur quidam illum toto die recitasse et negaret accedendum ad recitationes eius, Natta Pinarius ait: 'numquid possum liberalius agere? paratus sum illum audire ab ortu ad occasum'.","en":"These people, in my view, are as good as dead; for how far are they from a funeral, and an untimely one at that, when they live by torches and candles? We remember many people living this life at the same time, among them Acilius Buta, a former praetor, who, after squandering an enormous fortune, confessed his poverty to Tiberius, and Tiberius said: 'You have woken up too late.' Julius Montanus, a tolerable poet, known both for Tiberius's friendship and for its cooling, used to give readings of his poetry. He loved to put in sunrises and sunsets; so when someone complained that he had been reading all day and said that people should not go to his readings, Pinarius Natta said: 'Could I be more generous? I am ready to hear him from sunrise to sunset.'"},{"ref":"Letter 122.12–13","orig":"Cum hos uersus recitasset\nincipit ardentes Phoebus producere flammas,\nspargere se rubicunda dies; iam tristis hirundo\nargutis reditura cibos inmittere nidis\nincipit et molli partitos ore ministrat,\nVarus eques Romanus, M. Vinicii comes, cenarum bonarum adsectator, quas inprobitate linguae merebatur, exclamauit 'incipit Buta dormire'. Deinde cum subinde recitasset\niam sua pastores stabulis armenta locarunt,\niam dare sopitis nox pigra silentia terris\nincipit,\nidem Varus inquit 'quid dicis? iam nox est? ibo et Butam salutabo'. Nihil erat notius hac eius uita in contrarium circumacta; quam, ut dixi, multi eodem tempore egerunt.","en":"When he had recited these lines:\nPhoebus begins to bring out his blazing flames,\nthe ruddy day spreads itself; now the sad swallow\nbegins to bring food to her chattering nestlings, soon to return,\nand serves it portioned out with her soft beak,\nVarus, a Roman knight, the companion of Marcus Vinicius and a hanger-on at good dinners, which he earned by the impudence of his tongue, cried out: 'Buta is starting to sleep.' Then, when Montanus went on to recite:\nnow the shepherds have put their herds in their stalls,\nnow slow night begins to give silence\nto the drowsy lands,\nthe same Varus said: 'What are you saying? Is it night already? I will go and pay my morning call on Buta.' Nothing was better known than this life of his, turned upside down; and, as I said, many led it at the same time."},{"ref":"Letter 122.14","orig":"Causa autem est ita uiuendi quibusdam, non quia aliquid existiment noctem ipsam habere iucundius, sed quia nihil iuuat solitum, et grauis malae conscientiae lux est, et omnia concupiscenti aut contemnenti prout magno aut paruo empta sunt fastidio est lumen gratuitum. Praeterea luxuriosi uitam suam esse in sermonibus dum uiuunt uolunt; nam si tacetur, perdere se putant operam. Itaque aliquotiens faciunt quod excitet famam. Multi bona comedunt, multi amicas habent: ut inter istos nomen inuenias, opus est non tantum luxuriosam rem sed notabilem facere; in tam occupata ciuitate fabulas uulgaris nequitia non inuenit.","en":"The reason some people live like this is not that they think night itself has anything more pleasant about it, but that nothing usual pleases them; and daylight is burdensome to a bad conscience, and to someone who craves or despises everything according to whether it was bought at a high or a low price, light that costs nothing is contemptible. Besides, the luxurious want their lives to be talked about while they live; for if they are not talked about, they think their effort wasted. So now and then they do something to set tongues wagging. Many people eat up their property, many have mistresses: to make a name among such people, you must do something not just luxurious but notorious; in so busy a city ordinary wickedness does not get talked about."},{"ref":"Letter 122.15–16","orig":"Pedonem Albinouanum narrantem audieramus (erat autem fabulator elegantissimus) habitasse se supra domum Sex. Papini. Is erat ex hac turba lucifugarum. 'Audio' inquit 'circa horam tertiam noctis flagellorum sonum. Quaero quid faciat: dicitur rationes accipere. Audio circa horam sextam noctis clamorem concitatum. Quaero quid sit: dicitur uocem exercere. Quaero circa horam octauam noctis quid sibi ille sonus rotarum uelit: gestari dicitur. Circa lucem discurritur, pueri uocantur, cellarii, coqui tumultuantur. Quaero quid sit: dicitur mulsum et halicam poposcisse, a balneo exisse. \"Excedebat\" inquit \"huius diem cena.\" Minime; ualde enim frugaliter uiuebat; nihil consumebat nisi noctem.' Itaque Pedo dicentibus illum quibusdam auarum et sordidum 'uos' inquit 'illum et lychnobium dicetis'.","en":"We once heard Pedo Albinovanus tell a story (he was a most charming storyteller) about how he had lived above the house of Sextus Papinius. Papinius was one of this crowd of light-shunners. 'About the third hour of the night,' he said, 'I hear the sound of whips. I ask what he is doing: I am told he is going over his accounts. About the sixth hour of the night I hear loud shouting. I ask what it is: I am told he is exercising his voice. About the eighth hour of the night I ask what that sound of wheels means: I am told he is going for a drive. Around dawn there is running about, slaves are called, butlers and cooks are in an uproar. I ask what it is: I am told he has asked for honeyed wine and porridge, and has come out of the bath. \"His dinner ran past the day,\" someone says. Not at all; for he lived very frugally; he used up nothing but the night.' So when some people called Papinius mean and stingy, Pedo said: 'You will call him a lamp-liver too.'"},{"ref":"Letter 122.17–19","orig":"Non debes admirari si tantas inuenis uitiorum proprietates: uaria sunt, innumerabiles habent facies, conprendi eorum genera non possunt. Simplex recti cura est, multiplex praui, et quantumuis nouas declinationes capit. Idem moribus euenit: naturam sequentium faciles sunt, soluti sunt, exiguas differentias habent; distorti plurimum et omnibus et inter se dissident. Causa tamen praecipua mihi uidetur huius morbi uitae communis fastidium. Quomodo cultu se a ceteris distinguunt, quomodo elegantia cenarum, munditiis uehiculorum, sic uolunt separari etiam temporum dispositione. Nolunt solita peccare quibus peccandi praemium infamia est. Hanc petunt omnes isti qui, ut ita dicam, retro uiuunt. Ideo, Lucili, tenenda nobis uia est quam natura praescripsit, nec ab illa declinandum: illam sequentibus omnia facilia, expedita sunt, contra illam nitentibus non alia uita est quam contra aquam remigantibus. Vale.","en":"You should not be surprised if you find so many peculiarities of vice: vices are varied, they have countless faces, their kinds cannot be listed. Care for what is right is simple, care for what is wrong is manifold, and it takes on as many new deviations as you like. The same happens with characters: those of people who follow nature are easy-going and relaxed, with small differences; the twisted are at great odds with everyone and with each other. But the chief cause of this disease seems to me to be disgust with ordinary life. Just as they distinguish themselves from others by their dress, by the elegance of their dinners, by the smartness of their carriages, so they want to be set apart even by the way they arrange their time. Those for whom notoriety is the reward of sinning do not want to sin in the usual ways. This is what all these people seek who, so to speak, live backwards. So, Lucilius, we must keep to the road nature has laid down, and not turn aside from it: for those who follow it everything is easy and clear, while for those who struggle against it, life is nothing but rowing against the current. Farewell."}],"123":[{"ref":"Letter 123.1–2","orig":"Itinere confectus incommodo magis quam longo in Albanum meum multa nocte perueni: nihil habeo parati nisi me. Itaque in lectulo lassitudinem pono, hanc coci ac pistoris moram boni consulo. Mecum enim de hoc ipso loquor, quam nihil sit graue quod leuiter excipias, quam indignandum nihil dum nihil ipse indignando adstruas. Non habet panem meus pistor; sed habet uilicus, sed habet atriensis, sed habet colonus. 'Malum panem' inquis. Expecta: bonus fiet; etiam illum tibi tenerum et siligineum fames reddet. Ideo non est ante edendum quam illa imperat. Expectabo ergo nec ante edam quam aut bonum panem habere coepero aut malum fastidire desiero.","en":"Worn out by a journey more uncomfortable than long, I have reached my place at Alba late at night: I have nothing ready except myself. So I am resting my weariness on my couch and taking this delay by the cook and the baker in good part. For I am talking to myself about this very thing: how nothing is heavy if you take it lightly, how nothing should make you indignant as long as you do not add to it yourself by being indignant. My baker has no bread; but the steward has some, the doorkeeper has some, the tenant farmer has some. 'Bad bread,' you say. Wait: it will become good; hunger will make even that bread soft and fine for you. So one should not eat before hunger commands. I will wait, then, and not eat until I either begin to have good bread or stop being fussy about bad."},{"ref":"Letter 123.3–4","orig":"Necessarium est paruo adsuescere: multae difficultates locorum, multae temporum etiam locupletibus et instructis aduobus optantem prohibent et occurrent. Quidquid uult habere nemo potest, illud potest, nolle quod non habet, rebus oblatis hilaris uti. Magna pars libertatis est bene moratus uenter et contumeliae patiens. Aestimari non potest quantam uoluptatem capiam ex eo quod lassitudo mea sibi ipsa adquiescit: non unctores, non balineum, non ullum aliud remedium quam temporis quaero. Nam quod labor contraxit quies tollit. Haec qualiscumque cena aditiali iucundior erit.","en":"It is necessary to get used to a little: many difficulties of place and of time will get in the way even of the rich and well supplied, and block what they want. No one can have whatever he wants; what he can do is not want what he does not have, and cheerfully use what is offered. A well-trained belly that puts up with rough treatment is a large part of freedom. You cannot imagine how much pleasure I get from the fact that my weariness is resting by itself: I am looking for no masseurs, no bath, no other remedy than time. For what toil has brought on, rest takes away. This dinner, whatever it is like, will be more pleasant than an inaugural banquet."},{"ref":"Letter 123.5–6","orig":"Aliquod enim experimentum animi sumpsi subito; hoc enim est simplicius et uerius. Nam ubi se praeparauit et indixit sibi patientiam, non aeque apparet quantum habeat uerae firmitatis: illa sunt certissima argumenta quae ex tempore dedit, si non tantum aequus molestias sed placidus aspexit; si non excanduit, non litigauit; si quod dari deberet ipse sibi non desiderando suppleuit et cogitauit aliquid consuetudini suae, sibi nihil deesse. Multa quam superuacua essent non intelleximus nisi deesse coeperunt; utebamur enim illis non quia debebamus sed quia habebamus. Quam multa autem paramus quia alii parauerunt, quia apud plerosque sunt! Inter causas malorum nostrorum est quod uiuimus ad exempla, nec ratione componimur sed consuetudine abducimur. Quod si pauci facerent nollemus imitari, cum plures facere coeperunt quasi honestius sit quia frequentius, sequimur; et recti apud nos locum tenet error ubi publicus factus est.","en":"For I have made a sudden test of my mind; this is more straightforward and more honest. For when the mind has prepared itself and imposed patience on itself, it is not so clear how much true firmness it has: the surest proofs are those it gives on the spur of the moment, if it has looked on troubles not only calmly but gently; if it has not flared up or quarrelled; if it has made up for what ought to have been provided by not wanting it, and has reflected that something was missing from its habits, but nothing from itself. We did not realise how superfluous many things were until they began to be lacking; for we used them not because we needed them but because we had them. And how many things we acquire because others have acquired them, because most people have them! Among the causes of our troubles is that we live by examples, and are not set in order by reason but carried away by custom. What we would not want to imitate if few did it, we follow when more people begin to do it, as though it were more honourable because it is more frequent; and error takes the place of what is right with us once it has become general."},{"ref":"Letter 123.7–8","orig":"Omnes iam sic peregrinantur ut illos Numidarum praecurrat equitatus, ut agmen cursorum antecedat: turpe est nullos esse qui occurrentis uia deiciant, qui honestum hominem uenire magno puluere ostendant. Omnes iam mulos habent qui crustallina et murrina et caelata magnorum artificum manu portent: turpe est uideri eas te habere sarcinas solas quae tuto concuti possint. Omnium paedagogia oblita facie uehuntur ne sol, ne frigus teneram cutem laedat: turpe est neminem esse in comitatu tuo puerorum cuius sana facies medicamentum desideret. Horum omnium sermo uitandus est: hi sunt qui uitia tradunt et alio aliunde transferunt. Pessimum genus hominum uidebatur qui uerba gestarent: sunt quidam qui uitia gestant. Horum sermo multum nocet; nam etiam si non statim proficit, semina in animo relinquit sequiturque nos etiam cum ab illis discessimus, resurrecturum postea malum.","en":"Everyone now travels with Numidian cavalry running ahead of them, with a troop of runners going before: it is shameful to have no one to push oncomers off the road, no one to announce with a great cloud of dust that an important man is coming. Everyone now has mules to carry crystal and fluorspar vessels and work engraved by the hands of great artists: it is shameful to seem to have only baggage that can be jolted about safely. Everyone's troops of page boys ride with their faces smeared with cream, so that neither sun nor cold harms their tender skin: it is shameful to have no boy in your retinue whose healthy face needs cosmetics. The conversation of all these people must be avoided: these are the ones who hand on vices and carry them from one place to another. The worst kind of people used to seem to be those who carried gossip: there are some who carry vices. Their talk does great harm; for even if it does not take effect at once, it leaves seeds in the mind and follows us even after we have left them, an evil that will spring up again later."},{"ref":"Letter 123.9","orig":"Quemadmodum qui audierunt synphoniam ferunt secum in auribus modulationem illam ac dulcedinem cantuum, quae cogitationes inpedit nec ad seria patitur intendi, sic adulatorum et praua laudantium sermo diutius haeret quam auditur. Nec facile est animo dulcem sonum excutere: prosequitur et durat et ex interuallo recurrit. Ideo cludendae sunt aures malis uocibus et quidem primis; nam cum initium fecerunt admissaeque sunt, plus audent.","en":"Just as those who have heard a concert carry that melody and the sweetness of the singing about in their ears, and it gets in the way of their thoughts and does not let them concentrate on serious things, so the talk of flatterers and of those who praise what is wrong lingers longer than it is heard. Nor is it easy to shake a sweet sound out of the mind: it follows, it lasts, and it comes back after an interval. So our ears must be closed to bad voices, and indeed to the very first of them; for once they have made a beginning and been let in, they grow bolder."},{"ref":"Letter 123.10","orig":"Inde ad haec peruenitur uerba: 'uirtus et philosophia et iustitia uerborum inanium crepitus est; una felicitas est bene uitae facere; esse, bibere, frui patrimonio, hoc est uiuere, hoc est se mortalem esse meminisse. Fluunt dies et inreparabilis uita decurrit. Dubitamus? Quid iuuat sapere et aetati non semper uoluptates recepturae interim, dum potest, dum poscit, ingerere frugalitatem? Eo mortem praecurre et quidquid illa ablatura est iam sibi interere. Non amicam habes, non puerum qui amicae moueat inuidiam; cottidie sobrius prodis; sic cenas tamquam ephemeridem patri adprobaturus: non est istud uiuere sed alienae uitae interesse.","en":"From there it comes to words like these: 'Virtue and philosophy and justice are a rattle of empty words; the one happiness is to do well by life; eating, drinking, enjoying one's inheritance, this is living, this is remembering that one is mortal. The days flow by and life runs down, never to be recovered. Do we hesitate? What good is it to be wise, and to force thrift on a life that will not always be able to take its pleasures, while it can, while it demands them? So run ahead of death, and whatever it is going to take away, spend on yourself now. You have no mistress, no boy to make a mistress jealous; you go out sober every day; you dine as though you had to show your daily accounts to your father for approval: that is not living but looking on at someone else's life."},{"ref":"Letter 123.11–12","orig":"Quanta dementia est heredis sui res procurare et sibi negare omnia ut tibi ex amico inimicum magna faciat hereditas; plus enim gaudebit tua morte quo plus acceperit. Istos tristes et superciliosos alienae uitae censores, suae hostes, publicos paedagogos assis ne feceris nec dubitaueris bonam uitam quam opinionem bonam malle.' Hae uoces non aliter fugiendae sunt quam illae quas Ulixes nisi alligatus praeteruehi noluit. Idem possunt: abducunt a patria, a parentibus, ab amicis, a uirtutibus, et inter spem uitam misera nisi turpis inludunt. Quanto satius est rectum sequi limitem et eo se perducere ut ea demum sint tibi iucunda quae honesta!","en":"What madness it is to look after your heir's interests and deny yourself everything, so that a large inheritance turns a friend into an enemy; for the more he gets, the more he will rejoice at your death. As for those gloomy, stern-browed critics of other people's lives and enemies of their own, those public schoolmasters, do not give a penny for them, and do not hesitate to prefer a good life to a good reputation.' These voices should be fled just like those that Ulysses would not sail past unless he was tied up. They have the same power: they lead us away from country, parents, friends and virtues, and, dangling hope, make sport of a life that is wretched if not shameful. How much better it is to follow the straight path and bring yourself to the point where only what is honourable is pleasant to you!"},{"ref":"Letter 123.13–14","orig":"Quod adsequi poterimus si scierimus duo esse genera rerum quae nos aut inuitent aut fugent. Inuitant diuitiae, uoluptates, forma, ambitio, cetera blanda et adridentia: fugat labor, mors, dolor, ignominia, uictus adstrictior. Debemus itaque exerceri ne haec timeamus, ne illa cupiamus. In contrarium pugnemus et ab inuitantibus recedamus, aduersus petentia concitemur. Non uides quam diuersus sit descendentium habitus et escendentium? qui per pronum eunt resupinant corpora, qui in arduum, incumbunt. Nam si descendas, pondus suum in priorem partem dare, si escendas, retro abducere, cum uitio, Lucili, consentire est. In uoluptates descenditur, in aspera et dura subeundum est: hic inpellamus corpora, illic refrenemus.","en":"We will be able to achieve this if we know that there are two kinds of things that either attract us or repel us. Riches, pleasures, beauty, ambition and other flattering and smiling things attract us; toil, death, pain, disgrace and a more restricted diet repel us. So we must train ourselves not to fear the one and not to desire the other. Let us fight in the opposite direction, withdraw from what attracts us and rouse ourselves against what attacks us. Do you not see how different the posture of people going downhill is from that of people going uphill? Those going down a slope lean their bodies back, those going up lean forward. For if you are going down, to put your weight forward, or if you are going up, to pull it back, is, Lucilius, to side with vice. We go down into pleasures; we must climb up to what is harsh and hard: there let us push our bodies on, here let us rein them in."},{"ref":"Letter 123.15","orig":"Hoc nunc me existimas dicere, eos tantum perniciosos esse auribus nostris qui uoluptatem laudant, qui doloris metus, per se formidabiles res, incutiunt? Illos quoque nocere nobis existimo qui nos sub specie Stoicae sectae hortantur ad uitia. Hoc enim iactant: solum sapientem et doctum esse amatorem. 'Solus aptus est ad hanc artem; aeque conbibendi et conuiuendi sapiens est peritissimus. Quaeramus ad quam usque aetatem iuuenes amandi sint.'","en":"Do you think I am now saying that the only people dangerous to our ears are those who praise pleasure, or who strike into us the fear of pain, things frightening enough in themselves? I think those also harm us who, under the guise of the Stoic school, urge us on to vices. For this is what they boast: that only the wise and learned man is a lover. 'He alone is suited to this art; the wise man is also the most skilled at drinking and dining in company. Let us ask up to what age young men should be loved.'"},{"ref":"Letter 123.16–17","orig":"Haec Graecae consuetudini data sint, nos ad illa potius aures derigamus: 'nemo est casu bonus: discenda uirtus est. Voluptas humilis res et pusilla est et in nullo habenda pretio, communis cum mutis animalibus, ad quam minima et contemptissima aduolant. Gloria uanum et uolubile quiddam est auraque mobilius. Paupertas nulli malum est nisi repugnanti. Mors malum non est: quid sit quaeris? sola ius aequum generis humani. Superstitio error insanus est: amandos timet, quos colit uiolat. Quid enim interest utrum deos neges an infames?' Haec discenda, immo ediscenda sunt: non debet excusationes uitio philosophia suggerere. Nullam habet spem salutis aeger quem ad intemperantiam medicus hortatur. Vale.","en":"Let these things be left to Greek custom; let us rather turn our ears to this: 'No one is good by chance: virtue must be learned. Pleasure is a low and petty thing, to be held of no value, shared with dumb animals, to which the smallest and most contemptible creatures flock. Glory is something empty and fickle, more changeable than the wind. Poverty is an evil to no one except the one who resists it. Death is not an evil: do you ask what it is? The one law that is equal for the whole human race. Superstition is a mad error: it fears those it should love, and wrongs those it worships. For what difference does it make whether you deny the gods or defame them?' These things must be learned, or rather learned by heart: philosophy ought not to supply excuses for vice. A sick man whose doctor urges him to excess has no hope of recovery. Farewell."}],"124":[{"ref":"Letter 124.1–2","orig":"Possum multa tibi ueterum praecepta referre,\nni refugis tenuisque piget cognoscere curas.\nNon refugis autem nec ulla te subtilitas abigit: non est elegantiae tuae tantum magna sectari, sicut illud probo, quod omnia ad aliquem profectum redigis et tunc tantum offenderis ubi summa subtilitate nihil agitur. Quod ne nunc quidem fieri laborabo. Quaeritur utrum sensu conprendatur an intellectu bonum; huic adiunctum est in mutis animalibus et infantibus non esse. Quicumque uoluptatem in summo ponunt sensibile iudicant bonum, nos contra intellegibile, qui illud animo damus. Si de bono sensus iudicarent, nullam uoluptatem reiceremus; nulla enim non inuitat, nulla non delectat; et e contrario nullum dolorem uolentes subiremus; nullus enim non offendit sensum.","en":"I can relate to you many precepts of the ancients,\nunless you shrink back and are loath to learn about slight concerns.\nBut you do not shrink back, nor does any subtlety drive you away: your refinement does not lie in pursuing only great things, just as I approve of the way you bring everything back to some kind of progress and are only annoyed when the greatest subtlety achieves nothing. I will take pains that this does not happen now either. The question is whether the good is grasped by the senses or by the intellect; connected with this is the point that it does not exist in dumb animals and infants. All who put pleasure at the top judge the good to be something perceived by the senses; we, on the contrary, judge it to be something grasped by the intellect, since we assign it to the mind. If the senses judged the good, we would reject no pleasure; for there is no pleasure that does not attract, none that does not delight; and conversely we would undergo no pain willingly; for there is no pain that does not offend the senses."},{"ref":"Letter 124.3–5","orig":"Praeterea non essent digni reprehensione quibus nimium uoluptas placet quibusque summus est doloris timor. Atqui inprobamus gulae ac libidini addictos et contemnimus illos qui nihil uiriliter ausuri sunt doloris metu. Quid autem peccant si sensibus, id est iudicibus boni ac mali, parent? his enim tradidistis ad petitionis et fugae arbitrium. Sed uidelicet ratio isti rei praeposita est: illa quemadmodum de beata uita, quemadmodum de uirtute, de honesto, sic et de bono maloque constituit. Nam apud istos uilissimae parti datur de meliore sententia, ut de bono pronuntiet sensus, obtunsa res et hebes et in homine quam in aliis animalibus tardior. Quid si quis uellet non oculis sed tactu minuta discernere? Subtilior ad hoc acies nulla quam oculorum et intentior daret bonum malumque dinoscere. Vides in quanta ignorantia ueritatis uersetur et quam humi sublimia ac diuina proiecerit apud quem de summo, bono malo, iudicat tactus.","en":"Besides, those who are too fond of pleasure and those whose greatest fear is pain would not deserve blame. Yet we condemn those enslaved to gluttony and lust, and we despise those who will dare nothing manly for fear of pain. But what wrong do they do if they obey the senses, that is, the judges of good and evil? For it is to these that you have handed over the decision about what to seek and what to avoid. But clearly reason has been put in charge of this matter: just as it decides about the happy life, about virtue, about the honourable, so too it decides about good and evil. For with those people, the verdict on the better part is given to the most worthless part, so that the senses pronounce on the good, though they are dull and blunt, and slower in man than in other animals. What if someone wanted to distinguish tiny objects not by the eyes but by touch? No sight is finer and keener for this than the eyes: would even that let us tell good from evil? You see in what great ignorance of the truth a man lives, and how he has thrown the lofty and the divine to the ground, if with him touch is the judge of the highest question, good and evil."},{"ref":"Letter 124.6–7","orig":"'Quemadmodum' inquit 'omnis scientia atque ars aliquid debet habere manifestum sensuque conprehensum ex quo oriatur et crescat, sic beata uita fundamentum et initium a manifestis ducit et eo quod sub sensum cadat. Nempe uos a manifestis beatam uitam initium sui capere dicitis.' Dicimus beata esse quae secundum naturam sint; quid autem secundum naturam sit palam et protinus apparet, sicut quid sit integrum. Quod secundum naturam est, quod contigit protinus nato, non dico bonum, sed initium boni. Tu summum bonum, uoluptatem, infantiae donas, ut inde incipiat nascens quo consummatus homo peruenit; cacumen radicis loco ponis.","en":"'Just as,' he says, 'every science and art must have something evident and grasped by the senses from which it arises and grows, so the happy life takes its foundation and beginning from evident things and from what falls under the senses. Surely you yourselves say that the happy life takes its beginning from evident things.' We say that those things are happy which are in accordance with nature; and what is in accordance with nature is plain and immediately apparent, just as what is sound and whole is. What is in accordance with nature, what falls to a creature as soon as it is born, I call not a good but the beginning of a good. You give the highest good, pleasure, to infancy, so that the newborn begins from the point that the fully developed man arrives at; you put the treetop in the place of the root."},{"ref":"Letter 124.8","orig":"Si quis diceret illum in materno utero latentem, sexus quoque incerti, tenerum et inperfectum et informem iam in aliquo bono esse, aperte uideretur errare. Atqui quantulum interest inter eum qui cum maxime uitam accipit et illum qui maternorum uiscerum latens onus est? Uterque, quantum ad intellectum boni ac mali, aeque maturus est, et non magis infans adhuc boni capax est quam arbor aut mutum aliquod animal. Quare autem bonum in arbore animalique muto non est? quia nec ratio. Ob hoc in infante quoque non est; nam et huic deest. Tunc ad bonum perueniet cum ad rationem peruenerit.","en":"If someone said that a child hidden in its mother's womb, its sex still uncertain, tender, unfinished and unformed, already possessed some good, he would clearly seem to be wrong. Yet how little difference there is between one who is just receiving life and one who is still a hidden burden in its mother's womb! Both are equally mature as far as understanding good and evil goes, and an infant is no more capable of good yet than a tree or some dumb animal. And why is there no good in a tree or a dumb animal? Because there is no reason in them. For this reason there is no good in an infant either; for it too lacks reason. It will reach the good when it reaches reason."},{"ref":"Letter 124.9–10","orig":"Est aliquod inrationale animal, est aliquod nondum rationale, est rationale sed inperfectum: in nullo horum bonum, ratio illud secum adfert. Quid ergo inter ista quaeret tuli distat? In eo quod inrationale est numquam erit bonum; in eo quod nondum rationale est tunc esse bonum non potest; in eo quod rationale est sed inperfectum iam potest bonum esse, sed non est. Ita dico, Lucili: bonum non in quolibet corpore, non in qualibet aetate inuenitur et tantum abest ab infantia quantum a primo ultimum, quantum ab initio perfectum; ergo nec in tenero, modo coalescente corpusculo est. Quidni non sit? non magis quam in semine.","en":"There is the irrational animal, there is the animal not yet rational, and there is the one that is rational but imperfect: in none of these is there good; reason brings it with it. What then, you will ask, is the difference between them? In what is irrational there will never be good; in what is not yet rational there cannot be good at that stage; in what is rational but imperfect there can already be good, but there is not. This is what I say, Lucilius: the good is not found in any body you like, nor at any age you like, and it is as far from infancy as the last is from the first, as the complete is from the beginning; so it is not in a tender little body only just taking shape. How could it be? No more than it is in the seed."},{"ref":"Letter 124.11–12","orig":"Hoc sic dicas: aliquod arboris ac sati bonum nouimus: hoc non est in prima fronde quae emissa cum maxime solum rumpit. Est aliquod bonum tritici: hoc nondum est in herba lactente nec cum folliculo se exerit spica mollis, sed cum frumentum aestas et debita maturitas coxit. Quemadmodum omnis natura bonum suum nisi consummata non profert, ita hominis bonum non est in homine nisi cum illi ratio perfecta est. Quod autem hoc bonum? Dicam: liber animus, erectus, alia subiciens sibi, se nulli. Hoc bonum adeo non recipit infantia ut pueritia non speret, adulescentia inprobe speret; bene agitur cum senectute si ad illud longo studio intentoque peruenit. Si hoc est bonum, et intellegibile est.","en":"You could put it this way: we know there is a good of a tree and of a crop: it is not in the first leaf that is just breaking through the soil. There is a good of wheat: it is not yet in the milky blade, nor when the soft ear pushes out of its sheath, but when summer and due ripeness have matured the grain. Just as no nature brings forth its good until it is complete, so the good of man is not in man until his reason is perfect. And what is this good? I will tell you: a free mind, upright, making other things subject to itself and itself to nothing. Infancy is so far from admitting this good that boyhood does not hope for it, and youth hopes for it unreasonably; old age does well if it reaches it through long and intense study. If this is the good, it is also something grasped by the intellect."},{"ref":"Letter 124.13–14","orig":"'Dixisti' inquit 'aliquod bonum esse arboris, aliquod herbae; potest ergo aliquod esse et infantis.' Verum bonum nec in arboribus nec in mutis animalibus: hoc quod in illis bonum est precario bonum dicitur. 'Quod est?' inquis. Hoc quod secundum cuiusque naturam est. Bonum quidem cadere in mutum animal nullo modo potest; felicioris meliorisque naturae est. Nisi ubi rationi locus est, bonum non est. Quattuor hae naturae sunt, arboris, animalis, hominis, dei: haec duo, quae rationalia sunt, eandem naturam habent, illo diuersa sunt quod alterum inmortale, alterum mortale est. Ex his ergo unius bonum natura perficit, dei scilicet, alterius cura, hominis. Cetera tantum in sua natura perfecta sunt, non uere perfecta, a quibus abest ratio. Hoc enim demum perfectum est quod secundum uniuersam naturam perfectum, uniuersa autem natura rationalis est: cetera possunt in suo genere esse perfecta.","en":"'You said,' he says, 'that there is a good of a tree, a good of a plant; so there can also be a good of an infant.' The true good is not in trees or in dumb animals: what is good in them is called good only by courtesy. 'What is it?' you ask. That which is in accordance with each one's nature. The good can in no way fall to a dumb animal; it belongs to a happier and better nature. There is no good except where there is room for reason. There are these four natures: of tree, animal, man and god: the two that are rational have the same nature, differing in that one is immortal and the other mortal. Of these, then, nature perfects the good of the one, namely god, and care perfects the good of the other, man. The rest, which lack reason, are perfect only in their own nature, not truly perfect. For only that is perfect which is perfect in accordance with universal nature, and universal nature is rational: other things can be perfect in their own kind."},{"ref":"Letter 124.15–17","orig":"In quo non potest beata uita esse nec id potest quo beata uita efficitur; beata autem uita bonis efficitur. In muto animali non est beata uita nec id quo beata uita efficitur: in muto animali bonum non est. Mutum animal sensu conprendit praesentia; praeteritorum reminiscitur cum in id incidit quo sensus admoneretur, tamquam equus reminiscitur uiae cum ad initium eius admotus est. In stabulo quidem nulla illi uia est quamuis saepe calcatae memoria. Tertium uero tempus, id est futurum, ad muta non pertinet. Quomodo ergo potest eorum uideri perfecta natura quibus usus perfecti temporis non est? Tempus enim tribus partibus constat, praeterito, praesente, uenturo. Animalibus tantum quod breuissimum est et in transcursu datum, praesens: praeteriti rara memoria est nec umquam reuocatur nisi praesentium occursu.","en":"In a creature that cannot have the happy life, there cannot be that by which the happy life is produced; and the happy life is produced by goods. In a dumb animal there is no happy life, nor that by which the happy life is produced: in a dumb animal there is no good. A dumb animal grasps the present with its senses; it remembers the past when it comes across something that reminds its senses, as a horse remembers a road when it is brought to the start of it. In the stable, indeed, it has no memory of the road, however often it has trodden it. The third time, the future, does not concern dumb animals. How then can the nature of creatures who have no use of complete time seem perfect? For time consists of three parts, past, present and future. To animals only the shortest part is given, and that in passing: the present. Their memory of the past is rare, and it is never called back except by encountering present things."},{"ref":"Letter 124.18–19","orig":"Non potest ergo perfectae naturae bonum in inperfecta esse natura, aut si natura talis hoc habet, habent et sata. Nec illud nego, ad ea quae uidentur secundum naturam magnos esse mutis animalibus impetus et concitatos, sed inordinatos ac turbidos; numquam autem aut inordinatum est bonum aut turbidum. 'Quid ergo?' inquis 'muta animalia perturbate et indisposite mouentur?' Dicerem illa perturbate et indisposite moueri si natura illorum ordinem caperet: nunc mouentur secundum naturam suam. Perturbatum enim id est quod esse aliquando et non perturbatum potest; sollicitum est quod potest esse securum. Nulli uitium est nisi cui uirtus potest esse: mutis animalibus talis ex natura sua motus est.","en":"So the good of a perfect nature cannot be in an imperfect nature; or if such a nature has it, so do plants. Nor do I deny that dumb animals have great and excited impulses towards the things that seem to be in accordance with nature, but these are disordered and confused; and the good is never disordered or confused. 'What then?' you say. 'Do dumb animals move in a disturbed and disorderly way?' I would say they moved in a disturbed and disorderly way if their nature were capable of order: as it is, they move in accordance with their nature. For only that is disturbed which can at some time also be undisturbed; only that is anxious which can be free from care. Nothing has vice unless it can have virtue: dumb animals have such movement by their very nature."},{"ref":"Letter 124.20–22","orig":"Sed ne te diu teneam, erit aliquod bonum in muto animali, erit aliqua uirtus, erit aliquid perfectum, sed nec bonum absolute nec uirtus nec perfectum. Haec enim rationalibus solis contingunt, quibus datum est scire quare, quatenus, quemadmodum. Ita bonum in nullo est nisi in quo ratio. Quo nunc pertineat ista disputatio quaeris, et quid animo tuo profutura sit? Dico: et exercet illum et acuit et utique aliquid acturum occupatione honesta tenet. Prodest autem etiam quo moratur ad praua properantes. Sed et illud dico: nullo modo prodesse possum magis quam si tibi bonum tuum ostendo, si te a mutis animalibus separo, si cum deo pono.","en":"But not to keep you long: there will be some good in a dumb animal, some virtue, something perfect, but neither good nor virtue nor perfection in the absolute sense. For these fall only to rational beings, to whom it is given to know why, how far and how. So there is good only in something that has reason. You ask where this discussion is heading now, and what good it will do your mind? I say: it exercises and sharpens the mind, and, since the mind is going to be doing something anyway, keeps it honourably occupied. It is also useful because it holds back those hurrying towards wrong. But I also say this: I can in no way help you more than by showing you your own good, by separating you from the dumb animals, by placing you with God."},{"ref":"Letter 124.23–24","orig":"Vis tu relictis in quibus uinci te necesse est, dum in aliena niteris, ad bonum reuerti tuum? Quod est hoc? animus scilicet emendatus ac purus, aemulator dei, super humana se extollens, nihil extra se sui ponens. Rationale animal es. Quod ergo in te bonum est? perfecta ratio. Hanc tu ad suum finem hinc euoca, sine in quantum potest plurimum crescere. Tunc beatum esse te iudica cum tibi ex te gaudium omne nascetur, cum uisis quae homines eripiunt, optant, custodiunt, nihil inueneris, non dico quod malis, sed quod uelis. Breuem tibi formulam dabo qua te metiaris, qua perfectum esse iam sentias: tunc habebis tuum cum intelleges infelicissimos esse felices. Vale.","en":"Will you, then, leave behind the things in which you are bound to be beaten, since you are striving for what belongs to others, and return to your own good? What is this? A mind, of course, corrected and pure, rivalling God, raising itself above human things, placing nothing of itself outside itself. You are a rational animal. What, then, is the good in you? Perfect reason. Call it forth from here to its own goal, let it grow as much as it can. Judge yourself happy when all your joy is born from yourself, when, having seen the things men snatch, pray for and guard, you find nothing, I will not say that you prefer, but that you even want. I will give you a short rule by which to measure yourself, by which to feel that you are now perfect: you will have your own good when you understand that the fortunate are the most unfortunate of all. Farewell."}]}}