§22ὁ Ἀγριππῖνος ἡγεμονεύων ἐπειρᾶτο τοὺς καταδικαζομένους ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ πείθειν, ὅτι προσήκει αὐτοῖς καταδικασθῆναι.
Agrippinus when he was governor tried to persuade those who were condemned by him that it was fitting for them to be condemned.
οὐ γὰρ ὡς πολέμιος αὐτοῖς, ἔφη, οὐδʼ ὡς λῃστὴς καταφέρω τὴν ψῆφον αὐτῶν, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἐπιμελητὴς καὶ κηδεμών, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ ἰατρὸς τὸν τεμνόμενον παραμυθεῖται καὶ πείθει παρέχειν ἑαυτόν. §23Ἐπικτήτου.
"For," he said, "I do not bring my vote against them as an enemy or as a robber, but as a guardian and protector, just as the physician also comforts the one who is being operated upon and persuades him to submit himself." Of Epictetus.
θαυμαστὴ ἡ φύσις καί, ὥς φησιν ὁ Ξενοφῶν, φιλόζῳος.
Nature is wonderful and, as Xenophon says, a lover of life.
τὸ γοῦν σῶμα, τὸ πάντων ἀηδέστατον καὶ ῥυπαρώτατον, στέργομεν καὶ θεραπεύομεν· εἰ γὰρ ἔδει πέντε μόναις ἡμέραις θεραπεῦσαι τὸ τοῦ γείτονος σῶμα, οὐκ ἂν ὑπεμείναμεν.
At any rate we cherish and care for the body, which is the most unpleasant and dirtiest of all things; for if we had to care for our neighbor's body for only five days, we would not endure it.
ὅρα γὰρ οἷόν ἐστιν ἕωθεν ἀναστάντα τρίβειν τοὺς ὀδόντας τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους καί τι τῶν ἀναγκαίων ποιήσαντα ἀπονίζειν ἐκεῖνα τὰ μέρη.
For see what it is like to get up in the morning and brush another's teeth, and, after doing some of the necessary things, to wash those parts.
τῷ ὄντι θαυμαστόν ἐστι φιλεῖν πρᾶγμα, ᾧ τοσαῦτα λειτουργοῦμεν καθʼ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν.
In truth it is wonderful to love a thing for which we perform so many services every day.
νάττω τουτονὶ τὸν θύλακον· εἶτα κενῶ· τί τούτου βαρύτερον;
I pack this bag, then I empty it; what is more burdensome than this?
ἀλλὰ θεῷ δεῖ με ὑπηρετεῖν.
But I must serve God.
διὰ τοῦτο μένω καὶ ἀνέχομαι λούων τὸ δύστηνον τοῦτο σωμάτιον, χορτάζων, σκέπων· ὅτε δὲ νεώτερος ἦν, καὶ ἄλλο τι προσέταττέ μοι καὶ ὅμως ἠνειχόμην αὐτοῦ.
For this reason I remain and endure washing this miserable body, feeding it, and sheltering it; and when I was younger, it used to command me to do something else too, and yet I endured it.
διὰ τί οὖν οὐκ ἀνέχεσθε, ὅταν ἡ δοῦσα ἡμῖν φύσις τὸ σῶμα ἀφαιρῆται;
Why then do you not endure it when nature, which gave us the body, takes it away?
— φιλῶ, φησιν, αὐτό.
"I love it," he says.
— οὐκ οὖν, ὃ νῦν δὴ ἔλεγον, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ φιλεῖν ἡ φύσις σοι δέδωκεν;
Was it not then nature itself, as I was just saying, that gave you this very loving?
ἡ δʼ αὐτὴ λέγει
ἄφες αὐτὸ ἤδη καὶ μηκέτι πρᾶγμα ἔχε. §24τοῦ αὐτοῦ.
And the same nature says: "Let it go now, and have no more trouble." Of the same.
ἐὰν νέος τελευτᾷ τὸν βίον †, ἐγκαλεῖ τοῖς θεοῖς †, ὅτι δέον αὐτὸν ἤδη ἀναπεπαῦσθαι πρᾶγμα ἔχει, καὶ οὐδὲν ἧττον, ὅταν προσίῃ ὁ θάνατος, ζῆν βούλεται καὶ πέμπει παρὰ τὸν ἰατρὸν καὶ δεῖται αὐτοῦ μηδὲν ἀπολιπεῖν προθυμίας καὶ ἐπιμελείας.
If a young man ends his life †, he complains against the gods †, because when he ought to be resting already he has trouble, and none the less, when death approaches, he wishes to live and sends to the physician and begs him to leave nothing undone of zeal and care.
θαυμαστοί, ἔφη, ἄνθρωποι μήτε ζῆν θέλοντες μήτε ἀποθνῄσκειν. §25Ἐπικτήτου.
"Wonderful," he said, "are men, wishing neither to live nor to die." Of Epictetus.
ὅτῳ μετὰ ἀνατάσεως καὶ ἀπειλῆς ἐπιχειρεῖς, μέμνησο προλέγειν, ὅτι ἥμερος εἶ· καὶ οὐδὲν ἄγριον δράσας ἀμετανόητος καὶ ἀνεύθυνος διαγενήσῃ.
Whomever you attack with rising anger and threat, remember to say beforehand that you are gentle; and having done nothing savage, you will pass your life without regret and without accountability.
§26ψυχάριον εἶ βαστάζον νεκρόν, ὡς Ἐπίκτητος ἔλεγεν.
You are a little soul carrying a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.
§27τέχνην ἔφη δὲ περὶ τὸ συγκατατίθεσθαι εὑρεῖν καὶ ἐν τῷ περὶ τὰς ὁρμὰς τόπῳ τὸ προσεκτικὸν φυλάσσειν, ἵνα μεθʼ ὑπεξαιρέσεως, ἵνα κοινωνικαί, ἵνα κατʼ ἀξίαν, καὶ ὀρέξεως μὲν παντάπασιν ἀπέχεσθαι, ἐκκλίσει δὲ πρὸς μηδὲν τῶν οὐκ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν χρῆσθαι.
He said that he had found an art in the matter of assent, and in the topic of impulses to preserve attention, so that they might be with reservation, social, according to worth, and to abstain entirely from desire, and to use aversion toward none of the things not in our power.
§28οὐ περὶ τοῦ τυχόντος οὖν, ἔφη, ἐστὶν ὁ ἀγών, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ μαίνεσθαι ἢ μή. §28aὁ Σωκράτης ἔλεγεν
τί θέλετε;
"The contest then," he said, "is not about any ordinary thing, but about whether we are mad or not." Socrates used to say: "What do you want?
λογικῶν ψυχὰς ἔχειν ἢ ἀλόγων; λογικῶν. τίνων λογικῶν;
To have souls of rational beings or of irrational ones?" "Of rational ones." "Of what kind of rational ones?
ὑγιῶν ἢ φαύλων; ὑγιῶν. τί οὖν οὐ ζητεῖτε; ὅτι ἔχομεν. τί οὖν μάχεσθε καὶ διαφέρεσθε; §29ἐκ τοῦ Ἐπικτήτου ἐγχειριδίου.
Sound or worthless?" "Sound." "Why then do you not seek them?" "Because we have them." "Why then do you fight and differ?" From Epictetus' Handbook.
μηδενὸς οὕτως ἐν παντὶ προνόει, ὡς τοῦ ἀσφαλοῦς· ἀσφαλέστερον γὰρ τοῦ λέγειν τὸ σιγᾶν· ἐᾶν δὲ τὸ λέγειν, ὅσα δίχα ἔσται νοῦ καὶ ψόγου
Take thought for nothing in everything so much as for safety; for silence is safer than speaking; and avoid speaking whatever will be without reason and blame.
§30οὔτε ναῦν ἐξ ἑνὸς ἀγκυρίου οὔτε βίον ἐκ μιᾶς ἐλπίδος ἁρμοστέον.
Neither must a ship be held by one anchor, nor life by one hope.
τοῦ αὐτοῦ.
Of the same.
§31Τοῦ αὐτοῦ
καὶ τοῖς σκέλεσι καὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσι τὰ δυνατὰ δεῖ διαβαίνειν.
Of the same Both with legs and with hopes we must step through what is possible.
§32ψυχὴν σώματος ἀναγκαιότερον ἰᾶσθαι· τοῦ γὰρ κακῶς ζῆν τὸ τεθνάναι κρεῖσσον.
It is more necessary to heal the soul than the body; for death is better than living badly.
§33.
.
τῶν ἡδέων τὰ σπανιώτατα γινόμενα μάλιστα τέρπει.
Of the sweet things, those that happen most rarely delight us most.
τοῦ αὐτοῦ.
Of the same.
§34Τοῦ αὐτοῦ
εἴ τις ὑπερβάλλοι τὸ μέτριον, τὰ ἐπιτερπέστατα ἀτερπέστατα ἂν γίνοιτο.
Of the same If anyone should exceed the measure, the most delightful things would become the most unpleasant.
§35οὐδεὶς ἐλεύθερος ἑαυτοῦ μὴ κρατῶν.
No one is free who does not master himself.
§36ἀθάνατον χρῆμα ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἀίδιον, παρέχει δὲ ἡμῖν οὐ κάλλος χρόνῳ μαραινόμενον οὔτε παρρησίαν ἀφαιρετὴν ὑπὸ δίκης, ἀλλὰ τὰ δίκαια καὶ τὰ νόμιμα διακρίνουσα ἀπʼ αὐτῶν τὰ ἄδικα καὶ ἀπελέγχουσα.
Truth is an immortal and eternal thing, and it does not afford us a beauty that withers with time, nor a freedom of speech that can be taken away by justice, but distinguishing the just and the lawful from the unjust, it refutes them.