§25itaque illam tuam praeclarissimam et sapientissimam vocem invitus audivi:
satis diu vel naturae vixi vel gloriae. satis, si ita vis, fortasse naturae, addam etiam, si placet, gloriae: at, quod maximum est, patriae certe parum.
Therefore, I heard unwillingly that very famous and wise saying of yours: "I have lived long enough either for nature or for glory." Long enough, if you will, perhaps for nature; I will add also, if you please, for glory: but, what is greatest, certainly too little for your country.
qua re omitte, quaeso, istam doctorum hominum in contemnenda morte prudentiam: noli nostro periculo esse sapiens.
Therefore, disregard, I beg you, that wisdom of learned men in despising death; do not be wise at our peril.
saepe enim venit ad meas auris te idem istud nimis crebro dicere, satis te tibi vixisse.
For it often comes to my ears that you say that same thing too frequently, that you have lived long enough for yourself.
credo, sed tum id audirem, si tibi soli viveres aut si tibi etiam soli natus esses.
I believe it, but I would listen to it then, if you lived for yourself alone, or if you had been born for yourself alone.
omnium salutem civium cunctamque rem publicam res tuae gestae complexae sunt; tantum abes a perfectione maximorum operum ut fundamenta nondum quae cogitas ieceris.
Your achievements have embraced the safety of all citizens and the entire republic; you are so far from the completion of your greatest works that you have not yet laid the foundations which you design.
hic tu modum vitae tuae non salute rei publicae, sed aequitate animi definies? quid, si istud ne gloriae quidem satis est? cuius te esse avidissimum, quamvis sis sapiens, non negabis.
In this situation, will you define the limit of your life not by the safety of the republic, but by the equanimity of your mind? What if that is not even enough for glory? Which you, although you are a wise man, will not deny that you are most eager for.
§26parumne, inquies, magna relinquemus? immo vero aliis quamvis multis satis, tibi uni parum.
"Shall we leave behind," you will say, "too little great things?" On the contrary, indeed, enough for any other number of men, but too little for you alone.
quicquid est enim, quamvis amplum sit, id est parum tum cum est aliquid amplius.
For whatever it is, however ample it may be, it is too little when there is something more ample.
quod si rerum tuarum immortalium, C. Caesar, hic exitus futurus fuit ut devictis adversariis rem publicam in eo statu relinqueres in quo nunc est, vide, quaeso, ne tua divina virtus admirationis plus sit habitura quam gloriae; si quidem gloria est inlustris et pervagata magnorum vel in suos civis vel in patriam vel in omne genus hominum fama meritorum.
But if, Julius Caesar, this was to be the outcome of your immortal achievements, that having defeated your adversaries you should leave the republic in that state in which it now is, beware, I beg you, lest your divine virtue should have more of admiration than of glory; if indeed glory is the illustrious and widespread fame of great services either toward one's own citizens, or toward one's country, or toward the whole race of men.
§27haec igitur tibi reliqua pars est; hic restat actus, in hoc elaborandum est ut rem publicam constituas, eaque tu in primis summa tranquillitate et otio perfruare: tum te, si voles, cum et patriae quod debes solveris et naturam ipsam expleveris satietate vivendi, satis diu vixisse dicito.
This, therefore, is the part remaining for you; this act remains, in this you must labor, that you may establish the republic, and that you in primis may enjoy it in the greatest tranquility and ease: then say, if you wish, when you have paid what you owe to your country and have satisfied nature itself with the satiety of living, that you have lived long enough.
quid enim est omnino hoc ipsum diu in quo est aliquid extremum? quod cum venit, omnis voluptas praeterita pro nihilo est, quia postea nulla est futura.
For what at all is this very "long" in which there is something final? When that comes, all past pleasure is as nothing, because hereafter there will be none.
quamquam iste tuus animus numquam his angustiis quas natura nobis ad vivendum dedit contentus fuit, semper immortalitatis amore flagravit.
Although that mind of yours was never content with these narrow limits which nature gave us for living, but always burned with the love of immortality.
§28nec vero haec tua vita ducenda est quae corpore et spiritu continetur: illa, inquam, illa vita est tua quae vigebit memoria saeculorum omnium, quam posteritas alet, quam ipsa aeternitas semper tuebitur.
Nor indeed is this life of yours to be considered that which is contained by body and breath: that, I say, that is your life which will flourish in the memory of all ages, which posterity will cherish, which eternity itself will always protect.
huic tu inservias, huic te ostentes oportet, quae quidem quae miretur iam pridem multa habet; nunc etiam quae laudet exspectat.
It is necessary that you serve this, that you display yourself to this, which indeed has long had many things to admire; now it expects also things to praise.
obstupescent posteri certe imperia, provincias, Rhenum, Oceanum, Nilum, pugnas innumerabilis, incredibilis victorias, monumenta, munera, triumphos audientes et legentes tuos.
Posterity will surely stand amazed hearing and reading of your empires, provinces, the Rhine, the Ocean, the Nile, countless battles, incredible victories, monuments, public gifts, and triumphs.
§29sed nisi haec urbs stabilita tuis consiliis et institutis erit, vagabitur modo tuum nomen longe atque late, sedem stabilem et domicilium certum non habebit.
But unless this city shall have been stabilized by your counsels and institutions, your name will only wander far and wide, but will not have a stable seat and a certain home.
erit inter eos etiam qui nascentur, sicut inter nos fuit, magna dissensio, cum alii laudibus ad caelum res tuas gestas efferent, alii fortasse aliquid requirent, idque vel maximum, nisi belli civilis incendium salute patriae restinxeris, ut illud fati fuisse videatur, hoc consili.
There will be also among those who shall be born, just as there was among us, great dissension, when some will extol your achievements with praises to heaven, and others will perhaps find something lacking, and that indeed the greatest thing, unless you extinguish the fire of civil war with the safety of your country; so that the former may seem to have been of fate, the latter of counsel.
Servi igitur eis iudicibus qui multis post saeculis de te iudicabunt et quidem haud scio an incorruptius quam nos; nam et sine amore et sine cupiditate et rursus sine odio et sine invidia iudicabunt.
Serve, therefore, those judges who will judge you many centuries hence, and indeed I know not whether more incorruptibly than we; for they will judge both without love and without cupidity, and again without hatred and without envy.