§1.1In Cumano nuper cum mecum Atticus noster esset, nuntiatum est nobis a M. Varrone venisse eum Roma pridie vesperi et, nisi de via fessus esset, continuo ad nos venturum fuisse.
When our friend Atticus was recently with me at Cumae, word was brought to us from Marcus Varro that he had come from Rome the previous evening and would have come to us immediately had he not been tired from his journey.
quod cum audissemus, nullam moram interponendam putavimus quin videremus hominem nobiscum et studiis eisdem et vetustate amicitiae coniunctum; itaque confestim ad eum ire perreximus.
When we heard this, we thought there should be no delay in seeing a man joined to us both by the same studies and by a long-standing friendship; so we set out immediately to go to him.
paulumque cum ab eius villa abessemus, ipsum ad nos venientem vidimus; atque illum complexi, ut mos amicorum est (satis enim longo intervallo * * *), ad suam villam reduximus.
When we were a short distance from his villa, we saw him coming towards us; and having embraced him, as is the custom among friends (for indeed a sufficiently long interval * * *), we escorted him back to his villa.
§1.2hic pauca primo, atque ea percunctantibus nobis ecquid forte Roma novi.
Here, at first, there were a few words, and those as we inquired whether there was any news from Rome.
Tum Atticus
"Omitte ista quae nec percunctari nec audire sine molestia possumus quaeso"
inquit
"et quaere potius ecquid ipse novi.
Then Atticus said, "Please drop those matters which we can neither ask about nor hear without distress, and ask rather if there is any news of your own.
silent enim diutius Musae Varronis quam solebant, nec tamen istum cessare sed celare quae scribat existimo. "
"Minime vero"
inquit ille; "intemperantis enim arbitror esse scribere quod occultari velit; sed habeo magnum opus in manibus, quae iam pridem; ad hunc enim ipsum"
(me autem dicebat)
"quaedam institui, quae et sunt magna sane et limantur a me politius. " §1.3Et ego
"Ista quidem"
inquam
"Varro iam diu expectans non audeo tamen flagitare; audivi enim e Libone nostro, cuius nosti studium (nihil enim eius modi celare possumus), non te ea intermittere sed accuratius tractare nec de manibus umquam deponere.
For Varro's Muses have been silent longer than they used to be, yet I do not think he is idle but rather concealing what he is writing." "By no means," he replied; "for I think it is the mark of an undisciplined person to write what he wishes to keep hidden; but I have a major work in hand, which has been so for a long time; indeed, for this very man" (meaning me) "I have undertaken certain things, which are indeed grand and are being polished by me rather carefully." And I said, "Those indeed, Varro, though I have been waiting for them for a long time, I yet do not dare to demand; for I heard from our friend Libo, whose enthusiasm you know (for we cannot hide anything of that kind), that you are not interrupting them but treating them more carefully and never letting them out of your hands.
illud autem mihi ante hoc tempus numquam in mentem venit a te requirere.
But it had never entered my mind before this time to request that of you.
sed nunc postea quam sum ingressus res eas quas tecum simul didici mandare monumentis philosophiamque veterem illam a Socrate ortam Latinis litteris illustrare, quaero quid sit cur cum multa scribas genus hoc praetermittas, praesertim cum et ipse in eo excellas et id studium totaque ea res longe ceteris et studiis et artibus antecedat. " §1.4Tum ille: 'Rem a me saepe deliberatam et multum agitatam requiris.
But now, after I have begun to commit to writing those matters which I learned together with you, and to illustrate in Latin literature that ancient philosophy which originated from Socrates, I ask what is the reason why, though you write many things, you bypass this genre, especially since you yourself excel in it and that study and that whole subject far surpass all other studies and arts." Then he said: "You ask about a matter often deliberated and much discussed by me.
itaque non haesitans respondebo, sed ea dicam quae mihi sunt in promptu, quod ista ipsa de re multum ut dixi et diu cogitavi.
Therefore I shall answer without hesitation, but I shall say what is ready at hand, because I have thought much and long, as I said, about this very matter.
nam cum philosophiam viderem diligentissime Graecis litteris explicatam, existimavi si qui de nostris eius studio tenerentur, si essent Graecis doctrinis eruditi, Graeca potius quam nostra lecturos, sin a Graecorum artibus et disciplinis abhorrerent, ne haec quidem curaturos, quae sine eruditione Graeca intellegi non possunt.
For when I saw philosophy explained most diligently in Greek literature, I estimated that if any of our people were possessed by its study, if they were learned in Greek teachings, they would read Greek rather than our writings; but if they shrank from the arts and disciplines of the Greeks, they would not care even for these things, which cannot be understood without Greek learning.
itaque ea nolui scribere quae nec indocti intellegere possent nec docti legere curarent.
Therefore I did not want to write what the unlearned could not understand and the learned would not care to read.
§1.5Vides autem eadem ipse; didicisti enim non posse nos Amafinii aut Rabirii similes esse, qui nulla arte adhibita de rebus ante oculos positis vulgari sermone disputant, nihil definiunt nihil partiuntur nihil apta interrogatione concludunt, nullam denique artem esse nec dicendi nec disserendi putant; nos autem praeceptis dialecticorum et oratorum etiam, quoniam utramque vim virtutem esse nostri putant, sic parentes ut legibus verbis quoque novis cogimur uti, quae docti ut dixi a Graecis petere malent, indocti ne a nobis quidem accipient, ut frustra omnis suscipiatur labor.
But you see the same things yourself; for you have learned that we cannot be like Amafinius or Rabirius, who, applying no art, discuss matters placed before their eyes in everyday language, define nothing, divide nothing, conclude nothing by proper questioning, and in short think there is no art either of speaking or of debating; but we, obeying the precepts of dialecticians and also of orators, since our people think both powers are virtues, just as if they were laws, are forced to use even new words, which the learned, as I said, will prefer to seek from the Greeks, while the unlearned will not receive them even from us, so that all labor would be undertaken in vain.
§1.6Iam vero physica, si Epicurum id est si Democritum probarem, possem scribere ita plane ut Amafinius.
Now indeed, as for physics, if I approved of Epicurus—that is, of Democritus—I could write as plainly as Amafinius.
quid est enim magnum, cum causas rerum efficientium sustuleris, de corpusculorum (ita enim appellat atomos) concursione fortuita loqui? nostra tu physica nosti;
For what is so great, when you have removed the efficient causes of things, about speaking of the accidental collision of corpuscles (for so he calls atoms)?
quae cum contineantur ex effectione et ex materia ea quam fingit et format effectio, adhibenda etiam geometria est; quam quibusnam quisquam enuntiare verbis aut quem ad intellegendum poterit adducere? Haec ipsa de vita et moribus et de expetendis fugiendisque rebus illi simpliciter, pecudis enim et hominis idem bonum esse censent; apud nostros autem non ignoras quae sit et quanta subtilitas.
You know our physics; since they consist of the active force and the matter which that active force shapes and forms, geometry must also be applied; in what words could anyone express this, or whom could he lead to understand it? These very matters concerning life and morals, and things to be sought and avoided, they treat simply, for they think the good of a beast and of a man is the same; but among our people, you are not ignorant of what and how great the refinement is."