§5.13.1quamquam ipsa consolatio litterarum tuarum mihi gratissima est (declarat enim summam benevolentiam coniunctam pari prudentia), tamen illum fructum ex iis litteris vel maximum cepi, quod te praeclare res humanas contemnentem et optime contra fortunam paratum arma tumque cognovi; quam quidem laudem sapientiae statuo esse maximam, non aliunde pendere nec extrinsecus aut bene aut male vivendi suspensas habere rationes.
Although the consolation of your letter itself is most welcome to me (for it declares the greatest benevolence combined with equal wisdom), yet I gathered from that letter what is indeed the greatest fruit, that I recognized you as one who excellently despises human affairs and is best prepared and armed against fortune; which praise indeed I determine to be the greatest of wisdom, not to depend on anyone else, nor to have the reasons for living either well or ill suspended from the outside.
§5.13.2quae cogitatio cum mihi non omnino excidisset (etenim penitus insederat), vi tamen tempestatum et concursu calamitatum is erat aliquantum labefactata atque convulsa; cui te opitulari et video et id fecisse etiam proximis litteris multumque profecisse sentio.
Although this thought had not entirely slipped from me (for indeed it had settled deeply), yet by the force of tempests and the clash of calamities it had been somewhat shaken and shattered; to which I see you bringing help, and I feel that you have done so even in your recent letter, and have made much progress.
itaque hoc saepius dicendum tibique non significandum solum sed etiam declarandum arbitror, nihil mihi esse potuisse tuis litteris gratius.
Therefore, I think this should be said more often, and not only indicated but also declared to you, that nothing could have been more welcome to me than your letter.
§5.13.3ad consolandum autem cum illa valent, quae eleganter copioseque conlegisti, tum nihil plus quam quod firmitudinem gravitatemque animi tui perspexi; quam non imitari turpissimum existimo.
Now, while those things which you have elegantly and copiously collected are powerful for consolation, nothing is more powerful than the fact that I have perceived the firmness and gravity of your mind; not to imitate which I consider most shameful.
itaque hoc etiam fortiorem me puto quam te ipsum, praeceptorem fortitudinis, quod tu mihi videre spem non nullam habere haec aliquando futura meliora casus enim gladiatorii similitudinesque eae, tum rationes in ea disputatione a te conlectae vetabant me rei p. penitus diffidere.
Therefore, in this I think myself even braver than you yourself, the teacher of fortitude, because you seem to me to have some hope that these things will one day be better. For those gladiatorial cases and similarities, and then the arguments collected by you in that discussion, forbade me to despair utterly of the republic.
itaque alterum minus mirum, fortiorem te esse, cum aliquid speres, alterum mirum, spe ulla teneri.
Therefore, the one is less wonderful, that you are braver when you hope for something; the other is wonderful, that you are held by any hope.
quid est enim non ita adfectum, ut id non deletum exstinctumque esse fateare? circumspice omnia membra rei p. , quae notissima sunt tibi; nullum reperies profecto, quod non fractum debilitatumve sit.
For what is there not so affected that you must confess it to be destroyed and extinct? Look around at all the members of the republic, which are most well known to you; you will surely find none that is not broken or weakened.
quae persequerer, si aut melius ea viderem quam tu vides, aut commemorare possem sine dolore; quamquam tuis monitis praeceptisque omnis est abiciendus dolor.
Which things I would pursue, if I either saw them better than you do, or could mention them without pain; although by your warnings and precepts all pain is to be cast away.
§5.13.4ergo et domestica feremus, ut censes, et publica paulo etiam fortius fortasse quam tu ipse, qui praecipis.
Therefore, we shall bear both domestic matters, as you think fit, and public matters perhaps even a little more bravely than you yourself who prescribe it.
te enim aliqua spes consolatur, ut scribis, nos erimus etiam in omnium desperatione fortes, ut tu tamen idem et hortaris et praecipis.
For some hope consoles you, as you write; we shall be brave even in the despair of all, though you, the same person, nevertheless both encourage and prescribe it.
das enim mihi iucundas recordationes conscientiae nostrae rerumque earum, quas te in primis auctore gessimus; praestitimus enim patriae non minus certe quam debuimus, plus profecto quam est ab animo cuiusquam aut consilio hominis postulatum.
For you give me pleasant recollections of our conscience and of those things which we did especially on your advice; for we have surely performed for our country not less than we ought, and indeed more than was demanded from anyone's mind or human counsel.
§5.13.5ignosces mihi de me ipso aliquid praedicanti; quarum enim tu rerum cogitatione nos levare aegritudine voluisti, earum etiam commemoratione lenimur.
You will forgive me for proclaiming something about myself; for by the recollection of those very things by the thought of which you wished to relieve us of our grief, we are also comforted.
itaque, ut mones, quantum potero, me ab omnibus molestiis et angoribus abducam transferamque animum ad ea, quibus secundae res ornantur, adversae adiuvantur, tecumque et ero tantum quantum patietur utriusque aetas et valetudo, et si esse una minus poterimus quam volemus, animorum tamen coniunctione iisdemque studiis ita fruemur, ut numquam non una esse videamur.
Therefore, as you advise, as much as I can, I will withdraw myself from all troubles and anxieties and transfer my mind to those things by which prosperity is adorned and adversity is aided, and I will both be with you as much as the age and health of both of us will permit, and if we are able to be together less than we wish, we shall nevertheless so enjoy the union of our minds and the same studies that we may seem never not to be together.