§1.3.1Omnibus hoc vitium est cantoribus, inter amicos §1.3.2ut numquam inducant animum cantare rogati, §1.3.3iniussi numquam desistant.
All singers have this vice: among friends, when asked, they never bring themselves to sing, unbidden, they never stop.
sardus habebat §1.3.4ille Tigellius hoc.
That Sardinian Tigellius had this vice.
Caesar, qui cogere posset, §1.3.5si peteret per amicitiam patris atque suam, non §1.3.6quicquam proficeret; si conlibuisset, ab ovo §1.3.7usque ad mala citaret ‘Io Bacchae’ modo summa §1.3.8voce, modo hac, resonat quae chordis quattuor ima.
Caesar, who could have compelled him, if he begged by his father's friendship and his own, would not accomplish anything; if he took a fancy, from the egg all the way to the apples, he would chant "Io Bacchae!" now in the highest voice, now in that which resounds lowest on the four strings.
§1.3.9nil aequale homini fuit illi: saepe velut qui §1.3.10currebat fugiens hostem, persaepe velut qui §1.3.11Iunonis sacra ferret; habebat saepe ducentos, §1.3.12saepe decem servos; modo reges atque tetrarchas, §1.3.13omnia magna loquens, modo ‘sit mihi mensa tripes et §1.3.14concha salis puri et toga, quae defendere frigus §1.3.15quamvis crassa queat. ’ deciens centena dedisses §1.3.16huic parco, paucis contento, quinque diebus §1.3.17nil erat in loculis; noctes vigilabat ad ipsum §1.3.18mane, diem totum stertebat; nil fuit unquam §1.3.19sic inpar sibi.
Nothing was ever so inconsistent as that man: often he would run like someone fleeing an enemy, very often like someone carrying Juno's sacred vessels; often he had two hundred, often ten slaves; now kings and tetrarchs, speaking of all things grand, now "Let me have a three-legged table and a shell of pure salt and a toga, which can ward off the cold, however coarse it may be." If you had given ten hundred thousand sesterces to this thrifty man, content with few things, in five days there was nothing in his pockets; he watched the nights until morning itself, and snored all day; nothing was ever so inconsistent with itself.
nunc aliquis dicat mihi ‘quid tu?
Now someone may say to me, "What about you?
§1.3.20nullane habes vitia?’ immo alia et fortasse minora.
Have you no vices?" Nay, rather others, and perhaps smaller ones.
§1.3.21Maenius absentem Novium cum carperet, ‘heus tu’ §1.3.22quidam ait ‘ignoras te an ut ignotum dare nobis §1.3.23verba putas?’ ‘egomet mi ignosco’ Maenius inquit.
When Maenius was tearing apart the absent Novius, "Hey you," someone said, "do you not know yourself, or do you think you can deceive us as an unknown person?" "I forgive myself," Maenius said.
§1.3.24stultus et inprobus hic amor est dignusque notari.
This self-love is foolish and wicked, and worthy of being branded.
§1.3.25cum tua pervideas oculis mala lippus inunctis, §1.3.26cur in amicorum vitiis tam cernis acutum §1.3.27quam aut aquila aut serpens Epidaurius? at tibi contra
When you look through your own evils with anointed, rheumy eyes, why in the vices of friends do you see as sharply as either an eagle or an Epidaurian serpent?
§1.3.28evenit, inquirant vitia ut tua rursus et illi.
But on the contrary, it happens to you that they also, in turn, search into your vices.
§1.3.29iracundior est paulo, minus aptus acutis §1.3.30naribus horum hominum; rideri possit eo quod §1.3.31rusticius tonso toga defluit et male laxus §1.3.32in pede calceus haeret: at est bonus, ut melior vir §1.3.33non alius quisquam, at tibi amicus, at ingenium ingens §1.3.34inculto latet hoc sub corpore.
He is a little too hot-tempered, less suited to the sharp nostrils of these men; he might be laughed at because his toga flows down with a rustic haircut, and a loose shoe barely clings to his foot: but he is good, so that no other man is better than he, and he is your friend, and a huge intellect lies hidden under this unpolished body.
denique te ipsum §1.3.35concute, numqua tibi vitiorum inseverit olim §1.3.36natura aut etiam consuetudo mala; namque §1.3.37neglectis urenda filix innascitur agris.
In short, shake yourself, whether nature has ever sown any vices in you, or even bad habit; for in neglected fields, the fern that must be burned grows up.
§1.3.38illuc praevertamur, amatorem quod amicae §1.3.39turpia decipiunt caecum vitia aut etiam ipsa haec §1.3.40delectant, veluti Balbinum polypus Agnae.
Let us turn rather to this, that the blind lover is deceived by his mistress's ugly vices, or even these very things delight him, just as Agna's polypus delighted Balbinus.
I could wish that in friendship we erred in this way, and that virtue had given an honorable name to this error.
And as a father does to his son, so we ought not to despise a friend's vice, if there be any.
strabonem §1.3.45appellat paetum pater, et pullum, male parvos §1.3.46sicui filius est, ut abortivus fuit olim §1.3.47Sisyphus; hunc Varum distortis cruribus, illum §1.3.48balbutit Scaurum pravis fultum male talis.
A squinting son his father calls "paetus"; and "pullus", if anyone has a son wretchedly small, as was once the abortive Sisyphus; this one with distorted legs, he babbles "Varus"; that other, barely supported on crooked ankles, "Scaurus".
§1.3.49parcius hic vivit: frugi dicatur;
This one lives too sparingly: let him be called frugal.
This other is silly and a little too boastful: he demands that he seem agreeable to his friends.
at est truculentior atque §1.3.52plus aequo liber: simplex fortisque habeatur;
But this one is too fierce and more free than is right: let him be held simple and brave.
§1.3.53caldior est: acris inter numeretur.
He is too hot-headed: let him be numbered among the spirited.
opinor, §1.3.54haec res et iungit iunctos et servat amicos.
I think this practice both joins those who are joined, and preserves friends.
But we turn virtues themselves upside down and are eager to stain a clean vessel.
Some honest man lives with us, a very modest fellow: to him we give the name of slow, of dull.
hic fugit omnis §1.3.59insidias nullique malo latus obdit apertum, §1.3.60cum genus hoc inter vitae versemur, ubi acris §1.3.61invidia atque vigent ubi crimina: pro bene sano §1.3.62ac non incauto fictum astutumque vocamus.
This man flees all snares and presents no open side to any evil person, since we live in this kind of life, where fierce envy and where accusations flourish: instead of a sane and not incautious man, we call him fake and cunning.
§1.3.63simplicior quis et est, qualem me saepe libenter §1.3.64obtulerim tibi, Maecenas, ut forte legentem §1.3.65aut tacitum inpellat quovis sermone: ‘molestus, §1.3.66communi sensu plane caret’ inquimus.
There is someone who is more simple, such as I have often willingly presented myself to you, Maecenas, so that by chance while you are reading or silent, he interrupts with any talk: "He is annoying, he clearly lacks common sense," we say.
eheu, §1.3.67quam temere in nosmet legem sancimus iniquam.
Alas, how rashly we establish an unjust law against ourselves.
For nobody is born without vices; he is the best who is weighed down by the lowest ones.
amicus dulcis, ut aequum est, §1.3.70cum mea conpenset vitiis bona, pluribus hisce,
A sweet friend, as is fair, when he weighs my good qualities against my vices, with these more numerous,