§1.6.66mendosa est natura, alioqui recta, velut si §1.6.67egregio inspersos reprendas corpore naevos, §1.6.68si neque avaritiam neque sordes nec mala lustra §1.6.69obiciet vere quisquam mihi, purus et insons, §1.6.70ut me collaudem, si et vivo carus amicis, §1.6.71causa fuit pater his; qui macro pauper agello §1.6.72noluit in Flavi ludum me mittere, magni §1.6.73quo pueri magnis e centurionibus orti §1.6.74laevo suspensi loculos tabulamque lacerto §1.6.75ibant octonos referentes Idibus aeris, §1.6.76sed puerum est ausus Romam portare docendum §1.6.77artis quas doceat quivis eques atque senator §1.6.78semet prognatos.
And yet, if my nature is faulty with moderate and few blemishes, but otherwise upright, just as if you should find fault with moles scattered on an otherwise excellent body, if no one can truly object to me greed, or meanness, or shameful haunts, and if I am pure and innocent (to praise myself in this way) and also live dear to my friends, the cause of this was my father; who, a poor man with a lean little field, would not send me to the school of Flavius, where the great boys sprung from great centurions, with their satchels and writing-tablets slung over their left arm, used to go, bringing their eight copper coins on the Ides, but dared to carry his boy to Rome to be taught those liberal arts which any knight and senator would teach his own offspring.
vestem servosque sequentis, §1.6.79in magno ut populo, siqui vidisset, avita §1.6.80ex re praeberi sumptus mihi crederet illos.
If anyone had seen my clothes and the attending slaves in a great crowd, he would have believed that those expenses were supplied to me from ancestral property.
He himself, as my most incorruptible guardian, was present around all my teachers.
quid multa? pudicum, §1.6.83qui primus virtutis honos, servavit ab omni §1.6.84non solum facto, verum opprobrio quoque turpi
In short, he preserved me chaste, which is the first honor of virtue, not only from every shameful deed, but even from disgraceful scandal.
§1.6.85nec timuit, sibi ne vitio quis verteret, olim §1.6.86si praeco parvas aut, ut fuit ipse, coactor §1.6.87mercedes sequerer;
Nor did he fear lest anyone should turn it into a fault against him, if in the future I, as a herald or, as he himself was, a collector, should follow small earnings; nor would I have complained.
neque ego essem questus. at hoc nunc §1.6.88laus illi debetur et a me gratia maior.
But for this now, praise is due to him and greater gratitude from me.
§1.6.89nil me paeniteat sanum patris huius, eoque §1.6.90non, ut magna dolo factum negat esse suo pars, §1.6.91quod non ingenuos habeat clarosque parentes,
I could never, while in my right mind, regret such a father, and therefore I will not defend myself in the way that a large part of people do, who deny that it is by their own fault that they do not have freeborn and famous parents.
Both my speech and my view differ far from those people.
nam si natura iuberet §1.6.94a certis annis aevum remeare peractum §1.6.95atque alios legere, ad fastum quoscumque parentes §1.6.96optaret sibi quisque, meis contentus honestos §1.6.97fascibus et sellis nollem mihi sumere, demens §1.6.98iudicio volgi, sanus fortasse tuo, quod §1.6.99nollem onus haud umquam solitus portare molestum.
For if nature should bid us to trace back our past life from certain years, and choose other parents, whomever each would wish for his pride, I, content with my own, would refuse to take parents distinguished by the official rods and chairs of office; I would seem mad in the judgment of the crowd, but sane perhaps in yours, because I would be unwilling to carry a troublesome burden that I have never been accustomed to.
§1.6.100nam mihi continuo maior quaerenda foret res §1.6.101atque salutandi plures, ducendus et unus §1.6.102et comes alter, uti ne solus rusve peregreve §1.6.103exirem, plures calones atque caballi §1.6.104pascendi, ducenda petorrita.
For immediately I would have to seek a larger estate, and greet more people, and lead along one and then another companion, so that I might not go out alone to the countryside or abroad; more grooms and horses would have to be fed, and carriages driven.
nunc mihi curto §1.6.105ire licet mulo vel si libet usque Tarentum, §1.6.106mantica cui lumbos onere ulceret atque eques armos.
Now I am permitted to go on a bob-tailed mule, if I like, even as far as Tarentum, whose loins the saddle-bag galls with its weight, and the rider galls its shoulders.
§1.6.107obiciet nemo sordis mihi, quas tibi, Tulli, §1.6.108cum Tiburte via praetorem quinque secuntur §1.6.109te pueri, lasanum portantes oenophorumque.
No one will object meanness to me, which they do to you, Tullius, when on the Tiburtine road five slaves follow you, a praetor, carrying a chamber-pot and a wine-basket.
In this I live more comfortably than you, illustrious senator, and in thousands of other ways.
quacumque libido est, §1.6.112incedo solus, percontor quanti holus ac far, §1.6.113fallacem Circum vespertinumque pererro §1.6.114saepe forum, adsisto divinis, inde domum me §1.6.115ad porri et ciceris refero laganique catinum;
Wherever my fancy leads, I walk alone, I ask how much vegetables and flour cost, I often wander through the deceitful Circus and the forum in the evening, I stand by the fortune-tellers, and then betake myself home to a dish of leeks, chickpeas, and pancakes.
§1.6.116cena ministratur pueris tribus et lapis albus §1.6.117pocula cum cyatho duo sustinet, adstat echinus §1.6.118vilis, cum patera guttus, Campana supellex.
Dinner is served by three boys, and a white stone table supports two cups with a ladle; a cheap water-vessel stands nearby, with a bowl and oil-cruet, Campanian tableware.
§1.6.119deinde eo dormitum, non sollicitus, mihi quod cras §1.6.120surgendum sit mane, obeundus Marsya, qui se §1.6.121voltum ferre negat Noviorum posse minoris.
Then I go to sleep, not anxious because tomorrow I must rise early and meet Marsyas, who says he cannot bear the face of the younger Novius.
§1.6.122ad quartam iaceo; post hanc vagor aut ego lecto §1.6.123aut scripto quod me tacitum iuvet unguor olivo, §1.6.124non quo fraudatis inmundus Natta lucernis.
I lie in bed until the fourth hour; after this I wander, or having read or written what may delight me in silence, I am anointed with olive oil, not with that which the filthy Natta uses, robbing the lamps.
But when the hotter sun warns me, weary, to go to bathe, I avoid the Campus and the game of trigon.
Having dined moderately, just enough to prevent me from spending the day with an empty stomach, I idle at home.
haec est §1.6.129vita solutorum misera ambitione gravique;
This is the life of those who are free from wretched and heavy ambition.