§1.11.1Quid tibi visa Chios, Bullati, notaque Lesbos,
How did Chios seem to you, Bullatius, and famous Lesbos?
§1.11.2quid concinna Samos, quid Croesi regia Sardis,
How did lovely Samos, and Sardis, the royal palace of Croesus?
§1.11.3Zmyrna quid et Colophon? maiora minorave fama,
How did Zmyrna and Colophon? Are they greater or smaller than their fame?
§1.11.4cunctane prae Campo et Tiberino flumine sordent?
Do they all seem worthless compared to the Campus and the Tiber river?
§1.11.5an venit in votum Attalicis ex urbibus una,
Or did one of the Attalic cities enter into your wish?
§1.11.6an Lebedum laudas odio maris atque viarum?
Or do you praise Lebedus from hatred of the sea and of journeys?
§1.11.7scis Lebedus quid sit: Gabiis desertior atque §1.11.8Fidenis vicus; tamen illic vivere vellem, §1.11.9oblitusque meorum, obliviscendus et illis, §1.11.10Neptunum procul e terra spectare furentem.
You know what Lebedus is: a village more deserted than Gabii and Fidenae; yet there I would wish to live, and forgotten by my people, to be forgotten by them too, to watch raging Neptune from afar from the land.
§1.11.11Sed neque qui Capua Romam petit, imbre lutoque §1.11.12aspersus, volet in caupona vivere; nec qui §1.11.13frigus collegit, furnos et balnea laudat §1.11.14ut fortunatam plene praestantia vitam; §1.11.15nec si te validus iactaverit Auster in alto, §1.11.16idcirco navem trans Aegaeum mare vendas.
But neither he who seeks Rome from Capua, splashed with rain and mud, will wish to live in a tavern; nor he who has caught a chill praises ovens and baths as fully presenting a happy life; nor if a strong South wind has tossed you on the deep, would you on that account sell your ship across the Aegean Sea.
§1.11.17Incolumi Rhodos et Mytilene pulchra facit quod §1.11.18paenula solstitio, campestre nivalibus auris, §1.11.19per brumam Tiberis, Sextili mense caminus.
To a healthy man, Rhodes and beautiful Mytilene do what a heavy cloak does in the summer solstice, a loincloth in snowy winds, the Tiber in midwinter, a fireplace in the month of August.
§1.11.20dum licet ac voltum servat Fortuna benignum, §1.11.21Romae laudetur Samos et Chios et Rhodos absens,
While it is permitted and Fortune keeps a kind face, let Samos and Chios and Rhodes be praised at Rome, though absent.
§1.11.22tu quamcumque deus tibi fortunaverit horam §1.11.23grata sume manu, neu dulcia differ in annum; §1.11.24ut quocumque loco fueris vixisse libenter
Whatever hour God has favored you with, take it with a grateful hand, nor defer sweet things to another year; so that in whatever place you have been, you may say that you lived gladly.
§1.11.25te dicas, nam si ratio et prudentia curas, §1.11.26non locus effusi late maris arbiter aufert, §1.11.27caelum, non animum, mutant, qui trans mare currunt,
For if reason and wisdom take away cares, and not a place that commands the wide-spread sea, they change the sky, not their mind, who run across the sea.
§1.11.28strenua nos exercet inertia: navibus atque §1.11.29quadrigis petimus bene vivere, quod petis hic est, §1.11.30est Ulubris, animus si te non deficit aequus.
A busy idleness harries us; with ships and chariots we seek to live well. What you seek is here, it is even at Ulubrae, if a balanced mind does not fail you.