§101.1Omnis dies, omnis hora quam nihil simus ostendit et aliquo argumento recenti admonet fragilitatis oblitos; tum aeterna meditatos respicere cogit ad mortem.
Every day, every hour shows how we are nothing, and, by some fresh proof, reminds those who have forgotten their fragility; then, it forces those who have planned eternal things to look back toward death.
Quid sibi istud principium velit quaeris? Senecionem Cornelium, equitem Romanum splendidum et officiosum, noveras: ex tenui principio se ipse promoverat et iam illi declivis erat cursus ad cetera.
Do you ask what that introduction means? You knew Cornelius Senecio, a splendid and dutiful Roman knight: he had promoted himself from a humble beginning, and already his path to the rest of his fortunes was a downward slope.
§101.2Facilius enim crescit dignitas quam incipit.
For position grows more easily than it begins.
Pecunia quoque circa paupertatem plurimum morae habet, dum ex illa erepat haeret.
Money also has the most delay around poverty; as long as it struggles to crawl out of it, it sticks.
Iam Senecio divitiis imminebat, ad quas illum duae res ducebant efficacissimae, et quaerendi et custodiendi scientia, quarum vel altera locupletem facere potuisset.
Already Senecio was close to wealth, to which two most effective things were leading him, the knowledge both of acquiring and of keeping, either of which could have made him rich.
§101.3Hic homo summae frugalitatis, non minus patrimonii quam corporis diligens, cum me ex consuetudine mane vidisset, cum per totum diem amico graviter adfecto et sine spe iacenti usque in noctem adsedisset, cum hilaris cenasset, genere valitudinis praecipiti arreptus, angina, vix conpressum artatis faucibus spiritum traxit in lucem.
This man of the greatest frugality, no less careful of his patrimony than of his body, when he had seen me in the morning according to custom, and when he had sat by a gravely ill friend who was lying without hope all through the day until night, and when he had dined cheerfully, was seized by a sudden kind of illness, quinsy, and with his throat narrowed, he barely drew his compressed breath into the light.
Intra paucissimas ergo horas, quam omnibus erat sani ac valentis officiis functus, decessit.
Therefore, within a very few hours after he had performed all the duties of a healthy and strong man, he died.
§101.4Ille, qui et mari et terra pecuniam agitabat, qui ad publica quoque nullum relinquens inexpertum genus quaestus accesserat, in ipso actu bene cedentium rerum, in ipso procurrentis pecuniae impetu raptus est.
He, who was driving money both by sea and by land, and who had approached public contracts as well, leaving no kind of gain untried, was snatched away in the very midst of things turning out well, in the very rush of flowing money.
Insere nunc, Meliboee, piros, pone ordine vites. Quam stultum est aetatem disponere ne crastini quidem dominum! O quanta dementia est spes longas inchoantium: emam aedificabo, credam exigam, honores geram, tum deinde lassam et plenam senectutem in otium referam. §101.5Omnia, mihi crede, etiam felicibus dubia sunt.
"Graft now, Meliboeus, your pear-trees, plant your vines in order." How foolish it is to arrange one's lifetime when one is not master of even tomorrow! Oh, how great is the madness of those who begin far-reaching hopes: "I will buy, I will build, I will lend, I will demand back, I will hold offices, then after that I will withdraw my tired and full old age into leisure." Believe me, all things are doubtful even for the fortunate.
Nihil sibi quisquam de futuro debet promittere.
No one ought to promise anything to themselves about the future.
Id quoque, quod tenetur, per manus exit et ipsam, quam premimus, horam casus incidit, volvitur tempus rata quidem lege, sed per obscurum; quid autem ad me, an naturae certum sit quod mihi incertum est?
Even that which is held slips through our hands, and chance cuts into the very hour we grasp; time rolls on indeed by a fixed law, but through darkness; but what is it to me whether what is uncertain to me is certain to nature?
§101.6Navigationes longas et pererratis litoribus alienis seros in patriam reditus proponimus, militiam et castrensium laborum tarda manipretia, procurationes officiorumque per officia processus, cum interim ad latus mors est, quae quoniam numquam cogitatur nisi aliena, subinde nobis ingeruntur mortalitatis exempla non diutius quam dum miramur haesura.
We plan long voyages and, after wandering foreign shores, late returns to our homeland, military service and the slow rewards of camp labors, procuratorships and the advancements of duties through duties, while meanwhile death is at our side, which, since it is never thought of except as belonging to someone else, examples of mortality are continually thrust upon us, to stick with us no longer than we wonder at them.
§101.7Quid autem stultius quam mirari id ullo die factum, quod omni potest fieri? Stat quidem terminus nobis, ubi illum inexorabilis fatorum necessitas fixit, sed nemo scit nostrum, quam prope versetur terminum.
But what is more foolish than to wonder that that has happened on any day, which can happen on any day? Indeed, our limit stands where the inexorable necessity of the fates has fixed it, but none of us knows how close he is moving to that limit.
Sic itaque formemus animum, tamquam ad extrema ventum sit.
Therefore, let us so shape our mind as if we had come to the very end.
Nihil differamus.
Let us postpone nothing.
Cotidie cum vita paria faciamus.
Daily let us balance our accounts with life.
§101.8Maximum vitae vitium est, quod inperfecta semper est, quod aliquid ex illa differtur.
The greatest fault of life is that it is always unfinished, that something of it is postponed.
Qui cotidie vitae suae summam manum inposuit, non indiget tempore.
He who has daily put the finishing hand to his life does not need time.
Ex hac autem indigentia timor nascitur et cupiditas futuri exedens animum.
But from this need arises fear and a desire for the future that eats away the mind.
Nihil est miserius dubitatione venientium quorsus evadant; quantum sit illud quod restat aut quale, sollicita mens inexplicabili formidine agitatur.
Nothing is more wretched than doubt about coming things, as to where they will turn out; how much that is which remains, or of what kind, the anxious mind is agitated with inexplicable dread.