§102.21Dic potius, quam naturale sit in inmensum mentem suam extendere.
Speak rather of how natural it is to extend one's mind into the immense.
Magna et generosa res est humanus animus: nullos sibi poni nisi communes et cum deo terminos patitur.
The human soul is a great and noble thing; it allows no limits to be set for itself except those that are common to it and to God.
Primum humilem non accipit patriam, Ephesum aut Alexandriam aut si quod est etiamnunc frequentius accolis laetiusve tectis solum; patria est illi quodcumque suprema et universa circuitu suo cingit, hoc omne convexum, intra quod iacent maria cum terris, intra quod aer humanis divina secernens etiam coniungit, in quo disposita tot lumina in actus suos excubant.
First, it does not accept a humble fatherland—Ephesus or Alexandria, or any territory that is even more crowded with inhabitants or more beautiful with roofs; its fatherland is whatever the highest and universal circuit girds with its boundary, this whole vault within which lie the seas with the lands, within which the air, while separating human things from divine, also joins them, and in which so many lights arranged in order keep watch for their own activities.
§102.22Deinde artam aetatem sibi dari non sinit: "omnes," inquit, "anni mei sunt.
Then, it does not allow a narrow lifetime to be given to itself: 'All years,' it says, 'are mine.
Nullum saeculum magnis ingeniis clusum est, nullum non cogitationi pervium tempus.
No age is closed to great talents, no time is impassable to thought.
Cum venerit dies ille, qui mixtum hoc divini humanique secernat, corpus hic, ubi inveni, relinquam, ipse me dis reddam.
When that day comes which shall separate this mixture of the divine and the human, I shall leave this body here where I found it, and return myself to the gods.
Nec nunc sine illis sum, sed gravi terrenoque detineor. " §102.23Per has mortalis aevi moras illi meliori vitae longiorique proluditur.
Even now I am not without them, but I am held back by a heavy and earthly weight.' Through these delays of mortal life, we practice for that better and longer life.
Quemadmodum decem mensibus tenet nos maternus uterus et praeparat non sibi, sed illi loco, in quem videmur emitti iam idonei spiritum trahere et in aperto durare; sic per hoc spatium, quod ab infantia patet in senectutem, in alium maturescimus partum.
Just as the maternal womb holds us for ten months and prepares us not for itself, but for that place into which we seem to be sent forth, already fit to draw breath and to endure in the open; so through this span, which extends from infancy to old age, we ripen for another birth.
Alia origo nos expectat, alius rerum status.
Another origin awaits us, another state of things.
Nondum caelum nisi ex intervallo pati possumus; proinde intrepidus horam illam decretoriam prospice: non est animo suprema, sed corpori.
We cannot yet endure heaven except from a distance; therefore, look forward to that decisive hour without fear: it is not the last hour for the soul, but for the body.
§102.24Quidquid circa, te iacet rerum, tamquam hospitalis loci sarcinas specta: transeundum est.
Look upon whatever things lie around you as the baggage of a guest house: you must pass on.
§102.25Excutit redeuntem natura sicut intrantem.
Nature shakes out the one returning just as it did the one entering.
Non licet plus efferre quam intuleris, immo etiam ex eo, quod ad vitam adtulisti, pars magna ponenda est: detrahetur tibi haec circumiecta, novissimum velamentum tui, cutis; detrahetur caro et suffusus sanguis discurrensque per totum; detrahentur ossa nervique, firmamenta fluidorum ac labentium.
You are not allowed to carry out more than you brought in; indeed, even of that which you brought to life, a great part must be laid down: this surrounding skin, your outermost veil, will be stripped from you; the flesh and the infused blood running through the whole will be stripped; the bones and sinews, the supports of fluid and failing parts, will be stripped.
§102.26Dies iste, quem tamquam extremum reformidas, aeterni natalis est.
This day, which you dread as the last, is the birthday of eternity.
Depone onus; quid cunctaris, tamquam non prius quoque relicto, in quo latebas, corpore exieris? Haeres, reluctaris;
Lay down your burden; why do you hesitate, as if you had not also previously gone out after leaving the body in which you lay hidden?
tum quoque magno nisu matris expulsus es.
You cling, you struggle; then too you were expelled by a great effort of your mother.
Gemis, ploras; et hoc ipsum flere nascentis est, sed tunc debebat ignosci: rudis et imperitus omnium veneras.
You groan, you weep; and this very weeping belongs to one being born, but then it deserved to be forgiven: you had come raw and inexperienced in all things.
Ex maternorum viscerum calido mollique fomento emissum adflavit aura liberior, deinde offendit durae manus tactus, tenerque adhuc et nullius rei gnarus obstipuisti inter ignota.
Sent forth from the warm and soft warmth of your mother's womb, a freer breeze blew upon you, then the touch of a hard hand startled you, and while still tender and ignorant of everything, you were dazed among unknown things.
§102.27Nunc tibi non est novum separari ab eo, cuius ante pars fueris; aequo animo membra iam supervacua dimitte et istuc corpus inhabitatum diu pone.
Now it is not new for you to be separated from that of which you were previously a part; with a calm mind, dismiss the members that are now superfluous, and lay down that body which you have inhabited for so long.
Scindetur, obruetur, abolebitur.
It will be torn apart, buried, destroyed.
Quid contristaris? Ita solet fieri: pereunt semper velamenta nascentem.
Why are you saddened? So it is accustomed to happen: the coverings of the one being born always perish.
Quid ista sic diligis quasi tua? Istis opertus es.
Why do you love those things so much as if they were yours? You were merely covered by them.
veniet, qui te revellat dies et ex contubernio foedi atque olidi ventris educat.
The day will come that will tear you away and lead you out from the companionship of a foul and smelly belly.
§102.28Huic nunc quoque tu, quantum potes, subduc te voluptatique, nisi quae necessariis seriisque cohaerebit; alienus iam hinc altius ab quid sublimiusque meditare.
Even now, withdraw yourself as much as you can from this body, and from pleasure, except that which will be connected with necessary and serious things; already estranged from here, meditate on something higher and more sublime.
Aliquando naturae tibi arcana retegentur, discutietur ista caligo et lux undique clara percutiet.
Someday the secrets of nature will be revealed to you, this darkness will be dispersed, and a bright light will strike you from all sides.
Imaginare tecum, quantus ille sit fulgor tot sideribus inter se lumen miscentibus; nulla serenum umbra turbabit.
Imagine within yourself how great that brightness must be, with so many stars mixing their light with one another; no shadow will disturb the clear sky.
Aequaliter splendebit omne caeli latus; dies et nox aeris infimi vices sunt.
Every side of heaven will shine equally; day and night are alternations of the lowest air.
Tunc in tenebris vixisse te dices, cum totam lucem et totus aspexeris, quam nunc per angustissimas oculorum vias obscure intuens.
Then you will say that you lived in darkness, when you, whole, look upon the whole light, which you now look at obscurely through the narrowest pathways of the eyes.
Et tamen admirans illam iam procul; quid tibi videbitur divina lux, cum illam suo loco videris?
And yet you admire it even now from afar; what will that divine light seem to you when you see it in its own place?
§102.29Haec cogitatio nihil sordidum animo subsidere sinit, nihil humile, nihil crudele.
This thought allows nothing sordid to settle in the mind, nothing humble, nothing cruel.
Deos rerum omnium esse testes ait.
It says that the gods are witnesses of all things.
Illis nos adprobari, illis in futurum parari iubet et aeternitatem proponere.
It bids us to be approved by them, to be prepared for them for the future, and to set eternity before us.
Quam qui mente concepit, nullos horret exercitus, non ferretur tuba, nullis ad timorem minis agitur.
He who has conceived this in his mind dreads no armies, is not terrified by the trumpet, and is driven to fear by no threats.
§102.30Quidni non timeat qui mori sperat? Is quoque, qui animum tamdiu iudicat manere, quamdiu retinetur corporis vinculo, solutum statim spargit, ut etiam post mortem utilis esse possit.
Why should he not fear, who hopes to die? Even he who judges that the soul remains only so long as it is held by the bond of the body, and disperses it immediately when released, strives so that he can be useful even after death.
Quamvis enim ipse ereptus sit oculis, tamen
"
Multa viri virtus animo multusque recursat
Gentis honos.
For although he himself has been snatched from our eyes, yet: "Many a virtue of the man, and many an honor of his race, rushes back to the mind.
"
Cogita, quantum nobis exempla bona prosint: scies magnorum virorum non minus praesentiam esse utilem quam memoriam.
"Consider how much good examples profit us: you will know that the presence of great men is no less useful than their memory.
VALE.
FAREWELL.