§104.10Maximum malum iudicabis mortem, cum in illa nihil sit mali, nisi quod ante ipsam est, timeri.
You will judge death to be the greatest evil, although there is nothing of evil in it, except that which is before it, namely, being feared.
Exterrebunt te non tantum pericula, sed suspiciones; vanis semper agitaberis.
Not only dangers will terrify you, but suspicions; you will always be agitated by empty things.
Quid enim proderit
"
evasisse tot urbes
Argolicas mediosque fugam tenuisse per hostis?
"
Ipsa pax timores sumministrabit.
For what will it profit to have "escaped so many Argive cities and held one's flight through the midst of the enemy"? Peace itself will supply fears.
Ne tutis quidem habebitur fides consternata semel mente; quae ubi consuetudinem pavoris inprovidi fecit, etiam ad tutelam salutis suae inhabilis est.
No trust will be placed even in safe things once the mind is thoroughly dismayed; when it has made a habit of unforeseen panic, it is unfit even for the defense of its own safety.
Non enim vitat, sed fugit. Magis autem periculis paternus aversi.
For it does not avoid danger, but flees from it; and we are more exposed to dangers when we turn our backs.
§104.11Gravissimum iudicabis malum, aliquem ex his, quos amabis, amittere, cum interim hoc tam ineptum erit quam flere, quod arboribus amoenis et domum tuam ornantibus decidant folia.
You will judge it the gravest evil to lose someone of those whom you love, although meanwhile this will be as foolish as to weep because the leaves fall from the pleasant trees that adorn your house.
Quicquid te delectat, aeque vide ut flores virides; dum virent, utere; 2 alium alio die casus excutiet.
Look upon whatever delights you in the same way as green flowers; enjoy them while they are green; chance will shake off one on one day, another on another.
Sed quemadmodum frondium iactura facilis est, quia renascuntur, sic istorum, quos amas quosque oblectamenta vitae putas esse, damnum, quia reparantur, etiam si non renascuntur. "
But just as the loss of leaves is easy because they grow again, so is the loss of those whom you love and whom you regard as the delights of your life, because they are replaced, even if they do not grow again.
§104.12Sed non erunt idem. "Ne tu quidem idem eris.
"But they will not be the same." Not even you will be the same.
Omnis dies, omnis hora te mutat; sed in aliis rapina facilius apparet, hic latet, quia non ex aperto fiet.
Every day, every hour changes you; but in others the plunder is more easily visible, here it is hidden, because it does not happen openly.
Alii auferuntur, at ipsi nobis furto subducimur.
Others are snatched away, but we ourselves are stolen from ourselves by stealth.
Horum nihil cogitabis nec remedia vulneribus oppones, sed ipse tibi seres sollicitudinum causas aha sperando, alia desperando.
You will think of none of these things, nor will you apply remedies to your wounds, but you will yourself sow the seeds of anxiety for yourself, by hoping for some things and despairing of others.
Si sapis, alterum alteri misce: nec speraveris sine desperatione nec desperaveris sine spe.
If you are wise, mix the one with the other: neither hope without despair, nor despair without hope.
§104.13Quid per se peregrinatio prodesse cuiquam potuit? Non voluptates illa temperavit, non cupiditates refrenavit, non iras repressit, non indomitos amoris impetus fregit, nulla denique animo mala eduxit.
What has travel been able to profit anyone of itself? It has not tempered pleasures, it has not curbed desires, it has not repressed angers, it has not broken the untamed impulses of love, in short, it has removed no evils from the mind.
Non iudicium dedit, non discussit errorem, sed ut puerum ignota mirantem ad breve tempus rerum aliqua novitate detinuit.
It has not given judgment, it has not dispelled error, but it has merely held attention for a short time by some novelty of things, like a child wondering at unknown objects.
§104.14Ceterum inconstantia mentis, quae maxime aegra est, lacessit, mobiliorem levioremque reddit ipsa iactatio.
But the instability of the mind, which is especially diseased, is provoked, and made more restless and lighter by the very tossing of travel.
Itaque, quae petierant cupidissime loca, cupidius deserunt et avium modo transvolant citiusque quam venerant, abeunt.
Therefore, they abandon with greater eagerness the places they had sought most eagerly, and fly across like birds, and depart more quickly than they had come.
§104.15Peregrinatio notitiam dabit gentium, novas tibi montium formas ostendet, invisitata spatia camporum et inriguas perennibus aquis valles, alicuius fluminis sub observatione naturam, sive ut Nilus aestivo incremento tumet, sive ut Tigris eripitur ex oculis et acto per occulta cursu integrae magnitudini redditur, sive ut Maeander, poetarum omnium exercitati et ludus, implicatur crebris anfractibus et saepe in vicinum alveo suo admotus, antequam sibi influat, flectitur; ceterum neque meliorem faciet neque saniorem.
Travel will give you knowledge of nations, it will show you new shapes of mountains, unvisited spaces of plains, and valleys watered by perennial streams, and the nature of some river under observation: whether as the Nile swells with its summer increase, or as the Tigris is snatched from our eyes and, after a journey through hidden places, is restored to its full magnitude, or as the Maeander, the exercise and plaything of all poets, is tangled in frequent windings and, often brought close to its own channel, turns back before it flows into itself; but it will make you neither better nor sounder.
§104.16Inter studia versandum est et inter auctores sapientiae, ut quaesita discamus, nondum inventa quaeramus; sic eximendus animus ex miserrima servitute in libertatem adseritur.
We must occupy ourselves among studies and among the authors of wisdom, so that we may learn what has been sought and seek what has not yet been found; thus the mind, which is to be delivered from the most wretched slavery, is asserted into freedom.
Quamdiu quidem nesciens, quid fugiendum quid petendum, quid necessarium quid supervacuum, quid iustum quid iniustum sit, non erit hoc peregrinari, sed errare.
As long as one is ignorant of what should be avoided and what should be sought, what is necessary and what is superfluous, what is just and what is unjust, this will not be traveling, but wandering.
§104.17Nullam tibi opem feret iste discursus, peregrinaris enim cum adfectibus tuis et mala te tua sequuntur.
That running about of yours will bring you no help, for you are traveling with your passions, and your evils follow you.
Utinam quidem sequerentur.
Would that they did indeed follow you!
Longius abessent; nunc fers illa, non ducis.
They would be further away; as it is, you carry them, you do not lead them.
Itaque ubique te premunt et paribus incommodis urunt.
Therefore they oppress you everywhere and burn you with equal discomforts.
Medicina aegro, non regio, quaerenda est.
Medicine, not a region, must be sought by a sick man.
§104.18Fregit aliquis crus aut extorsit articulum: non vehiculum navemque conscendit, sed advocat medicum, ut fracta pars iungatur, ut luxata in locum reponatur.
Someone has broken a leg or sprained a joint: he does not board a carriage or a ship, but summons a doctor, so that the fractured part may be joined, or the dislocated part replaced in its position.
Quid ergo? Animum tot locis fractum et extortum credis locorum mutatione posse sanari? Maius est istud malum, quam ut gestatione curetur.
What then? Do you believe that a mind broken and sprained in so many places can be healed by a change of place? That evil is too great to be cured by mere travel.