§107.1Ubi illa prudentia tua? Ubi in dispiciendis rebus subtilitas? Ubi magnitudo? Iam pusilla te res angit? Servi occupationes tuas occasionem fugae putaverunt.
Where is that prudence of yours? Where is your subtlety in discerning things? Where is your greatness of mind? Does a trivial thing now distress you? Your slaves have thought your occupations an opportunity for flight.
Si amici deciperent—habeant enim sane nomen, quod illis noster error inposuit, et vocentur, quo turpius non sint—omnibus rebus tuis desset aliquid; nunc desunt illi, qui et operam tuam conterebant et te aliis molestum esse credebant.
If friends were deceiving you—for indeed let them have the name which our error imposed on them, and let them be called by that than which nothing can be more shameful—something would be lacking to all your affairs; but now those are lacking who used to waste your effort and who believed that you were troublesome to others.
§107.2Nihil horum insolitum, nihil inexpectatum est.
Nothing of these is unusual, nothing unexpected.
Offendi rebus istis tam ridiculum est quam queri, quod spargaris in publico aut inquineris in luto.
To be offended by these things is as ridiculous as to complain that you are splashed in public or soiled in the mud.
Eadem vitae condicio est, quae balnei, turbae, itineris: quaedam in te mittentur, quaedam incident.
The condition of life is the same as that of a bath, a crowd, a journey: some things will be thrown at you, some will fall upon you.
Non est delicata res vivere.
To live is not a delicate thing.
Longam viam ingressus es; et labaris oportet et arietes et cadas et lasseris et exclames: "O mors! "id est mentiaris.
You have entered upon a long journey; you must slip, and collide, and fall, and grow weary, and cry out: 'O death!'—that is, lie.
Alio loco comitem relinques, alio efferes, alio timebis; per eiusmodi offensas emetiendum est confragosum hoc iter.
In one place you will leave a companion behind, in another you will bury one, in another you will fear one; through such offenses this rugged journey must be traversed.
§107.3Mori vult? Praeparetur animus contra omnia; sciat se venisse, ubi tonat fulmen.
Does he wish to die? Let the mind be prepared against all things; let it know that it has come where the lightning thunders.
Sciat se venisse, ubi
"
Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae
Pallentesque habitant morbi tristisque senectus.
Let it know that it has come where ' Grief and avenging Cares have set their couches, And pale Diseases dwell, and sad Old Age.
"
In hoc contubernio vita degenda est.
' In this shared quarters life must be spent.
Effugere ista non potes, contemnere potes.
You cannot escape those things, but you can despise them.
Contemnes autem, si saepe cogitaveris et futura praesumpseris.
And you will despise them if you think of them often and anticipate the future.
§107.4Nemo non fortius ad id, cui se diu conposuerat, accessit et duris quoque, si praemeditata erant, obstitit.
No one has not approached more bravely that for which he had long prepared himself, and has resisted even hard things if they had been premeditated.
At contra inparatus etiam levissima expavit.
But on the contrary, the unprepared man has feared even the lightest things.
Id agendum est, ne quid nobis inopinatum sit.
We must act to this end, that nothing may be unexpected by us.
Et quia omnia novitate graviora sunt, hoc cogitatio adsidua praestabit, ut nulli sis malo tiro.
And since all things are heavier because of novelty, constant reflection will ensure that you are a raw recruit to no evil.
§107.5"Servi me reliquerunt. "Alium compilaverunt, alium accusaverunt, alium occiderunt, alium prodiderunt, alium calcaverunt, alium veneno, alium criminatione petierunt; quicquid dixeris, multis accidit.
'My slaves have left me.' They have robbed another, accused another, killed another, betrayed another, trampled upon another, attacked another with poison, another with false accusation; whatever you say, it has happened to many.
Deinceps quae multa et varia sunt, in nos tela deriguntur.
Next, weapons, which are many and various, are aimed at us.
Quaedam in nos fixa sunt, quaedam vibrant et cum maxime veniunt, quaedam in alios perventura nos stringunt.
Some are fixed in us, some are vibrating and coming at this very moment, some, about to reach others, graze us.
§107.6Nihil miremur eorum, ad quae nati sumus, quae ideo nulli querenda, quia paria sunt omnibus.
Let us wonder at nothing of those things to which we were born, which for that reason ought to be complained of by no one, because they are equal to all.
Ita dico, paria sunt; nam etiam quod effugit aliquis, pati potuit.
I say so, they are equal; for even what someone has escaped, he was able to suffer.
Aequum autem ius est non quo omnes usi sunt, sed quod omnibus latum est.
But an equitable law is not that which all have used, but that which has been proposed for all.
Imperetur aequitas animo et sine querella mortalitatis tributa pendamus.
Let equity be commanded to the mind, and let us pay the taxes of mortality without complaint.
§107.7Hiems frigora adducit: algendum est.
Winter brings cold: we must freeze.
Aestas calores refert: aestuandum est.
Summer returns heat: we must sweat.
Intemperies caeli valitudinem temptat: aegrotandum est.
Intemperate weather tries our health: we must fall ill.
Et fera nobis aliquo loco occurret et homo perniciosior feris omnibus.
And a wild beast will meet us in some place, and a man more destructive than all wild beasts.
Aliud aqua, aliud ignis eripiet.
One thing water will snatch away, another fire will rip away.
Hanc rerum condicionem mutare non possumus; illud possumus, magnum sumere animum et viro bono dignum, quo fortiter fortuita patiamur et naturae consentiamus.
We cannot change this condition of things; we can do this: take up a great mind, and one worthy of a good man, by which we may bravely endure fortuitous events and consent to nature.
§107.8Natura autem hoc, quod vides, regnum mutationibus temperat; nubilo serena succedunt; turbantur maria, cum quieverunt; fiant in vicem venti; noctem dies sequitur; pars caeli consurgit, pars mergitur.
Nature, however, tempers this kingdom which you see with changes; clear weather succeeds the cloudy; the seas are troubled after they have been quiet; winds blow in turn; day follows night; part of the sky rises, part sinks.
Contrariis rerum aeternitas constat.
The eternity of things consists of contraries.
§107.9Ad hanc legem animus noster aptandus est; hanc sequatur, huic pareat.
Our mind must be adapted to this law; let it follow this, let it obey this.
Et quaecumque fiunt, debuisse fieri putet nec velit obiurgare naturam.
And whatever happens, let it think that it ought to have happened, and let it not wish to scold nature.
Optimum est pati, quod emendare non possis, et deum, quo auctore cuncta proveniunt, sine murmuratione comitari; malus miles est qui imperatorem gemens sequitur.
It is best to endure what you cannot amend, and to accompany without murmuring the God by whose authorship all things come forth; he is a bad soldier who follows his commander groaning.
§107.10Quare inpigri atque alacres excipiamus imperia nec deseramus hunc operis pulcherrimi cursum, cui quidquid patiemur, intextum est.
Therefore, let us receive commands active and cheerful, and let us not desert this course of the most beautiful work, in which whatever we shall suffer is interwoven.
Et sic adloquamur Iovem, cuius gubernaculo moles ista derigitur, quemadmodum Cleanthes noster versibus disertissimis adloquitur, quos mihi in nostrum sermonem mutare permittitur Ciceronis, disertissimi viri, exemplo. Si placuerint, boni consules; si displicuerint, scies me in hoc secutum Ciceronis exemplum:
And let us address Jupiter, by whose rudder this great mass is directed, in the same way as our Cleanthes addresses him in most eloquent verses, which I am permitted to translate into our language following the example of Cicero, a most eloquent man.
§107.11"
Duc, o parens celsique dominator poli,
Quocumque placuit; nulla parendi mora est.
If they please you, you will take it in good part; if they displease you, you will know that I have followed Cicero's example in this: ' Lead, O Father and ruler of the high heaven, Whithersoever it has pleased you; there is no delay in obeying.
Adsum inpiger.
I am present, active.
Fac nolle, comitabor gemens
Maiusque patiar, facere quod licuit bono.
Even if I were unwilling, I shall accompany you groaning, And I shall suffer with greater pain what I might have done as a good man.
Ducunt volentem fata, nolentem trahunt. "
The fates lead the willing, they drag the unwilling.
§107.12Sic vivamus, sic loquamur; paratos nos inveniat atque inpigros fatum.
' Thus let us live, thus let us speak; let fate find us prepared and active.
Hic est magnus animus, qui se ei tradidit; at contra ille pusillus et degener, qui obluctatur et de ordine mundi male existimat et emendare mavult deos quam se.
This is the great mind, which has surrendered itself to it; but on the contrary, that mind is petty and degenerate which struggles, and thinks ill of the order of the world, and prefers to amend the gods rather than itself.
Vale.
FAREWELL.