§108.10Nam," ut dicebat Cleanthes, "quemadmodum spiritus noster clariorem sonum reddit, cum illum tuba per longi canalis angustias tractum patentiore novissime exitu effudit, sic sensus nostros clariores carminis arta necessitas efficit. "Eadem neglegentius audiuntur minusque percutiunt, quamdiu soluta oratione dicuntur; ubi accessere numeri et egregium sensum adstrinxere certi pedes, eadem illa sententia velut lacerto excussiore torquetur.
'For,' as Cleanthes used to say, 'just as our breath produces a clearer sound when a trumpet has poured it out, drawn through the narrow spaces of a long pipe and finally through a wider opening, so the tight necessity of song makes our senses clearer.' Those same things are heard more negligently and strike less as long as they are spoken in prose; but when meters have approached and certain feet have bound a choice sense, that same opinion is hurled as if from a more vigorously swung arm.
§108.11De contemptu pecuniae multa dicuntur et longissimis orationibus hoc praecipitur, ut homines in animo, non in patrimonio putent esse divitias, eum esse locupletem, qui paupertati suae aptatus est et parvo se divitem fecit; magis tamen feriuntur animi, cum carmina eiusmodi dicta sunt:
"
Is minimo eget mortalis, qui minimum cupit.
Many things are said about the contempt of money, and in the longest speeches this is prescribed: that men should think riches to be in the mind, not in the patrimony, and that he is wealthy who has fitted himself to his poverty and made himself rich with a little; yet minds are struck more when verses of this kind are spoken: ' That mortal needs the least who desires the least.
Quod vult habet, qui velle quod satis est potest. "
He has what he wishes who can wish for what is enough.
§108.12Cum haec atque eiusmodi audimus, ad confessionem veritatis adducimur.
' When we hear these and suchlike things, we are led to the confession of truth.
Illi enim, quibus nihil satis est, admirantur, adclamant, odium pecuniae indicunt.
For those for whom nothing is enough admire, applaud, and declare hatred of money.
Hunc illorum adfectum cum videris, urge, hoc preme, hoc onera relictis ambiguitatibus et syllogismis et cavillationibus et ceteris acuminis inriti ludicris.
When you see this affection of theirs, press them, drive this home, weigh them down with this, leaving behind ambiguities, syllogisms, sophistries, and the other playthings of useless sharpness.
Dic in avaritiam, dic in luxuriam; cum profecisse te videris et animos audientium adfeceris, insta vehementius; veri simile non^est, quantum proficiat talis oratio remedio intenta et tota in bonum audientium versa.
Speak against avarice, speak against luxury; when you see that you have made progress and have affected the minds of the hearers, press on more vehemently; it is beyond belief how much such a speech profits, intent on a cure and turned entirely to the good of the hearers.
Facillime enim tenera conciliantur ingenia ad honesti rectique amorem et adhuc docibilibus leviterque corruptis inicit manum veritas, si advocatum idoneum nancta est.
For tender minds are very easily won over to the love of the honorable and right, and truth lays its hand upon those who are still teachable and only lightly corrupted, if it has found a suitable advocate.
§108.13Ego certe cum Attalum audirem in vitia, in errores, in mala vitae perorantem, saepe miseritus sum generis humani et illum sublimem altioremque humano fastigio credidi.
I certainly, when I heard Attalus declaiming against vices, against errors, against the evils of life, often pitied the human race and believed him sublime and higher than the human limit.
Ipse regem se esse dicebat, sed plus quam regnare mihi videbatur, cui liceret censuram agere regnantium.
He himself used to say that he was a king, but he seemed to me to be more than reigning, to whom it was permitted to act as the censor of those who reign.
§108.14Cum vero commendare paupertatem coeperat et ostendere, quam quidquid usum excederet, pondus esset supervacuum et grave ferenti, saepe exire e schola pauperi libuit.
But when he had begun to recommend poverty and to show how whatever exceeded use was a superfluous and heavy weight to the one carrying it, often I felt like leaving the school a poor man.
Cum coeperat voluptates nostras traducere, laudare castum corpus, sobriam mensam, puram mentem non tantum ab inlicitis voluptatibus, sed etiam supervacuis, libebat circumscribere gulam ac ventrem.
When he had begun to expose our pleasures, to praise a chaste body, a sober table, a mind pure not only from illicit pleasures but also from superfluous ones, I felt like restricting my throat and belly.
§108.15Inde mihi quaedam permansere, Lucili.
Hence some things have remained with me, Lucilius.
Magno enim in omnia inceptu veneram.
For I had come with a great undertaking into all things.
Deinde ad civitatis vitam reductus ex bene coeptis pauca servavi.
Then, brought back to the life of the city, I kept few of the things well begun.
Inde ostreis boletisque in omnem vitam renuntiatum est; nec enim cibi, sed oblectamenta sunt ad edendum saturos cogentia, quod gratissimum est edacibus et se ultra quam capiunt farcientibus, facile descensura, facile reditura.
Hence oysters and mushrooms were renounced for my whole life; for they are not foods, but delicacies forcing those who are full to eat, which is most pleasing to gluttons and those stuffing themselves beyond what they can contain, things easy to go down, easy to come back up.
§108.16Inde in omnem vitam unguento abstinemus, quoniam optimus odor in corpore est nullus.
Hence for my whole life we abstain from ointment, since the best odor on the body is none.
Inde vino carens stomachus.
Hence a stomach lacking wine.
Inde in omnem vitam balneum fugimus, decoquere corpus atque exinanire sudoribus inutile simul delicatumque credidimus.
Hence for my whole life we flee the bath, we believed that to boil down the body and empty it with sweats was both useless and luxurious.
Cetera proiecta redierunt, ita tamen, ut quorum abstinentiam interrupi, modum servem et quidem abstinentiae proximiorem, nescio an difficiliorem, quoniam quaedam absciduntur facilius animo quam temperantur.
Other things thrown away returned, yet in such way that, of those things whose abstinence I interrupted, I keep a limit, and indeed one closer to abstinence, and I know not whether more difficult, since some things are cut off more easily by the mind than tempered.
§108.17Quoniam coepi tibi exponere, quanto maiore impetu ad philosophiam iuvenis accesserim quam senex pergam, non pudebit fateri, quem mihi amorem Pythagoras iniecerit.
Since I began to explain to you with how much greater impetus I approached philosophy as a youth than I proceed as an old man, it will not shame me to confess what love Pythagoras inspired in me.
Sotion dicebat, quare ille animalibus abstinuisset, quare postea Sextius.
Sotion used to tell why he had abstained from animals, and why afterwards Sextius had.
Dissimilis utrique causa erat, sed utrique magnifica.
The cause for each was different, but for each magnificent.
§108.18Hic homini satis alimentorum citra sanguinem esse credebat et crudelitatis consuetudinem fieri, ubi in voluptatem esset adducta laceratio.
This man believed that for man there was enough nourishment without blood, and that a habit of cruelty was formed where slaughter was brought into pleasure.
Adiciebat contrahendam materiam esse luxuriae; colligebat bonae valitudini contraria esse alimenta varia et nostris aliena corporibus.
He added that the material of luxury should be contracted; he gathered that varied nourishments, alien to our bodies, were contrary to good health.
§108.19At Pythagoras omnium inter omnia cognationem esse dicebat et animorum commercium in alias atque alias formas transeuntium.
But Pythagoras used to say that there was a kinship of all things among all things, and an intercourse of minds passing into other and other forms.
Nulla, si illi credas, anima interit, ne cessat quidem nisi tempore exiguo, dum in aliud corpus transfunditur.
No soul, if you believe him, perishes, nor does it even cease except for a very short time while it is being poured into another body.
videbimus, per quas temporum vices et quando pererratis pluribus domiciliis in hominem revertatur; interim sceleris hominibus ac parricidii metum fecit, cum possent in parentis animam,inscii incurrere et ferro morsuve violare, si in quo cognatus aliqui spiritus hospitaretur.
We shall see through what vicissitudes of times and when, after wandering through several dwellings, it returns to man; in the meantime he created in men a fear of crime and parricide, since they might unknowingly run into a parent's soul and violate it with iron or bite, if in any body some kindred spirit were lodging.