§108.29Praeterea, inquit, hoc senectuti cognomen inposuit, tristem illam vocat:
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subeunt morbi tristisque senectus. "
Alio loco dicit:
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Pallentesque habitant morbi tristisque senectus.
Besides, he says, Vergil imposed this cognomen on old age; he calls it sad: ' diseases creep in and sad old age ' In another place he says: ' And pale diseases and sad old age dwell.
"
Non est quod mireris ex eadem materia suis quemque studiis apta colligere; in eodem prato bos herbam quaerit, canis leporem, ciconia lacertam.
' There is no reason why you should wonder that each person collects from the same material what is suited to his own studies; in the same meadow the ox seeks grass, the dog the hare, the stork the lizard.
§108.30Cum Ciceronis librum de Re Publica prendit hinc philologus aliquis,hinc grammaticus, hinc philosophiae deditus, alius alio curam suam mittit.
When some philologist on one hand, some grammarian on the other, and some devoted to philosophy on the other, takes up Cicero's book on the Republic, each directs his attention to a different thing.
Philosophus admiratur contra iustitiam dici tam multa potuisse.
The philosopher admires that so many things could be said against justice.
Cum ad hanc eandem lectionem philologus accessit, hoc subnotat: Duos Romanos reges esse, quorum alter patrem non habet, alter matrem.
When the philologist approaches this same reading, he notes this: that there are two Roman kings, one of whom has no father, the other no mother.
Nam de Servi matre dubitatur; Anci pater nullus, Numae nepotis, dicitur.
For Servius's mother is doubted; Ancus is said to have no father, and to be the grandson of Numa.
§108.31Praeterea notat eum, quem nos dictatorem dicimus et in historiis ita nominari legimus, aput antiquos magistrum populi vocatum.
Besides, he notes that he whom we call dictator, and read named so in histories, was called magister populi among the ancients.
Hodieque id extat in auguralibus libris, et testimonium est, quod qui ab illo nominatur, magister equitum est.
Today also this exists in the augural books, and the evidence is that he who is named by him is the magister equitum.
Aeque notat Romulum perisse solis defectione; provocationem ad populum etiam a regibus fuisse; id ita in pontificalibus libris esse et alii quiqui putant et Fenestella.
Equally he notes that Romulus perished by a solar eclipse; that there was an appeal to the people even from the kings; that this is so in the pontifical books, as Fenestella and others, whoever they are, think.
§108.32Eosdem libros cum grammaticus explicuit, primum verba expressa, reapse dici a Cicerone, id est re ipsa, in commentarium refert, nec minus sepse, id est se ipse.
When the grammarian has unfolded the same books, first he enters into his commentary the expressive words, that reapse is said by Cicero, that is, re ipsa, and no less sepse, that is, se ipse.
Deinde transit ad ea, quae consuetudo saeculi mutavit, tamquam ait Cicero: "quoniam sumus ab ipsa calce eius interpellatione revocati. "Hanc quam nunc in circo cretam vocamus, calcem antiqui dicebant.
Then he passes to those things which the custom of the age has changed, as Cicero says: "since we have been recalled from the very calx by his interruption." This which we now call creta in the circus, the ancients called calx.
Deinde Ennianos colligit versus et in primis illos de §108.33Africano scriptos:
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cui nemo civis neque hostis
Quibit pro factis reddere opis pretium.
Then he collects the verses of Ennius, and especially those written about Africanus: ' whom no citizen nor enemy will be able to return the reward of ops for his deeds.
"
Ex eo se ait intellegere, opem aput antiquos non tantum auxilium significasse, sed operam.
' From this he says he understands that ops among the ancients signified not only help (auxilium), but work (opera).
Ait enim Ennius neminem potuisse Scipioni neque civem neque hostem reddere operae pretium.
For Ennius says that no one, neither citizen nor enemy, was able to return to Scipio the reward of work (operae pretium).
Felicem deinde se putat, quod invenerit, unde visum sit Vergilio dicere: §108.34quem super ingens porta tonat caeli. Ennium hoc ait Homero subripuisse, Ennio vergilium.
Then he thinks himself happy because he found whence it seemed fit to Vergil to say: 'above whom the huge gate of heaven thunders.' He says that Ennius snatched this from Homer, and Vergil from Ennius.
Esse enim apud Ciceronem in his ipsis de Re Publica hoc epigramma Enni:
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Si fas endo plagas caelestum ascendere cuiquam est,
Mi soli caeli maxima porta patet. "
For he says that in these very books of Cicero on the Republic there is this epigram of Ennius: ' If it is right for anyone to ascend into the regions of the heavenly ones, For me alone the greatest gate of heaven lies open.
§108.35Sed ne et ipse, dum aliud ago, in philologum aut grammaticum delabar, illud admoneo, auditionem philosophorum lectionemque ad propositum beatae vitae trahendam, non ut verba prisca aut ficta captemus et translationes inprobas figurasque dicendi, sed ut profutura praecepta et magnificas voces et animosas, quae mox in rem transferantur.
' But lest I myself also, while doing something else, slide into a philologist or grammarian, I give this warning, that the hearing and reading of philosophers must be drawn toward the purpose of a happy life, not so that we may catch archaic or made-up words and far-fetched metaphors and figures of speech, but so that we may grasp beneficial precepts and magnificent and courageous voices which are soon to be transferred into action.
Sic ista ediscamus, ut quae fuerint verba, sint opera.
Let us learn these things in such a way that what were words may become deeds.
§108.36Nullos autem peius mereri de omnibus mortalibus iudico quam qui philosophiam velut aliquod artificium venale didicerunt, qui aliter vivunt quam vivendum esse praecipiunt.
But I judge none to deserve worse of all mortals than those who have learned philosophy as if it were some saleable trade, who live otherwise than they prescribe that one must live.
Exempla enim se ipsos inutilis disciplinae circumferunt nulli non vitio, quod insequuntur, obnoxii.
For they carry themselves around as examples of useless learning, subject to every vice which they pursue.
§108.37Non magis mihi potest quisquam talis prodesse praeceptor quam gubernator in tempestate nauseabundus.
No such teacher can be of more use to me than a steersman who is seasick in a storm.
Tenendum rapiente fluctu gubernaculum, luctandum cum ipso mari, eripienda sunt vento vela; quid me potest adiuvare rector navigii attonitus et vomitans? Quanto maiore putas vitam tempestate iactari quam ullam ratem? Non est loquendum, sed gubernandum.
The rudder must be held while the wave snatches, one must wrestle with the sea itself, the sails must be snatched from the wind; how can the helmsman of a ship assist me when he is astounded and vomiting? By how much greater a storm do you think life is tossed than any vessel? One must not talk, but steer.
§108.38Omnia quae dicunt, quae turba audiente iactant, aliena sunt; dixit illa Platon, dixit Zenon, dixit Chrysippus et Posidonius et ingens agmen nostrorum tot ac talium.
All things which they say, which they boast with the crowd listening, are alien; Plato said those things, Zeno said them, Chrysippus and Posidonius said them, and a huge army of our own so many and such men.
Quomodo probare possint sua esse, monstrabo: faciant, quae dixerint.
How they can prove those things to be their own, I will show: let them do what they have said.
§108.39Quoniam quae volueram ad te perferre, iam dixi, nunc desiderio tuo satis faciam et in alteram epistulam integrum, quod exegeras, transferam, ne ad rem spinosam et auribus erectis curiosisque audiendam lassus accedas.
Since I have already said what I wanted to convey to you, now I will satisfy your desire and transfer the whole matter which you had demanded, untouched, to another letter, lest you, exhausted, approach a thorny matter which is to be heard with erect and curious ears.
VALE.
FAREWELL.