§110.11Quid ergo nunc te hortor ut facias? Nihil novi— nec enim novis malis remedia quaeruntur—sed hoc primum, ut tecum ipse dispicias, quid sit necessarium, quid supervacuum.
What then do I encourage you to do now? Nothing new—for remedies are not sought for new evils—but this first, that you yourself discern within yourself what is necessary and what is superfluous.
Necessaria tibi ubique occurrent; supervacua et semper et toto animo quaerenda sunt.
Necessary things will meet you everywhere; superfluous things must be sought always and with all one's heart.
§110.12Non est autem quod te nimis laudes, si contempseris aureos lectos et gemmeam supellectilem.
But there is no reason why you should praise yourself too much, if you have despised golden couches and jeweled furniture.
Quae est enim virtus supervacua contemnere? Tunc te admirare, cum contempseris necessaria.
For what virtue is it to despise superfluous things? Admire yourself then, when you have despised necessary things.
Non magnam rem facis, quod vivere sine regio apparatu potes, quod non desideras milliarios apros nec linguas phoenicopterorum et alia portenta luxuriae iam tota animalia fastidientis et certa membra ex singulis eligentis; tunc te admirabor, si contempseris etiam sordidum panem, si tibi persuaseris herbam, ubi necesse est, non pecori tantum, sed homini nasci, si scieris cacumina arborum explementum esse ventris, in quem sic pretiosa congerimus tamquam recepta servantem.
You are not doing a great thing because you can live without royal equipment, because you do not desire thousand-pound boars nor the tongues of flamingos and other monsters of luxury which already loathes whole animals and selects particular parts from each; then I shall admire you, if you despise even coarse bread, if you convince yourself that grass, where it is necessary, grows not only for beasts but for man, if you know that the tops of trees are the filling of the belly, into which we pile expensive things as if it preserved what it received.
Sine fastidio inplendus est.
It must be filled without squeamishness.
Quid enim ad rem pertinet, quid accipiat perditurus quicquid acceperit?
For what does it matter what that which is going to destroy whatever it receives accepts?
§110.13Delectant te disposita, quae terra marique capiuntur, alia eo gratiora, si recentia perferantur ad mensam, alia, si diu pasta et coacta pinguescere fluunt ac vix saginam continent suam.
Ordered things captured from land and sea delight you, some the more pleasing if they are brought fresh to the table, others if, having been fed for a long time and forced to grow fat, they run with fat and scarcely contain their own stuffing.
Delectat te nidor horum arte quaesitus.
The smell of these, sought with art, delights you.
At mehercules ista sollicite scrutata varieque condita cum subierint ventrem, una atque eadem foeditas occupabit, vis ciborum voluptatem contemnere? Exitum specta.
But, by Hercules, when those things, anxiously searched for and variously seasoned, have entered the belly, one and the same filthiness will possess them; do you wish to despise the pleasure of food? Look to the exit.
§110.14Attalum memini cum magna admiratione omnium haec dicere: "Diu," inquit, "mihi inposuere divitiae.
I remember Attalus saying these things to the great admiration of all: 'For a long time,' he said, 'riches deceived me.
Stupebam, ubi aliquid ex illis alio atque alio loco fulserat.
I was dazed when something of them shone here and there.
Existimabam similia esse quae laterent, his, quae ostenderentur.
I thought that what was hidden was similar to what was shown.
Sed in quodam apparatu vidi totas opes urbis caelata et auro et argento et iis, quae pretium auri argentique vicerunt, exquisitos colores et vestes ultra non tantum nostrum, sed ultra finem hostium advectas; hinc puerorum perspicuos cultu atque forma greges, hinc feminarum, et aha, quae res suas recognoscens summi imperii fortuna protulerat.
But in a certain equipment I saw the entire wealth of a city, engraved in both gold and silver and in those things which surpassed the price of gold and silver, exquisite colors and garments imported not only beyond our boundaries but beyond those of our enemies; on this side crowds of boys conspicuous in dress and beauty, on that side of women, and other things which the fortune of the supreme power, reviewing its possessions, had brought forth.
§110.15Quid hoc est, inquam, aliud nisi inritare cupiditates hominum per se incitatas? Quid sibi vult ista pecuniae pompa? Ad discendam avaritiam convenimus? At mehercules minus cupiditatis istinc effero quam adtuleram.
What is this,' I said, 'other than to irritate the desires of men already excited of themselves? What does that parade of money mean? Have we met to learn avarice? But, by Hercules, I carry away less desire from there than I had brought.
Contempsi divitias, non quia supervacuae, sed quia pusillae sunt.
I despised riches, not because they are superfluous, but because they are petty.
vidistine, quam intra paucas horas ille ordo quamvis lentus dispositusque transierit?
Did you see how within a few hours that order, however slow and arranged, passed by?
§110.16Hoc totam vitam nostram occupavit, quod totum diem occupare non potuit? "Accessit illud quoque: tam supervacuae mihi visae sunt habentibus quam fuerunt spectantibus.
Did this occupy our whole life, which could not occupy a whole day?' There was also this addition: they seemed to me as superfluous to those who have them as they were to those who look at them.
§110.17Hoc itaque ipse mihi dico, quotiens tale aliquid praestrinxerit oculos meos, quotiens occurrit domus splendida, cohors culta servorum, lectica formonsis inposita calonibus: Quid miraris? Quid stupes? Pompa est.
Therefore I say this to myself, as often as anything of this kind has dazzled my eyes, as often as a splendid house meets me, a groomed band of slaves, a litter placed upon handsome grooms: Why do you admire? Why are you dazed? It is a parade.
Ostenduntur istae res, non possidentis, et dum placent, transeunt.
Those things are shown, not possessed, and while they please, they pass by.
§110.18Ad veras potius te converte divitias.
Turn yourself rather to true riches.
Disce parvo esse contentus et illam vocem magnus atque animosus exclama: ' habemus aquam, habemus polentam, Iovi ipsi controversiam de felicitate faciamus. ' Faciamus, oro te, etiam si ista defuerint.
Learn to be content with little, and cry out that word with a great and courageous voice: 'We have water, we have barley-groats, let us dispute with Jupiter himself about happiness.' Let us do so, I beg you, even if those things should be lacking.
Turpe est beatam vitam in auro et argento reponere, aeque turpe in aqua et polenta.
It is shameful to place a happy life in gold and silver, and equally shameful to place it in water and barley-groats.
§110.19' Quid ergo faciam, si ista non fuerint? ' Quaeris, quod sit remedium inopiae? Famem fames finit; alioquin quid interest, magna sint an exigua, quae servire te cogant? Quid refert, quantulum sit, quod tibi possit negare fortuna?
'What then shall I do, if those things should not be?' Do you ask what is the remedy for want? Hunger ends hunger; otherwise, what does it matter whether the things that force you to serve are large or small? What does it matter how little it is that fortune can deny you?
§110.20Haec ipsa aqua et polenta in alienum arbitrium cadit.
This very water and barley-groats fall under another's judgment.
Liber est autem non in quem parum licet fortunae, sed in quem nihil.
But he is free, not over whom fortune has little power, but over whom she has none.
Ita est: nihil desideres oportet, si vis Iovem provocare nihil desiderantem. "
Haec nobis Attalus dixit; quae si voles frequenter cogitare, id ages, ut sis felix, non ut videaris, et ut tibi videaris, non aliis.
It is so: you must desire nothing, if you wish to challenge Jupiter, who desires nothing.' Attalus said these things to us; if you wish to think of these frequently, you will act so that you may be happy, not so that you may seem so, and that you may seem so to yourself, not to others.
VALE.
FAREWELL.