§117.16Ego in hoc volo sapiens esse, ut sapiam.
I wish to be a wise man for this purpose, that I may be wise.
Quid ergo? Non est id bonum, sine quo nec illud bonum est? Vos certe dicitis sapientiam, si sine usu detur, accipiendam non esse.
What then? Is that not a good, without which even the other is not a good? You certainly say that wisdom, if it is given without its use, is not to be accepted.
Quid est usus sapientiae? Sapere; hoc est in illa pretiosissimum, quo detracto supervacua fit.
What is the use of wisdom? To be wise; this is the most precious thing in it, by the removal of which it becomes useless.
Si tormenta mala sunt, torqueri malum est, adeo quidem, ut illa non sint mala, si quod sequitur detraxeris.
If instruments of torture are evil, to be tortured is an evil, to such an extent indeed that those are not evil if you remove what follows.
Sapientia habitus perfectae mentis est, sapere usus perfectae mentis.
Wisdom is the state of a perfected mind, to be wise is the use of a perfected mind.
Quomodo potest usus eius bonum non esse, quae sine usu bonum non est?
How can the use of that thing not be a good, which without its use is not a good?
§117.17Interrogo te, an sapientia expetenda sit; fateris.
I ask you whether wisdom is to be sought; you admit it.
Interrogo, an usus sapientiae expetendus sit; fateris; negas enim te illam recepturum, si uti ea prohibearis.
I ask whether the use of wisdom is to be sought; you admit it; for you deny that you will receive it, if you are forbidden to use it.
Quod expetendum est, bonum est.
That which is to be sought is a good.
Sapere sapientiae usus est, quomodo eloquentiae eloqui, quomodo oculorum videre.
To be wise is the use of wisdom, just as to speak is the use of eloquence, as to see is that of the eyes.
Ergo sapere sapientiae usus est, usus autem sapientiae expetendus est; sapere ergo expetendum est.
Therefore to be wise is the use of wisdom, and the use of wisdom is to be sought; therefore to be wise is to be sought.
Si expetendum est, bonum est.
If it is to be sought, it is a good.
§117.18Olim ipse me damno, qui illos imitor, dum accuso, et verba apertae rei impendo.
I have long been condemning myself for imitating them while accusing them, and for spending words on an obvious matter.
Cui enim dubium potest esse, quin si aestus malum est, et aestuare malum sit? Si algor malum est, malum sit algere? Si vita bonum est, et vivere bonum sit? Omnia ista circa sapientiam, non in ipsa sunt.
For who can doubt that if heat is an evil, to feel hot is also an evil? If cold is an evil, to feel cold is an evil? If life is a good, to live is also a good? All those things are around wisdom, not in wisdom itself.
At nobis in ipsa commorandum est.
But we must dwell in wisdom itself.
§117.19Etiam si quid e vagari libet, amplos habet illa spatiososque secessus: de deorum natura quaeramus, de siderum alimento, de his tam variis stellarum discursibus, an ad illarum motus nostra moveantur, an corporibus omnium animisque illinc impetus veniat, an et haec, quae fortuita dicuntur, certa lege constricta sint nihilque in hoc mundo repentinum aut expers ordinis volutetur.
Even if there is some pleasure in wandering, she has wide and spacious retreats: let us inquire into the nature of the gods, the nourishment of the stars, these so varied courses of the planets, whether our affairs are moved according to their motions, whether the impulse for all bodies and minds comes from there, whether even these things, which are called fortuitous, are bound by a certain law and nothing in this world is rolled along suddenly or without order.
Ista iam a formatione morum recesserunt, sed levant animum et ad ipsarum, quas tractat, rerum magnitudinem attollunt; haec vero, de quibus paulo ante dicebam, minuunt et deprimunt nec, ut putatis, exacuunt, sed extenuant.
These things have already departed from the formation of character, but they elevate the mind and lift it to the grandeur of the very things it treats; on the other hand, these things of which I was speaking a little earlier diminish and depress the mind, and do not sharpen it, as you think, but wear it thin.
§117.20Obsecro vos, tam necessariam curam maioribus melioribusque debitam in re nescio an falsa, certe inutili terimus? Quid mihi profuturum est scire, an aliud sit sapientia, aliud sapere? Quid mihi profuturum est scire illud bonum esse, hoc non esse? Temere me geram, subibo huius voti aleam: tibi sapientia, mihi sapere contingat; pares erimus.
I beseech you, are we wasting such necessary care, which is due to greater and better things, on a matter that is perhaps false, but certainly useless? What will it profit me to know whether wisdom is one thing and to be wise is another? What will it profit me to know that the former is a good, but the latter is not? I shall act boldly, I shall undergo the hazard of this vow: let wisdom fall to your lot, and to be wise to mine; we shall be equal.
§117.21Potius id age, ut mihi viam monstres, qua ad ista perveniam.
Rather make it your business to show me the way by which I may arrive at those things.
Dic, quid vitare debeam, quid adpetere, quibus animum labantem studiis firmem, quemadmodum quae me ex transverso feriunt aguntque, procul a me repellam, quomodo par esse tot malis possim, quomodo istas calamitates removeam, quae ad me inruperunt, quomodo illas, ad quas ego inrupi.
Tell me what I ought to avoid, what to seek, by what studies I should strengthen a wavering mind, how I may repel far from me those things that strike and drive me sideways, how I can be a match for so many evils, how I may remove those calamities that have broken in upon me, and those into which I myself have broken.
Doce, quomodo feram aerumnam sine gemitu meo, felicitatem sine alieno, quomodo ultimum ac necessarium non expectem, sed ipsemet, cum visum erit, profugiam.
Teach me how I may bear hardship without my groaning, and good fortune without another's, how I should not wait for the final and inevitable hour, but myself flee when it seems good.
§117.22Nihil mihi videtur turpius quam optare mortem.
Nothing seems to me more shameful than to wish for death.
Nam si vis vivere, quid optas mori? Sive non vis, quid deos rogas, quod tibi nascenti dederunt? Nam ut quandoque moriaris, etiam invito positum est, ut cum voles, in tua manu est.
For if you wish to live, why do you wish to die? Or if you do not wish to, why do you ask the gods for what they gave you when you were born? For that you will die sometime is established even against your will; that you will die when you wish is in your own hand.
Alterum tibi necesse est, alterum licet.
The one is necessary for you, the other is permitted.
§117.23Turpissimum his diebus principium diserti mehercules viri legi: "Ita," inquit, "quamprimum moriar. "Homo demens, optas rem tuam.
Recently, I read a most shameful opening by a man, by Hercules, who was eloquent: 'So,' he said, 'may I die as soon as possible.' Madman, you are wishing for what is already your own.
"Ita quamprimum moriar. "Fortasse inter has voces senex factus es.
'So may I die as soon as possible.' Perhaps you have become an old man among these utterances.
Alioqui quid in mora est? Nemo te tenet;
Otherwise, what is the delay?
evade, qua visum est.
No one holds you; escape by whichever way seems good.
Elige quamlibet rerum naturae partem, quam tibi praebere exitum iubeas.
Choose any part of nature you please, which you may command to provide an exit for you.
Haec nempe sunt elementa, quibus hic mundus administratur, aqua, terra, spiritus.
These indeed are the elements by which this world is administered: water, earth, air.
Omnia ista tam causae vivendi sunt quam viae mortis. "
All those are as much causes of living as ways of death.