§122.1Detrimentum iam dies sensit.
The day has already felt its loss.
Resiluit aliquantum, ita tamen ut liberate adhuc spatium sit, si quis cum ipso, ut ita dicam, die surgat.
It has shrunk considerably, yet in such a way that there is still ample space, if one rises, so to speak, with the day itself.
Officiosior meliorque, si quis illum exspectat et lucem primam excipit; turpis, qui alto sole semisomnus iacet, cuius vigilia medio die incipit; et adhuc multis hoc antelucanum est.
He is more dutiful and better, who waits for it and welcomes the first light; base is he who lies half-asleep when the sun is high, whose waking begins at midday; and yet for many, this is still before dawn.
§122.2Sunt qui officia lucis noctisque perverterint nec ante diducant oculos hesterna graves crapula quam adpetere nox coepit.
There are some who have inverted the duties of light and night, and do not open eyes heavy with yesterday's debauchery until night begins to approach.
Qualis illorum condicio dicitur, quos natura, ut ait vergilius, sedibus nostris subditos e contrario posuit,
"
Nosque ubi primus equis Oriens adflavit anhelis,
Illis sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper; "
talis horum contraria omnibus non regio, sed vita est.
Just as is said to be the condition of those whom nature, as Vergil says, has placed opposite us, beneath our dwellings: "And when the early Dawn with panting steeds breathes on us first, for them the glowing Evening lights her belated lamps;" such is the life of these people, contrary to everyone, not because of their region, but because of their way of living.
Sunt quidam in eadem urbe antipodes, qui, ut M. Cato ait, nec orientem umquam solem viderunt nec occidentem.
There are certain antipodes in the same city, who, as Marcus Cato says, have never seen the rising nor the setting sun.
§122.3Hos tu existimas scire quemadmodum vivendum sit, qui nesciunt quando? Et hi mortem timent, in quam se vivi condiderunt? Tam infausti quam nocturnae aves sunt.
Do you think these people know how to live, who do not know when? And do these fear death, into which they have buried themselves while alive? They are as ill-omened as nocturnal birds.
Licet in vino unguentoque tenebras suas exigant, licet epulis et quidem in multa fericula discoctis totum perversae vigiliae tempus educant, non convivantur, sed iusta sibi faciunt.
Although they pass their darkness in wine and perfume, although they consume the entire time of their perverted waking in feasts and indeed cooked in many courses, they are not banquetting, but performing their own funeral rites.
Mortuis certe interdiu parentatur.
For indeed, the memorial rites for the dead are celebrated during the day.
At mehercules nullus agenti dies longus est.
But by Hercules, no day is long to one who is active.
Extendamus vitam; huius et officium et argumentum actus est.
Let us extend our life; both its duty and its proof is action.
Circumscribatur nox, et aliquid ex illa in diem transferatur.
Let night be restricted, and let something from it be transferred to the day.
§122.4Aves, quae conviviis conparantur, ut inmotae facile pinguescant, in obscuro continentur; ita sine ulla exercitatione iacentibus tumor pigrum corpus invadit, et superba umbra iners sagina subcrescit.
Birds which are prepared for banquets, so that they may easily grow fat while remaining motionless, are kept in the dark; thus, as they lie without any exercise, a swelling invades their sluggish body, and a proud shadow of fat grows up through inactive feeding.
At istorum corpora, qui se tenebris dicaverunt, foeda visuntur.
But the bodies of those who have dedicated themselves to the darkness are seen to be hideous.
Quippe suspectior illis quam morbo patientibus color est, languidi et evanidi albent, et in vivis caro morticina est.
Indeed, their complexion is more suspicious than that of those suffering from disease, they are pale, weak, and vanishing, and in the living, the flesh is like that of a corpse.
Hoc tamen minimum in illis malorum dixerim.
Yet I would call this the least of their evils.
Quanto plus tenebrarum in animo est! Ille in se stupet, ille caligat, invidet caecis.
How much more darkness there is in their soul! It is stupefied within itself, it grows dark, it envies the blind.
Quis umquam oculos tenebrarum causa habuit?
Who ever had eyes for the sake of darkness?
§122.5Interrogas, quomodo haec animo pravitas fiat aversandi diem et totam vitam in noctem transferendi? Omnia vitia contra naturam pugnant, omnia debitum ordinem deserunt.
You ask how this depravity of the soul arises, of aversion to the day and of transferring the whole of life into the night? All vices fight against nature, all abandon their due order.
Hoc est luxuriae propositum, gaudere perversis nec tantum discedere a recto, sed quam longissime abire, deinde etiam e contrario stare.
This is the purpose of luxury: to rejoice in perverted things, and not merely to depart from what is right, but to go as far away as possible, and then even to stand in direct opposition.
§122.6Non videntur tibi contra naturam vivere qui ieiuni bibunt, qui vinum recipiunt inanibus venis et ad cibum ebrii transeunt? Atqui frequens hoc adulescentium vitium est, qui vires excolunt, ut in ipso paene balinei limine inter nudos bibant, immo potent et sudorem, quem moverunt potionibus crebris ac ferventibus, subinde destringant.
Do they not seem to you to live contrary to nature who drink on an empty stomach, who receive wine into empty veins and proceed to food already drunk? And yet this is a frequent vice of young men, who cultivate their physical strength, so that almost on the very threshold of the bath, among naked men, they drink, or rather carouse, and immediately scrape off the sweat which they have provoked by frequent and burning potions.
Post prandium aut cenam bibere vulgare est; hoc patres familiae rustici faciunt et verae voluptatis ignari.
To drink after lunch or dinner is common; rustic heads of families do this, ignorant of true pleasure.
Merum illud delectat, quod non innatat cibo, quod libere penetrat ad nervos; illa ebrietas iuvat, quae in vacuum venit.
That unmixed wine delights, which does not float upon food, but penetrates freely to the nerves; that drunkenness pleases, which comes upon an empty stomach.
§122.7Non videntur tibi contra naturam vivere qui commutant cum feminis vestem? Non vivunt contra naturam qui spectant, ut pueritia splendeat tempore alieno? Quid fieri crudelius vel miserius potest? Numquam vir erit, ut diu virum pati possit? Et cum illum contumeliae sexus eripuisse debuerat, non ne aetas quidem eripiet?
Do they not seem to you to live contrary to nature who exchange their clothing with women? Do they not live contrary to nature who aim to have their boyhood shine at an unnatural time? What can be more cruel or miserable? Will he never be a man, so that he may for a long time submit to a man? And when his sex's humiliation ought to have rescued him, will not even his age rescue him?
§122.8Non vivunt contra naturam qui hieme concupiscunt rosam fomentoque aquarum calentium et calorum apta mutatione bruma lilium, florem vernum, exprimunt? Non vivunt contra naturam qui pomaria in summis turribus serunt? Quorum silvae in tectis domuum ac fastigiis nutant, inde ortis radicibus quo inprobe cacumina egissent? Non vivunt contra naturam qui fundamenta thermarum in mari iaciunt et delicate natare ipsi sibi non videntur, nisi calentia stagna fluctu ac tempestate feriantur?
Do they not live contrary to nature who in winter long for the rose, and by the nourishing of warm waters and the proper change of temperatures force the lily, a spring flower, in the midst of winter? Do they not live contrary to nature who plant orchards on the tops of towers? Whose forests wave on the roofs and gables of houses, having their roots where they would have improperly sent their crests? Do they not live contrary to nature who cast the foundations of warm baths in the sea, and do not seem to themselves to swim luxuriously unless the hot pools are struck by waves and storms?