§20.7"Quid fiet," inquis, "huic turbae familiarium sine re familiari?" Turba ista cum a te pasci desierit, ipsa se pascet, aut quod tu beneficio tuo non potes scire, paupertatis scies.
"What will become," you say, "of this crowd of attendants without family property?" When that crowd ceases to be fed by you, it will feed itself, or, what you cannot know by your own beneficence, you will know by that of poverty.
Illa veros certosque amicos retinebit; discedet quisquis non te, sed aliud sequebatur.
It will retain true and certain friends; whoever was following not you, but something else, will depart.
Non est autem vel ob hoc unum amanda paupertas, quod a quibus ameris ostendet? O quando ille veniet dies, quo nemo in honorem tuum mentiatur!
And is not poverty to be loved, if only for this one thing, that it will show by whom you are loved? Oh, when will that day come, on which no one lies to honor you!
§20.8Huc ergo cogitationes tuae tendant, hoc cura, hoc opta, omnia alia vota deo remissurus, ut contentus sis temet ipso et ex te nascentibus bonis.
Therefore, let your thoughts tend hither, care for this, desire this, ready to surrender all other prayers to God, so that you may be content with yourself and with the goods that spring from yourself.
Quae potest esse felicitas propior? Redige te ad parva, ex quibus cadere non possis, idque ut libentius facias, ad hoc pertinebit tributum huius epistulae, quod statim conferam.
What happiness can be closer? Reduce yourself to small things, from which you cannot fall, and so that you may do this more willingly, the tribute of this letter, which I shall immediately pay, will pertain to this.
§20.9Invideas licet, etiam nunc libenter pro me dependet Epicurus.
You may be envious, but even now Epicurus will willingly pay on my behalf.
"Magnificentior, mihi crede, sermo tuus in grabato videbitur et in panno.
"Believe me, your discourse will seem more magnificent on a cot and in rags.
Non enim dicentur tantum illa, sed probabuntur. "Ego certe aliter audio, quae dicit Demetrius noster, cum illum vidi nudum, quanto minus quam stramentis, incubantem; non praeceptor veri, sed testis est. "
For those things will not only be spoken, but will be proved." I certainly hear differently the things our Demetrius says, when I saw him naked, lying on what was even less than straw; he is not a teacher of truth, but a witness of it." "What then?
§20.10Quid ergo? Non licet divitias in sinu positas contemnere? "Quidni liceat? Et ille ingentis animi est, qui illas circumfusas sibi, multum diuque miratus, quod ad se venerint, ridet suasque audit magis esse quam sentit.
Is it not allowed to despise riches when they are placed in one's lap?" Why should it not be allowed? And he too is of a great mind, who, having marvelled much and long that they have come to him, laughs at them when they are poured around him, and hears that they are his rather than feels it.
Multum est non corrumpi divitiarum contubernio; magnus ille, qui in divitiis pauper est.
It is a great thing not to be corrupted by the companionship of riches; great is he who is poor in the midst of riches.
§20.11"Nescio," inquis, "quomodo paupertatem iste laturus sit, si in illam inciderit. "Nec ego, Epicure, an tuus iste pauper contempturus sit divitias, si in illas inciderit; itaque in utroque mens aestimanda est inspiciendumque, an ille paupertati indulgeat, an hic divitiis non indulgeat.
"I do not know," you say, "how that man of yours will bear poverty, if he falls into it." Nor do I, Epicurus, know whether that poor man of yours will despise riches, if he falls into them; therefore in both cases the mind is to be evaluated, and we must inspect whether the former yields to poverty, or the latter does not yield to riches.
Alioquin leve argumentum est bonae voluntatis grabatus aut pannus, nisi apparuit aliquem illa non necessitate pati, sed malle.
Otherwise, a cot or rags are a light proof of good will, unless it has appeared that someone suffers them not from necessity, but prefers them.
§20.12Ceterum magnae indolis est ad ista non properare tamquam meliora, sed praeparari tamquam ad facilia.
But it is of a great nature not to hasten to those things as if they were better, but to be prepared for them as if they were easy.
Et sunt, Lucili, facilia; cum vero multo ante meditatus accesseris, iucunda quoque; inest enim illis, sine qua nihil est iucundum, securitas.
And they are easy, Lucilius; but when you approach them having meditated long before, they are also pleasant; for there is in them security, without which nothing is pleasant.
§20.13Necessarium ergo iudico, id quod tibi scripsi magnos viros saepe fecisse: aliquos dies interponere, quibus nos imaginaria paupertate exerceamus ad veram.
Therefore, I judge it necessary, what I wrote to you that great men have often done: to interpose certain days in which we practice ourselves with imaginary poverty for real poverty.
Quod eo magis faciendum est, quod deliciis permaduimus et omnia dura ac difficilia iudicamus.
Which must be done all the more because we are soaked in luxury and judge all things hard and difficult.
Potius excitandus e somno et vellicandus est animus admonendusque naturam nobis minimum constituisse.
Rather, the mind is to be aroused from sleep and pinched, and reminded that nature has established very little for us.
Nemo nascitur dives.
No one is born rich.
Quisquis exit in lucem, iussus est lacte et panno esse contentus; ab his initiis nos regna non capiunt.
Whoever comes out into the light is commanded to be content with milk and a rag; from these beginnings, kingdoms do not satisfy us.
VALE.
FAREWELL.