§21.1Cum istis tibi esse negotium iudicas, de quibus scripseras? Maximum negotium tecum habes; tu tibi molestus es.
Do you think you have business with those people about whom you had written? You have the greatest business with yourself; you are a trouble to yourself.
Quid velis nescis; melius probas honesta quam sequeris; vides, ubi sit posita felicitas, sed ad illam pervenire non audes.
You do not know what you want; you approve of honorable things more than you follow them; you see where happiness is placed, but you do not dare to reach it.
Quid sit autem, quod te inpediat, quia parum ipse dispicis, dicam.
But what it is that hinders you, since you yourself do not discern it sufficiently, I shall tell you.
Magna esse haec existimas, quae relicturus es, et cum proposuisti tibi illam securitatem, ad quam transiturus es, retinet te huius vitae, a qua recessurus es, fulgor tamquam in sordida et obscura casurum.
You think these things which you are about to leave are great, and when you have set before yourself that security to which you are about to transition, the brightness of this life, which you are about to leave, holds you back as if you were about to fall into a filthy and obscure place.
§21.2Erras, Lucili; ex hac vita ad illam adscenditur.
You err, Lucilius; one ascends from this life to that.
Quod interest inter splendorem et lucem, cum haec certam originem habeat ac suam ille niteat alieno, hoc inter hanc vitam et illam; haec fulgore extrinsecus veniente percussa est, crassam illi statim umbram faciet quisquis obstiterit; illa suo lumine inlustris est.
What difference there is between brightness and light—since light has a certain origin and its own, while brightness shines with another's—this same difference is between this life and that; this life is struck by a brightness coming from without, and whoever stands in the way will immediately make a thick shadow upon it; that life is illustrious with its own light.
Studia te tua clarum et nobilem efficient.
Your studies will make you famous and noble.
§21.3exemplum Epicuri referam.
I shall recall the example of Epicurus.
Cum Idomeneo scriberet et illum a vita speciosa ad fidelem stabilemque gloriam revocaret, rigidae tunc potentiae ministrum et magna tractantem: "Si gloria," inquit, "tangeris, notiorem te epistulae meae facient quam omnia ista, quae colis et propter quae coleris. "
When he was writing to Idomeneus and recalling him from a showy life to a faithful and stable glory—who was at that time a minister of a rigid power and managing great affairs—he said: "If you are touched by glory, my letters will make you more well-known than all those things which you worship and for which you are worshipped." Did he then lie?
§21.4Numquid ergo mentitus est? Quis Idomenea nosset, nisi Epicurus illum litteris suis incidisset? Omnes illos megistanas et satrapas et regem ipsum, ex quo Idomenei titulus petebatur, oblivio alta suppressit.
Who would know Idomeneus, if Epicurus had not engraved him in his letters? Deep oblivion has suppressed all those grandees and satraps and the king himself, from whom the title of Idomeneus was derived.
Nomen Attici perire Ciceronis epistulae non sinunt.
Cicero's letters do not allow the name of Atticus to perish.
Nihil illi profuisset gener Agrippa et Tiberius progener et Drusus Caesar pronepos; inter tam magna nomina taceretur, nisi sibi Cicero illum adplicuisset.
His son-in-law Agrippa, his step-grandson Tiberius, and his great-grandson Drusus Caesar would have profited him nothing; among such great names he would be kept silent, if Cicero had not attached him to himself.
§21.5Profunda super nos altitudo temporis veniet, pauca ingenia caput exerent et in idem quandoque silentium abitura oblivioni resistent ac se diu vindicabunt.
A deep abyss of time will come upon us; a few geniuses will raise their heads, and, though destined to go at some time into the same silence, will resist oblivion and vindicate themselves for a long time.
Quod Epicurus amico suo potuit promittere, hoc tibi promitto, Lucili.
What Epicurus was able to promise to his friend, I promise to you, Lucilius.
Habebo apud posteros gratiam, possum mecum duratura nomina educere.
I shall have favor with posterity; I can bring out names that will endure with me.
Vergilius noster duobus memoriam aeternam promisit et praestat:
"
Fortunati ambo! Siquid mea carmina possunt.
Our Vergil promised eternal memory to two and performs it: "Fortunate both!
Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,
Dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
Accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit. "
If my songs have any power, no day shall ever erase you from remembering time, while the house of Aeneas shall dwell near the immovable rock of the Capitol, and the Roman father shall hold empire.
§21.6Quoscumque in medium fortuna protulit, quicumque membra ac partes alienae potentiae fuerunt, horum gratia viguit, domus frequentata est, dum ipsi steterunt; post ipsos cito memoria defecit.
"Whomever fortune brought into the open, whoever were members and parts of another's power, their influence flourished, and their house was crowded as long as they themselves stood; after themselves, memory quickly failed.
Ingeniorum crescit dignatio nec ipsis tantum honor habetur, sed quicquid illorum memoriae adhaesit, excipitur.
The dignity of geniuses grows, and honor is paid not only to themselves, but whatever has adhered to their memory is preserved.
§21.7Ne gratis Idomeneus in epistulam meam venerit) ipse eam de suo redimet.
Lest Idomeneus should have entered into my letter for nothing, he himself shall redeem it from his own.
Ad hunc Epicurus illam nobilem sententiam scripsit, qua hortatur, ut Pythoclea locupletem non publica nec ancipiti via faciat.
To him Epicurus wrote that noble saying, in which he exhorts that he should make Pythocles rich not by a public or hazardous path.
"Si vis," inquit, "Pythoclea divitem facere, non pecuniae adiciendum, sed cupiditati detrahendum est. " §21.8Et apertior ista sententia est quam ut interpretanda sit, et disertior quam ut adiuvanda.
"If you wish," he says, "to make Pythocles rich, you must not add to his money, but subtract from his desire." And that saying is too clear to be interpreted, and too eloquent to be assisted.
Hoc unum te admoneo, ne istud tantum existimes de divitiis dictum; quocumque transtuleris, idem poterit.
This one thing I advise you, lest you think this was said only about riches; wherever you transfer it, it will have the same power.
Si vis Pythoclea honestum facere, non honoribus adiciendum est, sed cupiditatibus detrahendum.
If you wish to make Pythocles honorable, you must not add to his honors, but subtract from his desires.
Si vis Pythoclea esse in perpetua voluptate, non voluptatibus adiciendum est, sed cupiditatibus detrahendum; si vis Pythoclea senem facere et inplere vitam, non annis adiciendum est, sed cupiditatibus detrahendum.
If you wish Pythocles to be in perpetual pleasure, you must not add to his pleasures, but subtract from his desires; if you wish to make Pythocles an old man and to fill his life, you must not add to his years, but subtract from his desires.
§21.9Has voces non est quod Epicuri esse iudices; publicae sunt.
There is no reason for you to judge these voices to be of Epicurus; they are common property.
Quod fieri in senatu solet, faciendum ego in philosophia quoque existimo: cum censuit aliquis, quod ex parte mihi placeat, iubeo illum dividere sententiam et sequor, quod probo.
What is accustomed to be done in the Senate, I think should be done in philosophy too: when someone has proposed an opinion which pleases me in part, I bid him to divide the opinion and I follow what I approve.
Eo libentius Epicuri egregia dicta commemoro, ut istis, qui ad illum confugiunt spe mala inducti, qui velamentum ipsos vitiorum suorum habituros existimant, probem quocumque ierint honeste esse vivendum.
All the more willingly do I commemorate the excellent sayings of Epicurus, so that I may prove to those who flee to him, led by a bad hope, thinking they will have a cover for their vices, that they must live honorably wherever they go.
§21.10Cum adieris eius hortulos et inscriptum hortulis legeris Hospes, hic bene manebis, hic summum bonum voluptas est, paratus erit istius domicilii custos hospitalis, humanus, et te polenta excipiet et aquam quoque large ministrabit et dicet: "Ecquid bene acceptus es? "" Non inritant," inquit, "hi hortuli famem, sed extinguunt.
When you approach his little gardens and read inscribed upon the gardens, "Stranger, here you will do well to remain, here pleasure is the highest good," the hospitable and humane guardian of that dwelling will be ready, and will welcome you with barley-meal and will also minister water abundantly and say: "Are you not well received?" "These gardens," he says, "do not irritate hunger, but extinguish it.
Nec maiorem ipsis potionibus sitim faciunt, sed naturali et gratuito remedio sedant.
Nor do they make a greater thirst by the drinks themselves, but quiet it with a natural and free remedy.
In hac voluptate consenui. " §21.11De his tecum desideriis loquor, quae consolationem non recipiunt, quibus dandum est aliquid, ut desinant.
In this pleasure I have grown old." I speak with you about these desires which do not admit of comfort, to which something must be given so that they may cease.
Nam de illis extraordinariis, quae licet differre, licet castigare et opprimere, hoc unum commonefaciam: ista voluptas naturalis est, non necessaria; huic nihil debes; si quid inpendis, voluntarium est.
For concerning those extraordinary ones, which it is permitted to defer, permitted to chastise and suppress, this one thing I shall remind you: that pleasure is natural, not necessary; you owe nothing to this; if you spend anything, it is voluntary.
Venter praecepta non audit; poscit, appellat.
The belly does not hear precepts; it demands, it calls out.
Non est tamen molestus creditor; parvo dimittitur, si modo das illi, quod debes, non quod potes.
Yet it is not a troublesome creditor; it is dismissed with a small amount, if only you give to it what you owe, not what you can.
VALE.
FAREWELL.