§23.1Putas me tibi scripturum, quam humane nobiscum hiemps egerit, quae et remissa fuit et brevis, quam malignum ver sit, quam praeposterum frigus, et alias ineptias verba quaerentium? Ego vero aliquid, quod et mihi et tibi prodesse possit, scribam.
Do you think I will write to you about how gently winter has dealt with us, which was both mild and short, how stingy spring is, how out-of-season the cold, and other silliness of people seeking words? I will indeed write something that can be of benefit both to me and to you.
Quid autem id erit, nisi ut te exhorter ad bonam mentem? Huius fundamentum quod sit quaeris? Ne gaudeas vanis.
What else will that be, except to exhort you to a good mind? Do you ask what the foundation of this is? Do not rejoice in vain things.
Fundamentum hoc esse dixi; culmen est.
I have said that this is the foundation; it is the summit.
§23.2Ad summa pervenit, qui scit, quo gaudeat, qui felicitatem suam in aliena potestate non posuit; sollicitus est et incertus sui, quem spes aliqua proritat, licet ad manum sit, licet non ex difficili petatur, licet numquam illum sperata deceperint.
He has reached the highest peak who knows what to rejoice in, who has not placed his happiness in another's power; anxious and uncertain of himself is he whom some hope entices, even though it is at hand, even though it is sought without difficulty, even though what was hoped for has never deceived him.
§23.3Hoc ante omnia fac, mi Lucili: disce gaudere.
Do this before all things, my Lucilius: learn to rejoice.
Existimas nunc me detrahere tibi multas voluptates, qui fortuita summoveo, qui spes, dulcissime oblectamenta, devitandas existimo? Immo contra nolo tibi umquam deesse laetitiam.
Do you think now that I am taking away many pleasures from you, I who remove fortuitous things, who think that hopes, the sweetest delights, are to be avoided? On the contrary, I do not want joy ever to be lacking to you.
Volo illam tibi domi nasci; nascitur, simodo intra te ipsum sit.
I want it to be born for you at home; it is born, if only it is within your very self.
Ceterae hilaritates non implent pectus, frontem remittunt, leves sunt, nisi forte tu iudicas eum gaudere, qui ridet.
Other cheerfulnesses do not fill the breast, they only relax the forehead, they are light, unless perhaps you judge that he rejoices who laughs.
Animus esse debet alacer et fidens et super omnia erectus.
The mind ought to be brisk and confident and upright above all things.
§23.4Mihi crede, verum gaudium res severa est.
Believe me, true joy is a serious thing.
An tu existimas quemquam soluto vultu et, ut isti delicati locuntur, hilariculo mortem contemnere, paupertati domum aperire, voluptates tenere sub freno, meditari dolorum patientiam? Haec qui apud se versat, in magno gaudio est, sed parum blando.
Or do you think that anyone with a relaxed face and, as those delicate people speak, with a "jolly-wolly" expression, despises death, opens his home to poverty, holds pleasures under a rein, meditates on the endurance of pains? He who revolves these things within himself is in great joy, but it is hardly a flattering one.
In huius gaudii possessione esse te volo; numquam deficiet, cum semel unde petatur inveneris.
I want you to be in possession of this joy; it will never fail once you have found where it is to be sought.
§23.5Levium metallorum fructus in summo est; illa opulentissima sunt, quorum in alto latet vena adsidue plenius responsura fodienti.
The fruit of light metals is on the surface; those are most wealthy whose vein lies hidden in the deep, to respond continually and more fully to the one who digs.
Haec, quibus delectatur vulgus, tenuem habent ac perfusoriam voluptatem, et quodcumque invecticium gaudium est, fundamento caret.
These things, in which the crowd delights, have a thin and superficial pleasure, and whatever joy is imported lacks a foundation.
Hoc, de quo loquor, ad quod te conor perducere, solidum est et quod plus pateat introrsus.
This of which I speak, to which I am trying to lead you, is solid and is that which opens wider inwards.
§23.6Fac, oro te, Lucili carissime, quod unum potest praestare felicem: dissice et conculca ista, quae extrinsecus splendent, quae tibi promittuntur ab alio vel ex alio, ad verum bonum specta et de tuo gaude.
Do, I beg you, dearest Lucilius, the one thing that can make a person happy: scatter and trample underfoot those things that shine from the outside, which are promised to you by another or from another; look to the true good and rejoice in your own.
Quid est autem hoc "de tuo"? Te ipso et tui optima parte.
But what is this "in your own"? In yourself and in the best part of you.
Corpusculum quoque, etiam si nihil fieri sine illo potest, magis necessariam rem crede quam magnam; vanas suggerit voluptates, breves, paenitendas, ac nisi magna moderatione temperentur, in contrarium abituras.
Believe that the body too, even if nothing can be done without it, is a necessary thing rather than a great one; it suggests vain, short pleasures, to be repented of, and unless they are tempered with great moderation, they are destined to turn into the opposite.
Ita dico: in praecipiti voluptas ad dolorem vergit, nisi modum tenuit.
I say this: pleasure verges toward pain at the precipice, unless it has kept its measure.
Modum autem tenere in eo difficile est, quod bonum esse credideris.
But to keep measure is difficult in that which you have believed to be a good.
Veri boni aviditas tuta est.
Eagerness for the true good is safe.
§23.7Quid sit istud, interrogas, aut unde subeat? Dicam: ex bona conscientia, ex honestis consiliis, ex rectis actionibus, ex contemptu fortuitorum, ex placido vitae et continuo tenore unam prementis viam.
Do you ask what that is, or whence it arises? I will tell you: from a good conscience, from honorable intentions, from right actions, from contempt of fortuitous things, from a calm and continuous course of life pressing on a single path.
Nam illi, qui ex aliis propositis in alia transibunt aut ne transibunt quidem, sed casu quodam transmittuntur, quomodo habere quicquam certum mansurumve possunt suspensi et vagi?
For those who pass from some purposes to others, or do not even pass, but are transported by some chance, how can they, suspended and wandering, have anything certain or remaining?
§23.8Pauci sunt, qui consilio se suaque disponant, ceteri eorum more, quae fluminibus innatant, non eunt, sed feruntur.
There are few who arrange themselves and their affairs by counsel; the rest, in the manner of those things that float on rivers, do not go, but are carried.
Ex quibus alia lenior unda detinuit ac mollius vexit, alia vehementior rapuit, alia proxima ripae cursu languescente deposuit, alia torrens impetus in mare eiecit.
Of these, some a gentler wave has detained and carried more softly, some a more violent wave has snatched away, some the nearest bank has deposited as the course grew weak, some a rushing torrent has cast out into the sea.
Ideo constituendum est, quid velimus, et in eo perseverandum.
Therefore, we must establish what we want, and persevere in it.
§23.9Hic est locus solvendi aeris alieni.
This is the place for paying off the debt of another.
Possum enim tibi vocem Epicuri tui reddere et hanc epistulam liberare: "Molestum est semper vitam incohare. "Aut si hoc modo magis sensus potest exprimi: "Male vivunt, qui semper vivere incipiunt. "" §23.10Quare?" inquis, desiderat enim explanationem ista vox.
For I can return to you the saying of your Epicurus and free this letter: "It is troublesome always to begin life." Or if the meaning can be expressed better in this way: "They live badly who always begin to live." "Why?" you ask, for that saying desires explanation.
Quia semper illis inperfecta vita est.
Because their life is always incomplete.
Non potest autem stare paratus ad mortem, qui modo incipit vivere.
But he cannot stand ready for death who is only beginning to live.
Id agendum est, ut satis vixerimus.
We must act so that we have lived enough.
Nemo hoc putat, qui orditur cum maxime vitam.
No one thinks this who is just now starting life.
§23.11Non est quod existimes paucos esse hos; propemodum omnes sunt.
There is no reason for you to think that these are few; they are almost everyone.
Quidam vero tunc incipiunt, cum desinendum est.
Indeed, some begin when they must finish.
Si hoc iudicas mirum, adiciam quod magis admireris: quidam ante vivere desierunt quam inciperent.
If you judge this strange, I will add what you may wonder at more: some ceased to live before they could begin.
VALE.
FAREWELL.