§25.1Quod ad duos amicos nostros pertinet, diversa via eundum est; alterius enim vitia emendanda, alterius frangenda sunt.
As far as our two friends are concerned, we must go by different paths; for the vices of the one must be corrected, and those of the other must be broken.
Utar libertate tota.
I shall use complete freedom.
Non amo illum, nisi offendo.
I do not love him unless I offend him.
"Quid ergo?" inquis, "quadragenarium pupillum cogitas sub tutela tua continere? Respice aetatem eius iam duram et intractabilem.
"What then?" you say, "Are you thinking of keeping a forty-year-old ward under your guardianship? Look at his age, already hard and unmanageable.
§25.2Non potest reformari; tenera finguntur. "An profecturus sim nescio.
He cannot be reshaped; tender things are molded." Whether I shall make progress, I do not know.
Malo successum mihi quam fidem deesse.
I prefer that success be lacking to me rather than loyalty.
Nec desperaveris etiam diutinos aegros posse sanari, si contra intemperantiam steteris, si multa invitos et facere coegeris et pati.
And you should not despair that even long-term sick people can be cured, if you stand against their intemperance, if you compel them against their will both to do and to suffer many things.
Ne de altero quidem satis fiduciae habeo, excepto eo, quod adhuc peccare erubescit.
I do not have enough confidence even about the other, except for the fact that he still blushes to sin.
Nutriendus est hic pudor, qui quamdiu in animo eius duraverit, aliquis erit bonae spei locus.
This shame must be nurtured; as long as it lasts in his mind, there will be some room for good hope.
Cum hoc veterano parcius agendum puto, ne in desperationem sui veniat.
I think we must deal more sparingly with this veteran, lest he fall into despair of himself.
§25.3Nec ullum tempus adgrediendi fuit melius quam hoc, dum interquiescit, dum emendato similis est.
And there has been no better time for approaching him than this, while he is resting, while he is like a reformed person.
Aliis haec intermissio eius inposuit; mihi verba non dat.
This intermission of his has deceived others; to me he does not give words.
Exspecto cum magno faenore vitia reditura, quae nunc scio cessare, non deesse.
I expect that the vices, which I now know to be inactive, not absent, will return with high interest.
Inpendam huic rei dies et utrum possit aliquid agi an non possit, experiar.
I shall spend days on this matter, and I shall try whether something can be done or cannot be done.
§25.4Tu nobis te, ut facis, fortem praesta et sarcinas contrahe.
Do you show yourself brave to us, as you are doing, and pack up your baggage.
Nihil ex his, quae habemus, necessarium est.
Nothing of these things which we have is necessary.
Ad legem naturae revertamur; divitiae paratae sunt.
Let us return to the law of nature; riches are prepared.
Aut gratuitum est, quo egemus, aut vile; panem et aquam natura desiderat Nemo ad haec pauper est, intra quae quisquis desiderium suum clusit, cum ipso Iove de felicitate contendat, ut ait Epicurus, cuius aliquam vocem huic epistulae involvam.
Either what we need is free, or cheap; nature desires bread and water. No one is poor in respect to these, within which whoever has enclosed his desire, may contend in happiness with Jove himself, as Epicurus says, some saying of whom I shall wrap up in this letter.
" §25.5Sic fac," inquit, "omnia, tamquam spectet Epicurus. "Prodest sine dubio custodem sibi inposuisse et habere, quem respicias, quem interesse cogitationibus tuis iudices.
"Do all things thus," he says, "as if Epicurus were watching." It is undoubtedly useful to have set a guardian over oneself and to have someone whom you look back to, whom you judge to be present at your thoughts.
Hoc quidem longe magnificentius est, sic vivere tamquam sub alicuius boni viri ac semper praesentis oculis, sed ego etiam hoc contentus sum, ut sic facias, quaecumque facies, tamquam spectet aliquis; omnia nobis mala solitudo persuadet.
This indeed is far more magnificent, to live thus as if under the eyes of some good man who is always present, but I am content even with this, that you do thus, whatever you do, as if someone were watching; solitude persuades us to all bad things.
§25.6Cum iam profeceris tantum, ut sit tibi etiam tui reverentia, licebit dimittas paedagogum; interim aliquorum te auctoritate custodi, aut Cato ille sit aut Scipio aut Laelius aut talis, cuius interventu perditi quoque homines vitia supprimerent, dum te efficis eum, cum quo peccare non audeas.
When you have already made so much progress that you have respect even for yourself, it will be permitted that you dismiss your tutor; meanwhile guard yourself by the authority of some men, whether it be that great Cato, or Scipio, or Laelius, or such a one by whose intervention even ruined men would suppress their vices, until you make yourself someone with whom you would not dare to sin.
Cum hoc effeceris, et aliqua coeperit apud te tui esse dignatio, incipiam tibi permittere, quod idem suadet Epicurus: "Tunc praecipue in te ipse secede, cum esse cogeris in turba. " §25.7Dissimilem te fieri multis oportet.
When you have achieved this, and some self-esteem has begun to exist in you, I shall begin to permit you what the same Epicurus advises: "Then especially withdraw into yourself, when you are forced to be in a crowd." You ought to become unlike the many.
Dum tibi tutum non est ad te recedere, circumspice singulos; nemo est, cui non satius sit cum quolibet esse quam secum.
As long as it is not safe for you to withdraw into yourself, look around at individuals; there is no one for whom it is not better to be with anyone at all than with himself.
"Tunc praecipue in te ipse secede, cum esse cogeris in turba"; si bonus vir, si quietus, si temperans.
"Then especially withdraw into yourself, when you are forced to be in a crowd"—if you are a good, quiet, and temperate man.
Alioquin in turbam tibi a te recedendum est; istic malo viro propius es.
Otherwise, you must withdraw from yourself into the crowd; there you are closer to a bad man.
VALE.
FAREWELL.