§28.1Hoc tibi soli putas accidisse et admirans quasi rem novam, quod peregrinatione tam longa et tot locorum varietatibus non discussisti tristitiam gravitatemque mentis? Animum debes mutare, non caelum.
Do you think that this has happened to you alone, and do you wonder at it as if it were something new—that by so long a journeying and by so many variations of places you have not shaken off the sadness and heaviness of your mind? You must change your mind, not your sky.
Licet vastum traieceris mare, licet, ut ait Vergilius noster,
"
Terraeque urbesque recedant,
"
sequentur te, quocumque perveneris, vitia.
Although you cross the vast sea, although, as our Vergil says, "Lands and cities recede, "your vices will follow you, wherever you arrive.
§28.2Hoc idem querenti cuidam Socrates ait: "Quid miraris nihil tibi peregrinationes prodesse, cum te circumferas? Premit te eadem causa, quae expulit. "Quid terrarum iuvare novitas potest? Quid cognitio urbium aut locorum? In inritum cedit ista iactatio.
To someone complaining of this very same thing, Socrates said: "Why do you wonder that travel does you no good, when you carry yourself about? The same cause that drove you out presses upon you." How can the novelty of lands help? How the knowledge of cities or places? That tossing about comes to nothing.
Quaeris quare te fuga ista non adiuvet? Tecum fugis.
Do you ask why that flight of yours does not help you? You flee with yourself.
Onus animi deponendum est; non ante tibi ullus placebit locus.
The burden of the mind must be laid down; before that, no place will please you.
§28.3Talem nunc esse habitum tuum cogita, qualem Vergilius noster vatis inducit iam concitatae et instigatae multumque habentis in se spiritus non sui:
"
Bacchatur vates, magnum si pectore possit
Excussisse deum.
Think that your current condition is such as our Vergil depicts the prophetess when she is already excited and spurred on, and carrying much of a spirit within her that is not her own: "The prophetess raves, if only she might shake off the great god from her breast.
"
Vadis huc illuc, ut excutias insidens pondus, quod ipsa iactatione incommodius fit, sicut in navi onera inmota minus urgent, inaequaliter convoluta citius eam partem, in quam incubuere, demergunt.
"You go here and there to shake off the weight that sits upon you, which becomes more troublesome by the very tossing about, just as on a ship, undisturbed cargo presses less, while shifting loads, unevenly rolled together, more quickly sink the part on which they weigh down.
Quicquid facis, contra te facis et motu ipso noces tibi; aegrum enim concutis.
Whatever you do, you do against yourself, and by the motion itself you harm yourself; for you are shaking up a sick man.
§28.4At cum istud exemeris malum, omnis mutatio loci iucunda fiet; in ultimas expellaris terras licebit, in quolibet barbariae angulo conloceris, hospitalis tibi illa qualiscumque sedes erit.
But once you have removed that evil, every change of place will become pleasant; though you may be banished to the furthest lands, though you may be situated in any corner of a barbarian country, that seat, of whatever kind it is, will be hospitable to you.
Magis quis veneris quam quo, interest, et ideo nulli loco addicere debemus animum.
It matters more who you are when you arrive than where you arrive, and therefore we ought to bind our mind to no place.
Cum hac persuasione vivendum est: "Non sum Uni angulo natus, patria mea totus hic mundus est. " §28.5Quod si liqueret tibi, non admirareris nil adiuvari te regionum varietatibus, in quas subinde priorum taedio migras.
We must live with this conviction: "I was not born for one corner; my fatherland is this whole world." If this were clear to you, you would not wonder that you are not helped at all by the varieties of regions into which you constantly migrate out of weariness of the former ones.
Prima enim quaeque placuisset, si omnem tuam crederes.
For any first place would have pleased you, if you believed all of them to be yours.
Nunc non peregrinaris, sed erras et agens ac locum ex loco mutas, cum illud, quod quaeris, bene vivere, omni loco positum sit.
Now you are not traveling, but wandering and being driven, and changing place after place, although that which you seek—to live well—is situated in every place.
§28.6Num quid tam turbidum fieri potest quam forum? Ibi quoque licet quiete vivere, si necesse sit.
Can anything become as turbulent as the forum? Even there, one may live quietly if it should be necessary.
Sed si liceat disponere se, conspectum quoque et viciniam fori procul fugiam.
But if one were allowed to arrange oneself, I would flee far from even the sight and vicinity of the forum.
Nam ut loca gravia etiam firmissimam valitudinem temptant, ita bonae quoque menti necdum adhuc perfectae et convalescent! sunt aliqua parum salubria.
For just as heavy places test even the strongest health, so too for a good mind that is not yet perfect and is still recovering, there are some things that are not very wholesome.
§28.7Dissentio ab his, qui in fluctus medios eunt et tumultuosam probantes vitam cotidie cum difficultatibus rerum magno animo conluctantur.
I disagree with those who go into the midst of the waves and, approving of a turbulent life, struggle daily with great spirit against the difficulties of affairs.
Sapiens feret ista, non eliget, et malet in pace esse quam in pugna.
The wise man will endure those things, he will not choose them, and he will prefer to be at peace rather than in battle.
Non multum prodest vitia sua proiecisse, si cum alienis rixandum est. "
It is of little help to have cast away one's own vices if one must wrangle with those of others.
§28.8Triginta," inquit, "tyranni Socraten circumsteterunt nec potuerunt animum eius infringere. "Quid interest, quot domini sint? Servitus una est.
"Thirty tyrants," someone says, "surrounded Socrates, and they could not break his spirit." What does it matter how many masters there are? Servitude is one.
Hanc qui contempsit, in quantalibet turba dominantium liber est.
He who has despised this is free, in no matter how great a crowd of rulers.
§28.9Tempus est desinere, sed si prius portorium solvero.
It is time to stop, but only if I first pay the toll.
"Initium est salutis notitia peccati. "Egregie mihi hoc dixisse videtur Epicurus.
"The knowledge of sin is the beginning of salvation." Epicurus seems to me to have said this excellently.
Nam qui peccare se nescit, corrigi non vult; deprehendas te oportet, antequam emendes.
For he who does not know that he is sinning does not wish to be corrected; you must catch yourself before you can amend yourself.
§28.10Quidam vitiis gloriantur; tu existimas aliquid de remedio cogitare, qui mala sua virtutum loco numerant? Ideo quantum potes, te ipse coargue, inquire in te; accusatoris primum partibus fungere, deinde iudicis, novissime deprecatoris.
Some people glory in their vices; do you think they think at all of a remedy, when they count their own evils in the place of virtues? Therefore, as much as you can, convict yourself, inquire into yourself; play the part first of an accuser, then of a judge, lastly of an intercessor.
Aliquando te offende.
At times offend yourself.
VALE.
FAREWELL.