§30.1Bassum Aufidium, virum optimum, vidi quassum, aetati obluctantem.
I saw Aufidius Bassus, an excellent man, shattered, struggling against his age.
Sed iam plus illum degravat quam quod possit attolli; magno senectus et universo pondere incubuit.
But now it weighs him down more than can be lifted up; old age has pressed upon him with a great and complete weight.
Scis illum semper infirmi corporis et exsucti fuisse.
You know that he has always been of a weak and drained body.
Diu illud continuit et, ut verius dicam, continuavit; subito defecit.
For a long time he kept it together, and, to speak more truly, prolonged it; suddenly he failed.
§30.2Quemadmodum in nave, quae sentinam trahit, uni rimae aut alteri obsistitur, ubi plurimis locis laxari coepit et cedere, succurri non potest navigio dehiscenti; ita in senili corpore aliquatenus inbecillitas sustineri et fulciri potest.
Just as in a ship which leaks water, one or two cracks are resisted, but when it begins to loosen and give way in very many places, help cannot be given to the gaping vessel; so in an old body weakness can be sustained and propped up to some extent.
Ubi tamquam in putri aedificio omnis unctura diducitur, et dum alia excipitur, alia discinditur, circumspiciendum est, quomodo exeas.
When, as in a decaying building, every joint is pulled apart, and while one part is being supported, another is torn asunder, one must look around to see how to get out.
§30.3Bassus tamen noster alacer animo est.
Yet our Bassus is cheerful in mind.
Hoc philosophia praestat, in conspectu mortis hilarem et in quocumque corporis habitu fortem laetumque nec deficientem, quamvis deficiatur.
Philosophy provides this: to be cheerful in the sight of death, and strong and joyful in whatever state of the body, and not failing, although one is being failed.
Magnus gubernator et scisso navigat velo, et, si exarmavit, tamen reliquias navigii aptat ad cursum.
A great helmsman sails even with a torn sail, and if he has lost his rigging, he nevertheless adapts the remains of his ship for the course.
Hoc facit Bassus noster et eo animo vultuque finem suum spectat, quo alienum spectare nimis securi putares.
Our Bassus does this, and beholds his own end with that mind and countenance with which you would think one looks at someone else's end, with excess of unconcern.
§30.4Magna res est, Lucili, haec et diu discenda, cum adventat hora illa inevitabilis, aequo animo abire.
This is a great thing, Lucilius, and one to be learned for a long time: when that inevitable hour arrives, to depart with an equal mind.
Alia genera mortis spei mixta sunt: desinit morbus, incendium extinguitur, ruina quos videbatur oppressura deposuit; mare quos hauserat, eadem vi, qua sorbebat, eiecit incolumes; gladium miles ab ipsa perituri cervice revocavit.
Other kinds of death are mixed with hope: the disease ceases, the fire is extinguished, the collapse has deposited unharmed those whom it seemed about to crush; the sea, which had swallowed them up, has cast out unharmed with the same force by which it sucked them in; the soldier has recalled his sword from the very neck of the one about to perish.
Nil habet quod speret, quem senectus ducit ad mortem.
He whom old age leads to death has nothing to hope for.
Huic uni intercedi non potest.
This alone cannot be intervened.
Nullo genere homines mollius moriuntur sed nec diutius.
By no other manner do men die more gently, but neither more lingeringly.
§30.5Bassus noster videbatur mihi prosequi se et conponere et vivere tamquam superstes sibi et sapienter ferre desiderium sui.
Our Bassus seemed to me to be attending his own funeral, and composing himself, and living as if he were a survivor to himself, and wisely bearing the longing for himself.
Nam de morte multa loquitur et id agit sedulo, ut nobis persuadeat, si quid incommodi aut metus in hoc negotio est, morientis vitium esse, non mortis; non magis in ipsa quicquam esse molestiae quam post ipsam.
For he speaks much about death and strives diligently to persuade us that, if there is any discomfort or fear in this business, it is the fault of the dying person, not of death; and that there is no more trouble in death itself than there is after it.
§30.6Tam demens autem est, qui timet, quod non est passurus, quam qui timet, quod non est sensurus.
Moreover, he who fears what he is not going to suffer is just as mad as he who fears what he is not going to feel.
An quisquam hoc futurum credit, ut per quam nihil sentiatur, ea sentiatur? "Ergo," inquit, "mors adeo extra omne malum est, ut sit extra omnem malorum metum.
Or does anyone believe this will happen, that she through whom nothing is felt, should herself be felt?
" §30.7Haec ego scio et saepe dicta et saepe dicenda, sed neque cum legerem, aeque mihi profuerunt, neque cum audirem iis dicentibus, qui negabant timenda, a quorum metu aberant; hic vero plurimum apud me auctoritatis habuit, cum loqueretur de morte vicina.
"Therefore," he says, "death is so far outside of all evil that it is outside of all fear of evils." I know these things, both often said and often to be said, but neither when I read them did they profit me as much, nor when I heard them from those who said they were not to be feared, from whose fear they were absent; but this man indeed had the greatest authority with me, when he spoke of death close at hand.
§30.8Dicam enim quid sentiam: puto fortiorem esse eum, qui in ipsa morte est quam qui circa mortem.
For I will say what I think: I think that he who is in death itself is stronger than he who is around death.
Mors enim admota etiam inperitis animum dedit non vitandi inevitabilia.
For death, when brought near, has given even to the inexperienced the courage of not avoiding the inevitable.
Sic gladiator tota pugna timidissimus iugulum adversario praestat et errantem gladium sibi adtemperat.
Thus a gladiator, most timid throughout the whole fight, offers his throat to his opponent and guides the wandering sword to himself.
At illa, quae in propinquo est utique ventura, desiderat lentam animi firmitatem, quae est rarior nec potest nisi a sapiente praestari.
But that death which is in the vicinity and bound to come, demands a slow firmness of mind, which is rarer and cannot be provided except by the wise man.
§30.9Libentissime itaque illum audiebam quasi ferentem de morte sententiam et qualis esset eius natura velut propius inspectae indicantem.
Most gladly, therefore, I listened to him as if he were passing sentence on death, and indicating what its nature was, as if it were inspected from closer quarters.
Plus, ut puto, fidei haberet apud te, plus ponderis, si quis revixisset et in morte nihil mali esse narraret expertus; accessus mortis quam perturbationem adferat, optime tibi hi dicent, qui secundum illam steterunt, qui venientem et viderunt et receperunt.
More credit, as I think, and more weight it would have with you, if someone had come back to life and, having experienced it, narrated that there is nothing of evil in death; as to what disturbance the approach of death brings, those will best tell you who have stood next to her, who have both seen and received her coming.