§30.10Inter hos Bassum licet numeres, qui nos decipi noluit.
You may count Bassus among these, who did not wish us to be deceived.
Is ait tam stultum esse, qui mortem timeat, quam qui senectutem.
He says that one who fears death is just as foolish as one who fears old age.
Nam quemadmodum senectus adulescentiam sequitur, ita mors senectutem.
For just as old age follows youth, so death follows old age.
Vivere noluit, qui mori non vult.
He has been unwilling to live, who does not wish to die.
Vita enim cum exceptione mortis data est; ad hanc itur.
For life was given with the exception of death; we travel toward this.
Quam ideo timere dementis est, quia certa expectantur, dubia metuuntur!
To fear it is therefore the part of a madman, because certain things are expected, while doubtful things are feared!
§30.11Mors necessitatem habet aequam et invictam.
Death has an equal and invincible necessity.
Quis queri potest in ea condicione se esse, in qua nemo non est? Prima autem pars est aequitatis aequalitas.
Who can complain that he is in that condition, in which there is no one who is not? Now, the first part of equity is equality.
Sed nunc supervacuum est naturae causam agere, quae non aliam voluit legem nostram esse quam suam; quicquid conposuit, resolvit, et quicquid resolvit, conponit iterum.
But now it is superfluous to plead the cause of Nature, who did not wish our law to be other than her own; whatever she has put together, she dissolves, and whatever she dissolves, she puts together again.
§30.12Iam vero si cui contigit, ut illum senectus leniter emitteret non repente avolsum vitae, sed minutatim subductum; o ne illum agere gratias dis omnibus decet, quod satiatus ad requiem homini necessariam, lasso gratam perductus est.
But now, if it has fallen to someone's lot that old age lets him out gently, not suddenly torn away from life, but withdrawn little by little; oh, surely it behoves him to give thanks to all the gods, because, satisfied, he has been led to the rest necessary for man and welcome to the weary.
Vides quosdam optantes mortem, et quidem magis quam rogari solet vita.
You see some wishing for death, and indeed more than life is wont to be asked for.
Nescio utros existimem maiorem nobis animum dare, qui deposcunt mortem an qui hilares eam quietique opperiuntur, quoniam illud ex rabie interdum ac repentina indignatione fit, haec ex iudicio certo tranquillitas est.
I know not which of the two I should think give us greater courage: those who demand death, or those who wait for it cheerfully and calmly; since the former sometimes arises from madness and sudden indignation, while the latter is a tranquility arising from a certain judgment.
Venit aliquis ad mortem iratus; mortem venientem nemo hilaris excipit, nisi qui se ad illam diu composuerat.
Someone comes to death angry; but no one receives coming death cheerfully, except him who has long composed himself for it.
§30.13Fateor ergo ad hominem mihi carum ex pluribus me causis frequentius venisse, ut scirem, an illum totiens eundem invenirem, numquid cum corporis viribus minueretur animi vigor.
Therefore I confess that I came more frequently to a man dear to me for several reasons, so that I might know whether I should find him always the same, and whether the vigor of his mind was diminished along with the strength of his body.
Qui sic crescebat illi, quomodo manifestior notari solet agitatorum laetitia, cum septimo spatio palmae adpropinquant.
And this vigor was increasing for him in the same way as the joy of charioteers is wont to be noted more clearly when they approach the palm-branch in the seventh lap.
§30.14Dicebat quidem ille Epicuri praeceptis obsequens, primum sperare se nullum dolorem esse in illo extremo anhelitu; si tamen esset, habere aliquantum in ipsa brevitate solacii.
Indeed, he said, complying with the precepts of Epicurus, first that he hoped there would be no pain in that last breath; yet if there were, that he would have a considerable amount of solace in its very brevity.
Nullum enim dolorem longum esse, qui magnus est.
For no pain is long which is great.
Ceterum succursurum sibi etiam in ipsa distractione animi corporisque, si cum cruciatu id fieret, post illum dolorem se dolere non posse.
Furthermore, that it would help him even in that very separation of soul and body, if it should happen with torture, that after that pain he could not feel pain.
Non dubitare autem se, quin senilis anima in primis labris esset nec magna vi distraheretur a corpore.
And that he did not doubt that the aged soul was on the very edge of the lips, and would not be torn from the body with great force.
"Ignis, qui alentem materiam occupavit, aqua et interdum ruina extinguendus est; ille, qui alimentis deficitur, sua sponte subsidit. " §30.15Libenter haec, mi Lucili, audio non tamquam nova, sed tamquam in rem praesentem perductus.
"A fire which has seized nourishing matter must be extinguished by water and sometimes by collapse; but that which is deprived of fuel subsides of its own accord." I gladly hear these things, my Lucilius, not as if they were new, but as if I were brought face to face with reality.
Quid ergo? Non multos spectavi abrumpentes vitam? Ergo vero vidi, sed plus momenti apud me habent, qui ad mortem veniunt sine odio vitae et admittunt illam, non adtrahunt.
What then? Have I not watched many breaking off their lives? Indeed, I have seen them, but those have more weight with me who come to death without hatred of life, and admit it, rather than drag it to themselves.
§30.16Illud quidem aiebat tormentum nostra nos sentire opera, quod tunc trepidamus, cum prope a nobis esse credimus mortem.
Indeed, he said that we feel that torment through our own doing, because we tremble then, when we believe death is near to us.
A quo enim non prope est, parata omnibus locis omnibusque momentis? "Sed consideremus," inquit, "tunc, cum aliqua causa moriendi videtur accedere, quanto aliae propiores sint, quae non timentur. "Hostis alicui mortem minabatur, hanc cruditas occupavit.
For from whom is she not near, prepared in all places and at all moments? "But let us consider," he said, "then, when some cause of dying seems to approach, how much nearer other causes are, which are not feared." An enemy was threatening someone with death; indigestion anticipated this.
§30.17Si distinguere voluerimus causas metus nostri, inveniemus alias esse, alias videri.
If we wish to distinguish the causes of our fear, we shall find that some are real, others only seem to be.
Non mortem timemus, sed cogitationem mortis.
We do not fear death, but the thought of death.
Ab ipsa enim semper tantundem absumus.
For we are always at the same distance from death itself.
Ita si timenda mors est, semper timenda est.
Thus if death is to be feared, it must always be feared.
Quod enim morti tempus exemptum est?
For what time is exempted from death?
§30.18Sed vereri debeo, ne tam longas epistulas peius quam mortem oderis.
But I ought to fear lest you hate such long letters worse than death.
Itaque finem faciam.
Therefore I will make an end.
Tu tamen mortem ut numquam timeas, semper cogita.
You, however, that you may never fear death, think of it always.
VALE.
FAREWELL.