§32.1Inquiro de te et ab omnibus sciscitor, qui ex ista regione veniunt, quid agas, ubi et cum quibus moreris.
I inquire about you and ask everyone who comes from that region what you are doing, where and with whom you are staying.
Verba dare non potes; tecum sum.
You cannot deceive me; I am with you.
Sic vive, tamquam quid facias auditurus sim, immo tamquam visurus.
Live in such a way as if I were about to hear what you are doing, or rather, as if I were about to see it.
Quaeris quid me maxime ex iis, quae de te audio, delectet? Quod nihil audio, quod plerique ex his, quos interrogo, nesciunt quid agas.
Do you ask what pleases me most among those things which I hear about you? It is that I hear nothing, that most of those whom I question do not know what you are doing.
§32.2Hoc est salutare, non conversari dissimilibus et diversa cupientibus.
It is salutary not to associate with those who are dissimilar and desire different things.
Habeo quidem fiduciam non posse te detorqueri mansurumque in proposito, etiam si sollicitantium turba circumeat.
Indeed, I have confidence that you cannot be twisted aside and that you will remain in your purpose, even if a crowd of tempters should surround you.
Quid ergo est? Non timeo, ne mutent te, timeo, ne inpediant.
What is it then? I do not fear that they will change you, but I fear that they will hinder you.
Multum autem nocet etiam qui moratur, utique in tanta brevitate vitae, quam breviorem inconstantia facimus aliud eius subinde atque aliud facientes initium.
Moreover, even one who delays you does much harm, especially in such brevity of life, which we make even shorter by our inconsistency, making now one beginning of it and then another.
Diducimus illam in particulas ac lancinamus.
We divide it into particles and tear it to pieces.
§32.3Propera ergo, Lucili carissime, et cogita quantum additurus celeritati fueris, si a tergo hostis instaret, si equitem adventare suspicareris ac fugientium premere vestigia.
Hurry then, my dearest Lucilius, and consider how much speed you would have added if an enemy were pressing from behind, if you suspected that cavalry were approaching and treading on the heels of the fugitives.
Fit hoc, premeris; accelera et evade, perduc te in tutum et subinde considera, quam pulchra res sit consummare vitam ante mortem, deinde expectare securum reliquam temporis sui partem, nihil sibi, in possessione beatae vitae positum, quae beatior non fit, si longior.
This is happening, you are being pressed; accelerate and escape, bring yourself to safety, and constantly consider how beautiful a thing it is to complete one's life before death, and then to await in security the remaining part of one's time, needing nothing for oneself, having been placed in the possession of a happy life, which does not become happier if it is longer.
§32.4O quando illud videbis tempus, quo scies tempus ad te non pertinere, quo tranquillus placidusque eris et crastini neglegens ut in summa tui satietate!
Vis scire, quid sit, quod faciat homines avidos futuri? Nemo sibi contigit.
Oh, when will you see that time when you will know that time does not concern you, when you will be peaceful and calm and careless of tomorrow, as if in your greatest satisfaction! Do you wish to know what it is that makes people eager for the future? No one has attained themselves.
Optaverunt itaque tibi alia parentes tui; sed ego contra omnium tibi eorum contemptum opto, quorum illi copiam.
Therefore, your parents wished other things for you; but I, on the contrary, wish for you the contempt of all those things of which they wished you an abundance.
Vota illorum multos conpilant, ut te locupletent.
Their vows despoil many to enrich you.
Quicquid ad te transferunt, alicui detrahendum est.
Whatever they transfer to you must be taken away from someone else.
§32.5Opto tibi tui facultatem, ut vagis cogitationibus agitata mens tandem resistat et certa sit, ut placeat sibi et intellectis veris bonis, quae, simul intellecta sunt, possidentur, aetatis adiectione non egeat.
I wish for you the possession of yourself, so that your mind, agitated by wandering thoughts, may finally stand still and be certain, so that it may please itself and, having understood the true goods, which are possessed as soon as they are understood, may not need the addition of years.
Ille demum necessitates supergressus est et exauctoratus ac liber, qui vivit vita peracta.
He at last has transcended necessities, and is discharged and free, who lives his life completed.
VALE.
FAREWELL.