§35.1Cum te tam valde rogo, ut studeas, meum negotium ago; habere te amicum volo, quod contingere mihi, nisi pergis ut coepisti excolere te, non potest.
When I ask you so earnestly to study, I am doing my own business; I want to have you as a friend, which cannot happen to me unless you continue to cultivate yourself as you have begun.
Nunc enim amas me, amicus non es.
For now you love me, but you are not a friend.
"Quid ergo? Haec inter se diversa sunt? "Immo dissimilia.
"What then? Are these two things different from each other?" On the contrary, they are dissimilar.
Qui amicus est, amat; qui amat, non utique amicus est.
He who is a friend loves, but he who loves is not necessarily a friend.
Itaque amicitia semper prodest, amor aliquando etiam nocet.
Therefore, friendship is always beneficial, while love is sometimes even harmful.
Si nihil aliud, ob hoc profice, ut amare discas.
If for no other reason, make progress for this purpose, so that you may learn to love.
§35.2Festina ergo, dum mihi proficis, ne istuc alteri didiceris.
Hasten therefore, while you are making progress for me, lest you should have learned that very thing for another.
Ego quidem percipio iam fructum, cum mihi fingo uno nos animo futuros et quicquid aetati meae vigoris abscessit, id ad me ex tua, quamquam non multum abest, rediturum.
I indeed already reap the fruit when I imagine to myself that we shall be of one mind, and that whatever vigor has departed from my age will return to me from yours, although yours is not far behind.
§35.3Sed tamen re quoque ipsa esse laetus volo.
But yet I want to be glad in the reality itself as well.
Venit ad nos ex iis, quos amamus, etiam absentibus gaudium, sed id leve et evanidum; conspectus et praesentia et conversatio habet aliquid vivae voluptatis, utique si non tantum quem velis, sed qualem velis, videas.
Joy comes to us from those whom we love, even when they are absent, but it is light and fleeting; sight, presence, and conversation have something of active pleasure, especially if you see not only whom you wish, but also of what quality you wish them to be.
Adfer itaque te mihi ingens munus, et quo magis instes, cogita te mortalem esse, me senem.
Therefore, bring yourself to me as a huge gift, and that you may press on all the more, reflect that you are mortal, and that I am an old man.
§35.4Propera ad me, sed ad te prius.
Hasten to me, but first to yourself.
Profice et ante omnia hoc cura, ut constes tibi.
Make progress, and above all care for this, that you be consistent with yourself.
Quotiens experiri voles, an aliquid actum sit, observa, an eadem hodie velis, quae heri.
Whenever you want to test whether anything has been accomplished, observe whether you want the same things today that you wanted yesterday.
Mutatio voluntatis indicat animum natare, aliubi atque aliubi apparere, prout tulit ventus.
A change of will indicates that the mind is drifting, appearing now here, now there, just as the wind has carried it.
Non vagatur, quod fixum atque fundatum est.
That which is fixed and well-founded does not wander.
Istud sapienti perfecto contingit, aliquatenus et proficienti provectoque.
This belongs to the perfect wise man, and to some extent also to the one who is making progress and has advanced.
Quid ergo interest? Hic commovetur quidem, non tamen transit, sed suo loco nutat; ille ne commovetur quidem.
What then is the difference? The latter is indeed shaken, yet does not change his ground, but wavers in his own place; the former is not even shaken.
VALE.
FAREWELL.