§38.1Merito exigis, ut hoc inter nos epistularum commercium frequentemus.
You demand with good reason that we should make this exchange of letters between us more frequent.
Plurimum proficit sermo, quia minutatim inrepit animo.
Conversation is of the greatest benefit, because it creeps into the mind little by little.
Disputationes praeparatae et effusae audiente populo plus habent strepitus, minus familiaritatis.
Prepared and poured-out disputations in the presence of a listening crowd have more noise, but less intimacy.
Philosophia bonum consilium est; consilium nemo clare dat.
Philosophy is good advice; no one gives advice in a loud voice.
Aliquando utendum est et illis, ut ita dicam, contionibus, ubi qui dubitat, impellendus est; ubi vero non hoc agendum est, ut velit discere, sed ut discat, ad haec submissiora verba veniendum est.
Sometimes we must also make use of those public speeches, so to speak, where he who hesitates must be impelled; but where the object is not to make him wish to learn, but that he actually learn, we must come to these more subdued words.
Facilius intrant et haerent; nec enim multis opus est, sed efficacibus.
They enter and cling more easily; for there is need not of many words, but of effective ones.
§38.2Seminis modo spargenda sunt, quod quamvis sit exiguum, cum occupavit idoneum locum, vires suas explicat et ex minimo in maximos auctus diffunditur.
They must be sown in the manner of a seed, which, although it be tiny, when it has occupied a suitable place, unfolds its strength, and from the smallest beginning spreads out into the greatest growth.
Idem facit ratio; non late patet, si aspicias: in opere crescit.
Reason does the same; it does not lie open wide, if you look at it: it grows in activity.
Pauca sunt, quae dicuntur, sed si illa animus bene excepit, convalescunt et exurgunt.
Few are the things that are said, but if the mind has received them well, they gain strength and rise up.
Eadem est, inquam, praeceptorum condicio quae seminum; multum efficiunt. et angusta sunt.
The condition of precepts, I say, is the same as that of seeds; they accomplish much, and yet they are narrow.
Tantum, ut dixi, idonea mens capiat illa et in se trahat.
Only, as I said, let a suitable mind grasp them and draw them into itself.
Multa invicem et ipsa generabit et plus reddet quam acceperit.
It will in turn itself generate many things and return more than it received.
VALE.
FAREWELL.