§48.1Ad epistulam, quam mihi ex itinere misisti, tam longam quam ipsum iter fuit, postea rescribam.
To the letter which you sent me from your journey, which was as long as the journey itself, I shall reply later.
Seducere me debeo et quid suadeam circumspicere.
I must withdraw myself and consider what advice to give.
Nam tu quoque, qui consulis, diu an consuleres cogitasti; quanto magis hoc mihi faciendum est, cum longiore mora opus sit, ut sol vas quaestionem quam ut proponas? Utique cum aliud tibi expediat, aliud mihi.
For you too, who consult me, thought for a long time whether you should consult me; how much more must I do this, since a longer delay is needed to solve a question than to propose it? Especially since one thing is expedient for you, and another for me.
Iterum ego tamquam Epicureus loquor?
Am I speaking again like an Epicurean?
§48.2Mihi vero idem expedit, quod tibi; aut non sum amicus, nisi quicquid agitur ad te pertinens, meum est.
But indeed the same thing is expedient for me as for you; or else I am not a friend, unless whatever is done concerning you, which pertains to you, is mine.
Consortium rerum omnium inter nos facit amicitia.
Friendship creates a partnership of all things between us.
Nec secundi quicquam singulis est nec adversi; in commune vivitur.
There is nothing favorable or adverse for us individually; we live in common.
Nec potest quisquam beate degere, qui se tantum intuetur, qui omnia ad utilitates suas convertit; alteri vivas oportet, si vis tibi vivere.
Nor can anyone live happily who looks only to himself, who converts everything to his own utility; you must live for another, if you wish to live for yourself.
§48.3Haec societas diligenter et sancte observata, quae nos homines hominibus miscet et iudicat aliquod esse commune ius generis humani, plurimum ad illam quoque, de qua loquebar, interiorem societatem amicitiae colendam proficit.
This fellowship, diligently and sacredly observed, which mingles us as human beings with other human beings and judges that there is some common right of the human race, is also of the greatest benefit in cultivating that inner fellowship of friendship of which I was speaking.
Omnia enim cum amico communia habebit, qui multa cum homine.
For he who has many things in common with a human being will have all things in common with a friend.
§48.4Hoc, Lucili virorum optime, mihi ab istis subtilibus praecipi malo, quid amico praestare debeam, quid homini, quam quot modis amicus dicatur, et homo quam multa significet.
This, Lucilius, best of men, I prefer to be taught by those subtle people—what I ought to perform for a friend, what for a human being—rather than in how many ways "friend" is used, and how many things "human being" signifies.
In diversum ecce sapientia et stultitia discedunt;
Behold, wisdom and folly depart in opposite directions; which do I approach?
cui accedo? In utram ire partem iubes? Illi homo pro amico est, huic amicus non est pro homine.
To which side do you bid me go? For the former, a human being is in place of a friend; for the latter, a friend is not in place of a human being.
Ille amicum sibi parat, hic se amico.
The former prepares himself for a friend, the latter prepares a friend for himself.
Tu mihi verba distorques et syllabas digeris.
You distort my words and dissect my syllables.
§48.5Scilicet nisi interrogationes vaferrimas struxero et conclusione falsa a vero nascens mendacium adstrinxero, non potero a fugiendis petenda secernere.
To be sure, unless I construct the most crafty questions and, by a false conclusion, bind fast a lie that springs from the truth, I shall not be able to separate the things to be sought from those to be avoided.
Pudet me; in re tam seria senes ludimus.
I am ashamed; in so serious a matter, we old men are playing games.
§48.6"Mus syllaba est.
"A mouse (mus) is a syllable.
Mus autem caseum rodit; syllaba ergo caseum rodit. "Puta nunc me istuc non posse solvere.
But a mouse nibbles cheese; therefore, a syllable nibbles cheese." Suppose now that I cannot solve that puzzle.
Quod mihi ex ista inscientia periculum inminet? Quod incommodum? Sine dubio verendum est, ne quando in muscipulo syllabas capiam aut ne quando, si neglegentior fuero, caseum liber comedat.
What danger threatens me from that ignorance? What inconvenience? Without a doubt, it is to be feared lest sometime I catch syllables in a mousetrap, or lest sometime, if I am too careless, a book should eat the cheese.
Nisi forte illa acutior est collectio: "Mus syllaba est.
Unless perchance that other collection is sharper: "A mouse is a syllable.
Syllaba autem caseum non rodit; mus ergo caseum non rodit. "
But a syllable does not nibble cheese; therefore, a mouse does not nibble cheese." O childish follies!
§48.7O pueriles ineptias! In hoc supercilia subduximus? In hoc barbam demisimus? Hoc est, quod tristes docemus et pallidi?
Vis scire, quid philosophia promittat generi humano? Consilium.
Is it for this that we have knit our brows? Is it for this that we have let down our beards? Is this what we, sad and pale, teach? Do you wish to know what philosophy promises to the human race? Counsel.
Alium mors vocat, alium paupertas urit, alium divitiae vel alienae torquent vel suae.
Death calls one, poverty burns another, riches torment another—either those of others or their own.
Ille malam fortunam horret, hic se felicitati suae subducere cupit.
That man dreads bad fortune, this one desires to withdraw himself from his own prosperity.
Hunc homines male habent, illum di.
Human beings treat this one ill, the gods treat that one.
§48.8Quid mihi lusoria ista conponis? Non est iocandi locus;
Why do you compose those playful things for me?
ad miseros advocatus es.
It is no place for jesting; you have been called in as an advocate for the miserable.
Opem laturum te naufragis, captis, aegris, egentibus, intentae securi subiectum praestantibus caput pollicitus es.
You promised that you would bring help to the shipwrecked, the captive, the sick, the needy, and to those holding their neck under the poised axe.
Quo diverteris? Quid agis?
Hic, cum quo ludis, timet; succurre, †quidquid laqueti res pendentium penis.
Whither do you turn aside? What are you doing? This person with whom you are playing is afraid; help, †whatever the trap of those hanging is†.
† Omnes undique ad te manus tendunt, perditae vitae perituraeque auxilium aliquod inplorant, in te spes opesque sunt.
All hands from all sides are stretched out to you, lives lost and about to perish implore some aid, in you are their hope and resources.
Rogant, ut ex tanta illos volutatione extrahas, ut disiectis et errantibus clarum veritatis lumen ostendas.
They ask that you drag them out of so great a tossing, that you show the clear light of truth to those scattered and wandering.
§48.9Dic, quid natura necessarium fecerit, quid supervacuum, quam faciles leges posuerit, quam iucunda sit vita, quam expedita illas sequentibus, quam acerba et inplicita eorum, qui opinioni plus quam naturae crediderunt.
Tell us what nature made necessary, what superfluous, how easy the laws she set down, how pleasant life is, how uncomplicated for those who follow them, how bitter and tangled for those who have trusted opinion more than nature.
Ad horum mala levanda valere lusoria ista crediderim, si prius docueris, quam partem eorum levatura sint.
I might believe that those playthings of yours are of value to alleviate their evils, if you first teach which part of them they are going to alleviate.
Quid istorum cupiditates demit? Quid temperat? Utinam tantum non prodessent! Nocent.
What of these things takes away desires? What moderates them? Would that they only did no good! They do harm.
Hoc tibi, cum voles, manifestissimum faciam, comminui et debilitari generosam indolem in istas argutias coniectam.
I will make this most manifest to you, whenever you wish, that a noble disposition is shattered and weakened when cast into these subtleties.
§48.10Pudet dicere, contra fortunam militaturis quae porrigant tela, quemadmodum illos subornent.
I am ashamed to say what weapons they hold out to those who are going to fight against fortune, in what manner they equip them.
Hac ad summum bonum itur? Per istud philosophia "sive nive" et turpes infamesque etiam ad album sedentibus exceptiones? Quid enim aliud agitis, cum eum, quem interrogatis, scientes in fraudem inducitis, quam ut formula cecidisse videatur? Sed quemadmodum illos praetor, sic hos philosophia in integrum restituit.
Is this the way to the highest good? Is philosophy conducted through that "whether or no" of yours, and through exceptions that are disgraceful and infamous even for those sitting on the judge's panel? For what else do you do, when you knowingly lead into a trap the person whom you question, than make it appear that he has lost his case on a technicality? But just as the praetor restores them, so philosophy restores these people to their original condition.
§48.11Quid disceditis ab ingentibus promissis et grandia locuti, effecturos vos, ut non magis auri fulgor quam gladii praestringat oculos meos, ut ingenti constantia et quod omnes optant et quod omnes timent calcem, ad grammaticorum elementa descenditis? Quid dicitis?
"
Sic itur ad astra?
"
Hoc enim est, quod mihi philosophia promittit, ut parem deo faciat.
Why do you depart from your huge promises, and having spoken grandly—that you will bring it about that the flash of gold no more dazzles my eyes than that of a sword, and that I shall tread underfoot with immense constancy both what everyone hopes for and what everyone fears—descend to the elementary lessons of grammarians? What do you say? "Is this the way to the stars?" For this is what philosophy promises to me, that it will make me equal to God.
Ad hoc invitatus sum, ad hoc veni; fidem praesta.
To this I have been invited, for this I have come; keep your promise.
§48.12Quantum potes ergo, mi Lucili, reduc te ab istis exceptionibus et praescriptionibus philosophorum.
Therefore, my Lucilius, as much as you can, draw yourself back from those exceptions and prescriptions of philosophers.
Aperta decent et simplicia bonitatem.
Open and simple things become goodness.
Etiam si multum superesset aetatis, parce dispensandum erat, ut sufficeret necessariis; nunc quae dementia est supervacua discere in tanta temporis egestate? VALE.
Even if much of life were remaining, it would have to be spared and distributed so that it might suffice for things necessary; now, what madness is it to learn superfluous things in such a great scarcity of time? Farewell.