§51.1Quomodo quisque potest, mi Lucili! Tu istic habes Aetnam, editum illum ac nobilissimum Siciliae montem, quem quare dixerit Messala unicum, sive Valgius, apud utrumque enim legi, non reperio, cum plurima loca evomant ignem, non tantum edita, quod crebrius evenit, videlicet quia ignis in altissimum effertur, sed etiam iacentia.
As each one can, my dear Lucilius! You have there Etna, that elevated and most famous mountain of Sicily, which I do not find why Messala or Valgius — for I have read it in both — called unique, since very many places spew fire, not only elevated ones, which happens more frequently, obviously because fire is carried up to the highest point, but also low-lying ones.
Nos utcumque possumus, contenti sumus Bais, quas postero die quam adtigeram reliqui, locum ob hoc devitandum, cum habeat quasdam naturales dotes, quia illum sibi celebrandum luxuria desumpsit.
As best we can, we are content with Baiae, which I left the day after I had reached it, a place to be avoided for this reason — although it has certain natural advantages — because luxury has claimed it for its own celebration.
" §51.2Quid ergo? Ulli loco Edicendum est odium? "Minime.
'What then? Is hatred to be declared against any place?' By no means.
Sed quemadmodum aliqua vestis sapienti ac probo viro magis convenit quam aliqua, nec ullum colorem ille odit, sed aliquem parum putat aptum esse frugalitatem professo; sic regio quoque est, quam sapiens vir aut ad sapientiam tendens declinet tamquam alienam bonis moribus.
But just as some clothing is more fitting for a wise and honorable man than some other, and he does not hate any color, but thinks some color is little suited to one who has professed simplicity; so also there is a region which a wise man, or one striving toward wisdom, would avoid as foreign to good morals.
§51.3Itaque de secessu cogitans numquam Canopum eliget, quamvis neminem Canopus esse frugi vetet, ne Baias quidem; deversorium vitiorum esse coeperunt.
And so, thinking of retirement, he will never choose Canopus, although Canopus does not forbid anyone from being decent, nor even Baiae; they have begun to be lodging-houses of vices.
Illic sibi plurimum luxuria permittit, illic, tamquam aliqua licentia debeatur loco, magis solvitur.
There luxury allows itself the most, there, as if some license were owed to the place, it is more dissolved.
§51.4Non tantum corpori, sed etiam moribus salubrem locum eligere debemus.
We ought to choose a place healthy not only for the body, but also for morals.
Quemadmodum inter tortores habitare nolim, sic ne inter popinas quidem.
Just as I would not want to live among executioners, so not even among taverns.
Videre ebrios per litora errantes et comessationes navigantium et symphoniarum cantibus strepentes lacus et alia, quae velut soluta legibus luxuria non tantum peccat, sed publicat, quid necesse est?
What need is there to see drunkards wandering along the shores and the revelries of sailors and lakes noisy with the singing of concerts and other things which luxury, as if released from laws, not only sins in but publicizes?
§51.5Id agere debemus, ut irritamenta vitiorum quam longissime profugiamus.
We ought to make it our aim to flee as far as possible from the allurements of vices.
Indurandus est animus et a blandimentis voluptatum procul abstrahendus.
The mind must be hardened and drawn far away from the charms of pleasures.
Una Hannibalem hiberna solverunt et indomitum illum nivibus atque Alpibus virum enervaverunt fomenta §51.6Campaniae.
One winter-quarters relaxed Hannibal, and the warm treatment enervated that man unconquered by snows and Alps — the treatments, of Campania.
Armis vicit, vitiis victus est.
He conquered by arms, he was conquered by vices.
Nobis quoque militandum est, et quidem genere militiae, quo numquam quies, numquam otium datur.
We also must serve as soldiers, and indeed in a kind of military service in which rest is never given, leisure is never given.
Debellandae sunt in primis voluptates, quae, ut vides, saeva quoque ad se ingenia rapuerunt.
Pleasures, in the first place, must be utterly defeated, which, as you see, have swept even savage characters to themselves.
Si quis sibi proposuerim quantum operis adgressus sit, sciet nihil delicate, nihil molliter esse faciendum.
If anyone sets before himself how much work he has undertaken, he will know that nothing must be done delicately, nothing softly.
Quid mihi cum istis calentibus stagnis? Quid cum sudatoriis, in quae siccus vapor corpora exhausurus includitur? Omnis sudor per laborem exeat.
What have I to do with those warm pools? What with steam rooms, in which dry vapor is enclosed to exhaust our bodies? Let all sweat go out through labor.
§51.7Si faceremus, quod fecit Hannibal, ut interrupto cursu rerum omissoque bello fovendis corporibus operam daremus, nemo non intempestivam desidiam victori quoque, nedum vincenti, periculosam merito reprehenderet; minus nobis quam illis Punica signa sequentibus licet, plus periculi restat cedentibus, plus operis etiam perseverantibus.
If we did what Hannibal did, so that with the course of events interrupted and the war abandoned we gave our attention to pampering our bodies, no one would not deservedly blame an untimely idleness dangerous even to a victor, let alone to one who is still conquering; less is permitted to us than to those following the Carthaginian standards, more danger remains for those who yield, more work even for those who persevere.
§51.8Fortuna mecum bellum gerit; non sum imperata facturus.
Fortune wages war with me; I am not about to do her bidding.
Iugum non recipio, immo, quod maiore virtute faciendum est, excutio.
I do not receive the yoke; rather, what must be done with greater courage, I shake it off.
Non est emolliendus animus; si voluptati cessero, cedendum est dolori, cedendum est labori, cedendum est paupertati; idem sibi in me iuris esse volet et ambitio et ira; inter tot adfectus distrahar, immo discerpar.
The mind must not be softened; if I yield to pleasure, I must yield to pain, I must yield to labor, I must yield to poverty; both ambition and anger will want to have the same right over me; I shall be pulled apart, rather, torn to pieces among so many passions.
§51.9Libertas proposita est; ad hoc praemium laboratur.
Freedom is set before us; for this reward we labor.
Quae sit libertas, quaeris? Nulli rei servire, nulli necessitati, nullis casibus, fortunam in aequum deducere.
What is freedom, you ask? To serve no thing, no necessity, no accidents, to bring fortune down to an equal level.
Quo die illa me intellexero plus posse, nil poterit.
On the day I understand that she has more power than I, she will have no power.
Ego illam feram, cum in manu mors sit?
Shall I endure her, when death is in my hand?
§51.10His cogitationibus intentum loca seria sanctaque eligere oportet.
Intent upon these thoughts, it is proper to choose serious and holy places.
Effeminat animos amoenitas nimia nec dubie aliquid ad corrumpendum vigorem potest regio.
Too much pleasantness makes minds effeminate, and without doubt a region can do something to corrupt vigor.
Quamlibet viam iumenta patiuntur, quorum durata in aspero ungula est; in molli palustrique pascuo saginata cito subteruntur.
Beasts of burden whose hoof has been hardened on rough ground endure any path; fattened in soft and marshy pasture, they are quickly worn down.
Et fortior miles ex confragoso venit; segnis est urbanus et verna.
And the stronger soldier comes from rugged terrain; the city-bred and home-born slave is sluggish.
Nullum laborem recusant manus, quae ad arma ab aratro transferuntur; in primo deficit pulvere ille unctus et nitidus.
Hands which are transferred to arms from the plow refuse no labor; that anointed and sleek man fails in the first dust.
§51.11Severior loci disciplina firmat ingenium aptumque magnis conatibus reddit.
A more severe discipline of a place strengthens character and renders it fit for great endeavors.
Literni honestius Scipio quam Bais exulabat; ruina eius non est tam molliter conlocanda.
Scipio was in exile more honorably at Liternum than at Baiae; his downfall is not to be placed so softly.
Illi quoque, ad quos primos fortuna populi Romani publicas opes transtulit, C. Marius et Cn. Pompeius et Caesar extruxerunt quidem villas in regione Baiana, sed illas inposuerunt summis iugis montium.
Those too, to whom the fortune of the Roman people first transferred public wealth, Gaius Marius, Gnaeus Pompey, and Caesar, did indeed build villas in the region of Baiae, but they placed them on the highest ridges of the mountains.
Videbatur hoc magis militare, ex edito speculari late longeque subiecta.
This seemed more military, to watch from an elevated place over things subjected far and wide.
Aspice, quam positionem elegerint, quibus aedificia excitaverunt locis et qualia; scies non villas esse, sed castra.
See what position they chose, in what places they raised their buildings and of what kind; you will know they are not villas, but camps.
§51.12Habitaturum tu putas umquam fuisse in mica Catonem, ut praenavigantes adulteras dinumeraret et tot genera cumbarum variis coloribus picta et fluvitantem toto lacu rosam, ut audiret canentium nocturna convicia? Nonne ille manere intra vallum maluisset, quod in unam noctem manu sua ipse duxisset? Quidni mallet, quisquis vir est, somnum suum classico quam symphonia rumpi?
Do you think Cato would ever have lived in a pavilion to count the adulteresses sailing past and so many kinds of boats painted with various colors and the rose floating on the whole lake, so that he might hear the nocturnal brawling of singers? Would he not have preferred to remain within a rampart which he himself had drawn with his own hand for a single night? Why would he not prefer, whoever is a man, that his sleep be broken by a trumpet-call rather than by a concert?
§51.13Sed satis diu cum Bais litigavimus, numquam satis cum vitiis, quae, oro te, Lucili, persequere sine modo, sine fine.
But we have disputed long enough with Baiae, never enough with vices, which, I beg you, Lucilius, pursue without limit, without end.
Nam illis quoque nec finis est nec modus.
For to them also there is neither end nor limit.
Proice quaecumque cor tuum laniant, quae si aliter extrahi nequirent, cor ipsum cum illis revellendum erat.
Cast away whatever tears your heart, and if they could not be pulled out otherwise, the heart itself had to be plucked out along with them.
Voluptates praecipue exturba et invisissimas habe; latronum more, quos Φιλητάσ Aegyptii vocant, in hoc nos amplectuntur, ut strangulent.
Drive out pleasures especially and hold them most hated; in the manner of robbers, whom the Egyptians call Philetae, they embrace us for this purpose, to strangle us.
VALE.
FAREWELL.