§53.1Quid non potest mihi persuaderi, cui persuasum est ut navigarem? Solvi mari languido.
What cannot I be persuaded to do, I who was persuaded to go on a voyage? I set sail on a calm sea.
Erat sine dubio caelum grave sordidis nubibus, quae fere aut in aquam aut in ventum resolvuntur.
There was, without doubt, a sky heavy with dark clouds, which usually dissolve either into rain or into wind.
Sed putavi tam pauca milia a Parthenope tua usque Puteolos subripi posse, quamvis dubio et inpendente caelo.
But I thought that the few miles from your Parthenope as far as Puteoli could be stolen, even though the sky was doubtful and threatening.
Itaque quo celerius evaderem, protinus per altum ad §53.2Nesida derexi praecisurus omnes sinus.
Therefore, so that I might escape the more quickly, I headed straight through the deep sea toward Nesis, intending to cut across all the bays.
Cum iam eo processissent, ut mea nihil interesset, utrum irem an redirem, primum aequalitas illa, quae me corruperat, periit.
When they had already proceeded so far that it made no difference to me whether I went on or returned, first that flatness of the sea which had deceived me vanished.
Nondum erat tempestas, sed iam inclinatio maris ac subinde crebrior fluctus.
It was not yet a storm, but already a tossing of the sea and increasingly frequent waves.
Coepi gubernatorem rogare, ut me in aliquo litore exponeret.
I began to ask the helmsman to put me ashore on some beach.
Aiebat illo aspera esse et inportuosa nec quicquam se aeque in tempestate timere quam terram.
He kept saying that those places were rough and harborless, and that he feared nothing so much in a storm as the land.
§53.3Peius autem vexabar, quam ut mihi periculum succurreret.
But I was too badly tormented for any thought of danger to occur to me.
Nausia enim me segnis haec et sine exitu torquebat, quae bilem movet nec effundit.
For that sluggish and endless seasickness was racking me, which stirs up the bile without casting it out.
Institi itaque gubernatori et illum, vellet nollet, coegi, peteret litus.
Therefore I pressed the helmsman and forced him, willy-nilly, to make for the shore.
Cuius ut viciniam attigimus, non expecto, ut quicquam ex praeceptis Vergilii fiat,
"
Obvertunt pelago proras
"
aut
"
Ancora de prora iacitur,
"
memor artificii mei vetus frigidae cultor mitto me in mare, quomodo psychrolutam decet, gausapatus.
As we neared its vicinity, I did not wait for any of Vergil's precepts to be carried out, such as "They turn the prows to the sea" or "The anchor is cast from the prow"; remembering my old skill as a devotee of cold baths, I threw myself into the sea, dressed in my cloak, as becomes a cold-water bather.
§53.4Quae putas me passum, dum per aspera erepo, dum viam quaero, dum facio? Intellexi non inmerito nautis terram timeri.
What do you think I suffered while I crawled out over the rough rocks, while I sought a path, while I made one? I understood that it is not without reason that the land is feared by sailors.
Incredibilia sunt, quae tulerim, cum me ferre non possem; illud scito, Vlixem non fuisse tam irato mari natum, ut ubique naufragia faceret; nausiator erat.
Incredible are the things I endured when I could not bear myself; know this, that Ulysses was not born to so angry a sea that he should be shipwrecked everywhere; he was prone to seasickness.
Et ego quocumque navigare debuero, vicensimo anno perveniam.
And I, wherever I have to sail, shall arrive in the twentieth year.
§53.5Ut primum stomachum, quem scis non cum mari nausiam effugere, collegi, ut corpus unctione recreavi, hoc coepi mecum cogitare, quanta nos vitiorum nostrorum sequeretur oblivio, etiam corporalium, quae subinde admonent sui, nedum illorum, quae eo magis latent, quo maiora sunt.
As soon as I settled my stomach—which, as you know, does not escape seasickness along with the sea—and as soon as I refreshed my body with an anointing, I began to think this over with myself: how great an oblivion of our vices follows us, even of our bodily ones, which constantly remind us of themselves, not to mention those of the soul, which are the more hidden the greater they are.
§53.6Levis aliquem motiuncula decipit; sed cum crevit et vera febris exarsit, etiam duro et perpessicio confessionem excipit Pedes dolent, articuli punctiunculas sentiunt;
A slight touch of fever deceives a person; but when it has grown and a true fever has flared up, it wrests a confession even from a tough and long-suffering man.
adhuc dissimulamus et aut talum extorsisse dicimus nos aut in exercitatione aliqua laborasse.
The feet ache, the joints feel sharp pricks; still we dissemble and say either that we have sprained an ankle or have worked too hard in some exercise.
Dubio et incipiente morbo quaeritur nomen, qui ubi etiam talaria coepit intendere et utrosque dextros pedes fecit, necesse est podagram fateri.
A name is sought for the disease while it is doubtful and beginning; but when it begins to stretch even the ankles' tendons and has made both feet right feet, it is necessary to confess to gout.
§53.7Contra evenit in his morbis, quibus adficiuntur animi; quo quis peius se habet, minus sentit.
The opposite happens in those diseases by which minds are affected; the worse off a person is, the less he feels it.
Non est quod mireris, Lucili carissime.
There is no reason for you to wonder, my dearest Lucilius.
Nam qui leviter dormit, et species secundum quietem capit et aliquando dormire se dormiens cogitat; gravis sopor etiam somnia extinguit animumque altius mergit, quam ut in ullo intellectu sui sit.
For he who sleeps lightly both catches visions during his rest and sometimes, while sleeping, thinks that he is asleep; but a heavy slumber extinguishes even dreams and plunges the mind too deep for any awareness of itself.
Quare vitia sua nemo confitetur?
Why does no one confess his vices?
§53.8Quia etiamnunc in illis est; somnium narrare vigilantis est, et vitia sua confiteri sanitatis indicium est.
Because he is still in them; to tell one's dream is the act of a waking person, and to confess one's vices is a sign of health.
Expergiscamur ergo, ut errores nostros coarguere possimus.
Let us wake up, then, so that we may be able to refute our errors.
Sola autem nos philosophia excitabit, sola somnum excutiet gravem.
But philosophy alone will wake us, philosophy alone will shake off that heavy sleep.
Illi te totum dedica.
Dedicate yourself wholly to her.
Dignus illa es, illa digna te est; ite in complexum alter alterius.
You are worthy of her, and she is worthy of you; go, rush into each other's embrace.
Omnibus aliis rebus te nega, fortiter, aperte.
Deny yourself to all other things, strongly, openly.
Non est quod precario philosopheris.
There is no reason why you should study philosophy on sufferance.
§53.9Si aeger esses, curam intermisisses rei familiaris et forensia tibi negotia excidissent nec quemquam tanti putares, cui advocatus in remissione descenderes.
If you were sick, you would have neglected the care of your estate, and your public business would have slipped from your mind, nor would you think anyone of such importance that you would go down to court as his advocate during a temporary relief.
Toto animo id ageres, ut quam primum morbo liberareris Quid ergo? Non et nunc idem facies? Omnia inpedimenta dimitte et vaca bonae menti: nemo ad illam pervenit occupatus.
You would act with your whole mind to be freed from the disease as soon as possible. What then? Will you not do the same now? Cast aside all hindrances and devote yourself to a sound mind; no one reaches it while busy.
Exercet philosophia regnum suum; dat tempus, non accipit.
Philosophy exercises her own kingship; she gives time, she does not receive it.
Non est res subsiciva, ordinaria est; domina est, adesse iubet.
She is not a spare-time occupation, but an ordinary one; she is a mistress, she commands us to be present.
§53.10Alexander cuidam civitati partem agrorum et dimidium rerum omnium promittenti "Eo," inquit, "proposito in Asiam veni, ut non id acciperem, quod dedissetis. sed ut id haberetis, quod reliquissem. "Idem philosophia rebus omnibus, "Non sum hoc tempus acceptura, quod vobis superfuerit, sed id vos habebitis, quod ipsa reiecero. " §53.11Totam huc converte mentem, huic adside, hanc cole;
Alexander, to a certain city promising a part of their lands and half of all their possessions, said, "I did not come into Asia with this purpose, to accept what you might give, but that you should have what I might leave behind." Philosophy says the same to all other affairs: "I am not going to accept this time which is left over for you, but you shall have what I myself reject." Turn your whole mind here, sit by her, cultivate her; a huge gap will be made between you and the rest.
ingens intervallum inter te et ceteros fiet. Omnes mortales multo antecedes, non multo te di antecedent.
You will far surpass all mortals, and the gods will not far surpass you.
Quaeris, quid inter te et illos interfuturum sit? Diutius erunt.
Do you ask what will be the difference between you and them? They will exist longer.
At mehercules magni artificis est clusisse totum in exiguo.
But, by Hercules, it is the mark of a great artist to have enclosed the whole in a small space.
Tantum sapienti sua, quantum deo omnis aetas patet.
Her own lifetime is open to the wise man just as much as all eternity is open to God.
Est aliquid, quo sapiens antecedat deum: ille naturae beneficio non timet, suo sapiens.
There is something in which the wise man surpasses God: God is free from fear by the benefit of nature, the wise man by his own.
§53.12Ecce res magna, habere inbecillitatem hominis, securitatem dei Incredibilis philosophiae vis est ad omnem fortuitam vim retundendam.
Behold a great thing: to have the weakness of a human being, the security of a god. Incredible is the power of philosophy to blunt every stroke of chance.
Nullum telum in corpore eius sedet; munita est, solida.
No weapon stays fixed in her body; she is fortified, solid.
Quaedam defetigat et velut levia tela laxo sinu eludit, quaedam discutit et in eum usque, qui miserat, respuit.
Some weapons she tires out and, as it were, eludes like light darts with the loose fold of her robe, some she shatters and flings back against the very one who had sent them.
VALE.
FAREWELL.