§57.1Cum a Bais deberem Neapolim repetere, facile credidi tempestatem esse, ne iterum navem experirer; et tantum luti tota via fuit, ut possim videri nihilominus navigasse.
When I had to return to Naples from Baiae, I easily convinced myself that there was a storm, so that I would not have to try a ship again; and there was so much mud along the entire road that I might seem to have sailed nonetheless.
Totum athletarum fatum mihi illo die perpetiendum fuit; a ceromate nos haphe excepit in crypta Neapolitana.
The whole fate of athletes had to be endured by me on that day; from the ointment we were received by the dust in the Neapolitan tunnel.
§57.2Nihil illo carcere longius, nihil illis facibus obscurius, quae nobis praestant non ut per tenebras videamus, sed ut ipsas.
Nothing is longer than that prison, nothing dimmer than those torches, which serve us not so that we may see through the darkness, but so that we may see the darkness itself.
Ceterum etiam si locus haberet lucem, pulvis auferret, in aperto quoque res gravis et molesta; quid illic, ubi in se volutatur et, cum sine ullo spiramento sit inclusus, in ipsos, a quibus excitatus est, recidit? Duo incommoda inter se contraria simul pertulimus: eadem via, eodem die et luto et pulvere laboravimus.
Besides, even if the place had light, the dust would take it away, a thing heavy and annoying even in the open; what about there, where it rolls upon itself and, since it is shut in without any vent, falls back upon the very people by whom it was stirred up? We endured two contrary inconveniences at the same time: on the same road, on the same day, we suffered from both mud and dust.
§57.3Aliquid tamen mihi illa obscuritas, quod cogitarem, dedit; sensi quendam ictum animi et sine metu mutationem, quam insolitae rei novitas simul ac foeditas fecerat.
Yet that darkness gave me something to think about; I felt a certain shock of the mind and a change without fear, which the novelty as well as the foulness of the unusual thing had produced.
Non de me nunc tecum loquor, qui multum ab homine tolerabili, nedum a perfecto absum, sed de illo, in quem fortuna ius perdidit.
I am not speaking now with you about myself, who am far from being a tolerable man, let alone a perfect one, but about him over whom fortune has lost her power.
Huius quoque ferietur animus, mutabitur color.
His mind too will be struck, his color will change.
§57.4Quaedam enim, mi Lucili, nulla effugere virtus potest;
For there are certain things, my Lucilius, which no virtue can escape; nature reminds virtue of its own mortality.
admonet illam natura mortalitatis suae. Itaque et vultum adducet ad tristia et inhorrescet ad subita et caligabit, si vastam altitudinem in crepidine eius constitutus despexerit; non est hoc timor, sed naturalis adfectio inexpugnabilis rationi.
And so it will contract its countenance at sad things, shudder at sudden things, and grow dizzy if, standing on the edge of a vast height, it looks down; this is not fear, but a natural affection unconquerable by reason.
§57.5Itaque fortes quidam et paratissimi fundere suum sanguinem alienum videre non possunt.
Thus, some brave men, who are most ready to shed their own blood, cannot bear to see another's.
Quidam ad vulneris novi, quidam ad veteris et purulenti tractationem inspectionemque succidunt ac linquuntur animo.
Some fall down and faint at the treatment and inspection of a fresh wound, or an old and suppurating one.
Alii gladium facilius recipiunt quam vident.
Others receive a sword-blow more easily than they look at it.
§57.6Sensi ergo, ut dicebam, quandam non quidem perturbationem, sed mutationem.
I felt, therefore, as I was saying, not indeed a disturbance, but a certain change.
Rursus ad primum conspectum redditae lucis alacritas rediit incogitata et iniussa.
Again, at the first sight of the restored light, my alacrity returned unthought and unbidden.
Illud deinde mecum loqui coepi, quam inepte quaedam magis aut minus timeremus, cum omnium idem finis esset.
Then I began to say to myself how foolishly we fear some things more or less, when the end of all is the same.
Quid enim interest, utrum supra aliquem vigilarium ruat an mons? Nihil invenies.
For what difference does it make whether a watchtower or a mountain collapses on someone? You will find none.
Erunt tamen, qui hanc ruinam magis timeant, quamvis utraque mortifera aeque sit; adeo non effectus, sed efficientia timor spectat.
Yet there will be those who fear this collapse more, although both are equally fatal; so much does fear look not to the effect, but to the efficient cause.
§57.7Nunc me putas de Stoicis dicere, qui existimant animam hominis magno pondere extriti permanere non posse et statim spargi, quia non fuerit illi exitus liber? Ego vero non facio;
Now you think I am speaking of the Stoics, who think that the soul of a man crushed by a great weight cannot remain and is immediately scattered, because it had no free exit?
qui hoc dicunt, videntur mihi errare.
Indeed, I do not; those who say this seem to me to be in error.
§57.8Quemadmodum flamma non potest obprimi, nam circa id effugit, quo urgetur; quemadmodum aer verbere atque ictu non laeditur, ne scinditur quidem, sed circa id, cui cessit, refunditur; sic animus, qui ex tenuissimo constat, deprehendi non potest nec intra corpus effligi, sed beneficio subtilitatis suae per ipsa, quibus premitur, erumpit.
Just as a flame cannot be crushed, for it escapes around the object by which it is pressed; just as the air is not damaged by a blow or a stroke, nor is it even cleft, but pours back around the thing to which it yielded; so the mind, which consists of the finest substance, cannot be caught nor crushed within the body, but by virtue of its subtility breaks through the very things by which it is pressed.
Quomodo fulmini, etiam cum latissime percussit ac fulsit, per exiguum foramen est reditus, sic animo, qui adhuc tenuior est igne, per omne corpus fuga est.
Just as lightning, even when it has struck and flashed most widely, has its return through a tiny opening, so the mind, which is even finer than fire, has its escape through the entire body.
§57.9Itaque de illo quaerendum est, an possit immortalis esse.
Therefore, concerning the mind, it must be asked whether it can be immortal.
Hoc quidem certum habe: si superstes est corpori, praeteri illum nullo genere posse, propter quod non perit, quoniam nulla immortalitas cum exceptione est nec quicquam noxium aeterno est.
Hold this for certain: if it survives the body, it can in no way be destroyed by that because of which it does not perish, since there is no immortality with an exception, nor is anything harmful to the eternal.
VALE.
FAREWELL.