§61.1Desinamus, quod voluimus, velle.
Let us cease to wish for what we once wished.
Ego certe id ago: senex ea desii velle quae puer volui.
I certainly busy myself with this: as an old man I have ceased to wish for those things which I wished for as a boy.
In hoc unum eunt dies, in hoc noctes, hoc opus meum est, haec cogitatio: inponere veteribus malis finem.
Towards this one thing my days go, towards this my nights; this is my work, this is my thought: to put an end to my long-standing evils.
Id ago, ut mihi instar totius vitae dies sit.
I so act that to me each day is like an entire life.
Nec mehercules tamquam ultimum rapio, sed sic illum aspicio, tamquam esse vel ultimus possit.
And, by Hercules, I do not snatch at it as if it were my last, but I look upon it in such a way as if it could indeed be the last.
§61.2Hoc animo tibi hanc epistulam scribo, tamquam me cum maxime scribentem mors evocatura sit.
With this mind I write this letter to you, as if death were about to summon me at the very moment of my writing.
Paratus exire sum et ideo fruar vita, quia quam diu futurum hoc sit, non nimis pendeo.
I am ready to depart, and for that reason I shall enjoy life, because I do not depend too much on how long this will last.
Ante senectutem curavi, ut bene viverem, in senectute, ut bene moriar; bene autem mori est libenter mori.
Before old age I made it my care to live well; in old age, to die well; but to die well is to die willingly.
Da operam, ne quid umquam invitus facias.
Take care that you never do anything against your will.
§61.3Quicquid necesse futurum est repugnanti, volenti necessitas non est.
Whatever is going to be necessary for the one who resists, is not a necessity for the one who is willing.
Ita dico: qui imperia libens excipit, partem acerbissimam servitutis effugit, facere quod nolit.
I mean this: he who willingly accepts commands escapes the bitterest part of servitude, which is doing what he does not wish to do.
Non qui iussus aliquid facit, miser est, set qui invitus facit.
It is not the one who does something because he is ordered who is wretched, but the one who does it against his will.
Itaque sic animum conponamus, ut quicquid res exiget, id velimus et in primis ut finem nostri sine tristitia cogitemus.
Therefore, let us so prepare our mind that we may wish for whatever circumstance demands, and especially that we may think of our own end without sadness.
§61.4Ante ad mortem quam ad vitam praeparandi sumus.
We must be prepared for death before we are prepared for life.
Satis instructa vita est, sed nos in instrumenta eius avidi sumus; deesse aliquid nobis videtur et semper videbitur.
Life is sufficiently equipped, but we are greedy for its equipment; something seems to us to be lacking, and always will seem so.
Ut satis vixerimus, nec anni nec dies faciunt, sed animus.
That we have lived enough is brought about neither by years nor by days, but by the mind.
Vixi, Lucili carissime, quantum satis erat; mortem plenus exspecto.
I have lived, my dearest Lucilius, as much as was enough; full, I await death.
VALE.
FAREWELL.