§65.1Hesternum diem divisi cum mala valetudine; antemeridianum illa sibi vindicavit, postmeridiano mihi cessit.
I divided yesterday with ill health; she claimed the morning for herself, but yielded the afternoon to me.
Itaque lectione primum temptavi animum.
And so I first tested my mind with reading.
Deinde cum hanc recepisset, plus illi imperare ausus sum, immo permittere; aliquid scripsi et quidem intentius quam soleo, dum cum materia difficili contendo et vinci nolo, donec intervenerunt amici, qui mihi vim adferrent et tamquam aegrum intemperantem coercerent.
Then, when it had accepted this, I dared to command more of it, or rather, to permit it; I wrote something, and indeed more intently than I usually do, while I struggled with a difficult subject and refused to be conquered, until friends intervened to use force on me and restrain me like an unruly patient.
§65.2In locum stili sermo successit, ex quo eam partem ad te perferam, quae in lite est.
In place of the pen, conversation succeeded, from which I shall convey to you that part which is in dispute.
Te arbitrum addiximus.
We have appointed you as arbitrator.
Plus negotii habes quam existimas; triplex causa est.
You have more business than you think; the case is threefold.
Dicunt, ut scis, Stoici nostri duo esse in rerum natura, ex quibus omnia fiant, causam et materiam.
Our Stoics say, as you know, that there are two things in the nature of things from which all things are made: cause and matter.
Materia iacet iners, res ad omnia parata, cessatura, si nemo moveat.
Matter lies inert, a thing ready for all things, about to remain inactive if no one moves it.
Causa autem, id est ratio, materiam format et quocumque vult versat, ex illa varia opera producit.
Cause, however, that is, reason, shapes matter and turns it wherever it wishes, and produces various works from it.
Esse ergo debet, unde fiat aliquid, deinde a quo fiat.
There must be, therefore, that from which something is made, and then that by which it is made.
Hoc causa est, illud materia.
The latter is the cause, the former is the matter.
§65.3Omnis ars naturae imitatio est.
All art is an imitation of nature.
Itaque quod de universo dicebam, ad haec transfer, quae ab homine facienda sunt.
Therefore, transfer what I was saying about the universe to these things which are to be made by man.
Statua et materiam habuit, quae pateretur artificem, et artificem, qui materiae daret faciem.
A statue had both matter, which would submit to the craftsman, and a craftsman, who would give form to the matter.
Ergo in statua materia aes fuit, causa opifex Eadem condicio rerum omnium est;
Therefore, in the statue, the matter was bronze, the cause was the maker.
ex eo constant, quod fit, et ex eo, quod facit.
The condition of all things is the same; they consist of that which is made and that which makes.
§65.4Stoicis placet unam causam esse, id, quod facit.
The Stoics hold that there is only one cause, that which makes.
Aristoteles putat causam tribus modis dici: "Prima," inquit, "causa est ipsa materia, sine qua nihil potest effici; secunda opifex.
Aristotle thinks that cause is spoken of in three ways: "The first," he says, "cause is the matter itself, without which nothing can be produced; the second is the maker.
Tertia est forma, quae unicuique operi inponitur tamquam statuae"; nam hanc Aristoteles idos vocat. "Quarta quoque," inquit, "his accedit, propositum totius operis. " §65.5Quid sit hoc, aperiam.
The third is the form, which is imposed on each work, like a statue"; for Aristotle calls this "eidos." "A fourth also," he says, "is added to these, the purpose of the whole work." I will explain what this is.
Aes prima statuae causa est.
Bronze is the first cause of the statue.
Numquam enim facta esset, nisi fuisset id, ex quo funderetur ducereturve.
For it would never have been made unless there had been that from which it could be cast or drawn out.
Secunda causa artifex est.
The second cause is the craftsman.
Non potuisset enim aes illud in habitum statuae figurari, nisi accessissent peritae manus.
For that bronze could not have been shaped into the appearance of a statue unless skilled hands had been applied.
Tertia causa est forma.
The third cause is the form.
Neque enim statua ista doryphoros aut diadumenos vocaretur, nisi haec illi esset inpressa facies.
For that statue would not be called a "doryphoros" or "diadumenos" unless this appearance had been impressed upon it.
Quarta causa est faciendi propositum.
The fourth cause is the purpose of making it.
Nam nisi hoc fuisset, facta non esset.
For unless this had existed, it would not have been made.
§65.6Quid est propositum? Quod invitavit artificem, quod ille secutus fecit;
What is the purpose?
vel pecunia est haec, si venditurus fabricavit, vel gloria, si laboravit in nomen, vel religio, si donum templo paravit.
That which invited the craftsman, which he followed in making it; this is either money, if he fashioned it to sell, or glory, if he worked for a name, or religion, if he prepared a gift for a temple.
Ergo et haec causa est, propter quam fit; an non putas inter causas facti operis esse numerandum, quo remoto factum non esset?
Therefore, this also is a cause on account of which it is made; or do you not think that that should be numbered among the causes of a finished work, which, if removed, the work would not have been made?
§65.7His quintam Plato adicit exemplar, quam ipse idean vocat; hoc est enim, ad quod respiciens artifex id, quod destinabat, effecit.
To these Plato adds a fifth, the pattern, which he himself calls "idea"; for this is that looking toward which the craftsman produced what he intended.
Nihil autem ad rem pertinet, utrum foris habeat exemplar, ad quod referat oculos, an intus, quod ibi ipse concepit et posuit.
But it is of no importance whether he has the pattern outside, to which he may refer his eyes, or inside, which he himself conceived and placed there.
Haec exemplaria rerum omnium deus intra se habet numerosque universorum, quae agenda sunt, et modos mente conplexus est; plenus his figuris est, quas Plato ideas appellat, inmortales, inmutabiles, infatigabiles.
God has these patterns of all things within himself, and has grasped in his mind the numbers and measures of all things that are to be done; he is full of these shapes, which Plato calls "ideas," immortal, unchangeable, untiring.
Itaque homines quidem pereunt, ipsa autem humanitas, ad quam homo effingitur, permanet, et hominibus laborantibus, intereuntibus illa nihil patitur.
And so indeed men perish, but humanity itself, after which man is modeled, remains, and while men labor and perish, it suffers nothing.