§67.1Vt a communibus initium faciam, ver aperire se coepit, sed iam inclinatura in aestatem, quo tempore calere debebat, intepuit nec adhuc illi fides est.
To begin with common topics, spring has begun to open itself, but already about to incline towards summer, at which time it ought to be hot, it has only grown lukewarm, and as yet there is no trust in it.
Saepe enim in hiemem revolvitur.
For it often rolls back into winter.
Vis scire, quam dubium adhuc sit? Nondum me committo frigidae verae, adhuc rigorem eius infringo.
Do you want to know how doubtful it still is? I do not yet commit myself to the genuine cold water; I still break its chill.
"Hoc est," inquis, "nec calidum nec frigidum pati. "Ita est, mi Lucili; iam aetas mea contenta est suo frigore.
"This is," you say, "to endure neither heat nor cold." So it is, my Lucilius; already my age is content with its own cold.
Vix media regelatur aestate.
It is scarcely warmed even in the middle of summer.
§67.2Itaque maior pars in vestimentis degitur.
Therefore, the greater part of my time is spent in clothes.
Ago gratias senectuti, quod me lectulo adfixit.
I give thanks to old age for having fastened me to my bed.
Quidni gratias illi hoc nomine agam? Quicquid debebam nolle, non possum.
Why should I not give thanks to it on this account? Whatever I ought to have been unwilling to do, I am unable to do.
Cum libellis mihi plurimus sermo est.
My most frequent conversation is with my books.
Si quando intervenerunt epistulae tuae, tecum esse mihi videor et sic adficior animo, tamquam tibi non rescribam, sed respondeam, Itaque et de hoc, quod quaeris, quasi conloquar tecum, quale sit, una scrutabimur.
If ever your letters interrupt, I seem to be with you, and I am so affected in mind as if I were not writing back to you, but answering you in person. Therefore, about this too which you ask, we shall investigate together what kind of thing it is, as if I were conversing with you.
§67.3Quaeris, an omne bonum optabile sit.
You ask whether every good is desirable.
"Si bonum est," inquis, "fortiter torqueri et magno animo uri et patienter aegrotare, sequitur, ut ista optabilia sint.
"If it is a good," you say, "to be tortured bravely, to be burned with a great mind, and to endure illness patiently, it follows that these things are desirable.
Nihil autem video ex istis voto dignum.
But I see nothing among these worthy of a vow.
Neminem certe adhuc scio eo nomine votum solvisse, quod flagellis caesus esset aut podagra distortus aut eculeo longior factus. " §67.4Distingue, mi Lucili, ista, et intelleges esse in iis aliquid optandum.
Certainly, I know no one who has yet paid a vow on the ground that he was beaten with scourges, or distorted by gout, or made longer by the rack." Distinguish those things, my Lucilius, and you will understand that there is something to be desired in them.
Tormenta abesse a me velim;
I should wish tortures to be away from me; but if they must be endured, I will wish that I conduct myself courageously, honorably, and spiritedly in them.
sed si sustinenda fuerint, ut me in illis fortiter, honeste, animose geram, optabo, Quidni ego malim non incidere bellum? Sed si inciderit, ut vulnera, ut famem et omnia,quae bellorum necessitas adfert, generose feram, optabo.
Why should I not prefer not to fall into war? But if it happens, I will wish that I bear generously wounds, hunger, and everything that the necessity of wars brings.
Non sum tam demens, ut aegrotare cupiam; sed si aegrotandum fuerit, ut nihil intemperanter, nihil effeminate faciam. optabo.
I am not so mad as to desire to be sick; but if I must be sick, I will wish that I do nothing intemperately, nothing effeminately.
Ita non incommoda optabilia sunt, sed virtus, qua perferantur incommoda.
Thus, it is not the discomforts that are desirable, but the virtue by which the discomforts are endured.
§67.5Quidam ex nostris existimant omnium istorum fortem tolerantiam non esse optabilem, sed ne abominandam quidem, quia voto purum bonum peti debet et tranquillum et extra molestiam positum.
Some of our school think that the brave endurance of all these things is not desirable, but not even to be detested, because by a vow a pure good, tranquil and placed beyond trouble, ought to be sought.
Ego dissentio.
I dissent.
Quare? Primum quia fieri non potest, ut aliqua res bona quidem sit, sed optabilis non sit.
Why? First, because it cannot happen that any thing is indeed good, but not desirable.
Deinde si virtus optabilis est, nullum autem sine virtute bonum est, omne bonum optabile est.
Next, if virtue is desirable, and no good is without virtue, every good is desirable.
Deinde etiam tormentorum fortis patientia optabilis est.
Next, even the brave patience under tortures is desirable.
§67.6Etiamnunc interrogo: nempe fortitudo optabilis est? Atqui pericula contemnit et provocat.
Even now I ask: is courage indeed desirable? Yet it despises and provokes dangers.
Pulcherrima pars eius maximeque mirabilis illa est, non cedere ignibus, obviam ire vulneribus, interdum tela ne vitare quidem, sed pectore excipere.
Its most beautiful and most admirable part is that which does not yield to fires, goes to meet wounds, and sometimes does not even avoid weapons, but receives them with the breast.
Si fortitudo optabilis est, et tormenta patienter ferre optabile est; hoc enim fortitudinis pars est.
If courage is desirable, then to bear tortures patiently is also desirable; for this is a part of courage.
Sed separa ista, ut dixi; nihil erit quod tibi faciat errorem.
But separate those things, as I said; there will be nothing to cause you error.
Non enim pati tormenta optabile est, sed pati fortiter.
For it is not the enduring of tortures that is desirable, but the enduring of them bravely.
Illud opto "fortiter," quod est virtus.
I desire that "bravely," which is virtue.