§68.1Consilio tuo accedo; absconde te in otio.
I agree with your plan; conceal yourself in leisure.
Sed et ipsum otium absconde.
But conceal your leisure itself as well.
Hoc te facturum Stoicorum etiam si non praecepto, at exemplo licet scias.
You may know that you are permitted to do this, if not by the precept of the Stoics, at least by their example.
Sed ex praecepto quoque facies; et tibi et cui voles adprobabis.
But you will also do it in accordance with their precept; and you will justify it both to yourself and to whomever you wish.
§68.2Nec ad omnem rem publicam mittimus nec semper nec sine ullo fine.
We do not dispatch a person to every commonwealth, nor always, nor without any limit.
Praeterea, cum sapienti rem publicam ipso dignam dedimus, id est mundum, non est extra rem publicam, etiam si recesserit, immo fortasse relicto uno angulo in maiora atque ampliora transit et caelo inpositus intellegit, cum sellam aut tribunal ascenderet, quam humili loco sederit.
Furthermore, since we have assigned to the wise man a commonwealth worthy of him, that is, the universe, he is not outside the commonwealth, even if he has withdrawn; rather, perhaps having left one corner behind, he transitions to greater and more spacious realms, and, placed in the heavens, he understands, when he used to ascend the chair or the tribunal, in how lowly a place he sat.
Depone hoc apud te, numquam plus agere sapientem, quam quom in conspectum eius divina atque humana venerunt.
Lay this up in your heart: that the wise man is never more active than when divine and human things have come into his view.
§68.3Nunc ad illud revertor, quod suadere tibi coeperam, ut otium tuum ignotum sit.
Now I return to that which I had begun to advise you, that your leisure should be unknown.
Non est quod inscribas tibi philosophiam aut quietem.
There is no reason for you to label yourself with philosophy or quiet.
Aliud proposito tuo nomen inpone; valetudinem et inbecillitatem voca et desidiam.
Bestow another name upon your plan; call it ill health, weakness, or laziness.
Gloriari otio iners ambitio est.
To boast of leisure is an idle ambition.
§68.4Animalia quaedam ne inveniri possint, vestigia sua circa ipsum cubile confundunt; idem tibi faciendum est.
Certain animals, lest they be found, confuse their footprints around their very lair; you must do the same.
Alioqui non deerunt, qui semper sequantur.
Otherwise, there will be no lack of those who will always follow you.
Multi aperta transeunt, condita et abstrusa rimantur; furem signata sollicitant.
Many pass by open things and pry into what is hidden and concealed; sealed things excite the thief.
Vile videtur, quicquid patet, aperta effractarius praeterit.
Whatever is open seems cheap, and the housebreaker passes by open things.
Hos mores habet populus, hos imperitissimus quisque: in secreta inrumpere cupit.
The common people have this habit, as does every most ignorant person: they desire to burst into secret things.
Optimum itaque est non iactare otium suum.
It is best, therefore, not to boast of one's leisure.
§68.5Iactandi autem genus est nimis latere et a conspectu hominum secedere.
Moreover, to lurk too much and to withdraw from the sight of men is a kind of boasting.
Ille Tarentum se abdidit, ille Neapoli inclusus est, ille multis annis non transit domus suae limen. Convocat turbam, quisquis otio suo aliquam fabulam inposuit.
"That man hid himself in Tarentum," "that one was shut up in Naples," "that one for many years has not crossed the threshold of his own house." Whoever has attached some story to his leisure summons a crowd.
§68.6Cum secesseris, non est hoc agendum, ut de te homines loquantur, sed ut ipse tecum loquaris.
When you have withdrawn, this should not be your aim, that men speak of you, but that you speak with yourself.
Quid autem loqueris? Quod homines de aliis libentissime faciunt, de te apud te male existima; adsuesces et dicere verum et audire.
But what will you speak? Do what men most gladly do concerning others: think ill of yourself in your own presence; you will get used to both speaking and hearing the truth.
Id autem maxime tracta, quod in te esse infirmissimum senties.
And treat that especially which you feel to be weakest in yourself.
§68.7Nota habet sui quisque corporis vitia.
Everyone knows the defects of his own body.
Itaque alius vomitu levat stomachum, alius frequenti cibo fulcit, alius interposito ieiunio corpus exhaurit et purgat.
Therefore, one relieves his stomach by vomiting, another supports it with frequent food, another drains and purges his body by intervening fasts.
Ii, quorum pedes dolor repetit, aut vino aut balineo abstinent.
Those whose feet are visited again by pain abstain from wine or baths.
In cetera neglegentes huic, a quo saepe infestantur, occurrunt; sic in animo nostro sunt quaedam quasi causariae partes, quibus adhibenda curatio est.
Unconcerned about other things, they counteract this one by which they are often infested; so in our mind there are, as it were, certain invalid parts to which cure must be applied.
§68.8Quid in otio facio? Ulcus meum curo.
What do I do in my leisure? I cure my wound.
Si ostenderem tibi pedem turgidum, lividam manum aut contracti cruris aridos nervos, permitteres mihi uno loco iacere et fovere morbum meum.
If I were to show you a swollen foot, a livid hand, or the withered tendons of a shrunken leg, you would permit me to lie in one place and foster my disease.
Maius malum est hoc, quod non possum tibi ostendere; in pectore ipso collectio et vomica est.
This is a greater evil, which I cannot show you; in the breast itself there is an accumulation of pus and an abscess.
Nolo nolo laudes, nolo dicas: "o magnum virum! contempsit omnia et damnatis humanae vitae furoribus fugit. " §68.9Nihil damnavi nisi me.
I do not wish, I do not wish you to praise me, I do not wish you to say: "O great man! He has despised all things and fled from the condemned madnesses of human life." I have condemned nothing except myself.
Non est quod proficiendi causa venire ad me velis.
There is no reason why you should wish to come to me for the sake of making progress.
Erras, qui hinc aliquid auxilii speras; non medicus, sed aeger hic habitat.
You are mistaken if you hope for any help from here; not a physician, but a sick man dwells here.
Malo, cum discesseris, dicas: "ego istum beatum hominem putabam et eruditum.
I prefer that when you leave, you say: "I used to think that man happy and learned.
Erexeram aures; destitutum sum.
I had pricked up my ears; I have been left disappointed.
Nihil vidi, nihil audii, quod concupiscerem, ad quod reverterer. "Si hoc sentis, si hoc loqueris, aliquid profectum est.
I saw nothing, I heard nothing that I would desire, to which I would return." If you feel this, if you speak this, some progress has been made.
Malo ignoscas otio meo quam invideas.
I prefer that you forgive my leisure rather than envy it.
§68.10"Otium," inquis, "Seneca, commendas mihi? Ad Epicureas voces delaberis. "Otium tibi commendo, in quo maiora agas et pulchriora quam quae reliquisti; pulsare superbas potentiorum fores, digerere in litteram senes orbos, plurimum in foro posse invidiosa potentia ac brevis est et, si verum aestimes, sordida.
"Do you recommend leisure to me, Seneca?" you say. "You are sliding down to Epicurean sayings." I recommend leisure to you, in which you may do greater and more beautiful things than those you have left behind; to knock at the proud doors of the powerful, to arrange childless old men in a list, to have the greatest power in the forum, is an enviable, brief, and, if you estimate it truly, sordid power.
§68.11Ille me gratia forensi longe antecedet, ille stipendiis militaribus et quaesita per hoc dignitate, ille clientium turba; est tanti ab omnibus vinci, dum a me fortuna vincatur, cui in turba par esse non possum; plus habet gratiae.
"That man will far surpass me in forensic favor, that one in military service and the dignity acquired through it, that one in his crowd of clients"; it is well worth being defeated by all, provided that fortune is defeated by me, whom I cannot equal in a crowd; fortune has more favor.
§68.12Utinam quidem hoc propositum sequi olim fuisset animus tibi! Utinam de vita beata non in conspectu mortis ageremus! Sed nunc quoque non moremur.
Would that indeed this purpose had been your mind long ago! Would that we were not discussing the happy life in the sight of death! But now also let us not delay.
Multa enim, quae supervacua esse et inimica credituri fuimus rationi, nunc experientiae credimus.
For many things which we were going to believe on the authority of reason to be superfluous and hostile to reason, we now believe on the authority of experience.
§68.13Quod facere solent, qui serius exierunt et volunt tempus celeritate reparare, calcar addamus; haec aetas optime facit ad haec studia; iam despumavit.
Let us apply the spur, as those are accustomed to do who have set out too late and wish to make up for time with speed; this age is perfectly suited for these studies; it has already finished foaming.
Iam vitia primo fervore adulescentiae indomita lassavit, non multum superest ut extinguat.
Already it has exhausted the untamed vices in the first fervor of youth, and not much remains for it to extinguish them.
§68.14"Et quando," inquis, "tibi proderit istud, quod in exitu discis, aut in quam rem? "In hanc, ut exeam melior.
"And when," you say, "will that thing benefit you, which you learn at the very exit of life, or for what purpose?" For this purpose, that I may depart a better man.
Non est tamen quod existimes ullam aetatem aptiorem esse ad bonam mentem quam quae se multis experimentis, longa ac frequenti rerum paenitentia edomuit, quae ad salutaria mitigatis adfectibus venit.
However, there is no reason for you to think that any age is more suitable for a sound mind than that which has subdued itself through many experiences, and through a long and frequent repentance of things, and which comes to salutary things with passions calmed.
Hoc est huius boni tempus; quisquis senex ad sapientiam pervenit, annis pervenit.
This is the time for this good; whoever as an old man arrives at wisdom, arrives there by virtue of his years.
VALE.
FAREWELL.