§73.1Errare mihi videntur, qui existimant philosophiae fideliter deditos contumaces esse ac refractarios, contemptores magistratuum aut regum eorumve, per quos publica administrantur.
Those who think that those faithfully devoted to philosophy are contumacious and refractory, and determinately contemptuous of magistrates or kings or those through whom public affairs are administered, seem to me to be in error.
Ex contrario enim nulli adversus illos gratiores sunt; nec inmerito.
For, on the contrary, none are more grateful toward them; and not undeservedly.
Nullis enim plus praestant quam quibus frui tranquillo otio licet.
For they bestow more upon none than upon those who are permitted to enjoy tranquil leisure.
§73.2Itaque ii, quibus multum ad propositum bene vivendi confert securitas publica, necesse est auctorem huius boni ut parentem colant, multo quidem magis quam illi inquieti et in medio positi, qui multa principibus debent, sed multa et inputant, quibus numquam tam plene occurrere ulla liberalitas potest, ut cupiditates illorum, quae crescunt, dum implentur, exsatiet.
Therefore, those to whom public security contributes much to their purpose of living well must of necessity revere the author of this good as a parent, indeed much more so than those restless men who are placed in the midst of activities, who owe much to rulers, but also inpute much to them, whom no liberality can ever so fully meet as to satisfy their desires, which grow while they are being filled.
Quisquis autem de accipiendo cogitat, oblitus accepti est; nec ullum habet malum cupiditas maius, quam quod ingrata est.
But whoever thinks about receiving has forgotten what has been received; nor does desire have any greater evil than that it is ungrateful.
§73.3Adice nunc, quod nemo eorum, qui in re publica versantur, quot vincat, sed a quibus vincatur, aspicit.
Add now to this, that no one of those who are engaged in public affairs looks at how many he surpasses, but by whom he is surpassed.
Et illis non tam iucundum est multos post se videre quam grave aliquem ante se.
And to them it is not so pleasant to see many behind them as it is grievous to see anyone before them.
Habet hoc vitium omnis ambitio; non respicit.
Every ambition has this vice; it does not look back.
Nec ambitio tantum instabilis est, verum cupiditas omnis, quia incipit semper a fine.
Nor is ambition alone unstable, but indeed all desire, because it always begins from the end.
§73.4At ille vir sincerus ac purus, qui reliquit et curiam et forum et omnem administrationem rei publicae, ut ad ampliora secederet, diligit eos, per quos hoc ei facere tuto licet solusque illis gratuitum testimonium reddit et magnam rem nescientibus debet.
But that sincere and pure man, who has left behind both the senate-house and the forum and all administration of public affairs, so that he might retire to loftier things, loves those through whom he is permitted to do this with safety, and he alone renders a gratuitous testimony to them and owes a great thing to them without their knowing it.
Quemadmodum praeceptores suos veneratur ac suspicit, quorum beneficio illis inviis exit, sic et hos, sub quorum tutela positus exercet artes bonas. "
Just as he worships and respects his teachers, by whose benefit he escapes from those pathless tracks, so also does he respect these under whose protection he, being placed, practices the good arts.
§73.5Verum alios quoque rex viribus suis protegit. "Quis negat? Sed quemadmodum Neptuno plus debere se iudicat ex is, qui eadem tranquillitate usi sunt, qui plura et pretiosiora illo mari vexit, animosius a mercatore quam a vectore solvitur votum, et ex ipsis mercatoribus effusius gratus est, qui odores ac purpuras et auro pensanda portabat quam qui vilissima quaeque et saburrae loco futura congesserat;
"But a king protects others also by his power." Who denies it?
sic huius pacis beneficium ad omnes pertinentis altius ad eos pervenit, qui illa bene utuntur.
But just as, among those who have enjoyed the same calm, he who has carried more numerous and precious things over that sea judges that he owes more to Neptune, and as a vow is paid more heartily by a merchant than by a passenger, and among the merchants themselves he is more effusively grateful who was carrying spices, purple, and things to be weighed against gold, than he who had amassed the cheapest goods and what would serve as ballast; so the benefit of this peace, which belongs to all, reaches more deeply those who make good use of it.
§73.6Multi enim sunt ex his togatis, quibus pax operosior bello est.
For there are many among these toga-clad men for whom peace is more laborious than war.
An idem existimas pro pace debere eos, qui illam ebrietati aut libidini inpendunt aut aliis vitiis, quae vel bello rumpenda sunt? Nisi forte tam iniquum putas esse sapientem, ut nihil viritim se debere pro communibus bonis iudicet.
Or do you think that those who spend peace upon drunkenness or lust, or upon other vices which must be broken even by war, owe the same for peace? Unless perhaps you think the wise man is so unjust that he judges that he individually owes nothing for common goods.
Soli lunaeque plurimum debeo, et non uni mihi oriuntur.
I owe very much to the sun and the moon, and yet they do not rise for me alone.
Anno temperantique annum deo privatim obligatus sum, quamvis nihil in meum honorem discripta sint.
I am privately bound to the year and to the god who tempers the year, although nothing was distributed in my honor.
§73.7Stulta avaritia mortalium possessionem proprietatemque discernit nec quicquam suum credit esse, quod publicum est.
The foolish avarice of mortals distinguishes possession from ownership, and does not believe that anything is its own which is public.
At ille sapiens nihil iudicat suum magis quam cuius illi cum humano genere consortium est.
But that wise man judges nothing to be more his own than that which he has in partnership with the human race.
Nec enim essent ita communia, nisi pars illorum pertineret ad singulos; socium efficit etiam quod ex minima portione commune est.
For indeed things would not be so common, unless some part of them belonged to individuals; even that which is common in the smallest portion makes a partner.