§74.27Utrum maiorem an minorem circulum scribas, ad spatium eius pertinet, non ad formam.
Whether you draw a larger or a smaller circle, it concerns its size, not its shape.
Licet alter diu manserit, alterum statim obduxeris et in eum in quo scriptus est pulverem sol veris, in eadem uterque forma fuit.
Even though one has remained for a long time, and you have immediately erased the other and dissolved it into the dust in which it was written, each was in the same shape.
Quod rectum est, nec magnitudine aestimatur nec numero nec tempore; non magis produci quam contrahi potest.
What is right is estimated neither by size, nor by number, nor by time; it can no more be extended than it can be contracted.
Honestam vitam ex centum annorum numero in quantum voles corripe et in unum diem coge; aeque honesta est.
Shorten an honorable life as much as you wish from a span of a hundred years and compress it into a single day; it is equally honorable.
§74.28Modo latius virtus funditur, regna urbes provincias temperat, fert leges, colit amicitias, inter propinquos liberosque dispensat officia, modo arto fine concluditur paupertatis exilii orbitatis.
At one time virtue is poured out more widely, governs kingdoms, cities, and provinces, enacts laws, cultivates friendships, distributes duties among relatives and children; at another time it is enclosed within the narrow boundary of poverty, exile, or childlessness.
Non tamen minor est, si ex altiore fastigio in privatum, ex regio in humile subducitur, ex publico et spatioso iure in angustias domus vel anguli coit.
Yet it is not smaller if it is withdrawn from a higher summit to a private station, from a kingly to a humble one, or if it contracts from public and spacious authority into the narrowness of a house or a corner.
§74.29Aeque magna est, etiam si in se recessit undique exclusa.
It is equally great, even if, shut out on all sides, it has retreated into itself.
Nihilominus enim magni spiritus est et erecti, exactae prudentiae, indeclinabilis iustitiae.
For nonetheless it is of a great and lofty spirit, of precise prudence, of unswerving justice.
Ergo aeque beata est.
Therefore it is equally happy.
Beatum enim illud uno loco positum est, in ipsa mente, grande, stabile, tranquillum, quod sine scientia divinorum humanorumque non potest effici.
For that happy state is placed in one location, in the mind itself, grand, stable, and tranquil, which cannot be brought about without the knowledge of things divine and human.
§74.30Sequitur illud, quod me responsurum esse dicebam.
Next follows that which I was saying I would answer.
Non adfligitur sapiens liberorum amissione, non amicorum.
The wise man is not afflicted by the loss of children, nor by that of friends.
Eodem enim animo fert illorum mortem, quo suam expectat.
For he bears their death with the same mind with which he awaits his own.
Non magis hanc timet quam illam dolet.
He no more fears the former than he grieves for the latter.
Virtus enim convenientia constat; omnia opera eius cum ipsa concordant et congruunt.
For virtue consists in harmony; all its works agree and accord with itself.
Haec concordia perit, si animus, quem excelsum esse oportet, luctu aut desiderio summittitur.
This harmony perishes if the mind, which ought to be lofty, is cast down by grief or longing.
Inhonesta est omnis trepidatio et sollicitudo, in ullo actu pigritia.
Dishonorable is all agitation and anxiety, and sluggishness in any action.
Honestum enim securum et expeditum est, interritum est, in procinctu stat. " §74.31Quid ergo? Non aliquid perturbationi simile patietur? Non et color eius mutabitur et vultus agitabitur et artus refrigescent? Et quicquid aliud non ex imperio animi, sed inconsulte quodam naturae impetu geritur. "Fateor; sed manebit illi persuasio eadem, nihil illorum malum esse nec dignum, ad quod mens sana deficiat.
For the honorable is secure and unencumbered, it is undaunted, it stands ready for battle." "What then? Will he not suffer something similar to disturbance? Will not his color change, his countenance be agitated, and his limbs grow cold? And whatever else is done not by the command of the mind, but unreflectingly by some impulse of nature?" I admit it; but the same conviction will remain with him, that none of those things is an evil, nor worthy of causing a sound mind to fail.
Omnia, quae facienda erunt, audaciter facit et prompte.
All things that will have to be done, he does boldly and promptly.
§74.32Hoc enim stultitiae proprium quis dixerit, ignave et contumaciter facere, quae faciat, et alio corpus inpellere, alio animum distrahique inter diversissimos motus.
For who would not say that this is characteristic of folly: to do what it does sluggishly and rebelliously, and to impel the body in one direction while the mind is dragged in another, and to be torn apart between the most diverse impulses?
Nam propter illa ipsa, quibus extollit se miraturque, contempta est et ne illa quidem, quibus gloriatur, libenter facit.
For on account of those very things by which it exalts and admires itself, it is despised, and it does not even do willingly those things of which it boasts.
Si vero aliquod timetur malum, eo proinde, dum expectat, quasi venisset, urgetur et quicquid ne patiatur timet, iam metu patitur.
But if some evil is feared, it is pressed by it while awaiting it, just as if it had arrived, and whatever it fears lest it suffer, it already suffers through fear.
§74.33Quemadmodum in corporibus insidentis languoris signa praecurrunt, quaedam enim segnitia enervis est et sine labore ullo lassitudo et oscitatio et horror membra percurrens; sic infirmus animus multo ante quam opprimatur malis quatitur.
Just as in bodies signs of an oncoming illness run before—for there is a certain enervated sluggishness, and weariness without any labor, and yawning, and a shudder running through the limbs—so the weak mind is shaken long before it is overwhelmed by evils.
Praesumit illa et ante tempus cadit.
It anticipates them and falls before the time.
Quid autem dementius quam angi futuris nec se tormento reservare, sed arcessere sibi miserias et admovere?
But what is more insane than to be tortured by future things, and not to reserve oneself for the torment, but to summon miseries to oneself and bring them near?
§74.34Quas optimum est differre, si discutere non possit.
Which it is best to postpone, if one cannot dispel them.
Vis scire futuro neminem debere torqueri? Quicumque audierit post quinquagesimum annum sibi patienda supplicia, non perturbatum nisi si medium spatium transiluerit et se in illam saeculo post futuram sollicitudinem inmiserit; eodem modo fit, ut animos libenter aegros et captantes causas doloris vetera atque obliterata contristent.
Do you wish to know that no one ought to be tortured by the future? Whoever hears that he must suffer punishments after his fifth year will not be disturbed unless he leaps over the intervening space and throws himself into that anxiety which is to be a generation later; in the same way it happens that old and forgotten things sadden minds that are willingly sick and capturing causes of grief.
Fit quae praeterierunt et quae futura sunt, absunt; neutra sentimus.
What has passed and what is future are absent; we feel neither.
Non est autem nisi ex eo, quod sentias, dolor.
Moreover, there is no pain except from that which you feel.
VALE.
FAREWELL.