§76.27Numquam autem vera tibi opinio talis videbitur, nisi animum adleves et te ipse interroges, si res exegerit, ut pro patria moriaris et salutem omnium civium tua redimas, an porrecturus sis cervicem non tantum patienter, sed etiam libenter.
However, such an opinion will never seem true to you, unless you elevate your mind and ask yourself, if circumstances demand that you die for your country and redeem the safety of all your fellow citizens with your own, whether you are going to stretch out your neck not only patiently, but even willingly.
Si hoc facturus es, nullum aliud bonum est.
If you are going to do this, there is no other good.
Omnia enim relinquis, ut hoc habeas.
For you leave everything behind, so that you may have this.
Vide quanta vis honesti sit: pro re publica morieris, etiam si statim facturus hoc eris, cum scieris tibi esse faciendum.
See how great the power of the honorable is: you will die for the republic, even if you are going to do this immediately, when you know that it must be done by you.
§76.28Interdum ex re pulcherrima magnum gaudium etiam exiguo tempore ac brevi capitur, et quamvis fructus operis peracti nullus ad defunctum exemptumque rebus humanis pertineat, ipsa tamen contemplatio futuri operis iuvat, et vir fortis ac iustus, cum mortis suae pretia ante se posuit, libertatem patriae, salutem omnium, pro quibus dependit animam, in summa voluptate est et periculo suo fruitur.
Sometimes, from a most beautiful deed, a great joy is captured even in a tiny and brief moment of time; and although no fruit of the completed deed pertains to the deceased and one removed from human affairs, yet the very contemplation of the future deed gives pleasure, and the brave and just man, when he has set before himself the rewards of his death—the freedom of his country, the safety of all those for whom he pays his life—is in the highest pleasure and enjoys his own danger.
§76.29Sed ille quoque, cui hoc gaudium eripitur, quod tractatio operis maximi et ultimi praestat, nihil cunctatus desiliet in mortem facere recte pieque contentus.
But he too, from whom this joy is snatched away, which the performance of the greatest and last deed provides, will leap into death without any hesitation, content to act rightly and piously.
Oppone etiamnunc illi multa quae dehortentur, dic: "factum tuum matura sequetur oblivio et parum grata existimatio civium"; respondebit tibi: "ista omnia extra opus meum sunt.
Oppose to him even now many things that would discourage him, say: "A swift oblivion will follow your deed, and a poorly grateful estimation of your fellow citizens"; he will answer you: "All those things are outside of my deed.
Ego ipsum contemptor.
I contemplate the deed itself.
Hoc esse honestum scio.
I know that this is honorable.
Itaque quocumque ducit ac vocat, venio. " §76.30Hoc ergo unum bonum est, quod non tantum perfectus animus, sed generosus quoque et indolis bonae sentit;
Therefore, wherever it leads and calls, I come." Therefore, this is the one good, which not only a perfect mind, but also a noble and well-disposed nature feels; the other things are trivial and changeable.
cetera levia sunt, mutabilia. Itaque sollicite possidentis.
And so they are possessed with anxiety.
Etiam si favente fortuna in unum congesta sunt, dominis suis incubant gravia et illos semper premunt, aliquando et inlidunt.
Even if, by favoring fortune, they are heaped together into one, they weigh heavily upon their owners and always oppress them, sometimes even crushing them.
Nemo ex istis, quos purpuratos vides, felix est, non magis quam ex illis, quibus sceptrum et chlamydem in scaena fabulae adsignant; cum praesente populo lati incesserunt et coturnati, simul exierunt, excalceantur et ad staturam suam redeunt.
None of those whom you see clad in purple is happy, any more than of those to whom they assign a scepter and a cloak on the stage of a play; when, in the presence of the people, they have walked broadly and in buskins, as soon as they exit, they are unshod and return to their own stature.
§76.31Nemo istorum, quos divitiae honoresque in altiore fastigio ponunt, magnus est.
None of those whom riches and honors place on a higher pinnacle is great.
Quare ergo magnus videtur? Cum basi illum sua metiris.
Why, then, does he seem great? Because you measure him with his pedestal.
Non est magnus pumilio, licet in monte constiterit; colossus magnitudinem suam servabit, etiam si steterit in puteo.
A dwarf is not great, even if he stands on a mountain; a colossus will preserve his greatness, even if he stands in a well.
§76.32Hoc laboramus errore, sic nobis imponitur, quod neminem aestimamus eo, quod est, sed adicimus illi et ea, quibus adornatus est.
We suffer from this error, and thus we are deceived, because we value no one by what he is, but we add to him also those things with which he is adorned.
Atqui cum voles veram hominis aestimationem inire et scire, qualis sit, nudum inspice; ponat patrimonium, ponat honores et alia fortunae mendacia, corpus ipsum exuat.
But when you wish to make a true estimation of a man and to know what he is like, inspect him naked; let him lay aside his patrimony, let him lay aside his honors and other falsehoods of fortune, let him strip off his very body.
Animum intuere, qualis quantusque sit, alieno an suo magnus.
Look at his soul, what kind and how great it is, whether it is great by another's wealth or by its own.
§76.33Si rectis oculis gladios micantes videt et si scit sua nihil interesse, utrum anima per os an per iugulum exeat, beatum voca; si cum illi denuntiata sunt corporis tormenta et quae casu veniunt et quae potentioris iniuria, si vincula et exilia et vanas humanarum formidines mentium securus audit et dicit:
"
Non ulla laborum,
O virgo, nova mi facies inopinave surgit; Omnia praecepi atque animo mecum ipse peregi.
If he looks at gleaming swords with steady eyes, and if he knows that it makes no difference to him whether his soul departs through his mouth or through his throat, call him happy; if when bodily torments have been threatened against him, both those that come by chance and those by the injustice of a more powerful person, if he hears of chains and exiles and the empty fears of human minds undisturbed, and says: "No form of labors rises new or unexpected to me, O virgin; I have anticipated all things and gone through them myself in my mind.
"
Tu hodie ista denuntias; ego semper denuntiavi mihi et hominem paravi ad humana. " §76.34Praecogitati mali mollis ictus venit.
""You threaten those things today; I have always threatened them to myself, and I have prepared the human being for human fortunes." The blow of a pre-meditated evil comes softly.
At stultis et fortunae credentibus omnis videtur nova rerum et inopinata facies; magna autem pars est apud imperitos mali novitas.
But to fools and to those who trust in fortune, every face of things seems new and unexpected; moreover, a great part of the evil among the inexperienced is its novelty.
Hoc ut scias, ea quae putaverant aspera, fortius, cum adsuevere, patiuntur.
That you may know this, they endure more bravely those things which they had thought harsh, when they have become accustomed to them.
§76.35Ideo sapiens adsuescit futuris malis et quae alii diu patiendo levia faciunt, hic levia facit diu cogitando.
Therefore, the wise man accustoms himself to future evils; and those things which others make light by enduring them for a long time, he makes light by thinking about them for a long time.
Audimus aliquando voces imperitorum dicentium: "sciebam hoc mihi restare"; sapiens scit sibi omnia restare.
Sometimes we hear the voices of the inexperienced saying, "I knew this was in store for me"; the wise man knows that all things are in store for him.
Quicquid factum est, dicit: "sciebam. "VALE.
Whatever has happened, he says, "I knew it." FAREWELL.