§79.10An Aetna tua possit sublabi et in se ruere, an hoc excelsum cacumen et conspicuum per vasti maris spatia detrahat adsidua vis ignium, nescio; virtutem non flamma, non ruina inferius adducet.
Whether your Etna can sink and fall in upon itself, or whether the continuous force of fires drags down this high peak, visible through the spaces of the vast sea, I do not know; virtue neither flame nor ruin will bring down lower.
Haec una maiestas deprimi nescit.
This unique majesty does not know how to be depressed.
Nec proferri ultra nec referri potest.
It can neither be advanced further nor drawn back.
Sic huius, ut caelestium, stata magnitudo est.
Thus the magnitude of this, as of heavenly bodies, is fixed.
Ad hanc nos conemur educere.
Let us strive to raise ourselves to this.
§79.11Iam multum operis effecti est; immo, si verum fateri volo, non multum.
Already much of the work has been accomplished; rather, if I want to confess the truth, not much.
Nec enim bonitas est pessimis esse meliorem.
For it is not goodness to be better than the worst.
Quis oculis glorietur, qui suspicetur diem? Cui sol per caliginem splendet, licet contentus interim sit effugisse tenebras, adhuc non fruitur bono lucis.
Who would boast of his eyes, who only suspects the day? He for whom the sun shines through a mist, although he may meanwhile be content to have escaped the darkness, does not yet enjoy the benefit of light.
§79.12Tunc animus noster habebit, quod gratuletur sibi, cum emissus his tenebris, in quibus volutatur, non tenui visu clara prospexerit, sed totum diem admiserit et redditus caelo suo fuerit, cum receperit locum, quem occupavit sorte nascendi.
Then our soul will have reason to congratulate itself, when, released from this darkness in which it wallows, it looks forth upon bright things not with feeble vision, but has admitted the whole day and has been restored to its own heaven, when it has recovered the place which it occupied by the lot of its birth.
Sursum illum vocant initia sua.
Its origins call it upward.
Erit autem illic etiam antequam hac custodia exsolvatur, cum vitia disiecerit purusque ac levis in cogitationes divinas emicuerit.
Moreover, it will be there even before it is released from this custody, when it has dispersed its vices and, pure and light, has leaped forth into divine thoughts.
§79.13Hoc nos agere, Lucili carissime, in hoc ire impetu toto, licet pauci sciant, licet nemo, iuvat.
To do this, my dearest Lucilius, to go into this with our whole force, even if few know it, even if no one knows, is a joy.
Gloria umbra virtutis est; etiam invitam comitabitur.
Glory is the shadow of virtue; it will accompany it even against its will.
Sed quemadmodum umbra aliquando antecedit, aliquando sequitur vel a tergo est, ita gloria aliquando ante nos est visendamque se praebet, aliquando in averso est maiorque quo serior, ubi invidia secessit.
But just as a shadow sometimes goes before, sometimes follows or is behind, so glory is sometimes ahead of us and offers itself to be seen, sometimes is in the rear, and is greater the later it comes, when envy has departed.
§79.14Quamdiu videbatur furere Democritus! Vix recepit Socraten fama.
How long did Democritus seem to be mad! Fame scarcely received Socrates.
Quamdiu Catonem civitas ignoravit! Respuit nec intellexit, nisi cum perdidit.
How long did the state ignore Cato! It rejected him and did not understand him until it lost him.
Rutili innocentia ac virtus lateret, nisi accepisset iniuriam; dum violatum effulsit.
The innocence and virtue of Rutilius would lie hidden unless he had received injustice; while violated it shone forth.
Numquid non sorti suae gratias egit et exilium suum complexus est? De his loquor, quos inlustravit fortuna, dum vexat; quam multorum profectus in notitiam evasere post ipsos! Quam multos fama non excepit, sed eruit!
Did he not give thanks to his lot and embrace his exile? I speak of these whom fortune made illustrious while vexing them; how many people's progress escaped into knowledge after themselves! How many did fame not receive, but dig out!
§79.15Vides Epicurum quantopere non tantum eruditiores, sed haec quoque imperitorum turba miretur.
You see how much Epicurus is admired, not only by the more learned, but also by this crowd of unlearned people.
Hic ignotus ipsis Athenis fuit, circa quas delituerat.
He was unknown in Athens itself, around which he had hidden himself.
Multis itaque iam annis Metrodoro suo superstes in quadam epistula, cum amicitiam suam et Metrodori grata commemoratione cecinisset, hoc novissime adiecit, nihil sibi et Metrodoro inter bona tanta nocuisse, quod ipsos illa nobilis Graecia non ignotos solum habuisset, sed paene inauditos.
Therefore, having survived his Metrodorus by many years already, in a certain letter, when he had sung of his own friendship and that of Metrodorus with a grateful remembrance, he added this at the very end: that it had not harmed him and Metrodorus at all, among so many goods, that that noble Greece had held them not only unknown, but almost unheard of.
§79.16Numquid ergo non postea quam esse desierat, inventus est? Numquid non opinio eius enituit? Hoc Metrodorus quoque in quadam epistula confitetur, se et Epicurum non satis enotuisse; sed post se et Epicurum magnum paratumque nomen habituros, qui voluissent per eadem ire vestigia.
Was he not found, then, after he had ceased to exist? Did not his reputation shine forth? Metrodorus also confesses this in a certain letter, that he and Epicurus were not well enough known; but that after himself and Epicurus, those who wished to go through the same footsteps would have a great and ready-made name.
§79.17Nulla virtus latet, et latuisse non ipsius est damnum.
No virtue lies hidden, and to have been hidden is not a loss to itself.
Veniet qui conditam et saeculi sui malignitate conpressam dies publicet.
A day will come which will publish what has been concealed and compressed by the malice of its age.
Paucis natus est, qui populum aetatis suae cogitat.
He is born for a few, who thinks of the people of his own generation.
Multa annorum milia, multa populorum supervenient; ad illa respice.
Many thousands of years, many peoples will follow; look to those.
Etiam si omnibus tecum viventibus silentium livor indixerit, venient qui sine offensa, sine gratia iudicent.
Even if envy has decreed silence to all who live with you, there will come those who judge without offense, without favor.
Si quod est pretium virtutis ex fama, nec hoc interit.
If there is any reward for virtue from fame, even this does not perish.
Ad nos quidem nihil pertinebit posterorum sermo; tamen etiam non sentientes colet ac frequentabit.
To us indeed the talk of posterity will not pertain at all; yet it will respect and frequent us even though we do not feel it.
§79.18Nulli non virtus et vivo et mortuo rettulit gratiam, si modo illam bona secutus est fide, si se non exornavit et pinxit, sed idem fuit, sive ex denuntiato videbatur, sive inparatus ac subito.
Virtue has returned favor to no one without doing so both to the living and to the dead, if only he followed it in good faith, if he did not adorn and paint himself, but was the same, whether he was seen on announcement, or unprepared and suddenly.
Nihil simulatio proficit.
Pretence profits nothing.
Paucis inponit leviter extrinsecus inducta facies; veritas in omnem partem sui eadem est.
A face lightly laid on from the outside imposes upon few; truth is the same in every part of itself.
Quae decipiunt, nihil habent solidi.
Things that deceive have nothing solid.
Tenue est mendacium; perlucet, si diligenter inspexeris.
A lie is thin; it is transparent if you examine it diligently.
VALE.
FAREWELL.