§8.1"Tu me," inquis, "vitare turbam iubes, secedere et conscientia esse contentum? Ubi illa praecepta vestra, quae imperant in actu mori? "Quod ego tibi videor interim suadere, in hoc me recondidi et fores clusi, ut prodesse pluribus possem.
"Do you order me," you say, "to avoid the crowd, to withdraw, and to be content with my own conscience? Where are those precepts of yours, which command us to die in action?" Contrary to what I seem to you to be advising, as if I were urging you to retire, I have hidden myself in this place and closed my doors, so that I might be able to be of benefit to more people.
Nullus mihi per otium dies exit.
No day passes by for me in idleness.
Partem noctium studiis vindico.
I claim a part of the nights for studies.
Non vaco somno sed succumbo, et oculos vigilia fatigatos cadentesque in opere detineo.
I do not find leisure for sleep but succumb to it, and I keep my eyes, weary from watching and falling, at work.
§8.2Secessi non tantum ab hominibus, sed a rebus, et inprimis a meis rebus; posterorum negotium ago; illis aliqua, quae possint prodesse, conscribo.
I have withdrawn not only from men, but from affairs, and especially from my own affairs; I am doing the business of posterity; I am writing down for them some things which may be of benefit.
Salutares admonitiones, velut medicamentorum utilium compositiones, litteris mando, esse illas efficaces in meis ulceribus expertus, quae etiam si persanata non sunt, serpere desierunt.
I commit salutary admonitions, like the compositions of useful medicines, to writing, having experienced that they are effective on my own ulcers, which, even if they are not thoroughly healed, have ceased to spread.
§8.3Rectum iter, quod sero cognovi et lassus errando, aliis monstro.
The right path, which I recognized late and weary from wandering, I am pointing out to others.
Clamo: "Vitate, quaecumque vulgo placent, quae casus adtribuit.
I cry out: "Avoid whatever pleases the crowd, whatever chance has bestowed.
Ad omne fortuitum bonum suspiciosi pavidique subsistite; et fera et piscis spe aliqua oblectante decipitur.
Stop, suspicious and fearful, at every fortuitous good; both wild beast and fish are deceived by some enticing hope.
Munera ista fortunae putatis? Insidiae sunt.
Do you think those are gifts of fortune? They are snares.
Quisquis vestrum tutam agere vitam volet, quantum plurimum potest, ista viscata beneficia devitet, in quibus hoc quoque miserrimi fallimur; habere nos putamus, haeremus.
Whosoever of you wishes to lead a safe life, let him avoid, as much as he possibly can, those bird-limed benefits, in which we, most miserable, are also deceived in this: we think that we possess them, but we are caught.
§8.4In praecipitia cursus iste deducit.
That course leads to precipices.
Huius eminentis vitae exitus cadere est.
The exit of this eminent life is to fall.
Deinde ne resistere quidem licet, eum coepit transversos agere felicitas, aut saltim rectis aut semel ruere; non evertit fortuna, sed cernulat et allidit.
Furthermore, it is not even permitted to resist, when fortune begins to drive a man headlong, or at least to ruin him straight down or all at once; fortune does not merely overturn, but throws headlong and dashes to pieces.
§8.5Hanc ergo sanam ac salubrem formam vitae tenete, ut corpori tantum indulgeatis, quantum bonae valitudini satis est.
Therefore, hold fast to this sound and wholesome form of life, so that you indulge the body only as much as is sufficient for good health.
Durius tractandum est, ne animo male pareat.
It must be treated more harshly, lest it disobediently obey the mind.
Cibus famem sedet, potio sitim extinguat, vestis arceat frigus, domus munimentum sit adversus infesta corporis.
Let food appease hunger, let drink extinguish thirst, let clothing ward off cold, let a house be a defense against things hostile to the body.
Hanc utrum caespes erexerit an varius lapis gentis alienae, nihil interest; scitote tam bene hominem culmo quam auro tegi.
Whether sod has raised this house or the variegated stone of a foreign nation, it makes no difference; know that a man is covered just as well by thatch as by gold.
Contemnite omnia, quae supervacuus labor velut ornamentum ac decus ponit.
Despise all things which superfluous labor sets up as ornament and honor.
Cogitate nihil praeter animum esse mirabile, cui magno nihil magnum est. " §8.6Si haec mecum, si haec cum posteris loquor, non videor tibi plus prodesse, quam cum ad vadimonium advocatus descenderem, aut tabulis testamenti anulum inprimerem, aut in senatu candidato vocem et manum commodarem? Mihi crede, qui nihil agere videntur, maiora agunt; humana divinaque simul tractant.
Reflect that nothing except the mind is wonderful, to which, being great, nothing is great." If I speak these things with myself, if I speak these things with posterity, do I not seem to you to be of more benefit than when I went down as an advocate to a bail-bond, or pressed my ring upon the tablets of a will, or lent my voice and hand to a candidate in the senate? Believe me, those who seem to do nothing are doing greater things; they treat human and divine affairs at the same time.
§8.7Sed iam finis faciendus est et aliquid, ut institui, pro hac epistula dependendum.
But now an end must be made and something must be paid, as I have resolved, for this letter.
Id non de meo fiet; adhuc Epicurum complicamus, cuius hanc vocem hodierno die legi: "Philosophiae servias oportet, ut tibi contingat vera libertas. "Non differtur in diem, qui se illi subiecit et tradidit; statim circumagitur.
This will not be done from my own; we are still rolling up Epicurus, whose saying I read today: "You must serve philosophy so that true freedom may fall to your lot." He who has subjected and delivered himself to her is not put off from day to day; he is immediately spun around.
Hoc enim ipsum philosophiae servire libertas est.
For this very serving of philosophy is freedom.
§8.8Potest fieri, ut me interroges, quare ab Epicuro tam multa bene dicta referam potius quam nostrorum.
It can happen that you ask me why I relate so many well-said things from Epicurus rather than from our own writers.
Quid est tamen, quare tu istas Epicuri voces putes esse, non publicas? Quam multi poetae dicunt, quae philosophis aut dicta sunt aut dicenda! Non adtingam tragicos nec togatas nostras.
What is there, however, why you should think those sayings belong to Epicurus and are not public property? How many poets say what either has been said or ought to be said by philosophers! I will not touch upon the tragedians, nor our own plays in Roman dress.
Habent enim hae quoque aliquid severitatis et sunt inter comoedias ac tragoedias mediae.
For these also have something of severity and are midway between comedies and tragedies.
Quantum disertissimorum versuum inter mimos iacet! Quam multa Publilii non excalceatis, sed coturnatis dicenda sunt!
How many of the most eloquent verses lie among the mimes! How many things of Publilius ought to be said not by barefooted actors, but by buskined ones!
§8.9Unum versum eius, qui ad philosophiam pertinet et ad hanc partem, quae modo fuit in manibus, referam, quo negat fortuita in nostro habenda:
"
Alienum est omne, quicquid optando evenit. "
I will relate one verse of his, which pertains to philosophy and to this very part which was just now in our hands, in which he denies that fortuitous things are to be held as our own: "Everything is foreign, whatever comes about by wishing.
§8.10Hunc sensum a te dici non paulo melius et adstrictis memini:
"
Non est tuum, fortuna quod fecit tuum.
"I remember that this sense was expressed by you not a little better and more concisely: "What fortune has made yours is not yours.
"
Illud etiamnunc melius dictum a te non praeteribo:
"
Dari bonum quod potuit, auferri potest.
"I will not pass over that even better said thing by you: "The good that could be given, can be taken away.
"
Hoc non inputo in solutum; dedi de tuo tibi.
"I do not count this toward the payment; I have given you of your own to you.