§82.18Adice nunc, quod nihil honeste fit, nisi cui totus animus incubuit atque adfuit, cui nulla parte sui repugnavit.
Add now this, that nothing is done honorably unless the whole mind has bent over it and been present at it, and has resisted it in no part of itself.
Ubi autem ad malum acceditur aut peiorum metu aut spe bonorum, ad quae pervenire tanti sit devorata unius mali patientia, dissident inter se iudicia facientis.
But when one approaches an evil either out of fear of worse things or out of hope for good things, to reach which is considered of so great value by swallowing the endurance of a single evil, the judgments of the doer conflict with one another.
Hinc est, quod iubeat proposita perficere, illinc, quod retrahat et ab re suspecta ac periculosa fugiat.
On this side is that which commands to complete the proposed tasks; on that side, that which holds back and flees from the suspected and dangerous thing.
Igitur in diversa distrahitur; si hoc est, perit gloria.
Therefore he is distracted in opposite directions; if this is the case, glory perishes.
Virtus enim concordi animo decreta peragit.
For virtue carries out its decisions with a harmonious mind.
Non timet, quod facit.
It does not fear what it does.
"
Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito
Qua tua te fortuna sinet. "
"Yield not to misfortunes, but go forth more boldly against them, as far as your fortune shall permit you.
§82.19Non ibis audentior, si mala illa esse credideris.
"You will not go more boldly if you believe those things to be evils.
Eximendum hoc e pectore est; alioqui haesitabit inpetum moratura suspicio.
This must be removed from your breast; otherwise, a suspicion that will delay your onset will cause hesitation.
Tradetur in id, quod invadendum est.
It will be delivered up to that which must be invaded.
Nostri quidem videri volunt Zenonis interrogationem veram esse, fallacem autem alteram et falsam, quae illi opponitur.
Our school indeed wishes it to appear that Zeno's syllogism is true, but that the other, which is opposed to it, is fallacious and false.
Ego non redigo ista ad legem dialecticam et ad illos artificii veternosissimi nodos.
I do not reduce these matters to the law of dialectic and to those knots of an extremely stale artifice.
Totum genus istuc exturbandum iudico, quo circumscribi se, qui interrogatur, existimat et ad confessionem perductus aliud respondet, aliud putat.
I judge that entire class of things should be driven out, by which the person questioned thinks he is being trapped, and, led to an admission, answers one thing while thinking another.
Pro veritate simplicius agendum est, contra metum fortius.
For truth we must act more simply, against fear more bravely.
§82.20Haec ipsa, quae volvuntur ab illis, solvere malim et expendere, ut persuadeam, non ut inponam.
I would prefer to untie and weigh these very matters which are turned over by them, so that I may persuade, not impose.
In aciem educturus exercitum pro coniugibus ac liberis mortem obiturum quomodo exhortantur? Do tibi Fabios totum rei publicae bellum in unam transferentes domum.
When about to lead an army into battle, which is going to meet death for spouses and children, how do they exhort them? I give you the Fabii, transferring the entire war of the republic to a single house.
Laconas tibi ostendo in ipsis Thermopylarum angustiis positos.
I show you the Spartans stationed in the very straits of Thermopylae.
Nec victoriam sperant nec reditum.
They hope neither for victory nor for return.
Ille locus illis sepulchrum futurus est.
That place is going to be a tomb for them.
§82.21Quemadmodum exhortaris, ut totius gentis ruinam obiectis corporibus excipiant et vita potius quam loco cedant? Dices: "quod malum est, gloriosum non est; mors gloriosa est; mors ergo non malum"? O efficacem contionem! Quis post hanc dubitet se infestis ingerere mucronibus et stans mori! At ille Leonidas quam fortiter illos adlocutus est! "Sic," inquit, "commilitones, prandete tamquam apud inferos cenaturi. "Non in ore crevit cibus, non haesit in faucibus, non elapsus est manibus; alacres et ad prandium illi promiserunt et ad cenam.
How do you exhort them to catch the ruin of a whole nation with their opposing bodies, and to yield life rather than ground? Will you say: "what is an evil is not glorious; death is glorious; therefore death is not an evil"? Oh, effective speech! Who, after this, would hesitate to throw himself upon hostile sword-points and die standing! But how bravely that Leonidas addressed them! "Eat your lunch, fellow soldiers," he said, "as if you were going to dine in the underworld." The food did not grow in their mouths, nor did it stick in their throats, nor did it slip from their hands; cheerful, they promised themselves both to the lunch and to the dinner.
§82.22Quid? Dux ille Romanus, qui ad occupandum locum milites missos, cum per ingentem hostium exercitum ituri essent, sic adlocutus est: "ire, commilitones, illo necesse est, unde redire non est necesse. "
Vides, quam simplex et imperiosa virtus sit;
What about that Roman leader, who spoke thus to the soldiers sent to occupy a position, when they were about to go through a huge army of the enemy: "It is necessary, fellow soldiers, to go thither, whence to return is not necessary"?
quem mortalium circumscriptiones vestrae fortiorem facere, quem erectiorem possunt? Frangunt animum, qui numquam minus contrahendus est et in minuta ac spinosa cogendus, quam cum aliquid grande componitur.
You see how simple and commanding virtue is; which of mortals can your deceptions make braver, which more resolute? They break the spirit, which must never less be contracted and forced into minute and thorny issues than when something grand is being planned.
§82.23Non trecentis, sed omnibus mortalibus mortis timor detrahi debet.
Not from the three hundred, but from all mortals must the fear of death be drawn away.
Quomodo illos doces malum non esse? Quomodo opiniones totius aevi, quibus protinus infantia inbuitur, evincis? Quod auxilium invenis inbecillitati humanae? Quid dicis, quo inflammati in media pericula inruant? Qua oratione hunc timendi consensum, quibus ingeni viribus obnixam contra te persuasionem humani generis avertis? Verba mihi captiosa conponis et interrogatiunculas nectis? Magnis telis magna portenta feriuntur.
How do you teach them that it is not an evil? How do you overcome the opinions of a whole age, with which infancy is immediately imbued? What help do you find for human weakness? What do you say, inspired by which they may rush into the midst of dangers? With what speech do you avert this consensus of fearing, with what powers of mind do you turn away the conviction of the human race stubbornly opposed to you? Do you compose deceitful words for me and weave petty questions? Great monsters are struck down with great weapons.
§82.24Serpentem illam in Africa saevam et Romanis legionibus bello ipso terribiliorem frustra sagittis fundisque petierunt; ne Pythio quidem venerabilis erat, cum ingens magnitudo pro vastitate corporis solida ferrum et quicquid humanae torserant manus reiceret.
That fierce serpent in Africa, more terrible to the Roman legions than the war itself, they attacked in vain with arrows and slings; it was formidable even to the Pythian, since its huge size, solid in proportion to the vastness of its body, rejected iron and whatever human hands had hurled.
Molaribus demum fracta saxis est.
Finally it was broken by millstone-like rocks.
Et adversus mortem tu tam minuta iacularis? Subula leonem excipis? Acuta sunt ista, quae dicis: nihil est acutius arista.
And against death do you hurl such minute things? Do you face a lion with a cobbler's awl? Sharp are those things which you say; nothing is sharper than an ear of grain.
Quaedam inutilia et inefficacia ipsa subtilitas reddit.
This very subtility renders certain things useless and ineffectual.
VALE.
FAREWELL.