§85.1Peperceram tibi et quicquid nodosi adhuc supererat, praeterieram, contentus quasi gustum tibi dare eorum, quae a nostris dicuntur, ut probetur virtus ad explendam beatam vitam sola satis efficax.
I had spared you and had passed over whatever of difficulty still remained, content to give you as it were a taste of those things which are said by our school, so that it might be proved that virtue alone is sufficiently effective for completing a happy life.
Iubes me quicquid est interrogationum aut nostrarum aut ad traductionem nostram excogitatarum comprendere.
You bid me encompass whatever there is of syllogisms, either ours or devised for our refutation.
Quod si facere voluero, non erit epistula, sed liber.
But if I should wish to do this, it will not be a letter, but a book.
Illud totiens testor, hoc me argumentorum genere non delectari.
I testify this so many times, that I am not delighted by this kind of arguments.
Pudet in aciem descendere pro dis hominibusque susceptam subula armatum.
It is shameful to descend into the battle-line undertaken for gods and men, armed with a cobbler's awl.
§85.2"Qui prudens est, et temperans est.
"He who is prudent is also temperate.
Qui temperans est, et constans.
He who is temperate is also constant.
Qui constans est, inperturbatus est.
He who is constant is unperturbed.
Qui inperturbatus est, sine tristitia est.
He who is unperturbed is without sadness.
Qui sine tristitia est, beatus est; ergo prudens beatus est et prudentia ad beatam vitam satis est. " §85.3Huic collectioni hoc modo Peripatetici quidam respondent, ut inperturbatum et constantem et sine tristitia sic interpretentur, tamquam inperturbatus dicatur, qui raro perturbatur et modice, non qui numquam.
He who is without sadness is happy; therefore, the prudent man is happy, and prudence is sufficient for a happy life." To this syllogism certain Peripatetics reply in this way, so that they interpret "unperturbed" and "constant" and "without sadness" as if "unperturbed" were said of one who is rarely and moderately perturbed, not who is never.
Item sine tristitia eum dici aiunt, qui non est obnoxius tristitiae nec frequens nimiusve in hoc vitio.
Likewise they say that he is said to be "without sadness" who is not subject to sadness nor frequent or excessive in this vice.
Illud enim humanam naturam negare, alicuius animum inmunem esse tristitia.
For to say that anyone's mind is immune from sadness is to deny human nature.
Sapientem non vinci maerore, ceterum tangi.
The wise man is not conquered by sorrow, but he is touched by it.
Et cetera in hunc modum sectae suae respondentia.
And other things in this manner corresponding to their sect.
§85.4Non his tollunt adfectus, sed temperant.
By these they do not remove the passions, but moderate them.
Quantulum autem sapienti damus, si inbecillissimis fortior est et maestissimis laetior et effrenatissimis moderatior et humillimis maior? Quid, si miretur velocitatem suam Ladas ad claudos debilesque respiciens?
Illa vel intactae segetis per summa volaret Gramina nec cursu teneras laesisset aristas, Vel mare per medium fluctu suspensa tumenti Ferret iter celeres nec tingueret aequore plantas. Haec est pernicitas per se aestimata, non quae tardissimorum conlatione laudatur.
But how little do we grant to the wise man, if he is only stronger than the weakest, happier than the saddest, more moderate than the most unbridled, and greater than the lowest? What if Ladas should admire his own speed, looking back at the lame and the weak? "She would fly over the topmost blades of an untouched crop, nor would she have harmed the tender ears of wheat in her course; or, suspended on the swelling wave, she would make her way through the midst of the sea, nor would she wet her swift soles in the water." This is swiftness estimated by itself, not that which is praised by comparison with the slowest.
Quid, si sanum voces leviter febricitantem? Non est bona valitudo mediocritas morbi.
What if you should call him healthy who has a slight fever? Good health is not a moderation of disease.
" §85.5Sic," inquit, "sapiens inperturbatus dicitur, quomodo apyrina dicuntur, non quibus nulla inest duritia granorum, sed quibus minor. "Falsum est.
"Just so," he says, "the wise man is said to be unperturbed, as certain pomegranates are said to be seedless, not in which there is no hardness of seeds, but in which there is less." It is false.
Non enim deminutionem malorum in bono viro intellego, sed vacationem; nulla debent esse, non parva.
For I do not understand a diminution of evils in a good man, but a freedom from them; they ought not to be small, but to be non-existent.
Nam si ulla sunt, crescent et interim inpedient.
For if there are any, they will grow and in the meantime will hinder.
Quomodo oculos maior et perfecta suffusio excaecat, sic modica turbat.
Just as a larger and complete cataract blinds the eyes, so a moderate one disturbs them.
§85.6Si das aliquos adfectus sapienti, inpar illis erit ratio et velut torrente quodam auferetur, praesertim cum illi non unum adfectum des, cum quo conluctetur, sed omnis.
If you grant some passions to the wise man, reason will be unequal to them and will be carried away as if by a torrent, especially since you do not give him one passion with which to struggle, but all of them.
Plus potest quamvis mediocrium turba quam posset unius magni violentia.
A crowd of even moderate passions is more powerful than the violence of a single great one could be.
§85.7Habet pecuniae cupiditatem, sed modicam.
He has a desire for money, but a moderate one.
Habet ambitionem, sed non concitatam.
He has ambition, but not excited.
Habet iracundiam, sed placabilem.
He has anger, but placable.
Habet inconstantiam, sed minus vagam ac mobilem.
He has inconstancy, but less wandering and unstable.
Habet libidinem non insanam.
He has a passion that is not insane.
Melius cum illo ageretur, qui unum vitium integrum haberet, quam cum eo, qui leviora quidem, sed omnia.
It would be better for him who had one entire vice than for him who had lighter ones, but all of them.
§85.8Deinde nihil interest, quam magnus sit adfectus; quantumcumque est, parere nescit, consilium non accipit.
Next, it makes no difference how great the passion is; however much it is, it does not know how to obey, and it does not receive advice.
Quemadmodum rationi nullum animal optemperat, non ferum, non domesticum et mite, natura enim illorum est surda suadenti; sic non secuntur, non audiunt adfectus, quantulicumque sunt.
Just as no animal obeys reason, neither a wild one, nor a domestic and gentle one, for their nature is deaf to persuasion; so passions, however small they are, do not follow, do not listen.
Tigres leonesque numquam feritatem exuunt, aliquando summittunt, et cum minime expectaveris, exasperatur torvitas mitigata.
Tigers and lions never strip off their wildness, sometimes they submit it, and when you least expect it, their mitigated fierceness is exasperated.
Numquam bona fide vitia mansuescunt.
Vices are never tamed in good faith.