§87.1Naufragium, antequam navem adscenderem, feci.
I suffered shipwreck before I climbed aboard a ship.
Quomodo acciderit, non adicio, ne et hoc putes inter Stoica paradoxa ponendum, quorum nullum esse falsum nec tam mirabile quam prima facie videtur, cum volueris, adprobabo, immo etiam si nolueris.
How it happened, I do not add, lest you should think that this also is to be placed among the Stoic paradoxes, of which I will prove to you, when you wish, or rather even if you do not wish, that none is false nor as admirable as it seems at first sight.
Interim hoc me iter docuit, quam multa haberemus supervacua et quam facile iudicio possemus deponere, quae, si quando necessitas abstulit, non sentimus ablata.
Meanwhile, this journey has taught me how many superfluous things we had, and how easily we could lay them aside by judgment, which, if ever necessity has taken them away, we do not feel to be gone.
§87.2Cum paucissimis servis, quos unum capere vehiculum potuit, sine ullis rebus, nisi quae corpore nostro continebantur, ego et Maximus meus biduum iam beatissimum agimus.
With very few slaves, whom a single vehicle could hold, without any things except what were contained on our bodies, my Maximus and I are already passing a second most happy day.
Culcita in terra iacet, ego in culcita.
The mattress lies on the ground, and I on the mattress.
Ex duabus paenulis altera stragulum, altera opertorium facta est.
Of two cloaks, one has been made a blanket, the other a coverlet.
§87.3De prandio nihil detrahi potuit; paratum fuit non magis hora, nusquam sine caricis, numquam sine pugillaribus.
Nothing could be subtracted from our lunch; it was ready in not more than an hour, nowhere without dried figs, never without notebooks.
Illae, si panem habeo, pro pulmentario sunt, si non habeo, pro pane.
The former, if I have bread, serve as a relish; if I do not have it, they serve as bread.
Cotidie mihi annum novum faciunt, quem ego faustum et felicem reddo bonis cogitationibus et animi magnitudine, qui numquam maior est, quam ubi aliena seposuit et fecit sibi pacem nihil timendo, fecit sibi divitias nihil concupiscendo.
Every day they make a new year for me, which I render auspicious and happy with good thoughts and greatness of soul, which is never greater than when it has set aside foreign things and made peace for itself by fearing nothing, and made riches for itself by desiring nothing.
§87.4Vehiculum, in quod inpositus sum, rusticum est; nudae vivere se ambulando testantur; mulio excalceatus, non propter aestatem.
The vehicle into which I have been put is rustic; the mules prove that they are alive only by walking; the muleteer is barefoot, and not because of summer.
Vix a me obtineo, ut hoc vehiculum velim videri meum.
I can hardly obtain from myself that I should wish this vehicle to seem mine.
Durat adhuc perversa recti verecundia, et quotiens in aliquem comitatum lautiorem incidimus, invitus erubesco, quod argumentum est ista, quae probo, quae laudo, nondum habere certam sedem et inmobilem.
There still lasts a perverse shame of what is right, and as often as we fall into some more elegant company, I blush against my will, which is a proof that those things which I approve and praise do not yet have a secure and immovable seat.
Qui sordido vehiculo erubescit, pretioso gloriabitur.
He who blushes at a shabby vehicle will boast of a costly one.
§87.5Parum adhuc profeci.
I have made little progress as yet.
Nondum audeo frugalitatem palam ferre.
I do not yet dare to wear frugality openly.
Etiamnunc curo opiniones viatorum.
Even now I care about the opinions of travelers.
Contra totius generis humani opiniones mittenda vox erat: "Insanitis, erratis, stupetis ad supervacua, neminem aestimatis suo.
Against the opinions of the whole human race a voice should have been sent: "You are mad, you err, you are amazed at superfluous things, you value no one by his own worth.
Cum ad patrimonium ventum est, diligentissimi conputatores sic rationem ponitis singulorum, quibus aut pecuniam credituri estis aut beneficia, nam haec quoque iam expensa fertis: §87.6late possidet, sed multum debet; habet domum formosam, sed alienis nummis paratam: familiam nemo cito speciosiorem producet, sed nominibus non respondet; si creditoribus solverit, nihil illi supererit Idem in reliquis quoque facere debebitis, excutere quantum proprii quisque habeat. " §87.7Divitem illum putas, quia aurea supellex etiam in via sequitur, quia in omnibus provinciis arat, quia magnus kalendari liber volvitur, quia tantum suburbani agri possidet, quantum invidiose in desertis Apuliae possideret.
When it comes to patrimony, you, most diligent calculators, set up the account of individuals to whom you are about to lend either money or benefits—for you already enter these also as expenses: 'he possesses widely, but he owes much; he has a beautiful house, but built with other people's money; no one will quickly bring out a more handsome household of slaves, but he does not answer to his debts; if he pays his creditors, nothing will be left to him.' You ought to do the same in other matters as well, to shake out how much of his own each one has." You think that man rich because golden furniture follows him even on the road, because he plows in all provinces, because a large book of accounts is rolled, because he possesses as much suburban land as he would possess with envy in the deserts of Apulia.
Cum omnia dixeris, pauper est.
When you have said all, he is poor.
Quare? Quia debet.
Why? Because he owes.
"Quantum? "inquis.
"How much?" you say.
Omnia.
Everything.
Nisi forte iudicas interesse, utrum aliquis ab homine an a fortuna mutuum sumpserit.
Unless perchance you judge it to make a difference whether someone has taken a loan from a man or from fortune.
§87.8Quid ad rem pertinent mulae saginatae unius omnes coloris? Quid ista vehicula caelata?
"
Instratos ostro alipedes pictisque tapetis,
Aurea pectoribus demissa monilia pendent,
Tecti auro fulvom mandunt sub dentibus aurum.
What do fattened mules, all of one color, pertain to the matter? What those engraved vehicles? "Swift-footed horses covered with purple and embroidered tapestries, Golden necklaces hang down from their breasts, Covered with gold, they champ the yellow gold under their teeth.
"
Ista nec dominum meliorem possunt facere nec mulam.
"Those things can make neither the master better nor the mule.
§87.9M. Cato Censorius, quem tam e re publica fuit nasci quam Scipionem, alter enim cum hostibus nostris bellum, alter cum moribus gessit, cantherio vehebatur et hippoperis quidem inpositis, ut secum utilia portaret.
M. Cato the Censor, whose birth was as much of advantage to the republic as Scipio's—for the one waged war with our enemies, the other with our morals—used to ride on a gelding, and indeed with saddlebags placed on it, so that he might carry useful things with him.
O quam cuperem illi nunc occurrere aliquem ex his trossulis in via cursores et Numidas et multum ante se pulveris agentem! Hic sine dubio cultior comitatiorque quam M. Cato videretur, hic, qui inter illos apparatus delicatos cum maxime dubitat, utrum se ad gladium locet an ad cultrum.
Oh, how I should wish some of these "trossuli" on the road to meet him, with runners and Numidians and driving much dust before him! This man, without doubt, would seem more refined and better accompanied than M. Cato—this man who, amid those delicate preparations, is at this very moment doubting whether to hire himself out to the sword or to the knife.