§88.1De liberalibus studiis quid sentiam, scire desideras: nullum suspicio, nullum in bonis numero, quod ad aes exit.
You desire to know what I think about liberal studies: I respect none, I number none among goods, which issues in money.
Meritoria artificia sunt, hactenus utilia, si praeparant ingenium, non detinent.
They are mercenary crafts, useful only so far as they prepare the mind, but do not detain it.
Tamdiu enim istis inmorandum est, quamdiu nihil animus agere maius potest; rudimenta sunt nostra, non opera.
For we should linger in them only so long as the mind can do nothing greater; they are our rudiments, not our works.
§88.2Quare liberalia studia dicta sint, vides; quia homine libero digna sunt.
You see why they are called "liberal studies": because they are worthy of a free man.
Ceterum unum studium vere liberale est, quod liberum facit.
But only one study is truly liberal, which makes a man free.
Hoc est sapientiae, sublime, forte, magnanimum.
This is the study of wisdom, sublime, strong, magnanimous.
Cetera pusilla et puerilia sunt; an tu quicquam in istis esse credis boni, quorum professores turpissimos omnium ac flagitiosissimos cernis? Non discere debemus ista, sed didicisse.
The others are petty and childish; or do you believe there is any good in those studies whose professors you see to be the most shameful and disgraceful of all? We ought not to be learning those things, but to have learned them.
Quidam illud de liberalibus studiis quaerendum iudicaverunt, an virum bonum facerent; ne promittunt quidem nec huius rei scientiam adfectant.
Some have judged that this question should be asked about liberal studies, whether they make a good man; they do not even promise this, nor do they affect a knowledge of this matter.
§88.3Grammaticus circa curam sermonis versatur et, si latius evagari vult, circa historias, iam ut longissime fines suos proferat, circa carmina.
A grammarian is occupied with the care of speech and, if he wishes to wander wider, with histories, and, to extend his boundaries to the furthest, with poetry.
Quid horum ad virtutem viam sternit? Syllabarum enarratio et verborum diligentia et fabularum memoria et versuum lex ac modificatio? Quid ex his metum demit, cupiditatem eximit, libidinem frenat?
Which of these paves the way to virtue? The explanation of syllables, the diligence of words, the memory of stories, and the law and modification of verses? Which of these takes away fear, removes desire, curbs lust?
§88.4Quaeritur utrum doceant isti virtutem an non; si non docent, ne tradunt quidem.
It is asked whether they teach virtue or not; if they do not teach it, they do not even transmit it.
Si docent, philosophi sunt.
If they do teach it, they are philosophers.
Vis scire, quam non ad docendam virtutem consederint? Aspice, quam dissimilia inter se omnium studia sint; atqui similitudo esset idem docentium.
Do you want to know how far they have not settled down to teach virtue? Look at how dissimilar the studies of all of them are to one another; and yet, there would be a similarity among those who teach the same thing.
§88.5Nisi forte tibi Homerum philosophum fuisse persuadent, cum his ipsis, quibus colligunt, negent.
Unless perhaps they persuade you that Homer was a philosopher, although they deny it by the very arguments by which they gather it.
Nam modo Stoicum illum faciunt, virtutem solam probantem et voluptates refugientem et ab honesto ne inmortalitatis quidem pretio recedentem, modo Epicureum, laudantem statum quietae civitatis et inter convivia cantusque vitam exigentis, modo Peripateticum, tria bonorum genera inducentem, modo Academicum, omnia incerta dicentem.
For now they make him a Stoic, approving virtue alone and fleeing pleasures, and not departing from the honorable even at the price of immortality; now an Epicurean, praising the state of a quiet city and spending his life among banquets and songs; now a Peripatetic, introducing three classes of goods; now an Academic, saying that all things are uncertain.
Adparet nihil horum esse in illo, quia omnia sunt. Ista enim inter se dissident.
It is apparent that none of these is in him, because all of them are in him; for those things disagree with one another.
Demus illis Homerum philosophum fuisse; nempe sapiens factus est, antequam carmina ulla cognosceret.
Let us grant them that Homer was a philosopher; surely he was made wise before he knew any poetry.
Ergo illa discamus, quae Homerum fecere sapientem.
Therefore, let us learn those things which made Homer wise.
§88.6Hoc quidem me quaerere, uter maior aetate fuerit, Homerus an Hesiodus, non magis ad rem pertinet quam scire, cum minor Hecuba fuerit quam Helena, quare tam male tulerit aetatem.
Indeed, my inquiring this, which of the two was older, Homer or Hesiod, is no more to the point than knowing, since Hecuba was younger than Helen, why she bore her age so ill.
Quid? Inquam, annos Patrocli et Achillis inquirere ad rem existimas pertinere?
What? Do you think, I say, that inquiring into the years of Patroclus and Achilles is to the point?
§88.7Quaeris, Vlixes ubi erraverit, potius quam efficias, ne nos semper erremus? Non vacat audire, utrum inter Italiam et Siciliam iactatus sit an extra notum nobis orbem, neque enim potuit in tam angusto error esse tam longus; tempestates nos animi cotidie iactant et nequitia in omnia Vlixis mala inpellit.
Do you inquire where Ulysses wandered, rather than bring it about that we do not always wander? I have no leisure to hear whether he was tossed between Italy and Sicily or outside our known world, for there could not have been so long a wandering in so narrow a space; daily the tempests of our mind toss us, and wickedness impels us into all the evils of Ulysses.
Non deest forma, quae sollicitet oculos, non hostis; hinc monstra effera et humano cruore gaudentia, hinc insidiosa blandimenta aurium, hinc naufragia et tot varietates malorum.
There is no lack of beauty to solicit our eyes, nor of an enemy; on this side are wild monsters rejoicing in human blood, on that side insidious allurements of the ears, on another shipwreck and so many varieties of evils.
Hoc me doce, quomodo patriam amem, quomodo uxorem, quomodo patrem, quomodo ad haec tam honesta vel naufragus navigem.
Teach me this: how I may love my country, how my wife, how my father, and how, even shipwrecked, I may sail to these so honorable things.
§88.8Quid inquiris, an Penelopa pudica fuerit, an verba saeculo suo dederit? An Vlixem illum esse, quem videbat, antequam sciret, suspicata sit? Doce me, quid sit pudicitia et quantum in ea bonum, in corpore an in animo posita sit.
Why do you inquire whether Penelope was chaste, or whether she deceived her age? Or whether she suspected that the man she was looking at was Ulysses, before she knew it? Teach me what chastity is, and how great a good there is in it, and whether it is placed in the body or in the mind.
§88.9Ad musicum transeo: doces me, quomodo inter se acutae ac graves consonent, quomodo nervorum disparem reddentium sonum fiat concordia; fac potius, quomodo animus secum meus consonet nec consilia mea discrepent.
I pass to the musician: you teach me how high and low notes harmonize with each other, how concord is made of strings yielding a different sound; make it rather so that my mind harmonizes with itself, and my decisions do not disagree.
Monstras mihi, qui sint modi flebiles; monstra potius, quomodo inter adversa non emittam flebilem vocem.
You show me what are the mournful modes; show me rather how, in adversity, I may not utter a mournful cry.