§9.17Quamdiu quidem illi licet suo arbitrio res suas ordinare, se contentus est et ducit uxorem; se contentus est et liberos tollit; se contentus est et tamen non viveret, si foret sine homine victurus.
Indeed, as long as he is permitted to arrange his own affairs according to his own judgment, he is content with himself and takes a wife; he is content with himself and raises children; he is content with himself and yet he would not live if he were to live without any fellow human being.
Ad amicitiam fert illum nulla utilitas sua, sed naturalis inritatio.
No utility of his own leads him to friendship, but a natural impulse.
Nam ut aliarum nobis rerum innata dulcedo est, sic amicitiae.
For just as a sweetness for other things is inborn in us, so is it for friendship.
Quomodo solitudinis odium est et adpetitio societatis, quomodo hominem homini natura conciliat, sic inest huic quoque rei stimulus, qui nos amicitiarum adpetentes faciat.
Just as there is a hatred of solitude and a desire for society, and just as nature conciliates human being to human being, so there is in this thing also a stimulus that makes us desirous of friendships.
§9.18Nihilominus cum sit amicorum amantissimus, cum illos sibi comparet, saepe praeferat, omne intra se bonum terminabit et dicet, quod Stilbon ille dixit, Stilbon quem Epicuri epistula insequitur; hic enim capta patria, amissis liberis, amissa uxore cum ex incendio publico solus et tamen beatus exiret, interroganti Demetrio, cui cognomen ab exitio urbium Poliorcetes fuit, numquid perdidisset, "Omnia," inquit, "bona mea mecum sunt. " §9.19Ecce vir fortis ac strenuus! Ipsam hostis sui victoriam vicit.
Nevertheless, although he is most loving of his friends, although he compares them to himself and often prefers them, he will limit every good within himself and will say what that famous Stilbo said, the Stilbo whom Epicurus’ letter attacks; for this man, when his homeland was captured, his children lost, and his wife lost, as he went out alone and yet happy from the public conflagration, replied to Demetrius—who had the surname Poliorcetes from the destruction of cities—when he asked whether he had lost anything: "All my goods are with me." Behold a brave and vigorous man! He conquered the very victory of his enemy.
"Nihil," inquit, "perdidi"; dubitare illum coegit, an vicisset.
"I have lost nothing," he said; he forced the enemy to doubt whether he had conquered.
"Omnia mea mecum sunt; "hoc ipsum est nihil bonum putare, quod eripi possit.
"All my things are with me." This is precisely to think nothing a good that can be snatched away.
Miramur animalia quaedam, quae per medios ignes sine noxa corporum transeant; quanto hic mirabilior vir, qui per ferrum et ruinas et ignes inlaesus et indemnis evasit! Vides, quanto facilius sit totam gentem quam unum virum vincere? Haec vox illi communis est cum Stoico.
We wonder at certain animals that pass through the midst of fires without bodily harm; how much more wonderful is this man, who escaped unhurt and undamaged through iron and ruins and fires! Do you see how much easier it is to conquer a whole nation than one man? This saying is common to him and the Stoic.
Aeque et hic intacta bona per concrematas urbes fert.
Equally does he also carry his untouched goods through burned cities.
Se enim ipso contentus est. Hoc felicitatem suam fine designat.
For he is content with himself; he defines his happiness by this limit.
§9.20Ne existimes nos solos generosa verba iactare; et ipse Stilbonis obiurgator Epicurus similem illi vocem emisit, quam tu boni consule, etiam si hunc diem iam expunxi.
Do not think that we alone throw about noble words; Epicurus himself, the censurer of Stilbo, uttered a similar saying, which you should take in good part, even if I have already wiped out this day's debt.
"Si cui," inquit, "sua non videntur amplissima, licet totius mundi dominus sit, tamen miser est. "Vel si hoc modo tibi melius enuntiari videtur,— id enim agendum est, ut non verbis serviamus, sed sensibus,—: "Miser est, qui se non beatissimum iudicat, licet imperet mundo. '' §9.21Ut scias autem hos sensus esse communes, natura scilicet dictante, apud poetam comicum invenies:
"
Non est beatus, esse se qui non putat. "
Quid enim refert, qualis status tuus sit, si tibi videtur malus?"
"If to anyone," he says, "his own things do not seem most ample, although he may be the master of the whole world, yet he is miserable." Or if it seems to be better expressed to you in this way—for we must strive not to be slaves to words, but to senses—: "He is miserable who does not judge himself to be most happy, although he rules the world." But that you may know that these sentiments are common, dictated of course by nature, you will find in a comic poet: "He is not happy, who does not think himself to be so." For what does it matter what your status is, if it seems bad to you?
§9.22Quid ergo?" inquis.
"What then?" you say.
"Si beatum se dixerit ille turpiter dives et ille multorum dominus sed plurium servus, beatus sua sententia fiet? "Non quid dicat, sed quid sentiat, refert, nec quid uno die sentiat, sed quid adsidue.
"If that basely rich man, and that master of many but slave of more, says that he is happy, will he become happy in his own opinion?" It is not what he says, but what he feels that matters, and not what he feels on one day, but what he feels constantly.
Non est autem quod verearis, ne ad indignum res tanta perveniat; nisi sapienti sua non placent.
But there is no reason for you to fear that so great a thing should reach the unworthy; except for the wise man, his own things do not please him.
Omnis stultitia laborat fastidio sui.
All foolishness suffers from disgust with itself.
VALE.
FAREWELL.