§94.56Nulli nos vitio natura conciliat; illa integros ac liberos genuit.
Nature reconciles us to no vice; she bore us whole and free.
Nihil quo avaritiam nostram inritaret, posuit in aperto.
She placed nothing in the open that would irritate our avarice.
Pedibus aurum argentumque subiecit calcandumque ac premendum dedit quidquid est propter quod calcamur ac premimur.
She cast gold and silver under our feet, and gave to be trodden and pressed whatever it is on account of which we are trodden and pressed.
Illa vultus nostros erexit ad caelum et quidquid magnificum mirumque fecerat, videri a suspicientibus voluit.
She raised our faces toward heaven and wished whatever magnificent and wonderful thing she had made to be seen by those who look up.
Ortus occasusque et properantis mundi volubilem cursum, interdiu terrena aperientem, nocte caelestia, tardos siderum incessus si conpares toti, citatissimos autem si cogites, quanta spatia numquam intermissa velocitate circumeant, defectus solis ac lunae invicem obstantium, alia deinceps digna miratu, sive per ordinem subeunt sive subitis causis mota prosiliunt, ut nocturnos ignium tractus et sine ullo ictu sonituque fulgores caeli patescentis columnasque ac trabes et varia simulacra flammarum.
The rising and setting of the sun, and the revolving course of the rushing universe, revealing earthly things by day and heavenly things by night; the slow paces of the stars if you compare them to the whole, but the most rapid if you reflect with what great spaces they circle with never-interrupted speed; the eclipses of the sun and moon blocking each other in turn; other things in succession worthy of wonder, whether they come on in order or leap forth moved by sudden causes, such as the nightly tracks of fires and the flashes of the opening sky without any stroke or sound, and columns and beams and various images of flames.
Haec supra nos itura disposuit; §94.57aurum quidem et argentum et propter ista numquam pacem agens ferrum, quasi male nobis committerentur, abscondit.
These she disposed to pass above us; but gold indeed, and silver, and iron, which on account of them never keeps peace, she hid, as if they were being badly entrusted to us.
Nos in lucem, propter quae pugnaremus, extulimus; nos et causas periculorum nostrorum et instrumenta disiecto terrarum pondere eruimus; nos fortunae mala nostra tradidimus nec erubescimus summa apud nos haberi, quae fuerant ima terrarum, vis scire, quam falsus oculos tuos deceperit fulgor?
We brought out into the light the things for the sake of which we might fight; we dug out both the causes of our dangers and the instruments of them by breaking apart the weight of the earth; we handed ourselves over to our fortune's evils, nor do we blush that what had been the lowest of the earth is held highest among us. Do you wish to know how a false brightness has deceived your eyes?
§94.58Nihil est istis, quamdiu mersa et involuta caeno suo iacent, foedius, nihil obscurius, quidni? Quae per longissimorum cuniculorum tenebras extrahuntur.
Nothing is uglier than those things, as long as they lie submerged and enveloped in their own mud, nothing is more obscure—how could it be otherwise?—seeing that they are dragged out through the darkness of very long shafts.
Nihil est illis, dum fiunt et a faece sua separantur, informius.
Nothing is more shapeless than them, while they are being fashioned and separated from their dross.
Denique ipsos opifices intuere, per quorum manus sterile terrae genus et infernum perpurgatur; videbis quanta fuligine oblinantur.
Finally, look at the workmen themselves, through whose hands the sterile and underworldly kind of earth is thoroughly purified; you will see with how much soot they are smeared.
§94.59Atqui ista magis inquinant animos quam corpora, et in possessore eorum quam in artifice plus sordium est.
And yet, those things defile minds more than bodies, and there is more filth in the possessor of them than in the artisan.
Necessarium itaque admoneri est, habere aliquem advocatum bonae mentis et in tanto fremitu tumultuque falsorum unam denique audire vocem.
Therefore, it is necessary to be admonished, to have some advocate of a good mind, and in so great a roar and tumult of falsehoods, to hear at last one voice.
Quae erit illa vox? Ea scilicet, quae tibi tantis clamoribus ambitionis exsurdato salubria insusurret verba, quae dicat: §94.60non est quod invideas istis, quos magnos felicesque populus vocat, non est quod tibi compositae mentis habitum et sanitatem plausus excutiat, non est quod tibi tranquillitatis tuae fastidium faciat ille sub illis fascibus purpura cultus, non est quod feliciorem eum iudices cui summovetur, quam te quem lictor semita deicit.
What will that voice be? That, of course, which whispers wholesome words to you who have been deafened by such great clamor of ambition, which says: there is no reason why you should envy those whom the people call great and happy; there is no reason why applause should shake out of you the state of a well-ordered mind and your sanity; there is no reason why that man adorned in purple under those fasces should make you weary of your own tranquility; there is no reason why you should judge him happier for whom the way is cleared than you whom the lictor thrusts aside from the path.
Si vis exercere tibi utile, nulli autem grave imperium, summove vitia.
If you wish to exercise a command useful to yourself, but burdensome to no one, clear away your vices.
§94.61Multi inveniuntur qui ignem inferant urbibus, qui inexpugnabilia saeculis et per aliquot aetates tuta prosternant, qui aequum arcibus aggerem attollant et muros in miram altitudinem eductos arietibus ac machinis quassent.
Many are found who bring fire upon cities, who overthrow things impregnable for centuries and safe through several ages, who raise a mound equal to citadels and shake with battering rams and engines walls drawn up to a wonderful height.
Multi sunt qui ante se agant agmina et tergis hostium graves instent et ad mare magnum perfusi caede gentium veniant; sed hi quoque, ut vincerent hostem, cupiditate victi sunt.
There are many who drive columns before them and press heavily on the backs of the enemy and come to the great sea drenched in the slaughter of nations; but these also, in order to conquer the enemy, were conquered by desire.
Nemo illis venientibus restitit, sed nec ipsi ambitioni crudelitatique restiterant; tunc, cum agere alios visi sunt, agebantur.
No one resisted them as they came, but neither had they themselves resisted ambition and cruelty; at that time, when they seemed to drive others, they were being driven.
§94.62Agebat infelicem Alexandrum furor aliena vastandi et ad ignota mittebat.
A madness for devastating others' property drove the unhappy Alexander and sent him to unknown lands.
An tu putas sanum, qui a Graeciae primum cladibus, in qua eruditus est, incipit? Qui quod cuique optimum est, eripit, Lacedaemona servire iubet, Athenas tacere? Non contentus tot civitatium strage, quas aut vicerat Philippus aut emerat, alias alio loco proicit et toto orbe arma circumfert, nec subsistit usquam lassa crudelitas immanium ferarum modo, quae plus quam exigit fames mordent.
Or do you think he is sane, who begins first with the disasters of Greece, in which he was educated? Who snatches away what is best for each, orders Lacedaemon to serve, Athens to be silent? Not content with the ruin of so many states, which Philip had either conquered or bought, he flings others down in other places and carries arms throughout the whole world, nor does his weary cruelty stop anywhere, in the manner of monstrous wild beasts, which bite more than hunger requires.
§94.63Iam in unum regnum multa regna coniecit; iam Graeci Persaeque eundem timent; iam etiam a Dareo liberae nationes iugum accipiunt: it tamen ultra oceanum solemque, indignatur ab Herculis Liberique vestigiis victoriam flectere, ipsi naturae vim parat.
Now he has thrown many kingdoms into one kingdom; now Greeks and Persians fear the same man; now even nations free from Darius receive his yoke: yet he goes beyond the ocean and the sun, he is indignant to turn his victory aside from the footsteps of Hercules and Liber, he prepares violence for nature itself.
Non ille ire vult, sed non potest stare, non aliter quam in praeceps deiecta pondera, quibus eundi finis est iacuisse.
It is not that he wishes to go, but he cannot stand still, not otherwise than weights cast headlong, for which the end of going is to have lain still.