§95.10Praeterea nulla ars contemplativa sine decretis suis est, quae Graeci vocant dogmata, nobis vel decreta licet appellare vel scita vel placita, quae et in geometria et in astronomia invenies.
Moreover, no contemplative art is without its own decrees, which the Greeks call dogmata, while we may call them either decrees or decisions or opinions, which you will find both in geometry and in astronomy.
Philosophia autem et contemplativa est et activa; spectat simul agitque.
Philosophy, however, is both contemplative and active; it contemplates and acts at the same time.
Erras enim, si tibi illam putas tantum terrestres operas promittere; altius spirat.
For you are mistaken if you think that she promises you only earthly labors; she breathes higher.
Totum, inquit, mundum scrutor nec me intra contubernium mortale contineo suadere vobis ac dissuadere contenta.
"I search," she says, "the whole world, nor do I contain myself within mortal companionship, content to advise and dissuade you.
Magna me vocant supraque vos posita: §95.11"
Nam tibi de summa caeli ratione deumque
Disserere incipiam et rerum primordia pandam; Unde omnis natura creet res, auctet alatque,
Quoque eadem rursus natura perempta resolvat,
"
ut ait Lucretius.
Great things call me, placed above you: 'For I shall begin to discuss for you the supreme law of heaven and of the gods, and I shall unfold the first beginnings of things; whence nature creates all things, increases and nourishes them, and into which the same nature again resolves them when destroyed,' as Lucretius says.
Sequitur ergo ut, cum contemplativa sit, habeat decreta sua.
It follows, therefore, that since she is contemplative, she has her own decrees.
§95.12Quid? Quod facienda quoque nemo rite obibit nisi is, cui ratio erit tradita, qua in quaque re omnes officiorum numeros exequi possit, quos non servabit, qui in rem praesentem praecepta acceperit, non in omnem.
What of the fact that no one will properly perform even what is to be done unless he is handed the reason by which he can fulfill in each thing all the measures of duties? He will not keep these who has received precepts for the present situation, but not for all.
Inbecilla sunt per se et, ut ita dicam, sine radice, quae partibus dantur.
Those things are weak by themselves and, so to speak, without a root, which are given to parts.
Decreta sunt, quae muniant, quae securitatem nostram tranquillitatemque tueantur, quae totam vitam totamque rerum naturam simul contineant.
Decrees are what fortify us, what protect our safety and tranquility, what contain at the same time the whole of life and the whole nature of things.
Hoc interest inter decreta philosophiae et praecepta, quod inter elementa et membra; haec ex illis dependent, illa et horum causae sunt et omnium.
This is the difference between the decrees of philosophy and its precepts, as between elements and limbs; the latter depend on the former, while the former are the causes both of these and of all things.
§95.13"Antiqua," inquit, "sapientia nihil aliud quam facienda ac vitanda praecepit, et tunc longe meliores erant viri.
"Ancient wisdom," he says, "prescribed nothing other than what was to be done and avoided, and then men were far better.
Postquam docti prodierunt, boni desunt.
After scholars came forth, good men are lacking.
Simplex enim illa et aperta virtus in obscuram et sollertem scientiam versa est docemurque disputare, non vivere. " §95.14Fuit sine dubio, ut dicitis, vetus illa sapientia cum maxime nascens rudis non minus quam ceterae artes, quarum in processu subtilitas crevit.
For that simple and open virtue has been turned into an obscure and clever knowledge, and we are taught to dispute, not to live." There was, without doubt, as you say, that old wisdom, especially when just being born, no less rude than the other arts, whose subtlety grew in progress.
Sed ne opus quidem adhuc erat remediis diligentibus.
But there was not even need yet for diligent remedies.
Nondum in tantum nequitia surrexerat nec tam late se sparserat.
Not yet had wickedness risen to such an extent, nor had it spread so widely.
Poterant vi tus simplicibus obstare remedia simplicia; nunc necesse est tanto operosiora esse munimenta, quanto vehementiora sunt, quibus petimur.
Simple remedies could oppose simple vices; now it is necessary that fortifications be so much more laborious, by how much more violent are those things by which we are attacked.
§95.15Medicina quondam paucarum fuit scientia herbarum, quibus sisteretur fluens sanguis, vulnera coirent; paulatim deinde in hanc pervenit tam multiplicem varietatem.
Medicine was once the knowledge of a few herbs, by which flowing blood was stopped and wounds closed; then gradually it arrived at this so manifold variety.
Nec est mirum tunc illam minus negotii habuisse firmis adhuc solidisque corporibus et facili cibo nec per artem voluptatemque corrupto, qui postquam coepit non ad tollendam, sed ad inritandam famem quaeri et inventae sunt mille conditurae, quibus aviditas excitaretur, quae desiderantibus ali menta erant, onera sunt plenis.
Nor is it a wonder that then it had less trouble, with bodies still firm and solid, and with simple food not corrupted by art and pleasure, which after it began to be sought not to remove but to excite hunger, and a thousand seasonings were invented by which greed might be aroused, what were nourishments to those desiring them became burdens to those who were full.
§95.16Inde pallor et nervorum vino madentium tremor et miserabilior ex cruditatibus quam ex fame macies.
Hence pallor, and the trembling of sinews soaked in wine, and a thinness more miserable from indigestion than from hunger.
Inde incerti labantium pedes et semper qualis in ipsa ebrietate titubatio.
Hence the uncertain feet of those who stagger, and a stumbling always like that in drunkenness itself.
Inde in totam cutem umor admissus distentusque venter, dum male adsuescit plus capere quam poterat.
Hence water admitted into the whole skin and the belly distended, while it badly accustoms itself to take more than it could.
Inde suffusio luridae bilis et decolor vultus tabesque in se putrescentium et retorridi digiti articulis obrigescentibus nervorumque sine sensu iacentium torpor aut palpitatio sine intermissione vibrantium.
Hence the overflowing of pale bile, and a discolored countenance, and the decay of those rotting in themselves, and withered fingers with stiffening joints, and the numbness of sinews lying without sense, or the palpitation of those vibrating without intermission.
§95.17Quid capitis vertigines dicam? Quid oculorum auriumque tormenta et cerebri exaestuantis verminationes et omnia, per quae exoneramur, internis ulceribus adfecta? Innumerabilia praeterea febrium genera, aliarum impetu saevientium, aliarum tenui peste repentium, aliarum eum horrore et multa membrorum quassatione venientium?
What shall I say of vertigoes of the head? What of the torments of the eyes and ears, and the gnawing pains of a boiling brain, and all the organs through which we are relieved, affected by internal ulcers? Besides, the innumerable kinds of fevers, some raging with violence, others creeping with a thin pestilence, others coming with shivering and great shaking of limbs?
§95.18Quid alios referam innumerabiles morbos, supplicia luxuriae?
Immunes erant ab istis malis, qui nondum se deliciis solverant, qui sibi imperabant, sibi ministrabant.
Why should I recall other innumerable diseases, the punishments of luxury? Free from these evils were those who had not yet dissolved themselves in pleasures, who ruled themselves and served themselves.
Corpora opere ac vero labore durabant aut cursu defatigati aut venatu aut tellure versanda.
Their bodies were hardened by work and real labor, either exhausted by running, or by hunting, or by turning the earth.
excipiebat illos cibus, qui nisi esurientibus placere non posset.
Food received them, which could not please except those who were hungry.
Itaque nihil opus erat tam magna medicorum supellectile nec tot ferramentis atque pyxidibus.
Therefore, there was no need of so great an apparatus of physicians, nor of so many iron tools and medicine boxes.
Simplex erat ex causa simplici valitudo; multos morbos multa fericula fecerunt.
Health was simple from a simple cause; many dishes made many diseases.