§95.37Ceterum, ut illos in bonum pronos citius educit ad summa, et hos inbecilliores adiuvabit malisque opinionibus extrahet, qui illis philosophiae placita tradiderit; quae quam sint necessaria, sic licet videas.
Moreover, just as it leads those who are inclined to the good more quickly to the highest, so he who hands down the decrees of philosophy to them will help these weaker ones and drag them out of their bad opinions; how necessary these are, you may see in this way.
Quaedam insident nobis, quae nos ad aha pigros, ad alia temerarios faciunt.
Certain things reside in us which make us sluggish toward some things, and rash toward others.
Nec haec audacia reprimi potest nec illa inertia suscitari, nisi causae eorum eximuntur, falsa admiratio et falsa formido.
Neither can this boldness be repressed nor that sluggishness be aroused, unless their causes are removed, namely, false admiration and false fear.
Haec nos quamdiu possident, dicas licet: "Hoc patri praestare debes, hoc liberis, hoc amicis, hoc hospitibus; "temptantem avaritia retinebit.
As long as these possess us, you may say: "You ought to perform this for your father, this for your children, this for your friends, this for your guests"; but avarice will hold back the one who tries.
Sciet pro patria pugnandum esse, dissuadebit timor; sciet pro amicis desudandum esse ad extremum usque sudorem, sed deliciae vetabunt; sciet in uxore gravissimum esse genus iniuriae paelicem, sed illum libido in contraria inpinget.
He will know that he must fight for his country, but fear will dissuade him; he will know that he must sweat for his friends even to the last drop of sweat, but luxury will forbid it; he will know that a mistress is the gravest kind of injury to a wife, but lust will drive him in the opposite direction.
§95.38Nihil ergo proderit dare praecepta, nisi prius amoveris obstatura praeceptis, non magis quam proderit arma in conspectu posuisse propiusque admovisse, nisi usurae manus expediuntur.
Therefore, it will be of no use to give precepts unless you first remove what will stand in the way of the precepts, no more than it will be of use to have placed weapons in sight and to have moved them closer, unless the hands of the one who will use them are freed.
Ut ad praecepta, quae damus, possit animus ire, solvendus est.
In order that the mind may be able to go toward the precepts we give, it must be set free.
§95.39Putemus aliquem facere, quod oportet; non faciet adsidue, non faciet aequaliter: nesciet enim, quare faciat.
Let us suppose someone does what he ought to do; he will not do it continually, nor will he do it uniformly: for he will not know why he does it.
Aliqua vel casu vel exercitatione exibunt recta, sed non erit in manu regula, ad quam exigantur, cui credat recta esse, quae fecit.
Some things will turn out right either by chance or by practice, but there will not be in hand the rule by which they are to be measured, and by which he may believe that what he has done is right.
Non promittet se talem in perpetuum, qui bonus casu est.
He who is good by chance will not promise that he will be such forever.
§95.40Deinde praestabunt tibi fortasse praecepta ut quod oportet faciat, non praestabunt ut quemadmodum oportet; si hoc non praestant, ad virtutem non perducunt.
Furthermore, precepts will perhaps guarantee that he does what he ought, but they will not guarantee that he does it in the manner he ought; if they do not guarantee this, they do not lead to virtue.
Faciet quod oportet monitus, concedo; sed id parum est, quoniam quidem non in facto laus est, sed in eo, quemadmodum fiat.
He will do what he ought when advised, I grant; but that is too little, since praise is not in the deed itself, but in the manner in which it is done.
§95.41Quid est cena sumptuosa flagitiosius et equestrem censum consumente? Quid tam dignum censoria nota, si quis, ut isti ganeones loquuntur, sibi hoc et genio suo praestet? Et deciens tamen sestertio aditiales cenae frugalissimis viris constiterunt.
What is more shameful than a sumptuous dinner that consumes an equestrian fortune? What is so worthy of the censor's mark, if anyone, as those gluttons say, performs this for himself and his genius? And yet, inaugural dinners have cost even the most frugal men a million sesterces.
Eadem res, si gulae datur, turpis est; si honori, reprensionem effugit.
The same thing, if given to gluttony, is base; if to honor, it escapes censure.
Non enim luxuria, sed inpensa sollemnis est.
For it is not luxury, but a solemn expense.
§95.42Mullum ingentis formae—quare autem non pondus adicio et aliquorum gulam inrito? quattuor pondo et selibram fuisse aiebant—Tiberius Caesar missum sibi cum in macellum deferri et veniri iussisset: "amici," inquit, "omnia me fallunt, nisi istum mullum aut Apicius emerit aut P. Octavius. "Ultra spem illi coniectura processit: liciti sunt, vicit Octavius et ingentem consecutus est inter suos gloriam, cum quinque sestertiis emisset piscem, quem Caesar vendiderat, ne Apicius quidem emerat.
A mullet of huge size—but why do I not add its weight and provoke the gluttony of some? They said it was four and a half pounds—when Tiberius Caesar had ordered it, which had been sent to him, to be taken to the market and sold: "Friends," he said, "everything deceives me unless either Apicius or Publius Octavius buys that mullet." His conjecture succeeded beyond expectation: they bid against each other, Octavius won and obtained immense glory among his peers, since he had bought for five thousand sesterces a fish which Caesar had sold, and which not even Apicius had bought.
Numerare tantum Octavio fuit turpe, non illi, qui emerat, ut Tiberio mitteret, quamquam illum quoque reprenderim; admiratus est rem, qua putavit Caesarem dignum.
To pay so much was shameful for Octavius, but not for the one who had bought it to send to Tiberius, although I would censure him as well; he admired a thing of which he thought Caesar worthy.
§95.43Amico aliquis aegro adsidet: probamus.
Someone sits by a sick friend: we approve.
At hoc hereditatis causa facit: vultur est, cadaver expectat.
But he does this for the sake of an inheritance: he is a vulture, he expects a corpse.
Eadem aut turpia sunt aut honesta; refert, quare aut quemadmodum fiant.
The same things are either base or honorable; it matters why or how they are done.
Omnia autem honesta fient, si honesto nos addixerimus idque unum in rebus humanis bonum iudicaverimus quaeque ex eo sunt; cetera in diem bona sunt.
But all things will become honorable if we devote ourselves to the honorable, and judge this to be the only good in human affairs, and those things which spring from it; other things are good only for the day.
§95.44Ergo infigi debet persuasio ad totam pertinens vitam: hoc est, quod decretum voco.
Therefore, a conviction pertaining to the whole of life must be implanted: this is what I call a decree.
Qualis haec persuasio fuerit, talia erunt, quae agentur, quae cogitabuntur.
Of what sort this conviction is, of such sort will be the things which are done and thought.
Qualia autem haec fuerint, talis vita erit.
And of what sort these are, of such sort will be life.
In particulas suasisse totum ordinanti parum est.
To advise on particulars is too little for one who is organizing the whole.
§95.45M. Brutus in eo libro, quem περὶ καθήκοντοσ inscripsit, dat multa praecepta et parentibus et liberis et fratribus; haec nemo faciet quemadmodum debet, nisi habuerit quo referat.
Marcus Brutus, in that book which he entitled 'On Duty,' gives many precepts to parents, children, and brothers; but no one will do these in the manner he ought, unless he has a point to which he may refer them.
Proponamus oportet finem summi boni, ad quem nitamur, ad quem omne factum nostrum dictumque respiciat; veluti navigantibus ad aliquod sidus derigendus est cursus.
We must propose the end of the supreme good toward which we may strive, and to which our every deed and word may look, just as for those sailing, the course must be directed toward some star.