§97.10Omne tempus Clodios, non omne Catones feret.
Every age will produce Clodii, but not every age will produce Catones.
Ad deteriora faciles sumus, quia nec dux potest nec comes deesse, et res ipsa etiam sine duce, sine comite procedit.
We are prone to worse things, because neither a leader nor a companion can be lacking, and the thing itself proceeds even without a leader, without a companion.
Non pronum est tantum ad vitia, sed praeceps, et quod plerosque inemendabiles facit, omnium aliarum artium peccata artificibus pudori sunt offenduntque deerrantem, vitae peccata delectant.
It is not merely a slope toward vices, but a precipice, and what makes most people incurable is that while in all other arts mistakes are a source of shame to the practitioners and offend the one who goes astray, the mistakes of life delight us.
§97.11Non gaudet navigio gubernator everso, non gaudet aegro medicus elato, non gaudet orator, si patroni culpa reus cedidit; at contra omnibus crimen suum voluptati est.
The pilot does not rejoice in a shipwreck, the doctor does not rejoice in the death of his patient, the orator does not rejoice if the defendant has lost his case through the fault of his advocate; but on the contrary, everyone's own crime is a pleasure to him.
Laetatur ille adulterio, in quod inritatus est ipsa difficultate.
One man rejoices in adultery, to which he was stimulated by the very difficulty of it.
Laetatur ille circumscriptione furtoque, nec ante illi culpa quam culpae fortuna displicuit.
Another rejoices in fraud and theft, and the fault does not displease him until the consequence of the fault displeases him.
Id prava consuetudine evenit.
This happens through evil habit.
§97.12Alioquin ut scias subesse animis etiam in pessima abductis boni sensum nec ignorari turpe, sed neglegi; omnes peccata dissimulant et, quamvis feliciter cesserint, fructu illorum utuntur, ipsa subducunt.
Moreover, so that you may know that a sense of the good underlies minds even when they are drawn away into the worst states, and that what is shameful is not ignored but neglected: everyone conceals their sins and, however successfully they turn out, they enjoy the fruit of them but withdraw the sins themselves.
At bona conscientia prodire vult et conspici; ipsas nequitia tenebras timet.
But a good conscience wants to come forward and be seen; wickedness fears the very darkness.
§97.13Eleganter itaque ab Epicuro dictum puto: "potest nocenti contingere, ut lateat, latendi fides non potest," aut si hoc modo melius hunc explicari posse iudicas sensum: "ideo non prodest latere peccantibus, quia latendi etiam si felicitatem habent, fiduciam non habent. "Ita est: tuta scelera esse possunt, secura esse non possunt.
Therefore, I think it was elegantly said by Epicurus: "it can happen to the guilty to remain hidden, but the confidence of remaining hidden cannot," or if you judge that this meaning can be better explained in this way: "therefore it is of no benefit to sinners to remain hidden, because even if they have the good fortune of remaining hidden, they do not have the confidence of it." It is so: crimes can be safe, but they cannot be secure.
§97.14Hoc ego repugnare sectae nostrae, si sic expediatur, non iudico.
I do not judge this to be repugnant to our sect, if it is explained in this way.
Quare? Quia prima illa et maxima peccantium est poena peccasse, nec ullum scelus, licet illud fortuna exornet muneribus suis, licet tueatur ac vindicet, inpunitum est, quoniam sceleris in scelere supplicium est.
Why? Because that first and greatest punishment of sinners is to have sinned, and no crime, though fortune adorns it with her gifts, though she protects and vindicates it, is unpunished, since the punishment of crime is in the crime itself.
Sed nihilominus et hae illam secundae poenae premunt ac secuntur, timere semper et expavescere et securitati diffidere.
But nevertheless, these second punishments also press upon and follow that first one: to fear always, to tremble, and to distrust security.
Quare ego hoc supplicio nequitiam liberem? Quare non semper illam in suspenso relinquam?
Why should I free wickedness from this punishment? Why should I not always leave it in suspense?
§97.15Illic dissentiamus cum Epicuro, ubi dicit nihil iustum esse natura et crimina vitanda esse, quia vitari metus non posse; hic consentiamus mala facinora conscientia flagellari et plurimum illi tormentorum esse eo, quod perpetua illam sollicitudo urget ac verberat, quod sponsoribus securitatis suae non potest credere.
Let us dissent from Epicurus in that point where he says that nothing is just by nature and that crimes are to be avoided because the fear of them cannot be avoided; but let us agree in this, that evil deeds are scourged by conscience and that its greatest torment lies in this, that a perpetual anxiety urges and lashes it, because it cannot trust the guarantors of its security.
Hoc enim ipsum argumentum est, Epicure, natura nos a scelere abhorrere, quod nulli non etiam inter tuta timor est.
For this very thing is the proof, Epicurus, that we naturally shrink from crime, that there is no one who does not feel fear even in safety.
Multos fortuna liberat poena, metu neminem.
Fortune frees many from punishment, but no one from fear.
§97.16Quare nisi quia infixa nobis eius rei aversatio est, quam natura damnavit? Ideo numquam fides latendi fit etiam latentibus, quia coarguit illos conscientia et ipsos sibi ostendit.
Why is this, except because there is implanted in us an aversion to that thing which nature has condemned? Therefore, confidence of remaining hidden never comes even to those who are hidden, because conscience convicts them and shows them to themselves.
Proprium autem est nocentium trepidare.
But it is characteristic of the guilty to tremble.
Male de nobis actum erat, quod multa scelera legem et vindicem effugiunt et scripta supplicia, nisi illa naturalia et gravia de praesentibus solverent et in locum patientiae timor cederet. VALE. grievous offences against Nature must pay the penalty in ready money, and that in place of suffering the punishment comes fear,"
It would have gone badly with us, since many crimes escape the law, the avenger, and written punishments, unless those natural and heavy punishments paid the penalty in ready money, and in place of suffering the punishment came fear. FAREWELL. grievous offences against Nature must pay the penalty in ready money, and that in place of suffering the punishment comes fear,