§98.9Egregie itaque videtur mihi Metrodorus dixisse in ea epistula, qua sororem amisso optimae indolis filio adloquitur: "mortale est omne mortalium bonum. "De his loquitur bonis, ad quae concurritur.
Therefore, Metrodorus seems to me to have spoken excellently in that letter in which he addresses his sister on the loss of her son of excellent disposition: "Every good of mortals is mortal." He speaks of these goods toward which people run.
Nam illud verum bonum non moritur, certum est sempiternumque, sapientia et virtus; hoc unum contingit inmortale mortalibus.
For that true good does not die, it is certain and eternal, wisdom and virtue; this alone falls ¦p.v3.p.124 as immortal to mortals.
§98.10Ceterum tam inprobi sunt tamque obliti, quo eant, quo illos singuli dies turbent, ut mirentur aliquid ipsos amittere amissuri uno die omnia.
But people are so wicked and so forgetful of where they are going, and where each day drives them, that they wonder that they lose anything, though they are going to lose all things in a single day.
Quicquid est, dominus inscriberis, apud te est, tuum non est; nihil firmum infirmo, nihil fragili aeternum et invictum est.
Whatever it is, you are registered as its master, it is in your possession, but it is not yours; nothing is firm to the infirm, nothing is eternal and invincible to the fragile.
Tam necesse est perire quam perdere, et hoc ipsum, si intellegimus, solacium est.
It is as necessary to perish as to lose, and this itself, if we understand it, is a consolation.
Aequo animo perde, pereundum est.
Lose with an equal mind, for to perish is necessary.
§98.11Quid ergo adversus has amissiones auxili invenimus? Hoc, ut memoria teneamus amissa nec cum ipsis fructum excidere patiamur, quem ex illis percepimus.
What help then do we find against these losses? This: that we hold lost things in memory, and do not allow the fruit we perceived from them to pass away with them.
Habere eripitur, habuisse numquam.
To possess is snatched away, to have possessed never.
Peringratus est, qui cum amisit, pro accepto nihil debet.
He is extremely ungrateful who, when he has lost, owes nothing for what was received.
Rem nobis eripit casus, usum fructumque apud nos relinquit, quem nos iniquitate desiderii perdidimus.
Chance snatches the thing from us, but leaves its use and fruit with us, which we lose by the injustice of our longing.
§98.12Dic tibi: "Ex istis, quae terribilia videntur, nihil est invictum.
Say to yourself: "Of those things which seem terrible, nothing is invincible.
Singula vicere iam multi: ignem Mucius, crucem Regulus, venenum Socrates, exilium Rutilius, mortem ferro adactam Cato; et nosvincamus aliquid. " §98.13Rursus ista, quae ut speciosa et felicia trahunt vulgum, a multis et saepe contempta sunt.
Many have already conquered individual things: Mucius fire, Regulus the cross, Socrates poison, Rutilius exile, Cato death brought by the sword; let us too conquer something." Conversely, those things which, as beautiful and happy, attract the crowd, have been despised by many and often.
Fabricius divitias imperator reiecit, censor notavit.
Fabricius as general rejected riches, and as censor branded them.
Tubero paupertatem et se dignam et Capitolio iudicavit, cum fictilibus in publica cena usus ostendit debere iis hominem esse contentum, quibus di etiamnunc uterentur.
Tubero judged ¦p.v3.p.126 poverty worthy both of himself and of the Capitol, when, using earthenware at a public dinner, he showed that a man ought to be content with those things which the gods even now use.
Honores reppulit pater Sextius, qui ita natus, ut rem publicam deberet capessere, latum clavum divo Iulio dante non recepit.
Father Sextius rejected honors; though born such that he ought to have entered public affairs, he did not accept the broad stripe when the deified Julius offered it.
Intellegebat enim quod dari posset, et eripi posse.
For he understood that what could be given could also be snatched away.
Nos quoque aliquid et ipsi faciamus animose; simus inter exempla.
Let us too do something courageously ourselves; let us be among the examples.
§98.14Quare defecimus? Quare desperantes? Quicquid fieri potuit, potest, nos modo purgemus animum sequamurque naturam, a qua aberranti cupiendum timendumque est et fortuitis serviendum.
Why have we failed? Why are we despairing? Whatever could be done can be done, if only we purify our mind and follow nature, from which for one who strays, desiring and fearing are necessary, and serving fortuitous things is necessary.
Licet reverti in viam, licet in integrum restitui; restituamur, ut possimus dolores, quocumque modo corpus invaserint, perferre et fortunae dicere: "cum viro tibi negotium est; quaere, quem vincas. " §98.15His sermonibus et his similibus lenitur illa vis ulceris, quam opto mehercules mitigari et aut sanari aut stare et cum ipso senescere.
It is permitted to return to the path, it is permitted to be restored to integrity; let us be restored, so that we may endure pains, in whatever way they invade the body, and say to fortune: "Your business is with a man; seek someone you can conquer." By these discourses and similar ones, that violence of the ulcer is mitigated, which indeed I wish to be softened, and either cured, or to stand still and grow old with him.
Sed securus de illo sum; de nostro damno agitur, quibus senex egregius eripitur.
But I am secure about him; it is our loss that is at stake, we from whom an excellent old man is being snatched.
Nam ipse vitae plenus est, cui adici nihil desiderat sua causa, sed eorum, quibus utilis est.
For he himself is full of life, to which he does not desire anything to be added for his own sake, but for the sake of those to whom he is useful.
§98.16Liberaliter facit, quod vivit.
He acts generously in that he lives.
Alius iam hos cruciatus finisset; hic tam turpe putat mortem fugere quam ad mortem confugere.
Another would already have ended these torments ¦p.v3.p.128; he thinks it as disgraceful to flee death as to flee to death.
"Quid ergo? Non, si suadebit res, exibit? "Quidni exeat, si nemo iam uti eo poterit? Si nihil aliud quam dolori operam dabit?
"What then? Will he not depart if the situation advises?" Why should he not depart, if no one can any longer make use of him, if he will do nothing else than attend to pain?
§98.17Hoc est, mi Lucili, philosophiam in opere discere et ad verum exerceri: videre, quid homo prudens animi habeat contra mortem, contra dolorem, cum illa accedat, hic premat.
This is, my Lucilius, to learn philosophy in practice and to be exercised for truth: to see what mind a wise man has against death, against pain, when the former approaches and the latter presses.
Quid faciendum sit, a faciente discendum est.
What must be done must be learned from the doer.
Adhuc argumentis actum est, an posset aliqui dolori resistere, an mors magnos quoque animos admota summittere.
Up to now, it has been dealt with by arguments, whether anyone could resist pain, whether death, when applied, could submit even great minds.
§98.18Quid opus est verbis? In rem praesentem eamus: nec mors illum contra dolorem facit fortiorem nec dolor contra mortem.
What need is there for words? Let us go to the actual case: neither death makes him stronger against pain, nor pain against death.
Contra utrumque sibi fidit nec spe mortis patienter dolet nec taedio doloris libentur moritur; hunc fert, illam expectat.
Against both he trusts in himself, neither does he patiently suffer pain in the hope of death, nor does he gladly die out of weariness of pain; he bears the former, and awaits the latter.
VALE.
FAREWELL.